Viewing leisure as experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC65158Keywords:
leisure, information experience, serious leisureAbstract
Introduction. Serious leisure is a well-established concept in leisure studies and combined with the everyday information seeking model, has led to an increased study of leisure activities in library and information science. Considering the limitations of the serious leisure perspective, this conceptual paper makes the case for viewing leisure as experience.
Method. A theory adaptation and conceptual synthesis approach is adopted based on analysis of relevant literature and the use of two studies as cases.
Analysis. Analysis of serious leisure as well as information and document experience literature is used in conceptualising leisure as experience and to make the case for adopting an experience-oriented approach to studying leisure pursuits in LIS.
Results. Leisure is conceptualised as experience rooted in everyday, and falling in a continuum of intentionality based on personal circumstances.
Conclusion. Viewing leisure as an experience will enable the identification and study of holistic experiences of information along with the social context to such experiences.
References
Broussard, R. & Doty, P. (2016). Toward an understanding of fiction and information behavior. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 53(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301066
Bruce, C., Davis, K., Hughes, H., Partridge, H., & Stoodley, I. (2014). Information experience: Contemporary perspectives. In C. Bruce, K. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge & I. Stoodley (Eds.), Information experience: Approaches to theory and practice (pp. 3-15). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Case, D. O., and & Given, L. M. (2016). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs and behavior. (4th ed.). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
Cox, A. M., & Blake, M. K. (2011). Information and food blogging as serious leisure. In ASLIB Proceedings, 63(2/3), 204-220.
Cox, A.M., Clough, P. and Marlow, J. (2008), Flickr: A first look at user behaviour in the context of photography as serious leisure. Information Research, 13(1). http://informationr.net/ir/13-1/paper336.html
Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self. Cambridge University Press.
Davis, K.E. (2015). The information experience of new mothers in social media: A grounded theory study [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Queensland University of Technology.
Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. Minton, Balch & Company.
Dilley, R. E., & Scraton, S. J. (2010). Women, climbing, and serious leisure. Leisure Studies, 29, 125–141.
Elsweiler, D., Wilson, M. L., & Kirkegaard Lunn, B. (2011), Understanding casual-leisure information behaviour. In A. Spink & J. Heinström (Eds.), New directions in information behaviour (pp. 211-241). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Fox, K. (2008). Rethinking experience: What do we mean by this word “experience”?. Journal of Experiential Education, 31(1), 36–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/105382590803100105
Fulton, C. (2021). Urban exploration: Traces of the secretly documented, decayed, and disused. Library Trends, 69(3), 556-572.
Gainor, R. (2013). Leisure information behaviours in hobby quilting sites. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS/Actes du congrès annuel de l'ACSI. https://doi.org/10.29173/cais759
Gallant, K. (2017). Serious leisure: Past, present, and possibilities. In K. Spracklen, B. Lashua, E. Sharpe, & S. Swain (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of leisure theory (pp. 437–451). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56479-5_25
Gallant, K., Arai, S., & Smale, B. (2013). Celebrating, challenging and re-envisioning serious leisure. Leisure/Loisir, 37(2), 91–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2013.803678
Gorichanaz, T. (2019). Information experience in personally meaningful activities. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 70(12), 1302-1310. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1002/asi.24142
Gorichanaz, T., Latham, K. F., & Wood, E. (2018). Lifeworld as “unit of analysis.” Journal of Documentation, 74(4), 880–893. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2017-0174
Hartel, J. (2003). The serious leisure frontier in library and information science: Hobby domains. Knowledge Organization, 30(3-4), 228-238.
Hill, H., & Pecoskie, J. J. (2017). Information activities as serious leisure within the fanfiction community. Journal of Documentation, 73(5), 843-857. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2016-0045
Hoyte, P. (2019), .Implications of the embodied, enactive mind on theorizing about information experience. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 56(1), 413-416. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1002/pra2.40.
Jaakkola, E. (2020). Designing conceptual articles: Four approaches. AMS Review, 10(1–2), 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-020-00161-0
Joseph, P. (2016). Australian motor sport enthusiasts’ leisure information behaviour. Journal of Documentation, 72(6), 1078-1113. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2015-0150
Kari, J. & Hartel, J. (2007). Information and higher things in life: Addressing the pleasurable and the profound in information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(8), 1131-1147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.20585
Kizhakkethil, P. (2020a). Information experience in a diaspora small world. Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 28 September - 01 October, 2020. Information Research, 25(4), paper isic2022. Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/25-4/isic2020/isic2022.html
Kizhakkethil, P. (2020b). Document and information experience in virtual Zenanas: An exploration of a diaspora small world [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of North Texas.
Kizhakkethil, P. (2021). Information as meaningful experience. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 58(1), 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.452
Latham, K.F. (2014). Experiencing documents. Journal of Documentation, 70(4), 544-561. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2013-0013
Lee, C. P., & Trace, C. B. (2009). The role of information in a community of hobbyist collectors. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(3), 621-637. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.20996
Lloyd, A. (2014). Informed bodies: Does the corporeal experience matter to information literacy practice. In C. Bruce, K. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge & I. Stoodley (Eds.), Information experience: Approaches to theory and practice (pp. 3-15). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
Mansourian, Y., (2021). Joyful information activities in serious leisure: Looking for pleasure, passion and purpose. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 73(5), 601–617. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-01-2021-0002
Mansourian, Y. (2024). From serious leisure to passionate pastime: Expanding the conceptual landscape. Leisure Studies, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2024.2413055
Margree, P., MacFarlane, A., Price, L., & Robinson, L. (2014). Information behaviour of music record collectors. Information Research, 19(4). Retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/19-4/paper652.html#.X5txN4hKiUk
Ocepek, M. G. (2018). Bringing out the everyday in everyday information behavior. Journal of Documentation, 74(2), 398–411. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2016-0119
Savolainen, R. (2020). Elaborating the sensory and cognitive-affective aspects of information experience. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(3), 671-684. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0961000619871595
Shen, X. S., & Yarnal, C. (2010). Blowing open the serious leisure-casual leisure dichotomy: What’s in there? Leisure Sciences, 32(2), 162–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400903547179
Stebbins, R. A. (2007). Serious leisure: A perspective for our time. Transaction.
Stebbins, R. A. (2009). Leisure and its relationship to library and information science: Bridging the gap. Library trends, 57(4), 618-631. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.0.0064
Stebbins, R. A. (2020). The serious leisure perspective: A synthesis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Suorsa, A. (2024). Embodied and dialogical basis for understanding humans with information: A sustainable view. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 75(13), 1466–1479. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24952
Pollak, A. (2014). Reconceptualizing serious leisure: Defining leisure as experience in everyday life. [conference presentation]. Bridging to the Future of Leisure, 14th Canadian Congress on Leisure Research (CCLR), Halifax, Nova Scotia
Pollak, A. D. M. (2015). Words to live by: How experience shapes our information world at work, play and in everyday Life [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/pqdtglobal/docview/2699999734/abstract/8B60ABAF5CFE48C1PQ/1
Prigoda, E., & McKenzie, P. J. (2007). Purls of wisdom: A collectivist study of human information behaviour in a public library knitting group. Journal of Documentation, 63(1), 90–114. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00220410710723902
Rosenblatt, L.M. (1981). On the aesthetic as the basic model of the reading process. Bucknell Review, 26(1), 17-32.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1982). The literary transaction: Evocation and response. Theory Into Practice, 21(4), 268–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405848209543018
Veal, A. J. (2017). The serious leisure perspective and the experience of leisure. Leisure Sciences, 39(3), 205–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2016.1189367
Veal, A. J. (2021). A critique of serious leisure as theory. Leisure Studies, 40(4), 575–589. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2021.1879909
Veal, A. J. (2023). Everyday life and everyday leisure. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 6(2), 225–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-023-00134-0
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Priya Kizhakkethil

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
