Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviours of Elementary and Middle School Social Studies and Cultural Heritage Teachers in Taiwan

Abstract

Employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study seeks to systematically analyze the information needs, seeking, and use behaviors of elementary and middle school social studies and cultural heritage teachers in Taiwan, and to relate the findings to digital library system design. In-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys were used for data collection. Data was analyzed qualitatively and statistically in order to answer a number of questions regarding: the information needs for teaching social studies courses, information seeking and collecting behaviors, difficulties encountered while searching for information for teaching, factors influencing information needs and seeking behaviors, and teacher expectations of educational websites covering related subjects. Our results suggest practical applications and implications for education policy makers and library system designers.