Annals of Library and Information Studies: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Journal and a Comparison with the Top Library and Information Studies Journals in Asia and Worldwide (2011–2017)

ABSTRACT

This article presents a thorough bibliometric analysis of research published in Annals of Library and Information Studies (ALIS), an India-based journal, for the period 2011–2017. Specifically, it compares this journal’s trends with those of other library and information science (LIS) journals from the same geographical area (India, and Asia as a whole) and with the 10 highest-rated LIS journals worldwide. The source of the data used was the multidisciplinary database Scopus. To perform this comparison, ALIS’ production was analyzed in order to identify authorship patterns; for example, authors’ countries of residence, co-authorship trends, and collaboration networks. Research topics were identified through keyword analysis, while performance was measured by examining the number of citations articles received. This study provides substantial information. The research lines detected through examining the keywords in ALIS articles were determined to be similar to those for the top LIS journals in both Asia and worldwide. Specifically, ALIS authors are focusing on metrics, bibliometrics, and social networking, which follows global trends. Notably, however, collaboration among Asia-based journals was found to be lower than that in the top-indexed journals in the LIS field, showing lesser internationalization. The results obtained present a roadmap for expanding the research in this field.     

Current Situation and Development of Library and Information Science Education in China

1　StageofDevelopment　　Theoriginoftheregularsystemoflibraryandinformationscience(LIS)educationinChinacanbetracedbacktotheearlypartofthiscentury.In1920,M.E.Wood(1862～1931),alibraryscientistfromtheUnitedStates,foundedtheBooneLibrarySchoolatWuchang,thefir…     

How Much of Library and Information Science Literature Qualifies as Research?

There is an extensive amount of Library and Information Science (LIS) writing produced each year. While there is general awareness regarding the variety of journal literature, there is no certainty on the percentage of the collection that we can call research. This project is an important first step in answering the question. A content analysis of the LIS academic/scholarly journals at the Simmons College Library was conducted. The research level collection of LIS literature makes the library an ideal candidate for this study. The latest issue of each journal subscribed to for fiscal year 2012–2013 containing academic/scholarly content was analyzed. Each article was analyzed to determine: 1) if it was research or non-research, 2) the method used to collect data for the study in the article, and 3) the subject terms or keywords associated with the article. 105 journal titles were identified out of 177 periodicals. In the 1880 articles analyzed from these, 16% qualified as research. Surveys were found to be the most popular research method used. This study will benefit students, faculty, and staff with research requirements as well as librarians who guide patrons through a search for research literature.     

Predictors of Library and Information Science Undergraduates’ Participation in the Online Discussion Forum

The study examined predictors of Library and Information Science undergraduates’ participation in a discussion forum. Through a total enumerative sampling technique, the entire 115 students in (2010/2011) academic session in the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria were selected to represent the sample for the study. A questionnaire was used to gather data on the study. Three research questions were developed to guide the study. The results demonstrate that computer and Internet search efficacy together with emotional intelligence significantly correlate with and predict users’ participation in an online discussion forum. Similarly, the results suggest that computer and Internet self-efficacy and emotional intelligence constructs are good predictors of participation in the online forum. Based on these findings, the study recommended that LIS students need to be more Internet and computer self-efficacious, as it has been proved that these will promote their participation in the online discussion forum.     

An Examination of Library and Information Science Undergraduate Students’ Career Aspirations in Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment

This study examined Library and Information Science (LIS) undergraduate students’ career aspirations in entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities. A total of 155 students constituted the sample for the study. A self-designed questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The results demonstrate that 20.3% aspire to set up a small business, 39.2% prefer company employment, 30.4% prefer self-employment, and 20.3% prefer government employment. Forming partnerships, loans from banks and friends, grants from private foundations and personal savings and cash, private stock, and angel investors were identified as sources of funding. Careers available in LIS were identified to include librarian, abstracter, lecturer, web designer, database manager, archivist, information broker, publisher, and researcher. Hindrances to careers in entrepreneurship and self-employment were identified to include lack of access to financial services, access to physical infrastructure, and basic services. The study makes recommendations based on the findings.     

Is Management the “Tower of Babel” for Library and Information Science Programs?

Given the explosive growth of digital collections and the digital transformation of services in libraries, the need for management education in library and information science programs has grown. However, I contend in this article that confusion abounds like the “Tower of Babel” for LIS programs to accomplish this goal. A one size fits all approach does not work. Instead, management theory and principles need to be LIS-centric in accord with present day needs and conceptions. Management education also needs to be linked with scientific rigor to practice to meet the needs and expectations of LIS students. Rather than delivering management education that speaks the language of business, the content needs to resonate with the conditions for managing in the LIS context and to be supportive of the values of the LIS field. The article provides examples from research on management and innovation in libraries and other information-rich contexts. It also illustrates the types of issues that management education in LIS programs should address to deepen our understanding of the essential principles needed to manage information and knowledge.     

The Educational Strategy of Library and Information Science in China in the 21st Century

The author states that the requirements for the professional personnel of library and information science in the future information society are to have wide knowledge and to be versatile. The knowledge required may include the knowledge of administration, documentary information, technical method and research method, etc.“Versatile”here means the ability of self-teaching, practical operation, social investigation,administration and organization, creation and scientific research. Finally, by analysis of the existing situation of library and information science education in China, and the needs of the Chinese economic vitalization in the 21st century, the author proposes to take a lot of measures at present for the improvement of thee ducation.     

The Library–Information Technology Partnership: Challenges and Solutions

ABSTRACT

The Klarchek Information Commons is a collaboration between Loyola University Libraries and Information Technology Services (ITS). The Information Commons has been open almost 2 years and was in the planning stages for almost 2 years before its grand opening in January 2008. During that period the library and ITS have learned how to work together to successfully operate this new service hub on campus. In this article, the authors look at the challenges faced by the two groups and how they resolved problems and faced the challenges inherent in running a large, complex, service-oriented organization.     

The Open-Access System of Journals and Its Use by Russian Scientists According to the Statistics of Web of Science (2008–2017)

The review of the research of the Open-Access system of journals and its advantages and disadvantages are presented. The bibliometric analysis was carried out for the array of Russian papers published in the journals of the Gold Open Access system and reflected in the SCI-E database for 2008–2017. The results of the analysis of the publication activity showed that, despite the high payments for papers, there was a steady increase in the share of Russian publications in such journals compared to the overall publication activity of Russia: from 7.8% in 2008 to 13.7% in 2017. This is largely due to active international cooperation of Russian organizations with funding agencies from the United States (31%), Germany (29%), and other industrialized countries. Analysis of the array of Gold OA publications in large research areas made it possible to establish a significant difference in its structure compared to the general array of publications in Russia. As an example, the most important scientific field in the world, Research Area Scientific Technologies, was ranked the third in comparison with the ninth rank in the general array.russian scientists widely use high-quality foreign journals of the Gold OA system, which includes one Russian journal, Solid State Physics.     

Text Readability and the Impact of Academic Articles: An Empiri-cal Study Based on Library and Information Science北大核心

哪些因素会影响学术论文的被引次数是文献计量学领域的一个经典研究议题。目前的研究主要关注论文的内容特征和形式特征与被引次数之间的关系,鲜有研究从文本可读性视角切入这一议题。文本可读性影响读者对文本内容的理解和知识吸收,是一个关乎知识传播效率和研究成果认可度的重要因素。本研究在控制论文知识品质和权威性的基础上,使用文本可读性R值等五个变量研究论文的文本可读性对被引次数的影响。以中文图书情报学知名期刊发表于2016—2020年的论文为研究样本,研究发现论文的文本可读性R值、是否采用复合式标题、是否使用公式和表格对被引次数有显著影响,而是否使用图对被引次数没有显著影响。研究验证了中文情境下文本可读性对论文影响力的实质性作用,研究结果对科研人员改善自身的中文学术写作以及提高研究成果影响力具有重要参考价值。     

The Development of Library and Information Profession in the Chinese Academy of Sciences

1　Introduction　　Overthepast45years(1950～1995),undertheleadershipoftheChineseAcademyofSciences(CAS),andinacommoneffortofthestaffmembers,thelibraryandinformationsystemofCAShasbecomeasys-temwithmulti-disciplines,multi-levelsandmulti-functions.Thesystemi…     

Effects of Covid-19 on the Online Library and Information Science Degree at the University of León (Spain)

The Degree in Library Science and Documentation of the University of León started during the 1990–1991 academic year. This first curriculum suffered from a strong presence of subjects from the humanities, with a low fraction of experimental work in many subjects because of its inclusion within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. The first years attracted large numbers of students. However, the subsequent decrease in the number of students pursuing the degree drove us to initiate a change toward blended and online modalities.The Librarianship and Documentation Area of the University of León (ULe) already has a long history in blended teaching, starting with the Degree in Librarianship and Documentation, which has used the platform aul@unileon since the 2006–2007 academic year; the Degree of Information and Documentation has used the blended modality since the 2010–2011 academic year, and it has been offered in the distance learning modality since the 2014–2015 academic year.These new technologies have been fully introduced into university education and have facilitated the teaching–learning process through the use of interactive programs via the Internet.The main objective of this column is to determine and study the kind of multimedia tools used by professors of the Bachelor of Information and Documentation at the University of León during the teaching–learning process and in virtual teaching before the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to report which new tools were introduced by the university for this reason. We study the student–teacher and student–student interactions to help promote communication and participatory learning through chats, forums, email, hangouts, Skype, Meet, videoconferences, etc.To carry out this study, two types of methodology were applied: satisfaction surveys implemented by the Quality Office of the ULe to determine the degree of satisfaction of students and teachers, and a study of annual reports.     

Current Situation of Theoretical Research of Library Science in China

Since1980s,Chinahasmadegreatprogressinthetheoreticalresearchoflibraryscience.Themostim-portantcharacteristicsmaybedescribedasfollows:　　·Thelibraryscienceresearchhascometoevadebeinglimitedonlytodescribeexperimentallythecon-creteworkinthelibrary,andpaymoreandmoreattentiontotheconnotationandtheoreticalsystemofthediscipline;　　·Ithascomeoutofthemicro-worldofthelibrary,andbeenspeculatingabouttheactualmacro-prob-lemsbothundertheperipheralenvironmentandinthesociety;　　·Ithasintroducedmanyachi…     

Social Media and Information Behavior: A Citation Analysis of Current Research from 2008–2015

This article presents a survey study of social media and information behavior research published from 2008 to 2015 by way of bibliometric principles. Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used in order to determine the publication rate, established researchers, impact, productivity, and thematic areas of selected papers. The results show a dearth of published works and a low level of established authors; however, the results also indicate high rates of impact, especially in relation to information seeking and information sharing studies. Overall, this study serves as a springboard for new scholarly inquiries in order to further develop research in the field.     

Introduction to Using Excel® Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts to Increase Efficiency in Library Data Analysis and Illustration

ABSTRACT

Excel® offers powerful features that can spare its users countless hours of tedious and unnecessary effort. Pivot tables and pivot charts are robust tools that can streamline the work of analyzing library data, making it nearly instantaneous, visually engaging, and efficient. Although electronic resource usage statistics will be used for illustrative purposes, countless types of data in a tabular format are suited to the application of pivot tables and pivot charts. This article will discuss background and approaches for using these tools, followed by a companion article that will demonstrate essential techniques and applications.