Bookending a Pandemic and Its Impact on Public Libraries: Policy and Announcement Information Provided by Libraries Throughout the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response

This study serves as a follow-up on a 2020 study by Wang and Lund that examined the policy changes and announcement information provided by American public libraries during the early weeks of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, using the same list of libraries as the 2020 study to examine how the COVID response evolved over the past two years. Seven types of information were collected from the public libraries' websites, with the help of the Internet Archive to collect specific dates: frequency of announcement updates, date of start curbside/pickup services, date of reopening libraries, dates of posting vaccine-related information, dates of removal of COVID-19 related information, and dates of reopening face-to-face programs. The findings indicate that the timing of COVID response updates varied based on factors including the size of the municipality in which the public library is located and the political leaning of the municipality's voters. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Public Library Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Comparing health consumer search behavior and scientific research productivity related to COVID-19 vaccines in the USA: an infodemiology study

PurposeWhile vaccines are an effective preventative measure to defend against the spread and harmful symptoms of COVID-19, information about COVID vaccines can be difficult to find and conflicting in its coverage of vaccines' benefits and risks. This study aims to examine the extent to which Americans are searching for information about the three major vaccine producers (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen) in relation to the amount of reliable scholarly information that has been produced about each one.Design/methodology/approachData were retrieved from Google Trends for the US Web users alongside scientific research output of the US scientists toward three Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-authorized COVID-19 vaccines in Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed. The authors searched for descriptive statistical analyses to detect coronavirus-seeking behavior versus coronavirus releases in the USA from May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021.FindingsOf the three COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer has attracted more attention from the US population. However, the greatest number of articles about COVID-19 vaccines published by the US scholars belonged to Moderna (M = 8.17), with Pfizer (M = 7.75) having slightly less, and Janssen (M = 0.83) well behind. A positive association was found between COVID-19 vaccine information-seeking behavior (ISB) on Google and the amount of research produced about that vaccine (P <0.001).Research limitations/implicationsAs the researchers use the single search engine, Google, to retrieve data from the USA, thus, selection bias will be existing as Google only gathers the data of people who chose to get the information by using this search engine.Practical implicationsIf the policymakers in the US Department of Health and Human Services or the US CDC desire to improve the country's health ISB and the scientific publication behavior (SPB) of the US researchers regarding COVID-19 vaccines studies, they should reference the results of such a study.Originality/valueFrom an infodemiological viewpoint, these findings may support the health policymakers, as well as researchers who work on COVID-19 vaccines in the USA.

Analyzing Public Libraries as Civic Agents in Advocating for COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake

To examine how public libraries combated COVID-19 misinformation and promoted vaccination in their communities, this study analyzed data from 80 libraries' webpages, Facebook postings, shared health information resources to examine the correlation between community factors, information types, and vaccination rates. Results showed city size and number of MLS librarians significantly affected information shared. Six information types contributed to higher vaccination rates: vaccination event information, local organization partnerships, vaccine information, library events, vaccine accessibility discussions, and free clinic time frames. Public libraries can thus serve as essential civic agents for promoting evidence-based health information and increasing vaccination rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Public Library Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sharing of retracted COVID-19 articles: an altmetric study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the extent to which retracted articles pertaining to COVID-19 have been shared via social and mass media based on altmetric scores. METHODS: Seventy-one retracted articles related to COVID-19 were identified from relevant databases, of which thirty-nine had an Altmetric Attention Score obtained using the Altmetrics Bookmarklet. Data extracted from the articles include overall attention score and demographics of sharers (e.g., geographic location, professional affiliation). RESULTS: Retracted articles related to COVID-19 were shared tens of thousands of times to an audience of potentially hundreds of millions of readers and followers. Twitter was the largest medium for sharing these articles, and the United States was the country with the most sharers. While general members of the public were the largest proportion of sharers, researchers and professionals were not immune to sharing these articles on social media and on websites, blogs, or news media. CONCLUSIONS: These findings have potential implications for better understanding the spread of misleading or false information perpetuated in retracted scholarly publications. They emphasize the importance of quality peer review and research ethics among journals and responsibility among individuals who wish to share research findings.

Exploring information seeking of rural older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: 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. Design/methodology/approach: 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: 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. Originality/value: 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. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Aslib Journal of Information Management is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Shifting Information-Seeking Behaviors of Rural Older Americans During the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This session reports findings on how older rural adults in the Midwest United States adapted their information seeking behaviors in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of nearly three-dozen interviews conducted during late-summer 2020 capture the experiences of members of this population in their own words. Findings indicate that the experiences of the rural older American during this period were often unique to each individual and cannot be easily explained by a single social or demographic factor. Those participants with greater educational attainment were more likely to use a variety of digital technologies (smartphones, tablets, at-home personal computers) prior to the pandemic and thus experienced fewer challenges finding reliable information when the pandemic began. Those who were married felt less socially-isolated, but were often more reliant on others to find information for them. Women were more likely than people with other gender identities to use social media to connect and find information, which helped abate feelings of isolation but also made them feel more susceptible to misinformation and information overload. All participants expressed some level of fear or concern that motivated them to seek health information, while many expressed the same motivation in seeking political and economic information. These findings suggest that the information seeking behaviors of rural older adults were dramatically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with most becoming more reliant on digital technology to find information, and all being motivated by fear, concern, and/or curiosity to find information about the pandemic.

How older adults in the USA and India seek information during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative study of information behavior

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant information challenges for older adults worldwide. Given the widespread disparities in information infrastructure and access between developing and developed countries, the challenges presented during this period may be even more grave in the developing world. This interview study examines how older adults (age 65+) in two countries?the USA and India?experienced information needs, sources, and barriers. The results indicate distinct experiences among the two populations, with individuals in the USA expressing more diverse needs, while Indian respondents focused on the impact of COVID-19. The American respondents also indicated much greater use of Internet resources compared to the Indian respondents, who used television and print resources more frequently. Far more Indian respondents reported significant challenges finding information to satisfy their information needs. The findings of this study have important ramifications for the design of intervention, education, and support for the information-related needs of older adults worldwide.