Lived Experience of Museum Professionals Encountering With Information Needs of Users

Document Type : Research َ Article

Author

Abstract

Purpose: To study lived experience of professionals, their attitudes and the way they encounter with user’s information needs.
Methodology: The phenomenological method is used to study professionals’ experiences as a phenomenon. The semi-structured interviews conducted with six selected museum professionals, then thematic analysis and interpretation were used. The professionals’ lived experiences encountering with information needs begin with a description of their attitude toward the nature of museum regarding two aspects of knowledge and communication. Then encountering with users’ information needs is categorized according to three types of users: “general”, “special” and “children”.
Results: Different attitudes with social, psychological, historical and art dimensions are taken toward "general users” according to professionals’ expertise and disciplines. Answering “Special” users’ needs is determined by the size and facilities of the museum. Information needs and services for “children” is explained by deep experiences of international dolls museum.
Conclusion: Museums can increase visitors’ knowledge through answering their information needs or arousing questions. This knowledge is developed by looking and touching museum objects and being present in museum atmosphere and cannot be measured. However, users’ lived experiences and attitudes will reveal such knowledge.

Keywords

References

بازرگان، عباس (1391). مقدمه‌‏ای بر روش‏‌های تحقیق کیفی و آمیخته. تهران: دیدار.
حریری، نجلا (1385). اصول و روش‏‌های پژوهش کیفی. تهران: دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد علوم و تحقیقات.
داورپناه، محمدرضا (1386). ارتباط علمی، نیاز اطلاعاتی و رفتار اطلاع‌یابی. تهران: دبیزش، چاپار.
شریعتی، سارا. (1386). عشق هنر موزه‏‌های هنر اروپایی و مخاطبینش. انسان‏‌شناسی و فرهنگ. بازیابی 20 آبان 1396، از http://anthropology.ir/article/13320.html
فتحی، بشارت (1384). پدیدارشناسی به منزله روش پژوهش کیفی. اطلاع‌‏شناسی،  7 و 8 (۱و۲). ص 157-168.
لکناهور، یاسمن (1390). عوامل مؤثر در استقبال مردم از موزه‌‏های هنری در شهر تهران سال 1390. پایان‏‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد تهران مرکز، نهران.
محمدپور، احمد (1390). روش تحقیق کیفی، ضد روش: منطق و طرح در روش‏‌شناسی کیفی. تهران: جامعه‏‌شناسان.
ملاصالحی، حکمت الله (1384). جستاری در فرهنگ، پدیده، موزه و باستان‏‌شناسی. تهران: مؤسسه تحقیقات و توسعه علوم انسانی.
ملایری، محمدحسین (1390). فلسفه علم پدیدارشناسی هرمنوتیک. تهران: مجمع تشخیص مصلحت نظام، مرکز تحقیقات استراتژیک.
Anderson, G. (2004). Reinventing the museum: Historical and contemporary perspectives on the paradigm shift. Lanham: Altamira Pr.
Bourdieu, P., & Dardel A.(1966). L'amour de l'art: Les musées et leur public. Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit, coll. « Le sens commun ».
Brownbill, J., & Peacock D. (2007). Audiences, Visitors and Users: Reconceptualising users of museum on-line content and services. Museums and the Web 2007. Proceedings. J. Trant, & Bearman D. Toronto, Canada, Archives & Museum Informatics.
Booth, B. (1998). Understanding the information needs of visitors to museums. Museum Management and Curatorship, 17 (2), 139-157.
Cameron, F. (2003). Digital futures i: Museum collections, digital technologies, and the cultural construction of knowledge. Curator, 46 (3), 325-340.
Coburn, E., & Baca, M. (2004). Beyond the gallery walls: Tools and methods for leading end-users to collections information. Bulletin of the American Society for InformationScience and Technology, 30 (5), 14-19.
Cunliffe, D., Kritou, E., & Tudhope, D. (2001). Usability evaluation for museum web sites.Museum Management and Curatorship, 19 (3), 229-252.
Dervin, B. (1992). From the mind’s eye of the user: the sense-making qualitative – quantitative methodology. Qualitative research in information management, (9), 61-84.  
Fuentetaja, I. G. (2011). Knowledge-based society and innovation in the new cultural spaces: an approach from the digitized museums. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
Giannini, T., & Bowen, J. (2015) A new york museums and pratt partnership: Building web collections and preparing museum professionals for the digital world. MW2015: Museums and the Web 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/a-new-york-museums-and-pratt-partnership-building-web-collections-and-preparing-museum-professionals-for-the-digital-world/
Hijorland, B. (2002). Epistemology and the socio-cognitive perspective in information science. Journal of the American Society of information science and technology, 53 (4), 257-270.
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (1992). Museums and the shaping of knowledge. London: Routledge.
Hepworth, M., Grunewald, P., & Walton, G. L.)2014(. Research and practice: a critical reflection on approaches that underpin research into people's information behaviour. Journal of Documentation, 70 (6), 1039 - 1053.
Kravchyna, V., & Hastings, S. (2002). Informational value of museum web sites. First Monday, 7 (2). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_2/kravchyna
Laloo, B. T. (2002). Information needs, information seeking behavior and users. New delhi: Ess Ess publication.
Marty, P. F. (2006). Meeting user needs in the modern museum: Profiles of the new museum Information Professional. Library & Information Science Research, 28 (1), 128–144.
Pallud, J. (2009). A User-centered perspective on information technologies in museums. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University.
Skov, M. (2009). The reinvented museum: Exploring information seeking behavior in a digital museum context. Copenhagen, Denmark: Royal School of Library and Information Science.
Taber, M. M. (2014). Use of mobile technology among museum visitors: a case study. Unpublished master’s thesis, The Rochester Institute of Technology Department of Communication College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved December 5, 2015 from Proquest.
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image
Librarianship and Information Organization Studies
Volume 28, Issue 3 - Serial Number 111
December 2017
Pages 141-159

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 23 August 2016
  • Revise Date: 08 February 2017
  • Accept Date: 09 February 2017

Share

How to cite

Statistics