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.     

Factors influencing undergraduate use of e-books: A mixed methods study

Academic libraries invest millions of dollars to make electronic resources such as e-books available to students for free. However, free access might not necessarily result in students' sustained interest in and use of e-books. This interdisciplinary, mixed methods research investigates the factors influencing the intention of 279 undergraduate students to use e-books at a land-grant university in the southern US. Structural equation modeling of the survey responses suggests that organizational environment for information technology, external locus of control, subjective norm, perceived enjoyment (i.e., joyfulness), and information technology features play a significant role in influencing the intention of students to use e-books. Based on a combination of quantitative results and qualitative findings, this study identifies eight activities that libraries need to undertake in order to increase the use of e-books by undergraduate students.     

The use of departmental journal lists in promotion and tenure decisions at American research universities

The purpose of this multi-institution study was to develop an understanding of where and how ranking lists are being used for the purpose of informing promotion and tenure decisions. Individuals were selected for this survey who, were at the time, serving in administrative positions at 115 R1 Carnegie research institutions. The survey questionnaire consisted of demographic, closed-response, and rating-scale questions designed to understand the respondents' experiences and attitudes concerning their academic department's promotion and tenure process. Results of this survey will inform librarians on practices associated with promotion and tenure involving open access publishing and the use of standardized journal lists.     

Historical case study: A research strategy for diachronic analysis

History and case study are two diachronic research strategies commonly used to study political discourse as it relates to public libraries. Though suitable for some studies, these strategies are inexhaustive. A new, blended research strategy is therefore needed to accomplish what history and case study alone cannot. This hybrid strategy, historical case study, must analyze cases from the distant past to the present, using eclectic data sources, in order to produce both idiographic and nomothetic knowledge. To develop historical case study, the universal components of diachronic analysis are first identified. A general research design for historical case study is then introduced. Finally, historical case study is tested in an actual research project. Findings from this project reveal that historical case study is a successful diachronic research strategy. Historical case study is a new and valuable research design suitable for addressing questions related to change, continuity, development, and evolution.     

Search systems and their features: What college students use to find and save information

College students have often been surveyed about their general information seeking behaviors. However, little has been done to explore what specific system features they use to find and save information when they are working on their real-life tasks. In this study, 32 college students were invited to an information interaction lab for a session in which they recalled a recently finished task and worked on a to-be-finished task using a computer in the lab. They were asked to complete questionnaires regarding what systems they used to finish their tasks and what features were helpful for searching and for saving information. Results showed that college students rely more heavily on the Internet sources than on library sources, even for their course related work. The study identified fourteen categories of system features helpful for information search and eight categories helpful for information saving. The findings have implications for designing systems that will better help people accomplish their tasks.     

Exploring Twitter use and services of academic innovation centers

This study examined the Twitter streams and websites of 36 university innovation centers and identified 14 service categories the centers offered. Exploring the present Twitter use practices of innovation centers and the services the centers provide can inform the design and planning of service offerings at new innovation centers and support training for center staff in the use of this social media platform. In addition, existing innovation centers can benchmark their service offerings against those services. Furthermore, mapping the services the innovation centers offer to the activities in an innovation workflow model can help center managers optimize the information architecture of their websites and resource guides. In this way, students can easily be informed about the help and resources available for each activity or phase of the innovation process. A comparison of the tweet categories identified in the present study with those of academic libraries assembled in a previous study revealed significant overlap, but some differences as well. In contrast to the Twitter accounts of academic libraries, the Twitter accounts of innovation centers did not tweet about their information services even if they offered them. Innovation centers also did not use Twitter to provide Q&A services to their users. Furthermore, innovation centers tweeted not only about the technological resources they provided, but also about the human resources they recruited to serve as student mentors and advisors. Finally, technology use was more mediated in innovation centers than in libraries, and some centers offered their users fee-based assistance from professionals with their 3D design and printing tasks.     

Perceived value of digital components in library programmes: The case of Auckland Libraries' Dare to Explore summer reading programme

While many libraries are making use of digital components in reading programs, there is little research examining the the perceived value of those components by consumers. Children and their parents value the Dare to Explore (DtE) summer reading programme at Auckland Libraries, New Zealand, as a whole but the perceived value of the digital components was not evident. There was either insufficient valued content or participants were not fully aware of what was available via the digital components to be appreciative of its value. Data were collected through interviews with 6 families (6 parents and 10 children), who participated in the DtE 2016/17 programme. The Sheth-Newman-Gross theory of consumption values was applied to frame the inquiries of this study. The findings offer valuable insights for libraries interested in incorporating digital components into existing or future programming. They may also provide useful observations relevant to adult and teen programming.     

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.     

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.     

Librarians as Research Partners: Their Contribution to the Scholarly Endeavour Beyond Library and Information Science

Academic libraries are increasingly called upon to demonstrate their value to their home institutions. Research collaboration with faculty resulting in the co-authorship of scholarly output is one possible way to demonstrate the alignment of the library with the institutional mission. Involvement in research also improves librarians' skills in offering research support services. This study explores the contribution of librarians to scholarly journals in fields other than Library and Information Science (LIS) as well as their collaboration practices with researchers in those fields. Results show an increasing number of papers published by library-affiliated authors in non-LIS journals between 2006 and 2015. The papers fall broadly into four areas: articles on topics related to LIS published in non-LIS journals; higher education and information literacy; systematic reviews and meta-analysis; and research collaboration in the faculty's areas of expertise. The study is limited by the difficulty in properly retrieving the scholarly output of librarians from bibliographic databases and the difficulty in ascertaining their contributions to published articles.     

Reading as a lifeline among aging readers: Findings from a qualitative interview study with older adults

Older adults who identify as readers and choose to read for pleasure in their everyday lives are understudied despite the persistence and pervasiveness of this kind of reading. The phenomenology of reading and critical age studies inform this pilot project that uses in-depth interviews conducted with five readers who are between the ages of 75–90?years and who live in Canada. Data analysis followed principles of close reading and thematic analysis. Findings privilege the voices of the older readers and show how their experiences of reading can be analyzed using the metaphor of reading as a lifeline that, in turn, bridges with notions of resilience and embodied information practices. Reading for pleasure supports resilience and a reflective stance on life among older adults. The findings call for other researchers to engage more readily with older adults and will be of use to librarians and others who provide services, programs, and resources to older adult readers.     

The peritextual literacy framework: Using the functions of peritext to support critical thinking

The peritextual literacy framework (PLF) is a tool for accessing, evaluating, and comprehending the content of media using elements that frame the body of a work and mediate its content for the user. Paratextual elements are the focus of research in classification, bibliometrics, reader’s advisory work, and in studies of authorship and publication. However, paratextual theory is just beginning to be acknowledged in LIS. The PLF closes a gap in paratext theory by categorizing the functions of peritext into six types: production, promotional, navigational, intratextual, supplemental, and documentary. The PLF is unique that it provides both a framework for further research on peritext, as well as a pedagogical tool that supports teaching in the areas of information literacy, media literacy and analysis, critical thinking, reading, and media design and production.     

Choosing Academic Librarianship: An Examination of Characteristics and Selection Criteria

Studies exploring librarians' backgrounds and motivations frequently focus on all librarian-types or on students seeking a degree in librarianship. Investigating particular subsets of librarians is a field ripe for study. Here, we employed a survey of 1872 academic librarians who obtained a graduate degree in librarianship to examine their undergraduate education and their general career paths leading them to academic librarianship. The study found that over two-thirds of respondents sought a librarianship degree more than one year after obtaining their undergraduate degree. A large majority spent time in the workforce before seeking a librarianship degree, with exposure to work in a library or contact with a librarian remaining a major influence on the decision to enter the field.     

The Availability and Effectiveness of Research Supports for Early Career Academic Librarians

For many academic librarians, scholarly research is required in order to attain tenure or promotion and it is widely acknowledged that many early career librarians find this process challenging. Using a survey of >200 untenured or recently tenured academic librarians, this study investigates early career academic librarians' access to and experiences with research support activities designed to develop research skills and confidence. Specific attention is paid to informal mentoring, formal mentoring programs, and writing groups. Responses indicate that early career librarians need supports that target three dimensions of the research experience: research design and methods; work practices and accountability; and emotional elements. Despite this, survey respondents had limited access to formal research supports that offer instruction and guidance in the research process, leaving them to rely heavily on informal mentoring. This study highlights the need for libraries and library organizations to invest their resources in research supports for early career academic librarians, helping them to become more effective and confident researchers.     

Government as a platform,orchestration, and public value creation: The Italian case

E-Government literature has discussed how the adoption of the Government as a Platform (GaaP) can help public administration to produce more efficient public services. However, since little attention has been given to the impact of GaaP on public value creation more research is needed to analyse whether the GaaP is effective to help the government to deliver public services that fulfil social expectations and, hence, public value. Indeed, efficiency does not guarantee public value. Besides efficiency, public value incorporates citizens' variegated expectations and needs that change over time and that are sometimes rival. For these reasons, the delivery of public value is often challenging for public agencies. The aim of this paper is to explain how the GaaP configuration can help public administration to deliver public value better. The paper finds that the modularity of the platform configuration and different ecosystems that support public agencies need to be orchestrated to support the effective creation of public value. The authors analyse the case of the Italian GaaP initiative to discuss the importance of the orchestration of the GaaP characteristics to improve the coordination among public agencies and enable the co-production of services with external actors, in order to deliver public value better. The findings show that the orchestration of the GaaP configuration characteristics can enable Italian public administration to deliver public value, but also that, if the GaaP is not properly orchestrated, it can constrain the creation of public value.