In the largest sense, my research interests involve Library and Information Science (LIS) and its intersections with the philosophically profound, the personally meaningful, and the transcendent. I am interested in the role of information in religious and spiritual practices, with a noted focus on the application of Buddhist philosophy and psychology to issues and topics within LIS. Other areas of research interest include queer culture, internet culture, the death positivity movement, and the field of fat studies.
Publications
Chabot, R. (2021). Is the library for “every body”? Examining fatphobia in library spaces through online library furniture catalogues. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 44(2/3), 12-30. https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/cjils/article/view/13632.
Julien, H., McKechnie, L., Polkinghorne, S. & Chabot, R. (2018). The “user turn” in practice: Information behaviour researchers’ constructions of information users. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Krakow, Poland, 9-11 October: Part 1. Information Research, 23(4), paper isic1804. http://InformationR.net/ir/23-4/isic2018/isic1804.
McKechnie, L., Chabot, R., Dalmer, N., Julien, H., & Mabbott, C. (2016). Writing and reading the results: the reporting of research rigour tactics in information behaviour research as evident in the published proceedings of the biennial ISIC conferences, 1996 – 2014. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Zadar, Croatia, 20-23 September, 2016: Part 1. Information Research, 21(4). http://InformationR.net/ir/21-4/isic/isic1604.html.
Doctoral Thesis
Chabot, R. (2019). The Information Practices of New Kadampa Buddhists: From "Dharma of Scripture" to "Dharma of Insight". PhD diss., Western University. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/6099/
Conference Presentations
Finding Sanctuary and Strength in the LIS Classroom (Panel)
(w/Jenna Hartel, Kiersten Latham, Beck Tench, Hugh Samson & Hailey Siracky). Canadian Association for Information Science 2021. June 8, 2021. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (Online).
The Information and Contemplation Salon
(w/Jenna Hartel, Tim Gorichanaz, Kiersten Latham, & Hugh Samson). iConference 2021. March 18, 2021. Renmin University of China, Beijing, China (Online).
Asked and Answered: Adapting Western University’s Reference Model in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic (w/Tanis Schumilas, Sam Vettraino, & Lyndsey Janzen). North American Virtual Reference Online Conference 2021. February 24, 2021.
Living Your Best Life and Radiating Positivity: Exploratory Conceptions of Wholesome Memes as “The New Sincerity” (w/Yimin Chen). Canadian Association for Information Science 2020. October 13, 2020. Western University, London, Ontario (Online).
From Scripture to Insight: Buddhist Thoughts on Document Theory. Document Academy 2020. August 8, 2020. Western University, London, Ontario (Online).
Information in Pursuit of the “Good Death”: Libraries’ Role in the Death Positivity Movement. Canadian Association for Information Science 2019. June 4, 2019. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Life is Suffering: Thrownness, Duhkha, Gaps, and the Origins of Existential-Spiritual Needs for Information. Canadian Association for Information Science 2018. May 30, 2018. University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan.
Just how open is Open Access?: Exposing problematic elements in bepress’ Digital Commons Discipline Taxonomy for institutional repositories (w/Emily Carlisle). Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians 2018. May 29, 2018. University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan.
Experiences of immanence and transcendence in the religious information practices of New Kadampa Buddhists. Canadian Association for Information Science 2017. June 2, 2017. Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario.
Relying upon Sangha as information practice: An example from Facebook. Annual Conference on Information and Religion. June 5, 2015. Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
Meditating in the library. FIMSCON 2013. October 20, 2013. The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.