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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.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on the information behavior of practicing visual artists to determine if a consistent model emerges and what further research is necessary.

Works dealing with the information needs and uses relevant to the creative activities of visual artists are discussed in the paper. These works are assessed for their contributions toward understanding of the specific information behaviors of practicing artists.

The results show that a consistent model of artists' information behavior emerges. However, nearly all of the literature focuses on art students, academic art faculty, or librarians, and so any claim that practicing artists fit the model is largely unsupported by research. There have been no published studies of communities of practicing visual artists. The implications of defining artists as communities of practice are discussed.

Research is proposed that studies the information behavior of communities of practicing visual artists in order to confirm or amend the existing model.

Practitioners will have their attention drawn to an underserved user population whose information needs and behaviors have not been directly targeted for research. They will recognize the need for study of their own artist communities and the development of services for them.

This paper directs the discussion of artists' information behavior away from the art‐library‐specific literature, where it has largely resided, as a means of adjusting the focus of research onto the largely unstudied and underserved communities of practicing artists.

While working in a rural district library system, the question of planning library/information services to meet the needs of the population was always of foremost importance. Community profiles of the region had been conducted continuously for ten years, and during the eleventh year it was decided to survey the entire area in a methodical way to search for the information needs of the population. The purpose of the study was to identify information needs in a specific rural area in Israel in order to design a plan for library/information provision to meet those needs. The study consisted of a literature search of relevant material on information needs in rural areas and less developed countries and a multi‐level field survey in one specific rural area of Israel.

This paper is a partial reflection of a research in strategy development to help agriculturists in Nakhon Si Thamarat Province to increase the capacity of the community enterprises to a “good level” of performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the information behavior of farmers regarding the success of the community enterprises management in Nakhon Si Thamarat, Thailand.

A qualitative research method was applied, using in-depth interviews, observation and field notes. The study area covered community enterprises located in the Muang District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand, which were evaluated to study the levels of information behaviors. Data were collected from 45 respondents from 9 community enterprises 3 categories (passive, common, and active levels). Five interviewees were gathered in each category for the purpose of this research.

The findings show the following information behaviors of farmers that support the management capacity of the community enterprises between the passive level and the active level: information needs (arising from a clear occupational purpose of an individual or a group of individuals), information-seeking (the farmers knowing and understanding the problems that require information, choosing the right information sources), searching multiple sources and selecting the right information and using this information for development and occupation.

This research constructed a body of new knowledge of farmers’ information behaviors of community enterprises. This knowledge will lead to the development of an information behavior model for community enterprises which will help strengthen the capacity toward the active level.

The main purpose of this paper is to identify Bangprok community's information needs and to evaluate the performance and impact of its boat library.

The research methodology included a complementary two‐stage process. First of all, a house‐to‐house survey was conducted to construct profile of Bangprok dwellers. At the same time, the key informant from each household was interviewed to find out the information needs and seeking patterns. The second part of the research involved a point of exit interview with Bangprok boat library users to undertake user profile and to gather their opinion on the library's performance and impact on community development.

The results showed that a small‐scaled community library has the potential to make a positive impact on the community. The results also yielded several implications for the boat library, including how its collections and services could be improved to make an equal impact on the community.

This is the first time an effort has been made to assess a community‐based library service in Thailand. This study may trigger more such research on evaluating rural community libraries in Thailand and beyond.

This paper sets out to offer a holistic perception of the information ecology in which disadvantaged communities of the so‐called third world operate with a view to contribute to overcoming its limitations in a more effective way.

The authors briefly review the major social, economic and cultural characteristics of disadvantaged communities that balance the common place trust in the power of modern information products and infrastructures. Based upon a number of field studies the notion of information needs is reconsidered and combined with concerns for information literacy, social autonomy and the role of indigenous knowledge. The authors then present a number of examples of innovative approaches to the delivery of information services that may support the role of information centers and libraries as change catalyst from within the communities rather than mere providers of ready made information.

To this end, information professionals have to be educated in order to become change agents and consider this role as essential for their practice to be rewarding for themselves and more importantly for the people they serve. There are numerous examples of information services and information professionals who make a difference in the life of their communities against the most severe circumstances. This however requires a radical shift in their value system and operation.

The authors hope that the paper will encourage information professionals and in first place those who educate them to give social responsibility toward disadvantaged communities the same emphasis and priority as alignment with the latest technological artifact or excellence in observance of standards.

This article reports on a study undertaken to explore the feasibility of using a participatory research approach as a method for determining information needs. Dissatisfaction with the use of quantitative methods and techniques in information needs research resulted in a gradual move towards the use of qualitative methods focusing on the users themselves in determining their information needs. Participatory research is a qualitative research methodology that challenges the principles and practices of objective, detached, quantitative research approaches. The use of participatory research methods in this project resulted in the identification of reliable and relevant information needs. These results can serve as an example for the increasing use of qualitative techniques in information needs research and affirm that participatory research methods can be a valuable alternative in the area of information needs research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

The paper provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This is the second article focusing on rural library services in Bangladesh. The main aim of this paper is to empirically measure the performance and impact of rural library activities in northern districts of Bangladesh.

The study was carried out separately in ten rural communities with library facilities. Background data about library collections were collected. Point‐of‐exit interviews with library users were carried out to gather their opinion on library collections, performance and impact.

The point‐of‐exit interview highlights the users' demographic characteristics, their library use and information needs, and their opinion on library collections, performance and impact. The constraints faced by users in using these libraries are also identified. The results show that most users are generally satisfied with the performance and impact of these libraries.

This paper is the first attempt to measure empirically the performance and impact of rural library activities in Bangladesh. The authors expect more research on impact assessment of rural library activities in other developing countries.

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United States.

Interviews were conducted with 30 older adults residing in rural communities around the Midwestern United States during late-summer (July/August) 2020, using a protocol based on Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. The resulting data was analyzed using standard content analysis procedures, guided by the theoretical frameworks based on Dervin's Sense-Making and Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Behavior. Implications of COVID-19 for the normative behaviors described in these models are discussed.

Findings show that older adults were concerned primarily with health and political information during this period, but that this information was not necessarily sought only to address an informational need, but also to satisfy the need to maintain social and emotional connections in coping with isolation and loneliness. Sources of information that allowed for social interaction with people were favored. Wider personal networks (community members) were strained by the social distancing measures and closures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for considering the impact of social restrictions on information seeking behaviors of older adults in a time of crisis.

This study is the first, known to the authors, that applied the two adopted theoretical frameworks to explore information seeking behaviors of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.