The International Information & Library Review

Addressing institutional potential loss of records and knowledge in Africa: The case of the ECA institutional repository – A knowledge base on African socio-economic development

Publication date: September 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 3
Author(s): Irene Onyancha, Ahmed Al-Awah, Florie Cole
In its 50 years of existence, the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA) has created and holds a vast quantity of information and knowledge in a variety of formats, including printed and electronic. These represent the corporate memory, providing historical evidence of its actions and decisions. The information resources include published materials such as flagship publications, journal articles, conference proceedings, technical reports, mission reports, annual reports, working papers, policy briefs, speeches and other grey literature, all which outline important research or decisions that have been made on the economic and social development in Africa. In 2009 the Library was awarded seed funding to implement the ECA Institutional Repository (IR). This paper discusses the various activities that have been undertaken to realize the project including; highly customized Dspace installation to support the MARC21 metadata, digitization, migration of metadata from the Library Integrated Management System (HORIZON) and, customization of the Dspace workflow to enable review of imported records. The paper also highlights lessons learnt, challenges and some of the best practices developed throughout the implementation and roll out of the ECA IR project. The Institutional Repository at http://repository.uneca.org/ is the first of its kind within the United Nations Secretariat and offers unique knowledge and information not available elsewhere pertaining to regional programmes, decisions and resolutions promoting social and economic development of Africa.

Highlights

► Development of UNECA institutional repository. ► Richer metadata schemas and controlled vocabularies for value-added services. ► Overcoming quality management and metadata cross-interoperability issues. ► Internal institutional collaboration to address institutional memory loss. ► Connectivity challenges for populating and accessing repositories in Africa being addressed.

The International Information & Library Review

Chinese students in American academic libraries: A survey of Chinese user satisfaction with U.S. library experience

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2
Author(s): Xiaorong Shao, Allan Scherlen, Megan Johnson, Xuan Xu, Yuan Hu
While scholarship has addressed issues around serving international students in U.S. libraries, until recently, relatively little attention has been directly focused upon the library needs of specific ethnic groups. This study surveys 83 Chinese students and scholars after they returned from studying at universities in the United States to measure and document their satisfaction with the academic library services and resources they used during their study abroad. Results of the survey are analyzed with the goal of benchmarking and improving services for this growing academic library user population in the United States.

The International Information & Library Review

Postage stamps and digital philately: Worldwide and Indian scenario

Publication date: March 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 1
Author(s): Mangala Anil Hirwade, Ujwala Anil Nawlakhe
‘Postage stamps’, basically as a token for payment of postal taxes, are now being recognized as an information source and historical document in recording national achievements that visually convey four core elements: denomination, country name, graphical design, and the textual element. They are a valuable means of communication easily available anywhere to anybody. Realizing them as source of extra revenue, commemorative stamps are made available over time. The information technology (IT) wave changed the hobby of stamp collection to Digital Philately, while information and communication technology (ICT) developments accelerated the hobby further to Virtual Philately.This paper focuses on the aspects of digital and virtual philately. This study aims to evaluate The World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) Numbering System (WNS) database, which provides free access to authentic postage stamps issued by Universal Postal Union (UPU) member countries and territories. A total of 48,159 stamps with 48 themes were found registered by 184 countries at the time of study. Indian stamps totaled 554 entries with the highest number of entries, 1258, from France, and followed by 1006 from Japan. A ranking was done using themes whereas “Fauna” was observed to be the most popular theme at 14.1% or 6800 stamps under study. For Indian stamps, politics and government, architecture and literature, press and comics are the most prevalent themes with 14.3, 9.8 and 9.8% respectively of the national contribution. The paper also presents a detailed analysis of the 15 Indian stamps commemorating the 14 Indian traditional universities issued over the 50 years of India’s independence.

Highlights

► Postage stamps visually represent a nation’s history, accomplishments, and cultural heritage. ► Advancements in information technology have created both digital and virtual philately practices. ► Traces worldwide and Indian trends in digital philately through an analysis of a leading international philately database. ► Universities are under represented in stamp issues in India.

The International Information & Library Review

Editorial board

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2

The International Information & Library Review

Growth and nature of international LIS research: An analysis of two journals

Publication date: June 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 2
Author(s): Bipin Bihari Sethi, K.C. Panda
The study explores the publication trends of scholarly journal articles in two core Library and Information Science (LIS) journals indexed under ScienceDirect Database during the period for the period 2000–2010, and for the “Top 25 Hottest Papers” for 2006–2010. It examines and presents an analysis of 1000 research papers in the area of LIS published in two journals: The International Information & Library Review (IILR) and Library & Information Science Research (LISR). The study examines the content of the journals, including growth of the literature, authorship patterns, geographical distributions of authors, distribution of papers by journal, citation pattern, ranking pattern, length of articles, and most cited authors. Collaboration was calculated using Subramanyam's formula, and Lotka's law was used to identify authors' productivity. The results indicated that authors' distributions did not follow Lotka's law. The study identified the eight most productive authors with a high of 19 publications in this field. The findings indicate that these publications experienced rapid and exponential growth in literature production. The contributions by scientists from India are examined.

Highlights

► The present study is a model of Global LIS research trend consolidating papers of two core journals. ► The results of the study indicate that, there is an upward trend in LIS research productivity has been visualized. ► Most of the papers from both journals in the sample relate to ICT age. ► Authors' contributions in this study are far from Lotka's Inverse Square Law of Scientific Productivity. ► A. Mathur of India and D. E. Agosto from USA appeared prolific in journal ‘IILR’ and ‘LISR’.

The International Information & Library Review

Foreword

Publication date: December 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 4
Author(s): Toni Carbo

The International Information & Library Review

The prediction of Internet utilization behavior of undergraduate agricultural students: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Publication date: December 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 3–4
Author(s): Naser Zamani-Miandashti, Payam Memarbashi, Parvin Khalighzadeh
The theory of planned behavior has received significant attention more recently. This study used a survey to apply the theory of planned behavior to predict the Internet utilization behavior among 214 undergraduate agricultural students in Iran. Coefficient correlations and linear regressions were employed to analyze relationships among constructs. Results revealed that subjective norm and intention were the strongest predictors of the Internet utilization behavior, which explained 57% of the variance. Perceived behavioral control was the most significant predictor of the Internet use intentions. Subjective norms, to a lesser degree also had important influences on intention. Attitude did not surface as an effective direct predictor of the Internet utilization behavior. Finally, the theory of planned behavior was supported as an effective model explaining the Internet utilization behavior. The most prevalent reason to stop using the Internet was that they were experiencing problems getting access to the Internet.

The International Information & Library Review

Use of social networking sites by research scholars of the University of Delhi: A study

Publication date: June 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 2
Author(s): Margam Madhusudhan
The main purpose of the paper is to explore how research scholars of University of Delhi integrated Social Networking Sites (SNSs) into their daily communication for research work. A structured questionnaire was designed and personally distributed 160 respondents. Most used SNSs for “lurking” while few used such sites for promoting one’s research. Additionally, most respondents preferred the SNS Facebook and ResearchGate for academic purposes. Collaborative and peer-to-peer learning were common benefits from SNSs while some expressed concern regarding cyber-bullying and privacy. Finally, a majority of respondents said using SNSs may be a waste of time.

Highlights

► Survey of University of Delhi research scholars explored use of social networks. ► Most respondents use social networking sites daily and prefer Facebook. ► Most respondents use social networking to “lurk” more than any other activity.

The International Information & Library Review

International students and the Chinese academic library: A user survey at Beijing Normal University Library

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2
Author(s): Jia Liu
With great increase of international students coming to study in China, more and more challenges occur for Chinese academic libraries to meet their needs. In case of Beijing Normal University Library (BNUL), we conducted a user survey and a five-point Likert Scale questionnaire focusing on the areas of library services, resources and environment was used to explore international students' library usage preference and their perceptions on importance and performance of these three areas. The analysis started with descriptive analysis followed by gap analysis between importance to the users and library's performance, and key findings from suggestions of international students were listed. The main objective of this paper is to know international students' information needs, analyze their assessment to the library, determine where and how gaps exist and find out aspects that BNUL need to improve. The paper finally drew some conclusions on how to improve BNUL service quality to international students.

The International Information & Library Review

Strengthening professional expertise: Mentoring in knowledge transfer, the cataloguers' perspective

Publication date: December 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 3–4
Author(s): M.A. Bello, Y. Mansor
University libraries provide support for institutions to achieve their objectives. To realise these objectives, universities allocate considerable funds for the library's development and provision of needed resources that support teaching/research activities. This is for the simple reason that a university's excellence is synonymous with the effectiveness of its library services. Hence, there is a need for continuous training and retraining for retention of librarians who manage the libraries to achieve the university's objectives. Of the few on-the-job training models, mentoring as a Continuing Professional Development programme for librarians in a university library has often been overlooked. This study surveys the uses of mentoring in knowledge transfer for cataloguing, managerial, and research skills development for cataloguers in Nigerian academic libraries. The findings show that mentoring as a tool for knowledge transfer influences cataloguers and their skills development. The result indicates that mentoring in knowledge transfer has a moderate to strong correlation with skills development, and it improves catalouers' proficiency and overall development.

The International Information & Library Review

Building digital libraries in Bangladesh: A developing country perspective

Publication date: September 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 3
Author(s): Nafiz Zaman Shuva
This paper describes the ways used to build digital libraries in Bangladesh as well as the problems that might be encountered during digital library system development. It shows the existing status of digital library development, particularly the status of digitization in Bangladesh as well as government initiatives to build digital library system. Finally, several steps are proposed by the author for one possible approach to build an effective digital library system.

Highlights

► Status of digitization and digital library initiatives in Bangladesh are explored. ► Large numbers of universities have no access to subscription-based e-resources. ► National Task Force on DL System Development is proposed to build DL nationwide. ► Barriers to digital library development/digitization projects have been explored. ► Digital libraries inevitable for building ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021.

The International Information & Library Review

The flow of, and access to, information in Bangladesh: A village level case study

Publication date: December 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 4
Author(s): Md. Jamal Uddin, M. Mezbah-ul-Islam
This paper identifies the sources and channels of information in the rural areas of Bangladesh and highlights the information flow and access patterns at the village level of Comilla and Chittagong districts in Bangladesh. It proposes some suggestions for effective information services in rural area, as well as a specific model for a Bangladesh Integrated Rural Information System (BD-IRIS) to improve the information system of villagers. This study uses structured interviews through a pilot survey of 20% of the households from each village and information gathered by personal observations and other secondary sources, as well as appropriate statistical methods. A total of 155 responses is included in the study.Existing conditions of information flow and access in this case study indicate that there are problems in access in spite of interpersonal sources and channels of information. Of course, it is important to remember that the low literacy rate in the villages studied and in many similar communities presents many serious barriers. The author recommends establishing a Village Information Center (VIC) to provide integrated and concerted information services, along with an integrated rural information system for the purpose in the villages studies, and more widely, to meet the requirements of all people in villages in Bangladesh. The case study is one of very few studies focusing on the flow and access of information for rural areas of Bangladesh, particularly as regards information sources and channels, system and services. The approach can be replicated in other communities, and the proposed model for future direction to improve information system of village level people of Bangladesh could be modified for use in other countries.

Highlights

► Case study of 4 villages in Bangladesh finds most information found in interpersonal sources. ► Information flow and access from more formal sources is very limited. ► Low literacy rates present major barriers to use of non-interpersonal sources and channels. ► A Village Information Center in every village in rural Bangladesh is proposed. ► Bangladesh Integrated Rural Information System proposed to meet needs of rural communities.

The International Information & Library Review

Decay and half-life period of online citations cited in open access journals

Publication date: December 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 4
Author(s): B.T. Sampath Kumar, K.S. Manoj Kumar
This study investigates the decay and half-life of online citations cited in four open access journals published between 2000 and 2009. A total of 1158 online citations cited in 1086 research articles published in two science and social science journals spanning a period of 10 years (2000–2009) were extracted. Study found that 24.58% (267 out of 1086) of articles had online citations and these articles contained a substantially very less number of online citations (2.98%) compared to previous study results. 30.56% (26% in Science and 52.73% in Social Science) of online citations were not accessible and remaining 69.44% of online citations were still accessible. The ‘HTTP 404 error message-page not found’ was the overwhelming message encountered and represented 67.79% of all HTTP message. Domains associated with .ac and .net had higher successful access rates while .org and .com/.co had lowest successful access rates. The half-life of online citations was computed to be approximately 11.5 years and 9.07 years in Science and Social science journal articles respectively.

Highlights

► The study investigates the availability, decay and half-life of online citations in four open access journals. ► 24.58% (267 out of 1086) of articles had online citations and contained substantially fewer online citations (2.98%). ► There is a negative correlation between the percentage of active online citations and the publishing age. ► Major problems are loss of access over time and insufficient preservation. ► Archival preservation of digital content must be a higher priority.

The International Information & Library Review

Library development in Armenia: Problems and progress since the dissolution of the USSR

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2
Author(s): Ian M. Johnson
The paper provides a situation report on the state of libraries and information services, publishing and bookselling in Armenia. It briefly describes their development, outlines the international development assistance that they have received during the last twenty years, describes their current situation, and indicates some of their future needs.

The International Information & Library Review

Editorial board & publication information

Publication date: December 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 4

The International Information & Library Review

Librarians' perceptions of knowledge management in developing countries: A case with Indian academic libraries

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2
Author(s): Mohammad Nazim, Bhaskar Mukherjee
The purpose of this paper is to examine librarians' perceptions of knowledge management, including its concept, potential applications, benefits and major challenges of its applications in Indian academic libraries. A structured questionnaire, containing both open and close-ended questions, was sent by postal mail to 30 librarians of academic libraries in India of which 15 questionnaires were returned. Respondents were asked to define knowledge management and answer questions on its potential applications, benefits and major challenges of implementation in academic libraries. Respondents were also allowed to specify their own views on the subject. The findings of the study show that the levels of understanding of KM concepts among librarians are varied and most of them view KM as the management of information resources, services and systems using technology or specific processes for the capture and use of explicit knowledge, rather sharing and using tacit knowledge. They have positive attitudes towards the applications of knowledge management into academic library practice, and not only because this can bring academic libraries closer to their parent organization, but also because it may help them to survive in an increasingly challenging environment. Although, librarians in the present study acknowledged that they are involved in the practices of knowledge management but these were perceived as basic information management activities. Lack of understanding of knowledge management concepts and its benefits, knowledge sharing culture, top management commitment, incentives and rewards, financial resources and information technology infrastructure are perceived as the major barriers for incorporating knowledge management into academic library practice.

The International Information & Library Review

Editorial board

Publication date: December 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 3–4

The International Information & Library Review

Editorial board & publication information

Publication date: December 2011
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 43, Issue 4

The International Information & Library Review

Institutional Repositories: Benefits and incentives

Publication date: December 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 4
Author(s): Shampa Paul
The Information Age is characterized by new ways of information generation, managing, and dissemination because of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) (Moahi, 2003; Paul, 2007). Institutional Repositories (IRs) play a fundamental role in centralizing, preserving, and making accessible institution's intellectual capital and, at the same time, they form part of a global system of distributed and interoperable repositories that provide the foundation for a new disaggregated model of scholarly publishing (Johnson, 2002; Nagahban, 2010). A study of nine libraries in the National Capital Region of India was conducted to: identify benefits of IRs, learn the satisfaction level of users with respect to IR facilities, identify the incentives for publication in IRs, and identify the appropriate policies to be adopted by institutions for implementing IRs. The results of the responses from the 496 respondents indicate that: 1) Most Faculty members and Research scholars in this study indicated that they do not publish their research in IRs. 2) Opinions about benefits of IRs are user-specific. For instance, a substantially large percentage of those Faculty members and Research scholars in the study who do use IRs are Most satisfied with potential benefits of IR while a relatively higher percentage of Students fall in the Satisfied category. 3) The benefits of IRs ranked most highly, although this varied by the different user groups was wider readership. Students ranked this and "quality aspect" – the opportunity to improve the quality of one's work through the provision of feedback from other researchers. 4) A serious concern about publishing in IRs is the potential for plagiarism and overall lower control over one's work. A second concern is the potential loss of content in IRs, which are often not archived as well as scholarly journals are. The findings suggest that institutions need to give due attention to policies related to two aspects of publication, especially those related to quality and copyright issues and to the academic value of research output. Other policy-related topics include citation in other publication with due acknowledgement, inclusion in indexing systems for retrieval, interoperability with other IRs, and Permanent storage.

Highlights

► Institutional Repositories (IRs) play a complementary role in disseminating scholarly work. ► Study of 9 libraries in India indicates use of IRs increases readership for students' work. ► Most faculty and researchers in study do not use IRs, but most students do. ► Those who use IRs rank improved quality through use of feedback and wider readership first.

The International Information & Library Review

Mobile phone text messaging use among university librarians of Lahore city

Publication date: September 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 3
Author(s): Syeda Hina Batool, Amna Asghar
Short Message Service (SMS) has become a cheap and popular source of communication in today's society. The present study examines the mobile phone text messaging patterns of 96 university librarians from 29 public and private universities in Lahore, Pakistan. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire. Results indicate that university librarians use SMS tools, but do not prefer this technology as a means of communication through phone or e-mail. A majority of librarians use SMS to connect with friends/relatives or for entertainment purposes. They rarely use SMS to communicate with library users, professional colleagues, or administration.

Highlights

► A very low trend of SMS usage was indicated among librarians related to their job, users and professional activities. ► Librarians' used SMS mostly for their interaction with relatives/ friends and for entertainment purposes. ► Librarians' can build their image and visibility among users by adopting low cost SMS services for communication and can save their time and energy.

The International Information & Library Review

Foreword

Publication date: December 2011
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 43, Issue 4
Author(s): Toni Carbo

The International Information & Library Review

Editorial board & publication information

Publication date: June 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 2

The International Information & Library Review

Challenges of getting faculty status: Perception of university librarians in Pakistan

Publication date: September 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 1–2
Author(s): Kanwal Ameen, Midrar Ullah
ObjectiveTo find out the university head librarians' perceptions about the issues in getting faculty status.MethodologyA qualitative research design was used to explore the issue through personal and telephonic interviews with 15 chief librarians of 18 university libraries located in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The textual data was content-analyzed and coded. The emerged themes and subthemes have been presented with the frequency of their occurrences. The findings have been supported by the selected quotations of the interviewees.FindingsA majority of the librarians had vague understanding of the notion of faculty status. Almost all of them desired for granting faculty status to the university librarians. However, their opinion was divided on the prerequisites for faculty status. Most of them supported the same criteria for employment and promotion of faculty librarians, as is used in case of their teaching faculty counterparts. The study has identified that the main barriers in getting faculty status are the librarians themselves, lacking preparedness in terms of qualifications and research output.ImplicationsThe study brings into light both the possibilities of granting faculty status to the university librarians and barriers in this regard. Besides, the findings though extracted from a small number of respondents, may be of interest to other countries in the region.Originality/valueThis exploratory investigation identifies barriers in getting faculty status and is the first ever study on the subject in the local literature.ConclusionFaculty status will help in improving visibility, image and respect of librarians. Therefore, there is a need to prepare university librarians for faculty status, and to struggle for getting it.

The International Information & Library Review

Users' perceptions of library effectiveness: A comparative users' evaluation of central libraries of AMU, BHU, ALU and BBRAU

Publication date: June 2012
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 44, Issue 2
Author(s): Abdul Mannan Khan
This study examines user perceptions regarding level of satisfaction with library collections, organization, facilities as well as traditional and IT enabled services. A questionnaire was administered to the faculty members, research scholars and students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Allahabad University (ALU) and Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar (BBRAU). Overall, respondents indicated that library collections are adequate. In the case of newly centralized university libraries, users were dissatisfied with library collections, particularly at BBRAU, though they were satisfied with the existing infrastructure. Overall, satisfaction levels of users at old centralized universities are good.

Highlights

► Examines user perception of faculty, researchers, and students of the AMU, BHU, ALU and BBRAU. ► Faculty users participate in collection development more than students and researchers. ► Only one of 4 universities surveyed had implemented an Online Public Access Catalogue. ► Overall, results indicate that library collections in all the 4 universities are adequate for their users.

The International Information & Library Review

Library and information literacy instruction in Israeli colleges and universities: A preliminary survey

Publication date: December 2013
Source:The International Information & Library Review, Volume 45, Issues 3–4
Author(s): Carol R. Simon
Library instruction is universal in post-secondary educational institutions in Israel. Information literacy instruction is in its infancy. Israeli students experience significant difficulties in using English language resources.