Eric M. Meyers
Research Area
Education
B.A., M.S.I., Grad.Cert. (Michigan),
M.A. (Stanford),
Ph.D. (University of Washington)
About
Eric M. Meyers is an Associate Professor at the School of Information at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches and conducts research on the information practices of young people in academic and everyday contexts. Eric’s research interests lie at the intersection of information science, the learning sciences, and new media studies, with a focus on collaborative information use and meaning making in social situations. A former K-12 teacher, school librarian and technologist, Eric consults with a wide range of institutions and professionals regarding information services, youth programming, learning spaces, and technology-enriched curricula. He has published journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers on information behaviour, school library programs, and research methods with young people. His current research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) focuses on how early adolescents make decisions to use or reject information in the context of their daily lives.
Eric has been widely recognized for his scholarship on the information practices of today’s youth. Among his honours, he was named to the inaugural cohort of HASTAC Scholars in the Digital Humanities (2008-09), and recognized with the 2008 Jesse H. Shera Award by the Library Research Roundtable of the American Library Association for distinguished published research. His dissertation on information problem-solving in the middle school science classroom won the 2012 ALISE/ Eugene Garfield Dissertation Prize. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan, a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Information Science from the University of Washington.
Teaching
Research
- Youth Information Interaction;
- Collaborative Information Seeking and Retrieval;
- Theories of Learning and Cognition;
- Youth Services;
- School and Public Libraries;
- New Media;
- Virtual Worlds
Publications
Dissertation
Meyers, E. M. (2011). The nature and impact of information problem solving in the middle school science classroom, doctoral dissertation, The Information School, University of Washington.
REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
Meyers, E. M., Nathan, L. P., Unsworth, K. (2010). Who’s watching your kids? Privacy and surveillance in virtual worlds for children. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 3(3).
Meyers, E. M., Fisher, K. E. & Marcoux, E. L. (2009). Making sense of an information world: The everyday life information behavior of preteens. Library Quarterly, 79 (3): 301-341.
Meyers, E. M. (2009). Tip of the iceberg: Meaning, identity and literacy in preteen virtual worlds. Journal of Education for Library & Information Science, 50 (4): 226-236.
Meyers, E. M., Fisher, K. E. & Marcoux, E. L. (2007). Studying the everyday information behavior of tweens: Notes from the field. Library and Information Science Research, 29 (3): 310-331.
Meyers, E. M. (2007). From activity to learning: Using cultural historical activity theory to model school library programmes and practices. Information Research, 12 (3). Available at: http://informationr.net/ir/12-3/paper313.html
Meyers, E. M., Nathan, L. P. & Saxton, M. L. (2006) Barriers to information seeking in high school libraries: Conflicts between perception and practice. Information Research, 12 (2). Available at: http://informationr.net/ir/12-2/paper295.html
Book Chapters
Meyers, E. M., Nathan, L. P. & Saxton, M. L. (2008). Teacher-librarian communities: Changing practices in changing schools. In C. Kimble, & P. Hildreth, (Eds.) Communities of Practice: Creating learning environments for educators, Volume 2, (pp. 197–219). UK: Information Age Publishing.
Fisher, K. E., Marcoux, E. L., Meyers, E. M. & Landry, C. F. (2007). Tweens and everyday life: Preliminary findings from Seattle. In C. Cool, & M. K. Chelton, (Eds.) Youth information behavior II: Context, theories, models, and issues, (pp. 1-26). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Conference Papers
Meyers, E.M. (2012). The collaboration penalty: Why groups of students show lower performance on complex search tasks. American Educational Research Association (AERA’12) Conference, April 13-17, 2012. Vancouver, BC Canada
Bittner, R., & Meyers, E.M. (2012). Unnatural habitats? Sustainability literacy in children’s virtual worlds. American Educational Research Association (AERA’12) Conference, April 13-17, 2012. Vancouver, BC Canada
Meyers, E.M. (2012). Understanding learning and literacy practices in YouTube using discourse analysis. American Educational Research Association (AERA’12) Conference, April 13-17, 2012. Vancouver, BC Canada
Meyers, E.M. (2011). The role of the teacher-librarian in innovative educational contexts: Maintaining relevance in an age of reform. American Educational Research Association (AERA’11) Conference, April 10, 2011. New Orleans, LA, USA
Meyers, E.M. (2010). The complex ecologies of collaborative information problem-solving: A comparative study. American Educational Research Association (AERA’10) Conference, May 1, 2010. Denver, CO.
Meyers, E. M., & Eisenberg, M. B. (2008). Information behavior of grade 9 students: More and less savvy than you might think. The International Association for School Librarianship (IASL’08) Conference. August 3-7, 2008, Berkeley, CA.
Meyers, E. M., Nathan, L. P. & Saxton, M. L. (2006) Barriers to information seeking in high school libraries: Conflicts between perception and practice. Information Seeking in Context (ISIC’06) Conference. July 19-21, 2006, Sydney, Australia.
Meyers, E. M. (2006) Libraries in evolving education systems: An Activity-Theoretical approach. Selected Papers of the International Association for School Librarianship (IASL’06) Conference. July 3-7, 2006, Lisbon, Portugal.
Short Conference Papers, Panels, and Posters
Meyers, E.M., & Bittner, R. (2012). “Green Washing” the digital playground: How virtual worlds support ecological intelligence…or do they? 7th Annual Information Schools (iConference’12) Conference, February 7, 2012. Toronto, ON, Canada [poster]
Meyers, E.M. (2012). Access denied: How students resolve information needs when an “ideal” document is restricted. 7th Annual Information Schools (iConference’12) Conference, February 7, 2012. Toronto, ON, Canada [poster]
Meyers, E. M. (2011). Supporting inquiry by design: Insights from a study of classroom-based information interaction. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual HCIR (HCIR ’11) Conference, October 21, 2011. Mountain View, CA, USA [short paper]
Asselin, M., Dobson, T., Meyers, E.M., Teixiera, C., & Ham, L. (2011). Learning from YouTube: An analysis of information literacy in user discourse. 6th Annual Information Schools (iConference’11) Conference, February 7, 2011. Seattle, WA, USA [poster]
Meyers, E. M. (2010). Losses and gains in collaborative search: Insights from the middle school classroom. ACM GROUP ’10 Workshop on Collaborative Information Seeking. November 7, 2010, Sanibel Island, FL. [paper]
Meyers, E. M., Anderson, T., Freund, L., and others. (2009). Diverse conceptions of “tasks” in Information Science: Conceptual and methodological insights. American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’09) Conference. November 11, 2009, Vancouver, BC. [panel]
Anderson, T., Meyers, E. M., Druin, A., and others. (2009). Children, technology, and social values: Enabling children’s voices in a pluralistic world. American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’09) Conference. November 11, 2009, Vancouver, BC. [panel]
Nathan L. P., Meyers, E. M., & Unsworth, K. (2009). Who’s Watching Your Children? Value Propositions in Preteen Virtual Worlds. iConference ’09. February 8-11, 2009, Chapel Hill, NC. [poster]
Bilal, D., Meyers, E. M., Lee, S., Large, A., Beheshti, J., & Vallieres, N. (2008). Waddling Around the Digital Iceberg: Use of Virtual Spaces and Environments by Children, Preteens, and Teens. American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’08) Conference. October 24-29, 2008, Columbus, OH. [panel]
Meyers, E. M. (2007). Bridging Social and Private Interactions: Collaborative Information Retrieval in K-12 Learning Contexts. American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’07) Conference. October 21-24, 2007, Milwaukee, WI. [poster]
Meyers, E. M., Anderson, T. D., Sundin, O., & Unsworth, K. (2007). Seeking Knowledge in a Social World: Epistemological Pathways. American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’07) Conference. October 21-24, 2007, Milwaukee, WI. [panel]
Meyers, E. M. (2006). From True Believers to Critical Users: Tweens, Credibility, & the World-Wide Web. Information Seeking in Context (ISIC’06) Doctoral Workshop. July 19, 2006, Sydney, Australia. [poster]
Meyers, E. M. (2006) Identity Formation in Teacher-Librarians: The Nexus of Multimembership in School Communities. Connections ‘06. May 19-21, 2006, Syracuse, N.Y. [paper]
INVITED OR EDITOR REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
Book Chapters
Meyers, E. M. (2011). Hanging out on the grid: Virtual worlds for teens and preteens. In D. Agosto and J. Abbas (eds), Teens, libraries and social networking: What librarians need to know (pp. 133-150). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Journal Articles – Invited, Editor Refereed
Meyers, E. M. (2011). Mediating group search: Lessons from a middle school study. Teacher Librarian, 38 (2)
Meyers, E. M. (2010). From small worlds to virtual worlds: cognitive authority in everyday life. Knowledge Quest, 38 (3): 50-53.
Meyers, E. M. (2009). Virtual worlds, real learning. School Library Monthly, 26 (3): 50-52.
Conference Papers – Abstract Refereed
Meyers, E. M. (2010). Searching together, searching alone: How collaboration works (or doesn’t) in grade 7 research. Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE’10) Conference. January 10-13, 2010, Boston, MA.
Meyers, E. M. (2009). Tip of the iceberg: Meaning, identity and literacy in preteen virtual worlds. Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE’09) Conference. January 20-23, 2009, Denver, CO.
Meyers, E. M., Turner, D., Saxton, M. L., & Bruce, L. (2008). Enriching the conversation: Employing Communities of Practice in teacher-librarian professional development. Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE’08) Conference. January 9-12, 2008, Philadelphia, PA.
Meyers, E. M. (2007). The complex character of collaboration: Current practice and future challenges. Into the Center of the Curriculum: Papers of the Treasure Mountain Research Retreat 14. October 24-25, 2007, Reno, NV.
Saxton, M. L, & Meyers, E. M. (2007) Re-conceptualizing library services in the school reform environment: The cost of change. Library Research Seminar IV, October 10-12, 2007, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Book Reviews
Help-seeking in academic settings: Goals, groups and contexts, by Stuart Karabenick. Journal of Web Librarianship, 1 (3), 128-129.
Other – Short Conference Papers
Meyers, E. M. (2007). Social Network “Training Wheels”: Exploring Online Worlds for Preteens. SIG-USE Pre-Conference Colloquium, American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’07) Conference. October 20, 2007, Milwaukee, WI. [workshop paper]
Meyers, E. M., Fisher, K. E. & Marcoux, E. L. (2006). Tweens and the Role of Affect in Everyday Information Behavior. SIG-USE Pre-Conference Colloquium, American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’06) Conference. November 3, 2006, Austin, TX. [workshop paper]
Meyers, E. M., Nathan, L. P. & Saxton, M. L. (2006). The Affective Worlds of Teacher-Librarians. SIG-USE Pre-Conference Colloquium, American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’06) Conference. November 3, 2006, Austin, TX. [workshop paper]
Fisher, K. E., Marcoux, E. L. & Meyers, E. M. (2005) Everyday Life Information Behavior of Tweens. SIG-USE Pre-Conference Colloquium, American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T’05) Conference. October 29, 2005, Charlotte, N.C. [workshop paper]
