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Information seeking behavior research is traditionally partitioned into two realms of life experiences: 1) work or job related; 2) everyday life information seeking (Savolainen, 2010). These two spheres encompass a significant share if not majority of life's time and effort at the universal level. This paper examines information seeking behavior within two specific contexts far outside the realm of everyday life. Characterized as deeply meaningful and intensely personal with life-long impacts, these contexts may not easily fit within existing information seeking behavior framework. We use examples from lived experiences in two deeply meaningful contexts to explore the scope of everyday life information seeking (ELIS), through women who relinquished a child for adoption and from sperm donor offspring who have tried to uncover the identity of their donor. Situations like these have profound impact on the focal person; perceived information needs and search strategies directly affect processes of decision making, coping, and understanding of one's self. Continuing the shift toward a more person centric approach, we suggest information seeking behavior within some contexts should be explored as a third facet of life experience: the deeply meaningful and profoundly personal.

PurposeThe topic of personal archives has mainly been discussed by two research traditions in information science: archives and records management, and personal information management. The purpose of this paper is to compare a corpus of the archival literature written by the archival community with the concepts and challenges posed by Catherine Marshall, who exemplifies the personal information management approach. Many of the personal digital archiving challenges that Marshall identifies are related to discussions within the archival community.Design/methodology/approachIn order to demonstrate the similarities between Marshall's work with the archival discussion about personal archiving, Marshall's challenges, tasks and attributes of personal digital archiving were compared with a total of 33 articles from two library and information science databases.FindingsMany of the personal digital archiving challenges that Marshall identifies are related to discussions in the archival community. The author suggests that certain aspects of the archival literature may be utilized to address Marshall's identified challenges. Lastly, future collaborations between members of the archival community and members of the personal information management community may prove useful in addressing the challenges of personal digital archivingOriginality/valueThe paper demonstrates that two areas of information science share ideas about how to address the issues related to personal archives, but rarely consult one another when writing about personal digital archiving. The author highlights the archives and records management tradition in an attempt to introduce the literature to the broader discussion on personal digital archives being had by the personal information management tradition.

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Developed from psychology and sociology, the concept of self extension means that an individuals' concept of his or her own self can extend outside the body (Belk, 1988). While studies in the context of consumer behavior have explored many applications of self extension to material objects, self extension to digital objects has yet to be explored. Further, self extension to possessions can influence behavior and may therefore influence maintaining behavior, or the actions associated with saving or personal information for the long term. This pilot study uses Q method to explore the extension of self to digital possessions and the implications for maintaining digital possessions for the long term.