Wilson's model of information behavior

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into Thomas D. Wilson. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2023.

Wilson's model of information seeking behaviour was born out of a need to focus the field of information and library science on human use of information, rather than the use of sources.

Previous studies undertaken in the field were primarily concerned with systems, specifically, how an individual uses a system. Very little had been written that examined an individual's information needs, or how information seeking behaviour related to other task-oriented behaviours.

Thomas D. Wilson's first model came from a presentation at the University of Maryland in 1971 when "an attempt was made to map the processes involved in what was known at the time as "user need research".