Search results

The study aims to analyse library user preferences in the willingness to read and pay for e-books, using a sample of both active readers (users of public library services) and non-users (the general population).

Two empirical surveys were conducted from August to November of 2019; the research sample consisted of 1,334 users from the Municipal Library of Prague and 1,101 non-users from the general Czech population. The research was focussed on e-book user preferences. The willingness to pay (WTP) for e-book services and the determinants that affect this willingness were also examined.

The results show the specific approach of Czech readers, whose main determinant of WTP is not the content, but the price and method of its payment (allocation). Some people prefer a cheaper annual lump sum, whereas others may prefer a charge of small regular fees. The decision to pay depends on their reading or payment habits.

This study also aims to clarify the demand for various types of digital media in Czech libraries and the preferred distribution models. Furthermore, the study determines the dependence of the preferences of library users in their WTP for e-books using different evaluation models. The originality of this study is in the evaluation of the determinants of WTP for e-books, which makes this study unique, and the findings should contribute to the expansion of existing knowledge in the field of information science.

Information literacy is defined as discrete abilities that a person requires to have in order to find, assess, use and share information. As information literacy skills play a prominent role in the students' academic achievement, students and in particular international students coming to continue their postgraduate studies in other countries may face problems in finding and using library services. The purpose of this paper is to explore and investigate the information literacy skills, challenges and needs of international and domestic students at the Finnish universities.

This paper uses a mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey (82 respondents) and qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 international and 10 domestic students.

Academic library services are used but in different ways. The findings indicate that international students have a relatively low level of information literacy skills compared to domestic students and faces various challenges, especially in the beginning of their studies.

The study was exploratory, and data were collected from limited number of Finnish universities and may not be representative of the underlying population.

Academic libraries should provide effective courses on research methods and library services to the international students while keeping in mind the international students language and cultural barriers.

This is one of the first attempts in information literacy research that focusses on international and domestic students' information literacy skills at the higher education environment. As such, the results provided in this paper can help librarians and decision-makers at the higher education environments to plan better and become more efficient in delivering information services meeting students' information needs and expectations.

Switching behavior is predominantly seen in the consumer buying behavior of the mobile industry. This research aims to identify the factors influencing consumers to switch from their present mobile service provider. The consumer of the mobile industry operates in a dynamic and ever-changing environment that is difficult to predict, so this paper aims to focus on these issues.

The selection of factors was made with the help of qualitative study and quantitative research methods for further findings; with the help of a structured questionnaire, a total of 514 valuable responses were collected to get the results. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data.

The finding shows that technology and edge-on-competition (TEC) and pricing have a negative influence on customer switching behavior. The switching cost (SC) is the most significant factor and has a positive impact, while service encounter failure (SEF) also positively impacts switching behavior.

The findings provide important implications for consumers switching brands if they are finding alternative offers that are cost-effective and SEF from service providers

The study of one of the largest mobile markets is learning lessons for other markets around the world. This study will be helpful for mobile service provider companies in their branding and marketing strategies. This study will also be helpful to practitioners, educators and researchers in understanding the consumer behavior of mobile users.

The learning of the largest mobile market will be a great learning lesson for other mobile markets around the world. Consumer behavior will help marketers follow ethical practices and make their strategy so a consumer does not switch brands and remain satisfied with the existing brand.

The study provides unique learning for practitioners, educators and researchers to understand the consumer behavior of mobile users. This will help marketers create factors that stop consumers from switching brands and develop strategies to retain customers.

This study aimed to establish the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

A quantitative research approach was adopted, and questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The target population for this study was the entire users of the electronic learning centres and librarians in the public libraries within the city of Johannesburg.

The findings of this study revealed that there are different services, levels of awareness and training.

This study was limited to public libraries in the city of Johannesburg. Academic, special and mobile libraries were not included in this study because they were not open to the general public. Users who were not using the electronic learning centres were excluded from this study.

Adequate use and awareness of services of electronic learning centres in public libraries are instrumental in the satisfaction of users’ needs using the electronic learning centres. The suggestions of this study will be useful to decision makers and heads of the electronic learning centres on how to enhance the use of the electronic learning centres in the city of Johannesburg.

This paper establishes the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

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 aimed to determine the extent to which academic libraries and information services were extended due to the emergence of COVID-19 in the Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Founded on a pragmatism paradigm, the sequential explanatory research design was adopted to engage with participants and respondents on their experience of library services extensions to support users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using online questionnaires and interviews. Cluster and purposive sampling were used and data for the quantitative part were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst qualitative data were analyzed manually.

Findings revealed that academic libraries operating in a higher education environment provided extensive support to remote users during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done through the utilization of a variety of technology utilization, ranging from traditional e-mail support to the use of technology related to Artificial Intelligence such as the BOTsa, which is a Chatbot aimed to assist users in receiving speedy responses to library-related inquiries.

This study is unique in that it focuses on academic libraries that operate in higher education environments where support for achieving academic endeavors becomes imperative to ensure the smooth execution of teaching and learning activities within the restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adaptions and improvements to academic library services during and post-COVID-19 era were successful in ensuring that remote users could obtain similar services and access to information as was the case before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on factors that contribute to the successful development and use of the mobile digital library (DL). This aim will be achieved by reviewing selected journal articles on mobile DLs' successful development and use. This paper argues that the concept of DLs is evolving because of the dynamic nature of knowledge and technological developments in the infosphere.

A systematic literature search of journal article factors that contribute to the successful development and use of the mobile DL was accomplished by searching the following databases: Emerald insight, Science directory and Google Scholar. The systematic review was conducted following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. This study applied Rogers's (1965) Diffusion of innovation theory to unpack the attributes of innovation to unpack contextual factors shaping African conceptions of mobile libraries (m-libraries). The studies reviewed were published from 2016 to 2021. This paper is based on a systematic literature review. This paper uses publicly available literature on the theme of DLs concerning m-libraries. Among the search terms used for the study were: “digital libraries”, “Africa and digital libraries”, “electronic libraries”, “information communication technologies”, “access to information” and “mobile digital libraries”.

Reviewed literature indicates that myriad factors can contribute positively or negatively to the successful development and use of the mobile DL. These factors include the degree of staff awareness and understanding of the potential of mobile technologies in enhancing the provision of library services, the availability of relevant digital content, library staff and users’ level of digital and information literacy competencies to navigate digital platforms, user friendliness of DL platforms, material and financial support to access m-libraries, power supply and access to internet connectivity.

The results from this study will generate knowledge and insight into the factors that affect the development and optimal use of mobile DLs to enhance and widen access to scholarly databases irrespective of time and space. This study will make recommendations that will enable South African policymakers to make informed decisions relating to the factors affecting the development and usage of mobile DLs for enhanced learning, teaching and education.

Given the growing number of scholarly publications on mobile DLs, this study seeks to discover how such technologies can help enhance learning, teaching and research in higher education. This study’s findings will provide a scientific basis for policymakers and researchers with evidence-based knowledge that raises the value of mobile DLs. It was discovered that if the identified factors are handled well, users can easily access tools, such as databases, electronic journals and online reference tools, and this could improve the quality of teaching and learning.

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 was to determine the extent to which teaching staff cooperated with librarians in collection development, specifically in relation to electronic resources, and to identify barriers they encountered while performing collection development activities.

A mixed methods approach was adopted for the study. Quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection and analysis were used to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the research topic. Data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire and interviews. A total of 149 faculty members completed the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 51.2%, while 16 library staff members were interviewed to obtain qualitative data.

The majority of the teaching staff who participated in the study affirmed that they had cooperated with subject librarians in collection development. A high percentage (62.4%) of the faculty members had collaborated with subject librarians in collection development activities. Only 37.6% of the faculty members had not participated in collection development activities with subject librarians to acquire library electronic resources. According to faculty members, some of the main challenges affecting collection development at the University of Namibia were a lack of catalogues for electronic resources and a lack of lists of titles from vendors. Moreover, librarians were not always available to assist faculty members. It is recommended that faculty members be part of the process of selecting materials and that a good relationship be fostered between librarians and faculty members to bring value to collection development activities.

Collection development in respect of electronic resources is a complex process to be undertaken by a single entity and, therefore, requires the collaboration of all stakeholders involved. In the case of institutions of higher learning, these stakeholders include faculty, librarians and vendors. The emergence of a variety of e-resources demands a meticulous strategy on the part of libraries to ensure they can offer a wide range of up-to-date and accurate resources that meet the evolving needs of their users. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, studies that are similar to this one have not been conducted in Namibia before. This case study presents useful findings and lessons on faculty–librarian cooperation for effective collection development, not only at the University of Namibia library but also at other academic libraries in economies with similar characteristics.

Public libraries play a pivotal role in supporting education and literacy. They provide numerous services, activities, collections and resources for education and leisure. Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is an international renowned public library that provides numerous services for different users worldwide. E-learning is an emergent and promising method for teaching and learning different subjects such as the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The e-learning educational system is quite novel in Africa and the Middle East; hence, this paper presents the whole concept to the reader. In addition, it demonstrates number of e-courses tackling different domains provided by different educational institutions, national and public libraries worldwide.

In 2017, the BA inaugurated its e-learning services to cope with the new educational trend and to consolidate the lifelong learning concept in the community. The author showed special interest to the case of e-learning in the BA, as it is a regional public library. The main idea of this paper is to attract attention toward public libraries as a promising venue for e-learning implementation for general knowledge, library information sciences, soft skills, elementary and informal STEM education. The paper discusses in details e-learning and its characteristics.

In addition, the paper compares traditional education (face-to-face) with e-learning education, mentions both their pros and cons and recommends blending the two educational methods as they complement each other. Furthermore, the author has selected a sample of different STEM e-courses (203 different e-courses). These e-courses were selected to assert the possibility of presenting STEM topics in the form of e-courses.

This study would be one of the emergent research studies that connect e-learning to both STEM disciplines and public libraries. Additionally, this research highlights the importance of public libraries and all the services they provide. In the mean time, it shed light on the important and unique role of specialized librarians. Briefly, public libraries with all their resources, services and expert librarians could provide an exceptional e-learning experience to their community and be of great help to educational institutions and organizations.