Necessidades informacionais de idosos em bibliotecas comunitárias: estudo realizado em uma biblioteca no município de Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

It presents a study about the informational needs of the elderly in local contexts, with the object of study being a group of elderly people living near the Biblioteca ComunitáriaCriança Feliz, located in Jardim Iracema neighborhood, in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará. Theoretical discussions about the themes were: community library, informational needs and, also, about the elderly. Regarding the methodology, the research has a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach. Among the data collection instruments used, we used the semi-structured interview and the participatory research, by means of a conversation wheel and dynamics with the elderly. To analyze the data, we used the content analysis and the Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS) model conceived by Savolainen (1995). The study revealed that the informational needs of the group studied are mainly related to everyday issues such as transportation and health. It was also verified the need for the library, locus of this research, to carry out studies of users with periodicity that contemplate all the public belonging to the community, including the elderly, in order to act in an inclusive and democratic way.