Research notes reference service and bounded rationality: Helping students with research

Abstract

In university library reference service librarians often get ambiguous questions to which they try to give appropriate answers. Because of limitations on resources, time, mental capability for information processing, and other factors, the decision-making process involved in answering a reference question becomes bounded by the rationality of these constraints. Entering into this process is the ambiguous nature of good and acceptable answers according to students. This paper is based on Herbert Simon's ideas on bounded rationality and fuzzy sets as discussed by L. A. Zadeh.