Brenda Dervin

Brenda Louise Dervin
Professor of Communication, The Ohio State University
Personal details
Residence(s)	Columbus, Ohio
Alma mater	Cornell University, Michigan State University
Profession	Educator

Brenda Dervin, currently a professor of communication at Ohio State University, is a researcher in the communication and library and information science fields. Her research about information seeking and information use led to the development of the sense-making methodology (Ross, Nilsen, & Dewdney, 2003, p. 93). Dervin received a bachelor's degree in journalism and home economics from Cornell University, with a minor in philosophy of religion, and her M.S. and PhD degrees in communication research from Michigan State University. In 1986 she acted as the first president of the International Communication Association. Dervin reviews articles and also is on editorial boards for communication and library and information science journals.

Dr. Dervins original artwork of the Sense-Making Metaphor

Publications

• Dervin, B. (2003a). Audience as listener and learner, teacher and confidante: The sense-making approach. In B. Dervin, L. Foreman-Wernet, & E. Launterbach (Eds.), Sense-making methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin (pp. 215–231). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.
• Dervin, B. (2003b). Information as non-sense; information as sense: The communication technology connection. In B. Dervin, L. Foreman-Wernet, & E. Launterbach (Eds.), Sense-making methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin (pp. 293–308). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Further reading

• Neill, S. D. (1992). The dilemma of the subjective in information organization and retrieval. Dilemmas in the study of information. Westport: Greenwood Press.
• Ross, C. S., Nilsen, K., & Dewdney, P. (2002). Conducting the reference interview. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

External links

• Sense-Making
• Sense Making references/bibliography