Necessidades e comportamento informacional de discentes do curso de Biblioteconomia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba em período pandêmico

Abstract

The informational needs and their varied ways of seeking and using information characterize the informational behavior of certain subjects. The Covid-19 pandemic may have caused changes in this behavior, making it even more complex. Thus, the study aims to investigate the needs and informational behavior of students of the Library Science course at the Federal University of Paraiba (UFPB), during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. To this end, it outlines the students' profile, analyzes their information needs, recognizes process facilitators and barriers, and identifies the sources and channels of information used. The research is characterized as descriptive, with a qualitative and quantitative approach and use of content analysis. Data collection took place through a structured questionnaire, applied in loco, through random sampling, to students from the 1st to the 10th period of the Library Science course on Campus I of the UFPB who were enrolled and took courses in the pandemic and teaching period. remote/hybrid (semesters 2020.1, 2020.2 and 2021.1). The results presented in graphs and charts, with inferences about the objectives to be achieved, demonstrate that: The profile of Library Science students who took courses during a pandemic period was mostly women aged between 21 and 30 who were from the 1st to the 3rd semester of the course. The information channels most consulted by the students were television news and social networks, with the aim of being well informed and following the news about Covid-19, in addition to knowing the ways to prevent and spread the virus and the disease. The most researched subjects were about the number of cases/deaths, symptoms and forms of contagion. To do so, they relied on information obtained from health authority websites and television news and sought this information through smartphone/cell phone and by keyword. They emphasized that the knowledge obtained in the Librarianship course helped in this period of searching for information about Covid-19 and that the primary facilitating factors were knowledge about reliable sources of information and the ability to identify fake news. On the other hand, they pointed out fake news and incomplete information as barriers. It is concluded that user studies collaborate to know the informational need and behavior of groups of individuals in the Covid-19 pandemic period and that, in the study in focus, it made it possible to know the profile, needs, channels, barriers and facilitators of this process.