Library Job Research Articles

Positioning, Navigation, and Book Accessing/Returning in an Autonomous Library Robot using Integrated Binocular Vision and QR Code Identification Systems.

With rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and mobile robots, some of the tedious yet simple jobs in modern libraries, like book accessing and returning (BAR) operations that had been fulfilled manually before, could be undertaken by robots. Due to the limited accuracies of the existing positioning and navigation (P&N) technologies and the operational errors accumulated within the robot P&N process, however, most of the current robots are not able to fulfill such high-precision operations. To address these practical issues, we propose, for the first time (to the best of our knowledge), to combine the binocular vision and Quick Response (QR) code identification techniques together to improve the robot P&N accuracies, and then construct an autonomous library robot for high-precision BAR operations. Specifically, the binocular vision system is used for dynamic digital map construction and autonomous P&N, as well as obstacle identification and avoiding functions, while the QR code identification technique is responsible for both robot operational error elimination and robotic arm BAR operation determination. Both simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed technique combination, as well as the constructed robot. Results show that such a technique combination is effective and robust, and could help to significantly improve the P&N and BAR operation accuracies, while reducing the BAR operation time. The implemented autonomous robot is fully-autonomous and cost-effective, and may find applications far beyond libraries with only sophisticated technologies employed.

The Migration of Government Documents Duties to Public Services: An Analysis of Recent Trends in Government Documents Librarian Job Advertisements

ABSTRACTThis paper establishes trends in the duties of government documents librarians through analysis of job advertisements and provides insights into the current delivery of government information in an academic setting. The authors reviewed 75 job advertisements posted between 2010 and 2016 and categorized types of duties found within each advertisement. The public service responsibilities of reference and information literacy appeared in over 80% of advertisements. The data revealed that depository operations have migrated to a function of the reference department, with most academic libraries considering government documents librarianship primarily as a public service rather than a technical service.

Computer Programming for Librarians: A Study of Job Postings for Library Technologists

The rapid changes in technology used in the library and cultural heritage sectors can make it difficult for early career librarians and LIS students interested in library technology positions to know what skills will be most beneficial to their job search. In this study, 492 librarian and archivist job postings from the Code4Libs Jobs website from between 2008 and 2018 were collected and analyzed to find which programming technologies are most in demand overall and which are most requested for specific types of jobs and specific types of employers, including changes over time. The results provide a glimpse of programming languages and technologies that are widely useful in the field of library technology today, as well as those that are growing in use.

Usage of Library Resources and Services in Vivekananda Library of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak (Haryana): A Study

This examination explores the utilization of data assets and administrations accessible in the library by the PG students’ understudies and research researchers of Vivekananda Library of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. For the present investigation, a well-organized poll has been defined and disseminated among the PG students understudies and research researchers of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, so as to find out the recurrence of visit to the library, recurrence of utilization of printed data assets, utilization of library administrations, recurrence of utilization of electronic data assets, dimension of fulfillment towards usage of library assets and job of library in advancing the utilization of data assets. The result and recommendations of the examination would be helpful to take fitting measures to improve data assets and administrations.

Scholarly Communication Librarians’ Relationship with Research Impact Indicators: An Analysis of a National Survey of Academic Librarians in the United States

INTRODUCTION Academic librarians, especially in the field of scholarly communication, are often expected to understand and engage with research impact indicators. However, much of the current literature speculates about how academic librarians are using and implementing research impact indicators in their practice. METHODS This study analyzed the results from a 2015 survey administered to over 13,000 academic librarians at Carnegie-classified R1 institutions in the United States. The survey concentrated on academic librarians’ familiarity with and usage of research impact indicators. Results: This study uncovered findings related to academic librarians’ various levels of familiarity with research impact indicators and how they implement and use research impact indicators in their professional development and in their library job duties. DISCUSSION In general, academic librarians with regular scholarly communication support duties tend to have higher levels of familiarity of research impact indicators. In general, academic librarians are most familiar with the citation counts and usage statistics and least familiar with altmetrics. During consultations with faculty, the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and citation counts are more likely to be addressed than the author h-index, altmetrics, qualitative measures, and expert peer reviews. The survey results also hint towards a growing interest in altmetrics among academic librarians for their professional advancement. CONCLUSION Academic librarians are continually challenged to keep pace with the changing landscape of research impact metrics and research assessment models. By keeping pace and implementing research impact indicators in their own practices, academic librarians can provide a crucial service to the wider academic community.

Job hunting post-recession

Those of us who graduated from college and graduate school during and after the recession faced a library job market that was wildly unbalanced in terms of supply and demand, and consequently had to find creative ways to find employment. This column offers the author’s experience as one possible example for how new library school graduates can engage a variety of opportunities on their way to full-time employment.

Data Librarian, the Steward

Background. By the 2020 mark, The European Union should have a functional Digital Single Market. One of the policies sustaining the efforts in such endeavour is building a European Data Economy (European Commission 2017a). The aim is to build a common European data space a transformative space even for the information science specialists. Objectives. The study is investigative in nature aiming to extract the traits out of the trends leading to a possible specialisation having a broad scope in searching possible career paths for librarians in data science. Results. A graphical explanatory framework indicating requirements, skills and competencies needed by the librarians to achieve new cross-disciplinary engagements with patrons and the research environment. Methods. Because this study is put in the context of Open Science, and particularly addressing the European Union space, the late developments reflected in the policies and initiatives were taken under scrutiny coupled with relevant European Commission project deliverables. Other studies concentrating on the new roles of the librarians pertaining to data librarian were consulted, and also the body of information gathered around the Open Science Cloud. To couple existing studies’ conclusions with the demand in the librarianship, a body of job listings were investigated to find common traits data librarian job descriptions are exposing. To complete a picture, some training facilities were taken into the mix. Debate. Out of many possible roles envisaged for the librarians, there are a few which trigger some focus on the future skills needed to be acquired. These possible scenarios involve data management planning guidance, data stewardship and curation, and data visualisation. Some or all of them might lead to a deep transformation of the librarianship as a craft we were used to up to the Open Science rising tide. The article invites all the information specialists to look into what are the needs to shape up or even to rehash the careers of library and information science specialists.

Shooting for the moon: an analysis of digital initiatives librarian job advertisements

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the evolution of technology-oriented university librarian positions and analyze digital initiatives librarian job advertisements to determine the number and type of skills that academic libraries desire.Design/methodology/approachForty-nine job postings between October 2010 and March 2016 were found via the Code4Lib listserv. Information on job title, desired skills and responsibilities and other information was compiled and analyzed.FindingsTwenty-four skills and responsibilities were identified; the top four were metadata, digital preservation, digital collections and digitization. Other skills and responsibilities are frequently listed by ACRL as emerging trends.Research limitations/implicationsDigital initiatives librarian job postings have risen substantially in the past five years. A total of 24 skills and responsibilities were identified and skills related to the administration of digital collections are the top desired skills of digital initiatives librarians.Originality/valueJob analysis literature has influenced the design of job descriptions for new roles and the literature offers a “picture of how academic librarianship is developing” (Cox and Corrall, 2013, p. 1528). Library administrators are encourage to design digital initiatives librarian positions strategically, basing the responsibilities on demonstrated needs on their campuses, rather than in response to trends in academic librarianship.

Choice of career in library and information science and past work experience

The study explores how different occupational backgrounds of Master’s students in LIS shape their motivation to choose a career in the library profession. The research is conducted on full-time employed Master’s students from Hong Kong. The research method applied is survey, and data were collected with an online questionnaire. The study reveals that students with library jobs significantly differ from students employed elsewhere with respect to motivation to pursue a career in LIS. While library-employed students place more value on extrinsic motivating factors, students employed in other fields value intrinsic factors as well. Regarding the future developments in the LIS profession, students from both groups agree that the application of information technologies, service orientation, academic research, marketing activities and teaching are all important.

To teach or not to teach? The question of the academic librarian's pedagogical competencies in the digital age

This paper revisits the issue of ‘librarian as teacher’ in the literature and draws empirical evidence on the question of the pedagogical knowledge and skills requirements of academic librarians. A pragmativist paradigm and both quantitative and qualitative philosophical assumptions are used to address this research problem. The paper reports on the outcome of content analysis of academic library job advertisements for professional library and information services positions in South Africa, supported by findings from websites of South African LIS schools and selected data from a 2015 national online survey of academic librarians in South Africa. Such an analysis, framed by Shank and Bell’s (2011, 105) concept of “disruptive innovations” leading to their framework for blended librarianship, is used to ascertain the pedagogical competency requirements of the academic librarian in South Africa in the current digital age. The findings include a list of pedagogical competency requirements for academic librarians and provide a critical narrative, in the context of international trends and the study’s conceptual framing, on the extent to which academic librarians in South Africa meet these requirements.

Online library job advertisement in United Arab Emirates: a content analysis of online sources

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze library jobs advertised by higher education institutions, newspapers and job market sites in United Arab Emirates (UAE).Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses summative content analysis approach for data collection, data analysis, evaluation and assessment. It reports about the accuracy of advertisements, job titles, job categories, locations and types of libraries.FindingsHigher education institutions demonstrate the highest accuracy level in advertising library jobs. Librarian emerged to be the highest advertised title by the sources. e-library executive, principal-publications and library, and primary librarian found to be the new titles in the market. The paper also found inconsistencies and lack of uniformities among the sources in using job categories to advertise library jobs. In fact, none of them used the term “library” in any category. Academic libraries recorded the highest advertised jobs compared to other types of libraries.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is based on library jobs advertised on the websites. Websites are only one source of library job advertisement.Practical implicationsThe paper provides important information for librarians looking for library jobs in the Middle East as well as for library managers and decision makers who wish to recruit library professionals.Originality/valueThe paper represents one of the few studies conducted on library job marketing in UAE. Findings of the study may contribute to the improvement of library job marketing not only in UAE but also in the other gulf countries.

187: MEDICAL LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE STUDENTS' READINESS AND ATTITUDES TO ENTER HOSPITALS AS CLINICAL LIBRARIANS: A CASE STUDY OF ISFAHAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Background and aims:Expert searcher, teacher, content manager, and patient advocate are clinical librarian roles. Clinical Librarian has a potential role in facilitating evidence-based practice in hospital settings. Nowadays, clinical librarian...

KORELASI ANTARFAKTOR KEPUASAN KERJA PUSTAKAWAN: STUDI KASUS PUSTAKAWAN LEMBAGA ILMU PENGETAHUAN INDONESIA

Librarian job satisfaction is influenced by a number of factors, among others, the working environment, motivation, and compensation. Knowing the relationship between these factors will be helpful for the improvement of job satisfaction, which in turn will improve the professionalism of librarians. This study aims to measure the correlation between these factors. Respondents are librarians within Indonesian Institute of Science, with the post of librarian executing, implementing advanced, supervisors, first, the young and middle. Collecting data using questionnaires, while the correlation measurement using the method of Kendal and Spearman. The study results show that there is no significant relationship between work environment factors and compensation as well as among the factors of motivation and compensation.

"You're Hired!" - An Analysis of the Perceptions and Behaviors of Library Job Candidates on Job Offer Negotiations

"You're Hired!" - An Analysis of the Perceptions and Behaviors of Library Job Candidates on Job Offer Negotiations

Cataloguers May Tend to Have Learning Styles Different from Other Library Job Responsibilities

Objective – To determine whether relationships exist between academic librarians’ learning styles and their professional work responsibilities. 
 
 Design – Self-selecting survey. 
 
 Setting – Email listservs. 
 
 Subjects – 1579 academic librarians. 
 
 Methods – The authors used the Index of Learning Styles questionnaire, based on the Felder-Silverman Learning Styles model consisting of eight dimensions on four scales: Active/Reflective, Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal, and Sequential/Global. The multiple choice survey was distributed online to 23 email listservs for academic librarians in 2011, and to 14 additional listservs in 2013 targeting technical services librarians. 1579 responses were received in total, which were analyzed using ANOVA with a Tukey-Kramer post-hoc mean separation, and descriptively using observed frequencies. 
 
 Main Results – In examining the relationship between positions and learning styles, the study revealed there to be five statistically significant p-values when the data were analyzed. Catalogers (n=145) were found to be more reflective learners compared to Administrative (n=321) and Instruction librarians (n=228) at the p = 0.009 level. Administrative, Instruction, and “Other” librarians were found to be more intuitive learners than Catalogers, who are more likely to be sensing learners, at the p = 0.0004 level. Digital librarians (n=40) are more likely to be visual learners and Catalogers more likely to be sequential learners when compared to several other librarian categories, at the p = 0.020 and p = 0.001 levels respectively. 
 
 Conclusions – The authors concluded that there were some statistically significant differences between librarians’ learning styles scores according to job responsibilities. Catalogers were found to have different learning styles than other types of librarians for three out of four scales. Based on these findings, the authors indicate that further research into how librarians’ work responsibilities impact learning styles is justified.

How Do I Get a Library Job? Evidence-based Advice

It is widely assumed that practical job experience is the main factor that will get you a job once you graduate from a library program, so it follows that obtaining an internship while in school must be key to your future career success. But is there evidence behind this common advice? The accompanying video investigates these questions using interview and survey methodology. On suppose largement que l’experience de travail reelle et concrete est ce dont on a besoin pour trouver un emploi apres avoir recu un diplome d’un programme de bibliotheconomie. Donc l’experience de travail precedente, ou l’obtention d’un stage pendant les etudes, est la clef du succes professionnelle dans l’avenir. Mais il y a-t-il des preuves qui soutiennent cette affirmation? La video accompagnante examine ces questions utilisant des entrevues et des sondages conduits par les auteurs.

Trends in Professional Art Library Job Postings, 2010–2015

AbstractThe author outlines the geography of the current art library job market through an examination of job postings from the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) ARLIS-L listserv. The breakdown of institution type (academic, museum, other) and preferred and required qualifications for professional-level vacancies are analyzed, with results showing the majority of open positions are in academic institutions and the most commonly requested qualifications are library experience, communication skills, knowledge of digital trends, an additional subject degree, and supervisory experience. Finally, the author compares the qualifications for various position types, showing that some qualifications are more highly preferred for certain positions.

A review of advertisements for part-time library positions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine advertisements for part-time professional library jobs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The goal is to gain a better understanding of what skills and experience levels are being required of part-time librarians, as well as what their expected salary and hours might be.Design/methodology/approach– Advertisements for part-time professional library positions were collected from online sources over the course of one year.Findings– Part-time librarian positions tend to be public services positions in either public or academic libraries. Advertisements for these position indicate a need for flexibility and often do not contain information about salary or hours. Many are suitable for entry-level librarians with no experience.Research limitations/implications– Job advertisement studies are limited in that they can only examine the information contained in the advertisements themselves and therefore may not reflect the actual person hired.Practical implications– This paper will provide useful information for librarians seeking part-time positions, as well as for library and information science educators and library managers who wish to mentor or hire new librarians.Originality/value– This paper corrects an identified lack of research into part-time library employment.

‘Publish or Perish’ in African Studies: New Ways to Valorise Research

AbstractNew modes of publishing African Studies accelerate research, creating digital repositories, but valuing the outcomes is complex, and contested. For tenure of both librarians and academics, refereed publications remain the Holy Grail. Fears of quality decline accompany a rise in self-publishing and inverse social media brevity. Valuing works requires reliable sources, but permanency concerns remain: online news in Africa can quickly disappear, as evident with Ebola reporting; and if you trust Google, in African languages some news never occurred! But at the same time, new modes of publishing and communication allow wider review, and the contesting of canon. Twenty years ago, Africanists hoped open access credentialing was just around the corner. This has not eventuated but a measure of recognition is conceded as society itself goes online. Blogs and open access journals will not clinch jobs, but they can let scholars leave an imprint. Graduate digital courses with blogs replacing essays and completed projects offered back to libraries show a trend to capacitise a new generation of teachers, valorising research. Librarian job descriptions insist on digital skills. Granting bodies privilege the digital. Publishers go online. African studies associations hold digital workshops. If output in core media maintains centrality in ranking and citation then there is now a merging of forms. New books appear, some to acclaim, using digital sources, new knowledge discovery techniques emerge. Across all these trends, there will remain a need to balance digital and print collected by libraries, and refereed writing with more spontaneous communication, but their boundary is likely to narrow.

공공도서관 직원의 직무만족과 도서관 서비스 품질과의 관계 연구

도서관의 성과를 이용자에게 제공하는 서비스의 품질 강화라고 할 때, 이에 영향을 미치는 요소로서 도서관 내부인적자원의 능력이 검토되어야 한다. 본 연구는 공공도서관 직원의 직무만족과 이용자가 인식하는 서비스 품질간의 관계를 밝히기 위해 서울 인천 경기 지역 10개의 공공도서관을 대상으로 직원의 직무만족도와 <TEX>$LibQUAL+^{TM}$</TEX>모형을 적용한 도서관서비스 품질을 조사하였다. 그 결과 직무만족 중 직무자체 요인과 조직요인의 만족도가 높을수록 서비스 품질이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 도서관 고객 만족도 향상을 위해 직원의 직무만족에 대한 제고가 필요한 것으로 판단되며, 이에 따른 실무적 함의를 논의하였다. When library performance is regarded as service quality, competency in human resources should be considered as an influential factor. This study aims to identify relationships between job satisfaction of librarians and the service quality that users recognize in public libraries. Librarians and users in 10 public libraries in Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi province were sampled to measure job satisfaction and service quality with <TEX>$LibQUAL+^{TM}$</TEX> model. As a result, the higher the satisfaction of the duty itself and organizational factor show a high service quality. Consequently, to improve library customer satisfaction, the librarian's job satisfaction should be considered. Additionally, some practical implications are discussed.