Toward a definition of digital object reuse

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present conceptual definitions for digital object use and reuse. Typically, assessment of digital repository content struggles to go beyond traditional usage metrics such as clicks, views or downloads. This is problematic for galleries, libraries, archives, museums and repositories (GLAMR) practitioners because use assessment does not tell a nuanced story of how users engage with digital content and objects. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews prior research and literature aimed at defining use and reuse of digital content in GLAMR contexts and builds off of this group’s previous research to devise a new model for defining use and reuse called the use-reuse matrix. Findings This paper presents the use-reuse matrix, which visually represents eight categories and numerous examples of use and reuse. Additionally, the paper explores the concept of “permeability” and its bearing on the matrix. It concludes with the next steps for future research and application in the development of the Digital Content Reuse Assessment Framework Toolkit (D-CRAFT). Practical implications The authors developed this model and definitions to inform D-CRAFT, an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant project. This toolkit is being developed to help practitioners assess reuse at their own institutions. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to propose distinct definitions that describe and differentiate between digital object use and reuse in the context of assessing digital collections and data.

Designing metadata schema for a human library: a prototype

Purpose In the absence of a working model for describing, managing and archiving the human library resources, this study aims to attempt a practical approach that will provide all the necessary information to the library users, library professionals and researchers. Design/methodology/approach Initially, different metadata standards, archival projects and attributes of the human books were reviewed to identify appropriate metadata standards that accurately describe the resources of the human library. A free and open-source software; DSpace was considered for implementing newly defined metadata schema in this study. Thereafter, a set of new subject entries was incorporated to standardize the contents of the human library. Findings This study finds that the widely used metadata schema – Dublin Core (DC) is not appropriate to describe the contents of the human book. It shows that selected metadata elements from the types – person and event of schema.org can be used for describing, organizing and archiving the resources of the human library. It further highlights that existing subject entries are not sufficient to standardize the contents of these types of resources. Research limitations/implications Two metadata fields in DSpace are strongly recommended by the DSpace community to consider in the input-forms.xml file, that is why the study could not completely omit DC metadata elements in describing human books. Originality/value The study provides a roadmap to the library professionals on the inclusion of new metadata schemas in describing the uniquely featured resources of the library.

Faculty perceptions of information literacy skills: an investigation at the Florence University Campus of Social Sciences

Purpose The Florence University Social Science Library has for some time been engaged in courses for information literacy (IL), but so far, there has been a lack of collaboration with teachers. This study aims to investigate teachers’ perception of students’ IL skills. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative investigation was based on semi-structured interviews with 24 faculty members of the Florence University Social Sciences campus. Findings Knowledge of the IL frameworks is not widespread among the teachers of the campus, but following the discussion, most of the interviewees came to acknowledge its certain validity. The teachers tend to attribute an insufficient level of information skills to the bachelor’s degree students, a good level to master’s degree and a more positive level to the postgraduates. They express appreciation of the training activity of the library, but they, nevertheless, still tend to consider librarians, as their more traditional role would suggest, only as bibliographic research experts. No one seemed to believe librarians possess those training competencies they would need to get involved in teaching curricula. The recognition of the work that has been accomplished up to now represents foundations for an increasingly necessary partnership. There is an awareness, however, that a suitable strategy which requires determination and initiative will be difficult to implement. Originality/value This study represents one of the few contributions on the perception of IL skills by faculty members in Italian universities.

Digital library services to support online learning amid COVID-19: a study of a private university library in Bangladesh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the East West University Library’s (EWUL’s) response to COVID-19 situation through their transformation to digital services. The paper tries to explain how these digital library services support the user community of East West University (EWU) in online teaching and access to information resources. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes the EWUL’s several digital services that are used to meet the needs of its user community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reflective practice approach has been undertaken for this study on the basis of the authors’ personal experiences working at an academic library. The authors used the reflective practice approach to assess the library’s practice during crisis situation, make the use of technological interventions in service providing and also to re-innovate the digital services for future. Findings During the pandemic, the library shifted all the possible physical or on-site services to digital services, i.e. online resource facilities and remote access to these, federated searching, Web online public access catalog, engaging users through social media, specialized knowledge space, online document delivery, article on request, information literacy training, virtual reference service, etc. The user engagement in all these services is also notable. Research limitations/implications The nature of this study is limited to the COVID-19 pandemic and within a particular geographic location. Practical implications This paper has implications and possible applications for other university libraries in developing countries, which intends to transform their services into digital for ensuring better service quality for their respective user community. Originality/value This paper makes a valuable contribution to the literature on how a private university library of a developing country is responding to pandemics such as COVID-19.

Digital librarianship practice and open access technology use for sustainable development in Nigeria

Purpose The continuous advancement in technology has disrupted practices in many sectors, including education. Thus, this study aims to examine digital librarianship practice and open access technology use for sustainable development in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The survey type of descriptive research design was adopted in this study while the population of the study comprised librarians in universities in Delta State. A total of 38 randomly selected librarians from four universities in Delta State were used for this study, and the data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings This study revealed that the level of digital librarianship practice in university libraries in Delta State for sustainable development is low; just as social media tools, open source integrated library systems and Google Cloud Platforms are the most commonly used open access technologies in the libraries. Furthermore, this study showed that perennial factors such as poor funding of education, inadequate quality educational infrastructure, mismanagement of education fund among others are hindrance to sustainable development in the country’s educational sector. Research limitations/implications This study is limited in its use of only one state (out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) in Nigeria for this research. Also, social desirability bias on the part of the respondents could have influenced the pattern in which the respondents reacted to items in section D. Practical implications This study has practical implications for the sensitization and training of librarians towards leveraging on the various open access technologies in delivering effective library and information services required in the Fourth Industrial revolution. Originality/value This study seeks to pioneer a new area of focus by examining digital librarianship practice and open access technology use as enablers of sustainable development.

Measuring personal and academic differences in students’ perceived social media credibility

Purpose Social media is a popular source for information sharing in the contemporary world. Social media allow individuals to create, publish and diffuse contents directly. This openness has increased the risk of running into misinformation and raised questions about credibility of information shared. This study aims to examine the credibility of social media through the perceptions of university students. It also intends to see the difference in opinions based on their gender, academic disciplines and programs of study. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on a cross-sectional survey; a structured questionnaire was developed by consulting the relevant literature. Students were selected on convenient basis from all the programs of four universities of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Four hundred students were selected randomly from each university. Findings The findings indicated that students considered social media partially credible. Currency, community wellness, understandability and completeness of information were the highly rated facets, while factual and unbiased information was the low rated aspects. The perceived credibility of social media among the university students was the same across genders, programs of study and academic disciplines. Research limitations/implications The study may be helpful for social media service providers to address the concerns that students had in their perception regarding its credibility. Originality/value This study may likely benefit faculty members, researchers, librarians/information professionals and digital libraries to understand the students’ concerns about social media credibility from a developing country’s perspective. Such understanding will enable them to better address, educate and train university students at how to evaluate the quality of information on social media by offering information literacy programs. It is direly needed that university libraries should train the students to be proficient in assessing the quality of information by offering information or digital literacy programs. Moreover, the study may be helpful for social media service providers to address the concerns that students had in their perception regarding its credibility.

Developing an open source mobile app in library services: the case of a national university in Malaysia

Purpose A surge of library activities and technological advances have increased the demand for data accuracy and agility among library clientele. Therefore, novel approaches are needed to extend library services. This paper aims to introduce the implementation of a prototype mobile library application (app) designed using an in-house open source system, Koha. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a case study using a metamorphosis process to create mobile apps. This case study is tested based on the library services with a set of activities during the system acceptance test (SAT) and also user acceptance test (UAT). An application programming interface (API) used to support two-way communication, including system-to-component and system-to-system connectivity. The design, features and advantages of this mobile app are discussed, illustrated and analyzed. The case study reports the mobile app version development from the Koha Open Source Library Information System. Findings The app was tested using user acceptance test (UAT) and system acceptance test (SAT) by library staffs who found it functional, accessible, appealing and useful. Features such as Online Public Access Catalog search, library collection scanning, patron accounts, patron personal book collection, circulation, librarian chat, QR codes for borrowing books, social media integration and notifications of library activities and events were successfully tested. This process was useful for the creation of a mobile app based on the existing library System-Koha Open Source System. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to a case study of a national university in Malaysia. Practical implications This study has some practical implications for implementing library mobile applications, e.g. it will encourage librarians to implement library applications in libraries. Originality/value This study is useful for mobile developers and libraries that plan to offer mobile library services to their patrons. This paper presents a case study of metamorphosis existing process of library open source System-Koha Open Source System.

Digital dissemination skills in public libraries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate what con`sequences the digitisation of public libraries’ knowledge dissemination and the transition to online services has, for library staff members’ perception of their skills. This discussion is interesting because library staff members, by politicians, stakeholders, and other opinion makers, have been appointed as key facilitators of citizens’ continued attachment to civil society and the labour market. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on interviews with library staff members at Danish public libraries. Empirical data were collected through semi-structured e-mail interviews, based on an interview formula, and via follow-up telephone conversations. Library professional rapports and research literature were identified and applied as a theoretical framework in the creation of the analytical apparatus. Findings There were several different explanatory models available when respondents had to articulate their current challenges. The first model regarded the library staff members’ lack of skills as a political-organisational issue, occurring because of a lack of invest in their continuing education. Continuing education had therefore become a personal matter. The second model highlighted the library staff members’ lack of skills as an individual, library professional problem, where the responsibility for solving the problem lay with the individual employee. Originality/value Several studies have been conducted on library staff members’ skills and how they change, due to the transition to digital forms of dissemination. The present study strives to give employees a voice, which is why the respondents’ experiences are the starting point for the analytical work. Such studies are essential to understanding the extent and nature of the problem.

Effect of gender, social influence, and emotional factors in usage of e-Books by Generation Z in Indonesia

Purpose The purpose of this study is to find out: gender, social and emotional factors as obstacles that influence Generation Z in using e-Books. Design/methodology/approach The method in this study is exploratory quantitative research that was conducted by testing the factors that influence the use of e-Books by Generation Z. This study was analyzed using structure equation model, which involves regressions, measuring direct and indirect effects and path analysis. Social influence, emotional attachment and gender are suspected to be a barrier in the use of e-Books by Generation Z. Findings The results of this study indicate that social influence and gender do not affect the use of e-Books, in which only emotional attachment directly affects the preference towards e-Book. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is that the sample used is still in Generation Z in Indonesia so that further research can use samples from various countries. Practical implications The results of this study can be used as a consideration for e-Books Publishers to create e-books as readers wish, for example, there is a special sound when opening e-Books, there is an easy feature to give notes in e-Books and features are presented to immediately see the link in the e-Books. Social Implications Generation Z is actually ready to use e-Books for reading activities. However, there are several things that make them consider reading e-Books. what they consider is the ease of use and the usefulness of the E-Books for their daily needs. Therefore, managers of information institutions and information providers in Indonesia can at least consider what genre of e-books collection can be provided and for whom the e-books are intended. Originality/value This research shows that Generation Z in choosing a reading format will be influenced by the intention of using the reading format, whereas the intention is influenced by the attitude in determining the reading format.