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Goal. The aim of this paper is to determine the attitudes and opinions of the members of the Pensioners' Club of the city of Osijek after the education was carried out with the aim of training them in information and communication skills. Methodology. The paper presents the results of the research conducted through interviews and focus groups among retirees, the members of the Osijek Retirees' Club. The research examined the attitudes and opinions of 10 pensioners on the topic of education in terms of information and communication technologies during March 2022 using the interview method. After the interviews, the attitudes and opinions of the retirees related to the use of technology were examined in a focus group (1) in which 9 retirees participated (some of whom attended the education, some of whom did not). Finally, a focus group (2) in which 4 retirees participated examined their attitudes and opinions about virtual reality. The respondents wore VR glasses and observed the history of Osijek in the period from 1920 to 2020 by decades. More specifically, they observed how objects, houses, newspapers, furniture and similar things covered in the mentioned period looked. The paper presents the attitudes and opinions of the participants of the workshops, and is a continuation of the previous research, conducted before this training (Jakopec, Selthofer and Hocenski, 2022). Results. The results of the conducted interviews and focus groups indicate that the majority of retirees share the desire for learning and acquiring additional IT knowledge. They own at least one device (mostly a desktop computer or a smartphone) through which they visit social networks, search for necessary information and read the daily news. The respondents who participated in the research believe that they need more similar workshops in order to establish and expand their existing knowledge. After the workshops, the pensioners stated that they are fully aware of the advantages that IT knowledge brings them, and they relate this knowledge to the use of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physically going to certain places (for example, to the doctor) was not possible. The results of the second focus group in which 3D reality was observed using VR glasses have shown that the respondents were not previously familiar with the concepts of virtual reality. According to the participants, the workshop lasted too short, they felt disoriented, and the glasses did not impress them too much. They also pointed out that they wore them for too short a time to highlight something as an advantage, they did not remember much of the presented content, but they found it interesting. Most of them stated that they would like to repeat the experience, but with better instructions and extended time of wearing glasses. Limitations. The research sample is limited to a specific subgroup of the retired members of the Club, and is therefore not representative of the entire population of retired people in the city of Osijek and in the Republic of Croatia. Value. The results of the research indicate the attitudes and opinions of people of the third age towards education in the field of information and communication technologies and virtual reality. The results of the research contribute to the implementation of the "Active pension" project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to show how important information and communication technologies are in the context of senior citizens education. Providing high quality education for senior citizens is very important, because including ICT in their everyday life can have many benefits, make their everyday life easier, promote active life, and facilitate their integration into a working environment. Methodology. The paper presents the results of a research conducted among retired senior citizens who are members of the retirement club Klub umirovljenika grada Osijeka. The research instrument was a questionnaire. The research was carried out from the middle of June to the middle of July 2021, on a sample of 186 retired club members. The questionnaire consisted of questions about their knowledge of media and new technology, possibilities of using them in their environment, and also about their experiences with the use of landline phones, TV, Internet, mobile phones and/or smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Results. The results have shown that most participants are in the age group of 60 to 70 years. They have TV and landline phones in their homes. Almost half of them have Internet access and smart phones. They use technology to search for information of the Internet (38 %) and for reading online news portals (35 %). Most of them do not know anything about using MS Office applications and only 6,5 % of them use e-mail. Only 17 % of the retired members are interested in attending an educational program for acquiring skills for online writing. Value. The results of this paper provide conclusions and guidelines on how to implement quality education for senior citizens. The results of the research are part of a research project named Aktivna mirovina (Active Retirement). A successful implementation of this kind of education would facilitate everyday life conditions for senior citizens and would lead to their easier adjustment to the digital world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to present findings of the research conducted in 2021 on reading habits of Croatian citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine whether there were changes in reading habits and time spent in reading during this period compared to the time before the onset of coronavirus disease. Approach/methodology/design. Online questionnaire was used to collect data about Croatian citizens of 15 years of age and older in the period from 15 February to 1 March 2021. The questionnaire consisted of 29 multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The questions were focused on reading habits and interests, preferred formats of library material they read, and the impact of pandemic on the interest for books and reading in general. The sample consisted of 2.147 respondents from all parts of Croatia. Results. The results have shown that 90.9 % of the respondents preferred printed books while only 8.8 % preferred e-books. In addition, only 16.3 % respondents stated that their interest for e-book has risen during the pandemic in comparison to 2019. A statistically significant difference between the sexes was observed: men tended to read e-books more often than women, whereas women tended to spend more time in a day reading than men. The results have also shown that the respondents who used to read a lot before the pandemic, continued to do so in 2020. Those respondents who did not read books before the pandemic, as a rule, did not start reading them during the pandemic. Reading habits of the respondents (regarding format, genre etc.) have remained similar to those before the pandemic. Limitations. The research was conducted online, therefore excluding the citizens who do not tend to use information communication technology (ICT) - it is assumed that these are mostly the older adults. Also, it should be noted that the citizens with higher education as well as library members and inhabitants of the Osijek-Baranya County were more represented in the sample than in the general population. Originality/value. The paper brings the results on reading and reading habits of citizens of the Republic of Croatia during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020. The fact that a considerably large number of the respondents participated in the research contributes to the reliability of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The paper provides a bibliography of scientific and professional papers of Croatian authors on the education of information professionals in three branches of information and communication sciences: archives and documentation, librarianship, and museology. The aim of the paper is to provide quantitative and qualitative insights into Croatian scientific and professional production in the mentioned areas and to indicate its importance in the establishment of the field of information sciences in Croatia. Methodology. In order to find the relevant papers on the subject the following sources have been searched: the Croatian Scientific Bibliography, Hrčak - Portal of Scientific Journals of the Republic of Croatia, the catalog of the National and University Library of Zagreb, the bibliographic, citation and full text databases in the field of social sciences available through the Electronic Source Portal for the Croatian Academic and Scientific Community, and finally the Google Scholar search engine. In an effort to keep the bibliography as complete as possible, the lists of literature in the identified works were also searched, and for this reason, the bibliography can be considered to be made de visu. The collected bibliography entries were analyzed from the quantitative and qualitative perspectives as well as by the authorship, types of papers, and language. Findings. The quantitative analysis showed that the first papers appeared in the early 1950s, and that even then much thought was given to the education of information professionals. This interest intensified in the mid-1980s and has not faded since then, but rather has grown. The largest number of papers appeared in the first decade of the 21st century. The reasons should probably be found not only in the rapid development of information and communication technologies but also in the introduction of the Bologna process into the Croatian higher education institutions, and the consequent adaptations and changes that had to be made in the curriculum and education of information professionals. The qualitative analysis has shown that a large number of papers were devoted to this topic. More than half of the papers were co-authored by two or more authors, which indicates good professional cooperation between the members of the Croatian professional and scientific community dealing with the issues of education of information professionals. The fact that a relatively large number of papers was presented at foreign conferences, and that a significant number of papers was written in English, indicate the importance of the contribution of Croatian authors to the understanding of this issue at the global level. Originality/value. The thematic bibliography of this type has not been made before. The paper is also a stimulus for a new generation of scientists and experts to further explore the topic of education of information professionals who should constantly work on their professional development and learn how to adapt to new information and communication technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The paper presents library programs and remote services of the Public Library "Petar Preradović" Bjelovar during the COVID-19 epidemic in the period from March 16 to April 24, 2020, when the library was physically closed to users. The adapting of the library to emergency situations in the context of designing and implementing remote services is considered, as well as the remote communication of the library with its users using communication media and channels based on information and communication technology. Methodology. The methodological approach to the topic is presented in the research of the literature related to library management in crises and distance library services. Furthermore, an important topic covered by the literature is the media communication of libraries in crisis situations. This paper brings a synthesis of this research, i.e. a critical reflection on the topic with some examples of good practice. Results. By inspecting the relevant professional and scientific literature and through examples of good practice, it was noticed that the remote services provided in public libraries could more or less successfully implement various services that do not require physical presence of the users in the library. Likewise, these services can be further promoted and developed in collaboration with the local joint media programs, with the help of communication channels based on information and communication technology. Value. The paper emphasizes the importance of adapting library operations to extraordinary situations, in this case the COVID-19 epidemic, both in theory and in practice. Furthermore, the paper highlights examples of good practice that should serve as an example to other librarians in setting guidelines for designing and implementing distance services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]