TY - JOUR AU - Goran Pavelin PY - 2014/02/28 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - COMMUNICATION OF THE CROATIAN STATE ARCHIVES IN ZADAR WITH ITS USERS AND THE REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF GENEALOGISTS JF - European Scientific Journal, ESJ JA - ESJ VL - 10 IS - 5 SE - Articles DO - 10.19044/esj.2014.v10n5p%p UR - https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/2711 AB - Genealogical researches associated with the Croatian archival institutions have not previously been systematically conducted neither at regional nor national level. However, more recent American researches conducted by interviewing genealogists talk about a very important group of users seeking for information from archival material and records. Based on these researches we perceive the most common user obstacles and problems they are facing during the search. Based on the available documentation in Croatian State Archives in Zadar and through questionnaires, the author has obtained the feedback from its users and the information on genealogists' habits (within the population of students and professors of the Croatian city of Zadar, and, with the second questionnaire, within the other natural or legal persons who use records). On the basis of questionnaires and insight into quantitative information on users and material, and with complementary qualitative research approaches (interviews of the American researchers with genealogists), the author came across the deeper insight on customers of the Croatian State Archives in Zadar in general, and on genealogists, in particular. The author thereby raises some key aspects in determining the users' behaviour when searching for information. In fact, the research has established the identity of the users and resulted in findings on: the uses of archives and records, ways in which users make contact with the archives, the research purposes (of genealogists in particular), the sources of reliance of genealogical users prior to visiting the archives and on the assessment which is determined by personal priority for genealogy research (1 for unimportant to 5 for extremely important). The results obtained may be considered by the archivists in Zadar, who might also intensify its own conduct of users’ research within its users and to connect the storage of information resources with the needs of the users. ER -