This paper examines the information behaviour and information needs of incarcerated persons in Croatian correctional facilities. A total of 620 printed questionnaires were mailed to six Croatian ...penitentiaries and administered to prisoners who were serving a long-term period sentence. Sample included both male and female prisoners with the response rate of 81%. The data was analysed with the help of statistical software SPSS. Almost all incarcerated persons that participated in this study have a greater need for information while in prison than they had before incarceration. The largest majority of respondents require information about the life in penitentiary, information about their family members and friends, and information about life-after-prison. In most cases, respondents seek required information from their family members and friends. Very rarely are their varied educational, informational, legal and recreational needs met by a prison library. The findings indicate that about a third of respondents revealed that their current information needs were not met and that Croatian prison libraries are unequipped to meet information needs of incarcerated persons. In order to change present situation, better cooperation between Croatian Library Association and Croatian prison administration is needed.
COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 and consequent lockdown caused a number of changes in the everyday activities and lives of people globally. This paper looks into the change of reading habits of adult ...library users in Croatia. The online survey was administered through social media and mailing lists of Croatian public libraries, but part of the sample was obtained through snowball technique. The research was carried out in the period of February 15th to March 1st, 2021 resulting with the sample of 1.463 adult library users. The results were analysed by the SPSS statistical package utilising descriptive and inferential statistical methods (Chi-square, Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient). Results show that almost 50.0% of the sample experienced the change of reading habits (particularly reading books) during the 2020 lockdown and every third respondent believed that they started spending more time reading in 2020. The younger the respondents, the more likely they were to have their reading habits affected by the 2020 lockdown. The prolonged state of a pandemic requires continuous study of reading habits that keep changing and evolving. Sex and age differences detected in the sample should be taken into account by those who create reading policies or offer services that promote reading.
Th aim of the paper is to present findings of a study on information sources and information behavior of doctoral students at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of ...Zagreb, Croatia. The study also looked into student perceptions of the role of the academic library and their attitudes toward it as a legitimate partner in the research process, as doctoral students are required to publish the results of their doctoral research in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals during their course of study. However, they rarely use the library and its services; the study was undertaken with the intent to obtain insight into the students’ information behavior as well as needs and reasons for overlooking the library as a relevant partner in their research process. The online survey was conducted on a sample of 138 postgraduate students, with semi-structured interviews with five postgraduate students also conducted. The findings show a dominant student orientation towards online sources such as online databases and Google Scholar. Students tend to overlook the library as a relevant information source but have positive attitudes toward librarians (their knowledge, skills and courtesy). The library needs to become more active in promoting its services and, especially in the domain of postgraduate education, needs to be regarded as a necessary location for any serious research work, where librarians are regarded as cooperating partners in the research process. There were a few limitations of the study: respondents were unwilling to dedicate their time to this research and therefore the interviews were too short to examine the topics discussed in-depth, while the sample was extremely homogeneous, making the results only in part transferable to other contexts.
Digitalne kompetencije i treća životna dob Lukačević, Srđan; Radmilović, Dino; Petr Balog, Kornelija
Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske,
03/2019, Volume:
61, Issue:
2
Journal Article, Paper
Peer reviewed
Open access
Cilj. Cilj je ovoga rada pojasniti pojmove informacijske i informatičke pismenosti te važnost njihove primjene u svakodnevnom životu osoba treće životne dobi s ciljem smanjivanja njihove socijalne ...isključenosti. Rad prikazuje i rezultate istraživanja provedenog u sklopu projekta „Ukorak s vremenom – osnove rada na računalu“, kao i ulogu Gradske i sveučilišne knjižnice Osijek (GISKO) u osmišljavanju i provedbi programa navedenog projekta s ciljem postizanja informacijske uključenosti osoba treće životne dobi.
Metodologija. Rad donosi rezultate online anketnog istraživanja provedenog među polaznicima radionica na temu osnova rada na računalu namijenjenih osobama treće životne dobi. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 227 polaznika tečaja u razdoblju od travnja 2016. do lipnja 2018.
Rezultati. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su velik napredak i samouvjerenost ispitanika kad su u pitanju njihova informatička i informacijska znanja. Prije tečaja 41,40 % polaznika svoje je znanje ocijenilo ocjenom nedovoljan (1), dok je nakon tečaja ocjenom 1 svoje znanje ocijenilo samo 0,40 % ispitanika. Također, korisnici su prije tečaja koristili internet za puno manje aktivnosti nego nakon tečaja. Čak 99,60 % polaznika tečaja ili namjerava preporučiti ga nekom od svojih prijatelja ili je to već učinilo, što svjedoči o percipiranoj korisnosti stečenih novih znanja i vještina.
Vrijednost. Ovo je prvi takav tečaj na području grada Osijeka i rezultati govore o potrebi osmišljavanja više projekata koji će uključivati osobe treće životne dobi i uporabu ICT-tehnologije.
Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is an incurable neurological disease with an unknown cause. Since AD is not only social and health challenge but also an economic and ...fiscal burden and its prevalence is expected to grow exponentially as world population gets older, in 2012 the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) recognized dementia as a global public health priority. Although librarians have not generally been recognized as professionals caring for persons with dementia, recent research indicates that public libraries can contribute to the development of dementia friendly communities by supporting social inclusion, self-efficacy and capacity building of persons with AD, and by providing support to their informal caregivers (CGs). The research reported in this paper aims to examine the role of Croatian public libraries in building a dementia friendly communities, in a country where information, health and social care systems for D patients and their CGs are not sufficiently developed (Rusac, 2016; Petr Balog et al., 2020). With the help of quantitative (online survey) methodology authors explore how Croatian public libraries tailor their spaces, collections, programs and services in order to enhance the everyday experience of persons with AD and their CGs.
Ako uzmemo u obzir temeljni razlog i ciljanu publiku knjižničnog kataloga, potrebno je kontinuirano raditi na istraživanjima načina na koji mu korisnici pristupaju (neovisno o tome radi li se o ...katalogu na listićima ili online), razumiju li ga (elemente zapisa), znaju li se služiti njime te, u konačnici, uspijevaju li u katalogu pronaći ono što traže. S obzirom na tvrdnje da u današnje vrijeme knjižnični katalog gubi svoju važnost i korisnike, primjerenost kataloga korisničkim zahtjevima od ključne je važnosti za njegov opstanak. Rad daje kratki povijesni pregled najvažnijih spoznaja vezanih uz ponašanje korisnika u odnosu na knjižnični katalog te se, između ostalog, problematiziraju brojne teme vezane uz načine na koji ljudi dolaze i traže informacije, poput načela najmanjeg napora, pristupni vokabular, odnosno razlike u pristupu pretraživanju kataloga s obzirom na to radi li se o katalogu na listićima ili online katalogu. S pojavom novog konceptualnog modela za organizaciju informacija pod nazivom Uvjeti za funkcionalnost bibliografskih zapisa (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records – FRBR), koji počiva na odnosu entitet-odnos, krajem devedesetih godina 20. stoljeća te, najnovijeg, njemu srodnog objektno usmjerenog modela (FRBROO), kao i pojavom RDA-a, najnovijeg anglo-američkog kataložnog pravilnika (ali i šire) početkom 21. stoljeća, korisnički je aspekt dodatno naglašen, no, kako brojni autori zaključuju, nedovoljno istražen. U zaključku, rad donosi promišljanja autorice o novom hrvatskom pravilniku za katalogizaciju koji je u pripremi te važnosti uvažavanja svih dosadašnjih spoznaja vezanih uz korisničku problematiku traženja i pronalaženja informacija.
Cilj. Cilj ovoga rada je dati povijesni pregled djelovanja Odsjeka za informacijske znanosti Filozofskog fakulteta Osijek od njegovog osnutka do danas s naglaskom na njegovu znanstvenu, nastavnu i ...stručnu djelatnost, studentsku populaciju te ishode učenja i kompetencije diplomiranih studenata.
Pristup. Na temelju postojećih dokumenata i radova koji govore o nastanku Odsjeka i njegovu djelovanju, ali i o studijskim programima i studentskim kompetencijama, te zadovoljstvu studenata i poslodavaca, u radu se donose informacije o razlozima osnutka, načinima djelovanja i razvijanja Odsjeka te planovima za budući razvitak.
Rezultati. Rad donosi rezultate promišljanja autorica o aktivnostima Odsjeka, snazi ali i prostorima za poboljšanje uočenih slabosti te pravcima budućeg razvoja.
Vrijednost. Vrijednost je ovog rada što bilježi brojne aktivnosti Odsjeka te na jednom mjestu opisuje njegov razvoj kroz protekle dva desetljeća. Kako Odsjek raste, on se i mijenja te je nužno da se sve te promjene trajno zabilježe.
Purpose. The world population is continuously ageing, and a significant amount of world efforts has already been dedicated to increasing the quality of life of the population in the age-group of 65+. ...A way to achieve this goal is to introduce older generations to the benefits of digital technology. This paper presents the findings of a study on digital technology adoption and the online information needs of senior citizens in the city of Osijek, Croatia.
Methodology. The study was conducted on a sample of 188 participants from September to December 2021. The data was collected by the means of a paper survey distributed to respondents in several locations: a local senior care home, the farmers market, and a non-profit organization.
Findings. The respondents in our sample prefer smartphones (49.5%) and personal computers or laptops (27.7%) over tablet computers and smartwatches. The internet is used by almost 70% of the respondents, mostly for purposeful searches for information or communication. E-learning, e-shopping, or e-government applications are used rarely. The study detected significant differences in digital technology use concerning gender, age, life satisfaction and living with a partner.
Social implications. In order to support and promote the active ageing of senior citizens in Osijek, a more systematic approach at the level of city administration is needed in order to ensure a better understanding and use of digital technology by this vulnerable demographic group.
Originality. The paper presents a valuable contribution to further understanding the ICT adoption, skills and online information behaviour of senior citizens in Osijek, Croatia.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) in Osijek, Croatia, interact online with any sort of e-democracy or ...e-government information.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the findings of a pilot-study conducted among the undergraduate and graduate students of the FHSS in Osijek. The research was conducted in May 2015 on a sample of 246 students. The research was carried out by means of an online and paper survey and reached 59.91 per cent of the population of students enrolled in the first year of undergraduate and graduate studies.
Findings
Students in our sample spend a lot of time online. They are relatively active online when it comes to finding information connected with their academic responsibilities (e.g. 77.2 per cent of the students of the sample have gone online for finding information about exams, scholarships, etc.), but rarely engage in democratic processes within the academic community (only 11.8 per cent have contacted their student representative on the University Student Board). They are even less interested in democratic processes within the local community (8.1 per cent have contacted their local authority representatives regarding an administrative or communal matter).
Originality/value
This is the first research of FHSS students’ perceptions and views regarding their engagement and their information behavior regarding e-democracy and e-government processes and one of the very few such researches in Croatia.
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