Inside the Information Search Process: Reflections on the User’s Perspective of Information Seeking

Kuhlthau reflects on her work in the development of the Information Search Process (ISP), a six stage model of the users’ holistic experience in the process of information seeking. The ISP model, based on two decades of empirical research, identifies three realms of experience: the affective (feelings), the cognitive (thoughts) and the physical (actions) common to each stage. Central to the ISP is the notion that uncertainty, both affective and cognitive, increases and decreases in the process of information seeking. A principle of uncertainty for information seeking is proposed that states that information commonly increases uncertainty in the early stages of the search process. Increased uncertainty indicates a zone of intervention for intermediaries and system designers. Reflections on the development of the ISP The development of the ISP as a conceptual framework is the result of more than two decades of research that began with a qualitative study of secondary school students and the emergence of an initial model that was verified and refined through quantitative and longitudinal methods with diverse library users and further developed in case studies of people in the workplace. From these findings a principle of uncertainty for information seeking emerged that states that information commonly increases uncertainty in the early stages of the search process. Increased uncertainty creates a zone of intervention for intermediaries and system designers. I have charted the progression and development of the ISP citing selected research reports from 1985 to 2006 with a short description of the significance of each piece. In addition I have listed three books that summarize the work and incorporate applications for practice. As I look back on my work on the ISP I reflect on critical decisions along the way that sustained my research agenda and resulted in the development of a useful model of information seeking behavior. Of course these were not readily apparent at the start. Rather they evolved and unfolded as part of an intriguing research journey. There are six guides that I have taken in this work beginning with the first study in 1983 and continuing on today: • Start with a real problem • Stay with the problem to verify and test the findings in variety of contexts • Develop concepts from the findings • Apply the framework of LIS