Seeing Information Cultures

Information cultures affect an organization's ability to define and implement a practical and effective information strategy. Just as business culture supports or impedes business strategy, so does information culture support or impede information strategy. Organizations typically have many information cultures, some of which may be contradictory. Unmanaged information cultures can present a significant risk in the knowledge economy. Information culture is reflected in the organization's values, norms, and practices concerning the management and use of information. The information science literature provides insufficient treatment to help us understand the day-to-day impacts of information cultures on business. It also fails to provide an inclusive description of the range of cultures extant in the information management profession and practice. Just like business cultures, information cultures exist and may vary by level of the organization. The authors call out and describe dynamic factors that affect information cultures at all five levels.

In the knowledge economy, we must manage information as a strategic business asset. Information must be an essential component of our business strategies, and the information strategy must speak to the business value of information. Information strategies are often formulated and issued only at the organization level. The authors stress the importance of developing information strategies that pertain to business units, teams, and individuals. The authors present an integrated view of information strategies to mirror and support business strategies. The integrated view is a high-level synthesis of the information science literature and practice.


2020 ◽  
pp. 096100062092193
Author(s):  
Nadeem Siddique ◽  
Shafiq Ur Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Ajmal Khan ◽  
Asif Altaf

This article reviews 62 years (1957–2018) of research in library and information science in Pakistan. A comprehensive bibliometric study was conducted using the four leading databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts). The researchers found a positive upward trend. Library research is on the rise in Pakistan. The Department of Information Management at the University of the Punjab is the major contributor to the library and information science literature. Forty percent of the total publications were published in two Pakistani journals. Older and well-established institutions like the University of the Punjab and the University of Karachi have taken the lead in publishing research. The Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces require more focus and funding.


Author(s):  
M. Dvorkina

The author offers the brief biographical information on Rujero Sergeevich Gilyarevsky whose 90-th anniversary is celebrated. She reviews the main stages of his academic and pedagogical career, in particular, his scholarly works, his two theses studies (candidate’s and doctoral), numerous publications that have been contributing to the librarianship, library and information sciences. The author emphasizes the scope of Gilyarevsky’s professional interests and retraces expanding of the subject scope of his publications – from catalog structuring (1954) to cloud technologies, information management and scientometrics. Rujero Gilyarevsky analyzes the problems of the libraries (and e-libraries, in particular), their future, professional values of the librarians within the digital communication environment, bibliography as an element of information culture. R. Gilyarevsky has complete mastery of several foreign languages. The selected bibliography of R. Gilarevsky’s publications, including those co-authored by his colleagues, is appended.


2011 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 443-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Mercer

Academic librarians are increasingly expected to advocate for scholarly communications reforms such as open access to scholarly publications, yet librarians do not always practice what they preach. Previous research examined librarian attitudes toward open access, whereas this article presents results of a study of open access publishing and self-archiving behaviors of academic librarians. Following an analysis of open access to library and information science literature in 2008, several strategies to encourage academic librarians to continue to embrace open access behaviors are discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Druery ◽  
Nancy McCormack ◽  
Sharon Murphy

Objective - The term “best practice” appears often in library and information science literature, yet, despite the frequency with which the term is used, there is little discussion about what is meant by the term and how one can reliably identify a best practice. Methods – This paper reviews 113 articles that identify and discuss best practices, in order to determine how “best practices” are distinguished from other practices, and whether these determinations are made on the basis of consistent and reliable evidence. The review also takes into account definitions of the term to discover if a common definition is used amongst authors. Results – The “evidence” upon which papers on “best practices” are based falls into one of the following six categories: 1) opinion (n=18, 15%), 2) literature reviews (n=13, 12%), 3) practices in the library in which the author works (n=19, 17%), 4) formal and informal qualitative and quantitative approaches (n=16, 14%), 5) a combination of the aforementioned (i.e., combined approaches) (n=34, 30%), and 6) “other” sources or approaches which are largely one of a kind (n=13, 12%). There is no widely shared or common definition of “best practices” amongst the authors of these papers, and most papers (n=94, 83%) fail to define the term at all. The number of papers was, for the most part, split evenly amongst the six categories indicating that writers on the subject are basing “best practices” assertions on a wide variety of sources and evidence. Conclusions – Library and information science literature on “best practices” is rarely based on rigorous empirical methods of research and therefore is generally unreliable. There is, in addition, no widely held understanding of what is meant by the use of the term.


COMeIN ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Ortoll ◽  
Josep Cobarsí-Morales

El pasado 27 de octubre tuvo lugar en Barcelona, hospedado por la UOC, el workshop “Future of Information Environments, Thinking and Building with ASIS&T”, organizado por ASIS&T (Association for Information Science and Technology), OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), el Departamento de Biblioteconomía y Documentación de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid y el grupo de investigación KIMO (Knowledge and Information Management in Organizations) de la UOC. En el workshop, primer acto organizado por ASIS&T en España, se discutieron algunas tendencias sobre el futuro de los entornos de información y sobre como las personas interactúan con las tecnologías.


Author(s):  
A. Humenchuk

The purpose of the article is to explore the experience and to identify the best practices for modernizing the content and organizational structure of multilevel training of librarians in China. The methodology. The study has used a systematic approach, which allowed to consider all components of the Chinese higher education in the specialties “Library, Archive and Information Science”, to establish the continuity of educational levels of librarians, to find out the factors determining the training system’s modernization. There was carried out comparative and content analysis of the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral higher education levels educational programs, implemented by Chinese universities in the specialty “Library Science”, “Information Management and Information Systems”. This allowed to determine the general and the specifics of the Information Field Science training in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), to establish interdisciplinarity educational components, to substantiate the objective strengthening of the information component in the content of higher education in library science. The results. The article has looked into the content and structure of 227 different levels educational programs (EP) of the information specialists training, with 41% of them being the Bachelor’s level EP, 49% — Master’s, and 9% — Educational-Scientific Programs (ESP) for the Doctor of Management degree (an equivalent to the Doctor of Philosophy) in Information Sciences, provided in 108 universities in China. There were clarified the EP peculiarities: about 40% of them are programs dedicated to Information Management and Information Systems (Program in Information Management & Information Systems); 35% — EP in Library Science (Program in Library Science); 31.5% — EP in Archive Science (Program in Archive Science). In terms of content, most EPs are interdisciplinary, which is due to the national information infrastructure digitalization and the focus of its components to support the basic technological processes of the information management life cycle. It is established that Chinese universities adhere to the IFLA Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Educational Programs. The scientific topicality. It is substantiated that in the digital information market the content of modern librarian training should be updated with such relevant interdisciplinary educational components as: “Principles of competitive intelligence and artificial intelligence”, “Electronic library and consolidated information management”, “Intelligent control systems”, “Information security systems”, “Economics of Management and Information Industry”, “Methods of data mining”, “Knowledge extraction and management”, “Analysis and design of information systems”. The practical significance. Ukrainian institutions of higher education when improving educational programs in the can use the study results. Addressing to the best foreign practices of the library specialists training will allow increasing their competitiveness in the world information market and promoting better efficiency of the Ukrainian libraries work in the conditions of the society digitalization.


Author(s):  
Sabina Cisek ◽  
Monika Krakowska

Purpose/Thesis: The paper contains a methodological reflection on qualitative analysis of visual empirical data as a research procedure in the contemporary human information behavior research. The possibility of implementing this approach has been tested on a case study of personalized information spaces in everyday life of undergraduate information management students in the academic year 2018/2019.Approach/Methods: The reported research employs the realist epistemological stance, qualitative and descriptive approaches, and four methods/techniques: critical literature review, case study, drawing as a mental mapping tool, and thematic analysis. Results and conclusions: Visual data analysis is cognitively fruitful; it enables grasping the multidimensional “information reality” as perceived by the users (the humanistic coefficient). However, it is time-consuming, it requires meticulousness and self-reflection on the part of the researcher; it must also leave a clear audit trail to assure credibility and intersubjective verifiability of investigations.Originality/Value: The article is concerned with innovative research procedures, rarely discussed in Polish information science literature. Combining visual approach with individual information spaces, it corresponds to the latest methodological and topical trends in the field of information behavior. It also links theoretical reflection with the research practice.


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