informationsbehandlingssystem

Informationsbedarf, or information need, is a concept used in information science to describe the perceived requirement for information to support decision making, problem solving, or learning. It arises when existing knowledge is incomplete or uncertain and can be triggered by tasks, events, or changes in context. It is usually considered from individual and organizational perspectives.

Needs can be explicit (stated as a question or goal) or tacit (unspoken). Assessing information needs typically involves task analysis, user studies, and information auditing. The information-seeking process often follows stages such as recognizing a need, defining the question, searching for information, evaluating sources, and using information to make a decision. This behavior is studied in information science and library science and informs the design of information systems and services.

Implications for practice include improving access to relevant information, supporting information literacy, and enhancing decision quality in libraries, knowledge management, and public or corporate sectors. In the digital era, effective identification and retrieval of information rely on organized metadata, controlled vocabularies, and user-centered interfaces, as well as considerations of privacy, bias, and information overload.