Search results

1 – 9 of 9

Abstract

Details

Advances in Librarianship
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-12024-615-1

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2017

Fan Wu, Ya-Han Hu and Ping-Rong Wang

Most academic libraries provide book recommendation services to enable readers to recommend books to the libraries. To facilitate decision-making in book acquisition, this study…

Abstract

Purpose

Most academic libraries provide book recommendation services to enable readers to recommend books to the libraries. To facilitate decision-making in book acquisition, this study aimed to develop a method to determine the ranking of the recommended books based on the recommender network.

Design/methodology/approach

The recommender network was conducted to establish relationships among book recommenders and their similar readers by using circulation records. Furthermore, social computing techniques were used to evaluate the degree of representativeness of the recommenders and subsequently applied as a criterion to rank the recommended books. Empirical studies were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ranking system. The Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the proposed ranking system and the ranking obtained using reader circulation statistics were used as performance measure.

Findings

The ranking calculated using the proposed ranking mechanism was highly and moderately correlated to the ranking obtained using reader circulation statistics. The ranking of recommended books by the librarians was moderately and poorly correlated to the ranking calculated using reader circulation statistics.

Practical implications

The book recommender can be used to improve the accuracy of book recommendations.

Originality/value

This study is the first that considers the recommender network on library book acquisition. The results also show that the proposed ranking mechanism can facilitate effective book-acquisition decisions in libraries.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Inside Major East Asian Library Collections in North America, Volume 1
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-234-8

Abstract

Details

Inside Major East Asian Library Collections in North America, Volume 2
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-140-0

Article
Publication date: 10 November 2014

D. E. Perushek and Anne Douglas

Using three university library consortia China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) (China), Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) (USA) and Joint University…

Abstract

Purpose

Using three university library consortia China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) (China), Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) (USA) and Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee (JULAC) (Hong Kong) as examples, the purpose of this paper is to compare the administration of three university consortia and to explore the cultural, educational and geopolitical forces that produce and shape university library consortia.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used reviewed published and proprietary documents, interviews and observation.

Findings

While the stated objectives are similar, the three vary markedly in size, funding source, and whether programming is a bottom-up decision or emanates from the central government. CALIS was started by China ' s Ministry of Education, who also helps in setting programmatic agendas and appointing managers; GWLA came into existence through the efforts of a small group of university librarians, elect their own board and set programming in response to member needs and suggestions; JULAC, initiated by the university librarians in Hong Kong has some support from the government through bodies charged with the oversight of the universities. The differing educational systems also influence programming, for example in the relative importance member libraries place on preferential inter-library loan.

Originality/value

There are few comparative studies of library consortia found in Asia and the US comparative studies of consortia encourage an understanding of the benefits of different consortia models.

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2015

Venia Y.M. Mak, Diana L. H. Chan, Ki-Tat Lam and Y.O. Li

– The purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative project on issuing a library card for common access among all eight higher education libraries in Hong Kong.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative project on issuing a library card for common access among all eight higher education libraries in Hong Kong.

Design/methodology/approach

The project was undertaken by two committees and a task force of cross-institutional membership. The new common library card adopts the “patron-record-on-demand model,” reducing the risks involved in patron data transfer across institutions. Historical narrative combined with usage analysis from the launch date of the project was outlined.

Findings

The new common library cards were well received. About 63 percent of old cards were replaced by new ones. New applications jumped 43 percent while physical access to host libraries increased by 8 percent during the reporting period.

Originality/value

This paper describes in detail the processes of developing a common barcode, an automated card registration system and the issuing of the common library cards. Libraries pursuing an efficient way of sharing library resources will be inspired by the level of collaboration involved in this project.

Details

Library Management, vol. 36 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2004

Dominique Babini

What challenges do we envisage when considering the Internet as a platform to deliver training for librarians, editors and Webmasters working in the development of a collaborative…

788

Abstract

What challenges do we envisage when considering the Internet as a platform to deliver training for librarians, editors and Webmasters working in the development of a collaborative virtual library? After some considerations concerning technology‐based distance training developments for librarians, the experience of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences is described where the Internet is used to deliver training to librarians, editors and Webmasters of their member institutes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Choosing a virtual campus platform, building multinational teams for teaching and learning, working on the design of course content and preparing full‐text bibliography, managing the course and evaluating its results have been the main challenges for this experience, which is described to help library networks in developing regions think about the Internet as a possible platform for training staff located in institutions with access to the Internet.

Details

Library Management, vol. 25 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Khalid Mahmood, Abdul Hameed and Syed Jalaluddin Haider

The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: what are an open system and its components? How can the open system model be used to describe a library system…

1784

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: what are an open system and its components? How can the open system model be used to describe a library system including its objectives and functions? What is the situation of librarianship in Pakistan in terms of the elements, characteristics and features of an open system model?

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a review of the literature. The challenges which are faced by librarianship today are presented as a supra‐system of a library system. Inputs (people, knowledge, material, energy, capital and finance), processes, outputs and feedback mechanism of Pakistani librarianship are described. Characteristics of an open system such as users, controller, cycle of events, teleology, mission and negative entropy are presented with special reference to libraries in Pakistan.

Findings

That the Library system in Pakistan would benefit from the application of an open systems approach, but resource and other constraints prevent this from happening.

Research limitations/implications

Attempts to show how open systems theory can be applied to the sphere of a national library system.

Practical implications

The barriers to implementing the systems model offered in this paper are essentially practical: resource constraints, political priorities, and related social or governmental factors.

Originality/value

The paper is useful not only to understand how a library can be studied using systems theory but also to have a picture of the present state of librarianship in Pakistan.

Details

Library Review, vol. 55 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2001

Sheau‐yueh J. Chao

Examines the historical overview of library cooperatives, focusing on Baruch College, in the City University of New York. Describes its newly established programs on Asian and…

Abstract

Examines the historical overview of library cooperatives, focusing on Baruch College, in the City University of New York. Describes its newly established programs on Asian and Asian‐American studies, its library’s collections on Chinese and Chinese cultural studies, the presence of Asian and Asian‐American students at Baruch, and career development activities both on campus and abroad. Describes the William and Anita Newman Library at Baruch and presents a library cooperative model at Ohio University in Athens where the author presented a paper in the First International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Overseas Chinese Studies.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Keywords

1 – 9 of 9