Rachael Clemens

As an information scientist, my professional goals involve cultivating research in the area of human information behavior and decision-making within the context of personal crisis. In case you are not familiar with the term “human information behavior” – it is an umbrella concept encompassing the ways people seek information, perceive potential sources of information, engage with information, evaluate information, decide to trust information, dismiss or avoid information, as well as create and share information. I am interested in pursuing research that examines various contexts of personal crisis, particularly situations in which shame and social stigma may impede effective information seeking behavior and thus compromise informed decision-making behaviors.

Current/recent projects include:

  • Wrapping up revisions for accepted article in Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies – “Does it matter: Have BLM protests opened spaces for collective action in LAMs?”
  • Teaching Human Information Behavior [INLS 203] to an engaged group of UNC undergraduates (primarily BSIS students at SILS)
  • July 15, 2021: Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI) Presentation: What Matters to Archives? Preliminary survey results from archivists and archival scholars on institutional and organizational responses to 2020 BLM calls for social justice.
  • 2017-2019: Visiting researcher and lecturer at University College London Qatar
  • Research project on WhatsApp group as a social and collaborative information seeking virtual platform for expat Muslim women living abroad in the Middle East [poster presentation at iConference 2018, Sheffield, England]
  • Invited chapter on information behavior and crisis decision-making for inclusion in the Routledge Handbook of Adoption [2020]
  • Developing a model of information behavior in crisis contexts – pushing the boundaries of “Everyday Life Information Seeking” to better understand unique aspects of decision-making under duress of personal crisis
  • Teaching Research Methods [INLS 581] to another cohort of amazing grad students at SILS! (INLS 581 syllabus)