Seeking Meaning in the Age of AI

Introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition

strong>Carol Collier Kuhlthau

The 30th anniversary of the publication of Seeking Meaning is being celebrated by renewing this classic text responding to the sustained importance and increased interest in this research today.

The first edition of Seeking Meaning published in 1993 was followed by an updated and expanded second edition in 2004. This edition is enhanced by a new foreword incorporating essays by three eminent scholars raising the importance of this work in the evolution of librarianship, information systems, and education.

The (ISP) Information Search Process is a pertinent theory for understanding human information behavior in the age of generative AI. The title, Seeking Meaning, reflects the deeper purpose of searching, not merely seeking information but also seeking meaning. Focusing on meaning reveals the importance of information behavior research and the profession of librarianship in the AI revolution.
This edition is enhanced by a new foreword by three expert scholars.

The Information Search Process (ISP) is a theory that has sustained through time. “Inside the Search Process: Information Seeking from the User’s Perspective.” Published in Journal of the American society for Information Science in 1991, continues to be one of the most highly cited papers in the field. “Developing a Model of the Library Search Process: Investigating Cognitive and Affective Aspects,” published in 1988 in Reference Quarterly is a top hit on J. Hartel’s popular YouTube series, What Makes this Paper Great? The user’s experience in information seeking is of utmost importance in considerations of developing AI systems.

Uncertainty is the central component of the ISP. Uncertainty is the beginning of learning. The holistic experience of uncertain thoughts and feelings compels the searcher on to deeper meaning. The beauty of the human mind is the capacity for uncertainty. The searcher’s agency in working through their uncertainty to understanding is the treasure of the search process. AI developers are promising an answer engine that cuts through the clutter to read, summarize, and provide the answer. Is that what everyone needs or wants?

Interest is another essential component of the ISP. Uncertainty is the beginning of learning, but interest leads the path through information to understanding. The ISP reveals a person’s journey of constructing new knowledge by choosing what catches their interest as personally engaging and important. In the optimum case, once a person finds their focus, interest increases as the person moves in the flow of their own construction and creativity. The person has agency to choose their own path through the clutter to discover their own take on the problem.

The professional librarian, knowledgeable in this body of research, is ready to step into the role of advisor helping the person to get out of the wilderness of uncertainty and dig for their own meaning. This is especially important for librarians working with students in schools, colleges, universities, and public libraries. Libraries provide ways to create, to innovate, and to think about things in new ways. Librarians aren’t becoming extinct, as some people say, but the profession is evolving. Due to pervasive access to information, the librarian’s role in helping people to seek meaning has ever more significance. Roles of advisor and counselor in the meaning making process that are described in this book, are important for every librarian to understand today, even more than thirty years ago when this book first came out. This is a critical time for libraries because that role is not being taken by anyone else. It is not only the responsibility of the profession of librarianship it is also the rewards. In this way librarians can directly contribute to peoples’ success, to society, and to innovation in our communities.

Information science is a relatively young discipline, but it is right in the center of every aspect of people’s lives. We are at the tipping point in the age of information that holds tremendous potential for the future of information science. The big question is how will information retrieval and information behavior research influence how systems and services enable people to be smarter, wiser, more creative, productive, and perhaps even happier? In my view this is the challenge before every researcher in information science today. What are the implications of your work? How does your research contribute to the good of society? How can you make your findings accessible outside the field? This is a wonderful time to be in this field. There is much work ahead.

Some teachers and professors are pulling back from assigning research considering the ability of AI systems to produce full papers. Now is not the time to abandon student research requirements. Now is the time to rethink traditional research assignments to design inquiry learning that opens student to their own creativity and curiosity. Students need new ways to learn how to learn in an environment bombarded with information. Guided Inquiry Design, based on the stages of ISP model, provides a framework for redesigning research that supports students on their research journey. Learning through research is an enlightened approach to education where students are encouraged to dig deeper, value their own thinking, and be open to changing their minds. New ways of thinking about research assignments calls for a broad view of learning in the age of AI.

Three expert scholars and thought leaders who have used this theoretical base to inform their work provide the foreword for this new publication.

Dr. Heidi Julien writes “The Impact and Legacy of the ISP and Seeking Meaning.”

Julian, a noted scholar in the development and use of theory in library and information science is an authority on the importance of translating theory to practice. She finds, “Of all the theories that have been created and used in library and information studies the ISP has been the most cited and the most impactful.” Her insight into the increasing disruption of misinformation and disinformation challenging our society calls for actively engaging in information literacy for all.

Dr. Chirag Shah writes “Seeking Meaning in the Era of AI-Mediated Information Access.”

Coming from computer science and working on system design, Shah continues to keep the human side in the picture. He has a volume of important, thought provoking presentations and publications and provides a lively forum for sharing news, research, ideas, questions in the Information Matters ASIS&T weekly newsletter. His expertise and balanced perspective are especially important to focus “on cutting edge research and new questions flowing from the original work today.”

Dr. Leslie Maniotes writes “A New Way to Learn: ISP Implications for Education.”

Maniotes is coauthor of Guided Inquiry Design Framework that translates the ISP theory for application in education. She was awarded the coveted Wilson Fellowship to earn her PhD from University of Colorado specializing in learning theory and curriculum. An award-winning teacher in North Carolina and teacher effectiveness coach in Denver Public Schools, she has been working closely with school librarians and teachers providing Guided Inquiry professional development and coaching for teachers across the country.

This new publication of Seeking Meaning is framed by these three insightful, timely essays that position the importance of human information seeking when generative AI is dominating the conversation. I deeply appreciate of the invaluable contribution of Heidi Julien, Chirag Shah, and Leslie Maniotes who so graciously accepted my invitation to join me in this project. With their expertise and vision for librarianship, system design, and education this renewal of Seeking Meaning challenges readers to “Keep the Human in the Loop.”