"I left with only my clothes and my laptop" The Information Experiences of Domestic Violence Survivors

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) often live in an irregular flow of crises. Effective service intervention and infrastructure development require understanding their information contexts, resources, experiences, preferences, and needs. Building on an analysis of an IPV survivor bulletin and extensive interviews, this presentation delineates characteristics of the information world in which survivors must function in order to move towards safer living.

Dr. Lynn Westbrook's background is in academic librarianship with a focus on reference and instruction. She has published on interdisciplinary information seeking in Women's Studies, information literacy, information needs analysis, and relevance criteria applications. Her current research projects center on understanding the interactions between people and information, particularly aspects of mental model construction.