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Introduction: The paper presents findings from a study investigating the health and lifestyle information behaviour of different groups of Icelanders. The paper focuses on the use of social media and its role in current information behaviour. Method: Quantitative methods were used. Two random samples were used in the study and the data were gathered using an internet and a telephone survey. Each sample consisted of 600 people from across the country, aged 18 years and older. Measurements included questions about the participants' socio-demographic background, their purposive information seeking, as well as seven questions about their use of social media. Analysis: The relationship between the socio-demographic variables and questions about the use of social media was analysed by chi-squared, and the scale social media. Cluster analysis was used to draw participants in four clusters: spasmodic, contemporary, conventional and enthusiastic. Evaluation of social media use was examined by analysis of variance. Binary logistic regression, controlling for background variables, was used to analyse the relationship between the cluster and the variable social media. Results: Participants in all groups were likely to use social media to read articles about health and lifestyle, and unlikely to post information or make comments about information from others. Women were more likely to employ social media than men and those who belong to the younger age groups were more likely to have used social media than those in the older age groups. The conventional and the spasmodic clusters seek information on the Internet and use social media infrequently, while the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters do so more often. Conclusions: Participants in all groups preferred to use social media to read articles about health issues. This creates opportunities for health professionals to employ social media to strategically disseminate quality information and advocate healthy living. Social media is an important part of the information environment of the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters while the spasmodic and conventional clusters use social media infrequently.

Purpose: The purpose is to investigate the professional identity of public library, archive and museum (LAM) professionals in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Norway and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: The data have been gathered through the administration of three questionnaires. A comprehensive analysis is conducted to explore the variations in the professionals' perceptions of their professional proximities to the other LAM professions and other related professions, considering demographic factors such as age, education, gender and immigrant background of participants. Findings: Through a lens of micro- and macro-professional identities, the findings underscore both clearly perceived role separation between the LAM professions and notable points of convergence, suggesting opportunities for collaborative efforts. The implications of these discoveries are discussed, offering a foundation for future research endeavors. Originality/value: The study highlights the professions perceived to have the most and least similarity to LAMs based on questionnaire responses, providing valuable insights into the interplay between various professional domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The adoption of a national digital system for healthcare services in Iceland, and how people perceive their possibilities to adopt new technology is examined. Method. Surveys using random samples of people aged 18 years and older were conducted. The samples consisted of 1.800 people in 2019 and 1.200 in 2022. People 18-59 years old were reached by emails and 60 or older by phone. Response rates were 39% in 2019 and 45% in 2022. Analysis. The analysis is descriptive. Survey results from 2019 and 2022 are compared and differences by sex and age examined. Results. Considerable change was detected in use of the system for communication with health professionals tailored to participants health, while no increase was in obtaining information regarding issues not directly connected to people's health history. The possibilities of adopting health technology were considered substantially better in 2022 than in 2019. Conclusion. People are likely to use digital healthcare systems when the situation requires, and they receive necessary support. It is important to consider the needs of those who are getting older for people to have equal opportunity to benefit from digital health information. Furthermore, reliable information offered by health professionals need to be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The study explored the opinion of Icelandic university students of the pros and cons of printed and electronic learning material. A better understanding of this is important for curriculum development and building a collection for university libraries. Answers were sought to the following research questions: what do students themselves say about the issue? What can we learn from their candid comments that is not captured by survey studies? Method. This is part of an international survey conducted among students at two Iceland-ic universities in 2016. The questionnaire contained an open question to which a total of 199 students replied. Analysis. The comments were analysed qualitatively. The constant comparative method was employed. Results. Five main themes were detected: 1) printed or electronic study material; 2) learning approach; 3) convenience and expenses; 4) technology: limitations and possibilities; 5) environmental issues. Conclusions. The main results of the study relate to the students’ study habits and their view of how they can work with electronic reading material. They felt that electronic material offers certain possibilities. However, the opinion that came up more strongly was that the technology is neither sufficiently developed, nor properly used when electronic reading material is produced. The material, therefore, does not support their learning engagement sufficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The paper presents findings from a study investigating the health and lifestyle information behaviour of different groups of Icelanders. The paper focuses on the use of social media and its role in current information behaviour. Method. Quantitative methods were used. Two random samples were used in the study and the data were gathered using an internet and a telephone survey. Each sample consisted of 600 people from across the country, aged 18 years and older. Measurements included questions about the participants' socio-demographic background, their purposive information seeking, as well as seven questions about their use of social media. Analysis. The relationship between the socio-demographic variables and questions about the use of social media was analysed by chi-squared, and the scale social media. Cluster analysis was used to draw participants in four clusters: spasmodic, contemporary, conventional and enthusiastic. Evaluation of social media use was examined by analysis of variance. Binary logistic regression, controlling for background variables, was used to analyse the relationship between the cluster and the variable social media. Results. Participants in all groups were likely to use social media to read articles about health and lifestyle, and unlikely to post information or make comments about information from others. Women were more likely to employ social media than men and those who belong to the younger age groups were more likely to have used social media than those in the older age groups. The conventional and the spasmodic clusters seek information on the Internet and use social media infrequently, while the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters do so more often. Conclusions. Participants in all groups preferred to use social media to read articles about health issues. This creates opportunities for health professionals to employ social media to strategically disseminate quality information and advocate healthy living. Social media is an important part of the information environment of the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters while the spasmodic and conventional clusters use social media infrequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The paper presents results from an exploratory study with the overall purpose of gaining knowledge of various aspects related to support at information behaviour that Icelandic elderly people, still living in their homes, receive from their relatives. The paper will focus on the viewpoints of the relatives and how they describe their own situation as informal information supporters of the elderly information needs. Method. A qualitative study was conducted. Open-ended interviews were taken with 14 relatives, nine women and five men, aged 37 to 74. Their backgrounds varied as to education, work experience and residence. Analysis. Analysis of the data was conducted according to grounded theory as described by Strauss and Corbin and the themes that emerged interpreted in terms of the context relating to each participant. Results. The relatives provided divers support. In addition to monitoring the condition and situation of the elderly, it involved considerable information seeking, mediating and interpreting information. As well as information management and making arrangements for everyone involved with the support to be kept informed. Conclusions. Three main topics of information needs were identified: health information health, information about formal support from the state or municipality, and financial information. The relatives further provided information about the elderly housing. The relatives expressed complex feelings about their role as informal information supporters. The findings presented, together with previous findings, suggest that the connection between the elderly experience of dependency for support and the relatives providing the support is complicated and needs further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This paper discusses an exploratory study of the opportunistic discovery of information by elderly people in Iceland who are still living in their own homes as well as by their relatives who act as care providers and support their information behaviour. Method. Open-ended interviews were conducted with twenty-four people, twelve of whom were aged 70 to 90 and twelve of whom were their relatives. Analysis. Analysis of the data was conducted according to grounded theory as described by Strauss and Corbin and the themes that emerged interpreted in terms of the context relating to each participant. Results. The information that the elderly people discovered reflect their everyday life problems and concerns. Information about formal support, health information and information about finances were most often mentioned. Their relatives discovered information about health and formal support. The information were discovered in the media and through discussions with family members, friends and acquaintances. Two information grounds supported the elderly participants' opportunistic discovery of information: an association for the elderly and a sewing club. Conclusions. The findings suggest that opportunistic discovery of information and information sharing with others forms a significant part of the elderly participants' information behaviour. Although their relatives also discovered information, this happened less often and was confined to fewer topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The paper focuses on factors related to purposive health and lifestyle information seeking on the Internet, examining participants' access to the Internet from four access points; the prevalence of their health and lifestyle information seeking, as well as information seeking in relation to other topics; the barriers to information seeking they experienced; and self-evaluation of their skills at seeking online information. Method. The sample consists of 1,000 Icelanders, aged eighteen to eighty, randomly selected from the National Register of Persons in Iceland. The data were gathered as a postal survey during spring 2007. Response rate was 47%. Analysis. Based on the participants' health and lifestyle information seeking in twenty-two sources, k-means cluster analysis was used to draw four clusters: passive, moderately passive, moderately active and active. Results. The active and moderately passive clusters have greater access to the Internet and their members seek online information more frequently than the passive and moderately active clusters. All clusters seek information about health and lifestyle less frequently than information about other topics. The passive and moderately active clusters experience more barriers to information seeking than the other two clusters. However, the passive and moderately passive clusters consider themselves to have more competency at seeking online information than do the moderately passive and active clusters. Conclusions. For the Internet to be used in an effective way for health promotion it is necessary to gain more complete knowledge of the various aspects of health information behaviour and identify the characteristics of those who have adopted it to seek information, compared with those who have done so to a lesser extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The aim of this study is to gather knowledge about how different groups of Icelanders take advantage of information about health and lifestyle in their everyday life. Method. A random sample of 1,000 people was used in the study and data was gathered as a postal survey. Response rate was 50.8%. Analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to draw four clusters based on the participants' purposive information seeking. To validate the cluster classification and describe the clusters further, they were examined in relation to a number of external variables related to information behaviour, as well as the variables sex, age and education. The health self-efficacy beliefs and the health behaviour of the clusters were also examined. Results. The results indicate that four distinct groups of people exist, that differ not only regarding their information behaviour, but also in relation to their health self-efficacy beliefs and health behaviour. Conclusions. The findings indicate that information seeking which is accompanied by a critical approach in the selection of information sources and low information behaviour barriers, together with high health self-efficacy beliefs, relates to the most healthy behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]