Information Science Scholars Research Articles

The Top-Down Approach to Providing ICT Access to Rural Communities in China: Opportunities for Community Informatics

Community informatics (CI)—as practiced by Western academics and social activists—was introduced to China by a group of library and information science scholars in about 2010. But before this encounter, there was already a growing push in China to connect local communities with information communication technologies (ICTs). This work is generally known in China as community or rural "informatization." Although the new, Western-origin community informatics efforts did not completely overlook existing Chinese endeavors, they have so far done little to relate to ongoing domestic projects. This article attempts to place community informatics in relation to Chinese rural informatization programs in general, and to public access projects in particular. In the process, it examines the opportunities and challenges facing the newly imported community informatics projects. It shows that while CI brings a new perspective to Chinese endeavors, it faces a very different political, institutional, and social environment from what it has known before—one which favors a top-down approach to providing community-based ICT. This calls for prudent assessment of the relationship between CI and both rural communities and government-led projects.

Finding Citations to Social Work Literature: The Relative Benefits of Using Web of Science, Scopus, or Google Scholar

Past studies of citation coverage of Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar do not demonstrate a consistent pattern that can be applied to the interdisciplinary mix of resources used in social work research. To determine the utility of these tools to social work researchers, an analysis of citing references to well-known social work journals was conducted. Web of Science had the fewest citing references and almost no variety in source format. Scopus provided higher citation counts, but the pattern of coverage was similar to Web of Science. Google Scholar provided substantially more citing references, but only a relatively small percentage of them were unique scholarly journal articles.The patterns of database coverage were replicated when the citations were broken out for each journal separately. The results of this analysis demonstrate the need to determine what resources constitute scholarly research and reflect the need for future researchers to consider the merits of each database before undertaking their research. This study will be of interest to scholars in library and information science as well as social work, as it facilitates a greater understanding of the strengths and limitations of each database and brings to light important considerations for conducting future research.

Toward broader impacts: Making sense of NSF's merit review criteria in the context of the National Science Digital Library

Scholars in library and information science are under increasing pressure to seek external funding for research. The National Science Foundation (NSF), which is often the source of this funding, considers proposed projects based on the criteria of “Intellectual Merit” and “Broader Impacts.” However, these merit review criteria have been criticized as being insufficiently specific and not appropriate for all types of scientific research. In an effort to examine the extent to which funded projects represented Broader Impacts, the researchers performed a content analysis of the abstracts from projects in the National Science Digital Library, an NSF project that crossed many disciplines and applications, but is of particular relevance to information scientists. When the results of these analyses are placed in the context of the controversy surrounding the Broader Impacts merit review criterion, it is clear that this criterion is interpreted broadly and that even successful proposals often include aspirational or incomplete claims of impact. Because current proposed revisions to the merit review criteria that include emphases on demonstrable innovation and economic benefit will likely only complicate proposers' abilities to describe their projects' potentials, researchers may benefit from a greater understanding of Broader Impacts and how they can be clearly expressed to reviewers.

Books Received

Books Received Mark I. West Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . By Lewis Carroll. Edited by Richard Kelly. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2011. The Canadian publisher Broadview Press publishes a series of scholarly editions of classic literary works under its Broadview Editions imprint, to which this volume belongs. In addition to reprinting the text of Carroll’s classic, this edition includes a scholarly introduction, a reprinting of Alice’s Adventures Underground, and a wealth of information in the many appendixes. Handbook of Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Edited by Shelby A. Wolf, Karen Coats, Patricia Enciso, and Christine A. Jenkins. New York: Routledge, 2011. The editors of this useful volume successfully bridge the disciplinary divisions that run through much of the scholarship on children’s literature. The volume includes essays by scholars in education, English, and library and information science; these diverse contributors stress the value of taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of children’s literature. The thirty-seven chapters are organized into the following three sections: “The Reader,” “The Book,” and “The World Around.” The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Hold-stock: Critical Essays on the Fiction. Edited by Donald E. Morse and Kálmán Matolcsy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. Although the recently deceased Robert Holdstock is not known as a children’s author, his fantasy and science fiction novels have long had a following among teenage readers. The eleven contributors to this volume explore the literary roots of Holdstock’s fiction, especially his use of elements from traditional fairy tales and mythology. The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Literature. Edited by Julia L. Mickenberg and Lynne Vallone. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Intended for graduate students and scholars new to the study of children’s literature, this volume consists of previously unpublished essays by some of the leading scholars in the field. The contributors make an [End Page 336] effort to write for readers who are not already specialists in the field of children’s literature studies. However, many of the essays in this volume include research findings and critical insights that would be of interest to well-established scholars. The twenty-six chapters are organized into the following four sections: “Adults and Children’s Literature,” “Pictures and Poetics,” “Reading History/Learning Race and Class,” and “Innocence and Agency.” Treasure Island. By Robert Louis Stevenson. Edited by Peter Hunt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Published as part of the Oxford World Classics Series, this new critical edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island features a scholarly introduction by Peter Hunt, in which he discusses the factors that led Stevenson to write this tale. Hunt also provides numerous explanatory notes and three informative appendixes. [End Page 337] Copyright © 2011 Children’s Literature Association

Information sharing as a means to reach collective understanding

PurposeThis study aims to increase knowledge about the information‐sharing activities of design research scholars.Design/methodology/approachSemi‐structured in‐depth interviews were carried out with selected participants from a Nordic design research network. The interview transcripts and notes from workplace‐observations were approached from a discursive point of view and analyzed in accordance with Theodore Schatzki's practice theory.FindingsInformation‐sharing activities are intrinsically intertwined with other information practices such as information seeking and use. It is further established that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be seen as important parts of the arrangements of human and non‐human entities that, together with practices, form the social site in which the scholars are active. There is a reciprocal relationship between ICTs, and other material arrangements, and the ways in which information is used and shared. ICTs function both as a source of meaning and as a preconfigurator of actions.Practical implicationsThe findings have implications for the development of information systems and services aimed at scholars working in collaborative interdisciplinary settings. Library and information science scholars can benefit from the elaborated concept of information sharing.Originality/valueDesign scholars' information sharing has not been studied before. By applying a practice‐theory lens this paper presents a particular perspective. Increased knowledge about the information‐sharing activities of an epistemologically and socio‐culturally amalgamated network of scholars is the main contribution of this paper.

Information science approaches to studying virtual organizations: A panel

The National Science Foundation's Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems program (VOSS) provides funding for directed at advancing the understanding of what constitutes effective virtual organizations and under what conditions such organizations can enable and enhance scientific, engineering, and education production and innovation. This panel brings together representatives of four VOSS-funded research teams (from Florida State University, Syracuse University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Arkansas) to discuss the role of science theories and methodologies in their different approaches to studying virtual organizations. The projects of these four teams investigate a variety of phenomena associated with virtual organizations, ranging from the life-cycles of distributed scientific teams, through the interactions between core groups of scientists and volunteers in citizen science, the socio-technical requirements of loosely coupled emergent teams, to the roles of communication, trust, and leadership in teams. Following the theme of the conference, this panel focuses on navigating two different streams in information ecosystems: it examines the ways in which science scholars have successfully navigated one particular NSF funding stream, and it will also examine how these scholars investigate the ecosystems of virtual organizations. Each member of the panel brings a particular theoretical and methodological perspective informing their VOSS projects, and the panel addresses issues related to Information Science scholars who are pursuing NSF and other funding opportunities.

Information-Seeking Behaviors of Education Literature User Populations

Background / Context A thorough understanding of the information-seeking behaviors of specific disciplines, as well as distinct user groups within a discipline, is fundamental to the process of development of disciplinary informatics. Significant research has been conducted, largely by library and information science scholars across a range of disciplines, but none that has focused primarily on education. Existing studies of information-seeking behavior have not been communicated to education scholars and professionals. The lack of consensus on the nature, execution, and application of educational research and the fundamental disconnect between scholars and practitioners further complicate the question. Users of education literature are diverse, including a spectrum of scholars, professionals, practitioners, parents, and the general public. Patterns of information seeking and application must be better understood to successfully develop a structure for education informatics. Purpose The purpose of this article is to bring to the education community a higher level of awareness of the overarching dynamics of information structure, organization, and retrieval, as well as recognition of the relationship of those dynamics to the evolving nature, definition, and execution of education research, to the development of education informatics. Research Design This article consists of a literature review and synthesis of research, analysis of distinct user populations, and an issues analysis with recommendations. Conclusions Exacerbated by failed communication opportunities across all segments of the producer/user community, and in spite of legislative mandates for data-driven and scientifically based research, there remains a void in the collective ability to converse across subsets of the user community and to translate research into practice. Practitioners need to learn basic research design, concepts, methodologies, and assessment measures; means to interpret results, validity, and bias; and ways to understanding limitations of the study. Practitioners also must be able to incorporate findings into their practice. They must do teacher research that is collaborative, replicable, shared, and reviewable and become both effective producers and critical consumers of research. Academic researchers need to focus on the complex issues that teachers face on a daily basis; explain why questions are being asked and conducted in a particular way; present findings in a manner more accessible to practitioners; and demonstrate how findings can be made generalizable. Education informatics has the potential to be the dynamic that helps translate research into practice to facilitate the application of research findings within the context of individualized environments, to provide the common ground for collaborative work, and to create the necessary synergy between theory and practice.

An Ordinary Life in the Round: Elfreda Annmary Chatman

Elfreda Annmary Chatman was one of the preeminent library and information science scholars during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The influence of her research on the work of others and through her students continues. Focusing her research and theory development on the information behavior of the ordinary people around her, Chatman highlighted the importance of studying everyday life contexts and helped shape the direction of research for many scholars to examine information in everyday life circumstances. Her middle-range theories were intended to enable information researchers to understand the information behavior of individuals and groups and to facilitate the development of policies and practices to help people experiencing everyday information problems.

Peer review and the h-index: Two studies

Research was undertaken that examined what, if any, correlation there was between the h-index and rankings by peer assessment, and what correlation there was between the 2008 UK RAE rankings and the collective h-index of submitting departments. About 100 international scholars in Library and Information Science were ranked by their peers on the quality of their work. These rankings were correlated with the h and g scores the scholars had achieved. The results showed that there was a correlation between their median rankings and the indexes. The 2008 RAE grade point averages (GPA) achieved by departments from three UoAs – Anthropology, Library and Information Management and Pharmacy were compared with each of their collective h and g index scores. Results were mixed, with a strong correlation between pharmacy departments and index scores, followed by library and information management to anthropology where negative and non-significant results were found. Taken together, the findings from the research indicate that individual ranking by peer assessment and their h-index or variants was generally good. Results for the RAE 2008 gave correlations between GPA and successive versions of the h-index which varied in strength, except for anthropology where, it is suggested detailed cited reference searches must be undertaken to maximise citation counts.

Information Research in Leisure: Implications from an Empirical Study of Backpackers

In the modern, increasingly flat world, many individuals have seen an increase in the amount of leisure time they have available. This leisure time is used for different purposes, often including travel and tourism. Among the many types of travel and tourism, backpack or budget travelling is becoming more and more popular. This increasingly common leisure activity presumably involves intensive information search activities. This study places the backpackers' search for travel information in an everyday life information seeking (ELIS) perspective. The search for information by backpackers can be seen as a three-stage information search process. In each stage, depending on the type of task, backpackers use various information resources for different purposes. Such sources may be used for more than one purpose and in more than one information search stage. However, their relative importance varies depending on the characteristics of the source of information and the information search stage in which the source is being used. In this article I suggest that studies of leisure information behaviors and leisure activities show theoretical and practical value for both the information seeking public and the information science community. We also suggest that library and information science scholars and practice communities direct attention and research resources to leisure research in general, and the concept of serious leisure and its structured information acquisition and sharing activities in particular.

The Library as Place: History, Community, and Culture (review)

Reviewed by: The Library as Place: History, Community, and Culture Susan E. Searing The Library as Place: History, Community, and Culture, ed. John E. Buschman and Gloria J. Leckie . Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 260p. $50 (ISBN 1-59158-382-9) The concept of "the library as place" is generating lively interest among both scholars and practitioners. The accruing literature on the subject includes illustrated coffee-table books, such as The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World, with photographs by Guillaume de Laubier and text by Jacques Bosser (New York: Henry N. Abrams, 2003) and Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love by Karen Christensen and David Levinson (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2007). A related body of writing is concerned with redesigning the physical library in an era when information is increasingly digital and ubiquitous. Works in this vein include two publications from the Council on Library Resources—Libraries Designed for Learning by Scott Bennett (2003) and Library as Place: Rethinking Roles, Rethinking Space by Geoffrey T. Freeman et al. (2005). Rather than focusing on the aesthetic impact of library spaces or their management and transformation, co-editors John E. Buschman and Gloria J. Leckie explore the effects that physical libraries have on individuals, communities, and the culture at large. Within the growing literature on the library as place, this collection is unique in presenting fresh and engaging samples of critical scholarship. The high quality of the book's prose befits its origin as a thematic issue of Library Quarterly that grew too big for the journal's pages. Among the authors are well-established library and information science (LIS) scholars and emerging LIS scholars (such as Paulette Rothbauer and Bonnie Mak), whose papers derive from their dissertations, academics in other disciplines, and working librarians. In their substantial introduction, the editors assert a distinction between library as space and library as place. They draw on theoretical writings by geographers and philosophers to expound the idea of the library as a place located in the democratic public sphere. Readers not schooled in theory, particularly of the postmodern variety, may find the introduction rather heavy going. Nonetheless, it supplies a necessary integrative perspective on the eclectic papers that follow, which are grouped under broad section headings: The Library's Place in the Past; Libraries as Places of Community; Research Libraries as Places of Learning and Scholarship; and Libraries, Places, and Culture. Of the 14 contributions, the three in the section on research libraries potentially offer the most relevant content for academic librarians. Karen Antell and Debra Engel describe the "library as place in the life of the scholar" as they uncovered it in two studies conducted at the University of Oklahoma—a set of interviews with professors who had private carrels in the library and a subsequent survey of faculty and doctoral students. Aside from the mildly surprising finding that younger scholars value the physical library's "conduciveness to scholarship" more than their older peers, these studies reveal little about scholars' attitudes that most academic librarians do not already know or suspect. Lisa M. Given writes about undergraduates' information behaviors at a major Canadian university, basing her conclusions not on data gathered directly from students but on interviews with faculty and librarians. The approach is unconventional, but the findings are not. Given's informants underscore the importance of [End Page 214] flexible library spaces that support social as well as academic needs. Many readers will hear echoes of their own users' voices in the verbatim quotations that enhance both Antell and Engel's and Given's papers. The final paper in this section is an impassioned essay by Thomas Mann, reference librarian at the Library of Congress. Recounting complex queries that could only be answered by browsing printed materials, Mann demonstrates the fallacies of current library managerial trends. Scholarship will be ill-served, he argues, by storing little-used books in off-site warehouses, abandoning full subject cataloging and classification, and unquestioningly adopting a digital paradigm for librarianship. Mann has proclaimed his contrarian ideas in other venues, but they carry even greater weight in the context of thinking about the library as a physical environment that enables intellectual discovery...

Knowledge map of Information Science

This collective paper incorporates eleven position papers on implications of the "Knowledge Map of Information Science,” a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005 and published as a series of four articles (ZINS, 2007 a, b, c, d). The Delphi study captured the deliberations of 57 leading information science scholars from 16 countries to provide (1) definitions of the fundamental concepts of data, information knowledge and message, (2) alternative conceptions of the broad information science domain, (3) different classificatory mappings of the field, and (4) comprehensive mappings of information science. Overall, the Knowledge Map provides an early 21st century snapshot of the field that should help guide future research, educational programming, publishing, and other professional and scholarly thrusts. Future information science mapping research should be done periodically, including additional Delphi studies and assessments of the degree of the field’s expansion and probable division into sub-fields. Alternative methodologies for mapping the expanding information science universe and its synergies with other fields of knowledge should also be explored.

Conceptualizing information, technology, and people: Comparing information science and information systems literatures

AbstractThrough this article, we highlight that there are discernibly different patterns among conceptualizations of information, technology, and people across information systems and information science literatures. We do this to clarify the differences in these two areas of scholarship and to further encourage the substantial overlap possible, but not yet engaged, in the research pursued in these areas. We engage this by analyzing published literature in these areas to frame our discussion of the challenges and opportunities for scholars in information science and information systems disciplines to engage in collaborative work.

Social informatics: Overview, principles and opportunities

Social informatics: Overview, principles and opportunities

Knowledge map of information science: Implications for the future of the field

This collective paper incorporates eleven position papers on implications of the Map of Information Science,” a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005 and published as a series of four articles (ZINS, 2007 a, b, c, d). The Delphi study captured the deliberations of 57 leading information science scholars from 16 countries to provide (1) definitions of the fundamental concepts of data, information knowledge and message, (2) alternative conceptions of the broad information science domain, (3) different classificatory mappings of the field, and (4) comprehensive mappings of information science. Overall, the Knowledge Map provides an early 21st century snapshot of the field that should help guide future research, educational programming, publishing, and other professional and scholarly thrusts. Future information science mapping research should be done periodically, including additional Delphi studies and assessments of the degree of the field’s expansion and probable division into sub-fields. Alternative methodologies for mapping the expanding information science universe and its synergies with other fields of knowledge should also be explored.

Broadening Our Perspectives

I'm flattered. First, that Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots [ 1 ] was read; second, that it was taken seriously and responded to by such bright library and information science (LIS) scholars as Marie Radford, Gary Radford, John Budd, and Doug Raber.2 In this special issue's introduction, however, I choose not to critique authors individually. Rather, I would like to use this introduction to argue that we need more than just theory, more than just improved research methodologies to augment understanding of the world in which LIS operates. To move beyond our tunnel vision and blind spots, we need to expand our perspectives beyond current professional discourse and shift them from the user in the life of the library to the library in the life of the user. In his article The Library, Praxis, and Symbolic Power [2], John Budd quotes Pierce Butler: The librarian stands alone in the simplicity of his pragmatism; a rationalization of each immediate technical process by itself seems to satisfy his intellectual interest [3, p. xi]. Except for changing the pronoun to more accurately reflect the gender profile of the library profession, I think Butler's statement still stands. Pragmatism continues to mark librarianship's discourse, which traces its roots to the late nineteenth century. When Melvil Dewey crafted the curriculum for the world's first library school at Columbia University in 1887, he based it on four components that I label character, institution, expertise, and authority. Like other pioneering middle-class professionals eager to facilitate social order in the late nineteenth century, Dewey believed only people of character ought to populate the pro-

Scholarly use of internet‐based electronic resources

AbstractThis research examines the use of Internet‐based electronic resources (e‐sources) by a group of library and information science (LIS) scholars. It focuses particularly on how scholars use, cite, and evaluate e‐sources during the research process. This research also explores the problems scholars encounter and concerns they have when using e‐sources for research. The following approaches were used to collect data for the investigation: (a) a longitudinal analysis of e‐source citations in eight LIS journals from 1991 through 1998; (b) a survey of editors of the eight journals; and (c) a survey of 201 authors with articles to be published in the eight journals. The longitudinal analysis of e‐source citations shows that there has been a notable increase in the number and proportion of authors who cite e‐sources in their research articles over the 8‐year period, although at the time of this study, e‐sources were still cited much less frequently than print sources. This result provides empirical evidence that e‐sources are increasingly used among scholars. Complementing the citation data, the results from the author survey show that e‐sources are becoming an important component in scholars' research, and are serving a wide range of purposes and functions. The number of access points and self‐perceived overall ability to use the Internet are identified as the two significant variables affecting frequency of e‐source use. The results of this study also suggest that a limited number of criteria can be implemented in practice for scholars to evaluate electronic sources and systems. When citing e‐sources, scholars consider some factors that are unique to e‐sources, in addition to the factors they consider for print sources. Although the advantages of e‐sources promote citing, some drawbacks of e‐sources at this stage serve as a barrier. The survey of editors also reveals a lack of clearly stated editorial policies regarding citing e‐sources. The major problems and concerns reported by scholars regarding using e‐sources are summarized, and both the theoretical implications and practical applications of the findings are discussed.

Scholarly use of Internet-based electronic resources

This research examines the use of Internet-based electronic resources (e-sources) by a group of library and information science (LIS) scholars. It focuses particularly on how scholars use, cite, and evaluate e-sources during the research process. This research also explores the problems scholars encounter and concerns they have when using e-sources for research. The following approaches were used to collect data for the investigation: (a) a longitudinal analysis of e-source citations in eight LIS journals from 1991 through 1998; (b) a survey of editors of the eight journals; and (c) a survey of 201 authors with articles to be published in the eight journals. The longitudinal analysis of e-source citations shows that there has been a notable increase in the number and proportion of authors who cite e-sources in their research articles over the 8-year period, although at the time of this study, e-sources were still cited much less frequently than print sources. This result provides empirical evidence that e-sources are increasingly used among scholars. Complementing the citation data, the results from the author survey show that e-sources are becoming an important component in scholars' research, and are serving a wide range of purposes and functions. The number of access points and self-perceived overall ability to use the Internet are identified as the two significant variables affecting frequency of e-source use. The results of this study also suggest that a limited number of criteria can be implemented in practice for scholars to evaluate electronic sources and systems. When citing e-sources, scholars consider some factors that are unique to e-sources, in addition to the factors they consider for print sources. Although the advantages of e-sources promote citing, some drawbacks of e-sources at this stage serve as a barrier. The survey of editors also reveals a lack of clearly stated editorial policies regarding citing e-sources. The major problems and concerns reported by scholars regarding using e-sources are summarized, and both the theoretical implications and practical applications of the findings are discussed.

Scholarly E-conferences on the academic networks: How library and information science professionals use them

This article describes a qualitative study of the impact that Internet distributed e-conferences have begun to have on the information seeking and sharing behavior of library and information science professionals and scholars. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The convergence of information science and communication: A bibliometric analysis

This study asks whether the disciplines of information science and communication are converging, as indicated by a bibliometric study of all core journals of both disciplines in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI®) for the period 1977 to 1987. Results show very little convergence between these disciplines, at least on the basis of cross-disciplinary journal citation patterns, although the number of journals involved has increased slightly over time. A few journals are mainly responsible for the cross-disciplinary citing, and they are primarily information science journals citing communication journals. The results may be of interest to those studying scholarly communication or bibliometrics, to faculty constructing curricula in either of the disciplines, to communication and information science scholars seeking new areas of research, and to collection development librarians in drawing the boundaries of these disciplines. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.