Journal
JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION
Volume 59, Issue 3, Pages 321-340Publisher
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1108/00220410310472518
Keywords
information retrieval; research
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Serendipity has both a classical origin in literature and a more modern manifestation where it is found in the descriptions of the problem solving and knowledge acquisition of humanities and science scholars. Studies of information retrieval and information seeking have also discussed the utility of the notion of serendipity. Some have implied that it may be stimulated, or that certain people may encounter serendipitous information more than others. All to some extent accept the classical definition of serendipity as a fortuitous accident. The analysis presented here is part of a larger study concerning the information-seeking behaviour of interdisciplinary scholars. This paper considers the nature of serendipity in information-seeking contexts, and reinterprets the notion of serendipity as a phenomenon arising from both conditions and strategies-as both a purposive and a non-purposive component of information seeking and related knowledge acquisition.
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