Students’ Information Seeking Behavior and Information Needs

Abstract

"All around the world, universities and university libraries have faced the decline in the importance as a physical entity. This decline has multiple causes, such as the change of users' expectations and needs, the universities switch from exclusively on-site work and teaching to remote or more flexible schedules, the availability of alternative sources of information, the use of new technologies (social networks, mobile technologies), the preference for anytime and remote access from personal devices, the demand for greater compatibility and interoperability of systems, and the transformation of library user from consumer into content creator. Thus, this research aims to study the information-seeking behavior of college students in the context of traditional and electronic resources). Urquhart and Rowley's model of information-seeking behavior will be applied along with Wilson's model, to identify the factors that influence information-seeking behavior: the design of information resources, the educational infrastructure, the organizational culture, the availability and access constraints, the information culture, the search strategy, the support and training, the pedagogy, the behavior of teachers regarding information, and the study discipline and curriculum. Nonetheless, the article will explore information literacy skills and the barriers to accessing and using them: cultural aspects related to teaching and learning styles, language proficiency and digital culture. Methods. Initial stages of the project assess the current level of inclusion of industrial property topics into higher education curricula and labour market needs. Samples include Slovenian technical sciences faculties, and employers of technical profiles with needs for industrial property knowledge. Online surveys are used for data collection. Results. General, not positive, alignment was found in terms of expected competencies: Companies do not place high priorities on industrial property competencies of their non-law employees. Furthermore, many higher education institutions do not include these topics in their teaching. Industrial property teaching is needed, but not done, which implies the need for educators-employers dialogue. A relatively traditional image of libraries emerges, as they are usually not involved in teaching. This provides an excellent opportunity for libraries to evolve and become more proactive. Conclusions. Our findings offer a valuable contribution to the planning of a systematic and holistic intellectual property curriculum for technical studies within the European Union."

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