Search results

Emergencies can create situations where traditional face-to-face courses need to quickly be transferred to be online. When transitioning, it is easy to focus on simply moving content into an online learning management system quickly and training instructors and students in the basics of how to use the platform in a pared-down learning structure. However, this article argues that approaching emergency course redesign with accessibility in mind at the start of the transition will ensure that more students, including students with disabilities, succeed in the online learning environment. This also helps ensure the course is designed for optimal student learning outcomes.

Purpose – This chapter provides a historical overview of libraries and library and information science/studies (LIS) education in Australia, charting the changing nature of the LIS academy and the profession. The chapter then examines the knowledge, skills, and qualifications required for current and emerging LIS professionals, discussing how we embrace new knowledge and analyzing whether there are aspects of current LIS education that we need to hold on to or let go of in order to re-envision LIS education in the future.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A brief historical analysis of Australian librarianship, library associations, and LIS education, dating from European colonization in 1788 to the present, 2017, sets the context and informs the discussion.

Findings – This chapter demonstrates how social, political, technological, and educational forces have influenced libraries, librarianship, and LIS education. Within this context, we propose ways forward, such as partnering with broader information communities, adopting emerging specialties, building closer relationships between academia and practice, and considering “letting go” of some of the old as we add the new.

Originality/Value – By providing an original historical overview of librarianship in Australia with a particular focus on LIS education and how the goals and focus of both librarianship and LIS education have evolved over the centuries, this chapter contributes to an informed discussion designed to assist in re-envisioning the information professions and disciplines in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the US information infrastructure, including discussion of federal policy affecting the evolution of the infrastructure. Libraries are then discussed as a means to further utilize the information infrastructure to ensure democratic access to information.

The paper begins with a brief history of the evolution of the US information infrastructure and then turns to discussion of how libraries can maximize their utility within the context of this information society.

The paper identifies the richness of the information infrastructure and the potential for information poverty of Americans if libraries are not careful to focus on the information available through information technology rather than focus on the information technology itself.

This paper is based on an historical look at the democratic underpinnings of the US information infrastructure and outlines general trends in US federal information policy that lead to the modern US information society.

It is the author's wish that librarians and other information professionals use this work to support their focus on information access, using information technology and the rest of the information infrastructure to provide top information service and access to their users.

Democratic rule requires an informed populace. The key to an informed populace is utilizing a nation's information infrastructure to most fully disseminate and gather needed information to and from the citizens of that nation. This case study provides an historical overview of the evolution of one nation's information infrastructure as a means to draw attention to the leading role libraries can take in supporting a democratic society, providing access to information via information technologies.

Purpose – The purpose of the research reported in this article is to understand how refugees learn to engage with a complex, multimodal information landscape and how their information literacy practice may be constructed to enable them to connect and be included in their new information landscape. Design/methodology/approach – The study is framed through practice and socio‐cultural theories. A qualitative research design is employed including semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews and focus groups which are thematically analysed through an information practice lens. Findings – Refugees encounter complex and challenging information landscapes that present barriers to their full participation in their new communities. Social inclusion becomes possible where information is provided via sharing through trusted mediators who assist with navigating the information landscape and information mapping, and through visual and social sources. Research limitations/implications – The study is local and situated and therefore not empirically generalizable. It does however provide rich, deep description and explanation that is instructive beyond the specific research site and contributes to theory building. Practical implications – The study highlights the role, and importance, of social and visual information sources and the key role of service providers as mediators and navigators. Governments, funders and service providers can use these findings to inform their service provision. Originality/value – This is an original research paper in which the results provide practical advice for those working with refugees and which also extends theories of information literacy practice as an information practice.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and measure the construct of fan engagement through social networking sites (SNS).

A multi-stage procedure was completed to validate the proposed fan engagement through SNS model with three first-order constructs (fan-to-fan relationships, team-to-fan relationships and fan co-creation). First, a preliminary analysis of the proposed items to capture fan engagement through SNS was conducted through expert review. Second, an assessment of item reliability and construct validity was completed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Finally, CFA and subsequent structural equation model were conducted to review the psychometric properties and to test the relationships between the proposed construct with online and offline behavioural intentions.

The results indicate good psychometric properties of the constructs of fan-to-fan relationships, team-to-fan relationships and fan co-creation, and these three constructs were significantly related with the second-order construct of fan engagement through SNS. Additionally, the construct of fan engagement through SNS was significantly related to both online and offline behavioural intentions.

These findings suggest that teams should use SNS to interact with fans, to allow fans to share experiences and to involve fans in co-creation processes aimed at increasing engagement and subsequent positive behavioural intentions towards the team.

This study extends previous research by measuring fan engagement through SNS as a multidimensional construct, and testing its predictive effect on fans’ online and offline behavioural intentions. Several suggestions for future studies and strategies for increasing fan engagement can be drawn from this study.