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Rare book collections are special, not only in terms of their physical appearance but also because of their historical significance and the information they contain. The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify the physical condition of rare book collections and to determine the main causes of damage to rare books collection that belongs to a museum library in Indonesia.

This research involved conducting a survey of the physical condition of the collection of rare books owned by a museum library in Indonesia. Supporting data was also obtained through interviews with one of the staff who served as the museum collection conservator. This study used random sampling to take samples from the collection, which consisted of 950 rare books, with total sample of 91.

The results obtained state that the condition of the existing rare book collection is classified as severely damaged. One of the causes of damage that can be addressed immediately is the cleaning regime: the collection and library space should be cleaned thoroughly and regularly so that dust and dirt in and around the rare book collection can be reduced.

This research was limited to physical identification, which can be done easily because it does not require various kinds of laboratory tests. It was a case study examining a single collection in a single museum library. The pool of books from which the samples were taken was therefore relatively homogenous. Therefore, it is hoped that further research can identify other factors and types of damage in more detail so that all damage to rare book collections can be identified and mitigated.

Research discussing the condition of rare book collections, especially for special libraries in museums in Indonesia, is still very limited. Detailed surveys of the physical condition of collections, especially rare book collections in museums, have rarely been discussed by previous research. The work will contribute to assessing the physical condition of rare book collections.

By examining types of literacies taught by public libraries and the modes through which these programs were offered, this study aims to explore how public libraries might integrate data literacy training for the general public into existing library educational programs.

This study examined programs offered in 30 US public libraries during 2019 and 2020 to better understand types of literacy education announced to the public through library website listings and Facebook Events pages.

While public libraries offered educational programs in literacy areas ranging from basic reading and writing to technology, vocational skills, health literacy and more, data literacy training was not widely offered. However, this study identified many already-existing programs highly compatible for integrating with data literacy training.

This study offered new insights into both the literacies taught in public library programs as well as ways for public libraries to integrate data literacy training into existing educational programming, in order to better provide data literacy education for the general public.

The purpose of this article is to share this study’s efforts to foster belonging in special collections public service spaces, as Black and Latina practitioners of color, while navigating known systemic professional barriers to inclusivity in the library information profession.

In this conceptual essay, frameworks from Black and Chicana feminist theories are applied which resonate deeply with this study’s practices but are not often encountered in library spaces, namely intersectional nepantla, which is used to situate the positionality within special collections.

Fostering belonging in special collections environments is an ongoing effort, but this study offers reflections in solidarity with all who seek to increase inclusivity and equity in their spaces. It is believed that the cumulative impact of many small actions implemented from the ground up can potentially be as significant as top-down, administrative charges.

This article's originality stems from both its authors and the methodology. As BIPOC practitioners, to the authors emphasize the authentic, day-to-day interactions that are essential to developing inclusivity and equity in special collections and archival spaces. Special collections reference workers have limited time off desk to collaborate and conduct research.

Virtual reality (VR) can be used as an alternative mean for viewing collections at home when it is not possible to visit museums due to COVID-19. This study took the development process of VR at Taiwan's National Palace Museum (NPM) as a case to discuss the characteristics of VR developed there in different periods and how NPM transforms the contents of its collections into VR.

This study used a case study to analyze the development process of VR at NPM from 2014 to 2019 and summarized the characteristics of the development and application of VR.

The authors find that the history of VR application in NPM is a process from exploring the technology to gradually getting familiar with the potential of its application. Its development can be divided into the exploration and experiment stage from 2014 to 2015, the single collection interpretation stage in 2016 and the multipurpose application stage from 2017 to 2019. It is suggested that museums should adopt a long-term strategy to introduce VR, make plans carefully and pay attention to the limitations of VR application.

The results of this study are suitable for art and history museums.

Many research studies on the application of VR in museums mostly focused on the benefits and technologies of adopting VR in museums as well as specific museum VR projects. There is still scant literature on the development process of museum VR from the perspective of museum organizations.

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.

The academic library’s physical capacity and its service obligations to local users structured the traditional print collection. Largely freed of these constraints, the digital collection manager enjoys unprecedented freedoms but now contends with a collection susceptible to resource sprawl and scope ambiguity. This exploratory study aims to consider the possibility that intra-field social processes help to structure and routinize digital collection practice.

Lacking the constraints to which print collections are subject, electronic resource and digital library collections are more likely to reflect idiosyncratic institutional interests and therefore, to demonstrate significant variation. Evidence of homogeneity may suggest the influence of heretofore underexplored social structures. To determine the extent of such homogeneity, the author performed exploratory/descriptive content analyses on ten electronic resource collection development policies and six digital library collection development policies.

The data reveal among both the electronic resource and digital library collection policies significant uniformity. Content analyses demonstrate consistent themes (e.g. media, audience, selection priorities, etc.) and rhetoric. These findings lend support to the study’s central hypothesis regarding latent social structures. Analyses also reveal a set of unanticipated constraints unique to digital collection management.

Despite the breadth and maturity of literature addressing the Digital Turn in academic librarianship, relatively little attention has been paid to the social dimensions of collection management. This work represents an important corrective and suggests new theoretical approaches to the study of digital collection practice.

This study aims to describe and examine the strategy used by the Taman Ismail Marzuki Library for increasing its social sustainability capabilities.

The research questions in this study are (1) What is the TIM Library’s social sustainability strategy for supporting the green library concept? and (2) What are the impediments and facilitators to implementing the green library concept in the TIM Library through a social sustainability process? This study adopted a qualitative approach, using a case study method, in research conducted over the period July–November 2022. The data collection methods used were purposive sampling, interviews, observations and document analysis.

This study’s findings indicate that the TIM library’s social sustainability strategy supports economic sustainability up to the independence stage, whereas environmental sustainability is still at the empowerment stage. The green library concept is sustainable due to the library’s commitment to the “third place” concept and library cooperation. The TIM Library’s continuing strategy to use creative community development programs to attract public interest and change the library’s perception in the community should help it realize the green library concept.

Libraries can use the research findings to guide their strategies for community engagement and inclusivity.

The paper suggests that policymakers supporting libraries can consider incorporating elements of the Green Library concept and community development stages into policies to enhance the societal impact of libraries.

The significance of this study is that it uncovers strategies to help public libraries meet the requirements of the green library concept.

Cultural heritage archiving is experiencing an increase in digitalisations of artefacts in the last 15 years. The reason behind this trend is a demand for providing information about the artefact in a more accessible way to the audience, for example, through online delivery or virtual reality. Other reasons might be to simplify and automate the management of artefacts. Having a ‘digital copy’ of artefacts, allows one to search an archive and plan its storage and dissemination in a comprehensive manner. With the increased digitalisation comes an increased use of artificial intelligence [AI] applications. AI can be very beneficial in classifying artefacts automatically through machine learning [ML] and natural language processing [NLP]. For example, an algorithm can identify the source and age of artefacts based on an image and can do this much faster for a large collection of photos than a human. Although AI provides many benefits, it also presents challenges: Sophisticated AI techniques require certain insights on how they work, need specialists to customise a solution, and require an existing large dataset to train an algorithm. Another challenge is that typical AI techniques are regarded as black boxes, which means they decide, but it is not obvious why a decision has been made. This chapter describes a project in collaboration with the South Australian Museum [SAM] on the application of AI to extract material lists from a description of artefacts. A large dataset to train an algorithm did not exist, and hence, a customised approach was required. The outcome of the project was the application of NLP in combination with easy-to-customise rules that can be applied by non-IT specialists. The resulting prototype achieved the extraction of materials from a large list of artefacts within seconds and a flexible solution that can be applied on other collections in the future.

This study proposes a framework for performance measurement of library consortia services by implementing the indicators listed in ISO 11620. The framework is validated by using real data from HEAL-Link, the national consortium of Greek academic and research libraries to calculate the indicators.

The paper reports on the related work regarding the services consortia offer to their members and the known methods and tools for assessing consortia services; the HEAL-Link case study, the aggregation and handling of data, is presented; ISO 11620 performance indicators for HEAL-Link services are calculated, and the results are discussed in terms of what was learnt- about the consortium, about measuring consortia services performance, and about the standard.

ISO 11620 could be used to measure performance for assessing consortia services. The performance indicators’ results reflect the two major events (mergers and COVID pandemic) that took place during the time of the study. ISO 11620 offers a basic insight that could be well complemented with other tools and standards.

The current study suggests that a widely accepted, easily applied, benchmarking ISO standard could be used to measure common consortia services’ performance, thus contributing to consortia assessment.