Journal of Academic Librarianship最新文献

The digital era has fostered significant advancements in data visualization (DV) within the field of academic libraries, establishing it as a focal point of widespread interest. The objectives of this study are: i) to identify the responsibilities that professionals working in the DV field are expected to undertake, and ii) to analyze the current stated qualifications and competencies required for DV-related positions. This study adopted content analysis approach by extracting and organizing DV-related job posting data from the IASSIST Jobs Repository and the IFLA LIBJOBS website through NCapture and NVivo tools, and using VOSviewer and Pajek software to conduct frequency and thematic clustering analyses of job characteristics, responsibilities and competency requirements of 126 job advertisements identified in the final screening. The findings indicated that library professionals in the field of DV are increasingly tasked with a broader spectrum of responsibilities and duties, with a pronounced preference for those demonstrating expertise in cross-disciplinary domains and possessing exceptional general competencies, in addition to the requisite professional qualifications and skills, such as interdisciplinary liaison and commitment to equity and diversity. This study offers training and professional development direction for academic librarians and prospective practitioners, as well as practical recommendations for the transformation of library services.

This article addresses the question of whether personal publication lists should be used as a data source in research evaluation, or whether, as is widespread in practice, existing databases, such as Web of Science, can be used instead. For this purpose, an empirical study was carried out in which all business administration university professors (n = 233) of a non-English-speaking country, namely Austria, were ranked in several ways (e.g., full or fractional counting, consideration or non-consideration of journal rankings). All rankings were based on the number of published journal articles (n = 4246; observation period: 10 years). In one case, the personal publication lists and in the other case, the Web of Science were used as data source for these rankings. The rankings created in these two ways were compared with each other. The results show that the choice of the data source has a major influence on the ranking results. For researchers from non-English-speaking countries with (many) publications in their respective national languages, an exclusive use of international databases, such as Web of Science in our case, cannot fully consider the whole research performance. In these cases, the use of personal publication lists seems to make a lot of sense, at least for several ranking variants, despite the effort involved. The main contribution of our study is that we compare personal publication lists as a data source with Web of Science which is often used in research evaluations. In addition, this comparison is not, as usual, input-related (based on the degree of coverage in the two data sources) but impact-related (based on rankings that are created based on the publications contained in the two data sources).

Faculty status for librarians is one of the most debated topics within academic librarianship (Bailey & Becher, 2022). Professional associations argue that faculty status benefits librarians, but little empirical work has explored how faculty status plays out in real-world settings (Galbraith, Garrison, & Hales, 2016). This study investigates whether faculty status helps librarians overcome barriers using a comparative case study of two academic libraries representing polarity on this issue. One library offers librarians tenure-track faculty appointments; the other classifies librarians as staff. Through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, the study explores administrative obstacles faced by librarians and whether faculty status ameliorates them. This study also examines if debates over librarian faculty status ignore inequality regimes (Acker, 2006) that may appear in both faculty and staff settings. Surprisingly, findings reveal faculty status is associated with more workplace hierarchies and stress, especially for female librarians. Contrary to claims made by faculty status proponents, most librarians feel equally undervalued by disciplinary faculty regardless of status. Ultimately, blanket recommendations for faculty status seem ineffective, and nuanced solutions tailored to local contexts better serve librarians. This study encourages an honest dialogue to empower librarians based on individual needs, not rigid assumptions.

This study uses data for >3300 business and economics journals to explore the relationships between 5 subjective (expert) journal ratings and 10 citation metrics including 5IF (5-year Impact Factor), Article Influence (AI) score, CiteScore, Eigenfactor, Impact per Publication, SJR, and SNIP. Overall, AI and SJR are the citation metrics most closely related to the expert journal ratings. Comparisons of paired citation metrics that are similar in all but a single key characteristic confirm that expert journal ratings are more closely related to size-independent citation metrics than to size-dependent metrics, more closely related to weighted metrics than to unweighted metrics, and more closely related to normalized metrics than to non-normalized metrics. These results, which are consistent across the 5 expert ratings, suggest that evaluators consider the average impact of an article in each journal rather than the total impact of the journal as a whole, that they give more credit for citations in high-impact journals than for citations in lesser journals, and that they assess each journal's relative standing within its own field or subfield rather than its broader scholarly impact. No single citation metric is a good substitute for any of the expert ratings considered here.

This article explores the case study of an embedded librarian in a faculty learning community (FLC) dedicated to inclusive and equitable pedagogy. By embedding in a faculty learning community that focuses on revising a syllabi to be more inclusive and equitable, the libraries are able to affect change at the curricular level and create stronger impact than traditional course embedding. This FLC was designed to provide faculty with resources across multiple support offices which led to continuity and sustainability for the program, furthering student success at the university.

Academic libraries have moved swiftly to grasp the challenges and opportunities of the new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The body of academic and practice-based literature is growing fast, showing how libraries are exploring their role in Information Literacy (IL) and AI, ethics and AI, and how they vigorously test and adopt various AI-powered tools for their services. Across these accounts, librarians express concern about their competence, skills and knowledge of the new technology and its implications for the research community. In this article, we present a holistic process model called the B-Wheel that addresses the phenomenon's complexity with approaches adopted from design thinking ideologies. We propose design approaches as an alternative strategy for academic libraries that want to avoid partial optimisation of AI skills and to ensure more generative competency building in their organisation. We drew inspiration for the B-Wheel model from the principles and pedagogy of the 20th-century Bauhaus art and design school in Germany. The article focuses on the model's features and its elements, constructed through workshops in Scandinavian research libraries. We also present experiences from the first use case in a University Library in Scandinavia. We propose that the main principles of the B-Wheel process model – a holistic design approach and learning by doing – are transferable across and beyond academic libraries.

Textbook affordability programs and the promotion of OER are well-established priorities for many academic libraries, but few studies have examined the prevalence of such programs either in general or across institution types. This paper presents the results of a study designed to gather information about textbook affordability initiatives at university libraries that are members Association of Research Libraries. It uses information from the publicly available websites of ARL libraries in the United States to determine how many of those institutions maintain textbook affordability programs, with those figures further broken down by status (public/private) and membership in the Open Education Network. In addition, the findings reveal some notable characteristics of textbook affordability programs, including an overall lack of visibility on institutional websites, a marked variety in financial incentives, and evidence of programs that have been discontinued.

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academic librarianship necessitates a corresponding evolution in librarians' competencies. This case study examines the GPT-4 Exploration Program at the University of New Mexico's College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences, which aimed to foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation by providing hands-on experience with advanced AI technology. Drawing on Malcolm Knowles' Adult Learning Principles, the program's structure and implementation are analyzed, highlighting the diverse range of projects undertaken by participants. The study reveals that effective AI reskilling involves cultivating a culture of continuous learning, adaptability, and collaborative exploration, anchored in a practical, hands-on approach. Participants reported significant improvements in AI literacy and confidence in applying AI tools to their work. The program's success demonstrates the potential of well-structured reskilling initiatives in empowering library professionals to navigate the evolving landscape of AI in academic libraries. The case study offers insights and strategies for other academic libraries seeking to develop AI reskilling initiatives, emphasizing the importance of fostering a supportive learning environment, addressing technical and ethical challenges, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of such programs. The GPT-4 Exploration Program serves as a blueprint for integrating AI into library services and operations.

The proactive utilization of generative AI to assist college students' learning is an emerging trend in educational innovation. This study introduces a system that integrates Learning Companion Systems with Mandala Chart Scaffolding, aimed at freshman projects, to investigate its impact on enhancing freshmen's self-efficacy in information literacy and their perception of self-regulated learning when utilizing virtual librarian services. The Mandala Chart Scaffolding, a strategic tool designed to structure and visualize information, complements the Learning Companion System by providing a coherent framework for students to organize and reflect on their learning resources and activities. Implemented in a Creative Thinking course at a National University of Science and Technology in central Taiwan, the study randomly assigned 110 freshmen to Experimental Group A (using both System), Experimental Group B (only the Learning Companion System), and a control group. The findings revealed that the experimental groups, particularly Group A, significantly outperformed the control group in boosting information literacy self-efficacy. Moreover, the intervention positively influenced the students' perception of self-regulated learning. These results offer valuable insights for academic libraries on the potential of integrating generative AI-based Learning Companion Systems with Mandala Chart Scaffolding to enhance freshman learning experiences and foster effective use of library resources.

The research was intended to be the initial step in modifying the scope of practical skills training provided by an academic library at a research university with a universal profile. Two questions were posed: what topics are covered in the workshops offered by the world's top university libraries, and how frequently do specific topics appear in this offering. A total of 494 workshop descriptions from 34 libraries were analyzed. Data collection took place between January 27 and February 25, 2023. A thematic analysis method using a mixed qualitative/quantitative approach was employed. An inductive procedure was generally followed, though the entire process was iterative. The findings revealed that the workshops are designed to prepare participants to function in all basic areas of academic activity and to develop nonacademic competencies while enhancing personal life. A total of 57 different topics were identified and classified into seven general categories. Topics related to conducting research were the most common, accounting for 34.2 % of all occurrences. Almost half of them (45.4 %) addressed issues related to working with research data. Topics on tools and technologies were the second most common.