Information everywhere: Introduction to the special issue of LIDA 2023 (Libraries in the Digital Age) conference: Issue 2

This special issue of Education for Information (EfI) brings selected papers presented at the 2023 LIDA International Conference (Osijek, Croatia, 24th–26th May 2023). LIDA is an international biennial conference that brings together researchers, educators, students, practitioners, and developers from all over the world, providing a platform for personal exchanges, discussions, and learning. LIDA addresses the changing and challenging environment for libraries and information systems and services in the digital world. The conference is organized by two Croatian (University in Osijek, University in Zadar) and an American (Rutgers University) university.

The 2023 conference’s theme was “Information Everywhere” and a large number of submissions (papers, panels, workshops and posters) were presented. In contrast to 2021 LIDA conference, which was held online due to COVID-19 pandemic, this conference was again completely in-person, enabling participants to fully enjoy the conference experience. Although the authors had the possibility to publish their papers elsewhere, 24 LIDA authors submitted their papers to Education for Information journal. After a careful review process, as many as 15 papers were accepted for publication. They will be published in two issues – the first issue contains seven papers that deal largely with various aspects of LIS education whereas the second issue has papers on diverse aspects of digital library services.

This editorial offers introduction to the second issue that contains eight LIDA 2023 papers.

Several papers in this issue deal with the topic of online human information behaviour and/or trust in online information sources. The paper titled Online health information seeking behavior of Croatian urological patients and liability for violation of an individual’s right to health by disinformation, authored by Katarina Knol Radoja, Ivan Radoja, and Anita Papić delves into the online health information-seeking behavior of urological patients in Vukovar, Croatia. Their results reveal that urological patients in their sample have a medium level of trust in online health information and indicate the need to increase the level of health literacy among patients in Croatia through various educational campaigns at the national and international level. The paper also explores the legal framework of liability due to the violation of individual’s right to health by disinformation. Trust in information sources is discussed in the paper entitled Trust in nutrition information sources used by university students by Nikolina Peša Pavlović. Mate Juric, and Alica Kolarić. This study explored university students’ information-seeking behaviours related to nutrition, in particular students’ nutrition needs, information sources usage, and the levels of trust in those sources. The research study resulted in interesting and, for educators, important results: overall, the Internet is the most used information source on nutrition, followed by family and friends; trust in information from the Internet in general and social media is relatively low. However, specific authors on social media are perceived as trustworthy; expert sources of information are highly trusted but, on average, not often used. Students with health problems mostly rely on experts and professional literature. Students engaged in training and weight maintenance primarily follow social media, notably specific authors on YouTube and Instagram. Trust in information sources is correlated to their usage, especially for Instagram and other social media.

The paper titled Personal digital legacy: user’s experience and habits in organization and preservation authored by Antonija Grgeč, Martina Dragija Ivanović, and Drahomira Cupar explores the concept of personal digital legacy and users’ habits in its organization and preservation. The digital content that users create over their lifetime can become part of their own digital legacy, so it is necessary to organize it and preserve it for the future. The paper presents the results of the research study User’s Experience and Habits in Organization and Preservation of Personal Digital Legacy conducted in Croatia in 2022. The aim of the research was to determine the opinions and attitudes of Internet users about their own personal digital legacy and to examine in what way and to what extent users organize their personal digital content for the future. The intention of this research is to raise awareness about the importance of organizing digital content and preserving one’s personal digital legacy. Results of the research revealed that respondents in the study were not aware of the significance of the personal digital legacy and the value it could have for potential heirs.

University students in Croatia were also asked about their views on digital privacy. In the paper titled Digital privacy and data protection knowledge and skills of Generation Z in Croatia authors Snježana Stanarević Katavić, Hajdi Ivanović, and Anita Papić investigated attitudes and behaviours of Generation Z in Croatia toward digital privacy protection. Studies regarding the digital privacy of Generation Z pointed out that they care about their privacy online and that they were more apt than older generations to apply complex privacy and security measures, however they were also more willing to compromise their privacy if they saw any benefits. The results from this study revealed that Croatian members of Generation Z were relatively cautious about their data. However, their knowledge about digital privacy is not comprehensive and uniform, they practice mainly basic strategies of privacy protection, 43.6% of respondents have faced a violation of privacy, and only half of the respondents reported being familiar with the privacy settings on all the social networks they use. Moreover, 65% of respondents would like to receive further education on digital privacy, which means that digital privacy and data protection topics should be given more space in the curriculum at all levels.

The paper titled Towards virtual research environment for Glagolitic manuscript studies by Marijana Tomić, Laura Grzunov and Marta Ivanović focuses on Croatian Glagolitism and digital humanities. It identifies and examines the features of a virtual research environment that would enhance the possibilities of an interdisciplinary collaborative research of Croatian Glagolitism in a digital environment, supported by the use of digital methods and tools. The study conducted among scholars in the Croatian Glagolitism provides a fresh insight into the current situation regarding virtual research environments and manuscript studies and gives a proposal of features that a virtual research environment should have to enable collaborative interdisciplinary research in Glagolitism.

Rumeng Yan, Xin Zhao, and Suvodeep Mazumdar explored the topic of chatbots (i.e. conversational agents or software applications that use natural language to interact with humans) in libraries in their article Chatbots in libraries: a systematic literature review. The purpose of their study was to determine the current research priorities and findings in the field of chatbots in libraries. A systematic literature review was performed utilising the PRISMA checklist and the databases Scopus and Web of Science, identifying 5734 records. The authors found that the majority of the existing studies were empirical in nature (primarily adopting qualitative methods) and technology reviews with a focus on reviewing the implementation and maintenance, design, evaluation, characteristics, and application of chatbots. The chatbots of interest were mainly text-based and guided chatbots, with closed-source tools with access portals mostly built on library web pages or integrated with social software. The research findings primarily concerned the development models and necessary tools and technologies, the application of chatbots in libraries. Authors conclude that the application of chatbots in libraries is still in the early stages.

The last article in this issue deals with intellectual property, more precisely the industrial property (inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and models, and designations of origin). Katarina Švab, Polona Vilar, and Tjaša Jug in their paper Labour-market needs for industrial property competencies of non-lawyers explored the importance of industrial property knowledge for non-lawyers (e.g. engineers, managers) in industrial companies in Croatia, Portugal, Romania, and Slovenia. Industrial property knowledge seems to be very important for companies, but they rarely organize training on the topic for their own employees. They require industrial property skills from job applicants and expect the educational system to provide this knowledge. Important differences were found between countries, especially in the perceived usefulness of industrial property knowledge, skills, and training. As industrial property knowledge becomes increasingly important in industry and society, the study offers a new perspective on the importance of including industrial property topics in the educational system (particularly as a part of academic library instruction) and the need for non-lawyers to be knowledgeable in this area.

We trust that readers will discover the papers published in these two issues intriguing and valuable for their work and studies, and they might even consider participating in LIDA 2025. All the information about the conference can be found at https://lida.ffos.hr/.