The objective of this study was to generate concepts and a theory that can illuminate the information-seeking behavior of public library users. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted at five public libraries. The interview data were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. Thirty-five concepts were extracted and organized into seven categories: 1) accumulating needs and feelings, 2) recognition of search at libraries, 3) emotion experienced at the start of a search, 4) physical conditions, 5) conducting a search, 6) acquisition of information/resources, and 7) evaluation and perception for search results. The structure of these categories was also determined, for example, "accumulated needs and feelings" directly prompt "conducting a search," "recognition of search at libraries" affects "conducting a search," conducting a search results in "acquisition of information/resources," and leads to an "evaluation and perception of search results."

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Hiro Arikawa's bestselling novel series, Toshokan Senso or Library War, was published between 2006 and 2008. Arikawa wrote that she was inspired by the Japan Library Association's Statement on Intellectual Freedom in Libraries. This led us to explore the actual history of the statement, and contrast it with how she uses it as a basis for violence in the popular series. The Statement on Intellectual Freedom in Libraries as proposed in the May 1954 General Meeting of the Japan Library Association, was based on a draft published the previous year by the Saitama Prefecture Library Association. The draft was partly based on the American Library Association's 1948 version of the Library Bill of Rights. This paper compares the differences between these documents and examines the historical contexts that explain some of the key differences between the versions as they highlight different philosophies of librarianship in Japan and the United States. We concluded that the early postwar Japanese librarians' deep-seated mentality of 'resistance to authority,' which was embedded in the statement's texts, was what inspired Arikawa's use of violence in her novels. We examined how the concept of resistance, so boldly stated in the statement's first draft, became watered down in the final draft version because of fears of offending the agencies which were funding Japan's fledgling libraries as well as other external factors.

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