This is an annotated bibliography for library and information professionals with some of the scant resources available dealing with how children look for information.

1. Childhood Information Seeking: an Annotated Bibliography
By Joshua K. Johnson (email: joshsoffice@gmail.com)
17 April 2010
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2. The following is a bibliography of sources annotated to aid those interested in constructivism as it applies to
information professionals and institutions who serve children. The field of research in how children search for
information seems sparse, as such the gleanings represented below are not comprehensive, but they do represent
a cross-section of what has already been researched.
Getts, M., & Giacoma, P. (1981). "Jean Piaget: an Introduction and Reader's Guide for Children's Librarians. Top
of the News ," 37, 360-366.
This article's proposes Jean Piaget's work as a basis for children's services in library settings and provides a
very brief overview of Piaget's stages of development: sensorimotor (0-2 yrs), preoperational (2-7 yrs),
concrete operational (7-11 yrs), and formal operations (11-15 yrs). Getts and Giacoma also propose that
children ought not to be "served" by libraries and librarians in the same ways, but that each stage of
development ought to be addressed when choosing materials or providing services for children. This
short discussion is followed by a bibliography-like guide intended as a primer on Piaget for librarians. The
sources are broken down into three categories: "Introduction [to Piaget]," For Teachers," and Of
Continuing Interest." This article is a good start on understanding Piaget's theories with regard to
constructionistic thinking about information services.
Laverty, C. (2002). The Challenge of Information Seeking: How children Engage in Library Work. Feliciter, 48 (5),
226-228.
This brief article investigates class research studies in an attempt to articulate “How…children become
information-literate learners [and what] difficulties they encounter.” The article also mentions a dearth in
suitable studies concerning how children search for information. Some of the findings are that the studies
that are available “reveal that they rarely generate their own questions to guide research, but this may be
due more to circumstance than to ability” (p. 226). The article also explains that educators view library
work at a children’s level as simple and because of this little training on information seeking is given, but
then demonstrates that children’s positive attitudes toward research and information gathering increased
from 25% and 50% to 92% and 100% (respectively). In the end, Laverty shows that children benefit from
understanding how to process information both in attitude and in practice.
Bilal, D., & Kirby, J. (2002). "Differences and Similarities in Information Seeking: Children and Adults as Web
Users." Information and Processing Management , 38, 649-670.
This article is a summary of a study done by the authors applying Bilal’s Web Traversal measure to a study
of how 14 children and 9 graduate students search for information on the Internet. While the graduate
students performed much more effectively, there are some useful similarities found between the two.
Yahooligans! (the search engine used by children in the study) and its poor keyword search structure is
named as a key problem in children’s performance. Overall, the success of the graduate students is
attributed to recovering more quickly from “breakdowns” which are similar to failed information
searches.
Large, A., & Beheshti, J. (2005, Fall). "Inteface Design, Web Portals, and Children." Library Trends , 318-342.
This article seeks to gain a child’s perspective on what makes an effective information search design for
children. The authors discuss the difficulties children have using information portals designed for adults.
Discussing their own research, the authors introduce concepts for information gathering on the web, but
with children in mind. The categories for this portion are similar to those discussed for adults, but with a
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3. child’s search process in mind: portal objectives, metaphor, visual design, Icons, portal names,
characterization, terminology, advertisements, retrieval capabilities, results display, online help,
personalization, interactivity, and multilingualism.
Bailey, A. R. (2009, Winter). "Early Essentials: Developing and Sustaining Birth-Kindergarten Library Collections."
Children and Libraries , 17-24.
Bailey discusses the importance of different parts of children’s collections of books, specifically focusing
on the benefits of picture books and reading in children ages 0-5 yrs. He highlights areas that information
professionals working with children can implement to increase intellectual, cultural, language, cognitive,
creative, communication and social development. He specifically mentions: predictable books, rhmes,
and fingerplays as important activities that help enhance childrens’ abilities to construct and make
meaning of information they take in from the world around them (including information resources). He
ends with a lengthy, but not comprehensive, list of titles he considers important to a children’s picture
book collection..
Crow, S. R. (2009). "Relationships that Foster Intrinsic motivation for Information Seeking." School Libraries
Worldwide , 15 (2), 91-112.
This article attempts to addres the question, “What are the experiences in the libes of upper elementary
school children that foster an intrinsic motivation to seek information?” Crow uses “Self-determination
Theory” as a framework for the study. Some of Crow’s conclusions are: children who are instrinsically
motivated for information seeking do not see searching fr information as a chore, but rather as an
enjoyable and fun pursuit” (p. 105). Interestingly, Crow’s research found that although children
instrinsically motivated in information seeking have “supportive anchor” relationships, an “affinity for
play,” and “have point-of-passion experiences,” they don’t necessarily come from “affluent homes” and
are not necessarily “academically successsful.” Crow ends with an admonition to foster children into this
intrinsic motivation toward seeking information.
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