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This exploratory study illustrated an integrated academic library supply chain (IALSC) model to design the strategic planning management tool of the academic library. The supply chain (SC) model has been widely used in manufacturing industries and has also been applied in many service industries with the same objectives. However, very few studies for academic libraries, particularly the implementation of the integrated SC model, are being executed, although it has been proven that SC management in practice can enhance stakeholder satisfaction, increase revenues and decrease total costs. The academic library also needs to be successful in providing quality products, services and information to fulfil the library users’ needs within the library budget. This research aims to develop a verified model of the integrated SC for the academic library.

This research used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to achieve its objectives. The proposed conceptual SC model, named as IALSC, for the academic library has been developed using the system thinking method; eventually, it has been validated through the fuzzy Delphi method, an expert judgement technique.

The research findings could contribute to academic library management in planning and formulating a roadmap for the library to increase its quality services for all stakeholders.

The conceptual model would have a high potential to be proposed as the strategic decision-making tool for an academic library, i.e. the flow of funds through the operations of the library, the library stakeholders’ satisfaction measurement, the decision process currently made by the library management team on the purchase of new library resources, the library resource suppliers, etc.

The purpose of this paper is to review an existing graphic novel collection in the curriculum materials center of an academic library. The review would result in a clear identity for the collection and guide the creation of revised collection development, management and cataloging processes.

The physical and bibliographic identities of each individual graphic novel were reviewed and compared with collection development tools.

The review revealed a mismatch between the physical and bibliographic markers applied to some graphic novels and inconsistencies in the assignment of items based on audience and literature type. At the completion of the project, 43% of the graphic novels were reassigned based on audience, literature type or both.

There is limited research about the collection challenges and needs of graphic novels in juvenile and curriculum materials collections within academic libraries. This research details the process used to evaluate the collection and create a physical and bibliographic identity that fits the needs of the library’s users.

Aggressive weeding in academic libraries is becoming more commonplace as colleges seek to create student-centered environments and space is at a premium. For one community college in the Southwest United States, several factors required the library to proactively weed its collection within three years. At the same time, the library sought to maintain the circulation of its physical books.

Updating the library’s collection development policy to include robust selection and weeding criteria allowed the library to embark on a revitalization project to remove thousands of outdated or unused items, resulting in a net loss of nearly 32,000 books.

The loss of more than half of the general collection had an unforeseen consequence – a 70% increase in circulation statistics during the three-year deselection project. The case study's results highlight the need for continual maintenance of academic library collections.

The case study is original and not published elsewhere.

Academic libraries are having to reconsider personnel, collections, space, and budget. This paper provides examples of how rightsizing opportunities in those areas can be approached in a positive way.

Librarians at a small, rural, public university library approached rightsizing as an opportunity to shape the library in positive ways. This paper provides a reflection on those efforts in personnel, collections, space, and budget that have taken place over the past decade at this university, and highlights how the library’s role as the driver of these changes helped foster a positive culture.

This paper explains the ways the library is viewed both internally and externally as a more student-focused service and location. Examples in this paper may provide ideas for other libraries to utilize in their rightsizing efforts.

Historically, this library encountered forced cuts due to lower than anticipated enrollments and reduced funding from the state. This contributed to low morale and understandably defensive attitudes; however, these did not serve the library well. Post 2013, the library transitioned to a self-initiated approach to making changes. Some of these changes came about due to stagnation in budgets while others can be attributed to changes in staff due to retirements and new hires. Through this shift to proactive rightsizing, our library team has recognized we are adaptable and nimble. This has benefitted morale and helped the library grow a positive reputation on campus.

The purpose of this study is to outline the process, procedures and techniques used for digitization and digital preservation of theses and dissertations (TDs) collection at the Central Library of Quaid-I-Azam University, Pakistan.

Since the phenomenon under investigation is exploratory in nature, a case study qualitative paradigm was used to conduct this study.

The findings of the study offer a brief overview of the cost-effective solution that leveraged in-house expertise for the digital preservation of TDs. This led to the establishment of a knowledge repository hosting a substantial collection of approximately 25,857 electronic theses and dissertations, accessible online since August 2023. This project digitally preserved approximately 9,387 TDs on CDs/DVDs, and scanned about 15,000 print TDs, comprising around 1,399,244 pages. The cost incurred per page, including labor and rent of a photocopy machine, was just Rs 0.548 making it a cost-effective technique. The total cost incurred for this process was just 0.768m Pakistani rupees (equivalent to $2,509.55). The findings revealed key challenges, including administrative, financial, technical and copyright issues, that impede the effective execution of the project.

This case study is limited to one Pakistani public sector university library. This case study holds significance in terms of practical insights and implications for academic institutions and library administrators in other developing countries like Pakistan, which have similar economic, social and technical circumstances.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first-ever study conducted to elucidate the cost-effective strategy adopted for digitally preserved TDs without additional financial and human resources while creating a knowledge repository.

This paper aims to study the after-effects of the crises hit by the Lebanese population and the solutions implemented to alleviate the ensuing problems on resource sharing in Lebanese libraries.

Questionnaire to academic libraries. Nine libraries in Lebanon offer resource sharing services; all nine are academic. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to these nine libraries; eight responded. A semi-quantitative approach was used to analyze the responses. The questionnaire was administered through Microsoft Forms. The form was designed to include dichotomous questions for the sake of quantitative analysis and a short answer format that allowed responders to provide additional details. American University of Beirut Data. The access services department at the American University of Beirut Jafet Library compiles on a daily basis interlibrary loan statistics. The compiled data were divided into two groups: duration of two fiscal years prior to June 2020; and from June 2020 to June 2022. June 2020 was used as a cutoff date after which the interlibrary loan initiatives in response to COVID-19 were implemented. The services that were analyzed were RSCVD, OCLC WorldShare ILL profiled groups, Emergency Temporary Access Service for HathiTrust members and Open Access Services from vendors.

Libraries in Lebanon were able to continue providing resource-sharing services with a minimal budget due to four major initiatives and through the help of the international resource-sharing community.

Limited publication about inter library loan in Lebanese Libraries. The pandemic hit economies worldwide; however, Lebanon got hit by three synergetic crises, and the initiatives were instrumental in drastically reducing resource sharing expenditure without affecting the interlibrary loan fill rate.

This study aims to identify current practices of environmentally friendly sustainable preventive conservation in Asian libraries.

This study uses a predominantly quantitative survey for data collection with a combination of open and closed questions. From 237 survey links sent, 22 responses were received from libraries in 16 Asian countries.

This study uncovers current practices in four areas of environmentally sustainable preventive conservation in Asia: collection preservation, environmental monitoring and management, integrated pest management, and collections care and handling. Challenges to implementing sustainable preventive conservation were also revealed.

The response rate was relatively low, and responses were not received from all countries in Asia. As such, while the study provides a starting point for further research, it cannot be assumed that the findings are representative of Asian libraries in general. In addition, some aspects of preventive conservation (for example, disaster preparedness, exhibition) and library preservation management were excluded from the study, and research on these topics, together with environmental and economic factors, is encouraged, along with qualitative research methods.

This study highlights the environmentally friendly sustainable initiatives that libraries employ in their preservation programmes and increases awareness of challenges to implementing those initiatives.

To date there has been little research on environmentally sustainable preventive conservation practices within Asia's libraries. This study therefore makes a valuable contribution to understanding current practices of preventive conservation in Asia.

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.

Blockchain, a groundbreaking technology that recently surfaced, is under thorough scrutiny due to its prospective utility across different sectors. This research aims to delve into and assess the cognitive elements that impact the integration of blockchain technology (BT) within library environments.

Utilizing the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) theory, this research aims to facilitate the implementation of BT within academic institution libraries and provide valuable insights for managerial decision-making. A two-staged deep learning structural equation modelling artificial neural network (ANN) analysis was conducted on 583 computer experts affiliated with academic institutions across various countries to gather relevant information.

The research model can correspondingly expound 71% and 60% of the variance in trust and adoption intention of BT in libraries, where ANN results indicate that perceived possession is the primary predictor, with a technical capability factor that has a normalized significance of 84%. The study successfully identified the relationship of each variable of our conceptual model.

Unlike the SOR theory framework that uses a linear model and theoretically assumes that all relationships are significant, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to validate ANN and SEM in a library context successfully. The results of the two-step PLS–SEM and ANN technique demonstrate that the usage of ANN validates the PLS–SEM analysis. ANN can represent complicated linear and nonlinear connections with higher prediction accuracy than SEM approaches. Also, an importance-performance Map analysis of the PLS–SEM data offers a more detailed insight into each factor's significance and performance.

The purpose of this research is to comprehensively describe the legitimacy of the public library in the 21st century.

The research involved a comprehensive literature review using the Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) database with keywords “Library” and “Legitimacy”, combined with citation searches and additional collections. In total, we analysed 159 research articles primarily from the 21st century, with some comparative analysis of pre-2,000 works. The final phase of the research investigated libraries’ legitimisation efforts across various dimensions, examining how they employ rhetoric and theories to maintain legitimacy amidst challenging circumstances.

Through this research process, five dimensions of public library legitimacy emerged; (1) Democracy, (2) Culture and History, (3) Communication and Education, (4) Economy and (5) Librarianship, with the most diverse literature being related to democracy, and its subsections intellectual freedom, neutrality, the public sphere, social justice and social capital.

The outcome of our results indicates that the evolving legitimacy of the public library in the 21st century has become multifaceted, compared to the elements of legitimacy in the 20th century. Contemporary public libraries can continue to utilise the dimensions of legitimacy identified in this study and can reconstruct their legitimacy accordingly.