13th Conference on Professional Information Resources

Autor: Sonja Špiranec, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Department of Information Sciences, Croatia

Co-authors:

Ivana Hebrang-Grgić / Mihaela Banek Zorica, University of Zagreb - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Fulltext

Abstract:

The information environment students are entering at the beginning of their academic careers becomes more complex and diversified. The continuum in information experience, provided in the print era, has diminished in the electronic age. The identification of patterns in the information preferences and behavior of students that belong to the generation of «digital natives» could be an important indicator of necessary transformations in educational and information policies of universities. This paper provides a contribution to this aim, by defining generic information behavior patterns of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences' students, more precisely, those enrolled in the first and last year of studies. Potential differences between those two groups would indicate a shift of preferences in information choices inherent to a specific student generation. The research data will be derived from surveys, which will focus on questions like the frequency of usage of different services and information types, students familiarity with the existence of specific information services, their perception of the quality particular resources offer etc. The investigation will specifically focus on scenarios for the integration of information resources into e-learning systems. Examination of the mentioned issues and areas could alert educational policies and strategies to issues which can raise the quality of learning experiences. In conclusion and based on survey results, the authors will try to articulate consequences, guidelines and recommendations for information providers, library policy and faculty administration.

About author:

Sonja Špiranec is a research and teaching assistant at the Department of information sciences in Zagreb. She graduated in 1998 in information sciences and German language and literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb after which she enrolled at the post-graduate study at the Department of information sciences where she now works. She gained a master's degree with her thesis entitled «User education in academic libraries: new approaches in a networked environment». In 2007 she made her Ph.D. with the thesis "A model of organizing information in electronic learning environments". She teaches several courses at the Department of information sciences (Information literacy, Indexing and Retrieval) and participated in numerous international conferences. In the focus of her research interest are: E-learning, Indexing, Information literacy, Information seeking behavior, Information retrieval.

Author: Richard Hindls, rektor, The University of Economics, Czech Republic

Author: Vladimír Karen, Albertina icome Praha s.r.o., Czech Republic

Author: Ralph Catts, University of Stirling, United Kingdom

Author: Debbi Boden, University of Worcester, United Kingdom