Do students look for information differently? Information-seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-09-2022-0073 |
| Published date | 05 January 2023 |
| Date | 05 January 2023 |
| Pages | 166-180 |
| Author | Tazbir Khan Tonmoy,Md. Anwarul Islam |
Do students look for information
differently? Information-seeking
behavior during the
COVID-19 pandemic
Tazbir Khan Tonmoy and Md. Anwarul Islam
Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to explore the COVID-19 information-seeking behavior of the
students in a developing country.This study also explores how the use of information sources changes over
time by the students of a public universityin Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach –An e-mail was sent along with an online questionnaire to 350
students in a public university inBangladesh. After sending a couple of follow-up e-mails in May and June
2022, we got limited responses.Later in July, we distributed the same questionnaire in the printed form to the
students in the seminar library, computer laboratory and in the classroom. Finally, we got back 270
responses, and the responserate was 77.14%. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (effectsize) and nonparametric
test (Mann–Whitney Utest) were used to see the differences in using information sources over times and
overall understandingof choosing the COVID-19 information sourcesby the demographic variables.
Findings –This study found that the COVID-19pandemic has made an increased demand for a variety of
information, and the sources of information changes over time before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The majority of the students facedchallenges while seeking COVID-19 information which mostlyfalls under
the availability of mis–disinformation.Students used more social media tools during the COVID-19 than the
pre-COVID-19 time, and there are some significant relationships found between the students’demographic
variablesand students’understanding of choosing the COVID-19 informationsources.
Originality/value –To the best of the authors’knowledge,this study is one of the first to analyze changes
in information behaviorpatterns of students in a developing country and understand the challenges facedby
the studentsduring the pandemic.
Keywords COVID-19, Information need, Information behavior, ISLM students, Information source,
Health information, Bangladesh
Paper type Research paper
Background of the study
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people worldwide face many challenges in their daily
lives. Vaccine hesitancy,social distancing, lockdown and restrictions on mobilityare posing
critical challenges for peopleand threatening their livelihood. High mortality, new strains of
COVID-19 and a continuous rise in the number of infections have made this disease one of
the most difficult challenges for people across the world (Torales et al., 2020). People
connected virtually are heavily dependent on online information and this has led on of
The authors sincerely appreciate all reviewers’valuable comments and suggestions, which helped
them in improving the quality of the manuscript. The authors are thankful to Dr Wasimul Bari
(Department of Statistics, University of Dhaka) for supporting in analyzing the statistical data.
DLP
39,2
166
Received4 September 2022
Revised26 October 2022
5 December2022
Accepted8 December 2022
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.39 No. 2, 2023
pp. 166-180
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-09-2022-0073
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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