Cowan, Sandra. “Informing visual poetry: Information needs and sources of artists”. Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 23(2), (2004): 14-20.

Abstract

            Cowan addresses the information seeking needs and sources of artists in their creative work and find both a lack of research as well as a strong bias towards purposeful information seeking specifically in the library setting. In the article, Cowan provides a critical literature review of information research pertaining to artists’ needs, conducts an interview with an artist in order to gain insight to the information needs associated with creative work, and finally proposes a hermeneutic framework for studying the information seeking needs of the creative process.

Drawing on Case, Cowan relates the information seeking of artists as not always problem centered or lack motivated, rather information seeking is a dynamic process. Often, artists do not begin seeking information in the library setting. Cowan concludes that because of the dynamic nature of creative work, a hermeneutic circle framework for discussing creative information seeking is necessary. The framework would allow for interpretations of information seeking that are fluid and exploratory rather than linear and need based.

Throughout the article, Cowan maintains transparency of her research methods by explicitly stating the assumptions, limitations, and biases built into her research. Cowan also makes clear that while she interviewed one artist in an attempt to gain insight, she is not able to generalize from that singular case.