Identifying and Classifying User Typologies Within a United Kingdom Hospital Library Setting: A Case Study

The research studied the status of hospital librarians and library services to better inform the Medical Library Association's advocacy activities. The Vital Pathways Survey Subcommittee of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians distributed a web-based survey to hospital librarians and academic health sciences library directors. The survey results were compared to data collected in a 1989 survey of hospital libraries by the American Hospital Association in order to identify any trends in hospital libraries, roles of librarians, and library services. A web-based hospital library report form based on the survey questions was also developed to more quickly identify changes in the status of hospital libraries on an ongoing basis. The greatest change in library services between 1989 and 2005/06 was in the area of access to information, with 40% more of the respondents providing access to commercial online services, 100% more providing access to Internet resources, and 28% more providing training in database searching and use of information resources. Twenty-nine percent (n = 587) of the 2005/06 respondents reported a decrease in staff over the last 5 years. Survey data support reported trends of consolidation of hospitals and hospital libraries and additions of new services. These services have likely required librarians to acquire new skills. It is hoped that future surveys will be undertaken to continue to study these trends.

St John Ambulance has an established role in First Aid but is perhaps less well known for its work in caring and supporting vulnerable members of the community. The introduction of the NHS and Community Care Act provided oppor-tunities for St John Ambulance to review this aspect of its work and develop services that meet the needs of individuals in a wide variety of settings. As a result, a number of diverse schemes have been developed. These include day centres for people with physical disability and the provision of first-contact health services for homeless people. In addition to these new initiatives St John Ambulance has also been able to examine long-standing commitments with a view to developing strategies for change. Amongst these commitments was the hospital library service in England. St John Ambulance had been involved in the delivery of this service since the First World War and is still one of the main providers of books for patients in hospital. 1 It was argued that a review of the service was required for a number of reasons. First the services had not been reviewed for a long time and many of the personnel involved were well advanced in years. Second, the length of inpatient stay was declining and this, coupled with an increase in outpatient services and day surgery, meant that individuals were often not in hospital long enough to read a book. Third, changes in the organization of the NHS meant that the new Trusts had no understanding of the hospital library service. Local service organisers reported that Trust managers seemed to know little about it and did not appear to value it. This paper presents some key aspects of the review undertaken by St John Ambulance in conjunction with the Health and Social Care Research Centre at the University of Central England. The aims of the review were to determine the current nature of the service provided by St John Ambulance to hospital patients and identify factors that required change. In addressing these aims a number of questions arose. For example, ‘How is the service organized?’‘How do people involved in the service feel about it?’ From the multiplicity of questions it was evident that no single investigative approach was likely to provide the comprehensive picture of the service that was required. 2 Consequently, a multi-method approach was used and this included: • A telephone survey of the 22 personnel who organized the library service provided by St John Ambulance. • Telephone interviews with service managers and, where appropriate, staff in the county library services. All interviews were conducted using a prepared question grid that provided space in which the interviewer could record answers. These were then analysed to identify themes and key issues. The most popular books were said by all organisers to be large-print fiction and holiday-type reading. Some non-fiction such as biographies, travel and hobbies was also popular. Organisers thought it unnecessary to provide health-related books because the hospital staff gave such good patient education. Only one organiser reported supplying foreign language books. The weight of the books was important, because some patients were unable to lift heavy texts. This meant that paperback editions were usually more appropriate even if these did not last as long as hardbacks. Several organisers supplied talking books that were of particular benefit to those with visual impairment and people who could not read. However, talking books were not always a success in hospital wards because a member of staff had to be responsible for the equipment and know how to operate it. Staff were not always willing to take on this responsibility and consequently cassette players were lost or damaged. In addition there were difficulties in ensuring that tapes were returned. This was partly due to the absence of secure collection points but it was also not unusual for books to be returned with the last cassette missing because the patient had not finished the book before discharge. The organization and administration of the patient library service was the responsibility of unpaid county organisers. The service depended very heavily on these individuals and the commitment they brought to their work. A lot was expected of them and they invested a great deal of time and effort in the service. Service reductions due to hospital closure, failure to renew contracts and the difficulties of trying to provide a library caused despondency and dis-illusionment for some individuals. Those linked to the county library service did not have to undertake book buying or cataloguing. Both area organisers and county staff praised these links as advantageous because they provided patients with access to catalogued, public library stock. Books on loan to the hospitals were changed regularly and the library could afford to supply both tapes and large print editions. In contrast, organisers working alone had to undertake all the work with the result that some did not have a proper catalogue. Losses generally were difficult to monitor because no record was kept of patient details. Two county organisers had set up deals with publishing houses to obtain imperfect copies of books; others relied on cut-price bookshops, sales and donations. Main-tenance of the stock was problematic in that some patients, by nature of their illness or disability, soiled books. In addition, every library received donations that had to be carefully vetted, because many were unsuitable for patients; there were also books in stock that were very old and unread. Unwanted gifts of books and old stock were sometimes sold to raise money. The presence of volunteers was welcomed because employing paid staff would have made the service too expensive. The number of volunteers varied greatly between counties, from single figures in some places to almost a hundred in others. County organisers used a variety of strategies to attract people, including the volunteer bureau, advertising in newspapers and in churches, speaking on local radio and word of mouth. This last strategy was very effective because people found it difficult to refuse a personal invitation.3,4 Overall the results of these strategies were variable, with some counties recruiting more than others. The majority of volunteers were older, white women who been part of the service for quite some time. Very few men or young people joined the service. A number of reasons were given for this. Younger people were more likely to find paid employment and were therefore not available during the day when the service operated. Women were thought to be more generous with their spare time than men and volunteering was associated with a particular age group, level of education and social class. 4 It was generally agreed that volunteers required certain qualities. Social skills were the most important; volunteers had to be able to approach patients in a well-mannered fashion, strike up conversations with strangers and not mind being in contact with the sick. There was recognition that patients needed more than just a book handed to them. Older adults in particular might have very few visitors, or none at all, and the hospital librarians therefore provided much welcomed social contact. It was inevitable that some patients would talk about their problems. Consequently, the librarian needed the maturity to maintain confidentiality and the ability to show concern without getting involved or taking on work that was normally the province of paid, professional staff. Volunteers had to be reliable because the service depended on their contribution and physically strong to cope with moving the trolley and lifting books. An interest in books and love of reading was desirable but not as essential as the other attributes. These qualities echoed the recommendations of Going 5 and Willis 6 who argued that volunteers in the hospital library service should be discreet, friendly and able to work with sick people. They should be able to co-operate with others, respond to requests from patients, and have a familiarity with books and reading. The ability to maintain records was also important to prevent books being lost, as well as the strength to do the work. These findings indicated that the patient library service was in need of a new look. Revitalizing the service should include providing purchasers with specific information regarding its value and what it can offer to patients rather than rely on the vague idea that it is in some way a good thing. Service planning should take account of the nature of the locality and client groups to be served. In areas where the number of inpatients has declined it might be appropriate to target specific groups of patients and develop the service in a way that is suited to their needs. 7 This could provide opportunities for some creativity. For example, volunteers could be recruited to read to patients, form special interest groups or facilitate activities such as singing.8,9 It is possible that patient libraries could be joined with other activities such as patient education to provide a wider range of books and information. In all of this, attention must be paid to the demands made on area organisers. Providing the service required considerable commitment on their part. They were responsible for recruiting, training and organizing volunteers, buying books, maintaining the stock and handling administration. The pressures on them were immense and it was clear that they required not only support but also practical assistance. A final issue concerns the nature of the volunteers who were mostly older women. Contact with the sick and dealing tactfully with people requires a certain level of maturity and it is therefore possible to argue that older adults are better placed to undertake patient library work. However there is a need to consider both the demands currently placed on existing volunteers, especially county organisers, and the future of the service, by recruiting and retaining new people to meet the needs of patients in a changing health service. The author would like to thank Margaret Forrest and the Archives of the British Red Cross, London, for help in preparing the report on which this paper is based.

This paper, which is largely based on the findings of my doctoral study, investigated the contribution of effective library and information services to academic achievements at universities in Ghana. The main objective of this study was to assess and explore the effectiveness of library and information services and establish its contribution to efficient academic work. The researchers adopted a mixed methods approach in which both qualitative and quantitative research approaches are used in a single study. This study used a survey research design because of the large and wide-spread population involved. The results of the study established that there is a correlation between effective library and information services and academic achievements at the universities in Ghana. The study also establish that library users were generally satisfied with the services provided by the university libraries and the provision of study space, book lending and Internet services turn out to be the most effective and highly patronized services. The findings on the challenges facing the delivery of effective library and information services clearly indicate that inadequate staff training programmes were affecting the ability of library staff to deliver effective library services. Finally, this paper has made recommendations on how to improve upon the effectiveness of library and information services to enhance academic work at universities in Ghana.

This paper aims to develop a user typology which enables user-specific analyses in respect of mobility behavior. It addresses the challenge of integrating unimodal and intermodal travel behavior into a user typology to obtain an overview of intermodal users within the context of their overall mobility behavior. The user typology is based on two cluster analyses (agglomerative hierarchical clustering) which use quantitative survey data on unimodal and intermodal mobility behavior obtained for Berlin, Germany. One cluster analysis was performed for unimodal use and one for intermodal mode use to take into account the users’ relatively low use of intermodal modes as well. The analyses resulted in 6 intermodal and 5 unimodal clusters based on users’ mobility behavior. Since in each case every individual is assigned to one intermodal and one unimodal cluster, the resulting intermodal and unimodal clusters were then combined in order to represent the overall mobility behavior of each individual as mobility types. The mobility types are further characterized by information on socio-demographics and mobility resources obtained from the dataset. These enhanced mobility types (EMT) provide a clearer impression of the users’ characteristics and needs. This user typology takes account of the wide range of mobility options available in cities today and the resulting diversity in people’s mobility behavior. To enable us to address the needs of users who combine several modes of transport within one trip, the proposed procedure approaches the challenge of integrating intermodal behavior into user types. The results provide a user typology which combines intermodal and unimodal travel behavior with personal characteristics and enable researchers and practitioners to work on user-specific research questions and planning tasks.

There were 132,479 doctors in Japan in 1975. Of these about 19,000 were working either in the medical schools or in their affiliated hospitals, and about 47,000 were working in other public hospitals. While these 19,000 were enjoying fairly good library services of the medical schools with the best inter-library loan service network in Japan (about 20,000 transactions in 1975), provided by the Japan Medical Library Association, 47,000 doctors working in the public hospitals were suffering from much inferior library service. There have been several surveys conducted by various groups to find out the situation of hospital medical libraries in this country. The most recent one is the survey made by the Hospital Library Group of the Japan Hospital Association in 1977. According to the Hospital Directory 1976, there were 8,188 hospitals (with more than 20 beds) existed in this country. Of these, 2,000 belong to the Association. The Association sent to all its members a questionnaire to find out about their hospital libraries' situations such as, size, organization, budget, collection, staff and training activties, etc. Responsis were received from 268 hospitals (16%). More than a half (57.7%) of these hospitals had independent library quarters. Some were sharing a room with the medical record section. About 78% of all 268 hospitals had annual budget which falls somewhere between 1 million yen to 3 million yen. This insufficient budget situation reflected on the total number of current periodicals they were subscribing. Nearly 60% of these 268 hospitals were subscribing less than 90 periodicals. And only 74 of them had more than one full time library staff. Of these, 15 had more than two. On the other hand, 50 hospitals had no staff definitely assigned to their libraries. The larger hospitals usually had more library staffs and provided better library services with more variation. In the present study, library use by the doctors of public hospitals was examined. Seven faily large hospitals located in Tokyo and in Shizuoka Prefecture were selected, and 10 doctors from each of these hospitals were interviewed. They were using their libraries once or twice in a week in average. Nineteen out of all 70 said they were satisfied with their library service, while 9 said they were not. The rest thought their library services were passable. The most heavily requested matereials were either monographs and textbooks (28.9%) or foreign periodicals (28.1%). They were followed by domestic periodicals and secondary publications such as indexes and abstracts. The most heavily requested service by these doctors was documents providing service (23.6%). That was followed by literature search service (31.9%). The first resource they depended on was the library of their hospital (33.9%). The next one was the library of a medical school located near their hospitals (24.0%). Then, the pharmaceutical companies (19.0%). When they needed to use these medical school libraries, they usually visited there themselves and read books and periodicals in their reading rooms. The doctors who had no medical school libraries near by had to depend on the libraries of the schools they graduated from. In short, the present situation of the hospital lilrary services are not exactly satisfactory and the doctors who are working in these hospitals very often have to depend on medical school libraries near by. However, the Japan Medical Library Association to which all the medical school libraries belong is not willing to extend its service to the doctors who work in public hospitals. To improve present imballanced library service situation in health science fields in Japan, the following measures should be taken: a) each hospital library has to strengthen its collection and service, b) to organize these hospital libraries to be able to provide cooperative services, c) to amalgamate these consortia of hospital libraries to make them become a part of the nation wide medical library network which should be developed by expanding the network of the Japan Medical Library Association.

When the four Providence Health & Services libraries in Oregon regionalized services and resources, the transition, which was originally met with apprehension from some library users, turned out to be a resounding success. Despite a loss of two-thirds of the professional staff and a decreased budget, the new regionalized library experienced an increase in business and recognition. While many factors contributed to the success, a creative marketing and outreach campaign was a key component. This column describes the steps taken to promote regionalized library reference services and online resources.

Academic health centers, CTSA hubs, and hospital libraries experience similar funding challenges and charges to do more with less. In recent years academic health center and hospital librarians have risen to these challenges by examining their service models, and beyond that, examining their patron base and users’ needs. To meet the needs of employees, patients, and those who assist patients, hospital librarians can employ the CTS Personas, a project of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program National Center for Data to Health. The Persona profiles, which outline the motivations, goals, pain points, wants, and needs of twelve employees and two patients in translational science, provide vital information and insights that can inform everything from designing software tools and educational services, to advertising these services, to designing impactful and collaborative library spaces.

Hospital library services have to deliver high quality copies of articles from other libraries quickly and inexpensively, especially in clinical emergencies. The Ariel Internet document delivery system is superior to faxing or mailing photocopies, yet relatively few hospital libraries currently use it because of its incompatibility with protective local network firewalls. Some hospital libraries have found a number of different ways to solve the problem and improve their document delivery services.

In a 1988 report, an advisory committee of the Medical Library Association (MLA) wrote that "no one would argue against information as the foundation for efficient cost-effective business or against access to knowledge as a prerequisite for developing new knowledge." Yet the increasing number of threats to the hospital library--largely from within the industry--suggest that many hospitals do not value information in the same way their counterparts in other businesses do. In the first of two articles in this issue on hospital library and information services, the executive director of the MLA uses the MLA's experience and a variety of research findings to restate the case for the hospital library's vital role in quality care.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of the use of innovative digital technologies in public libraries on the formation and development of an inclusive space. The article aims to substantiate the need to integrate innovative technologies into public library spaces in order to improve the quality of user service by increasing the level of interactivity in physical and digital spaces. The research methodology – involved the use of the methods of analysis and synthesis, generalisation, system analysis and forecasting were applied, which made it possible to determine the significance, current state and prospects of introducing innovative technologies into the inclusive space of the public library. The scientific novelty is to substantiate the role and place of innovative digital technologies in the inclusive space of a public library, to actualise a differentiated approach to serving library users using the latest technical devices as an intermediary in the communication of a person with library services, to identify opportunities for integrating digital technologies into the library space based on the existing experience of domestic public libraries. Conclusions. In the context of global social transformations and digitalisation of most spheres of life, forming an inclusive public library space is essential to Ukraine’s policy of creating a barrier-free space. In this context, the use of innovative digital technologies and devices in library institutions should be of great importance, as they can significantly increase the efficiency of serving specific groups of the population with special needs. It is determined that in the inclusive space of the public library, innovative technologies act as a middle link in the interaction between “user with special needs” – “innovative technological means” – “library services”. It is emphasised that innovative technological tools are a prerequisite for creating a system of differentiated service for library users. Potential ways to introduce innovative digital technologies into the public library space are identified based on domestic research on the analysis of the experience of public libraries.

Gamification has become one of the main areas in information systems and human–computer interaction research related to users’ motivations and behaviors. Within this context, a significant research gap is the lack of understanding of how users’ characteristics, especially in terms of their preferences for gameful interaction (i.e., user typologies), moderate the effects of gamification and, furthermore, how gamification could be tailored to individual needs. Despite their prominence in classifying users, current typologies and their use in research and practice have received severe criticism regarding validity and reliability, as well as the application and interpretation of their results. Therefore, it is essential to reconsider the relationships and foundations of common user typologies and establish a sound empirical basis to critically discuss their value and limits for personalized gamification. To address this research gap, this study investigated the psychometric properties of the most popular player types within tailored gamification literature (i.e., Bartle’s player types, Yee’s motivations to play, BrainHex, and HEXAD) through a survey study (n=877) using their respective measurement instruments, followed by a correlation analysis to understand their empirical relations and an exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying factors. The results confirm that user typologies, despite their different origins, show considerable overlap, some being consistent whereas others contradicted theoretically assumed relationships. Furthermore, we show that these four user typologies overall factor into five underlying and fundamental dimensions of Socialization, Escapism, Achievement, Reward Pursuit, and Independence, which could be considered common concepts that may essentially reflect key determinants of user motivation in gamification. Our findings imply that future research and practice in tailored gamification design should shift the focus from developing and applying ever more nuanced typologies to understanding and measuring the key underlying determinants of user motivation in gameful systems. Moreover, given the considerable interrelationships between these determinants, we also argue that researchers should favor continuous representations of users’ motivations in specific situations instead of a dichotomous operationalization of user types as static manifestations of their preferences.

The perception of change so often differs from the reality. This article traces the effect on one hospital library of some of the major changes within the NHS during the past 10 years. It explores the importance of external factors such as location and proximity to other professional groups and questions the survival of the multidisciplinary hospital library.

Understanding the new digital divide—A typology of Internet users in Europe

The article is devoted to the substantiation of the model of flexible library as a theoretical reference point for the development of libraries in the transition to the information society.The application of the system method, as well as methods of design, modeling, and forecasting based on the analysis of existing theoretical achievements in the field of library science and practical experience of library activity made it possible to propose a model of a flexible library as an open system, which includes such elements as “library space”, “library service”, “human resources” and “client environment”, which are considered taking into account the key characteristics of the information society – networking, service economy, personalization, cooperation, virtualization, involvement. “Library space” is defined as a space in which there is a direct and indirect (through the created products and resources) communication of the librarian and the user both in real and in the virtual environment, both in the library and outside it, which determines the flexibility of the library space. “Library service” is considered as the interaction of the user with the library, which is built around library resources and products. Changes in the range of library products and services determine the flexibility of the library service. “Human resources” is defined as a result of the synergy of the users’ and libraries’ intellectual potential. Its flexibility is achieved through the development of competencies of librarians, structural changes in the organization of library staff, as well as the involvement of subjects of the client environment as partners of the library. Changing the status of some subjects of the client environment from library users to library partners, in turn, affects the flexibility of the “client environment”.Organizational, personnel, service flexibility of the library in the future will ensure its adaptability to the conditions of dynamic changes and the ability to meet the key principles of the information society – ubiquity, timelessness, identification (personalization) and involvement.

This study investigated a framework for postgraduate library services in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) academic libraries. The objectives of the study were: 1) to investigate if postgraduate students use library services in KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries or not; 2) to investigate challenges faced by postgraduate students when utilizing library services and 3) to investigate postgraduate students’ perceptions regarding library services in academic libraries in KwaZulu-Natal. The target population for the study were postgraduate students in KZN academic libraries. Postgraduate students were chosen for inclusion in the study using multistage sampling. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 336 postgraduate students in KZN academic libraries (Durban University of Technology (DUT), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and University of Zululand (UNIZULU). Data collected was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and presented in the form of graphs and tables. Findings of the study revealed that postgraduate students were aware of library services, they accessed the library services continuously and the services were relevant to their information needs. The study further revealed that library services had a positive impact on postgraduate studies. Findings of the study also revealed that Postgraduate Librarians and Subject Librarians were playing a vital role facilitating research and providing relevant information resources. However, the study also revealed some challenges that were faced by postgraduate students when utilizing library services. Challenges such as poor internet connection, inability to access the library catalogue and inability to locate books on the shelves. It is recommended that academic libraries regularly organize training programs for postgraduate students on the use of library resources and services. Library space should be extended to accommodate more students and ensure that the environment is comfortable.