An Ordinary Life in the Round: Elfreda Annmary Chatman

Elfreda Annmary Chatman was one of the preeminent library and information science scholars during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The influence of her research on the work of others and through her students continues. Focusing her research and theory development on the information behavior of the ordinary people around her, Chatman highlighted the importance of studying everyday life contexts and helped shape the direction of research for many scholars to examine information in everyday life circumstances. Her middle-range theories were intended to enable information researchers to understand the information behavior of individuals and groups and to facilitate the development of policies and practices to help people experiencing everyday information problems.