Purpose The persistent digital divide across African regions undermines educational, economic and civic outcomes. Public and academic libraries are well positioned to mitigate these disparities through digital literacy initiatives. This study aims to review capacity-building programs and competency frameworks implemented in African libraries between 2010 and 2025. Design/methodology/approach Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, systematic searches were conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, AJOL, ERIC, ProQuest and grey literature sources. Predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria guided the selection of empirical studies, case reports and evaluations of digital literacy interventions. In total, 84 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings Libraries offered diverse initiatives for staff (workshops, online modules, mentorship and fellowships) and users (formal courses, drop-in clinics and curriculum integration). Infrastructure investment, cross-sector partnerships and resource sharing enhanced capacity, while only 37% of studies referenced formal frameworks such as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions or DigComp, with limited local adaptation. Academic libraries emphasized research-oriented training, whereas public libraries focused on basic e-skills and community outreach. Persistent challenges included unreliable power, limited funding and weak sustainability planning, though staff confidence and user engagement showed significant gains. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first systematic review to synthesize evidence on library-led digital literacy initiatives across Africa within a 15-year span. It provides critical insights into enablers, barriers and framework usage, offering policy and practice recommendations to embed libraries in national digital inclusion strategies and support the development of African-centric competency frameworks.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical policy analysis of the systemic deficits in operationalizing the Directive (2012 / 28/EU), using Italy as a paradigm case of implementation deficits. Design/methodology/approach Moving beyond a simple review, this analysis is grounded in a doctrinal and regulatory review approach, critically examining the bureaucratic complexity, lack of operational tools and regulatory uncertainties that have limited the unlocking of this cultural heritage. Findings Thirteen years after the Directive’s adoption, the balance sheet appears highly disappointing, and the application of the legislation has proven largely ineffective, primarily due to persistent administrative deficits at the national level. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the need for comprehensive reform of the Directive’s national transposition and suggests implications for policy analysis concerning the implementation gap between EU legislation and Member State practice. Practical implications The analysis concludes by reflecting on the need to simplify procedures, expand the scope for beneficiary institutions and integrate orphan works with open licenses and Rights Statement tools, enabling effective digital access while respecting intellectual property rights. Social implications Facilitating access, the ultimate goal of the proposed reform holds significant social implications. Unlocking this previously inaccessible cultural heritage contributes to the preservation, democratic dissemination and public enjoyment of shared history, fostering education and research across societies. Originality/value This study’s primary contribution is its critical policy analysis, which integrates legal-doctrinal review with institutional evidence (European Union Intellectual Property Office data and administrative reports). It provides an in-depth focus on the systemic administrative barriers in the Italian context, offering a comparative case study for analyzing wider EU implementation challenges.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to know the understanding of librarians about data visualization, the perceptions of the librarians toward this new and emerging trend and know the librarian’s capabilities in the use of data visualization tools and its impact on their library services. Design/methodology/approach To acquire the desired results, a survey was conducted using a quantitative approach. The study’s target audience was the library professional staff at private sector university libraries in Sindh, Pakistan. All respondents were sent an e-mail inviting them to participate in the survey on their own time. Findings The sample in this study comprised 139 professional librarians from private-sector university libraries in Sindh, Pakistan. Out of the 139, only 107 professional librarians participated in the study. The results of the small-scale study may be used as a baseline for future studies. Coping with the new and emerging trends in librarianship requires a fundamental change in the thinking, perception and behavior of professional librarians as well as the university’s management of the private sector universities in Sindh, Pakistan. Research limitations/implications The study has the following limitations: the study was conducted only on the private sector libraries in Sindh and to develop an understanding, the information in this study was gathered only from the library’s professional staff. Practical implications Contribution to the society: This study will open a new horizon for librarians and researchers not only for the stakeholders in Pakistan but all over library communities in developing as well as underdeveloped countries. Contribution to professional librarians: This study will benefit all professional librarians who want to enhance their knowledge about data visualization and will contribute to the librarians’ understanding of their role as effective librarians in this modern library setting. Researchers, librarians, students and other interested party can take advantage from this study in relationships of evolving their thoughtful of data visualization. Social implications This study provided me an opportunity to identify the hindrances, which do not allow professional librarians to adopt new emerging trends. Originality/value This study was exploratory as this is completely a new concept for developing countries, especially in the Pakistan province of Sindh.

Purpose Digital image automatic classification has become a critical field in machine learning. With the exponential increase in the availability of digital data and the growing complexity of applications, the need to develop accurate and efficient data automatic classification models has become urgent across multiple sectors, as they contribute to enhancing operational efficiency. This scenario underscores the necessity of exploring and developing new approaches capable of overcoming these challenges, further improving the accuracy and efficiency of classification techniques. This paper aims to present the ongoing research for development and testing an automatic image classification model for digital libraries, based on complex neural networks (CNNs). Design/methodology/approach Despite the significant advancements achieved with the advent of deep learning approaches, the challenges of automatic classification of digital resources remain in terms of generalization, model interpretability and reducing dependence on large training data sets. After outlining the state-of-the-art digital resources’ automatic classification, the paper describes the model research and design and the pilot of implemented application workflow. Finally, preliminary research results are assessed, considering that experimentation is still ongoing to evaluate the potential integration of AI tools to enhance model performance. Findings The research addresses the challenge of developing a model effective for classifying digital resources referring to the huge and various contexts of digital libraries including resources representative of manuscript, early printed and modern books. The process to develop the first pilot of the automatic classification system the researchers designed and developed has been clearly outlined. The workflow and the generation of a specific CNN for classifying digital libraries are detailed by examples, figures and tables that show each step of the process describing the methods, techniques and technologies used. Research limitations/implications There are no research limitations/implications. Practical implications There are no practical implications. Social implications There are no social implications. Originality/value The experimentation results provide an encouraging overall picture of the developed models’ performance, highlighting their potential for analyzing and classifying the structures of the considered materials. An extensive series of tests were conducted on a diverse data set to assess their effectiveness, accompanied by a rigorous validation procedure on an even larger sample. The pilot model shows remarkable performance in accuracy, achieving an average correct classification rate of 78% for the three analyzed types and over the full validation data set. The learning curve displayed good convergence, suggesting that further optimizations could improve the overall precision, particularly fine-tuning the hyperparameters regulating the training process and refining the machine learning model topology. Such improvements would increase accuracy and reduce uncertainty for classes that showed greater variability.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the information needs of graduate students, the sources they use and the factors that influence their choice of information sources before studying abroad. Design/methodology/approach This study targets graduate students who completed their undergraduate degrees at the University of Dhaka. Due to the difficulty in obtaining a comprehensive sampling frame, convenience sampling was used to reach graduates from various departments and institutes within the university. The researcher distributed 850 questionnaires, and 313 students completed them, indicating their interest in studying abroad. The response rate was 36.82%, and data was collected between July and December 2024. Findings The study found that the majority of graduate who aim to study abroad need financial information, particularly tuition fees, living costs and available scholarships. The most common sources of information used by students were Web search engines. Students placed high trust in official university websites and considered them the most reliable for information on admissions and funding opportunities. Apart from trust, accessibility and ease of use were critical factors influencing students’ choice of information sources. In addition, visa requirements and immigration policies were key considerations in students’ decision-making process, as these factors directly impacted their ability to study abroad. Originality/value Several studies have conducted students’ use of information for everyday life and academic purposes abroad. However, few have focused on information needs and sources prior to studying abroad. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind in the context of Bangladesh.

Purpose This study aims to create an optimized ChatGLM model – JG-ChatGLM for the library intelligent question-answering (IQA) system through a constructivist theory lens to improve the professional ability and communicative competence of it. Design/methodology/approach This study uses ChatGLM as an algorithm base, takes LangChain as a framework and integrates constructivism theories to construct JG-ChatGLM as the process of corpus feeding, constructing, fine-tuning and evaluating. Findings The oversensitivity and overstability of the new model JG-ChatGLM has significantly improved compared with ChatGLM and ChatGPT-3.5. Research limitations/implications JG-ChatGLM’s stability and maturity still need to be further enhanced; also, professional corpus gathering and annotation across various disciplines still face some difficulties. Originality/value JG-ChatGLM may create an online community in the IQA system, recognize multimodal interaction and offer individualized and varied information services for various groups of individuals, which addresses the shortcomings of the library IQA system at this stage and meets the expectations outlined in prior studies. It also provides a reference for library IQA system construction, expands the constructivism theory application and deepens the theory about library service.