Library & Information Science Research最新文献

Feedback orientation is a measure of individual attitudes and receptivity towards feedback. Library managers and workers need to be aware of this individual difference to effectively leverage feedback for individual and organizational success. This exploratory study provides an evaluation and baseline measure of feedback orientation in libraries along with an analysis of individual and organizational factors that predict feedback orientation in library workers. An online survey of library workers (n = 332) revealed overall feedback orientation is in line with other professions. Findings show positive dispositional affect, affective-based interpersonal trust in the direct supervisor relationship, and employee's perception of organizational fairness, are all predictors of feedback orientation in library workers. This study generates awareness of feedback orientation in libraries and has implications for practice, especially for library supervisors who can tailor their feedback approaches to meet the needs of individual employees.

Migrant workers have a need for information about their home culture. These cultural information needs are affected by several factors. Qualitative data from a survey of 168 Chinese migrants, and qualitative data from 20 semi-structured interviews, yielded insights into the nature of these factors and of their influence on the migrants' acculturation. Findings indicate that psycho-cultural factors have the most influence on cultural information needs, followed by human capital factors, social interaction factors, and living situation factors. These findings suggest that the cultural information needs of migrant workers are linked to the workers' capability for cultural integration. Further discussion explores the role of cultural information in helping to enhance migrant workers' fluid identity and emotional resilience, as well as creating harmonious intergroup relationships, achieving social integration, and facilitating intercultural interactions. A theoretical and conceptual framework is proposed to help bridge the gap between studies of migrant information needs and of acculturation theory, and to increase understanding of the underlying links between information needs and cultural issues relating to migration.

Professional writing in library and information science (LIS) constructs and reifies an imagined and “hypothetical” (Sulzer & Thein, 2016) adolescent subject understood in developmental terms as the beneficiary of programs and services created by adults on their behalf. Whereas this figure of the adolescent has and continues to be called up in discussions of young adult literature and young people’s reading of the same, this construct is an implicit informant of professional assessment and recommendation of adult literature for young people. Content analysis of one year of reviews of mainstream adult fiction recommended for adolescent readers and published in the review journal, Booklist, surfaces this discourse in professional writing and demonstrates the ways in which its use in professional practice corroborates a deficit model of adolescence as it sanctions a narrow range of literate identities and practices for adolescent readers and affirms their engagement with only those genres and forms of writing adult professionals have approved for their consumption.

Public libraries are adding social workers to staff as a way of improving their response to the social services needs of library users. This case study of how one public library system undertook to hire a social worker and integrate the position into the life of the library follows the results of this undertaking for roughly 18 months, utilizing semi-structured interviews and corroborating findings with official documentation on the library's website and other documents provided directly by participants. Abbott's system of professions provides the theoretical framework for this case study, which also asks about the potential impact of social work on the profession of librarianship. Overall, participants are very satisfied with the social worker position, even though her defined duties are narrow. This study adds to the knowledge of how social workers are being embedded in libraries and provides needed insights into implications for librarianship as a profession.

Meeting young people's needs for digital reading is key to the continued growth of the digital reading market, so it is very important to discuss young people's motivations for digital reading. However, the traditional information behavior model lacks the power to explain the structural relationship between the different motivations of young people to use digital reading and to rank the importance of the motivations. The study uses the laddering method and interpretative structural modeling method (ISM) to explore the motivations of Chinese youth groups to use digital reading media. The laddering method and ISM can effectively reveal the main motivations of young people to use digital reading, and the structural relationship and action path between the motivations. The results show that youth groups choose digital reading mainly to satisfy emotional value, convenience and good experience. The study also provides optimization recommendations for promoting digital reading.

Open data has revolutionized knowledge-sharing, providing economic and cultural benefits worldwide. However, releasing government, personal, or research data often raises concerns about data security and ethical implications, leading to infringements on privacy and related disputes. The Privacy Protection Framework for Open Data (PPFOD) is proposed to address these challenges. This framework aims to establish clear privacy protection measures and safeguard individuals' privacy rights. Existing privacy protection practices were examined using content analysis, and 36 indicators across five dimensions were developed and validated through an empirical study with 437 participants. The PPFOD offers comprehensive guidelines for data openness, empowering individuals to identify privacy risks, guiding businesses to ensure legal compliance and prevent data leaks, and assisting libraries and data institutions in implementing effective privacy education and training programs, fostering a more privacy-conscious and secure data era.

Library and information science (LIS) graduate students often pursue careers in public libraries, which have faced increased challenges in supporting patrons in crisis. As a result, LIS graduate students benefit from increased training opportunities that help them gain crisis communication skills that will help them confidently and effectively interact with patrons in crisis. There is a need to provide training that is readily available, repeatable, and engaging for students. One approach that may prove valuable is the implementation of virtual reality (VR) training, which presents a low-stakes, innovative approach to support skill development in areas like empathy and crisis communication. To date, no virtual reality training for tailored crisis communication skills development in libraries exists. Examining the effectiveness of VR training for crisis communication skills among LIS graduate students included 1) creating a virtual environment and training scenario based on in-person trainings conducted by the researchers, and 2) administering pre and post tests on confidence, empathy, and de-escalation skills and then observing participant behavior in the virtual environment. Findings indicate that the VR training is overall effective and showed self-reports of increased empathy and skills for LIS graduate students. Recommendations for further study involve 1) implementing crisis communication training for students who will work in libraries (particularly public libraries); 2) extending the training contexts presented here to include other areas for skill development; and 3) more systematic consideration and conversation around the use of VR training in LIS education.

Despite a proliferation of digitally enhanced makerspaces in public libraries, there is an acute need for libraries to explore new strategies to broaden the engagement of diverse groups, especially those who do not see themselves as technology oriented. This qualitative nexus analytical inquiry analyses multimodal data from a Hebocon robot-making activity situated in a Finnish public library makerspace, targeting library and youth workers as participants. The findings illuminate how the Hebocon format helped to promote the democratization of technology and the inclusion of novices in robot-making activities, enhancing practice change by creating a safe space in which the participants felt confident about experimenting and being creative. This study contributes to research on maker practices and formats aligned with public libraries' mission particularly from the perspective of robot-making event organization, showcasing the value of the nexus analysis framework to guide research in this area.

Based on the expectancy-value theory, contextual factors related to users’ self-regulated learning (SRL) on medial Q&A platforms were investigated. A theoretical model was developed and validated through an online survey involving 483 participants with experience in health information-seeking on medical Q&A platforms. The empirical analysis yielded three main findings. First, a significant positive relationship existed between searching for health answers and SRL. Second, perceived usefulness of health answers was also positively related to SRL. Third, user satisfaction with the medical Q&A platform partially mediated the relationship between searching for health answers and SRL, as well as the relationship between perceived usefulness of health answers and SRL. This study bridges the gap between the field of self-regulated learning and medical Q&A research, providing valuable insights for improving the well-being of online health information consumers and advancing the information science community.