Building a Bigger Table: Food Research, Methods, Policy, and Action in Library and Information Science

Growing global concerns over food safety, food price inflation, and climate change demand urgent attention in scientific fields. Food information behavior and practice have been a vibrant and growing research area in library and information science, following the user-centered paradigm shift and everyday life information needs, seeking, and use research since the 1970s. Research has shown that people engage with informal and embodied information to guide food practices (e.g., shopping, cooking, eating, and sustainability transitions). Food and health research challenge research methods and approaches in everyday information behavior and inform everyday practices, technological services, policies, and actions. In this panel, following a brief introduction, each panelist will share their research approaches and/or findings about food, health, and information research. We aim to invite and foster an open discussion with audiences to explore research opportunities, challenges, and approaches to studying food in library and information science.