This study aimed to analyze the effects of soft skills on the work productivity of academic library professionals in Pakistan. The study employed quantitative survey method. The data was collected through a self-compiled online questionnaire from academic library professionals, yielding a response rate was 83%. Findings of this study reveal that library professionals’ level of different soft skills

Using bounded rationality in decision-making by Simon, H. A. 1957. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations, 2nd ed. New York: Free Press; Simon, H. A. 1976. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations, 3rd ed. New York: Free Press) and planning theory by Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 1994a. Planning

This paper evaluates freshmen undergraduate students’ comprehension of library vocabularies used by librarians in library orientation sessions. For the assessment, a questionnaire survey was conducted among a group of 1456 freshmen students during library orientations at a premier public university in Bangladesh. In addition to students’ socio-demographic and personal information, the survey included

Human capital is considered crucial for the sustainability and success of libraries in this era of globalization. The presented study investigated the effect of human capital on innovation capability and employee job performance in academic libraries. Further, it also explored the effect of innovation capability on employee job performance in academic libraries This study implemented a survey research

This paper presents a critical analysis of disciplinary discussions on user-generated contributions to institutional archives collections metadata and attempts to assess its impact on professional archivists’ approach to archival description. It frames archival description as a distinct knowledge domain and considers the possibilities, limitations, and contradictions of expanding this key function

Elements of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in diverse books support children’s intellectual, social, and emotional development. Public library storytime programs serve as venues to showcase books with characters of varied backgrounds, identities, and experiences who may or may not reflect those of the communities the libraries serve. Because storytime providers often rely on online resources

The traditional notion of university library strategy has been that of a pattern of goal-oriented activities that implement a strategic plan. Through conceptual analysis, this paper integrates strategic planning with two other perspectives—strategy based upon competitive position and upon library resources—to propose that a university library can best serve its academic community through a “strategic

The present study aimed to rank the factors affecting the appointment of health library at central libraries of Iranian universities of medical sciences through employing the analytic network process. The statistical population of this applied study comprised the research directors and deputies as well as managers and assistants of central libraries of three universities of medical sciences of whom

This research aims to investigate the work performance self-efficacy of university librarians using a cross-sectional survey method. The data were collected from currently working 200 university librarians at Higher Education Commission (HEC) recognized public and private sector universities in Punjab, Pakistan by adopting a validated and reliable questionnaire. Survey results indicate that university

Health Information Literacy (HIL) influences the decision making of individuals towards the understanding of health-related matters. Married women are the major contributors to family members’ health decisions in a country like Pakistan, where the role of women in family life is very significant. In most families, women are responsible for food selection, cooking, management of the home, including

The role of news types on people’s mobile news consumption has seldom been researched. In this study, the authors examine types of news participants consume, demographic differences, participants’ reactions to different types of news, and participants’ accounts of the impact of news types. Data were collected by conducting a diary study and follow-up interviews of university students in the USA total

Article Frontmatter was published on March 1, 2022 in the journal Libri (volume 72, issue 1).

The study elaborates the picture of the relationships between information and power by examining how informational and expert power appear in the characterizations of cognitive authority presented in the research literature. The study draws on the conceptual analysis of 25 key studies on the above issues. Mainly focusing on Patrick Wilson’s classic notion of cognitive authority, it was examined how

The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ behavior towards knowledge sharing and the factors, individual and classroom, affecting it. Quantitative research design was used to conduct this study. Students enrolled in engineering universities, located in three provinces (Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh) and capital (Islamabad) of Pakistan, were the population of this study. Researchers

The current research investigates the digital literacy levels of 1661 English as a foreign language (EFL) learner at Vietnamese universities. We used an adapted questionnaire to assess students’ digital knowledge and their perceived skills, their attitudes toward the use of digital technologies, and the frequency of use of technology applications in English learning. The findings reveal that most Vietnamese

E-journals are constantly evolving and adding new features, however, scholars’ views of desired features of scholarly e-articles have not received much attention. Scholars’ opinions were studied as part of two scholarly reading surveys conducted in Finland in 2016 and internationally in 2018. Respondents were asked “What features would you like to see in e-scholarly articles in the future” and “How

The relationship of F.M Dostoevsky with Jews attracted the attention of numerous scholars throughout the years, many of whom attempted to grapple with the views of the great writer and their origin. In this article we will attempt to show this relationship by analyzing six of Dostoevsky’s greatest novels, written through the entirety of his career. We are analyzing these novels using Distant Reading

Leveraging a knowledge management model (KMM), organizing digital resources, and measuring performance beyond digital libraries continue to be hot topics for many organizations. Given its growing importance, the aim of this study was to design a robust integrated research model based on social cognitive theory and KMM to organize resources and improve the productivity of academic librarians to make

Cataloging and metadata description is one of the major competencies that a trainee cataloger must conquer. According to recent research results, library and information studies students experience difficulties understanding the theory, the terminology, and the tools necessary for cataloging. The experimental application of teaching models which derive from predominant learning theories, such as behaviorism

Article Frontmatter was published on December 1, 2021 in the journal Libri (volume 71, issue 4).

A multitude of ethical guidelines and codes of conduct have been released by private and public organizations during the past years. Those abstract statements serve as a response to incidents of discriminatory algorithms and systems and have been quantitatively investigated for the proclaimed principles. The current study focuses on four frameworks designed for application during the development of

This paper presents the participation of bots in the process of disinformation in the Brazilian political/electoral scenario between 2014 and 2018. The justification for this research was the growth of ideological polarization and the emergence of hate speech linked to political positioning that culminated in a massive campaign of disinformation, evidenced by fake news and other forms of manipulation

This paper assessed the extent to which federal university libraries in Nigeria have prepared for management of their records in electronic format. Specifically it investigated the extent to which university libraries have provided ICT infrastructures for digital records, made institutional plans for e-records management, and enacted policies that guide e-records management, among other areas. Survey

In the establishing anniversary of the two biggest Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration agencies all over the world, Crossref and DataCite, the paper intends to provide an overview of the development and approaches and of DOI and DOI services, from which scholarly communication has benefited greatly. At first, the author explores the initiation of DOI and differences of DOI from other persistent

A pidgin metadata framework based on the concept of pidgin metadata is proposed to complement the limitations of existing approaches to metadata interoperability and to achieve more reliable metadata interoperability. The framework consists of three layers, with a hierarchical structure, and reflects the semantic and structural characteristics of various metadata. Layer 1 performs both an external

Cybertechnology has become a fundamental part of educational institutions, with the student’s routine to use these technologies to communicate, learn and play, causing a need for understanding the impact and general principles of ethical computer use in academia. However, the practice of cyberethics in these environments has presented many challenges for the institutions. This study, based on the theory

Research indicates that partnerships between libraries and schools have potential to enhance early literacy. However, few studies have investigated the nature and outcomes of such collaborations. This paper reports on the findings from a qualitative study of a partnership between librarians and kindergarten teachers to implement a family literacy programme, developed by the State Library of Western

Public libraries and development organizations share many common goals that make them strong potential partners in the Global South. In spite of these commonalities, libraries are often overlooked as development partners. This is unfortunate because these partnerships could allow librarians to more fully and effectively participate in the development of their communities. This paper explores strategies

Article Best Student Research Paper Award 2022 was published on December 1, 2021 in the journal Libri (volume 71, issue 4).

The paper offers some thoughts prompted by the research paper published by Peter Lor, Bradley Wiles, and Johannes Britz, “Re-Thinking Information Ethics: Truth, Conspiracy Theories, and Librarians in the COVID-19 Era,” in LIBRI, March 2021. It highlights two significant contributions, an analysis of the misinformation in the COVID-19 pandemic and the notion of alethic rights, the right of truth of

Augmented reality (AR) stories offer a new opportunity for parents and teachers at libraries and schools to explore electronic stories. Embedded with multimedia design, AR allows diverse paths of exploration in the story contexts for shared story-reading experiences among parents and children. In this study, parents in the reading community (a library and a school) were provided with AR guided support

Article Frontmatter was published on June 1, 2021 in the journal Libri (volume 71, issue 2).

Open scholarship is a major reform movement within research. This paper seeks to understand how open scholarship might address the challenges faced by research in Africa, through a study based on a participatory collaborative workshop to create a partnership with librarians in Rwanda. The literature review identifies three broad perspectives on the apparent under-performance of Rwandan research: one

Consumption emotions are not always considered when satisfaction with library services is assessed. In this research, consumption emotions perceived by users of eight different libraries of a Mexican higher education institution are identified when using library services. Laros and Steenkamp. 2005. “Emotions in Consumer Behavior: A Hierarchical Approach.” Journal of Business Research 58: 1437–45. https://doi

Social media presents a robust stage for disseminating time-sensitive information that is needed during a public health disease of global concern such as COVID-19. This study finds out how the 23 anglophone Sub-Saharan African countries’ national health ministries and infectious disease agencies disseminated COVID-19 related information through their social media accounts within the first three months

Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. These changes have had an impact on the youth who want to study LIS. Lack of knowledge about LIS and its career opportunities makes it difficult for young people to consider studying towards a LIS qualification. Literature reveals that most LIS students end up in the program accidentally and without knowledge

Using a constructivist lens, this study investigated the role of school libraries in supporting an inquiry-based approach for teaching and learning science subjects in senior secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria, the challenges faced and possibilities presented. The significance of this study is based on the importance Nigeria has assigned to science education as a means to achieving national

This study examined personal information creation and storage practices in digital and print media by faculty in selected universities in Ghana. A sample survey research design guided the research and quantitative data were collected from 235 faculty members of six universities in Ghana. Qualitative data was also collected from 18 willing faculty members, and was guided by an interview schedule. Faculty

Among online communities of customers there are a number of different types of group that need to be distinguished. One interesting type are virtual product user communities, i.e. company sponsored online forums where product users share usage experience and collaboratively construct new knowledge to solve technical problems. The purpose of this paper is to show that these “virtual product user communities”

The study focused on technological readiness and computer self-efficacy as predictors of E-learning adoption by Library and Information Science (LIS) students in Nigeria. While literatures have suggested that E-learning adoption is context based, there is a need to examine the predictors of E-learning adoption within the Nigerian context, given the increasing need for E-learning adoption as a result

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have trained Black librarians and strengthened the library profession since 1927 when the first HBCU-based library school was founded at Hampton University. However, HBCU professors, library directors, and alumni are often overlooked in conversations on librarian professionalization. In this article, four distinguished HBCU-affiliated library leaders

This paper reviews a large number of research achievements relevant to user privacy protection in an untrusted network environment, and then analyzes and evaluates their application limitations in personalized information retrieval, to establish the conditional constraints that an effective approach for user preference privacy protection in personalized information retrieval should meet, thus providing

This comparative cultural study examines differences in digital citizenship between undergraduate information literacy students at two different, but similar, universities across the globe from each other. Under the notion that the internet and prevalence of mobile devices allow students to participate online as digital citizens in ways that were impossible before, we use mixed methods to compare the

Article Frontmatter was published on March 1, 2021 in the journal Libri (volume 71, issue 1).

The COVID-19 pandemic is an international public health crisis without precedent in the last century. The novelty and rapid spread of the virus have added a new urgency to the availability and distribution of reliable information to help curb its fatal potential. As seasoned and trusted purveyors of reliable public information, librarians have attempted to respond to the “infodemic” of fake news, disinformation

The study sought to assess user expectations and acceptance of library services at the African Union Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The study, which targeted 94 library users, employed LibQUAL and SERVQUAL protocols to collect data, which were subsequently analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that users have the lowest expectations of the physical aspects of the library

This research investigated health and safety information behaviour of miners working at Makarwal Coal Mines, district Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan. A survey method using a questionnaire was deployed for data collection from 136 coal workers. Descriptive statistics were applied for data analysis using SPSS. The results indicated that the miners’ information needs were cantered mainly on protection equipment

This study explored the integration of mobile augmented reality (AR) into reading in elementary schools. With the reflective messages designed using AR (termed as reflective AR), children were guided to process the story content through preview, reading, and review of the content. The study focused on the enhancement of children’s reading comprehension using reflective AR and the implementation processes

Public libraries hold an increasing number of events, where they face the very important, but often neglected, challenge of evaluation. This paper presents various studies performed to evaluate events for adults at the largest public library in Slovenia, Mestna knjižnica Ljubljana (Ljubljana City Library). A combination of methods was used: content analysis of library website and promotional brochures

Social capital is a concept that has attracted increased interest among researchers in social science. It was originally introduced to sociological literature in the 1970s by Pierre Bourdieu. The term “social capital” is used to signify a set of specific behaviours and social interactions that many researchers associate with a positive impact on various aspects of human life. These include: democracy

Article Best Student Research Paper Award 2021 was published on March 1, 2021 in the journal Libri (volume 71, issue 1).

With the rapid development of information technology and mobile Internet access, social media content has become extremely abundant and open, and users have become heavily dependent on social reading. As a result, users’ reading motivation has greatly changed from traditional reading to digital reading to social reading. Exploring the potential effects of social reading can contribute to providing

This study investigates the customers’ perceptions on three traditional dimensions of the perceived library service quality (library personnel; library resources and user services; and facilities and equipment), customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty of the public library users. Survey data using simplified questionnaires were analyzed which were collected from 1015 users of public libraries in

While storytime programs for preschool children are offered in nearly all public libraries in the United States, little is known about why adults choose to bring children to participate. This survey study gathered information from 346 parents and caregivers who attended storytime programs at 35 public libraries in three states. Parents and caregivers indicated child enjoyment of hearing stories and

The current research aimed to identify and prioritize the main dimensions underlying the concept of electronic readiness (e-readiness) in university libraries. A mixed exploratory method was used as the research methodology including documentary and survey methods. The literature coding process was confirmed by two different researchers in related fields, which resulted in a conceptual framework including

Public libraries exist to serve the information needs of communities, meaning their services need to be reflective of those served communities. However, the literature points to under-usage of libraries among indigenous communities in South Africa, and suggests that the perceived irrelevance of libraries could be a contributing factor. The argument made in this article is for the involvement of communities

Abstract Transparency in the management of 50 Spanish public university libraries was analysed using information available on their websites. The method consisted of checking the websites to identify a set of 18 evaluation indicators associated with the specific case of libraries and the Spanish Transparency Act, notably the chapter on active publishing. The indicators have been used in previous studies

Abstract This study connects two purportedly unrelated disciplines: information studies and opera, by examining what can be learned about information encountering, and in particular on pseudo-serendipity in human information behaviour, through analysing selected scenes of the nineteenth century opera buffa L’elisir d’amore (“Elixir of love”). As part of the emergent “information studies in the arts”

Abstract International students are valuable resources in higher education but they often face challenges due to lack of social engagement and unfamiliarity with the new social context. The use of social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook has the potential to support international students, but limited studies have examined the actual information seeking behaviour of this group of students. Therefore

Abstract Evaluation of information retrieval systems is a fundamental topic in Library and Information Science. The aim of this paper is to connect the system-oriented and the user-oriented approaches to relevant philosophical schools. By reviewing the related literature, it was found that the evaluation of information retrieval systems is successful if it benefits from both system-oriented and user-oriented