Library & Information Science Research最新文献

Information culture is a cultural phenomenon manifested in the organization's values, norms and practices that influence information management and use in the organization. Few studies have explored the relationship between information culture and the application of genres of online government information. This study offers a comparative case study of two provincial governments in China. The findings showed that the genres of the online COVID-19 information disclosed by the two local governments reflect different types of information cultures. In governance-oriented culture, information is regarded as an important tool to actualize good governance and the genres most appropriate for online information dissemination would be adopted to meet citizens' information needs. This kind of information culture is likely to enhance citizens' trust in government and be beneficial for government crisis management and good governance. While, in government-oriented culture, information is regarded as a tool to actualize governmental interest. This kind of information culture poses a risk for government in achieving the goal of building trust between the public and government. The value of this study lies in filling the research gap in the relationship between genre and information culture and providing pragmatic insights for local governments to enhance information disclosure by adopting appropriate genres and cultivating governance-oriented culture.

Curiosity and interest may drive engagement in digital literacy programs and contribute to overcoming digital inequalities. Curiosity triggers and features influenced digital literacy training of vulnerable groups of older adults, children from low-income families, and individuals with hearing impairments in Lithuania. A theoretical framework combining psychological and social perspectives helped to observe the phases of interest development and explore factors influencing the transformation of situational curiosity into sustained interest. Qualitative content analysis of data from graphic questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews with participants and trainers revealed that curiosity triggers, including novelty and surprise, fostered engagement, while physical and epistemic curiosity modes played key roles. The study highlights the value of perceived utility in sustaining interest. The results inform instructional design, emphasizing the importance of appealing objects, resources, and social support in promoting digital inclusion and fostering long-term interest in digital technologies for vulnerable populations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries had little opportunity to gather data on what resources were needed or valued by families during this unprecedented crisis. To understand how caregivers perceived the value of learning resources provided by public libraries, interviews with 26 caregivers were conducted. To analyze the interviews, Sørensen's (2021) framework was adopted and three recurring types of value were examined: provision of resources, role of libraries in communities, and promotion of social capital. Findings indicated that caregivers valued the provision of resources such as book bundles and online programming. Further, caregivers had new appreciation for the community aspect of libraries and for libraries as providers of social resources. In addition, caregivers valued the sense of trust they felt towards libraries and librarians. Findings have potential to inform future decision-making processes concerning learning resource provision, particularly during times of crisis.

Mainstream taxonomy schemas in public libraries are not suitable for children's book organization or children's book search behavior. In this study, the researchers developed a picture book organization schema from preschool children's perspective through an online crowdsourcing and reading advocacy program. According to 691 valid descriptions from 67 children, a total of 1064 open codes, 30 selective codes, and 3 dimensions were generated. Preschool children frequently used search elements including animal, title, item, person, plot/theme, place, and front cover. Children's title use behavior is discussed. This study partially reinforces previous findings about preschool children's search strategies for known picture books. The findings could advance knowledge of preschool children's information behavior and be used in preschool-children-oriented picture book information organization.

The number of school librarians has been shrinking in the past few years in part due to the lack of evidence linking them to student achievement. Building on a foundation of correlational studies linking school librarians with student achievement, this study uses a quasi-experimental design that mimics random assignment to treatment and comparison groups through application of a matching technique. Restricted data from North Carolina and propensity score matching was used to compare students who attended school with a full-time certified school librarian to similar students who did not attend schools with a full-time certified school librarian. In addition, this relationship for both reading and math over a four-year time span was examined. Findings include that students who attend schools with a full-time certified librarian score significantly higher on math and reading tests than do matched students who attend schools without a full-time school librarian.

In recent years, people's reading habits have undergone a digital transformation, and library funds are insufficient to meet this growing digital demand. A good way of optimizing resource allocation is the regular evaluation of suppliers to select resources. E-book resources were used as the starting point to examine the method of supplier evaluation within the concept of “smart library” using an analytic hierarchical process to integrate and weight perspectives from e-vendors, academics, and professional librarians. Findings demonstrate that both traditional and “smart” factors impact the final evaluation of e-book suppliers. In addition, the influence of smart service factors on the efficacy of library innovation can be evaluated by the linear regression method. Two systematic methods in the assessment of e-book suppliers were outlined and the concept of “smart factors” based on traditional indicators for application in constructing digital book resources was introduced.

Recent studies provide insights into library, archive and museum (LAM) professionals' attitudes toward user participation, yet they do not address how the diversity of roles LAM professionals assume may influence their attitudes toward participation. The reported findings based on a questionnaire to LAM professionals in Norway and Sweden indicate that user participation is viewed differently depending on how the professionals perceive their roles in relation to those of other professions. Analysis of the underlying relationships between the questionnaire respondents' perceptions and attitudes identifies three subject positions with associated interpretative repertoires: power sharing, outsourcing and engaging experts. Additional analysis using a four-quadrant model of user engagement that differentiates between bottom-up and top-down approaches and between areas of organizational activity suggests that the respondents primarily see themselves as experts within their respective fields and have yet to relinquish this role in favor of a more bottom-up approach to user participation.

Seeking health-related information on behalf of or because of others is a common activity in everyday life and a topic of constant interest across multiple disciplines. The research aims to characterize recent research progress and provide a comprehensive framework of proxy health information-seeking behavior (PHISB). A total of 47 studies published after 2003 were selected, followed by structural encoding. The main contributions include 1) a summary of the key characteristics of individuals who often access health information through proxy seekers; 2) types of health information surrogates sought and sources employed; 3) a classification scheme of factors influencing PHISB; 4) a synthesis of how health information used and its subsequent outcomes; 5) a theoretical framework for proxy health information-seeking. Results point to an intellectual benchmark for future exploring related issues. The findings can shed light on public health intervention and management, especially through guiding search strategies to help people obtain relevant, helpful, and credible health information.

Immigrants encounter cultural adaptation challenges impacting their health behaviors and outcomes, with health information and cultural factors influencing their actions. A survey of 340 participants from Finland, Norway, and Sweden was conducted, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modelling. Results show that health beliefs and access to health information, mainly via the Internet, significantly predict immigrants' intentions to engage in health-related actions, while perceived barriers negatively affect their adoption of healthy behavior. The findings underscore the importance of information professionals in providing culturally relevant health information and resources to immigrants and emphasize the need for policymakers to consider cultural factors and information sources in health promotion efforts targeting immigrant populations. This study adds value to the information science literature by highlighting the role of information access and cultural context in shaping health-related actions among immigrants in Nordic countries.