Linked Research Articles

Grantseeking, Technology Renovation, and Creative Solutions to Support Library Access and Online Teaching and Learning During the Global COVID-19 Outbreak

The sudden global epidemiological outbreak in early spring 2020 challenged the academic libraries’ Access and Resource Sharing (ARS) department and prevented staff from providing the types of essential services that its users expect and require. With the full closure of campus and all courses moving online within a week, ARS staff were put on the front lines of finding ways to continue providing patrons with access to the library’s physical collections while library buildings were closed. This paper details how the ARS community and a large research university library’s ARS department responded and adapted to these rapid changes, acted creatively, and reinvented services through collaboration, creative solutions, grantseeking, and technology renovation. ARS staff continued to test a scan-beside-the-stacks methodology through a grant-funded project to create an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) mobile cart. This mobile cart allowed for a single employee to handle all items to complete the digital conversion of print materials and reduced the risk of coronavirus transfer between library staff members during the COVID-19 pandemic. An on-demand book digitization program in collaboration with multiple departments opened up access to resources to effectively fulfill patrons’ needs. Through these and other adaptations, ARS staff retained their professional commitment to provide materials and a high level of services to their users.

Interlibrary loan and document delivery in North American health sciences libraries during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study purpose was to understand how early months of the COVID-19 pandemic altered interlibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery (DD) in North American health science libraries (HSLs), specifically the decision-making and workflow adjustments associated with accessing their own collections and obtaining content not available via ILL. Researchers distributed an online 26-question survey through 24 health science library email lists from January 6-February 7, 2021. Respondents reported their library's ILL and DD activities from March-August 2020, including ILL/DD usage and policies, collection access, decision-making, and workflow adjustments. In addition to calculating frequencies, cross-tabulation and statistical tests were performed to test a priori potential associations. Two researchers independently and thematically analyzed responses to the 2 open-ended questions and reached consensus on themes. Hospital libraries represented 52% (n=226/431) of respondents, along with 42% academic (n=179) and 6% (n=26) multi-type or other special. Only 1% (n=5) closed completely with no remote services, but many, 45% (n=194), ceased ILL of print materials. More than half (n=246/423; 58%) agreed that ILL requests likely to be filled from print remained unfilled more than is typical. Open-ended questions yielded 5 themes on ILL/DD staffing, setup, and systems; 6 on impacts for libraries and library users. Lack of communication regarding collection availability and staffing resulted in delayed or unfilled requests. Hospital and academic libraries made similar decisions about continuing services but reported different experiences in areas such as purchasing digital content. Hybrid ILL/DD workflows may continue for managing these services.

Fanpy: A python library for prototyping multideterminant methods in ab initio quantum chemistry.

Fanpy is a free and open-source Python library for developing and testing multideterminant wavefunctions and related ab initio methods in electronic structure theory. The main use of Fanpy is to quickly prototype new methods by making it easier to convert the mathematical formulation of a new wavefunction ansätze to a working implementation. Fanpy is designed based on our recently introduced Flexible Ansatz for N-electron Configuration Interaction (FANCI) framework, where multideterminant wavefunctions are represented by their overlaps with Slater determinants of orthonormal spin-orbitals. In the simplest case, a new wavefunction ansatz can be implemented by simply writing a function for evaluating its overlap with an arbitrary Slater determinant. Fanpy is modular in both implementation and theory: the wavefunction model, the system's Hamiltonian, and the choice of objective function are all independent modules. This modular structure makes it easy for users to mix and match different methods and for developers to quickly explore new ideas. Fanpy is written purely in Python with standard dependencies, making it accessible for various operating systems. In addition, it adheres to principles of modern software development, including comprehensive documentation, extensive testing, quality assurance, and continuous integration and delivery protocols. This article is considered to be the official release notes for the Fanpy library.

Smart Contracts in the Construction Industry: A Systematic Review

On-time delivery of documentation and contracts has been recognized as a crucial requirement for the successful delivery of projects. However, the construction industry still depends on time-consuming traditional contract processes, which negatively affect the overall productivity of projects in the industry. The use of Smart Contracts (SCs) is highlighted as a suitable novel technology to expedite the contract processes and establish a reliable payment environment in the construction industry. Whilst there has been an increase in the debate about the use of SCs in construction in recent years, their use in practice still seems to be in its infancy. As such, the topic will benefit from a thorough review of benefits, drivers, barriers and strategies that can enhance the implementation of SCs in construction. This article presents the key findings from a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on SCs in the construction industry, critically assessing existing studies on the topic. The study initially involved 171 research papers for the SLR process, and out of that 49 research papers were filtered for further analysis after reading their abstracts. A total of 30 papers were finally filtered after the full-text reading for the SLR. Descriptive and content analysis were used to analyse the full-text findings. The study graphically mapped the bibliographic materials by using the Visualization of Similarities (VoS) Viewer software. As per the findings, the topic has mostly been researched in Asia and the Pacific as a region and China as a country. It was noted that there were more empirical articles than theoretical studies related to SCs, evidencing the industry relevance of the issue. A total of 55% of the articles reviewed have been published in journals with a Q1 ranking. All the articles were written by multiple authors, with 30% of the journal articles having international co-authors and benefitting from the collaboration between authors. Key advantages identified in the literature go beyond contract and payment provisions and include aspects such as logistic handling, decentralized applications, business process management, automated payments, etc. Key drivers for adoption are supply chain pressure, competitive pressure, top management support, simple layout, reduction in risks of clients, clarity in responsibility and risk allocation, whereas the key barriers include insecurity, limited observability, incompatibility, inactive government collaboration and limited storage capacity. Key strategies to enhance the application of SC in construction include integrating theorems proving symbolic execution, using the selective transparency method and lock fund system, testing the integration of SCs with other systems at the initial stage, incorporating semi-automated consensus mechanisms for payments, constructing a mechanism to actively engage with government bodies, etc.

Faculty perceptions, use, and needs of library resource and services in a public research university

This research aims to examine whether faculty's perceptions of the importance of the library's resources and services for their teaching, clinical practice or research were different based on disciplines, and to explore the degree that faculty's perceptions of the library's importance and its role have changed over time. The findings revealed that online journals, databases, and Interlibrary loan (ILL) were considered by the majority of faculty as the most important for faculty's research. Another key finding indicated that faculty from social sciences perceived assistance from a subject specialist librarian as more important than faculty members from physical sciences. The top three strategies faculty use to obtain articles not available through the university include searching for a freely available online version, using ILL, and obtaining it from Google Scholar. These findings assist the library to better understand our user community's needs. As this survey is regularly deployed, it also allows us to observe potential changes over time, and as necessary, make strategic changes to library resources and services.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on interlibrary loan and document delivery requests

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on interlibrary loan and document delivery requests

Lessons Learned from Reevaluating Big Deals with Unsub

The value of big deals is increasingly unclear. This article briefly discusses factors others have considered in evaluating big deals and covers the four factors that should be considered moving forward: open access, interlibrary loan, post-termination access, and a-la-carte costs. Unsub, a tool for reevaluating big deals created by the nonprofit OurResearch, is introduced. Lessons learned are shared from two years of helping libraries reevaluate big deals to provide insight into the complexities and tradeoffs involved in evaluating big deals across many libraries.

Three Product Implementations for Improving “Just-In-Time” Delivery of Library Resources

ABSTRACT The academic library plays a pivotal role within the organizational framework of higher education, supporting teaching, learning, and research with robust collections of materials in an array of formats. The value and ease of access to academic library collections within the higher education organizational framework cannot be understated. Accordingly, neither can the importance of interlibrary loan services from which users may gain access to materials beyond the local collection. In an effort to enhance access and discovery of materials, promote interlibrary loan services, and meet the goals and objectives of a new strategic plan. The University of Alabama Libraries implemented three new tools over the course of a few short months: Lean Library, Article Galaxy Scholar, and EBSCO custom linking. This article presents a case study detailing the implementation of these tools at a major research library.

Do I Need to Ask Permission? Applying Fair Use to Educational Activities.

Do I Need to Ask Permission? Applying Fair Use to Educational Activities.

The Order of Success: A Slow Path to Copyright Librarianship

No faculty lines were open when I graduated with my MLS at the library where I was employed as a staff member, but I was able to take advantage of organizational restructuring to obtain a management position over interlibrary loan. My department head at the time was assigned with providing copyright assistance. I seized the opportunity to learn more while I searched for a position that required my degree. I was supported while pursuing continuing education in copyright. I was also given increasing responsibilities that I suspected were beyond my rank. My eagerness to develop a professional skill set had worked both for and against me.

Copyright Buddies: Cultivating Teamwork to Support Our Copyright Journey

Our journey to gaining copyright competence started many years ago but from two different points. Susan was teaching an information literacy course and needed to quickly come up to speed to present a unit to her students on copyright and fair use. This led to a book chapter on using fair use cases in the classroom, to taking courses on copyright, attending copyright conferences, and working with New Mexico State University (NMSU) general counsel on an all-campus copyright compliance module. As a newly minted Access Services department head at NMSU Library, Norice traveled down the copyright road from a library services management perspective, developing copyright policies for interlibrary loan, e-reserves, and copy center services. In time, she partnered with the university’s general counsel and others to present copyright sessions across campus. She now regularly teaches copyright to medical students at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (Burrell) and has led the development of that college’s copyright policy and guidelines. Our U.S.-Mexico border region is somewhat of a information resource desert, with few academic libraries and librarians nearby to learn from and lean on. We soon became copyright buddies, developing a tag-team approach to helping each other navigate perplexing copyright questions, bouncing ideas and scenarios off one another to support and help each other grow and gain expertise.

Just-In-Time: the value of online integrated interlibrary loans to broaden access to information resources


 
 
 This research article will discuss a collaboration strategy used between eight postsecondary institutions in Puerto Rico which are part of the library consortia COBIMET. COBIMET is a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with its members to improve virtual library services and information skills in the digital era. The development of collaboration strategies for information sharing through interlibrary loans (ILL) services have become an important service to reduce the gap of information needed by researchers or scholars. These institutions implemented an automated online interlibrary loan system that was integrated to their electronic resources discovery system. The aim of this collaborative agreement was to reduce request time and to provide access to more information resources in a cost-effective manner. The article will present the rationale on implementing an automated ILL Request Process and project experiences.
 
 

Toward information equity among academic libraries

For two decades, publishers and vendors have used e-book licenses to back academic libraries into a corner. These rightsholders and intermediaries lease rather than sell content, and they dictate what constitutes permitted downstream usages. Libraries have historically used interlibrary loans to fill gaps in collections, but publishers and vendors unilaterally claim that interlibrary loans of entire e-books infringe on their exclusive rights. As a result, libraries at small and mid-sized colleges and universities are constrained to providing patrons access only to e-books that fall within the limits of modest collections budgets. Grounded on the premise that e-book interlibrary loans are needed to advance and protect information equity in higher education, this presentation invites interdisciplinary discussions and collaboration with respect to the future of resource sharing in academic libraries.

Interlibrary service and electronic delivery of documents in the regional information and library system

The purpose of the article is to analyze and evaluate the activities of the Interlibrary Loan sector of the Central Scientific Library of the Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (CSL FRC KSC SB RAS) for the period of 2017–2021. CSL FRC KSC SB RAS concludes contracts for the provision of interlibrary loan services and electronic delivery of documents with the AllRussian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information RAS, State Public Scientific Technological Library of Russian Federation, State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and with the State Universal Scientific Library of the Krasnoyarsk region. It also plans to cooperate with the Library of Natural Sciences RAS and the Russian State Library. The main indicators analyzed by the author: the number of received and completed orders by the year, their percentage, forms of the ordered information received by the library. Completed orders come from stockholders mainly in the form of electronic copies and originals, in some cases, there come paper copies and links to electronic resources. It is noted that not all structural divisions of the Krasnoyarsk FRC use ILL, – this requires further work on the presentation of the service. The participation of the shared automation center of SPSTL SB RAS in the automation of information and library processes of the Central Scientific Library of the Federal Research Center of the KSC SB RAS is shown. The developed ways to improve the efficiency of the user service in the ILL sector are offered.

A Lean Case Study On Managing Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Service in an Academic Library

Interlibrary loan and document delivery (ILL/DD) is an essential service provided by academic libraries to support research activities, publication and academic programmes. ILL/DD service capitalises on resource sharing or library networking by providing library materials that are not available at the host library. The Lean Six Sigma method was applied to identify the root problems. A construction of a web-based system branded as “Request Book and Article System (RBAS)” soon followed as an intervention. A retrospective study was conducted from March 2020 to August 2021 (16 months) to evaluate the key indicators of the service. Customer feedback on service quality was also surveyed. The majority of request was for articles, 649 (87.5%), followed by book request 84 (11.3%) and ebook, 9 (1.2%). Turnaround time fell within 24 hours for the majority of requests, 494 (68.4%). The highest number was from article request category, 460 (71.8%). A high proportion of users (78%) deemed the service as “high quality”. The use of a lean approach and the development of a homegrown system have improved the ILL/DD service at our library. Here we share lean practices in ILL/DD management, focusing on transforming a manual method to a digital homegrown system development and its advantages.

The Bike-courier as an Energy Efficiency Instrument at the University of Guadalajara (Pilot Study)

Introducción: The struggle and concern for climate change, the optimization of natural resources, the well-being of future generations, has permeated the public institutions of our country. In particular, the University of Guadalajara, a public body for higher education, has launched projects aimed at this direction. The year 2020 at the University of Guadalajara was declared as the "Year of the Energy Transition at the University of Guadalajara”. Likewise, the Program of Austerity, Rationality and Efficiency of Institutional Resources of the University of Guadalajara was launched, implemented and applicable to the entire University Network and of a mandatory nature, to rationalize institutional spending by establishing: A decrease in energy resources through rational, responsible and sustainable use, proposing "to reduce spending on fossil fuels and lubricants by 40%, optimizing its consumption" together with a gradual transition of the vehicle fleet, "The conversion of the vehicle fleet to the electric and hybrid type will be strengthened".
 Materials and Methods: Considering the above and associated with the opportunity to take as a pilot test the Transport Office of the Rectory General, it was established to replace by bike-courier the delivery of documents and light parcels in dependencies with distances less than 5 km of radius of the administrative building of the University of Guadalajara that is currently carried out using a car, seeking energy reduction, without losing efficiency in deliveries and contributing to meet the institutional goals of resource optimization and environmental contribution. The messaging and departure requests of the agency's operational vehicles were tracked during the year 2019.
 Results and Discussion: Accounting for the annual record, only the requested trips with distances less than 5 km are those considered to be made by bicycle because they are requests for delivery of documentation, being 40.88% of these those susceptible to be delivered by bicycle, representing 2,237.54 kilometers and 187.05 liters of fuel saved, contributing to the fulfillment of the institutional goal of reducing fossil fuels by 40%. It was also evidenced that the efficiency of the bike-courier, in most cases is higher than the automotive, under the criteria and variables analyzed, using the Data Enveloping Analysis (DEA).

International Cooperation of Library and Information Institutions in the Republic of Uzbekistan

Globalization is closely connected with the process of transition to a common information space. Libraries take an active part in this process. They, thanks to the development of cooperation, can use international experience, evaluate their activities and achievements, identify problems, improve the professional level of library specialists and participate in the development of new concepts for the development of library and information business and culture in general, intensify interaction with state and interstate coordination bodies. The article summarizes the experience of organization of work on the development of international cooperation between the libraries of the Republic of Uzbekistan with libraries and leading information, educational and scientific institutions, publishing houses of foreign countries, diplomatic missions, funds, representative offices of international organizations. It includes international document exchange, readers service within the framework of international interlibrary loan; project activities, preparation and holding of international scientific and practical conferences, symposiums, seminars, exhibitions, etc. The main directions of international activities of the National Library of the Republic of Uzbekistan named after A. Navoi and information resource centers of universities are also described. The author comes to the conclusion that for a fruitful solution of problems, it is necessary to create a legal framework, attract grant funds and organize joint commercial international projects.

Health libraries innovation and the Gratisnet network

Gratisnet is a network of special libraries in Australia that commit to document exchange at no charge to each other, and without certainty of balance in supply. Over 250 special libraries in heath and allied fields are members of the network, many of which are too small to participate in the national Inter-library loan (ILL) network. Careful distribution of workloads helps to facilitate participation among large and small libraries. This co-operative model has subsequently been adopted by law, emergency services, transport and government library networks in Australia and New Zealand. This paper looks at the current state of play in Gratisnet and the cooperative factors that distinguish Gratisnet from the national ILL service.

Projects at Palomar: New and Traditional Roles for the Caltech Library

In the last year, two projects illustrate opportunities for our Library to work in new ways to document and preserve the research of Palomar and Caltech. Observing log books from Palomar telescopes are being digitized and presented online. These logs go back to the 1930s and are a unique window into early observing activities at Palomar. Eventually, both observer and plate logs will be available. We envision astronomers, amateur astronomers and those interested in the history of science being interested in this work. Current Palomar research has different needs. Our institutional repository (IR), CaltechAUTHORS is used to track and expose research associated with the Zwicky Transient Factory. This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded instrument is mounted on the 48-inch telescope at Palomar. CaltechAUTHORS is continuously updated with new papers and when NSF reports are due they are added to research.gov to support the award. In both of these projects new collaborations needed to be forged in order to accomplish the work. Internally, the log book project relied on interlibrary loan staff, our archivist and our digital technologies librarian. On the Palomar side we leaned on retired and current staff from the optical observatories. Our work supporting research grants has evolved as we’ve established relationships with PIs, grants managers and the Office of Sponsored Research at Caltech. These are just two projects but both represent work that is evolving as the library and its services adjust to meet the changing research and preservation needs of the Institute.

Textual and Literary Criticism of the Books of Kings: Collected Essays. By Julio Trebolle Barrera. Edited by Andrés Piquer Otero and Pablo Torijano Morales

The genre of ‘Collected Essays’ is well known among scholars. For many years it has provided a useful mechanism for making the work of a mature scholar more accessible. Where a scholar has had a particular focus, it has also meant that their work is more likely to be found by those beginning their work in that discipline and that essays published in more obscure places can be read without the challenge of inter-library loans. But as more and more material can now be found through electronic databases, and their search functions often throw up lesser-known pieces, the genre must be considered to be under threat. Especially when one notes the cost of volumes such as this, then it is essential that they add value to the scholar’s work, providing more than can be accessed through the databases. This volume follows the tradition of the genre in collecting the work...