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Focuses on the information needs of users that are changing as a result of changes in the availability of information content in electronic form. In the course of the discussion, the paper first highlights the trend and nature of the physical form in which information content is currently being made available for users’ access and use in electronic information environments. It then attempts to determine why the prevailing information needs of users are coming into being and how they are shaped in electronic information environments. Finally, makes suggestions regarding how to go about identifying and meeting the prevailing needs in electronic information.

Shows that undergraduates do have needs for user education programs but that existing programs are not well designed to meet these needs. Suggests that if librarians can better understand undergraduate needs, they then can redesign existing user education programs accordingly. Also presents models and theories that help to understand undergraduate needs and the factors affecting those needs. Concludes that it is unrealistic for librarians to serve every undergraduate’s needs. Effective segmentation is therefore necessary to identify realistic segments to be targeted. Suggests subject‐based segmentation to be an effective means.

The user-centered approach to understanding information use and users has shaped research in library and information science (LIS). In a user-centered environment, catalogers are told to focus on users and adapt standards to meet users’ needs while following standards in order to be efficient in their jobs. This study describes three academic cataloging units as they negotiate both the demands to follow and adapt these standards to meet users’ needs. New institutional theory served as a framework for the study. The results suggest that standards and users are pressures that cataloging units negotiate in their jobs, along with demands for work efficiency and professional legitimacy. While negotiating these pressures, catalogers and cataloging units redefine their work jurisdiction and maintain legitimacy to remain relevant in a complex work environment. Understanding how catalogers negotiate the normative institutional pressures of standards and users leads to an understanding of the complex nature of work in areas that deal with issues of standards and users, shows how an area within a profession maintains legitimacy when the profession no longer values that work, and, finally, shows the limits of the user-centered focus in LIS practice.

Ethnic minorities (EMs), who make up a sizable proportion of multilingual users, are more likely to browse and search in their native language. It is helpful to identify multilingual users' information needs to provide public digital cultural services (PDCS) for making their life better.

The in-context interview is an efficient way to explore EMs' information needs and evoke their daily experience with PDCS. The material from 31 one-on-one interviews with EMs in China was recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis.

The findings reveal that language proficiency is a critical factor influencing multilingual information access (MLIA) and multilingual users' information needs. Moreover, language ability, digital literacy and cultural literacy are important components of multilingual information literacy (MLIL), which is helpful for EMs to access PDCS. In light of Kochen's theory, the information needs of PDCS can be classified into the aroused need of resources, the recognized need of functions and services and expressed need. For the expressed need, it is necessary to develop a one-stop convergence platform of PDCS to process various requests of resources, functions and services in the future.

The findings will be valuable for governments, public institutions and social organizations in identifying, addressing and resolving these issues about PDCS.

This article aims to understand users' information needs in the metaverse communities and to analyze the similarities and differences between their information needs and those of users in Internet communities.

This study conducted semi-structured interviews with users in the metaverse communities to gather raw data. Grounded theory research methods were employed to code and analyze the collected interview data, resulting in the extraction of 40 initial concepts, 15 subcategories and 5 main categories. Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, this paper constructs the hierarchical model of users' information needs in the metaverse communities. It compares the differences between users' information needs in the metaverse and Internet fields.

The user’s information needs in the metaverse communities are divided into two types: deficiency needs and growth needs. Deficiency needs have two levels. The first level is the demand for basic information resources. The second level is the users demand for information assistance. Growth needs have three levels. The first level is the need for information interactions. The second level is the need for community rules. The ownership information in the community rules can provide proof of user status, assets and so on. The third level is the need for users to contribute and share their own created information content.

This article presents the latest research data from in-depth interviews with users in the metaverse communities. It aims to help builders and managers of metaverse communities understand users' information needs and improve the design of virtual communities.

We present a new approach that shifts the leverage point of information systems development from problem orientation to opportunity development. Our approach, entitled FormIT, employs a careful focus on enhanced user involvement, concentrating on users as human beings, and attention to users’ needs as opposed to system requirements. As theoretical and methodological foundations, we build on the 4-D cycle model of Appreciative Inquiry and current research on needfinding. Our field experience demonstrates that FormIT shifts the systems development process from being reactive to being proactive, and in turn, enables a smoother implementation of inevitable change, particularly radical change. Moreover, FormIT stimulates the generation of rich local knowledge and helps reveal deep insights into the development process and the overall organization.