Carol Kuhlthau
Encyclopedia
Carol Collier Kuhlthau is a noted educator, researcher, and international speaker on learning in school libraries, information literacy, and information seeking behavior. Her model of the Information Search Process
(ISP) describes feelings, thoughts and actions in six stages of information seeking. The model of the ISP introduced the holistic experience of information seeking from the individual’s perspective, stressed the important role of affect in information seeking and proposed an uncertainty principle as a conceptual framework for library and information service. Kuhlthau’s work is among the most highly cited of library and information science faculty and one of the conceptualizations most often used by information science researchers. The ISP model represents a watershed in the development of new strategies for the delivery of K-16 library and information skills.
Kuhlthau received her B. S. from Kean University
, Masters in Library Science and Doctorate in Education from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She held several teaching and library positions before joining the Rutgers University
faculty in 1985 where for twenty years she directed the school library specialization in the Masters in Library and Information Science degree program that is ranked first in the United States by US News and World Report. During her tenure at Rutgers she was promoted to Professor II and chaired the Library and Information Science Department and retired as Professor Emerita in 2006. She was the founding Director of the [Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries] (CISSL) at Rutgers where she continues as senior advisor. Her book [Seeking Meaning: a Process Approach to Library and Information Services] is a classic text in Library and Information Science in the United States and abroad. [Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century] written with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari (2007) recommends learning environments where students gain deep understanding and also information literacy grounded in the Information Search Process.
Information Search Process
The Information Search Process is a six-stage process of information seeking behavior in Library and Information Science. The ISP was first suggested by Carol Kuhlthau in 1991.-Stage 1: Initiation:...
(ISP) describes feelings, thoughts and actions in six stages of information seeking. The model of the ISP introduced the holistic experience of information seeking from the individual’s perspective, stressed the important role of affect in information seeking and proposed an uncertainty principle as a conceptual framework for library and information service. Kuhlthau’s work is among the most highly cited of library and information science faculty and one of the conceptualizations most often used by information science researchers. The ISP model represents a watershed in the development of new strategies for the delivery of K-16 library and information skills.
Kuhlthau received her B. S. from Kean University
Kean University
Kean University is a coeducational, public research university located in Union and Hillside, New Jersey, United States. Kean University serves its students in the liberal arts, the sciences, and the professions with a dedication to intellectual and cultural growth and is best known for its...
, Masters in Library Science and Doctorate in Education from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She held several teaching and library positions before joining the Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
faculty in 1985 where for twenty years she directed the school library specialization in the Masters in Library and Information Science degree program that is ranked first in the United States by US News and World Report. During her tenure at Rutgers she was promoted to Professor II and chaired the Library and Information Science Department and retired as Professor Emerita in 2006. She was the founding Director of the [Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries] (CISSL) at Rutgers where she continues as senior advisor. Her book [Seeking Meaning: a Process Approach to Library and Information Services] is a classic text in Library and Information Science in the United States and abroad. [Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century] written with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari (2007) recommends learning environments where students gain deep understanding and also information literacy grounded in the Information Search Process.
Selected writings
- Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari (2007)
- Seeking Meaning: a Process Approach to Library and Information Services (2004)
- Teaching the Library Research Process (1994, 2004)
- “Inside the Search Process: Information Seeking from the User’s Perspective.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science (1991)
External links
- Guided Inquiry, Strategies for Teaching in the 21st Century, (IASL 2009 keynote presentation)