Search results

The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings from the formative evaluation of a national public library development initiative in England, with a focus on the practice and impact of collaborative leadership.

A realistic evaluation approach was used in the study, enabling a nuanced assessment of the initiative’s contexts, mechanisms and outcomes in relation to its core objectives. These included testing innovative, partnership approaches to library service delivery, encouraging greater synergy between libraries and the arts and other public and commercial sectors. Evaluation findings are subsequently contextualised using a conceptual framework drawn from critical management studies on collaborative advantage.

Data show that the initiative was an effective catalyst for enhanced collaborative leadership in the public library sector, including the development of a cross-sector community of practice, with evidence of collective ownership and decision making. The relative collaborative advantages of the initiative are underpinned by evidence on the unique value of public library services to collaborating organisations and sectors.

Outcomes are of relevance to a range of public services and governing bodies with reference to shared strategic objectives with other sectors and services and collaborative leadership learning and practice.

There are implications relating to the public value of library services and how this can potentially be enhanced via collaborative leadership approaches to service design and delivery. This is especially pertinent given current cross-government policy drivers towards integrated public services.

The research makes an original contribution to contemporary debates on cultural value in considering the cross-sector role and impact of collaborative leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Information is provided about each source, and the paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

To describe the process and results of the business‐planning workpackage of The European Library (TEL) project, in which eight national libraries collaborated on a joint approach to access to their digital libraries.

The methodology was in three parts: first, a literature review and the mapping of the partners' existing and planned digital products and services, then a structured interview or survey to determine the partners' business requirements from TEL, then a harmonization process, and finally the results were then combined with normal business planning elements to produce a mission and final business plan.

Business planning for digital libraries has hitherto not been widely reported. The methodology proved to be an effective method of achieving mutual agreement among partners with widely different aims and characteristics. Eleven harmonized service aspirations were agreed and five categories of business aims.

Focused on the business aims of national libraries, but the methodology can be relevant to other collaborative projects. Together with the few existing other reports, this can form the basis for a new field of work.

The work described led directly to the creation of an operational service, which will be open to all European national libraries.

As far as is known, the first reporting of a collaborative international planning process for a digital library, and maybe the first multi‐partner business plan between national libraries.

The GAELS Project is a two‐year project funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) strategic change initiative, which promotes collaborative information services to engineering researchers at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities. This paper examines the role of user education in this process. We use arguments against the effectiveness of library skills education and evaluative methods learned from human‐computer interface design as a means of improving information skills training and as part of a general reflection on user education and library services. Such an approach shows how networked learning materials can be an effective tool for promoting a collaborative library service across the Glasgow Metropolitan Area Network.

The article aims to review a university course, offered to students in both Australia and Germany, to encourage them to learn about designing, implementing, marketing and evaluating information programs and services in order to build active and engaged communities. The concepts and processes of Web 2.0 technologies come together in the learning activities, with students establishing their own personal learning networks (PLNs).

The case study examines the principles of learning and teaching that underpin the course and presents the students' own experiences of the challenges they faced as they explored the interactive, participative and collaborative dimensions of the web.

The online format of the course and the philosophy of learning through play provided students with a safe and supportive environment for them to move outside of their comfort zones, to be creative, to experiment and to develop their professional personas. Reflection on learning was a key component that stressed the value of reflective practice in assisting library and information science (LIS) professionals to adapt confidently to the rapidly changing work environment.

This study provides insights into the opportunities for LIS courses to work across geographical boundaries, to allow students to critically appraise library practice in different contexts and to become active participants in wider professional networks.

Major objective of the instant study was to investigate the factors affecting the adoption of integrated semantic digital libraries (SDLs). It attempted to find out the challenges faced in implementing semantic technologies in digital libraries. This study also aimed to develop a framework to provide practical solutions to efficiently adopt semantic digital library systems to offer richer data and services.

To meet the formulated objectives of the study, a systematic literature review was conducted. The authors adhered to the “Preferred Reporting Items for the Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” (PRISMA) guidelines as a research method. The data were retrieved from different tools and databases. In total, 35 key studies were included for systematic review after having applied standard procedures.

The findings of the study indicated that SDLs are highly significant as they offered context-based information resources. Interoperability of the systems, advancement in bilateral transfer modules, machine-controlled indexing, and folksonomy were key factors in developing semantic digital libraries. The study identified five different types of challenges to build an integrated semantic digital library system. These challenges included ontologies and interoperability, development of a suitable model, diversity in language, lack of skilled human resources, and other technical issues.

This paper provided a framework that is based on practical solutions as a benchmark for policymakers to devise formal standards for the initiation to develop integrated semantic digital libraries.

This paper aims to provide an update to Tom Sanville’s 2007 overview of OhioLINK, a renowned US academic library consortium, and describe the current state of activity and services.

The approach used is descriptive.

OhioLINK’s main collaborative services include document delivery, resource sharing and the establishment of digital libraries, including electronic journals, electronic books and open-access materials such as electronic theses and dissertations. This update to Tom Sanville’s 2007 overview of OhioLINK issues and developments describes the current state of collaborative library services and resource sharing a decade later, including the challenges of hosted institutional repositories and the implications of shifting from shared print to e-book collections at the network level.

OhioLINK trends provide a snapshot of changing activity and sustainability in library resource sharing at network scale across many different types of academic libraries.

This paper reviews literature on the application of intelligent systems in the libraries with a special issue on the ES/AI and Robot. Also, it introduces the potential of libraries to use intelligent systems, especially ES/AI and robots.

Descriptive and content review methods are applied, and the researchers critically reviewed the articles related to library ESs and robots from Web of Science as a general database and Emerald as a specific database in library and information science from 2007–2017. Four scopes considered to classify the articles as technology, service, user and resource. It is found that published researches on the intelligent systems have contributed to many librarian purposes like library technical services like the organization of information resources, storage and retrieval of information resources, library public services as reference services, information desk and other purposes.

A review of the previous studies shows that ESs are a useable intelligent system in library and information science that mimic librarian expert’s behaviors to support decision making and management. Also, it is shown that the current information systems have a high potential to be improved by integration with AI technologies. In this researches, librarian robots mostly designed for detection and replacing books on the shelf. Improving the technology of gripping, localizing and human-robot interaction are the main concern in recent librarian robot research. Our conclusion is that we need to develop research in the area of smart resources.

This study has a new approach to the literature review in this area. We compared the published papers in the field of ES/AI and robot and library from two databases, general and specific.

The location and nature of the Barents Region are indicated and the provision of trans‐national regional library services described. Collaborative ventures include a series of conferences, the Berenice Project and the Barents Library School. Efforts to preserve Saami culture are described. A mobile library service is described and other co‐operative projects indicated.

As virtual reference and online discovery tools evolve, so do interactions with patrons. This study aims to describe how synchronous virtual reference transactions changed over a six‐year period at a university library.

Transcripts from October and February from October 2004 to February 2010 were coded for question type, interlibrary loan discussions, and referrals. Subcategories for holding types and referrals were also recorded.

The number and types of questions changed with the virtual reference platform used, both increasing and decreasing. The number of questions more than doubled from the beginning to the end of the six‐year study period. The number of holdings questions at the end of the study period was six times higher than the number at the beginning. Patterns relating to interlibrary loan discussions and referrals were noted.

The study examined transcripts from one university library. Findings cannot be generalized but provide examples that may be similar in other libraries.

The number and type of online reference questions that a library receives can change dramatically in a short time. Libraries should monitor question transactions, especially after software changes. Libraries also should consider how the placement of chat widgets changes the quantity and nature of questions and train staff appropriately.

This study examines transcripts across a longer time span than previous studies. It is unique in its examination of virtual reference widgets embedded in proprietary databases and link resolvers.