Meredith Farkas summarizes a new Pew Internet & American Life report in her blog Information Wants To Be Free.
In brief, the report finds that survey respondents who had experienced one of 10 types of problems that had a potential connection to the government or government-provided information (including a serious illness or health concern) turn for information to the Internet (58%); professionals such as doctors, lawyers, or financial experts (53%) ; friends and family members (45%), newspapers & magazines (36%), directly contacting a government office or agency (34%), TV and radio (16%), or public libraries (13%). Interestingly, those turning to public libraries were often “GenY” young adults.
The study also found that those with health issues turned most often to experts, then friends & family, then the Internet.
Find the Pew Internet summary and links to the full report at: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp
Filed under: Consumer Health, Future of Libraries, Internet | Tagged: information seeking, information sources, Internet, Pew
