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Introduction. Although extensive research has been reported on illness and family care giving in relation to information seeking and information behaviour, many concerns about unmet information needs and frustrations in finding information are raised. Both the Information Science and Medical and Healthcare communities are calling for deepened understanding of ways information can support patients and their families. Method. The paper asserts the value of the emerging practice of collaborative autoethnography (neglected in information research on care giving) for crafting rich understandings of information engagements and practices in the lives of family caregivers. The method deliberately draws on dual lenses: first, as carers for a family member with a chronic, life-limiting illness or life-threatening disease; second, as information practice researchers. The paper examines ways the method contributs insights in other fields as part of a justification for its value to information research. Analysis. Dual analysis (as care-givers and as information practice researchers) sensitizes us to the individual nature of health related experiences and needs. Building research around the crafting of stories about personal experiences of care giving provides an insider's view that enriches our outsider perspectives when probing the experiences of others and interpreting results from studies using other methods. It can be an intense and challenging task -- but one information researchers should embrace. Results. The approach enables dialogic engagement with someone encountering similar yet different experiences and opens opportunity for new insights about dormant information needs and the emotions and feelings accompanying the desire to know more about how to care for a loved one. The powerful relationship between the evocative and the analytic sheds light on experiences that may not be revealed through other research approaches used to investigate issues associated with illness and palliative care. Conclusions. Collaborative autoethnography can enrich our understanding of the embedded, contextual character of information practices as they unfold in the midst of illness or care giving. Furthermore, it has value for the study of other sensitive sites of engagement with information, where experience from an insider perspective can contribute richer understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Current trends necessitate the need to consider affect and emotion in information behaviour. A research agenda is required to ensure a systematic and holistic approach to information behaviour scholarship that will align research foci, methods and theories with the practical needs of society at large: where are information behaviour studies focusing on affect and emotion needed and what are the foci of studies to date? Method. The cornerstones for a research agenda are outlined before discussing findings from an exploratory literature survey. Analysis. The literature review is organised around six broad themes: where, how, whom, why, when and what, with specific reference to information activities and interactions involving affect and emotion. For each theme, relevant information behaviour research is noted, and opportunities to extend research on affect and emotion are identified. Results. A research agenda is suggested that calls for tighter conceptualisation of affect and emotion, methods for setting research agendas, and researcher and research participant self-awareness of emotion and affect. These recommendations address the broad agenda themes, and have potential to align research findings with practical outcomes. Conclusions. This paper provides a foundation to explore a research agenda which addresses significant information-related needs, and expands the scope of information behaviour scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]