Information activities within information horizons: A case for college students' personal information management

Personal information management behaviors appear differently by sources and by context. This study investigates personal information spaces from a quantitative approach and factors specific information behaviors and sources into information contexts. Using the information source horizon theory as a theoretical framework, college students' information behaviors to specific information sources were investigated in three personal information contexts (academic, health, and personal history contexts). In the college setting, students' personal information horizons echo the findings of previous studies that information contexts determine information horizons in general. In addition, specific information behaviors (collect, organize, and utilize) in this study are an important factor to influence personal information horizons. Certain information activities are observed in similar patterns regardless of contexts. The study suggests that the Information Horizon theory could be expanded to include information behaviors as an important determinant. From the data, radar charts visually present the relationships between information sources and activities, and they served as a collective form of information horizon maps.     

Preschool children's preferences for library activities: Laddering interviews in Chinese public libraries

Evaluations of preschool children’s library programs and activities have for the most part been based on effectiveness with respect to parameters such as reading and literacy, while the preferences of the children have been ignored. This study uses the laddering method to identify Chinese preschool children’s preferences for certain library activities. Thirty-four children were recruited from three activities at three Chinese public libraries. The laddering method proved effective in revealing the preschoolers’ library activity preferences and the reasons for those preferences from the perspective of personal value. The results suggest that library activity designers should consider factors such as familiarity, newness, ease, presence of friends and peers, and joy.     

Exploring the experiences of academic libraries with research data management: A meta-ethnographic analysis of qualitative studies1

Taking on responsibilities in research data management (RDM) has proven to be a significant challenge as libraries have adopted new roles within higher education institutions. A qualitative review using the meta-ethnographic approach was conducted that examined the experiences of academic libraries and provided clarity on contextual influences associated with achievements, as well as illuminating the reasons for deficiencies. Libraries experienced uncertainty around roles and relationships related to RDM yet were recognized positively as a neutral, centralized space within academic institutions. This perception, combined with the current approach of fostering partnerships and collaborations, may prove to be useful for libraries as they strategically consider how best to provide continued support and services in RDM. Understanding the perspectives of academic libraries on how they respond and support the demands related to RDM offers a fuller, more robust insight that is essential for planning and decision-making.     

A clickstream data analysis of Chinese academic library OPAC users' information behavior

Chinese academic libraries have been devoting great effort into introducing next-generation online public access catalogs (OPACs) in order to provide a better user experience. However, there is a lack of empirical research on their usage. In this study, a transaction log file from a typical next-generation OPAC, the Wuhan University Library OPAC, formed the basis for an investigation of users' information behavior, using a clickstream data analysis framework. The 26,732,368 clickstream records in the original log file were cleaned, parsed, coded, then analyzed at the footprint, movement, and pathway levels. The results showed that the users relied heavily on the single-box simple search interface, seldom involved themselves in an exploratory search process, and preferred page navigation over search refinement when interacting with search results. The OPAC was used as a lookup tool to locate known academic resources and as a personal information management tool to utilize basic library services, instead of as a discovery tool as intended.     

Examining Undergraduate Students' Priorities for Academic Library Services and Social Media Communication

Academic libraries can effectively plan and market their services by identifying the value users perceive in their services and in their social media communications about those services. This study reports on findings of a survey of 104 undergraduate students in information technology courses at a large research university. Results of an ordered logistic regression analysis indicated that students considered access to information and computer resources and study support services as the most important library services offered. Likewise, students perceived library social media postings related to operations updates, study support services, and events as the most useful. Future related research will investigate the needs and priorities for library services of other key user populations of academic libraries, such as graduate students and online students, to assemble service repertoires that are tailored to individual user groups. In addition, future research will examine whether and how libraries can use the analysis of users' engagement with a library's social media postings to inexpensively gauge the value they perceive in library services.     

Caregivers' beliefs about library visits: A theory-based study of formative research

Currently, no research has systematically investigated the beliefs underpinning caregivers' intentions to visit public libraries with their young children. Drawing from the theory of planned behaviour, this study adopted a three-phase program of formative research to examine the decision making processes of parents and carers with young children living in a low socio-economic area. Phase 1 identified seven behavioural, five normative, and ten control beliefs as modal salient beliefs held by parents and carers. Phase 2 identified a variety of key behavioural, normative, and control beliefs as significant predictors of intention to visit the library with their young child. Phase 3 elicited the reasons underpinning these key beliefs guiding parents' and carers' intentions, identifying 34 reasons that could be used in messages to promote library visits. The results provide useful information that intervention designers, councils, and library services can use to encourage library use among parents and carers with young children.     

Students' perceptions of their information literacy skills: the confidence gap between male and female international graduate students

In the 2015 Summer Session I, the information literacy team combined two instruments, the Information Literacy Assessment (ILA) and the Students' Perceptions of Their Information Literacy Skills Questionnaire (SPIL-Q), into one survey and distributed it to the college's international graduate students through a Google Form. It was distributed to 932 international graduate students, and 172 valid respondents completed the survey. The purpose of this research was to compare the confidence gap in information literacy skills between men and women, particularly in international graduate students. Data collected illustrated that female international business students (n = 70) tended to be slightly more confident than their male counterparts (n = 102) regarding their perceived information literacy skills as evidenced by their SPIL-Q average score across all six IL topics, 3.78, vs. male student's average score of 3.58.     

Process mining applied on library information systems: A case study

Process mining techniques have already been studied in a wide range of sectors, revealing useful information on the processes. In this study, a five-step methodology is applied to an integrated library system (ILS) for the first time. Given two event logs from two different organizations the ILS, a process mining tool is used for process discovery and data analysis. The findings reveal that although both of the organizations were using the same system, there were differences in the activities, sequences, and approaches followed by each one in daily tasks. The results of this kind of analysis can be used to highlight best practices and improve processes. In addition process model comparisons can then be made across various systems and organizations.     

Quality and clarity of health information on Q&A sites

This study investigated the quality and clarity of health information from a total of 238 (126 English and 112 Chinese) answers retrieved from Yahoo!Answers sites. Registered nurses and library professionals judged information quality based on 8 criteria: accuracy, completeness, relevance, readability, verifiability, professional advice, usefulness and non-commercialization. Writing clarity was assessed through rhetorical structure analysis. Results showed that 46% of answers were of poor quality. Furthermore, many Q&A site users were unable to distinguish adequately between high- and low-quality answers. Only 60% of their selected best-answers corresponded to those of the health professionals. These results indicate that the reliability of health information on Q&A sites is questionable. This unreliability may partially be due to the fact that Q&A site answers contain both medical information and social support. Although both are important, they are not always compatible. It may even be dangerous to mistakenly present social support as objective medical information. This research suggests that medical advice and social support should be separated. This has a further advantage in that medical advice could be subjected to stringent, necessary quality assurance measures, without interfering with social support.     

Understanding everyday life information seeking behavior in the context of coping with daily hassles: A grounded theory study of female students

Studying everyday life information seeking (ELIS) in a variety of contexts contributes to its conceptual development. The primary goal of this study was to understand ELIS in the context of female university students' coping with daily hassles. To identify the dimensions and determinants of ELIS, and to fill this current gap in the literature, a grounded theory study was conducted using Flick's stages of episodic interviewing with 21 Iranian female first-year university students. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed through open, axial and selective coding. The findings showed that ELIS in coping with daily hassles is a multidimensional phenomenon that is affected by individuals' characteristics and sociocultural norms and values. Three main categories emerged as determinants of ELIS, namely normative status of the daily hassles, normative status of the information resources, and the individual's characteristics. Two main categories emerged as dimensions of ELIS which were type and strategy of action. Results of this study can contribute to the conceptual development of ELIS and may indicate how and in what circumstances ELIS dimensions emerge. The findings can also be used as a basis for developing information and intervention services in the context of coping with daily hassles.     

Mapping differences in access to public libraries by travel mode and time of day

Public libraries strive to provide everyone in their surrounding communities the ability to access their information and services. However, previous research indicates that the closer someone lives to a library, the more likely they are to visit, while reduced proximity can dissuade or even prevent people from visiting. This study extends upon existing research on spatial access to libraries to detail a methodology for measuring how access can differ temporally, either by time of day or by the day of the week, as well as by available travel mode. This is exemplified in a case study of access to libraries in Regina, Canada, finding that those who are reliant on public transit have substantially less access to public libraries than those with a private car. Results also show that travelling to libraries during the morning, evening, or weekend takes longer, on average, than during weekday afternoons due to reduced opening hours.     

Effect of perceived ease of use on librarians' e-skills: Basis for library technology acceptance intention

Despite the widespread application of technology in the 21st century, making informed decisions regarding its acceptance in organisations is a function of several factors, particularly in developing countries, due to factors such as rising cost of the information technology infrastructure and low technological exposure. A model that incorporated perceived ease of use (PEOU) and e-Skills to examine librarians' intention for actual library technology acceptance was tested. The correlational research design, along with a multistage sampling procedure, was applied to select samples to reduce the sample to a manageable proportion. Professional librarians and library officers in four university libraries provided the data for the study. Results showed that e-Skill is the model's strongest determinant of technology acceptance intention among librarians. Also, PEOU will significantly moderate librarians' intention towards library technology acceptance when e-Skills are insufficient. From these outcomes, the understanding of the determinants of behavioural intention captured in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAT) is extended and refined.     

Social scientists' data reuse behaviors: Exploring the roles of attitudinal beliefs,attitudes, norms,and data repositories

Many disciplines within the social sciences have a dynamic culture of sharing and reusing data. Because social science data differ from data in the hard sciences, it is necessary to explicitly examine social science data reuse. This study explores the data reuse behaviors of social scientists in order to better understand both the factors that influence those social scientists' intentions to reuse data and the extent to which those factors influence actual data reuse. Using an integrated theoretical model developed from the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study provides a broad explanation of the relationships among factors influencing social scientists' data reuse. A total of 292 survey responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that social scientists' data reuse intentions are directly influenced by the subjective norm of data reuse, attitudes toward data reuse, and perceived effort involved in data reuse. Attitude toward data reuse mediated social scientists' intentions to reuse data, leading to the indirect influence of the perceived usefulness and perceived concern of data reuse, as well as the indirect influence of the subjective norm of data reuse. Finally, the availability of a data repository indirectly influenced social scientists' intentions to reuse data by reducing the perceived effort involved.     

Diversity-related research reported in high-impact library and information science journal literature: A content analysis

This study reports a content analysis of the frequency distribution of diversity-related research in four high-impact Library and Information Science (LIS) journals published between 1995 and 2014. High-impact journals (with high rankings and impact factors) were chosen because empirically based articles from them are more likely to be able to influence future research direction. The journals chosen were published articles quarterly or bi-monthly, with an average of 5–6 articles per issue. A total of 1766 research articles were collected, with 28.71% determined to be related to diversity. Results show an increasing interest in diversity-related research in the LIS field, with a dramatic increase between 2010 and 2014. The majority of diversity-related research focuses on age, gender and ethnicity. Only a small portion of research discusses issues concerning specific populations and emphasizes diversity-related theoretical concepts. More efforts are needed to highlight the link in order to contribute to the diversity and inclusion agenda in LIS.     

An exploratory study of the relationship between the use of the Learning Commons and students' perceived learning outcomes

This study proposes and empirically tests a model explicating the impact of the Learning Commons on university students' learning behaviors and skills development. Adapting the information literacy instruction model that is based on expectation disconfirmation theory, a series of hypotheses were developed, and data were collected through an online survey at a Hong Kong university. Responses from 388 students were subjected to a partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis. The results suggest that expectation disconfirmation theory can be applied in the domain of the Learning Commons, and that the degree to which students' expectations are confirmed affects their degree of perceived quality of and satisfaction with the Learning Commons. Perceived quality in turn influences satisfaction. Both perceived quality and satisfaction lead to psychological outcomes that produce behavioral changes and possible benefits, including time savings, effort reduction, better grades, advanced problem-solving skills, and improved learning outcomes.