Search results

Academic library consortia activity has become an integral part of academic libraries’ operations. Consortia have come to assert considerable bargaining power over publishers and have provided libraries with considerable economic advantage. They interact with publishers both as consumers of publishers’ products, with much stronger bargaining power than individual libraries hold, and, increasingly, as rival publishers themselves. Are consortia changing the relationship between academic libraries and publishers? Is the role of academic library consortia placing academic libraries in a position that should and will attract the attention of competition policy regulators? Competition policy prohibits buying and selling cartels that can negatively impact the free market on which the Canadian economic system, like other Western economies, depends. Competition policy as part of economic policy is, however, only relevant where we are concerned with aspects of the market economy. Traditionally, public goods for the greater social and cultural benefit of society are not considered part of the market economic system. If the activities of academic library consortia are part of that public good perspective, competition policy may not be a relevant concern. Using evidence gained from in-depth interviews from a national sample of university librarians and from interviews with the relevant federal government policy makers, this research establishes whether library consortia are viewed as participating in the market economy of Canada or not. Are consortia viewed by librarians and government as serving a public good role of providing information for a greater social and cultural benefit or are they seen from a market-economic perspective of changing power relations with publishers? Findings show government has little in-depth understanding of academic library consortia activity, but would most likely consider such activity predominantly from a market economic perspective. University librarians view consortia from a public good perspective but also as having an important future role in library operations and in changing the existing scholarly publishing paradigm. One-third of librarian respondents felt that future consortia could compete with publishers by becoming publishers and through initiatives such as open source institutional repositories. Librarians also felt that consortia have had a positive effect on librarians’ professional roles through the facilitation of knowledge building and collaboration opportunities outside of the home institution.

A unique data set, recording a representative sample of the acquisitions of public and academic libraries in the UK between 1980 and 1998, has been analysed for evidence of trends in acquisitions. Examination of acquisition date relative to publication date revealed public libraries buying little older material, and academic libraries increasing purchases of older titles. Paperback purchase by public libraries has risen, but remained more stable in academic libraries. Public library purchasing reflects current public interest in practical and hobby subjects, but in other areas levels of purchase are at variance with statistics of use. Academic library purchase is dominated by social science material, disproportionate to student numbers. Purchase price analysis suggests a trend to reliance on interlending to satisfy demand for more expensive titles. The findings raise questions about current acquisitions practice and the influence of publishers and suppliers; some further areas for work are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts‐in‐kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections.

The paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two‐week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ²‐test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant.

The majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors.

This paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate various strategies of Malaysian public academic libraries that have been implemented to support library financial resources and to describe the challenges faced by the public university libraries in implementing income generation activities.

A qualitative data collection approach using a structured interview has been employed to elicit the opinions of librarians working in public university libraries in Klang Valley, Malaysia. In total, five (5) interview transcripts have been analyzed using theme-based analysis.

This study shows that the Malaysian public academic libraries showed positive reactions toward income generation. Various activities of revenue generation are carried out to support library financial resources on a small scale. However, management support for this concept is poor resulted due to many problems in carrying out the activities.

This study provides insights into the importance of revenue generation activities as a source of library financial resources at public academic libraries. The strategies include the investment of academic libraries in implementing the activities related to the income generation. It is required for the library to add this activity in its library budget, the proper strategic planning and the introduction of various revenue generation activities.

This study contributes to the field of library and information management as it highlights the strategies of outside revenue generation activities in Malaysian public academic libraries. Library administrators could use the results to develop their strategic plans to ensure the success of the initiatives.

This study aims to discover the factors which influence user satisfaction levels and their continuous use intention (CUI) of academic library social media, and then considers how to promote and improve further work on library social media to reduce user churn and increase user satisfaction.

An updated DeLone and McLean information systems success (D&M ISS) model and the expectation confirmation model for information systems continuance (ECM-ISC) with new variables of emotions are used to examine the factors which influence user satisfaction levels and CUI of academic library social media through 445 questionnaires. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and presented in tables.

The results show that information quality, system quality and emotions affect user satisfaction and CUI, and reveal that emotions can affect that most obviously.

The WeChat public platform is mainly used in China, so the study only focuses on Chinese academic libraries. There are still limitations on the settings of observed variables which cannot cover all the causes of users’ positive and negative emotions. In addition, although the respondents of this questionnaire can represent academic library users, 445 samples are still fairly low in contrast to the great number of academic library WeChat public platform users.

This study integrates ECM-ISC and D&M ISS models, adds positive and negative emotions as new variables, to broaden the application scope of these models, and demonstrates the applicability of these two models in the fields of researching academic library social media, expanding and deepening related theories above. This also provides practical reference for academic libraries on how to improve user satisfaction and CUI of academic library social media and academic library WeChat public platforms, promoting the development of academic library social media.

The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of public relations activities in academic libraries in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The focus is on understanding how academic libraries conduct and provide their public relations products and services.

The study reported here used the survey method, done in two phases. The first phase consisted of a questionnaire survey and the second phase was a focus group discussion based on the results of the survey.

Although all libraries indicated that public relations are important, a clear majority (72.2 percent) does not have a public relations unit or division, they have a very small number of staff involved in public relations work, and half of the responding libraries (50 percent) do not have full‐time staff for public relations. Library web site, traditional mail, displays and bulletin boards and library guides/brochures are major channels of communication. The study also reported on the main problems that prevent academic libraries from performing effective PR activities.

The results have implications for the planning and development of public relations programs and activities in academic libraries in GCC countries. It also indicates existing obstacles, suggestion and recommendations for further development.

This study reports the results of one of the few studies of public relations in academic libraries in developing countries. It increases the understanding and awareness of what public relations encompasses and how it can be utilized. It also advocates that the social media should be used in promoting library resources and services.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the landscape of data curation services among public and academic libraries in the USA, with a focus on library capacity for providing data curation services.

The authors conducted an online survey by employing stratified sampling from the American Library Directory. A total of 198 responses were analyzed.

The authors’ findings provide insight into the current landscape of libraries’ data curation services. The survey participants evaluated six capacity dimensions for both public and academic libraries – value, financial, administrative, technical infrastructure, human resources and network. The ratings the participants gave to these capacity dimensions were significantly different between academic and public libraries.

This study suggests several areas in which libraries will benefit from further developing their capacity to successfully run data curation services.

This is among the first research study to address the concept of capacity in the context of libraries’ data curation services.

“Public librarians are not interested in collection development issues.”

Changes in the US healthcare system in the past 20 years have meant increasing pressure on consumers to find their own healthcare information. Their search, amid an ever‐widening array of information resources, has profound implications for library reference services. A recent study of 350 public librarians in Michigan is, to date, the only investigation of librarian practices in health information provision in a large region of the USA. Examines services, queries, problems, librarian training and health collection resources. The findings have special meaning for academic librarians as they delineate their unique role in the health information system and, with public librarians, seek to devise effective means for responsive library service in today’s competitive health information resources environment.

To trace patterns of collection development expenditures between 1994 and 2004 among Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) largest and smallest public and private academic libraries, to identify the impact of serial inflation, the emergence of electronic resources and changes in the monographic market upon the buying patterns of the largest and smallest academic libraries, public and private, in the USA and Canada.

Analysis of the annual ARL statistics for collection development expenditures between 1994 and 2004, focusing upon the ten largest public, ten largest private, ten smallest public and ten smallest private academic ARL libraries.

Libraries have largely responded to the revolutionary changes of the last decade very conservatively, retaining their commitment to monographic acquisitions and to their paper collections even as they have built new, electronic libraries.

ARL statistics present a complex picture, and libraries are not consistent in the manner in which they report their activities. The methodology does not seek a statistically precise model but seeks only to lay out a useful snapshot of library collecting patterns over the last ten years.

Academic libraries have not yet fully confronted the issues raised by changes in scholarly communication over the last decade and still have many difficult decisions ahead of the, as patterns of the last ten years may be difficult or inappropriate to sustain.

Provides a picture of collection development patterns of the largest and smallest ARL academic libaries that complements ARL's own analysis, which is based on median values.