Knowledge of students of the exceptions and limitations clause in copyright administration in academic libraries in Ghana

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062110480
Author(s):  
Theresa L. Adu ◽  
Thomas B. Van der Walt
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Private Copying ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Copyright Laws ◽  
Improper Use ◽  
Exceptions And Limitations ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right

Copyright exceptions and limitations, which allow information consumers the right to use copyrighted materials without necessarily obtaining permission from or payment to the rightsholder, promote advances in the arts and sciences. Poor knowledge of copyright laws results in improper use of copyrighted materials. However, the extent to which academic library users in Ghana know about the exceptions and limitations, as well as their understanding of permissible use of information in the Copyright Act 690, 2005 of Ghana are not known. The sequential mixed methods approach was employed to collect data from 530 postgraduate students from two public and two private universities in Ghana to assess their knowledge of copyright exceptions and limitations, as well as their understanding of permissible use of information in Copyright Act 690, 2005 whilst using the services of their libraries. The study shows that students were poorly knowledgeable about the various applications of the exceptions and limitations clause in the copyright laws of Ghana: students were either indifferent (i.e. ‘neutral’), or ‘disagree’, and ‘strongly disagree’ on whether the Copyright Act 690, 2005 had clauses on exceptions and limitations on various uses of information such as for ‘Private copying’, for ‘Quotations’ or ‘For the benefit of persons with disability’. Over 50% of respondents were not sure that the copyright laws of Ghana had provisions for permissible use of information. Age and gender of respondent significantly influenced these responses: older students 46 years and above, and females, were more knowledgeable compared to younger students and males respectively about exceptions and limitations for ‘Private copying’, and ‘For the benefit of people with disability’ in the copyright laws of Ghana. Policymakers in Ghana should therefore adopt youth- and gender-focus strategies in copyright education for efficient administration of copyright laws in academic libraries.

Strategies for Marketing an Academic Library in an African Setting

2012 ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
Sylvia A. Ogola ◽  
Japhet Otike
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Environment Characteristic ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
To Come ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
African Setting

Marketing of library services varies from one environment to another. This chapter discusses the kind of strategies that a librarian manning a university library in Africa needs to come up with to realize a successful marketing programme. The limited resources and an adverse working environment characteristic of the African situation are highlighted. It is observed that a successful marketer is one who has the right personal qualities, sensitive to the needs of the users, knowledgeable about the product, and promoting it with passion. The chapter also looks at issues that affect the marketing capabilities of academic libraries in Africa. It concludes that academic libraries in Africa have very tight budgets, and most cannot afford to earmark any funds towards marketing their services. The chapter is significant in that not much literature is available for marketing of academic libraries in an African setting, and it provides some solutions that can be applied without extra funding. Students in Africa rely on mobile phones and social networking sites to communicate, and it is recommended that the use of social media for marketing can be very effective in Africa today

scholarly journals The Right Time for Makerspaces in Nigerian Academic Libraries: Perceived Benefits and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Kingsley Efe OSAWARU ◽  
Angela Ishioma DIME ◽  
Emordi Herbert OKONJO
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
The Right ◽  
High Level ◽  
Descriptive Survey ◽  
And Training

The present study investigates makerspaces in Nigerian academic libraries: perceived benefits and challenges. Four objectives  guided the study: what constituted makerspace in academic library, the level of awareness of makerspace by academic library benefits and challenges of adopting makerspace in libraries. The descriptive survey design was adopted and questionnaire was used for data collection. The population of the study comprised of professional and paraprofessional librarians of Ambrose University and University of Benin, from which a sample size of 119 was drawn using total enumeration sampling technique. Out of the 119 copies of questionnaire administered, 94 were retrieved and analyzed using simple percentage and frequency tables. Findings revealed that, the respondents were aware of what constitute makerspace which are library space, 3D printers, computers and projector. It was also discovered that, the respondents had a high level of awareness of makerspace in the library. Some of the benefits associated with the use of makerspace are: it facilitates group interaction, it improves knowledge and provides access to wide varieties of tools and technology. Some of the challenges encountered in the adoption of makerspace are training of academic library staff, security of makerspace gadgets, poor funding, erratic power supply, high cost and maintenance of equipment. It was however recommended that; librarians should make deliberate effort to explore the potentials in makerspace in the enhancement of their services and training should be conducted regularly to enhance librarian’s skills in the use of ICTs.

Why are bathrooms inclusive if the stacks exclude?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis L. Wagner ◽  
Archie Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Exclusionary Practices ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deploy a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to consider exclusionary practices enacted by academic libraries as evidenced through resource provision. Specifically, this paper looks at the inclusion of trans and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in library guides, TGNC naming practices in abstracts and the physical shelving of transgender studies texts. This paper concludes with a discussion of methods to overcome such exclusionary practices in the future. Design/methodology/approach This paper deploys CDA as informed by queer theory, affording a lens to consider how language and information are structured such that particular power dynamics emerge placing symbolic value on discursively normal identities. CDA helps illuminate when, how and why TGNC individuals remain excluded within academic librarianship practices. Findings Findings show continued investments in heteronormative and cisnormative structures concerning information provision and access for TGNC patrons. TGNC patrons using library guides consistently fail to see any mentioned made of their respective identities aside from research about their identities. Patrons seeking information of personal value (i.e. coming out resources) find few resources. Further, library stacks and databases enact consistent microaggressions such as fetishizing, deadnaming and misgendering. Research limitations/implications This project contains considerable social implications, as it pushes against a continued recalcitrance on the part of academic libraries to invest in neutrality by showing its failures regarding TGNC persons. Practical implications This study possesses a considerable set of practical implications and highlights tangible problems that could be addressed with relative ease by academic librarians through either systemic reorganization of information or TGNC patrons. Alternatively, this work also suggests that if such reformations are not possible, academic librarians can take it upon themselves to call attention to such issues and purposefully mark these failings, thus making it clear that it is a current limitation of how libraries function and invite patrons (both cisgender and transgender) to challenge and change these representations through research and advocacy. Social implications This project contains considerable social implications as it pushes against a continued recalcitrance on the part of academic libraries (and librarianship more broadly) to invest in neutrality. This study contests the idea that while possessing neutrality academic libraries also posit themselves as inherently good and inclusive. By showing the violence that remains enacted upon transgender and gender nonconforming folks through multiple venues within the academic library, this study makes clear that statements of negativity are thrust onto TGNC patrons and they remain excluded from an institution that purports to have their well-being as one of its core values. Originality/value The deployment of CDA within information science is still a relatively new one. While linguists have long understood the multiplicity of discourse beyond language, the application of this method to the academic library as a discursive institution proves generative. Furthermore, the relationship between academic libraries and their LGBTQ+ populations is both underrepresented and undervalued, a problem exacerbated when focusing on how transgender and gender nonconforming patrons see themselves and their relationships to the academic library. This paper shows the dire state of representation for these particular patrons and provides groundwork for positively changing such representations.

E-books usage by agricultural, engineering and social science students in selected universities of Pakistan

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 958-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amjid Khan ◽  
Rubina Bhatti ◽  
Asad Khan
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Survey Tool ◽  
Engineering Sciences

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the usage patterns of e-books among the students of social, agricultural, and engineering sciences; demonstrate how e-books are used by students for various purposes; explore the main reasons for using e-books; and uncover the major issues being encountered by students while using e-books in Pakistani Universities. Design/methodology/approach During May to July 2014, a convenient sample technique was adopted, and a close-ended questionnaire was used as a survey tool for 300 graduates (BSc honor) and postgraduate (masters and MS) students in the age group of 21-60 years. In this study, the respondents’ gender, age, educational level and major disciplines were individual contextual variables. The data collection process was successfully completed with a 100 per cent response rate. SPSS-19 was utilized for testing the reliability of the instrument, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test). Findings The results show that the adoption of e-books has reached a level where they have become an integral component of academic library services. The results of this study verify the previous findings that the students are relying on e-book adoption for various academic and research purposes. Comparatively, male students, postgraduate students and those between the ages of 21 and 40 years are more frequently e-book users. In addition, the percentage of e-book readership among engineering students on a “daily basis” is greater than the students of agricultural and social sciences. They prefer reading e-books because of the following reasons: to support research endeavors and improve academic performance; and the e-format is quick to read and easy to manage. Insufficient e-contents, lack of personal computers and the variety of e-book formats are the major constraints in the effective utilization of e-books for learning, education and research needs. The study has concluded that e-books have a key role in the set-up of academic libraries and information resources in Pakistan, though further development of e-book readership capabilities and building of e-book collections are required to support users’ needs, and a parallel investigation into their most effective usage is also required. Originality/value This empirical research is a first and unique study that systematically and quantitatively compares the relationship between respondents’ e-books usage with their individual contextual variables in the perspective of academic libraries in Pakistan.

scholarly journals Collaborative Academic Library Digital Collections Post-Cambridge University Press, HathiTrust and Google Decisions on Fair Use

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Fair Use ◽  
Digital Collections ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Copyright Laws ◽  
Specific Proposal ◽  
The Impact

Academic libraries face numerous stressors as they seek to meet the needs of their users through technological advances while adhering to copyright laws. This paper seeks to explore one specific proposal to balance these interests, the impact of recent decisions on its viability, and the copyright challenges that remain after these decisions

Strategies for Marketing an Academic Library in an African Setting

E-Marketing ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 609-617
Author(s):  
Sylvia A. Ogola ◽  
Japhet Otike
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Environment Characteristic ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
To Come ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
African Setting

Marketing of library services varies from one environment to another. This chapter discusses the kind of strategies that a librarian manning a university library in Africa needs to come up with to realize a successful marketing programme. The limited resources and an adverse working environment characteristic of the African situation are highlighted. It is observed that a successful marketer is one who has the right personal qualities, sensitive to the needs of the users, knowledgeable about the product, and promoting it with passion. The chapter also looks at issues that affect the marketing capabilities of academic libraries in Africa. It concludes that academic libraries in Africa have very tight budgets, and most cannot afford to earmark any funds towards marketing their services. The chapter is significant in that not much literature is available for marketing of academic libraries in an African setting, and it provides some solutions that can be applied without extra funding. Students in Africa rely on mobile phones and social networking sites to communicate, and it is recommended that the use of social media for marketing can be very effective in Africa today

If you build it, will they sort it? Compost collection in the academic library learning commons

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 340-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uta Hussong-Christian
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Sustainable Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Commons ◽  
Assessment Techniques ◽  
The Right ◽  
Working Out

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share one uncommon way that an academic library moved toward more sustainable library operations and to share lessons learned in the implementation of a compost collection program in an academic library. Design/methodology/approach Case study. Findings The right collaboration is critical to successfully implementing a library composting program and challenges like working around supply purchasing hurdles, reducing contamination in the collection bins, and working out appropriate assessment techniques may be encountered. Practical implications Academic libraries can implement compost collections program if the proper infrastructure exists and the appropriate partnerships are established. Social implications Academic libraries can be leaders in sustainable building operations and provide learning opportunities for the entire campus and surrounding community. Originality/value Very little published literature exists on implementing composting program in libraries of any kind. This case study helps to build that body of literature.

scholarly journals Students’ Information Needs and Digital Technologies in Academic Libraries

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mierzecka
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Citation Index ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Information Behaviors ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Thesis/objective – The topic of this article is the influence of digital technologies on the functioning of academic libraries in the context of their users’ needs. Users’ information behaviors have changed significantly through the influence of these technologies, what can be identified in particular in students’ behaviors. Do far-reaching changes in the way in which users, in case of this article - students, interact with information cause transformations in the functioning and mission of academic libraries? On the basis of literature containing the results of researches conducted around the world an attempt was made to present the way academic libraries react to these changes and how they modify their services and resources. Research method – The first step in responding to the actual needs of users is to conduct research in this area. For this reason, the subject of the analysis in this article were publications presenting research on the users’ (students) needs in the context of using academic libraries. The next stage was to identify the texts in which the use of digital technology was discussed. The analyzed literature was selected from leading journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A & HCI), and included articles which were published within the last 5 years (2013-2018) – a period in which digital technologies in most academic libraries in the world were most widely used, making changes caused by them possible to be diagnosed, and which corresponds to the information query. The results of the query contained 328 articles, 80 of them have been analyzed in detail, because they were deemed to contain the results of research on the functioning of academic libraries in the context of the needs and expectations of the students. Results/conclusions – On the basis of the analysis it can be concluded that the widespread use of digital technologies has changed functioning of academic libraries to a large extent, but these changes are not revolutionary. The way of implementing library tasks has changed, but the tasks themselves as well as the mission of an academic library have remained similar. One of the most important postulates for the future is the necessity of far-reaching personalization of the services being offered. The conducted analysis is based on the research presented in the literature, the next planned stage is verification of these conclusions in empirical research.

Diaghilev and British Writing

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Susan Jones
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Responses ◽  
Literary Aesthetics ◽  
Ballets Russes ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Opening Up

This article explores the diversity of British literary responses to Diaghilev's project, emphasising the way in which the subject matter and methodologies of Diaghilev's modernism were sometimes unexpectedly echoed in expressions of contemporary British writing. These discussions emerge both in writing about Diaghilev's work, and, more discretely, when references to the Russian Ballet find their way into the creative writing of the period, serving to anchor the texts in a particular cultural milieu or to suggest contemporary aesthetic problems in the domain of literary aesthetics developing in the period. Figures from disparate fields, including literature, music and the visual arts, brought to their criticism of the Ballets Russes their individual perspectives on its aesthetics, helping to consolidate the sense of its importance in contributing to the inter-disciplinary flavour of modernism across the arts. In the field of literature, not only did British writers evaluate the Ballets Russes in terms of their own poetics, their relationship to experimentation in the novel and in drama, they developed an increasing sense of the company's place in dance history, its choreographic innovations offering material for wider discussions, opening up the potential for literary modernism's interest in impersonality and in the ‘unsayable’, discussions of the body, primitivism and gender.

Biomechanical characteristics of allogeneic cortical bone pins designed for fracture fixation

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. 140-146
Author(s):  
M. R. Edwards ◽  
S. P. James ◽  
W. S. Dernell ◽  
R. J. Scott ◽  
A. M. Bachand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Cortical Bone ◽  
Fracture Fixation ◽  
Impact Testing ◽  
Left Tibia ◽  
Four Point Bending ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right ◽  
Biomechanical Comparison ◽  
Better Than

SummaryThe biomechanical characteristics of 1.2 mm diameter allogeneic cortical bone pins harvested from the canine tibia were evaluated and compared to 1.1 mm diameter stainless steel pins and 1.3 mm diameter polydioxanone (PDS) pins using impact testing and four-point bending. The biomechanical performance of allogeneic cortical bone pins using impact testing was uniform with no significant differences between sites, side, and gender. In four-point bending, cortical bone pins harvested from the left tibia (204.8 ± 77.4 N/mm) were significantly stiffer than the right tibia (123.7 ± 54.4 N/mm, P=0.0001). The site of bone pin harvest also had a significant effect on stiffness, but this was dependent on interactions with gender and side. Site C in male dogs had the highest mean stiffness in the left tibia (224.4 ± 40.4 N/mm), but lowest stiffness in the right tibia (84.9 ± 24.2 N/mm). Site A in female dogs had the highest mean stiffness in the left tibia (344.9 ± 117.4 N/mm), but lowest stiffness in the right tibia (60.8 ± 3.7 N/mm). The raw and adjusted bending properties of 1.2 mm cortical bone pins were significantly better than 1.3 mm PDS pins, but significantly worse than 1.1 mm stainless steel pins (P<0.0001). In conclusion, cortical bone pins may be suitable as an implant for fracture fixation based on initial biomechanical comparison to stainless steel and PDS pins used in clinical practice.

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