Dervin was born in 1938.[3] She 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 reviewed articles and was on editorial boards for communication and library and information science journals.[4]
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.
^Ross, Catherine Sheldrick; Nilsen, Kirsti; Dewdney, Patricia (2003). Conducting the Reference Interview: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians. Neal-Schuman. p. 93.
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.