The authors found that there is a spectrum of discussion in the information studies literature: at one end, accidental discovery of unknown information is seen as a fundamental method of scholarly information seeking (Cooksey, 2004); at the other end, chance information encounters are rejected as having a useful role to play in academic practices at all (Gup, 1998). The purpose of this paper is not to take a position on that debate but to share some of what SAGE has learned about the dynamics of unplanned discovery and how information professionals can encourage this type of unplanned discovery to drive better research outcomes.
Category: White Papers
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