Ten years of reviews

The March 2017 issue of the Health Information and Libraries Journal marks the 10 year anniversary of the inaugural review published in the journal's review series. The review series was conceived to meet the growing appetite of health library and information workers to access synthesised evidence to inform their practice; something we'd already been doing to support medics in their practice. This editorial looks back on the 10 years and the inspiration which saw the development of a typology of review types and associated methodologies to address the lack of consistent guidelines on the features a review should incorporate.     

Academic library marketing in the post-COVID world

The COVID pandemic forced academic libraries to quickly and dramatically adjust their operations. This article explores how marketing in academic libraries was represented in the research and practitioner literature during the pandemic through an examination of articles published between March 2020 and March 2023 as compared to LIS marketing articles published in the three previous years (between March 2017 and February 2020). Marketing was selected as the lens through which to examine library and information science (LIS) articles because marketing strategies and techniques offer powerful insights into how libraries perceive themselves and the communities they serve. The 2017–2020A set included 165 articles, while the 2020B–2023 set contained 93 articles. These articles were inductively coded to identify marketing-related concepts and themes. The most common marketing themes from the per-pandemic article set were marketing strategies and planning, marketing methods, social media, outreach, and engagement. The most common marketing themes from the pandemic article set were social media, marketing strategies and planning, library instruction and orientations, marketing methods, and perceptions of libraries. The categories that experienced the largest levels of change between the two periods were engagement (a reduction of 12.67 % during the pandemic), marketing methods (a reduction of 11.75 % during the pandemic), marketing strategies and planning (a reduction of 10.75 % during the pandemic), outreach (a reduction of 9.11 % during the pandemic), and library instruction and orientations (an increase of 8.44 % during the pandemic). Recommendations for library marketing practice are provided based on this literature analysis including the use of multiple physical and digital communication channels when developing marketing strategies; the importance of continuing to market core operational services, especially during challenging times; the need for libraries to regularly review their engagement methods as the needs and behaviours of users shift; and that there are many ways in which the voice of the user and the effectiveness of library marketing activities may be captured.     

欧美图书馆学博士学位论文研究主题图谱分析

采用CiteSpace知识可视化工具,基于关键词共现分析法、膨胀词探测法和内容分析法,重点对PQDD数据库中3 973篇欧美图书馆学博士论文的研究热点进行分析,此外,还探讨研究热点的演化、研究前沿及其演化。总体上,欧美图书馆学博士学位论文研究主题特征表现在：研究内容偏重应用,绝大多数论文面向具体图书馆服务与管理,以及以解决实际问题为目标的工作实践。这与欧美整体科学研究的实用性和实证性价值取向是一致的。此外,研究主题多样和细致,非常注重具有特殊身份和职业特征的小用户群体和图书馆馆员研究。     

手机图书馆系统与ILASII集成接口的实现

介绍手机图书馆系统针对ILASII使用自行开发的数据库,不能直接访问并且不对外提供系统集成应用程序接口的情况下,通过ILASII的“Web网上图书馆”实现与其整合,给出详细的分析及编程实现过程。     

A survey of library services for autistic college students

According to the research literature, services at academic libraries and institutions of higher education do not adequately address the support needed to help autistic students thrive in college. We surveyed academic librarians about library services for autistic students at their libraries to better understand the relevant library services provided for this population. At the institutions surveyed, 37 % (n = 22) of libraries have a person responsible for accessibility issues, and 63 % (n = 37) do not have a person responsible for accessibility. Additionally, we found that 78 % (n = 47) of academic libraries provide services for disabled students and only 22 % do not (n = 13). Most pertinent to our research, 34 % of libraries (n = 20) provide services for autistic students and 66 % (n = 39) do not provide services for autistic students.     

日本图书馆史研究概观

日本的图书馆史研究在概念辨析、研究方法、研究视野方面颇具特色。本文通过对庆应大学所藏图书馆史文献进行系统梳理,总结日本图书馆史研究的特点。在理论方面,注重方法论的探讨与研究领域的划分,如关于图书馆史、图书馆学史和图书馆思想史的认识,以及对日本图书馆史研究分野的概括等;在内容方面,由图书馆史研究分化为图书馆学史研究、图书馆思想史研究,后来细化为运动史、服务史、藏书史、人物传记等各个主题;在研究基础方面,日本图书馆史有教材、史料和工具书;在组织方面,1982年成立专门研究图书馆史的组织图书馆史研究会,1995年后改名为日本图书馆文化史研究会,通过召开专门会议与发行刊物进行研究交流,开展学术批评;在研究视野上,秉承了日本受容文化的特色,研究视野宽广,并不限于日本,对世界图书馆史,以及中美德英俄等各主要国家的图书馆史都有较为深入的研究,形成了翻译著作多、国际研究著作多的特点。日本图书馆史研究的这些成果和特点可为我国同类研究提供借鉴。参考文献23。     

The impact of library services in primary care trusts in NHS North West England: a large‐scale retrospective quantitative study of online resource usage in relation to types of service

Background: Within NHS North West England there are 24 primary care trusts (PCTs), all with access to different types of library services. This study aims to evaluate the impact the type of library service has on online resource usage. Methodology: We conducted a large‐scale retrospective quantitative study across all PCT staff in NHS NW England using Athens sessions log data. We studied the Athens log usage of 30 381 staff, with 8273 active Athens accounts and 100 599 sessions from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007. Results: In 2007, PCTs with outreach librarians achieved 43% penetration of staff with active Athens accounts compared with PCTs with their own library service (28.23%); PCTs with service level agreements (SLAs) with acute hospital library services (22.5%) and with no library service (19.68%). This pattern was also observed when we looked at the average number of Athens user sessions per person, and usage of Dialog Datastar databases and Proquest full text journal collections. Discussion: Our findings have shown a correlation of e‐resource usage and type of library service. Outreach librarians have proved to be an efficient model for promoting and driving up resources usage. PCTs with no library service have shown the lowest level of resource usage.     

College students' perceptions on sense of belonging and inclusion at the academic library during COVID-19

This paper demonstrates how university students experienced and perceived inclusion in a public research university library context during COVID-19. Both quantitative (n = 3379) and qualitative data (n = 575) from the 2021 student survey were examined to explore students' library experiences and their perceptions of inclusion. The quantitative data revealed that students using both the physical and online library had the greatest sense of belonging, whereas students who never used any library resources had the least sense of belonging. The qualitative data further revealed that when students used the in-person library space they felt a sense of belonging, as well as feeling accepted and valued; on the other hand, it was hard for them to judge inclusion when they had not been in the library due to COVID-19. This finding suggests how academic libraries need to prepare for the hybrid environment (in-person and online) so that students using online resources and services feel connected to the library.     

Fixed or flexible schedule? Schedule impacts and school library circulation

Despite more than 15 years of research into the implementation of flexible access to school library media programs in the United States, few empirical studies exist that examine the relationship between access scheduling and school library media circulation. This quantitative study examines the relationship between types of school library schedules and circulation. Examination of end-of-year circulation statistics for fixed, flexible, and partially flexible elementary school library media centers in North Carolina and Virginia indicate that there was a significant and positive relationship between flexible scheduling and per-pupil book circulation in elementary schools in these two states.     

Health sciences librarian research and instruction services in pandemic information environments

This study examined research and instruction services provided by academic health sciences librarians in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 205 respondents (N = 205) completed an anonymous online survey about academic health sciences librarian involvement in providing research and instruction services during the global pandemic. In-depth literature searching services (86%, n = 176), curated COVID-19 research through guides (66%, n = 135), and systematic review consultations (53%, n = 109) were reported as the top three research services in demand. Librarians supported online teaching and learning at their institutions by providing online instruction for a course (92%, n = 189), facilitating access to licensed resources (73%, n = 150), and identifying open access and open educational resources (62%, n = 127). Overall, this study contributes to understanding pandemic-responsive academic library services to meet the unique needs of health sciences education and research in evolving COVID-19 pandemic information environments.     

中国图书馆RFID应用标准化方案研究*

分析图书馆RFID标准的相关问题,提出若干具体的标准化提案,倡导成立中国图书馆国际标准馆代码管理注册中心（CLMRC-ISIL）和中国图书馆业RFID标准化工作组（CLS-RFID-WG）,适时发布中国第一版CLS-RFID-WG指导报告。     

Enabling new interactions with library digital collections: automatic gender recognition in historical postcards via deep learning

The Walter Havighurst Special Collections from University Archives & Preservation at Miami University's King Library has a growing collection of over 600,000 historical postcards, with approximately 30,000 digitized, primarily from the Midwest during 1890–1919. This collection supports various lines of inquiry from users, such as analyzing the evolution of gender portrayal in popular media in the United States. However, manually separating the collection into postcards of males and females would take thousands of hours, which prevents the library from supporting sociological analyses at scale. After assembling an open postcard dataset, we trained deep neural networks (i.e., YOLOv5x object detection models) to automatically detect people and classify them as male or female. Our approach limited biases in favor of one outcome by balancing the number of males and females via multi-label stratified 10-fold cross-validation. We showed that this approach can accurately detect and classify females and confidently detect and label males for the library's collection of historical postcards. Our precision of 94.9 % and recall of 33.0 % from 1890 to 1919 on male gender detection exceed the performances of 94.7 % and 31 % respectively for recognition on World War I postcards in past studies. By employing our trained deep neural networks, the library can enhance its metadata within hours and support new research inquiries at scale.     

Factors affecting customer relationship management practices in Thai academic libraries

This study investigates and analyzes the factors affecting customer relationship management (CRM) practices in Thai academic libraries. The research conceptual framework focuses on factors affecting CRM practices was developed using Combe (2004)’s study on assessing CRM strategies. Mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative approaches were used as a research methodology. Data was collected by using the interview and survey techniques with the administrators, staff and customers of six selected academic libraries in Thailand. Analysis of the data was done by using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study show that factors that have statistically significant impact on CRM practices in Thai academic libraries at 0.05 level were: (1) the knowledge and understanding of CRM of library staff and leadership of library administrators (Beta = 0.762), (2) organizational culture and communication (Beta = 0.323), (3) customer management processes (Beta = 0.318), (4) technology for supporting customer management (Beta = 0.208), and (5) channels for library services and communications (Beta = 0.150). The knowledge and understanding of CRM of library staff and leadership of library administrators which include the perception and awareness of service quality focusing on customer relationship is a key to library success. Important factors also include the acceptance and support of the use of CRM in the library, the clear vision and mission about using CRM in the library strategic plan, the knowledge and understanding of library staff on CRM processes, customer characteristics, and behaviors. The organizational culture and communication factors involve the creation of the CRM cultures of working in the library, good teamwork, cooperative and clear working agreements, clear roles and responsibilities, good communication between library staff, cross library functional integration, and performance evaluation and development. The customer management processes factor includes recording and registration of customer profiles, customer analysis and classification, services to individual customers, services to expected customers, and continual customer interactions. The technology for supporting CRM factors includes communication technology, information technology, and operations support technology. The channels for library services and communications factors can be direct channels, such as a service counter and self-circulation service, and indirect channels such as telephone, call center, email, personal web, library web, and social networking technology. Suggestions for academic libraries on the development and implementation of CRM in libraries are: (1) CRM must be included in the library strategic plan; (2) CRM must be a key strategy for the improvement of library service quality; (3) library administrators must have strong leadership for achieving the effectiveness of CRM practices in the library; (4) library staff must have good knowledge and understanding of CRM and its link to the library service quality improvement; (5) the working cultures for CRM effectiveness such as teamwork, cross functional work, and good communication between staff must be encouraged and practiced in the library; and (6) technology must be fully supported for CRM in the library.     

New directions in health sciences libraries in China

This article briefly describes the services provided by Chinese health science libraries and the factors which influence service provision. Driven by new technologies and national initiatives, the key services delivered by Chinese health libraries in the last 10 years have been research support services (such as research impact assessment, support for data management), evidence‐based medicine, systematic reviews, the promotion of health information literacy, and the development of institutional repositories. J.M.     

Teaching the User About Information Management Using Microcomputers

The Northwestern University Medical Library has provided information management instruction for its patrons over the last several years. The library has defined this topic broadly, including decision analysis, database management, and online searching. This article reviews the instruction and outlines some of the issues which concerned the library as it initiated this program.     

Addressing Library Anxiety (LA) in student nurses: a study in an NHS Foundation Trust Hospital library and information service

Library anxiety is a concept which has been recognised in academic library circles since the early 1990s. It can result in students actively avoiding the library for the duration of their studies. Madeleine Still is Trust Librarian at North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and while studying for an MSc, recognised that some student nurses were exhibiting signs of library anxiety. She decided to make it the focus of her MSc dissertation, and this article discusses her research project as well as highlighting the measures she has taken to address the issues she uncovered. Madeleine graduated in July 2013 with an MSc in Information & Library Studies from Robert Gordon University. AM     

Opinions and experiences of university faculty regarding library research instruction: Results of a web-based survey at the University of Southern Colorado

In March 2000, all 188 University of Southern Colorado (USC) nonlibrary faculty members were surveyed to determine their needs and opinions regarding library research instruction. Forty-four (23.40%) of the faculty responded to questions concerning their past experiences with library research instruction, the frequency with which they use various library and Internet resources, the types of library research instruction they currently use with their students, and their level of support for proposed new programs. Results showed an overwhelming interest on the part of respondents for an online library research skills tutorial. The survey also revealed the need for professional development opportunities for faculty. A higher proportion of respondents with 10 years or less of teaching experience than those with more than 10 years of experience indicated they had received formal library instruction from a librarian. However, no direct correlation could be shown between years of teaching experience and respondents' perceived value of library research instruction. Nor did a correlation exist to show that respondents with fewer years of teaching experience were more likely to ask a librarian to provide formal library instruction to their students. In fact, respondents with more than 20 years of teaching experience provided most types of library instruction more often than less experienced respondents. Overall, USC faculty rated their students' abilities to conduct library research very low. However, they had slightly more confidence in their students' abilities to find, evaluate, and use information they found on the Internet over information from traditional print sources.     

Evidence based library and information practice: what's in it for you?

With its roots in evidence‐based medicine, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice emerged 15 years ago and, with health librarians leading the way, has since been adopted by librarians and libraries in all sectors. EBLIP is an iterative process that may see you undertaking your own research although most likely, it will see you integrate your experience as a library and information professionals with research evidence generated both within and without the library science sector. As a library and information worker, you can use the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice process to help inform your decision‐making, streamline services and identify ways forward to fit your personal context.     

Use patterns for ebooks: The effects of subject,age and availability on rate of use

This article shares the results of a study of subject use of nearly 100,000 ebooks over 10 years in the OhioLINK academic library consortium. The study reveals information about how quickly ebooks in different subjects are found and used, how long they remain in use, and how consortial use by subject compares to use at individual institutions. Taken in the context of the literature about print obsolescence, the data reveals that the use of ebooks follows patterns established for print monographs, including that prior use predicts future use, use declines as titles age, and ebooks have their greatest chance of being used when they are new. Even so, this study shows that ebooks do not drop in use dramatically as they grow older; rather, the majority are used for many years. Rate of use of ebook content is, in general, highest for subjects in the sciences and lowest for humanities subjects, but these patterns may differ greatly for individual user groups.     

当前我国国民阅读状况分析

以中国出版科学研究所主持开展的第三、四、五次“全国国民阅读调查”为依据,从我国国民媒体阅读率、学生阅读现状、家庭藏书、图书馆情况等方面考察。得出国民阅读率整体上止住连续六年下滑趋势,略有回升,存在城乡差异性,学生阅读现状不容乐观。最后就如何提高我国国民阅读率提出浅陋看法。