Carol Kuhlthau

Born in New Brunswick, state of New Jersey ( USA), she graduated from Kean University in 1959, completing a master's degree in Librarianship in 1974 at Rutgers University and later obtaining a doctorate in 1983. In that same center she was the coordinator for more than 20 years of a master's degree in Library Science and [[Documentation | Scientific Documentation] ], as well as Professor Emeritus since 2006.

She was the founder of the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries. [2]

Kuhlthau became interested in human behavior and information search strategies. She conducted a field study in various library s with students in 1989.[3] Two years later she published the first study on the information search process called "Kuhlthau Model". In it, Kuhlthau detailed how the students still had serious problems translating the knowledge they possessed on the specific topic (s) to be investigated, to materialization in a successful search. [4]

To resolve this point (which Kuhlthau called the "information problem"), she designed a strategy based on six successive steps or stages, but which, in no case, would be mandatory; that is, they would be taken flexibly depending on the user's skills, the library system used, the type of document required, etc.

An important aspect is the human factor. Kuhlthau concluded that the mood of the students influenced how she developed the search.

The six steps would be: [5]

• 1.- Home: the user has a need for information. Here, the author considers that uncertainty is a negative element in obtaining his purposes.
• 2.- Selection of the topic: it is a first step of concretion without becoming definitive because his ideas are still too vague.
• 3.- Exploration: she begins to manage the library-documentary system with those weak ideas. At this stage it is common to rethink the research.
• 4.- Delimitation of the topic: with the documentation gathered, the user begins to visualize the information objective achieved.
• 5.- Selection of the information: the investigation is already clear and they begin to use the documentary tools profitably.
• 6.- Conclusion of the search: the user considers the task closed, feels relief and accumulates new knowledge and confidence to tackle the next
• 7.- Drafting of the final document: the work is completely finished when its investigation is presented in front of the class or in front of the public.

searches.

However, this model has been focused on school or high school students, being outdated for university students or researchers.

Introduced in 1991, Kuhlthau's 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 was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She received her B.S. from Kean University in 1959, Master's in Library Science (MLS) from Rutgers University in 1974 and her Doctorate in Education in 1983, also from Rutgers University.[6] Her doctoral dissertation was titled "The Library Research Process: Case Studies and Interventions with High School Seniors in Advanced Placement English Classes Using Kelly's Theory of Constructs."[7] She held several teaching and library positions before joining the Rutgers 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 & 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.[8] Her book Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services[9] is a classic text in library and information science in the United States and abroad.[10] Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century (2007) 2nd Ed (2015), written with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari, recommends learning environments where students gain deep understanding and also information literacy grounded in the Information Search Process. Guided Inquiry Design: A Framework for Inquiry in Your School (2012) written with Leslie Maniotes, PhD and Ann Caspari is a full description of the instructional design framework called Guided Inquiry Design a complete approach to inquiry based learning from a learning perspective.

• "Guided Inquiry Design: A Framework for Inquiry in Your School with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari (2012)
• Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century with Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari (2007) revised second edition (2015)
• 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)

• American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) Research in Information Science Award, 2005 [11]
• Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Award for Professional Contribution Library and Information Science Education, 2004 [12]
• Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) Frederick G. Kilgour Research Award, 2002 [13]
• Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award, 2000 [14]
• American Library Association (ALA) Jesse Shera Award for Research, 1998 [15]
• American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Distinguished Service Award, 2000 [16]
• Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Award for Outstanding Contributions to the School Library Media Field through Publishing, and Teaching

• Information Search Process

• Guided Inquiry, Strategies for Teaching in the 21st Century, (IASL 2009 keynote presentation)
• Kuhlthau's Model of the Stages of the Information Process, reproduced from Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services, retrieved December 3, 2006