Academic Library System Research Articles

The puzzle of innovation and innovation strategies in Kenyan academic libraries

PurposeThe advancement of technology has brought much uncertainty in the access and utilization of information resources in academic libraries. This research sought to determine the extent to which academic libraries in Kenya engage in innovation and use innovative strategies. In addition, this study aims to identify the specific innovation practices and strategies used by these libraries to ensure they effectively address users’ information needs and remain relevant within the Kenyan context.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative research design. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews that targeted key personnel in the academic library system, including the university librarian, the circulation librarian and the digital/systems librarian. In total, 21 respondents were interviewed in this study. Additional data was gathered by examining primary documents such as academic library policies, university websites and library brochures, among other sources. The study used purposive sampling techniques to select the population sample and the theoretical saturation to determine the sample size.FindingsThe study revealed a pressing need for change in the academic library landscape in Kenya. It established that the concept of innovation and innovation strategies is still new in academic libraries in Kenya, and libraries are still confined to traditional and routine duties. There is a lack of appropriate strategies for enhancing innovation practices/strategies in academic libraries. The paper, therefore, strongly recommends the reorganization of academic libraries in Kenya.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to analyze innovation strategies and practices in academic libraries in Kenya. This study sheds light on the puzzles facing most academic libraries in Kenya regarding innovation and innovation strategies. It introduces the importance of academic libraries to embrace innovation as a strategy to avoid disruptive innovation.

Exploring the use of digital exhibits by academic libraries

Exhibits are an increasingly common means of outreach for academic libraries, leading to a growing interest in how librarians curate exhibits to intrigue, educate, and collaborate with users. This study examined digital exhibits produced by ARL-member academic library systems in order to explore the nature and use of exhibits. The study sampled a total of 147 digital exhibits created by 68 academic libraries, developing an original framework for content analysis of the exhibits. The findings confirm that academic librarians use digital exhibits to highlight their collections, inform and entertain visitors, contribute to the instruction of students, and forge and strengthen relationships with various communities through collaborative exhibit creation. These findings can inform practitioners and provide valuable insight into the development of digital exhibits within the academic library context.

Collaboration in Nigerian University Libraries: A Diagnosis

This paper sought to show the potential of collaboration of university libraries in ameliorating the common problems and challenges facing the Nigerian Academic Library System on the basis of the current status of collaboration in Nigerian university libraries. The paper addressed the following questions: what is the status of collaboration of Nigerian University libraries? How can University Libraries achieve meaningful collaboration? And what possible benefits can University libraries in Nigeria attain from effective collaboration? The paper clarified three forms of collaboration within the University Library system to address the indiscriminate use of the term ‘Librarian collaboration’ to pass for library collaboration. Based on literature reviewed, the current level of collaboration in Nigerian University Libraries is below expectation and is to a great extent responsible for poor quality teaching, learning and research bedeviling the Nigerian tertiary education system. University Library leadership and the Committee of University librarian in Nigerian Universities (CULNU) were identified as prime movers whose efforts could improve the level of collaboration in Nigerian University Libraries. The paper revealed that possible areas for collaboration include: resource sharing, inter-library loan, cooperative acquisition, cooperative cataloguing, cooperative referencing, staff development, library exchange and librarian and library user networks. The paper further noted that the key benefits of collaboration are significant reduction in operational costs, increased human cooperation and exposure of Librarians to global library practices. The paper identified factors that pose as either a threat or a challenge to the implementation of effective collaboration in Nigerian university libraries. They include: Inadequate funding, leadership issues, lack of structured library development policies, proliferation of informal collaboration, high competition in library profession and resistance to change. The paper therefore recommended that committee of University Librarian in Nigerian Universities and the Nigerian Library Association should make and implement a policy for all University Library Leadership to develop and implement documented and structured develop plans and policies p to provide strategic direction for University libraries.

Research on the Beijing Academic Library and Information System

Research on the Beijing Academic Library and Information System

Research on China Academic Library and Information System

Research on China Academic Library and Information System

Research on the Management Mechanism of BALIS Projects

Beijing Academic Library & Information System (BALIS), a nonprofit organization and the largest Regional Alliance of University Library (RAOUL) in Beijing, is the representative of Chinese RAOULs. BALIS founded in 2007 has 100 member libraries and covers almost all university libraries in Beijing. BALIS has achieved the aim of literature resources between member libraries, which define the life of BALIS and what it does well. BALIS Management Committee (BMCE) organizes the application of Subprojects (SPS) every year and ensures opportunity for every BALIS Member Library. After the SPS is approved, the BALIS Management Center (BMC) is responsible for monitoring and controlling the SPS. This article mainly adopts the method of case analysis to study BALIS’s management of SPS, funds, and performance, and its purpose is to explain the management mechanism of Chinese RAOULs.

Improving services in a hybrid academic library system

Purpose This paper aims to describe a hybrid academic library system and to draw up a model of this system suggesting strategies and scenarios for achieving optimum performance of the system in a technology changing world. Design/methodology/approach The mixture of traditional or manual ways of carrying out library operations with new, modern, automated systems often brings about several problems. The problems are ones that can be tackled within the framework of having appropriate systems dynamics routines applied and also making use of personnel skilled in strategic management of hybrid library systems. Findings A system dynamics model for the management of the system is developed around the issues of personnel management, collection management, capacity building and provision of access to research materials, information technology infrastructure, forming of consortia and security in the system. Originality/value Recommendations are made as to which strategy/scenario or combinations of scenarios will provide lasting solutions to the problems recurring or likely to reoccur in a hybrid academic library system.

Capturing the big picture

This project report describes an internal scan of library staff involved in instruction in a large academic library system. 64 semi-structured interviews were conducted and qualitatively analysed in order to produce a summary of instruction across the library system, and both the challenges faced and supports desired by these instructors. The most often mentioned challenges included the wide variety of students and class characteristics encountered, limitations around time, and navigating faculty expectations. The supports described with greatest frequency were professional development opportunities to support instruction practice, a greater sense of community among those doing instruction, and increased awareness of instruction practices both across the library system and in the institution at large. These finding allowed the authors to form recommendations for the library system to help advance instruction in support of teaching and research in the institution.

Sexual health information seeking behaviour of adolescents and their satisfaction with the information outcome: An application of the theory of motivated information management

This study investigates how the Theory of Motivated Information Management influences adolescents' sexual information-seeking behaviour and their satisfaction with the information they find. A cross-sectional investigation that purposively selected and surveyed 128 adolescents in the Matara District of Sri Lanka using a semi-structured questionnaire was designed. The variables such as high-risk sexual behaviour, having a partner or not, sexual curiosity, computer self-rated proficiency, sex of the adolescents, self-rated English proficiency, Uncertainty Discrepancy anxiety and self-efficacy were used to inquire about the contributing effects on adolescents' sexual health information seeking behaviour. The findings reveal that the most important sexual health information for adolescents is the information related to “high-risk sexual behaviour” and “sexual curiosity”. Boys are more likely to engage with sexual health information in a positive way than girls. The results further validate the TMIM framework. The orientation of associations between model variables has been consistent with past studies, particularly the negative relationship between anxiety and efficacy. Adolescents expressed difficulties in obtaining health information, including difficulty determining the quality of information and the lack of appropriate health information, highlighting the need for effective measures in this area. To overcome these barriers, the Ministries of Health and Education, the National Library, the Academic Library System and particularly medical/health libraries in universities, and the National Youth Services Council should plan easily accessible, outcome measurable, and appropriate opportunities and training through their official centres and institutions.

RETRACTED: Erratum to “Research on China Academic Library and Information System” [Open Access Library Journal, 2020, Volume 7: e6689

The original online version of this article (Yi, L. (2020) Research on the Beijing Academic Library & Information System. Open Access Library Journal, 7: e6692. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1106692) unfortunately contains some mistakes. The author wishes to correct the errors in the following version:

RETRACTED: Erratum to “Research on the Beijing Academic Library and Information System” [Open Access Library Journal, 2020, Volume 7: e6692

RETRACTED: Erratum to “Research on the Beijing Academic Library and Information System” [Open Access Library Journal, 2020, Volume 7: e6692

Discovery layer decisions, configurations and strategies

The problem that patrons frequently encounter with searching via a discovery layer linked to a knowledgebase is the overwhelming number of hits. Few if any research or discussion compares how libraries resolve this difficulty. To begin a discussion, the author disseminated an open invitation for academic libraries to participate on three panels from October 2018 to June 2019 to discuss their implementation processes and decisions. Five academic libraries accepted the invitation. This paper reviews the approaches of the five American academic library systems with the intent to encourage further examination of the issues of design, implementation, and maintenance of discovery layers. The conclusions reached point to the evolving nature of discovery layer interfaces and the struggle for libraries to adapt their needs to this still changing product type. Within this group, the larger institutions with more financial and staff resources have designed a ‘’bento box’’ interface with open source software, while the other institutions with lesser means have chosen to create different instances of their subscribed proprietary discovery layers to meet their specific institutional demands and the specific needs of their patrons. A statistically relevant examination with rigorous comparison of usability testing would have to be done to see how these and other factors play out in the wider field.

Traditional Academic Library Networks in Digital Culture

The transition from printed to digital culture has fundamentally changed the approaches, forms and methods (or products and services) that university and academic libraries use for information support of scientific research. Activity of library-information network of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), organized in the era of printed culture as a three-level system, is undergoing significant changes in connection with the development of digital technologies, scientific communications and reforming of the RAS. These circumstances required the creation of a new model of the library network as an actual information-communication channel, firstly, the way to preserve the accumulated traditional collections. The purpose of this article is to show the advance model for academic library system or network operating within a single complex scientific organizational structure, with their unique printed book collections. To build the model, the author used data on the information behaviour of researchers from the SB RAS, collected through questionnaires, data on the activity trends of university libraries, presented on their websites and in peer-reviewed journals, as well as monitoring data of the activities of scientific libraries. The author took into account both general external factors (information behaviour of users of scientific information, organizational changes in library networks, current trends and experience of scientific research support by academic and university libraries, changes in the scientific environment) and internal (specific) factors related to the reforming of the RAS. The article describes two stages of reorganization of the current model of library-information network of the SB RAS. The article shows how the new model radically changes the old one, as it transforms the structure of resources and collections, the functions of libraries and demonstrates the development trends of competences and skills of library staff.

Member structure and sharing behavior: Social network analysis of CALIS online cataloging data in China

The active participation of members is of great importance to the sustainable development of the information resource sharing system. This paper uses China Academic Library &Information System (CALIS) 2018 Chinese online cataloging data to build a sharing network. It employs social network analysis to uncover the reality and explain the effect of members' participation in CALIS co-construction and sharing system. It is found that it presents a long-tailed distribution in the sharing behavior of CALIS members and that the benefit of the whole CALIS sharing system will be further extended with the continuous increase of CALIS members. The central libraries set up by CALIS play a central and intermediary role in sharing network. However, there are certain differences in their roles due to their permissions, region, and other factors. At the same time, regional imbalances and disparities persist in the members' sharing activities. This paper also explores the path of using social network methods to study the member structure and sharing behavior of information resource sharing system.

RETRACTED: Research on China Academic Library and Information System

China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS) is the world’s largest university library consortium, which is responsible for resource coordination and joint construction, document information sharing services, and staff training, application system construction, etc. It uses cloud computing (CC) technology to build a platform for cloud services and sharing, which is a model for the development of China’s university library alliances (CULA) in the past 30 years, and has played an important role in promoting the CULA development, which has independently designed and developed an online cooperative cataloging system and an online public retrieval (OPAC) system for the retrieval of the joint catalogue of Chinese and foreign books and periodicals. This article mainly adopts the method of case analysis to analyze the development process, organizational structure, operation mode, and development trend of CALIS, with the purpose of revealing the general laws of the CULA construction.

RETRACTED: Research on the Beijing Academic Library and Information System

The Beijing Academic Library & Information System (BALIS) is the largest regional university library alliance (RULA) in Beijing, which has 90 member libraries, covering almost all university libraries (UL) in Beijing. It was founded in 2007, through more than ten years of development, which has formed a certain business scale. Its services mainly cover six aspects: document delivery (DD), interlibrary loan (ILL), group procurement, joint consulting, business training and technical support. BALIS is the representative of the development of Chinese RULA. The ten years of rapid development of BALIS are also the ten years of rapid development of the RULA. Through researching on it, the construction ideas (CI), organizational structure (OS), and operation methods (OM) of RULA in China can be well revealed. Therefore, this article adopts the method of case analysis, in order to grasp the development context and law of China’s RULA changes through the analysis of BALIS.

Research on the Management Mechanism of BALIS Projects

The Beijing Academic Library & Information System (BALIS), as the largest regional university library alliance (RULA) in Beijing, was founded in 2007 and has 90 member libraries, covering almost all university libraries in Beijing. It also is the representative of Chinese RULA, through more than ten years of development, which has formed a certain business scale. BALIS adopts the method of project establishment to develop itself, and the Management Committee (MCE) organizes the application of sub-projects (SP) every year. After the SP is approved, the BALIS management center (BMC) is responsible for the process management and performance evaluation of the SP. This article mainly adopts the method of case analysis, taking BALIS’s management of SP, funds, performance, files as the research object; the purpose is to explain the management mechanism of the regional alliances of Chinese university libraries.

Research on the University Library Alliance of China

With the development of China’s society and economy, especially entering the 21st century, the Chinese university library alliances (CULA) have made great progress, not only have built the China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS), China Academic Social Sciences and Humanities Library (CASHL) such as national alliance organizations, but large-scale regional alliances in various provinces have also been established, and “Opening-up, Co-construction and Sharing” (OCS) has become the strong voice of the cooperation. The construction of CULA has gone through the stage of networking and digitization. With the continuous emergence of new information technologies, whether to use cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things, blockchain and other technologies to meet the increasingly professional, intelligent and personalized needs of readers is an important issue. It can be said that the development of CULA has reached an important stage where they can use emerging technologies to realize its own transformation and upgrading. This article will adopt the method of case analysis to study the construction ideas (CI), organizational structure (OS), and operation methods (OM) of the CULA.

Scientometric Assessment of Publications on Electronic Resource Management and Electronic Resource Management System during 2000-2019

Electronic Resource Management is an eminent research area, and Electronic Resource Management System has become now an inevitable part of any academic library system. As such, considerable literature has been published on ERM and ERMS. Therefore, this article attempts to analyze the growth of scholar’s research output in the areas of electronic resource management, electronic resource management system during the period 2000 to 2019. This article examines 347 publications across the globe on the topic of “ERM” and “ERMS”. The analysis on these topics has been done, taking into account the total research output of these main areas as reflected in the SCOPUS database. The present study analyses the year-wise cumulative growth of research publications, list of top highly cited articles, list of core journals, the pattern of authorship, most prolific authors, types of publications preferred by the authors in the field of electronic resource management and electronic resource management system.

Data Migration from Libsys to Koha ILS: An Experimental Study

Library automation is one of the primary activities of all kinds of libraries. In this paper, we are focusing on academic library system. For library automation, academic libraries are using some Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) software that may be proprietary or open source. The question of data migration emerges when library administrators think of moving from an existing ILMS to a new ILMS. This paper aims to present a systematic approach for data migration from existing ILMS (Libsys) to a new ILMS (Koha) and it has been successfully experimented at Tezpur University library system. The study found that both bibliographical data and patron data in the new system (Koha) are identical with existing system (Libsys).