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The major objectives of this study are to explore the perceptions of library practitioners towards IoT and to suggest directions for its proper application in university libraries of Bangladesh.

The study conducted an online questionnaire-based survey of library practitioners working at university libraries in Bangladesh in addition to an email interview with ten librarians. A sample size of 310 library practitioners was obtained using the convenience sampling technique for the survey. Non-parametric tests were performed to examine the differences in demographics and perspectives on IoT, as well as the potential benefits and challenges of IoT deployment in libraries.

A total of 178 valid surveys were completed, and the results indicate that 147 (82.6%) library practitioners have varied degrees of IoT understanding and positive attitudes about IoT applications in libraries. The study identified RFID, wireless technologies, cloud computing, mobile apps, artificial intelligence and semantic search as major IoT enablers. Tracking, book reservation, circulation, user identification, service marketing, selection of resources, information networking and resource sharing, etc. are the main areas of a library where IoT may be applied. The integration of IoT has the potential to transform conventional libraries into smart libraries. However, there are some challenges that Bangladeshi university libraries must overcome to take use of the prospects emerged from IoT.

The study would encourage Bangladeshi librarians adopting IoT-based library and information services and provide guidelines for its successful implementation.

The study is a pioneering effort from Bangladesh’s perspective which portrays the original opinions and perceptions of library practitioners regarding IoT applications in university libraries of Bangladesh.

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative platform, namely the Metaverse, to enhance and revolutionize the concept of living library experiences. The fourth industrial revolution has disseminated many innovative human experiences since the rapid development of modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual/augmented realities, blockchain, cloud computing and so on. Various combinations of these technologies have triggered newer tools and platforms for human beings. One of these combinations, perhaps the most unique and holistic case, is the Metaverse, which promises to offer immersive experiences for users. Many stakeholders have been discussing alternative applications of Metaverse platforms, and many developers have attempted to optimize this new technology. Libraries, as the central hub of human intellectuality, will not be an exception to Metaverse integration.

The authors undertook a meticulous examination of an extensive array of scholarly works across various databases to construct a comprehensive literature review. This exhaustive exploration encompassed databases spanning disciplines such as education, psychology, sociology, economics, ICT and so on, and included renowned platforms like PubMed, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore, among others.

In this paper, the authors concentrate on an alternative form of libraries: “living libraries,” where people share their experiences, knowledge and wisdom with others like a living book. Moreover, the authors discuss how the Metaverse and living libraries intersect and create an alternative sharing platform. The paper presents several illustrative scenarios for diffusing living libraries into Metaverse platforms. Finally, the paper articulates the possible challenges that this intersection may present to the current condition.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers combining two innovative concepts: Metaverse and living library and suggests alternative scenarios for real-life experiences.

The purpose of this study is to offer a checklist that can be used for both creating and evaluating digital collections, which are also sometimes referred to as data sets as part of the collections as data movement, suitable for computational use.

The checklist was built by synthesising and analysing the results of relevant research literature, articles and studies and the issues and needs obtained in an observational study. The checklist was tested and applied both as a tool for assessing a selection of digital collections made available by galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) institutions as proof of concept and as a supporting tool for creating collections as data.

Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in making available digital collections published by GLAM organisations for computational use. Based on previous work, the authors defined a methodology to build a checklist for the publication of Collections as data. The authors’ evaluation showed several examples of applications that can be useful to encourage other institutions to publish their digital collections for computational use.

While some work on making available digital collections suitable for computational use exists, giving particular attention to data quality, planning and experimentation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, none of the work to date provides an easy-to-follow and robust checklist to publish collection data sets in GLAM institutions. This checklist intends to encourage small- and medium-sized institutions to adopt the collection as data principles in daily workflows following best practices and guidelines.

This study aims to explore various skills of library professionals working in management institutions of Kerala State, India.

A survey method was used by distributing online questionnaire as a data collection tool. The questionnaires were distributed to the library professionals working in management institutions in Kerala State, India.

The study’s results revealed that the library professionals were competent with managerial, communication and interpersonal skills. Conversely, they were lacking skills in statements such as institutional repository, web 2.0 and social networks. Their familiarity level with reference management tools, research and academic ethics, electronic publishing and management of open-access resources, were also not satisfactory. They need knowledge of other ICT skills such as designing and maintaining in-house databases, video conferencing tools, advanced troubleshooting creating and managing metadata, handling RFID technology and knowledge in solving issues while organizing webinars. Based on the findings, the study has suggested some recommendations which will enable the government/institutions to take appropriate measures to improve their skills.

This study will enable the policymakers to identify in which area the library professionals are weak and develop a strategy and framework for increasing the level of their skills.

This study provides the views of the library professionals working in management institutions in India and warrants the library professionals to enhance their skills, especially on research ethics and publications and ICT skills.

This paper aims to investigate how augmented reality (AR) technology is adopted in the library to transform it into an immersive and interactive platform and highlights the future possibilities of the application of AR in libraries.

The study examines the current applications of AR in the library by consulting related literature and analyzing different library websites covering diverse geographical areas.

The paper with examples summarizes the current library practices of using AR technology and focuses on the AR-supported major library initiatives – right from document tracking, inventory management, wayfinding, supporting innovation and research, developing information literacy skills, etc.

The paper explores the possibility of improving user experience in the library by introducing AR applications and engaging users in an interactive and captivating environment.

This bibliometric study aims to analyze the latest trends and patterns of big data applications in librarianship from 2000 to 2022. By conducting a comprehensive examination of the existing literature, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the emerging field of big data in librarianship and its potential impact on the future of libraries.

This study employed a rigorous four-stage process of identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion to filter and select the most relevant documents for analysis. The Scopus database was utilized to retrieve pertinent data related to big data applications in librarianship. The dataset comprised 430 documents, including journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, reviews and books. Through bibliometric analysis, the study examined the effectiveness of different publication types and identified the main topics and themes within the field.

The study found that the field of big data in librarianship is growing rapidly, with a significant increase in publications and citations over the past few years. China is the leading country in terms of publication output, followed by the United States of America. The most influential journals in the field are Library Hi Tech and the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. The top authors in the field are Minami T, Wu J, Fox EA and Giles CL. The most common keywords in the literature are big data, librarianship, data mining, information retrieval, machine learning and webometrics.

This bibliometric study contributes to the existing body of literature by comprehensively analyzing the latest trends and patterns in big data applications within librarianship. It offers a systematic approach to understanding the state of the field and highlights the unique contributions made by various types of publications. The study’s findings and insights contribute to the originality of this research, providing a foundation for further exploration and advancement in the field of big data in librarianship.

This paper aims to explore key management actions for implementing security on the cloud, which is a critical issue as many organizations are moving business processes and data on it. The cloud is a flexible, low cost and highly available technology, but it comes with increased complexity in maintaining the cloud consumer’s security. In this research, a model was built to assist strategic decision-makers in choosing from a diverse range of actions that can be taken to manage cloud security.

Published research from 2010 to 2022 was reviewed to identify alternatives to management actions pertaining to cloud security. Analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was applied to rate the most important action(s). For this, the alternatives, along with selection criteria, were summarized through thematic analysis. To gauge the relative importance of the alternatives, a questionnaire was distributed among cloud security practitioners to poll their opinion. AHP was then applied to the aggregated survey responses.

It was found that the respondents gave the highest importance to aligning information security with business needs. Building a cloud-specific risk management framework was rated second, while the actions: enforce and monitor contractual obligations, and update organizational structure, were rated third and fourth, respectively.

The research takes a general view without catering to specialized industry-based scenarios.

This paper highlights the role of management actions when implementing cloud security. It presents an AHP-based multi-criteria decision-making model that can be used by strategic decision-makers in selecting the optimum mode of action. Finally, the criteria used in the AHP model highlight how each alternative contributes to cloud security.

The purpose of this paper is to provide adaptive access to learning resources in the digital library.

A novel method using ontology-based multi-attribute collaborative filtering is proposed. Digital libraries are those which are fully automated and all resources are in digital form and access to the information available is provided to a remote user as well as a conventional user electronically. To satisfy users' information needs, a humongous amount of newly created information is published electronically in digital libraries. While search applications are improving, it is still difficult for the majority of users to find relevant information. For better service, the framework should also be able to adapt queries to search domains and target learners.

This paper improves the accuracy and efficiency of predicting and recommending personalized learning resources in digital libraries. To facilitate a personalized digital learning environment, the authors propose a novel method using ontology-supported collaborative filtering (CF) recommendation system. The objective is to provide adaptive access to learning resources in the digital library. The proposed model is based on user-based CF which suggests learning resources for students based on their course registration, preferences for topics and digital libraries. Using ontological framework knowledge for semantic similarity and considering multiple attributes apart from learners' preferences for the learning resources improve the accuracy of the proposed model.

The results of this work majorly rely on the developed ontology. More experiments are to be conducted with other domain ontologies.

The proposed approach is integrated into Nucleus, a Learning Management System (https://nucleus.amcspsgtech.in). The results are of interest to learners, academicians, researchers and developers of digital libraries. This work also provides insights into the ontology for e-learning to improve personalized learning environments.

This paper computes learner similarity and learning resources similarity based on ontological knowledge, feedback and ratings on the learning resources. The predictions for the target learner are calculated and top N learning resources are generated by the recommendation engine using CF.

This study aims to provide insight into the usage of metaverse technologies in libraries, examining their impact on library service user engagement and assisting in unique promotion and marketing techniques for the metaverse setting.

This study used a literature review approach to synthesize current scholarly material on metaverse technologies and their practical applicability in the library context. It gathered academic literature from Emerald, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to construct a strong foundation for the study from journal articles, which were retrieved using the researcher’s “search string.”

Metaverse technologies are reshaping the idea of smart libraries, offering innovative approaches to interact with information resources and delivering users progressively immersive and dynamic learning experiences. This in-depth investigation adds to a better understanding of the emerging link between metaverse technology and library professionals. It bridges the gap between libraries and users, transcending geographical boundaries and enabling libraries to serve a global audience. It anticipates metaverse-infused academic libraries welcoming new methods of engaging with their users with interactive capabilities to create a unique environment to explore library resources in an interactive marketing approach.

The metaverse is not only the future but also the future of libraries. This research fills the gap by advancing the literature on cutting-edge library technologies and empowers users to become reflective and well-informed information producers. It also helps library stakeholders engage with their audience in new and impactful ways and explore innovative marketing strategies tailored to the metaverse environment.

Knowing the students' readiness for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is essential to producing competent, knowledgeable and skilled graduates who can contribute to the skilled workforce in the country. This will assist the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to ensure that their graduates own skill sets needed to work in the 4IR era. However, studies on students' readiness and preparedness for the 4IR in developing countries such as the Sultanate of Oman are still lacking. Therefore, this study investigates students' readiness level and preparedness for the 4IR. The findings of this study will benefit the HEIs policymakers, administration, faculties, departments, industries and society at large since they will be informed of the student's readiness and preparedness toward industry 4.0.

The authors adopted the measures from the same context as previous studies in this study. The questionnaire was divided into three sections; the first part described the purpose and introduction of the search with the surety to keep the data confidential. The second part consisted of demographical information like gender, education. The last parts consisted of four subsections, question items in these parts are based on the related previous study. Characteristics consisted of 14 items, knowledge consisted of 18 items related to 4IR technologies, Organizational Dimension comprised of four items related to academic programs, curriculum and training. Preparedness contained two items. The participants have rated all the items in 5-Likert scale.

Results from structural equation modeling showed that students' characteristics, knowledge of 4IR technologies and organizational dimensions significantly impact their preparedness for the 4IR. The study also found that organizational dimensions have the highest impact on students' preparedness. Furthermore, the organizational dimension significantly influences students' knowledge of 4IR technology. Moreover, students' characteristics related to 4IR are significantly affected by their knowledge of 4IR technology and organizational dimension. The findings suggest that HEIs are responsible for increasing the adoption of 4IR, and therefore organizational dimensions such as the academic programs, training, technological infrastructure and others are all critical for preparing students for a better future and should be given a priority.

This study has used academic programs and training to measure the organizational dimension. However, other important factors should be considered, such as technological infrastructure and leadership and governance of HEIs. Second, the current research depends on quantitative data, so future research should implement a mixed methodology (questionnaires, depth interviews, document analysis and focus group) to understand the factors affecting students' readiness for 4IR clearly. Finally, although the 4IR has numerous benefits, it also has challenges in its implementation, so future studies should focus on challenges encountered by different stakeholders in implementing 4IR-related technologies.

The curriculum must include mandatory courses related to IT infrastructure design, user experience programming, electronic measurement and control principles, and programming for data science. HEIs should also foster interdisciplinary knowledge by integrating IT, Engineering, Business and Sciences. Furthermore, the HEIs should develop their infrastructure to have smart campuses, labs, classrooms and libraries to make HEIs a space where knowledge can be generated and innovative solutions can be proposed. This entails HEIs offering necessary hardware, software and technical support because if the HEIs improve their technological resources, students will be capable of using 4IR-related technologies effectively.

The advancement of technology has resulted in the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, cloud computing, data science, virtual reality and 3D printing. It is essential to investigate students' readiness for 4IR. However, there is no study as per researchers' knowledge talked about students readiness in HEIs in the Arab world. This study could be a basis for more research on students' perception of the 4IR covering students from various backgrounds and levels.