Journal of Academic Librarianship最新文献

Information literacy is a crucial skill often overlooked by faculty in higher education, who expect incoming Gen Z students to have some ability to navigate the information landscape appropriately and efficiently either from prior high school instruction or simply by the ubiquity of information access. Assessments of college students' information literacy paints a different picture, indicating that information literacy instruction is required and that deliberate efforts should be made to aid students in proper evaluation and use of informational media. This study investigates the value of generalized information literacy instruction at a medium-sized, public 4-year university in a rural area. Student knowledge is assessed pre- and post-instruction to determine specific impacts of information literacy instruction on various facets of information literacy – source quality, relevance, and context. Specifically, the purpose of this research is to determine (1) whether information literacy varies across students in different fields/disciplines and (2) if so, whether generalized information literacy instruction tends to close those cross-disciplinary gaps or extend existing disparities. Data collected herein demonstrate that gains in information literacy vary substantially by academic discipline. For example, students in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts began with the second-highest average pre-instruction scores (75.00 %) and exhibited the largest gains between pre- and post-instruction assessments (+12.14 %). The results obtained in this study indicate that generalized instruction tends to inflate existing disparities in information literacy between disciplines. Based on these findings, there is ample evidence to suggest that discipline-specific information literacy instruction could provide students with larger individual gains and potentially allow information literacy to converge across fields.

This article reports on the findings of assessment tools designed to measure undergraduate students' academic engagement, psychological factors (self-regulation), factors affecting academic work, and students' evaluation of their academic success. Two assessment tools (Student Academic Engagement and Success Survey and Online Weekly Journal) were developed to explore these relationships. The Student Academic Engagement and Success Survey was distributed online to undergraduate students and the Online Weekly Journal was used to measure student engagement over an 8-week period with a subgroup of the survey participants. The use of the physical and online library emerged as the top two frequently utilized campus resources. Factors that affected students' performance related to their academic work included stress, social media, and socializing with friends. Students who perceived themselves as not meeting their academic success goals may have compensated by utilizing library resources more frequently. The findings highlight the complex dynamics of students' characteristics, academic engagement, library utilization, their ability to manage their behaviors, and various factors shaping their perception of academic success.

Academic libraries now host specialized units capable of digitally reproducing three-dimensional (3D) objects-of-study. Deployed in virtual and augmented reality, these surrogates provide the means for researchers and students to remotely experience diverse scholarly materials first-hand, though this content seldom finds its way into institutional repositories or peer-reviewed literature where it could be reused and cited. The following, then, is intended as a survey of interrelated - but administratively disparate - 3D data production, (immersive) analytics, and preservation methods, which combine to connect a range of computational processes. By illuminating the complete lifecycle of 3D data in this way, current and future practitioners – including those positioned withing more traditional library facilities and service units – can implement scalable processes that ensure the scholarly rigor of 3D contents, thereby preserving these materials as credible (i.e., FAIR) primary sources for downstream citation by researchers across disciplines.

This study investigates the ability of voice assistants and generative AI tools to respond to reference questions traditionally received by academic librarians. The authors created a sample of 25 questions based on queries received on the virtual reference service at their institution. They then created a rubric to evaluate the quality of the answers that the AI powered tools provided. The authors determined that the tools understand reference questions well and provide relevant answers but that the quality of the references provided, and the accuracy of the answers can be lacking. They suggest that more research needs to be done to understand the place of AI powered tools in reference services.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered libraries in various ways and raised concern about its potential ethical consequences therein. A number of approaches have been developed to encourage ethical AI and audit the ethics of specific AI applications, but very few approaches have been applied or tested, especially in a library setting, and so it remains unclear which, if any approaches are suitable or useful for encouraging ethical AI in libraries. We applied Ethical Foresight Analysis as an approach to identify possible ethical risks of an AI project for (semi-)automated subject indexing in a large research library. Specifically, to identify risks we conducted a two-round ethical Delphi study wherein experts on AI development, library practices, and AI ethics sought consensus on potential risks and their relative importance. The experts' post-test reflections on the procedure were then collected to inform an evaluation of the approach's feasibility. A variety of ethical risks of the specific project and of general AI indexing were indeed identified, most notably discrimination and under-representation stemming from attributes of the bibliographic training data provided by the library (e.g. varied historical contexts and gaps left by unindexed items). However, we identified some drawbacks of the approach tested: (1) it is time-consuming, which is likely prohibitive for many libraries, and (2) the identified risks were mainly well-known issues of AI and its training data rather than the subtle, application-specific, and human-centred issues that ethical foresight analysis might be employed to identify. Thus, although libraries should continue to model ethical AI through careful planning and auditing, alternative development and auditing approaches may be more practical to undertake and more effective at identifying novel or application-specific issues.

For many reasons, not every organizational member will have equal access to career progression or senior leadership positions. Barriers to advancement have been widely studied with demographic differences (e.g., gender, race) but little research has focused on deep-level, cognitive differences. Reasons for disproportionate advancement may be related to individual differences between groups, perceptual biases, or contextual factors. The present study investigated differences between two groups of information science professionals, one that readily advances to senior positions, and the other that does not. In a sample of 460 librarians and archivists, it was found that the two groups were largely similar on individual differences yet varied in their experiences at their organization. Both groups had overlapping personal values and similar levels of worry/concern about leading. However, archivists were significantly lower in engagement at work, leadership support/development, and affective motivation to lead. Recommendations for future research are discussed and it is suggested that organizations pay attention to imbalances in engagement and opportunities across units/specialties.

Library and information science (LIS) has long consisted of more women than men, at least in sheer numbers of library employees, but men are the primary authors of library literature. This study explores LIS literature published between 2003 and 2021 to identify if there are differences in the publishing patterns of women and men. The authors used content analysis to code the entire sample to identify overall subject trends after authors were categorized as women or men by mainly automated methods, using two R packages, genderize and ssa. The results show that there are overall inequities when compared to the profession as whole between the publishing rates of women and men in LIS, as well as differences in publication patterns by subjects and within specific journals. Shifts in subjects over the period under investigation did not increase the percentage of women publishing in the selected LIS journals. The authors conclude more research needs to be conducted to determine the cause of inequities in publishing not just among women and men, but all underrepresented voices in LIS.

Background

Social networking sites (SNSs) have made information sharing easier than ever, this ease has also facilitated the spread of misinformation.

Objective

To ascertain and validate the uses and gratifications (U&G) factors associated with fake news-sharing behaviors on SNSs.

Methods

A five-factor model based on the U&G theory was measured to estimate fake news-sharing behavior among university students, using the structural equation modeling.

Findings

Passing time has a strong positive influence on fake news sharing behavior (β = 0.517, CR = 4.017, p < 0.001). Information seeking has a weak and non-significant positive influence on fake news sharing behavior (β = 0.308, CR = 1.569, p = 0.117). However, socialization (β = −0.164, CR = −1.883, p = 0.377), entertainment (β = −0.070, CR = −0.878, p = 0.380), and information sharing (β = −0.044, CR = −0.295, p = 0.768) gratifications have non-significant negative influences on fake news sharing behavior. The goodness-of-fit indices indicate that the proposed model is acceptable (${\chi }^2$ = 2.195 df = 237; p < 0.001; GFI = 0.920; IFI = 0.901; CFI = 0.899; SRMR: 0.077; RMSEA = 0.049).

Conclusion

Passing time is the key predictor of fake news sharing behavior, while information-seeking gratification also contributes positively to this behavior. The study suggests several different approaches to prevent the spread of fake news, including implementing news literacy programs, installing a firewall, supporting fact-checking organizations, and implementing regulations and legislations for responsible social media practices.

Implications

The study is significant because it goes beyond the “what” of fake news sharing to understand the “why”. This deeper understanding can lead to more effective solutions for promoting responsible information-sharing behavior and combating the spread of fake news in the post-truth era.

Information security compliance means that library staff follows the rules, guidelines, and principles related to information security and implements the security measures provided in the library. This ensures the protection of sensitive information stored and processed in the library environment. This study examined the impact of information security awareness in academic libraries on information security compliance. In a descriptive survey design adopted in the study, the survey data of 136 personnel working in academic libraries in Türkiye were analysed. The findings revealed that information security awareness has a positive and significant impact on information security compliance (R² = 0.983, β = 0.991, t₍₁₃₆₎ = 19.267, p < 0.05). The study concluded that information security awareness is necessary to ensure information security compliance in academic libraries. Consequently, there is a clear need for policy and training programs to enhance information security awareness and compliance among academic library staff. The findings of this study will not only contribute to the literature in the field of information security but also provide an important foundation for improving practices in this area. Therefore, it is important for academic libraries to develop effective policies and training programs to increase awareness of information security and promote staff compliance.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing non-enrollment in LIS programs among university students. A survey was administered to 537 students to assess their opinions on librarians, reasons for not pursuing library and information science programs, and perspectives on the importance of university libraries. Results indicate highly favorable perceptions of librarians as knowledgeable, approachable professionals who relate well with people. The primary deterrents from enrolling in library science were a lack of personal interest/ambition rather than negative views of the program itself. Students overwhelmingly agreed that libraries are vital resources within universities, strongly supporting increased funding, technological enhancements and that online resources could not fully replace physical libraries. This study provides timely insights into students' multi-faceted perceptions of librarians' roles, the library science discipline, and the evolving position of university libraries amidst technological shifts. The results can inform strategies for optimizing library services and attracting future professionals to the field.