Information Counseling Inventory by Diane Nahl

Library professionals in the information age are called upon to provide user-friendly information environments. To accomplish this, more detailed knowledge is needed about the information behavior of users. The concept "information counseling" reflects this new orientation and involves instruction activities such as, orienting, advising, and reassuring novice learners. The taxonomic approach transforms self-witnessing reports into classified segments of information behaviors at three levels of internalization and in three behavioral domains, including affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor behavior. Reference librarians and instructors are invited to contribute to the taxonomy and make use of it in planning and designing programs and facilities. This behavioral inventory of information behaviors learning the Internet is presented with illustrative entries under each category for affective and cognitive behavior. Suggested uses for the inventory include promoting information self-counseling skills, helping learners overcome technophobia through generational self-witnessing reports, and creating better point-of-use instructions for novices using complex information systems.

Reference services in "user-centered information environments" can be facilitated through detailed knowledge of the information behaviors of users.see note (1) Carol Kuhlthau has proposed that library professionals in the information age have a new mission since the spread of technology in the workplace, bringing with it new user issues.see note (1) As the amount of information continues to increase and the changes in the information environment accelerate, users are faced with "unpredictability in all aspects of life" and thus, "there is a critical need for professional counseling in seeking meaning and in understanding information".see note (1)

Kuhlthau elaborates somewhat on the form information counseling could take. Reference and instruction librarians, acting as information counselors, would conduct appropriate interviews to allow them to diagnose users' needs at five levels of mediation or intervention. For example, level 2 intervention merely involves identifying a specific location or source, while level 3 mediation identifies a group of sources related to a topic. Level 4 mediation, or "pattern intervention," recommends a strategic sequence for processing the recommended sources. At level 5, information counselors use dialog to act as a term paper advisor, addressing the search process as a "holistic experience" involving interpretation and personal growth.

This counseling orientation represents a new emphasis for reference service in the coming years. Granted that the user-centered revolution has become the perspective in ascendancy; however, there are basic issues still to be resolved. For instance, how much information about users do we need to have? What kinds of user information is needed to manage information environments? How much is involved in being an information counselor, and how de we keep our services at the information consultation level rather than at the psychological counseling level?

Kuhlthau presents no specific tools for implementing this new mission for reference librarians and instructors. However, research and theory on the taxonomic approach to understanding information behavior may provide a useful tool in the future repertoire of reference librarians.see note (1) Information counseling is a set of techniques librarians can use to assist novices with their affective information needs. The purpose of this discussion is to share some empirical methods that can be used to transform comments in user self-reports into a taxonomy of information behaviors librarians can expect to deal with when novices are learning the Internet. In customer-oriented models of service, managers of information environments, such as academic and public reference service departments, need new forms of user-based data with which to make informed decisions about types and levels of service. Managers need methods that will provide information and insight from the users' point of view in order to develop accurate customer satisfaction measures.

One of the products of the taxonomic or matrix approach has been an inventory that is classified into behavioral domains and levels of internalization, with sample entries for affective and cognitive information seeking behaviors. The inventory, presented in Table 2 is illustrative and not comprehensive in its examples, and thus can be added to and used as a prototype for gathering data about experiences of people in information environments. The "Behavioral Inventory of Internet Learning" provides information counselors and reference librarians with a map of what behaviors to expect from novice learners, and possibly, how to intervene at an appropriate level, to facilitate and promote the user's needs and goals.

The analysis of the behavior of users in information environments has led to the development of a matrix system that is intended to be exhaustive and applicable to any user environment. Table 1 depicts three domains and three levels of information behavior, yielding nine zones within which to classify types of user problems and solutions. The three columns are the three behavioral domains: affective, cognitive, sensorimotor. The order of the ACS domains, from left to right, indicates that to begin with, there are intentions or information needs (A), which lead one to thoughts about solutions (C), which finally eventuate in some related overt action (S). The three levels, arranged from the bottom up, indicate that novices begin at the lowest level, and move up in focus and development of information skill.

In popular psychology, whatever people do always falls in three exhaustive categories of behaving, following in a sequence: intention---plan---execution. In scientific psychology, the sequence is rendered as motivation---cognition---behavior. In education, it is value---understanding---performance.

(1) The affective domain (A), includes behavioral acts that relate to feelings, i.e., interests, values, motivation, purposes, and goals.

(2) The cognitive domain (C), includes behavioral acts that relate to cognitions, i.e., knowledge, comprehension, problem solving, and critical interpretation.

(3) The sensorimotor domain (S), includes behavioral acts that are externally observable, i.e., visual perception, speaking, and navigating. (Sometimes this is called the "psychomotor" domain).

The three behavioral domains shown in Table 1, are involved in every human act, no matter how small.see note (1) For example, at the macro level, students engage in daily studying daily because they are continuously motivated to pass (affective domain), and they memorize or process information (cognitive domain), while listening, reading, and note taking (sensorimotor domain). Or, at the micro level, a user wants to select a particular database from a menu ( goal --affective domain), knowing that it contains relevant material (memory -- cognitive domain), and so highlights the item with the arrow key and presses the return key (sensorimotor domain).

In this approach, everything that a searcher can feel or choose (A), think or infer (C), and overtly see or do (S), is termed "information behavior," as long as our focus is the information environment and how it dynamically influences searchers. It is important to maintain this objective focus, especially since the reference relationship is being expanded to include users' feelings, thoughts, and perceptions. We need a classified inventory of information behaviors which lists, in an objective language, what feelings and thoughts of searchers are an ordinary aspect of the information world.

Level 1 information behaviors occur within all three domains and revolve around users' initial needs to orient and adapt to information situations. For example, level 1 information behavior in the cognitive domain takes place when a user attempts to identify some element in the environment (cognitive). This information is obtained from the user's own self-witnessing report describing the orienting and adapting efforts made:

"I was unaware that the introduction to Mosaic was a type of menu that one is able to highlight certain words and ultimately get into that particular topic. Through this discovery, I found that my frustration when I first attempted to use Mosaic soon turned into feelings of confidence and especially accomplishment."

This self-witnessing segment reveals aspects of the user's affective and cognitive behaviors. Sentence 1 describes the individual's cognitive activities of (i) becoming aware of a new element in the information environment, and (ii), finding out or discovering a relation between a screen menu and a link function. Sentence 2 describes the individual's affective activities of (i) feeling frustrated while exploring a Web browser for the first time, (ii) feeling a sense of accomplishment with progress in small steps, and (iii) experiencing greater self-esteem, achieved through entering into the process of mastery. The affective and cognitive information behaviors in this example concern basic skills in learning new software and keeping one's motivation going throughout a task.

Level 2 information behaviors go beyond orientation and adaptation to include some form of self-directed interaction with the information environment. Consider the following self-witnessing segment:

"I also discovered that a computer mouse may work differently in different programs. Most of the time I could only get the mouse to highlight some of the words I wanted highlighted. I felt very frustrated as I had to use the mouse to travel from menu to menu. My clumsiness and slowness with the mouse made the extensive menu lists seem endless."

In sentence 1, the witness describes having a human-computer interaction, in which the discovery is made (C2) of the mouse's variable potential or performance across different applications. In sentence 2, the witness describes variable highlighting techniques on different platforms (S2), while sentence 4 shows the presence of intense frustration from being impeded in her progress (A2) which is further described by the witness as feeling clumsy and having something seem to take too long.

Learning is impeded when various types of negative affect in level 2 interfere with desired or positive outcomes of information behavior, e.g., frustration, clumsiness, boredom, confusion, endlessness, hopelessness, etc. A conditioned form of lack of self-confidence may develop; a type of learned helplessness that has deleterious effects on both search efficiency and comprehension of instructions.see note (1)

It is important to note that the three levels are both sequential and continuous, and that individuals operate at all three levels in any information situation. Level 1 activities are orientational and adaptive. Since the information environment is very complex and ever changing, all of us are lifelong novices.see note (2) As new systems such as the Internet arrive on the scene, we never seem to be able to get out of level 1 completely, and we have to continue our adapting process as the information environment changes.see note (1) We must assume that new systems will always come into existence, continuously pressuring the population to acquire new skills with systems. Thus, level 1 activity continues to develop even as level 2 continues ceaselessly, in the sense that we are lifelong interactors with new forms of information systems. While level 1 and 2 activities proceed and prosper, level 3 activities slowly begin to develop. Typically, an individual in an information situation performs activities in all nine zones of the matrix, at all three levels and in all three domains, experiencing varying degrees of difficulty and success, depending on their familiarity with the system and the task.

Level 3 information behaviors relate to personalizing or internalizing information activities. In the strict sense, at the beginning of the orientation process, new learners are not yet users. Using an information system presupposes having a personal need or interest, whether intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. At the beginning stages, learners may recognize and learn some of the mechanics involved but it takes another stage to begin to see themselves as actual users. This activity of personalizing an information behavior constitutes an act of internalization.see note (9) Consider this report:

"I was surprised to find the topic Aviation right under subjects in the WWW. This had so much helpful stuff in it, I was very ecstatic. I began then to really love Lynx. Wow, I came a long way from just being able to wordprocess to now being able to find info from home on just about any topic that I want. I'm very pleased with my improvement on the computer and on the Internet."

This self-report segment is classified as level 3 affective information behavior because this student refers to seven affective information behaviors that show this student's discovery of personal interest and how she values Internet use for personal reasons:

The key to identifying the level of these behaviors is sentence 2: "This had so much helpful stuff in it, I was very ecstatic." For this user, in this brief episode, the World Wide Web suddenly became an entirely new kind of thing to relate to, something personal, vivid, passionately cared for, leading even to ecstasy. For this novice, the process of internalizing the Internet is now underway, as the student begins to experience level 3 information behavior.

The taxonomic approach outlined here is behavioral or objective, in the sense that feelings and thoughts are treated as measurable mental behavior units that can be identified, described, learned and unlearned under appropriate instructional conditions. Individuals, acting as "witnesses" to themselves, can report what emotions they are feeling at a particular moment, how intensely they are motivated to do some task, what they think something means, or what they are afraid to try. These self-witnessing reports may not be completely accurate or valid in any one situation or case history. They cannot be used to determine someone's personality or learning style, however, self-witnessing reports can be used to identify in an empirical way the range or repertoire of information behaviors that can and do occur in the information environment on a routine basis. The inventory goes no further than identifying information behaviors that regularly occur in information environments and organizing them according to their behavioral and developmental functions.

This study took place in a learning context known as a social generational classroom that facilitates group loyalty and identification, which in turn promotes accuracy in self-witnessing reports. Ericsson and Simon review the validity and reliability issues involved in self-reports, concluding that we can rely on self-reports under controlled conditions, especially if they are gathered concurrent with the task.see note (10) Self-witnessing reports of searchers can be directed at various levels of detail. For instance, one can capture affective information from users at the very moment they see and react to the results of a search query.see note (11)

The classified inventory, presented in the next section, is generic in the sense that each class or zone of information behavior is defined by its marginal titles. Plus (+) and minus (-) signs indicate positive and negative aspects of Internet learning experiences. In general, plus signs represent skills while minus signs indicate errors, misjudgments, incorrect assumptions, maladaptive attitudes, and other problems that users need help with. For example, 2C+ refers to a cognitive level 2 behavior that is positive because it is a problem-solving skill (e.g., thinking of an alternative expression for a query in a search window); 1A- refers to an affective level 1 behavior that is negative because it interferes with the progress of the search process (e.g., unwillingness to press a key in response to screen instructions). There is no limit to the number of behaviors that could be classified in any one of the nine zones. So, the taxonomic inventory can continue to grow in completeness and new behaviors can be readily discovered at any time by any researcher.

While such an inventory has many uses, both instructional and scientific, its potential value lies in helping us meet the new user-centered challenges in reference work and instruction. While merely reading classified self-witnessing reports can be enlightening, the 3x3 matrix of the classification scheme can serve as an intellectual map for information counseling activities by reference librarians and instructors. In one instance, it was used to successfully improve point-of-use instructions for CD-ROM based searching by novices.see note (12) This was achieved by consulting the inventory, and noting which items might apply to this instructional situation, then consulting Table 2 for guidance with solutions.

Typically, the cognitive aspect is well defined in point-of-use-instructions that describe the minimum set of required operations for a system. However, instructions tend to make fewer statements that are aimed at addressing the affective information needs of novices that are present in the inventory, and represented in Table 2. Several new types of sentences specifically directed to a novice searcher's affective concerns, were inserted in an existing set of instructions for how to search a particular database. For example, Level 1 affective sentences gave orientation (e.g., where to look for an option on a screen or how frequently committed errors (FCEs) can be avoided and corrected; level 2 sentences gave advice (e.g., when to consult an online thesaurus or select advanced search options); and level 3 sentences gave reassurance (e.g., reminders that it's not their fault if the system freezes or if a Web site is "not found").

Novice users found the longer, but gentler and more user-centered instructions more helpful. It seemed to strengthen their self-efficacy beliefs as searchers. They felt they could do better, just because the instructions were perceived as more benign. They behaved differently too. For example, they were more efficient, made fewer search moves with better results, thus avoiding more errors. Apparently, knowing users' affective stumbling blocks, and providing for them, can influence their information behavior in an instructionally positive direction.

Information management in the new user-centered paradigm can use information counseling techniques to meet users' affective information needs. The generic ACS taxonomy in Table 1 can be applied to a variety of problems relating to the user's information environment. Table 2 describes some information counseling solutions for particular affective symptoms at all three levels. Each level of internalization serves a particular affective function, e.g., orienting or adjusting to the information environment (level 1) involves overcoming resistance to information seeking. Some affective symptoms of this include procrastination, dread, impatience, feeling lost, complaining, being disappointed, and feeling neglected. Specific information counseling solutions can be developed for these symptoms in written, online, and oral instruction. For example, instructions can include statements that help users to feel guided, such as, warning novices about frequently committed errors (FCEs) and providing instructions that help them access FAQ files.

Advising or coaching solutions (level 2) are intended to strengthen "information intentionality," an expression that refers to users' motive to actively cooperate with and participate in the learning environment. Some affective symptoms to look for include the feeling "it is taking too long," feeling anxious, and feeling confused or lost. Information counseling solutions that strengthen users' intentionality include giving them convenient tips that save time and prepare them for what to expect of particular operations or commands. For example, to help novices gain in self-confidence as searchers, give feedback about what will happen if they enter a search statement in an Internet search engine with and without boolean operators.

At level 3, users experience powerful symptoms of displeasure and rejection or avoidance, to which we can to respond by reassuring and consoling them. These little acts of kindness encourage users' acceptance of the requirements of information environments. To help users feel enthusiastic and optimistic about the eventual outcome of their search efforts, we can assure them that, armed with their new knowledge about searching, they will be successful.

Table 2 provides only sample illustrations of affective symptoms and information counseling solutions. Librarians and researchers who obtain user-based data in a variety of information use contexts may add to these examples as needed. An information counseling orientation symbolizes a new behavioral avenue for reference work and information literacy instruction and management. No longer is the user treated as a black box, system-like. The ubiquity and complexity of systems requires the profession to address the user's need to acquire useful affective information skills, in order to manage ever-new cognitive skills. For every cognitive skill there is a complimentary affective skill, without which cognitive behavior devolves into helplessness. If affective behavior is negative or avoidant, cognitive behavior receives little or no support because internal motivation remains too low. The practice of beneficial information counseling hinges on our ability to match cognitive target skills with their affective facilitation skills. The Inventory is intended to help us in this task.

Each of the nine zones of the Internet information behaviors matrix contains illustrations from student self-reports while learning Internet. Each entry is clearly some variation of that taxonomic class or genre of information behavior. For instance, zone 2A+ includes self-confidence and a sense of being in control of the system, and their opposites, i.e., learned helplessness and low self-confidence. Each classification item can help someone with that particular affective information need. Each of us can experience almost any of these needs depending on the situation.

Another aspect of the inventory that needs further development is multiple classification. Since the illustrative entries represent the spontaneous productions of individual witnesses, they rarely describe a single domain. The longer the segment in an entry, the more difficult this problem becomes. These illustrations include enough context in each entry to enable readers to reconstruct the information episode or situation. Therefore, each entry could be classified in one or more zones to highlight various kinds of affective information needs present in that entry. Choosing titles for each entry is another developmental step in building the inventory. Eventually, the titles chosen for each entry will collectively represent a theory of information behavior. The illustrative inventory that follows is organized into the following zones:

	AFFECTIVE BEHAVIOR	COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR
Level 3	Accepting vs. Rejecting	Contextualizing & Personalizing vs. Not creating a Personal Context
Level 2	Self-confidence vs. Learned Helplessness	Predicting and Making Inferences vs. Not Figuring Things Out
Level 1	Persisting and Caring About Accuracy vs. Giving Up	Identifying & Observing vs. Misidentifying & Not Observing

The Inventory begins with illustrations in the affective domain for the three levels of internalization, followed by the cognitive domain examples. Discussion of the entries follows each zone.

* "In conclusion, life on the Internet seems to be settling down a bit. Because I've identified some of the problems as minor inconveniences, they no longer bother me. I've decided not to label them as problems, but hurdles that can be overcome."(3A+)

* "I am becoming more at ease with the Internet system, and I'm able to recognize some of the computer's mannerisms. For example, noise on the telephone line causes my screen to become garbled. When the screen does become garbled I quit what I'm doing and try to move to various other areas."(3A+)

* "Throughout this navigation of women's studies, my feeling was basically one of enthusiasm or excitement. For some strange reason, my searches were coming forth accurately. I was amazed that I could find the information that I needed so quickly."(3A+)

* "As I sat to do my work I felt like a million bucks, as the saying goes. I started my lab session feeling fine. I did not have the previous feelings of frustration, backaches or headaches. I overcame my feeling of failure and braved trying to work through Netscape. I was in pure ecstasy as I maneuvered my way around Netscape. I was floating on cloud nine. I felt such a rush of adrenaline that I could not stop, I wanted to go on, but I had to get to class. After class I excitedly went to Keller and logged on to Netscape."(3A+)

* "I guess I'll never overcome this feeling of dread when I have to go online to get on the Net. I really don't think I'll ever love computers, but I guess I have no choice about using them."(3A-)

* "Why does society have to be so in love with technology? It never works anyway, and it's too expensive. I don't have time to waste learning something that's junk."(3A-)

* "I learned a lot, but I don't think I'll retain it because I don't have a computer and I don't plan to get one. I work with plants, so I don't need computers."(3A-)

In each case, these novices express their degree of acceptance of the information technology environment. Note that these responses are quite strong in both positive and negative directions. The positive comments reveal their coping skills, and their ability to overcome barriers to arrive at a sense of progress and ultimate success, even developing a genuine desire to continue to learn more Internet skills. If we expose new learners to these positive comments at the outset, it may facilitate their internalization of Internet skills.

* "My feelings in the past two weeks of Internet have been those of excitement and optimism. Once we were given the assignments for this report, I felt very excited to tackle a new challenge. After I completed the assignment I felt that maybe it was too easy, but then retrieving information shouldn't be too difficult or strenuous."(2A+)

* "My navigation process through Netscape was a success. I was able to use Netscape and I was even able to use Gopher through Netscape. This once seeming unconquerable giant has now become just another computer program that I will learn more about and hopefully get to master."(2A+)

* "What an accomplishment!!! I no longer feel controlled by or inferior to the computer. I am the one in control. After all, the computer is just a machine, right? It is only as good as its user and at this point, I feel that I can accomplish anything. What a power rush."(2A+)

* "With such confidence, I noticed I did not get so frustrated if I made any wrong choices or if I needed to back track to try another route. I just tried the next option without another negative thought. If I am pressed for time though, I can feel the frustration trying to creep in but, I try to catch it at first notice and change my attitude to a positive one and, IT WORKS!!!."(2A+)

* "What an increase in time saving from my first several sessions. I have learned that I am a person that is very time efficient. I like time management so, this really gave me an adrenaline rush. I seemed to have no problem in choosing which menu to get into in order to find subject topic that I need. What an improvement! My self-esteem when dealing with computers has grown tremendously. I did not realize how much a negative attitude hindered you from completing a task proficiently."(2A+)

* "I am able to accomplish much more without feeling negative or start to have headaches as I had previously. My eyes also do not get as tired of looking at the screen. The beautiful graphics on Mosaic through the Mac also gives the eyes a break. The graphics are wonderful and just brighten up my day as well as my computer lab session. Overall, I have improved by leaps and bounds."(2A+)

* "Enter Lynx. I knew I didn't know too much about navigating this program but I had been so successful at evading frustration and anger so that I felt I could manage without any unwanted blow-ups. This just isn't very fun way to navigate, although, I like being able to flip back to the previous menu or even back to the main menu with just an arrow key. It took me a while to figure out the bookmark business, but with the help of the 'help,' I was able to get the hang of it. This just boosted my confidence some more."(2A+)

* "There was always a dark cloud floating around while I was using the computer, just waiting for some unsuspecting moment to provide the ideal atmosphere in which to work its work. I'm afraid the bell tolls for me. I'm not cut out for it, I guess."(2A-)

* "I was angry and frustrated at my failed attempts. I just couldn't believe it! I mean I would get so fired up and pissed that I just wanted to destroy the entire system. I don't know what it is. I'm just getting very used to not being able to accomplish a task on the computer. I don't feel in control and don't have a desire to continue trying. Sorry."(2A-)

The theme of these comments is elation at new found self-confidence as a searcher, in contrast to complaints about a variety of failures, no sense of control of the system, and intense negative emotions. Students who experienced a gain in self-confidence as Internet users demonstrated their affective coping skills while in the process of acquiring complex search strategy skills. Their positive statements represent adaptive affective approaches to managing the stress of learning to search a new system, e.g., appreciating something about the system; depending on Help functions; recognizing the value of maintaining positive attitudes; and expecting to attain mastery.

* "My keystrokes slowed down when I was unsure about what to do. They also quickened after I had devised a plan and was following through on it. I smiled when I finally found what I was looking for."(1A+)

* "At the beginning of the search, I kept saying, "You can do this." I had adopted the same strategy I had before and knew I could access the information that way. Once I got the information I had set out for involving Women, I said, "See I told you."(1A+)

* "After I selected Mosaic and got the same problem I had to reflect on why I felt so compelled to try again. It seems as though my mind wants desperately to clear up the confusion. It almost feels painful to continue without first answering the question in my mind. I then reflect back on my commitment to move ahead to avoid wasting a lot of time."(1A+)

* "I plan to spend more time on the computer trying to learn more about Mosaic as well as how to operate it. There are so many avenues of looking up information through Mosaic that I believe I may spend countless hours just navigating my way through Mosaic without anything specific in mind."(1A+)

* "This class is teaching me how to problem solve on the computer. Even though I don't want to experience the anxiety and frustration, I still continue to navigate through an assignment and I'm learning."(1A+)

* "It surprises me how I will try to set myself up for tasks I believe I'll have some degree of success with. I've actually noticed a pattern: In the beginning I would return to Windows if Pine got too hard. Then I would return to Pine if Gopher got too hard. I realize now the strategy behind that. I don't want to proceed too fast and accumulate too many failures so I set myself up for definite successes."(1A+)

* "I looked under environment in lynx. I had to go deep into the directories but eventually turned up topics about ethics and social issues."(1A+)

* "Also, because my outlook has been a positive one, I type a lot quicker, but a lot gentler on the keyboard and with much less mistakes. Having mistakes takes up time because you need to go back and correct everything you did wrong."(1A+)

* "After trying WAIS unsuccessfully under Health, I really began feeling down. This was the first time the computer 'beat me.' This was also one of the few times I realized I was letting my negative self affect my confidence and performance."(1A-)

* "Initially I attempted to find the homework assignment of searching for Immanuel Kant's book, The Science of Right, through the Lynx program. I was very frustrated with this program. The UNIX system is very slow and I did not have the patience to work through this slow process. It also seemed very confusing to me. I exited Lynx and decided to check my e-mail."(1A-)

* "Somehow on about my third search this day my mouse failed me [froze up?]. I was stunned! Here I was at LOGIN!! What could've happened I kept asking myself. Finally I decided it was my attitude that was affecting the mouse. Is this superstitious?"(1A-)

* "When I came across an obstacle, I would give up without searching the screen for some of the options that may be related to the problem, and I could have found a way around it. But I didn't."(1A-)

Students at level 1 have a variety of difficulties to overcome. This process requires persistence and attention to detail and order. These comments represent how Internet learners dealt with the resistance they felt when confronted with various types of Internet complexities. The positive comments reveal the strategies students used to cope with complexity, e.g., returning to a more familiar task if the current one isn't working out; adopting a consciously positive attitude toward learning the Internet; rewarding the self with smiles and appreciative self-talk when successful; and not giving up until satisfied that all efforts that could be made are made.

* "I showed my friend that we could access the surf report and the movie listing with no problem, he was amazed. I'm kind of sorry about showing him this, because he calls me all the time to get the surf forecast. I don't really mind though because I usually access that everyday so I can plan my work for school accordingly. So finding the surf forecast on the Internet has been a great tool for me and many of my friends."(3C+)

* "I finally got to the subjects portion of WWW and searched Social Science subject for the word Wellness. This search turned up nothing. This didn't bother me because I could search for other things. I searched the same subject for the word Lifestyles and found many things dealing with this topic."(3C+)

* "Once I was in human rights, I went nuts. I spent about one hour clicking on everything and looking at everything. Finally, I felt I had brain overload and bookmarked what I liked and got out. I thought, "You can do this. My keystrokes slowed down as I was careful to absorb all of the information I could about the topic. A grin or two appeared across my face when I found something interesting or amazing."(3C+)

* "I bookmarked and read some of the "Women's Handbook (1992) Barnard College/Columbia University," which discusses many gender and female issues from academics to recreation to self-defense. I'll probably save this to my account too. After going through the entire list, I also bookmarked health care issues and will come back to it for the next project. I will definitely go back to my bookmark in Lynx because it also links to other relevant documents. By putting in Bookmark, I've automatically increased my search and the information that I can yield."(3C+)

* "Some things still bug me about Lynx though. Sometimes I don't like sitting there reading through those paragraphs trying to find the link that I'm looking for. That's only when I'm pressed for time though. So even though I get frustrated and don't find what I'm looking for in a timely fashion, I have actually accomplished something good for myself. This makes me feel better about the whole session in general."(3C+)

* "I put it down on my bookmark to read at a later date when I have more time." I also looked up religion to find any religion groups that I might join. I have not found one yet. The ones that I did look into seemed a bit too liberal or different for me."(3C+)

* "I found an electronic Psychology journal called Psycoloquy which offered a subscription, and a list of files (need to be requested). This is going to be a very useful later on, since it promises to be a primary means to access scholarly and scientific information in the future."(3C+)

* "I chose to look up Women's Health first because I felt it was an issue I was interested in. I'm trying to navigate through the Internet with specific personal goals incorporated into what is requested in class. I bookmarked the information on domestic Violence because after I graduate this semester I may try to work as a low level counselor at a domestic abuse shelter."(3C+)

* "My main activity these past two weeks has been reading information that I have found on-line. The cyberscope section in Newsweek magazine has been fun to read. They always have something useful or fun to share. I also just discovered PC Currents: The Computer Newsmagazine for Hawaii."(3C+)

* "I've had many problems besides school these last two weeks. These problems have definitely affected my motivation. If I did succeed in motivating myself, my attention span for the work was very short lived Part of my problem is that I don't find much that interests me. All that stuff on Lynx...I don't know who it's for really."(3C-)

These comments reflect the degree to which these novices made Internet use a part of their personal lives as a result of the course, e.g., searching for a topic they have a genuine interest in; keeping current with new developments in that topic on the Internet; saving interesting sites in bookmark files for future reference; and acquiring masses of information that can be personally controlled. These cognitive skills emerged in response to learning the procedures for accessing the Internet.

* "My last session I had such a terrible time with Lynx. Last time I tried using all the Help commands in the highlighted bar at the bottom of the screen. I pressed the arrow keys like it instructed me to do, but there was no change on the screen. The computer did beep at me to let me know I couldn't use that command. I had to think now. After a long reflective pause I tried the cursor keys on the calculator section of the keyboard but, I got the same beep response. Not surprised. I next tried the shift key. Nothing changed. Then I tried the Tab key and to my delight a new set of words was highlighted. This was a very exciting breakthrough for me. Next I took immense pleasure in just tabbing around to different highlighted words for awhile. At this point my mood had certainly changed. I was actually laughing out loud and screaming with pleasure."(2C+)

* "When I got into Lynx again I accessed Health Issues and realized that it was the same information I had previously accessed in Gopher. I became frustrated and challenged. I realized I was in a Hypertext type of searching so I decided to open up some documents and try to get access through links that way. I was successful in finding tips on Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention in terms of cancer and heart and lung disease."(2C+)

* "Since I had found Immanuel Kant's The Science of Right in Gopher last week, I wanted to see if I could find it in Lynx. After searching for Kant and finding his name in the Gopher of the American Philosophical Association, I was denied access to the document containing The Science of Right. Hoping to find a copy of it some other place, I worked my way through the WWW catalog and WWW Worm without finding it. Since I had found it through Gopher, I realized that the document was there, but that I did not know how to find it through Lynx. In frustration, I terminated this session."(2C+)

* "It seems that every time I set out to find something found it the most direct and less problematic way. Whenever I came across an obstacle I took a step back and headed off in a different direction and once I got there it felt like it was no problem at all."(2C+)

* In the beginning of the search I thought, "Where would the computer put this information." It kind of became a little game for me to figure out where the information can be stored. I tried to be clever. I thought of the remote subject matter before the obvious. As I browsed up and down the subject list, I kept saying, "Could it be there?" At last I decided on Human rights. I knew gender related topics would be there, yet in an abstract sort of way. I felt the material would be more centered on specific groups rather than if I had looked it up under Women's Studies."(2C+)

* "I thought that since this searches databases for information I would have a good chance. When I came up empty under Health, Wellness, Health Lifestyle, Health Food, etc., I decided to try good old Gopher Jewels. This server had gotten me out of a couple of ruts so far. When I found an abundance of information on Health, Medicine, and Disability, but none on Wellness, I decided the WWW was the best place for this. If I could find one link to Wellness I would be home free."(2C+)

* "I discovered Lynx for the very first time. I really felt a sense of enthusiasm upon discovering Lynx. Perhaps I felt less stress in using Lynx because it was easy to access and furthermore it was interesting. Initially I was puzzled by the title on the introduction page called Welcome to Honolulu Community College. I thought, What does Honolulu Community College have to do with Lynx? Surprisingly I figured out that the introduction page was a type of menu, whereby one can highlight the different topics and reach an entirely new gateway. I was amazed at the different topics on the menu and the numerous gateways, especially World Wide Web."(2C+)

* "I could not access my first bookmark, which was "readme.jokes." I sat there and thought, "I absolutely cannot give up because I have to figure out how this thing works." I continued to press Enter on the readme.jokes file but the computer kept on repeating its response to me, which was "Cannot open requested file." After many, many, many attempts I decided that maybe something was wrong with the computer system.(2C-)

* "While navigating the past two weeks I have caught myself time and time again just staring at the monitor, no movement, no thinking. Since there was no cognition evident and I was accomplishing absolutely nothing during these phase-outs, I decided that the instant I was aware of the onset of a phase out I would turn my vision elsewhere. It's kind of creepy the way computers can do this to you."(2C-)

These comments reveal the problem-solving strategies students used to learn things that were not taught directly in the course. They were given a conceptual orientation to menu structures and search engines, with some procedural instruction. So, they had to figure out many things for themselves by applying conceptual frameworks. The positive comments show how students successfully develop a reasonable inferencing strategy for learning a system, e.g., switching to a different Internet system when one system did not retrieve anything useful; recognizing menu structures and their functions; thinking in terms of system organization when approaching a search task; and exploring links to learn about the system.

* "I decided to see if I could make a directory in my account that I could transfer documents to from WWW. At the UHUNIX prompt I typed 'mkdir internet.' It gave me another UHUNIX prompt. I wondered if anything happened? At the new prompt I typed 'cd Internet.' It returned: /home/29/jodyr/internet. I wondered again what that meant. At the new prompt I typed 'dir.' It just gave me another prompt. So I typed 'cd' then pressed return. It read: /home/29/jodyr. I knew now that I was controlling the computer but, I wasn't clear on exactly what I was commanding the computer to do. I have never set up a directory before so their purpose and function are still a mystery to me. I recognize the need to master and understand directories. It's exciting to know that I'm increasing my understanding but, I also feel impatient and embarrassed and this prevents one from asking for help."(1C+)

* "The other day I was in Lynx and probably because I was more relaxed than at the beginning of the semester, I began experimenting with the printing options, which gave me good results. Afterwards I switched to Gopher and tried the same technique with the same positive results."(1C+)

* "My first setback was that I had not given my bookmark a proper name or string. What the heck did it mean by a 'string.' Well, I remembered that the name in the bookmark setting, in 'options,' had three separate names divided by a period. Then I remembered the string that the instructor gave in class, lynx bookmark.html, is what I had written in my notes. So, I typed in lynx.bookmark.html in the bookmark field. This obviously had done the trick because instead of getting an Error-unable to access bookmark message, I got the message box for the bookmark command. I then pushed 'L' to link to bookmark, and it flashed a quick 'done' message. I was warm and fuzzy, let me tell ya."(1C+)

* "When I take position at the computer terminal I have set in my mind an idea of what I am interested in locating through my search. I chose to focus much more time these two weeks in Lynx rather than Gopher. My idea was to discover and understand what Lynx has to offer."(1C+)

* "I was not happy when the computer said, Cannot access directory. In my mind I was thinking, I really hate it when the computer cannot access the directory. All of a sudden a message appeared and read, Congratulations, you have found a bug in Lynx Ver 2.3 Beta. You cannot imagine my enthusiasm, finally the computer was congratulating me for something. However, I still am not certain whether this is a good thing or perhaps I destroyed something in the program or the program itself."(1C-)

* "I got really frustrated at myself because I thought I had saved a variety of files to my e-mail address, but I didn't. I realized this when I returned to Pine awaiting all those files and nothing was there. You can believe I took a few deep breaths. Here I thought I was navigating and getting a better grip on accessing the multitude of pathways that I was indeed saving to screen and sending the files to my mail."(1C-)

* "One of my searches began by double clicking on the NCSA Telnet 2.6 icon to access UHUNIX. For at least 5 mins. I waited while watching the sign at the upper left corner constantly flash opposite errors. This is the best description I can give of it."(1C-)

* "Once I figure how to print the information I would certainly like to print the information that my friend wants. I ran into retrieval problems and I discovered that printing from this area was not a simple procedure. I spent over 1 hour figuring why I could not get the information to print. I tried all options with no success. No doubt it was my fault. I didn't feel like asking anyone."(1C-)

* "I experienced tremendous anger and frustration at first when I initially got to Lynx. For one thing, I didn't totally understand the concept and as a result, kept performing string searches which led nowhere because it would only be looking through that particular document (the introduction page)."(1C-)

The comments at level 1 show how students struggled to acquire relevant distinctions in the Internet environment. Students dealt with the problems of learning new syntax for entering commands, using directories, and getting to addresses. Often, students would experience a sequence of repetitive errors, then would suddenly observe the critical piece of information that was overlooked before, and then they were able to perform the operation correctly.

CONCLUSION Information counseling involves identifying users' skills and errors in a particular operation and using this information to make user-centered changes in instruction and other information services. Students as learners go through similar steps as they attempt to adapt to an information system. What one student experiences, another may also experience, either at the same level or in a different form. Identifying these common skills and errors in relation to specific systems or particular operations, empowers librarians to design services that respond directly to students' needs. The Inventory gives direction to instructors and system designers as to what the content could be for giving orientation (level 1), advice (level 2), and reassurance (level 3) to novice learners that facilitates their internalization of Internet learning.

The positive self-witnessing statements in the inventory can be used with new learners to help them acquire attitudes that will facilitate their learning new systems. In this way, students learn from each other what to expect, how successful they might be, that it's a challenge they can meet, and which attitudes are helpful and which are detrimental to learning the Internet. One student who reviewed some student comments on the first day of class wrote in response,

"I'm very confused. I'm still not getting the big picture yet. But I know that I will because everyone must start somewhere, and the previous generations made it, so I should be able to do it too."

Testimonials that are written for the next generation of Internet learners, raises these comments to the level of peer-instruction. Thus, students are empowered by seeing themselves as information counselors to the next generation.

1. Diane Nahl, "The User-Centered Revolution: 1970-1995." in Encyclopedia of Microcomputers, eds. Allen Kent and James G. Williams, in press. (New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1995) Available here.

2. Carol C. Kuhlthau, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services (Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex, 1993).

4. Leon A. Jakobovits and Diane Nahl-Jakobovits, "Learning the Library: Taxonomy of Skills and Errors," College & Research Libraries 48:3 (1987):203-214; Leon. A. Jakobovits and Diane Nahl-Jakobovits, "Measuring Information Searching Competence," College & Research Libraries 51:5 (1990):448-462; Diane Nahl-Jakobovits and Leon A. Jakobovits, "A Content Analysis Method for Developing User-Based Objectives," Research Strategies 10:1 (Winter):4-16; Diane Nahl-Jakobovits and Leon A. Jakobovits, "Bibliographic Instructional Design for Information Literacy: Integrating Affective and Cognitive Objectives," Research Strategies 11:2 (Spring):73-88; Diane Nahl, "Affective Elaborations in Boolean Search Instructions for Novices: Effects on Comprehension, Self-Confidence, and Error Type, Proceedings of the 58th ASIS Annual Meeting, 32 (October, 1995):69-76; Diane Nahl and Violet Harada, " Composing Boolean Search Statements: Self-Confidence, Concept Analysis, and Errors, School Library Media Quarterly (Summer 1996, in press); Diane Nahl and Carol Tenopir, "Affective and Cognitive Searching Behavior of Novice End-Users of a Full-Text Database," Journal of the American Society for Information Science 47:4 (1996):276-286; Diane Nahl and Leon James, "Achieving Focus, Engagement, and Acceptance: Three Phases of Adapting to Internet Use," Electronic Journal of Virtual Culture 4:1 (February 26, 1996) [URL: http://rdz.stjohns. edu/ejvc/ejvc4n1.james].

5. Jakobovits and Nahl-Jakobovits, " Learning the Library"; "Measuring Information Searching Competence."

6. Diane Nahl, "CD-ROM Point-of-Use Instructions for Novice Searchers: A Comparison of User-Centered Affectively Elaborated and System-Centered Unelaborated Text" (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Hawaii, 1993).

9. Herbert C. Kelman, "Compliance, Identification, and Internalization: Three Processes of Attitude Change," Journal of Conflict Resolution 2 (1958):51-60.

10. K. Anders Ericsson and Herbert A. Simon, Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993).

Information Counseling Inventory
of Affective and Cognitive Reactions
while Learning the Internet

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

IMPLICATIONS OF A USER-FRIENDLY PARADIGM

ACS CLASSIFICATION FOR FEELINGS, THOUGHTS, AND ACTIONS

THE DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION COUNSELING

BEHAVIORAL INVENTORY OF INTERNET LEARNING