Diane Nahl - Library and Information Science

Diane Nahl is the author of two books, and editor of a newly released volume.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It!

This just in! The newly released book of the Special Interest Group on information Needs, Seeking and Use (SIG USE) of ASIST was recently awarded the SIG Publication of the Year. Read the University of Hawaii Announcement here.

Book Cover Information and Emotion: The Emergent Affective Paradigm in Information Behavior Research and Theory

Diane Nahl and Dania Bilal, Eds., 2007. (Medford, NJ: Information Today)

The purpose of this book is to establish a focus on affective and emotional dimensions in information behavior (IB) research, based upon recent theoretical developments and research findings in information science, and the cognate fields of cognitive science, psychology, education, business, ethnomethodology, communication, and computer science. The affective paradigm established in this book traces its origins to early work in education and cognitive science. It introduces the new research areas of affective issues in situated information seeking and use, and the affective paradigm applied to IB in a variety of populations, cultures and contexts. It is primarily concerned with IB research findings on the user perspective, the user experience and how emotional aspects can be mitigated or enhanced through design that is informed by use and by users who directly participate in information design.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Diane Nahl

PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Chapter 1: Diane Nahl. The Centrality of the Affective in Information Behavior
Chapter 2: Dania Bilal. Grounding Children's Information Behavior in Child Development Theories
Chapter 3: Brenda Dervin and Carrie Lynn Reinhard. How Emotional Dimensions of Situated Information Seeking Relate to User Evaluations of Help From Sources: An Exemplar Study Informed by Sense-Making Methodology
Chapter 4: Nicola Parker and Jennifer Berryman. The Role of Affect in Judging "What is Enough?"

PART II: MACRO-EMOTIONAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 5: Lesley Farmer. Developmental Social-Emotional Behavior and Information Literacy
Chapter 6: Michelynn McKnight. Affective Dimensions of Critical Care Nurses' Informative Interactions: Gentle Nurse Jekyll and Harried Nurse Hyde
Chapter 7: Sheri Massey, Allison Druin and Ann Carlson Weeks. Emotion, Response, and Recommendation: The Role of Affect in Children's Book Reviews in a Digital Library
Chapter 8: Lisa Given. Emotional Entanglements on the University Campus: The Role of Affect in Undergraduates' Information Behaviors
Chapter 9: Rich Gazan. Understanding the Rogue User

PART III: MICRO-EMOTIONAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 10: Lynne E. F. McKechnie, Catherine Sheldrick Ross and Paulette Rothbauer. Affective Dimensions of Information Seeking in the Context of Reading
Chapter 11: Helena Mentis. Memory of Frustrating Experiences
Chapter 12: Karen E. Fisher and Carol F. Landry. Understanding the Information Behavior of Stay-at-home Mothers through Affect
Chapter 13: Nahyun Kwon. Critical Thinking Disposition and Library Anxiety: A Mixed Methods Investigation
Chapter 14: Heidi Julien. Experiencing Information Literacy Affectively

PART IV: SPECIAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS

Chapter 15: Susan Hayter. The Affective Dimensions of Information Behaviour: A Small World Perspective
Chapter 16: Wooseob Jeong. Emotions in Information Seeking of Blind People
Chapter 17: Bharat Mehra. Affective Factors in Information Seeking during the Cross-Cultural Learning Process of International Doctoral Students in Library and Information Science Education

Testimonials for Information and Emotion:

“Whether it is the joy of an unexpected finding or the frustration felt while using a computer-based tool, emotion makes plays a critical role in all human activities. This extensive, informative book demonstrates the important, critical role that emotion and other affective processes play even in such tasks as finding a library book or, more generally, searching for and finding sought-for information. This is an important book for everyone who develops, provides, uses, or studies information systems. This book marks an important first step toward understanding that emotion and affect cannot be ignored, even in tasks and situations that would appear to be purely informational, purely cognitive.”

Don Norman
Northwestern University
Author of Emotional Design: Why We Love or Hate Everyday Things. Basic Books, 2005.

"Emotions, Values, and Meanings are some of the most powerful forces in our lives, behaviors, and decisions and we're only now beginning to unravel how they work and understand how to develop solutions around them. This book sheds valuable light on what will become the most significant direction in human research and understanding for the coming decades—in science as well as in business."

Nathan Shedroff
Program Chair, MBA in Design Strategy, California College of the Arts
Author of Experience Design 1. Waite Group Press, 2001.
Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. New Riders Press, 2005.

“The authors expand our horizons from cognitive information-seeking to the broader notions of affectively rich experiences. Readers will learn about the anxiety-producing interactions that generate fear, sadness, and anger, as well as the motivating experiences that lead to self-confidence, optimism, joy, and surprise. Researchers, designers, educators, and user assistance staff will revise their thinking and raise their expectations about how information affects our lives.

This pioneering book expands our language for describing human interaction with information. We knew about motivation and frustration, but now the vast territory of affective responses has been charted, opening up many possibilities for future researchers. Readers will more clearly see the path to making information seekers happier and more successful.

We all know about frustrations with information systems, but the rich ways that users deal with problems, suggests new possibilities for self-awareness, helping users, training them, and designing for them. Readers will shift their thinking from systems and interfaces to information and experiences.”

Ben Shneiderman
Department of Computer Science
University of Maryland
Author of: Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (4th Edition), Addison Wesley, 2004.
Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies, The MIT Press, 2003.

"This book tackles the important role that emotions play in our interaction with information systems. Prominent researchers share their insights gained from a variety of studies that examine the affective domain in information seeking and use. Until now this domain has been neglected in information behavior research, leaving a gap in our full understanding of information interaction. This book fills that gap and is essential reading for anyone who wants the full picture."

Carol Tenopir
Professor, School of Information Sciences
Director of Research, College of Communication and Information and Director of the Center for Information and Communication Studies
University of Tennessee
Author of Communication Patterns of Engineers, Wiley-IEEE Press, 2004.

"The role of affect in how humans deal with information has fascinated philosophers and writers since time immemorial. This excellent volume brings together the most recent research on the role of affect in the way people select, use and process information. The topics represent an ingenuous combination of approaches from cognitive science, affect research, and computer science, and cover such intriguing questions as the role of affect in information literacy, and affective influences on a variety of information behaviors by nurses, children, undergraduates and others. The chapters offer a nice balance of advanced theorizing, cutting-edge empirical research, and real-life applications. This book should be on the reading list of all researchers and practitioners interested in the fascinating role of affectivity in human thinking and behavior".

Joseph P. Forgas, Scientia Professor of Psychology
University of New South Wales, Australia
Author of: Handbook of Affect and Social Cognition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.

"...a timely and valuable compilation of theory and research on the important influence of the affective domain on information behavior."

Carol C. Kuhlthau, Professor Emerita
Library and Information Science
Rutgers University
Author of Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services, 2nd Edition, Libraries Unlimited, 2004.

“Through the chapters collected in this volume, Nahl and Bilal have moved the field beyond a narrow focus on physical and cognitive aspects of information behaviors, expanding our horizons to consider the emotions and feelings that influence people’s information seeking and use.

...Nahl and Bilal have brought together a number of excellent examples of recent theorizing and empirical research on the affective issues surrounding information seeking and use, expanding the horizons of our understanding of situated information behaviors.

Nahl and Bilal’s broad-ranging collection on the affective issues associated with information behaviors has opened new research territory, and will significantly influence future information behavior research.”

Barbara Wildemuth, Professor
School of Information & Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Co-Founder, ASIST SIG USE (Information Needs, Seeking & Use)

Strategic Research Approaches for Reference Librarians

Diane Nahl, 2001. (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt)

While the content and format of library services have evolved along with changing social norms and information technology, the demand for evidence of quality service has increased. To show their communities they are fulfilling their service mission, libraries have adopted user-centered or customer-oriented service models that place emphasis on assessing library performance from the perspective of patrons or customers. These user-centric approaches require finding out what people feel, think, and can do as a result of their interaction with libraries and librarians. This user-oriented model generates new information needs for librarians involved in developing projects to help them determine how best to serve their users. The purpose of this workbook is to simplify the research process, facilitate project development, demystify statistics, promote critical thinking, and help librarians acquire more tools for analysis. This workbook is intended for library professionals who have little or no background in research design and statistics, who need to collect and analyze data in order to understand something more clearly, make systematic decisions affecting clientele, collections, and services, determine the impact of new initiatives and existing services, or measure progress on strategic planning goals and objectives.

Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare
Leon James and Diane Nahl, 2000. (New York: Prometheus Books)
picture of diane nahl and leon james

The expression "road rage" was introduced into the public vocabulary by the popular media. Though there has been no agreed-upon definition, people use the phrase to refer to an extreme state of anger that often precipitates aggressive behavior, sometimes restricted to words and gestures, sometimes as assault and battery. A variety of factors have been named to account for the increase in aggressiveness between drivers, such as traffic congestion, feeling endangered, being insulted, frustration, time pressure, fatigue, competitiveness, and lapses in attention. AAA Foundation's 1997 study reported 218 police records of deaths following disputes between drivers between 1990 and 1996. We trace the societal origins of road aggression and present social solutions and remedies based in human agency theory.

For more information about this book, including table of contents and excerpts, please see the website: DrDriving.org
The website is produced by Dr. James and Dr. Nahl with information on driving psychology.