Jenna Hartel

Jenna Hartel holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Information Studies from the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a child, she had an uncommon enjoyment of information realized in a love of reading, keeping diaries, and writing letters. Today, her research is organized around one question: What is the nature of information in the pleasures of life? She is investigating this matter through the concatenated study of information phenomena in serious leisure — cherished, information-rich pursuits such as hobbies. Her empirical research explores the content, structure, and use of leisure information on personal and social levels, and her theoretical work aims to characterize the nature of information in leisure realms. She has published on these topics in JASIS&T, the Journal of Documentation, Knowledge Organization, and Information Research; and she is the author of the article “Leisure and Hobby Information and its User” for the recent edition of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (2010).