Responding to information needs of the citizens through e-government portals and online services in India

Providing government information, services, products and transactions electronically has the potential benefit of accessibility for a wider audience, political and administrative transparency, and improved service delivery. By using e-government websites, citizens can conveniently access government information and services and gain greater opportunities to participate in democratic processes. The present study aims to evaluate National Portal of India, which provides single window access to 601 e-government portals and websites in India. A total of 1576 online services are provided by these portals responding to information needs of the citizens. Ranking of the state and union territory portals has been done based on the number of online services they provide. The paper also focuses on the digitization of documents, acts, rules and schemes of central and state government departments and their availability and accessibility through government portals.     

Towards better information services: A framework for immigrant information needs and library services

Immigrants are among the populations in modern society that libraries are striving to serve. This study aims to develop a framework on immigrants, their information needs, and library services. Using a systematic literature review based on the grounded theory approach, 28 related articles were reviewed to identify the causes, characteristics, and the content of the information needs of immigrants. Also explored were the possible sources to satisfy these information needs and the barriers to accessing needed information. Findings indicate that personal social networks, the Internet, media sources, and institutions are the main information sources for immigrants; language, cultural differences, the digital divide, unfamiliar information systems, and psychological factors are the five major challenges for immigrants obtaining information. Based on the findings, a unified framework about immigrants, their information needs, sources to satisfy those needs, and library information services is, therefore, proposed. This framework may provide guidance for libraries and other information service agencies to better develop services and information systems for immigrants.     

Health care, information needs, and outreach: reaching Ohio's rural citizens

As a rural state, Ohio has a vital interest in addressing rural health and information needs. NetWellness is a Web-based consumer health information service that focuses on the needs of the residents of Ohio. Health sciences faculty from the state's three Carnegie Research I universities--University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University, and The Ohio State University--create and evaluate content and provide Ask an Expert service to all visitors. Through partnerships at the state and local levels, involving public, private, commercial, and noncommercial organizations, NetWellness has grown from a regional demonstration project in 1995 to a key statewide service. Collaboration with public libraries, complemented by alliances with kindergarten through twelfth grade agencies, makes NetWellness Ohio's essential health information resource.     

Challenges common service centers (CSCs) face in delivering e-government services in rural India

Many developing countries across the world are allocating a significant share of their budgets for e-government initiatives. Common service centers (CSCs) are e-government initiatives that aim to increase access to public services and promote easy and direct interaction with the government. These e-government initiatives are largely underutilised, especially in rural areas in developing countries. This study attempts to identify the key challenges facing CSCs and determine their hierarchical relationships in the context of rural India. A set of 15 challenges was identified through a rigorous literature review and by surveying experts and CSC owners. Data were collected on the identified challenges and were analysed using interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-MICMAC-fuzzy MICMAC analysis. Subsequently, we developed a hierarchical model of challenges. The findings revealed that “longer travel time and transaction cost”, “low digital literacy”, and “low awareness” of e-government services are among the key challenges CSCs face in rural India. This study suggests several recommendations to all the stakeholders involved in the management of CSCs to improve the delivery of e-government services in rural India.     

Florida's response to serving citizens in the information age

The Florida Legislature created the Joint Committee on Information Technology Resources for the purpose of, in part, analyzing the impact of advances in information technology on the Florida Public Records Law. In responding to the U.S. Information Industry Association's recently promulgated access principles for state and local government, the author found that although Florida does not actively encourage a diversity of information sources, such diversity is an indirect result of the state's long tradition of open access. The public's right of access is now guaranteed in Florida by a new constitutional amendment that guarantees every person the right to inspect or copy the public records of all three branches of Florida government.Florida's law is silent about an agency's obligation to provide a public record in a particular medium. However, the Joint Committee has proposed legislation that would require an agency to provide a copy of a public record in the medium requested. Additionally, the proposed legislation would allow a reasonable fee for costs for the labor and overhead associated with duplicating or copying a computer database; current law allows only the actual cost of duplication. In an effort to insure equal and timely access, this legislation also contains a provision that requires agencies to consider public access and redaction of exempt information in the design and development of all electronic recordkeeping systems.In an attempt to avoid monopoly control over public information, the author sponsored legislation last year that would have repealed Florida's law allowing the copyright of agency-created software. The Joint Committee's proposed legislation has a provision that would assure meaningful access to data controlled by proprietary software and would also preclude an agency from entering into any contract that would impair the right of the public to inspect and copy public records.     

Improving digital skills for the use of online public information and services

There are recent indications regarding the use of online public services that force the government to focus on the more refined conceptualizations digital divide research has produced. This paper addresses one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide; the differential possession of so-called digital skills. The problem of being short of skills becomes urgent when governments suppose that citizens are able to complete about every task on the Internet. Operational definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills are used to measure the Internet skills of the Dutch population at large, by giving 109 subjects nine government related assignments to be accomplished on the Internet. Subjects were recruited following a two step approach; randomly select a sample from the book/list of fixed telephony subscribers, followed by drawing a selective quota sample for the strata of gender, age and educational level. The results indicate that on average 80% of the operational skill Internet tasks, 72% of formal Internet skills tasks, 62% of the information Internet skills tasks and 22% of strategic Internet skills tasks assigned have been successfully completed. The Dutch government's expectation that every citizen with an Internet connection is able to complete the assignments following tasks the government thinks every Internet user can perform, clearly is not justified. The article provides two types of policy recommendations to change this state of affairs. Recommendations for improving government websites and for improving the skill levels of Dutch citizens are suggested.     

Transforming local e-government services: the use of application service providers

This study examines the potential of application service providers (ASPs) to transform electronic government (e-government) services at the local level. The ASP model helps local governments overcome barriers to offering next wave e-government services such as a shortage of skilled IT staff and limited financial resources. The realization of full potential, however, requires first the adoption of an ASP model. Five conditions that favor the decision to use an ASP are (1) strong top management support, (2) promise of large efficiency gains, (3) enough IT capability on the part of the government unit to identify key piece of technology, (4) less burdensome outsourcing rules and procedures, and (5) a variety of high quality and reliable ASPs from which to choose locally. To ensure the success of an ASP project, local governments need to build in-house IT capability to evaluate an ASP and to develop proper performance measures. Management should focus on serving citizens and businesses and develop the capability to negotiate as well as manage service-level contracts with ASPs. Continual top management support is necessary for dealing with possible initial resistance and ensuring interdepartmental communication and cooperation.     

The health information seeking behaviour and needs of community health workers in Chandigarh in Northern India

This article represents two‐firsts for the feature – it is the first to report on a study outside the UK and the first to examine the health information needs of community health workers. Sonika Raj is pursuing PhD at the Centre for Public Health, Panjab University, Chandigarh, in India and she conducted her research in Chandigarh. The article outlines the important role that health workers at community level play in determining health outcomes in the developing world, including Chandigarh. It demonstrates that while those workers recognise their information needs, there are many issues affecting their ability to access health information effectively, not least their limited access to appropriate technology and training. AM     

Textbook access and affordability through academic library services: A department develops strategies to meet the needs of students

In the spring of 2015, the University of Minnesota Libraries formed the Content Services department, which is comprised of Interlibrary Loan, Publishing Services, and the Copyright Permissions Service. These three service points, as well as additional Library units, work together with campus partners to save students money on their course materials through a variety of programs and pilot projects. By employing multiple avenues to help faculty and students put affordable content into their existing workflows for providing and accessing required readings, the University of Minnesota Libraries are ensuring that there are many options available that support coursework and ultimately student success.     

E-Government evaluation of delivering public services to citizens among cities in the Yangtze River Delta

Delivering public services to citizens via the Internet is the basic goal of E-government. Although websites are becoming essential elements of public e-services in local public administration in China, little is known about their efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the actual status of Web-enabled public services to citizens in municipal e-government implementation in the Yangtze River Delta. Eight categories of public services to citizens delivered through the Internet have been identified in the websites of the 14 local municipal governments. These public services include birth, marriage, domicile register, education, social security, public utility, health and traffic. Using the methodology of service maturity, this study evaluates the quality and usage of public e-services to citizens in the Yangtze River Delta. The results of this study show that almost all city governments are shifting from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm to the e-government public service paradigm, albeit with significant differences in public e-services level in these cities. At present, e-government public services to citizens in almost all the cities studied are mostly limited to on-line presentations of government information with a low degree of development of interaction and on-line transaction. The municipal governments and policymakers in the near future will have to strengthen the interactivity of their websites with citizens and improve the on-line transaction level in order to deliver citizen-centric public e-services.     

E-Government evaluation of delivering public services to citizens among cities in the Yangtze River Delta

Delivering public services to citizens via the Internet is the basic goal of E-government. Although websites are becoming essential elements of public e-services in local public administration in China, little is known about their efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the actual status of Web-enabled public services to citizens in municipal e-government implementation in the Yangtze River Delta. Eight categories of public services to citizens delivered through the Internet have been identified in the websites of the 14 local municipal governments. These public services include birth, marriage, domicile register, education, social security, public utility, health and traffic. Using the methodology of service maturity, this study evaluates the quality and usage of public e-services to citizens in the Yangtze River Delta. The results of this study show that almost all city governments are shifting from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm to the e-government public service paradigm, albeit with significant differences in public e-services level in these cities. At present, e-government public services to citizens in almost all the cities studied are mostly limited to on-line presentations of government information with a low degree of development of interaction and on-line transaction. The municipal governments and policymakers in the near future will have to strengthen the interactivity of their websites with citizens and improve the on-line transaction level in order to deliver citizen-centric public e-services.     

Discerning the effect of privacy information transparency on privacy fatigue in e-government

Privacy information transparency is generally considered desirable and should be enabled and upheld. It has gained increasing attention giving the emergence of new information technologies and their affordances for e-governance and governments. This study examines the proposition that privacy information transparency is amiable to mitigating privacy fatigue in e-government. The study identifies the antecedents of privacy information transparency of an e-government website, and its influence on privacy fatigue manifested in emotional exhaustion and cynicism. A survey conducted in Cyprus harnessed user responses, and the data analyzed using a partial least square structural equation analysis method. Findings reveal that; (1) user data collection and data use information aspects of online privacy significantly impact privacy information transparency; and (2) privacy information transparency positively impacts both cynicism behaviour and emotional exhaustion. This study extends the concept of privacy fatigue into e-government and contributes to an empirical evaluation of its relationship with privacy information transparency.     

User acceptance of SMS-based e-government services: Differences between adopters and non-adopters

Delivering public services through the SMS channel is popular in developed and developing countries, and it has demonstrated its benefits. However, citizens' acceptance of the services is still an issue. This paper presents a study on user acceptance of SMS-based e-government services. Constructs of the proposed model were derived from a survey on citizens' motivations for using SMS-based e-government services (142 respondents from 25 countries), prominent theories on individual acceptance of technologies, and current studies on user acceptance of SMS and e-government services. The model was validated using data from 589 citizens in three cities in Indonesia, who are non-adopters. The relationships between the factors then were compared with data from 80 adopters of SMS-based e-government services in Australia. The proposed model explains what factors influence non-adopters to accept SMS-based e-government services, and the comparison explains the relative importance of the factors for the adopters. The findings are promising for governments who wish to evaluate a new SMS-based e-government system very early in its development in order to assess potential acceptability and for governments who would like to diagnose the reasons why an existing SMS-based e-government service is not fully acceptable to citizens and to take corrective action to increase the acceptability of the service.     

Enhancing library services: an exploration in meeting customer needs through total quality management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a process which focuses on understanding customer needs and improving customer service and satisfaction. A TQM committee was created at the Devereux Foundation's Professional Library to assess user satisfaction and make recommendations for improving library services to better meet consumer needs. The committee distributed a satisfaction survey to 156 of the most likely library users and 84 (54%) were returned. Overall, survey results indicate that most consumers are satisfied with the materials and services provided by the Professional Library. Recommendations for improving library services and strategies for implementing these recommendations are discussed.     

学科信息门户建设中深层网页资源采集的方法与策略

文章阐述了国内外学科信息门户建设现状、深层网页资源的概念和特点及学科信息门户网站收集深层网页资源的意义。作者提出采用人工采集、自动化采集、人机结合采集和用户推荐等四种深层网页资源的收集方法;采用网络导航、跨库检索平台和数据保存等方法加以整合,信息整合应遵循标准化、开放性、及时性和权威性四大原则;最后探讨了深层网页资源的收集、整合过程中可能涉及的法律问题和解决方案。     

传统图书馆、门户网站和数字图书馆中信息组织方式的比较

文章论述了传统图书馆、门户网站、数字图书馆信息组织方式的特点,并对其进行了分析和比较。     

User needs: the key to changing library services and policies.

A user survey and a series of faculty interviews are discussed as methods that can be used by a public relations librarian to change library policies and services in the direction of patrons' needs.     

面向市民的电子政务公共服务评价:以长江三角洲为例

市民是电子政务服务的主要对象,如何为市民提供高效、优质、规范、透明和全方位的公共服务,是电子政务的本质和宗旨。本文选择了与民生有关的生育、婚姻、户籍、文化教育、社会保障、公用事业、医疗卫生、交通出行共8项指标,采用电子政务公共服务成熟度方法,对长江三角洲各主要城市面向市民的电子政务公共服务进行了评价。结果表明：目前长江三角洲城市电子政务已处于公共服务型阶段,但公共服务的广度和深度都有待拓展和提高。