Role Of Information Professionals Research Articles

Role of information professionals in alleviating student plagiarism for academic integrity in Kenyan universities:

Academic integrity is the commitment and demonstration of honest and moral behavior in an academic setting. This is most relevant at the university level as it relates to providing credit to other people when using their ideas. In simplest terms, it requires acknowledging the contribution of other people. Plagiarism is the act of taking someones else’s work and passing them off as your own. Student plagiarism is a known problem facing universities around the world. Plagiarism is perceived to be a growing problem and universities are being required to devote increasing time and resources to combating it. This fraud behaviour of students in universities is great concern today. As result of explosion of plagiarism among university students, many universities in developed countries have been using technologies to combating deceitful plagiarism behaviour of students. As information literacy experts, information professionals are especially suited to take the lead in educating students about plagiarism and promoting academic integrity. University Librarians working in Kenyan universities can develop information literacy programs to address the issue of student plagiarism. Through combining librarians knowledge of research and information literacy with subject heading, and integrating these skills into the curriculum, students will feel more empowered and competent in their academic assignments. This article will review different types of plagiarism practiced by Kenyan university students and how it affects the integrity of their academic work and how this norm can be alleviated. This study aims to conduct a review of literature on the role of information professionals in alleviating plagiarism in universities in Kenya with a view of suggesting possible solutions to the named problem.

Role of information professionals in alleviating student plagiarism for academic integrity in Kenyan universities: a review of literature

Academic integrity is the commitment and demonstration of honest and moral behavior in an academic setting. This is most relevant at the university level as it relates to providing credit to other people when using their ideas. In simplest terms, it requires acknowledging the contribution of other people. Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else’s work and passing them off as your own. Student plagiarism is a known problem facing universities around the world. Plagiarism is perceived to be a growing problem in Kenyan universities and these universities are being required to devote increasing time and resources to combating it. This fraud behaviour of students in Kenyan universities is of great concern today. As result of explosion of plagiarism among Kenyan university students, these universities have been using technologies to detect and combat deceitful plagiarism behaviour of students. As information literacy experts, information professionals are especially suited to take the lead in educating students about plagiarism and promoting academic integrity. Librarians working in Kenyan universities can develop information literacy programs to address the issue of student plagiarism. Through combining librarians knowledge of research and information literacy with subject heading, and integrating these skills into the curriculum, students will feel more empowered and competent in their academic assignments. This article will review literature on different types of plagiarism practiced by Kenyan university students and the factors that have necessitated this norm. The paper will also give recommendations on how information professionals can help in alleviating the plagiarism menace.

Roles of Local Information Professionals of the Thai Provincial University Libraries

This paper aims to investigate the roles of information professionals in local information departments. These roles were identified by interviewing the members of the Local Information Working Group of the Provincial University Library Network (PULINET) in Thailand. This study applied qualitative research methods, including the 23 interviews of the Local Information Working Group members and a qualitative observation. The need for investigation of the roles as perceived by local information professionals was prompted by the placement of local information departments in the provincial university libraries, which is different from the Western countries where similar work is carried out in public libraries. The activity theory was applied to understand the roles of these professionals as emerging within their community through the division of labor, norms as expressed in responsibilities, and actions as expressed in functions of local information professionals. The study has revealed eight professional roles including manager, curator, service provider, promoter, researcher, collaborator, learner, and educator that overlap with the roles identified in the library research of other countries. The study included a specific group of respondents – the members of a working group of the Thai provincial university library network. This group consists of the representatives of all Thai provincial university libraries and is producing the recommendations and standards for local information work, works with competence development and develops common local information resources. Thus, the results of interviews with its members are both limited to this group, but also can be generalized to a wider professional community of provincial university librarians.

Framing the New Role of Information Professionals: investigating Copyright Literacy Levels and Awareness of Academic Librarians in Pakistan

Modern and fast ways of information reproduction affect the social norms and moral responsibilities of citizens. Nowadays libraries are continuously facing the problem of maintaining the balance between providing information access and whilst also protecting authors' rights. The recent and emerging phenomenon of misinformation and disinformation have heightened the need to be informed about authentic information and their owners’ rights. This has resulted in a requirement for information professionals to know, understand and practice copyright law. A cross-sectional survey was carried out to investigate the level of awareness/knowledge and perceptions and practices of copyright legislation by information professionals in Pakistan. The findings reveal that a large number of respondents were moderately aware of Intellectual Property Rights.

Social Media, Grindr, and PrEP: Sexual Health Literacy for Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Internet Age

Despite continued improvements to HIV/AIDS treatment and awareness, HIV transmission rates remain high among men who have sex with men (MSM). Online consumer health information targeting high-risk MSM through social media and geosocial networking (GSN) apps have shown to be successful HIV intervention strategies. This review article addresses the efficacy and acceptance of delivering consumer health information about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV prevention through GSN apps, the impact of online and social media communities in the discussion and delivery of information about PrEP and HIV interventions, and ongoing and possible future research and the role of information professionals.

Role of Information Professionals in Disseminating Knowledge to User Community in 21st Century

The paper deals with introduction to various forms of Information Technology tools and its uses for the information professionals in continue developing IT era. What is the need and importance of IT in the library field? This primary question rises in mind to discuss this IT tools in library field for further opportunities. Provided skills required for information professionals, followed by scope of information professionals in this changing IT era. At the end, it is having strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for the development of Information Professionals in IT era. Digital Libraries are collections of e-books and other information e-resources gathered for the purposes of reading, study, and reference. Historically, libraries have served as places. Libraries preserve knowledge so that none is lost, organize knowledge so that none is wasted, and make knowledge available so that no one need deprive in this information age. Library services have brought many changes to library operations by making access to knowledge more convenient to user.

Music Libraries in Japan During The 1960s: The Time for a Seed to Germinate?

This study aims to explore the factors at play in how music libraries in Japan developed during the 1960s and formed associations of music libraries, such as the Music Library Association of Japan in 1971 and the IAML Japanese Branch in 1979. Even though the information circumstances and roles of information professionals have changed drastically since the 1960s, it is worthwhile to learn and reflect on what our predecessors have done.

The Reflective Practice for Sustainable Future

This paper reviews the initiatives taken by the library of Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka (BPUSL) to achieve the SDGs to create sustainable environment in the library as well as in the university. It also discusses various steps taken by the university as well as the other units connecting it to information as a strategic resource and attempts an articulation of the concept of sustainable information and quality education, building on sustainable future at the university under the theme of “sustainable university”. The article discusses further recent initiatives taken to upgrade the quality of the library services, automation project to automate the whole library collection, scanning important rare and old books to create digital archive, preparing attractive library building by planting flowers and facilitating natural resources for reading areas addressing the goals on quality and equitable education, gender equity, literacy skills, health, and the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies, justice and strong institutions. The main objective of the article is to share reflective practices among LIS professionals in the field. Action research method was applied to write this article as it describes the reflective practices which promote sustainable future in the university and future endeavors as well. The paper concludes with suggestions on integrating concepts of sustainable information into higher education and role of information professionals towards the achievement of sustainable goals.

Changes of Information Professional Roles and Initiatives to Support Information Management

Information professionals (IP) such as librarian, archivists, information managers, information systems specialists, and records managers play an important role in the information era to influence and inspire their users to understand and choose the right information that acquire from various resources to be used appropriately according to their nature of business. These few years, the roles of information professionals especially Librarian, have been discussed and reviewed. Thus, the similar intention of this paper is to access and explore the initiation and enhancement activities by the information professionals to support the information management in their organizations that will benefit to the department and organization. The efficient and effective information management in the organization will contribute and influence the organizational performance, including improved efficiency & productivity, better decision making, effective record management and better policy and planning. In the academic aspect, the initiative by information professional may contribute to the higher ranking of the universities or college.

The Current Conflict of Interest Landscape and the Potential Role of Information Professionals in Supporting Research Integrity

ABSTRACT Conflict of interest (COI) is an ongoing topic among many groups, including scientific researchers and authors, academic publishers and editors, readers, and information professionals. As scientific research has become closely aligned with industry, the reporting of relevant financial and non-financial relationships by authors has grown increasingly complicated, and more critical than ever. Health sciences information professionals have an important role to play in supporting researchers as they attempt to navigate the COI landscape, particularly in regard to scholarly publishing. This article explores one library’s journey to provide a comprehensive resource guide and contribute to the COI support efforts at its institution.

Categories of Information Need Expressed by Parents of Individuals with Rare Genetic Disorders in a Facebook Community Group: A Case Study with Implications for Information Professionals

Costello syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that affects virtually all aspects of an individual’s life. Few specialists have been trained to understand the condition and provide guidance to caregivers and virtually no traditional information sources (e.g. books, websites) exist to provide information to caregivers. In this case, the community becomes a major source of information for caregivers of individuals with this condition. This study examines the types of information that need to be expressed in one of these communities: an online Facebook group. The categories of information need to be identified in the study to demonstrate areas of concern to caregivers and offer areas for further research or publication for researchers of rare disorders and health conditions. The role of information professionals in satisfying these information needs of caregivers of individuals with Costello syndrome and other rare disorders.

A importância dos repositórios institucionais em períodos de pandemia: a inserção da produção científica sobre a COVID-19 no ARCA –RI da FIOCRUZ

Communication and information have never been more important than at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This health emergency has shown how the role of information professionals in Institutional Repositories has been decisive for the advancement of scientific knowledge about this disease. This phase has led to many reflections on the activities developed in the Repositories. They are faced with an expressive volume of information in real time about this new disease, where the results obtained in preliminary researches need to be released quickly. For this reason, this work presents the mapping of the work processes carried out by the information professionals of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, regarding the deposit of the Institution's intellectual production at ARCA - FIOCRUZ Institutional Repository on COVID-19, with the objective of dissemination and access to content. The first attitude towards making the tasks at the ARCA Repository possible and continuous was to strengthen the team's bond. Thus, it became necessary to build new strategies in the execution of the work, and a new resizing in the functions of the professionals to act quickly in recovering the production of studies from the scientific community. The proposal is to keep the population well informed, since in this pandemic situation, the prevention protocols against COVID-19 emphasize that care begins with individual responsibility, by following the guidelines of health managers. At the present time, there is no doubt about the enormous importance that Institutional Repositories represent, together with the essential performance of professionals who ensure relevant and emergency information for all users.

Building infrastructures for university-community knowledge exchange: The Role of Information Professionals and Literacy Educators

This panel argues that information professionals and literacy educators play an important bridging role between universities and community groups and stakeholders. We describe the context of universitycommunity knowledge exchange, which is increasingly expected, but remains under-supported and under-theorised, and consider new opportunities that exist to support and build capacity in researchers and communities to co-create, share, and use information. We focus on the training and professional development needed to position information professionals and literacy educators as knowledge brokers, and innovative projects that demonstrate their value and potential in this role.

FUNCTIONS AND MODES OFINFORMATION DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMY: METHODS AND MODELS

Informatization intensification of the modern economy stresses the importance to discuss the following group of issues: 1) the establishment of criteria and measurement of the effectiveness of the information system; 2) the definition of the information potential of the agent and the assessment of effective information action; 3) information security of the social and economic system. The purpose of the study is to analyze theoretically the functions of various types of information with the determination of the efficiency of information and the modes of economic systems information development. Economic agents are known to search for relevant information that is only a part of total information in the system to make efficient decisions. The action of an agent as well as the development of an economic system is generally characterised with an efficiency coefficient that assesses the opportunity to obtain relevant information. The research methodology is the classification method that allows us to highlight the properties of information, to introduce quantitative indicators for measuring these properties and using mathematical tools to determine possible relationships between them, building theoretical models of the dynamics of information development of economy. Using this approach the functions of information, namely, notification, accumulation, cumulative amplification within the framework of consideration of the informational interaction schemes “object-agent” and “agent-agent” have been determined. The criterion of information potential of the controlled system and the information efficiency coefficient have been introduced. The latter means the ratio of information security to the level of information completeness of the system. Using the analysis of the dynamics of the efficiency and the ratio of relevant and general information, the modes of information development of the controlled system have been determined; three options for the accumulation of information with the ability to quantify the effect that determines the development of the knowledge economy have been suggested. Standard, enhanced and storage accumulations have been shown in the framework of the “object-agent” information interaction model, formal parameters for their quantitative assessment have been introduced. We have proved that one of the goals of economic policy should be the insurance of the necessary regime of information development of the economy, that is aimed at solving problems in the field of information security due to the fact that the functions of information can be violated, i. e. performed with different results, which indicates the dysfunction of the information system and economic management. Such the approach will reduce the depth of dysfunctions of economic policy measures and the application of the information security loop proposed by the author will provide the tool for comparing the damage and benefits from possible information threats, which predetermines the practical application of the conducted theoretical analysis applied to different information modes. Sustainable development of the modern economy should consider the elimination of information threats especially in the context of overcoming opportunism in the form of deliberate distortions of information in order to obtain additional benefits. At the same time, the use of the information security loop for the development of economic policy measures will allow not only to diagnose the damage and benefits within the existing information processing regime, but also to identify the dynamics of the economic system development as a result of changes in the ratio of information benefits and costs. Keywords information, informatization of economy, information potential of economy, function of information, information development mode, information interaction models, information security of economy, combinatory principle, information security loop, dysfunction of information system, dysfunction of economic policy.

The Role of Information Professionals in Protecting National History and Sovereignty

Protecting for sovereignty can be an effective tool in order to cope with relations between states, drawing boundaries of acceptable behavior. It’s also a way of judging the actions taken from a state, whose owns ultimate power that always make the principle of sovereignty expendable. Information professional today play critical roles to ensure that state sovereignty would be strengthening and protecting them from external pressure. This paper highlights the need to pay more attention to the aspects of sovereignty that related with information professional roles and issues of Malaysian’s neighboring country. Ignoring these aspects of sovereignty will lead to the issues that can threaten national sovereignty and peace.

Competitive intelligence and national development: the role of information professionals

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of developing actionable foresight regarding competitive dynamics and non-market factors that can be used to enhance competitive advantage. It is a relevant tool for strategic decision making which in return impacts national development. Though CI is an organizational function developed for the business organizations and later expanded to other sectors in the nation’s economy, its presence in the library and information delivery is yet to be established. This in other words implies that library and information professional working in libraries, archives, resource centers, etc are yet to realize their position as Competitive Intelligent Agents. This paper showcases the place of Library and Information Science Professionals as Competitive Intelligent Agents/Managers and also highlights the various ways in which CI influences national development.Keywords: competitive intelligence, information professionals, library and information science, big data

The Role of Information Professionals in Fostering Adoption of Agricultural Innovations by Farmers in Embu, Kenya.

The Role of Information Professionals in Fostering Adoption of Agricultural Innovations by Farmers in Embu, Kenya.

Información documentada y gestión del conocimiento en la ISO 9001:2015: aportación del profesional de la información

2016 has been a year in which many companies have undertaken the adaptation of the new ISO 9001:2015 “Quality management systems”. Based on the practical experience of the accreditation process by a large multinational engineering company, the author reflects on the role of information professionals in the implementation of the Knowledge Management and Documented Information sections of the standard.

Literature Suggests Information Professionals Have Adopted New Roles

A Review of:
 Vassilakaki, E. & Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, V. (2015). A systematic literature review informing library and information professionals’ emerging roles. New Library World, 116(1/2), 37-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/NLW-05-2014-0060
 
 Abstract
 
 Objective – To provide a systematic review of the emerging or newly adopted roles of information professionals, over the past 14 years, as described in the Library and Information Science (LIS) professional literature. 
 
 Design – Systematic review of the literature.
 
 Setting – Databases featuring information science content, including ACM Digital Library, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), Citeseer, Google Scholar, e-prints in Library and Information Science (e-LiS), Digital Library of Information Science and Technology (DLIST), Scopus, and Science Direct. The database Library Literature & Information Science Index was not included.
 
 Subjects – Through a systematic literature search, the authors identified 114 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000-2014. 
 
 Methods – The authors searched selected databases using the terms “librarian/s role” and “information professional/s role” to collect literature about the roles of information professionals. The authors searched the selected databases in two phases. The initial search yielded 600 search results and the authors included 100 articles about “roles” information professionals have adopted. The authors excluded articles focused on specific positions, health and medical libraries, librarians’ professional skills, and development of specific programs or initiatives within libraries. In the second phase of searching, the authors refined search terms to include phrases specifically related to the roles identified in the 100 articles initially included in the review. There were 48 articles identified in the second search and 14 were included in the final pool of articles. The authors also cross-checked the references of all included literature.
 
 Main Results – The authors identified six roles of information professionals described in the literature during the review period. The role of “embedded librarian” was described in the largest number of articles (42%), followed by “librarian as teacher” (20%), “knowledge manager” (20%), “technology specialist” (9%), “subject librarian” (6%), and “information consultant” (3%).
 
 The study did not identify a dominant journal title or professional conference publishing research on information professionals’ roles. Some included literature reported a specific method for investigation, including questionnaires, content analyses, and mixed methods. However, the researchers report that the majority of articles represented personal views or perceptions of the authors.
 
 Conclusion – The roles of information professionals are continually changing, both in practice and in description. In particular, information professionals expanded their roles in teaching during the review period, shedding light on institutional and professional priorities.

Teaching Information Policy in the Digital Age:Issues, Strategies, and Innovation

As technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, it is increasingly important to consider how information policies are formulated and the impact that they have on both the public’s access to information and the roles of information professionals. As such, current and future information professionals must be adequately prepared through education to work with information policies and their ramifications. The breadth of information policy, as it acts as a meta-policy for other policy areas, and the depth of specific information policies that arise from communication, economic, and political issues, inform this discussion of the challenges and opportunities involved with teaching information policy to library and information science students, as well as to other audiences. Drawing from both past research efforts and extensive teaching experience, this article introduces a conceptual understanding of information policy; uses examples of how the library and information studies community has responded to information policies in the past to further this understanding; and finally, provides a discussion of different ways in which to teach this complicated, but critical topic.