Although information has become increasingly prevalent in young people's lives, minimal research has addressed children's attitudes to the word itself. This paper scrutinizes questionnaire-based data to explore how 45 eight- to ten-year-old Canadians understood the term. `Information' was often considered to be material that met a need, covered particular territory or was associated with action by an individual. The youngsters identified many features they believed characteristic of `good information'; where these requirements were not met the material was frequently deemed `bad information'. The research findings have implications for teachers and librarians, as well as for researchers investigating children's information needs.
Agosto, D.E. and Hughes-Hassell, S. (2006a) `Toward a Model of the Everyday Life Information Needs of Urban Teenagers, Part 1: Theoretical Model' , Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology57 (10): 1394-403.
2.
Agosto, D.E. and Hughes-Hassell, S. (2006b) `Toward a Model of the Everyday Life Information Needs of Urban Teenagers, Part 2: Empirical Model' , Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology57 (11): 1418-26.
3.
Atkin, C. (1973) `Instrumental Utilities and Information Seeking' , in P. Clarke (ed.) New Models for Mass Communication Research, pp. 205-42. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
4.
Bawden, D. (2001) `The Shifting Terminologies of Information' , Aslib Proceedings53 (3): 93-8.
5.
Beverley, C.A. , Bath, P.A. and Barber, R. (2007) `Can Two Established Information Models Explain the Information Behaviour of Visually Impaired People Seeking Health and Social Care Information?' , Journal of Documentation63 (1): 9-32.
6.
Blanshard, C. (2000) `First Byte: The People's Network and the Children's Library' , Youth Library Review28: 7-12.
7.
Bruce, C.S. (1997) `The Relational Approach: A New Model for Information Literacy' , New Review of Information and Library Research3: 1-22.
8.
Buckland, M. (1999) Library Services in Theory and Context, 2nd edn, URL (consulted June 2007): http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Library/Services/index.html
9.
Burdick, T. (1997) `Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Girls and Boys Expressing Voice in Information Research Projects' , Journal of Youth Services in Libraries11 (1): 28-36.
10.
Byström, K. , Limberg, L. , Mark Pejtersen, A. and Pharo, N. (2004) `Conceptions of Task as a Methodological Issue: Scandinavians on Information Seeking and Retrieval Research' , in L. Schamber and C.L. Barry (eds) Proceedings of the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 41, pp. 577-9. Medford, NJ: Information Today.
11.
Dervin, B. (1980) `Communication Gaps and Inequities: Moving Towards a Reconceptualization' , in B. Dervin and M.J. Voigt (eds) Progress in Communication Sciences, Volume II, pp. 73-112. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
12.
Dobson, L. (2000) `Navigating the Sea of Information: A Qualitative Study of Public Library Information Provision for Children in County Durham.' MA dissertation, Northumbria University, Newcastle.
13.
Fairthorne, R.A. (1965) `"Use" and "Mention" in the Information Sciences' , in L.B. Heilprin, B.E. Markuson and F.L. Goodman (eds) Proceedings of the Symposium on Education for Information Science, Warrenton, Virginia, September 7-10, pp. 9-12. Washington DC: Spartan Books.
14.
Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
15.
Gratch, B. (1978) Final Report of the Pioneer Library System, LSCA no. 78-19, Central Library Young Adult Project. New York : Rochester Public Library.
16.
Hayter, S. (2005) `The Information Worlds of a Disadvantaged Community'. PhD thesis, Northumbria University, Newcastle.
17.
Kuhlthau, C.C. (1988) `Meeting the Information Needs of Children and Young Adults: Basing Library Media Programs on Developmental States' , Journal of Youth Services in Libraries2 (1): 51-7.
18.
Latrobe, K. and Havener, W.M. (1997) `The Information-seeking Behavior of High School Honors Students: An Exploratory Study' , Journal of Youth Services in Libraries10 (2): 188-200.
19.
Lester, J. and Koehler, W.C. (2003) Fundamentals of Information Studies: Understanding Information and its Environment. New York: Neal-Schuman.
20.
Levitan, K.B. (1980) `Applying a Holistic Framework to Synthesize Information Science Research' , in B. Dervin and M.J. Voigt (eds) Progress in Communication Sciences, Volume II, pp. 241-73. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
21.
Limberg, L. (2005) `Phenomenography', in K.E. Fisher , S. Erdelez and L. McKechnie (eds) Theories of Information Behavior, pp. 280-83. Medford, NJ: Information Today.
22.
Marchionini, G. (1995) Information Seeking in Electronic Environments . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Martyn, J. (1974) `Information Needs and Uses' , in C.A. Cuadra, A.W. Luke and J.L. Harris (eds) Annual Review of Information Science and Technology9, pp. 3-23. Washington, DC: American Society for Information Science .
24.
Minudri, R. (1974) `Library and Information Services for Young Adults and Students', in C.A. Cuadra and M.J. Bates (eds) Library and Information Service Needs of the Nation: Proceedings of a Conference on the Needs of Occupational, Ethnic, and Other Groups in the United States, pp. 155-61. Washington. DC: US Government Printing Office.
25.
Nanus, B. (1981) `User Needs for Information in the Year 2000', in M. Boaz (ed.) Strategies for Meeting the Information Needs of Society in the Year 2000, pp. 56-64. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
26.
Raber, D. (2003) The Problem of Information: An Introduction to Information Science. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow.
27.
Shenton, A.K. (2002) `The Characteristics and Development of Young People's Information Universes'. PhD thesis, Northumbria University , Newcastle.
28.
Shenton, A.K. (2004) `Children's Information Needs: Why Do We Know So Little?' , Library and Information Update3 (1): 30-1.
29.
Shenton, A.K. and Dixon, P. (2003a) `Just What Do They Want? What Do They Need? A Study of the Informational Needs of Children' , Children and Libraries1 (2): 36-42.
30.
Shenton, A.K. and Dixon, P. (2003b) `Just What is Information Anyway? Some Findings of Research with School Pupils' , Education Libraries Journal46 (3): 5-14.
31.
Shenton, A.K. and Dixon, P. (2005) `Information Needs: Learning More About What Kids Want, Need, and Expect from Research' , Children and Libraries3 (2): 20-8.
32.
Shenton, A.K. and Hayter, S. (2006) `Terminology Deconstructed: Phenomenographic Approaches to Investigating the term "information"' , Library and Information Science Research28 (4): 563-78.
33.
Walter, V.A. (1994) `The Information Needs of Children' , in I.P. Godden (ed.) Advances in Librarianship18, pp. 111-29. London: Academic Press.