Information seeking

by J. David Johnson

How do people in organizations get the information they need to do their work, and what are the effects of their research - positive and negative - on their organizations? Indeed, says the author of this unique, provocative study, the forces that promote ignorance within organizations often outweigh the drive to obtain knowledge. Johnson explores both sides of the information-seeking dilemma, the reasons why people do and do not look for and get the information they need - and why the multi-billion-dollar technologies that have been developed to facilitate information gathering so often fail. Research-based, with a model to explain how information seeking works in organizations, Dr. Johnson's book is fascinating, essential reading not only for gatherers of information in all types of organizations, but for the purveyors, their technological support staffs.