Produtos e serviços informacionais para estudantes de cursos de graduação no modalidade de educação a distância: um estudo de caso na Universidade Federal do Pará

Abstract

The development of Distance Education (DE), over the years, enabled an accumulation of teaching methodologies and strategies that expanded opportunities for initial and continuing education for remote populations that face-to-face education could not meet, and thus, it began to be used as an alternative for admission to public and private higher education institutions. Thus, the general objective of this study was to analyze the informational products and services offered by the Library System (SIBI) of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) to students enrolled in distance education undergraduate courses, while the specific objectives intended the following points: to raise the literature on theories, concepts and definitions related to distance education and informational products and services offered in this modality; to verify how the participation of the library and the professional who performs auxiliary activities in the Library of the Polo Universidade Aberta do Brasil (UAB) in Salinópolis occurs; identify the informational needs and expectations of undergraduate students in the distance modality; characterize and evaluate the informational products and services offered at the UAB Polo Library in the Municipality of Salinópolis in relation to the needs and expectations of the DE students attended by it. To support this study, it was opted for a methodology based on exploratory and descriptive research, with a quali-quantitative approach. In addition, bibliographic review, document research and case study procedures were used. The universe of this research was the Library of the Polo UAB Salinópolis, while the sample consisted of the following subjects: a) library assistant responsible for the analyzed information unit, b) responding students, c) SIBI/UFPA coordinator. The questionnaire and the interview were used as instruments for data collection, and for the treatment and comparison of primary and secondary data with the revised literature, we opted for the application of methodological triangulation. It was found that the SIBI/UFPA offers information products and services to the academic community in general, however, the absence of guidelines for assisting undergraduate students in the distance modality ends up limiting the informational resources for this audience. It was found that the Library of the Polo UAB Salinópolis is not properly structured for distance learning students, and as a result, the aforementioned information unit does not meet the expectations detected by mapping the informational needs of DE users at the aforementioned academic unit. The study contributes to the theoretical basis and suggests several measures and procedures by the institutional agents involved, among them the implementation of a policy aimed at specific and adequate informational support for DE students and the carrying out of new research that can contribute to the adequacy of libraries to the needs of their users, in accordance with their objectives and social functions.