Challenges of Information Infrastructures for Open Science and Academic Libraries

Abstract

Purpose/Thesis: The paper reviews the main concepts of information infrastructure, information environment, and information behavior of researchers in the context of digital revolution. The concept of open science and new models of scholarly communication are considered.Approach/Methods: Related studies of information infrastructure and information behavior of researchers are analyzed. We report on the results of a series of qualitative studies of information behavior and of information ecology of the academic environment in Slovakia based on interviews with doctoral students, expert researchers and information managers. We apply a previously deve­loped original methodology of concept mapping.Results and conclusions: The results allow us to re-consider relevance assessment in the digital environment and to present a model of the information ecology in the information environment. We present the analyzed data represented by the concept maps which show the attitudes of rese­archers to open science, economic models of science and values of researchers. The final model of academic information ecologies is explained, and a new interactive model of the academic library is presented.Practical implications: We suggest the implications for the development of information science and for the education of information professionals.Originality/Value: Original models emphasize values of academic research, values of information, value-added services of academic libraries, and value-sensitive design of digital libraries.