The potential for scholarly online books: Views from the Columbia University Online Books Evaluation Project

The Columbia University Online Books Evaluation Project sought to understand both user reactions to online books in the scholarly world and the cost profiles of print and online books. Scholars appreciated the opportunity to use the online format to locate a book and to browse it. However, they sought a print copy for extended reading. Incremental costs of online books are small for publishers. Libraries’ life-cycle costs are lower for online books than for print books. Summerfield and Mandel were both members of the Columbia University Libraries staff during the time of this project. Summerfield was a Project Director and Coordinator of this Project and Mandel was Deputy University Librarian and Director of this Project.     

将青少年纳入信息贫困研究视野：来自青少年信息行为研究的证据

对青少年信息行为的研究成果进行综述,分析青少年在信息检索技能、信息评价和选择,以及从信息中建构和创新知识方面存在的缺陷。研究发现:青少年虽然生活在信息资源丰富的环境中,但他们并不能有效地利用各种信息资源和信息设备来获取信息和知识以解决学习、生活中的问题;一部分青少年在获取信息和汲取信息价值方面处于劣势;青少年人群中存在着信息贫困,应当将他们纳入信息贫困的研究视野。参考文献94。     

The changing role of non‐English papers in scholarly communication: Evidence from Web of Science's three journal citation indexes

Non‐English languages are widely used, but their roles in scholarly communication are relatively under‐explored. By using Web of Science's Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE, 1900–2015), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI, 1900–2015), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI, 1975–2015), this study probes the patterns and dynamics of non‐English papers by year, citation index, and discipline using bibliometric analysis. The analyses show that English is increasingly being used as the dominating language from natural sciences and social sciences to arts and humanities. Around 97% of the papers in SCIE, 95% of the papers in SSCI, and 73% of the papers in A&HCI during the past decade were in English. However, other languages such as German and French were also used as important academic languages in sciences and social sciences during the first half of the 20th century, 1970s, and 1980s. Unlike natural science and social science disciplines, non‐English papers have consistently played important role in arts and humanities disciplines from the beginning of 1975. Although the shares of non‐English papers in SCIE and SSCI databases have been limited during the past decade, a large number of non‐English papers can be found in some applied disciplines of sciences and social sciences.     

社会性公共文化联动对于信息贫富分化的干预效果研究——来自东莞社会阅读调查的证据

通过分层抽样,选取广东省东莞市的1289名居民为样本,对其参与社会阅读推广活动情况进行调查。通过对社会阅读活动与信息贫富状况的关联分析发现,信息富裕者更有可能去主动搜集关于读书节等社会大型阅读推广活动的信息,从而使这一人群中知晓读书节活动的人数比例高于其他人群。信息贫困一方面表现为"信息获取意愿的贫困",另一方面则表现为个体对信息获取缺乏(积极的或消极的)体验。对现有社会公共信息资源和服务利用不足是导致信息贫困的重要原因之一。购书费用、年借阅量和数字阅读时间的增加对信息贫富分化影响显著,但这些因素对男性和女性产生的影响有所不同。     

The Information Explosion: Continuing Implications for Reference Services to Adult Learners in Academia

Summary

The reference environment is being transformed by constant changes in computer technologies and communications, as collections and information in general become increasingly accessible electronically. Academic library users now have access to seemingly unlimited information. The explosion of information choices has implications for reference services to all users, particularly adult learners —those students older than the typical undergraduate —who are becoming a large presence on university and college campuses. This paper will explore these implications, stress the need for information literacy, and challenge academic reference librarians to assert themselves in the information arena.     

Information for social and economic participation: A review of related research on the information needs and acquisition of rural Chinese

This paper provides an analytical overview of related literature published during the past decade on rural population's information needs and acquisition in China, with a view to informing the world research community and policy makers of what has been found about the information needs of the world's largest rural population and to promoting dialogue between interested researchers within and outside China. Results from related studies are summarized; major methodological features of these studies are noted; practical and theoretical implications of major findings are critically analyzed. Although the results from related studies are not directly comparable due to their differences in research methods and contexts, it is nevertheless possible to draw some common conclusions regarding the rural population's information needs and information source preferences. Related research has overwhelmingly showed that rural residents have an extensive range of information needs, with agricultural technological information, market information, income generation information and policy information being the most needed; and that they rely very much on interpersonal relationships for acquiring both general information and information for agriculture production. The primary objectives of most studies are pragmatic rather than theoretical.     

行业情报服务平台建设探讨--以生物医药产业情报服务平台为例

当前竞争情报已成为继资本、技术、人才之后,企业的“第四核心竞争力”,在很大程度上决定着企业的生存与发展,越来越多的企业倍加重视依赖于公开信息源的情报工作。服务于特定领域的行业情报服务平台具有专业领域信息集中全面、信息挖掘程度高、检索快速准确的特点,是企业获取行业情报的全新利器。文章以我国行业情报服务平台的建设现状和不足为切入点,详细介绍生物医药产业情报服务平台建设的案例,提出加强我国行业情报服务平台建设的若干建议和具体做法。     

The public library as social infrastructure for older patrons: Exploring the implications of online library programming for older adults during COVID-19

Public library systems' websites were often the sole means for older patrons to access library services and programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study integrated Pauwels' (2012) framework to analyze 25 Ontario public library systems' websites for evidence of their available programming for older adults during the early months of COVID-19. The 640 identified programs for older adults revealed a number of patterns, including issues regarding visibility and representation of older patrons on library websites as well as assumptions surrounding older adults' access to technologies. Discussions consider three implications for public libraries as they reopen and create new virtual spaces “postpandemic”: questioning (re)distributions of resources that support both virtual and in-person services, questioning implicit assumptions that digital connection will foster social connection, and questioning the effects of the library as a virtual space on feelings of social connectedness.     

构建信息无障碍体系是提升图书馆核心竞争力的有效途径

“无障碍”是当今世界的热点。作为社会文化和信息中心,图书馆应当积极构建信息无障碍体系,并以此来提升其核心竞争力,提高其社会地位,从而推进全球无障碍环境的实现。     

Web3.0时代学术期刊开放同行评议的实质和审稿模型构建

为了解决同行评议中不公平、不透明、时效性差的问题,提出改变审稿方式,采用开放同行评议的办法.在分析开放同行评议透明、交互、高效、共享、完整实质的基础上,尝试构建开放同行评议的审稿模型,并指出制订规范的编辑出版政策,构建专业化投稿和审稿平台,调动参与者的积极性,是实施开放同行评议的关键环节.     

Managing indigenous knowledge for sustainable agricultural development in developing countries: Knowledge management approaches in the social context

This paper is based on a PhD study (Lwoga, 2009) that sought to assess the application of knowledge management (KM) approaches in managing indigenous knowledge (IK) for sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries, with a specific focus on Tanzania. This study used a mixed-research method which was conducted in six districts of Tanzania. Non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were used to collect primary data from small-scale farmers in the selected districts. A total of 181 farmers participated in the semi-structured interviews, where the respondents ranged between 27 and 37 per district. Twelve focus group discussions were conducted in the selected districts. The study revealed that IK was acquired and shared within a small, weak and spontaneous network, and thus knowledge loss was prevalent in the surveyed communities. There were distinct variations in the acquisition of agricultural IK both in different locations and between genders. Information and communication technologies (ICT), culture, trust, and status influenced the sharing and distribution of IK in the surveyed communities. The research findings showed that KM models can be used to manage and integrate IK with other knowledge systems, taking the differences into account (for example, gender, location, culture, infrastructure). The paper concludes with recommendations for the application of KM approaches for the management of IK and its integration with other knowledge systems for agricultural development in developing countries, including Tanzania.     

Patently Obvious: The place for patents in information literacy in the sciences

Patents are an underutilized source of scientific information, particularly in the life and health sciences. Patents and patent applications usually contain the first disclosure of new technologies and processes and serve to link theory with practice, providing ‘real world’ examples of the application of scientific research. Increasingly, scientific discoveries are reported first in the patent literature, rather than in academic journals. To ensure that science students have the skills that match the information resources they will use as professionals, patent searching must become part of their information literacy instruction. This article will discuss how valuable the patent literature can be to students, and how to incorporate patent searching into library instruction. By way of illustration, a case study will document how students in one class, Biochemistry 561, were introduced to patents.     

The strategic importance of information policy for the contemporary neoliberal state: The case of Open Government Data in the United Kingdom

The article analyses the role of Open Government Data policy as part of the broader public policy agenda of the UK government. A thematic analysis of interview, observational and policy documentation is presented which suggests that since 2010 the Open Government Data agenda has been used strategically by the UK's centre-right coalition government to progress a range of controversial policies, which are aimed at the continuation of the neoliberal form of state through its current crisis. Specifically, the relationship between Open Government Data policy and the neoliberal objectives of the marketisation of public services and privatisation of public assets, the leveraging of financial markets and the pharmaceutical industry, and the embedding of OGD into a broader agenda aimed at rebuilding trust in political elites are analysed. These findings are examined in relation to Braman's (2006, 2011) arguments regarding the strategic implementation of information policy by Governments in the exercising of state power, and the development of the ‘informational state’.     

‘Cracks’ in the scholarly communications system: Insights from a longitudinal international study of early career researchers

• 170 early career researchers interviewed three times over 2 years, have uniquely contributed towards a stress test of scholarly communications and cracks have been identified.
• The perfect storm created by the convergence of millennial values and the pandemic appears to have fast-forwarded the cracking process, perhaps, for the good.
• The cracks in question are: (1) peer review; (2) reputational assessment; (3) unethical/questionable practices; (4) collaboration; (5) networking.

     

信息时代的资本论——关于《信息拜物教批判与解构》的阅读启示

信息论视野中的信息关注信息的工具理性,忽视了信息本身是特定社会机构和社会关系的产物这一前提。在当下语境中,如何理解信息本质,丹·席勒从传播政治经济学视角论证信息资本积累属性如何使得信息成为为一种新的拜物教,从而为我们对信息本质的理解增添了新的维度。其整体性研究方法给予国内传播学研究诸多启示。     

Administration of Education Enterprise and Gaps in the Provision of Needed Information: The Case of Pakistan

This study is qualitative in nature and aims at assessing the information needs and seeking behavior of educational administrators and finding related problems. Interviews of a purposive sample and review of related literature are among the major research methods. The study is based on interviews of 13 educational administrators and 32 information professionals from Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) of Pakistan. The results correspond with the previous studies conducted in other countries. The educational administrators' information needs and seeking behavior reflect a kinship with their work settings and information environment that highlights a need to understand problem situations as an ancestor to understanding how they seek and use information. The study has identified a gap in the provision of needed information which hinders the realistic planning and decision making process. It has also highlighted the need of a National Information System for educational administrators in Pakistan. As this is the first study on this topic in Pakistan, the results can be useful to design information services and facilities for educational administrators in Pakistan and other developing regions of the globe with similar conditions.     

信息构建在政府信息公开中的应用——以政府网站信息公开栏目建设为例

政府信息公开是现代政府的必然选择,政府网站是政府信息公开的主渠道。作为使信息得到清晰表达、易于理解的手段和方法,信息构建在网站建设中发挥着重要作用。本文采用多案例研究方法,选取上海市、北京市以及浙江省政府网站信息公开栏目作为研究对象,运用信息构建的思想对其进行了定性分析,比较其优点与不足,以期为我国政府网站信息公开栏目的建设提供指导和借鉴。     

结构与主体能动性：信息不平等研究的理论分野及整体性研究的必要

自信息不平等问题成为信息社会的重要课题以来,有关该问题的研究已经形成了若干理论类别.这些类别之分基本上继承了社会科学的传统分歧,特别是结构与能动性、宏观与微观之争.本文以英文相关文献为依据,剖析了信息不平等理论的主要分歧及局限,呼吁相关研究更多地采用整体性思路;通过引述当代最有影响的整体性社会理论(如布迪厄、吉登斯),表明整体性研究思路不仅符合信息不平等问题的复杂性和其作为重大社会问题的地位,而且符合当代最有影响的理论创新趋向.参考文献78.     

The Mystery Room: discovering the flexibility of an information literacy-based educational escape room

Abstract

The Mystery Room is an educational escape room based on information literacy and applied to multiple audiences, including first-year students and library student employees. In this article, we explain how we developed the game, its theoretical underpinnings, and why it’s a flexible workshop for a variety of audiences.     

Examining public acquisition of science knowledge from social media in Singapore: an extension of the cognitive mediation model

This study extends the cognitive mediation model (CMM) by examining the role of social media in cultivating public science knowledge. A sample of 901 Singaporeans was collected through an online survey panel. The results showed that the CMM could be applied to a social media context with a focus on science literacy. Specifically, the findings indicated that people with higher levels of surveillance gratification and social utility motivations tended to pay more attention and to elaborate more about science news that they encounter on social media. Likewise, people with greater social utility motivation tended to engage in greater interpersonal discussions on social media. Notably, attention to news on social media had an indirect association with science knowledge through news elaboration and interpersonal discussion on social media. Implications for theory and practice for science communication were discussed.