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As the metaverse gains popularity, libraries have the potential to play a vital role in this virtual world. However, digital librarians and digital age library users need to develop metaliteracy skills to effectively navigate and evaluate digital information in the metaverse. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the link between libraries and the metaverse, define metaliteracy and highlight its importance for librarians and library users. The challenges of developing metaliteracy skills in the metaverse are discussed, as well as the need for ongoing training and support. This paper also explores the role of libraries and librarians in the metaverse and provides recommendations for enhancing metaliteracy skills.

Through a review of the literature, this paper analyzes various library websites and consulting literature relating to the link between libraries and the metaverse, metaliteracy and its importance for librarians and library users and the challenges of developing metaliteracy skills in the metaverse.

As the metaverse continues to evolve, libraries and librarians must adapt and develop the necessary skills to continue providing valuable resources and services to their communities in virtual environments.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is the original idea that highlights the importance of metaliteracy for librarians and library users. The challenges of developing metaliteracy skills in the metaverse.

In the digital age, public libraries are facing numerous challenges, and the Balochistan public libraries are no exception. This study aimed to identify current digital trends adopted by the public libraries in Balochistan and to find out about challenges and potential solutions regarding digital trends from library users.

A quantitative study was carried out and data were collected through the survey method, employing a structured questionnaire. The target population consisted of 17,953 users of 17 public libraries in Balochistan. A sample of 510 users both male and female was selected by using random sampling technique from the target population.

The analysis revealed that patrons of public libraries are dissatisfied with the services offered, as they now require access to new digital trends such as fast Internet, download facilities, unlimited content on numerous resources, Wi-Fi, online reference services, universal accessibility and user-friendly interfaces. Unfortunately, public libraries in Balochistan are still lagging in terms of development. The study recommended that public libraries in Balochistan should develop and implement digital services, increase access to digital resources, hire professional librarians, professional development and collaborate with other libraries.

The study’s findings can assist in improving public library services and granting patrons access to current information and resources in Balochisthan and other developing countries. This study’s originality stems from its use of a quantitative survey approach to gather data from 17 public libraries in Balochisthan and provide a comprehensive view of the digital challenges they face. The study’s focus on digital tendencies is relevant in today’s world, where technology is rapidly changing the way, we access and consume information.

This study aims to assess the extent to which Uganda university libraries have implemented digital transformation technologies and to determine the facilitators and barriers affecting the implementation of digital transformation in selected university libraries in Uganda.

This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design. It was conducted in six selected university libraries in Uganda, which were in three private and three public universities. The study sample included 103 librarians with a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree and six library directors.

The findings indicated that there was an average (n = 37, 48.7%) implementation of digital transformation in the selected university libraries in Uganda. Some of the barriers hindering digital transformation included inadequate funding, lack of awareness of digital technologies, inadequate ICT skills, insufficient ICT infrastructure and limited staff among others. There is a need for library management to provide support in the form of funds, policies and human resources to implement such digital transformation.

The criteria for choosing universities were those that have been around for at least 10 years. The reason for this was that it was assumed that these universities would have well-established staff development programmes and procedures as well as be likely to have incorporated technology into their services, including libraries. This study’s limitations stem from the fact that this criterion for selection might not apply to all Ugandan university libraries, particularly those that are less than 10 years old and may not have been well represented in this study.

The magnitude of the problem of digital transformation in university libraries in Uganda is unclear because of the limited research available in the Uganda library and information science field. This study presents the status of digital transformation in Uganda university libraries.

The digital contents (d-contents) are vulnerable to various threats either natural or manmade. Digital preservation is the plethora of a wide array of strategies necessary for the long-term preservation of digital objects. This study was carried out to assess the digital preservation practices for information resources in university libraries of Pakistan.

A quantitative survey based on a structured questionnaire was carried out to conduct the study. The questionnaire containing two sets of strategies (general and technical) was distributed amongst the whole population and received 90% response rate.

Overall, progressive implementation of general digital preservation practices was noted in these libraries like checking the digital collections for viruses, keeping the digital media in fire/water/theft proof locations, restricting unauthorized access, maintaining ideal humidity and temperature, and checking the digital media for functionality. Amongst the technical practices, only replication was in practice at a progressive rate, followed by metadata recording and media refreshing that was sometimes practiced in these libraries. The other technical practices were rarely or never practiced in these libraries. Significant variances in general and technical digital preservation practices were noted based on their physical locations (regional distribution).

The study contributes a comprehensive set of digital preservation practices divided into general and technical types to conduct similar studies in other parts of the world.

The findings stress the need for national and institutional policies, funding streams and skill enhancement of library staff.

The study fills the literature gap and contributes a comprehensive set of digital preservation practices divided into general and technical types to conduct similar studies in other parts of the world.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-02-2023-0074

As part of the EFOP-3.3.3-VEKOP-16–2016-00001 “Museum and Library Development for All” project, a national representative digital literacy survey was conducted in Hungary's public libraries at the end of 2019. The aim of the present study is to provide a deeper analysis of the data collected during the survey to answer the question of the role of gender and age in the development of digital skills amongst librarians working in public libraries. This study was designed to answer the following four research questions: Are there levels of proficiency defined by DigComp 2.1 that are more specific to men or more specific to women? Are there areas of competence and competences that are clearly perceived as stronger or weaker for men or women? Are there areas of competence that are clearly influenced by age and others that are not or only moderately influenced by age? Which competences are clearly age-related, and which are not or only slightly affected by age?

The main target group of the study were library professionals working in county libraries. The survey, based on the DigComp 2.1 (Gomez et al., 2017) framework, was conducted using an online questionnaire in the form of a self-assessment and explored four levels of digital literacy. A 30-question questionnaire was completed by 1,868 respondents. The sampling procedure was essentially stratified sampling. The large number of respondents and the sampling procedure combined with the representativeness of the sample meant that the results of the survey can be considered as generalisable to the whole Hungarian public library sector.

Of the five competency areas assessed by the DigComp framework, librarians were found to be most competent in information and data literacy, and least competent in content development, according to the proportion of those with basic skills. 32 percent of women and 22 percent of men working in libraries rated their digital skills as basic, and both groups were weak or less weak in the same skills, with a few exceptions. At the intermediate level, there is a predominance of women. In the information and communication competency areas and in the content development and integrating and re-elaborating digital content in the content creation area, a high proportion of women consider their digital skills to be medium. Relatively few men rate their own competence in these areas as average. They are most likely to have advanced and highly specialised skills. The advanced level in DigComp2.1 implies, in addition to strong digital skills, the willingness and ability to help others, while the highly specialised level requires innovative and creative use of digital technology and knowledge transfer. These top two skill levels are more common amongst men. 34 per cent of men and 27 per cent of women have advanced skills, while 13 per cent of men and 6 per cent of women have highly specialised’s level. The age of librarians has only a minimal influence in certain areas of competence and for certain competences. Skills in the information and data literacy competency area are less age sensitive. For the data management competency, which requires more technological skills, a stronger correlation between age and skill levels is observed, especially for basic and highly specialised skills. In the communication competence area, the youngest age group of librarians has the highest percentage of advanced and the lowest percentage of basic level. The proportion of advanced learners decreases steadily as age groups progress and the proportion of basic learners increases at a similar steady rate. The effect of age on the content creation is much more modest than expected. Age clearly has an impact on the safety competence area. As age increases, the proportion of those at advanced level decreases and the proportion at basic level increases. Age also has a significant effect on the problem-solving competence area. One in two librarians in the 50 and 60s have only basic level skills, compared to one in four in the youngest age group and one in three in the 40s.

Using the DigComp 2.1 framework, a digital competence survey of a whole professional group of library professionals working in public libraries in Hungary was carried out. The study provides new insights into the impact of gender and age as variables on digital competence.

This study aims to determine the requirements and find out the challenges for the use of digital library services for rural areas of Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo province. The research questions of the study are: What are the requirements for the use of digital library services in rural areas of Capricorn District Municipality? What are the challenges of accessing digital library services in rural areas?

Data was analysed thematically and deductively in this study, as researcher required to accomplish the purpose of the study through consistent structure (Zalaghi and Khazaei, 2016). In deductive analysis, the researcher starts with a set of categories, which are then used to categorize and organize data (Bertram and Christiansen, 2020). The researcher got familiar with data from the interviewing process and when transcribing data from audio tape. The transcription process was done for the coding purposes. Coding allows the researcher to simplify and focus on specific characteristics of data.

The study findings advocate for the establishment of digital libraries in rural areas. The library authorities are challenged to adapt digital ways of information provision. Since librarians have been providing digital content in libraries for use on users’ laptops and other gadgets, this implies that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has been lagging behind in finding innovative ways to provide information, especially in rural areas. To successfully keep libraries as sources of information, transformative measures have to be taken, and where possible, revisit the policies and keep drifting with the societal changes. The library authorities have to delve into new ways of providing LIS to the communities. Unquestionably, information and communication technologies have penetrated our societies and became a way of life. In addition, there are unlimited benefits which can be derived from digital technologies, especially given the lack of physical libraries in rural areas.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the academic research is original and has not been published anywhere before.

The purpose of this study is to present some critical digital preservation strategies that are important for the preservation of digital information.

From review of the related studies, this paper presents critical digital preservation techniques that are vital for small libraries to ensure the accessibility of the digital collections of enduring value.

This paper comprehends major digital preservation strategies and possibilities for small libraries through which they can overcome the financial, technological, expertise and policy constraints to implement their digital preservation program.

This paper covers the major strategies that were collated during literature review and instrumentation process for the PhD study of the first author on this topic.

The academic library’s physical capacity and its service obligations to local users structured the traditional print collection. Largely freed of these constraints, the digital collection manager enjoys unprecedented freedoms but now contends with a collection susceptible to resource sprawl and scope ambiguity. This exploratory study aims to consider the possibility that intra-field social processes help to structure and routinize digital collection practice.

Lacking the constraints to which print collections are subject, electronic resource and digital library collections are more likely to reflect idiosyncratic institutional interests and therefore, to demonstrate significant variation. Evidence of homogeneity may suggest the influence of heretofore underexplored social structures. To determine the extent of such homogeneity, the author performed exploratory/descriptive content analyses on ten electronic resource collection development policies and six digital library collection development policies.

The data reveal among both the electronic resource and digital library collection policies significant uniformity. Content analyses demonstrate consistent themes (e.g. media, audience, selection priorities, etc.) and rhetoric. These findings lend support to the study’s central hypothesis regarding latent social structures. Analyses also reveal a set of unanticipated constraints unique to digital collection management.

Despite the breadth and maturity of literature addressing the Digital Turn in academic librarianship, relatively little attention has been paid to the social dimensions of collection management. This work represents an important corrective and suggests new theoretical approaches to the study of digital collection practice.

This paper aims to find out the digital services of management libraries provided during the library closure and the challenges and initiatives the libraries have taken up to fulfill the need of their user community during the pandemic crisis.

To meet the purpose of the study, the investigators have used a survey method. An online questionnaire was devised and administered among the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) librarians using Microsoft Forms.

The study's findings suggested that all the libraries under investigation must avail of various digital library services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Further, the investigators recommend that libraries formulate a disaster preparedness and management plan in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic so that libraries can prepare themselves for the future.

The pandemic has affected every aspect of life and changed the digital library services scenario. Thus, it is essential to examine the role libraries have played during the COVID-19 pandemic and distinguish the challenges and initiatives libraries have taken to tackle the problems they faced. This study has been conducted on the digital library services that were provided by the libraries of IIMs.

Following a crucial COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the coronavirus has affected every academic institution, particularly libraries and information centres. To address this unprecedented scenario, libraries’ staff has decided to provide their services via digital access while staying close to the users. To predict users’ intention to use digital libraries after COVID-19, the authors combined the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and perceived risk.

Data were collected via a paper-based questionnaire using a convenient sampling method which was distributed at two major libraries; Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University and Dr Zakir Husain Library, Jamia Millia Islamia in India.

Empirical findings suggested that all the proposed hypotheses were supported, and the integrated model had strong explanation power as the proposed model explained a 74.5% variance in users’ intention to use digital libraries after COVID-19.

This study offers substantial information to librarians, digital libraries, universities, institutes and other stakeholders and sheds light on the potential for a developing nation to transition to an economy with a strong digital infrastructure. The scope of the study is constrained to the users in India only, hence, leading to the possibility that it may be challenging to generalize the findings.

According to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is one of the few studies to predict users’ intentions for using digital libraries after COVID-19 by applying the integrated model of TPB and TAM in an emerging economy. It helped understand the users’ attitudes towards using the digital services and resources available at the respective libraries. It also contributed considerably to the argument that users have grown accustomed to harnessing digital libraries during the post-COVID-19 period.