Crisis Situations and Information Science. Selected Issues in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose/Thesis: This paper attempts to organize and systematize scholarly literature on the issues relating to the current global health crisis published by information science scholars and professionals, as well as on the information science-related initiatives undertaken to provide access to reliable and valid information in crisis situations.
 Approach/Methods: A critical review of selected literature, as well as observation and a descriptive analysis of websites and web platforms were conducted to establish the thematic corpus.
 Results and conclusions: Even though the topic is recent, several subfields of information science have already been the subject of studies conducted in different parts of the world. It may imply that information science scholars and professionals react quickly to change and they are aware of the fact that their discipline may play an important role during crisis situations. This role may involve facilitating better management in future crises if they do happen.
 Research limitations: Since the topic is new and the situation is dynamic, new research results, or online projects are being issued almost on a daily basis. Hence, it can be assumed that shortly after its publication, this paper will not present the current state of the art anymore. 
 Originality/Value: First scholarly publications on the issues relating to the current global health crisis appeared in early Spring 2020. According to the author’s knowledge, no summary has been published that would systematize and classify the publications and other initiatives from the information science field.