Pub Date : 2012-05-18DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244563
Irene Ragaller, P. Rafferty
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore some of the biases that affect the classification of Welsh art materials and to examine how they are being perpetuated both in library classification systems and beyond.Design/methodology/approach – A discourse analysis, in the loosest sense, was used to explore the research topic. Using a hermeneutic and interpretative approach facilitated an examination of some of the tacit assumptions and conceptions that shape the way in which Welsh art is spoken about, thought about, and generally represented.Findings – The paper explores biases in the classification of Welsh art in relation to the analytical categories of dispersion, dilettantism, and depreciation. Evidence is drawn from three examples of discursive practice: the application of Library of Congress subject headings in the library in Howard Gardens; the Salisbury Collection classification scheme at Cardiff University; and the descriptive text taken from the web site of the National Museum, Cardiff. T...
{"title":"Biases in the classification of Welsh art material: Dispersion, dilettantism and depreciation","authors":"Irene Ragaller, P. Rafferty","doi":"10.1108/00012531211244563","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244563","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore some of the biases that affect the classification of Welsh art materials and to examine how they are being perpetuated both in library classification systems and beyond.Design/methodology/approach – A discourse analysis, in the loosest sense, was used to explore the research topic. Using a hermeneutic and interpretative approach facilitated an examination of some of the tacit assumptions and conceptions that shape the way in which Welsh art is spoken about, thought about, and generally represented.Findings – The paper explores biases in the classification of Welsh art in relation to the analytical categories of dispersion, dilettantism, and depreciation. Evidence is drawn from three examples of discursive practice: the application of Library of Congress subject headings in the library in Howard Gardens; the Salisbury Collection classification scheme at Cardiff University; and the descriptive text taken from the web site of the National Museum, Cardiff. T...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"9 1","pages":"262-273"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74500074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-05-18DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244527
S. Merry, A. Simon
Purpose – This paper aims to report on research investigating the benefits of membership of the online community LiveJournal, for both active and non‐active participants (lurkers). It also aims to build on and develop previous research on this topic in a new context and to present some alternative perspectives on how lurking is understood by both active participants and lurkers themselves.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered using an online questionnaire made available to members of two different LiveJournal communities.Findings – The data indicate that both active participants and lurkers receive similar benefits from their membership of LiveJournal in terms of their sense of community and satisfaction with experience of the community. The percentage of lurkers who felt a sense of community and high levels of satisfaction was lower than that of the respondents who posted regularly to the community, but nonetheless represented the majority of the lurkers. The majority of overall respondents sa...
{"title":"Living and lurking on LiveJournal: The benefits of active and non-active membership","authors":"S. Merry, A. Simon","doi":"10.1108/00012531211244527","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244527","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – This paper aims to report on research investigating the benefits of membership of the online community LiveJournal, for both active and non‐active participants (lurkers). It also aims to build on and develop previous research on this topic in a new context and to present some alternative perspectives on how lurking is understood by both active participants and lurkers themselves.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered using an online questionnaire made available to members of two different LiveJournal communities.Findings – The data indicate that both active participants and lurkers receive similar benefits from their membership of LiveJournal in terms of their sense of community and satisfaction with experience of the community. The percentage of lurkers who felt a sense of community and high levels of satisfaction was lower than that of the respondents who posted regularly to the community, but nonetheless represented the majority of the lurkers. The majority of overall respondents sa...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"9 1","pages":"241-261"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76330996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-05-18DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244590
L. Tedd, Wanda Carin
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the acquisition of e‐books in libraries in institutes of technology (ITs) in Ireland undertaken in 2009.Design/methodology/approach – Web sites of the libraries of the 15 ITs were studied and this was followed by telephone interviews, using a structured set of questions, with the acquisition librarians. Tables are provided showing the e‐book suppliers used, reasons for acquiring (and not acquiring) e‐books, links with virtual learning environments and methods of promotion.Findings – Librarians from 12 of the 15 ITs agreed to be interviewed giving a response rate of 80 per cent. The ITs are using e‐books from a wide variety of suppliers and teaching staff in the ITs had little, if any, involvement in the selection of e‐book titles. Staff in the libraries find that business models for the acquisition of e‐books causes difficulties. Most of the IT libraries were investigating a consortial arrangement for e‐book acquisition. Better liaison with le...
{"title":"Selection and acquisition of e-books in Irish institutes of technology libraries: A study","authors":"L. Tedd, Wanda Carin","doi":"10.1108/00012531211244590","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244590","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the acquisition of e‐books in libraries in institutes of technology (ITs) in Ireland undertaken in 2009.Design/methodology/approach – Web sites of the libraries of the 15 ITs were studied and this was followed by telephone interviews, using a structured set of questions, with the acquisition librarians. Tables are provided showing the e‐book suppliers used, reasons for acquiring (and not acquiring) e‐books, links with virtual learning environments and methods of promotion.Findings – Librarians from 12 of the 15 ITs agreed to be interviewed giving a response rate of 80 per cent. The ITs are using e‐books from a wide variety of suppliers and teaching staff in the ITs had little, if any, involvement in the selection of e‐book titles. Staff in the libraries find that business models for the acquisition of e‐books causes difficulties. Most of the IT libraries were investigating a consortial arrangement for e‐book acquisition. Better liaison with le...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"29 1","pages":"274-288"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78137514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-05-18DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244608
Sharon Finzi, Jenny Bronstein, J. Bar-Ilan, Shifra Baruchson‐Arbib, S. Rafaeli, G. Ravid
Purpose – Citizens Advice Bureau (SHIL in Hebrew) is an information and referral service dedicated to serving the needs of citizens by providing easy access to information about citizenship rights and obligations. Many people turn to the offices of SHIL either for help or to volunteer as advisors. This study seeks to examine the information seeking behavior of SHIL volunteers supplying information services to citizens.Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical foundations of the study are based on two existing models of information searching related to everyday life problems, Foster's non‐linear model of information seeking behavior and Bates's berry‐picking approach. This research employs a qualitative method. A total of 35 advisors in different SHIL branches were interviewed and the content of the interviews was analyzed, mapped and organized into categories by using concepts and terms revealed in the data.Findings – Findings show that volunteers at SHIL search information in a way that integrates th...
{"title":"Volunteers acting as information providers to citizens","authors":"Sharon Finzi, Jenny Bronstein, J. Bar-Ilan, Shifra Baruchson‐Arbib, S. Rafaeli, G. Ravid","doi":"10.1108/00012531211244608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244608","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – Citizens Advice Bureau (SHIL in Hebrew) is an information and referral service dedicated to serving the needs of citizens by providing easy access to information about citizenship rights and obligations. Many people turn to the offices of SHIL either for help or to volunteer as advisors. This study seeks to examine the information seeking behavior of SHIL volunteers supplying information services to citizens.Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical foundations of the study are based on two existing models of information searching related to everyday life problems, Foster's non‐linear model of information seeking behavior and Bates's berry‐picking approach. This research employs a qualitative method. A total of 35 advisors in different SHIL branches were interviewed and the content of the interviews was analyzed, mapped and organized into categories by using concepts and terms revealed in the data.Findings – Findings show that volunteers at SHIL search information in a way that integrates th...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"53 1","pages":"289-303"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80403653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-05-18DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244644
María Pinto
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover Spanish history students' subjective perception of their information literacy (IL) status in order to find and suggest some academic and individual improvement actions.Design/methodology/approach – The implementation of the IL‐HUMASS survey provides diagnostic data on two IL quantitative dimensions (belief in importance and skills self‐assessment) and a third qualitative dimension (learning habits) deployed along 26 variables, which are grouped into four categories (search, evaluation, processing, and communication‐dissemination of information).Findings – The analysis confirms that variables related to information processing (above all schematising and abstracting information) show high scores of belief in importance and skills self‐assessment among students. By contrast, variables related to technological advances (above all the use of bibliographic reference managers) show the worst results. In sum, there is a lack of subjective digital literacy in a se...
目的-本文的目的是发现西班牙历史学生对其信息素养(IL)状况的主观感知，以便发现和建议一些学术和个人的改进行动。设计/方法/方法- IL - HUMASS调查的实施提供了两个IL定量维度(对重要性的信念和技能自我评估)和第三个定性维度(学习习惯)的诊断数据，这些数据部署在26个变量中，这些变量分为四类(搜索、评估、处理和信息传播)。研究结果-分析证实，与信息处理相关的变量(首先是图式化和抽象信息)显示出学生对重要性和技能自我评估的信念得分很高。相比之下，与技术进步有关的变量(首先是书目参考管理器的使用)显示出最差的结果。总之，一个国家缺乏主观的数字素养。
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Pub Date : 2012-03-30DOI: 10.1108/00012531211244509
Liz Farler, Judith Broady-Preston
Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse the results of a case study conducted in 2008/2009 investigating workplace stress in a further education college library service.Design/methodology/approach – Results from questionnaires and a series of semi‐structured interviews held with library staff are analysed and discussed in the paper.Findings – Librarians reported that interaction with students can be stressful or enjoyable, depending on context. The need to control noise levels, modify student behaviour and balance the needs of different user groups are cited as stressors. The results also show that the library staff exhibit a degree of humour and self‐awareness in their work and employ a range of methods to cope with stress.Research limitations/implications – Repeating the study more widely amongst a range of differing library services would add credibility to the findings.Practical implications – This study shows that positive stress may motivate librarians to engage actively with students and thus create ...
{"title":"Workplace stress in libraries: a case study","authors":"Liz Farler, Judith Broady-Preston","doi":"10.1108/00012531211244509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211244509","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse the results of a case study conducted in 2008/2009 investigating workplace stress in a further education college library service.Design/methodology/approach – Results from questionnaires and a series of semi‐structured interviews held with library staff are analysed and discussed in the paper.Findings – Librarians reported that interaction with students can be stressful or enjoyable, depending on context. The need to control noise levels, modify student behaviour and balance the needs of different user groups are cited as stressors. The results also show that the library staff exhibit a degree of humour and self‐awareness in their work and employ a range of methods to cope with stress.Research limitations/implications – Repeating the study more widely amongst a range of differing library services would add credibility to the findings.Practical implications – This study shows that positive stress may motivate librarians to engage actively with students and thus create ...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"2 1","pages":"225-240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72610761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-03-16DOI: 10.1108/00012531211215204
Yu-xian Liu, R. Rousseau
Purpose – The paper aims to propose the use of spline functions for the description and visualization of discrete informetric data.Design/methodology/approach – Interpolating cubic splines: are interpolating functions (they pass through the given data points); are cubic, i.e. are polynomials of third degree; have first and second derivatives in the data points, implying that they connect data points in a smooth way; satisfy a best‐approximation property which tends to reduce curvature. These properties are illustrated in the paper using real citation data.Findings – The paper reveals that calculating splines yields a differentiable function that still captures small but real changes. It offers a middle way between connecting discrete data by line segments and providing an overall best‐fitting curve.Research limitations/implications – The major disadvantage of the use of splines is that accurate data are essential.Practical implications – Spline functions can be used for illustrative as well as modelling p...
{"title":"A continuous description of discrete data points in informetrics: Using spline functions","authors":"Yu-xian Liu, R. Rousseau","doi":"10.1108/00012531211215204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211215204","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The paper aims to propose the use of spline functions for the description and visualization of discrete informetric data.Design/methodology/approach – Interpolating cubic splines: are interpolating functions (they pass through the given data points); are cubic, i.e. are polynomials of third degree; have first and second derivatives in the data points, implying that they connect data points in a smooth way; satisfy a best‐approximation property which tends to reduce curvature. These properties are illustrated in the paper using real citation data.Findings – The paper reveals that calculating splines yields a differentiable function that still captures small but real changes. It offers a middle way between connecting discrete data by line segments and providing an overall best‐fitting curve.Research limitations/implications – The major disadvantage of the use of splines is that accurate data are essential.Practical implications – Spline functions can be used for illustrative as well as modelling p...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"3 1","pages":"193-200"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75132467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-03-16DOI: 10.1108/00012531211215196
Ali Sadatmoosavi, Alireza Isfandyari-Moghaddam, O. Tajeddini
Purpose – This research aims to study the state of online resources cited in scholarly library and information science (LIS) journals which are ranked in ISI and available in the Emerald database in terms of accessibility and decay.Design/methodology/approach – Four LIS journals published by Emerald were selected from Thomson Reuters' JCR. The journals' issues from 2005 to 2008 were downloaded directly from the publisher web site and checked in terms of decay and availability of individual cited URLs.Findings – Original accessibility of studied online resources was 64 percent, which improved to 95 percent. The main adopted strategies that returned more results were using the Wayback Machine and Google, which revived online resources by 17 percent and 12 percent respectively.Practical implications – To increase the rate of web citations accessibility, some recommendations, including avoiding long URLs, citing documents found in digital collections availability on the web, working through systematic checkin...
{"title":"Accessibility of online resources cited in scholarly LIS journals: A study of Emerald ISI-ranked journals","authors":"Ali Sadatmoosavi, Alireza Isfandyari-Moghaddam, O. Tajeddini","doi":"10.1108/00012531211215196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211215196","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – This research aims to study the state of online resources cited in scholarly library and information science (LIS) journals which are ranked in ISI and available in the Emerald database in terms of accessibility and decay.Design/methodology/approach – Four LIS journals published by Emerald were selected from Thomson Reuters' JCR. The journals' issues from 2005 to 2008 were downloaded directly from the publisher web site and checked in terms of decay and availability of individual cited URLs.Findings – Original accessibility of studied online resources was 64 percent, which improved to 95 percent. The main adopted strategies that returned more results were using the Wayback Machine and Google, which revived online resources by 17 percent and 12 percent respectively.Practical implications – To increase the rate of web citations accessibility, some recommendations, including avoiding long URLs, citing documents found in digital collections availability on the web, working through systematic checkin...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"7 1","pages":"178-192"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75132662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-03-16DOI: 10.1108/00012531211215178
A. Waller, G. Ragsdell
Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate how a company's current 24‐hour e‐mail culture impacts on employees' lives outside of their contracted working hours. There are two objectives of the study – first, to calculate the average time spent on work e‐mails by employees per day outside of working hours and, second, to identify what impact e‐mail had on employees' work‐life balance by addressing three research questions. These questions aims to focus on the relationships between: employees' thoughts about company culture and their belief that their work is dependent on them checking their e‐mails outside of working hours; employees' urges to check e‐mails out of working hours and their belief that spending time on e‐mails outside of work means they are neglecting their social life; and employees sending e‐mails out of office hours and their expectation of a quick reply or action.Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was taken. Employees from a multinational service organisation were invited to...
{"title":"The impact of e-mail on work-life balance","authors":"A. Waller, G. Ragsdell","doi":"10.1108/00012531211215178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211215178","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate how a company's current 24‐hour e‐mail culture impacts on employees' lives outside of their contracted working hours. There are two objectives of the study – first, to calculate the average time spent on work e‐mails by employees per day outside of working hours and, second, to identify what impact e‐mail had on employees' work‐life balance by addressing three research questions. These questions aims to focus on the relationships between: employees' thoughts about company culture and their belief that their work is dependent on them checking their e‐mails outside of working hours; employees' urges to check e‐mails out of working hours and their belief that spending time on e‐mails outside of work means they are neglecting their social life; and employees sending e‐mails out of office hours and their expectation of a quick reply or action.Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was taken. Employees from a multinational service organisation were invited to...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"154-177"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82898820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-03-16DOI: 10.1108/00012531211215213
J. Cherry, P. Calvert
Purpose – Librarians have traditionally followed a model of service based on a professional ethic. Attempts to introduce a retail model of service have generally met with staff resistance. The study aims to ask librarians about their attitudes to the retail and professional models of service and what they did not like about the retail model.Design/methodology/approach – Data were drawn from focus groups consisting of experienced reference librarians.Findings – Results suggest that librarians behave differently while front‐stage and backstage. They resist the retail model because it is perceived to replace service based upon knowledge with fake behaviour.Practical implications – Managers can draw on the results when considering how best to improve the service provided by library staff who prefer the professional model of service over the retail model.Originality/value – The use of Goffman's theory of dramaturgy has highlighted previously unknown attitudes to service held by reference librarians that will s...
{"title":"Library service as theatre: Using dramaturgy to investigate attitudes to the retail and professional models of service","authors":"J. Cherry, P. Calvert","doi":"10.1108/00012531211215213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531211215213","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – Librarians have traditionally followed a model of service based on a professional ethic. Attempts to introduce a retail model of service have generally met with staff resistance. The study aims to ask librarians about their attitudes to the retail and professional models of service and what they did not like about the retail model.Design/methodology/approach – Data were drawn from focus groups consisting of experienced reference librarians.Findings – Results suggest that librarians behave differently while front‐stage and backstage. They resist the retail model because it is perceived to replace service based upon knowledge with fake behaviour.Practical implications – Managers can draw on the results when considering how best to improve the service provided by library staff who prefer the professional model of service over the retail model.Originality/value – The use of Goffman's theory of dramaturgy has highlighted previously unknown attitudes to service held by reference librarians that will s...","PeriodicalId":55449,"journal":{"name":"Aslib Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"201-214"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89494141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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