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The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of public libraries in the context of Big Data.

A mixed method approach was used and had two main data collection phases. A survey of public libraries was used to generate an overview of which professional roles connect public libraries with Big Data. Eight roles were identified, namely, educator, marketer, data organiser, data container, advocator, advisor, developer and organisation server. Semi-structured interviews with library directors and managers were then conducted to gain a deeper understanding of these roles and how they connect to the library’s overall functions.

Results of the survey indicated that librarians lack a proper comprehension of and a pragmatic application of Big Data. Their opinions on the eight roles are slightly stronger than neutral. However, they do not demonstrate any strong agreement on these eight roles. In the interviews, the eight roles attained more clear support and are classified into two groups: service-oriented and system-oriented roles.

As an emerging research field, Big Data is not widely discussed in the library context, especially in public libraries. Therefore, this study fills a research gap between public libraries and Big Data. In addition, Big Data in public libraries could be well managed and readily approached by citizens in undertaking such roles, which entails that public libraries will eventually benefit from the Big Data era.

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems (VJIKMS) is one of the oldest and leading journals in the knowledge management (KM) field. The purpose of this study is to conduct bibliometrics analysis of publications published in VJIKMS for the past two decades. For doing this, this paper covered the past two decades of publications and carried out a science mapping analysis of publications.

The methodology included bibliometrics and the science mapping analysis process. This paper imported the bibliographic information of VJIKMS from the abstract and citation database Scopus. Through bibliometrics method, this paper examined the citation results, author productivity, authorship pattern, research collaboration and other parameters of the selected publications. Afterward, this paper used VOSviewer software to carry out the science mapping of bibliometric networks.

The findings showed that VJIKMS published 718 publications during 2000–2020, which got cited 4,311 times (6 times per article) till date. Joint authorship and international collaboration have been increasing where 1,417 authors from 66 countries have published. The USA, the UK and Iran lead the KM publications in this journal. Nonaka’s publications and Journal of Knowledge Management (JKM) are highly cited references and journals in the VJIKMS.

The findings of this study would help the KM students, researchers and practitioners to see the diffusion of KM globally, what are the promising areas to work and helps to know the various patterns of publications if they aim to publish in VJIKMS.

This is the first time a bibliometric analysis has been conducted to analysis of research publications published in VJIKMS. This presents a comprehensive analysis of publications between 2000 and 2020.

This study aims to investigate the sustainable development goals (SDGs) awareness of public librarians, their perceived understanding of public libraries to achieve United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and identify the challenges affect the library adoption to SDGs.

In this study, a quantitative survey method was used to collect responses. The study population was all head of public libraries in Bangladesh. Seventy-one personalized individual e-mails with a link to a Web-based questionnaire were sent out to the public librarians (head of public libraries) inviting them to participate in this study. Fifty-nine responded to the survey, which was 83.09% of all population.

The findings revealed that public librarians working in different public libraries were generally aware of UNSDGs. The perceived understanding on the role of public libraries to achieve SDGs varies from SDG#1 to SDG1#7. However, most of the librarians’ responses ranked well in line with SDGs#1, #2, #3, #4 and #17, and they believed that their public libraries are doing well on some of these goals. Out of 17 SDGs, public libraries are working well on 7 goals. Lack of SDG-related activities, awareness, funds, implementation plan and unwillingness of the policymakers are challenges identified in this study.

There are not many studies on public libraries in Bangladesh, and the research areas are not diverse. There are only few studies in this area, and there is a need for different kinds of studies to reach a better overview and understanding when developing public library services to support SDGs. This could serve as the basis for a deeper study.

This study focuses on specifically women refugees' experiences of accessing information and how sociocultural barriers impact these experiences aiming to broaden the LIS literature of women refugees' information problems from sociocultural aspects. The socioculturally formed roles of a woman can impact the information practices of women refugees or cause certain information problems during the integration process. Hence, the research questions that drive this study are: What kind of information problems might women refugees face in a new host country? What kind of sociocultural barriers influence their information problems? How do they react toward these information problems?

The study is designed based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with eighteen refugee women living in Sweden. The study is a part of a larger study in which authors intend to explore the information practices and integration challenges of almost 20 or more refugee women living in Sweden.

Women refugees face information overload, difficulties in understanding new communication culture and lack of appropriate sources and networks in a new country. These information problems are influenced by sociocultural barriers such as the role of women, national culture of “collectivism”, small-world and lack of information literacy. Women react in certain ways such as, stressing, panicking, quitting the tasks, wasting time and making wrong decisions which negatively impact the integration process.

The research has its limitations as it is conducted with a small group of women refugees, belong to specific Middle Eastern culture and cannot be generalized. Another limitation is that the interviews are conducted in English language (with sufficient language skill). However, conducting interviews in their mother language would have been an advantage.

Practically, the study provides awareness for official and private organizations, volunteers and policymakers dealing with refugees. The stakeholders involved in the societal integration process of refugees, must consider that women refugees are more prone to information problems due to certain sociocultural influences (i.e. “being a woman” and national culture) and need a separate plan than the male refugees. For instance, by increasing and offering intercultural opportunities at workplaces or schools can encourage the wider social networking for women refugees. The programs aiming to reduce the sociocultural differences among women refugees and the Swedes are needed to be included in the integration policy.

The study intends to help the refugees society and the Swedish society overall by improving the integration plan.

The findings related to the information experiences of women refugees have potential implications for research where the value of information in the integration process is explored. The study meets the gap in previous literature by presenting the gender specific views on information problems from sociocultural aspects. The study also provides future directions to understand how women refugees deal with potential sociocultural barriers to information in a new country.

Second Life is a user‐created online virtual world, which is a place where people with shared interests can meet and be together and share information. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Second Life communities foster and nurture social capital, whether social capital within Second Life is related to social capital outside the virtual world, whether some characteristics affect the likelihood of users having social capital, and whether some existing measure of social capital can be modified and used to study social capital in Second Life.

The study was based on a statistical analysis of data gathered in a web survey of a convenience sample (n= 67) of Second Life residents. The social capital measure used was based on Bullen and Onyx.

Second Life is an environment that fosters the emergence of social capital. Residents who consider themselves producers have higher levels of social capital than those who consider themselves non‐producers. Having social capital within Second Life is unrelated to having social capital outside the virtual world. The consistency of the instrument proved to be excellent for measuring social capital within Second Life and good outside the virtual world.

The small sample size and the composition of the research population limit the ability to generalise the findings.

Second Life is a potent environment for community building and collective action. However, communities and collective action within Second Life cannot be based on social activity outside the virtual world.

The present study is the first systematic investigation of social capital in Second Life.

The focus of this paper is to study the influence of social media on scholarly communication. The aim is to provide an overview of researchers' use of Web 2.0 techniques, and discuss a possible change of information behaviors in the context of scholarly communication.

A web survey was distributed to a targeted sample of university staff (professors, teachers, researchers, and doctoral students). SPSS was utilized as a main tool to synthesize and analyze data, and present the results.

Web 2.0 tools are well‐known to researchers. Most researchers are familiar with blogs, wikis, social networks, multimedia sharing, and online document. Social media provide a convenient environment for scholarly communication. Depending on different aims within the scholarly communication process, researchers choose appropriate modes of communication in their research work.

A combination of content analysis with survey and/or interviews may highlight other aspects of Web 2.0, which is not possible using a single method of content analysis.

There are few studies on the changes of scholarly communication in the context of Web 2.0. This study provides new insights for exploring the effects of Web 2.0 tools on scholarly communication and the development of new information behavior to match the scholarly environment of social media. This understanding can aid the researchers to keep abreast of new characteristics of scholarly communication and help the librarians to develop the correlative services in the scholarly environment of social media.

The aim of this paper is to define both theoretically and empirically the concept of Library 2.0.

Written answers to the question “What is Library 2.0?” given by practitioners and researchers (n=29) interested in Library 2.0 issues were analyzed by using co‐word analysis to map the underlying elements of the concept.

The study resulted in a model of Library 2.0, containing seven building‐blocks of the phenomenon: interactivity, users, participation, libraries and library services, web and web 2.0, social aspects, and technology and tools.

The model provides a basis for framing Library 2.0 as a research object and to map central themes of future research.

A comprehensive model enables both researchers and practitioners to frame the phenomenon more clearly, evaluate existing and planned services and their proximity to what is Library 2.0.

Unlike earlier proposals for a definition of the notion Library 2.0, the present study presents an empirical and consensual crowd‐sourcing approach of defining the concept Library 2.0 and provides basis for discussing the future evolution of the notion and its implications for library and information science research and library practices.

The purpose of this article is to investigate and critically examine conceptualisations of information sharing activities in a selection of library and information science (LIS) literature.

In order to explore how LIS researchers define the concept of information sharing, and how the concept is connected with theory, empirical material and other supporting concepts, a literature review and a conceptual meta‐analysis was carried out on 35 papers and one monograph. The analysis was based on Waismann's concept of open texture, Wittgenstein's notion of language games and the concept of meaning holism.

Six theoretical frameworks were identified. These are not found to be incommensurable, but can be used as building blocks for an integrative framework. Ambiguous conceptualisations are frequent. Different conceptualisations tend to emphasize different aspects of information sharing activities: that which is shared; those who are sharing; and the location in which the sharing activities take place. The commonalities of the people involved in information sharing activities are often seen as a ground for the development of information sharing practices.

The findings provide a guide for future research which intends to explore activities of information sharing.

The article offers a systematic review of recent LIS literature on information sharing, and extends the theoretical base for information sharing research.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problem of information and knowledge management (IKM) in higher education institutions. The research aims to determine the way in which the knowledge resources of a higher education institution are managed. The author intends to define how the information system is shaped and how information and knowledge are used in the reporting processes and for decision-making efficiency.

In total, 38 university administration employees from six higher education institutions in Poland participated in the study. Information barriers and benefits resulting from the implementation of the central reporting system “POL-on” were identified by using the sense-making technique. The purpose of the interviews was to determine the procedural and behavioural conditions of the reporting and decision-making processes in higher education institutions in Poland.

This paper suggests four characteristics of IKM in higher education institutions. A link between the information culture of the institution, its size and structure as well as the adopted model of IKM is demonstrated.

The main contribution of this paper is to introduce a framework for studying the IKM in higher education institutions from the perspective of information culture. Higher education institutions have developed different styles of striving for efficiency regarding decision making and reporting in administration. The IM and KM are now proved to be an integrated process in administrative activities of higher education institutions.