This thesis research contributes to national health Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) planning and therefore strategy development and implementation research, as well as to health information science. An examination into the national health IM/IT plans of several countries provides knowledge into identifying the typical IM/IT priorities that selected countries are focusing upon for healthcare improvement. Second, a systematic literature review of the current challenges, barriers and/or issues (referred to as ‘challenges’ hereafter) facing IM/IT priority implementation in healthcare settings provides insight on where nations should perhaps be focusing their attention, in order to enable more successful healthcare IM/IT implementations. Lastly, a study on national health IM/IT priorities contributes to the body of evidence that national level IM/IT direction is necessary for better patient care and health system reform across the world. In this investigation, the national health IM/IT priorities, which are reflected in the national health IM/IT strategic plans of five countries were assessed. To this end, the study: 1) Developed a set of measures to select four countries to study in addition to Canada; 2) Described the national health IM/IT priorities of Canada and four other countries; 3) Performed a systematic literature review of the challenges to overcome for successful implementation of IM/IT into healthcare settings; 4) Developed and administered a questionnaire where participants were asked to give their opinions on the progress their country has achieved in dealing with such challenges; and 5) Performed an analysis of the questionnaire results with respect to the countries’ national health IM/IT priorities. The systematic literature review uncovered a large number of challenges that the health informatics and healthcare community face when attempting to implement IM/IT into healthcare settings. iii The priority comparison highlighted that there is no right or wrong answer for what countries should focus their national health IM/IT energies upon. The findings indicate that nations focus their resources (time, money, personnel etc.) on the priorities they feel they should, whether those stem from needs analyses or politics. However, by learning about what other nations are prioritizing, a country can use that knowledge to help focus their own national health IM/IT priorities. The questionnaire results drew attention to the most frequently encountered challenges the five countries face in moving their national health IM/IT agendas forward. The feedback from the respondents provided individual reflections on how IM/IT implementations are actually progressing in their country, where problems are being encountered, including the nature of those problems, and in some cases, respondents offered insight on how to better deal with the challenges they face. The findings indicate that nations encounter similar problems in implementing IM/IT into healthcare settings. Currently, the world is facing many of the same healthcare system issues: shortages of healthcare processionals, long surgical and diagnostic imaging waitlists, ‘skyrocketing’ pharmaceutical drug pricing, healthcare funding practices, and challenges with implementing healthcare IM/IT priorities to name a few. If countries are facing similar health system problems, then it would be logical to assume that solutions to deal with such problems would be similar across nations. Thus, it is recommended that international fora and conferences be held to further discuss the types of health system IM/IT priorities that countries are implementing at a nation scale, the kinds of challenges they face and the solutions or conclusions that they have formulated in response to these challenges.

Personal document management is the activity of managing a collection of digital documents performed by the owner of the documents, and consists of creation/acquisition, organisation, finding and maintenance. Document management is a pervasive aspect of digital work, but has received relatively little attention from researchers. The hierarchical file system used by most people to manage their documents has not conceptually changed in decades. Although revolutionary prototypes have been developed, these have not been grounded in a thorough understanding of document management behaviour and therefore have not resulted in significant changes to document management interfaces. Improvements in understanding document management can result in productivity gains for knowledge workers, and since document management is such a common activity, small improvements can deliver large gains. The aim of this research was to understand how people manage their personal document collections and to develop guidelines for the development of tools to support personal document management. A field study was conducted that included interviews, a survey and file system snapshot. The interviews were conducted with ten participants to investigate their document management strategies, structures and struggles. In addition to qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, a novel investigation technique was developed in the form of a file system snapshot which collects information about document structures and derives a number of metrics which describe the document structure. A survey was also conducted, consisting of a questionnaire and a file system snapshot, which enabled the findings of the field study to be validated, and to collect information from a greater number of participants. The results of this research culminated in (1) development of a conceptual framework highlighting the key personal document management attitudes, behaviours and concerns; (2) model of basic operations that any document management system needs to provide; (3) identification of piling, filing and structuring as three key document management strategies; (4) guidelines for the development of user interfaces to support document management, including specific guidelines for each document management strategy. These contributions both improve knowledge of personal document management on which future research can build, and provide practical advice to document management system designers which should result in the development of more usable system.

Personal document management is the activity of managing a collection of digital documents performed by the owner of the documents, and consists of creation/acquisition, organisation, finding and maintenance. Document management is a pervasive aspect of digital work, but has received relatively little attention from researchers. The hierarchical file system used by most people to manage their documents has not conceptually changed in decades. Although revolutionary prototypes have been developed, these have not been grounded in a thorough understanding of document management behaviour and therefore have not resulted in significant changes to document management interfaces. Improvements in understanding document management can result in productivity gains for knowledge workers, and since document management is such a common activity, small improvements can deliver large gains. The aim of this research was to understand how people manage their personal document collections and to develop guidelines for the development of tools to support personal document management. A field study was conducted that included interviews, a survey and file system snapshot. The interviews were conducted with ten participants to investigate their document management strategies, structures and struggles. In addition to qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, a novel investigation technique was developed in the form of a file system snapshot which collects information about document structures and derives a number of metrics which describe the document structure. A survey was also conducted, consisting of a questionnaire and a file system snapshot, which enabled the findings of the field study to be validated, and to collect information from a greater number of participants. The results of this research culminated in (1) development of a conceptual framework highlighting the key personal document management attitudes, behaviours and concerns; (2) model of basic operations that any document management system needs to provide; (3) identification of piling, filing and structuring as three key document management strategies; (4) guidelines for the development of user interfaces to support document management, including specific guidelines for each document management strategy. These contributions both improve knowledge of personal document management on which future research can build, and provide practical advice to document management system designers which should result in the development of more usable system.

Personal document management is the activity of managing a collection of digital documents performed by the owner of the documents, and consists of creation/acquisition, organisation, finding and maintenance. Document management is a pervasive aspect of digital work, but has received relatively little attention from researchers. The hierarchical file system used by most people to manage their documents has not conceptually changed in decades. Although revolutionary prototypes have been developed, these have not been grounded in a thorough understanding of document management behaviour and therefore have not resulted in significant changes to document management interfaces. Improvements in understanding document management can result in productivity gains for knowledge workers, and since document management is such a common activity, small improvements can deliver large gains. The aim of this research was to understand how people manage their personal document collections and to develop guidelines for the development of tools to support personal document management. A field study was conducted that included interviews, a survey and file system snapshot. The interviews were conducted with ten participants to investigate their document management strategies, structures and struggles. In addition to qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, a novel investigation technique was developed in the form of a file system snapshot which collects information about document structures and derives a number of metrics which describe the document structure. A survey was also conducted, consisting of a questionnaire and a file system snapshot, which enabled the findings of the field study to be validated, and to collect information from a greater number of participants. The results of this research culminated in (1) development of a conceptual framework highlighting the key personal document management attitudes, behaviours and concerns; (2) model of basic operations that any document management system needs to provide; (3) identification of piling, filing and structuring as three key document management strategies; (4) guidelines for the development of user interfaces to support document management, including specific guidelines for each document management strategy. These contributions both improve knowledge of personal document management on which future research can build, and provide practical advice to document management system designers which should result in the development of more usable system.

There is a growing body of literature which discusses the importance of systems of innovation (SOI) to modern economies. Systems which are innovative are characterised by organisations and institutions which identify weaknesses in current technologies, pursue new ideas through research and development, develop and produce technological innovations, and apply or distribute these for the collective benefit of the system. The literature suggests a number of structures which contribute to fostering systems of innovation. Efficiency in the production and exchange of knowledge is one of these.Tourism has been described as an economic system and recent public policy has recognised the importance of the production and exchange of knowledge for innovation in tourism. The distribution (or presentation) of secondary information resources (also referred to as “commodities”) has received particular attention from policy makers. The totality of information resources which is presented to information marketplaces at a point in time can be described as the information stock. Past commentary on the stock of tourism information in Australia indicates that inefficiencies may exist in the presentation and exchange of these resources in the marketplace.This research proposes a model of the marketplace for the exchange of tourism information commodities, the Tourism Information Commodity Marketplace (TICM). The model is applied to testing and identifying weakness in current production and exchange processes in Australia. In the research, the stock which is presented to the market is located, identified, catalogued and tested against the model to identify whether there are marketplace inefficiencies in the form of leakages. Leakages are the costs which tourism firms and organisations face as they try to address information needs by procuring and applying secondary information commodities.The research shows that a proportion of the presented stock can be moved efficiently from suppliers to consumers and is capable of meeting information needs of consumers at a point in time. However, a range of presentation and demand-side issues are identified which reduce the potential for knowledge-based innovation in tourism systems. These relate to language, access, availability, reliability, validity and coverage aspects which are associated with the stock and demand-side characteristics.The implications of this research for policy makers and suppliers of tourism information commodities are that dissemination weaknesses, in particular, must be addressed for the contribution of secondary information resources to innovation in tourism to be fully realised. For informatics researchers, the TICM is a valuable and adaptable tool for depicting and assessing marketplace dynamics where information is the commodity for exchange. It augments the understanding of the innovative potential of tourism stocks for systems of innovation as well as identifying potential barriers.

There is a growing body of literature which discusses the importance of systems of innovation (SOI) to modern economies. Systems which are innovative are characterised by organisations and institutions which identify weaknesses in current technologies, pursue new ideas through research and development, develop and produce technological innovations, and apply or distribute these for the collective benefit of the system. The literature suggests a number of structures which contribute to fostering systems of innovation. Efficiency in the production and exchange of knowledge is one of these.Tourism has been described as an economic system and recent public policy has recognised the importance of the production and exchange of knowledge for innovation in tourism. The distribution (or presentation) of secondary information resources (also referred to as “commodities”) has received particular attention from policy makers. The totality of information resources which is presented to information marketplaces at a point in time can be described as the information stock. Past commentary on the stock of tourism information in Australia indicates that inefficiencies may exist in the presentation and exchange of these resources in the marketplace.This research proposes a model of the marketplace for the exchange of tourism information commodities, the Tourism Information Commodity Marketplace (TICM). The model is applied to testing and identifying weakness in current production and exchange processes in Australia. In the research, the stock which is presented to the market is located, identified, catalogued and tested against the model to identify whether there are marketplace inefficiencies in the form of leakages. Leakages are the costs which tourism firms and organisations face as they try to address information needs by procuring and applying secondary information commodities.The research shows that a proportion of the presented stock can be moved efficiently from suppliers to consumers and is capable of meeting information needs of consumers at a point in time. However, a range of presentation and demand-side issues are identified which reduce the potential for knowledge-based innovation in tourism systems. These relate to language, access, availability, reliability, validity and coverage aspects which are associated with the stock and demand-side characteristics.The implications of this research for policy makers and suppliers of tourism information commodities are that dissemination weaknesses, in particular, must be addressed for the contribution of secondary information resources to innovation in tourism to be fully realised. For informatics researchers, the TICM is a valuable and adaptable tool for depicting and assessing marketplace dynamics where information is the commodity for exchange. It augments the understanding of the innovative potential of tourism stocks for systems of innovation as well as identifying potential barriers.

Thesis (M.Info.Tech.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Includes appendices. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 100-105.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the New Information Economy, government institutions must reorganise themselves to leverage their resources for sustainable growth and to compete in the global market place. According to some authors, successful organisations tend to be those that rely on their ability to innovate, use information constructively and leverage employee competencies to create sustainable growth rather than focusing on buildings and machines. In this research, the effective use of an Information Orientation Strategy for the improvement of service delivery in the South African government departments and in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in particular, will be investigated. Some private organisations and a few public organisations have learned to use information effectively to achieve higher business performance. However, a sizeable number of public organisations are still operating within the paradigm of the old economy. The latter organisations, through their leadership, must learn to ensure that information is used to compete effectively throughout the organisation. They must start to collect information about the activities of their: competitors, clients and alliance partners in order to improve services, grow partnerships, and to respond to clients and customers in a more intelligent and speedier manner. The change in the effective use of information in an organisation starts at the top - that is, with the mindset and attitude of senior management. They need to start viewing information as a valuable resource which through interaction with information capabilities, form an information orientation (IO), which can predict and improve business performance. In order to attain a mature IO, an organisation must concurrently improve all the dimensions of the IO paradigm, namely: information management practices, information technology practices and information behaviours and values. The drive to a mature IO must be people-centred, to ensure that such people are predisposed to a culture of proactive use of information and sharing. This requires leadership to: develop corporate information values and behavioural norms; demonstrate such information behaviours in conducting their duties; provide competency training for improving skills and knowledge and link the two to performance management; introduce incentives and monetary and non-monetary rewards to reinforce the new values. This, in turn, will pave the way for the implementation of good information management practices and the use of information technology to support new initiatives. An organisation, by following this path, will be able to attain a higher IO and from this, an improved level of business performance such as: a superior organisational image and reputation, better service innovation, superior financial performance and greater business/service growth. The transition to the IO paradigm must commence with leadership providing an overarching information strategy to map out how the organisation intends to create value from its information-based assets. In the process of developing an information strategy, senior management must, amongst other aspects, evaluate the organisation’s strategic and capability mix, review the relationships between the strategic priorities and information capabilities, and determine how they will replace some of the traditional/outdated organisation capabilities and to implement an informationcapabilities maximisation effect. Most importantly, it must set the agenda for action and ensure its implementation and renewal. Information, as an important resource for an organisation, requires a strategy of its own. It is no longer feasible in the New Information Economy to manage successfully without a fully integrated information strategy on how an organisation will generate value from its information assets. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die Nuwe Informasie Ekonomie word daar van organisasies verwag om hulself te herorganiseer om sodoende die hefboom effek van hul hulpbronne in die globale mark omgewing optimaal te benut vir ‘n kompeterende voordeel. Volgens sommige skrywers, word suksesvolle organisasies gekenmerk as diesulkes wat voortdurend staatmaak op hul vermoëns om te innoveer, om informasie konstruktief te gebruik en om hul werknemer bevoeghede te hefboom om volhoubare groei te bewerkstellig eerder as om staat te maak op geboue en masjinerie. Sommige private sektor organisasies en ‘n klein aantal publieke sektor organisasies het al geleer om beter besigheidsprestasie te bereik deur informasie effektief te gebruik. Daar is egter nog ‘n groot aantal publieke sektor organisasies wat nog steeds hul besigheid bedryf binne die paradigma van die ou ekonomie. Laasgenoemde organisasies moet deur beter leierskap leer om informasie regdeur die organisasie vlakke te gebruik om effektief te kan meeding. Hulle moet begin deur informasie te versamel oor die aktiwiteite van hulle konkurente, kliënte en alliansie vennote om sodoende beter dienslewering te verseker en om vennootskappe met kliente te groei vir die ontwikkeling van slimmer en vinniger metodes. Die verandering na ‘n fokus op die effektiewe gebruik van informasie in ‘n organisasie begin bo, m.a.w. die houding en ingesteldheid van senior bestuur t.o.v. informasie gebruik. Dit is nodig dat hierdie sektor, toenemend informasie as ‘n waardevolle hulpbron, waardeur interaksie met informasie vermoëns, ‘n informasie oriëntasie (IO), wat prestasie kan voorspel en verbeter, gevestig kan word. Vir ‘n organisasie om ‘n volwasse IO te bereik, moet so ‘n organisasie gelykmatig aan al die dimensies van die IO paradigma, naamlik, goeie informasie bestuurs praktyk, goeie informasie tegnologie praktyk en goeie gedrag en waardes t.o.v. informasie, voldoen. Die strewe na IO volwassenheid moet egter mens-gesentreerd wees, om te verseker dat werknemers van ‘n organisasie voortdurend bedag sal wees op ‘n pro-aktiewe kultuur t.o.v. die gebruik en verdeling van informasie. Om dit te kan vermag sal leierskap benodig word wat, ko-operatiewe informasie waardes en gedrag in die uitvoering van pligte beklemtoon; wat bevoegdheidsopleiding vir die verbetering van bedrewenheid en kennis sal voorsien; wat koppeling met prestasie van voorafgaande sal instel en wat insentiewe en vergoeding, beide finansieel en nie-finansieel, vir die uitleef van die nuwe waardes sal aanbied. Op sy beurt sal dit die weg baan vir die implementering van goeie informasie bestuurspraktyk en die gebruik van goeie informasie tegnologie om steun te gee aan die nuwe inisiatiewe, bewerkstellig.‘n Organisasie wat hierdie strategie volg om ‘n beter IO en ‘n beter besigheidsprestasie te behaal sal dan daadwerklik ook ‘n superieure organisasie beeld en reputasie, beter dienslewerings innovasie en beter besigheidsgroei demonstreer. Die oorgang na die IO paradigma moet by leierskap begin; leierskap wat ‘n oorhoofse informasie strategie, wat aandui hoe die organisasie van plan is om hierdie waarde uit sy informasie-gebaseerde bates te kan skep, daar sal stel. Gedurende die informasie strategie ontwikkelings proses moet senior bestuur onder andere die organisasie se strategiese vermoëns mengsel evalueer en die verwantskappe tussen die strategiese prioriteite en die informasie bevoegdheid evalueer en dan bepaal hoe hulle van die tradisionele/uitgediende vermoëns gaan vervang om ‘n informasie vermoënsmaksimaliserings effek te verkry. Baie belangrik is die daarstelling van ‘n agenda vir aksie en om die implementering vir hernuwing daarvan te verseker. Kortliks gestel, informasie as ‘n belangrike hulpbron en bate vir die organisasie verdien ‘n strategie van sy eie. Dit is nie meer moontlik om in die era van die Nuwe Ekonomie suksesvol te bestuur sonder om ‘n geïntegreerde strategie van hoe die organisasie waarde uit sy informasie bates wil genereer daar te stel nie. In hierdie navorsing word die effektiewe gebruik van ‘n informasie oriëntasie strategie vir die verbetering van dienslewering in die Suid Afrikaanse publieke sektor in die algemeen en in die Department of International Relations and Cooperation, meer spesifiek, ondersoek.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2419804 bytes, checksum: ae68f61f023fa54b1f2bf6034325145e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The current model of management in public organizations aims at the achievement of efficiency, effectiveness and quality of services in accordance with the legislation applied to the public sector and respect for society. Therefore, the use of resources must be properly managed and monitored by external and internal control units that need qualified information in order to play its role in an adequate way. Models of information management present proposals for a better use of this resource in the organizational context. Within this context, the research aimed at analyzing how the overall management information occurs in the Internal Control Coordination (JRC) of the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), in view of the management information model proposed by Choo (2006). The literature review focuses on information science, on management information and on control in the federal public administration activities. The research is mainly qualitative and exploratory, descriptive, and with field study. The subjects of this research were six ICC technicians who took part in the interview, conducted through focus group technique in two sessions. Data were organized and handled with the support of NVivo software and analysis of results was made by content analysis. The results showed that there is a need for information about law in the area and that the acquisition of information takes place through search for legislation as well as information systems and corporate peers. It was also found that the organization and storage of information lacks a more adequate physical and virtual custody; products and information services could be more effective if there was a better technological support, also, the information distribution occurs through formal and informal channels, that the use of information by users of the ICC is partial , since the assignments and recommendations audit are not always implemented , and finally , we found that adaptive behavior occurs mainly in informal settings. Researchers recognize the need for improvement in information management in CCI, with the use of new information technologies, standardization of procedures and greater monitoring of the audited units in order to improve the information flow and contribute to organizational effectiveness. / O atual modelo de gestão nas organizações públicas perpassa pela busca da eficiência, da eficácia e da qualidade dos serviços, em harmonia com a legislação aplicada ao setor público e o respeito à sociedade. Para tanto, a aplicação dos recursos deve ser devidamente gerenciada e acompanhada pelas unidades de controle externo e interno, que para exercerem o seu papel necessitam de informação qualificada. Os modelos de gerenciamento da informação apresentam propostas para um melhor aproveitamento desse recurso no âmbito organizacional. Nesse contexto, a pesquisa teve por objetivo geral analisar como ocorre o gerenciamento da informação na Coordenação de Controle Interno (CCI) da Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), na perspectiva do modelo de gerenciamento da informação proposto por Choo (2006). A revisão da literatura está centrada na Ciência da Informação, no gerenciamento da informação e nas atividades de controle da Administração Pública Federal. A pesquisa é eminentemente qualitativa e de caráter exploratório-descritivo, com a realização de um estudo de campo. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram seis técnicos da CCI, que participaram da entrevista, realizada através da técnica de grupo focal em duas sessões. Os dados foram organizados e tratados com apoio do software Nvivo e a análise dos resultados se deu através da análise do conteúdo. Os resultados mostraram que as principais necessidades de informações/conhecimentos na CCI são de natureza legal; a aquisição de informação ocorre através de consultas à legislação, aos sistemas de informações corporativos e aos pares; a organização e o armazenamento de informação carecem de uma guarda física e virtual mais adequada; os produtos e serviços de informação poderiam ser mais efetivos, se houvesse um melhor suporte tecnológico; a distribuição da informação ocorre por canais formais e informais e o uso da informação pelos usuários da CCI é parcial, uma vez que as consignações e recomendações da auditoria nem sempre são implementadas; por fim, identificou-se que o comportamento adaptativo ocorre, principalmente, com ajustes informais diante de novas situações. Os pesquisados reconhecem a necessidade de melhorias no gerenciamento da informação na CCI, com a utilização de novas tecnologias da informação, a padronização dos procedimentos internos e um maior monitoramento nas unidades auditadas, de modo a melhorar o fluxo informacional e contribuir para a eficiência organizacional.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1721281 bytes, checksum: c878eb006f1c08a65d9d6a4aea75e302 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In the present society, characterized by the intensive use of information and by knowledge sharing, it is an essential condition for the individual to know how to access and use the information in an efficient way. As concerns the academic context, such requirement is even more imperative, especially because information and knowledge underlie teaching and research activities accomplished by the professors. This requires a major demand for information use by this professional. In this regard, in order to correspond to the change challenges which have been occurring in the educational and informational systems, new competences are claimed, highlighting the informational literacy study area which deals with skills referring to place and information use - associated to new technologies. In this perspective, the aim of such work was to know the development processes of the informational literacy of the associated I professors from the Technological Centre of Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), identifying, thus, the elements which influence such process as well as the learning strategies used and the demands for informational literacy of such professors. This research presents, as subjects, the associated I professors from the Technological Centre of UFPB and as data collection instrument, the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview. With respect to the last one, the life history method, centered on topic, was adopted. The data were analyzed in a quantitative and qualitatively way by the content analysis technique. The results obtained reveal that the researched professors developed some skills while searching for and using the information. However, they need to widen other skills so that excellence in informational literacy is attained. The experiences in training and monitorship during undergraduation course as well as the participation in scientific events and the use of libraries both in the undergraduation and in the graduation courses, besides the experiences with administrative positions and coordination of research groups in the professional context, influenced positively the development of the informational literacy of the researched professors, enabling, thus, the increase of practical and cognitive activities. It can be perceived that the development processes of the informational literacy of the researched professors evolve in differentiated contexts from formal and informal leanings. The first one, related to knowledge acquired by means of undergraduation and graduation courses, reveals that the researched professors have been investing in continuous education, aiming to enlarge their formation focused on the professional aspect. On the other hand, informal learning is noted in the development of informational literacy‟s pertaining to the use of resources such as: library, computer, Internet and electronic database which have been developed in an unplanned way from individual initiatives and not systematically. In this sense, it is understood that the informational literacy development, in the academic context, should be enhanced even from the undergraduation course and, then reinforced in the graduation course, aiming to a better use of information and, consequently, a major intellectual development of students and a better performance in researches. / Na atual sociedade, caracterizada pelo uso intensivo da informação e pelo compartilhamento do conhecimento, é condição precípua para o indivíduo saber acessar e usar de maneira eficaz a informação. No contexto acadêmico, essa exigência se torna mais premente, especialmente porque a informação e o conhecimento permeiam as atividades de ensino e pesquisa realizadas pelos docentes, o que requer uma demanda maior do uso da informação por parte desse profissional. Nesse sentido, para responder aos desafios das transformações que vem ocorrendo nos sistemas educacionais e informacionais, novas competências são exigidas, destacando-se a competência informacional - área de estudos que trata das habilidades em torno da localização e uso da informação, aliada as novas tecnologias. Nessa perspectiva, objetivou-se conhecer os processos de desenvolvimento da competência informacional dos professores associados I do Centro de Tecnologia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, identificando os elementos que influenciam nesse processo, bem como, as formas de aprendizagem utilizadas e as demandas de competência informacional por parte desses professores. Tem como sujeitos, os professores associados I do Centro de Tecnologia da UFPB e como instrumento de coleta de dados, o questionário e a entrevista semi-estruturada. Para este último, adotou-se o método de história de vida tópica. Os dados foram analisados quantitativa e qualitativamente pela técnica de análise de conteúdo. Os resultados obtidos revelam que os pesquisados desenvolveram algumas habilidades na busca e uso da informação, porém necessitam ampliar outras para que atinjam a excelência em competência informacional. As experiências em estágios e monitorias durante a graduação, bem como, a participação em eventos científicos e o uso de bibliotecas tanto na graduação, como na pós-graduação, além das experiências com cargos administrativos e com coordenação de grupos de pesquisa no contexto profissional, influenciaram positivamente o desenvolvimento da competência informacional dos pesquisados permitindo o incremento de habilidades práticas e cognitivas. Percebese que os processos de desenvolvimento da competência informacional dos pesquisados se desenvolve em contextos diferenciados a partir de aprendizagens formal e informal. A aprendizagem formal, relacionada aos conhecimentos adquiridos através dos cursos de graduação e pós-graduações, revelam que os pesquisados vêm investindo numa educação continuada, buscando ampliar suas formações focadas no aspecto profissional. Enquanto a aprendizagem informal é percebida no desenvolvimento de competências informacionais relacionadas ao uso de recursos como: biblioteca, computador, Internet e bases de dados eletrônicas, as quais vêm sendo desenvolvidos de forma não planejada, a partir de iniciativas individuais e não sistemáticas. Assim, compreende-se que o desenvolvimento da competência informacional, no contexto acadêmico, deve ser estimulado já na graduação e reforçado na pós-graduação, visando um melhor uso da informação e, conseqüentemente, um maior desenvolvimento intelectual dos alunos e um melhor desempenho em pesquisas.