Search Process and Strategies

An assumption from previous experience was that talking to personnel both in the Library Human Resources (HR) and the University HR would be a dead end.

Steps

1. As a test, the searcher emailed the University HR a general question about Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the institution's policy on Leave Without Pay (LWOP), whether you could take only part of the leave as FMLA and the rest as LWOP.

2. Searcher asked others who have taken FMLA for maternity leave what thier experience was.

3. Searcher viewed the Library HR webpages for more information

4. Searcher viewed the University HR webpages for more information

5. At the advice of those had taken FMLA for maternity, searched the US Government webpages for more information

6. Retraced emails from previous maternity leave and recent question to University HR, and forwarded to Library's Assistant Dean for Fiscal Services for clarification.


Strategies
When asked about her strategies, the interviewee reported a preference for searching written (both electronic and physical print)resources. However, the steps of her search indicate that when she realized the the approach wasn't working, she tried a different approach. This is what Bates (1989) terms catching and breaking. When emailing University HR didn't work and she asked others for advice, she was using Bates' consulting tactic. The interviewee incorporated other tactics identified by Bates, such as reframing, noticing, jolting and skipping.

For more on how Bates' Berry-picking model for information search process applies to this information search, see Modeling the Search Process .