Chapter 2: The Evolution of Information Behavior Research

Research on information-related human practices dates back well over 100 years, beginning in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Yet we could also point to a much earlier, 1849 report to the British Parliament (see Wellard, 1935) as representing an initial theme of information behavior research: documenting the effects of libraries and reading on a particular audience. In the case of the Parliamentary report, the population in question was the English working class. However, this 1849 effort was far from a scholarly investigation; it was based on the testimony of experts (e.g., local educators, political leaders, or clergy), rather than interviews with the readers themselves; it is largely anecdotal, using evidence from just a few people in a few towns, without any systematic sampling. Yet, while lacking the consistency and rigor that we would today require of a scholarly study, it is at least an early example of an attempt to describe the effects of reading. In fact, its concern with “effects” presages an important development in much information behavior research: the importance of the outcomes of information.