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This paper reports results based on a study aimed at assessing the capability of agricultural libraries in meeting researchers’ information needs, finding out means used by researchers to cope with the scarcity of scientific information, and based on study findings, give some recommendations on how to improve agricultural library services in Tanzania.

The major objective of this study was to analyse the citation patterns of agricultural scientists in Tanzania. The specific objectives were to: assess researchers’ access to information as reflected from citation analysis; establish a list of core agricultural journals for agricultural researchers in Tanzania using citation analysis and user opinions; and find out the extent to which the available information resources meet the research needs revealed by the study. The study involved the analysis of 295 MSc theses and 21 PhD theses submitted at Sokoine University of Agriculture between 1989‐1999, and 309 conference proceeding articles published during the same period. It is concluded that generally agricultural scientists in the country had limited access to current journals. A number of options are recommended to alleviate the situation, with a focus on electronic journal provision supported by international organisations.

This study aims to investigate the facilitating conditions (FCs) and how these FC affect institutional repository (IR) sustainability practices in public universities in Nigeria.

A survey research design was adopted in this study. The study population comprised 542 librarians from public universities that have IRs across Nigeria. A sample size of 230 librarians was determined using Taro Yamane’s formula. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents in three stages, which were purposive, stratified and purposive sampling. A structured, validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (simple and multiple regression) statistics at a 5% level of significance.

The result revealed that the availability of FCs (ßeta = 0.459, t(211) = 7.719, p = 0.000) has a positive and significant influence on IR sustainability in public university libraries in Nigeria. The F-test (1, 223) value of 59.582 shows that there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the model’s usefulness in explaining IR sustainability. The R² (0.211) indicates that 21.1% of the variation in IR sustainability is explained by the availability of FCs in public university libraries in Nigeria. The finding suggests that the availability of FCs is a vital predictor of IR sustainability in public university libraries in Nigeria. The result also depicts that out of the eight parameters that measure the availability of FCs, it was current awareness of IR that had a positive and significant influence on IR sustainability.

This study concluded that ICT skills and FCs are contributory factors to IR sustainability practices by librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria. It was recommended that university administrators formulate policies that promote the sustainability of IR and provide adequate funds to support IR sustainability. Furthermore, the library management in public university libraries in Nigeria should drive content recruitment and create awareness of the IRs among students and faculty to ensure continued use.

The purpose of this scientometric study was to conduct an analysis of the research productivity and scholarly impact of academic librarians in Tanzania for a period of 30 years from 1984 to 2013.

Data were obtained using the Publish or Perish software which uses Google Scholar to retrieve scholars’ publications, citations and related metrics. For each librarian, the retrieved metrics were the number of papers, papers per author, citation counts, average citations per paper, average papers per author, average citations per year, average citations per author and four indices, namely, the h-index, g-index, Hc-index and the HI-norm.

The study findings indicate that 434 publications were recorded for all librarians, giving an average of 14.5 publications per year. The year 2008 had the most (9.9 per cent) publications followed by 2010 (7.8 per cent), while the years 1985 and 1987 had the lowest (0.2 per cent) number of publications. About 43 per cent of the publications were single-authored and the degree of collaboration was 0.57. The top-ten ranked librarians contributed more than half (53.2 per cent) of all publications, although they showed considerable variation among different metrics. Only three journal articles had 25 or more citations.

Previous studies on the topic are scarce, and, therefore, this paper provides useful recommendations to library and information science (LIS) schools, libraries and universities to improve research productivity of their academic librarians in Tanzania and other countries with a similar setting.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how attitudes, norms (injunctive and descriptive) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) (capacity and autonomy) influence the intention to publish open access (OA), and how personal innovativeness in information technology affects attitude and PBC.

This study employs an integrated and extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework within a cross-sectional survey design. The sample consists of researchers at a Norwegian university, and data are collected digitally via e-mail invitation and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

This study determines that attitude is the strongest predictor of the intention to publish OA, followed by injunctive and descriptive social norms, and PBC capacity and autonomy. All factors positively influence intention apart from PBC autonomy, which has a negative effect.

Potential limitations include: a relatively small sample size, self-reported data and employing intention, not behavior, as the ultimate dependent variable.

This research contributes with a deeper understanding of what drives the intention to publish OA research articles, and how innovativeness affects attitudes and PBC autonomy. Support is found for an extended TPB model with decomposed normative and PBC components. This knowledge is essential in creating an impetus for systematic research on OA publishing behavior.

Theory-driven research into understanding OA publishing behavior is rare. Decomposing the normative and PBC constructs is uncommon in TPB research, and a novel approach in OA research. Personal innovativeness has not been explored previously in relation to OA publishing.

The present study aims to examine the use of open access (OA) scholarly communication in India and investigate the factors affecting the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication among researchers.

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a survey method. Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) of Web of Science database was selected as a source for identifying potential researchers and researchers' contact details. A web-based questionnaire was designed using Google Forms, and a link to the questionnaire was sent by email to 4,237 researchers belonging to Science and Technology. Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is the primary basis for formulating the present study's conceptual model. Hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) was applied for identifying the factors that influence the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication.

The study found that researchers have limited knowledge of different OA concepts, initiatives and resources, resulting in a deficient level of participation in OA publishing. The HMR analysis authenticates that attitude, facilitating conditions, Internet usage self-efficacy, article processing charge (APC) and researchers' working experience significantly influence the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication. Based on the findings, the study proposed a validated model to investigate the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication in different institutions, research disciplines and developing countries with similar conditions.

The findings have several practical and policy implications for improving OA publishing in India, formulating OA policies and providing directions for further research.

This is the first study focusing on adopting and using OA scholarly communication in India. Findings may be helpful in planning and implementing OA initiatives. The influencing factors and the relative importance identified in the present study offered empirical evidence to demonstrate the researchers' attitudes and perceptions for adopting and using OA scholarly communication.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-05-2021-0265.

This paper aims to examine the challenges facing fish farmers in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in information sharing on fish farming.

This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. It involved 240 fish farmers who were randomly selected. Questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), observation and key informant’s interviews were used as methods of data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data.

It was found that the most frequently used ICTs by fish farmers in sharing agricultural information were mobile phones, radio and television. Also, the study revealed that major challenges facing fish farmers in sharing information include unfavourable radio or television broadcasting time, high cost of acquiring and maintenance of ICT facilities, lack of training on ICT, poor network connectivity and low level of literacy. Moreover, it was further found that there was negative significant relationship (P < 0.05) between challenges associated with the use and degree of ICT usage by fish farmers.

The study is original with the exception of areas where citations have been made. Besides, it provides awareness and understanding of the challenges facing fish farmers in ICT usage in information sharing on fish farming, and this will enable improvement of timely provision and access to relevant information and hence improved fish farming production.

The study seeks to investigate the factors that influence MOOC usage by students in tertiary institutes in Ghana.

As this study sought both to test existing UTAUT variables and potentially identify additional variables impacting MOOC usage, a mixed method approach was used. The quantitative study was used to test the significance of UTAUT variables on MOOC usage while the qualitative study was conducted to validate the quantitative results and potentially determine additional factors impacting MOOC usage.

The results of the quantitative data analysis showed that computer self-efficacy, performance expectancy and system quality had a significant influence on MOOC usage intention. Facilitating conditions, instructional quality and MOOC usage intention were found to have a significant influence on actual MOOC usage. The results of the qualitative data analysis showed that information-seeking behaviour and functional Internet access were dominant non-UTAUT factors that influence actual MOOC usage, while teacher motivation was a dominant non-UTAUT factor that influenced MOOC usage intention.

The study employed a non-probability sampling technique which imposes limitations on the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the study was conducted in two out of the ten geographical and administration regions of Ghana; this also imposes limitations on the generalizability of the findings.

It is important that lecturers and university management find ways of motivating students to participate in MOOCs. Lecturers can influence students to use MOOCs if they regularly and persistently spur the students on to use MOOCs. Lecturers can also adopt other innovative strategies such as posting MOOC information on student noticeboards, the formation of MOOC clubs and the commissioning of MOOC champions on campuses.

The significance of functional Internet access in MOOC usage implies that good Internet connectivity is critical for online learning in developing countries. Regulators of Internet service providers must enforce strict adherence to quality of service standards regarding the provision of Internet service. The Internet service pricing regime must favour the use of the Internet for learning purposes.

The study adopted a mixed method approach to explore MOOC usage in a West African university context. The non-significance of two key UTAUT variables (effort expectancy and social influence) points to a key difference between the application of adoption and usage models to information systems compared to e-learning systems. Additionally, three other variables, namely information-seeking behaviour, functional Internet access and teacher motivation, were found to impact MOOC usage. The study presents a model of MOOC usage (MMU).

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.

The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.

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

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.