E-mail Recordkeeping Methods and Behaviours of New Zealand Central Government Employees

Government agencies are becoming increasingly dependent on e-mail systems as communication and information transfer tools. Many e-mail messages contain information vital to the business of government, and therefore organisations need to manage the messages in accordance with managerial, legal, and democratic requirements. On a daily basis, government employees send and receive numerous e-mails and, on behalf of their organisations, make decisions about how to manage them. Although the New Zealand Public Records Act (2005) provides guidelines for records management to New Zealand government agencies, the question is what methods and behaviours are individual employees using to manage business e-mails. So far, however, there is no empirical knowledge available on how individual employees in New Zealand central government agencies manage business e-mail messages. This paper presents the findings of a recently conducted online survey examining how individual employees of New Zealand central government departments identify and manage e-mails of significant value to the business of government. The results show that employees tend to recognise e-mail as a critical tool in the workplace; however, they also tend to make decisions on identifying and managing the messages on an individual basis, rather than in compliance with organisational requirements

Research Report ‘E-mail Records Management in 21st Century New Zealand Government’

Our research has focused on the following research questions: 1. How do individual employees across the New Zealand government identify and manage e-mail records of significant value and importance to their government agency? 2. To what extent are personal electronic record management practices of individual employees in line with legal requirements set out by the New Zealand Public Records Act (2005)? 3. What specifications for effective electronic record management across the New Zealand government can be identified? What recommendations to New Zealand government agencies can be made in this respect

Information Workers and their Personal Information Management: a Literature Review

The research described in this paper provides insights into tools and methods which are used by professional information workers to keep and to manage their personal information. A literature study was carried out on 23 scholarly papers and articles, retrieved from the ACM Digital Library and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). The research questions were: How do information workers keep and manage their information sources? What aims do they have when building personal information collections? What problems do they experience with the use and management of their personal collections?The main conclusion from the literature is that professional information workers use different tools and approaches for personal information management, depending on their personal style, the types of information in their collections and the devices which they use for retrieval. The main problem that they experience is that of information fragmentation over different collections and different devices. These findings can provide input for improvement of information literacy curricula in Higher Education.It has been remarked that scholarly research and literature on Personal Information Management do not pay a lot of attention to the keeping and management of (bibliographic) data from external documentation. How people process the information from those sources and how this stimulates their personal learning, is completely overlooked

Information Seeking Behavior and User Satisfaction of University Instructors: A Case Study

This study investigates information-seeking behavior and satisfaction level of teachers of National Textile University, Pakistan. A questionnaire collected data on preferred types of information sources and formats, methods for getting information, and level of user satisfaction of library services. The findings reveal that books, communication with colleagues and friends within NTU, journal articles, and communication with colleagues and friends in industry were the most preferred information sources. Both electronic/digital and printed formats were equally preferred by the respondents. The use of Internet and email is widespread. A majority of respondents prefer to visit the library themselves to get the required information. Respondents were generally satisfied with the quality of NTU library services, but they recommended increasing the collection to meet subject specific as well as leisure needs

Towards memory supporting personal information management tools

In this article we discuss re-retrieving personal information objects and relate the task to recovering from lapse(s) in memory. We propose that fundamentally it is lapses in memory that impede users from successfully re-finding the information they need. Our hypothesis is that by learning more about memory lapses in non-computing contexts and how people cope and recover from these lapses, we can better inform the design of PIM tools and improve the user's ability to re-access and re-use objects. We describe a diary study that investigates the everyday memory problems of 25 people from a wide range of backgrounds. Based on the findings, we present a series of principles that we hypothesize will improve the design of personal information management tools. This hypothesis is validated by an evaluation of a tool for managing personal photographs, which was designed with respect to our findings. The evaluation suggests that users' performance when re-finding objects can be improved by building personal information management tools to support characteristics of human memory

INFORMATION NEEDS AND SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

This study was hinged on the information needs and seeking behaviour of library and information science undergraduates during the covid-19 pandemic in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Three questions were raised to put the study in the right perspective. The researcher employed the simple random type of sampling technique used to sample 184 respondents who are 200, 300, and 400 level undergraduates from Library and Information Science schools in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. The questionnaire was used as the sole instrument for data collection. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (simple percentage and frequency counts). The finding from the study showed that the information required by undergraduates of library and information science includes: information for personal development, covid-19 preventive protocol, resumption of schools, health-related issues, socio-security, etc. The approach of undergraduates in LIS when seeking information includes: seeking information from course-mates online, consultation of designated chat groups, consulting lecturers, e-books, e-journals, and use of professional services. Also, it was shown that they consult various sources when seeking information, such as e-books, e-journals, websites, social networking sites, e-magazines, print materials, search engines, mass media, etc. The researcher, therefore, recommended among other things that covid-19 has helped to expose undergraduates to different approaches of seeking information and to be independent learners, hence, government at all levels, university administrators, and lecturers should inculcate ICTs into the curriculum of higher institutions of learning alongside the traditional system of teaching and learning

Information Retrieval is for Everybody – Beobachtungen und Thesen

In this paper, the idea of ubiquitous information retrieval is presented in a storytelling manner. Starting from a rough review of information retrieval system usage, some empirical hints on IR in everyday life are given. Ch. 4 explores the heterogeneity of interaction with IRS for one day in the life of a (common search engine) user. In ch. 5 summarizes these observations and suggests research approaches for modelling information retrieval as an essential component of interaction in the information society

Information Retrieval is for Everybody – Beobachtungen und Thesen

In this paper, the idea of ubiquitous information retrieval is presented in a storytelling manner. Starting from a rough review of information retrieval system usage, some empirical hints on IR in everyday life are given. Ch. 4 explores the heterogeneity of interaction with IRS for one day in the life of a (common search engine) user. In ch. 5 summarizes these observations and suggests research approaches for modelling information retrieval as an essential component of interaction in the information society

Women in Prison and Their Information Needs: South – South Prison Libraries Perspective

study aims at identifying the information needs of women in South-South Prison, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. The census sampling technique was adopted for this study. Four objectives were set for the study and the interview was used to elicit information from respondents. Findings showed that Akwa-Ibom Prison topped the highest (21%) of the women in South-South Prison, followed by Cross River Prison (19%), Delta Prison (18%), Edo Prison/Rivers Prison (17%) and Bayelsa Prison (8%). Findings also reveal that the information needs of prisoner’s women covered medical information (98%), education/security information (97%), life after prison/spiritual and moral (86%), financial (84%), family/friends (82%), legal issues (72%) among others. (70%) found the libraries condition in adequate. The study reveal that (73%) counselling topped the highest way of meeting information needs of women in prison. Factors affecting information needs of women in prisoners include, congestion/lack of hygiene / poor funding (96%), lack of medication / health care (91%), lack of security (89%), lack of accommodation after released (78%), lack of time to interact with family/ friends (77%), sexual abuse/excessive prolonged use and pre-trial detention (75%), lack of training/lack of special treatment for women (66%), mental health problem (61%), illegal activities (55%) among others. The paper concludes that Government should ensure that prison policies and programmes are specifically tailored to the needs of women, including those in the areas of resettlement among others. Recommendations were put forward to enhance access to information by the prisoner’s women

Information Seeking Behaviour of the Elderly Persons in Ethiope East, Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria

The study is focused on examining the information-seeking behaviour of elderly persons in Ethiope East, Local Government Area. Four research objectives guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. Two hundred (200) elderly persons were selected through systematic random sampling from each of the districts in the Ethiope East (Abraka, Otoro-Agbon, and Ovu) amounting to a sample size of six hundred (600) elderly persons used for the study. Questionnaires were used to elicit data from the respondent with the aid of three (3) research assistants who are proficient in the Urhobo language. The data collected via the questionnaire were analysed using the descriptive statistics method. Out of the 600 copies of the questionnaire distributed to the elderly respondents, the researchers were able to get the required information for analysis from 525 copies, thus, there was an 88% return rate. The findings revealed that the information needs of the elderly persons\u27 understudy are mainly health-related information, COVID-19 information, and sources of finance-related information, among others. The findings also revealed that friends and family members, health professionals, radio, and television are the major sources of information for elderly persons, among others. The findings revealed the elderly use the information they get to meet health needs, understand about COVID-19 pandemic, get financial sources, to make a better life decisions, among others. The militating factors against the access and use of information by the elderly include declining physical abilities due to aging, inadequate patience from friends and family members, inadequate finance, lack of awareness of information sources, lack of information literacy/ search technique, among others. The researchers recommend that friends and family members caring for elderly persons should try to be patient with them to serve them better in meeting their information needs and government should sponsor information literacy programmes for the elderly to boost their information search and use as they strive to meet their information needs