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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the present status of information and communication technology (ICT) in Bangladesh and to represent the scenario of growth and development of ICT in relation to the evolution of the information explosion with the aim of providing better library and information services in Bangladesh.

Documentary sources and direct observation are the major methods of this article.

To achieve the millennium development goal and to face the information revolution, Bangladesh needs a special information infrastructure. There is also an immediate need to make a dedicated decision to ensure an appropriate electronic‐communication environment in the country to facilitate the use of ICT to disseminate information, building communication, marketing products and publications, and earn revenue through e‐commerce.

The paper will be of value to researchers on Bangladesh who wish to learn more about the state of ICT in the country, as well as to librarians wishing to improve their services.

Many road authorities considered contracting out road maintenance to the private sector based on performance measures as an alternative and better solution than traditional methods of contracting. It highlights issues of interest to road authorities in the context of saving maintenance costs and managing contracting times effectively. This method is named as performance based maintenance by contracting (PBMC) and has substantial success records in minimizing infrastructure maintenance costs in many developed and developing countries over the last two decades. It has received the attention of researchers and practitioners. However, the literature on PBMC is reasonably high although the concept of PBMC is relatively new. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a comprehensive state of the art review of the literature that has been conducted in the recent years.

A total of 62 published report and journal articles related to performance based maintenance by contracting for road network system has been analysed and reviewed in this paper.

This paper analyses the literature on PBMC and presents examples of developed and developing countries that have been successfully maintaining their road network systems using PBMC as their preferred method of contracting.

The potential of reducing maintenance costs, increasing the quality of works and reducing the chance of corruption in the long run in developing countries are the challenging issues for PBMC, which needs more attention. This paper can be used as a base or platform for future research in the area of PBMC such as developing optimal policies and cost models.

This paper would be useful for the research on PBMC. It would be beneficial for the engineers or professionals in improving the performance of road maintenance and management.

The Gold Coast is a low‐lying coastal Australian city and many residential areas are subject to 1:100 year flood events. Evidently, there is a need for the city to adapt to sea‐level rise (SLR) by developing more effective policies to reduce its destructive impacts. Thus, the purpose is to identify and evaluate preferred adaptation alternatives to reduce the vulnerability to SLR and storm surges.

In this research, we explore stakeholders’ opinions for adaptation alternatives to adapt to the impacts of SLR. As part of exploring alternatives to improve Gold Coast's resilience to climate change effects we are undertake a multi‐criteria analysis by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The goal, criteria and adaptation alternatives were derived, and based upon, adaptation programmes, existing adaptation works by local governments and an extensive literature review. The final AHP structure was developed after further consultations with three local stakeholders (politicians, experts and residents).

The results show that across the three stakeholder groups, effectiveness and sustainability are the criteria of highest priority, respectively. When considering adaptation alternatives, the highest priority for politicians and residents is improving building design whilst for experts improving public awareness is of most importance.

We demonstrated that utilising the AHP method in the aforementioned context for the Gold Coast region could provide a straightforward approach to evaluate the adaptation alternatives from multi‐stakeholders’ perspectives. Advantages are its versatility in application to coastal processes and its inclusion of the multiple stakeholder in the decision‐making process.

Gender equality plans (GEPs) are currently the preferred approach to initiate structural change towards gender equality in research organisations. In order to achieve structural change, GEPs have to be more than just a formally adopted institutional policy. Effective GEPs lead to a transformation of gendered practices and thus to structural change. This chapter presents the innovative approach developed for an H2020 structural change project and its theoretical background. We argue that due to the dual logic, which characterises academic organisations, the organisational logic and the academic logic, change is a complex endeavour. To deal with this complexity, one of the main functions of a GEP is to provide space and initiate reflexivity at an individual as well as at an institutional level. A theory of change approach supports reflexivity in all stages of a GEP as it ensures that basic assumptions of the institutional change process are questioned and reflected on by the different stakeholder groups involved in the implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a report of the 2007 annual meeting of the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) held at the KTH, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Provides a brief review of the main themes of the conference: Public access; New tools and services, Metrics; and Economics, Bridging the gap.

Scientific publishing directions are changing the environmental landscapes of science and academic research libraries as well as in how scientists are conducting their work in all disciplines and communicating and collaborating with each other. The increasingly more complex and global environments indicate that access to the scientific literature and information sharing are paramount interests of scientists, national governments, the scientific community at‐large, professional societies and commercial publishing interests.

Libraries are evolving into far more than repositories of bound volumes as eScience and eCollections mature. The changing role of librarians and of the physical library to handle and treat much more than books and journals is demonstrated by many addresses at this conference.

In an age of growing skepticism about the development industry and about the appropriateness of the predominant paradigms of modernisation and immutable technology transfer, many scholars and practitioners are now attempting to re‐define approaches to development (e.g. Taylor, 1979; Galtung et al., 1980; Chambers, 1986; World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Out of this general effort to re‐consider the ways in which social and economic development should be conducted has emerged the notion of participation. In conceptual terms it is now widely agreed that development plans and policies must not only account for the perceptions and opinions of local populations, but that community groups should participate in the underlying processes of consultation and decision‐making. What is much less understood, however, are the mechanisms by which participation is operationalised and institutionalised, and the stresses as well as the advantages which accrue from participatory practices. This is particularly the case in the realm of scientific inquiry where participatory research (PR),(1) has emerged as part of the search to render science more germane to the needs and opinions of local people.

The purpose of this paper is to present a community-led “informal heritage management” of the chini-tikri work of Kosaituli mosque, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. It critically explores the interrelationship between the craft, existing social capital and informal heritage management.

This paper assesses the existing local policies, strategies and the top-down conservation efforts led by government and identifies the shortcomings. The study uses Kosaituli mosque as a case study as it displays some of the finest surviving examples of the chini-tikri work. Using observation, open-ended interview and focus group discussion as research tools, the study explores the challenges that the craft and craftsman faces, how existing social capital supports the informal heritage management process and the interrelationship between these critical elements.

The results shows two clear issues. First, the informal heritage management system has been continuing to protect and manage the local heritage while fighting several challenges. Second, though they require external support, they want to keep the “community ownership.” The study recommends how the craftsman can be revived through incentives and capacity building to facilitate the survival of the craft with a three-step process: identifying the rare craftsmen, providing them due recognition and transferring the traditional knowledge to the next generation.

No similar prior studies were carried out in Old Dhaka that focus on this subject. This paper can contribute in new policy formation not only for Bangladesh but also will potentially guide other cities that face similar challenges of disappearing craft and craftsman.

The purpose of this study is to understand the determinants affecting behavioral intention (BI) to use ePharmacy services. The moderating role of technology discomfort in the relationship between BI and the actual use of ePharmacies in the context of Bangladesh is also examined.

A descriptive, quantitative approach was used to consider the UTAUT-2 model. Using the convenience sampling method, 255 responses were collected. The data were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2 software to investigate the hypothesized relationships.

The findings reveal that website information, doctors’ services, performance expectancy, return policy, social influence, perceived reliability and facilitating conditions are significantly related to the BI to use ePharmacy services. Interestingly, the structural equation modeling results also confirmed that technology discomfort has no moderating effect on the relationship between BI and actual usage behavior.

This research provides theoretical contribution by extending the practical knowledge focusing on the relationship of ePharmacy, BI and actual usage behavior by using UTAUT-2 model – a relevant and unexplored issue in the easting literature, offering several research opportunities as the future avenue.

The result highlights the economic and social relevance from the perspective of a developing country. As people are showing their intention toward ePharmacy, managers and decision-makers need to take strategic decision to overcome any difficulties. Policymakers need to improve their services for the expansion of ePharmacy through different development projects.

This study advances past studies on the use of ecommerce in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a general understanding of customers in developing countries.

The importance of smart tourism technologies (STTs) has been rising recently, but how STTs are related to tourists' psychological well-being has got little attention. The study intends to show how STTs increase tourists' psychological well-being by capitalizing on the theory of Tourism 4.0. The study investigates the associations between the factors of STTs with the perceived benefit and, subsequently, perceived benefit with the psychological well-being of tourists. Moreover, this study also examines the moderating impact of a growth mindset (GM) between perceived benefits (PB) and tourists' psychological well-being (TPW) in the tourism industry.

Using a structured questionnaire, 243 responses were collected through the convenience sampling method. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for the analysis.

Findings show that automation, security/privacy concerns, information accuracy, and personalization are significantly related to the PB of tourists. The results also confirm that a GM moderates the relationship between PB and TPW.

The results show the social and managerial importance of the perspective of tourism in developing countries. Based on the tourism 4.0 concept, this study presents a theoretical contribution by expanding practical information regarding the link between STTs and psychological well-being. Moreover, the study shows some directions to the tour operator about improving PB and psychological well-being. The notion of tourism 4.0 is a new paradigm that seeks to unlock the psychological well-being of visitors through the hyper-interconnectedness of humans and technologies.

This study contributes to prior research on technology-based tourism by exploring the uncharted STT variables, PB, GM and psychological well-being. Moreover, the study makes an empirical effort to conceptualize the tourism 4.0 concept on the proposed relationships. Tourist firms should focus on implementing this theory to develop their business.