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

Citation

Mullen, P. (2008), "Information and Emotion: The Emergent Affective Paradigm in Information Behavior Research and Theory", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 819-820. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917585

Information and Emotion is a collaborative effort under the editorship of Professors Diane Nahl and Dania Bilal. All the authors who contributed to this collection should be congratulated it is a fine work. The title and the subtitle “Information and Emotion: The Emergent Affective Paradigm in Information Behavior Research and Theory”, does make the book sound like it should only be read by Academia or Library Students (endured?). On reading though, the ideas and concepts detailed in the book provide not only an important theoretical discussion on the interaction between emotion and information behavior. But there is also a practical discussion about how emotions could and do impact on the provision of Information Services in Public Libraries and Private Information Services Departments, as such it should be required reading by all those in the information services field.

The book is divided into four themes with 17 chapters. Part 1 is called Theoretical Frameworks, Part 2 Macro‐Emotional Information Environment, Part 3 Micro‐Emotional Information Environment and finally, Part 4 Special Information Environments. There is at the end of each chapter extensive references and at the end of the book there is another set of handy references, an author index and an excellent subject index.

I found Part 4 “Special Information Environments” most interesting, and the discussion by Susan Hayter in her chapter, “The Affective Dimensions of the Information Behavior: A Small World Perspective”, a fascinating look at how emotion impacts on an individuals information seeking in a socially excluded community. Hayter notes how important the emotion trust is when those at the edges of society are seeking information. I suspect also trust is particularly important in many other information environments; it is certainly an important emotion in the legal environment.

Finally, Dania Bilal (one of the editors) notes in Chapter 2 that there has been a paradigm shift in the last 20 years in information seeking behavior research and ”The shift from the physical paradigm... to the cognitive paradigm (user oriented) has guided much research”. It does seem very strange to me then that emotion has only recently been identified as needing further research if the user has been the centre of this research. It will be extremely interesting to see how far the researchers can take this research into emotion and information behavior.