Youth Information Seeking Behavior Ii

This resource is as much a tribute to its editors and contributors, a cadre of champions who have made the study of this underrepresented group their lifework, as it is a testament to their unwavering respect for the young inquiring mind. Continuing the work of their earlier volume published in 2004, Mary K. Chelton and Colleen Cool offer a snapshot of the current research agenda, and provide a useful starting place for exploring the information seeking behavior of young adults. This excellent resource, which supports information behavior and youth services courses, compiles, in one convenient volume, the work of many of the discipline's important researchers and their research projects. Five chapters focus on everyday life information seeking (ELIS), including: the everyday information behaviors of children nine to thirteen years of age; a similar study of urban teenagers fourteen to seventeen; the need for sexual health information; information seeking during "queer" youth coming-out experiences; and teen reading, book purchasing, and library-use patterns. The authors also include four chapters that address the information seeking of youth in their role as students. These studies are a must-read for researchers in the field and for those with an interest in the information seeking behaviors of youth.

This resource is as much a tribute to its editors and contributors, a cadre of champions who have made the study of this underrepresented group their lifework, as it is a testament to their unwavering respect for the young inquiring mind. Continuing the work of their earlier volume published in 2004, Mary K. Chelton and Colleen Cool begin this book with a historical overview of the literature on children's use and understanding of electronic information systems dating back to when these retrieval mechanisms were in their infancy. Chapters then provide a snapshot of the current research agenda, everyday life information seeking (ELIS), and the information seeking of youth in their role as students.

VOYA

This collection continues the work of Chelton and Cool's earlier volume on information-seeking behavior in youth (Scarecrow Press, 2004/VOYA June 2005). Ten peer-reviewed chapters present the results of studies addressing diverse topics related to youth information seeking. Many different methods are used, including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and activity and question log analysis. Several studies focus on information that teens need for everyday life. An essay co-authored by Karen E. Fisher, Elizabeth Marcoux, Eric Meyers, and Carol F. Landry specifically looks at tweens' information behavior, an age group that needs more study, and another addresses the needs of urban teenagers. A literature review of young adult sexual and reproductive health information needs by Jennifer Burek Pierce suggests that more research could be done to improve what is known in this area. Bharat Mehra and Donna Braquet's interesting study of information seeking during coming-out experiences of "queer" youth shows that types of information sought and the sources of information used changes during different stages of the coming-out experience. (The term "queer" in this study is used to include all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.) Most research discussed focuses on factual information seeking, but Vivian Howard and Shan Jin's study surveys teen reading, book purchasing, and library use. The other chapters address information seeking as related to educational assignments. These concentrate on the use of electronic, online, and digital resources. Joyce Kazman Valenza's investigation of the use of a high school virtual library has many ideas for improving school library Websites to make them more useful for students' use. One study shares the method for using intergenerational teams, including children as equal partners, for designing Web portals. Andrew K. Shenton contributes the final chapter that explains causes of information-seeking failure, which is important to know in helping students to be successful. An introductory article calls for a new approach to information-seeking research that takes into account the all the ways that youth communicate. This authoritative resource is for anyone who is interested in youth and their informational needs. It identifies many important research projects and will be a good starting place for those beginning to study youth information seeking. Students in library and information graduate programs should be familiar with this work, and practitioners will find ideas for improving their work with youth.

Mary K Chelton is Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queens College, NYC. Colleen Cool is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queens College, NYC.