02021nas a2200229   4500000000100000000000100001000000100002008004100003653002600044653001500070653001400085100001600099700001700115700001900132700002800151245007400179856006100253300002000314490000700334520143600341022001401777       2019                            d10ainformation behaviour10ausefulness10arelevance1 aIsto Huvila1 aHeidi Enwald1 aNoora Hirvonen1 aKristina Eriksson-Backa00aThe concept of usefulness in library and information science research  uhttp://www.informationr.net/ir/24-4/colis/colis1907.html  apaper colis19070 v243 aThere is not much doubt that information, information services and systems need to be useful. In this light, the relatively lack of conceptual elaboration of the concept of usefulness in the library and information science literature can be regarded as somewhat surprising. This paper provides a conceptual overview of the use of the notion of usefulness in library and information science literature, explicates its relation to key parallel concepts, and on the basis of an empirical vignette in the context of health information research, discusses the potential limits and advantages of referring to usefulness instead of and together with other related concepts. A review of literature relating to the concept of usefulness was conducted to examine how it has been used in library and information science. A close reading of the literature shows an overlap between related concepts but at the same time, diverging foci of interest in and emphasis on what and how information, information services and, for instance, information systems are considered beneficial or suitable for their users and particular uses. There is a need for better conceptual clarity in the literature regarding usefulness and related concepts. The review shows that usefulness can be literally a useful concept for addressing the user and use (versus e.g. system, content or topic) perspective to engagements with people, services, systems and beyond.
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