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This paper contains a theoretically inspired discussion of recent Norwegian controversies related to the management of public library space as a civil public sphere.

This study engages with theories of civil public spheres and their application within a Nordic context. The theories are applied in discussions of recent controversies related to the management of Norwegian public libraries as civil public spheres, as represented in professional journals and press articles.

Through the discussion, it becomes apparent that the value of neutrality and librarians' inclusive practices on the part of societal minorities might be conflicting when managing public libraries as civil public spheres.

This paper engages with recent library controversies in Norway and discusses them in light of recent scholarly work on library activism in a Nordic context, as well as recent theorizations of civil public spheres in the Nordic countries. It thus connects ongoing discussions among Norwegian librarians with recent library research and ongoing theorization of civil public spheres within the Nordic model.

This study aims to examine the potential of Information Ethics (IE) to serve as a coherent ethical foundation for the library and information science profession (LIS profession).

This study consists of two parts: the first part present IE’s central theses and the main critiques it has received; the second part offers the authors' own evaluation of the theory from the LIS perspective in two steps: (1) assessing its internal consistency by testing its major theses against each other; (2) assessing its utility for resolving frequently debated LIS ethical dilemmas by comparing its solutions with solutions from other ethical theories.

This study finds that IE, consisting of an informational ontology, a fundamental ethical assertion and a series of moral laws, forms a coherent ethical framework and holds promising potential to serve as a theoretical foundation for LIS ethical issues; its inclusion of nonhuman objects as moral patients and its levels of abstraction mechanism proved to be particularly relevant for the LIS profession. This study also shows that, to become more solid an ethical theory, IE needs to resolve some of its internal contradictions and ambiguities, particularly its conceptual conflations between internal correctness, rightness and goodness; between destruction, entropy and evil; and the discrepancy between its deontological ethical assertion and its utilitarian moral laws.

This study alerts LIS professionals to the possibility of having a coherent ethical foundation and the potential of IE in this regard.

This study provides a systemic explication, evaluation and field test of IE from the LIS perspective.

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.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether and in what ways library workers in the United States encountered patrons espousing beliefs in conspiracy theories and, if so, to explore the effectiveness of the strategies they used to address information disorder during the interactions.

The study was designed with an exploratory qualitative approach. Data were collected via an online survey posted to national and state library association listservs, utilizing a self-selected sampling method. Researchers inductively and deductively analyzed results, developing predetermined themes based on the research questions, then iteratively integrating unexpected data during coding.

A total of 334 responses were received over two weeks. Data represent library workers from 43 states and Washington, D.C., including various types of libraries. Library workers interacted with patrons with conspiratorial thinking, and both library workers and patrons evidenced a range of emotions and motivations.

This is the first national study to survey library workers and whether they encountered patrons espousing conspiracy theories. While the sample size is small, themes elucidate various strategies that library workers use for interacting with patrons who express some level of conspiracy ideation.

Many librarians are asked questions about copyright and intellectual property. They may be expected to advise on copyright or provide copyright education as part of their duties. Others may be “voluntold” to take on copyright, which may come as an unexpected addition to their workload. This case study provides suggestions for librarians to increase their copyright knowledge and create copyright education programs.

This case study showcases two copyright education programs created by a librarian in a college and another in a university. The librarians collaborated to learn more about the state of copyright education within academic libraries and explore their commonalities and differences. This case study introduces two copyright education programs and summarizes the state of copyright education within library and information science (LIS) and academic libraries.

The following themes within the two copyright education programs were identified through a case study: the complexity of copyright, the engagement (or lack thereof) across a college or university, the necessity of including copyright in information literacy instruction and the calls for professional development with copyright.

This case study covers two differing institutions so its conclusions may not be applicable to all libraries or educational settings.

Many individuals who are in disciplines or occupations that regularly work with copyright may generate ideas for creating and providing continuing education within their organizations.

Library or education professionals can use the case study’s conclusions to inform and support their ongoing work with teaching and learning about copyright and intellectual property. By doing so, they can better support their students, faculty and institutions.

This study examines academic librarians' perceptions and attitudes toward Internet of Things (IoT) applications in Hong Kong academic libraries and the problems and possible improvements in using IoT technologies to strengthen library services.

This qualitative research used video conferencing software for semi-structured, one-on-one interviews. Participants were given introductory material about the IoT and asked to complete an interview. The data were analyzed using inductive theme clustering for this study.

The analysis identified three themes: perception about applying IoT technology to the library, problems and improvements in using IoT. Participants were generally optimistic about the potential benefits of IoT for improving library operations and providing personalized services. However, they also expressed concerns about privacy and security, errors and extra efforts for information literacy training. They suggested improvements such as incorporating facial recognition technology, advanced RFID technology and collections identification technology to enhance user experience.

Most studies examined users' views rather than librarians' on IoT applications, which few studies cover, especially in East Asia.

The evolution from emerging technologies to smart libraries is thoroughly analyzed thematically and bibliometrically in this research study, spanning 2013 through 2022. Finding and analyzing the significant changes, patterns and trends in the subject as they are represented in academic papers is the goal of this research.

Using bibliometric methodologies, this study gathered and examined a large corpus of research papers, conference papers and related material from several academic databases.

Starting with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data (BD), Augmentation Reality/Virtual Reality and Blockchain Technology (BT), the study discusses the advent of new technologies and their effects on libraries. Using bibliometric analysis, this study looks at the evolution of publications over time, the geographic distribution of research and the most active institutions and writers in the area. A thematic analysis is also carried out to pinpoint the critical areas of study and trends in emerging technologies and smart libraries. Some emerging themes are information retrieval, personalized recommendations, intelligent data analytics, connected library spaces, real-time information access, augmented reality/virtual reality applications in libraries and strategies, digital literacy and inclusivity.

This study offers a thorough overview of the research environment by combining bibliometric and thematic analysis, illustrating the development of theories and concepts during the last ten years. The results of this study helps in understanding the trends and future research directions in emerging technologies and smart libraries. This study is an excellent source of information for academics, practitioners and policymakers involved in developing and applying cutting-edge technology in library environments.

The purpose of this study is to examine research on academic libraries and the social web published from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2023.

The article search and filtering procedures mirrored those of Choi and Harper (2020) and Carlsson (2015), resulting in a total sample size of 93 articles. These articles underwent examination based on the same eight variables (i.e. journal outlet, research theme, publication year, social web type, method, keyword, study participant type and study country) as employed by Choi and Harper (2020) and Carlsson (2015), with the addition of two new variables (i.e. research purpose and the impact of COVID-19).

The research article volume has consistently maintained a stable trend. A notable difference from Choi and Harper (2020) and Carlsson (2015) is the rise of “user perspectives” as the second most prevalent theme. Unlike Choi and Harper (2020), the “survey” method is predominant. Many research purposes, excluding “marketing and promotion,” lack attention. Additionally, there’s a dearth of studies on the impact of COVID-19.

The findings from the study not only offer a snapshot of the current research landscape on academic libraries and their engagement with the social web but also offer insights for future scholarly endeavors.

There is a limited effort in exploring the recent literature regarding the role of the social web in academic libraries. This study serves as a valuable guide for contributing to this dynamic research stream and provides various up-to-date implications.

The Open University (OU) in the UK has been providing distance learning since 1969. The purpose of this case study is to outline the impact that The OU Library in the UK has had on student learning outcomes by embedding academic literature and digital and information literacy (DIL) skills materials in the curriculum.

The case study presents an overview of the university context, including how the curriculum is developed. It discusses the role of the library in this process, outlining how librarians work with academic staff to embed skills and literature in the curriculum. Unique in-house technical solutions are presented to aid future approaches to providing distance library services.

The impact of the library on university education is discussed. Findings from qualitative research are presented, outlining the value the university places on the role of the library as an educational partner. Quantitative research studies are also presented, outlining the positive relationships between library content access and training attendance with student success.

As universities are considering their distance-learning offerings post-COVID-19, it is hoped that this case study will help both library and university administrators examine the role of their libraries in this strategy.

A case study on the approach The OU Library takes to support education in its broadest sense has not been published before.

This paper evaluates the precision of four metasearch engines (MSEs) – DuckDuckGo, Dogpile, Metacrawler and Startpage, to determine which metasearch engine exhibits the highest level of precision and to identify the metasearch engine that is most likely to return the most relevant search results.

The research is divided into two parts: the first phase involves four queries categorized into two segments (4-Q-2-S), while the second phase includes six queries divided into three segments (6-Q-3-S). These queries vary in complexity, falling into three types: simple, phrase and complex. The precision, average precision and the presence of duplicates across all the evaluated metasearch engines are determined.

The study clearly demonstrated that Startpage returned the most relevant results and achieved the highest precision (0.98) among the four MSEs. Conversely, DuckDuckGo exhibited consistent performance across both phases of the study.

The study only evaluated four metasearch engines, which may not be representative of all available metasearch engines. Additionally, a limited number of queries were used, which may not be sufficient to generalize the findings to all types of queries.

The findings of this study can be valuable for accreditation agencies in managing duplicates, improving their search capabilities and obtaining more relevant and precise results. These findings can also assist users in selecting the best metasearch engine based on precision rather than interface.

The study is the first of its kind which evaluates the four metasearch engines. No similar study has been conducted in the past to measure the performance of metasearch engines.