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MLS students author paper accepted at Symposium

(College Park, MD – 11/02/07) MLS students Laura Arnhold, Heather Jackson, Megan McCarty, Adrianne West, and Sara Whitt authored "Babies are People Too!: Modeling the Information Needs and Behaviors of Infants and Toddlers.”

Frequently mentioned in LIS literature, is the problematic nature of assessing the information needs and behaviors of infants and toddlers. Evaluative measures must be tailored to a user group that varies wildly in scope of communicative ability. Even the most verbally advanced members of this user group are unable to read with enough proficiency to complete a survey or questionnaire. We demonstrate that a usable needs model can be designed by relying on the existing literature and quantitative and qualitative research.

This model is designed as an intersection between Walter's (1994) needs hierarchy for school aged children (based on Maslow's (1943) similar work in developmental psychology) and the Wilson (1999) model of user needs and barriers. A pilot study of children's services librarians further informs the model by elucidating barriers. We designed a survey utilizing a five-point Likert scale and provided it to the librarians. The survey examines the personal assessment of the information needs of infants and toddlers by these librarians, as well as an examining the institutional assessment of this user group. This study also examines the prioritizing of very young children's information needs by librarians and libraries. Data collected from the study revealed a significant disparity (p < 0.004) between the evaluation of the needs of very young children by the librarians serving this user population directly and the priority given to those needs by the institutions employing these librarians. We therefore conclude that there are significant institutional barriers to meeting the needs of very young children.