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The study aims to determine the extent of COVID-19’s impact on the libraries and information centers within Benguet. It identified the key differences in the effect of the pandemic on each type of library: public, special, school and academic. It recalled and documented the challenges faced by libraries and librarians. It determined which aspects of their library were affected and how they were modified in terms of their policies, personnel, physical space, services, collection, infodemic response and marketing.

The study used the qualitative descriptive method approach, specifically narrative research design and conducted online focus group discussions in which 14 librarians with managerial or supervisory functions participated. This method was used to explore the topic holistically by using qualitative inquiry. It best suited the purpose of fully understanding the experiences of libraries during the pandemic. The recorded online focus group discussions conducted through Zoom were reviewed and analyzed to identify key themes and responses from the participants. The themes identified from the thematic analysis were further validated with the participants through correspondence, chats or e-mails.

The findings showed that libraries were faced with challenges brought on by the lack of a written policy for the pandemic response, a lack of information communication and technology skills and resources, strict requirements on physical setup for pandemic compliance, budget cuts or realignments and delayed procurement, misinformation and users’ lack of awareness of the new services offered by the library.

The study focused on the pandemic experiences of libraries and information centers in Baguio-Benguet, which was hailed as a model for local pandemic response, through the lenses of librarians with supervisory roles or functions.

Libraries could reflect on their experiences in this pandemic to plan for future strategies that would be best implemented in situations where face-to-face services are not allowed.

This study presented various best practices from different library institutions that could be emulated in the future. Many of these are still relevant regardless library services are going back to normal.

Many librarians are asked questions about copyright and intellectual property. They may be expected to advise on copyright or provide copyright education as part of their duties. Others may be “voluntold” to take on copyright, which may come as an unexpected addition to their workload. This case study provides suggestions for librarians to increase their copyright knowledge and create copyright education programs.

This case study showcases two copyright education programs created by a librarian in a college and another in a university. The librarians collaborated to learn more about the state of copyright education within academic libraries and explore their commonalities and differences. This case study introduces two copyright education programs and summarizes the state of copyright education within library and information science (LIS) and academic libraries.

The following themes within the two copyright education programs were identified through a case study: the complexity of copyright, the engagement (or lack thereof) across a college or university, the necessity of including copyright in information literacy instruction and the calls for professional development with copyright.

This case study covers two differing institutions so its conclusions may not be applicable to all libraries or educational settings.

Many individuals who are in disciplines or occupations that regularly work with copyright may generate ideas for creating and providing continuing education within their organizations.

Library or education professionals can use the case study’s conclusions to inform and support their ongoing work with teaching and learning about copyright and intellectual property. By doing so, they can better support their students, faculty and institutions.

Covid-19 pandemic created a series of challenges for all professions, and libraries and library professionals were not spared. This study aims to attempt to analyze how qualified library professionals in India responded to the pandemic period and seeks their opinion on their preference for the job sector, activities and the challenges they faced during the pandemic.

The study is based on a quantitative survey method using simple random sampling technique. A structured Google forms questionnaire was used to collect the data. In total, 169 qualified professionals, working in different LIS areas, and a few nonworking professionals participated in the survey. The data were collected and analyzed using MS Excel, and statistical tests were done.

The major challenges include lack of proper equipment and official digital records, comfortable work environment, poor internet connection and over work load. Majority wish to work in the government rather than the private sector. The participants believe that Covid has affected employment opportunities. Despite the challenges, library professionals are satisfied with the profession and were actively engaged in the learning process.

The challenges faced by the LIS profession during the post Covid era should be examined by professional bodies and organizations and should ensure extensive human resources development in different LIS sectors and stress the need to implement better services to society with a better digital experience.

The study explores how qualified library professionals from India have coped with the Covid pandemic and seeks to identify challenges in post-Covid LIS employment. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind concerning work reflections of library professionals in India since the pandemic.

This study aims to inspect the organizational culture of academic libraries in Vietnam and China, and the objective was to investigate how the academic libraries in Vietnam and China differ in organizational culture’s task, unity and status orientations.

This study surveyed 546 academic library staff in China and Vietnam to fulfill this objective. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and paired t-tests are used to explore whether the organizational culture in the academic libraries in Vietnam and China is different in terms of task orientation, unity orientation and status orientation.

The results from the data concluded that academic libraries in Vietnam had a higher score on task and status orientations than their Chinese counterparts. In this study, there were no coherent factors regarding unity orientation.

This research expresses several solutions to address the problems in academic libraries in Vietnam and China. Scholars and practitioners can benefit from this research as it is a foundation to support them in understanding the organizational culture of libraries in two countries.

This research expands the scope of organizational culture literature in the Asian library sector. Given that no prior studies have compared the library cultures between the two countries, this study is a novelty. The findings of this research can support academic library staff, leaders and practitioners in Vietnam and China to understand their organizational culture. The research also identifies some recommendations to improve the academic library culture in Vietnam and China.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of emerging technologies in e-learning on university librarians and libraries. The study also intended to identify emerging technologies in e-learning and challenges being faced to implement e-learning technologies.

The preferred reporting items for the systematic review and meta-analysis method was applied as the research methodology for conducting the study. A total of 25 core studies published in peer-reviewed journals were selected to conduct a systematic literature review. The data were analysed through a thematic approach.

The results of the study revealed that e-learning technologies assist library professionals to strengthen their expertise and support them in initiating smart library services to deliver customer-focused services. A shortage of skilled manpower, the unavailability of adequate IT infrastructure, a lack of technical support, copyright issues, poor planning and ineffective library leadership are major challenges to implementing emerging technologies in e-learning.

The study offers theoretical implications by adding valuable literature to the existing body of knowledge. It has a societal impact as it has offered recommendations and practical solutions for the successful adoption of emerging technologies in e-learning. The study also offers managerial implications to develop fruitful policies for implementing e-learning technologies for the innovative sustainable competence development of library manpower and implementation of smart library services.

Globally, mobile technology is a significant factor influencing how libraries are changing the ways of delivering services to today’s users. This paper aims to explore academic librarians’ perceptions of the usefulness of mobile technology in delivering library services and the efforts required for its successful adoption.

The study was conducted within an interpretive paradigm. The research objectives were underpinned by the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology as a theoretical framework. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyses using NVIVO for thematic analysis.

Results show that, in general, academic librarians support the use of mobile technology to provide services such as access to eBooks and Journals, Online Public Access Catalogue, Bookmyne application, information literacy consultations and training. Library managers, fellow librarians and users were identified as encouraging the adoption of mobile technology to enhance library services. The paper further confirms that the successful adoption of mobile technology requires some effort. However, due to some of the challenges presented in the study, a majority of respondents felt that their libraries are not yet ready to fully embrace mobile technology the way it is envisioned in today’s world.

The study endeavours to address the divergence between students and academic librarians’ viewpoints regarding the application of mobile technology in the provision of library services.

This paper highlights numerous ways that academic librarians could adopt and embrace mobile technology, which can benefit both academic libraries and other institutions of higher learning. The knowledge presented in this paper could assist academic librarians in assessing their institutions’ vulnerabilities, challenges and strengths in using mobile technologies to provide library services.

This study aims to examine the state of embedded librarianship in African academic libraries by exploring the extent of librarian embedment in research processes in selected academic libraries in Africa.

A survey was conducted to collect data using an online questionnaire. The study population was comprised of librarians who directly support researchers throughout the research process in the scholarly communication and information services sections. Purposive sampling was used to select librarians, and 63 responses were received from the target of 100. The collected data were analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, and content analysis was used to analyse open-ended questions.

The study results showed that the extent and nature of librarians' embeddedness in the research process vary across different university contexts in Africa. Challenges and areas of research skill gaps among librarians were identified, and propositions to address the research skill gaps were provided.

The study findings can be used as a framework for libraries to embed librarians in the research process. The study made recommendations with practical implications for library practitioners in academia, and institutions offering library and information science education, and the library management responsible for the research process.

A study brings a novel perspective by examining the state of embedded librarianship in the African context. Its contribution generates knowledge and insights that inform the development of effective embedded librarianship practices in African academic libraries to enhance research support services and advancement of scholarly research in the region.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on library and information services (LIS) and how library professionals overcome the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic in the current reality.

This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladesh’s LIS professionals. A structured online questionnaire was designed for the purpose of a quantitative survey. The respondents of this study were LIS professionals in all categories of libraries (e.g. academic libraries, public libraries, special libraries and national library) in Bangladesh. A total of 106 responses from LIS professionals in Bangladesh were received. This study analyzed qualitative data using Braun and Clark’s technique for thematic coding. Researchers interviewed librarians in two phases (during the COVID-19 pandemic and after COVID-19) about how libraries cope up with the COVID crisis. The descriptive findings were examined using diverse descriptive statistics (i.e. frequency numbers and percentages), and for examining the significant differences among demographics’ information regarding challenges faced by LIS professionals, Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted. The qualitative responses were carefully analyzed for familiarizing, coding and theme generation.

The result showed that most LIS professionals (i.e. 46.2% and 43.4%) had faced difficulties in accessing e-resources from home and had failed to maintain balance between work and personal life and to offer remote library services. The LIS professionals mostly used Facebook Messenger and Zoom to communicate with their colleagues and users. Furthermore, many LIS professionals (50.0%) secured their health and safety, adopted hygienic procedures at their workstations and provided virtual reference services. The qualitative findings show that though some libraries have faced challenges in providing online sources and services due to the absence of authority interest, budget scarcity and inadequate information and communication technology infrastructure, some libraries took the initiative to establish library institutional repository and make it available for users from home.

The present study only concentrated on the staff and their actions during and after the pandemic, which was mentioned as a limitation. It would be more effective if the study also considered the user’s viewpoint. The researchers hope that this study will help LIS professionals to support and provide digital and innovative service initiatives in their organization.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first of its kind study in Bangladesh where the staff of all types of libraries expressed their views on the problems they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and the steps they took recently to overcome them.

This chapter explores the contribution of The Open University (OU) Library to influencing curriculum decisions about embedding digital and information literacies in an online environment. Recommendations can be applied to higher education (HE) institutions as they develop permanent e-learning strategies to prepare for a long-term solution to online learning experiences. Learning providers are creating strategies for online content creation, student engagement, and skills development. It is an opportunity to demonstrate their value by making an effective transition to online learning, streamlining services to create student-centered experiences.

It investigates existing e-pedagogical approaches developed pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic to embedding digital literacies in practice, drawing on the OU’s experience of developing effective frameworks for online teaching programs. The aim is to review institutional preparedness for effective transition, so that staff members and students can adapt to post-COVID realities. This draws upon student-centered, holistic design of programs to embed accessible and inclusive processes in distance learning, utilizing technological solutions to create optimal teaching and learning environments.

It will also make recommendations about how embedding digital literacies within the curriculum will equip graduates for post-education experiences within working and social contexts, by building activities into module that develop digital capabilities. For effective learning experiences to take place, institutions require development of born-digital support material to develop staff confidence and ability to produce effective, accessible online learning objects. As more organizations move to online, hybrid, and flipped learning interventions, high-level university strategy can future-proof learning design by developing the support that staff need to provide the best experiences for their learners.

In recent times, universities have been faced with the challenge of implementing neoliberal ideas as a survival tactic. For instance, there is increasing pressure on academics globally to publish because of performance funding and other metrics like global rankings, which consider where and how much academics publish. This study explores how neoliberalism in higher education has influenced the academic profession.

The study used two New Zealand universities as case studies to understand how the universities' academics respond to government formula for allocating public funding to universities and also how the universities respond to the changing higher education system in New Zealand. In total, 21 academics were interviewed and documents such as the strategic plans of the universities; policies, guidelines and procedures; Tertiary Education Union reports and media reports were analysed.

The study finds that neoliberal practices could lead to occupational stress that comes with the pressure to publish, increased teaching workload and casualisation of the academic job, especially amongst emerging academics.

Whilst the topic is not entirely original, this study is pertinent and offers the following advice to stakeholders. A university's success is a function of its academics, and academics perform at an exceptional level because academics want to, not because academics are being made to. Unless governments and universities address the intense competition that results from funding allocation procedures, the less well-off academics will fail and some will be forced to compromise the duties that academics have. A collaborative and collegial higher education system that focuses on serving the public good can be an alternative.