Where's the value? The worth of public libraries: A systematic review of findings,methods and research gaps

Existing research argues that studies of the value of public libraries support libraries by demonstrating their worth to society. Knowledge of research methods, value and research gaps can potentially strengthen the field of value research and support policymaking and development of libraries. Among 16,683 records retrieved from a systematic literature search, 39 studies were selected for systematic review within this topic. Findings indicate that studies focus on examining libraries as valued community assets in several aspects. It is recommended that further research explore how library services enhance democracy, reading and culture. Moreover, further research is needed that systematically reviews how libraries articulate their value to stakeholders. Concluding remarks state that value can be a robust measure for emphasising and developing libraries' worth towards society. By systematically reviewing how value is emphasized in activities, libraries are provided with the means to advocate political empathy and to develop towards community needs.     

Comparative study of students’ patronage at the academic libraries of two Nigerian universities: FUTO and EEU

This paper surveyed the users’ patronage of Nigerian academic libraries at two universities: Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and Evan Enwerem University, Owerri (EEU). Four research objectives and five research questions were formulated by the researchers. Uzoagulu’s (1998) statistical formula was adopted for the stratified sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed by using tables and simple percentages. The results identified inadequate relevant current information material; a library environment not conducive to use; and inadequate reading accommodation as the major problems that hampered full patronage. The provision and acquisition of more current and relevant information materials and a comfortable and conducive reading environment would greatly improve the patronage of the libraries under study.     

Librarians’ perceptions of knowledge management in developing countries: A case with Indian academic libraries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine librarians' perceptions of knowledge management, including its concept, potential applications, benefits and major challenges of its applications in Indian academic libraries. A structured questionnaire, containing both open and close-ended questions, was sent by postal mail to 30 librarians of academic libraries in India of which 15 questionnaires were returned. Respondents were asked to define knowledge management and answer questions on its potential applications, benefits and major challenges of implementation in academic libraries. Respondents were also allowed to specify their own views on the subject. The findings of the study show that the levels of understanding of KM concepts among librarians are varied and most of them view KM as the management of information resources, services and systems using technology or specific processes for the capture and use of explicit knowledge, rather sharing and using tacit knowledge. They have positive attitudes towards the applications of knowledge management into academic library practice, and not only because this can bring academic libraries closer to their parent organization, but also because it may help them to survive in an increasingly challenging environment. Although, librarians in the present study acknowledged that they are involved in the practices of knowledge management but these were perceived as basic information management activities. Lack of understanding of knowledge management concepts and its benefits, knowledge sharing culture, top management commitment, incentives and rewards, financial resources and information technology infrastructure are perceived as the major barriers for incorporating knowledge management into academic library practice.     

A sensitivity analysis of research institutions’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation

One of the critical issues in bibliometric research assessments is the time required to achieve maturity in citations. Citation counts can be considered a reliable proxy of the real impact of a work only if they are observed after sufficient time has passed from publication date. In the present work the authors investigate the effect of varying the time of citation observation on accuracy of productivity rankings for research institutions. Research productivity measures are calculated for all Italian universities active in the hard sciences in the 2001–2003 period, by individual field and discipline, with the time of the citation observation varying from 2004 to 2008. The objective is to support policy-makers in choosing a citation window that optimizes the tradeoff between accuracy of rankings and timeliness of the exercise.     

TaBaMLN Keeps on Ramblin’: The Evolution of the Tampa Bay Medical Library Network

The Tampa Bay Medical Library Network, also known as TaBaMLN, has been an invaluable organization for central Florida medical librarians for over 35 years. The goals and activities of this group, as well as the membership, have changed and evolved over the years, but one thing remains: This consortium is an integral part of the medical library landscape for the Tampa Bay area and beyond and provides its members with resources, networking, and continuing education. This article addresses the evolution of this important group from 1975 to the present day.     

Cross-field evaluation of publications of research institutes using their contributions to the fields’ MVPs determined by h-index

We propose a cross-field evaluation method for the publications of research institutes. With this approach, we first determine a set of the most visible publications (MVPs) for each field from the publications of all assessed institutes according to the field's h-index. Then, we measure an institute's production in each field by its percentage share (i.e., contribution) to the field's MVPs. Finally, we obtain an institute's cross-field production measure as the average of its contributions to all fields. The proposed approach is proven empirically to be reasonable, intuitive to understand, and uniformly applicable to various sets of institutes and fields of different publication and citation patterns. The field and cross-field production measures obtained by the proposed approach not only allow linear ranking of institutes, but also reveal the degree of their production difference.     

Effect of online research data management instruction on social science graduate students’ RDM skills

Prior research has suggested the value of and the need to provide consistent research data management (RDM) instruction specifically for graduate students. However, there is a lack of RDM instruction that is tailored for the social science disciplines. The effect of a four-hour, online RDM instruction intervention, designed based on the research data life cycle, on the RDM knowledge of graduate students in social science disciplines was investigated. A total of 84 students completed both pre/post knowledge assessments with 40 students randomly assigned into the intervention group receiving online instruction and 44 in the control group. A one-way ANCOVA was used for the data analysis. Results indicated that social science graduate students who received online RDM instruction had a significantly higher score in RDM knowledge than students in the control group. Moreover, the effect of the instruction on participants' RDM skills varied by their disciplines.     

On the international research-to-practice conference on modern problems and tasks of information-security assurance (SIB’2017)

This article considers the results of a conference held at the Moscow University of Finance and Law in April 2017. The conference had three sections: Information Security Assurance Technologies, Data Protection Hardware and Software, and Upcoming Trends in Information Security Assurance. More than 40 reports were presented. A brief review of the plenary and main sectional reports is provided.     

Gutenberg and the Digital Evolution: Highlights of a Trend-Follower Market from a Distributer’s Perspective

Germany’s acceptance and spread of e-books are typical for a trend-follower. Germans are still reluctant to change their reading habits and strongly support the diversity of small bookshops. Germany’s biggest book distributor and wholesaler KNV strongly believes in the future of the printed books and is building the most modern media distribution center in central Germany. KNV is also placing a lot of efforts in supporting small and medium size bookshops and in establishing multi-channel strategies and promoting online and digital sales. After many unsuccessful efforts to establish an e-reading platform in Germany by various organizations, the “Tolino” platform has the potential to grow to a real significance alongside to Amazon and Apple. Therefore, KNV will support its clients to become part of the new alliance, initiated by the major book chains, Bertelsmann and Deutsche Telekom.     

Communication’s forgotten narratives: the lost history of Charles Siepmann and critical policy research

The field of communication has much to recover from its intellectual history, particularly critical traditions that have been pushed to the margins. Such a project is inherently political: how scholars narrate the histories of their fields reflect tacit assumptions about discursive boundaries and what counts for legitimate scholarship. Prominent historical narratives typically emphasize certain sub-fields and research traditions while giving short shrift to others. Suggesting larger erasures and deeper tensions in the history of the field, this article aims to recover one such neglected thread, embodied by a reformist policy scholar who is all but forgotten in communication research: Charles Siepmann.     

An investigation of the relationship between scientists’ mobility to/from China and their research performance

A large number of overseas elites were brought back to China by the policy in the past decade. However, name disambiguation defied investigations on the relationship between their mobility and research performance. By taking advantage of the ORCID website and applying causal inference strategies, we investigated 2489 China-connected scientists’ academic performance in the Web of Science database in terms of their job mobility, including 1388 scientists who moved to China the treatment group, and 1101 scientists with a possibility to move to China the control group. The results show that first, scientists moving to China have a new growth pattern where both their productivity and the rates of being corresponding authors in publications grew more rapidly than before; however, they made fewer contributions to the four top journals, Nature, Science, Cell, and PNAS. Second, the research performance of the scientists is affected by the time of mobility towards China, the countries from which they moved, and the disciplines of their publications. Last, China now maintains symmetrical inflow-outflow patterns with most countries, especially developed countries in Europe and North America, with only a few exceptions (e.g., Pakistan).     

Scientists’ genders and international academic collaboration: An empirical study of Chinese universities and research institutes

In the previous literature, no clear conclusions have been reached about the effect of gender differences on research performance (RP) in science, as measured by publication productivity, number of citations, and academic awards. Meanwhile, a gap also exists in the research regarding gender differences in international academic collaboration. To complement the existing literature, this study investigated the achievements of scientists engaged in international academic collaboration, which places heavy demands on language and communication skills and in which female scientists appear to have more advantages than male scientists. We investigated the effect of international collaboration carried out by chemists from China’s Project 985 universities and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and compared the extent to which the international collaboration improved female and male scientists’ academic performance. The results indicated that, compared to male scientists, female scientists performed better and significantly improved their academic performance through international collaboration. This conclusion was valid for different periods throughout chemists’ academic careers. The policy implications are discussed at the end of this study.     

‘This nation under God’: The broadcast and film commission of the national council of churches and the new medium of television

Throughout American history that form of Protestantism that designates itself and is publicly conceived as “old‐time religion” has regularly been the innovator in the area of media. In stark contrast, its more staid establishment counterpart has tended to be antagonistic to these new media, dismissing them with harsh theological and aesthetic judgments. In this process, the self‐proclaimed theological conservatives actually behaved in remarkably adaptive and imaginative ways, while the self‐proclaimed liberal establishment often acted as the cultural conservator, pressing for the preservation of the status quo. This article seeks to understand why those Protestants who define themselves as “modernist” and “adaptive” have been far less successful in using the media than their conservative “anti‐modernist” counterparts. The focus is upon a case study—the reception of television by the Broadcast and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches. The conclusion is ironic: those Protestants who depended upon “modern,” “social scientific” criterion to guide their television policies fundamentally misunderstood the power of television and its impact upon society.     

Exploring the influence of coauthorship with top scientists on researchers’ affiliation,research topic,productivity, and impact

Research studies have found that coauthorship with top scientists positively correlates with researchers’ career advancement. However, the influence of different proximities and types of coauthorship with top scientists on their performance has rarely been discussed. We identified the winners of four awards as top authors. We also evaluated the effect on the researchers’ affiliation change, research topic, productivity, and impact before and after three top-ordinary scientist coauthorship types (strong, moderate, and weak), examining the effect after top-top and ordinary-ordinary scientist coauthorships. Additionally, a coauthorship closeness indicator was proposed, considering the team size and author role to measure the collaboration relationship between coauthors. The results reveal that the top scientist in strong coauthorship obtained the highest affiliation change rate. For the top-ordinary coauthorship, the affiliation change rate for top scientists is higher than for ordinary scientists. For other aspects (the coauthor number, research topic, productivity, and impact), the rate after strong and moderate coauthorships increases compared to weak top-ordinary coauthorship type for top and ordinary scientists. Therefore, top scientists obtain a partner with skills, and ordinary scientists obtain more guidance. Strong and moderate coauthorships are win-win relationships for top-ordinary coauthorship types.     

Introducing recalibrated academic performance indicators in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance: A case study from Eastern Europe

In Hungary, the highest and most prestigious scientific qualification is considered to be the Doctor of Science (DSc) title being awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The academic performance indicators of the DSc title are of high importance in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance not only when a researcher applies for obtaining a DSc title, but also during promotions and appointments at universities, and in the case of the evaluation of applications for scientific titles and degrees, and the assessment of applications for funding. In the Section of Earth Sciences encompassing nine related disciplines, rather than carrying out a straightforward bibliometric analysis, the performance indicators were designed as a result of a consensual agreement between leading academicians, each of whom represented a particular discipline. Therefore, the minimum values of the indicators, required to be fulfilled if one is applying for a DSc title, do not adequately reflect the actual discipline-specific performance of researchers. This problem may generate tension between researchers during the evaluation process. The main goal of this paper is to recalibrate the minimum values of four major performance indicators by taking the actual discipline-specific distance ratios into account. In addition, each minimum value will be defined by employing integer and fractional counting methods as well. The research outcome of this study can provide impetus for the Section of Earth Sciences (and eventually other sections of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) to optimize the minimum values of the DSc title performance indicators by taking the specifics of each discipline into account. Because academic performance indicators are also employed in other Eastern European countries in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance, the methods used in that paper can be placed into a wider geographical context.