Structure of the social network of Beninese library and information professionals

This paper aims the Benin Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals’ access to individuals on the social network through the study of the structure and use of the network. Subscribers to the library association’s listserv participated in a web-based survey to identify the colleagues they could easily reach. The analysis uses social network techniques and Pajek, a social network analysis software, and focuses on centralities, prestige and sub-groups to identify the key actors required for effective information sharing within the network.The density of this is very low and suggests that intermediaries are important for the connectedness of subscribers (also referred to as actors); network centralisation is moderate and explains that some actors are central for communication among the subscribers. About 60% of the subscribers fall within one of two groups. In the first group, six subscribers are central to the network, because they are moderators of the listserv, members of the association board, or well-connected to other well-connected actors. The others fall within the isolates or had few connections.     

Book Review

Digital cable is a technological innovation featuring interactivity, which is still in its infancy. This study identifies a profile of early digital cable subscribers based on a telephone survey. The study results indicate that digital cable subscribers are more likely to watch television, subscribe to premium services, perceive their cable operator to be technologically progressive, and express greater satisfaction with current cable service compared to analog-only subscribers. It was also found that the more people watch television, have premium channels, and evaluate their cable operator as innovative toward technology, the sooner they can be expected to upgrade to new cable services. Implications for cable service structuring and marketing behaviors are also discussed.     

Structure of the social network of Beninese library and information professionals

This paper aims the Benin Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals’ access to individuals on the social network through the study of the structure and use of the network. Subscribers to the library association’s listserv participated in a web-based survey to identify the colleagues they could easily reach. The analysis uses social network techniques and Pajek, a social network analysis software, and focuses on centralities, prestige and sub-groups to identify the key actors required for effective information sharing within the network.

The density of this is very low and suggests that intermediaries are important for the connectedness of subscribers (also referred to as actors); network centralisation is moderate and explains that some actors are central for communication among the subscribers. About 60% of the subscribers fall within one of two groups. In the first group, six subscribers are central to the network, because they are moderators of the listserv, members of the association board, or well-connected to other well-connected actors. The others fall within the isolates or had few connections.     

从国际学术出版的困境看高校学报的优势

国际学术出版面临着财务的困难、垄断的威胁和订户的流失.在国际学术出版面临困境的情况下,高校学报将以其特有的优势,获得更广阔的发展空间.我国的高校学报不仅拥有学术成果基础,而且得到学校在资金和管理方面的支持,在研究生培养和教师队伍建设中发挥着重要作用,是学校的宣传窗口.只要以优势学科为龙头,高校学报就可以办成特色精品,吸引潜在的订户群,焕发勃勃生机.     

Some Economic and Social Aspects of Residential Internet Use in Australia

This study constructs a profile of the representative Australian residential Internet user from data obtained from a web-based survey. Survey data indicate the representative user is male, 20 to 40 years of age, highly educated, uses the Internet 8 hrs per week for e-mail and FTP, and has a monthly bill of AUD32. An ordered-logit model relates Internet use to price, sociodemographic and connection capacity variables. Model estimates show the probability of higher Internet use is greater for middle-income households, but declines with age of the user. Policy may be required to enhance access to lower-income groups, and to inform the elderly of the potential capabilities of the new technology. Further, model estimates suggest that Australian Internet subscribers prefer flat-rate pricing (or a combination of flat-rate and usage- sensitive pricing) over usage-sensitive pricing schemes. This result is consistent with Australian consumer attitudes toward local telephone and mobile cellular pricing.     

英国会员图书馆及其历史作用

会员图书馆是一种由会员缴纳会费维持基本运营的私有图书馆,家长式作风、等级制度的存在和阅读的需要是英国会员图书馆产生的几个重要因素。英国会员图书馆在会员资格和准入条件的政策上存在差异性,会员股份体现了会员参与图书馆民主管理的传统,会员委员会是会员图书馆管理的主要形式。英国会员图书馆由于公共图书馆的崛起而日渐式微,已经引起英国社会的广泛关注与重视,英国会员图书馆的重振势在必行。     

信息领域中的r-K对策及其发展趋势

介绍生态学中的r及K对策理论特点,将生态学中的r-K对策理论引入信息生态学。以信息的带宽和同步性为标准对信息生态系统内不同信息类型的r-K属性进行量化比较并进行分类。指出信息生态系统中高带宽、低同步的信息类型倾向于K对策,低带宽、高同步的信息类型倾向于r对策。高带宽、低同步的K信息类型其对策是提高信息质量,增加每条信息的成本;低带宽、高同步的r信息类型其对策是提高信息数量,降低每条信息的成本。在分析网络信息中r-K对策特点的基础上提出信息领域r-K对策的发展趋势。     

论科技期刊新生代编辑的培养

新生代编辑是科技期刊的重要力量,是科技期刊可持续发展的根本.针对新生代编辑的特点,结合培养经验,提出了培养的3个步骤:入门——知之、好之、乐之;实践——积跬步,至千里;升华——博观约取,厚积薄发.     

Journals at bepress: new twists on an old model

In recent years academic journal publishers have explored a variety of new business models. The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress), founded by professors in 1999, now publishes 39 electronic‐only journals. bepress's own model rests on three principles: improve, but do not break, the traditional journal; allow non‐subscribers to read articles as guests; and offer reasonable and sustainable prices to libraries. This model has resulted in steady growth. Even in the shifting landscape of open access, there remains a place for professional journal publishers who offer innovative improvements, traditionally qualified content, and reasonable prices.     

A Marriage of Friends or Foes? Radio,Newspapers, and the Facsimile in the 1930s

The 1930s represent a contentious period between the radio and newspaper industries. In the middle of the press-radio war, a new technology, the broadcast radio facsimile, emerged with the potential to bring together the warring industries. Although the radio facsimile was short lived, its story, seen through the lens of the press-radio war, provides an interesting look at the forces shaping a new technology.

Envisioned as a technology that would allow subscribers to receive the newspaper via a radio receiver, the facsimile presented an interesting dilemma: Who would control the creation and dissemination of news—the newspaper or radio industry? This article explores this question through an examination of industry narratives about the facsimile. In analyzing the discourses, this study focuses on how the newspaper and radio industries envisioned the future of the facsimile. Was the facsimile viewed as a means for cooperation or as a point of contention?     

An Attitude of Caring

Summary

As reference librarians, our goal with every patron contact should be to go the extra mile, to make patrons stop and realize that they have received service beyond their expectations. Outstanding customer service is not so much a skill to be learned as it is an attitude. It's an attitude of genuine caring for people, a desire to help people to the fullest extent of our capabilities. It's exhibited by those who truly like people-all kinds of people-and who love serving people. Public librarians who do not possess this desire simply don't belong in the public sector of the library.     

Career Paths of Distance Education Librarians

ABSTRACT

A growing number of institutions are offering courses and degrees via distance education; however, distance education librarianship is a relatively new and often less defined field of librarianship. This paper will present the results of a survey to discover career paths leading to distance education librarianship. Based on a survey of subscribers to the OFFCAMP listserv, it asked questions such as: Is there a “typical” career path? Does previous or continuing work in other library units benefit a distance education librarian? What are the most important qualifications for a distance education librarian? Profiles of the education and experience of distance education librarians were analyzed for commonalities. The study concluded that distance education librarians come to their positions from a variety of experience, not always in libraries, but predominantly from library public service departments. A typical career path for distance education librarians is not evident at this time.     

Coping with a MEDLIB-L service outage

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed the coping strategies of MEDLIB-L subscribers during an unexpected disruption in the list's service. METHODS: An online survey of MEDLIB-L subscribers was performed following a six-day service outage in August 1999. RESULTS: Respondents' information needs resulted in two distinct coping strategies. Subscribers without a recognized information need or an information need determined to be not pressing coped by waiting out the interruption. Subscribers with pressing information needs turned to alternative methods of resolving these needs. CONCLUSIONS: While most respondents missed the list and the assistance that it provided, many did not feel that the outage required significant coping strategies. The outage was viewed as a "minor stressor" and did not require secondary-level assessment of the availability and suitability of alternative resources.     

Digitalization as a policy response to social acceleration: Comparing democratic problem solving in Denmark and the Netherlands

Social acceleration – the progressively faster rate of technological, social and life-pace change – poses a dilemma for democratic problem solving: It increases the amount of new social problems emerging on the political agenda and hence amplifies the demand for rapid and effective policy solutions. Democratic politics is, however, slow. So either the political system speeds up decision making at the cost of democracy, or it holds on to democracy at the cost of problem solving. Obviously, neither option is desirable. How do governments try to solve this dilemma and provide positive-sum solutions that are both effective and democratic? We present two so-called paradigm cases of governments, in Denmark and the Netherlands, that have developed a remarkably quick and effective digitalization response to social acceleration. By focusing on four markers – (1) awareness and timing; (2) motivation; (3) new strategic goals; and (4) goal-directed strategic policy action – we theorize how governments aim to solve the dilemma for democratic problem solving under conditions of social acceleration.     

Evolution of the Transfer Code of Practice

The Transfer Code of Practice was launched in 2008 as a set of best‐practice guidelines to be followed when a journal changes publisher, with the aim of ensuring uninterrupted access to content for subscribers. The Code has now been updated to reflect the continued evolution of the academic publishing process driven by new technologies, policies, and publishing practices.     

A language model-based framework for multi-publisher content-based recommender systems

The rapid growth of the Web has increased the difficulty of finding the information that can address the users’ information needs. A number of recommendation approaches have been developed to tackle this problem. The increase in the number of data providers has necessitated the development of multi-publisher recommender systems; systems that include more than one item/data provider. In such environments, preserving the privacy of both publishers and subscribers is a key and challenging point. In this paper, we propose a multi-publisher framework for recommender systems based on a client–server architecture, which preserves the privacy of both data providers and subscribers. We develop our framework as a content-based filtering system using the statistical language modeling framework. We also introduce AUTO, a simple yet effective threshold optimization algorithm, to find a dissemination threshold for making acceptance and rejection decisions for new published documents. We further propose a language model sketching technique to reduce the network traffic between servers and clients in the proposed framework. Extensive experiments using the TREC-9 Filtering Track and the CLEF 2008-09 INFILE Track collections indicate the effectiveness of the proposed models in both single- and multi-publisher settings.