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Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

Sara Mannheimer and Conor Cote

For libraries with limited resources, digital preservation can seem like a daunting responsibility. Forming partnerships can help build collective knowledge and maximize combined…

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Abstract

Purpose

For libraries with limited resources, digital preservation can seem like a daunting responsibility. Forming partnerships can help build collective knowledge and maximize combined resources to achieve digital preservation goals. This paper aims to provide guidance to help libraries with limited resources achieve digital preservation goals by forming partnerships to build collective knowledge and maximize combined resources.

Design/methodology/approach

In 2015, librarians from four Montana institutions formed the Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG), a collaboration to increase digital preservation efforts statewide. The group’s immediate goals were to promote digital preservation best-practices at each individual institution, and to learn about and support each other’s work. The group’s long-term goal was to implement a shared digital preservation service that would fill gaps in existing digital preservation efforts.

Findings

Beyond the cost savings gained by sharing a digital preservation service, the members of DPWG benefitted from shared knowledge and expertise gained during the partnership. The group also functioned as a sounding board as each institution built its digital preservation program, and it became a system of support when challenges arose.

Practical/implications

This paper proposes a five-point plan for creating digital preservation partnerships: cultivate a foundation of knowledge and identify a shared vision; assess the current digital preservation landscape at each institution; advocate for the value of digital preservation activities; implement shared digital preservation services; and sustain group activities and establish structures for ongoing support.

Originality/value

The activities of DPWG provide a model for institutions seeking to collaborate to meet digital preservation challenges. This paper shows that by implementing a structured plan, institutions can build and sustain digital preservation partnerships, thus positioning themselves to achieve digital preservation success.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Sara Mannheimer, Scott W.H. Young and Doralyn Rossmann

In this paper, faculty librarians at an academic institution explore the ethical dimensions of conducting research with user-generated social networking service (SNS) data. In an…

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, faculty librarians at an academic institution explore the ethical dimensions of conducting research with user-generated social networking service (SNS) data. In an effort to guide librarian-researchers, this paper first offers a background discussion of privacy ethics across disciplines and then proposes a library-specific ethical framework for conducting SNS research.

Design/methodology/approach

By surveying the literature in other disciplines, three key considerations are identified that can inform ethical practice in the field of library science: context, expectation, and value analysis. For each of these considerations, the framework is tailored to consider ethical issues, as they relate to libraries and our practice as librarian-researchers.

Findings

The unique role of the librarian-researcher demands an ethical framework specific to that practice. The findings of this paper propose such a framework.

Practical implications

Librarian-researchers are at a unique point in our history. In exploring SNSs as a source of data to conduct research and improve services, we become challenged by conflicting and equally cherished values of patron privacy and information access. By evaluating research according to context, expectations, and value, this framework provides an ethical path forward for research using SNS data.

Originality/value

As of this paper’s publication, there is no existing ethical framework for conducting SNS research in libraries. The proposed framework is informed both by library values and by broader research values, and therefore provides unique guidelines for the librarian-researcher.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 November 2015

Doralyn Rossmann and Scott W.H. Young

Social Media Optimization (SMO) offers guidelines by which libraries can design content for social shareability through social networking services (SNSs). The purpose of this…

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Abstract

Purpose

Social Media Optimization (SMO) offers guidelines by which libraries can design content for social shareability through social networking services (SNSs). The purpose of this paper is to introduce SMO and discuss its effects and benefits for libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

Researchers identified and applied five principles of SMO. Web analytics software provides data on web site traffic and user engagement before and after the application of SMO.

Findings

By intentionally applying a program of SMO, the library increased content shareability, increased user engagement, and built community.

Research limitations/implications

Increasing use of SNSs may influence the study results, independent of SMO application. Limitations inherent to web analytics software may affect results. Further study could expand analysis beyond web analytics to include comments on SNS posts, SNS shares from library pages, and a qualitative analysis of user behaviors and attitudes regarding library web content and SNSs.

Practical implications

This research offers an intentional approach for libraries to optimize their online resources sharing through SNSs.

Originality/value

Previous research has examined the role of community building and social connectedness for SNS users, but none have discussed using SMO to encourage user engagement and interactivity through increased SNS traffic into library web pages.

Book part
Publication date: 8 August 2016

Sara LeGrand, Teresa L. Scheid and Kathryn Whetten

This chapter examines the associations between gender, social support, and health outcomes for individuals living with HIV disease. We include social integration and social…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter examines the associations between gender, social support, and health outcomes for individuals living with HIV disease. We include social integration and social isolation as structural measures of social support as well as perceived social support and social conflict as functional measures of social support. We include both mental health and physical health outcomes, which are too often studied in isolation of each other.

Methodology/approach

Data are from the Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast (CHASE) study; this study reports on baseline data from 611 participants collected from 2001 to 2002. We first examined differences by gender and race, and then used blocked linear regression to determine the additive effects of the social support variables on both mental and physical health outcomes while controlling for potential confounders.

Findings

There were notable differences in the significance and strength of social support variables in health outcome models for men and women. Unlike men, social conflict was the strongest predictor of greater psychological distress and poorer physical health-related quality of life among women.

Research limitations/implications

While the results from this study contribute to a greater understanding of gender differences in the relationships between social support and health outcomes, the data used for this study are limited to those living with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast.

Originality/value

Our findings suggest that social conflict may be more detrimental for the health of women than men.

Details

Special Social Groups, Social Factors and Disparities in Health and Health Care
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-467-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2018

Sara Kjellberg and Jutta Haider

The purpose of this paper is to understand what role researchers assign to online representations on the new digital communication sites that have emerged, such as Academia…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand what role researchers assign to online representations on the new digital communication sites that have emerged, such as Academia, ResearchGate or Mendeley. How are researchers’ online presentations created, managed, accessed and, more generally, viewed by academic researchers themselves? And how are expectations of the academic reward system navigated and re-shaped in response to the possibilities afforded by social media and other digital tools?

Design/methodology/approach

Focus groups have been used for empirical investigation to learn about the role online representation is assigned by the concerned researchers.

Findings

The study shows that traditional scholarly communication documents are what also scaffolds trust and builds reputation in the new setting. In this sense, the new social network sites reinforce rather than challenge the importance of formal publications.

Originality/value

An understanding of the different ways in which researchers fathom the complex connection between reputation and trust in relation to online visibility as a measure of, or at least an attempt at, publicity (either within academia or outside it) is essential. This paper emphasizes the need to tell different stories by exploring how researchers understand their own practices and reasons for them.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 43 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

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