international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 1-2 issn:2474-3542 editorial: celebrating three year anniversary and launching the seventh issue as we enter into the fourth year of publishing, the international journal of librarianship (ijol) continues to grow steadily thanks to the support and effort of various librarians and other professionals from the international library and information science (lis) community. in addition to being included in the directory of open access journals, ijol has reached agreement with proquest and ebsco to include all content published by the journal in their databases to allow wider dissemination of the journal publications. in the past year, two new issues have been published. this brings the total number of journal publications to 63 which includes 31 featured articles, five reports from the field, three commentaries, seven book reviews, three articles on lis education around the world, one library associations around the world article, six editorial articles, and seven news reports. in 2020, ijol will resume the publication of issues on specific topics pertaining to the lis research and development after a break from publishing special issues in 2019. the open journal system will continue to be adopted with an upgrade to its latest version. in this issue yang, dawson and ding at rider university investigated the promotion of local collections in discovery service tools by comparing four major discovery service products on market. the findings have implications for libraries to select and implement a discovery services. through surveys on the use of virtual reference services (vrs) by chinese students and librarians, duan at the university of southern mississippi explored the international users’ satisfaction, familiarity and expectations of vrs in academic libraries in the united states. in his article, xuan demonstrated the use of a locally developed system in database usage analysis in manitoba university libraries. the starting point uniform resource locator logs from ezproxy were adopted for the licensed database usage activity analysis. at east china normal university, guo and zhu studied their practice of embedded information literacy instruction, including the information literacy courses, instructional models, instructional design, and the use of mobile internet platform. liu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 2 chen and joyce explored the most essential knowledge and skills in teaching cataloging and metadata courses by case studying the basic cataloging and metadata class in the lis program in the university of hawaii at manoa. in the section of library associations around the world, taro miura outlined the history and organization of the japan library association and how the association promotes the professional development to librarians in japan. xiaoai ren reported the 2019 annual conference of the association for library and information science education (alise) in the news section. lastly, i would like to thank all colleagues who have contributed to this issue. wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year! guoying liu, university of windsor, windsor, ontario, canada international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 129-130 issn: 2474-3542 alise 2019: exploring learning in a global information context xiaoai ren valdosta state university, valdosta, georgia, usa the association for library and information science education (alise) commits to serve as the international leader in both education practice and research for established and emerging career opportunities in the information professions. its 2019 annual conference was held in knoxville, tennessee from september 24-26th. a total of 282 people, including 76 first time attendees, traveled from eight countries – usa, canada, china, germany, jamaica, south africa, united arab emirates, and the united kingdom to participate. this year’s conference theme is exploring learning in a global information context. it is to encourage engagement across the globe from lis educators and scholars from a wide variety of relevant fields to share their vision for education, for teaching and learning, for pedagogy, and for research through an international lens. this year’s keynote speaker is dr. jaya raju. she is associate professor and head of the library and information studies centre at the university of cape town, south africa. her talk is “shaping lis education for blended professionals in a pluralist information environment: global reflections.” she emphasized the importance for lis professionals to be equipped with both technology and pedagogical skills in a digitized information environment. librarians now must blend traditional skills with hardware/software skills, and the educational designers’ ability to apply technology appropriately to teaching and learning. she drew on findings from research on curriculum development directed at the hybrid lis professional in a pluralist information environment which requires cross-disciplinary competencies spanning lis, it, teaching and learning, and other relevant areas. there are eight sessions during the three-day conference. each session includes five concurrent programs, juried panel, juried paper and lasts 1.5 hours. the topics covered during these sessions include but are not limited to: innovative teaching methods & strategies, diversity, accessibility, information ethics, information policies and many more. doctoral student research poster competition is always one of the highlights of the conference. this year, 19 doctoral students entered the alise/jean tague-sutcliffe doctoral student research poster competition. the first place winner is megan threats from the university of north carolina – chapel hill. her poster presentation was titled “the influence of sociotechnical environments on the information behaviors and hiv risk reduction behaviors of black gay men.” her study investigates how and where young black men who have sex with men (ybmsm) access and interact with hiv/sti-related information. she used online survey and semi-structured, in-depth interviews to explore and explain the associations between information behavior, technology usage, and hiv risk reduction behaviors among ybmsm. in 2019 alise annual conference, alise also organized its business meetings, committee meetings, and planning meetings. the winners of alise 2019 awards were announced during the ren / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 130 2019 awards luncheon. there are six alise awards, three annual conference awards and grants, and four alise research awards and grants. seventeen individuals were recognized at this event. as a vital resource in connecting schools and potential faculty members, alise also provide placement services. key components of placement services include job postings, access to student resumes, and accommodations to conduct interviews onsite at the conference. this year, nine member schools participated in the placement services at the conference. the 2019 alise annual conference also announced the theme of the 2020 alise annual conference: transforming lis education in an interconnected world. it will be held in pittsburgh, pennsylvania in october 2020. please refer to alise2019 website (https://www.alise.org/alise-2019-conference) for further information. https://www.alise.org/alise-2019-conference international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 1-2. issn: 2474-3542 editorial: special issue on pandemic and libraries welcome to the july 2022 issue of the international journal of librarianship (ijol). the theme of the issue is “resilience, reflection, and innovation: library services and practices during covid-19 pandemic.” as the library and information professionals continue to navigate the covid-19 pandemic, this special issue aims to provide a platform for researchers and practitioners to share their stories on this timely topic. as we work on the production of this issue, the two new omicron subvariants have been spreading and bringing new challenge around the world. the library and information professionals have continued to find ways to serve their communities safely and creatively. we received submissions responding to our call for paper from authors in developing and developed economies in africa, asia, and north america, with case studies mostly from academic libraries and one special library. though most submissions report the service change and innovations in libraries happened during the covid-19 pandemic, there are also several articles that focus on library users’ information need and behavior change or librarians’ experiences during this time. ana maria fresnido and sharon maria s. esposo-betan discuss the findings from surveying head librarians in academic libraries in philippines in june 2021 on their perceptions of the impact of covid-19. josiline chigwada collects data from three academic libraries in zimbabwe and examines the ways of library service delivery and the lessons learnt during the pandemic. wei xuan and christine shaw from the university of manitoba in canada write about the university of manitoba libraries’ service trends, challenges, and opportunities during the covid pandemic. as the instruction coordinator in the new mexico state university library, erin wahl sees the opportunity to shift library instruction program towards a sustainability and resilience mindset despite the challenge during the pandemic. adetoun adebisi oyelude, dr. adefunke sarah ebijuwa, dr. hauwa sani ahmad, mabruka abubakar abba, and dr. celina jummai nongo report the librarians’ perceptions of the challenges in providing health related covid-19 information in their communities by interviewing 13 librarians across africa. lian ruan, david ehrenhart, diane richardson, and shuyi liu introduce how librarians in the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library have developed new services and resources to continue serving patrons during the covid pandemic. ifsi library provides fire and emergency library and information assistance and services to the institute’s instructional staff, students, illinois fire departments and firefighters, and other fire/emergency-related users. in kennesaw state university, chris sharpe and dr. david evans use time series analysis to create a forecast based on the health-related database searches conducted by library users from january 2016 through the end of march 2020 and compare the actual searches to the forecast to infer the impact of the events such as covid-19 pandemic on database usage. ren and wang / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 2 rachel bomberger and amanda yesilbas recount the obstacles they encountered as the two midcareer librarians who were new hires at the university of south florida one month before the entire campus was sent to work from home due to the covid-19 pandemic, and the lessons learned and ways to improve a transition to remote working. sophia adeyeye and opeyemi oboh provide information on covid-19 pandemic to children in a nigeria community via bibliotherapy to increase their level of knowledge on covid19 and to ensure children’s emotional and psychological wellbeing. make sure to check out the two other articles published in this issue too. vincci kwong, judith falzon, and julie feighery use an escape room motif to engage students to use information literacy course material to solve puzzles in indiana university south bend. mingyan li, tracy seneca, and megan keller young examine the perspectives of archivists, digital librarians, and catalogers on digital object metadata in the university of illinois chicago university library and discuss how taking differences in end user behavior and differing interdepartmental perspectives on metadata into account can strengthen the digital object workflow to serve a greater variety of users. thanks as always for being our readers! -xiaoai ren, co-editor-in-chief, xren@valdosta.edu -yongming wang, co-editor-in-chief, wangyo@tcnj.edu mailto:xren@valdosta.edu mailto:wangyo@tcnj.edu international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 1-3. issn:2474-3542 guest editorial: special issue on artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and libraries the artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning (ml) movement has nowadays touched almost every aspect of our lives. the prevalence of the ai movement can be attributed to the neverending creation of new data, the availability of data at our fingertips, and the increased computing power to process that data. in the last decade, we have seen more and more data-based ai applications emerge in sectors ranging from consumer goods (e.g. google’s alexa, self-driving cars) to health care (e.g. deepmind) to social media. however, this is likely only the beginning, as we are rapidly entering an ai-based society that will change how we live and interact with each other and the world around us. what is artificial intelligence and machine learning? in a whitepaper published by ex libris titled artificial intelligence in the library: advantages, challenges and tradition, ml is defined to be “…when machines create their own classifications by learning from examples, dramatically accelerating statistical pattern recognition. in other words, ai technologies and applications are all based on machine learning algorithms.” it also quotes catherine nicole coleman as saying: “the power (of ai) lies in the fact that machines can recognize patterns efficiently and routinely, at a scale and speed that humans cannot approach.” are libraries ready to embrace ai technologies? where do we start? fortunately, a few visionary leaders and pioneers among us have already started that process. stanford university libraries, for instance, in collaboration with the national library of norway and a few other institutions, hosted two conferences in last two years titled fantastic futures: international conference on ai for libraries, archives, and museums. in 2018, the library at the university of rhode island opened an ai lab, the first of its kind in the library world. furthermore, the library technology reports, an american library association (ala) publication, published an issue titled “artificial intelligence and machine learning in libraries” in 2019. in the foreseeable future, we will definitely see more events, projects, and publications with regard to ai, ml, and ds in the field of library and information science. i am excited to report that, after more than six months of preparation and hard work, our journal’s special issue on ai, ml, data science (ds), and libraries is published today. what follows is a brief introduction to each article in this issue. in his opening remarks for the fantastic futures 2nd international conference held at stanford university libraries in december 2019, aslak sira myhre, the director of the national library of norway, gave an inspirational call-to-action to libraries. the traditional role of libraries wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 2 as the gatekeepers of human knowledge is behind us, myhre advocated. we instead need to be the gate-openers, the enlighteners and educators, and the agents and missionaries for the knowledge in our collections. and to do that, we must use ai and ml as tools to analyze our collections that is, when put together, all of humankind knowledge, to gain insights, and to open the door for our patrons for new knowledge and wisdom. the transcript can be found in the editorial section. in the “featured articles” section, we have five articles, four of them dealing with different aspects of ai, ml, and ds. coleman from stanford takes on a critical issue regarding potential consequences of utilizing ml and ai in libraries without proper forethought, which introduces the inherent data bias and algorithmic bias presented in the field of ai, ml and ds. this article presents evidence without monitoring by outside forces, industries tend towards efficiency over accountability. libraries need to play a role in the design and adoption of correct ai application by managing bias when analyzing their collections to ensure equality, accountability, and sustainability. the next article involves utilizing a ml technique to solve a specific library problem. in this pioneering work of applying ml methods in the field of library science, flannery from the university of notre dame managed to automatically generate summaries for a special library collection of more than five thousand catholic pamphlets by implementing summarization techniques through natural language processing (nlp). his experiment opens the door for programmers in libraries around the world to learn and practice different techniques in ml and ai, such as summarization and classification in ml and deep learning and neural networks in ai. the next two articles both deal with an important area of data science, the digital humanities, and specifically, the geographical information system (gis). digital humanities, a field of study at the intersection of computer science, big data, and the humanities, poses a great opportunity for libraries to engage with the research and scholarly activities of higher education. luo and park (university of windsor)’s article describes their project of developing a web-based learning module that aims to explore the possibility of using community asset mapping and gis as an integrated tool to promote service learning in social work education. the article by gao (university of houston) and wang (the college of new jersey) presents a case study that focuses on how to provide gis support and service to the campus community without a dedicated gis librarian. the last feature article, by mochridhe from the american theological library association (atla), discusses the importance of international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr) to libraries by examining iccpr article 27’s guarantees of cultural and language rights for minorities on the provision of non-english library collections and services, arguing that the treaty provides a legal foundation for library advocacy to support the work envisioned in the ala’s guideline documents. in the “reports from the field” section, we include two articles. luo from the university of windsor showcases a concrete example of using gis technology to examine geographic accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets and how they wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 3 interact with neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor, ontario, canada. the last article, by diao from the city university of new york, presents a personal account in the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of case-based leaning (cbl) in an information literacy classroom. it discusses the advantages and limitations of this method, offers suggestions about the future of cbl, and points out potential concerns related to the evaluation of workload, librarians’ responsibilities, and workplace culture. yongming wang, the college of new jersey, usa reference ex libris (n.d). artificial intelligence in the library: advantages, challenges and tradition. an ex libris whitepaper. retrieved july 11, 2020 from https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2909474/ex%20libris%20artificial%20intelligence%20 white%20paper.pdf. resources 1. fantastic futures 2019: 2nd international conference on ai for libraries, archives, and museums. https://library.stanford.edu/projects/fantastic-futures. accessed on july 15, 2020. 2. library technology reports (vol. 55, no. 1), “artificial intelligence and machine learning in libraries,” edited by jason griffey. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/709. accessed on july 15, 2020. 3. ai labs at university of rhode island library. https://web.uri.edu/ai/. accessed on july 15, 2020. editing contributors to this issue copy editing: maureen gorman, denise lynne montgomery, jessica koos, jason wang, julia zheng layout editing: cindy li, gordon xu https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2909474/ex%20libris%20artificial%20intelligence%20white%20paper.pdf https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2909474/ex%20libris%20artificial%20intelligence%20white%20paper.pdf https://library.stanford.edu/projects/fantastic-futures https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/709 https://web.uri.edu/ai/ issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org a directory to international lis educational accreditation processes: part i xiaoai ren to cite this article: ren, x. (2016). a directory to international lis educational accreditation processes: part i. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 74-77. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.19 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 74-77 issn:2474-3542 a directory to international lis educational accreditation processes: part i xiaoai ren the department of library and information studies, dewar college of education and human services, valdosta state university, valdosta, georgia, usa as academic certification is the major path to enter the library and information services (lis) professions in many countries around the world, the topic of lis educational program accreditation also is a related subject of interest within the lis professions. two major purposes of the accreditation activities are to ensure the high standard of lis educational programs and to ensure the high quality of lis graduates entering the professions. currently, there is no international standard on accrediting lis educational programs. with the increasing trend of globalization, there is a need for the lis professions to understand the lis educational accreditation processes across the world. dalton and levinson (2000) identified three distinct lis accreditation models of practice across the world:  professional accreditation processes where the accreditation is conducted by professional associations  government monitored processes where the quality control is conducted by relevant government agencies  internal quality audits where the lis departments operate their own quality control measures the ijol dedicates this column to a review of the lis education accreditation processes around the world. in this first issue, we introduce lis educational program accreditation as conducted in three english-speaking countries: the united states, the united kingdom, and australia. these countries follow the model of professional accreditation processes. the american library association (ala), the uk chartered institute of library and information professionals (cilip), and the australian library and information association (alia) have reciprocal recognition agreements with each other. united states/canada/puerto rico (www.ala.org) accreditation office (http://www.ala.org/offices/accreditation) the american library association (ala) accredits master’s programs in library and information studies across the united states, canada, and puerto rico. ala does not accredit doctoral, undergraduate or vocational programs. ala accredits 63 programs at 58 institutions in the united states, canada, and puerto rico. the office of accreditation (oa) serves as the secretariat of all operational matters associated with accreditation. the committee on accreditation http://www.ala.org/offices/accreditation ren / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 74-77 75 (coa) is a standing committee of the ala. it consists of 12 members. ten members are personal members of ala who are appointed to represent educators and practitioners. one of these members is canadian. two members of the coa must be appointed from the public at large to represent the public interest. the coa uses robert's rules of order to govern its work. it is responsible for the execution of the accreditation program of the ala, and for developing and formulating standards of education for library and information studies for the approval of the ala council. ala accreditation is usually granted for a period of seven years. standards for accreditation of master’s programs in library and information studies (http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/sites/ala.org.accreditedprograms/files/content/st andards/standards_2015_adopted_02-02-15.pdf) the standards are developed by the coa and approved by the ala council. there are five standards that cover systematic planning, curriculum, faculty, students, and administration, finances and resources. coa reviews accredited programs periodically to evaluate their compliance with the standards. ala accreditation process and procedures (http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/standards/ap3) ala accreditation is a voluntary, nongovernmental, and collegial process of self-review and external verification by peer reviewers. the review process includes the submission of a self-study from the program, a two-day on-site review by an external review panel (erp) of practitioners and academics that verifies that the program meets the standards, and a final accreditation decision from coa. the self-study document describes the program; how it meets the ala standards for accreditation; analyzes its strengths, weaknesses, and challenges; and sets forth the program’s plans and goals for future development and continued compliance with the standards. erp visits the school and institution to validate and augment the information contained in the selfstudy. most visits are conducted as on-site visits in which members of the erp travel to the program location. coa receives the recommendation from the erp and uses these as a basis for further deliberation. the united kingdom (www.cilip.org.uk) accreditation office the chartered institute of library and information professionals (cilip) accredits diploma, national vocational qualification (nvq), undergraduate, postgraduate, master, and doctoral lis programs. cilip also accredits standalone modules offered to practitioners as continuing professional development activities. the aim is to provide graduates with a recognized professional qualification, based on core areas of knowledge and skills. cilip accreditation is usually granted for a period of five years. the accreditation is managed by the accreditation board. the accreditation board reports to the cilip council. on cilip website (http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/cilip-accredited-qualifications), there are 20 accredited programs listed. it should also be noted that the uk provides an example of a country where a formal process of professional accreditation operates alongside a form of government monitoring. in addition to the http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/sites/ala.org.accreditedprograms/files/content/standards/standards_2015_adopted_02-02-15.pdf http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/sites/ala.org.accreditedprograms/files/content/standards/standards_2015_adopted_02-02-15.pdf http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/sites/ala.org.accreditedprograms/files/content/standards/standards_2015_adopted_02-02-15.pdf http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/sites/ala.org.accreditedprograms/files/content/standards/standards_2015_adopted_02-02-15.pdf http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/standards/ap3 http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/standards/ap3 http://www.cilip.org.uk/ http://www.cilip.org.uk/ ren / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 74-77 76 formal cilip professional accreditation process, the quality assurance agency for higher education (qaa) has produced benchmark standards for librarianship and information management, which provides a means of government monitoring of lis courses. professional knowledge and skills base (http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/professional-knowledge-skills-base) those who wish to apply for cilip accreditation of their lis programs and/or modules must demonstrate that their lis programs and/or modules are relevant to the professional knowledge and skills base (pksb) and provide relevant evidence. pksb identifies the core knowledge and skills of the lis profession. it brings the areas of professional and technical expertise together with the generic skills and capabilities required by those in the library, information and knowledge management community. all academic and vocational programs relating to library, information and knowledge management will have to demonstrate their relationship to the pksb in order to be accredited. in addition to course content, attention is also given to the focus of the lis department, and the expertise, experience and professional engagement of its staff members, and the institutional support the department received such as the allocation of human and physical resources. cilip accreditation process and procedures (http://www.cilip.org.uk/products-services/accreditation-learning-providers) cilip contracts with consultants to undertake assessments using the assessment criteria. there are five assessment criteria, all of which must be met. they are: the relevance of the program to the pksb; the quality of the students’ learning experience; the learning providers’ connection with employers; whether the professional practice is up to date; and whether the students are encouraged to engage with cilip. the applicant submits cilip accreditation application and appropriate documentation in advance, followed by the initial review and assessment by the assessor. the department then receives the details of the areas the assessor wishes to explore in more depth during the visit and will confirm the final visit agenda. the assessor will visit the applicant and the accreditation assessment decision will be made. cilip anticipates that the typical time taken from the submission being made available to the assessor and the confirmation of the outcome will normally be around 8 weeks. all successful programs and modules are accredited for five years. each year, cilip staff visit every learning provider which offers an accredited program. australia (www.alia.org.au) accreditation office the australian library and information association (alia) accredits diploma, bachelor, graduate diploma and masters education programs in library and information science in australia. alia accreditation is usually granted for a period of no greater than five years. in 2015, there were 24 institutions delivering 33 alia accredited courses around australia. there are different alia accredited courses for people interested in becoming library technicians, teacher librarians or library and information professionals.  librarians and information specialists (undergraduate and postgraduate university courses) http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/professional-knowledge-skills-base http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/professional-knowledge-skills-base http://www.cilip.org.uk/products-services/accreditation-learning-providers http://www.cilip.org.uk/products-services/accreditation-learning-providers http://www.alia.org.au/ http://www.alia.org.au/ ren / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 74-77 77  teacher librarians (postgraduate university courses; prospective students must be teacher-qualified to be eligible to enroll)  library technicians (diploma courses) the library and information sector: core knowledge, skills and attributes (https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/the%20library%20and%20information%20se ctor%20core%20knowledge%20skills%20and%20attributes%20december2014%20% 282%29.pdf) alia accredited programs are measured against “the library and information sector: core knowledge, skills and attributes” which are needed for effective professional practice in the library and information sector. alia accreditation process and procedures (https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/education/website%20summary %20of%20alia%20course%20accreditation%20review%20%20november %202015%20update.pdf) alia has two accreditation processes: red and gold. the red level includes a standard accreditation process that does not include a panel visit but does allow for one person to visit the institution on a fact-finding mission on behalf of a smaller virtual accreditation panel. gold level accreditation is an available option for any institution with a preference for a reaccreditation panel visit. the option for gold accreditation is only available for institutions after successfully completing their first accreditation five-year process. both the red and gold accreditation processes are measured against “the library and information sector: core knowledge, skills and attributes.” the individual accredited courses are monitored through the submission of an annual course return (acr) and program leaders are required to attend an alia-hosted education forum every year. references dalton, p. & levinson, k. (2001). an investigation of lis qualifications throughout the world. ifla set bulletin, 2(1), 12-24. retrieved november 15, 2016, from http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/set/bulletin/set-bulletin-jan2001.pdf about the author xiaoai ren is an assistant professor in the master of library and information science program at valdosta state university. dr. ren teaches courses in reference and electronic resources. she holds an m.s. in information management from peking university and a ph.d. in information science from the state university of new york at albany. her research interests include library cooperation at regional, national, and international levels, reference services, international librarianship, and ebooks in libraries. https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/the%20library%20and%20information%20sector%20core%20knowledge%20skills%20and%20attributes%20december2014%20%282%29.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/the%20library%20and%20information%20sector%20core%20knowledge%20skills%20and%20attributes%20december2014%20%282%29.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/the%20library%20and%20information%20sector%20core%20knowledge%20skills%20and%20attributes%20december2014%20%282%29.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/the%20library%20and%20information%20sector%20core%20knowledge%20skills%20and%20attributes%20december2014%20%282%29.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/education/website%20summary%20of%20alia%20course%20accreditation%20review%20%20november%202015%20update.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/education/website%20summary%20of%20alia%20course%20accreditation%20review%20%20november%202015%20update.pdf https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/education/website%20summary%20of%20alia%20course%20accreditation%20review%20%20november%202015%20update.pdf http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/set/bulletin/set-bulletin-jan-2001.pdf http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/set/bulletin/set-bulletin-jan-2001.pdf ijol-issue1-2016-7_ren_title ijol-1-1-2016-7-ren_all issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org overview of development and recent trends in bibliometrics and research evaluation yongming wang abstract: this paper is an overview of bibliometrics, a subfield of library and information science. it briefly explains what bibliometrics is and why it is important in research evaluation and impact analysis. it summarizes the latest development and trends over the past decade. three major trends are identified and discussed. they are alternative metrics, responsible use of bibliometrics and responsible research evaluation movement, and application of artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning in bibliometrics practice. to cite this article: wang, y. (2021). overview of development and recent trends in bibliometrics and research evaluation. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 105-108. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.195 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1),105-108. issn: 2474-3542 overview of development and recent trends in bibliometrics and research evaluation yongming wang the college of new jersey (tcnj), nj, usa abstract this paper is an overview of bibliometrics, a subfield of library and information science. it briefly explains what bibliometrics is and why it is important in research evaluation and impact analysis. it summarizes the latest development and trends over the past decade. three major trends are identified and discussed. they are alternative metrics, responsible use of bibliometrics and responsible research evaluation movement, and application of artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning in bibliometrics practice. historical review bibliometrics is the use of citation data to evaluate the importance and impact of scientific articles and other published works, including the authors of these articles and the journals where the works are published. citation analysis is the most frequently used method in bibliometrics. bibliometrics is sometimes also referred to as scientometrics or informetrics. by measuring the contribution and impact of scientists and researchers, bibliometrics is widely used in research evaluation, academic tenure and promotion process, and grant application evaluation. bibliometrics is also frequently used for journal ranking, university ranking, and even country ranking in terms of research output and standing. since its beginning in 1960s, when eugene garfield created the science citation index (sci), bibliometrics is considered a subfield of library and information science. academic libraries around the world are particularly interested in the application of bibliometrics. there is a growing library involvement in bibliometrics by establishing dedicated library bibliometric services. in addition, academic libraries often collaborate with other campus units in bibliometrics data gathering and analysis for promotion and tenure process, grant application evaluation, hiring decisions, and program evaluation, etc. there are generally three levels of metrics: journal-level, author-level, and article-level. journal-level metrics: journal impact factor or journal ranking score is used to rank the journals in the same discipline. the major products are journal citation reports from clarivate analytics, citescore from elsevier, and scimago journal and country rank (sjr). wang / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 106 author-level metrics: h-index is one of the most widely used indicators to measure author’s and researcher’s productivity and impact. a researcher with a certain number of h-index (h) means that researcher must have (h) publications, and each publication has received at least (h) citations. for example, an h-index of 15 means the researcher has at least 15 publications and each has been cited at least 15 times. h-index can be retrieved in scopus from elsevier, web of science from clarivate analytics, and google scholar. in addition to h-index, there are other author-level metrics, such as g-index and i10-index. article-level metrics: the major two metrics for article-level impact evaluation are the traditional citation counts, and the newer internet-based alternative metrics or webometrics which measure the reach and influence of articles based on the online interactions such as online views, downloads, likes and shares on social media network and platform, blogs, etc. in addition to the traditional and proprietary products in bibliometrics, there are now many new and some free tools and applications available either online or on desktop that requires download and local installation. the following is just an incomplete but very popular list: rbibliometrix package (desktop), resgap.com (online), publish or perish (desktop), impactstory (online), vosviewer (both online and desktop), webometric analyst (desktop), unsilo evaluate (online, an ai tool), citationgecko.com. major trends over the past decade since 1960s, the traditional citation counting based bibliometrics has gradually become the standard practice in research evaluation and impact analysis throughout the scientific and academic world. in some places, metric and indicators have become the only criteria for tenure and promotion, and funding evaluation. the weakness and limitations of traditional bibliometrics are three folds. first, any bibliometric tool or application such as web of science and scopus has a limitation of scope in terms of the formats of materials inclusion, subject breadth, and subject depth. second, due to the disciplinary differences, the impact of research output in humanities and social science is often not accurately represented. last, there are some inherent limitations of any metric and indicator system. for example, co-authorship sometimes can produce very high citation count for certain researchers, but it does not reflect the true contribution and impact. nowadays it is common to see one paper with dozens or hundreds of authors. for the last twenty years, the research nature and output dissemination have gone through tremendous changes. there are more variety of output formats in addition to traditional journal articles and books. the internet, especially social media networks, has gradually become an important venue in disseminating the research output and therefore their influence and impact should be taken account in evaluating research and researchers. there are three major trends in the field of bibliometrics practice over the past decade. the first trend is the advent and popularity of alternative metrics that supplements the traditional metrics. two products stand out: altmetrics and plumx. both try to gauge the influence and impact of research output by way of gathering and capturing the online user interactions, such as the count of online views, downloads, likes, sharing, mentions, etc. alternative metrics or indicators have gradually become a standard part of scholarly communication to support research wang / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 107 evaluation and academic tenure and promotion process. many publishers have started to display publication’s altmetrics score and/or plumx score of on their websites. the second trend has to do with the responsible use of bibliometrics and responsive research evaluation movement. responsible use of bibliometrics refers to the ethical and appropriate use of traditional citation-based metrics. following are three major milestones. declaration on research assessment (dora) (https://sfdora.org/): the declaration on research assessment (dora) recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated. the declaration was developed in 2012 during the annual meeting of the american society for cell biology in san francisco. it advocates the need to advance holistic and robust approaches by eliminating the practice of solely use of journal-based metrics, such as journal impact factors, in funding, appointment, and promotion considerations. leiden manifesto (http://www.leidenmanifesto.org/): in the comment published in april 22, 2015 issue of nature, the authors proposed ten principles to guide research evaluation and to support the measurement of research performance, titled “bibliometrics: the leiden manifesto for research metrics.” hiroshima statement from inorms (https://inorms.net/): at the inorms (international network of research management societies) international congress in may 2021, the hiroshima statement was formally signed by members of the inorms council. the statement contains five principles to promote best practices and guidelines in research evaluation and assessment. last but not the least, by way of the popularity of webometrics such as altmetrics and plumx, many universities and funding agencies requires that the candidates produce evidencebased narrative describing how their research has social impact. the last trend is the use of ai and machine learning in bibliometrics. using ai and full text mining technology, the new methods and tools in bibliometrics take advantage of the increasing availability of open access collections online to get fine-grained information about citation contexts. ai-based citation evaluation tools can classify citations into different categories, such as supporting, mentioning, disputing, and influential. semantic scholar and scite.ai are two examples. in conclusion, looking into the future, we are going to see more responsible use of bibliometrics in research evaluation and assessment, and application of ai and machine learning in bibliometrics. resources selected publications 1. rousseau, sandra; rousseau, ronald (2017). “being metric-wise: heterogeneity in bibliometric knowledge”. el profesional de la información, v. 26, n. 3, pp. 480-487. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.may.14 2. ingrid bauer, david bohmert, alexandra czernecka, thomas eichenberger, juan garbajosa, horia iovu, … kurt de wit. (2020, june 10). “next generation metrics.” zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3874801 https://sfdora.org/ http://www.leidenmanifesto.org/ https://inorms.net/ https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.may.14 http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3874801 wang / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 108 3. caroline s. wagner, loet leydesdorff (2012). “an integrated impact indicator: a new definition of ‘impact’ with policy relevance”. research evaluation, v. 21, n. 3, pp. 183– 188. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvs012 4. parks, sarah, daniela rodriguez-rincon, sarah parkinson, and catriona manville (2019). “the changing research landscape and reflections on national research assessment in the future.” research england. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/rr3200.html 5. wilsdon, j., et al. (2015). the metric tide: report of the independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment and management. https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.1.4929.1363 6. wang, m., wang, z. & chen, g. (2019). “which can better predict the future success of articles? bibliometric indices or alternative metrics.” scientometrics, v.119, n.3, pp.1575–1595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03052-9 major journals that publish either exclusively or heavily on bibliometrics 1. scientometrics 2. journal of the association for information science & technology 3. desidoc journal of library information studies 4. library philosophy & practice major conferences 1. lis bibliometrics annual event. https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/conferencesand-events/ 2. international conference on scientometrics & informetrics. https://www.issisociety.org/conferences/ 3. altmetrics conference (am). https://www.altmetricsconference.com/ 4. sti indicators conference series. https://enid-europe.eu/index.php?id=confseries major organizations and associations 1. lis-bibliometrics community. blog: https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/ 2. center for science and technology studies (cwts). https://www.cwts.nl/ 3. international society for scientometrics and informetrics (issi). https://www.issisociety.org/ 4. european network of indicator designers (enid). https://enid-europe.eu/ 5. international network of research management societies (inorms). https://inorms.net/ 6. global research council (grc). https://www.globalresearchcouncil.org/ ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author yongming wang is the systems librarian at the college of new jersey. he received his mls from rutgers university. his research interests include library service platform, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science and statistics, linked data, and research data management. he can be reached at wangyo@tcnj.edu. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvs012 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/rr3200.html https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.1.4929.1363 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03052-9 https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/conferences-and-events/ https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/conferences-and-events/ https://www.issi-society.org/conferences/ https://www.issi-society.org/conferences/ https://www.altmetricsconference.com/ https://enid-europe.eu/index.php?id=confseries https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/ https://www.cwts.nl/ https://www.issi-society.org/ https://www.issi-society.org/ https://enid-europe.eu/ https://inorms.net/ https://www.globalresearchcouncil.org/ 008-title-195-article text-989-2-11-20210624 008-195-article text-988-2-11-20210624 international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 123-128 issn: 2474-3542 the japan library association taro miura meiji university, chiyoda city, tokyo, japan abstract the japan library association (jla) was established in 1892 following the establishment of american library association (ala) in 1876, and library association (la, now cilip, the uk library and information association) in 1877 in the united kingdom. jla has been a leader in forming japanese librarianship by organizing professional activities such as national conferences, local seminars, and publishing journals and books. this article describes the history and organization of jla, and how jla encourages japanese librarians to develop professional skills. keywords: library association, global library cooperation located in northeastern asia, japan is a pacific rim archipelago country with a total land area of 378,000 km2, including over 126 million people. the word for library is toshokan in japanese. tosho means book, and suffix word -kan means building. each city (population over 50,000) has its own public library. there are 3,296 public libraries (2018) offering library services to the public in japan, in addition to three national libraries, 1,427 university libraries, and 37,979 school libraries. almost all public libraries and academic libraries have their own public online catalog available via the internet. history the first modern public library was opened in japan around 1872 under the influence of western culture, although premodern open library has existed since 8th century. originally, the japan library association (jla) was founded in 1892 to promote library services and to cooperate librarians around tokyo metropolitan areas. mr. tanaka inagi decided to establish librarians’ association with 24 founding members and was installed as the first president of jla in 1900, when president system was introduced. jla was established following the establishment of american library association (ala) in 1876 and library association (la, now cilip) in 1877 in the united kingdom. initially, jla was named nihon bunko kyokai in japanese, and was renamed nihon toshokan kyokai in 1908. bunko is the way of saying library in premodern period, and kyokai means association. in 1903, the first jla library seminar was held, to which over 50 librarians attended, studying clerical work. in 1906, jla held the first all-japan library conference, which was to be hold annually ever since, led by mr. wada mannkichi, the second jla president and professor of tokyo university. jla published library journal (toshokan miura / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 124 zasshi) three times a year in the succeeding years (later switched to monthly publication.) these early efforts led to the further development of the japanese librarianship. jla started book selection for the standard catalog for public and school libraries in 1914. in 1929, jla became a member of the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla). in 1926, board system was introduced. jla became incorporated association in 1930 under the chairperson, mr. matsumoto kiichi, the librarian of national library. the relationship between jla and the ministry of education became strong, and the building of jla was transferred to the premises of the ministry of education in 1933. in the same year, library imperial ordinance (toshokan rei), which was enacted in 1899, was revised, and the regulation on public and private libraries was strengthened. during the 1930s-1940s, nationalism influenced the japanese librarianship. japanese library system was reformed after world war ii. a new library law (toshokan ho) was enacted in 1950 under the u.s. influence of the allied occupation (1945-1952). the law stipulated that public library was democratic institution and should be supported by tax, free of charge, and adequate to meet the information needs of the community. some jla individual members cooperated with american military officials in the enacting process. in the 1950s, library material organization tools were developed by jla: nippon decimal classification (ndc) 6th ed. was published in 1950; nippon cataloguing rules (ncr) in 1953; and basic subject headings (bsh) in 1956. ndc was formerly published and revised by mr. mori kiyoshi since 1929, influenced by dewey decimal classification (ddc) system in usa, and jla became responsible for its revision after the 1950s. in 1953, jla also started to publish the statistics on libraries in japan. as for intellectual freedom, “a statement of intellectual freedom in libraries” was adopted in 1954, claiming library autonomy in selecting and offering library materials and rejecting censorship. this statement was revised in 1979, adding protecting user’s privacy in library, followed by the approval of ‘code of ethics for librarians’ in 1980. in mid-1960s, along with japan’s rapid economic growth, libraries began to undergo remarkable development. mobile libraries, services for children, services for handicapped persons, audiovisual materials, and computers, were introduced. in 1963, jla started the publication of a quarterly journal, libraries today (gendai no toshokan). papers about specific research themes have been published on libraries today; short articles about recent topics or events have been published on library journal monthly. jla published the report titled management of public libraries in small and medium cities, which is called chu-sho report in japanese, and the book citizen’s library (shimin no toshokan) in 1970. chu-sho means small and medium libraries and shimin refers to citizen. the report and the book focused on the service offering in libraries, not just storage of materials. in 1971, jla adopted april 30th as “library day” when library law (1950) has been promulgated on that day. in 1980s, jla expanded its operations and activities. from 1982, library yearbook has been published. jla has been responsible for producing trend report in librarianship. jla founded library architecture award in 1985 and many new innovative libraries have received the award at the annual all-japan library conferences since then. in august 1986, the 52nd ifla general conference was held in tokyo, japan. jla re-joined ifla in 1952 after its withdrawal during miura / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 125 wwii. two thousand librarians from all over the world, including 1,500 japanese librarians, attended the ifla conference and discussed topics including library automation, electronic publishing, and multicultural services, etc. under the theme of “toward 21st century libraries.” aside from that, over 15,000 people came to the ifla conference exhibition for four days. as for automation, jla started the distribution of j-bisc in 1988, which is cd-rom of the japanese national bibliography (jnb) of the national diet library (ndl). jla celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1992 and held the 100th memorial all-japan library conference in tokyo in 2014 (time-lag was from the conferences interrupted during wwii.) organization jla is a non-profit organization representing the library profession in japan. in 2014, jla was repositioned as public interest incorporated association. the council is the highest decisionmaking body of jla. the councilors are chosen by election among individual members. one councilor is elected per 100 individual members. the board of councilors meets twice a year to review jla’s budget and other important business matters. the board of councilors also elects members of the board of directors, which is the executive body of jla. the chairperson of the board of directors is the official representative of jla. mr. mitsuhiro oda, professor of aoyamagakuin university, was newly inaugurated as the chairperson of the board of directors in june 2019. the board of directors (2019-2020) is consisted of 20 directors, including ms. yoko sakata, vice chair, mr. yutaka ebine, executive director/managing director, and mr. koichi hiruta, managing director. membership of the association is composed of four types: 3,296 individual members, 2,204 institutional members, 11 cooperate members and 56 supporting members (2019). its activities have been supported by countless dedicated librarians for over 120 years. jla represents all types of libraries and related information organizations in japan. for professional activities, the present organization consists of six divisions: 1) the public library division, 2) university library division, 3) junior college division, 4) school library division, 5) special library division, and 6) library and information education division. each individual member belongs to one of the six divisions. for those members in the library and information education division, they can select one other division depending on their research areas. chairpersons of the six divisions become members of the board of directors automatically. for specific activities, there are 28 committees (2019). each committee consists of one chair and about 5-10 individual members. 1. library policy planning committee 2. copyright committee 3. intellectual freedom committee 4. library use education committee 5. resource preservation committee 6. services for disabled people committee miura / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 126 7. children and young adult committee 8. international relations committee 9. library journal editorial committee 10. libraries today editorial committee 11. library yearbook editorial committee 12. publishing committee 13. cataloging committee 14. classification committee 15. subject headings committee 16. training program committee 17. library survey committee 18. library facility committee 19. publishing distribution committee 20. multicultural committee 21. health information committee 22. certified librarian program committee 23. election management committee 24. library disaster countermeasures committee 25. book introduction program committee 26. non-regular employees committee 27. library development in japan (1993-2017) editorial committee 28. jla library management committee activities jla developed the following activities to cooperate and coordinate all kinds of libraries and library organizations: training for library staff jla holds the three-day all-japan library conference in different cities annually in each fall. over 2,000 japanese librarians have participated in meetings, workshops and exhibitions, and enjoyed cultural events during the annual conference. in november 2019, the 105th all-japan library conference will be held at mie prefecture (http://105th-mietaikai.info/). in addition to the national conferences, jla also carried out about 30 seminars and symposiums throughout the year, including step-up seminars for mid-career librarians, library basic courses, and seminars for several current topics. since 2010, jla has authorized certified librarian program. a total of 150 librarians, who has ten years of experiences and gained over 20 points, have been certificated. points could be earned by attending professional seminars, giving presentation at conferences, speaking at lectures, and so on. miura / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 127 consultations and support on library management and policy recommendations jla has given advices on library management to newly established libraries and local authorities, and announced several policy recommendations, such as “a way of designated manager system in public libraries (2016),” “guidelines for eliminating discrimination against people with disabilities in the library (2016),” “improvement for the environment of character and print culture (2006),” and so on. research and collection of materials on library management, operations, services, and technology jla has conducted nation-wide surveys for public and academic libraries, publishing library yearbook and japanese libraries annually. the jla library collects materials on libraries, and library and information science, and holds about 10,000 monographs and 2,300 titles of periodicals, including conference proceedings, reports of committee meetings, annual reports of public libraries, architectural plans and booklets of various libraries. the library is open to the public as well as jla members. the reference and photocopy services are available to general public, though only members can borrow books. creation and dissemination of library management and selection tools jla has revised information organizing tools: the latest versions are ndc 10th ed. (2014) for classification, ncr 2018 version for cataloging and bsh 4th ed. (1999) for subject headings. publication of journals and research results each year, jla publishes 20 new titles concerning librarianship, including library practice series with 40 titles, and library and information text series (now 11 volumes and the third season), in addition to library journal monthly and libraries today quarterly. campaigns to promote library progress and awards for contributions to promoting progress jla has promoted library activities to the public and celebrated “library day” in april 30th. jla has awarded the library architecture award at the all-japan library conferences since 1985. collaboration, cooperation, and support with domestic and overseas library organizations jla are affiliated with many regional library associations. jla has been the japanese national association member of ifla since 1929. references takayama, m., et al. (2017). japan: libraries, archives and museums. encyclopedia in library and information science, 4th ed., crc press, 2560–2577. miura / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 128 the japan library association. the japan library association.’ https://www.jla.or.jp/portals/0/html/jla-e.html#jla the japan library association. brief information on libraries in japan. https://www.jla.or.jp/portals/0/html/libraries-e.html#general about the author mr. taro miura is a professor at the school of arts and letters, meiji university, japan. professor miura is also the chair of international relations committee of jla. his research focuses on modern japanese library history and international cooperation of professional associations in the field of library and information science. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org illinois fire service institute library initiatives during the covid-19 pandemic lian ruan, david ehrenhart, diane richardson, and shuyi liu abstract: the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library provides fire and emergency library and information assistance and services to the institute’s instructional staff, students, illinois fire departments and firefighters, and other fire/emergency-related users in the successful and effective performance of their jobs. in response to the covid pandemic, ifsi librarians have developed new services and resources to continue serving patrons. at the same time, new procedures and services were adopted. with the staff’s return to the library’s physical location, ifsi’s learning resource and research center building, new covid-19-related safety measures have been instituted. ifsi librarians worked with ifsi staff to create the covid-19 archives collection to preserve important documents about the pandemic as it occurs. the library received grant awards respectively from imls and ala. during the pandemic, the ifsi international programs continued to provide information resources and access to international users. the library organized online academic activities via zoom on a variety of workshops, lectures, and discussions to ensure that users were able to receive enough resources to continue their study and research. to cite this article: ruan, l., ehrenhart, d., richardson, d., and liu, s. (2022). illinois fire service institute library initiatives during the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 109-115. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.238 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.238 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 109-115. issn: 2474-3542 illinois fire service institute library initiatives during the covid-19 pandemic lian ruan, david ehrenhart, diane richardson, shuyi liu illinois fire service institute library, usa abstract the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library provides fire and emergency library and information assistance and services to the institute’s instructional staff, students, illinois fire departments and firefighters, and other fire/emergency-related users in the successful and effective performance of their jobs. in response to the covid pandemic, ifsi librarians have developed new services and resources to continue serving patrons. at the same time, new procedures and services were adopted. with the staff’s return to the library’s physical location, ifsi’s learning resource and research center building, new covid-19-related safety measures have been instituted. ifsi librarians worked with ifsi staff to create the covid-19 archives collection to preserve important documents about the pandemic as it occurs. the library received grant awards respectively from imls and ala. during the pandemic, the ifsi international programs continued to provide information resources and access to international users. the library organized online academic activities via zoom on a variety of workshops, lectures, and discussions to ensure that users were able to receive enough resources to continue their study and research. keywords: library services, archives, iflodd, imls grant, ala grant, international programs, outreach services, covid-19, illinois fire service institute library introduction the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) is illinois’s statutory fire academy and the oldest continuous fire training institution in the united states. since 1925, first responders from across the state, the nation, and the world have relied on ifsi to deliver hands-on, innovative, and topquality training, education, and research. ifsi’s mission is “helping firefighters do their work through training, education, information and research.” the ifsi library is one of only three fire academy libraries in the united states dedicated to serving fire and emergency service users. since opening in 1990, the ifsi library has worked to support all four areas of ifsi’s mission by providing information and resources to firefighters across the state. the library’s mission is to provide fire and emergency library and information assistance and services to the institute’s instructional staff, students, illinois fire departments and firefighters, and other fire/emergencyrelated users in the successful and effective performance of their jobs. in response to the covid-19 pandemic, ifsi librarians have developed new services and resources to continue serving patrons, including assisting patrons with information and research ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 110 requests, creating new e-resources (e.g. online subject guides, useful links), and updating the library’s social media account and webpage with the library’s services and resources. at the same time, new procedures and services were adopted, including curbside pickup for patrons borrowing physical materials and major email outreach to illinois fire departments. with the staff’s return to the library’s physical location, ifsi’s learning resource and research center building, new covid-19-related safety measures have been instituted, such as mandatory face coverings, social distancing, and the quarantine of returned library materials. ifsi librarians work with ifsi staff to create the covid-19 archives collection to preserve important documents about the pandemic as it occurs, including collections for ifsi in general, the illinois fire service, and the ifsi library/international programs. the library received grant awards respectively from imls and ala. during the pandemic, the ifsi international programs continued to provide information resources and access to international users. the library organized online academic activities via the web conferencing software zoom through a variety of workshops, lectures, and discussions to ensure that users were able to receive enough resources to continue their study and research. ifsi library services library’s new services and resources during the time the ifsi library was closed physically, librarians worked to continue to provide informational assistance to ifsi staff, instructors, and illinois first responder patrons. the library website (https://fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/) was available and the online collection catalog could be searched from there. patrons could email the library at fsi-library@illinois.edu with questions, research projects, and requests. in response to the covid-19 pandemic, the library developed new services and resources, including the following: • created ifsi library 2020 powerpoint file and sent it as attachment to 382 illinois fire departments • created how to use the ifsi library: information literacy for firefighters and fire safety education in libraries online subject guides for firefighters/fire departments to use; emailed information/links to 400+ fire departments • created all staff emails and ifsi covid-19 library information update page concerning the library’s service and resources during remote service; updated as needed • instituted curbside delivery for physical materials • created a linked list of homeschooling resources for first responder parents, including resources such as story time in space youtube channel, digital library of illinois, biodiversity heritage library “color our collections”, storyline online, spanish children’s stories from the spanish experiment, sea-span: the florida aquarium, uiuc college of veterinary medicine, american chemical society, and from the university of illinois news bureau: how to foster children’s learning while sheltering at home. • created a linked list of champaign county public library websites • continually updated the library’s facebook account with new digital resources, including two open access fire service books • created an excel spreadsheet to track patron requests and contact information to assist them with additional services and materials when we returned to onsite service curbside pickup and interlibrary loan ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 111 the ifsi library offered curbside pickup for members of the fire service who were able to drive to ifsi. the procedure was that patrons would request an item via our catalog, email, or phone. librarians would contact patrons when the requested item was ready or if they needed further information and would schedule a pickup time with the patron. patrons were instructed to drive up to the front door of the library building and stay in their vehicle. a staff member would come out to deliver items to the patron, who was instructed to wear a mask to ensure safe pickup. due to covid-19, the library limited the loaning of hard copies of materials to a case-bycase review. electronic materials were still available, but librarians informed patrons that access to those materials might be slightly delayed due to staffing limitations. interlibrary loan was halted for a time since the interlibrary loan services provided by the illinois state library system had been discontinued because most illinois libraries were closed. the due dates of items already on loan were extended indefinitely. librarians asked patrons to keep loaned items until provided with updated due dates. eventually the library was reopened with limited hours and in-person services offered by appointment only. curbside pickup was also continued. as other illinois libraries opened, interlibrary loan services were resumed by the illinois state library system. the ifsi library closely monitored cdc, ala, and oclc isolation and disinfecting guidelines for returned items, putting a sticky note marked with the returned date on each returned item and leaving the items on a return cart until they were deemed safe to handle and re-shelve. library operations during covid-19 when the library reopened, social distancing was strictly observed in staff workspaces and publicuse facilities. staff alternated between working onsite and remotely to make it possible for only one reference librarian to cover the reference desk at a time and for staff working in the library office space to maintain social distancing. some public-use computers and public-use tables and chairs were taped off to encourage social distancing, and used surfaces in both the public spaces and the reference desk area have continued to be sanitized after use. masking in public facilities was mandated by the state of illinois and the university of illinois, as well as by the illinois fire service institute. signs about mask requirements in the library were posted on the library entrance door and inside the library. masks for patrons arriving without masks were made available by ifsi and are still required in the library. patrons wearing masks inappropriately are reminded to adjust their masks according to requirements. while the library was closed, librarians met with student staff via zoom each week, and this continued when the library opened, but with strict social distancing requirements that prevented more than one person from working behind the reference desk at a time. currently librarians and student employees work onsite together while continuing masking and social distancing protocols. permanent library staff met via zoom from the beginning of the pandemic and continue to meet online to accommodate staggered onsite work hours. ifsi library archives ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 112 iflodd in april 2020, three illinois firefighters died of complications from covid-19 after contracting the virus in the line of duty. in keeping the illinois firefighter line of duty deaths digital image collection database (iflodd) an adaptable and relevant database, the library modified the structure of iflodd to accommodate deaths from covid-19 and allow users to search specifically for firefighters who have lost their lives to the virus. iflodd records were created for these three firefighters including incident summaries, extensive metadata, images of the firefighters, and information and images from their funerals. keeping iflodd current and reflective of the issues faced in the fire service helps to maintain the strong relationships between fire departments and the ifsi library that is necessary for this user-driven database. covid-19 archives collection the ifsi archives also worked with ifsi staff to create the covid-19 archives collection to preserve important documents about the pandemic as it occurred, including collections for ifsi in general, the illinois fire service, and the ifsi library/international programs. the ifsi archives also worked with the university of illinois archives to coordinate ifsi responses to their “what’s your story” project that preserves the experiences of university of illinois staff during the pandemic. ifsi’s community in ideals the covid-19 pandemic has also led to an increase in digital collections in the archives. while increasing digital collections has been a focus of the archives since its inception, the pandemic has shown the ever-increasing interest in digitized archives collections. in order to allow ifsi staff, illinois fire service professionals, and the general public to access the collection of every illinois fire college brochure from 1925 to present, the archives digitized the entire collection and added it to the illinois digital environment for access to learning and scholarship (ideals), which is the institutional repository for the university of illinois. the illinois fire college is the most important single training event at ifsi and has been held every year since 1925, making it the oldest continuous fire college in the united states. the archive’s collection of every brochure allows a look into all of the courses and events held at this event over its almost 100-year history. making this collection freely available on the internet is an important way of showing not only the value of ifsi’s training to firefighters over the years, but also the richness of the archive’s collections. the archives also worked to digitize all historical ifsi newsletters and made them available on ideals as well. ifsi’s community in ideals has had over 200,000 downloads. library grant projects imls american rescue plan grant in fall of 2021, the ifsi library received a $50,000 grant from the institute of museum and library services (imls) titled “experienced-based knowledge management initiatives to support illinois firefighters’ dynamic needs in response to the covid-19 pandemic.” the grant ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 113 activities will take place between november 1, 2021 and october 31, 2022 and include: documenting and enhancing firefighter records in the illinois firefighter line of duty deaths digital image collection database (iflodd) for those who died in the line of duty from covid19; collecting reflections oral history interviews from illinois firefighters about the covid-19 pandemic and making them publicly available in ideals and the illinois digital archives; documenting the ifsi response to the covid-19 pandemic through the collection and addition of images, documents, videos, and other relevant file formats that will be assigned metadata and uploaded into ideals; and, documenting illinois fire departments’ responses to covid-19 with images and documents collected from fire departments that will be assigned metadata and uploaded into the illinois digital archives. ala american rescue plan: humanities grants for libraries in spring of 2022, the ifsi library received a grant of $10,000 from the american library association (ala) american rescue plan: humanities grantmaking to develop a new children’s fire safety literacy reading and discussion program. the grant project will take place between march 1 to august 31, 2022. the project team will hire graduate students from the school of information sciences, university of illinois at urbana-champaign (ischool), to work with firefighter presenters from different types of fire departments. the grant team will purchase and catalog 68 children’s books including multi-lingual items on fire safety suggested by the firefighter speakers to support the new program. the books purchased for this program will include fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, and memoirs for the preschool through high school level written in english, spanish, polish, and chinese for racially and ethnically diverse populations. the books will be included in the ifsi library’s circulating collections that will be available to the general public. international programs and outreach services ifsi visiting scholar program since 2008, in partnership with other campus departments and units, the ifsi visiting scholar program has been open to scholars, students, and researchers in library and information science, fire and emergency response management, and other related fields from academic institutions, colleges, and universities all over the world. the program has received 152 visiting scholars in library and information science, fire service, and emergency management fields from 83 institutes in china, brazil, south korea, and the netherlands. due to the covid-19 pandemic, many visiting scholars had to postpone their program studies. in fall of 2021, visiting scholars began to resume their programs. since that time, eight scholars have arrived safely, including one fire sergeant from south korea who joined the ifsi winter fire school and took the ifsi training courses in spring 2022. international programs online scholarly activities since april 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic, ifsi international programs have offered virtual scholarly communications and exchange activities. we have coordinated and hosted 29 virtual scholarly activities via zoom with a total of 826 participants. the topics include ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 114 community informatics, emergency management, hathitrust, library assessment, library management, library strategic plans, lis education, rare book and manuscripts, research data management, scholarly publishing, scholarly writing, subject librarianship, etc. speakers were invited from university of illinois departments including the ischool, writers workshop, main library, and policy department. we also invited scholars from china and colleagues from the chinese american librarians association (cala) to join the zoom activities. the associate director for access and research services, lindsay king, from haas arts library at yale university, was invited to share their library services, policies, and practices during the covid19 pandemic through our zoom activities. the research librarian, dr. jiuming ji from the east china university of science and technology library, joined the zoom activities and gave a presentation on “chinese libraries’ responses during covid-19.” more speakers will be invited from universities in and beyond illinois. although the pandemic continues, the ifsi international programs continues to deliver international outreach services and has built a strong and continually growing global community of 803 individuals, consisting of 423 librarians, 152 scholars, and 228 first responders from 186 organizations including libraries, universities, research institutes, and fire organizations. references ji, j. (2021, july 30). chinese libraries responses during covid-19 [powerpoint presentation]. ifsi international programs. shanghai, china. king, l. (2021, march 31). staying open and staying safe: covid-19 and the yale library [powerpoint presentation]. ifsi international programs. new haven, ct, united states. ruan, l., ehrenhart, d., richardson, d., & liu, s. (2021, july 22). libraries adapting to the covid world: the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library practice [powerpoint presentation]. american library association international relations round table (ala irrt) pre-conference. champaign, il, united state. https://www.ala.org/rt/irrt-pastwebinars ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors dr. lian ruan, head librarian at the university of illinois fire service institute (ifsi), director of the ifsi international programs, and affiliate research faculty at the school of information sciences, university of illinois at urbana-champaign, has research interests in information behavior, special library administration, and international librarianship with numerous publications. david ehrenhart serves as assistant director for library operations with the illinois fire service institute library. his responsibilities include supervisory tasks related to library operations, as well as preserving and providing access to the history of the illinois fire service institute and the history of the fire service in illinois. ruan et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 115 diane richardson serves as reference and user training librarian with the ifsi library. her responsibilities include leadership of a reference team of graduate students, creation of digital information resources, and the provision of circulation, outreach, and library usage training to illinois firefighters via interlibrary loan services, social media, and in-person and online workshops. shuyi liu serves as international outreach services librarian with the illinois fire service institute library. she performs duties involved with supporting and assisting international outreach programs and activities, providing reference and information research resources for international users, as well as liaison with organizations on and beyond campus. 238-title page 238-ruan-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the usage of electronic academic database resources among lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, oghara, delta state, nigeria oghenetega ivwighreghweta & saadatu eireyi-fidelis abstract: this study investigated the usage of electronic academic databases resources by lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, oghara, delta state, nigeria. four objectives with conforming research questions guided the study. the study adopted a descriptive research design. the population of the study consisted of 134 lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu. the instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire with the title “usage of electronic academic database resources questionnaire (ueadrq)”. data was analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. the findings showed that there was a high level of awareness of the electronic academic database by the lecturers and postgraduate students. jstor, elsevier, doaj, proquest, science direct, and lexisnexis where been put to maximum usage. meanwhile, nuc virtual library, hinari, research4life, agora and ebsco host were used least frequently. the purposes of using the electronic academic datasets were for research, writing of seminar/conference paper, assignments/seminar presentations and getting up-to-date information with subject areas. lack of search skill, slow internet bandwidth and incessant power outrage were some of the problems preventing against the effective usage of electronic academic database resources in wdu. based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that electronic academic databases are vital information resources that need to be readily available in academic libraries for use by lecturers and students in the pursuit of their academic advancement. this study recommended that orientation, workshop and seminar should be organized by librarians and university authorities on how to acquire the needed search skills in order to be able to make adequate use of these electronic academic database resources in order to advance academic excellence. to cite this article: ivwighreghweta, o. & eireyi-fidelis, s. (2022). the usage of electronic academic database resources among lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, oghara, delta state, nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 106-112. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.250 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.250 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 106-112 issn: 2474-3542 the usage of electronic academic database resources among lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, oghara, delta state, nigeria oghenetega ivwighreghweta, western delta university, delta state, nigeria saadatu eireyi-fidelis, benson idahosa university, benin city, nigeria abstract this study investigated the usage of electronic academic databases resources by lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, oghara, delta state, nigeria. four objectives with conforming research questions guided the study. the study adopted a descriptive research design. the population of the study consisted of 134 lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu. the instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire with the title “usage of electronic academic database resources questionnaire (ueadrq)”. data was analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. the findings showed that there was a high level of awareness of the electronic academic database by the lecturers and postgraduate students. jstor, elsevier, doaj, proquest, science direct, and lexisnexis where been put to maximum usage. meanwhile, nuc virtual library, hinari, research4life, agora and ebsco host were used least frequently. the purposes of using the electronic academic datasets were for research, writing of seminar/conference paper, assignments/seminar presentations and getting up-to-date information with subject areas. lack of search skill, slow internet bandwidth and incessant power outrage were some of the problems preventing against the effective usage of electronic academic database resources in wdu. based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that electronic academic databases are vital information resources that need to be readily available in academic libraries for use by lecturers and students in the pursuit of their academic advancement. this study recommended that orientation, workshop and seminar should be organized by librarians and university authorities on how to acquire the needed search skills in order to be able to make adequate use of these electronic academic database resources in order to advance academic excellence. keywords: electronic, usage, databases, information resources, academic, postgraduate students, western delta university introduction the rapid development of information and communication technology (ict) has led to major changes in how libraries and information centers provide services and information that are widely accessible and accessible simultaneously from anywhere (toteng et al., 2013 and obiamalu et al., 2021). ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 107 the world wide web has become the most reliable and potent source of information access at this time, providing access to academic journals, books, technical reports, theses and dissertations, and courseware (sudhier & seethalekshmi, 2013). one of the most recent technical advancements and modernizations in libraries is the use of electronic academic database resources (eirs). it is a priceless tool for education-related research development, teaching, and learning. this is a result of offering professors and students up-to-date and pertinent information resources to encourage their participation in academic activities, which enhances their academic capabilities (tiemo) (2017). academic libraries now routinely include electronic databases as acknowledged and established parts of their collections. journals, e-books, reference materials, seminar reports, conference papers, and other items are frequently found in these databases (obiamalu et al., 2021). they include resources that need payment as well as those that are free to use. according to the author, “non-fee based databases resources are those supplied online after one year of publication for free such as doaj, ajol, book boon, and pdf drive.com.” furthermore, “non-fee base databases resources are those offered online after one year of publication for free” and “are those that most academic libraries purchase through subscription in order to give students, lecturers, and faculty members with online information resources such as ebsco host resources, scopus, questia, proquest, emerald, and hinari” (tiemo, 2017). literature review several studies have been carried out on the usage of electronic academic databases resources in nigeria. globally, it has become an established element of academic libraries’ collection. technological growth and advancement have also changed traditional library services and introduced various kinds of electronic information resources which are attractive for libraries and its users (obiamalu et al. 2021). according to lawal’s study from 2021, most respondents used internet search engines rather than specialist databases and full-text resources. attending library training programs resulted in only 6.8% of participants becoming familiar with electronic resources. lack of proper searching abilities was the main issue with the non-use of electronic database resources. tiemo (2017) discovered that professors and graduate students at federal and state universities used a variety of eir databases. the survey discovered that these individuals' levels of utilization were generally high because the majority of respondents claimed that they used these resources frequently to fulfil their academic goals. ebsco hosts databases such as elsevier, thomson, agora, jstor, questia, scopus, proquest, emerald, datad science direct, springer link, doaj, oare, hinari, teeal, ajol and mit open course ware. eirs databases, according to kofi, are among the most extensively utilized academic database resources (2014). print resources are used significantly less frequently than database resources. according to ndinoshiho’s survey results, 87.3% of respondents said they used academic databases for class assignments (2010). meanwhile, 54.2% of respondents said they used them to read newspapers, while 28.8% said they used them for other purposes. furthermore, ndinoshiho found that the examined electronic database was visited by 83.3 ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 108 percent of users to obtain information for a school assignment, while only 10.1 percent used it for administrative chores. in their survey, shukkla and mishra found that 44 (88%) of the academics acknowledged using electronic databases for research, 19 (38%) for publishing articles, 15 (30%) for looking for pertinent material, and 11 (22%) for keeping up with knowledge (2011). okunoye found that postgraduate students had limited awareness of electronic databases and little access to the accessible online databases, with jstor recording the highest percentage of familiarity with electronic databases (21.67%) (2020). the goal of this study is to ascertain the extent to which lecturers and postgraduate students at western delta university in oghara, delta state, use electronic database resources. statement of the problem for the purposes of their research, lecturers, researchers, and postgraduate students now have access to information resources thanks to the availability of electronic academic databases in academic libraries in nigeria. however, it has been noted in the majority of the literature, including those by okunoy (2020), lawal (2021), and obiamalu et al., (2021), that there is a declining trend in the usage of electronic academic database resources among lecturers and postgraduate students who do not really use these electronic databases optimally in universities in nigerian. the researcher’s own observations revealed a similar circumstance at western delta university. these phenomena might not be unrelated to ignorance of the scholarly databases that are available. the association between knowledge of and use of electronic academic database resources among professors and postgraduate students may not, however, have been the subject of any empirical study. we conducted this study to better understand how lecturers and graduate students at western delta university in oghara, delta state, nigeria use electronic academic databases. from the results, we have made suggestions for how to encourage more use of these databases. purpose of the study the major drive or purpose of this study is to determine the usage of electronic academic database resources by lecturers in western delta university, oghara. the specific objectives of the study are to: 1. identify the types of electronic academic database resources that lecturers are aware of in western delta university, oghara. 2. identify the purpose of usage of electronic academic database resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students. 3. know the electronic academic database resources that are available and used by lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu. 4. determine the problems preventing the effective use of electronic academic databases resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu. research questions the following research questions guided this study: ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 109 1. what are the types of electronic academic databases resources that lecturers and postgraduate students are aware of in western delta university, oghara? 2. what is the purpose of usage of electronic academic databases resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students? 3. what are the electronic academic databases resources that are available and used by lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu? 4. what are the problems preventing the effective use of electronic academic databases resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu? method the descriptive survey design was used for the investigation. there were 134 lecturers and postgraduate students in the study’s population. a self-created questionnaire titled “use of electronic academic databases resources” was the research tool employed for this study. 129 of the 134 questionnaires that were issued were collected. for this investigation, the total enumerative and accidental sampling strategy was used. the tool utilized to get the data was a questionnaire. to analyze the data, frequencies and percentage statistics were used. results demographic characteristics of the study table 1 respondents percentage (%) lecturers 99 (77%) postgraduate students 30 (24%) table 1 shows that out of 129 respondents, 99 (77%) are lecturers, while 30 (42%) of them are postgraduate students. research question one: what are the types of electronic academic databases resources that lecturers and postgraduate students are aware of in western delta university, oghara? table 2 academic databases aware (%) not aware (%) remark doaj 75 (58%) 54 (42%) aware ajol 81 (63%) 48 (37%) aware ebsco host 100 (78%) 29 (22%) aware jstor 101 (78%) 28 (22%) aware hinari 38 (30%) 91 (70%) not aware agora 86 (67%) 43 (33%) aware proquest 98 (76%) 31 (24%) aware research4life 78 (60%) 51 (40%) aware lexisnexis 88 (68%) 41 (32%) aware scopus 75 (58%) 54 (42%) aware nuc virtual library 81 (63%) 48 (37%) aware elsevier 30 (24%) 99 (76%) not aware science direct 67 (52%) 62 (48%) aware ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 110 information on lecturers’ and postgraduate students’ knowledge of electronic academic database resources is shown in table 2 above for wdu. thirteen (13) academic databases that are being taken into consideration. of these, eleven (11) were known to the responders. jstor, which was ranked first as the most scholarly database they were aware of, was known to the majority of the 101 respondents (78%) of the sample. ebsco host 100 (78%) came next in that order. this result is consistent with the research of tiemo (2017), which found that postgraduate students and professors at federal and state universities were aware of the various types of eir databases and that usage of these databases was generally high. research question two: what are the electronic academic databases resources that are available and used by lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu? table 3 academic database used (%) unused (%) doaj 98 (75%) 31 (24%) ajol 58 (45%) 71 (55%) ebsco host 48 (37%) 81 (62%) jstor 109 (84%) 20 (16%) hinari 12 (9%) 117 (91%) agora 43 (33%) 86 (67%) proquest 87 (67%) 42 (33%) research4life 30 (23%) 99 (77%) lexisnexis 72 (56%) 57 (44%) scopus 71 (55%) 58 (45%) nuc virtual library 20 (16%) 109 (84%) elsevier 102 (79%) 27 (21%) science direct 76 (59%) 53 (41%) table 3 shows the electronic academic databases resources that are available and used by lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu. a sizable number of the respondents indicated that some of database were not used 851 (659%), such as nuc virtual library 109 (84%), hinari 117 (91%), research4life 99 (77%), agora 86 (67%) and ebsco host 81 (62%). meanwhile, jstor 109 (84%), elsevier 102 (79%), doaj 98 (75%), proquest 87 (67%), science direct 76 (59%) and lexisnexis 72 (56%) were most frequently used. this suggests that lecturers and postgraduate students used these academic database electronic academic database resources on average. this finding is consistent with that of tiemo (2017), who found that lecturers and postgraduate students used various types of eir databases and that their utilization of eir databases was typically high in the federal and state university libraries in south-south nigeria. research question three: what is the purpose of usage of electronic academic databases resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu? table 4 purpose percentage (%) research 61(47%) seminar/conference paper 31 (24%) assignments/seminar presentations 15 (12%) up-to-date with subject 13 (10%) up-to-date with subject 13 (10%) literature searching 9 (7%) ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 111 table 4 demonstrates the intent behind the use of electronic academic database resources by wdu instructors and graduate students. the majority of respondents, 61 of them constituting 47% said they used the academic database for research. seminar/conference paper number 31 (24%) came next. this may be due to the fact that the majority of the responders are researchers who are still actively conducting research and using it to publish articles. this result is consistent with shukkla and mishra’s (2011) study, which found that 44 (88%) of the researchers accepted using electronic database resources for research. research question four. what are the problems militating against the effective use of electronic academic databases resources among the lecturers and postgraduate students in wdu? table 5 problems percentage(%) lack of search skill 42 (32%) slow internet bandwidth 30 (23%) incessant power outrage 21 (16%) irrelevant information 12 (9%) download delay 11 (8%) inadequate infrastructure for accessing electronic resources 9 (7%) lack of assistance by library staff 4 (3%) table 5 outlines the obstacles that prohibit wdu professors and postgraduate students from making effective use of the materials given by electronic academic databases. majority 42 people (32%) reported being unable to search, 30 people (23%) experienced slow internet speed, 21 people (16%) reported frequent power interruptions, and 12 people (9%) reported irrelevant information. this shows that the biggest issue discovered was an inability to search efficiently. this finding is similar with lawal’s (2021) findings, which showed that the fundamental difficulty associated with the non-use of electronic database resources was a lack of basic searching skills. this finding backs with lawal’s findings. conclusion the academic database resources at the library were used by lecturers and postgraduate students at wdu for research, drafting papers for seminars and conferences, and for assignments and presentations at seminars. some of the issues preventing effective use of electronic academic database resources included a lack of search skills, slow internet connection, and constant power outages. recommendation the following recommendations are given based on the study’s findings: 1. workshop, orientation and seminar should be organized by librarians on how to acquire the needed search kill in order to be able to make adequate use of all electronic academic databases resources available in the library. lecturer and postgraduates’ attendance should be made mandatory by the university authority. 2. the university libraries should make every attempt to acquire a backup generator. this will be especially critical if there is a breakdown in the delivery of electricity. ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 112 3. university libraries should invest in dedicated capacity as well as high-speed internet connectivity. this will help to put an end to the slow speed that has been experienced while downloading information resources. references kofi, b. g. (2014). academic staff skills and usage of online databases in universities in ghana. africa journal of adult education, 10(6),12–18. lawal, m. t. (2021). awareness, availability and utilization of databases among undergraduate students of federal university of agriculture makurdi benue state. retrieved from digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac obiamalu, a. r, ogungbeni, j. i., obuezie, a. c. (2021). extent of awareness and usage of electronic databases by undergraduates in michael okpara university of agriculture, umudike, nigeria. unizik journal of educational research and policy studies, 6(5), 12–20. okunoye, o.o. (2020). awareness, access and attitude of postgraduate students towards use of electronic databases in two academic libraries in south-west nigeria. journal of applied information science and technology, 13(1), 257–264. shukkla, p., & mishra, p. (2011). use of e-resources by research scholars of institute of technology, banaras hindu university, india. researchers world-journal of arts, science and commerce, 2(2), 184–194. sudhier, k.g. & seethalekshmi, k p. (2013). use of e-resources by the students and researchers of faculty of arts, university of kerala. international journal of information dissemination and technology, 1(3), 120–127. tiemo, p. a. (2017). use of electronic information resource databases among lecturers and postgraduate students in university libraries in south-south nigeria. international journal of education, learning and development, 5(2), 46–72. toteng, b., hoskins, r. & bell, f. (2013). use of electronic databases by law students at the university of botswana library. african journal of library, archival and information science, 23(1), 59–74. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– about the authors dr. oghenetega ivwighreghweta (anthonyoghenetega@yahoo.com)is currently the librarian of western delta university, oghara, nigeria. saadatu eireyi-fidelis (seireyi@biu.edu.ng) is presently an assistant librarian at the benson idahosa university, benin city, nigeria. mailto:anthonyoghenetega@yahoo.com mailto:seireyi@biu.edu.ng 250_v7n2_ivwighreghweta+_title+page 250_ivwighreghweta_xr_ct microsoft word ijol-6-2-6-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org lessons learned about folio’s apis guy dobson abstract: apis (application programming interface) provide the ability to do what needs to be done. the fact that folio includes api as one of its building blocks makes it that much more attractive. when my library’s administration decided to switch from a legacy ils (integrated library system) to a folio lsp (library services platform) the first thing that i looked at was the api. the lessons learned helped me to configure the system and massage the data from ils output to folio-friendly input. by building web applications and writing perl scripts our staff is able to get the job done even when it is impossible to accomplish the task through the user interface (ui). to cite this article: dobson, g. (2021). lessons learned about folio’s apis? international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 30-39. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.206 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 30-39. issn: 2474-3542 lessons learned about folio’s apis guy dobson, drew university abstract apis (application programming interface) provide the ability to do what needs to be done. the fact that folio includes api as one of its building blocks makes it that much more attractive. when my library’s administration decided to switch from a legacy ils (integrated library system) to a folio lsp (library services platform) the first thing that i looked at was the api. the lessons learned helped me to configure the system and massage the data from ils output to folio-friendly input. by building web applications and writing perl scripts our staff is able to get the job done even when it is impossible to accomplish the task through the user interface (ui). keywords: api, folio api, web apps exploring folio’s apis i explored folio’s apis by writing perl scripts that use curl to send api calls to folio. every api call requires an okapi1 (which is a multitenant api gateway to folio) token so the first lesson learned was how to get one. by sending an api call to https://[path to my folio environment]/authn/login with a $tenant, $username, and $password i was able to parse the okapi token out of the results and use it to define a variable named $okapitoken like so: $post = `curl -i -s -x post -h 'content-type: application/json' -h 'x-okapi-tenant: $tenant' -d '{"username": "$username", "password": "$password"}' $url/authn/login`; @parts = split(/\n/,$post); foreach $part (@parts) { if ($part =~ /^x-okapi-token:/) { $okapitoken = "x-okapi-token: " . substr($part,15); } } after submitting the following curl api call: $json = `curl -s -x get -h 'content-type: application/json' -h '$okapitoken' $url/coursereserves/terms?query=name=fall 2021`; i then decoded the $json variable using perl’s json module: $hash = decode_json $json; 1 https://github.com/folio-org/okapi dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 31 for ( @{$hash->{terms}} ) { $termid = $_->{'id'}; } and parsed the data i needed out of the json (javascript object notation) document. lesson learned: you don’t have to get a new okapi token every time you need to make a new api call. get it once and save it to a file, perhaps okapitoken.txt, and you can use it over and over again which will help your perl scripts run that much faster. you’ll only need to get a new token if you have to give the relevant user new permissions or when you upgrade to a new version of folio. using the above technique, i was able to explore the many database tables and begin to understand their relationships. i browsed through the api documentation2 website, sent get calls to various endpoints, compared the resulting json documents to the above documentation and to what i was seeing in the ui, and took notes. lesson learned: contributor name types (labels associated with marc (machinereadable cataloging record)’s 100, 110, and 111 tags) are nowhere to be found in the ui’s settings app. if they ever need to be added to, edited, or deleted that will have to be done via api. with a test environment that ebsco built for us which had been populated with reference (demo) data; the tables that needed to be populated before loading bibliographic or patron data were already set up. there was even a demo institution, københavns universitet, complete with demo patrons and demo books. some of the reference data is likely to be the same across institutions as it is simply the labels that describe various fields in the marc record. the same is true for those tables that contain rda (resource description and access) labels. others, especially locations, will need to be customized by each individual library. a closer look at the reference data revealed that the list of alternative title types was not as complete as we (a small group of librarians and staff) would like. it included "uniform title" (aka 130, 240, or 730) and the options listed for the 2nd indicator of 246 but it did not include options that are relevant to other title fields (210, 222, 242, 243, 247, or 740). for this reason, we decided not to use the reference data and perl scripts were built to load these labels into our test environment so that all i would have to do is change the scripts’ url (uniform resource locator) and tenant to load the same labels into the production environment when ebsco got around to setting that up for us. 2 https://dev.folio.org/reference/api/ dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 32 configuring the database tables using the library of congress’s marc 21 format for bibliographic data3 website i was able to find content for several of folio’s tables, such as the above mentioned alternative title types and contributor name types. others include: • contributor types o there are 278 of them – see marc code list for relators4 • formats o actually rda carrier types5 • identifiers o marc’s 01x-09x • mode of issuance o found in the marc leader’s position 7 • instance note types o 5xx o we decided to include the marc tag in the label e.g. dissertation note (502) • resource types o actually rda content types6 o marc’s 336 tag o found in the instancetypes table via api o a required field for creating an instance • url relationship o 856’s 2nd indicator lesson learned: a folio instance is not a marc record. rather, it is a row in the instances table that you can create and/or edit by curling a json document that includes the title, author, etc., and various foreign keys: the uuids from other tables that describe the instance’s content (e.g. alternative title types, contributor types, identifiers, etc.) other fields with labels that are not associated with marc or rda include… • instance status types • an instance does not require a status but once one is assigned it cannot be removed it can only be changed to a different status. the reference data included the following prefab statuses (and codes): • cataloged (cat) • uncatalogued (uncat) • batch loaded (batch) • temporary (temp) • other (other) • not yet assigned (none) 3 https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ 4 https://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/relaterm.html 5 https://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/rdacarrier.html 6 https://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/rdacontent.html dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 33 • ...but we decided to load these instead... • discarded (aka. withdrawn) • original cataloging (notcopycat) • more information needed (thererquestions) • ready for circ (noproblem) • series error (oops) • waiting for invoice (stillwaiting) • locations • folio’s four-tiered location structure allows for a much more granular solution than we were able to accomplish in the ils. we took full advantage of this. • material types • we also took advantage of the opportunity to consolidate our overgrown list of item types by eliminating the obsolete and making others consistent with rda carrier types or isbd material designations. • nature of content • these essentially work like tags. we decided to use them to help identify online titles that might not have holdings records or items and so no locations or material types: • govdocs • reference • theses & dissertations • video • service points • aka. the circulation desk. this is associated with both users and locations (where one is required) fields that are relevant to users include address types and patron groups. these were the most straight forward to set up. this list is not meant to be exhaustive or complete, just illustrative. in fact, we have not implemented all of folio’s apps yet and so there are many tables in our environment that are still empty. once the above tables were loaded with the labels that we decided to use we were able to begin loading data from our legacy ils but our data wasn’t ready for folio. massaging, and migrating, the data there are a couple of important differences between folio and our legacy ils regarding which fields belong in which tables. 1. locations are associated with holdings records in folio whereas they were associated with items in our old system. 2. volume numbers, and other details that are a part of the call number in the ils, belong in folio’s item record, not with the call number in the holdings record. also, the item information as it came out of the ils in 999 fields was not as complete as we wanted it to be, e.g. it was missing staff notes, etc. we would have to take a number of batches dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 34 of data out of the ils in addition to the marcs w/999s and process all of this information to create folio-friendly input. the first step was to put the ils output into these mysql tables: mysql> describe marcrecords; +---------------+-------------+ | field | type | +---------------+-------------+ | marc | mediumtext | | instanceid | varchar(36) | | shadowflag | varchar(1) | | catalogeddate | varchar(8) | | marcholdings | varchar(1) | | tcn | int(11) | +---------------+-------------+ mysql> describe itemdata; +-------------------+-------------+ | field | type | +-------------------+-------------+ | analyticposition | int(11) | | callnumshadowflag | varchar(1) | | circnote | mediumtext | | publicnote | mediumtext | | staffnote | mediumtext | | itemcat1 | varchar(10) | | itemcat2 | varchar(10) | | itemshadowflag | varchar(1) | | tcn | int(11) | | barcode | varchar(16) | +-------------------+-------------+ mysql> describe marcholdingsrecords; +-------+-------------+ | field | type | +-------+-------------+ | tcn | int(11) | | m852c | varchar(10) | | m863 | mediumtext | | m866 | mediumtext | | m867 | mediumtext | | m868 | mediumtext | | id | int(11) | +-------+-------------+ my perl script could then: 1. select one marc record for which the instanceid field was null 2. parse the marc data into a folio-friendly json document 3. curl (post) the json document to /instance-storage/instances dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 35 a. parse the instanceid out of the resulting json document (lesson learned: /inventory/instances will also create an instance but it does not return a helpful json document from which to parse the, very necessary, instanceid) b. add the instanceid to the relevant row in the marcrecords mysql table 4. build an iteminfo array with the data from both the 999 field(s) and the itemdata table 5. if there are marc holdings records (marcrecords.marcholidngs = “t”) build a marcholdings array 6. for each unique call number parse the data in the iteminfo array including… a. the call number, b. the location (formerly associated with the item), c. and any marc holdings statements (formerly in separate records) …into a holdingsrecord json document that includes the instanceid 7. curl (post) the json document to /holdings-storage/holdings a. parse the holdingsrecordid out of the resulting json document 8. for each item with that call number parse the rest of the data in the iteminfo array including… a. the barcode, b. the material type, c. the volume number (formerly a part of the call number) …into an item json document that includes the holdingsrecordid 9. curl (post) the json document to /item-storage/items 10. repeat all of the above until there are no null instanceids in the marcrecords table the ui’s data import app wasn’t used because i had trouble getting it to work. i had already written perl scripts to create instances, holdings records, and items and so had a pretty clear vision of how to go about this via api. a similar, and much less complicated, process was used to post user data to /users after parsing the pipe delimited data from the university’s banner database. when i started doing this i was working with fameflower which threw an error because i didn’t include a userid in the json document. this was a big surprise since other tables provided a uuid when posted to. after learning how to craft a uuid and adding that functionality to my postusers.pl script the test environment was upgraded. in goldenrod my craft_uuid subroutine was no longer required but that was a very interesting lesson learned. current charges were migrated by stowing data from the ils in this mysql table: mysql> describe chargedata; +-------------+-------------+ | field | type | +-------------+-------------+ | circrule | varchar(10) | | datecharged | varchar(12) | | datedue | varchar(12) | | itembarcode | varchar(14) | | itemtype | varchar(10) | dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 36 | userbarcode | varchar(14) | | userprofile | varchar(10) | | loanid | varchar(36) | | id | int(11) | +-------------+-------------+ loans could then be created by posting to /circulation/check-out-by-barcode. for loans with rolling due dates it was necessary to parse the loanid out of the resulting json document and follow up with /circulation/loans/$loanid/change-due-date to modify the due date. the loanid could then be added to the mysql table and the process repeated until none of the loanids in the chargedata table were null. building web apps and command line solutions with perl one of the first requests from the folks at the circulation desk was to be able to scan a barcode and see, at a glance, an item’s author, title, publisher information, location, call numbers, status, and previous loan data including loan date, due date, return date, status, and the name and barcode number of the previous borrower(s). this information was available in the ui but not all on one screen. the solution was to build a simple html form that would pass a barcode and password to a perl script that would then: 1. get all of the item data including the itemid and holdingsrecordid /item-storage/items?query=barcode="$barcode" 2. get all of the holdings data including the instanceid /holdings-storage/holdings?query=id="$holdingsrecordid" 3. get all of the instance data /instance-storage/instances?query=id="$instanceid" 4. get all of the loan data including any userids /circulation/loans?query=itemid="$itemid" 5. get all of the user data /users?query=id="$userid" depending on the reason for looking up an item the loan data may not be relevant and so it is put into a javascript variable so that it can be displayed on demand if necessary. lesson learned: note that in steps 2 and 3 above the api call includes a query and that the same information could be retrieved like so: /holdings-storage/holdings/$holdingsrecordid /instance-storage/instances/$instanceid the json returned by these api calls does not include the name of the relevant table at the beginning (‘holdingsrecords’ and ‘instances’) nor the total number of records returned at the end (which in this case would be ‘"total records" : 1’.) i find that these dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 37 details are often helpful. it also makes the business of writing the code that parses the json more consistent and less confusing. considering the fact that we were not using folio’s data import app we were going to need a web app to load new titles into our new lsp. together with our cataloger i designed what we call the dashboard which enables one to load marc records either individually or en masse and provides follow up links that take you into either the ui or the opac so that you can check your work. the script behind this is basically the same as the one described above that was used to load marcs from the ils. the main difference is that this process does not attempt to create holdings records or items as that can be done by simply following the resulting link(s) into the ui. it also lets you either click on a link in the opac or enter an instance’s hrid to work with titles that are already in the system. you can then download the marc record and fuss with it in marcedit before overlaying it in mysql and updating the instance in folio. lesson learned: it is not necessary to stow marc records in folio. we already had a mysql database where we keep the marc records that support our opac and we decided that this would be where we would keep our marc records of record. another important web app is what’s on reserve. the process of assembling the information on the page goes like so: 1. get the termid for the current term /coursereserves/terms?query=name=fall 2021 2. get the courselistingids and prof. names /coursereserves/courselistings?query=termid=$termid 3. for each courselistingid get the course number and name /coursereserves/courses?query=courselistingid=$courselistin gid 4. push all of the above into an array push(@courses,"$coursenumber|$profname|$coursename|\n") 5. for each courselistingid get all of the titles that are on reserve /coursereserves/reserves?query=courselistingid=$courselisti ngid 6. push each title’s information into an array push(@reserves,"$sorttitle|$title|$callnumber|$coursenumber |$location|\n") 7. sort each array and then parse through them to display each of the titles that are on reserve for each course like so: • libr 101 introduction to librarianship prof. dewey decimal o librarianship: the art of strategic neglect main library reserves 025 d519l dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 38 not all solutions are best served by web apps. some only need to happen once and/or are not interactive and so a simple perl script, without the web page infrastructure, will get the job done. an example of this includes adding an item’s cost as a note in the item record. after all of the data from the ils was loaded into folio we noticed that we had not included the cost of the item in the item record; which data was in the 999s. then we noticed that the item record does not include a field for this data point. we created a new item note type named price. then i wrote a script that would sift through all of the 999s, get each item’s json document from /item-storage/items, use regular expressions to take the json document apart and then put it back together so that it would either add a new item note to the existing array or create a new item note array, and then put the new json document to /item-storage/items thus overlaying the old one. another example is extending the expiration dates for current users. this is something that we do each semester for students and once a year for faculty and staff. this process uses /groups?query=group="*" to get all usergroups and their groupids and then uses /users?query=patrongroup=="$groupid" to get all of the desired users. then, for each user, our banner system is checked and if that user is current the expiration date is changed with a regular expression. $data =~ s/expirationdate":"\d\d\d\d-\d\d\d\d/expirationdate":"2022-02-14/ then `curl -s -x put -h 'content-type: application/json' -h '$okapitoken' -d '$data' $url/users/$userid` gets the job done. conclusions and anticipations when we started working with folio back in the fameflower days, one of our first conversations with the folks at ebsco was about documentation. to be more exact, it was about where we might find documentation regarding using the ui. the answer was that there wasn’t any, yet. by using api to take a deep dive into the database tables and take their json output apart, i learned the lessons that i needed to configure the system and load our bibliographic and patron data. now, while we are eagerly awaiting an upgrade to kiwi, it is a very different landscape. the lsp includes more apps and the project wiki7 includes a lot more information. we plan to begin using the acquisitions and erm apps very soon. whether or not we need to use api to set up those apps, i will certainly begin with an inventory of the relevant database tables the way i did when i first started working with fameflower. however it turns out, i’m sure that the lessons we’ve learned will serve us well as we expand our use of folio and as folio continues to grow. 7 https://wiki.folio.org/ dobson / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 39 about the author guy dobson (gdobson@drew.edu) is the director of technical services and systems librarian at drew university in madison, new jersey. after working at the local public library while attending high school and college he earned his master of science from columbia university’s school of library service. in addition to public libraries he has worked in academic, medical, music, and school libraries. he has given several presentations at national conferences about building systems that add or enhance functionality for patrons and staff in library websites and catalogs. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org re-looking at s. r. ranganathan’s five laws of library science sigy george abstract: s. r. ranganathan’s work five laws of library science published in 1931 shaped library science and has served as a foundation for the profession of librarianship. the five laws of librarianship need to be revised as technology progressed in society. with the rise of digital libraries, however, it is essential to take a second look at these laws and see how they've held up in the face of new technologies. this study tries to explain how the theory is put into practice and to identify areas where it needs to be reformulated for the benefit of libraries. the five laws of library science by s. r. ranganathan was reviewed for this research's literature study, and the five rules were combined with the traits of generation z to create new laws that are appropriate for this period. the research’s primary conclusions are (1) information: emphasize content over container; (2) user engagement; (3) quantitative information analysis; and (4) common learning (online and offline). to cite this article: george, s. (2022). re-looking at s. r. ranganathan’s five laws of library science. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 155-161. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.258 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.258 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 155-161 issn: 2474-3542 re-looking at s. r. ranganathan’s five laws of library science sigy george delhi public school, new delhi, india abstract s. r. ranganathan’s work five laws of library science published in 1931 shaped library science and has served as a foundation for the profession of librarianship. the five laws of librarianship need to be revised as technology progressed in society. with the rise of digital libraries, however, it is essential to take a second look at these laws and see how they've held up in the face of new technologies. this study tries to explain how the theory is put into practice and to identify areas where it needs to be reformulated for the benefit of libraries. the five laws of library science by s. r. ranganathan was reviewed for this research's literature study, and the five rules were combined with the traits of generation z to create new laws that are appropriate for this period. the research’s primary conclusions are (1) information: emphasize content over container; (2) user engagement; (3) quantitative information analysis; and (4) common learning (online and offline). keywords: information science, library science, librarianship, s. r. ranganathan, libraries, user needs, information introduction the five rules of library science were first introduced by s. r. ranganathan, also known as the father of library science in india. his contributions have had a global impact and are often covered at the beginning of the course in library and information science. the law was published in 1931 in the five laws of library science. s. r. ranganathan was a librarian and mathematician who formulated the five laws of library science. these laws are still used today as a framework for thinking about library services and operations. let’s take a closer look at each of these laws. the first law is “books are for use.” this means that the library should provide materials that meet the needs of its users. the second law is “every reader his or her book.” this means that every user should be able to find the materials they need and that the library should be organized in a way that makes this possible. the third law is “every book its reader.” this means that every book in the library should be read by someone. the fourth law is “save the time of the reader.” this means the library should provide services that save users time, such as providing information electronically or delivering materials to users’ homes. the fifth and final law is “the library is a growing organism.” this means that the library should always be improving and evolving to meet the needs of its users. george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 156 the five laws were created to enhance the library’s position in the learning community. reading was considered an activity that would broaden one's horizons and open one's intellect under the circumstances of the period. since not everyone could afford books during that period, the library institution took over the book’s role. in his book, sr ranganathan explained how to get as many people as possible into the library, how to use all the facilities there, how the books there could satisfy their needs and curiosities, and how libraries as organizations carried out their responsibilities and tasks. reading was an activity to raise people’s quality of life and combat illiteracy when the five laws of library science first came into existence. consequently, the library’s functions were necessary to be better. the area of library science, where books are the focus of all studies and libraries are seen as a physical location, is greatly influenced by ranganathan’s five rules of library science. according to earlier studies, the field of library science study is periodically sequential and uses newspapers, electronic resources, archive materials, and repositories (kawalec, 2013). the area of research into libraries as structures and as collections of books is still attractive. generation z is known as the digital generation. of course, given their different traits, the five laws of library science need to be understood & applied with the same attitude while redefining library science. the five laws will be elucidated in this article in library science, in light of technological advancement in the digital age, making the findings of this research apply to the emphasis of the library. methods the literature review was employed as the methodology for this study. the literature review has several goals, including demonstrating to the reader the relevance of the research to the present and bridging the gap between earlier and more recent studies. the utilization of literature studies strengthens researchers’ opinions; it has no bearing on how other investigations turn out. the author read s. r. ranganathan’s, the five laws of library science, who then combined the five laws with the traits of generation z to create new laws appropriate for this period. results and discussion the following information was analyzed from s. r. ranganathan’s original work, the five laws of library science, and is detailed inside each law (ranganathan, 1931): 1. books are for use: this is the basis for our work as librarians. books should be used. users did not have access to books for many centuries. they were typically tied in chains and locked down due to their importance and price. only certain people were given access to them. then, when they multiplied, they were still hidden away since it was believed that the common person should not have unrestricted access to them. you would “call” for a book at the circulation desk if you wanted one by noting its location from a catalog. this is how the term “call number” was formed. the founding fathers of america, led by benjamin franklin, adopted a more egalitarian mindset. users would have easy access to books through an “open access” collection. the names “closed stacks” and “open stacks” were derived from this. the idea that everyone in a democracy should have access to books was one that thomas jefferson firmly believed in. george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 157 2. every user his or her book: by extending the notion that books are for use, this second law builds upon the first. it asserts that everyone has a need or desire for books. it is vital to keep in mind that not everyone will want the same book at the same time; rather, it is assumed that different novels will appeal to different people at different periods. very similar persons can occasionally have diverse tastes in books. here, we agree that everyone has a right to read the books they want when they want them and a desire to do so. 3. every book its reader: this law examines the opposing side, presuming that every book has a reader, in contrast to the first two laws, which assumed that books are an intrinsic good and that everyone should have access to them. some novels, such as those in the “harry potter” series, are well-read and successful in terms of sales. others have a considerably smaller audience, especially technical or research literature. having said that, this law is predicated on the idea that if a book is published, a reader will exist for it someplace, at some point. according to this rule, there is a reader for each book. there is a reason that book exists, even though they may not be prevalent or current today. 4. save the time of the reader: the first law that specifically mentions librarians is this one. the first three examined the consumers and objects (or “things”) that are the basis of our existence. we are now examining our goal. what we do as librarians, in both public and technical services, for our users is covered in a wide range of books, articles, and classes. but this guideline makes it very clear: we have a responsibility to respect the time of our users since it is valuable. they could spend hours trawling through directories, databases, finding aids, thesauri, etc., or we could step in and assist them—or, to put it another way, disambiguate their search. to assist readers in finding what they are seeking as quickly as possible, we have acquired specialized knowledge and training. our mission is to make it easier for each reader to locate their ideal book and for each book to be discovered by a reader interested in its contents. 5. the library is a growing organism: this final guideline serves as a reminder that our business is dynamic. we must evolve along with our users as they develop and change, just like books do. keep in mind that the legislation declares “the library” to be a living thing. it assumes that the library is a real, live object. it implies that it develops and transforms over time. the books we buy and keep in our libraries will alter as time and our target audience do. a shift in the demography of a region’s libraries may prompt changes in collection development to reflect the change. like an overgrown garden, our collections become out of date and many of the contents become irrelevant. to weed our collections, we delete any outdated articles with few readers. the patron, library, and book are the three entities that the author uses to describe each of the five laws mentioned above. interaction between the three entities is taking place. the book’s exposition of the five laws of library science and s. r. ranganathan’s perspective on them were written in the 1930s. the five laws and the digital age ranganathan’s five laws of library science were written in the 1930s when colonialism and the second world war were still active, and merely existing was still a goal. therefore, it is essential to examine the five laws’ adoption in the contemporary digital era. 1. user: in the ever-changing landscape of the digital age, anyone can access and use library services, not just those who register as members and present proof of membership cards. this is because there is a distinction between the physical world and the digital world, both must be seen as providing the same services. when patrons read in the library, they should also george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 158 be permitted to access the web library and browse digital collections. people who open library repositories online can also read full-text, similar to scientific work services in libraries where students can read full-text theses. the user-entered library is a notion that needs to be integrated with the digital age. this idea encourages interaction in the library. the library requirement is significant for the more users who utilize it. examples of user participation in the library include: a) collection organization (kawalec, 2013): full patron participation and input. b) support the internet (full wifi access): which includes giving students more great room (sanevely, 2012) to close gaps and correct misconceptions. not all users of library services come from the same economical background. the library provides a platform to bring services like internet and wifi access to those less privileged, thereby closing the gap in educational opportunities and economic status. c) provide real-time communication tools for customers, such as live chat for references. (rendina,2017) the fundamental principle of involving users forces libraries to “co-create, rather than impose value to users” (miller, 2018). user studies, user needs (information needs), and information-seeking behavior can be used to study how users conceptually engage with the library (information behavior). 2. book: books are considered information products since they provide the reader with information, which is then transformed into knowledge (seemiller,2016). of course, when the aforementioned five laws of library science was written in 1930, there was no such thing as an ebook, dvd, or cd. indestructibility, transmutability, and repeatability are traits of digital information products. the idea of a book in the digital age places more emphasis on content than form (container). because information goods are not only books, the word “information” is the appropriate term to describe a library in the digital age instead of “book.” 3. the library: technology disruption into libraries in the modern era has changed people’s perceptions of physical libraries, where everything can be accessed digitally. as a result, the focus of library management is not on how to grow libraries but on making them as user-friendly as possible for people who come in person. the way people acquire information has changed as libraries adapt to the digital age. they used to borrow books they could read in the library or take home, but they can now access everything digitally. therefore, for clients to feel comfortable accessing library collections, a space must be provided in the library. for patrons to feel comfortable accessing library materials or even engaging in peer conversation, a space must be provided in the library; this is known as the learning common. to encourage user engagement through collaboration, experimentation, and exploration between users and librarians, the learning common is a physical space that is a part of the library building and is purposefully made available to users only for the needs of research and work activities for college assignments (schader, 2008)(sykes, 2016). one of the best strategies for promoting libraries is the benefits of knowing the standard (lackie, 2015). there should be no distinction between physical and digital libraries in the context of library development. there should be librarians who can be invited to communicate online if they can be invited to communicate in person at the library. the same thing, for instance, should apply if students are given learning materials prevalent in libraries; learning materials should also be provided digitally. george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 159 the digital age’s five laws of library science following an explanation of the modifications to the five laws of library science and 21stcentury traits, the following are the outcomes of the revision: 1. information: put content first, not the container vs books are for use: power comes from knowledge (ranganathan, 1931). anyone with informational access and the capacity to turn it into knowledge is considered powerful. users in the digital age do not care about the structure of the information; what matters is the content itself. because much significant information is not formally disseminated through the internet in the digital age, the material’s format need not be as necessary to be highlighted. people’s attitudes toward libraries still have a solid connection to the books, which will only use up library resources. not everyone enjoys reading physical books, but many people also enjoy reading in digital form. multitasking, or the desire to perform multiple tasks at once, is one of the traits of generation z. examples of such behaviors include reading online (rendina, 2017). 2. & 3. user participation vs every person his/her book/ every book its reader: libraries must first assess user satisfaction to create user engagement. if the library complies with the needs of its users, user happiness will be highly valued. the library faces expectations since it caters to user needs. therefore, fully realizing it requires a user-centered analysis of how people use all of the library’s services and materials. it is required to conduct a prior investigation into (snavely, 2012) before doing so: a) using an information retrieval system to meet user needs increases system effectiveness. b) user effectiveness: how closely the system’s output matches the user’s expectations regarding accuracy and completeness. c) user effort: user engagement with information retrieval system methodology in the context of information search behavior. d) user characteristic: to involve themselves in the process, librarians undertake user research. 4. information quantitative analysis vs saves the time of the reader: a quantifiable evaluation is crucial in the digital age since generation z tends to think all the time logically. knowing that they are concentrating on statistics and figures will strengthen the information. quantitative analysis can take the shape of bibliometric, altimetric, or scientometric methods in studying libraries and information science. 5. the common learning (online and offline) vs library is a growing organism: another trait of generation z is their preference for teamwork and interactions and learning methods that suit their tastes. the library must assume this role to transform the library into a place to find information. a library is where they go to study for exams. they conduct research for college assignments in libraries. a digital library must provide the same purpose on the digital side. therefore, when a user visits the library online, they receive the same level of service. conclusion in conclusion, ranganathan’s five laws of library science provide a helpful framework for understanding the role of libraries in society. they also offer a useful set of guidelines for library professionals who wish to improve the quality of their services. while some of the laws george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 160 may seem outdated in today’s digital world, they nonetheless provide an important foundation for understanding the importance of libraries and their place in our culture. ranganathan's five laws of library science were created following the circumstances of the time they were created. the absence of technology undoubtedly results in various patron characteristics. in the present digital age the findings of this study demonstrate that ranganathan’s five laws of library science have been reduced to four concepts: (1) information: concentrate on the content rather than the container; (2) user engagement; (3) quantitative analysis of information; and (4) everyday learning (online and offline). references creswell, j. w., & creswell, j. d. (2018). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. globalstillman, d., & stillman, j. (2017). gen z @ work: how the next generation is transforming the workplace. new york: harpercollins publisher hart, a. (2006). strategy for the management of digital information products. diplom.de. lackie, r. j., & wood, m. s. (2015). creative library marketing and publicity: best practices. lanham: rowman & littlefield. kawalec, anna. (2013). research trends in library and information science based spanish scientific publication 2000 to 2010. malaysian journal of library & information science, 18(2), 1–13 miller, laura newton. (2018). university community engagement and the strategic planning process. evidence based library and information practice, 13(1), 4–17. ranganathan, s.r. (1931). the five laws of library science. new delhi: madras library association rendina, d. l. (2017). reimagining library spaces: transform your space on any budget. portland, oregon: international society for technology in education. schader, b. (2008). learning commons: evolution and collaborative essentials. oxford: chandos. seemiller, c., & grace, m. (2016). generation z goes to college. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass snavely, l. (2012). student engagement and the academic library. santa barbara, calif: libraries unlimited, an imprint of abc-clio, llc. sykes, j. a. (2016). the whole school library learning commons: an educator’s guide. santa barbara, ca: libraries unlimited ___________________________________________________________________________ about the author sigy george is a cheerful and enthusiastic school librarian with over 10 years experience in various schools in delhi, like international baccalaureate, igcse &cbse. she possesses master’s degree in english literature and library and information science from ignou and annamalai university respectively. she has also completed mba in library management from isbm, mumbai. committed to fostering critical thinking and research skills among students, george / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 161 while encouraging them to pursue their interests and passions with dedication and fervour. proficient in helping students find books which help fire up their imagination and expand their knowledge. her interests include bibliotherapy, academic integrity & plagiarism, academic library, children’s literature, research skills, critical thinking, digital and media literacy and information literacy. 258_v7n2_george_title+page 258-george-final+submission_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org forecasting database usage during the height of covid19 chris sharpe and david evans abstract: as with other catastrophic events, the covid-19 pandemic disrupted higher education and library services. the authors examine the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on usage of health databases in 2020. they use time series analysis to create a forecast based on previous years’ activities, and then compare it with actual database usage during the pandemic. the results show an initial increase in searches for the first full month of the pandemic, but then match the expected forecast data and decrease during summer and early fall months. the authors conclude that time series analysis is a useful tool for understanding the impact of events and for planning purposes. to cite this article: sharpe, c., & evans, d. (2022). forecasting database usage during the height of covid19. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.217 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.217 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 21-29. issn: 2474-3542 forecasting database usage during the height of covid-19 chris sharpe and david evans kennesaw state university, usa abstract as with other catastrophic events, the covid-19 pandemic disrupted higher education and library services. the authors examine the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on usage of health databases in 2020. they use time series analysis to create a forecast based on previous years’ activities, and then compare it with actual database usage during the pandemic. the results show an initial increase in searches for the first full month of the pandemic, but then match the expected forecast data and decrease during summer and early fall months. the authors conclude that time series analysis is a useful tool for understanding the impact of events and for planning purposes. keywords: covid-19, database usage, time series analysis, health science introduction the covid-19 pandemic caused great upheaval in lives and institutions, but catastrophic events are not new in the united states. over 74 years ago, gaus (1947) wrote about how catastrophic events have altered public policy. in the 19th century, outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever were common disruptive events in the coastal southern states. the 20th century saw two major global wars, a flu pandemic (1918), a global stock market crash (1929), and major events around hiv. more recently, events such as environmental disasters in the philippines (1991 mount pinatubo), earthquakes in sichuan, china (2008), the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident in fukashima, japan in 2011, and local wars in 2019 in kashmir, all serve as examples of local catastrophic events that affect higher education and library usage. since the beginning of the pandemic, much has been written both in the popular press and in academic literature about the disruption of covid-19, which ranges from global supply chain problems to the delivery of education at the local level. higher education has responded with shifting to online-only learning or hybrid courses with minimal in-person seating. library responses to the pandemic were immediate and, in many situations, initiated continuity plans that had been long in development. some completely closed their buildings, while others remained open with restrictive access. research help services had to switch to completely online, making use of reference chat services and video conference software such as zoom or microsoft teams. the purpose of this research was to examine the effect of covid-19 on usage of select health-related databases. we did this by examining the patterns of usage in the immediate transition period (3-4 months) and the long-term period (6+ months) using time series analysis. a secondary purpose of our investigation was to attempt to confirm if pre-pandemic continuity sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 22 emergency plans for continuation of library operations worked. to our knowledge, no studies have explored how a traumatic event (e.g. 9/11; covid-19) affects monthly database usage. to achieve this purpose, we explored two working questions: 1) will a major national health event result in increases in database usage? 2) will disruptions to normal campus activity result in a decreased usage of databases? literature review jeong and kim (2010) have produced an excellent annotated bibliography on time series analysis for librarians. tenopir and read (2000) reviewed database usage data from public and academic libraries and surveyed librarians on their views of database habits. they found a correlation between the number of workstations in the libraries and increased usage. coombs (2005) tested the methodology of analyzing sessions of database usage using proxy server information to gather quantitative data and determine where and how the resources were being accessed. the results determined that there was a small percentage of databases being used, a preference for some fulltext databases over others, and that students were primarily accessing the databases by name rather than by subject. a survey of faculty in a health science university in tanzania regarding usage of e-resources and information literacy skills revealed a lack of awareness of what databases were available (lwoga & sukums, 2018). time series analyses can be used to predict periodic behaviors around events. mcgrath (1996) used spectral analysis to understand cycles, periods, and frequencies in library collection usage. normally collected by librarians in periods of semesters, years, months, or days, the analysis provided strong evidence for a seven-day week and semester activities and weak evidence of monthly cycles, while it also revealed an unexpected semiannual cycle. murgai and ahmadi (2007) used multiple regression to predict reference desk interactions to help forecast the number of staff needed at the desk. they used building traffic and semester time period as the predictor variables to relate to the dependent variable of the activity at the reference desk. ahmadi et al. (2008) used an exponential smoothing model to further forecast library traffic and students coming to the reference desk. how do major incidents such as natural disasters, pandemics, or war affect library use and research? featherstone et al. (2012) examined how the influenza virus h1n1 pandemic of 2009 affected information needs among health care administrators, and how health sciences librarians could be successful in assessing and choosing material in support of administrative decision making. in a comparison of usage of electronic resources at a university during a period of conflict to a time of peace in kashmir, there was a dramatic decrease in usage of e-resources and reduction of research output during the conflict years. curfews, interruptions to attendance, and reduced internet connectivity affected access and research activities (gul et al., 2014). a survey of health science college teachers in pakistan identified issues with teaching during the covid-19 pandemic (aziz et al., 2020). they included poor internet access, lack of experience with online teaching, concerns about the lack of hands-on learning, and confusion and difficulties with assessment. in singapore, the availability of clinicians was a challenge, but the technology used to assist learning and communication resulted in a greater number of questions from students than normally experienced in-person (cleland et al., 2020). health science researchers are greatly affected by lockdowns and other restrictions due to the pandemic. conferences have been cancelled, in-person data collection is severely limited, clinical trials are placed on hold, and budgets are strained (emans et al., 2020; singh et al., 2020). sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 23 many researchers rely on secondary data analysis of available datasets to continue scholarship efforts (spurlock jr., 2020). a series of focus groups of medical students in the kingdom of saudi arabia found an overall positive experience in the switch to online synchronous learning, with most students being able to manage their school and family time well and enjoying the advantages of being able to re-watch lectures. the positive experience, however, depended on the type of classes (khalil et al., 2020). background kennesaw state university is a carnegie designated, r2 institution and has two campuses. the enrollment in 2020 was around 41,000 students. the library system has access to 200,000 eresources and more than 300 database subscriptions. there is an online library portal to authoritative, subscription-only information that is not available through free search engines or internet directories. the portal has a reporting tool for gathering usage statistics that acts in concert with the library system’s central repository of usage statistics. this allowed us to create usage reports on all databases used, on specific databases or groups of databases, and on specific data elements for various periods of time. table 1 illustrates the broad count of all database searches by library users in a given year. the upward annual trend in searches is evident until 2020. the university switched to online-only classes in the middle of march that year. table 1. annual electronic database searches across all titles year searches 2016 2,393,735 2017 2,186,772 2018 3,302,096 2019 4,947,826 2020 2,421,858 understanding the complex blocks of time within a semester has value to librarians with scheduling, purchasing resources, and allocating staff. likewise, understanding what effect traumatic events (e.g. 9/11; covid-19) have on usage of resources is important to librarians in their efforts with assisting students with library-related course work and faculty with their teaching and research efforts. kennesaw state university’s academic year spans from mid-august of one calendar year to late july of the following year. an academic year is distinct from a calendar year in that an academic year has distinct blocks of time that are important to students, e.g. beginning semester, drop-add deadlines, last day to withdraw, mid-terms, final exams, and end of semester. academic years can also exhibit seasonality such as holidays, e.g. labor day, columbus day; religious holidays, such as thanksgiving, hanukkah, christmas, passover, easter; national days, such as mlk day; or even spring break. we collected the number of monthly searches conducted by library users from january 2016 through the end of march 2020 on usage of the databases: cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature (cinahl), health source: nursing/academic edition, medline with full text @ ebsco, and nursing & allied heath database (proquest). these numbers were collated into an excel spreadsheet. the combined annual searches for the selected databases sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 24 searches are illustrated in table2. table 2. annual searches in select health science databases year searches 2016 55,115 2017 43,633 2018 63,901 2019 62,005 2020 60,847 methods and results time series analysis is used extensively in business and medical research to forecast future events. an example is the cdc’s often reported 7-day moving average of covid-19 cases. time series has four general areas that are examined: trend; a cycle component above/below that trend; seasonality (a short-term pattern); and an irregular event (which is everything other than trend, cycle, or seasonal events). using a time-series model provided a forecast of expected database usage based on past performance. when a major event occurs (e.g. poor weather, seasonal flu outbreak, covid-19) the actual results of a time period can be compared to the forecast to infer the impact of that event. in our investigation, we used a simple centered moving average (cma) of two months to examine both seasonality and random events that might have an effect on usage. the difference in actual searches and cma points toward random events that influence the number of searches. upon speculation, these events might include such events as one-time large student activities or fluctuations in different assignments and due dates for research papers. sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 25 figure 1. seasonality and search trends of health-related databases the centered moving average was used to smooth the data in order to identify patterns by simplifying the random events between the time intervals. cma can also be used in a limited fashion to forecast the next month usage. figure 1 shows the seasonal movement of the searches. the highest number of searches occur in february, march, october, and november, or the second and third months of the spring and fall semester. the lowest number of searches occur during the summer semester months. the upward usage trend during this period is the dotted linear line. part of our short-term analysis examined the immediate three months following the entire campus shutdown and courses moving to completely online. the 2020 search data followed the same declining usage from year to year at semester ends in all previous months of may. as the summer semester begins in june, the pattern trended upward as expected. 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 20 16 /0 1 20 16 /0 3 20 16 /0 5 20 16 /0 7 20 16 /0 9 20 16 /1 1 20 17 /0 1 20 17 /0 3 20 17 /0 5 20 17 /0 7 20 17 /0 9 20 17 /1 1 20 18 /0 1 20 18 /0 3 20 18 /0 5 20 18 /0 7 20 18 /0 9 20 18 /1 1 20 19 /0 1 20 19 /0 3 20 19 /0 5 20 19 /0 7 20 19 /0 9 20 19 /1 1 20 20 /0 1 20 20 /0 3 se ar ch es searches cma linear (cma) sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 26 figure 2. actual yearly usage for the most part, the forecasted searches where very close to the actual searches performed. searches conducted in may, october, and november were dead on the mark. in april, the numbers were higher than the prediction. we are limited in discerning student “intent” around the use of these particular databases. usage in these databases could be related to on-going pandemic research by nursing students or concerned library users’ needs for information on covid-19 symptoms and treatments. usage might also be related to students working on assignments or just exploring the health literature related to pandemics in general. the actual results were much lower than the forecast during the summer and the first couple of months of the fall semester. the campus returned to having in-person classes in fall 2020, and so the decrease in searches may reflect the adjustment period during the pandemic. the searches are closer to the forecast and exceed it in the later months, which may indicate a return to pre-covid-19 research activity. 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 mar apr may jun 3 months short term usage 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 27 table 3. long-term forecast and actual searches month forecast actual apr-20 3,414 4,826 may-20 2,724 2,721 jun-20 6,901 5,444 jul-20 5,176 3,293 aug-20 4,096 1,928 sep-20 10,627 8,035 oct-20 7,942 7,645 nov-20 4,947 5,227 dec-20 1,978 2,818 figure 3. long-term forecast vs. actual searches one interesting observation is that there was a decrease in library website traffic during the covid-19 outbreak. we speculate that this observation was related to the course management 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 apr-20 may-20 jun-20 jul-20 aug-20 sep-20 oct-20 nov-20 dec-20 longterm forecast vs actual searches forecast actual searches sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 28 system directly connecting students to the databases and not going through the main library splashpage. acknowledging this phenomenon is important when analyzing usage of the library, because a decrease in library website traffic may not necessarily equate to a decrease of library usage due to the various ways users can access library electronic collections. conclusion time series analysis can be a valuable method to understand and articulate the patterns and trends of library usage. what can we do with this forecast? one important lesson is that the forecast can help with decision-making regarding the allocation of resources for online research and staff support of those activities. comparing the forecast with the actual results gives us an idea of the expected impact on databases if there is another significant event like the covid-19 pandemic. having this data will help us be better prepared for spikes or decreases in usage. an interesting study would be to see if an increase in database usage correlates with an increase in interlibrary loan requests. also, a study on how well library continuity plans addressed the research needs of users during a catastrophic event would show best practices and challenges when creating and revising business continuity plans for higher education and libraries. references ahmadi, m., dileepan, p., murgai, s, & roth, w. (2008). an exponential smoothing model for predicting traffic in the library and at the reference desk. the bottom line, 21(2) 37-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880450810898283 aziz, a., aamer, s., khan, a. m., sabqat, m., sohail, m., & majeed, f. (2020). a bumpy road to online teaching: impact of covid-19 on medical education. annals of king edward medical university, 26, 181-186. https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3635 cleland, j., tan, e. c. p., tham, k. y., & low-beer, n. (2020). how covid-19 opened up questions of sociomateriality in healthcare education. advances in health sciences education, 25(2), 479-482. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10459-020-09968-9 coombs, k. a. (2005). lessons learned from analyzing library database usage data. library hi tech, 23(4), 598-609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378830510636373 emans, s. j., ford, c. a., irwin, c. e. j., richardson, l. p., sherer, s., sieving, r. e., & simpson, t. (2020). early covid-19 impact on adolescent health and medicine programs in the united states: leah program leadership reflections. journal of adolescent health, 67(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.04.010 featherstone, r. m., boldt, r. g., torabi, n., & konrad, s. l. (2012). provision of pandemic disease information by health sciences librarians: a multisite comparative case series. journal of the medical library association, 100(2), 104-112. https://dx.doi.org/10.3163%2f1536-5050.100.2.008 gaus, j. m. (1947). reflections on public administration. university of alabama press. gul, s., ahmad shah, t., & ahmad, s. (2014). digital user behaviour of academicians in a conflict zone, kashmir: comparing log analysis of electronic resources in the times of conflict and peace. program: electronic library and information, 48(2), 127-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog-06-2013-0026 https://doi.org/10.1108/08880450810898283 https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3635 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10459-020-09968-9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378830510636373 https://doi-org.cyber.usask.ca/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.04.010 https://dx.doi.org/10.3163%2f1536-5050.100.2.008 https://doi.org/10.1108/prog-06-2013-0026 sharpe and evans / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 29 jeong, s. h., & kim, s. (2010) core resources on time series analysis for academic libraries: a selected, annotated bibliography. proceedings of the charleston library conference, 229238. http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284314839 khalil, r., mansour, a. e., fadda, w. a., almisnid, k., aldamegh, m., al-nafeesah, a., alkhalifah, a., & al-wutayd, o. (2020). the sudden transition to synchronized online learning during the covid-19 pandemic in saudi arabia: a qualitative study exploring medical students' perspectives. bmc medical education, 20(1), 285. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02208-z lwoga, e. t., & sukums, f. (2018). health sciences faculty usage behaviour of electronic resources and their information literacy practices. global knowledge, memory and communication, 67(1/2), 2-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/gkmc-06-2017-0054 mcgrath, w. e. (1996). periodicity in academic library circulation: a spectral analysis. journal of the american society for information science, 47(2), 136-145. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(199602)47:2<136::aid-asi5>3.0.co;2-%23 murgai, s. r., & ahmadi, m. (2007). a multiple regression model for predicting reference desk staffing requirements. the bottom line, 20(2), 69-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880450710773002 singh, j. a., bandewar, s. v. s., & bukusi, e. a. (2020). the impact of the covid-19 pandemic response on other health research. bulletin of the world health organization, 98(9), 625631. http://doi.org/10.2471/blt.20.257485 spurlock jr., d. r. (2020). scholarship during a pandemic: secondary data analysis. journal of nursing education, 59(5), 245-247. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20200422-02 tenopir, c., & read, e. j. (2000). database use patterns in public libraries. reference & user services quarterly, 40(1), 39-52. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20863899 about the authors chris sharpe is the director of access services at the kennesaw state university library system. dr. david evans is the dean of the kennesaw state university library system. http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284314839 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02208-z https://doi.org/10.1108/gkmc-06-2017-0054 https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(199602)47:2%3c136::aid-asi5%3e3.0.co;2-%23 https://doi.org/10.1108/08880450710773002 http://doi.org/10.2471/blt.20.257485 https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20200422-02 https://www.jstor.org/stable/20863899 217-title page 217-sharpe-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org liaison year one redux: a snapshot of the academic business librarian professional development landscape edward junhao lim abstract: in this article, edward lim discusses the challenges and strategies he faced in his first year as the business liaison to the university of connecticut’s school of business. he captures the many communities formed by business librarians around a geographic region or topic, such as entrepreneurship. he notes publishing opportunities for business librarians. lastly, edward offers advice on professional development for those new and seasoned in business librarianship – mostly north american professional opportunities – from his perspective, having worked previously in singapore, and shanghai, china. to cite this article: lim, e. j. (2022). liaison year one redux: a snapshot of the academic business librarian professional development landscape. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 138-146. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.243 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.243 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 138-146 issn: 2474-3542 liaison year one redux: a snapshot of the academic business librarian professional development landscape edward junhao lim university of connecticut, ct, usa abstract in this article, edward lim discusses the challenges and strategies he faced in his first year as the business liaison to the university of connecticut’s school of business. he captures the many communities formed by business librarians around a geographic region or topic, such as entrepreneurship. he notes publishing opportunities for business librarians. lastly, edward offers advice on professional development for those new and seasoned in business librarianship – mostly north american professional opportunities – from his perspective, having worked previously in singapore, and shanghai, china. keywords: professional development, community of practice, publishing, library associations in march 2020, the author started his new role as the business and entrepreneurship librarian at the university of connecticut. except for the month-long training spent in new york city with new york university libraries, his entire professional life was spent in singapore and shanghai, china. the author began as a business librarian at nanyang technological university, singapore. he has served in a business liaison position for business schools in the past decade. currently supporting a business school at an “r1”, flagship university recognized as a public ivy, his position at the university of connecticut (uconn) offers an expanded perspective on international business librarianship. the author shares his views on this journey and offers advice on professional development for those new and seasoned in business librarianship. first year as the business liaison cramer wrote a series of blog posts under “liaison year one redux.” his perspective originated from both the covid-19 pandemic disruption and the faculty turnover at the business school. he focused on activities that business librarians in their first year would typically prioritize, such as getting to know an academic department (2021b) and what to say in a faculty department meeting (2021a). similarly, the author took on a business librarian in the u.s. for the first time. however, he had been a business librarian in singapore and shanghai for almost a decade. looking back at his time at nanyang technological university, singapore, the author realized how beneficial it was to lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 139 be part of a team of five to six business librarians in a large research-intensive university. the author could focus on just one of the business school departments, such as information technology, operations management, or accountancy. he would often consult someone within our team of business liaisons for reference help and talk about business librarianship. the head of the business library in singapore was a veteran business librarian comfortable with all types of business reference questions. at new york university shanghai, the author was the sole business librarian. however, he could reach out to colleagues on the new york campus, and the 12-hour time difference meant that the author could follow up by the next day. at his current institution, there are no other business librarians. drawing from his experience, the author highlights three themes he feels are valuable for new and seasoned academic business librarians. evaluating what business resources is right for the institution what happens when one starts a job as a solo business librarian at a large university? one inherits a set of business-related subscriptions. at uconn, the author’s priority was to track existing subscriptions of business-related resources funded by the library, business school, and other university departments. cramer (2020) briefly stated how business librarians spend time managing the business collection, assessing what is required, balancing the needs of providing a diverse collection with new teaching and research requirements, and listening to the feedback from faculty. it is a systematic process as we continue to evaluate our subscriptions – like the work of the census bureau. building competencies in business research data access to data resources is the lifeline of business researchers looking to publish. many librarians support business research at our institutions. arguably, there is a continuum when we think about the role of the business librarian in providing research support. the business school could solely be responsible for acquiring business data resources on one end of the continuum. on the other end, the business librarian and the university library are heavily involved. trauner (2017) outlines duke university’s approach to “one-off data purchases” as a part of a broader reflection on what new roles we can play. kalinowski & hines (2020) helped me understand what business research data entails and provided a framework where the author could offer data-related business research support. it allowed him to ask reference interview questions that were appropriate for business research data. business resources are constantly evolving, so the author could no longer rely on sheer memory work. he set time aside to explore and track the hundreds of data sources related to different business topics. in addition, the author wanted to document how these data sources were relevant to business researchers. he adopted the process shared by kalinowski (2019), using the notion platform because it allows “easy linking between various notes/records,” creating a knowledge base of business research data available to uconn colleagues (https://s.uconn.edu/bresearch-data-kb). https://s.uconn.edu/b-research-data-kb https://s.uconn.edu/b-research-data-kb lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 140 making sense of the licensing behind business resources eventually, one goes down the rabbit hole of reading license agreements to determine access methods, authorized users, and termination clauses. the author was fortunate that his union had successfully negotiated for additional professional development funds as the covid-19 pandemic unraveled. the generous funds for professional development allowed him to afford an expensive certificate in licensing digital content ($749 when the author participated, now $849), conducted by lesley ellen harris. she is an authority in copyright law, having worked closely with north american librarians. it is a self-paced program that follows a cohort model, with course mates to discuss and work together on assignments. completing the certification takes about four months, including office hours with the instructor. upon completion, the author felt less of an imposter (syndrome) whenever he had to examine a license agreement. silver (2019) wrote a concise guide for someone new to licensing, focusing on the terms and conditions found in our license agreements. this guide is valuable for any learner hoping to start immediately without stumping up for the cost of certification. minding our language: an important part of liaison and outreach business jargon is arguably an intimidating aspect of business librarianship, as many non-business librarians would remark to us. cramer, campbell, & scanlon (2017) offers a valuable tip in our instruction when partnering with business faculty: use professional business terminology such as “competitive intelligence databases” when describing certain business databases and “research consultants” when referring to librarians. in addition, we want to be communicating the value of our library databases (often monetary, but not limited to). the rallying cry: if we speak the language of entrepreneurs, we can engage our audience better. when communicating our value as research consultants when speaking to business faculty and student audience, the same can be said. as a result, the author has tweaked his language in his instruction and emails to business students and researchers. finding a community of business librarians ross (2009) discussed three challenges for business librarians aspiring to keep up with business reference, proposing three resources: (a) colleagues and peer groups, (b) professional literature, and (c) professional development. other business librarians have also emphasized the importance of the community with different strategies; zabel (2008) focused on the role of professional associations on mentoring opportunities, hayworth (2008) on resources for early-career business librarians, which include mentoring, serving in associations, and publishing in professional journals. lastly, bordelon (2008) reviewed the various networking avenues beyond library associations for business and economics librarians. being the sole business librarian in an institution can feel isolating. the author wanted to find a community of business librarians in new england or northeastern u.s. from whom he could learn. the author became part of the newly formed business community of interest under the boston library consortium (blc; https://blc.org), connecting with fellow business librarians. blc members are academic and special libraries from massachusetts, connecticut, new https://blc.org/ lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 141 hampshire, rhode island, and maine. they organized the blc business librarianship speaker series, open to library workers across new england. the author cannot overemphasize the value of finding a friendly and safe space within one’s determined business librarian community. he provides a comprehensive list of the communities he is aware of based on geographic reach. regional groupings and activities for business librarians the invisible gorilla in the room is business reference and services section (brass) membership. a personal membership to ala and reference and user services association (rusa) would cost $217 per year (2022 regular rates); membership to brass has no additional fees. one highlight is the monthly brass virtual discussion, facilitated by the business reference services discussion group steering committee. it usually happens on a friday afternoon, and there is a designated notetaker. even if one cannot attend, meeting notes are available post-discussion, posted on ala connect. the brass symposium is an excellent platform to hear from other academic business librarians and present to peers. it is usually organized every semester (twice annually) by another brass committee – the business reference in academic libraries committee. next is the brass publisher’s forum, organized by their business information sources committee. these forums are usually organized thematically and feature speakers from vendors of business resources. look for announcements of their ad hoc events on ala connect or buslib-l (discussed later). another option is a full membership with the special libraries association (sla), which comes at a similar cost of $220 per year (2022 full member rate). one can then opt to be part of the business and finance division at no additional charge. there is no rivalry or competition between these two large bodies of business librarians. however, it is becoming exclusive because of the high membership costs. most new business librarians will not be able to justify or afford to spend almost $450 to be a member of both associations. thankfully, the brass new business librarians group (https://groups.google.com/g/new-business-librarians-group) requires no membership to ala and rusa. it is an interest group for business librarians within their first five years of professional work. the co-chairs of this group have been gracious to allow the author's participation even though he does not exactly fit the criteria. they facilitate a monthly one-to-one random coffee chat, which the author remains grateful for, as it connected him with many business librarians in north america during the pandemic. many business librarians are expected to deal with economic data as part of their job description. beyond the numbers (https://research.stlouisfed.org/conferences/beyond-thenumbers) is a low-cost and no-registration-fee biennial conference. the research division organizes the conference at the federal bank of st. louis, coordinated by their research information services staff. it aims to address the challenges of economic information. an often-mentioned conference that business librarians attend is the charleston conference (https://www.charleston-hub.com/the-charleston-conference). it is held annually, https://groups.google.com/g/new-business-librarians-group https://research.stlouisfed.org/conferences/beyond-the-numbers https://research.stlouisfed.org/conferences/beyond-the-numbers https://www.charleston-hub.com/the-charleston-conference lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 142 usually in november. there is usually an informal gathering of business librarians because of the conference’s focus on collection development. what are the north american communities for business librarians? if one belongs to the top business schools in north america, one might already be a part of the academic business library directors (abld; https://sites.google.com/view/abld). it is an exclusive group of 40+ members, primarily business library directors. every year, members write a review of their library, summarizing new and ongoing library initiatives, organizational change, changes in physical spaces, collection and vendor issues, and other issues affecting their library. this report is shared internally among members; the rest of us will read the summarized report published on ticker. it is like a state of the union address for business librarians because of what it communicates. there are business librarian groups centered around a physical region or geography for the rest of us who do not qualify for abld membership. some include public librarians, and others are exclusive to academic librarians. one of the more active groups is blinc (business librarianship in north carolina; https://nclaonline.org/blinc). they are a subsection of the larger north carolina library association (ncla). blinc is responsible for organizing the entrepreneurship & libraries conference (elc; https://entrelib.org), formerly known as the entrepreneurial conference. the name can be misleading since elc organizes free quarterly workshops on entrepreneurship – again, a topic or area associated with many business librarians. the other major active group is soucabl (southern university and college academic business librarians; https://soucablconference.mozello.com). they organize an annual conference featuring participants from the southern u.s. other regional groups include the business librarians of cal state (blocs), for librarians who support business education and research across the california state university system. there is the annual midwest business librarian summit (mbls; https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/mbls). their planning committee members are librarians from purdue university, indiana university, and michigan state university. next, the capital area business academic librarians (cabal; https://cabalinfo.wordpress.com) started with members in the district of columbia and has expanded to include academic business librarians in maryland and virginia. the alberta business librarians group is a ground-up initiative started by canadian librarians nicole mullings and céline gareau-brennan in 2020. international groupings and activities for business librarians all business librarians will eventually come across buslib-l (http://lists.nau.edu/cgibin/wa?a0=buslib-l) because it is central to business reference. it is an unmoderated discussion list with a constant exchange of information; stumper reference questions, new job opportunities, and other business librarianship-related announcements. it is an imperfect but accepted platform. conversations are mainly from north american-based librarians but often replies from european and asian colleagues when their expertise calls for it. anyone with an email address can subscribe. similarly, abld has sister associations in europe and the asia pacific: the european business school librarians’ group (ebslg; http://www.ebslg.org) and the asia pacific business school librarians’ group (apbslg; https://www.isb.edu/en/apbslg.html) respectively. they have a tradition of organizing a joint conference once every three years (at least in the prehttps://sites.google.com/view/abld https://nclaonline.org/blinc https://entrelib.org),/ https://soucablconference.mozello.com/ https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/mbls https://cabalinfo.wordpress.com/ http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?a0=buslib-l http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?a0=buslib-l http://www.ebslg.org/ https://www.isb.edu/en/apbslg.html lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 143 pandemic times). the resulting acronym is a mouthful: abld-ebslg-apbslg jcm (joint conference & meeting). the author was lucky to be involved in the organization and participation in the last joint conference held in singapore in 2016. one of the ebslg member institutions – zbw leibniz information centre for economics – organizes an international conference on economics and business information (inconcess; https://www.inconecss.eu). similarly, the conference happens once every three years. during the pandemic, they introduced “community events” every three months. they usually have a call for presenters and feature an international line-up with speakers from within europe, north america, and the asia pacific. there is also the latin american council of management schools (cladea; https://cladea.org), as well as the business librarians association (bla; https://blalib.org) – formerly known as the british business schools librarians group (bbslg). for liaisons to a business school that is aacsb accredited, there is a virtual community for “business libraries and research centers” hosted by aacsb (https://www.aacsb.edu/educators/membership/networking-communities). it is a membershiponly discussion forum. the brass reference in academic libraries committee also maintains a dedicated resource guide for business librarians wishing to learn more about the aacsb standards, created by lumarie guth (https://brass.libguides.com/aacsb). on the topic of new initiatives, there is an informal co-op centered around business librarians sharing their instructional materials. it is co-organized by annette buckley, kara van abel, and orolando duffus – all us-based business librarians. the business librarians exchanging instructional materials (blexim; https://sites.google.com/view/blexim-sharing) are not affiliated with any professional organization. anyone can contribute instructional materials or browse the registry at no cost. there is also a community of practice for business librarians involved in evidence synthesis (https://groups.google.com/g/buslibs-srs; email zahra.pp@gmail.com for access), led by zahra premji. it was started in 2020, with several virtual meetups thus far. there is also a small online discussion group called entrepreneurship librarians (https://groups.io/g/entrepreneurshiplibrarians). kae bara kratcha and nicholas albaugh started the group in 2019. awards and financial support for business librarians again, brass plays a disproportionately large role here, with five brass award committees currently looking into individual awards. four are relevant for academic business librarians, catering to different purposes; (i) the research award if you have a project in mind, (ii) the student travel award, and (iii) the academic business librarianship travel award, both to attend ala annual conference. lastly, (iv) the excellence in business librarianship award for those who have distinguished themselves in the field. the grants subcommittee of brass is currently compiling grant opportunities for business librarians. it will be posted on the brass libguides (https://brass.libguides.com). https://www.inconecss.eu/ https://cladea.org/ https://blalib.org/ https://www.aacsb.edu/educators/membership/networking-communities https://brass.libguides.com/aacsb https://sites.google.com/view/blexim-sharing https://groups.google.com/g/buslibs-srs mailto:zahra.pp@gmail.com https://groups.io/g/entrepreneurshiplibrarians https://brass.libguides.com/ lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 144 publishing opportunities for business librarians many of us are required or encouraged to publish, regardless of our professional status as a librarian. this article focuses on the importance of professional sharing, learning from one another, just like when we participate in our communities of practice. the most prominent peer-reviewed journal is the journal of business & finance librarianship (jbfl; https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/wbfl20). jbfl started in 2008 and published special issues almost every year. another popular publication among business librarians is ticker: the academic business librarianship review. it started relatively recently in 2015, published by abld. several less formal publishing avenues exist. bizlibratory (https://bizlibratory.wordpress.com) is a blog that is open to contributions from “any library worker who does anything related to business librarianship to share their thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.” academic brass (https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/publications/academicbrass) is a similar platform published twice a year by the brass business reference in academic libraries committee. steve cramer’s blog, the liaison life (https://liaisonlife.wordpress.com), features guest posts occasionally. all three are not peer-reviewed but enjoy a large readership from business librarians. most importantly, they are free to read. two publications published by information today, inc. are relevant to business librarians as they tend to cover business resources. both are behind the paywall; (1) online searcher (https://www.infotoday.com/onlinesearcher), published six times a year. a digital-only subscription will cost $70 per year. (2) next is the newsletter the information advisor’s guide to internet research (https://www.informationadvisor.com), edited by robert berkman. the annual subscription is comparatively expensive at $240, but the site license allows up to 5 readers, with ten issues published yearly. consider pooling funds with fellow business librarians if one’s organization does not subscribe to either publication. lastly, cramer observed that many business librarians have “published on topics outside of business librarianship” from his participation in external reviews for business librarians going for tenure (2020). there are ample opportunities to contribute to publications and venues not listed above. the brass business reference in academic libraries committee compiled a list of library journal titles and non-library journal titles (https://brass.libguides.com/scholarlypublishing). final words of encouragement harwell (2008) wrote about his own experiences with burnout as a business librarian, and many of the points raised are still relevant today. the author acknowledges that our growth as business librarians is never-ending. it is okay to feel overwhelmed and underprepared, even as one makes time for professional development opportunities. finding a community of like-minded business librarians can offer support in ways that may not be expected. these communities are why the author has found his footing in his new identity as an “immigrant business librarian.” https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/wbfl20). https://bizlibratory.wordpress.com/ https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass/publications/academicbrass https://liaisonlife.wordpress.com/ https://www.infotoday.com/onlinesearcher https://www.informationadvisor.com/ https://brass.libguides.com/scholarlypublishing lim / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 145 references bordelon, b. (2008). networking strategies for business and economics librarians. journal of business & finance librarianship, 13(3), 371–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/08963560802183294 cramer, s. (2020). what i’ve learned from writing external reviews for business librarian tenure candidates. this liaison life. https://liaisonlife.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/writingexternal-reviews/ cramer, s. (2021a, august 10). what to say in a faculty department meeting? (liaison year one redux). this liaison life. https://liaisonlife.wordpress.com/2021/08/10/what-to-say-ina-faculty-department-meeting/ cramer, s. (2021b, october 4). getting to know an academic department (liaison year one redux). this liaison life. https://liaisonlife.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/getting-toknow-a-dept/ cramer, s., campbell, d. k., & scanlon, m. g. 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(2016). adapting to a dynamic higher education environment – how the university of glasgow library is taking up the challenge. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 55-65. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.15 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 55-65 issn:2474-3542 adapting to a dynamic higher education environment – how the university of glasgow library is taking up the challenge susan ashworth university of glasgow library, glasgow, scotland, uk abstract the university of glasgow library is continuously developing space and services to meet the need of students and researchers in an evolving higher education landscape. we are an evidence-based organisation and have used tools such as ethnography, surveys and focus groups to understand how users interact with the physical and virtual library. we have also introduced new roles and created new partnerships across the university, particularly in the context of the united kingdom government’s policy on open access and funder requirements for the management of research data. this paper will focus on how the university of glasgow library is adapting to both the dynamic scholarly communications environment and the demands of our national research exercise and evidence from users and changing student needs. every six years in the uk, there is a national research assessment exercise called the research excellence framework (ref) and measurement of the performance of research outputs is a key part of that exercise. from 1st april 2016, in order to be eligible for the next ref, the accepted final version of journal articles and conference proceedings must have been deposited into an institutional repository within three months of the date of acceptance and made open access. many research funders, such as the wellcome trust, also have policies on open access. the library, in close partnership with the university’s research office, has taken the lead in publicising these policies to ensure that researchers are aware of their responsibilities. it has also developed new functionality in enlighten, our institutional repository service to support compliance. in 2015, the library commissioned an in-depth ethnographic study to help us more readily understand the changing needs of students and how they use library space. an overview of the results of this work and our next steps will demonstrate how we are “enabling progress”. keywords: open access, research excellence framework, united kingdom, research data management, ethnography, students, library space introduction this paper examines two ways in which changes in the higher education environment in the united kingdom are impacting on libraries. the strong move towards open access that was introduced by the uk government in 2012 is influencing the requirements research funders place on universities and individual researchers. they, in turn, are looking to libraries to advise and guide them through ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 56 complex open access policies, publisher copyright and licensing agreement and payment of article processing charges. there have also been significant changes in the funding environment for students in parts of the uk, with the cap for fees raised to £9k per annum for undergraduate degree programmes in 2010. many research-intensive universities have also significantly raised their targets for recruitment of international students. arguably, this has raised expectations amongst students attending uk universities and their expectations of university libraries, from study spaces to virtual services and content (showers, 2013). libraries are looking at ways to understand better student expectations and behaviours in order to ensure space and services are optimally matched to need. open access to research output in the uk in 2012, the united kingdom government created a working group to investigate the best way of expanding access to published research findings, in particular seeking to ensure that the funders of research (in this case the uk taxpayer) were freely able to access the outputs of that research, most of which currently sits behind a subscription paywall. this independent working group, chaired by dame janet finch, had members from the research community, research funders, publishers and higher education libraries. the group published its report in june 2012 (finch, 2012). the report made several observations about the current scholarly communications system, in particular that the working group believed that this system is in transition towards open access. the transition that the working group predicted was a flip from the subscription based model under which most publishers sell journals, to an author pays model whereby individual authors pay an article processing charge in order to publish their work which is then open access at the point of publication. this effectively led the finch working group to recommend the gold model of open access. the united kingdom government endorsed the finch report. it is now government policy and has been adopted by research funders such as the research councils uk (rcuk). rcuk published their policy on open access in may 2013 (rcuk, 2013) and at the same time introduced a new funding mechanism to support this policy in the form of a block grant to eligible institutions to cover the costs of article processing charges (apcs). in 2015/16 the university of glasgow received £547,403 to cover the costs of apcs for papers which acknowledge a rcuk grant. in the uk, around once every six years, there is a national research assessment exercise, the research excellence framework (ref). researchers in uk universities are asked to select their top four publications for submission to this exercise. the assessment of outputs counted for 60% of the overall score in the 2014 research assessment framework. the ref also assesses the research environment and the impact of research. the results then determine how much research funding institutions are granted. the higher education funding councils for the united kingdom carried out a consultation on whether open access should be a key requirement for future ref exercises and on the 1st april 2015, the new ref open access policy came into effect (higher education funding council for england, 2015).this policy applies only to journal articles and conference proceedings with an issn at the moment, however it should be noted that over 80% of the university of glasgow’s submission to ref 2014 was journal articles. therefore, ensuring that our researchers understand and comply with this policy is incredibly important. the main open access eligibility requirement of the ref is that the accepted final version of the journal article or conference proceeding must have been deposited into an institutional or subject repository within three months of the date of acceptance of the paper (this requirement has been relaxed during the first year of the policy so that deposits can take place at any point during the ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 57 publication cycle up until three months after the date of publication). once deposited, journal embargo policies can be applied before the paper is made freely available as long as they do not exceed 12 months for stem subjects or 24 months for humanities and social science subjects. the ref open access policy has three main requirements:  deposit – the paper must have been deposited into an institutional or subject repository within three months of the date of acceptance,  discovery – the paper must have a metadata record that allows it to be discovered by search engines,  access – the paper should be freely available for anyone to search within the text, read and download after any acceptable embargo period has lapsed. the ref open access policy depends on researchers acting at the point of acceptance. many institutions collect information about the publications made by their staff and they do this in a number of ways, including using apis to bring in data from indexing and abstracting services such as web of science and scopus. of course, this data is being collected after the publication of the paper and the requirement to know about publications at the point of acceptance poses some challenges. there are no abstracting databases which index publications at the acceptance stage and therefore institutions have to rely on authors supplying this data themselves. that said, the author is far more likely to have the accepted version of the paper to hand at the acceptance stage than when the paper is finally published (in some subjects this can be years after the acceptance date). other research funders also have open access requirements and a group of biomedical charities in the uk have formed the charity open access fund (coaf), led by the wellcome trust (wellcome, n.d.). coaf also makes a block grant to eligible universities to cover the costs of article processing charges for papers which acknowledge their grants and the university of glasgow received £160,000 in 2015/16. the wellcome trust has been a strong supporter of open access for many years and sees it as a fundamental part of its charitable mission to ensure the widest possible audience for the work that it funds. the wellcome trust is unusual in extending their open access policy to cover scholarly monographs and book chapters, and the trust also has potential sanctions for researchers who do not comply with their policy, which might include withholding grant funding and discounting non-compliant papers from new grant applications. some funders in the united kingdom have also introduced policies on the management and retention of the research data created from research projects which they have funded. these policies support free access to and re-use of these datasets and many institutions are setting up support for research data management, both in the form of infrastructure and staffing. the open access policies of government and funders in the uk have an underlying aim to create change in the way that scholarly communications are conducted, in particular to move publishers from subscription based models to gold open access models and to create a market amongst journals which will drive down costs. funders in the uk are currently satisfied when their funds are used to pay for open access in hybrid open access journals (subscription journals where some of the articles are open access) as well as pure open access journals. in practice, this means that the scholarly communications model is not being particularly disrupted. however, there are problems associated with hybrid open access, for example that apcs are often more expensive than for pure open access journals. the wellcome trust has recently published a blog post which analyses spend from the coaf open access budget in 2014-15 (kiley & marden, 2016). this blog looks at services publishers are providing to support open access and concludes that non-compliance with their open access policy is far more prevalent in hybrid journals. one way in which funders are addressing ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 58 these issues in other countries (for example the eu fp7 open access pilot) is not to allow their open access funds to be used for hybrid journals. open access to publications and to research data, in the united kingdom, is a significant requirement of researchers working in publicly funded higher education institutions. noncompliance with these policies may affect the future of an individual researcher their ability to obtain grant funding or their potential submission to the research excellence framework. furthermore, it may affect the institution particularly if significant numbers of papers have to be discounted from future submissions to the ref. the open access policies of these research funders all differ in their detail and requirements, publishers’ policies on open access are all different, embargo periods vary from journal to journal, mechanisms for the payment of article processing charges vary from publisher to publisher. the open access landscape in the uk is difficult for researchers to navigate and libraries have been considering how they can best support their researchers in this new open access environment. supporting researchers with open access and research data management at the university of glasgow library, we decided in early 2013 that our open access service should be focussed on taking the strain away from researchers. we have a very simple message for our academics – as soon as you have a paper accepted for publication email the library and we’ll do the rest. we discuss this as two sets of responsibilities: the first responsibility sits with the researcher to let the library know as soon as they have a paper accepted; the second set of responsibilities sits with the library once notified of an accepted paper the library will advise on the appropriate open access pathway for that paper. this includes checking whether there is a funder requirement for open access; checking the publisher’s open access and copyright policies; paying an article processing charge, if appropriate; depositing the manuscript and releasing after any embargo period; reporting within the university and to research funders on compliance with open access policies; and lastly, ensuring that any underlying dataset is acknowledged in the paper, recorded in the university’s data registry, stored and curated appropriately. the library has been delivering this service for three years and we have come across many challenges, not least because the library is stepping into the middle of the publisher-author relationship and publisher systems were not set up to enable this intermediate role (ashworth, mccutcheon, & roy, 2014). systems and workflows are improving, both within institutions and with publishers, however support for open access is staff intensive and is creating significant new areas of work for university libraries in the uk. at the university of glasgow, we are considering how to scale up our service to meet the significantly growing demand. an indication of this demand is the huge increase in open access content in our institutional repository which, in some subject areas, sits at 80% or more. open access is also enabling the library to create new relationships with our researchers, who see us as a critical partner in their scholarly communications workflow. researchers at the university of glasgow have a very high regard for the library’s open access and research data management services as they remove a significant part of the administrative burden of open access compliance. open access and research data management services are also attracting new kinds of staff to work in libraries. at glasgow, staff with research and research administration backgrounds are bringing new perspectives and ideas into the library environment. ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 59 developing our institutional repository service (enlighten) the university of glasgow has a mature institutional repository service which we have branded enlighten. the enlighten brand covers a set of repositories. we currently have three repositories: enlighten publications, enlighten theses and enlighten research data which are all crosssearchable and are interlinked. (see figure 1). there are teams which support these repositories and the brand is recognised across the university. figure 1. enlighten the repositories are also linked to other systems in the university including the human resources system, the research system and the content management system. this enables the two-way flow of data so that data from these systems can populate enlighten and data from enlighten is re-used for university purposes. this has allowed the disambiguation of author names in the repository as the university’s unique identifier (guid) is used to identify each staff member in the repository and, where relevant, details of research projects are pulled into enlighten from the research system. an example of the flow of data from enlighten is the university staff pages which include ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 60 lists of publications and research datasets dynamically pulled from enlighten (university of glasgow, n.d.). see figure 2. figure 2. staff profile page the developing open access environment in the uk is also driving changes to our repositories. we now have to ensure that the acceptance date of publications is recorded against each journal article or conference proceeding, and we have developed fields to record details about the open access status of papers in our repository (mccutcheon & eadie, 2016). figure 3 shows the enlighten open access fields. these include whether the paper is open access via a green or gold route; the costs of any apc paid and/or whether research datasets are acknowledged in the paper. ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 61 figure 3. enlighten open access fields we can also export reports directly from enlighten which we use to discuss progress towards open access with our colleges and schools, and which we can provide to research funders who want to know how well our researchers are complying with their open access policies. see figure 4. figure 4. enlighten reports ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 62 academic libraries are continuously evolving and developing to ensure they provide services and support which are relevant to their users. the new services we are developing to support open access and research data management are one example of how academic libraries are stepping up and into new areas of activity. another example is how libraries are seeking to understand their users better and using that data to inform the development of services which are more customerfocussed. this takes the library beyond its own perceptions of customer-service and challenges these perceptions. evidence-based approach and ethnography at the university of glasgow library, we are regularly engaged with our users. as such, we take an evidence-based approach to service development and we have created an evidence-base group to establish an appropriate framework that can be used to make informed decisions that lead to resources and services that are successful for the library and our user community. the adoption of an evidence-based strategic approach with clear aims and objectives provides a framework within which all service decision-making and evaluation, regardless of scale or cost, is undertaken. the library collects evidence from many different sources, including user surveys, which give us a rich picture of the customer experience. we collaborated with innovative library management systems, sero consulting and six other uk academic institutions in 2015 on a major survey of the online library to which glasgow had over 2000 responses including many free text comments (carter, 2015). we have also received feedback from surveys such as the national student survey and the international student barometer conducted in the uk and we have used the libqual survey tool (association of research libraries, n.d.). we collect usage data for our content as well as data from university systems such as the library’s controlled entry system. however, we wanted to have an even deeper understanding of the user experience. to this end, we worked with a company in late 2015, alterline (http://alterline.co.uk/), who carried out in-depth customer experience analysis using tools such as ethnography and observation. ethnographic approaches rely less on what users tell you about their experience and instead use observation techniques, including videoing user journeys, to understand the actual user experience. taking this into consideration, we are currently redeveloping space in the main library, and the university of glasgow is building a new learning and teaching hub so the timing of this user experience work was ideal for informing both of these projects. alterline used a mix of approaches to understand the user experience. these included ethnographic observation which took place in the library on three separate occasions, including later at night during the latter part of 2015 (the library is open between 7am and 2am, 361 days a year). alterline also conducted semi-structured interviews with a number of students to find out their reason for being in the library that day and their experiences of the library generally. we found that students were very responsive to this approach and very willing to allow themselves to be videoed and to provide constructive feedback about the library. this may have been helped by the youthful alterline staff so that participation felt more like peer to peer discussion. the ethnographic work was designed to capture touchpoints on the user journey, and particularly pinch-points which may hinder or prevent users from reaching their goal. the company produced videos which clearly demonstrate where user journeys break down and which will help us to identify areas for improvement. the work carried out in the main library focussed on students and their use of the library. we also asked alterline to work with researchers so that we could have a better understanding of how http://alterline.co.uk/ ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 63 researchers use library buildings, content and services. this work was done largely through focus groups and structured interviews. key messages from our users  students want different kinds of study space depending on personal preference and the type of work they are doing.  group study is a critical activity.  students do not find navigation of the building, cataloguing system, technology (such as self-issue, printing) problematic.  students might be based in the library all day and they want to be able to meet up with their friends, socialise, get food, and leave their belongings.  the library environment facilitates studying, students are comfortable in the library and they treat the library like home.  students prefer a modern environment and avoid some of the older spaces.  the university of glasgow library is a twelve storey building with services concentrated on the entrance level to the building – students want more help where they are located.  researchers do not use the physical library (perceiving it to be for undergraduate students).  researchers do not always find the library’s discovery tools effective and often resort to using external search engines.  researchers are increasingly using social media to stay up-to-date. figure 5 is a photograph of students socialising in the library. figure 5. photograph of students socialising in the library ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 64 using these messages to inform the redesign of spaces and services the results of the ethnographic work are being used to inform the redevelopment of spaces and the redesign of services. although there is a dedicated postgraduate space in the library clearly there is a demand for more specific space for researchers and we are considering how to provide and promote such space. instead of deskbased enquiry and lending services, staff will be roving throughout the building, queue-busting and supporting users with self-service. furthermore, we are evaluating our discovery services and considering taking the library further into search engines such as google and google scholar. we also have the opportunity to explore the use of location beacons in the newly refurbished areas of the library to look at how students engage with the space. this will enables us to work in partnership with colleagues in academic departments who are interested in using the “library as a lab” for their research work in this area and to help inform wider university work on smart buildings. conclusion it is an exciting and challenging time for uk academic libraries as they work to ensure that they can effectively support the new funder open access policies and to ensure that space and services meet the changing needs of our staff and students. the university of glasgow library has responded to these challenges with a strong evidence based approach which has underpinned our work in these areas and is informing our next steps. new staff roles, improved repository functionality and strong partnerships across the university will all enable us to develop and support new, necessary and valuable services for our users. references ashworth, s., mccutcheon, v., & roy, l. (2014). managing open access: the first year of managing rcuk and wellcome trust oa funding at the university of glasgow library. insights, 27(3), 282–286. doi: http://doi.org/10.1629/2048-7754.175 association of research libraries. (n.d.). libqual+. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/home carter, c. (2015, july 20). from a cup of coffee to a real body of feedback. retrieved from https://www.iii.com/community/inn-side-view/cup-coffee-real-body-feedback finch, j. (2012). accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications. retrieved from http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/finch-group-report-finalversion.pdf higher education funding council for england. (2015). policy for open access in the post 2014 research excellence framework: updated july 2015. retrieved from http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201407/ kiley, r., & marden, c. (2016, march 23). wellcome trust and coaf open access spend, 2014-15. [web log post]. retrieved from http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2016/03/23/wellcome-trust-and-coaf-open-access-spend-2014-15/ mccutcheon, v., & eadie, m. (2016). managing open access with eprints software: a case study. insights, 29(1), 45– 52. doi: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.277 rcuk. (2013). rcuk policy on open access and supporting guidance. retrieved from http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/rcukopenaccesspolicy-pdf/ showers, b. (2013). the student experience and the future of libraries. jisc inform, 36, 10. retrieved from https://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/the-student-experience-and-the-future-of-libraries-20-mar-2013 university of glasgow. (n.d.). school of physics and astronomy: professor miles pagett. retrieved from http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/staff/milespadgett/ http://doi.org/10.1629/2048-7754.175 https://www.libqual.org/home https://www.iii.com/community/inn-side-view/cup-coffee-real-body-feedback http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/finch-group-report-final-version.pdf http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/finch-group-report-final-version.pdf http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201407/ http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2016/03/23/wellcome-trust-and-coaf-open-access-spend-2014-15/ http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.277 http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/rcukopenaccesspolicy-pdf/ https://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/the-student-experience-and-the-future-of-libraries-20-mar-2013 http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/staff/milespadgett/ ashworth / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 55-65 65 wellcome. (n.d.). charity open access fund. retrieved from http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/about-us/policy/spotlightissues/open-access/charity-open-access-fund/ about the author susan ashworth is the university librarian at university of glasgow library. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/about-us/policy/spotlight-issues/open-access/charity-open-access-fund/ http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/about-us/policy/spotlight-issues/open-access/charity-open-access-fund/ ijol-issue1-2016-5_uk_title ijol-issue1-2016-5-uk issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org ensuring emotional and psychological wellbeing in children through bibliotherapy during the covid-19 pandemic: an experimental approach sophia adeyeye and opeyemi oboh abstract: sudden lifestyle changes and disruption necessitated by the covid-19 precautionary measures resulted in children becoming frightened, bored, isolated and anxious which automatically posed a threat to their emotional and psychological wellbeing. these set of children could be helped through therapeutic reading of books. reading stories provides children with opportunities to gain insight and learn healthier ways to face the uncertainty caused by their inability to do things that they normally do like going to school, visit friends, go to parties, visit parks, visit the library and so on. the study used a prestest posttest quasiexperimental methodology which lasted for a duration of 10 weeks, the study population were twenty-five (25) within the age bracket of 7-16 years old. the study concluded that bibliotherapy is an effective tool in helping children to learn more about the coronavirus, help them to calm down, change their perspective and become more confident about the situation while looking forward to eventual reopening of the country. to cite this article: adeyeye, s., & oboh, o. (2022). ensuring emotional and psychological wellbeing in children through bibliotherapy during the covid-19 pandemic: an experimental approach. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 56-65. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol7.1.228 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol7.1.228 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 56-65. issn: 2474-3542 ensuring emotional and psychological wellbeing in children through bibliotherapy during the covid-19 pandemic: an experimental approach sophia adeyeye and opeyemi oboh lead city university, ibadan, nigeria abstract sudden lifestyle changes and disruption necessitated by the covid-19 precautionary measures resulted in children becoming frightened, bored, isolated and anxious which automatically posed a threat to their emotional and psychological wellbeing. these set of children could be helped through therapeutic reading of books. reading stories provides children with opportunities to gain insight and learn healthier ways to face the uncertainty caused by their inability to do things that they normally do like going to school, visit friends, go to parties, visit parks, visit the library and so on. the study used a prestest posttest quasiexperimental methodology which lasted for a duration of 10 weeks, the study population were twenty-five (25) within the age bracket of 7-16 years old. the study concluded that bibliotherapy is an effective tool in helping children to learn more about the coronavirus, help them to calm down, change their perspective and become more confident about the situation while looking forward to eventual reopening of the country. keywords: bibliotherapy, experimental study, covid-19 pandemic, psychological wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, young ones introduction covid-19 crept into the country causing anxiety, fear, confusion which led to eventual lockdown of the country. the normal pattern/routine of the children were forcefully changed without prior notice nor were they given proper orientation/information about the novel virus and how to stay safe mentally, emotionally and psychologically. the lockdown has its attending problems such as increase in anxiety, exposure to domestic and sexual violence, increased stress, access denial to other significant people in children’s life and so on; which could affect the children immediately or at the long run (oecd, 2020). most children when not helped to understand the pandemic might go back to school as a damaged individual, this could have negative impact on the family, school and society at large (united nations, 2020) this sudden change could pose issues for the children in terms of coping with the times and season. the children rely on information on the television, social media and parents regarding the virus. in a situation where the parents do not even have adequate information about the virus and where there are lots of misinformation on the internet, adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 57 the children were likely to be at the receiving end of this situation. some of the information out there could cause panic, heightened fear and anxiety because of myths and beliefs. children might experience emotional and psychological traumas which could result to behavioural anomaly if no proper intervention measures are put in place. it is expedient to help the children during the pandemic so that they will be able to understand what it entails to survival and handle the situation properly. systematic reading of books for therapeutic reasons could increase the coping capacity and informed decisions could be made. reading stories to/with the children could provide safe haven, made them understand that they are not alone, have insight into what is happening around them, get information that could help to overcome the situation and positively look ahead to re-opening of the country. there are several ways to help the young ones’ cope with situations imposed by the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. those interventions could be music therapy, art therapy, dance therapy, play therapy, bibliotherapy and so on (tukhareli,2011). a good intervention that could be used at this time of lockdown in helping the children to cope with it and attending problem is bibliotherapy. it provides children with opportunity to face the uncertainties caused by sudden lockdown of schools, inability to meet up with friends and families. bibliotherapy help children to identify the problem, discuss their feelings and explore ways to cope with the problem. books from time immemorial has been instrument of change, development and very effective in making decisions that could help with coping with situation. statement of the problem on march 11, 2020 the world health organisation declared the coronavirus a pandemic, hence the federal government of nigeria had to close down the country and the children were forced to stay at home which has its attending problems ranging from confusion, fear, fake news, misinformation and so on. if those issues are left unattended, it could lead to social, emotional and psychological problem to the children. children might experience severe emotional, psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, loneliness and in some cases bereavement due to death of member of family caused by the occasion of the covid-19 virus and at times sexual dysfunction. misinformation around the novel virus may negatively affect the perception of the children and have impact on how the children conceptualised the virus. there is need to educate the children through pictorial charts, let the children know they are not alone and gain insight into the problem and how to cope. reading of storybooks can become a safe place where they will be free to expression their feelings, ask questions, release emotions and gain insight. systematic reading of deliberately chosen book will help the children to experience that they are not alone, release emotion and gain better perspective to overcome fear, loneliness, isolation, despair and prepare them for re-opening. objectives based on the anticipated changes that could occur when books are read systematically for therapeutic reasons, the following objectives were identified.  to increase the level of knowledge on covid-19 pandemic of children through therapeutic reading, adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 58  to assuage the fear of children about covid-19 pandemic through therapeutic reading.  to enhance the coping skills of children during covid-19 pandemic while waiting for the curve to flattened literature review covid-19 pandemic and its attendance effect on children covid-19 has impacted the lives of people around the world including children in an unprecedented manner. though a relatively fewer children have been sick with covid-19 in comparison to adults, the pandemic has however still had a major impact on their lives and wellbeing. it may seem that children are vulnerable but their resilience is also commendable. despite this, the pandemic has its negative prints on their lives, like changes to their daily routines, social distancing, a lost sense of security and safety and making them feel depressed. stressed, or anxious. this is captured by the assertion of unicef (2020) that “while the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) currently reports that the risk of exposure to covid-19 is low for young people, research on natural disasters makes it clear that, compared to adults, children are more vulnerable to the emotional impact of traumatic events that disrupt their daily lives.” in a bid to tame this whirlwind, an essential strategy for prevention from covid-19 has been isolation, social distancing and lockdown, especially in the initial heat of it (shen et al. 2020). on these grounds, since january, 2020, various countries though nigeria commenced in march 2020 started implementing regional and national lockdowns. this consequently led to the closure of schools. these inevitable circumstances led to stress, anxiety and a feeling of helplessness in all especially children (singh, roy, sinha, parveen, sharma and joshi, 2020). in one of the preliminary studies during the on-going pandemic, it was found that the older children (6-18 years old) which aligns with the age group of children used for this study; were more likely to experience inattention and were persistently inquiring regarding covid-19 (viner et al., 2020). it has been indicated that compared to adults, this pandemic may continue to have increased long term adverse consequences on children and adolescents (shen et al., 2020) thus the need for intervention. bibliotherapy as an interventional tool during covid-19 pandemic bibliotherapy is reading to heal and it involves the selection of reading materials which includes fiction and non-fiction books that can be used to guide readers to realise greater self understanding, selfreflection and comfort when faced with problems, loss, disabilities, illness and other challenges. bibliotherapy is a combination of two greek words “biblio” meaning book and “therapeia” meaning healing (strurm, 2003). it involves the reading of books, stories and poems creatively in order to make people feel better in themselves and about themselves. although tukhareli (2011) opined that books cannot protect children from facing the reality but it could help them build the coping skills needed to survive the reality bibliotherapy is of different types, the clinical bibliotherapy, the affective bibliotherapy and developmental bibliotherapy. for the purpose of this study, affective bibliotherapy is being considered. affective bibliotherapy is practiced by librarians, nonmedical staff and teachers to facilitate and to help students cope with issues or situations that could affect their learning and adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 59 behaviour in order to facilitate normal development and self-actualisation. the process of bibliotherapy when followed technically and completely could help children comprehend the sentiments they have, discover arrangements that will work and improve their perception and feelings about themselves which could ultimately increase their personal success (dirks, 2010). however, the most critical advice when using bibliotherapy as an interventional tool is to coordinate proper books with various problems. there should be similarities between what the juvenile has gone through or what led him into the present situation and the character in the book (khalik, 2017 & sridhar and vaughn, 2000). in other words, for the intervention to have a restorative impact the reader should be able to identify with the character in the story, situation or emotions which enables such reader to relate his personal life circumstance and have a feeling of passionate discharge that prompts a feeling of strengthening and understanding bringing about new development and improvement. once the child can relate to the character in the book, the child would experience release of emotions (catharsis). it is after this that the child with the help of the bibliotherapist can gain insight into the problem of the client. consequently, the realisation that there are other people somewhere with similar problems and have been able to overcome it will be realised. the uniqueness of bibliotherapy is that it starts in an indirect manner by focusing on the reading of the storybook, to the knowledge that others are also passing through the particular problem (identification), and later to discovery of self (catharsis), emotional release (insight) and end with how to solve the problem. adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 60 figure 1 conceptual model for covid-19 impact and interventional measures developed to guide this work source: the authors methodology purposive sampling procedure was used to select participants for the focus group discussion (fgd). the participants were children within selected 10 households in the researchers’ immediate negatives • emotion stress • psychological stress covid-19 pandemic insignia • lockdown • lifestyle changes • social alteration • emotional stress • psychological stress positives • improved innovativeness • improved library service model intervention • affective bibliotherapy adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 61 community, in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. thus, the meeting point was at one of the public school compound the researchers’ neighbourhood. this is so because of lockdown during the covid-19 pandemic which restricted movement. the researchers who lecture in a university could not make use of the university library because the university was completely locked down. however, despite the restriction, the researchers were resolute on playing an active part in the fight against covid19, therefore decided to use a space close to the researchers’ residential community. twenty-five children (sixteen girls and nine boys) within the age bracket of 7-16 years old participated in the study. the population size is 25 aged 7-16 years and total enumeration was used. data was collected using fgd. the intervention was done on a ‘one-to-one’ basis because of who recommended that social distancing rule in place to curb the spread of the covid-19 virus. the main purpose of the focus group discussion is to provide the information on covid-19 pandemic and helping the children to gain insight about the virus through discussion using two storybooks titled "bayo’s weekend trip and halima saves her village" by okediran wale (2020). these storybooks were considered fit for the study because it addresses covid-19 and its disruptive tendencies and it also focused on children, thereby using a language that children can easily understand. fgd also helped in soliciting in-depth information on how the children viewed the pandemic, create awareness and prepare them for re-opening of the schools using the story from the book as a baseline for bibliotherapy treatment. the reading programme was designed for 10 weeks of 3 sessions per week. each session ran for 45 minutes and evaluation was conducted at the end of the reading programme through focus group discussion which was content analysed. also, oral quizzes were conducted at the end to ensure that the participants acquired the necessary information about the coronavirus. the bibliotherapy sessions addressed the following issues  facts, myths about covid-19 pandemic transmission and prevention  challenges that could arise with the lockdown  universality, catharsis, gaining insight  coping strategy  positive thinking and treating others right after the lockdown titles of books employed for the study “bayo’s weekend trip and halima saves her village” by okediran wale the book is centred on a middle-class family called ‘the adisas.’ the family was able to put in place all the necessary precautions against the spread of covid-19 infection. however, their 10 years old son named bayo was asked to accompany his aunt to lagos to welcome a relative who just returned from abroad. unknowing to them, the relative was already infected by the virus. the adisas family had to journey through the ordeals of going for tests as well as self-isolation in an effort to fight a disease that had no cure. halima saves her village the author used the story of eighteen-year-old halima in halima saves her village to educate children on the issue of the covid-19 pandemic. halima who was visiting her grandmother got trapped in the village by the covid-19 lockdown. she decided to keep herself busy by educating the villagers on the prevention of the spread of the coronavirus. it was in the process of this very important but difficult task that she stumbled on alhaji kokoma, a rich but arrogant businessman who did not believe that the coronavirus pandemic was real. unfortunately, alhaji kokoma did adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 62 not know that he had already been infected by the virus. it was halima’s timely intervention that saved her village from what could have been a terrible calamity. results the participants’ outcome analysis based on the data collected throughout the evaluation shows that  approximately 92% of the children (23 out of 25) demonstrated increased knowledge about covid-19 and understanding that they are not alone in the struggle. other children elsewhere are equally experiencing the same thing  approximately 80% of the children (20 out of 25) acknowledged that they experience a decrease level of fear about covid-19 and increase in their confidence level in facing the challenges posed by the novel virus  approximately 88% of the children participants (22 out of 25) reported enhanced positive thinking and strengthened coping skills in order to make positive change and looking forward to better days ahead discussion stories are helpful in teaching children issues that are difficult/ complex to explain, teaching them about covid-19 could prove difficult because of its novel nature and explain the reason to stay at home observing compulsory lockdown could be difficult to grasp. telling of stories and use of bibliotherapy could provide the template to create awareness and education needed to understand the virus and draw conclusions about the novel virus (rozalski, stewart and miller2010). this study has proven that children could be helped through the systematic reading of books for therapeutic reasons. it has demonstrated that bibliotherapy could provide a safe place for the children to express their feelings, gain insight and be able to face their fears. according to akinola (2014), using bibliotherapy provides an alternative way in solving children emotional and behavioural disorder. many children are going through a lot of issues during the lockdown ranging from understanding the novel virus and the attending health/medical challenges around it, understanding and separating myths and facts about the virus. also, there is need to help the children know that the rate of infections could be reduced when we follow the who protocols regarding the covid-19 pandemic. it is of great importance to let the children know they are not alone, and that they can overcome both emotional and psychological effect the lockdown could have on them. therapeutic reading of storybooks helps children to get over difficult situations that could have occurred while staying at home during the lockdown. researches have shown that bibliotherapy can be used to improve the children’s emotional and psychological health. storybooks has positive impact on children’s emotional and psychological well-being, research has shown that therapeutic reading of storybooks and other literary activities have positive effect on children’s lives (svilehto, 2019; mihic, maich, belcher, perrow, barisic,and ramic, 2017) this finding affirms the position of adeyeye and oyewusi (2019) that bibliotherapy help in creating awareness that reading story books can help young adults to learn from the experience of other young people. also, this corroborates the study of tukhareli (2011) that books have consoling adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 63 power that could help people to escape, expand their world which is beneficial to trapped physical and emotional problems. bibliotherapy can help to strengthen individual coping skills. bibliotherapy also help juveniles in correctional homes to make informed decisions to guide them in behaving in healthy way that is not harmful and take responsibility for their actions. this corroborates akinola (2014) findings that bibliotherapy help to make a passionate connection to goodness, a craving to make the best choice, give an abundance of good example and help the juveniles to know the proper way to conduct them. also, according to montgomery and maunders (2015), bibliotherapy could have a positive effect on children behaviour through careful use of the intervention, unhealthy beliefs and behaviour when identified may give way to new beliefs and behaviours. the findings in this study also support the view of lowe (2009); mckenna, hevey and martins (2010) that bibliotherapy helps in recognition of the fact that having problem and solving it is part of being human which helps in identifying problem and deep understanding of emotions. harper (2017) also affirms that bibliotherapy can be used to help children come to grips with issues that create emotional turmoil for them. it can be very effective in preventing and resolving behaviour problems because it helps to raise awareness of concerns, reassures juveniles that they are not alone and increase the perception that others experience challenges and are able to generate solutions, seek assistance, cope and find resolution. conclusion from the result of the study, it is concluded that bibliotherapy is effective in helping the children to understand the myths and facts about covid-19, provides insights and learn healthier ways of facing uncertainties caused by the novel virus. the project showed that bibliotherapy had positive effect on how the children perceived the virus, built their confidence and had a positive outlook towards reopening of schools, parks, cinemas and so on. references adeyeye s.v. & oyewusi f.o. (2019). effect of bibliotherapy on unruly behaviour of young people in correctional homes in lagos state, nigeria. nigerian school library journal, 18 akinola, a.n. (2014). bibliotherapy as an alternative approach to children’s emotional disorders. creative education 5, 1281-1285. retrieved may 17, 2016 from http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2014.514146 harper, m. (2017). helping students who hurt: care based policies and precautions for the school libraries. school libraries worldwide, 23, 1. mihic, s.s., maich, k., belcher, c., perrow s., barisic a., & ramic n.n. (2017). the role of bibliotherapy and therapeutic storytelling in creating inclusive classroom communities. in: petersen, amy j. (eds.), handbook of research on classroom diversity and inclusive (pp:375-398). igi-global montgomery, p. and maunders, k. 2015. the effectiveness of creative bibliotherapy for internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviours in children: a systematic review. children and youth services review 55, 37-47 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2014.514146 adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 64 okediran w. (2020). bayo’s weekend trip (covid-19 literature series for children). rasmed publications ltd. okediran w. (2020). halima saves her village (covid-19 literature series for children). rasmed publications ltd. rozalski, m., stewart, a.j., & miller, j. (2010). bibliotherapy: helping kids adapt to life’s challenges. record. 47. shen, k., yang, y., wang, t., zhao, d., jiang, y., jin, r., ... & gao, l. (2020). diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of 2019 novel coronavirus infection in children: experts’ consensus statement. world journal of pediatrics, 16(3), 223-231. singh, s., roy, d., sinha, k., parveen, s., sharma, g., & joshi, g. (2020). impact of covid-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: a narrative review with recommendations. psychiatry research, 293, 113429. tukhareli, n. (2011). reaching out to vulnerable youths. canadian journal of library and information practice and research, 6. 1. world health organisation. (2020). coronavirus disease (covid-19) situation dashboard (online) geneva. https://covid19.who.int/ organization for economic and cooperation development. (2020). oecd policy responses to coronavirus (covid-19): combatting covid-19's effect on children. 3-41p. https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=132_132643-m91j2scsyh&title=combattingcovid-19-s-effect-on-children united nations (2020). policy brief: the impact of covid-19 on children, 2-17p. https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/160420_covid_children_policy_brief.pdf sridhar, d. & vaughn, s. (2000). bibliotherapy for all. teaching exceptional children, 33(2), 74082. khalik, a. s. a. (2017). the effectiveness of bibliotherapy as an intervention on improving aggressive behavior of fifth graders children with emotional and behavioral disorders. international journal of psycho-educational sciences, 6(2), 30-35. lowe, d.f. (2009) helping children cope through literature. forum policy online 1, 1-17. mckenna, g., hevey, d. and martin, e. (2010) patients’ and providers’ perspectives on bibliotherapy in primary care. clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 17, 497-509. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors dr. sophia v. adeyeye cln, a certified librarian of nigeria is a lecturer at the department of information management, lead city university, ibadan, nigeria. she had her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the department of library and information studies and ph.d from the department of school library and media technology, university of ibadan. she is at present a standing committee member, ifla section on education and training. her research interest is https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/en/policy-responses https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/en/policy-responses https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=132_132643-m91j2scsyh&title=combatting-covid-19-s-effect-on-children https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=132_132643-m91j2scsyh&title=combatting-covid-19-s-effect-on-children https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/160420_covid_children_policy_brief.pdf adeyeye and oboh / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 65 in bibliotherapy, innovation and creativity in the school library, indigenous knowledge and information literacy. opeyemi r. oboh (mrs) is a budding faculty member at the department of information management, lead city university, ibadan, nigeria. she is at present a doctoral student at the university of ibadan where also she obtained both her first and second degree in library and information science and was awarded best-graduating student and scholarship. her research interest is in human information behaviour, use and user studies, information management and community informatics. 228-title page 228-odeyeye-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the provision and sustainability of gis services: how an academic library without a gis specialist provides gis services wenli gao, and yongming wang abstract: this paper presents a case study of how one academic library provides services and support for the geographic information system (gis) needs of students and faculty. the case study involves an american university library that has provided gis services to meet the needs of students and faculty while lacking the formal position of a dedicated gis librarian. the library’s variety of gis-related support is described in the paper, and an overview of resources for librarians to develop their gis skills is also shared. the paper offers insights and lessons learned about the level of services that can be offered by academic libraries in gis-related research and training for students, faculty, and staff. to cite this article: gao, w., & wang, y. (2020). the provision and sustainability of gis services: how an academic library without a gis specialist provides gis services. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 53-60. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.160 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 53-60. issn: 2474-3542 the provision and sustainability of gis services: how an academic library without a gis specialist provides gis services wenli gao, university of houston, texas, usa yongming wang, the college of new jersey, new jersey, usa abstract this paper presents a case study of how one academic library provides services and support for the geographic information system (gis) needs of students and faculty. the case study involves an american university library that has provided gis services to meet the needs of students and faculty while lacking the formal position of a dedicated gis librarian. the library’s variety of gis-related support is described in the paper, and an overview of resources for librarians to develop their gis skills is also shared. the paper offers insights and lessons learned about the level of services that can be offered by academic libraries in gis-related research and training for students, faculty, and staff. keywords: gis, gis service, research libraries, academic libraries introduction when the concept of geographic information system (gis) came to light in the early 1990s, it was marked by two significant events: the 1990 u.s. census bureau release of tiger/line files to federal depository library program (fdlp) libraries, and the 1991 release by esri, an international supplier and builder of gis software, of arcview. with the availability of these data resources and products, academic libraries in north america were able to provide gis service and support to college and university students and faculty in relevant disciplines (march & scarletto, 2017). these services are mostly concentrated in large and research-oriented institutions. due to a variety of factors such as the hiring of professional librarians trained in gis, and library spending devoted to gis and data-related resources, different service models grew from informal and casual support to having dedicated gis centers or trained gis librarians in the library to support research and training for students, faculty, and staff. services also included helping subject librarians who needed training with gis resources to support their departments. in this paper, we will talk about how the gis services at uh are supported and provided without a dedicated gis librarian. the university of houston (uh) is an urban, public, tier one research institution. in 2015, the libraries hired its first social sciences data librarian to start data services in disciplines such as political science, education, communications, history, and other related fields. before joining uh, the social sciences data librarian had over 10 years of experience as a gis librarian. as a result, a lot of the research support focused on gis, embarking the uh libraries efforts to offer gis support to the campus. at the same time, as demands for gis support emerged, it inspired gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 54 interested liaisons to seek professional development opportunities to enhance gis skills. upon the departure of the first social sciences data librarian in early 2017, the libraries hired another data librarian, with an expectation to provide a wide range of data services, such as locating data, data wrangling, and data visualization. it was also expected to maintain the basic existing support for gis, while not actively promoting the service because of the limited number of personnel available to support it. literature review the most notable event in the 1990s that involved academic library gis support was the association of research libraries (arl) gis literacy project (davie, fox & preece, 1999). this project was a collaboration between arl and esri to train academic librarians in the areas of gis knowledge and applications. thanks to this project, “during the 1990s, gis began to be supported by library staff from a variety of departments such as maps, government documents, data services, reference, and systems” (march & scarletto, 2017). however, in the 1990s there were very few gis librarians available. most gis support was provided by librarians who were not systematically trained in gis, but had a varying degree of gis training either through the arl gis literacy project or other training opportunities. according to cheverie (1995), training on gis can be difficult. the learning curve is steep, and gis software is not easy to master. suh and lee (1999) suggested that, “a specialist librarian should be designated for gis and he/she should receive continuous training to update skills.” from the start of the 2000s, many academic libraries that had mainly provided informal gis services realized that there was sufficient demand for a gis librarian or gis center in the library and therefore set about to devise plans to determine how to fund, staff, and locate these services. for example, in 2000 stanford university’ earth science library staffed these positions, a gis manager, map and gis librarian, and a gis specialist (sweetkind-singer & williams, 2001). syracuse university libraries created the gis lab with one gis/map librarian and several graduate student assistants. the service provided by the library’s gis lab included esri software installation and troubleshooting, workshops, consultation, and other gis-related reference questions and answers (olson, 2004). in 2002, kansas university library started the library gis and data lab to provide gis services and geospatial data collection to the campus and general public. within five years of the lab opening, the library hired a gis specialist, map librarian, data and government information librarian, and a statistical consultant. the lab was open about sixty hours per week (houser, 2006). in 2001, harvard university library’s geospatial library opened, and its center for geospatial analysis started in 2006 (guan, 2011). from 2010 to 2019, many more large university libraries and research libraries have set up dedicated gis labs or services staffed with specialized gis librarians or other functional data specialists. the service models have also developed to include all-round services with collaboration with different units of the university including the it departments (scaramozzino et al, 2014). not only have general gis support and services become popular among these large libraries, but their gis service has become more integrated with certain disciplines also. the purdue university library’s gis service has co-developed a program with the school’s humanities and social science department to better serve the university mission (kong et al, 2017). gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 55 in an editorial in the journal of map and geography libraries published online in september 2019 (volume 14 issue 2-3), the authors talk about the three paradigm shifts in the gis field for the past 25 years. the first paradigm started in early 1990 with the introduction of availability of digital census data and the arl gis literacy project ushering in the ability for academic libraries to begin introducing gis services; the second paradigm shift coincided with the massive digitization of library print cartographic collection starting in early 2000s. now we are in the middle of third paradigm shift (bidney & piekielek, 2018). this shift, the authors argue: “...marked a transition from looking at print cartographic collections as objects to digitize and make available to the world, to looking at collections (regardless of format or ownership) as critical information resources that contribute to the multiand inter-disciplinary research environment— sometimes even as the key to pulling together understanding from different disciplines in the sense of geographic space as an integrator of disciplinary knowledge” (2018). case study gis support provided license support uh has a campus wide license through esri, a leading company in the gis industry. the data librarian administers the esri product arcgis desktop licenses to students. upon request, the librarian will distribute one-year student license keys, as well as providing instruction and troubleshooting for installation. sine gis services are not widely promoted, most of the reference questions relating to gis comes from students who requested license, or students in classes or workshops. workshops beginning in fall 2018, uh libraries started to offer a series of one-hour workshops for faculty, staff, and students to hone their skills on a variety of research tools. in this first run of research workshops, two gis related workshops were taught by the data librarian, introduction to arcmap and online mapping with arcgis online. both workshops required no prior knowledge of gis, but required a registration using uh email credentials. the introduction to arcmap workshop provided an overview of how arcgis software can help researchers analyze or visualize digital data that has a locational component. the learning outcome was for participants to become familiar with the arcgis interface, and be able to create a simple map using the arcmap software. in this hands-on session, participants created a simple map, edited the layout, and exported the map into different formats. in the online mapping with arcgis online workshop, participants learned basic terminologies for gis and identified opportunities to apply gis in their work. participants also learned how to use arcgis online to create a map with lines, points, and polygons. since the preparation of these workshops happened shortly after hurricane harvey, the librarian used real data to create a houston hurricane evacuation map and see where the city of houston’s nonemergency service calls were received to report flooding during hurricane harvey. participants also learned to add demographic data to the map and identify areas that needed more assistance during the evacuation. the tie-in with a major event in the city attracted a lot of interest in the campus community at that time. for both workshops, the data librarian introduced learning gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 56 resources to explore more gis applications. in spring 2019, besides the previous offerings, two additional gis workshops were added, geocoding and mapping location data and mapping census data. participants were strongly encouraged to take introduction to arcmap prior to these two workshops. in the geocoding and mapping location data workshop, participants learned a few ways to geocode, the process of converting addresses (like a street address) into geographic coordinates (like latitude and longitude), and learned how to retrieve location data from library databases, geocode them, and place them on the map. in the mapping census data workshop, participants learned how to retrieve census data and join the data with census tiger shapefiles, a public domain data source which has many geographic features. using arcmap, participants created choropleth maps, thematic maps in which areas were shaded in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income. both of these workshops also served a way to promote the use of library databases, such as referenceusa for retrieving location data, and social explorer for retrieving census data. intended to align with campus priorities and focus more on other research topics such as data management and data visualization, the research services team at uh libraries decided to move gis-related open workshops to workshops by request in fall, 2019. by filling out an online form, researchers could request specific gis topics for their classes and research groups. this change enabled the librarian to provide more tailored workshops that better fit researchers’ needs. course related instruction besides open workshops, the data librarian also provides course integrated gis training in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. most of the training happens in architecture, health education, and economics where the use of gis applies to a variety of projects. in this case study, examples from both an undergraduate course and a graduate level course are discussed to show the different levels of support. both courses work on projects that partner with local gis offices. hlt 3300 was a social health and wellness undergraduate course at uh. it explored social factors associated with the health and wellness of populations defined by sociodemographic characteristics including, but not limited to race, sex, and social class. in recent years, students worked on a real project that involved the mapping of sidewalk conditions. it was a collaboration with the kinder institute for urban research at rice university, which is a multidisciplinary research center in central houston, focusing on urban issues in houston, the american sun belt and globally. through informed research, data and policy analysis, the kinder institute hopes to “engage civic and political leaders to implement solutions to critical urban issues, including education, governance, housing, mobility and transportation, resilience, and demographics” (kinder institute for urban research, 2020). each semester, students went on field trips to observe the sidewalk conditions on whether it had sidewalks, and the accessibility for pedestrians. students gathered the data manually, on a sheet of paper, uploaded the data into a spreadsheet, and created maps based on real-life conditions. often times, maps for roads existed, but data for conditions of roads was not available. the faculty member was in charge of the logistics of arranging the field trips and gathering the raw data. the kinder institute for urban research provided shapefiles for the streets students worked on, and personnel to help students with questions. the role of the data librarian was to work with the faculty to identify skills needed for students to create the map. after discussing with the faculty, topics covered for the class included: examples of public health gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 57 mapping using arcgis, an introduction of arcmap, joining data to shapefile, changing symbology and exporting the map. the purpose of having examples of the use of gis in public health was to show students the various applications of gis, so that they could make a better sense of how and why they were trained. an introduction of arcmap, including its basic functions, formed the basis for students to create a map later. the most challenging part of the class was to join the data from spreadsheet to the shapefile. students were instructed to join a table of data from an excel file to a layer in arcmap based on the value of a field that could be found in both tables. after successfully joining the data, students used the symbology tool to visualize different features of the sidewalk conditions. no formal assessment was conducted during the classes, but students needed to create a map based on the data they collected in a group. econ 7387 urban economics was a phd level course focusing on markets for housing and sites, and determinants of land use patterns. topics included demand, rent and density gradients, racial discrimination, land use regulation, and transportation access. it uses resources from the houston-galveston area council (h-gac), which is the regional organization through which local governments consider issues and cooperate in solving area wide problems. there were two gis trainings for this course. the first one was to give students basic understanding of gis and create choropleth maps. students learned to add lines, points, and polygons to the map, and used census data to create a shaded map. the second assignment was more challenging. students were given housing address data and flood zone data. they needed to use gis to determine on which flood zone the house was located. to complete this task, they needed to learn spatial join, a type of table join operation in which fields from one layer's attribute table were appended to another layer's attribute table based on the relative locations of the features in the two layers. this is a unique function only performed in gis software rather than more frequently used statistical software. moreover, the data they worked with were very large, taking more than three hours to process. as a result, students also needed to learn how to clip a sample data and process that in class, and later work on the real dataset. both sessions were hands-on, and learning resources, such as libguides and video tutorials were created to help students retain the information. developing gis skills for librarians there are several in-person and online opportunities for librarians to develop their gis skills without having formal education in gis. some are free, while some are fee based. one free option librarians can take advantage of is to audit gis-related courses on campus. many universities have course offering relating to mapping, although not necessarily with gis in the course title. librarians could reach out to the faculty and investigate the possibility to observe these kinds of courses. the data services librarian at uh observed gis for humanities and social sciences, a semester-long 3-credit graduate course. this course provided the foundation for the data librarian to further develop skills in gis. for librarians with no prior gis experience, it is suggested to take courses outside of gis major areas, however those courses might be too in depth for beginners. a course in the social science field that covers applications of gis in a variety of areas is a better fit and might be more suitable for librarians without a science background. another in-person training option is the harvard gis institute offered by the center of geographic analysis from harvard university. this is a two-week training course with one week of lecturing and hands-on training, and one week of applying this knowledge to the trainee’s own project. examples of topics covered in the training are introduction to gis, basic mapping in gis, geocoding and georeferencing, spatial analysis, 3d visualization, and cartography and data management. in this case study, since gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 58 most of the data librarian’s role was to support faculty research projects, instead of having their own projects, the librarian was able to negotiate with the trainer before applying to attend the first half of the institute, and had the tuition significantly reduced. for librarians without sufficient funding for this training, the learning materials for the harvard gis institute are available on their website. librarians can conveniently take advantage of the materials and learn on their own. online training courses are another option for librarians to develop their gis skills. coursera, an online learning platform offering a large variety of open online courses, specializations, and degrees, has free courses on gis. esri also provides a suite of online asynchronized e-learning resources, encompassing a collection of intensive interactive training courses covering everything from the basics of making maps to advanced spatial analysis. these courses include conceptual material and presentations, hands-on software exercises, and exams. for example, learning arcgis desktop, a 31-hour web course offered by esri, provides librarians a good overview and fundamental knowledge to start offering services in gis. teaching with gis: introduction to using gis in the classroom, a 5-hour web course offered by esri, focuses on integrating gis into the curriculum and offers recommendations and ideas on how to work faculty to apply gis in their courses. another way for librarians to develop their skills in gis is to follow gis related listservs. the esri higher education listserv is a moderated list for the esri higher education community. librarians and faculty can post information and questions related to teaching and research at colleges and universities. gis for libraries (gis4lib) is an email list for discussion of providing gis services specifically in libraries, including academic, public, private, and corporate. topics may include discussion of hardware, software, data acquisition, licensing, collection development, and more. the western association of map libraries, an independent association of map librarians and other people with an interest in maps and map librarianship, has a resource page on map librarianship discussion lists (http://www.waml.org/maplists.html). it includes listservs for different regions and librarians can join appropriate listservs based on their interest and geographic location. conclusion and discussion the demand for providing gis services now exists in most academic libraries, especially in the humanities and social science areas. within digital humanities, more and more researchers would like to work with historical maps or be able to visualize their research on maps. in social science subjects, gis helps advancing research, especially in mapping trends based on demographic and economic features. providing basic introductory-level gis services can help bridge this gap, and while it is feasible for librarians to develop skills and provide this level of service, it will be hard to escalate the level of service without more personnel or a dedicated gis librarian. at uh, with these similar limitations on its current resources, the goal is to maintain requests coming from faculty and students, without actively promoting the service. barriers still exist for libraries to provide a robust gis service without a gis specialist. preparing a librarian to provide basic gis services requires a lot of time and motivation for training. usually the librarian has other job responsibilities and has to make an extra effort to devote the time and energy needed for mastering a new skill. becoming adept at using gis software and maintaining proficiency in it, as well as having access to ongoing training, is also important. even with training, the librarian http://www.waml.org/maplists.html gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 59 often lacks solid fundamental knowledge in gis that would otherwise build gradually within a degree program. having a dedicated and full time gis librarian is recommended if the campus has a demonstrated and growing need for gis and if there is a budget for it. references bidney, m., and piekielek, n. (2018). towards a new paradigm in map and spatial information librarianship, journal of map & geography libraries, 14(2), 67-74. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2019.1662673 cheverie, j. f. (1995). getting started: ready, set, … get organized! journal of academic librarianship, 21(4):292–296. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/0099-1333(95)90011-x davie, d. k., j. fox, and b. preece. (1999). arl geographic information literacy project. arl spec kit 238 and spec flyer 238. washington, d.c.: association of research libraries. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed429609. guan, w. w., burns, b., finkelstein, j. l., and blossom, j. c. (2011). enabling geographic research across disciplines: building an institutional infrastructure for geographic analysis at harvard university. journal of map & geography libraries, 7(1), 36–60. doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2011.534688 kinder institute for urban research. (2020). building better cities, building better lives. https://kinder.rice.edu/about (accessed may 4, 2020) kong, n., fosmire, m., & branch, b. (2017). developing library gis services for humanities and social science: an action research approach. college & research libraries, 78(4), 413-427. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.4.413 houser, r. (2006). building a library gis service from the ground up. library trends, 55(2), 315–326. http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/1113 (accessed may 3, 2020). march, g. & scarletto, e. (2017). the evolution of gis services with north american academic libraries: documenting change through the decades (1995 – 2016). journal of map & geography libraries, 13(2), 222-245. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2017.1313803 olson, j. a. (2004). library-based gis labs. journal of map & geography libraries, 1(1), 75–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1300/j230v01n01_05 scaramozzino, j., white, r., essic, j., fullington, l. a., mistry, h., henley, a., and olivares, m. (2014). map room to data and gis services: five university libraries evolving to meet campus needs and changing technologies. journal of map & geography libraries, 10(1), 6–47. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2014.893943 suh, h.-s., and lee, a. (1999). embracing gis services in libraries. the reference librarian, 30(64), 125–137. doi: https://doi.org/10.1300/j120v30n64_10 sweetkind-singer, j., and williams, m. (2001). supporting the information needs of geographic information systems (gis) users in an academic library. science & technology libraries, 21(3– 4), 175–190. doi: https://doi.org/10.1300/j122v21n03_11 about the authors wenli gao is the data services librarian at university of houston, where she provides research support and instruction in methodologies and tools relating to geographic information systems (gis), analysis and visualization of data. wenli received her master of library science from syracuse university, and an ms in communication media technologies from rochester institute of technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2019.1662673 https://doi.org/10.1016/0099-1333(95)90011-x http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed429609 http://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2011.534688 https://kinder.rice.edu/about http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/1113 https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2017.1313803 https://doi.org/10.1300/j120v30n64_10 https://doi.org/10.1300/j122v21n03_11 gao and wang / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 60 yongming wang is the systems librarian at the college of new jersey. he received his mls from rutgers university. his research interests include library service platform, data science and artificial intelligence, linked data, and research data management. 006-160-embedded_provision_literacy_title 006-160-embedded_provision_literacy issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org understanding data literacy requirements for assignments: a business school syllabus study meryl brodsky abstract: syllabus studies have been used to inform librarians’ work in collection development, instruction and information literacy. syllabi also provide an opportunity to understand course requirements for data literacy. in this study, syllabi from eastern michigan university’s college of business were analyzed to determine which courses require data literacy for the completion of assignments or projects. the author tested several hypotheses to identify where data literacy instruction would be most needed: 1. data use in online and hybrid class assignments is greater than for in-person class assignments 2. graduate students have greater data requirements than undergraduate students 3. different business school disciplines have different data needs (i.e., marketing has more, accounting has less) though this was not a scientific study, analyzing syllabi and assignments can reveal both stated and implied data literacy competencies. surfacing these competencies and making them explicit gives the librarian and the teaching faculty the opportunity to co-design relevant teaching and learning activities. since data literacy instruction is a new initiative at the eastern michigan university library, the author also used this study to bring attention to this capacity. to cite this article: brodsky, m. (2017). understanding data literacy requirements for assignments: a business school syllabus study. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.25 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 3-15 issn:2474-3542 understanding data literacy requirements for assignments: a business school syllabus study meryl brodsky eastern michigan university library, ypsilanti, mi, usa abstract syllabus studies have been used to inform librarians’ work in collection development, instruction and information literacy. syllabi also provide an opportunity to understand course requirements for data literacy. in this study, syllabi from eastern michigan university’s college of business were analyzed to determine which courses require data literacy for the completion of assignments or projects. the author tested several hypotheses to identify where data literacy instruction would be most needed: 1. data use in online and hybrid class assignments is greater than for in-person class assignments 2. graduate students have greater data requirements than undergraduate students 3. different business school disciplines have different data needs (i.e., marketing has more, accounting has less) though this was not a scientific study, analyzing syllabi and assignments can reveal both stated and implied data literacy competencies. surfacing these competencies and making them explicit gives the librarian and the teaching faculty the opportunity to co-design relevant teaching and learning activities. since data literacy instruction is a new initiative at the eastern michigan university library, the author also used this study to bring attention to this capacity. keywords: data literacy, information literacy, library instruction, academic librarians, syllabi introduction in a 2016 article from the american association of collegiate schools of business’ (aacsb, the accrediting organization for business schools) online publication, bized, bill hardgrave, dean of auburn university’s harbert college of business wrote “our industry advisory board members and individual business leaders told us that they were looking for a different set of analytical skills from our students—they wanted students who could gather data, analyze data, and make decisions with data.” (hargrave, 2016) a survey of employers and college students by the association of american colleges & universities (aacu) agreed with the advisory board. the aacu study identified learning outcomes that employers most valued in college graduates but that recent brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 4 graduates were not prepared to address. these included solving/analyzing complex problems and working with numbers and statistics. (hart research associates, 2015) students enrolled in eastern michigan university’s business programs are required to take an introductory business statistics course. like most traditional statistics courses, it focuses on performing statistical analysis via hypothesis testing, chi-square tests, and regression analysis. (bowerman, et al., 2015) the material in that course does not address the employer needs identified by auburn’s advisory board and the aacu study. dr. milo schield, director for the w. m. keck statistical literacy project, states that traditional business statistics courses are not relevant to the work of business school graduates. instead he suggests business students take a class on statistical literacy, a term he uses to describe the critical thinking skills that managers use to make better decisions using numbers. (schield, 2013) the terminology differs, but relying on the carlson, et al. (2011) definition of data literacy as “understanding what data mean, including how to read charts appropriately, draw correct conclusions from data and recognize when data are being used in misleading or inappropriate ways,” the author argues that data literacy is synonymous with statistical literacy. hence, there is a real need for data literacy in business school programs, because it is not part of the regular curriculum and employers want graduates with these kinds of analytical skills. this study identifies classes where data literacy instruction would be appropriate. background research: determining data literacy needs much of initial research that discusses identifying instructional needs related to data refers to data information literacy (dil). dil details the lifecycle of data from creation through storage and metadata. dil includes the production and maintenance of data, which are specialized skills not typically needed by business school graduates (undergraduates and mba students). librarians have identified instructional opportunities related to dil via interviews with faculty and through questions received by library and data services staff. (carlson et al., 2011). one study used syllabi to determine information and dil teaching opportunities using a grounded theory approach, which involved understanding the goals of the course, and how each assignment built towards those goals. (maybee et al., 2015) curriculum mapping has also been used to uncover dil opportunities. (macy and coates, 2016) curriculum mapping involves gathering professional standards, academic learning outcomes, course syllabi and assignments to create course goals. in contrast to dil, data literacy focuses on the consumption of data. business school students mainly work with secondary source data, which is consistent with the skills employers are looking for in terms of working with data and statistics. data literacy focuses on the following competencies, as outlined by prado and marzal (2013): 1. understanding what data is, and how it affects society 2. finding and/or obtaining data sources 3. reading, interpreting and evaluating data 4. managing data 5. using data, including ethical uses there are a few articles in the literature about identifying data literacy instruction opportunities. identifying data literacy teaching opportunities at universities has been done in brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 5 systematic and unsystematic ways. for example, hogenboom, holler phillips and hensley (2011) conducted a survey to learn how instructors use data in teaching and the problems they face. mooney and silver (2010) reached out to faculty known to use data, based on buying patterns and reference questions from the college of business. syllabus studies a syllabus study is a systematic method that allows librarians to rate syllabi by specific criteria. syllabus studies have been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from collection assessment to identifying opportunities for information literacy instruction to understanding library use. the author chose to conduct a syllabus study because the number of syllabus studies that have been conducted in business is small compared to those undertaken more generally or in other disciplines. only three syllabus studies focus specifically on business programs. in addition, as a relatively new library liaison, a syllabus study would allow the author to become familiar with the courses in the college of business more quickly than interviewing faculty members, or surveying faculty about course data needs or responding to data-related reference questions. dewald (2003) performed a syllabus study to determine how much library use or research was expected of business students at penn state. she found that on the whole, more courses required research than those did not require research, and that library use increased by course level, except for senior level courses (400 level). lowry (2012) mapped the competency requirements of the canadian professional accounting association to acrl ii standards to see if those requirements were being addressed in the curriculum via an accounting syllabus study she conducted in 2011. she found there was a gap, and shared the analysis with faculty and used it as a means of developing course-integrated library instruction. last, boss and drabinski (2014) analyzed business syllabi at long island university to identify opportunities for information literacy instruction. they categorized the instructional needs of students into in-depth information literacy (a final integrative project) versus information access skills (access a journal article), and developed instructional strategies for each area. a few general syllabus studies included business courses, such as the one conducted by lauer, merz and craig (1989), which compared the undergraduate syllabi at two private institutions, houghton and aurora colleges, to see what percent of courses require library use. mcgowan, gonzalez and stanny (2016) looked at undergraduate syllabi at the university of west florida to determine which courses had an information literacy learning outcome and some of these included business courses. smith, doversberger, jones, ladwig, parker, and pietraszewski (2012) analyzed syllabi from the university of notre dame as a method for developing reaching out to faculty. this study also included some business syllabi. all of the aforementioned syllabus studies were geared towards uncovering information literacy teaching opportunities, and library service development. they looked for terms such as library, research, and resource (jeffrey et a., 2017) the mcgowan study (2016) categorized information literacy assignments by course level, such as: bibliography, book report or review, case study or class presentation. the smith study listed multiple ways of incorporating library instruction into a course, such as course pages, mini-instruction sessions, research consultations, and collaboration in creating library assignments. brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 6 the author found these studies useful because they examined which courses could benefit from library instruction. however, none of them addressed data literacy, online or hybrid classes, or discussed the course assignments in detail (other than to say whether it required more or less research). the aims of this study were to add to the understanding of business programs with regards to data literacy, to see whether faculty are including this in their instruction, because current employers are asking for these skills. this study: emu college of business syllabus review for data literacy instructional opportunities established in 1849, eastern michigan university (emu) in ypsilanti, michigan, has approximately 21,000 students. the college of business, which has aacsb accreditation, enrolls approximately 3,100 students, with 2,500 undergraduate business majors, 740 undergraduate minors, 750 graduate degree students, and 201 graduate certificate students (eastern michigan university, 2017). new faculty at emu are taught that a syllabus at emu is a contract between students and a faculty member. it includes the learning objectives, the assignments, as well as the conduct required of all parties (i.e., no sleeping). since emu is a public university, syllabi are a matter of public record. the author spoke with various people about the idea to conduct this study. the director of the library directed the author to contact the associate dean of the business school to ask permission. after her agreement, the author contacted department heads in the college of business and requested their participation. all agreed to participate. in some cases, department employees emailed syllabi to the author. some printed them out, and in other departments, the collecting process took weeks to complete and was a mix of digital and paper. during the fall 2016 semester, 141 syllabi were collected from emu’s college of business. these included syllabi from graduate and undergraduate classes, as well as in-person, online, and hybrid classes. previous syllabus studies, such as dewald’s (2003), applied a five tiered rating scheme to each syllabus: 1. no research or library use 2. library use for reserve readings 3. library use for outside readings, 4. some research or library use for shorter assignments 5. significant research projects. dewald included the word “research” as well as library to incorporate using the somewhat newly available (in 2003) internet resources. the author used prado and marzal’s data literacy framework to identify dl teaching opportunities and rate the syllabi. this framework was chosen because it matches more closely with acrl’s information literacy (il) framework, rather than the dil skills framework proposed by carlson, fossmire, miller and nelson. (shorish, 2015) also, the data literacy framework is more appropriate to data consumption (rather than the manufacture of data) that business students typically undertake. brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 7 if a class assignment met the upper levels (three or four/five) of the dl framework, the author considered the dl instruction need high-level. if the class assignment met level 1 or 2 of the framework, the dl need is defined as low-level. figure 1 shows the breakdown of assignments by each level of the framework. level explanation % of total 0 no need for dl 77% 1 understanding what data is, and how it affects society (given data to work with) 2% 2 finding or obtaining data (must search for data) 7% 3 reading, interpreting and evaluating data (must search for data and incorporate it into a report) 12% 4/5 managing data, using data, including ethical uses (major research paper utilizing and manipulating data and/or primary research) 2% figure 1. data literacy framework the author conducted this study alone since there are no other business librarians on campus. one of the authors of a previous study (emily drabinski) suggested that having one rater would reduce time because there would be no inter-rater conflict. since the author was looking for broad curricular interventions, and not conducting a scientific analysis, the one person review sufficed. the author went through the syllabi twice, in different orders to ensure sure rating consistency. the results the detailed results shown in figure 2 indicate that overall, il or dl assignments are required in 62% of classes. nine classes have high level needs for both types of literacy, and the author regularly teaches il in three. the author plans to add dl instruction into those classes and will meet with the faculty members of the remaining six classes to add a library instruction session on dl/il. brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 8 college of business department numb er of syllabi % low level dl (level 1+2) % high level dl (level 3 + 4/5) % low level il (level 1+2) % high level il (level 3 + 4/5) % il + dl high level % no dl or il management 61 3% (2) 3% (2) 20% (12) 46% (28) 3% (2) 31% (19) marketing 21 14% (3) 24% (6) 33% (7) 38% (8) 19% (4) 24% (5) finance/account ing 33 6% (2) 30% (10) 18% (6) 12% (4) 9% (3) 52% (17) computer information science 26 23% (6) 4% (1) 8% (2) 15% (4) 0% (0) 50% (13) total 141 9% (13) 13% (19) 19% (27) 31% (44) 6% (9) 38% (53) figure 2. detailed results creating a business plan, a document with prescribed sections that is usually used to solicit funding for a new business, is a common business class assignment. business plans have data literacy requirements because they must include financial data to forecast profit/loss statements, cash flow forecasts, and capital spending plans (mckeever, 2017). they also usually include market data to show the size and anticipated growth rate of the market. business plans are required in seven courses. if a class requires low levels of data literacy (levels 1+2 of the dl framework), the author plans to address instruction with an online tutorial (boss and drabinski, 2014). using tiers of service to segment the instructional need is a necessity because as the only business librarian, it is not possible for the author to address all instructional needs in a classroom setting. also, online tutorials can be linked to multiple courses via research guides or the learning management system. if the class requires high levels of data literacy (levels 3+4/5), the author plans to collaborate with the teaching faculty to design in-class instruction. hypothesis testing hypothesis #1: data use in online and hybrid class assignments is greater than for in-person class assignments the author hypothesized that data use in online classes would be greater than for in-person classes because it seemed that students might be tasked with more research assignments in an online setting in contrast to in-person classes where there is more time for discussion and presentation. this is not the case, as is shown in figure 3. in-person classes actually require more brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 9 high-level data literacy, though this is not statistically significant, x2 (2, n = 141) = 1.206, p >.05. most in-person classes require group projects which may be cumulative or research-driven. for online and hybrid courses, students are often required to respond as individuals to a community thread or complete shorter assignments. unlike the kinds of comprehensive projects that complete in-person classes, assignments in online classes tend to be more frequent, shorter, and topicfocused. figure 3. data literacy need by class type hypothesis #2: graduate students have greater data requirements than undergraduate students class levels did show differences as demonstrated by previous syllabus surveys (rambler, 1982; lauer et al, 1989; dewald, 2003). the needs for data were somewhat greater in higher level courses, though again these results were not statistically significant, x2 (4, n = 141) = 4.772, p >.05. graduate students have only slightly more need for high level data literacy instruction than undergraduates. see figure 4, which indicates the data literacy instruction need by course level. graduate students have greater need for high level data literacy, but when high and low levels are combined, there isn’t much difference between graduates and upper level undergraduates. this may be due to the professional, rather than academic, nature of business school. some courses require consulting with local businesses (real clients), or interviewing career professionals (hr or marketing) to develop a training program, for example. graduate courses don’t appear to require a great deal of data literacy. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% in-person hybrid online more data literacy is required in in-person classes (not statistically significant) dl high level dl low level brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 10 figure 4. data literacy needs by course level hypothesis #3: different business school disciplines have different data needs (i.e., marketing has more, accounting has less) it is not surprising that different departments have different data needs because, for example, computer information science is more technical in nature, and management addresses the skills related to leadership and personnel recruitment. see figure 5, which shows the dl need by discipline. the author was surprised to find that finance and accounting require the most data literacy. management classes often require students to write papers on issues related to human resources, such as training and employee compensation, and these subjects require little dl. the differences among departments were statistically significant x2 (4, n = 141) = 29.69, p < .05. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 100/200 300/400 graduate graduate students have slightly more data needs dl high level dl low level brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 11 figure 5. data literacy need by discipline observations like dewald (2003), the author did not distinguish between research and library use, due to the prevalence of credible business information on the internet. however, the author did note whether the word library was recorded in a syllabus. it was mentioned four times in relation to accessing the wall street journal, and four times to suggest databases for research. the syllabi indicated several key assignments that could benefit from an online instructional guide. aside from business plans, another common assignment was case analysis. this was used in 15 classes. some case analysis assignments had financial components, others were geared towards management issues, and even computer science. three classes required country reports, which have to do with setting up a business in another country. this topic has economic data considerations such as currency exchange rates, and how to price goods and services in other countries ((williams et al, 2004). there was much more information literacy required than the author would have expected. another round of syllabus review with the intention of detailing information literacy needs would be a useful exercise for determining specific instruction activities. the syllabus study was a useful technique for a new library liaison to approach and become familiar with the course contents. it will allow targeting courses with specific instructional offerings, rather than sending out blanket emails asking faculty if their students need a session on library or data instruction. it will also give the author enough background information to approach faculty about collaborating on particular course assignments and instruction. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% management marketing finance/accounting computer info science data literacy needs differ by discipline dl high dl low brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 12 information literacy compared to other business-related syllabus studies, this study showed similar levels of information literacy needs. figure 6 shows this study found 62% of classes require information or data literacy, compared with earlier studies which found that somewhere between 38% and 53% required some kind of literacy to complete assignments. given the differences in ratings scales, and colleges or universities, this study is in a similar range as the others. study department % il/dl required dewald (2003) business administration 50% some or much, 49% none lowry (2012) accounting (undergraduate) 38% some or much, 45% none boss & drabinski (2015) business 53% some brodsky (this study, 2017) business 62% some, 38% none figure 6. information or data literacy needs in other business syllabus studies limitations a limitation of all syllabus studies is that they do not capture what faculty say in class, so it is not clear whether or what sort of dl instruction happens in the classroom or online. there were many statements that assignments would be talked about in more detail in class, or that supplemental material would be provided closer to the assignment’s due date. it is important to remember that a syllabus is a product of the college classroom experience, but it is not a reflection of the actual teaching or learning outcomes. this analysis included only one semester’s worth of syllabi. it is possible that there are more opportunities for data literacy instruction in classes that are taught at other times of year; or that certain faculty may favor data-oriented assignments, and they teach in different semesters. the author did not obtain every syllabus from every department. for instance, 21 syllabi were gathered from marketing, which is probably about a third of the classes that were offered in the fall 2016 semester. conclusions testing of hypothesis #1 showed that students work with data more in in-person classes than in online or hybrid courses. this is likely due to the group project work required by in-person classes that is less common in online and hybrid classes. the demands for data literacy tend to go up as the course levels get higher. this makes sense as the assignments and group projects become more complex (i.e., reviews of secondary sources and data for company, industry, and market analyses are typical assignments) as shown by hypothesis test #2. the syllabus review revealed that business students work with data in every department: marketing, management, finance/accounting, and brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 13 computer information services. though, according to hypothesis #3, data use is highest in finance/accounting. the author collected notes on information literacy requirements while looking for data literacy. data literacy and information literacy are closely related, in that they both require critical thinking about information sources and uses. the syllabi study revealed that finding and evaluating data sources, figuring out how to incorporate research data into a paper, and tell a cohesive story is a dl skill set that many business classes require. in 2008, vanscoy and oakleaf concluded that syllabus studies provide librarians with a student-centered approach to integrating library-related instruction into the curriculum. for a liaison librarian, this kind of insight is very valuable, making the syllabus study a useful tool for learning about information and data literacy teaching opportunities, and targeting faculty for outreach. references boss, k., & drabinski, e. (2014). evidence-based instruction integration: a syllabus analysis project. reference services review, 42(2), 236-276. http://doi.org/10.1108/rsr-07-20130038 bowerman, b., o'connell, r., murphree, e., & orris, j. b. (2015). essentials of business statistics (irwin statistics) (5th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill education. carlson, j., fossmire, m., miller, c., & nelson, m. s. (2011). determining data information literacy needs: a study of students and research faculty. portal: libraries and the academy, 11(2), 629-657. http://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2011.0022 dewald, n. h. (2003). anticipating library use by business students: the uses of a syllabus study. research strategies, 19, pp. 33-45. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.resstr.2003.09.003 eastern michigan university. (2017). about the college of business fast facts. ypsilanti. retrieved from http://www.emich.edu/cob/about/facts.php hargrave, b. (2016, february 1). do not wait to design programs in data analytics. bized magazine, (aacsb dean's conference). retrieved from http://bized.aacsb.edu/articles/2016/02/do-not-wait-to-design-programs-in-data-analytics hart research associates. (2015). falling short? college learning and career success. association of american colleges & universities. retrieved from http://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-slides hogenboom, k., holler phillips, c. m., & hensley, m. (2011). show me the data! partnering with instructors to teach data literacy. acrl annual conference, philadelphia. retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/nation al/2011/papers/show_me_the_data.pdf http://bized.aacsb.edu/articles/2016/02/do-not-wait-to-design-programs-in-data-analytics brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 14 jeffrey, k. m., houk, k. m., nielsen, j. m., & wong-welch, j. m. (2017). digging in the mines: mining course syllabi in search of the library. evidence based library and information practice, 12(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.18438/b8gp81 lauer, j. d., merz, l. h., & craig, s. l. (1989). what syllabi reveal about library use: a comparative look at two private academic institutions. research strategies, 7(4), 167-174. lowry, l. (2012). accounting students, library use, and information competence: evidence from course syllabi and professional accounting association competency maps. journal of business & finance librarianship, 17(2), 117-132. http://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2012.659238 macy, k. v., & coates, h. l. (2016). data information literacy instruction in business and public health: comparative case studies. ifla journal (special issue: research data services), http://doi.org/10.1177/0340035216673382 maybee, c., carlson, j., slebodnik, m., & chapman, b. (2015). "it's in the syllabus": identifying information literacy and data information literacy opportunities using a grounded theory approach. the journal of academic librarianship, 41, 369-376. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2016.05.009 mcgowan, b., gonzalez, m., & stanny, c. j. (2016, july). what do undergraduate syllabi say about information literacy. portal: libraries and the academy, (3), 599-617. http://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0040 mckeever, m. p. (2017). how to write a business plan (13th ed.). berkeley, ca: nolo. mooney, h., & silver, b. (2010, october). spread the news: promoting data services. c&rl news, 480-483. prado, j. c., & marzal, m. a. (2013). incorporating data literacy into information literacy programs: core competencies and contents. libri, 63(2), 123-134. http://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2013-0010 rambler, l. k. (1982). syllabus study: key to a responsive academic library. the journal of academic librarianship, 8(3), 155-159. schield, m. (2013). reinventing business statistics: statistical literacy for managers. mbaa conference. chicago, il. retrieved from http://www.statlit.org/pdf/2013-schieldmbaa.pdf shorish, y. (2015). data information literacy and undergraduates: a critical competency. college & undergraduate libraries, 22(1), 97-106. http://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2015.1001246 smith, c., doversberger, l., jones, s., ladwig, p., parker, j., & pietraszewski, b. (2012). using course syllabi to uncover opportunities for curriculum-integrated instruction. reference & user services quarterly, 51(3), 263-271. brodsky / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 15 vanscoy, a., & oakleaf, m. j. (2008). evidence vs. anecdote: using syllabi to plan curriculumintegrated information literacy instruction. college & research libraries, 69(6), 566-575. williams, l. m., cody, s. a., & parnell, j. (2004). prospecting for new collaborations: mining syllabi for library service opportunities. the journal of academic librarianship, 30(4), 270-275. about the author meryl brodsky is the business librarian at eastern michigan university in ypsilanti, mi. 02.25-119-3-ce_data_ literacy_title_1 02.25-119-3-ce_data_ literacy_1 microsoft word ijol-6-2-2-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org modularity in folio: principles, techniques and tools michael p. taylor abstract: from its earliest inception, folio was conceived not as an ils (integrated library system), but as a true services platform, composed of many independent but interdependent modules, and forming a foundation on which an ils or other library software could be built out of relevant modules. this vision of modularity is crucial to folio’s appeal to the library community, because it lowers the bar to participation: individual libraries may create modules that meet their needs, or hire developers to do so, or contribute to funding modules that will be of use to a broader community — all without needing “permission” from a central authority. the technical design of folio is deeply influenced by the requirements of modularity, with the establishment of standard specifications and an emphasis on machine-readable api descriptions. while folio’s modular design has proved advantageous, it also introduces difficulties, including crossmodule searching and data consistency. some conventions have been established to address these difficulties, and others are in the process of crystallizing. as the ils built on folio’s platform grows and matures, and as other application suites are built on it, it remains crucial to resist the shortcuts that monolithic systems can benefit from and retain the vision of modularity that has so successfully brought folio this far. to cite this article: taylor, m. (2021). modularity in folio: principles, techniques and tools. international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.174 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 3-12. issn: 2474-3542 modularity in folio: principles, techniques and tools michael p. taylor, index data and university of bristol abstract from its earliest inception, folio was conceived not as an ils (integrated library system), but as a true services platform, composed of many independent but interdependent modules, and forming a foundation on which an ils or other library software could be built out of relevant modules. this vision of modularity is crucial to folio’s appeal to the library community, because it lowers the bar to participation: individual libraries may create modules that meet their needs, or hire developers to do so, or contribute to funding modules that will be of use to a broader community — all without needing “permission” from a central authority. the technical design of folio is deeply influenced by the requirements of modularity, with the establishment of standard specifications and an emphasis on machine-readable api descriptions. while folio’s modular design has proved advantageous, it also introduces difficulties, including cross-module searching and data consistency. some conventions have been established to address these difficulties, and others are in the process of crystallizing. as the ils built on folio’s platform grows and matures, and as other application suites are built on it, it remains crucial to resist the shortcuts that monolithic systems can benefit from and retain the vision of modularity that has so successfully brought folio this far. keywords: folio, services platform, community, modularity, software engineering. introduction: the philosophy of folio folio1 — an acronym for “the future of libraries is open” — is often thought of as an opensource ils (integrated library system). while this is not incorrect, it’s only one perspective on folio’s identity. the project was conceived in a crucible of idealism and pragmatism as a way of enabling the world-wide community of libraries to own and influence a modular platform for building many library-oriented applications that work together. while an ils is one of the things that can be built on such a platform, and the one that has the most commercial visibility, it is far from the only possibility. indeed, early in the development of folio’s foundations, it was halfseriously referred to as a dls — a disintegrated library system — precisely because of the goal that each component would exist independently, with integration arising from interdependencies between modules based on explicitly specified interfaces. for this reason, we make a distinction between two things: the folio platform, which is described in more detail below; and the folio ils, which is built on it. at one time, we referred 1 https://www.folio.org/ 4 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) to the former as an lsp (library services platform), but that term seems to have been coined independently to mean an ils that provides web-service apis (breeding, 2015), so we now avoid the term to prevent confusion. the motivation for this modular, component-based approach runs deep in the folio project. it arises from the desire to enable any interested party to contribute whatever module they are motivated to contribute, building the power and flexibility of the whole, and to avoid the situation in a typical ils where a single gatekeeping organization carries the responsibility of making all changes and additions. the intention from day one was that a folio library that wanted, for example, a module for booking rooms could create that module themselves and easily wire it into their system — and that they could make the room-booking module available for other folio libraries to use. modules can also be substituted by new implementations of existing interfaces: consider a library using a demerits system for circulation penalties rather than a fines system. such a library could substitute the relevant modules with its own that matched the api expectations of the other platform components. the broader goal is to create a commons that is democratic not only in the organizational sense that many different stakeholders can contribute to high-level decision-making, but that anyone can actually create those parts of the system that are missing for their own specific requirements (or hire developers to do so), and contribute them back to the wider community. of necessity, the choice of which modules to select for early development efforts has been guided by the need to create a workable ils on the folio platform, so that modules have been created for inventory management, circulation, user management, etc. (however, see below for examples of the folio platform being used for non-ils applications.) in keeping with folio’s community focus, the prioritization of this early ils development has been driven by a broad community representing libraries from many institutions, large and small, from many countries, arriving at a broad consensus. similarly, the design of each individual core ils module has emerged from collaborative discussions between subject-matter experts representing many and varied institutions, ensuring that the core ils modules meet the needs of many kinds of library (folio, 2021). this community-driven, modular philosophy underlying the folio project is only possible to implement because those values are supported by the design and implementation of the software architecture provided by the platform. we will now briefly survey that architecture. the flexible architecture of folio folio is sometimes described as being made up of microservices, but this is a misleading perspective. in a microservices architecture, a defined set of heterogeneous services call each other in a web to perform tasks of very different kinds including both system logic and business logic. by contrast, in folio there are an arbitrary number of modules, potentially drawn from many different sources, all of which implement aspects of an application area in a way that conforms to a set of standards. dependencies between modules can exist, but are expressed as web service application programming interface (wsapi) calls between peers, and must be described in machine-readable form (see below). there are two kinds of modules: front-end (ui) modules and back-end modules. often an “app” consists of a ui module and an associated back-end module, the former making calls 5 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) primarily or exclusively to the latter: for example, the ui module ui-courses and the back-end module mod-courses together make up the course reserves app. while this example suggests a one-to-one correspondence between the front-end and back-end modules, in reality a front-end module can call many back-end modules. a back-end module can also contact other back-end modules to implement parts of its functionality. the rules for ui and back-end modules are fundamentally different as they run in different environments. in this paper we will focus primarily on back-end modules, but before we consider these in detail, it is worth briefly considering how ui modules work. stripes and ui modules each ui module is implemented in javascript as an npm package (anonymous, 2020), using the react framework (hunt, 2013), that meets certain requirements and can rely on certain provisions. it is run inside folio’s web-application framework stripes (taylor et al., 2017), which acts as a container for the set of ui modules in use for a specific deployment, furnishes them with facilities for access to back-end data, internationalization, etc., and renders them within a standardized layout that conforms to the folio user experience (ux) guidelines. in order to function as a stripes module (i.e., a folio ui module), an npm package must meet the following requirements: • its package file must contain a stripes section. • this section must contain an actsas entry, an array specifying what roles this module can fulfil within stripes: app, settings, plugin, handler, etc. stripes uses this to know how to invoke the module. • the stripes section must also specify what back-end interfaces, at what versions, the module uses (see below). this is a declaration of what its requirements of the back-end are. • the package file may declare permissions that can be assigned to users of the module to enable access to aspects of its functionality. these permissions may include subpermissions defined by back-end modules. • a translations directory must contain files defining translation tags and their expression in at least english and usually in many other languages. • the top-level source file must export a single react component which stripes invokes in various different ways depending on the roles the module fulfils. in general, ui modules do not directly depend on other ui modules (although they may indirectly depend on ui modules that have the plugin or handler role). instead, they depend on back-end modules. with this brief outline of ui modules in mind, from here on we will use the term “module” to mean a back-end module, and will now discuss these in more detail. 6 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) what is a folio module? just as a folio ui module is a javascript npm package that meets a specific set of requirements, so a folio back-end module is a program that meets a different set of requirements. unlike ui modules, back-end modules do not have to be written in any specific language: this is because, unlike ui modules, they do not run as part of a bundle, but as individual processes. folio modules can be written in any language and with any tooling, and indeed modules exist written in java, groovy, javascript, perl and other languages. at this point, the community’s tooling support (see below) is strongest for java, and so for pragmatic reasons most modules are written in that language. all access to folio back-end modules is moderated by an api gateway known as okapi (dickmeiss et al., 2016) — an acronym for the ok api. in typical deployments, this is enforced by blocking all network ports except the one exposed by the okapi gateway. among other things, okapi manages sessions, handles user identity, maintains tenant boundaries between multiple libraries running on the same gateway, and enforces the folio permissions model so that users without appropriate permissions are unable to access back-end modules: okapi rejects their requests before the back-end modules even see them. for a program to function as a folio module, it must interact with the world by accepting and responding to wsapi requests, and the requests that it implements must be described in machine-readable form in a module descriptor. in order to make a module available in a running instance of folio, its module descriptor and some deployment information must be posted to the okapi gateway. the module descriptor is a json file (in a format defined by a json schema) that describes the capabilities and limitations of the module so that okapi can properly moderate access to it. it specifies, among other things: • the module’s unique identifier • a list of permissions that the module defines, including which sub-permissions are included in them. • a list of interfaces (see below) that the module requires • a list of interfaces (see below) that the module provides, and a specification of which wsapi operations are included in those interfaces and which permissions those operations require. dependencies are specified by means of interfaces rather than implementations: for example, mod-courses (which implements the back end of the course reserves app) depends not on the mod-inventory-storage module but on the item-storage interface. this requirement can be fulfilled by any module that implements the specified interface at a compatible version. at present this is likely to be mod-inventory-storage, but the folio architecture is defined such that nothing about course reserves requires this, or even could. someone else could implement an alternative inventory storage module that implements the item-storage interface, a folio administrator could choose to deploy that instead of the standard implementation, and course reserves would happily use that instead. as jason skomorowski observed, “interfaces let you replace part of the thing 7 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) without having to reinvent the whole thing so you can scratch your itch without having to start from scratch.” when a module descriptor specifies what interfaces the module provides, it includes information about what paths are supported with what http methods (get, put, post, etc.), and what permissions are required by each request. okapi uses this information to route requests to the appropriate module and to reject requests that do not have the necessary permissions. the descriptor is essentially a contract for the module. who can make a folio module? anyone with the technical knowhow. no-one needs to give permission. if a module meets the requirements outlined above, it can be inserted into a running folio system and play its part in that ecosystem. it is a matter of policy for folio operators to determine which modules they will support in their hosted folio systems, but any organization hosting its own folio is at liberty to add whatever modules it chooses. why is this important? the real value here is not in the ability of individual institutions to customize and extend their folio installations. it lies in the opportunities that an open, modular architecture presents for the formation of communities and marketplaces. these communities cannot be held under the control of any individual vendor, and are at liberty to evolve the folio ecosystem in whatever way best suits their needs rather than accepting whatever upgrades and extensions serve the purposes of the vendor. tooling support for folio modules in folio, all communication from ui to back-end modules, and between back-end modules, is by means of http-based web services. by convention, these web-services are restful — i.e., concerned with the state of addressable entities (fielding, 2000) — and return responses in json format. these conventions are not however enforced by okapi, which is agnostic on these issues and will happily support rpc-style web-services, xml-formatted responses, etc. (okapi itself is controlled by restful json-based wsapis, which it provides for operations such as inserting or removing a module.) the module descriptor is the only self-description that modules are required to provide: this specifies what http paths and methods are supported, but says nothing about url query parameters, the formats of requests and responses, etc. for this reason it is conventional for modules to describe the web-services in a more detailed machine-readable form. the services themselves are typically described in raml (heidenreich et al., 2016) or openapi (miller et al., 2020); the json requests and responses are described using json schema (hutton et al., 2020). frameworks exist to help folio module developers gain maximum value from the use of these machine-readable service descriptions. the most widely used so far has been rmb (raml module builder), which takes a module’s raml files and associated json schemas as the source of truth, and uses them to autogenerate java code for persisting the described objects to a postgresql database. module authors can then add business logic to the generated code. there is of course no obligation to use a framework such as rmb — for one thing, it cannot be used directly for modules written in languages other than java — but for many modules, especially those focussed on creating, updating, fetching and searching objects of various kinds, it provides helpful support that dramatically reduces the amount of code that needs to be written. 8 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) raml and json schemas are also used by another important tool: an automatic documentation generator uses these files to create html developer guides at https://dev.folio.org/reference/api/. when the json schemas contain useful description fields, helpful examples are provided, and introductory text is authored, the resulting autogenerated documentation can provide developers with all the information they need to work with a module: see for example https://s3.amazonaws.com/foliodocs/api/mod-courses/p/courses.html challenges while the modular approach taken by folio has yielded many benefits, it’s also true that it poses challenges. for developers coming to folio from monolithic systems such as koha, it is often frustrating that they cannot simply write a big sql query against a single database that encompasses all the ils’s functions, and instead have to work with wsapis defined by the modules responsible for different areas of functionality. this is a swings-and-roundabouts situation. while the one-big-sql-query approach is appealing for getting things done quickly, it invariably leads to maintenance difficulties in large systems that use it, with small changes to the schema rippling through code in even remotely related modules. a more serious difficulty in working with folio modules is the difficulty of cross-module queries. first consider a within-module case: a search for users whose names satisfy some criterion, in which the results returned should include the name of the patron-group that each user belongs to. the user objects returned by the low-level mod-users module include only a patrongroup id. a ui wanting to show the patron-group name must look this up in a separate patrongroups wsapi, also provided by mod-users, to determine the name of the group with that identifier. but the business-logic module mod-users-bl presents a higher-level view of the same user data, and returns composite user objects which include an expanded patron-group object (along with other information such as the set of permissions that each user has). because both the user register and the set of patron groups are maintained by the same underlying module, it is possible for the module to obtain information about both the user and his or her patron group in a single sql query that joins the relevant tables. but when a join is required across datasets that are maintained by different modules, sql cannot be used, as this would violate the constraint that each module is responsible for its own data and its representation — indeed, in general, it cannot even be assumed that two modules use the same database or are even based on the same rdbms. for example, consider the circulation module, mod-circulation, in which the object representing the loan of an item contains the id of the item and the id of the borrowing user. if we want to see the item name and user name, both of these must be looked up in their respective wsapis, and it is impossible for a circulation businesslevel module to fetch all the relevant information in a single sql statement that joins all the tables because the circulation module knows only about its own database tables. of course a higher-level module can still return a loan record that includes item and user information looked up in their respective wsapis – and this is what mod-circulation in fact does. but there is inevitably a loss of efficiency when fetching information about a loan involves not just an sql query, but also two calls to other modules, each of them making its own sql query. this is a price that must be paid in order to achieve modularity. the payoff is flexibility. a new usermanagement module, perhaps based on ldap or ncip’s user register facility, could be substituted 9 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) for mod-users, and the circulation module would continue to work as before with no changes required. a more general solution to the problem of cross-module searching is provided by modgraphql. this module has no storage of its own, but is configured by machine-readable descriptions of the links between wsapis offered by other modules, and knows how to respond to queries expressed in graphql (facebook, 2018) by searching in multiple wsapis and joining up the results. this has many applications: for example, the folio z39.50 server uses mod-graphql to search for instances (bibliographic records) together with their holdings records and the items contained in those holdings, returning enriched bibliographic records that include all this information. this approach works equally for subqueries (and sub-subqueries and sub-subsubqueries) that are implemented in the same module as the main query, or in different modules. a related challenge is that of maintaining cross-module data integrity, given that there is no monolithic underlying rdbms to enforce foreign-key constraints. at present, such issues are typically addressed using a publish-subscribe mechanism such as apache kafka to ensure that modules are notified of relevant data changes made in other modules. finally, it must be admitted that setting up and administering a complete folio system is more challenging than running a typical monolithic ils. this is because of the need to launch okapi itself, load it with information about all relevant modules, and make arrangements for starting and stopping the modules themselves. this complexity, however, is the price paid in exchange for a great deal of flexibility. it allows a variety of different orchestration schemes using tools such as kubernetes, docker swarm or amazon’s elastic container service to allow horizontal scaling of heavily used modules, redundancy, and failover. experience of folio modules given these very real challenges to folio development, why persist with the modular architecture? because the advantages of the decentralized approach reflect not just practical requirements but also the underlying philosophy of the folio project. just as libraries themselves are about democratizing access to knowledge, so modules are about democratizing library technology — about allowing its actual users to determine how and where development should be targeted, which projects they want to prioritize, what technical staff they want to employ or contract to achieve their goals, and even what interactions between modules will best serve their needs. a small example of this is the course reserves module. this was required by a specific library consortium, the fenway library organization, a customer of index data. but the folio roadmap did not include a course reserves module, as it was not a sufficiently high priority of a large enough proportion of the subject-matter experts who feed into such decisions. in a traditional monolithic ils, that would be the end of the story: the product vendor’s development team would follow the roadmap and course reserves would not be added to the ils. but in folio it was a relatively simple matter for index data, acting alone, to design and implement a course reserves module (or, more precisely, a pair of modules: ui and back-end, together constituting an app). this module interacts with existing folio modules’ wsapis, most notably those provided by the inventory module: items, locations, loan-types, etc. in doing so it requires no changes to the inventory module, but merely consumes existing interfaces, and declares its dependence on them. 10 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) the inventory module is unaware that course reserves even exists: from its perspective, course reserves is just a client like any other. having proven its value, the course reserves module has now been accepted into the core set of folio modules, making it trivial for any folio-using institution to include in their installation. a more significant example of how folio’s modularity opens doors unavailable to a monolithic ils is found in the reshare project, a system for managing inter-library loan (ill). this has recently been successfully deployed by the 50+ libraries of the partnership for academic library collaboration & innovation (palci), and by the fifteen or so libraries of connectny (cny). reshare is implemented as a set of folio modules — one for managing ill requests, one for managing fulfillment of incoming requests, one for directory management, etc. — all developed independently of the folio ils modules, but taking advantage of the folio platform infrastructure. the reshare application suite is built not only on the stripes framework, the okapi api gateway, and the permissions model, but also on application-level folio modules include user management, tenant settings and developer settings, and tags. additionally, a consortium deployment of reshare includes a shared index which is implemented using the folio inventory module. the development of the reshare application suite has been greatly accelerated by the use of the folio platform and the availability of other folio modules. at the same time, the modular architecture has meant that development of reshare has been able to advance essentially uncoupled from that of the folio ils, driven by a group of developers only some of whom are otherwise involved with folio. along the way, reshare developers have contributed back enhancements to some parts of the folio toolkit — for example, re-usable react components — indirectly helping to enrich the ils apps as a side-effect. we envisage the development of further application suites as well as reshare: perhaps a content management system, an institutional repository, a procurement system, or something else altogether. application suites may also be created to form bridges to other systems, such as archivesspace or the canvas learning management system. the exciting part of this is that the modular architecture and democratic social conventions of the folio community mean that these contributions could come from anywhere — from organizations not currently linked to folio, or even known to the core folio developers. one measure of a software tool is the extent to which it can be put to uses that its creators did not envisage. everything about folio is calculated to encourage such uses. conclusions every aspect of the folio project reflects its community origins and its democratic principles. in particular, the modular architecture is not merely a tactical choice (even though its adoption greatly contributes to eliminating what would be an exponential rise in complexity in a monolithic system). rather, folio’s module system is the technical manifestation of the project’s goals, attitudes and philosophy. the choice has not been without cost. getting an initial version of the folio ils running as a set of modules has taken some time but that cost has amply repaid itself in the ability to rapidly design, prototype and develop new additions and extensions. as a result, folio is now sprouting 11 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) new functionality much faster than another ils of comparable maturity. the current state of the project is really only the start — and where it goes from here is open for anyone to influence. references anonymous. (2020). about npm. retrieved september 13, 2021, from https://docs.npmjs.com/about-npm breeding, m. (2015). library services platforms: a maturing genre of products. library technology reports 51(4):1–37. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/download/509/259 dickmeiss, a., crossley, d., ji, h., ladisch, j., levanto, h., mcnally, c., skoczen, j., & taylor, m. p. (2016). okapi guide and reference. retrieved august 24, 2021, from https://github.com/folio-org/okapi/blob/master/doc/guide.md facebook. (2018). graphql, june 2018 edition. retrieved august 27, 2021, from https://spec.graphql.org/june2018/ fielding, r. t. (2000). chapter 5: representational state transfer (rest). in: architectural styles and the design of network-based software architectures (doctoral dissertation). university of california, irvine. folio. (2021). our community. retrieved september 14, 2021, from https://www.folio.org/community/ heidenreich, c. et al. (2016). raml version 1.0: restful api modeling language. retrieved august 26, 2021, from https://github.com/raml-org/raml-spec/blob/master/versions/raml10/raml-10.md/ hunt, p. (2013). why did we build react? retrieved september 13, 2021, from https://reactjs.org/blog/2013/06/05/why-react.html hutton, b., wright, a., andrews, h., & dennis, g. (2020). json schema: a media type for describing json documents, draft-bhutton-json-schema-00. retrieved august 26, 2021, from https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/json-schema-core.html miller, d. et al. (2020). openapi specification, version 3.1.0. 2020. retrieved august 26, 2021, from https://github.com/oai/openapi-specification/blob/main/versions/3.1.0.md taylor, m. p., burke, z., crossley, d., deutsch, m. & skomorowski, j. (2017). the stripes module developer’s guide. retrieved august 24, 2021, from https://github.com/folioorg/stripes/blob/master/doc/dev-guide.md about the author michael taylor is a software guy at index data, a boutique software house that has been creating open-source software for libraries since the early 1990s. he is also a research associate in dinosaur palaeontology at the university of bristol, uk. he was one of the engineers on the core 12 taylor / international journal of librarianship 6(2) team that laid out the technical design of folio and has been deeply involved in implementing folio’s user-interface tools, its graphql service, and its z39.50 server, as well as the reshare application suite among other folio-platform applications. in his spare time, he has described and named multiple sauropod dinosaurs, including xenoposeidon ("alien earthquake god") and brontomerus ("thunder-thighs"). he blogs at the reinvigorated programmer (https://reprog.wordpress.com/) and sauropod vertebra picture of the week (https://svpow.com/). issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org grantseeking, technology renovation, and creative solutions to support library access and online teaching and learning during the global covid-19 outbreak xuan pang abstract: 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 ondemand 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. to cite this article: pang, x. (2022). grantseeking, technology renovation, and creative solutions to support library access and online teaching and learning during the global covid-19 outbreak. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 113-125. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.261 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.261 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 113-125 issn: 2474-3542 grantseeking, technology renovation, and creative solutions to support library access and online teaching and learning during the global covid-19 outbreak xuan pang, university of florida, fl, usa abstract 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. keywords: covid-19, resource sharing, grantseeking, technology renovation, collaboration introduction and literature review challenges and creative solutions in the access and resource sharing community the world suddenly changed when the world health organization (who) rang the alarm bell and declared the novel coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak as a global pandemic. on march 11, 2020 at a media briefing, who director-general dr. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus called on countries to take urgent and aggressive action immediately to contain the virus after more than 110,000 covid-19 cases were reported, the viral disease had spread to more than 100 countries, and 4,000 people were dead (world health organization director-general speeches detail, 2020). pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 114 following science and listening to the health experts’ advice, all 50 states across america began to plan and prepare to close non-essential entities and organizations to minimize further spread of the virus, control infections, and save lives. in preparing for a full closure of libraries’ buildings, academic libraries around the world faced difficult decisions regarding services to offer and resources to provide to their communities. massey et al. (2021) discussed the library community’s struggles in their article “community as a shared resource: how one consortium congregated, collaborated, and innovated its way through the covid-19 crisis”: “all library operations were affected. education, research and personal information requests still needed to be met; demand by library patrons for access to local physical resources and to items that would need to be borrowed from other libraries did not cease with the onset of the pandemic. circulation and resource sharing staff scrambled to figure out how to effectively provide access to e-resources to fill as much of the demand from patrons and other libraries as possible.” (p. 1) resource sharing professionals across the world acted creatively and collaboratively, developed new policies, guidelines, and workflow procedures, and initiated new services. logue et al. (2021) pointed out, “during this time, the resource sharing community provided unique direction and support for new and expanded services during covid-19 by sharing information, ideas, success, and challenges” (p. 131). on april 21, 2021, the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) document delivery and resource sharing section (ddrs) piloted a temporary free resource sharing service model to continue sharing resources in digital formats worldwide. a group of experts from the resource sharing community launched a resource sharing during covid-19 (rscvd) tool for resource sharing professionals in not-for-profit libraries to continue sharing resources via a web-based form. to ensure seamless delivery of content, the group chose to use the well-known oclc article exchange methodology to deliver digital files to the end user’s account. article exchange is a single secure document sharing location which allows lending libraries to upload files to the server for borrowing libraries’ users to access anywhere in the world. the borrowing library receives an email with a link to the pdf file and a password to access it. the user can download the file a maximum of five times and the file remains on the user’s account for 30 days. this pilot project initially served as an emergency model to address access restrictions for libraries’ print collections at the beginning of the pandemic. the committee planned to provide this service through august 31, 2020, with the potential of extending the service pending further assessments. as the pandemic continued, the project was extended to today, the time the author writes this article. rscvd connected library workers with libraries in need and created a global resource sharing emergency response network. from april 2020 to september 2021, the project received 13582 article requests and 3951 book chapters requests from 26 countries and 893 institutions. among the total 17533 requests, 9949 requests were filled by volunteer library staff. the overall fill rate is 57%. table 1 provides information about article and book chapter requests received, filled, and the fill rate. pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 115 table 1 resources sharing during covid-19 (rscvd) statistics 04/2020-09/2021 articles book chapters total received 13582 3951 17533 filled 7996 1953 9949 fill rate 59% 49% 57% the outcome of this project displayed library and resource sharing professionals’ resilience, optimism, and unbeatable spirit in the shadow of a global health crisis. in early may of 2020, the online computer library center (oclc), a global library nonprofit cooperative organization, the institute of museum and library services, and battelle launched a reopening archives, the libraries, and museums (realm) project. this research project shared findings from reviewing published scientific data and laboratory test results on sars-cov-2, to provide evidence-based information resources that helped libraries, museums, and archives to develop new policies and workflow procedures during the covid-19 pandemic. soon, oclc also launched a new covid-19 information website. this website was welcomed and highly used by the ars community. as hogan et al. (2021) mentioned, “oclc’s covid-19 information and resource page provides a variety of resources to support libraries during this unique time” (p. 140). one of the most useful tools on the website was the real time ill map. when libraries suddenly closed worldwide, the main challenge for managing ill returnable materials was that library staff did not know when to send ill returnable items back to their home library. if items were mailed to libraries that were closed, and thus libraries were not able to receive the items, there was a high probability the materials would be lost or damaged, or additional fees may be incurred by the borrowing library because items were undeliverable. to address this issue, oclc quickly developed a tool called the real time physical ill return and lending status map. this was a crowdsourced list maintained by the entire resource sharing community worldwide. as libraries began to reopen, the postal service and statewide delivery systems resumed delivery services in late summer 2020. this tool helped libraries track the opening status of other libraries and helped to ensure that materials were safely returned to the owning institutions. using this tool, libraries across the world effectively cleaned up the backlog on thousands of physical materials (online computer library center realm, 2021). grantseeking, technology renovation, and collaborations at a r1 research institution grantseeking activities, technology innovations, and creative solutions have helped libraries across the world to expand their resources and collections, assess programs and services, and initiate new services thus improving their user experience. flagship r1 research intensive university libraries have a long history of grantseeking activities. de farber (2021) writes, “the dean of university libraries set aside funding to support an internal small-grants program initiated by a group of librarians who believed in the importance of training other personnel in the practice of grantseeking. librarians and staff working at the newly created digital library center at uf in the late 1990s had successfully obtained a series of grant pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 116 awards to jump-start their operations. there was a sense that if more employees could learn how to navigate the process of grant project planning, budgeting, and writing, the new external grant funds could lift more boats within the libraries.” (p. 8) in 2006, representatives from various departments in the libraries, some of whom are principal investigators of externally funded grants, formed a grants management committee and started an internal mini grants program to fund small grant projects. in 2008, the libraries created a grant manager position and recruited a grant manager. the grant manager manages the grant application process and post award activities, offers workshops to promote grantseeking opportunities, and provides training and mentorship for librarians and library staff. the university libraries renamed the internal mini grants program as the strategic opportunities program, with a maximum of $5000 per application. the libraries further established an emerging technologies grants program to encourage technology innovation and creative solution services among library employees. between 2009 and 2019, the libraries funded 187 grant proposals for a total of $8,944,180 in grant funds. table 2 details the number of grants awarded during this time. table 2 university libraries awarded grants from 2009-2019 sponsors grant funds awarded number of grant awarded external total of 31 sponsors $7,655,921 93 internal university $965,084 21 university libraries $323,175 73 total $8,944,180 187 it is worthwhile to note that most grant funds are awarded for digitization, preservation, and collection development. in the past ten years, the ars department has not submitted any grant proposals. this means ars staff are either challenged by the grantseeking process or have missed valuable opportunities. there are many reasons, as de farber (2021) pointed out: “in general, most people have little or no training or experience in developing grant proposals” (p. 189). this is very true since, for example, library schools do not typically have grantsmanship in their curriculum, and the time commitment to apply for grants makes it even more challenging for library staff who spend most of their time helping patrons. in the past, ars staff have not had sufficient time to engage in grantseeking activities, and grantseeking is not an easy activity. however, ars staff do have an acute understanding of the user’s needs through daily interaction with them. as mackellar (2011) writes, “with your strategic plan and technology plan in place, you have what you need to create technology projects that are mission driven and designed to meet the information needs of the people you serve. it is essential that your technology projects emerge from your library’s plans, as they are groundwork you have built to serve your community and its specific needs.” (p. 5) despite the challenges, the libraries’ ars department project team was awarded an internal grant for testing the scan-beside-the-stacks methodology using an ill mobile cart in late 2019. the project team continued to develop and test a reconfigured ill mobile cart funded by a state grant during the pandemic. this mobile cart allows for a single employee to handle all items pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 117 to complete the digital conversion of print materials and reduces the risk of coronavirus transfer between library staff members during the covid-19 pandemic. the department also initiated an on-demand book digitization program which helped to fulfill user’s needs to access information in an effective way. hogan et al. (2021) concluded, “the on-going covid-19 pandemic has shined a light on resource sharing as a mission critical service for libraries” (p. 139). background the libraries’ ars department consists of one faculty librarian, one program manager, two program coordinators and six staff members. the department centralizes ill and course reserves services across all branch libraries, standardizes circulation policies and procedures, and provides training and documents for all branch libraries. in the past three years, the department focused on improving operational efficiency and initiating new services through grantseeking, technology renovation, and interdepartmental collaboration. the department received a total of $49,029 in grant funding and $150,000 in endowment before and during the pandemic. with these funds, the department upgraded its current digitization capacity to meet the demand by students and faculty for digital versions of essential library materials by testing and implementing innovative methodologies for scanning library materials within the book stacks. these methodologies afforded the department’s staff members the ability to meet the requirements of physical distancing for covid-19 re-opening standards, addressed the concern of employee safety, and also met the requirement of limiting onsite staff members during the height of the pandemic. to address patron and resource sharing community needs for accessing print materials while the libraries were fully closed, the department creatively launched an on-demand digitization program that leveraged the libraries’ staff expertise, fostered collaboration and cooperation among the libraries’ departments, and ensured that users had reliable, affordable access to materials they need. ars grantseeking activities milestone ars’s grantseeking story highlights the possibility of receiving funds for service orientated library departments. it is a matter of creating a culture of grantsmanship, encouraging staff to learn new skills and engage with grantseeking activities. the department’s accomplishment in grantseeking activities sets an example to the library ars community and shows that grant work is within all our abilities and is possible. this is something we all can pursue and achieve. the original idea to experiment with alternative workflows for resource sharing electronic document delivery and electronic lending services came from trying to find a way to address the libraries’ space challenges created by physical space constraints in the libraries, improve workflow, and ensure user access to the library’s print materials. in spring 2019, the humanities and social sciences library, home of the ars department, conducted a renovation and space consolidation project on the second floor of the building. this project required the ars department to reduce operation space by 50% and to share the office space with the user services department. as a result, there was limited space for the scanning carts to hold the books and less shelf space for stack maintenance. pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 118 the challenge of losing office space presented an opportunity for ars staff in the context of reassessing and rethinking the current workflows and procedures. the grant project investigator (pi) evaluated the workflows in place and analyzed historical resource sharing data. the pi brainstormed the idea of “scan-beside-the-stacks” through developing an ill mobile cart. this mobile cart would eliminate the procedure of bringing the collection to the ars office, which would improve workflow efficiency and free office space. this idea was welcomed by lending and document delivery staff. three ars staff members formed a project team, and we started the department’s first ever grantseeking journey. figure 1 ars grantseeking activities milestones in december 2018, the pi met with the libraries’ grant manager and discussed the idea of testing an ill mobile cart. the grant manager liked the idea and strongly encouraged the pi to submit a proposal. this was thought to be the department’s first sop grant project. sop grants are one of the sources of grant support offered by the libraries. with that support, the project pi studied the libraries’ strategic direction, read funding applications that had been previously awarded, and attended the libraries’ grant training workshops. through these activities, the pi better understood the libraries’ strategic plan and learned about the libraries’ sop grant application process. most importantly, the pi learned the tips and tricks of technology grant proposals and understood that a grant proposal is different from other types of writing. for example, it is critical that the grant seeker thoroughly conveys their idea to the reviewers. this helps to build the reviewers’ confidence in the quality of the proposal and to instill belief in the applicant’s capacity to complete the project successfully within the grant period. to ensure buy-in and gain funding, the proposal started off by aligning with the libraries' mission statement and strategic directives. specifically, the strategic direction of innovate (experiment and adapt through experimenting with a mobile scanning station), as well as integrated space, technology, and services and assure effectiveness (efficient and equitable access to pertinent information resources for all library users). the proposal demonstrated the needs of the project. for instance, it highlighted the impact of ongoing renovation and space consolidation within the libraries. the proposal was also filled with facts and data with surprising and unexpected details aimed at catching the reviewer’s eyes. one example is that the project team tracked 267 scanned items and found that the mode of the amount of time for the scanned print pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 119 copies to be returned to the stacks is approximately 3 days, with a wide range of return times on average (from 1 day to 21 days; see figure 2). there are a couple of items that were missing during the transition. figure 2 time for a physical item to be returned to the shelf using original workflow. (pang et al. 2021) the data indicates the need to minimize the time period print collections were taken off the shelf, thus assuring patron access to library collections. the proposal illustrated that the scanbeside-the-stacks initiative would eliminate duplicate workflow and procedures, reduce the potential for human error when re-shelving, improve operational efficiency, and save staff time. in august 2019, the project team was awarded a sop grant and the ill mobile cart went live in february 2020. the ars scanning staff continued using the mobile cart when the libraries were closed during the global health crisis. in august 2020, the project team assessed the project outcome, reconfigured an ill mobile cart and submitted a proposal to the state library information services care act grant. in december 2020, the project team was awarded funds from the state. project outcomes time for a physical item to be returned to the shelf the project showed that there were significant decreases in the time a physical item was returned to the stacks. the mode for materials to be returned to the shelf while using a mobile station was about 4 minutes, with a small range of return times on average (from 1 minute to 18 minutes) pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 120 figure 3 time a physical item returned to the shelf using mobile cart (minutes). the significant reduction of time a physical item was off the shelf further supported the libraries’ door-side pickup materials program, a program begun in summer 2020 while the libraries were closed. if patrons requested an item for door-side pickup, the materials would more likely to be on the shelf due to the new scan-beside-the-stacks procedure. after the libraries were re-opened, the new workflow and procedure ensured that there was a longer period of time materials stayed on the shelf for patrons to access whenever they needed. turnaround time for electronic delivery and lending service with the implementation of the mobile scanning station, there was a dramatic improvement in the overall turnaround time for electronic delivery and lending service. table 3 electronic document delivery and electronic lending turnaround time (pang et al. 2021) office scanning station (5/12/-7/16/2019) mobile scanning station (5/12/-7/16/2020) difference electronic document delivery turnaround time 2.93 days 2.37 days 0.56 days (13.44 hours) electronic lending turnaround time 1.88 days 1.21 days 0.67 days (16.08 hours) 3 14 25 26 17 16 11 5 5 5 3 4 6 1 1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 17 18 frequency time a physical item returned to the shelf (minutes) pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 121 on-demand book digitization program the ars department has a long-standing commitment to fulfill user’s access and resources needs. the department is focused on providing access to the world of information. when coronavirus hit, ars staff were unprepared for the sudden global health crisis. no one had ever experienced universities and the libraries being fully closed for more than five months. as the university was preparing for the full closure of campus and moving all courses online within a week at the beginning of the pandemic, the biggest concern was, “how can faculty and students access the library’s physical materials?” the ars department was tasked with finding ways to continue providing patrons with access to the library’s physical collections while library buildings were closed. a multidepartment on-demand book digitization program was developed to meet users’ needs. prior to the pandemic, the ars department had centralized ill service across all branches. ars staff digitized the humanities and social sciences library, latin american and caribbean collection (lacc) and marston science libraries’ collections (msl) for document delivery and lending service. offsite storage facilities and the other three branch libraries provided digitized files to ars, and ars staff delivered the documents to patrons’ accounts. while the on-demand book digitization program was in the planning stages, the department decided to keep the current scanning workflow. however, ars could no longer access the msl and lacc buildings due to restrictions on accessing library buildings during the shutdown. after coordinating with msl and lacc branch chairs, two staff members at each location with some previous scanning experience were chosen and trained to fulfill digitization requests. before the libraries were fully closed, a scanning team was formed and included two ill staff and six circulation staff at each of the branch libraries. a book digitization web request form was created to allow patrons to submit their requests to the ill platform illiad. a new service announcement was announced on the ill website on march 19, 2020, before the libraries were officially closed on march 23, 2020. march 19, 2020 “during the covid-19 pandemic/library closing, the libraries interlibrary loan staff will strive to support your teaching and research to the best of our ability. we will continue to obtain and deliver electronic items from the university library's collection and from other libraries (articles, book chapters, papers, etc.). in addition, we are offering a special temporary book digitization service to our patrons. please follow this link to submit your request. we are not able to supply physical items (books, dvds, microfilm, etc.) at this time. we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.” the ars department head was closely monitoring the demand for ill service. on monday march 23, 2020, the first day of the closure of the library building, the ill department received more than 200 borrowing requests submitted by patrons over the weekend. one user requested 8 books for digitization from special collections. the ars department head shared the information with library administration. the head suggested revisiting the on-demand book digitization policy and bringing library acquisition and subject librarians into this project to fulfill the user’s pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 122 needs. a new book digitization policy was developed and was communicated with patrons. on march 26, 2021, an updated announcement was posted on the libraries’ website. update on march 26, 2020 “while we cannot provide access to our print collections during the closure of the library buildings, we are committed to providing electronic access to the resources you need. please submit a book digitization request via our interlibrary loan service. we will try to purchase an electronic copy for you. if we cannot purchase an electronic version, we will digitize up to 50 pages per request from any book held by libraries. due to limited staff on-site, we can process 3 digitization requests per patron, per day.” later, two of the libraries’ associate deans, the chair of the libraries’ acquisition and collections services department, and the head of the ars department met to discuss the book digitization workflow and procedures. the workflow was modified and finalized. figure 4 illustrates the on-demand book digitization workflow across multiple libraries’ departments. figure 4 on-demand book digitization workflow pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 123 from march 2020 to august 2020, the libraries’ staff retrieved 113 free e-books from open access resources, purchased 51 ebooks, and digitized 558 titles (multiple chapters for each title) from the libraries’ collections for its patrons. conclusion and future plans the on-going global epidemiological outbreak has posed challenges to our professional and personal lives. the global health crisis has illuminated potential reforms and offered the chance to rethink beyond traditional library operations and services. library professionals and the ars community today are collectively stronger than ever through global partnerships, information sharing networks, consortium efforts, and individual institutions’ best practices. members of the profession have demonstrated resilience and adaptability by quickly developing new tools and initiating new services to deliver information digitally, support online teaching and learning, and continue to provide communities with the resources they need. once again, the profession proved that the heart of any academic institution is still its library, and that without one, a university or college cannot achieve its educational mission. throughout the libraries’ closure, the ars department struck a fine balance between protecting staff and users’ safety and minimizing service disruption. department staff strived toward its mission and performed due diligence in their work despite living in an unprecedented and disruptive environment. ars continued its grantseeking activities and was awarded a statefunded grant during the pandemic. staff felt encouraged and rewarded by the department’s first two grant awards. with practice, the project team gained competence and confidence in developing fundable grant proposals. the team learned the mechanics of grantseeking and understood the complexity of the grant process. team members learned how to generate ideas for fundable technology grant proposals, how to prepare and complete the grant application, as well as how to manage the postaward grant funding. through reading funded grant proposals, the team realized that modern technologies have significantly changed the landscape for libraries and ars services. ars staff realized that they must stay up to date in current technology trends, explore innovative technologies, identify the most appropriate technology to improve workflow efficiency, and meet the information resource needs of the community they serve. the department will continue to pursue grantseeking activities in the future with a focus on technology innovation and improving workflow efficiency. specifically, ars will be looking for ideas and opportunities such as integrating artificial intelligence (ai) technology into the ars workflow. ai technology has the potential to open new horizons and shift library services in a new direction. library professionals should embrace advanced technologies and assist the upcoming generation with their evolving needs. the on-demand book digitization project opened a door to increase service capacity to support online teaching and learning. staff in the libraries across multiple departments have worked tirelessly during this incredibly challenging time. their efforts highlight their passion for library service and demonstrated their creativity and ingenuity to enrich users’ experience. through this project, the department advocated for and promoted open educational resources to the libraries’ researchers. ars staff connected users to their subject specialist to help fulfill user needs. the staff established collegial relationships among various departments within pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 124 the libraries. staff shared their knowledge and expertise, learned from one another, and strengthened their interpersonal relationships with colleagues across the libraries. moving forward, the department will continue to seek new partnership and collaboration opportunities in the ars community, across campuses, and with other libraries in the future. we will continue to scale up ars services to better serve users. references decker, e. n. (2021). reaching academic library users during the covid-19 pandemic: new and adapted approaches in access services. journal of access services,18(2), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/15367967.2021.1900740 de farber, b. g. (2021). creating fundable grant proposals: profiles of innovative partnerships. american library association. logue, n., humphrey, r., & chew, a. (2020). making a new-fashioned resource sharing pie under emergency conditions: a georgia recipe. journal of interlibrary loan, document delivery & electronic reserve, 29(3-5), 129–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2021.1934219 mackellar, p. h. (2011). writing successful technology grant proposals: a lita guide. american library association. massey, m., cohen, l., walker, p., & massie, d. (2020). community as a shared resource: how one consortium congregated, collaborated, and innovated its way through the covid-19 crisis. journal of interlibrary loan, document delivery & electronic reserve, 29(3-5), 145–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2021.1934219 oclc. (2020). realm. realm-oclc. retrieved october 26, 2021, from https://www.oclc.org/realm/home.html pang, x., beserock, l.j., & monahan, a. (2021) page, scan, send, reshelve: a mobile scanning station (cart) for interlibrary loan electronic document delivery service, journal of library resource sharing, 30(1-2), 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2022.2030842 von berg, d. (2012). a review of “writing successful technology grant proposals: a lita guide. journal of access services, 9(4), 219–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/15367967.2012.713769 world health organization. (2020). who director-general’s opening remarks at the media briefing on covid-19 11 march 2020. world health organization. retrieved october 8, 2021, from: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-directorgeneral-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020 https://doi.org/10.1080/15367967.2021.1900740 https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2021.1934219 https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2021.1934219 https://www.oclc.org/realm/home.html https://doi.org/10.1080/1072303x.2022.2030842 https://doi.org/10.1080/15367967.2012.713769 https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020 https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020 pang / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 125 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– about the author xuan pang is the chair of access and resource sharing department at george a. smathers libraries at the university of florida. her role is to support the teaching and research goals of university of florida faculty, students, and staff, by facilitating access to resources in circulating collections, and through interlibrary loan and document delivery services, print and electronic course reserves, and consortia resource sharing partnerships. 261_v7n2_pang_title+page 261_pang_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org starting a new midcareer librarian position during covid-19: lessons to take into the future rachel bomberger and amanda yesilbas abstract: this article chronicles the experience of two midcareer librarians who were new hires at the university of south florida one month before the entire campus was sent to work from home due to the covid-19 pandemic. they recount the obstacles encountered and how they overcame them. they include lessons learned and ways to improve a transition to remote working. specific areas that are discussed: technology, training, communication, self-advocacy, relationship building, and mentorship. to cite this article: bomberger, r., & yesilbas, a. (2022). starting a new midcareer librarian position during covid-19: lessons to take into the future. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.221 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.221 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 30-42. issn: 2474-3542 starting a new midcareer librarian position during covid-19: lessons to take into the future rachel bomberger and amanda yesilbas university of south florida, usa abstract this article chronicles the experience of two midcareer librarians who were new hires at the university of south florida one month before the entire campus was sent to work from home due to the covid-19 pandemic. they recount the obstacles encountered and how they overcame them. they include lessons learned and ways to improve a transition to remote working. specific areas that are discussed: technology, training, communication, self-advocacy, relationship building, and mentorship. keywords: working remotely, covid-19, pandemic, technology, training, academic librarian, electronic resource librarian, new hire introduction in any new job, there is a certain amount of training and orientation. even if you are midcareer librarians who have either held the same or similar positions at another company or institution, every place has its unique ways of doing things. it has its own procedures and processes for achieving the same objective, whether it is acquiring a new addition for the collection or figuring out how to connect to the common area printer. but what if after little over a month at your new position you are sent home to work for an indefinite period of time because of a pandemic? this is a narrative of two newly hired electronic resource librarians and how they dealt with training, technology, and communication in an environment where even tried and true procedures and processes had to be changed to fit the new normal. background the transition to remote work was challenging to everyone at the university of south florida (usf) libraries as they struggled to learn new tools and ways to communicate. the established staff and faculty had an easier time transitioning than the new hires working remotely for a couple of reasons. longtime employees had clearly established day-to-day work routines and, most importantly, had already built relationships and institutional knowledge. knowing job duties and who does what is essential, but the soft skills of how to work with individuals in an organization are equally vital for a well running workplace. all staff struggled learning how to use new tools and how to communicate in a virtual environment. moving from the traditional onsite library location with desks and conference tables, the staff struggled with what online work should look bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 31 like. should an office environment be replicated? how many meetings is too many meetings? should cameras be used? how to deal with isolation? how to handle meeting fatigue? how does one work from home? the whole library staff faced these challenges together. in some ways it was an equalizer for the new hires. everyone was lost and struggling with the new work reality, but the established staff knew how to work with each other. the new employees were unknown quantities and did not fit in already created routines and groups. the authors felt restrained in their ability to work and communicate as they did not know the personalities of their coworkers and did not wish to offend and start new careers on a bad note. this was exacerbated by the loss of body language that comes with the online environment. using teleconferencing without body language is akin to reading a room with closed eyes. the hiring of two new e-resource librarians was to be part of the rebuilding of the collections development team and the library faculty. due to hiring freezes the e-resource positions were the first faculty hired in over five years. this meant onboarding new faculty had not been done in some time and all current faculty were well established. the collections development department, of which the e-resources unit is a part, along with the fiscal units that support the work, were decimated by retirements and thrown into disarray by reorganization. with new people and new systems in play, the processes are being built from the ground up. part of the responsibility of the new e-resource positions is to create and refine workflows, and create supporting documentation. the sudden cut off from constant and direct access to in-office resources and supervisors, along with a lack of documentation, made starting a new position remotely even more challenging. this unprecedented experience of starting a new position remotely during a pandemic in a field that has traditionally been an onsite experience has been challenging but filled with interesting opportunities. there are advantages to coming into a position with no expectations about how things were done in the past and in person. as outsiders ignorant of precedent, the authors brought a fresh perspective on workflow and communication. as noted above, the faculty and staff were well established for years. the new hires came in with different experiences, styles, and expectations of how communication should occur, from things like how meetings should be conducted to how projects should be managed and organized. as new people looking in, the authors can offer suggestions and refinements to what had become the accepted day-to-day operation. as new employees, the authors are also the most desperate to receive information about their workplace for both job performance and acceptance into the wider culture. beyond the stressors of figuring out how to accomplish job duties, there is the need to figure out the rhythm and flow of the library year. covid-19 blew up the standard flow of the year, depriving the library staff of the social interactions of holidays, birthdays, celebration of achievements, and participation in the wider university culture. it was a real blow to integrating into the work culture. the new hires needed to learn fiscal cycles, time-reporting calendars, schedules of evaluations, frequency of standing meetings, and the myriad of other small details that make up the day-to-day ebb and flow of work in an academic library. this heightened their awareness of how communication worked with coworkers and supervisors as they tried to navigate a new career and environment. bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 32 the authors’ experiences as seasoned professionals entering a new position during the pandemic provide lessons that could be applicable moving forward both during and after the pandemic. at the university of south florida, it seems a hybrid work environment of both onand offsite might continue indefinitely. remote work appears to be here to stay in some capacity. even outside of the pandemic, librarians communicate every day with vendors and professional committees that span the globe. learning to work in the virtual environment is a fundamental skill that will be useful moving forward. but even if the authors were to return to the old “normal” of reporting on campus during regular business hours, it is still necessary to assess how an organization communicates and works with its staff. this paper presents the lessons learned while starting a new position during the pandemic that can be applied moving forward no matter the physical location. these suggestions come through the lens of professionals onboarding to new positions and what they need to successfully integrate into the job and workspace. literature review as the covid-19 crisis is ongoing the literature reflects the mutability of the situation and the responses being taken in the moment. for a professional coming into a new position during this unique time it is important to look at literature about the state of libraries during covid-19 and how library closures are affecting librarians. even prior to the covid-19 crisis, academic libraries were facing financial pressures and turning to canceling the “big deals” in response (aiwuyor, 2020). as states are deeply hurting for revenue due to covid-19, the situation has become exacerbated for academic institutions. as roger schonfeld, director of ithaka s+r's libraries, scholarly communication, and museums program, explains, "it's all contingent on what will enrollment look like, what will happen to state appropriations, and the potential for clawbacks of authorized state budget funding" (peet, 2020b). academic institutions are facing a profound uncertainty. libraries are having to come up with tough “survival strategies” about where to make cuts and when and how to lay off employees (peet, 2020b). bad communication and transparency at some libraries about layoffs and potential furloughs for staff are making a terrible situation worse causing stress and anxiety (peet, 2020a). this is hardly an ideal situation and time for a professional to be starting a new position with security. beyond budgetary concerns, the very way libraries operate day-to-day and the services being offered have changed to meet the challenge of covid-19. marshall breeding (2020) identifies as three of the biggest changes to library operations: closing physical facilities, rapid pivoting to all digital services, and librarians working from home. working from home is a unique challenge most librarians are experiencing for the first time. a literature review by ann craft shows there have been several case studies published on librarians working from home, but they have all been small-scale case studies affecting either one person or unit (craft, 2020). the case studies focus on the careful planning and approval processes that the participants had to go through to implement a new work environment, a planning process that could not be followed through given the very sudden closures due to covid-19 (craft, 2020). craft’s literature review shows that the work from home experiments were successful in terms of meeting work goals, but the social impacts are far more ambiguous. bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 33 the previous literature about telecommuting for library work exposes that there is socioeconomic inequity for success in working from home. this is a possible concern for a librarian beginning a new position. jennifer duncan wrote that in setting up a six-month telecommuting arrangement, she needed to get a support grant from the national science foundation’s advance program to make her cross-country telecommute work because the university library she worked for would not pay for essential hardware she needed for her job and required her to make a cross-country flight twice to report back to work with no reimbursement (duncan, 2008). in 2000, the university of new mexico offered remote work options to its cataloging team but since there was no institutional support of hardware or internet, it became an opportunity that only employees that could provide the services for themselves could participate in (bénaud et al., 2000). marshall breeding (2020) points out that for work at home to be successful, it will “add to the burden of technical support in the library” and put a burden on infrastructure . this is a necessary step if working from home is to be a viable, long-term strategy for librarians. technology the authors had just finished setting up our logins and were working on our first assignments when we went remote. fortunately, usf employees could login to my usf, usf’s virtual workplace which provides employees access to their email, microsoft 365 software, gems (the payroll and personnel management system), canvas, teams, and other learning and collaboration tools from most off-premises computers. usf provides a vpn login as well. the library’s electronic services were also available online remotely, including the integrated library system, libguides, and the interlibrary loan software. some of these are cloud systems which required a url and a login. others required the user to download software on to their home computer before they could login. as midcareer librarians, the authors did have the advantage of having at least worked with various integrated library systems and content management systems which made using these systems without faceto-face training much simpler. proactively, the library administration sent a survey to all library employees to determine if they could perform their job duties from home, if those duties require technology, and whether their technology at home was sufficient to make it work. being electronic resource librarians, most of our work is done with a computer. unfortunately, outside the workplace, access to computers, fast internet service, and software is not equal among all. some did not have access to a computer or only partial access because someone else in their home was also using it. others did not have adequate internet service causing the computer to slow down or disconnect from the university’s vpn. the library administration made it possible for employees who had the need to take home their work computers, monitors, keyboards, headsets, etc., by signing them out with the understanding that eventually they would be returning the equipment and themselves to campus once the crisis was over. the transition did not end there. now everyone had to be instructed on how to download and setup the vpn and those systems requiring a software download. instructions were both posted virtually and emailed. all relevant information needed to contact the it helpdesk was made bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 34 available. our area checked in with our supervisor on a daily basis through teams, so if anyone had difficulties, they could be addressed. teams became a powerful and essential tool in communicating with others, but there were many technical issues in the beginning. many people had never used teams on a regular basis, so they had to quickly learn. also, teams had never been used on such a large scale and sometimes crashed. not everyone had a camera and sometimes if they did, too many people using the video function slowed it down or it crashed. the number of people who could use teams at once had to keep being increased. lessons learned 1. do not assume that everyone has the same access and level of technology at home that they have at work. they do not. having this information and a plan before a crisis, such as covid19, a hurricane, etc., happens allows employees to transition to working remotely more quickly and prevents loss of working hours. 2. it behooves a library to have as many systems and software as possible, assuming they can be used properly, available remotely via vpn or in a cloud (privacy and security should always be considered). already having this ability for most of our systems prior to the pandemic helped immensely. 3. even without a pandemic, being able to conduct most of our job responsibilities productively from home helps provide some arguments for working at least a hybrid work schedule. in the future, having two days at home to conduct work that requires a quieter space than a cubicle can provide could possibly increase work productivity. be open to personnel working from home. if someone is not doing the work, it will be noticed. 4. concerning technology, when working from home, keep your work and home life separate. if you use your computer for entertainment, such as streaming videos, music, or gaming, you may want to designate which time of day you play and which time of day you work. for example, always work from 8am to 5pm and only use the computer for entertainment during evening hours. this prevents distractions during working hours. also, if you start associating your computer with work, if you have one, use another computer for play, so as to break up the hours sitting in one place and avoid spoiling your playtime thinking about work. training most businesses have some sort of standard orientation for new hires, regardless of your field. this includes onboarding training from human resources, information technology, accounting, and various other departments concerning such matters as benefits, setting up your computer, connecting to the local printer, and setting up automated pay. then, you are let loose with your supervisor to discuss expectations, procedures, and sharing institutional knowledge. during this period, you are introduced to your co-workers, told their responsibilities, how their job interacts with yours, and where they sit, so when you have a question, you can find them. going to your first meetings helps solidify faces and roles in your memory. unfortunately, this was about the time that the authors were sent home to work remotely. bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 35 initially, everyone (supervisors, staff, faculty, etc.) had to scramble with the technological logistics with working remotely. therefore, nontechnical training essentially stopped for a short period of time just to make sure that everyone could log into the necessary areas of the usf online tools in order to do their job. the authors had daily meetings with our supervisors to make sure the authors had all the support that the authors needed. once this was completed, the priority, as stated above, was to make sure the students were taken care of. one of our first tasks was creating a libguide of free and vetted e-resources online for students to use. having a familiarity with both of these tasks from prior library positions helped us tremendously. unfortunately, learning the way this particular library performed its day-to-day tasks was made more difficult by working remotely. the imparting of local knowledge, policies and procedures is much better done face-to-face than via teams. when you are new and have questions, sometimes there is a certain level of timidity in asking people with whom you have not spent much time. add to that not being able to just go by their office and knock on the door but having to call them on teams at home even though they are working, not always knowing if they are busy, and not being able to read their body language, makes it more intimidating. another concern is having to rely on written procedures that may be outdated or incomplete. fortunately, our supervisors held daily meetings with those whom the authors work most to discuss anything that the authors needed. this eventually became a monday, wednesday, and friday meeting as so not to create meeting burnout. communication was key in our training, but the authors couldn’t help feeling at a disadvantage for not being in the facility for our training. lessons learned 1. if you have a question, ask it. communication is key. do not be unnecessarily intimidated asking questions in the new normal. 2. if someone asks you a question, be patient and open to answering it. 3. having to rely more on written procedures gives everyone an opportunity to revisit and make changes to them. communication a study conducted on 5,453 finnish employees explores how the abrupt change to remote work due to covid-19 affected employees and how communication could moderate these effects. the study found that clarity of job requirements was a good predictor of an employee’s ability to transition to remote work (van zoonen et al., 2021). the study also found that pre-existing trust in working relationships was negatively affected by an employee’s working remotely. this could be interpreted to show that the stronger bonds employees have, the less satisfaction they feel working remotely. supporting this, the study found the increased communication technology use (ctu) could eliminate the negative results on trusting employees, meaning more and frequent use of communication can foster relationships and work satisfaction. interestingly, the organization’s communication did not affect employee’s ability to work remotely. this suggests that remote work bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 36 ability is reliant on interpersonal interactions and not the organizational communication of the library. communication and transmission of knowledge has been radically altered by covid-19 shutting down physical library spaces. everyone is struggling to learn the new tools and master the new pace and flow of online meetings. there is a new rhythm the authors must master in muting and unmuting, not talking over each other, and remembering to check the chat. conversations are often splintered and occurring in an online conference room, email, and chat all at the same time. it is a tricky balancing act. a librarian starting a new position during covid-19 cones into this already tense situation with a distinct disadvantage. as any experienced librarian knows, no task works within the isolation of their unit. the seemingly basic task of a renewal decision can cross between technical services, public services, administration, and fiscal units. it may even go outside the library completely for approval or legal review. as a newcomer to an institution, there is a lack of knowledge about how all the gears fit together. who needs to be talked to? what is the timing of things? what are the personalities? if lucky, some documentation exists to guide workflows but even that does not necessarily tell you who needs to be consulted, and certainly does not tell you anything about the person you are working with. do they want it early? can you trust them to meet a deadline? are they overwhelmed? are they detail oriented? how much or how little do they need in guidance? there is much more to know about how to get work done an institution beyond simple onboarding. some additional communication difficulties faced by being new and working solely online are: • not knowing everybody on the call or not knowing them in any other way but on calls. • not being able to read physical body language and not knowing co-workers long enough to know how they would ordinarily be reacting. • not having the chance to catch someone before or after a meeting for a one-on-one interaction. • being overwhelmed by different tools and communications from an institution and not knowing which to filter out and which to act on. • not doing serendipitous brainstorming in chance encounters. • difficulty building shared trust. • meeting burnout. • a sense of having imposter syndrome. lessons learned bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 37 1. listen studies show that 40%-60% of communication time is spent listening instead of speaking, reading, or writing (purdy, 1997). listening is key to effective communication but can very easily be forgotten when working remotely. judi brownell, in her book listening: attitudes, principles, and skills (brownell, 2017), lays out the hurier model for listening that gives a framework for how to listen effectively: h=hearing u=understanding r=remembering i=interpreting e=evaluating r=responding the nevada legislature has a document posted online (https://www.leg.state.nv.us/app/interimcommittee/rel/document/3460) that breaks down how to interpret and use this framework while in a meeting, creating a practical application. some selections that apply to remote work include: develop hearing • do not multi-task when listening—focus entirely on the speaker • eliminate distractions increase understanding • ask for clarification when vocabulary or jargon is unfamiliar • restate to ensure that you have understood completely • refrain from interrupting the person speaking improve remembering • quickly identify good reasons to remember what you hear • stay calm and focused—stress interferes with memory interpret accurately • listen for emotional messages as well as words bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 38 • take the context of the communication into account • recognize and account for individual differences evaluate wisely • listen to the entire message before responding • recognize the influence of your personal bias and values • differentiate between the ideas presented and the person speaking respond appropriately • be aware of your unintentional nonverbal communication • distinguish among different types of response—including judgments, empathy, opinions, and questions • expand your behavioral flexibility—make choices based on the needs of the situation rather than your habits and comfort level listening is a key skill in communication that is easily lost in a remote work environment. it is difficult to both read and use body language online. it is also easy to become distracted when not physically present when communicating. for these reasons, it is essential to actively concentrate to improve work and relationships. self-advocacy midcareer librarians are sought out for their experience and skill set. they have something to offer to the dialog and need to speak out in conversation. ask the questions needed to get work done successfully. this not only shows engagement but demonstrates what kind of communication and information the librarian needs. being part of the work will also make you a known quantity. one of the biggest difficulties being a new employee is the need to be integrated into workflows. someone, usually a supervisor, needs to pass on work, demonstrate the work, and integrate the new librarian into the communication chains. this is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in any new position, made more difficult by working remotely. it is easy for the trainer to keep doing the work because it takes time and a break in workflow to pass it on, and it is easy for a new employee to be invisible in an online environment. the new librarian in this case must advocate for themselves to be inserted into the workflow. ask for the work in online meetings and follow-up in emails. the new librarian needs to offer themselves loudly and persistently in the online environment. as experienced employees, midcareer librarians should know what they need in order to be successful at work and should not be afraid to ask for it. bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 39 lessons learned 1. ask questions. 2. ask for work to be relinquished to you. 3. make sure you are heard and your presence is felt in the virtual space. 4. do not be afraid to put yourself out there. you were hired for your skill and their need. relationship building creating and building relationships is a challenge in an online environment in a work setting. meetings are called to specifically address some aspect of a job. being focused purely on the work subject leaves no space for socialization, but unchecked chatting can lead to the derailment of a meeting and wasted time. a good compromise is to have check-in meetings. these less formal meetings promote conversation among members. it is also useful to have a leader or meeting member who might ask leading questions or share anecdotes. to respect people’s time, schedule these meetings during slower work periods like a friday afternoon. the burden is on the meeting participants to consciously participate in conversation. communicating online can be awkward and it takes effort to overcome the limitations. lessons learned 1. make space for conversations online. 2. participate in conversation to deepen relationships. 3. respect people’s time but balance it with the need to build working relationships. mentorship mentorship at the midcareer level looks different than that of a new career librarian. a newly hired, midcareer librarian needs a sympathetic person who is intimately familiar with the specific requirements of the institution. psychosocial mentorship may be a better fit in these situations. in this model of mentorship, the mentor may encompass role modeling, counseling, friendship, and providing acceptance and confirmation (kram, 1985). the mentor will be able to fill in critical information a new hire may need but not necessarily get through formal channels, such as advice on evaluations, timeline, and promotion. an ideal mentor will help the new hire through the difficult first year and keep them informed of upcoming events both formal and informal. the mentor can serve as a good source of institutional bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 40 knowledge and culture. since the mentor and mentee are peers, the relationship can grow into a mutually beneficial arrangement, and each can be a sounding board for the other. mentors can also serve the important function of helping their colleagues with racial microaggressions, imposter syndrome, and burn-out (farrell et al., 2017). they can offer support, encourage their mentee to speak out, or advocate on their behalf should it become necessary (farrell et al., 2017). lessons learned 1. a mentor can help the librarian become familiar with their institution in ways formal supervision and communication do not. 2. mentors can serve as emotional help and strength in overcoming common stressors and difficulties in the workplace. kindness the covid-19 crisis is hard on everyone at an institution. be kind to yourself and everyone you interact with. 1. assume good intentions. 2. remember to treat yourself with forgiveness in this new situation. conclusion as of december 2021, the authors have thus far survived covid-19 and their first, nearly two years at the university of south florida library. they are still working from home, but are allowed to come into the office, if needed or desired. thus far, neither author has regularly scheduled days that they work in the office. for the most part, they are trained. communication and navigating the technology has become easier with experience. there are a few takeaways from the experience that the authors would like to express that could be implemented in other emergency situations. technology businesses and educational institutions should have plans for remote working in case of an emergency. this should include a survey of their employees’ technological needs to be able to work from home, so that if the need arises, they are ready to fulfill them. the university of south florida let their employees take their computers home. some of these computers were bulky. perhaps, as the older computers are retired, they could look into purchasing laptop computers with a docking port set at their office desk. this way they could just take the computer home when needed, even in non-emergencies, such as to conferences. this allows work to continue whether the library has to close for building maintenance, a hurricane, or a pandemic. also, vpn and electronic resources that can be logged into remotely should be provided. bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 41 hybrid work schedules now that it has been shown that personnel can be productive from home, at least in the authors’ case, a hybrid schedule of working part of the week remotely and part of it in the office can be more productive than just working at the office. when working on products that require quiet and no interruptions, working at home can be more conducive than a desk in a cubicle farm. for example, work mondays and fridays from home and tuesdays through thursdays from the office. it may be easier to have everyone on the same schedule, so meetings can be scheduled the days that everyone is in the office. etiquette new forms of communication and new situations can make for tense and sometimes unpleasant interactions. using new telecommuting tools requires a new etiquette to be developed. here are some suggestions based on experiences working remotely during covid-19: 1. do not multitask during meetings. you are not fully listening while participating in another activity. 2. do not speak over another person. wait for them to finish. 3. as a speaker, pause at the end of a thought to allow for conversation. do not monologue. 4. do not start side conversations. teleconferencing does not allow for multiple conversations to be happening. 5. do not repeatedly bring up technical difficulties. clearly state the problem once and try to move on as seamlessly as possible. constant repetition of problems only frustrates the listener and brings negativity to the proceedings. 6. consider how you would behave in an in-person meeting. do not engage in behavior you would not do in person. 7. do not make the speaker feel alone. meetings should be an interaction. they should not wonder if they were disconnected. 8. give participants a chance to walk away and think about complex problems. references aiwuyor, j. (2020, may 14). more research libraries decline “big deal” subscription contracts with publishers. association of research libraries. retrieved january 2, 2021, from https://www.arl.org/news/more-research-libraries-decline-big-deal-subscriptioncontracts-with-publishers/ https://www.arl.org/news/more-research-libraries-decline-big-deal-subscription-contracts-with-publishers/ https://www.arl.org/news/more-research-libraries-decline-big-deal-subscription-contracts-with-publishers/ bomberger and yesilbas / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 42 bénaud, c., steinhagen, e. n., & moynahan, s. a. (2000). flexibility in the management of cataloging. cataloging & classification quarterly, 30(2-3), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1300/j104v30n02_08 breeding, m. (2020). a global crisis may reshape library services. computers in libraries, 40(4), 9. brownell, j. (2017). listening: attitudes, principles, and skills (6th ed.). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315441764 craft, a. r. (2020). remote work in library technical services: connecting historical perspectives to realities of the developing covid-19 pandemic. serials review, 46(3), 227–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2020.1806658 duncan, j. (2008). working from afar: a new trend for librarianship. college & research libraries news, 69(4), 216–219. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.69.4.7972 farrell, b., alabi, j., whaley, p., & jenda, c. (2017). addressing psychosocial actors with library mentoring. portal (baltimore, md.), 17(1), 51–69. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2017.0004 kram, k. (1985). mentoring at work: developmental relationships in organizational life. scott foresman. peet, l. (2020a). pandemic-caused austerity drives furloughs, layoffs: part-time and contract workers, smaller libraries hit hardest. library journal, 145(7), 8. peet, l. (2020b). budgeting for the new normal: as covid-related budget cuts hit libraries, directors and deans must decide what their communities need most. library journal, 145(9), 14. purdy, m., & borisoff, d. (eds.) (1997). listening in everyday life: a personal and professional approach. (2nd ed.) university press of america. the hurier listening model nevada legislature https://www.leg.state.nv.us/app/interimcommittee/rel/document/3460 accessed 11/28/2021 van zoonen,w., sivunen, a., blomqvist, k., olsson, t., ropponen, a., henttonen, k., vartiainen, m. (2021). factors influencing adjustment to remote work: employees’ initial responses to the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of environmental research and public health, 18, 6966. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136966 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors rachel a. bomberger is the electronic resources and serials librarian, collection and discovery department at the university of south florida library, tampa, florida, a position that began in february of 2020. previous work experiences include library director of the ussocom/jsou library, macdill afb, florida and metadata/catalog librarian, mckay archives at florida southern college, lakeland, florida. she has a ma in library and information science from the university of south florida and a ba in american studies from the university of notre dame. amanda yesilbas is the electronic resources librarian, collection and discovery department at the university of south florida library, tampa, florida. she has a ma in library and information science from the university of south florida and a ba in art history from the university of florida. https://doi.org/10.1300/j104v30n02_08 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315441764 https://doi.org/10.1080/00987913.2020.1806658 https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.69.4.7972 https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2017.0004 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136966 221-title page 221-bomberger-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in tanzania martin elihaki kanyika abstract: this study examined factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in tanzania. a quantitative research approach, the descriptive survey study design, was adopted for this study. data was collected using online questionnaires. microsoft office excel 2010 was used in analyzing quantitative data. the findings of this study showed that the majority of the students were not aware of the librarianship career path until they joined the library and information science program. the findings of the study further revealed job opportunities, personal interest, and desire for helping people among the factors influencing students to join librarianship. moreover, the study findings showed that negative perceptions towards librarianship, nature of its work, and lack of appreciation from the employers and clients were the factors that discouraged many of the students from joining librarianship. in general, the study concluded that the majority of the students chose librarianship as the last option after being denied from other professions. accordingly, the study recommends more means of making students aware of librarianship as a career path; for example, mentors and teachers are trusted by students and can help promote awareness about librarianship careers. additionally, employers and clients are advised to better appreciate the efforts devoted by librarians as a whole. to cite this article: kanyika, m. e. (2022). factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in tanzania. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 126-137. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.254 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.254 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 126-137 issn: 2474-3542 factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in tanzania martin elihaki kanyika department of library and information services, eastern africa statistical training centre, tanzania abstract this study examined factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in tanzania. a quantitative research approach, the descriptive survey study design, was adopted for this study. data was collected using online questionnaires. microsoft office excel 2010 was used in analyzing quantitative data. the findings of this study showed that the majority of the students were not aware of the librarianship career path until they joined the library and information science program. the findings of the study further revealed job opportunities, personal interest, and desire for helping people among the factors influencing students to join librarianship. moreover, the study findings showed that negative perceptions towards librarianship, nature of its work, and lack of appreciation from the employers and clients were the factors that discouraged many of the students from joining librarianship. in general, the study concluded that the majority of the students chose librarianship as the last option after being denied from other professions. accordingly, the study recommends more means of making students aware of librarianship as a career path; for example, mentors and teachers are trusted by students and can help promote awareness about librarianship careers. additionally, employers and clients are advised to better appreciate the efforts devoted by librarians as a whole. keywords: librarianship, library and information science, profession, library, librarian, career introduction librarianship is one of the oldest professions that emerged in the nineteenth century (19th c) following the industrial revolution. this career came as a result of the increased intricacies in the division of labor and the increase in quantity and complexity of practical, technical, and theoretical knowledge and information that are put to work in distinctive work-related routines (zhang, 2007). due to its nature, librarianship appears to be a profession that is service-oriented as it is based in serving the society by providing timely, accurate, and relevant information that aims at contributing to societal development. indeed, librarianship is also considered as an intellectual profession as it is there to serve other professions by providing them skills and kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 127 knowledge for retrieving different materials from the library collection (chiu et al., 2017). this is due to the fact that, librarian look for information, process it, package it, preserve it, and finally disseminate to the intended users regardless of its format (choy, 2008; damilola, ajayi & adetayo, 2018). basically, the nature of the work of librarians is to serve people by solving their needs by making sure that they access exact and relevant information on time, organizing and make knowledge accessible to all. career can be considered as a “job, or profession for which one undergoes regulated education and training over a period of time, and which one intends to follow for the whole of one’s life. it is thus a chosen pursuit, life work and success in one’s profession” (popoola, 2004, p.58). salami (1999; as cited in issa & nwalo, 2018) observed in the developing countries, including tanzania, many adolescents drifted into careers that seem to be unsuitable due to various reasons such as ignorance, peer pressure, recommendations from their friends and parents, and more importantly, the status associated with certain jobs without proper occupational help and counseling. as a result, the majority become partly or even completely unsuited for their careers, since they find themselves in careers where they could not fulfill their needs. therefore, becoming unable to bring positive contributions to the society and finally become a liability instead of an asset to the nation (issa & nwalo, 2018). librarianship has all the elements similar to other professions and careers. despite being one of the oldest professions in the world, it is also one of the youngest professions in the developing countries like tanzania. moreover, librarianship is a career devoted to serving public interests through provision of the right information to the right people at the right time (marshall et al., 2009). the choice of any career or profession, including librarianship, is influenced by several factors (chiu et al., 2017). adanu & amekuedee (2010) and bello (1996) categorized these factors into three. external factors (such as directly or indirectly by one or more of the following: parents, friends, mass media, employer and counseling), professional factors (such as stability, secure future, social status and prestige of the profession, satisfactory earnings and acquisition of knowledge) and intrinsic factors (such as the use of one’s special ability, skill, creativity and the opportunity to work with people). kerka (1998; as cited in abban, 2019) mentioned personality, interest, self-respect, cultural identity, globalization, socialization, role models, social support, and available resources as some of the factors that influenced people to join librarianship. other factors include personal interest based on the intention of need to develop, and love for library work (taylor et al., 2010; chiu et al., 2017). experience shows that most of the students, specifically in the african context, have limited knowledge about librarianship as a possible careers option. in fact, most of the students join librarianship not because they are interested in pursuing a career in it, but instead they see a delightful opportunity for the development of their education (adanu & amekuedee, 2010). furthermore, some students join librarianship after they have been rejected from other professions (adanu & amekuedee, 2010). as such, it appears that most of them use the profession as a stepping stone towards reaching their ambitions. consequently, this has resulted in the creation of many librarians with no glamour, admiration, or prestige that other professions seem to enjoy and adore (newbutt & sen, 2009; adanu & amekuedee, 2010). despite the wide range of career opportunities that might inspire students to opt for any profession which they think is beneficial now and in their future, the factors that influence them to join librarianship have not been extensively investigated (lo et al., 2017) particularly in tanzania. in other words, studies that have precisely focused on tanzanian context are kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 128 irretrievable. as such, it is not clear whether these factors have been identified or not in the country. it is through this milieu that this study has raised an interest to find out factors that inspire students in the choice of librarianship as their career in tanzania, using the case of moshi co-operative university. specifically, the study thought to answer three research questions: rq1. what was the level of awareness of students towards librarianship as a career? rq2. what were the factors that motivate students to join librarianship as their career? rq3. what were the factors that discourage students to join librarianship as their career? literature review choosing a career is a tricky task which needs high sense of care, as it estimates one’s ability, values and skills towards success in the future. this process is influenced by several internal and external factors (laloo, 2013; muraguri, 2011; brown, 2002). lack of awareness of possible career paths, such as librarianship, in developing countries is a public concern. during the selection of the career, most of the students attain information from their parents or guardians, friends, teachers and mass media or social interaction that help to make them aware in deciding their future careers (baloch & shah, 2014). moreover, it also observed that most of the students were not aware of the librarianship rather they were influenced by familial, societal and social contacts. however, for healthier career decision making, students are supposed to be familiarized with varied careers from their childhood age (inchara, gayathri & priya, 2019). furthermore, most of the tanzanian students who completed secondary school were not aware of the career they would like to pursue as they did not receive appropriate advice and direction. in such a case, they go for a certain career following the inspiration they get from neighbors’ ways of life and the economic and social status of others (woasey, 2015; puja, 2001; mvungi, 2009). interest in helping people and interest in reading books have been among the factors motivating students to join librarianship. students feel that working in the library will give them an opportunity and enough time in reading books of their interest (moniarou-papaconstantinou et al., 2010; lo et al., 2015; farley-larmour, 2000). decisions made by students to join librarianship were influenced by either internal values or innumerable external forces such as a stable working environment, job security, opportunity for intellectual development, room for career advancement and career change (lo et al., 2015). ard et al. (2006), hallam & partridge (2005) and lo et al. (2015) both found the job market as one of the factors that highly motivate students at the university of alabama school of library and information studies for choosing librarianship as a career. when compared to other programs, they see librarianship as a profession with a wider job opportunity. lo et al. (2015) found that the nature of its work has been the other factors influencing students towards joining librarianship. due to the flexibility associated with the working schedule, attracted a lot of students specifically female since females kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 129 bear the caregiving duties therefore, they need enough and balanced time. however, even men are attracted since they get ample time to do their private issues. rawayau (2019) and issa & nwalo (2008) in their studies found that negative perception from the users and employers towards librarianship as a profession has been one of the factors that discourage most of the students from joining librarianship. they observed that, librarians have nothing more to do other than arranging books on the shelves. also, a notation that librarianship is a female-concentrated profession has been one of the major factors discouraging men from joining librarianship (lupton, 2006; alansari, 2011). men tend to strive for high paying occupations, which therefore make librarianship a last resort (alansari, 2011). adanu & amekuedee (2010) found low salaries as among the factors that discourage most of the students from not joining librarianship from the onset of their career. those who chose the profession did so as the only alternative left. still, others chose librarianship after failing out of other options. furthermore, in situations where a few have decided to take up the profession, they did that with remorse. methodology this study employed a survey research design because it helped in answering all the questions this study sought to answer (yin, 2003), but also in understanding the analysis of quantitative data collected (saunders, lewis & thornhill, 2012). the study was conducted at moshi cooperative university (mocu). in this case, mocu was purposely selected because of its long history in issuing librarianship programs including certificate and diploma. the population for this study comprised all fresher’s and on-going students who are in diploma level particularly those who are pursuing librarianship studies. the sample size for this study was 120 respondents. probability sampling techniques, specifically simple random technique, was used to select 60 respondents from the fresher’s students (diploma i) and the other 60 respondents from the ongoing students (diploma ii). primary data were gathered directly from the respondents in the field through online questionnaires. a total of 120 online questionnaires were sent to the respondents through their email addresses. the online questionnaire was designed and disseminated to the respondents by using survey monkey. open and closed-ended questions were designed to reflect the study objectives. secondary data were collected from books, dissertations, research papers, journal articles (both electronic and print) and workshop papers. the validity of a study was tested through a content validity approach whereby empirical studies related to this study were checked in so as to find the relevance of the questions set up to the respondents. for ethical purposes, all clearances were obtained from the relevant authorities before the actual fieldwork has to be done. the researcher further informed the respondents about the potentiality of the study and guaranteed confidentiality to their responses. quantitative data was generated in the study. the analysis of statistical data was done using microsoft office excel 2010. thus, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were computed and the results were further presented in tables and figures. kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 130 findings and discussion demographic distribution the study sought to find the existing relationship between gender and the selection of the library and information science (lis) program. the findings of the study indicated that out of 120 participated respondents, the majority were female (65%) followed by male (35%). figure 1 gender distribution of the lis students. the results (figure 1) of the findings indicated that, in general, female dominated compared to male in the choice of lis program. the dominance of female over male could be attributed to the notion perceived by the majority that librarianship has been traditionally a female-concentrated profession. these findings relate to that of lupton (2006) and alansari (2011) who both found the dominance of female over men in the choice of librarianship. on the other hand, the results reveal that men join the lis profession as a last option after being denied from other professions. the other contributory factor for the dominance of females over men could be the working schedule of the lis profession. when comparing with other profession, librarianship is among the few profession which allow time flexibility in the working place, therefore, it attracts most of the female due to the fact that women need enough time to take care of their family so they need to balance family and work and therefore, they see librarianship as their best choice whereas men concentrated on the high paying occupations (alansari, 2011; betz & luzzo, 1996; weitzman, 1994). these findings are supported with that of lo et al. (2015) and busayo (2017) who both found flexibility in the working schedule led more females to be attracted with the librarianship than men and therefore, dominated in the choice of lis program when compared to men. 42; 35% 78; 65% kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 131 students awareness on lis program also, the study sought to examine the level of awareness of the students to the lis program. the findings indicate that most of the students (68) were not aware concerning librarianship while few (52) students were aware about librarianship and more important they considered it as their first choice during the application period, as figure 2 illustrated. figure 2 level of awareness about librarianship. as indicated in the findings in figure 2, the majority of the students were not aware of librarianship as a career option. most of the students disclose that they didn’t consider librarianship in their application, and surprisingly they found themselves into the profession after being denied from the other professions. basing on the findings, one could argue that librarianship possibly is among the profession which does not attract most of the students when compared to other professions. professions such as medicine, pilot, accountancy, and law are some of the professions which are considered as a dream profession to many or profession which majority of the students wish to study from their childhoods (issa & nwalo, 2008). among the few reasons that make librarianship to be one of the unpopular and unattractive professions could be due to the nature of its work, low social status, poor image of being librarian and unattractive working environment (deeming & chelin, 2001). these findings concur with that of alansari (2011) and simon & taylor (2011) who both found most of the students confessed that, before joining lis they were not aware of librarianship and they were surprised they have just drifted into lis profession. however, few of them admitted that they were aware about librarianship even before they joined lis, and that they even made it as their first choice during the application session. and they believed that, librarianship is one of the professions which is made to serve people and not to gain profit. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 yes no 52 68 kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 132 sources of selecting lis program furthermore, the study sought to identify the sources from which students came to know about librarianship as a career. in this case, the study adapted and modified sources from busayo's (2017) study, sources adapted were mentor, parent and relation. the findings show that mass media were the major (49; 40.8%) source for many students while mentors were the sources for the few students (9; 7.5%) as table 1 illustrates: table 1 sources of selecting lis program sources frequency percentage ranking friend 32 26.7 2 parent 19 15.8 3 mentor 9 7.5 5 mass media 49 40.8 1 social interaction 11 9.2 4 total 120 100 source:field data (2021) results indicated that mass media dominated as the main source helping students become aware of librarianship as a possible career path. this showed the increasing efforts played by institutions offering lis programs to inform the general public about librarianship. additionally, friends and parents appear to be the other major sources informing the respondents about librarianship. surprisingly, findings showed mentors were the least utilized source of information making students aware of librarianship. the nature of work of librarianship has a close relationship with the nature of work of the mentor/teacher and therefore, it was expected mentor to be one of the major sources of informing students about librarianship. the findings were contrary to that of busayo (2017) who found mentors to be the major source informing students about librarianship followed by parents and relations. this observed difference could be attributed to advertisement costs. for example, in tanzania, when the application window opens, most of the academic institutions use mass media as their main platforms of making the general public aware about all the issues concerning the admission of various programs including lis. and this maybe is due to the low costs of advertisements. in nigeria, as opposed to tanzania, they use teachers in secondary schools as their main sources of informing students about librarianship, perhaps due to the higher advertising costs set by mass media. kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 133 motivating factors in the choice of lis program the study also examined the factors that influenced students in the choice of lis program. in this regard, the study adapted and modified motivating factors from lo's et al. (2015) studies, motivating factors adapted were being interested in lis, pleasure in helping people, room for intellectual development and job security, and stable working environment. results of the study indicate that job market/opportunity was the most influencing factor for many (59; 49%) followed by personal interest (30; 25%). interest in reading books (5; 4%) was the least motivating factor. see figure 3. figure 3 factors motivating diploma students in the choice of lis program. as the findings attest, the majority of the respondents were influenced to join a lis program due to the job opportunities available after graduation. this can be attributed to the scarcity of librarians particularly in developing countries, which has created a lot of librarianship vacancies. these findings relate to that of hallam & partridge (2005), ard et al. (2006) and lo et al. (2015) who also found job opportunity and job security as among the major factors motivating many students to join the lis program. many students feel that, by studying the lis program they may directly be employed after graduation, but also some of them feel that by being librarians alone they have a wide chance of being employed when compared to other professionals. additionally, personal interest also has been observed to be among the factors influencing most of the students to join the lis program. this can be contributed by the nature of its work. librarianship has been one of the few professions with a dynamic in a working schedule and therefore, attracts people who have multiple duties, specifically females and this is 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 job opportunity desire of helping people interest in reading books personal interest 59 26 5 30 kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 134 due to the work flexibility associated with it. all over the world, many librarians are working in shifts which give them enough time to participate effectively in their employment as well as in their personal issues. this has been more favourable to females who need more time to take care of their family. these findings are supported with that of betz & luzzo (1996), weitzman (1994) and lo et al. (2015) who both found that females are more interested with the librarianship due to its working schedule, as women bare family caregiving duties and therefore, they feel librarianship as their best profession as it gives them working flexibility. moreover, the study findings unexpectedly found desire of helping people and interest in reading books as the least motivating factors many students to join the lis program. librarianship is a field with a core aim of helping people (lo et al., 2015); therefore it was expected to be the leading motivating factor. these findings are contrary to that of houdyshell, robles & yi (1999), gordon & nesbitt’s (1999), hallam & partridge (2005), moniaroupapaconstantinou et al. (2010), ard et al. (2006), lo et al. (2015) and taylor et al. (2010) who both found desire of helping people and love for books as the leading factors influencing majority of the students to join lis program. this shows that, the majority of the students have the passion of helping people from other professions but also, they feel that working in the library will give them enough time to read books of their choice. factors discouraging students from lis programs the study also investigated the factors that discourage diploma students from lis programs. both respondents in the study mentioned negative perceptions toward librarianship, nature of its work and lack of appreciation from the employers and clients as among the major factors that discouraged them in the choice of lis program. some people believe that librarianship is all about arranging books on the shelves (issa & nwalo, 2008), it is through this notion that most of the students are discouraged to join the lis program. it was observed that most of the students did not make the lis program as their first choice during the time of the application. instead, they considered it as the last resort after being denied from other options. however, some of them did not choose it at all but surprisingly they found they have accidentally drifted into librarianship. these findings corroborate with that of issa & nwalo (2008), deeming & chelin (2001) and alansari (2011) who both found majority of the respondents did not make lis program as their first choice and others did not choose at all because of the negative perceptions towards librarianship but also for those who have got employed, their employers as well as clients did not appreciate to what they are doing. conclusion and recommendations based on the findings, the study concludes that the majority of the students were not aware of the librarianship before joining the lis program. they just found them drifted into librarianship after being denied from other options. moreover, there was a dominance of females over men. working schedule of librarianship appears to be the key factors that attracted majority of females into the lis program since females need to balance between working and taking care of the family. also, mass media are observed to be the major sources of informing the public about librarianship. low costs of advertisement seem to be the main reason for many tertiary institutions to depend more on mass media. furthermore, the study found job opportunity, kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 135 personal interests and desire of helping people to be the factors influencing students to join lis program. scarcity of librarians and nature of the library duties that allow flexible schedules attract and inspire most of the students into joining lis. lastly, the study findings found negative perceptions toward librarianship, nature of its work and lack of appreciation to be the major factors that discourage many from joining lis program. the study recommends that in order to increase awareness to the general public concerning librarianship, it is important for mentors and teachers in primary and secondary schools to spread awareness of librarianship as a career path. since mentors are trusted by their students, it is very easy for them to convince their students to choose the lis program when joining the tertiary level. moreover, it is recommended that employers and clients better appreciate what librarians are doing and appreciate the efforts devoted by librarians during searching and disseminating of information in order to create a good image about librarianship and encourage more in joining the lis program. references abban, s. 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(2015). choice of library and information science in a rapidly changing information landscape: a systematic literature review. library management, 36(8-9), 584–608. doi:10.1108/lm-04-2015-0022 muraguri, j. (2011). ‘factors influencing degree choices among female undergraduate students at the university of nairobi – a case study of the 2010/2011 cohort’. [unpublished master’s research project, university of nairobi]. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90785 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1871 https://eprints.qut.edu.au/1971/1/1971.pdf https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajlais/article/view/26196 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed421641.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2015.1059993 https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616654961 kanyika / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 137 mvungi, g. (2009). school-based factors influence students’ choices of teaching science as career: the case of government secondary schools ilala district. [unpublished master’s dissertation, university of dar-es-salaam]. newbutt, s., & sen, b. (2009). what impression do young people have of librarianship as a career? [conference presentation]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303547656 puja, g. (2001). moving against the grain: the expectations of tanzanian female undergraduate students of university of dar es-salam. [doctoral dissertation, university of toronto]. tspace. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/15988 salami, s. (1999). "relationship between work values and vocational interests among high school students in ibadan”. nigerian african journal of educational research, 5(2), 65– 74. saunders, m., lewis, p., & thornhill, a. (2012). research methods for business students (6th ed.). london: pearson. simon, a., & taylor, m. (2011). career history and motivations for choosing lis: a case study at aberystwyth university. library review 60(9), 803–815. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531111176817 taylor, s., perry, r., barton, j., & spencer, b. (2010). a follow-up study of the factors shaping the career choices of library school students at the university of alabama. reference & user services quarterly 50(1), 35–47. rawayau, u. (2019). the effect of negative perception of librarianship on the job performance of graduates in nigeria. global scientific journals, 7(9). http://www.globalscientificjournal.com woasey, f. (2015). factors influencing the career choice of undergraduate students in the humanities of the university of ghana. [unpublished master’s thesis, university of ghana]. yin, r. (2003). case study research: design and methods, (3rd ed.). sage. zhang, w. (2007). why is: ‘understanding undergraduate students' intentions to choose an information system major’. journal of information systems education, 18(4), 447–458. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/166738/ ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author martin elihaki kanyika is a librarian at eastern africa statistical training center, dar es salaam-tanzania. he obtained bachelor of library and information management at open university of tanzania; master of arts in information studies at university of dar es salaam, tanzania; and currently a phd’s student on phd of library information systems at al-farabi kazakh national university, kazakhstan. his research areas of interest are hiv/aids information, media and communication, librarianship and career path. contacts: department of library services, eastern africa statistical training center, tanzania. email: mekitizo@gmail.com, martin.kanyika@eastc.ac.tz https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303547656 https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/15988 https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531111176817 http://www.globalscientificjournal.com/ https://www.learntechlib.org/p/166738/ mailto:mekitizo@gmail.com mailto:martin.kanyika@eastc.ac.tz 254_v7n2_kanyika_title+page 254-finalfinal_author+corrected_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org academic libraries in ghana and their strategies for coping with the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic perpetua s. dadzie, monica mensah danquah, and kwesi gyesi abstract: in march 2020, institutions of higher education shut down in compliance with the directives of the president of ghana to curb the spread of covid-19. in july 2020, when the lockdown restrictions were eased, universities resumed teaching, learning, and research in order to continue the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. universities and their libraries immediately adapted to online teaching and the delivery of services and resources to their patrons even though most of them were largely unprepared for this ‘new normal’ experience. this paper adopts the qualitative research design which comprised documentary evidence of experiences of ten public and private universities libraries in ghana with regard to their resources, services, facilities and staff as well as impact on library users during the pandemic. findings reveal the strict compliance of the covid -19 protocols and sanitation practices, the increased use of online databases, social media interventions and virtual training among others. the different strategies adopted by university libraries in ghana are worth sharing and lessons learned provide a unique opportunity for academic librarians to rethink their key roles and core values in supporting the teaching and learning of their institutions during this very challenging time and the future. to cite this article: dadzie, p. s., danquah, m. m. & gyesi, k. (2022). academic libraries in ghana and their strategies for coping with the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 30-45. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.232 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.232 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 30-45 issn: 2474-3542 academic libraries in ghana and their strategies for coping with the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic perpetua s. dadzie, monica mensah danquah, and kwesi gyesi university of ghana, ghana abstract in march 2020, institutions of higher education shut down in compliance with the directives of the president of ghana to curb the spread of covid-19. in july 2020, when the lockdown restrictions were eased, universities resumed teaching, learning, and research in order to continue the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. universities and their libraries immediately adapted to online teaching and the delivery of services and resources to their patrons even though most of them were largely unprepared for this ‘new normal’ experience. this paper adopts the qualitative research design which comprised documentary evidence of experiences of ten public and private universities libraries in ghana with regard to their resources, services, facilities and staff as well as impact on library users during the pandemic. findings reveal the strict compliance of the covid -19 protocols and sanitation practices, the increased use of online databases, social media interventions and virtual training among others. the different strategies adopted by university libraries in ghana are worth sharing and lessons learned provide a unique opportunity for academic librarians to rethink their key roles and core values in supporting the teaching and learning of their institutions during this very challenging time and the future. keywords: academic libraries, covid-19 pandemic, coping strategies, university libraries, ghana introduction since january 2020, libraries around the world have been affected by the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic. the myriad challenges that came along with covid-19 have forced libraries to adapt and adopt technology as a viable and valuable option to ensure fulfilment of the educational needs of the stakeholders and in overcoming various obstacles in this pandemic time (dadhe & dubey, 2020). indeed, libraries around the globe experienced the deferral of inperson services and loss of access to physical collections. nevertheless, like most libraries in africa and especially in ghana, library services activities were predominantly provided using the face-to-face approach, and hence the provision of digital information services via online platforms since covid-19 posed a number of challenges to library professionals and its patrons. in order to comply with institutions’ lockdowns, ghanaian university libraries in march 2020, suspended all physical interactions with patrons as a result of covid-19. this study therefore aims to investigate the role played by ghanaian university libraries during the covid-19 period in ensuring that services to patrons were not curtailed. in order to achieve dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 31 this aim, the researchers examined the services provided by the libraries: (1) during the lockdown, (2) in the course of resumption of onsite services, and (3) the impact of the covid19 on the library services activities. study setting as of january 2021 ghana had seventy-four (74) accredited universities (nab, 2021). these comprised of twelve (12) public and (61) private universities in ghana. nevertheless, ten (10) out of the 74 universities comprising 5 each from the public and private divisions were considered for the study. public and private universities in ghana are both higher education institutions in ghana. however, whilst public universities are mainly funded by state governments, the private universities are mainly owned by an individual or a group of individuals and rely more heavily on student tuition fees, alumni donations, and endowments to fund their academic programs. the study primarily focused on the libraries of these universities. the choice of these university libraries was influenced by the fact that they were the oldest universities in the country and had more user communities and facilities than their counterparts. the categories, names, year of establishment and students’ population as of january 2020 for the universities surveyed have been presented in table 1. table 1 universities surveyed category names year established students population public university of ghana (ug) 1948 40,000 kwame nkrumah university of science and technology (knust) 1952 64,187 university of cape coast (ucc) 1962 70,000 university for development studies (uds) 1992 20,000 university of education, winneba (uew) 1992 60,000 private methodist university 2000 4,000 wisconsin university 1998 4,000 ashesi university 2002 1,253 presbyterian university 2003 2,500 central university 1998 7,000 literature review libraries and covid-19 with the advent of the covid-19 pandemic, libraries across the globe have seen a significant and on-going impact on services, spaces, and many other aspects of the profession, with many of them providing services entirely online and working remotely (craft, 2020). undoubtedly, the covid-19 pandemic prevented many libraries from engaging in extensive planning activities in advance of the shift to remote work. the major shift was the transition from inperson to remote work, with potential implications for remote workers and their supervisors (craft, 2020), coupled with the main challenge from the lack of infrastructure and devices for accessing resources as well as copyright issues associated with the digitization of textbooks (tammaro, 2020). nevertheless, amid the challenges of covid-19, libraries have been dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 32 exploring the collection of potential e-resources and providing remote access to those which may be of interest to the fraternity of scholars in support of academic and research activities (dadhe & dubey, 2020). all the same, the impact of the covid -19 pandemic has been much felt among libraries in africa. indeed, developed countries have regularly utilized online platforms to meet the information needs of users (fernández-ramos, 2016; gonzales, 2014), and hence continued to render online services to their users during lockdowns. essentially, in africa, the spread of the covid-19 virus has, to a large extent, affected most african academic libraries’ procedures for safeguarding a collection of significant and dependable information in order to give individuals trusted and solid information for decision making (kasa & yusuf, 2020). kasa and yusuf (2020) opine that covid-19 blindsided academic libraries with little time to plan for the safety of patrons and employees. all the same, during the challenging time when physical classes were suspended and physical libraries closed, libraries in africa did not come to a stand-still, but provided library services using varied online platforms. for instance in nigeria (ladan, haruna and madu, 2020) and kenya (mugo & wachira, 2020) different kinds of library services were provided and accessed using e-resources and online platforms. regardless, quite a number of african academic libraries continued to provide access to physical resources amidst the covid-19, since library services were modelled in such a way that users have to be on campus to utilize them (ifijeh and yusuf, 2020). nonetheless, the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic introduced some form of best practices among libraries around the world and especially in the developing countries. libraries began to design responsive library websites, adopted the use of blended librarianship model and use of social networks (ifijeh & yusuf, 2020). as kasa and yusuf (2020) revealed, during the covid-19 pandemic, academic libraries learned and adopted the dissemination of information through interactive online services such as social media to provide real-time services to patrons. in summary, even though a distraction, the covid-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity for academic librarians to rethink their key roles and core values in supporting the teaching and learning activities of their institutions. this suggests that covid19 has reformed the traditional ways of providing access to information in many ways. consequently, academic libraries are now providing access to more online services to their users, which ensures that users get access to needed materials no matter their location. materials and methods this study is based on a review of the literature, documentary evidence and statistical data on covid-19 experiences from the selected university libraries studied. library heads from the 10 institutions involved were contacted for available reports, and write-ups on their coping strategies during the full-closure and partial reopening of the universities. the heads had to respond to three main themes, namely: activities of the libraries when the libraries were closed in march 2020, their preparations towards the reopening in july 2020 and when the libraries resumed face-face services to patrons. data gathered from the write-ups and reports were analysed using comparisons and situational analysis techniques with respect to the libraries under lock down, post pandemic re-opening of libraries, and the impact on library services post-covid-19. for the sake of anonymity, the selected universities were represented by alphanumeric codes. the public universities are represented by (pu1, pu2, pu3, pu4 and pu5) whilst the private universities are denoted by (pr1, pr2, pr3, pr4, and pr5). dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 33 results activities during lockdown – march, 2020 while all selected universities were shut down and did not allow users into the physical libraries, these libraries continued to provide access to digital resources and services, and offered virtual training programs to their patrons using digital platforms such as email, whatsapp, social media and zoom. more specifically, regarding the provision of digital services and access to its resources, analysis of the documents from the university libraries pointed out some of the activities of the libraries during the lockdown period. furthermore, documents analysed showed that another major activity undertaken by all the libraries was online training. libraries either organized training on available digital resources and/or engaged their publishers to provide webinars. library orientation and information literacy classes did not also come to a stand-still during the lock down, but were offered using varied online platforms to provide trainings and orientations for its staff and patrons. the use of social media platforms such as facebook and twitter were observed as prominent platforms for the provision of digital services, whilst zoom and microsoft teams featured as the most used training platforms in all the libraries during the lockdown period. indeed, the use of technology such as social media has been identified as a tool for facilitating library services provision to meet a wide range of users in real time, no matter their location (mensah & onyancha, 2021). this is not surprising because the use of technology facilitates the work of the university libraries to meet a wide range of users’ needs, no matter their location. also, the use of these technologies is part of the current trends of librarianship and many libraries are adopting them in order to maintain their eminent positions as providers of information. the finding is consistent with that of ifijeh and yusuf (2020) who investigated the ‘covid-19 pandemic and the future of nigeria’s university system’. they indicated that most libraries that designed responsive library websites adopted the use of a blended librarianship model and use social networks to support users. this means that libraries used technology to support users’ needs when they were not physical open. the use of these technologies, according to ladan, haruna, and madu (2020), facilitated the dissemination of information through interactive online services during the “new normal”. it is clear from the findings that the libraries broader use of technology and software platforms allowed them to serve their users better than they would have without those tools. additionally, the use of these technologies is part of the current trends of librarianship and many libraries are adopting them so that they will not be out of business. the finding is consistent with that of ifijeh and yusuf (2020) who investigated the ‘covid-19 pandemic and the future of nigeria’s university system’. table 2 provides a summary of activities of each of the libraries during lockdown and the mediums used for the provision of these services. dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 34 table 2 library services activities and medium of provision during lockdown library services/trainings provided mediums services trainings for services provision for trainings services announcement patrons/ staff interactions remote access to eresources electronic scanning online chat free online textbooks virtual orientation virtual webinar seminars & workshop email remote x & proxy library website social media: facebook, twitter and whatsapp phone calls zoom microsoft teams. pu1 √ √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ pu2 √ √ x x x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x pu3 √ √ x √ √ x √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ pu4 √ √ x √ √ x x √ x √ √ √ x √ x pu5 √ √ x x x √ √ √ √ √ √ x √ √ pr1 √ √ x x √ x √ x x √ √ √ √ √ x pr2 √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ √ x √ √ x √ x pr3 √ √ √ x x √ √ √ √ √ √ √ x √ x pr4 √ √ √ x √ x √ √ x x √ √ x √ √ pr5 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ √ x note: √=service/trainings provided/medium used; x= service/trainings not provided dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 35 resumption of onsite services with the exception of library f1, all selected libraries resumed onsite services in june 2020. this session presents the findings based on the documentary analysis of all the other nine selected libraries on their activities when they resumed onsite services. the section presents information on preparations to ensure safe reopening of the libraries, and some changes in routine library activities. on provisions put in place by the libraries to ensure safe reopening, analysis of the documents from the libraries indicated that nine (9) of the libraries had made preparations to ensure safe reopening of their libraries. these included adherence to safety protocols, and covid-19 health education. to begin with, a very important step adopted by the libraries was health education on covid-19 to educate library staff about its symptoms and measures to take to avoid contracting the virus. this was necessary as staff were scared of interacting with patrons. as shown in the documents analysis, while some of the libraries brought in medical practitioners to educate and eliminate all misconception about the virus (pu3), others (pu4) relied on credible information from the who, the center for disease control (cdc), usa, and the director of university health services. relative to safety protocols, nine libraries reported disinfection of their space to curb the spread of the virus. safety measures undertaken include: provision of basic personal protective equipment such as face masks for staff, hand washing and sanitising equipment, temperature checking equipment, social distancing measures, notices/posters displayed at vantage points in the library, and contact details to ensure contact tracking in case of a covid19 case. these were well captured in the documentary presented to the researchers from the universities surveyed. for instance, on hand-washing activities were well captured in documents from two of the libraries as follows: “protocols such as washing of hands, (and) checking of temperatures were observed at the main entrance of the university’s quadrangle where the library is located. sanitizers were placed at vantage points for use by staff and the few students who tricked in at the time. hand gloves were also given to staff to wear to prevent direct contact with surfaces.” (extract from pr2 covid-19 experience document). “thermometer guns have also been acquired and are in active use by the security at the library. staff and users are required to check their temperature daily, before allowed into the library premises’’ (extract from pu5 covid-19 experience document) besides, a new vocabulary which became popular during the covid-19 period was ‘social distancing’. this signifies the physical distancing of people usually between one metre to three metres to avoid close contact with others or with objects. summary of social distancing activities in the libraries were clearly stated in the documents from libraries pr2, pu1, pu5 “sitting capacity was reduced from 200 to 50 to ensure social distancing” (extract from pr2 covid-19 experience document) “seating arrangements have been spaced at a distance of at least 1 meter. seats have been tagged as either reserved or ‘please do not sit here” (extract from pu1 covid-19 experience document) “the seating arrangement reflecting social distancing has resulted in a reduced capacity for student numbers and as such, providing more spaces is essential. the library has initiated dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 36 the creation of additional open, reading spaces to improve the social distancing among users.” (extract from pu5 covid-19 experience document) additionally, upon service resumption, contact tracing was another activity which was recommended by the ghana health service which mandated institutions to keep track of people who used their facilities and provide their contact should there be reports of the pandemic during specific periods. documents from all nine libraries revealed that contact tracing activities were in the form of taking some demographic details of staff and patrons who visited the libraries on a daily basis. such information typically included: 1. date of visit/ reporting to the library; 2. name of staff/student; 3. staff/student id; 4. time of entry; 5. time of leaving; 6. recorded temperature; 7. telephone number; and 8. staff/student signature. finally, as part of their safety protocol measures, the academic libraries studied used different and interesting posters, placed at vantage points with inscriptions to notify their staff and users on the dos and don’ts of the libraries. posters mainly announced one theme cantered on“wearing of face masks”. impact of the covid-19 on library services given that all academic libraries surveyed had indicated the continuous provision of library services to its patrons during covid-19 outbreak and in lockdown, only three of the libraries were able to provide information and statistics regarding the impact of the covid-19 on the library services and use. all efforts by the researchers to obtain such information yielded no results. a possible reason could be that some academic libraries thought it was too early for an effective assessment on the impact of the covid-19 on their services. as such in this section, the results from only three out of the ten libraries are presented. information presented in this section is mainly from generated statistics made available to the researchers from the three university libraries. these three libraries included: pu1, pu5 and pr1. analysis of the statistics received from all three libraries indicated a high level of use of the libraries e-resources, especially during the lockdown period, with a subsequent decline in their use once onsite services resumed. examples of such services used by the library patrons included; the chat with the librarian services, off campus access, and e-resources service to patrons. this was obvious since users could not patronize the libraries physically but were also required to fulfil their academic objectives. ask-a-librarian platform popularly referred to as the “ask a librarian’’, the “chat a librarian” services basically provides online, on-request assistance to library patrons from the library website. this system allows dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 37 library patrons to get immediate help to their information needs no matter where they are. as presented in figures 1, 2 and 3, usage statistics from all the three libraries suggests that covid19 had an impact on the usage of the online ask-a-librarian platforms of the academic libraries. given that this service was used across the three periods, the highest level of impact and use was experienced especially at the periods when the libraries were under lockdown. figure 1 ask-a-librarian usage statistic from pu1 source: ask-a-librarian of library pu1 (2020) figure 2 usage statistics of library pu5 before, during and fter covid-19 source: ask-a-librarian of library pu5 (2020) figure 3 usage statistics of library pri before and after covid-19 0 0 0 39 153 73 before lockdown during lockdown resumption onsite ask-a-libriarian usage from pu1 january february april may july august 18 21 85 68 48 25 ask-a-librarian live chat, 2020 before covid-19 covid-19: shutdown covid-19: reopening dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 38 source: ask-a-librarian of library pri remote access/off-campus access remote access, or off-campus access, in simple terms permits library users to have access to an institution’s library’s electronic resources when not connected to the institutions’ network, no matter their location for their academic work. statistics obtained and presented in figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 indicates that patrons of the academic libraries used off-campus access before covid-19 with a rapid increase in use during the lockdown. based on the statistics received, it was observed that the increased use of the off-campus access resulted in an increase in the use of the libraries electronic resources such as e-books, and ejournals. figure 4: off-campus access of library a1 amidst covid-19 source: ezproxy usage library pu1 2020 during covid19 124(56%) before covid-19 98(44%) chat-a-librarian jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec 72 68 127 176 145 121 124 109 100 97 108 84 392 474 1,024 1029 1144 1112 702 548 485 414 554 267 offcampus users, 2020 staff students before covid-19 after the lockdown during lockdown dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 39 figure 5 remote access usage statistics of library fi amidst covid-19 source: remotexs usage library pu5 figure 6 emerald usage statistics of library pri 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 remotexs, 2020/2021 dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 40 figure 7 jstor usage statistics of library pu1 discussion of findings libraries under lockdown library services are provided towards meeting the information needs of the user community. these services are either in print, electronic, or digital forms. academic libraries must employ various information sources towards meeting users’ needs, both in-person and electronically. the covid-19 pandemic led to a suspension of in-person services for remote services. the findings revealed that some of the libraries used remote access to effectively provide online services to meet the information needs of their patrons. this can be attributed to the fact that these libraries were shut down during covid-19 and did not allow users into the physical libraries. similar findings were reported by ladan, haruna and madu (2020) in a study in nigeria. they indicated that during this challenging time, physical classes were suspended, and physical libraries were closed. again, the findings are in line with the works of donkor, yeboah and afrane (2020) who reported that the balme library encouraged patrons to use the library’s e-resources and other online platforms often when there is no need to physically use the library. these eresources include off-campus access to the library’s resources no matter your locality. it is clear from the findings that the use of online services helped the university libraries to continue providing resources to meet users’ needs. these findings are inconsistent with the work of ifijeh and yusuf (2020) who reported on the covid-19 pandemic and the future of nigeria’s university system’. they noted that most library services are modelled in such a way that users must be on campus to utilize them. the inconsistency may be as a result of the inability of the library to plan ahead of any contingencies. this would have helped the library to provide inperson services in case there is a shutdown of the physical library. though it is obvious that the suspension of in-person services affected the activities of libraries, some libraries continue to provide online services to meet users’ needs. dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 41 use of online platforms online platforms were an important information source during the covid-19 pandemic. the use of online platforms contributes to the provision of library resources without limitations. the finding revealed that some of the libraries used the online chat services (ask-a-librarian) to frequently answer users’ questions. additionally, online platforms such as zoom, email, and social media platform such as whatsapp were also used to provide services to users. it was evident from the findings that some of the university libraries used various online platforms to engage students and staff in meeting their information needs. it can also be seen that library staff, faculty and students’ views of the online platform was positive during the time of the pandemic. the finding agrees with that of donkor, yeboah and afrane (2020) on the use of ask-a-librarian chat services by users in meeting their users’ information needs. similarly, scholars such as fernández-ramos (2016) and gonzales (2014) agreed that libraries in developing countries utilized online platforms to meet the information needs of users. it can be established that even though covid-19 did not give the time and resources for libraries to plan, some of the libraries did well by using different online platforms to meet users’ needs. this finding disagreed with that of allcott, gentzkow, and yu (2019), as cited in ladan, haruna, and madu (2020); chisita and chizoma (2021). they indicated that online platform such as social media led to the spread of fake news on society and on people’s decisions and behaviour. this means the institution must set rules towards the proper use of the online platforms, thereby ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery. provision of free academic materials the libraries provide unhindered access to information and information services that satisfy the clientele’s actual and potential information needs. during the pandemic, libraries were working assiduously to provide access to their collection to library users (dadhe, & dubey, 2020). the findings revealed that services such as textbooks were freely made available on sciencedirect, elsevier’s free health and medical research on the novel coronavirus (sarscov-2) and covid-19 and 90-days access to sage videos as well as the use of google drive to share information of open access books to faculty. this can be attributed to the fact that the availability of free information during the pandemic was very important to safeguard the lives of users. the findings supports that of the university of sussex library (2020), which provided free academic materials from veteran publishers during the lockdown. these findings further supports that of dadhe, and dubey (2020) who examined ‘library services provided during covid-19 pandemic: content analysis of websites of premier technological institutions of india”. they stated that during uncertain and difficult times, some publishers are providing expanded access to electronic resources including electronic books, journals and databases among others for a limited period during this pandemic. according to dadhe, and dubey (2020), the main purpose of free academic materials is to facilitate visibility of these options of materials available to users. it is obvious from the finding that the provision of free academic materials helped to meet users’ information needs in this difficult time where libraries lack the needed funds to procure various materials. effect on work force the finding revealed that covid-19 had a negative impact on staff during the lockdown. this can be attributed to the fact that the library suspended all in-person services in order to protect the safety of both users and staff from contracting the covid-19 virus. some of the institutions were incapable of paying their staff because most staff arguably worked less hours and from dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 42 home. the finding supports the works of craft (2020); tammaro (2020), who indicated that many staff worked from home during covid-19 pandemic. some of these staff worked from home in order to support their institutions, others were in the house doing nothing. also, after the lockdown, there was an introduction of a shift system to allow staff to work a minimum number of hours based on government’s directive. according to donkor, yeboah and afrane (2020), some academic libraries in ghana put in place a series of strategies (health talks) to protect and remove fear from the library staff. a further step was taken to limit the number of sections of the library open to users, since the use of certain facilities by the public could cause contamination and increase the risk of the spread of the virus to staff (dadhe, & dubey, 2020). it can be concluded from the finding that the series of steps taken by management helped to ensure the smooth running of the library. developing information literacy skills of students information literacy is defined as the ability to find and use information, including identifying the sources and evaluating the information in meeting users’ needs. information literacy skills empower individuals with critical skills that help them to become independent lifelong learners (ranaweera, 2008). the findings showed that library orientation and information literacy classes did not stop during the lockdown. with technological equipment, some libraries were able to fulfil an important aspect of library services such as training library users. it can be established from the findings that the library still provided information literacy, but it is only the form that changed. information literacy skills were done virtually for students and faculty members. this finding agreed with the finding of martzoukou (2020) on “maddie is online”: an educational video cartoon series on digital literacy and resilience for children. he indicated that libraries are still assisting students to develop information, digital and media literacy skills during the covid-19 pandemic. these information literacy skills, according to martzoukou (2020), helped students to be in a position to independently select, access and use accurate, reliable, trustworthy and credible sources of information, not only for their studies but also for their wellbeing. it is obvious from the finding that a series of information literacy skills were organised online for students for the purpose of helping them to use the valuable resources and facilities available in the libraries. limitations and areas for further research notwithstanding the contributions of the study, it is important to acknowledge study limitations which can be considered for future studies. the first limitation is concerned with the generalisability of the study findings. this study intended to study 10 academic libraries comprising of five public universities and five private universities. however, at the end of the data collection process, the researchers’ observed that only three of these libraries provided the complete and required information relevant to the study objectives. a possible reason could be that the three libraries at the time of data collection had appreciable information technology infrastructure and hence were able to provide to the researchers the statistics required. hence, there are concerns regarding the applicability of the results to the entire study population of ten academic libraries as well as to other library segments such as college libraries, since such generalisation may have limitations. in order to have a better explanation on the coping strategies of academic libraries during and after the covid-19 pandemic, it would be interesting to extend this study to a wider geographical scope or to carry out a crosslibrary comparative study to overcome this limitation. dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 43 besides, this study was largely based on a review of the literature, document evidence and statistical data on covid-19 experiences from the selected university libraries in ghana. however, future research studies could consider a field research to explore any other important constructs that fit in the context and can explain the experiences of academic libraries pre, during and post the covid-19 pandemic. conclusion academic libraries play a cardinal role in providing access to resources and services in meeting user’s information needs. the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact on academic library services. thus, academic libraries were forced to adopt technology as a viable and valuable option to ensure the fulfilment of the informational needs of patrons. existing technological infrastructure, which had not been very often optimized or utilised, now became more essential tools for reaching out to patrons. librarians learned to use the learning management systems, maximised the use of chat with a librarian system, increased use of social networking tools and promoted the use of remote access (ezproxy, remotexs) to patrons. indeed, patrons were also phenomenal in accepting this ‘new normal’ to facilitate teaching, research and learning. the increase in instructional sessions to individuals or groups was a major boost for most librarians during the covid-19 pandemic as it brought the latter closer to its patrons. the different strategies librarians used to cope during the pandemic has really given them insight into how to manage whether the library is opened or closed. the lessons learned have informed us on how to successfully proceed in the advent of other waves of covid or a major crisis. references bruni, s. 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(2008). importance of information literacy skills for an information literate society. http://eprints.rclis.org/11956 tammaro, a. m. (2020). covid-19 and libraries in italy. international information & library review, 52(3), 216–220. university of ghana (2018). re-opening of the balme library. retrieved february 21, 2021, from https://www.ug.edu.gh/announcements/re-opening-balme-library university of sussex library library faqs. (2020). retrieved february 26, 2021, from https://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/ ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2019.03.008 https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/archive.php https://doi.org/10.1080/1533290x.2014.898011 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102226 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8423&context=libphilprac https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8423&context=libphilprac https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=konstantina%20martzoukou https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2397-7604 https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2397-7604 https://doi.org/10.1108/jrit-06-2020-0031 https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211036738 https://www.africaportal.org/features/surveying-impact-covid-19-africas-higher-education-and-research-sectors/ https://www.africaportal.org/features/surveying-impact-covid-19-africas-higher-education-and-research-sectors/ https://nab.gov.gh/index.php/about-us/board http://eprints.rclis.org/11956 https://www.ug.edu.gh/announcements/re-opening-balme-library https://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/ dadzie, danquah, and gyesi / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 45 about the authors prof. perpetua sekyiwa dadzie is an associate professor of information science at the department of information studies. she has been teaching at the department of information studies since 2006. she was the university librarian at the university of ghana from 20162021. she is the managing editor of the ghana library journal. she also served two terms as president of the ghana library association from 2012 -2016 and was also a member of the ifla africa section committee from 2015-2017her areas of research interest include digital libraries, information literacy, information ethics and libraries and the un 2030 agenda. orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9224-1463. dr. danquah (corresponding author) is a lecturer at the department of information studies, university of ghana. she is the editor-in-chief of the ghana library journal. dr. danquah is the public relations officer and a member of the newsletter management team for the african library association and institutions (aflia), library and education training session (letis). she is a member of the international federation of library associations and institutions regional division standing committee for sub-saharan africa (ifla-rds ssa), and has currently been appointed as the lead for the team working on the global advocacy priority around the sdgs for the ifla-rds ssa. her areas of academic interest include: open access and open science, digital libraries, sustainable development goals, libraries and agenda’s 2030 and 2063. orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1997-6578. mr. kwesi gyesi is currently an assistant librarian at the balme library of the university of ghana. he holds an mphil in information studies from the university of ghana. he has varied experiences in working as a librarian and teaching various courses. his research interests focus on information needs, information seeking behaviour, media and information literacy, electronic resource management, information and communication technology (ict), marketing and library science. orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2006-5843 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9224-1463 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1997-6578 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2006-5843 232_v7n2_dadzie_title+page 232_dadzie_xr_ct_corrected+(1)_edited about the authors issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org usage analysis of university of manitoba licensed databases via ezproxy’s logs wei xuan abstract: compared to vendor-provided data, transaction log analysis (tla) can provide unique benefits to a library in analyzing database usage. meanwhile, it also requires librarians to have a broad knowledge of information technology in order to implement a tla. this article will present an in-house database system developed at the university of manitoba libraries to analyze ezproxy’s starting point uniform resource locator logs. the database visits that happened in the past two years have been imported into this system and are split into two categories, on-campus and off-campus visits. unique statistical information from each category is also discussed. to cite this article: xuan, w. (2019). usage analysis of university of manitoba licensed databases via ezproxy’s logs. international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 76-93. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 76-93 issn: 2474-3542 usage analysis of university of manitoba licensed databases via ezproxy’s logs wei xuan university of manitoba libraries, winnipeg, manitoba, canada abstract compared to vendor-provided data, transaction log analysis (tla) can provide unique benefits to a library in analyzing database usage. meanwhile, it also requires librarians to have a broad knowledge of information technology in order to implement a tla. this article will present an in-house database system developed at the university of manitoba libraries to analyze ezproxy’s starting point uniform resource locator logs. the database visits that happened in the past two years have been imported into this system and are split into two categories, on-campus and offcampus visits. unique statistical information from each category is also discussed. keywords: database usage analysis, transaction log analysis (tla), ezproxy, spulog introduction a database is “a structured set of data held in computer storage and typically accessed or manipulated by means of specialized software”(oed, 2019). to academic libraries, the term database represents searchable online resources. a database may provide users access to abstracts, or full-text articles, or images, etc. the access is usually paid by the library. since the start of migrating content from print materials to online databases, libraries have been looking for methods to better analyze the usage of licensed e-resources. the analysis of database usages should allow librarians to know how different databases are used by different groups of users and what the user groups preferred. discovery tool and information sources are most likely chosen when users perform information searches. with the knowledge of such information-seeking behaviors, librarians will be able to provide custom services to particular user groups. on the other hand, analyzing database usages also allows libraries to better estimate the value of a particular database to their institutions, such as whether or not it is a good investment to subscribe to a database. especially with more universities moving to a faculty-oriented budget model and when budget cuts happen more frequently, the need to demonstrate how licensed databases are used by faculties is becoming more urgent in the decision-making process. this article analyzed the usage of licensed databases at university of manitoba for a period of two years (september 1st, 2016 – august 31st, 2018). a typical ezproxy uniform resrouce locator (url) is like https://abclib.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.jstor.com . the first part of the url is the proxy prefix (https://abclib.idm.oclc.org/login?url= ), which is the ezproxy https://abclib.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.jstor.com https://abclib.idm.oclc.org/login?url= xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 77 server’s url, and the rest is the target url (https://www.jstor.com ), which is the unique database url. the proxy prefix and the target url make a starting point url(spu) (oclc, 2018b). the proxy prefix stays the same for all resources licensed by an institution. the target url represents the specific e-resource that a user visited. this database usage analysis is based on the ezproxy spu logs as the target urls are recorded each time a starting point url is clicked (oclc, 2019). compared to normal ezproxy logs, spu logs greatly simplify the analysis process and allow librarians to focus on analyzing how the user accesses a particular database url without being distracted by information, such as text, images, etc., transferred between the database website and the ezproxy server. the author designed a mysql database and imported ezproxy’s spu logs into it. this database also contains the university of manitoba (uofm) campus internet protocol (ip) ranges, uofm identity (id) for faculty, staff and students, and all database records from the libraries’ az database list on libguide. with this database, the author was able to identify the following: 1. where was a database visit made? was it from campus or off-campus? 2. how a database visit was initiated? did the user start from the libraries’ az database list or the discovery platform primo? 3. how frequently was a database visited during a specific period? regarding on-campus visits, how many visits were from the wireless network and how many from ethernet in a particular building, such as the library building? regarding off-campus visits, how many visits were made from a particular user group (faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students)? 4. what was the preference for a particular user group when they visited databases off-campus? for example, what are the top 10 databases used by graduate students when they are offcampus? thus, the database analysis method described in this article allows the author to investigate both the usage of a particular database in the period and the off-campus information-seeking activities of a particular user group in the time frame. literature review there are generally two major methods for librarians to know how their subscribed databases are used among users. one is through vendor-supplied usage data and the other is through transaction log analysis (tla)(peters, 1993). each method has its advantages and disadvantages (duy & vaughan, 2003). with the vendor-supplied usage data, the issues can be generalized as a lack of credible and comparable data. during the early implementation, different vendors were using various types of measures in their reports. due to the lack of context for the data, such as how the number was counted and collected, librarians had great difficulty in comparing and interpreting the usage data (blecic, fiscella, & wiberley, 2001). to solve the problem, an international organization, counter (counting online usage of networked electronic resources), was formed to promote a consistent way for e-resource providers to generate usage reports (counter, 2019). by releasing the code of practice, counter is promoting standards in this area. the consistency of https://www.jstor.com/ xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 78 usage data from the vendors that are counter-compliant has been improved. however, even counter-compliant vendors still might be able to count searches differently without violating the code of practice (blecic, fiscella, & wiberley, 2007). besides, since it is not mandatory, some vendors haven't applied the counter code of practice. the challenge for librarians with the counter reports is that it is very difficult and timeconsuming to put together reports from all vendors. to a research library that usually subscribes to hundreds of databases, it becomes an impossible mission for their librarians to group all the counter data by themselves. to provide a solution, the national information standards organization (niso) initiated a working group to work on standardized usage statistics harvesting initiative (sushi) in 2005 and approved the sushi standard in 2007 (niso, 2019). it automates the transfer of usage data from vendors to a central system, whether it is the integrated library system (ils) or a reporting portal. even with counter and sushi, there are still disadvantages to solely rely on vendorprovided usage data. the biggest issue is that the vendor cannot have the user's information. the most commonly used authentication method for a database visit request is still the ip authentication. approving a request simply based on whether it’s from a registered ip address, the database provider is unable to include user information in the statistics. as a result, a database vendor can provide the number of searches but cannot answer questions like who made those searches. even with the security assertion markup language (saml) authentication, such as shibboleth (shibboleth, 2019), the user’s attribute released to the database provider may only contain basic group information, such as faculty and student. secondly, as library consortium becomes the trend in managing resources and negotiating licenses (liu & fu, 2018), member libraries in a consortium may lose statistical information about their usage. this issue has been existing in the public library environment for a long time. thirdly, it is mentioned by wan and liu (wan & liu, 2010) that a library may have more than one account with a database provider. despite the inconveniences in utilizing vendor-supplied usage data, a survey carried out in 2006 (baker & read, 2008) found that the majority of research libraries relied on it to make subscription decisions, justify expenditures and meet reporting requirements. tla is to analyze the transaction logs of a proxy server that users have to use to access the licensed e-resources. if an e-resource visit can bypass the proxy server, such as campus ip addresses directly recognized by the database provider or saml authentication on the database provider’s website, that visit will not be recorded in the proxy server’s log. thus, the library will lose certain statistical information about those kinds of visits when performing tla. the advantage of tla is that librarians have first-hand access to raw data. if well analyzed, those logs will provide a better demonstration of user activities. however, the difficulty with tla is how to retrieve useful information from the log, as a web server log usually contains all kinds of web activities and is saved as a text file, and how to group log files, as log files are usually created daily. those challenges require librarians to either have a strong background in information technology (it) or work closely with it staff in order to understand and analyze transaction logs. coombs conducted a project at the state university of new york college at cortland (suny cortland), which analyzed ezproxy transaction logs (coombs, 2005). ezproxy is the xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 79 commercial product that suny cortland used to access databases. this project demonstrated that librarians could use tla to study user information behavior on accessing the library’s e-resources. unfortunately, the author didn’t demonstrate whether their method was able to track how the database visits change with time. the author also didn’t give many details about how their system used to do tla was designed and developed and how ezproxy log files were imported into this system. without such information, it would be very hard for other institutions to reproduce the work. gonzales published a way to automatically parse ezproxy’s spu log (gonzales, 2018). since oclc doesn’t provide any tools to analyze ezproxy transaction logs and the commercial tools on the market are not optimized for ezproxy, gonzales developed a python script to import raw data from ezproxy spu logs into a single csv file and used two additional python modules, pandas and matplotlib, to analyze it. the issue with this method is that the analysis of data stored in a csv file is limited by the function of these two python modules. considering the number of records stored in the csv file, it would cause a great load for a workstation to open it, not to mention to run any possible queries to it. in this article, the author presented the database developed at the university of manitoba libraries to analyze ezproxy spu logs. ezproxy spu logs generated after september 1st, 2016, have been being imported. the author analyzed all the visits to licensed e-resources within a period of two years (sept. 1st 2016 – august 31st, 2018). in this article, “database platform” means the eresource provider’s website where users can search articles, images, etc. several databases may share one database platform. for example, ebsco has many databases, such as academic search complete, ageline, alternative press index, etc. all the databases are using the same database platform, search.ebscohost.com. alexander street press also hosts several databases. however, the websites for the databases are different. for example, the website for the american film scripts online database is http://solomon.afso.alexanderstreet.com/ and the website for the asian american drama database is http://solomon.aadr.alexanderstreet.com. they will be treated as different database platforms in the analysis. if a user goes to the libraries’ az database list on libguide and clicks the link to visit a specific database, in this article, the visit is treated as from the az database list. if a user uses the library’s discovery platform, primo from ex libris, to find an article and clicks the link to access it on the database platform, the visit is treated as from primo. methodology at the university of manitoba libraries, the licensed databases are set up to only allow visits from the ezproxy server. thus, the ezproxy log records all the starting point urls in the visits to our licensed e-resources, no matter whether the visit is from campus or off-campus. when receiving a database-visit request, ezproxy will first check the requester's ip address. uofm ip ranges are whitelisted by the exproxy server. if the request is from an uofm ip address, which means the user is on campus, ezproxy will automatically grant access to the user. in the log file, the word "auto" is recorded as the user identity (id) for this visit. if the request is not from a uofm ip address, which means the user is off-campus, ezproxy will direct the user to a login http://solomon.afso.alexanderstreet.com/ http://solomon.aadr.alexanderstreet.com/ xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 80 page where she/he needs to use the library id to authenticate. for uofm faculty, staff and students, ezproxy uses saml 2.0 protocol to authenticate them against signum which is a central identity system used at uofm. in ezproxy log, the user’s umnetid, which is the user’s unique identifier in signum, will be recorded as the username for this visit. in both cases, the user’s ip address will be stored in the ezproxy log file. we are using the following value for the ezproxy logspu(oclc, 2018a) directive. logspu -strftime /log/preprod/ezlogs/spu%y%m%d.log %{%y/%m/%d:%h:%m:%s}t\t%h\t%u\t%{ezproxy-spuaccess}i\t%v\t%u -strftime is to record starting point url information in a new log file each day %t is the date/time of request; %h is the ip address of the host accessing ezproxy %u is username used to log into ezproxy %v is the hostname of the webserver %u is the requested url a typical record in ezproxy log is like 2016/09/07:15:54:01 140.193.167.125 auto proxy www.jstor.org http://www.jstor.org/action/showpublication?sid=primo&journalcode=science a script has been developed to automatically import ezproxy spu logs into a table, called “ezproxyspulog”, in a mysql database, which also contains information about user groups, ip addresses on campus and a-z database list that is used in our subject guide. the entityrelationship diagram is presented in figure 1. figure 1. entity relationship diagram for the database xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 81 the ezproxylog table splits each visit record in the ezproxy log into five different fields, access time, database domain, access url, user id, and user ip address. the above log record is stored in the ezproxyspulog table in the following way (table 1). table 1. sample of a record in the ezproxyspulog table id datetime host url user_id ip 201609073592 2016-09-07 15:54 www.jstor.org http://www.jstor.org/action/showpublication?sid=p rimo&journalcode=science auto 140.193.167.125 the sql query to retrieve the amount of on-campus/off-campus/total database accesses is /*total accesses*/ select count(recordid) as totalvisits from ezproxyspulog where datetime between @starttime and @endtime; /* on-campus accesses*/ select count(recordid) as oncampusvisits from ezproxyspulog where user_id='auto' and datetime between @starttime and @endtime; /* off-campus accesses*/ select count(recordid) as offcampusvisits from ezproxyspulog where user_id!='auto' and datetime between @starttime and @endtime; the libraries systems department at the university of manitoba libraries gets a list of all uofm students from the it department each semester. the list contains student name, umnetid, the affiliated faculty and contact information. graduate students are affiliated with faculty of graduate studies on the list. undergraduate students are affiliated with their respective faculty, such as faculty of science, faculty of engineering, etc. data from this list is desensitized and only umnetid and the affiliated faculty are used in the following two tables, users and usergroup, in the database. since each student’s umnetid is unique, it is used for the userid field, which is the primary key in the table “users”. there are 29 major academic units (faculty, college, school, etc.) that a student may be associated with at the university. these 29 units are stored in the usergroup table. each unit is a group in this database and assigned a 3-digit number as an identifier. regarding other users, such as faculty, staff, alumni, retirees, etc., since they are in respective user groups in our integrated library system (ils), we use their group information from ils in this database. groups 1-15 and 17-29 are used for undergraduate students. group 16 is for graduate students. all uofm faculty and staff, including visiting scholars, are in a different group (gcode:100). unfortunately, we cannot know the rank (professor, associate professor, assistant professor, etc.) of a specific user in group 100 as such information is not used in the ils. we also don’t know which faculty a specific user in group 100 is affiliated with. the usergroup table is attached in appendix i. alumni have access to a small portion of our licensed databases. local community users have no remote access to our e-resources. thus, no specific user groups were created in the usergroup table for these two user categories. since userid is recorded in the spu log for offcampus accesses (table 2), we can combine three tables, ezproxyspulog, users and usergroup, xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 82 in the database, to analyze which user group made what kind of database access. some sql queries are presented in the following. table 2. sample of an off-campus visit in the ezproxyspulog table id datetime host url user_id ip 2016082022 2016-08-20 0:18 www.jamaevidence.com http://www.jamaevidence.com/resource/ 523 a***** 2*.*.*.* note: user_id and ip are masked by the author. /*number of accesses filtered by group*/ select usergroup.gname as usergroup, count (ezproxyspulog.recordid) as numberofvisits from ezproxyspulog inner join users on ezproxyspulog.userid@users= users.userid inner join usergroup on users.gcode@usergroup= usergroup.gcode where datetime between @starttime and @endtime group by usergroup order by numberofvisits desc; a database a-z list is presented to users on the libraries’ website. database names and domains from this list are also inputted into the azlist table in this database. if a record in the accessurl field in the ezproxylog table matches a record in the azrecordurl field in the azlist table, this visit is regarded as being initiated from the a-z list on the libraries’ website as the user has to either click the database link on the a-z list or use a bookmarked url which is originally from the a-z list. uml is using ex libris’ product, primo, as the discovery platform. the article's hyperlink on primo will direct ezproxy to proxy the article's url from the database platform. a typical request ezproxy receives from primo is like the following url: https://uml.idm.oclc.org/login?&url=http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&au last=ponomarenko&date=2012&spage=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 in this case, the accessurl field for this access will be the article's full url http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&aulast=ponomarenko&date=2012&spa ge=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 instead of the database's url http://www.jstor.org. thus, if a value in the accessurl field in the ezproxyspulog table matches a value in the azrecord field in the azlist table, the access is from the az database list. otherwise, access is from the library's discovery platform. /*----------------top 10 databases based on visit from az list----*/ select azlist.azrecordname as databasename, count( ezproxyspulog.recordid) as numberofvisits from ezproxyspulog left join azlist on ezproxyspulog.accessurl= azlist.azrecordurl where ezproxyspulog.accesstime between @starttime and @endtime and azlist.azrecordname is not null group by databasename order by numberofvisits desc limit 10; /*----------------top 10 database platforms based on visit from primo----*/ select ezproxyspulog.host as databaseplatform, count( ezproxyspulog.id) as numberofvisits from ezproxyspulog left join azlist https://uml.idm.oclc.org/login?&url=http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&aulast=ponomarenko&date=2012&spage=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 https://uml.idm.oclc.org/login?&url=http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&aulast=ponomarenko&date=2012&spage=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&aulast=ponomarenko&date=2012&spage=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 http://www.jstor.org/openurl?sid=primo&volume=335&aulast=ponomarenko&date=2012&spage=947&issn=00368075&issue=6071 xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 83 on ezproxyspulog.accessurl= azlist.azrecordurl where ezproxyspulog.accesstime between @starttime and @endtime and azlist.azrecordname is null group by databaseplatform order by numberofvisits desc limit 10; the university of manitoba has its ip ranges. the ip ranges can be split into two major categories, wi-fi and ethernet. regarding the ethernet category, it can be further broken down into each building, such as the library building, the education building, etc. regarding the wi-fi category, a special range of ip addresses is reserved for graduate students, undergraduate students, and guest users. considering the number of guest users is very small, most of the database visits from this special ip range are made from students. thus, this ip-location information is stored in two tables in this database, campusip, and campuslocation. for a record in the ezproxylog table, if the value of the userid@users field is "auto", which means the visit is from a uofm ip address, we can check the location information. for example, if the ip address belongs to the ethernet category, is it from the library building, the science building or somewhere else? if the ip address belongs to the wi-fi category, is it from the student and guest range? a sample query is presented in the following to group on-campus accesses based on location. /*----------on-campus access grouped by location-------------------------------*/ select campuslocation.lname as locationname, count(ezproxyspulog.recordid) as numberofvisits from ezproxyspulog left join campusip on ezproxyspulog.useripaddress = campusip.ipaddress inner join campuslocation on campusip.lcode@campuslocation=campuslocation.lcode where campuslocation.lname is not null and ezproxyspulog.accesstime between @starttime and @endtime group by locationname order by numberofvisits desc limit 10; when combining all the tables in the database together, we will be able to study complicated usages such as: 1. how often is a specific database on the az list accessed by users located in a particular building on campus? select azlist.azrecordname as databasename, campuslocation.lname as locationname count( ezproxyspulog.recordid) as numberofvisits from azlist right join ezproxyspulog on azlist.azrecordurl = ezproxyspulog.accessurl left join campusip on ezproxyspulog.useripaddress = campusip.ipaddress inner join campuslocation on campusip.lcode@campuslocation=campuslocation.lcode where azlist.azrecordname = @databasename and campuslocation = @locationcode and ezproxyspulog.accesstime between @starttime and @endtime 2. for users in a specific group, what database do they most frequently visit through the library’s discovery platform when they are off campus? select ezproxyspulog.host as databaseplatform, count( ezproxyspulog.id) as numberofvisits from azlist right join ezproxyspulog on azlist.azrecordurl = ezproxyspulog.accessurl inner join users xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 84 on ezproxyspulog.userid@users= users.userid inner join usergroup on users.gcode@usergroup= usergroup.gcode where ezproxyspulog.accesstime between @starttime and @endtime and azlist.azrecordname is null and usergroup.gcode=@ugroupcode group by databaseplatform order by numberofvisits desc limit 5; results during the period analyzed in this report (september 1st, 2016 – august 31st, 2018), there were 5,061,398 visits to our licensed databases. categorized by user location, 1,865,251 visits were made on-campus while the rest are 3,196,147 visits from off-campus (figure 2). how the on-campus and off-campus visits change with time can be found in figure 3. figure 2. database visits based on user location figure 3. monthly database visits – user location 63% 37% database visits user location off-campust on-campus 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 2 0 1 6 /0 9 2 0 1 6 /1 0 2 0 1 6 /1 1 2 0 1 6 /1 2 2 0 1 7 /0 1 2 0 1 7 /0 2 2 0 1 7 /0 3 2 0 1 7 /0 4 2 0 1 7 /0 5 2 0 1 7 /0 6 2 0 1 7 /0 7 2 0 1 7 /0 8 2 0 1 7 /0 9 2 0 1 7 /1 0 2 0 1 7 /1 1 2 0 1 7 /1 2 2 0 1 8 /0 1 2 0 1 8 /0 2 2 0 1 8 /0 3 2 0 1 8 /0 4 2 0 1 8 /0 5 2 0 1 8 /0 6 2 0 1 8 /0 7 2 0 1 8 /0 8 monthly database visits user location on-campus off-campus xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 85 categorized by discovery channel, 844,090 visits were made from the az database list; 4,217,308 visits were made from primo (figure 4). how many times each of the two channels were used in a specific month can be found in figure 5. figure 4. database visit based on the discovery channel figure 5. monthly database visits discovery channel 17% 83% database visits discovery channel az database list primo 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 2 0 1 6 /0 9 2 0 1 6 /1 0 2 0 1 6 /1 1 2 0 1 6 /1 2 2 0 1 7 /0 1 2 0 1 7 /0 2 2 0 1 7 /0 3 2 0 1 7 /0 4 2 0 1 7 /0 5 2 0 1 7 /0 6 2 0 1 7 /0 7 2 0 1 7 /0 8 2 0 1 7 /0 9 2 0 1 7 /1 0 2 0 1 7 /1 1 2 0 1 7 /1 2 2 0 1 8 /0 1 2 0 1 8 /0 2 2 0 1 8 /0 3 2 0 1 8 /0 4 2 0 1 8 /0 5 2 0 1 8 /0 6 2 0 1 8 /0 7 2 0 1 8 /0 8 monthly database visits discovery channel az list primo xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 86 regarding the on-campus visits, 237,854 were made from the az database list while 1,627,397 were made from primo (figure 6). the monthly visits through these two channels can be found in figure 7. figure 6. database visits from campus figure 7. monthly visits from campus 13% 87% database visits from campus az database list 0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 2 0 1 6 /0 9 2 0 1 6 /1 0 2 0 1 6 /1 1 2 0 1 6 /1 2 2 0 1 7 /0 1 2 0 1 7 /0 2 2 0 1 7 /0 3 2 0 1 7 /0 4 2 0 1 7 /0 5 2 0 1 7 /0 6 2 0 1 7 /0 7 2 0 1 7 /0 8 2 0 1 7 /0 9 2 0 1 7 /1 0 2 0 1 7 /1 1 2 0 1 7 /1 2 2 0 1 8 /0 1 2 0 1 8 /0 2 2 0 1 8 /0 3 2 0 1 8 /0 4 2 0 1 8 /0 5 2 0 1 8 /0 6 2 0 1 8 /0 7 2 0 1 8 /0 8 monthly visits from campus az database list primo xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 87 regarding the on-campus visits from the az database list, 116,972 visits were made through the university of manitoba campus ethernet. 72,853 visits were made through the wifi network used by students and guests. the rest 48,029 visits were made through other methods such as some remote libraries on the um network (figure 8). figure 8. on-campus visits from the as database list regarding the on-campus visits from primo, 815,864 visits were made through the university of manitoba campus ethernet. 659,817 visits were made through the wifi network used by students and guests. the rest 151,716 visits were made through other methods such as some remote libraries on the um network (figure 9). figure 9. on-campus visits from primo 49% 31% 20% on campus visits from az database list um ethernet um wifi students&guests others 50% 41% 9% on campus visits from primo um ethernet um wifi students&guests others xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 88 the overall top 10 database domains that were most frequently visited from campus can be found in table 3. although dx.doi.org is not a database provider, the importance of digital object identifier (doi) can be demonstrated by the number of visits to articles with a doi. table 3. top 10 database domains most frequently visited from campus database domain total visits www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 116,764 www.sciencedirect.com 110,951 onlinelibrary.wiley.com 93,213 search.proquest.com 90,008 search.ebscohost.com 87,825 dx.doi.org 79,923 link.springer.com 65,473 scholar.google.com 62,192 www.tandfonline.com 61,951 openurl.ebscohost.com 49,189 regarding the off-campus visits, 606,236 were made from the az database list while 2,589,911 were made from primo (figure 10. database visits from off-campus ). the monthly visits from off-campus can be found in figure 11. although primo is still the user’s first choice, compared to on-campus usage, more users choose az database list to start their database access. figure 10. database visits from off-campus the top 10 user groups that made the most database visits from off-campus can be found in table 4. 19% 81% database visits from off-campus az database list primo xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 89 figure 11. monthly visits from off-campus table 4. top 10 user groups from off-campus user group number of visits graduate students (gcode :16, faculty of graduate studies) 709,249 uofm faculty and staff (gcode: 100) 429,197 undergraduate students from faculty of arts (gcode: 1) 301,185 undergraduate students from faculty of science (gcode: 2) 209,722 undergraduate students from college of medicine – pgme (gcode: 25) 204,032 undergraduate students from college of medicine (gcode: 5) 113,398 undergraduate students from college of pharmacy (gcode: 11) 107,163 undergraduate students from college of nursing (gcode: 13) 105,023 undergraduate students from faculty of social work (gcode: 12) 94,565 0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000 180,000 200,000 2 0 1 6 /0 9 2 0 1 6 /1 0 2 0 1 6 /1 1 2 0 1 6 /1 2 2 0 1 7 /0 1 2 0 1 7 /0 2 2 0 1 7 /0 3 2 0 1 7 /0 4 2 0 1 7 /0 5 2 0 1 7 /0 6 2 0 1 7 /0 7 2 0 1 7 /0 8 2 0 1 7 /0 9 2 0 1 7 /1 0 2 0 1 7 /1 1 2 0 1 7 /1 2 2 0 1 8 /0 1 2 0 1 8 /0 2 2 0 1 8 /0 3 2 0 1 8 /0 4 2 0 1 8 /0 5 2 0 1 8 /0 6 2 0 1 8 /0 7 2 0 1 8 /0 8 monthly visits from off-campus az database list primo xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 90 undergraduate students from faculty of education (gcode: 8) 69,215 if we combine all undergraduate students together, they made the most database visits from off-campus. in this study, undergraduate students are affiliated with their respective faculty. thus, in the current environment, graduate students made the most off-campus visits to the databases within the past two years. the author was interested in what databases were mostly used by these users. the top 10 databases on the az database list that were most frequently used by graduate students can be found in table 5. the top 10 database domains that graduate students visited from primo can be found in table 6. table 5. top 10 databases on the az database list visited by graduate students from off-campus database name total visits pubmed 24,108 uptodate 15,669 cinahl with full text 6,378 scopus 5,444 psycinfo 4,285 web of science (all databases) 3,160 rxtx (cpa) 3,078 medline (ovid) 2,453 lexicomp online 2,310 clinicalkey 1,677 table 6. top 10 database domains visited from primo by graduate students from off-campous. database domain total visits www.sciencedirect.com 48,975 onlinelibrary.wiley.com 45,381 dx.doi.org 44,062 www.tandfonline.com 37,676 scholar.google.com 36,239 link.springer.com 35,553 search.proquest.com 34,534 search.ebscohost.com 30,024 openurl.ebscohost.com 29,280 journals.sagepub.com 24,321 conclusion database usage analysis allows librarians to learn various aspects of how users access the library’s e-resources. a simple question like how many times a database is visited within a period is xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 91 fundamental to justify the institution’s expenditure. without the usage analysis, it will be very difficult for a library to investigate a model of the user accessing e-resources based on which custom service could be developed. compared to the vendor-provided data, transaction log analysis provides librarians access to first-hand data, allows cross-database comparison, and can be combined with information from other systems for advanced studies. in this article, the author presented a home-grown system used at the university of manitoba libraries to analyze ezproxy spu logs. the author studied how licensed databases were visited within two years (september 1st, 2019 – august 31st, 2019). the author also used transaction log analysis to demonstrate how the database visits performed at different locations and by various user groups change with time. since the ezproxy spu log is being automatically imported into the system daily, it allows the author to analyze the database usage activities within a longer period. further studies could be focused on the information-seeking behaviors from a particular user group, as such information is available for off-campus visits. this article briefly discussed how users in the faculty of graduate studies group used the e-resources. more studies could be performed in this area to investigate a model of user activities for particular user groups. meanwhile, although the article demonstrated the roles ethernet and wi-fi play when it comes to database visits from campus, the statistical usage is split into two groups by the fact that ip authentication is used for on-campus visits and id authentication for off-campus visits. if ip authentication is replaced in the future, on-campus users and off-campus users could be evaluated together and a more comprehensive model could be developed. appendix: usergroup table usergroup table in the database. groups 1-15 and 17-29 are used for undergraduate students. group 16 is for graduate students. uofm faculty and staff are in group 100. gcode groupname 1 faculty of arts 2 faculty of science 3 faculty of engineering 4 english language centre (2) 5 college of medicine 6 faculty of management 7 faculty of agric. and food sci. 8 faculty of education 9 faculty of architecture 10 faculty of law 11 college of pharmacy 12 faculty of social work 13 college of nursing 15 school of art xuan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 92 gcode groupname 16 faculty of graduate studies 17 college of dentistry 19 college of rehabilitation sci. 20 school of dental hygiene 21 faculty of music 22 faculty of kines. & rec mgmt. 24 school of agriculture 25 college of medicine pgme 26 extended education 27 university 1 28 faculty of environment, earth & resources 29 faculty of health sciences 100 uofm faculty and staff 101 usb faculty and staff 200 hospital staff 201 mrha 300 distance education references baker, g., & read, e. j. 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(2019). log files overview. retrieved july 24, 2019, from https://help.oclc.org/library_management/ezproxy/manage_ezproxy/log_files_overview oed, o. (2019). database, n. retrieved from www.oed.com/view/entry/47411 peters, t. a. (1993). the history and development of transaction log analysis. library hi tech, 11(2), 41–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047884 shibboleth. (2019). shibboleth. retrieved july 25, 2019, from https://www.shibboleth.net wan, g., & liu, z. (2010). knowing your users: the value of article database usage analysis. learned publishing, 23(3), 225–236. https://doi.org/10.1087/20100305 about the author wei xuan is assistant librarian and head of libraries systems at the university of manitoba libraries. he has been playing an active role in numerous projects focused on systems interoperability, data protection and accessibility. his current research interests include resource evaluation, data management and library technology. 4--138-687-2-ce-weixuan-updated_title 4--138-687-2-ce-weixuan-updated-1-proofread issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org creating new correctional programs and services in response to the covid-19 pandemic jill anderson, nili ness, and diego sandoval-hernandez abstract: this article explores the changed and changing covid-19 pandemic programming implemented by brooklyn public library and queens public library's correctional outreach teams. every program or service offered by the correctional outreach teams was required to change to meet the needs of the pandemic. additionally, the libraries created two new services: library hub, a tablet program for people in rikers island jail complex, and immediate access, a technology and resource access program for people on parole. the article explains the new services, provides the findings associated with almost two years of providing these services, and presents insights and suggested best practices. to cite this article: anderson, j., ness, n. & sandoval-hernandez, d. (2022). creating new correctional programs and services in response to the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 46-60. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.240 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.240 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 46-60 issn: 2474-3542 creating new correctional programs and services in response to the covid-19 pandemic jill anderson, queens public library, ny, usa nili ness, san francisco public library, ca, usa diego sandoval-hernandez, brooklyn public library, ny, usa abstract this article explores the changed and changing covid-19 pandemic programming implemented by brooklyn public library and queens public library's correctional outreach teams. every program or service offered by the correctional outreach teams was required to change to meet the needs of the pandemic. additionally, the libraries created two new services: library hub, a tablet program for people in rikers island jail complex, and immediate access, a technology and resource access program for people on parole. the article explains the new services, provides the findings associated with almost two years of providing these services, and presents insights and suggested best practices. keywords: correctional programs, covid-19 pandemic, queens public library, brooklyn public library introduction faced with the changes wrought by the global covid-19 pandemic, the correctional outreach teams of two public library systems in new york city, usa -brooklyn public library and queens public library -created new programs and services and updated existing programs and services. they also worked together to offer new services with the municipal jail service: new york city’s department of correction (“doc”). before and during the pandemic, these two libraries offered several services to people who were incarcerated or detained, people who had formerly been incarcerated or detained, and people who had family members that were either incarcerated or detained. although these groups have disparate needs and interests, we call the services to this population “correctional outreach.” two major new correctional outreach programs created by library staff were the library hub tablet program within rikers island jail and the immediate access: technology reentry program for people on parole. this case study describes these two new programs. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 47 history of brooklyn public library established in 1896, brooklyn public library is one of the united states’s largest public library systems, with more than 850,000 active library cardholders. brooklyn public library has 66 branches; most of brooklyn’s 2.7 million residents live within a half-mile of a library branch. in 2016, brooklyn public library was awarded an institute of museum and library services “national medal for museum and library service,” in large part due to the work of its outreach services department and its efforts to serve brooklyn’s most vulnerable populations. history of queens public library the first library in queens, new york was organized in 1858. that library was the foundation of the queens public library system, which was established in 1896. queens public library began offering service to prison populations by 1915. between 1915 and 2014, there was intermittent service provided to patrons in prisons and jails. beginning in 2014, queens public library had one full-time position dedicated solely to outreach, including correctional outreach and programming. the library’s correctional outreach programming increased after 2014. by the start of the pandemic lockdown in march 2020, queens public library had several correctional programs. jail, prison, and reentry programs and services offered pre-pandemic before the pandemic started, brooklyn public library provided library services to facilities in rikers island -two of these facilities were shared with queens public library -and a facility in the bronx, new york. most of the patrons served are awaiting trial or serving short sentences, and it’s common for these patrons to be moved from jail facility to jail facility. none of these facilities are equipped with physical library spaces. instead the libraries provide services through the use of bookcarts that visit housing areas within each facility. the collections are stored in whatever space is available at the jails along with the book carts. the collections are composed of weeded library materials, donations, and purchased materials. given the transitory nature of the population at these correctional facilities, book retention is a challenge. a considerable portion of the items are not returned for a variety of reasons. people are moved from facility to facility, or are released before they can return their books. also, books can be taken in a search or by another reader or can be easily damaged. the level of book retention and the lack of technology use allowed by anyone in the facility means that it is prohibitively challenging to maintain an item cataloging system, which requires the libraries to keep circulation records by hand. this, in turn, affects the library functions that can be provided; for example, fulfilling specific book requests can be challenging. these challenges forced the library systems to be creative. the libraries began providing reference services while conducting book cart service. as the reference service caught on, both libraries teamed up with the prison library support network (plsn), a new-york-based network made up of volunteer library professionals. library staff were able to conduct brief reference interviews in person to assess the individual’s information needs, which then would be passed on to plsn coordinators (minus any personally identifying information), who would assign it to one of their volunteers. the information needs varied in nature, given the lack of access to information in jails. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 48 both library systems also provided different programs within the jail, though this is one of the most challenging aspects of providing library services to rikers. the libraries partner with doc program coordinators at the facilities. these program coordinators are essential because they are responsible for recruiting participants and finding programming spaces. many of these library-sponsored programs are presented by contracted vendors, so if the program is delayed by unforeseen circumstances at the facility, it might not be conducted at all. also, if a program has been presented without the full cooperation of the program coordinators, it might have no participants or be held in an awkward space. for more information about these complexities, refer to expanding library service in jails and prisons through hip hop, meditation, and creativity (capers et al., 2021). brooklyn public library also conducted the program daddy & me at different city jails, as well as the federal detention center in brooklyn. as part of this program, incarcerated parents attended an early literacy workshop. then, participants would be recorded reading a book to their children, assisted by library staff who would demonstrate storytime tips and tricks. the recording, along with the books, was given to the family during a family day, where a family gets to spend the day with their incarcerated loved one. in 2018, 71 people participated in the program and 123 children received books along with their parent’s recording. additionally, in 2018, brooklyn public library received an internal library grant to conduct the “bpl zine project,” in which participants created their own zine, after taking workshops about creating comic books, writing poetry, and making collages. the queens and brooklyn public libraries also offered other programs and services to people impacted by the criminal justice system. the video visitation program was offered to friends or families who had loved ones inside of the rikers island jail complex. with this program, the library provided a space with a tv screen and the equipment necessary to connect to the virtual visitation equipment at rikers island. families and other loved ones could use this space for a one hour virtual visit. in 2019, queens public library hosted 416 video visits with 1,119 participants. between january and march 2020, the brooklyn public library hosted 205 video visits. queens public library also conducted programs and services with queensboro correctional facility, a local reentry prison. one program at queensboro was the resume-creation program, see you on the outside. see you on the outside was conducted in the prison, first with a resume workshop and then with a second visit where library staff distributed any completed resumes. library staff also stayed in contact with participants who were interested in library services when they were released. in 2019, queens public library assisted 359 people with resume creation through see you on the outside. at queensboro, library staff also provided one-on-one service for people, usually through their prison counselors. there was also occasional programming, and library staff had a strong relationship with staff at queensboro. queens public library also had relationships with local community supervision offices. through these relationships, library staff would attend periodic intake meetings for people on parole. library staff also set up a table at the probation office that we would staff periodically. queens public library interacted with 210 people in 2019 through probation and parole. queens public library also created a reentry resource guide: a small approximately 30page brochure that we filled with resources from the queens area that would be of interest to people recently released from incarceration. the guide was updated every few years. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 49 at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic, queens public library had also created a pilot correctional outreach service, a staffed “reentry desk” at the main library branch. the idea was that library staff could refer individual questions that were received about reentry services to the reentry desk. this desk was staffed several hours per week starting in january 2020. library staff interacted with 50 people via the reentry desk in early 2020. library staff also used the reentry desk to distribute the reentry resource guide. literature review a lot has been written recently about the use of tablets, more specifically e-readers, in prisons. much of this literature focuses on the prohibitive costs to use basic services, such as reading an ebook or sending an email, especially in the context of the privatization of public services and financial exploitations of people within the united states criminal justice system. there are different case models of prisons using e-readers to financially exploit incarcerated people and research that looks at the role of companies, such as jpay, who profit from these models (eisen, 2017; harris et al., 2019; waters, 2019). additionally, pen america and other members of the coalition for carceral access to literature and learning are working to push back against the prohibitive costs of these electronic devices and against proposals by correctional facilities to limit the access to physical books in favor of tablets or e-readers. another research topic that is heavily discussed is the use of surveillance technology within prison and jails and also after incarceration. in their work, library services and incarceration: recognizing barriers, strengthening access, dr. jeanie austin (2021) explores the ways in which carceral institutions have used technology as a form of surveillance and to regulate the flow of information. other researchers have looked at the opportunities that technology provides for organizations looking to offer correctional resources (reisdorf et al., 2021) as well as the role these technologies have played during the last public health crisis (cloud et al., 2020; williams et al., 2020). at the time the two libraries began the pandemic-era work with the new york city doc, most of the literature focused on private companies like jpay and the role these companies had played in providing high-cost, low-value services to justice-involved people. much of the literature did not apply to the situation the library staff were in, because the tablets used by doc follow a different model from jpay. we could not find examples of librarians that had partnered with tablet providers and jails to provide library services and content to their local jail population. the role of surveillance was something that library staff took seriously, keeping in mind the role that library staff could play in contributing to surveillance. library staff weighed the lack of access to basic resources during the pandemic against surveillance concerns and ultimately felt that access took primacy in this situation. on the reentry side, a recent book that discusses the reentry process is homeward: life in the year after prison by bruce western (2018). the lessons captured in this book were used by queens public library staff when creating and refining the immediate access program. one major lesson woven throughout the pages of homeward is that reentry is complicated. another, more specific, lesson stated in the book surrounds recidivism. the research in homeward found that only three factors were related to an increased rate of recidivism and they are all factors related specifically to the formerly-incarcerated individual: anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 50 relapsing to addiction being on probation or parole being younger than average (western, 2018, p. 122). library staff used this knowledge to temper expectations about recidivism. library staff also took into consideration another finding from the book the finding that there are three commonly acute reentry needs: transitional assistance with every day and foundational tasks in the first weeks of release, continuous health care from incarceration to release, and independent housing, which is scarce and difficult to secure (western, 2018, p. 183). these insights helped shape the immediate access reentry program. library staff were more comfortable with being flexible about participant engagement, especially in the early days of release. our literature review search also revealed a recent article about public library services and the reentry population. penin et al. (2019), discussed the design of services at the public library, in the context of working with people who are recently released from prison or jail. penin et al. (2019) used design thinking to analyze the role of a public library when serving the reentry population. the authors discussed three “interconnected leverage points” that contribute to services provided to the reentry population: library as social capacity, library as community problem solvers, and library patrons as infrastructure (penin et al., 2019, p. 7). although we were not familiar with penin et al.’s work when we began designing the immediate access program, the ideas discussed resonate. penin et al. emphasized the inclusive and flexible nature of library work, the relational and emotional work performed by library staff, and the need to recognize that library patrons are an asset, not just a service population (penin, et al., 2019). jail, prison, and reentry services in response to the pandemic jail library services library hub library hub is a shared space created by queens public library and brooklyn public library on the educational platform “brightspace d2l”, which is used on the doc-issued tablets for people incarcerated in new york city jails. the libraries used this digital space to offer on-demand, prerecorded library programs, an ask a librarian! reference service, a mail-a-book/bookmatch service, and other resources. from the rollout of the project in april 2021 until the writing of this article in february 2022, library hub has sent 6,161 books to 3,648 people incarcerated at local jail facilities and sent 757 reference responses (which were often multifold requests). in the early days of the covid-19 pandemic, library staff at both libraries communicated with program coordinators and other facility staff regularly to determine what the libraries could offer. consistently, books were seen as being the most helpful resource. the libraries sent books to be distributed and also gave facilities staff permission to use library collections at the facilities. library staff attempted to gauge what types of books would be most helpful by first using surveys. however, those surveys relied on a doc staff that was already spread thin and overwhelmed. the anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 51 libraries then tried sending boxes that each contained a wide range of materials to be dropped off at housing units and also tried sending boxes of books organized by genre. after a few months of the pandemic, in the summer of 2020, a program coordinator approached the libraries about adding content to the doc tablets. doc staff was interested in content that could be considered “edutainment.” doc staff initially asked for content that had an educational component and they wanted to gauge engagement through quizzes, though these did not need to be rigorous. because of the two libraries’ close coordination on book distribution and previously on library services, library staff discussed the prospect together. library staff wanted to provide programs that any community library would offer, namely, programs that were relevant and engaging for the community. staff decided to base the initial programs on topics that were known to be of frequent interest to the population, along with suggestions from program providers. staff also determined early on to include a survey for tablet users to create ideas for future programs. library staff were excited about the possibility of being able to offer services to patrons and discussed what, aside from programs, could be provided through this access. since providing books had been the backbone of their services, library staff envisioned a “mail-a-book” type of service paired with readers’ advisory. library staff also knew they wanted to provide a reference service. the previous reference service was more informal, and the tablets provided an opportunity to create a new, more formalized reference service. in initial discussions, issues of privacy and access were paramount. one factor that influenced the initial creation of the services provided was that the company that the doc was using, american prison data systems (apds), is a public-benefit corporation and certified b corporation. tablet users are not charged for accessing library content. of the three things library staff wanted to offer (programs, reference information, and materials), programs for people to watch on demand, free of cost to themselves, seemed unproblematic from a privacy perspective. reference questions were a little more complicated. though this was something library staff had previously done through mail with people incarcerated in prisons, and in-person at jails, library staff had to think through what privacy issues would arise from offering this service through the tablet. there would be a record of the information sought, and it would be clear who was making the request. library staff knew from experience that the vast majority of patron requests were completely innocuous from a correctional perspective. library staff also knew that because of the pandemic and the lack of doc staff, people were in a veritable information desert. there were few doc staff to provide reentry information, health information, or programs. in order to mitigate the privacy issues, library staff decided to head the ask a librarian! section and the mail-abook/bookmatch section with a boldface notice that any correspondence via tablet was subject to surveillance and also offered patrons the option to mail the libraries their requests. by adding these two components, library staff decided that the access that these services provided at such a critical time ultimately outweighed their remaining privacy concerns. after being as transparent as possible about the lack of confidentiality, library staff felt that they were giving patrons agency to decide whether they wanted to engage with us through the tablet. as previously mentioned, the doc had envisioned the libraries’ participation in the tablet project as providing what doc staff called “edutainment.” the doc had also reached out to other organizations in new york city, including local colleges, to provide video content and educational anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 52 resources for their tablet program. from working closely with people who had access to patrons in jail during the pandemic, and from the libraries’ past work with this population, library staff identified areas of interest. library staff wanted to have video content available at the launch of library hub to help draw interest to the new service. library staff envisioned this part of the project as consisting mainly of bringing already existing recorded library programs to the tablets, though both libraries also received funding to hire people to create video programming for the tablets that was designed specifically for our patrons. this included programs about american sign language and job readiness as well as less formal programs such as drawing tutorials, astrology, and tai chi workshops. the team at brooklyn public library received $15,000 in funding to support this project, including the video content. there were certain technological limitations that the instructors contended with, such as not being able to provide live workshops and an inability for the patrons to ask direct questions to the instructors. unlike colleges and other institutions, who may have the capacity to have more formal classes and provide feedback from instructors, the libraries don’t have the same capacity. the video content needed to stand on its own without much instructor interaction. it was also very important to get input from patrons, so library staff created surveys to assess the videos. funding by the charles h. revson foundation and robert m. schiffman foundation was instrumental in the creation of brooklyn public library’s original video content. beyond video programming, library hub has also been used to provide reentry documents and information to library patrons, including voter information. as for library hub’s book distribution service, library staff wanted to approximate as closely as possible the usual library service and wanted people to have agency over which books they borrowed. library staff limited the service to two books per person per calendar month. instead of requiring immediate return of the materials via the mail, each book package included a form letter with instructions to either return the books to program staff, share with another reader who may be interested, leave in the occasional informal library spaces in housing units, or keep until the libraries resumed in-person services. as before the pandemic, the collection consisted of weeded, donated, and purchased materials. readers’ advisory became a very complex task in this environment. with library staff capacity, it was impossible to track all the books coming in and going out in order to share an updated catalog with patrons. instead, library staff would respond to individual book requests that could not be fulfilled with books within the current collection by offering an annotated list of similar books, of which the reader could choose two. one issue library staff encountered was patrons not responding after they were sent the readers’ advisory list. seemingly, some patrons were not able to figure out the messaging system and library staff were unable to view the system from the user’s end. library staff did not want to penalize people who were not able to message, so, if library staff did not hear back from patrons after a week, library staff selected two books to mail to the patron. many book requests reflect the patrons’ focus while incarcerated: understanding the law, mental self-help, relationship self-help, substance misuse recovery, business development, and educational materials, along with recreational materials. some patrons wanted books to help them connect with their children, by reading to them or drawing pictures for them. the mail-a-book/bookmatch system became very popular. library staff were initially going to pilot the program in only one facility. however, as doc was not far along with the tablet roll-out, library staff decided to open the program to all facilities. as word of mouth spread and the tablets became more widely distributed, the service became heavily utilized. for example, in anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 53 october 2021, of the 41,123 minutes that tablet users spent on library hub, 65% was used engaging with mail-a-book/bookmatch, as can be seen in figure 1. it far outstripped any other library hub offerings. figure 1 along with the mail-a-book/bookmatch services, the libraries also used library hub to implement reference services. reference services were something both libraries did informally before the pandemic shutdown. the libraries had also done mail reference services before, but mostly for out-of-state prisons. to protect people’s confidentiality as much as possible, patrons had the option of submitting their requests through the tablet, with a notice that anything they wrote could be monitored by both apds and the doc, or mailing their request to the library. library staff used the software airtable to keep reference and book requests organized. for reference questions, airtable had a useful feature that allowed a finished reference response pdf to be uploaded. as the popularity of reference requests increased, the service was creating more work than the libraries had capacity to handle. thankfully, plsn was able to connect the libraries with volunteers within the profession. volunteers were sent one information request per week without any identifying information and were asked to send a pdf of the response and fill all but the personal information into a form letter. after reviewing the response, a library staff person then filled out the personal information and uploaded it to airtable along with the pdf and the response was then ready to be printed and mailed to the patron. prison library service the local prison in queens, queensboro correctional facility, was locked down in late march or early april 2020 (gross, 2020). queens public library was unable to continue in-person workshops. in the confusion following the early pandemic, the amount of people held at anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 54 queensboro fluctuated and whether they were work release, general population, or not at the end of their sentence also fluctuated. library staff could not conduct in-person workshops, but staff attempted to create resumes over email, through prison staff. library staff attended as many virtual meetings with the leadership at the facility as possible, to find out the needs of the facility and its population. library services for people on probation library services for people on probation were heavily curtailed by the pandemic. by march 2020, probation offices were closed and staff communicated with participants by phone or in the field (maisel, 2020; nyc probation, 2020). possibly because of the decentralized nature of probation during the pandemic, library staff were not able to create services or programs focused on this population. library services for people on parole parole began restricting office visits in march or april of 2020 (new york state department of corrections and community supervision, n.d.). although the offices were closed, the number of people on parole in the queens bureaus did not fluctuate greatly. as can be seen in figure 2, the population was 2,020 in december 2019; 2,051 in june 2020; and 1,930 in february 2021. figure 2 almost immediately, queens public library knew it wanted to continue programs and services with the parole offices, even if the programs and services needed to be changed because of new parole office or library requirements. in april 2020, the director of community engagement, kim mcneil capers, was in discussions with staff at the parole office. capers asked what kind of virtual programming people on parole would be interested in. parole staff informed her that any programming would be difficult for people on parole to engage with, because of a lack of technology devices and skills. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 55 this conversation changed queens public library’s way of thinking about how to assist people on parole. in may 2020, library staff began work on a grant application to receive funding for a “mobile device for people on parole” pilot program. this program became queens public library’s immediate access: technology reentry program, funded by a cares act grant from the federal institute of museum and library services. queens public library conceptualized this program as providing technology and technology assistance to people on parole. library staff wanted to provide people on parole with technology, but were also adamant that the program needed the staff to be able to give the participants instruction on how to use the technology in the pandemic virtual world, as well. at the beginning of and throughout the immediate access program, library staff and the grant partner, queens defenders, had discussions about the best ways to provide this service. one initial discussion was whether to provide smartphones, tablets, or laptops. library staff settled on phones for a few reasons: 1) most people own and use a phone, whether or not they also own a tablet or a laptop, 2) phones might be easier to take care of in a group living situation because they are smaller and have less equipment associated with them (no big chargers, bags, etc), and 3) although phones can be harder to use than a laptop, the program was providing staff who could help with the technological aspects. another initial discussion was how many staff would be needed for this program. library staff initially settled on three part-time staff, one to project manage and two to interact with participants. however, a fourth part-time position was created after a year of the program. library staff chose a participant cohort size of 25 and a program length of 5 months. beyond the immediate access program, queens public library also created virtual programming for people who were recently released from prison or jail. the library presented 17 virtual programs in 2020 and 2021 that were specifically geared toward recently-incarcerated people. these programs spoke on topics like housing, education, entrepreneurship, mental health, financial literacy, and the meaning of justice. the library also worked with the prison to show previously-recorded programs at the prison. changes in participant needs and behaviors during the pandemic initially, because library hub was a service that patrons were not familiar with, a lot of the first requests were taken straight from the examples provided in our instructions. eventually, as word of the service spread through the facilities, the nature of the requests evolved. also, the frequency and amount of requests staff received surpassed that of previous in-person requests. the fact that patrons could submit their request through the tablets, instead of waiting to see library staff in person or only learning about the service in conversation, increased the amount of requests. the fast doc roll-out of these tablets was a response to the lack of in-person services available because of the pandemic. library hub’s reference service started filling those gaps and the libraries received a lot of reentry-related requests. additionally, library staff saw an uptick of people requesting information on mental health topics such as depression and anxiety. it is hard to know whether the uptick in requests about mental health resources had to do with the lack of effective resources at these facilities during this time, or because people felt more comfortable requesting these resources through the intermediary of technology and not face to face, or because anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 56 the pandemic conditions within the jails exacerbated people’s health. another topic that was notably more frequently requested than in the past was information on lgbtq+ resources, which people were not necessarily as comfortable requesting in person. surprisingly to library staff, the separation inherent in a digital interface perhaps opened a space for people to be vulnerable in ways they often couldn't be in person. both libraries work primarily with men, who oftentimes try to maintain a tough exterior to survive in a jail environment. through the tablets, some of the patrons, male and female, shared their struggles of being incarcerated during the pandemic or opened up about past trauma. other information needs were not that different from the requests received before the pandemic. however, it was clear that our patrons’ information seeking behavior was heavily impacted by the general lack of available resources. as for immediate access, when working with people on parole or soon to be released from prison, library staff did not notice any shifts in information-seeking behavior. people still preferred to communicate via phone or, to a lesser degree, text or were required to communicate through correctional staff. library staff also did not notice any changes in information sought. there was still a heavy need for technology assistance, state ids, stable housing, and jobs. figure 3 is a word cloud of any item or assistance asked for by participants in the immediate access program for the august to december 2020 session. figure 3 note. a request for smartphones is not included in the word cloud, because participants were automatically given smartphones. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 57 findings insights one insight for library hub was that the most basic function of the library was the most sought after. libraries are often looking to see how they can expand their offerings, but in this scenario, working on accessing books was what people spent most of their time on in library hub. people articulated a deep value in access to books to a surprising degree. unfortunately, it was also by far the most time consuming aspect of library hub. providing the books through mail-abook/bookmatch also helped library staff create a more full picture of the types of books that people are interested in reading, because people were selecting their books based on their interest, instead of the library’s provided collection. additionally, despite the faceless nature of communication through the tablets, people still appreciated feeling heard. there was still a humanizing aspect to library hub communications. one of the themes evident from survey responses was that these services made patrons feel not forgotten. for the work with recently released people, one insight that library staff discovered is that staff time is the most heavily utilized resource. immediate access participants appreciated the $50 incentives, the job skills training, and the unlimited data, but the portion of the program that received the most positive feedback was the staff time and staff ability to research and connect participants with community resources. even the provided phone, which was the linchpin of the program, was not as appreciated as the staff time. after several months of working in the program, library staff began to see the phone as a vehicle to provide connections to immediate access staff and other non-profits, rather than the main portion of the program. the phone was extremely important, of course, because otherwise library staff might not have a reliable connection with a participant, but the phone was more of a tool to accomplish other goals, than the goal in itself. another insight that library staff learned was that the stronger our pre-pandemic relationships were with correctional staff, the more likely a program was to be successful during the pandemic. the libraries were able to create immediate access and library hub partly because of the strong relationships library staff had with correctional staff within the parole office and at rikers. these strong relationships allowed for quicker, more direct communication and afforded a trust to speak frankly about what was needed and what was able to be offered. best practices some best practices that library staff would recommend for creating similar tablet services or technology reentry services are: tailor your offerings carefully to staff capacity and think through ways to scale back. appropriate staffing is important. for immediate access, a caseload of about eight participants per part-time staff member worked. have clear instructions for participants. new technology can be challenging for some people. if library staff can access the equipment that will be used by participants, consider making a video to walk users through how to access different functions. provide space for feedback. there are so many insights to be gained by politely asking for feedback, and people feel respected when they feel heard. anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 58 have clear policies and take the time to explain them. people can be quite understanding when we are able to take the time to explain policies or changes. meeting people where they are. flexibility can be key. people have a lot going on in their lives, people on parole sometimes even more so because of requirements for training or curfews set by their parole officer. don’t forget that this kind of work can be emotionally laborious. if there is capacity, provide some staff training or resources on dealing with the emotional aspects of this work. also, library staff found that giving each other space to vent and ask for advice was incredibly helpful. conclusion moving forward, the libraries will change their programs to reflect the current public health situations surrounding covid-19. for example, rikers island and the libraries are allowing for more in-person programming, which means library staff will stop our bookmatch program and move back to the more efficient rolling cart library service. library staff will also continue to expand the virtual program offerings, as it allows the libraries to provide consistent programming that reaches exponentially more people than in-person programming. however, virtual programming should supplement, not replace in-person programming. library staff will also provide a modified version of ask a librarian! additionally, for the immediate access program, library staff will encourage more in-person interaction if desired by the participant or by staff. the libraries will also keep up-to-date with the changing offerings of local non-profits and other resource organizations. brooklyn public library and queens public library’s pandemic-created correctional programs and services do not look like the programs and services from before the pandemic. after two years of pandemic, the programs and services do not even look like they did at the beginning of covid-19. the main core of these programs are flexible enough that they can be provided in times of social distancing or in times of in-person social connection; they also can be provided at libraries much different from ours. if your library directs staff time toward assisting these populations, creates connections with correctional and non-profit organizations, and keeps a flexible attitude, you can use these programs as a foundation for creating your own responsive programs and services. references austin, j. (2021). library services and incarceration: recognizing barriers, strengthening access. ala neal-schuman. capers, k. m., anderson, j. & ness, n. (2021). expanding library service in jails and prisons through hip hop, meditation, and creativity. in garner, j (ed.), exploring the roles and practices of libraries in prisons: international perspectives (advances in librarianship, vol. 49), pp. 39-56. emerald publishing limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/s0065283020210000049003 anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 59 cloud, d. h., ahalt, c., augustine, d., sears, d. & williams, b. (2020). medical isolation and solitary confinement: balancing health and humanity in us jails and prisons during covid-19. journal of general internal medicine, 35(9), 2738-2742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05968-y eisen, l. (2017). inside private prisons: an american dilemma in the age of mass incarceration. columbia university press. https://doi.org/10.7312/eise17970 gross, c. (2020, april 6). with no plan to reduce population, inmates wait and hope they don’t get sick. spectrum news ny 1. https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/ news/2020/04/07/with-no-plan-to-reduce-population--inmates-wait-and-hope-they-don-tget-sick harris, a., smith, t., obara, e. (2019). justice “cost points”: examination of privatization within public systems of justice. criminology & public policy, 18(2), 343-359. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12442 maisel, t. (2020, april 2). probation officers stay active while keeping to social distancing in new york city. amny. https://www.amny.com/police-fire/probation-officers-stay-active while-keeping-to-social-distancing/ new york state department of corrections and community supervision. (n.d.). suspensions, restrictions & cancellations in response to covid-19. https://doccs.ny.gov/suspensions restrictions-cancellations-response-covid-19 nyc probation [@nycprobation]. (2020, march 20). during this difficult time, fjc are here for you. please reach out. you will find someone with guidance on immediate [tweet; image of phone availability hours]. twitter. https://twitter.com/nycprobation/status/ 1241090186815197184 penin, l., staszowski, e., bruce, j., adams, b., & amatullo, m. (2019). public libraries as engines of democracy: a research and pedagogical case study on design for re-entry. nordes, 8(2019). https://archive.nordes.org/index.php/n13/article/download/460/431 reisdorf, b. c., decook, j., foster, m., cobbina, j., & lacourse, a. (2021). digital reentry: uses of and barriers to icts in the prisoner reentry process. information, communication & society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2021.1924826 waters, m. (2019, december 3). free tablets for the incarcerated come with a price. the outline. https://theoutline.com/post/8329/jpay-free-tablet-program-ripoff western, b. (2018). homeward: life in the year after prison. russell sage foundation. williams, b., ahalt, c., cloud, d., augustine, d., rorvig, l. & sears, d. (2020, march 26). correctional facilities in the shadow of covid-19: unique challenges and proposed solutions. health affairs forefront. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/ forefront.20200324.784502/ anderson, ness and sandoval-hernandez / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 60 _____________________________________________________________________________ about the authors jill anderson is the data and project coordinator at queens public library and the project manager for the immediate access: technology reentry program. she is interested in outreach, the public library as a community space, and conversations surrounding non-monogamy and queerness. nili ness is a jail and reentry services librarian for san francisco public library. she strongly believes in the right to read and that library services to people who are incarcerated is an impactful way to deliver on public librarianship’s core value of access. diego sandoval-hernandez is the supervising librarian for jail and prison librarians at the brooklyn public library. he holds a ba and a mils from mcgill university. he is passionate about providing library services to communities outside of the physical spaces of the library. 240_v7n2_anderson_title+page 240_anderson_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic amelia rodarte & abby moore abstract: this research study assessed academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. information was collected via an online survey that was sent out to several association of college and research libraries listservs. participants were academic librarians who work at large colleges and universities (fte is greater than 15,000 students). librarianship is a practice done mostly onsite, and with the sudden transition to remote work, academic librarians were forced to adapt to an unknown work environment with less access to the direct support of supervisors. this research demonstrates that the majority of academic librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive, and generally satisfied with their jobs, while working from home. to cite this article: rodarte, a. & moore, a. (2022). academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 4-29. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.230 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.230 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 4-29 issn: 2474-3542 academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic amelia rodarte, nc live, nc, usa abby moore, university of north carolina at charlotte, nc, usa abstract this research study assessed academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. information was collected via an online survey that was sent out to several association of college and research libraries listservs. participants were academic librarians who work at large colleges and universities (fte is greater than 15,000 students). librarianship is a practice done mostly onsite, and with the sudden transition to remote work, academic librarians were forced to adapt to an unknown work environment with less access to the direct support of supervisors. this research demonstrates that the majority of academic librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive, and generally satisfied with their jobs, while working from home. keywords: academic librarians, remote work, covid-19, productivity, job satisfaction introduction the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown forced academic librarians into an unlikely situation: working from home. historically, academic librarians have mostly worked on campus (duncan, 2008) even if the majority of their work could be done off campus. academic libraries have hesitated to implement remote work in the past because of concerns about “productivity, disruption of service, and other day-to-day factors” (albro & mcelfresh, 2021, p. 1). the covid19 pandemic forced academic libraries to implement remote work practices, despite concerns over productivity. with almost all library staff working from home, more librarians than ever participated in conversations about the future of remote work. both authors experienced working from home for the first time during the pandemic, and had many conversations about their productivity and general satisfaction with work. these conversations inspired the authors to study the relationship between perception of productivity and job satisfaction, in the unique context of the covid-19 pandemic. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 5 literature review librarians working from home: historically & now physical work settings can affect our work “positively, negatively, or not at all” (kenreich, 2000, p. 67). academic librarians have almost always worked in the library. in general, “libraries have been slow to adopt programs like flextime and telecommuting” even though “telecommuting allows for greater flexibility of and control over their schedules, solutions for child-care problems, ability to pursue other interests, and a more desirable environment” (meglio, 1991, p. 30). duncan, in 2008, argued that, “traditionally, librarians have been tethered to a facility either because their public service role demands face-to-face interaction or because they work with materials housed in the building” (p. 216). however, as point of need services have transitioned into online forums: chat and text reference, online consultations, and virtual instruction, academic librarians are more available, and savvy, online than ever before. carr, (2006), surveyed librarians in jamaican libraries and found that respondents identified the following departments to be suitable for telecommuting: acquisitions, reference, research, reservation, interlibrary loan, cataloging, and librarian instruction. black and hyslop (1995) noted that “technological advances in library applications have made the idea of telecommuting in library work increasingly attractive” (p. 319). several case studies have been published detailing the teleworking experiences of academic librarians who work in technical services, cataloging, interlibrary loan, and e-resource management. two notable studies about teleworking and technical services in academic libraries were published in the 1990s. meglio (1991) conducted a study that focused on teleworking and employee turnover. a case study at michigan state focused on the implications of teleworking on job satisfaction (black & hyslop, 1995). in both instances, academic librarians in technical services were overwhelmingly successful working from home. while job satisfaction and retention were the focuses of the two studies, other benefits to academic librarians and their organizations included increased employee morale, a cut in overhead costs, less stressful work environments, and the ability to attract new, highly skilled employees (black & hyslop, 1995; meglio, 1991). in the mid-2000s at least three more studies about telecommuting in academic libraries were published. two studies, one at florida state university (2008) and one done at utah state university (2008), focused on specific employees, who, for personal reasons, needed to telework in order to keep their jobs. both of these librarians worked in technical services. the third study found that public librarians in jamaica investigated how telecommuting could be adopted to combat the increased costs in real estate and traffic congestion (carr, 2006). not surprisingly, all three studies found great benefits in telecommuting: increased productivity, cost savings, decreased travel time, and environmental conservation (carr, 2006; duncan, 2008; smith & van dyke, 2008). alongside these benefits, academic libraries have themselves shifted into the online realm because of the increase in the demand for online and distance education. modern library services “have already been purposefully designed with a hybrid approach, with delivery both online and in person” (walsh & rana, 2020, p. 238). the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown has enabled libraries to “assess, modify, and expand existing online offerings, rather than requiring it to start from scratch” (walsh & rana, 2020, p. 238). this is all to say that academic librarians rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 6 who found themselves working remotely almost overnight were not without the capabilities to transition to virtual work. according to rysavy and michalak (2020), “librarians who work in departments that support virtual tools and services can easily transition to teleworking.” (p. 536). however, work-life balance and stress management are reported concerns of librarians working from home during the pandemic. although there is evidence that “many employees had a positive experience of remote working during the pandemic, with perceived opportunity to improve work-life balance” (delany, 2021, p. 7), a study on quality of life while working from home in austria (weitzer, j., papantoniou, k., seidel, et al, 2021) found that an increase in quality of life did not correlate with increased perceived productivity. productivity the bulk of the responsibility of maintaining employee productivity when working from home rests with leadership and management. leaders fear that if they cannot see their employees, then they are not doing any work (bellomo, 2021), but it is those leaders that must provide their employees with the support they need to be productive. risely (2020) states that “it is up to the library leaders to provide the right conditions for optimizing performance” (p. 654). without expectations set by managers, remote workers are likely to fail (rysavy & michalak, 2020). productivity, it seems, is directly linked to performance management. managers who set clear expectations, schedule frequent check-ins, build strong teams, remove roadblocks, and effectively communicate via technology (bellomo, 2021; risely, 2020; rysavy & michalak, 2020) will see improved employee performance (baker, e., avery, g. c., & crawford, j., 2007). management can only do so much. “because the home environment can introduce numerous distractions…employees may find it hard to concentrate on the job at hand. this could result in suboptimal performance and decreased productivity” (toniolo-barrios & pitt, 2021, p. 193). feelings of isolation, inaccurate expectations of productivity, the absence of on-site training, and technology overload are all drawbacks to working remotely. because personal interactions and relationships are critical to team community, engagement, and trust (bellomo, 2021), employees may feel disconnected from the organization and their teams, which can result in feeling undervalued by their managers, peers, and organization as a whole. therefore, demonstrating productivity while trying to stay connected can be an uphill battle when working from home. questionnaires and scales in fields such as management and organizational psychology, researchers have created instruments to measure worker productivity and job satisfaction. one such instrument is the individual work performance questionnaire (iwpq) version 1.0 created by koopmans et al. in 2014. the iwpq 1.0 is a questionnaire designed to measure the “behaviors or actions of employees, rather than the results of these actions” (koopmans et al., 2014, p. 160). there are three sets of questions that measure different aspects of worker performance. task performance questions measure core task proficiency (campbell, 1990), contextual performance questions measure organizational and social contributions (borman & motowidlo, 1993), and counterproductive work behavior questions measure behaviors that actively harm the organization (rotundo & sackett, 2002). all three components are necessary in order to capture the variety of behaviors that contribute to worker performance. as a whole, the iwpq is an excellent tool for measuring the productivity of workers and tracking productivity changes over time (koopmans et al., 2014). rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 7 studies of job satisfaction are equally important in the literature, and many researchers have attempted to measure and define the concept using scales and questionnaires. job satisfaction can be approached from a highly specific point-of-view or a general perspective (macdonald & macintyre, 1997). while both perspectives have merit, a brief scale which measures general job satisfaction has the greatest possible reach as it can more easily be administered in the workplace. the generic job satisfaction scale developed by macdonald and macintyre in 1997 is an example of a tool which was crafted to be broadly applicable and relatively timeless. recent studies have used the macdonald and macintyre scale as the basis for more modern applications (al-sada, m., al-esmael, b., & mohd, n. f., 2017; neha, p. s., sharma, t., & madhushree, n. a., 2016). research questions the authors approached this research with the goal of understanding how productive other academic librarians felt while working from home. the authors had different reactions to the remote work environment. one loved working from home and felt highly productive, while the other felt unproductive at home and was eager to return to the office. how did the authors’ individual experiences compare to a larger sample of librarians? the two questions which guided this research are: 1. how does working from home impact productivity? 2. how does working from home impact job satisfaction? research methodology approach the best way to sample a larger group of librarians was through an online survey. questionnaires are highly popular in library and information science research. in 2013, researchers performed a content analysis of the journal of academic librarianship (luo, l. & mckinney, m., 2013) and found that over 50% of the articles published in the previous decade used questionnaires as the primary research method. survey the unc charlotte and nc state university institutional review boards approved this study. irb #21-0533 (unc charlotte) and #24155 (nc state). information was collected via an online survey administered through qualtrics. in july 2021, the survey was distributed to all members of the association of college and research libraries (acrl) college libraries listserv and the acrl instruction section listserv. approximately 3,000 academic librarians received the survey invitation. the survey questions are included in appendix 1. criteria the researchers limited the sample size by creating screening questions to determine eligible participants. there were two criteria for participation. first, participants must be academic librarians who work at large colleges and universities. large colleges and universities were defined rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 8 as institutions with more than 15,000 enrolled students. both researchers work at institutions with more than 15,000 students and wanted the study to focus on peer institutions. peer institutions were more likely to have a similar number of library staff, similar departmental structures, and similar institutional responses to the covid-19 pandemic. second, participants must have been working from home for the majority of the covid19 pandemic (march 2020 – july 2021 at the time of the survey). the framework and research questions of this study necessitated that participants be academic librarians who were working from home. non-remote employees would not accurately contribute to the study. participants 107 eligible responses were collected. the screening questions removed a large number of ineligible responses. 112 additional participants were ineligible to participate because they worked at academic institutions with small populations. 6 additional participants did not finish all survey questions so their responses were not counted. findings demographics chart 1 demonstrates the infrequency of remote work for most survey respondents prior to the pandemic. 75.68% of respondents indicated that they “rarely” or “never” worked from home prior to the pandemic. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 9 chart 1 chart 2 demonstrates the variety of job roles of respondents. 67.29% of respondents indicated that they worked in “reference/instruction”. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 10 chart 2 at the time of the survey distribution, librarians anticipated their work location in fall 2021. chart 3 indicates that 52.3% of respondents said they would be working in a “hybrid” environment and 46.7% said they would be “in office full time”. less than 1% said they would be “at home full time”. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 11 chart 3 the survey included 26 questions on a likert scale. respondents were presented with statements and asked to respond with their level of agreement (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). seventeen questions focused on productivity and 8 focused on job satisfaction. the last question asked about overall preference for work location. the productivity questions were based on the iwpq 1.0 (koopmans et al., 2014) and the job satisfaction questions were based on the generic job satisfaction scale developed by macdonald and macintyre in 1997. productivity the first 17 questions asked respondents to rate their productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. 15/17 questions were pulled directly from the koopmans (2014) iwpq scale. two additional questions (q2, q4) were added by the researchers. each of the 17 questions fit within the three broad categories defined in the literature review (task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior). to help expand the iwpq terminology to a broader context, the researchers renamed the categories, and in some cases, added additional subcategories to help explain the types of questions that were asked. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 12 table 1 maps the survey questions to the iwpq terminology and the new terminology used in this research study. table 1 questions iwpq terminology new terminology questions 1 5 task performance time management questions 6 15 contextual performance additional work (q6, q7, q11, q12) professional development (q8, q9, q14) teamwork (q13) problem solving (q10, q15) questions 16 17 counterproductive work behavior counterproductive activities in general, respondents rated themselves as productive. on a scale of 0-4 with 0 being strongly agree and 4 being strongly disagree, the median response was 1 (agree) and the mode response was 0 (strongly agree). respondents rated themselves most productive in questions related to time management, teamwork, and professional development (chart 4). ● time management: 92.52% strongly agreed or agreed that they “managed to plan my work so that it was done on time.” 83.17% strongly agreed or agreed that they “set daily or weekly work goals.” ● teamwork: 92.53% strongly agreed or agreed that they “actively participated in work meetings.” ● professional development: 89.72% strongly agreed or agreed that they “worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date.” similarly, 88.78% strongly agreed or agreed that they “worked at keeping my job skills up-to-date.” rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 13 chart 4 there were two negatively phrased questions in the survey (chart 5). ● counterproductive activities: 60.74% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “focused on the negative aspects of a work situation, instead of on the positive aspects.” 49.53% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “sometimes did nothing, while i should have been working.” rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 14 chart 5 while the overall response indicated a high level of productivity among respondents, some questions had less agreement. chart 6 describes the productivity categories with lower levels of agreement. ● additional work: 60.75% strongly agreed or agreed that they “took on extra work responsibilities.” 54.2% strongly agreed or agreed that they “kept looking for new challenges in my job.” 66.35% strongly agreed or agreed that they “did more than was expected of me.” ● problem solving: 68.22% strongly agreed or agreed that they “knew how to solve difficult situations and setbacks quickly.” rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 15 chart 6 job satisfaction the 8 job satisfaction questions asked respondents to rate how satisfied they were with their job while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. the nature of these questions is harder to categorize because they focus on emotions and relationships, more so than concrete tasks. in general, most respondents (>50%) rated themselves as satisfied with their jobs. one question, “i felt close to the people at work”, had a different result, with most respondents responding with neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree. the median response for all job satisfaction questions was 1 (agree) and the mode response for all job satisfaction questions was 1 (agree). in comparison, the median response for all productivity questions was 1 (agree) and the mode response for all productivity questions was 0 (strongly agree). chart 7 demonstrates the top categories for job satisfaction. respondents indicated the strongest agreement with the following questions: ● collegiality: 84.11% strongly agreed or agreed that they “got along with my supervisors.” ● emotions: 71.96% strongly agreed or agreed that they “felt secure about my job.” 68.23% strongly agreed or agreed that they “felt good about my job.” rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 16 chart 7 chart 8 demonstrates the job satisfaction categories with the least agreement. respondents indicated the weakest agreement with the following questions: ● relationships: 38.32% strongly agreed or agreed and 34.55% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “felt close to the people at work.” 50.46% strongly agreed or agreed and 28.04% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “believed management was concerned about me.” ● recognition: 58.88% strongly agreed or agreed and 27.1% strongly disagreed or disagreed that “all my talents and skills were used at work.” 61.68% strongly agreed or agreed and 19.63% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “received recognition for a job well done.” rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 17 chart 8 productivity vs. job satisfaction as discussed above, respondents indicated a stronger level of productivity than job satisfaction. when asked about job satisfaction, more respondents selected strongly disagree or disagree while their responses to the productivity questions were strongly agree or agree. one can surmise from their answers, and the corresponding numbers, that academic librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive when working from home, however, they’re overall job satisfaction suffered somewhat; primarily due to the fact that they were removed from their colleagues. survey respondents indicated that relationships were negatively impacted by the remote work environment. 34.55% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “felt close to the people at work” and 28.04% strongly disagreed or disagreed that they “believed management was concerned about me.” the relationships that people form with their colleagues and supervisors tend to improve job satisfaction. that job satisfaction suffered somewhat while working from home may be related to the absence of those working relationships. what happens when we only look at the responses from those that indicated some level of job dissatisfaction? what is the relationship between low job satisfaction and productivity? respondents indicated the highest level of disagreement with one survey question in particular. 27.10% (n=29) disagreed and 7.48% (n=8) strongly disagreed with the statement “i felt close to the people at work.” this smaller group of responses is known as segment 1 in our analysis. when comparing the median and mode responses of segment 1 to the median and mode responses of the total group, there are notable differences. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 18 how does a negative response to “i felt close to the people at work” change the response to other questions? table 2 illustrates the difference. table 2 q# category question statement segment 1 median (n=37) segment 1 mode (n=37) total median (n=107) total mode (n=107) 6 productivity i took on extra work responsibilities 2 2 1 1 neutral neutral agree agree 8 productivity i worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date 1 1 0 0 agree agree strongly agree strongly agree 11 productivity i kept looking for new challenges in my job 2 1 1 0 neutral agree agree strongly agree 13 productivity i actively participated in work meetings 1 1 0 0 agree agree strongly agree strongly agree 14 productivity i actively looked for ways to improve my performance at work 2 2 1 1 neutral neutral agree agree 15 productivity i knew how to solve difficult situations and setbacks quickly 2 2 1 1 neutral neutral agree agree segment 1 (n=37) expressed weaker agreement with productivity statements. ● segment 1’s median response to “i took on extra work responsibilities” was 2 (neutral) and mode response was 2 (neutral). ● segment 1’s median response to “i worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 1 (agree). ● segment 1’s median response to “i kept looking for new challenges in my job” was 2 (neutral) and mode response was 1 (agree). ● segment 1’s median response to “i actively participated in work meetings” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 1 (agree). rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 19 ● segment 1’s median response to “i actively looked for ways to improve my performance at work” was 2 (neutral) and mode response was 2 (neutral). ● segment 1’s median response to “i knew how to solve difficult situations and setbacks quickly” was 2 (neutral) and mode response was 2 (neutral). in comparison, the total group (n=137) expressed stronger agreement with the same set of productivity statements. ● the total group’s median response to “i took on extra work responsibilities” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 1 (agree). ● the total group’s median response to “i worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date” was 0 (strongly agree) and mode response was 0 (strongly agree). ● the total group’s median response to “i kept looking for new challenges in my job” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 0 (strongly agree). ● the total group’s median response to “i actively participated in work meetings” was 0 (strongly agree) and mode response was 0 (strongly agree). ● the total group’s median response to “i actively looked for ways to improve my performance at work” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 1 (agree). ● the total group’s median response to “i knew how to solve difficult situations and setbacks quickly” was 1 (agree) and mode response was 1 (agree). these results indicate that feeling distant from colleagues negatively impacts a librarian’s capacity for extra work responsibilities, professional development, active participation, and problem solving. future outlook the last question of the survey was about the respondents' preference for future work location. 88.68% of respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” that they would continue to work remotely if it was an option for them (chart 9). rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 20 chart 9 i would continue to work remotely if it was an option for me discussion historically, academic libraries have hesitated to introduce remote work practices because they feared workers would be less productive (albro and mcelfresh, 2021). this study supports the conclusions of previous research that remote work does not limit productivity (carr, 2006, duncan, 2008, smith & van dyke, 2008). in fact, this study demonstrated that academic librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. despite the change in work location, librarians managed their time, participated in meetings, and expanded their professional development. the questions by which participants rated themselves as most productive make sense given the context of the pandemic. while working from home, librarians were able to maintain basic productivity measurements such as meeting deadlines and setting goals. these foundational markers of productive behavior, similar to the task performance concept from the iwpq 1.0 (koopmans et al., 2014), are not necessarily connected to physical location. however, it is possible that the tasks themselves that librarians were completing were different from the tasks they would normally have performed in-person at their libraries. they were meeting deadlines and setting goals, but did the content of those goals and deadlines change? the rapid rise in virtual conferencing software such as zoom and microsoft teams allowed academic librarians to quickly adjust to remote work without compromising teamwork and rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 21 communication. survey participants indicated that they “actively participated in work meetings” and we can assume that almost all of them took place in a virtual software platform. for many, covid-19 offered librarians the opportunity to pursue professional development. without their standard in-person work duties, and with greater flexibility in how they spent their workdays, librarians turned to professional development. this was reflected in the survey results. around 90% of respondents actively pursued professional development to keep their “job knowledge” and “job skills” up to date. librarians may have been pursuing professional development, but they may not have been as interested in additional work beyond what was normally asked of them. in a time of great upheaval both professionally and personally, did librarians really have space for extra work responsibilities and challenges? from the survey results, it would appear that while many librarians did take on additional work, it was not as common as other aspects of productivity. just 54.2% “kept looking for new challenges in my job”, compared to the 89.72% that “worked at keeping my job skills up-to-date”. there is no doubt that librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive, but how did others measure their productivity? what sort of work were they engaged in? were supervisors happy with their performance? did libraries meet institutional and departmental goals? these are questions which this study did not seek to answer. the authors chose to focus on the self-perception of productivity and job satisfaction as a starting point to future research. further studies may expand upon this work and learn more about objective measurements of productivity and evaluations from others. what this survey can shed some light on, is the relationship between productivity and job satisfaction. as mentioned previously, academic librarians perceived themselves to be overwhelmingly productive in the work from home environment, yet their job satisfaction suffered somewhat. thirty-five percent (35%) of the survey respondents disagreed with the statement “i felt close to the people at work” while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. and of those 35% of respondents who did not feel close to their colleagues while working from home, their answers to productivity questions (see table 2) were at least one median level lower than the total number of respondents. for example, the median response from all survey respondents to, “i took on extra work responsibilities” was 1 (agree) and the response from segment 1 was 2 (neutral). similarly, the mode response to the same question yielded the same results. table 2 also reveals that librarians who do not feel close to their colleagues are less likely to take on extra work responsibilities, look for new challenges, or quickly problem solve. engaging in challenging work is an essential component of employee growth, innovation, and creativity (“harnessing the drive”, 2021). the lack of workplace relationships, however, may impact this drive to seek new challenges and think creatively at work because those relationships “affect workplace attitudes and performance” (wax et al. 2022, pg.4). indeed, research shows that coworker support is “positively predictive of workplace creativity” (wax et al., 2022, pg. 4). highly productive employees who push their boundaries and pursue difficult tasks “are more likely to take risks and feel comfortable facing resistance, making them more likely to initiate and support innovative decisions and activities within the organization” (“harnessing the drive”, 2021). if job satisfaction, in particular having meaningful relationships with colleagues at work, negatively impacts this type of productivity, then libraries, not just individuals, may feel the consequences. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 22 that productivity does not equal satisfaction is unsurprising. while one recent study found that “overall productivity level of office workers did not change during the wfh experience … relative to their productivity before the pandemic” (awada et al. 2021, pg. 1183), another study that examined the emotional complexities of working from home during the pandemic determined that even though people felt safe and happy working from home, they could still feel a sense of loss and sadness at missing “their morning coffee ritual with their colleagues, because such rituals could lead to positive moods” (gabriel, et al., 2021, pg. 86). why is feeling close to colleagues, even in terms of proximity, important for job satisfaction? recall that bellomo (2021) says, “team is synonymous with personal interaction” (36) and “personal interactions and relationships are a critical facet of team community, engagement, and loyalty” (38). perhaps then, we must acknowledge that even though the academic librarians who participated in our study mostly reported a positive and productive experience while working from home, the absence of a team environment and the lack of authentic (read: not online) interactions with colleagues impacted the way they felt about their jobs more than they expected. this study was designed to measure self-perception of productivity and job satisfaction. this focus provides valuable insight into the emotions of librarians during covid-19. the downside to this approach is that it is difficult to establish the nuances of what respondents reported. for example, respondents appeared to loudly denounce the idea that they “sometimes did nothing, while i should have been working” (49.53% strongly disagreed or disagreed). this response surprised the authors. in this case, the study’s methodology prohibited a fuller understanding of how the statement was interpreted and responded to. the authors recognize potential limitations to this study. while the number of total responses was adequate (107), there were also a considerable number of ineligible responses (112). while the authors were disappointed with the number of ineligible participants, they were encouraged by this demonstration of interest among a larger population than originally expected. subsequent studies should expand the scope to include academic librarians at institutions of any size. this survey was released at a pivotal time in the covid-19 pandemic. in july 2021, most academic libraries and their parent institutions were in the process of transitioning work practices from a primarily remote environment to a hybrid or in-office location. this is reflected in the survey. all respondents worked from home for the majority of the pandemic (from march 2020 to july 2021) and 99% of respondents indicated they would be transitioning back to the office full time, or working hybrid in the office and at home. collecting responses at this moment of transition allowed participants to reflect on their remote work experiences, while considering what their future work environment may be. what was this transition like for academic librarians? how have their attitudes changed since completing this survey? by checking back in with this community periodically, we may be able to better understand how productivity and job satisfaction have changed since the return to a more rigid work environment. additionally, recognizing the implications of “returning to the office” could help researchers study and practitioners create more satisfactory organizational policies. rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 23 conclusion this study found that those responding academic librarians, at institutions with more than 15,000 enrolled students, perceived themselves to be highly productive, and generally satisfied with their jobs, while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. more specifically, levels of productivity correlated with reported job satisfaction. future research should aim to discover how returning to onsite work impacted librarian productivity and job satisfaction. subsequent studies could inform organizational policy change surrounding work location and flexible work arrangements. references albro, m., & mcelfresh, j. m. (2021). job engagement and employee-organization relationship among academic librarians in a modified work environment. the journal of academic librarianship, 47(5), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102413 al-sada, m., al-esmael, b., & mohd, n. f. (2017). influence of organizational culture and leadership style on employee satisfaction, commitment and motivation in the educational sector in qatar. euromed journal of business, 12(2), 163–188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/emjb-02-2016-0003 awada, m., lucas, g., becerik-gerber, b., & roll, s. (2021). working from home during the covid-19 pandemic: impact on office worker productivity and work experience. work (reading, mass.), 69(4), 1171–1189. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-210301 baker, e., avery, g. c., & crawford, j. (2007). satisfaction and perceived productivity when professionals work from home. research & practice in human resource management, 15(1), 37–62. bellomo, t. 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(2022). workplace loneliness: the benefits and detriments of working from home. frontiers in public health, 10, 903975–903975. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.903975 weitzer, j., papantoniou, k., seidel, s., klösch, g., caniglia, g., laubichler, m., bertau, m., birmann, b. m., jäger, c. c., zenk, l., steiner, g., & schernhammer, e. (2021). working from home, quality of life, and perceived productivity during the first 50-day covid-19 mitigation measures in austria: a cross-sectional study. international archives of occupational and environmental health, 94(8), 1823–1837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-021-01692-0 https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.51.4.04 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.903975 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-021-01692-0 rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 26 appendix 1 survey questions screening which type of library do you work in? ● academic (only accepted response) ● public ● school ● special ● other how many students attend your university or college? ● less than 5,000 ● 5,000-15,000 ● more than 15,000 (only accepted response) have you been working from home (i.e. remote work) for the majority of the covid-19 pandemic? ● yes (only accepted response) ● no demographics prior to the covid-19 pandemic, how frequently did you work from home? ● most of the time ● sometimes ● rarely ● never what will your work setting look like in fall 2021? ● hybrid ● in office full time ● at home full time using the following list, which option best describes your job function? ● access services ● administration ● archives/special collections ● collection development rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 27 ● interlibrary loan ● outreach ● reference/instruction ● technical services ● technology likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic... 1. i managed to plan my work so that it was done on time 2. i set daily or weekly work goals 3. i was able to separate main issues from side issues at work 4. i was able to perform my work within standard work hours 5. collaboration with others was very productive 6. i took on extra work responsibilities 7. i took on challenging work tasks, when available 8. i worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date 9. i worked at keeping my job skills up-to-date 10. i came up with creative solutions to new work problems 11. i kept looking for new challenges in my job 12. i did more than was expected of me 13. i actively participated in work meetings 14. i actively looked for ways to improve my performance at work 15. i knew how to solve difficult situations and setbacks quickly 16. i focused on the negative aspects of a work situation, instead of on the positive aspects 17. i sometimes did nothing, while i should have been working 18. i received recognition for a job well done 19. i felt close to the people at work 20. i felt good about working at my library 21. i felt secure about my job 22. i believed management was concerned about me 23. all my talents and skills were used at work 24. i got along with my supervisors 25. i felt good about my job rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 28 finally… 26. i would continue to work remotely if it was an option for me rodarte and moore / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 29 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors amelia rodarte is the community engagement librarian at nc live, north carolina’s statewide library cooperative. previously, she worked at unc charlotte, unc chapel hill, and the greensboro public library. amelia holds a msls from unc chapel hill and a ba in history from the american university. abby moore is an associate professor and the education, honors, and global engagement librarian at unc charlotte. she graduated from lehigh university and in 2003 began teaching english in the bronx after being accepted into the new york city teaching fellows program. she earned her masters in education in 2006. she transitioned to academic librarianship in 2011after earning her masters in library science from queens college. v7n2_rodarte_title+page 230_rodarte+and+more_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org using nlp to generate marc summary fields for notre dame’s catholic pamphlets jeremiah flannery abstract: three nlp (natural language processing) automated summarization techniques were tested on a special collection of catholic pamphlets acquired by hesburgh libraries. the automated summaries were generated after feeding the pamphlets as .pdf files into an ocr pipeline. extensive data cleaning and text preprocessing were necessary before the computer summarization algorithms could be launched. using the standard rouge f1 scoring technique, the bert extractive summarizer technique had the best summarization score. it most closely matched the human reference summaries. the bert extractive technique yielded an average rouge f1 score of 0.239. the gensim python package implementation of textrank scored at .151. a hand-implemented textrank algorithm created summaries that scored at 0.144. this article covers the implementation of automated pipelines to read pdf text, the strengths and weakness of automated summarization techniques, and what the successes and failures of these summaries mean for their potential to be used in hesburgh libraries. to cite this article: flannery, j. (2020). using nlp to generate marc summary fields for notre dame’s catholic pamphlets. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 20-35. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.158 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 20-35. issn: 2474-3542 using nlp to generate marc summary fields for notre dame’s catholic pamphlets jeremiah flannery university of notre dame, indiana, usa abstract three nlp (natural language processing) automated summarization techniques were tested on a special collection of catholic pamphlets acquired by hesburgh libraries. the automated summaries were generated after feeding the pamphlets as .pdf files into an ocr pipeline. extensive data cleaning and text preprocessing were necessary before the computer summarization algorithms could be launched. using the standard rouge f1 scoring technique, the bert extractive summarizer technique had the best summarization score. it most closely matched the human reference summaries. the bert extractive technique yielded an average rouge f1 score of 0.239. the gensim python package implementation of textrank scored at .151. a handimplemented textrank algorithm created summaries that scored at 0.144. this article covers the implementation of automated pipelines to read pdf text, the strengths and weakness of automated summarization techniques, and what the successes and failures of these summaries mean for their potential to be used in hesburgh libraries. keywords: natural language processing, special collections, summarization, extractive summarization, machine learning, catholic pamphlet introduction patrons want summaries. of all the information fields available in the marc catalog, the summary field ranks near the top. the summary field is behind only the author and title fields when it comes to importance to patrons (lundgren and simpson 1999). patrons of differing backgrounds (chinese and american patrons, faculty and graduate student patrons) all see value in bibliographic summaries (luk 1996; lundgren and simpson 1997). summaries aid discoverability. specifically, summaries improve indexing and search capabilities of a text (borko and bernier, 1975). internal analysis (unpublished data, kasten & flannery, 2020) of english monographs showed that notre dame patrons check out records that include a summary field at higher frequencies, even when adjusted for estimated popularity of the monograph. unfortunately, when special collections are brought to the library catalog, there often isn’t the possibility to leverage existing summaries. in 2019, when the university of notre dame brought in a special collection of over 5500 catholic pamphlets1, our department did not expend hundreds of hours (or more!) of staff time to read, let alone write summaries of the 5500 texts. instead, natural language processing (nlp) summarization methods that utilize machine flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 21 learning were used to generate summaries computationally. brief introduction of nlp summarization to see the ubiquity of nlp summarization today, one only needs to browse twitter or reddit, where bots regularly summarize wikipedia and cnn articles and feature those summaries to readers. nlp summarization has existed since the 1950s, when basic term frequency was used to pinpoint keywords and important sentences (luhn, 1958). for years, different methods struggled to significantly outperform even blunt summarization tricks, such as merely selecting the opening sentences as a summary for a whole article (chiang, 2019). in the mid-90s, the trainable document extractor and the anes text extraction system represented significant progress for statistical text extraction. in the late 90s, large quantities of internet information increased the desire for text summarization (gupta & lehal, 2010). recently, advancements with neural network algorithms have allowed researchers to pull further ahead of past statistical methods (aries et al., 2019). current methods fall into two camps: abstractive and extractive. extractive summarization takes central sections of text, generally sentences, and stitches them together to make a whole summary. for the first half century of nlp summarization, the selection of text was guided by basic statistical methods applied to single words, phrases, and distance between word co-occurrences. recently, extractive nlp methods have made advancements using deep learning techniques (dong et al. 2018). while deep learning is not associated with extractive summaries the majority of the time, it is with abstractive summaries. abstractive summarization employs neural networks to generate novel text, instead of merely selecting text from the source document. effective models are scaled to train on large amounts of data in order to accomplish this task, often leveraging the nlp concept of self-attention to perform the heavy lifting of the algorithm (rush et al. 2015; parikh et al., 2016). this project only focused on extractive summarization methods. methods data collection pdfs of notre dame’s catholic pamphlets collection were provided by hesburgh library’s curatend support team. existing summaries of the pdfs in this collection were sparse. while half of the collection had a marc summary field, most of these summaries were a few words at most. a summary field containing just the two words “catholic pamphlet” was common. because of this, creation of a more robust summary was attempted by combining the summaries with library of congress subject headings. pamphlets with unhelpful summary fields were removed from the dataset. fields that only contained values like “given in st paul, mi, jan 10 1950", "includes index", "caption: ___", “edited by ___”, or simply “church” were removed as well. occasionally, a summary field was well written and useful. the following is an example of one of the above-average summaries: “a collection of articles by john a. elbert, paul o'brien, and elmer lackner that appeared originally in the marianist magazine from september through december, 1949.” yet, the majority of what remained only had note fields and subject headings, for example: “bible, criticism, interpretation, etc., catholic authors. catholic church, apologetic works.” flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 22 of the 5500 texts, only 51 came with sufficient summaries. another 50 summaries were written from scratch during this project, making sure to use language present in the texts when summarizing their main ideas. computer-generated summaries of the pamphlets were compared against human-written summaries on this subset of 101 pamphlets (appendix a). text extraction and cleaning the 5500 pamphlets were originally provided as .pdf files. version 1.23 of the apache tika python package was used to convert the pdfs to raw text. from there, the texts were cleaned and “preprocessed.” this involved converting the text to all lowercase, removing spurious symbols (for example: "~", '<', '>','•'), and fixing common ocr errors like reading “©ur” instead of “our” or reading “ä” instead of “a”. because nlp methods rely on punctuation to split sentences, common abbreviations that often create mistakes in the algorithms were removed. for example, all occurrences of “rev.” were substituted with the full word “reverend.” additionally, the first page or portions of the first page of many pamphlets were excluded because the ocr had difficulties with stamps and handwritten notes that were almost exclusively contained on the front covers. after text cleaning, the first 100 words of each text were isolated. figure 1 shows 100 words of cleaned text extracted from “as an american” (figure 2). the first 100 words serves as a rule-of-thumb baseline to score more advanced algorithms against. the reason this is a baseline is because the beginning of a text not only is easy to isolate, but often contains main ideas. figure 1. first 100 words of the pamphlet “as an american” as an american it is easy to be satisfied with one’s condition in life. despite the war and the immediate postwar problems, some men see in their imagination a peaceful security in the seclusion of their homes or in the rooms of an apartment house. from a local point of view there are some who are justifying their present contentment. in a way it is not difficult for one to say, and it has been said many times, “i am an american,” and to be thoroughly satisfied with all that statement implies. in over a century and a half of flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 23 figure 2. the first page of the pamphlet “as an american” some pamphlets contained sentences that were over 100 words. often, summarization algorithms gave these long sentences too much weight. in such cases, sentences were split on commas if the tokenized text on each side of the comma was greater than eight tokens. version 3.4 of the nltk package (bird, loper & klein, 2009) in python was used to tag word labels (noun, verb, etc.) and to delete coordinating conjunctions following split commas. this preprocessing step improved output for the textrank based algorithms, but this long sentence comma splitting step did not improve the output of the more sophisticated bert algorithm. summarization algorithms four algorithms were used for the same summarization process. the result of each algorithm was evaluated and compared later on. extraction was performed on two to four-word phrases with the rapid automatic keyword extraction (rake) algorithm via version 1.4.5 of von feilitzsch’s python-rake package. the rake algorithm pinpoints keywords based on frequency and the “degree” of a word or phrase (rose et al. 2010.) the degree of a word is based on many co-appearances a word has near other unique words. for example, if the phrase “credit union” appears in a sentence about bank flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 24 regulations and a sentence about catholic credit unions, it would have a higher degree than if it only appeared in two sentences about catholic credit unions. the python-rake package gives the option of setting a minimum frequency for extracted keywords, i.e., removing phrases from consideration if they do not appear in the document sufficiently many times. for two-word phrases, a minimum frequency of 5 co-occurrences was selected. three-word phrases needed to have at least 4 co-occurrences. four-word phases needed to have at least 3 co-occurrences. there were no minimum requirements on the degree of words. two textrank based algorithms were explored and used to extract summaries. textrank is an nlp algorithm for keyword identification and summarization. it is based on the same principles as google’s pagerank algorithm. it ranks sentences that have word co-appearances in other sentences higher. it also takes into account the proximity of a keyword to other keywords (mihalcea & tarau, 2004). the first of the two was an algorithm the author hand-implemented based on instruction by prateek joshi (joshi, 2018). this implementation can be called the raw textrank implementation. the second textrank style of algorithm was řehůřek’s python package gensim. version 3.8.0 of gensim was used, which gives the option of setting a target word length. for this corpus of pamphlets, 75 words yielded better results than 50, 100, or 150 words. the hand-implemented textrank algorithm was set to extract four-sentence summaries. the process plays out such that the algorithm would select words, phrases, and sentences from the existing corpus and then rearrange those elements into a (hopefully coherent) four-sentence summary. lastly, a recent, more state-of-the-art extraction method was applied: the bert extractive summarizer (miller, 2019.) this algorithm’s eponymous python package implementation, version 0.3.0 utilizes google’s bert subject encodings and performs k-means clustering on sentences. it identifies sentences that are closest to the k-means centroid for the entire document. unlike previous summarization methods, the bert extractive summarizer utilizes deep learning. the model integrates google’s bert (bidirectional encoder representations from transformers), a pre-trained set of subject encodings. by using google’s pre-trained encodings, this model forgoes the necessity to train on huge swaths of text data. the model instead benefits from bert’s previous machine-learned understanding of english texts when it performs clustering. the bert extractive summarizer package’s “ratio” option was used to extract and reassemble summaries that were roughly three sentences in length. evaluation the computer-generated summaries were benchmarked against their respective human-created reference summaries. recall, approximately 101 of the 5500 pamphlets had acceptable, humanwritten summaries. the computer-generated versions of these same 101 pamphlets were compared and scored against their human counterparts. here, the standard rouge (recall-oriented understudy for gisting evaluation) f1 scoring test was used to compare the similarity of the summaries. specifically, tardy’s rouge python package, version 1.0.0, was imported to implement the comparisons. rouge f1 is a common nlp metric for evaluating overlap between generated and reference summaries (lin & och, 2004). rouge f1 scores range between 0 and 1, with higher scores representing a greater percentage match between texts. the algorithm with the highest flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 25 average rouge f1 scores (across all 101 tests) would be deemed as best. for different types of documents, different rouge scores are acceptable. because no research has focused on summarizing similar pamphlets, this project will help inform our perceptions of rouge scores. results rouge f1 scores rake-generated keywords were not scored, but they were kept as a possible addition to our library’s search layer. for illustrative purposes, figure 3 contains an example of algorithm outputs for “as an american” pamphlet. this is the same pamphlet shown in figure 1 appendix b shows the full text of the “as an american” pamphlet. for the 101 pamphlets, the average rouge f1 score for the first 100 words vs. the humangenerated summary was .109. the hand-implemented textrank algorithm performed better at an average of .144. the gensim package’s implementation of textrank yielded an average of .151. the bert extractive summarizer performed significantly better than any previous method, with an average rouge f1 score of .239. rake keywords textrank gensim bert extractive summarizer national broadcasting company, american citizen, catholic men, catholic hour, national council, united states public funds, george f donovan president, make man, fair play, parochial school, public school, many americans, common welfare, nonpublic school, economic dignity, parents, freedom as an american the catholic hour as an american by dr. george f. donovan president of webster college aug 28 946 the tenth in a series of addresses by prominent catholic laymen entitled the road ahead, delivered in the catholic hour . broadcast by the national broadcasting company in cooperation with the national council of catholic men, on august 11 , 1946 by dr. george f. donovan president of the endorsement of a program involving a living wage for a man and his family, reasonable prices that will give a fair profit to the producer, and quality and service to the consumer, the extension of both public and private security to all americans, such as domestic workers, employees of nonprofit organizations, and rural workers, the recognition of collective bargaining, the abolition as an american it is easy to be satisfied with one’s condition in life. the boss still secures silent and respectful obedience, and even the public gives adulation and praise to demagogues and to public leaders who have betrayed the confidence placed in them by the citizens. mere man, in this great maelstrom of political instability, is certainly not clothed in dignity. figure 1. algorithm outputs for "as an american" flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 26 subjective analysis because there were two groups of reference summaries (summaries that were human written expressly to serve as reference summaries vs. the summaries imported from existing metadata for the same purpose), scores were differentiated within those groups. the 50 pamphlets that had reference summaries generated for this project had better rouge scores (.179) across all methods when compared against the 51 summaries imported from our existing metadata (.143). figure 4 shows how each algorithm performed against the two groups of reference summaries. figure 2. rouge performance of algorithms present in the summaries were also problems independent of whether they summarized a document well. sentence fragments and unintelligible sentences, especially ones in which ocr erroneously inserted line breaks, frequently hampered all algorithms. for example, 14% of bert summaries had large ocr errors present in them, and 6% had phrases in latin. to understand these types of errors, examples from the bert extractive summarizer are presented because bert’s results were deemed best by rouge scores and subjective analysis. early in the texts, the central ideas are more likely to appear, and the summarization algorithms weight location in text, which increases the likelihood ocr errors show up in summaries. ocr errors tend to happen toward the beginning of pages in headers or on the first pages in tables of contents and purchase notes. a heinous example of a front-loaded ocr error occurred in the bert algorithm, which produced the following summary: “j& ociefg for fjfc jhopagftfiott of f § an international association for the assistance by prayers and alms of the missionary priests, brothers and nuns engaged in preaching the gospel in heathen and non-catholic countries. 5,510.60.” after this ocr error crept into the automated summary, the rest of summary correctly gave the main idea of the pamphlet. full sentences in latin are also distracting to users. the following summary generated by the bert algorithm for a text on catholic hymns is half in latin: "words of catholic hymns. flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 27 congregation of holy cross the ave maria press notre dame, indiana 1924. iesu dulcis memoria, dans vera cordis gaudia sed super mel et omnia, eius dulcis praesentia." this auto-generated summary may give a patron some vague idea about the contents of its pamphlet (it includes latin hymns), but unfortunately, any human-generated short summary would not include latin. thus, this example has a lower rouge score (.199) than the average for the bert algorithm (.239). discussion scores of pamphlets as a whole increased drastically from the baseline method of the first 100 words to the bert-extractive-summarizer. unfortunately, latin text and ocr errors have persisted despite choosing more sophisticated algorithms and better text preprocessing. for collections in which their text does not need ocr and all appears in english, the bert extractive summarizer likely could provide summaries with few enough errors that catalogers would be comfortable adding the computed-generated summaries with minimal human oversight. in our corpus of historic catholic pamphlets, our institution will likely still need human review. figure 3: example workflow: front-facing implementation our institution hopes to use these machine-generated summaries in two different capacities. first, the summaries may just be added to our catalogue “as is”, along with a note alerting the patron that the summary was machine generated. second, staff may read through each machinegenerated summary. the staff reviewer would then approve, slightly edit, or reject the summaries. this pipeline is illustrated in figure 5. the first approach is more likely for our special collections website curate.nd.edu; the second is more suited to our marc catalog. future improvements improving ocr issues is the biggest concern my library colleagues brought forward. in this project, open source software (tika) was used to turn pdfs to text for reproducibility purposes. repeating the whole pipeline using a paid ocr resource like abbyy finereader, which our library already pays to access, could yield more accurate raw text. if further ocr correction seems necessary, there are various nlp and statistical methods that have been researched for correcting ocr errors computationally (amrhein & clematide, 2018; kumar, 2016). excluding latin text and sentence fragments is another non-trivial step. fortunately, the python nltk package offers language detection (bird, loper & klein, 2009), which can be used to exclude long segments of latin text. it also offers part-of-speech tagging, which can be used to exclude sentence fragments. file:///c:/users/jflanne5/documents/2020%20projects/nlp%20project/manuscript/curate.nd.edu flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 28 author note this project was supported by jessica morales and laura sill of notre dame hesburgh libraries’ resource acquisitions and discovery program. pdf collections were supplied by mikala narlock with resources from the curatend support team. this project grew out of a class project for prof. david chiang’s natural language processing class and was presented as a poster in march at code4lib conference 2020 in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. please address questions and comments about this article to jeremiah flannery, 402, 284 hesburgh library, notre dame, in 46556 or via email at jflanne5@nd.edu. references amrhein, c., & clematide, s. (2018). supervised ocr error detection and correction using statistical and neural machine translation methods. journal for language technology and computational linguistics (jlcl), 33(1), 49-76. bird, s., loper, e., & klein, e. (2009). natural language toolkit. j url http://www.nltk.org, borko, h., & bernier, c. l. (1975). abstracting concepts and methods. chiang, d. (2019, november,). lecture notes. curatend support team, & mcmanus, j. (2019). the catholic pamphlets. retrieved from https://curate.nd.edu/show/1v53jw84s7d dong, y., shen, y., crawford, e., van hoof, h., & cheung, j. c. k. (2018). banditsum: extractive summarization as a contextual bandit. arxiv preprint arxiv:1809.09672. gupta, v., & lehal, g. s. (2010). a survey of text summarization extractive techniques. journal of emerging technologies in web intelligence, 2(3), 258-268. joshi, p. (2018). an introduction to text summarization using the textrank algorithm (with python implementation). retrieved from https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2018/11/introduction-textsummarization-textrank-python/ kasten, s., & flannery, j. (2020). bibliographic analysis of english language monographs. unpublished manuscript. kumar, a. (2016). a survey on various ocr errors. international journal of computer applications, 143(4), 8-10. lin, c., & och, f. j. (2004). looking for a few good metrics: rouge and its evaluation. paper presented at the ntcir workshop. luhn, h. p. (1958). the automatic creation of literature abstracts. ibm journal of research and development, 2(2), 159-165. luk, a. t. (1996). evaluating bibliographic displays from the user's point of view: a focus group study. master of information studies research project report.toronto: faculty of information studies, university of toronto. lundgren, j., & simpson, b. (1997). cataloging needs survey for faculty at the university of florida. cataloging & classification quarterly, 23(3-4), 47-63. lundgren, j., & simpson, b. (1999). looking through users' eyes: what do graduate students need to know about internet resources via the library catalog? journal of internet cataloging, 1(4), 31-44. mihalcea, r., & tarau, p. (2004). textrank: bringing order into text. paper presented at the proceedings of the 2004 conference on empirical methods in natural language processing, 404-411. miller, d. (2019). leveraging bert for extractive text summarization on lectures. arxiv preprint arxiv:1906.04165. parikh, a. p., täckström, o., das, d., & uszkoreit, j. (2016). a decomposable attention model for natural language inference. arxiv preprint arxiv:1606.01933. https://curate.nd.edu/show/1v53jw84s7d https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2018/11/introduction-text-summarization-textrank-python/ https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2018/11/introduction-text-summarization-textrank-python/ flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 29 rose, s., engel, d., cramer, n., & cowley, w. (2010). automatic keyword extraction from individual documents. text mining: applications and theory, 1, 1-20. rush, a. m., chopra, s., & weston, j. (2015). a neural attention model for abstractive sentence summarization. arxiv preprint arxiv:1509.00685. __________________________________________________________________ about the author jeremiah flannery is collections data analyst at university of notre dame's hesburgh libraries. he primarily works in statistical reporting and metadata quality. his research interests include machine learning, natural language processing, and the efficacy of metadata in relation to search layers and user experience. flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 30 appendix a: benchmark pamphlets thecommitteeofco00nevi.pdf jointstatementoncath.pdf 000757895.pdf nationalshrineof00nati.pdf apostolicasollicpaul.pdf tyrannyinmexicoscath.pdf christianityinte00nati.pdf eucharistsacramekoen_0.pdf 000758903.pdf letsworkwithgang00shaw.pdf thinkasyousayros00woma.pdf christchristians00doug.pdf prayersforfamily00schm.pdf asamerican00dono.pdf popepaulspeakstopaul.pdf asworldcitizen00dono.pdf statementofuscat00unit.pdf jesusireflection00null.pdf 001008801.pdf statementonfeedi00unit.pdf 003361303.pdf 001008742.pdf instructiononfaccath.pdf decreeissuedmotucath.pdf 000757618.pdf interimguidelinecath.pdf apostolicexhortacath_0.pdf 000871207.pdf layapostolateitspius.pdf 000735616.pdf storiesofgreatsa00trea.pdf holybibleheritag00cath.pdf 000745365.pdf lawofcharity00mcme.pdf thisiscanabymrmr00farr.pdf authorizedinterp00sloa.pdf 000832827.pdf wecanwemust00unse.pdf storyofnewcrusad00unse.pdf 000746220.pdf 000746204.pdf thirdinstructioncath.pdf 000777747.pdf holinessspiritua00cath.pdf 000746032.pdf 000741054.pdf godlovessick00meeh.pdf wordstocatholich00cong.pdf flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 31 000626920.pdf 001013628.pdf faithfulforlifem00cath_0.pdf sacramentofmatri00harr.pdf 001008065.pdf theycallitfreeen00smit_0.pdf visittofrancisca00unse.pdf goodfridaydevoti00chur.pdf 50000careerguida00unse.pdf 000768904.pdf 000833555.pdf universalnormofm00shee.pdf nonsectarianbus00mcma.pdf 000769849.pdf suppressionofmon00unse.pdf whencecomewars00shee.pdf 000998236.pdf 000883213.pdf functionofartaddpius.pdf onafricapopepaulcath.pdf archbishoppurcel00hawk.pdf moralcurve00unse.pdf giveushearingstr00schr.pdf 001006422.pdf 000472199.pdf letterofjeancardvill.pdf 001013833.pdf farmingasvocatiojohn.pdf popepaulonracismcath.pdf 000762717.pdf ministeringtoadu00hugh.pdf howtoteachourlitschm_0.pdf 000997852.pdf 002226254.pdf 1942christmasmespius.pdf lamp1211soci.pdf lettertowomenreljohn.pdf seventythreecath00cath.pdf holybibleheritag00unse.pdf 000757566.pdf howtoservelowmas00obri.pdf 000746232.pdf mccarthyshistory00mcca.pdf reportoftrialofm00null.pdf administrationofcath_0.pdf policystatementocath.pdf communitycrimest00unit.pdf statementofunite00unit.pdf 000746248.pdf 000828271.pdf youngsamornative00nati.pdf flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 32 000787820.pdf birthcontrolunna00latz.pdf flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 33 appendix b: raw text of pamphlet titled “as an american” "as an american it is easy to be satisfied with one’s condition in life. despite the war and the immediate postwar problems, some men see in their imagination a peaceful security in the seclusion of their homes or in the rooms of an apartment house. from a local point of view there are some who are justifying their present contentment. in a way it is not difficult for one to say, and it has been said many times, “i am an american,” and to be thoroughly satisfied with all that statement implies. in over a century and a half of american history too many citizens of the united states have considered it sufficient to pay respect to the lofty traditions of our constitutional government and the high ideals of our nation. our country is prosperous, our nation has never lost a war, the idea that there is no other land in the world like the united states, or no other man like an american, represents a spirit and a situation of complete gratification. in a way, all that is true, but it should not remain that way. at the present time high incomes, satisfactory employment, and the growing abundance of goods and services, tend to make man all the more comfortable and tranquil-going in his attitude toward life and, especially, toward his fellow-americans. there are some who feel that the dignity of man is reflected in the self-satisfied american who pays his bills, joins a local organization, supports community relief appeals, and in the evening looks forward to seating himself leisurely beside a radio, and with his cigar and a liquid refreshment—he is all set. from time to time such a man calls himself a friend of labor, the champion of reform, and a true american citizen and, yet, a brief examination reveals that he has never subscribed to a progressive measure under discussion in congress or the state legislature, nor has he identified himself with a program aimed to protect the public as a whole, nor has he advocated the repeal of laws and policies discriminating against minorities. certainly such a man has neither a public nor a private conscience. to him the dignity of man is smothered in his own deeprooted selfishness and greedy outlook toward life. is there an answer to this indifference, to this blackout of interest in our fellow-americans, . to this blindness toward the injustice practiced in our human relations. is there not a way to revive the dignity of man in the american scene. there is a reply which manifests itself in three areas political life, economic relations, and education. it does not take an overly astute ... student of american affairs to recognize the fraud and dishonesty practiced by some of our public officials both in high and low places. we all hear of the pressure exerted on members of our legislatures, of the offers and acceptances of bribes, of the lack of fairness in the administration of the law. the political machine is still known to be important. the boss still secures silent and respectful obedience, and even the public gives adulation and praise to demagogues and to public leaders who have betrayed the confidence placed in them by the citizens. mere man, in this great maelstrom of political instability, is certainly not clothed in dignity. he has lost practically all his own influence for the good of the common welfare. the answer to this problem is to be found in an enlightened and determined citizenry who have the courage to pursue the american way of fair play and justice to all citizens, irrespective of their race, creed, color, or status in life. the steps for reestablishing this impartial outlook are 1 an attitude of mind leading to the belief and the understanding that it is important to every american citizen to participate effectively and to the full in the public life of our country. 2 the establishment of a more complete and long-range program of education for our youth on the principles and practices of american government beginning with the town and going all the way up to the federal government itself, such a course should run from the elementary grade school through the college and university levels. 3 participation in movements designed to promote equality of opportunity for assuming responsibility in government among the people, particularly in the institution of such practices as the initiative, referendum, the recall, the extension of the merit system, greater scrutiny of public funds, and a more adequate expression of opinion on public . flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 34 questions by the rank and file in government service. 4 the support of programs destined to spread democratic benefits among the citizens, especially in the removal of unfair voting restrictions, raising of the salary scale and promotional standards in public positions, and the expansion of educational and medical facilities throughout the nation. a lack of understanding of our government is manifested in the failure of many americans to recognize the inferior position of man in our economic life. the economic dignity of man has suffered much. many americans have not completely seen the necessity of fighting those evils which have threatened and lowered the economic status of many of our fellow-citizens. low wages, high prices, plus arbitrary control of prices and goods, strong monopolies, insecurity, especially in old age and for persons disabled by accident or illness, the great expansion of the apartments and hotels as the so-called substitute for the american home, the wide discrimination, especially in securing and holding a job, and conducting a business, are among some of the modern practices of american economic life that tend to reduce and break down the dignity of man. the answer to these economic problems is not hard to find. the endorsement of a program involving a living wage for a man and his family, reasonable prices that will give a fair profit to the producer, and quality and service to the consumer, the extension of both public and private security to all americans, such as domestic workers, employees of non-profit organizations, and rural workers, the recognition of collective bargaining, the abolition of racial, religious, and economic discrimination, greater freedom in the establishment of business, especially small business enterprises, greater opportunity in purchasing one’s own home, are the answer. these solutions may be accomplished through a strong cooperative, mutual organization of all the groups concerned and if their efforts do not succeed entirely, or fail, then government has the obligation to step in for the purpose of providing for the common welfare of the distressed and handicapped citizens. as one who has had the experience of living in an indus . trial community and working in a factory, i recall very well one manufacturing concern owner who dedicated hik life to the welfare of his employees and their families, not in a paternalistic role, but as a leader who recognized his essential obligations to his fellowman. his workers shared in the management, assisted in formulating policies, received a portion of the profits, took part in sales discussions and assumed many other obligations within the company. the result was very evident. high wages, year-round employment, satisfactory working conditions, friendly relations between the workers and the employers and never a strike in the entire history of the industry. an exception, yes, but it could easily be the rule. in addition to the political and economic dignity of man as factors in american success and happiness, there are also some educational implications which are pertinent. the united states has seen the growth of two systems of education—public and non-public. many of the non-public schools are controlled by the churches. both systems of education, public and nonpublic, train children for partis cipation in american democratic life. under the constitution, american parents are assured of freedom of education. they may send their children to either a public school or a non-public school. in the celebrated oregon school case the supreme court of the united states ruled that no state law could abridge this fundamental american freedom by compelling parents to send their children only to the public schools. likewise, under our constitution, parents are guaranteed freedom of religion. they may worship god according to the dictates of their consciences. furthermore, they may choose for the education of their children a school where religion is taught along with the other subjects. any state or local law which would prohibit parents from enrolling their children in church controlled schools would be declared unconstitutional by our courts. although freedom of education and freedom of religion are guaranteed rights of every american citizen, in many cases american parents cannot exercise these rights. i know of a small community where the ma . jority of parents would prefer to send their children to a parochial school. this preference is based upon sound religious convictions. nevertheless, these parents are sending their children to a public school— why. the state will not provide any public funds for a parochial school. the parents and the other members of the religious group have low incomes. they simply cannot afford the cost of erecting and maintaining a parochial school in addition to paying high taxes for the public school. technically, therefore, these parents enjoy freedom of education and freedom of religion, but it seems to me these freedoms will have flannery / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 35 little practical meaning in their lives unless the state adopts a fairer method of distributing public funds for educational purposes. the answer, simple and direct, according to traditional american practices, should be to give all parents the same opportunities to participate equally and fully in all educational plans and curricula so that the parent who desires to send his children to a non-public school where a belief in god is taught may do so without impairing his own financial status or depriving himself or his children of public funds which should be available to all americans. this program of equal distribution of public funds should begin on the local level so far as grade and high schools are concerned and on the state level for higher education. if necessary in larger areas, i believe the national government has a responsibility to step in and provide funds for students who wish to secure an education. this is fair play. it is the recognition of dignity in the parent who exercises the right to send his children to the school which his conscience selects. all through these areas, political, economic, and educational, where americans may and, should participate, there is ever present the idea of a permanent place of instruction from which the interest, the leadership, and the action should emerge. that place is the family. a stable, happy family where there are just and understanding relations between the husband and wife, between the father and the son, the mother and the daughter, where there is no room for unhappiness and where there will not be any divorce. such principles rooted in a true family life may be easily . translated into the political, economic, and educational fields where opportunities will be provided for the recognition of the obligations of the american citizen to his government, to his occupation, and to the education of his children. god in his greatness and kindness will then give, as he does to the family, that love of fellowman, a love which respects the conscience of man, which stresses the loyalty of man to the state through citizenship and which permits economic cooperation among groups and which will make man a better american citizen. through these means the dignity of man will be appreciated and the citizen of these united states will be more proud than ever before to say, “i am an american.” 4 . j 3 2223 the catholic hour 1930—seventeenth year—1946 the nationwide catholic hour was inaugurated on march 2, 1930, by the national council of catholic men in cooperation with the national broadcasting company and its associated stations. radio facilities are provided by nbc and the stations associated with it the program is arranged and produced by nccm. the catholic hour was begun on a network of 22 stations, and now carries its message of catholic truth on each sunday of the year through a number of stations varying from 90 to 110, situated in 40 states, the district of columbia, and hawaii. consisting usually ' of an address, mainly expository, by one or another of america's leading catholic preachers—though sometimes of talks by laymen, sometimes of dramatizations —and of sacred music provided by a volunteer choir, the catholic hour has distinguished itself as one of the most popular and extensive religious broadcasts in the world. an average of 100,000 audience letters a year, about twenty per cent of which come from listeners of other faiths, gives some indication of its popularity and influence. our sunday visitor press huntington, indiana . ." 004-158-embedded_using_literacy_title-0722 004-158-embedded_using_literacy-0722 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the experience of international students at cross-border university libraries karen bordonaro abstract: this article describes the results of a small research study investigating international student library use and perceptions in a cross-border setting. the graduate degree program at the center of this study is a binational joint degree m.a. program in canadian-american studies that takes place simultaneously at brock university in canada and at the state university of new york at buffalo in the united states. the students’ library use was explored as were their perceptions of the two different university library systems. results indicate that students in such joint degree programs do make use of cross-border university libraries and that they see benefits in doing so. this suggests that these library settings offer librarians a unique but viable way of working with international students, and that cross-border university libraries are worthy of both mention and further study in librarianship. to cite this article: bordonaro, k. (2017). the experience of international students at cross-border university libraries. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 46-61. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.20 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 46-61 issn:2474-3542 the experience of international students at cross-border university libraries karen bordonaro brock university, st catharines, on, canada abstract this article describes the results of a small research study investigating international student library use and perceptions in a cross-border setting. the graduate degree program at the center of this study is a binational joint degree m.a. program in canadian-american studies that takes place simultaneously at brock university in canada and at the state university of new york at buffalo in the united states. the students’ library use was explored as were their perceptions of the two different university library systems. results indicate that students in such joint degree programs do make use of cross-border university libraries and that they see benefits in doing so. this suggests that these library settings offer librarians a unique but viable way of working with international students, and that cross-border university libraries are worthy of both mention and further study in librarianship. keywords: international students, academic libraries, cross-border, canada, united states introduction cross-border university libraries serve as a fascinating place for librarians to study international students. cross-border, as used in this article, refers to movement across a defined international boundary between countries, such as the border between the united states and canada. a binational setting such as the united states-canada border supports a form of international library practice that is not widely evident in librarianship literature. the border is what defines international students here. this article flows from the cross-border setting of the united states and canada. it offers the results of a small research project done to explore library use and perceptions of its affiliated international students. results from this study indicate that cross-border university libraries offer a viable place for librarians to work with international students, and that this unique setting deserves greater recognition in librarianship. bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 47 background setting the research project being described in this article took place at the brock university library in southern ontario that serves as the canadian library in a joint canadian-american studies graduate master of arts (m.a.) program that began in the fall of 2013. its american counterpart is the state university of new york at buffalo library located in western new york that serves as the american partner in this joint degree program. brock university serves approximately 18,000 students, including full-time, part-time, undergraduate, and graduate students. it is a public university founded approximately 50 years ago that was initially established as a teaching institution dedicated to the needs of undergraduate students. in the last 15 years or so, its mission has widely expanded to serve graduate students as well, at both the master’s degree level and the doctoral level. this particular m.a. program is one of 49 graduate programs currently being offered by the university. the state university of new york at buffalo serves approximately 30,000 students, including full-time, part-time, undergraduate and graduate students. it is now a public university, serving as the flagship campus of the state university system, but it was originally founded as a private university in 1846. it has long been considered a graduate level research university, with this joint m.a. program currently being one of 300 graduate programs being offered by the university. the library research project being reported on in this article reflects only the canadian side of this cross-border university partnership because it was conducted as an initial exploratory study. since the author works at the canadian university, it made the most sense to begin this investigation from this side. the results listed below and their interpretations, then, flow principally from canadian perspectives of this joint degree program. the author would like to add, however, that she is an american citizen who crosses this border every day herself to work at this canadian university, so that bias might also be present in the findings of this study. literature review library literature specifically targeting international students in cross-border university library settings appears to be non-existent. to be sure, however, a large and increasing amount of literature on international students and libraries in general is available and growing. the following section will briefly review library literature concerning international students, as well as how borders of any kind appear in librarianship literature. international students in libraries have been studied in various and numerous ways, as has the concept of internationalization itself in libraries. a recent survey of the last 25 years of library literature offers an in-depth look at the many different ways that international students have been studied in libraries (click, wiley, & houlihan, 2017). the growing number of library studies devoted to international students seems to signal a surging interest by librarians in learning how to better understand and work with this important student user group on campus. it may speak as well to the growing attention on internationalization in higher education seen through increasing opportunities for study abroad as well as increasing supports for international students on home campuses. the concept of internationalization, now prevalent throughout higher education, has bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 48 also been studied within the boundaries of academic librarianship as well (bordonaro, 2013; witt, kutner, & cooper, 2015). international students have often been investigated as a special population of library users that potentially require customized assistance (ademoni, 2011; hurley, hegarty, & bolger, 2006; koenigstein, 2012). hurley et al. (2006), for example, used a case study approach to describe an information literacy project designed specifically for international students and found that “exploring and addressing the information and study needs of people from culturally diverse backgrounds” (p. 310) offered both exciting possibilities and challenges for librarians. international students have also been studied as a target population for library outreach efforts that seek to find out how they use libraries or what their learning preferences are in terms of library instruction (ishimura, howard, & moukdad, 2007; puente, laverne, & agnew, 2009). puente et al. (2009), for example, conducted a quantitative research study through the use of an online survey that identified both previously known difficulties using the library as well as new approaches that might be considered, such as offering library workshops in foreign native languages. the study of international students in libraries has also often taken the form of librarians describing, advising, and advocating how best to work with them as non-native speakers (aihong, 2009; zhuo, emanuel, & jiao, 2007) or as library users from different cultures (liu & winn, 2009; zhang, 2006). zhang (2006), for example, describes in some detail the differences in communication styles between eastern and western cultures, and then offers librarians in western cultures advice on how to improve their interactions with students from eastern countries. considering particular western aspects of higher education, such as dealing with plagiarism, is another common form of library studies related to international students (amsberry, 2009; chen & van ullen, 2011; gunnarsson, kulesza, & pettersson, 2014). amsberry (2009), for example, reviews the different learning backgrounds of american and chinese students, and then outlines ways in which “academic librarians can promote appropriate textual borrowing practices through orientations, course-related instruction, workshops, web guides and tutorials, and reference services” (p. 42). the appearance or description of borders of any kind in librarianship literature is much more circumspect than the literature related to international students and internationalization. by this i mean that “the border” is generally invoked more often as a setting where something took place, rather than as the explicit focus of the narrative or the study. manuel (2010), for example, describes an association of college and research libraries (acrl) chapter that includes librarians from both western new york and ontario. the border in this case identifies the physical divide between librarians from two countries, but its focus is on the shared academic library association. in another example, boone (2003) again invokes the border as the physical divide between canada and the united states, but then examines the influence of american librarianship in the university of toronto graduate library program. cross-border library settings beyond canada and the united states appear occasionally in the library literature as well, as settings where library projects and programs take place between different countries. the border between ireland and the united kingdomappears in an article that offers librarians a description of a reader development project (peoples & ward, 2007). funding for that project came from the european union and involved public libraries “operating in different bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 49 countries, in communities divided by physical borders and sectarian division” (p. 218), working together to promote a culture of reading that promotes inclusion and diversity. in another border study, the border between denmark and germany serves as the backdrop for a work that explores provisions for material support of local history initiatives (hancks, 2011). this article reports on the ongoing efforts of a germany-based danish central library to continue library support to the minority danish-speaking germans in north germany. also, the border between china and india appears as the locale for a report about archival exhibit exchanges (jihua, 2015). this article describes exhibits hosted by the shanghai municipal archives in other countries, such as india, to promote “cross-cultural, cross-border, and cross-industry collaboration” (p. 179) across borders between different countries. some library studies make use of “the border” in a more metaphorical sense. these types of studies investigate larger library issues that transcend physical and geographical borders. willingham, carder, and millson-martula (2006), for example, conducted a comparative study that invoked, but then transcended the united states-canada border to consider larger issues around the provision and delivery of library instruction and professional development. birch and melvyn (2014) used the same approach to consider cross-border document delivery issues that transcend all borders. and lee and bolt (2016) explicitly advocate for local libraries to reach beyond their own borders to explore international partnership programs like sister libraries. where this study differs from the literature cited above is that it offers a border as the source of investigation rather than having a border serve as simply a backdrop to the study. methodology this research study made use of a mixed method approach by including both quantitative and qualitative data. this methodology was chosen in order to obtain robust data. in other words, a summary of multiple choice answers can provide some overall information as to what participants might be thinking about a topic, but in-depth individual personal interviews can potentially supply much more information about why participants may be thinking a certain way. the quantitative data for this particular research study came from an online survey generated from survey monkey software, and the qualitative data came from in-person interviews that were conducted afterwards. the research questions that were being investigated included: 1. do students and faculty in joint programs like canadian-american studies make use of cross-border university libraries, and if so, in what ways? 2. do students and faculty in these joint programs feel like local library users in doing so? (as used here, “local” means feeling like a canadian library patron at the canadian university or feeling like an american library patron at the american university. it can refer to treatment received by library employees when visiting a library in person, as well as to any perceived differences in the application of library policies related to their use of either library. it can also refer to what resources are available locally or how to access them locally as well.) bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 50 3. do students and faculty feel that cross-border university libraries enhance joint programs of this type? 4. do students and faculty in joint programs feel that cross-border university libraries supporting these programs should be more closely working together? (by “working more closely together” is meant potentially offering joint programming or having the liaison librarians at each university communicating with each other directly to answer reference questions or provide further research support). the online survey asked these questions very directly, and offered participants multiple choice answers as well as comments boxes to record further thoughts if so desired. measurements came from level of agreement for each multiple choice question. the inperson interviews again presented participants with this same list of questions, but then became open ended conversations. these conversations flowed from any point of interest posed by these questions that a participant wanted to discuss in any further detail or in any different way. the online survey was distributed in february 2017 through an email message the author composed about the study that was then disseminated by the director of the canadianamerican studies graduate program at brock university. it was sent to graduate students who had been in the program at this university since 2014 with whom the director had email contact, as well as faculty members currently teaching in the program in canada. the number of potential participants was quite small, as the program at brock university only had five total graduate students (three canadians and two americans) enrolled in it at the time of the study, which was january-march of 2017. the initial email request to participate went out to approximately 15 potential respondents, both students and faculty. it invited potential participants to complete the survey and to also contact the principal investigator if they were willing to take part in a follow-up interview. of those who received this email invitation, 5 participants answered the online survey (4 students and 1 faculty member), and 4 participants were willing to be interviewed in person (2 students and 2 faculty members). of the 4 participants who were willing to be interviewed, it appears that 3 of them also completed the online survey. the reason for this is that two faculty members agreed to be interviewed, but only one online survey participant indicated that they were a faculty member. both students in the interviews voluntarily said that they had completed the online survey. follow-up personal interviews took place in march 2017. participation rates were 33% for the online survey and 27% for the personal interviews. the interviews were conducted by myself as the principal investigator and each lasted 3060 minutes. the two graduate students were both canadians, as they voluntarily told me their nationalities. one faculty member was canadian and one faculty member was american, as both made known to me, but both were employed at brock university in canada. the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed by myself. brock university’s research ethics board gave clearance for this research study to take place. confidentiality was ensured by my not making use of any participant’s real names or any identifying bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 51 personal characteristics and by obtaining their permission to take notes and record the interviews before they took place. these quantitative results are followed by the qualitative content gleaned from both the comments on the surveys as well as from the recorded words of the in-person interviews. the short analysis of each of these categories is informed by the numbers and comments collected on the online survey as well as by the words collected in the personal interviews. findings the findings from this research project yielded some interesting results. participants indicated that they used cross-border university libraries, and that they felt that the cross-border setting of these university libraries spanning two countries did enhance the canadian-american studies program. they were not sure that collaboration between the university libraries needed to be further formalized, but they did offer suggestions for future improvement of cross-border library services in terms of personal support. the quantitative results from the online survey appear below in figures 1 to 6. these figures display the topic of the question, the number of responses to each answer choice, and a simple graph offering a visual display of the answers (see figure 1-6). graduate student – 4 faculty member – 1 figure 1. affiliation of survey taker with the joint canadian-american studies program i used both – 4 i only used the canadian university library – 1 i only used the american university library – 0 i did not use either – 0 figure 2. library use at either or both university libraries bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 52 collections – to use specific print or electronic resources such as books, databases, journal articles, library guides, etc. – 5 services – to get assistance from librarians, to order materials from interlibrary loan, to check out books, to arrange library instruction classes, etc. – 5 physical spaces – to use the physical facilities to study, meet others, do writing, for reading, etc. – 4 other – computer labs for gis, archival resources, university archives 3 figure 3. type of library use i felt like a local user at both university libraries – 2 i felt like a local user at the canadian university – 3 i felt like a local user at the american university – 0 i did not feel like a local user at either university – 0 i cannot distinguish between feeling like a local or non-local/international library user – 0 figure 4. feeling like a local user in terms of library policies or treatment (as used here, “local” means feeling like a canadian library patron at the canadian university or feeling like an american library patron at the american university) yes – 5 no – 0 not sure – 0 figure 5. did the cross-border setting enhance this canadian-american studies program bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 53 yes – 2 no – 0 not sure – 3 figure 6. should the canadian and the american university libraries work more closely together cross-border library usage the international graduate students and the faculty members indicated clearly that they used the cross-border university libraries. four of the survey respondents said that they used both university libraries, while one respondent said that they only used the canadian university library (see figure 2). after the author had an opportunity to conduct the personal interviews, she learned that the graduate students in this joint degree program had full student privileges at both the american and the canadian university libraries, but that the faculty members in the program did not have equivalent faculty library privileges. this meant that each graduate student was issued a student id card by both universities that allowed for these full library privileges which included signing out books and remote access to online subscription resources. two personal follow-up interviews with faculty members confirmed this, with both indicating that they would make use of the american library resources for these courses as well as their own research if they had similar access. probably for this reason, the graduate students were able to make much more use of library resources, services, and spaces at both university libraries. comments from participant a, a graduate student, in the personal interview speak to this usage directly: “i used both libraries heavily, at least once or twice a week.” participant b, another graduate student, noted that such usage was very important at the graduate level by stating that, “as an undergraduate, i rarely used the library. as a grad student, though, the difference is like night and day.” in terms of how the cross-border university libraries were used, all of the respondents indicated that they used the collections and the services, four of five respondents noted that they used the physical spaces as well, and three respondents offered three further specialized uses. participant c, a faculty member, confirmed in a later interview that faculty use, while restricted, the american university library’s catalogue “as a finding tool” because it was freely accessible for searching, as opposed to other resources that would require a university id for login purposes. collections were stressed as a key library feature supporting this joint program, with both graduate students noting that they discovered much unique material in the larger american university library that was not available at the smaller canadian university library, as noted by participant b: “[the american university library] is a goliath compared to what [the canadian university library] has to offer” and “i could find american views and perspectives in their collections that i could not find here.” both faculty members concurred with this view that the american university library had a much larger and stronger research collection, with participant c noting that “the [american library] resources are a compelling advantage for our grad students” and participant d concurring that, “[this program] gives our students access to a high level research library.” bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 54 services such as interlibrary loan were used frequently by the students, with participant b remarking that “interlibrary loan is the best library program” and participant a stating that many of the required textbooks for courses could be found in the circulating stacks of the american university library: “this expanded the available universe of books that could be borrowed.” checking out books was another frequently mentioned service, with participant b remarking that, “i must have 30 books still out now.” another service mentioned by both graduate student participants as truly helpful to their studies was the minimal cost of printing at the american university library. this occurred because students there were given a larger amount of money to spend on printing, so both students said that they did all their printing on the american side for required course readings at both universities. this may not have been a direct library service, but the printers and printing paper were housed and made use of inside the library, so it was identified by both students as a library service. librarian research consultation service was noted by both graduate student and faculty member participants. one graduate student remarked that one month after the author had visited his class for a library instruction session, he then contacted the author for personalized follow-up help on his major research paper. both faculty members also made use of librarian assistance through library instruction workshops offered to students in their classes for this joint degree program. the physical spaces of both university libraries were used by the graduate students as places to study, read, wait for classes, or simply pass time. because more time was involved in getting to the american university and staying there between classes, the students strongly identified the american library as a preferred place on campus to inhabit between classes. this time could be spent browsing the physical book collection, doing course reading, printing, or simply passing time in more personal or recreational ways. the specialized uses of the university libraries that appeared as further comments on the survey included one mention of a geographic information systems (gis) lab and two mentions of archive collections. gis library workshops are offered by librarians at the canadian university library and archives were further mentioned in the interviews as a specialized place to find unique local historical primary source materials. these examples illustrate the respondents’ use of special types of materials and assistance offered by cross-border university libraries. cross-border library perceptions perceptions were investigated in terms of feeling like a local user. the online survey defined “feeling like a local user” as feeling like a canadian library patron at the canadian university or feeling like an american library patron at the american university. this was initially intended to refer to library policies covering both canadian and american students in the same way, as for example, book loan periods and access to resources. it could potentially also have been interpreted as cultural treatment, however, if any students or faculty felt as if their library interactions were in any way different than those of domestic users. the strongest perception of feeling like a local library user was identified as occurring in the canadian university library by three respondents. this is not surprising because the participants were canadian graduate students or faculty members at a canadian university in this joint degree program. a further two respondents on the survey indicated additionally that they felt bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 55 like local library users at both cross-border university libraries. these were most likely students who were able to make full use of either university libraries’ resources, since the faculty members did not have full access to the american university library resources. no differing cultural treatment was noted by any of the participants on the survey or in the interviews as relating to library usage or interactions. instead, similarities in the libraries were noted. as participant a noted in the interview, “there are similar book arrangements in both libraries” and “the materials i needed were in the same sections in both libraries.” this last comment refers to the library of congress classification used in both the american and the canadian university library. both graduate students noted similarities in the libraries’ physical set-up (book stacks, open study spaces) and the availability of both print and online resources. further perceptions did also arise from this study. most related to the differing library collections. one such perception was that the necessary local history sources were much more scattered on the american side, with material dispersed between the university, the local history museum, and the public library. this was contrasted with the canadian university, whose archives contained both regional and university historical materials. another collection perception was that the american university library had more american sources of information and the canadian university library had more canadian sources of information on all topics. evidence for this impression came from the voiced student research need for localized historical and political information from both american and canadian perspectives. additional perceptions from faculty members concerned the content and nature of the program itself. one faculty member, participant c, perceived the program as a “double blurring of boundaries, both disciplinary and from an international perspective” that can offer students in the program a “fun, interesting, and challenging environment” in which to study. the other faculty member, participant d, offered a further perception that student-faculty connections in this program could be “tenuous and disparate” because students could be pulled in different directions at both universities. these different directions could include different faculty areas of expertise and different interdisciplinary perspectives on both sides of the border. enhancement and collaboration all respondents to the survey indicated that the cross-border setting of the university libraries enhanced the joint canadian-american studies program. their comments emphasize the importance of access to wider library collections: “searching for sources from a selection of texts chosen by different academic institutions increases the probability that individuals will find the sources they are searching for.” “the libraries gave me access to different collections and many of the resources i found [at the american library] were not available [at the canadian library] and vice-versa. i definitely feel that my final mrp [major research paper] was strengthened by having access to both libraries. it was a highlight of the program for me.” the cross-border university libraries’ setting offered additional enhancements to the program as well. this included a student’s appreciation of access to a larger physical book collection in order to engage in “targeted browsing” of the stacks for her research. targeted bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 56 browsing refers to knowing where the exact physical local of print books are shelved in a library so as to find other books on the same topic nearby. this type of browsing relies on serendipity for a user to find other potentially useful books on a topic. it makes use of the online catalog as a starting point for research, but then builds in physically browsing as a way to further expand discovery of related resources. enhancement also included participant c, a faculty member’s perception that the students’ “cross-border mobility” allowed the program to happen. this referred to the students’ ability to physically drive across a national border to reach a larger university library collection. without physically mobility, the students would not be able to engage in targeted browsing of physical library stacks, nor would they be able to attend in person any university course offered face-toface on the other campus. physical mobility, therefore, allowed the program to take place in two different physical locales rather than take place only online. survey responses on whether or not the cross-border university libraries should work together more collaboratively were more muted. two respondents said yes, but three said they did not know. the comments for this section echo this “i am not sure” sentiment, perhaps indicating that direct collaboration between the two university libraries might not be absolutely necessary. on the other hand, suggestions for improvement of cross-border library support to individuals in the program were offered. one graduate student suggested setting up a personalized cross-border interlibrary loan program. another graduate student suggested lowering overdue fees at the canadian university and extending loan periods at the american university. a faculty member, participant d, offered an intriguing suggestion for “training sessions at each library at the start of the program.” the reason this comment was intriguing was because it offered a way to bring the two university libraries together in a way that had not been envisioned by librarians at either university. faculty members at the canadian university also indicated that access to the online journals of the american university could better support their teaching and research for the courses they offer in this program. discussion this research study suggests that students in joint cross-border programs can be considered international students. in this particular study, they were all native english speakers, but they were navigating two different systems of higher education simultaneously. differences in these systems included semester lengths with different attendant beginning and ending dates, course management software, registration processes, grading expectations, and funding models for graduate student support. the uniqueness of navigating these two educational settings at the same time for this program was not lost on the students, with participant b noting that, “we are a class of international students all on our own.” a further way that the students in this program thought of themselves as international students came from the opportunity it afforded them to think about their own personal identity. participant b noted that he “really appreciated hearing american perspectives” because they honed his own sense of canadianness, as well as made him feel like an international student. participant a said that this experience gave her an expanded identity of herself as an international student that she can in turn put to good use in her new staff job in a business program: “i was an international bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 57 student at another university. i can now say this to the canadian students i work with in my current job.” she also noted that, “you don’t really know who you are until you leave the country.” the place of cross-border university libraries in joint degree programs was advocated by both the graduate students and the affiliated faculty members. the students drove across the border to take classes at both universities, and they made the most physical use of both library collections to complete their program. the faculty members supported the place of both university libraries in the joint program as well; however, participant c remarking that, “the library piece is huge.” limitations for this study need to be kept in mind. one limitation is the small number of participants. with only five respondents to the online survey and only four participant interviews, the data presented here can only reveal a small glimpse of what graduate students and faculty members in this joint program are thinking. in addition, with four graduate students answering the online survey as compared to only one faculty member, survey results may also be skewed to represent student perceptions more than faculty perceptions. a second limitation is that the study took place on only one side of the border. the results reported in this article can therefore only represent a canadian perspective on the joint program and its use of library resources and services. to gain a fuller picture, a similar investigation on the american side would need to take place. the third limitation is that this study’s results cannot be generalized to all students in cross-border university programs. the reason for this is that the participants in this study were not selected in a statistically randomized manner, so that they cannot be said to represent a sample of the full population of graduate students and faculty in similar programs. the perceptions of participants in this study may therefore not reflect perceptions of graduate students or faculty in other similar programs in different locations. implications, on the other hand, are also apparent. for university libraries interested in establishing a cross-border presence in joint programs, a number of possible implications come to mind. these include working towards making their library collections available both in person and online to students and faculty in these programs, as well as offering personalized assistance to this specialized group of users. offering equivalent library privileges to both students and faculty members at both universities could also be considered. student papers resulting from joint programs such as these could be considered for digitization in repositories at both university libraries. also, articulating in writing the place of both university libraries as important partners in these ventures could be spelled out in memos of understanding designed to initially set up these types of joint degree programs between universities. as noted in the literature review section, a body of library literature does not appear to exist that explicitly investigates cross-border university libraries as settings where international students are studied in relation to library use. this current study seeks to both highlight that gap, and then attempt to fill some of it by offering a preliminary look at the library use of international students in a joint canadian-american studies program. this study can validate the use of a border between countries as a setting that is conducive to library study. in that regard, it can corroborate findings from other library studies that rely on border settings as well, such as the ireland–uk border setting promoting reading culture across borders (people & ward, 2007) and the germany-denmark border setting that describes how the danish central library system is still supporting minority danish speakers in germany with local historical material (hancks, 2011). this study also extends consideration of the specific canadaunited states border that appears in the study investigating library instruction and professional bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 58 development practices of librarians in both canada and the united states (willingham et al., 2006). this study may also add to worldwide cross-border library practice that invokes the crossing of borders in a larger international scope. for example, the considerations of worldwide interlibrary loan issues (birch & melvyn, 2014) and worldwide partnerships between libraries (lee & bolt, 2016). yet much further work is required to learn more about this unique set of users, the international students who use cross-border university libraries in joint degree programs. for example, a more in-depth look at how and why students in similar cross-border joint programs might consider themselves to be international students is in order. findings from a study such as that could enrich the knowledge base of this unique setting for future library research. in addition, a deeper investigation of how students in similar programs use library resources and services over an extended length of time would also enhance our knowledge of services which support students’ information needs. finally, librarians could consider further ramifications of working with these users such as language and cultural differences that may play out differently across different borders. conclusion cross-border university library settings offer a viable place to explore library perspectives of a special set of international students. these students, enrolled in binational joint degree programs, represent a unique set of international students in a unique international setting. the particular program investigated in this research study, a canadian-american studies graduate program, indicated that cross-border university libraries are used in various ways by these international students. these ways include accessing resources both in print and online, meeting one-on-one with librarians, and using library services such as book checkouts and interlibrary loan. physical library spaces were used as well for browsing the stacks, reading, printing, and passing time. library perceptions of international students emerging from this study offer an interesting twist to the usage findings. these perceptions include feeling like a local or domestic user in both settings, while still thinking of themselves as international students. further perceptions about collections include perceiving the differing sizes, content, and research focus of the two university libraries, while still noting similarities in physical environments, collection organization, and services. further perceptions from the faculty participants include the perception that the border can be discrete (physically separates two different countries), but it can also be blurred (differences are not always distinct). this blurring of differences can refer to similar content held in both university libraries as well as similar content offered in courses at both universities. another faculty perception arising from the study is that borders can both connect students from both countries, but that it can also pull them in different directions as well. the pulling in different directions could refer to different disciplinary directions and to different perspectives within a particular discipline. the cross-border university libraries setting was strongly endorsed by both graduate students and faculty members as enhancing the binational nature of a joint degree program. bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 59 providing access to two university library collections in two different countries to support students in one joint program was seen as the key form of enhancement. this enhanced access seemed to inform both the library usage and the accompanying perceptions. this study can offer two new thoughts to the librarianship literature. it can offer the idea that cross-border students in joint degree programs can be international students. it can also offer the idea that cross-border university library settings are a viable topic of study for librarianship as well. references ademoni, o. 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(2011). helping international students succeed academically through research process and plagiarism workshops. college & research libraries, 72(3), 209235. click, a. b., wiley, c. w., & houlihan, m. (2017). the internationalization of the academic library: a systematic review of 25 years of literature on international students. college & research libraries, 78(3), 328-358. gunnarsson, j., kulesza, w. j., & pettersson, a. (2014). teaching international students how to avoid plagiarism: librarians and faculty in collaboration. the journal of academic librarianship, 40(3/4), 413-417. hancks, j. (2011). cross-border library services. scandinavian public library quarterly, 44(4), 24-25. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1555&context=libphilprac bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 60 hurley, t., hegarty, n., & bolger, j. 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(2016). international partnerships: value, benefits, and the library administrator’s role. journal of library administration, 56(3), 209-221. liu, g., & winn, d. (2009). chinese graduate students and the canadian academic library: a user study at the university of windsor. the journal of academic librarianship, 35(6), 565-573. manuel, k. (2010). crossing borders: the western new york/ontario acrl chapter. feliciter, 56(6), 240-241. peoples, a., & ward, t. (2007). “inspiring readers”: a cross border reader development project. new library world, 108(5/6), 218-228. puente, m., laverne, g., & agnew, s. (2009). the expanding library wall: outreach to the university of tennessee’s multicultural/international student population. reference services review, 37(1), 30-43. willingham, p., carder, l., & millson-martula, c. (2006). does a border make a difference? library instruction in the united states and canada. the journal of academic librarianship, 32(1), 23-34. witt, s. w., kutner, l., & cooper, l. (2015). mapping academic library contributions to campus internationalization. college & research libraries, 76(5), 587-608. zhang, l. (2006). communication in academic libraries: an east asian perspective. reference services review, 34(1), 164-176. zhuo, f., emanuel, j., & jiao, s. (2007). international students and language preferences in library database use. technical services quarterly, 24(4), 1-13. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1812&context=libphilprac bordonaro / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 61 about the author karen bordonaro is liaison librarian iv who works with students and faculty in applied linguistics, canadian studies, esl services, and modern languages, literatures and cultures, among other departments. karen has degrees in spanish and german, library and information studies, teaching english to speakers of other language, and second language education. 04.the experience of international students_title 04.the experience of international students issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org covid-19 and philippine academic libraries ana maria b. fresnido and sharon maria s. esposo-betan abstract: background. libraries have rapidly adapted their services and policies during the lockdown and have likewise adopted new initiatives. this study investigated on the impact of covid-19 to academic libraries in the philippines. objectives. the study aimed to: (1) determine the readiness of academic libraries to provide online services and resources in the pre-covid-19 period or at the onset of the community quarantine in the philippines in march 2020; (2) look into the different initiatives and innovations introduced by academic libraries during the quarantine period so as to continuously provide services and access to resources, in the absence of face-to-face interaction; (3) explore the different issues and challenges encountered by academic libraries in the delivery of library services during the pandemic; and finally, (4) find out how academic librarians envision the post-covid-19 era of academic libraries in the country. methods. the study made use of descriptive quantitative method. data were gathered through survey using an instrument developed by the authors. sampling was purposive with head librarians in academic libraries from all over the country as the respondents. spreadsheet was used to process data which were presented in simple tables, graphs and charts. responses to the open ended question were analyzed and manually coded using inductive coding. results. majority of academic libraries in the country were caught unprepared when the pandemic hit. despite this, they managed to provide services that were delivered online, while simultaneously embarking on a number of different initiatives. covid-19 showed to have made considerable impact in terms of staffing, utilization, collection development, and funding. finally, the respondents envision academic libraries in the post-pandemic era to still be hybrid, with digital resources gaining prominence over printed resources. contributions. the shared experiences of academic libraries in the philippines amidst the pandemic and how they were able to rise above the challenges they were confronted with as they shift their services to online mode may serve as a guide and help inspire other libraries in developing countries faced with similar situations. to cite this article: fresnido, a. m. b., & esposo-betan, s. m. s (2022). covid-19 and philippine academic libraries. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.215 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.215 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 3-20 issn: 2474-3542 covid-19 and philippine academic libraries ana maria b. fresnido, de la salle university, philippines sharon maria s. esposo-betan, university of the philippines, philippines abstract background. libraries have rapidly adapted their services and policies during the lockdown and have likewise adopted new initiatives. this study investigated on the impact of covid-19 to academic libraries in the philippines. objectives. the study aimed to: (1) determine the readiness of academic libraries to provide online services and resources in the pre-covid-19 period or at the onset of the community quarantine in the philippines in march 2020; (2) look into the different initiatives and innovations introduced by academic libraries during the quarantine period so as to continuously provide services and access to resources, in the absence of face-to-face interaction; (3) explore the different issues and challenges encountered by academic libraries in the delivery of library services during the pandemic; and finally, (4) find out how academic librarians envision the post-covid-19 era of academic libraries in the country. methods. the study made use of descriptive quantitative method. data were gathered through survey using an instrument developed by the authors. sampling was purposive with head librarians in academic libraries from all over the country as the respondents. spreadsheet was used to process data which were presented in simple tables, graphs and charts. responses to the open ended question were analyzed and manually coded using inductive coding. results. majority of academic libraries in the country were caught unprepared when the pandemic hit. despite this, they managed to provide services that were delivered online, while simultaneously embarking on a number of different initiatives. covid-19 showed to have made considerable impact in terms of staffing, utilization, collection development, and funding. finally, the respondents envision academic libraries in the post-pandemic era to still be hybrid, with digital resources gaining prominence over printed resources. contributions. the shared experiences of academic libraries in the philippines amidst the pandemic and how they were able to rise above the challenges they were confronted with as they shift their services to online mode may serve as a guide and help inspire other libraries in developing countries faced with similar situations. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, philippine academic libraries, pre-during-post pandemic scenario, innovation, online services, resilience fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 4 introduction the novel corona virus 2019 (interim name of covid-19) was believed to have initially occurred in wuhan, china in december 2019 and since then has spread rapidly into other cities of the country, and eventually internationally, causing a global outbreak. in the philippines, the first suspected case, a chinese national, was investigated in january 2020 (edrada et al., 2020). with the growing concern on covid-19, the commission on higher education (ched) released an advisory in mid-february 2020 encouraging all higher educational institutions (heis) to conduct screening protocols (e.g., checking of temperature) and to avoid attending and holding activities that would require huge number of participants. all travels to china were also banned. students and personnel who traveled abroad were required to undergo quarantine (philippines. commission on higher education, 2020b). after only about a couple of months when the first covid-19 case was reported, the number of cases ballooned (edrada et al., 2020), which prompted the philippine government to take action and imposed community quarantine on march 16, 2020. classes were suspended and mass gatherings were prohibited. travels to and from luzon were likewise suspended. all establishments, with the exception of those providing essential services were given orders to close. only one representative per household was allowed to go out to buy basic necessities (ravelo, 2020). following the president’s announcement on the community quarantine, ched released a series of advisories in march 2020 reiterating the suspension of classes, and consequently, on-thejob trainings (ojts), internships, and practicum, specifically in the national capital region (ncr). heis were also urged to ensure that all plans and decisions made at the time of the pandemic take into consideration the safety and health of students and school personnel (philippines. commission on higher education, 2020a). when the community quarantine was extended, ched released advisory no. 6, which provided clearer directives on how heis were supposed to proceed during the extended enhanced community quarantine (ecq) (i.e., after april 30, 2020). particularly, heis were given the freedom to determine “how to best meet the contact hour requirements for the completion of a subject or degree program.” furthermore, ched acknowledged the limitations in learning delivery mode of heis, hence were advised to make do with whatever available resources they have and to allow students who have no internet access to complete the requirements after the ecq (philippines. commission on higher education, 2020c). as the situation worsened even after the implementation of the ecq, ched released another advisory dated may 24, 2020, highlighting (1) the suspension of face-to-face classes; (2) the offering of summer classes exclusively to graduating students, students who have subjects scheduled in the summer, and graduate students; (3) the suspension of ojt and internship programs; and, (4) the changes in the schedule of class opening for ay2020/21 (philippines. commission on higher education, 2020d). fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 5 with the suspension of face-face-classes, all other services provided by colleges and universities must likewise be offered online. libraries, for one, have rapidly adapted their services and policies during the lockdown. new activities were likewise adopted such as reallocation of print collection budgets to digital materials and reaching out to patrons who were digitally disconnected through the use of phones (how public libraries are responding to the pandemic, 2020), among others. literature review the impact of covid-19 to libraries has been the center of attention of library and information science (lis) professionals as they try to adjust and find new ways to provide access to library resources and offer essential services amidst the physical restrictions. this is made evident by the continuously rising number of studies on the topic despite its novelty. libraries’ response to the pandemic the different measures carried out by academic libraries in china and the challenges associated with it were explored by guo et al., (2020). the release of information relating to covid-19 through the libraries’ websites proved to be common among the libraries and so was shifting to online services. similarly, an academic library in the us shared it experiences in responding to the pandemic, detailing how it shifted some of its services to online mode and the different initiatives it undertook in support of online teaching and learning (mehta & wang, 2020). the strategic actions adapted by academic libraries in mexico was analyzed by ortega-martínez et al. (2021). library efforts showed to focus on ensuring the safety and security of patrons upon resumption of library services, collection management, and the use and provision of digital services. in zimbabwe, an investigation on the innovations initiated by academic libraries in support of elearning was carried out by tsekea & chigwada (2021). the provision of electronic information sources confirmed to be crucial to research and the teaching-learning process. rafiq et al., (2021) looked at how university libraries in pakistan were responding to the pandemic and carried out a qualitative exploration. while the libraries were physically closed, the provision of services continued. website redesign, reallocation of resources, and provision of online services were common practices among the libraries. the lack of policies to address issues emanating from workfrom-home, digital divide, lack of digital competencies and slow internet connection, were identified as major challenges. the impact of covid-19 to libraries in italy was also investigated by tammaro (2020) using a mixed method approach. the study concluded that the pandemic has forced libraries to transition and envision anew the provision of services taking into consideration the community they serve. the use of social media in greek libraries amidst the pandemic was the focus of study conducted by koulouris et al., (2020). facebook turned out to be the platform that was widely used for announcements and promotion of events. to avoid service disruption, librarians have embraced the work-from-home set-up. the struggles of librarians in kazakhstan to provide uninterrupted service to its patrons while working from home was explored by yap & manabat (2020). unstable internet connection, unavailability of laptops or its incapability to accommodate needed applications, distractions, and managing household chores were identified as issues that the librarians had to wrestle with. similarly, the concept and practice of working remotely specifically in the technical services of the library was examined by craft (2020). an overview of how such was carried out in the pre-pandemic era provided the connections between fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 6 the previous practice and that of the current practice. directions for future research were likewise offered. through the conduct of literature review nawaz et al. (2020) examined how libraries may take advantage of artificial intelligence (ai) at the time of the pandemic. identification of users with ai support, ai based monitoring, ai chatbots, robot assistance, drone surveillance and services, ai alarms, and ai based online tutorials were some of the applications identified to be useful for libraries. the role of libraries during the pandemic the libraries’ role in helping prevent the spread of covid-19 in nigeria was investigated by adigun et al. (2020). findings showed that libraries played the crucial role of promoting awareness on covid-19 through the provision of online contents, the holding of programs related to covid-19 and serving as a gateway in making available data on covid-19 cases from reputable sources. likewise, ameen (2021) shared his viewpoints on the role of libraries in pakistan and concluded that collaboration is key in addressing issues brought about by the pandemic and that the efforts of librarians to find ways to redesign their services to remain relevant is crucial. as online learning has become the trend due to the covid-19 outbreak, a reexamination of the role of libraries was carried out by ifijeh & yusuf (2020). among the different practices, the maintenance of a responsive website, the practice of blended librarianship and the use of social media, were identified as best practices. libraries in the post-pandemic era a description of a model digital library (within the context of copyright laws) envisioned to replace the traditional library services, given the physical restrictions caused by the pandemic, was explored by pokorná et al. (2020). data gathered from google analytics and access logs showed users’ preference towards copyright protected monographs. mestri (2020), on the other hand, forwarded recommendations on how libraries should prepare to reopen in the future, making sure that the patrons, library staff, and all library resources remain safe and secure. this study is a modest contribution to existing literature on the impact of covid-19 to libraries, particularly academic libraries in the philippines. specifically, it aimed to: (1) determine the readiness of academic libraries to provide online services and resources in the pre-covid-19 period or at the onset of the community quarantine in the philippines in march 2020; (2) look into the different initiatives and innovations introduced by academic libraries during the quarantine period so as to continuously provide services and access to resources, in the absence of face-toface interaction; (3) explore the different issues and challenges encountered by academic libraries in the delivery of library services during the pandemic; and finally, (4) find out how academic librarians envision the post-covid-19 era of academic libraries in the country. methodology the study employed descriptive quantitative method. data were gathered through survey using an instrument developed by the authors. the survey questionnaire was divided into three parts—the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic era of philippine libraries. specifically, it was designed to help determine the pre-pandemic and the present state of academic libraries in the fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 7 country, and how librarians envision academic libraries to be in the post-pandemic era. the items focused on the provision of library resources and services and how academic libraries were compelled to adapt to the changing circumstances brought about by the pandemic. to establish face validity, the questionnaire was reviewed with the help of three experts. pilot testing was also conducted, with the staff from a small academic library serving as the respondents. the instrument was then revised based on the inputs of the experts and the results of the pilot testing conducted. google form was used to create the online survey. the link to the form was then sent to the email addresses of the respondents. to help ensure the widest participation possible, invitation to take part in the survey was also posted in facebook. the survey was administered in june 2021. purposive sampling was used to identify the respondents who consisted of academic library administrators from all over the country. they were specifically targeted since they are expected to be able to provide a more holistic view of their respective libraries. all the regions were represented, although majority were from ncr and region iv-a, most likely because it is in these regions where most heis are situated (office of planning, 2020). zamboanga peninsula and bangsamoro had the least number of respondents. table 1 shows the breakdown of respondents by region. table 1. breakdown of respondents by region region number of respondents % national capital region (ncr) 48 29.81 cordillera administrative region (car) 4 2.48 central luzon (region iii) 12 7.45 ilocos region (region i) 5 3.11 calabarzon (region iv-a) 20 12.42 mimaropa (southwestern tagalog region) 4 2.48 bicol region (region v) 5 3.11 western visayas (region vi) 14 8.70 central visayas (region vii) 6 3.73 eastern visayas (region viii) 8 4.97 zamboanga peninsula (region ix) 2 1.24 northern mindanao (region. x) 7 4.35 davao region (region xi) 11 6.83 soccsksargen (region xii) 8 4.97 cagayan valley (region ii) 5 3.11 bangsamoro (barmm) 2 1.24 grand total 161 100.00 fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 8 excel spreadsheet was used to process data which were presented in simple tables, graphs and charts. responses to the open-ended question were analyzed and manually coded using inductive coding. findings status of academic libraries before the pandemic availability of online resources results of the survey showed that 12.42% of the respondents were highly prepared and 27.95% were prepared to provide online resources to their clients even before the pandemic. majority of these libraries were from the ncr and region iv-a. quite a big portion of the respondents (35.40%) rated themselves somewhat prepared and 22.98% not prepared at all. two (1.24%) of the respondents were undecided as to how ready their respective libraries were, in providing access to online resources (refer to figure 1). the responses made it evident that less than half of the surveyed libraries were already hybrid as they make available resources in different formats. as such, they are considered to be halfway towards becoming a digital library (oppenheim & smithson, 1999). figure 1. extent of the libraries’ preparedness to provide online resources before the pandemic availability of e-reference services there were 18 (11.18%) academic libraries that rated themselves highly prepared to provide ereference service and another 51 (31.68%) which stated that they were prepared, for a combined total of 42.86%. libraries that were somewhat prepared (those with limited e-reference services) make up 37.27% of the respondents while those not prepared at all consisted of 19.25%. one of 20 (12.42%) 45 (27.95%) 57 (35.40%) 37 (22.98%) 2 (1.24%) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 highly prepared prepared somewhat prepared not prepared undecided fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 9 the respondents stated that their library is undecided on the availability of e-reference services which somehow conveys unfamiliarity with what e-reference service is. virtual reference service provides a way for the patron to connect with the librarian online regardless of time and space differences. transactions may be conducted asynchronously (e.g., email, web forms, online pathfinders, and frequently asked questions (faq)) and synchronously (e.g., chat, video conferencing, and digital reference robots) (maharana & panda, 2005). substantial investment on a strong internet service, subscription to e-resources, and trained librarians make this possible (smith, 2000). figure 2. extent of the libraries’ preparedness to provide e-reference services before the pandemic based on the results of the survey, it is obvious that majority of academic libraries in the country were caught unprepared when the pandemic hit, as they either have none or very limited access to e-resources and e-reference services. status of academic libraries during the pandemic physically closed academic libraries as of june 2021, 44.72% of academic libraries in the country were physically closed while the rest (55.28%) have already decided to open their respective libraries. majority of libraries that were still closed at the time of the survey were from ncr, central visayas region (region vii), and northern mindanao (region x). this is most likely because regions 7 and 10 were under modified enhanced community quarantine (mecq) from june 16 to 30. while the ncr was under general community quarantine (gcq) at that time (u.s. embassy in the philippines, 2021), the number of confirmed cases in the said region continued to rise, hence most libraries remained closed. just like other libraries in 150 countries worldwide (mestri, 2020), philippine academic libraries were also compelled to close to prevent the spread of covid-19. 18 (11.18%) 51 (31.68%) 60 (37.27%) 31 (19.25%) 1 (0.62%) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 highly prepared prepared somewhat prepared not prepared undecided fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 10 figure 3. physically closed academic libraries (as of june 2021) physically closed academic libraries that continue to render service (as of june 2021) a significant number of libraries (95.03%) that were physically closed, continued to render service to their clients. on the contrary, 4.97% of libraries that were open did not provide any service at all, as their main reason for opening was to allow their staff to report for work. providing service despite the physical restrictions imposed by the lockdown is a practice adopted by libraries in most countries worldwide (mestri, 2020) compelling academic libraries to change the way they do things (mehta & wang, 2020). figure 4. physically closed academic libraries that continue to render service (as of june 2021) 72 (44.72%) 89 (55.28%) open closed 95% open 5% closed fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 11 services being rendered during the pandemic as expected, services delivered online proved to be quite extensive. with the enormous amount of information available online and the proliferation of misinformation (auberry, 2018; williams, 2010), libraries took an active role in the development of the students’ information literacy (il) skills (bussell, 2021), hence conducting virtual library orientation/information literacy sessions showed to be a common service (see table 2) and a new initiative implemented by academic libraries (see table 3). online tutorials (refer to tables 2 and 3) were also made available in support of learners who need to develop their il skills (chakraborty & jana, 2021). e-reference service turned out to be the second most common service being provided (refer to table 2) and was also an initiative that most libraries embarked on during the pandemic (see table 3). while only 42.86% of the libraries considered themselves highly prepared and prepared to render e-reference service before the pandemic (refer to figure 2), an increase of 38.51% was observed in the number of libraries that were able to deliver the service after more than a year, since covid-19 hit the philippines. table 3 suggests that the creation of social media accounts has been instrumental in making this possible since it serves a number of different purposes, one of which is chat reference service (collins & quan-haase, 2012), usually provided through facebook (fb) messenger. with the physical restrictions imposed by the community quarantine, 69.57% of the respondents made sure that access to digital resources was made available (see table 2) to support online teaching/learning and research. for majority of the libraries (82.61%), providing access to digital resources appeared to be a newly introduced service. the holding of online exhibits and events seemed to have also become the trend and so is the promotion of online content as resources and services shifted online (tammaro, 2020). the efforts of the librarians to provide access to resources not necessarily owned by the library was made evident through the provision of document delivery service (dds) and interlibrary loan (ill), revealing the good side of the pandemic, that is, the reinforcement of library linkages. with dds and ill in place, access to resources among partner libraries is optimized in the most cost-efficient way possible (saavedra-alamillas et al., 2020). work-from-home arrangement was introduced and this necessitated the building of digital competencies of staff as they had to work independently. despite the closure of libraries, loaning out of library materials continued, suggesting that books remain to be a vital source of information. some of the libraries (39.75%) even went out of their way to deliver books that students and faculty wanted to borrow. as libraries remained to be closed to library patrons, adjustments to loan policies (e.g., extended loan period and no imposition of fines) had to be enforced. as online presence is crucial to library accessibility, academic libraries in the county made sure that they are visible in various social networking sites and that the contents of their websites remain up to date. fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 12 the establishment of institutional repositories (ir) was a project that a few libraries (21.12%) embarked on, showing their strong support for open access initiative. while the building of irs seemed not very popular yet, the number of libraries embarking on digitization projects signals a growing interest on irs. table 2. most common services offered by academic libraries during the pandemic services being rendered number of reponses % virtual library orientation/information literacy session 140 86.96 e-reference service 131 81.37 online exhibits 129 80.12 inter-library loan 117 72.67 access to digital resources 112 69.57 document delivery service 108 67.08 library loan 68 42.24 online tutorials 67 41.61 promotion of online content 36 22.36 online events 32 19.88 others 24 14.91 table 3. new initiatives implemented during the pandemic new initiatives number of responses % provision of e-reference service 142 88.20 provision of access to digital resources 133 82.61 virtual library orientation/information literacy session 131 81.37 work from home arrangements 128 79.50 creation of social media accounts 126 78.26 loan policy adjustments 117 72.67 promotion of online content 112 69.57 document delivery service 100 62.11 website update 97 60.25 staff training on digital competencies 93 57.76 digitization 90 55.90 library networking 78 48.45 online events 74 45.96 delivery of book loans to clients 64 39.75 online tutorials 64 39.75 fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 13 establishment of institutional repositories 34 21.12 inter-library loan 32 19.88 online exhibits 31 19.25 others 13 8.07 major problems encountered in continuously providing library services limited online resources (experienced by 75.16% of the respondents) or its unavailability (which 33.54% of the respondents had to deal with) were problems assumed to have been caused by inadequate funding (faced by 56.52% of the respondents) and further aggravated by budget cuts, (which 63.35% of the respondents had to endure) and the lack of support from administration (experienced by 15.53% of the respondents). issues concerning library personnel proved to be prevalent. health and safety turned out to be the leading concern because just like patrons, library personnel were also at risk of being infected. reassigning of roles and responsibilities became inevitable especially for those whose jobs had to be performed onsite (e.g., shelving, book processing, checking out of library materials, filing, and scanning/digitization), thus they were given other work assignments that could be performed online. although they most likely were not familiar with or were incapable of performing the new assigned task, they were forced to do as told because they had no choice. this probably explains the reason why lack of cooperation among library staff was also noted. since services were mostly provided online, the lack of digital literacy skills also surfaced as one of the concerns that libraries had to deal with. with the drop in the number of enrollees (flores, 2021; magsambol, 2020), library personnel also suffered from job insecurity because private colleges and universities rely solely on tuition and other fees to finance their operations. working on extended hours also proved to be a concern, specifically for those who work from home. limited or the lack of onsite service was also regarded as a major concern by many. in reality though, this may be considered to have caused majority of the problems that academic libraires in the country face. on the contrary, it also served as the catalyst in the provision of innovative library services. internet connectivity issues occupied the third spot among the problems being experienced by academic librarians. with the work from home set-up, everyone was expected to work online. sadly, internet connection in the country has always been slow and unreliable or at times, even unavailable (“so, yeah, the philippines has expensive turtle internet, according to a new study: a global digital well-being study reveals the poor state of internet in the philippines,” 2020). since the only means to provide access to resources that were not born digital is to convert them into digital format, issues on copyright also emerged. libraries were also obliged to adjust their loan policies, usually imposing no definite due dates and waiving overdue fines, resulting to frequent record adjustments and decreased library income, respectively. fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 14 the lack of digital literacy showed to be an issue not confined to library staff alone as this also proved to be true for students and faculty alike. table 4. major problems encountered in continuously providing library services concerns number of responses % limited online resources 121 75.16 health and safety issues of staff 118 73.29 internet connectivity issues 116 72.05 budget cuts 102 63.35 reassignment of roles and responsibilities among library staff 92 57.14 inadequate funding 91 56.52 copyright issues 90 55.90 limited onsite service 84 52.17 lack of digital literacy skills among the staff 72 44.72 loan policy adjustments 69 42.86 lack of digital literacy skills among the clients 67 41.61 unavailability of online resources 54 33.54 job insecurity 42 26.09 lack of visibility in social media sites 36 22.36 no onsite service 30 18.63 lack of support from administration 25 15.53 extended work hours 22 13.66 lack of cooperation among library staff 20 12.42 others 8 4.97 impact of covid-19 to academic libraries in the philippines covid-19 has had a substantial impact on academic libraries in the country specifically in terms of staffing, utilization, collection development, and funding. respondents identified library personnel to have been greatly affected by the pandemic. particularly, the need to retool and improve ict competencies has become apparent given the shift in online services and resources. as work-form-home becomes inevitable, being able to work efficiently independently is something that library staff had to be accustomed to while they try to find ways to maintain work-life balance. since some work assignments cannot be performed online, some library staff were given other assignments because working onsite was not feasible. some were even transferred to other offices/departments just so they can be retained given the budget reduction caused by the significant decrease in the number of enrollees (flores, 2021; magsambol, 2020). others were not as fortunate as they had to be retrenched because they were fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 15 considered as none essential workers. those who were able to keep their jobs had to battle with the thoughts of possibly losing them eventually, hence suffer from mental health issues. staff who had to report onsite, suffer from the same, since they were required to undergo home quarantine lasting between 7 to 24 days. the thought that they may have been infected with the virus in their workplace haunted them. the negative impact of the pandemic to library utilization in general, is undeniable considering the physical restrictions imposed by the community quarantine. severely affected was the usage of printed materials which in the past had been the chief source of reliable information especially for those who have no or limited access to electronic resources. utilization of online resources was also affected since students who do not have access to the internet used to come to the library to access these resources. the use of library facilities was restricted, hence no patrons were accommodated and only the staff were allowed inside. some of the facilities (e.g., discussion rooms) were also repurposed to accommodate faculty members who, for various reasons, prefer holding online classes inside the campus. collection development was also significantly affected primarily because of the need to prioritize acquisition and subscription to digital resources. librarians likewise expressed difficulties adjusting to doing selection, evaluation and acquisition of materials online. the shift in the collection development directions and decisions has greatly influenced the way financial resources were allocated. the sad part though is that funding posed to be a major concern as libraries suffered from budget cuts caused by the decrease in the number of enrollees. despite all the negative impact, academic libraries and librarians in the country proved to be resilient as they were able to manage and adapt to the challenges brought about by the pandemic. academic libraries in the post-pandemic era envisioning academic libraries in the post-pandemic era the respondents envision academic libraries in the post-pandemic era to still be hybrid, although digital resources will most likely gain prominence over printed resources, mainly because more budget will be allotted for these. libraries are also envisioned to embark on open access publishing through institutional repositories. with the robust digital collection, access to library resources is expected to be made available 24/7, remotely. the practice of blended librarianship will be embraced by librarians, which means that they will be part of the teaching-learning process, interacting directly with the students and the instructor (either face-to-face or online), carrying on the role of providing resources for teaching and learning, thereby contributing to the realization of the objectives of education (ifijeh & yusuf, 2020). most services will continue to be offered online, hence the work-from-home set-up is expected to stay. consequently, a reduction in the investment on facilities improvement is fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 16 presumed and so is staff downsizing. while onsite services may resume, minimum health protocols will continue to be imposed. interestingly, the respondents’ vision of what academic libraries will be in the postpandemic era, is identical to how they perceive their respective libraries to be, after the pandemic is over (refer to tables 4 and 5). table 5. academic library attributes in the post-pandemic era attributes number of responses % hybrid collections 148 91.93 more budget allocation for online resources 147 91.30 adoption of blended librarianship model 135 83.85 minimum health protocols will continue to be imposed 132 81.99 24/7 access to library resources 123 76.40 libraries to embark on open access publishing through institutional repositories 117 72.67 highly online library collections 111 68.94 mostly online library services 108 67.08 work from home arrangements will continue 107 66.46 reduced investment on facilities improvement 66 40.99 reduced staffing 54 33.54 others 4 2.48 table 6. respondents’ vision of their own libraries in the post-pandemic era attributes number of responses % hybrid collections 136 84.47 more budget allocation for online resources 135 83.85 adoption of blended librarianship model 127 78.88 minimum health protocols will continue to be imposed 125 77.64 24/7 access to library resources 109 67.70 libraries to embark on open access publishing through institutional repositories 107 66.46 mostly online library services 103 63.98 highly online library collections 99 61.49 work from home arrangements will continue 98 60.87 reduced investment on facilities improvement 58 36.02 fresnido and esposo-betan / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 17 reduced staffing 37 22.98 others 7 4.35 conclusion and recommendations despite the challenges presented by covid-19 to philippine academic libraries, it undoubtedly has pushed libraries and librarians to innovate their services and develop their digital resources, thus helped speed the transformation process. however, as most of the innovations and changes adopted were meant to respond to the pandemic, implementation was most likely done in haste and as such may have lacked careful planning. given this, it is recommended that new programs and services introduced during the pandemic be assessed to see how well they are responding to the needs of library patrons and likewise ascertain their sustainability. as the pandemic has definitely changed the way academic libraries do business, it would do well to review both the short and long term plans, keeping in mind the lessons of the pandemic while at the same time envisioning the future. at the very least, today’s academic libraries should be able to: make available virtual alternatives to resources and services; make accessible asynchronous tutorials or virtual information literacy sessions through the library’s website; support open access initiatives and start building their institutional repositories; ensure that the library website is responsive and kept up to date; invest on a library services platform; enrich the leadership, management, digital and communication skills of library personnel, provide them with sufficient technical support, and prioritize their well-being; strengthen library cooperation; review and revise existing policies, ensuring that they remain relevant and responsive; and lastly, look into the short term as well as lasting impact of covid-19 on learning spaces. references adigun, g. o., okuonghae, o., & mamudu, p. a. 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(2020). managing a sustainable work-from-home scheme : library resiliency in times of pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 61–77. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors sharon maria s. esposo-betan is the head librarian of the university of the philippines–college of engineering libraries. she teach graduate courses on information science, collection development and library management at the up school of library and information studies as senior lecturer. she has led two (2) professional library associations on a national level, namely: as president of the philippine association of academic and research librarians in the philippines (paarl) and, as president of the consortium of engineering libraries in the philippines (celph). sharon maria s. esposo-betan has served as speaker or resource person in various seminars, training workshops, and conferences for different professional library associations in the philippines. furthermore, her research papers are presented and disseminated in national and international conferences and some of them are published either as part of the conference proceedings or as journal article. she is a recipient of the paarl outstanding academic librarian and the up gawad tsanselor awards. ana maria b. fresnido currently serves as a librarian at the de la salle university libraries, where she was also director from 2006 to 2017. she has presented numerous papers in conferences and has published papers in local and international journals. she is an active member of professional organizations like the philippine librarians association (plai) and the philippine association of academic/research libraries (paarl). likewise, she actively serves as a member of the commission on higher education-region quality assessment team (chedrqat). 215-title page 215-esposo-betan-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org managing a sustainable work-from-home scheme: library resiliency in times of pandemic joseph yap and april manabat abstract: the resiliency of librarians is tested once again with the devastating occurrence of the pandemic situation worldwide. as a result of the global scare, many libraries have shut down as prescribed by the governments to minimize physical contact and stop the spread of viruses. yet, libraries live up to its mandate in serving the information needs of its patrons. this report documents the role of libraries in kazakhstan during the pandemic and how libraries responded quickly to avoid disruption of programs and services. this document also describes some of the “new normal” initiatives and strategies libraries have adapted to respond to the needs of their clients. on the other hand, librarians are steppingup and making enormous efforts to manage their call of duty to provide and distribute factual and reliable information to all its stakeholders. adapting to a change of working environment also needs to be looked into. since the start of work from home in mid-march 2020, was there a change of lifestyle? what factors affect their work productivity? an online interview among select library staff who can speak and understand english is conducted. to cite this article: yap, j., & manabat, a. (2020). managing a sustainable work-from-home scheme: library resiliency in times of pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.168 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 61-77. issn: 2474-3542 managing a sustainable work-from-home scheme: library resiliency in times of pandemic joseph yap and april manabat nazarbayev university, nur-sultan, kazakhstan abstract the resiliency of librarians is tested once again with the devastating occurrence of the pandemic situation worldwide. as a result of the global scare, many libraries have shut down as prescribed by the governments to minimize physical contact and stop the spread of viruses. yet, libraries live up to its mandate in serving the information needs of its patrons. this report documents the role of libraries in kazakhstan during the pandemic and how libraries responded quickly to avoid disruption of programs and services. this document also describes some of the “new normal” initiatives and strategies libraries have adapted to respond to the needs of their clients. on the other hand, librarians are stepping-up and making enormous efforts to manage their call of duty to provide and distribute factual and reliable information to all its stakeholders. adapting to a change of working environment also needs to be looked into. since the start of work from home in midmarch 2020, was there a change of lifestyle? what factors affect their work productivity? an online interview among select library staff who can speak and understand english is conducted. keywords: resiliency; pandemic; covid-19; sustainability; work-from-home introduction it takes a pandemic to halt the regular administrative and business operations of an entity, worse a country. a domino effect takes place in all sectors of a society starting from tourism, education, entrepreneurship, and practically all industries interconnected with economic and intellectual developments. a pandemic is a threat to humanity as the spread of the infectious disease crosses international borders (kelly, 2011). in these trying times, we are urged to be responsive and get back to our feet. no matter how difficult the situation is, we remain resilient. resiliency during pandemic is an active positive effect libraries do practice to ensure services continue although limited. in a global landscape, social resilience is seen as the ability of a system to bounce back again despite the emergence of unavoidable disturbances caused by environmental changes (adger, 2000; cretney, 2014). the spread of the coronavirus remains yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 62 volatile and uncertain. library management should be quick in deciphering what to do in this kind of health crisis that blindly attacks all citizens. this report documents the role of libraries in kazakhstan during the pandemic and how libraries responded quickly to avoid disruption of programs and services. furthermore, this paper narrates some of the “new normal” strategies libraries have initiated to respond to the needs of their community. librarians’ stepped-up and made remarkable efforts as front liners by providing health and medical information and ensuring that access to information is never disrupted. while it was difficult to balance work-from-home due to varying factors, this document also shares the experiences of kazakh librarians during the pandemic outbreak. objectives kazakhstan is a landlocked country in central asia which gained independence in 1991 (undp, 2020). it is surrounded by russia, china, kyrgyzstan, turkmenistan and uzbekistan. according to kazakhstan’s country data published in ifla’s library map of the world, there are 697 academic libraries reported in 2018 (ifla, n.d). libraries and librarians are essential assets in every society. the value they exhibit is important and timely as we deal with so much information, thus avoiding information disorders. due to the pandemic, lockdowns were introduced to limit the spread of the virus. libraries were not spared and they have to follow government regulations. academic libraries in kazakhstan during pre-pandemic times normally operates a 12-hour shift or less (ie. al farabi library (9:00am-8:00pm); l. n. gumilyov eurasian national university (8:00am-8:00pm); nazarbayev university library (8:30am-8:00pm). in kazakhstan, library services started going virtually in mid-march 2020 following a state of emergency announced by the president of kazakhstan on march 16, 2020 (shayakhmetova, 2020). librarians were asked to stay home and prompted to start providing partial or fully online access and online services. this study aims to answer the following questions: since the start of work from home in mid-march 2020, what library resiliency strategies have they initiated or struggles they encountered while working from home? was there a change of lifestyle or routine among kazakh librarians brought about by the pandemic? what factors affect their work productivity? methodology online structured interviews are conducted via a virtual meeting platform. zoom was used to perform the online interview. in-depth analysis of recorded interviews was employed in this study. descriptive analysis was used to share the stories of librarians during lockdown periods yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 63 caused by the pandemic. purposive sampling was used to identify english speaking librarians from academic libraries. the authors considered only those who can speak and understand english. the librarians were chosen based on a referral system. most kazakh librarians only converse in russian or kazakh as their vernacular. translation was possible but for convenience of interpretation and time required for translation, only those who speak and understand english were included in this study. the questionnaire and consent form were approved by the institutional research ethics committee. the questions were divided into two categories (see appendix a). the first part identified activities initiated by the library during the lockdown and quarantine period. the second part dealt with the work from home experiences. during the interview, the participants were asked again if they read the consent form and if they had questions about its parts (procedures, risks, benefits, compensation, confidentiality and privacy). parts of the consent form were reiterated most especially the voluntary nature of the study. once the participant agreed with no objections, the online interview started. review of related literature pandemic is global it was in early december 2019 when a number of people in wuhan, china had been infected with an undetectable disease. with manifestations ranging from mild flu-like symptoms up to cataclysmic acute respiratory disease, it is hard to predict that this dreadful disease would soon take the lives of so many across the globe in just a span of months (al-dadah & hing, 2020). given the increasing number of cases outside china and its severe effects that cannot be contained, world health organization (who) was left no choice but to declare the novel coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak a global pandemic on 11 march 2020 (cucinotta & vanelli, 2020). the declaration of covid-19 as a global pandemic has led to closure of various establishments and institutions. as all government efforts were geared towards “flattening the curve” by minimizing physical contact and face-to-face interactions, strict lockdown and quarantine measures were put in place. as an effect, many companies and institutions were forced to drastically change some operational procedures. from working in physical offices, a sudden shift to working-from-home set-up has become the new trend. even libraries, as a third place, were not exempted in this new kind of set-up. libraries are affected the rapid spreading of covid-19 across the globe has paved the way to close down some establishments and institutions like libraries. considered as third place where interactions and conversations are being encouraged, libraries are heavily affected by the shutdown (bruxvoort, yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 64 2016). closing the physical library doors to limit, if not to avoid physical contact, means opening even more doors of challenges and opportunities that the libraries as well as the librarians are facing. in a recent survey conducted by the public libraries association (pla) from 24 march to 1 april 2020, it provides a snapshot of how public libraries were affected by the pandemic in the united states. the study revealed that almost 2,545 public libraries continue to work in various innovative ways despite the closure of the library building such as extended access to electronic resources, creation of online programs such as virtual storytelling, and performing some corporate social responsibility initiatives such as printing of face shield and volunteerism (american libraries, 2020a). in a separate survey conducted by american libraries association (ala) from 12-18 may 2020 revealed that 3,800 libraries from various sectors has also undergone some shifts in the library services by providing access to digital content, online learning, introducing virtual programs, and involvement in community crisis response (american libraries, 2020b). with all of these initiatives, the library has continuously managed to prove its worth even in these trying times. the physical closure of libraries led to staff working from home to deliver all possible online library services to patrons. to safeguard both their jobs from furloughs or layoffs and most especially their health, libraries decided to shift to skeletal staffing and to eventually work-fromhome set-up, allowing their staff to continue their work remotely (hardenbrook, 2020; randall & burke, 2020). with the sudden shift of the mode of work, it is not surprising that the challenges such as provision of technology and maintaining productivity will also be encountered. resiliency in libraries the pandemic proved that libraries as service providers adapt to changes in times of great information need. library studies connected to resilience in times of pandemic is scarce and this study attempts to share the kazakh experience. libraries are social spaces and it is one of the places that were equally affected by the global spread of the coronavirus. xu and kajikawa (2018), defined resilience as “the capacity of systems to absorb recurrent natural and human perturbations in order to maintain their function and regeneration ability or to transform to a new desirable state. this explores systems’ adaptability and transformability” (p. 239). taking into account the definition of resilience, we can also say that librarians must have the “ability to cope, respond to change and return to a degree of normal functioning in a crisis” (cretney, 2014, p. 629). characteristics of resilience: flexibility this characteristic when applied to the library gives them the ability to adjust quickly to the demands of the situation. if a natural disaster, tragedy or health outbreak happens, the library can stand still and recreate or repurpose programs and services. yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 65 redundancy this characteristic is essential in libraries to provide continued support to its services. going virtually online requires more support, more attention, and more workers to satisfy the needs of the online users. as expounded by xu and kajikawa (2018), redundancy “provides compensations for the loss of functionalities in order to avoid systems collapse (p. 244)” moreover, redundancy becomes a great reserve in case disturbances happen (ie. staff on leave and needs immediate replacement or back-up, e-book vendors cannot deliver on time in times of crises, etc.). this term is described in supply chain management when “one supplier fails due to delivery problems, at least one more supplier is still available to ensure the delivery of parts” (fraccascia, et al., 2020). diversity resilience can be achieved if there is a joint effort between the stakeholders and the library. being sensitive to what they need in times of crises is important. libraries have to offer various options and ways to reach their users to provide information. connectedness mental health needs to be addressed during negative situations. both library workers and their users experience different levels of disturbances in every catastrophe. various kinds of stress can be bad for our psychological well-being so we have to promote and create a better atmosphere in these trying times. to be resilient, there must be a feeling of connectedness. as chandra et al. (2013) mentioned, “social connectedness such as neighbor-to-neighbor reliance is critical for community resilience because it can help communities to exchange resources, to support each other, and to respond and recover together” (p. 1183). new normal for libraries while most of the libraries remain physically closed, some libraries are gradually re-opening their doors and testing the waters to what would actually work in the new normal. in an attempt to bring back normalcy in the library setting while observing standard precautionary measures such as wearing masks, proper hand washing and social distancing, libraries have been doing some space redesigning to lessen the physical and social interactions between and among library users and personnel. keeping a distance of at least one meter, libraries were forced to rearrange some areas, marking certain spaces where patrons can pay the library a visit for less than an hour to borrow some materials. in countries such as germany and china, phase re-openings of library buildings were considered allowing patrons to get some library materials (bibliotheca, 2020; world health organization, 2020). limiting physical and social interactions is now being equated to increasing contact-less and touchless library services. making it more significant as ever, libraries are now investing in self-service borrowing kiosks, contact-less hand sanitizers, and cloud library checkouts through yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 66 mobile applications among others (bibliotheca, 2020). taking into account protecting both library personnel and users, library staff wore personal protective equipment (ppe), gloves and masks as medical frontliners do. temperature checks for all before entering some library areas were also in place ensuring body temperatures are normal. kazakh libraries before the pandemic libraries in kazakhstan function the same with most of the libraries around the world. libraries in kazakhstan underwent drastic change in its educational and research system over the past decades and is adopting a more western educational approach affecting library operations, kazakhstani libraries and librarians continue to redefine its role to be a valuable asset in the academic community (king, et al., 2013). with the presence of international student populations, faculty, and staff, the internationalization of some academic institutions in kazakhstan allows libraries to practice international standards. even before the pandemic hit the country, just like other libraries, kazakh libraries also focus on user needs that involves information literacy and reference services that were generally offered in a face-to-face format allowing students to interact with the librarians and vice versa; and supporting students research that provides library instructions on how to search, evaluate, understand, and cite information sources critically (emmelhainz, 2019; king, et al., 2013). electronic and online resources are also made accessible for the academic libraries in kazakhstan through national licensing projects which aim to establish cooperative initiatives in resources acquisition and promotion (bekbalaeva, 2017). despite the fact that some kazakhstani libraries tend to still be quite restrictive on how to access some of their collections, thus avoiding open stacks systems, availability of electronic and online resources allows libraries to provide a wide array of collections to their patrons (emmelhainz & bukhtoyarova, 2016; king et al., 2013). how libraries have responded in kazakhstan just like most of the libraries around the world, libraries in kazakhstan responded on almost the same level. when the pandemic escalated in the country during the early months of 2020, libraries were forced to physically close its doors and extend access to their clients through various platforms. for instance, online campaigns (nu library, 2020) such as stress-relief posts and covid-19-related information guides were served hot to library clienteles to help them thrive during the pandemic. access to print materials such as digitization initiatives and even limited book delivery service were put in place to make sure that library materials will be accessible to patrons. strengthened and extended access to online resources even off campus were ensured by providing some information and links to free resources (nu library, 2020). use of simplified online submission systems of documents for institutional repository that does not require physical interactions as well as video tutorials were put in place (nu repository, 2020). extended access to digital content and online visibility has been the name of the game where libraries need to ensure yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 67 that all library materials, programs and services will be made available to users, whenever, wherever. from skeleton staffing to work-from-home set-up, kazakh libraries have also adapted this kind of work mode. valuing both employees’ and patrons’ needs, health and well-being, libraries continuously served their patrons through various ways even if the staff works remotely. however, just like any other libraries, kazakh libraries also encountered challenges in terms of technology and personnel preparedness. work from home and managing work-life balance work-from-home set-up in libraries is not really a new thing. whether with the escalation of a pandemic or relating to some personal matters, working remotely can be an option for the workers depending on their nature of work. in a traditional set-up, librarians are expected to work physically with their clients as the materials they are dealing with are mostly print. however, the pandemic triggered changes in library services, thus, telecommuting or working from home became an option (boeninger, 2020). the use of telecommuting, coupled with collaboration, has been evident in both articles written by duncan (2008) and rysavy and michalak (2020). duncan (2008) documented her experiences in this kind of set-up and how she thrived with her work through telecommuting. during this global pandemic, this kind of set-up has become the new norm on how the goldey-beacom college library was able to handle a dramatic work shift with the use of technology and by collaborating effectively (rysavy & michalak, 2020). ensuring safety of staff health while keeping their jobs has always been one of the top priorities. maintaining work-life balance should also be considered. the work setup may vary and it is very much fitting that workers should know how to create such balance to ensure that productivity and efficiency of workers is still being achieved. though technological and personnel preparedness will always come as a challenge, support from the library administration has been a very important factor for this to be realized. results and discussion based on referral and insider knowledge, 17 kazakh librarians who can speak and understand english, in a beginner to intermediate level, were invited to participate in the study. to be equally represented, the invitation included librarians working outside of the capital of kazakhstan. the researchers also balanced the inclusion of respondents by ensuring that there will be no prejudice to sex and civil status. nine agreed to be part of the online interview yet only six completed the task. three cancelled or did not show-up due to various understandable reasons (ie. feeling unwell, a newborn, or did not reply again). others declined the invitation because of other important activities that they needed to prioritize. in total, only four academic libraries were represented in this study. yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 68 each interviewee is coded to anonymize their identity. all interviews were less than 40 minutes. table 1 below is a summary of the respondent’s profile who completed the interview: table 1. respondents profile librarian location sex civil status library l1 nur-sultan female married a l2 nur-sultan female single a l3 pavlodar female single b l5 nur-sultan female married c l8 almaty female married d l14 nur-sultan male single a interview questions were divided into two main sections: the first part aimed to know the operations of the library when the pandemic occurred in kazakhstan. the second part focused on the librarians’ work-from-home experiences and how they managed to handle it. out of the four academic libraries, two remained open with limited library services and two shut down the physical library with online services in place. quarantine started in mid-march and with the recommendation of the state commission for ensuring a state of emergency, major cities were on lock-down and movement of people was restricted. eventually, it was advised to work from home. libraries are one of the most important agencies in the academic and public sector. most library users feel the importance of libraries when they can’t borrow nor return printed materials due to quarantine. fines are waived and users can extend the use of print materials. because most libraries do not have enough access to e-resources, it became a challenge. libraries have to adjust with the recent times and think about strategies they can introduce to their users. among the strategies kazakhstani libraries implemented are the following: ● book delivery for faculty / pick-up stations (curbside) ● book return for graduating students ● document delivery ● scanning by request ● self-paced/asynchronous and synchronous il sessions yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 69 ● simplified submission system of documents for repository ● strengthened access to online databases off campus ● use of mobile technologies / virtual reference disaster management or pandemic preparedness should be in place after this experience. some libraries were not ready for this situation especially those with no online resources. in reality, there are print materials with no e-book versions available and if there are, they become accessible using access codes from vendors which are expensive and unsustainable. library workers at the frontline are also at risk as they deliver or pick-up print books as requested by faculty members. scanning is an option in some libraries as long as they respect the national copyright law. since the pandemic struck close to the end of an academic semester, only those with an online system can clear any outstanding records of a graduating student or a resigning staff member. in some cases, not all librarians are ready for the virtual environment, especially those who are technology challenged. the use of mobile phones are heavily exhausted to send reminders and meeting updates. some libraries are not ready with the service of offering online catalog. during this pandemic, those with it skills and knowledge prove to be self-reliant. libraries have the responsibility to disseminate information at all times especially if it affects their readers and users. during this pandemic, a library can be a partner in social transformation by sharing updated authentic news and health information. some libraries created libguides to enlighten users and help them find out where to get the latest and factual health information. some libraries post medical information in their social media sites and where to access covid-19 related research studies and data. meanwhile, some did not participate in realizing their purpose of disseminating information. adapting to the new normal and quick decision making is important during these trying times. some libraries are now preparing their physical library once they open again. prior to lockdown, academic libraries installed hand sanitizers, provided masks and gloves to library users. temperature checks will be implemented at the entrance or gates of the library. libraries are still concerned with how they are going to check out print materials and if they can accommodate a huge request of e-textbooks. because of this, they still do not have the final plan to prepare for the physical set-up but one respondent said they are re-arranging their chairs and tables to observe physical and social distancing. following the definition of resilience by xu and kajikawa, table 2 summarizes how libraries in kazakhstan take advantage of the crisis and manage to be resilient. yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 70 table 2. library resilience in kazakhstan characteristic example 1 example 2 example 3 flexibility print books can be extended and fines are waived. the librarian goes to work to scan limited pages of print materials when there is no e-book equivalent. flexible working hours for those living with family and children. redundancy patron services staff are rotated as to when they come physically to work to process requests for book delivery. those vulnerable can stay at home temporarily for the whole duration of quarantine to answer online requests. having both print and e-book copies of the same title to be used for virtual classes. having more than two e-book vendors who can efficiently provide bulk requests. some vendors experience business disruptions and can’t fulfill requests. diversity different e-book formats are considered and disseminated. library offers both self-paced (asynchronous) and synchronous virtual il sessions. social media accounts are active in promoting various services and programs. libraries are now into sharing more events in youtube and other social media sites. connectedness showing care by launching stressrelated virtual activities for those who are interested. listening to the demands of the community and finding ways to deliver requests (ie. book delivery). letting staff members use library equipment for workfrom-home set-up. just like any other academic libraries around the world, kazakh libraries are keeping an eye on the best practices that are happening worldwide so they can adapt it locally. the intention yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 71 of the report is to share what is happening on the ground based on few examples as elicited in the interviews. one librarian lived alone making it easier to work without noise but being alone still depended on the kind of home environment. at most, one librarian lived with five family members. table 3 summarizes the number of family members lived with the librarian and how this number of people affected their work from home experience. as most of the participants lived together with family members, they experienced some difficulties while working from home. among those challenges are the following: ● difficult to concentrate due to noise and other factors ● going out to send documents to use net cafe ● home not conducive for working during hot summer ● internet connection unstable ● laptop is old to install more programs ● no extra room to be silent ● presence of children and other family members ● sharing of laptop with other household members ● time management due to house chores table 3. number of family members living together librarian number of family members living together l1 4 l2 5 l3 3 l5 3 l8 4 l14 1 average 3.33 yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 72 surprisingly, there were librarians with no difficulties and were enjoying their stay at home since there is no rush needed while working. certain things have also changed while working from home, it affected each worker. this may be true to all working classes that have no choice but to stay home and work. these workers are also fortunate to have work during a pandemic. while one librarian said there is no change brought about by the pandemic, some mentioned that their daily routine and lifestyle have changed during the last five months. below are their responses: ● doing house chores in between work ● late lunch ● helping siblings with studies during morning which means work shifts late in the afternoon to night ● waking up late/ start working day late ● no regular work time with more than 150 days at home, people miss their daily routine of going to work especially if they have been doing this for quite a long time. it is apparent as most of them miss their colleagues and having in-person meetings with them. they needed a dose of physical activity and interaction. daily rides going to work is also another feeling they miss. by simply using public transport and having it as a personal space is something they value when they are stuck at home. some librarians are used to having a fast and reliable internet connection and this attachment made them realize that it is better to work in the office. being in the office in the comfort of their own workstation and personal space is also a major factor they are missing to attain a quiet working environment. this leads them to converting a part of their homes as a temporary working space. surprisingly, one of the respondents mentioned that it is not necessary to have a quiet space when working. with the work-from-home set-up, it should also be considered that aside from having your own area, personal computers are very much important. since most of the tasks will be carried out online such as virtual reference services, checking electronic collections or even basic encoding or excel works, computers and laptops will be needed. most participants have their own laptops or computers while some found the need to borrow their office laptops or computers to perform such tasks since some of the software and programs and even files were already installed or saved in these devices. coupled with the personal gadget is having a stable internet connection. ensuring stability of the connection will help in accomplishing assigned online tasks faster. when it comes to internet stability, the majority of the respondents have stable internet connections and do not experience major connection issues. only one participant had connection issues, leaving him no choice but to yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 73 go to a nearby internet shop to send very important emails or documents. having a work schedule is important to the respondents. while time flexibility is also being taken into account, dedicating at least eight (8) hours of work every day is more amenable for all the respondents. while some tried to maintain or stick to the same schedule as if they are working at the office (e.g. 8:30am – 5:30pm), others adjusted their work schedules (i.e. works at night) due to fast internet connection and following the 8-hour work rule. work-from-home set-up allows workers unlimited access to their kitchens, pantries or toilets which also allows them to take some breaks while working. breaks such as taking a simple snack or lunch, quick stretching or walking, and even going to toilet breaks are important to workers to help them focus on work. while some respondents followed the same lunch time as if they are working at the office, for some workers who are already married, this is not the case. they also needed to perform household chores alongside with their work, thus, some of them tend to take late lunches or will just take a snack when their time permits. adjusting to the work-from-home set-up has been quite challenging to workers. one such adjustment is the limited, if not lacking physical interactions or transactions that most workers should do to accomplish such tasks. all respondents believed that most of the library issues and concerns will be solved immediately if they are physically working at the office. securing original signatures, signing license agreements, and works dealing with print materials were some of the tasks that needed to be carried out and be resolved if workers are working at the office. productivity is the ratio of outputs to inputs (krugman, 1994; kumaraswamy, 1997). taking into account employees’ efficiency, productivity keeps businesses and operations rolling. to keep personnel healthy and safe while providing continuous library service, libraries were forced to adapt the work-from-home set-up. when asked about productivity, some of them find themselves more productive working at the office due to the nature of their work. majority of them felt that they could find themselves productive in either set-up. open communication is very much essential to ensure smooth flow of work. since workfrom-home set-up has been the new norm for almost six months, virtual meetings and video conferences were organized. while some meet at least twice every week, others meet at least once in a month especially if there are urgent matters or big decisions that require inputs from other staff members and brainstorming. since stable internet connection should be in place to ensure clear communication, some opt to communicate through social media platforms or online messaging such as whatsapp or facebook messenger. for some participants, the work-from-home set-up may give an impression that workers have been free-up for some time as they are not required to travel to work. this gave them the perception that workers should be given additional tasks on top of their designated duties. while some of the respondents believed that they do not have additional tasks to perform, some of them yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 74 were given it-related tasks to carry out some work smoothly such as training colleagues with the online work. with regards to the amount of workload, the majority of the respondents believed that there is no difference with the work-from-home set-up as compared to working physically at the office. however, two of the respondents felt that they have heavier workload since they are doing more tasks while working from home. taking into consideration workers’ experiences for the past six months, most participants prefered striking a balance between working-from-home and working at the office. some suggested that there should be at least three days working at the office while two days working at home. for respondents who have children, having this kind of balance seemed to be a good option. on the contrary, two preferred working at the office as they believed that having an office routine is better as well as social interaction. given that this might be the “new normal” in the coming weeks or months, respondents felt the need for some revisions in the operational policies of the work-from-home set-up. this pandemic brought a drastic change to how people do things and this new set-up has become a challenge for everyone. while some found having a strict work schedule okay, respondents preferred more flexibility in terms of work schedule, provision of some equipment such as laptops, additional benefits that would be essential for working from home such as connection allowances, and changing some procedures such as strengthening virtual reference services and allowing electronic formats of documents. these changes in the operational policies would greatly help library personnel to focus on work and provide efficient service to clients even working at home. conclusions the 2019 novel coronavirus that shutdown almost all services, partially or completely, including libraries, challenged us to strengthen and review our institutional policies, services, and programs. libraries and librarians learned to think and apply library management judiciously and made sure their mandate is to serve the information needs and interests of the community to which they serve. the balance to provide the needs of the stakeholders and the responsibility to protect the life of a librarian which acts as a frontliner is considered. kazakh libraries are committed to their promise of upholding the right and access to information. although difficult, some managed to scan books and deliver what is expected from them. these trying times exhausted all possible library innovative practices and strategies to fulfill the user’s needs. being resilient and responsive, just like any other library in the world, makes kazakh libraries worthy to be recognized for their passion to extend their services in times of pandemic. they continued virtual reference services, strengthened access to online databases, book deliveries at the curbside, scanning services, and yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 75 many other virtual services. it is acknowledged that librarians felt challenges while working from home but it does not mean they will stop from responding to patron’s needs. references adger, w. n. 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(2018). an integrated framework for resilience research: a systematic review based on citation network analysis. sustainability science, 13, 235–254 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0487-4 appendix a: interview questions (21 questions) a. library operations 1. when did your library close when the pandemic escalated in kazakhstan? 2. what strategies/new services have you introduced to continue providing services to your users during pandemic? 3. what were the struggles or difficulties you encountered in implementing these strategies? 4. how did your library help in disseminating health information to combat the spread of coronavirus? 5. how are you preparing your physical library for the new normal? when do you intend to re-open? b. work-from-home experiences 1. how many family members do you live with? 2. what difficulties do you encounter while working from home (presence of children, other family members, etc.)? 3. what routine has changed while working from home? 4. what do you miss the most about going and working in your office? 5. is quiet space an important factor when working at home? do you have your own work space or workstation at home? 6. how about equipment, do you use your own computer or laptop? 7. how about internet stability? do you have connectivity issues? how did your employer support you? 8. how much time do you spend working from home? do you still follow the stipulated schedule or work shift (e.g. 40hr/week; 8am-5pm)? 9. do you follow the same lunch time as scheduled? or how many times you take breaks (break from seating, break from looking at the computer screen)? yap and manabat / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 77 10. are there library issues you can solve immediately when you are in the office compared when you are working from home? can you provide examples? 11. would you say you are productive when you are working from home or working in the office? 12. how often do you conduct virtual meetings with your colleagues to ensure smooth operations while at work-from-home set-up? 13. were you given additional tasks to perform on top of your usual task (e.g. reference-related tasks for non-reference librarians, etc.)? 14. in terms of the amount of work, do you think that the workload you have in the work-fromhome set-up is quite heavier compared to when working at the physical office setting? 15. would you prefer to work from home? why or why not? 16. given that this might be our “new normal”, if you were given the chance to revise some operational policies that affect the wfh scheme, what are those (e.g. provision of internet/communication allowance, flexible working hours, provision of computer equipment, etc.)? about the authors joseph yap serves as the subject librarian for three graduate schools at nazarbayev university, nur-sultan, kazakhstan. he is in-charge of the schools of business, education and public policy. he is given the title of senior expert librarian and is also acting as the information literacy coordinator. his research publications can be found here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7852-1047 april manabat is an expert-librarian and currently the subject librarian for school of sciences and humanities at nazarbayev university. she has more than a decade of experience in librarianship and has written and presented papers on collection development, media and information literacy, and academic librarianship. 005_168-title-1revised-edited 005_168-article-1revised-edited issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of case-based learning in an information literacy classroom junli diao abstract: case-based learning (cbl) is a popular and successful teaching method used for a long time in disciplines such as medicine, business, law, and computer science. in the past decade, there has been a trend to introduce cbl into library instructions as an active teaching approach in the field of library and information science. although a few studies have been conducted to investigate the advantages of this teaching technique in the library and information science literature, there remains a substantial absence of first-hand instructional experiences and observations from academic librarians who are actively teaching information literacy. this article presents a personal account of the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of cbl in an information literacy classroom. it discusses the advantages and limitations of cbl, offers suggestions for the future, and points out potential concerns related to the evaluation of workload, librarians’ responsibilities, and the workplace culture. based on experiences and assessments of cbl classes, the article outlines foreseeable challenges for teaching librarians planning to implement cbl program in information literacy education. to cite this article: diao, j. (2020). the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of case-based learning in an information literacy classroom. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 108-127. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.156 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 108-127. issn: 2474-3542 the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of casebased learning in an information literacy classroom junli diao the city university of new york, ny, usa abstract case-based learning (cbl) is a popular and successful teaching method used for a long time in disciplines such as medicine, business, law, and computer science. in the past decade, there has been a trend to introduce cbl into library instructions as an active teaching approach in the field of library and information science. although a few studies have been conducted to investigate the advantages of this teaching technique in the library and information science literature, there remains a substantial absence of first-hand instructional experiences and observations from academic librarians who are actively teaching information literacy. this article presents a personal account of the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of cbl in an information literacy classroom. it discusses the advantages and limitations of cbl, offers suggestions for the future, and points out potential concerns related to the evaluation of workload, librarians’ responsibilities, and the workplace culture. based on experiences and assessments of cbl classes, the article outlines foreseeable challenges for teaching librarians planning to implement cbl program in information literacy education. keywords: cbl, case-based learning, pbl, problem-based learning, active learning, il, information literacy, case teaching introduction the biology department at york college of the city university of new york (cuny) offers students courses in life sciences to advance their studies. these courses provide non-science majors with basic education in biological concepts and biological discoveries that solve social and environmental problems (the biology department of york college, 2019). nine years ago, the york college library began collaborating with the biology department to integrate one-shot information literacy instructions into the biological principles i, bio 201 in abbreviation, (liberal arts). all the librarians at york college library have been equally participating in teaching information literacy sessions. the library not only gives value to the traditional lecturebased teaching to ensure successful delivery of information literacy instruction, but also leaves freedom to individual librarians who favor intentional, innovative, and learner-centered pedagogical approaches to cater to the growing needs of students. this article records one librarian’s teaching experience in this aspect, which documents the utilization of the case-based learning (cbl) in the one-shot information literacy classes. the goal of these classes is to help diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 109 students become more competent, confident, and critical information seekers. furthermore, these classes aim to assist students in achieving deeper learning both in their current academic lives and future professional lives. literature review cbl is considered as a variation or a subset of problem-based learning (pbl) (carder, willingham, & bibb, 2001; snavely, 2004). it is not possible to discuss cbl without giving credit to pbl, which is an open, curriculum-driven, educational philosophy that emphasizes the journey of the learner and the process followed to solve a problem. pbl was first developed by the medical school of mcmaster university in ontario, canada, in the 1960s. during the mid1980s, some librarians ventured out of the libraries and gradually became involved with pbl (koufogiannakis, buckingham, alibhai, & rayner, 2005). in recent decades, librarians increasingly stepped into pbl curricula and played an indispensable role by integrating library instructions, resources, and facilities into this educational innovation (chen, lin, & chang, 2011; cook & walsh, 2012; fallon & breen, 2005; fridén, 1996; hines & hines, 2012; satterthwaite, helms, nouravarsani, van antwerp, &woelfl, 1995; wenger, 2014). at the same time, librarians were tempted by the nature of pbl as an engaging, collaborative, constructive, exploratory, and active learning method. they introduced pbl into library orientations to offer students a relaxing and entertaining environment to reduce library anxiety (angell & boss, 2016), or modified pbl into one-shot information literacy instructions with the understanding of its complexity and limitations (kenney, 2008; munro, 2006; stevens & teiman, 2017). as emerging, recognizable teaching pedagogies, pbl and cbl both feature storytelling. however, the stories involved are different in nature and serve different purposes. stories in pbl provide guidance to curricula and tend to be vague, complex, or ill-defined for good purpose. students are left responsible for their own learning while instructors step aside and act as facilitators. stories in cbl tend to be short, controversial, contemporary, and engage interesting characters; they are planned to stimulate dialogues and force decisions (herreid, 1998). more importantly, cbl demonstrates more flexibility which can be either vertically integrated into the curriculum to emphasize the continuity of knowledge from one lesson to next, or horizontally, to highlight the linkage of knowledge across different disciplines (williams, 2005). cbl can be applied as a series during a semester and distributed to small groups to analyze, discuss, and present their observations and conclusions; or it can be simply used in a lecture-based class to engage students in discussions in order to make the lesson more interactive, refreshing, and interesting. recent cognitive research challenged pbl and found that simple, discrete items generated longer and better information recall than a mass of complex, distracting information (van merrienboer & sweller, 2005, cited in hays 2008, p. 74). therefore, the one-shot, onehour-based information literacy sessions that have a content specificity and advocate the mastery of information retrieval skills may limit the effective use of pbl. the straightforward, flexible cbl approach is a more plausible solution to overcome the time restriction and help both librarians and students gain the most from information literacy education. the considerable benefits of cbl have been acknowledged by some library school professors and librarians. dow et al. (2015) used cased-based instruction in their graduate courses on library and information science and stated “there is evidence that case-based diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 110 instruction increased students’ knowledge of basic principles of information ethics and enhanced the learning process” (p. 156). foster (2017) integrated a wine business case study in library instruction to prepare students for their careers. the results demonstrated that in a cbl situation, students effectively developed the ability to use existing information to create new information in their business plans. it also showed that cbl had potential value in teaching students complex information literacy skills to support their career preparation. spackman and camacho (2009) articulated that “this storytelling element captures student interest and accentuates the inductive and constructivist nature of learning through cases” (p. 549). students’ narrative responses in their study strengthened researchers’ argument that further research should be conducted in the field to generate improved performance on students’ learning and class assignments. the literature demonstrates cbl’s significant benefits to students and librarians. however, a substantial amount of work is still left for academic librarians to explore the potential use of cbl as a worthwhile instructional technique to create a dynamic, interactive learning environment. particularly, the literature has an absence of the first-hand instructional experience from academic librarians on the frontline. this article seeks to fill in the gap through sharing personal instructional experience that covers the full cycle of cbl from concept, design, implementation, and assessment. case concept integrating information literacy instruction into bio 201 at york college, the city university of new york, was the outcome of joint efforts by the biology faculty and librarians’ team in 2010 (drobnicki, personal communication, october 30, 2019; su, personal communication, october 31, 2019). since then, this instruction has been consistently practiced in the library’s information literacy classroom or the labs in the biology department in fall and spring semesters. approximately 500 students benefit from librarians’ instruction every year. initially provided by the biology faculty, the instruction worksheet (see appendix a) synthesized two models from the south plains college in texas and the loyola marymount college in california and was last updated in 2016 (su, 2019). it is a librarian’s responsibility to help students learn to access and choose appropriate databases, use keywords with boolean operators, cite resources, and other things that librarians believe helpful to the class (su, 2019). after the librarian’s instruction, the classroom faculty takes over the class and guide students to read, analyze, and evaluate articles retrieved by students and complete their assignments. the instructing librarian and author of this article (hereafter referred to as the librarian) joined the library in 2015 and started teaching information literacy in 2016. after a careful study of the worksheet and a couple of classroom observations, the librarian believed that students had some difficulty in understanding how to “devise three search terms related to your independent study project.” while instructions were over, students might still have had lingering questions from the worksheet, such as: 1. why do the search terms have to be three? 2. what if i have two search terms and where and how can i find the third one? 3. where do the search terms come from and how do they relate to my independent study project? 4. how do i “devise” search terms from my independent study project? diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 111 5. what if i don’t have a clear idea what my independent study project could be? where could i find things that will offer me some inspiration? this worksheet requires librarians to teach students: 1. how to access the library’s databases, both on campus and off campus; 2. how to choose and search databases; 3. what are the differences between popular resources and scholarly resources; 4. what a peer-reviewed article is; 5. why a peer-reviewed article is important for college studies. after analyzing the requirements listed above, the librarian realized that the effective time allocated exclusively for the instruction of database usage should be around 40 minutes within a maximum of 60 minutes. an orthodox approach to teach a class should begin with librarians formulating three search terms and using them as an example to demonstrate how to search various databases with boolean operators. then students would have an opportunity to practice what they have observed, ask librarians relevant questions, and practice again. librarians should offer some appropriate search terms to students who are hesitant or who do not have any search terms in mind. in this way, they will not fall behind other students and keep up with the rest of the class. the traditional teaching method is straightforward and well-tested. however, often it does not tell students the inherent linkages between the three important search terms they have selected to retrieve information. essentially, search terms are abstract descriptions of things, ideas and/or behaviors. the concept might be a single word, like “drug,” or multiple words, such as “drug addiction.” search terms, or concepts, do not live in segregated vacuums nor come from nowhere. a combination of them could reveal the semantic context. they could be conceptualized from a story, a narrative, a phenomenon, or an event which students observed in their lives or in their own personal readings for academic or leisure purpose. in other words, search terms inhabit a context or a situation, which can be studied, analyzed and conceptualized. if this were done successfully, students would develop more confidence and competence in “devising” search terms. with the analysis of the worksheet and the recognition of possible questions that linger in students’ minds, the librarian believed that students’ struggles necessitated an alternative pedagogical approach—case-based learning. this approach will put students in a real-life situation to apply past experience or construct new knowledge through exploration and testing. case design “for instructors, the case study method is particularly useful as a way to begin and sustain class discussions, encourage the application of course concepts, and move students from simple to more complex thinking” (mcclam & woodside, 2005, p. 36). therefore, a carefully designed case should fulfill multiple educational purposes from facilitating instructors to achieve effective teaching to engaging students in the granularity of the learning realm. designing cases can be time consuming and it requires a lot of preparation from librarians. the librarian’s case designing experience in this article echoes kenney (2008)’s suggestion that the sources of inspiration for good cases come from news in newspapers, articles in periodicals, reference tools, discussions in diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 112 social media, listservs and other internet utilities, everyday life experiences, casual conversation with families and friends, and other socializing opportunities. the prototype case used in the librarian’s first instruction in 2016 was derived from google news. researchers at brown university examined a frog’s jump at 500 frames per second with x-ray filming technology and revealed the secret why frogs are extraordinary jumpers. the librarian was inspired by this news and decided to turn it into a case study for bio 201 instruction to demonstrate to students how to extract search terms out of a narrative (see appendix b). this case contains 127 words, followed by four questions. the librarian was conscientious that college freshmen have urgent needs to learn how to find books through online public access catalog (opac). hence, this single case was used to guide students to learn how to use opac through the first two questions and then how to extract search terms to find articles for question number three and four. in particular, the fourth question was intended to stimulate students’ interdisciplinary curiosity and expand their horizon from animal biology to engineering and computer science. this case was deliberately written with the inclusion of multiple synonyms: jump, bounce, and leap, as well as other distractive terms such as “sling shot,” “exceptional jumpers,” “unusually longer legs,” “harvard university,” and “mechanical systems that imitate the movement of frogs.” the inclusion of purposefully designed synonyms and distractive terms was intended to teach students to recognize the value of commonly known terms and identify authorized names of affiliations in databases. the librarian’s classes were observed by two senior colleagues in 2017 and 2018. in addition to their positive comments about cbl, critical suggestions included: 1. the case is a little bit too long. 2. opac search for books seem to be unnecessary. 3. it is better to design two smaller but different cases to serve different purposes. the librarian took their suggestions to abridge the existing case, and then designed a second case (see appendix c), which was derived from a research article published in the new england journal of medicine. as a result, two shorter cases were distributed to students in 2019 with two different instructional goals. in the first case, students were required to select key terms from the case. the second case assisted students to formulate plausible research questions, from which three key terms were extracted to locate related articles. a hidden purpose embedded in the second case was that students would be guided to articulate possible synonyms for the “88year-old man” and understand the significance of their search in attempting to retrieve comprehensive results. in designing these two cases, the librarian followed the principle of “from-easy-to-difficult,” with gradual improvement in students’ learning. case delivery designing good cases are always time-consuming and effort-demanding, but it is just the first step of cbl. good cases will not guarantee a successful instruction in a time-controlled information literacy class. continued and revised planning is necessary in a well-structured classroom for successful classroom management. plus, the librarian’s personalized teaching style will help to achieve all pedagogical goals. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 113 creating a lesson plan a lesson plan is a linear, procedural, detailed description of the proposed teaching steps, learning activities, and support materials involved in a lesson or series of lessons. it defines goals and objectives to be achieved, as well as the method and activities to be used to achieve these goals. in addition, a well-designed lesson plan leaves room to keep anecdotes and personal reflection for adjustment for future lessons. the librarian’s classes evidenced that in a case-based information literacy instruction, keeping activities and sessions adherent to a timeline developed beforehand can be challenging. however, experience also showed that a well-written lesson plan will help reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed or unprepared. otherwise, absence of a lesson plan could result in a lack of confidence or lead to spending extra effort in managing behavior problems in the classroom with unnecessary confusion or struggle. lead-in activity the librarian’s experience suggested that opening the case instruction with a brief lead-in activity will help guide students into the scene and facilitate their understanding of the intention of the case. a typical introductory example in the librarian’s class went like this. students were asked to raise their hands if they liked gardening. if no one answered, the librarian could ask whether anyone in the class lived in a community that had a park or liked walking in the park. then the librarian asked whether they like planting or watching flowers which attracts butterflies and why. the librarian continued that “butterfly” would become a searching term if they wanted to do a study on butterflies. then the librarian suggested a scenario that no butterflies came to visit flowers this year and heavy smoke kept coming from the chimney of a local factory. this introduced the second term “air pollution” or “global warming” to those who were drawn to this topic. a lead-in activity could take various forms, but it should be simple and interactive in order to stimulate the minds of students and help the instructor build rapport with them instantly. otherwise, immediate exposure to the case will put them in a swim-or-sink situation. flexibility of instruction cbl should be flexible in information literacy instruction. it can be included in lecture-based classes where librarians function as the experts and guide students to discuss the cases together. the more popular method is to put students in pairs or small groups, which gives autonomy and freedom to students and promotes active, collaborative learning. the librarian experimented with both approaches. the first case is presented in a straightforward, clear manner where it was an open discussion. the second case is more complicated as it requires students to generate all the possible labeling terms to describe an “88-year-old man.” therefore, this case was tried out as pair discussion in the library’s classroom where students sat in a row and each of them had a computer, and then as a small group discussion in biology lab where sometimes three or four students had to share one computer. the exampled research questions generated by students from the second case include, but not limited to, “are eggs bad food for senior citizens who are having diabetes?” the possible searching term formula demonstrated to students could be “egg and (“senior citizen” or “older man” or “elderly man”) and diabetics” or “egg and (“senior citizen” or “older man” or “elderly man”) and diabetics and “bad or unhealthy or risky.” the librarian also reminded students not to limit their research questions to only a specific case but to find their own research questions in the narratives or stories associated with their lives. for diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 114 instance, one immigrant student wrote, “why do some haitian women suffer death rate while giving birth to a baby?” this turned out to be a good example to show students the advantage of using the terms, “maternal death” or “maternal mortality” supplied by experts who wrote the articles. with the librarian’s guidance, students took the search terms into a recommended database to explore how it functioned. as this happened, the librarian walked around to observe their activities and answered questions. at the end, the librarian picked some search terms developed by students on the spot and did a demonstration of information retrieval techniques, such as boolean operators, usage of quotation marks and database features that filter retrieved results by time, subject, language, and affiliation. the librarian observed that the classroom atmosphere was more stimulating when case studies were used with the personalized teaching approach. in a relaxed learning environment, students were more comfortable and willing to respond to and ask the librarian’s questions. they tended to frequently interact with neighboring peers in applying concepts and practicing techniques. also, they were more willing to share both their problems and interesting ideas with the librarian. during this process, the librarians’ role shifted from a lecturer to a facilitator. the librarian felt that cbl was a practical, effective, helpful instructional strategy that helped to increase students’ engagement and reduce their learning boredom and fatigue. case assessment in october 2019, the biology department at york college sent out to the library a request for 13 sessions of bio 201 information literacy classes. the librarian signed out four sessions scheduled on november 1, 7, 11, and 12. considering the time constraint, the librarian designed a brief survey with four short questions only to assess the effectiveness of these two cases. open space was left at the end for students to make comments that they believed necessary. the survey was given to students soon after each library instruction was finished. a total of 63 undergraduate students attended four sessions of information literacy classes and 63 responded the survey. the survey focused on whether students understood the cases and whether the skills taught were helpful for them to select keywords, learn boolean operators, and complete their assignments successfully. the result showed that 41.27% strongly agreed and 55.56% agreed that the two cases are easy to understand. 3.17% responded neutral and none disagreed or strongly disagreed (see chart 1). diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 115 chart 1. understanding the cases 55.56% strongly agreed and 39.68% agreed that the cases helped them identify keywords in their own assignment. meanwhile, 4.76% were neutral; no one disagreed or strongly disagreed (see chart 2). chart 2. identifying keywords to answer the question whether the cases helped them understand the function of boolean operators, 53.97% strongly agreed, 38.09% agreed, 7.94% responded neutral, and none of them disagreed or strongly disagreed (see chart 3). 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree q1. the cases are easy to understand. 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree q2. the cases will help me identity keywords in my own assignment. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 116 chart 3. understanding boolean operators when students were asked whether the cases would help them complete their assignments in the future, 42.86% strongly agreed, 46.03% agreed, and 9.52% were neutral. 1.59% (one student) disagreed but no one strongly disagreed (see chart 4). chart 4. helping complete assignment at the end of the survey, an open-ended question gave students the opportunity to write about their comments regarding any aspect of this class. here is a list of sample comments: 1. the case and the material were really effective and helped bring an easier way to complete the research assignment. 2. it was very easy to understand how to navigate the online library for my research. 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree q3. the cases will help me understand boolean operators. 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly agree q4. the cases will help me complete my assignment. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 117 3. he is [a] very good professor. 4. clear instructions on what to do and how to use search engine. 5. very good presentation. very clear. 6. this workshop was really helpful and the instructor was really good. 7. when clicking links and changing websites you went to [too] fast. 8. thank you. haven’t completed the assignment yet. students indeed provided the librarian with a variety of thoughtful comments. they confirmed the effectiveness of instruction, the quality of the instructor, and the quality of the presentation. they also pointed out areas calling for improvement. the richness of students’ anecdotal responses demonstrated both their positive and critical attitudes toward case learning and case teaching. the librarian gained a relevant basis upon which this class could be revised and improved for future instruction. discussion understanding the workload a good cbl is a systematic project that calls for intensive and ongoing investment of time and effort from the instructor. in a traditional information literacy class, librarians request the course syllabus from the classroom faculty, which probably includes assignments for students. librarians should spend some time on understand students’ needs and informational challenges that students might encounter in the process of completing their assignments. if they consider transforming regular information literacy classrooms into cbl-oriented ones, librarians should be aware that a cbl approach requires extra workload beyond just getting acquainted with students’ assignments. the author’s personal teaching experience attested that preparing cases that relate to students’ assignments and fit in pedagogical objectives can be a daunting task. in addition, librarians must prepare an appropriate teaching plan, decide the best way to introduce and deliver cases, and assess students’ learning outcomes. however, once cases are developed, modified, tested, and reach maturity, they can be reused in a similar situation in the future. when that happens, the time and effort that librarians initially invested during the first instructional cycle will make the workload significantly less arduous with only modifications and adjustments to consider. in addition to the eventually reduced workload, the actual instruction should be more relaxing and enjoyable for both instructors and students. since librarians will have become more familiar with this approach through past experiences, there should also be more improvement in classroom management skills. librarians should feel more confident to guide discussions and ask open-ended, thought-provoking questions. both instructional effectiveness and efficiency will be increased. understanding one’s own style and mind cbl, which advocates a learner-centered, active, instructional approach, is not a method suitable for everyone. however, it should be tried by librarians who have curious and innovative minds. both lecture-based teaching and active learning are good vehicles for information literacy classes, but promote learning with different goals (mcdevitt, 2013). it is a tradition that lecture-style instructional approach has long been favored by librarians for various reasons (munro, 2006). diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 118 munro also pointed out that librarians must be adaptive to active, flexible instructional methods that consider the immediate research needs of students to facilitate their growing roles as active learners in the real work of research. adopting the cbl approach means that the traditional information literacy pedagogy has to be transformed. for this to happen, librarians must be prepared to transform their minds first. metaphorically speaking, a transformed mind (librarian) serves as the engine that accelerates the vehicle (student). it is most likely that an effective instructional approach can be captured better with suitable and compatible styles and minds. therefore, before considering to use cbl, librarians have to ask questions like, “is this teaching approach for me?”; “am i willing to take this laborious and interactive approach?”; “am i comfortable with silence when students give no responses to questions asked?; and “am i good at redirecting or elaborating questions to enrich and intensify any discussion?” perhaps, the most important question is whether one is adventurous and curious enough to try this student inquiry-based approach which sharply contrasts to the traditional instructor-centered approach. a possible risk is that cbl might not be strongly supported by administrators, colleagues, and others in a conservative working culture. understanding workplace barriers the implementation of cbl in information literacy classes not only requires librarians to assess their own traits, but also evaluate what is principally promoted in the working culture of a particular library. therefore, librarians should be aware of potential challenges and consequences. barriers from students, colleagues and administrators could possibly hinder educators in their shift from teacher-based instruction to learner-based active instruction. these possible barriers in k-12 environment have been researched and discussed substantially (herreid, 1997, 2005). carder, willingham, and bibb (2001) in their study concluded that that k-12 students require more structure and shepherding in the classroom, while in comparison, college students tend to be more receptive to a classroom environment that involves problem-solving and lifelong learning. naturally, this calls for different learning strategies from those used in elementary and high schools. for that reason, the librarian would rather say that college students’ needs function as accelerators that drive the implementation of cbl. more importantly, an open-minded, understanding, and supportive library environment helps to nurture different practices and plays a substantial role in the successful implementation of cbl. this was witnessed in the design cases as the librarian in this article received substantial academic freedom from the library department and constructive feedback from senior colleagues. otherwise, such classroom teaching techniques might be simply considered as offbeat activities. if that happens, it would be important to promote continued education and communication about the advantages and benefits of using the cbl method in college classrooms to demystify this concern. limitations although adopting cbl in the information literacy classroom was refreshing and innovative, it has its limitations in this particular trial. first and foremost, this teaching approach involved statistical analysis of assessment data. however, it cannot be treated with the equal status to empirical research due to its nature as an attempt to share exploratory, personal experience. another limitation was that the student population involved in the experiment was relatively diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 119 small. thus, the entire picture about cbl from the student population enrolled in bio 201 was not fully captured, which leaves much room for improvement in future work. last but not least, the data from students, which offered high ratings of their learning outcomes, should be read with caution. collecting students’ self-assessment data in this experimental teaching project was the result of the librarian’s impulse of seeking a selfdiagnostic tool to improve teaching. if questions were carefully designed, students’ selfassessment data can be treated as an indicator to read their motivation and evaluate learning outcomes (mcmillan & hearn, 2008). meta-analysis of past studies demonstrated that the teacher-student relationship and the personalities of teachers both made an impact on students’ assessment of learning outcomes and teaching performance (klassen & tze, 2006; tomcho & foels, 2008). in other words, there is a possibility that student’s self-reported learning in this experiment could have been the result of a positive rapport the librarian established with students. therefore, they may have provided a high rating to either encourage the instructor or cover their learning difficulties, or, maybe both. another factor to consider is the dunning-kruger effect in information literacy classroom setting. low performers tended to overestimate their achievement in self-reported learning of library skills, and undergraduates inclined to inflate their perceived learning which was often recorded as much higher than graduate students (mahmood, 2016). consequently, high-rating assessment data generated from this teaching experiment could include the possibility that some students overrated their learning achievement in this class. future work the initial goal of this teaching experiment was for the librarian to explore the possibility of establishing his own teaching philosophy and to build a personalized classroom instructional style. the librarian may have also hoped that this teaching experiment would raise the awareness of other academic librarians and encourage them to use or try an alternative pedagogical approach. hopefully, as a result, dialogue between academic librarians who were engaged in cbl teaching and librarians in other colleges or local libraries would be initiated. they could exchange their ideas, reflect on teaching experiences, and offer suggestions and criticisms as professional, critical thinkers. this concept, design, implementation, and assessment of cbl offers a basic roadmap about how it could work in a library’s information literacy classroom. if an informal, individual experiment needs to be upgraded as a collaborative project and tested by a scientific research approach with an attempt to generalize the results, then the whole process should be redesigned. the goals of students’ learning should be articulated with pedagogical vision. information literacy skills that students are expected to acquire should be clearly specified in the instructional plan. the cases should be developed with the involvement of classroom faculty from the biology department. by so doing, the cases used in classes should align with curriculum needs, activate students’ prior knowledge, and stimulate the generation of new knowledge and skills. the potential benefits of cbl in this teaching experiment were proven to be many. however, its impact on student learning remains to be further quantified through carefully designed evaluation methods, such as pre and post instruction assessments. these would offer benchmarks to determine how significant differences can be in terms of learning outcomes and teaching effectiveness. when the effectiveness of cbl is quantitatively and qualitatively diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 120 measured through rigorous research, it will not just be one librarian’s undertaking any more. the design, implementation, and assessment would require the participation of motivated librarians and the cross-departmental collaboration with other classroom faculties. conclusion this article presents a basic but complete life cycle of cbl used in an information literacy classroom and covers how cases were developed, delivered, and assessed. both the librarian’s observation and the classroom assessment support the argument that cbl helped to improve students’ interaction in classroom as it increased their confidence to learn how to apply library skills and to solve information retrieval problems. at the same time, it must be kept in mind that no instructional method in the information literacy classroom will serve as a one-size-fits-all panacea and the implementation of cbl has its foreseeable challenges. in past decades, academic librarians have been designing innovative programs and have stepped into emerging instructional roles to assist students to achieve the best learning outcomes. preparing students to become efficient lifelong learners both in their academic lives and future professional lives requires from librarians the successful delivery of information literacy education on campus and such success should be supported by intentional, reflective, and strategic pedagogical approaches (o’clair, 2017). kimberley m. donnelly, assistant professor and reference librarian at york college of pennsylvania, articulated that educational change and reform called for a consideration of well-structured and concrete programs that encouraged librarians to shift their roles from passive teachers to interactive, collaborative, learner-centered educators (2000, p. 59-60). the learning-based program is built on agreeable co-habitation of classroom space shared by both librarians and classroom faculty. together, they mutually anticipate students’ need for information in advance and proactively associate such needs with their levels of learning under a comprehensive instructional paradigm. donnelly (2000) acknowledged that the success of a learning-based program largely depended on the full support from campus administrations and a positive political climate to encourage both library and classroom faculty to venture into new roles. otherwise, the confinement from personal nostalgia and political bureaucracy would prevent the library from shifting to a learning-centered institution for both librarians and students. the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of cbl in this teaching experiment reinforced donnelly’s (2000) argument that the current situation in the library community calls for a learner-centered approach in response to changes happening in technology, student cohorts, and models of pedagogy. the nature of one-shot library instructions means that there is a large possibility that this may be the only chance that librarians and students work together in the same classroom to explore the wonders of the information realm. therefore, it is totally understandable that librarians put a wholehearted effort into the full and comprehensive coverage of library resources and services through instructor-centered lecturing and demonstrations. traditional lecturing will continue because the library is by nature a service which necessitates instant application of surface learning. at the same time, it is important for librarians to understand that learning for students is a process that continues beyond the library’s walls. changes in technology, student cohorts, and pedagogical models demand that librarians with innovative minds take the lead to transform their roles from passive lecturers to active facilitators and diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 121 redefine the landscape of information literacy classroom through implementing active learning. “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” acknowledgment the author wants to give special gratitude of thanks to chief librarian, professor njoki kinyatti, for her freedom and support given to implement this teaching approach. the author wants to offer his sincere appreciation to professor john drobnicki and professor scott sheidlower for their valuable observations. the author would also like thank the two anonymous reviewers for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. references angell, k., & boss, k. (2016). adapting the amazing library race: using problem-based learning in library orientations. college & undergraduate libraries, 23(1), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2014.935547 biology department of york college. (2019). welcome to the department of biology. retrieved november 16, 2019 from https://www.york.cuny.edu/academics/departments/biology carder, l., willingham, p., & bibb, d. (2001). case-based, problem-based learning: information literacy for the real world. research strategies, 18(3), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0734-3310(02)00087-3 chen, k. n., lin, p. c., & chang, s. s. (2011, september). integrating library instruction into a problem‐based learning curriculum. in aslib proceedings, 63(5). emerald group publishing limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531111164996 cook, p., & walsh, m. b. (2012). collaboration and problem-based learning: integrating information literacy into a political science course. communications in information literacy, 6(1), 59-72. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2012.6.1.118 donnelly, k. m. (2000). building the learning library: where do we start? in a. h. bahr (ed.) future teaching roles for academics librarians (pp. 59-75). new york, ny: haworth press. dow, m. j., boettcher, c. a., diego, j. f., karch, m. e., todd-diaz, a., & woods, k. m. (2015). case-based learning as pedagogy for teaching information ethics based on the dervin sense-making methodology. journal of education for library and information science, 56(2), 141-157. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis.56.2.141 fallon, h., & breen, e. (2005). developing student information literacy skills to support project and problem-based learning. retrieved from http://eprints.teachingandlearning.ie/2208/1/fallon%20and%20breen%202005.pdf. foster, b. (2017, september). professional practice: using case studies in information literacy instruction towards career readiness. in european conference on information literacy (pp. 119-127). springer: cham. fridén, k. (1996). the librarian as a teacher: experiences from a problem‐based setting. health libraries review, 13(1), 3-7. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.13652532.1996.1310003.x. herreid, c. f. (1997). what makes a good case? some basic rules of good storytelling help teachers generate student excitement in the classroom. journal of college science teaching, 27, 163-165. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 122 herreid, c. f. (1998). why isn't cooperative learning used to teach science? bioscience, 48, 553-559. herreid, c. f. (2005). using case studies to teach science. education: classroom methodology. american institute of biological sciences. retrieved october 10, 2019 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed485982.pdf. hines, s., & hines, e. h. (2012). faculty and librarian collaboration on problem-based learning. journal of library innovation, 3(2), 18-32. hays, r. (2008). a practical guide to curriculum design: problem‐based, case‐based or traditional? the clinical teacher, 5(2), 73-77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-498x.2007.00191.x kenney, b. f. (2008). revitalizing the one-shot instruction session using problem-based learning. reference & user services quarterly, 47, 386-391. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20864946. klassen, r. m., & tze, v. m. c. (2014). teachers’ self-efficacy, personality, and teaching effectiveness: a meta-analysis. educational research review, 12, 59-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2014.06.001 koufogiannakis, d., buckingham, j., alibhai, a., & rayner, d. (2005). impact of librarians in first‐year medical and dental student problem‐based learning (pbl) groups: a controlled study. health information & libraries journal, 22(3), 189-195. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2005.00559.x. mcclam, t., & woodside, m. (2005). using case studies: an international approach. international education, 34(2), 36-45. mcdevitt, t. (2013). everyone likes a challenge: getting students’ attention with interactive games and authentic assignments. pennsylvania libraries: research & practice, 1(2), 149-161. https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2013.25 mcmillan, j. h., & hearn, j. (2008). student self-assessment: the key to stronger student motivation and higher achievement. educational horizon, 87(1), 40-49. mahmood, k. (2016). do people overestimate their information literacy skills? a systematic review of empirical evidence on the dunning-kruger effect. communication in information literacy, 10(2), 199-213. https://doi.org/10.15760 munro, k. (2006). modified problem-based library instruction: a simple, reusable instruction design. college & undergraduate libraries, 13(3), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1300/j106v13n03_04. o’clair, k. (2017). intentionally planning information literacy instruction. in b.west, k. d. hoffman, & m. costello (eds.), creative instructional design: practical applications for librarians (pp. 11-28). chicago: association of college and research libraries. satterthwaite, r. k., helms, m. e., nouravarsani, r., van antwerp, m., & woelfl, n. n. (1995). library faculty role in problem-based learning: facilitating small groups. bulletin of the medical library association, 83, 465-468. snavely, l. (2004). making problem-based learning work: institutional changes. portal: libraries and the academy, 4, 521-531. spackman, a., & camacho, l. (2009). rendering information literacy relevant: a case-based pedagogy. the journal of academic librarianship, 35, 548-554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2009.08.005. stevens, e., & tieman, a. (2017). we used problem-based learning in library instruction and came to question its treatment of students. the library with the lead pipe. retrieved october 10, 2019 from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2017/we-used problem-based-learning-in-library-instruction-and-came-to-question-its-treatment-of students/ tomcho, t. j., & foels, r. (2008). assessing effective teaching of psychology: a meta-analytic integration of learning outcomes. teaching of psychology 35(4), 286-296. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 123 wenger, k. (2014). problem-based learning and information literacy: a natural partnership. pennsylvania libraries: research & practice, 2(2), 142-154. https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2014.61. williams, b. (2005). case based learning—a review of the literature: is there scope for this educational paradigm in prehospital education? emergency medicine journal, 22(8), 577-581. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emj.2004.022707 van merrienboer, j. j., & sweller, j. (2005). cognitive load theory and complex learning: recent developments and future directions. educational psychology review, 17(2), 147 177. about the author junli diao is an assistant professor/head of cataloging and serials, york college library of the city university of new york. his current research includes information literacy pedagogy and innovations, and academic librarians’ identity construction. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 124 appendix a. bio 201 lab worksheet bio 201 name _______________________________________ lab 10: library research in this week’s lab, you will become familiar with the college’s online library resources. you will enjoy a lecture from a member of the library faculty about finding journal articles from the peer reviewed literature. the following assignment, adapted from assignments given in biology 1406 at south plains college in texas and in biology 112 at loyola marymount college in california, must be completed by each student individually. please attach a copy of your article to the assignment. 1. devise three search terms related to your independent study project. (i.e. reaction time – fear – heart rate) 2. conduct your search using one of the databases described by the librarian. reminder: you are looking for peer reviewed journal articles, not web pages. google is not a suitable search engine. a. which database(s) did you use? b. how many articles did you find? c. how could you narrow your search? 3. choose five articles returned by your search. for each article, provide the proper citation, the author’s home institution, and the organism studied. different journals use different citation styles. please follow the citation example below. example of journal citation: bukovinszky t., van veen f.j.f., jongema y., & dicke m. (2008). direct and indirect effects of resource quality on food web structure. science, 319, 804–807. 4. choose one of the five articles for further study. the article must be at least four pages long and include a title, abstract, introduction, materials & methods, results, and discussion. answer the following questions. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 125 a) which type of information does the abstract contain? b) what are the main methods used? c) how detailed is the materials and methods section? do you think you could repeat the experiment with the information given, if you had the proper equipment and experience? d) give two important results e) did the author(s) use any type of visual aids in presenting the results (graphs, tables, etc.)? if so, what did they use and were they easy to understand? f) briefly explain one of the figures using your own words. g) did the author(s) make obvious what hypothesis was being tested? do they clearly state in the discussion section whether or not the hypothesis was supported? do they make any recommendations for future experiments? h) does the references cited section follow exactly the same format as shown above? if not, give one example to show how it is different. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 126 appendix b. the prototype case you are a college freshman and you are very interested in biology. you liked observing frog jumps since you were a little boy. it was as if a frog made itself a beautiful sling shot when they were bouncing forward. how could frogs manage to leap such long distances? how could they become such exceptional leapers? what is the secret? is it because they have unusually longer legs? is it because their bones are more elastic? is it because their muscles have special elements that generate more energy than any other animals of the same size? is it because their joints have a special structure? you were interested in exploring this topic and you want to find some research articles that can help me understand this phenomenon. question 1. before i start my research on this topic, i would like know more about the anatomy of frogs. you want to find such a book at york college library or other cuny libraries. question 2. if you want to find all the accessible e-books on frogs at york college library or cuny libraries. how could you achieve that? question 3. in the recommended database, you want to find three peer-reviewed research articles written by researchers on the study of frog’s jumping from harvard university after 2015. question 4. you want to find two more peer-reviewed articles that have been done on the study of mechanical systems that imitate the movement of frogs. diao / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 127 appendix c. two cases case 1. you liked watching frogs as a young boy. now you are a college student and take some biological courses. you are very curious how frogs become such exceptional jumpers. you also want to know whether a robot could be designed to jump like a frog. exercise. formulate three keywords from this narrative and find three peer-reviewed articles in the recommended database. (three keywords don’t have to completely and exactly come from the text) case 2. an 88-year-old man had eaten 25 eggs per day for many years, yet his serum cholesterol was only in the range of 150-200 milligrams per deciliter. exercise. design a research question based on your understanding of this narrative. extract at least three keywords from your research question and locate two peer-reviewed articles in the recommended database. 009-156-embedded_concept_literacy_title 009-156-embedded_concept_literacy issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org sustainable academic libraries: the experience of organizing a sustainable conference leo f. h. ma abstract: in 2007, the chinese university of hong kong library kicked off a conference series with the main theme of ‘academic librarian.’ in 2016, the fourth conference of the series entitled academic librarian 4: sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond was coorganized by the hong kong university of science and technology library and the chinese university of hong kong library. the academic librarian 4 conference addresses the multi-dimensional issues of sustainability pertaining to academic libraries under four major themes: (1) sustainable environment; (2) sustainable resources; (3) sustainable technologies; and (4) sustainable services. apart from reviewing the key issues concerning the sustainability of academic libraries brought up by the conference papers, the author also highlights the way in which the academic librarian 4 conference made every effort to make this a sustainable library event. to cite this article: ma, l.f.h. (2020). sustainable academic libraries: the experience of organizing a sustainable conference. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 84-93. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.155 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 84-93. issn: 2474-3542 sustainable academic libraries: the experience of organizing a sustainable conference leo f. h. ma the chinese university of hong kong, hong kong, china abstract in 2007, the chinese university of hong kong library kicked off a conference series with the main theme of ‘academic librarian.’ in 2016, the fourth conference of the series entitled academic librarian 4: sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond was co-organized by the hong kong university of science and technology library and the chinese university of hong kong library. the academic librarian 4 conference addresses the multi-dimensional issues of sustainability pertaining to academic libraries under four major themes: (1) sustainable environment; (2) sustainable resources; (3) sustainable technologies; and (4) sustainable services. apart from reviewing the key issues concerning the sustainability of academic libraries brought up by the conference papers, the author also highlights the way in which the academic librarian 4 conference made every effort to make this a sustainable library event. keywords: the chinese university of hong kong library, the hong kong university of science and technology library, academic libraries, sustainability. introduction in 2007, the chinese university of hong kong (cuhk) library kicked off a conference series with the main theme of ‘academic librarian.’ in 2016, the fourth conference of the series entitled academic librarian 4: sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond (al4) was co-organized by the hong kong university of science and technology (hkust) library and the cuhk library. the al4 conference covers a wide range of sustainability issues pertaining to academic libraries: “how do academic libraries drive sustainability in their innovations and day-to-day operations? what are the best practices and emerging trends that help save the environment for posterity while fulfilling at optimal efficiency the current and future needs of library users? what are the obstacles or breakthroughs in advancing these goals?” (about the conference, 2019). the conference explored four major themes on sustainability, namely sustainable environment, sustainable resources, sustainable technologies, and sustainable services. in this paper, the author gives a brief account of the green strategy adopted by the cuhk library and a quick overview of the academic librarian conference series. the author then highlights the key issues concerning the sustainability of academic libraries brought up by ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 85 the conference papers. the author also summarizes the way in which the al4 conference made every effort to make this a sustainable library event. cuhk library’s green strategy during the past two decades, cuhk has been actively taking a holistic and strategic approach for integrating sustainability into the management and development of the university. as stipulated in its 2012 sustainability policy, cuhk is “committed to adopting sustainable development in education, research and knowledge transfer, to building a sustainable campus by integrating sustainability in its planning, decision making and day-to-day operations, and to providing leadership in sustainability for the enhancement of the well-being of all peoples” (sustainability policy, 2019). this approach is largely defined by developing a campus master plan, drawing up charters, declarations and programmes, and building up strategic partnerships (our approach, 2019). in line with the strategic mission of the university, the cuhk library embraces a holistic and action-oriented approach to sustainability. in the library strategic plan of cuhk library in 2013 entitled partnering for success 2013-2016, there are five strategic themes: (1) realizing the potential of our collections; (2) transforming our research services; (3) supporting the student journey; (4) sustainability; (5) working in partnership. the strategic plan is structured around these five themes, with objectives underlying each theme. as noted by louise jones, university librarian of cuhk library, in an interview in an online newsletter, “[a]t cuhk library one of our strategic themes is sustainability including green buildings but also a wider perspective that embraces staff and resource sustainability” (“how green is my library?”, 2015). adopting this holistic approach, there are four actioned-oriented objectives under the strategic theme on sustainability: ▪ progress towards environmental sustainability wherever possible; ▪ deliver and demonstrate value and fiscal responsibility; ▪ optimize collection space, storage and preservation; and ▪ secure the organizational structure and staff skills needed to deliver the cuhk library mission and vision. (partnering for success, 2013). the cuhk library works in partnership with the university’s building and facilities office on campus-wide sustainability projects. at the same time, the cuhk library also prioritizes many internal projects out of its own resources and identifies the following green strategy: ▪ raising awareness of sustainability issues among library staff; ▪ green library service: printing service, scanning service, and sustainable collection services; ▪ green operations: green office programming, energy saving, and waste management; and ▪ green building: sustainable design for its new builds and existing premises. putting all these efforts together, the cuhk library has had some success in achieving the objectives of its strategic theme on sustainability (jones & wong, 2016b). academic librarian conference series ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 86 the conference series on academic librarian was launched by the cuhk library in 2007. the first conference entitled the academic librarian: dinosaur or phoenix? die or fly in library change management was held on april 11-12, 2007. as depicted by prof. liu pak wai, the then pro-vice-chancellor of cuhk, the theme of the conference is indicative in the sense that only the fittest will survive in today’s competitive environment. thus it is crucial not only for libraries but also for any organization to “adapt and change proactively to the demands of any new environment” (liu, 2007). the conference examines the challenges and opportunities faced by academic library personnel in an ever faster moving and constantly changing academic and technological working environment. the conference has four subthemes to address these concerns: (1) academic library change management; (2) organizational preparation and the changing workplace; (3) the librarians and the faculty, student body, and the general public; (4) the right staff?. three years later, the second academic librarian conference entitled academic librarian 2: singing in the rain was jointly held by the pao yue-kong library of the hong kong polytechnic university and the cuhk library on march 11-12, 2010. the main theme of this conference focuses on the skills and positioning of the academic librarian, the impact of the library, its organizational patterns and the values delivered to its stakeholders and clients. in celebrating the 50th anniversary of cuhk, the cuhk library and the joint university librarians advisory committee (julac), a consortium that joins together in partnership the eight publicly-funded hong kong higher education institutions, held a combined two-day conference on may 30-31, 2013. the theme of the conference entitled academic librarian 3: the yin-yang of future consortial collaboration and competition covered the academic library consortia governance, cooperative staff development, cutting edge approaches to access and storage of shared paperbased and digital collections, and centralizing collection management and technical services. jointly organized by the hkust library and the cuhk library, the fourth academic librarian conference entitled academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond was held on june 2-3 as a notable event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of hkust. the al4 conference addresses the multi-dimensional issues of sustainability related to academic libraries which will be discussed in further details below. academic librarian 4: four major themes co-chaired by diana chan, university librarian of hkust library, and louise jones, university librarian of cuhk library, the al4 conference explores four major themes concerning the sustainability issues of academic libraries: (1) sustainable environment to highlight the eco-friendliness of academic libraries; (2) sustainable resources to reconcile the conflicts between growth and sustainability; (3) sustainable technologies to reduce ecological footprint while improving efficiency and experience for users and staff; and (4) sustainable services to stay relevant and proactively design services befitting the immediate and future needs of library users. theme 1: sustainable environment in her keynote speech titled academic libraries as sustainability hubs: evolving with our campus community and within our profession, charney (2016) emphasized that library professionals can at the same time be sustainability advocates in not only local contexts but also in international environments. her presentation was supported by a number of excellent examples on library projects and practices on sustainability in the u.s. such as sustainrt. in addition to the keynotes by charney, there were seven papers addressing different aspects of ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 87 the theme such as: providing a sustainable learning environment to support active and constructive learning (li, 2016); installing sustainable lighting for energy conservation and environmental protection purposes (chen, 2016); developing a sustainable approach to handle compostable waste in the library learning commons (hussong-christian, 2016); including environmental sustainability as part of the marketing strategy of the library (hauke, 2016); implementing green technologies at the new building of the national library of latvia (vilks, 2016); embedding sustainable planning and design throughout various library processes (spodick, 2016); and formulating, developing and implementing the library’s green strategy to reshape its services (jones & wong, 2016a). theme 2: sustainable resources hockx-yu commented in her keynote speech entitled web archiving: practices and options for academic libraries that it is essential to archive web resources for future use. technologically speaking, web archiving is achievable by using open source technology such as heritrix, umbra, wayback, nutchwax & solr, and warc. she also suggested four options for web archiving, namely an in-house operation model, an outsourcing model, an inhouse plus outsourcing model, and a collaboration model, depending on the strategic approach and resources available for the institution concerned (hockx-yu, 2016). there were altogether eight papers on various topics under this theme. caboara (2016) introduced a project to annotate the digital image of the ancient maps of china collection in hkust. oetomo & kealy (2016) discussed the benefits and approaches of the strategic programs on student recruitment for sustainable growth and resources. organ (2016) presented a case study on how to sustain a library digitization program within an environment of budgetary constraints and diminishing staff resources. sorensen & sarjeant-jenkins (2016) suggested the use of change management, participative consultation, and grassroots planning for sustainable growth of the library with sustainable resources. meador (2016) proposed reconfiguring the library organization in a period of flat or reduced budgetary support to ensure sustainable relevance. tsang & gelfand (2016) emphasized the importance of sustainable practices in managing the changing landscape of research library collections. williamson (2016) argued that sustaining and growing the environment of academic librarianship required effective leadership and sustainable workforce strategies at both the institutional and sector levels. weng and ackerman (2016) critically examined the perceptions and stereotypes of public service librarians versus technical service librarians through a survey in order to alleviate misunderstandings and misconceptions between them these presentations cover nicely the sustainability aspects of financial resources, human resources and library collection. theme 3: sustainable technologies helmer argued in his keynote speech entitled transformative collaboration in academic libraries that transformative collaboration will be the way forward for academic libraries. practically speaking, academic libraries can engage in deep collaboration through transformative consortia by sharing tools (e.g. shared integrated library system) and people (e.g. collaborative workforce) (helmer, 2016). there were six papers under the theme of sustainable technologies discussing a wide range of technology issues from establishing sustainable workflows for cataloging and metadata services that utilize available metadata technologies (han, 2016); addressing the topic of green computing from central it service perspective in the context of cuhk campus sustainability (cheng, 2016); delivering a shared library management system for nine universities together with the national library of wales and all national health service libraries in wales of u.k. (owen, 2016); assessing the effectiveness of the facebook strategy of selected academic libraries in the philippines ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 88 (penaflor, 2016); measuring the involvement of libraries and other core contributors to digital humanities through an authorship study (wong, 2016); and showcasing the application of lean design principles to two unique projects at the university of alberta libraries in order to investigate the environmental and financial sustainability of academic libraries (beasley & rosseel, 2016). theme 4: sustainable services services are a key component of library sustainability. priestner in his keynote speech entitled employing ux research methods to design better library services commented that, compared to traditional surveys, ux (user experience) research is a more holistic approach to explore and understand the experience of our services. user experience research methods includes a number of techniques including observation, behavioral mapping, semi-structured interviews, cultural probes, usability testing, cognitive mapping, contextual inquiry, affinity mapping, diary studies, card sorting, photo elicitation interviews, graffiti walls, love letters/break-up letters, touchstone tours, and think aloud protocols. depending on the research context, researchers can employ these techniques individually or more commonly use a selection of these techniques (priestner, 2016). in addition to the keynote, nine papers on sustainable service were delivered in this session. these papers focused on a wide variety of topics such as conducting a survey to explore the sustainability of an e-learning strategy (yates & han, 2016); exploring the research, engagement and planning process of the knowledge commons project which makes the hampshire college library a renewable and sustainable resource (king, 2016); discussing the challenges of proactively building a non-retrospective digital archive to address the issues of sustainability (foster & evans, 2016); transforming the delivery of enquiry services from traditional fixed service desks into a blend of virtual and ondemand services (hockey, 2016); describing how hkust library launched and now sustains high-volume and high quality collaborative information programs using a team-based teaching approach (caplan & wong, 2016); proposing three distinctive strategies that are feasible, transferable, malleable, and impactful for sustainable services (cmor, 2016); discussing the development and implementation of a new model of service delivery by providing equitable, sustainable, curriculum-based learning achieved through collaboration between academics and librarians (phillips, 2016); reviewing the journey and approach to responding to the needs of researchers in an academic library in a meaningful and sustainable manner (mcrostie, 2016); and exploring the need to not only implement a new service philosophy through the lens of disability theory but also highlight a pilot project that was tailored to the individual needs of people with disabilities in a sustainable and scalable way (pionke, 2016). academic librarian 4: a green conference the al4 conference made every effort to adopt good practices of an environmentally-friendly event in order to make this a sustainable library project. a green logo was designed for the conference to highlight the key message of sustainability (see figure 2). ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 89 figure 2: the conference logo for al4 in practical terms, the al4 conference adopted the following green arrangement and logistics which were well received by the conference participants: ▪ communication and publicity ▪ we minimize printing; electronic files are used whenever possible e.g. econference proceedings containing all full papers in usb ▪ a mobile app is used to facilitate communication ▪ physical banners are made with paper, no foam board nor vinyl is used ▪ the canvas tote bag and the conference usb are designed to be practical and reusable ▪ we choose not to use corsages for the vips in the opening ceremony. ▪ food and drinks ▪ we are cautious about the amount of food ordered ▪ no disposable cutlery; we avoid unnecessary wrapping ▪ we do not provide plastic bottled water. participants are encouraged to bring their own mugs ▪ we work with the conference dinner provider to come up with a menu with ingredients coming from sustainable sources as much as possible ▪ untouched food surplus will be taken by charity ▪ food waste during lunches and tea break will be sent for composting if appropriate ▪ transportation ▪ participants are encouraged to use public transport or carpooling ▪ coaches are arranged to take participants to the conference dinner venue concluding remark in his guest speech entitled aligning student learning with a sustainability mindset, bookhart (2016) remarked that “[c]ampuses are perfect places to create good examples for sustainable surroundings.” as a member of the university community, there is no doubt that the library can play a role in developing a sustainable environment on campus. in this paper, the author uses the al4 conference as an example to showcase the experience of organizing a sustainable event from the themes of the conference to the practical and logistic arrangement of the event. in addition to the main conference, a pre-conference workshop entitled a day of user experience (ux) research methods was also organized on june 1, 2016 for the conference participants. andy priestner, one of the keynote speakers and the presenter of the workshop, discussed in more detail the notion of “user experience” and “ethnography,” and the techniques of conducting user experience research. in brief, the al4 conference consisted of a 1-day preconference workshop (june 1, 2016) and a 2-day conference (june 2-3, 2016). the speakers were librarians and information professionals from around the globe and over 300 participants from 11 countries attended. the conference evaluation showed an overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants. references about the conference. (may 18, 2019). academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond. retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/ beasley, g., rosseel, t. (2016, june). leaning into sustainability at university of alberta ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 90 libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3 theme3_beasley_gerald_ltb.pdf. bookhart, d. (2016, june). aligning student learning with a sustainability mindset. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-guest-speech_bookhart_davis_lta.pdf. caboara, m. (2016, june). the hkust ancient map of china collection – the next step: from digital images to gis and data mining. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2theme2_caboara_marco_lta.pdf. caplan, v., wong, e.s.p. (2016, june). diversity within unity: developing sustainable information literacy teams. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4 theme4_caplan_victoria_lta.pdf. charney, m. (2016, june). academic libraries as sustainability hubs: evolving with our campus community and within our profession. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1 keynote_theme1_charney_lta.pdf. chen, k.l. (2016, june). sustainable lighting design for libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-theme1_chen_koli_ltb.pdf. cheng, c.h. (2016, june). green computing: a central it service perspective. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-theme3_cheng_che-hoo_ltb.pdf. cmor, d. (2016, june). strategies for sustainable services in academic libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3-theme4_dianne_cmor_ltb.pdf. foster, m., evans, m. (2016, june). libraries creating sustainable services during community crisis: documenting ferguson. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3 theme4_foster_makiba_lta.pdf. han, m.j. (2016, june). establishing sustainable workflows for cataloging and metadata services. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3-theme3_han_myung ja_lta.pdf. hauke, p. (2016, june). environmental sustainability – a marketing tool for libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2-theme1_hauke_petra_ltb.pdf. helmer, j.f. (2016, june). transformative collaboration in academic libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2-keynote_theme3_helmer_lta.pdf. hockey, j. (2016, june). anywhere, anytime, any device – redefining enquiry services at the ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 91 university of south australia library. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2 theme4_hockey_julie_ltb.pdf. hockx-yu, h. (2016, june). web archiving: practices and options for academic libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-keynote_theme2_hockx-yu_lta.pdf. how green is my library? (2015). access. retrieved from http://librarylearningspace.com/green-library/ hussong-christian, u. (2016, june). if you build it, will they sort it? composting in the academic library learning commons. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3 theme1_hussong-christian_uta_lta.pdf. jones, l. (2013) partnering for success 2013-2016. the chinese university of hong kong university library system. retrieved from http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/sites/cuhk/files/page/about/people/inside-the-library-strategic plan.pdf jones, l., wong, w. (2016a, june). more than just a green building: developing green strategies at the chinese university of hong kong library. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/5 theme1_jones_louise_lta.pdf. jones, l., wong, w. (2016b). more than just a green building: developing green strategies at the chinese university of hong kong library. library management, 37(6/7): 373-384. li, h.p. (2016, june). built to succeed: sustainable learning environment at uc merced library. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2 theme1_li_haipeng_lta.pdf. liu, p.w. (2007). welcoming message from the pro-vice chancellor, the chinese university of hong kong. in c. storey (ed.), the academic librarian, dinosaur or phoenix? : die or fly in library change management (p.2). hong kong: university library system, chinese university of hong kong. meador, j. (2016, june). making strategic combinations/consolidations to ensure sustainable relevance. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4 theme2_meador_john_lta.pdf. mcrostie, d. (2016, june). the only constant is change: evolving the library support model for research at the university of melbourne. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4 theme4_mcrostie_donna_ltb.pdf. oetomo, s, kealy, k. (2016, june). bringing excellence and innovation to and through student employment: how employing the student voice leads to a better holistic student experience and propels sustainable growth with sustainable resources. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-theme2_kealy_karen_ltb.pdf. organ, m. (2016, june). sustaining a library digitisation program: the uow experience. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3-theme2_organ_michael_lta.pdf. ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 92 our approach to sustainability. (may 17, 2019). sustainability at cuhk. retrieved from https://www.cpso.cuhk.edu.hk/en-gb/about-us/our-approach-to-sustainability owen, g. (2016, june). delivering a shared library management system for wales. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4-theme3_owen_gareth_lta.pdf. penaflor, j. (2016, june). beyond ‘likes’: an assessment of user engagement in facebook among philippine academic libraries. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. abstract retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/presentations/#penaflor. phillips, a. (2016, june). educating at scale: sustainable library learning at the university of melbourne library. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/5 theme4_phillips_andrea_lta.pdf. pionke, j.j. (2016, june). sustainable library services for all. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/6-theme4_pionke_jj_lta.pdf. priestner, a. (2016, june). employing ux research methods to design better library services. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/1-keynote_theme4_priestner_lta.pdf. sorensen, c., sarjeant-jenkins, r. (2016, june). sustainable growth with sustainable resources: using change management, participative consultation, and grassroots planning for a new future. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2 theme2_sorensen_charlene_ltb.pdf. spodick, e. (2016, june). sustainability – it’s everyone’s job. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3-theme1_spodick_edward_ltb.pdf. sustainability policy. (may 17, 2019). the chinese university of hong kong. retrieved from http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpso/documents/sustainability_policy_2012.pdf tsang, d.c., gelfand, j.m. (2016, june). the changing landscape of research library collections: ensuring realistic sustainability. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/3 theme2_tsang_daniel_ltb.pdf. vilks, a. (2016, june). the ‘castle of light’: green technologies of the new national library of latvia building. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4 theme1_andris_vilks_lta.pdf. weng, c., ackerman, e. (2016, june). towards sustainable partnership: examining cross perceptions of public and technical services academic librarians. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/4-theme2_weng_cathy_ltb.pdf. williamson, v. (2016, june).the academic librarian as the missing link: sustainable leadership and the discipline of librarianship for a 21st century profession. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/5-theme2_williamson_vicki_lta.pdf. ma / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 93 wong, r.s.h. (2016, june). digital humanities and libraries: measuring the involvement of libraries and other core contributors to digital humanities through an authorship study. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wp content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/5-theme3_wong_rebekah_lta.pdf yates, s., han, a. (2016, june). developing elearning skills in the library: an evaluation. paper presented at the academic librarian 4 – sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond, hong kong. powerpoint presentation retrieved from https://library.ust.hk/al4/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/2-theme4_yates_steven_lta.pdf.   about the author leo f. h. ma is currently head of upper campus libraries at the chinese university of hong kong. internationally, he has been serving as a standing committee member of the ifla academic & research libraries section since 2013. locally, he is currently fellow of the hong kong library association, and a member of the advisory board of lis programmes of the faculty of education of the university of hong kong, and the academic committee of lis programmes of the school of professional and continuing education of the university of hong kong. he has published, as author and editor, more than 20 monographs, delivered over 60 conference papers, and received more than 30 lis and literary awards. 007_155-title-final 007_155-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org content and context: a case study of metadata collaboration mingyan li, tracy seneca, and megan keller young abstract: this paper demonstrates how taking differences in end user behavior and differing interdepartmental perspectives on metadata into account can strengthen the digital object workflow to serve a greater variety of users. the university of illinois chicago university library has successfully collaborated on metadata initiatives since establishing a cross-departmental metadata working group. the article examines the perspectives of archivists, digital librarians, and catalogers on digital object metadata. it outlines the workflow established to enable each of these stakeholders to contribute their unique strengths to metadata and considers how bringing those strengths together serves different end user groups. it presents two examples of this workflow in action and considers the next steps for improving that workflow. future efforts to strengthen the content/context balance of metadata are discussed in three areas: aggregated digitization and description, technology enhancements, and moving from a linear to a circular workflow model. to cite this article: li, m., seneca, t., & young, m. k. (2022). content and context: a case study of metadata collaboration. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 127-148. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.234 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.234 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 127-148. issn: 2474-3542 content and context: a case study of metadata collaboration mingyan li, tracy seneca, megan keller young university of illinois chicago, usa abstract this paper demonstrates how taking differences in end user behavior and differing interdepartmental perspectives on metadata into account can strengthen the digital object workflow to serve a greater variety of users. the university of illinois chicago university library has successfully collaborated on metadata initiatives since establishing a cross-departmental metadata working group. the article examines the perspectives of archivists, digital librarians, and catalogers on digital object metadata. it outlines the workflow established to enable each of these stakeholders to contribute their unique strengths to metadata and considers how bringing those strengths together serves different end user groups. it presents two examples of this workflow in action and considers the next steps for improving that workflow. future efforts to strengthen the content/context balance of metadata are discussed in three areas: aggregated digitization and description, technology enhancements, and moving from a linear to a circular workflow model. keywords: content, context, metadata collaboration, case study introduction as the demand for metadata work grows in proportion to the increase of digital collections, it has become a collaborative process that draws on the expertise of multiple library departments. the university of illinois chicago (uic) library has recognized the benefit of metadata collaboration for greater end user success. a 2019 paper by librarians from the authors’ institution showcased the success of metadata collaboration through a cross-departmental metadata working group (darcovich et al., 2019). however, with more in-depth collaboration on our institution’s digital collections metadata, various access and discovery behaviors of digital collection users and the different interdepartmental perspectives have highlighted diverse expectations for metadata. with a migration to a new digital asset management system (dams), these differences have become more apparent. generally, archivists are concerned about maintaining valuable contextual information and intellectual control of original items, so it is important for the metadata to maintain the archival context. catalogers focus more on precise content description, which improves the user's access and discovery. digital services staff are more focused on how the metadata will be searched and presented in the dams. these varying perspectives can present challenges to metadata collaboration. we need not only to balance the tension between various departmental perspectives but also to meet the needs of diverse end users according to search task type, cognitive style, or user status. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 128 literature review the following literature review considers three areas: how end user perspectives influence the use of digital collections, how departmental perspectives influence collaboration when creating digital collections, and the logistics of establishing metadata workflows. this review is not meant to be either a scoping review or a systematic review. rather, it is a background review aimed at grounding the reader in the three concepts relevant to the environment and cases that follow. end user perspectives there has been a considerable amount published concerning the use and usability of digital libraries, though the definition of what constitutes a digital library can vary. these articles define digital libraries as collections of imagery or text scanned from manuscript collections or university archives. the following articles also focus less on the system than on the user. rather than simply asking whether a system is well-liked by users, these articles dig deeper to evaluate what users need based on their tasks, cognitive styles or user status. fukumoto (2006), conway and punzalan (2011), and chassanoff (2018) all linked patterns in user behavior to the types of tasks users were engaged in. fukumoto distinguished between open and closed tasks. in an open task, users were asked to find images of their choosing, such as something that would make a good greeting card. in a closed task, users were asked to find a specific, known image. fukumoto found that more actions were executed when the task was presented as an open question. task type also prompted different strategies: keyword options including the number of input keywords and the number of unique keywords are significantly more used for open tasks than for closed tasks. conway and punzalan defined tasks in terms of discovering, storytelling, and landscaping. in the discovering mode, “users seek to obtain visual information from individual digitized photographs that have not been seen or noted previously” (p. 76), and need tools to investigate or compare images at high resolution. in the storytelling mode, users “view images as centerpieces of intellectual puzzles that when assembled in just the right way tell stories visually” (p. 79). in the landscaping mode, users “view digitized photographs as a window on historical space and time” and “as a lens on events and activities that took place beyond the view of the camera itself” (p. 85). chassanoff’s study with historians found that “broad visual browsing of collections is an integral part of the research process” (p. 143). the interviews also raised the importance of trustworthiness of provenance and metadata for images found in digital collections from archives. other authors noted patterns in user behavior based on the topic of research. bogaard et al. (2019) used session log analysis to analyze facet-selecting behavior by users based on different research topics. they found that users chose different kinds of facets (date, type) depending on their topical focus. matusiak (2012) conducted field observations and interviews with undergraduate students in two geography courses to better understand where users looked for digital images and why. the study found that the students were more inclined to consult library digital collections when looking for textual material and were more inclined to search the web for imagery. both goodale et al. (2014) and matusiak (2006) considered cognitive style in their assessments of end user behavior with digital collections. goodale et al. distinguished between “analytic” versus “wholistic” learners based on a pre-test to identify cognitive style. “analytic individuals li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 129 are more adept at structuring and analytical activity when compared to their wholistic counterparts. wholistic individuals thrive more in situations where learning is structured and analyzed for them” (p. 973). their findings showed that wholistic users were more inclined to use tag clouds and facets and took more time to complete tasks than analytic users. matusiak considered both cognitive style and user status in a 2006 paper that evaluated how users interacted with a digital collection focused on milwaukee neighborhoods. while the design of the study was a straightforward “think-aloud” protocol with students and local community members, matusiak applied cognitive style distinctions to the interpretation of the results and found that students favored an analytical search approach, while community users preferred a more open-ended browse approach. library departmental perspectives many of the papers that discussed differences in departmental perspectives focused on the tension between providing contextual metadata about a collection (as provided in a finding aid) and descriptive item-level metadata expressed in standards such as dublin core and supported by most digital collection platforms. zhang (2012) provided an in-depth discussion of how crucial the provenance and archival order – the archival context – of digitized materials was to archivists. zhang also acknowledged that for digital objects, the contextual data derived from a finding aid was insufficient for effective discovery, and that access based on the content itself, such as subject, name, form, genre, and other criteria was crucial. given that many digital library platforms are based on dublin core metadata that favors the item-level description of content, the archival context was often lost. zhang presented three examples of digital collections that managed to preserve the archival context, each offering a different balance between archival context and content discovery. zhang & mauney (2013) also reflected on the tension between context and content. their research on the relationship between archival description and descriptive metadata of digital objects focused not only on the differing perspectives of archivists and librarians, but on their differing purposes when they created descriptive records. archival description focused on contextualizing the material, while digital object description focused on item discoverability. they note that “the traditional minimal metadata approach that relies on archives context to retrieve archival items may lead to limited digital accessibility, but it is equally unacceptable when granular access to digital content may have to be achieved at the expense of archival context” (p. 191). niu (2015) used the terms “item-level control” and “aggregate control” to distinguish between content and context, and noted that the focus on aggregate control is core to what archivists consider their work to be. the author noted that new tools and platforms had enabled archival intellectual control to evolve to include the content, especially the intellectual control of digital records. these new advances meant that item-level control did not signify a loss of contextual information as it used to, and “is affordable in many scenarios” (p. 186). therrell (2019) attempted to test the application of the “more product, less process” (mplp) theory arising from the archival discipline to digital object metadata. more product, less process (mplp) is an approach to archival processing proposed by greene and meissner (2005) which advocates for minimally arranged and described collections over large collection backlogs. therrell tested the discoverability of two sets of the same images, one with contextual metadata derived from the finding aid and the other enhanced with topical tags. the results suggested that lesser description levels hindered resource retrieval of li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 130 digital collections. therrell concluded that without content-based metadata, digitized materials might remain as inaccessible as if they had never been digitized. both zhang (2012) and niu (2015) addressed differences in perspective across departments as archivists tried to maintain archival context in systems largely implemented in digitization or digital programs departments. other papers examined these varying perspectives more directly. hunter et al. (2010) described the differing perspectives and strengths of a cross-departmental team engaged in building a digital collection at colorado state university. the team consisted of an archivist, a metadata librarian, and a digital projects librarian. the paper described the project’s inception and workflow and pointed to moments in the workflow where different team members came to understand each other’s perspectives. for example, the archivist provided a tour of the physical collection to all team members, including those who would usually not encounter the physical objects. this helped all team members understand certain things about that collection that previously only the processing archivist was aware of. the project details addressed the tension between describing individual items well enough to be discoverable and preserving the aggregation and context of the original archival collection. anderson et al. (2021) also described the triad of perspectives between archivist, digital librarian and cataloger in a case study of digital library collaboration at the university of arkansas libraries. they noted that catalogers tend to strike a balance between the aggregate focus of archivists and the item focus of digital librarians, and that while almost all employees from each department share the same degree, “best practices and standards in their specialized fields may vary widely, and these frameworks in turn shape how they conceive of projects, users, use cases and description” (p. 46). allison-bunnell et al. (2021) discussed how the design of digital library platforms has been tilted toward a bibliographic model of digital objects and away from the contextual information about the collections those objects come from. the authors offered advice for collaboration, communication and system design that can help to restore the contextual archival information that has been lost. they stated: it may not be common for practitioners who come to a digital archives project from the library world, software development, archival administration and museology to have the same understanding of the nature of what is being represented and what a system needs to do. (p. 62) they noted that establishing that shared understanding is critical, particularly in a way that incorporates the expertise of archivists. metadata workflow the authors also consulted publications that examined the workflow logistics of developing metadata for digitized archival material. sweetser and orchard (2019) sought to understand how different departments collaborate on metadata creation for both archival collections and for objects digitized from those collections. the survey included the development of ead finding aids or marc records for collections, and dublin core (or other) records for digital objects. according to their survey, archivists were responsible for archival descriptive work at most institutions, and cataloging colleagues generally were not involved. other papers provided a contrast to that finding. maron and pickle (2013) showed that the degree of collaboration varied for different kinds of metadata. finding aids were most commonly created by archivists while collection-level marc records prompted more collaboration with catalogers (39.6 percent), and the development of itemlevel metadata showed the broadest collaboration across departments (41.5 percent). still, for most li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 131 respondents, metadata creation at all levels was handled exclusively by archival staff, with no engagement or review by other departments. they also found that management of digitized special collections was often dispersed across many departments, and that no one department emerged as the dominant locus of primary responsibility. more recently, ho (2020) offered a comprehensive summary of the literature on surveys of metadata staffing which shows an increasing role for catalogers in the creation of non-marc metadata over time. that same summary showed increasing numbers of positions for metadata creation outside of cataloging departments as well. ho's own survey also sought to determine which departments create metadata and whether they collaborate. the survey results indicated that 71.05% of the initial 114 respondents had their cataloging departments work with non-marc metadata. regarding the personnel categories of non-catalogers involved in the workflow, “digital” positions (62%) and “archivists” (52%) (p. 739-740) are both high in the proportion. the survey also found that even respondents who were “generally satisfied” with their metadata workflow still emphasized “the need for better communication and coordination across library units” (p. 743). darcovich et al. (2019) described the development of the metadata workflow that the uic library now uses. darcovich et al. discussed how metadata created for legacy collections did not adhere to a single standard. to address this issue, uic established “a cross-departmental metadata working group to develop a new metadata guideline” (p. 1) and a new metadata workflow, which will be further discussed in this paper. background university of illinois chicago (uic) library provides access to over thirty digital collections through a consortium-based platform, contentdm1, shared with over ninety libraries in the state. the library had never had a platform for managing and preserving the original highresolution digital files for those materials, and because the contentdm platform is shared with other libraries, users could not search effectively across uic’s collections. because institutionwide search was not an option, no common metadata standard had been enforced across these thirty contentdm collections. contentdm also represented only a small fraction of what the library had digitized. the library had a noteworthy digital backlog stored on university-managed file systems and local storage devices, largely without metadata beyond what could be inferred from the directory structure and filenames. to address these challenges, uic began to analyze the needs for a comprehensive preservation, management, and discovery environment in 2016. after careful analysis and comparison, the library selected libsafe2 from libnova. the libsafe digital content management system (dams), offers comprehensive digital preservation features, format migration, a customizable user interface and the ability to search across all of our collections. among the features that the libsafe dams offers is full use of the international image interoperability framework (iiif). in many digital collection platforms, including contentdm and libsafe, iiif is most commonly noted for its image api, which enables the user to efficiently zoom in on image detail. but the iiif presentation api also allows for new possibilities by using a iiif manifest to control the layout of selected images on the screen. iiif manifests can also include information that is not contained in the digital object metadata. unlike contentdm, 1 https://www.oclc.org/en/contentdm.html 2 https://www.libnova.com/#products https://www.oclc.org/en/contentdm.html) https://www.libnova.com/#products li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 132 libsafe allows libraries to customize the iiif manifests so that the distinct nature of certain objects or collections can be highlighted. libsafe also allows for multiple metadata standards, though we chose to enforce a single local standard for all materials. given the multiple sources of data and inconsistent metadata standards for legacy material, the project is larger than a simple system-to-system migration, though it has been referred to internally as the dams migration project. to prepare for the migration, a cross-departmental metadata working group was established to develop and implement the institutional metadata guidelines, in conjunction with a project to analyze and clean up legacy metadata. the migration prompted the uic library to examine all of its digitized material and metadata and to commit to cross-departmental collaboration on a deeper level going forward. traditionally, only two departments were involved in metadata creation for digital collections, special collections & university archives (scua) and digital programs & services (dps). further, in some cases, these two departments did not collaborate; some collections were developed almost entirely by scua staff and student workers while other collections were scanned and described by dps staff. with the migration to libsafe, the resource acquisition & management department (ram) also began participating in the workflow, and all three departments are now engaged in each digital collection. this work has also prompted fundamental consideration of what end users are trying to accomplish when they use our library's digital collections, with the goal of better serving them in the new dams. digital project workflow to better understand how different library stakeholders work together and what shapes their perspectives, it will help to convey the overall digital project workflow. while each project may vary, it generally goes through the workflow stages pictured below. as it moves through each stage, all contributors work in the same spreadsheet stored on google drive. (this contrasts to earlier workflows, where there were sometimes multiple competing versions of excel spreadsheets for the same collection stored on a shared drive). figure 1. digital project workflow li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 133 propose: projects begin with a proposal developed through multiple discussions with all stakeholders. digital imaging studio technicians from dps assess the material for reformatting issues, archivists convey key information about the collection and how the collection is structured, ram catalogers and scua archivists work together to identify topical, name and geographic themes in the collection, and digital librarians look for challenges and opportunities the collection might pose. the team also consults the established file identifier conventions and agrees on how digital files from the proposed collection will be named. by the end of this stage, there should be a written project proposal with a strong estimate of the project size (total files), and preliminary lists of common subjects, names and forms associated with the collection. prepare: archivists use a metadata template to describe the materials to be digitized. they may have initial folder titles from the finding aid, and they have information about the original format or condition of the material. in some cases, they may create identifiers for each item to be scanned, or provide box and folder numbers. they physically prepare the material for digitization, removing staples or flagging versions to be scanned. archivists may also provide metadata about material qualities that can’t be discerned after the items are scanned, such as the medium of the analog material, captions on the verso of an item, or notes from the envelopes that hold the original material. digitize: the studio staff track scanning progress using the same spreadsheet that was used to request scanning. they provide the final filename and indicate whether scan masters have undergone quality assurance (qa). the studio staff are the last people to see the analog material and can augment metadata about the form and medium of the material as needed. the studio staff post the files to a local drive for deposit into the dams. while the dams implementation is underway, they also post derivatives to a photo viewing platform for the catalogers to use. arrange: digital librarians then work on the arrangement of the metadata and files. digital image objects in the dams can be either single, stand-alone images or complex, multi-part images. (the contentdm term for this is “compound objects.”) the decisions about whether objects will be single images or complex multipart images will have been made during the project planning stage. if the collection uses complex objects, the digital librarians create “parent” rows for each object and populate the “has part” and “is part of” values that define the boundaries of each complex object. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 134 figure 2. metadata and file arrangement of a typical complex object digital librarians also set field values that are consistent for the entire collection or that can be set with a formula or script, such as box, folder, repository, type and other fields. finally, the digital librarians move the master files into the dams at this stage and prepare instructions for catalogers working on the next stage. describe: catalogers in the ram department augment the metadata for discoverability. this stage includes finalizing titles according to the metadata guidelines, creating descriptions, and assigning metadata such as geographic location, subject—topic, subject—name, and other terms, and ensuring that controlled vocabularies and appropriate standardizations are followed. deposit: digital librarians conduct a final round of qa on the metadata, then run scripts to transform the spreadsheet metadata to xml files for each digital object that follow the in-house metadata schema. the xml files are deposited to the dams and object-build scripts are run to link the metadata to high-resolution master files. there are variations to this workflow, depending on the material. sometimes catalogers are also engaged in defining complex objects when files are clearly related. archivists might play a larger role in descriptive metadata when they have strong subject expertise in the collection. departmental perspectives in this cross-departmental workflow, each department brings a set of unique perspectives to the work. these perspectives vary within departments and can be driven by a collection’s unique qualities, but generally they can be seen as shown in the figure below. figure 3. cross-departmental perspectives the goal of this workflow is to help library stakeholders understand one another’s perspectives and to direct those perspectives towards creating the best access possible for researchers in a sustainable way. in the following section, each type of library stakeholder will describe their perspectives and concerns as they build digital collections. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 135 the archivist’s perspective at the uic library, digitization projects often originate from the archivists for a variety of reasons. the archivists may have observed while processing the collection or through user statistics that digitization is necessary for preservation. they may know that the donor gave a collection with the expectation that it would be digitized to be as visible as possible. the collection may complement other digitized collections. for these reasons, archivists at the uic library are now stakeholders in digitization projects from the beginning, and assist with metadata creation, whether through preparing the metadata librarians with important information about the collection or creating the initial metadata. as stewards of the physical materials, archivists are uniquely positioned to use their knowledge of the collections in digitization projects. their archival training influences the metadata they create, which is focused more on the context and intellectual control of the item than discoverability. although uic archivists have instigated some of the past digitization projects, the staff creating the metadata usually only consulted the scans they had instead of the finding aids the archivists created. the first resource used to create metadata should be the finding aid, which is almost always created by the processing archivist. though the archivists initiated many digitization projects prior to the founding of the metadata working group, there was no set workflow or mandate to include any department. the resulting metadata generally did not reflect the finding aids, and it is difficult to infer the arrangement of these digitized collections from the contentdm interface. in fact, many collections in contentdm used different metadata standards. this inconsistency in the metadata sets threatened the loss of coherency of the collection. scua staff handles all reference questions about the digital collections, and inconsistent metadata may mean a reference question takes longer to answer or may make it impossible to solve. if digitized collections do not refer to the original document as described in the finding aid, especially including its physical location, important contextual information may be lost. issues have arisen in the past when the metadata has been disconnected from its archival context. a particular challenge was (and currently remains) the collection of “comer archive of chicago in the year 2000” (city2000), which is made up of over 500,000 images, audio recordings, and official files. the collection comprises over 2,800 individual photography projects, many of which contain the same metadata for all the material in each project, even if the creator captured images of multiple people, places, and subjects. soon after its acquisition in 2001, approximately 15,000 images were digitized and placed on contentdm. a task force was created to strategize how to handle this collection as well as other photographic collections, but surprisingly did not initially include personnel from special collections and university archives, even though the department took physical control of the project upon its donation. a finding aid was not begun for this collection until 2019. the project team for city2000 metadata went through a number of transitions. an original grant team from outside of the library developed the initial metadata. a second team was formed within the library to continue the work, but unfortunately did not include archivists. the second team evaluated the initial metadata and decided to substitute “keywords as finding aids for the digital image” (austin, 2003). each image was assigned keywords, but contentdm’s interface merged all the keywords together. for example, one image’s metadata lists “african americans artists” and “mural painting and decoration” as separate subject headings, but in the overall collection’s search facets, the headings are merged into one, which leads to many options in the li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 136 subject heading search facet suggesting only one result. in this situation, the facets are essentially useless. though the collection could still be browsed on contentdm, the reliance on keywords coupled with the sheer volume of available images made it difficult for users to complete specific searches. there is no archival context for the smaller projects that make up a whole. users had to contend with the entire project at once. additionally, using only a few keywords to describe each project led to many projects being misrepresented. a project focused on a particular neighborhood has unfortunately been titled as a result of the keyword substitutions as “dead bodies, junked cars” when in reality those keywords represent only a minor part of the whole project (and in fact the project does not show dead bodies). this misrepresentation damages the perception of the neighborhood to both researchers and community members wanting to see historical photos of their area. this issue also makes it difficult for the archivists to fulfill reference requests and to sustain a relationship with community members. for all these reasons, upgrading the metadata became a primary project. in 2017, scua staff and dps began to discuss how to upgrade the city2000 metadata to bring it in line with the library’s metadata standard which had just been completed. the metadata working group returned to the original metadata that was inherited from the donors and in the following twenty years had gone through multiple system migrations, muddling it further. additionally, the donors had barcoded each contact sheet and created identifiers based on these barcodes, which do not follow scua’s standard. the only way the archivists could physically locate the material is with the barcode or the original project number, which was kept in an excel spreadsheet. the visibility of the collection was geared toward the donor photographers who make up the bulk of the reference requests and to help the archivists find the material, but it did not work for end users, who did not have access to this information and only knew about the portion available on contentdm. the city2000 metadata is now under review by scua, dps, and ram, allowing everyone to bring their particular expertise to this massive collection. work is still underway, but many changes have already occurred. the identifiers were updated to include the project number. closer attention is being paid to the description and caption fields so that they no longer describe the entire project, but those particular image(s). many projects have audiovisual and research files in addition to their photographic material, but the links weren’t previously explored or described. a finding aid is being created to link everything together, ideally leading to successful public discovery and use. having scua staff officially serve on the metadata working group and participate in meetings for all digitization projects mitigates the concern about the loss of contextual information. having documentation like the metadata worksheet and the guidelines has been helpful for the archivists to know what basic fields and information are necessary to add. participating in the working group gives the archivists the opportunity to influence the documentation and add their knowledge gained from processing the collection and working with the donors. the fact that archivists can access the shared metadata spreadsheet as dps staff and ram continue the work instills confidence in the projects, especially the standardization of the context and location of the object. the cataloger’s perspective at the uic library, metadata was often created by scua staff and edited by dps staff. however, there was a bottleneck in metadata creation due to the large workload. in the fall of 2017, metadata li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 137 staffing was expanded to include catalogers in ram who traditionally worked with print materials. the catalogers started to become involved in the digital project workflow from the pilot project the richard j. daley collection, which included digital images of people, places, and events connected with mayor daley. after this project, the catalogers collaborated on several other digital projects and eventually became a key part of the workflow. currently at uic, a group of catalogers led by the metadata librarian in ram are creating metadata for digital collections on a regular basis. in the case study by darcovich et al. (2019), some important metadata issues were identified in uic’s legacy metadata, which included lack of standardization and lack of controlled vocabularies. one of the most significant contributions the catalogers bring to the digital projects now is the awareness of controlled vocabularies and standardization. per uic’s new metadata guidelines, the metadata terms should always follow international, national, or regional standards. for example, faceted application of subject terminology (fast) is used as the schema for topical subjects, the library of congress name authority file is consulted for creator name, contributor name, and geographic location. the date element now follows the international organization for standardization (iso) 8601 and the language code now follows iso 639-2 registration authority. the type element adopts dcmi type vocabulary. with the catalogers’ participation, these standards and controlled vocabularies are strictly applied to the metadata. this not only ensures the metadata’s consistency, but also enhances its interoperability. with the creation of a cross-departmental metadata working group of librarians from scua, dps and ram, catalogers were exposed to the perspectives of library colleagues from other departments. these conversations also helped them to view the metadata from the end user’s perspective. unlike traditional book cataloging, a description of a single image that is too detailed may also cause usability issues. for example, if a cataloger is exhaustive and adds every subject term that could be relevant to a single image, they start amassing a set of terms that is only ever applied to one or two images within a collection. however, end users depend on these subjects as facets to browse the whole collection. for users, the list of subjects reveals the major themes in the collection’s content. that list becomes difficult to use when it is filled with dozens of topics that only lead to a single item. the concept of usefulness (matusiak, 2012) is crucial here in shedding light on the limitations of the cataloger’s traditional perspective. matusiak’s field observations and interviews with undergraduate students showed that to judge how useful a library’s digital collections will be, a user must already have a strong sense of what they contain, which requires some familiarity with the holdings of special collections. therefore, metadata should be able to generate a browsable list of subjects, which is brief enough to quickly give end users a basic idea of the entire collection’s content. a lengthy list of subjects might not necessarily lead to the best user experience, especially if those subjects appear only once or twice. this requires catalogers to view an image not only individually, but also with respect to how it fits in the context of similar/related images or even in the whole collection. the digital librarian’s perspective digital programs & services staff are influenced by the fact that they work most directly with the dams and are attuned to how the dams will respond to patterns in the metadata. building on earlier experiences with digitization projects, digital librarians have been strong proponents of being engaged in the workflow from the very outset – from the proposal stage – and remaining li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 138 engaged throughout the process. digital librarians have also been most inclined to insist that the same metadata spreadsheet be used at every stage of the workflow, so that they don’t receive multiple versions of the metadata from different sources. digital librarians are also invested in the management and preservation of the original, high-resolution master files. the digital master files are what enable the studio to fulfill reproduction requests, but more importantly, they enable a digital collection to continue to meet end users’ needs over time. a jpeg that was generated ten years earlier will not look as impressive on today’s monitors and devices. managing the masters well enables libraries to regenerate new access copies for a collection to remain engaging over time. the libsafe digital asset management system is the first digital preservation system used at uic, despite having over forty-five terabytes of digitized material. the new dams workflow puts preservation early in the process, so that by the time a new digital collection is released, the masters are indexed, preserved, and wellstewarded. these qualities of the digital librarians’ work environment and experience all point to seeing the big picture: the lifespan of a digital collection well beyond the day of public release. an early phase of the cross-departmental collaboration on uic library’s dams migration, as outlined by darcovich et al. (2019), was to bring the metadata fields and structure for each contentdm collection into alignment and to ensure not only that they used the same fields, but also that metadata creators mean the same thing by each field. for example, older collections did not have a consistent definition for the fields “type”, “form”, and “medium”, and the term “photographs” could have appeared in any one of these fields. digital librarians are far less inclined to be focused on a single collection and are more concerned with how this data set – the totality of materials in the dams – will behave when people search or browse it. if that interface is providing a facet for “form” or “medium,” all collections should be using compatible terms in those fields, so that end users have a consistent and successful experience regardless of which collection the content comes from. prior to developing a workflow where all contributors communicated from the outset, the digital programs staff sometimes received metadata spreadsheets that had been developed without prior consultation. in some cases, the data was derived from item-level inventories that were meant to serve a different purpose than searches in an online system. these inventories were meant to be read from top to bottom, so titles contained references “up” to earlier items in the list. once extracted into digital object records, the user can find any item independently, so a title with a “see above” reference may not make sense. titles derived from finding aids might also assume that the user is reading the entire finding aid, so might contain terms that are highly contextual, such as “photo of donor’s uncle.” once in a dams search system, and away from the context of the original finding aid, these terms no longer make sense in an item title. these experiences made digital librarians advocates of using a metadata template that reinforces standards and guidelines at every stage of the workflow, and of beginning each digitization project with a careful, collaborative review of the finding aid. the collaborative metadata workflow as many researchers have suggested, metadata work has inevitably become a highly collaborative process. in the uic library, the current metadata workflow is highly collaborative. as the diagram below indicates, archivists first create basic metadata from the collection’s content and context using their experience working with or processing the collection. the dps staff then establish the metadata structure, such as the complex objects in the james parker collection. next, the li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 139 catalogers from ram enhance and validate the descriptive metadata, making sure the metadata fields follow standardizations as indicated in the metadata template and using controlled vocabularies. after this step, the metadata returns to dps to review, format, and upload to the dams where the now-digital collection becomes available to the public. librarians and archivists from the three departments communicate throughout the whole workflow to address issues we encounter due to different perspectives. figure 4. metadata workflow the following two cases illustrate how we have begun to balance the different perspectives and values outlined above. in both cases, the metadata for the collections was developed for our old contentdm environment when cross-collection search was not an option and metadata work did not necessarily engage more than one department. the cases below describe the changes we made as we collaboratively revised the metadata for the new libsafe environment. richard j. daley collection as mentioned earlier, from the perspective of the catalogers, the metadata should generate a list of browsable subject headings which tell end users what the collection is about. to reach this goal, a thorough analysis was conducted of existing subjects of the richard j. daley collection in contentdm. to create a usable list of subjects, one approach was to agree on a single term where multiple similar terms were available. for example, catalogers used “charities” instead of “fund raising,” and other similar subjects. figure 4 shows how we analyzed and selected the preferred subjects. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 140 figure 5. analysis and selection of subjects to limit the number of subjects, the subjects of the same category were grouped, and a broader term was chosen. for example, “sports” is now used instead of “baseball.” using a broader subject as a facet sacrifices some metadata accuracy for that image since more specific subject terms will not be retained in the “subject” field. however, it has simplified the browsing experience. to maintain the specificity of metadata, the catalogers applied relatively detailed information in the “description” field, which can be retrieved by a keyword search. using a group of five images from the same event as an example (figures 5 & 6), the same subjects “mayors; inauguration” and name headings “daley, richard j., 1902-1976; daley, eleanor, 1907-2003” were applied to each one of the five images. they all have the same title as well. however, each image has a very detailed description that gives more information to end users. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 141 figure 6. images from the same folder of the richard j. daley collection figure 7. metadata for the five images from the same folder of the richard j. daley collection the efforts above took various user behavior and needs into consideration. a browsable subject list helps users survey what was occurring during a certain area and time period. the enriched description provides valuable clues to help users locate a certain group or type of image to fulfill some specific information needs. for example, if a user is looking for images of entertainers, the broader term “entertainer” will lead to more relevant search results instead of searching for “actors”, “singers”, and “dancers” one by one, etc. in this case, it not only enables catalogers to create higher quality metadata with higher efficiency, but also improves the end user experience. james parker collection this collection includes 23,491 photographic negatives and prints that extensively document chicago’s built environment. it also contains a strong representation of public events held during the administration of mayor richard j. daley. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 142 one quality of the james parker collection that stands out is that it includes folders of images all of which are very similar to one another. for example, one folder might contain 70 images of the same bridge. when first digitized in the contentdm environment, the folder title was applied to every image from that folder. when we migrated to the libsafe environment, we revised the object structure to create a one-to-one match between complex digital objects and archival folders. this strategy both preserves the original archival arrangement and prevents scores of very similar images from overwhelming the end user in search results. each complex object is composed of a parent record and many child records under its umbrella. figure 7 is a screenshot of the metadata of a typical complex object. the line which is highlighted in yellow is the “parent record”; each of the line’s underneath is a “child record.” every child record relates to an individual image in this group. since these child objects share lots of common features, metadata which applies to the whole group of images such as “subject,” “geographic location,” “description” was recorded only once in the “parent record.” specific metadata of a particular child object will be recorded in the particular “child record” only, such as “alternative title,” “caption,” “address,” etc. (see figure 8). figure 8. metadata of a typical complex object – parent record level figure 9. metadata of a typical complex object – child record level in this way, similar and related images are well organized and presented in search results as a group, which leads to a more satisfying user experience. this organization also successfully restored the archival context of this collection. figure 10 is a screenshot of the james parker collection in libsafe that shows the archival context by folder. figure 11 is also a screenshot from libsafe that shows the archival context by series. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 143 figure 10. james parker collection in libsafe that shows the archival context by folder figure 11. james parker collection in libsafe that shows the archival context by series future directions the uic library is currently adjusting practices in the metadata creation workflow to produce a new digital collections interface that better serves a wider range of users and strikes a better balance between the content description with which catalogers and digital librarians are most concerned, and the contextual information that concerns archivists. there are three ways the uic library will continue to try to improve that content/context balance in future work: aggregated digitization and description, technology enhancements, and moving from a linear to a circular workflow. aggregated digitization and description the james parker collection, described above, was the uic library’s first attempt to deliver a large image collection without having to develop item-level metadata, instead drawing from the folder titles to describe images in the aggregate. this strategy uses the digital object arrangement to restore archival context to digitized material. the library has eight more forthcoming digitized collections that have been scanned with this approach. each of these collections will offer nuances and lessons learned as to when this aggregate approach is a good strategy for a given collection. it appears to work well for collections where all materials in each folder are highly homogenous. the uic library has also largely focused on scanning photographic materials, and it is possible that providing folders as digital objects will be a better option as the library begins to scan more full text documents. initial experiences with the james parker collection and the early steps of the next eight collections suggest that a crucial first step to aggregated digitization and description is a thorough review of the finding aid by all stakeholders. if the finding aid is to become the basis for digital object discovery, it must be error-free and folder titles must be constructed with repository-wide keyword search effectiveness in mind. the risk of the “folder-as-digital-object” approach is that it can tip the balance between content and context so far toward the side of context li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 144 that materials inside folders will be impossible for users to retrieve in a keyword search. maintaining content-based discovery will be an important consideration for catalogers as they begin working with the next eight collections. technology enhancements: iiif as noted earlier, the libsafe dams enables libraries to customize the iiif manifests that control digital object layout and can provide supplemental metadata. this technology may help to bridge the gap between content and context – that tension between the perspectives of archivists, catalogers, and digital librarians. several libraries have begun to use the iiif manifest to present objects in a digital collection according to their context in the finding aid. the getty research institute (2021) has developed the research collections viewer, which uses iiif to reconnect digitized materials to their archival context. the edward ruscha photographs of sunset boulevard and hollywood boulevard, 1965-2010 is one getty collection that enables end users to browse digitized materials using the finding aid inventory. the united states holocaust memorial museum (2021) also uses iiif to balance context with content in their digital collections. users can search digitized material across all of the museum’s collections and once they select an item, they can also browse by the collection structure. these collections are not the first to show robust archival context; zhang (2012) highlights examples of digital collections that present the digitized material to the end user in the context of the finding aid inventory. links to digitized items from a finding aid were likely among the first approaches to delivering digital content. developments like the widespread adoption of contentdm enabled users to find material based on the content, but at the expense of context. the use of iiif manifests offers the opportunity to do justice to both modes of discovery, thereby meeting the needs of users who may see the same material in very different ways. the following example from getty offers a balanced view into a digitized image from a collection. users can not only browse through digitized content from the ed ruscha collection by the finding aid order, but also see any given item displayed in that contextual order. the image display shows both contentbased and contextual metadata on the same screen. li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 145 figure 12. getty research institute research collection viewer while this work won’t be undertaken at uic until much more of the digital backlog has been brought into public view, the work of libraries like the getty provides an inspiring example of what can be done when libraries have more access and control over the iiif manifest. moving from linear to circular workflow model while our workflow was improved to increase collaboration, the current workflow model is a straight line with archivists at the beginning of the process. this means that archivists develop the first draft of digital object metadata, which is then revised by two other departments. what the end user sees may be quite different from what the archivist originally provided. in the future, it is imperative to build in a more circular project workflow. the cross-departmental team that meets during the project proposal phase to envision and define the project now stays in contact via microsoft teams throughout the entire project. we will also implement a project close meeting to review the resulting digital collection before it is published to end users. conclusion li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 146 this paper demonstrates how differences in end user behavior and different interdepartmental perspectives on metadata can strengthen the digital object workflow to serve a wider variety of users. significant progress has been made to uic’s metadata collaboration since the establishment of the cross-departmental metadata working group. new digitization projects now routinely engage the scua, ram and dps departments from the outset, which we hope will lead to more consistent metadata which is compatible across collections for effective repository-wide search. adjustments and refinements have been applied to the metadata workflow to successfully address these differences and to strengthen the content/context balance. with all the further improvements mentioned above, we are excited to continue integrating the diverse strengths of these departments into our metadata workflow to serve a range of digital collection users. references allison-bunnell, j., cresci callahan, m., gueguen, g., kunze, j., matiusak, k., wiedeman, g. 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(n.d.). edward ruscha photographs of sunset boulevard and hollywood boulevard, 1965-2010. getty research collections viewer. retrieved june 22, 2022, from https://www.getty.edu/research/collections/collection/100001 https://doi.org/10.25740/gg453cv6438 https://doi.org/10.25740/gg453cv6438 https://doi.org/10.1300/j111v39n02_02 https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=tessel%20bogaard https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=laura%20hollink https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=jan%20wielemaker https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=jacco%20van%20ossenbruggen https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=lynda%20hardman https://doi.org/10.1108/jd-06-2018-0087 https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-81.1.135 https://online.vraweb.org/index.php/vrab/article/view/35/33 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2005.01.008 https://www.getty.edu/research/collections/collection/100001 li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 147 goodale, p., david clough, p., fernando, s., ford, n., & stevenson, m. 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(2019). are we coming together? the archival descriptive landscape and the roles of archivist and cataloger. the american archivist, 82(2), 331380. https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc-82-02-18 therrell, g. (2019). more product, more process: metadata in digital image collections. digital library perspectives, 35(1), 2-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlp-06-2018-0018 united states holocaust memorial museum. (n.d.). hafftka and jonisch families photographs. search our collections. retrieved juen 22, 2022, from https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn551417#?rsc=170700&cv=0&c=0&m=0 &s=0&xywh=-823%2c-88%2c2676%2c1753 xie, i., joo, s., & matusiak, k. (2018). multifaceted evaluation criteria of digital libraries in academic settings: similarities and differences from different stakeholders. the journal of academic librarianship, 44(6), 854-863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.09.002 zhang, j. 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(2013). when archival description meets digital object metadata: a typological study of digital archive representation. the american archivist, 76(1), 174195. https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.76.1.121u85342062w155 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=paula%20goodale https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=paul%20david%20clough https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=samuel%20fernando https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=nigel%20ford https://www-emerald-com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/insight/search?q=mark%20stevenson https://doi.org/10.1108/jd-03-2014-0045 https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.68.2.c741823776k65863 https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2020.1863889 https://doi.org/10.1086/648464 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2006.05.009 https://doi.org/10.3366/ijhac.2011.0044 https://doi.org/10.1080/15332748.2015.1154747 https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc-82-02-18 https://doi.org/10.1108/dlp-06-2018-0018 https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn551417#?rsc=170700&cv=0&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=-823%2c-88%2c2676%2c1753 https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn551417#?rsc=170700&cv=0&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=-823%2c-88%2c2676%2c1753 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.09.002 https://doi.org/10.1080/15332748.2012.677671 https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.76.1.121u85342062w155 li, seneca, and young / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 148 mingyan li is a metadata librarian at the university of illinois chicago library. she received her master of library and information science from the university of illinois at urbana-champaign and also holds a master of computer and information systems from bradley university. mingyan's scholarly interests focus on developing and accessing metadata workflows and seeking creative approaches for managing metadata. tracy seneca is the head of digital programs & services at the university of illinois chicago library. she has worked to establish the uic library's first comprehensive digital preservation, management and access system. she also helped to establish the requirements and design for explore chicago collections, which unites discovery of digitized materials and finding aids across dozens of cultural heritage institutions throughout chicago. megan keller young is a special collections librarian in special collections and university archives at the university of illinois chicago's library of the health sciences. she received her master of library and information science from wayne state university. her research interests include how health & medical archival material are used by researchers and ways to increase and diversify those uses. 234-title page 234-li-galley proof library departmental perspectives many of the papers that discussed differences in departmental perspectives focused on the tension between providing contextual metadata about a collection (as provided in a finding aid) and descriptive item-level metadata expressed in standards such a... digital project workflow future directions issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org embedding library services in research stages: chinese subject service and the research lifecycle model shu liu abstract: through in-depth interviews, we analyzed user needs at different stages of scientific research, and constructed a library service model that can be practically integrated into all research stages. this article highlights the subject service model in use in chinese academic libraries and demonstrates how it can work to support researchers across the research lifecycle. to cite this article: liu, s. (2017). embedding library services in research stages: chinese subject service and the research lifecycle model. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 16-31. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.24 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 16-31 issn:2474-3542 embedding library services in research stages: chinese subject service and the research lifecycle model1 shu liu peking university library, beijing, china abstract through in-depth interviews, we analyzed user needs at different stages of scientific research, and constructed a library service model that can be practically integrated into all research stages. this article highlights the subject service model in use in chinese academic libraries and demonstrates how it can work to support researchers across the research life-cycle. keywords: library services, chinese university libraries, research stages, research model introduction academic research has experienced dramatic changes, becoming more process-flow oriented, data intensive and collaborative, and libraries in china and elsewhere are transforming their services to better meet the needs of researchers. subject service, also called academic service or discipline service (hereafter referred to as subject service), is a new service model being adopted by university libraries in china. this model takes into account the different disciplines of the researchers and provides active, positive in-depth, personalized and convenient services for the researchers. in areas with a longer established tradition of the subject service or “liaison” model, research university libraries offer intensive research support services not only as an important part of library services but also as a strategic development plan for the whole library (cornell university library, 2011), and researchers have investigated the utility of these services through a research life-cycle model (vaughan et al, 2013). but this type of investigation has not been carried out before in china. peking university library now provides a variety of research support services, including high-level research consulting, data analysis, academic exchange, intellectual property and publishing services (peking university library, n. d. b). how well does peking university’s subject service model work to support researchers across the entire research lifecycle? in order to investigate this question, the author used a series of in-depth interviews to analyze library service needs at different stages of scientific research. by applying the life-cycle service model to research activities in school of mathematical sciences at peking university, the 1 material from this paper will be presented at ifla wlic 2017 (august 2017) in wrocław, poland. liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 17 author demonstrated the usefulness and significance of the research lifecycle model to chinese subject service. literature review emily mckenzie (2014) discussed strategies that have been successful when approaching research groups, as well as identifying initiatives that may be amenable to adaptation for the same purpose. vaughan et al (2013) used the research life-cycle model to analyze services at a large university in the u.s., and ina fourie and suzanne bakker (2012) reported on a service model for a manageable research cycle which was pioneered at the central cancer library of the netherlands cancer institute. moving on to research that has been conducted in chinese libraries, pang bei (2012) found that the librarian’s role has already been transformed to the extent that it is much more integral to the work of the researchers, and required to provide support at each stage of research cycles. xue wang (2014) analyzed the subject information demand of readers at different stages of scientific research, and tried to construct a subject service model for scientific research by taking the example of services for northeast institute of geography and agroecology chinese academy of science. song, guo and wei (2012) focused on how to provide high quality services for the researchers in shanghai jiaotong university. the work of these scholars shows the role of the library in the research process, in part. but few studies have looked at library services targeted across the whole cycle of research at universities in china. according to jisc (2013), the u.k. higher education consortium, the research lifecycle is generally considered to contain four main elements: idea discovery, proposal writing, research process and publication, which roughly correspond to the research stages we discuss in this paper: project preparatory stage, research and development stage, results or output stage(figure 1). figure 1. model for research stages based on jisc research lifecycle. reprinted from https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140615113149/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatw edo/campaigns/res3/jischelp.aspx#simulate liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 18 method this study was intended to be exploratory and to suggest different and richer library services, given new requirements and issues that researchers are facing. therefore, a qualitative, ethnographic approach to information collection and analysis was important. the author conducted face-to-face interviews with a total of 30 researchers in the school of mathematical sciences at peking university. interviews were conducted on site at the branch library of mathematics; the author approached researchers who were using the library and asked if they would be willing to be interviewed. she continued this process over multiple visits until she had interviewed the total of 30. interviewees possessed a high level of education, all of them with science training. 10 percent (3/30) had bachelor’s degrees, 20 percent (6/30) had master's degrees, 70 percent (21/30) had doctoral degrees(figure2), all of which were in science fields, and all had studied or worked in the school for between one and ten years. considering our interviewees’ busy schedules, interviews were limited to 30min. interviews were spread over a two-week period at the end of september and early october 2016 when the author visited the institute. all interviews were conducted in chinese. figure 2. education of interviewees survey results the structured interviews consisted of 8 questions that were asked of all participants. interviewees were also shown a list of 15 library services. the author selected the services by discussing librarians' experience, reading services descriptions from various library web sites, and reading articles in the lis database. (all listed services are offered by peking university library). the questions were designed to test the value of the library service model and gain insights on how to effectively deploy the model. the questions most relevant to the current research project are: 10% 20% 70% level of education bachelor's degree master's degree doctoral degree liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 19 1. what do you need libraries to do during project preparatory stage of scientific research? (shows list.) please select the services you are interested in. could you also suggest other services you need? 2. what do you need libraries to do during the development and research phase of scientific research? (shows list.) please select the services you are interested in. could you also suggest other services you need? 3. what do you need libraries to do during the results and output stage of scientific research? (shows list.) please select the services you are interested in. could you also suggest other services you need? the full text of all interview questions and the complete list of services can be found in the appendix to the article. figure 3 shows the services that interviewees most commonly selected as ones they were interested in. as it shows, nearly all interviewees would like libraries to provide research information, research data management, and data analysis consulting services. figure 3. most commonly selected services these services can be assigned to the stages of the jisc research lifecycle model as follows:  project preparatory stage: 97 percent (29/30) of respondents selected providing research information; about 50 percent (15/30) selected discipline resources construction; 20 percent (6/30) noted discipline development supporting (all of these had doctoral degrees); about 43 percent (13/30) selected training in literature searches; just 3 percent (1/30) selected building service platforms. liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 20  research and development stage: 90 percent (27/30) of responses selected research data management, and about 60 percent (24/30) selected data analysis consulting (12 of the 24 specifically mentioned financial mathematics). 16 percent (5/30) selected database and research tools application consultation.  results and output stage: 20 percent (6/30) of responses selected patent information service, and about 33 percent (10/30) noted academic achievements cited or evaluated reports; 20 percent (11/30) noted writing help. during the research process, users have different needs at different stages, and at each stage, there are opportunities for libraries to provide researchers with different services. using both personnel and technological solutions, libraries should construct a subject service model that works across the research stages, covering service content, service time and other service aspects. our researchers were interested in receiving library support at every stage of research. obviously it helps librarians to ascertain the depth and breadth of the services they should provide if they are fully familiar with the activities their researchers are engaged in. based on the interviews, the comprehensive research life cycle model can describe the research librarian’s role in three main research stages: project preparatory stage, research and development stage, results and output stage. (see figure 4) figure 4. model for library services based on scientific research stages liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 21 for example, in the project preparatory stage, researchers need to start actively collecting resources. with so many journals in the databases, how do they know which journal to start with? do they target high impact journals, or are publications in any peer-reviewed journal in their fields adequate? librarians should learn how to choose and utilize databases and tools available to identify journal titles, their impact and rankings, and play a role in guiding researchers to make a decision on selecting the appropriate journals to meet their specific needs. findings and analysis the following findings and discussions focus on themes relating to professional practice within the subject service / research lifecycle model. the type of support required by a researcher will change based on the discipline within which they are working. more and more, librarians focus on how researchers’ needs vary depending on both their discipline and their research stage. for example, at peking university we have noticed that researchers in the science field tend to prefer twitter and digital repositories, but researchers in social science fields are less likely to use emerging technologies. the library needs to consider these factors in the development of library resources, library services, library facilities and even the future development of the library, so the library can fully position itself in the research process. basing on the survey, support services can be provided in every stage of the research process as set forth below. project preparatory stage in recent years at peking university, more and more librarians are starting to play roles like teacher, subject leader, or even research staff collaborating with researchers. new roles generate a lot of opportunities to increase the visibility of the librarians in a school, especially where libraries are underutilized or librarians are not visible. collaboration comes from good relationships between the librarian and the researchers. in the early stages of the research, research activities generally involve designing studies, collecting information and finding the funds to apply for and other activities. the interviewees were asked a question about need for services provided by the libraries at this stage. q1: what do libraries need to do during the project preparatory stage of scientific research? services provided by the library at this stage include professional consultations (research consultations), maintaining frequently asked questions (faqs), creating research guides such as guides to dynamic interdisciplinary research and trend analysis, providing research information (paper documents, online databases and other sources), document retrieval, looking for potential research partners, and providing information sharing spaces. five major themes emerged for this question. liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 22 providing research information almost all interviewees (29/30) noted the importance of libraries providing subject collections. they specifically mentioned foreign language books, foreign language periodicals, chinese books, important conference papers, and electronic resources. the subject service librarian is not only the information collector, but also provides and transmits information to the researcher. all of these resources and services provided by the library allow researchers to follow top information and developments in domestic and international disciplines, stimulate research staff inspire teaching and research, help them identify research projects, clarify research direction, improve work efficiency, and even promote the process of the construction of disciplines. discipline development service discipline development service is a new service in recent years in chinese university libraries, which provides support for the research group, the administration, or the discipline2, rather than to individual researchers. in peking university library, service components include tracking the progress and development at home and abroad of research groups and their rivals, providing dynamic updates on new technologies, and providing patent information related to disciplines (peking university library, n. d. a). several interviewees (6/30) were familiar with this service. an interviewee who had been involved with department evaluation told us: “during the 4th chinese discipline evaluation, there were demands for scientific assessments, discipline development, and talent assessment, so we cooperated with the library to ask librarians to get information from the essential science indicators (esi) and incites databases. they helped us not only mine top papers, analyze hot papers, and compare and monitor the disciplines between the universities, but also to track talents (editor’s note: especially promising or productive researchers / faculty), and mine the special contributions of talents.” during the evaluation of a discipline in chinese universities, there are demands for scientific assessments, discipline development, talent introduction and talent assessment and decision support. so libraries are asked to use sources such as esi and incites databases to not only mine top papers, analyze hot papers, provide personnel tracking and compare and monitor the discipline, but also to study the discipline’s frontiers, mine the special contributions of talents, and track, locate, compare and predict discipline competitiveness. for example, in may 2016, the field of physics of peking university entered the top 1% in its discipline in esi for the first time, so the library analyzed the main contributors from 188 highly cited papers published by peking university from 2006 to 2015 (table 1, weiming academic express, 2016). 2 editor’s note: roughly equivalent to a subject area or program file:///c:/users/gliu/appdata/local/microsoft/windows/temporary%20internet%20files/content.outlook/ayluxrvu/peking liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 23 table 1. main contributors to the physics discipline at peking university. note. reprinted from peking university increases 1 top 1% and 1 top 0.1% disciplines in may 2016, by weiming academic express, july 5, 2016. retrieved from http://weibo.com/u/5963822635?profile_ftype=1&is_all=1#_rnd1499825188373. (there are two highly cited papers where we could not verify the departmental attribution.) discipline resources construction discipline resources (editor’s note: what north american libraries might call “subject collections”) are important resources to support teachers and researchers in carrying out teaching and research, and are the foundations on which libraries can deepen their services. 15/30 interviewees selected the construction of discipline resources as important. as one researcher noted, “librarians are the leading constructors for resources, so they should listen to the relevant teachers or researchers in order to make resource development more accurate, suitable and comprehensive.” and the author also shares the following email from a researcher in the school of psychology in peking university: “annual review of clinical psychology is a very authoritative psychology journal which this department teacher's teaching and research largely depend on, so thanks to the library for purchasing it quickly and thanks for your work.” (translated from chinese). the value to researchers of resources construction is especially well captured in this story. libraries also actively build special resources. during the survey, 10/30 interviewees wanted to know more about the academic achievement ecosystems built by peking university library (pku). this was not one of the listed services but came up in conversations. these include four platforms (pku open research data; pku journal platform; pku institutional repository; scholar@peking university) which support research data management, publishing, storage and communication. specifically, pku institutional repository (http://ir.pku.edu.cn/) is a central, open-access academic repository of research by members of the peking university. pku open research data platform (http://opendata.pku.edu.cn/) is used for publishing, tracking, discovering and reusing the scholars’ and institutions’ data. pku journal platform includes foreign and chinese academic journals and internal journals published by various institutions of peking faculty name wos published papers contribution rate school of physics 148 78.72 school of chemistry and molecular engineering 36 19.15 school of information science and technology 27 14.36 institute of technology 24 12.77 advanced interdisciplinary research institute 2 1.06 school of mathematics 1 0.53 http://weibo.com/u/5963822635?profile_ftype=1&is_all=1#_rnd1499825188373 http://ir.pku.edu.cn/ http://opendata.pku.edu.cn/ liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 24 university (http://www.oaj.pku.edu.cn/oaj/cn/oaj/home.shtml). and scholar@peking university (http://scholar.pku.edu.cn/) provides a convenient network platform for academic scholars to set up personal academic homepages independently. training in literature searches although most interviewees (mostly experts and well-established in their field) felt confident about their search skills (“we get acquainted with the field”), there were still 13/30 researchers who remarked that “there is always a need” for training. these researchers want to “be trained, the better the sooner”. specific areas in which the need for further training was noted included: how to use the document management tools, how to consult special databases, and how to access professional books, laws and regulations related to their research. building service platforms some libraries construct disciplinary service platforms which integrate appropriate disciplinary resources and services and allow subject librarians and researchers to interact and communicate, such as for example libguides at harvard university (http://guides.library.harvard.edu/) and libguides at cambridge university (http://libguides.cam.ac.uk/). just one interviewee showed interest in these platforms: “it would be interesting if it could focus on the needs of readers and show the variety of resources of the library, it could be helpful for navigation of library services, and even offer customization services for us.” peking university library is using the vip® discipline service platform (http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/fw/xkfw/xuekeboke). development and research phase at this stage, the needs of users in the school of mathematical sciences are mainly divided into two parts, one is the accumulation and storage of experimental data and another is the need for statistical analysis methods, software and resources. the interviewees were asked about need for services provided by the libraries at this stage. q2: what do libraries need to do during the development and research phase of scientific research? according to interviewees’ feedback, at this stage, the services provided by the library should include data management, research tools, data analysis and other services. peking university library provides a rich variety of research tools and services for the researchers, such as data analysis software, data management services, digital services, multimedia technology services. in addition, r&d results between each group of data are confidential, so libraries also provide a number of standard international data, public patent information data, even market dynamics information to the researchers. four major themes emerged for this question. http://www.oaj.pku.edu.cn/oaj/cn/oaj/home.shtml http://scholar.pku.edu.cn/ http://guides.library.harvard.edu/ http://libguides.cam.ac.uk/ http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/fw/xkfw/xuekeboke liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 25 research data management for researchers in the science field, research data management is very important. libraries provide research data management services which include collecting research data generated in the process, saving research data, building institutional repositories, providing text or data analysis tools, and providing files, data and other research data management services. libraries not only standardize research management processes, also build research management platform. three of the 30 interviewees commented that they did not know that the library could do “data management,” or that they did not know what the service meant. they suggested libraries should focus on getting services in front of researchers and be prepared with a simple explanation of what data management includes. one interviewee commented, “i think that what a librarian normally does is for books, but now i realize that they can do something for data. and this is a need for me and my team.” thus it can be seen there is still a little confusion about the role of libraries in data management, and researchers do not necessarily see why they should talk to a librarian about data. sharing specific examples and success stories can help to counter this attitude. more pleasing, most researchers (27/30) did know about the role of the library in data management, an interviewee pointed out that “i know the institutional repository constructed by the library, and in the future i want my articles to be submitted to the institutional repository, so i can share my opinion with more researchers and get more access to others’ achievements or scientific materials.” peking university library constructed their research data open platform to support research data management, storage and publishing, promote reusing and standardizing the data. (dataverse project, 2016) data analysis consulting services data analysis consulting services consists of two parts. on the one hand, the libraries provide statistical analysis tools and platform, and carry out training on the use of this software. on the other hand, we help users perform data mining, data analysis and data integration in order to meet the needs of the user’s decision-making and innovation. many interviewees (24/30) indicated interest in data analysis consulting services. some of them noted that to them this service meant the libraries would provide statistical analysis tools and platforms, and carry out training in the use of software, and others insisted librarians should also help researchers perform data mining, data analysis and data integration in order to meet the needs of the user decision-making and innovation. one interviewee shared the experience, “our school wanted to investigate the distribution of the discipline of topology accurately and rapidly, so the librarian was asked to analyze the research literatures on this discipline including authors, institutions, publication names, and countries from the wos database. the librarian retrieved the results of a detailed analysis, revealed the current international research status, main academic institutions, discussed the main research directions of the subject area by the means of wos and incites. these works are wonderful, and we really appreciate the library.” liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 26 database and research tools application consultation research tools generally refer to computer software and network technology related to research including document management tools, information search tools, research aids, online learning platforms, and open access technology. chinese college and university libraries mostly provide spss statistical analysis, autocad-aided design, zinemaker, electronic books and document management tools such as noteexpress, refworks, endnote and related training. one interviewee commented, "i’m a new teacher and i want my students be proficient with the document management tools." results and output phase as research progresses, results are produced in succession. the interviewees were asked a question about need for services provided by the libraries at this stage. q3: what do libraries need to do at the results and output stage of scientific research? from the survey, we found that at this stage, researchers most need academic publishing services, patent information services, and writing help. therefore, the libraries provide services such as academic publishing, open access, copyright consulting, institutional repository and other services for the purpose of publication and long-term preservation of scientific research results. three major themes emerged for this question. patent information service several researchers (6/30) mentioned an interest in patent services due to their need to apply for patents in the process of scientific research. patent information services provided by libraries are based on reviewing the patent literature for technical information, economic information and legal information. a researcher described how he hoped this service would work: “through scientific processing, collation and analysis, the library can get patent information about products with high technical and commercial value, and use this patent information to provide the appropriate services for us.” the following patent review (figure 5) provides an example: liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 27 figure 5. comparison of each patent application, authorization, the number of valid patent and high strength of patent. adapted from analysis report on patent competitiveness of peking university (page 24) by l.p. wang, x.w. liu, c.h. zhang & y.q. liu (2016). internal peking university library report: unpublished. adapted with permission. we can see that in terms of the amount of patent applications and licensing, tsinghua university and zhejiang university have a significant number of advantages over peking university. (wang, liu, zhang & liu, 2016) academic achievements cited or evaluated report citation retrieval is a service for chinese researchers that analyzes how a paper was cited in databases such as wos, scopus, cscd and cssci, and creates a search certificate report as a result for researchers. at present, these kinds of certificate reports are needed in many research approvals or offers to help validate the ability and level of researchers. several interviewees (10/30) asked more about this service for the purpose of coming funding applications. research data management this service was discussed at the second stage in detail, so at this stage, all interviewees (30/30) showed interest in this service. writing help at this stage, subject librarians may be asked for writing help. peking university library wants to not only to provide writing consultation, but also to be embedded into the researchers’ projects in order to give submission suggestions and advice on how to meet academic standards. several liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 28 interviewees (11/30) indicated interest in this service. one interviewee commented: “at the stage of writing, students really need instruction in writing skills and copyright.” additional observations the interviews were designed to collect needs for the library service model and gain insights on how to effectively deploy the model. in addition to being asked about the needs of each of these phases, interviewees also answered the following questions. q4: is there any possibility of collaborating with librarians? in order to increase the interviewees’ awareness of librarian collaborations, the author introduced a project being conducted for the discipline office of peking university, the library’s peking university competitive analysis report (http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kyzc/jingzhengqingbao). most interviewees showed some interest in this service. an interviewee mentioned that she hoped that librarians would be able to introduce library related resources and services in her class. this researcher was familiar with the library and she noted: “good collaboration comes from good relationships between the librarian and the teachers, and a good librarian will do anything to achieve that.” q5: which problems and benefits have you experienced with use of the library, and do you have any suggestions for addressing the problems？ several interviewees mentioned that libraries need to not only count the number of documents, analyze the structure of documents, and analyze the utilization of literature and reader satisfaction for the existing library collection, but also need to meet the needs of researchers by revealing weaknesses in the quality of their collections, amend and improve the collection, optimize the structure of the collection, and even just get information for the readers. an interviewee shared his experience: “once i needed to find an article, the library did not have the journal on the shelf, so i tried to ask the librarian for help who immediately helped me look for it in the database, finally we found the e-journal. i was very grateful to the librarian for her work.” q6: is there anything you would like to add that i haven’t asked? there were a wide variety of responses to this catch-all question. many interviewees reflected on the challenge of embedding library services in the different stages of scientific activities. “the library should build a team for this”, “if possible, library should provide more public spaces.” an interviewee spoke about this approach: “i deal with research data management issues all day that are arising more and more frequently in my everyday jobs, perhaps it's really an exciting opportunity for me and for librarians. i think it’s fantastic that librarians have such willingness to embrace this new part of their job and create a better support service for researchers.” http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kyzc/jingzhengqingbao liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 29 conclusions library programs help students and teachers become active and efficient users of information. based on the interviews, we have found that researchers need research librarians to provide support across the three main research stages: project preparatory stage, research and development stage, results and output stage. the services offered by peking university library do a good job of providing this support, though clearly some services are more popular than others. library services are important in every stage of the research process. a variety of issues were raised when prompting interviewees on services they would like the library to offer, and the scientific activities significantly influenced library resources construction, library services, library facilities and even the future of the library. luckily, more and more librarians focus on researchers’ various needs. libraries can grasp the needs of researchers through the research process, clarify the type of service, find new service point, and provide innovative services. scientific research is a discovery process, the research libraries in the world should pay more attention to embedding all-round services for the researchers in all stages of scientific research on the basis of traditional services. it is not only the active response to the change of the external information environment, but also a change of the library service concept based on the scientific research life cycle. libraries should actively embed library services in scientific research in order to support researchers to find, manage and make good use of scientific data resources, promote scientific development, and ultimately better establish a user-driven library. references cornell university library. (2011). toward 2015: cornell university library strategic plan, 2011-2015. retrieved july 11, 2017 from https://www.library.cornell.edu/about/inside/strategic-plan dataverse project. (2016). q & a with peking university dataverse. retrieved july 4, 2017 from https://dataverse.org/blog/q-peking-university-dataverse fourie, i. and bakker, s. (2013). value of a manageable research life cycle for lis: a cancer library exploring the needs of clinicians and researchers as example. the electronic library, 31(5), 648-663. jisc. (2013). how jisc is helping researchers. retrieved july 11, 2017 from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/campaigns/res3/jischelp.aspx#simulate mckenzie, e. (2014), academic libraries and outreach to the sciences: taking a closer look at research groups. science & technology libraries, 33(2), 165-175. pang, b. (2012). study on the library subject service based on e-science and the life cycle theory of research. library work in colleges and universities, 32(150), 81-83. [in chinese] https://www.library.cornell.edu/about/inside/strategic-plan https://dataverse.org/blog/q-peking-university-dataverse http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/campaigns/res3/jischelp.aspx#simulate liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 30 peking university library. (n. d. a). research management and decision-making support. retrieved july 11, 2017 from http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kyzc/guanliyujuecezhichi peking university library. (n. d. b). research support. retrieved july 12, 2017 from http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kyzc/ketizixun rodwell, j. and fairbairn, l. (2008). dangerous liaisons? defining the faculty liaison librarian service model, its effectiveness and sustainability. library management, 29(1-2), 116124. song, h., guo, j., and pan. w. (2012), practical exploration on embedded subject service oriented research teams. library and information service, 56(1), 27-30. [in chinese] vaughan, k., hayes, b. e., lerner, r. c., mcelfresh, k. r., pavlech, l., romito, d., reeves, l., and morris, e. n. (2013). development of the research lifecycle model for library services. journal of the medical library association : jmla, 101(4), 310–314. http://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.01318 wang, l.p., liu, x.w., zhang, c.h. & liu, y.q. (2016). analysis report on patent competitiveness of peking university. internal peking university library report: unpublished. wang, x. (2014), an empirical study on the discipline service model embedded in scientific research process. information studies: theory & application, 37(12), 81-85. [in chinese] weiming academic express. (july 5, 2016). peking university increases 1 top 1% and 1 top 0.1% disciplines in may 2016. retrieved from http://weibo.com/u/5963822635?profile_ftype=1&is_all=1#_rnd1499825188373. [in chinese] appendices: 1. interview questions q1: what do you need libraries to do during the project preparatory stage of scientific research? please see this list of library services. (shows list.) what you are interested in? could you also suggest other services you need? q2: what do you need libraries to do during the development and research phase of scientific research? please see this list of library services. (shows list.) what you are interested in? could you also suggest other services you need? q3: what do you need libraries to do during the results and output stage of scientific research? please see this list of library services. (shows list.) what you are interested in? could you also suggest other services you need? q4: why do you use information to complete the daily tasks? http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kyzc/guanliyujuecezhichi http://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.01318 http://weibo.com/u/5963822635?profile_ftype=1&is_all=1#_rnd1499825188373 liu / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 31 q5: how do you usually use the library? q6: is there any possibility of collaborating with librarians? q7: which problems and benefits experienced with use of the library, and suggestions for addressing the problems？ q8: is there anything you would like to add that i haven’t asked? 2. list of library services no. library services 1 book borrows, recalls, renewal 2 interlibrary loan 3 scanning, digitizing, multimedia content editing 4 providing research information 5 discipline resources construction 6 patent information service 7 discipline development supporting 8 data analysis consulting services 9 research data management 10 database and research tools application consultation 11 academic achievements cited or evaluated report 12 training in literature searches 13 build service platform 14 self-service (print, photocopy, scan) 15 writing help about the author shu liu is an associate professor in the peking university library. she joined the library in 2005. her research interests include knowledge management, lis education and research supporting services. she has published more than ten journal articles and presented to a number of conferences. http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/en/fw/kongjiansheshi/zizhufuwu 03.24-134-1-ce_peking_final_title_1 03.24-134-1-ce_peking_final_1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org sustainable development goals: insights from research libraries roxanne missingham abstract: research libraries have provided a key to unlocking the knowledge of the centuries. the nature of their stewardship of knowledge has led to a focus on understanding the value and sustainability in terms of collections. the extraordinarily rich collections have made a great contribution to education and to the communities they serve. a new theory of change which underpins the united nations sustainable development goals (sdgs) highlights the contribution that activities can make to improve national and international economic, social, community and governmental health. this article analyses the nature of major research library activities in light of the sdgs methodology. taking this broad framework to the work of international alliance of research universities (iaru) libraries provides new insights into the value and broader contribution of those libraries. the indicators assessed in the framework specifically relate to the outcomes of education and information within the societies they service. the case study suggests that the libraries make a significant and deep contribution both to the current national environments as well as in creating a framework for future returns on the investment to their universities. to cite this article: missingham, r. (2020). sustainable development goals: insights from research libraries. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.167 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 13-25 issn: 2474-3542 sustainable development goals: insights from research libraries roxanne missingham australian national university, canberra, act, australia abstract research libraries have provided a key to unlocking the knowledge of the centuries. the nature of their stewardship of knowledge has led to a focus on understanding the value and sustainability in terms of collections. the extraordinarily rich collections have made a great contribution to education and to the communities they serve. a new theory of change which underpins the united nations sustainable development goals (sdgs) highlights the contribution that activities can make to improve national and international economic, social, community and governmental health. this article analyses the nature of major research library activities in light of the sdgs methodology. taking this broad framework to the work of international alliance of research universities (iaru) libraries provides new insights into the value and broader contribution of those libraries. the indicators assessed in the framework specifically relate to the outcomes of education and information within the societies they service. the case study suggests that the libraries make a significant and deep contribution both to the current national environments as well as in creating a framework for future returns on the investment to their universities. keywords: research university libraries, evaluation, value of libraries, information service assessment; sustainable development goals introduction research libraries in universities have nourished education for many centuries. library collections have grown from manuscripts that record knowledge through the evolution of printed material that made the products of knowledge more widely available to new forms of information and storage in the digital age. throughout these revolutions in the creation and storage of knowledge there have been challenges and opportunities that have led to the development of new activities that provide access to collections, as well as training that enhances the skills of those using collections to navigate their way to locate and use digital and print information resources. the revolutionary nature of collecting and providing access to knowledge has been explored through the work of libraries over many centuries. libraries have survived through periods of physical attacks, disasters and wars. across this history of collecting knowledge the chains originally used to tie books to shelves have been unbound with generational change. the modern focus on providing access through digitisation and open access liberates knowledge to an audience never reached before. missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 14 traditionally the review and assessment of libraries and their services have focused on use – the recording and monitoring of those who use the materials and facilities of the libraries. the nature of managing collections has seen an emphasis on the depth and breadth of collections and their contribution to the academy through use by students and academics. the glory of the collections and their use is celebrated publicly in the histories of research libraries. the history of the describes the growth of collections collected carefully, expanded with the introduction of legal deposit, and significant donations bodleian (bodleian library and radcliffe camera, 2020, p. 1). the milestones recognised at the beginning of the last century include usage of the library by an average of a hundred people per day and the achievement of the 1,000,000th collection item in 1914. given the small population in oxford at the beginning of the last century, the difficulties and costs of transport and low participation in higher education these are remarkable facts. the nature of scholarly publishing and libraries has evolved significantly. more recently the third and fourth industrial and information revolutions have fundamentally changed library collections and services. in relation to the third information revolution, the computation created a new opportunity: today’s developments in digitization and globalization, one can argue, have led to such a radical overhaul and replacement of the previously established information infrastructures …that they have created an information and communications revolution which seems to have no end in sight. this “revolution” has required the invention of new nomenclatures—neologisms for new technologies, media and functions, a new kind of language that brings the revolutionary developments into the realm of the comprehensible and discussable (rayward, 2013, p.703). the revolution which created “e-everything” saw new impact from libraries in the creation, curation and access to electronic resources. the measures were foundational in understanding the extent of collections with consequent increases in use because of the ease of access. assessment has been based on the size and use of library collections, taking the concepts used in the print world. the change from the newly emerged fourth industrial revolution is more complex and diverse. it frames the digital environment as moving to create cyber-physical systems that replace current work and the workforce (schwab, 2015; schwab, 2106; davis, 2016). preparing for a roboticized world where artificial intelligence is embedded in the information interactions within education, society, communities, government and business is a change that is yet to be realised but will have far-reaching consequences. the impact of this revolution will require a reconceptualization of library assessment. in total, over the decades and through these revolutions the focus of understanding the nature of the contribution of research libraries has changed: increasingly, academic library value is linked to service, rather than products (kaufman, 2009, p. 2). library literature reveals this shift in library emphasis from collections to experience, from resources to educational impact from access to sense-making, from mediation to enabling (dow, 1998, p. 279; lougee, 2009, p. 612). the change is logical. because information products are generally produced outside of libraries, library value is increasingly invested in service aspects and librarian expertise. in fact, academic provosts have a future library focus that is “less on the library qua institution and more on the people who work in libraries…less on the library and more on the librarian” (webster & flowers, 2009, p. 306; oakleaf, 2010, p. 23). gathering data to reflect the contribution of libraries reached a point of formalisation with the information and documentation: methods and procedures for assessing the impact missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 15 of libraries (iso 16439). the standard grew from a significant body of research from all library sectors. the combination of factors relevant to research libraries is relevant to many components of the standard. it has emphasised the value of the library as having research, social and financial components. poll and payne (2006) outlined these dimensions in detail, and blagden (2006) contextualised the uk environment. the standard contains an extension of demonstrated impact to ‘the influence of libraries and their services on individuals and/or on society’ at large’ (international standards organisation, 2014). assessing the nature of available evidence reveals the complexities of aligning current data to the diverse goals outlined in the standard. there is not a single form of indicators or systems that provides a mapping of existing library indicators to the standard for all libraries. “from the large range of choices and aided by examples, librarians are able to construct their own investigations, based on their own needs” (de jager, 2017, p.286). into this complex environment of diverse indicators and methods of assessment the united nations sustainable development goals (sdgs) have added a new framework to consider the nature of the contribution made libraries. this article explores the nature of the sdgs in assessing international alliance of research universities (iaru) libraries. in applying the framework, the extended impact of the universities through libraries are identified, identifying services provided including collection access that are consistent with the demands of the third industrial revolution. in conclusion, the article considers how the fourth industrial revolution will require a new fundamental understanding of libraries and their role which can be built upon from the insights from applying the sdgs. united nations sdg the sdgs have a prominent history in terms of development of an intellectual framework for the un to achieve global progress. it was agreed by the united nations 193-member states on september 25, 2015 in new york. the sdgs replaced the millennial development goals expressing a commitment to improve the quality of life of people across the globe. there are 17 sustainable development goals with 169 targets embodying the sdg framework. developed from the theory of change, the goals were the subject of significant international negotiation. the draft position paper notes that: the central hypothesis that underpins the “theory of change” presented is that in order to effectively support implementation of a transformative, universal, integrated and rights-based 2030 agenda, and to meet the expectations of member states, the un development system must more effectively “function as a system” in an integrated and coherent manner, at the global, regional and country level (united nations, 2016, p. 1). the theory of change rests on establishing a conceptual basis that recognises the intertwined nature of social, economic and individual relationships with a view to building economic, social and political systems that will deliver human rights and economic growth (united nations, 2017). weiss (1995), a member of the aspen institute roundtable that facilitated the development of the theory of change, noted that the approach requires clarification of long-term goals as a necessary precondition to engage stakeholders in complex community initiatives. briant (2015) traced the origin of the goals to keynesian economics where state regulatory agencies (which must include in the case of the sdgs operational agencies) adopt a neoliberal economic approach to achieve national benefits within an international system that requires economically democratic processes. missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 16 libraries are a key element in the economic, social and educational structure within nations. they deliver public, educational, health and state services that enhance community well-being and economic outcomes. expanding the understanding of the value of libraries through exploring the sdgs had become a significant activity by the library sector. international federation of library associations (ifla) secretary general gerald leitner has commented: i am convinced that there is a space for libraries in the world envisioned by the un 2030 agenda. not just that there can be a space, but that there must be. we cannot achieve the sdgs without libraries (ifla, 2019, p. 1). ifla’s tracking of stories from around the world demonstrating library impact against the sdgs demonstrates the application of the framework to all library sectors in many countries (ifla 2020). research libraries in universities are a very small part of the reporting. the stories are predominantly public, national and state libraries. this paper fills a gap in taking a deep dive into the research libraries across nine nations. methodology the paper introduces the application of un sdgs within a particular sector of libraries – research libraries. for the purpose of this assessment, four sdg goals have been selected in order to demonstrate the application of sdgs to research libraries. the goals that were selected are those most relevant to research – higher education and those who are the primary users of research libraries. the sdgs selected are: ● goal 4: quality education with a particular focus on higher education, ● goal 5: gender and equity as this recognises the contribution of higher education to equity, ● goal 9: industry, innovation and infrastructure as this includes research infrastructure and ● goal 11: sustainable cities and communities as this recognises the contribution research libraries make to the communities within their physical environment. libraries do contribute to other goals such as health and well-being, although more indirectly compared to the four selected goals. the methodology chosen for the assessment against the goals was to select data and case studies. the data was taken from the public reporting of members of the iarus collected by the librarians group of the alliance. the case studies were selected from presentations made at iaru librarians group meetings and initiatives highlighted on members websites. the combination of qualitative and quantitative information reflects the multifaceted contribution of libraries to the sdgs. international alliance of research universities the international alliance of research universities (iaru), established in 2006, is a network of eleven international research-intensive universities from nine countries across the globe. its eleven members share similar values, a global vision and a commitment to educating future world leaders. central to these values is the importance of academic diversity and international collaboration as reflected in its principles. the iaru members are the australian national university, eth zurich, national university of singapore, peking university, university of california, berkeley, university of missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 17 cambridge, university of cape town, university of copenhagen, university of oxford, the university of tokyo and yale university. the iaru librarian’s group has actively worked together on projects including the green library, staff development and sharing information. a report published in 2020 on support during covid-19 demonstrates the active sharing of information and ideas (missingham, 2020). iaru member libraries actively support the universities’ commitments to globally increase capacity through education and research, to make a better world. the alignment with the sdgs is evidence and visible through programs embedded within each library. the combined impact of the libraries creates a powerful story for the contribution of the universities to the sdgs. an assessment of the work of iaru member libraries against four key goals revealed an infographic that illuminates the benefits from the libraries beyond the individual institutions and their collection. client focused services demonstrate the application of philosophies that align to the sdgs. iaru library sdgs assessment goal 4: quality education iaru member libraries enrich the educational experience of students in the universities through extensive services and extensive collections. over 322,000 students and 41,600 academic staff (faculty members) benefited from the libraries in 2018. table 1. students and academic staff in iaru universities 2018 the libraries provide support for education that results in knowledgeable graduates who make a contribution through their careers. innovation in service and education underpins library practice, fostering outcomes of student capabilities and educational practices. students and academics benefit significantly from services provided – in 2018: ● 216 service points were used by library clients, missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 18 ● almost 900,000 digital journals and over 11 million digital books were made available, ● over 4.1 million items were lent and almost 9 million articles from digital journals were used, ● over 31 million accesses to digital databases occurred. the power of knowledge developed through university libraries is transforming individuals, families, communities and nations (see boyce, et al, 2019). these case studies identified in the assessment below demonstrate how library services can change lives – the outcomes can be seen in the contribution students made through their work in industry, educational institutions, government, societies, families and local communities. the footprint of universities is expanded through activities provided by libraries such as exhibitions and public events, connecting the community and visitors to the knowledge of the world, thus increasing knowledge to enhance economic potential. case study: innovation in support services for students inspires many to achieve excellence that changes their lives. the cushing/whitney medical library (cwml) at the yale school of medicine provided innovative services that assist students with full support through an allocated staff member under the personal librarian program. a survey indicated that 94% of students knew their personal librarian and comments indicated the deep impact of the program: “it’s a great privilege and resource to have a personal librarian, and if anything, we underestimate the benefits of having a personal librarian” (spak & glover, 2007, p. 23). the program has grown and expanded in terms of the individual support provided, establishing a comprehensive support program for students – one delivered successfully in the digital age. new initiatives establishing collaborative wellness and self-care for students and other stakeholders, have also been successful. they are demonstrated by program attendance, diverse space use, and significant impact based on assessment through a survey (funaro, rojiani, & norton, 2019). “mindfulness on the medical campus” addressed mental well-being through a series of sessions and public events that delivered 30-minute mindfulness sessions. “wellness and self-care space” was established through a drop-in space that allows individuals to engage in activities and support personal, health and spiritual care. understanding the importance of supporting the whole person is a characteristic that fulfills the sdgs approach to create capabilities in students and indeed educators. goal 5: gender and equity research libraries work to advance access to economic and social prosperity, encourage full participation in society, and counter the historical lack of access to material resources about underrepresented human groups in collections that we cultivate and steward (association of research libraries, 2020). libraries support gender and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by providing safe meeting spaces, programs, and ict and literacy programs and developing collections to support the study of these groups. equity has been a consideration in the build of collections, in particular to ensure that underrepresented voices are available to students and researchers. iaru libraries have in particular developed support programs that have been integral to the response of universities to addressing sexual violence and sexual harassment in universities. missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 19 library initiatives have included developing staff knowledge in preventing and participating in university programs to address situations of sexual harassment. the use of libraries as safe spaces has been a characteristic of university responses to sexual harassment. libraries have provided spaces for information activities such as a drop-in session. library employment has also been an area of initiatives in equity and diversity. many iaru libraries have diversity employment programs and report on their goals transparently. case study: collections and access the university of cape town (uct) libraries have actively sought to develop collections that reflect the diversity of the african people and experience. recent initiatives include: • shining a light on archival sources at uct special collections. the 14th of august marked the anniversary of the 1968 uct sit-in over the mafeje affair. archivist clive kirkwood (2020) wrote a blog post showcasing the wide range of primary sources used in emeritus professor howard phillips’ second volume of a history of the university of cape town. uct under apartheid part i: from onset to sit-in covers the years 1948-1968 and draws on primary sources held in uct libraries’ special collections. • africa day 2020: showcasing ongoing work on african collections. uct libraries are working with african tongue to develop a new showcase of the ǂkhomani san community. this will involve re-development of a showcase website in close collaboration with community members, african tongue, special collections and digital library services. dr sanjin muftic (dls) and dr kerry jones (african tongue) co-presented at the first workshop on resources for african indigenous languages organised by the south african centre for digital language resources (sadilar). goal 9: industry, innovation and infrastructure iaru member libraries support industry and infrastructure through a range of initiatives that collect and disseminate research from their universities. “a major initiative of university libraries has been developing research data capabilities and access to this data” (council of australian university librarians, 2019). the libraries generally also support orcid to ensure that researchers can identify their research outputs through an international system of registration. libraries deliver programs that make their university’s research available to the world. repositories make research available overcoming paywalls and expensive subscriptions (council of australian university librarians, 2019). in addition, university research is communicated by publishing. iaru libraries contribute to publishing both through making world class collections available to researchers and through contribution to university press boards (council of australian university librarians, 2019). case study: digital access and support for researchers missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 20 iaru libraries hold the results of the most significant research studies undertaken over centuries including theses and research data. at cambridge university, the library and the research strategy office work together on open access policy and practices (cambridge university, 2020). apollo, the repository holds the research output of members of the university of cambridge. with more than 1.8 million downloads in 2019-2020, the research undertaken at the university reaches a world-wide audience. the research data service provided by the university of cambridge library ensures that researchers and students have access to research data management training and a repository that assists researchers to meet open access requirements of funders and make data available to industry and external researchers. goal 11: sustainable cities and communities iaru libraries support their communities and cities through removing barriers to information. • libraries offer members of the community access to their collections through opening their doors to visitors. • access to information and collections is enhanced through online and physical exhibitions and public lectures. • online digital literacy resources and training are made available freely to increase the knowledge and skills of the community. the global and national documentary history is held in libraries. iaru library activities include: • programs that are increasing access to these important resources including exhibitions. • sharing of these resources through visibility via national and international discovery services such as national bibliographic databases and worldcat. • work with other research bodies for funding to develop greater digital access. case study: theses brought to life over the past two years, the australian national university library has been undertaking a digitisation project to make the university’s entire collection of theses available online through the open research repository. this sees research once largely hidden from view being exposed to people from all over the world. digitising the print theses expands engagement with the collection, provides visibility to the ground-breaking work being done, and supports the careers of our academic community. in late 2019, the library completed the digitisation of every research thesis available at anu from 1954 to 2018 when digital deposit was implemented. the collection of over 13,000 digitised theses through the open research repository can now be browsed. the most downloaded thesis of all time “a great deal of sickness”: introduced diseases among the aboriginal people of colonial southeast australia by peter downling has had over 17,770 downloads. theses make up 45.69% of all downloads from the anu research section of the repository. in 2019, each thesis was downloaded 239 times on average, this is a dramatic increase in impact compared to the average number of uses when theses were in print only. missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 21 table 2. digitisation number of pages – by iaru libraries 2018. note not all member libraries collect page count data. discussion assessing the work of iaru libraries through the sdgs framework highlights the contribution made to the community beyond the walls of the university. it reveals the value of library collections and services in building national and international capacity. the ramifications of the work of libraries are seen through many facets of research, education, community development and economic benefit. by compiling the data on achievements against the four goals into a preliminary infographic, contributions of the libraries are visible in a new way. an infographic based on high level information from the iaru library benchmarking and information from individual libraries gives a summary of the measures explored through this paper. the infographic provides a model to which annual information can be added to provide a rolling view on library activities and initiatives that make a genuinely sustainable contribution to the nation in which the individual libraries are located, and the aggregated activities then increase the knowledge and promote the development of all individuals in countries around the world. it embodies the aspiration of the theory of change to create a systematic uplift of community. the essentially democratic distribution of knowledge and building of institutional capabilities, in particular to assist in the transmission of knowledge, align closely with the sdgs. 0 400,000 800,000 1,200,000 1,600,000 peking university, peking university library (2018) eth zürich, eth‐bibliothek (2018) copenhagen university, copenhagen university… university of california, berkeley library (2018) university of cambridge, cambridge university… national university of singapore, nus libraries  (2018) yale university, yale university library (2018) university of cape town, uct libraries (2018) university of oxford, bodleian libraries (2018) the university of tokyo, university library system… the australian national university, anu library (2018) iaru library digitisation 2018 number of pages digitized by the library digitised by external partner number of pages digitized by the library digitised by the library missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 22 table 3. sample infographic conclusion the sdgs provide a framework to reconsider the benefits that are provided by research libraries both to their institutions and the broader community. academic libraries have explored evaluation methodologies for many decades. implementing an approach that takes into account missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 23 the complex relationship of international research universities and the global impact of their services provides a rich field to explore the sdgs. multiple communities benefit from the activities of these libraries – library patrons, their institutions, the cities and regions they are within, the nation and indeed the world (particular in terms of the dissemination of their university’s publications and data). a common theme in terms of the third industrial revolution has been the digital transformation of library services. through the lens of the sdgs it is possible to see how this transformation has unleashed the power of research within individual universities and contributed to the development of capabilities across the globe through digitisation and open access. the case study of iaru libraries establishes that the sdgs can be used as a reporting framework despite the lack of specific library measures. from the case studies it is clear that these libraries provide a value to their stakeholders which goes beyond numeric measures of economic and social benefit. the values observed align with the critical roles of iaru universities – of education, research and international impact. there is opportunity to rethink the value of libraries and their institutions to establish how the higher education sector, and indeed the combined infrastructure of research libraries, produce values in new and different ways as library practice evolves. there is also an opportunity to meet the challenge of understanding value by applying the theory of change and theory of change that underpin the sdgs. in developing the capability to rethink services and roles under the fourth industrial revolution, the framework, applied as it is in this article, provides some insights into library services that contribute to national and international growth. focusing on the next transformative wave could bring further impact and dissemination of knowledge this article has outlined the opportunities to understand the value of libraries from a theory of change and highlighted the diversity of library activities that are relevant to the sdgs, in particular the work of iaru members. the evolution of the international aspects of iaru libraries will undoubtedly provide further insights into establishing sustainability and international impact from the next round of developments in these libraries. references association of research libraries. 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(2007). the personal librarian program: an evaluation of a cushing/whitney medical library outreach initiative. medical reference services quarterly, 26(4), 15-25 united nations. (2016). a “theory of change” for the un development system to function “as a system” for relevance, strategic positioning and results summary paper. retrieved from https://www.un.org/ecosoc/sites/www.un.org.ecosoc/files/files/en/qcpr/theory-of-changesummary-paper.pdf united nations. (2019). sustainable development goals. retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/news/communications-material/ united nations. (2017). theory of change: undaf companion guidance. retrieved from https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/undg-undaf-companion-pieces-7-theory-ofchange.pdf university of cape town libraries. (2020). africa day 2020: showcasing our ongoing work on african collections. cape town, uct libraries. retrieved from missingham / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 25 http://www.specialcollections.uct.ac.za/news/africa-day-2020-showcasing-our-ongoing-workafrican-collections weiss, c. (1995). nothing as practical as good theory: exploring theory-based evaluation for comprehensive community initiatives for children and families. in connell, j, kubisch, a, schorr, l, and weiss, c. (eds.), new approaches to evaluating community initiatives (page numbers if available). aspen institute. about the author roxanne missingham is the university librarian at the australian national university. she is responsible for libraries, archives, records and the anu press. a previous president of the australian library and information association and copyright lead for the council of australian university librarians, she researches the value of libraries. 002_167_title-1 (1) 002_167-article text-1 microsoft word ijol-6-2-3-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org cornell library folio case study jenn colt debra howell abstract: cornell university is a private university with a public mission as the land grant institution for new york state. after 20 years using the vended application voyager by ex libris as the library’s integrated library system (ils), on july 1, 2021 cornell university library completed their migration to the open-source platform, folio. this case study chronicles the library's journey from folio's selection to go-live. to cite this article: colt, m., & howell, d. (2021). cornell library folio case study. international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 13-20. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.205 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 13-20. issn: 2474-3542 cornell library folio case study jenn colt, cornell university debra howell, cornell university abstract cornell university is a private university with a public mission as the land grant institution for new york state. after 20 years using the vended application voyager by ex libris as the library’s integrated library system (ils), on july 1, 2021 cornell university library completed their migration to the open-source platform, folio. this case study chronicles the library's journey from folio's selection to go-live. keywords: cornell library, case study, folio introduction cornell university is a private university with a public mission. with a student body of about 25,000, cornell is the federal land-grant institution of new york state, a private endowed university, a member of the ivy league/ancient eight, and a partner of the state university of new york. cornell library supports the university’s mission with 20 different physical and digital libraries, a collection of 8.5 million volumes and 1.7 million e-books, and about 400 staff. after 20 years using the vended application voyager by ex libris as the library’s integrated library system (ils), on july 1, 2021 cornell library completed our migration to the open-source platform, folio, which is an acronym for the future of libraries is open. path to folio cornell began exploring options for migrating away from our voyager library management system in the early 2010s. a committee led by then associate university librarian (aul) for information technology and chief technology strategist, dean krafft, worked with our colleagues at columbia university and analyzed the available ils environments. this was known as the 2cul project. 2cul also included additional visionary ideas such as sharing collection development and technical services integration (harcourt & leblanc, 2017). we wanted a system that would facilitate deep collaboration and push us in new directions. after evaluating alma, we decided we wanted to avoid a single vendor dependency which led us to look at kuali open library environment (ole). we determined that ole best fit our commitment to open source and our hopes for having direct engagement with development. shortly after we decided to join kuali ole, the community made the important decision to radically change the project’s direction and break off from the kuali platform and rewrite the code base. this change created folio, which is an colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 14 acronym for the future of libraries is open. thusly, cornell library became involved in the folio community in its inception in 2016. jason kovari (personal communication, august 30, 2021), director of cataloging and metadata services, notes “we decided to implement ole due to a belief in open source. we were tired of vendor lock-in and even more tired of having a lack of agency in the development of the system that is so critical to functions across our library. further, we saw this as a means to support an ever-evolving system that will develop as our needs develop. folio is built on this ethos. we did not decide to implement folio for any one set of functionalities; instead, we selected folio so that we can decide the direction of development along with an amazing community of peers.” soon after folio was envisioned, cornell began dedicating development effort along with other staff and financial resources to helping stand up folio on its own. the biggest factors in our continued efforts to develop and implement folio are the open access vision; micro-services architecture; core library management functionality; high volume production workflows; the ability to access and modify source code; wide metadata options: machine-readable cataloging (marc), non-marc, linked data, etc.; and integration of e-resource management functionality. implementation after several years of folio development, in 2019 cornell created a team to manage our implementation of folio with the goal of going live in july 2020. we created an implementation team with membership from each key area across the library including; reporting, finance, metadata management, access services, user testing, acquisitions, serials processing, cataloging, eresource management (erm), training, infrastructure, integrations, discovery, and data migration. in addition to a “lead” from each of these areas, many additional library staff became subject matter experts (smes), helped with training, or participated in folio community special interest groups (sigs). the library also hired an information technology project manager to lead the project. one of the first decisions we needed to make was to determine whether we would contract with a vendor for hosting or whether we would host folio ourselves. given appropriate resources, a library can host, maintain, and upgrade folio themselves. however, it became apparent that we did not have adequate staffing to self-host. after some analysis, cornell chose ebsco for hosting and migration services. our ebsco implementation consultants were invaluable partners during our migration and implementation. one of the greatest benefits of folio is that it is completely customizable through its settings, and one of the most difficult things about folio is that it is completely customizable through its settings. our implementation consultant provided support, guidance, and solutions throughout the process helping us to choose the features, settings, and option that were optimal for our operations. implementing a system that is in development has its own set of challenges to manage. success depended upon folio development staying on track. we realized that by december of 2019, we would need to decide whether or not a july 2020 go-live was possible. folio development uses jira to track all open features, so we created a jira dashboard which was critical to managing our implementation. the jira dashboard displayed features we had ranked as needing at go live, one quarter after go live, and two quarters after go live. in order to evaluate our july 2020 go live decision, we went through all of the features that we ranked as needed at go live and determined whether or not they were a showstopper or if the feature was something we could live without for a short time or find a workaround for. our guiding principle was that we could handle colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 15 some hardships on the staff side but all patron-facing functions must work. in december 2019, we had identified 22 showstopper features that would not be available by july 2020, and we made the decision to delay one year to july 2021. in parallel, cornell was also migrating our erm system from proquest intota to folio erm. this project, led by peter mccracken, acquisitions and e-resource strategy librarian and sme emma raub, electronic resources librarian, at cornell, was able to continue to move forward because it was standalone although it would fully integrate into folio when it became available. folio erm was successfully launched at cornell in january of 2020. after the decision to postpone our go live until 2021 was made, we focused most of our efforts on our showstoppers. many of our showstoppers were included in folio planned development. we tracked these features closely and advocated for their importance if it seemed they might get reprioritized. for other showstoppers, we had to get creative. we partnered with the university of chicago, texas a&m university, and duke university for the development of the online computer library center (oclc)-single-record-import functionality. for our automated feed to our bursar system and circulation log exports, we contracted for their development and contributed the code back to the folio community. cornell library has customized integrations to many other applications including: function product university financial system kuali (open source) cornell bursar system discovery and access blacklight (open source) interlibrary loan borrowdirect and illiad library technical services global online bibliographic information (gobi) library technical services ebsco discovery service (eds) library annex caiasoft course reserves ares rare and manuscript collections aeon rare and manuscript collections archivespace library technical services (lts) workflows in-house custom developed apps many of these integrations needed to be developed. some were developed by the folio project, others were developed by vendors, and some were developed internally. we had allotted a significant amount of time for testing our integrations. however, the release version of folio that we were planning to go live with was delayed for two months. this left us with about three weeks to set up our integrations and test them. as a result, a few of our integrations were not working when we cutover. for example, borrowdirect worked for borrowing but not for lending. we completed work on our integrations within a few weeks after going live. in march of 2020, the covid-19 global pandemic sent most library staff home for the following year. the rest of our folio implementation and go-live cutover would take place remotely or, in some cases, in a hybrid environment. because folio is a global community, in many cases we were already used to working remotely. in other areas, like training and staff engagement, we felt a deep impact. we began a layered approach to training leading up to go live beginning in february 2021 taking into account the need for most of our training to be virtual. as part of each release cycle, colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 16 the folio development community hosts a bug fest. during bug fest all features part of the release are tested. cornell used bug fests as a way to get staff involved in folio. many of our early bug fest testers have become our folio subject matter experts who help others in the library with issues and questions. we created a training team who hosted folio demos and functionspecific training sessions all of which had to be done over zoom due to the pandemic. each session was recorded and made available online. we created confluence pages with faqs and fun facts and sent weekly emails highlighting project news and available training. finally, we made the decision to stop most circulation functions 10 days before go live to allow access services staff the opportunity to pause, rest, and take uninterrupted time to train on folio. data migration work on data migration began about two years before cornell went live with folio. we took a team-oriented approach, with the lead for data migration serving as part of cornell’s larger implementation team. two programmers worked on the data migration team as well, one focused on bibliographic data, and one focused on acquisitions, user, and circulation data. because cornell worked with ebsco as a hosting provider we were able to focus on extracting data from voyager and then mapping it to folio, while ebsco managed the process of loading the data into folio, which they were able to do more efficiently thanks to their direct access to the folio database. here we outline several takeaways and lessons learned from the data migration efforts during our project. begin with data clean up early in the migration process, a group in library technical services was charged to begin data clean up. that group focused on cleaning up bibliographic, holding, and item records. because folio has a facet-based navigation and search system in inventory, cleaning up the bibliographic and holdings data in order to increase its searchability and improve its representation in the folio inventory was important. while the bibliographic information represented the largest pool of data that needed to be cleaned up, efforts were undertaken in other areas as well. the finance office simplified the library’s fund structure, public services streamlined circulation rules, and acquisitions cleaned up unnecessary purchase orders. these clean-up efforts afforded additional benefits and opportunities. for instance, merging individual selector funds into team funds as part of the financial clean up allowed cul more flexibility in moving allocations. work closely with consumers of the data the cornell university data migration team met regularly with departments throughout the library to learn about their work. while user experience may not seem like part of data migration, researching thoroughly the workflows and behaviors of the people using the data enabled wellinformed decisions about how the data should migrate within the folio schema. understanding the workflows that the data will support helps to make determinations of what data to migrate and in what form. by engaging with the users extensively we also encouraged their exploration of folio. we helped them to understand what their work would be like in the new system, which then allowed them to give us better information about their data needs. colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 17 in addition to uncovering what data would need to migrate and where, we also discussed with our users what data did not need to migrate. for instance, in acquisitions we decided not to migrate closed purchase orders, which decreased the amount of data that needed to migrate and cut down the amount of clean up that was needed. for circulation data, we migrated only open loans and those with fines or fees. because the circulation rules in folio were going to be greatly streamlined from those in voyager, the migration team also worked to understand how the pieces of data that make up circulation rules, like loan policies and item types, would need to be changed during the migration in order to make the folio circulation rules work. during the course of this work, participation in the folio community was also invaluable. we participated in the data migration special interest group and organized several conversations with other folio libraries migrating from voyager. the folio community was a key support for the success of our data migration, just as it was for other areas of the project. document data mappings data migration naturally requires a lot of documentation. we created spreadsheets that mapped where the data from voyager would migrate to in folio. for our mappings we kept a spreadsheet of each entity in folio and then mapped the data elements from voyager fields into folio fields. we also documented how each data point would be extracted from voyager. this was needed because while some fields were part of a single entity in folio, they were drawn from multiple entities in voyager. there were also fields that did not exist at all in voyager, and so their content had to be inferred based on a variety of data points in voyager in order to be mapped into folio. plan for multiple iterations of the migration we began testing migrations of our data into folio months before we went live. doing this allowed us to uncover problems in the data that we might not have found. migrating our own data into folio was also a key part of helping staff understand what using folio would be like and it allowed them to see holes or problems in the data. once our hosting provider set up a sandbox that our staff could access. we loaded our data into the sandbox and then asked staff to test and examine it, and give us feedback. while our own reporting and logging kept us informed of patterns and problems in the data, manual examination of the data by real users proved invaluable in discovering problems and finding data points that were overlooked in the initial mapping. provide reporting and logging on migrations ebsco provided us with reporting on each iteration of the migration which let us fix problems as they arose. the logging needs to have information that will allow you to track the data through the extract, transform, and load process. we made sure to embed identifiers from voyager throughout the data in folio so that we could both maintain relationships within the data and track problems that may have occurred. each iteration of the migration produced a great deal of data that had to be analyzed and then evaluated for action. in some cases, the log indicated a bug within the folio software that colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 18 needed to be reported and dealt with in the folio community. in other cases, the logging would indicate problems in the data from voyager that needed to be corrected. and in yet others, data points that folio considered required but that voyager did not provide needed to be generated for the purposes of migration. in some areas a default value was necessary for required fields when voyager did not provide a needed data point. carefully plan the days leading to cutover our iterative migration process allowed us the opportunity to time how long it took to load our data into folio. this helped us to plan the days between turning off voyager and turning on folio. we created an order of operations that told us when to load each type data during the cutover, and made sure the data would be in place before we opened the new system for use by staff and the public. some data migration continued even after the go-live, particularly data that wasn’t part of circulation or discovery data sets. after going live with folio, we continued to migrate and clean up data for about six weeks. at the conclusion of that time, our data migration has been successful, and we are able to continue to refining our data in folio. our approach included listening carefully to the needs of folio users, careful consideration of the difference between voyager and folio data models, and collaborative work with our hosting provider. project management challenges and recommendations communication is the most important project management tool when implementing an open source system; especially a system that is still in development and evolving. there is a need to balance complete transparency with championing the project and not bringing too much doom and gloom. the cornell implementation project manager held monthly “folio friday” sessions which included project updates, timelines, and time for questions. we found that staff appreciated an honest assessment of the health of the project and factual details on areas of impact. additionally, effective risk management is essential. it may feel like you are constantly putting out fires. however, that is the nature of managing the implementation of a system that is still being developed. having a list of features and a list of requirements to do a gap analysis against is not possible. a folio implementation is a large, complex project with a lot of moving pieces. based on our experience, we recommend fostering a decentralized yet unified approach. we established a lead for each functional area and the project manager must trust that each area lead is making the best decisions for cornell and the community and that any major issues will be brought forward. go-live the weeks leading up to our july 1, 2021 go live were chaos. several showstopper features were on the edge of not making it into our go live release, staff were fatigued from over a year of pandemic conditions and were feeling the weight of the ils cutover on top of everything, and the other large libraries that were planning on going live at the same time as cornell all decided to postpone. the implementation team continually re-evaluated our project status, and the library executive group assessed impacts and provided guidance and steady leadership. colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 19 one by one, we were able to cross off our showstoppers and complete our integrations and data migration. we stayed in continual communication with library staff through zoom sessions, email, and a cornell library slack channel. in the end, the library’s switch to folio is a milestone not just for cornell but for the global library community. cornell is the first large research library in the world to go live with folio, and others are learning from our experience. in implementing a software system of this size and complexity, we had a very smooth go-live experience. this is attributable to the dedication of our staff from every part of the library. post-go-live post-go live, we are focused on maintaining staff morale and ensuring all patron-facing features are functioning. we understood, accepted, and communicated going into our cutover that some staff functions would be impacted. for example, after go live, technical services staff reported that they were functioning at about 20% productivity. a few weeks later, that rose to 40% functionality. we expect with the two remaining folio releases this calendar year that there will be a dramatic jump in functionality and productivity. we track all bugs and features gaps on our “known issues and statuses” confluence page that all staff have access to in order to continue to maintain transparency. the implementation team is ramping down but continues to host weekly drop-in sessions for staff to ask questions about folio. our cornell library slack channel has become a vibrant place for library staff to post questions and receive help from their colleagues. our main takeaways revealed during our post-go-live reflections on our implementation are the criticality of transparent communication, the importance of flexibility and iteration, and the value of having all staff in involved in the process. as of november 2021, cornell is still running the folio iris release, which is the release we went live on in july. we plan to upgrade to each future version of folio as its released and our testing shows no critical feature bugs. sustainability of open-source library platforms community support and collaboration is vital to libraries now more than ever, especially when it comes to sharing ever-growing electronic resources, according to simeon warner, aul for information technology. “it’s essential to understand that a library like cornell’s has never operated alone,” he said. “now, folio provides us a foundation to move forward in the way that libraries work together – and that’s exciting.” it is possible that we may never have to migrate to another ils as folio continues to grow and evolve with us. references harcourt, k., & leblanc, j. (2017). finale and future: the 2cul technical services strategic alliance. library resources & technical services, 61(1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.61n1.43 colt & howell / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 20 about the authors jenn colt is head, automation & metadata systems in library technical services at cornell university library. she has been with the library for more than fifteen years in a variety of it and metadata roles. she has long-standing interests in improving discovery for patrons, and in making open source software communities more welcoming to newcomers. debra howell is the director of it operations for the university libraries at cornell university and has over 20 years of experience providing project management and strategic direction to all areas of information technology. debra has an extensive background in facilitation, organizational change, teambuilding, and leadership. she received her master of industrial and labor relations degree from cornell university in 2006. she is a certified project management professional (pmp) and is the folio implementation project manager for cornell. debra is an office of the secretary of defense certified master trainer and serves as the information officer on the board of the nys american council on education women’s network. microsoft word ijol-6-2-4-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org ferm-ing up a strategy for consortial system adoption: the five college consortium & folio eresource management jack mulvaney kathleen berry abstract: the five colleges are committed early implementers of folio and beta adopters of ebsco’s implementation and hosting services. we implemented the agreements, eholdings, users, and organizations apps in folio during the summer of 2020 and will go-live on apps to replace our ils (integrated library system) by summer of 2022. implementing the agreements, eholdings, users, and organizations apps took a significant amount of work as the management of this information and content has never been centralized or shared until now in our consortia. in this article we chronicle our path to build trust, construct a common understanding of methodology and terminology, and how we successfully migrated during a global pandemic. to cite this article: mulvaney, j., & berry, k. (2021). ferm-ing up a strategy for consortial system adoption: the five college consortium & folio eresource management. international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.196 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 21-29. issn: 2474-3542 ferm-ing up a strategy for consortial system adoption: the five college consortium & folio eresource management jack mulvaney, university of massachusetts amherst kathleen berry, university of massachusetts amherst abstract the five colleges are committed early implementers of folio and beta adopters of ebsco’s implementation and hosting services. we implemented the agreements, eholdings, users, and organizations apps in folio during the summer of 2020 and will go-live on apps to replace our ils (integrated library system) by summer of 2022. implementing the agreements, eholdings, users, and organizations apps took a significant amount of work as the management of this information and content has never been centralized or shared until now in our consortia. in this article we chronicle our path to build trust, construct a common understanding of methodology and terminology, and how we successfully migrated during a global pandemic. keywords: folio, eresource management, erm, library services platform, lsp introduction the five college consortium is composed of the amherst campus of the university of massachusetts and four private liberal arts colleges: amherst college, smith college, hampshire college, and mount holyoke college. this non-profit educational consortium was established in 1965 to support the shared educational goals of the member institutions. the libraries of these institutions have shared an automated library system since the mid 1980s. the folio migration is the fourth time the schools have moved to a new library services system collectively. folio is an open source library services platform. it supports applications that provide traditional library resource management functionality and soon will expand to provide new services. these applications connect to each other using a microservices architecture, allowing individual libraries to tailor their workflows for resource management and choose which apps they want to deploy. its development is the result of collaboration between librarians, developers, and vendors from around the world. more information on the architecture of folio as a system can be found on the project's main community site. (about folio) the five colleges are committed early implementers of folio and beta adopters of ebsco’s implementation and hosting services. our staff are active participants in the folio community, providing subject matter expertise on a variety of library system functions and services. we implemented the agreements, eholdings, users, and organizations apps in folio mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 22 during the summer of 2020. we will go-live on all remaining applications to replace our ils by summer of 2022. the history of shared systems at the five colleges is long, save for one area of technical services work: electronic resource management (erm). several years ago, a subset of three libraries implemented separate, self-hosted instances of the coral erm system first developed at notre dame. (about us) all five libraries have used the same link resolver since 2007, but have never performed any erm work in a single, shared system. this, combined with varying levels of staffing and focus, has led to different approaches for tracking licenses, acquisitions, discovery, and access. even in our shared ils, we have often taken five separate approaches to tracking the acquisition of similar or identical resources, which left us with the question of how to migrate to folio structured as a single shared tenant for multiple libraries. reconciling these different methods of erm, record management, and workflows provided eresource management staff at the five colleges with a set of unique challenges not present elsewhere in our folio migration. adding to the complexity of a system migration was the lack of a structure for unified erm across five individual libraries. existing consortial committees covered topics such as a shared discovery layer and resource management for specific collections bought at the consortial level. but for the majority of licensed eresources, the life cycle was handled independently at the individual libraries. prior to the folio project, no formal standing committee existed to discuss erm as a process which meant that a structure had to be created in order to begin a successful migration (and for two schools, a new adoption) of an erm system. the collaboration of the humans involved in the project ultimately proved to be more important than individual understanding of how folio is coded, how data flows through the system, or how it is migrated from one system to another. this focus on building bridges and trust through mutual understanding and compromise is what allowed us to successfully adopt folio as an erm system. consortial community building to coordinate the adoption of the folio erm suite, one member from each of the five colleges formed the “five colleges folio electronic resource management group” in may 2019. existing working groups covered areas relating to circulation, inventory/metadata, and acquisitions. affectionately known as ferm, each member represented different aspects of eresource management and the eresource life cycle as a whole, as well as a range of professional experience within the five colleges. an initial charge of “reaching consensus on issues related to data conversion, data management, workflows, policies and procedures...[regarding] the electronic resource life cycle within folio” (mulvaney, berry, & bischof, 2019) guided our work on the assumption that any erm adoption would take place after the main ils migration, initially scheduled for summer 2020. this initially put us on track for the adoption of erm in summer 2021, giving us considerable time to learn about folio, plan for the migration of existing data, and to ensure a smooth adoption of a product that was still officially in beta. this lengthy timeline allowed us to focus for the first few months on building relationships with one another, and to learn how erm work was being done at each of the five college libraries. it also meant we could define our working group's role within the structure of the folio project mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 23 at the five colleges, as well as our relationship with existing committees which overlapped in responsibility and predated the move to folio. each working group has a “lead” who meets regularly with the other leads and the five college libraries systems coordinator, who brings concerns or decisions to the folio implementation team (fit) which is ultimately responsible for implementing the decision on their home campus. this structure has undergone several changes since we first began to work on the implementation as we have found a need for more rapid communication and decision making. we found that it is more efficient to have leads (who are typically non-managers) make decisions and rely on institutional managers to enforce them. ferm was the first group for eresources since one that guided the adoption of the first link resolver used by the five college libraries nearly fifteen years ago. since then, there has not been any group which was charged with coordinating or supporting erm among the five libraries which led to our policies and workflows drifting in five separate directions. ferm’s initial membership ranged from individuals with less than six-month experience in their role in the consortium to individuals who had been involved with the last ils migration in 2006 and held most of the institutional knowledge that existed for their libraries' erm actions. this varying localized and professional experiences means that we must rely on one another when troubleshooting eresources, learning about shared systems, and understanding years of context lost due to retirements or position changes at individual libraries. to strengthen a new era of direct collaboration, we specifically decided that we wanted to meet biweekly and in person on the hampshire college campus. regular, in-person meetings allowed us to have a less formal setting than a web meeting or a sporadic summit, which changed the dynamic of a group of individuals who usually only had contact with one another via email or through other five college meetings and committees. we also made use of the passing time inherent in a meeting to familiarize ourselves with one another on a personal level. most of us would arrive at the building where our meeting was held beforehand, so we fell into a rhythm of sitting on deck chairs together in the sun admiring the campus scenery. as meetings broke up, we would routinely continue to discuss topics outside of folio for 15-20 minutes as we packed our bags and walked to our cars. as lead of the working group, i initially worried that allowing our meetings to run long was bad facilitation. however, as time went on these moments of informal chit-chat about topics not on an agenda meant we were building trust in one another which directly affected our work on the folio migration. by building a cordial space where we shared local practices freely and without judgement, we could begin to tackle the difficult work of breaking down these workflows to their bare elements and rebuilding them using the newer, and very different, folio erm structure. this process of taking five unique vocabularies for managing eresources and finding a single way to approach the process was not quick, and was definitely not easy. for several months we focused on understanding how we were using our shared ils, our link resolver and discovery layers, and in some cases a local erm system. we tried to become familiar with how we each did the work so that we could be successful in discovering new workflows in folio. we began our work with folio during its clover release, when the system was still brand new to us and only being used by one library in the world. (ebsco, 2019) several working group members had only recently begun to attend folio special interest group (sig) meetings for erm, and there was a steep uphill climb to become familiar enough with the system to use folio to test how our data might go-live in a new system. importantly, all members are practicing eresource librarians which allows us to base all decisions for how we would configure the system mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 24 in real world experience. this meant we could take into account the shortcomings of legacy systems and current workflows to improve our overall experience in folio. the lack of training or documentation for a system which remains in active, and rapid development proved a challenge, which our tight-knit group was able to move past with relative ease. by working as a team, we were able to trust each other to advocate our shared needs to the folio community, to teach each other how to use less familiar parts of the system, and to support one another as we continued to do our daily work in erm. ferm was the first sanctioned eresource management group in the consortium and our work has proven to be a success, as of december 2021 every upgrade of the folio software has been performed without major errors in the code or with our data. when asked whether we wanted to disband post implementation, the resounding answer was “no.” for some, the group proved the only place where they could actively collaborate with librarians in the field of eresource management and discovery, while others found the space to finally work through legacy workflows that had been inherited but never interrogated. we requested that ferm be made a standing committee under the aegis of a future folio coordinating committee so that we could continue our work in aligning policies and record management practices. this decision has meant that in the time since adoption we have continued to have productive conversations on how we can improve our system settings and how we can leverage new features being released to better carry out our work. changing perceptions of erm we began working in folio erm on the clover release, which was the third version of folio available to the public. for erm, it consisted of the following apps: agreements, licenses, and eholdings. supporting apps included users, organizations, and eusage (boerema, 2019). any folio adopter could choose all apps or none when considering an implementation. a decision was made early on that the five colleges would focus on work in agreements, eholdings, and organizations, with users required for login. this specific set of apps had largely been developed prior to the five colleges beginning our working group and their format and philosophy were based on the needs and feedback of a group of german library consortia with supporting roles played by american libraries. this meant a serious shift for our consortium, where five discrete eresource collections are managed by institution specific staff. each of the five college libraries acquire, license, and manage their collections independent of each other with only a small amount of content purchased and managed at the consortial level. we were faced with the need to reconcile five different ideas of how erm should work with the impending adoption of a single tenant of folio shared across our libraries. this would mean five times as many organizations, agreements, licenses, and associated notes and details than we were used to in our more siloed ils and individual erm systems. folio itself also used language driven by libraries that were quite different from our own. much of the work done to create system headings and reference data had been done before wide scale participation of the american libraries. phrases like “alliance licenses” were used to represent the large multi-institutional licensing deals common in europe which are not often replicated by american consortia. ferm had to then explore what we could do with the system as it stood and what configurations to settings or reference data we could make in order to ensure that our needs were best met. the folio community provided a path for us to voice concerns or specific needs mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 25 in special interest group meetings, but even among the five colleges there were times when one library wanted functionality to move in a different direction from another. this required a fundamental shift in our approach to the systems we use to manage eresources, as we now had a voice in the ongoing development of a product so it might meet our needs, rather than reacting to shortcomings in existing systems. quickly, we discovered that if we worked together to come to a common understanding of what we wanted the system to do then we could more effectively advocate for our needs in sigs which would result in faster changes to folio as a product. this work strongly reflected our shared desire for making folio as an open source system with flexibility to work for us, rather than having us work for the system. an early success was a collaboration between ferm members and colleagues in the consortial acquisition working group to advocate for user interface improvements and a change to record structure in the organizations app. as a shared space between typical ils acquisitions and an erm system, the organizations (or vendors) app represented a challenge when we first reviewed the app following a change to our migration timeline (outlined below.) the data structure of folio was not always intuitive. important contact data was hidden behind several layers of clicking and not optimized for when a shared email or address existed for an organization rather than a specific person. it was determined that ferm did not hold the necessary experience to make recommendations to the folio community alone, so collaborative sessions were held with the acquisitions working group to collect use cases for why staff need access to contact information and what they liked about how their current systems handled that data. from that data, which was agnostic of any specific legacy system and framed in terms of what was most needed rather than what fixes should be applied to folio, a small group of individuals made a presentation on how current functionality in other areas of folio might be leveraged to improve the user experience in the organizations app. we were given the opportunity to present our case to the resource management sig which resulted in many other libraries agreeing with the proposals we were making as they would address similar concerns they had found when testing folio. a coordinated approach with user-story backed suggestions allowed the team developing that app to quickly implement new features, change how data displays, and launch the new code for the daisy release (mulvaney, colglazier, & berry, 2019). to orient ourselves in a new system, we began to review the fairly open and configurable reference data pick lists. many fields could be locally configured to meet our local language needs in both the agreements and organizations apps. few system defaults existed, and few values were required to drive functionality, so we had quite a bit of latitude to define values such as contact role, organization categories and roles, note titles, etc. the process of landing on singular terms for something as simple as “provider” versus “content provider” occupied the final months of 2019. in each pick list, at least one person had to sacrifice their own vocabulary for the sake of a shared system which meant we would all need to reconceptualize how we saw relationships between records and the actions we took to manage eresources. while at times it may have felt more akin to horse trading than librarianship, the process was structured in a way that everything was reviewed comprehensively before any final decision was made. even simple terms like “vendor” were reviewed to ensure everyone remained on the same page. again, we relied on our trust in each other to be able to concede when required to find a compromise where everyone had something to gain. this exercise of leaving behind highly individualized processes to come together in a shared system is one of our greatest achievements in folio to date. mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 26 another hurdle was how to group content together to be managed in folio. the system assumes that the user could be using erm without orders, which we would be doing at go-live, so we had to reconcile methods of grouping resources based on how they are purchased, how they are licensed, how they are grouped by knowledgebase providers, or how they have been historically managed with a totally new structure unique to folio. for a time, there was concern that we could not come to a single understanding of how to manage content, or that somehow by not doing this we had not achieved one of our shared principles to, “...standardize, streamline and improve best practices” (bischof, 2018). as ferm continued to work out our best practices, we found that as five individual libraries with different staffing and approaches to erm, folio’s flexibility would allow us to preserve unique workflows when needed, while also giving us the opportunity to align some practices with each other by sharing a single erm system. in the end, we found that there was no “best” way to manage content across the consortium and that in some cases each library might have to manage the same resource differently depending on how it was locally licensed or how it was being paid for. while this can be viewed as a success of the system it may also be a drawback as functionality has changed, some decisions have had to be revised, meaning that individual schools may need to perform manual cleanup after an upgrade before continuing with work. while this is unavoidable due to our status as beta partners, it has meant that we test each release of the system more carefully than many of our other more mature erm, discovery, and access-based products. success in a period of stress as we worked on our adoption of folio, ferm was faced with batting against two rather unexpected curveballs. our initial timeline of erm following the ils migration changed suddenly in october 2019. due to features missing from the folio minimum viable product that would prove crucial for a single-tenant multi-library consortial adoption, the five colleges decided that erm would actually be migrated first, shortening our timeline from around a year and a half, to just around ten months. while nerve wracking, this timeline adjustment was ultimately viewed positively, as ferm felt surer of folio as an erm system than as a replacement for our current ils. we also felt at that time that our ability to rely on one another meant we could navigate this sudden change and successfully adopt the product. we also began simultaneous link resolver migrations as the eholdings app would reflect content directly from the ebsco knowledge base inside folio. this change in the timeline quickened the pace of specific work such as data values for pick lists and conversations surrounding how best to manage content in folio, but largely we expected to be able to more leisurely review existing records to see what we might want to automatically import to folio and what we might want to manually recreate in the system. for coral users, folio’s flexibility meant that for the most part, many of our existing records could actually be imported which would allow us to focus on the edge cases which were difficult to manage in existing systems and to see if there were better ways that folio could handle these resources. the remaining two libraries that were not using coral would then be able to manually handle a first-time adoption of an erm system in the months following the go-live rather than needing to hit the ground running to replace existing functionality. this process was again interrupted when a second curveball was thrown at us in march 2020, just five months out from the planned migration when we suddenly transitioned to remote mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 27 work because of the covid-19 pandemic. with a few months to go, we were juggling competing priorities of supporting remote learning, a large volume of patron troubleshooting, an avalanche of new eresource monograph purchases, and a timeline leading out to a go-live in late august 2020. while we originally wanted to reimagine how we were doing some of our work, it was decided that in order to actually migrate in summer of 2020, we would lessen the amount of manual record creation in favor of importing more existing content into folio, and cleaning it up after go-live. we also individually pushed off our link resolver migrations by more than a year so we could dedicate time not spent supporting remote work to the folio migration alone. this decision was made largely due to time constraints rather than as a review of our practices in legacy systems. the migration of “as is” data from one mature system to a system still in beta has not been without challenges. often it has proved easier to create from the ground up using existing data sources as a guide rather than trying to replicate existing record structures in folio. had we been able to stay on our original timeline we likely would have found time to streamline more of our workflows and align more of our practices across the consortium. while still meeting biweekly, we were able to build on the work we had done in the past two years to take stock of our current erm practices and to configure folio to launch into a coral-to-folio migration for three of the five college libraries. working with the five college systems coordinator and our folio hosting specialists at ebsco, we were able to draw as much relevant data out of coral as possible to import into folio agreements app to keep erm moving forward in the first summer of the pandemic. this data represented perhaps half of the actual data stored in coral, which resulted in the need to manually recreate relationships between the organizations and agreements apps, and to manually enter data which did not have a specific location in folio. while disappointing, this was a necessary step. the record structure of coral was much simpler than in folio, meaning that only the simplest of records could be effectively migrated. realistically, since folio is built to include ils functionality and integrate with some sort of knowledge base, the records which were harder to manage in coral would become easier in folio. while the five colleges are still waiting to go-live with replacement functionality for our ils, we have largely been able to move erm into folio so that once our ils is migrated, we can begin the process of linking order and inventory content to create a unified approach to erm across the library services platform. in the course of our first year in folio, we have spent much of our time cleaning up records imported from coral or manually creating records from ils data. as we went, we found several rough patches where no fields or notes in folio could adequately represent data points identified as crucial for erm work. the flexibility of folio once again afforded us an opportunity to localize settings to meet our specific needs rather than advocating for development in the folio community. consensus was reached on how to record resource urls, authentication method, and simultaneous user limits. continued conversations led to revisions of reference data and the introduction of best practices for naming records and recording certain content in order to comfortably work in a system which included four libraries worth of data which was visible but not actionable to any one library. we have often found that a decision made a year before cannot withstand new features and new understandings of how folio behaves and a willingness to revise or start from scratch has been crucial to our continued work as a working group. mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 28 conclusion the most important aspects of our migration to folio were not successes in mapping records, loading data, or creating system pick lists, but the creation of a community within the five colleges for librarians working in erm. by creating ferm and taking the time to establish trust with one another we forged a shared sense of purpose which informed every discussion and decision we have made over the last two years. that trust allowed us to standardize our erm practices where possible while respecting the needs of individual libraries and has allowed us to have open communication to learn from each other and adapt our local workflows for the better. our strong community allowed us to weather the timeline changes resulting from development cycles and the covid-19 pandemic, and meant we could support one another on the migration while balancing the many competing priorities faced by librarians in 2020 and 2021. our successful adoption of folio erm was due to this firm foundation created in the months before our timelines changed and has allowed our consortium to make shared troubleshooting, group decision making, and direct communication the norm for eresource management. references about folio: open source for libraries. (n.d.). retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://www.folio.org/about/ about us. (n.d.). retrieved december 13, 2021, from http://coral-erm.org/about/ bischof, s. (2018, september 1). shared five college principles. folio implementation fit monthly newsletter, 1, 2. retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rriyfbahmxqx9sszgg6j2mdoitmgmzerwxjx whovwnq/edit?usp=sharing boerema, c. (2019, july 4). q2 2019 (clover) release notes. retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://wiki.folio.org/display/rel/q2+2019+%28clover%29+release+notes ebsco. (2019, october 21). chalmers university of technology is the first institution to go live with folio library service platform. retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://www.ebsco.com/news-center/press-releases/chalmers-university-first-institutionto-go-live-with-folio mulvaney, j., berry, k., & bischof, s. (2019, july 16). ferm working group charge [google doc charge]. retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ca0ow9oxsttwderbiz3fpgfyceblws9nrflm cmwe2um/edit?usp=sharing mulvaney, j., colglazier, s., & berry, k. (2019, november 6). folio organizations: 5c rm sig 11/8/19 [google sheets presentation]. retrieved december 13, 2021, from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11v_53jzesjj4wiqlv6nxq0q5x0_6anvilss7ukwuls/edit?usp=sharing about the authors jack mulvaney works in discovery and eresources at umass amherst, a member of the five mulvaney & berry / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 29 college consortium. he earned his bas in classics and history from umass in 2018, and his mls from simmons university in 2020. he is currently the lead of the five colleges folio erm working group. kathleen berry is the head of information resource management at the university of massachusetts amherst. she is on the folio implementation team for the five colleges consortia and liaises with the five colleges erm working group. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org chinese academic library services: a web survey guoying liu abstract: chinese students form a significant population on canadian university campuses. literature indicates that these students face various challenges when using library services to meet their information needs. canadian academic libraries need to better understand this group’s previous library experiences in china to help them address these challenges. a survey was conducted on the main library websites of all thirty-nine chinese universities of the project 985, a project initiated by chinese government to found world class universities in china. it reveals that certain services reported as challenges for chinese students by previous studies, such as: interlibrary loan, document delivery, reference services, and library instructions are popular in chinese academic libraries; however, subject services, data services, and some other services are not as well established compared to their counterparts in canada. to cite this article: liu, g. (2016). chinese academic library services: a web survey. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 38-54. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.14 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 38-54 issn:2474-3542 chinese academic library services: a web survey guoying liu leddy library, university of windsor, windsor, ontario, canada abstract chinese students form a significant population on canadian university campuses. literature indicates that these students face various challenges when using library services to meet their information needs. canadian academic libraries need to better understand this group’s previous library experiences in china to help them address these challenges. a survey was conducted on the main library websites of all thirty-nine chinese universities of the project 985, a project initiated by chinese government to establish world class universities in china. it reveals that certain services reported as challenges for chinese students by previous studies, such as: interlibrary loan, document delivery, reference services, and library instructions are popular in chinese academic libraries; however, subject services, data services, and some other services are not as well established compared to their counterparts in canada. keywords: academic libraries, international students, library services, canada, china introduction the number of international students has been increasing significantly in the past twenty years. in 1996, there were 71,054 international students studying in canada (citizenship and immigration canada [cic], 2006); and the number went up to 336,497 by the end of 2014 (cic, 2015). the impact of international students on canadian higher education is huge. according to the canadian bureau for international education (2016), in the 2012-2013 academic year, 11% of students registered in the postsecondary institutes in canada were international. among the origin countries of these students, china has ranked at the top since 2002. in 2014, the number of students from china reached 110,918, representing nearly one third of the total international student population in canada. (cic, 2015) identifying strategies to serve this group of students has been a challenge to canadian academic libraries. what are chinese students’ experiences and perceptions of academic libraries prior to their arrival to canada? what services are offered or not offered by chinese libraries compared to canadian ones? this paper aims to answer these questions to obtain an overall understanding of the services provided by chinese university libraries from the perspective of a canadian academic librarian. a web survey was conducted exploring the library services currently provided by the project 985 universities in china. project 985 is initiated in 1998 by the chinese government aiming to establish a handful of world class universities in china. till 2011, thirty-nine institutions in total are liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 39 sponsored by project 985 and no more institutions will be added into this group (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2011). the results of this investigation will provide academic librarians with general knowledge of the availability and development of academic library services in china. it will also lead to a better understanding of the experiences, perceptions and expectations of chinese students about the library. finally, it will help canadian librarians provide appropriate services and effective support to this group of students. literature review related literature can be divided into two categories: the first includes studies on international students and the second is on chinese academic libraries. the former tends to be case studies from students’ perspective. some students may have attended western universities previously or have already established themselves in the host country prior to their participation in these studies. furthermore, many studies rely on students’ self-reports or their memories, particularly with regard to their previous experience in china. research shows that students tend to be overconfident with their library knowledge or skills (howze & moore, 2003; kim & shumaker, 2015), not to say their recall over past experiences could be inaccurate. the composition of international students has been changing quickly over the past two years, and even students from china may have different previous library experiences and exposure to western cultures. previous studies do not generate a full and accurate picture of the experiences and perceptions of current chinese students with academic libraries in china. studies in the second category investigate different aspects of chinese academic libraries and reveal certain issues and situations. all of them noted the rapid development of these libraries. more research is needed for canadian libraries and librarians to obtain a thorough understanding of the academic library services in china to comprehend chinese students’ experiences, perceptions and expectations with library. research on international students in canada, the us and other western countries various studies have been conducted on the information needs of international students and the academic library services available in canada, the united states and other western countries. it is well documented that international students face unique challenges using libraries to meet their academic needs. this includes unfamiliarity with academic library systems, lack of understanding of the professional role of librarians or unawareness of many library services or resources along with language and cultural barriers. (datig, 2014; jackson, 2005; liao, finn, & lu, 2007; liu & winn, 2009). jackson (2005) points out that international students are not aware of certain library services, including: interlibrary loan (ill), individual assistance with a subject librarian and chat reference. a study comparing the library use of international students and american students reveals that international students are less aware of ill, online database searching, in-person consultation with a librarian and library instruction sessions (liao et al., 2007). the authors argue that the difference between international students and american students may be due to the lack of such services in their home countries. datig (2014) reveals that there is a lack of understanding among international students about the professional role of librarians. some studies focus on chinese students rather than treat international students from different countries as a homogeneous group. wang’s (2006) research reveals that various services are underused by chinese students in new zealand, including: library instruction, reference services and individual appointment with subject librarians. morrissey and given (2006), studied the library usage and information literacy skills of chinese graduate students in canada. they conclude that liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 40 most chinese students rely heavily on commercial search engines to meet their information needs and tend not to evaluate the quality of resources. another observation is that most chinese students do not understand the role of librarians. their previous library experiences in china consisted of the use of closed library stacks and card catalogues. liu and winn’s (2009) investigation at another canadian institution finds that chinese students perceive the chinese academic library as a place to study, borrow books or access electronic resources, and the role of chinese librarians as maintaining and circulating books. they do not know about reference services. when these students study in canada, they are unaware of many library services, including: ill, multimedia center, data services, and the research and writing guides available on the library website. they also lack understanding of legal and ethical issues regarding information access and use. shao, scherlen, johnson, xu, and hu (2013) surveyed chinese students’ satisfaction with the american library experience when they returned from the us to china. the paper indicates that the students like to study in american libraries but are often unaware of the reference librarians’ role. zhao and mawhinney (2015) compared the information literacy challenges encountered by native chinese speaking students and native english speaking students at a large canadian university. it revealed that chinese students face more challenges searching for, evaluating and citing information. “[their] lack of knowledge of basic library resources and services and evaluating sources remained challenging for” these students (p. 722). research on chinese academic libraries many previous studies concur that underdeveloped user services and a shortage of qualified librarians are longstanding problems in chinese academic libraries (liao, 2004; shen, 2006; xie & sun, 2015). liao (2004) examined the root cause for the underdevelopment of services for users in chinese academic libraries from a historical perspective. the author argues that user services are still a low priority in academic libraries in china although collection development, space expansion and information technology adoption have significantly improved since 1979. through a comparison between chinese and american librarianship, shen (2006) concludes that “chinese librarianship faces great challenges in the librarian recruitment and education and with the library system itself” (p. 89) due to social, cultural, economic and historical reasons. employment as a librarian “confers low social status and people do not see librarianship as a profession enriched with knowledge and information skills” (p.92). in their survey conducted at a comprehensive chinese university, xie and sun (2015) find that library resources and reference services have improved but the reference services are under-used by students and the services to students still need improvement. two web surveys have been conducted examining reference services and subject services offered by chinese academic libraries. wang, niu, & hubbard (2004) investigated reference services on the library websites of 95 project 211 institutions in china. project 211 is a project initiated in 1995 by the chinese government aiming to strengthen about 100 high level universities and key subjects for the 21st century (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2008). wang et al.’s (2004) survey reveals that the homepages of 90 universities among the 95 project 211 institutions were accessible and they all have reference librarians available although some schools merely provided an email address on the website. about a quarter of the libraries do not mention any user education probably because “most chinese regard the library as a place to read and study, but not to ask” (p. 109). tang and xia (2010) examined subject services through a survey of the library websites of thirty top universities in china. they conclude that subject services are not yet popular in chinese academic libraries; and both qualifications of the subject librarians and the scope of subject services are not as advanced as in the libraries in the us and the uk. liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 41 johnson, shi, & shao (2010) compared the library service model between fudan university in china and appalachian state university in the us. the results indicate that: compared with appalachian, fudan does not offer one-on-one consultation with a librarian, 24-hour access, an assistive technology room, equipment checkout and service to distance learning students. the user guides and tutorials are still being tested at fudan while they have been well established at appalachian. in addition, fudan does not provide off-campus access to most students. on the other hand, fudan offers the services of novelty search and reports on citation and impact analysis of individual faculty research which do not exist in the american library. the authors argue that both services could be problematic. fudan is a top chinese university located in shanghai, the largest city in china. the findings cannot be generalized to other chinese higher education institutions. all these papers note the rapid development of chinese library systems and services since the 1980s. according to guo, huang, & lu (2014), china academic library and information system (calis) launched a subject librarian training program to “cultivate a group of subject librarians with practical abilities and innovative spirit for chinese university libraries and hence promote the development of librarianship in china” (p.43) in 2010. has this kind of effort changed chinese academic library services significantly? more research is needed to gain a thorough understanding of the current status of the services and systems in chinese academic libraries, and to enable librarians in canada to provide adequate services to the growing group of chinese students on campus. method a survey was conducted examining the content on the main library websites of the project 985 universities in china. according to the ministry of education of the people’s republic of china (2015), there are 2,529 regular higher education institutions (heis), and an additional 1,094 adult and other non-government heis in china. it is too time consuming to examine all institutions. project 985 universities represent the highest level of chinese higher education. study on these universities will provide an understanding on the library services offered in these institutions as well as an indication on the future direction of the services offered by all chinese academic libraries. the appendix lists the thirty-nine project 985 institutions and the urls of their main library websites. all data were collected between march 18-may 30, 2016. spreadsheets were used to record the data gathered. a pre-survey of peking university library was used to determine the categories and columns for data recording. peking university library is one of the earliest modern libraries in china. currently, it hosts the administration centers or secretariats of calis, the china academic social sciences and humanities library, the digital resource acquisition alliance of chinese academic libraries, the ministry of education higher education institution library and information work guidance committee, and the society for academic library, library society of china. (peking university library, n. d.) it is a leader among chinese academic libraries. based on the pre-survey, five spreadsheets were created using excel for the following categories: general information; access services; systems and search interfaces; reference, instruction and subject services; and other services. several columns are named to record more detailed information under each category. a new column was added to the spreadsheet for any services or resources that were not originally included during the examination of other libraries. special attention was paid to library hours, open stacks, reference services, subject services, and other liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 42 issues reported in previous research. library systems, search interfaces and innovative services were also examined. since different chinese terms are often used to describe the same or similar services in chinese libraries (li & yang, 2016; su, 2016; yao et al., 2015), a thorough examination of all possible terms or names of services and resources was conducted in order to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the data collected. when the author was uncertain about the meaning of a specific service or term on the webpage of a library website, or unclear about its status, other sources were consulted, including: other webpages or documents on the same site, other library websites, or publications on related topics. during the examination of the websites, the author encountered various issues. dalian university of technology has a new website in beta. in this case, both the current and new websites were examined. some library homepages or other webpages could not be opened initially. the author made multiple attempts to open them and in the end all library homepages were opened and examined (although some pages or services not accessible). furthermore, sometimes the information listed in different places of a website conflicted with each other. for example, on the southeast university library website, the webpage library circulation policy states that all faculty and students can borrow up to thirty items (the publication date is 2009-08-10), while the library education video for freshmen says faculty and graduate students can borrow up to ninteen items and undergraduate can only borrow nine items (no date indicated). results and discussion general information general information includes: availability of the library links on the university homepages, english version of the library websites, annual reports, library communications and staff contact information. the survey finds that some libraries offer degree programs or host research institutes in the library and information studies in addition to regular library services. this information is recorded as well. library links on the university homepages nearly half of the institutions do not have a library link on their homepages. many library links are hard to find; and it often takes multiple clicks to open library websites. for example, on the homepage of the beijing institute of technology, users need to click on the about the university link, then choose administrative organizations, and then find the library on the list of thirty-two administrative units which includes: party committee of institution, development and planning, students, graduate students, human resources, finances, and alumni. the library link being hidden among many administrative units may speak up a bit about the academic status of libraries in these universities. english version of the library websites about 60% of the libraries have an english version of their websites. among them, two are not accessible; and one is in beta. most english sites contain much less content than their chinese versions. the english website may help students become familiar with library terminologies in english when they study in china. liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 43 annual reports and library communications only six libraries have their annual reports, budget information, or merely library collection usage statistics available online. it is also found that nine libraries edit and publish library communications or newsletters regularly on their websites. these documents would help users know more about the libraries. staff contact unlike their counterparts in north america, chinese libraries rarely publish their staff directories online. xiamen university library is the only one that posted a long list of names, telephone numbers, email addresses, departments, and the supervisor of individual library staff in charge of each service or area available in a staff directory. although it does not appear to include all library employees, it is the most complete list among all the libraries examined in this paper. on other libraries’ websites, the contact information for certain services or staff is often posted on the contact us, organization structures or subject services page if available. twenty-four libraries have subject liaisons for certain faculties or departments. the name, telephone and email of the subject librarians are often posted on the service contact page or individual subject pages if available. the number of subject librarians are limited for many libraries, so the total number of librarians’ names available online is quite small. for example, xian jiaotong university only lists eight liaison librarians’ surnames. among the libraries that do not have subject liaisons, eight published a handful of individuals’ names, telephone and/or email for the departments or public services. the remaining seven libraries only posted the telephone and/or email of some departments or service areas on their websites without any library staff name. not knowing the librarians who provide certain services may discourage students from seeking help from librarians, being aware of or taking full advantage of their services. library degree programs and research institutes the survey reveals that nine libraries offer master’s degree programs in library and information studies in addition to providing services to faculty and students. two other libraries host library and information research institutes. there is no detailed information on how these programs and institutes are operated within the libraries. on one hand, this may help address the shortage of qualified librarians in chinese libraries and promote the librarians’ research in the field. on the other hand, it may affect the regular services provided to students at these universities. for instance, beihang university has 80 employees in in the library (beihang university library, 2016) who serve about 30,000 students and 3,800 faculty members at the university’s thirty schools (beihang university, 2016). the library has been recruiting and teaching master’s students for its two-year master’s degree program in information science since 2007. in summary, most chinese libraries do not publish their annual reports and staff directories online. this may indicate that chinese academic libraries are less open and interactive with their patrons compared to canadian libraries. in addition, different from the practice in canada, quite a few of chinese academic libraries also offer master’s degree education programs or research institutes in library and related fields. liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 44 access services this section covers: library hours, seating, study rooms, circulation policies, ill and document delivery, open stacks and course reserves. library hours this survey finds that the hours for opening and self-study areas are usually different from other services, such as: borrowing, card services, and reading rooms. during the academic semester, typical library hours for opening and self-study areas are monday – sunday, 8am-10pm and it is shorter on weekends for some libraries. the hours may be a bit longer during exam period. for example, tsinghua university library extends their hours for a half hour per day during exams. none of the libraries are open for 24 hours anytime of the year. it was also found that three university libraries close on saturday evenings; and another three libraries have one weekday afternoon closure every week. many other areas have shorter hours, such as: circulation, library card services, reading rooms, ill, document delivery and reference services. close to 90% of the libraries have lunch breaks for some of these services. for example, at the hunan university library, the hours for the basic stacks room and the borrow and return desk on the third floor are monday-friday 8am-11:45am, 2:30pm-10:30pm; saturday and sunday: 8am-11:45am, 2:30pm-10:30pm. the two hours and forty-five minutes’ service stoppage in the middle of everyday may discourage some students from using the services. seats and study rooms in the about the library section, many sites report the number of seats available for students to study or read in the library, ranging from a few hundred to over 10,000 seats. a few libraries, such as xiamen university and china agricultural university provide an online seat booking system for students to check and book seats ahead of time. besides the seats in self-study areas, about half of the libraries indicate that they provide individual or group study rooms for students to use. apparently, it is a priority for chinese libraries to be a good study place for students. circulation policies, ill and document delivery twelve libraries have the same borrowing privileges for all students, faculty and staff. two of them have no limit for the number of items that can be borrowed by all campus users. another twent-six libraries have different maximums based on the borrower’s status as an undergraduate student, graduate student or faculty member. the last one has conflicted information regarding of this. although borrowing privileges vary among the libraries, the majority provide renewal services and two-third of them have a request service for all users. thirty-four institutions offer ill and document delivery services. open stacks and course reserves open stacks are very common among surveyed libraries. only seventeen libraries indicate that they still have closed stacks in some areas, usually special collections. twelve libraries have information about reference books in course reserves or webpages that are searchable by course name/code or instructor. it is hard to tell how the service is used by instructors and students. no matter what, course reserve is still under-developed in chinese academic libraries. liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 45 this section indicates that ill, document delivery, requests and open stacks reported as challenges to international students in literature have become common in chinese academic libraries. however, there are still gaps with regard to course reserves and the length and continuity of library hours for various services between libraries in china and canada. systems and search interfaces this section includes open public access catalogues (opacs), integrated library systems (ilss), discovery layers, databases, e-journals, copyright notices and subject pages, off-campus access, wi-fi, and mobile services. opacs and ilss all libraries have an opac search interface for the library collections empowered by an ils on their homepage. figure 1 shows that nearly half of the ilss are imported from foreign countries and while the others are developed domestically (including one homegrown system). figure 1. types of ilss the breakdown for the imported systems is: aleph 8, millennium 5, unicorn 4, and horizon 1. see figure 2. figure 2. imported ils products huiwen, tuchang, ilas, adlib and melnets are domestic products implemented in the libararies among which huiwen is the most popular product. all libraries allow patrons to log in to their accounts, view their circulation information, make requests, or recommend resources for purchase. imported demestic homegrown aleph millennium unicorn horizon liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 46 it appears that none of the libraries has adopted the unified resource management system or library services platform that emerged in recent years in western libraries. nonetheless, students at these universities may be familiar with the interface and functionality of opacs. discovery layers thirty-four institutions have implemented discovery layers for their resources. another university, the south china university of technology had trial subscriptions with summon and ebsco discovery service (eds). its website indicates that the eds trial expired on june 20, 2015. figure 3 shows that among the discovery layer products adopted by the thirty-four libraries, fifteen are summon, ten primo central and nine eds. these are popular products in canada as well. it may help chinese students become familiar with the one-stop search interface before they study abroad. figure 3. discovery layer products these discovery interfaces often have a localized chinese name and are in the main search box on the library homepage. figure 4 is a screenshot of the main search box on the peking university library homepage. the first tab is “wei ming xue shu sou suo” [wei ming scholarly search], the localized discovery layer powered by summon. the other tabs are library catalogue, databases and e-journals. figure 4. screenshot of the search box on the peking university library homepage many libraries have a chinese resource search interface in addition to the discovery layer, which is different from canadian libraries. figure 5 shows the main search box on the homepage of the sun yat-sen university libraries. the first tab is the “zhi hui sou suo” [smart search]. there are two search buttons on the bottom right of the box: one is chinese search and the other non-chinese search. when the chinese search button is clicked, a login page for chaoxing discovery system will pop up from which users can search for chinese resources in chaoxing. whereas the nonchinese discovery button will take users to a results page powered by eds. summon primo central ebsco discovery service liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 47 figure 5. screenshot of the search box on the sun yat-sen university libraries homepage over 70% of the libraries have chaoxing search boxes on their library websites. unlike those discovery layer products, the chaoxing search interface is usually ip protected. users must log in with a valid account if they want to search the resources off campus. in addition to chaoxing, edu and duxiu are adopted by a few libraries as well. they usually supplement chaoxing for chinese resource discovery in these universities. databases, copyright notices, journal lists and subject pages all libraries list database resources by type, language, or subject. most of them allow users to search or browse databases by title, subject, type, or language. half of the libraries post copyright notices for database use. almost all libraries have journal lists for users to search or browse journal titles. over 60% of the libraries have subject services; however less than half have created subject guides introducing resources or services relevant to specific subjects. most of the subject guides are built on libguides; and many of them are still under construction. another issue is that the contents of many guides are not up-to-date. take the shangdong university library as an example, only six subject guides are available on its website. most of the guides were last updated between december 2013 – december 2014, which is about two to three years ago. off-campus access, wi-fi, mobile services thirty-five libraries offer off-campus access to their electronic resources and other services. one library is currently testing off-campus access through vpn. vpn is the method commonly adopted by most libraries. a couple of them also implemented proxy servers. among the libraries providing off-campus access, only twenty-five provide the service to both faculty and students, while the rest only allow faculty or phd students access to their resources off campus. see figure 6. figure 6. off-campus access for the libraries providing off-campus access to students, some offer this service to full time students only rather than the entire student population. for example, fudan university clearly states that off-campus access is only for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students registered in degree programs. for faculty & students for faculty (& phd students) not mentioned liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 48 fees or other restrictions associated with off-campus access service are mentioned by six libraries. three post the fees that users are required to pay for. one states that a user can only use this service up to four hours per day. two libraries indicate that this service opens to students only during the summer or winter vacations. figure 7 shows that over half of the libraries provide wi-fi throughout the library buildings. about one third do not mention such service on their websites. figure 7. wi-fi in the libraries regarding mobile services, over 80% of the libraries have developed mobile libraries or apps for many library functions, such as: library catalogue, e-reserves, and full-text readings. self-services and online thesis/dissertation submission one third of the libraries have installed self-borrow/return machines. another library is currently implementing such service. this service may help ease the limitations of circulation desk hours for students to borrow or return books. see figure 8. figure 8. self-borrow/return machines nearly two third of the libraries offer users self-services for print, photocopy and scanning. among those that do not have these services, over 60% indicate that they have print, photocopy, and scanning service operated by staff for students. about three quarters of the libraries have implemented a system for students to submit their theses or dissertations online. in summary, this section reveals that the following services are common in chinese libraries surveyed: opac, online databases and other electronic resources, discovery search interfaces and mobile services. however, off-campus access to online resources is still not available to all students. cover all library cover some areas not mentioned yes implementing no liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 49 reference, instruction and subject services this section includes: reference and subject services, library instruction and credit courses. reference services reference services are provided by most libraries. however, five universities do not offer any type of reference services. among the libraries that have reference services, the majority provide two or more types available to their patrons. figure 9 shows that in-person, virtual, telephone and email reference are almost equally adopted by these libraries; and each of them have been implemented by about half of the libraries. figure 9. categories of reference services other related services such as: faq, online bulletin and feedback, library weibo and wechat, university librarian (ul)’s email box and meet with ul are offered in many libraries as well. see figure 10. figure 10. other services library instruction and courses all libraries provide certain types of user training or education, including: freshmen instruction, library tours, introduction to library resources and search techniques and academic writing. over two thirds of the libraries provide online tutorials or library instruction via powerpoint, pdf or videos available on the websites. nearly three quarters of the libraries offer credit courses, such as information retrieval and database search & use to undergraduate and/or graduate students. some of them are required courses and others are electives. 1 11 21 31 in-peron virtual telephone email 0 10 20 30 40 faq online bulletin & feedback library weibo & wechat ul's email box meet with ul liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 50 subject services as indicated in sections 1.3 and 3.3 in this paper, over 60% of the libraries offer subject services. however, its development is uneven among the libraries. for example, the top three universities, tsinghua university, peking university and the university of science and technology of china, are different from one another as follows:  tsinghua university established advanced subject pages for different faculties using libguides and most of these pages are updated regularly.  peking university library has thirteen subject blogs and most of the blogs are not up-todate. for example, the latest post on the mathematics subject blog is dated 09-27-2013, which is over three years ago.  the university of science and technology of china merely mentions the subject service in the about the library section and does not have a webpage introducing the service or any subject librarian. other services this section includes: institutional repositories, data services and services unique to chinese academic libraries. institutional repositories and data services five universities have institutional repositories for their scholars, or other local resources. two of them are in beta. one is currently under construction. peking university library is the only library that has an open research data platform based on dataverse for users to publish, track, discover, reuse, and reproduce data. none of the libraries mention geospatial data or gis software. it looks like this area has not yet been introduced into the chinese academic libraries. unique services except minzu university of china, all other institutions offered novelty search, research assessment, or citation and impact reports. this kind of service is unique to chinese academic libraries. according to li (2007), novelty search is a kind of special information consultation provided by trained and certified librarians. researchers are required to request a novelty evaluation report if they want to apply their “research ideas, research findings or a patent to practical use” (p. 145). the intention of this service is to prevent duplication of research efforts and support research in science and technology in china. university libraries have become the center of the science and technology novelty search service; and this “has been a significant advance” in china (p. 148). however, johnson et al. (2010) argue that librarians may not have sufficient knowledge to assess research in some highly-specialized areas, and librarians’ roles in american libraries “is assistive and advisory rather than evaluative” (p. 191). no matter how valuable these services are to the scientific research community in china, they seem more applicable to faculty rather than students. liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 51 conclusion the results of this web survey indicate that certain services reported as challenges to chinese students in canada and other western countries by previous studies, such as ill, document delivery, reference services, and library instructions are now popular at the project 985 university libraries in china. open stacks, requests, opac, online databases as well as discovery layers and mobile services, are common in these libraries as well. however, course reserves, subject services, and off-campus access to electronic resources are not yet well established. institutional repositories and data services are still rare in chinese academic libraries. the findings have implications for canadian academic libraries to improve their services to chinese students. libraries may design library sessions specifically for these students; or revise existing sessions accordingly. library sessions targeting chinese students may focus more on: off-campus access to library resources, course reserves, subject librarians, institutional repositories and data services. acknowledgements the author would like to gratefully acknowledge julia zhuoran zheng at mcgill university for her help in proofreading this paper. references beihang university. (2016). jin ri bei hang [today’s beihang]. retrieved from http://www.buaa.edu.cn/bhgk/jrbh/jrbh/index.htm canadian bureau for international education. (2016). facts and figures: canada’s performance and potential in international education 2015. retrieved from http://www.cbie.ca/about-ie/facts-and-figures/ citizenship and immigration canada [cic]. (2006). facts and figures 2005 immigration overview: permanent and temporary residents, canada – december 1 stock of foreign students by top source countries. retrieved from http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection/ci1-8-2005e.pdf citizenship and immigration canada [cic]. (2015). facts and figures 2014 – immigrant overview: temporary residents international students with a valid permit on december 31st by top 50 countries of citizenship, 2005 to 2014. retrieved from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/2014-facts-figures-temporary.pdf datig, i. (2014). what is a library? international college students’ perceptions of libraries. the journal of academic librarianship, 40(3-4), 350-356. guo, j., huang, q., & lu, x. (2014). design and implementation of a subject librarian training program for university libraries in china. reference & user services quarterly, 54(2), 43-51. howze, p. c. & moore, d. m. (2003). measuring international students' understanding of concepts related to the use of library-based technology. research strategies, 19, 57–74. jackson, p. a. (2005). incoming international students and the library: a survey. reference services review, 33(2), 197-209. johnson, m., shi, w., & shao, x. (2010). exploring library service models at fudan university and appalachian state university: experiences from an international librarian exchange program. the international information & library review, 42, 186-194. kim, s. u. & shumaker, d. (2015). student, librarian, and instructor perceptions of information literacy instruction and skills in a first year experience program: a case study. journal of academic librarianship, 41(4), 449-456. li, a. (2007). a kind of transformation of information service – science and technology novelty search in chinese university libraries. the journal of academic librarianship, 33(1), 144-148. li, j., & yang, x. (2016). current situation and countermeasures of copyright notice of the “project 211” university library website. library research, 2016(2), 40-45 (in chinese). http://www.buaa.edu.cn/bhgk/jrbh/jrbh/index.htm http://www.cbie.ca/about-ie/facts-and-figures/ http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection/ci1-8-2005e.pdf http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/2014-facts-figures-temporary.pdf liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 52 liao, j. (2004). a historical perspective: the root cause for the underdevelopment of user services in chinese academic libraries. the journal of academic librarianship, 30(2), 109-115. liao, y., finn, m., & lu, j. (2007). information-seeking behavior of international graduate students vs. american graduate students: a user study at virginia tech 2005. college & research libraries 68 (1), 5-25. liu, g. & winn, d. (2009). chinese graduate students and the canadian academic library: a user study at the university of windsor. journal of academic librarianship, 35(6), 565-573. ministry of education of the people’s republic of china. (2008). “211 gong cheng” jian jie [about project 211]. retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/a22/xwb_left/moe_843/moe_846/tnull_33122.html ministry of education of the people’s republic of china. (2011). “985 gong cheng” jian jie [about project 985]. retrieved from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s6183/201112/128828.html ministry of education of the people’s republic of china. (2015). educational statistics in 2014: basic situation of the region number of higher education institutions. retrieved from http://en.moe.gov.cn/resources/statistics/edu_stat_2014/2014_en02/201508/t20150831_204482.html morrissey, r. & given, l. m. (2006). international students and the academic library: a case study. canadian journal of information and library science, 30(3/4), 221-239. peking university library. (n. d.). gai kuang yu li shi [general information and history]. retrieved from http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/bggk/bgjs/lishiyange shao, x., scherlen, a., johnson, m., xu, x., & hu, y. (2013). chinese students in american academic libraries: a survey of chinese user satisfaction with us library experience. international information and library review, 45(1), 28-36. shen, y. (2006). chinese academic librarianship in transition: a comparative study between china and the united states. the international information & library review, 38, 89-100. su, q. (2016). the investigation on 211 project university library annual reports and its implication. research on library science, 2016 (3), 1114 (in chinese). tang, y. & xia, z. (2010). a study of subject service in chinese academic libraries. cala occasional paper series, 7, 1-6. retrieved from http://www.cala-web.org/files/ops/opsnov2010no7.pdf. wang, b. x. (2006). academic library services to chinese international students in new zealand (master’s thesis). retrieved from http://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/t01025.pdf wang, h., niu, g. & hubbard, w. j. (2004). current status of reference services in academic libraries in mainland china: a web analysis. the international information & library review, 36, 105-110. xie, j. & sun, l. (2015). exploring chinese students’ perspective on reference services at chinese academic libraries: a case study approach. the journal of academic librarianship, 41(3), 228-235. yao, y., liao, y., & wang, h. (2015). current situation of freshmen column in “985 project” academic libraries. chinese journal of medical library information science, 24(3), 71-74&79 (in chinese). zhao, j., & mawhinney, t. (2015). comparison of native chinese-speaking and native english-speaking engineering students’ information literacy challenges. journal of academic librarianship, 41(6), 712-724. http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/a22/xwb_left/moe_843/moe_846/tnull_33122.html http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s6183/201112/128828.html http://en.moe.gov.cn/resources/statistics/edu_stat_2014/2014_en02/201508/t20150831_204482.html http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/bggk/bgjs/lishiyange http://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/t01025.pdf liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 53 appendix: project 985 universities university library website url peking university http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/ tsinghua university http://lib.tsinghua.edu.cn/dra/ university of science and technology of china http://lib.ustc.edu.cn/ nanjing university http://lib.nju.edu.cn/html/index.html fudan university http://www.library.fudan.edu.cn/main/index.htm shanghai jiao tong university http://www.lib.sjtu.edu.cn/ xi'an jiaotong university http://www.lib.xjtu.edu.cn/ zhejiang university http://libweb.zju.edu.cn/libweb/ harbin institute of technology http://www.lib.hit.edu.cn/ beijing institute of technology http://lib.bit.edu.cn/ nankai university http://www.lib.nankai.edu.cn/ tianjin university http://www.lib.tju.edu.cn/ southeast university http://www.lib.seu.edu.cn/ wuhan university http://www.lib.whu.edu.cn/web/default.asp huazhong university of science and technology http://www.lib.hust.edu.cn/ jilin university http://lib.jlu.edu.cn/portal/index.aspx xiamen university http://library.xmu.edu.cn/portal/#&panel1-1 shangdong university http://www.lib.sdu.edu.cn/portal/tpl/home/index ocean university of china http://library.ouc.edu.cn/ hunan university http://lib.hnu.cn/ central south university http://lib.csu.edu.cn/pubnew/zndxtsgnew/index.html dalian university of technology http://www.lib.dlut.edu.cn/; http://wwwd.dlut.edu.cn/ (new, in beta) beihang university http://lib.buaa.edu.cn/ chongqing university http://lib.cqu.edu.cn/newversion/index.htm sichuan university http://lib.scu.edu.cn/ university of electronic science and technology of china http://www.lib.uestc.edu.cn/ sun yat-sen university http://library.sysu.edu.cn/ south china university of technology http://www.lib.scut.edu.cn/ lanzhou university http://lib.lzu.edu.cn/ northwestern polytechnical university http://tushuguan.nwpu.edu.cn/ northeastern university http://202.118.8.4/ tongji university http://www.lib.tongji.edu.cn/ beijing normal university http://www.lib.bnu.edu.cn/ remin university of china http://www.lib.ruc.edu.cn/ http://www.lib.ruc.edu.cn/ liu / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 38-54 54 university library website url china agricultural university http://www.lib.cau.edu.cn/ national university of defense technology http://library.nudt.edu.cn/ minzu university of china http://www.lib.muc.edu.cn/cn/home/ east china normal university http://www.lib.ecnu.edu.cn/ northwest a&f university http://lib.nwsuaf.edu.cn/ about the author guoying liu is librarian, head of systems at leddy library, university of windsor. her research interests include library technology, electronic resources management, and library services to international students. she has conducted grant-supported research projects on information literacy and international students. ijol-issue1-2016-4_liu_title ijol-issue1-2016-4-liu microsoft word ijol-6-2-1.docx international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 1-2. issn: 2474-3542 the future is here! embracing a new era of open platforms wei liu, deputy director of shanghai library and institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai, china tom cramer, associate university librarian, director of digital library systems & services, chief technology strategist, stanford university libraries, u.s.a the library industry has never been closer to its vision than it is today, and never has it faced greater challenges than it does today. we marvel at s. r. ranganathan's “five laws of library science”: books are for use, every reader his/her book, every book its reader, save the time of the reader, and the library is a growing organism (ranganathan, 1931). these five laws, full of idealism, have long seemed to be only a dream. it is only today, with the development of information technology and the age of artificial intelligence, that this vision has become a reality. we are approaching jorge luis borges’ view that "paradise will be a kind of library.” without the advances of big data and machine learning, we could not break the 80/20 rule and find niche readers for long-tail books; we could not achieve precise targeting of our services or our collections; we could not optimize acquisition through user participation. it would never be possible to turn libraries into "data hubs” or even "knowledge repositories" without data-driven knowledge services. all these developments depend on the support of a trans-media lifecycle process and web scale platforms. we must break away from traditional systems that focus only on the library's own business while ignoring the diverse needs of readers and users. instead, we must use diverse techniques and disparate data sources to meet increasingly “high touch” user experience requirements. a contemporary library platform must not integrate the traditional librarians' work modules such as acquisition, cataloging and circulation, but must become a platform for all library workflows; must not be satisfied with mastering eighteen individual of martial arts, but must become a swiss army knife; must not be a closed-door and self-contained system, but should be part of an open application ecosystem. there should be individual apps that can meet need of librarians and readers; there should even be apps that allow similar institutions, such as museums, art galleries, archives, and cultural centers, to be connected and integrated. we are seeing the dawn of the ideal library, the sunlight that cloud-native technology and open source software are about to shine on the earth. an open platform led by the library industry will enable libraries to take full control of their data, make the most use of it, own their platform liu & cramer / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 2 completely, all at a low cost. this platform will allow everyone to participate in developing and making continuous progress, allowing every company to become a library partner, allowing different vendors to hook up, plug and play, and be interchangeable with each other. in this future, all kinds of data and modules of libraries can be shared naturally and will be interconnected of course. libraries will no longer depend on individual suppliers, and the security of library data can be fully guaranteed, and the future of libraries will be completely in their own hands, thus benefiting readers and the whole society! this platform has now emerged, and it is the one, and the only: folio "future of library is open!" references ranganathan, s. r. 1931. the five laws of library science. london: edward goldston, ltd. about the authors liu wei (keven) is the deputy director of shanghai library and institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai. he is also an adjunct professor of fudan university, east china normal university and shanghai university, acts as a doctoral tutor and gives lectures on digital libraries and digital humanities. he took part in many major digital library projects in china since 1995. he is in charge of the information technology application in shanghai library and very active in developing “smart library” services for the library. he is also the vice chairman of shanghai library society, and member of the governing board of dublin core metadata initiative (dcmi). tom cramer is the associate university librarian, director, digital library systems & services, chief technology strategist at stanford university. tom is the founder and the acting managing director of the international image interoperability framework (iiif) and serves as the chair of its coordinating committee. he is also a founder and leader of samvera (aka the hydra project); a catalyst and leader for fedora 4 and founding member of the fedora steering group; and the first adopter and an active contributor to blacklight. cramer is also vice chair on the duraspace board of directors; a steering group member of the international internet preservation coalition; chair and co-director of pasig (preservation and archiving special interest group); a member of the vivo leadership group; and a former steering group member and past program chair of open repositories. microsoft word 216-bookreview.docx international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 84-85. issn: 2474-3542 information technology for librarians and information professionals, by jonathan m. smith. lanham, maryland, usa: rowman & littlefield publishing group, inc., 2021. 197p. $83.71. isbn-13: 978-1538120996. the book provides an overview of information technology (it) and relevant services in libraries and information centers. the book covers a broad range of topics within its twelve chapters. the first chapter starts with a historical review of the information technology that has been used in libraries since the 1960’s and its impact on library services and information retrieval. topics such as division of duties between institutional it services and library it department, structures of these departments, and typical it positions are discussed. in chapter two, topics such as user support, technology documentation, assets and software management are the focus of discussion. ethical and legal access to technologies for users of disabilities and project management are also covered. starting from chapter 3 to chapter 9, the book dives deep into major topics on information technology in greater detail, including computer hardware and software (chapter 3), computer management (chapter 4), networking (chapter 5), server administration (chapter 6), information security (chapter 7), web design and development (chapter 8), software and system development (chapter 9). within each major topic, chapters also include related topics such as desktop virtualization, byod, iot, cloud computing, apis, makerspace, 3-d printing, extended reality, artificial intelligence, etc. chapter 3 begins with some basic technical details of hardware components of computers (e.g., cpu, motherboard, rom, ram, mass storage, physical ports connecting peripherals, i/o devices), and then continues with a brief intro to the computer architecture and a review of major operating systems. chapter 4 introduces administration interfaces, application installation, computer networking, disk image deployment in both windows and macos systems. next it compares the local backup and the cloud storage and discusses in brief the protection against viruses and malware. chapter 5 addresses the network architecture (network types, network typology, and geographic area) and hardware components of a network (nic, cabling, switch, router, firewall, wap). the chapter then discusses the key aspects of network administration (network administrator, network printing, user authentication, network security, troubleshooting). the rest of the chapter covers several topics and trends in networking, namely internet2, iot, net neutrality. chapter 6 begins by introducing infrastructure related to computer servers, from hardware components (cpu, motherboard, ram, storage, etc.) to cloud computing (iaas, paas, and saas). ge / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 85 it then addresses certain server operation issues such as operating systems, remote administration, documentation, logs, monitoring and performance analysis, and finally discusses different server types (file and storage, print, database, web, proxy, mail servers), with software designed to provide different services. chapter 7 discusses issues, threats, and preventive measures relating to information security, with an introduction to the major security threats to information systems and tools and tactics to protect personal computers, as well as those to enhance network security. chapter 8 begins with an overview of website architecture including topics such as the anatomy of a webpage, webserver architecture, programming languages, and development tools. next, it discusses the web development practices including the roles on a development team, the web design process, and the selection of different design strategies. the final section of this chapter introduces topics of semantic web, web apis, web analytics, and web accessibility. chapter 9 is separated into three sections. the first section discusses the development process from a library perspective including business analysis and project proposal, and then systems development life cycle (sdlc). the second section introduces programming, common programming languages, database design, and an introduction to structured query language. the chapter concludes with two development-related topics: application programming interfaces (apis) and open-source software. the last three chapters of the book address emerging technologies (digital media labs, 3-d printing, makerspaces, extended reality, ai, blockchain, iot) that may be offered in libraries, library management system (lms), electronic resource management system (erms) and digitization, as well as topics of technology acquisition, strategic technology planning, and riskmanagement strategies. although the book covers a broad range of technological topics, it was written from the perspective of a librarian with a focus on technologies used in libraries. the book introduces the fundamental concepts of information technology necessary for librarians who are responsible for it-related work and need to communicate with their institution’s it department. the book may also serve as a textbook for library information and science students or goto book for librarians and information professionals on that it follows a set of pedagogical structure in each chapter beginning with a brief introduction to a major topic, specific technologies with enough detail, key technical terminology, a chapter summary, questions for discussion, and suggested activities. chapters also provide a list of book/article citations for further reading and urls of useful resources for reference. certain chapters present current issues or trends of relevant technologies and practices. the target readers of this book may include library information and science students, librarians or information professionals who are interested in systems or have it support responsibilities. --rui ge (jeff), stockton university, galloway, nj, usa issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org 50 years of social science data services: a case study from the university of wisconsin-madison chiu-chuang lu chou abstract: the data and information services center (disc), formerly known as the data and program library services (dpls) has provided learning, teaching and research support to students, staff and faculty in social sciences at the university of wisconsin-madison for 50 years. what changes have our organization, collections, and services experienced? how has disc evolved with the advancement of technology? what role does disc play in the current and future landscape of social science data services on our campus and beyond? this paper gives answers to these questions and recommends a few simple steps in adding social science data services in academic libraries. to cite this article: chou, c.l. (2017). 50 years of social science data services: a case study from the university of wisconsin-madison. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 42-52. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.23 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 42-52 issn:2474-3542 50 years of social science data services: a case study from the university of wisconsin-madison chiu-chuang lu chou university of wisconsin, madison, wi, usa abstract the data and information services center (disc), formerly known as the data and program library services (dpls) has provided learning, teaching and research support to students, staff and faculty in social sciences at the university of wisconsin-madison for 50 years. what changes have our organization, collections, and services experienced? how has disc evolved with the advancement of technology? what role does disc play in the current and future landscape of social science data services on our campus and beyond? this paper gives answers to these questions and recommends a few simple steps in adding social science data services in academic libraries. keywords: social science data services, data librarianship, secondary analysis, data management, restricted data services, organization change, technology evolution prologue reading books can prolong your life, according to this washington post story, “the best reason for reading? book lovers live longer, scientists say” (nutt, 2016). this finding comes from a scholarly publication, “a chapter a day: association of book reading with longevity”. researchers in the school of public health at yale university used the health and retirement study (hrs) to investigate “whether those who read books have a survival advantage over those who do not read books and over those who read other types of materials, and if so, whether cognition mediates this book reading effect” (bavishi, slade, & levy, 2016, p. 44 ). they found that reading books provided a 23-month survival advantage. this is one example of secondary data analysis in social sciences. researchers used two questions asked in the hrs to examine the outcome of a leisure activity/reading from different people. their findings can be applied to policy making and behavior changes. “secondary analysis is the process of re-examining existing data to address new questions or use methods not previously employed” as defined in glossary of social science terms at the inter-university consortium for political and social research (icpsr) website (icpsr, n.d., #s). using existing social science datasets to conduct analysis is cheaper and faster than collecting chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 43 one’s own data. the data and information services center (disc) provides social science data services to faculty, staff, researchers and students at the university of wisconsin-madison for their secondary data analysis work. this article describes disc’s current role in supporting research, teaching, and learning on our campus. it also explains how our services have evolved with the technology over the last five decades. it then presents different levels of social science data services that can be implemented by other libraries. history in the 1960’s, the availability of machine-readable social science data began to increase rapidly, and traditional campus libraries did not have the expertise to acquire and manage these data files. social science faculty members, especially in economics, political science, and sociology, needed a facility for collecting, managing, and preserving social science data. they also wanted the computer analysis and data management programs used with the data to be collected, preserved, and disseminated. the data and program library services (dpls) was created as an "experiment" by the university of wisconsin graduate school in september of 1966. by the early 70s many of wisconsin’s social science departments were particularly strong in quantitative analysis, and multivariate data analysis constituted an essential component of graduate training and, increasingly, of undergraduate education. in 1974, funding support for dpls was transferred to the college of letters and science (l&s). in january of 2007, dpls was merged with the data services operations in the center for demography and ecology (cde) and the center for demography of health and aging (cdha), two federal grant supported research centers on campus. the new unit was named the data and information services center (disc) and is now part of the social science research services within the l&s. collections disc is a member of the inter-university consortium for political and social research (icpsr), a major social science data archive and the roper center for public opinion research, a leading archive of public opinion datasets. in addition, our collection includes major surveys from other distributors, u.s. government data, and locally produced archival datasets. internet crossroads is a reference database containing more than 800 annotated links to data-related social science resources on the internet. it includes sites with social science data, social science statistics, organizations that collect social science data, data libraries, social science research methods, and more. these sites are grouped into 26 categories for easy browsing. country statistical yearbooks provides links to country statistical yearbooks or similar collections (census, "facts and figures") for 154 countries worldwide. it was viewed over 15,000 times in the 2015 calendar year and was the second most popular library guide on campus. the disc online data archive is a subset of datasets from the disc collection that are made publicly available for direct internet download. many of these 40 plus datasets came from research conducted at uw-madison or cover wisconsin-related topics. the badgir (better access to data for global interdisciplinary research) catalog is a data discovery and analysis tool powered by the nesstar software suite. nesstar’s extensive metadata allows users to browse and search data documentation down to the variable level. users can conduct preliminary checks on usability and relevancy of variables using its online analysis tools. chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 44 services reference and instruction the disc staff is experienced in matching datasets and other data resources with researchers and students who are utilizing data for term papers, course work, dissertations, or research. we discuss with our patrons the scope of their research. we are then able to identify, locate, obtain, and sometimes accession and preserve the most appropriate dataset(s) for their projects. our librarians regularly provide individual and classroom instruction on where to look for appropriate research data, how to acquire them, how to use them efficiently and how to access the data with existing software and hardware. some of the academic courses for which we have guest lectured are econ 580: honors tutorial in research project design, polisci 544: introduction to survey research, journalism 658: communication research methods, sociology 360: statistics for sociologists, and uw libraries graduate support series workshops. in addition, we have been invited by the school of information and library science to teach slis graduate students about the management of machine readable numeric data for social sciences and data librarianship since 2001. disc news and two weekly research reports are our venues informing patrons about seminars, workshops, new data products and current topics related to data issues. restricted data services advances in pc computing power makes it much easier to link data from multiple different data sources, which presents a real threat of re-identifying business entities or individuals from public use microdata and tabular data (chou, 2004). to protect the confidentiality of the respondents and reduce disclosure risk, data producers must remove and alter certain aspects of the data in their public use data. detailed geography, dna or other personally-identifiable medical data and administrative data from federal agencies such as the social security administration or medicare are not available in the public-use file. yet, researchers often need to use richer and more detailed restricted data for their complex statistical analysis. restricted data is available to researchers only under certain conditions and agreements. in recent years disc has added restricted data service to facilitate researchers’ applications to access restricted data. disc staff provide assistance in legal contracts, human subjects review by uw-madison’s institutional review boards, and various application requirements for gaining access to restricted data. we work with the social science computing cooperative (sscc) to provide facilities for secure data storage and analysis. in the 2015-2016 academic year, disc has initiated, processed, maintained, and formally closed out restricted data contracts for 19 researchers. archival services disc has a long tradition of assisting principal investigators in the production and preservation of public use files that facilitate the dissemination and utilization of their research data by others. we work with researchers to decide on the most useful format for their public-use files. to make their data useful to other researchers, their public use files need to be adequately documented. we ensure the accompanying data documentation covers study design, methodology, coding procedures, variable descriptions and other supplementary information. archived studies are freely disseminated from disc online data archive and the badgir catalog. chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 45 additional research support for cde and cdha because disc receives funding from cde and cdha, we carry out certain tasks to meet their federal funding requirements1. for example, center affiliates’ scholarly publications are identified and stored in a bibliographical database. disc is also the custodian of several survey datasets conducted by our affiliates and has provided user support after these projects ended.2 in the last few years, we have answered over 165 reference questions related to these studies. most requests were from researchers not affiliated with uw-madison. most requests come from researchers who are new to use secondary data and need some guidance. data sources for research in aging is compiled to aid researchers find cross-sectional studies, time series, contextual data, and other data relevant to their research. statistical data enclave (sda) provides cdha and cde affiliates with secure facilities for their needs in storing, gaining access to restricted data, and analyzing restricted data via remote computing or cold rooms. campus partners uw-madison is a large r1 doctoral university. campus units often coordinate and collaborate when they deliver services to over 43,000 enrolled students in 13 schools and colleges. on this large campus, computing and statistical support is de-centralized by design to achieve autonomy and efficiency. this model works well for disc as we provide custom data services to patrons who need social science data in their learning, teaching, and research. the college of letters and science sscc offers computing and statistical software resources to the faculty, staff, and students in the social science division. it has a classroom lab, a drop-in lab, and a mobile lab. its professional staff provides statistical consultation, training on statistical computing, pc support, and secure data storage. we regularly refer patrons with statistical and methodological questions to the sscc statistical consultants. library services at uw-madison are provided by over 40 libraries. disc pays for campus-wide subscriptions to icpsr and the roper center. we work closely with other campus librarians in reference referrals. disc has a focus on social science quantitative data, while qualitative data support is provided by the school of education library. the national science foundation (nsf) mandated that researchers applying for funding must include a data management plan as a part of their grant application starting in january 2011 (national science foundation, 2010). john holdren, director of the office of science and technology policy (ostp) in his memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies on february 22, 2013 directs “each federal agency with over $100 million in annual conduct of research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the federal government." (office of science and technology policy, 2013, p. 2). many other federal funding agencies started to require applicants to include a data management plan in their applications. in recent years, research data management has become a vital service area for academic libraries. research data services (rds) at uwmadison is an interdisciplinary organization. its website provides researchers with tools and 1 the eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health & human development, p2c hd047873 and the national institute on aging, p30 ag017266 are two federal grants provide funding to disc. 2 national health measurement study, national survey of families and households, the puerto rican elderly: health conditions, and health, wellbeing and aging in latin america and the caribbean are four social science surveys conducted by cdha affiliates. they are disseminated from the badgir catalog. chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 46 resources guiding them through the public access requirements on the data and publications funded by grants. rds consultants help patrons draft and review their data management plans. they offer consultations, training and referral in data work flow, file format, metadata standards, data sharing, digital preservation and curation. disc’s role in rds is providing research data services in social sciences. five decades of operation evolution as a special library of machine-readable social science data, disc’s operations and services are intimately connected to computing technology. our data storage, maintenance and processing, administrative record keeping procedure, collection development, reference service, and archival service have evolved with the computing landscape in the last five decades. reviewing disc’s operation over the years presents a historical perspective on the social science data librarianship. when dpls was created in september of 1966, data were distributed and stored on half inch magnetic tapes and univac mainframe computers were used to read data off the tapes and to conduct data analysis. significant time and resources were required to obtain and manage numerical files and tapes in mainframe computing environment. in the early 90s, mainframe computers were phased out on campus, and in 1990, we purchased a next workstation to build a platform to host both data and metadata in-house via a user-friendly interface. meanwhile, our datasets were migrated from magnetic tapes to 4mm dat tapes. for almost 20 years, disc has relied on pc and network drives to manage our collections and deliver our services. currently, our collection of datasets is also stored in two usb flash drives and stored off-site. in case a disaster strikes our building, our collection can be safely recovered from these external storage devices. administrative record keeping/holding catalog numerical datasets have special elements which are quite different from books and journals. from the beginning of our operation, when each dataset was acquired a permanent data record (pdr) was created for administrative record keeping. advances in technology and bibliographical control rules have shaped our record keeping practice. in 1978, dpls adopted cataloging rules for machine readable data files (mrdf) in anglo-american cataloging rules (gorman & winkler, 1978) and started to create detailed bibliographic records for our datasets. disc holdings catalog has been migrated from various computing platforms over the years. a graphic user interface was built on our holding data base (hdb) system and it was added to our website in 1996. hdb became dynamic when an active server page (asp) application was implemented on the database via web interface in the early 2000s. descriptive metadata in our holdings catalog makes search and locate studies possible from our library website. it also allows us to effectively conduct data curation and delivery support. responsibilities evolve with technology in the era of magnetic tapes, our staff spent approximately 25 to 40 hours each week on tape maintenance and additional time in managing administrative records of data files. when cdroms became the main storage medium and dissemination tool for datasets, we managed various user interface programs on our pcs, wrote users guides and conducted one-on-one instruction to chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 47 assist patrons to gain access to data on cd-roms. as data producers/vendors built online user interfaces on their websites, we worked with the general library system (gls) it department to set up domain authentication to allow campus users to access subscription-based data sources. our role in locating data sources has been enhanced by search engines and other discovery tools, such as the icpsr’s database of publications and variables and the roper center’s questionnaire database. in the previous generation, researchers spent their whole career analyzing data from a handful of studies. as computers become faster and more powerful, researchers now conduct their data analysis across time and geographic boundaries. they often link public-use data to restricted data and administrative records for their research. in the last few years we have worked closely with our patrons by assisting them in restricted data applications. in addition to our traditional role of conducting reference interviews and assisting in locating datasets, we now help patrons with their research data management and data curation as they adopt open data and data sharing practice. recently, we have started to assist patrons in getting their peer-reviewed journal articles in compliance with public access policies required by federal funding agencies. advance of service delivery tools in the early years, we relied on printed catalogs obtained from various data archives to locate studies for our patrons. we also maintained a collection of methodology books describing survey research, secondary analysis, sample surveys, and more. in 1996, as the internet grew to become the primary source of information, dpls started to evaluate, compile and annotate a list of useful websites called internet crossroads in social science. by 2002, this list became too long to browse and too cumbersome to search. we designed a relational database and an asp application to allow users to query and browse these websites efficiently. internet crossroads has been a valuable tool for our visitors and our staff to locate data sources for research topics. it is often linked by other academic libraries as a valuable reference source for social science data. dpls served as the campus repository and reference center for quantitative social science data in its first 35 years. machine-readable data files were acquired and stored for the social science community on campus. considerable staff time was spent in developing and managing our local collection of datasets. as the internet propelled information dissemination, icpsr, our main source of datasets made their studies available via ftp. we started to weed out our collections stored on magnetic tapes in late 1990s, as it was no longer economical to maintain a local copy of datasets that were readily available from icpsr and other archives. icpsr, the roper center, international monetary fund (imf), the organisation for economic co-operation and development (oecd), and the world bank all made their data downloadable to individual users during the early 2000s. dpls’ function in data acquisition was replaced by securing campus – wide ip validation for subscriptions we maintain. the internet changed our collection development fundamentally. instead of obtaining and managing local copy of datasets, we now guide patrons to data producers’ websites and help them navigate online data extracting tools. to facilitate patrons’ access to popular social science data sites, disc’s website now serves as a portal with link shortcuts to various data sources. chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 48 dpls was one of the 13 beta-test sites for an icpsr project, the data documentation initiative (ddi)-document type definition (dtd), to examine metadata in creating structured codebook files in 1999. ddi version 1 was released as a standard to contextually describe social science datasets in the study and data levels. ddi’s descriptive metadata allows the contents and structure of datasets to be maneuvered by computers. ddi metadata compliant with xml (extensible markup language) permits the development of new web applications for search and discovery, online data analysis, and data visualization (rasmussen & blank, 2007). one of these tools is nesstar (networked social science tools and resources), developed by the norwegian social science data services, uk data archive, and the danish data archives (ryssevik & musgrave, 2001). in 2003, we implemented the nesstar suite to run our better access to data for global interdisciplinary research (badgir) catalog. it has since provided a friendly interface to access social science datasets produced by uw-madison researchers. within badgir, users can browse and search study description, codebooks, and summary statistics, such as mean, variance, and frequency counts of all the studies. registered users can select variables, run data analyses, and create subsets. customized data subsets can be downloaded in microsoft excel, spss, sas dbase and stata formats. nowadays ipums, oced, united nations, world bank, and other social science data sites have all implemented metadata-based interfaces to let visitors navigate, explore, and access their data collections. social science data services 101 professional development there are different levels of social science data services in learning, teaching, research, and data curation and preservation, as disc’s story has illustrated. it takes time to appraise the data need on campus and to design a suitable social science data service model. the first and most important step is to have a professional development program for library staff to advance their competency and expand their skill set. below are some resources for professional development self-study in social science data services.  icpsr. (2017). providing social science data services: strategies for design and operation. retrieved from https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/sumprog/courses/0041  kellam, l. (2011). numeric data services and sources for the general reference librarian. oxford: chandos publishing.  kellam, l., & thompson, k. (eds.). (2016). databrarianship: the academic data librarian in theory and practice. chicago, il: acrl.  uk data service. (2017a). secondary data analysis. retrieved from https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/secondary-analysis  uk data service. (2017b). teaching with data. retrieved from https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/teaching  youtube. (2017a). icpsr. retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/icpsrweb  youtube. (2017b). help! i’m an accidental government information librarian webinars. retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/channel/uc6cfualeu8n77us06pry10q chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 49 service need assessment it is beneficial to conduct a needs assessment to examine what social science data services are desired from patrons. eleanor read shared her method and findings from the data services awareness and use survey she conducted at the university of tennessee (ut) in fall 2003. her article gave an informative overview on social science data services and how the ut libraries promote the quantitative data component through outreach activities (read, 2007). once service needs are identified, you can solicit and secure funding sources to design your data service model. communication is crucial in developing new social science data services. collaborate with campus partners and invite them to design and implement new services identified from your service needs assessment exercise. service levels after professional development, librarians can confidently expand reference services to include social science data services. a reference librarian can conduct in-depth interviews with a patron to understand his/her research topic and connect him/her to the appropriate data sources. social science data sources can be effectively identified when a librarian is familiar with data discovery tools and data access procedures. to understand the components of a dataset, check out the methodology report and codebook. these two documents provide important information on its research design, data collecting method, its subject content, and its file format. data citation is a newly required practice in publishing research. librarians are experienced in helping patrons with citations. they can show their patrons how to cite their data sources appropriately using citation styles like apa and chicago. for data analysis support, a library can start with data preparation assistance and statistical analysis referral. a reference librarian can help a patron determine the file format and suggest appropriate software to read a data file. then a patron can be referred to a computing technical support unit on campus. statistical analysis requires expertise. find out where statistical consultation is currently offered on the campus. network and team up with these units to establish and facilitate analysis service on behalf of your patrons. curation service is an advanced level of data service. it requires special knowledge to appraise, manage, organize, preserve, and disseminate datasets. icpsr’s guide to social science data preparation and archiving: best practice throughout the data life cycle, 5th edition is a comprehensive guide in data curation. disc’s setup has evolved over many years to meet the unique needs of our institution and it allows us to offer an array of social science data services. hopefully this case study with historical reflection and practical suggestions can inspire fellow librarians to design their own social science data services to support research, teaching, and learning on their campuses. epilogue “…i thank you for all the assistance you gave me so far and any future help i may ask you for. in fact, i am astonished by you being a librarian and taking the role as counsel for data users – chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 50 something that would not happen in other countries. that is exactly why class analysts usually assign librarians in the us the highest social class whereas in other countries they go for the second highest! on the side note of the pis being retired, that is also the nice thing with data. if kept alive, it may in future times be gainfully analyzed with a completely different purpose than it was originally collected for. so, thanks a lot for the service and i hope to add to the list of gainful analysis performed with the national survey of families and households (nsfh).” this compliment from a researcher best demonstrates the importance of social science data librarianship. references badgir. (2015). badgir (better access to data for global interdisciplinary research) catalog. retrieved from https://nesstar.ssc.wisc.edu/index.html bavishi, a., slade, m. d., & levy, b. r. (2016). a chapter a day: association of book reading with longevity. social science & medicine, 164, 44-48. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014. cdha. (2017a). center for demography of health and aging (cdha) project publications searchable database. retrieved from http://pogo.public.ssc.wisc.edu/rmwp?&func=advsearch cdha. (2017b). data sources for research in aging. retrieved from http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cdha/services/dataresources.html chou, c. c. l. (2004). my three-day encounter with argus: a report for iassist. iassist quarterly, 28(4), 8-11. chou, l. (2017). disc news blog. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/discnews/ data & information services center. (2007, february). data & information services center (disc) news. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/feb07news.pdf data & information services center. (2017a). internet crossroads in social science data. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newcrossroads/index.asp data & information services center. (2017b). restricted data. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/restricted/index.html data and computation center. (1975). an overview of development, 1971-1975. madison: university of wisconsin social science. unpublished report. data and program library service. (1978). data and program library service (dpls) annual report on the major activities. madison: dpls staff. unpublished report. data and program library service. (1991). data and program library service (dpls) annual report. madison: dpls staff. unpublished report. data and program library service. (1993). data and program library service (dpls) annual report. madison: dpls staff. unpublished report. data and program library service. (1997). data and program library service (dpls) annual report. madison: dpls staff. unpublished report. data and program library service. (1996, october.) data and program library service news. retrieved from: http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/oct96news.html data and program library service. (1999, october.) data and program library service news. retrieved from: http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/may99news.html data and program library service. (2002, november). data and program library service news. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/nov02news.html https://nesstar.ssc.wisc.edu/index.html http://pogo.public.ssc.wisc.edu/rmwp?&func=advsearch http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cdha/services/dataresources.html http://www.disc.wisc.edu/discnews/ http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/feb07news.pdf http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newcrossroads/index.asp http://www.disc.wisc.edu/restricted/index.html http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/oct96news.html http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/may99news.html http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/nov02news.html chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 51 data and program library service. (2004, april). data and program library service news. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/apr04news.html data and program library service. (2005, november). data and program library service news. retrieved from http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/nov05news.pdf ddi timeline. (n.d.). ddi timeline. retrieved from https://www.ddialliance.org/sites/default/files/ddi%20timeline%20with%20foundation al%20events-for-website.pdf gorman, m., & winkler, p. w. (1978). anglo-american cataloguing rules (2nd ed.) chicago, il: american library association. health and retirement study. (n.d.). health and retirement study. retrieved from https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/ inter-university consortium for political and social research. (n.d.). inter-university consortium for political and social research (icpsr). retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ inter-university consortium for political and social research. (n.d.). a glossary of social science terms. retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/icpsr/support/glossary. inter-university consortium for political and social research. (2012). guide to data preparation and archiving: best practice throughout the data life cycle (5th ed.). ann arbor, mi: icpsr. retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/files/icpsr/access/dataprep.pdf national science foundation. (2010). national science foundation data management plan requirement. retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_datamgmtplanpolicy.pdf norwegian centre for research data. (2016). nesstar. retrieved from http://www.nesstar.com/ nutt, a. e. (2016, aug. 9). the best reason for reading? book lovers live longer, scientists say. washington post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-yourhealth/wp/2016/08/09/the-best-reason-for-reading-book-lovers-live-longer-say-scientists/ office of science and technology policy (ostp). (2013). policy memorandum: increasing access to the results of federally funded scientific research. retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_acce ss_memo_2013.pdf rasmussen, k. b., & blank, g. (2007). the data documentation initiative: a preservation standard for research. archival science, 7(1), 55-71. read, e. j. (2007). data services in academic libraries: assessing needs and promoting services. reference and user services quarterly, 46(3), 61-75. robbin, a., & dennis, j. (1971). data and program library service: an overview of development. madison: university of wisconsin social science. ryssevik, j., & musgrave, s. (2001). the social science dream machine: resource discovery, analysis, and delivery on the web. social science computer review, 19(2), 163-174. social science computing cooperative (sscc). http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/sscc/ the roper center for public opinion research. (n.d.). public opinion research archive. retrieved from https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/ university of wisconsin libraries. (n.d.). country statistical yearbooks. retrieved from http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/yearbooks university of wisconsin-madison. (2017). data digest 2016-2017. retrieved from https://apir.wisc.edu/datadigest/201617digest/data_digest_2017_web.pdf http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/apr04news.html http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/nov05news.pdf http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newsletters/nov05news.pdf https://www.ddialliance.org/sites/default/files/ddi%20timeline%20with%20foundational%20events-for-website.pdf https://www.ddialliance.org/sites/default/files/ddi%20timeline%20with%20foundational%20events-for-website.pdf https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/ http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/icpsr/support/glossary http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/files/icpsr/access/dataprep.pdf https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_datamgmtplanpolicy.pdf http://www.nesstar.com/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/09/the-best-reason-for-reading-book-lovers-live-longer-say-scientists/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/09/the-best-reason-for-reading-book-lovers-live-longer-say-scientists/ https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/sscc/ https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/ http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/yearbooks https://apir.wisc.edu/datadigest/201617digest/data_digest_2017_web.pdf chou / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 52 uw-madison libraries. (n.d.). about the uw-madison libraries. retrieved from https://www.library.wisc.edu/about/administration/about-the-uw-madison-libraries/ uw-madison research data services (rds). (n.d.). uw-madison research data services. retrieved from http://researchdata.wisc.edu/ about the author chiu-chuang lu chou is a senior special librarian in the data and information services center (disc) and the center for demography of health and aging (cdha) at the university of wisconsin in madison. she counsels and helps patrons identify and locate data sources for their secondary quantitative research in social sciences. she assists researchers with their research data management plans and prepares their studies to be deposited at archives like the national archive of computerized data on aging (nacda) and the inter-university consortium for political and social research (icpsr). https://www.library.wisc.edu/about/administration/about-the-uw-madison-libraries/ http://researchdata.wisc.edu/ 05.23-127-1-ce-2_50_years_title_1 05.23-127-1-ce-2_50_years_1 international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 4-7. issn:2474-3542 transcript of speech by aslak myhre, director of national library of norway, at fantastic futures 2019: 2nd international conference on ai for libraries, archives, and museums for a norwegian to travel all the way from the polar circle and to stanford, california to talk about ai is a bit dangerous and it makes me awestruck. you feel small in this place. to talk about technology in the places where the tools we use in our daily life, and mind you, the tools we never could imagine having ten or twenty years ago, were developed, while in the environment where the ideas were born, is something that creates a feeling of awe, of honor and respect. but also to be standing here and looking out of a crowd of librarians, of archivists, of the museum conservators, of people from the knowledge sector also creates for me a feeling of honor, of awe and respect. for when we talk about ai and we talk about technology, we librarians are of course the juniors. if we gather all our developers, all our technological force, (and) put them all together in a room. the room doesn’t need to be so big. if we compare ourselves to google, to facebook, to amazon, to the big big companies working on this, we are tiny. we don’t have the manpower or woman power or human power to be at the front of technological development. . but at the same time, looking at us, we have something else that actually puts us in front. what do we have? we have our collections. and if we put all our collections together, we have the collected memory of humankind, of six thousands or eight thousands or millions of years on this planet. that’s what our collections are for. each one of our collections is a small part of the cultural heritage and all together it’s all of the cultural heritage of the world. and we have another thing. we have community, we meet in places like this, all the time, to share, not to compete. there is no competition amongst libraries, archives, and museums. there’s only sharing, a feeling of collectiveness. this is who we are. and in this, even though we are juniors, we might be actually the sharp edge, the pinpoint in the front of development. when we talk about technology as ai, we inevitably end up talking about the future. and the title for this conference is exactly that, fantastic futures. the future that is so bright, we gotta wear shades and so on. and we love this. at least we librarians, we love to meet and talk all over the world, in each of our countries, and talk about what is a library, or even more popular, what is the future library. and we are under a hard pressure to always think new, to always be creative, to always create the idea for the future. looking at what i said, what we are, what we have together, i think, in the meeting with ai, machine learning and new technology, the first thing we need to do is to think old, not new. myhre / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 5 we need to think old. not ask ourselves what will be in the future, but what we are, what is an actual library? what are we? we tend to think that we are our technology. we tend to think that we are the catalogue, the library is a catalog, the library is the metadata, that the library is a collection on the shelves or now the digital. but this is not true. and if you talk to the public libraries, they tend to think they are institutions that lend out books and materials to people, and that’s the core of the library. but this is not true either. lending out books is extremely new in libraries. lending out books is linked to the development of public library in late 19th and early 20th century. libraries are old, extremely much older than this. and what are we then? well, we are knowledge institutions. we know that. we try to gather, as i said, the knowledge of humankind, all knowledge, all cultures in one place. and we have been so since alexandria and even before that. but there has been one major evolution in the thinking of libraries. and it’s also an old thought. the thought was that, we do not just keep the knowledge, we want people to use it. we are not gatekeepers of knowledge. we used to be gatekeepers, gatekeepers for kings, gatekeepers for universities, gatekeepers for the pope or priests or whoever. we are now gate openers. every librarian all over the world today will want to be opening his or her gate, to give people access, wanting people to use the collections. we’re agents for the knowledges in our collections. agents for education, agents for culture, missionaries. we are people’s enlighteners. we are the children of enlightenment. that is who we are. and that was a major change. if we think that the library is the catalogue, and the librarian is a person who knows the catalog, is able to find the book in the shelf, or placed correctly in the dewey decimal system, librarians will be as rare in the future as typographers, telegraphers and other old trades are today. we will not need thousands of people working the dewey system. i am sorry. we will not need thousands of people working in the catalog. we will not need help to find the books on shelves. all that can be automatized. but if librarians are holders of human knowledge, and agents and missionaries and gate openers for this knowledge, if librarians are enlighteners and educators, there will be more of us than any time. and there will be more need for us than there has been in any time in history. this is where we should start thinking as new. as mike said, looking at ai and machine learning not as magic, not as something strange to us, something we need to become, but as a tool. and as a tool, we cannot choose not to use this tool. we cannot choose not to go into this. fifteen years ago, the national library of norway decided to digitize our entire collection. we did this from a very, very, very simple statement. we said, in the future, people will expect to find knowledge online. if our knowledge base shall be relevant in the future, it needs to be online. and thus, we need to digitize it. it’s as simple as that. we could draw a parallel to ai or machine learning today. in the future, and the very near future as in tomorrow, people will expect to have ai tools to help navigate their lives. they already myhre / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 6 have, knowingly and unknowingly. if our collections and our knowledge shall be relevant, interesting and accessible in the future, we need to use these tools. it’s as simple as that. but then there’s more. because then comes the question. what are we using these tools for? how will we use them? and there’s a boring and exciting version. and we need to do both. the boring version is to make the machines do what you want to do today. and we’ve been doing that since the industrial revolution. getting machines to do what humans used to. in library ai that means we need to make the machines see dewey, to catalog, to give analysis, give us keywords, stuff like that, things we do today. but it’s boring. it’s really boring. we already have catalogs and keywords and dewey. there’s nothing new in that. what else can we do? and that’s the exciting part. what can we do with ai and machine learning, and other tools that humans can’t do today? and here comes, for me, the crucial point. we have, all together, all the knowledge of humankind in our collections. this means that we all together have created the all of information that is so massive that nobody actually can navigate it. just in norwegian national library we have now digitized about 2.5 million newspaper editions. it’s magic, except who can read 2.5 million newspaper editions. nobody can do that. reading just takes as long time as it always did. when they are digitized you can search them and find what you’re looking for if you know what you are looking for. but what about analyzing them? what about reading them all? who can read them all? the machine can read them all. can we teach the machine to read them and actually give us answers? if so, we will have answers no human could ever even fathom, because the capacity of analyzing our collections all together would be enormous. and that will give us both as researchers and as users experiences and knowledge we couldn’t find in any other way. and that’s the exciting part. we will never be as many as google or as many as microsoft or as many as any other industry. but we still need to invest a hundred percent in this development, because we have, as i said, one thing that differs us from the others. we have the collections on the history of humankind. and we have something more too. we have an aim and a mission. when we use this technology on the collective cultural heritage of humans, we aim to improve the lives of humans. our aim is only one thing, to educate, to create knowledge, to give democracy. all in all it sums up to improving the human condition, to make lives better. we’re agents and missionaries for our collections, not because we love the collections, because we think the collections are important to humankind. and thus we will hopefully address ai and machine learning in a different way than any other institutions could. as knowledge institutions, we could actually make a great difference addressing this technology. and that’s what we are doing now, having a fantastic futures conference. and that’s why it’s important. because what comes out of our work collectively, we actually, maybe, hopefully, change the lives of people all over the world. thank you very much. myhre / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 7 aslak myhre, director of national library of norway place: stanford university libraries date: december 4, 2019 ----------------------------- transcribed by the international journal of librarianship. april 2020. conference url: https://library.stanford.edu/projects/fantastic-futures https://library.stanford.edu/projects/fantastic-futures microsoft word 000_ijol editorial-1-final.docx international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 1-3. issn:2474-3542 guest editorial: special issue on sustainability and libraries as we are writing this introduction, we are thinking a lot about covid-19 and how it has impacted our lives, our work and our environment. we think about the future, and what awaits with covid19 and the efforts of sustainability. today, we know that libraries and all library workers are greatly affected and concerned by issues connected to sustainability. from environmental to social to financial sustainability, we need to re-center our focus on what changes we can make and how to share progress. we are seeing the rise of climate refugees across the world being affected by the climate crisis. libraries can play a role in informing users and communities about such issues (hawco, 2019). we can think about the united nations and its sustainable development goals (sdgs) and how all library workers can align their work to the sdgs and foster awareness of resources and developments in their communities that they serve. more importantly, we need to start having these conversations now and implementing such plans and to raise awareness of our own social responsibilities and accountabilities to the environment that is impacting life. in this special issue, we, as the co-guest editors, wanted to focus on international efforts related to sustainability in libraries. we aimed to collect and showcase global voices and stories from what library workers of all types (academic, public, school, special, etc) were doing to support sustainability efforts. in this issue, our five featured articles, two reports from the field and one library association report were selected to offer a global perspective on the issue of sustainability and libraries today. in brazil, researchers genilson geraldo and marli dias de souza pinto found the use of instagram, the social networking app, to be an effective communication tool to promote sustainability issues to users. through the concept of informational sustainability, sustainable development information can be shared in social networks to be made available to 4000 followers. they analyzed the use of this tool to disseminate sustainable information through libraries. in australia, librarian roxanne missingham shared how the australian university libraries meet un sdgs and came up with a model that integrated assessment of sustainability to generate useful insights on the value of libraries. in the united states, librarians jennifer embree and neyda v. gilman offered a case study on campus sustainability practices through the academic library. their academic library presented an opportunity to support campus sustainability through university-wide engagements and collaborations. in sri lanka, librarians damaynathi gunasekera and manori samarakoon highlighted the sustainable development project initiated by the buddhist and pali university of sri lanka in mid2019. the project shared how to increase sustainability awareness and practices in this university and engage with their community of users through training, workshops and other resource developments. in kazakhstan, librarians joseph yap and april manabat shared how nazarbayev university library adjusted to environmental practices during the pandemic. they discussed how pun and pötsönen / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 2 they have implemented sustainable work from their “working from home” situation during the pandemic. in the reports from the field and a commentary, we have contributors from finland, hong kong and the united states. for reports, in finland, a team of library professionals and advocates ulla pötsönen, harri sahavirta and leila sonkkanen collaborated to describe how public libraries support and promote sustainability efforts. they explored the current situation of public libraries in supporting sustainability in finland through a variety of projects, surveys and assessments. librarian leo ma from the chinese university of hong kong shared and reflected on how the conference, “sustainable academic libraries: now and beyond” co-organized by the hong kong university of science and technology library and the chinese university of hong kong library provided an opportunity for academic libraries to discuss and share sustainability plans collectively. in a commentary, the american library association’s (ala) un 2030 sdg task force members from the united states loida garcia-febo and robin kear shared how ala planned for its un 2030 sdg task force and its work in aligning ala under sdg. they highlighted events, webinars and upcoming programs and resources to engage with the global library community. this special issue highlighted diverse voices and perspectives across five continents and seven countries. these projects showcased how sustainability is truly a global community issue for all. we have an opportunity to share and implement equitable and sustainable practices for and in our profession, associations, workplaces and communities-at-large. when we all work together and hold ourselves and each other accountable, we can collectively address and promote environmental justice for all before it is too late. in addition, we like to thank all contributors for taking the time to write and document their sustainability efforts for this special issue, particularly during covid-19. we like to acknowledge the ijol chief editor grace liu for her guidance, support and prompt responses! we also like to thank copy editors of ijol for their time and work. we also thank our copy editors: xiaoai ren, cecilia tellis, jessica koos, and helen power, and lay out editors: cindy li and gordon xu for making this special issue possible! this special issue was reviewed by numerous external peer reviewers and we would like to acknowledge and thank them for their time and service to the community: amani magid, angela a. j. kent, hiromi kubo, michael gutierrez, sophia sotilleo, leyla cabugos, nicollette davis, estella terrazas, and jana de brauwere. along with copyeditors, our reviewers provided helpful comments and feedback to each paper. we hope you enjoy this special issue and find inspiration! raymond pun, alder graduate school of education, united states ulla pötsönen, independent library advocate, community educator, finland pun and pötsönen / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 3 reference hawco, c. (2019). transforming public libraries as spaces of refuge & resiliency during climate crisis: toronto public library youth and staff perspectives. (unpublished master’s thesis). york university, toronto, canada. retrieved from https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/36901/mesmp02883.pdf?sequ ence=1 editing contributors to this issue copy editing: xiaoai ren, jessica koos, cecilia tellis, and helen power layout editing: cindy li and gordon xu issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org know your international user behind the screen: a conversation among chinese students and librarians regarding virtual reference services (vrs) xiaojie duan abstract: librarians need feedback from users to improve library services. on the other hand, users need assistance from librarians in order to gain a better understanding of library services. this paper focuses on how chinese students use u.s. academic libraries’ virtual reference services (vrs), and how academic librarians use vrs. by collecting data from chinese students and librarians, this paper hopes to create a better understanding of these two factors in order to improve vrs. to cite this article: duan, x. (2019). know your international user behind the screen: a conversation among chinese students and librarians regarding virtual reference services (vrs). international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 34-75. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 34-75 issn: 2474-3542 know your international user behind the screen: a conversation among chinese students and librarians regarding virtual reference services (vrs) xiaojie duan the university of southern mississippi, hattiesburg, mississippi, usa abstract librarians need feedback from users to improve library services. on the other hand, users need assistance from librarians in order to gain a better understanding of library services. this paper focuses on how chinese students use u.s. academic libraries’ virtual reference services (vrs), and how academic librarians use vrs. by collecting data from chinese students and librarians, this paper hopes to create a better understanding of these two factors in order to improve vrs. keywords: chinese students, academic librarianship, virtual reference services, scholarly communication introduction in the 21st century, libraries have developed various ways to provide services to their users. email, texting, online chat…these virtual reference services (vrs) ensure that libraries can provide a 24/7 service mode to its users. vrs are also remote services for users who cannot be physically be present in the library. nowadays users do not need to come to an information desk, but they can still seek help from librarians: they can ask their questions via telephones, ipads, laptops, etc. the development of technology allows libraries to provide services under the trends of the internet and digital environment. vrs also allows users to gain access to library services through more convenient ways. chinese students—as a large group of students studying abroad—are increasing dramatically. with more and more chinese families becoming affluent (qiang, 2011), chinese parents are able to support the tuition of studying abroad for their children. many chinese students choose america because of the quality of higher education. according to the open door data of the u.s. institute of international education (institute of international education, 2017), there are 1,078,822 international students enrolled in u.s. colleges or universities in 2016-17, showing a 3.4% increase when compared with the same data from 2015-16. among those international students, 33% of them were chinese, making china the country which sent the most international students to the united states. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 35 when chinese students come to american universities, and thus when chinese students become a group of users of u.s. academic library services, especially the vrs, it raises several questions: 1) do chinese students know vrs? 2) why do they use vrs? 3) are chinese students satisfied with using vrs? 4) are librarians familiar with vrs? 5) are they satisfied with providing vrs to users? 6) is it necessary to provide vrs, especially to international students? since more and more chinese students are coming to the u.s., this is an opportunity to discuss whether u.s. academic libraries should have vrs specific to chinese students. above are the main questions that helped the principal investigator to establish a research project in 2017, which aimed to gain more understanding of chinese students as well as librarians using vrs, their familiarity and satisfaction with the service, and their expectations. moreover, the research questionnaire was designed into two versions for both students and librarians, so that it is easier to compare the research data from the two groups of subjects. this research study was also designed to include separate questions for the two research groups, which gives chinese students and librarians the opportunity to answer questions related to their specific use of vrs. the following literature review demonstrates different opinions related to the advantages and disadvantages of vrs, chinese students’ information seeking behaviors and their use of library services, and librarians’ efforts of serving international users via vrs. literature review virtual reference services (vrs) vrs, known as “virtual reference services,” which consists of both synchronous (e.g. chat box, texting) and asynchronous (e.g. email) services, is a way to provide reference services via the internet. vrs expanded quickly with the development of technology in the 21st century. according to the data of the national center for education statistics (2014), by the end of fiscal year 2012, 77% of u.s. academic libraries provided vrs to their users. three years later, yang and dalal (2015) conducted a systematic review of vrs on 362 four-year colleges and universities in the united states and canada. they found that 47.5% of the libraries provide chat services to their users, and 6.6% of libraries also provide instant messaging (e.g. yahoo, google talk, msn) reference services to users. despite the vast implementation of vrs in academic libraries, however, there are always ongoing debates about the use of vrs. it is true that implementing and maintaining vrs is sometimes expensive, that is why many library and information science courses have designed case studies in the classroom to enable students—maybe librarians in the future—to come up with a plan to set up vrs in a library on a limited budget (dalston & puliin, 2008). through those case studies, students will learn how money affects the vrs and other departments in the library, and how the allocation of a vrs plan is important when providing vrs on a tight budget. breidenbaugh (2006) agrees that a budget plan for vrs is needed, and it is necessary to have an evaluation of vrs so that libraries will know how the vrs performs, and how libraries can continue or even expand the vrs to their users, under a state-wide vrs environment. with the development of the technology, some libraries are trying to offer vrs through web 2.0 software, including the utah state law library, duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 36 which provides the vrs to users using free tools such as facebook, google voice, twitter, and so on (cheney, 2010). olivas and chan (2013) also introduced cost-effective software that can provide remote library services to users, like libraryh3lp and openfire for instant messaging, jing for screencast, and google talk for video chat. however, young of the j. clarence kelly library (2013) questioned the quality and reliability of using free software (e.g. meebo) as vrs, and stated that “when the value of the service is assessed to be high, it should be budgeted” (p. 176). coffman (2001) advised that libraries should select the right software for virtual reference services, since some of the software are not designed for vrs, “all of the software packages were developed for some completely different purpose” (p. 2). kern (2009) also suggested libraries think about readiness—both internal issues (e.g. staffing, ongoing and planned projects, internal user needs, etc.) and external collaboration—when setting up vrs. internal elements can drive the selection of vrs for the library, and sometimes the vrs software that fits collaborating institutions may not be the best choice for a single library. in addition to selecting vrs software, it is also important to conduct research about usability in order to find the best way to serve users. côté, kochkina, and mawhinney (2016) conducted research about the staffing structure of vrs in the library of mcgill university. they discovered that their users are mainly students, and most of the users ask questions about local collections or services via chat window or through email. according to their findings, they did not recommend a consortial service model for their library, but rather staffing vrs in their own institution. moreover, they recommended a librarian-only structure for staffing vrs, since the questions received by their librarians have a low rate of referral. rich and lux (2018) researched vrs usability in their libraries in bowling green state university, and they found that the chat box is a popular tool for their users to ask questions online. in order to promote the chat service, they designed the pop-up window on several library website pages so that users can click the “ask us!” link wherever they have problems with online resources. unlike côté’s research, they thought student employees helped a lot in their library when the information desk received a large amount of questions via chat. they also added a back-up shift schedule for the chat service so that librarians could provide remote help as needed. chow and croxton conducted vrs usability research for five types of vrs frequently used in two university libraries in the southeastern u.s. they found that chat service ranked highest considering effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. moreover, they found that although students are familiar with texting for social communication, they still prefer to use chat, telephone, or email to ask questions. it may be due to the fact that students have to remember a specific number to text for help, and they need to use extra devices to send messages to that number. chow and croxton also suggested that other researchers let users test multiple vrs before taking a research survey, so that users can share their hands-on practices of each type of vrs. last but not least, coughenour (2017) shared her strategies of serving global users via vrs. she thought that confirming users’ affiliation and access to library resources is very important, since many global users do not have registered access to library databases or websites. she also suggested that librarians should explain questions clearly and not use professional terms or jargon via vrs, since for some global users, english may not be their first language. other than the assessment of vrs usability, training for vrs can also be time-consuming, since a good vrs system must be correctly installed, maintained, and used. in the university of duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 37 nevada, las vegas (unlv) libraries, 83% of librarians indicated that a training for their chat reference service was necessary (tucker, 2004). all librarians who attended formal training programs felt the training of chat reference service was very helpful. the unlv then further developed a training program, which included software training, chat reference transaction training, and research training for librarians to become familiar with the online chat system. the tampa library of the university of south florida (usf) also participated in a one-year, state-wide virtual reference service program, which required 4-6 hours per week for scheduling and training (bishop & torrence, 2006). after attending the one-year-program, librarians gained a better understanding of vrs, the usf libraries increased service hours, and users showed a higher satisfaction with online services. a few years later, rusa (2010) recommended that libraries should “secure a commitment from a sufficient core of stakeholders at all levels of the institution’s management and staff to support virtual reference service from its first planning stages through implementation before any project is attempted” (p. 93), making sure that librarians at all levels have management and control of the implementation of vrs. a year after rusa’s guideline, devine, paladino, and davis (2011) found that among 228 u.s. colleges and universities that participated in their research, 75% provided chat reference trainings via virtual reference transactions, while more than half of them also provided post-trainings for their librarians. although vrs provides remote services to users, the overall logistics of reference services have to be changed, since with vrs, librarians have to respond to both online and onsite questions. shaw and spink (2009) agreed to have a triage model for vr service, which classified reference questions into three levels: directional, strategy, and research. furthermore, they suggested that different levels of questions should be answered by different library personnel. for example, library assistants can answer directional questions, librarians can answer strategy questions, and subject specialists can answer research questions. dempsey (2011) at the evelyn s. field library at the raritan valley community college (rvcc) suggested rethinking the reference services model in her library by setting up the referral system at their check-out desk. through the system, some simple questions (e.g. where is the restroom) can be answered by other library staff at the desk, while full-time librarians can answer other questions via online chat in their offices. if staff cannot answer a question, they can make a referral to their on-call librarian via online chat; then the on-call librarian will change their online status to “unavailable” and help their onsite users. utilizing student workers might be another way to find the balance between virtual reference services and traditional reference services. student workers can also answer simple directional and technical questions, while letting librarians answer more in-depth questions. however, lux and rich (2016) recommend that student workers must undergo training, and barrett and greenberg (2018) agreed. their institution, the ontario council of university libraries (ocul), offers the virtual reference mentorship program, in which mentees can learn more about “ask-a-librarian” (aal), the work environment, the customer communication skills, etc. with hands-on practice and assessment, this program ensures that student workers can provide qualified virtual reference services. finally, as an important way to provide library services to remote users, vrs also requires collaboration from libraries, librarians and users. the standards for distance learning library services (2016) identifies that a library must meet six categories of requirements, including equal duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 38 service access for all users, academic adequacy, strategic planning, etc., in order to provide standard remote library services. soleymani, mojiri, and zadeh (2017) expanded the requirements to include academic librarians by listing five categories of skills that an academic librarian must have when working in the era of information and communication technologies (ict), including skills in digital communication, information literacy, accessing electronic resources, and so on. on the other hand, some argue that remote users also play an important role in vrs, since librarians and libraries need to know their users before they can provide them with services. administering surveys is a good way to gather information, and pantry and griffiths (2009) found that the users’ searching methods have been greatly changed in the internet environment, and users prefer electronic resources over more traditional materials. the university of iowa also conducted a survey for their off-campus students (stephen, 2001), and they found that students have different preferences than what librarians had thought: vrs (especially web and email), electronic resources, and home-delivery services ranked at the top, while computer-assisted instruction and user education services ranked the lowest. the university of iowa improved their vrs as well as webbased resources for their remote users based on the survey results. twelve years later, the sheffield hallam university administered a survey to ask opinions from both their distance-learners (dls) and academic librarians in the u.k. (brooke, mckinney, & donoghue, 2013). the survey found that librarians and dls have different understandings related to vrs and other library services: dls are in favor of using email instead of instant messaging to ask questions, they are comfortable with using library services, and they are in favor of document delivery via email. librarians, unlike dls, use instant messaging more frequently, and they think dls lack confidence in using library services. in addition, some libraries do not provide document-delivery via email. after the survey, both the dls and librarians agreed to communicate more in order to learn from each other. it is believed that vrs require assessment, time, staff, funding for maintenance, and cooperation in various aspects. however, a good vrs proves that a library can provide services successfully within the internet environment, and a well-maintained vrs plays an important role in an academic institution’s success (edwards, 2018). other research also supports the opinion that reference is the heart of library services, and technology-based digital reference services can increase user satisfaction to help build value-added library services to users (jerome, nkiko, & ifeakachuku, 2017). chinese students there is much research related to chinese students using academic library resources in the united states. some individuals believed that chinese students have language barriers, since english is their second language and they seldom practice english during their daily lives in their own countries. however, the most important concern may come from cultural barriers. for example, in the research of kumar and suresh (2000), they discovered that international students usually are unfamiliar with the campus environment and the u.s. education system, so they may be unaware of library services. therefore, an international student liaison may be needed to help international students learn about library resources, services, and life on campus. are chinese students, like other international students, unaware of library services and how to use them? lin (2005) shared her observation on newly arrived chinese students at the university of california davis, who were duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 39 immersed in the u.s. academic library environment which they had not experienced previously. lin noticed that the chinese students often came to the library as a group. they could become very frustrated when asking some general questions, like how to use computers, where are the books in the library, where is the restroom, etc., and they seldom participated in library orientations. lin expressed concern that these chinese students were too shy to communicate with others and that they might not be able to experience all the services that the library could provide to them. wang of the university of alabama (2016) also observed that one of his chinese research subjects displayed different cultural behaviors than his american classmates. the research subject wanted to take a nap at a library computer station. his classmates were surprised by this decision, as for american students, the library is a place for studying not napping, but for the chinese research subject, “most chinese students take naps when they are tired” (p. 622). another concern stems from the information-seeking behaviors of chinese students. schmidt (2013) observed east asian students—including chinese students—in the sciences and engineering library at the university of massachusetts amherst. he noticed that the east asian students used google and google scholar heavily when searching for academic resources. rodriguez (2014) also observed the same behavior. chinese students at the university of pittsburgh (up) usually searched for resources online through google, because compared to pittcat (the library online catalog for up libraries), web-based search engines were faster and easier to use. another issue may involve chinese students’ awareness of vrs. in deng, yang, and zhang’s research (2014), they found that the awareness and the use of vrs among chinese students was very low; some of them had never even heard about or used vrs. they concluded the reasons behind the data were that students were “unfamiliar” and thought vrs “unnecessary.” some chinese students do not like to use vrs; they do not trust vrs, and they preferred to ask their friends or classmates for help. song (2004) found similar results in international business students using the business and economics (b&e) library at the university of illinois at urbanachampaign. in her research, 17% of the subjects were chinese students, and vrs ranked the lowest (scored 2.8 out of 5) as the most important library service. song thought that international students might not familiar with vrs in the u.s., as they were also not familiar with vrs in their own countries. interestingly, twelve years later, michalak and rysavy (2018) conducted the same research in 2016. out of 149 research subjects, 36.24% were chinese students. it was surprising to see that the vrs still ranked the lowest (3.33 out of 5) as the most important library services for international business students. however, for chinese students, the importance of vrs scored 4 out of 5, with “group meeting space” being the least important library service. this data may indicate that the awareness of vrs among chinese students is increasing, and chinese students are more inclined to ask questions online rather than going to the information desk. librarians there are always debates about potential bias when librarians use vrs to serve their users. furlan (2007) reviewed the research conducted by shachaf, pnina, and horowitz in 2006 and found that it shows potential discrimination in library services when provided to different ethnic groups. in the study, 32 librarians were asked to answer reference questions from one ethnic group (african american, hispanic, asian/chinese, and caucasian) or one religious group (christian, muslim, duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 40 and jewish). the research showed that african-american and muslim users received the lowest quality of library services, while the christian and jewish users received the highest quality of library services. however, furlan also pointed out that there are limitations to the research, and some data that may reveal alternative findings have not been explained. three years later, shachaf, oltmann, and horowitz’s research (2008) repeated this study and obtained quite a different result. they expanded their subject scope to 54 u.s. academic and research libraries, and by analyzing 324 e-mail reference requests sent by the research groups, they discovered that there was no difference between e-services provided by librarians regardless of ethnicity or religion; each research group received equal e-services in terms of courtesy, reliability, and timely response. glaser and kahn (2005) also agreed that when librarians and users are using online platforms that they cannot see each other physically. therefore the digital environment may somewhat limit discrimination under the anonymity of the internet. tarulli (2018) suggested that librarians should be aware of their body language, inflection, and vocabulary in order to provide a balanced perspective “in all areas of librarianship” (p. 172). librarians keep developing vrs to better serve their users. for example, the china academic library and information system (calis) started the distributed collaborative virtual reference service (dcvrs) to serve the users of chinese academic libraries in the early 21st century (jin, huang, lin, & guo, 2005). the calis built the dcvrs system based on a twolayer structure (local system and central system) which contained a knowledge base, virtual reference desk, profile database, and question/patron manager at the two layers. users could get both synchronous and asynchronous reference services through this system, and this system supported bilingual services in english and chinese. the calis hoped that they could expand the language support for the system to serve diverse international students in china, and the calis was seeking collaborations from other countries to support the dcvrs system. with the development of technology, chinese libraries and librarians are able to provide easier-to-use and more up-to-date vrs to their users. wei and yang (2017) found that 84.6% of 985 universities in china provided library services through wechat—an app designed by tencent, a chinese company, where students can easily check out materials, sign up for library events, and ask reference questions through their mobile phones. pun (2015) also noticed the use of wechat in new york university shanghai. he concluded that the app has more useful and unique functions than facebook and twitter, and can overall help libraries serve their users remotely. he also promoted the idea of conducting research on chinese students using wechat in u.s. academic libraries. librarians in north american libraries are also making a determined effort to use vrs to serve their international users. lupien (2004) stated that providing bilingual virtual reference services was a way to reach libraries’ international users. in lupien’s library, bilingual services were launched by creating library webpages in english and french. additionally, lupien mentioned that many libraries that were interested in providing services in french have chosen questionpoint, a software that can support multiple languages, including spanish, chinese, korean, and dutch. at the same time, the university of illinois at urbana-champaign started to provide virtual reference services specifically to its slavic and east european students (cannon, 2005). duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 41 students could chat with a slavic librarian online, and they could even browse information in slavic via the library website. the slavic librarian could also co-browse with the student to help them find library materials without taking screenshots. librarians also use vrs to serve their international distance users. one example includes the rochester institute of technology (rit) in new york, where the librarians created tutorials to introduce library resources and services for users of rit international campuses in croatia, kosovo, and dubai (mee, 2013). rit librarians also used collaboration grids to conduct live bibliographic sessions for their remote library users, and they designed the library website to show a cluster of libguides, especially for rit international campuses. additionally, librarians from the university of colorado, boulder (ucb) and the university of oregon (uo), created vernacular language videos as virtual library tours to introduce their libraries, materials, and services (li, mcdowell, & wang, 2016). the two libraries created 14 videos, 11 of them in five languages, and three of them in three languages including chinese. these videos were uploaded to the library’s youtube channels. students thought these videos were helpful for them to understand the library in native languages before they were able to come to the campus. they learned more about library materials (e.g. asian collections in the two libraries) after watching the videos, and also developed positive attitudes towards librarians for creating videos specifically for international users. the previous research mentioned in the literature review covered three important elements—vrs, chinese students, and librarians—through various aspects. however, these concepts have not all been covered within the same study, and the focus is seldom on chinese students’ use and expectations of vrs. the purpose of this research is to reveal librarians’ and chinese students’ perspectives and satisfaction with vrs. it is hoped that this research study will help to fill this gap in the literature. research statement research objectives data was gathered from two groups of subjects: chinese students and librarians. the purpose of this research is to explore how chinese students use virtual reference services (vrs) in academic libraries in the united states, and how librarians use vrs to help their international users. this research covers the following concepts: 1. understanding research subjects’ experiences of using vrs; 2. analyzing research subjects’ satisfaction with librarians/students via vrs; 3. gaining knowledge of research subjects’ points of view related to vrs, library websites, the online library catalog, and other online library resources and services; 4. exploring research subjects’ expectations of current and future vrs. a goal of this research is to compare the data from chinese students and librarians. as a result of this research, chinese students may gain a better understanding of vrs and other library services as well as resources, while librarians may learn more about their international users’ expectations and use of vrs. this study aims to bring chinese students and librarians together, to duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 42 let them know more about each other, and share their opinions, suggestions, and expectations towards vrs. research methodology the research is conducted through an online questionnaire, which aims to answer four main questions, based on research objectives: 1. understanding of vrs: do chinese students and librarians know vrs? do they use vrs? 2. familiarity of vrs: why do chinese students and librarians use vrs? what types of vrs would they like to use? 3. satisfaction of vrs: are chinese students and librarians satisfied with the answers they receive and/or deliver via vrs? what is the relationship between the waiting time and satisfaction when using vrs? 4. expectation of vrs: what are chinese students’ and librarians’ expectations of current and future vrs? is it necessary to provide vrs specifically to international students? in order to answer the four main questions above, the questionnaire contained twenty-seven in-depth questions. the questionnaire consisted of two versions, one for the librarians and one for the chinese students, since some questions were tailored specifically to each group. for example, if a research subject selected “librarian” for the question, then he/she would answer the librarian version of the questionnaire, and vice versa. the questionnaire was organized into five parts: general information; understanding of vrs; satisfaction with using vrs; familiarity of using vrs and other library online resources; and expectations of vrs. the full questionnaire with standard consent forms and logistic display is in the article appendix. this research has been approved by the irb of the university of southern mississippi libraries on july 7, 2017, which is effective until july 8, 2018. the data collection process started in september 2017 and ended in june 2018. during the first four months of data collection, 34 chinese students and 14 librarians in the university of southern mississippi libraries (the home institution of the principal investigator) answered the questionnaire. from january to june 2018, the questionnaire was distributed through various listservs, library association websites, library school forums, chinese students and scholars association (cssa) blogs, etc. chinese students and librarians from universities other than the university of southern mississippi, including the university of illinois at urbana-champaign, the university of california-berkeley, university of washington, etc., also answered the questionnaire. after the data collection process, 134 valid questionnaires were collected, and the data was converted into an excel sheet for research analysis. data explanation and research findings part 1: general information about research subjects. chinese students’ data. it is interesting to note that when answering the question, “are you a chinese student or a librarian?” only 14.50% of the research subjects chose “chinese student.” although fewer chinese students participated in this research, their answers to all research questions in these five parts also provide valuable data to be analyzed. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 43 in terms of educational background, 52.94% of the chinese students who participated in this research are pursuing a master’s degree. furthermore, 17.65% of chinese students are pursuing a ph.d. another 17.65% of chinese students are pursing “other degrees,” and the remaining 11.76% chinese students are pursuing a bachelor’s degree. when asked what “other degrees” constituted, chinese students answered “emba,” “custom-made degrees,” “executive program,” etc. librarians’ data. it seems that librarians are more interested in this research and they are more eager to know their international users, since 85.50% of the research subjects chose “librarian” when answering the question, “are you a chinese student or a librarian?” for educational background, 88.39% of the librarians hold a master’s degree, 6.25% of librarians hold a ph.d., 4.46% of librarians hold “other degrees,” and 0.89% of librarians hold a bachelor’s degree. for those who have other degrees, librarians answered “visiting scholar,” “doctoral all-butdissertation,” “juris doctor & mlis,” etc., which means that some librarians are educating themselves not only in the library and information science (lis) field, but also in other disciplines. figure 1: degrees of librarians and chinese students the research data from the two research subject groups shows that chinese students and librarians have similar trends in education: most of the chinese students and librarians have master’s degrees. there are some chinese students and librarians who have ph.d.’s or other degrees. furthermore, the research data indicates that librarians are capable of providing vrs to international users in terms of their educational backgrounds. according to the data, 88.39% of librarians have a master’s degree, which is also the most popular degree that chinese students are pursuing. other degrees have similar rankings: doctoral degrees ranked second for both librarians (6.25%) and chinese students (17.65%), and bachelor’s degrees ranked the lowest (0.89% of duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 44 librarians, 11.76% of chinese students). there are also 4.46% of librarians who have other degrees (e.g. dual master’s degrees). in summary, 99.1% of librarians who participated in this research have one or more degrees equal to or higher than a master’s degree, thus it is highly likely that an international student will encounter a librarian who has an mlis or higher educational background when using vrs. part 2: research subjects’ understanding of vrs. chinese students’ data. when asked “do you know that your library provides virtual reference services (vrs)?” 88.24% of chinese students chose “yes,” while 11.76% of them chose “no,” and two chinese students wrote, “i have never heard of vrs before.” none of the chinese students chose the third option: “i don’t care whether my library provides vrs to its users.” the data shows that many chinese students know vrs and they know that their libraries are providing such a service to users. some chinese students, even though they do not know whether their libraries are providing vrs to users, still think it is necessary in a library. although those chinese students who do not know vrs may lack the experience of using it, they could become users after promotion. when asked “what types of questions have you asked most often through vrs?” 100% of chinese students chose “academic questions,” even though there are other options like directional questions (e.g. location of the library study room) and technical questions (e.g. how to use the library printer). the data shows that chinese students use vrs for their academic information needs; they know that they can use vrs to find library materials for assignments. in addition, chinese students may have varying reasons for not choosing directional or technical questions. for directional questions, if they want to find a library study room, they may need to go to the library and find the room physically; and for technical questions, if they want to print something through library printers, they should be there to use the machine. vrs is “useless” in these two cases; chinese students may think it is more convenient to ask a librarian face-to-face if they have directional questions or technical questions under certain situations. when asking chinese students “what is the type of vrs that you used the most?” online chat ranked the first (54.55%), followed by email (40.91%) and texting (4.55%). the answers may relate to another research question, and the most straightforward one: “why use vrs?” when asked this question, 34.92% of the chinese students chose “vrs is faster and more convenient than traditional reference services,” 25.71% of chinese students chose “i am away from the library and cannot be there physically,” and 22.86% of chinese students chose “i am nervous when speaking with librarians face-to-face, it is better for me to ask questions online.” additionally, 17.14% of chinese students chose vrs when they “do not need an instant answer, vrs can provide asynchronous answers to me.” the research data indicates that chinese students know the difference between vrs and traditional reference services, and they are benefiting from using vrs since they can ask questions without going to the library. due to the fact that chinese students know that vrs is “fast” and “convenient,” they prefer to choose online chat, in which they can get answers instantly. and for some chinese students who do not need instant answers, they choose email or texting. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 45 figure 2: reasons of using vrs by chinese students librarians’ data. data collected from librarians shows that more and more academic librarians have duties other than reference services. when asked “are you a reference librarian?” only 55% of librarians selected “yes,” and another 45% of librarians selected “reference is part of my job description.” according to the research data, about one third of the librarians have other duties completely different than reference services, such as cataloging, circulation, and data analysis. another third of librarians have duties closely related to reference services, such as instruction, research consulting, and faculty liaison. the remaining third of librarians are managers; they have administrative duties other than reference services, such as library assessment, collection development, and outreach. for example, one librarian surveyed is the head of technical services, and they most likely supervise technical personnel in addition to reference duties. another librarian surveyed is a library guide administrator and a library website designer, who is responsible for online libguide maintenance and web design. one librarian even wrote in the questionnaire: “we don’t have a dedicated reference librarian.” the explanations given for “other parts of job description” reveal that “librarian” is turning into a multitasking-oriented career. an assumption can be made that librarians have different duties according to library size and management. a big academic library can—and is required to—serve more users on campus. it is possible that academic libraries with bigger user groups may receive more support from their universities, and those academic libraries will have more “dedicated” reference librarians, who can focus on reference duties only. medium-sized academic libraries and small academic libraries, on the other hand, may have less users than bigger ones. consequentially, those smaller academic libraries may duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 46 have less demand for recruiting librarians solely for reference duties, and their librarians thus may have more varied job responsibilities. for librarians, there may be several reasons to not provide vrs to users. when asked “does your library provide vrs to users?” 86.81% of librarians answered “yes,” but 13.19% of librarians answered “no.” among the answers, “lack of staff support” is the most popular one. other reasons include, “doesn’t have internet/technical support” and “only provides in person or by appointment.” the research data indicates that multitasking situations may contribute to the lack of vrs in an academic library, since multitasking librarians are sometimes busy with other duties instead of just watching the chat window. without a dedicated person who can focus on vrs-related issues, while lacking the time and energy required to maintain and manage vrs, it may be difficult for some academic libraries to provide these services. another reason for not providing vrs may be due to user needs. for example, one librarian wrote down the reason for not providing vrs as: “the graduate students do not need this type of reference service very often.” if users do not need vrs, it may not be necessary to provide it in an academic library. in terms of the advantages of having vrs in an academic library, librarians think vrs shows “a way to provide reference service in an internet environment,” and vrs creates an opportunity that “allows off-campus users to use reference services.” the third advantage is that vrs allows “different devices to be used,” such as telephones or tablets. the research data indicates that librarians think vrs is convenient, and compared to traditional reference services, vrs offers a new way to provide reference services to users. moreover, vrs allows off-campus users to ask questions without going to the library physically. as far as disadvantages, librarians think vrs asks “the librarian to find a strategy to deal with vrs questions and face-to-face reference questions at the same time,” vrs requires “money and energy to purchase, maintain, and update,” and sometimes vrs is “not available” to users, for example when there is a power outage or the internet is shut down across campuses. librarians’ understanding of the disadvantages of vrs somewhat explains the possibility of not providing vrs to users, since libraries with less librarians may lack staff support for operating vrs, and those libraries may also lack financial support to help maintain and update vrs. compared to chinese students’ data regarding the types of questions they ask through vrs, librarians receive more varied types of questions. according to the research data, 80% of questions received by librarians via vrs are academic questions, 18.57% of questions are technical questions, and 1.43% of questions are directional questions. the reason that librarians get more types of questions may due to the fact that librarians are not only serving chinese students, but also serving other library users. for chinese students, they may only have academic questions, but for other users, like professors, visiting scholars, technicians, etc., they may have questions beyond that of finding library materials for assignments. another explanation may be the different understanding of different types of questions by librarians and chinese students. for example, a “directional question” for librarians should be a question asking for a geographical location, but for chinese students, every question related to “study” can be considered an academic question. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 47 here is a simple question: “where is the classroom?” as a librarian, this question should be a directional question; but as a chinese student, it may be considered an academic question. “i find classroom for study, and i think all questions about study are academic questions,” wrote one chinese student in the questionnaire. figure 3: advantages and disadvantages of vrs by librarians part 3: research subjects’ satisfaction of vrs. chinese students’ data. the research data shows that chinese students’ satisfaction of vrs may be related to their english skills. by answering the question: “how satisfied are you with your english language when using vrs? do you think your language skills cause trouble when using vrs?” chinese students showed an overall satisfaction with their four english skills: english listening, english speaking, english reading, and english writing. none of them selected “moderately dissatisfied and slightly cause trouble” nor “extremely dissatisfied and does cause trouble” for the four english skills. among the four english skills, chinese students were most satisfied with english reading and writing skills. each of these skills had the highest percentages in the category, “extremely satisfied and does not cause trouble” (23.08%), followed by english listening (15.38%). it is notable that english speaking had the lowest percentage (7.69%) under “extremely satisfied.” for the second level of satisfaction—“moderately satisfied and might not cause trouble”—english reading and writing skills kept the highest percentage of satisfaction duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 48 (61.54%), while english speaking ranked the third (46.15%), and english listening ranked the fourth (38.46%). for the percentage of dissatisfaction, 38.46% of chinese students selected english listening as “satisfied, but might cause trouble,” and 23.08% of chinese students selected english speaking for the same reason. english reading and writing skills had the lowest percentage (15.38%) of “satisfied, but might cause trouble.” there were another 23.08% of chinese students who selected “slightly dissatisfied and might cause trouble” for their english speaking, and 7.69% of chinese students selected english listening as slightly dissatisfied. none of the chinese students selected english reading and writing for slight dissatisfaction. chinese students’ satisfaction of vrs also seems to be related to the amount of time they wait to receive answers. generally speaking, the longer they wait, the less satisfaction they have. the questionnaire asked chinese students to drag their level of satisfaction to the following time ranges: “1-3 minutes,” “4-6 minutes,” “7-9 minutes,” and “more than 10 minutes.” 40% of chinese students responded, “my questions have been solved and i am satisfied with the answers” under “1-3 minutes,” 30% of chinese students responded, “some of my questions have been solved and i am somehow satisfied with the answers” under “4-6 minutes.” no chinese students showed dissatisfaction with the two time ranges. but when the time range came to “7-9 minutes,” 33.33% of chinese students responded, “my questions have not been solved and i am not satisfied with the answers.” the percentage of dissatisfaction even doubled for the time range “more than 10 minutes,” meaning that 66.66% of chinese students were not satisfied with the answers at all if they waited for more than 10 minutes. it is a general practice for chinese students to weigh the satisfaction of using vrs by the wait time, since the main reasons chinese students choose vrs are that it is “fast” and “convenient”—they can get the answers as soon as possible. if chinese students cannot get their answers in a reasonable timeframe, they may feel dissatisfied in using vrs. table 1: chinese students’ satisfaction of english skills duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 49 figure 4: waiting time vs satisfaction by chinese students librarians’ data. librarians’ data indicates a different perspective in the satisfaction of using vrs. according to the responses regarding wait time, librarians showed an overall satisfaction across the four time ranges. it is interesting to see that 28.99% of librarians responded “i am satisfied with my answers” for “4-6 minutes,” making this the top-ranked time range, while “1-3 minutes” ranked second (26.09%). “7-9 minutes” had 25.36% satisfaction, and although “more than 10 minutes” ranked fourth, this time range still had 19.57% satisfaction. it seems that librarians’ dissatisfaction of vrs did not coincide with time ranges, since three librarians responded “i am not satisfied with my answers at all” under “1-3 minutes,” and one librarian responded with the same answer under “7-9 minutes.” none of the librarians included this answer under “4-6 minutes,” and only seven librarians included this answer under “more than 10 minutes.” the research data shows that librarians’ satisfaction is rather based on the quality of answers. for librarians, fast does not mean best; some librarians were not satisfied with their answers provided in 1-3 minutes at all, since a “qualified” answer requires time for thinking, searching, and explaining to the user. according to the data, most librarians think 4-6 minutes is a good timeframe—not too fast nor too long—which allows them to find answers and provide them to users. time ranges “7-9 minutes” and “more than 10 minutes” have less satisfaction than time ranges “1-3 minutes” and “4-6 minutes,” but the difference is not great enough to warrant being addressed. moreover, the time used for librarians to answer questions also varies for different types of questions. librarians are not just answering academic questions; they also get directional or technical questions from users other than chinese students. when librarians are not familiar with a specific type of question, they may ask for help as well, which may cause more time to wait from the other side of the computer screen. also, when asked “are you able to understand the question duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 50 and provide the answer if the question has typographical or grammar problems?” surprisingly, 54.32% of librarians answered “it depends,” and another 45.68% of librarians answered “yes.” even though no librarians answered “no,” this research question indicates that librarians are willing to help users, but typo and grammar problems may cause difficulty in understanding what users really want to ask. librarians may need to spend more time to understand such questions and this may delay the speed of delivering answers to users. figure 5: waiting time vs satisfaction by librarians part 4: research subjects’ familiarity of vrs and other library resources. chinese students’ data. the questionnaire asked chinese students to find vrs on their libraries’ websites. the data shows that finding vrs is easy for chinese students, since 93.33% of them confirmed that they could identify a service such as “ask-a-librarian” on the website. moreover, the questionnaire asked opinions from chinese students about frequently asked question (faq) pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc., in order to understand how students solve problems by themselves if vrs is not available. in answering the question: “do you think frequently asked question (faq) pages, research guides, and path finders are helpful for you to find library materials before you ask for help?” 73.33% of chinese students selected “yes,” they would like to go through faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc. before they ask a librarian for help. there were 20% of chinese students who thought faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc. were not helpful because, “i prefer to ask a librarian first and she/he will tell me what to do.” there was one student who selected “maybe helpful” because “it depends on what questions i have. sometimes i need those resources but sometimes i don’t.” the data shows that most chinese students are familiar with other resources put on the library website, and they will use these resources to solve their problems first. however, the data also shows that some chinese students duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 51 prefer to ask librarians for help regardless of what the library has on the website, which indicates that some of the chinese students rely on librarians rather than judging library resources for themselves. the questionnaire also asked chinese students’ opinions of the online library catalog— another important way to find library materials on the library website. they were asked to score their familiarity with the library online catalog from 0 as “not familiar at all” to 5 as “extremely familiar.” the average score was 3.4. compared with their familiarity of faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc., chinese students are less familiar with the online catalog. however, when asked “do you search the online catalog before asking for help?” with zero meaning, “will not search the catalog first” to five indicating, “will search the catalog first,” chinese students gave a score of 4 out 5, which means they would be highly likely to search the catalog first before asking for help. the chinese students’ responses to this question may connect to their satisfaction with their english skills, since searching the library catalog requires english reading and writing skills, the two strongest english skills as reported by chinese students. moreover, when asked, “are you able to find your wanted materials by using the library online catalog?” 90.01% of chinese students selected “yes,” and when asked, “after you find your materials, do you still want to use vrs?” 70% of chinese students selected “no.” it is interesting to note that there were still 30% of chinese students who would continue to use vrs after they found their materials; the reasons included, “i have other questions to ask librarians,” and “i just want to make sure i found the correct material.” the research data indicates that chinese students have a basic understanding of the online library catalog, and most chinese students will search this first to find materials by themselves. the data once again indicates that chinese students trust librarians’ understanding of library materials, since some chinese students will ask librarians just for verification. librarians’ data. in order to understand librarians’ familiarity with vrs, they were asked, “do you think users can easily find vrs through the library website?” 88.57% of librarians answered “yes,” they thought users can easily find vrs through the library website. 11.53% of librarians answered “no,” because some libraries do not provide vrs to its users, or some libraries are lacking staff and technical support for vrs, as discussed in the reported disadvantages of vrs by librarians. the questionnaire also asked librarians to score their familiarity with vrs directly. from zero being “not familiar at all” to five being “extremely familiar,” librarians gave a score of 4.35, which indicates most librarians are very familiar with vrs in their libraries. when librarians were asked, “are the ‘faq’ pages, research guides, path finders, etc. on the library website updated regularly? do you think they can help users understand library services?” 76.25% of librarians selected “yes,” but there were 16.25% of librarians who selected “we do not only rely on these resources.” social media, library instruction sessions, workshops, webinars, etc. are some of the various ways that librarians are letting users know more about library materials and services. however, since there are various ways to ask for help other than browsing faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc., some chinese students choose to ask a librarian directly instead of looking at the library resources first. librarians’ opinion of the online catalog supported the 30% of chinese students who would continue to use vrs after they found their materials. when asked “do you direct users to the duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 52 library online catalog and teach them how to search materials through the online catalog?” the top answer (46.38%) was “it depends on the types of questions i get from users.” there were 8.18% of librarians who preferred to give direct answers to users, and 7.27% of librarians preferred to provide other ways to find materials (e.g. interlibrary loan). only 38.18% of librarians selected, “yes, i often direct users to the library online catalog.” compared to chinese students’ data, it is a reasonable decision for librarians to not use the online catalog if users already used it to find materials, or if users have questions not related to finding materials. the research data also indicates that librarians are aware of additional ways to help users find materials besides the online catalog; they have a better understanding of library services than chinese students, and they would like to help chinese students and other users through various ways, based on different types of questions. part 5: research subjects’ expectation of vrs. chinese students’ data. the questionnaire asked chinese students what vrs specific to international students they would prefer. the popular answers included “more guides and videos of the library,” “virtual tour of the library,” “online chat in chinese,” “online translation,” “chinese server,” etc. chinese students even brainstormed other services that are not related to vrs, such as “workshops or short training courses for the use of database[s],” “library orientation,” and “onsite library tour.” however, some answers need further clarification. for example, for “guides and videos” and “virtual tours,” do chinese students prefer them in chinese or english? how about workshops, orientations, and courses? do they prefer them in chinese as well? the research data shows that chinese students are interested in vrs for international students, but it may not be necessary to provide such a vrs at this moment, since chinese students’ expectation is not only for vrs, but also for other library services. librarians’ data. librarians’ data reveals a similar result. when asked “do you provide vrs that focuses on international students?” 85% of librarians selected “no.” when asked “what vrs would you like to add for international students?” most of the librarians were hesitant to add specific services for international students since “we treat international students and other users the same,” “we don’t know if we’re serving international students via vrs unless they tell us,” and “all students are accessing the vrs through the same way.” these results confirmed shachaf, oltmann, and horowitz’s research findings (2008) that librarians treat their users the same and they are providing equal services to all user groups. by using vrs, sometimes it is difficult to identify whether it is an international student or an american student behind the screen, since some international students may be highly proficient in english, while some american students may demonstrate typos or grammatical issues. however, even though 85% of librarians selected “no” for vrs specifically tailored to international students, the remaining 15% of librarians selected “yes,” and some of the libraries were providing wechat (a chinese software for instant messaging) as well as some other special research guides for international students. the research data shows that librarians may not be interested in providing vrs specifically for international students, but they are trying to learn more about their international users, and they are providing some services in users’ native languages if it is necessary in their libraries. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 53 discussion the discussion builds upon the main questions that helped to design this study, and the first question which should be discussed is the awareness of vrs by chinese students. it is surprising to see that the research data shows a completely different conclusion than what others found, as discussed in the literature review (deng, yang, & zhang, 2014; song, 2004; michalak & rysavy, 2018). according to the research data for this study, chinese students have quite a high awareness of vrs, since 93.33% of those who answered the questionnaire can identify a service such as “ask-a-librarian,” on the library website. chinese students are also aware of other online resources like frequently asked questions (faq) pages, research guides, and pathfinders, and 73.33% of chinese students will check these online resources before they request help from a librarian. furthermore, chinese students are also aware of the online library catalog—at least the average score was 3.4 when they have been asked to rank their familiarity from zero to five. many of the chinese students will also use the library online catalog to find their needed materials before they turn to a librarian for help: chinese students scored four out of five when asked “do you search the online catalog before asking for help?” this study also examined the preference of chinese students in regards to face-to-face reference services and vrs. although there is no direct data of face-to-face reference services in this study, this information can be inferred by analyzing chinese students’ reasons for using vrs. according to the research data, 22.86% of chinese students selected “i am nervous when speaking with librarians face-to-face, it is better for me to ask questions online,” as one of their reasons for using vrs, making this choice the third most popular answer to the research question: “why use vrs?” although it is not the most popular reason for using vrs, the data still shows that some chinese students are nervous when interacting with librarians verbally. these chinese students may feel more comfortable using vrs than face-to-face reference services. the preference between face-to-face reference services and vrs can also be analyzed through chinese students’ satisfaction with using vrs. according to chinese students’ answers to another research question: “what types of vrs that you used the most?” chinese students used online chat the most (54.55%) and email (40.91%) ranked second. when asked whether they were satisfied with their english skills when using vrs, chinese students had a high percentage of satisfaction with their english reading and english writing skills (23.08% extremely satisfied and 61.54% moderately satisfied). thus it is a reasonable assumption that chinese students have higher satisfaction with using vrs via online chat or email because they can type their questions instead of speaking them out loud. based on their reasons for satisfaction with using vrs, it is highly possible that chinese students prefer vrs over traditional reference services. the third discussion is the equity of providing vrs to users by librarians. similar to what previous research had found as stated in the literature review (glaser & kahn, 2005; shachaf, oltmann, & horowitz, 2008), the data in this study shows that librarians are treating their users equally, whether it is an american user or an international user. additionally, the data shows that it is difficult to distinguish native english users from users for whom english is a second language, since librarians do not know who is using the vrs behind the screen. as one librarian answered duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 54 in the questionnaire: “there's no way to know if we are helping an international student unless they tell us.” furthermore, when asked, “are you able to understand the question and provide the answer if the question has typographical or grammar problems?” 54.32% of librarians answered, “it depends,” which means librarians may need to verify the question before they can further help users. this question indicates that librarians are helping users based on the content of the question, not based on their nationality or their english skills. the equity of librarians providing vrs to users can also be analyzed through librarians’ expectations of vrs. according to the research data, most librarians (85%) think that a vrs catering to international students may not be necessary. some of the common reasons for this were: “we provide vrs to everyone,” “there is only one chat service for all patrons,” and “there are many students from all over the world, but we do not specifically focus on them.” another reason for not providing vrs specifically to international users may be due to the fact that some libraries do not have many or have no international users. however, there are still 15% of librarians who do provide vrs to international users, such as “wechat,” “a few specific research guides,” “chinese librarians doing vrs to chinese students,” etc. based on the research data, it is believed that librarians are providing equal vrs to their users, with some librarians and libraries extending additional efforts to provide specific vrs to international users. limitations and future research according to the findings and discussions of this study, one limitation is that there is no direct comparison between traditional reference services and vrs. some discussions, including the preference of chinese students between the two types of reference services, can only be assumed by analyzing the vrs research data. furthermore, there is no direct comparison between librarians using the two types of reference services. future research can be designed in which chinese students and librarians use both traditional reference services and vrs, and then compare the two (e.g. let students ask the same question through online chat and face-to-face with librarians). future research may also measure research subjects' familiarities, feelings (e.g. nervous or comfortable), and satisfaction with the two types of reference services. the second limitation is the huge difference of participation between the two groups of subjects, as 85% of participants were librarians and 15% of participants were chinese students. it is true that, compared to the number of librarians, the student population included in the research group is fairly small, thus the research data from chinese students may have only covered students’ understanding of vrs in a macroscopic view with little detailed information. future research can be designed to only include chinese students, and another questionnaire can be designed based on this study’s survey template. the revised questionnaire can include more detailed questions to further explore the relationship between chinese students’ english skills and their use of vrs. interviews can also be included in future research in order to obtain more detailed information about chinese students’ preferences for vrs and their reasons for choosing vrs based on their english skills. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 55 the third limitation is the design and the ambiguity of some of the research questions. the questionnaire has two versions, one for chinese students and one for librarians. there are some questions which can be answered by both research subject groups; however, there are more questions which are specifically designed for one research subject group or the other. therefore, it is time-consuming to compare data between chinese students and librarians through multiple research questions. the ambiguity is demonstrated in one question particularly: “are you a librarian?” for this question, 0.89% of librarians said they have a bachelor’s degree. considering the fact that a master’s degree is a minimum requirement for academic librarians in the u.s., there may be a discrepancy between “librarian” as a profession and “librarian” as a word in the survey question. however, without further explanation of this survey question, it is hard to distinguish answers from professional librarians and paraprofessional personnel. future research can be designed to use only one short questionnaire with general questions, like degrees, ages, professions, etc. the short survey can have detailed options for research subjects to choose from, such as “librarian,” “staff,” “student assistant,” etc. then, for detailed information on the use of vrs, another short questionnaire can be designed for both groups of subjects. the second questionnaire will include multiple questions on the use of various types of vrs to search for library material, and the subjects’ responses will be compared based on their familiarity with vrs. the second questionnaire can also include chinese students asking the same questions via different types of vrs, and they will score their satisfaction with using each type. librarians’ data can be collected through the same way: by scoring their satisfaction with each vrs modality and recording their experiences with using different types to serve users. conclusion this research was conducted through an online questionnaire about the use of vrs by two research subject groups: chinese students and librarians. the questionnaire is designed to understand the general information of the two research subject groups, and furthermore their understanding, satisfaction, familiarity, and expectations of vrs. the detailed conclusions are included below. first, chinese students use vrs on a regular basis, and they mostly ask academic questions using vrs. chinese students know the difference between vrs and traditional reference services. they believe vrs is fast and convenient. they prefer to use online chat and email to ask for help. librarians use more types of vrs and they answer more types of questions besides academic questions; however, librarians also use online chat the most and they place an emphasis on academic questions. second, chinese students’ satisfaction is based on their english skills and the amount of time it takes for their question to be answered. chinese students have overall satisfaction with their four types of english skills. however, they may feel more comfortable when using vrs that requires english reading and writing skills, and they may feel dissatisfied when using vrs using english listening and speaking skills. also, the less time they wait, the higher satisfaction they have. librarians, on the other hand, have overall satisfaction with providing answers through vrs, and their satisfaction is not based on the waiting time. most librarians reported that 4-6 minutes is duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 56 a reasonable timeframe to understand a question and deliver an answer to the user. due to the fact that on occasion typos or grammatical issues will trouble librarians and slow down their reference processes, some librarians are satisfied with answers provided in more than 10 minutes. thirdly, chinese students have a basic understanding of the library website, and they think the faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc., are helpful for them in finding materials. they know how to use the online library catalog to find materials, and they trust librarians’ judgment of library materials. librarians have a better understanding of faq pages, research guides, pathfinders, etc., and they are promoting these resources through various ways to users, such as social media, class sessions, workshops, and so on. librarians also know how to use the online library catalog, but they tend to use different ways to help users, based on what types of questions they have. fourth, both chinese students and librarians think it may not be necessary to create a vrs especially for international users. chinese students have expectations for other library services as well: they want more videos, more workshops, or more webinars about library resources and library services, including vrs. librarians treat international users the same as other user groups. nevertheless, some librarians are also providing vrs especially to chinese students, with services such as wechat and vrs with chinese librarians, showing that librarians are trying their best to create an even more accommodating vrs environment for chinese students. this research promotes two ways of improving vrs and other library services for those with english as a second language. one way may be producing textual materials (e.g. posters, flyers, blogs, and so on) to introduce library resources as well as providing services tailored to those users. this recommendation is based on chinese students’ satisfaction with their english skills. according to the research data, chinese students are most satisfied with their english reading and writing skills, which implies that they prefer english textual materials. furthermore, since chinese students are not familiar with the online library catalog as compared to faq pages, library libguides, pathfinders, etc., those textual materials could give more detailed explanations of the online catalog, including how to use it and what type of materials it contains. moreover, since some chinese students will contact librarians after they found materials, it is also possible to put vrs not only on the homepage, but also on the search results page and other library webpages for convenient access. another way of improving vrs and other library services might be to produce audio and video materials for global users. this ties to the expectations of vrs and other library services by chinese students, which includes “online chat in chinese” and “virtual tour of the library.” for those remote users who study in another country and cannot come to the campus physically, an audio recording or video which introduces library resources as well as services would be greatly beneficial. it may not be necessary to provide audio or videos in multiple languages, since the research data shows that “english listening” ranked third under “extremely satisfied” by chinese students. however, with a slight rate of dissatisfaction in chinese students’ english listening skills, the research suggests the use of subtitles in audio-visual materials if applicable, so that users with english as a second language can read the narration rather than just listening to it. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 57 by designing future research of vrs, it is possible to further understand chinese students’ preferences among different types of vrs and librarians’ satisfaction of using different types of vrs. overall, this research reveals various perspectives towards vrs from both the user side and the librarian side. it is hoped that this research will help chinese students gain a better understanding of vrs, so that they can use it more efficiently and effectively. it is also hoped that librarians will understand their international users more, and thus find more ways to better serve them. references barrett, k., & greenberg, a. 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(2013). to be discontinued: a virtual reference cautionary tale. reference librarian, 54(2), 175-176. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2013.75125 appendix questionnaire of librarians and chinese students using library virtual reference services q1 standard informed consent form research description introduction this research attempts to collect information about international chinese students' use of virtual reference services (vrs) in the us academic libraries and how librarians incorporate vrs into their daily workflow. the research will further explore both students’ and librarians’ altitudes and expectations with regard to vrs. procedures this research is conducted by using an online questionnaire made by the qualtrics, and the research project is expected to last for one year. upon approval by the institutional review board (irb), the principal investigator will begin the data collection process. the questionnaire consists of twenty-seven questions in total. participants will complete as many as fifteen or as few as seven questions, depending on their choices of answers. participants will take five to ten minutes to answer the entire questionnaire. questions are designed to let participants share their experiences of using vrs, their interactions with librarians/students, their understanding of/training in vrs, their points of view related to library website and library online catalog, and their satisfaction and expectations of current and future vrs. all data will be used only for research purposes. risks/discomforts there are no risks/discomforts caused by this research. there are no sensitive questions in the questionnaire (e.g.: name, gender, sex, drug usage, financial status, religious belief, etc.). the questionnaire will not link to your email address or other sensitive information and filling out the questionnaire is completely voluntary. benefits this research creates an opportunity to compare the research data and get the research results https://doi.org/10.1300/j136v08n04_02 https://doi.org/10.1108/el-12-2015-0248 https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2013.75125 duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 61 from both students and librarians. for students, it is a way to share the vrs experiences and expectations with librarians, while for librarians, it is a method to understand more about the chinese student population of library users. the research findings are expected to foster or promote a conversation between librarians and students, let them gain a better understanding of each other, and improve the vrs with the help from both groups. confidentiality all data obtained from participants will be kept confidential and will only be reported in an aggregate format (by reporting only combined results and never reporting individual ones). all surveys will be password protected, and no one other than the principal investigator will have access to them. the data collected will be stored in the research computer file and the qualtricssecure database until it has been deleted by the principal investigator. participation participation in this research study is completely voluntary. you have the right to withdraw at any time or refuse to participate entirely without jeopardy to your academic status, gpa, or standing with the university. if you desire to withdraw, please close your internet browser and notify the principal investigator. or, if you prefer, inform the principal investigator as you leave the questionnaire. participant's assurance this project has been reviewed by the institutional review board (irb), which ensures that research projects involving human subjects follow federal regulations. any questions or concerns about rights as a research participant should be directed to the manager of the irb. participation in this project is completely voluntary, and participants may withdraw from this study at any time without penalty, prejudice, or loss of benefits. any questions about the research should be directed to the principal investigator. questions about the questionnaire if you have questions regarding the questionnaire, you can contact the principal investigator. consent to participate in research consent is hereby given to participate in this research project. all procedures and/or investigations to be followed and their purpose, including any experimental procedures, were explained. information was given about all benefits, risks, inconveniences, or discomforts that might be expected. the opportunity to ask questions regarding the research and procedures was given. participation in the project is completely voluntary, and participants may withdraw at any time without penalty, prejudice, or loss of benefits. all personal information is strictly confidential, and no duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 62 names will be disclosed. any new information that develops during the project will be provided if that information may affect the willingness to continue participation in the project. questions concerning the research, at any time during or after the project, should be directed to the principal investigator with the contact information provided above. this project and this consent form have been reviewed by the institutional review board, which ensures that research projects involving human subjects follow federal regulations. any questions or concerns about rights as a research participant should be directed to the chair of the institutional review board. o i understand the consent form of this research project and would like to continue the questionnaire. (1) o i decline the consent form and do not want to continue the questionnaire. (2) skip to: end of survey if standard informed consent form research description introduction this research attempts to col... = i decline the consent form and do not want to continue the questionnaire. q2 are you a chinese student or a librarian? o chinese student (1) o librarian (2) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q3 what degree are you pursuing? o bachelor (1) o master (2) o ph.d. (3) o post-doctoral (4) o other (please clarify) (5) ________________________________________________ duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 63 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q4 what degree do you hold? o bachelor (1) o master (2) o ph.d. (3) o post-doctoral (4) o other (please clarify) (5) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q5 do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs, e.g. ask-a-librarian online)? o yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. (1) o no, i don't know my library provides vrs to its users. (please clarify the reason) (2) ________________________________________________ o i don't care whether my library provides vrs to its users. (please clarify the reason) (3) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 64 q6 why use vrs? ▢ i am away from library and cannot be there physically. (1) ▢ vrs is faster and more convenient than traditional reference service (e.g.: no need to go to the information desk, can ask questions through phone, etc.). (2) ▢ i do not need instant answer, vrs can provide asynchronous answers to me. (3) ▢ i am nervous when speaking with librarians face-to-face, it is better for me to ask questions online. (4) ▢ other (please clarify) (5) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. q7 please select types of vrs that you use the most. ▢ online chat (1) ▢ email (2) ▢ text (3) ▢ telephone (4) ▢ other (please clarify) (5) ________________________________________________ duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 65 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. q8 how often do you use vrs? within a day (1) within a week (2) within a month (3) ⊗1-3 times (1) o o o ⊗4-6 times (2) o o o ⊗7-9 times (3) o o o ⊗more than 9 times (4) o o o display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. q9 what types of questions have you asked most often through vrs? o academic question (e.g.: finding library materials) (1) o directional question (e.g.: location of library study room) (2) o technical question (e.g.: how to use printer or how to log into the library account) (3) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 66 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q10 are you a reference librarian? o yes, i am a reference librarian. (1) o no, reference duty is one part in my job description. (please clarify your other duties, e.g.: cataloging, acquisition, circulation, etc.) (2) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q11 does your library provide vrs to its users? o yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. (1) o no, my library does not provide vrs to its users. (please clarify the reason) (2) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q12 in your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of providing vrs to users? please drag the items to the groups that show your understanding of either "advantage" or "disadvantage". advantage disadvantage ⊗______ it is a way to provide reference service in an internet environment. (1) ⊗______ it is a way to provide reference service in an internet environment. (1) ⊗______ it allows off-campus users to use reference services. (2) ⊗______ it allows off-campus users to use reference services. (2) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 67 ⊗______ it allows different devices to be used (e.g.: telephone, ipad). (3) ⊗______ it allows different devices to be used (e.g.: telephone, ipad). (3) ⊗______ it asks the librarian to find a strategy to deal with simultaneous vrs questions and faceto-face reference questions. (4) ⊗______ it asks the librarian to find a strategy to deal with simultaneous vrs questions and faceto-face reference questions. (4) ⊗______ it costs money and energy to purchase, maintain, and update. (5) ⊗______ it costs money and energy to purchase, maintain, and update. (5) ⊗______ at times, vrs is not available (e.g.: can't provide online chat when the internet is shutting down). (6) ⊗______ at times, vrs is not available (e.g.: can't provide online chat when the internet is shutting down). (6) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian and does your library provide vrs to its users? = yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. q13 are you familiar with vrs in your library? please mark your familiarity from 0 to 5, while 0 stands for "not familiar at all" and 5 stands for "extremely familiar". not familiar at all somewhat unfamiliar somewhat familiar familiar strongly familiar extremely familiar 0 1 2 3 4 5 familiarity of vrs (1) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 68 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian and does your library provide vrs to its users? = yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. q14 please select types of vrs that you use the most. o online chat (1) o email (2) o text (3) o telephone (4) o other (please clarify) (5) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian and does your library provide vrs to its users? = yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. q15 what type of question do you receive most often through vrs? o academic question (e.g.: finding library materials) (1) o directional question (e.g.: location of library study room) (2) o technical question (e.g.: how to use online catalog or how to log into the library account) (3) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 69 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. q16 how long do you have to wait until a librarian answers your vrs question? how satisfied are you with the answers? please drag the items to the groups that show your level of satisfaction. my questions have been solved and i am satisfy with the answers. some of my questions have been solved and i am somehow satisfy with the answers. my questions have not been solved and i am not satisfy with the answers at all. ______ 1-3 minutes (1) ______ 1-3 minutes (1) ______ 1-3 minutes (1) ______ 4-6 minutes (2) ______ 4-6 minutes (2) ______ 4-6 minutes (2) ______ 7-9 minutes (3) ______ 7-9 minutes (3) ______ 7-9 minutes (3) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student and do you know that your library provides virtual reference service (vrs)? = yes, i know that my library provides vrs to its users. duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 70 q17 how satisfied are you with your english language when using vrs? do you think your language skills cause trouble when using vrs? extremely satisfied and does not cause trouble (1) moderately satisfied and might not cause trouble (2) satisfied, but might cause trouble (3) slightly dissatisfied and might cause trouble (4) moderately dissatisfied and slightly cause trouble (5) extremely dissatisfied and does cause trouble (6) english skill: listening (1) ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ english skill: speaking (2) ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ english skill: reading (3) ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ english skill: writing (4) ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian and does your library provide vrs to its users? = yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. q18 what is the average time it takes for you to answer vrs questions? are you satisfied with your answers? please drag the items to the groups that show your level of satisfaction. i am satisfy with my answers. i am somehow satisfy with my answers. i am not satisfy with my answers at all. ______ within 1-3 minutes (1) ______ within 1-3 minutes (1) ______ within 1-3 minutes (1) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 71 ______ within 4-6 minutes (2) ______ within 4-6 minutes (2) ______ within 4-6 minutes (2) ______ within 7-9 minutes (3) ______ within 7-9 minutes (3) ______ within 7-9 minutes (3) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) ______ more than 10 minutes (4) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q19 are you able to understand the question and provide the answer if the question has typographical or grammar problems? o yes (1) o no (2) o it depends (3) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q20 can you easily find vrs (in most cases it's "ask-a-librarian") on the library website? o yes (1) o no (2) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 72 q21 do you think frequently asked question (faq) pages, research guides, and path finders are helpful for you to find library materials before you ask for help? o yes (1) o no (2) o maybe (please clarify) (3) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q22 are you familiar with the library online catalog? do you search the online catalog before asking for help? please scale your familiarity to the online catalog and whether or not you will search it first below. (taking "0" as "definitely not familiar" and "will not search the catalog first", while taking "5" as "definitely familiar" and "will search the catalog first".) 0 1 2 3 4 5 i am familiar with library online catalog () i will search library online catalog first before i turn to help () display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q23 are you able to find your wanted materials by using the library online catalog? o yes (1) o no (2) duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 73 display this question: if are you able to find your wanted materials by using the library online catalog? = yes q24 after you find your materials, do you still want to use vrs? o no, i will not use vrs. (1) o yes, i still want to use vrs. (please clarify the reason) (2) ________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian and does your library provide vrs to its users? = yes, my library does provide vrs to its users. q25 do you think users can easily find vrs through the library website? o yes (1) o no (2) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q26 are the "faq" page, research guides, path finders, etc. on the library website updated regularly? do you think they can help users understand library services? o yes, we update faq, research guides, path finders, etc. regularly, and we think they can help users understand library services. (1) o no, we do not update faq, research guides, path finders, etc. regularly, and we do not think they can help users understand library services. (2) o yes, we update faq, research guides, path finders, etc. regularly. however, we do not rely only on library website; we have other ways to let users understand library services. (please clarify) (3) ________________________________________________ duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 74 display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian q27 do you direct users to the library online catalog and teach them how to search materials through the online catalog? ▢ yes, i often direct users to the library online catalog and teach them how to search materials from there. (1) ▢ i teach users to search materials through the library online catalog, however, i prefer to direct them to other ways to other ways to find materials (e.g.: interlibrary loan). (2) ▢ it depends on the types of questions i get from users. sometimes i will direct them to the library online catalog while sometimes i do not need to use library online catalog. (3) ▢ no, i often give direct answer to users without directing them to the library online catalog. (4) display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = chinese student q28 do you want your library to provide vrs that focuses on international students? if yes, what additional service(s) would you want the library to add? ________________________________________________________________ display this question: if are you a chinese student or a librarian? = librarian duan / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 75 q29 do you provide vrs that focuses on international students? if yes, please clarify the types of vrs, if no, what vrs would you like to add? o yes, we do provide vrs that focuses on international students. (1) ________________________________________________ o no, we do not provide vrs that focuses on international students. (2) ________________________________________________ about the author xiaojie duan is catalog librarian and assistant professor at the university of southern mississippi libraries. she has an mlis degree from the university of wisconsin-milwaukee. her research topics include cataloging and classification issues, information access and retrieval, library services to international students, and more. 3--know your user behind the screen_title 3--know your user behind the screen-rev ijol issue 1 word issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org editorial: message from editor-in-chief welcome to the inaugural issue of the international journal of librarianship (ijol). ijol provides a forum for librarians and other researchers from canada, china, the uk, the us and other countries to share their research, best practices and perspectives in international librarianship, international collaboration and academic exchange, library spaces and services, library technology and innovation, and other aspects of information science and studies. in this issue, wang, wang, wilson and ahmed present a systematic review of makerspaces in libraries. a number of case studies on makerspaces are provided for both public libraries and academic libraries in canada and the us. this paper can be a good reference resource as well for libraries planning to create a new makerspace. ma, deng and xue at an american academic library examine the common issues in the discovery and access of chinese digital resources. the authors propose and discuss leveraging national information standards organization (niso) standards to address these issues. liu reports the results of a web survey on the library services offered by project 985 universities in china from the perspective of a canadian academic librarian. this paper reveals that some services reported as challenges in the library and information services (lis) literature are popular in chinese academic libraries nowadays while a few other services still need to improve or be considered for implementation. ashworth shares her library’s approaches to adapting to the evolving higher education environment, including supporting open access policies to meet the demands of national research exercises and developing spaces and services to meet the changing needs of patrons in an academic library in the uk. in the column entitled “report from the field”, zhou introduces an ebook service, the shanghai library’s urban digital reading service platform, including its innovations and usage statistics. shanghai library is the first library in china that combines a public library with science, technology and industry information services. another feature which makes ijol unique is that each issue will host a column introducing what is happening in a topic related to lis around the world. in this issue, ren outlines the processes and components of lis education standards of the american library association (applied to the us, canada and puerto rico), the chartered institute of library and information professionals (applied to the uk), and the australian library and information association (applied to australia). this is part one of a series reviewing lis accreditation on an international scale. using the initial publication of the journal as an occasion, i would like to thank all members of the editorial team, the advisory board, the chinese american librarians association (cala) executive board, and many other people who have contributed to its creation and launch. guoying liu university of windsor issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org library services to multicultural populations through the lens of history: a literature review stan trembach abstract: in today's increasingly globalized and interconnected world, libraries play a critical role in the integration of their culturally and ethnically diverse service populations into the mainstream of american society. this literature review traces the historical development of culturally responsive library service from its earliest format, readers advisory, to contemporary forms of library support available to multicultural communities. current policy response to specific issues involved in library work with multicultural constituencies is also examined, along with the contributions of such work to the ongoing interdisciplinary global citizenship discourse. to cite this article: trembach, s. (2022). library services to multicultural populations through the lens of history: a literature review. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.259 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.259 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 61-73 issn: 2474-3542 library services to multicultural populations through the lens of history: a literature review stan trembach emporia state university, usa abstract in today's increasingly globalized and interconnected world, libraries play a critical role in the integration of their culturally and ethnically diverse service populations into the mainstream of american society. this literature review traces the historical development of culturally responsive library service from its earliest format, readers advisory, to contemporary forms of library support available to multicultural communities. current policy response to specific issues involved in library work with multicultural constituencies is also examined, along with the contributions of such work to the ongoing interdisciplinary global citizenship discourse. keywords: library services to multicultural populations, cultural capital, global citizenship, public libraries introduction in 2018, the foreign-born population in the u.s. reached a record 44.8 million, which represents more than a quadruple increase since 1960s (pew research center, 2020). indeed, as the land of opportunity, the united states has provided a new home and a new hope for many a generation of immigrants. they have come to this country for various reasons: some in search of an elusive better life, others paying the consequences of their dissident views and fleeing the persecution of authorities, while yet others have been driven by an ambitious pursuit of knowledge (portes & rumbaut, 2014). their particular circumstances depended on the historical period they lived in, the geographical area they hailed from, and a myriad of other factors. one thing was common, though: to a greater or lesser degree, they all had to make adjustments and learn to live in a new culture that was often so unlike their own. based on the premise that many of the challenges typically encountered by immigrants stem from a range of unmet cultural, social, and—above all,—information needs, the article presents a review of library and information science literature to provide an examination of how culturally responsive library services have emerged as a key factor in facilitating the integration and acculturation of foreign-born library users. in particular, the article traces the development of culturally responsive library services from readers advisory to contemporary forms of library support for multicultural communities and argues for a core position of libraries within the ongoing interdisciplinary global information society/global citizenship discourse. trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 62 in order to better address the complexity of such a multifaceted phenomenon as culturally responsive library services and their role in accommodation and acculturation of foreign-born library patrons, this study follows the integrated thematic review methodology. the integrated review technique has been identified as appropriate for studies focusing on several aspects of a complex phenomenon or those involving several different operational definitions, where the researcher aims to establish a bridge between related areas of work, identify theoretical or conceptual framework, and discern central issues in a given area of inquiry (russell, 2005). the findings were further grouped into several key themes to narrow the existing gaps in our knowledge of the literature: 1. the challenges historically faced by foreign-born library patrons in the united states. 2. the role public libraries have played in the integration and acculturation efforts aimed at foreign-born library patrons. 3. the evolution of reader advisory services and its impact on the development of the current formats of culturally responsive public library services, as reflected in the work of regional professional library associations. the body of literature for this study was amassed from the following databases pertinent to the library and information science field: library and information science source (ebsco), academic search complete (ebsco), lista (ebsco), education source (ebsco), and proquest theses and dissertations. based on the above identified themes that constitute the focus of the study, the author developed a search terminology that included combinations of the following terms: “multiculturalism in library services,” “culturally responsive library services,” “readers advisory services,” “immigrant library users,” “foreign-born library patrons.” the sources were selected for this study based on the relevance to the above themes that informed the current research. the initial screening of the titles and abstracts of the search results enabled the author to exclude those titles in which relevance was not immediately discernible. the remaining fifty-six sources, including scholarly articles, books, policy documents of regional professional library associations, as well as web-based sources of statistical information, are featured in the literature review below. overcoming integration challenges: public library role for more than two centuries of its eventful history, this country has welcomed immigrants from many cultures, with a marked increase in global migration numbers and patterns observed in recent decades (castles, 1998; hogg, 2011). thus, the concept of multiculturalism has almost become synonymous with the very identity of the united states. the overarching problem immigrants typically encounter is that of a quick and complete acculturation into the dominant culture (padak & rasinski, 1993). how challenging the process may be for them is illustrated by the fact that multicultural populations have been addressed by various, at times borderline derogatory, terms, such as minorities, foreigners, underprivileged, etc. the use of such terms indicates a certain sense trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 63 of cultural superiority and an implicit attempt at dissociating a particular cultural group from the mainstream or the majority population (abdullahi, 1991). understandably, the dominant culture does inform the adaptability of newcomers to new ways of life. nieto (1999) suggests that, since any culture is dynamic, it does not exist in isolation. instead, it interacts and forms concrete relationships with surrounding cultures—including the dominant one—characterized by differential access to power. the result of this interaction is a cultural hybrid in which people may select or reject particular elements of culture depending on their unique contexts (nieto, 1999). it is for this reason, therefore, that over the years the incessant influx of immigrants and their remarkably diverse social, economic, and cultural backgrounds conflated with the dominant culture and led to a wider adoption of the idea of cultural diversity and, most recently, its rise to prominence in the rhetoric of a broad spectrum of cultural, political, social, and educational establishments. public libraries have historically been at the forefront of the movement and contributed significantly to the assimilation and acculturation of multicultural populations by addressing their most vital information needs (cuban, 2007). the challenges faced by immigrants and their families are indeed many, ranging from their limited command of english, the need to secure employment upon arrival, accessibility of education and healthcare opportunities, racial or ethnic discrimination, and the pressure to successfully re-settle and integrate into the host country that is culturally different from their country of origin (lee, 2020). many, if not all, of these concerns have the underlying need to locate, access, and evaluate information. research (wang et al., 2020; caidi & allard, 2005) suggests that failure to meet these critical information needs may significantly hinder the process of integrating immigrants into a new society and culture, underscoring the importance of providing timely and culturally sensitive library support for them. in terms of getting such support, there may be additional library-specific barriers for immigrant patrons that the literature identifies as occasional lack of cultural sensitivity of library staff and library policies, communication issues, and inconsistent hours and locations, among others (burke, 2008). although serving immigrants and their families has been part of the library agenda for the past 100 years (wang et al., 2020; cuban, 2007), it took a while for libraries to truly begin to incorporate into the mainstream of their work a greater number of special services targeting the interests of multicultural groups. often, those library users would be a forgotten lot. once they entered the library, which for many of them remained an uncharted territory well into their stay in the country, they were left on their own both physically and in terms of their information needs (abdullahi, 1993). gradually, though, public libraries started to assume the role of information mediators and educators (birge, 1981), which was a crucial step in providing a bridge to community resources for sprawling immigrant communities. as libraries expanded this role from the general public to low-income and particularly minority populations, they grew increasingly intentional about strengthening their services specifically tailored to the needs of multicultural populations. distinguishing a multicultural library service is the value purposefully placed upon cultural pluralism and tolerance, if not acceptance, of different views, opinions, or beliefs. an orientation toward multiculturalism presupposes the intellectual enrichment of all cultural groups through the provision of equal access trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 64 to information, the preservation and exchange of literature, experiences, and attributes--all necessary tools for integrating multicultural library users into their new society (picco, 2008). although “no community has ever been truly homogeneous” (abdullahi, 1993, p. 85), multiculturalism took its roots in the united states, embodying the differences that existed among its citizens in lifestyles, religions, experiences, and family histories. if “cultural differences and the joys, challenges, and (sometimes) difficulties associated with them have always been part of the fabric of american society” (fish, 1992, p. 34), then it should not come as a stunning surprise that the same diversity would eventually penetrate the american public library landscape as well. expanding multicultural support and its roots in readers advisory services american public libraries have served the foreign-born since practically the very onset of the profession (burke 2008), often having to maneuver between changing political agendas and societal attitudes toward immigrants. for example, in the wake of the unprecedented foray of immigrants into the country, the last two decades of the nineteenth century witnessed heightened feelings of nativism among the public and policymakers on the grounds that the racial, ethnic, and cultural background of the new immigrants of the post-1870 era made them practically unassimilable into the american way of life (young, 2017). such sentiments were often fueled by the desire on the part of the general public to use libraries as a mechanism of assimilation and control for immigrant groups (kevane & sundstrom, 2014; jones, 1999). promoting good citizenship was viewed as one of a public library’s primary functions, prompting conservatively minded members of the public to support limiting, if not eliminating, immigration altogether (jones, 1999). still, as the anti-immigration stance intensified in society at large in the early twentieth century, public librarians strove to distance themselves from the negative influences of the ongoing anti-immigration campaign and spared no means to showcase their devotion to service to multicultural communities. their efforts centered on activities directed at assimilation—or americanization—of immigrants, particularly in regions with historically large foreign-born populations. for example, analysis of the operations of the queens library branch in new york by aptekar (2014) suggests that the library functioned as an acculturative institution where “the treatment of immigrants and non-english speakers by the staff… highlighted the ways in which the library was a space where ideologies of assimilation could be reproduced” (p. 1210). as explained above, during the progressive era, a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to late 1920s, the educational function of public libraries increased against all odds (birge, 1981). birge (1981) points out that librarians began to take on the role of readers advisors, and they treated this duty seriously perceiving it as their central mission to assist with the assimilation efforts not only by promoting their own resources but also by encouraging immigrants to attend night classes to learn english and get accustomed to materials about american culture. libraries everywhere realized the need to teach non-english-speaking library users the language as the only way to open their minds and hearts to the riches of american literature (wheaton, 1917). trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 65 librarians are known for their desire to overdo things professionally. for many progressive readers advisors and their followers in the 1930s-1940s, too, these growing educational efforts constituted the focal point of the daily activities. the likes of helen e. haines, a library educator, writer, and activist in the area of support for popular fiction and intellectual freedom, promulgated the breadth and depth of book collections in public libraries, and through their use—“the freedom to read” (trott, 2010, p. 415). if public libraries were intended to represent safe, near sacred spaces for self-education that provided a cathartic experience, the librarians and readers advisors who worked there had to become knowledgeable of the intricacies of the assimilation process and populate their shelves with the materials that would attract, entertain, and enlighten the audiences they were committed to serve. wyer (1930) holds the authorship of what to this day is the most illuminating summariers of the readers advisory craft: those who serve in the capacity of readers advisors must possess the highest qualifications. they must have both breadth and depth of knowledge. they must have the facility of the trained and experienced librarian for finding and organizing materials suited to the reader. they must have personality, tact, sympathy, enthusiasm and an understanding of educational psychology comparable to that of the successful teacher. their knowledge and experience should be such that they will be able wisely to recommend suitable books on the same subject to men and women who differ widely in ability, education and purpose. (p. 181) in order to live up to such lofty expectations, readers advisors resorted to various practices that ranged from highly interactive, i.e., the face-to-face encounter or reading discussion groups, to those that were not interactive at all, like merchandizing, which depends on the strategic use of space and the study of browsing behavior to put books and readers together (chelton, 2008). what all of these variations in technique depended on was an understanding of readers and reading behavior, so that thorough knowledge could be applied to whatever technique readers advisors chose to employ. it is this flexibility, genuine care, and love of the craft that cemented the position of readers advisory as a highly successful and increasingly popular library service throughout the first four decades of the twentieth century. subsequently, readers advisory services in american public libraries witnessed a series of dramatic setbacks in the aftermath of world war ii. the proliferation of scientific and technological discoveries accompanied by the natural reduction in leisure time were among many socio-economic, political, and cultural reasons that underpinned the decline of the readers advisory services in the mid-1940s, 1950s, and 1960s (saricks & brown, 1997). the first indication of their possible revival came from the reading guidance institute held at the university of wisconsin library school in june-july 1965 (regan, 1973). the institute brought back the relevance of the idea of reader assistance by designated library staff members and was the result of a peripheral but steady interest in the long-awaited return of the readers advisory services to the american library scene. serving multicultural populations: contemporary developments and library policy response trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 66 the preceding historical overview helps contextualize readers advisory services as one of the more vital forms of library assistance that became increasingly available to multicultural library users in the late twentieth century. currently, many public library programs that are aimed at encouraging reading among immigrant populations, along with literacy projects and in-library tutoring programs for school children, have their roots in the ideals of the library movement at the turn of the twentieth century and the 1920s-1930s—the golden age of readers advisory--where many librarians serving in immigrant communities saw themselves providing services that paralleled the care and healing power of services rendered by other socially-oriented professions, namely, social workers and teachers (asher, 2011). the more contemporary stages of the readers advisory evolution into a full-scale range of services for multicultural library constituencies coincided with another immigration boom in the history of the united states. the foreign-born population rose from 9.6 million in 1970 to 14.1 million in 1980, to 19.8 million in 1990, and to 31.1 million in 2000 (gibson & jung, 2007). herein lies the explanation for the post-1965 emphasis on the diversity of library services and the proper accord to the diversification of library clientele. fortunately for both multicultural library patrons and service providers, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw a growing need to improve the overall quality of library services to this particular group of users across the globe. in the united states, the new york queensborough public library exemplifies the country-wide push for the policy of inclusion in library services. dating back to the foundation of the first queens library in flushing in 1858, the queensborough public library has become one of the largest public library systems in the united states. historically, the queensborough public library has served one of the largest immigrant populations in the country. consequently, a large percentage of the library’s collections are in non-english languages, particularly spanish. in 1977, the queensborough public library broke the new ground when it initiated the new american project whose purpose was twofold: to extend library services to residents whose primary language of communication is other than english and to facilitate the immigrants’ adjustment to their new surroundings through the acquisition of appropriate materials and the creation of special programs (tjoumas, 1987). by launching the new american project, librarians at queens took it upon themselves to facilitate the acculturation process of non-native speaking library populations. the queensborough public library experience, which also includes the establishment of the international resource center with books, magazines, cds and dvds representing cultures from all over the world, proved to be truly revolutionary as it adopted a multifaceted approach to assisting immigrants with their adjustment to the new environment. measures taken under the new american project included but were not limited to building targeted foreign-language collections; offering english as a second language courses and coping skills training seminars and workshops; designing diverse cultural programing, and similar initiatives (tjoumas, 1987). at the dawn of the new millennium, the u.s. census bureau experts envisioned that the heterogeneity trend in the population would continue and projected that, by 2050s, the u.s. would become a plurality nation, with no single race or ethnic group representing the majority (u.s. census bureau, 2012). accordingly, it is particularly critical that public libraries continue to act trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 67 as community anchor institutions and lay the groundwork for more successful community coalition-building and the development of culturally responsive library programs and services. they have done so, as many success stories testify, such as that of little explorers, a series that focuses on supporting self-esteem and building a welcoming and receptive mindset about diversity in children and communities served by the somerset county library system, or a taste of china, a program that grew from one-day event at the summit free public library (summit, nj) into a week-long celebration of the chinese new year with festivities like food prep, chinese art and calligraphy lessons, cartoon viewings, and performances by community members (new jersey state library, 2019). these success stories are far from isolated incidents. many libraries across the nation have responded in kind, developing culturally responsive library programs, activities, and events as a way to stimulate dialogue about issues of ethnicity, class, and culture (naidoo, 2014). a prime example nationwide is día! diversity in action, also known as children 's day/book day, or in spanish el día de los niños/el día de los libros. día! diversity in action has gained recognition as an annual celebration of reading for and by children and families (ala, n.d.). día! diversity in action is an opportunity for libraries around the country to connect children and families to multicultural books, bilingual services, educational resources, and provide the children and families with access to materials that mirror their culture, as well as open a window to others. such work is now receiving attention at the local, state, national, and even international levels and is part of the rhetoric of many professional library organizations. for example, the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) released the guidelines for multicultural communities library services (2009) stipulating that service should be provided to all ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups according to the same well-established standard. the dynamic of the past three decades is reflected throughout the ifla guidelines that promote more equitable opportunities for minority users in terms of access to library materials in their preferred languages and reflecting their own cultures, as well as the adopted one. the guidelines, translated into eleven languages, seek to encourage understanding and engagement among the multicultural groups represented in all strata of society and place the responsibility upon libraries to provide criteria against which the adequacy of existing multicultural services may be assessed. by recognizing that library and information services in a culturally and linguistically diverse context include both the provision of services to all types of library users and the provision of services specifically targeted to underserved cultural and linguistic groups, the ifla guidelines accomplish several important milestones. they acknowledge again and again the right of each individual in today’s global society to benefit from a full range of library and information services. in addressing cultural and linguistic diversity, libraries are challenged to serve all members of the community without discrimination based on cultural and linguistic heritage, while ensuring access to a broad range of materials and services reflecting all communities and needs. importantly enough, the ifla guidelines also mandate that, to reflect the diversity of the community, libraries serving multicultural users employ staff who are trained to work with such diverse communities. additionally, the american library association (ala), its divisions, and regional library communities in the united states have acknowledged access to library and information resources, services, and technologies as an inherent right of all people, especially those who may be trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 68 marginalized from education and literacy (ala, n.d.). admittedly, the roots of marginalization can vary from language or literacy-related barriers; economic distress; cultural or social isolation (ala, n.d.); racial or religious discrimination, as well as immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression (ellis et al., 2010); or other barriers to equal education, employment, and housing specific to each individual. to alleviate their plight, ala posits that greater involvement with the local library has to take place and it should be promoted through numerous avenues, including cultural events, community-based organizations, or local media (ala, n.d.). in late 2006, the reference and user services association (rusa), a division of ala, published the guidelines for library services to spanish-speaking library users. this document addressed the complexity of working with spanish-speaking library constituencies, citing, for example, significant linguistic and cultural differences reflected in the varieties of spanish spoken by mexicans, puerto ricans, cubans, and other spanish-speaking groups (ala, 2008). the guidelines highlight many professional concerns that serving this specific target audience entails, particularly in the areas of collection and selection of materials, program design, services and community relations, personnel, and facilities (ala, 2008). on the state level, too, the alaska library association (akla, 2018) produced and regularly updated a set of culturally responsive guidelines for alaska public libraries. the guidelines maintain that culturally responsive services, collections, programs, staff, and overall library environment form the foundation for serving the needs of indigenous peoples of the state (akla 2018). importantly, although originally developed to serve predominantly the alaska native community, the guidelines have since expanded their applicability and reach to other cultural and ethnic groups residing in the state. the culturally responsive guidelines for alaska public libraries address multiculturalism in library services through specific action statements spanning four broad areas: library environment; services and programs; collections; and the staff. the particular value of these guidelines is that they can and should be used as a blueprint by libraries elsewhere—particularly those libraries looking to foster a more culturally cognizant and responsive organizational environment and service philosophy. besides offering a benchmark against which to evaluate library programs, services, and collections, the culturally responsive guidelines also provide a useful tool to approach this undertaking as a series of smaller, more incremental steps directed at updating mission and vision statements or other policy revisions to assure the integration of culturally appropriate practices into both short-term and long-term library operations. multicultural library services: a path toward global citizenship the examination of virtually all the above-mentioned policies reveals their distinct emphasis on fostering deeper intercultural understanding both among members of specific cultural groups and the general body of library users. while existing research suggests that public libraries do play an important role in supporting the well-being of patrons with diverse cultural backgrounds, this study points to the need to create an even more robust scholarship base to help public librarians and their trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 69 professional associations better situate cultural competence as the core element of their branding and advocacy. this review highlights the effectiveness of intercultural communication and cooperation as strategies libraries should employ to better address the needs of service populations that represent a multiplicity of cultures. the historical perspective presented above has important implications for present-day library outreach to underserved or underrepresented communities, regardless of the specific ground for their marginalization from access to information. in light of hofstede’s (1991) broad definition of culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another” (p. 5), this study may serve as a promising starting point for furthering the national research agenda that focuses on libraries operating as safe spaces that provide access to vital information resources for diverse communities. based on the key premise that one’s culture is synonymous with the very notion of human identity, this article adds to the growing body of scholarship documenting library efforts over the time to build a relationship of trust and respect with all users. as this article demonstrates, specific measures to achieve these goals, may include organizing events, exhibits, and educational activities that help appreciate, celebrate, and highlight the meaning of cultural diversity and inclusion. it is hardly surprising that public libraries have been central players in the ongoing conversations revolving around the themes of equity, diversity, and inclusion in society. this article aims to make a meaningful contribution to this discourse by urging libraries and librarians to be more cognizant of the diverse identities of their service communities. for all their dissimilarities, what places multicultural populations and native-born library users in the same stream of analysis is their belonging to the human community. if we accept that “identity and belonging are diverse and extendable from the local through the national to the global” (pashby, 2018, p. 277), then it is only appropriate to conclude this overview with the discussion of the place culturally responsive library services occupy in the global citizenship discourse. contemporary sociopolitical structures—and educational and cultural institutions as derivatives of those structures—are unique for many reasons. among them is the fact that we live in an increasingly globalized, technology-mediated, connected, and internationally involved world (yemini, 2017; bauman, 2000). discussing the nuances of the ongoing globalization process, beck (2000) warns against a one-dimensional view of this phenomenon as a series of transnational economic developments manifested through cross-frontier economic competition in the world market. similarly, nieto (1999) asserts that culture cannot be conflated with just ethnicity or race. by the same token, globalization should not be perceived in terms of the economy alone. rather, beck (2000) explains it as a new world society, or, in fact, “world horizon” characterized by “interaction across national frontiers, in dense networks with a high degree of mutual dependence and obligation” (p. 12). further, this new world arrangement, predicated on the growth of the internet and information and communication technologies, suggests the inevitable blurring of boundaries— physical, communicative, and cultural—between individuals, economies, and sociopolitical structures. the en masse globalization of the world means the establishment of a heterogeneous global community of “…people that have come together around some common variable” (lankes, 2012, p. 75). what is this common variable now, in the third decade of the twenty-first century? trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 70 despite the skepticism expressed by some (lyon, 2013) regarding the rhetoric of information revolution or a global information society as the drastic paradigmatic shift in which economic relations are no longer organized on the basis of material goods, it can hardly be denied today that the power of information (taken as a sociopolitical construct) has altered numerous forms of human activity, sometimes changing the very substance of this activity. as communities unite around and via the power of information they exchange, in order to function as productive, thriving members of this new globalized society, they collectively navigate toward the idea of global citizenship, defined as “a voluntary association with a concept that signifies ways of thinking and living within multiple cross-cutting communities—cities, regions, states, nations, and international collectives” (schattle, 2008, p. 9). in more specific terms, global citizenship can also be understood as “the belief that individuals are members of multiple, diverse, local and non-local networks rather than single actors affecting isolated societies” (united nations, n.d.). public libraries are known and valued for their community-building function. to bring the conceptualization of global citizenship more in line with the rest of the argument in this overview, how can libraries inspire and help share the tenets of global citizenship? scott (2011) articulates the connection between access to information (still a core function of libraries) and their origins as community builders striving to foster civic engagement, encourage social inclusion, and promote equitable educational and community involvement opportunities for all. it follows, then, that from the earlier days of readers advisory services to multicultural users to contemporary holistic forms of support rendered to minorities and other marginalized constituencies, public libraries in the united states have never surrendered their firm position of social activism at the forefront of the diversity and social justice movement. conclusion despite the sometimes troubled and rocky past, the future of library services to multicultural populations seems to be bright, full of meaning and promise. to begin with, it is unlikely that the rich diversity of our society will become less colorful or disappear altogether. a reaction of pride and a growing realization of the importance of history and heritage go hand in hand with the natural blurring of cultural divisions that occurs when the geographical and political boundaries matter less in a highly globalized, interconnected world. there is much to value, much to preserve, and still much to foster because assimilation may not always be equal to awareness, appreciation, and education. accordingly, there is a renewed emphasis today on the global community of information users and community-strengthening initiatives targeting hispanic americans, asian americans, italian americans, and other multicultural populations. the knowledge and values these communities possess bring about compelling tales of perseverance and courage, tales of rising to the challenge of adjusting to a new country and a new culture--ultimately making it their own. public libraries have remained vital to the process as they are tasked with safeguarding and sharing the large reserves of cultural capital they accumulate by virtue of their work (goulding, 2008). in this melting pot of ethnic representations, it is critical for library and information professions not only to utilize the specialized multicultural resources at their disposal and offer services tailored trembach / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 71 to the needs of multicultural populations but to learn how to better embrace and celebrate their extraordinary diversity. references 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(1930). reference work: a textbook for students of library work and librarians. new york state library. yemini, m. (2017). internationalization and global citizenship: policy and practice in education. palgrave macmillan. young, j. g. (2017). making america 1920 again? nativism and u.s. immigration, past and present. journal on migration and human security, 5(1), 217-235. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author stan trembach is assistant professor at the school of library and information management, emporia state university. his research spans equitable access to information for diverse and multicultural communities, multiple literacies in the 21st century information society, and library leadership and management. 259-trembach-title-page 259-trembach-article-text international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 164-168 issn: 2474-3542 ifla wlic 2022: cala members participation and engagement michael bailou huang, stony brook university, stony brook, ny, usa haiyun cao, york university, toronto, on, canada guoying liu, university of windsor, windsor, on, canada lian ruan, university of illinois urbana-champaign, champaign, il, usa jingjing wu, texas tech university, lubbock, tx, usa hong yao, queens public library, queens, ny, usa ning zou, harvard graduate school of education, cambridge, ma, usa shali zhang, auburn university, auburn al, usa the 87th ifla world library and information congress (wlic) was held july 25-29, 2022 in dublin, ireland. ifla wlic 2022 welcomed over 2000 delegates from 96 countries to dublin, ireland with the conference theme “inspire, engage, enable, connect.” the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. it is the global voice of the library and information profession. in her address to delegates, ifla president barbara lison expressed her delight at the atmosphere of the first in-person meeting after such a long period of isolation and travel restrictions. a number of members from the chinese american librarians association (cala) attended the congress and spent several packed days of learning, reflection, discussion, and networking. michael bailou huang, suny distinguished librarian, director of global library initiatives at stony brook university, and cala executive director, attended the world library and information congress in dublin, ireland from july 25 through july 29, 2022. cala is one of ifla’s national association members since 2012 (cala membership code: us-0009). michael also attended the ifla general assembly virtually as a cala representative and registered voting member on august 25, 2022. michael is currently a member of the ifla north america regional division committee (2021-2023). he also serves his second term on the ifla’s health and biosciences libraries section as a standing committee member (2019-2023). during the congress, michael actively participated in business meetings of the north america regional division committee and the health and biosciences libraries section, and their open sessions titled “ifla north america: connecting for action” and “infodemic management: strategies for combating health mis/dis/malinformation.” as a representative from cala, michael attended the ifla association members meeting. cala was acknowledged by lessa pelayo-lozada, ala president, at the us caucus and reception as one of the sponsors. in addition, michael copresented a poster session titled “reconnect, rebuild and rebrand: cala members’ initiatives to help move our institutions above and beyond the pandemic” together with hong yao, queens public library, wenli gao, university of houston, and guoying (grace) liu, university of windsor, canada. huang et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 165 haiyun cao, metadata, discovery and access librarian, co-presented a poster session titled “changing nature of cataloguing librarians in academic libraries” with marcia salmon, digital scholarship metadata librarian, york university libraries. the shifting research and scholarly landscape, the transformation in higher education, and advances in technology have been reshaping the profession of cataloguing librarianship in academic settings. there has been a trend in the cataloguing community where cataloguers are transforming their roles from traditional cataloguing to metadata creation. the authors of this research study conducted a survey of cataloguers in canadian and american academic libraries who experienced this change in roles. the survey addresses changes of position description, acquisition of new skills, challenges and opportunities during the transition, and the extent of confidence and satisfaction in performing the new roles. the survey results show that transition in the job roles of cataloguers is a big challenge to cataloguers who lack metadata knowledge and computer technologies. however, they are able to acquire the necessary skills to perform their new responsibilities, as well as develop confidence and satisfaction in their new role. haiyun cao visited the national library of ireland. the national library of ireland was established by the dublin science and art museum act, 1877. the national library of ireland is a research library, not a lending library. readers must consult library materials in one of the reading rooms. anyone over 16 years of age who wishes to use nli collections can apply for a reader’s ticket. a reader’s ticket is valid for three years and gives readers access to all library collections. haiyun cao also visited the exhibition yeats: the life and works of william butler yeats. william butler yeats (1865-1939) was one of the great poets of the twentieth century. he created works that are widely known and loved. yeats was a man of many interests – ireland, literature, folklore, theatre, politics, the occult – and a significant influence on modern irish cultural identity. the national library of ireland received the donation from members of the yeats family with a large and invaluable collection of w.b. yeats' manuscripts and books. this exhibition, based in the library’s main building, celebrates that collection. guoying liu, systems librarian and engineering liaison, university of windsor, attended this year’s ifla congress in dublin, ireland. as a member of the ifla library publishing special interest group, she was actively involved in the session titled “library publishing: inclusive and open scholarly communication that supports the un sustainable development goals” on july 26 at the congress, including its initiation, promotion, and organization. the session was very well received by ifla attendees. on july 27, she also participated in the “library publishing business meeting” where the committee discussed various issues and future directions. it was a great opportunity for the committee members to meet in-person with each other as well as with ifla officers. guoying also presented two poster sessions with colleagues from the usa, canada, ireland and russia titled “reconnect, rebuild and rebrand: cala members’ initiatives to help move our institutions above and beyond the pandemic” (presenters: hong yao, michael bailou huang, wenli gao, and guoying liu), and “inspiring, enabling, engaging and connecting library publishers through ifla’s global library publishing map and the activities of the ifla sig on library publishing” (presenters: guoying liu, marie o’neill, and ekaterina shibaeva). from these activities and many other occasions, such as the usa caucus, cultural evening, and oclc reception, she met with many cala leaders, members, and other chinese librarians from the usa, canada, and taiwan, such as michael bailou huang, lian ruan, haiyun cao, jingjing wu, rey-yun huang, xuemao wang, and marcia lei zeng. they represented and promoted cala together to people from all over the world. lian ruan, head librarian and international programs director at illinois fire service institute, university of illinois urbana-champaign, attended the ifla library theory and research section standing committee business meeting as a member. she joined the congress opening ceremony, the exhibition, us caucus reception and caucus meeting. she learned so huang et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 166 much from the sessions such as “agile in the library: methods and tools for project management, collaboration and innovation,” “ifla guidelines for lis education programs: applying a global framework to transform lis education in local contexts,” “how can library collections support climate adaptation and resilience?” “engaging, enabling and connecting for the future – in dialogue with ifla's new president-elect (si) – live stream,” and “librarians as evidence intermediaries during times of crisis.” she attended the poster session and exchanged views with presenters. in addition, she joined the tour of the book of kells and old library at the trinity college. lian actively participated in the two-day online satellite conference – the library theory & research, social science libraries, and the ifla journal global and comparative research design in library and information sciences on july 30 and july 31. she had a good time meeting cala friends and other colleagues. jingjing wu, associate librarian of texas tech university, attended in-person the 87th world library and information congress (wlic) sponsored by the international federation of library association (ifla). as a standing committee member and the information coordinator of the statistics and evaluation (se) section, she attended all the committee meetings, including one business meeting and two open sessions. the open session titled “state of outcome/impact measurement in metropolitan, national, and academic libraries” focused on impact measurement in various types of libraries. carolyn a. anthony from american librarian association (ala) wrapped up the session by emphasizing that the importance of quantitative and qualitative assessment is the contribution, not attribution. the speakers of the session titled “providing, communicating and assessing the value of research support services in libraries” shared programs and services their libraries offer to support and enhance research, emphasizing those that have demonstrated "value" or responsiveness to the specific needs of their community. the statistics and evaluation (se) section is currently seeking new members on their standing committee. they are especially looking for members from public libraries and national libraries or members from under-represented regions including asia, oceania, middle east, africa, and latin america. jingjing wu and her colleague cynthia henry presented their poster. they shared experience running data literacy workshops to help students, especially graduate students, improve their data skills to process, analyze, and present their data for their research projects. hong yao, director of technical services of the queens public library, found the congress was quite focused and manageable as a first-time attendee of ifla wlic. set in the lovely city of dublin, she had the opportunity to meet new and old colleagues and friends for the first time in three years, many of whom she worked together via email or zoom meeting. she was especially impressed by the sheer size of the poster exhibit and the wide range of topics they covered. cala’s poster, put together by michael bailou huang, guoying (grace) liu, wenli gao, and herself has also attracted attention from many visitors. she enjoyed her time spent during the congress and leisure walks, sightseeing around the city, and the opportunity to connect with colleagues around the globe at the cultural event hosted by ifla as well as other receptions sponsored by vendors or affiliates. special thanks to michael bailou huang, cala executive director, for taking time help her navigate through the congress. ning zou, associate director for student academic services and learning design, gutman library, harvard graduate school of education, was excited to share that the wlic 2022 was the first in-person ifla conference in her term as chair of the information literacy standing committee. she found the opening session most inspiring and encouraging. mary robinson, a former ireland president, addressed the imperative for library professionals to combat the climate crisis. she underscored the complex nature of the crisis which includes racial, gender-based, and intergenerational crises, and encouraged us to reflect on each crisis to develop advocacies. “it always seems impossible until it's done”; ms. robinson quoted nelson mandela's remark to motivate the audience in a call for action. ning heard several mentions of ms. robinson’s remark huang et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 167 throughout conference sessions. conference participants were deeply encouraged by her speech and shared their ways of acting upon sustainable development. networking in person is another high point during the wlic 2022 experience. given that ning had collaborated with several section officers and members since last summer, the in-person social events came naturally. she had amazing conversations with colleagues from france, italy, croatia, norway, kenya, usa, and more at the new chair reception, cultural evening, oclc reception, and during coffee breaks and at the exhibit hall. she cherished deeply every encounter with her ifla fellow members, and the close-knit professional network is the best part of being an ifla member. together we can make a greater impact! as the information literacy section had close working relationships with the school library committee, ning was invited to their business meeting. at the meeting, they agreed to cohost the second webinar series during this year's global media and information literacy (mil) week. at this year’s conference, ning zou was honored to help moderate a workshop titled “enable your library to leverage open educational resources to create information literacy programs” with lisa hinchliffe (uiuc, chair, ifla education and training section) and anne barnhart (western georgia university, member ifla lisecd sig). it's rewarding to see 75 participants in the workshop conversing about ways to promote open educational resources in native languages. ning would love to extend her gratitude to cala who nominated her to serve on ifla – the opportunity opens greater possibilities for her to contribute to librarianship and continue to learn from others. shali zhang, dean of libraries at auburn university in alabama, participated in the 2022 ifla wlic in dublin, ireland. the last time ifla hosted an in-person wlic was in athens, greece in 2019. therefore, it was an exciting experience to see so many library colleagues from the u.s. and the global library community after three years! shali has served on the ifla journal editorial committee since 2015. she also served two terms as chair of the committee from 2017 to 2021. in the summer of 2021, shali worked with committee members and hosted four virtual webinars in the ifla regions of asia, north america, europe, and the pacific on the topics of the ifla journal review process and how to get published in the journal. this year, the editorial committee was able to meet in-person for its business meetings and was able to offer an in-person open program to conference participants during the ifla conference. at this open program, the journal’s publisher, sage, offered advice on how to promote articles published in the ifla journal. shali would like to share the following advice that many cala members may benefit from: • link to your published article in your email signature • email a link to interested colleagues and peers • create a social media account – twitter, facebook, linkedin, google+ • follow peers and other relevant accounts in the field and share links to your work to encourage active engagement in the scholarly community • share at conferences with fellow researchers • suggest your article for a guest post for the sage perspectives blog • issue a press release via your institution, which could lead to broader news pick up ifla wlic’s cultural evening is always a highlight of this global gathering. at this year’s wlic, the cultural evening was held in the lexicon central library and cultural center in dublin, with delicious irish food, spectacular irish music and dance performances, life episodes of the literary masterpiece ulysses, candlelit tales of irish mythology, and beautiful art exhibits. wlic participants enjoyed this event very much and met with some characters from james joyce’s books. huang et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 168 the next ifla wlic will be held in rotterdam, the netherlands, on august 21-25, 2023. we look forward to seeing more cala members in the great annual event! issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org partnering with special collections in promoting digital humanities: papers of charles daniel tenney (丁家立档案 ) at dartmouth college nien lin xie abstract: this paper discusses a project relating to the papers of charles tenney at dartmouth college in order to examine the value of partnering with special collections while promoting digital humanities. it treats the discovery, digitization, publication and utilization of rare and unique primary resources in assisting classroom teaching and research. this project provides a case study that illustrates how, by creating collaborative projects with faculty and colleagues, librarians can create knowledge, enrich scholarship, and better serve academic communities as research partners instead of being mere content providers. to cite this article: xie, n.l. (2019). partnering with special collections in promoting digital humanities: papers of charles daniel tenney (丁家立档案) at dartmouth college. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 103-107. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 103-107 issn: 2474-3542 partnering with special collections in promoting digital humanities: papers of charles daniel tenney (丁家立档案) at dartmouth college1 nien lin xie dartmouth college, hanover, new hampshire, usa abstract this paper discusses a project relating to the papers of charles tenney at dartmouth college in order to examine the value of partnering with special collections while promoting digital humanities. it treats the discovery, digitization, publication and utilization of rare and unique primary resources in assisting classroom teaching and research. this project provides a case study that illustrates how, by creating collaborative projects with faculty and colleagues, librarians can create knowledge, enrich scholarship, and better serve academic communities as research partners instead of being mere content providers. keywords: charles daniel tenney; education in china; digital humanities; special collections introduction in today’s academic library world, special collections are playing a larger role than ever before. while both print and electronic resources can be purchased, subscribed to and often shared among libraries, unique and rare materials can only be found in special collections at individual institutions. until recently, the only means to access materials in such special collections was to travel to the locations and use them on site. implementation of open access policies and development of digitization technology have paved the way for the discovery and utilization of a great number of these resources in recent years. the project of charles tenney’s papers that i conducted at dartmouth college library in 2012 is a case in point. charles tenney was an american educator and diplomat. he played a pivotal role in pioneering china’s modern educational system and was a well-known person in the history of uschina relations during the 19th century. in this paper, i introduce tenney’s papers’ project from 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: nien lin xie (2018). partnering with special collections in promoting digital humanities: papers of charles daniel tenney (丁家立档案) at dartmouth. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china. xie / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 104 the initial discovery to its digitization and transcription, online publication, and to a further collaborative project of translation and scholarship that finally led to the making of the book ding jiali dang an = the papers of charles daniel tenney (丁家立档案). i also explain how we integrated the resource with classroom teaching and standardized it as a paper assignment for a history class at dartmouth, “history of modern china since 1800” taught by professor pamela crossley in the history department. this instance demonstrates that by exploring hidden treasures at special collections and making them available to classrooms and the wider world, we can increase the value and extend the impact of rare resources, “using the past to serve the present” as a chinese saying goes. we can also create new knowledge and scholarship by adding new contents through publication. i would further argue that librarians can better serve our academic institutions by being research partners rather than merely being content providers. charles daniel tenney and his papers nestled in the picturesque new england town of hanover where dartmouth college is situated, rauner specials collections library has been a treasure house of extraordinary rare books, manuscripts and archival materials. it houses the first of edition of the book of mormon, william shakespeare’s first folio, the original version of dickens’ david copperfield, the robert frost papers, one of the largest and most important collections of robert frost works and collection of george washington’s papers, just to name a few. one largely unknown item in the collection is the first edition of quotations from chairman mao tse-tung published in 1964 in two volumes, one for the cadres and one for the rank and files. the head of rauner library, jay satterfield, once said that he bought the little red book for dartmouth students to gain a glimpse to the most sold book in the world. to best assist campus teachings, rauner library is equipped with classrooms, scanners and cameras. professors and students have direct access to all the materials which they can touch, flip through and examine with bare hands. i have personally taught classes there using books and artifacts in the collection. among rauner library’s treasured items is, one particularly interesting folder, the papers of charles daniel tenney. graduated from dartmouth in 1878, tenney went to china as a missionary in 1882, and moved to tianjin after three years to focus on elite education. in 1886, tenney organized the anglo-chinese school, and shortly after, his insight in modern education caught the attention of viceroy li hongzhang, the most powerful man in china at the time. li invited him to be a tutor for his own children at home. in 1895, tenney was appointed by sheng xuanhuai, li hongzhang’s chief economic deputy and the minister of transportation of the qing dynasty, to be the president of beiyang university, the first comprehensive western style university in china and the predecessor of tianjin university. he held that position for eleven years. education at beiyang university was interrupted as a result of the boxer rebellion of 1900, and tianjin was occupied by foreign troops and a provisional government for the district was set up. from 1900 to 1902, tenney served as chinese secretary of the tianjin provisional government. in 1902 tenney made a trip to berlin to take up with the german government the question of compensation for the incorporation in the german concession at tientsin (tianjin) of the original site of peiyang (beiyang) university. he was successful in obtaining an indemnity for the xie / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 105 seized property, thereby enabling the university to erect new buildings at hsiku in the north suburbs. (“dartmouth college library guide”, n.d.) in 1906 dr. tenney retired as president of peiyang (beiyang) university and was appointed director of chinese government students in the united states, in which capacity he remained until 1908, making his headquarters at cambridge, massachusetts. he brought with him to the united states for further study about thirty members of the senior class of peiyang (beiyang) university. on march 2, 1907 tenney returned to dartmouth as the director of chinese government students. he had trained over fifty percent of the more than one hundred chinese students who had enrolled in graduate programs at ivy league institutions and mit between 1901 and 1907. many notable alumni from his university eventually took leading positions in various fields in china and played important roles in modern chinese history. (“dartmouth college library guide”, n.d.) tenney’s papers contain seven essays and a speech, consisting of partially typed texts and a partially handwritten manuscript. the essays are believed to be written between 1907 to 1925, after his career as the president of beiyang university. biographical in nature, they touch on china’s educational reform, cultural values, religious history, the republic of china, the modernization of chinese language, and viceroy li hongzhang. the folder also includes tenney's english translation of two kaifeng temple stones, as well as a chapter on kaifeng synagogue and kaifeng jews community. it is worth mentioning that kaifeng synagogue in the city of kaifeng in henan province was the home of the only jewish synagogue in china before it was burned down in 1860s. tenney’s vivid travel account to the site and his detailed description of the two stele monuments are valuable first-hand eyewitness to the history of jewish community in kaifeng. all in all, the papers were so eloquently written that they do not only acutely reflect tenney’s keen interests in china affairs, but also reveal his passion and longing to china’s success. the digitization project the papers first came to professor crossley’s attention when a visiting researcher from princeton university came to dartmouth to use them. later, she introduced them to niu guanjie, a history professor from renmin university of china and a visiting scholar at dartmouth in 2007, whose research interest was in us-china relations in late 19th century. in 2010, the year after i became the east asian librarian at dartmouth, i began to think how wonderful it would be to have the papers digitally available as online primary sources, accessible to classrooms on campus and all. my recognition was partly in response to the library call to propose digitization projects at that moment and partly a result of conversations with professor crossley. by then, tenney’s papers had been lying at rauner library for over 70 years. in the spring of 2012, i proposed to the library administration to have the papers digitized. the immediate driving force at the time was to have them published on the college website for crossley’s history class in the fall term. the proposal was accepted almost instantly, and a project team was formed. some torn pages were repaired by the preservation department; the papers were scanned by the digital production team and converted to machine-readable text using optical character recognition. tei markup was applied in the cataloging department, encoding the texts and making them keyword-searchable. tei stands for text encoding initiative, which develops and maintains a standard for the representation of texts in digital form (https://tei-c.org). in october https://tei-c.org/ xie / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 106 2012, the papers came alive as an open access online resource, just in time for the class. since then, they have become a standard class paper assignment. professor crossley requires her students to use the papers as the basis of a research exercise, exploring topics as various as the family attitudes of li hongzhang, the origins of the modern transliteration system for chinese, and the jewish monuments in kaifeng. in evaluating the project, crossley expressed the importance of the online access of the original materials for students in historical research and in understanding the period of china from 1882 to 1920, a critical historical moment in chinese history. (crossley, 2013) inspired by the compelling richness of the papers, my colleague at binghamton university, julie wang and i explored the possibility of further scholarship with tenney’s project. we asked ourselves: wouldn’t a translation into chinese be useful to scholars of history at tianjin university? to those who can only read chinese? wouldn’t further research be meaningful to this scarcely studied yet influential historical figure in contemporary chinese education? in 2013, at the annual meeting of the society of chinese studies librarians, julie and i presented tenney’s project. the head of guangxi normal university press, he linxia, approached us to express his interest in publishing a translated volume accompanied by scans of the original documents. ding ye, our colleague from georgetown university, agreed to join us in the translation. we invited professor crossley to write an essay “charles tenney’s remnants of a foreign life in china” which served as the introduction of the book. we incorporated an address that tenney delivered to dartmouth students in 1907: “educational reform in china”. we added a chronology and a bibliography of tenney that julie wang compiled. we also included an academic article by professor niu guanjie. our book was published in 2015. conclusion based upon my experience of the tenney’s papers project, i offer the following in closing: 1. develop projects aligned with libraries’ strategic planning. as librarianship embraces rapid transformation and development with new modes of teaching, researching and publishing, it is central to librarians to stay adaptive and focused to adjust to ebb and flow. by following this principle, one can obtain a library administration’s support, which is the first step towards any successful projects. when i became the east asian librarian nine years ago, my primary responsibility was still largely based on physical collection, although it was already shifting towards licensed electronic resources. we then evolved into the era of internet when vast amount of information became easily available with everything connected by network. as digital humanities gradually gained momentum, we have embarked on projects of digitization, open access publishing and cross border collaborations while advancing into computerized data manipulation. 2. collaboration, collaboration and collaboration. as many east asian librarians in american academic institutions are solo librarians responsible for chinese, japanese and korean collections, it is imperative to keep the team work spirit alive. in tenney’s papers project, for content, i had the moral and intellectual support from our faculty on campus and librarian colleagues from other institutions; for technological support, a steady work flow xie / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 107 between preservation, cataloging, digital production team and rauner special collections library enabled a smooth advancement from stage to stage; for the publication, the book would not have come out in time to be used for crossley’s history class had it not been to the diligent, excellent proof reading and editing skills demonstrated by our editor at guangxi normal university press. 3. dare to enter uncharted waters. the expansion of digital technology in academic libraries lead to exploration of innovative ideas and new design possibilities unknown before. by actively engaging in these explorations, librarians can stretch their imagination, develop their potentials and create collections of originality that combines ideas with technology. since the completion of the tenney’s project, i have undertaken a new collection on the “up to the mountains and down to the countryside movement” in the 60s and 70s. so far, i have collected over 1,500 pages of diaries, manuscripts, photos and artifacts for the library. at the same time, we have also conducted over twenty hours of oral history video recordings. i envision that the library will produce a multifaceted online resource that incorporates an image collection, an interactive searchable text collection, and an oral history video collection, all presented on a single platform. although dartmouth college library hasn’t yet experimented with a production of this nature, the initial scanning and metadata of the materials have been completed and related departments have shown an increased curiosity and interest in working on this ongoing project towards our goal. moving forward, opportunities for digital humanities are abundant with positions of digital humanities librarians and digital humanities centers created at many institutions accompanied by new tools and technologies. librarians will continue to play a key role in the future development. we will work collaboratively to increase our specialized digital collections, promote scholarly online publication, create projects of web archiving on topics of common interest, engage in text mining and analytics to assist scholars, and we will further explore for the best model of digital humanities. references crossley, p. k. personal correspondence, december 18, 2013. dartmouth college library guide to the papers of charles d. tenney, circa 1919 – 1986. retrieved april 23, 2018, from http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/ms794_fullguide.html about the author nien lin xie is the librarian for east asian studies at dartmouth college library. http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/ms794_fullguide.html 7--133-nien lin l. xierevised (003)-july18-2019-final.title 7--133-nien lin l. xierevised (003)-july18-2019-final_1 microsoft word ijol-6-2-5-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org how is folio different from its predecessors? tiewei liu abstract: folio stands for the future of libraries is open and is a future-oriented library service platform. enlightened by the results of the 2021 international survey of library automation, the author shared thoughts on how folio meets librarians’ expectations, why it is time to get involved in the folio project and what challenges folio is facing at the current development stage. to cite this article: liu, t. (2021). how is folio different from its predecessors? international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 40-48. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.207 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 40-48. issn: 2474-3542 how is folio different from its predecessors? tiewei liu, folio project, seattle, wa, usa abstract folio stands for the future of libraries is open and is a future-oriented library service platform. enlightened by the results of the 2021 international survey of library automation, the author shared thoughts on how folio meets librarians’ expectations, why it is time to get involved in the folio project and what challenges folio is facing at the current development stage. keywords: folio, library service platform (lsp), microservices, opportunities, challenges libraries are transitioning from their traditional integrated systems to the next generation of library service platforms. the comments collected from the 2021 survey of library automation that was conducted by marshall breeding, the well-known library technologist and analyst, show that librarians and system administrators have the following concerns/complaints about their legacy systems and/or the new systems they are moving or have moved to (breeding, 2021): ● the system or platform is over complicated. the workflow is not user-friendly. there are steep and long learning curves before library staff can use it. ● problems with upgrades. some systems require frequent and mandatory updates. ● frequently introduce features that are half-baked and have errors. library staff have to spend much time reporting issues. ● problems with results relevance and accuracy. ● lack of features, for example, no integration with interlibrary loan, no advanced system to manage requests of print and e-resources and more. ● lack of flexibility. need work in the realm of customization and configuration. ● support is not consistent. library staff don’t always get timely responses from service providers. quality of the support is not stable, depending on how experienced the supporting staff is. conflict information might be received. if a third party is involved in the communications, finger pointing happens sometimes. ● confusing & inconsistent terminology in the documentation and software itself. 41 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) ● pricey. service providers control prices. from the comments above, we can get a glimpse of librarians’ expectations to the ideal library system or platform: ● simple and easy to use ● flexibility in implementation, upgrade, customization and configuration ● full, stable and reliable functionality ● consistent, responsive and accountable support ● low cost enlightened by the survey results, the author will discuss how folio is fulfilling librarians’ needs, why it is a good time to get involved in the folio project and what challenges folio is facing at its current development stage. what is folio? folio stands for “the future of libraries is open.” it is a library services platform, a software development project and a community: ● as an open source library service platform (lsp), folio is built on the microservices architecture and features multi-tenant support, cloud storage, web-based ui, loosely coupled apps, and one platform for print, electronic and digital resources. the folio lsp is open-ended and can be used on pcs, tablets, ipads, and mobile devices. so far over 40 libraries and library consortia are live with folio lsp and more plan to follow. in fact, the folio lsp has become one of the most competitive library service systems/platforms. the 2021 international survey of library automation shows that “awareness of the folio library services platform continues to increase with 88 libraries mentioning it among their migration candidates.”(breeding, 2021) folio has become the most competitive product to alma, which was on the candidates list of 104 libraries. ● as a software development project, folio started in 2016 by the initial partners ebsco information services, open library environment (ole) and index data. now it is a single-member limited liability company (smllc), a subsidiary of the non-profit organization open library foundation (olf). folio is a creative and collaborative effort to deliver a new library services platform to transform library technology. the development is agile, with scrum teams consisting of scrum masters, pos and developers. the project moves forward along the roadmap and under careful capacity planning, which is based on multiple factors, such as feature rankings, feature/bug/tech debt balances, etc. it uses some common practices and utilities of software lifecycle, such as ci/cd pipeline, automated test suites, standards around tooling, code coverage expectations, deployment patterns, and established environments. 42 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) ● as a community, folio boasted its ability to build friendly relationships among all participating institutions and individuals. now there are over 30 academic libraries (stanford university libraries, cornell university libraries, etc.) and public libraries (shanghai library, etc.) as well as some well-known companies in the folio community. the launch of membership mechanism and the change of its governance model in 2021 substantially turned folio to an open and inclusive community that is managed and built by all the member institutions, whether libraries or companies, and regardless of their sizes, locations and budgets. how does folio meet libraries needs? as a future-oriented product, folio is supposed to meet librarians’ expectations for the next generation of smart library service platforms. “folio’s platform is built on the idea that library management software should be flexible, modular, extensible, modern, and affordable, and it’s gathered a number of partners and contributors to help make that vision a reality.” (watkins, 2018) librarians are deeply involved in the entire development lifecycle of folio, which guarantees their needs are fully addressed and the workflows are simple and friendly to users. the folio project brings together professionals from various libraries and service providers so that professionals work together to find the best solution to meet libraries’ needs. product development is based on the actual needs of library staff and their patrons. users’ requirements are well expressed, considered and incorporated in the design, development and testing processes through close communications and interactions with library staff. therefore, libraries have better understanding of the functionalities and workflows of the platform, ensuring that the product can not only fulfill their functional and non-functional needs, but also is designed to be easy and friendly to use, greatly lowering the learning curves brought by the system conversion and saving the training cost. folio provides great flexibility in the platform implementation, upgrade, customization and configuration. the folio lsp is built on the microservices architecture. “microservices are small, autonomous services that work together.” (newman, 2015) unlike monolithic systems where codebases are usually large and cohesive, yet difficult to develop, deploy and maintain, microservices-based platforms are loosely coupled, with each service focusing on doing one thing well; and that one thing is usually small enough to keep one service independent from another. services communicate with each other through remote api calls. the isolation of services allows use of different technologies inside each service to achieve better performance. it also allows scaling a particular service and changing a service without affecting other services. with microservices, continuous development, integration and deployment become much easier. scrum teams to do agile development are also easy to form and can have more deliverables. folio products are released regularly, currently three named releases a year. information about all the released modules and apps is fully disclosed. libraries can evaluate whether a certain module/application is ready to use and decide whether to upgrade and upgrade to which version. folio implementers can still rely on service providers to provide support, just as they do if they use other ilss and lsps. besides, they can actively look for solutions with the assistance from the folio community. as an open-source platform, the folio lsp is transparent, which means its technology is no secret to anyone. the open and collaborative folio community has a 43 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) variety of instant communication channels. therefore, folio implementers no longer just passively wait for their designated service providers to provide support when encountering problems, but have more reliable and timely ways to seek help. in the procurement of commercial ilss and lsps, libraries often cannot do much but passively accept package solutions and high quotations proposed by system or platform providers. sometimes libraries have to accept unilateral price increases that the providers asked for after they use the product for a certain period. this problem has become even worse with the increasing merger of system providers in the library industry and the reduction of product choices. as an open source service platform, folio provides affordable solutions for libraries. the platform itself can be used for free, but multiple commercial arrangements are available surrounding it. libraries can deploy and host by themselves, or pay service providers to deploy, support or host for them. in the latter case, service providers can provide one or more services on their own or collaboratively. as multiple companies will provide the same kind of services, libraries can compare different options and have more say in price negotiations. folio is in the process of fast development. because of the above reasons, we can reasonably anticipate that the folio lsp can avoid some inevitable problems traditional ilss and lsps have and the business models surrounding them. however, it might be too early to say that the folio lsp is mature enough to include all the functions libraries need and all its features work perfectly. in order to build it into an automated service platform with full functionality and high performance that can meet all librarians’ expectations, more libraries and companies need to more widely and deeply get involved in the project and collaborate with each other. why should we get involved? it is time to get involved because the folio project is just beginning its expansion to the next level of lsp services and functionality. many changes are happening in the folio project. institutions and individuals all have chances to contribute and shape the future folio. a. folio has been exploring better ways to build an open community. 2021 is of great significance to the development of the folio project. membership mechanism was officially launched. individual institutions must sign a memorandum of understanding (mou) with the open library foundation (olf), the non-profit organization managing the folio project, and commit contributions (monetary or human resources) in order to become a member of the folio community. though the community meetings and communication channels remain open to all institutions and individuals, only member institutions will have votes in the decision-making bodies of the folio community. here is the balance of long-term goals and short-term benefits. folio is undoubtedly at the stage of fast expanding. capital, manpower and market are all indispensable to its success. the implementation of membership actually created an opportunity for more institutions to make substantial contributions to the project and escalate their involvement to a new level because folio will no longer be sponsored by the few founding partners, rather move toward a real open 44 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) community that anyone can participate in and a real open source project built by all. solid statistics are not available yet to state how the membership will impact the market and if it will reduce participants’ desire to join as the new mechanism just started a couple of months ago. however, we can reasonably expect that stable funding and manpower will bring confidence as well as productivity. this optimistic expectation is well supported by at least three facts that happened since the membership model started: 1) the number of libraries adopting folio and announcing plans to adopt folio, and companies signing the mous has increased; 2) the august 2021 release is more encouraging compared with the may 2021 release. statistics showed significant increases in test cases and passing rate as well as decrease in defects identified in the integration environment used for final acceptance and by the community volunteers; and 3) folio is getting more attention from the world as several new regional interest groups were formed on the wiki run by the folio community. a. substantial changes happened in the governance model of the folio community. the governance model of the folio community was changed and the decision-making bodies were reorganized to be more representative and democratic in 2021. before the restructuring, the stakeholders meeting, consisting of representatives from the original partners of the folio project, was deemed to be the highest decision-making body of the folio community. the product council (pc) and the technical council (tc) both reported to it, although respectively they routinely made decisions for productand technology-related issues on their own authority. members of stakeholders meeting, pc and tc were all designated from the original partners of the folio project, that is, ebsco, index data and the open library environment (ole) libraries. in the new community structure, however, the stakeholders meeting has been replaced by a new body called the community council (cc). the cc (9-15 seats), pc (maximum 11 seats) and tc (maximum 11 seats) members are now elected by all the individuals who registered on the formal communication tools slack, jira and wiki. only member institutions can nominate candidates. and each member institution can only have one representative in each council. this new model is obviously more open and inclusive to libraries and companies that didn’t have a chance to join in the folio project when it started in 2016. and this model proved to be welcoming in the community judging from the active participation of member institutions in the nominations of candidates and the fact that all the seats of the three councils were filled to their caps. each council works in the scope of its responsibilities and makes ultimate decisions within that scope. the community council fosters a healthy and productive community ecosystem of sustainable collaboration for the folio project. the product council maintains the folio feature roadmap to reflect the best interests of librarians and users and to work with the development teams to deliver the roadmap as efficiently as possible. the technical council maintains the community’s technical policies, best practices, infrastructure, technology roadmap, and the operational health of the folio project. the tc also tracks and reports technical debt and facilitates architectural decisions as needed by the community. though there are no explicit reporting relationships between the cc, pc and tc, smooth communications and close collaborations are well established by sending liaisons from one council to another/the other two. 45 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) b. folio promotes the idea of symbiosis and mutual prosperity to maximize win-win achievements. folio brings together professionals from libraries and service providers, creates a driving force for innovation, and creates a friendly environment that considers the interests of all participants. participants of the folio project not only get what they need, but also contribute to the overall progress of the library and information industry. through close cooperation and supporting each other with their own strengths, libraries get products that meet their needs, and service providers turn the golden rule of “for the market” into reality. the pluggable mode of microservices brings great flexibility to users. the overall needs of users are fragmented into multiple specific needs. instead of accepting the entire solution from a single system/service provider as they did before, libraries can now choose one provider for one particular service and another provider for another need. library service providers can also formulate different product development strategies and form their own unique services for different user groups and their needs. in addition, folio has greatly improved the relationship between service providers, turning it from competitive to collaborative and complementary. scrum teams are much easier to form, allowing companies to collaborate on the development of common components for the platform, which elevates the overall quality of folio lsp. this undoubtedly will benefit everyone working on the folio project and using the product. the app store model, which is emerging in community discussions, provides an opportunity and an incentive to innovate through the development of extended apps. folio not only promotes the collaboration between its participating institutions, but the platform itself also forms a good symbiotic relationship with other library products. the integration of the folio platform with discovery tools, data platforms and ill systems well demonstrates its ability to develop side-by-side with other products. the technical council's efforts to formulate procedures and criteria for accepting external applications and to define the minimal platform well reflect folio’s adherence to the idea of openness and inclusiveness. c. participants of the folio project will contribute to the promotion and application of new technologies. participants of the folio project will have the opportunity to be involved in the software development lifecycle and apply the new technologies in their own services. the folio platform is built around a microservices architecture. key parts of the platform are: okapi, a proxying api gateway on the server-side; the stripes framework used to provide a single page ui application in the browser. behind okapi, on the server, are the individual microservices in the form of modules. these server-side modules are paired with browser ui modules, which together form specialized applications (or “apps”). apps may also include edge modules which allow external systems to integrate into folio (e.g. rtac, oai-pmh). (see figure 1) unlike traditional integrated library systems which are based-on n-tiered architectures (ui layer, service layer, data layer), folio’s microservices design allows for vertical slices of functionality through apps which can be added, replaced with alternatives, or removed altogether. 46 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) figure 1. edge api (s) (provided by vince bareau, folio architect) the folio lsp includes the folio platform as well as a suite of apps that are identified to form a consistent solution to everyday tasks of running a library and are developed by the folio core teams and external teams. the technical council is working on the value statement and the list of criteria that will allow external code contributions to the folio lsp. the extended apps are provided by folio partners. it’s generally encouraged that all folio apps follow the common set of usability and look/feel guidelines. (see figure 2) figure 2. folio apps (provided by vince bareau, folio architect) folio embraces an agile development process, specifically scrum. folio’s scrum teams include scrum master, po and developers. currently there are about twenty teams in the folio project. each team is responsible for a couple of functional areas in library services. platform wide issues and core functions of the folio lsp are handled by specific teams. tasks are prioritized for development based on a ranking system focusing on features. teams use thin thread and try to do one thing well with the development of each feature. a best practice adopted in the project is to align the boundary of each service with the business boundary so that it’s obvious to both developers and users what each service does. the microservices model is very welcoming in the it industry. in 2021, the ibm market development & insights conducted a survey with more than 1,200 developers, developer 47 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) executives and it executives currently using a microservices approach, as well as potential users who are exploring or planning to adopt microservices. the results of the survey show that the majority of the survey takers “are excited about the potential of increasing the use of microservices for their organizations” and “believe that the trend will continue”.(ibm corporation, 2021) the it industry’s strong confidence and positive attitude towards microservices will undoubtedly lead to technological innovation and related arrangements promoting this technology, which will also increase people’s awareness and strengthen their confidence in microservice-based products. it will be exciting for institutions and individuals to contribute to this historical process by joining the effort of developing and implementing the folio platform. what are the challenges? folio faces challenges. the biggest concern of libraries is the lack of sysops professionals who understand microservices-related technologies and can deploy and operate folio. however, due to its flexibility and openness to technologies, microservices are supposed to be easily mastered by developers. the aforementioned ibm survey shows that the talent gap also exists in it companies. but the survey takers don’t think it an insurmountable obstacle. on the contrary, they believe that this gap provides an opportunity to attract talents. we can reasonably expect that, driven by employment opportunities, microservices talents will keep emerging (ibm corporation, 2021). even though the majority of libraries don’t have microservices expertise internally, they have multiple choices to adopt a microservices based library service platform like folio. depending on the funding situations, libraries may choose to recruit full-time or part-time system administrators with microservice expertise or train current staff to grow into this role. small libraries with limited budgets might choose to share technical resources through the consortia they participate in. alternatively, libraries may use commercial services. in this case, multiple service models can be arranged and multiple service providers are available to choose from. the folio is not perfect and is still developing. more work is needed to develop missing functions and to improve existing functions to achieve higher performance and stability. some other topics in hot discussion in the folio community include better defining module boundaries and reducing dependencies; work on documentation to provide consistent and complete documents; automation of testing processes and more. contribution of ideas and resources and confidence in folio’s ability to deliver value are both essential in the process of solving these problems. involvement also breeds confidence as the folio lsp is becoming more functional and more efficient with each release. choosing folio is based on rational analysis and judgment. it is a long process to invest in technology and human resources with an eye to the future. folio uses the apache license, version 2.0 in its collaborative and open-source software development. according to the terms of the license, anyone can use, modify and distribute (even for commercial use) the code from the folio project without concern for royalties provided that proper notices are given as required by the license. such a tolerant rule makes the promotion of folio easier, but also brings convenience to fork code. how to support implementations with a lot of local development and make locally developed features usable to other folio implementers? this is a big challenge to both the folio community and the implementers. the participants in the folio community vary in many aspects such as locations, cultures, and needs. it usually takes a relatively long time to make decisions because all the opinions need to be fully expressed. at the same time, the community requires more development capabilities 48 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(2) (coders, pos, sysops, devops, pms, etc.) as the scope of the folio project becomes bigger and bigger. the huge variety in demands and the limited development capacity make the prioritized development tasks unable to meet the urgent needs of each member library. a good example is that libraries in china prefer artificial intelligence, while their peers in europe and america have privacy and/or other concerns about the use of ai applications. in summary, folio has the potential to become one of the dominant library systems and platforms in the near future. though the folio lsp is not a perfect product yet, the benefits of adopting it are worth the time, effort and investment. it’s the best time to join the folio community and get involved in the project because we will all play a role in shaping the next generation of the leading library service platform. references breeding, m. (2021, march 31). library perceptions 2021: results of the 14th international survey of library automation. library technology guides. https://librarytechnology.org/perceptions/2020/ ibm corporation. (2021). microservices in the enterprise, 2021 real benefits, worth the challenges: how organizations are finding speed, agility and resiliency through microservices, results from a survey conducted by ibm market development & insights. https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/oqg4ajam newman, s. (2015). building microservices. o'reilly. watkins, d. (2018, june 27). why libraries need to get with apps and apis. opensource.com. https://opensource.com/article/18/6/folio about the author tiewei liu is the product owner of folio china. she had been a digital repository, cataloging and metadata, acquisition and public services librarian at several academic libraries in the u.s. and in china before she joined the folio project. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org bibliotherapy in the wilderness: nla and information services for mental health since 1962 juliet c. alex-nmecha, and abdurrahman onifade abstract: this study investigated how lis professionals and health practitioners have adopted bibliotherapy and relevant information services to enhance mental health issues in nigeria since 1962 to date. the study adopted a narrative research design of qualitative methodology. semi-structured interviews using audio recordings and personal observations/interactions by the researchers were the instruments for data collection. the researchers collected data from three purposively selected academics whose areas of expertise cut across library and information science and psychiatry. the data collected were presented in a narrative form, with insertion of verbatim transcriptions where nuanced expressions were identified. the findings from the study revealed that bibliotherapy is used by clinical psychologists in neuropsychiatric hospitals in nigeria; however, lis professionals do not have the knowledge and adequate skills to practise bibliotherapy. the study recommends that the time is ripe for nla to pragmatically implement recommendations that the lis curricula in nigerian library schools be diversified and expanded to incorporate valuable realms like bibliotherapy. to cite this article: alex-nmecha, j. c. and onifade, a. (2023). bibliotherapy in the wilderness: nla and information services for mental health since 1962. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 66-81. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.253 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 66-81 issn: 2474-3542 bibliotherapy in the wilderness: nla and information services for mental health since 1962 juliet c. alex-nmecha, university of port harcourt, nigeria abdurrahman onifade, university of ibadan, nigeria abstract this study investigated how lis professionals and health practitioners have adopted bibliotherapy and relevant information services to enhance mental health issues in nigeria since 1962 to date. the study adopted a narrative research design of qualitative methodology. semi-structured interviews using audio recordings and personal observations/interactions by the researchers were the instruments for data collection. the researchers collected data from three purposively selected academics whose areas of expertise cut across library and information science and psychiatry. the data collected were presented in a narrative form, with insertion of verbatim transcriptions where nuanced expressions were identified. the findings from the study revealed that bibliotherapy is used by clinical psychologists in neuropsychiatric hospitals in nigeria; however, lis professionals do not have the knowledge and adequate skills to practise bibliotherapy. the study recommends that the time is ripe for nla to pragmatically implement recommendations that the lis curricula in nigerian library schools be diversified and expanded to incorporate valuable realms like bibliotherapy. keywords: bibliotherapy, depression, suicide, mental health, nla, nla@60 introduction bibliotherapy as a therapeutic measure and its adoption by librarian and information professionals in neuropsychiatric hospitals is the focus of the study. although there are various definitions of the bibliotherapy, this study conceives bibliotherapy as the careful selection and proficient application of books and print information resources for the treatment of mental health problems. the study is specifically focused on how the collaboration between lis professionals and health practitioners or the lack of it has between promoted and/or hindered the development and adoption of bibliotherapy since the establishment of the nigerian library association (nla) in 1962. statement of the problem despite the rising challenges of mental health in nigeria, adequate attention has not been given to the application of bibliotherapy in nigeria. although there are libraries in most of the nation’s alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 67 neuropsychiatric hospitals, little is known about their use of bibliotherapeutic services and programmes to tackle mental health problems. more so, there appears to be lack of skilled personnel within the field of library and information science to engage in bibliotherapy; hence, there are no clearly defined programmes or services dedicated to it in mental health facilities in nigeria. additionally, there is a deep concern about the overall low ratio of mental health practitioners and specialists to the increasing population in the country, which according to wada et al. (2021) is put at 700,000 per psychiatrist. therefore, this study set to investigate whether bibliotherapy is used as a therapy in neuropsychiatric hospitals, and what has been the impact of lis professionals and mental health practitioners in its adoption in these mental health facilities. research questions 1. what is the extent of bibliotherapeutic services in neuropsychiatric hospitals in nigeria since 1962? 2. what's the impact of bibliotherapeutic services on mental health in nigeria? 3. what are the challenges faced in the provision of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria? literature review overview of bibliotherapy the term bibliotherapy is derived from two greek words: biblio meaning book and therapy meaning healing, remedy, treatment or cure. aiex (1996) cited in adebayo (2017) defined bibliotherapy as a method deployed to help individuals surmount negative emotions associated with a real-life problem, through directed reading about the woes of a third person, followed by individual or group discussion in a non-threatening environment. sometimes referred to as biblioguidance, bibliocounseling, literatherapy, bookmatching or reading therapy, bibliotherapy involves the use of books and other media to facilitate both normal development and treating clinically significant problems. bibliotherapy as a practice in the field of psychology and medicine first made its literature appearance in an article published by samuel carother in the atlantic monthly of 1916. carother described bibliotherapy as the process by which those receiving medical care are taught about their challenges through the use of books. bibliotherapy was further recognized as a form of therapy for the treatment of mental health issues as contained in dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary (1941). the use of this term was further amplified in the 1950s when carolyn shrodes developed a theoretical model based on the preface that people are greatly influenced by the characters they identify with in stories. in 1966, the american library association (ala) recognized bibliotherapy as a practice in librarianship when they issued an official definition of bibliotherapy. in 1978, rhea rubin, a us based librarian, building on the existing expositions on bibliotherapy in her work, using bibliotherapy: a guide to theory and practice, classified bibliotherapy into two categories: developmental (for educational settings) and therapeutic (for mental health settings). as a result of various study on bibliotherapy since the first appearance in 1916, bibliotherapy is employed today by medical practitioners, educators, helping professionals, librarians and parents in treating mental health issues. the versatility and adaptability of bibliotherapy makes it an excellent supplement to self-improvement of all kinds. alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 68 the world health organization (who) (2017) and other international health organizations have made great efforts to curtail the global spread of physical and mental health diseases. huge investments (human and financial) have been spent on research, treatment, awareness campaigns and education of the public to prevent, reduce, manage and eventually eliminate some of the diseases. ilogho et al. (2020) opined that efforts have been expended to manage physical health diseases such as polio, measles, meningitis, chicken pox, malaria, hiv/aids, ebola and very recently, monkey pox. this is also true for mental health diseases like depression and several others which have equally received huge investments and the attention of the international health organizations and agencies. however, the level of awareness and education of the populace on the issue of mental health seems to be low, compared with physical diseases. bibliotherapy and depression according to abilash and jothimani (2019), emotional health problems are not character deficiencies, neither do they mean that an individual is a bad or weak person. rather, they are caused by alteration in brain chemicals and can be triggered by physical stress (such as an illness or injury) or by emotional stress (such as the loss of a loved one). they can also occur due to the presence of a long term (chronic) health problem, such as diabetes, cancer, or chronic pain. for instance, some people feel too anxious only at certain times, while other people feel anxious most of the time. either kind of anxiety can make an individual feel helpless, confused, or worried. sometimes anxiety is a sign of another problem, such as depression or too much stress. furthermore, almanzar et al. (2014) posited that a lot of individuals experience signs and symptoms of depression for the first time unaware of what is happening, while others were aware because they had earlier come across informative and educative literature on depression. thus, lack of awareness about depression could have contributed to the untold hardship and pain of countless individuals, families, societies and countries around the world. consequently, miller, cuthbertson, skidmore and loveridge (2015) submitted that enhanced public awareness and education through provision of health information about depression is a vital strategy for checkmating depression and the associated challenges of depression. ilogho et al. (2020) also opined that people can become more aware and enlightened about their mental health if they are armed with adequate knowledge about depression symptoms, causes and experiences of depressed people through health information materials such as fliers, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, journals, books, social media, blogs, and websites. furthermore, awareness about depression information could prevent the possibility of becoming depressed, especially if it is not genetically inherited. it is on this premise that the who and other health-concerned organizations encourage education campaigns that target the general public to increase awareness of depression, combat stigmatization, discrimination, suicide cases and improve access to health care (dumesnil and verger, 2009). bibliotherapy, which is the use of books within curative context has been used as a treatment method by professionals to address various emotional and mental health challenges such as depression, behavioural issues, chemical dependency, chronic illness, homelessness, selfdestructive behaviours, etc. (pehrsson and mcmillen, 2005). rubin (1978) classified bibliotherapy into two types, which are: clinical bibliotherapy (utilized by mental health practitioners to address emotional-behavioural problems and meet therapeutic goals) and developmental bibliotherapy (employed by educators, librarians and healthcare workers to facilitate transitions with basically healthy individuals). this means that bibliotherapy does not only serve as a corrective measure, it alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 69 also serves as a preventive measure to curb the proliferation of emotional and mental instability in the society. pehrsson and mcmillen (2007) submitted that the advantages of bibliotherapy include reduction of negative emotions and symptoms with their replacement by more positive behaviours and feelings, promoting problem solving, increasing compassion, developing empathetic understanding and enhancing self-awareness. meanwhile, librarians and information science (lis) professionals are in a unique position to magnify the effects of bibliotherapy due to the valuable resources they possess, manage, and their relationship with the community. hence, by sourcing, organising and recommending appropriate information sources required for effective bibliotherapy sessions, lis professionals have key roles to play in mental health issues especially through reading services. abilash and jothimani (2019) opined that reading has been found to help people understand the issues they are experiencing, amplify the effects of other treatment, normalize experiences with mental health concerns and care, and offer hope for positive change. this means that librarians as professionals must be conversant with the type of information services and materials needed for therapeutic purpose. aramide (2020) submitted that bibliotherapy for an individual battling with major life tasks may be within the scope of librarians to perform skillfully. the author further noted that in serving the emotionally ill or deviant, it is very essential that the team approach include physician, psychiatrist, and counselor with the school or hospital librarian. as a result of this, bibliotherapy has been applied successfully in a variety of settings to many kinds of psychological problems. for example, practitioners have reported successful use of bibliotherapy in treating eating disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, agoraphobia, alcohol and substance abuse, and stressrelated physical disorders (fitzgerald, 2017). furthermore, kar (2012) opined that there is ample evidence that implies that bibliotherapy is instrumental in the management of many psychiatric upsets, even though there is need for further validation. most professionals agreed that reading is a productive activity that can promote good mental health, as reading has been shown to increase empathy, sharpen the mind, and impact behaviour (goodtherapy.org, 2017). for instance, libraries in the united states have a programmesme known as books on prescription, where reading materials targeting specific mental health needs prescribed by mental health professionals are acquired by the libraries and displayed on their websites as reading lists. the carnegie library of pittsburg is well known for this service, for example. they also have books for children, which cover topics like adoption, self-esteem, grief, divorce, etc. listed on their website (abilash and jothilani, 2019). countries like england, germany, austria, switzerland and croatia have also reportedly embraced the use of bibliotherapy, along with other forms of therapies in the practice of clinical psychiatry (blechinger and klosinki, 2011). kar (2012) also noted that the practice of bibliotherapy has been found to be widespread in child and adolescent psychiatry in german and austrian hospitals. however, the study reported that bibliotherapy was used interchangeably with expressive writing, which is another form of therapy. bibliotherapy in nigeria nigeria, being classified among developing countries is not left out in the practice of bibliotherapy. studies have established the use of bibliotherapy for the treatment of emotional and mental health concerns, especially among children and adolescents (oyewusi, nicolau, aramide and messakh, 2019). while the developmental bibliotherapy is used by school librarians to help their students maintain a good state of mental health, the clinical bibliotherapy is being used by healthcare alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 70 personnel and medical librarians to correct or optimize a poor or damaged mental health status. this is evident in the submission of adeyeye and oyewusi (2017) who found clinical bibliotherapy to be useful in the rehabilitation process of children and adolescents in correctional homes in lagos, nigeria. agbetuyi, adeleye and omolade (2022) also carried out a study on the use of bibliotherapy for rehabilitation of drug addicts in neuropsychiatric hospitals in southwest nigeria. the study found that the hospitals had different methods of bibliotherapy used for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, depending on the severity or uniqueness of the case. these methods were: creative bibliotherapy, self-help bibliotherapy and books on prescription method. this establishes the presence of bibliotherapy as a form of treatment in nigerian neuropsychiatric hospitals, although the extent of its use is yet to be ascertained. okeke, eze, eze and asogwa (2017) also carried out a study on the status of medical library resources and services in teaching hospitals in enugu state, nigeria. the study found that even though bibliotherapy services were available at the hospitals, the standard at which it was being provided was very low, thus reducing the willingness and enthusiasm of patients to accept the use of bibliotherapy for treatment. this indicates that even though bibliotherapy is not a strange phenomenon in nigerian neuropsychiatric hospitals, the extent to which it is practised is not as high as expected. impact of bibliotherapy on mental health the inclusion of bibliotherapy among various methods of enhancing mental health among citizens suggests that it has a significant level of impact on mental health. scholars have found bibliotherapy to influence mental health positively in various ways. brenes, mcgall, williamson and stanley (2010) noted that bibliotherapy has been used for the treatment of mental issues like late-life depression, phobia and other anxiety disorders. this has helped the patients to become more optimistic and positively disposed towards life, thus increasing their productivity. also, bibliotherapy has proven to be more effective for clinically significant emotional disorders than waiting list or no treatment conditions (den boer, wiersma and van den bosch, 2004). mcphersonleitz (2018) opined that the impact of bibliotherapy on mental health can be considered beneficial in that: it gives the patients hope by revealing how people with similar problem have been able to manage it successfully; helps the patients vocalize their feelings to people who can be of help to them; helps them become more aware of the problem-solving process; makes them connect with others and helps them to develop interests outside of themselves. in nigeria, for instance, aramide (2020) posited that the impact of bibliotherapy on mental health of children and adolescents is worthy of note. the author found that bibliotherapy influences cognitive and affective changes which occur in the reader that enables him or her to fully or partially satisfy an unfulfilled need. it was also found that bibliotherapy helps young people to cope with a multitude of problems and helps in the process of rebuilding thought structure. this can be achieved by memorizing and meditating upon important passages in the books read. goleman (2006) cited in adegun and fasina (2018) also submitted that the practice of bibliotherapy results in improved mental state of individuals by increasing their level of emotional intelligence, which increases their ability to persist in frustrating situations, enables them to manage impulses, helps them to control their mood, and increases their self-motivation, optimism and empathy level. these submissions agree with the findings of songprakun and mccann (2012) alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 71 that bibliotherapy can be used by community and mental health nurses and other clinicians to reduce psychological distress and promote recovery in people with moderate depression. handarini et al. (2015) also argued that bibliotherapy is useful for identifying character figures, recognizing various self-related emotions, providing experience through the richness of life experiences, characters, situations, and problems that are present in reading materials. oyewusi, nicolau, aramide and messakh (2019) also submitted that bibliotherapy serves as an alternative treatment or auxiliary therapy that helps to control the stress and anger levels caused by the family and immediate environment. thus, bibliotherapy is used by librarians in nigeria and indonesia to promote mental and physical health which could repress disruptive behaviours among young people, enabling them to live a focused life, not hurting themselves or other people. this submission lends credence to the findings of apodaca and miller (2003) who found that there were some levels of reduction in drinking with participants using bibliotherapy and in cases where drinking was not reduced, other problems were alleviated. this means that bibliotherapy has a soothing effect on the human mind, which helps to douse rising tension and prevent or reduce the demonstration of physical aggression. according to the study of agbetuyi, adeleye and omolade (2022), bibliotherapy was found to be useful for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in neuropsychiatric hospitals. the respondents of the study indicated that bibliotherapy increased their motivation to behave in a more acceptable manner, encouraged them to abstain from addictive substances, altered their orientation about illicit use of drugs, helped them to regulate their emotion and reduced depression. this finding is in tandem with the assertion of okwilagwe and mumboyin (2011) that adolescent behaviours are modified after exposure to reading materials. the finding also corroborates the submission of carrasco (2008) that because bibliotherapy is a non-invasive method of treatment, it reduces resistance, accelerates changes (direction identified through an image that remains in the individual), while contributing to the identification of new responses to similar situations, and promoting patients’ independence. the implication of these findings is that the impact of bibliotherapy on mental health, especially for clinically diagnosed issues cannot be underestimated. librarians and information professionals and the challenges of bibliotherapy even though it has been observed that bibliotherapy is not alien to the librarianship profession and that librarians have a major role to play in the design and implementation of bibliotherapy policies, the existence of certain challenges that militate against the effective delivery of bibliotherapy services by librarians globally cannot be denied or ignored. as a matter of fact, heath et al. (2005) affirmed that even with the multitude of benefits accrued to bibliotherapy, it is not a cure-all and should be used concurrently with other therapy techniques rather than as the sole intervention for people with mental disorders. skinner (2016) noted that bibliotherapy, as useful as it has been found, can be ineffective for people with severe mental health issues, poor reading habit and lack of motivation to followthrough a designed reading programmes. the study found that most patients, especially adolescents lacked the patience to sit down and read the prescribed materials and discuss with the therapists. this can be a challenge to the librarians and even therapists as they have to spend more time than originally planned on one patient, which can affect the attention given to other patients. lewis et al. (2015) also found illiteracy/inability to read to be challenge of bibliotherapy services. alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 72 the authors explained that people who are not literate find it difficult to read or even comprehend the prescribed materials, hence they require that the materials be read to them by librarians, therapists, or family members. however, family members were found to be often unwilling to assist in this process, thereby dumping the whole load on medical personnel and librarians. this makes the task arduous as they have to attend to many patients. jack-ide and ulys (2012) carried out a study on challenges of mental health care services in the niger-delta region of nigeria from the users’ perspective. the study found that most users were not aware of the advantages of such a method called bibliotherapy, hence, they preferred to treat their mentally ill loved ones using other methods which they find expensive or physically stressful. the study also found that most of the patients were unemployed as a result of their medical condition, which makes them depend on family members. the family members, however, affirmed that having to accompany their loved ones for therapy at intervals cost them income and revenue they could have generated from their business. this mindset will definitely result in deliberate skipping of therapy schedules, which elongates the time of treatment. the study also found that cultural values were a barrier to bibliotherapy services. most of the people in the region believe in the traditional method of treating such conditions and do not even wholly trust the medical methods. hence, it did not even make sense to them that a mentally ill individual can be treated using bibliotherapy. similarly, onwubiko (2021) conducted a study on the challenges facing special libraries in nigeria, among which are libraries in neuropsychiatric hospitals. findings of the study revealed that these special libraries faced a lot of challenges that hindered the provision of services to their users. the challenges include: inadequate personnel, inadequate ict facilities, inadequate funding, neglect by management and government, outdated collections and poor maintenance culture. these factors are capable of limiting any organization or department from functioning optimally. since libraries in neuropsychiatric hospitals are classified as special libraries, these factors are most likely to affect the provision of bibliotherapy services to mentally challenged patients. research methodology the study adopted the narrative research design of qualitative methodology. semi-structured interview using audio recordings and personal observations/interactions by the researchers within the hospital environments were the instruments for data collection. the researchers developed an interview guide that was divided into three sections and comprised ten questions in total. the first section of the guide was used to elicit data about ‘bibliotherapic services in neuropsychiatric hospitals;’ the second was to get insights about the ‘impact of bibliotherapic services on mental health;’ and the third focused on the ‘challenges of providing bibliotherapic services for mental health.’ table 1 shows the three sections of the interview guide and the research questions under each section. the data were collected from three academics who were purposively selected and whose areas of expertise are mental health, neuropsychiatry and bibliotherapy in nigeria. the researchers interviewed the respondents separately, one in ibadan and the other two in port harcourt, and physically interacted with the neuropsychiatric hospitals at yaba, lagos state; rumuigbo, port harcourt, river state; and aro, abeokuta, ogun state. however, the researchers’ efforts to interview the provosts and/or librarians of the neuropsychiatric hospitals were futile due to bureaucratic red-tapism that approval from the federal capital territory, abuja, was required before consent can be given for the interviews. meanwhile, two of the interviewees are professors alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 73 with more than three decades of professional experience in their respective fields of professional practice while the third holds a doctorate degree in psychiatry, as shown in table 2. the data were collected through audio-recordings that lasted for about 30 to 40 minutes. table 1 interview guide – bibliotherapy in the wilderness: nla and information services for mental health since 1962 bibliotherapic services in neuropsychiatric hospital 1. what are the various types of therapy adopted in treatment of patients in neuropsychiatric hospital? 2. what is the extent of using bibliotherapy for the treatment of mental health issues since establishment of the nigerian library association (nla) in 1962? 3. have you used bibliotherapy for the mental health treatment of patients? 4. does the hospital (library) have bibliotherapic resources in its collection? 5. a. are there skilled personnel among the staff in the hospital, specifically commissioned to provide bibliotherapic services to patients? b. are librarians and information professionals skilled to provide bibliotherapic services to patients in mental health facilities? 6. what are the techniques for using bibliotherapy for treatment of patients? impact of bibliotherapic services on mental health 7. what have been the dispositions of patients to the bibliotherapic services? 8. what are the impacts of bibliotherapic services on mental health of patients? challenges of providing bibliotherapic services for mental health 9. what are the challenges faced in the provision of bibliotherapic services to patients? 10. what are your recommendations to make the provision of bibliotherapic services to patients more viable in nigeria? the narrative research design has been chosen for this study because bibliotherapy relates to story-telling from texts as a treatment mechanism; and as a qualitative methodology, narrative research helps to elicit and analyze stories in order to understand people, societies, and cultures. also, narrative research design has been used in counseling and psychology with the assumption that mental health healing as a personal matter revolves around unique meanings constructed by people’s everyday lives and can be utilized by other patients to compose and order their life experiences (ntinda, 2018; andrews, squire & tamboukou, 2013; mcmullen and braithwaite, 2013; wolgemuth & agosto, 2019). findings from the data collected were categorized based on alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 74 thematic issues relating to the study and presented in a narrative form, with insertion of verbatim transcriptions in quotes where nuanced expressions have been identified by the researchers. table 2 interviewees’ profiles interviewee cadre areas of expertise location oshiotse andrew okwilagwe professor publishing, bibliotherapy, psycholinguistics, reading, speech writing, etc. ibadan, oyo state, nigeria princewill chukwuemeka stanley professor mental health, neuropsychiatry, depression, etc. port harcourt, rivers state, nigeria michael osika doctor consultancy in psychiatry port harcourt, rivers state, nigeria discussion of findings the findings from the study have been presented based on themes recognized from the research questions and responses to the interview. the key themes developed from the transcription of the interviews include: bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria; techniques and impacts of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria, and challenges of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria. each of these themes is analysed below based on the data transcription of the interviews and the respondents will be referred to by their academic cadre and foremost area of expertise. bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria bibliotherapy has not been extensively explored by lis professionals and mental health practitioners for treating mental health problems in nigeria. lis professionals have lagged behind in providing bibliotherapy for mental health because of what the professor of publishing termed “impatience to understand the phenomenon within the context of information services”. this is evident in the lack of a formal discipline in library schools in nigeria that specializes in bibliotherapy. for instance, since the establishment of a library school at the university of ibadan in 1959, the first library school in west africa, and the establishment of the nigerian library association (nla) in 1962, it took more than five decades before a qualified bibliotherapist was alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 75 produced in library and information science at the same department. according to the professor, this was a problem that persisted because of an attitudinal approach that was characterized by ‘uncertainty’ among lis professionals until the he had the courage of ‘bull-dozing’ his way to have a phd candidate whose study was completed on bibliotherapy in 2010. the researchers agree that the scarcity of bibliotherapy as a programmes or area of specialization in nigeria’s library schools has contributed to the dearth of skilled personnel to provide bibliotherapy for mental health in the country. more so, the phenomenon is seldom considered as a realm that lis professionals should be more involved, especially as an academic discipline that can prepare them for more social responsibilities. meanwhile, there are different types of therapy used for treating mental health, such as surgical therapy, drug therapy, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (cbt). in clinical psychology, the professor of mental health stated that bibliotherapy is considered as part of cbt, which to a large extent is used to treat ‘psychoactive patients with challenges like anxiety, restiveness, phobia, etc.’ specialists in clinical psychology, according to the professor, consider bibliotherapy as a ‘non-biological treatment’ approach that helps in managing behavioural adjustments in patients with mental health challenges. therefore, mental health practitioners use bibliotherapeutic method as part of psychotherapy, using various approaches like ‘psychoanalysis, psycho-education, book counselling’ to model positive behavioural adjustments, especially among patients that have not lost touch with reality. meanwhile, it was revealed that bibliotherapy is practised in neuropsychiatric hospitals selectively and mainly by clinical psychologists. techniques and impacts of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria the techniques used for bibliotherapeutic services in neuropsychiatric hospitals, according to the professor of mental health and psychiatry consultant, include psycho-education, storytelling, counselling, reading and recommending reading materials such as newspapers, picture books, etc. to the patients. the three respondents agreed that ‘reading’ is central to the effective application of bibliotherapeutic services, and that the administration of bibliotherapeutic services may, however, be more effective among patients that can read, if they are not psychotic, and the bibliotherapy sessions are facilitated by professionals skilled in reading. emphasizing this view with comparison based on the literacy levels of nigeria and other developed countries, the professor of publishing disclosed that in advanced countries like the united kingdom and the united states, there are book trolleys moved around in patients’ wards to share books to those interested. whereas in developing countries, the bibliotherapist may need to hold series of sessions with the patients, give them reading materials and discuss the contents read with them to ascertain their level of understanding, feedback mechanisms and recovery stage. however, the situation of the patients determines if the person administering the bibliotherapy session could go close or not; hence, patients that are hyperactive or under severe psychological disorders are usually exempt from bibliotherapy. regardless of the techniques, findings from the study revealed that the impacts of bibliotherapeutic services have been felt by patients, particularly by non-psychotic patients and even psychotic patients that have gradually recovered as a result of medications. the professor of mental health disclosed that based on practical experience, bibliotherapy has helped to calm patients’ nerves as some have overcome anxiety, insomnia and smiled as a result of what they have read in books. also, the patients that have undergone bibliotherapy are in full acceptance of the therapy and some have given ‘motivational interviews’ to help others understand the value of alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 76 bibliotherapy in mental health treatment. this finding is in tandem with the view of agbetuyi, adeleye and omolade (2022) who found that bibliotherapy was useful for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in neuropsychiatric hospitals. additionally, the professor of publishing also noted that reading or listening to the stories of other people’s experiences through bibliotherapy has helped patients to ‘develop hope, regain memory and confidence in themselves, and become more aware about their society’. citing an example, the professor added that a patient while awaiting treatment after being diagnosed at the university college hospital, ibadan, once contested his diagnosis result because of what he read about his ailment while on the hospital bed. the patient currently works as a banker in abuja, the respondent added. according to the professor, to understand the bibliotherapeutic techniques, professionals need to understand that: a bibliotherapist can be likened to a medical doctor and bibliotherapy is just like drugs. bibliotherapists prescribe books (or reading materials) like the medical doctors prescribe drugs because the use of a book can turn a human being into an angel or saint and also turn a person into a beast. it can also turn a human being into a peak achiever and could also demean or reduce the level of achievement. just like a nurse cannot carry out an operation like a medical doctor, librarians are not equipped enough to conduct bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria. these researchers agree with the respondents that bibliotherapy can have significant impacts on the mental health of nigerians; especially in managing post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) of victims of armed robbery, kidnapping, banditry and other insecurity challenges that affect the psyche of the citizens. the finding also aligns with the view of songprakun and mccann (2012) that bibliotherapy is effective for the reduction of psychological distress and can serve as recovery techniques for people with depression. therefore, the impacts of bibliotherapy will be accentuated when more skilled personnel – lis professionals and mental health practitioners are open to the application of bibliotherapy for mental health challenges. challenges of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria despite the invaluable impacts bibliotherapy is expected to bring to mental health practices, lack of awareness and lack of skilled personnel have hindered its use as a popular method of treating and managing mental health challenges in nigeria. the major challenges of bibliotherapeutic services in nigeria identified by the respondents are illiteracy, superstitions and lack of skilled personnel to provide bibliotherapy especially in the field of library and information science. the inability of patients to read has been noted to be a major challenge that hinders the delivery of bibliotherapeutic services, and this confirms the view of lewis et al. (2015) that established that illiteracy is a setback to bibliotherapy. also, the professor of mental health stated that the prevalence of ‘superstitious beliefs’ and the ‘preference for surgical therapy, injections or drugs’ by patients or their relatives has made bibliotherapy not to be recognized as a viable therapeutic method. furthermore, the dearth of skilled clinical psychologists that are versatile in bibliotherapy in the academia is due to the high cost of training, including cost of bibliotherapeutic resources. also, the processes of progression or promotion have dissuaded the few skilled personnel in the system. meanwhile, the consultant noted the lack of partnership between lis professionals and neuropsychiatrists in the application of bibliotherapeutic services as another challenge. lis alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 77 professionals need to complement mental health professionals especially in the selection of reading materials for different patients, also regarded as biblioanalysis. these findings are further supported by the study of senevirathna and lansakara (2022) in sri lanka where they identified lack of awareness on bibliotherapy, its positive outcomes, scarcity of well-trained bibliotherapists, and high cost of training and organizing sessions as major problems to having a better foundation for bibliotherapy system in the country. significantly, the professor of publishing pointed out without being ‘contemptuous’ that trained librarians and information professionals in nigeria do not have the ‘knowledge and skills’ of a bibliotherapist because they are not trained enough to provide bibliotherapeutic services. bibliotherapy involves a ‘gamut of activities’ that require cognitive, technical, social accessibility, book selection/collection development, and communication and reading skills. lis professionals, for example, need to be skilled in understanding biblio-analysis, i.e., how reading materials are good fit to meet the needs of patients and patrons, considering the setting, culture, reasons for publication and publishing processes like the development of manuscript. like a drug that cannot be prescribed to patients anyhow, bibliotherapy also requires the expertise of personnel who can ensure there is no mismatch in the prescription of reading materials and the target audience. the lack of trained bibliotherapist is espoused by mcpherson-leitz (2018) who argued that the effects of bibliotherapy may be hampered by too much focus on superficial issues during discussions, inadequate bibliotherapy sessions, lack of long-term follow-ups, and the limited knowledge in human developmental problems and/or appropriate literature by the facilitator. the researchers believe that having lis professionals that are skilled in bibliotherapy will enhance the efforts to curtail mental health problems in nigeria, and facilitate the fulfilment of the second law of library science as propounded by s. r. ranganathan that: every reader, his or her book. conclusion and recommendations this study has established that bibliotherapy is a wild area that has yet to be fully explored by lis professionals due to the lack of formal training in the realm. although librarianship has been a field of study in the country for more than six decades, there are no extant courses in bibliotherapy in nigerian library schools and the researches about the phenomenon are still at a low stage. while the impacts have been felt as a complementary treatment method for managing mental health problems like phobia, anxiety, depression, etc. bibliotherapy has not gained the required adoption for treatment due to superstitious beliefs and lack of skilled personnel. based on findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: • library schools in nigeria should have bibliotherapy as an area of specialization at graduate level, awarding masters and doctorate degrees in the realm. • there is need for more advocacy programmes and awareness about the impacts of bibliotherapy for mental health and other medical challenges. • libraries, whether public, academic, school or special, should incorporate human library. that is, clienteles should be able to borrow human (i.e. librarians) due to their specialized expertise in bibliotherapy and be able to getting recommendations through counselling and/or reading materials to overcome their mental and other health challenges. alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 78 • as the nigerian library association (nla) commemorates its 60-year anniversary, there is no better time for the association and its special interest groups to implement all the viable recommendations being made over the years about the diversification of library and information science as a discipline. particularly, the time is ripe for recommendations about having new areas of specializations in line with global realities to be incorporated into the 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(eds). the blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. john wiley & sons. doi: 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeos1244 world health organization (2017). depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates. geneva: world health organization. available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/who-msd-mer-2017.2eng.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isallowed=y. accessed 20th february 2022. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/4691 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/7199 https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/who-msd-mer-2017.2-eng.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isallowed=y https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/who-msd-mer-2017.2-eng.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isallowed=y alex-nmecha and onifade / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 81 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors dr. juliet c. alex-nmecha is the ag. head of department, library and information science, university of port harcourt. an astute advocate of literacy through library development, she is also the chairperson of the nigerian library association, rivers state chapter, and the national treasurer of the nla. abdurrahman onifade is a scholar of the university of ibadan, nigeria, where he studied library and information studies and minored in political science. he is passionate about information literacy, knowledge management, information disorder and has written on these realms. 253-title-page 253-onifade-layout issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org ebook service in shanghai library qing zhou abstract: in the 21st century, with the rapid development of mobile internet, people's reading habits have started shifting from the traditional paper-based media, to completely new media such as cell phones, ebook readers, tablet pcs and so on. "shanghai library’s urban digital reading service platform" integrates all types of collections of digital resources to support ebook readers, tablet pcs, smart phones and other types of mobile devices. this platform provides a convenient, low-cost and friendly learning interface to online users, providing one of the best reading experiences. this also creates a one-stop public library reading platform, and meets the reader’s need for reading on the go. by investigating and researching libraries’ experiences and requirements for digital reading platforms and its internationalization service, this paper will discuss its further development. to cite this article: zhou, q. (2016). ebook service in shanghai library. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 66-73. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.16 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 66-73 issn:2474-3542 ebook service in shanghai library qing zhou shanghai library, shanghai, china abstract in the 21st century, with the rapid development of mobile internet, people's reading habits have started shifting from the traditional paper-based media, to completely new media such as cell phones, ebook readers, tablet pcs and so on. "shanghai library’s urban digital reading service platform" integrates all types of collections of digital resources to support ebook readers, tablet pcs, smart phones and other types of mobile devices. this platform provides a convenient, lowcost and friendly learning interface to online users, providing one of the best reading experiences. this also creates a one-stop public library reading platform, and meets the reader’s need for reading on the go. by investigating and researching libraries’ experiences and requirements for digital reading platforms and its internationalization service, this paper will discuss its further development. keywords: ebooks service, shanghai library, internationalization service, public libraries introduction humans have never stopped in their pursuit for knowledge. as technology leaps forward, the content carriers for human reading known as “books”, have turned from materials like bones, sheepskins, and bamboo slips into what we now know today as paper. however, in 1971, a new format to challenge the paper-based book was born. it is the ebook. ebooks have revolutionized the traditional human reading habits. in the 21st century, with the rapid development of mobile internet, people's reading habits have started shifting from the traditional paper-based media, to completely new media such as cell phones, ebook readers, and tablet pcs. (zhang, 2015) in china, almost all the major network booksellers and book publishing groups have launched ebook sales services. under this model, the traditional library is being transformed to better meet the diverse multi-leveled needs of its readers, and is learning to provide public services with its rich ebook resources in the electronic environment. at the end of the last century, shanghai library purchased the rocket ebook (figure 1), manufactured by nuvomedia and the softbook (figure 2) which is designed by ideo and lunar design. these proved to be the first step for providing ebook services in china. since the beginning of the 21st century, the shanghai library has provided remote access to digital library resources. however, because of factors such as low awareness and high learning curves, this service was not well used. therefore, creating the e-book reading platform on our own has become a viable option. zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 67 figure 1. rocket ebook figure 2. softbook shanghai library and its services shanghai is the largest city in china. it is the center of economy, finance, trade and shipping in mainland china. (the state council information office of the people’s republic of china, 2009). the city “also holds a leading place in china's arts, sciences and education. … its first library dates to 150 years ago”. (shanghai library, n. d., para. 1) shanghai library was founded in 1952. six years later, it became the second largest comprehensive public library in china after merging with three other libraries in shanghai. in 1995, the institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai was merged with shanghai library, “resulting in an advanced, comprehensive public library, the first ever in the country that combines public library services with scitech and industry research information functions”. (shanghai library, n. d., para. 7) the library information system at shanghai library supports two platforms: one is the “one-cardthrough” information system platform of the shanghai central library; and another is the shanghai information service platform. the “one-card-through” information system fully covers all district and county and neighborhood libraries in shanghai. it links nearly 250 libraries and more than 280 service stations in the city. the system contains over 9.3 million books and circulates 36.76 million items each year. it has 686,000 active users. with the application of rfid technology in recent years, many branches provide self-registration and self-check services. shanghai library also provides online search or access to rare books, manuscripts, genealogy resources, archives, books and journals. its online system contains 3.79 million metadata records and 45.9 million full-text pages. the library has become one of the largest self-built digital repositories in china. additionally, the library automation systems implemented in shanghai library enables the library to open 365 days in a year. (shanghai library, n. d.) zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 68 ebook service in foreign public libraries digital library reading services have existed for a long time. foreign libraries, with its early adoption and rapid development, have already formed a mature industry chain constituted by publisher, third-party service provider, library and the user. (1) united states: regarding ebook lending policies, the united states library community attaches great importance to the interests of user’s right to ebook lending services, and therefore provides free ebook lending services under policy agreements, reached with the cooperation of large ebook dealers such as overdrive and 3m. among the dealers, the overdrive ebook platform is capable of storing resources from more than 1,000 publishers all over the world, and is compatible to most resource formats, supportive for tablet pcs, smart phones and other devices since it adopts many open resource formats. flexibility of copyright policy is also one of overdrive’s highlights, which provides personalized drm scheme for different publishers, and enables the library to formulate suitable lending policies for different readers. this compatibility with multiple devices and flexibility in copyright policies creates gains for overdrive’s global popularity ratings and promoted usage statistics (fu and huang, 2012). (2) uk: in 2012, william sieghart was appointed by the department of culture, media and sport as well as an expert group composed of the society of chief librarians, the publishing industry, booksellers and authors to conduct an “independent review of e-lending in public libraries in england." this review aimed to establish some basic parameters, business test models and user behavior, so that it could contribute to the newly formed agreement between publishers and libraries to jointly promote digital lending. (sieghart, 2015). in march 2014, the society of chief librarians and the publishers association announced the official launch of a 12-month remote ebook lending pilot project. (price, 2015). the project greatly contributed to ebook lending, and the popularity of the titles offered, compared to the existing library collections. lastly, this pilot project attracted some new borrowers (the publishers association, 2015). ebook service in shanghai library figure 3 shows that the penetration rate of mobile internet users for information and reading reaches 59.1%. reading is one of the most popular types of mobile applications visibly. figure 3. the penetration rate of mobile internet segmentation application users in china in june 2015 (analysys yiguan, 2015, p.6) zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 69 figure 4 shows that the mobile reading market covers 178 million people in china in the third quarter of 2015. the twelfth national reading survey issued by the chinese academy of press and publication (as cited in zhang and zhang, 2015) indicates that the frequency for chinese digital reading was 58.1%, increased eight percentage points, compared with 2013, and for the first time, digital reading rate exceeded the traditional reading rate. the data shows that china's ebook reading demand is growing rapidly, and the digital market has great potential for development. although china's ebook industry chain matures day by day, china is still in need of a similar mature ebook platform for libraries, such as the us overdrive ebook platform. the us libraries tend to use the ebook platform to show off its ebook collections, so the network promotion of ebooks is highly tied to the ebook database and the way it is built. however, in china, most of our libraries normally provide only the link to the ebook, therefore missing the chance to show the description and integration of various bibliographic resources. figure 4. the trend of 2015 q3 mobile reading market covering (sootoo institute, 2015, para.4) in december 2011, the shanghai library launched the public digital reading promotion program, to bring awareness to the ebook reader experience and lending, digital resource construction, and many other contents (zhang, 2015). the shanghai library’s urban digital reading service platform integrates all types of collections of digital resources to support ebook readers, tablet pcs, and smart phones, so as to provide a convenient, low-cost and friendly learning interface to users and the best reading experience. furthermore, this creates a one-stop public library reading platform to meet the reader’s need for convenient reading in any environment. after years of exploration and research, it has grown into a digital reading oriented resource integration platform, different from the ordinary resources navigation platform (li, 2015). through deep integration of various ebook library resources, it achieves the seamless connection between front-end browsing and backend resources and can support a variety of display modes such as website, app, micro-website, providing reader service through a variety of devices (zhang, 2015). innovations of shanghai library ebook service with increasingly rich digital resources, the "window of shanghai" has launched a new ebook service to its global partners apart from traditional paper books. this service model breaks the traditional ebook borrowing system, and forms a new norm for international ebook services. opening of the "window of shanghai" ebook web service in 2013, on the homepage of the "window of shanghai" program of shanghai library, an "ebook" zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 70 button first appeared, marking the official launch of the "window of shanghai" ebook service website. the "window of shanghai" ebook service works with its global partners with the intention to provide the overseas reader a more convenient, easy to access way to the latest publications from china. in recent years, the electronic resource service has grown in popularity thanks to the vigorous overseas promotion of ebooks from the intercontinental press, penguin press and other domestic publishing house. ebook subjects cover china and shanghai's contemporary history, economy, character, philosophy, literature, culture and folk traditions, history, nature and cultural landscape, culinary arts, traditional chinese medicine, architecture and a variety of other subjects. ebooks are mainly in chinese, english or bilingual (english/chinese), meanwhile in order to suit the needs of readers from different linguistic regions, over 10 other languages are also included, for example french, russian, and japanese, just to name a few. the same kind of problem is encountered by both domestic and foreign libraries: the technology platform and file format provided by ebook publishers to libraries are not the same, and this common inconsistency in library electronic lending services leads to the library’s failure to integrate digital resources from different vendors. it furthermore reduces the visibility of ebook resources, and results the user’s inability to take full advantage of digital library resources. however, during the internationalization process of this ebook service, the shanghai library followed the example of the free ebook lending service cooperatively developed by overdrive and 3m. in this model, overdrive and 3m constantly look to integrate the contents of ebooks and formats, according to the needs of its partners, users and projects. the current "window of shanghai" service has expanded its offerings from the original 1,280 ebooks to 10,059 ebooks, 227 reference books, 30 newspapers and 7,000 chinese digitized journals. international specifications of the "window of shanghai" ebook service website via ip authentication and account authorization, the website provides exclusive "my library" services, collections, and recommendations for its partners. due to the characteristic of foreign exchange and cooperation, the website establishes an ebooks query and navigation system in 17 languages, covering the world's most common languages for the convenience of the multilingual reader. apart from the fact that the website can automatically display simplified chinese, traditional chinese and english sections according to the operating system language, it also offers diverse full-page translation. in 2015, besides the existing ip registration mode, the "window of shanghai" again opened 300 ebook accounts as gifts to readers around the world. with these accounts and their matching passwords, readers can now experience a different way to read instead of going to the library. as long as a connection is established, they can log into the "window of shanghai" ebooks website, making full use of its services, and enjoy digital reading anytime, anywhere. by the end of october 2015, this service has been trialed with 26 library partners. in order to provide readers and its partners a more convenient searching ebook platform, the "window of shanghai", can, by collecting and analyzing the website usage data, combine the recommendations of new books, topics and top book reads in its resource recommendation. new books on e-shelves are displayed on the homepage for the reader to get a sense of the new ebooks available. according to user feedback from the recipient libraries of this service, the "shanghai window" also creates a more dynamic process in which the system analyses reader preferences to build upon its collection, being able to organize it into relevant themes. statistical data highlighting the internationalization achievements of the "window of shanghai" ebook service from table 1, we can see that in 2014, the number of visits to the site is six times that of the year 2013, creating a significant rise in awareness and the visits for the year 2015 more than 1.5 times that of the whole year in 2014. as for retrievals and/or searching, the retrievals number of the year zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 71 2014 is 18 times that of the year 2013, showing an obvious upward trend. the retrieval number for 2015 of use is above 2 times that of the whole year for 2014. when one looks at the numbers for online reading, the full-year number of 2014 is three times that of the 2013, again showing a rising trend. also, the number of online reading in 2015 seems much more than the year 2014. year access retrieval online reading circulation 2013 8,645 363 7,104 6 2014 52,598 6,773 26,535 25 2015 84,879 14,509 29,113 63 table 1. statistical data of the ebook service the "window of shanghai" service has been maintaining a good relationship with its partners around the world, and it may also be a good idea to bridge lateral communication opportunities between the various partners, so that libraries around the world and related publishing houses can get to know each other and explore the possibility of cooperation with support from the "window of shanghai" platform. consequently, the "window of shanghai" can be further internationalized, by becoming a program with a wide coverage of global partnerships in the library community. the "window of shanghai" ebook website’s grass-roots development in platform and content, as well as its growing users base, shows clearly that the service is gradually maturing. the "window of shanghai" ebook service can become the model platform for displaying and exchanging content along with cooperating between domestic and international libraries, as well as how its readers interact with the service. conclusion and recommendation the “smart device” has been achieving breakthroughs in its popularity especially in the wake of mobile internet. mobile applications have become the new way to use the internet as the global mobile population is also growing rapidly. mobile internet applications are changing people's way of communicating and reading, and are profoundly changing our lives. therefore, the focus of further developing the internationalized ebook service of shanghai library will be to provide a high quality and essential mobile reading service. a few suggestions from the author can be proposed as follows: (1) introduce digital copyright technology into cross-border ebook lending policies. accelerate the setting of ebook standards, and set up an ebook standards working group to jointly formulate industrial and national standards concerning ebook formats, quality, platforms, copyright etc. so as to create a framework for e-book library lending policies. (2) integrate the ebook lending system, the opac collection and open access resources. the ebook lending function and the integrated opac system of the shanghai library should still be improved. (wei and liu, 2015) (3) the library is one of the most powerful drivers in the extensive use of ebooks [10. the ultimate purpose for enhancing ebook lending services is to make wider use of ebooks. therefore, the library should take on the responsibility to improve the utilization of ebooks. without the participation and support of this crucial issue, the development of electronic lending could be unsustainable. libraries and various interested groups, such as ebook publishers or e-reader zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 72 manufacturers should jointly discuss and explore terms of reference for ebook license agreements, promoting the development of electronic lending services. (4) the popularity of smart phones and other mobile applications shows the shifting trend to mobile reading. (shen, 2015) as a new concept in mobile internet era, micro-website is the basic application platform and mobile portal for enterprises, and also a unified data entrance for the mobile internet. this platform can integrate online inquiry system, digital reading, event publisher, service portals and other platforms, and at the same time be extended to a variety of mobile applications. in future, promoting micro-website to overseas partners would become possible. the shanghai library, with its welcoming and positive attitude to internet +, connections among everything, creates a new model of library ebook service in new media development and plays a leading role of the industry. references analysys yiguan. (2015). 2015 theme research in china mobile reading market. retrieved november 20, 2016 at http://www.analysys.cn/view/search/search.html?keyword=中国移动阅读市场专题研究报告 2015. 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(2015). brief history. retrieved november 19, 2016 at http://www.library.sh.cn/web/news/aboutus/index.html. shen, h. (2015), practices of ebooks service of “window of shanghai”, library journal, 34 (7), 41-45. doi: 10.13663/j.cnki.lj.2015.07.007. [in chinese] sieghart, w. (2013). an independent review of e-lending in public libraries in england. department for culture, media and sport. retrieved november 19, 2016 at http://www.alcs.co.uk/documents/elending-review-march2013.aspx. sootoo institute. (2015). report of 2015 q3 mobile reading market. retrieved november 20, 2016 at http://www.sootoo.com/content/658519.shtml. [in chinese] the publishers association. (2015). the society of chief librarians and the publishers association report on the remote ebook lending pilots. retrieved november 19, 2016 at http://publishers.org.uk/easysiteweb/gatewaylink.aspx?alid=18916. the state council information office of the people’s republic of china. (2009). introduction to shanghai. retrieved november 19, 2016 at http://www.scio.gov.cn/ztk/dtzt/07/03/document/485318/485318.htm. [in chinese] wei, l. and liu, x. (2015). a comparative study of ebook service in chinese and american libraries, library and information service, 59 (4), 56-62. doi: 10.13266/j.issn.0252-3116.2015.04.009. [in chinese] zhang, l. (2015). metadata integration platform for library’s digital reading services. library journal, 34 (11), 1317. doi: 10.13663/j.cnki.lj.2015.11.002. [in chinese] zhang and zhang. (2015) the twelfth national reading survey report is published a new reading style is forming. retrieved november 20, 2016 at http://www.analysys.cn/view/search/search.html?keyword=中国移动阅读市场专题研究报告2015 http://www.cnki.com.cn/article/cjfdtotal-tngz201202015.htm http://www.cnki.com.cn/article/cjfdtotal-tngz201202015.htm http://www.airitilibrary.com/publication/aldetailedmesh?docid=tusg201511015 http://www.infodocket.com/2014/11/24/six-month-review-of-public-library-e-lending-pilot-in-uk-posted/ http://www.infodocket.com/2014/11/24/six-month-review-of-public-library-e-lending-pilot-in-uk-posted/ http://www.alcs.co.uk/documents/elending-review-march-2013.aspx http://www.alcs.co.uk/documents/elending-review-march-2013.aspx http://www.sootoo.com/content/658519.shtml http://publishers.org.uk/easysiteweb/gatewaylink.aspx?alid=18916 http://www.scio.gov.cn/ztk/dtzt/07/03/document/485318/485318.htm zhou / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 66-73 73 http://www.cssn.cn/zt/zt_xkzt/zt_wxzt/2015sjdsr/sjdsrzqmyd/201504/t20150422_1596633.shtml. [in chinese] about the author qing zhou is librarian at the international cooperation division of shanghai library. http://www.cssn.cn/zt/zt_xkzt/zt_wxzt/2015sjdsr/sjdsrzqmyd/201504/t20150422_1596633.shtml ijol-issue1-2016-6_ebook_title ijol-1-1-2016-6-ebook-ft issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org coping with constant obsolescence: a lifelong task di su abstract: knowledge and skill obsolescence is a common obstacle in individual, organization, and society development. thanks to the modern technologies, the rate of obsolescence accelerates rapidly in the information age. in the library workplace, obsolescence occurs constantly. we may be used to routines, but changes are inevitable as we have witnessed the evolution in library services and librarian workplace since the advent of the internet. to cope with obsolescence, it is crucial to have a lifelong learning mindset, make it a habit, and find ways to update our knowledge and skills to stay competent and serve the clientele effectively. to cite this article: su, d. (2022). coping with constant obsolescence: a lifelong task. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 147-154. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.256 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.256 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 147-154 issn: 2474-3542 coping with constant obsolescence: a lifelong task di su york college of the city university of new york, ny, usa abstract knowledge and skill obsolescence is a common obstacle in individual, organization, and society development. thanks to the modern technologies, the rate of obsolescence accelerates rapidly in the information age. in the library workplace, obsolescence occurs constantly. we may be used to routines, but changes are inevitable as we have witnessed the evolution in library services and librarian workplace since the advent of the internet. to cope with obsolescence, it is crucial to have a lifelong learning mindset, make it a habit, and find ways to update our knowledge and skills to stay competent and serve the clientele effectively. keywords: obsolescence, librarianship, technology, reference librarian, mindset, lifelong learning introduction helped by the advancement of modern technologies, the rate of both knowledge growth and knowledge obsolescence in library science accelerates rapidly in the information age. consequently, we, the librarians, are vulnerable to professional obsolescence as soon as we graduate from library school as what we learned might have already become dated or even obsolete. this is certainly not a new issue. according to a research paper from 1970s dealing with knowledge obsolescence, “the threat of knowledge obsolescence imposed by the press of new knowledge and deterioration of formerly held expertise render the professional vulnerable to the loss of his expertise almost as soon as it is acquired in the college or university” (rothman and perrucci 1971, p. 156). allen and de grip (2012) divided a person’s job skills into two categories: skills the person already possesses and skills the job actually requires. in other words, some of our knowledge and skills may not be relevant and practical to our current job, and some knowledge and skills are new and unfamiliar to us but needed to do the job. if nothing is done, the authors assumed in an earlier paper, the gap between the two would widen because of constant changes made by technologies. “we would expect the match between a worker’s available skills and the skills required for the job to deteriorate steadily over the life course” (2007, p. 2), and thus, the risk for the job security. the authors confirmed their assumption in the results of their continued research in 2012. it should be noted though that knowledge obsolescence is not equally distributed among all the subject fields. it is more often seen in it-intensive areas. for example, while engineering is su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 148 greatly affected by the implication from obsolescence, philosophy holds a status of relative stability. in library science, however, obsolescence is common and frequent in both knowledge and skills as it is closely tied to computer science and technology. in fact, we are dealing with more technological issues than ever before. as one writer put it, “the 21st century library and information services are characterized by advancement in the use of electronic means in the accessibility, retrieval and dissemination of information” (ajie, 2019, p. 1). in this article, the terms “knowledge obsolescence” and “skill obsolescence” are used interchangeably. the focus is on obsolescence in general. the profession “librarianship,” defined by the online dictionary for library and information science, is “the profession devoted to applying theory and technology to the creation, selection, organization, management, preservation, dissemination, and utilization of collections of information in all formats” (reitz, 2004). further, librarianship is a service profession, and library science, or information studies in a modern term, is an applied science, the discipline dealing with the science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems. it is especially pertinent to the reference librarians who work on the frontline helping users seek needed information on a regular basis. in a typical academic library, clientele includes students, faculty, staff, and general users from local communities. needless to say, in order to serve people well, the reference librarian must have upto-date knowledge in, but are not limited to, collections (general and special), finding tools (catalogs, indices, and discovery tools), databases (general and subject), computer applications (ms office and web browsers), access tools (remote access and online communication platforms), and the workplace itself (environment and points of services). these areas of knowledge are evolving constantly. all these changes require continuing learning or retooling. as london (2011) put it, “learning is all about change, and change drives learning”. the problem we are used to routines. some of us may even like routines because it makes life easier and work predictable. when a change happens in a routine, it may meet reluctance if not resistance. the problem is not the “change” itself but the unwillingness to change. unfortunately, the inability in keeping up with constant changes affects our work in a negative way. computerization and automation have revolutionized the library universe in many ways. we have witnessed card catalogs replaced by online public access catalogs; indices shifted from card drawers and print volumes to electronic databases; and journal articles and books appeared in digital formats. the library is no longer confined within brick-and-mortar buildings. the working environment for knowledge workers, including librarians, has changed dramatically because of the fast expansion of knowledge and the deterioration of previously held expertise. then, the old routines must be changed from time to time in order to stay in line with the “new normal” regardless of whether we like it or not. in an article on the future of health sciences libraries, the author concluded “health sciences libraries must change to ensure their continued viability. it is up to libraries whether that change will come through evolution or revolution or whether complacency will mean forced obsolescence” (mcgowan, 2012, p. 8). su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 149 perhaps no other example is better to illustrate the necessity of readiness for change than the abrupt transformation in library workplace caused by the covid-19 pandemic that started in the early 2020 in the united states. suddenly, libraries nationwide were forced to close their physical buildings and nearly all types of services were moved online. even though libraries might have already offered some services online pre-pandemic, we were not ready for a scale this large. as one librarian described it “the island [the library] needed was a virtual one. the organizational structure of the library, the college and the university were not designed to pivot services abruptly” (simpson 2020, p. 518). worse yet, no one knew how long the situation would last and no one knew for sure what to do in this unexpected new world. as inevitable as it was, librarians rushed to learn new skills and familiarize distance learning and teaching tools and software, such as remote desktop connection, blackboard, springshare, webex, zoom just to name a few in an effort to resume services. the most fundamental change occurred in the work environment, that is the way we work. we were not able to see clients and colleagues face-to-face. everything and everyone were “virtual.” we lost real human interaction. unfortunately, there was no way to escape but to cope with the change. coping with obsolescence how and what do we do to deal with obsolescence? it has less to do with our born intelligence, work experiences, individual characters, or social backgrounds, but more to do with mindset and attitude. therefore, all of us can learn how to do it and everyone can improve his or her current knowledge base. psychologist carol dweck (2006) discovered and analyzed two basic mindsets among people: fixed and growth. those with fixed mindset believe that their talents and abilities are set in stone, thus are unchangeable, and they only do what they know of or within their comfort zone, so that they will look smart and talented. those with a growth mindset, however, know that intelligence and talents can be developed and that great abilities and skills are built over time. dweck’s (2014) research also showed that with the growth mindset, people “can grow their brains (make new, stronger neural connections when they stretch themselves to learn hard things)” (p. 10). further, “stretching themselves to learn makes neurons in their brains form the new connections that make them smarter” (2010, p. 28). it is the path of opportunity and success. (for dweck’s extensive research on mindset, visit https://www.mindsetworks.com/.) mindset some of us fear change. new, unfamiliar situations cause angst and raise anxiety by the trepidation of uncertainty. the reluctance in accepting change is caused by various factors: fear of failure, established habits, routines, but mainly about mindset and attitude. gardner (1964) pointed out that obstacles to self-learning, or self-renewal in his term, “are to be found in the mind rather than in external arrangements” (p. 43). in dealing with knowledge and skill obsolescence, the key to success is to reset or reaffirm our mind first. instead of following routines passively, we should make learning new knowledge a permanent “routine.” it is not a new concept. it coincides with the old saying “learning never ends.” we teach students information literacy classes with the ultimate goal being to motivate lifelong learners. this should be the goal for ourselves, too. su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 150 strategies to reset or reaffirm our mindset for lifelong learning, we should remind ourselves to be: • positive. learning is a pleasant journey which makes us smarter and competitive. • curious. it is fascinating to know and learn new things, especially emerging technologies, as they can improve our work and enhance our lives. • proactive. seeking new knowledge and learning new skills keep us informed about trending issues, so we are not left behind. • critical. learning how to evaluate new things as they may become standard keeps us “ahead of the curve”. • brave. it is normal to have setbacks or failures. we should be adventurous and dare to fail. success is built on failures. • flexible. accepting changes willingly and venturing different forms of learning to explore new information resources and knowledge sources make us versatile. • independent. being self-learners increases our job capability and competitiveness. • motivated. being updated helps us accomplish our mission and gain job satisfaction. • a lifelong learner. this is the only way to stay relevant and competent. once we have the right mindset, we can start planning learning as a routine and exploring learning opportunities. obviously, the task is “lifelong.” lifelong learning lifelong learning is “the provision or use of both formal and informal learning opportunities throughout people’s lives in order to foster the continuous development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment” (collins english dictionary 2021). more flexible than structured education, lifelong learning can happen anywhere in any form. “a lifelong learning paradigm values all kinds of learning – formal, non-formal and informal” (commission of the european communities, 2006, p. 7). formal learning is organized and arranged by teaching institutions and guided by a curriculum. the study may carry academic credits and will likely result in an academic degree or a professional certificate. non-formal learning is loosely organized and learner-driven, such as webinars or self-paced online courses. learning objectives are highly focused and topics are usually specific. informal learning is not organized or arranged beforehand. it is spontaneous, such as a conversation, a casual chat, or an email inquiry, and the instructor can be anyone. no one knows everything and our colleagues or friends may be more experienced on a subject. all the above-mentioned learning activities are investments in human capital in order to keep us updated. the investment is necessary and beneficial to both the individual for competitiveness and the institution for staff quality. learning after college is crucial as it affects our job performance. it is more effective if “learning is both an individual and organizational responsibility” (london, 2011). according to a recent research paper on labor market, “economic theory implies that rapid technological change will lead to obsolescence of a worker’s skills unless the worker (and the employer) makes investments in human capital to keep up with and adapt to the new technology” (hudomiet and willis, 2021, p. 13). allen and de grip (2007) developed and tested two conceptual models, static https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/provision https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/informal https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/learning https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/opportunity https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/foster https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/continuous https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/improvement https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/employment https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/personal su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 151 and dynamic, in their research on skill obsolescence, lifelong learning and employment. they advocated for active learning, the dynamic model which treats skill obsolescence as a “structural characteristic of the job” (p. 8) and learning process as endogenous, over passive learning, the static model which treats learning process as exogenous. research literature also pointed out that while the support from the employer is important, continuing learning relies mainly on the individual. in a qualitative study of the academic librarians’ continuing professional development (cpd), the authors stated that there is an urgent need for cpd because a static body of professional skills and knowledge is insufficient to meet the demands of the twenty-first century workplace. the availability of relevant and accessible continuing professional development opportunities has never been more urgent for librarians, and the survival of the profession depends on the willingness of its members to engage with these opportunities during their working lives and to keep ahead of the curve, as technological developments continue to transform research and scholarship practices. (corcoran and mcguinness, 2014, pp. 175-176) therefore, we should use every opportunity to learn in order to cope with knowledge and skill obsolescence. routines may change, but the permanent routine remains. that is lifelong learning. the following is a brief summary of learning opportunities from both the institution and the individual. it should be noted that not all institutions or libraries are the same. learning opportunities vary from place to place. employer-sponsored programs • sabbatical (length: one academic year or one semester at the author’s institution). in academia, the focus of sabbatical, also known as fellowship leave, is on research and writing. we may also utilize sabbatical for re-education or retooling skills. the use of sabbatical has been discussed for a long time. as early as 1960s, chamberlain (1964) advocated, “in addition to the sabbatical leave for purpose of research, we should make it possible for teachers to return as students to the classrooms…for the maintenance of high standards of instruction” (p. 50). evan (1963) suggested using a sabbatical to return to graduate school to update one’s knowledge (p. 31). as an important part of professional development and maintaining faculty quality, sabbatical is viewed as beneficial to both the individual and the institution. kang and miller (1999) pointed out that “one of the most effective and efficient ways to assure faculty quality and vitality is to provide faculty development programs which enhance faculty professional skills and academic growth in either their specific disciplines or relevant fields that increase the quality and image of the institution” (p. 4). • annual leave (length: eight weeks at the author’s institution). this can be an opportunity to undertake a deep study on a topic which might have been in our thoughts for a long time, and may even write a research paper for publication. • research leave (length: five weeks at the author’s institution). some universities offer library faculty research leave or professional reassignment for research and writing to help them meet the requirement for scholarship for tenue or promotion purpose. a specific research project or professional development activity must be su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 152 outlined in the application which will have to be approved by the department and college. • mandatory training. employers usually require employees to attend training sessions when the organizations upgrade their computer network systems. • workshop. colleges often offer a series of workshops conducted by the information technology department throughout an academic year. typical topics include, but are not limited to, using various application software with updated versions. • product demonstration. venders come to our library or an online session to promote a new product or to demonstrate how to use a recently purchased database. this gives us an overview of a new product. • department meeting. we can use a portion of the regular department meeting to introduce learning tools, report attended conferences, and exchange new discoveries. • peer knowledge sharing. casually arranged, we can help ourselves by doing miniworkshops to share tips, tricks, and experiences that are informative and practical. contents may include a database, a communication platform, a content management system, and so on. self-initiated learning • self-paced online courses. some institutions and organizations offer free asynchronous courses on various subjects. time is flexible and we may earn continuing education certificates after completion. some examples are alternative basic library education (e.g., the idaho commission for libraries, https://libraries.idaho.gov/continuingeducation/able/) and professional development videos (e.g., library of congress, https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/professional-development/videos/). for a variety of subjects, we can try free online courses (e.g., edx, https://www.edx.org/ and coursera, https://www.coursera.org/). • webinars. there are numerous webinars available, usually topic specific. • professional blogs or other forms of social networking. there are many blogs on almost every topic. they are not peer-reviewed literature, but reading good ones, especially those about the use of emerging technologies, keeps us informed and updated. • consultation with colleagues. no one can master everything and there is always someone better than us on a subject. learning from each other is an advantage we should take. • scholarly work. in the process of writing for publishing, we can always learn something that either new to us or more updated than in our current knowledge base through literature review. similarly, we should update our knowledge when compiling a libguide, a popular publishing platform, to produce a useful user guide to the best of our knowledge. • learning on the fly. sometimes at the reference desk or on web chat we encounter questions that are beyond us. this gives us new topics to study or unfamiliar software to test, a patron-driven learning source. • practice. with good time management, we can expand and improve our knowledge base by practicing whenever we can. we can set a designated time in our regular schedule, or even during service breaks, i.e., when there is no patron at the reference desk or on web chat. there are many things we can practice. for example, searching a database that we su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 153 are less familiar with, finding definitions and descriptions on emerging concepts, testing a software, and so on. conclusion whether we like it or not, change is inevitable in the library workplace due to the job nature. coping with knowledge and skill obsolescence is every librarian’s lifelong task. it is crucial to have a lifelong learning mindset and use every opportunity to update our knowledge and skillset in order to stay relevant, competent, versatile, and competitive. the goals are to serve our clientele effectively, and to maintain our own job satisfaction. references ajie, i. (2019, feb). ict training and development of the 21st century librarian. library philosophy and practice (e-journal). 2520. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2520. allen, j., & grip, a. (2007). skill obsolescence, lifelong learning and labor market participation. maastricht, netherlands: research centre for education and the labour market, maastricht university, faculty of economics and business administration. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/andriesgrip/publication/4789964_skill_obsolescence_lifelong_learning_and_labor_market_ participation/links/0912f50cb959b3b7e9000000/skill-obsolescence-lifelong-learningand-labor-market-participation.pdf allen, j., & grip, a. (2012). does skill obsolescence increase the risk of employment loss?. applied economics, 44(25), 3237–3245. chamberlain, n. w. (1964). retooling the mind. atlantic monthly, 214(3), 48–50. collins dictionaries. (2021). lifelong learning. in collins english dictionary. harpercollins publishers. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/lifelong-learning commission of the european communities. (2006). adult learning: it is never too late to learn. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/en/txt/pdf/?uri=celex: 52006dc0614&from=en corcoran, m., & mcguinness, c. (2014). keeping ahead of the curve. library management, 35(3), 175–198. dweck, c. (2014). teachers’ mindsets: “every student has something to teach me.” educational horizons, 93(2), 10–14. dweck, c. s. (2006). mindset: the new psychology of success. random house. dweck, c. s. (2010). mind-sets and equitable education. principal leadership, 10(5), 26–29. evan, w. m. (1963). the problem of obsolescence of knowledge. ieee transactions on engineering management, 1, 29-31. gardner, j. w. (1964). self-renewal: the individual and the innovative society. harper & row. su / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 154 hudomiet, p., & willis, r. j. (2021, may). computerization, obsolescence and the length of working life. labour economics, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102005 kang, b., & miller, m. t. (1999). an overview of the sabbatical leave in higher education: a synopsis of the literature base.” eric number: ed430471. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed430471 london, m. (2011). lifelong learning: introduction. in the oxford handbook of lifelong learning, 3–11. oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197506707.013.1 mcgowan, j. j. (2012). evolution, revolution, or obsolescence: an examination of writings on the future of health sciences libraries. journal of the medical library association, 100(1), 5–9. reitz, j. m. (ed.). (2004). librarianship. in online dictionary for library and information science. abc-clio. https://www.abc-clio.com/odlis/odlis_l.aspx rothman, r. a., & perrucci, r. (1971). vulnerability to knowledge obsolescence among professionals. the sociological quarterly, 12(2), 147–158. simpson, t. (2020). no library is an island: how a consortium of academic libraries transitioned to a remote-only service model. qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 9(3), 511–520. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author di su is professor of library science at york college library, cuny. he received mls from university at albany, suny. his research interests include information literacy and lifelong learning. his publications include library instruction design (chandos/elsevier, 2014), evolution in reference and information services (haworth, 2001), and several articles. 12-256-su-title-page 256-final+copy++xr_ct_ds abstract introduction the profession the problem coping with obsolescence mindset strategies lifelong learning conclusion references issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the use of social media instagram to disseminate sustainable information genilson geraldo and marli dias de souza pinto abstract: sustainable development does not depend only on changing the attitude of companies and government programs and projects, but it is essential that society is also sensitized and mobilized. information sustainability is not a recent discussion, but it has been intensified in recent years and has become a focal point for scientific discussion. with technological advances, especially in the informational sphere, it is necessary that institutions that deal with information are in tune with their users in different environments. in this context, the use of social media by libraries is essential to relate to their audiences, who are increasingly immersed in digital culture. currently, instagram has more than 500 million users worldwide, making it a great informational and virtual engagement tool for library users. in this perspective, the profile @sustentabilidadeinformacional is presented in this study as a model for libraries to be more engaged with global objectives, according to actions developed and promoted by associative movements and library associations. to cite this article: geraldo, g., & pinto, m.d.s. (2020). the use of social media instagram to disseminate sustainable information. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 4-12. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.170 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 4-12. issn: 2474-3542 the use of social media instagram to disseminate sustainable information genilson geraldo and marli dias de souza pinto federal university of santa catarina, florianópolis, sc, brazil abstract sustainable development does not depend only on changing the attitude of companies and government programs and projects, but it is essential that society is also sensitized and mobilized. information sustainability is not a recent discussion, but it has been intensified in recent years and has become a focal point for scientific discussion. with technological advances, especially in the informational sphere, it is necessary that institutions that deal with information are in tune with their users in different environments. in this context, the use of social media by libraries is essential to relate to their audiences, who are increasingly immersed in digital culture. currently, instagram has more than 500 million users worldwide, making it a great informational and virtual engagement tool for library users. in this perspective, the profile @sustentabilidadeinformacional is presented in this study as a model for libraries to be more engaged with global objectives, according to actions developed and promoted by associative movements and library associations. keywords: sustainability, informational sustainability, sustainable information, instagram, social media informational sustainability in recent years, sustainability and sustainable development have become a topic of discussion in almost all human activities. in this sense, access to information can provide knowledge about what sustainability is and the benefits of sustainable development and can also provide access to knowledge of the true image of what happens and focus on what should be happening for the benefit of the planet and society. sustainable development depends on changing companies and government programs and projects, but it is also essential that society is also sensitized and mobilized. there are sustainable practices that can be part of people's daily lives and, for that, it is essential that they have access to information about sustainability. in addition, access to sustainable information can make society aware of the importance of developing efficient public policies. with this, make citizens participate in the elaboration and monitoring of efficient legislative projects and meet the global objectives of environmental socioeconomic well-being. in this sense, general debates and changes in individual and collective attitudes, involving associations and civil society, have in information science a relevant tool to develop new strategies for the use and geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 5 dissemination of information in favor of global objectives and sustainable information technology innovations. as lima (2018) pointed out, access to information on sustainability becomes a necessity, as it will be sustainable actions that will lead humanity to live in balance with the environment. therefore, it is necessary for humanity to continue its journey with sustainable development as a principle and planetary sustainability as a common objective. in view of this, as defended by nolin (2010), informational sustainability has as its missions: to be in alignment with global objectives, in order to raise awareness and positively transform society's daily attitudes in the current context, aiming to guarantee the quality of life for future generations; and the development of sustainable information technologies. in this perspective, the report “our common future” (1987), prepared by the brundtland commission, drew the attention of humanity to the consequences of what was being done to the planet and to the need to search for a sustainable development model, in which, one of its main objectives was to provide informational means to deal with environmental issues more efficiently and to help define common notions and activities to successfully deal with problems of protection and improvement of the environment. thus, it is important to emphasize that the use of information to assist in the dissemination, awareness and monitoring of sustainable development, has always been explicitly and implicitly exposed in the global agendas, plans, goals and objectives. a bulletin stood out in the creation of agenda 21, also called program 21, one of the main results of rio-92, which had 40 chapters, divided into four possible ones, in the social, environmental and economical dimensions. specifically, in section iv, chapters 35 and 40, it dealt with the importance of science for sustainable development and the use of information for decision making, respectively (united nations, 2020). it is worth highlighting, in the brazilian scientific scenario, the researcher sarita albagli (1995), who in her studies, in the 90s, had been discussing how the role of information and, in particular, of environmental information, in the context of the sustainable development, presenting an alternative to the global socio-economicenvironmental crisis. similarly, in spink's research (1999), when developing research to solve some crucial problems of the democratic information system, within an approach of basic needs for sustainable development. following agenda 21 and anticipating the arrival of the new millennium, the un general assembly stressed that the year 2000 would be a special time to formulate a common project of global objectives approving the “millennium declaration” (united nations, 2020). the declaration presented eight millennium development goals (mdgs) to be achieved by the year 2015. mdg number 8, specifically its objective 8-e aims to make available new technologies, especially information technologies and communication. at the beginning of the 21st century, the development of information and sustainability technologies was on the agenda of discussion of information science, with emphasis on the proposal of professor and researcher dr. jan nolin, from the swedish school of library and information science in borás (sweden), which in 2010 suggested the use of information technologies for sustainable development and, at the same time, to support global objectives (nolin, 2010). after several actions over the last few years promoted by the united nations, such as the first united nations development decade / 1960-1970; stockholm 72; brundtland commission; rio-92, agenda 21, millennium development goals, rio + 20, and others, in september 2015, at the un headquarters in new york city, a new agenda of global geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 6 objectives was presented the 2030agenda. therefore, in the area of library and information science, studies and sustainable information practices were intensified, through promotional actions on the new un agenda, carried out by professional information science organizations as international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla), and nationally, by brazilian federation of library associations and institutions (febab). the term “informational sustainability” can be seen as a way of relating the studies of information science with the global environmental socioeconomic objectives, in view of all these historical and conceptual points of information interrelated to sustainable development. the term informational sustainability refers to information resources that facilitate the integration, awareness and participation of the global objectives contributing to the strengthening of the process of transformation of society, according to the dimensions of sustainable development: environmental, economical and social. informational sustainability can be a line of research in the area of information science, as well as a practical environmental and informational socio-economic tool for the area of library science. according to nolin (2010), information science has two main missions: the first one is called “development of sustainable information”, with the aim of connecting technology to sustainable development, with the main objective of making the production and use of information technologies in line with the objectives of sustainable development; the second is called “information for sustainable development”, and aims to support the communicative aspects of integration, awareness and participation of society, in line with the ambitions of global, regional and local agendas, such as supporting the current 2030 agenda and the sustainable development goals, or support projects, campaigns around regional or local sustainability and sustainable development in the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. the social dimension aims at people's well-being and equal rights and opportunities; the economical dimension is not just profit and development, but what works for the prosperity of all citizens; and the environmental dimension aims to protect biodiversity (united nations, 2020). as stated by geraldo and pinto (2019), meschede and henkel (2019), there is evidence from information science researchers and representative entities, both national and international, who understand that the articulation of information represents an important strategic resource for the adoption of global agendas, however, these studies are still scarce. it is essential to remember that cognitive and attitudinal changes in general will modify the basic concepts of sustainability. thus, information science can contribute to sustainable development, since information and knowledge play an important role in all contexts: from the individual to the organization. it is important to emphasize that sustainability has to be thought and developed broadly and implemented from a global perspective, involving the entire planet in order to allow the benefit of one party not to be realized at the expense of the other's loss. humanity depends on sustainability to maintain the quality of life of society and the planet and this consolidation of sustainability in society has to be based on information and knowledge, which create value for those who use it. informational sustainability as a line of research, discipline and object of study for information science, can raise questions about contemporary changes in sustainable technological innovations, aligned with global discussions, and may be in line with both the organizational well-being of governments, as well as, the well-being of human beings. geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 7 information sustainability is not a recent discussion, but it has been intensified in recent years and has become a focal point for scientific discussion. new ways of approaching informational problems on the topic and defining solutions are envisaged. in information science, the dissemination and use of sustainable information is an important way to make human beings reflect on their role in society and to commit to individual and collective actions in favor of improving life and the planet today and for future generations. the use of instagram to disseminate sustainable information with technological advances, especially in the informational sphere, it is necessary that institutions that deal with information are in tune with their users in different environments. in this context, the use of social networks by libraries is essential to relate to their audiences, who are increasingly immersed in digital culture. currently, instagram has more than 500 million users worldwide (facebook inc., 2020). according to information from instagram's history, its history is short, but very successful and fast growing. instagram was launched in 2010 by kevin systrom and mike krieger, both software engineers. on the same day of launch, the app became the most downloaded app on the apple store and, as of december of the same year, had an impressive 1 million users (facebook inc., 2020). in 2011, the company, which had only 6 employees, already had 10 million users. in 2012, after the long-awaited launch of the application in the android version, instagram was purchased by facebook (2020). according to the “digital report 2019”, produced by "we are social" in partnership with a "hootsuite", it pointed out that 66% of the brazilian population is a user of social media, with instagram being the fourth most used social media by brazilians, with 69 million users in 2019, the highest level of engagement among social networks today (digital in, 2019). there is no correct and measurable number of profiles on instagram that uses media to support sustainability and sustainable development. as well as the number of libraries, document centers, information centers and lis professionals using social networks. however, currently, in the theme and defense of sustainability and sustainable development, one of the biggest profiles on instagram is the @wwf (world wide fund for nature) profile, with more than 2.5 million followers. the profile has the motto “building a future in which human beings and nature can prosper.” the environmental organization wwf international publishes beautiful photos of wild and endangered animal campaigns. it is worth highlighting other profiles such as @sos mata atlântica, with over 135 thousand followers the brazilian ngo promotes the conservation of the biological and cultural diversity of the atlantic forest and the ecosystems under its influence. @greenpeace is an organization with over 3.5 million followers. it posts images of its actions, in addition to beautiful photos of the biome. being a global organization whose main mission is to protect the environment, it puts its actions on instagram that goes beyond creativity and daring, such as protests on ships, climbing skyscrapers, among other operations to draw the attention of the public. another highlight is the profile @ fundação grupo boticário, with more than 65 thousand followers. through its natural reserves, a grupo boticário foundation conserves more than 11 thousand hectares of atlantic forest and cerrado, the two most geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 8 threatened biomes in brazil. on instagram, they post exuberant photos of animals and nature that inhabit the preserved region. the @sea shepherd–is the ngo focusing on the conservation of marine life. the group has more than 643,000 followers on instagram. it uses direct action tactics to protect marine life, such as fighting japanese whaling ships. some photos are quite intense, like the killing of marine animals, but it shows the world what really happens in the oceans. in the area of librarianship, it is possible to highlight some libraries that are present and active on instagram, such as the new york public library (@nypl), with more than 455,000 followers. the nypl profile features posts with aesthetically beautiful photos of books and events that take place at the site. the profile also places full-text books in the app's stories. another highlight is the john rylands library (@thejohnrylands), with over 12,500 followers. its architecture is beautiful and has a very hogwarts vibe, the instagram of this library in manchester, england, posts many photos of its construction. starfield library (@ starfield.library), with more than 16,700 followers, located in seoul, south korea, it is a constant presence in several literary instagrams. the official profile is full of beautiful photos of her architecture and events that take place on the site; library of congress, which has approximately 77,000 followers. the profile presents events and the institution's rich collection. the british library (@britishlibrary) stands out, which has more than 305,000 followers. unlike other profiles of the genre, this one has speeches and interviews with curators and librarians, showing us a new world behind the doors of these institutions. in brazil, the profile of the national library foundation (@ bibliotecanacional.br) has more than 57,000 followers, it presents posts with photos of books and events that take place on site. however, until the conclusion of this study, no profiles of libraries were found on instagram that presented posts aligned with global objectives or on the topic. professional library associations, such as ifla, american library association (ala), febab, have posts based on the international advocacy program (iap), which aims to raise awareness and mobilize libraries and librarians to contribute to the dissemination and implementation of the 2030 agenda. profile @sustentabilidadeinformacional based on the scenario presented in the previous section, an instagram profile @sustentabilidadeinformacional is used for the dissemination of sustainable information, with the aim of informing, raising awareness, transforming and sensitizing users / followers, with this profile is the result of the actions developed by the research project entitled “united nations agenda 2030 in the ifla/febab's advocacy vision with libraries and librarians”, under the coordination of phd. marli dias de souza pinto, from the graduate program in information science (pgcin) at the federal university of santa catarina. frequently regarding the referred project, libraries need to think about a new social paradigm, in which the research project promotes the rescue with a library centered on the organization and availability of systemic knowledge. the objective of the project consists of actions aligned with the international advocacy program (iap) of the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla), to engage librarians at the local level, using the iap, as in the defense of the inclusion of libraries in the objectives and sustainable development goals, available on the united nations geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 9 2030 agenda, through the development of an awareness program with all librarians working in libraries. it is believed that the un sustainable development goals (sdgs) in the rereading of the ifla are not yet part of the context of all libraries, ifla has since 2016 promoted materials, videos, newsletters on its website and social networks, seeking to raise awareness of libraries and librarians for this global cause. ifla contributes to the visibility and importance of libraries and librarians, demonstrating that everyone's engagement in the ifla international advocacy program (iap). the iap program aims to subsidize libraries based on their promotion and support for the execution and implementation of 2030 agenda by promoting actions that seek interests and influence the change in the behavior of the individuals, giving visibility to the importance of education and the library for sustainable development in all scenarios. the information sustainability instagram profile has the main objective of disseminating sustainable information. this is in line with the two missions defended by nolin (2010): aligning the use and access to information to raise awareness, transforming and sensitizing the community of users of the importance of global objectives, such as the current 2030 agenda and the sustainable development goals; as well as providing information on sustainable information technologies, aligning with the main dimensions of sustainable, environmental, social and economic development. the profile completed 1 year on instagram in august 2020, with an average of more than 4,800 followers engaged in the cause of sustainability, sustainable development and global goals. the publications are daily and diverse, exploring the universe of sustainability, seeking to make its followers aware of the importance of a sustainable, inclusive life and equal rights for all. according to the data collected by the information resources available on the instagram application, the instagram sustainability of information profile has a daily average of 438 accesses to the content; a daily average of 112 user interactions on the posted content; and an average of 233 daily likes on the posts made available. it is noticed that followers follow actively as profile posts, in which they interact with the content and share on their personal profiles. as explained by garcia and sá (2017), the use of informational devices from the internet allows information to flow quickly, simultaneously connecting people from different regions. the authors also point out that libraries and information units need to deal with new tools and technologies developed at an ever-increasing speed, with an increasingly broad, shared and dynamic universe of information, with new information demands and with users increasingly connected to social networking sites. seco, santos and bartalo (2016) explained that information science has considerably expanded its focus on studies of information users and has focused attention on virtual communities, seeking to understand the search and use of information in environments. thus, it can be seen that technologies are also the object of study in this interdisciplinary area. seeing these technologies evolve, multiply quickly and help advanced studies on informational behavior will certainly provide users with access to an expanded number of sources and channels of information, which can offer new knowledge, awareness and mobilization for global causes, as the sustainable development goals. geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 10 conclusion it is important to use social media to reach library users. social media allows users to express their opinions on topics presented, services and products offered by the library. with that, libraries can approach this niche of users, and thus, know the real interests and informational needs of the library's virtual audience. libraries can align their informational virtual services on their social networks with global objectives, as proposed and idealized by ifla, with the 2030 agenda international advocacy program. social media, such as instagram, can be a great informational and advocacy tool for library users increasingly present in the digital environment. instagram gained prominence for being a social media that has, since its inception, a massive adhesion of users. with this, libraries can develop advocating goals that take advantage of the nature and language of this application to keep their users informed about the actions and services of the libraries. as a result, it is necessary for libraries to use social media to engage their users and communities in the virtual environment, and to use social media to make their followers aware of the importance of access to information on global causes of sustainability, social equality and human rights humans. for the efficient use of social networking applications, it is necessary that in the strategic planning of the library’s presence on social media, a responsible team is created to monitor and create engaging and informative content, since there is a need to use social media with assiduity and responsibility, providing posts, informational content about the actions, campaigns, updated events developed in the library, as well as informing followers of the actions of global objectives that the representative bodies of the libraries carry out. this will allow libraries to raise awareness, transform, sensitize and mobilize users to topics of global interest, as well as demonstrate the library's interest in issues that are important for human socioeconomic and environmental well-being. finally, it highlights the importance of libraries, librarians, viewing social networks as an efficient means of approaching users. at the same time, align your information services with actions that address the causes and objectives that represent the profession's associative interests, like the projects promoted by ifla. the lis professional organizations use their institutions, knowledge and research to promote, make available and disseminate information in favor of sustainability and sustainable development, aiming at the current socio-economic environmental wellbeing, as well as ensuring that future generations can take advantage of natural, economic and consciously and equally. the north american socio-environmentalist economist, jeffrey sachs (2017), points out that “[...] we have entered a new era, global society is interconnected as never seen before”, and currently “we share the euphoria of new information age and also the fears of an environmental catastrophe on a global scale” (p. 13). given this, “we are faced with new opportunities and also with new social, environmental, economic and informational risks” (p. 13). for this reason, we can affirm that we have reached the “era of sustainable development” and, the safe, reliable access to and efficient usability of information in geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 11 alternative means of communication, other than just in the physical environment of the library, may be the more strategically efficient for the transformation of an egalitarian and sustainable societythe proposal and missions of information sustainability can assist in this real and concrete path of sustainable development. references albagli, s. (1995). informação e desenvolvimento sustentável: novas questões para o século xxi. rio de janeiro. retrieved doi: 10.18225/ci.inf..v24i1.617. brundtland, g. h. (org.) (1987). nosso futuro comum. rio de janeiro: fgv. retrieved from https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4245128/mod_resource/content/3/nosso%2 0futuro%20comum.pdf. febab (federação brasileira de associações de bibliotecários, cientistas da informação e instituições) (2017). retrieved from http://www.febab.org.br/. facebook inc. (2020). about instagram. retrieved from https://about.fb.com/ garcia, i.o.d.s.; sá, m. i. f. e. (2017, april-jun.). bibliotecas no instagram: um estudo sobre o uso do aplicativo por unidades de informação. prisma.com, 35(1). retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11959/brapci/69658. geraldo, g. pinto, m. d. s. (2019, april-jun.). percursos da ciência da informação e os objetivos do desenvolvimento sustentável da agenda 2030/onu. revista acb: biblioteconomia em santa catarina, 24(2). retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11959/brapci/120776. lima, l. e. c. (2018). a sustentabilidade e sua realçai direta com a utilização indevida e desnecessária dos recursos naturais, com o consumismo, com a obsolescência programada e coma reciclagem. são paulo. retrieved from https://www.ecodebate.com.br/2018/08/08/a-sustentabilidade-e-sua-relacao-diretacom-a-utilizacao-indevida-e-desnecessaria-dos-recursos-naturais-artigo-de-luizeduardo-correa-lima/. meschede, c., henkel, m. (2019). information science research sustainable development. proceedings of the association for information science and technology, 55(1). retrieved fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/330812968_information_science_rese arch_and_sustainable_development nolin, j. (2010). informação sustentável e ciência da informação. information research, 15(2). retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/15-2/paper431.html onu (united nations organizations) (2015). transformando nosso mundo: a 2030 agenda para o desenvolvimento sustentável. retrieved from http://www.br.undp.org/content/dam/brazil/docs/agenda2030/undp-br-agenda2030completo-pt-br-2016.pdf. onubr (nações unidas no brasil) (2015). objetivos do desenvolvimento sustentável. retrieved from https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/ods4/. sachs, j. (2017). "the age of sustainable development". columbia university press. seco, l.f.c. (2016). comportamento informacional e compartilhamento no instagram. revista acb: biblioteconomia em santa catarina, 21(1). retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11959/brapci/76475 spink, a. (1999). information science in sustainable development and deindustrialization. information research, 5(1). retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/5-1/paper65.html geraldo and pinto / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 12   about the authors genilson geraldo: bachelor of library science from the federal university of santa catarina; specialization in legal document management; representative member of the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) at the 58th session of the united nations commission on sustainable social development; creator and manager of youtube channel content and profile on the social network instagram @sustentabilidadeinformacional; he is currently a master's student in information science at the graduate program in information science at the federal university of santa catarina (pgcin / ufsc). develops research on sustainability; sustainable development; informational sustainability; legal information; information management; sustainable development goals; green marketing; informational quality in sustainability reports. marli dias de souza pinto (pinto, m. d. s): professor of the postgraduate program in information science and of the undergraduate courses at the department of information science at the federal university of santa catarina. phd in production engineering; master in administration and graduated in library science (ufsc). develops research on informational sustainability, sustainable development goals, 2030 agenda, international advocacy program, studies of information users, marketing in information units. 001_170-article_title-1 001_170-article-1-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the importance of children’s libraries in the pandemic: a case study in turkey asiye kakirman yildiz abstract: during tumultuous times, the need for information has become even greater. however, in pandemic process, not everyone could access information equally. inequality of academic opportunity, especially among children, has increased all over the world. as a developing country in turkey, children’s access to information during the pandemic process hasn’t been conducted. based on this problem, during pandemic we prepared an online education project first time in turkey via a children’s library. within the scope of the project, a total of 34 workshops in 12 different branches were prepared. during 14 days, 171 students between the ages of 6 and 10 were given 23 hours of training. this project highlighted how children’s libraries can be used as a learning center for disadvantaged children. as a result of the study, it was seen that providing new learning environments via the children’s library has positive effects on disadvantaged children and their families. to cite this article: yildiz, a. k. (2023). the importance of children’s libraries in the pandemic: a case study in turkey. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 11-30. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.220 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 11-30 issn: 2474-3542 the importance of children’s libraries in the pandemic: a case study in turkey asiye kakirman yildiz, marmara university, turkey abstract during tumultuous times, the need for information has become even greater. however, in pandemic process, not everyone could access information equally. inequality of academic opportunity, especially among children, has increased all over the world. as a developing country in turkey, children’s access to information during the pandemic process hasn’t been conducted. based on this problem, during pandemic we prepared an online education project first time in turkey via a children’s library. within the scope of the project, a total of 34 workshops in 12 different branches were prepared. during 14 days, 171 students between the ages of 6 and 10 were given 23 hours of training. this project highlighted how children’s libraries can be used as a learning center for disadvantaged children. as a result of the study, it was seen that providing new learning environments via the children’s library has positive effects on disadvantaged children and their families. keywords: children’s libraries, equality of opportunity, out-of-school learning, pandemic, covid-19 introduction one of the library’s key missions is to provide services to entire communities, regardless of background or socioeconomic status. children’s libraries are free and publicly supported institutions that can play a role in improving the negative effects of childhood for children born and living who are necessarily disadvantaged by their families (poverty; being a refugee; low education level of parents; at least one parent in prison, etc.). and it is a public right to receive services from these libraries (kakırman yıldız, 2019). therefore, in social structures where there is a serious difference between social and economic indicators, children’s libraries should work for “equality of opportunity” in order to balance the representation power of children belonging to the upper-socio-economic level and the lower-socio-economic level. designing children’s libraries as education providers lies at the heart of working for equal opportunities (sey, coward and bar, 2013). from this point of view, as education providers outside of formal education institutions, children's libraries should prepare workshops, educational programs suitable for age groups and create clubs appropriate to the needs (language club, drama club, homework club, etc.) to support the academic, language and cognitive development of children. yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 12 the disconnection of children from schools during the covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the inequality of academic opportunity and learning loss among children all over the world. it has been observed that developed countries are trying to solve this problem by reaching out to children via children’s libraries and trying to provide them with new online learning environments. however, as a developing country in turkey it is not possible to say that the children’s libraries adapt to pandemic period. with the pandemic, all libraries were closed and unfortunately no online services were offered. thus, access to information by disadvantaged children, whose access to information is already limited, has almost come to a halt. in the development goals of the united nations, it is emphasized that in order for sustainable development to be realized all over the world, it is necessary to ensure equality of opportunity in education and to offer lifelong learning opportunities to everyone (transforming our world…., 2018). but, during the pandemic period, the academic gap between the disadvantaged child and the advantageous child has increased even more. however, if children’s libraries are designed as out-of-school learning centers, they can be used as a good learning center for disadvantaged children. literature review the importance of children’s libraries in pandemic the pandemic has deeply affected the entire world, libraries, users and services. but as always, children were the most affected by this process. unicef announced that the schools of more than 168 million children around the world have been closed for a year due to the coronavirus epidemic. the organization warned that the closure of schools would have “devastating consequences” (covid: schools…, 2021). as was the case with many issues during the pandemic, children’s access to books revealed a number of problems based on inequality. some parents can buy books for their children, while others do not have the financial flexibility and disposable income to do so. research conducted by the world book day charity revealed that since the beginning of the pandemic the number of children reading has declined, and a quarter of primary schools expressed concern that access to books has become a barrier to reading for pleasure and general literacy levels. recent reports highlight that even in the uk, which is one of the strongest economies in the world, up to 30 percent of children still live in poverty, with nine out of every 30 classes living in poverty (libraries can save us…., 2021). especially in developing countries, being from the disadvantaged group is not only related with low socio-economic level but also with living in an environment where mentality is shallow. according to the results of the studies, it is seen that there is a gap between girls and boys in having equal opportunities in some countries (development and access to information, 2020). for this reason, children’s library services will serve as a solidarity network especially for disadvantaged children and families and in a sense, will function as a social support mechanism (tuğrul and yılmaz, 2013). children’s libraries are free and equitable intervention centers that can provide a learning environment for children and families. inequality of opportunity may increase depending on the environment at home and the school children attend. child development experts, pedagogues, sociologists and educators state yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 13 that the opportunities the child has and the family environment s/he is in play a critical role in dealing with the psychological problems created by the pandemic process. children's libraries should be one of the necessary intervention settings in order to equalize or minimize this disadvantaged indicator of children who are necessarily disadvantaged due to their families (dearing, mccartney and taylor, 2001). the start date of the distance education in turkey (march 23, 2020) is seen as continuing deepening of inequalities in access to quality education. as of the end of 2020, a group of students attending private schools interactively participated in the lessons through live lessons, while the other group that went to the public school tried to continue learning by watching video lessons only on television channels, some of them did not even have access to television or disconnected from distance learning for various reasons (tedmem, 2021). many projections have been made that estimate the negative effects of education disruption due to covid-19 on both individuals, society and the economy. the mathematical modeling made shows that learning losses are not only the loss students experience in their education life but also there will be great losses in basic skills, individual gain, welfare level, and the growth and development of the country’s economy (dorn, hancock, sarakatsannis, & viruleg, 2020). when schools are closed, students’ social and emotional development is adversely affected and it causes nutritional and behavioral problems in students (who and unicef, 2020). this lost quality will deepen for disadvantaged students, girls, ethnic minorities and students in need of special education, who are more likely to have problems accessing distance education (tedmem, 2021). therefore, early intervention programs should be implemented for these children from the disadvantaged group and their families. the child who feels deprived should be supported with out-of-school activities and social and academic inequalities with other children should be balanced. the most basic center that can be used for this is children’s libraries. for example, the project called “bookstart” in many countries around the world is a product of the goal of minimizing child disadvantage via libraries (bookstart inspired programs ..., 2021). united nations which announced its targets for 2030 (transforming our world, 2020), in order to ensure sustainable development in every field all over the world, emphasized the need for public and children's libraries to serve as learning centers (development and access to information, 2020). international federation of libray association (ifla) takes decisions to support these goals, which is one of the main institutions in determining and applying the principles of librarianship, investigated whether libraries produce services for children and young people during the covid-19 process and explained how library services can be offered in this process. in the same study, trying to balance the inequality of access to information and resources between children and young people was also named as one of the tasks of children’s and youth libraries. in this process, the necessity of providing access to online resources and technology suitable for children and young people was emphasized (library services to people…., 2021; jones, 2009; pötsönen, 2020). in accordance with ifla’s advice it is seen that children’s libraries had to take an innovative approach, especially to ensure disadvantaged children access information and support their continued learning. during the pandemic, it has been observed that many libraries work for children and their families such as workshops, reading hours, origami, helping with homework yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 14 (chicago public library, 2021; scottish book trust, 2021; los angeles public library, 2021; fayette county public library; 2021) methodology and process aim, scope and hypothesis in this project, we aimed those: 1to present a model the first time in turkey on how to use children's libraries as a learning center. 2-to show how this deficit of children who do not have equal opportunity academically can be eliminated through free training in children’s libraries, in cooperation with volunteer educators. 3it is aimed to contribute to the children to be qualified and successful individuals in the future by gaining exploration, socialization, language development and analytical thinking skills. 4with the project realized, free public service was provided to girls and boys of different age groups, regardless of location. however, the project has effects on various groups. along with children, families, librarians, educators (teachers, academics) are in this group. therefore, this project, which has a community-based approach in terms of social benefit, is the ultimate goal to be taken as an example by other libraries and schools, and to be implemented and disseminated. in the studies conducted within the scope of the project, it was aimed to draw attention to the fact that the only purpose of children’s libraries should focus not only on lending books but also on the academic needs of children. the hypothesis of this project is “children's libraries, can be used as an education and training center in order to minimize the academic opportunity inequality among children” has been proven by looking the results of the satisfaction questionnaire conducted after the workshops. according to result, the parents were extremely satisfied with the workshops and homework clubs held free of charge through the children’s library. preliminary process primarily, it has been worked on under which subject headings virtual google classrooms should be opened. since google classroom is a free application and this study was conducted with volunteers, the program did not cost anything. subsequently, volunteers who could provide training for these clubs and workshops were determined and contacted. after the workshops and clubs were determined, a registration form for the participants and the content of the workshop and clubs’ activity program were prepared and announced on the social media platforms of the children’s library which is serving in one of istanbul’s districts with the lowest socio-economic level. in this way, 171 disadvantaged children were reached. the questionnaire was not applied to the children as they were younger than 18 years old. instead, the following questions were asked to the parents (171 people) of the children who enrolled in the workshop during the workshop registrations: yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 15 the type of school your child attends (public primary school / private primary school) should our library continue to organize such events? what other workshops should we add? do you have any suggestions for us? online education process after the registrations were completed, virtual classes were opened on the google classroom learning platform and students were placed in the workshops and clubs they chose. zoom links of the virtual classes were conveyed to the students who enrolled in the relevant workshop / club before each session. in this way, the instructors and students of each workshop and club met in the virtual classroom environment. a zoom link was created for each virtual classroom and the student who wanted to join the workshop joined the workshop by clicking this link. each workshop took approximately 40 minutes. the quota for each workshop and club is limited to 50 people. in the project, there were 3 different workshops every weekday and homework clubs at the weekend. these workshops and homework clubs were following: -music workshop -space sciences workshop -book club -homework club -art studio -experiment workshop -ottoman workshop -i’m meeting the author workshop -philosophy workshop -diy workshop -productive thinking skills workshop museum studies workshop after education process after the workshops were completed, a questionnaire measuring was applied which children and parent satisfaction with the project and their awareness about the children’s library. the questionnaire was sent 3 times on different days to the e-mails of 171 parents who registered for the workshops and clubs. at the end of 3 days, feedback was received from 43 people in total. the survey results were analyzed based on the answers given by 43 people. according to the results of the satisfaction questionnaire conducted after the workshops, the parents were extremely satisfied with the workshops and homework clubs held free of charge through the children’s library and stated that it should be continued. yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 16 result analysis the type of school your child attends (public primary school / private primary school) to this question, where we analyzed whether there is a significant difference between the types of schools attended by children who choose to participate in workshops and clubs. 133 (78%) of 171 parents answered public primary school and 38 (22%) answered private primary education (figure 1). figure 1 school type of children attending the workshop should our library continue to organize such events? we asked the families of children participating in workshops and clubs. it is seen that all 171 parents (100%) answered yes to the question (figure 2). public primary school 78% private primary school 22% yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 17 figure 2 opinion of children’s libraries on continuing to organize workshop and club activities what other workshops should we add? from the answers they gave to the question, it was seen that families and children mostly wanted robotics and coding trainings, painting workshops and chess clubs (figure 3). 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 171 0 0 yes no doesn't matter yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 18 figure 3 requested workshops do you have any suggestions for us? when looking at the answers given to the question, it is seen that the parents express their satisfaction with this study. in addition, it is observed that parents mostly demand that the number of activities increase, the quotas are increased, the age range is wider and similar workshops are usually paid, so children’s libraries demand these workshops regularly (figure 4). scientific-experimental workshops english reading painting robotics and coding seeing movie design workshop marbling workshops on nature life skills workshop mind games chess sport creative drama writing workshop fun science science archaeology puppet making ceramic rhythm speaking skills 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 19 figure 4 views and suggestions of the workshops in the project parent’s satisfaction with the project a questionnaire was applied to the families of the children participating in the project, measuring their satisfaction with the project and their awareness about the children’s library, and the results were analyzed. all of the 43 parents who participated in the survey found the workshops offered in the project useful for their children. after the workshops, it is seen that their children apply or convey what they have learned, that children’s libraries should continue to provide educational content for children, and that children’s libraries create a good learning environment for their children. in the results of the same survey, it was seen that it is important for the majority of parents (38 people) that these workshops the number of foreign language workshops should increase the number of homework clubs should increase the number of museum workshops should increase the number of arabic and ottoman workshops should increase the number of thinking skills workshops should increase they can make their age a little bit older experiment workshops could be a little more these workshops should become regular. it is usually paid outside. where do the words come from? workshops like workshop can be urgent. may have an interesting literacy section for kids with dyslexia it would be great for kids if a regular book club was established spaceships are already finished .. the quota should be more. we would like to increase the number and frequency of the activities. if you offer more variety for 6-9 year olds, that group can also take advantage. unfortunately, the quotas are full, i'm very sorry :( thank you to those who work 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 20 are free of charge, and again the vast majority (36 people) do not know that children’s libraries can prepare educational programs according to children’s needs. during the pandemic process, it was determined that the number of parents who can offer their children an out-of-school learning environment is extremely low (13 people) (figure 5). all parents state that these educational environments that children’s libraries offer free of charge as an out-of-school learning environment should continue; it is observed that only 5 out of 43 parents who answered the satisfaction questionnaire stated that if these workshops are paid, they can register their children for at most 2 of them (figure 5). figure 5 parents’ satisfaction with the project and their interpretation of children’s libraries discussion when the activity program is announced on the social media accounts of the children’s library, the workshop quotas (50 people x 34 workshops and clubs = 1700 registrations) are filled within 18 hours. it shows that the children and their families have need new learning environments and access to information and activities free of charge. during the pandemic process, we were able to offer my child opportunities for new learning environments (attending paid online workshops, doing activities at home, etc.). 3% i think that workshop trainings give my child a new learning environment. 10% children's libraries should continue to prepare educational programs according to the needs of our children. 28%if the workshops in this project were paid, my child could not attend the workshops at all or at most 2. 24% my child told or applied what s/he learned or heard from the workshop after the workshop. 14% i think these workshops contribute to my child's academic development. 21% yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 21 it is seen that there is a significant difference between the school types of the children participating in the workshop. participation of the children attending the public primary school more to the workshops shows that the opportunity for children to participate in the workshops offered by other institutions is related to the economic situation that families can provide for their children. as a matter of fact, it is estimated that children who can receive primary education for a fee can also attend museums and workshops offered by institutions that create out-of-school learning environments. “which other workshops should we add?” it is important to determine that families and children mostly want robotics and coding trainings, painting workshops and chess clubs from the answers they gave to the question, as it is a guiding data for the next workshop. “what are you suggesting to us?” the fact that the parents, whom we asked, want the number of activities to increase and similar workshops for groups other than primary school students, again free of charge, will be used as an important data for the next project. when the results of the satisfaction questionnaire made to the parents at the end of the project were examined, it was found that all parents found the workshops offered in the project useful for their children. after the workshops, it is seen that their children apply or convey what they have learned, that children’s libraries should continue to provide educational content for children, and that children’s libraries create a good learning environment for their children. according to the results of the same survey, it was seen that it is important for most of the parents that these workshops are free of charge, and again, the majority of them do not know that children’s libraries can prepare educational programs according to the needs of children. during the pandemic process, it was determined that the number of parents who can offer their children an out-of-school learning environment is extremely low. the success of the implementation process of this study and the satisfaction with the results provided a model for how a children’s library can be used as a learning center. librarians and users are presented with a formula for how a children’s library can be accessible even when it is not physically accessible. the fact that this study was conducted with volunteer educators also showed how important volunteering service is for children’s libraries. thanks to the educators who will work voluntarily in children’s libraries, it has been shown that children’s libraries can also be used as an out-ofschool learning environment for children who do not have equal opportunities academically. the fact that the girls and boys participating in this study have a learning environment under equal conditions, when examined in the long term, helped them to gain exploration, socialization, language development and analytical thinking skills. therefore, it is known that children’s out-of-school learning environments become much more restricted, especially in a difficult period such as the pandemic. while some families can buy these works for their children by private museums and workshops for a fee, it is a fact that many families do not have this opportunity. as can be seen from the above results, as a result of designing children's libraries, which are free public institutions, as learning centers, disadvantaged children can also benefit from these opportunities; in this way, it is seen that it can be a solution to the inequality of academic opportunity among children in terms of out of school learning environments. yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 22 conclusion this project is important in terms of showing that children’s libraries can be used as a learning platform if they are organized within a certain program and content is created according to the needs of children and that they are an institution that can be a solution to the inequality of opportunity in education. especially in developing countries such as turkey, where the economy, educational infrastructure and academic opportunity are weak, it is extremely easy and cheap to ensure equal academic opportunity among children by using children’s libraries as learning-entertainment and education centers. it is thought that the implementation of a similar project across the country, and even expanding its scope to include families, will contribute to the academic, linguistic, social and cognitive development of individuals in developing countries. this positive effect will be able to create much more comprehensive learning environments for children and even families. the positive impact of free content on children in children's libraries will spread throughout the country in the long run, and the power to create this effect 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(2019). öğrenme merkezi olarak çocuk kütüphaneleri. in “dünyanın i̇yiliği i̇çin çocuk kütüphaneleri” (s. 119–120). i̇stanbul: hiperyayın. libraries can save us – on book days and every day (2021) access address: https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/librariescan-save-us-on-book-days-and-every-day/ library services to people with special needs section (2021) access address: https://www. ifla.org/ publications/node/12642#:~:text=introduction,to%20access%20current%20library%20serves los angeles public library (2021). welcome to kids path. access address: https://www.lapl.org/kids pötsönen, u. (2020). children of library land the past, present and future of finnish library services for children and young people, tema, 36, 44–51 scottish book trust (2021) access address: https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning-andresources sey, a., coward,c, bar, f., sciadas, g., rothschild, c. ve koepke, l. connecting people for development: why public access icts matter. global impact study of public access to icts. final research report. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/22753/global_impac t_study_2013.pdf tedmem (2021). 2020 eğitim değerlendirme raporu (education evaluation report) tedmem değerlendirme dizisi 7. ankara: türk eğitim derneği transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. (2020). a / res / 70 / 1 united nations. access address: https://sustainabledevelopment tuğrul, b. ve yılmaz, h. (2013). toplum temelli erken çocukluk hizmetleri sunumu kılavuzu. ankara: unicef türkiye ofisi. who and unicef recommit to accelerating health and well-being at all ages (2021, 1 january). access address: https://www.unicef.org/turkey/en/press-releases/who-and-unicef-recommitaccelerating-health-and-well-being-all-ages https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/libraries-%20can-save-us-on-book-days-and-every-day/ https://www.lapl.org/kids https://www.unicef.org/turkey/en/press-releases/who-and-unicef-recommit-accelerating-health-and-well-being-all-ages https://www.unicef.org/turkey/en/press-releases/who-and-unicef-recommit-accelerating-health-and-well-being-all-ages yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 24 appendices appendix 1 weekly schedule of workshops and clubs monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday 10:00 – 10:40 space workshop music workshop space workshop art workshop diy workshop 11:00 – 11:40 book club book club i meet the author workshop book club book club english homework club english homework club 12:00 – 12:40 ottoman workshop experimen t workshop philosophy workshop thinking skills workshop museology workshop mathematics homework club mathematic s homework club yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 25 appendix 2 – children’s library online event program content children’s library online event program content space sciences workshop / 7-10 years monday, january 25, 10:00 am // wednesday, january 27, 10:00 monday, february 1, 10:00 am // wednesday, february 3, 10:00 this workshop will be given by çelebi kalkan, who has both national and international studies on space and astronomy. the workshop consists of physical activities that help children develop strength, endurance, coordination and spatial awareness, and scientific activities that focus on stem issues and allow students to reason scientifically. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance. music workshop / 7-10 years tuesday, 26 january at 10:00 // tuesday, 2 february at 10:00 in this workshop, “ud” and “tambur”, which are less known classical turkish music instruments by children than some instruments, are introduced. in the workshop to be given by udî hüseyin kıyak and tamburî fatih baha aydın, the artists also perform some works by famous composers. book club / 6-9 ages // 7-10 ages // 8-10 ages monday, 25 january / time 11:00 // tuesday, january 26 / 11:00 thursday, january 28 / 11:00 // friday, january 29 / 11:00 1 february monday / 11:00 // 2 february tuesday / 11:00 thursday, 4 february / 11:00 am // friday, 5 february / 11:00 children travel to the magical world of books and libraries, accompanied by creative drama methods and entertaining games, at the workshop led by aslı erden, the library manager of the selimiye children’s library. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance.) thinking skills workshop / 7-8 years // 9-10 years thursday, january 28 / 12:00 // thursday, february 4 / 12:00 productive thinking is a system of thinking directed towards creating new thoughts, inventions and tools. the orientation of intelligence to productive thinking can be an innate feature or it can be developed through education. the existing productive thinking skills of children can sometimes be dulled by being squeezed into stereotypes. for this reason, teaching productive thinking systems to children from an early age and encouraging them to produce products in this field enables the child to look at events from different perspectives in adulthood.with “productive thinking skills” given yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 26 by necmettin moroğlu, it is aimed for children to produce “fluent”, “flexible” “rich” and “original” products. philosophy workshop / 910 years wednesday, january 27 / 12:00 // wednesday, february 3 / 12:00 participants of this workshop, which does not require any prior knowledge or preparation and will be given by çağla gülses, have the opportunity to both talk about their situations and different emotions and express their creativity through play. homework club “mathematics” and “english” // 8-10 ages 30 january saturday / 11:00 // 31 january sunday / 11:00 saturday, february 6 / 11:00 / sunday, february 7 / 11:00 the workshop, which aims to create a learning environment where students can ask questions they cannot solve in their homework, includes mathematics and english lessons. mathematics teacher fadime moroğlu; english questions are answered by asiye kakırman yıldız. assisting students who send their questions to the workshop leaders the day before; as well as reinforcing their knowledge by allowing them to see other question styles. art workshop // 8-10 ages thursday, january 28 / time: 10: 00 // thursday, february 4 / time: 10:00 in the workshop where world-famous painters osman hamdi bey and picasso will be told, firstly, information about the painters and their works is given and videos are watched; then art work is done. participants, who try to imitate the techniques in these works, using the information conveyed during the workshop to be conducted by the teacher sevda güçlü, embark on a journey to discover the art of painting. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance.) experiment workshop // 7-8 years // 8-9 years tuesday, january 26 / time: 12:00 // tuesday, february 2 / time: 12:00 two different experiments are carried out in the workshop, which aims to explain to children that all movements in nature occur through a simple physics and chemistry event. büşra doğan is the director of the “weather events” workshop, and tuğba sarıkaya is the manager of the “connected vessels” workshop. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance.) ottoman workshop // 9-10 years monday, january 25 / 12:00 / age 9-10 // monday, february 1 / 12:00 / age 9-10 in this workshop, books, letters, catering, denunciation, kerem, etc., which are ottoman words that we use frequently in daily language. how many words are formed is explained? for this purpose, yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 27 kenan yıldız, who is the director of the workshop, first introduces ottoman letters to children and encourages them to write; then he explains how different words are formed with the same letters. i meet the author workshop // 7-9 years // 6-9 years wednesday, january 27 / 11:00 / wednesday, february 3 / 11:00 famous authors nihan temiz and sara şahinkanat read their most read books for children using creative drama technique and share the story of the book with them. the workshop aims for children to experience the excitement of meeting the author whose book they have read before and to strengthen their bond with the book. diy (do it yourself) workshop // 7-9 years // 8-10 years friday, 29 january / 10:00 // friday, 5 february / 10:00 büşra doğan and tuğba sarıkaya are the executives of the workshop, which aims to create new products and create environmental awareness with waste materials at home. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance.) museology workshop friday, january 29 / 12:00 // friday, february 5 / 12:00 asiye kakırman yıldız is the director of the workshop, which aims to instill museum awareness in children and explain why museums are important for a nation. first, the children take a journey to the british museum and the louvre museum, and then they put the remnants of this journey on paper. (the list of materials required for this workshop will be shared with the participants in advance.) yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 28 appendix 3google classroom of workshops and club yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 29 yildiz / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 30 appendix 4google classroom access to workshops ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author prof. dr. asiye kakirman yildiz is an academic at marmara university in turkey since 2002. prof. dr. yildiz has been collaborating with various non-governmental organizations, ministries and municipalities to explain the importance of children’s libraries in turkey. prof. dr. yildiz explains to the librarians working in the children’s library what the mission of the children’s library is and what can be done for children and families in children’s libraries in person or virtually. prof. dr. yildiz encourage my students to work voluntarily in children’s libraries and to produce projects for the benefit of the child and family. 220-title-page 220-layout the importance of children’s libraries in the pandemic: a case study in turkey asiye kakirman yildiz, marmara university, turkey abstract literature review the importance of children’s libraries in pandemic methodology and process aim, scope and hypothesis preliminary process online education process after education process result analysis the type of school your child attends (public primary school / private primary school) should our library continue to organize such events? what other workshops should we add? do you have any suggestions for us? dıscussıon issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org integrating immersive experiences to instruction through breakout edu: lessons learned vincci kwong, judith falzon, and julie feighery abstract: this study employed an escape room motif to engage students to use information literacy course material to solve puzzles. students practiced research techniques in a classroom environment that bypassed their expectations of traditional course instruction. instructor objectives were to increase student engagement with the course material, and to foster teamwork among students in a cooperative learning environment. authors initially obtained 9 kits from breakout edu, a company specializing in immersive games. games were devised for three of the course units, with each unit identifying 4-5 information literacy skills or concepts. the puzzles were focused on reinforcement of the key concepts. after each escape room class session, students completed a short survey. at the end of the semester students completed another survey about their experiences. over 80% of students indicated the games helped them understand course concepts. comparisons of final grades in the gamified courses with previous, non-gamified courses revealed that students achieved more a’s and fewer d’s and f’s in the gamified courses. future directions for study include flipping game design to student groups, and further analysis of correlations between concepts learned through traditional teaching techniques and those learned in breakout edu classes. to cite this article: kwong, v., falzon, j. & feighery, j. (2022). integrating immersive experiences to instruction through breakout edu: lessons learned. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 116-126. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol7.1.209 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol7.1.209 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 116-126. issn: 2474-3542 integrating immersive experiences to instruction through breakout edu: lessons learned vincci kwong, judith falzon, and julie feighery indiana university south bend, in, usa abstract this study employed an escape room motif to engage students to use information literacy course material to solve puzzles. students practiced research techniques in a classroom environment that bypassed their expectations of traditional course instruction. instructor objectives were to increase student engagement with the course material, and to foster teamwork among students in a cooperative learning environment. authors initially obtained 9 kits from breakout edu, a company specializing in immersive games. games were devised for three of the course units, with each unit identifying 4-5 information literacy skills or concepts. the puzzles were focused on reinforcement of the key concepts. after each escape room class session, students completed a short survey. at the end of the semester students completed another survey about their experiences. over 80% of students indicated the games helped them understand course concepts. comparisons of final grades in the gamified courses with previous, non-gamified courses revealed that students achieved more a’s and fewer d’s and f’s in the gamified courses. future directions for study include flipping game design to student groups, and further analysis of correlations between concepts learned through traditional teaching techniques and those learned in breakout edu classes. keywords: information literacy, escape room, gaming, student learning, library instruction introduction iu south bend is a medium-size public university located in the northwestern part of indiana. the university enrolls over 4500 undergraduate students and over 500 graduate students. over 93% of students are indiana residents, and 72% are traditional age students. information literacy became part of the general education curriculum in 2005 and since then, students have been required to complete introduction to information literacy (q110), a one-credit undergraduate course to fulfill their general education requirements. while it is recommended for their first year, many students choose to postpone taking the class until their junior or senior year. kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 117 based on our experience and in previous research (olsen and diekema 2012; gross and latham 2012) first-year students entering the class are very familiar with the basics of search engines (specifically google) and thus often have a high level of confidence (typically over confidence) in their abilities to do academic research. they are comfortable with a few websites and databases learned in high school and are resistant to learning and practicing college level research techniques such as searching specialized databases, using limiters, checking authority, and learning citation skills. this inhibits students’ growth towards analytical and research skill proficiency. we’ve discovered from comments in our evaluations and in discussions with students that some students who took the class during their junior or senior year felt they had already learned some of the research skills and techniques from other courses. these factors have contributed a negative impact on students’ willingness to learn and engage in the classroom. q110 instructors were looking for new methods to engage students after having experimented with flipped classrooms, small group discussion and other methods with limited impact. the authors’ objective in shifting towards a game-based learning for the course was to optimize learning through an approach outside students’ expectations. escape rooms are a popular group activity where people are locked in a room and given a series of puzzles and clues that will help them find their way out. through escape room puzzles, students would experience research techniques in a new way. escape room participants, even outside an academic setting, instinctively formulate hypotheses after analyzing the puzzles and generating possible solutions. they then test their hypotheses, and if necessary, reformulated approaches to solving the clues. this allows students to engage with specific course material linked to course learning objectives. beyond helping them with their research skills, the authors wanted to create teamwork and a cooperative learning environment. these ‘soft skills’ are in demand not only in an academic environment, but also are important workforce skills. (o’brien & pitera, 2019). literature review trudi jacobson, head of information literacy at the university at albany-suny, co-taught a required seminar for first-year students using breakout edu, a puzzle-based immersive learning platform. jacobson found the breakout session mirrored the inquiry necessary for research with reflections clearly showed that students experienced the emotional cycle and the inquiry mindset connected with the research process (detwiler et al., 2018). in addition, the co-instructor of the class observed an immediate and marked change in the willingness of members of one particularly reluctant class to participate in class discussion (detwiler et al., 2018). librarians at the university of tennessee, knoxville successfully used breakout edu with first year seminar courses, where they found the students discovered an appreciation for librarians’ ability to offer “just-in-time” instruction while students were playing the game (ruffin & miranda, 2018). in addition, the game resulted in an increase in the reach of their instruction efforts with fys courses, as the number of librarian led instruction sessions jumped from 20% of fys courses in 2015 to 60% in 2016 (ruffin & miranda, 2018). at skidmore college, librarians used breakout edu in their freshman seminar library instruction sessions, where feedback from first year seminar faculty reporting that the game was a majority of the students’ favorite part of the seminar (o’brien & pitera, 2019). librarians at the university of north alabama also implemented breakout edu games into their first year experience library orientation sessions, making use of false clues to lengthen the game (pate & kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 118 malone, 2018). escape room exercises have been implemented in classrooms in other disciplines, particularly the health sciences. guckian, sridhar, & meggitt, (2020) successfully implemented escape room exercises into their dermatology courses in medical school. in a survey of the escape room literature, veldkamp, daemen, et al (2020) found that part of what makes escape room exercises such powerful learning experiences is that they incorporate m.c. linn’s four principles of knowledge integration: “making learning accessible, making thinking “visible,” helping pupils to learn from each other, and promoting autonomous learning” (veldkamp, daemen, et al 1222). clarke, arnab, keegan et al (2016) found that through their creation of escape rooms in the college classroom led to game design thinking, which “help[s] students and teachers break out of the lecture/test model.” how it works breakout edu (https://www.breakoutedu.com/) is the tool we utilized to implement the escape room experience for q110. a teacher subscription plus kit costs $238, which includes the breakout edu kit and 12 months access to breakout edu subject packs. each subject pack comes with breakout edu kit games developed for a wide variety of curriculums targeting some of the most commonly taught topics. in 2018, the authors obtained an internal grant to purchase nine teacher subscription plus kits, three kits for each instructor to implement the escape room experience in their classroom. while there are subject pack games that focus on library-related topics, they are mostly geared toward k-12 students. additionally, the topics being offered by breakout edu do not align well with the learning objectives for q110. as a result, the authors decided to build their games from scratch instead of using the games that came with breakout edu subject packs. after reviewing the q110 curriculum, the authors selected three topics that were the most challenging to past students to create new games. for each topic, 4-5 concepts/skills essential for students to master were identified. iucat, indiana university’s online catalog, was one of the selected topics. concepts/skills that are essential for students to master includes: (1) interpreting catalog record for specific item; (2) identify location of specific item; (3) retrieving specific item; and (4) understanding of features offered by iucat. clues/puzzles were then developed for which students utilize a specific concept/skill to resolve them to obtain a combination to unlock a corresponding lock. in the case of iucat, a 4-digit lock, a 3 digit lock, a directional lock, and a pad lock are used. for the 4 digital lock, the clue is designed for students to search for specific items and to identify their physical location in the library. for the 3-digit lock, students need to have a good understanding of different components of a catalog record in order to identify the common components for a combination to unlock the lock. to resolve the directional lock, the students need to have a good understanding of what materials are contained in the catalog and the features being offered by the catalog. the clue of the final pad lock contains the call number for two book. to obtain the key from the instructor to unlock the pad lock, students need to retrieve the books from the stack. once all the locks are opened, students were rewarded with a prize. a short paper survey was distributed to gather immediate feedback from students on their game experience. a debriefing followed each game, and the authors asked students which clues/puzzles they encountered were difficult to resolve. then, the authors discussed the specific concepts/skills in further details. https://www.breakoutedu.com/ kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 119 a class of 24 students were divided into 3 groups with approximately 8 students per group. the class was given 25 minutes to resolve all clues/puzzles in order to obtain the prize locked in the box. use of computers and mobile devices were allowed to look up information if needed. when students encountered issues or problems, they could use a hint card to seek assistance from the instructor. an online timer with music was used to track time. what we learned to assess whether the implementation of escape room learning experience via the use of the breakout edu kits helped to increase interactivity and student engagement with the course materials, two different surveys were employed. • at the end of each game, a paper survey with five questions was given to get immediate feedback on a specific game and gather any feedback to enhance the next game. • at the end of the semester, an online survey with nine questions was distributed to solicit overall feedback from students regarding their escape room learning experience. end of game surveys a short survey, given on paper, was distributed at the end of each game to gather students’ immediate feedback. over the course of two semesters, we collected 130 responses for the iucat game, 123 responses for the citation game and 104 responses for the information evaluation and database searching game. quantitative findings for three of the questions is provided in table 1. table 1 results from end of game surveys survey question name of games iucat citation information evaluation and database searching before participating in the breakout edu game, all/some concepts are known to me. 56.60% 83.50% 78.20% i strongly agree/agree the game helps me to increase understanding of concepts on the topic. 88.70% 84.10% 80.20% i strongly agree/agree the time limit set for this game is reasonable. 82.40% 86.60% 74.60% the other two questions in the short survey asked students what part of the game was most challenging and what suggestions they would make to enhance the game. there were a couple of feedback responses that were in common for all sections after the first game. they were 1) to kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 120 reduce group size and 2) to include lock instruction. to lower the ratio of students per box from 6-7 to 4-6, additional breakout edu kits were purchased. the authors would like to increase participation of students with the additional kits. since students are new to the locks at their first game, there was feedback for providing instructions on how to operate the locks. while most students feel comfortable participating in the game, a few students indicated in the survey that they prefer not to participate in future games. as a result, those students who choose not to participate in the future games were assigned a traditional written assignment. other comments we received included how fun the game was and suggested additional locks/clues for future games. as students participated in the second and third games, they became more experienced with the game boxes, and their self-reliance and confidence grew. there were fewer complaints regarding locks or clues. the instructor’s job was now less to provide assistance and more to provide encouragement and support in the face of frustration. end of semester survey at the end of the semester, students were asked to complete an end of semester survey which was administrated online. participation in the survey was optional, though the authors provided bonus points to encourage students to take the survey. unlike the end of game surveys, the response rate for the end of semester survey is 29%, which is low. over the course of two semesters, the authors received 45 responses. the end of semester survey contains 8 questions, of which the three questions in table 2 aim to collect feedback regarding the effectiveness of the games. table 2 survey results from end of semester survey survey question strongly agree/agree neutral disagree/strongly disagree the breakout edu games increased interactivity and student engagement in class. 86.40% 13.60% 0.00% the debrief/reflection time is an effective way to clarify difficult/challenging concepts. 80.00% 13.30% 6.70% the breakout edu games developed my abilities and skills for the specific topics. 75.50% 13.30% 11.10% one of the goals of implementing the escape room learning experience is to increase interactivity and student engagement in class. according to the student feedback, 86.4% of survey respondents either strongly agree/agree that we achieved this goal. while it is important to provide a fun learning environment for students, it is equally important for students to learn the skills for kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 121 the specific topics, and 75.5% of the survey respondents either strongly agree/agree that the breakout edu games helped to develop their abilities and skills for the specific topics. to ensure students master concepts/skills on a topic, debrief/reflection time was offered at the end of the game and it is satisfying to know that 80% of the survey respondents find the debrief/reflection time is effective in helping them overcome difficult/challenging concepts. in addition to the three questions above, we asked students to rank the effectiveness of games in helping them to acquire and retain new knowledge/concepts. of the three topics which we used as basis for the escape game learning experience, survey respondents indicated the citations game was the most effective one to help them in acquiring and retaining new knowledge/concepts. the next most effective game was the evaluation and database searching game, followed by the iucat game. as students completed all the topics in q110, the authors wanted to find out if students would suggest other topics that would be good candidates for additional games. the topics mentioned most frequently were boolean operators, followed by confirmation bias, the information cycle, craap test and google scholar. when asked whether the survey respondents would recommend the use of the breakout edu games in q110, 84.4% indicated they are very likely/likely to recommend it. positive experience with the breakout edu games was not only reflected in the end of semester survey, but also in the course evaluation and self-reflection as stated below: ● the escape rooms were really helpful too. teaching research concepts can be dry, but the escape rooms brought so much engagement to the classroom. ● all the break out game was so much fun. ● enjoy the breakout game, that was a lot of fun. ● i also really enjoyed the breakout games we did in class because it provided us with a different way to learn about topics discussed in class. ● the break out games were fun but could use maybe a little more clarity on what they are the first time they are played. grade analysis in addition to the feedback from students through the two surveys stated above, we also conducted a grade analysis to investigate whether the escape room learning experience impacts a measure of student learning. to do so, we compared the final grades of students from semesters when the game was implemented (i.e., fall and spring 2019) with semesters before the games were implemented (i.e., fall 2017, fall and spring 2018). 20% of the final course grade is derived from a comprehensive final exam with identical questions for all q110 classes. kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 122 table 3 comparison of student’s final grades between fall 2017 to fall 2019 semester final grades a b c d f d+f fall 2019 44.90% 27.60% 9.20% 8.20% 10.20% 18.40% spring 2019 35.10% 26.30% 17.50% 10.50% 10.50% 21.10% fall 2018 27.90% 20.90% 14.00% 18.60% 18.60% 37.20% spring 2018 31.30% 37.50% 16.70% 6.30% 8.30% 14.60% fall 2017 34.50% 24.10% 6.90% 13.80% 20.70% 34.50% with implementation of the escape room learning experience, there was a higher percentage of students who received a grade of a in the course as shown in table 3. the percentage of those who obtained a grade of d and f was reduced, with an exception in spring 2018. the statistics for the spring 2018 semester may not reflect the true impact of the escape room learning experience due to the fact that one session was linked with an entry-level writing course with a different teaching sequence on specific topics. feedback from instructors while the three instructors utilized the same breakout edu kits across all q110 sessions, each instructor deployed the game differently. one instructor launched the game after a traditional lecture, one instructor introduced the game at the beginning of the class, and another instructor requested students to read the course materials before coming to class to participate in the game. regardless of how the games were being deployed in class, all three instructors agreed that the classroom is more lively as students engaged and collaborated with each other to find solutions to the clues. one of the instructors found that observing students as they play the game was an educational experience and very beneficial. unlike traditional assignment, instructor is able to gain direct insight on how students apply their knowledge to solve a problem. when most of the students failed to resolve a clue, it served as a good indicator that additional instruction is needed on specific concepts/skills. kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 123 challenges and suggestions the authors experienced a learning curve with creating background scenarios, with game set-up and preparation of boxes. other than reviewing different ways of setting up clues from the subject packs offered by breakout edu, the most helpful websites are 101 best escape room puzzle ideas (https://nowescape.com/blog/101-best-puzzle-ideas-for-escape-rooms/) and discover ideas about breakout edu games (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/407153622547326996/). when designing the clues/puzzles, keep in mind generational differences. for one of the clues, the authors utilized a traditional clock face with twelve numbers and two hands. while the instructors believe clock reading is a basic life skill, they were surprised to discover that many students were not able to read the traditional clock correctly as many of them grew up with digital clocks. manipulating the locks (one of the most compelling elements of the escape room) could be challenging, even with access to a dedicated breakout edu lock facebook group. set up for the directional and letter locks often required extra attention to ensure the combinations are set correctly. as locks are one of the essential components of the game kits. while it is possible to obtain replacement locks from breakout edu, a lower cost alternative is to purchase locks (especially for 3 and 4 digital locks) through local stores. for directional and letter locks, amazon is an option. locks sometimes got stuck which prevented students unlocking the breakout edu box. in such cases, once the correct answer was verified by the instructor, students were given alternate ways to finish the activity. as mentioned above, students may not be familiar with how the locks work as they participate in their first game, it is helpful to demonstrate to the students how each of the locks work, and from which direction they should read the combinations (left to right/top to bottom). this was particularly true for the directional and alphabet locks. finding the optimum setup for each class was a balancing act. conversations with students during debriefing suggested some classes were more wary of elaborate setups using red herring clues, and hiding the boxes and sets of clues; some groups wanted more locks, others requested more scavenger hunt elements; while other classes preferred a more direct approach. evaluating the mood and preferences of the group and responding accordingly was challenging. the initial learning curve became less steep, as the authors became much more efficient at preparing the games. one efficiency was that not all boxes for the same class needed to have a unique setup. at first the authors were concerned that students might overhear each other discovering the clues, but they quickly realized the students were all focused on their own group and found that they could save time in setup by having all the boxes have the same clues. other feedback the authors received from students was related to teamwork. one aspect of the feedback concerned one or more team members who were not willing to participate in the game. one other feedback complaint regarded the students’ division of labor. teams would divide up tasks to speed up the progress so they could escape successfully. unfortunately, since not everyone participates in solving all the clues/puzzles, some students felt they missed out on learning part of the concepts/skills they did not personally work on. it can be useful to include additional clues in order to provide more students in a team with more opportunities to master the concepts. https://nowescape.com/blog/101-best-puzzle-ideas-for-escape-rooms/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/407153622547326996/ kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 124 future plans the authors’ future plans include expansion of content. they will be updating clues, testing scenarios, and content to allow for a greater choice in units. initially the boxes were used for review/reinforcement of concepts. the authors found that boxes can also be used to introduce units, where students discover and then apply the concepts as a team. the authors will also test the digital version of the escape room. remote gaming will allow use of breakout edu while still maintaining social distancing. in the digital version, students play the game on their personal devices to solve puzzles remotely. teamwork and collaboration are maintained through the use of zoom and google meet during game play. breakoutedu has a facebook discussion group and step-by-step tutorials on setting up this type of interactive remote gaming. the authors recently published an excel schedule so the game kits can now be reserved by other q110 instructors. future plans may include publicizing escape rooms and providing support to professors in other subject areas. once students have gained experience with escape rooms, the activity can be reversed: students can work in teams to create an escape room box about a specific course learning objective. this would work especially well towards the end of the semester. reversing game design would pose a new challenge to students’ ingenuity. it would also serve as a check on students’ understanding of major learning objectives of the course. the student designed boxes could be used in subsequent semesters. they could also be exchanged and critiqued by students within the same class. this would provide instructors with more (and different) feedback. one of the demographic questions the authors noted that is missing from the online survey is class year. having that information will enhance survey results to determine if there is any correlation on responses for specific questions to individual student’s class year. user surveys and grade analysis are both good instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of the escape room learning experience. in the future, the authors would like to investigate how the concepts/skills we introduced via the escape room learning experience impact their performance on the final exam. conclusion as previously mentioned, target audience of breakout edu is mostly geared toward k-12 educators. while there are limited subject packs available for higher education, the breakout edu kit provides the basics for university/college educators to develop escape room games based on their instructional needs. information literacy concepts serve as excellent content for escape room games. the trial and error experiences involved in solving the puzzles also serve as a good reminder for the students of the same kind of challenges they will experience in doing research. references clarke, s., arnab, s., keegan, h. et al. (2016). escaped: adapting live-action, interactive games to support higher education teaching and learning practices. in a. de gloria (ed.) games and learning alliance: third international conference, gala 2014, bucharest, romania, kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 125 july 2–4, 2014, revised selected papers. in games and learning alliance conference (pp. 144–153). available from http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22960-7 detwiler, s., jacobson, t., & o’brien, k. (2018). breakoutedu: helping students break out of their comfort zones. college & research libraries news, 79(2), 62. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.79.2.62 gross, m., & latham, d. (2012). what’s skill got to do with it?: information literacy skills and self-views of ability among first-year college students. journal of the american society for information science & technology, 63(3), 574-583. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21681 guckian, j., sridhar, a., & meggitt, s. j. (2020). exploring the perspectives of dermatology undergraduates with an escape room game. clinical & experimental dermatology, 45(2), 153–158. https://doi-org.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/ced.14039 lameras, p., arnab, s., dunwell, i., stewart, c., clarke, s., & petridis, p. (2017). essential features of serious games design in higher education: linking learning attributes to game mechanics. british journal of educational technology, 48(4), 972-994. https://doiorg.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/bjet.12467 o’brien, k., & pitera, j. (2019). gamifying instruction and engaging students with breakout edu. journal of educational technology systems, 48(2), 192-212. https://doi.org/0.1177/0047239519877165 olsen, m. & diekema, a. (2012). ‘i just wikipedia it’: information behavior of first-year writing students. proceedings of the asist annual meeting, 49(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14504901176 pate, j.l., & malone, d. (2018). beyond reinventing the library scavenger hunt: teaching library literacy to fye students using an escape room. loex quarterly, 44(4) https://commons.emich.edu/loexquarterly/vol44/iss4/4 ruffin, i, & miranda, s. (2018). breakout the library: using escape room concepts to teach and assess the first year library orientation experience. in k. ballin (ed) planning academic library orientations: case studies from around the world (pp. 19-27). cambridge, ma: chandos. veldkamp, a., daemen, j., teekens, s., koelewijn, s., knippels, m. p. j., & joolingen, w. r. (2020). escape boxes: bringing escape room experience into the classroom. british journal of educational technology, 51(4), 1220-1239. https://doiorg.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/bjet.12935 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors vincci kwong is currently the head of web services, assessment & ux researcher at the franklin d. schurz library, indiana university south bend. her primary job responsibility includes web development, reference service, subject liaison, assessment, and library instruction. other than emerging technologies, vincci is also interested in leadership and administration. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.79.2.62 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21681 https://doi-org.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/ced.14039 https://doi.org/0.1177/0047239519877165 https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14504901176 https://commons.emich.edu/loexquarterly/vol44/iss4/4 https://doi-org.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/bjet.12935 https://doi-org.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/bjet.12935 kwong, falzon, and feighery / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 126 julie feighery is the head of research and outreach services at indiana university south bend. she received her mls from indiana university. she teaches information literacy at the undergraduate and graduate levels. judith falzon holds adjunct positions at indiana university and saint mary’s college. she received her mls at indiana university. 209-title page 209-kwong-galley proof guckian, j., sridhar, a., & meggitt, s. j. (2020). exploring the perspectives of dermatology undergraduates with an escape room game. clinical & experimental dermatology, 45(2), 153–158. https://doi-org.proxysb.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/ced.14039 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org government college librarian’s use of social media for professional development in sindh, pakistan mohsan khaskheli & rafat parveen siddiqui abstract: this study examined the use of social media in professional development by government college librarians of sindh. professional development is an integral part of all professions. librarians and information professionals are required to have upto-date information and skills regarding their profession. a quantitative survey was employed to conduct this study. the target population consisted of government college librarians of sindh, pakistan. the survey was administered online. the findings demonstrated that most college librarians are aware of the importance of social media and use social media networks in professional development-related activities. furthermore, findings identified that youtube, whatsapp, and facebook are the most frequently used social media platforms in professional development. the findings help to design guidelines and provide basic information and communication technology skills training programs for better use of social media and optimum utilization of online professional development opportunities. to cite this article: khaskheli, m. & siddiqui, r. p. (2022). government college librarian’s use of social media for professional development in sindh, pakistan. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 88-105. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.245 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.245 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 88-105 issn: 2474-3542 government college librarian’s use of social media for professional development in sindh, pakistan mohsan khaskheli and rafat parveen siddiqui university of karachi, sindh, pakistan abstract this study examined the use of social media in professional development by government college librarians of sindh. professional development is an integral part of all professions. librarians and information professionals are required to have up-to-date information and skills regarding their profession. a quantitative survey was employed to conduct this study. the target population consisted of government college librarians of sindh, pakistan. the survey was administered online. the findings demonstrated that most college librarians are aware of the importance of social media and use social media networks in professional development-related activities. furthermore, findings identified that youtube, whatsapp, and facebook are the most frequently used social media platforms in professional development. the findings help to design guidelines and provide basic information and communication technology skills training programs for better use of social media and optimum utilization of online professional development opportunities. keywords: professional development, lis professionals, social media, web 2.0, social networking introduction the advancement in technology has made a strong impact on every aspect of life including culture, economy, education, behavior, society, social norms and values, philosophical and religious thoughts, and all views of the world. the use of information and communication technologies has been very common over the past few decades; therefore, professionals in different fields need to learn new skills to use in their fields in order to benefit from technology. social media social media is a web 2.0 tool for sharing thoughts, ideas, expressions, information, and knowledge in various digital formats on different topics of interest. social media consist of web-based applications. kaplan & haenlein (2010) cited by onuoha (2013) defines social media as “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundation of web 2.0. such applications allow users to interact freely, share and discuss information using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, video, and audio.” harchekar (2017) defines social khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 89 media as websites or programs that allow users to produce and share content and participate in social networking. information is the key asset of today’s society. people want to know about their surroundings, are curious to gain information about what’s happening in the entire world? what new knowledge has been added to their subject of interest? what are the current trends in fashion, and culture, and what their peers are doing? therefore, social networking is a very useful place to gain answers to all the questions. harchekar (2017) acknowledges that social media is a new platform to discuss ideas, seek counsel, and provide assistance. social media has broken down communication boundaries, developed decentralized communication channels, and allowed everyone to share their voice with others. onuoha (2013) states that social media platforms provide users with limitless opportunities to learn while also contributing to others’ expertise. social media is a place where people interact with each other and share thoughts on a variety of topics. there are several social media networking sites and applications available such as facebook, twitter, whatsapp, instagram, youtube, pinterest, linkedin, and blogs. every site and application have different options for creating and sharing content and interacting with peers in various ways. social media can be categorized into different social networks. each network varies from the others in terms of functions, purposes, usage, and audiences. kakkar (2018) defines eight categories of social media networks, 1. social networks: social networks are mostly used for sharing information, thoughts, and ideas and connecting with friends, family, and peers. people create their profiles, and each one is a unique identity for users. most users can access their profile by inserting a username and password. people create and join different groups and likes pages of interest. facebook, twitter, whatsapp, and linkedin are examples of social networks. each social network has different features. 2. media sharing networks: these networks are focused on sharing various types of media such as videos (both recorded and live), photographs, and other types of media in different digital formats on the web. some examples are youtube, instagram, snapchat, etc. 3. discussion forums: there are web-based discussion forums used for finding sharing and discussing information, ideas, current affairs, and news. reddit, quora, and digg are examples of discussion forums. 4. bookmarking & content curation networks: these networks are for identifying, discussing, and sharing a variety of the latest content and media that are trending. pinterest and flipboard are examples of such networks. 5. consumer review network: mostly used for finding, sharing, and reviewing a variety of media such as movies, videos, different goods/services, and service providers. users look at others’ reviews which can help them make purchase decisions. zomato, yelp, and tripadvisor are examples of these types of networks. 6. blogging and publishing network: for posting, finding, and commenting on articles, social media blogs, and other web material, people use the blogging and publishing network. through these networks, users can create web blogs and websites and publish content on them. wordpress, tumblr, google blogger, and medium are examples of this network. 7. social shopping network: these networks are used to acquire information about different brands, fashion trends, fashion tips, and articles on culture. users can also discover multiple fashion products and enjoy a great shopping experience. fancy, facebook, twitter, and other social networks are also used as mediums for social shopping. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 90 8. interest-based network: people of the same hobbies or interests can meet and get together via these networks. business owners and different companies can find audiences who are interested in learning more about their products and services. such networks are more targeted in nature and focus on any subject, like home décor, training, music, books, etc. goodreads, houzz, and last.fm are examples of such networks. uses of social media networks worldwide since the invention of the world wide web, the internet is commonly used all around the world. kemp (2021) stated in his 2021 global overview report that approximately 4.66 billion people (around 59.5% of the world’s total population) used the internet. 4.20 billion people (around 53.6% of the world’s total population) are active users of social media. furthermore, he states that around 61.34 million people used the internet in pakistan by january 2021, and the numbers increased by 21% between 2020 to 2021. 46 million pakistanis (around 20.6% of the total population) used social media and the number of social media users increased by 9.0 million (24%) between 2020 to 2021. kemp (2022) published a report again in the year 2022 stating that, a total of 4.65 billion (58.7%) of people globally used social media by april 2022. the number of users of different social media networks globally are as follows: • facebook has 2.912 billion monthly active users • whatsapp has 2 billion users • youtube reaches 2.562 billion users • instagram is used by 1.452 billion people around the world • twitter reaches 465 million users • pinterest has 431 million monthly active users • reddit has around 430 million monthly active users • quora has around 300 million active users globally social media is an emerging tool with a large number of users worldwide. it facilitates creation and sharing of knowledge. it also allows people to connect with family, friends, and colleagues all around the world. professional development professional development is the process of continuously learning new skills and competencies. it is very important because of the changing nature of professions and the rapidly expanding knowledge in the current technological era. now only knowledge and skills that are learned through graduate study or any other academic programs are not adequate to meet new challenges in a more dynamic environment. therefore, the need for continuous learning and time to polish professional skills is crucial. osborne (2022) states that professional development encompasses a broad range of specialized training, education, and learning opportunities aimed at helping professionals enhance their knowledge, abilities, and effectiveness. according to mizell (2010) “professional development refers to many types of educational experiences related to an individual’s work. doctors, lawyers, educators, accountants, engineers, and people in a wide variety of professions and businesses participate in professional development to learn and apply new knowledge and skills that will improve their performance on the job.” professional khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 91 development is usually done through courses, workshops, conferences, individual or collaborative research, peer monitoring, reading literature, online discussion, or attending webinars. it is a major part of any profession. in the field of librarianship, professional development is more critical because of the information explosion and the dynamic information-seeking behavior of library users. cooke (2012) acknowledges that with rapidly evolving internet and media technologies becoming available to increasingly varied patron groups with increasingly complicated information requirements, librarianship is always expanding and changing. professional librarians must be as informed as to the users they serve, and the most efficient and successful method for librarians to stay up to date is to seek out professional development opportunities. association of college and research libraries statement on professional development (2000) describes that librarians commit to a program of continuous improvement that anticipates and support our institutions and society’s changing information requirements. they make a personal and organizational commitment to lifelong learning and professional development. thus, professional development for library professionals is very important to meet challenges and equip themselves with new skills and competencies to perform their tasks and day-to-day activities more effectively. professional development through social media in the current technological era, all professionals adopt technologies to perform their day-to-day professional activities. professional development is also performed through technological tools like webinars, online conferences, video tutorials, or social media sites. social media is a more effective and freely available tool to exchange ideas and learn new skills. osborne (2022) noted that social media helps people to communicate quickly and readily exchange articles. according to meyrowitz (1997) as cited in onuoha (2013) individuals no longer need to travel or be physically present to get information or take part in conversations or activities. social media overcomes chronological and physical barriers and connect people all around the world. therefore, professionals use social media to connect with their colleagues globally to share expertise and skills and enhance professional growth. they also help each other to solve problems they face in their professional tasks. library professionals are also involved in social media activities such as online learning networks, microblogging, whatsapp and facebook groups, twitter, linkedin and more to learn new skills, and change their day-to-day challenges into opportunities. emery (2008) as cited in hossain (2017) states that librarians who follow groups and pages on facebook are more likely to notice what their colleagues at other institutions are working on, which they may adapt to their work without having to reinvent the wheel. anwar and zhewei (2020) reported that whatsapp is one of the social media platforms where librarians may communicate news, opinions, and ideas with their peers. overall social media sites are very useful for information professionals to learn new things and to fill the gap in professional knowledge and skills. problem statement no doubt professional development is an important and integral part of any profession. different professional training organizations create such refreshing programs to enable professionals to adapt to the latest technologies and trends. conditions are difficult for library professionals in pakistan because of a lack of professional growth programs. khan and rafiq (2013) identified in their study that only 22% of library professionals in pakistan have opportunities to participate in professional growth activities. over the last two decades due to technological advancement and khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 92 the availability of the internet, library professionals have multiple channels, especially social media to learn new skills and participate in professional growth activities. thus, the purpose of the current study is to identify the uses of social media platforms and the role of social media in the professional growth of library professionals with the following objectives • to identify the uses of social media in professional development. • to find out the role of social media in effective professional development. • to explore the perception of librarians regarding the importance of social media in professional growth. • to describe the learning strategies, librarians use most to learn new professional skills. • to identify the social media platforms, librarians use most to interact with each other. research questions • what are the uses of social media in the professional development of library professionals? • what’s the role played by social media in learning new skills and competencies by library professionals? • what is the perception of librarians regarding the importance of social media in professional development? • which learning strategies are used by librarians while learning new skills on social media? • which social media site is used the most by library professionals in order to interact with each other and share their expertise? review of literature professional development and lifelong learning are essential parts of every profession. library professionals need more training and learning opportunities in the current information era. therefore, professional development for librarians is critical. advancement of technology, especially after introducing of the world wide web (www) provides more flexible platforms for professional growth. social media sites break all physical and chronological barriers to learning new skills, communicating, and interacting with peers. now, librarians are more social in terms of learning new skills. various researchers and authors have conducted studies on social media including different platforms and their usage for professional development. onuoha (2013) investigates the, “librarians, use of social media for professional development”. onuoha found out that social media applications are now mostly used for purposes of professional development. most librarians used professional online discussion forums and online social networking sites such as facebook and collaborative tools like wikipedia. the study confirmed that librarians are pleased to use social media for professional development. further, the author concludes that the usage of social media for professional growth is undeniably a modern phenomenon made possible by technological advancement. dalton (2013) examines the information professional’s attitude toward social media networks and focused on twitter as a tool for professional development. dalton states that twitter is generally a very helpful proponent for networking. in this context, professional lis associations may play a critical role in educating their members about the significance of twitter as a cutting-edge instrument for professional growth. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 93 moreover, dalton describes that no one participant points out twitter purely as a personal or recreational tool, emphasizing that it is much more than a source of frivolous information or celebrity gossip, but is also a useful resource for professional learning and growth. anasi and ali (2014) conducted research to explore the perception of academic librarians about the benefits and challenges of adopting e-learning for continuing professional development. the researchers found that e-learning opens new windows for professional learning and helps to generate and manage knowledge and opportunities for librarians to enhance their knowledge. furthermore, lack of power supply, limited knowledge about e-learning tools, and slow internet speed are major challenges for adopting e-learning for continued professional development. the study is limited to librarians of two universities and one college of lagos state of nigeria. the findings are useful for identifying the challenge that librarians faced in most developing countries and providing recommendations to overcome such challenges. another study conducted by hamad et. al. (2016) describes “the role of social media in enhancing the library profession and promoting academic library services.” according to findings, some library employees believe that social media networks help to improve the sharing of information. furthermore, it has been shown that students are the most frequent users of social networks both socially and intellectually, as a result, the library may take advantage of this phenomenon to encourage students to use library resources more effectively. the researchers recommend that libraries could provide seminars and training programs to librarians and raise awareness as a result of more actively engaging these networks. islam and tsuji (2016) studied the knowledge-sharing practices of information professionals on social media. the findings suggest a positive level of acceptance among information professionals toward using social media for knowledge sharing. additionally, the authors indicate that evaluating factors is the key reason to practice knowledge sharing in social media, and knowledge sharing attitude relies on the culture. further, the authors identified evaluating factors from various previous studies including knowledge sharing through media is convenient, comfortable to share, improves competency, share freely, helps to build career, promotes knowledge sharing at an organization, improves efficiency, effectiveness, and establish sharing culture. the study was limited to information professionals of developing countries. monagle and finnegan (2016) conducted survey research to identify the uses of social media among new library professionals in the uk. the findings are very positive regarding the uses of social media and describes how information professionals have embraced these platforms to increase continued professional development opportunities. the survey has not looked at why social media are not used. anasi (2018) investigates the influence of gender on the attitude toward the use of social media for professional development. the author concludes that whatsapp is mostly used social media platform for continuing professional development among academic librarians and the attitude toward the use of social media is positive. furthermore, the author states that there is no significant gender difference in the frequency of use and attitude toward social media for continuing professional development. the study was limited to academic librarians of nigeria. hossain (2017) indicates that, by joining facebook groups, school librarians become up-to-date with new knowledge in their field. in terms of professional development, it was stated that facebook groups allow professionals to exchange information, opportunities, and ideas by allowing them to share and serve as a source of educational and professional information. as a result, librarians may be able to create a forum of like-minded librarians with similar interests. additionally, the authors concluded that the problems associated with operating facebook groups for professional purposes can be solved through designing an understanding of the platform and reference to professional guidelines. the study focused on the use of facebook groups for professional development. khan khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 94 and du (2017) investigated the use of social media for professional development and focused on female librarians in pakistan. the findings of the study indicated that female librarians in pakistan have limited opportunities for professional development because of different challenges, so the only way to use social media is for professional growth. further, results demonstrate that pakistani female librarians value social media as a medium for improving skills and gaining a better grasp of social, professional, and technical challenges. researchers conclude that most pakistani female librarians are familiar with social media and used it for both personal and professional purposes. purkayastha and chanda (2018) researched “whatsapp as a means of information sharing among lis professionals.” researchers identified that most lis professionals are familiar with whatsapp usage and the majority are using the application for sharing knowledge. authors further suggest that lis professionals must consider information ethics during the sharing of knowledge on whatsapp-type social media applications. another study conducted by ali et. al. (2021) found through meta-review that academic social networking sites serve the scientific and academic communities. these websites let researchers share their ideas, information, and wisdom which improves their collaborative and critical thinking. the presence of peers and specialists in their respective knowledge domains enhances the researcher’s intellectual capacities. sonawane et.al. (2021) concludes in their study that most lis professionals are aware of social networking sites and have registered accounts. according to the study, many lis professionals are following or members of social media professional groups. however, most lis professionals choose to share material rather than create or consume, which is cause for worry. there is a demand among lis professionals to leverage the development of more professional material to maintain professional competency. the study focused on the use of social networking sites to build professional competencies. all previous studies concluded that social media is widely used by library professionals to meet the dynamic need of users, connect with their peers, and update their professional knowledge therefore engagement with social media is relatively high. in this perspective, there is a need to study and identify the professional usage of social media applications and recommend suggestions for better usage of social media in professional growth. the current study was conducted on the professional usage of social media by college librarians of sindh. it is important because of the lack of professional development and training opportunities for college librarians in sindh. methodology to conduct this study, we created a quantitative survey using an online google form as a data collection tool. the survey consisted of four sections. in the first section, we describe the purposes of the research and provide a guideline to fill out the survey. the second section consisted of the demographic data. the third section consisted of the uses of social media and the fourth section is on the use of social media in professional development. the questions are closed-ended and there are some likert questions as well. the government sector college librarians were selected as the population of this study and an online survey link was shared in the whatsapp group of college librarians where there were around 233 members. the survey link was also shared through personal messages on whatsapp. 64 responses were recorded. the response rate was 27% of the selected population. for the data analysis, we applied statistical analysis and used tabulation and charts for the representation of the data. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 95 findings and discussions the questionnaire link was shared on the college librarians’ whatsapp group, and shared through personal messages to some college librarians. the whatsapp group has a total of 233 members. all are professional librarians and serve in different degree colleges in sindh. a total of 64 responses were recorded out of 233, because most college librarians were not willing to be part of this study. in order to find out the demographic information of respondents, four questions about age, gender, qualification, and employment status of respondents were included. demographic data table 1 distribution of demographic data s. no. demographies frequency percentage 1 age group 22-30 13 20.3% 31-40 28 40.8% 41-50 13 20.3% 51-60 10 15.6% 2 gender difference male 46 71.9% female 18 28.1% 3 qualification bs/blis 5 7.8% ms/mlis 50 78.1% m. phil 9 14.1% ph.d. 0 0.0% 4 employment category librarian 40 62.5% senior librarian 18 28.1% chief librarian 6 9.4% age group the first question is about the age groups of respondents, and findings indicate that most respondents, 43.8% are between 31-40 years old, and 20.3% of respondents are 41-50 years old, and 20.3% of respondents belong to the 22-30 year age group. only 15.6% of respondents categorize themselves as between 51-60 years old as shown in table 1. gender difference the responses indicate most respondents, 71.9% are male and 28.1% are female as shown in table 1. the gender difference does not mean that there are fewer female librarians in colleges of sindh, khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 96 but it indicates that most female library professionals were not willing to be part of this research project. education/qualification the minimum educational requirement for appointment as a college librarian in government-sector degree colleges of sindh is a graduate degree in library and information science. the findings indicate that most respondents (78.1%) have master’s degrees in library and information science. furthermore, 14.1% of respondents have postgraduate level m. phil degrees in library and information science. findings also indicate that none of the respondents have a doctorate (ph.d.) degree as shown in table 1. employment status in the government sector college side, library science graduates are initially appointed as librarians through a recruitment process managed by the public service commission, which includes written tests and interviews. after the 8-10 years of service and based on seniority, they are promoted to the next level as a senior librarian, and the same way from senior librarian to chief librarian, which is the final stage of promotion. the findings indicate that most respondents (62.5%) are working as librarians in different colleges in sindh. furthermore, 28.1% of respondents are senior librarians, and 9.4% of respondents are serving as chief librarians in government sector colleges as shown in table 1. uses of social media the second section of the questionnaire consists of four questions regarding the general usage of social media. use social media the first question is “do you use social media?”. the finding indicates that 100% of respondents use social media shown in table 2. table 2 distribution of use of social media s. no. option frequency percentage 1 yes 64 100.0% 2 no 0 0.0% the findings identify that all college librarians are familiar with the importance and larger impact of social media on every domain of our society. time spent on social media furthermore, respondents were asked to identify the time they spend on social media every day. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 97 table 3 distribution of time spent on social media s. no. time spend frequency percentage 1 <1 hour 8 12.7% 2 1-3 hours 36 57.1% 3 4-6 hours 10 15.9% 4 >6 hours 9 14.3% the results indicate that most respondents (57.1%) spend 1-3 hours on social media daily, and 15.9% of respondents spend 4-6 hours of the day on social media, 14.3% more than 6 hours and 12.7% spent less than 1 hour on social media per day as shown in table 3. purposes of using social media there are multiple usages of social media with different purposes. people use social media for upto-date knowledge about the surrounding conditions and current affairs such as political, social, economic, and cultural situations of the country, as well as on an international level. other purposes of usage of social media are to connect with families and friends, as well as to watch videos, listen to music, play games, etc. for entertainment. social media is also used for business purposes. table 4 distribution of usage of social media s. no. usage frequency percentage 1 education 13 20.3% 2 social awareness 40 62.5% 3 connect to family/friends 5 7.8% 4 entertainment 6 9.4% the respondents were asked to identify the purposes of their usage of social media. findings indicate that 62.5% of respondents use social media for the purposes of social awareness, including awareness regarding economic, political, cultural, and social conditions of their surroundings. 20.3% of respondents use social media for educational purposes, 7.8% of respondents use social media for the purpose of connecting with family and friends, and 9.4% of respondents indicate that they use social media for the purpose of entertainment as shown in table 4. uses of different social media networks the respondents were asked to identify their most used social media networks. findings indicate that facebook is the most used social media site according to 42.6% of responses. secondly, 37.5% of respondents identify whatsapp as the most used social media network as shown in table 5. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 98 table 5 distribution of social media networks mostly used s. no. social media networks frequency percentage 1 facebook 26 40.6% 2 twitter 1 1.6% 3 whatsapp 24 37.5% 4 youtube 9 14.1% 5 instagram 3 4.7% 6 pinterest 0 0.0% 7 other 1 1.6% further table 5 shows that 14.1% of respondents identify youtube as the most used site. approximately 5% identify instagram and approximately 2% identify twitter as the most used social media platform. furthermore, 2% of respondents indicate other social media sites as the most used and no respondents mark pinterest as the most used social media platform. use of social media for professional growth the third part of the questionnaire consists of the questions in which we asked respondents to generalize the use of social media for professional development, and record their perceptions about the usefulness of social media in the professional development of library professionals. use of social media for purposes of professional development table 6 use of social media for the purpose of professional development s. no. use social media for purposes of professional development frequency percentage 1 yes 57 89.1% 2 no 7 10.9% the results indicates that 89.1% of respondents use social media for the purposes of professional development and just 10.9% of respondents did not use social media for purposes of professional growth as shown in table 6. social media platforms useful for professional learning professionals use various social media networks and e-learning platforms for the purposes of learning new skills to enhance their professional competencies. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 99 table 7 usefulness of different social media networks in professional learning s. no. social media networks frequency percentage 1 facebook 8 12.7% 2 twitter 0 0.0% 3 whatsapp 14 22.2% 4 youtube 29 46% 5 instagram 1 1.6% 6 pinterest 0 0.0% 7 linkedin 6 9.5% 8 others 5 7.9% the findings indicated that youtube is the most useful platform for professional learning, and 22.2% of respondents indicate that whatsapp is useful for purposes of professional development. additionally, 12.7% of respondents identify facebook as useful for professional activities, and 9.5% of respondents marked linkedin as a useful platform for professional learning. 12.7% of respondents indicate that other social media and e-learning platforms are useful for professional learning shown in table 7. learning strategies respondents prefer on social media table 8 learning strategies prefer on social media s. no. learning strategies frequency percentage 1 reading through the conversation of others 11 17.5% 2 joining discussion groups 13 20.6% 3 directly asking questions to senior/colleagues 0 0.0% 4 searching for answers 21 33.3% 5 watching tutorials/videos 18 28.6% table 8 identifies the different learning strategies library professionals prefer on social media when using it to learn new skills. 33.3% of respondents indicate that they search for answers of different questions related to their profession on social media. 28.6% of respondents indicate that they watch tutorials and videos to learn new skills, 20.6% of respondents said they joined discussion groups related to their profession and 17.5% indicate that they read other conversations related to professional skills and learn from these conversations. no one respondent indicate that they directly ask questions to their colleagues or senior librarians to solve the problems faced in the profession. khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 100 statement: basic ict skills are mandatory for understanding and operating social media we asked the respondents to rate the statement based on their perceptions from strongly agree to strongly disagree. the first statement is about the importance of information and communication technology skills in understanding and operating social media. figure 1 basic information and communication technology skills are mandatory for operating social media 30.6% of respondents agree with the importance of information and communication technology skills in the use of social media. 25.8% of respondents report uncertainty about the statement, 22.6% of respondents rate strongly agree with the statement, 11.3% disagree, and 9.7% of respondents rate as strongly disagree with the statement shown in figure 1. statement: traditional programs of professional development are more effective and fruitful as compared to social media and other e-learning platforms the second statement asked for comparison between the traditional programs of professional development and e-learning and social media platforms on basis of effectiveness. the findings indicate that 40.3% of respondents rate uncertain to this statement and it is identified that most of the library professionals of government colleges in sindh have few opportunities for professional growth. 22.6% 30.6% 25.8% 11.3% 9.7% strongly agree agree uncertain disagree strongly disagree khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 101 figure 2 traditional programs of professional development are more effective as compare to social media and e-learning furthermore, findings indicate that 21% of respondents rate strongly agree with the statement, 14.5% of respondents recorded disagree, 14.5% agree and only 9.7% of respondents strongly disagree with the statement. statement: facebook and whatsapp groups are major platforms to connect with peers and colleagues and exchange expertise figure 3 facebook and whatsapp groups are major platforms to connect with peers and colleagues and exchange expertise have you ever faced any difficulty in using social media networks for learning new skills includes questions about the difficulty in the use of social media for professional development. 21.0% 14.5% 40.3% 14.5% 9.7% strongly agree agree uncertain disagree strongly disagree 45.9% 24.6% 8.2% 6.6% 14.8% strongly agree agree uncertain disagree strongly disagree khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 102 table 9 ever faced difficulty in using social media s. no. option frequency percentage 1 yes 37 58.7% 2 no 26 41.3% the findings show that 58.7% of respondents faced difficulty when using social media for professional development and 41.3% did not face any difficulty in the use of social media for the purposes of professional development. which difficulty do you face when learning on social media we describe some possible difficulties and asked respondents which difficulty they faced during use of social media for professional development. table 10 distribution of difficulties faced when learning on social media s. no. difficulties frequency percentage 1 lack of useful knowledge 13 21.0% 2 abundance of information 19 30.6% 3 time-consuming process 19 30.6% 4 others 11 17.7% 30.6% of respondents categorize the abundance of information on social media as a difficulty they faced, and 30.6% of respondents said usage of social media is a time-consuming process and it is a difficulty. 21% of the respondents said that lack of useful knowledge was a difficulty and 17.7% of respondents identified other difficulties they faced when using social media for professional development. the findings of this study demonstrate that 100% of college library professionals used social media for general purposes and 89.1% of college librarians used social media for professional development. these findings agree with the cates (2021) and onouha’s (2013) findings. they both also found from their research that most library professionals use social media. furthermore, results indicate that youtube is the most used site for professional development and disagree with anasi (2017) and monagle and finnegan (2016) findings. anasi reported that whatsapp is the most used social media platform for professional development and monagle and finnegan identified twitter as the most popular social network librarians used. the result indicates that searching for answers to questions is the most important learning strategy librarians used during learning on social media and the second most important learning strategy is joining discussion groups, which is confirmed by onuoha (2013) in his findings that joining discussion groups is one of the most used learning strategies used by librarians. sonawane et. al. (2021) also confirmed by their study that the majority of lis professionals are members of the social networking sites’ professional groups. the finding of this study also identified that whatsapp and khaskheli and siddiqui / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 103 facebook groups are important for connecting to colleagues and exchanging expertise and experiences. this agrees with purkayastha and chanda (2018) whose investigations also indicate whatsapp as the major application for lis professionals, and that it’s used for knowledge-sharing practices. furthermore, results of this study identified that an abundance of information and time management are the major difficulties, librarians faced with the use of social media. these both are internal factors, anasi and hussaini (2014) identified external factors and challenges which included inadequate power supply, lack of knowledge to operate e-learning tools, and slow speed of the internet using e-learning platforms for professional growth. conclusion professional development is a very important part of all professions. library professionals need training and professional growth opportunities to stay up-to-date their in professional knowledge and skills in order to meet the dynamic behavior of information seeking of library users. advancements in technology also play a critical role in changing the job environment of library professionals. thus, library professionals are not just limited to the traditional opportunities of professional development, but they need training opportunities beyond the physical and geographical boundaries to fulfill the information needs of society. social media is the emerging technology and product of web 2.0 that enables librarians and information professionals to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge regarding their profession. this study was carried out with the focus on the identification of the use of social media platforms and usage of different social media networks in professional development by government college librarians of sindh, pakistan. references ali, p. m. n., zehra, s., vaidya, p., & musheer, z. 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(2018). use of social media by new library professionals: outcomes from a uk survey. journal of librarianship and information science, 50(4), 435–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616653648 onuoha, u. d. (2013). librarians’ use of social media for professional development in nigeria. information management and business review, 5(3), 136–143. osborne, d. (2018). professional development and growth. instruction and pedagogy for youth in public libraries, (pp. 211–229). creative common. purkayastha, n., & chanda, a. (2018). whatsapp as a means of sharing information among lis professionals of north-east india: a study. international journal of research in applied natural and social sciences, 6(9), 69–82. sanowane, c. s., kulkarne, a. m., & muthumari, p. (2021). use of social networking sites (sns) by lis professionals to build professional competency: a study. library philosophy and practice. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5671 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors mohsan khaskheli (mali61807@gmail.com) is working as librarian at allama iqbal government girls degree college karachi and m. phil. research scholar at department of library and information science university of karachi sindh pakistan. dr. rafat parveen siddiqui (rafatrazzaq@yahoo.com) is working as assistant professor, department of library and information science, university of karachi sindh pakistan. https://learningforward.org/whypdmatters.cfm https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616653648 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5671 mailto:mali61807@gmail.com 245_v7n2_khaskheli_title+page 245-final+copy_author+corrected_xr_ct+edited issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org trends, challenges and opportunities at university of manitoba libraries during the covid pandemic wei xuan and christine shaw abstract: the covid-19 pandemic brought rapid and radical changes to higher education, and academic libraries adapted and devised solutions. this article will review the initiatives that the university of manitoba libraries (uml) implemented prior to the pandemic, as well as the library’s response, focusing on the performance of these initiatives in the past two years. these initiatives are new service models including a fully virtual library, new technologies, such as self-service lockers, and structural reorganization, for example, the creation of functional teams. the review will demonstrate how the above initiatives ensured the continuity of library services during the pandemic. the pandemic is viewed as a touchstone that tested the trends of the academic library community in an extreme situation. the success of the library services provided by the uml inspires positive thinking about the forward direction for public research university libraries. to cite this article: xuan, w., & shaw, c. (2022). trends, challenges and opportunities at university of manitoba libraries during the covid pandemic. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 66-78. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.231 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.231 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 66-78. issn: 2474-3542 trends, challenges and opportunities at university of manitoba libraries during the covid pandemic wei xuan and christine shaw university of manitoba, canada abstract the covid-19 pandemic brought rapid and radical changes to higher education, and academic libraries adapted and devised solutions. this article will review the initiatives that the university of manitoba libraries (uml) implemented prior to the pandemic, as well as the library’s response, focusing on the performance of these initiatives in the past two years. these initiatives are new service models including a fully virtual library, new technologies, such as self-service lockers, and structural reorganization, for example, the creation of functional teams. the review will demonstrate how the above initiatives ensured the continuity of library services during the pandemic. the pandemic is viewed as a touchstone that tested the trends of the academic library community in an extreme situation. the success of the library services provided by the uml inspires positive thinking about the forward direction for public research university libraries. keywords: academic library, covid-19, pandemic reflection, virtual reference, virtual library introduction the covid-19 pandemic rapidly and radically changed higher education in the past two years. online teaching and learning were implemented; libraries and collections were closed; students faced financial burdens. with campuses reopening in north america, those suspended library services have since resumed. libraries are on the way to operating as they did prior to the pandemic, however they will not be completely the same. they have transformed into a new normal. the pandemic has not left us just the experience of supporting students and faculty remotely, but its impact can be viewed as further transitioning academic libraries into self-service and virtual realms. from 2016 to 2019, the uml transitioned from a collection-oriented organization to a service-oriented organization. the new initiatives implemented during this period included a robust virtual reference service, where reference transactions are carried out primarily on an online platform; a completely virtual library, providing all services remotely to health professionals; implementation of self-service technologies, that allow library clients to access print collections without staff intervention; and the creation of functional teams, focusing on research and instruction support. xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 67 this article analyzes the performance of the above initiatives in the past two years, studies the impact of the pandemic on the uml’s services, and discusses the direction of public research university libraries in the post-pandemic era. literature review libraries have a history of implementing technology as a way to improve customer service and remove time intensive manual duties from staff (butters, 2006; sigwald, 2016). some of these advances include the introduction of online catalogues, electronic journals, virtual or chat reference services, and the implementation of self checkout devices. prior to the pandemic, libraries of all kinds were investing in self-serve technologies and migrating in-person services to include virtual options. butters in 2007 provides a guide to automating loans and returns for libraries, to ensure a successful transition away from labour intensive staff-mediated circulation transactions. nagy in 2011 describes the adoption of various self-serve options from checkout counters, kiosks and single point-of-access information stations as a way for the academic library to remain relevant to the tech savvy millennial generation (nagy, 2011). sigwald in 2016 described the successful implementation and high customer satisfaction achieved by the baltimore county public library by moving to a self-service customer service model, with the addition of a selfservice catalogue with account mangagment features and self check-out kiosks. hutchinson in 2020 recommends the adoption of self-service technologies stating, “self-service technology offers freedom for the user and supports the sustainability of the library. this is the future of academic libraries.”(hutchinson, 2020) the pandemic brought about further adoption of technological solutions as libraries tried to find ways to continue services under public health restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. walsh presented the measures implemented by the university of toronto libraries (utl) at the beginning of the pandemic to ensure the continuity of core services to support research and learning (walsh & rana, 2020). facing the challenges caused by the remote environment, two approaches taken by the utl were reinforcing existing online resources and implementing new research tools, either acquired or developed. walsh noticed the demand for research support through the library’s online reference platform increased by 50% immediately after the campus was closed. with the closure of the libraries’ print-based materials, the utl implemented various alternatives, including providing controlled digital lending through the hathitrust emergency temporary access service and expanding digital collections to include scholarly content, the access restrictions of which were temporarily lifted by the providers. at the university of calgary libraries and cultural resources (uclcr), existing digital knowledge, expertise, skills and service models have been leveraged to provide services of a high level to the university users (murphy et al., 2021). the initiatives uclcr took to reduce the impact of the pandemic focused in four main areas: digital library service, physical library service, collections, and archives and special collections. connecting the library’s physical space to its online services, uclcr created 360-degree virtual tours. uclcr also noticed a 246% increase of the library’s online chat service during the first 12 months of the pandemic. uclcr anticipated those digital library services, four of which were newly implemented during the pandemic and three of which were enhanced existing services, would still be utilized in the future. xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 68 harnegie provided a snapshot of how health sciences and hospital libraries were affected by the covid-19 pandemic (harnegie, 2021). one significant difference in response to the pandemic between hospital libraries and general academic libraries was hospital libraries reopened shortly after the initial shutdown at the beginning of the pandemic. access to older print materials was key to researchers’ efforts to advance covid-19 research and treatment of these patients. print interlibrary loan (ill) and docline requests were resumed quickly, with ill fees waived by certain institutions to facilitate information sharing and reduce the financial constraints that hospitals were facing. mehta discussed the challenges that a middle-size comprehensive university of liberal arts and professional programs faced in the pandemic, and the practices it took to deliver digital library services (mehta & wang, 2020). at the beginning of the pandemic, the library was facing more challenges with engaging faculty and students with digital services, as in-person services, such as reference, were the dominant model before the pandemic. compared to research universities, libraries at comprehensive universities had relied more on traditional ways to serve users. the pandemic provided an opportunity to accelerate the switch to digital services. covid-19 radically changed library service models. how library services were perceived by students was assessed at the university of illinois chicago (uic) library through monthly surveys on user experiences (scoulas et al., 2021). it was found that the hygiene of the library played a vital role in providing positive user experiences. users’ satisfaction with library services constantly increased when barriers to space and seat booking were removed. the library could not accommodate certain student requests, such as extended hours and group study rooms, due to the amount of resources needed as well as public health restrictions. although the pandemic forced instruction to move to a primarily online format, prior to the pandemic, libraries were developing online tutorials and toolkits to reach the growing number of students enrolled in online and distance education programs. halpren & tucker put forth the agrument in 2014 that information literacy instruction, aligned with the principles of adult learning theory, produces a better learning experience for some adult learners (halpern & tucker, 2015). skill development is needed for librarians to create these new types of resources, as online education is not likely to disappear in the post-pandemic era. most of the literature that discussed changes to library models during the pandemic rarely compared those changes to the broader trends facing academic libraries. such comparison should be the basis for any discussion on post-pandemic library services. absent in the literature was a discussion on the role an academic library could play in leveraging its resources and unique skills to solve challenges facing universities during the pandemic. library initiatives implemented prior to the pandemic the uml started to reorganize library services in 2016, concentrating resources on faculty and student support. the initiatives implemented by the library from 2016 to 2019 transitioned it from a traditional collection-oriented organization to a modern, service-oriented organization. those initiatives included a robust virtual reference service, a transformed virtual health library, the implementation of various self-service technologies and the creation of new functional teams. xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 69 virtual reference team traditional reference services have migrated into the online environment over the last decade. the uml has been offering a chat or virtual reference service since 2011. similar to other academic libraries, the staffing model and service provision of the virtual reference service has changed and evolved over the last decade (gerbig et al., 2021; wharton & mann, 2020). the service has continued to grow and is considered a standard method for providing reference services. public service staff received training in conducting a reference interview and best practices for communicating in the online environment, including the use of virtual reference software. policies and guidelines for the virtual reference service were developed and revised over the last decade. in-depth reference consultations with librarians transitioned with the implementation of a single service desk model. beginning in 2014, librarians no longer staffed the reference desk, but started using an online calendar by which clients can book appointments for consultation. although appointments initially occurred in person, the removal of the librarians from a traditional reference desk laid the ground to a fully virtual reference service during the pandemic. wrha virtual library the uml has provided library services to the winnipeg regional health authority for over two decades. the original model established print collections in eight health institutions with staff located at each site. in 2017, the uml radically changed the model, transforming services to a completely virtual library (cooke, 2021). the new wrha virtual library provides online access to licensed health resources directly to clients, and relocated staff to a single location, offering services remotely to clients across the region. services include desktop delivery of articles, online workshops, literature searching, and access to physical materials delivered through a courier system or picked up at the uml. functional teams to support learning and research reorganization of public services within the uml resulted in the creation of two new areas of responsibility, research services and digital strategies (rsds) and learning and instruction (l&i). rsds responsibilities include data management, open scholarship, research impact, researcher support and profile management, data visualization, creative masterworks support, preservation and digitization, and collaboration with the office of research services (ors). the coordinator for learning and instruction leads the virtual reference team to directly serve students. it also supports liaison librarians in the role of teaching, resulting in a coordinated approach to the adoption of teaching and learning support tools. this includes more standardization of instruction to undergraduate students, and support for open educational resources. self-service for course reserves and library pickups at the uml, course reserve materials were kept behind the circulation desk at each branch. reserve materials were manually checked out and checked in at the circulation desk, and returned materials had to be shelved by staff. this service model required the circulation desk to be staffed xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 70 during all open hours, which limited the availability of the material to those hours. in 2018, the uml carried out a reserve kiosk project, during which multiple novelbranch kiosks (convergent library technologies, 2022) were implemented in different locations on the campus. course reserves were equipped with radio-frequency identification (rfid) tags and moved from behind circulation desks to inside the kiosks. when students take course reserve materials out of a kiosk, those items are checked out to their library accounts. when students put course reserves back into the kiosk, those items are returned via the integrated library system (ils). the check-in and check-out processes are automatic, without any intervention from library staff, and provide a 24/7 service to students. figure 1 presents the circulations per course reserve in the libraries where a reserve locker was implemented. as those reserve lockers were put to use in different months in 2018, statistics about item circulations are not consistent. as a result, statistical information from the year of 2017, when all reserve items in these libraries were kept behind the circulation desk, and the year of 2019, when all reserve items in these libraries were kept in a reserve locker, are included in this figure. figure 1. circulations per course reserve in library in 2017 and 2019 in 2019 in order to improve user experience requesting library materials, the uml carried out another project to implement two holdit (d-tech international ltd, 2022) pickup lockers. library items placed on hold were previously kept on designated shelves so that students could come pick them up when the library was open. this traditional service model is again limited to the library’s opening hours, and requires the circulation desk to be always staffed. the two pickup lockers were placed in the library buildings, but outside the libraries’ entrances. thus, even when the libraries are closed, students can still retrieve their on-hold items. one pickup locker was installed at the neil john maclean health science library on the bannatyne campus, and has been in use since september 2019. the other pickup locker was installed in the university centre building in september 2019, and moved to the elizabeth dafoe library in august 2020 when the document delivery service was resumed during the pandemic. 0 10 20 30 40 agriculture engineering law management science ci rc ul at io ns p er c ou rs e re se rv e library circulations per course reserve in each library 2017 circulation desk 2019 reserve kiosks xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 71 library performance during the pandemic the impact of the pandemic affected the workings of all academic libraries. as a response, the uml made adaptions to services that could be continued, which included expanded functional teams with a focus on open education, research support and increased online services. the initiatives implemented prior to the pandemic placed the uml in a strong position to adapt to pandemic-forced challenges. because of these initiatives, most library services continued to be provided. continuity of wrha virtual library, virtual reference and library pickups the wrha virtual library transitioned seamlessly during the pandemic and experienced no significant interruption of services. figure 2 presents the document delivery requests fulfilled by the wrha virtual library team in 2019 and 2020. delivering documents from the university of manitoba libraries’ collections to physicians is one of the major services provided. the total number of the fulfilled requests in 2019 was 2,961 while the number in 2020 was 2,618. considering only 55% of the university of manitoba libraries’ collections were available upon request during the pandemic, the document delivery service provided by the wrha virtual library team was not significantly affected by the pandemic. figure 2. document delivery requests fulfilled by wrha virtual library in 2019 and 2020 the uml askus virtual reference service operated on springshare’s platform. with the university switching to online instruction, the chats answered by the askus service increased. figure 3 presents the number of chats answered by the uml askus virtual reference service in 2019, 2020 and 2021. 0 100 200 300 400 500 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec n um be r o f d oc um en t d el iv er y re qu es ts f ill ed month fulfilled requests per month in 2019 and 2020 2019 2020 xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 72 figure 3. chats answered by uml virtual reference team in 2019, 2020, and 2021 during the pandemic, instead of providing a curbside pickup service, the uml continued the pickup locker service as its contactless design naturally fit public health requirements. relocation of a pickup locker to outside the elizabeth dafoe library, the main library on the fort garry campus, provided a convenient central location to offer contactless retrieval of print resources. the other pickup locker was located at the neil john maclean health sciences library (njm library) since the implementation, and is the only pickup location on the bannatyne campus. therefore, only data about library hold requests at the njm library is presented here. figure 4 presents the number of hold requests with the njm library as the pickup location from 2019 to 2021. although the month-to-month data shows the requests decreased in 2020 and 2021, this may be due to the fact that again, only 55% of the uml’s collections were available to be requested during the pandemic. figure 5 presents a normalized number of those requests. the number of 2019 requests and the requests in the first three months of 2020 stay unchanged, and the number of the requests after march 2020 were multiplied by 1.82 to take into consideration the reduced volume of available collections. from april 2020 to july 2020, the pickup service was also suspended. considering students’ willingness to come to campus to pick up library materials, this pickup locker service was not significantly affected by the pandemic. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 jan. feb. mar. apr. may. jun. jul. aug. sep. oct. nov. dec. n um be r o f c ha ts month chats answered by uml virtual reference team 2019 2020 2021 xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 73 figure 4. library hold requests picked up at the njm library in 2019 and 2021 figure 5. normalized library hold requests picked up at the njm library in 2019 and 2021 expansion of functional team with open educational resources (oers) support the uml expanded the learning & instruction functional team created during the public service reorganization prior to the pandemic by adding a new oer librarian position in 2021. position responsibilities include: “identify and share oers with faculty and library clients and to develop and deliver training sessions.” in 2022, the university of manitoba established a campus wide open education resource working group chaired jointly by the libraries and the centre for the advancement of teaching and learning. the oer working group is tasked with facilitating oer creation, use and adoption at the university, as well as developing strategies to increase the use of oer and other affordable learning materials. 0 50 100 150 200 250 n um be r of r eq ue st s library hold requests to njm library 2019 2020 2021 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 n um be r of r eq ue st s normalized library hold requests to njm libary 2019 2020 2021 xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 74 implementation of more online services following public health orders, the uml closed all stacks to patrons for the past two years. as a result, the reserve kiosk service was suspended in 2020 and 2021. in order to keep supporting instruction, in may 2020, the uml subscribed to leganto, a reading list management system provided by ex libris. on the leganto platform, instructors can send draft reading lists directly to the library, where library staff will digitize materials, order the electronic version of a book, or purchase a print copy of a title. once the library’s work is complete, the reading list will be released to students on the platform. this greatly increases the efficiency of the workflow for library staff and facilitates the use of reading lists for students. in order to secure access to as many electronic versions of our print materials as possible, in july 2020, the uml became a member of the hathitrust digital library and signed up for the hathitrust emergency temporary access service (etas). this provided online access for faculty and students to in-copyright items on the hathitrust platform. the etas covers around 45% of the uml collections. in the past two years, the average usage of etas at university of manitoba is 480 items per month. discussion on post-pandemic era the association of college & research libraries (acrl) identified oer as a continued trend in 2018 (acrl, 2018) and reports that increased financial burdens on students in addition to the continuing increase in the cost of textbooks resulted in the open educational resources movement (calvert et al., 2020). the shift to online teaching forced by the pandemic has lessened the resistance to oer resources among faculty members and it is predicted that academic libraries will continue as partners in the adoption and creation of these tools (boehme et al., 2021; calvert et al., 2020). the creation of an oer librarian position and the further development of functional teams, specifically the learning & instruction team with oer responsibilities, provides the staff resources to address this current and future trend. instruction can be provided using several methods: online (synchronously or asynchronously), offline or in-person, or hybrid, which is a combination of online and in-person teaching. the initiatives the uml implemented prior to the pandemic were in the context that inperson teaching and services was the dominant method. shifting the focus to develop more online instruction and online student supports, such as virtual reference and online appointment scheduling with librarians prior to the pandemic allowed for the continuity of core services during the pandemic. as a case study, the uml can be seen as proof of concept that these changes meet the challenges caused by the pandemic and its shift from predominantly in-person to a hybrid service model. the success of the uml’s initiatives inspires images of a positive and bright future direction for academic libraries in the post-pandemic era. virtual reference allows students to communicate with the library without location restriction, frees staff from the circulation desk and extends the service beyond the library’s operating hours. switching from in-person reference to virtual reference is not a simple change, as the latter has many unique challenges. it involves building a virtual team, where team members might never see each other; determining how to communicate with users effectively and efficiently xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 75 through written messages; establishing how to collaborate with other team members during busy hours; and facilitating the mobilization of the team during an emergency. virtual reference is a natural fit to the online instruction environment. the success of virtual reference, or online chat, implemented at the uml and many other institutions can be viewed as additional proof of concept that online services implemented or elevated during the pandemic performed well. these services are likely to be expanded and enhanced over the next few years to include initiatives such as virtual tours. compared to virtual reference, the creation of a fully virtual library service is a further shift away from the traditional library. although the services provided by a virtual library, such as access to electronic resources, article delivery, and online consultation, are also provided by traditional libraries, virtual library patrons never have to “step” into the library. thus, compared to virtual reference, a virtual library faces more fundamental challenges, including how to build trust between virtual library staff and patrons, how to attract patrons and promote virtual library services, and how to prove the value of virtual library services to both staff and patrons. therefore, it might be suitable only for a specific group of users at this moment, but may be broadly implemented in the future if in-person learning is no longer the dominant modality. new models to deliver traditional library services should be explored in the post-pandemic era, just as libraries adapted to the demands of tech savvy millennials described by nagy (nagy, 2011). libraries will have to meet the demands of the post-pandemic students who have to come to expect flexible service options that are convenient, and meet them where they are, either online or in-person. the reserve kiosks and the pickup lockers have demonstrated their value to the uml. these self-service pieces of equipment, make it possible to transform a traditional academic library into a learning commons while meeting students’ needs for print materials. prior to the pandemic, the uml was comprised of eleven libraries, each of which serves targeted faculties, colleges, and schools. during the pandemic, the uml reviewed the needs of those groups, discussed the potential service models and reimagined these spaces in light of self-service equipment and virtual services. the result is a redesign of four branches into unstaffed learning commons. working together with the faculty of education, the uml opened a learning commons in the education building where no library pre-existed, expanding the library’s contact with students without increasing staff resources. stakeholders have new expectations for academic libraries, as acrl reports the demand for oer support and data services will likely increase. academic library staff will need to be reassigned and trained to meet these new service responsibilities. automating labour-intensive tasks will free up staff time for these new services. new service models will require a reorganization of the traditional academic library. the uml is transforming from a collectionoriented organization to a service-oriented organization. the creation of the rsds department and the l&i functional team reflects the increasing demand for research support and instruction support from faculty. these functional teams are able to coordinate resources, promote services and select collaborative approaches across the organization. they can also incorporate emerging needs for library services, such as the oer position. the development of functional teams capitalizes on the strengths and skills libraries can offer to their institutions, placing libraries in a position to offer support and build partnerships throughout the campus. xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 76 conclusion due to the covid-19 pandemic, teaching and learning was moved primarily to the internet. academic libraries have closed collections as well as spaces, and relied on digital and electronic services to meet the needs of faculty and students. despite the challenges it caused, the pandemic provided an opportunity for academic libraries to glimpse what the future might look like when all teaching and learning activities could be provided online. the covid-19 pandemic will undoubtedly continue to play a major theme in issues facing higher education in the coming years. acrl and calvert (acrl, 2018; calvert et al., 2020) report the trends academic libraries can expect to see, including broader social issues, such as student financial challenges and the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion for vibrant, healthy work and learning environments. the pandemic forced institutions to adopt different teaching modalities; as faculty gain more experience using these different teaching methods, an increase in interest and acceptance of open educational resources and open scholarship can be expected. the closing of print collections dramatically increased the demand for electronic access to resources; controlled digital lending of print collections and the demand for electronic course-required resources is expected to continue or increase. librarians have long played a role in teaching information literacy skills. this role will continue and be expanded to include other literacies such as science, digital, privacy and data literacies. leaders in the workshops held by cni (calvert et al., 2020) felt these entrenched roles of libraries will be enhanced and place research libraries in a position of strength within their institutions in the coming years. with the early adoption of self-service technologies, such as the self-check app, reserve kiosks, pickup lockers and with the reorganization of public services prior to the pandemic, the university of manitoba libraries could quickly adapt to the challenges the pandemic was imposing. the performance of the library services provided during the pandemic demonstrated that the changes the library made prior conform to the trends of research libraries in the digital era and are positioned well to meet new challenges as the shift to online instruction and virtual services continues to evolve. this review of the services provided by the university of manitoba libraries’ during the pandemic is a case study of the transition from collection-oriented to service-oriented changes that research libraries can make to support evolving research, teaching and learning trends in the post-pandemic period. references acrl. (2018). 2018 top trends in academic libraries. c&rl news, 274–281. boehme, g., mcallister, a. d., casewell, t. r., denlinger, k., flierl, m., hall, a. r., li, c., quigley, b. d., wang, m., & wesolek, a. j. (2021). acrl 2021 environmental scan. library faculty presentations & publications. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ala.org%2fa crl%2fsites%2fala.org.acrl%2ffiles%2fcontent%2fpublications%2fwhitepapers%2fenvi ronmentalscan2021.pdf&data=04%7c01%7crfairbro%40unf.edu%7cc36c3165b4084a3da a6008d960e71ba0%7cd butters, b. a. (2006). automating library processes achieving success with self-service loans xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 77 & returns principal consultant executive summary. aplis, 20(1), 34–44. calvert, s., kennedy, m. l., lynch, c., & o’brien, j. 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(2020). covid-19 and digital library services – a case study of a university library. digital library perspectives, 36(4), 351–363. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlp-05-2020-0030 murphy, j. e., lewis, c. j., mckillop, c. a., & stoeckle, m. (2021). expanding digital academic library and archive services at the university of calgary in response to the covid-19 pandemic. ifla journal, 34003522110230. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352211023067 nagy, a. (2011). next-generation service. library technology reporst, 47(7), 8–9. scoulas, j. m., carrillo, e., & naru, l. (2021). assessing user experience: incorporating student voice in libraries’ pandemic response. journal of library administration, 61(6), 686–703. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2021.1947058 sigwald, r. (2016). self-service customer service models in libraries. journal of library administration, 56(4), 453–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2016.1157429 walsh, b., & rana, h. (2020). continuity of academic library services during the pandemic: the university of toronto libraries’ response. journal of scholarly publishing, 51(4), 237–245. https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.51.4.04 wharton, l., & mann, e. z. (2020). transitioning online reference staffing models: assessing and balancing needs of patrons and practitioners. reference librarian, 61(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2019.1678217 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors xuan and shaw / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 78 wei xuan is associate university librarian at the university of manitoba libraries. he has been playing a leading role in numerous projects focused on new services, system interoperability, data protection and accessibility. his current research interests include service evaluation, data management and library technology. christine shaw is an associate university librarian with the university of manitoba. christine has over 20 years of experience working in libraries at all levels. she provides leadership, develops strategic priorities, identifies trends, and provides support to staff working in an ever-changing work environment. research interests include library assessment and equity diversity and inclusion in libraries. 231-title page 231-xuan-galley proof trends, challenges and opportunities at university of manitoba libraries during the covid pandemic abstract keywords: academic library, covid-19, pandemic reflection, virtual reference, virtual library introduction literature review library initiatives implemented prior to the pandemic virtual reference team wrha virtual library functional teams to support learning and research self-service for course reserves and library pickups library performance during the pandemic continuity of wrha virtual library, virtual reference and library pickups expansion of functional team with open educational resources (oers) support implementation of more online services discussion on post-pandemic era conclusion references issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org shifting instruction for sustainability: lessons from covid erin wahl abstract: the covid-19 pandemic irrevocably changed the ways that libraries function. libraries had to shift and our skills as librarians and educators were put to the test in new ways. as the instruction coordinator at new mexico state university library during the pandemic, i saw an opportunity emerge to do something i had wanted to for a while: shift instruction to be more mindful of concepts of sustainability and utilize the tools of our library and campus community to their greatest effect. this article details the shift in considering library instruction through sustainability and resilience by detailing the main challenges the new mexico state university library faced during the pandemic. to cite this article: wahl, e. (2022). shifting instruction for sustainability: lessons from covid. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 99-108. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.236 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.236 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 99-108. issn: 2474-3542 shifting instruction for sustainability: lessons from covid erin wahl new mexico state university, usa abstract the covid-19 pandemic irrevocably changed the ways that libraries function. libraries had to shift and our skills as librarians and educators were put to the test in new ways. as the instruction coordinator at new mexico state university library during the pandemic, i saw an opportunity emerge to do something i had wanted to for a while: shift instruction to be more mindful of concepts of sustainability and utilize the tools of our library and campus community to their greatest effect. this article details the shift in considering library instruction through sustainability and resilience by detailing the main challenges the new mexico state university library faced during the pandemic. keywords: covid-19, sustainability, resilience, instruction, pandemic, change, discomfort introduction the covid-19 pandemic necessitated sweeping and immediate changes to libraries globally as everyone rushed to shut down for the safety of their communities, but still offer services. the field of library and information science was suddenly asking big questions in a new light, amongst them being: ● what are the most important things we do? ● what does our community need right now? ● how do we continue offering services given all of these new challenges? in order to be able to answer these questions for a world altered by the pandemic, and to continue to be able to adapt to future challenges, more libraries should be considering these questions in terms of sustainability. sustainability is typically applied in terms of its environmental meaning, resulting in green libraries, recycling programs, community gardens, or programs on environmental subjects. however, sustainability is much more than the environmental side of its definition, and more widely applicable to libraries than some may realize. as henk (2014) observes: “transitioning to sustainability requires more than just measuring and reducing environmental impact. that tactic has been tried without success for many years. the time has come to try a new approach—recommitting to our fundamental values and reviewing our operations to ensure that they match those values” (p. 8). wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 100 thinking about sustainability coupled with resilience not only allows us to meet shifting challenges such as the recent pandemic, but also requires that we consider maintenance and evolution of library instruction in the long-term. libraries will experience change as a natural part of being within an ecosystem, but how libraries and library instruction confront the constancy of change in a sustainable manner allows us to develop institutions that are truly resilient and able to quickly shift gears when circumstances require. defining sustainability in order to talk about how to shift library instruction with sustainability in mind, the term sustainability itself needs to be defined. one of the established standard definitions of sustainability comes from the world commission on environment and development’s report, typically known as our common future, which establishes the three es of sustainability as: economy, equity, and environment (1987). sustainability too often falls into a buzzword category. it is often used but not understood; shiny and modern but meaningless. sustainability generally enters library literature in the form of physical spaces, programming, digital efforts, and processes, but often these definitions are not as concrete and rarely attempt to connect to the rest of the library overall, much less the community the library belongs to. often this literature sticks to a case-bycase basis approach and becomes a checkmark that is completed and moved on from, rather than a continuing, evolving endeavor that is central to the mission of the library. in his book, edwards more succinctly defines the three es made standard following the release of that report as “preservation and management of ecology/environment (the first e) to include on an equal basis issues related to economy/employment (the second e) and equity/equality (the third e)”, the broader focus of which “offers the possibility of a much broader coalition for positive change both within and among societies” (edwards, 2005, p. 21). edwards subsequently offers the addition of a fourth e: education which “is the catalyst for helping everyone understand the dynamic nature of the interrelationship of the three es” (2005, p. 23). sustainability may begin, for many, with environmental efforts, but the interconnected nature of these es quickly catapults the critical librarian into a broader, interconnected picture of sustainability in the world and the library, imagining how the es could be harnessed to create a truly resilient library. libraries should be considered as ecosystems that are connected with other existing ecosystems. ecosystems rarely exist in a vacuum, but rather interlink and intertwine much like a library exists within its community and the parts of a library (such as instruction) exist within that organizational structure. it is this existence as part of an ecosystem that makes developing a sustainable resilient library imperative to the continued success of our organizations and the communities we work with. in order to create something truly lasting, sustainability of an ecosystem needs to be coupled with resilience. according to webb: “the concept of resilience, as applied to an ecosystem, is loosely defined as the ability of the system to maintain its function when faced with novel disturbance. the concept is related to stability, but with its focus on maintenance of function and novel disturbance, resilience uniquely encompasses aspects of society's reliance on ecosystem services and increasing anthropogenic change. [...] focusing on how basic ecological characteristics and wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 101 processes respond to novel disturbance will contribute to understanding how society might develop sustainably” (2007). sustainability and resilience do not need to exist in opposition to each other. rather, they are both necessary to achieving a library that can move with change and serve its community well. librarians would do well to revise their institutions and positions from a sustainability standpoint. a library that uses the sustainability definition that includes environment, economy, equity, and education, with a mind towards institutional, community, and global resilience, is a library that is well equipped to battle disturbances to its “normal” activities. pandemics and misinformation and civil unrest may shift to become opportunities for growth of communities and the ability to make a significant positive change, not moments of panic. this echoes the introduction to the book libraries & sustainability: programs and practices for community impact, in which aldrich shares the hope that she and her coauthors had in editing the volume: “that what you read in this book is not just interesting to you, not just food for thought, but content that helps you actively reimagine your role in the library profession to one as an ardent advocate interested in joining us in the work to not only help libraries step into the necessary role as leaders on the topic of sustainability, but to transform the world in a way that combats climate change and builds community resilience” (tanner, ho, antonelli. and aldrich, 2021, p. xii). munro (2011), adapting from walker and salt’s (2006) resilience thinking, lists the characteristics of a resilient library as: diversity, variability, modularity, acknowledgement of slow variables, tight feedbacks, social capital, innovation, ecosystem services, redundancies, and generalists. one of the major points of munro’s article is that librarians must become comfortable with the uncomfortable environment, with the constant shifting and changing that comes with being part of an ecosystem, and evolve to answer this constant change, developing resilience for our institutions. the sustainability and library connection sustainability and resilience are natural partners to libraries, which are also concerned with a continued, evolving connection with our communities. when library instruction was forced to move from wholly in-person to virtual, that was a major shift in the environment in which instruction was being delivered that required a new approach. although connected, in-person and virtual instruction provide their own specific set of challenges. as henk (2014) observes, “transitioning to sustainability requires more than just measuring and reducing environmental impact. that tactic has been tried without success for many years. the time has come to try a new approach—recommitting to our fundamental values and reviewing our operations to ensure that they match those values” (p. 8). a part of applying sustainability and building resilience is to choose how we tackle a problem in a wise and maintainable manner and create that comfort with discomfort. in their chapter “greening the mothership”, kane and sklar capture the difficulties and unique opportunities that come with making the library more sustainable, saying that: “each institution has its own particular quirks, between organizational structure, staffing, funding, and space availability, and a successful program will take those local limitations wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 102 into account. likewise, a successful program will build on local strengths, needs, and interests, whether it is the role the library plays in campus life or natural institutional partnerships” (2013, p. 221). a handful of challenges accompanied this effort to think sustainably about the library instruction program during the pandemic, but there were many more opportunities for growth. the rest of this article will explore how i tackled this shift through a breakdown of the challenges and how the solutions contribute to the resilience of the library ecosystem and the instruction program overall. new mexico state university the new mexico state university library is located in the city of las cruces in southern new mexico, united states, around 60 miles from the border with mexico and the city of ciudad juarez. as a land grant university and hispanic-serving institution, new mexico state university (nmsu) has a complex history fraught with trauma, and a responsibility to move forward serving the communities of new mexico with intention. it is the home of the state’s cooperative extension offices, serving 33 counties and boasting research and science centers that support the activities of new mexico’s population. in the spring of 2022, nmsu boasted an enrollment of 19,581 students across all its campuses and community colleges statewide. of those students, 12,712 are located at the main campus in las cruces, new mexico, the population which the nmsu library on main campus directly serves and educates (new mexico state university, 2022). the nmsu library reference and research services department teaches one-shot instruction, online modules, as well as for-credit courses in library skills, information literacy, and other topics. economic issues and supply chains libraries are no stranger to economic challenges, although the pandemic exacerbated the financial stress of many libraries. library instruction at new mexico state university had several challenges as covid spread and it became apparent that the us was also headed for a shutdown of some sort. the instruction coordinator performed an informal technology survey of library reference faculty and staff who teach which showed that no one had an ideal setup for working from home, and some had no reliable capability to work from home at all. the library’s solution: for each employee to take their desktop computer home with them, was not useful for virtual, real time library instruction. the reference staff’s desktop computers did not have the capabilities required to deliver online instruction, having no cameras or microphones built in or accompanying them. there was no influx of money early on in the pandemic to purchase the technology the reference staff needed to do this work from home. added onto this lack was the sudden interruption of global supply chains, and the rush to purchase these needed devices for telework that led to shortages in stock and, in some cases, an increase in product prices as demand out-paced supply. unfortunately, government assistance was not so forthcoming in the early days of the pandemic as everyone scrambled to respond to a chaotic situation, and as a result most of the instruction work fell to the several people who did have appropriate wi-fi connections and home computer setups. some librarians and staff members ended up spending a lot of their own personal wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 103 money to make sure they could continue to work from home during the early days of the pandemic. though relying on these few individuals was not the most equitable, sustainable solution, since library instruction requests decreased at new mexico state university throughout the pandemic, it ended up being more achievable than was initially expected. considering sustainability through economy, the fact that many librarians had to spend personal money just to keep working, and equity, the fact that much of the work fell to a few people, a recommendation was made to the department head and library administration to consider replacing reference librarians’ desktop computers with video and audio capable laptop computers sometime in the future. not only would this ensure appropriate tools for future librarians in case of another shutdown, but it would also impact the resilience of the instruction program. librarians equipped with laptops are not tied to the traditional library computer lab, and would be able to travel around the university campus and into the surrounding community for library instruction and outreach opportunities. this mobility could increase the reference department’s outreach capabilities and could positively affect the university and surrounding communities’ perception of the usefulness of the library overall. reaching our audience probably one of the most obvious issues of the switch to virtual is how we were going to engage with our audience when we were not in the building. this is where the majority of our efforts to think sustainably about the resilience of library instruction were focused. the main virtual spaces of the new mexico state university library: website, social media, libguides (and other springshare tools), zoom, and the university’s learning management system, canvas, were our tools. specifically, library instruction had direct access to libguides, zoom, and canvas to work with. new mexico state university currently uses the canvas learning management system, which has an open access repository called canvas commons that includes resources (assignments, modules, quizzes, etc.) that have been created by users (typically professors/teachers, etc.) and shared for anyone in the university or wider canvas-user community to use. although we pivoted to zoom instruction to immediately serve the campus community during the initial lockdown period of covid, it was not a reliable sustainable model for long-term engagement with students. previously zoom had been used only periodically for situations like meetings, so there was a lack of knowledge in the library about how to use it. everyone needed to become “experts” very quickly. early in the pandemic, there was no way to predict if instruction requests would increase, decrease, or stay the same, in addition to the realities of an already shortstaffed department, it made sense to think proactively about approaches to virtual instruction. since there was no comparable crisis situation on which to base our actions off of, we determined to think proactively as we also reacted to the immediate needs of our campus users. prior to the start of the fall semester, a library orientation module that contained all of the skills librarians would typically cover during a basic instruction session was quickly put together and published to canvas commons. having just gone through the process of certifying the library’s online course through quality matters, which new mexico state university uses to ensure quality of online courses, the qm-approved template developed by new mexico state university’s academic technology office was used for the modules so that they would also meet quality matters standards, and their wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 104 structure would be recognizable by students (wahl and schaub, 2021, p. 8), this shift was done in hopes of imparting a higher level of comfort with the modules for students. each module is meant to take around an hour to complete, roughly the time of a full class period. each includes student learning outcomes, video instruction (of no more than 20 minutes), links to the library website, youtube pages, and libguides, links to outside tutorials, resources, original educational content, and two optional assignments. all modules are dropped into canvas commons with a standardized name (all modules must begin with the words “nmsu library”) to make them easier to find and labeled as public domain, communicating to faculty users that they may import the modules into their courses and alter them if they wish. the module assignments were created so that they can be easily scaffolded into the lead-up to a larger assignment, and faculty members can choose to assign to their students if they would like and even tailor them to the specific assignment more closely if they wish. faculty can “favorite” the modules, and canvas will notify them whenever the module is updated with new content. the initial module was tested by asking the instructors of the 100-level english writing course to use the module exclusively in their classes that fall. it was revised later that semester using feedback and an orientation module geared towards graduate students was created in the spring 2021 semester. from the lessons of those two initial modules, i am writing a module manual to guide future module production in a programmatic way and ensure those same standards of quality online education and accessibility are met. additionally, the module manual distinguishes the purpose of library modules as opposed to libguides and our youtube videos, so as to make it clearer when a task is better for a module or for a libguide or youtube video. modules are revisited at least once a year to check for any needed updates, or whenever important information changes. moving forward, the library instruction program will create a program of modules that can be easily integrated into faculty’s courses. as the pandemic took a firm hold, librarians at new mexico state university started to investigate what tools we already had access to but might not be utilizing fully. after a conversation with a colleague at the regional community college, we realized we had a version of springshare that included integration options into learning management systems such as canvas, but we had not set up or utilized this. known in the springshare world as libapps manual and libapps automagic, the next semester was spent researching, learning, and preparing to integrate these two tools into the canvas system. libapps manual was turned on in april 2021 and libapps automagic was turned on in november 2021. after an initial testing phase for both tools, they were introduced to the campus community. both have immediately impacted the way faculty and students interact with springshare tools such as libguides (for research guides), libcal (for booking study rooms once the library had opened again), a-z database lists and links, and other resources. another way we attempted to reach our audience was by revising our public-facing web page for library instruction. the idea was to shift the narrative and empower faculty to embed library resources into their classes without having to contact us for every single thing. quick howto screenshots show faculty how to drop library modules and resources into their canvas courses quickly, and without the aid of a librarian. a page dedicated to faculty shows a menu-like table with all of the possible options for instruction and course assistance. faculty who do not find wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 105 something intriguing in this menu are encouraged to reach out to the instruction team to have a larger discussion about their needs. it was necessary for our efforts to reach our audience to be infused with concepts of sustainability, as such we hoped to increase easy access to library instruction and resources and increase equity for students and faculty. the realities of the pandemic made it essential to the success of the program overall. prior to the pandemic, no instruction was done online and there was a lot of reluctance to making that shift and what it would look like. by crafting modules built for best practices in online education and accessibility and enabling new tools and providing clear instructions for utilizing those tools for faculty that did not require a librarian’s direct help we made it easier for students and faculty to access these tools and instruction without our direct assistance, whenever was most convenient. making the module assignments customizable by faculty meant that they did not have to do much extra work to alter the modules to be seamlessly included in their courses. throughout the pandemic, instruction numbers at new mexico state university have fluctuated and decreased overall, and though we are now fully back in the building since fall of 2021, requests are still not up to their typical levels. we have shifted most of our basic instruction to the online modules entirely, freeing up librarian time for the pandemic’s shifting priorities, different kinds of collaborations and initiatives in instruction, and for teaching more higher-level skills when in person or on zoom. even now that we are back in the building, several instructors are having a lot of success using the modules as an initial requirement before in-person library instruction, finding that they can cover more advanced strategies and topics when they do not have to spend valuable class time on basics. by auditing and using the tools we already had at our disposal rather than spending time or money on developing or purchasing new ones, we prioritized use of the library’s economic resources, and switching to online modules for the more basic library instruction made sure to consider the equity of the library employees by making sure no one was required to take on too much. changing the face of our instruction page was important to making the instruction program more resilient by starting to change the understanding and narrative around what library instruction can be in a university class. time and staffing the library at new mexico state university, like many, is short-staffed and has been that way for a long time due to a variety of circumstances. as the pandemic wore on, approaching different workloads considering these gaps and how to keep everyone’s workload manageable and avoid burnout while still making progress, can go a long way towards continuing good relationships within the library and on university campuses. during the pandemic, the reference department lost a librarian whose contract period was up, further complicating the already problematic staffing issues in the department. at the new mexico state university library, library instruction is done by librarians in the reference and research services department. however, we are obviously not the only librarians, or experts in library services, in the library. in developing the initiatives outlined earlier, care was taken to make sure that not only were we allowing librarians and staff experts in various areas to showcase their skills, but also considering the increased workload from the pandemic and not asking them to do too much. for example, needing a good video of how to request materials through interlibrary loan, several people in that department were approached about creating one, only to find that their workload was currently too heavy. there was, however, wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 106 interest in contributing a video in the future. in this way, we were able to create space to honor the expertise of the staff in the interlibrary loan department, and also honor their time. during the pandemic our schedules shifted time-wise and priority-wise, and now that we are back on campus they have shifted again. most libraries have been inexorably altered by the pandemic and it is likely that most of us will not be working in the same way as we did pre-covid. one way libraries can be more sustainable in regards to instruction is to take an inventory of the expertise that lives in their buildings in not only librarians but also staff. this manages equity in that it allows librarians and staff to showcase their expertise, and in some cases may allow a librarian or staff member an opportunity to grow their skills by contributing something that is outside their normal daily work. additionally, by honoring the workload and time of librarians and staff members, we are trying to make sure that no one’s job is too overwhelming with tasks that they feel burnt out on, or that they are being asked to do too much outside their job description or contract dates. communication communication pre-pandemic and post-pandemic are not the same. we may be back in the buildings, but in-person casual conversations and brainstorming sessions that led to good ideas and information exchanges are not returning as quickly, as each person weighs the risk of interaction for themselves. we are all judging just what is important enough to discuss in a different way. communicating how instruction was meeting the challenges of the pandemic was and still is, an uphill battle. there are a limited number of ways to share information through the institution, and some of these are, according to informal feedback from faculty in many different offices of the university, largely ignored by most faculty. after determining that “hotline” the university’s daily rundown of things going on around campus proved largely ineffective at getting out messages regarding library instruction, a new plan began to be developed in preparation for spring 2022 that included a more robust use of library social media and announcements via the dashboard on the canvas learning management system. applying sustainability to communication was arguably one of the hardest facets of this work. it has been identified as a campus-wide problem in previous university climate reports (human resource services, 2019). in the end, our hands were tied to whatever was available throughout campus. the challenge of an ecosystem in crisis, such as academia during the pandemic, is that it can be stretched thin in many places. one could say that we made use of what was already available in our environment. communication on the new mexico state university campus was one of these places. although opportunities to communicate on campus are still not ideal, the university has made a commitment to make this aspect better campus wide, and through covid initiated bi-weekly town hall style meetings, a reboot of a faculty listserv, and additional bulletins targeted to online learning and other topics from certain university offices. conclusion though the challenges the library instruction program faced made the switchover difficult, progress is being made every semester and word is spreading that we have been implementing the new tools. this initial attempt to shift the instruction program towards a sustainability and wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 107 resilience mindset was a small step in the right direction. a common takeaway in literature about sustainability in libraries is that often the shift comes in small increments as it can be difficult to get the buy-in from colleagues necessary to make broader changes (jankowska, 2013; tanner, ho, antonelli. and aldrich, 2021). the changes made to the instruction program at new mexico state university library eased some of our pain points in instruction during the pandemic. the instruction program considered how the definition of sustainability (environment, equity, economy, and education) could be applied with a mind towards future resilience in library instruction. most considered of these concepts were equity, economy, and education (and arguably environment in the instance of university-wide communication), as it fit the most pressing current issues the library was dealing with during the pandemic. all of these were simple to initiate, though some were more time-consuming to complete, and all will be simple to maintain over time now that the expectation and structure has been created. one of the most invigorating aspects of beginning the shift to thinking about library instruction in terms of sustainability is the natural turn towards considering more and more aspects of work (and life!) in these terms. this kind of commitment and reflection is a great motivator towards crafting resilient libraries as well. once one has made this shift there is a greater motivation to maintain the system and move forward with more implementation. this is one of the keys to resilience; to maintain the systems and the motivation that initiated the changes, so they do not become checkmarks on a list, but an ongoing effort. the nmsu library instruction program hopes to make sustainability an ongoing effort. further plans for marketing this progress to the campus community is a goal in 2022. although we are back in the library buildings, things are still not back to pre-pandemic normal. instruction requests are slowly creeping up, and module downloads remain steady and slowly increasing. but this slow ascent to normal may not be a bad thing. rather, it should be considered a breathing space to reimagine what our library instruction could look like in the days of postpandemic-panic. now that we have a standard structure for things like library modules, it will be easier to bring other existing and new structures into a similar model. included in that are ways forward for instruction at new mexico state university library that focus on sustainability and resilience and communicating the value of library instruction to the campus community. wahl / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 108 references edwards, a. r. (2005). the sustainability revolution: portrait of a paradigm shift. new society publishers. freedman, b. (2014). ecosystem. in k. l. lerner & b. w. lerner (eds), the gale encyclopedia of science. gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/cx3727800839/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmarkitof&xid=55ce29a2 henk, m. (2014). ecology, economy, equity: the path to a carbon neutral library. american library association. human resource services. (2019). employee engagement survey results. new mexico state university. https://hr.nmsu.edu/employee-survey/. jankowksa, m.a. (ed.). (2013). focus on educating for sustainability: toolkit for academic libraries. library juice press. kane, k. and sklar, a. (2013). greening the mothership: growing the environmental sustainability group at the university of california, san diego library. in m.a. jankowska (ed.), focus on educating for sustainability: toolkit for academic libraries (pp. 211-226). library juice press. munro, k. (2011). resilience vs. sustainability: the future of libraries. in the library with a lead pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/resilience-vs-sustainability-thefuture-of-libraries/ new mexico state university. (2022). about nmsu. new mexico state university. https://nmsu.edu/about_nmsu/index.html tanner, r., ho, a.k., antonelli, m. and aldrich, r. s. (2021). libraries & sustainability: programs and practices for community impact. chicago: ala editions. wahl, e.r. and schaub, c. (2021). enhancing design of library instruction modules using the quality matters rubric. acrl instruction section semi-annual newsletter. 38(1), 8. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/se ctions/is/iswebsite/projpubs/newsletter/is_spring2021.pdf walker, b.h. and salt, d. (2006). resilience thinking: sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world. island press. webb, c. t. (2007). what is the role of ecology in understanding ecosystem resilience? bioscience, 57(6), 470-471. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a165780917/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmarkitof&xid=72454971 world commission on environment and development. (1987). report of the world commission on environment and development our common future. sustainable development goals knowledge platform. retrieved february 2022 from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milestones/wced ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author erin wahl is an assistant professor at the reference and research services of the new mexico state university library. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/cx3727800839/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmark-itof&xid=55ce29a2 https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/cx3727800839/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmark-itof&xid=55ce29a2 https://hr.nmsu.edu/employee-survey/ https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/resilience-vs-sustainability-the-future-of-libraries/ https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/resilience-vs-sustainability-the-future-of-libraries/ https://nmsu.edu/about_nmsu/index.html https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/newsletter/is_spring2021.pdf https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/newsletter/is_spring2021.pdf https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a165780917/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmark-itof&xid=72454971 https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a165780917/itof?u=nm_a_nmlascr&sid=bookmark-itof&xid=72454971 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milestones/wced 236-title page 236-wahl-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org managing bias when library collections become data catherine nicole coleman abstract: developments in ai research have dramatically changed what we can do with data and how we can learn from data. at the same time, implementations of ai amplify the prejudices in data often framed as ‘data bias’ and ‘algorithmic bias.’ libraries, tasked with deciding what is worth keeping, are inherently discriminatory and yet remain trusted sources of information. as libraries begin to systematically approach their collections as data, will they be able to adopt and adapt the ai-driven tools to traditional practices? drawing on the work of the ai initiative within stanford libraries, the fantastic futures conference on ai for libraries, archives, and museums, and recent scholarship on data bias and algorithmic bias, this article encourages libraries to engage critically with ai and help shape applications of the technology to reflect the ethos of libraries for the benefit of libraries themselves and the patrons they serve. a brief examination of two core concepts in machine learning, generalization and unstructured data, provides points of comparison to library practices in order to uncover the theoretical assumptions driving the different domains. the comparison also offers a point of entry for libraries to adopt machine learning methods on their own terms. to cite this article: coleman, c.n. (2020). managing bias when library collections become data. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 8-19. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.162 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 8-19. issn:2474-3542 managing bias when library collections become data catherine nicole coleman stanford university, ca, usa abstract developments in ai research have dramatically changed what we can do with data and how we can learn from data. at the same time, implementations of ai amplify the prejudices in data often framed as ‘data bias’ and ‘algorithmic bias.’ libraries, tasked with deciding what is worth keeping, are inherently discriminatory and yet remain trusted sources of information. as libraries begin to systematically approach their collections as data, will they be able to adopt and adapt the ai-driven tools to traditional practices? drawing on the work of the ai initiative within stanford libraries, the fantastic futures conference on ai for libraries, archives, and museums, and recent scholarship on data bias and algorithmic bias, this article encourages libraries to engage critically with ai and help shape applications of the technology to reflect the ethos of libraries for the benefit of libraries themselves and the patrons they serve. a brief examination of two core concepts in machine learning, generalization and unstructured data, provides points of comparison to library practices in order to uncover the theoretical assumptions driving the different domains. the comparison also offers a point of entry for libraries to adopt machine learning methods on their own terms. keywords: data bias, algorithmic bias, collections as data, accountability, critical data practice, artificial intelligence bryan catanzaro, vp of applied deep learning at nvidia, told the crowd attending a conference for libraries, archives, and museums (fantastic futures, 2019) that computer scientists need the collected and curated data that libraries have. catanzaro, who leads a research team at nvidia, explained that developments in deep learning, where once massive amounts of data were necessary, are moving in the direction of more clearly defined and domain specific data sets. he was bringing this message to a library conference because data is now recognized to be a fundamental part of the algorithm. “that means,” said catanzaro, “that the collection and curation of data sets, the skills that you guys practice—the resources that you have access to—can enable the creation of new algorithms and new applications.” (catanzaro, 2019, 5:30) for most machine learning researchers, acquiring the training data with which to build models is challenging for a number of reasons including copyright restrictions, privacy concerns, and pay walls. as a result, computer scientists have tended to use whatever data are easily accessible. the model that catanzaro’s team and many others use for building text generators was trained on wikipedia and unpublished books. (devlin et al, 2018; zhu et al, 2015) the limitations coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 9 and potential problems of using data available ‘in the wild’ without attention to curation presents problems. a cautionary tale that catanzaro shared was ibm’s facial recognition program. the 2018 paper, gender shades: intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification by joy buolamwini and timnit gebru, uncovered significant demographic bias in benchmark datasets used for face recognition by ibm, google, microsoft and face++. in an attempt to make their model “more fair and accurate,” (merler et al, 2019) ibm created the diversity in faces dataset from a subset of the yfcc100m dataset: 99.2 million photos and 0.8 million videos from flickr that account holders had tagged with creative commons licenses. (thomee et al, 2016) the owners of the flickr images sued, insisting that giving license for re-use of the image did not include re-use for the purpose of building facial recognition technology. (rizzi, 2020) the problems that ibm encountered and created were, in large part, failures of critical data practice that could have been avoided by following ten simple rules for responsible big data research or similar guidelines. (zook et al, 2019) what if researchers had come to the library asking for images to train a face recognition model? catanzaro spoke of ‘collecting data’ as scraping text or images from the web. libraries instead think in terms of collections as data. (padilla et al, 2019) starting a search for images at a library or archive begins with collections. image collections sourced from libraries, archives, and museums are already described and bounded by the circumstances and terms of collection. provenance would have been integral to the selection of images. ‘which data sets?’ and ‘why?’ are questions that would have come first. the license for the data selected would also have been an essential criterion for selection. though in this case the terms of the license were subject to dispute, at least the lesson learned after the fact would redound to the benefit of future data selection by informing library and archival practice. as christine borgman explains in big data, little data, no data, data is difficult to define but always has context. libraries provide knowledge infrastructure that is adaptable to the questions being asked, and the collection is a fundamental component of organizing information. (borgman, 2015, p 173) would library staff have identified demographic bias in the data sets before the gender shades study was published? likely not. developing that awareness requires more than critical library skills and subject specialization. diversity in staffing as well as the skills and tools to analyze the content of digitized collections rather than relying on metadata alone would be necessary. the recently published report, responsible operations: data science, machine learning, and ai in libraries is an example of the self-reflexive work that goes on within libraries to address social and organizational challenges hand-in-hand with technical ones. in the report thomas padilla writes, referring to the individuals in libraries, digital humanities, and affiliated fields he consulted: “all agreed that the challenge of doing this work responsibly requires fostering organizational capacities for critical engagement, managing bias, and mitigating potential harm.” (2019, p. 6) this paper expands on the paradigm of managing bias in libraries that was introduced in the responsible operations report: “managing bias rather than working to eliminate bias is a distinction born of the sense that elimination is not possible because elimination would be a kind of bias itself—essentially a well-meaning, if ultimately futile, ouroboros.” (padilla, 2019) to manage bias is to emphasize the active engagement and vigilance required to balance the inherently discriminatory ordering of information for library retrieval systems with the responsibility libraries coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 10 have to serve people and help them find relevant information. the library is not neutral and does not have the right models. rather, through the quotidian activities of catalogers, bibliographers, archivists, and by other library staff at the reference desk, in the acquisitions department and in circulation, the quiet struggle to adapt and respond to the changing information landscape, to decide what should be collected and preserved, and to help people find what they are seeking, plays out. the day-to-day work of libraries is local and human scale. libraries, archives, and museums are not just about storing data, organizing it, and providing access. they are vital institutions full of committed individuals whose work lies in the tension between the inherently discriminatory mediating practice of organizing and categorizing and the desire to make information freely available and discoverable. that tension, or friction, provides stability and drives change. cultural heritage institutions are perpetually confronting the questions: ‘are we preserving the right things? are we making the right choices?’ there is no right answer. the bases of decision-making change over time and are distributed. each institution has its own character; the forces acting on decision-making are many. most importantly, there are human beings behind the decisions and the institutional norms who are accountable. attempts to de-bias algorithms or de-bias data have been introduced recently in response to a crisis in machine learning. but seeking to avoid accountability, disguised as objectivity or worse, neutrality, is a technocratic fallacy. bias is an unavoidable consequence of situated decision-making that we have to reckon with. who decides how to classify things? who decides which things are in the system and which are not? these questions are not new and they are integral to the work of libraries. from generalizability to accountability a machine learning model is not useful if it is not generalizable. the example that andrew ing uses often to explain this concept involves building a model to predict the potential sale price of a home. (ing, n.d.) the exercise begins with data about houses that have already been sold. the data must include the sale price of the home and the values for some number of corresponding features of each house, for example, the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, and the square footage. if too many features or features that are too specific to a home are included, the model cannot be applied broadly. in other words, the variety of features used to train the model is limited by design. this limitation is known as the ‘bias-variance tradeoff.’ when your model includes fewer features and those features are common to all homes (i.e. all homes have some measure of bedrooms, all can be measured in square feet), the model is more broadly applicable. conversely, the more unique the qualities, the greater ‘variance’ in the model, making it less useful for prediction. mitigating prediction error is also described in terms of overfitting or underfitting. overfitting results when the model is very good at identifying distinguishing features in your training data, but when you try to apply the model to new data, it fails because the features are too specific to the training data. underfitting describes the situation when your model is so general that it does not make useful distinctions in the data. the implications of the bias-variance dilemma become clearer when it is framed in terms of equity vs. efficiency. fast-growing internet business models tend toward efficiency, which is coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 11 why we see so much bias in applications of ai emerging from the private sector. as long as there is no accountability for businesses to be equitable (even knowing what it means to be equitable is considered too expensive a question to answer), efficiency and overall increased performance will win out. in the abstract, the bias-variance balance is simply a matter of optimizing a model to produce the best result. but that aseptic presentation belies all of the consequential choices left unexamined in the process. when andrew ing explains how machine learning works, he is very careful to point out that machine learning is limited to discrete tasks. and yet, he perpetuates the mythology that ai is the new electricity, a new currency; the basis of a new economy. the choice of which features to use and the consequences of those choices are not discussed in his training. are the size of the house, the number of rooms and number of bathrooms selected because they are the best measures of value or simply because they are readily available and do not require additional research? or are those features defining the model because the data for those features are the most complete? the age of the roof or the strength of the home’s foundation might be better indicators of the value of the house to the homebuyer. but if there is spotty or inconsistent data gathered about those features, they may be ignored. it is easy to imagine a construction market being driven by the model: homes are built to maximize value according to those measures of size rather than that focusing on energy efficiency, affordability, or any number of other qualities that would benefit society. the discriminatory effects of applying mathematical models either uncritically or without accountability has been documented incisively by cathy o’neil in her book weapons of math destruction (2016), meredith broussard in artificial unintelligence: how computers misunderstand the world (2018), safiya noble in algorithms of oppression (2018), and ruha benjamin in race after technology (2019). noble brings home to libraries the social implications of bias embedded in algorithms, what she terms technological redlining. noble’s focus is on not only google search but how search engines and knowledge discovery systems in the library reinforce racism. the discriminatory effects of the systems, noble points out, is in not only how they limit our access to information but also how the results returned from queries shape attitudes. the promise of ‘automation’ and the focus on the ‘most popular’ are implementations of models that are generalizable for convenience while disguising the underlying decision-making and accountability. ai is offered as a technocratic solution that perpetuates the recursively false notion that machine-generated decisions are better, or less biased, than human decisions. when that idea is put into practice, human discretion is given over to generalized prediction. generalized prediction minimizes variation, privileging what is deemed most common or statistically significant. and, once again, what is registered as statistically significant is under question. (armheim et al, 2019) statistically significant measures are used to uphold an artificial ‘center’ to justify whatever exclusion is convenient for the sake of efficiency. benjamin has captured this in the context of ai as the “new jim code.” she refers to this as “the allure of objectivity without public accountability.” (benjamin, 2019, p. 53) this inclination of ai contradicts the strengths of a research library as a holder of unique objects and a place where collections are developed to serve the changing interests of a research community. coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 12 libraries do need to find efficiencies to keep up with the deluge of increasing information and to continue the work of digitizing the past. machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and related technologies can be extremely helpful in this effort. can libraries employ the powerful predictive models without perpetuating and further entrenching bias? can they do more? might they also use the tools critically to examine bias in existing collections? this entails shifting thinking away from the ‘technology as solution’ mindset that is implicit in the way ai is taught and promoted, to thinking first of the usefulness of ai to the work of libraries, to the benefit of society and the production of new knowledge. the algorithm only sees what it has been programmed to see, which is to say, the power is not in the technology, but rather it is in the people who employ it. by instrumentalizing the technology and putting it in the hands of librarians, the technology can be truly useful in libraries. the collaboration between the frank-ratchye studio for creative inquiry and the carnegie museum of art is an instructive example of how cultural heritage image collections can benefit from machine learning and computer vision to go beyond metadata and into the images themselves. the team classified 60,000 images from the teenie harris photography archive using a convolutional neural network trained on the imagenet benchmark data set, resulting in multiple labels for each image, each with a percentage confidence measure. (howard, 2017) they then clustered the images based on a calculation of similarity in the proposed labels. the results were groupings of images within the 60,000 that the archivist would not have otherwise discovered like women in fur coats, brides, and car crashes. (dominique luster, archivist; golan levin, frankratchye studio for creative inquiry; and caroline record, innovation studio; personal communication, august 2019.) this opens exciting new possibilities for metadata creation and object discovery. (wevers & smits, 2019) let us approach this another way. a data-centered, rather than technology-centered look at those experiments could position the teenie harris photography archive as a benchmark against which to test the biases in the imagenet training data set. one of harris’s photographs, of basketball players posing after a game, was classified with the confidence of 38% volleyball, 36% bikini, and 4.6% basketball based on labeled data from imagenet. it may not be possible to know with certainty why the confidence score of the label “volleyball” was so much higher than “basketball” but knowing that the archive is a collection of the work of the photographer for the pittsburgh courier working from 1935 to 1975 described as “one of the most detailed and intimate records of the black urban experience known today” gives context for a critical reading of the algorithm’s results that is not available from imagenet. (in the ‘70s basketball players still wore knee pads. knee pads are uncommon in basketball today but are still common in volleyball.) datasets that are currently considered gold standards, like imagenet and bookscorpus (which catanzaro’s team used), are in need of their own benchmarks to challenge the context and provenance of both the images and the labels. in “excavating ai” kate crawford and trevor paglen give particular attention to imagenet in their dive deep into the many-layered problematic assumptions and politics behind the taxonomies, classes, and individual labels that make up image training sets. (2019) they draw parallels to the politically fraught library of congress subject headings— the controlled vocabulary used for indexing, cataloging, and searching for bibliographic records in library catalogs and electronic databases. but classification is both necessary and inherently problematic. (bowker & star 2000) this paradox is not only known to coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 13 libraries, it is managed within their structure. cataloging work, which is standards based, is balanced with collection development and the selection of materials, both of which play a more decentralized role in overall information management. and it is those who operate within libraries and information science who both call out and advocate for change. (berman, 1973; gross, 2017, noble, 2019) unstructured data and its context how do we go from collections to data? unstructured data, for the machine learning community, are data from sources without a defined structure or ‘schema.’ digitized texts, images, audio, and video, for example, are taken to be unstructured at the level of the pixels of the image, the signal in the audio, or the sentences in the text. the research performed with these sources is oriented to extracting the linguistic, auditory, or visual structure inherent in the contained information in the form of patterns. here it is helpful to consider borgman’s distinction between source and resource in defining data. (borgman, 2007, pp. 121-122) in machine learning research into texts, the focus is not in the individual sources but in a general understanding of the semantic and syntactic context of words. but is that distillation understood as a resource —a derivative of the source—or is the distinction blurred? the argument for building training corpora on undifferentiated texts is explained in 2010 by google researchers in the article “the unreasonable effectiveness of data.” the authors refer to the brown corpus, a corpus of 500 samples of english-language text, totaling more than one million words, compiled from works published in 1961 (francis & kucera, 1979): “in some ways this corpus is a step backwards from the brown corpus: it’s taken from unfiltered web pages and thus contains incomplete sentences, spelling errors, grammatical errors, and all sorts of other errors. it’s not annotated with carefully hand-corrected partof-speech tags. but the fact that it’s a million times larger than the brown corpus outweighs these drawbacks.” the needs for machine learning research have changed from 2010 to today. researchers like catanzaro are seeking domain specific data sets to fine-tune models and achieve better results. and yet the underlying methods of data collection and corpus collection still exhibit the assumptions of big data that size trumps quality and any context other than linguistic continuity is irrelevant. the distinction between structured and unstructured has as much to do with how researchers choose to use the data and their willingness to uncover the structure as it does with any intrinsic properties. from a library perspective, books, newspaper articles, and photographs are structured by their form, the intended audience and a number of other qualities that provide context. they are created, situated in place and time, and collected or maintained for some reason. and yet all of that situatedness, if it is not readily available to computation, is ignored when patterns and structure within the data set is sought through machine learning methods. context is difficult to trace when digitized sources are aggregated, processed, and recombined into massive datasets. what would it mean for libraries to support computational use of their collections? librarians speaking at the fantastic futures conference who have already embraced the coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 14 possibilities of ai-related technologies expressed frustration that, despite the considerable effort that has gone into digitizing collections, libraries still deliver books, periodicals, photographs, and precious manuscripts as individual objects when new interfaces oriented to ai-generated metadata afford opportunities to explore them at scale. and, moreover, researchers increasingly want to access them this way. medieval manuscripts, 20th century photography collections, audio recordings, coins, web archives, books, and government documents are all data available to machine learning once they are digitized. anything that can take the form of digital text, image, or audio signal can be represented numerically and computed. this reality is a paradigm shift that libraries have not yet come to terms with. the digitized photograph, for example, is no longer only a digital object that can be duplicated, distributed, layered, annotated, and compared one to another. each individual image is also a data set at the pixel level: a source of information that can be machine read. and when an entire collection is analyzed at the pixel level, each gains new context in relationship to other images. this complicates our understanding of the digital object from a library perspective, but it also opens up new possibilities for managing those objects and making them discoverable. (wevers & smits, 2020; arnold & tilton, 2020) as the collections as data project attests, the libraries that support computational access to their collections are still few. (padilla et al, 2019) the shift in thinking of digital materials as data sets rather than as discrete objects is not only about changing how we support users. it is not enough to provide apis to researchers who want access to collections amenable to computation. ben schmidt, who works with the hathitrust digital library, a massive aggregation of texts, has argued that simply providing access to ocr’d text puts too great a burden on the researcher to manage that data, navigate it, and find what is relevant. he suggests, instead, dimensionality reduction; a means to algorithmically cluster texts based on their similarity. (schmidt, 2018) meaningful clusters help researchers filter, navigate and limit downloads to only the content they need. schmidt writes, “treating dimensionality reduction as infrastructure means thinking of digital representations of books not just as ‘machine-readable’ texts, but as ‘machine-read’ texts: data that has already been partially digested by an algorithm. the choices we make for what this machine reading looks like shape the universe of possible research.” the possibilities of schmidt’s recommendation go beyond pre-processing texts for access. his proposal for libraries to machine read collections as data opens the opportunity for librarians to run analysis for their own purposes and to better understand collections at the level of content and therein provide support to researchers. a more local, collection-level approach to modeling data is consistent with how traditional libraries provide services and just makes sense. barbara mcgillivray, who spoke at the fantastic futures 2018 conference in oslo, norway, like schmidt, is a digital humanist. the digital humanities have a significant overlap with both research in machine learning that uses sources oriented to human communication and data analysis in the library. mcgillivray’s work, which emphasizes the importance of applying algorithms at a human scale, is particularly appropriate to the work of subject experts who can evaluate the results of statistical analysis based on their familiarity with the data. (mcgillivray, 2018) mcgillivray found, for example, that ancient languages are not amenable to the standard word embedding models. she pointed out that the type of text determines the meaning of a word, so it is necessary coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 15 to incorporate expert knowledge of the corpus iteratively into the model as you are tuning it. she shared examples of false positives where what appears, in the abstract, as semantic change, is just a shift in meaning either over time or given the context. while this degree of close reading is the work of the researcher, the curator also needs to be able to read the features in a collection. rebecca wingfield, curator for american and british literature at stanford libraries, brought a similar problem to the stanford libraries ai studio. wingfield was interested in analyzing a collection of texts, the single volume novels collection of 1,674 19th century titles. she was not in pursuit of a particular research question but sought to understand the anatomy of the collection−to see its shape and make it navigable−so she could share it with researchers. the collection was acquired in response to the stanford english department’s interest in the history and theory of the novel. what makes the collection unique is that the titles are under-collected, scarcely held novels−‘the great unread’ in english literature. that also means that there is minimal cataloguing information about the content. in wingfield’s words, “they are being served to patrons as a mass of undifferentiated texts.” (personal communication, august 2018) to make these novels more easily discoverable to scholars, wingfield wanted richer facet data: dates that help determine the period in which the novel is set, place names to determine where it is set, and indicators of genre or topics that might provoke new avenues of research. even if the extracted data does not make it into facets, this is a case where a range of techniques, from text similarity, to named entity extraction and topic modeling would help the librarian become more familiar with the collection and the relationship between the texts without having to read all of them. librarians have methods for developing and managing collections; the challenge is to adapt those methods to new tools for reading ‘machine read’ collections. ai-assisted collection analysis empowers subject specialists whose domain knowledge makes them critical partners to researchers. technology-first methods to address data bias and algorithmic bias seem to be completely unaware of the work that goes on in libraries, archives, and museums to make cultural heritage available for research. well-meaning projects like datasheets for datasets and nutrition labels for data do not acknowledge the long tradition of information management and access that has addressed data bias and algorithmic bias long before machine learning emerged as a field of study. (gebru et al, 2018; holland et al, 2018) the suggestion that, because data collection remains overlooked within machine learning, the field of machine learning needs to create its own brute force methods for data management, including a sub-field within machine learning, is misguided. (jo & gebru, 2020; jordan, 2018) collaboration with libraries would be more fruitful. critical data studies and the reflective practice of the digital humanities provides practical guidelines for libraries to begin adopting and adapting ai to collections. yanni alexander loukissas’s local reading, which gives attention to the provenance of data and how the local conditions of their creation shape research and practice, is a helpful point of reference. (loukissas, 2017) local reading provides a theoretical framework for a new set of tools to help curators adapt their methods to 21st century digital data curation. conclusion peter norvig, co-author of the “the unreasonable effectiveness of data” article quoted above, was famously misquoted by wired author chris anderson in the 2008 article “the end of theory: coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 16 the data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete” as supporting the notion that with enough data, theory is irrelevant. in his rebuttal, norvig explained that “theory has not ended, it is expanding into new forms.” (norvig, n.d.) figuring out those new forms, according to norvig, requires the observational and experimental approach of a natural scientist. “having more data, and more ways to process it,” writes norvig, “means that we can develop different kinds of theories and models.” during his visit to stanford libraries, norvig pointed out that libraries are in a privileged position to develop theories and models because we have content experts and subject specialists. (peter norvig, personal communication, november 2018.) if libraries simply hand over collections as data to researchers, it would be a disservice to both libraries and the patrons. librarians need to master the instruments of ai and employ them both to learn more about their own resources—to see and analyze them in new ways—and to help shape applications of ai with the expertise and ethos of libraries. at this moment when there are as many papers about the successes of ai research as there are papers calling out algorithmic bias, data bias, and setting forth principles of ai practice, libraries need to do much more than provide curated data to ai researchers. libraries need to apply the principles of the profession to managing bias in ai-based systems. ai practices are not ends in themselves. they are problem-solving techniques that need to be applied within a societal context. this might seem obvious, but there is a strong tendency to look to technology, particularly new technology, for solutions and easy answers. when we reify the technology, we lose the opportunity to use it for our own ends and effectively give over our responsibility to it. libraries need what ai has to offer, but ai needs what librarians have to offer even more. references amrhein, v., greenland, s., & mcshane, b. 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(2019). responsible operations: data science, machine learning, and ai in libraries. oclc research position paper. https://doi.org/10.25333/xk7z-9g97. rizzi, c. (2020, january 30). class action accuses ibm of 'flagrant violations' of illinois biometric privacy law to develop facial recognition tech. retrieved july 10, 2020, from https://www.classaction.org/news/class-action-accuses-ibm-of-flagrant-violationsof-illinois-biometric-privacy-law-to-develop-facial-recognition-tech schmidt, b. (2018) stable random projection: lightweight, general-purpose dimensionality reduction for digitized libraries. journal of cultural analytics. doi:10.22148/16.025 selbst, a. d.; barocas, s. (2018). the intuitive appeal of explainable machines. fordham law review, 87(3), 1085-1140. thomas, p. s., da silva, b. c., barto, a. g., giguere, s., brun, y., & brunskill, e. 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(2015). aligning books and movies: towards story-like visual explanations by watching movies and reading books. in proceedings of the ieee international conference on computer vision (pp. 19-27). https://doi-org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/1369118x.2016.1211722 https://doi-org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/1369118x.2016.1211722 https://norvig.com/fact-check.html https://norvig.com/fact-check.html http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3152935 https://doi.org/10.25333/xk7z-9g97 https://doi.org/10.1145/2812802 https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqy085 coleman / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 19 zook, m., barocas, s., boyd, d., crawford, k., keller, e., gangadharan, s. p., ... & narayanan, a. (2017). ten simple rules for responsible big data research. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005399 about the author catherine nicole coleman is digital research architect for the stanford university libraries and research director for humanities+design, a research lab at the center for spatial and textual analysis at stanford university. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005399 003-162-article text-752-1-2-20200714_title-1 003-162-article text-752-1-2-20200714-1 international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 1-3 issn: 2474-3542 editorial: celebrating six-year anniversary and launching the thirteenth issue as the international journal of librarianship (ijol) enters its sixth year of publishing, it enjoys an ever-expanding cohort of authorship and readership. including this issue, ijol has published 127 articles by more than 200 authors from 20+ countries in all five continents. the total abstract views have reached almost 100,000 and the full-text downloads close to 40,000 times. ijol publishes online biannually. some are general issues with topics on library services and practices, others are special issues with a theme that focuses on popular topics such as data librarianship, linked data, sustainability and libraries, open library platform (folio), and the covid-19 pandemic and libraries. in 2023, ijol will pilot a quarterly publication model. the four issues will be published in march, june, september, and december respectively. this decision was made by the ijol editorial board based on the considerations of both the journal’s long-term strategic development and optimizing the journal’s publication cycle and workflow. in this december 2022 issue, we have 14 articles with authors coming from seven countries in three continents: featured articles rodarte and moore from the united states assess academic librarians’ perceptions of productivity while working from home during the covid-19 pandemic by surveying the academic librarians at large university and college libraries (fte is greater than 15,000 students). they find that the majority of the surveyed academic librarians perceived themselves to be highly productive, and generally satisfied with their jobs, while working from home during the pandemic. dadzie, danquah, and gyesi from ghana use the qualitative research design which comprised documentary evidence of the experiences of ten public and private university libraries in ghana with regard to their resources, services, facilities, and staff training, along with the impact on library users during the pandemic. their findings reveal the libraries’ strict compliance with the covid -19 protocols and sanitation practices, the increased use of online databases, social media interventions, and virtual training among others. anderson, ness, and sandoval-hernandez from the united states explain the changed and changing covid-19 pandemic programming implemented by brooklyn public library and queens public library's correctional outreach teams. they also talk about the two new services wang & ren / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 2 created: 1) library hub, a tablet program for people in rikers island jail complex, and 2) immediate access, a technology and resource access program for people on parole. the literature review by trembach from the united states traces the historical development of culturally responsive library service from its earliest format, readers advisory, to contemporary forms of library support available to multicultural communities. current policy response to specific issues involved in library work with multicultural constituencies is also examined, along with the contributions of such work to the ongoing interdisciplinary global citizenship discourse. ig-worlu and ukaegbu from nigeria investigate the extent to which signage and information and communication technology (ict) facilities correlate to the usage of information resources in university libraries in nigeria. it was found that to a great extent signage relates to the utilization of information resources while information and communication technology facilities is the vice versa. khaskheli and siddiqui from pakistan use a quantitative survey to examine the use of social media in professional development by college librarians of pakistan. the findings demonstrated that most college librarians are aware of the importance of social media and use social media networks in professional development-related activities. furthermore, findings identified that youtube, whatsapp, and facebook are the most frequently used social media platforms in professional development. by surveying 134 lecturers and postgraduate students in western delta university, ivwighreghweta and eireyi-fidelis from nigeria find that there was a high level of awareness of the electronic academic database among the lecturers and postgraduate students. jstor, elsevier, doaj, proquest, science direct, and lexisnexis have been put to maximum usage. meanwhile, nuc virtual library, hinari, research4life, agora and ebsco host were used least frequently. reports from the field pang from the united states discusses how the access and resources sharing department at the university of florida responded and adapted to these rapid changes, acted creatively, and reinvented services through collaboration, creative solutions, grant seeking, and technology renovation during the covid-19 pandemic college shutdown. business librarian edward junhao lim from the united states discusses the challenges and strategies he faced in his first year as the business liaison to the university of connecticut’s school of business. he captures the many communities formed by business librarians around a geographic region or topic, such as entrepreneurship. he notes publishing opportunities for business librarians. lastly, edward offers advice on professional development for those new and seasoned in business wang & ren / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 3 librarianship – mostly north american professional opportunities – from his perspective, having worked previously in singapore, and shanghai, china. kanyika from tanzania examines factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among college students in tanzania by using the online survey method. among other findings, the study showed that the majority of the students were not aware of the librarianship career path until they joined the library and information science program. commentaries in the commentary article by su from the united states, the author argues that in the library workplace, obsolescence occurs constantly. we may be used to routines, but changes are inevitable as we have witnessed the evolution in library services and librarian workplace since the advent of the internet. to cope with obsolescence, it is crucial to have a lifelong learning mindset, make it a habit, and find ways to update our knowledge and skills to stay competent and serve the clientele effectively. george from india reviews s.r. ranganathan’s five laws of library science and tries to explain how the theory is put into practice and to identify areas where it needs to be reformulated for the benefit of libraries. the author also combines ranganathan’s five laws with the traits of generation z to create new laws that are appropriate for this period. library associations around the world dalal rahme from lebanon introduces the lebanese library association, an organization found in 1960. yongming wang & xiaoai ren co-editors-in-chief international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 1-2 issn: 2474-3542 editorial: launching the sixth issue with a strengthened partnership with shanghai international library forum i am delighted to announce the launch of the sixth issue with a strengthened partnership between the ijol and shanghai international library forum (silf). four papers which were presented in the ninth silf and published in its conference proceedings have been selected into this issue after extensive reviews and revisions. these papers include two featured articles and two reports from the field as follows: le at pennsylvania state university examined the managerial and leadership attributes through a study on the library directors from the fourteen public and private universities in the big ten academic alliance. yi reviewed related literature and analyzed the usage data of online streaming videos (osv) databases at california sate university of san marcos. the findings indicate that the osv collection is a valuable teaching and learning resource. ma and yu reported their experience and observations of conducting real-time online library instructions to students enrolled in the distance education programs through a collaboration between charles sturt university in hong kong and the university of hong kong. xie at dartmouth college library discussed a special collection project on the papers of charles daniel tenney, including the discovery, digitization, publication and utilization. the author examined the value of librarians partnering with faculties and colleagues to promote digital humanities. beyond these silf papers, there are three additional articles included in the section of featured articles. chen, shan, li, wang and liu proposed an agglomerative-adapted partition approach for large-scale graphs based on the ontology structure and rdf data. the algorithm developed can be applied to the storage, data retrieval and semantic reasoning of large-scale rdf graphs. xiong et al. conducted a membership survey to all members of the chinese american librarians association (cala) to identify their awareness, perception and usage of the associations’ policies and services. the results and findings have implications for cala and other associations to build a stronger organization. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons introduced the organic learning in undergraduate library instructions, reference and research consultations based on the association of college & research libraries (acrl) information literacy framework. they argue that the organic learning strategies and practices prepare undergraduate students for their academic success and lifelong learning. liu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 2 this issue also includes a news article by feng reporting the acrl 2019 conference held in cleveland, oh, us. in the end, i would like to thank our authors, reviewers, editors and silf organizers who have made significant contributions to this issue. guoying liu, university of windsor issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org a bibliometric study of family studies journals using journal impact factors, citescore, and h-index zao liu abstract: although there are bibliometric studies of journals in various fields, the field of family studies remains unexplored. using the bibliometric metrics of the two-year and five-year journal impact factors, the h-index, and the newly revised citescore, this paper examines the relationships among these metrics in a bibliometric study of forty-four representative family studies journals. the citation data were drawn from journal citation reports, scopus, and google scholar. the correlation analysis found strong positive relationships on the metrics. despite the strong correlations, discrepancies in rank orders of the journals were found. a possible explanation of noticeable discrepancy in rankings was provided, and the implications of the study for stakeholders were discussed. to cite this article: liu, z. (2021). a bibliometric study of family studies journals using journal impact factors, citescore, and h-index. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.174 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 1-12. issn: 2474-3542 a bibliometric study of family studies journals using journal impact factors, citescore, and h-index zao liu texas a&m university, college station, tx, usa abstract although there are bibliometric studies of journals in various fields, the field of family studies remains unexplored. using the bibliometric metrics of the two-year and five-year journal impact factors, the h-index, and the newly revised citescore, this paper examines the relationships among these metrics in a bibliometric study of forty-four representative family studies journals. the citation data were drawn from journal citation reports, scopus, and google scholar. the correlation analysis found strong positive relationships on the metrics. despite the strong correlations, discrepancies in rank orders of the journals were found. a possible explanation of noticeable discrepancy in rankings was provided, and the implications of the study for stakeholders were discussed. keywords: journal impact factor, citescore, h-index, family studies journals, bibliometric study, citation analysis introduction bibliometrics is the application of statistical methods to analyze the research impact of books, journal articles, and other publications. citation analysis is one of the most widely used bibliometric methods for examining frequency, patterns, and citation graphs of publications. for this bibliometric study, the following bibliometric metrics are used: (1) journal impact factor (jif/jif5): initiated by eugene garfield (1955) of the institute for scientific information and acquired and currently owned by clarivate analytics, the journal impact factor has been traditionally the predominant measure for assessing quality of journals. the journal impact factor is based on the average number of citations received by articles published in the previous two or five years from a journal in a given citation year (mingers, macri, & petrovici, 2012). (2) h-index: introduced by jorge e. hirsch in 2005, the h-index measures the productivity and impact of an author by giving the value h to the author who has published h papers that have been cited at least h times (hirsch, 2005). this method was used to measure the impact of journals (braun, glӓnzel, & schubert, 2006). (3) citescore (cs): launched by elsevier in december 2016, the citescore measures the average number of citations received in a given year by all articles published in the previous three years in a journal (james, colledge, meester, azoulay, & plume, 2019). in june liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 2 2020, elsevier announced its change in the calculation of the citescore (scopus, 2020). the new citescore measures the number of citations received by documents of a journal published during a four-year period divided by the number of documents published in the journal in the same time period. the citation window is increased to four years instead of one. it only includes peerreviewed documents such as articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers (scopus, 2020). the aforementioned bibliometric metrics are based on different databases: the journal impact factor is based on web of science, the citescore is based on scopus, and the h-index is based on google scholar. there are a number of differences among these databases. one major difference is their coverage. web of science core collection contains more than 21,100 peerreviewed scholarly journals over 250 academic disciplines, conference proceedings, and book data (clarivate analytics, 2020b) whereas scopus holds 25,100 journal titles plus conference papers and book series (elsevier, 2020). adopting an inclusive and automated approach instead of using selection criteria for inclusion as web of science and scopus do, google scholar practically indexes any scholarly document its robot crawlers can find on the academic web (martin-martin, orduna-malea, thelwall, & delgado-lopez-cozar, 2019, december 3). the test of a sample of over 2,500 highly-cited documents across 252 subject categories by the authors indicates that the test favors google scholar in terms of coverage (martin-martin, et al., 2019). other differences of interest here are languages of publications collected in the databases and types of literature included. scopus covers 40 languages (elsevier, 2020) whereas web of science includes about 50 languages (clarivate analytics, 2020c). based on the information on its website, google scholar covers all languages in the world (google scholar, n.d.). furthermore, google scholar indexes more types of literature than web of science and scopus. web of science and scopus typically index journal articles, conference papers, and books (clarivate analytics, 2020b; elsevier, 2020). google scholar, however, includes journal articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations, academic books, pre-prints, abstracts, technical reports, and other scholarly literature from all broad areas of research (google scholar, n.d.). given the differences in the citation resources and related metrics, especially the newly revised cs, which has not been compared to other metrics in previous studies, the relationships among the bibliometric metrics of the jifs, cs, and h-index in journal evaluation are worth exploring. the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among these metrics, using the unexplored family studies journals as an example for illustration. literature review since the inceptions of the h-index in 2005 and cs in 2016, existing studies have focused on the correlations among the jifs, cs and h-index for journals of various subject areas. in regard to the pair of the two-year jif/five-year jif and h-index, strong and moderate positive correlations have been found in different specialties such as forestry (vanclay, 2008), business and management (harzing & van der wal, 2009; mingers, macri, & petrovici, 2012), social work (hodge & lacasse, 2011), soil science (minasny, hartemink, mcbratney, & jang, 2013), and neurosurgery and spinal surgery (yuen, 2018). since the launch of the citescore in 2016, researchers have examined the relationships between the jifs and cs. among multiple metrics, positive relationships between the jifs and cs have been observed in journals in remote sensing (ahmad, abdel-magid, abdelmagid, bano, & waris, 2019), radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging (villaseñoralmaraz, islas‑serrano, murata, & roldan‑valadez, 2019), and occupational therapy, which liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 3 correlated the two-year and five-year jifs with the cs (brown & gutman, 2019). additionally, the jif correlated strongly with the cs in computer science (okagbue, bishop, adamu, opanuga, & obasi, 2020), library and information science (okagbue & teixeira da silva, 2020), and telecommunication (okagbue, adamu & bishop, 2019). there have been a number of studies comparing citations from web of science, scopus, and google scholar. for example, one study compared the five-year citation counts of thirty-seven articles for the journal international journal of logistics management from the three databases to identify the overlapping and unique citations (chapman & ellinger, 2019). in their study, the authors found that the provenance of the unique google scholar citations was predominantly authentic scholarly literature and google scholar gave a more comprehensive representation of research impact and international scope than web of science and scopus (chapman & ellinger, 2019). another study assessed nine south african environmental science journals for 2004-2008, focusing on citation counts, overlapping and unique citations, and inconsistency (adriaanse & rensleigh, 2013). their study indicated that web of science retrieved more citations than google scholar and scopus. google scholar also retrieved the most inconsistencies whereas scopus retrieved the least inconsistencies (adriaanse & rensleigh, 2013). based on the three databases, the authors also did a comprehensive evaluation of the journals in the same subject area for 20042008 at the macro and micro levels, including a broad range of categories such as content, access, searching, citation and analytic tools, references, and publication information (adriaanse & rensleigh, 2011). furthermore, delgado and repiso (2013) examined the h-index of 277 communication journals based on the citations drawn from the three resources. their findings indicated that google scholar metrics doubled the coverage, and provided higher h-indices than web of science and scopus. they concluded that, like web of science and scopus, google scholar is a valid and reliable tool for identifying the main communication journals (delgado & repiso, 2013). lastly, in their citation study of journals in a range of disciplines (chinese studies, linguistics/computer science, inorganic chemistry, library & information science, political science, virology) for the publication window 2010-2014 and the citation window 2010-june/july 2015, moed, bar-ilan, and halevi (2016) proposed a new methodology to compare google scholar and scopus with a focus on indexing speed, citation counts, and duplicate citation counts. their findings included the following: (1) the ratio of google scholar over scopus citation differed across disciplines with open access journals higher than other journals. (2) double citation counts in google scholar accounted for less than 2% of the cases. (3) there was a strong linear correlation (pearson’s r: 0.8-0.9) between google scholar and scopus citation counts at the article level. (4) compared with google scholar, the median scopus indexing delay was about two months (moed et al., 2016). although the studies mentioned above offered great insights into the citation analysis of the databases, their main objectives were not to compare the bibliometric metrics of the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index. using the jif, cs, and h-index, chen, geng, zhong, zhuang, & pan (2020) conducted a bibliometric analysis of ecosystem services, including the influential journals in the field. nonetheless, their objective was to provide a comprehensive study of the ecosystem-related literature instead of comparing these three metrics in their journal evaluation. as mentioned earlier, brown and gutman compared a number of bibliometric indictors in occupational therapy journals, including the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index. however, their focus was on the comparisons among the jif, jif5 and cs, and among different kinds of h-indices (brown & gutman, 2019). in their study of economics journals, hirschberg and lye (2020) used a number of biometric measures, including the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index. their major objectives were to generate journal grades based on liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 4 the grade distribution implied by the australian business deans council and to categorize the bibliometrics using cluster analysis. thus, to the best of the author’s knowledge, research comparing and correlating the four metrics from web of science, scopus, and google scholar is scant. this study aims to compare the four bibliometric metrics of the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index, using representative family studies journals as a sample. previous studies of family studies literature primarily provided reviews on the specific themes or trends in the field, such as sex and sex research (jones, johnson, wenglein, & elshershaby, 2019), stepparent-child relationship quality (jensen & howard, 2015), work and family (perry-jenkins & gerstel, 2020), or an evaluation of a particular journal such as journal of family and economic issues (dew, 2008). although there were some bibliometric studies of the family studies literature, they focused on global research trends on child maltreatment (tran et al., 2018), global research trends and performance in family therapy (lou & lin, 2012) or a bibliometric analysis of a single journal (bayer, 1982). thus, comprehensive assessments of family studies journals are lacking. to fill the gaps, this study provides a systematic evaluation of family studies journals by exploring the relationships among the metrics of the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index while ranking the journals, using data from web of science, scopus, and google scholar. the value of this study is fourfold. first, it aims to correlate the relationships between the jif, jif5, h-index, and the newly revised cs, which is an interesting metric to explore after its revision. second, family studies is an important subject area in social sciences. it studies family as a vital social institution for our society, and deals with important issues such as marriage, parenting, childhood, family structure, family relationships, and family therapy, to name just a few. third, the results of the study can serve as recommendations for faculty members, academic administrators, and academic librarians in identifying family studies journals for the purposes of publication, tenure and promotion, and collection development. fourth, the comparison of the different metrics in this study can add to the testing of these metrics as tools for measuring the impact of journals. methodology the study addresses the following research questions: (1) to what extent are these bibliometric metrics correlated with one another in the selected family studies journals? (2) what are the rankings of these journals by these metrics? (3) are there any discrepancies in the journals’ rank orders by these metrics and why? forty-seven journals were retrieved from the family studies category of the 2019 journal citation reports in the web of science. the corresponding journals were selected by title search in scopus and google scholar. the titles were searched separately on scopus preview website (elsevier, n.d.) whereas the same titles were searched one by one on publish or perish, version 7.27 (harzing, 2020) for google scholar titles. the journal of family planning and reproductive health care changed its title to bmj sexual & reproductive health in 2018. because there were no combined 2019 jifs values for the two titles, they were dropped from the study. zeitschrifte fur familienforschung was also dropped because it did not have the cs value for 2019 in scopus. in total, forty-four family studies journals were included in the study. the values of the two-year jif were extracted from the 2019 jcr for the forty-four journals whereas the values of the five-year journal impact factor were only available for forty-two journals (clarivate analytics, liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 5 2020a.) the 2019 cs values were retrieved from scopus preview website (elsevier, n.d.) by manually checking each individual journal separately. the search result carried the cs value for each title automatically. the h-index values were computed from google scholar, using harzing’s publish or perish (harzing, 2020). a four-year publication window (2016-2019), which corresponds to the publication window of the 2019 cs, was used for the h-index retrieval. the data was collected from october 1, 2020 to october 2, 2020. when the title search did not work properly for a particular journal, its title and issn were used for the search. the search results of the h-index values were visually inspected for their accuracy and relevancy. the means of the four metrics were obtained to show the central tendency. the rank orders of the journals by the different metrics were presented and compared. a spearman correlation analysis was conducted on these metrics using spss. scatter plots showing the correlations by the metrics were also provided. results table 1 shows the statistics of the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index and the rankings of the forty-four family studies journals. the mean jif for these journals was 1.645. the mean jif5 was 2.073 and the mean cs was 2.925. trauma, violence, & abuse, future of children and perspectives on sexual and reproductive health were the top three journals ranked by the jif, jif5 and cs. the mean h-index was 22.91, with child abuse & neglect ranked first (52), trauma, violence, & abuse second (47), and journal of interpersonal violence third (46). on average, the h-index value was the highest, followed by the cs value, jif5 value and jif value. it is interesting to note the obvious difference in rank orders for a number of journals by the metrics. compared to the rankings by the jif, jif5, and cs, some journals were ranked lower by the h-index. for example, future of children was ranked second by the jif, jif5, and cs, but 15th by the h-index. perspectives on sexual and reproductive health was ranked third by the jif, jif5, and cs, but 26th by the h-index. journal of early adolescence was ranked 13th by the jif, jif5, and cs, but 21st by the h-index. on the other hand, there were journals which were ranked lower by the jif, jif5, and cs, but higher by the h-index. examples include child abuse & neglect (first by the h-index, 6th by the jif and jif5, and 8th by the cs), children and youth services review (fourth by the h-index, 18th by the jif, 22nd by the jif5, and 24th by the cs), journal of child and family studies (5th by the h-index, 23rd by the jif, 21st by the jif5, and 20th by the cs), and journal of family issues (8th (tied) by the h-index, 25th by the jif, 24th by the jif5, and 26th by the cs). table 1. family studies journals ranked by jif, jif5, cs and h-index ______________________________________________________________________________ journal title jif rank jif5 rank cs rank h rank ______________________________________________________________________________ trauma, violence, & abuse 6.325 1 6.525 1 9 1 47 2 future of children 5.133 2 4.789 2 6.1 2 25 15 perspectives on sexual and reproductive health 3.636 3 4.019 3 5.4 3 18 26 journal of interpersonal violence 3.573 4 3.115 7 4.1 9 46 3 child maltreatment 2.9 5 3.587 5 3.9 11 26 14 liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 6 child abuse & neglect 2.569 6 3.297 6 4.4 8 52 1 psychology of violence 2.381 7 2.977 9 5.3 4 36 7 journal of social and personal relationships 2.359 8 2.436 14 2.5 24 28 13 journal of family theory & review 2.328 9 3.031 8 3.9 11 25 15 journal of marriage and family 2.215 10 3.595 4 4.5 7 38 6 family process 2.175 11 2.764 10 5.2 5 32 8 culture, health & sexuality 1.969 12 2.421 16 3.1 17 25 15 journal of early adolescence 1.924 13 2.454 13 3.5 13 23 21 journal of research on adolescence 1.905 14 2.646 12 4.8 6 30 12 journal of family nursing 1.889 15 2.431 15 2.8 20 18 26 journal of family psychology 1.836 16 2.727 11 4.1 9 31 10 journal of sex & marital therapy 1.775 17 2.052 18 2.8 20 22 22 children and youth services review 1.521 18 1.87 22 2.5 24 45 4 journal of marital and family therapy 1.421 19 1.846 23 2.9 18 24 19 journal of family violence 1.357 20 1.63 25 2.2 27 25 15 child & family social work 1.337 21 1.62 26 3.2 16 31 10 family relations 1.317 22 1.965 20 3.3 14 24 19 journal of child and family studies 1.31 23 1.925 21 2.8 20 42 5 families systems & health 1.289 24 1.589 27 1.8 31 16 30 journal of family issues 1.249 25 1.772 24 2.4 26 32 8 child abuse review 1.19 26 1.982 19 3.3 14 18 26 journal of family studies 1.179 27 1.351 29 1.8 31 13 32 parenting: science and practice 1.156 28 2.358 17 2.7 23 13 32 journal of aggression maltreatment & trauma 1.03 29 1.086 31 1.7 35 17 29 emerging adulthood 0.974 30 n/a n/a 2.9 18 20 23 journal of child sexual abuse 0.929 31 1.411 28 1.9 30 19 25 history of the family 0.925 32 0.949 33 1.5 37 12 37 family & community health 0.897 33 1.322 30 1.8 31 13 32 international journal of law, policy and the family 0.875 34 0.72 39 1.5 37 9 39 journal of family and economic issues 0.787 35 n/a n/a 2 28 20 23 child welfare 0.723 36 0.783 38 1.1 40 8 42 journal of family therapy 0.697 37 0.934 35 2 28 15 31 families in society 0.691 38 1.024 32 1.3 39 13 32 families, relationships and societies 0.672 39 0.861 36 1.6 36 13 32 american journal of family therapy 0.564 40 0.833 37 1 41 9 39 child & family behavior therapy 0.52 41 0.942 34 1.8 31 9 39 journal of family history 0.318 42 0.368 42 0.8 42 7 43 australian and new zealand journal of family therapy 0.308 43 0.486 41 0.8 42 12 37 journal of comparative family studies 0.267 44 0.59 40 0.7 44 7 43 _____________________________________________________________________________________ liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 7 table 2 shows the spearman’s correlation coefficients of the four metrics for the selected journals. the jif was highly correlated with the jif5 (ρ = 0.957, p < .001), the cs (ρ = 0.897, p < .001), and the h-index (ρ = 0.806, p < .001). there were also strong positive correlations between the cs and h (ρ = 0.797, p < .001), the jif5 and h (ρ = 0.784, p < .001), and the jif5 and cs (ρ = 0.948, p < .001). the strong associations among the metrics are illustrated in the scatter plot matrix (figure 1). the shapes of the data points indicated that the jif, jif5, and cs had closer associations among themselves than with the h-index. table 2. spearman’s rho correlations among jif (n=44), jif5 (n=42), cs (n=44) and h (n=44) ______________________________________________________________________________ jif jif5 cs h ______________________________________________________________________________ jif 1 jif5 0.957* 1 cs 0.897* 0.948* 1 h 0.806* 0.784* 0.797* 1 _____________________________________________________________________________ * p < .001 figure 1. scatter plots showing the correlations among jif, jif5, cs, and h-index liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 8 discussion this study examined the relationships among the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index in terms of ranking family studies journals. to achieve this aim, the rank orders of the journals were presented and compared and a spearman’s correlation was conducted of the metrics. it was found that the four metrics were all highly correlated, indicating strong associations among measures for these journals. this finding is consistent with previous studies in other subject areas. as mentioned earlier, high correlations between the jif/jif5 and h-index have been reported in journals in various fields, for example, in forestry (vanclay, 2008), business and management (harzing & van der wal, 2009), social work (hodge & lacasse, 2011), and soil science (minasny, hartemink, mcbratney, & jang, 2013). the jif or jif5 and cs correlated well with journals in radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging (villaseñor-almaraz, et al., 2019), occupational therapy (brown & gutman, 2019), computer science (okagbue, et al., 2020), and library and information science (okagbue & teixeira da silva, 2020). despite the differences in web of science, scopus, and google scholar as data sources, the rankings of the family studies journals by the metrics corresponded well. it is interesting to note that the newly revised cs also correlated well with the other metrics in this study. the high correlations among the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index in this study added to the testimony that the cs and h-index can serve as alternative tools for measuring journal quality. the top ranked journals are also published by well-known publishers and professional institutes and societies. for example, trauma, violence, & abuse, journal of interpersonal violence, child maltreatment, journal of social and personal relationships are published by sage publications; future of children is published by woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs at princeton university and the brookings institution; perspectives on sexual and reproductive health and family process are published by wiley-blackwell on behalf of guttmacher institute and the family process institute, respectively; journal of family theory & review and journal of marriage and family are also published by wiley-blackwell on behalf of the national council on family relations; child abuse & neglect, the official journal of the international society for prevention of child abuse and neglect, is published by elsevier; and psychology of violence is published by the american psychological association. as mentioned earlier, despite high correlations among the metrics for the journals, the rank orders of some journals differed noticeably. for example, four out of the top five journals ranked by the h-index (child abuse & neglect, journal of interpersonal violence, children and youth services review, and journal of child and family studies) claimed higher places than those ranked by the jif, jif5, and cs. the exception was trauma, violence, & abuse, which publishes many reviews articles, which usually attract more citations. a possible explanation for the discrepancy is that these four journals publish a large number of articles each year, including highly cited articles. this increases their chance of obtaining high h-index values in google scholar (harzing & van der wal, 2009). on the other hand, if journals publish a limited number of articles, their hindex values may be lower compared with their jif, jif5, and cs values. cases in point were future of children (ranked 2nd by the jif, jif5, and cs, but 15th by the h-index), and perspectives on sexual and reproductive health (ranked 3rd by the jif, jif5, and cs, but 26th by the h-index). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/woodrow_wilson_school_of_public_and_international_affairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/woodrow_wilson_school_of_public_and_international_affairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/princeton_university https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/brookings_institution liu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 9 conclusions to sum up, this study contributes to the current research in bibliometric study by exploring the relationships among the jif, jif5, cs, and h-index through representative family studies journals. the study is the first to provide a systematic evaluation of the family studies journals using these major bibliometric metrics. in addition, the use of the newly revised citescore metric for correlation analysis in this study provides a useful case study for future research in this regard. the study shows that all four bibliometric metrics correlate well with the family study journals even though the newly revised cs is used. the correlation analysis among the metrics may be of special interest to researchers due to the recent change in the cs and the h-index values drawn from google scholar. on the other hand, this study reveals that the correlations among the jif, jif5, and cs tend to be stronger than those with the h-index. also, this study demonstrates that the discrepancy in rank orders can be caused by high h-index values for journals which publish a large number of papers with possible highly-cited ones, or lower h-index values from journals which publish a limited number of papers each year. a limitation of this study is that the journals under study were confined to those in the family studies category of the 2019 jcr and their counterparts collected separately from scopus and google scholar. due to the different selection criteria for jcr by clarivate analytics’ web of science, some journals dealing with family studies may not have been included in this study. another limitation concerns the languages of the selected journals. almost all the family studies journals listed in the 2019 jcr are published in english except for zeitschrifte fur familienforschung, which was dropped from this study due to the unavailability of its citation data for the targeted years in scopus. therefore, it is very likely that important family studies journals in other languages are missing in this study. finally, professional stakeholders may benefit from the findings of this study. researchers in family studies may use the findings to identify appropriate journals for manuscript submissions. as the ranking of the journals by the h-index is based on the number of highly cited papers and those by the jif, jif5, and cs are based on the average citations per paper, the different rankings provide researchers with opportunities to choose journals that meet their needs. the principle may also apply to academic librarians in collecting journals in family studies and fund allocation. depending on the available budget, academic librarians 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(2018). comparison of impact factor, eigenfactor metrics, and scimago journal rank indicator, and h-index for neurosurgical and spinal surgical journals. world neurosurgery, 119, e328-e337. about the author zao liu is a metadata and cataloging librarian at texas a&m university libraries. his research interests include bibliometrics, information seeking and usage, and chinese studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2008.07.002 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-019-00996-z 001-title-174-article text-964-2-11-20210624 001-174-article text-963-3-11-20210624-huang_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org local collections in discovery services: an inquiry sharon q. yang, patricia h. dawson, and jie ding abstract: many libraries subscribed to discovery services in the hope of boosting the use of their local collections such as print materials, dvds, or even subscribed ejournals and ebooks that are separate from licensed databases. however, anecdotal evidence shows that the implementation of a discovery service will increase the usage of the vendors’ electronic resources instead. this study aims to find out how well local collections are promoted through ebsco discovery service (eds), primo, summon, and worldcat discovery services (worldcat) by comparing results of queries in the discovery services versus the number of actual listings from these libraries’ traditional catalogs. authors conducted three searches based on real-life student assignments in science, history, and sociology in each of the four discovery services. to offset the bias of location configuration, ten libraries with the same discovery tool were selected for each search and total results are averaged. anova and tukey honest significant difference statistical analyses show differences among the four discovery services investigated. discovery tools promote local collections in different ways. some tools provide the possibility to list libraries’ local collections before listing the vendor’s database items, but others are less inclined to do so. to cite this article: yang, s.q., dawson, p.h., & ding, j. (2019). local collections in discovery services: an inquiry. international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 3-33. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 3-33 issn:2474-3542 local collections in discovery services: an inquiry sharon q. yang, patricia h. dawson, jie ding rider university, new jersey, usa abstract many libraries subscribed to discovery services in the hope of boosting the use of their local collections such as print materials, dvds, or even subscribed ejournals and ebooks that are separate from licensed databases. however, anecdotal evidence shows that the implementation of a discovery service will increase the usage of the vendors’ electronic resources instead. this study aims to find out how well local collections are promoted through ebsco discovery service (eds), primo, summon, and worldcat discovery services (worldcat) by comparing results of queries in the discovery services versus the number of actual listings from these libraries’ traditional catalogs. authors conducted three searches based on real-life student assignments in science, history, and sociology in each of the four discovery services. to offset the bias of location configuration, ten libraries with the same discovery tool were selected for each search and total results are averaged. anova and tukey honest significant difference statistical analyses show differences among the four discovery services investigated. discovery tools promote local collections in different ways. some tools provide the possibility to list libraries’ local collections before listing the vendor’s database items, but others are less inclined to do so. keywords: discovery service, local collections, eds, primo, summon, worldcat discovery services introduction in 2013, rider university libraries implemented a discovery service in the hope of boosting the usage of local print collections. prior to that, the circulation statistics for physical collections decreased steadily over the past five years. the library administration hoped that a discovery service would promote local borrowing, increase circulation of library materials, and attract more students to the library. however, the opposite was true in this case. the circulation statistics did not go up as a result of implementing the discovery service. comparable to rider university libraries, many libraries experienced a continued decline of their circulation of print and physical collections. the product descriptions of all the major discovery services market the promotion of local holdings. for instance, for eds, “[…] customers have the option of influencing the yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 4 overall relevance weighting of their catalog and/or institutional repository. this optional setting enables all catalog and institutional repository records to appear higher (or lower) in the search results list relative to other content in the eds profile” (ebsco, 2019). likewise, primo “[…] can boost local items so that they appear higher on the result list than items coming from primo central, all other factors being equal” (ex libris, 2017). similar statements are found about summon and worldcat (ex libris, 2014; oclc, 2017). however, there are complaints about possible bias of discovery services. one librarian lamented that, “i have never come across a book from our catalog in all my research using the discovery service[…] as a small library our book circulation stats are already pretty dead, i doubt the discovery service will put any extra nails in the coffin. however it is still very much a possibility” (regier, 2015). others voiced the similar concerns (asher et al., 2013; parry, 2014). the continued decline of borrowing of local collections may be caused by many factors. what role discovery services have played in this continues to be unknown. additionally, it has been a mystery about how discovery services presented local collections among the myriad of contenting resources. nevertheless, a discovery tool determines the quality of users’ research and what materials they use as the evidence shows (asher et al., 2013; parry, 2014; wang et al., 2018). library collections are developed systematically over the years with carefully selected titles. it is vital that library managers should know how their collections are retrieved and displayed in discovery services as they have a huge impact on users’ research experience. the research described in this paper attempts to address a missing piece in our knowledge about discovery services, namely, to what degree web-scale discovery services promote local collections by examining search results in four major discovery services, ebsco discover service (eds), primo, summon, and worldcat, with searches conducted in these libraries’ traditional catalogs. literature review a review of literature did not reveal any significant research on local collections in discovery services. however, abundant research exists on other aspects of discovery tools. until now most research on discovery tools focused on usability (jill, 2018; power, 2018; meirose & lian, 2019; rigda et al., 2018; warren, 2017; woods et al., 2016), user behavior (cohen & thorpe, 2015; dempsey & valenti, 2016), use pattern changes (calvert, 2015; fitzpatrick, 2010; teolis et al., 2019), and the impact of discovery services on reference and library instruction (copenhaver & kochanes, 2016; walker & sims, 2012). there seems to be a gap on how discovery services display and promote content of libraries’ local collections. probably more relevant and closely related to the study reported in this paper is research on changes in use patterns after the implementation of a discovery service. there is an overall increase in the usage of journals and electronic resources in the year after implementing a discovery service (calvert, 2015; greiner, 2014; lawton, 2015; levine-clark et al.,2014). an earlier study by grant valley state university after they implemented summon reported a 50% to 150% increase in students’ use of full-text databases and online collections (fitzpatrick, 2010). another study reported an increase of usage in e-journals and e-books and a decrease in print collections in manitoba university libraries after the implementation of summon (o’hara, 2012). studies on eds, primo, and worldcat produced similar findings that use for yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 5 electronic materials increased and print collections decreased (asher et al., 2013; calvert, 2015; greiner, 2011; lawton, 2015; levine-clark et al., 2014; regier, 2015). especially noticeable is the finding that a discovery service may influence researchers’ experiences (asher et al. 2013; parry 2014; wang et al., 2018). according to a study by bucknell university and illinois wesleyan university, researchers tend to use what they are given by a search service. for instance, students who used eds used more journal articles for their assignment. students who used google scholar and the library catalog used more books, while students who searched summon used more newspaper and magazine articles (asher et al. 2013). according to andrew asher, an assessment librarian at indiana university at bloomington, "it’s a logical impossibility to create a querying tool that doesn’t have any form of bias” (parry, 2014). a more recent study echoed the previous findings that “web-scale discovery services play an important role in directing users to scholarly contents (wang et al., 2018). all the above cited studies and findings provide the background that led to the research project in this paper. the research described in this paper is an original idea. research methods purpose the purpose of the research is to prove or disprove anecdotal evidence that discovery services promote their own resources over a library’s own resources or vice versa. the four major webscale discovery tools, eds, primo, summon, and worldcat, were selected for investigation. web-scale is a computer term denoting great processing and high-speed computing power. web-scale discovery tools are top notch search engines found in most academic libraries. sample to offset the bias from local configurations, ten libraries were randomly chosen from the customer list of the vendors or on the internet for each discovery tool, with the exception of eds libraries where fourteen were selected. this is because in the process of this research four eds libraries either switched to another discovery tool or blocked guest access. the final sample libraries comprised academic institutions with multiple disciplines with an english language discovery tool regardless of their geographic locations. this resulted in a sample with 16 english speaking, but non-us libraries, in addition of 28 us academic libraries for a total of 44 libraries. define terms: physical vs. catalog items local collections are defined as both physical items located in the library and catalog items which have a bibliographic record in the opac. the latter includes electronic collections such as e-books and physical items. it is the total number of items from a catalog regardless of their format. from a systems point of view, any data harvested from the local (traditional) catalog or local data comprise local collections. discovery services recognize the source of records as from the local catalog or data, but cannot distinguish which are physically housed in the library and which are electronically online as both types are represented by bibliographic records from yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 6 the same source. therefore, both physical items housed in the library and those that are not physical, but have bibliographic records in the local data (such as ebooks and ejournals) are both considered local collections in this research project. some libraries choose to load electronic books into the catalog, while others made a decision not to do so. primo and many worldcat libraries do not have a separate classic catalog. in that case, we used catalog searches within the discovery tool for physical and catalog data. we only examined the top 20 search results in discovery layers because past research shows that 87% of the users will not view search results beyond first 20 (guan & jia, 2016) and that most students stop reading beyond first page of search results (hanneke & o’brien, 2016). search statements three different search statements were used based on real-life student research projects in science, sociology and history classes at rider university. they include “pesticides and environment,” an assignment for chemistry class; “pearl harbor and attack” which was the subject for a paper in history classes; and “crime and poverty,” a sociology assignment. the authors chose three different disciplines because the choice of subject may influence the search outcomes. data collection the number of a library’s electronic items licensed by the vendor and catalog’s physical items respectively were recorded in the top 20 hits in discovery tool searches. in other words, the authors recorded both catalog items (any items that come from a library catalog records) and physical items (any items that are in house in a local library such as print materials and cd/dvd). to determine the number of physical and electronic items in a library’s local collection, a search was conducted in the local, traditional catalog. this information was compared to the amount of items displayed by the discovery service. if a library did not have a separate classic catalog, the number of local items were determined by using the facet of the discovery tools which was restricted to that library’s holdings. this procedure was used for the three search queries and in the four discovery services. the authors also compared the retrieved physical and catalog items to ascertain if users are seeing the same listing of local and catalog items across all of these interfaces. theoretically, the same materials owned by the libraries should appear in the discovery services as well as the local catalog. an excel file was used to record the data for analysis. analysis of data to reduce the noise caused by local configuration and differences among individual libraries in the sample, two statistical methods are used to analyze the data, anova (analysis of variance) and tukey hsd (honestly significant difference) test. both are commonly used statistical procedures to detect differences among group means. the authors decided on a 95% of confidence level. it is a two-step process to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the discovery services. “an anova test can tell you if your results are significant overall, but it won’t tell you exactly where those differences lie. after you have run an anova and found significant results, then you can run tukey’s hsd to find out which specific groups’ means (compared with each other) are different. the test compares all possible https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-statistics/hypothesis-testing/anova/ https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/what-is-statistical-significance/ yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 7 pairs of means” (statistics how to, 2019). statcrunch, a commercial statistical software, is used to assist with data analysis. findings demographics authors decided to use 10 libraries for each discovery service for an estimated total capability to handle local collections. figure 1 summarizes and describes the libraries in the sample. figure 1. geographic locations of 44 libraries in the sample the sample comprises 44 libraries, 28 us academic libraries and 16 foreign academic libraries including those from canada, uk, australia, new zealand, sweden, israel, and italy. all the libraries in the sample use english language in their discovery services. eds includes14 libraries in the sample while the other three discovery services only have 10 libraries each. this is because half way through the project 3 eds libraries closed their discovery service to the public, requiring logins, and one eds library switched to another discovery service. four academic libraries were randomly chosen to replace these eds libraries, thus resulting in 14 eds libraries. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 8 figure 2. presence of a classic catalog along with a discovery service in 40 libraries in the sample figure 2 describes the status of the libraries in the sample regarding the presence of a catalog. for a long time, libraries could not do away with classic catalogs. the discovery services existed side by side with a classic catalog in spite of the original vision for the next generation catalog which disposed favorably towards one user interface and one search across all the library resources. the trend is moving towards one instead of multiple user interfaces. this figure also shows how many libraries in the sample still maintain a discovery service and a separate classic catalog at the same time. the ten primo libraries in the sample have combined the catalog and discovery service into one user interface, while eds libraries still need to maintain a classic catalog. worldcat seems to be in the process of consolidating both into one user interface, with three libraries out of ten that still maintain a separate catalog. most summon libraries still have a classic catalog. one user interface and one search for all resources seem to be a better solution from a user’s perspective. for the following three searches, percentages were determined from all data in a group and normalized to show the number within 20 search results. search statement one: pesticides and environment authors searched “pesticides and environment” in the discovery services of all the 44 libraries in the sample. this topic is based on a student project from an organic chemistry class in rider university. as this is science related topic, more journal articles from the databases are expected than books from the local collections. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 9 figure 3. pesticides and environment-local collections in the discovery top 20 hits by percentage & number of items figure 3 displays how many physical and catalog items from the local collections appear in the top 20 search results in a discovery service when searching “pesticides and environment.” for eds, 2.5% or equivalent of 0.5 books out of the top 20 search results are physical items and 3% or equivalent of 0.6 books are catalog items, both of which are from the local catalog. in other words, 97.5% or 97% of the top 20 retrieved items in eds are non-local resources. it is equivalent of 19 or more out of 20 that are journal articles and other electronic materials from databases. for primo, 27% or equivalent of 5 items out of the 20 top retrieved items are physical items in local library and 48.5% or equivalent of 10 items out of the 20 top retrieved items are pulled from the local data. for summon it is 31.5% (about 6 books) and 44% (about 9 books) respectively. the search resulted in 29.5 (about 6 books) and 48.5% (about 10 books) out of the top 20 discovery layer retrieved items for worldcat. for “pesticides and environment,” eds displays the least of local collections in comparison to the other three web-scale discovery tools. is it possible that eds libraries happen to owe the least materials on pesticides and environment? figure 4 shows this is not the case. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 10 figure 4. pesticides and environment-average number of physical and catalog items on pesticides and environment in local libraries figure 4 shows the average number of materials that a library for a given discovery service contains for both physical and catalog items on “pesticides and environment” search. those numbers came from searching the local catalog or retrieving the local catalog within the discover services. for physical items, eds libraries have most items on this subject, an average of 89 item per library, while primo libraries have the least, an average of 56 items. this presented a striking contrast that eds displayed the least number of local physical items in figure 3 (2.5%), but its libraries had the most physical items (89 on average). for catalog items, worldcat libraries have most items, an average of 220 items per library. it should be noted that it is also one of the discovery services that displays most local catalog items, 48.5%, as shown in figure 3. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 11 figure 5. pesticides and environment-the percentage of local physical items in the top 20 discovery search per library for the search “pesticides and environment,” 0.6% of the total local collections (physical items) made it to the top 20 search results for eds libraries, 10% for primo and summon, and 8% for worldcat respectively. the statistics in figure 5 show how much or the percentage of local collections discovery service presented to users in their top display if students search for the science project on “pesticides and environment”. primo, summon, and worldcat shared a similarity with the exception of eds which showed a low percentage. figure 6 illustrates the results for the search “pesticides and environment.” the results show 0.3% of the total local collections (catalog items) made it to the top 20 search results for eds libraries, 7% for primo and summon, and 4% for worldcat respectively. those statistics are similar to those of physical items in figure 5. appendix one shows the anova and tukey results for pesticides and environment. both physical and catalog results show lower p values, 0.0047 and 0.0003, which are below 0.05, indicating that differences are found among discovery services. the p values in the tukey table are also below 0.05 when comparing eds with other discovery services indicating that eds is statistically different from the other three discovery services with this query. however, no differences are found among primo, summon, and worldcat as their respective p value is larger than 0.05. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 12 figure 6. pesticides and environment-percentage of catalog items in the top 20 discovery search per library per library search statement two: pearl harbor and attack this topic is based on a project for a us history class at rider university. as the search involves a historical event, the retrieved items are expected to be more books from the catalog than journal articles from the databases. local collections are more appropriate. as expected, the search on “pearl harbor and attack” in each discovery service retrieved more physical and catalog materials from the local collections than the previous search on “pesticides and environment” as shown in figure 7. eds still contains the least local collections in its top 20 retrieved items at 19% for physical collections (equivalent to 4 books) and 26% for catalog collections (equivalent to 5 books), while worldcat had the most with 47% (equivalent to 9 books) and 92% (equivalent to 18 books) out of 20 top retrieved items. primo and summon were somewhere in the middle. eds is consistently low in presenting local collections. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 13 figure 7. pearl harbor and attack-local collections in the discovery top 20 hits by percentage and number of items figure 8. pearl harbor and attackaverage number of physical and catalog items on pearl harbor and attack in local libraries yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 14 figure 8 shows how many items libraries have on “pearl harbor and attack” in local collections. these resources are displayed as the average number of books and other physical materials that a library includes for both physical and catalog items on “pearl harbor and attack.” these numbers came from searching the local catalog. for physical items, eds libraries have the most on this subject, an average of 83 item per library, while primo and summon libraries have the least, an average of 44 and 48 items respectively. this presented a somewhat striking contrast that eds covers the least displayed of local physical items (see figure 7), an estimated 19% or equivalent to 4 books, but its libraries have the most physical items, 83 on average. for catalog items, libraries with worldcat have the most material, an average of 1046 items per library. it should be noted that it is also one of the discovery services that displays the most catalog items, 92% or equivalent to 18 books out of top 20 displayed item in worldcat, as shown in figure 7. figure 9. pearl harbor and attack number and percentage of physical items in the top 20 discovery search per library figure 9 illustrates how many items and the percentage of total physical collections made it to the top 20 retrieved items in the discovery services when searching “pearl harbor and attack.” summon displays the most with 27% or equivalent to 13 items, while it is the least for eds libraries, with 4.3% of the total physical collections on display among the top 20 retrieved items. figure 10 shows the total number of catalog items per library, and those that actually made it to the top 20 retrieved items in the discovery search. for the search “pearl harbor and attack,” 5% of the total catalog items per eds library made to the top 20 search results, 11% for primo libraries, 22% for summon libraries, and 17% for libraries using worldcat respectively. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 15 figure 10. pearl harbor and attack-number and percentage of catalog items in the top 20 discovery search appendix two shows anova and tukey test for pearl harbor and attack. anova has low p values of 0.0049 and 0.0001 for both physical and catalog items, which are smaller than 0.05 indicating that differences are found among discovery services with this query. for physical items, eds is statistically different from summon, but not much different than primo and worldcat. no differences are found among primo, summon and worldcat. for catalog items, eds is statistically different from all other three discovery services. primo is also statistically different from summon and worldcat. search statement three: crime and poverty this query is based on a sociology class assignment at rider university. both historical and current materials could be useful for this assignment. figure 11 shows the search result for “crime and poverty,” a project for a rider university sociology class. for eds libraries, about 1% of the top 20 retrieved items are local physical collections (equivalent to 0.2 book out of the 20 items) and 3.5% are local catalog collections (equivalent to 0.7 book out of the 20 items). as in the other searches, eds retrieved the least local collections among all the discovery services. worldcat retrieved the most from local collections, 20% physical items (4 books) and 55.5% catalog items (11 books) out of 20 top retrieved items. primo and summon are somewhere in the middle. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 16 figure 11. crimes and poverty-local collections in the top 20 discovery service display figure 12. crime and poverty-average number of physical/catalog items in local collections yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 17 figure 12 describes how many local items a library covers “crime and poverty” on average. eds and worldcat libraries have the largest local collections on “crime and poverty,” while primo and summon libraries are in the middle in their collection size on the subject. figure 13. crime and poverty-number and percentage of physical items in the top 20 discovery search per library figure 13 shows the percentage and number of items that made it to the top 20 results in a discovery service search. for libraries with primo, summon, and worldcat, the percentage of the local catalog collections that made the top display are more or less the same, either 3% or 4%. for eds libraries, the percentage is very small, about 0.1% which is equivalent to 0.2 book. figure 14 displays the percentage and number of catalog items that made to the top 20 of discovery service searches retrieved from the local collections. for libraries with primo, summon, and worldcat, the percentage is more or less the same, from 3% to 5%, with worldcat leading the way. eds is 0.3%, a very small percentage in comparison to the other discovery services. appendix three displays the results of anova and tukey test. anova shows low p values of 0.0032 and 0.0003, both of which are smaller than 0.05 indicating statistically significant differences exist among discovery services with this query. for physical items, eds is statistically different from primo and summon, but not much different from worldcat. no differences are found among primo, summon, and worldcat for physical items. for catalog items, eds is statistically different from primo, but not from summon and worldcat. primo is statistically different from summon and worldcat. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 18 figure 14. crime and poverty-number and percentage of catalog items in the top 20 discovery search consistency in listing local collections within the discovery services and the catalog it is ideal to maintain consistency in search results across all user interfaces including discovery search, the search tab for local collections within a discovery interface, the facet labeled “catalog” or “local library”, and the classic catalog when a user uses the same search. it is difficult sometimes for a discovery service to present a consistent listing within its own interface. figure 15 shows an example of one search that brings up inconsistent results. the search results across the discovery service, worldcat in this example, are illustrated. the facet for local catalog/collections within the discovery service, and the local catalog for consistency are compared. it is less confusing for users to see the same library items when they do the same search across different user interfaces. when a library does not have a classic catalog, a comparison is made between the discovery search, and the facet for local library. this chart is an example to demonstrate the inconsistencies in retrieval results when searching “pearl harbor” and attack in a worldcat and a catalog search within the same library. worldcat allows one to search for items worldwide or just the home library. the left column represents a search conducted within the library and sorted by best match. there were 8 local items found in this search and these resources are marked in blue. the rest of the 12 items retrieved were non local items such as articles from databases. the middle column represents the results found in searching the home library and sorted by that library. again, eight items found in the first search is also found in this search. however, four items marked in red are different local items found in this facet search and in the catalog search but not in the discovery layer search. unique local items were found in the facet search and in the catalog search. the catalog search noted yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 19 in the right column, does not have the same number of local items found in the other two columns. figure 15. example of inconsistency of items in discovery and catalog search are users seeing the same list of items and in the same order across the discovery service, the facet for catalog, and in classic catalog searches? ideally, users will see the same local items across all the library search engines. it is confusing for the user to see different listings within a discovery service and then in the catalog. the initial discovery search generally interleaves the local items with resources from databases and electronic collections. preferably, when a user clicks on the facet of a discovery service, he or she can limit the search to the catalog or local collections only within a discovery service and subsequently should see the same local items in the same order as in the initial search in the discovery service interface except intertwined resources from non-local collections. figure 16 shows the comparison of such a result. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 20 figure 16. consistency of search results figure 17. consistency of search results by discovery service in figure 17 “no” means the item is not consistently found or in the same order. primo libraries do not have a classic catalog and their searches in discovery service show the same list of local items in the same order as those in the facet “catalog.” summon also behaves in the same way. eds and worldcat show an inconsistency within the discovery layer. sometimes the local items that appeared in the initial discovery search will show up when limiting to local collections only and sometimes they do not. when compared with the local items retrieved in discovery services, the items retrieved from a catalog search will display a totally different list. this result conflicts with the original vision for the next generation catalog where there is one user interface and one search for all library resources. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 21 figure 18. metadata indexed by discovery services for searching and relevancy ranking metadata may also affect the discovery tool displays. full text indexing of journal articles has fuller metadata than marc records with minimum information. catalog records are at a disadvantage with less metadata in comparison to full text indexing of journal articles. figure 18 is a summary of metadata indexed by discovery services found on the website of the vendors. librarians should be aware of the impact of libraries’ configurations of their discovery tools on displaying local collections. this is something that should be taken into consideration when reading this paper. circulation of local collection decreased for many reasons: increase of electronic resources and decrease of print sources in library collections, the users’ preference for easy access to electronic resources would also impact circulation statistics. users may prefer electronic resources and journal articles than print materials (borrego and anglada, 2016) which may be another factor to consider. discussions to sum up the findings, anova and tukey test have verified that eds is statistically different from primo, summon, and worldcat in presenting local collections in this study. this revelation is consistent across almost all the three searches for both physical and catalog items. occasionally there are minor differences between primo, summon, and worldcat, but those are not consistent or conclusive. the authors reached the above conclusions with 95% of confidence. the search tab and facets for local collections in both primo and summon retrieve yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 22 and display results consistently, presenting the same listing in the same order within the discovery service. worldcat provides consistency with some exceptions. eds often displays different results. most primo libraries can use primo both as a catalog and discovery interface and worldcat libraries are in the process of combining both interfaces. however eds and summon libraries still need to maintain a classic catalog. a discovery service often influences or determines what materials a user chooses for their research (asher et al. 2013; parry 2014; wang et al., 2018). librarians are the gate keepers who make important decisions for faculty and students in their information searches. librarians report circumstantial evidence that vendors’ resources appear before their own library’s items, and our research confirms this to be true of some of the discovery services examined. the discovery vendors claim their products promote libraries’ own local collections before their own resources. for instance, a few primo libraries arbitrarily display the first ten items from the local collections in the discovery service retrieval within certain customer defined relevancy rules. the practice is open to debate, but the system allows this function. worldcat and summon display a decent amount of local holdings. among the four web-scale discovery services, eds consistently displays the least number of local collections in spite of its configuration to optimize local collections. one can argue that eds libraries may not have so many items on these topics but figure 4 shows that these libraries had more physical materials on the topic of pesticides than other libraries. in spite of having more items, the eds libraries’ displayed fewer local titles when searching in the discovery service. the choice of subjects may affect how many local collections will make to the top of a discovery search result within a discovery service. some subjects are better covered by books, while more current topics are best served by journal articles and recent reports. for instance, a historical topic may have many books in the catalog while a science subject should have more current information in journal articles. the findings of this research reflected the fluctuation of location holdings in the top 20 display of a discovery service as subjects changed from science to history and to sociology. all four discovery services showed an increase in the number of local items when searching “pearl harbor and attack. regardless of the subject matter, eds remains low in the display of local holdings in the top 20 items. the amount of resources indexed by a discovery service may also impact the information retrieval and display. the top 20 items or the first page in display is a very limited space for competition. the competing resources all have to find ways to the top 20 in order to be viewed and used by students and faculty. the amount of materials a discovery service indexes may affect the opportunity the local collections appear on the top of the search results. the chance of local items is reduced when too many resources are competing to get to the first page of search results. however, discovery services do not publish the number of resources they index nor do they publish the algorithms developed, as this is proprietary information. this area remains unknown. regardless those two factors, local collections should be on the top display if promoting library collections is a priority. yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 23 limitations only three topics were tested and thus the scale of this study is limited. other subject areas should be tested as the choice of a topic may affect information retrievals. there are many variables that cannot be ascertained or measured that influence the circulation of location collections. the algorithms used by the discovery services are proprietary information and the ranking of the results can’t be discerned. in addition, discovery services continuously improve for the better. these findings may become obsolete over time. lastly, it is not known if librarians are aware that they can work with these vendors to promote their own local holdings over the vendors’ database materials. conclusion this research points out other factors to consider when libraries decide to license a web-scaled discovery service. there are differences the authors found in how a library’s local collection show up in queries amongst the four major discovery services examined. if a library is concerned about its circulation of its own materials because of budget concerns, then testing these discovery services and working with the vendors is critical. one factor that stands out from the others that definitely contributed towards the demise of local borrowing: the increase of electronic resources in libraries and their easy access. according to oclc, by 2020 academic libraries will spend 80% of their material budgets on electronic materials (burke, 2012). however, currently the print or physical collections in a library are still significant in spite of the trend for more electronic resources. a 2017 survey of collection development in academic libraries shows that print books are still the predominate part of the collections in academic libraries, 60.3% print books vs. 39.7% electronic books (enis, 2018). when investigating discovery services in which local collections are only one competing force, the question remains, what is the best recommended practice libraries should follow regarding presenting and pushing local collections to users? what is considered to be the proper, good, or fair representation of local collections in the discovery services? if libraries decide to promote local collections, what benchmarks or guidelines should libraries follow to display local collections in discovery services? how much display of local collection on the top of search results is acceptable and not acceptable? should librarians ask discovery services to place x number of local items in the top result list regardless of their ranking algorithms? without such benchmarks and thresholds, discovery vendors only have vague ideas. is it in the best interest of users to place the local items first before those from databases? this study intends to serve as a starting point for more investigation into local collections in discovery tools. hopefully it will get librarians to start thinking about some of the conventions that we take for granted. for instance, as libraries acquire more and more electronic resources, is the library catalog as a concept and as a facet in a discovery server becoming obsolete? for instance, users may care to know if an item is in print and physically available in the library. so should the facet in a discovery service be labelled “in the library” instead of catalog? yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 24 another crucial question remains. that is, whether libraries should promote local collections at all and what is the rationale for promoting local collections. it seems the dividing line is blurring between local and remote collections. for instance, everything in worldcat is labeled local as the location is listed as the local library even for journal articles in databases and e-book collections stored remotely with the vendors. except for print materials physically housed in the library that can be taken out, users cannot tell what is local or remote and probably do not care. the distinction is a tradition and seems to resonate more with librarians than users. should libraries promote local collections at all? is it for selfish purposes or in the best interests for users? what are the best interests of users after all? references asher, a. d., duke, l. m., & wilson s. (2013). paths of discovery: comparing the search effectiveness of ebsco discovery service, summon, google scholar, and conventional library resources. college & research libraries, 74(5), 464-488. borrego, a. & lluis a. (2016). faculty information behaviour in the electronic environment: attitudes towards searching, publishing and libraries. new library world, 117(3/4), 173 185. retrieved december 9, 2019 from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/nlw-11-2015-0089 burke, j. (2012). web-scale management solution. [serial solutions-webinar]. retrieved march 10, 2012 from http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/services/intota calvert, k. (2015). maximizing academic library collections: measuring changes in use patterns owing to ebsco discovery service. college & research libraries, 76 (1), 81 99. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.76.1.81 cohen, r. a. & thorpe a. 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(2015). use of esbco discovery tool at one university reveals increased use of electronic collections but decreased use in circulation of print collections. evidence based library & information practice, 10(4), 244-246. https://doi.org/ 10.18438/b8j88h levine-clark, m., mcdonald j., & price j.s. (2014). the effect of discovery systems on online journal usage: a longitudinal study. insights:the uksg journal, 27(3), 249 56. https://doi.org/ 10.1629/2048-7754.153 meirose, j. & lian, b. (2019). user testing: gathering data from first-year medical students as they interact with the ebsco discovery services (eds). journal of electronic resources in medical libraries, 16(1), 1-7. oclc. 2017. "how does relevance ranking work in worldcat local?" accessed june 27, 2017. https://www.oclc.org/support/services/worldcat-local/faq/search.en.html. o’hara, l. (2012). collection usage preand post-summon implementation at the university of manitoba. evidence based library and information practice, 7(4), 25-34. https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/summon/product_documentation/searching_in_th http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/relevance-ranking http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.104.2.004 https://doi.org/ https://www.oclc.org/support/services/worldcat-local/faq/search.en.html yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 26 parry, m. (4/25/2014). as researchers turn to google, libraries navigate the messy world of discovery tools. the chronicle of higher education, 60, (32), 18. retrieved june 29, 2017 from http://www.chronicle.com/article/as-researchers-turn-to-google/146081 power, j.a. (2018). ebsco information services usability study on accessibility. reference services review, 46(3), 449-459. regier, r. (2015). relevancy ranking in discovery services. a way of happening: library research blog. retrieved june 28, 2017 from https://awayofhappening.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/relevancy-ranking-in-discovery services/ ridga, c., hoogland, m., & morales, j. (2018). but i just want a book! is your discovery layer meeting your users’ needs? journal of web librarianship, 12(4), 246-260. statistics how to. (2019). retrieved december 9, 2019 from https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/tukey-test-honest-significant-difference/ teolis, m. g., stephenson, p.l., taylor, m.v., & poletti, e.j. (2019). change in information professionals’s satisfaction with discovery services. journal of hospital librarianship, 19(4), 321-329. walker, s. & sims, l.l. (2012). “implementing a discovery tool at two hbcus.” college & undergraduate libraries, 19(2-4), 312-326. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/10691316.2012.693370 wang, x., cui, y., xu, s. (2018). evaluating the impact of web-scale discovery services on scholarly content seeking. journal of academic librarianship, 44(5), 545-552. warren, r. m. l. (2017). usability study identifies vocabulary, facets, and education as primary primo discovery system interface problems. evidence based library & information practice, 12(3), 177-179. https://doi.org/ 10.18438/b89m14 woods, j., gillespie, e., & mcmanamon, c. (2016). discovering discovery: lessons learnt from a usability study at the university of liverpool. insights: the uksg journal, 29(3), 258-265. https://doi.org/ 10.1629/uksg.320 http://www.chronicle.com/article/as-researchers-turn-to-google/146081 https://awayofhappening.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/relevancy-ranking-in-discovery-%20services/ https://awayofhappening.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/relevancy-ranking-in-discovery-%20services/ https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/tukey-test-honest-significant-difference/ https://doi.org/ yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 27 appendix 1 anova and tukey test for pesticides and environment phyiscal items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 28 catalog/total items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 29 appendix 2 anova and tukey test for pearl harbor and attack physical items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 30 catalog/total items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 31 appendix 3 anova and tukey test for crime and poverty physical items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 32 catalog/total items yang, dawson and ding / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 33 about the authors dr. sharon q. yang received her doctoral degree in library & information science from columbia university. now she works as professor/systems librarian at rider university. her research interests include library systems, discovery tools, and the semantic web. patricia dawson has been an academic librarian for 20 years involved in reference, science liaison areas, instruction and interlibrary loan services. her research includes instruction methods and assessment, investigating copyright issues and library repositories, and open access issues. dr. jie ding received her ph. d. degree in operations management from the university of texas at austin. she has been teaching statistics and operations management for more than twenty years at rider university. her research interests are in the areas of stochastic modeling and designing of quality and manufacturing systems. 2--153-714-1-rv-sharonyang_title 2--153-714-1-rv-sharonyang-1-proofread-no space issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the impact of covid-19 on academic library service delivery in zimbabwe josiline chigwada abstract: the higher and tertiary education system was greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic leading to tremendous changes in service delivery in academic libraries. all the higher education stakeholders were affected including lecturers, students, researchers, and librarians, and they were forced to adjust accordingly in order to remain relevant. a survey was done using a multiple case study design where online questionnaires were distributed and participant observation were used to collect data from three academic libraries in zimbabwe. it was discovered that academic libraries changed the way they deliver their services to meet the new demands when teaching and learning was shifted to online as a way of curbing the spreading of the virus. the author recommends that academic librarians should be continuously trained to deal with the skills gap created by the covid-19 pandemic. there is need to provide appropriate information and communication technology infrastructure and the supporting policies and guidelines for academic libraries to continue supporting the research, teaching and learning activities in the covid-19 environment. to cite this article: chigwada, j. (2022). the impact of covid-19 on academic library service delivery in zimbabwe. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 43-55. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.222 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.222 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 43-55. issn: 2474-3542 the impact of covid-19 on academic library service delivery in zimbabwe josiline chigwada, chinhoyi university of technology, zimbabwe abstract the higher and tertiary education system was greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic leading to tremendous changes in service delivery in academic libraries. all the higher education stakeholders were affected including lecturers, students, researchers, and librarians, and they were forced to adjust accordingly in order to remain relevant. a survey was done using a multiple case study design where online questionnaires were distributed and participant observation were used to collect data from three academic libraries in zimbabwe. it was discovered that academic libraries changed the way they deliver their services to meet the new demands when teaching and learning was shifted to online as a way of curbing the spreading of the virus. the author recommends that academic librarians should be continuously trained to deal with the skills gap created by the covid-19 pandemic. there is need to provide appropriate information and communication technology infrastructure and the supporting policies and guidelines for academic libraries to continue supporting the research, teaching and learning activities in the covid-19 environment. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, academic libraries, library services, lockdown, zimbabwean libraries introduction the covid-19 pandemic brought some challenges leading to the pronouncement of lockdown in zimbabwe as a way of protecting people from the virus by minimizing physical interaction. in december 2019, the covid-19 virus was discovered in wuhan, china and it spread to all the other countries worldwide killing a lot of people. the disease was then declared as a public health emergency of international concern on 30 january 2020 and a global pandemic on 11 march 2020 by the world health organisation and finally a national disaster in zimbabwe on 17 march 2020 (mutambisi, murasi & mazodze 2021). the education sector was forced to close the physical facilities including libraries although teaching and learning was supposed to continue (itachomphoo & bown, 2021; dobreva, 2020). this study was done to assess the academic library landscape in the covid-19 pandemic era by addressing the following objectives: 1. assess the ways of library service delivery in academic libraries in zimbabwe in the covid-19 pandemic era. chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 44 2. define what caused the changes in academic library service delivery in the covid-19 pandemic era. 3. discuss the lessons learnt by academic libraries in responding to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic. literature review library service delivery during the covid-19 pandemic a report by pokhrel and chhetri (2021) showed that close to 1.6 billion learners were affected in more than 200 countries in the teaching and learning sector when the traditional face to face learning was abolished due to the spread of the covid-19 pandemic. although there was an option of continuing teaching and learning online, there were challenges that were faced in terms of affordability, flexibility, accessibility, learning pedagogy, lifelong learning and educational policies which were not experienced before (murgatrotd, 2020). however, there were also opportunities that were brought about by the covid-19 pandemic which include the increased use of web conferencing tools such as zoom, google meet, google classroom, and the bigbluebutton among others in delivering lectures, and the use of social media platforms and group chat facilities such as telegram, whatsapp, and wechat in delivering online lectures. this shows that there was increased exploitation of e-learning systems according to pokhrel and chhetri (2021). medawar and tabet (2021) added that educational institutions adopted survival strategies to avoid loss of business and possible closure. they added that when physical libraries were closed, library services became virtual so as to cater for the patrons who greatly needed the services. guidelines were developed by governing institutions such as the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) and the american library association (ala) to assist libraries in providing services in the new normal. toolkits were also developed by publishers in partnership with libraries so that patrons would be able to refer to them to access services as a way of dealing with the covid-19 pandemic challenges (medawar and tabet, 2021). some studies showed that the use of websites for some libraries in the united states of america went down after the covid-19 pandemic (connell, wallis & comeaux, 2021). however, this was not in sync with what transpired in some three institutions which are louisiana state university, northeastern illinois university and valparaiso university libraries where there was an increase in virtual communication during the same period. rafiq, batool, ali and ullah (2021) established that librarians were supposed to work from home and this increased their work load although there was no guiding policy to deal with the changes in the new normal. as a result, librarians noted the issue of the digital divide, lack of information and digital literacy skills, and connectivity challenges as the deterring factors in fully implementing online services in academic libraries during the covid-19 pandemic era (rafiq, batool, ali & ullah, 2021). what caused changes in service delivery ncube and nyabadza (2020) in the report by the zimbabwe library association pointed out that academic libraries in zimbabwe were forced to extend their loan periods to avoid the levying of fines amongst the library patrons since there was restricted movements during the lockdown period. there was also a need to subscribe to electronic resources to increase the access base of the information resources that were provided by academic libraries to ensure that patrons were able to access the materials from wherever they are as long as they were connected to the internet. chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 45 there was also an increase in the utilization of social media platforms in delivering various services although there was an issue of data charges which were exorbitant and out of reach for many academic librarians and patrons (ncube & nyabadza, 2020). academic libraries were greatly affected in terms of collection development and management (medawar & tabet, 2021) since patrons could not access the library services and products as they used to do before the pandemic. this called for a paradigm shift among publishers and other providers of e-resources in terms of service provision as a way of responding to the challenges presented by the covid-19 pandemic. publishers provided support to librarians in delivering undisrupted access to e-resources and those who were subscription based also ended up providing open and free access to their e-resources to enable the smooth continuation of the teaching and learning process (medawar & tabet, 2021). library leaders were faced with difficult situations due to financial constraints and budgetary cuts in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic as they were forced to increase their investments in digital services and products (frederick & wolff-eisenberg, 2020). however, there were challenges faced in transitioning to online service provision leading to the less usage of web pages and online resources in some academic libraries (muhamad et al., 2020). these included but were not limited to slow internet connectivity, expensive data charges, poor digital literacy skills to navigate the digital environment, and the digital divide. in view of the above, librarians were supposed to promote the virtual services (itachomphoo & bown, 2021; frederick & wolff-einsenberg, 2020) and this was done through the online public access catalogue (opac) which were embedded on the library webpages. new services due to the covid-19 pandemic although there were changes in collection development and maintenance, low internet penetration and poor mobile broadband access in some areas greatly affected the access and usage on these online information resources (baloch & musyani, 2020). as a result, cox (2020) summarized that new services, space redesign and new collection strategies should be developed in order to be successful in the covid-19 pandemic era. tsekea and chigwada (2021) added that normal operating procedures were disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic and academic librarians were supposed to introduce innovative strategies to meet the changing needs of the patrons. however, in zimbabwe, most academic librarians were not prepared for physical closure of the library buildings (chigwada, 2021) due to the challenges pointed out although some saw this as an opportunity to enhance the library services during that period (chigwada, 2021a). librarians had to assist the patrons to get full text articles through various training workshops and seminars as well as to develop how to guides to be utilised by patrons while they were away from the physical libraries (koos, schenfeld, & larson, 2021). video tutorials were very handy during the pandemic times and the use of social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, instagram, whatsapp, youtube, linkedin and telegram (lobo & dhuri, 2021) were taken advantage of to provide virtual services and assistance to patrons. librarians have been utilising web conferencing tools such as zoom, webex, bigbluebutton, google meet, microsoft teams among others to offer webinars, one on one consultation, and instructional workshops. the use of open educational resources in academic libraries in developing countries increased since most of them were not able to subscribe to electronic information services (dadhe & dubey, 2020). as a way of decongesting library physical spaces, librarians were supposed to work from home using emails and social media platforms to communicate with patrons. libraries that did not close during the lockdown period chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 46 were forced to implement social distancing measures and the removal of reading desks and chairs so that patrons do not sit in the libraries (dadhe & dubey, 2020). lessons learnt from the covid-19 pandemic the lessons learnt from covid-19 pandemic showed that it is crucial to have disaster management plans and it is key to prepare for reopening in times of disasters. harris (2021) emphasized the importance of pandemic and business continuity plans to avoid service disruptions in times of disaster. institutions of higher learning should invest in technologies that enhance access to electronic information resources and offering virtual reference services when patrons are learning from home. virtual library tours and orientation would assist in educating patrons on how to navigate the electronic library and the video tutorials would be guiding the patrons as they access the library services and products from home (rafiq, batool, ali, & ullah, 2021). in such cases, institutions should assist librarians by providing resources and infrastructure needed to offer the virtual services such as laptops, internet connectivity and data charges among other things (tsekea & chigwada, 2021). academic librarians should also continuously develop themselves to stay in the game and remain relevant in the online teaching and learning era, i.e. they should upskill and reskill themselves to possess the requisite skills to be able to deliver the virtual services (lobo & dhuri, 2021). remote access to library resources is now essential so that all the patrons are able to access the resources wherever they are as long as they are connected to the internet (howes, ferrell, pettys & roloff, 2021), calling for a hybrid model which is more inclined to the provision of online information resources. methodology a qualitative research approach using the interpretivist paradigm was adopted whereby a multicase study design was used to collect data from three academic libraries in zimbabwe using online questionnaires and participant observation using an observation check list. the two data collection methods were used to complement each other and the researchers were able to get firsthand information at the same time getting the views of those who were part of the team that provided the services during the lockdown period. five librarians from the senior management levels from each academic library were purposively selected using stratified random sampling to take part in the study, i.e. 15 academic librarians were part of the study. they were drawn from the library management, technical services, reader services, circulation, and information technology sections of the participating libraries. there was a 100% response rate from the participants. the data were analyzed using content analysis and were presented thematically using the objectives of the study. same questions from the questionnaire and the observation checklist were grouped together to develop theme nodes to make the analysis more systematic and rigorous using a deductive coding approach. the participants and institutions of higher learning were anonymized for confidentiality purposes. they were given the names library a, b and c. findings and discussion changes brought about by the covid-19 pandemic it was noted that a number of changes were brought about by the covid-19 pandemic in academic libraries and all the library staff and patrons observed the guidelines provided by the world health organisation (who) as well as the various ministries of health to deal with the spreading of the chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 47 virus. seven participants pointed out that they were using sanitizers upon entering the library and the returned books were put in book drops, then discharged after 48 hours to avoid direct contact with library staff in the event that they were contaminated. all the library staff and patrons were mandated to wear their face masks properly, use foot baths on library entrances, working from home to decongest the library, observing social distancing by putting marks on the floor and allowing limited numbers of students to enter the library building, and the use of virtual services in accessing library resources. library staff were assisting patrons online using various platforms such as whatsapp, live chat, zoom, microsoft teams, bigbluebutton, and google meet among others. this concur with what was stated by medawar and tabet (2021) who concluded that the use of online services was necessitated mainly by the closure of physical library spaces as a way of providing access to library resources and services. four participants added that whatsapp groups were created by subject librarians to assist patrons as stated by lobo and dhuri (2021) who talked about the use of social networking sites to reach out to patrons who would be learning and teaching from home. two participants also added that the returned books were not immediately discharged but they were quarantined and their academic libraries were encouraging the use of off campus access to e-resources using platforms such as remotexs and ezproxy. one participant stated that the loan period was extended to limit frequent visits of patrons to the library as was pointed out by ncube and nyabadza (2020). one participant stated that there was need to create small instructional videos to guide the patrons when they access the library resources from home. he added that more open access resources should be availed through the library web pages as stated by dadhe and dubey (2020) who emphasized the increase in the use of open educational resources in the teaching and learning process due to the covid-19 pandemic. one participant indicated that their library reduced the seating capacity to meet the social distance rule by rearranging the chairs and tables. another participant added that the subject librarians worked with the faculty to identify core electronic textbooks for each course and used a patron driven acquisition model to buy the books. this is in line with what was stated by koos, schenfeld, and larson, (2021) and rafiq, batool, ali and ullah (2021) who said that there is need to reinforce virtual and online services and ensure that library staff are working from home to avoid disadvantaging patrons who would be in dire need of library services and resources. new services offered during the covid-19 pandemic period findings from participant observation showed that the delivery of services changed during the covid-19 pandemic times whereby new services were introduced and some services were suspended as stated by chigwada (2021a). all the three institutions were forced to offer virtual reference services in order to answer various reference queries that were posed by patrons. institution a and c were not utilising the live chat facility because of issues from the information technology department who were managing the it section of the library and were not willing to introduce that facility. institution b was using live chat during the working hours only. after hours, the library staff were not able to get the data and the gadgets to use to offer the live chat service. all libraries were using e-mail, social media platforms such as whatsapp and facebook while one library had an active twitter handle. two libraries closed their physical reference desks and queries were strictly answered online while one library opened its desk while strictly observing social distance measures. the circulation services were suspended and the desks were only open for returns since there were no self-service points in all the three libraries. the returned books in all the libraries were quarantined though for different times, that is, 6 days for library a, 3 days for library b and one week for library c. sanitizing of hands and surfaces were done in all the libraries chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 48 and there was a pedal sanitizer at the entrance in library a, an automated sanitizer dispensing machine in library b which was also used for temperature checks, and in library c a security guard was sanitizing patrons and library staff upon entering the library. all the libraries were fumigated though at different intervals, i.e. library a and b it was not scheduled but for library c, it was done every week. library staff members in all the libraries were encouraged to self-isolate after getting into contact with an infected person or when they develop covid-19 symptoms. notices for observing the who guidelines and covid-19 protocols were posted in all the libraries. in terms of research support services, the findings showed that library a offered information literacy sessions and other trainings online using web conferencing tools. library a was also in the process of developing how to guide and video tutorials, library b had how to guides on the library webpages and on social media platforms, while library c was also developing how to guides for all the libraries services. the libraries were offering research support services using various platforms such as email, zoom, google meet, bigbluebutton and social media platforms. meetings with patrons were also done online using these different platforms. the rational for implementing these changes was the importance of safeguarding the staff and patrons from the deadly disease, to reach out to mare patrons as well as to meet the requirements and guidelines of who and the government of zimbabwe during the lockdown period. this was supported by itachomphoo and bown (2021) who indicated that in person classes were suspended and teaching and learning was entirely online and the library was supposed to remain relevant in such cases. five participants indicated that the changes were done to increase the accessibility and usage of information resources while combating the spread of the deadly disease. these were from the reader services section who are responsible for coordinating research support services in their libraries. challenges faced during the covid-19 pandemic period the challenges that were faced by these three libraries were similar as indicated by the findings where the librarians were lamenting over the absence of support from university management in providing data and laptops for use for trainings, meetings and webinars when working from home. this supported what was stipulated by muhamad et al., (2020) who found out that university librarians were at different levels in terms of possessing the necessary skills and infrastructure needed to benefit fully from virtual services. the major barriers that were experienced include the lack of digital literacy skills, and the digital divide which caused poor internet connectivity in some areas. this greatly affected the movement from the physical to the online mode of learning leading to poor usage of some electronic information services. the issue of accessing electronic information resources was affected by power outages and poor network connection due to the locality of patrons especially those who were in rural areas. this was worsened by poor information and digital literacy skills among some library staff and patrons making the online communication process difficult. the other challenge was late renewals of electronic resources subscription due to budgetary constraints complicating the accessibility of the library resources. all the participants indicated that the physical closure of libraries due to the lockdown measures was another drawback since patrons were not able to access the print resources, physical reference services, library computers, reading area, photocopying and printing services. murgatrotd (2020) pointed out that there were some challenges that were presented by online learning such as educational policy changes, affordability, need for information and digital literacy chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 49 skills, new pedagogy, poor internet connection among others. the participants proposed a number of solutions which included the provision of gadgets and data bundles to library staff members who provided trainings so that they are able to assist patrons after working hours as well as those who would be working from home. a study by rafiq, batool, ali and ullah (2021) supported this but also added that it increased the workload of library staff and there was no policy for these emerging issues. as innovative measures, three participants indicated that, librarians used cheaper facilities like whatsapp and email to communicate with patrons. ncube and nyabadza (2020) highlighted the use of whatsapp in delivering research support and reference services since even the librarians endured the high data costs. this was caused by the closure of library buildings as indicated by medawar and tabet (2021). the use of open access resources was also encouraged especially for those libraries facing challenges in subscribing to good databases. however, one participant stated that nothing was done at their library as they just waited for the lockdown to end in order to resume services. participants gave six recommendations in dealing with the challenges of covid-19 to offer efficient library services. the recommendations were subsidizing internet and electronic resources subscriptions, equipping staff and patrons to work from home by providing the necessary infrastructure and skills for teleworking, upgrading the ict infrastructure and ensuring that the servers are always up and running, enhancing library services to meet the changing needs of patrons in the digital environment, development of software that offer remote access to information resources and services, and educating librarians about the online teaching and learning process. this would enhance the usage of various online platforms since the data charges in zimbabwe are very high. one of the participant indicated that universities should provide laptops and data to students so that they are able to fully utilise the electronic information resources from home. another one added that libraries should introduce interactive platforms so that they are able to assist patrons with reference and research support queries timeously. this would help in addressing inequality issues that were noted by altback and de witt (2020) who talked about the digital divide where some students are able to get the necessary resources for online learning while others do not have access to them. it was noted from the results that there is need to deal with the negative perceptions of operating in the new normal. one of the participants stated that librarians should embrace the changes brought about by covid-19 which are different from the old traditional ways of offering library services. in the new normal there is need for innovative ideas and the provision of data and laptops or smartphones to successfully assist patrons. four participants indicated the need to redesign library spaces and restrategise on service provision since physical spaces were affected as confirmed by pokhrel and chhetri (2021). lessons learnt from the covid-19 pandemic the findings showed that there were some lessons learnt from the covid-19 pandemic since there was need to provide personal protective clothing (ppe) and to support the online teaching and learning process. the who and ministry protocols and guidelines were adhered to in all the libraries and to ensure that social distancing measures were followed, librarians formed whatsapp groups with students to decongest the physical spaces. this is similar to what was found out by murgatrotd (2020) who stated that the covid-19 pandemic brought about some changes on how things are done in the new normal including the teaching and learning process. the same findings reaffirm the findings of tsekea and chigwada (2021) who indicated that librarians should be innovative when dealing with the issues brought about by the new normal. the results showed an chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 50 increase in the use of whatsapp in providing virtual services to the patrons as stated by pokhrel and chhetri (2021) and ncube and nyabadza (2020). libraries enhanced their webpages so that they became the central portal for accessing all library services. however, this is against what was said by connell, wallis and comeaux (2021) who noted that the use of web pages went down in some of the libraries in the united states of america during the lockdown period. the three libraries upgraded their wi-fi facilities and librarians were trained to offer the virtual services in the new normal. all the three libraries were carrying out monitoring and evaluation exercises to assess how patrons were utilising the library resources and services to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the online platforms that were used by the libraries as stressed by itachomphoo and bown (2021). conclusions and recommendations it can be concluded that academic libraries were greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic leading to a number of changes which affected service delivery. some librarians saw this as an opportunity to introduce new changes while others were negatively affected by the new normal. remote access to electronic information resources was key to enhance the teaching and learning process which was entirely online. the major challenges that were faced by librarians were high data costs, lack of gadgets to use at home, lack of skills to use online platforms, and lack of support by management to provide the necessary training and resources during the pandemic period. academic librarians in zimbabwe embraced the safety measures recommended by who and the ministry to curb the spread of the virus. efforts were made to ensure that service provision was not disrupted during the closure of physical buildings although one library suffered from lack of support from university management in providing the needed resources to operate in a virtual environment. the author recommends the need to invest in infrastructure that enable access to electronic information resources both on and off campus, and the patrons should be trained on how to access and use these services. there is need to encourage lecturers to utilize open educational resources if there are financial challenges in subscribing to e-resources. the development and dissemination of subject guides and how to guides in the form of short video tutorials would assist patrons as they access information resources from home. these guides can be uploaded on the library webpages and disseminated via various official social media platforms in an easy to access format. in order for patrons to utilise the new services and products, training should be done and the librarians should possess the skills of offering online training sessions using various video conferencing tools. university management should be intentional in providing the needed support to librarians especially the provision of data bundles and gadgets needed to efficiently work from home. librarians should also continuously upgrade themselves through webinars, workshops, conferences, online courses to grasp and deal with the demands of the new normal as a continuous professional development measure. the government of zimbabwe should also support higher education institutions by providing data subsidies so that data is affordable for patrons to connect to the internet from home. potraz should assist in the review of internet access tariffs for educational purposes working with the zimbabwe academic and research network (zarnet) as well as other stakeholders. for example, some higher education institutions can engage the internet service providers such as econet, netone, africom, telone and negotiate for better rates for students, or the accessing of chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 51 academic websites without charging internet access. as at 26 may 2022, accessing an 8gd data bundle for a month on private wi-fi ranges from $4320 to $6500 depending with the service provider. this is beyond the reach of many not mentioning the students who mainly depend on assistance from their parents and guardians. the promotion of online teaching and learning should be done so that students won’t be affected in prolonging the time they should finish their studies when there are lockdowns. some students and lecturers had been shunning online teaching and learning due to the data challenges that had been explained above. there is need to develop policies, guidelines, and standard operating procedures to be followed in offering and accessing library services during the pandemic era to reduce the spreading of the disease. however, librarians cannot do this alone but there is need for a stakeholder approach whereby all those involved in higher education come together for the good of academic libraries. these include but are not limited to the university management, library schools, library consortia, ministry of higher and tertiary education, library associations, librarians and patrons. this stakeholder approach would ensure that no one is left behind in dealing with the challenges that affect academic libraries as well as teaching and learning in higher education institutions in times of pandemics. references altbach, p.g. & de wit, h. 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(2021). a literature review on impact of covid-19 pandemic on teaching and learning. higher education for the future, 8(1), pp.133-141. rafiq, m., batool, s.h., ali, a.f. & ullah, m. (2021). university libraries response to covid-19 pandemic: a developing country perspective. the journal of academic librarianship, 47(1), pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102280. tsekea, s. & chigwada, j.p. (2021). covid-19: strategies for positioning the university library in support of e-learning. digital library perspectives, 37 (1), pp. 5464. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlp-06-2020-0058 appendix 1: questionnaire this is a short survey to document your experience on the changes that were caused by the covid19 pandemic in your library. the questionnaire will take 10-15 minutes of your time and all the responses are anonymous. they will be used for academic purposes only and will be treated with confidentiality. you are free to withdraw from the study any time. for questions concerning the questionnaire and the study, please feel free to contact me at jchigwada@cut.ac.zw or 0733782906. 1. what new services were introduced at your library during the covid-19 pandemic period? 2. what caused these changes? 3. what challenges did you face in serving your patrons as a result of the covid-19 pandemic? 4. how did you solved those challenges? 5. what lessons did you learn during the covid-19 pandemic era? appendix 2: observation checklist library a library b library c reference services live chat whatsapp e-mail https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102280 https://doi.org/10.1108/dlp-06-2020-0058 mailto:jchigwada@cut.ac.zw chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 54 facebook twitter reference desk orientation programs circulation services self-check in and out quarantining books suspension of borrowing sanitizing hands and surfaces social distance measures fumigation of libraries notices about covid-19 research suport services how to guides video tutorials use of social media chigwada / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 55 use of web conferencing tools information literacy training ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author josiline chigwada is the deputy librarian at chinhoyi university of technology where she teaches information and digital literacy skills. she holds a doctorate in information science, master of science degree and bachelor of science honours degree in library and information science, and a postgraduate diploma in tertiary education. she has published books, book chapters, journal articles, and conference proceedings. she is a member of the zimbabwe library association (zimla), association for information science and technology (asis&t), institute of directors in zimbabwe (iodz), and zimbabwe academic and non-fiction authors association (zana) and a rotarian of the rotary club of msasa. 222-title page 222-chigwada-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org steppingstones to more sustainable public libraries in finland: from individual initiatives toward national guidelines and standards ulla pötsönen, leila sonkkanen, and harri sahavirta abstract: public libraries in finland have a strong history of cooperating and networking. implementing sdgs and steering the action toward sustainability, however, has been so far carried out mainly out by individual libraries. a larger consensus or common guidelines are still missing, be it designing a new building, customer design thinking or rearranging internal workflows. this is to be changed, hopefully serving as an example to readers´ communities. the report presented current cases and current best practices on initiatives and concentrated on finding a broader common ground on sustainability work. helsinki city library will act as a nationwide accelerator and common voice promoting the step marks toward greener libraries. a nationwide expert network and community of practice is to be established as well. as one example of the development, the tight cooperation between public libraries and basic education in finnish society will be discussed. for historical reasons public libraries operate to a large extent as school libraries, so the task of supporting curriculum on sustainability topics is a major task for public libraries as well. what does the future of this collaboration and its possibilities look like? to cite this article: pötsönen, u., sonkkanen, l., & sahavirta, h. (2020). steppingstones to more sustainable public libraries in finland: from individual initiatives toward national guidelines and standards. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 78-83. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.179 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 78-83. issn: 2474-3542 steppingstones to more sustainable public libraries in finland: from individual initiatives toward national guidelines and standards ulla pötsönen, finland leila sonkkanen, helsinki city library, helsinki, finland harri sahavirta, helsinki city library, helsinki, finland abstract public libraries in finland have a strong history of cooperating and networking. implementing sdgs and steering the action toward sustainability, however, has been so far carried out mainly out by individual libraries. a larger consensus or common guidelines are still missing, be it designing a new building, customer design thinking or rearranging internal workflows. this is to be changed, hopefully serving as an example to readers´ communities. the report presented current cases and current best practices on initiatives and concentrated on finding a broader common ground on sustainability work. helsinki city library will act as a nationwide accelerator and common voice promoting the step marks toward greener libraries. a nationwide expert network and community of practice is to be established as well. as one example of the development, the tight cooperation between public libraries and basic education in finnish society will be discussed. for historical reasons public libraries operate to a large extent as school libraries, so the task of supporting curriculum on sustainability topics is a major task for public libraries as well. what does the future of this collaboration and its possibilities look like? keywords: finland, public libraries, sustainable development goals, sustainability characteristics and overview of finnish library system finnish public library system is praised second to none in many international reviews and comparisons. strong legislative support and steady state funding as well as long tradition have made finnish libraries an essential part of civil society, whether in education, entertainment or civic activities. library services are viewed as basic services alongside healthcare and education. mostly for historic and geographic reasons, finnish public libraries have a long tradition of networking. finnish library act (2016) stated that every municipality should have a library. however, a big part of the country is sparsely inhabited, so most libraries are relatively small. local and regional networks, consortiums and larger national networks support this grid and provide better services, as in material acquisitions, library systems and opacs, professional expertise and collaboration. pötsönen, sonkkanen and sahavirta / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 79 when it comes to the environmental work of libraries, there are a few characteristic features in finland. libraries perceive themselves “automatically” as environmentally friendly because of their basic functions: recycling materials and loaning out goods, engaging in a sharing economy by providing facilities and ict tools for shared use. additionally, the adverse environmental impacts of libraries are perceived to be small. as a result, libraries have not been actively developing their environmental awareness. the public libraries in finland do not have their own criteria for environmental impact and have used general environmental criteria for buildings and office environments. as a rule, these are met thanks to a relatively well-functioning infrastructure because statutory waste sorting and recycling is organized at the municipal level. the climate in finland affects the building industry and regulations, as the constructions need to tolerate different temperatures, frost, load of snow on the roof etc. hence, the construction supervision concerning e.g. window insulation, foundation materials or air-ventilation is already strict. nevertheless, library-specific indicators are missing. these factors could easily lead libraries to conclude that they do not have to engage in any special environmental work. also, it is believed that the environmental impact of libraries is not in the hands of the library itself but depends on other entities such as cleaning companies, property managers or publishers. libraries do not have a lot of influence e.g. on what cleaning products or methods are used on the premises, what kind of paper the books are printed on, where they are printed or how they are transported before reaching the library. the role of library professionals in obtaining reliable and up-to-date environmental information cannot be emphasized enough. the role of library professionals is to connect the users with the most reliable and current environmental information available. this is especially important today because of various misleading resources on the internet and in social media. libraries can help examine the information and offer high quality resources. it is also essential to consider the real environmental impact of goods lending, shared facilities, and tools. these impacts should also be measurable and verifiable so that the real environmental impact of public libraries can be presented to the public and policy makers. so far there hasn’t been such an impact measurement framework ready for finnish libraries. levels of library sustainability could be evaluated based upon tiers from passive to active: 1. awareness, staying up-to-date 2. act internally, communicate and promote the actions and activities 3. organize and facilitate external actions, involving citizens 4. be a proactive agent of change so far, ecological/environmental sustainability has been the driving factor behind actions. the other pillars of quadruple bottom line of sustainability (social, cultural and economic) should be addressed and processed as well. providing measurable wellbeing and a vast palette of services reaching almost all age groups with less than 1% of municipalities total budget can be considered economically sustainable. social sustainability in libraries is about providing equal opportunities and access to information. libraries provide life-long learning possibilities such as support, materials, and pötsönen, sonkkanen and sahavirta / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 80 facilities (space, ict, wifi, etc.). libraries can contribute cohesiveness and integration/inclusion, introducing new residents to official information, language training and meeting possibilities with local residents. during challenging times such as covid-19 pandemic, libraries can also contribute to communities’ resilience and preparedness providing up-to-date information, self-help and services especially for vulnerable groups like children, elderly or immigrants. libraries distribute governmental health information in different languages, offer communication channels of staying in touch with families and relatives in other parts of the world or promote literature regarding the relevant topics like stress management. if needed, also a brief welcomed cultural escape from reality. finally, a library is a costfree place to spend time. when it comes to cultural sustainability, libraries have already traditionally been playing an important role in maintaining language, cultural habits and heritage, local information etc. in a more culturally and linguistically diverse society libraries also embrace new residents and strive to serve them with their native language materials and cultural resources. finnish public libraries already possess all the elements required it takes to achieve excellence in environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability: ● solid funding ● municipal and stately support ● wide array of further training possibilities ● extensive library facility network ● professional and support networks, communities of practice ● tight cooperation between schools and educational institutions current sustainability of finnish public libraries within the last 10-15 years, several environmental sustainability projects and initiatives have been taking place in finnish libraries. helsinki municipal library as the central library of public libraries has been carrying out projects that also have significant national importance, such as green@library 2010-2011. the project examined how libraries have taken into account other components of ecological sustainability in addition to their core operations and lending of materials. other questions examined were for example, whether libraries already had extended their scope to include ecological sustainability in financial observations to give a true picture of the environmental impact of libraries or if the environmental effects had been measured? in order to determine the state of ecological sustainability in public libraries, a survey was sent out in february 2012 to over 750 recipients during the green@library project. the response percentage was 18%, which can be considered an average result of response activity. some of the largest cities were well represented with 14–17 responses per municipality; however, responses were only received from about 20 municipalities. pötsönen, sonkkanen and sahavirta / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 81 the survey was divided into five sections: environmental management, environmental economy, reduction of environmental burden, increase of environmental awareness and environmental communication (both internally between agencies and offices and externally toward the audience). based on the findings of the survey, the recommendations for the future were: ● information must be distributed ○ bringing out the best practices and introducing them to wider use requires an environmental guide and work methods that motivate people to participate ● individual employees must be supported ○ commitment and mandate of the management of the organisation for activities ○ commitment at the city level: environmental programme and targets ○ peer support network, for example through eco-support activities ○ environmental training, tips for best practices and instructions on how to measure success ○ encouragement ● indicators and monitoring methods as well as cooperation between different operators should be developed ● customer communication should receive more attention ○ between agencies, for example with the engineering department of the municipality ○ the library can also encourage sustainability internally the world and library landscape have been changing fundamentally during the past 10 years, so a new initiative environmental awareness of public libraries for the 2020s was launched in spring 2020 by helsinki city library. it was clear from the initial planning stage that there was a lot of interest in this topic among public libraries. all 9 libraries with regional development responsibility joined the project, which represented the whole country quite well. even before the start of the project, there were other parties also expressing their interest in cooperation. the aim of this project will be to bring together library professionals interested in the environmental impact of libraries and create a discussion forum for them to share experiences and problems, much like the ala sustainability round table. hopefully, this network will expand beyond libraries and the general public will learn about the results of the environmental impact of libraries. the main goal of the project is to study the environmental awareness of finnish library professionals by repeating the previous survey from 2012. other interesting projects and initiatives are being implemented around finland. among others is oulu city library, who has published a sustainable library 2030 road map during their project a responsible library as promoter of environmental awareness, that aligns with the city development program. the road map reflects on sustainable development goals 2030 and highlights the connection between them and library actions. examples from the road map included: promoting environmental awareness → sdg 3, 13  pötsönen, sonkkanen and sahavirta / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 82 both internally and externally to increase the visibility of the library as an ecological actor sustainable library of the future → sdg 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 17 to take all pillars of quadruple bottom line into consideration involve citizen of different age and background into planning guarantee a continuum on the discussions and decisions in addition to oulu, browsing the national register of library projects showcases several libraries that have been implementing environmental and sustainable topics to their development projects last year (finnish public library project register, n.d.). as discussed earlier, part of sustainable acts carried out in finnish libraries are not specific for libraries only, but they apply to all public buildings or organisations. library-specific measures can include raising awareness, supporting the sharing economy as well as supporting learning and education on sustainability. lot (library of things) -thinking has spread throughout finnish libraries and it is possible to loan for example sport equipment, bbq grills, technical devices such as drills and also season tickets to several sport and culture events (sport matches, concerts, exhibitions, etc.). load bicycles and moving load carts are for loan as well, especially in the densely populated capital area. the library establishes itself as a supporter and a part of the sharing economy on a broader scale than just books. supporting education and curriculum, libraries have a varied range of possibilities to promote sustainability: acquiring relevant materials (physical and increasingly e-materials) presenting library materials and services, reading programs and promotions focused on sustainability specifically or among other topics (book talks, trailers etc.) teaching multiliteracy: information literacy and green information literacy, media literacy, source criticism including sustainability issues into basic introduction of library use for school children: waste recycling, pc energy saving, teaching a careful way to handle books due to less book cover plastic, encouraging pupils to bring their own tote bag etc. organizing activities, happenings, campaigns related to topic in collaboration with partners (municipal and state environmental authorities, nature/sustainability associations etc) library serves also as an arena for debate and a platform for pupils’ own initiatives, exhibitions and performances other: e.g. library gardens, plant/seed exchange, lot, supporting youth groups, associations and councils meetings, collecting feedback and involving young users to develop and plan library services in a more sustainable way. pötsönen, sonkkanen and sahavirta / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 83 summary: heading to the future tackling sustainability issues is a huge and complex task for libraries. being a part of municipal structure, libraries have only limited vote on the biggest decisions regarding building, maintenance, renovations and other infrastructural issues. also the supply chain of materials and services is sometimes out of the library's hands completely. on a mindset level, a change of management and operation needs sufficient information, planning and time. all members of staff need to be involved and actively participate, so training is needed. during the last years, a common awareness has been raised on sustainability issues in finnish libraries. more and more projects or initiatives are implemented throughout the country. individual practitioners, departments and libraries are doing wonderful jobs in order to promote sustainability and act proactively. to reach the next level of systematic development, more information on the situation in the libraries and national collaboration is needed. the project environmental awareness of public libraries for the 2020s aims to answer this call. libraries have a stable position in finnish civil society and therefore can take on a pivotal active role as change agents. the planned network among other measures will help lifting the awareness and widen the local acts of passionate individuals into structured and strategic progress. references finnish library act: finlex (2016). retrieved from https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2016/en20161492 finnish public library project register: ministry for education and culture and council for public libraries. (n.d.). retrieved from http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/hankkeet/visen.html green@library project: helsinki city library (2012). retrieved from https://sustainability.libraries.fi/ sustainable library 2030 -road map. oulu city library 2020. retrieved from https://www.ouka.fi/documents/78400/596635/kest%c3%a4v%c3%a4+kirjasto+2030 +-tiekartan-tiivistelm%c3%a4.pdf/542f3a4b-737e-4147-b3ad-3865a96dd074 about the authors ulla pötsönen is an independent library advocate and community educator in finland. leila sonkkanen works in helsinki city library, helsinki, finland harri sahavirta is the chief librarian, helsinki city library, finland 006_169-179-title-final 006_169-179-article text-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org development of a web-based gis learning module for community asset mapping to enhance service learning in social work education xue luo and wansoo park abstract: in recent years, service learning – a pedagogical approach that integrates learning through service in the community – has gained increasing popularity in higher education as a means to enhance student learning and civic engagement. service learning is relevant to social work education because of its emphasis on social justice and the amelioration of social problems and field education through practicum sites. the benefits of service learning, however, are dependent on successful integration of this pedagogical approach into the classroom. by developing a web-based learning module, this project aims to explore the possibility of using community asset mapping and geographic information systems (gis) as an integrated technology tool to promote service learning in social work education. an assessment of this module was conducted by a student survey. the overall positive feedback on the module indicates its contribution to social work study as well as its potential applicability to larger contexts. the project can serve as a starting point for developing best practices for the training of students in mapping and spatial thinking in their community practices that would benefit other disciplines as well. the project supports the university’s mission to improve student-centred, interdisciplinary, and innovative teaching and learning, and its commitment to enhance the economic and social well-being of the local communities. to cite this article: luo, x., & park, w. (2020). development of a web-based gis learning module for community asset mapping to enhance service learning in social work education. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 36-52. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.159 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 36-52. issn: 2474-3542 development of a web-based gis learning module for community asset mapping to enhance service learning in social work education xue luo and wansoo park university of windsor, windsor, ontario, canada abstract in recent years, service learning – a pedagogical approach that integrates learning through service in the community – has gained increasing popularity in higher education as a means to enhance student learning and civic engagement. service learning is relevant to social work education because of its emphasis on social justice and the amelioration of social problems and field education through practicum sites. the benefits of service learning, however, are dependent on successful integration of this pedagogical approach into the classroom. by developing a web-based learning module, this project aims to explore the possibility of using community asset mapping and geographic information systems (gis) as an integrated technology tool to promote service learning in social work education. an assessment of this module was conducted by a student survey. the overall positive feedback on the module indicates its contribution to social work study as well as its potential applicability to larger contexts. the project can serve as a starting point for developing best practices for the training of students in mapping and spatial thinking in their community practices that would benefit other disciplines as well. the project supports the university’s mission to improve student-centred, interdisciplinary, and innovative teaching and learning, and its commitment to enhance the economic and social well-being of the local communities. keywords: service learning, gis, university community collaboration for teaching, higher education. introduction in recent years, service learning, a pedagogical approach that integrates learning through service in the community, has gained increasing popularity in higher education as a means to enhance student learning and civic engagement. the benefits of service learning, however, are dependent on successful integration of this pedagogical approach into the classroom. some have suggested adopting an asset-based approach, community asset mapping, as an effective means of preparing students for service learning (garoutte & mccarthy-gilmore, 2014). as a digital method of mapping, geographic information systems (gis) provides a flexible and sophisticated way to display community assets. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 37 located in the southernmost city in canada, the university of windsor is a comprehensive, student-focused university with nearly 16,000 students enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. one of the university of windsor’s strategic priorities is to “engage the community in partnerships that strengthen the economic and social well-being of the windsoressex region” (university of windsor, 2010). the academic response among faculty has been to incorporate service learning into class content across a wide array of disciplines. in particular, the school of social work has introduced community asset mapping in some courses as a tool for engaging students in community service activities in order to prepare them for future professional practice. however, the mapping process itself can be quite challenging for many students due to a lack of appropriate gis skills and accessible training. although other departments have offered gis courses, they tend to be focused on natural science areas and are designed for professionals in earth science or engineering. consequently, developing gis training tailored to the specific needs of social work students was both timely and relevant to current needs in this institution. the leddy library is the main campus library for the university of windsor. it has been recognized as a valued partner on campus to enhance student experience and support university research and academic initiatives. traditionally, the geospatial and data analyst from leddy library gave a lecture to individual classes on the basics of gis and its potential application in the social work profession. it is usually a single, abbreviated session (one to two hours) without software demonstrations or hands-on activities. however, information technology skills, such as gis, take time to develop and practice. without hands-on experience with gis software, students cannot fully obtain the necessary skills to apply gis in the asset mapping process. in addition, there is a recognition that gis is most effectively taught in the context of practical applications (wier & robertson, 1998). therefore, using community asset mapping as the core learning activities can provide students with a meaningful context for learning and using gis. given the increasing demand for gis skills in higher education and the lack of appropriate training opportunities in social work education, this project had two objectives: (1) to develop an online learning module to teach social work students how to use gis tools to create community asset maps, and (2) to test the effectiveness of the combination of online learning module, off-line lecture, and course assignment on students learning in two graduate level courses. research indicates that varied modes of delivery influence student skill development (maclachlan, et al., 2014) and a combination of online tutorials with in-class instruction is the most beneficial method for teaching gis to students by accommodating their different learning styles (wier and robertson, 1998). learning objectives of the gis module were: students will be able to develop a clear understanding of what gis is and how it can be used in asset mapping to enhance community practice; they will be able to identify assets within a community, gather relevant data and transfer them into a gis compatible format to create asset maps suitable for publishing and sharing; and they will be able to interpret and communicate the results to the community. literature review in response to rapid changes in society and the labour market, many universities and colleges have introduced more experiential learning opportunities, such as community service learning, to enhance student civic engagement and improve post-graduation outcomes (taylor et al., 2015). service learning is a pedagogical approach that engages students in activities that address actual luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 38 community needs together with formal course-based learning activities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development (gerstenblatt & gilbert, 2014; jacoby, 2009; taylor et al., 2015). with their emphasis on service, empowerment, and traditional use of field practicums, social work programs have been viewed as natural hosts for the use of service learning pedagogy (phillips, 2011) and the compatibility of service learning and social work education has led to increased use of service learning in a wide range of social work courses (gerstenblatt & gilbert, 2014; mcguire & majewski, 2011). a strength of service learning is that it places equal emphasis on three outcomes: student learning, service to the community, and the development of reciprocal relationships between students and community partners (harkavy, 2004; lemieux & allen, 2007). however, the implementation of service learning sometimes falls short of these goals mainly due to the way service-learning activities are designed. for example, since traditional service-learning models typically focus on what needs to be fixed or what is lacking within a community, students are likely to position themselves as persons giving services for those in need (bauer, kniffin & priest, 2015). such an interpretation of service learning may perpetuate privilege and reinforce structures of hierarchy and power (garoutte & mccarthy-gilmore, 2014). in order to address this issue, some researchers have suggested adopting an asset-based approach, community asset mapping, as an effective means of creating authentic university-community partnerships while promoting student community engagement (garoutte & mccarthy-gilmore, 2014). community asset mapping encourages one to focus on a community’s assets and strengths rather than its needs and deficiencies (kretzmann & mcknight, 1993). a community asset is anything that can be used to improve the quality of community life (centre for community health and development, 2020). community assets can include skills, knowledge, and experience of community members; the organizations and institutions that provide services for the community, (e.g., schools, libraries, hospitals, recreation centres); businesses that provide jobs and support the local economy; a physical structure or place, (e.g., town squares, heritage buildings); natural resources, (e.g., rivers, trees, green spaces). the asset mapping process typically involves a series of steps including identifying community assets through neighbourhood canvassing, building a community profile and visual map of the community, and developing and implementing an action plan (garoutte & mccarthy-gilmore, 2014). in this way, community asset mapping encourages students to do things “with” community members rather than “for” them, thus allowing them to engage reciprocally with their community without participating in hierarchical or one-way university-community relationships. essential to the asset mapping process is the creation of a map that visually represents the community’s assets. in the past, one needed to find an existing street map or physical map and mark the geographic location of various types of resources, which was very arduous and slow. more recently, the use of gis is emerging as a more flexible and sophisticated way to display community assets than paper-and-pushpin mapping. within gis, different types of information, for example, locations of health care facilities, street networks, school board boundaries, and population density, are represented as individual map layers, which can be overlaid on top of one another. by identifying where assets are in relationship to each other, gis enables students to address a variety of questions that otherwise might be very time-consuming or too difficult to resolve. some examples include identifying where community assets are concentrated versus where they are sparse, examining where community resources are located in relation to where people live, and exploring the relationships among various types of assets as well as the luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 39 relationships between specific features and community attributes (sharpe, greaney, lee, & royce, 2000). an increasing number of higher education institutions have implemented asset mapping within their service learning programs and have shown promising results (bauer, kniffin & priest, 2015; donaldson and daughtery, 2011; garoutte and mccarthy-gilmore, 2014). there is growing interest in using gis in social work research and practice (felke, 2014, 2019; hillier, 2007; wier & robertson, 1998). however, with a few exceptions, gis has not found its way into the social work curriculum (felke, 2014, 2019; hillier, 2007). therefore, the current study aimed to explore how gis and asset mapping can be employed as integral tools for service learning to promote community awareness and engagement among students. methodology online module development the gis module was developed in the summer of 2017. the development of the module was coordinated within the leddy library’s academic data centre. it was developed by the geospatial and data analyst with consultation from the course instructor from the school of social work. the module was tested and adapted to the university blackboard online learning management system through the help of a research assistant. the aim of this module was to introduce students to the basic principles of gis and provide them with the necessary skills to collect, edit, and display spatial data on community assets by using open source gis software and free web resources. the module was composed of basic introductory materials, concrete task-based tutorials, and example datasets. the approximate time to complete the module was 4-6 hours. lecture in graduate courses and assignment in the fall of 2017 and the winter of 2018, the module was piloted in two graduate-level social work courses: community practice course in the foundation year of the two-year master of social work program and the program evaluation course in the advanced year of the program. the online module was available to students anywhere and at any time, and was complemented by face-toface instruction. a community asset mapping assignment was developed as part of the course assignments. student groups were expected to produce a map, present it to the class, and communicate it to the public. student survey in order to assess students’ learning experience and learning outcome before and after using the module, a structured survey questionnaire was administered in paper and pencil format to all students attending the last class of the two courses. the retrospective pretest design was chosen in this study because growing evidence has shown that this approach can help reduce the responseshift bias that frequently occurs in the traditional pre-post test design by clearing up misconceptions before participants are asked to make assessments (lamb, 2005). at the end of the semester, a short, five-minute in-class presentation was given to introduce the survey by the research assistant. then, each student received a survey package including a letter of information/consent and the questionnaire. the survey included questions related to demographics, prior experiences with gis, use of the module, experiences using the module, and perceptions of luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 40 module contribution to student learning within and beyond the course. survey participation was voluntary, and students were given 30-40 minutes to complete it. after the questionnaire was completed, four students were randomly selected to receive $25 amazon gift cards. the university research ethics board clearance was obtained for this project (reb #34206). results demographic profile of students survey respondents the student survey results were analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (spss 23). a total of 53 out of 87 students enrolled in the above two courses responded to the survey, a response rate of 61%. the respondents were largely females (88%) in the 20-24 age group (51%). they were either enrolled in the first (33.3%) or second year (66.7%) of the master of social work program. only a small percentage of respondents reported that they had experience with mapping or attended a gis tutorial session before the course (figure 1). among those who had gis training, most of them received such training in social work classes at university of windsor in the last two years (table 1). figure 1. student prior experience with gis 22.6% 73.6% 3.8% 20.8% 73.6% 5.7% yes no i don’t know have you used mapping-related techniques in any of your previous classes/community work? have you attended a gis tutorial session before this course? luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 41 table 1. “where” and “when” of previous gis training if students had one before the course response % of responses (n=53) where in social work classes at university of windsor 92.3% online 7.7% when less than 1 year ago 30.8% 1 to 2 years ago 53.8% 3 to 4 years ago 7.7% 5 years ago or more 7.7% student use of modules in order to encourage students to use the module, one of the assignments in each course was to create an online gis map and answer a set of questions based on it. due to the different nature of the contents of each course, as well as the depth of gis usage built into each course, student responses to the remaining questions of the survey were analyzed separately by course. the result indicates that less than half (47%) of student respondents in the program evaluation course reported revisiting the module again after initial use, while 68.5% of the community practice course respondents indicated that they had referred back to the modules at least one additional time. this difference could be due to the different weighting and nature of the gis-related assignment between the two courses. in the community practice course, the gis map and community assessment presentation was weighted 30% of the course grade, while in the program evaluation course, the gis map assignment was only 12% and it was done as part of the in-class assignment. when asked about why they used the module (table 2), while the majority of respondents in both courses reported they did so because it earned them marks, a significant portion of students also reported that they felt the module helped them understand the course material. this finding clearly supports the idea of adopting the module as a course assignment with marks attached instead of doing it as a simple classroom activity to increase student usage. however, only a small portion of students reported that they use the module because it helped them understand the material in other courses or it allowed them to work at their own pace. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 42 table 2. the “why” of student module use. students could choose more than one applicable answer for each question. community practice course program evaluation course question response % of responses (n=19) % of responses (n=34) why did you use the gis module in your course? because it helped me understand the course material 57.9% 41.2% because it helped me understand the material in other courses 15.8% 29.4% because it allowed me to work at my own pace 10.5% 8.8% because it earned me marks 78.9% 67.6% assessment of modules the following questions of the survey were used to understand the potential impact of the gis module on student learning experience and learning outcome. first, we asked students about their satisfaction with the presentation and organization of the module. as shown in figure 2, the students’ responses in the two courses were generally similar. the majority of respondents in both courses felt that the module was straightforward and easy to navigate and was delivered in a way that allows for a logical and manageable learning pace. however, less than half of students in both courses felt that the module made them take more responsibility for their own learning. this finding needs to be considered in future development of the module. although more than half of students in the community practice course felt that the module suited their learning style and they would like to have such experience again in the future, less than half of students in the program evaluation course did so. one possible explanation could be that students in the community course were in the first year and it would be most likely their first time learning about how to use gis, while students in the program evaluation course are graduating and they might have had more opportunities to learn about gis over the previous years. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 43 figure 2. student perceptions of presentation and organization of the module second, we asked students to rate their degree of confidence in their ability to perform several gis-related tasks before and after using the module. they recorded the strength of their self-efficacy beliefs on a 100-point scale, ranging in 10-unit intervals from 0 (“cannot do at all”); through intermediate degrees of assurance, 50 (“moderately certain can do”); to complete assurance, 100 (“highly certain can do”). a two-way mixed anova was then used to examine whether there was a change in students’ self-efficacy scores before (pre) and after using the module 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% the gis module was easy to navigate the gis module delivered information in a straightforward manner. the gis module offered a logical and manageable learning pace. the gis module suited my learning style. the gis module made me take more responsibility for my own learning. overall, the mode of delivery for the gis module was an experience i want to have again. community practice course strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% the gis module was easy to navigate the gis module delivered information in a straightforward manner. the gis module offered a logical and manageable learning pace. the gis module suited my learning style. the gis module made me take more responsibility for my own learning. overall, the mode of delivery for the gis module was an experience i want to have again. program evaluation course strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 44 (post), and whether such change was influenced by the course they had attended. we used an alpha level of 0.05 for all the statistical tests. the results are shown in table 3. the results indicate that there was a significant change in the extent to which students felt confident in performing all the gis-related tasks as listed in the survey before and after using the module (f(10,39)=20.236, p=0.000, 𝜂𝑝 2=0.838), with mean post self-efficacy score for each task significantly higher than pre self-efficacy score. by contrast, there was no significant main effect of course on students’ perceptions about their capabilities of performing these gis-related tasks (f(10,39)=1.810, p= 0.091, 𝜂𝑝 2= 0.317), with students from the courses in general showing similar degrees of confidence performing these tasks. however, there was a significant interaction between course and pre-post module changes (f(10,39)=2.425, p=0.024, 𝜂𝑝 2=0.383). specifically, the univariate tests indicate that the changes on students’ perceptions of self-efficacy in performing task 4 and task 5 were significantly different between the two courses. as shown in figure 3 and figure 4, the degree to which they felt confident in performing these two tasks increased more dramatically for students in the community practice course compared to students in the program evaluation course. task 4 was “understand the importance of geographic location and its implication in examining a variety of processes and phenomena in the community” and task 5 was “use maps to understand the patterns and relationships among several factors, populations, or issues in the community.” this difference over two courses specific to these two tasks appears to be reinforced by the course contents. in the first-year community course, students are first introduced to knowledge of the characteristics of communities and appropriate community interventions as well as the analysis of political, cultural, and social forces and their impact on the social environment. by the time students take the program evaluation course, they have already taken the community course and the focus of the second course is much more on program design and program evaluation methods. this is confirmed by the before and after comparison of mean scores of students’ self efficacy on performing tasks 4 and 5. as figures 3 and 4 demonstrate, students in the community course reported lower scores on both task 4 and task 5 than the students in the program evaluation course in their reflection of the time before they took the course. in addition, students in the community course reported greater improvement in both task 4 and task 5 after they took the course. students in the community course who did not have prior knowledge might have had more engagement with these two tasks throughout the course and therefore had greater improvement in scores for both tasks. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 45 table 3. two-way mixed anova result for student perceptions of self-efficacy in performing gis-related tasks multivariate test effect valuea f hypothesis df error df sig. (p) partial eta squaredb (𝜂𝑝 2) course 0.683 1.810 10 39 0.091 0.317 pre-post 0.162 20.236 10 39 0.000 0.838 pre-post*course 0.617 2.425 10 39 0.024 0.383 univariate tests effect measure f sig. (p) partial eta squared (𝜂𝑝 2) prepost self-efficacy in performing gis task 1c 40.559 0.000 0.458 self-efficacy in performing gis task 2 95.422 0.000 0.665 self-efficacy in performing gis task 3 95.546 0.000 0.666 self-efficacy in performing gis task 4 168.361 0.000 0.778 self-efficacy in performing gis task 5 155.527 0.000 0.764 self-efficacy in performing gis task 6 81.939 0.000 0.631 self-efficacy in performing gis task 7 115.831 0.000 0.707 self-efficacy in performing gis task 8 92.328 0.000 0.658 self-efficacy in performing gis task 9 112.207 0.000 0.700 self-efficacy in performing gis task 10 125.463 0.000 0.723 prepost * course self-efficacy in performing gis task 1 2.12 0.152 0.042 self-efficacy in performing gis task 2 0.02 0.887 0.000 self-efficacy in performing gis task 3 0.714 0.402 0.015 self-efficacy in performing gis task 4 16.596 0.000 0.257 self-efficacy in performing gis task 5 11.556 0.001 0.194 self-efficacy in performing gis task 6 1.008 0.320 0.021 self-efficacy in performing gis task 7 3.303 0.075 0.064 self-efficacy in performing gis task 8 1.403 0.242 0.028 self-efficacy in performing gis task 9 1.081 0.304 0.022 self-efficacy in performing gis task 10 2.926 0.094 0.057 a. the statistic is based on wilks' lambda test. b. 𝜂𝑝 2 indicates effect size. 𝜂𝑝 2 ≥ 0.14 are large effects; 𝜂𝑝 2 ≥ 0.06 are medium effects; 𝜂𝑝 2 ≥ 0.01 are small effects. c. gis task 1: effectively read and understand maps. gis task 2: create a map with all the necessary elements. gis task 3: use online mapping tools for collaborating and sharing information. gis task 4: understand the importance of geographic location and its implication in examining a variety of processes and phenomena in the community. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 46 gis task 5: use maps to understand the patterns and relationships among several factors, populations, or issues in the community. gis task 6: collect and use secondary data for community assessment and program evaluation. gis task 7: use maps for the analysis and assessment of community needs and assets. gis task 8: use maps as an evidence-based tool in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community programs and policies. gis task 9: use maps to examine the relationships between social service programs and the target population to identify service gaps or unmet service needs. gis task 10: present the results of needs assessment or evaluation study in a visually appealing format (e.g., map) to inform and educate policy makers, practitioners, and the public. figure 3. means of student self-efficacy score in performing gis task 4 before and after using the module luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 47 figure 4. means of student self-efficacy score in performing gis task 5 before and after using the module third, figure 5 illustrates the students’ responses when asked to what extent the module has contributed to their learning within and beyond the course. in general, students in both courses reported being satisfied with the module and the extent of its usage. specifically, 100% of students in the community practice course and 85% of students in the program evaluation course reported that they felt that the gis module helped them understand how the course material is relevant beyond the classroom. more than one third of respondents in both courses also agreed that the module has improved their overall understanding of the course material and the module should be implemented into more courses at the university. however, only about one third of students in either course felt that the availability of such a module in a future course would encourage them to enroll in that course. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 48 figure 5. student perceptions of how the module contributed to their learning within and beyond the course in addition, we asked to what extend the students felt the module has contributed to their future service-learning activities. according to the independent t-test result, there was no significant effect for course in terms of the average scores of students’ perception on the module’s contribution to their service learning, t(50)= -1.09, p=0.28. figure 6 indicates that students in both courses overwhelmingly (i.e., ranging from 85% to 100%) perceived that the module has better prepared them for their future service-learning activities related to seven out of eight items, especially in the following aspects. more than 90% of the respondents agreed that the module has at least somewhat helped them to have an objective and comprehensive view of the community, to understand the community's strengths and the challenges it faces, as well as to transform what they have learned from the classroom to their work in the community. however, there was one exception. the item, “have a competitive advantage when seeking employment” still gained over 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% the gis module improved my overall understanding of the course material. the gis module helped me understand how the course material is relevant beyond classroom. the gis module should be implemented into more classes at the university. the availability of such a module in a future course would encourage me to enroll in that course. community practice course strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% the gis module improved my overall understanding of the course material. the gis module helped me understand how the course material is relevant beyond classroom. the gis module should be implemented into more classes at the university. the availability of such a module in a future course would encourage me to enroll in that course. program evaluation course strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 49 72% of students’ agreement but not by as overwhelmingly high a percentage as the other seven items, with the remaining 28% of students reported that they did not feel so. this result may indicate that gis has not been embraced as part of social work practice skill sets. wilson (2016) pointed out despite the usefulness of gis, the usage and application of gis in the social work profession is still uncommon. this result might also be attributed to the individual respondents’ future career preference. some students have more career interest in macro practice, while others prefer micro, clinical practice for their future career. according to felke (2014), over four course offerings, students who reported that they did not feel they would use gis in the future were most likely to be the ones having clinical practice as their future career choice. since we did not ask their future career choice, there was no way of testing this effect in our study. figure 6. student perceptions of how the module contributed to their future service-learning activities discussion the online module was integrated into the targeted courses by blending it with course materials and in-class activities. by doing so, this project facilitated the implementation of innovative teaching methods, such as blended learning, into social work classrooms. student survey findings indicate that students found significant value in using the gis online module and its contribution to their own learning and future application. since it is accessible to students anywhere and at any luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 50 time, this online module allowed for student-centered, active learning in a comfortable environment with minimal pressure or time constraints, which has been found to improve both student learning experience and academic achievement (mui, nelson, huang, he, & wilson, 2015). it also offers course instructors the flexibility to utilize the module in the best way they see fit. they can integrate this module along with lectures and class discussions into a course assignment or assessment test, or they can use it in a more passive sense, such as assigned course reading. moreover, the learning module can also be used for training existing faculty and staff members who are interested in learning gis and asset mapping for research or teaching purposes. previous studies have demonstrated that community asset mapping with the use of gis can help to engage students in working directly with community members, thus promoting community awareness and engagement among students (garoutte & mccarthy-gilmore, 2014; graham, carlton, gaede, & jamison, 2011). furthermore, students can then develop an action plan to utilize the existing resources highlighted by the asset maps to address particular needs of a community. this would prepare them to transform what they have learned through the module into future community work. additionally, the module can serve as a starting point for students to develop greater capacities in digital mapping, data collection, and management a competitive skill set for macro practice. more importantly, digital community asset maps can be easily shared with the community, which enables students to produce information that is more accessible and comprehensible for the residents. the community can then use the information to make evidencebased decisions for its program evaluation and planning (graham et al., 2011). this sharing of ideas through maps can help to strengthen the partnership between the university and the community, which is in line with best practices for service learning. although this module is primarily designed for the integration of gis and community asset mapping into class content within the field of social work, it can be extended to courses in other areas, such as sociology, criminal justice, language study, education, etc. some components of this module can be used to teach concepts related to communities, as well as the relationship between individuals and social systems, in order to connect students with service-learning experiences. in this way, this project can potentially facilitate communications across courses in different disciplines, thus making it an attractive and multi-disciplinary investment that benefits the entire university community. this project involved collaborative efforts between many campus stakeholders, including library staff, faculty members, library and faculty administrators, and pedagogical staff from the office of open learning. the module was developed within leddy library, with input and assistance solicited from faculty members, graduate students, instructional designers, and elearning specialists throughout the module’s development. in doing so, the project fostered campus-wide discussions and collaborations on curriculum design and pedagogical approaches, thereby providing insight for future directions in teaching and learning at the university. acknowledgement this project was funded by the university of windsor centred on learning innovation fund (clif) program. authors would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of two research assistants to this project: dwayne barris (phd student in the school of social work, university of windsor) and julia zheng (phd student in the department of computer science and engineering, michigan state university). luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 51 references bauer, t., kniffin, l. e., & priest, k. l. (2015). the future of service-learning and community engagement: asset-based approaches and student learning in first-year courses. michigan journal of community service learning, 22(1), 89-93. centre for community health and development. (2020). identifying community assets and resources. community tool box, center for community health and development, the university of kansas. retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-communityneeds-and-resources/identify-community-assets/main donaldson, l. p., & daughtery, l. (2011). introducing asset-based models of social justice into service learning: a social work approach. journal of community practice, 19(1), 80-99. felke, thomas, p. (2019). the use of geographic information systems for social work education, research, and practice. in l. goldkind, l. wolf, p.p. freddolino (eds.), digital social work: tools for practice with individuals, organizations, and communities. (pp. 145-167). new york, ny: oxford university press. felke, thomas, p. (2014). building capacity for the use of geographic information systems (gis) in social work planning, practice, and research. journal of technology in human services, 32(1-2), 81-92. garoutte, l. & mccarthy-gilmore, k. (2014) preparing students for community-based learning using an asset-based approach. journal of the scholarship of teaching and learning, 14(5), 48-61. gerstenblatt, p. & gilbert, d.j. (2014) framing service learning in social work: an interdisciplinary elective course embedded within a university-community partnership. social work education, 33, 1037-1053. graham, s. r., carlton, c., gaede, d., & jamison, b. (2011). the benefits of using geographic information systems as a community assessment tool. public health reports (washington, d.c.: 1974), 126(2), 298–303. harkavy, i. (2004) service-learning and the development of democratic universities, democratic schools, and democratic good societies in the 21st century. in m. welch & s. h. billig (eds.), new perspectives in service-learning: research to advance the field (pp. 3–22). greenwich, ct: information age publishing. hillier, a. e. (2007). why social work needs mapping. retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/86 jacoby, b. a. (ed.). (2009). civic engagement in higher education. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. kretzmann, john p. & john l. mcknight. (1993). building communities from the inside out: a path towards finding and mobilizing a community’s assets. acta publications, chicago, il. lemieux, c. m., & allen, p. d. (2007). service learning in social work education: the state of knowledge, pedagogical practicalities, and practice conundrums. journal of social work education, 43(2), 309-326. maclachlan, j., brodeur, j. j., bagg, j. l., chiappetta-swanson, c., vine, m. m., & vajoczki, s. (2014). an assessment of a blended learning model for information and geospatial literacy. toronto: higher education quality council of ontario. mcguire, l. e., & majewski, v. (2011). editorial: social work and service learning in the age of competency-based education. advances in social work, 12(1), 1–vii. mui, a. b., nelson, s., huang, b., he, y., & wilson, k. (2015). development of a web-enabled learning platform for geospatial laboratories: improving the undergraduate learning experience. journal of geography in higher education, 39(3), 356-368. phillips, a. (2011). service-learning and social work competency-based education: a ‘goodness of fit’? advances in social work, 12(1), 1-20. sharpe, p.a., greaney, m. l., lee, p., & royce, s.w. (2000). assets-oriented community assessment. public health reports (washington, d.c.: 1974), 115(2/3), 205-211. luo and park/ international journal of librarianship 5(1) 52 taylor, a., butterwick, s., raykov, m., glick, s., peikazadki, n. & mehrabi, s. (2015). community service learning in canadian higher education. knowledge synthesis report for the social sciences and humanities research council. lamb, theodore. (2005). the retrospective pretest: an imperfect but useful tool. harvard family research project: the evaluation exchange, xi(2). retrieved from https://archive.globalfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/evaluationmethodology/the-retrospective-pretest-an-imperfect-but-useful-tool university of windsor. (2010). the strategic plan for the university of windsor. retrieved from http://www1.uwindsor.ca/hr/strategic-plan wier, k. r., & robertson, j. g. (1998). teaching geographic information systems for social work applications. journal of social work education, 34(1), 81-96. wilson, k.o. (2016). beyond the ecomap: gis as a promising yet chronically underutilized method in social work. social work and social sciences review, 18(2), 58-66. about the authors xue (carina) luo holds a bcs and an msc in geomatics from the university of waterloo, ontario, canada. now carina is a geospatial data analyst at leddy library, university of windsor, ontario, canada. she is responsible for the provision of expertise in developing and delivering geospatial data services and programs offered to members of the university of windsor community. carina’s research interests are in the field of gis and data analysis with diverse application areas in crime and public health, food environments, and higher education. wansoo park, phd, msw, is associate professor and phd coordinator, school of social work, at university of windsor, ontario, canada. she teaches program evaluation and community practice courses at the graduate level. her research interest includes community based participatory research methods, health equity, health care access, and international social work education. https://archive.globalfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/evaluation-methodology/the-retrospective-pretest-an-imperfect-but-useful-tool https://archive.globalfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/evaluation-methodology/the-retrospective-pretest-an-imperfect-but-useful-tool http://www1.uwindsor.ca/hr/strategic-plan 005-159-embedded_development_literacy_title 005-159-embedded_development_literacy-0722 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org signage and information and communication technology (ict) facilities as correlate to utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria mary ofure ig-worlu and bernadette c. n. ukaegbu abstract: this study was aimed at investigating the extent to which signage and ict facilities correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. the correlational research design was adopted for the study. three research questions were answered while three hypotheses were tested. the population of the study comprised 32,190 registered library users for the 2017/2018 academic session and 776 library staff from six federal university libraries in south-south zones of nigeria. the sample size for the study was 3,219 registered library users and 310 library staff representing 10% and 40% of the population respectively. a two-stage sampling technique of stratified and simple sampling techniques was used to select the sample size. two sets of instruments titled; “signage and information and communication technology facilities questionnaire (sictfq)” for the students and “utilization of information resources questionnaire (uirq)”were used for data collection. face and content validity was ensured by three experts. the two instruments yielded reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.87 respectively with the use of cronbach alpha. mean was used in answering research questions while regression was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. it was found that to a great extent signage relates to the utilisation of information resources while information and communication technology facilities is the vice versa. based on the findings, it was concluded that jointly, signage and ict facilities are significant correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone of nigeria. it was therefore recommended among others that library management should improve on the provision of signage by ensuring that well-designed signage suitable for the 21st century is placed at strategic location to guide library users on the utilisation of information resources in federal universities libraries in south-south zone nigeria. to cite this article: ig-worlu, m. o., & ukaegbu, b. c. n. (2022). signage and information and communication technology (ict) facilities as correlate to utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 74-87. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.242 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.242 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 74-87 issn: 2474-3542 signage and information and communication technology (ict) facilities as correlate to utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria mary ofure ig-worlu and bernadette c. n. ukaegbu university of port harcourt, rivers state, nigeria abstract this study was aimed at investigating the extent to which signage and ict facilities correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. the correlational research design was adopted for the study. three research questions were answered while three hypotheses were tested. the population of the study comprised 32,190 registered library users for the 2017/2018 academic session and 776 library staff from six federal university libraries in south-south zones of nigeria. the sample size for the study was 3,219 registered library users and 310 library staff representing 10% and 40% of the population respectively. a two-stage sampling technique of stratified and simple sampling techniques was used to select the sample size. two sets of instruments titled; “signage and information and communication technology facilities questionnaire (sictfq)” for the students and “utilization of information resources questionnaire (uirq)”were used for data collection. face and content validity was ensured by three experts. the two instruments yielded reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.87 respectively with the use of cronbach alpha. mean was used in answering research questions while regression was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. it was found that to a great extent signage relates to the utilisation of information resources while information and communication technology facilities is the vice versa. based on the findings, it was concluded that jointly, signage and ict facilities are significant correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone of nigeria. it was therefore recommended among others that library management should improve on the provision of signage by ensuring that well-designed signage suitable for the 21st century is placed at strategic location to guide library users on the utilisation of information resources in federal universities libraries in south-south zone nigeria. keywords: signage, information and communication technology, facilities, utilisation of information resources, universities. background to the study the library is a linchpin of academic activities in the university. it is the largest single source of knowledge and information within the university system. the library will of course not make as much impact as expected without the librarians. beside the need for the traditional roles of ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 75 acquisition, storage, and dissemination of information, librarians are saddled with the responsibility of connecting library patrns with the needed information resources. however, in a university library where fast paced services are in high demand by library patrons, there are facilities being adopted in ensuring that even with a handful of librarians when compared to the demand for service delivery, the users are not left to fate rather, they are better served. in this vein, scholars have identified signage and information and communication technology (ict) facilities as measurement parameters of interest. signage is an important part of communication and is essential for promoting safety and accessibility for library patrons because every library user who enters a library building in search of information must deal with the library's arrangement throughout the search process thereby making signage a vital part of the library so as to encourage the users to maximise the use of the library information resources. notably, library signage serves the purposes of informing library users and trying to influence their behaviour (serfass, 2012). library signage has been found useful by researchers in helping library patrons to feel comfortable and confident in using the library. consequently, librarians have been observed in undertaking responsibilities around designing signage, brochures, informational hands-out, web pages, and promotional and instructional documents every day as part of their jobs. hence, whether the library arrangement will be an aid or an obstacle to the user depends upon the extent to which the librarian acts to shape the library as an instructional tool which could have a lot of influence on the extent of information resources utilization. signage is therefore essential in libraries as they give directions in and around the library which serves to define and attain the ultimate aim of a well designed library as a place characterised by adequate information services through the satisfaction of the information needs of patrons (imeremba 2011). that is why scholars (e.g. ibrahim & zakari, 2017) reiterated that it is imperative for all libraries, especially those within the university system, to provide top-notch library services to users in a bid to engendering proper acquisition and dissemination of useful information. notably, service delivery of information can have a lot of influence on the extent of usage by library users. it cannot be overemphasized that the success of a library depends on the extent of the services it offers on account of the fact that library users are the rationale behind the establishment of university libraries with regards to satisfying their various information needs (harvey, 2016). it is also incontrovertible that when a service has loyal patronage, it gains positive words of mouth marketing which is free and highly effective and the higher the perceived information and service delivery, the greater the level of patronage. in this vein, a university library may become the nexus of data gathering and a centre of self development for all students if the service rendered meet needs, aspirations and expectations of users over a long period of time. this further supports the position of ig-worlu (2021) who remarked that library services are described as the professional guidance and assistance rendered to library users. howbeit, these guidance and assistance can never be met if the libraries are not in the best of shape especially in providing quick access to needed information resources by the library patrons. in delivering a competitive library service in the university system as noted earlier, scholars are of the opinion that information and communication technology (ict) facilities are measurement parameters of interest. besides, it can be generally acknowledged that with the emergence of the digital age and electronic resources, access to information is relatively enhanced as information is made available and accessible to academic staff and students through computers, ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 76 the internet, digital libraries and related electronic networks and is readily used in the research process. consequently, information and communication technology facilities have become the tools that underpin the emerging information or knowledge society (hicks & given, 2013). the need for attaining the real goal of university libraries and librarians in making all published works of human kind accessible to everyone irrespective of where they are in the world has given rise to the evolving university libraries from traditional roles of conducive and papered library system into a flexible and well equipped ict facilitated university libraries (aguolu &aguolu, 2002). so, the system of ict facilitated library involves the electronic use of all forms of technology in the processing, storing and transmitting of information. it basically consists of three components which are: electronic processing using the computer, transmission of information using telecommunication equipments and the use of multimedia in the dissemination of information. however, truth be told, the state or extent of utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria has been under reported. while the libraries staffs have always defend their position as delivering quality service to the students, the students have not been specific on how much of satisfaction they have gained with regards to the extent of access to needed information resources in their various universities. to this end, this paper established that services are actually offered and there is an integration of ict in the service delivery of university libraries by the librarians in the federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. notwithstanding, this paper sought to establish the extent signage and ict facilities correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. statement of the problem evidences abound in federal universities in the south-south zone of nigeria that provisions are made for libraries and there are staffs employed to offer professional service to the students. however, from anecdotal experience and dailies on the state of academic system within the federal universities in the south-south zone of nigeria, students have turned more to the use of cyber café and other internet devices to access needed information with regards to secondary data gathering in their academic research when compared to how often they visit the university libraries. reasons given are the stress they go through in accessing information resources relevant to their information needs. more disturbing is a situation where these students while seeking for better alternatives through different platforms end up gathering irrelevant data and/or information and sometimes, being defrauded by cyber café operators and online marauders—whereas, the students have been charged already by the school authorities to make use of the university libraries so as to access the right information in a safe environment and in a timely manner. what therefore bothered and motivated the researcher is, could the needless exposure of the students to the sorry state of carrying out research and accessing the right information be attributed to the extent of available signage and/or ict facilities in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? simply put, to what extent can signage and ict facilities correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries among the students in south-south zone of nigeria? ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 77 aim and objectives of the study this study was aimed at investigating the extent to which signage and ict facilities correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. specifically, the study sought to: 1. examine the extent to which signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria; 2. ascertain the extent to which ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria; and, 3. find out the extent to which the joint variables (signage, ict facilities) relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. research questions 1. what is the extent to which signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? 2. what is the extent to which ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? 3. what is the extent to which the joint variables (signage, ict facilities) relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? hypotheses the following three (3) null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. 1. signage do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. 2. information and communication technology facilities do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. 3. joint variables (signage, ict facilities) do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 78 conceptual framework the concept of this study is situated on signage and ict facilities in the utilisation of information resources in university libraries as diagrammatically represented in figure 1 below. conceptual review concept of utilisation of information resources utilization is a term that qualifies the action of making practical and effective use of something (hornby, 2006). to use means to apply, employ or practice something with the aid of benefiting from it. uhegbu (2007) posited that utilization is the actual putting into appropriate use of something. it is the process of making use of something available. utilization differs from person to person and from one corporate organization to another according to their information needs and other social-economic imperatives. according to uhegbu, utilization is governed by several a principle among which is goal identification. therefore, information utilization is the act of applying information on the actual purpose for which it is sought. information can be sought by a user to satisfy personal needs or sought by a user to create knowledge. utilization of information figure 1. source: researchers’ conceptualization ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 79 resources is the extent to which the resources and services of the library are actually used for teaching, learning and research. the extent to which information resources are utilized in academic libraries is usually captured by the library statistics which is compiled on daily basis by the library staff. it therefore, becomes pertinent that in order to gauge the extent to which library resources are utilized, the library staff must be proactive in providing statistics of usage on daily basis. this will serve as encouragement or otherwise to the sponsors of the library (ozioko, et al, 2012). information utilization focuses on what people in a range of contexts do with information that they seek out or have provided to them: signage and utilisation of information resources signage, as explained by a library science dictionary, is any kind of visual symbol/mark created to display particular meaning’. dictionary of modern design (park, 2016) explains signage as a basic unit of communication, creating massive possibilities by combining meaningless indicators. signage uses marks, lights, and symbols to express or deliver a message. the range of signage is very broad, including library building itself, trees around the main entrance, and landmarks on the top of the building korea library association (kla) (2019). signage is an important part of communication and is essential for promoting safety and accessibility for library patrons. confusing floor plans, poor signage and use of library jargon confound library patrons, especially firsttime visitors. it is important to have an attractive and effective sign system that is consistent throughout all public areas of the library. great signage communicates your competence, understanding, and care for the people using your library. every person who enters a library building in search of information must deal with the library's physical environment throughout the search process. this environment is the medium through which the user moves, and it is also a source of informational cues that he/she uses in making a series of way finding choices and strategic choices. every user receives cues from the environment; this is true whether these cues are planned or unplanned, consistent or random, helpful or confusing. whether the environment will be an aid or an obstacle to the user depends upon the extent to which the library acts to shape its environment as an instructional tool. signage is the first issue in most public places, the purpose is to boost, encourage and enhance service delivery and it help libraries reflect on what they do, and how they can improve serving their community. library users are bombarded by signs when they enter the library. first impressions are important and negative signage can start a library user’s visit on a wrong note and as such library’s signage is to be more welcoming and effective. information and communication technology facilities and utilisation of information resources libraries have undergone several changes in information formats and technology. library professionals should focus on their traditional roles towards changing the library services and expectations of their patrons (novak & day, 2015). with the emergence of the digital age and electronic resources, access to information is relatively enhanced as information is made available and accessible to academic staff and students through computers, the internet, digital libraries and related electronic networks and is readily used in the research process. in the emerging electronic information environments in nigeria universities, electronic resource now provides platforms for accessibility and utilization of information in the research process as they are perceived to have a positive effect on research productivity. with electronic resources, access to information and its ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 80 utilization is faster; hence promote research productivity among staff and library users. since ict is the order of the day in almost all institution, a leader should endeavour to move his or her followers to adopt the new changes. information and communication technology is the tools that underpin the emerging information society or knowledge society (hicks & given, 2013). it can be described as a society in which the creation, distribution and manipulation of information and knowledge have become the most significant economic and cultural activity. more recently, libraries are understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, providing assistance in navigating and analysing tremendous amount of knowledge with a variety of tools. its aim is to enable the users to make available and accessible the required information and facilitate the most effective use of such resources. theoretical review expectation confirmation theory expectation confirmation theory (ect), developed by richard l. oliver in 1977, is a cognitive theory which seeks to explain post-purchase or post-adoption satisfaction as a function of expectations, perceived performance, confirmation, satisfaction and repurchase intention. the theory averred that expectations, alongside perceived performance, results in post-purchase satisfaction and it are intermediated via positive or negative confirmation of expectations by performance. although the theory originally appeared in the psychology and marketing literatures, it has since been adopted in several other scientific fields in the dimensions of five constructs: expectation, performance, confirmation, satisfaction and repurchase intention, notably including consumer research and information systems, amongst others. the theory reiterated that if a product/service beats expectations (positive confirmation), post-purchase gratification will take form. on the contrary, if a product/service fails to meet expectations (negative confirmation), consumers’ dissatisfaction is probable. in this paper, users’ expectation represented what their prospects are about the library and library information resources. a library user will form preconceived perceptions about library information resources before usage. according to ect (as cited in ig-worlu, 2021) perceptions based on the performance of a product are directly prejudiced by pre-use expectations, and consequently directly impact confirmation of opinions and post-use satisfaction of library information resources. after interactions with library information resources, confirmation of the preconceived perception is arrived at. these assessments are arrived at in comparison to the user’s initial expectations. when a service or product beats the user’s preconceived expectations, the confirmation is positive, which is speculated to increase post-use satisfaction of library information resources. when the outcome is different from the user’s initial expectations, the confirmation is negative, which is suggested to decrease post-use or post-adoption satisfaction of library information resources. thus, the theory is very relevant to the study because, the main aim of any university library is to ensure maximum use of its information resources by maximum number of students which cannot be achieved when the library users who are mainly students are not satisfied with the services. when the library becomes appealing to the students with ease of access to information resources and impeccable service delivery by the librarians, it will increase post-use satisfaction of library information resources. users will always visit the library if they feel ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 81 welcome with regards to seamless access to information resources which will invariably enhance the use of information resources in university libraries. methodology a correlational survey design was adopted for this study. the area of this study is the south-south geo-political zone of nigeria. it comprises of six states: akwa ibom, bayelsa, cross river, delta, edo and rivers. the study population comprised of 32,190 registered library users for the 2017/2018 academic session and 776 library staff from six federal university libraries in southsouth zones of nigeria. the sample size for the study was 3,219 registered library users and 310 library staff representing 10% and 40% of the population respectively. a two-stage sampling technique of stratified and simple sampling techniques was used to select sample of students and library staff from the population for the study. two sets of instruments titled; “signage and information and communication technology facilities questionnaire (sictfq)” for students and “utilisation of information resources questionnaire (uirq)” were used for data collection. face and content validation were ensured by three experts. sictfq consists of sixteen (16) items of two (2) sections while uirq has twenty (20) items only. this was coded in the four-point likert type scale of: very great extent (vge), great extent (ge), little extent (le), and very little extent (vle) and weighted as 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively. the two instruments yielded reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.87 respectively with the use of cronbach alpha. mean was used in answering research questions while simple linear regression and multiple linear regression were used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. results answer to research questions research question 1: what is the extent to which signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? table 1: mean and standard deviation scores of the extent to which signage relate to utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries s/n signage: x̅ sd remarks 1. make the use of library seamless 3.04 0.87 ge 2. provide information on special events 2.58 0.99 ge 3. enhance self-direction 2.98 0.85 ge 4. instruct on how to use library equipment 2.72 0.89 ge 5 facilitate the quick identification of library resources 3.03 0.90 ge ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 82 6 show fire exit routes 2.25 0.96 le 7 instruct on safety procedures 2.42 1.04 le 8 show specific procedures at circulation desks 2.54 0.95 ge cluster mean 2.70 0.93 ge ge: great extent, le: low extent. the results in table 1 showed the weighted mean values for the response of students on the extent to which signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. all the items indicated a great extent (ge, >2.5) except items 6 and 7. thus, the cluster mean of 2.70 for all the items implies that to a high extent signage relate to utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. research question 2: what is the extent to which information and communication technology (ict) facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? table 2: mean and standard deviation scores of the extent to which information and communication technology (ict) facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries. s/n information and communication technology (ict) facilities the library has: x̅ sd remarks 9. adequate computers for the users 1.81 1.03 le 10. 24-hour interconnectivity (internet) 1.73 1.02 le 11. local area network (lan) 1.99 1.09 le 12. wi-fi 1.89 1.08 le 13 enough e-resources 1.94 0.98 le 14 scanner for document scanning 1.77 0.96 le 15 printer for the user to print downloaded materials 1.85 0.98 le 16 photocopy machine 1.98 1.03 le cluster mean 1.87 1.02 le the results in table 2 showed the weighted mean values for the response of students on the extent to which ict facilities relate to utilisation of information resources. all the items showed a low extent (le, < 2.5) of ict availability and utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries. thus, the cluster mean value of 1.87 for all the items implies that to a low extent ict facilities relate to utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 83 research question 3: what is the extent to which the joint variables (signage, ict facilities) relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria? table 3: joint variables (signage, ict facilities) and the extent of relationship to utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria r r2 0.815 0.664 the results in table 3 showed the analysis of signage and ict facilities as correlates to utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. the analysis indicated the joint regressions of signage, ict facilities and utilisation of information resources obtained a correlation coefficient of 0.82 (r = 0.815) indicating a high correlation between the independent variables (signage, ict facilities) and the dependent variable (utilisation of information resources). furthermore, the r2 of 0.664 was obtained as the coefficient of determination of 66%. this implies that signage and ict facilities jointly predict the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria by 66%. test of hypotheses hypothesis 1: signage do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. table 4: result of simple linear regression analysis on how signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries model sum of squares df mean square f-cal f-crit regression 6217.09 1 6217.09 79.49 3.85 residual 274911.43 3515 78.21 total 281128.52 3516 *significant at .05 alpha level; df=1 and 3515; n=3517; r = 0.743; r2=0.552 the results presented in table 4 showed the r-value of 0.74 as the strength to which signage relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries. the r2-value of 0.55 indicated that only 55% variation in utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries is related to signage. the result also showed that the calculated f-value of 79.49 is greater than the critical f-value of 3.85 at 0.05 alpha level and at 1 and 3515 degrees of freedom. with this result, the null hypothesis was not retained. this implies that signage do significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 84 hypothesis 2: information and communication technology (ict) facilities do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. table 5: result of simple linear regression analysis on how ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries model sum of squares df mean square f-cal f-crit regression 539.26 1 539.26 3.16 3.85 residual 599889.97 3515 170.67 total 281128.52 3516 *significant at .05 alpha level; df=1 and 3515; n=3517; r = 0.506; r2=0.488 the result presented in table 5 showed the r-value of 0.51 as the strength to which ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries. the r2-value of 0.49 indicated that only 49% variation in utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries is related to ict facilities. the result showed that the calculated f-value of 3.16 is lesser than the critical fvalue of 3.85 at 0.05 alpha level and at 1 and 3515 degrees of freedom. with this result, the null hypothesis was retained. this implies that library ict facilities do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. hypothesis 3: joint variables (signage, ict facilities) do not significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. table 6: result of multiple linear regression analysis of how signage and ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria model sum of squares df mean square f-cal f-crit regression 1102.47 1 1102.47 5.24 2.02 residual 739021.85 3515 210.25 total 740124.32 3516 *significant at .05 alpha level; df=1 and 3516; n=3517; r = 0.815; r2 = 0.664 the result presented in table 6 revealed the r-value of 0.82 as the strength to which signage and ict facilities relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries. the r2-value of 0.66 indicated that only 66% variation in utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries is related to signage and ict facilities. the result in the table showed that the calculated f-value of 5.24 is greater than the critical fvalue of 2.02 at 0.05 alpha level and at 1 and 3515 degrees of freedom. with this result, the null hypothesis was not retained. this implies that signage and ict facilities, do significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 85 discussion of findings the findings of this study are discussed under the following subheadings: signage and utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in southsouth zone of nigeria it was found that to a great extent signage relates to the utilisation of information resources and that signage do significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal universities libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. this is because signage is an important part of communication and is essential for promoting safety and accessibility for library patrons. the main purpose of signs is to communicate, to convey information designed to assist the receiver with decision-making based on the information provided. this finding supports the finding of polger and stempler (2014) who reported that regular visitors to a library need help to inform and guide them through the continual changes that a library undergoes. this assistance is often provided through signage, which must be regularly reviewed and updated. it has been found that library users may experience a fear of appearing ‘stupid’ and revealing ignorance by asking questions which can be a psychological barrier to requesting assistance thereby leading to poor library utilization. this is supported by the finding of fawley (2016) who stated that inefficient signage, and confusing way finding can make a person visit frustrating and unsatisfying. information and communication technology facilities and utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria the finding showed that to a low extent ict facilities relate to utilization of information resources while the hypothesis indicated that ict facilities do significantly relate to the utilization of information resources in federal universities libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. this is because the provision of ict facilities is paramount to the utilisation of university library. adequate ict facilities enable libraries to locate, store, retrieve and disseminate information in a timely manner befitting for the 21st century library service delivery. ict tools such as 24-hour interconnectivity (internet), local area network (lan), wi-fi, scanner for document scanning, printer for the user to print downloaded materials and photocopy machines are used in libraries for digitisation and timely dissemination of information. this finding supports the finding of onyinloye (as cited in ig-worlu, 2021) who remarked that information technology is responsible for the changing role of the traditional library setting. the library which is still a combination of the past (print collections) and the present (new information technologies must be viewed with a new perspective and understanding if it is to fulfill its potential in adding value to the advancement of the institutions academic mission and in moving with that institutions into the future. the integration of new information technology has actually become the catalyst that transforms the library into a move vital and critical intellectual centre of life at colleges and universities today. the finding is also supported by finding of hicks and given (2013) that information and communication technology is the tools that underpin the emerging information society or knowledge society. joint variables (signage and ict facilities) and utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 86 the finding showed that to a great extent, signage and ict facilities jointly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria while the hypothesis also indicated that signage and ict facilities do jointly significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. this finding supports the finding of amusa and iyoro (2013) who reported that about 76% of their respondents affirmed that adequate facilities had a great influence on library use. conclusion based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that jointly, signage and ict facilities are significant correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone of nigeria. however, ict facilities scored low as an independent correlate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone of nigeria. recommendations the following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study 1. the library management should improve on the provision of signage by ensuring that welldesigned signage suitable for the 21st century is placed at strategic location to guide library users on the utilisation of information resources in federal universities libraries in southsouth zone nigeria. 2. niger delta development commission (nddc) should come to the aid of the universities by providing contemporary information and communication technology (ict) facilities to engender the utilization of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone nigeria. 3. there should be provision for adequate maintenance of available signage and ict facilities so as to enhance the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south-south zone of nigeria. contributions to knowledge the review revealed that though several studies had been conducted in the study area, it seem none of the studies was based on signage and ict facilities correlate to utilisation of information resources in federal universities’ libraries in south-south zone nigeria. this present study was conducted to fill this gap. the study had empirically established that signage and ict facilities significantly relate to the utilisation of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone of nigeria by 66%. references aguolu, c. c. & aguolu, i. e. (2002). libraries and information management in nigeria: seminal essays on themes and problems. edlinform services. ig-worlu and ukaegbu / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 87 amusa, o. i. & iyoro, a. o. (2013). influence of library environments, instructional programmes, and user – librarian collaborations on library use by undergraduate students in nigeria. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 35, 72 – 86. fawley, n. (2016). appearances do matter! college and research libraries news, 73(7), 414415. harvey, a. d. (2016). eratometrics? critical quarterly, 58(2). http://doi.org/10.111/criq.12267 hicks d. & given, l. m. (2013). principled, transformational leadership: analyzing the discourse of leadership in the development of librarianships’ core competences. library quarterly, 83(1), 7 – 25. ibrahim, f. l. & sakiyo, j. (2015). aesthetic and utilization of university libraries in north east zone of nigeria. information impact, 6(3), 1 – 20. ig-worlu, m. o. (2021). environmental conditions as correlates to utilization of information resources in federal university libraries in south–south zone nigeria. (doctoral thesis, university of uyo). imeremba, d & ugochukwu (2011). routine’s in libraries: a synthesis of technical and reader services operations. kenny and brothers korea library association. (2019). the library handbook. kla. novak, j. & day, a. (2015). the libraries they are: a – changing; how libraries reorganize. college and undergraduate libraries, 22(3-4), 358 – 373. ozioko, r. e, nwabueze, a. u, & eze, j. (2012). provision of library and information resources and services to meet prisoners’ information needs in south-east nigeria. paripex-indian journal of research, 3(2), 149-153. park, d. (2016). the glossary of design. seoul: design office perception of signage. reference services review, 25(1), 71–82. polger, m. a. & stempler, a. f. (2014). out with the old, in with the new: best practices for replacing library signage. public services quarterly, 10(2), 67-95. serfass, m. (2012). the signs they are a-changing’: is it time to give your library’s signage a makeover? aall spectrum, 16(9), 5–6. uhegbu, a. n. (2007). the information user: issues and themes. international journal of library and information science studies, 4(1), 1–10. . ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors mary ofure ig-worlu is a member of nigeria library association (nla) and chattered librarian of nigeria (cln). she holds a doctor of philosophy (ph.d.) in library and information science and works with donald e. u. ekong library, university of port harcourt, rivers state. she is a devoted christian and happily married to engineer ignatius o. worlu. the union is blessed with seven children. bernadette c. n. ukaegbu is a member of nigeria library association (nla) and a chartered librarian of nigeria (cln). she holds a doctor of philosophy (ph.d.) in library and information science and currently working with donald e.u.ekong library, university of port harcourt, rivers state. she is a devoted christian and happily married to prof. victor u. ukaegbu. the union is blessed with five children http://doi.org/10.111/criq.12267 242-title page 242-ig-worlu-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org automating cataloging workflow of library traditional materials elaine dong abstract: this paper describes the author’s experience with automating and streamlining cataloging workflows of traditional materials at the florida international university libraries using a combination of various cataloging tools, including marcedit, a local batch loading tool genload, as well as oclc services including worldcat updates service, oclc connexion’s batch process searches and local file manager. the paper addresses the old cataloging processes of these traditional materials, the developing process of new workflows and their impacts, and concludes with lessons learned and success factors. the new workflows have improved work efficiency and metadata control. the hope is that this paper will be of interest to libraries desiring to automate their cataloging workflow of traditional materials. to cite this article: dong, e. (2021). automating cataloging workflow of library traditional materials. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.183 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 73-88. issn: 2474-3542 automating cataloging workflow of library traditional materials elaine dong florida international university, fl, usa abstract this paper describes the author’s experience with automating and streamlining cataloging workflows of traditional materials at the florida international university libraries using a combination of various cataloging tools, including marcedit, a local batch loading tool genload, as well as oclc services including worldcat updates service, oclc connexion’s batch process searches and local file manager. the paper addresses the old cataloging processes of these traditional materials, the developing process of new workflows and their impacts, and concludes with lessons learned and success factors. the new workflows have improved work efficiency and metadata control. the hope is that this paper will be of interest to libraries desiring to automate their cataloging workflow of traditional materials. keywords: batch cataloging, batch processing, batch searching, batch loading, traditional materials introduction over the last decade, cataloging departments in academic libraries have seen many challenges, especially during difficult economic times. the budget and staff size have been reduced while workload remains the same or is increasing; simultaneously, cataloging staff are expected to keep up with new technology and emerging areas of focus. facing these challenges, cataloging staff in academic libraries have explored ways to streamline cataloging workflows of traditional materials through batch processing using oclc services and other tools. barbara anderson described her experience of using the worldcat updates service and load services of the alma library system to batch process and batch upgrade the local bibliographic (bib) records that have oclc numbers in the institutional zone at virginia commonwealth university (2015). similarly, grace riordan and corinna m. baksik used the worldcat updates service to batch process and enhance their book records in the local catalog at harvard library (2017). nancy lorimer described a project that uses oclc connexion’s batch-processing utility to batch search oclc records of 78 rpm sound recordings, and batch loaded the matching oclc records using some locally developed program (2012). jean harden discussed how to expedite the cataloging of similar items, such as a large stack of piano etudes, using oclc connexion’s batch-processing utility to batch search oclc records for the library items, using microsoft access to enter data for the items without oclc records, and then processing it through marcedit and importing it into connexion to create original https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/display/~13284 https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/display/~2163 dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 74 records for those items (2017). in order to enhance the records of the main circulating collection by batch adding contents notes and library of congress classification numbers, buswell memorial library at wheaton college used marcedit’s z39.50 client, batch searching service in oclc connexion, and the bulk import function in the local catalog (strickler, 2017). most recently, rebecca b. french developed a method to batch catalog a jazz lp collection using the connexion batch searching service, local save file manager, and microsoft access at james madison university (2020). at florida international university (fiu) libraries, most of the library’s traditional materials were cataloged individually, and a backlog was developed due to the complex process of traditional cataloging. the author of this paper has batch loaded marc records of e-resources into the local catalog using a locally developed batch loading tool called genload1 at the fiu libraries for many years. the batch loading process helps provide timely access to the increasing amounts and variety of e-resources. in order to eliminate the backlog of the traditional materials waiting to be cataloged and to improve work efficiency, the author investigated various ways of using the batch loading process with other cataloging tools to expedite the cataloging process of some traditional materials, including two print approval collections and one music collection. for one print approval collection, worldcat updates service2 was used to collect upgraded oclc master records and then genload was used to batch load the upgraded records into the local catalog. for the other print approval collection and the classical music collection, oclc connexion’s batch process searches and local file manager3 were used to batch search oclc records for library copies and editing records. marcedit4 was used to batch retrieve oclc master records and then genload was used to batch load the upgraded records into the local catalog. the new workflows have largely improved cataloging efficiency and metadata quality. background the fiu libraries migrated from northwestern online total integrated system (notis)5 to the aleph integrated library system6 in 2006. in june 2012 the fiu libraries’ catalog was merged into the shared bib (sb), a consortium library catalog consisting of shared records of 12 state university libraries (suls) in florida. since then, the fiu libraries has followed the cooperative principle of sharing and maintaining bib records among the member suls: before bringing in new records to the sb, library staff from the suls searches the sb to ensure duplicate bib records are not generated; if a bib record already exists for the searched title, the staff adds the institutional holdings and item record to the bib record. currently, there are three ways to add records into the sb: the first is to catalog the item individually, either through original cataloging by creating an original oclc record and exporting it into the sb or through copy cataloging – finding a pre-existing oclc record, editing it if necessary, and exporting it into the sb. the second method is to batch load marc records through genload, a batch loading program created by the florida center for library automation (fcla),7 the predecessor of the florida academic library services cooperative (falsc);8 and the third way is to batch load brief vendor acquisition records with orders through aleph advanced generic record loader (p-file 90).9 the green library, the main library of the fiu libraries, received the majority of new print books through approval plans: specifically, the ybp approval plan (contract with yankee dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 75 book peddler, inc. (ybp) library services for u.s. and u.k. publishers), and latin american and caribbean collections (lac) approval plans covering publications from caribbean and latin american countries. the green library also purchases physical audiovisual materials such as lps, cds, and dvds to support curricular and research needs. in the past, most of these traditional materials were cataloged individually, and a backlog was developed due to the complex processes of traditional individual cataloging. cataloging staff were overwhelmed and stretched thin with the additional workload of dealing with increasing amounts of e-resources and other tasks. automate cataloging workflows of traditional materials in order to eliminate the backlog of these traditional materials and improve work efficiency, the author investigated various services and tools in order to automate and streamline the cataloging workflows of the following three collections: ybp print approval books, latin american and caribbean collections (lac) print approval books, and a classical music lp collection. below, the author describes the old cataloging process, new workflow, and its impact for each collection. fiu green library received weekly shipments of new print books through the ybp approval plan (about 10,000 titles per year, majority of them are published in english) until 2018 when the plan was migrated to an ebooks patron-driven acquisitions (pda) plan. old process (before april 2015) prior to june 2007, ybp print approval books were cataloged individually in-house and cataloging staff did all the physical processing. in june 2007, the green library added shelf-ready services to their contract with ybp library services. this new service included physical processing of the books (new books come in with property stamps, magnetic strips, barcodes, and spine labels already attached), and marc records of the new books through oclc promptcat service,10 so they can be batch loaded to the library catalog. our initial reviews found errors in many marc records; therefore, in order to maintain high quality metadata and assure accurate access, from june 2007 to april 2015, the cataloging department adopted the following workflow for ybp approval books: after receiving books and their marc records, genload was used to sort out dlc records (dlc records are created by the library of congress and regarded as top quality records that do not need further review), and then batch loaded these dlc records into the library catalog by genload. these books (about 4,000 books, 40% of total) were sent directly to circulation to be shelved. for the remaining books (about 6,000 books, 60% of the total), their marc records were batch loaded to the library catalog using a different genload loading profile which generates fiu holdings and items with a status of incomplete cataloging. the online public access catalog (opac) displays these books as “in process.” these books stayed in the cataloging department until they were examined and upgraded individually. at the beginning of 2015, there was a backlog of several thousand physically processed ybp books sitting in the cataloging department, and several hundred associated names and series waiting to be established. dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 76 developing new processes (february – april 2015) in order to get the backlog under control, the ybp approval process task force as well as the authority work task force, both composed of the cataloging department head and several department staff members, were formed in early 2015 to find more efficient ways of processing these books. for the ybp approval process, we decided to use the worldcat updates service to collect upgraded full-level11 oclc master records, and then use genload to batch load the fulllevel oclc records into the sb, which would replace the individual upgrading process of the old workflow. for the authority work, since most of full-level oclc master records include established headings backed by complete authority work, we decided to rely on the above upgrading process for authority control and stop doing individual authority work on ybp print approval books, allowing us to focus our individual authority work on non-english language materials, special collections, and other unique collections. the worldcat updates service is now a part of worldshare collection manager,12 and can be set up to receive updated records when selected oclc master records matching specified criteria (in fiu’s case, ybp approval promptcat records) are enhanced. in worldshare collection manager, the author created a query collection ybp15for the fiu ybp approval books and set up the collection selection criteria (figure 1). the query collection automatically harvests oclc records that meet the following criteria: li (library): fxg (the symbol of fiu green library) and vn (vendor): ybp and yr (publication year): 2015..9999 (published since 2015) and mt (material type): bks (books) not mt (material type): elc (electronic resources). in other words, the collection hosts oclc records that: a) have fiu green library’s holdings; b) created or ordered by ybp (oclc records have marc 938 field indicating vendor records of ybp); c) published since 2015; and d) material type is book, but not electronic resources. figure 1. query collection ybp15and selection criteria dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 77 for the query collection, it was set up to receive upgraded records biweekly when the oclc master records met either one of the following conditions (figure 2): • encoding levels (elvl) changed to full-level, indicated by elvl=blank, i, 1, or l • marc 830 field changes (indicating series authority record is established or modified) figure 2. worldcat updates service update conditions after receiving the upgraded full-level oclc marc records from the worldcat updates service, the next step is to load these oclc records by genload to batch update existing sb records. for this purpose, a genload profile was created and set to match the oclc marc records with the sb records by oclc number, and to batch update the matching bib records (not fiu holdings or item records) in the sb while protecting local data such as local notes in marc 590 field. during test runs, a small percentage (about 5%) of upgraded oclc records couldn’t find matching records in the sb since the corresponding oclc master records of these sb records were merged with better oclc records. for these cases, the old oclc numbers in marc 035 fields of sb records need to be replaced manually with the new oclc numbers from the upgraded oclc marc records so that the existing sb records could be replaced by better oclc records through batch upgrading process. new workflow (may 2015 – present) after the test and evaluation process, the following new workflow has been implemented since may 2015: the first step after receiving books and their marc records is to sort out records with complete call numbers in the marc 050 or 090 field using genload. then batch load these records into the sb by genload. the loading also creates fiu holdings and item records with a cataloging status of complete. these books (about 9,000 books, 90% of total) are sent directly to circulation to be shelved as they come with physical processing. dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 78 the second step is to keep the remaining books (about 1,000 books, 10% of total) in the cataloging department. then batch load their marc records into the sb by genload with a different genload profile, so that the loading creates fiu holdings and item records with a cataloging status of incomplete. as a result, the opac shows these books as “in process.” the next step is to load the upgraded oclc marc records received from worldcat updates service by genload on a biweekly basis to batch update existing sb records. finally, the “in process” books that were updated by the batch upgrading process are identified and their cataloging process is completed using the load logs generated by genload to get the associated fiu holdings of the replaced bib records. then use an aleph report and excel to separate the “in process” titles. lastly, the “in process” books are located and cataloging is completed by updating fiu holdings and item records to a status of complete according to their updated bib records. impacts of new workflow after implementing the new workflow, the following impacts were observed: provide users timely access: the new workflow sends about 90% (vs. 40% with the old workflow) of new ybp approval books directly to the stacks upon arrival. users have access to these books almost immediately, and the catalog record can be enhanced without keeping the books in the cataloging department. the batch upgrading process updates the records of both cataloged and “in process” books, and clears the majority of the “in process” books sitting in the cataloging department, so very few books need to be cataloged individually. as a result, new books have been cataloged quickly with the number of ybp approval books being added to the backlog reduced largely from 60.5% in jan. 2015 with the old process, to 8.2% in july 2015 (two months after implementing the new workflow) as shown below in table 1, and eventually all the backlog was eliminated. table 1. backlog information of ybp print approval books ybp print approval books received backlogged % backlogged jan. 2015 with old process 1,081 654 60.5% july 2015 with new workflow 1,359 111 8.2% save staff time: the old workflow developed a backlog despite the efforts of many hours per week of several cataloging staff members, whereas the new workflow needs only about 2 hours biweekly of two staff members. enhance quality control and reduce human errors: the new batch upgrading process has improved metadata quality in both bibliographic and authority records by updating the existing fiu records to full-level in the local catalog in a timely fashion. it has also reduced human errors. for example, set in the genload profile, the batch loading process removes redundant marc dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 79 fields (such as 9xx fields and 072 field) from oclc marc records and protects local data before updating existing sb records. another example is that the new workflow includes a step to check and fix the url fields of oclc marc records (correct indicator errors and remove unnecessary url fields) using marcedit before batch upgrading process. latin american and caribbean collections (lac) print approval books fiu green library receives print books through lac approval plans from several foreign vendors (once a week mostly, about 2,000 titles per year). the majority of them are published in spanish; the rest are published in portuguese, haitian creole, or french. fiu hasn’t purchased marc records from these vendors; however, a couple of vendors, such as iberoamericana, provide brief marc records of their published books for free. for physical processing, acquisitions staff add magnetic strips, and cataloging staff complete the rest including adding property stamps and barcodes, and printing and applying spine labels. old process (before 2018) before 2018, lac approval books were cataloged in-house individually. after receiving lac books, cataloging staff create sb records within a week so that acquisitions staff could attach order records for payment in a timely fashion. since lac books are non-english publications from foreign countries, many of them don’t have oclc records or established names/series readily available. for these books, cataloging staff initially create brief sb records including only a few fields to allow acquisitions to complete payment, and later on upgrade these records individually. in many cases, cataloging librarians need to create original oclc records for some books and then overlay the brief sb records to complete their cataloging process. at the beginning of 2018, there were 413 lac approval books waiting to be cataloged and many associated names and series needed to be established. developing new process (january – february 2018) lac approval books with brief marc records to improve efficiency, we worked with falsc on developing a batch loading process for the brief marc records (which include title, isbn number, order information, and other fields) provided by iberoamericana. the batch loading process was implemented in february 2018 using the aleph advanced generic record loader (file-90), which is a perfect tool for loading these brief vendor records with order information into the sb. in october and november 2019, we replicated the batch loading process for the brief marc records now provided by two other lac approval plan vendors, rettalibros and libro andinos. the batch processes have freed both cataloging and acquisitions staff from creating individual brief bib records and order records for half of fiu’s lac vendor books, increasing productivity. lac approval books with oclc master records with the help of a staff member, the author developed a batch process for the lac books with full-level oclc master records using marcedit, genload, and oclc connexion’s batch process dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 80 searches and local file manager. the author did the following test run on the backlog of 413 lac books to find out whether it worked: the first step was to call up the sb records of these lac books by searching a standard tkr field in the holdings records (a field routinely added by fiu cataloging staff at initial processing). then, the oclc record numbers from the marc 035 field on bib records (for example, =035 \\$a(ocolc)25416038) were gathered by an aleph report. it was discovered that all these sb records had oclc numbers, which confirmed that, eventually, the brief sb records initially created by fiu staff were later overlaid by oclc records brought in by other suls. lastly, their corresponding oclc master records were batch retrieved using the marcedit z39.50 client’s batch processing mode (figure 3). figure 3. batch retrieve oclc records via marcedit z39.50 client the second step involved sorting oclc master records by genload in order to separate full-level from non-full-level records. the genload file sorter identified 406 records with complete call numbers (has subfield $b in marc 050 or 090 field) (figure 4) out of a total of 413 records; identified 404 records that are cataloged in english (subfield $b of marc 040 field=eng), and identified and separated 341 full-level records (marc leader field (ldr) encoding level (position 17)= blank, i, 1, l) from 63 non-full-level records. file://///$a(ocolc)25416038) dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 81 figure 4. sort records with complete call number via genload the third step was to review and update non-full-level oclc master records. after batch importing the 63 non-full-level records into the oclc local save file, the author reviewed them one by one and discovered that 53 of them are actually full-level records with established headings and complete call numbers. the author changed these 53 records’ elvl codes to full-level in oclc, and then batch exported their marc records. step four involved an authority check on full-level oclc master records. the author checked the access points of 100 randomly selected records out of 341 full-level oclc master records: 91 out of the 100 selected records had complete authority control, and only nine out of 100 records have incomplete authority control: among them, four have unestablished series; two have established personal headings, but their forms in the marc records are slightly different than those of naco13 national authority record (nar); the remaining three are personal or corporate names that don’t have nars (table 2). dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 82 table 2. oclc records with incomplete authority control step five was to share information and obtain departmental approval. the author demonstrated the batch process and authority check results at the department meeting. the group discussed and approved the batch process and reached a consensus on using lac books’ full-level oclc master records to batch upgrade the existing sb records without performing authority checks individually. the final step was to batch load full-level oclc master records by genload to upgrade sb records. after departmental approval, the author combined all the full-level oclc master records (394 records in total including the 341 records identified from the genload sorting process and the 53 records updated from non-full-level), and batch loaded them into the sb by genload. the genload profile was set to match the oclc master records with the sb records by oclc number, then replace the matching sb bib records while protecting local data. the batch load also completed the cataloging process of these lac books by updating the associated fiu holdings and item records to a completed status. lac approval books without full-level oclc master records for the remaining 19 lac books without full-level oclc master records (including two oclc records not cataloged in english and seven records without a complete call number), the author changed their tkr field value in the sb holdings records, and placed them alongside oclc record number encoding level (elvl) note 975491662 blank personal name in marc 100 field is established; series in marc 830 field is not established 1001907037 i has marc 490 0_ field; no marc 830 field 987257621 i personal name in marc 100 field is not established 966300663 i 2 corporate names in marc 710 fields are established; 1 personal name for editor in marc 700 field is not established 988992036 i personal name in marc 100 field is established; has marc 490 0_ field, no marc 830 field 992722210 i personal name in marc 100 field has no birth date; established nar does 47740852 i personal name in marc 700 field has birth date; established nar doesn't 56726555 i series in marc 830 field is not established 26380041 i corporate name in marc 710 field is not established dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 83 iberoamericana books (which had brief records loaded in the sb) on a different shelf in the cataloging department. the author developed a different batch process using genload and oclc connexion’s batch process searches and local file manager, and did the following test run on these books: the first step was to call up the sb records of these books by searching a different tkr field value in the holdings. then, the isbn numbers were gathered from the marc 020 field of the bib records by using an aleph report. lastly, the author batch searched in oclc by isbn number (batch-enter bibliographic search keys) (figure 5). the search saved matched oclc master records in an oclc local save file. figure 5. batch search records in oclc by isbn number for the second step, the best records in the oclc save file were selected. the records were sorted by the column catl (cataloging language) (figure 6) for the purpose of removing the records not cataloged in english (catl≠eng). then, the records were re-sorted by the column save file number. since multiple records exist for some titles, the best record for each title was selected and the other records were removed. oclc master records with elvl (encoding level)=blank, i, 1, l and most holdings are usually the best. lastly, the selected oclc master records in oclc local save file were batch exported after updating their holdings. figure 6. sort records by cataloging language in oclc local save file dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 84 the third step involved sorting oclc master records by genload to separate full-level from non-full-level records. following the sorting, full-level oclc records were batch loaded by genload to update matching sb bib records and associated fiu holdings and item records to completed status. non-full-level oclc records were batch loaded using a different genload profile which updates matching sb bib records and associated fiu holdings (adds a tkr field value) but not fiu items, so that associated fiu holdings and item records still have incomplete status. the lac books without any oclc master records were kept on the same shelf for future batch process or original cataloging. the new batch processes for lac print approval books have been implemented since february 2018. the new lac processes have helped us eliminate the lac approval book backlog. additionally, as with the new workflow for the ybp print approval books, it has had a positive impact on providing timely access of books, saving staff time, reducing human errors, and has improved cataloging efficiency and metadata quality. classical music lp (long play) collection fiu green library houses a donated classical music sound recording collection consisting of over 12,000 recordings, mostly in lp format. this collection was slowly being cataloged since its receipt. old process (1/2013 – 8/2017) in the past, music recordings from this collection were cataloged in-house individually except for about 1,000 recordings in foreign languages outsourced to backstage library works. new process (9/2017 – 4/2018) in order to facilitate timely access of this valuable collection, the author developed and implemented the following batch cataloging process using marcedit, genload, and oclc connexion’s batch process searches and local file manager, which is similar to the ones for lac approval books: the first step was to search uncataloged music recordings by their publisher numbers (a music recording has a publisher number, instead of isbn number, as its unique identifier) in the sb and enter their publisher numbers on a spreadsheet. the next step was to deal with music recordings without sb records. these records were batch searched in oclc by publisher number. the search saved matched oclc master records in an oclc local save file. then, the best records were selected for each title in the oclc local save file and exported in batch. lastly, the oclc master records were batch loaded by genload to create new bib records and add associated fiu holdings and item records with completed status in the sb. for the music recordings without oclc records, the cataloger conducts original cataloging. finally, for music recordings that found sb records (added by other suls), the oclc numbers from marc 035 fields of bib records were gathered by an aleph report. then, a batch retrieve was performed for their oclc master records using the marcedit z39.50 client’s batch dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 85 processing mode. lastly, the oclc master records were batch loaded by genload to upgrade bib records and add associated fiu holdings and item records with completed status in the sb. impact of new process with about the same amount of staff working on the collection, the new process achieved 533 cataloged titles per month compared to 133 titles with the old process, and we were able to complete cataloging the remaining one third of the collection in 8 months (table 3). table 3. classical music collection statistics titles cataloged time spent titles cataloged per month cataloged in-house by batch process 4,263 8 months (9/2017-4/2018) 533 cataloged in-house individually 7,474 56 months (1/2013-8/2017) 133 cataloged by backstage library works 1,023 24 months (7/2015-7/2017) 43 total cataloged 12,760 conclusion during this process, several lessons were learned regarding workflow changes: • the first step before developing a new workflow is to have a thorough understanding of the old process from all the staff involved in the workflow. • while developing a new workflow, always do a test run first on a small batch of items, and adjust and improve the workflow as needed. • documenting the process along the way will help in refining the procedures at a later stage. • after the new workflow is developed, discuss it with staff for feedback. • it’s important to evaluate and assess its impact, and asking questions such as: who will be affected by the new process? will the new process benefit them? • after the new workflow is approved for implementation, select qualified staff for the new process. • it’s crucial to walk staff through the new process, answer their questions, and ask for their suggestions. dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 86 • it’s always necessary to follow up, collect feedback, and adjust workflow and procedure accordingly. the author would like to share her experience with automating cataloging workflows of traditional library materials because it could be beneficial to libraries that plan to implement automation workflows in cataloging. overall, the author’s experience has been highly positive: the batch processes and various tools applied on these traditional materials have improved cataloging efficiency and productivity; they have also enhanced metadata accuracy, consistency, and display, and as a result, facilitated timely and accurate access to valuable library resources for users. the new workflows have been successful, largely due to the support from the department head and staff members who have made valuable suggestions and positive feedback, and also due to the great interest, ability, and persistence of our staff to take on new challenges. in july 2021, the libraries at the 40 public colleges and universities of the state of florida, including fiu, will migrate to a new shared integrated library system (ils), ex libris’ alma. the new system necessitates new workflows and procedures. so the new challenge for the author is to learn the functions and tools of the new ils, and develop similar or improved cataloging workflows in the new ils and continue to adapt as the new system changes. acknowledgements the author would like to express her deepest appreciation to her department head, rita cauce. the new workflows would not have been possible without her valuable advice and support. she also provided the backlog information of ybp print approval books in table 1 and very helpful comments and suggestions for the article. the author would also like to extend her deepest gratitude to her colleague, kelly rowan, who has provided generous help proofreading and editing the paper. endnotes [1] genload: https://falsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=850314&p=6454676 [2] worldcat updates service: https://help.oclc.org/metadata_services/worldshare_collection_manager/choose_your_collecti on_manager_workflow/worldcat_updates/about_worldcat_updates_through_collection_man ager/about_worldcat_updates [3] oclc connexion client guides: batch processing in the client: overview. https://files.mtstatic.com/site_10606/5147/0?expires=1610991390&signature=l4si8hryiikeu9 lpd4r4zeroq9a6sbltsgjqwp8ojqsn6sexa4lbfaufehzg2ibjnkq8eqf9oqfvdbhnnig6guk uldz7dtrxbi1qxll6vbepfv87p~4ot2g5lvwyn2faquqhf00jx~rlyyaphuj5omoqtmsal2v-6knpryih~s_&key-pair-id=apkaj5y6av4gi7a555na [4] marcedit: https://marcedit.reeset.net/about-marcedit [5] notis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/notis dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 87 [6] aleph integrated library system. https://exlibrisgroup.com/products/aleph-integratedlibrary-system/ [7] fcla. https://members.educause.edu/florida-center-for-library-automation [8] falsc. https://libraries.flvc.org/ [9] how to load records using the advanced generic vendor records loader (file-90). https://files.mtstatic.com/site_11811/27603/0?expires=1613765885&signature=rtyt404zmsj5o z1lgxhjn1ju9wzqo5j3foi0xkwlffdn2ln-wtrjkfuicgvzd9omcf3xmx0ejrysm3u2lk~kjnd55nhafuoh6sfk7e2j6uaunj8azjek7hunaetrg zrrj5g8lv-uiirrlkhadwigjbms-6ajpm1tlpyojqkrrk_&key-pairid=apkaj5y6av4gi7a555na [10] oclc promptcat service: https://library.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15003coll74/id/18/ [11] full-level cataloging: https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/onlinecataloging.html#bcggbafc [12] worldshare collection manager: https://www.oclc.org/en/worldshare-collectionmanager.html [13] naco-name authority cooperative program: https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/naco/ references anderson, b. (2015). updating alma records with the worldshare marc update service. retrieved from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=libraries_pre sent french, r. b. (2020). secrets of the save file: using connexion and microsoft access for efficient batch cataloging projects. retrieved from https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1196&context=letfspubs harden, j. (2017). batch processes: using connexion client, marcedit, and microsoft access. retrieved from https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1036580 lorimer, n. (2012). unlocking historical audio collections: collaborative cataloging and batch searching of 78 rpm recordings. technical services quarterly, 29:1, 1-12, doi: 10.1080/07317131.2011.597682 riordan, g. & baksik, c. m. (2017). oclc worldcat updates (bns/wms) implementation. retrieved from https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageid=181077967 strickler, c. (2017). testimony: using marcedit and oclc connexion to enhance bibliographic records in a batch. retrieved from https://www.atla.com/blog/testimony-using-marceditand-oclc-connexion-to-enhance-bibliographic-records-in-a-batch/ https://libraries.flvc.org/ https://library.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15003coll74/id/18/ https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/onlinecataloging.html#bcggbafc https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/naco/ https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1196&context=letfspubs https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1036580/#who https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1036580/ https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/display/~2163 https://www.atla.com/blog/testimony-using-marcedit-and-oclc-connexion-to-enhance-bibliographic-records-in-a-batch/ https://www.atla.com/blog/testimony-using-marcedit-and-oclc-connexion-to-enhance-bibliographic-records-in-a-batch/ dong / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 88 about the author elaine dong (edong@fiu.edu) is the database and metadata management librarian at florida international university libraries in miami, florida. she holds a m.s. in library and information science from mcgill university. her professional interests include eresource management, database maintenance, and data analytics. 006-title-183-article text-986-2-11-20210624-cl 006-183-article text-969-3-11-20210624-huang_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org auto-identification technologies in academic libraries: an overview manti banik abstract: the study focuses on the importance and advantages of various auto-identification technology which are used in academic libraries. libraries are not safe and secure and facing many problems, like theft, mutilation of library materials and other unethical losses. auto-identification technologies are useful for libraries to solve those problems. there are various auto-identification technologies which are used in libraries, like bar codes, smart cards, bio-metric, gprs, and radio frequency identification (rfid). in this paper, studied some auto-id technology and benefits and challenges of these technologies. to cite this article: banik, m. (2023). auto-identification technologies in academic libraries: an overview. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 127-133. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.274 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 127-133 issn: 2474-3542 auto-identification technologies in academic libraries: an overview manti banik assam university, india abstract the study focuses on the importance and advantages of various auto-identification technology which are used in academic libraries. libraries are not safe and secure and facing many problems, like theft, mutilation of library materials and other unethical losses. auto-identification technologies are useful for libraries to solve those problems. there are various auto-identification technologies which are used in libraries, like bar codes, smart cards, bio-metric, gprs, and radio frequency identification (rfid). in this paper, studied some auto-id technology and benefits and challenges of these technologies. keywords: auto-identification technology, barcode, rfid, bio-metric, gprs, smart card introduction a library is a ‘temple of learning’ which plays an essential role in the development of a society. but libraries are not safe and secure and libraries are facing various problems like theft, mutilation of library materials and other unethical losses. the library and information professionals are now handling huge database, provide access to online journals and web-enabled online public access catalogues in the networked digital environment where there are a lot of scope for compute /cyber crimes. therefore, it is important to provide a safe and secure environment for library staff, library resources and equipment, and library users. (rathinasabapathy, sundari & rajendran, 2008). in this regard auto-identification is a boon for library and library professionals. auto identification technology is also known as automated data collection technology. identification technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. auto identification is often together with automatic data capture. the aim of most auto identification systems is to increase efficiency, reduce data entry errors, and free up staff to perform more value-added functions, such as providing customer service. there are various technologies that fall under the auto identification umbrella. these include bar codes, smart cards, bio-metric, sensors, magnetic card/chip, gprs, location tracking technology and radio frequency identification (rfid). banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 128 computer and information technology represent a fundamental change in the way libraries do business, libraries must make an ongoing commitment to keeping pace with change. review of literature hanifa (2004), described benefits of wireless technologies in the libraries. gprs technology improved the database access, quick connectivity to the network, simplified network configuration etc. he also described about the sms service in libraries. shafagat (2016), described information about biometric technology in all types of libraries liketraditional and electronic library. biometric technology is mainly used to stop illegal entry in a building or in a library. biometric technology is secure than passwords, pin-code, smart card etc. rahaman (2016), explained three automated technologies used in the libraries that are barcode, qr code and rfid technology and these technologies are mostly helpful in circulation section, acquisition section, processing section and so on. overview of auto identification technologies rfid : rfid is an acronym for “radio-frequency identification”. rfid, is a broad term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify objects. this technology refers of a small chip and an antenna. this chip is capable for carrying 2,000 bytes of data. rfid is an advanced technology than other technologies for libraries. the rfid tag does not have to be visible to be read, it can be read even when it is fixed in an item, such as cardboard cover of a book. the chip is a part of rfid tag, this chip carry not only the item number but also information about title of the book or its call number. components of rfid technology: the following hardware and software (figure 1) are tag: this tag contains a silicon chip. this tag holds a unique identification and connected to the database for data transmit. readerreader holds the database and connected to the chip and send out/receive data through radio wave technology. a computeris necessary for interface and deal with the users‘. it may be connected to a server for maintaining the bigger amount of data. lms lms is required for maintaining the databases of materials as well as users. banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 129 figure 1: components of rfid advantages of rfid  it is fast than other auto identification technology.  in a library nobody is need for issue/return policy.  levels of use come out to be more deeply influenced by the library’s assurance to self-service rather than by the actual devices used.  finding lost and missing items and identifying miss shelved stock. some rfid solutions can help with these problems although libraries will want to see this function at work in an offered library to verify its use.  maintaining of rfid system is very easy and fully automated.  setting up the rfid system is easy and it is one time job. disadvantages of rfid  rfid technology is very costly to apply as well as maintain.  lack of knowledge for proper maintenance.  if someone removes the tag then it becomes very big security problem. barcode barcode is a technology auto identification and data collection method that stores all data. pulliam and landry (2011) in a study titled “tag, you’re it! using qr codes to promote library services” suggested implementing qr code in library marketing. they studied that a modification was very important in the connections between users and librarian and qr code technology could be applied when users training is provided. banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 130 figure 2: barcode advantages of barcode: 1. barcode can store large amount of data. the size of the data is ten digits. 2. the size is very small. small label of printed code can be attached back side of the book. 3. ranganathan’s fourth law “save the time of the reader”, barcode can fulfill. 4. improve the staff efficiency. 5. cost-efficiency. the cost of construction and use of the codes in libraries is quite small. disadvantages of barcode: 1. barcode technology is not possible without skilled staff. 2. it is not possible without proper machinery. 3. if the label of barcode is damaged smart card smart card is a type of chip card. it is like a chip card, it contains a fixed computer chip either memory or microprocessor. it can store and transacts data. figure 3: smart card advantages of smart card: 1. smart cards use magnetic strips. it can carry photo, text and computer chip. it can quickly and easily verify the user. 2. smart cards are made from long-lasting materials these protected cards can last the entire term of a student’s education. 3. smart card can store large amount of data. it can also separate the data in a file system. different activities can safely store on a card. 4. for security purpose smart card is also being used in bio-metric. banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 131 5. smart card can provide accommodation and improve all technologies which are available. disadvantages of smart card: 1. smart cards are can be easily lost, if the library user or the student is irresponsible because smart card is very small and light weight. 2. it gives accountability issues if stolen or lost. 3. lack of technology to support users. gprs general packet radio services (gprs) is a packet based wireless communication service. gprs is based on global service for mobile communication. it is a non-voice, high-speed and useful packet-switching technology planned for gsm networks. gprs can be used to allow links depending on internet protocols that support a large range of enterprises, as well as profitable applications. figure 4: gprs technology advantages of gprs technology 1. gprs has a great backup option. 2. gprs can provide transfer rate up to 115kbit/s (the maximum is 171.2kbit/s, excluding fec). 3. it can access to the mailbox without protocol. disadvantages of gprs technology 1. the cost of the gprs technology is very high. 2. staffs need more training while using this technology in a library. banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 132 bio-metric bio-metric technology includes physical or behavioral characteristics to identify a human. it includes fingerprints, voice recognition, facial pattern, hand geometry identification, retinal and iris scans etc. application of this technology is limitless. according to a recent ping identity survey, 92 percent of enterprises rank biometric authentication as an "effective" or "very effective" to secure identity data stored on premises, and 86 percent say it is effective for protecting data stored in a public cloud. figure 5: examples of bio-metric technology advantages of bio-metric technology in libraries: 1. easy identification; 2. increase security level 3. avoid of theft and damage 4. avoid illegal use of library materials 5. high accuracy of identification disadvantages of bio-metric: 1. biometric systems are useless without a well-considered threat model. 2. biometric technologies are biased. conclusion computer and information technology represent a fundamental change in the way libraries do business, libraries must make an ongoing commitment to keeping pace with change. automated technology means the application of machines to perform the different routines, repetitive and clerical jobs involved in functions and services of the library. in manual system records are maintained by hand, without using a computer system. these systems suffer from a high error rate, and are much slower than computerized systems. manual systems are most commonly found in small libraries that have few transactions. new advances in computer technology have pointed to a significantly improved information processing facility for given cost in libraries. auto identification technologies are used in a wide range of applications. the applications vary from process automation to security control. auto identification technologies are magnetic card/chip, barcode, radio frequency identification, voice recognition, smart card, gprs, location tracking technology, optical character recognition. https://www.pingidentity.com/en/company/press-releases-folder/2019/security-concerns-preventing-cloud-saas-adoption.html banik / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 133 the main aim of these technologies are to accurately and rapidly capture data, but the difference of these technologies is the method used to capture and process the data in the libraries. most of the libraries are using these technologies to reduce. references ashford, r. (2010). qr codes and academic libraries: reaching mobile users. chetouane, f. (2015). an overview on rfid technology instruction and application. ifacpapersonline, 48(3), 382-387. chow, h. k., choy, k. l., lee, w. b., & chan, f. t. (2007). integration of web-based and rfid technology in visualizing logistics operations–a case study. supply chain management: an international journal, 12(3), 221-234. de luca, g., lillo, p., mainetti, l., mighali, v., patrono, l., & sergi, i. (2013, september). the use of nfc and android technologies to enable a knx-based smart home. in 2013 21st international conference on software, telecommunications and computer networks(softcom 2013) (pp. 1-7). ieee. dhanalakshmi, m., &mamatha, u. (2009). rfid based library management system. proceedings of ascnt, 227-234. egan, m. t., & sandberg, w. s. (2007). auto identification technology and its impact on patient safety in the operating room of the future. surgical innovation, 14(1), 41-50. eikvil, l. (1993). optical character recognition. citeseer. ist. psu. edu/142042. html. flor, t., niess, w., & vogler, g. (2003, june). rfid: the integration of contactless identification technology and mobile computing. in proceedings of the 7th international conference on telecommunications, 2003. contel 2003. (vol. 2, pp. 619-623). ieee. garfinkel, s. l., juels, a., & pappu, r. (2005). rfid privacy: an overview of problems and proposed solutions. ieee security & privacy, 3(3), 34-43. pelletier, m. p., trépanier, m., & morency, c. (2011). smart card data use in public transit: a literature review. transportation research part c: emerging technologies, 19(4), 557-568. shahid, s. m. (2005). use of rfid technology in libraries: a new approach to circulation, tracking, inventorying, and security of library materials. symonds, j. (ed.). (2009). auto-identification and ubiquitous computing applications: rfid and smart technologies for information convergence. igi global. truman, g. e., sandoe, k., & rifkin, t. (2003). an empirical study of smart card technology. information & management, 40(6), 591-606. vermesan, o., & friess, p. (eds.). (2013). internet of things: converging technologies for smart environments and integrated ecosystems. river publishers. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author manti banik is from assam university, india. 274-title-page 274-layout abstract advantages of gprs technology disadvantages of gprs technology issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org modeling time-to-acceptance for isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science jingjing wu and le yang abstract: there are many factors affecting review duration after a paper has been submitted to a journal. developing a time-to-acceptance model of each journal for the whole time span from submission to acceptance can help researchers when they are selecting journals to publish research results, as well as help editors when they are optimizing workflow and strategy. using isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science as an example, this study aims to explore the possible patterns of time-to-acceptance for refereed articles. based on the theories of maximum likelihood estimation, this article models probability distributions for the retrieved data through the r package fitdistrplus. the kolmogorov-smirnov test is further used to determine if the distribution for each journal can be accepted. to cite this article: wu, j., & yang, l. (2017). modeling time-to-acceptance for isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 62-83. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.22 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 62-83 issn:2474-3542 modeling time-to-acceptance for isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science jingjing wu, texas tech university, lubbock, tx, usa le yang1, wenzhou-kean university, wenzhou, zhejiang, china abstract there are many factors affecting review duration after a paper has been submitted to a journal. developing a time-to-acceptance model of each journal for the whole time span from submission to acceptance can help researchers when they are selecting journals to publish research results, as well as help editors when they are optimizing workflow and strategy. using isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science as an example, this study aims to explore the possible patterns of time-to-acceptance for refereed articles. based on the theories of maximum likelihood estimation, this article models probability distributions for the retrieved data through the r package fitdistrplus. the kolmogorov-smirnov test is further used to determine if the distribution for each journal can be accepted. keywords: information models, statistical models, information science, journal productivity introduction in academia when knowledge is generated, it should be made available and distributed efficiently. scholarly publication is one of the major ways that knowledge and research results are disseminated. palese, coletti, and dante (2012) advocated that the scientific world needs to reflect on publication efficiency and its mechanisms. both journal editors and authors are keen on the speed of the review process, because timeliness is one of the important factors to the journal’s reputation, as well as the factors that affect the authors’ decision in selecting journals to submit manuscripts to for publication (hodges, elsner, & jagger, 2012; chen, chen, & jhanji, 2013). the process of peer review and publication has changed in the past decades from handwritten manuscripts to electronic versions, significantly reducing the processing time from the first submission of manuscripts to the final step of being published. however, there are still many random human factors influencing the review process and these factors cannot be easily measured. thus, instead of quantifying all random factors, the authors seek to develop a mathematical model that covers the overarching period and takes all factors into one umbrella for consideration is critically important. using classical statistics, this study aims to explore the possibility of 1 corresponding author. email address: yangle@wku.edu.cn mailto:yangle@wku.edu.cn wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 63 estimating time-to-acceptance of refereed articles published in isi-indexed journals in the field of library and information science. based on the data found on the journals’ websites and the developed mathematical models, the paper proposes fitting distributions to data to estimate timeto-acceptance of refereed articles published in the journals. the results of this article can be used as a reference tool for authors who are working to meet a deadline, as well as for editors who are optimizing workflow. researchers can also use or expand this paper’s methodology to develop estimation models for journals in other disciplines. literature review studies of journal publication speed and impact factor researchers from various disciplines have studied journal publication time and analyzed the correlations between the publication speed and impact factors. some theoretical models that were developed by researchers suggested that those journals that publish more rapidly increase the likelihood of citations of the published articles, which contribute to a higher impact factor (ray, berkewits, & davidoff, 2000; de marchi & rocchi, 2001; metcalfe, 2002; yu, wang, & yu, 2005; yu, guo, & li, 2006; pautasso & schafer, 2009). in a recent study of journals from seven different disciplines, lievers (2013) found that a negative correlation was found between the journal impact factor and acceptance time. lievers claimed that this research demonstrates a representative pattern in the broader scientific literature; manuscripts are processed faster both in journals and in journal categories with higher impact factors. however, some researchers have reached different conclusions through their studies. in studying the journals in ophthalmology, chen et al. (2013) recorded that the individual median peer review time (from submission to acceptance) ranged from 35.5 to 263 days, with a combined median time of 133 days. they did not find any correlation between the impact factor and the publication time lag by running the spearman test. however, they agreed that publication time lag of a journal is one of the key factors affecting an authors’ decision in selecting journals for publication. publication deadlines and tenure track expectation “winning the tenure game is not about what you do; it’s about when you do it.” russell james (2014, p.39) articulated in his book and explained that the faculty member’s dossier is typically submitted in the fifth academic year because tenure evaluation happens in the sixth year of employment. when considering the starting date of employment and the academic calendar, a faculty member usually has four years and seven months to build a strong dossier, in which only published or accepted publications can be included. getting an article accepted and published in a peer-reviewed journal can be a tedious process with a long wait. the whole process from the editor’s preliminary review, first round peer-review, revision, resubmission, second round peerreview, to editor’s decision takes a long time, resulting in the real tenure track clock for the faculty being three years instead of six. it is challenging for tenure-track faculty to select the right journal to publish their research articles. this is especially true for junior tenure-track faculty working in academic libraries. james (2014) suggested that in order to identify a realistic amount of time, tenure applicants should wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 64 prioritize journals based on how fast the journals complete the review process. the best theoretical strategy is to start with the highest ranked journals because of the shorter responding time and quicker publication speed. taborsky (2007) also mentioned that journals with quicker turnaround times are usually ranked higher. taborsky then proposed that authors choose a journal based on the average time to publication mainly for two reasons: the impact factors as well as the citation statistics are affected by the publication speed; and the delays in the publication will adversely affect the evaluation of the researcher’s academic dossier. in manuscript preparation, an inquiry into individual journals is of significant help as well. recognizing the authors’ concerns pertaining to the available information of publication efficiency, the database cabell’s directory of publishing opportunities collects and makes available journal information from a variety of disciplines about the review process, time to publication, time to review, and so on. however, time to publication and time to review are not available for all journals. the directory does not specify the sources of these times or how they are calculated. publication time concerns from authors and journal editors a shorter publication lag probably facilitates the distribution of research findings or enhances the impact of research achievements as well as the impact of the journal itself. from these points of view, both authors and editors value timeliness of publications and consider it a quality indicator of a scholarly journal. in the profession of library and information science, greifeneder (2013) provided explanations on the peer review process to help researchers understand why the reviewing process requires a certain time span. moreover, in the journal “library hi tech” greifeneder published five rules for researchers to follow to expedite the review process. diospatonyi, horvai, and braun (2001) agreed that publication speed is one of the factors that determines a journal’s quality. the results from a global survey of 554 authors about the quality and impact of occupational therapy journals showed that timeliness of review and publication ranked in the top four in importance among 11 quality indicators (rodger, mckenna, & brown, 2007). in recent research, adler and liyanarachchi (2015) collected authors’ views on the editorial review processes of 42 accounting journals through a webmail survey. eight hundred and fifty-six respondents from all over the world expressed their satisfaction with the overall editorial review process in general. nevertheless, survey results indicated that some journals do not successfully provide prompt editorial feedback. additionally, significant differences were witnessed for the timeliness of reviews given a journal’s editorial office location, perceived rank, and sub-discipline. the researchers argued that timeliness of review and publication might be considered essential measures of journal quality; they also believed that delays in review and publishing created a negative influence on the work’s impact, especially if its implications are time sensitive. efforts of streamlining the article review process and speeding journal publication time have been attempted by journal editors. the gynecologic oncology group have integrated resources among its member institutions, optimized the manuscript development process through prioritizing resources and monitoring compliance with deadlines, and eventually improved the time to journal acceptance by an average of 346 days (bialy, blessing, stehman, reardon, & blaser, 2013). the wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 65 editor of the journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics, claire johnson (2005), in an editorial, indicated that she hoped to improve the quality and timeliness of manuscript publication by instituting mechanisms including electronic submission, submission pre-review, publication priority hierarchy, and rapid review. statistical model of time-to-acceptance prediction looking at publication time from a different perspective, hodges, elsner, and jagger (2012), applied bayesian and the markov chain monte carlo approach to develop a prediction model for time-to-acceptance in the profession of hurricane studies. it is the only predictive model for timeto-acceptance of refereed articles found in the literature at this time. the model they developed benefits editors in foreseeing the number of manuscripts ready for publishing; the model also helps authors estimate the probability of meeting a deadline, such as a tenure review or a conference research panel with a fixed due date. in their research, hodges, et al. (2012), collected 133 articles published from january 2008 to december 2010 in ten american meteorological society journals with the keyword “hurricane,” and defined the temporal difference of the time-to-acceptance as “τ,” which is the statistic of interest. because gamma density is commonly used to model time periods, the authors assumed τ is a random variable having a gamma density, placed a uniform prior distribution on the parameter vector, and deducted the posterior density based on bayes’ theorem. given a pair of parameter values, the authors calculated the posterior density using the programming language r. the authors then used contour functions for the joint posterior of the two parameters. using the markov chain monte carlo approach, 1000 random samples were drawn and plotted to an ideal contour. the model fit was checked by examining quantiles from the data against the same statistics from the posterior draws. problem statement based on the literature, it is clearly beneficiary for both editors and researchers to estimate the time span between submission and acceptance for individual journals. editors may be interested in estimating how many manuscripts are ready to publish for each upcoming issue and in maintaining a reasonable inventory; while researchers would like to know in advance how long it would take for their submitted manuscripts to go through the entire review process and be accepted. however, no prediction models for time-to-acceptance have been established other than the one developed by hodges, et al., (2012) on hurricane study articles. regarding their prediction model, it was developed based on the assumption that the timeto-acceptance of articles retrieved from ten american meteorological society journals with the keyword “hurricane” follow a gamma distribution. as stated in their study, the methodology can be adopted with other search criteria: “the less specific the criteria (e.g. “hurricane” or “tropical storm”), the smaller the variance (large sample size) on answers to inferential questions but the larger the bias on those answers relative to specific interests (hodges, et al., 2012, p.882)”. usually, the coverage of a refereed journal is broader than one specific topic, however, this model is not ideal for estimating the time-to-acceptance of an individual refereed journal. therefore, the authors of this article aim to investigate an alternative solution for the journals in the library and information science field, and seek to answer these questions: wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 66 question 1: are there any mathematical theories and statistical models suitable for predicting or estimating scholarly articles’ publication time lag? question 2: what types of data released by the journals can be used for modeling? question 3: what formula and statistical calculations can be used for establishing the model for individual journals? question 4: how can we confirm the validity and reliability of the model once it is developed? with all these questions, the authors examined the possibilities to estimate the period between manuscript submission and acceptance of an individual journal based on existing data. the estimated overarching period takes all factors that influence review time into consideration. methodology and theory in this study, time-to-acceptance is defined as days between “submitted” (or “received”) and “accepted.” aiming to analyze and estimate the period for manuscript review and revision, the authors created three selection criteria: 1) only research articles, case studies, or literature review articles should be included; 2) accurate duration information (month, day and year) must be available; and 3) time-to-acceptance is at least one day. since only published or accepted articles can be found, the study does not include rejected manuscripts. that is, time-to-acceptance is based on the fact that the articles have been “accepted” by refereed journals. in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the publication lags between manuscript submission and acceptance, the authors reviewed all 85 journals in the discipline of library and information science from thomson reuter’s isi index list. the authors found that 24 journals contain dates of submission and acceptance in the published articles. the list of 24 journals and their abbreviations used in this paper are included in table 1. table 1. list of isi journals releasing manuscript submission and acceptance dates (*indicates removal from the list of journals for further study due to the incomplete of data.) no. journal title abbreviation 1 electronic library el 2 government information quarterly* giq 3 health information and libraries journal hilj 4 information & management im 5 information and organization io 6 information processing & management ipm 7 information society is 8 information systems journal isj 9 information technology & people itp 10 interlending & document supply* ids 11 international journal of information management* ijim 12 journal for association of information science and technology jasist 13 journal of academic librarianship jal continued on next page wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 67 table 1 continued from previous page no. journal title abbreviation 14 journal of computer-mediated communication jcmc 15 journal of documentation* jd 16 journal of informetrics ji 17 journal of strategic information systems jsis 18 library & information science research* lisr 19 library hi tech lht 20 library resources & technical services lrts 21 libri libri 22 program-electronic library and information systems pelis 23 restaurator international journal for the preservation of library and archival material restaurator 24 telematics and informatics ti exploratory study and duration selection the authors conducted an exploratory study on the journal library hi tech to explore the possibilities of developing an estimation model for time-to-acceptance. as stated in the author guidelines of the journal, “each paper is reviewed by the editor and, if it is judged suitable for this publication, it is then sent to two independent referees for double blind peer review” (emerald group publishing, 2014). therefore, the overarching span of submission-to-acceptance in this study covers the complete process of editor review, referee review, and revision. factors in the process that may affect the duration are not discussed in the research, but have been included in this modeling. library hi tech releases received, revised and accepted time information on the pdf of each article from 2004 (volume 22) to 2015 (volume 33). out of 46 issues, 38 have full date information while the remaining eight contain only the month and year. table 2 shows a complete collected data for the journal, including the average, median, maximum, and minimum time-toacceptance (in days). the authors observed that the annual average and median time-to-acceptance have been comparatively stable within three time periods: 2004 – 2007, 2008 – 2011, and 2013 – 2015. in order to confirm if the range of data can be used for further research, the levene test was used to evaluate the homogeneity of the collected data. the test confirmed a homogeneity of variance for the range of 2004 – 2007 and the range of 2013 – 2015; while the range 2008 – 2011 was denied for further testing. table 2. time-to-acceptance (t) of library hi tech (2004 – 2015) | t = days (* the data from vol. 29 no. 2 2011 to vol. 31 no. 1 2013 is missing.) year no. of issues no. of articles average t median t max t min t 2004 4 34 94 69 358 2 2005 3 34 111 83 288 37 2006 3 35 93 80 219 6 continued on next page wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 68 another criterion to select range of data for the study is the recentness of publications. academic journal review and publishing have been undergoing changes as a result of technological advancement and process improvement. the earlier data may not be relevant to what has happened recently or is happening currently. additionally, the time-to-acceptance is influenced by fixed factors such as review procedures, policies, criteria, reviewers and editors, as well as random factors such as workload of a reviewer during a specific time period, and efforts for revision from authors. thus, authors believe that the most recent data of time-to-acceptance is more valuable in foreseeing the expected publication in the near future, because fixed factors are most likely to be consistent and stable. in the literature, greifender (2013) held a similar point of view and used the most recent publishing data instead of the old one for his research. based on the exploratory test on the journal and the selection criteria suggested in the literature, the authors selected time-toacceptance data from scholarly journals published in the most recent years, including 2013, 2014 and 2015. journal selection and data collection dates of the articles submitted, received, and accepted are usually made available in the pdf or html version. to avoid time-consuming manual data collection and lessen the possibilities of human errors, the authors downloaded citation data in bibtex format and programed perl scripts to retrieve “submitted and accepted dates” in batch from the html version of articles. for those dates only available in pdfs, the authors had to employ manual data collection. some of the 24 journals provided incomplete data for the selected years. for instance, articles of some volumes and issues do not contain date information, or contain only the month and year of publication. to avoid research bias caused by imcomplete data as well as to secure the reliability of the research results, the authors had to remove five journals from the research, including: government information quarterly, interlending & document supply, international journal of information management, journal of documentation, and library & information science research. theory distribution fitting is the matching of a probability distribution to the observed data concerning the repeated measurement of a variable phenomenon. the primary objective of distribution fitting is to forecast the probability or frequency of occurrence of the magnitude of the phenomenon in a certain interval. the principle of distribution fitting is to find the type of distribution and the value of parameters that give the highest probability of producing the data. table 2 – continued from previous page 2007 4 44 136 100 687 2 2008 4 44 66 52.5 213 4 2009 4 42 41 36 150 1 2010 4 44 81 76 330 7 2011 * 1 12 85 54 247 6 2013 3 27 113 102 264 12 2014 4 46 107 98 303 17 2015 4 40 103 85.5 323 19 wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 69 in this study, before fitting distributions to the collected data, the authors selected distribution candidates through observing the histogram, then used the maximum likelihood estimation (mle) to calculate the parameters of each distribution candidate and obtained the respective log-likelihood values, akaike information criteria (aic), bayesian information criteria (bic), and the parameters of the distribution (lee & wang, 2013). these values measure the quality of each probability distribution and provide a means of distribution selection. aic (akaike, 1969), a widely-accepted criterion is based on log-likelihood values, and r is defined as 𝑟 = l(bˆ) − 2𝑝 where l(b^) is the log-likelihood value, b^ denotes the mle of all the parameters in the distribution, and p is the number of parameters in the distribution. given a set of candidate distributions, the preferred distribution is the one with minimum aic value. bic (schwarz, 1978), another widely-used criteria, is known for penalizing the number of parameters more strongly than aic. it is based on the log-likelihood, the number of parameters in the distribution (p), and the total number of observation (n). similar to aic, among a group of candidate distributions, the one with the minimum bic value is preferred. 𝑟 = l(bˆ) − 𝑝 2 log 𝑛 according to lee and wang (2013) and nist/sematech (2013), the kolmogorovsmirnov test can be used to compare the samples from the estimated distribution with the empirical distribution, and determine if the null hypothesis can be accepted. the kolmogorov-smirnov test statistic is defined as 𝐷 = max 1<𝑖<𝑁 (𝐹(𝑌𝑖) − 𝑖 − 1 𝑁 , 𝑖 𝑁 − 𝐹(𝑌𝑖)) where f is the theoretical cumulative distribution of the distribution being tested, which must be a continuous distribution and must be fully specified. in addition to maximum likelihood estimation (mle), the r package fitdistrplus offers estimation method as a moment matching estimation (mme), quantile matching estimation (qme), and maximum goodness-of-it (mge) using eight different distances. these estimation methods are used to determine a probability distribution modeling the random variable, and to find parameter estimation for that distribution (delignett-muller & dutang, 2014). calculation & discussion the authors imported the retrieved data of time-to-acceptance from each journal to the statistical software r, and employed the package fitdistrplus for matching and graphing distribution. the calculation is started with plots of the empirical distribution function and histogram using the wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 70 plotdist function from the fitdistrplus package. figure 1 illustrates both empirical density (and histogram) and empirical cumulative distribution function (cdf) plots. figure 1. histogram and cdf plots of an empirical distribution for lht time-to-acceptance 2013-2015 in addition to empirical plots, skewness and kurtosis were also calculated to facilitate the selection of distributions. the function descdist was used to estimate skewness and kurtosis and results were plotted to a cullen and frey graph (see figure 2). the results of journal lht demonstrated a positive skewness and a kurtosis of 3.66, which matches the right-skewed empirical distribution in figure 1. the three common right-skewed distributions, weibull, gamma, and lognormal distributions were thus taken into consideration in this study. figure 2. skewness-kurtosis plot for lht time-to-acceptance 2013-2015 wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 71 in the r package fitdistrplus, the function fitdist returns parameter estimates, estimated standard errors, log-likelihood, akaike and bayesian information criteria (aic and bic), and the correlation matrix between parameter estimates. it also provides four classical goodness-of-fit plots: 1) the density plot represents the density function of the fitted distribution along with the histogram of the empirical distribution; 2) the cdf plot displays both the empirical and fitted distribution; 3) the q-q plot demonstrates the empirical quantiles against the theoretical quantiles and underlines the lack-of-fit at the distribution tail; and 4) the p-p plot shows the empirical distribution function evaluated at each data point against the fitted distribution function and emphasizes the lack-of-fit at the distribution center. the goodness-of-fit plots (figure 3) indicate that both weibull and gamma distributions fit the data graphically at least, while aic of weibull fit (1243.631) and bic (1249.086) are higher compared to those of the gamma fit (aic = 1242.525, bic = 1247.98) respectively, meaning gamma instead of weibull should be selected. the p-value of the null hypothesis for gamma distribution using the kolmogorov-smirnov (ks) test simulation is 0.9376, confirming the journal lht time-to-acceptance data is compatible with a gamma distribution. bootstrapping was used to add pointwise confidence intervals to estimate gamma cdf (see figure 4). figure 3. four goodness-of-fit plots for weibull, gamma, and lognormal distributions fitted to t of lht 2013-2015 wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 72 figure 4. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of lht with 95% confidence interval following the same procedure, the authors applied the same distribution strategy to the data collected from the 18 journals (table 3). table 3. descriptive statistics of the select journal for further study | t = days data from two journals, information technology & people (itp) and library resources & technical services (lrts), did not follow any distributions in the designed calculation. figure 5 and figure 6 show that two or more crests are observed in both histograms of itp and lrts, which explains why the r package fitdistrplus cannot find a distribution for these two journals’ no. journal no. of articles average t median t max t min t 1 el 168 151 135 787 18 2 hilj 49 379 315 1241 141 3 im 215 520 447 1464 3 4 io 41 400 316 1980 3 5 ipm 179 389 316 1301 3 6 is 54 411 374.5 1327 1 7 isj 140 386 298 2140 4 8 itp 68 239 226 705 1 9 jal 217 121 97 420 3 10 jasist 497 157 113 824 20 11 jcmc 108 303 268.5 629 91 12 ji 252 122 96 699 19 13 jsis 31 470 405 1227 200 14 libri 83 138 113 687 8 15 lrts 149 143 118 580 16 16 pelis 67 301 244 896 6 17 restaurator 45 175 114 1198 26 18 ti 135 136 118 493 9 wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 73 data. it is possible that some of the fixed factors affect the stability of these two journals’ operation, factors including technical upgrades, major changes in procedures or policies and different review spans for several dominant topics. figure 5. histogram of itp figure 6. histogram of lrts the time-to-acceptance data from the remaining 16 journals perfectly follow three main distributions: gamma, weibull, and log normal, ranging from 1 to 1500 days on the x-axis (appendix a. figure 8-19 and figure 21-24). another journal, lht is included in the exploratory study process (appendix a. figure 20). in order to have a better comparison of the 17 journals, figure 7 illustrates the entire picture of 17 distributions in the range of 500 days on the x-axis. figure 7. estimated distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of 17 journals wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 74 assuming the article eventually gets accepted, from figure 7 one can find out the possibilities of an article going through the entire peer review process within the range of 500 days after submission. rejection rate and data are not considered in this research. relating the view of figure 7 to table 3, one should also notice that the journals whose average and median time-toacceptance days were less than 200 float on the top left of figure 7; that the four journals with an average time-to-acceptance greater than 400-days sink at the bottom right; while the rest of the journals stay at the central part in figure 7. indeed, average and median of time-to-acceptance may allow researchers and editors to roughly compare the publication lags of these journals. however, graphics with accurate percentage serve this purpose far better. for example, figure 7 illustrates the fact that all articles accepted to the journal library hi tech (lht) have completed the review process within one year; while submissions to journal of strategic information systems (jsis) have only a 30% possibility of completing the review and revision process within the same time frame. combining the time-to-acceptance possibility with the acceptance rate of submitted articles, journal editors can estimate the number of manuscripts ready for publishing. for instance, assuming library hi tech (lht)’s acceptance rate is 70% and it receives 15 manuscripts every month, the editor is able to estimates that approximately 10 manuscripts will be accepted. considering the time-to-acceptance distribution of library hi tech, the editor is also able to predict that in five months from the date of submission, eight manuscripts (80%) are likely to be accepted. by doing so, editors may foresee available manuscripts for each upcoming issue and maintain a healthy inventory of submissions. when researchers are selecting journals to publish their research articles, timeliness is one of the most important factors for them to consider. other factors they need to consider include: scope, audience, acceptance rate, citation style and impact factor. the distribution of time-toacceptance may answer the question about the timeliness of a journal by estimating the timeline of the review process. for example, when an author finalizes the manuscript but has only five months (150 days) left before a deadline of some evaluation, it is to his/her best interest to identify the journal in the profession with the fastest turn-around time. by looking at the distributions (figure 7), the author is able to find out that having 150 days, the probability of getting the article accepted by library hi tech is 80%, journal of academic librarianship 70%, journal of the association for information science and technology 60%, and information & management 10%. thus, if the author selects library hi tech as the target journal, they should have the highest likelihood of completing the entire review process in time. conclusion publication efficiency is a topic that has attracted attention of scholars in various areas. although the researchers have not reached an agreement on the relationship between the impact factors and the publication time lag of a journal, they believed that the time span between submission and acceptance is one of the key factors that effect a journal’s reputation as well as the authors’ decision in selecting journals for publication. selecting a journal with a higher impact factor or quicker turn-around rate appears to be the best strategy for researchers to meet tenure review deadlines or a research panel with a fixed due date. moreover, journal editors have also made efforts in wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 75 facilitating the distribution of research achievements and improving the journal’s prestige by optimizing the review procedures and enhancing the review quality. reviewing the literature pertaining to the studies of journal’s publication speed, one statistical model was found for predicting time-to-acceptance of articles on the subject of “hurricane.” however, as stated by its developers, the model is not applicable for an article set with a wider range of subject fields. the authors of this article then explored possibilities to establish a mathematical model to predict journal article’s probability of acceptance. examining the list of total 85 isi-indexed journals in the profession of library and information science, the authors found that 24 of them make dates of submission and acceptance available online, but only 17 of them contain valid data for the study. based on the available data retrieved from the journals’ website, the authors were able to develop estimation models of timeto-acceptance for the17 journals, covering a range of research and practice areas in the profession of library and information science. regretfully not many journals release the data for their review process to the public. releasing such data not only allows derivative studies such as researching relevancy of factors or modeling distributions of durations, but also helps researchers have a reasonable expectation of turnaround time for submissions. therefore, the authors of this study call for refereed journals, hopefully in all disciplines, to make available the data of date of submission, revision, acceptance, and publication in published articles. in this study, the authors also noticed that some journals make available revision dates for some published articles. by looking at the statistics of two of these journals and conducting a simple calculation, it seems to the authors that the majority of published articles require revision before acceptance, for example, 95.58% of accepted articles require revision by lht, while 75.65% by jasist; on average it took two more weeks for revision-required articles to get accepted by the journals. the data also shows that the more revision required in the review process, the longer average time it took to get the article accepted. greifeneder (2013) has suggested that authors can follow the rules to help complete the review process faster by avoiding the number of revisions. required revision in the review process is one of the factors that affect the time-toacceptance. the distribution models in this study were conducted using an overarching duration that included the revision period. it is important and interesting to conduct a comparison study in the future between time-to-acceptance without revision and time-to-revision-to-acceptance for accepted refereed articles. the comparison can only be made possible should the refereed journals release enough valuable data for research. in addition, some other factors that affect the time-to-acceptance include the journals’ review procedures, policies, criteria, reviewers, editorial staffing, and topic. although this study employed the most recent three years’ data, these above-mentioned factors may have already been altered during or after the data collection. inconsistent procedures or unstable staffing, for example, can subsequently interfere the probability distribution modeling for estimation use. consistent research and modeling based on updated data is needed to rectify the limitations. wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 76 references adler, r. w., & liyanarachchi, g. (2015). successful authors’ views on the editorial review processes of accounting journals. pacific accounting review, 27(4), 411-437. akaike, h. (1969). fitting autoregressive models for prediction. annals of the institute of statistical mathematics, 21(1), 243-247. bialy, s., blessing, j. a., stehman, f. b., reardon, a. m., & blaser, k. m. (2013). gynecologic oncology group strategies to improve timeliness of publication. clinical trials, 10(4), 617-623. chen, h., chen, c. h., & jhanji, v. (2013). publication times, impact factors, and advance online publication in ophthalmology journals. ophthalmology, 120(8), 1697-1701. de marchi, m., & rocchi, m. (2001). the editorial policies of scientific journals: testing an impact factor model. scientometrics, 51(2), 395-404. delignett-muller, m. l., & dutang, c. (2014). fitdistrplus: an r package for fitting distribution. j. stat. softw, 64, 1-34. dióspatonyi, i., horvai, g., & braun, t. (2001). publication speed in analytical chemistry journals. journal of chemical information and computer sciences, 41(6), 1452-1456. emerald group publishing. (2014). author guidelines. retrieved march 8, 2016 from http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=lht greifeneder, e. (2013). 30 days to first decision: time span in library hi tech from submission to first decision. library hi tech, 31(1), 5-7. hodges, r. e., elsner, j. b., & jagger, t. h. (2012). predictive models for time to acceptance: an example using “hurricane” articles in ams journals. bulletin of the american meteorological society, 93(6), 879-882. james, r. (2014). tenure hacks: the 12 secrets of making tenure. fresno, ca: createspace. johnson, c. (2005). improving the timeliness of manuscript handling. journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics, 28(5), 291-292. lee, e t., & wang, j. (2013). statistical methods for survival data analysis. hoboken, nj: john wiley & sons. lievers, w. b. (2013). manuscript processing times are negatively correlated with journal impact factors / la corrélation négative entre les délais de traitement des manuscrits et les facteurs d'impact des revues scientifiques. canadian journal of information and library science, 37(4), 225-236. metcalfe, n. b. (2002). journal impact factors. nature, 376(720). retrieved november 29, 2015, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1038.376720b0. nist/sematech. (2013). nist/sematech e-handbook of statistical methods. retrieved march 26, 2016, from http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/. palese, a., coletti, s., & dante, a. (2013). publication efficiency among the higher impact factor nursing journals in 2009: a retrospective analysis. international journal of nursing studies, 50(4), 543-551. pautasso, m., & schäfer, h. (2009). peer review delay and selectivity in ecology journals. scientometrics, 84(2), 307-315. ray, j., berkwits, m., & davidoff, f. (2000). the fate of manuscripts rejected by a general medical journal. the american journal of medicine, 109(2), 131-135. rodger, s., mckenna, k., & brown, t. (2007). quality and impact of occupational therapy journals: authors’ perspectives. australian occupational therapy journal, 54(3), 174184. http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=lht http://dx.doi.org/10.1038.376720b0 http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/ wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 77 schwarz, g. (1978). estimating the dimension of a model. the annals of statistics, 6(2), 461464. taborsky, m. (2007). impact factor statistics and publication practice: what can we learn?. ethology, 113(1), 1-8. yu, g., guo, r., & li, y. j. (2006). the influence of publication delays on three isi indicators. scientometrics, 69(3), 511-527. yu, g., wang, x. h., & yu, d. r. (2005). the influence of publication delays on impact factors. scientometrics, 64(2), 235-246. appendix a figure 8. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of el with 95% confidence interval figure 9. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of hilj with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 78 figure 10. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of im with 95% confidence interval figure 11. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of io with 95% confidence interval figure 12. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of ipm with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 79 figure 13. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of is with 95% confidence interval figure 14. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of isj with 95% confidence interval (*the time-to-acceptance is much longer than other 16 journals, so 1500-day scale is used in this figure) figure 15. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of jal with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 80 figure 16. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of jasist with 95% confidence interval figure 17. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of jcmc with 95% confidence interval figure 18. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of ji with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 81 figure 19. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of jsis with 95% confidence interval figure 20. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of lht with 95% confidence interval figure 21. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of libri with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 82 figure 22. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of pelis with 95% confidence interval figure 23. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of restaurator with 95% confidence interval figure 24. estimated gamma distribution cdf for time-to-acceptance of ti with 95% confidence interval wu and yang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 83 about the authors jingjing wu is the web assistant librarian in the texas tech university libraries. her research interests include web technologies, user experience in libraries, and research data management. le yang is the head of digital library & collection development at wenzhou-kean university library. his research interests include digital librarianship, metadata indexing, metadata optimization, and internet discovery. 05.modeling time-to-acceptance_title 05.modeling time-to-acceptance learning cataloguing and classification: is it on popular massive open online courses (mooc) platforms? adebowale jeremy adetayo adeleke university, ede, osun state, nigeria abstract: the paper explores if cataloguing and classification (cat/class) can be learnt on popular mooc platforms and what can be done if nonexistent. different mooc platforms were explored with a concentration on edx and coursera. literature on moocs was examined, and findings were reported. it was observed that some library science courses are available on mooc platforms. however, no cat/class courses are available on edx or coursera. the majority of their library science courses did not cover the technical service aspects of librarianship. as a result, recommendations were made on how library stakeholders can play proactive roles in introducing cat/class to mooc platforms. this is one of the first papers to examine the subject of cat/class on mooc platforms. to cite this article: adetayo, a. j. (2023). learning cataloguing and classification: is it on popular massive open online courses (mooc) platforms? international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 103-110. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.286 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.286 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 103-110. issn: 2474-3542 learning cataloguing and classification: is it on popular massive open online courses (mooc) platforms adebowale jeremy adetayo adeleke university, ede, osun state, nigeria abstract the paper explores if cataloguing and classification (cat/class) can be learnt on popular mooc platforms and what can be done if nonexistent. different mooc platforms were explored with a concentration on edx and coursera. literature on moocs was examined, and findings were reported. it was observed that some library science courses are available on mooc platforms. however, no cat/class courses are available on edx or coursera. the majority of their library science courses did not cover the technical service aspects of librarianship. as a result, recommendations were made on how library stakeholders can play proactive roles in introducing cat/class to mooc platforms. this is one of the first papers to examine the subject of cat/class on mooc platforms. keywords: mooc, coursera, edx, cataloguing, classification, library science introduction in today's world, library science (ls) is an indispensable program. this is due to the importance of libraries in the development of students in schools and citizens in communities. the library not only gives a place to study but also an atmosphere in which to succeed (adetayo, 2022). libraries in tertiary institutions are critical to the success of any accreditation effort. that is one of the reasons i decided to take the program. the program covers indexing and abstracting, library administration, library organization, records management, electronic information resources, research methods (learn, 2020), and carrying out various library services such as reference, serial, circulation, technical service, and electronic services, among others. my experience in school with colleagues revealed that the technical service aspect, notably cat/class, was deemed to be the most difficult of the courses attended. many students eventually learn it on the job rather than in school. after graduating from library school, i was determined to improve my library science skills. cat/class were two skills i needed to work on. this was essential since one could have to work in the library's technical service division. so, i went online and looked for mooc classes that would help me expand my abilities in cat/class, such as using cataloguing tools, descriptive and subject cataloguing, and so on. library standards were also a vital aspect 104 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) to learn including rda (resource description and access), ifla’s bibliographic concepts, library of congress classification and library of congress subject headings. i chose to download certain mooc platforms, such as edx and coursera, to my phone. i searched the app for cat/class but came up with nothing. i also looked for specific aspects of cat/class, but the results did not match what i was looking for. i was astonished because, even though moocs advertise themselves as huge, there was nothing on the platforms that could educate about such a core part of librarianship. similarly, i searched for the courses on youtube and found some results, but none of them was excellent enough to truly teach cat/class courses, as mooc does for other programs. although i was subsequently able to obtain certain training links from the library of congress (lc) websites, such as catalogers' learning workshop, lc's bibframe, and sinopia (library of congress, 2022), it was nevertheless unexpected that cat/class were not available on mooc platforms. need for professional development opportunities in library technical services in africa library technical services are the backbone of library services in africa. these services constitute the acquisition, cat/class of library materials. it is so essential that everyone with a degree in library science is required to do the course, particularly in nigeria. cat/class, which is the technical service of interest, constitutes being skilled in different cat/class tools. in nigeria, most library schools restrict their practical teaching of cat/class to aacr2 (anglo-american cataloguing rules), with most graduates not conversant with rda (resource description and access). this means that graduates would not be able to perform their duties effectively based on rda rules which precisely represent the relations among entities and provide clearly bibliographic description to e-resources. also, some library science graduates find themselves working in an academic law library, which is different in its content, organization and use from other types of academic libraries. most law libraries in nigeria make use of moys classification schemes (john-okeke, 2017) different from lcc commonly used by academic libraries in nigeria. however, moys classification scheme is also not taught practically in most library science schools in nigeria, making most graduates ill-prepared for the law library thereby forcing them to learn on the job. the reason for this is that the practical training in library schools is often limited to lcc. these are the reasons why there is a need for professional development opportunities in library technical services in africa. collaborative possibilities in africa some collaborative opportunities in africa are geared towards knowledge acquisition. one such opportunity was when the nigeria library association signed a memorandum of understanding with the polish library association a few years ago. the memorandum created an opportunity for one nigerian librarian to visit and understudy selected polish libraries every year (idiegbeyan-ose et al., 2016). such memoranda should be signed with other library associations, which could afford many more librarians the opportunity to understudy established libraries around the world. to further expand the collaborative model between the nigeria library association and polish library association, it is essential to look at ways of broadening the scope of this partnership. one way to achieve this is by partnering with more library associations across the 105 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) globe. this will create more opportunities for knowledge exchange and acquisition between librarians in africa and established libraries worldwide. by partnering with other associations, more african librarians can gain access to a broader range of resources and expertise. moreover, expanding the number of participants involved in the study visits can significantly impact the number of librarians who can benefit from this program. at indicated above, only one librarian gets the opportunity to visit and understudy selected libraries in poland. expanding the number of participants in the program will increase the number of librarians who can benefit from the experience and knowledge acquired during these visits. conceptualizing moocs: are they really open (free) to anyone? dave cormier coined the term mooc in 2008 in response to connectivism and connective knowledge courses (bozkurt et al., 2016). mooc is an abbreviation for massive open online course. it is an online course designed for large-scale participation and open internet access (kaushik, 2020). at the beginning of mooc, the courses were completely tuition-free and some assumed that the ‘open’ meant tuition-free because they were delivered free at that point. however, as time went by with a lot of people making use of mooc platforms, the most popular mooc evolved into a freemium model. the first items to be converted from free to pay were certificates. then the graded assignments were placed behind a paywall. all the main mooc providers now have some courses entirely paid for. therefore, moocs can be termed today as being open to anyone and not necessarily free from charges. there are several mooc platforms available, including khan academy, udemy, futurelearn, udacity, open education europa, and the open university. regardless of the transition, moocs provide several advantages over traditional classroom-based approaches. the advantages of any-time learning, peer interactions on online forums, blended learning, instructor feedback, global exposure to a diverse group of learners, and inclusivity make them potentially significant change agents in higher education and employment (friedman, 2013). this article will, however, concentrate on two prominent ones: edx and coursera. this is because these two are from reputable universities. harvard university and the massachusetts institute of technology founded edx in 2012. it includes a large variety of practical courses that help students study at a distance. coursera is a platform developed by two stanford professors in 2012. it includes many practical courses that help students shape their future (roshi, 2022). what library science-related courses are available on edx and coursera? there are a couple of library science-related courses on mooc platforms. north carolina university offered a mooc called metadata in 2014. in 2018, duke launched a coursera mooc on "copyright for educators and librarians" and "copyright for multimedia." edx has some librarianship courses relating to public library systems which were delivered by the university of michigan such as identifying community needs for public library management, managing a diverse and inclusive workplace for public libraries, personnel management for public libraries, budgeting and finance for public libraries, infrastructure management for public libraries, strategic planning for public libraries, grant writing and crowdfunding for public libraries, and public library marketing and public relations. there are also a few library science courses on other mooc sites. however, none deals directly with cat/class which is core to the profession. also, sawant (2017) compiled a list of non-library and information science moocs useful for lis professionals and students in fields such as management, technology, marketing, and research. 106 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) why is cataloguing/classification missing? i decided to investigate why cat/class courses aren't available on major mooc platforms. after investigating, it was not clear why it was not included. one possible explanation for this may be the difficulty of delivering this content in an engaging and interactive manner. cat/class can be complex and technical topics and may require a significant amount of hands-on practice to master (snow & hoffman, 2015). however, with the right instructional design and use of technology, it is possible to create engaging and interactive learning experiences that can help learners develop the skills they need to become proficient in cat/class. additionally, there may be a lack of demand for cat/class courses on mooc platforms. while there is certainly a need for individuals with these skills in the library and information science field, there may not be as much demand for these skills outside of that industry. as such, mooc platforms may not see these courses as a high priority especially given the evolution of moocs from fully free to a freemium platform over the years (johnson, 2019; shah, 2017), it would not be surprising if cat/class is omitted for commercial reasons. libraries are not profit-oriented institutions with a measurable return on investment. this could be part of the reasons for the omissions. a financial profit-oriented strategy for mooc platforms, which contradicts what some understand 'open' to be (i.e., making learning free), makes it difficult to build products that do not generate significant revenue for the organizations. despite the current absence of cat/class courses on mooc platforms, there is still a great need for individuals with expertise in these areas. it is important for the library and information science community to continue advocating for the inclusion of cat/class courses on mooc platforms and to develop innovative approaches to deliver this content to learners. what can be done for inclusion? cat/class are too vital to be left out on popular mooc platforms. to change the status quo, library associations, well-established libraries, library schools and library professionals and educators have a role to play. library associations: library associations can take the lead in contacting major mooc platforms to educate them on the benefits of including cat/class within their course offerings. they can persuade them that there are potentially thousands of people who would join the course. every country in the world has library schools with many students studying library and information science who would use their platforms to access the course. furthermore, library professionals may be found not just in libraries but also in other businesses where information and knowledge are managed. library associations should also encourage their members to participate in the development of cat/class course for mooc platforms. they can also serve as a conduit for connecting mooc platform administrators with library science professionals who can assist in the design of cat/class courses. these and many more are the roles library associations would have to take. established libraries: although some efforts have been to get libraries involved in moocs, one of which was the oclc conference which discusses library engagement in moocs in three categories: 1) copyright clearance and the location of alternatives such as creative commons content and other free sources; 2) course creation; and 3) the implementation of best practices and policies (pagore & chalukya, 2020). however, despite well-established libraries 107 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) such as the library of congress having outstanding training programs on their website, there are no courses on cat/class on prominent mooc platforms. libraries, such as lc, can collaborate with mooc platforms to get part of their cat/class training done on the platforms. their contributors can also sign memorandums of understanding with the platforms to get acknowledged for their work. this should also be done by other libraries that offer quality training that can be put to mooc platforms. library academics and professionals: there are many library academics and professionals who are doing their quota by teaching cat/class on youtube and other social media platforms. however, this is not always as high-quality and well-organized as mooc platforms. these professionals can collaborate with mooc platforms to plan their instruction in a way that simulates real classroom education. moocs would make learning easier since they incorporate the use of text, videos, and tasks to ensure that learning has occurred. certificates would also be given out at the end of the course. mooc models would be extremely beneficial to students. library schools: library faculties’ staff should link up with other colleagues that have a presence on mooc platforms. since these colleagues have already worked with some of these platforms, they would be well-informed about how to go about having a cat/class presence on the mooc platforms. this will ease the process of getting on the platforms. open education resources (oers) consideration open education resources are becoming increasingly popular in the world of education. they are defined as freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media useful for teaching, learning, and assessing, and for research purposes (unesco, 2019). this definition highlights the purpose of oers, which is to make education accessible to everyone, regardless of their location or financial situation. as a result, various oer platforms such as openstax, oer commons, and openlearn have been developed. while oers and moocs share some similarities, they differ in several aspects. moocs are typically structured courses with a specific start and end date, while oers are self-contained educational resources that can be used independently or as part of a course. moocs often have a fee associated with them, while oers are typically free to access (ramirez-montoya, 2020; unisa, 2023). library cat/class courses are often missing from popular mooc platforms, but oers offer a potential solution to this problem. by providing self-contained educational resources, oers allow students to learn at their own pace, without the constraints of a structured course. this can be particularly useful for library cat/class courses, as it allows students to focus on specific aspects of the subject matter, without being required to complete an entire course. the potential of oers for library cat/class education is significant. by providing free and open access to educational resources, oers can make education accessible to individuals who may not otherwise have the means to access it. furthermore, the modular nature of oers allows for a customized learning experience tailored to the student's specific needs. models for incorporating cat/class into moocs and oers in recent years, there has been a growing interest in incorporating lis courses into moocs to provide wider access to these essential topics for learners worldwide. several models have 108 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) been proposed to guide the development and delivery of moocs that effectively integrate cat/class into their curricula. one such model, proposed by tsabedze (2021), consists of four phases: analysis, design, development, and evaluation. this model aims to provide a framework for developing and delivering library and information science courses that are relevant, accessible, and affordable for learners in eswatini. the analysis phase involves identifying the target audience, their needs and preferences, and the expected learning outcomes. the design phase involves creating a syllabus, selecting appropriate resources and materials, and designing assessment tasks that align with the learning outcomes. it also involves selecting the appropriate moocs platform and oer materials, as well as developing a quality assurance framework and a communication plan. the development phase involves developing the content, activities and materials for the lis courses using moocs and oer. it also involves testing and validating the courses for functionality, usability, and accessibility. the evaluation phase involves assessing the effectiveness and impact of the mooc and oer, using feedback from learners, instructors, and stakeholders, and using the results to improve the mooc in future iterations. in another article, tsabedze and saulus (2022) proposed two strategies for integrating moocs in lis education: flipped classroom and blended learning. these strategies can be useful for incorporating cat/class courses on moocs. the flipped classroom strategy involves using moocs as a pre-class activity to provide learners with the basic concepts and theories of cat/class. this allows learners to engage in more in-depth discussions, exercises, and projects during face-to-face sessions, which can deepen their understanding of cat/class. this strategy can enhance the learner's motivation, interaction, and collaboration while reducing the instructor's workload and increasing the efficiency of classroom time. however, the blended learning strategy involves using moocs as a supplementary resource to complement existing cat/class courses offered by higher education institutions. learners can access moocs at their own pace and convenience, using them to reinforce or extend their learning of cat/class topics. this strategy can enhance the learner's autonomy, flexibility, and diversity, while increasing the quality and variety of cat/class content and materials. in summary, the incorporation of cat/class into moocs requires careful planning, design, and implementation using appropriate models and strategies. these efforts can increase the accessibility, affordability, and effectiveness of lis education for learners worldwide. conclusion library science is an essential field that plays a significant role in providing quality library services, particularly in africa, where technical services are the backbone of libraries. however, graduates of library science programs often lack adequate training in critical skills like cat/class, leaving them ill-prepared for the job market. despite the potential benefits of moocs, such as anytime learning, peer interactions, blended learning, instructor feedback, global exposure to diverse learners, and inclusivity, moocs do not currently offer sufficient resources to learn these crucial skills. although moocs have evolved from being entirely tuition-free to adopting a freemium model with some courses behind a paywall, library stakeholders must ensure that cat/class is made available on popular mooc platforms. this approach will enable learners to acquire and sharpen their skills and prepare them for the professional world. therefore, it is critical that library science schools and stakeholders 109 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) collaborate to identify the skills gap and design appropriate moocs to fill it, ensuring that library science students receive comprehensive training and exposure to new technologies and best practices in the field. this way, they will be better equipped to face the challenges of providing quality library services to meet the ever-growing information needs of their users in the 21st century. references adetayo, a. j. (2022). building civic engagement in smart cities: role of smart libraries. in handbook of research on the role of libraries, archives, and museums in achieving civic engagement and social justice in smart cities (pp. 314–333). igi global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8363-0.ch017 bozkurt, a., keskin, n. o., & waard, i. de. (2016). research trends in massive open online course (mooc) theses and dissertations... open praxis, 8(3), 203–221. friedman, t. l. (2013, january 13). revolution hits the universities. the new york times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-theuniversities.html idiegbeyan-ose, j., ifijeh, g., adebayo, o., & segun-adeniran, c. (2016). new paradigms in cataloguing in the 21st century: a review of implications and adoption of new strategies for nigerian libraries. bilgi dünyası, 17(1), 120–134. https://doi.org/10.15612/bd.2016.500 john-okeke, r. (2017). availability and utilisation of cataloguing tools and resources in university law libraries in southern nigeria. international journal of academic library and information science, 5(4), 128–135. https://www.academicresearchjournals.org/ijalis/abstract/2017/june/johnokeke.htm johnson, s. (2019, february 26). much ado about moocs: where are we in the evolution of online courses? edsurge news. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-26much-ado-about-moocs-where-are-we-in-the-evolution-of-online-courses kaushik, a. (2020). literature on massive open online courses (moocs) and library and information science: an analysis. library philosophy and practice (e-journal). https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/4210 learn. (2020, august 25). what are the courses in a bachelor’s of library science degree program? https://learn.org/articles/what_are_the_core_courses_of_a_bachelor_of_library_sci ence_degree_program.html library of congress. (2022, february 9). catalogers learning workshop (clw), program for cooperative cataloging, library of congress. https://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/ pagore, r., & chalukya, b. v. (2020). academic libraries and moocs era. in reinventing academic libraries. atharva publication. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359392763_academic_libraries_and_mo ocs_era ramirez-montoya, m. s. (2020). moocs and oer: developments and contributions for https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8363-0.ch017 https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-the-universities.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-the-universities.html https://doi.org/10.15612/bd.2016.500 https://www.academicresearchjournals.org/ijalis/abstract/2017/june/john-okeke.htm https://www.academicresearchjournals.org/ijalis/abstract/2017/june/john-okeke.htm https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-26-much-ado-about-moocs-where-are-we-in-the-evolution-of-online-courses https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-26-much-ado-about-moocs-where-are-we-in-the-evolution-of-online-courses https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/4210 https://learn.org/articles/what_are_the_core_courses_of_a_bachelor_of_library_science_degree_program.html https://learn.org/articles/what_are_the_core_courses_of_a_bachelor_of_library_science_degree_program.html https://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359392763_academic_libraries_and_moocs_era https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359392763_academic_libraries_and_moocs_era 110 adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(3) open education and open science. in lecture notes in educational technology (pp. 159–175). springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4276-3_10/figures/8 roshi, l. (2022, april 22). edx vs coursera: most popular moocs comparison (2022). codeless. https://codeless.co/best-online-course-platforms/edx-vs-coursera/ sawant, s. (2017). non library oriented moocs useful for lis professionals and students. library hi tech news, 34(9), 19–20. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn-05-20170032/full/xml shah, d. (2017, april 25). moocs started out completely free. where are they now? class central. https://www.classcentral.com/report/moocs-started-completely-freenow/ snow, k., & hoffman, g. l. (2015). what makes an effective cataloging course? a study of the factors that promote learning. library resources & technical services, 59(4), 187–199. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/lrts/article/view/5785/7250 tsabedze, v., & saulus, n. (2022). efficiency of moocs in leveraging access and quality library and information science education in the era of covid-19 in eswatini. journal of library & information services in distance learning, 16(1), 59–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/1533290x.2022.2035477 tsabedze, v. wonderboy. (2021). moocs and oer: a model for library and information science education. internet reference services quarterly, 25(3), 87–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2021.1930621 unesco. (2019). open educational resources. https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources unisa. (2023). oers & moocs open educational resources. libguides. https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/c.php?g=355663&p=2399346 about the author adebowale jeremy adetayo is an academic staff of adeleke university. his research interests are information science, information management, and library science. he has published many articles in reputable journals and is currently working on projects relating to library technologies. he has a phd degree in library and information science. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4276-3_10/figures/8 https://codeless.co/best-online-course-platforms/edx-vs-coursera/ https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn-05-2017https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn-05-2017https://www.classcentral.com/report/moocs-started-completely-free-now/ https://www.classcentral.com/report/moocs-started-completely-free-now/ https://journals.ala.org/index.php/lrts/article/view/5785/7250 https://doi.org/10.1080/1533290x.2022.2035477 https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2021.1930621 https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/c.php?g=355663&p=2399346 7-286 title page 7-286 article microsoft word ijol-6-2-8-titlepage.docx issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: https://journal.calaijol.org implementation of a secure room booking system at the university of manitoba libraries wei xuan abstract: providing group study rooms is an important service offered by a university library to support learning and collaboration. a good room booking system should be convenient for students to use and would require a minimum involvement of library staff regarding managing bookings and keys. this article studied the implementation of the juno secure room booking system at the library to replace libcal, which is a popular room booking system used by a large number of university libraries in north america. this article discussed the advantages that the juno system has compared to libcal, the design of an online booking website using the juno application programming interface (api), and the enhancement the library designed and developed based on student feedback. this article also discussed how the library successfully engaged a college to use this system to manage study rooms for classes and exams. to cite this article: xuan, w. (2021). implementation of a secure room booking system at the university of manitoba libraries. international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 63-72. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.2.194 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(2), 63-72. issn: 2474-3542 implementation of a secure room booking system at the university of manitoba libraries wei xuan, university of manitoba libraries abstract providing group study rooms is an important service offered by a university library to support learning and collaboration. a good room booking system should be convenient for students to use and would require a minimum involvement of library staff regarding managing bookings and keys. this article studied the implementation of the juno secure room booking system at the library to replace libcal, which is a popular room booking system used by a large number of university libraries in north america. this article discussed the advantages that the juno system has compared to libcal, the design of an online booking website using the juno application programming interface (api), and the enhancement the library designed and developed based on student feedback. this article also discussed how the library successfully engaged a college to use this system to manage study rooms for classes and exams. keywords: juno secure room booking, libcal, master pin, library enhancement introduction providing students with group study rooms is one of the services that has become more and more popular at university libraries when the library’s objective shifts from building a complete collection to supporting learning and collaboration. with the increased usage of group study rooms, a robust system that can free library staff from the time-consuming process of manually managing room bookings through a binder has gained a great interest among the university library community. libcal (springshare, 2020), an online platform provided by springshare (springshare, 2021), contains a room-booking feature and has been adopted by a large number of university libraries. although libcal perfectly solves the challenge of automating room booking, as a purely online system, it leaves to the library the issue of managing the keys to study rooms. as a result, most libraries using libcal choose to keep the study rooms’ doors unlocked instead of manually locking/unlocking the doors for students. it causes some concerns among students, including the risks a single user takes when in leaving their belongings unattended in a study room. to make the most use of online room bookings and avoid the inconvenience of manually assigning keys to study rooms, the university of manitoba library (uml) implemented a new secure room booking system, the juno secure room booking (juno) system from telepen xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 64 (telepen, 2021). compared to libcal, the juno system has all the benefits of online booking and, additionally, provides a secure way to control access to study rooms. although the juno system was purchased from telepen, the uml designed and developed its own room booking website as a front end to work with it. with feedback about the juno system collected from students, in 2019, the uml developed a local database system that is an enhancement to the juno system. the local system improves the booking process and engages more users. literature review nelson (2016) reviewed the libcal product and especially analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of its three components: the appointment scheduler, event scheduler, and room booking service. he pointed out the available features, such as booking mediation, the use of public nicknames, etc. are very beneficial to the library. libcal’s room booking service frees staff from managing bookings manually. with a very supportive service from springshare, once initially configured, the room booking feature requires minimal maintenance. teng (2014) discussed the implementation of an online room-booking system based on a self-designed database. this system recognized the value of booking hotel rooms through an internet browser. active server pages (asp) was used for the development of the booking website and a structured query language (sql) database was used on the backend to store data. this article briefly discussed the website structure but did not give any details about each of the web pages. the discussion about the backend of the system was only at the module levels. the author highlighted various modules for specific functions in the system but did not present how data was exchanged between different modules. akkurt (2016) observed the change in users’ needs for group study rooms due to the emergence of project-based researches. the library was using a booking module in the integrated library system (ils) for the reservation of study rooms and carrels. being online and allowing self-service were the two major conveniences the library had taken into consideration. the author mentioned this approach worked well but failed to keep up with user demand due to the original design of the ils. since the vendor could not provide a solution, the library had to eventually use in-house software. the technical software staff worked with the circulation team to develop and update the software. fondren library at rice university also noticed the major disadvantage of patrons using the booking module from an ils was the lack of a visual calendar (galvin, sun, & lee, 2018). fondren library adopted an open-source system, which was called "booked", to manage room bookings but still used the ils to manage the keys. however, since there was no integration between the ils and booked, the library was facing a great challenge in synchronizing information between the two systems. in the end, the solution the library used was to call web apis to trigger synchronization and reverse synchronization of transaction data. the author also admitted that such a mechanism was complicated. xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 65 unable to find appropriate systems on the market, ball state university (hafner, seaton, & faust, 2010) implemented an in-house web application, room scheduler 1.0, in 2008 to allow online reservation for study rooms in the library. an upgraded version was released in 2010 and the system was renamed as openroom which was shared under the gnu general public license. the system was taken over by queens college and the source code with major modifications was published on github (williams & hada, 2017). at the uml, the juno system was piloted in one branch in 2016 and implemented in five more branches in 2017. a user experience review on this room booking system was carried out in 2018. based on the feedback collected in this study, in 2019, an enhancement to the juno system was designed and developed by the uml staff. with this uml-developed enhancement, the juno room booking system was finally implemented in the health science branch, and the libraries also successfully engaged the college of medicine to use our system to manage rooms for classes and exams. this article reviewed the implementation of the juno system. particularly, this article discussed the benefits of migrating to the juno system from other applications, the library-designed room booking portal for students and library staff, user experience with the juno system, and the enhancement to the portal. selection of the juno system before migrating to the juno system, the uml was using various approaches to manage study room bookings in different branches. some branches, including one of the busiest branches on the campus, were using binders to manually manage those bookings. students had to either come to or call the circulation desk to book a room. they also had to first come to the circulation desk in order to be allowed to enter into a study room. this method not only significantly increases the workload for staff but also makes the circulation desk staffed all the time. some branches were using an online platform, libcal, from springshare (springshare, 2020) to manage study rooms. libcal was easy to configure and use. however, it did not provide key control access for room access. in some branches where the study rooms were always locked, staff had to manually collect the keys. in other branches where the study rooms were unlocked, staff had to intervene, from time to time, to ensure students who made the bookings were able to use the rooms during booked time slots. in addition, libcal couldn't release unused time slots. if students could not make it during the booked time slots, libcal didn't have the function of updating the room status in real-time. as a result, the unused time slots caused by students not showing up caused a waste of limited library resources. besides the disadvantages of the above methods, some branches needed to always reserve certain rooms for students from particular colleges, usually the college/department that they liaise with. although libcal was used in those branches, staff had to exclude those rooms from the system as it provided no access control. staff had to rely on a binder to manually manage room bookings, hand out and take back keys to those reserved rooms. in 2016, the uml was switching to a new service model, which required staff to focus on providing services of high quality to faculty and students. the uml was looking for a way to xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 66 provide a consistent room booking mechanism across branches, extend study room hours, and, at the same time, free staff from the time-consuming tasks of managing rooms and keys. eventually, the juno system was identified as a product that best met the libraries' interests because of the features below. • keyless – staff no longer need to manage keys. • secure – users have to use a system-generated pin to enter a room during the booked period. • online – the system provides a website where users can make/edit/cancel bookings. • instant – room bookings can be made instantly at the door of a study room. • integrated – the system can be connected to the integrated library system (ils) so that user accounts will be created automatically. one particular feature the uml was very interested in is the juno system’s ability to release a room when “no show” happens. it is inevitable that a student makes a booking of a study room but fails to show up during the booked period. it causes complaints from other students and wastes limited library resources. neither the manually-managed binder nor libcal had an automatic solution to the situation. the juno system would release a booked study room after a period, which is determined by the library, if the student cannot make it. in addition, the juno system also provides comprehensive usage reports, which can be based on a specific user, or a specific room, or room type, or a branch, or even a whole library. implementation of the juno system the implementation of the juno system at the uml could be split into three main parts (figure 1): • hardware: it includes the installation and configuration of a wall box at the door of a study room. the wall box is used to control access to the study room. during a booked period, the student needs to swipe a valid student card and tab a pin on the wall box to enter the room. the wall box can also be used to make bookings for the particular room where it is installed. • software: it includes the installation of the juno database, the configuration of the juno server, and the development of an online booking website. the juno database is where data in the juno system is stored. the juno server contains the main function service, a client program, and a web service. the main function service communicates directly with the wall boxes and uses information from the juno database to manage bookings and control access to study rooms. the client program is the interface for library staff where libraries, study rooms, hours, booking privileges, etc. in the juno system can be configured. it can also be installed on any staff workstations rather than the juno server. the web service is a representational state transfer (rest) server which is used by our online booking website. the website was purely designed and developed by the uml as we realized the out-of-box web application offered by telepen did not meet our needs. • training and promotion: it includes the training provided to library staff on how to use this system and the activities to promote the juno system by the uml. xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 67 hardware the uml had to install electric strike locks for all study rooms in order for the juno wall box to control access. the electric strike keeps the door locked all the time as long as the door is closed. people inside a study room can simply twist the handle to open the door regardless of the situation of the electric strike. the juno wall box uses a relay output to interrupt the power to the strike in order to unlock the door. another decision the uml made regarding hardware was to use juno wall boxes that support power over ethernet (poe). a regular juno wall box needs both power and data ports. a power module can be built inside the wall box to support poe. although it slightly increased the device cost, it made a big saving to the uml as a separated power wiring to the wall box was no longer needed. the installation was carried out by the department of physical plant at the university. a common mistake made by the physical plant was that the wires in the juno wall box were not connected correctly. figure 1 three components in the juno implementation software the juno database and the juno main function service were installed by telepen on a server provided by the library. during the implementation, the juno client program, which could be used by the system administrator to configure study rooms, hours, user groups, privileges, etc., could be installed on the same server. once we went live with the juno system, we installed the client program at circulation desks so that staff can manage room bookings. the juno client program allows library staff to view and delete room bookings. however, library staff cannot create or edit room bookings through the juno client program. once a group study room is booked, the booking cannot be edited. it can only be canceled by the user or deleted by library staff. to book a study room, all users, including students and library staff, have to use either the wall box or a website. the wall box can be used to book the room where it is installed, while the website can be used to book any rooms in the juno system. xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 68 the vendor-provided room booking website is packed in a dynamic-link library (dll) file to protect the source code. because of this, it only allows minimum customization. and the library has to convert text messages to images, follow some specific rules to name these images, and upload them to a dedicated folder in order for the dll file to use these images as title, instruction, etc on the web page. the library has no way to add alternative attributes to the web page. although the vendor-provided online application requires minimum maintenance from the library, it did not meet the accessibility requirement from the uml. another drawback with the vendor-provided room booking website is that it only supports one schedule for a library. one branch at the uml has different schedules for two types of study rooms. due to the schedule issue, two libraries need to be created in the juno sentry system for this branch, one library for the first type of study rooms and another library for the second type, which would create great confusion for students. this option would create more confusion for users than provide scheduling convenience. because of the drawbacks with the vendor-provided website, the uml decided to design and develop our own room booking website, on which the juno api was used for the following purposes. 1. create/retrieve/update user profiles. 2. retrieve room availability 3. create/retrieve/update/delete room bookings. one advantage of developing the library's own room booking website is that various features can be customized to improve user experience. one example is the automatic creation of user profiles in the system. when a user logs into the room booking website, if the webserver cannot use a unique user identifier to retrieve the user profile from the juno system, it will assume that it's the user's first time to use the room booking system and the user hasn't had a profile yet. thus, the website will retrieve the user information from the integrated library system (ils) and use it to create a user profile in the juno system. otherwise, the user would have to go to a circulation desk to have the profile manually created by the staff. consequently, this automated process of creating user profiles saves both staff and users’ time. regarding the issue of two schedules within one library, our solution was to create two libraries in the juno system to set up different schedules for different rooms but group these rooms together on the room booking website. this way, when users check those two types of rooms, they only see one library, which is consistent with their physical experience. on the back end, the website checks room availability in two juno libraries and presents such information in one category to users. another major advantage of developing our own room booking website is to meet the accessibility requirements. at the design stage, from how to organize elements for the user interface to how to select color scheme, we paid special consideration to users with visual disabilities. at the development stage, the online booking website was tested by both the user experience librarian at the library and staff from the office of disability studies at the university. the website complies with the accessibility standards. xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 69 training and promotion the juno system caused great interest among staff at the uml. the informational/training sessions about it were booked rapidly. two types of sessions were provided by the library's system department. the more general session targets regular library staff and provides information on how the juno system works, how students use it, etc. the more specific session targets staff at the circulation desk and provides training on how to manage room bookings, generate reports and troubleshoot. the uml used various methods, such as web pages, posters, and brochures, to promote the juno system to students. we even made videos about the juno system and put them on the library's website. enhancement to the juno system the enhancements extend the juno sentry room booking system with two new features: a peruser master pin setting and an automatic concurrent-booking capability. these features were integrated into our web-based room booking system that is implemented using php, javascript/ajax, html/css, and mysql. interaction with the juno system is via the rest api and mysql database. the master pin feature implements an override mechanism for the juno system’s autogenerated pin used for access to booked rooms. a user of our web-based ui can set a preferred four-digit master pin or choose to continue using the system-generated random pin. to book a room using the master pin (when chosen), our system makes the requisite rest api call, and, on success, uses the resulting identifier of the room booking to find and update the systemgenerated pin in the mysql database. this correctly sets the access pin to a value that the user chose. possible errors that may arise with the different components are communicated appropriately to the user to ensure that they will have the correct pin for access to the room. the concurrent-booking feature is a solution to a major limitation of the juno system: a single account cannot book more than one room for a given time range. to overcome this limitation, we enhanced our web-based ui and system logic to automatically create and manage “shadow” user accounts in the juno system as required. by utilizing additional shadow accounts that are linked with a user’s main account, a single user can then book more than one room even if the booked times for those rooms overlap. under normal circumstances, when a user attempts to book a room in a time range that overlaps with another room that they (or any other user) have booked, the juno system indicates this as an "already booked" error. we detect this error and then load and check all existing bookings in the database for the time range in question. if the room and time range is booked by another user, then the error is valid, and this is reported to the current user. however, if the room and time range are not booked (i.e., the "already booked" error is due to the current user attempting to book overlapping times for different rooms), then we apply our shadow account algorithm. a shadow account is chosen based on existing and overlapping bookings that were made by the user's primary account or any in-effect shadow accounts linked to the primary account. xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 70 when an unused shadow account for the time range is available, that shadow account is used in the subsequent booking rest api call. however, when there are no shadow accounts (i.e., firstever concurrent booking for the user) or no shadow accounts available (i.e., pre-created shadow accounts are all used for existing and overlapping bookings), then a new shadow account must be created before the booking can be completed. to create a new shadow account, a database call is used to copy the user's primary account record to a new shadow account record. the new shadow account is "linked" to the primary account by setting the new name the same as the primary name but appending a serial number that can be tracked and managed. this naming pattern ensures the uniqueness of the shadow account and enables other parts of our system to accommodate the extra accounts in a simple way that is transparent to the user. the master pin feature frees students from remembering the 4-digit pin for each of their bookings. in the past, when a study room was booked, the juno system randomly generated a 4digit pin. the pin had to be used to open the door of the study room for the booked period. when a student made a number of bookings, she/he had to track which pin should be used for which booking. now, the student only needs to set up a 4-digit pin in the account and this master pin will be used for all her/his bookings in the juno system. the master pin feature allows the university of manitoba libraries (uml) to provide a better booking service to students. frequently, a library has to book study rooms for certain purposes. an example is that an instructor needs to use a study room from 1 pm to 2 pm every day for a period of two weeks. the juno system does not provide a different way for library staff to book study rooms. they have to use the same website as students to make a booking and share the pin with the requester. in the above example, staff would have to share, with the instructor, 10 pins each of which should be used for a particular day in the two-week period. the complexity was not encouraging instructors to use this service. with the master pin feature, in the above example, only one pin would be used. it greatly improved the booking service provided by the libraries. the concurrent-booking feature allows the libraries to attract more faculty and institutional members to use study rooms. in the juno system, a patron could only book one study room at any particular time. the rationale is that one person could not occupy two study rooms at the same time. this ignores the fact that library staff often to make bookings on behalf of patrons. there are 11 study rooms in our health science library. sometimes, the colleges that the health science library liaises with need to use those study rooms for interviews and training for several days. in this situation, the library has to close the study rooms in the juno system and use physical keys to open and lock the rooms. it not only increases the workload for library staff but also makes the study rooms unavailable in the evenings when they are not used by the college. with the concurrent-booking feature, in the above situation, library staff can simply book all the 11 study rooms during the day for the college and students will still be able to use those rooms in the evening. conclusion xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 71 after the implementation of the enhancements, we noticed a significant increase in room bookings in the system. there were 2,255 unique logins from students in the first five weeks, based on the number of entries in the table that records every user’s master pin and other variables. figure 2 presents the total bookings made in each month of the 2018 fall semester with the same period in 2019. figure 3 presents the total users who booked rooms in each month of the 2018 fall semester with the same period in 2019. figure 2 total room bookings made in 2018 & 2019 fall semesters figure 3 total users that made room bookings in 2018 & 2019 fall semesters 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 september october november december total room bookings 2018 2019 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 september october november december total users 2018 2019 xuan / international journal of librarianship 6(2) 72 with this technology application, the libraries successfully engaged the college of medicine, which is one of the faculties that the health science library provides services to, to use our juno system. they were looking for a system so that their staff could easily manage the bookings. the library presented the juno system and our development work to the college. the enhancement solves the issues that the college of medicine was facing with the study room bookings. after careful consideration, the college decided to use the libraries’ room booking system. now, the college of medicine uses the 11 study rooms in the health science library for the purpose of classes and exams. references akkurt, m. (2016). chapter 6 innovations in user services at sabancı university information center. in customer service in academic libraries (p. 83,101). galvin, d., sun, m., & lee, h. (2018). the tools we don’t have: future and current inventory management in a room reservation system. code4lib journal, (41). retrieved from https://doaj.org/article/17d65c519eba48a784f24c8aee2b9ee9 hafner, a. w., seaton, r. l., & faust, b. d. (2010). openroom: making room reservation easy for students and faculty. code4lib journal, (10). retrieved from https://doaj.org/article/f03e86ee6ca54827a209798ccb3ba7e4 nelson, g. (2016). libcal: a product review. reference librarian, 57(1), 57,72. retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1793272430/ springshare. (2020). libcal. retrieved december 1, 2020, from https://www.springshare.com/libcal/ springshare. (2021). about springshare. retrieved june 15, 2021, from https://www.springshare.com/about.html telepen. (2020). juno secure room booking. retrieved october 23, 2020, from https://telepen.co.uk/library-room-booking-system/ telepen. (2021). about us. teng, p. (2014). online room-booking system based on database. applied mechanics and materials, 513–517(applied science, materials science and information technologies in industry), 1748,1751. williams, d., & hada, k. (2017). the best tool for the job: revisiting an open source library project. d lib magazine, 23(7/8). https://doi.org/10.1045/july2017-williams about the author wei xuan is assistant librarian and head of libraries systems at the university of manitoba libraries. he has been playing an active role in numerous projects focused on systems interoperability, data protection and accessibility. his current research interests include resource evaluation, data management and library technology. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 134-135 issn: 2474-3542 smart libraries and information management in digital environment. eds. neena singh & sewa singh, b r publishing corporation, new delhi, 2022, isbn 9789391123581 “it is always good to look out of the box" smart libraries and information management in digital environment is a two-volume anthology with 36 essays that deal with various aspects of theory, equipment and perspectives as well as the technical, social and political significance of the smart library from an expert point of view. both volumes provide a comprehensive overview of concepts and practical applications in a "smart library". some things still seem visionary, other essays point to concrete practical tools, already used in many libraries. the anthology has been edited and compiled by dr. neena singh, heading the university library of g.b. pant university of agriculture and technology and by dr. sewa singh, a retired professor and expert in library science. it is published by b r publishing corporation, new delhi, 2022, isbn 9789391123581 more than 50 academics and librarian experts have contributed to this anthology. they mainly are from india, but also librarians and academics from nigeria, russia, tanzania, sri lanka, canada, uganda, nepal, estonia and kenya have also contributed. the first volume deals with the definition of a "smart" managed and well-stocked library from different perspectives. what tasks need to be considered in a technical and an economic sense and although in relation to a country's educational cooperation? what makes a library smart? who is involved and how does it affect users and staff? what technical requirements and what software and hardware are necessary to cover the spectrum of a smart library? the authors describe which technical offers the market makes, e.g. how qr codes are used. how savings can be achieved despite the extension of opening hours, e.g. via a kiosk solution using rfid technology, what advantages students and scientists have via remote access to their library, and the more or less visionary idea of delivering books by drone in regions that are difficult to reach in terms of transport. there is a wide range of ideas, which are here presented and discussed. several essays deal intensively with the technical requirements for setting up a “smart library”, examine the use by pupils, students and scientific staff, point out the economic advantages of a technically well-equipped library, both from the point of view of management and staff as well as also from the point of view of the user. being a “smart library” means establishing new services and new internal work processes, adapting the distributions of resources and finding new way to introduce and support them, for example, within the framework of certified quality management. especially in the first volume, it becomes clear that a user-friendly, technically wellequipped and networked library serves society and that smartly designed academic libraries are also important for universities. the second volume deals primarily with specific applications, with the effects on employees and users, with the organization and changes in work processes in a smart library. krompholz-roehl / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 135 what advantages does a virtual information desk offer, for example? how does the inclusion of social media in public relations work? what does the support of the scientific staff through open access and publication platforms mean for the media offer? what tools and apps are there that users can use to get access to their libraries at any time? using the example of a school library network in nigeria shows the possibilities offered by cloud use and networking with other libraries. thinking outside the box is important. it is necessary in order to give libraries all over the world an impression of the prospects opened up by technical developments. the changes caused by the pandemic, war and climate events, higher energy prices or inflation have an impact on the economic situation of the library operators and that means on the entire library system and its users. as a professional one has to think forward, let oneself be inspired. both volumes should find their place in library educational institutions, should be accessible to students, educators and scholars involved in library development. this anthology shows decision-makers in politics and education the potential that smart libraries offer for a free and worldwide access to information, for the educational opportunities of students and for the economic operation of a university. --brigitte krompholz-roehl (retired head of the public liberary göttingen), germany issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the library as a campus sustainability hub: a case study in increasing community engagement & collaboration in sustainability through academic libraries jennifer k. embree and neyda v. gilman abstract: as the topic of sustainability becomes more relevant to all types of libraries, two academic science librarians share a case study on identifying and filling gaps in sustainability-related engagement, education, and collaboration at a mid-sized r1 research university. seeking to transform their academic library into a campus sustainability hub, the two authors began working towards this ambitious goal by establishing strong partnerships with sustainability-minded organizations and individuals both on and off campus, as well as by prioritizing the creation of community-centered programming that would engage audiences in sustainability content, research, and activism. after more than a year of building collaborations and fostering community engagement, they were successful in accomplishing their goal of establishing their academic library as a campus sustainability hub. this case study provides more details on how the librarians reached this goal, including why they initially decided to undertake such a large task, how they chose to define a “sustainability hub,” what benchmarks they needed to meet in order to obtain this status, how they reached these benchmarks, and how they plan on continuing to grow this initiative. to cite this article: embree, j.k., & gilman, n.v. (2020). the library as a campus sustainability hub: a case study in increasing community engagement & collaboration in sustainability through academic libraries. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 26-44. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.172 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 26-44. issn: 2474-3542 the library as a campus sustainability hub: a case study in increasing community engagement & collaboration in sustainability through academic libraries jennifer k. embree and neyda v. gilman binghamton university, binghamton, new york, usa abstract as the topic of sustainability becomes more relevant to all types of libraries, two academic science librarians share a case study on identifying and filling gaps in sustainability-related engagement, education, and collaboration at a mid-sized r1 research university. seeking to transform their academic library into a campus sustainability hub, the two authors began working towards this ambitious goal by establishing strong partnerships with sustainability-minded organizations and individuals both on and off campus, as well as by prioritizing the creation of community-centered programming that would engage audiences in sustainability content, research, and activism. after more than a year of building collaborations and fostering community engagement, they were successful in accomplishing their goal of establishing their academic library as a campus sustainability hub. this case study provides more details on how the librarians reached this goal, including why they initially decided to undertake such a large task, how they chose to define a “sustainability hub,” what benchmarks they needed to meet in order to obtain this status, how they reached these benchmarks, and how they plan on continuing to grow this initiative. keywords: sustainability, sustainable libraries, academic libraries, sustainability hubs, sustainability programming, library engagement introduction in 2019, the american library association (ala) declared sustainable development to be a core part of librarianship. the 2019 ala president, loida garcia-febo, stated that “libraries are helping to better the education and the lifelong learning of the communities they serve. by adding sustainability to its core values, ala is recognizing that libraries of all types can act as catalysts and inspire future generations to reach solutions that are not only sensible but essential to sustaining life on this planet” (american library association, 2019). it is with these sentiments in mind that two librarians employed at the binghamton university libraries’ science library branch first immersed themselves in sustainability-related programming and collaborations on their campus. although these initiatives were originally embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 27 pursued due to their personal passion for sustainability, they quickly realized the potential of channeling their enthusiasm and utilizing it to bring about greater change both within the libraries and within their campus community. literature review sustainability in higher education: aashe, acupcc, & the un’s sustainable development goals since the first environmental studies department in the united states was established at middlebury college in 1965 (kane & sklar, 2014), campus communities across the world have been advocating for environmental sustainability to be a priority in higher education institutions. in 2005, the association for advancement of sustainability in higher education (aashe) was established, demonstrating the strong interest in integrating sustainability considerations into higher education settings. perhaps one of the most cited examples of higher education institutions addressing sustainability is the creation of the american college & university presidents’ climate commitment (acupcc) that was spearheaded by aashe, secondnature, and ecoamerica in 2006. college presidents that signed this pledge committed their campuses to creating and implementing climate action plans, measuring and reporting their greenhouse gas emissions, and making a concerted effort to reach a state of climate neutrality (“history of aashe,” n.d.). while the original iteration of the acupcc was more focused on metrics reporting, such as emissions and energy output, it was later expanded to include broader commitments, such as providing support for sustainability research, education, outreach, and services (jankowska et al., 2014). as of today, there are over 700 international institutions that have signed the acupcc (united nations, n.d.). sustainability in academic libraries: from green libraries to “hubs of sustainability” as interest in addressing sustainability on college campuses continued to grow over the past few decades, so too did the interest of academic libraries in addressing sustainability within the field of librarianship. issues concerning the topics of sustainability and sustainable development in the library profession first appeared in the literature starting in the early 1990s. (antonelli, 2008; atton, 1993; lerue & lerue, 1991). at this time, librarians began to acknowledge the importance of addressing environmental concerns and impact within their organizations. for instance, one of the first such publications, “libraries and the environment,” published by lerue in 1991, addressed the need for libraries to consider eco-friendlier operation choices, such as recycled paper and energy-efficient materials. this was also around the same time that the first sustainabilityrelated initiatives and collective organization began to appear in librarianship, including the establishment of the the green library journal: environmental topics in the information world in 1992 (now known as the electronic green journal), and the creation of the american library association’s task force on the environment (tfoe) (antonelli, 2008). with the exception of a few publications that focused on what libraries can do to outwardly engage their communities in sustainability-related topics, (most notably ala president sara ann long’s presidential message “libraries can help build sustainable communities” that called for libraries to act as “catalysts” for sustainable development), for more than two decades (1990embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 28 2010), sustainability publications within the library field tended to be more focused on internal considerations (applin, 2009; ausilio, 2013; loder, 2010). common themes covered were green architecture (e.g. libraries built with sustainability in mind), green collection development (e.g. print vs. digital materials--which is more sustainable?), and green library operations (e.g. measures to reduce printing, conserve energy, etc.) (jankowska & marcum, 2010). however, in the last decade, there seems to have been a shift in the library literature from focusing primarily on what libraries can do to address sustainability internally within their own buildings to what they can do externally to connect with the communities that they serve. in the 2013 article “green libraries are more than just buildings,” george ausilio stated that academic librarians should strive to become leaders in promoting sustainability by focusing on what they can offer their entire campus instead of just focusing on the architecture of their libraries. that same year, jankowska et al. (2013) published a study in which they surveyed 203 academic librarians on their level of engagement in sustainability education on their campuses. of the 149 libraries that were represented in the survey, 25% reported that they were moderately to highly engaged in sustainability initiatives or activities. as attention in the library sustainability literature began to shift more towards focusing on outreach, education, and engagement in the mid-to-late 2010s, some publications also began to recognize the strength of the library to serve as potential sustainability centers or “hubs” for their campus communities. these publications point out that academic libraries are often centrally located, provide learning and research services to diverse community members across all disciplines, and often already act as “information hubs.” all of these traits make them ideal locations for sustainability hubs (charney, 2014; nichols, 2014; kane & sklar, 2014; hauke et. al, 2014). although no publications as of yet specifically call for academic libraries to serve as “campus sustainability hubs” in these exact words, much of the literature that addresses sustainability in academic libraries seems to imply this by frequently emphasizing the importance of libraries to be directly involved in sustainability initiatives and to serve as sustainability partners, leaders, and influencers (fedorowicz-kruszewska, 2020; hauke, 2018). this has also been reflected in the creation of several recent programs, policies, and official statements being made amongst professional library organizations and individual library systems (american library association, 2019). resources and toolkits that inform librarians about how to approach sustainability education, literacy, collaboration, and community outreach have also been on the rise to share ideas on how libraries can actively involve their community in sustainability. for instance, acrl recently published the the sustainable library’s cookbook in 2019, which is filled with lesson plans and ideas for how libraries can actively engage in a variety of sustainability initiatives within their own communities. however, one of the niches in the library literature that seems to have gaps is case studies for academic libraries that are interested in situating themselves as “sustainability hubs” on their campuses, especially in relation to navigating the many challenges and rewards of working towards reaching this ambitious goal. in 2014, charney stated that, while surprised by how active academic libraries were in sustainability initiatives on their campuses, “formal connectivity among sustainability-minded librarians themselves is lacking” (p. 21). in just six years, much has changed to provide librarians with more formal connections to address sustainability issues, such as the formation of national and international committees focused on sustainability, the creation of active sustainability listservs, the founding of sustainability-related library grants etc. yet, there are still embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 29 only a handful of published case studies that provide detailed accounts of academic libraries’ journeys in trying to start, grow, and sustain themselves as centers for sustainability services, outreach, and collaborations on their campuses. in order to mobilize academic libraries to work towards these actions, sharing experiences about how individual libraries have addressed sustainability initiatives in their own campus communities can serve as catalysts. this article offers a case study from the science library branch of the binghamton university libraries system and outlines the strategies, events, collaborations, and initiatives that were undertaken to work towards filling the identified sustainability gaps on campus and eventually situating the library into a campus sustainability hub. the ultimate goal of this campus sustainability hub is to provide a space, both physical and virtual, where any individual on campus (faculty, student, staff, or researcher) can come to learn about, share, discuss, and engage in sustainability-related topics and activities, and to help cultivate a campus-wide culture where sustainability is highly valued and prioritized. the science library at binghamton university binghamton university has long prided itself on being a campus that strongly prioritizes sustainability, as evidenced by the recent award of a 2020 gold rating from the sustainability tracking, assessment & rating system (stars) program run by aashe (stars, n.d.). the science library, which is the second largest of three libraries that make up the binghamton university libraries system, is centrally located on the main campus, right in the middle of the university’s science complex. it houses the majority of the print collections for the science subject areas, and its full-time staff consists of three faculty subject librarians, four professional staff members, and the head of branch libraries. when the two sustainability-minded science librarians were first hired they began seeking out opportunities to become more involved in sustainability-related opportunities on campus. as they sought out more information about the sustainability initiatives at binghamton university, they realized that much of the strength of the university’s “green” status lies in its excellent sustainability research and coursework. the sierra club placed binghamton university 7th out of 282 schools in its quality of sustainability research in their 2019 “cool schools” rankings (sierra club, 2019), and binghamton also received the highest possible score in sustainable research from their 2020 stars rating (18 out of 18) (stars, 2020). the university’s sustainability research is so rigorous, in fact, that the latest edition of aashe’s campus sustainability index (2020), an annual report that highlights the top performers of higher education institutions across various sustainability metrics, listed binghamton in a five-way tie for first place in research out of 336 institutions. while the university’s research and coursework in sustainability is impressive, the authors also noted that there seemed to be a gap in the types of engagement opportunities available on campus related to sustainability, particularly for faculty and professional staff members not directly involved in research or teaching. after extensive observation, evaluation, and discussion with faculty, students, and staff regarding sustainability operations at binghamton, two of the biggest gaps that the authors identified were 1) the very limited number of diversified engagement and outreach opportunities available to faculty and staff that are interested in participating in sustainability-related activities, learning about sustainability actions taking place on campus, embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 30 and/or networking with other sustainability-minded individuals, and 2) the lack of a centralized space, virtual or physical, that provides comprehensive coverage and support for sustainability activities, events, initiatives, opportunities, and resources for every department and division on campus. after noting these current gaps, the authors decided that they wanted to help fulfill these needs by offering more engagement, education, and community-centered opportunities through the science library. the authors then began to build relationships, foster collaborations, and host events with a sustainability focus in order to establish the science library as a sustainability partner on campus. while these first outreach efforts were pursued due to personal interest and passion, the two authors quickly recognized that their shared interests in serving as avid sustainability supporters, promoters, and advocates could be harnessed to not only fill these identified gaps, but also position the science library as a central hub for sustainability. with this newfound goal in mind, the authors began to consider what is required to become a campus sustainability hub. what is a campus sustainability hub? creating a definition that fits the library’s vision a hub, most simply defined, is a “center of activity” (merriam-webster, n.d.), and while there are references to libraries serving as a resource akin to “hubs” of sustainability, the official term of "sustainability hub" has never been defined in the library literature. in order to cement their overall vision for the campus sustainability hub and to more effectively measure their progress towards meeting this goal, the authors believed it was imperative to formally define the term. a campus sustainability hub was defined as an organization or collective, operating under an academic or research institution, that fosters collaboration, bolsters engagement, and provides additional active support for all sustainability-related education, initiatives, programming, research, and activism taking place within its community of faculty, students, researchers, and/or staff members. the authors arrived at this definition by referencing the definition of a very similar concept called “climate resilience hubs,” that was created by a non-profit organization known as communities responding to extreme weather (crew). crew defines “climate resilience hubs” as “community institutions...that have committed to providing assistance to the community before, during, and after extreme weather events” (communities responding to extreme weather [crew], n.d.). crew is known to work very closely with libraries, and several libraries across the country have been designated crew climate resilient hubs, making their definition a relevant example. the authors determined that the science library would need to successfully undertake two main objectives to establish itself as a functioning campus sustainability hub: 1) foster collaboration by making strong connections with faculty and students to help cultivate sustainability research, and activism and 2) bolster engagement across the campus community by both creating and sponsoring multiple sustainability programming opportunities. below are examples of how the authors, over the course of almost two years, worked towards these two objectives. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 31 making connections: collaborating with faculty and students on sustainability research and activism the first sustainability objective prioritized was making connections with other sustainabilityminded organizations and individuals on campus. the authors recognized that establishing positive relationships and collaborating on sustainability initiatives with faculty, staff, and students would increase the visibility of the science library and greatly contribute to the earnest ambitions to become a campus sustainability hub. therefore, the authors collaborated with faculty members and student organizations on a variety of sustainability-related projects. below are more details on how each of these collaborations were formed. establishing a meeting space for undergraduate sustainability clubs during the spring of 2019, librarians at the science library discussed the potential of working more directly with undergraduate student organizations. this decision was spurred by a desire to serve as an ally to students and student organizations interested in sustainability. the science library also wanted to increase its visibility as a strong advocate for sustainability across campus, as well as make it easier for students to partner with the library on sustainability-related activities. in order to establish these relationships, the authors reached out to student organizations with a sustainability focus to gauge interest in collaborations, and to offer space in the science library as a potential meeting place for their clubs. one organization that expressed interest in collaborating with the library for meeting space was a newly-formed undergraduate club on campus called zero hour. zero hour identifies itself as a climate change activism organization, whose main purpose is to educate the community on issues related to climate change and environmental justice. they were enthusiastic about the opportunity to use the science library as their club’s official meeting place, and discussions between the clubs’ founding members and an established librarian liaison began soon after the club formed. up until this point, none of the university libraries offered meeting spaces in an official capacity to organizations outside of the libraries, and so it was determined that a new meeting room policy for the science library would be created. the libraries’ administration wanted to ensure that this policy prioritized space to clubs or organizations that had a sustainability focus. therefore, when the policy was written, it included requirements that the clubs using the science library for meetings be willing to collaborate and co-sponsor at least one science-related event a year. finalizing the draft of this new meeting room policy took several months. however, a finished draft was officially accepted in january of 2020, and that same month zero hour hosted their first meeting in the library (see appendix a). bee club & the pollinator garden another student organization that the science library established a strong collaboration with was the bee club. one of the authors met with a student that acted as a representative for both the bee club and campus food co-op in order to discuss possible collaborations. one of the resulting ideas was to collaborate on creating a pollinator garden. to do this, one of the authors reached out to dr. george meindl, an environmental sciences faculty member recommended by the bee club representative, and discussions began immediately. these discussions involved collaborating with facilities to find the best location for the garden, and to get official approval from university embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 32 administration. by the end fall of 2019 plans were in place to start the garden in the spring of 2020, once the ground began to thaw. a small amount of funding to purchase seeds was available through the bee club’s honey sales. graduate and undergraduate students would work the ground, plant the seeds, care for the plants, and harvest seeds for the following season. dr. meindl and the author would act as support and assist where needed, including with the creation of ‘insect hotels.’ the science library staff and faculty would assist in creating signage for the garden and showcasing books and resources related to the plants and insects in the garden. unfortunately, about the time that the ground was thawing and it was time to get started, covid-19 led to the university operating remotely. the pollinator garden is still of interest to all involved and work will resume as soon as possible. another project that came from the discussion with the bee club was that of becoming a bee city usa bee campus (https://www.beecityusa.org/what-is-a-bee-campus.html). the first meeting to discuss the application took place at the end of february 2020, again just prior to the covid-19 pandemic. the bee club currently has new student leadership and work is underway to inform them of the project so they can resume where the project left off. sustainability poster sessions dr. meindl not only assisted with the pollinator garden, but was also excited to collaborate with the science library on various other sustainability related projects. one collaboration was for the science library to provide a space for his students to host their poster session, a project that had previously always been done in the classroom only. having the poster session in the science library would provide the students with more experience in presenting, while providing the campus as a whole the opportunity to learn from their work. after this session, the student posters would remain in the library on display in an area that was to be dedicated to sustainability. plans were also made with a health and wellness faculty member for her students to have their food and health poster session in the science library. in addition to these poster sessions, librarians hoped to showcase other sustainability related work on campus through other poster sessions and workshops. engaging the community: promoting and supporting sustainability programming in the libraries in order to work towards establishing the science library as a campus sustainability hub, the librarians also planned to increase the library’s sustainability-related programming and events. their goal was to leverage the power of the physical location of the library (centralized, open, and easily accessible to all of the campus community), and the strengths of its librarians, who are accustomed to providing services across departments, in order to plan programming that was appealing, engaging, and accessible for the entire campus community. below are a few highlighted programming events that the science library hosted over the past year that included sustainability in its content. each of these events helped the library build a bigger sustainability network, create positive associations with sustainability campus-wide, and demonstrate to the campus community that the science library is committed to becoming an active campus sustainability hub. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 33 virtual reality & earth day 2019 on earth day in the spring of 2019, the science library hosted an earth day-themed virtual reality (vr) event. the libraries had recently purchased some vr equipment, including two vive headsets, tv screens, and computers. the libraries’ vr task force wanted to host more outreach events that exposed the campus community to vr and its educational possibilities. these vr outreach events usually operated as an open house, where students, faculty, or staff could come to the science library, select a game or app to play, put on the vr gear, and explore content. in preparation for the event, a selection of relevant vr apps and games were featured, such as google earth vr, which allowed participants to explore any location in the world as if they were there in-person. the event organizers also created a “10 eco-friendly life-hacks” flyer and a reusable poster that explained the finer details of recycling. lastly, the event organizers made the conscious decision to serve snacks at the event that included minimal plastic packaging, and would require the least amount of single-use material to consume. overall, the event was considered a success, with over 25 people attending. 50 years of earth day sustainability panel 2020 after the success of the 2019 earth day virtual reality event, the science library decided to host a similar event in 2020 with an even stronger sustainability focus in honor of the 50th anniversary of earth day. the event organizers decided to host a panel made up of binghamton faculty, researchers, staff, and students that would discuss the history of sustainability in higher education. an earth day-themed vr open house would then follow the panel, as well as an earth day popup exhibit curated by the university libraries’ special collections team. the official panel was called, “50 years of earth day: exploring the evolution of sustainability education since 1970.” unfortunately, due to the covid-19 pandemic, planning for the earth day vr event, popup exhibit, and panel had to be placed on hold in march 2020. after adjusting to the new virtual working environment, event organizers decided that the earth day panel could be transitioned into a virtual setting. all of the original panelists agreed to still participate in the event and planning resumed. in addition, the special collections librarian released a blogpost that highlighted some of the content and materials that was planned for the pop-up exhibit on earth day (special collections, 2020). although there was initial disappointment that the event had to be moved online, this transition did allow for more accessible options that would not have been possible for an in-person event. attendance to the event was opened up to individuals outside of binghamton university, and the event information was shared on local and regional listservs. in addition, the session was recorded and archived in binghamton’s open repository, something that would not have been done for the in-person session (kearney et al., 2020). over 50 people attended the event, and the feedback received from attendees was extremely positive. the high level of attendance and the glowing feedback demonstrated that sustainability programming and information is greatly sought-after and appreciated by the binghamton campus community. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 34 citizen science wikipedia edit-a-thon in april 2020, librarians at the science library planned to host a “citizen science wikipedia edita-thon” event in celebration of global citizen science month. however, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the planning for this event was placed on pause while the potential benefits and drawbacks of making a virtual wikipedia edit-a-thon were discussed. wikipedia edit-a-thons often stress the importance of creating an open, comfortable, and interactive environment to support the editors that come to the event. ambience is an important factor in creating this environment, and edit-a-thons often provide free snacks, refreshments, and music, along with hands-on encouragement and support from the event organizers. such an environment was planned for the in-person event. however, it was recognized that re-creating this ambience would be much more difficult in a virtual environment, and an online edit-a-thon may not have the same interactive and community feel that makes an in-person edit-a-thon successful. event organizers decided to research virtual edit-a-thons and were intrigued by how little information they found. ultimately, the event organizers decided that it would be worthwhile to at least try out an online format as a potential opportunity to experiment and to share their experiences with the rest of the library community. promotion for the “citizen science wikipedia edit-a-thon” was shared on campus listservs, event calendars, and through social media channels. in collaboration with the campus division of research, the edit-a-thon was also included as a featured event during binghamton university’s research days--a week-long celebration in the middle of april at binghamton university that highlights research for students, faculty, and staff on campus. one adjustment made to transition the edit-a-thon online was to shorten the event to two hours rather than five. in order to save time during the event, promotional materials included instructions (see appendix b) on how participants could create wikipedia accounts and login to the edit-a-thon’s dashboard beforehand. a short, 10-15 minute tutorial was planned for the beginning of the event for any attendees that were not able to register and create wikipedia accounts in advance. the edit-a-thon’s dashboard was also pre-filled with a variety of sciencerelated articles in need of editing. the topics included citizen science, sustainability, women in the sciences, health sciences, biology, psychology, and more. on the day of the event, two attendees ended up participating. one of the attendees was a staff member on campus who wanted to learn how to create a wikipedia account and learn about best practices when editing wikipedia entries. the second participant was a student, who showed enthusiasm for learning to edit. she stayed for the entirety of the event and edited multiple articles before signing off. while attendance was not as high as originally hoped, the event was still considered a success, since at least one participant was actively engaged and contributed greatly. given the experimental nature of this event, and that it was hosted in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the low attendance was expected, and event organizers hope to take lessons they learned from this event and apply them to any future virtual wikipedia edit-a-thons related to sustainability. importance of collecting in the sciences lecture & exhibition every academic year, each library location at binghamton university creates a themed exhibit that is then promoted campus-wide. the 2019-2020 exhibit theme at the science library was “the embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 35 ethics of collecting in the sciences.” a biology faculty member, dr. anne clark, reached out to one of the science librarians with feedback on the exhibit in late 2019, and was then asked if she would be interested in giving a presentation on the topic to help supplement the exhibit. dr. clark graciously agreed, and the talk was planned for march 2020. dr. clark wanted her guest lecture to focus on the importance of collecting and preserving specimens in the sciences, and how the preservation of items from the past can help provide invaluable scientific information about the present. she planned on using examples from her own research on birds, and how preserved bird skins from hundreds of years ago can be studied now to find out important information, such as how climate changes over time have impacted various bird populations. unfortunately, due to the covid-19 pandemic, dr. clark’s lecture was canceled. however, both the science library and dr. clark plan to reschedule this lecture at a later date. it is also hoped that dr. clark’s lecture will become the first of many similar presentations that the science library will host on special topics related to sustainability. reaching a milestone: acceptance into the 2020 ala resilient communities: libraries respond to climate change pilot program in september 2020, the authors applied to participate in the ala’s resilient communities: libraries respond to climate change pilot program, which provides funding and support to “help libraries engage their communities in programs and conversations that address the climate crisis” (resilient communities, 2020). in october 2020, the authors were delighted to learn that they had been selected as one of five academic libraries and twenty public libraries to participate in the pilot program. the authors felt that acceptance into this program validated both to themselves and to the binghamton university community that their diligent work towards creating a campus sustainability hub was truly coming together. as participants of the resilient communities pilot program, binghamton university libraries is expected to host three programming events related to climate change, or sustainability between october 2020 and april 2021, one of which must be in partnership with another community organization, and another of which must be a documentary screening from a preapproved list of films. in addition to the programing, each participating library location is expected to serve as a crew climate resilience hub, meaning that they will commit to disseminating weather preparedness materials at their library and to host one emergency preparedness-related event a year. after being accepted into this program, the authors quickly began to finalize plans and confirm collaborations with several community organizations that they had already begun to form during the application process. the authors are currently planning events with the university’s multicultural resource center and the lgbtq center, and they are planning events with the broome county public library system as well as a local gardening non-profit called volunteers improving neighborhood environments (vines). many of these collaborations were eagerly sought out to increase climate-related education, resources, and support to populations believed to be underserved both on and off campus, including international students, individuals with foodinsecurities, the lgbtq community, and people of color, many of whom are frequently left out of discussions on sustainability yet are often the most affected by climate change and environmental issues. below is a list of the forthcoming programming events that the science library is now actively organizing: embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 36 ● a seed-saving workshop series, planned and co-sponsored with a grassroots, garden community organization called volunteers improving neighborhood environments (vines) based out of binghamton, ny (scheduled for february 2021). ● a virtual screening of the documentary “fire & flood: queer resistance in the era of climate change,” in collaboration with the lgbtq center at binghamton university (scheduled for april 2021). ● a virtual panel event co-sponsored by the local public library system, broome county public library (bcpl) that will focus on how individuals in the community can take actions, big and small, to live sustainably and help combat climate change (scheduled for march 2021). ● a fundraising and awareness event in collaboration with the multicultural resource center for the campus food pantry. the goal of this event would be to increase awareness of climate change’s impact on food security and help address food insecurity issues that exist for some students on campus (scheduled to run from mid-february to mid-march 2021). ● a climate change and emergency preparedness training for all library staff and faculty that will educate and encourage employees to spread awareness of these important issues at service points, planned with the libraries’ emergency preparedness committee (scheduled for january/february 2021). a one year review: reflections on establishing a campus sustainability hub after reviewing their past year of progress, the authors feel that they can confidently say they have successfully fostered collaboration, bolstered engagement, and provided active support to sustainability-related education, initiatives, programming, research, and activism taking place within its community. therefore, they believe that they have accomplished their goal of transforming the science library into a campus sustainability hub. the real tipping point of this determination was being selected for the ala’s resilient communities pilot program. being accepted into this program demonstrated that their hard work in supporting sustainability initiatives on their campus over the past year had translated into meaningful change, and validated their potential to become a sustainability leader in their community. however, even though the authors feel that their academic library is now a campus sustainability hub, they also recognize that it was not an easy journey, but one fraught with limitations and roadblocks both internal and external. the biggest limitation was the covid-19 pandemic, which impacted the sustainability-related programming that was planned for the spring 2020 semester. while most of these events were turned into virtual events, some of them were better suited to this change in format than others, which may have affected the attendance. in addition, several of the plans to alter the physical space of the science library to support the sustainability hub, such as hanging up research posters, painting nature murals, and creating a sustainability collection and reading nook, also had to be put on hold. lastly, because of the high prioritization of developing a comprehensive covid-19 response across the entire university system, including within the libraries, planning for events in the fall 2020 semester were also severely impacted. time, energy, and other constraints, such as changes in the academic calendar, made it difficult to advance the objectives for the campus sustainability hub, and so the authors embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 37 ended up utilizing the fall 2020 semester for planning to prepare for virtual, covid-19 friendly programming in the spring. in addition to the limitations the authors faced due to covid-19, they also want to acknowledge that it wasn’t always easy to fully conceptualize their end goal for the campus sustainability hub. due to the fact that this project first came into fruition out of the individual interests of two of the science librarians, what they wanted the campus sustainability hub to be and how they planned on getting there was not rigidly defined from step one. instead, developing this vision was an organic process, and the campus sustainability hub gradually developed fluidly over a period of time as each new collaboration was formed or a new event was planned, until the librarians were able to fully formulate their official definition of the concept and outline concretely how they planned to evaluate their progress. despite these limitations, the authors are proud of their ability to transform their science library branch into a campus sustainability hub. they do recognize, however, that this is just beginning to scratch the surface of what they can offer, and that there is still a long road ahead of them to get it operating at its full potential. in order to continue to strengthen and sustain this endeavor, the librarians created an action plan that outlines each of the areas they hope to develop over the next year. moving forward: an action plan for strengthening and sustaining the campus sustainability hub feeling boosted by their acceptance into ala’s resilient communities pilot program, the authors also decided to apply for ala’s carnegie-whitney grant, which provides funding and support for libraries of all types to create unique resource guides. they have proposed creating a new resource guide that will expose, educate, encourage, and envelop all individuals that seek to learn about the environment, climate change, and sustainability through a social justice lens. if they receive the grant, it will greatly support their mission to strengthen the influence and resources of their campus sustainability hub. however, even if the grant is received, there is still a lot of work ahead to ensure that the science library continues to grow and sustain their newly founded hub. the authors have identified four aspirations that they will continue to work towards over the course of the next year in order to strengthen this project and to enhance a campus-wide sustainability culture. they arrived at these four aspirations by referencing the library literature, and by identifying gaps in sustainability services specific to their campus community. sustainability from within: formalizing a commitment to sustainable practices and policies within the libraries all of the sustainability collaborations and programming so far accomplished in the science library have been undertaken by individuals working, both independently and together, in an unofficial capacity. in order to grow the library’s influence and ability to dedicate time and resources to growing and sustaining the hub, an official commitment on behalf of the entire embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 38 university libraries system should be formalized. jankowska et al. (2013) stated in their study that measured the level of engagement of academic librarians in sustainability noted that there is, “a gap between the eagerness to be actively engaged in sustainability activities and an absence of specific sustainability documents such as a statement, commitment, or action plan in the strategic plans of academic libraries” (p. 53). to avoid this disconnect within their own library system, the authors plan to work towards realizing the actions below within the next year: ● a creation of a formalized sustainability commitment from the binghamton university libraries. ● the creation of a sustainability committee or task force that is dedicated to taking actions to increase sustainability programming and outreach by the university libraries, that also advocates for greener practices within all the library locations. greening the campus: advocating for sustainability-focused initiatives and the cultivation of a sustainability culture while the science library has thus far been focused on sustainability-related programming and collaborations, there is a strong interest in influencing the broader campus community. those involved in the library’s sustainability work believe that more campus-wide sustainability initiatives should be made central to the university’s mission, and that a “culture” of sustainability should be promoted. using aashe’s campus sustainability index (2020) as a reference for what types of sustainability-related services binghamton can improve upon (for instance, the binghamton campus only scored 2.09/8 for the category of food & dining), the authors hope to use the campus sustainability hub as a way to advocate for change and improvements to help make binghamton university a more sustainable campus overall. some potential actions currently identified that can be advocated for to help foster this sustainability culture are: ● discounts on all drinks at university cafes and restaurants when reusable mugs are used. ● the creation of more charging stations for electric cars. ● promotion of a more rigorous recycling program that includes “recycling centers,” labeled bins, and recycling workshops. ● more widespread composting options for the entire campus. community involvement: strengthening collaborations with local organizations & increasing environmental justice programming while there are already strong collaborations established with faculty, students, and organizations both on and off campus, the authors believe that it is imperative to continue to sustain and build upon these partnerships long into the future. two areas of growth that the authors would specifically like to focus on over the next year are 1) creating more partnerships with student organizations on campus and 2) creating more sustainability programming that is focused on issues of environmental and climate justice. below are a couple of actionable items that the authors would like to pursue: ● planning a panel discussion that focuses on the intersections of systemic racism, climate change, and the environment. ● creating a more permanent workshop series or discussion group that highlights issues related to environmental justice. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 39 ● reaching out to several student organizations on campus that may be interested in partnering in environmental justice programming, such as the binghamton food co-op, the black student union, the latin american student union, the diverse cultural xcellence club, and more. sustainability information for all: increasing the visibility and accessibility of sustainability information and resources in order to increase the influence of the campus sustainability hub, it is necessary to continue to create, grow, promote, and disseminate sustainability-related resources that educate and inspire the campus community to action. therefore, it is a goal that the campus sustainability hub will provide fuller, more comprehensive, and interactive access to various sustainability-related resources, both in the physical space and in the online environment. below are several ideas that are already being planned or considered to highlight sustainability resources: ● creating interactive exhibits that focus on issues related to sustainability. partnering with students and/or faculty to create these exhibits is also a possibility. ● creating a sustainability libguide that includes resources to support several sustainabilityrelated endeavors and interests, such as research, education, teaching, activism, volunteering, campus involvement, etc. ● curating a sustainability book collection that is centrally located in the science library. ● creating a permanent, physical sustainability “center” in the science library that would include painted murals, book displays, featured exhibits, and physical resources. conclusion libraries, whether public or academic, often already have several powerful tools embedded into their service models that make them well-suited to become centers that support and promote sustainability within their communities. libraries are frequently easily accessible, interdisciplinary in scope, community-centered, and providers of important resources and information. in the article “ready for action” from the ala magazine american libraries, rebekkah smith aldrich, executive director of the mid-hudson library system of poughkeepsie, new york, states that writing a climate action plan for libraries “is not something that is nice to do but rather critically necessary” (lawton, 2020). it is of the opinion of the authors of this study that this sentiment expressed by aldrich can and should be applied to incorporating sustainability into all aspects of libraries and librarianship, from monitoring energy output to educating communities about sustainable practices. the authors’ hope is that this paper can also be seen as a call to action, and that sharing their experiences of turning their library into a campus sustainability hub can be used as inspiration and guidance for all kinds of libraries across the world to work towards this same goal. references aashe. (2020). 2020 campus sustainability index. https://www.aashe.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/11/sci_2020.pdf embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 40 american library association. (2019, may 14). ala adding sustainability as a core value of librarianship [press release]. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2019/05/ala-addingsustainability-core-value-librarianship antonelli, m. (2008). the green library movement: an overview and beyond. electronic green journal, 1(27). https://doi.org/10.5070/g312710757 applin, m.b. (2009). building a sustainability collection: a selected bibliography. reference services review, 37(3), 313-325. doi: 10.1108/00907320910982802. association for the advancement of sustainability in higher education (aashe). (n.d.). history of aashe: milestones. https://www.aashe.org/about-us/aashe-history/ atton, c. (1993, november). green librarianship: a revolt against change. assistant librarian, 86, 166-7. aulisio, g. j. (2013). green libraries are more than just buildings. electronic green journal, 1(35). https://doi.org/10.5070/g313514058 communities responding to extreme weather [crew]. (n.d.) climate resilience hubs. retrieved on nov. 9, 2020, from https://www.climatecrew.org/resilience_hubs?locale=en fedorowicz-kruszewska, m. (2020). environmental education in libraries – theoretical foundations and practical implementation. library management, 41(4/5), 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm-12-2019-0087 hauke, p., grunwald, m., & wilde, a. (2014). green libraries coming up! national and international initiatives fostering environmental sustainable libraries and library services. bobcatsss 2014 proceedings, 1(1), 65-72. https://proceedings.bobcatsss2014.hb.se/article/download/316/414 hauke, p. (2018). from information literacy to green literacy : training librarians as trainers for sustainability literacy. ifla wlic 2018, 1–10. http://library.ifla.org/2147/1/116-haukeen.pdf jankowska, m.a. (ed.). 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(2014). academic libraries as sustainability leaders. in m.a. jankowska (ed.). focus on educating for sustainability: toolkit for academic libraries (199-210). library juice press. pun, r. & shaffer, g. l. (eds). (2019) the sustainable library’s cookbook. association of college and research libraries (acrl). resilient communities: libraries respond to climate change. (2020). american library association. http://www.ala.org/tools/programming/climatechange sierra club. (2019). cool schools 2019 full ranking. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/coolschools-2019/cool-schools-2019-full-ranking special collections. (2020, april 21). fifty years of earth day. binghamton university libraries blog. https://libnews.binghamton.edu/news/specialcollections/2020/04/21/fifty-years-ofearth-day/ stars. (n.d.) stars participants & reports. the sustainability tracking, assessment & rating system. https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/participants-and-reports/ stars. (2020). binghamton university. the sustainability tracking, assessment & rating system. https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/binghamton-university-ny/report/2020-03-05/ appendix a: science library meeting room policy introduction: this policy outlines the rules and requirements for the reservation of the science library’s meeting room (g12) by binghamton staff, faculty, or student organizations. continued use of the room is contingent upon the observance of the policies outlined below. fees may be assessed to cover any damages, clean-up, or losses incurred. scope: any binghamton staff member, faculty member, or student organization actively collaborating with the libraries may request to reserve the science library’s meeting room to host meetings, events, or programming that are academic/educational in nature. for more information on how to collaborate with the libraries, please email the libraries administration office at libadmin@binghamton.edu. room reservations: reservation requests will be assessed on a first-come, first-serve basis. availability of the meeting room will vary depending on the event type, event needs, and/or the time or date of the event. in order to request the room or inquire about room availability, please contact the science library at sciencelibrary@binghamton.edu. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 42 cancellations or changes to reservations: if an event must be cancelled or rescheduled, the event host must notify the science library at least 24 hours before the event was originally scheduled by phone (607-777-2166) or by email (sciencelibrary@binghamton.edu). library collaboration: the use of the meeting room does not signify endorsement by the university libraries for any of the content, events, programming, or organizations that take place. any promotional materials that are made for events or meetings hosted in this space must only use the libraries’ name to signify the location of the meeting unless other arrangements have been made. guidelines for the use of the meeting room: 1. for safety and security purposes, the room windows & doors may not be covered or blocked during use. 2. no smoking, vaping, alcoholic drinking, or use of tobacco products/ tobacco-alternative products is allowed in the room at any time. 3. users must abide by the campus food policy when ordering food for events. users are responsible for all food set-up and clean-up, including ordering additional trash receptacles when they are needed. users are requested to inform the science library if they do plan on having food at an event/organization meeting. 4. users cannot use appliances, heating or cooling devices within the room. 5. users will be expected to show consideration by straightening the room after use, keeping the space tidy, and placing any leftover waste in the proper trash receptacles. 6. users cannot remove furniture, equipment, or materials from the room. 7. users are expected to be respectful of other library users outside of the meeting room, including refraining from excessive loudness. any meetings/events hosted in the room must not disturb normal library operations, and the library reserves the right to end any functions/meetings that are creating large disturbances or pose health and safety risks to others within the library. 8. users are responsible for their personal property at all times and should never leave personal belongings unattended. the libraries are not liable for loss or damage to any personal property. 9. users of the room will be held responsible for any damage, theft, or loss of the room’s furnishings or equipment that occurred during its use during meetings, events, or programming. 10. users agree to occupy and vacate the room at the agreed-upon times. embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 43 room use contract: group name: _____________________________________ date & time of room use: __________________________ approx. number of people expected to attend: _________________ will food be served at this event? ____________________ **the person(s) signing the following contract act as the representative for all attendees of any meeting/event that takes place in the science library meeting room, and will be held responsible for any violations of the room use policy & guidelines that occur during the use of the room by the group/organization. signature of event host / club organizer: __________________________ date: _________ full name (in print) ________________________________ second signature (if applicable): _______________________ date:_____________________ full name (in print): __________________________________ appendix b: binghamton university libraries’ virtual citizen science wikipedia edit-a-thon sign-up instructions step 1: creating wikipedia account 1. go to https://www.wikipedia.org/. 2. choose english. 3. if you don’t have a wikipedia account, click “create account,” or if you already have an account, click “log in” (top/right corner). 4. create username and password. step 2: dashboard sign up and log in 1. go to https://bit.ly/citscibing. 2. click “log in with wikipedia” (if you’re not automatically logged in, enter your username and password). 3. read pop-up message and click “allow.” 4. click “join” (bottom/right corner). embree and gilman / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 44 about the authors jennifer k. embree earned her msls from the university of north carolina-chapel hill in 2018. she currently serves as the subject librarian for the biology, psychology, and comparative literature departments, as well as the translation research and latin american & caribbean area studies programs at binghamton university in binghamton, new york, usa. neyda v. gilman is a sr. assistant librarian at binghamton university in binghamton, new york. she is the subject librarian for the decker college of nursing and health sciences and the school of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences. 003_172-article_title-1 003_172-article-1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org investigation of the email notice issue in aleph gordon f. xu and yi chen abstract: based on experimental results and existing resources, the paper explored and identified the major contributing factors to the email notice issue, including local administrator status, aleph client, mail server, aleph system files, and security settings. the paper elaborated the troubleshooting process, and how to find the solution to the issue. the authors suggested recommendations based the lessons learned from the project experience. the project experience presented in this paper should be instructive for libraries solving the similar problems. to cite this article: xu, g., & chen, y. (2017). investigation of the email notice issue in aleph. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 92-103. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.0.vol0.0.27 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 92-103 issn:2474-3542 investigation of the email notice issue in aleph gordon f. xu, yi chen new york city college of technology, brooklyn, ny, usa abstract based on experimental results and existing resources, the paper explored and identified the major contributing factors to the email notice issue, including local administrator status, aleph client, mail server, aleph system files, and security settings. the paper elaborated the troubleshooting process, and how to find the solution to the issue. the authors suggested recommendations based the lessons learned from the project experience. the project experience presented in this paper should be instructive for libraries solving the similar problems. keywords: email notification issue, aleph, integrated library system, ex libris, academic libraries, library automation introduction ursula c. schwerin library ursula c. schwerin library at new york city college of technology (city tech) is a member of the libraries of the city university of new york (cuny). cuny is a nation's leading public urban university, which provides high-quality, accessible education for more than 269,000 degreecredit students and 247,000 adult, continuing and professional education students at 24 campuses across new york city (city university of new york, 2015b). cuny's library system is an academic library consortium of 31 libraries that support learning, teaching, and research to the university's 24 senior, community, honors, and professional colleges, as well as cuny's more than 100 research centers and institutes (city university of new york, 2015a). the cuny central office of library services (ols) provides centralized services to all 31 cuny libraries. the ols staff works with campus librarians to coordinate and enhance library services. the services provided by ols include the acquisition, licensing, and management of electronic resources as well as print and digital collections; technical services including cataloging and metadata management; as well as institutional repository management. as a service desk organization, ols provides direct support and best-practices guidance to cuny libraries for all centrally managed library technology services (city university of new york, 2015c). the technologies selected and xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 93 maintained by ols for cuny libraries include: aleph, primo, sfx, 360 link, digital commons, ezproxy, illiad, cuny+, drupal, coral, etc. founded in 1946 as new york state institute of applied arts and sciences, city tech is the largest public, baccalaureate college of technology in the northeast, with over 17,000 enrollment (new york city college of technology, 2015). the collection of the library contains over 198,000 volumes. the library staff consists of 15 library faculty, 10 adjunct faculty, 10 administrative and technical staff, and many student employees. aleph integrated library system the aleph integrated library system provides academic, research, and national libraries with an efficient array of automated tools for managing library materials and streamlining delivery of library services. developed by ex libris, aleph has been adopted by many academic libraries around the world. among 9,504 academic libraries included in libraries.org, 17% of libraries are using aleph 500. aleph implementation in academic libraries ranks 6th in united states, while it ranks first in united kingdom (library technology guides, 2015a, b). the email notice issue libraries often need to send notifications to their patrons for circulation and acquisitions purposes, such as overdue, lost, recall, courtesy, and hold notices. those notices can be sent either by mail or email. once a service like overdue notices is set up to generate in the job list of aleph, the result can be automatically emailed or printed using aleph print daemon. at city tech, we send notifications via email, and if there is no email address in aleph for a patron, the notice will be printed. when the author joined city tech, the aleph server had stopped sending email notices to patrons for more than one year. the symptom was that email notices would bounce back to the mail server for patrons with non-institutional email addresses, but could be sent to institutional ones. no studies in the published literature were located that concentrated on how to solve the email notification issue in aleph. the pertinent documentation and other resources did not help resolve this unique issue in our aleph. how we resolved the issue is the focus of the paper, which might be instructive for troubleshooting and problem solving in similar projects. related literature and other resources the initial attempt to solve the email notification issue was to search for existing resources. we consulted aleph documentation, the ex libris knowledge center (a central place for documentation, training, knowledge articles, and more) (ex libris ltd., 2015b) and the ols technical support website (office of library services, 2015). those resources documented detailed information on automatic notice processing. in the "product documentation" of the ex libris knowledge center, we found several documents related to gui email and installation, including "how to define exchange to send email via gui", "how to confirm if your mail server is working", "how to define antivirus to send email via gui", "how to define the gui to send xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 94 email introductory", and "the use of a secure smtp server" (ex libris ltd., 2015c). those documents are very instructive for troubleshooting the email notification issue. the first document dealt with unauthenticated mail servers, which stated "there are some exchange servers which are defined to send email to internal email addresses only if they are authenticated users. if this is the case, then the aleph gui will not send email." it also came up with three solutions. the symptom is quite similar as ours, but the solutions seemed not quite applicable to our particular situation. we reviewed literature in library science databases, including library and information science abstracts (lisa), library, information science & technology abstracts (lista), and library literature & information science. the search for relevant information also extended to public websites. however, none of those efforts obtained effective solutions. many websites discussed how to configure settings in aleph for automatic emailing patron notices, but those solutions were not especially applicable to our library (florida virtual campus, 2012a, b; webb, 2013). we also sought solutions to the issue in listserv archives at listserv.nd.edu and consulted with our peers through those listservs. many replied to our inquiry with useful insights, including christine moulen at mit libraries and theo engelman at utrecht university library. they believed that the problem was related to an authenticated smtp mail server as it only affected external email addresses. moulen also suggested checking antivirus software and the local firewall. we tried to follow their suggestions and experience, but the issue still persisted. based on the review of existing documentation and the consultation with peers, the email notification issue was thoroughly explored with the direction of ols, and finally the solution was developed and the issue was solved, which will be elaborated below. later, the author also presented the solution to this issue at the eluna 2016 conference. after the presentation, ex libris told the author that they would include my finding in their knowledge base as no documentation regarding this issue existed in their knowledge center. troubleshooting process the cuny libraries' aleph integrated library system is managed by the ols staff in close cooperation with several library committees, and the computing and information services (cis) department of the cuny central office. each college campus also has their own computing and information services department. the cuny central office's cis is called central cis, while each college's cis is referred to as local cis. the local cis provides some basic technical services for the library, such as network infrastructure, mail service, creating and managing patron, etc. to realize automatic notice processing for overdue, hold, and other notices, there are many factors to consider, including local administrator status, aleph client, mail server, aleph system files, and security settings. we investigated each of those factors and will elaborate them below. xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 95 local administrator status to let aleph function properly on a windows pc, the user account that is logged in should be a local administrator or has administrator privileges. if having local administrator status is not permitted for library staff on their workstations, the it staff need to alter the settings of the folder that the aleph client is installed in to grant general user accounts full control of the aleph folder. aleph client the aleph client and the aleph print daemon must stay open at all times for automatic notice processing to work. a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user. the print daemon transfers print files from the aleph server to the workstation for processing. when the daemon is activated, it periodically looks for files in the print directory of a particular library, transfers those files to the workstation, and prints them on the workstation's default printer. the print daemon can be started manually from the task manager of the aleph client. however, the daemon needs to be running in the background in order for automatic notice processing. so it is suggested setting the print daemon to be automatically activated when the aleph client is opened, and automatically deactivated when the client is closed. mail server to let aleph send emails, the mail server must be defined. the mail server is not the server on which aleph is installed, and it is the machine that receives and sends email messages, which must be adjusted to suit a library's particular technological environment. the aleph system requires a working smtp (simple mail transfer protocol) mail server to work properly. many mail administrators block all smtp mail traffic. so it is necessary to check with the it department to see if the campus mail server can be configured to accept smtp email from aleph client workstations. besides it is likely that to have smtp mail work in aleph, the workstation needs to be assigned a valid static ip address. to investigate our particular issue, smtp mail server was our focus factor of this research work. like other college campuses, we had been always using ols smtp mail server in aleph. we learned from ols that we were the only college campus had such an issue, and other campuses had not. also this issue happened around one and a half years ago. at that point, we did not change aleph system configurations or smtp mail server. so it seemed that this issue was not caused by mail server. nevertheless we wanted to test to see if we could send notifications to external email addresses by using our campus cis' smtp mail server. however, our campus cis informed us that we had no local smtp mail server on campus. aleph system files to enable automatic notice processing, two aleph system files, alephcom.ini and circulation print.ini, need to be updated. those system files are respectively located in the directories of al500\alephcom\tab and al500\circ\tab. in the [printdaemon] section of alephcom.ini, the print xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 96 daemon can be configured to be active every time the aleph client is started. the targets parameter needs to be set to tell the daemon which notice jobs to look for. the mail server should be defined in the [mail] section, which must be adjusted to suit a particular library's environment. the names of the notice jobs that the aleph client watches for set in alephcom.ini need to be added in print.ini. this allows the aleph client to know what to do with the content of the notice jobs. the file print.ini is also the place to specify how notifications are delivered. notices can be set to be emailed directly to patrons. if there is no email address for a patron in the aleph record, the notice will be printed. if there is a bad email address in the record, the notice would bounce back to the mail server. notices can also be set to be printed only or both printed and emailed. we thoroughly checked each entry in those aleph system files, and also had ols staff examined them, and we did not find any anomalies. security settings first of all, we extensively investigated antivirus software for security settings. the document "how to define antivirus to send email via gui" stated that aleph gui sends email via a smtp mail server port 25. in computer networking protocol, a port is a logical construct that identifies a specific process or a type of network service. many antivirus pc programs by default have this blocked. ols also instructed that for the installation of aleph gui there is a known antivirus issue: mcafee antivirus can interfere with emails being sent by aleph to patrons, and it must be modified to allow exceptions. it seemed that the mcafee access protection rules blocked certain network port, and filtered the email feature as malicious. we also noticed mcafee logs stating "anti-virus standard protection: prevent mass mailing worms from sending mail" from aleph. so we adjusted security settings in mcafee antivirus and placed exceptions in access protection that prevents mass sending mails, and even had mcafee completely turned off, the problem still persisted. then we thought this issue might be related to firewalls or local group policies set on the workstations. we had our local cis it staff checked firewall settings, and they did not find anything that prevented emails from being sent. to see if local group policies affected email notices, we tested to send notices from aleph client on a freshly installed pc, but this did not work either. we virtually exhausted all of above-mentioned factors contributing to the email notification issue. revisiting all those factors, local administrator status, aleph client, mail server, aleph system files, and security settings, we could certainly rule out all of them except for mail server. so we reset our focus on the local smtp mail server. from the url of the faculty web email, we figured out our possible local smtp mail server. in an effort to dig further into the email settings with aleph and smtp, we listed as many parameters as we knew for our local college smtp server to try to reproduce the same problem programmatically using php. //local college smtp parameters $config['protocol']='smtp'; $config['smtp_host']='email1.citytech.cuny.edu'; // <<-smtp host ip $config['smtp_port']='25'; // <<-host port $config['smtp_timeout']='30'; xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 97 $config['smtp_user']='libsysservices@citytech.cuny.edu'; // <-account to log in smtp $config['smtp_pass']= 'actual password here' // <-account password $config['mailtype'] = 'html'; $config['charset'] = 'utf-8'; $config['newline'] = "\r\n"; there are many ways to confirm if the smtp mail server is working, including sending mails from a pc without using the gui by directly typing commands (see "how to confirm if your mail server is working"). if it works without the gui, then it should work with the gui. likewise if the pc cannot send mails with the defined mail server without the gui, then certainly the gui will not be able to deliver mail. during testing the settings with different parameters, including ports and with/without a valid user account on the local smtp mail server, we found out that the problem lay in the authentication for our local smtp mail server. using the php script with a valid user and password for the mail server, we were able to send emails to any valid email accounts, regardless for internal or external email addresses. on the other hand, without a valid user account, the php script had the same symptom as in the aleph client that internal email addresses could be reached and any external ones were rejected. at this point, we virtually certainly believed that our issue was due to the mail server. the test reminded us that we might actually have already found the solutions to our problem during literature review ("how to define exchange to send email via gui"). we reported what our findings to ols, and they believed that our college has a local smtp mail server that requires authentication for sending emails to external email addresses. they suggested using the secure smtp email protocol by adding "authmethod=login" in the aleph system file alephcom.ini, and then tested to see if the aleph client would ask for the user name and password. when testing, we got the error message "authentication; user name required". previously when trying to send notices to external email addresses, the error message we got was "errors detected in required email(s)". it seemed that the solution might be workable. so we planned to include the authentication in the aleph client permanently. the user name and password to log in to the local smtp mail server can be included in aleph via the aleph admin module. by clicking "e-mail settings" in alephadm gui module under the "configuration" menu option, a dialog box "e-mail settings and options" would appear where we could choose the authentication type and enter the user name and password to log in to the mail server (figure 1, 2 and 3). each time a user name and password is entered into the system, a file called emailpwd.dat will be created that contains the authentication in an encrypted format. the emailpwd.dat file should be put in the directory al500\alephcom\tab\ in the aleph client. then we tested again, and finally we could be able to send notices to both internal and external email addresses. xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 98 figure 1. the alephadm module figure 2. authentication types in the alephadm module figure 3. the username and password in the alephadm module xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 99 discussion at city tech, like all other cuny colleges, we had always been using ols smtp mail server for aleph. since all other cuny colleges had no email notification issue, when this issue occurred to us, what we have been troubleshooting concentrated on security issues, and settings of the aleph client, and the smtp mail server was the least factor to consider. after we had virtually exhausted all factors contributing to the email notification issue, we realized that the smtp mail server was the most likely culprit. as a matter of fact, we suspected from the beginning that the email notification issue was due to the settings of the local smtp mail server. however we were told by our campus it that we had no local smtp mail server on campus. nevertheless we managed to figure out our local smtp mail server and tested that we could send notifications to external email addresses by using it with the authentication information. we assumed that our local cis administrators, at a certain point, had somehow configured our local network to allow sending emails to external email addresses only through a local authenticated smtp server account. later this assumption was confirmed by our local cis, and they made this change in our local smtp server for authentication due to security. ever since they modified the mail server, the aleph client stopped sending email notices to external email addresses. although we had always been using the ols smtp mail server, the change on our local smtp server prevented the email notices sending to external email addresses. this can be explained that even though the ols smtp mail server works independently from our campus network, the email transmitting process will be starting from our local workstations. that is why even local firewalls, group policies and antivirus software on the workstations can prevent or allow this process. recommendations we learned a lot from the experience of the project. here are some recommendations that we feel useful when undertaking similar projects. troubleshooting process: as troubleshooters, we all know that obviously there is no substitute for experience in troubleshooting. but troubleshooting is a set of attitudes, priorities and procedures that should be followed: • first of all, getting a good attitude is very important. in troubleshooting, we must have the right attitude to succeed. we can solve it, it is not magic, and there is always an explanation. like gene wolfe, an american science fiction and fantasy writer, said in his book, shadow and claw, "there is no magic. there is only knowledge, more or less hidden." above all, our troubleshooting power comes from our troubleshooting process. • then, we need to set our priorities and follow some certain procedures. prior to doing anything that could cause damage, we should make a damage control plan and determine appropriate precautions, such as machine precautions that prevent damage to the machine or system, and data precautions that prevent loss of valuable data. xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 100 • the next step is to reproduce the symptom. if we have not reproduced the problem, we cannot toggle it on and off to narrow the scope of the fix. this step can also help develop the accurate symptom description. this is very crucial during troubleshooting if we ask someone else for help. the more accurate and detailed the symptom description, the less work we have to do. a good symptom description minimizes the risk of "fixing the wrong problem". • and then narrow it down to the root cause, which is the core step of troubleshooting. mathematics tells us the fastest way to find a single element in an ordered set is binary search. binary search is the process of repeatedly ruling out half the remaining search area until the element is found. if we keep narrowing it down, whether binary or not, as long as we do not repeatedly double back in areas we have already tested, it is a mathematical certainty that we will eventually find the problem. this process can be thought of as continually forcing the problem into ever smaller boxes, until it is trapped (litt, 2014). • the last step of troubleshooting is to take preventive actions, for example, do appropriate maintenance, document the symptom and solutions, etc. as the case at hand, we investigated all possible factors that affected the email notification issue, from a minor and easily fixed factor to a more complicated one. first of all, we checked local administrator status at the workstations, and confirmed that the aleph client and the aleph print daemon stay open all the time. then we examined the configurations of the smtp mail server and aleph system files. the last we explored the security settings, including antivirus software, firewalls and local group policies. although after exploring all possible factors, we did not catch the culprit, we narrowed the scope of the fix and set our troubleshooting target, and eventually we fixed our problem. lessons learned: our problem was quite unique. when it occurred, first we contacted our consortium and tried to find out if other cuny libraries had the same issue as all cuny libraries use the same system. we were told that we were the only library had such an issue, and then we realized that the problem might come from our local campus. our consortium suggested that we check with our local cis to see if the local smtp mail server, antivirus software, firewalls or group policies affected the email notification. on hearing that we had no local smtp mail server, coupled with the fact that all other cuny colleges had no email notification issue, the smtp mail server was the least factor for us to consider. so we checked all those factors that our consortium suggested except the local smtp mail server, however we did not find any problem. then we reset our focus on our local smtp mail server, and eventually figured out our possible local smtp mail server. during testing, by using the php script with a valid user and password for the local smtp mail server, we successfully sent emails to any valid email accounts. therefore finally we fixed the issue. only then did we suspected that the settings of our local smtp server might have been modified to allow sending email notices to external email addresses only through a local authenticated smtp server account. later this assumption was confirmed by our local cis, and they modified our local smtp server due to security concerns. we learned some valuable lessons from our troubleshooting process: xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 101 • consulting other libraries is helpful, but that is all it can ever be. to find out whether other libraries with a similar technological environment, especially the libraries within the same consortium, have the same issue is always useful. however, if they do not have the issue as we do, this does not mean that we can certainly rule out some similar contributing factors to the issue. one the other hand, however, this can indicate that the issue might be local one. like all other cuny colleges, we had always been using ols smtp mail server for aleph. since all other cuny colleges had no email notification issue, we assumed that this problem was certainly not due to the smtp mail server, and it was least factor for us to consider. as a matter of fact, we did not realize that our local cis had changed the settings of the local smtp mail server, which actually was the root cause to our issue. • regular meetings with the local campus it is necessary. during the troubleshooting process, we discussed the issue with both ols and our local, and they claimed that the problem lay in the other side. later we found that both the aleph server and the ols smtp mail server were working for all other cuny colleges, which proved that the issue was the local one. this also reminders the authors of another incident. once our local cis migrated to a new set of ip address ranges, but they did not inform us of the change because they did not realize this would affect us, which caused a big problem for our library. those incidents tells us that regular meetings between the library and the local campus it is very important whenever there is any change in technological environment. we now have regular and periodic meetings between the library and our local campus it, whether for sharing information between two sides, for discussing each side's new projects or the projects are undertaking, or for any technological environment changes. this open channel seems to work very well for us. conclusion aleph is a very popular integrated library system, and has been adopted by many academic libraries around the world. libraries frequently send notifications using integrated library systems to their patrons for circulation and acquisitions purposes, and those notices can be sent either by mail or email. nowadays the use of mobile devices for studying skyrockets among college students. therefore sending email notifications has become a more preferable way for libraries. the email notification issue is a very typical and complex issue which will likely occur to any libraries. this article identified main factors contributing to the issue and provided pertinent solutions. the experience and solutions elaborated in this article will shed light on problem solving in similar situations. references city university of new york (2015a), "libraries cuny", available at: http://www.cuny.edu/libraries.html (accessed 1 october 2015). xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 102 city university of new york (2015b), "the nation's leading public urban university", available at: http://www.cuny.edu/about.html (accessed 1 october 2015). city university of new york (2015c), "the role of the ols", available at: http://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/library-services/about-us/ (accessed 1 october 2015). ex libris ltd. 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(2014), "the universal troubleshooting process (utp)", available at: http://www.troubleshooters.com/tuni.htm (accessed 1 december 2015). new york city college of technology (2015), "about city tech", available at: http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/aboutus/ (accessed 1 october 2015). office of library services (2015), "support @ ols technical support for cuny libraries", available at: http://support.cunylibraries.org/ (accessed 1 october 2015). webb, h.j. (2013), "emailing patron notices automatically in aleph", available at: https://librarywebbsolutions.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/emailing-patron-noticesautomatically-in-aleph/ (accessed 1 july 2015). xu and chen / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 103 about the authors gordon f. xu is a systems & it librarian (coordinator) at new york city college of technology. he holds a master of library and information studies, a bsc and msc in natural sciences. he provides technical support and system development for the smooth functioning of library automation systems. he can be contacted at: fxu@citytech.cuny.edu. yi chen is working as an it associate at new york city college of technology. he can be contacted at: yimechen@citytech.cuny.edu. 07.uncovering email notification_title 07.uncovering email notification issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org folio successfully goes alive in the largest public library in china zhou gang, zhang chunjing, ji ting, zhou jiangchun, zhang zheyu abstract: the official opening of shanghai library east on september 28, 2022 marked the full implementation of folio platform in the shanghai library. the shanghai library has developed and implemented applications for library traditional and smart services based on the folio technical framework. this paper mainly introduces the process, difficulties, and solutions during the folio implementation in the shanghai library, and provides a summary of the various activities of a chinese library network (the yunhan alliance) established in 2021. to cite this article: zhou, g., zhang, c., ji, t., zhou, j., zhang, z. (2023). folio successfully goes alive in the largest public library in china. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.288 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 3-10 issn: 2474-3542 folio successfully goes alive in the largest public library in china zhou gang, zhang chunjing, ji ting, zhou jiangchun, zhang zheyu shanghai library, china abstract the official opening of shanghai library east on september 28, 2022 marked the full implementation of folio platform in the shanghai library. the shanghai library has developed and implemented applications for library traditional and smart services based on the folio technical framework. this paper mainly introduces the process, difficulties, and solutions during the folio implementation in the shanghai library, and provides a summary of the various activities of a chinese library network (the yunhan alliance) established in 2021. keywords: shanghai library, folio, smart libraries, yunhan alliance background shanghai is a mega-city with a population of more than 24 million in china. the shanghai library is one of the largest public libraries supporting scientific research in china. it boasts 57 million volumes in its collections in various languages, more than 1,000 full-time staff members, and a total area of nearly 200,000 square meters. in 1996 a new branch, the huaihai road library, opened with an area of 80,000 square meters. in 2022 another branch, shanghai library east, opened with an area of 115,000 square meters, which has made it the largest single library in china. in the last 10 years, shanghai library has been faced with many challenges in the construction of it architecture and applications.(1) when the huaihai road library opened in 1996, horizon integrated library management system was used to provide traditional services such as acquisition, cataloguing, serials and circulation, but it could not meet the needs of today's operation. (2) in 2000, a shanghai libraries service alliance, named the “one card library alliance,” brought many libraries together into one alliance: the shanghai library, the shanghai children’s library, 16 district library systems, and some research libraries. the alliance adopted a unified circulation policy and its annual circulation reached 50 million in 2015. the average annual circulation was about 63 million between 2017 and 2019. in 2022, there were an estimated zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 4 460 service points, more than 38 million volumes and more than 6 million readers in the alliance. due to the limitation of the horizon system in function and performance, the alliance was not able to accept more members to guarantee the equal rights of citizens to library services. (3) the shanghai library assumed multiple roles, including but not limited to, those of a public library, a scientific research library, and a library alliance. many it applications were developed a long time ago. their architecture was too old to connect with each other, and thus some application and data silos appeared. folio, an acronym based on “the future of the library is open”, was developed in 2016. folio is an open-source software supported by a community, and a library services platform, and a software development project. folio community is composed of platform providers, system developers, software service providers, technical service companies and libraries. so far there are 31 library members from various countries, including the shanghai library, and more than 40 platform providers, software, and technical service companies. folio is one of a kind system built upon the new modular application environment, with cloud native and micro service architecture, support all kinds of application interface access, follow the agile development mode driven by a community. folio supports full media management, full process management and unified discovery for the fundamental requirement of hybrid library, flexibly supports the wisdom library and various business of future library. folio represents the trend of library services platform. shanghai library chose folio since the late 2010s, the shanghai library had investigated various library services platform solutions. combined with the demand of shanghai public library service system and the vision for smart services by the new shanghai library east that was still under construction, the shanghai library had put forward some key requirements for the new generation of library services platform: (1) a multi-tenant platform for the consortium environment that comprises the shanghai library, tens of branch libraries, and their sub-library branches; (2) it supports up to 100 million circulation transactions a year; (3) it can manage activities of over 15 million registered users; (4) it should provide collection management solutions for all kinds of culture heritage resources; (5) it should provide saas ecology with extension modules (e.g. solomo services, data analytics, etc.) by various local vendors; (6) it can help libraries to redefine itself and re-engineer its workflow to meet new requirements. the open, extendible, library-led folio solution matched the vision of the shanghai library. since 2018 the shanghai library started exploring folio and its applications, its open-source community, and its micro service architecture. in 2019, the shanghai library formed the folio project team, with about 50 people from multiple institutions. in 2020, the team participated in the wolfcon conference in texas a&m university. several members of the project team joined the folio community later. folio implementation in shanghai library zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 5 in 2019, shanghai library folio project team developed the first new application based on the folio technology framework as an experiment to learn the folio development technology and to test folio functions and performance. the shanghai library is a research-based public library, with various collections of books, bound edition of newspapers and periodicals, rare books, genealogies, manuscripts, records, standards, new year paintings, inscriptions and so on, for which the shanghai library hopes to conduct asset management. folio project team evaluated the folio technology framework and decided to develop collection management app based on the folio daisy in 2019. after more than a year of development and implementation, the collection management app went alive in september 2020 as the first folio app in shanghai library. the app has achieved the delicacy management of the whole life cycle of the physical literature, from new book acceptance, registration, moving and removal, optimized and reconstructed the relevant processes. the change of location and status can be tracked, and the asset management can be documented. with the management of more than 10 million volumes, 920,000 copies were accepted, 450,000 copies shelved in 2022. through the development of collection management app, the folio project team has basically mastered the folio technology and development mode, which has laid a solid foundation for the subsequent development and implementation of other modules. in 2020, shanghai library would set up related groups of folio project team, such as project management group, metadata management group, data migration group, circulation app group, user app group, vufind app group, support group, and organize the development and implementation of circulation and discovery. folio circulation apps include user, inventory, checkout, checkin, feefine, request and other apps; vufind serves as a unified discovery entrance. the project team improved the functionality and performance of circulation and vufind, and develop localized enhancement, for example, (1) support all sip2 messages, compatible with sip2 message of horizon system, support more than 500 self-check machines concurrent access (2) support cnmarc in marc import, inventory, vufind (3) support circulation in alliance (4) vufind support the integrated retrieval for printed and electric resource, localization of facet and book cover, display collection by alliance structure (5) support a reader with multiple card, with existing oauth authentication services.(6) performance optimization to support 100 million annual circulation in local environment, which can meet the circulation scale of the "one card library alliance”. due to the huge scale of the "one card library alliance," the project team planned phased implementation of the folio circulation for the alliance members starting from 2021. in march 2021, the project team transferred all the circulation polices, bibliographies, items, and loans to the new circulation system. the circulation service of huaihai road library was the first to be migrated. according to the different circulation scenarios, in april 2021 closed stack circulation was moved to folio and portal retrieval was moved to vufind in huaihai road library; in july 2021 open stack circulation was moved to folio. folio inventory contains nearly 40 million collections of the shanghai library and the "one card library alliance”. by january 2023, the maximum number of daily loan is more than 16,000 in folio, and the maximum monthly retrieval is 2.8 million in vufind. folio provides strong support for the smart service scene of shanghai library east and huaihai road library. for example, offline services include: 24-hour book return booth, automatic sorting system, self-check machine, appointment pickup bookcase, smart bookshelf, service robot, inventory robot, and mobile phone borrowing; online services include: navigation, network borrowing, and full reservation. folio circulation serves all the registered readers of the shanghai library and will provide circulation services for all the members zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 6 of "one card library alliance.” at present, the two-way synchronization of circulation data was running between the folio and the horizon system. the members of the "one card library alliance" use the horizon system until they moved to folio. in september 2022, with the opening of shanghai library east, several smart service applications went alive, such as full reservation, space management, network borrowing, closed stack request, navigation, and robots. just like the collection management and circulation, these modules are developed by different vendors, which are based on the folio platform and they interact with other applications through the microservice gateway. folio is self-hosted, deployed within docker on local virtual machines cluster in the shanghai library. prometheus and elk are built to ensure the observability of folio platform and applications. prometheus pulled the metrics from folio okapi, the operating system, and other software, and showed the health of the operation through grafana, and timely warned the maintenance team through the wechat when the system is abnormal. the shanghai library and its development team will continue to promote the development of related modules of smart library in the future, and it has planned to launch the business modules such as acquisitions, erm, cataloguing, inter-library lending, information processing, data center and smart intelligence in 2023. formation of chinese folio community to promote all kinds of applications and development based on folio , facilitate the transition to the next generation library services platform for chinese libraries, and accelerate the wisdom library application ecological construction, in july 2021 the shanghai library joined shanghai jiaotong university library and jiangsu jiatu network technology co., ltd. and together they established smart library technology and application alliance (yunhan alliance), that is, folio chinese library community. wei liu, the duty director of the shanghai library, described the yunhan: it inherited folio's vision and its target tasks include not only building a new next generation library services platform but also developing a set of application components that can meet the functional needs of the library's current operations and future development as well as constructing a wellfunctioning and healthy community. (wei, 2021) the yunhan alliance mainly consists of an expert committee, an application committee, a development committee, and the alliance secretariat. for more than a year, yunhan alliance has developed vigorously and achieved fruitful results. the yunhan alliance released yunhan logo, established the governance model, formulated the product technology and roadmap, released yunhan demo site, started the development of product core suite, and monthly launched "seminar of smart library technology and application" and "newsletters of smart library technology and application." at present, 18 libraries and 18 companies have joined the yunnan alliance, and many visionary experts participated in the work of the alliance. after folio successful went alive in the shanghai library, changshu library, a member of the yunnan alliance, also successfully launched the folio platform in november 2022. the influence of the yunhan alliance is growing. on july 15, 2022, the alliance held the "new era, new power-2022 world open library foundation asia pacific conference and china yunhan community conference.” many international and domestic scholars shared their research results and practical cases at the conference. more than 2,200 people attended the conference. the conference promoted the mutual exchange, further promoted folio and the yunhan alliance, https://wiki.folio.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageid=33948252 zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 7 and laid a foundation for the further implementation of folio. at the 2022 world open library foundation conference in hamburg, germany, a special session was arranged for the representatives of the yunhan alliance. tiewei liu from the yunhan alliance, gang zhou from the shanghai library, lei zhou and sha jiang from jiangsu jiatu , introduced the progress of chinese folio community and the application practice of folio in the shanghai library through online meetings, which attracted a largue on-site audience as well as online interest around the world. tom cramer, the president of the open library foundation, and paula sullenger, a member of folio community council, were present at the meeting. at the invitation of folio product council, chinese folio community and folio community exchanged chinese experience at the folio products council meeting on october 20, 2022, with a heated discussion about the navigation module, smart bookshelf, robot service, full reservation system, development documents, api layer and app store in the shanghai library folio. experience shanghai library is an ultra-large library with a huge number of collections and millions of users, serving two main functions of scientific research and public service. it boasts huge volume of circulation, and rich bibliographic data. one can imagine that such a big library needs complex system requirements. the shanghai library considered all aspects of the implementation and made careful plans before and after the migration in order to deal with the unexpected problems. the shanghai library hopes to inspire and share with its peers its implement experience. our experience shows the importance of library participation. the shanghai library participated in the whole implementation process from investigation, development, testing, training, and online process of folio project so that the project team acquired a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of folio architecture and applications as well as a deeply understanding about the openness and flexibility of folio solution. based on the different scenarios and native app functions, the shanghai library adopts different application development methods: use native app functions; expand some localized functions based on native apps and develop new apps to meet new localized services. in addition, the apps of the shanghai library are developed by many developers, which requires the shanghai library to coordinate the project progress and confirm the apps boundary. the user and developer community is the core of folio. the shanghai library actively participates in the folio community and chinese library community, which are the platforms for the information exchange and cooperation among libraries, developers, and integrators. many chinese libraries and developers converge in chinese library community. the shanghai library has benefited a lot from the community interactions including open meetings, regular seminars, newsletters and special interest groups. the shanghai library has learned about the latest information of folio and its implementation experience and applied it to the project. shanghai library worked with community members to sort out the needs of chinese applications and put forward constructive suggestions for folio technology architecture. the shanghai library has created some new applications for folio, and the scale of the folio is constantly expanding after the release is upgraded. the shanghai library hopes to explore the folio extension mechanism to ensure the continuity of folio. (1) libraries will need more apps in the future, but the folio project cannot expand indefinitely. the folio community has some ideas, such as platform-minimal, and core apps & optional apps. chinese library community suggests the idea of "platform + app + app store " and expects that folio zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 8 community pays more attention to the platform, core apps and fundamental components; other apps developed outside the community are non-core apps that managed by the app store. (2) folio development is under the control of the folio community. it does not consider developing "compatible" apps outside the community and lacks a series of specifications like the smartphone app ecosystem. the shanghai library and chinese library community hopes that folio community will discuss and formulate app development specifications, data specifications, interface specifications, deployment specifications, etc., to clarify folio development, operation, and maintenance standards for developers. adequate training and testing can reduce the implementation risks. folio has relatively complete documentation and wiki. the shanghai library has prepared training documents, training videos, brief manuals, and arranged online and on-site training sessions, to help librarians get familiar with folio circulation as soon as possible. before folio went alive in shanghai library east, the public beta testing enables the circulation service department and the it department to jointly examine the gap between folio circulation and the actual service scene, timely improve the business process and adjust folio functions so that folio can meet the demand of library services in a limited time. it is important that the maintenance is reliable to guarantee the normal operation of folio. the shanghai library is improving the responsibilities and service level agreements of the support team. librarians raise issues through instant messaging tools and hotlines, and the support team quickly locate issues and solve problems with the help of the monitoring system. the support team has basically provided the 24/7 hours technical service for the shanghai library. the dual-system parallel circulation under specific conditions has certain reference significance for the migration mode of super-large public libraries or an alliance. the shanghai library adopts the dual-system parallel circulation between the members of the "one card library alliance," which increases the development and maintenance work, but reduces the risks during the implementation. the shanghai library faces great challenges in data migration. after evaluating the data in horizon system, the metadata group and the data migration group found that the data amount was huge, the quality of earlier data was poor, and there were many errors in the data of the alliance members. the data migration group and circulation development group jointly conducted data analysis, data cleaning, conversion, import, conversion rules and circulation parameter adjustment. a total of five test migrations were conducted to improve the data quality and estimate the migration time. the final formal data migration lasted around one week. even if all parties cooperated closely, there were still a small number of errors in bibliographic records, items, and circulation data. folio circulation cannot work with wrong data under some scenarios. the support team sorted out the types of errors, improved the quality of technical service, and reduced the impact of wrong data for circulation service. conclusions and prospects the first implementation in china, folio is successful online in a super-large research and public library, the shanghai library. it fulfilled all the functional and service requirements as initially desired by the project team in spite of the fact that the implementation procedure was tortuous. it shows that the folio can adapt to chinese libraries and the consortium needs of the library alliance, and it indicates folio's open cooperation concepts are recognized by chinese zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 9 libraries and developers. it has the potential to expand its adoption in chinese library community. the journey has just started for yunhan. many challenges will exist in the future. shanghai library is organizing and coordinating all members to prepare and implement the folio circulation in "one card library alliance." chinese library community will soon announce the core suite of yunhan products for free trial and experience. chinese library community is also actively planning the product roadmap of yunhan, promoting and researching various development specifications and interface specifications, and releasing a series of standard specifications, white papers and manuals when the time is ripe. to fully promote the enthusiasm and initiative for the members, chinese library community will continue to optimize the organization and collaboration, explore the decentralized autonomous organization, to actively impact on the governance, motivation, and decision-make among its community members. finally, yunhan community and chinese folio community, sincerely invite libraries at home and abroad to strengthen the exchange, discuss strategies, share experience, engage in collaborative cooperation, foster breakthrough and innovation, and work together to create a better future of an open library service platform. references about folio. https://www.folio.org/about/ about shanghai library. https://www.library.sh.cn/info/intro folio community council. https://wiki.folio.org/display/cc folio documentation web site. https://docs.folio.org/ folio member organizations. https://wiki.folio.org/display/cc/folio+member+organizations folio products council meeting. https://wiki.folio.org/display/pc/2022-10-20+meeting+notes folio releases home. https://wiki.folio.org/display/rel/releases+home folio wiki website. https://wiki.folio.org/ liu, w., ji, t. (2021). yunhan and the smart library: adapting to the future with open⁃ ness [j]. journal of library science in china, 47(06):50-61. doi:10.13530/j.cnki.jlis.2021045. members of yunhan alliance. https://www.calsp.cn/about/members/ new era, new power: 2022 world open library alliance asia pacific conference and china yunhan community annual conference. https://www.calsp.cn/2022/07/26/con-15/ news letters of smart library technology and application. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/mp/appmsgalbum?__biz=mziyotexnzgwma==&action=getalb um&album_id=2083266140264284163&scene=173&from_msgid=2649469032&from_item idx=1&count=3&nolastread=1#wechat_redirect seminars of smart library technology and application. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/mp/appmsgalbum?__biz=mziyotexnzgwma==&action=getalb um&album_id=1994528823383506949&scene=173&from_msgid=2649468560&from_item idx=2&count=3&nolastread=1#wechat_redirect shanghai library east opened the public beta. https://www.library.sh.cn/article/1107 shanghai library east was officially opened. https://www.library.sh.cn/article/1119 smart library technology and application alliance. https://www.calsp.cn/ standard interchange protocol [eb/ol].[2023-02-02]. https://www.niso.org/standardscommittees/sip zhou et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 10 the annual circulation exceeded 50 million in the "one-card" alliance of shanghai central library. https://www.mct.gov.cn/whzx/qgwhxxlb/sh/201411/t20141120_781650.htm vufind in shanghai library. https://vufind.library.sh.cn/ wolfcon2022 china special content introduction. https://www.calsp.cn/2022/09/19/bulletin202209-01/ yunhan demo platform & yunhan application market. https://www.calsp.cn/2022/06/20/bulletin-202206-04/ zhang, c., zhang, l., & zhou, g. (2020). open source creates the future of library: a summary of the world open library foundation (wolfcon) in 2020[j]. the library journal, 39(06):4-10. doi:10.13663/j.cnki.lj.2020.06.001. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ about the authors zhou gang is the engineer of shanghai library, the member of folio product council and the member of yunhan alliance (namely folio china community). he works as the folio project manager since 2019, and is responsible for the project management, product management and implementation in shanghai library folio. zhang chunjing is the researcher of shanghai library and the secretary-general of yunhan alliance. ji ting is the researcher of system network center at shanghai library. zhou jiangchun is the researcher of system network center at shanghai library. zhang zheyu is the researcher of system network center at shanghai library. 288-title-page 288-layout folio successfully goes alive in the largest public library in china abstract background shanghai library chose folio folio implementation in shanghai library formation of chinese folio community experience conclusions and prospects issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org exploring the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state, nigeria florence o. ajani, yakub o. ahmed & abdulakeem s. sulyman abstract: this study explores the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state, nigeria. it operates with three objectives and questions. it uses descriptive survey method as its design and adopts convenience sampling technique to select 63 librarians who filled the questionnaire titled “questionnaire on exploring the engagement in open research by librarians in kwara state,” which was sent to respondents through their whatsapp groups. findings revealed that respondents used open peer review, publishing research in open access platforms and depositing research in institutional repositories as channels of engaging in open research. it further shows that open research is of benefit to respondents by helping them in the creation of good research profiles, increasing connectivity among researchers and increasing findability and broadening readership of their works, while lack of training on open research, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of the open research process are the major factors retarding the engagement in open research by the respondents. this study concludes that open research is one of the mainstays of scientific evolution that enables researchers to increase visibility for their works and recommends amongst others that it is imperative for librarians in kwara state to be making their research works available in open educational resources, it is one of the states with the highest library schools in nigeria. through this, students and other researchers can use their research works to broaden the status of teaching and learning. to cite this article: ajani, f. o., ahmed, y. o. & sulyman, a. s. (2023). exploring the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state, nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 108-120. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.278 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 108-120 issn: 2474-3542 exploring the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state, nigeria florence o. ajani, kwara state university, nigeria yakub o. ahmed, department of library and information science, federal polytechnic, federal polytechnic, offa, nigeria abdulakeem s. sulyman, institute of professional and continuous education, kwara state university, nigeria abstract this study explores the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state, nigeria. it operates with three objectives and questions. it uses descriptive survey method as its design and adopts convenience sampling technique to select 63 librarians who filled the questionnaire titled “questionnaire on exploring the engagement in open research by librarians in kwara state,” which was sent to respondents through their whatsapp groups. findings revealed that respondents used open peer review, publishing research in open access platforms and depositing research in institutional repositories as channels of engaging in open research. it further shows that open research is of benefit to respondents by helping them in the creation of good research profiles, increasing connectivity among researchers and increasing findability and broadening readership of their works, while lack of training on open research, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of the open research process are the major factors retarding the engagement in open research by the respondents. this study concludes that open research is one of the mainstays of scientific evolution that enables researchers to increase visibility for their works and recommends amongst others that it is imperative for librarians in kwara state to be making their research works available in open educational resources, it is one of the states with the highest library schools in nigeria. through this, students and other researchers can use their research works to broaden the status of teaching and learning. keywords: open research, librarians, open peer review, open access platforms, research profiles, kwara state. introduction librarians are experts who are formally trained in the efficient and effective handling of information in different formats. they are specialists in the generation, organisation, preservation, ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 109 conservation, retrieval, dissemination and utilisation of information the advancement of knowledge. inherent in the process of advancing knowledge is research. therefore, librarians are expected to be frontrunners of research activities by ensuring that research outputs, either directly from them or others are being made available for people to use. kaur (2018) posits that research plays a significant role in the modern era; not only in the aspect of development, but also in introducing sound and positive changes, making the world a better place for people to live. research is of no use if it is not providing any benefits to the existing species on earth. any innovation is the contribution of the researcher to that field and all other human beings should have the right to access that new idea. this is to ensure that new ideas and research data are offered freely to the public to download, disseminate or use without legal, financial and technical restrictions (rajagopal, 2018). involvement in the availability of research results and outputs implies that librarians are supporting the cause of encouraging open research in order to spread the gospel of latest research publications, broadens research outreach, strengthens and deepens the exploration and discovery of knowledge. the knowledge-oriented nature of librarianship makes it imperative for librarians to prioritize the promotion of scientific knowledge in different fields by building on already existing research (ugwuanyi, 2018). ugwuanyi (2018) argues that where scientific knowledge is not accessible, it adds to the already overwhelming challenges of creating, synthesizing and communicating scientific knowledge. basurto, martinez-camacho and calderon-swain (2022) asserted that globalization has trumped research activities and has also caused the world to be constantly advancing in leaps and bounds through innovations and transformations in the economic, political and social sectors as a product of massive engagement in research. sarker (2018) submitted that the effects of not making research work openly accessible is that it affects a country’s policy makers and limits the research impacts on the wider research community. knowledge is a constant phenomenon whose validity and authenticity can be evaluated anytime by any researcher interested in investigating that phenomenon. open research creates a pathway for old knowledge to be reinvented and new insights be obtained. it makes intellectual borders to be crossed at a high speed with less of the friction paying research entails. also, scholars in metadata harvesting and interdisciplinary research are greatly benefitting from open research. scholarly institutions practicing open research are heightening their profiles, save on internal expense and create brand awareness for themselves and their members (rajagopal, 2018). statement of the problem research, being the bedrock of innovations and creativity has become a mainstream in the academic and scholastic discourses. research outputs made available to the public serve as foundations for future research activities. this will contribute to a wide and global assessment and validity of research exercise and its results and possible application of its results to solve emerging problems. however, most research have not been openly available due to some factors like astronomical increase in the prices journals charge (ugwuanyi, 2018), apprehension of research qualities which limits most researchers from making their research openly available, training of half-baked scientists and publication of incorrect research findings, rise in scientific ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 110 piracy (nilsson, 2018) and serial crisis. realising that these challenges can also affect the communications of and collaborations in research activities makes this study to be designed to explore the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state. research objectives this study is conducted with the major objective of exploring the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state. the specific objectives are to: 1. identify the channels used in engaging in open research practices by librarians in kwara state; 2. examine the benefits of engaging in open research practices to librarians in kwara state; and, 3. examine the factors retarding engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state. research questions this study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. what are the channels used in engaging in open research practices by librarians in kwara state? 2. what are the benefits of engaging in open research practices to librarians in kwara state? 3. what are the factors retarding engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state? review of related literature open research, also known as open science has been talked about since the 1990s, but progress towards it had been slow (von hellfeld, 2018). the central aim of open research is to make the research methodology, along with the data and results, freely accessible, allowing a more collaborative approach to research. whilst it seems prudent to understand what researchers stand to gain from open research first, it is important to show the various channels on how open research can be applicable to today’s scientific community (von hellfeld, 2018). over the last decade, a series of academic movements have been initiated aimed at overcoming the drawbacks of traditional scientific research (yin, 2018). the european commission community research and development information service (2017) reported that open research channels include open source software, open data, open access, open research methods, open peer review, and open educational resources, etc. open research has become unprecedented for researchers to engage in. researchers engaging in open research do so through open data repositories, publishing their research in oa journals, making their research available on open educational resources platforms, self-archiving ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 111 of their research, depositing research works in institutional repositories, using social networks for scientists/researchers, using social media platforms and depositing research works in libraries. since the adoption of different channels to engage in open research, it has become a glittering feather in the cap of researchers, which not only provides recognition to researchers but also reduces the chances of their works being stolen or misused. it also helps in creating good research profiles and increasing the number of citations to your work (kaur, 2018). chiado (2018) contested that open research is a disruptive revolution that is paving the way for the next generation of scientists and researchers to share higher quality research works needed to solve evolving challenges. it enhances accessibility, publicity, academic rewards and professional recognition (abuabdallah, 2014) and sharing scientific knowledge for the benefit of others, encourage interdisciplinary research and collaboration (nilsson, 2018), advances crossdisciplinary studies (ugwuanyi, 2018), broadens readership, increases findability and accessibility which results in higher citation scores for a certain paper and hence, increased research impact (ticea, 2018). adams (2015) posited that open research is tightly linked to open data because they represent the same cultural shift towards more open research practice and both aspects are dependent on each other. ticea (2018) argues that the need to drive continuous innovations requires robust engagements in research with focus on maintaining a consistent habit of sharing and dissemination of research data to users’ communities. open research generates feedback loops, which is the case for every open system. harnessing the feedback loops of open research can enhance offering of useful insight, fruitful ideas and collaborations. open research was conceived on the notion of making intellectual works available in the public domain by promoting free-of-charge access to research results, methods, software, and also access to fellowships, state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment, open courses etc (ticea, 2018). sarker (2018) appraised open research by noting that greater access to global scientific studies and their results through open research can improve the effectiveness of research works, increase research efficiency, reduce costs by preventing duplicate work, enable the transfer of knowledge and the reuse of datasets to produce more research work, and increase the connectivity among researchers for national and worldwide participation in the research process. yin (2018) buttresses the importance of open research by asserting that open research allows scientific research to be shared, copied, displayed, and published in a fast and efficient manner. the opportunity it provides to share good scientific research results and spread and exchange knowledge in an unrestricted way can increase mutual understanding, encouragement, and promote healthy competition among researchers. engagement in open research has accelerated the transfer of knowledge between researchers and fields, opened up new ways of cooperation and new research methods, and led to the rapid development of open knowledge dissemination. open research makes it easier to find incompetence in research work at a very early stage, and set an example for the scientific community to avoid any scientific misconduct and preserve scientific integrity (sarker, 2018). it constantly expands innovative research, saves traveling cost and instant feedback (attoye, 2018), encourages transparency, quality assurance, bridging gaps between the knowledge voids, shrinking the geographical distances, cost-effective, overcomes unethical research practices and creates a friendly work environment (kaur, 2018). ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 112 pondering on the practices of open research as floodgates of the future progresses and advancements have been hampered by different obstacles. among them are lack of access to information about open research which hinders learning, stifles innovation and slows the research process (yin, 2018), lack of awareness of the open research process, time limitations, lack of technical skills, an unstable network and electricity problems and fear of plagiarism (mbughuni, mtega & malekani, 2022). also, intellectual property and information security, data validity and web abuse, financial support, quality and value of research data, cloud storage and data security, lack of interest in open research (attoye, 2018; nwokedi and nwokedi, 2018), and lack of a good understanding of publishers’ licensing policy (singson et al., 2015) are the major challenges to open research. mbughuni, mtega and malekani (2022) asserted that open research is also being challenged because some publishers do not give prompt feedback to academic staff when they send their manuscripts for publication, lack of training on open research and slow internet speed. methodology this study uses descriptive survey method to investigate the engagement of librarians in kwara state in open research. it adopts convenience sampling to select 63 librarians in different whatsapp groups of library and information science practitioners in kwara state, based on their willingness to fill the questionnaire sent to their groups. it uses an online questionnaire titled “questionnaire on exploring the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state.” the questionnaire was designed with google form and its link was posted to the different library and information science groups. the questionnaire was allowed to be active for three weeks in order to allow enough librarians fill it at their comfort. afterwards, data generated was downloaded to google spreadsheet and analyzed with the ibm statistical package for social science (spss) 2nd. edition. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 113 data analysis table 1 demographic information of respondents options f % gender male 32 50.8% female 31 49.2% total 63 100% age range 20 – 29 years 14 22.2% 30 – 39 years 21 33.3% 40 – 49 years 20 31.7% 50 – 59 years 4 6.3% 60 and above years 4 6.3% total 63 100% academic qualification nd 0 0.0% hnd 11 17.5% blis 24 38.1% mlis 20 31.7% ph.d 8 12.7% total 63 100% work experience 1 – 5 years 23 36.5% 6 – 10 years 16 25.4% 11 – 15 years 12 19.0% 16 – 20 years 7 11.1% 21 and above years 5 7.9% total 63 100% table 1 shows that majority (50.8%) of respondents are males, while 49.2% are females. 33.3% are within the age range of 30 – 39 years, followed by 31.7% for 40 – 49 years and 22.2% for 20 – 29 years. 38.1% holds bachelor in library and information science (blis), followed by 31.7% with masters in library and information science, while a few 12.7% holds ph.d. 36.5% have 1 – 5 years’ work experience, 25.4% have 6 – 10 years, 19.0% have 11 – 15 years, while 11.1% have 16 – 20 years. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 114 research question one: what are the channels used in engaging in open research practices by librarians in kwara state? table 2 identify the channels used in engaging in open research practices by librarians in kwara state options yes no f % f % mean std. dev. open educational resources 44 69.8% 19 30.2% 1.30 0.46 open peer review 53 84.1% 10 15.9% 1.16 0.37 depositing your research in institutional repositories 52 82.5% 11 17.5% 1.17 0.38 depositing your research in libraries 43 68.3% 20 31.7% 1.32 0.47 publishing your research in open access platforms 53 84.1% 10 15.9% 1.16 0.37 self-archiving 44 69.8% 19 30.2% 1.30 0.46 using social networks for scientists/researchers 50 79.4% 13 20.6% 1.21 0.41 using social media platforms 49 77.8% 14 22.2% 1.22 0.42 table 2 reveals that majority of respondents (84.1%) uses both open peer review and publishing research in open access platforms to engage in open research, followed by 82.5% who deposit their research in institutional repositories, while 79.4% use social networks for scientists/researchers to engage in open research. however, only 68.3% deposit their research in libraries. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 115 research question two: what are the benefits of engaging in open research practices to librarians in kwara state? table 3 benefits of engaging in open research practices to librarians in kwara state options sa a u d sd f % f % f % f % f % mean std. dev. provides recognition for your research works 11 17.50% 21 33.30% 15 23.80% 8 12.70% 8 12.70% 3.3 1.27 reduces the chances of your works being stolen or misused 19 30.20% 22 34.90% 8 12.70% 7 11.10% 7 11.10% 3.62 1.33 helps in creating good research profiles 19 30.20% 29 46.00% 6 9.50% 5 7.90% 4 6.30% 3.86 1.13 increases the number of citations 10 15.90% 20 31.70% 13 20.60% 7 11.10% 13 20.60% 3.11 1.38 helps in sharing higher quality research works needed to solve evolving challenges 14 22.20% 21 33.30% 16 25.40% 6 9.50% 6 9.50% 3.49 1.22 enhances accessibility, publicity and academic rewards 16 25.40% 22 34.90% 10 15.90% 11 17.50% 4 6.30% 3.56 1.23 encourages interdisciplinary research and collaboration 9 14.30% 21 33.30% 18 28.60% 9 14.30% 6 9.50% 3.29 1.17 increases findability and broadens readership 10 15.90% 23 36.50% 16 25.40% 8 12.70% 6 9.50% 3.75 1.18 helps to generate feedback 12 19.00% 23 36.50% 11 17.50% 8 12.70% 9 14.30% 3.33 1.32 makes your works available in the public domain 12 19.00% 30 47.60% 13 20.60% 4 6.30% 4 6.30% 3.67 1.06 promotes free-ofcharge access to research results 13 20.60% 25 39.70% 15 23.80% 6 9.50% 4 6.30% 3.59 1.12 reduces costs by preventing duplication 15 23.80% 29 46.00% 10 15.90% 6 9.50% 3 4.80% 3.33 1.08 ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 116 of works increases connectivity among researchers 17 27.00% 30 47.60% 6 9.50% 5 7.90% 5 7.90% 3.78 1.18 preserves scientific integrity 12 19.00% 29 46.00% 11 17.50% 8 12.70% 3 4.80% 3.62 1.08 overcome unethical research practices 9 14.30% 30 47.60% 14 22.20% 6 9.50% 4 6.30% 3.54 1.06 table 3 makes us understand that open research helps in creating good research profiles is ranked highest with (3.86 ± 1.13), followed by increases connectivity among researchers (3.78 ± 1.18), while increases findability and broadens readership has (3.75 ± 1.18). however, increases the number of citations is ranked lowest with (3.11 ± 1.38). this implies that librarians in kwara state considered creation of good research profiles, increases connectivity among researchers and increases findability and broadens readership as the major benefits they derive from engaging in open research. research question three: what are the factors retarding engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state? table 4 factors retarding engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state options sa a u d sd f % f % f % f % f % mean std. dev. lack of access to information about open research 10 15.90% 25 39.70% 8 12.70% 11 17.50% 9 14.30% 3.25 1.32 lack of awareness of the open research process 14 22.20% 32 50.80% 7 11.10% 4 6.30% 6 9.50% 3.7 1.17 time limitations 18 28.60% 15 23.80% 14 22.20% 5 7.90% 11 17.50% 3.38 1.43 lack of technical skills 10 15.90% 24 38.10% 9 14.30% 9 14.30% 11 17.50% 3.21 1.36 unstable networks 11 17.50% 25 39.70% 14 22.20% 7 11.10% 6 9.50% 3.44 1.19 electricity problems 10 15.90% 20 31.70% 9 14.30% 15 23.80% 9 14.30% 3.11 1.33 fear of plagiarism 16 25.40% 32 50.80% 6 9.50% 3 4.80% 6 9.50% 3.78 1.17 problem of data validity 7 11.10% 18 28.60% 10 15.90% 12 19.00% 16 25.40% 2.81 1.39 poor financial support 12 19.00% 26 41.30% 16 25.40% 3 4.80% 6 9.50% 3.56 1.15 ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 117 lack of understanding of publishers’ licensing policy 14 22.20% 25 39.70% 11 17.50% 6 9.50% 7 11.10% 3.52 1.26 lack of interest in open research 15 23.80% 18 28.60% 15 23.80% 6 9.50% 9 14.30% 3.38 1.34 some publishers do not give prompt feedback 13 20.60% 17 27.00% 13 20.60% 7 11.10% 13 20.60% 3.16 1.43 lack of training on open research 15 23.80% 34 54.00% 6 9.50% 2 3.20% 6 9.50% 3.79 1.14 table 4 points out that lack of training on open research is ranked highest with (3.79 ± 1.14), followed by fear of plagiarism (3.78 ± 1.17), while lack of awareness of the open research process has (3.70 ± 1.17). however, electricity problems is ranked lowest with (3.11 ± 1.33). findings of this table implies that lack of training on open research, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of the open research process are the major factors retarding the engagement of librarians in kwara state in open research. discussion and interpretations of findings this study has revealed that librarians in kwara state are professionals with most of them possessing blis as the least qualification for practicing librarianship. also, it is interesting to discover that the librarians have sufficient work experience to provide reliable opinions on their engagement in open research. this level of work experience has empowered the respondents with adequate knowledge of various channels they can use to engage in open research. study reveals that the respondents used open peer review, publishing research in open access platforms, deposit their research in institutional repositories and use social networks for scientists/researchers to engage in open research. this means that the evolution of open research has paved the way for librarians to be engaging in open peer review process where they are assigned as reviewers of publications submitted to standardize publishing houses. librarians also claimed that publishing their research in open access platforms is another way they engaged in open research. by publishing research in open access platforms, research works of librarians will be made available and accessible to the public. furthermore, respondents also used institutional repositories as a means of engaging in open research. this is consistent with kaur’s (2018) assertion that institutional repositories are veritable platforms for researchers to make their works available and accessible to users. this also helps the institution in tracking and evaluating researchers’ contributions to their filed of interest. using social networks for scientists/researchers adds jewels to the crown of the respondents’ engagement in open research. social networking platforms for scientists/researchers: researchgates, zotero, obsidian google scholar and their likes have proven to be robust platforms for scientists/researchers to make their research works available and accessible to other researchers. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 118 engaging in open research through those channels helps respondents in creation of good research profiles, increases connectivity among researchers and increases findability and broadens readership. this is corroborated by sarker (2018) and ticea (2018) that greater access to global scientific studies and their results through open research can increase the connectivity among researchers for national and worldwide participation in the research process, increases findability and accessibility to readers in various locations. this implies that open research helps in boosting the respondents’ research profiles and has minimized the problems of low connectivity among researchers and inaccessibility to works of researchers. discovering that increasing the number of citations of researchers is ranked lowest in table 3 is worthy to be discussed. the opinions of the respondents contradict the assertion of kaur (2018) that open research increases researchers’ number of citations. since open research encourages findability, accessibility to research works and national and worldwide participation in the research process, it is therefore possible for research works to be used and cited by other researchers, which will result in creating good profiles for researchers. however, it is disturbing that lack of training on open research, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of the open research process are hindering the respondents from engaging in open research. these validate the position of mbughuni, mtega and malekani (2022) that many researchers avoid engaging in open research because of lack of training on open research, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of the open research process. apparently, some researchers are found of plagiarising other people’s works because it is available in public domain. but this shouldn’t affect other researchers from engaging in open research since one of the benefits of open research is to reduce unethical research practices (kaur, 2018). the open research process is not a complex adventure that researchers can engage in and exploit. it is a collective activity involving open data, findability, reusability, interoperability and accessibility to research information and open peer review to promote open science across various disciplines. therefore, it is a process that evolves based on the technologies available to researchers and their ability to learn the methods and strategies required to practice open research for the researchers’ vantages. conclusion and recommendations open research is one of the mainstays of scientific evolution by enabling researchers to create good profiles, increases connectivity among researchers and increases findability and broadens readerships of works shared in different platforms designed for promoting research endeavours. it is therefore incumbent on researchers to be committed to engaging in open research by making their research works available and accessible to other researchers who can help them add values to their works by using them as bases for future research or expanding the frontiers of scientific discoveries. based on the findings, this study hereby recommends the following: 1. librarians in kwara state should be trained on open research processes and practices. this will expose them to different channels they can use for open research and strategies and methods they can deploy to proficiently engage in open research. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 119 2. kwara state is one of the states with the highest library schools in nigeria. this therefore makes it imperative for librarians to be making their research works available in open educational resources that students and colleagues can use to broaden the status of teaching and learning. 3. librarians in kwara state should not let the fear of plagiarism stop them from engaging in open research. this is because their engagement in open research will help in increasing the citations of their works. references abuabdallah, z.s. (2014). the gap between scholarly practices and the institutional practices at dalhousie university. master of applied computer science, dalhousie university halifax, nova scotia. adams, j. (2015). impact of open science methods and practices on the economics of research and science. belgium: european commission. attoye, d.e. (2018). a futuristic report on the global benefits of open research. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 10-12. basurto, l.f., martinez-camacho, h. & calderon-swain, a. (2022). technological scenarios for the new normality in latin american academic libraries. international federation of library associations and institutions, 48(4), 538–547. doi: 10.1177/03400352211035412. chiado, a. (2018). the open science revolution. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 24-26. european commission community research and development information service (cordis). foster final report summary, 2017. cordis eu. available online: https://cordis.europa.eu/docs/results/612/612425/final1-foster-final-report.pdf kaur, g. (2018). open research—a supreme way to celebrate your work. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 27-29. mbughuni, a.s., mtega, w.p. & malekani, a.w. (2022). exploring academic staff engagement in depositing locally produced research content in open access institutional repositories in tanzania. international federation of library associations and institutions, 48(4), 523–537. doi: 10.1177/03400352211069157. nilsson, n.a. (2018). commodity or public property? chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 19-20. nwokedi, v.c. & nwokedi, g.i. (2018). open access institutional repositories in academic and research institutions in nigeria: a review of benefits and challenges. international journal of academic library and information science, 6(8), 242–252. rajagopal, k.t. (2018). democratization of access. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 4-6. https://cordis.europa.eu/docs/results/612/612425/final1-foster-final-report.pdf ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 120 sarker, a. (2018). benefits of open research: my own stories. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. pp. 13-15. singson, m., sevukan, r. & murugaiyan, m. (2015). author self-archiving and licensing policies of open access library and information science journals: a study. annals of library and information studies (alis), 62(2),104–109. ticea, a. (2018). open research as a tool for knowledge that benefits everyone. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 16-18. ugwuanyi, j.p. (2018). a case for unfettered access. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 21-23. von hellfeld, r. (2018). a spec of research to which anyone can add. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 42-44. yin, z. (2018). open scientific research is imperative in the world of the future. chapter title in rittman, m. (ed.). the global benefits of open research: the 2018 mdpi writing prize. basel: mdpi. 7-9. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors florence o. ajani, ph.d. is the deputy university librarian of kwara state university, malete, nigeria. she is a registered librarian with a profound and avid interest in knowledge organisation, globalisation in libraries, reference services and academic librarianship. she is a member of nigerian library association (nla) and nigerian school library association (nsla). she holds a b.sc. degree in computer science from university of ilorin (1997), master of library, archival and information studies (2005) and ph.d. degree in school media from the university of ibadan (2018). for more than a decade, dr. ajani has been expanding the frontiers of librarianship through teaching and research which have culminated in different publications in conference proceedings, seminar papers and journal articles at both local and international fronts. ahmed yakub olayinka (phd in view) currently lectures at the department of library and information science, federal polytechnic, offa, kwara state, nigeria. he had attended various conferences, seminars, workshops and fora, where he could ntributed his quota to the development of lis profession. for more than a decade, he has been an active contributor of articles in journals and chapters in books at both national and international levels. abdulakeem sodeeq sulyman is a budding library and information science scholar and public intellectual with deep interest in advancing the coast of scholarship and intellectual emancipation. he currently studies library and information science at the institute of professional and continuous education, kwara state university, malete, nigeria. he is a prolific writer with three books to his credit, serves as ad-hoc reviewer of reputable journals and has published more than ten journal articles on librarianship. 278-title-page 278-sulyman-layout issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org librarians’ awareness and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria mary idahosa and saadatu eireyi-edewede abstract: this study investigated librarian’s awareness of, and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. the study employed the descriptive survey research design with the study population of 246 librarians in southsouth nigeria. the 246 librarians were enumerated with a response rate of 190 (77%). the instrument for the collection of data was the questionnaire titled “librarians awareness of, and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies questionnaire” (laatdcctq). the data was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. the result revealed that, librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria have low level of awareness of cloud computing technology. librarians attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria is high respectively. the study recommended that librarians should organize workshops on the awareness of cloud computing technology in application to library services for library professionals. also, sufficient funding, training and re-training of librarians should be made available by the appropriate authorities’ development and application of technology services in university libraries. to cite this article: idahosa, m. & eireyi-edewede, s. (2023). librarians’ awareness and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 82-95. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.269 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 82-95 issn: 2474-3542 librarians’ awareness and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria mary idahosa and saadatu eireyi-edewede benson idahosa university library, benin city, nigeria abstract this study investigated librarian’s awareness of, and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. the study employed the descriptive survey research design with the study population of 246 librarians in south-south nigeria. the 246 librarians were enumerated with a response rate of 190 (77%). the instrument for the collection of data was the questionnaire titled “librarians awareness of, and attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies questionnaire” (laatdcctq). the data was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. the result revealed that, librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria have low level of awareness of cloud computing technology. librarians attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria is high respectively. the study recommended that librarians should organize workshops on the awareness of cloud computing technology in application to library services for library professionals. also, sufficient funding, training and re-training of librarians should be made available by the appropriate authorities’ development and application of technology services in university libraries. keywords: librarians awareness, librarians attitude, cloud computing technology introduction libraries are undergoing a transition from traditional library operations to digital resource centers giving information in various formats namely, text, image, video and audio. information communication technologies have made significant progress in the access and distribution of information to users. advancement in technology has led to a new concept known as cloud computing. microsoft (2021), is the delivery of computing services over the internet encompassing servers, space, databases, networks software and intelligence, order to enable faster innovation, highly adaptable resources, and scale economies. cloud computing enables the use of a network idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 83 of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data rather than a local server or a personal computer. shifting to cloud solutions give libraries the opportunity to save time and resources. seena and sudhier, (2013) state that cloud computing enables the migration of the desktop application to web-based applications such as communication tools (gmail, google calendar, and google talk) and productivity tools (google docs: text files, spreadsheets, and presentations) yuvaraj and singh, (2013) define cloud computing as “a style of computing in which massively scalable and elastic information technology-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external customers using internet technologies.” cloud computing is considered as the fifth generation of computing after mainframe, personal computers, client-server computing, and the web. in a cloud computing environment, the organization running an application does not typically own the physical hardware used for the applications, instead, a subscriber copies files to the server over the internet. kalapatapu and sarkar, (2017) also define cloud computing as a technology that allow users to use computation, storage and data access services. cloud computing is about moving services, computation and data for cost and business advantage. by making data available in the cloud, it can be more easily accessed often and at a much lower cost, increasing its value by enabling opportunities for enhanced collaboration, integration, and analysis on a shared common platform. since cloud computing can fulfil virtually an information technology needs there is need of identifying four different types of cloud computing, namely: infrastructure, platform, applications and services. these classifications are necessary to indicate the role which a particular cloud service offers and how the services perform its role. infrastructure is buying space/ time on external servers; examples are amazon, a3, and bungee. a platform on the other hand, is an existing software on which one can build its own application on, such as facebook, while application is a software accessed with a web browser, examples are google docs service is ready to use services accessed with a web browser. mell and gance, (2011) define each of the services models thus: software as a service (saas) allows users to use the provider’s applications on a cloud through a web browser, while platform as a service (paas) allows users to deploy the cloud computing own applications on the provider’s cloud infrastructure. infrastructure as a service (iaas) allows users to control and manage computing resources. cloud computing can transform the way information systems are built and services delivered. this provides a library with an opportunity to extend its impact to its users anywhere, anytime. anyone connected to the internet is probably using some type of cloud computing on a regular basis. whether they are using google’s gmail, organizing photos on flickr or searching the web with bing, they are engaged in cloud computing environment. as geoffery, (2013) points out, the interesting thing about cloud computing is that it did not start as a technology for the business enterprise but was driven by the public with services like facebook and flickr. education today is becoming completely associated with information technology (it) on content delivery, communication, and collaboration. the need for server, storage and software are highly demanding in the universities and libraries. whong, (2014) remarks that the primary purpose of university libraries is to support university functions of teaching, learning, research, and community services in ways consistent with and supportive of the institution’s mission and goals. according to tuncay, (2010) a library can benefit from using cloud computing technology by increasing computing performance, storage capacity, universal accessibility, and cost reduction. this can help the library in terms of fixed and maintenance cost reduction in the it investment of both hardware and software as well as computer services. with cloud computing, libraries may prevent financial waste, better track staff activities and avert technological headaches such as computer viruses, idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 84 system crashes, and loss of data. when cloud computing is used in the library, this will likely have a significant impact on library services. many authors have defined awareness, penfield and yoon, (2012) define awareness as the knowledge and understanding of something, especially as it relates to its development and its uses among people. it is the ability to be conscious of something new around someone. awareness is a pre-requisite to subsequent deployment and usage of cloud computing technology unless an individual uses it unknowingly. awareness in this study has to do with librarian’s knowledge and understanding towards cloud computing technology in the library. afolabi, (2011) identifies lack of awareness as one of the issues which adversely militate against the deployment of cloud computing technologies in nigeria. he indicates that lack of awareness of cloud computing among librarians and other library staff is high in nigeria. afolabi, (2011) further notes that more than 80% of the respondents surveyed during his research are completely unfamiliar with cloud computing. this implies that knowledge of cloud computing is very low among librarians in developing region like nigeria. alemayehu, (2010) indicates that regardless of librarians’ years of practice, 31 out of 45 respondents have said that they didn't have any pre-knowledge of cloud computing. therefore, awareness of cloud computing among librarians seems to be one major issue affecting the deployment of cloud computing in university libraries in south-south nigeria. it is only when awareness is tackled in an empirical study that deployment may be enhanced. oluwadamilare, (2012) identifies librarian’s awareness as a factor that can affect the attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in libraries. he illustrates that librarian’s attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technology in the library depends on their awareness of cloud computing technology. attitudes are “inclinations and feelings, prejudices or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears and convictions about any specific topic” erhahor, (2012). popoola, (2008) states that an attitude “is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized through experience exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon individual's response to all objects or situations with which it is associated.” attitude, according to lahey, (2011) is a belief that predisposes us to act and feel in certain ways. kavanaugh and solomon, (2013) agreed that attitudes are the positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, ideas or events. attitudes are made up of emotional reactions, effective thoughts, beliefs (cognitive) and actions (behavioural). a person’s attitude towards an issue or object can be judged from his behavior in a situation involving that object or issue. when a person has a positive attitude, the expected outcome is a pleasant feeling or result and vice versa. it may also be inferred from his agreement or disagreement with statements expressing beliefs, or feelings about objects. attitude in this study has to do with librarian’s reaction and behavior towards deployment of cloud computing technology in the library. according to kim, (2007) librarians’ disciplines, professional rank, gender and knowledge of the use of information technology may be a motivating or impeding factor affecting their contribution to cloud computing. furthermore, erhahor (2012) opines that librarians’ attitude towards a particular technology can determine the acceptance or rejection of such technology. this therefore explains that librarians’ awareness and attitude may influence the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries. this research consequently intends to contribute to remedying this observed knowledge gap through investigation, analyses, and documentation of the awareness and attitude of librarians towards the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 85 statement of the problem the 21st century is experiencing a great revolution in terms of technological advancement. this has led to different institutions such as libraries adopting the use of modern technologies in carrying out library services. the numerous benefits associated with the use of such technologies have led to its widespread usage among librarians in different libraries. cloud computing technology has been highly embraced by librarians in the western world for rendering services. from the researcher’s observation, there is a paucity of studies on librarians awareness and attitude towards the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries. however, it has also shown that the deployment and utilization of cloud facilities are very low in the libraries understudy. this may be because of librarians’ inadequate awareness and attitude towards the deployment of cloud computing technology. these observations are not final hence, this study was carried out to understand the actual situation and to proffer solutions where possible. objective of the study the main objective of this study is to investigate the awareness of, and attitude of librarians towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. however, the specific purpose is to: 1. find out whether librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria are aware of cloud computing in libraries. 2. determine the attitude of librarians towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. literature review librarians’ awareness of cloud computing technologies in libraries awareness is a pre-requisite to deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries. few research studies have been done on cloud computing. abidi (2012) made a survey in four different universities of faisalabad, pakistan to find out the awareness and deployment level of cloud computing technologies in libraries. the findings show that most of the participants are familiar with cloud computing but unfortunately some of them are not clear due to lack of resources. 91% of participants replied that they are aware of the different cloud computing technologies. in dar es salaam, idhalama and fidelis (2020) investigated librarians perspectives on cloud computing. the results revealed that librarians are enthusiastic about the usage of cloud computing solutions. sudhier, and seena, (2018) carried out a survey to ascertain the awareness and use of cloud computing technologies among library professionals in the kerala university library system in india. the survey was conducted using a questionnaire among 102 libraries professional employed in the central and departmental libraries of the university of kerala. the study reveals that 42.16% of the library professionals did not have much idea about cloud computing technology. analysis shows that facebook and google apps like gmail, google docs are the cloud computing technology used by the majority of the respondents. it is also worthy to note that the library professionals in kerala university library are using cloud computing technology without being aware of using it. awareness of cloud service models is relatively low among library professionals. idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 86 web, opac, and journal discovery services are the area known to the respondents in applying cloud computing technology in library out of 102 respondents 14.71% of the library, 2 professionals in university of kerala have average skill in using these technologies. the findings of the study show the need of providing training for the library professionals in handling technology in enhancing library services to its users. however, some studies suggest evidence of poor level of awareness among librarians on the deployment of cloud computing technologies in libraries. alemayehu, (2010) notes that it has been found that the level of awareness of librarians on the use of cloud computing in general in university libraries in nigeria is very low. his findings reveal that librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria have a very confused understanding of ‘cloud computing’ concept. as such librarians have not fully engaged in using the cloud to perform some library services. adewara, (2014) found that 82% of the librarians sampled knew ‘nothing at all’ or ‘a little’ about cloud computing. attitude of librarians towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in libraries attitudes are “inclinations and feelings, prejudices or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears and convictions about any specific topic” (taiwo, 2008). as cited by alemayehu, (2010) that “an attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized through experience exerting a directive or dynamic influences upon individual's response to all objects or situations with which it is associated.” this study explores the response and readiness of librarians to the deployment of cloud computing technologies. attitudes represent the conceptual value of these technologies in the minds of the librarians, not the values of the technologies themselves. according to spacey, (2013) positive attitudes are fundamental in deploying new technologies. the technology acceptance model (tam) is another way of looking at the relationship between attitude and behavior. cherry (2021) describes attitude as a set of thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors directed toward a physical item, people, and object. cherry also mentioned that the manifestation of attitudes might be positive, negative or ambiguous depending on the instance. annie, (2014) also reports the finding of a study on librarian's attitude and perception of cloud computing technology in central university libraries of india using diffusion of innovation theory. the findings reveal that many librarians have a positive attitude towards the deployment and use of cloud computing technologies in the discharge of library services. yuvaraj and singh (2013) explain that librarians possess different attitudes towards the various open source cloud-based operating systems when using the various computing activities that are installed or downloaded on traditional computers. attitude is a key driver to the deployment of technologies in libraries. (a-i-m-jakaria, 2010; omosor, 2014). johnson, (2011) observe that a major reason for the failure of the deployment of cloud computing technologies in libraries in developing countries is that librarians plan without sufficient knowledge of the purchase of hardware, software, and power supply requirements. finlay, (2016) sought to establish a connection between current knowledge and personality types in measuring librarians’ attitude toward the internet services. the researchers hypothesized that those with more knowledge and more innovative personalities were likely to have a more positive attitude toward innovation such as the use of cloud computing technologies. the hypotheses about knowledge were supported, but the hypothesis regarding innovativeness was not supported. janes, (2012) found that reference librarians with digital reference experience had more positive attitudes towards cloud computing usage than those who had no experience. yaacob, (2012) investigated idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 87 the attitudes of librarians in government-supported special libraries in malaysia and examined the relationship between the librarians' attitudes toward cloud computing and other variables. a significant relationship was found between attitudes and awareness of the potential of cloud technology, regency of attaining professional qualifications, and knowledge of information technologies. librarians' level of knowledge of technology was a good predictor of attitudes toward the deployment of cloud computing technology in libraries. alzahrani, (2013) investigate the perceptions of 147 library professional and paraprofessional staff concerning information technology innovations such as cloud computing in university libraries in saudi arabia. he found a significant relationship among respondents' educational background, experience in using information technology, and their perceptions about cloud computing. benefits of using cloud computing technologies in libraries libraries today have discovered the need to migrate from the print or paper form to a digital or web-based environment because of the numerous benefits associated with the used of cloud or web-based technologies. reid, (2007) notes that the broad network access is a major benefit that libraries derived from using cloud computing technologies. cloud capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms such as mobile phones, laptops, and pdas. similarly, according to kroski (2009), cloud services enable cheaper linkup since services may be retrieved from any device, at any time, regardless of location. srivastava and verma (2015), studied cloud computing for libraries. the findings reveal that security of library files, ease of access to file less security concern, efficiency as a virtual workspace, fast and efficient services require less investment, helps in the information storage and retrieval are among the gains of cloud services for libraries. olson, (2014) identified resource pooling as one benefit libraries enjoy while using cloud computing technologies. the provider’s computing resources are pooled together to serve multiple consumers using multiple-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. the resources include among others storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, virtual machines, and email services. the pooling together of the resource builds economies to scale. the use of cloud computing technologies in libraries leads to rapid elasticity. cloud services can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. to the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time (onuoha, 2012). gartner (2015), opined that cloud services is enables the reuse, preserve resources, and maximize utility by lowering cost and reinvesting available funds into efficient service delivery. libraries can obtain measured services when using cloud computing technologies. the more you utilize the higher the bill. just as utility companies sell power to subscribers, and telephone companies sell voice and data services, it services such as network security management, data centre hosting or even departmental billing can now be easily delivered as a contractual service. in addition, the use of cloud computing technologies in libraries is advocated by the cloud security alliance. it refers to the need for policy-driven enforcement, segmentation, isolation, governance, service levels, and chargeback/billing models for different consumer constituencies. krosk, (2009) notes that a major benefit in the deployment of cloud computing technologies in libraries is relatively low cost when compared to its functionality. cloud computing reduces paperwork, lowers transaction costs, and minimizes investment in hardware idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 88 (and the resources to manage it). and as your business grows, you can accommodate by adding more server space. cloud computing providers offer small and mid-size businesses access to more sophisticated technology at lower prices. sharing it resources with other companies reduces the cost of licensing software and buying servers. yaacob, m. (2012). states that the use of cloud computing technologies facilitates easier collaboration. since services in the cloud can be accessed anytime from any computer, it’s easy to collaborate with employees in distant locations. cloud computing enables the scale up or down of it requirements of organizations quickly and efficiently, without hampering productivity. it cuts down the time involved in buying and setting up additional hardware, software & other necessary resources every time a new service is required. a lot of cost related affairs like administration and maintenance can be reduced when using cloud computing technologies in libraries. it also helps cut down unnecessary capital expenditure as one has to pay only for the duration the service was used for. this also ensures effective utilization. as in cloud computing the total it infrastructure is as a pool of resources, it reduces wastage of resources to a great extent and improves utilization. beyond the basic components of hosted email services that have a strong consumer base, cloud computing can be utilized to address needs which are specific to libraries. this can be broken down into the three types of cloud services, replacing a library’s onsite technology environment with an online version, and then situations where a library can create its own cloud infrastructure. these areas offer “benefits to information professionals: outsourced infrastructure, greater flexibility, reduced barriers to innovation, and lower start-up investments”. the three main types of cloud services are software as a service (saas), platform as a service (paas), and infrastructure as a service (iaas) (kroski, 2009). first, cloud computing offers the ability of libraries to use online software to handle a task like a video chat through either gmail video chat or through skype. both are free services though there is “little customization or control available with these applications” libraries can create applications in an online environment. these environments allow a library to build, test, and deploy web-based applications (kroski, 2009). paas gives the library the freedom to explore development options without having to purchase and maintain the required infrastructure. this way, if a particular program turns out to not be popular or the best fit for a library, they are not stuck with unwanted hardware and software which they could not recoup the costs from. third, a library no longer must purchase their own servers to host their content. by using iaas, a library can purchase server space and computing power. one of the major players in this arena is amazon which offers the elastic compute cloud (ec2), which provides computing resources and simple storage services (s3) for data storage. challenges associated with deployment of cloud computing technology there are numerous challenges associated with cloud computing, shen and tong (2010), feel that during the course of the deployment of cloud computing technology, security is a big concern due to the availability of different systems that maybe be working in multiple environments. catteddu and hoboken (2012), state that integrity, trust, privacy, expectations, control, regulations intellectual property management has put three issues that are critical which include technical, legal, and organizational policy. some challenges will be addressed if the benefit must be achieved: • inadequate power supply idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 89 • data privacy: sensitive and personal information are not be shared with third parties. • service provider reliability: this must be available at all time. the provider must be of high reputation. • poor internet connectivity methodology the descriptive research method of the survey design was used in this study. there are 246 librarians in the study. this consists of librarians from universities across nigeria six southern states. there are 246 libraries in the sample. the total enumeration sampling techniques was used by the researcher to survey all 246 librarians. because the population is small and there is ample time and money to conduct the research, the entire population was chosen to be investigated. the questionnaire was used to collect information. because of the descriptive nature of the research, the research questions were answered using frequencies. also, statistical mean was used to answer some of the research questions and criterion mean is set at 2.50. the researcher distributed 246 copies of the instrument and 190 (77%) copies were returned. the return rate of 77% is considered adequate for the research because the standard and the accepted response rate for most studies is 60% in social science and education (dulle, minishmajanja, & cloete, 2010). research question one: to what extent are librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria aware of cloud computing technologies? table 1. librarians’ awareness of cloud computing technologies level of librarians’ awareness mean cloud computing can be used to serve multiple users at the same time. 1.03 cloud computing technology is used for storing information over a network. 1.02 cloud computing can be accessed by any device connected to the internet e.g. mobile phones, laptops, and tablets. 1.05 it does not involve human interaction with the service provider. 1.35 cloud computing technologies enables librarians to share information with other libraries over a network. 1.02 information stored with cloud computing technologies can be accessed in any part of the world. 1.04 cloud computing service is on demand service. 1.18 idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 90 cloud computing minimize investment in hardware. 1.15 cloud computing facilitates collaboration among librarians. 1.03 aggregate mean 1.09 criterion mean 1.50 table 1 shows that with an aggregate mean of 1.09 which is less than the criterion mean of 1.50, it can be concluded that the extent of awareness of cloud computing technologies among librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria is low. research question two: what is the attitude of librarians towards the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries? table 2. attitude of librarians towards deployment cloud computing technologies attitude statement mean remarks i will deploy cloud because of its ease of use. 3.35 positive i like to use cloud computing because it will enable the storage and preservation of information materials. 3.37 positive i feel that librarians with digital reference experience may have good attitude towards the deployment of cloud services. 3.37 positive i perceive that librarians knowledge of technology can be a good predictor of incorporating cloud service. 3.37 positive i feel i do not possess enough skills required for the development and maintenance of cloud computing. 2.46 negative i feel that cloud computing is beyond the financial reach of most libraries, hence no need to deploy it. 2.41 negative i feel that deployment of cloud computing services in libraries will make certain services easy. 3.42 positive idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 91 table 2 shows that with an aggregate mean of 3.11, is greater than the criterion mean of 2.50, demonstrating that librarians have a positive attitude towards the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries. this is so because almost all constructs statistical mean as well as the aggregate mean were above 2.50 except for lack the necessary expertise for the development and upkeep of cloud service (=2.46) and cloud is above the financial reach pf most libraries hence it cannot be considered (mean=2.41). research question three: what is the perceived benefits of using cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria? table 3. benefits of deploying cloud services in libraries benefits of cloud computing agree no. % disagree no. % total no. % it facilitates easy retrieval of information. 188 98.9 2 1.1 190 100 it facilitates wider access to information. 186 97.6 4 2.1 190 100 usage of cloud services and enables the high the high storage of library materials. 187 98.4 3 1.6 190 100 it facilitates easy migration from one software to another. 162 85.3 28 14.7 190 100 it facilitates interlibrary loan and resource sharing. 177 93.2 13 6.8 190 100 it increases efficiency. 175 92.1 15 7.9 190 100 reduces the quality of work of the information professionals 159 83.7 31 16.3 190 100 provides keywords and easy search for information 176 92.6 14 7.4 190 100 table 3 shows that easy retrieval of information 188(98.9%), high storage of library materials 187(98.4%), wider information accessibility 186(97.6%), interlibrary loan and resources sharing 177(93.2%), and provision of keyword easy search for information 176(92.6%) are some of the perceived benefits of using cloud services. therefore, it can be decided that the benefits of utilizing cloud tools amongst the librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria are to idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 92 facilitate easy retrieval of information, to enable high storage of library materials, to facilitate wider information accessibility, facilitate interlibrary loan and resource sharing and to the provision of keyword and easy search for information. table 4 challenges encountered the use of cloud computing technologies by librarians challenge agree no. % disagree no. % total no. % poor internet connectivity is a limitation in using cloud services. 164 86.3 26 13.7 190 100 intellectual property mismanagement 141 74.2 49 25.8 190 100 inadequate power supply 162 85.3 28 14.7 190 100 data integrity 152 80 38 20 190 100 table 4: reveals that internet connectivity 164(86.3%), power failure 162(85.3%), data integrity 152(80.0%), intellectual property mismanagement 142(74.2%). conclusively, the drawbacks faced are internet connectivity, power failure, and data integrity. discussion from the analysis collected for this study, the first findings of the study showed that librarians’ awareness of cloud computing technology among librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria is low. this may be because of technological advancement presently influencing librarians as a profession. this finding is in line with swan & brown (2015) found that many academic librarians are not aware of the concept of cloud computing technologies in university libraries. the second finding of this study shows that librarians’ attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technology is high. this finding is in line with annie, (2014) who found that many librarians have positive attitude towards the deployment and use of cloud computing technologies in the discharge of library services. conclusion in the era of technology, it is inevitable for libraries to keep pace with the changing need of users and provide them with the best service using information communication technology (ict). cloud idahosa and eireyi-edewede / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 93 computing is relatively new in the field of librarianship in south-south nigeria and enough awareness is still absent. as such it is time for librarians to concentrate on providing proactive services and move from the general traditional service to personalize information services to users for the benefits of university community. for effective and efficient deployment of cloud computing, there is need for advanced training for librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria. hopefully, libraries could focus more directly on services and materials for patrons if their computer hardware and software are handled by information technology (it) companies of cloud. one-way university libraries can respond and benefit to this emerging trend is to make the libraries easily accessible via-web enabled devices. university libraries should make conscious choices about what they want to offer and by this, university can become round the-clock service. recommendation the researcher recommends that: 1. university/library management should ensure there is swift internet access and constant power supply in university libraries to enhance the deployment of cloud computing services. this will attract more patrons the library. 2. university library management should organize workshops on the awareness of cloud computing and its application to library services. 3. sufficient fund, training and re-training of librarians should be made available by the appropriate authorities for the development and application of technology services in university libraries. reference abidi, f. 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(2012). cloud computing opportunities for academic libraries in nigeria. jewel journal of librarianship, 6, 21-31. yuvaraj, t. (2013). modern information technologies: their impact on library services. . journal of management information systems, 11, 87-114. _____________________________________________________________________________________ about the authors mary idahosa currently works at the university library, benson idahosa university. mary idohosa does research in teaching methods and vocational education. saadatu eireyi-edewede ( cln) is assistant librarian in benson idahosa university library benin city. http://ahero.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=cshe&action=downloadfile&fileid=36807145012560036285 http://ahero.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=cshe&action=downloadfile&fileid=36807145012560036285 http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/%7embolin/safdar-mahmood-qutab.html http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/%7embolin/safdar-mahmood-qutab.html 269-title-page 269-idohosa-layout issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org perception of librarians on covid-19 information and sensitization: challenges and change agenda adetoun adebisi oyelude, adefunke sarah ebijuwa, hauwa sani ahmad, mabruka abubakar abba, and celina jummai nongo abstract: librarians across africa have had to portray proactive measures in combating the spread of corona virus (covid-19) pandemic. they were faced with the probability of how libraries would function amidst employees calling for closures while seeking for safety and looking for how to activate open access e-resources, minding workers’ rights and copyright guidelines on these e-resources. their perception on providing health information sensitization to their immediate community, the challenges and facing the change agenda was the focus of this paper. respondents were drawn from different libraries for the survey which adopted qualitative research methodology through interviews. the data collected were thematically analyzed to answer the research questions. findings indicated that librarians perceived the covid-19 sensitization as a challenge that could be overwhelming, but achievable with support from stakeholders, the government and nongovernmental agencies. recommendations were that the new normal has brought changes to information processing and dissemination. librarians and libraries should thrive in this new reality and remain more responsive. furthermore, enhanced impact assessment should be carried out to find out how the measures of sensitization on the pandemic became effective. to cite this article: oyelude, a. a., ebijuwa, a. s., ahmad, h. s., abba, m. a., and nongo, c. j. (2022). perception of librarians on covid-19 information and sensitization: challenges and change agenda. international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 79-98. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.233 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.1.233 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(1), 79-98. issn: 2474-3542 perception of librarians on covid-19 information and sensitization: challenges and change agenda adetoun adebisi oyelude, university of ibadan, nigeria adefunke sarah ebijuwa, ladoke akintola university, nigeria hauwa sani ahmad, bayero university,nigeria mabruka abubakar abba, sa’adatu rimi college of education, nigeria celina jummai nongo, benue state university, nigeria abstract librarians across africa have had to portray proactive measures in combating the spread of corona virus (covid-19) pandemic. they were faced with the probability of how libraries would function amidst employees calling for closures while seeking for safety and looking for how to activate open access e-resources, minding workers’ rights and copyright guidelines on these eresources. their perception on providing health information sensitization to their immediate community, the challenges and facing the change agenda was the focus of this paper. respondents were drawn from different libraries for the survey which adopted qualitative research methodology through interviews. the data collected were thematically analyzed to answer the research questions. findings indicated that librarians perceived the covid-19 sensitization as a challenge that could be overwhelming, but achievable with support from stakeholders, the government and non-governmental agencies. recommendations were that the new normal has brought changes to information processing and dissemination. librarians and libraries should thrive in this new reality and remain more responsive. furthermore, enhanced impact assessment should be carried out to find out how the measures of sensitization on the pandemic became effective. keywords: librarians, perception, sensitization, covid-19, change agenda introduction the covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak is having a global impact, and affecting both urban and local communities. staff in libraries of all types, geographic locations, and sizes are learning the facts about this public health crisis, informing the public, and adapting services and programming to meet changing community needs. however, conceptualization and implementation of so many government programmes are usually carried out in urban and metropolitan cities without adequate consideration of implementing these programmes. this also affects libraries as well, for instance the analysis by diso (2010) on vision 20:2020 objectives, decried that little emphasis was made on information and knowledge and there was none on the libraries and related information and knowledge agencies. therefore, this is related to the fact that libraries and librarians would adhere to the new normal protocols in indulging on e-services and representing professionalism in this era of the covid-19 pandemic to remain relevant in the society. the benefits of library services oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 80 cannot be over-emphasized during this pandemic era, because it is the fulcrum on which researchers, lecturers, and academia intellectual activities are promoted worldwide. little wonder igwe, ugwuogu & okechukwu (2019) posit that, it is absolutely not negotiable that information plays critical roles in the growth and development of societies where man operates. in the same vein, nongo and ode (2018) noted the synergy between government and librarians for sustainable enforcement of healthy advocacy and sensitization of preventive health care for all ages. they posit that the synergy will help to speed up action towards realization of the sdgs in a developing country like nigeria. sensitization connotes making people aware about an issue, or situation (youth do it, 2019). perception as stated by orakpor (2009) is how situations, events and ideas are viewed from different angles by different persons. it is the various opinions of varied individuals on some issues. therefore, this paper seeks to determine the librarians’ perception on information sensitization amidst the covid-19 pandemic, highlighting challenges and focusing on a change agenda. there are ample number of challenges the libraries and librarians would have to combat due to the impromptu emergence of the lockdown order by the federal government of nigeria occasioned by the rapid effect of covid-19 pandemic on its citizens. obviously the “new normal” created a paradigm shift in library services whereby staff and users interface becomes impossible or no longer preferred and library collections in physical format becomes inaccessible. students' collaborative study is against the covid-19 protocols and this is banished in favour of social distancing, and libraries admitting less students into the library building. those are against the library mission and objectives and it is a challenge to the entire profession. how can we then leverage this crisis situation and create new and innovative collections and services to improve our campus communities? based on these trend analysis, it is obvious that there is a major landslide in service delivery by academic libraries in terms of collections, services, spaces and operations. methodology the study adopted a narrative qualitative research design. since physical interviews could not be conducted, online interview approval was employed. ethical approval was obtained from the college of medicine, university of ibadan, and hence participation in the study was consensual, voluntary and anonymous and posed no risk to the participants. the target population used for the study was 20 librarians across africa who were contacted online during an international conference in 2020. convenience sampling technique was used to obtained a sample size for the study, where thirteen (13) respondents conveniently participated giving a 65% response rate. the online interview was carefully transcribed and thematically analyzed. all categories of responses extracted from the interviews were compared and merged to draw out and create a clear picture of the emerging themes on change agenda in handling covid-19 sensitization of the community. review of related literature the 2019 novel coronavirus (covid-19), which was first identified in china in december 2019, is a new strain of virus that has not been previously seen in humans. available data suggests over oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 81 2,800 fatalities in 10 countries and 83,000 infections across 56 countries worldwide as at february 28, 2020 (beetseh, olise & tor-akwer, 2021). according to who (2020), the coronavirus infection (covid-19) is an emerging infectious illness which broke out during the winter of 2019 and was declared a public health emergency of international concern. covid-19 is described as a public health emergency, a real-time experiment in downsizing the consumer economy and a socio-environmental disaster that may catalyze processes of social change (cohen, 2020). whether this is fact or fable, arguments abound on how the public health emergency has brought about changes in social behaviour. in line with this, ilori (2020) investigated the self-policing of covid-19 and the civic responsibilities of citizens in lagos using qualitative interview method. the findings indicated that there is adequate awareness of covid-19 pandemic, and government directives are being followed in the state. with palliatives provided then, a little relief was experienced, but hunger crisis could result from the total lockdown. the theoretical framework was based on the health belief model (hbm) which was used to explain the behavioural change of nigerians concerning the corona virus. the health belief model (hbm) is a tool that scientists use to try and predict health behaviour. it was originally developed in the 1950s and updated in the 1980s. the model is based on the theory that a person's willingness to change their health behaviour is primarily due to their health perceptions. according to this model, your individual beliefs about health and health conditions, play a role in determining your health-related behaviour. similarly, blake and ngo (2020) opined that responsive and community-engaged actions are an urgent priority during pandemics. this creates a need for sustainability because both structural and social conditions may worsen as successive waves of outbreaks place new strain on health, economic, and social infrastructure. this is coupled with fatigue, with onerous restrictions growing. in the same vein, global health security agenda (ghsa) was the focus of the critical analysis by ventura, marques di giulio and rached (2020), who argued that efficient and ethically acceptable global health security is achievable only if sustainability is incorporated into the programme. it is of particular concern when it is considered that “complex socio-environmental issues, and transformative change across technological, economic and social factors, promoting social and environmental responsibilities across all sectors” are involved. mushi and mushi (2021) described the social and behavioural strategies that were used in tanzania, to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus to other regions. behavioural change strategies used included: launching health promotion campaigns focusing on education and training to raise awareness of covid-19 transmission and prevention and giving information on the benefits of preventive behaviour; using digital communication tools to encourage preventive behaviour and promote new social norms via daily reminders on what to do and not do; restriction strategy being implemented to influence the process of behavioural change by establishing social rules during the pandemic. other strategies were, environmental control strategy which entailed controlling environments that could facilitate the transmission of the disease; and, a modelling strategy with government officials, religious leaders and celebrities serving as role models of preventive behaviour in health promotion campaigns. the mobilisation of financial and human resources, governmental support, community awareness and willingness to change were found to be the key to the success of behavioural change interventions in tanzania. indeed, the looming threat of covid-19 infection and the unfortunate emergence of variants of the initial virus that oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 82 emerged in africa is such that africa needs to be supported and to act fast (nkengasong & mankoula, 2020). this is contentious now because countries in africa seems to be faring better in the aftermath of the pandemic than the rest of the world. however, librarians in different parts of the world have developed different perceptions about the pandemic with regard to their profession. there is a sense in which we say that some library and information professionals in developing countries like nigeria may likely have questionable perception about covid-19 pandemic while others develop positive perception (idhalama, 2020). the librarians that developed positive perceptions on the pandemic therefore developed new skills and means of information services delivery. brown (2020) stated that libraries in the usa had closed their physical buildings and opened their digital doors. moreover, the american library association (ala) cancelled their annual conference for the first time in 75 years, in the year 2020. perrine (2020) reported that the usage of online databases has increased by 75% due to the closure of libraries. moreover, about 3000 books were issued from middletown township public library (mtpl), new jersey in a day, before its closure that was considered ‘highly unusual’. this means that, despite the closure of most libraries, the librarians have developed new ways and means of serving their patrons. in the meantime, dissemination of information on covid-19 by librarians is on the front burner. chukwuyere, nwanneka, cukwuddebelu, and chidiebere (2020) carried out extensive literature review and discussed the means of disseminating information on covid-19, narrowing down to some social media platforms which is most effective for such. these means of disseminating information were identified by them, as mobile apps, artificial intelligence based chat-bots, video-based lectures, social media trolling and electronic resources. some problems were also identified in the study. they were: poor awareness of librarians to use of social media platforms, poor infrastructure and low bandwidth, others were fake news, conspiracy theories, and poverty (lack of funds to subscribe to social media). religious beliefs, non-compliance with government directives and high rate of illiteracy were also problems identified. african library & information associations & institutions (2019) posited that this is a wakeup call for librarians as they need to re-educate themselves on the virus, preventative measures and also pass on the information in as many spaces as possible. this is especially necessary on online platforms since physical gathering is currently prohibited. kennedy (2020) affirmed that as new knowledge about covid-19 emerges and as the number of reported cases spreads, the association of research libraries (arl) are partnering with scholars and senior administrators in federal agencies, cities, and higher education to ensure that their expertise and the information they provide is available for consumption by the public to keep them informed. during the lockdown many libraries in the united states of american, britain, canada, india and pakistan managed to provide virtual support to their users, such as provision of references, document delivery, literature searches and systematic reviews (ali and gatiti, 2020; hu, lou, xu, meng, xie, zhang, zou, liu, sun and wang, 2020). some libraries initiated online webinars and sessions to keep in touch with their users via google classroom, google hangouts, skype, or zoom. oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 83 virtual awareness service is one of the library services offered to develop new thinking and information about covid-19. effective virtual awareness services to the general public especially library users on the danger of covid-19 through electronic resources, computer, database, electronic books, electronic journals, electronic dictionaries, electronic encyclopedias and other digital resources would assist in the spread of the virus. this has therefore necessitated the role of librarians as crucial agents for disseminating information especially in this era of information explosion and misinformation in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. librarian’s roles have shifted from being protector and guardians of collections to agents involved in community development and provision of access to information (ati). featherstone, lyon, and ruffin (2008) identified roles of librarians in periods of disasters as institutional supporters, collection managers, information disseminators, internal planners, community supporters, government partners, educators/trainers, and information community builders. emasealu and umeozor (2015) urge librarians to be more proactive by playing a dominant role in providing solutions to community problems and needs; educate the populace in order to reinforce change behaviour; adapt to changing conditions and appropriately address concerns and fears of the community in times of tragedies of this kind. in response to the above assertion on proactivity of library professionals, librarians especially those in nsukka local government areas in enugu state, nigeria, in this period of covid-19 pandemic assume various roles among which are: creating awareness to rural communities through social media, public speeches, organizing sensitization programme and mounting posters in strategic positions. they also provide useful information to medical and public health practitioners and as well provide ongoing traditional library services to regular patrons via various media platforms. these services according to malizia, hamilton, littrell, vargas, and olney (2012) are of great importance to community members because it makes them play active part of the response, take responsibility of relaying the various prevention messages, especially in the context of disinformation; communicate with people to explain the issues concerning the measures to prevent the spread of the disease. supportively, smith and freedman (2020) aver that adequate information is essential to prevent transmission. they explain that blocking the transmission route is the most important means to control the spread of covid-19. actually, during the sensitization programmes, emphasis was made on various ways to control the spread of the virus such as the use of face masks cum shield, avoidance of handshakes, avoiding close contact with other people, maintaining social distancing, regular handwashing with soap or detergent, and the use of hand sanitizers. in similar manner, belser, maines, tumpey and katz (2010) had given the notion that hands may become contaminated, ensuing transfer of virus to the oral or nasal mucosa of a new host hence the need for sanitizing. equally, sim, money and tan (2014) advice that wearing an oral nasal mask is one of the main protective measures as it prevents healthy individuals from inhaling the infection through the respiratory tract. delivery of information to library patrons through electronic means generally creates less contact between user and information provider, and keeps infection somewhat at bay. according to ekere, omekwu and nwoha (2016), online reference resources also assist reference librarians to answer reference enquiries and deliver information through the world wide web; wifi; search oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 84 engines; digital video disc (dvd) and vsat based internet connectivity. covid-19 has brought a new order which assists librarian to provide services that will ensure better access to information, resource sharing, improved productivity, up-to-date information services, efficient and affective delivery of service of preventive mechanism of effective information about covid-19 to users. sensitization on pandemic and how to avoid, prevent or treat the infection therefore could be more easily done, using these channels. in the last few months of the year 2021, new variants of the corona virus emerged. tagged the delta variant, then the omicron variant, so named by the world health organization, the variant has been listed as a variant of concern. bollinger, ray, and maragakis (2022) assert that cases of the highly contagious variant, including a subvariant called ba.2, or “stealth omicron,” have caused surges of covid-19, particularly in areas where safety precautions have been relaxed. the coronavirus vaccine seems to be the best protection against the virus according to ratini (2022) and since the virus causes covid-19 will probably keep changing, experts may find more new variants. ratini concludes that “it is impossible to predict how those virus changes might affect what happens. but change is just what viruses do." researchers have discovered that the way around the new virus is to take different precautions than hitherto. viruses change, therefore people have to change their social behaviour to maintain a fighting front to the virus and stay informed, sensitizing the community in the process. findings and discussion the data gathered was thematically analyzed in line with the questions asked to bring out clearly the logicality of the discourse with literature. twenty (20) heads of libraries were purposively targeted to be interviewed. of this number, thirteen granted interview over the one week period when the data was collected. others contacted could not meet the scheduled appointments for various reasons. demographic details of the respondents are presented in table 1 as follows: 9 (69%) were phd holders and 4 (31%) had masters degrees. table 1. demographic information of the respondents country no. % botswana 1 7.7 ghana 1 7.7 kenya 1 7.7 nigeria 9 69.2 uganda 1 7.7 age bracket 36 40 1 7.7 41 45 2 15.4 46 50 2 15.4 51 55 6 46.2 56 60 1 7.7 61 and above 1 7.7 institutions polytechnic library 1 7.7 university library 5 38.4 oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 85 public library 4 30.8 school library 1 7.7 government library 1 7.7 college library 1 7.7 qualification phd 9 69.2 masters 4 30.8 years of work experience 10 – 15 years 3 23.1 16 – 20 years 3 23.1 21 – 25 years 2 15.4 26 – 30 years 2 15.4 above 30 years 3 23.1 total 13 100 their years of work experience ranged from 13 years to 58 years. average work experience years was 23 years. respondents came from 5 african counties, with more being from nigeria. the average time it took for each interview was 8 minutes. individual effort of sensitization when questioned on what they had done individually to sensitize their community about the covid-19 pandemic, majority had reached out to the members of staff in their institutions. they sensitized people to the pandemic at management meetings, talking to their staff and sending messages to them through social media platforms such as whatsapp messages. this medium was most commonly used. in addition, for about half of the libraries, poster and notice board information was a sensitization method used. this is in tandem with brown (2020) who stated that libraries in the usa had closed their physical buildings and opened their digital doors. provision of hand washing facilities and sensitization talks on the proper way to wash hands was a sensitization measure adopted. in a few cases, hand sanitizers were provided for staff and users to drive home the point, before the resort to lockdown. some had also reached out to the wider community in which they lived trying to give orientation on what the pandemic was about, and how they could avoid getting infected. this corroborates the study of chukwuyere, nwanneka, cukwuddebelu, and chidiebere (2020) and mushi and mushi (2021) on the different means used to disseminate information on covid-19, narrowing down to some social media platforms which are most effective for such. table 2: individual sensitization of community about the pandemic s/n individual sensitization of community frequency % 1 provision and distribution of e-book on covid-19 2 15.4 2 community orientation about covid-19 5 38.4 3 covid-19 awareness to the staff and community 7 51 4 provision of covid-19 prevention equipment for library staff and community 1 7.7 5 distribution of posters, fliers and banners to sensitize community 2 15.4 oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 86 6 sharing of information about covid-19 on social media 3 23.1 respondents were allowed to tick more than one option. a few (23.1%) reached out to sensitize people on social media and only 1 (7.7%) actually provided covid-19 prevention equipment for library staff and community just as advised by sim, money and tan (2014) on the best practice of wearing protective gear to prevent contracting the virus. a few (15.4%) made effort to provide and distribute e-books on covid-19 pandemic to the community. this activity of sensitizing the community about the pandemic is a behavioural pattern or tendency that occurs in pandemic situations as corroborated by the study of smith and freedman (2020) which indicated that adequate information is essential to prevent transmission of the deadly virus. institution effort of sensitization basically, all the methods that are recommended by the health authorities such as the ncdc and the who were adopted by all the institutions (table 3). the data gathered on the activity of the respondents as head of institutions to use the institution to sensitize the community about the pandemic indicated that provision of annual leave to the institution’s staff pending the ease of lockdown, and reschedule of library services and reduction of hours of operation was what mostly was used for this sensitization (61.5%). in addition, some of them made information specifically about the virus, and how to get rid of it available to their staff and users on electronic media. table 3: institutional sensitization of community about the pandemic s/n library contributions frequency % 1 provision of relevant e-resources by the library to the users and community 7 54 2 provision of annual leave to the library’s staff pending the ease of lockdown 8 61.5 3 provision of sanitizers and running water for good hand hygiene 5 38.4 4 reschedule of library services and reduction of hour of operation 8 61.5 5 reduction number of users coming into the library 1 7.7 6 maintaining social distances among library staff and users 2 15.4 7 develop of disaster planning strategies on public health 2 15.4 8 formulate questions and answers about covid-19 pandemic 3 23.1 9 library embarks on sharing information via social media 3 23.1 respondents were allowed to tick more than one option. as lockdown came into force, a number of the libraries or institutions provided access to e-books and open electronic resources that hitherto had not been provided. once staff had to stay away, the community knew that the pandemic was a serious issue. provision of relevant eresources by the library to the users and community to sensitize them was also a popular option for the institutions. this corroborates ekere, omekwu and nwoha (2016), who indicated that information and reference services are delivered using online means like the world wide web and others. provision of sanitizers and running water for good hand hygiene was another contribution oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 87 to sensitization efforts, though reduction of the number of users coming into the library (institution) was carried out by 7.7% of the institutions. table 3 shows further that the library sharing information via social media and formulating questions and answers about covid-19 pandemic as a means of sensitizing the community was carried out by a few institutions (23.1%). emasealu and umeozor (2015) urge librarians to be more proactive by playing a dominant role in providing solutions to community problems and needs; educate the populace. apparently, a few of the institutions also developed disaster planning strategies, and maintained social distance among library staff and users as a method of carrying out the sensitization on the pandemic. impact assessment of covid-19 sensitization efforts on whether impact assessment had been done on the sensitization methods adopted, the respondents all answered in the negative. as at the time the interviews were conducted, none of the librarians in the african counties selected for the study had assessed the impact (table 4). only 2 (15.4%) of the respondents said a little about assessment. the lockdown method to help in arresting the spread of the pandemic was noted by them to be effective. in one case, there were no additional cases reported in the totally locked-down state, while in the other, the “stay at home” order had the effect of making librarians more relaxed, less panicked and ready to share more informal information that was less covid-19 related. the sensitization of the community on the covid-19 pandemic is to let them know what the virus is, how to prevent themselves form contracting, and how to ensure that adequate measures are taken to eradicate it. as a result, it would be necessary to evaluate the impact of the pandemic. about 80% of the respondents revealed that they had not yet done any impact evaluation of the pandemic. table 4: evaluation of the impact of covid-19 s/n impact evaluation of covid-19 in the community frequency % 1. survey not yet carried out 10 76.9 2. observed that personal protective equipment (ppe) is being used, and people in the community are running out of money because of lockdown 1 7.7 3. in the process of doing the survey 2 15.4 total 13 100 this is contradictory to ilori (2020) who investigated the self-policing of covid-19. the rate of change in the behaviour of people in the community was assessed. in this study, it was revealed that impact evaluation had not been carried out. only in one institution had it been observed that there was change, in terms of personal protective equipment being used. only 15.4% were planning to carry out impact evaluation of the covid-19 pandemic. suggested measures to fight the covid-19 pandemic oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 88 respondents proffered solutions to the covid-19 pandemic (table 5). the highest frequency of suggestion was, to sensitize the public on health planning strategy. proper awareness to the community in their native language, maintaining social distancing or staying at home, and following the rules and regulations of nigeria centre for disease control (ncdc) about covid19 were also suggested. table 5: measures to fight the covid-19 pandemic s/n measures to fight covid-19 frequency % 1 follow the rules and regulation of nigeria centre for disease control (ncdc) about covid-19 7 54 2 government should commend those that enforce the convid-19 rules and media houses 3 23.1 3 maintain social distancing / stay at home 7 54 4 sensitize the public on health planning strategy 8 61.5 5 librarian and researchers should investigate the causes and control 2 15.4 6 proper awareness to the community in their native language 7 54 7 distribute fliers 2 15.4 8 encourage visiting hospital for regular checkup and test 2 15.4 9 supplication and prayers to god 1 7.7 10 provision of adequate equipment to the health workers 1 7.7 11 provision of palliative to the community 1 7.7 12 proper fumigation of society 1 7.7 respondents were allowed to tick more than one option. a few suggestions of the measures to arrest the pandemic are constant sensitization of the non-pharmaceutical protocols and checking the compliance level as well as the practices carried out in the communities that libraries are serving. another measure is the need to have well equipped medical facilities in a close radius to communities, to serve as first aid to infected persons. future suggestions to curb pandemics or prepare for them suggestions for curbing future pandemics were called for and majority (69.2%) of the respondents felt that equipping hospitals and encouraging health workers would be the way forward. there should be yearly health-inclined strategic plans to unfold measures to curb further pandemics in the global environment. these plans should be the change factor which is desired to curb pandemics. therefore, planning in the present prevents future occurrence of the menace. table 6: suggestions for curbing future pandemics or prepare against covid-19 s/n impact of covid-19 in the community frequency % 1 educating the masses on health issue 5 38.4 2 equipping the hospitals and encouraging the health workers 9 69.2 3 sensitize community to keep proper hygiene 2 15.4 4 government should keep proper record and data of the citizens 1 7.7 oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 89 5 librarians and researchers should stick to the formulated policies on disaster planning strategies to save lives and property 4 30.8 6 training and retraining of health workers 2 15.4 respondents were allowed to tick more than one option. educating the masses on health issues, and getting librarians and researchers to stick to formulated policies on disaster planning strategies would also curb future pandemics of prepare against it (table 6). only 7.7% of the respondents suggested that government keeping proper records and data of the citizens would help in curbing or preparing against pandemics in future. generally, there is a call for improvement in health facilities, health research capacity, and collaboration in pandemic research. in addition, collaboration between government agencies, and serious need for education of the populace on hygiene is perceived by librarians, to be essential. respondents also noted that there is a need for transparency of researchers in disseminating or disclosing results of their research. health based researchers are required to start telling the truth in good time, to prevent escalation to pandemic proportions, of what they find going wrong. implications i. the perceptions of librarians and libraries showed that there were many misgivings on sensitization to the pandemic. people also tended not to want to take the vaccine which is believed to be the best protection against the virus. lockdown prevented social and economic flow of activities, and too much room was given for conspiracy theories, fake news, disinformation, and misinformation arising to low acceptance rate of the sensitization effort by information professionals and government. ii. there are implications for the change in information service delivery in libraries. libraries have to embrace digital integration in all ramifications if their patrons are to be served adequately during periods of disaster, such as pandemics. this is in tandem with librarians’ perspective or rationale for developing technologically-inclined library information services in areas like eresearch, digital scholarships and so on. this implies the need to structure libraries as digital scholarly hubs which would serve users strategically if and when pandemics arise. iii. the sensitization programmes imply the need to involve expatriates if necessary, for continued training and maintenance of library emerging technologies. this is to avoid dire consequence of increasing infections in the pandemic era, and the consequent lockdowns that may result. conclusion it can be concluded that librarians across africa perceived covid-19 sensitization as a challenge that could be overwhelming, but achievable with support from stakeholders and relevant agencies. the librarians have also played a great role in the provision and dissemination of covid-19 information and sensitization. further research could be conducted on perception of librarians on non-acceptance of covid-19 vaccines, and, the impact of covid-19 pandemic on librarians’ entrepreneurial and technological skills. recommendations oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 90 the recommendations for this study are presented herewith: 1. impact assessment should be carried out to find out how well the measures of sensitization on the pandemic are effective. 2. the new normal has brought changes to information processing and dissemination, and as such, government should enhance researches on health issues to further provide access to and give instant reports on any threats or pandemics. 3. recognition of librarians as timely information service providers as well as advocacy teams in the pandemic era is commendable. their dauntless and target-oriented sensitization efforts in achieving effective and efficient health information dissemination should be sustained. therefore, librarians and libraries should thrive in this new normal, and remain more responsive. 4. libraries and librarians should be encouraged to imbibe new normal use of technologies to disseminate information services in the libraries because they act as change agent to achievable sustainable goals in society. references african library & information associations & institutions. 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(2015). bridging the gap between town and gown: role of librarians in community service programmes. library philosophy and practice (e-journal). http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1306 featherstone r. m., lyon b. j., and ruffin, a. b. (2008). library roles in disaster response: an oral history project by the national library of medicine. journal of medical library association. 96, 4; 343–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.96.4.009. hu, d., lou, x., xu, z., meng, n., xie, q., zhang, m., zou, y., liu, j., sun, g., & wang, f. (2020). more effective strategies are required to strengthen public awareness of covid-19: evidence from google trends. journal of global health, 10, 1; 011003. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.011003. idhalama, o. u. 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(2014). the use of facemasks to prevent respiratory infection: a literature review in the context of the health belief model. singapore medical journal. 55, 3; 160–167. doi: 10.11622/smedj.2014037. malizia, m., hamilton, r., littrell, d., vargas, k., & olney, c. (2012). connecting public libraries with community emergency responders. public libraries 51: 32-36. https://www.researchgate.net>2740. nkengasong, j. n., & mankoula, w. (2020). looming threat of covid-19 infection in africa: act collectively, and fast. lancet (london, england), 395(10227), 841–842. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30464-5. nongo, c. j., & ode, m. (2018). information literacy for sustainable development goals in nigeria: implication for healthy living. in nwokocha, u. and nwachukwu, v. n. (eds.), information literacy, sustainable development goals and library and information science education. pp 121-141. abia. vino cafe ventures. orakpor, a.m. (2009). communication in english without fear. revised edition. anambra: j. goshen publishers. smith, a., & freedman, d. o. (2020). isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment: pivotal role for old-style public health measures in the novel coronavirus outbreak. journal of travel medicine, 27(2). http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphil%20prac/1390 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1306 http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.96.4.009 https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.011003 https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.08.20092080 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30464-5 oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 92 ventra, d f, l., marques di giulio, g. & rached, d. h. (2020). lessons from the covid-19 pandemic: sustainability is an indispensable condition of global health security. sao polo, 23, 2020. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422asoc2020108vu2020l3id. youth do it. (2019). sensitization: awareness raising. retrieved from https://www.youthdoit.org/themes/awareness-raising/sensitization/. who (2020). who coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) situation report-51. geneva: world health organization. 2020. https://covid19.who.int/ [26 august 2020]. appendix answers to question 1 what have you done personally to sensitize the community about the pandemic? ir1 – this is an academic environment so what has been done for staff sensitization is done through whatsapp groups and the office notice board. an e-book on covid-19 was printed and posted on the board. students were educated on what to do; hand hygiene, social distancing and other advice as dictated by the world health organization (who) and the nigeria centre for disease control (ncdc). ir2 – in my immediate academic community it was a subject of discussion at the morning devotion and those who work with me in the library to comply with the regulations as specified by who and the government to reduce the spread of the covid-19. also to sensitize them to the fact that the pandemic is real. ir3 – sensitization programme has been carried out in the following ways: the pandemic was discussed at the management meeting; the library management mandated head of department research and development of the university library to make ready, available and accessible, all relevant and reliable information to the university community; information on the pandemic was published immediately on social media and made accessible to 70% of the community. ir4 provision made to educate members of the community on safety measures such as handwashing using soap and running water, use of sanitizers to disinfect hands and other health tips. provision of sanitizers, nose masks, wash hand basins, disinfectants etc. for library users and staff. measures of standard procedures for library users, visitors, library staff and their family members were discussed on social media platforms and the library website. ir5 – first thing before lockdown, posters were made on what corona virus is about. put the posters at strategic places in the library right from the gate, sensitized staff, taught the library users to wash their hands, somebody talking to them on the importance of washing their hands. for the lockdown now, we sent messages to the staff, called attention to the posters put up, to sites where people can access information of covid-19. i also have been talking to people one on one. ir6 – before lockdown at least, to those in my larger community, we have what we call assembly man in the local government – sending him information, telling him the do’s and don’ts and asking him to spread the information amongst his people. ir7 – sharing information on the virus and where they can access information online especially now the library is closed. ir8 – well, personally i would say that and assured that i kept myself, my family members, and my immediate neighborhood on the information about covid-19. also used my membership in http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422asoc2020108vu2020l3id https://www.youthdoit.org/themes/awareness-raising/sensitization/ https://covid19.who.int/ oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 93 community group as we have a small community group that is before the lockdown we passed information to members of the group. i passed credible information on the pandemic. ir9 the moment pandemic started our schools were closed on semester break, the school’s management extended the break. even in the state, both primary and secondary schools were locked, but we made some research from internet and lifted information from the library, informing the school community about the pandemic disease and what to do as prevention. ir10 people were to use sanitizer or wash their hands regularly, keep social distancing from each other and of the great measures to prevent the corona virus. we sent some fliers and lifted to neighboring communities. that is what we did at our end from the library. ir11 before the total lockdown, we started using facebook by giving information regularly on how to take care of people gradually and we started restriction by distribution of relevant information to users on how to take care of them gradually when stared restriction distributing on covid-19and other relevant information to users how to take care of themselves eventually this is what we did. ir12– as a person, i belong to a lot of whatsapp groups and i have since realized that i am more like a “man ahead”, so it appears that i am displaying a lot of characteristics in a lot of groups, so taking care of everybody. at the start of the epidemic, people were not taking it seriously. ir13 i am a member of senate and as such got a lot of information from professors, researchers and a lot of stakeholders. i had and upper eye view and therefore wanted to push people to action but they were not taking it seriously. ___________________________________________________________________________ answers to question 2 as head of library (or institution) what have you done via your library’s contribution to sensitize the community about the pandemic? ir1 – same as for q1 ir2 – every member of staff was asked to proceed on annual leave pending when government will recall and remove lockdown. some bottles of sanitizers were provided in all washrooms in the campus and there is running water for people to practice good hand hygiene. ir3 – via the library, the university library provided adequate relevant and relative information to the university community on the history of covid-19, the virus, the shape, form, hazard and preventive and cautionary methods. library services were rescheduled, hours of operation reduced, and number of users coming into the library also social distancing was maintained in the library and other rules of hygiene. offering of resources was given by direct contact to users in a structured and authoritative manner. e-resources services are provided via koha library management systems for people within certain radius to the library. also, disaster planning strategies on public health crisis were developed. there is planning towards emergence of digitized libraries. ir4 – the library has intervened by coming up with a drama skit on the need to stay at home. a member of staff is working on a video that is encouraging people to stay home. and you know people from different tribes are in kenya. the idea is to get the video in different languages. there are 46 local languages. the staff has identified one person from each community to translate to their mother tongue. ir5 – as the executive director of [xyz] (name withheld for anonymity), i got my colleagues to put out the information about the same do’s and don’ts that could fight the pandemic. also to make available, resources that can be used for free. that is what we did. to compile resources that were free from publishers. we quickly put that out and also questions and answers on the topic covid-19 and also gave examples of what we expect librarians to do. oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 94 ir6 – the information on where access to information on covid-19 can be found, was shared through whatsapp and emails since the library has now been closed. staff of the institution also get the information. ir7 as the hod [head of department] i can have a lot of plays, particularly among the students population, the staff and the members of the university community particularly taking precautionary measures, such as observing social distancing, issues of personal hygiene through providing fliers and posters and what have you. and even the staff, i ensured that they maintained some level of hygiene, they provide sanitizer in front of the library. everybody who entered the library must wash their hand. ir8 unfortunately there was lockdown in my school, students were at home. i can’t physically run out the plan. so personally we made sure that we passed credible information through the social media using my membership to pass information to personal groups and professional groups and any other means available. we passed credible information especially to whatsapp groups and other social media from ncdc [nigeria centre for disease control] & who [world health organization] and sensitized the people. ir9 the library used the binding department that got fliers already done and lifted it to inform the public about the situation, and to state that this closure is done by government. people are to stay at home. only the 2 principal officers are to come to office (myself and a financial officer) and they were duly informed. ir10 the information is on the facebook virtually. we used to sensitize on how to emulate and how to prevent yourself, and how it (the virus) manifests when somebody is affected, they are more of prevention and cautionary measures. ir11in fact, in my library, what we’ve been doing is we put posters to inform people about the pandemic and first we started amongst ourselves, trying to get an understanding of what it is. and we kept sharing information between ourselves and i would tell you, we were very confused; we did not know. a lot of what we said initially has proved to be very nonsensical now. the posters we were given by the university and the government were put all over the library and even out beyond the library. hand sanitizers were also provided, but that was not enough and lockdown and social distancing happened. ir12 the information is put on facebook and other social media. we usually sensitize on how to emulate good hygiene practices and how to prevent getting infected. ______________________________________________________________________________ answers to question 3 have you carried out any evaluation of the impact of covid-19 on your community? ir1 – no impact assessment. in benue state, there is just 1 (one) case so no report yet. ir2 – assessment not carried out, but my observation is that the ppe [personal protective equipment] and supplies in the state are already running out, and people under lockdown are running out of money. ir3 no. not yet any such in osun state for now. ir4 – impact assessment not yet done. ir5 – not yet done assessment. ir6 – no impact assessment done. it is too early to get the impact. ir7 no [laughter] we haven’t actually we why no, because students are on lockdown we don’t have the opportunity yet. oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 95 ir8 actually we have not done that because all the library staffs are to come to office but as far as i’m concerned no case of corona virus in jigawa state, so no evaluation taken. ir9 answer: virtually no. i think why no? [he put a laugh!!!] it’s something that has not been quite long and you have to allow something to take a while before taking evaluation and virtually in nigeria it is not up to 3 months. ir11 – no, we haven’t conducted a survey but librarians at jkl (not real name for anonymity), the village i work in, have our own informal group that we meet regularly and lately we talk a lot. messages were making the community panic initially and it was emotionally draining. there was religious talk a lot in all the messages. people were talking “god, god, god!” back then, but now they realize it is a reality so the community is starting to bond and relax. now people are at home, the messages are changing to those of sending games, coping strategies and exercise routines, etc. ir12 – we are trying to see how we can do the assessment. ir13 it is in plan to evaluate the pandemic situation. ______________________________________________________________________________ answers to question 4 what would you suggest as measures to fight the covid19 pandemic? ir1 – the advice is just as done by ncdc [nigeria centre for disease control]. citizens should follow instructions and do what is required. ir2 – on measures taken, there are many happenings. people are no longer obeying stay at home orders. people should try as much as possible to endure the rules. even so-called giants of the world the 1st world countries, one sees the pandemic is real. there is localized index. government has succeeded in locking the state down. the community has shielded others and this has yielded effort. those cases coming up in lagos are of those who had been hiding before. government should be commended for fishing them out. ir3 – the disaster looks periodic by my findings, so the measures to use are social distancing, and appropriate education of the populace on public health planning strategies. librarians should strive to dig very deep into history to know the causes of these periodic plagues. ir4 – continue talking to people in the language they understand. the government should be encouraged in this direction. there are two official languages (english and swahili) but there are many more local languages the old people or those who did not go to school use them – in use. one thing i look forward to is the translation of the government information to the local languages, making fliers and sharing among the communities. the information will tell them what the corona virus is all about, and to tell them to stay at home, because there will be a lot of misinformation, e.g. the vaccination news. they should know to go to the hospital. the solution is let’s continue talking in languages the people can understand better. let’s think about the less fortunate – feed them. media houses are doing a good job, let’s commend them and continue to use the social media. use the radio and tv. there is the advantage that all local governments have a local radio station. so this medium can be used to communicate with the people. also commend the government for sending sms, the ministry of health partnered with mobile service providers and they have reached out to the masses, to the researchers to get everybody. i also as a christian, believe in the power of prayers. we need to continue praying. ir5 – i think where we are at, we need more education, to let people know that covid-19 is real. they should follow the protocols. another thing is to fight stigmatization because in my community now, there is lots of stigmatization, so people don’t want to voluntarily go out and be tested. even if they have symptoms, they don’t want to go. so, there should be education to let oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 96 people know it is not a matter of life and death, and if someone has been healed, it does not mean the person should be stigmatized. ir6 know the rules, wash hands, use face masks and do social distancing. what i’m also expecting is that human beings can be very stubborn so if we can also show a film of a real person who has been seriously attacked and is having difficulty, to show them because that will also scare people. african people who in spite of education still don’t believe that it is real, that it can kill people. if you show them serious covid-19 cases, it may scare them and make them stay at home and obey the protocols. ir7 – to sensitize the communities, that personal protection kits should be used when handling those suspected of having contracted the virus. translation of information to local languages. the presidential address is in english, not even translated correctly. people are not taking it serious. they think it is a disease for kampala city (i.e. for the elite). serious sensitization to correct their views is necessary. there is no internet so need to have fliers to leave with the people. collaboration among researchers is necessary for research into cure, communication with the people, and alleviation of hunger while the lockdown lasts. ir8– measures. personally i will advise, suggest that we comply quickly on the government directives and health officials and we should be very sure we avoid social interaction, maintain social distancing, cut out travelling, practice isolation especially people who have history of travelling, reporting such to health authorities and this will be assured way of keeping the pandemic. ir9 the measure i am advising people to always listen to ncdc because they are the official organs that hold or keep information on corona virus in nigeria. they always keep information on corona virus they have a lot of communication. people can only get accurate information there are reliable media that provide information on ncdc. so much enlightenment from government that will help you to keep safe from covid-19. ir10 the measures/suggestions is [sic] information on how to break the chain of disease that is the measure or way of curtaining the virus. we used to hear from the medical experts the ways to break the chain of the disease. ir 11we need fumigation of the facilities as much as one can. the library will need special treatment because of the nature of the resources. and also i think efficient community education is needed. a lot of people don’t understand what is happening so they just go out, and don’t realize they have to obey stay at home orders. one hazard is that as part of the education, we need to strengthen strategies that are used for social distancing. improving strategies to make social distancing effective is essential. my mother for instance, talking to her, i find that they are more scared of the police trying to enforce lockdown than the covid-19. ir13 suggestion is to provide information on how to curtail the disease, how to prevent the transmission of the disease. that is the major thing to cut the channel between one person and the other. that one is, to stay at home and if going out by putting masks, and doing regular washing of hands. that is my recommendation. ______________________________________________________________________________ answers to question 5 looking to the future, what would you suggest be done to curb future pandemics or prepare against it? ir1there should be health education for all the masses. the government should try to equip our hospitals and also community should be taught how to live in a clean environment and maintain hygiene to avoid the occurrence of pandemics. oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 97 ir 2 – in this part of the world, we are never prepared. our health facilities and health institutions, attention should be pushed to them to pay more attention. this pandemic really exposed our weaknesses and i hope those at the helm of affairs will learn some lessons. usually we pay lip service to development of our health infrastructure. covid-19 is a leveler – there is nowhere to run to. let us improve on our health facilities as a nation. the government at all levels should be up to their responsibilities. look at china, they were prepared, not for covid-19 per se but for all health disasters. nigeria should do the same. in addition, nigeria should have data and databanks. this situation has exposed the country. for example, palliatives were to be provided but there wasn’t sufficient data to guide the distribution. people clustered together struggling to get the relief package because there is no data bank. as information professionals we should be the ones championing the cause of creating a national databank to guide government projects and projections. ir3 – public health management should be taken seriously considering the social, psychological and economic effects on the society. librarians must stick to the formulated policies on disaster planning strategies to save lives and property. ir4 – equip our centre for disease control (cdc) adequately. there is need for modern equipment, beds, water supply and others. members need to do more research to get to go hand in hand with cdc to get a better understanding of the covid-19. it is informative that there was a film – the contagion. it was done in 2011. for those that watched the movie, we should have done more research. we should not take things for granted. ir5 – yes, pandemics come especially those we don’t have cure for. we should look at our healthcare facilities, improve them so that when such things come up we can be able to contain it. secondly, the medical people should have enough tools and equipment to work with not when you are now running all over from pillar to post looking for personal protective equipment (ppe). there must be something there already. another thing is, immediately we should start educating people, not wait until there are cases in our country, before we start. ir6 – i think communication should be improved. who [the world health organization] should have communicated to the world early enough so that it could be contained in china. then the issue of transparency. the united states of america is complaining. if a country gets such a pandemic, they should be transparent enough to come out and speak in good time. the government should provide enough health facilities. be prepared for putting up enough health systems that can contain a pandemic. trained personnel. in uganda, the district health officer works in another city from the main district he heads. when doing recruitment, it is better to leave personnel in districts where they are born. this makes commitment to the health facilities better. collaboration. between different health sectors there should be collaboration. the disease control (cdc) working together with researchers, can find solutions. ir7 i think this is a global pandemic or global emergency. the solution should be global especially between superpowers who are well to do, have infrastructure and they are working on serious researches. we need more collaboration between the scientists in the developed countries, any scientist that works out the issues of disease surveillance and they are working. on serious scientists, they exchange ideas, exchange data, they collaborate on drugs, vaccines against such epidemic and unto us developing countries; we should not fold our arms. we must improve. at the moment we are not ready “is her opinion”. ir8 the government should prepare for the worst. the government most have very care facilities, it most provide many facilities that will help the medical personnel to assist people against this oyelude et al. / international journal of librarianship 7(1) 98 pandemic, but this kind of pandemic never happened even the develop countries support besides their facilities, medical facilities they are suffering, the government should prepare the worst should invites medicals facilities, all measures like on government and try to narrow down towards the better future and this can solve the problems for better future of its citizens. ir9 it’s the same thing, people aren’t ready for war, education research as you know librarians are the major stakeholder on research. my suggestion is to turn our meeting africa to africa and african to africans so as to device our own means of defending ourselves. conducting research and presentation of the research findings. is that all, executive secretary (just laugh!!!). ir11 – i recommend that there be transparency. any community or nation that gets the first impact or exposure should alert the others. a lot of information sharing and that of other communities can help curb future pandemics. ir13 we should have ready our healthcare system. government should invest more to be able to handle the pandemic. finally issue of awareness; now people have seen what is happening people need to be sensitized and they should do sure that the disease started as anything but now escalated and become a global emergency. i think early detection should have taken aspects. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors adetoun a. oyelude is deputy university librarian, university of ibadan, nigeria. her research interests are in library administration, ict, indigenous knowledge preservation and gender studies. a member of the nigerian library association, american library association, iassist, and a seasoned researcher, she has published extensively, locally and internationally. dr. adefunke sarah ebijuwa, is deputy university librarian at olusegun oke library, ladoke akintola university of technology, ogbomoso, nigeria. her research interests are in electronic resources use, knowledge management and ict. she is a member of the nigerian library association and has several articles published in highly rated journals globally. dr. hauwa sani ahmad is a lecturer in the department of library and information sciences, bayero university, kano, nigeria. her research interests are in continuing education, information management and leadership studies. a member of the nigerian library association, sha has published articles in both local and international journals. mabruka abubakar abba is college librarian at sa’adatu rimi college of education, kumbotso kano. her research spans information literacy, girl-child education, and knowledge management. she has published locally and internationally. she is a chartered librarian, a member of committee of college librarians in nigeria (coclin) and the nigerian library association. dr. celina jummai nongo is an academic librarian at the benue state university, makurdi. she heads eight satellite libraries, is a certified medical librarian, and member of the nigerian library association. she is an editor-in-chief of benue journal of library and information management, with research interest in library contemporary technologies. 233-title page 233-oyelude-galley proof issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org iccpr article 27 as a basis for multilingual library services: implications of treaty implementation in the us context race mochridhe abstract: in response to a rapidly diversifying population, american libraries have invested considerable effort in improving collections and services in non-english languages. for the past decade, the american library association’s guidelines for the development and promotion of multilingual collections and services and its guidelines for library services to spanish-speaking library users have represented the aspirations of the professional community to achieve best practices in this area. at the same time, a growing interest in critically aligning librarianship with human rights work has generated rich reflection on the application of the principles of the universal declaration of human rights (udhr). largely overlooked in this process, however, has been the international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr) which, in contrast to the udhr, is legally binding on states party and has been ratified by the united states. this article examines the implications of iccpr article 27’s guarantees of cultural and language rights for minorities on the provision of non-english library collections and services, arguing that the treaty provides a legal foundation for library advocacy to support the work envisioned in the ala’s guideline documents. to cite this article: mochridhe, r. (2020). iccpr article 27 as a basis for multilingual library services: implications of treaty implementation in the us context. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 61-77. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.141 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 61-77. issn:2474-3542 iccpr article 27 as a basis for multilingual library services: implications of treaty implementation in the us context race mochridhe american theological library association, chicago, il abstract in response to a rapidly diversifying population, american libraries have invested considerable effort in improving collections and services in non-english languages. for the past decade, the american library association’s guidelines for the development and promotion of multilingual collections and services and its guidelines for library services to spanish-speaking library users have represented the aspirations of the professional community to achieve best practices in this area. at the same time, a growing interest in critically aligning librarianship with human rights work has generated rich reflection on the application of the principles of the universal declaration of human rights (udhr). largely overlooked in this process, however, has been the international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr) which, in contrast to the udhr, is legally binding on states party and has been ratified by the united states. this article examines the implications of iccpr article 27’s guarantees of cultural and language rights for minorities on the provision of non-english library collections and services, arguing that the treaty provides a legal foundation for library advocacy to support the work envisioned in the ala’s guideline documents. keywords: multilingual services, collection development, international covenant on civil and political rights, universal declaration of human rights, minority languages introduction the ethnic and linguistic landscape of the united states, always heterogeneous, has rapidly diversified during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. in response, public, school, academic, and special libraries have redoubled efforts to build collections and offer services capable of meeting the information needs of a polyglot population. while individual libraries and library systems have taken a variety of creative approaches to this challenge, the general thrust of efforts over the past decade is well summarized by two documents prepared by the american library association (ala) in 2007, the guidelines for the development and promotion of multilingual collections and services (gdpmcs) and the guidelines for library services to spanish-speaking library users (glssslu). recognizing that “little has been done on a national scale to systematically address … the needs of library-users whose native language is not english” and acknowledging that such populations have been consistently under-served, these documents mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 62 outlined a vision for libraries to “[p]rovide an effective, balanced, and substantial collection for each ethnic, cultural or linguistic group in the community” (gdpmcs). although the gdpmcs stresses that “providing library materials for ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups should not be seen as an ‘additional’ or ‘extra’ service, but as an integral part of every library's services,” the ala’s guidelines have remained largely aspirational in an atmosphere of budget cuts that limit libraries’ abilities both to build and sustain collections and to competitively recruit multilingual staff. it has thus become clear that more than professional good intentions will be needed to render library services effective for the population of twenty-first century america. in an attempt to put these efforts into a larger framework that can enhance library advocacy and make the case for expanded services on multiple fronts, an increasing number of librarians, particularly those aligned with the “critical librarianship” movement, have situated libraries and library services within international human rights discourses, demonstrating how libraries function as vital institutions for realizing the promise of existing human rights instruments. while this is a promising approach, its efficacy has been limited by near-total focus on the universal declaration of human rights (udhr) which, while widely known and powerfully written, is a legally non-binding statement. it is proposed here that, at least within a us context, a more promising tactic may be to connect libraries and library services with the provisions of the international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr) as a legally binding treaty that has been ratified by the united states. specifically, the potential of the iccpr’s article 27—which declares that “[i]n those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language”—to provide legal backing to the aspirations for multilingual collections and services embodied in the ala’s guidelines is examined, with indication of both the promises and limitations of such an approach. literature review while there are large bodies of work on international human rights law, language as a cultural right, and libraries as mediators and vitalizing agents of cultural heritage, the intersection of these three domains is arguably understudied. as already noted, the majority of literature in this area has aimed primarily at connecting the principles and values of librarianship with the udhr (e.g. birdsall 2005; edwards and edwards 2010; sturges and gastinger 2010; bowdoin 2011; mathiesen 2012). one notable exception is the work of donders (2015), which examines rights of access to information through the provisions of the international covenant on economic, social, and cultural rights. the iccpr appears most frequently in applied analyses of legal frameworks affecting library services and access, particularly for indigenous populations (morse 2012; frayne 2018). the present author is aware of no treatment, however, focusing specifically on language rights or applying legal analysis of the iccpr’s cultural rights guarantees to the us context beyond basic consideration of the treaty’s status under us law. the present study may therefore be seen as complementary to, and an extension of, those legal analyses that have examined library services with respect to broader cultural rights within other national legal contexts. mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 63 the iccpr in the united states on 8 june 1992, the united states became the 107th state party to ratify the iccpr, but did so subject to an unusual number of reservations, understandings, and declarations. most of these have no direct bearing on article 27, with the exception being the senate’s declaration that “the provisions of article 1 through 27 of the covenant are not self-executing” (138 cong. rec. s478184, 1992)—a proviso intended to “clarify that the covenant will not create a private cause of action in u.s. courts” (s. exec. rep. no. 102-23, 1992). on the basis of this declaration, it has been the policy of the united states not to allow plaintiffs to sue for redress under the provisions of the iccpr within state or federal court. a lack of compliance thus constitutes no immediate domestic legal liability for a us library and there has been no opportunity for domestic courts to build precedent in interpreting the treaty’s application in a us context. this arrangement, however, is of questionable legality. while john yoo (1999) has defended the use of non-self-execution declarations, carlos manuel vázquez (1992) and louis henkin (1995), among others, have argued that the non-self-execution declaration is unconstitutional under the supremacy clause, and an argument can also be advanced following the language of the vienna convention on the law of treaties (not ratified by the united states but acknowledged by the us government as binding insofar as select provisions reflect “customary international law”) that it is “incompatible with the object and purpose” of the iccpr in such a way as to render the declaration void. it must also be remembered that the intention of non-self-execution declarations is, in contrast to treaty reservations, not to nullify provisions but to delay their domestic application until congress can pass implementing legislation, which it has accepted responsibility to do through ratification of the treaty. indeed, it is on account of the failure of congress to pass such legislation in the more than 35 years since ratification that jordan paust (2003) accused the united states of committing a fraud on the international community and that the united nations human rights committee (hrc) has repeatedly cited the us as neglecting its treaty obligations (hrc, “general comment no. 24”, 1994; “concluding observations of the hrc”, 2006). thus, whether one follows the opinion of the majority of legal scholars in holding that the iccpr is necessarily self-executing and constitutes a legal mandate of immediate import, or simply looks ahead toward the passage of implementing legislation, prudence suggests a close consideration of the treaty itself and of existing precedents in the international courts in order to determine the lineaments of the form that us implementation must eventually assume. it also deserves to be noted that the hrc agrees to hear cases under the terms of the treaty when these have exhausted “all domestic remedies”. in the case rakhim mavlonov and shansiy sa’di v. uzbekistan, the hrc determined against a defense mounted by the state party, which claimed that “the decisions of the domestic courts are substantiated and according to the law”, noting that the claims of the plaintiffs centered “not [on] the compliance of the actions taken against them by the state party’s authorities in accordance with domestic law but rather the noncompliance of the latter with the law of the covenant”. the committee accordingly concluded that “[t]he state party has confused the notions of its domestic law with the autonomous notion of ‘law’ in article 19, paragraph 3, of the covenant” and that the appropriateness of domestic court judgements under domestic law was irrelevant to the question of non-compliance with the provisions of the iccpr. the committee also observed that “it is a ‘well established principle of international law and of the committee’s jurisprudence’ that one is not required to ‘resort to mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 64 appeals that objectively have no prospect of success” and that “it does not matter whether the unavailability of a remedy is de jure or de facto; in either case, a victim is excused from the futile exercise of pursuing it.” it would therefore appear that the senate’s declaration of non-selfexecution and the resulting inability to pursue a claim based on the iccpr in domestic courts is likely to be interpreted by the hrc as indicating a complete absence of “domestic remedies”, such that a claim by a us citizen under the terms of the covenant could theoretically be heard directly by the hrc. given the relevant case history, the primary challenges to such a claim would likely be definitional, rather than procedural. at its ratification, france issued a declaration that, because the french constitution makes no legal distinctions between persons according to the categories of culture, religion, or language, france has no “minorities” for the purposes of article 27. in effect, it is argued that the egalitarian principles of french law necessarily preclude the kinds of legal disadvantage that the article is intended to prevent (cholewinski, p. 700). it is conceivable that the united states could attempt to have a suit under the iccpr dismissed on these same grounds. while the french reservation has never been directly challenged in court, however, it has been rebuked by the hrc, which affirmed in general comment no. 23 that the definition of minority is based not on legal status but on group cohesion through markers of shared cultural, linguistic, or religious identity, and which also observed that: [s]ome states parties [sic] who claim that they do not discriminate on grounds of ethnicity, language or religion, wrongly contend, on that basis alone, that they have no minorities … the existence of an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in a given state party does not depend upon a decision by that state party but requires to be established by objective criteria (§4, 5.2). it is therefore unlikely that such a claim would be accepted from the united states. other governments have attempted to restrict the applicability of article 27 to longestablished minorities, either through excluding non-citizens or excluding recent immigrant populations, defined according to varying standards for length of residence (burchill, 2004). these positions also have been explicitly rejected by the hrc, which has asserted both that “[a] state party may not … restrict the rights under article 27 to its citizens alone” (§5.1) and that “[j]ust as they need not be nationals or citizens, they need not be permanent residents. thus, migrant workers or even visitors in a state party constituting such minorities are entitled not to be denied the exercise of those rights” (§5.2). this is also the position taken by scholars such as packer (1999): “the underlying logic of all human rights – to respect the dignity of all human beings – strongly implies that also non-citizens who are substantially inside the polity should enjoy minority rights” (pp. 266–7). in a us context, it would thus seem clear that the guarantees of article 27 would have to be extended to immigrant and refugee populations of recent origin in addition to those longsettled, as well as to undocumented aliens residing in the country. the us would be unlikely to have a case dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiff was not protected under article 27 by virtue of membership in any of those groups. a different definitional problem has arisen insofar as many indigenous populations, such as the sami and the mi’kmaq, have resisted classification as minorities under article 27, fearing that this would undermine their claims to the status of “peoples” within the language of article 1 (yupsanis, 2013, p. 374). the trend in rulings, however, has been to acknowledge substantial overlap between these categories (pp. 374–5), with the courts accepting invocations of protection under article 27 by indigenous communities without regarding this as limiting them to the status mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 65 of “minorities”, which might otherwise reduce protections for land rights and otherwise impair the specifics of indigenous claims (pp. 376–7). the precedent is thus that, although considered in a category distinct from that of minorities as envisioned by article 27, indigenous populations are entitled to claim the protections of article 27 in addition to their rights enshrined elsewhere. article 27 would thus seem unproblematically to apply to the scheduled tribes in the united states alongside other minority populations. ascertaining that the iccpr has legal force in the united states and that us residents, both citizens and non-citizens, would have de jure standing to pursue a claim under it before the human rights commission is only an intellectual exercise, however, unless there is a de facto need for us residents to obtain redress under its provisions. unfortunately, a survey of american library history indicates precisely such a need. during the first world war, large numbers of libraries removed german-language materials from their collections. the largest loss was at the cincinnati public library, where ten thousand such volumes were taken out of circulation while the board of trustees issued a statement in the local newspaper declaring that “english is the language which must become universal in the united states, and the library should be one of the instruments through which this is to be accomplished” (1918, p. 16). when the supreme court finally acted against anti-german language discrimination, however, it was through a case (meyer v. nebraska) focused on violation of a state law against teaching german. the precedent created thus failed to address the issue of language discrimination in library collections; indeed, the court pointedly avoided first amendment issues altogether and grounded its decision in the fourteenth amendment (wiley, 1998). many of the removed materials never returned. following a constitutional declaration of english as the official language of california in 1986, the mayor and city council of monterey park attempted to block the library from accepting a donation of ten thousand chinese-language books. the library board held that the gift was consonant with its collection development policy and aided it in meeting the needs of a population that was nearly 50% chinese by ethnic origin but which had hitherto been served by a chineselanguage collection amounting to less than 10% of the library’s holdings. in response, the city council dissolved the library board and assumed direct control, citing the need for “financial accountability.” the mayor, meanwhile, was repeatedly quoted in the los angeles times speaking about the danger of the town being overwhelmed by chinese and insisting that “if people want a foreign language they can go purchase books on their own” (betancourt, 1992, p. 38). while the city council’s actions were successfully challenged by a lawsuit in the superior court, neither the original case nor its appeals engaged free speech or minority language rights issues, focusing instead on procedural matters related to the mode of the library board’s dismissal (ward, 1988). other “official english” policies have caused less dramatic, but arguably more insidious, disruptions. when arizona’s official english policy led to the mandatory implementation of structured english immersion (sei) programs for the state’s english-language learners in the early 2000s, “[f]ear of being accused of offering sei children too much spanish affected library policy as well. sei children were allowed to check out a book in spanish only if they simultaneously selected one in english. one sei teacher even denied her students the option of checking out a book in spanish” (combs et. al., 2005, p. 16). similarly, there were reports of school libraries throwing away their spanish-language holdings as part of their implementation of the new englishonly curriculum (hinton, 2015, p. 277). where books were retained, administrators reported that they were insufficient to meet student demand and spanish collections consistently included only mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 66 the most basic materials, in contrast to the wide range of reading levels represented by english holdings (p. 278)—this in a state where one out of every five residents speaks spanish at home. while these are extreme cases, the inability and/or unwillingness of existing domestic legal frameworks to respond to them in their extremity as issues of language rights throws into relief the marked change that implementation of article 27 would imply—namely, that the sweeping powers hitherto invoked by state and local governments with respect to the management of library collections and language policies would almost certainly be curtailed. such curtailment would have roots in existing us law, albeit shallow ones. when the city of pomona, california enacted an ordinance in 1989 requiring business signs in “non-english characters” to devote equal sign space to “english-language” advertising, the ordinance was struck down by a federal judge on the first amendment grounds that it regulated language, which the court held to be “an expression of national origin, culture and ethnicity…” the ruling decided that “a person’s primary language is an important part of and flows from his/her national origin… choice of language is a form of expression as real as the textual message conveyed. it is an expression of culture” (asian american business group v. city of pomona). as a trial court decision, however, the precedential value of pomona has been limited (del valle, 2003, p. 63). other lower court and state supreme court rulings have similarly held that “minority language usage was a fundamental right that could not be abridged except for compelling governmental reasons” (p. 69). unfortunately, many of these decisions, such as the us district court for arizona’s ruling in yniguez v. mofford, have been overturned or dismissed on procedural grounds (see arizonans for official english v. arizona). while the reasoning behind them has not been faulted, their precedential value is thus further impaired, creating a significant “grey area” around language issues in american law. sandra del valle (2003) summarized this status quo as follows: complicating the task of integrating language rights into the civil rights world is the fact that language rights law, as a distinct field, is still in development. indeed, some might say that it does not yet exist as a separate legal area. there are only a few supreme court decisions relating specifically to claims made by language minorities, and those … have been decidedly vague about how to analyze language-based claims, so there is little guidance for the lower courts. basic decisions, like whether language minorities can be treated for constitutional purposes like ethnic minorities, are still undecided… (p. 4) at a bare minimum, full implementation of article 27 would put legal force behind the trend of us court decisions, from meyer to pomona to yniguez, that have gestured toward recognition for minority language rights but which have not, for various reasons, been able to establish an effective precedent within domestic law. article 27 should thus not be seen as an outside imposition, but rather as a welcome support to the long arc of american jurisprudence that has bent toward linguistic justice. implications of article 27 for library collections and services having ascertained the applicability and compatibility of, as well as the need for, article 27 in the united states, the question remains: what specific implications does it have for us library collections and services? perhaps the most fundamental change, with implications in many areas, is that the very distinction between collections and services is blurred when seen through the lens of the hrc’s concept of cultural rights. athanasios yupsanis (2013) has examined the inclusion of traditional economic activities—sami reindeer herding, maori fishing, aymara llama and mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 67 alpaca raising—as cultural rights in the committee’s precedents, noting how they have been interpreted as crucial to the maintenance of traditional ways of life: in this way, the committee distanced itself from the traditional conception of culture as a type of good, an object valuable for its potential to be accessed, consumed, experienced or used, and adopted an alternative view of culture as a way of life consisting inter alia in a set of activities that individuals and peoples must be permitted to pursue (p. 12). in cindy holder’s (2008) terms: what cultural rights protect is the ability of persons and peoples to produce cultures, and to produce them in a way that allows them to describe those cultures as their own. … [c]ultural rights are essential to human dignity not because they secure individuals in their ability to obtain goods or achieve a specific state of affairs, but because culture is what people do when they are living their lives within a people (p. 22). with “culture” seen through this lens, a legal imperative is placed behind a shift in perspective already urged within the professional community—namely, that we should see libraries not only as repositories of objects but also as loci of social connections, whether face-toface or mediated through the materials held. under article 27, culture is not a commodity loaded in books the way water is stored in jugs or electricity in batteries, awaiting dissemination to the people. instead, it is a dynamic epiphenomenon arising from the connection made, in the best spirit of ranganathan, between every reader and her book and every book and its reader. this understanding is already reflected in the work of many library science scholars, such as donghee sinn (2012), who admonished that “the viewpoint of digital libraries should change from one of information systems with contents to that of facilitation of intellectual communication among users” (p. 1523). the practical import of this to libraries’ engagement with minority communities, however, becomes clear only in light of a corollary principle the committee has drawn from the covenant, which is that the conception of culture as a participatory process entails “not only negative duties to refrain from interfering with people when they are pursuing an interest, but also positive duties to provide people with what they need to ensure that pursuit is successful” (holder, 2008, pp. 1920). the states party are thus obliged not only to permit minority cultures to practice their traditions and speak their languages without interference or discrimination, but to take positive action to ensure the maintenance of conditions in which those traditions and languages can continue to be developed. holder (2008) has found some of the strongest implication of this in the hrc’s general comment on the obligations of states party, which indicates “not only that cultural rights do not depend on other rights for their justification, but that they may themselves ground rights to conditions, objects or goods that are instrumentally necessary for a people’s culture” (p. 10). in other words, article 27 does not merely provide that one must leave a woman in possession of a book in her language, but that one must also guarantee conditions under which she might have time and opportunity in which to read it, thus grounding subsidiary rights to such goods as basic literacy education and legal limits on working hours, and must also ensure that she is able to enjoy the book “in community with the other members of [her] group”. as holder has written, “a right to culture without security of means to realize and instantiate that culture is an empty protection” (p. 19). mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 68 such assertions raise more questions than answers, of course, but the great majority of cases that have been brought before the hrc have been claims by indigenous plaintiffs concerning land rights related to preservation of culture, with the result that, as yupsanis (2013) observed, “linguistic rights … are to a significant degree missing from the committee’s insight” (p. 405). this has been true even of those cases that have concerned language specifically, such as diergaardt et al. v. namibia (2000). in that case, the only petitions brought by the plaintiffs under article 27 were on land rights issues, and the findings of the committee related to language discrimination fell under the auspices of article 26 (although one dissent did note the possibility of a claim being brought under article 27). such cases can still be helpful, however, in determining some broad lineaments of likely findings by the hrc if faced with prominent american cases. for example, the committee in diergaardt et al. v. namibia found a violation of article 26 on equal protections in a namibian government policy restricting the use of afrikaans in government communications, with even the dissenting opinions objecting only that a distinction between official and unofficial languages was reasonable and permitted under the provision and that, while afrikaans received unequal treatment from the government compared with english as the sole official language of the country, it did not receive unequal treatment compared to other unofficial languages. this same defense could not be made, though, of article xxviii of the arizona constitution which, while recognizing only english as an official language, accords preferential status to native american languages as against spanish. the case most directly engaging minority languages as cultural rights and having the most direct implications for libraries, however, is mavlonov and sa’di v. uzbekistan (2009). there, the hrc found a violation of the article 27 rights of both the publisher and a reader of a minority language newspaper to which the uzbek government had, without compelling cause in the eyes of the committee, denied registration (donders, pp. 25–6). the details of the committee’s published views on the case with respect to article 27 are precedentially important and worth noting at length: 8.6 as for the authors’ claim under article 27, the committee explained … that this article ‘establishes and recognizes a right which is conferred on individuals belonging to minority groups and which is distinct from, and additional to, all the other rights which ... [individuals] are already entitled to enjoy under the covenant’. it specifically noted that the ‘protection of these rights is directed towards ensuring the survival and continued development of the cultural, religious and social identity of the minorities concerned’. finally, the committee has emphasized that article 27 requires state parties to employ ‘[p]ositive measures of protection [...] against the acts of the state party itself, whether through its legislative, judicial or administrative authorities [...]’. 8.7 in this respect, the committee has noted the authors’ uncontested claim that “oina” published articles containing educational and other materials … of cultural interest to this [tajik] readership, as well as reported on the particular difficulties facing the continued provision of education to tajik youth in their own language… the committee considers that in the context of article 27, education in a minority language is a fundamental part of minority culture. …[t]he question of whether article 27 has been violated is whether the challenged restriction has an ‘impact [...] [so] substantial that it does effectively deny to the [complainants] the right to enjoy their cultural rights [...]’. in the circumstances of the present case, the committee is of the opinion that the use of a minority language press as means of airing issues of significance and importance to the tajik minority community in uzbekistan, by both editors and readers, is an essential element of the tajik minority’s culture. three elements of this decision are particularly pressing in an american context and with respect to library services. the first is the specific application to school library settings in light of mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 69 the committee’s explicit affirmation of “education in a minority language” as “a fundamental part” of a minority culture and thus as a fundamental object of protection with respect to the rights enshrined in article 27. it is difficult to imagine the structured english immersion programs in states such as arizona, which led to the denial of spanish-language reading materials to students, withstanding a challenge before the hrc. at a minimum, the precedent of diergaardt et al. v. namibia would suggest that the restrictions such programs place on the use of spanish are unwarranted and inequitable. at a maximum, the committee might well hold with tove skutnabbkangas (1999) that “[e]very time there are indigenous or minority children in day-care centres and schools with no bilingual teachers authorized to use the languages of the children as the regular and main teaching and child care media, this is tantamount to prohibiting the use of minority languages ‘in daily intercourse or in schools’.” the second major point is the committee’s finding that “a minority language press … is an essential element of the tajik minority’s culture” in conjunction with its determination that sa’di, as a plaintiff, had suffered a violation of his rights under article 27 by being improperly denied the opportunity to participate in his culture through readership of mavlonov’s newspaper. the potential application of this precedent to minority language collections in libraries is farreaching. hitherto, we have considered only the potential for article 27 to provide effective legal remedy against prejudicial exclusions of minority-language material from collections, as in the cases previously mentioned involving german-, chinese-, and spanish-language materials. mavlonov and sa’di v. uzbekistan, however, strongly suggests that article 27 limits the legal authority of libraries and other state agencies to reduce access to minority-language collections even in the absence of a prejudicial intent—for example, drawing down holdings of lowcirculation items as a matter of financial expediency. the implications of this in some parts of the united states could be quite startling, given the presence of large legacy collections assembled decades ago to serve immigrant populations whose descendants have largely transitioned to english. the substantial reduction of those collections in italian, polish, yiddish, and many other languages due to falling circulation may constitute a violation of the article 27 rights of such members of those communities as have retained the languages in question, obliging state and local authorities to appropriate money and make other allowances for the preservation and continued accessibility of such materials. once again, this provides legal support to what the professional community has already come to recognize as best practice. as frans albarillo (2010) has argued: socially responsible librarianship includes being able to connect users to information sources of different formats and languages… requir[ing] language training and cultural diversification of the library workforce. … one of the main challenges that local libraries face is adapting to the changing multicultural landscape and immigration patterns of the communities they serve (p. 93). inferring language rights from article 27 means that free participation in the cultural life of a community must also include the right to languages spoken in minority communities (p. 94). albarillo followed the arguments of elissavet stamatopoulou-robbins (2007, p. 107) concerning article 27 of the udhr (which is parallel in content to article 27 of the iccpr) but noted in his rebuttal of scholars such as johannes morsink (2000, p. 269), whose more conservative views of the text do not allow such an inference, that the iccpr’s article 27 provides a clearer warrant than the udhr (albarillo, 2010, p. 94). “as libraries work to promote cultural rights through article 27,” he wrote, “they must think carefully about both the individual and collective aspects of language access in information work. this means incorporating … new resources in languages that previously were not on the information radar” (p. 96). mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 70 the third major change implied by article 27 is to the ways in which resources are managed and allocated. while many, if not most, us libraries make significant efforts to engage minority populations and solicit feedback in the development of collections and the planning of programming, such efforts have hitherto been at libraries’ discretion, in keeping with state and local governments’ views (despite the ala’s admonitions to the contrary) of minority language services as an “extra”. the hrc’s interpretation of article 27, however, posits legal requirements for minority populations affected by proposed policy changes to be involved in the decisionmaking process, although the committee has never fully clarified what form such involvement must take or the extent of the influence minority populations are entitled to wield within it (yupsanis, 2013, pp. 388–9). it has, however, stated that “participation in the decision-making process must be effective, which requires not mere consultation but the free, prior and informed consent of the members of the community” (poma poma v. peru, para. 7.6). thus, while the committee has generally avoided requiring the extension of a veto power to minority communities except in cases of the most severe existential threats to their cultural survival in land rights cases (yupsanis, 2013, pp. 399–403), it seems clear that the involvement of minority-language communities in library decisions regarding the collections and programming that serve them will have to be significantly expanded to comply with the standards of the iccpr. this would be consonant with other emerging human rights standards in the library and archives field, such as the arguments advanced by melissa castan and julie debeljak (2012) that indigenous peoples should be recognized as “‘participants’ rather than mere ‘subjects’” of their archival records under section 19 of the victorian charter of human rights and responsibilities act 2006, thus “entailing a requirement for their participation in all decisions by archives and other records institutions pertaining to the holding and management of works by indigenous persons or by non-indigenous persons but containing indigenous knowledge” (p. 222). among the issues which may assume new saliency in a shared decision-making regime is the currency of minority language collections in light of the obligation imposed by article 27 to provide for the right of persons to “enjoy their own culture … in community with the other members of their group.” as has been noted, the hrc found in mavlonov and sa’di v. uzbekistan that this right had been denied by the state’s failure to ensure the continued availability of a minority-language newspaper it had formerly licensed, which was held to play an essential role in fostering discourse through the minority community’s shared print culture. at present, many minority-language collections in us libraries consist of a mix of canonical works of the language’s own literature and translations of popular english-language titles. the precedent of mavlonov and sa’di suggests that translated works may not meet the aims of article 27 and that dated collections may do so inadequately. it is conceivable that article 27 compliance will require libraries also to maintain periodical subscriptions and to acquire representative samplings of current literature. this may be especially the case in languages that have hitherto been primarily oral traditions and whose literatures are therefore new by default. the hrc’s view of culture as a dynamic process has been held to prohibit fixing the terms of a “traditional” way of life to an arbitrary historical point (firestone & lilley, 2005, pp. 216–17). as the committee indicated in mahuika et. al. v. new zealand, “[t]he right to enjoy one’s culture cannot be determined in abstract but has to be placed in context [...] article 27 does not only protect traditional means of livelihood of minorities, but allows also for adaptation of those means to the modern way of life and ensuing technology” (para. 9.4). similarly, a finnish case held that the employment of snowmobiles and other modern technology in sami reindeer hunting did not invalidate claims to preservation of the hunts as a traditional practice (länsman et. al. v. finland, para. 9.3). once again, the committee’s mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 71 views have corollaries in current discourse within the library and archival professions, with castan and debeljak having argued that indigenous knowledge continues to be “traditional knowledge” within the framework of the udhr’s article 27 when it becomes embodied in written records, despite such records not forming a part of “traditional” practice in the australian aboriginal communities they considered (p. 220). written materials containing works in traditionally unwritten languages, as well as audiovisual materials capturing content in sign languages, are thus equally envisioned under article 27 protections and libraries could conceivably be required to develop their holdings in these areas. the intersection of such requirements with concerns for the “security of means” (holder, 2008, p. 19) for participation in the minority culture will be an important area for further exploration as precedents develop. it may be that access to materials through interlibrary loan services will be upheld as adequate provision in many cases, especially where local communities are very small. in other cases, however, strong arguments may be advanced that interlibrary loan cannot guarantee article 27 rights when, for example, a minority language is a minority even in its homeland and is subject to significant language attrition (i.e. scottish gaelic) or governmental restrictions on its use (i.e. uighur). in those cases, the ability of us libraries to depend on foreign partners for access to materials could be deemed insufficient in light of the heightened risk that overseas collections may be destroyed or that institutions providing access to them may cease operations. conceivably, this could introduce a legal obligation, if not to create local collections on-site, at least to create central repositories of such materials within the united states to ensure the continuous availability of interlibrary loans. a right to libraries amidst the persistent cuts and austerity regimes that have characterized the library sector for more than a decade, it is certainly unrealistic to expect that libraries will be able to meet these new demands with existing resources. just as important as stocktaking the new obligations article 27 would seem to impose is considering how article 27 repositions the library in the public sphere in such a fashion as to enhance opportunities for library advocacy and to make new demands on governments and other societal structures for the library’s support. as julie biando edwards (2010) observed, “[i]n recent years there has been an increased focus … on aligning libraries, librarians and library services with human rights principles” (p. 12). one prominent case for such alignment was made by william f. birdsall (2005), who drew on jean d’arcy’s concept of the “right to communicate” as a means for integrating the diverse rights of speech, press, privacy, assembly, education, and political participation embodied in existing human rights instruments. this more holistic view, he argued, both allowed and demanded a transformation away from the concept of libraries as supports for the “informed citizen” and toward a concept of libraries as a means for fulfilling the state’s responsibility to safeguard and promote the rights of the “communicative citizen” of the twenty-first century. “in this new conception,” he wrote, “the legal foundation for the institutional role of the library is the right to communicate. the social role of the library is to ensure all citizens have communicative opportunities to exercise their right to communicate” (p. 80). this posture represents a revolutionary shift in a us context, where the only legal foundation for library services is statutory enactment at the pleasure of state and local legislatures or of congress. a state legislature or county board that passes starvation budgets for its libraries or decides to shutter them may face public outcry but is entirely within its legal prerogatives as presently understood. mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 72 an approach to libraries as part of the framework of international human rights law could shift that understanding. kay mathiesen (2012) built on the work of alex byrne (2004) regarding libraries as guarantors of rights of political participation under the udhr, as well as the work of paul sturges and almuth gastinger (2010) on the role of information literacy in “ensuring the effectiveness of the right to access information as stated in article 19 of the udhr” (mathiesen, p. 9), to argue for the library as what james griffin (2008) has called a “derived right”―i.e. a right that follows from a fundamental right “with increasing attention to circumstances” (griffin, p. 49). griffin offered the example of “[f]reedom of the press [being] derived, in certain social circumstances, from freedom of expression” (p. 50). while the right to a free press would have been meaningless in societies prior to the press’ invention, and remains so in contexts where the economic infrastructure and widespread literacy necessary to support a publishing industry are lacking, a majority of modern societies are organized such that a free press is essential for ensuring the rights of free expression, and a human right to freedom of the press thus arises. mathiesen argued that, just as “[t]his right [to a free press] derives from the fundamental right along with empirical facts about which institutions can effectively fulfill that right … the human right to a public library can be derived in the same way from the fundamental right to information” (pp. 9– 10). in this way, mathiesen was able to craft an argument that international law not only places new demands on libraries to satisfy human rights but imbues libraries with new rights for themselves. as she observed, the hrc’s general comment 14 on the udhr clarifies that “[t]he right to the highest attainable standard of health” creates a responsibility for states to provide “adequate sanitation facilities, hospitals, clinics and other health‐related buildings, trained medical and professional personnel receiving domestically competitive salaries, and essential drugs.” mathiesen argued that “[i]f states fail to take steps to provide these resources there is a prima facie case that they are failing to live up to their obligations under their commitments to human rights treaties” (p. 16). julie biando edwards (2010) presented a similar case, drawing on the work of kathleen de la peña mccook, arguing that libraries should be taken as symbolic of the principles of the udhr and specifically “that libraries are perhaps the only public institution that can proactively embody the rights set forth in article 27” (pp. 14–15). as she noted, the connection between libraries and the cultural rights guaranteed by the udhr’s article 27 (which is concerned with the human right “freely to participate in the cultural life of the community” and is thus analogous to the iccpr’s article 27) had never before been specifically elucidated in the professional and academic literature on the connections between libraries and community life (p. 15)—an omission she found (p. 28) all the more notable in light of the fact that unesco’s 1952 “study of the ‘right to participate in cultural life’ basic document”, which aimed to “analyse the philosophical and legal contents and the principal means of practical application of man’s right ‘freely to participate in the cultural life of the community,’” (p. 3) numbered libraries among the select “bodies active in ensuring that all participate in cultural life” (p. 13) and, in its final section, placed libraries first among the institutions that “preserve and promote cultural life” (p. 20). “thus,” edwards concluded: as early as 1952, the united nations recognized libraries as institutions absolutely instrumental for the successful application of article 27… unesco, in singling out libraries in this way, was seeking (as i am) a proactive approach for the promotion of the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and is concerned with how libraries can play a central role in such promotion (p. 31). mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 73 in light of the consideration already given to the hrc’s ruling in mavlonov and sa’di v. uzbekistan and its finding of a violation in the exclusion of a reader from access to a newspaper, it is worth noting particularly, as edwards did, the unesco study’s finding that “[t]here may be a personal or non-creative contribution [to the community] in ‘receptive’ participation in cultural and scientific life,” which could occur in many ways, including taking “the form of study and reflection” (p. 11). this breadth of forms of participation was important for edwards’ analysis, as she observed that: the authors also note in a discussion on the ‘means of communication which can be used for the development of cultural life’ that ‘“means of communication” is to be taken in a very wide sense, covering religious ceremonies, dramatic performances, concerts, dancing and ballet, books, reviews, newspapers, public lectures, talks, broadcasting and television, film shows, permanent and temporary exhibitions, club meetings, discussion groups, organized visits to monuments or museums, etc”’ [unesco, p. 12]. though the authors of the study clearly associate libraries strictly with books, public librarians in the united states will recognize here many, if not most, of the services their institutions offer patrons. in fact, unesco’s description of the means of communication reads like a veritable laundry list of services provided by public libraries. with the possible exception of religious ceremonies, libraries – and public libraries in particular – are the one institution offering all of the means of communication, and more, listed as necessary for the development of cultural life” (pp. 32–3). together, the arguments advanced by mathiesen on existing precedent for the elaboration of derived rights, alongside those made by edwards for the library as the paramount institution for ensuring the efficacy of cultural rights protections, are robust and compelling, and they can offer a means for libraries to position themselves not merely as desirable public services but as mandatory human rights provisions, which governments will no longer be free to scale according to their whims. the limitation of these arguments has been that their authors, in common with the authors of the vast majority of literature on libraries and human rights, have rooted them in the udhr. the symbolic value of that document for initiating and anchoring discussions of selfchosen professional commitments to the furtherance of human rights work is clear, but it necessarily fails as a basis for library advocacy on account of the fact that, as a mere declaration of the un general assembly, it is legally non-binding. it is unlikely that any government, much less one with a consistent pattern of contempt for un instruments and agencies, would feel itself obliged to commit real resources on the grounds of claims to rights derived from a self-consciously aspirational document. the iccpr, however, is a legally binding treaty, to which the supremacy clause of the us constitution assures status as “the supreme law of the land”. while credible arguments can be advanced both for and against its nature as self-executing, even the most recalcitrant position can argue only that its provisions await implementing legislation to take effect in the united states and cannot deny that after 35 years congress has more than exhausted the usual delays expected in drafting and passing such legislation after a treaty ratification. either courts are obliged to act now on a necessarily self-executing instrument or congress is obliged to act without further delay on implementing legislation. either way, to the extent that the iccpr’s article 27 grounds a derived right to library services in general, and to library collections and services in minority languages in particular, the united states government is directly accountable for answering its failures to effectively guarantee those rights as a state party to the covenant and, in the absence of any means of domestic redress, us residents have standing to bring their cases directly to the attention of the hrc. mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 74 to make the provision of article 27 an effective force for the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of the libraries that serve them in the us will nonetheless take tremendous energy and resourcefulness. even supposing that congress can be made to move forward with implementation, the argument must continue to be made for library services as derived rights akin to those involved in health care, the free press, and other basic institutions of free, modern societies. in particular, advocates will have to be prepared to argue the definition of “available resources”: articles 26 and 27 articulate what have been called ‘second generation rights’ which ... [a]ccording to international human rights agreements … are to be ‘progressively realized’ within the ‘maximum of available resources’… if a state is doing the best it can to use the ‘maximum of available resources’ progressively to fulfill the right, then it has fulfilled its human rights obligation” (mathiesen, 2012, p. 16). the barriers to obtaining redress under the iccpr thus remain extensive and multi-layered, but the mere fact that the iccpr holds out the promise of a right to legal redress and of standing before an international court makes it a far more promising platform for advocacy than the udhr and justifies a shift of focus in the professional and academic discourse, which has for too long centred on the language of a non-binding document. recognition of the binding force of the iccpr’s article 27 contextualizes requests for funding and resources as a means for the fulfillment of national objectives hitherto neglected, as observed by the columbia law school human rights institute in its brief to the hrc in 2012: in ratifying the iccpr, the united states indicated that state and local governments share authority to implement the treaty. … despite their critical role, state and local governments continue to lack the necessary training and resources to implement international human rights treaty standards. … thus, while state and local agencies and officials have the potential to implement the united states human rights commitments, this potential is largely unrealized (p. 6). with expansion of collections and services to minority language communities reframed as both a human rights issue and as a legal imperative for the united states to meet its treaty obligations, powerful new tools are afforded to library and community advocates for obtaining needed governmental support. conclusion the confluence of rising interest within the united states in both multilingual services and a human rights framework for librarianship has the potential to radically revision and reinvigorate library relationships with linguistic minorities. the resources to make this possible, however, will only come if human rights discourses not only guide professional standards but also ground library advocacy, which requires a focus on binding instruments to which the united states is a party. at this time, that primarily means the iccpr. though the battle will be uphill given the political intransigence of the us government in implementing the treaty over the past three decades, legally rigorous appeal to the provisions of article 27 offers one of the best prospects for bringing awareness to the unmet needs of minority-language communities and for raising the visibility of libraries as crucial institutions for meeting those needs and hence, more broadly, fulfilling the lofty ideals to which the united states is pledged. mochridhe / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 75 references albarillo, f. 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(2013). article 27 of the iccpr revisited the right to culture as a normative source for minority / indigenous participatory claims in the case law of the human rights committee. hague yearbook of international law 26, 345–383. about the author race mochridhe, mlis, currently serves as scholarly communication coordinator for american theological library association (atla). his research interests lie at the intersections of library science and applied linguistics, including multilingual services and collections, the role of libraries in language policy and planning, and applications of interlinguistics for improving information processing. http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/undocs/session69/view760.htm http://www.worldcourts.com/hrc/eng/decisions/1995.10.13_mahuika_v_new_zealand.htm http://www.worldcourts.com/hrc/eng/decisions/1995.10.13_mahuika_v_new_zealand.htm http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/undocs/html/vws511.htm https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fc0.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-14-ga-36045-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-14-ga-36045-story.html 007-141-iccpr_submission-rev1 (004)-final_title 007-141-iccpr_submission-rev1 (004)-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org food deserts or food swamps? using geospatial technologies to explore disparities in food access in windsor, canada xue luo abstract: access to healthy, varied and affordable foods has a great impact on individual dietary patterns and diet-related health outcomes. consequently, there is an increasing interest in identifying food deserts areas with poor access to supermarkets or other food retailers that provide a wide range of healthy and affordable food. using geographic information systems (gis), this study examines geographic accessibility to both supermarkets and fast food outlets, and explores their relationship with neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor, ontario, canada. the results show that access to supermarkets and fast food outlets varied by neighbourhoodlevel socioeconomic deprivation in windsor, with socioeconomically disadvantaged areas having better food access than advantaged areas. consistent with previous findings in other canadian cities, this study finds that food swamps were more prevalent than food deserts in windsor. to cite this article: luo, x. (2020). food deserts or food swamps? using geospatial technologies to explore disparities in food access in windsor, canada. international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 78-1097 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.1.161 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions/ international journal of librarianship, 5(1), 78-107. issn: 2474-3542 food deserts or food swamps? using geospatial technologies to explore disparities in food access in windsor, canada xue luo university of windsor, ontario, canada abstract access to healthy, varied and affordable foods has a great impact on individual dietary patterns and diet-related health outcomes. consequently, there is an increasing interest in identifying food deserts areas with poor access to supermarkets or other food retailers that provide a wide range of healthy and affordable food. using geographic information systems (gis), this study examines geographic accessibility to both supermarkets and fast food outlets, and explores their relationship with neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor, ontario, canada. the results show that access to supermarkets and fast food outlets varied by neighbourhood-level socioeconomic deprivation in windsor, with socioeconomically disadvantaged areas having better food access than advantaged areas. consistent with previous findings in other canadian cities, this study finds that food swamps were more prevalent than food deserts in windsor. keywords: food deserts, food swamps, gis, food accessibility, neighbourhood, windsor introduction adequate consumption of nutritious foods is essential to overall health and can reduce the risk of nutrition-related chronic disease and obesity. in the past, theories in the public health field about food choice have tended to focus on factors that influence individual decisions (health canada, 2013). however, individuals are embedded within larger social systems. increasingly, researchers and policy makers have come to recognize the influence of environments (e.g., physical, social and economic) on individual dietary patterns (health canada, 2013). in particular, a significant amount of research has focused on examining spatial disparities in the accessibility of food services that may have an effect upon individual food choices (e.g., black et al., 2011; smoyertomic et al., 2008). some argue that “food deserts” – areas with poor access to supermarkets or other food retailers that provide a wide range of healthy and affordable food may contribute to social and spatial disparities in diet and diet-related health outcomes (beaulac et al., 2009). people are likely to make food choices based on the food outlets that are available in their immediate neighborhoods (furey et al., 2001; walker et al., 2010), particularly for vulnerable groups (e.g. low-income, elderly persons, persons without a private vehicle) who often have limited financial and transportation resources for travelling outside the local area to purchase food (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). the relatively poor access to supermarkets would therefore suggest that elderly, lowluo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 79 income families without a private vehicle tend to shop in small local stores or fast food restaurants that only offer limited varieties of foods, and at higher prices (apparicio et al., 2007). since inexpensive, energy-dense, low nutritional foods are more accessible or affordable than those that are nutritious, it can be difficult for vulnerable populations to maintain a healthy diet (drewnowski & specter, 2004; smoyer-tomic et al., 2008). in fact, the poor access to healthy, varied and affordable foods has been found to be related to poor diets and poor health, even after controlling for individual socioeconomic factors (apparicio et al., 2007). over the last two decades, considerable research has been conducted on food deserts in many developed countries including the united states, the united kingdom, canada, australia, and new zealand. despite the growing interest in food deserts, there remains no consensus on a definition and what measures are relevant in identifying them (apparicio et al., 2007). this has led to varied methodologies being used to identify food deserts as well as mixed and sometimes controversial results about their existence. for example, american studies have found strong and robust evidence regarding the existence of food deserts, while studies from other developed countries are inconclusive (beaulac et al., 2009). canadian research on food deserts is still in its early stages, yet a few quantitative studies have been conducted in several canadian cities with mixed findings, including toronto, saskatoon, london, edmonton, montreal, kingston and several others (e.g., apparicio et al., 2007; bedore, 2013; cushon et al., 2013; larsen & gilliland, 2008; smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). some cities appear to have significant food deserts, while others do not. even though the literature shows little evidence of widespread food deserts in canada, there is preliminary evidence that food access gaps still exist in some vulnerable neighbourhoods that warrants further research. as previous research has indicated, while canada resembles the united states and united kingdom in certain ways, “its geographic, demographic, political and economic characteristics suggest that in terms of food access, its experiences may be unique.” (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). this study examines geographic accessibility to both supermarkets and fast food outlets and explores their relationship with neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics to identify food deserts in the city of windsor, a geographic area which has so far received little empirical attention in this literature. the aim of this study is to provide additional empirical evidence to bring canadian cities more formally into discussions about food deserts and food environments. literature review the term “food desert” reportedly originated in scotland in the early 1990s and was used to describe “areas of relative exclusion” where residents experience “physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy foods” (leete et al., 2012; reisig & hobbiss, 2000). since then, the term has been used differently by various researchers. for example, in a study by cummins and macintyre (2002a), food deserts were defined as “poor urban areas, where residents cannot buy affordable, healthy food” (cummins & macintyre, 2002a; walker et al., 2010). more recently, the united states department of agriculture described a food desert as an “area in the united states with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities” (ver ploeg et al., 2009). luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 80 to date, there is no general agreement on the definition of food deserts, and what measures are required for identifying food deserts, thus contributing to the debate about their actual existence (walker et al., 2010). research from the united states has found strong support for the existence of food deserts areas with higher proportions of low-income or african american residents had poor access to supermarkets and healthy foods (for an extensive review of food deserts research in the u.s. see walker et al., 2010). however, studies conducted in developed countries outside the u.s. have yielded mixed and sometimes contrary findings. for example, research from the united kingdom has questioned the extent of food deserts, which found socioeconomically deprived areas housed more food stores of all types overall, and more large, independent food stores compared to wealthier areas (black et al., 2011; cummins & macintyre, 2002b; white et al., 2004). similar results have been found in new zealand, where the travel time to large supermarkets was substantially less in the most versus least deprived areas (black et al., 2011; pearce et al., 2007). in addition, research on brisbane, australia, found little difference in accessibility to retailers selling healthy foods among socioeconomically varied urban areas (black et al., 2011; winkler et al., 2006). in canada, the issue of food deserts has only recently drawn attention and a limited number of studies have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. there is no public evidence of widespread food deserts in canada, although a few studies have been identified in the literature (e.g., larsen & gilliland, 2008; cushon et al., 2013). for example, in london, ontario, larsen and gilliland (2008) found that distinct food deserts exist in the east neighbourhoods, yet supermarket accessibility varied little in relation to levels of socioeconomic distress. the most distressed city neighbourhoods had the lowest access to supermarkets by foot, but they had relatively higher public transit access (larsen & gilliland, 2008). findings were similar in saskatoon, where although food deserts have been identified in some of the most deprived areas of the city, there is no clear pattern between food access and area-level socioeconomic status (cushon et al., 2013). besides the academic literature, several community food assessments also identified food deserts in other canadian cities, including toronto (martin prosperity institute, 2010), winnipeg (food matters manitoba, 2013) and some northern and remote communities (health canada, 2013). however, other studies (e.g., apparicio et al., 2007; black et al., 2011; smoyer-tomic et al., 2006) have reported either no consistent patterning of grocery stores based on socioeconomic status, or that socioeconomically disadvantaged areas had better food access than advantaged areas. for example, several montreal-based studies found that there are very few problematic food deserts in the city, and neighbourhood socioeconomic status is not a consistent predictor of access to supermarkets or fruit and vegetable vendors (apparicio et al., 2007; bertrand et al., 2008). furthermore, smoyer-tomic et al. (2006) reported that in edmonton, inner-city and high-need neighbourhoods (i.e., those characterized by high proportions of the low-income, elderly and low vehicle ownership rates) had better access to supermarkets than did the remainder of the city (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). overall, the literature on food deserts to date indicates inconsistent findings within and between developed countries, including canada, where several conceptual and methodological gaps remain in the knowledge base regarding the distribution of food retailers and underlying mechanisms for geographic variations (beaulac et al., 2009). such limitations are described in depth in previous review studies (e.g., beaulac et al., 2009; leete et al., 2012; walker et al., 2010) but there are specific gaps which this study aims to fill. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 81 first, although many food desert studies have examined differences in accessibility to healthy foods and retailer stores between socio-economically diverse neighbourhoods, few studies have explicitly explained why geographic disparities might exist in food access. the majority of studies have exclusively focused on the variables or indices that reflect neighbourhood socioeconomic status, while ignoring the potential impacts of other area-level variables. for example, it has been shown that urban planning practices like zoning have an important role in shaping the distribution of commercial and other venues across urban spaces (black et al., 2011). however, little has been done to explicitly describe or test if zoning and commercial siting has contributed to spatial disparities in food access (black et al., 2011). smoyertomic et al. (2008) and black et al. (2011) are the two exceptions that have empirically tested the role of urban planning and zoning factors in influencing food store access, specifically in edmonton, alberta and the province of british columbia. their results suggest that, at least in their study areas, housing and transportation considerations have a great impact on the distribution of food stores and may mediate associations between neighbourhood socio-demographic factors and store availability. to date, few of these urban planning factors have been examined in other canadian cities. secondly, most studies of food deserts in canada have mainly focused on accessibility to supermarkets, and some have examined alternative sources of healthy foods (e.g., fruit and vegetable stores, farmers’ markets), but few have explored accessibility to obesogenic foods, such as fast food outlets. there is evidence that in areas without a supermarket nearby, fast food outlets (if readily available) often serve as a substitute for food access (regan et al., 2006; spence et al., 2009). there is preliminary evidence that limited access to supermarkets (a source of affordable, heathy foods) and relatively easier access to fast food outlets (a source of affordable, unhealthy foods) may contribute to poor diets and, ultimately, to obesity and diet-related diseases. therefore, a small and growing body of research has begun to assess the relative accessibility to healthy and unhealthy foods (e.g. supermarkets and fast-food outlets) by means of various relative access measures such as the ratio of the number of unhealthy food outlets to the number of healthy food outlets (spence et al., 2009), the ratio of the distance to the nearest healthy food outlets to the distance to the nearest unhealthy food outlets (cushon et al., 2013), and the percentage of healthy food outlets (luan et al., 2015). by measuring the balance between healthy and unhealthy food outlets within a geographic area, these relative access measures allow for a more comprehensive analysis of the food environment. recent research has demonstrated that relative access measure seems to better represent food purchasing and consumption behaviors and is more relevant than absolute measure of one type of food source to understanding health outcomes (luan et al., 2015). in fact, recent reviews of canadian food environments have shown that despite the lack of evidence for the widespread existence of food deserts, there is consistent evidence of “food swamps” socioeconomically deprived areas that have easier access to less healthy foods compared with access to healthy foods (health canada, 2013). however, limited published research has simultaneously examined food deserts and food swamps in a geographic area. this study attempts to address these gaps by exploring the potential existence of food deserts and food swamps in the city of windsor in 2018. specifically, this paper aims to address the following research questions: 1) does access to supermarkets and fast food outlets vary across neighbourhoods of different levels of socioeconomic deprivation? 2) how is access to supermarkets and fast food outlets related to neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics after controlling for planning and zoning factors? 3) where are the food deserts and food swamps within luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 82 the city? in order to answer the above questions, geographic accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets was measured and mapped using geographic information systems (gis). a food balance score was calculated to quantify the relative accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets. then, multivariate regression models were applied to examine whether the differences in geographic food access and food balance vary by neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status after taking urban planning and zoning factors into account. finally, food access and food balance measures were compared with neighbourhood-level socioeconomic deprivation to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor. methodology study setting the study was conducted in the city of windsor, ontario, which is the southernmost city in canada. as of 2016, windsor had a population of 217,188, spreading across 146.38 square kilometers of land area (statistics canada, 2017a). windsor is an ethnically diverse city with 28% of the population being foreign-born (immigrants) and 27% of the population being visible minorities (statistics canada, 2017a). as of 2016, the low-income rate for windsor remains among the highest in canada and the level of post-secondary education remains below the national average (statistics canada, 2017a). furthermore, according to the most recent windsor-essex county health report, fewer people in this region reported that they eat five or more fruits and vegetables per day compared to the provincial average. the number of unique visits to food banks has steadily increased from 9,188 in 2012 to 9,722 in 2014 (united way centraide windsor-essex county, 2015). as a whole, these statistics indicate that access to healthy and nutritious food is an important concern in windsor. defining and measuring the geographic unit of interest this study uses census dissemination area (da) as a proxy for neighbourhood which, according to statistics canada, is “a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more adjacent dissemination blocks with an average population of 400 to 700 persons” (statistics canada, 2016). das are the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are released, making them the appropriate geographic scale at which associated socioeconomic and zoning characteristics can be examined. in total, 376 windsor das with a population of 217,188 were analyzed in this study. food store data this study focuses on two types of food retailers: supermarkets and fast food outlets. the presence of a supermarket has been a common proxy for the availability of a variety of healthy, nutritious foods at competitive prices and has generally been the focus of food desert studies (leete et al., 2012). it has been acknowledged that in some urban environments, other types of food retailers such as smaller grocery stores, and farmers’ markets may also be found to provide a range of luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 83 healthy, affordable foods. however, the problem with including these stores in the analysis is that the range of foods sold in these stores is highly varied (ver ploeg et al., 2009) and it is difficult to do a complete assessment of the contents of these stores due to the time and budgetary constraints of this study. for example, fruit and vegetable markets, as well as meat and seafood markets can serve as sources for affordable and nutritious foods, whereas they typically do not provide the full range of food options as supermarkets do (ver ploeg et al., 2009). furthermore, the monetary costs of an equal quantity of food purchased in smaller grocery stores or convenience stores are higher than the costs at supermarkets. studies in several canadian cities have found that residents will have to pay an average of 1.6 times more for identical food items purchased at area convenience stores versus supermarkets (larsen & gilliland, 2008). therefore, this study measures access to supermarkets as the proxy for access to healthy foods. supermarkets were defined as those stores offering a full range of food products (e.g., fresh meat and poultry, produce, dairy, dry and packaged foods and frozen foods) with a minimum of ten employees and had no required store membership (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). based on this criteria, 22 stores in windsor were included in this study, including both major chain and independent supermarkets. information on their locations was gathered in 2018 from local business directories and company websites, and verified by several additional sources: yellow pages, phone calls to retailers, inspection of air photos, and site visits. fast food outlets tend to sell nutritionally deficient, processed foods that are high in calories, fat, and sodium and have served as a central measure of potential exposure to obesity-promoting food environments (black, 2014; cushon et al., 2013). thus, this study uses proximity to fast foods as a proxy for accessibility to unhealthy foods. fast food addresses were collected via mergent intellect (mergent intellect, 2018), an online database of business information for both private and public companies in the us and canada. searches within the database were conducted using the standard industrial classification (sic) code for fast food restaurants and stands (581203) in windsor, on, resulting in a database of 150 fast food outlets. the locations for supermarkets and fast food outlets included in this study were first determined by geocoding their addresses to street files by using qgis 2.18.13 (qgis development team, 2017), then manual checks and corrections were performed as needed. food access and food balance based on the methodology used by apparicio et al. (2007), this study examines spatial accessibility to supermarkets using three different measures: proximity, diversity and variety. each of the three measures serves as an indicator of different dimensions of food access in an attempt to adequately describe the complexity of a person’s accessibility to a service (apparicio et al., 2007). in particular, proximity measures the distance from the centre of each census block to the nearest supermarket. diversity was defined as the number of supermarkets located within 1 kilometer of the centre of each census block. one kilometer was chosen as it is widely considered a reasonable walking distance for an adult in an urban setting (leete et al., 2012). this measure allows us to determine how many supermarkets residents would have access to by foot. variety was defined as the average distance from the centre of each census block to the nearest three supermarkets belonging to different chains. different supermarket companies are assumed to carry a range of brands and prices, thus increasing the variety of choices for customers (apparicio et al., 2007). luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 84 to minimize aggregation error, the three accessibility measures were calculated from the centroid of blocks. blocks are the smallest geographic units for which population and dwelling counts are obtainable from statistics canada1 and are precise units for accounting for micro-level variations in population density (larsen & gilliland, 2008). then, to obtain accessibility measures at the da level (the unit of analysis), the population-weighted average measure of blocks within each da’s boundaries was calculated: 𝑀𝑁𝑖= ∑ 𝑃𝑗𝑋𝑁𝑗𝑗∈𝑖 ∑ 𝑃𝑗𝑗∈𝑖 where n =1, 2, 3 indicates the measures of proximity, diversity and variety respectively, and 𝑋𝑁𝑗 represents the block-level accessibility input specific to that measure. in each case, 𝑝𝑗 is the total population of block j entirely included in da i. for proximity (𝑀1𝑖), 𝑋1𝑗 = min(𝐷𝑗), where 𝐷𝑗 is a vector of the distances between the centroid of block j and each of the supermarkets in the sample. for diversity (𝑀2𝑖), 𝑋2𝑗is the number of supermarkets located within 1 kilometer of the centroid of census block j. for variety (𝑀3𝑖), 𝑋3𝑗 is the mean distance between the centroid of census block j and the three nearest supermarkets belonging to different chains (leete et al., 2012). all three accessibility measures were based on the shortest network distance, that is, the shortest path along a street in order to better represent actual travel distance for going to a supermarket on foot (apparicio et al., 2007). network distances were computed using road network files from the 2016 dmti canmap content suite (dmti spatial inc., 2016) and the network analyst extension within arcgis 10.5.1 (esri inc., 2017). a similar procedure was performed to calculate the distance to the nearest fast food outlet to determine proximity. then a food balance score – the minimum distance to the nearest supermarket divided by the minimum distance to the nearest fast food outlet – was calculated for each da. a food balance score of 1 indicates that a supermarket is the same distance from a neighbourhood as a fast food outlet. such an area was considered to be in balance in terms of food access – it’s just as easy or difficult to reach healthy or unhealthy food stores. areas with a food balance score of greater than 1, which means the nearest fast food outlet was closer than the nearest supermarket, were considered less “balanced” (cushon et al., 2013). neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics and deprivation index the neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics used in this study were obtained from the 2016 canadian census (statistics canada, 2017b). as mentioned earlier, previous canadian studies of food deserts have established a list of variables that reflect the characteristics of subpopulations that are particularly vulnerable to food access barriers (apparicio et al., 2007; cushon et al., 2013; larsen & gilliland, 2008). in this study, the variables were chosen based on their plausible connection to food accessibility as well as the availability of relevant data at the da level. first, socio-economic status has been recognized as an important determinant of inequalities in food accessibility. therefore, the following variables for income, education, employment and family characteristics were used to represent different aspects of socioeconomic disadvantage at the 1 unfortunately, all other census data is suppressed at the scale due to confidentiality purposes. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 85 neighbourhood level: 1) median after-tax income of households in 2015; 2) percentage of people aged 25 to 64 years old without high school diploma; 3) unemployment rate; 4) percentage of loneparent families. furthermore, windsor is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in ontario, partly due to the large number of immigrants. to characterize neighbourhood racial/ethnic composition, the percentage of visible minorities and the percentage of recent immigrants (immigrated between 2011 and 2016) were included in this study. in addition, people with limited physical mobility (e.g., elderly and disabled individuals) and lack of access to a vehicle or reliable public transit have been shown to have difficulty accessing food stores outside their immediate neighbourhoods. we used the percentage of the population aged 65 years and over as an indicator of elderly status. it is difficult to measure vehicle ownership and public transit access directly, as currently no relevant variable is readily available at such small geographic levels (i.e., da). as a result, the percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by private vehicles (as driver) was used as a rough proxy for private vehicle ownership, and the percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by public transit as a proxy for the use of public transit. while each of the variables above contributes to certain dimensions of socioeconomic characteristics that are related to food access, it is often a combination of variables that shows a more complete picture of socioeconomic status across a region. therefore, the socioeconomic deprivation index was constructed in this study by combing the individual variables mentioned above into a single summary measure. this index was further compared with the food access and balance measures, in an attempt to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor. more specifically, the socioeconomic deprivation index was calculated using principal component analysis (pca), the preferred approach for developing composite socioeconomic indexes in the literature (pampalon et al., 2009). for each component identified, the pca produces a factor score which represents the value of the component in each da. in this study, only the first component score, which explains the largest possible proportion of variance in the original variables was used to create the composite index. the composite index produced in this way is a weighted summary measure that specifies the different contribution (weight) of each original variable and thus provides a better summary of the distribution of socioeconomic status across windsor’s neighbourhoods (dall et al., 2006). the deprivation index was calculated for each da and was standardized on a 0 to 1 scale with greater scores corresponding to higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation. urban planning and zoning factors in this study, the selection of neighbourhood planning and zoning factors was informed by prior health literature on the relationship between zoning and commercial siting and food store availability (black et al., 2011; smoyer-tomic et al., 2008). specifically, the following two variables were drawn from the 2016 canadian census to capture aspects of zoning. percentage of single detached houses was used as a proxy measure of the exclusiveness of residential zoning, because the restriction of zoning to single family use of housing can prevent food stores from being developed in certain areas (black et al., 2011; shlay & rossi, 1981). since retail businesses, such as food stores, require a certain customer base (i.e., population density threshold) to be profitable (larsen & gilliland, 2008), and neighbourhoods (i.e., das) differ in population size and area, population density (the number of residents per square kilometre) was employed as a control for the size of the potential customer base corresponding to a certain area (smoyer-tomic et al., 2008). luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 86 data analysis the analyses in this study generally proceeded in four steps. first, descriptive analyses and thematic mapping were used to assess the distributions of supermarkets, fast food outlets, and neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics. second, the associations between food access, food balance and neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation were examined by using oneway analysis of variance (anova). third, multivariate regression models were then applied to assess the degree to which neighbourhood-level socioeconomic and zoning variables each predicted food access and food balance net of the other independent variables being studied. the regression models were estimated for each of the five primary outcome variables: 1) the distance to the nearest supermarket; 2) number of supermarkets within 1 km; 3) the distance to the nearest three supermarkets belonging to different chains; 4) the distance to the nearest fast food outlet; 5) the food balance score. two types of regression methods were used. for the three distance measures and the food balance score, ordinary least squares (ols) regression was used which requires a continuous outcome variable that has a normal distribution. all these measures have a skew distribution which, however, was not a serious issue in the analysis as the residuals from these models had a near-normal distribution. for models predicting the number of supermarkets within 1 km, negative binomial regression was applied, since it is appropriate for modeling overdispersed count variables. finally, this study attempts to identify potential food deserts and food swamps in windsor. food deserts were defined as the most deprived areas (i.e. neighbourhoods that fell into the highest quartile of the socioeconomic deprivation index score) with the lowest accessibility to supermarkets (i.e. neighbourhoods that fell into the worst tertile for each of the access measures), and food swamps were identified as the most deprived areas that were the most out-of-balance in terms of food access (i.e. neighbourhoods that fell into the highest quartile of the food balance score). all statistical analyses were executed using spss version 25 (ibm corp., 2017). result supermarket accessibility table 1 details the descriptive statistics for food access and food balance measures and all neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning variables. in windsor, the average neighbourhood resident needed to travel about 1.7 kilometres to reach a supermarket. only 13% of windsor residents lived within 1 kilometre of a supermarket. the mean distance to the three nearest supermarkets belonging to different chains was 2.5 kilometres. the spatial distribution of supermarkets along with the three accessibility measures are displayed in figure 1-figure 4. in windsor, supermarkets were mainly distributed along major roads and intersections (figure 1). overall, the three accessibility measures revealed a similar pattern that more densely populated neighbourhoods (figure 8) and neighbourhoods along major roads have better accessibility to supermarkets than elsewhere (figure 2-4). unlike other canadian cities where supermarket accessibility follows a core-periphery pattern (e.g. london, edmonton, and montreal), central, inner-city neighbourhoods with good accessibility in windsor coexisted with suburban neighbourhoods with good accessibility, and vice versa. specifically, neighbourhoods with good supermarket accessibility were mostly concentrated in two parts of the luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 87 city: one is located in the city centre, its surrounding areas along ouellette avenue, and the areas southwest of the university along huron church. they are older, inner-city neighbourhoods with high levels of socioeconomic deprivation (figure 7). another one is on the east side of the city, including several inner-suburban neighbourhoods along tecumseh road east, as well as affluent, suburban neighbourhoods close to the east end of the city (known locally as “riverside”). by contrast, there are large suburban areas in the southwest, south and east end of the city that had substantially low accessibility to supermarkets. on the other hand, exceptional clusters of low accessibility also appeared in some inner-city neighbourhoods, particularly in the university area and the sandwich district west of the bridge, as well as the east part of the walkerville district2. these neighbourhoods contained some of the city’s most socioeconomically deprived populations (figure 7). despite these similarities, a degree of divergence still exists between different accessibility measures. as can be seen from the maps, the areas with low supermarket accessibility identified by the diversity measure (figure 3) were more extensive than the other two measures (figure 1 and figure 2), mainly due to the large number of neighbourhoods lacking a supermarket within ready walking distance. furthermore, neighbourhoods near the southern end of dougall avenue or the southern end of walker road showed good proximity to a single supermarket, but they had limited accessibility in terms of diversity and variety. suburban neighbourhoods along tecumseh road east and wyandotte street east tended to have the best access to supermarkets, in that they not only had at least one supermarket within walking distance but also had several different supermarkets nearby. the spatial variance of supermarket accessibility can be further demonstrated by the moran’s i statistics shown in table 2. for each of the three measures, the moran’s i statistic was highly statistically significant, indicating that neighbourhoods with good accessibility to supermarkets were spatially clustered, as were neighbourhoods with bad accessibility. in addition, the moran’s i values were higher for the proximity and variety measures (0.8 and 0.84) as opposed to the diversity measure (0.54). this implies that, for the measure of number of supermarkets within 1 kilometer, areas with similar values were less clustered in space. fast food accessibility and food balance there were almost 7 times more fast food outlets than supermarkets in windsor. the mean distance to the nearest fast food outlet was 844 metres, 886 metres closer than the mean distance to the nearest supermarket of 1730 metres (table 1). almost 58% of the city’s population lived within 1 kilometer of a fast food outlet. compared to supermarkets, the distribution of fast food outlets showed a more dispersed pattern (figure 1). generally, inner-city neighbourhoods (e.g. downtown, the university area, walkerville) had the greatest accessibility to fast food outlets compared to other areas of the city (figure 5). a significant moran’s i statistic indicates that neighbourhoods with good or bad fast food accessibility also clustered in space (table 2). the mean food balance score in windsor was 3, indicating that the average resident needed to travel three times as far to reach the closest supermarket as they did to reach the closest fast food outlet. neighbourhoods with the highest food balance scores (that are the most out-of-balance in terms of food access) clustered in the sandwich district, the university area, the walkerville 2 for details about the planning districts, please refer to the city of windsor open data catalogue: https://opendata.citywindsor.ca/opendata/details/209 https://opendata.citywindsor.ca/opendata/details/209 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 88 district and the suburban areas in the south (figure 6). table 1. descriptive statistics for food access, food balance, neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning variables food store variables mean s.d. min max percentiles 25 50 75 distance to the nearest supermarket (meters) 1730.0 901.6 167.8 4739.1 1054.5 1565.0 2207.2 number of supermarkets within 1 kilometer (count) 0.2 0.4 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 average distance to the three closest supermarkets from different chains (meters) 2472.9 834.2 842.6 5718.3 1861.9 2295.3 2859.2 distance to the nearest fast food outlet (meters) 844.5 498.8 52.4 2865.9 433.5 735.9 1194.0 food balance score 2.6 2.0 0.3 16.9 1.4 2.0 3.3 socio-economic and zoning variables median household income ($) 52535 20232 11616 109312 37120 49237 67840 unemployment rate 10.1 6.7 0.0 43.6 5.7 9.1 12.5 percentage of population aged 65 and over 17.3 8.9 0.0 64.1 11.8 15.5 20.8 percentage of recent immigrants 4.2 5.5 0.0 30.1 0.0 2.4 6.0 percentage of visible minorities 24.5 18.1 0.0 86.4 10.4 20.0 34.8 percentage of lone-parent families 25.2 10.8 5.9 60.5 16.3 25.0 32.1 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 89 food store variables mean s.d. min max percentiles 25 50 75 percentage of people aged 25 to 64 years old without high school diploma 12.3 8.3 0.0 41.4 6.4 10.9 17.7 percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by private vehicles 78.4 13.9 28.0 100.0 71.3 81.3 88.9 percentage of employed labour force who commuted to work by public transit 6.4 7.4 0.0 52.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 population density (per square km) 3511 4888 28 84314 2049 2873 4192 percentage of single detached houses 64.2 32.4 0.0 100.0 37.6 71.4 95.9 socioeconomic deprivation index 0.4 0.2 0.0 1.0 0.3 0.4 0.5 table 1. spatial autocorrelation statistics for food access measures moran's i z-score p-value distance to the nearest supermarket (meters) 0.80 25.96 <.001 number of supermarkets within 1 kilometer (count) 0.54 17.56 <.001 average distance to the three closest supermarkets from different chains (meters) 0.84 27.02 <.001 distance to the nearest fast food outlet (meters) 0.61 19.70 <.001 note. moran’s i statistics were calculated with a rook binary connectivity matrix (1 where dissemination area i and j share a border only; 0 otherwise). luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 90 figure 1. locations of supermarkets and fast food outlets in windsor, on, 2018 figure 2. supermarket proximity, windsor, on, 2018 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 91 figure 3. supermarket diversity, windsor, on, 2018 figure 4. supermarket variety, windsor, on, 2018 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 92 figure 5. fast food proximity, windsor, on, 2018 figure 6. food balance score, windsor, on, 2018 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 93 figure 7. socioeconomic deprivation index, windsor, on, 2018 figure 8. population density, windsor, on, 2018 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 94 relationship between food access and balance measures and neighbourhood characteristics to explore socioeconomic inequalities in relation to food access and food balance, all of windsor’s 376 das were first categorized into quartiles (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) according to their socioeconomic deprivation index scores. quartile 1 represents the least deprived neighbourhoods, while quartile 4 represents the most deprived. differences in supermarket accessibility, fast food accessibility and food balance scores between deprivation quartiles were then examined and tested for statistical significance by using one-way anova . the results are shown in table 3. overall, there was a statistically significant difference in food access and food balance among neighbourhoods with different levels of socioeconomic deprivation. specifically, post hoc tests indicate that supermarket proximity, supermarket variety, and fast food proximity tended to decrease as socioeconomic deprivation increased, despite that the difference between the two most deprived quartiles (quartiles 3 and 4) was not statistically significant. for supermarket diversity, the least deprived das (quartile 1) were significantly worse than all other quartiles. a clear pattern did not exist for food balance score and socioeconomic deprivation, although the most deprived das (quartile 4) were significantly more imbalanced than those in quantile 1 and 2. in sum, the above analyses have shown that food access and food balance varied across windsor’s neighbourhoods. the following multivariate regression models were used to further investigate how individual neighbourhood socioeconomic and zoning characteristics influenced the variation in food access and food balance net of the other characteristics. the results can be seen in table 4. after controlling for the other variables in the models, neighbourhoods with lower median household income and a lower proportion of visible minorities were more likely to have shorter distances to the nearest supermarket as well as the nearest three supermarkets belonging to different chains. an increased percentage of single-parent families was also significantly associated with shorter distance to the three nearest different chain-name supermarkets. among all the variables included in the model, median household income was the only significant predictor of the number of supermarkets within 1 kilometre. keeping other factors constant, neighbourhoods with lower median household income, less concentration of visible minorities, and lower private vehicle ownership were more likely to have a proximate fast food outlet. neighbourhoods with higher percentages of senior populations, single-parent families and people who drive to work were more likely to have balanced food options – the nearest supermarket was closer than the nearest fast food outlet. by contrast, neither of the zoning variables – population density and the percentage of single-detached houses showed significant effect on any of the food access and food balance measures, after adjusting for other socioeconomic factors in the models. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 95 table 2. means, standard deviations, and one-way anova for food access and food balance measures by socioeconomic deprivation quartile deprivation quartile supermarket proximitya supermarket diversityb supermarket varietyc fast food proximityd food balance score 1 m 2565.9 0.1 3293.9 1281.0 2.3 sd 991.3 0.2 963.0 504.1 1.3 2 m 1684.4 0.2 2438.0 874.7 2.2 sd 792.5 0.4 684.8 423.4 1.2 3 m 1386.1 0.3 2127.6 662.9 2.8 sd 584.0 0.5 453.0 384.2 2.2 4 m 1305.6 0.3 2055.2 569.7 3.2 sd 562.2 0.4 470.3 345.8 2.6 f (3, 371) 54.87 9.91 66.29 53.25 5.32 p <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 .001 η2 .31 .07 .35 .30 .04 post hoce 1>2>3,4 1<2,3,4 1>2>3,4 1>2>3,4 1,2<4 note. a. supermarket proximity is defined as the distance to the nearest supermarket. b. supermarket diversity is defined as the number of supermarkets within 1 km. c. supermarket variety is defined as the average distance to the nearest three supermarkets belonging to different chains. d. fast food proximity is defined as the distance to the nearest fast food outlet. e. post hoc tests indicate which group (quartile) means were significantly different from each other. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 96 table 3a. ordinary least squares regression models for supermarket proximity and variety distance to the nearest supermarket average distance to the three closest supermarkets from different chains b se β t b se β t median household income (in 1,000$) 25.86** 4.24 0.58 6.10 23.68** 3.80 0.58 6.23 unemployment rate -0.56 7.37 0.00 -0.08 -0.25 6.61 0.00 -0.04 percentage of population aged 65 and over -4.85 5.56 -0.05 -0.87 -1.58 4.99 -0.02 -0.32 percentage of recent immigrants 2.64 10.10 0.02 0.26 -2.26 9.06 -0.02 -0.25 percentage of visible minorities 8.91** 3.08 0.18 2.89 7.83** 2.77 0.17 2.83 percentage of loneparent families -2.83 5.87 -0.03 -0.48 -11.40* 5.26 -0.15 -2.17 percentage of people aged 25 to 64 years old without high school diploma -12.23 6.32 -0.11 -1.93 -2.25 5.67 -0.02 -0.40 percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by private vehicles 2.61 4.88 0.04 0.53 4.42 4.38 0.07 1.01 percentage of employed labour force who commuted to work by public transit 3.94 8.01 0.03 0.49 6.84 7.18 0.06 0.95 population density (1000 per square km) -10.02 8.40 -0.05 -1.19 -8.13 7.54 -0.05 -1.08 percentage of single detached houses -3.69 2.04 -0.13 -1.81 -3.42 1.83 -0.13 -1.87 r2 .34 .38 note. *p<.05, **p<.01. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 97 table 4b. ordinary least squares regression models for fast food proximity and food balance score distance to the nearest fast food outlet food balance score b se β t b se β t median household income (in 1,000$) 11.13** 2.33 0.45 4.79 -0.01 0.01 -0.05 -0.49 unemployment rate -0.35 4.04 -0.01 -0.09 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.28 percentage of population aged 65 and over 1.87 3.05 0.03 0.62 -0.03* 0.01 -0.13 -2.12 percentage of recent immigrants -3.51 5.54 -0.04 -0.63 0.00 0.03 0.00 -0.01 percentage of visible minorities 4.68** 1.69 0.17 2.77 0.00 0.01 -0.03 -0.45 percentage of loneparent families 5.02 3.22 0.11 1.56 -0.04** 0.02 -0.24 -2.95 percentage of people aged 25 to 64 years old without high school diploma 2.53 3.47 0.04 0.73 -0.02 0.02 -0.08 -1.17 percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by private vehicles 14.19** 2.68 0.40 5.30 -0.05** 0.01 -0.35 -4.03 percentage of employed labour force who commuted to work by public transit 6.85 4.39 0.10 1.56 0.00 0.02 0.00 -0.03 population density (1000 per square km) -1.94 4.61 -0.02 -0.42 -0.01 0.02 -0.03 -0.55 percentage of single detached houses -0.21 1.12 -0.01 -0.19 -0.01 0.01 -0.16 -1.88 r2 0.36 0.15 note. *p<.05, **p<.01 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 98 table 4c. negative binomial regression model for supermarket diversity number of supermarkets within 1 kilometer b se exp (b) 95% ci for exp (b) median household income (in 1,000$) -0.04** 0.02 0.96 [0.93,0.99] unemployment rate -0.02 0.02 0.98 [0.94,1.03] percentage of population aged 65 and over 0.01 0.02 1.01 [0.98,1.05] percentage of recent immigrants 0.04 0.03 1.04 [0.98,1.10] percentage of visible minorities -0.02 0.01 0.98 [0.96,1.00] percentage of lone-parent families -0.01 0.02 0.99 [0.96,1.03] percentage of people aged 25 to 64 years old without high school diploma 0.02 0.02 1.02 [0.99,1.06] percentage of the employed labour force who commuted to work by private vehicles -0.01 0.02 0.99 [0.96,1.02] percentage of employed labour force who commuted to work by public transit -0.01 0.02 0.99 [0.94,1.03] population density (1000 per square km) -0.03 0.05 0.97 [0.88,1.07] percentage of single detached houses 0.01 0.01 1.01 [1.00,1.02] note. log likelihood = -208 (df = 363), aic = 439, bic = 486. **p<.01. identification of food deserts and food swamps finally, food access and food balance measures were combined with neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation index scores to identify food deserts and food swamps in windsor. as shown in figure 9, there were in total 7 neighbourhoods (das) identified as “food deserts” in windsor and they were scattered throughout different parts of the city. four of them were located in the sandwich district near the industrial plants; one neighbourhood was located in the north end of the walkerville district by the river; one neighbourhood was located just west of the former ford motor company’s engine plant; and the last one was located in the southeast of the fontainebleau district. on average, residents living in these “food deserts” areas were 2,248 metres away from the nearest supermarket, and within 2,858 metres of the three closest different chain-name supermarkets. both distances are far beyond reasonable walking distance. this low luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 99 accessibility can be potentially problematic, as these neighbourhoods also exhibited a high level of socioeconomic deprivation. in fact, all of the neighbourhoods identified above had median household income in the lowest quartile (25% city-wide) and had a percentage of single-parent families and a percentage of people without high school degrees in the top quartile. these areas also had below average vehicle ownership rates. low-income and single-parent families, especially those without a vehicle, may find it challenging to access supermarkets outside their immediate neighbourhood due to their limited financial resources and time. as a consequence, they are more likely to rely on independent, smaller grocers or convenience stores, which sell a smaller variety of foods, and at higher prices. on the other hand, there were more neighbourhoods (das) identified as food swamps than food deserts in windsor (figure 10) – those 34 das were mostly located in the northern part of the city, including the sandwich district, the areas just east of the university of windsor, the downtown core, and the areas in the north of the walkerville district. residents of these neighbourhoods on average needed to travel about 1,590 metres to reach the nearest supermarket, while only 321 metres to reach the nearest fast food outlet, so they had an average food balance score as high as 5.6. similar to the “food deserts” identified above, these “food swamps” areas were also characterized by disadvantaged socioeconomic status in terms of low income, low vehicle ownership, low education attainment and high unemployment rates. in addition, most of them (85%) were ethnically diverse neighbourhoods with the proportion of visible minorities above the city’s mean. compared to supermarkets, fast food outlets tend to have fewer healthy food options but more energy-dense, less nutritious, processed foods. previous research has indicated that not only higher exposure to fast food outlets but also lower prices per energy value for processed foods than healthier foods can encourage disadvantaged groups such as those with low income to purchase and consume more unhealthy foods. this may contribute to higher overweight and obesity rates found among low-income households (drewnowski & specter, 2004; smoyer-tomic et al., 2008). luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 100 figure 9. food deserts, windsor, on, 2018 figure 10. food swamps, windsor, on, 2018 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 101 discussion the spatial patterns of food access and food balance the results of this study indicate that in general, fast food outlets were more accessible than supermarkets in windsor as more than half (58%) of the city’s populations lived within walking distance (1 kilometre or less) of a fast food outlet, while only 13% of residents lived within walking distance of a supermarket. in fact, about 44% of the city residents lived more than twice as far from a supermarket as from a fast food outlet. especially in some areas of the sandwich district, food balance score was as high as 16.9, which means that residents of these areas lived about 17 times closer to a fast food outlet than a supermarket. this may be in part due to the big difference between the number of supermarkets and the number of fast food outlets that were examined in this study. it also reflects the general trend in the retail food landscape of most canadian cities today while the total number of fast food outlets has risen, the number of grocery stores and supermarkets has declined in recent decades due to the increased centralization of the retail food industry in canada. canadian food retailing has transformed from a system characterized primarily by independent, small-scale and neighbourhood-embedded grocers to a centralized, consolidated, scaled up system dominated by a few large food retailers (bedore, 2013). on the other hand, the spatial distribution of supermarkets and fast food outlets generally showed a similar pattern despite their different levels of accessibility they both appeared to cluster in densely populated areas along the major roads and intersections. previous studies conducted in other canadian cities (e.g., london, edmonton, montreal) mostly found that supermarket accessibility follows a core-periphery pattern, with inner-city neighbourhoods having relatively better access to supermarkets compared to more peripheral areas. however, the empirical results for windsor indicate a notably different picture central, inner-city neighbourhoods with good accessibility coexisted with suburban neighbourhoods with good accessibility, and vice versa. the possible explanations could be that first, retail business such as supermarkets and fast food outlets require a certain customer base to be profitable. therefore, it is not surprising that accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets in windsor somewhat followed the spatial pattern of population density which generally decreased from central areas of the city to outlying areas. higher population densities in those central areas are more supportive of profitable market areas for food retailers, compared to the lower densities in the suburbs (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006). it is worth noting that, however, low accessibility to supermarkets in some old, inner-city neighbourhoods (e.g. the sandwich district, the ford city) could be a result of several central-city stores closures that have occurred in recent years, which is partially attributed to emerging population loss in those areas. local market research has indicated that windsor’s population has been increasingly moving outward from the central neighbourhoods to the new subdivisions outside the city core in recent years (n. barry lyon consultants limited, 2006). such population shifts, plus the nationwide consolidation of the food retail industry, has made many older and smaller supermarkets in some mature, inner-city neighbourhoods unprofitable, resulting in their closure. furthermore, most north american urban planning operates through zoning by setting aside various parcels of land for separate and distinct uses (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural uses) (black et al., 2011). it is important to recognize that such processes can also influence how food stores are distributed across urban spaces. previous research has indicated that zoning tends to serve the exclusionary interests of entrenched elites and place a model of stable residential neighbourhoods luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 102 above other possible uses (black et al., 2011; sewell, 1994; shlay & rossi, 1981). as a result, this sort of planning is more likely to keep out food stores and other uses from residentially zoned wealthier neighbourhoods, attempting to preserve home values in these areas (black et al., 2011; shlay & rossi, 1981). however, this can also potentially cause limited access to local food stores in those communities, which may in part explain why several large residential areas in the southwest, south and east end of windsor had low accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets. in addition, the increased centralization among canada’s food retailers has resulted in a food landscape dominated increasingly by large corporate chain supermarkets, which require larger land parcels and are often more reliant upon people with private vehicles. not surprisingly, locations with more readily available land (e.g., locations with commercial and residential mixed use) and that are closer to major transportation routes are also more likely to have more food options (black et al., 2011). for example, some of windsor’s suburban neighbourhoods along tecumseh road east and wyandotte street east had very good access to supermarkets. the role of neighbourhood characteristics on food access and food balance the above empirical results for windsor provide an interesting comparison with findings from previous studies where the relationship between food access and socioeconomic status was examined. for supermarket accessibility, our results generally provide support for those studies from new zealand (pearce et al., 2007) and some uk studies (e.g., cummins & macintyre, 2002b; white et al., 2004), which found better supermarket provision in socioeconomically deprived areas. our findings also reveal some similarities to those from other canadian cities, including edmonton (smoyer-tomic et al., 2006) and the metropolitan regions of british columbia (black et al., 2011) where more affluent urban neighbourhoods housed fewer supermarkets than lower income areas. in contrast, many u.s. studies (e.g., morland et al., 2002; walker et al., 2010; zenk et al., 2005) have shown that lower-ses neighbourhoods, particularly those with higher proportions of lowincome or african american residents, had lower supermarket accessibility. in terms of ethnic composition, our windsor findings appear to show some support for those from the u.s., insofar as neighbourhoods with higher proportions of visible minorities were associated with decreased supermarket accessibility even after adjusting for income and other socio-economic variables. consistent with previous research in the u.s. and u.k. (cummins et al., 2005; morland et al., 2002), our results suggest that neighbourhoods of greater socioeconomic deprivation had higher exposure to fast food outlets. in particular, neighbourhoods with lower median household income and lower private vehicle ownership were more likely to have access to a nearby fast food outlet. nevertheless, unlike several u.s. studies (e.g., block et al., 2004; lewis et al., 2005) where predominantly african american neighbourhoods had greater exposure to fast food outlets than predominantly white areas, increased minority composition in windsor was associated with lower accessibility to fast food outlets. this may imply that, other things being equal, food retailers like supermarkets and fast food outlets in windsor are less likely to consider minority communities as a valuable customer base in their siting decisions. visible minorities in windsor on average face higher levels of poverty. according to the 2016 canadian census, the prevalence of low income among visible minorities in windsor was 17.5%, compared to 12.9% for non-visible minorities (statistics canada, 2017c). it has also been shown that minority populations often rely on small, independent food stores that sell foods used commonly in the cuisines of specific ethnic groups, such as chinese, indian, korean, and african specialties. (black et. al, 2011). consequently, ethnically diverse neighbourhoods may seem less attractive and profitable for supermarkets and fast food outlets. luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 103 there are few studies in the food desert literature with which to compare our findings regarding the association between food balance and neighbourhood deprivation. a recent study in saskatoon, saskatchewan, found that food balance generally worsened as material deprivation and social deprivation increased (cushon et al., 2013). however, this does not appear to be the case in windsor, where food balance was not significantly different by neighbourhood-level deprivation. our results still indicate that neighbourhoods with higher concentrations of single-parent families, senior populations, and people who drive to work were more likely to have a more balanced food environment. strengths, limitation and suggestions for future research this study has several notable strengths. first, there has been a limited amount of research into the comparative accessibility to supermarkets and fast food outlets in canada. this study simultaneously examined supermarkets and fast food outlets accessibility, and explicitly compared them by using a food balance score. secondly, this study also explores the association of both food access and food balance with neighbourhood characteristics based on a variety of census variables for income, ethnicity, education, employment, family status, transportation and zoning. by using multivariate regression models, this study has identified several neighbourhood characteristics that had the most significant effect on food access and food balance in windsor after taking other variables into account. thirdly, this study not only focuses on socioeconomically deprived areas with limited access to supermarkets as the majority of food desert studies do, but also explored the potential existence of food swamps socioeconomically deprived areas that have easier access to less healthy foods (fast food outlets) compared with access to healthy foods (supermarkets). this is a unique contribution to the food desert literature as it allows for a more comprehensive analysis of the food environment. there are some limitations to this study. first, due to time and budgetary constraints, this study only focuses on supermarkets as the main source of healthy foods. however, other types of small food retailers like fruit and vegetable markets, specialty stores (butcher, fishmonger) and ethnic grocery shops may also offer a range of healthy food products (apparicio et al., 2007). the presence of these kinds of smaller food stores may thus improve residents’ access to healthy foods, especially in areas where large supermarkets are not easily accessible. however, it should be noted that the availability, quality, and price of foods sold in these stores could vary quite highly (apparicio et al., 2007). therefore, future studies could include a broader set of stores where fresh foods are sold and attention could be paid to the potential differences in food quality and food prices in those different types of food retailers. secondly, this study is cross-sectional, which does not account for trends over time. as discussed above, the landscape of food retailers in canada has changed dramatically in the last decades as has its potential impact on individual food consumption patterns, and diet-related health. longitudinal studies should be considered for further studies in the future, such as tracking how supermarkets, fast food outlets and neighbourhood characteristics changed over time as well as the temporality of associations between them. thirdly, the ecological nature of this study does not allow us to draw conclusions about individual food shopping patterns and behaviors. in other words, people within the same neighbourhood can still have different levels of access to healthy/unhealthy foods due to their various economic statuses, social and cultural norms, as well as physical and psychological characteristics. future studies using individual-level data on food shopping and consumption behaviors would shed light on where individuals do their food shopping, and how these decisions are influenced by geographic distance to food stores, luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 104 convenience of transportation, as well as other personal factors. conclusion this study shows that access to supermarkets and fast food outlets varied according to neighbourhood-level socioeconomic deprivation in windsor, with socioeconomically disadvantaged areas having better food access than advantaged areas. however, food balance did not follow a clear socioeconomic gradient. the results also identify a couple of socioeconomic characteristics that had significant effects on food access and food balance after taking urban planning and zoning factors into account. consistent with previous findings in other canadian cities, this study finds that “food swamps” were more prevalent than “food deserts” in windsor. taken together, the results from this study provide new insights into the geographic variation in access to healthy/unhealthy food stores as well as the role of neighbourhood characteristics on such spatial disparities in windsor. these findings have important implications for local policy and practice that aim to improve the food environments. in particular, food policy and program interventions should not only focus on increasing access to affordable and nutritious foods, but also on reducing exposure to unhealthy food options. the focus of those interventions should differ depending on whether the community is a “food desert” or a “food swamp.” for example, to address “food deserts,” the municipal government could create incentives (e.g. tax breaks, development charges reductions) to attract full-service grocery stores to marginalized, underserved areas. the city could also develop policies and 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(2008). the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status and exposure to supermarkets and fast food outlets. health place, 14(4), 740–754. spence, j. c., cutumisu, n., edwards, j., raine, k. d., & smoyer-tomic, k. e. (2009). relation between local food environments and obesity among adults. bmc public health, 9(1), 192. statistics canada. (2016). dissemination area (da). retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2016/ref/dict/geo021-eng.cfm statistics canada. (2017a). windsor, cy [census subdivision], ontario [table]. census profile. 2016 census. retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dppd/prof/index.cfm?lang=e statistics canada. (2017b). essex, cty [census division], ontario [database]. census profile of census disseminations areas. 2016 census. retrieved from chass http://dc1.chass.utoronto.ca/census/index.html statistics canada. 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(2009). access to affordable and nutritious food —measuring and understanding food deserts and their consequences: report to congress. united states department of agriculture, economic research service. retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=42729 https://www.mergentintellect.com/index.php/search/index https://www.citywindsor.ca/cityhall/city-council-meetings/meetings-this-week/documents/item%2011.1%20appendix%20a%20windsor%20neighbourhood%20market%20value%20analysis%20study.pdf https://www.citywindsor.ca/cityhall/city-council-meetings/meetings-this-week/documents/item%2011.1%20appendix%20a%20windsor%20neighbourhood%20market%20value%20analysis%20study.pdf https://www.citywindsor.ca/cityhall/city-council-meetings/meetings-this-week/documents/item%2011.1%20appendix%20a%20windsor%20neighbourhood%20market%20value%20analysis%20study.pdf https://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/geo021-eng.cfm https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/geo021-eng.cfm https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?lang=e https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?lang=e http://dc1.chass.utoronto.ca/census/index.html https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/index-eng.cfm https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=42729 luo / international journal of librarianship 5(1) 107 walker, r.e., keane, c.r., & burke, j.g. (2010). disparities and access to healthy food in the united states: a review of food deserts literature. health place, 16(5), 876-884. white, m., bunting, j., williams, e., raybould, s., adamson, a., & mathers, jc. (2004). do ‘food deserts’ exist? a multi-level geographical analysis of the relationship between retail food access, socio-economic position and dietary intake. final report to the food standards agency. london, uk: food standards agency. winkler, e., turrell, g., & patterson, c. (2006). does living in a disadvantaged area mean fewer opportunities to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables in the area? findings from the brisbane food study. health place, 12(3), 306–319. zenk, s.n., schultz, a.j., israel, b.a., james, s.a., bao, s., & wilson, m.l. (2005). neighborhood racial composition, neighborhood poverty, and the spatial accessibility of supermarkets in metropolitan detroit. american journal of public health, 95(4), 660–67. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author xue (carina) luo holds a bcs and an msc in geomatics from the university of waterloo, ontario, canada. now carina is a geospatial data analyst at leddy library, university of windsor, ontario, canada. she is responsible for the provision of expertise in developing and delivering geospatial data services and programs offered to members of the university of windsor community. carina’s research interests are in the field of gis and data analysis with diverse application areas in crime and public health, food environments, and higher education. 008-161-embedded_food_literacy_title 008-161-embedded_food_literacy issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org leveraging niso standards and best practices to improve discovery and access of digital resources bie-hwa ma, shi deng and susan xue abstract: to tackle issues related to metadata and improve discovery of and access to digital resources, national information standards organization (niso) has developed a series of standards and recommended best practices. the impact of these standards has been discussed in depth. however, no research has been done in the areas of how those standards and best practices can be used for digital resources in chinese, and strategies for implementing those standards. this paper aims to identify common issues in discovery of and access to chinese digital resources; suggest feasible solutions; discuss how to leverage niso standards and recommended practices; and recommend ways to promote the standards and best practices to stakeholders. to cite this article: ma, b., deng, s., & xue, s. (2016). leveraging niso standards and best practices to improve discovery and access of digital resources. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 17-37. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.18 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 17-37 issn:2474-3542 leveraging niso standards and best practices to improve discovery and access of digital resources bie-hwa ma university of california at san diego library, san diego, california, usa shi deng university of california at san diego library, san diego, california, usa susan xue university of california at berkeley, berkeley, california, usa abstract to tackle issues related to metadata and improve discovery of and access to digital resources, national information standards organization (niso) has developed a series of standards and recommended best practices. the impact of these standards has been discussed in depth. however, no research has been done in the areas of how those standards and best practices can be used for digital resources in chinese, and strategies for implementing those standards. this paper aims to identify common issues in discovery of and access to chinese digital resources; suggest feasible solutions; discuss how to leverage niso standards and recommended practices; and recommend ways to promote the standards and best practices to stakeholders. keywords: niso standards, metadata, discovery, access, chinese digital resources, licensing, vendor education background on one hand, the rapid growth of digital1 resources and the emergence of information technology have enabled users to discover and access digital resources anywhere and anytime they need it. on the other hand, the increasing number of stakeholders and their products and services in the supply chain and the continually evolving technology and discovery tools have made effective access to digital resources more challenging. for digital resources in chinese, the language and cultural barriers and lack of standardization have brought new challenges and made organizing and discovering digital resources even more complicated. to address content organization and discovery issues, the national information standards organization (niso) has been working 1 this paper uses “digital” and “electronic” interchangeably, as the two terms have not been clearly distinguished and both terms have been used in standards and best practices. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 18 closely with representatives from publishers, content providers, libraries, link service providers, software service providers, and other stakeholders in the digital resource supply chain to develop, establish, maintain, and promote a series of standards and recommended practices for creating and managing digital content and metadata. all of this is done with the goal of improving user experience with digital resources. much research has been conducted regarding the relationship between niso standards and discovery. pesch (2014) discussed how the knowledge base and related tools (kbart) could improve openurl linking through the definition of best practices for exchanging title-level metadata, and its potential in improving discovery services. marshall & reynolds (2013) studied how presentation and identification of e-journals (pie-j) would address problems related to ejournal presentation. kasprowski (2012) discusses how the kbart working group investigates and identifies openurl metadata issues in the serials supply chain. lagace et al. researched on four standards and best practices recently released or currently underway at the niso: kbart, pie-j, open discovery initiative, and open access metadata indicators. the applicability of these standards and best practices for different stakeholders of the information community were discussed (lagace, kaplan, & leffler, 2015). the role of niso standards and best practices has been discussed in depth, however, no research has been conducted on how those standards and best practices can be used for digital resources in chinese, and what strategies can be used for implementing those standards. in fact, standards in presenting digital resources in china are very different from those in the united states. the lack of unified standards in producing, processing, and presenting digital resources has seriously hindered the access and discovery of those resources, both domestically and internationally. this paper intends to focus on strategies for improving discovery of chinese digital resources by examining these issues: identifying common issues that hinder users from discovering and accessing chinese digital resources, discussing how to leverage niso standards and recommended practices to improve discovery and access to chinese digital resources, recognizing stakeholders’ efforts in creating good records, and recommending strategies for promoting the standards and best practices to stakeholders through education, training, workshops, and incorporation of these standards and best practices into official agreements. common issues with discovery of chinese digital resources and feasible solutions there has been little discussion about issues with access and discovery of chinese digital resources in chinese literature. a thorough search of china academic journals database, wanfang e-journals database and airiti indicates that research in this area has just begun and in-depth studies have not yet emerged. one relevant article was a summary of the digital library conference “2013 library new technology forum discover the ultimate beauty of the library services,” focusing on discovery of digital resources and held in shanghai in 2013. the author discussed the fact that the quality and quantity of metadata, standardization of metadata, and the mechanism of discovering and connecting to full-text resources are critical to a well-functioned discovery system (sun, 2013). in 2014, a conference focusing on discovery system and related technology was held in the national library of china; the relationship between discovery system and metadata was one of the topics of the conference (xin hua yue du, 2014). the impact of high quality metadata on discovery of chinese digital resources was also discussed in a 2011 article. the article mentioned that cooperation between discovery system providers and content providers would be the best way to obtain the best metadata, so as to improve discovery of content (sa, wen, & qu, 2011). another article discussed in general that lack of standards in china in developing digital resources has caused “information island,” integration of digital resources and their management has been ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 19 difficult which has a negative impact on accessing and discovering information (zhai, 2014). an article published in 2013 discussed issues with discovering digital resources due to the lack of a database or storage of metadata for digital resources, and the lack of management of metadata, and how this has caused low quality in search results (ouyang, 2013). from a different angle, another article discussed the dissemination issues of theses and dissertations published in taiwan. it suggested assigning dois to improve the discovery, persistent access, and interoperability with other systems which ultimately disseminate theses and dissertations to the world in a much more efficient way (zhang, 2014). in english literature, searching the library literature & information science database yields very few articles related to metadata standards and discovery of chinese digital resources. yurong y. atwill compared and discussed some technical issues of three major e-journal databases from china (atwill, 2005). search results can be very different for terms used, in chinese and/or english, and some articles are hard to find; it depends on the metadata or level of metadata indexed for keywords and/or full-text searching. although all three databases allow browsing of individual journals, some provide only selected journals and do not provide a cover-to-cover surrogate for the print (atwill, 2005). when discussing e-book development in china, anthony w. ferguson mentioned that the lack of display standards forced library patrons to learn multiple software front ends and remember which collection does what (ferguson & ko, 2004). at a practical level, librarians have done some pioneering work. at the ceal 2012 conference, bie-hwa ma presented and discussed issues she faced when processing chinese digital resources, such as incorrect metadata, incomplete or misleading content presentation, and the url linking problem. she pointed out that the source of the identified issues could be traced back to any parties involved in the supply chain. she suggested a feasible solution is for all parties to comply with established standards and practices, such as openurl, kbart, and pie-j (ma, 2012). at the ceal 2014 workshop, connie lam discussed metadata problems affecting access and discovery of chinese digital resources. lam (2014) pointed out that aggregators and content vendors have made great efforts in improving the quality of metadata and are willing to help librarians and library users to have better access to resources. susan xue gave a report on a survey conducted in january and february 2014 on metadata standards and best practices for chinese e-resources. the survey results showed that the top five standards vendors/publishers followed were marc 21, other classification, issn/isbn, pie-j, and lcsh. the top five standards vendors/publishers were interested in following were doi, marc 21, issn/isbn, kbart, and openurl. the survey results also showed that vendors/publishers and librarians perceived some difficulties in promoting metadata standards, including the fact that complying with standards will increase product cost, and vendors have no metadata expertise to provide certain metadata or follow the standards (xue, 2014). users found that, compared with digital resources in english, metadata and discovery issues with resources in chinese are more serious. libraries today spend significant library collection funds on digital resources, and we need to communicate the value of these resources to the academic community, to show that the investment is worthwhile and that the resources are supporting academic teaching and research. it is critical that we address these issues strategically in order to ensure maximum access and discovery. one of the most effective strategies is to develop and implement standards and best practices among all parties in the e-resources supply chain. in the united states, niso has been taking great leadership in working together with content publishers, libraries, and software developers to identify, develop, maintain, and publish technical standards to manage information in our increasingly digital environment. there are many metadata related standards and recommended practices developed by niso to support access and discovery. the following standards and practices will be discussed in this paper: ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 20 ● presentation and identification of e-journals (pie-j) ● digital object identifier (doi) ● openurl ● knowledge based and related tools recommended practice (kbart) ● open discovery initiative (odi) we strongly encourage publishers, content providers, libraries and all stakeholders in china to comply with and adopt these standards. pie-j: solutions to content and metadata presentation the success of e-resource discovery and access systems relies heavily on the quality of contents and their metadata, which is based on how the contents and metadata are presented online. if content and its metadata are incorrectly or inappropriately presented, other stakeholders downstream would not be able to provide a good service for that specific e-resource as the information supply chain has been broken or weakened from the beginning. most of chinese commercial e-resources are digitized from print journals and books. listed below are the most common presentation issues of chinese e-resources that have been seriously affecting the discovery and access. ● contents not digitized from cover to cover: university of california (uc) e-journal providers, with the exception of dragon source, do not digitize advertisements and front matters (title page, cover, masthead, colophon, etc.), which actually provide significant information for resource identification and metadata creation in discovery systems. some providers include thumbnails of the cover images, but the resolution is too poor to display the content. ● missing content (characters, paragraphs, and pages): this can be due to bad scanning workmanship or the lack of contents from the libraries’ originals (see figures 1 and 2). figure 1. missing content resulted from bad workmanship ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 21 figure 2. content covered by the label of the holding library owning the original print material ● renamed or renumbered content: not only does this practice mislead users and affect link resolution and discovery in other forms (see figure 3), but it also leads to incorrect citation (see figure 4). 2009year 23issue 2009year 24issue figure 3. “cai wu yu kuai ji” was published monthly in two parts, zong he ban and li cai ban, in 2009. the provider misnumbered the parts published in 2009, “no. 12” as “no. 23 & no. 24”. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 22 figure 4. incorrect citation resulted from the renumbering of journal issues (top); the correct journal enumeration (numbering) metadata was provided by another package (bottom) ● hidden title change practice: this is one of the biggest issues amongst uc-subscribed chinese journal packages with the exception of taiwan electronic periodical services (teps/ceps). previous titles are displayed and represented under the latest title and the new issn; this means all the contents of previous titles are collated at the same website under the latest title and/or under the entry of the latest entry in the title list. as a result, previous titles are often not indexed in the knowledge base database, which has contributed to a large portion of openurl resolution failures and resulted in ‘no hits’ in the “a-z journal title list” (see figure 5). the biggest issue is that some providers incorrectly cite the articles of previous titles under the latest title (see figure 6). figure 5. the former title “文字改革 [wen zi gai ge]” was recorded under its later title “语文建设 [yu wen jian she]” and a new issn on the 1984(6) issue landing page (left). this misrepresentation causes the former title to be indiscoverable in sfx kb (right) (viewed mar. 21, 2016). ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 23 figure 6. although this longstanding citation issue was resolved by this provider at some point after march 2012, it remains a common issue among chinese journal databases.  inaccurate issns: the inaccurate issns provided on the digitized resource or in the metadata are responsible for many openurl linking failures. some chinese publishers bought or borrowed an issn for their journal. this could be a result of the publishers having difficulties during the required procedure prior to the issn application. the publication would need to be pre-approved by general administration of press and publication of the people's republic of china, who would then grant the china domestic uniform serial publication number (cn), contingent for the application for an issn (issn china center, n.d.). to avoid discovery and access issues caused by incorrect issns, vendors and publishers should verify issns against the issn portal maintained by the issn international centre or against the issn china center portal which provides free searches by issn or journal title (issn zhongguo guo jia zhong xin, n.d.). when providing metadata, record the issn that appears on the scanned copy of the original print material as “print issn,” and record the one assigned for the online version as e-issn. however, do not record inaccurate issns. according to the new issn rule, “national centres should assign an issn to both the digital reproductions and to the original print versions when the latter are not already identified” (international standard serial number international center, 2015, p. 18). this also applies to ceased print serials that are owned or not owned by publishers. the publisher who owns the content or the providing library/archive when the content is not owned by a current publisher can request the respective national center to assign the issn(s). we are hoping that issn china center will work with its governing agency for a feasible national practice to comply with this new issn rule which will enable serial contents to become more discoverable and accessible in the internet era. presentation and identification of e-journals (pie-j) working group was formed by niso in july 2010. the group developed and published a recommended practice, pie-j: the presentation and identification of e-journals in 2013 (national information standards organization [niso], 2013). the recommendations have addressed the chinese e-resources presentation and identification issues described above. important highlights include: ● retain content once it is published, whether digitized from the print or born digital. do not remove, rename, or renumber content. ● retain title and citation information under which articles were originally published ● display: ○ title histories, including information relating to title changes and related metadata ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 24 ○ correct issn for different formats and for changed titles ○ vital publication information across the history of a journal ● create a presentation that allows easy access to all content complying with pie-j recommendations would not only ensure the accuracy of important metadata, but also resolve the openurl failures and increase the usage of licensed resources. persistent url and openurl: solutions to url issues linking technology has been a great asset since the internet emerged in the mid 1990s by connecting users to e-resources. however, many studies, show that urls in citations have been both growing and decaying rapidly (gul, mahajan, & ali, 2014; kumar & manoi, 20122; prithviraj & kumar, 2014). gul et al. pointed out that the main causes of url decay are the frequent substitutions of urls and site death. although some software tools have been used for identifying broken links since the turn of the century (beam & copeland, 2001), stakeholders including subscribing agencies and users would still spend hours co-troubleshooting, investigating, and/or updating broken linkage from different sites. in order to improve the url stability and to reduce manpower maintaining urls, new powerful technologies such as persistent url and openurl were invented. a persistent url links users to a http redirect server for retrieving the current actual url and then seamlessly links to the target resource (see figure 7). when a url is changed, the persistent url stays the same, while the url address in the persistent url registry is replaced with the new current url. examples include online computer library center’s (oclc) bibpurls. digital object identifier (doi) link is also a persistent url, but doi systems 3 nowadays have more functionality (corporation for national research initiatives, n.d.; international doi foundation, 2012).4 as defined by crossref, the doi registry center, a digital object identifier (doi) is "a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a digital object – in this case, an electronic journal article or a book chapter” (crossref, n.d., "what a doi is:" para. 1 ). a typical doi link comprises the url for the doi resolver “http://dx.doi.org/” and a doi. for example, http://dx.doi.org/10.6140/ap.9789865663933, which will be resolved to the current url of the ebook, 中醫圖畫通說 [zhong yi tu hua tong shuo] with the doi “10.6140/ap.9789865663933.” dois are assigned by doi registration agencies (ra) which are authorized by the international doi foundation (idf), the governing body of the doi system. unlike a regular url, a doi link does not change over time and no local link maintenance is needed because the url of the doi’s corresponding object is maintained by its publisher or owner at the authorized registry. the doi syntax became a national standard, ansi/niso z39.84 (niso, 2010c) in 2005 and an international standard, iso 26324 in 2012 (iso, 2012). 2 from the study of 2890 url citations cited in 689 research articles published in lis open access journals from 1996 to 2009, kumar et al. found that the percentage of url citations increased from 5.98 percent in 1996 to 27.79 percent in 2009. however, 26.08 percent of all citations were not accessible during the time of testing. 3 the doi system’s core is the ‘handle’ system (corporation for national research initiatives, n.d.), an open source software developed by corporation for national research initiatives (cnri). 4 the updated doi systems can have multiple resolution which allows one entity to be resolved to multiple pieces of data or entities. the systems can also work with proxy servers and openurl system in which dois can be a parameter (element) embedded in an openurl, see chapter 3, resolution of doi handbook (international doi foundation, 2012). http://dx.doi.org/ http://dx.doi.org/10.6140/ap.9789865663933 http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/ ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 25 figure 7. persistent url & openurl openurl technology involves more components (see figure 7). 1. it starts with a source link. it is created based on the metadata from the source/citation, the data about the user’s affiliation, and the data about the location where the request was made. the source link is then passed to a link resolver for resolution. 2. by matching the metadata embedded in the source link against the metadata of resources, licenses, and restriction stored in the knowledge base (kb, a database created for linking openurls to resources), the link resolver identifies the appropriate copies to which the user has access. 3. the target links are then created to link legitimate users to the resources. the two links below are sample openurls created by provider and uc campuses (ucs) respectively: http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=book&isbn=978-1-58829-288-9 http://openurl.cdlib.org/?sid=scp:scp&genre=article&__char_set=utf8&issn=1089-8689 implementing the openurl framework has many benefits such as providing “appropriate copies” of a referenced content, using dynamic and flexible links to reduce linking failures, lowering the cost for links maintenance, and increasing interoperability for data exchange, especially when the content is moved around between different providers and/or platforms (niso, 2010b). in fact vendors do not necessarily have to implement the openurl system if their clients have subscribed to openurl link services, which most libraries do. therefore, in most cases, what vendors need to do is to regularly provide accurate, comprehensive, rich, and current metadata in kbart template (see section 2.3) or in marc format to link resolution providers. the effectiveness of dois and openurls has been well recognized. using dois for e-books is a trend and sending title lists to link services providers kb is a standard practice for western language resources providers. however, most chinese providers do not provide dois or openurls and are reluctant to communicate with link services providers directly for various reasons, such as security concerns, short staffing, or metadata creation cost. as a result, approximately 85% of the 35,000 uc-subscribed chinese journals have either bad quality or no metadata in the sfx kb. this means that these 30,000 titles can hardly be discovered and accessed via sfx openurl service if users link from a non-traditional search utility such as google books. similar complaints were heard from other subscribing institutions in hong kong and north america. china national knowledge infrastructure (cnki) is the only uc vendor in china that has been providing title lists to ex libris via its agent. through numerous communications, the cnki leader has promised to follow kbart’s recommendation in creating separate entries for title changes which will resolve most of cnki’s linking issues in sfx. http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=book&isbn=978-1-58829-288-9 http://openurl.cdlib.org/?sid=scp:scp&genre=article&__char_set=utf8&issn=1089-8689 ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 26 bide (2015) pointed out that cost may be a barrier implementing doi, “but all too often, people focus on direct, identifiable cost, and give little thought to benefit” ("challenges," para 12). given that the kbart title list is not costly to produce and some chinese vendors like cnki and wanfang data have been providing publishers free doi registration for article-level objects, cost should not be the excuse for not providing dois and quality metadata to kbs. kbart: a universal exchange format for title level metadata & library holdings kbart addresses issues related to the data supplied to knowledge bases and improves efficiency and effectiveness of linking. openurl connects users to library subscribed resources, (see section 2.2 and figure 7). a significant part of this access flows through openurl link resolvers, which relies on detailed knowledge base holdings data provided by the content publishers. it is therefore vital that the metadata in knowledge base is accurate and up-to-date (niso, 2014a). illustrated in figure 8 is the data flow through the supply chain (niso/uksg, 2010). if title level metadata in knowledge bases is inaccurate, it would undermine the purpose of openurl, and as a result, impact on electronic resource discovery and access. figure 8. kbart flowchart of data transferring through the supply chains. reprinted from http://www.uksg.org/sites/uksg.org/files/kbart_figure2.jpg kbart phase i working group identified some common issues related to poor metadata that prevents openurls from linking to appropriate contents. these issues are: identifier inconsistencies (see figures 9-10, lam, 2014), title inconsistencies (see figure 11-12, lam, 2014), incorrect data coverage, inconsistent data formatting, and inconsistencies in content coverage description (see figure 13, lam, 2014), embargo inconsistencies, data format and exchange, outdated holdings data, and lack of customization (niso, 2010a). http://www.uksg.org/sites/uksg.org/files/kbart_figure2.jpg ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 27 figure 9. same isbn for different editions. reprinted from chinese e-resource metadata problems that cause access issues [powerpoint slides], by c. lam, 2014, slide7. reprinted with permission. figure 10. same isbn for different titles by the same publishers. reprinted from chinese eresource metadata problems that cause access issues [powerpoint slides], by c. lam, 2014, slide8. reprinted with permission. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 28 figure 11. title inconsistencies: missing part title. reprinted from chinese e-resource metadata problems that cause access issues [powerpoint slides], by c. lam, 2014, slide10. reprinted with permission. figure 12. title inconsistencies: recorded title incorrect. reprinted from chinese e-resource metadata problems that cause access issues [powerpoint slides], by c. lam, 2014, slide13. reprinted with permission. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 29 figure 13. inconsistencies in content coverage description. reprinted from chinese e-resource metadata problems that cause access issues [powerpoint slides], by c. lam, 2014, slide35&36. reprinted with permission. these examples illustrate how inaccurate metadata affects openurl linking. the need for standardized practice for data exchange through the supply chain becomes imperative. kbart provides a solution of using a simple unified metadata exchange format. this data exchange format includes a common set of metadata fields for transmission of holdings metadata from content providers to link resolver knowledge bases. the work of phase i focused mostly on metadata for journals, and the work of phase ii expanded kbart to include metadata for consortia, open access, e-books, and conference proceedings. to help improve the supply of accurate and up-to-date metadata to link resolvers, all stakeholders in the supply chain, particularly chinese content providers, are encouraged to endorse the kbart phase ii recommended practice, use kbart file template, and file name convention. librarians can use the kbart file template as the title level metadata checklist to ensure and validate files provided by contents providers:  comply with kbart recommended practices, such as metadata elements, formats, the sample file (see figure 14, niso, 2014a) figure 14. kbart sample file for e-books. reprinted from knowledge bases and related tools (kbart) recommended practice: a recommended practice of the national information standards organization (p. 28), by the kbart phase ii working group, 2014, baltimore, md: national information standards organization (niso). ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 30  supply the most comprehensive, accurate, and timely metadata to link resolution services  follow the order of data fields strictly  add any extra locally added data fields at the end  record every title, including former, later, or split titles in a separate entry  use the recommended structure and meaningful file names. the benefits of following kbart recommended practice are:  vendor provides content metadata to knowledge bases in a universally accepted data format  the standardized kbart file makes file transfer and knowledge base updates easier to handle  optimizes process and fosters smoother interaction between all stakeholders of knowledge bases supply chain  knowledge bases and library users benefit from provision of higher-quality data supplied by content providers  publishers expose content to greater usage by accurate linking to their contents  library has immediate return on investment when resources discovery and access become more efficient and effective to help stakeholders in the supply chain for chinese electronic resources, ceal ermb members work collaboratively with calis5/draa6 on translating kbart recommended practice and conduct research on kbart application and its benefits and limitations on the efficiency and effectiveness of openurl linking for both chinese and western language resources. in a recent article, pesch (2014) provided some cases to illustrate that in addition to improving openurl linking through the definition of best practices for exchanging title-level metadata, kbart continues to gain traction and has the potential to be an initiative that improves not only link resolver quality but also improves discovery services, electronic resource management (erm) systems, and even counting online usage of networked electronic resources (counter) usage reports. odi: indexed discovery services for content coverage and exchange several major discovery products, based on centrally indexed searches have been released to the market since early 2009 and have been widely deployed in libraries globally (niso, 2014b). the leading products are ebsco discovery service (eds), ex libris’ primo, serial solutions’ summon, and oclc’s worldcat local. there is also the superstar chinese discovery system developed in china. these services use a pre-aggregated central index to enable searching across a wide range of library related resources, both licensed and free, from multiple providers. they also offer more sophisticated capabilities and faster performance than those provided by systems relying on federated search technologies (niso, 2014b). ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 31 however, there are issues all stakeholders are facing, discussed by both kelley and members of the odi working group in 2012 (kelley, 2012). first, librarians, content providers, and discovery services providers often talk across one another when describing their respective needs and offerings, and no common vocabulary is used to describe what they do. second, librarians expect that the large central index that underpins discovery services will maximize awareness and usage of library’s entire collection, particularly for electronic subscriptions—which in some libraries accounts for 85% of material budget. but lack of visibility for what content is included in the central index, and what content had been indexed using metadata, abstract, full text, and/or subject headings makes it difficult for librarians to measure the impact after implementation of such services. third, the indexed search is still governed by proprietary deals between discovery providers and information providers, which results in a blurry and inconsistent “ecosystem” that underserves libraries and users. fourth, differences in access between indexing only metadata versus full text, as well as the depth and frequency of indexing, can make a dramatic difference in results when selecting a discovery services product. lack of transparency in each discovery service’s coverage of its index makes it hard to determine which product may offer the best coverage for a given library’s subscriptions. fifth, timely, standards-compliant usage and referral statistics were high on the wish list of content providers and librarians. the discovery vendors do provide usage statistics, but the formats vary from vendor to vendor and may not give certain content providers adequate credit for their contributions. sixth, the transparency must extend to relevance ranking, which determines what results will float to the top and is a critical element in a given service’s ultimate success or failure. seventh, a&i providers are concerned about their position in discovery landscape. although all the discovery providers say they fully appreciate how access to a&i databases is critical for deep and serious research and a key differentiator for libraries in their struggles to compete against search engines like google, many a&i providers are wary when it comes to the discovery services and decline to add their bibliographic databases to the services, fearing doing so could threaten their lifeblood. all of these issues brought stakeholders together with a growing need for best practices. they worked with niso and launched the open discovery initiative in 2012. after surveying the community, the recommended practices were released in 2014. the list provides recommendations for data exchange including data formats, method of delivery, usage reporting, frequency of updates, and rights of use. it offers a way to libraries to assess content providers’ participation in discovery services. it is a model by which content providers work with discovery service vendors via fair and unbiased indexing and linking (niso, 2014c). an important element of the odi recommended practice is the disclosure to libraries of which metadata elements are included in discovery services. conformance checklists to be used by discovery services providers and content providers are included as appendices to the recommended practices (lagace, 2014). the recommended practices for content providers (section 3.2) are:  participation: provide core metadata and full-text/original content as well as enriched content o core metadata elements – basic citation metadata (author, title, publisher, date, type, format, etc.) o enriched content – indexing data (a&i data like subject headings), full text or transcript, abstracts/description  disclosure: provide information to libraries related to level of participation  technical formats: use existing standards to facilitate data exchange (niso, 2016). the recommended practices for discovery service providers (section 3.3) are: ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 32  disclosure: provide key information in a consistent, usable form to libraries about content indexed to facilitate evaluation  linking: linking and relevancy methods should not introduce bias to particular content providers; libraries should determine linking choices; annual disclosure related to neutrality  data transfer: use existing protocols and provide documentation, preferences, and indication of impact on different processes to content providers  usage statistics for content providers (section 3.3.4): provide simple and frequent statistics: o total number of searches o result clicks o total number of click-throughs  usage statistics for libraries (section 3.3.4): provide simple and frequent statistics: o total number of searches per month o total number of unique visitors per month o total number of click-throughs per month o top 500 search queries for the last period o top 100 referring urls to the discovery service for the last period (niso, 2016). content providers and discovery service providers are encouraged to follow the recommended practices and investigate potential changes in their contributions to library services via indexed delivery. this will help optimize and simplify the process of data exchange between participating discovery vendors and content providers, ensure participating discovery vendors are following fair and unbiased indexing and linking practices, mitigate technical and legal issues that might hinder broader participation by content providers or potential discovery service creators, and allow libraries to understand how their licensed content is included in discovery systems (niso, 2016). complying with standards through education and licensing to tackle issues related to discovering and accessing chinese, japanese and korean electronic resources, the council on east asian libraries (ceal) established the task force on metadata standard and best practice (ceal ermb) in november 2013. the ermb conducted a survey between january and february 2014, to investigate the awareness of standards for content organization of digital resources. the survey was sent to both chinese vendors and chinese studies librarians. the findings show that the top five standards that vendors follow are marc 21, other classifications, issn, isbn and other publication identifier, pie-j and library of congress subject headings. it shows that the major standards, kbart, doi and openurl, have not yet gained enough attention. vendors and librarians were not clear on some of the key issues: they believe that metadata standards do not accommodate the needs of cjk resources/scripts, and that metadata standards do not necessarily eliminate problems. findings also show that both vendors and librarians lack metadata expertise to provide required metadata and implement certain metadata standards. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 33 one of the strategies for implementing niso metadata standards is through training and education. various organizations have actively engaged in this area at the national and local level. in 2014, ceal ermb conducted the workshop on electronic resources standards and best practices: what do bibliographers, catalogers, publishers, and vendors need to know in philadelphia. over 70 librarians and vendors attended the workshop and this was the first time that niso standards were presented to chinese vendors. as the key driver for information industry standards, niso has offered intensive training programs for a number of years. the niso education committee was first formed in early 2007 in response to the training need from its broad constituency. the committee determines topics, sets agendas, and recruits speakers. twenty-five webinars or virtual conferences have been scheduled for 2016 and past training events can also be viewed on niso’s website (http://www.niso.org/news/events/2016/). niso staff are frequently asked to make presentations at various conferences, workshops, and similar events and slide presentations are available for viewing on the niso website (http://www.niso.org/news/on-theroad/). while librarians have benefited from niso’s efforts, more efforts are needed in particular for chinese vendors and the chinese librarian community. only active engagement in learning and implementing niso standards would help access to chinese digital resources and further realize the value of those resources in teaching, research and pleasure reading. another strategy for enforcing the implementation of metadata standards is regulating it through the licensing of digital resources. over the years, licensing terms have been updated to respond to the development of technology and pricing models. niso standards have been added to several major model licenses in recent years. as a consortium of over 250 academic and independent research libraries in the u.s., canada and hong kong, the center for research libraries has developed a model license to serve as a statement by the academic library community of what it considers acceptable policy and practice for licensing digital information. this model license includes a clause on discovery of licensed materials, stating that vendors should “provide discovery service vendors on an ongoing basis the citation and complete descriptive metadata (including all subject headings, abstracts, and keywords), and full-text content necessary to facilitate optimal discovery and accessibility of the content” (center for research libraries, 2014). vendors should “comply with the most current version of the openurl standard (ansi/niso z39.88), and will provide a mechanism for persistent links to content” (center for research libraries, 2014). the model license specifies that vendors should provide customers “prior to the beginning of the calendar year within the current term, an itemized holdings report that specifies the titles included in the licensed materials for the next subscription term…if the licensed materials include content covered by the knowledge bases and related tools (kbart) recommended practice, itemized holdings lists for the licensee will be reported in kbart-compliant format” (center for research libraries, 2014). the model license recommended by the canadian research knowledge network includes a clause that the publisher should “provide to the consortium before december 31 of each year within the subscription period, in kbart-compliant format, an itemized holdings report that specifies the licensed materials accessible to the members for the upcoming calendar year” (canadian research knowledge network, n.d. ). the license also states that a publisher should use “reasonable and timely efforts to provide to third party vendors of discovery services, on an ongoing basis, with as comprehensive content for indexing as possible, including citation metadata (including subject headings and keywords), abstracts and full-text to facilitate optimal discovery of the content for the benefit of authorized users.” (canadian research knowledge network, n.d.). the model license recommended by the california digital library (cdl) includes a clause stating that, “the university of california is committed to the use of the emerging openurl standard to allow linking to related materials in other locations. if licensor does not use the openurl standard, licensor staff will provide information to licensee upon request to assist the licensee in ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 34 creating links directly from uc’s library catalogs and licensed resources to the content at the journal, issue and article levels” (california digital library, 2014). cdl model license does not include languages about other niso standards, however, it recommends that librarians use technical requirements for licensed resources (california digital library, 2015) when negotiating and acquiring digital resources. this document requires that vendors provide a full title list as compliant with the kbart standard for title or item-level content. for construction of inbound urls, vendors should follow niso openurl standard z39.88-2004, and the elements used in constructing the url must be common citation data elements and cannot be tied to an identifier specific to the vendor such as a unique article id number. to facilitate discovery services, the cdl requests that vendors make their records available for loading into web-based discovery services, so that uc patrons have centralized access to a broad range of materials. sharing of records should follow the niso odi and niso metadata and best practices. including languages concerning niso standards in license, if implemented strictly, would help alleviate access and discovery problems with chinese digital resources. what has happened, often times, is that when acquiring digital resources, technical standards tend to be compromised or ignored due to negotiating for better pricing and service terms. the direct result is a negative impact on access and discovery of acquired resources, which harms vendors/publishers, libraries, and ultimately, library users. as major players in the chain, vendors and librarians need to work together to improve the situation and to improve the usage of chinese digital resources overseas, as they are one of the major materials sources for faculty, students and researchers. conclusion niso standards and recommended practices offer solutions to most of the content presentation and metadata issues with chinese digital resources; however, these issues can only be addressed and resolved collectively by all players in the supply chain. promotion of the compliance with standards also requires collaboration among the stakeholders. to facilitate such cooperation and collaboration, developing international standards that incorporate needs from all language resources is critical and is also our ultimate goal. ceal ermb members and the calis/draa standards and recommended practices research task group co-launched the china-u.s. translation and research collaboration project on electronic resource standards and recommended practices in the united states in april 2016. this project aims to develop national and international standards for managing chinese digital resources, and to communicate standards and compliance with vendors and/or information providers of east asian digital publications. implementing metadata standards also requires training and education, the enforcement of the implementation through the process of licensing of digital resources, and the fostering of trust between vendors and libraries. bide (2015) made the important point that standards implementation is not simply technology, but trust. trust between vendors and librarians is established on the foundation of mutual benefit. ma et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 17-37 35 references atwill, y. y. 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(2014, november 17). di er jie tu shu guan xian dai ji shu xue shu yan tao hui zai guo jia tu shu guan ju xing [the 2nd library symposium on advanced technology was held in the national library of china]. retrieved september 9, 2016, from xin hua wang: http://news.xinhuanet.com/book/201411/17/c_127219009.htm xue, s. (2014, march 15). highlights of the survey on metadata standards and best practices for chinese eresources. retrieved march 16, 2016, from ceal committee on technical processing: http://www.eastasianlib.org/ctp/workshops/2014/susan%20highlights_chinese.pptx zhai, h. (2014). gao xiao tu shu guan shu zi zi yuan jian she de ce lue yan jiu yi anhui sheng wei li [study on strategies for the development of digital resources in academic libraries a case study on anhui province]. nong ye wang luo xin xi(8), 89-91. zhang, h. (2014, november). xue wei lun wen zhu ce doi zhi xiao yi yu shi wu [the benefit and implementation of doi registration for theses and disserations]. guo li chenggong da xue tu shu guan guan kan(23), 9-18. retrieved september 12, 2016, from http://www.lib.ncku.edu.tw/journal/23/pdf/23_02.pdf about the authors bie-hwa ma is chinese language metadata specialist at university of california, san diego library. shi deng is the head of cjk cataloging & metadata unit at university of california, san diego library. susan xue is the head of information and public services and electronic resources librarian at university of california, berkeley library. ijol-issue1-2016-3_niso_title ijol-1-1-2016-3-niso page 1 international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 82 issn: 2474-3542 conference report and journal launch, beijing, china, june 8-9, 2017, the national science library of china (nslc) (http://www.las.cas.cn/ ) hosted the first data analysis and knowledge discovery conference (http://www.dakd.org:8081) and big data analysis for decision-making workshop. a total of 266 delegates from 69 affiliations across the country gathered in beijing xiangshan for the event. the meeting received a total of 56 paper submissions. the chief editor dr. xiaolin zhang of the journal of data analysis and knowledge discovery (http://www.infotech.ac.cn/) presided over the opening ceremony. after the director of the nslc, dr. xiangyang huang, welcomed participants, 24 well-known experts from various research institutes, universities and library information institutes made presentations or demonstrations. topics covered included data mining, semantic computing, content analysis, knowledge discovery, intelligent decision making, machine learning and digital humanities. participants discussed everything from abstract data science theory to the specifics of service platforms and mechanisms. this meeting took its name from the journal of data analysis and knowledge discovery, which is the new name of and direction for the former journal of modern library and information technologies. the first editorial meeting was held one day before the conference. 31 of 46 editorial committee members attended the meeting and discussed the progress of the journal as well as research in the related disciplines. nslc publishes 17 academic journals, including the new journal of data analysis and knowledge discovery. the new journal aims to cultivate data related research in china and promote data driven knowledge discovery and decision making. keven liu, shanghai library, shanghai, china doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.37 http://www.dakd.org:8081/ http://www.infotech.ac.cn/ https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.37 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org strategic planning for the chinese american library association: from process to implementation wenli gao, raymond pun and lian ruan abstract: this report explored the chinese american librarians association (cala)’s strategic planning process for 2020-2025 during covid-19. the paper introduced cala’s mission statement, values, and discussed the importance of the strategic plan. a strategic planning task force was formed to create an opportunity for membership input in virtual town hall meetings and surveys. the authors presented a case study on the process of revising a strategic plan and discussed the implementation phases. the authors also shared the challenges and recommendations in organizing strategic planning for a library association. to cite this article: gao, w., pun, r. & ruan, l. (2021). strategic planning for the chinese american library association: from process to implementation. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 55-72. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.180 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 55-72. issn: 2474-3542 strategic planning for the chinese american library association: from process to implementation wenli gao, university of houston, tx, usa raymond pun, stanford university, ca, usa lian ruan, university of illinois urbana champaign, il, usa abstract this report explored the chinese american librarians association (cala)’s strategic planning process for 2020-2025 during covid-19. the paper introduced cala’s mission statement, values, and discussed the importance of the strategic plan. a strategic planning task force was formed to create an opportunity for membership input in virtual town hall meetings and surveys. the authors presented a case study on the process of revising a strategic plan and discussed the implementation phases. the authors also shared the challenges and recommendations in organizing strategic planning for a library association. keywords strategic plan, library association, planning, communication, evaluation, case study introduction in the spring of 2020, members of cala (the chinese american librarians association) devised a plan to organize the next set of strategic priorities for 2020-2025. to move cala forward, then cala president fu zhuo 2019-2020 appointed members to serve on a taskforce to research and update a strategic plan for cala in january 2020. led by the cala president elect and the executive director, the taskforce consisted of 18 members of experienced and senior cala members. taskforce members met virtually to discuss ways in soliciting input from cala membership and worked together on the strategic plan (2020-2025) that was approved by the cala board in june 2020 (see appendix 1). in this report, we briefly share our experiences in developing a strategic plan for a library association and explore the process, implementation, challenges and recommendations for others considering designing a new strategic plan for their organizations. what is a strategic plan and why is it important for associations such as cala to be renewing one? mcguire notes that “typically, strategic plans run from three to five years, incorporate conceptual foci that the library will be devoting time, resources, and attention to, and can be a range of length and gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 56 specificity. they may include the mission, values, guiding principles, and a list of goals that the library aims to strive for throughout this active period” (p. 3, 2020). cala is an international library association with over 500 members spanning across the united states, canada and asia since 1973. a new strategic plan was necessary to explore the areas of growth and opportunities for improvement within the association. as described by parent (1988), “strategic planning is one way that [library] associations may use to provide more effective leadership” (p. 344). strategic planning can support new leadership opportunities for its members, for those who are leading the taskforce and for general membership. parent (1988) summarized the value of strategic planning using three points: 1. strategic planning is a powerful tool. 2. strategic planning is an opportunity to provide effective leadership. 3. strategic planning is a responsibility. by aiming to update cala’s next goals, a strategic planning process was very much needed to facilitate these discussions. as a global library association focused on professional development and opportunities for members across the world, it was important to review cala’s mission and vision statements as stated in the 2015-2020 strategic plan. cala’s mission statement is to “support the professional development of cala members and enhance the leadership development of chinese american librarians through training, mentoring, networking, and collaboration with colleagues in the united states and abroad. cala’s work inspires chinese american librarians to meet their professional goals and to make valuable contributions to the global library community” (cala, 2016a, para. 5). cala’s vision statement is that it is “an inclusive, diverse, and member-driven community which provides members with the opportunities to share knowledge and achieve their professional aspirations…members are key collaborators, contributors, and leaders advancing the field of librarianship globally” (cala, 2016a, para 6). on reviewing cala’s statements, its core organizational values remain important in guiding the direction of what cala is committed to: • professionalism • collaborative leadership • positive, open, and inclusive environments • transparency and integrity • service to members • continuous learning • effective communications • stewardship of resources • global perspectives these documents and values are important aspects of discussion in understanding cala’s past, present and future. another important document was the 2015-2020 strategic plan. approved by the cala board, november 5, 2015, the 2015-2020 strategic plan focused on building the “strengths, capabilities, and diligence of [cala] members … and to promote better communication among chinese american librarians; to serve as a forum for discussion of mutual interests and professional concerns among chinese american librarians and to promote the development of chinese and american librarianship” (cala, 2016b, para. 1). gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 57 the cala 2020 strategic plan taskforce (2014-2016) organized a series of online town hall meetings held from november 18, 2014 to january 14, 2015. during this time, the taskforce met with over 65 cala members and identified what cala can do for its members. as a result of this work, they identified six strategic areas: “1. membership recruitment, retention, and engagement 2. leadership training and development 3. local chapter development 4. professional development opportunities through training and mentoring 5. professional networking through cutting-edge technologies 6. cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels” (cala, 2016b). built on successful online town hall meetings of the 2015-2020 strategic plan, the 2020 task force also implemented online town hall meetings through spring 2020, and this will be explored in the major changes and implementation sections. it is important to acknowledge what has been accomplished and what needs to be examined further. to understand how strategic planning can be achieved effectively, we will provide a brief overview of the literature on strategic planning. one of the main approaches to cala’s planning is to organize virtual town halls. the task force organized a series of virtual town halls on zoom for all members to attend. in addition to the town halls, members can also submit their feedback on a google form survey. the town hall meetings provided an opportunity to discuss a series of questions posed about the 2015-2020 plan and the 2020-2025 plan. gathering qualitative feedback for strategic planning is a common activity by academic organizations such as the university of texas southwestern medical center at dallas library (higa-moore, bunnett, mayo, & olney, 2002; nitecki, livingston, gorelick, noll 2013). from cala’s perspective, the activity required effort from task force members to facilitate and take notes for each session, and analyze and compile the feedback from each session. in the following section, we explain the process more thoroughly. process preparation after the president appointed the taskforce of five members in january 2020, the co-chairs decided to have a more inclusive taskforce to hear voices from different levels. the co-chair reached out to board members, committee chairs, and chapter presidents for volunteers. the co-chair also contacted several stakeholders who were not on the initial list but were important for cala to consider in the new strategic plan, such as a representative from the asian/pacific area. in the end, the taskforce of 18 members was formed. the co-chairs reviewed the key documents like town hall meeting questions and minutes from the 2015-2020 strategic planning sessions. taskforce meetings and questionnaire the co-chairs organized two taskforce members meetings at the end of january and early february in 2020. during the first meeting, norms and expectations for members were discussed. the team also discussed the timeline and process for the strategic plan process, and established a target date of completion. originally, it was planned that some events would happen virtually, and some would happen in person during the american library association (ala) annual conference. however, due to the unexpected covid-19 pandemic, all of the town hall meetings happened gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 58 virtually. as we agreed to conduct town hall meetings to collect feedback from members, it was important to have preset questions to guide our discussions during the town hall meetings. initial questions were compiled at the first meeting, but there were some discrepancies to finalize the questions. as a result, the second meeting was scheduled. the meeting was mainly designated to finalize the questions. most of the questions were used from the last strategic planning. the eight questions were asked in over five town hall meetings: • what is your feedback on cala's vision, mission and value statements? • cala has six strategic priorities. what do you think cala has accomplished the most and the least so far? • what has cala done for you professionally? • what has cala done for you personally? • compared with other library associations (ala, ifla, ceal, alcts, apala, etc.), what do you think cala can adopt? • what improvement can cala do to meet your expectations? • what is your long term career goal, and how can cala help you? • what do you want cala to be in the next five years? online survey the task force also created an online survey to collect more data from members not available to attend the town hall meetings. to document our progress, to reinforce transparency by informing members regularly about the progress and to have a centralized place for important information, the task force decided to create a webpage on cala website on the process of the strategic plan. town hall meeting times and minutes were posted as the process moved on, and the link to the online survey was also posted on the website. timeline and key activities after the initial preparation, the co-chair of the task force sent an announcement about the new strategic plan on the cala listserv. the announcement talked about why we are doing this and the importance of getting involvement from members. in the announcement, the co-chair also listed cala’s achievements in the past five years to boost morale and encourage members to set up new goals and move cala to a higher level. this initial announcement served as a foundation for future works. starting late february to the end of april, there were five town hall meetings scheduled via zoom. a “save the date” email was sent to cala listserv about two weeks before the town hall meeting, and an email with discussion questions for people to think about ahead of time and the link to zoom was sent one week before the town hall meeting. reminder emails were sent one day before each meeting. since there were eight questions, the first two town hall meetings focused on the first four questions, and the third and fourth town hall meetings focused on the last four questions. the last town hall meeting was designated for people to express their ideas for all of the questions, and voice any concerns and suggestions not covered by the questions. after each town hall meeting, minutes were cleaned and shared both on cala listserv and the strategic plan process website. a total of 72 cala members attended the five town hall meetings. https://cala-web.org/docs/strategicplan2025-history gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 59 meeting minutes after the town hall meetings, the strategic plan task force analyzed the minutes to identify recurring themes that would be incorporated to the new strategic plan (see appendix 2). the draft plan received comments from the strategic plan task force members, the cala executive committee of the board, and the cala board. after each round of review, revisions were made based on comments. since the new strategic plan has to be approved by the board before becoming official, it was sent to board members a week before the board meeting in june 2020 so that members could have time to read and digest the plan. to make it more transparent and understandable, the cochair presented the strategic plan process, major changes from the past strategic plan, and plans for implementation during the board meeting. the new strategic plan was approved by the board during the board meeting on june 29, 2020. after the approval, the new plan was shared through the cala listserv to all members, and a webpage was created to guide the organization for the next five years (cala, 2020c). major changes in the new strategic plan compared with the 2015-2020 strategic plan, there were some major changes in the new plan. for the vision, mission, and value statement, there were three major changes. first, at the town hall meetings, many people expressed a need for research and scholarship, as a majority of cala members were from academic libraries. research and scholarship is an integral part for their tenure and promotion. moreover, as we value diversity, inclusion, and equality, advocacy was added to our mission, vision, and value statements to highlight the importance of having our voice heard in the current environment to advocate these goals for librarians of color. finally, there was confusion re: the “stewardship of resources” in the previous plan. after a discussion and clarification with the executive director, it was changed to the word “accountability” to avoid ambiguity. for goals and objectives, one of the major changes was to add action verbs to all goals. it exemplifies cala’s action driven nature. the new goals are to: 1. increase membership recruitment, retention, and engagement 2. conduct leadership training and career development 3. provide professional development opportunities through training and mentoring 4. support local chapter development 5. offer professional networking through digital technologies 6. make cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels another change to the goals included moving the goal provide professional development opportunities through training and mentoring to third place from fourth place. this change reflects the membership’s expressed needs for professional development opportunities through training programs and professional mentoring. it also reflects cala’s priority and determination to systematically provide additional training for members’ needs, especially in the current situations where funding from institutions has become scarce. there were additional changes relating to specific goals and objectives. for membership recruitment and engagement, the new objective was to establish tangible goals and set target numbers for membership recruitment. it also emphasized publicizing local activities and engaging gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 60 members locally and online. as the pandemic set our new norms for working and engaging with people, there were opportunities to unite members more in the virtual environment. another focus for the goals was to continue supporting cala members’ leadership and career development. to be specific, the new plan stated that cala will provide support for cala leaders to attend leadership training programs, such as the leadership institute for academic librarians and the ala leadership institute. by aiming at certain programs, cala can strategize and take actions on selecting candidates to support and set up funding for training. at the local chapter level, the new plan set up objectives to foster collaborations among chapters by providing opportunities to host joint training or online conferences. this came up because of the success that collaborations achieved in recent years. furthermore, as chapter leaders evolve, there exists a need to coordinate training and succession planning. cala leaders heard this concern from local chapters, and in the coming years, would work on coordinating efforts to develop robust programs for chapter leaders to transit to their new roles, and develop their leadership skills at the same time. for the objective in professional development, since research and scholarship were added to our vision and mission statement, they were also incorporated into one of the objectives. in the 2015-2020 strategic plan, there was also a goal for professional networking through cutting edge technologies. at that time, social media such as facebook and wechat were considered cutting edge. however, whatever cutting edge was then was not cutting edge at this moment. as professional networking was still a goal members wanted to retain, the wording was changed to digital technologies to include new channels of communication. another wording change was to replace ala ethnic affiliates with national associations of librarians of color affiliated with the ala. this was purely a new recommendation by the joint council of librarians of color (jclc). finally, as diversity, inclusion, and equality advocacy were added to mission, vision, and value statements, the new plan stressed cala’s impact on diversity, inclusion and social justice issues to reflect what we valued in our goals and objectives. implementation plan without an implementation plan in place, a strategic plan would not be guaranteed to achieve the goals/objectives as defined and expected. for this new 2020-2025 strategic plan, the implementation plan was added and accountability was emphasized. the plan states: “cala president will select a theme each year based on the strategic plan, and cala ec, board, and committees will focus their work to implement the plan. attainable and measurable milestones will be established under the president’s leadership. we will strive for making cala a better and stronger organization in search of excellence.” in 2020, the cala president has chosen the goals conduct leadership training and career development and offer professional networking through digital technologies as the focus. each strategic goal/objective will be incorporated in the semi-annual and annual report template for cala officers, committee chairs and chapter presidents. the reports will be reviewed by the president and cala board. a few ideas came up when brainstorming the implementation of strategic plans among cala leaders. for example, to strengthen the goal of increasing membership recruitment, retention, and engagement, a few actions could be taken, such as member kudos, which will call for members to submit their achievement, then announce on the listserv, and publish in cala gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 61 newsletter. another idea to fulfil this goal is to systematically announce recognitions and awards opportunities, and provide support for members to apply for those if needed. for the goal of conducting leadership training and career development, cala plans to send leaders to leadership training such as the harvard leadership institute for academic librarians and ala leadership institute. a selection process will need to be in position before implementation. cala also plans to host a series of webinars inviting library leaders with asian heritage to talk about their paths to leadership, to identify barriers, mentor younger generations, and to create a leadership pipeline. rome was not built in a day. it will take a few years and a few presidents to implement these ideas. challenges and recommendations changing environments make the strategic planning face challenges (germano, 2012). the potential benefits that the strategic plan may bring include clarifying the relationship between individuals and the organization, realizing the common vision, improving organizational communication, and more specifically, the overall improvement of management and services (mcnicol, 2006). to determine specific goals is based on vision, shared values, and understanding of key issues, meanwhile incorporating monitoring and assessment as part of the strategic plan implementation (dole, 2013). as a non-profit voluntary organization, cala kept exploring how to develop a management approach to evaluate the implementation of the strategic plan and maximize outcomes to benefit the members and the library community. several recommendations to consider are listed as follows: • empowering and involving cala leaders and members on planning are important. • keeping reaching out to members by hosting online activities especially during the pandemic time, such as hosting the town hall meeting via zoom platform is proven to be effective. • implementation plan is clearly built within the strategic plan. • developing and delivering effective leadership training will help ensure the successful implementation of the plan. • making good use of the president’s theme, action plans from each committee as well as mid-year and annual reports to track and check the completion of goals is also critical. • making process transparency is critical. • keeping documentation on social media, web pages and archives and making them accessible will help accomplish the goals, identify issues, and make changes accordingly. conclusion a well-developed strategic plan needs a careful plan and design. through cala experiences on strategic planning, we found it true. collaboration among taskforce members, board and cala members is also crucial to a successful shared planning, shared vision and shared goals. as a result, members will be inspired and empowered to carry out the plan and all goals will be attained. it is important to note that changes are inevitable and that values, missions and goals must always be reviewed in the process to ensure that they are reflective of members’ input. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 62 this case study focused on how a library association can carry out a strategic planning process remotely even during the pandemic. even if there was not a pandemic, the strategic planning process would have still been conducted remotely. important considerations for library associations in planning strategic priorities are the challenges and recommendations that we highlighted. member engagement in the process is crucial and transparent communication strategy is needed. by empowering the membership and leadership communities to participate, share ideas and feel included, this strategic plan is truly a reflection of their needs, visions and aspirations to consider for the next five years. references cala. (2016a). 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020). retrieved from https://www.calaweb.org/docs/strategicplan2020 cala. (2016b). striving for excellence: cala 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020). retrieved from https://www.cala-web.org/files/cala2020strategicplan_20151105.pdf cala. (2020). 2025 strategic plan. retrieved from https://cala-web.org/docs/strategicplan2025 dole, w. v. (2013). strategic planning and assessment: pigs of the same sow? journal of library administration, 53(4), 283-292. germano, m. a., & stretch‐stephenson, s. m. (2012). strategic value planning for libraries. the bottom line: managing library finances, 25(2), 71-88. higa-moore, m. l., bunnett, b., mayo, h. g., & olney, c. a. (2002). use of focus groups in a library's strategic planning process. journal of the medical library association: jmla, 90(1), 86-92. mcguire, m. (2020). from concept to practice: themes of diversity within the strategic planning of academic libraries. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17615/v3hc-km12 mcnicol, s. (2006). the challenges of strategic planning in academic libraries. new library world, 106(1218/1219), 496-509. nitecki, d. a., livingston, j., gorelick, g., & noll, s. g. (2013). evaluating a future search conference for an academic library’s strategic planning. library leadership & management, 27(3). parent, r. h. (1988). strategic planning for library associations. ifla journal, 14(4), 343-353. acknowledgements the authors would like to thank the following people for their help and support in making this report possible: shuyi liu for her research assistance, and the cala executive committee of the board, cala strategic plan task force, cala board of directors, and cala members who contributed to the strategic plan. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 63 appendix 1 cala 2020-2025 strategic plan to continue moving cala forward, fu zhuo, cala president 2019-2020, appointed cala 2020-2025 strategic plan task force at the beginning of 2020. taskforce members met and set up timelines and questions for town hall meetings. the five online town hall meetings, held from february 20, 2020 to april 30, 2020, attracted 72 cala members to attend online. the town hall meetings focused on eight questions regarding cala’s mission vision statement and what cala can do for members. the draft strategic plan received comments from the strategic plan task force members, cala executive committee, cala board, and was approved by the board during the board meeting on june 29, 2020. the cala 2020-2025 strategic plan will focus on six strategic areas that maximize strengths, utilize expertise, sharpen skills, deliver high value to members, and heighten the association’s far-reaching impact on cala and the lis field: 1. increase membership recruitment, retention, and engagement 2. conduct leadership training and career development 3. provide professional development opportunities through training and mentoring 4. support local chapter development 5. offer professional networking through digital technologies 6. make cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels to effectively implement the strategic plan, cala’s financial and operational practices will prioritize and support these six strategic areas. these strategic areas will also guide cala to develop and launch quality programs and services that aim at inclusive member recruitment and engagement, leadership training and development, local chapter development, professional development opportunities, professional networking and connections, and advocacy. mission statement to support the professional development and research scholarship of cala members, advocate chinese american librarians in professional organizations and enhance the leadership development of chinese american librarians through training, mentoring, networking, and collaboration with colleagues in the united states and abroad. cala’s work inspires chinese american librarians to meet their professional goals and to make valuable contributions to the global library community. vision statement cala is an inclusive, diverse, and member-driven community which provides members with the opportunities to share knowledge and achieve their professional aspirations by providing support for research, leadership, and scholarship. cala members are key collaborators, contributors, and leaders advancing the field of librarianship globally. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 64 core organizational values cala is committed to: • professionalism • advocacy • collaborative leadership • positive, open, and inclusive environments • accountability, transparency and integrity • service to members • continuous learning • global perspectives mandates in order to maintain compliance and achieve success, as a registered non-profit organization in illinois, cala must adhere to mandates required by state (i.e., the illinois secretary of state and attorney general) and federal laws (i.e., the irs). five-year goals and objectives 1. increase membership recruitment, retention, and engagement goal: identify and develop creative and innovative programs and services to recruit, retain, and engage members locally, nationally, and internationally. objectives: 1) continue to be an inclusive librarians association that welcomes and values diversity, and opens its membership to all library professionals who are interested in the mission and vision of cala. 2) advocate cala's strengths and highlight cala’s distinctiveness from other library associations in mission and membership recruitment. 3) enhance communications among cala members, using digital technologies to recognize member achievements and share member expertise and resources. 4) set a specific target number for membership recruitment. explore a variety of channels to bring in library professionals and supporters from all type of libraries, lis schools, and library related business organizations. 5) publicize local activities and engage members locally or through online presence. 6) connect members to develop a sense of belonging in cala, regardless of age, experience, and background; engage members and provide services to develop a community in which members can obtain guidance for various professional needs. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 65 2. conduct leadership training and career development goal: develop and deliver effective leadership training and career development programs through cala’s program or other leadership programs to sharpen members’ leadership skills in the 21st century. objectives: 1) provide leadership development opportunities tailored to the needs of cala members. 2) provide support for cala leaders to attend leadership training programs, such as leadership institute for academic librarians and ala leadership institute. 3) identify, cultivate, coach, and train cala members to become future leaders in the library and information science field in the 21st century, including associations such as the ala, ifla, and library society of china. 4) empower and encourage members to develop leadership skills in a diverse cultural environment by serving cala members in leadership positions and working in different types of libraries and with a diverse team setting. 5) assess, evaluate, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cala committee operations and leadership management. 6) increase the role that cala plays as an advocate and model for leadership training and development of librarians of color in achieving, evaluating, and measuring cala program/initiative outcomes; and influence ala leadership policies and practices toward a more inclusive system. 3. provide professional development opportunities through training and mentoring goal: serve as a significant professional development platform to meet its members’ dynamic professional needs and nurture growth. objectives: 1) leverage and expand existing professional training and mentoring programs within and beyond cala. 2) develop and deliver responsive professional development programs that build skills and aptitude based on members’ specific needs, such as research and scholarship. 3) continuously assess and improve all programs, including the mentoring program for new members and new leaders, as well as programs for returning members and leaders. 4) develop a long term plan to provide and share resources on professional development for members. 4. support local chapter development goal: enhance local chapter development through joint programming and funding, chapter leader training and support, and chapter member recognition. objectives: gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 66 1) invest more financial resources at the chapter level and provide funding support through national membership rebate programs, joint initiatives, membership recruitment and retention, and fundraising. 2) foster collaborations among chapters by providing opportunities to host joint training or online conferences. 3) improve and maintain communication and training between the cala national office and the chapter offices to improve chapter leadership skills, capacity, and accountability in order to lead and manage chapter business. 4) provide professional development opportunities to help members establish networking and mentorships within each chapter. coordinate training and succession planning for chapter leaders. 5) strengthen connections between chapters and other associations at a national level. 5. offer professional networking through digital technologies goal: inspire cala members to learn from each other, network, and connect on a large scale with a global perspective through digital technologies. objectives: 1) promote cala as a “hub” for members to meet virtually and/or in person. 2) identify and support digital technologies and partnerships that will enhance the professional networking and connection opportunities of cala members. 3) connect cala members with library colleagues in china and other regions. 6. make cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels goal: collaborate with members, leaders and other partners/organizations to increase cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels to support equity, diversity and inclusion. objectives: 1) preserve and promote chinese and chinese american culture and librarianship in collaboration with professionals in china and other regions. 2) support research programs that demonstrate the value of chinese american librarians and the role of cala members in the lis field. 3) establish closer relationships and collaborations with other organizations, including national associations of librarians of color affiliated with the ala and ifla, to advocate equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice issues, and to promote cala locally, nationally and internationally. 4) build a strong international profile and develop a global outreach strategy. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 67 implementation plan cala president will select a theme each year based on the strategic plan, and cala ec, board, and committees will focus their work to implement the plan. attainable and measurable milestones will be established under the president’s leadership. we will strive for making cala a better and stronger organization in search of excellence. the cala 2025 strategic plan task force • wenli gao (wgao5@uh.edu) co-chair • lian ruan (lruan@illinois.edu) co-chair • qi chen (qchen@ccsj.edu) • ping fu (ping.fu@cwu.edu) • jianye he (jhe@library.berkeley.edu) • leping he (leping.he@asu.edu) • michael huang (michael.b.huang@stonybrook.edu) • grace liu (gliu@uwindsor.ca) • katherina lee (katherinalee@ntu.edu.sg) • weiling liu (weiling4cala@gmail.com) • yuan li (yl7@princeton.edu)u • wen nie ng (wenng@vt.edu) • ray pun (raypun101@gmail.com) • min tong (min.tong@ucf.edu) • lucy wang (x4wang@bridgew.edu) • daniel xiao (danxiao@library.tamu.edu) • hong yao (hong.yao@queenslibrary.org) • vincci kwong (vkwong@iusb.edu) appendix 2 compiled responses from town hall meeting minutes question 1: what is your feedback on cala's vision, mission and value statements? • add diversity and inclusion in our mission and vision statement because of our work with ethnic affiliates and jclc. • for values, keep track of documents for stewardship and we may need clarity on this. • include advocacy in our values. • need to be careful how we spend resources (money/people) and preserve these resources. • consider accountability, transparency with reason and be open. • support scholarships for members. • combine a few similar values to shorten the list. • service to members can be narrowed down as a value. for example, professionalism and scholarship are specific. mailto:min.tong@ucf.edu mailto:danxiao@library.tamu.edu gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 68 • advocacy part for members is missing in the mission. what is our role in advocacy? advocating asian american librarians’ presence such as ala, and other professional associations, etc. can it be a core value? • consider disaster preparedness as a core value to support each other during crisis times? it feels ad-hoc and not happening every time. • we need to add more scholarship and research support (publishing, presenting) under value statement. • they still look great. question 2: cala has six strategic priorities. what do you think cala has accomplished the most and the least so far? • chapter work is very important and cala has been supportive of local activities. • collaboration is needed for different chapters. zoom platform has been helpful. • membership recruitment (#1) is a priority and national impact (#6) too. • a discussion for #5 professional networking through cutting-edge technologies or “state of the art technologies” -example: change this statement as “professional networking including cloud based or digital technologies”. • change “cutting-edge” and replace with digital technologies or state of the art technology. • a discussion on #6 cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels: international has been very strong in cala (ifla membership). • local activities need to be shared. we may not know what others are doing locally. they can share and report activities in the newsletter, possibly? • a discussion on #2 leadership training and development we should invest in more, focusing on research and publishing, and scholarship work, or providing funding for specific leadership programs (arl, harvard, etc.) for cala leaders. we may want to consider using the word “career development” instead. • what have we been doing well? ala has been dropping its membership so cala needs to focus on retention and recruitment. • not cala membership fee issue, we may need to keep track the data of recruitment/retention of members (archiving the data). • can we add advocacy to be considered as the priorities? • membership data might show progress in member recruitment and engagement. • leadership training and development has been doing excellently well (series of successful workshops on leadership development; more cala members are elected to national/international level library professional organizations). • it is still hard to mobilize local chapter members. • collaboration between chapters is encouraging. • cala can do more in networking with other professional organizations. question 3: what has cala done for you professionally? • create committee/leadership opportunities, not easy in ala to serve in these roles. • cala has something for everyone: presentation opportunities, committee work and we need to let members know about them. • professional service opportunities, and members find a professional community to network through cala. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 69 • cala has been identified as a home association for some members. • formal mentorship program and helpful for all members at all different levels who are new or seasoned. • consider opportunities to learn management skills that may not be readily available at our day jobs. • support tenure track librarians to meet tenure track criteria or promotion/tenure process. • committee service work, special projects that can involve more people. • providing opportunities to serve at the state or national level and connections with people. • professional development should we consider another leadership training (back in 2016 with maureen sullivan)? we can consider something related to joint programming with apala, or other organizations to develop together. • a member stated that they benefit a lot from leadership development training. • cala provided an opportunity for me to co-write together and engage in scholarly work. • cala provided ways to engage with others and bring back to the home libraries and understand how others are doing it in home institutions including online presentations. • local chapter conferences are low key for new people, a good place to start their presentations. • more structured training, strategic planning, organizational development in some organizations, they hire professional consultants with facilitators to guide us through planning. good idea to consider it if we have funds. we need guidance on what we need to ask or get done and what kind of people we should involve so we can have a bit more structure and professional/formal process in place for 5 years. • travel grant supports cala members’ crucial professional activities (such as ifla fellows). • service experience helps with developing professional skills, library reviews and networking. • cala also provides publishing opportunities (cala’s peer-reviewed journal). • provided funding to travel and present and attend international and national conferences. connected me to many more professionals. question 4: what has cala done for you personally? • cala has helped members create new friendships and a sense of community. • there is support that cala has created including connections with home countries. • cala has wechat and other resources that help connect cala members. • consider personal stories about cala to send to cala newsletter. • cala membership dues have not increased over time. • we need more collaboration. • run our own journal to provide a publishing platform for members. • i have made new friends and we care for each other and check on each other, particularly now. • in general, i think cala is getting better and better, much more transparent and caring for its members. that's what i want to say in this meeting. keep it up! • friendship. • networking. • learn from each other. • sense of belonging. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 70 • legacy transmitting. • established a global network. question 5: compared with other library associations (ala, ifla, ceal, alcts, apala, etc.), what do you think cala can adopt? • open to new trend, new change, and global perspectives; make cala a dynamic, and progressive organization. • develop, promote and facilitate professional development & leadership. • connect and collaborate with other professional library associations. • advocate and committed to diversity, inclusiveness and social justice. • achieve organizational excellence, raise visibility. • preserve the history and legacy of cala. • reach out to members, committed to service to members. • be more proactive, reach out to potential members, and cultivate younger generation leadership. • consolidate our efforts in areas that are most important and focus our energy on them; reformer is a good example to cultivate younger generation leadership. cala has too many committees and task forces. cala needs to be a “moving/flowing organization”, always keeping up with what’s going on in the field of librarianship; cala is losing its voice among the ethnic library associations. • tend to social justice issues more; apala is more upfront in social justice issues; local community involvement. • more mentorship program, starting from library students. • expanding mentorship between types of library? such as public library vs. academic library; or types of job responsibilities. goal is to attract more people to enroll in the mentorship program. • cala is different from ala but more comparable to apala in terms of size and structure, for example chapters. • apala is more in front of social justice issues. cala shall do more in this area. • cala can do more in connecting members with library professional expertise and service responsibilities (such as adding more break-out programs to cala’s annual meeting to encourage more members to attend). • we have a few paths: we aim to be more inclusive and reflective (possibly changing its name to chinese and chinese american librarians association so. ccala to include those who are overseas, outside of usa). the other path includes more engagement with diverse groups, partnering in joint sessions (besides jclc), such as webinars, conferences, meetings, task-force, engaging with authors/scholars more, outside of librarianship. question 6: what improvement can cala do to meet your expectations? • cala members are not very well connected with one another. • leadership training. • social justice issue involvement; more assertive and strong to defend our heritage. • mentor & mentee accountability. • take community needs into more consideration. • too many board meetings? maybe simplify the org charts a little? gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 71 • better transition between committees; better documentations; longer committee service terms; staggering committee terms (half new, half old members). • utilizing software to help better team work, like basecamp; online meeting between departing committee chairs/members and incoming chairs/members. • cala has too many committees? need to help young members find leadership opportunities. • handbook updating. • committee procedures can be documented on cala websites. • faq page to encourage involvement. • chapter presidents take more active role. • does cala have a business zoom account to enable committees/chapters to communicate better? (note: just set up a zoom account for cala). • add “contact us” form to cala homepage to allow members to express their opinion and make suggestions more easily. • develop more professional development program nationally and internationally; create more scholarship opportunities to junior members/library students; fundraising; archive cala history. • other note: cala assessment committee is doing assessment survey for cala webpage, please participate. • develop more resources for students and entry level librarians for their professional development and job hunting, especially in this challenging period. • promote current programs, such as one year free student membership, mentorship program to students and entry level librarians to support their career development and job searching as well as finding directions for future career. • continue to provide committee and other volunteer opportunities for members to gain work related experiences, build and stay connections in the profession. • in this pandemic situation, many libraries may face budget cuts which would probably lead to cut training and other professional development opportunities for librarians. cala is currently establishing a virtual space for members to hang out and support each other. cala shall consider staying agile to support members in unexpected circumstances. • create more opportunities for members to share their research interest/projects. question 7: what is your long term career goal, and how can cala help you? • promotion to full librarianship. • create a space/database of reviewers in different areas so members can find them to support their own promotion to full librarianship, especially in academic libraries. • connect professionals with specialized expertise or librarianship, such as business, systems, etc. for sharing and supporting each other. • provide archives of recordings or other resources from previous professional development or related programs for members to review whenever they need. • use repository as a knowledge base to support members for their professional development, promotion, and renewal and tenure process. • provide leadership development opportunities for members. • provide editorial, peer-reviewing opportunities using cala own journal for members to gain academic experience in this area so they would be more prepared to take reviewer or editor roles in other journals in the field. gao, pun and ruan / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 72 • provides timely guide on library professional trends and professional development for how to work in this new environment. • continue providing travel grants to support members’ professional activities. • share expertise among cala members (membership database could include professional expertise/library job responsibilities). question 8: what do you want cala to be in the next five years? • outreach to students in lis schools to inform cala resources to them. • promote cala in different conferences to new generations. • include more students in committees for students to gain professional experiences and for committees to see students’ perspectives. • build student chapter or student community to promote cala to students. • provide and promote conference presentations and publications opportunities, especially in this pandemic situation, many members will not go out for professional developments probably in a long time. • encourage collaboration among chapters. • provide more online training, meetings or other activities can start now. • see more international impacts and collaboration with other organizations. • initiate professional training in specific areas, like developing programs, etc. • make a long term plan or task force for professional training. • coordinate and distribute training opportunities from other organizations. • compile a list of training opportunities for members. • try to balance between focusing on chinese american librarians in north america and international influence. • cala should be the number one association that librarians and library staff should think of globally when they think about chinese/china/chinese american/chinese diaspora issues and libraries, and connecting our expertise and strengths, including translation work, training, cultural competency training, global networks and more. about the authors wenli gao is the data services librarian at the university of houston. she is the cala president for 2021-2022 and co-chaired the cala strategic plan task force. dr. raymond pun is the education and outreach manager at the hoover institution, stanford university. he is the cala vice president for 2021-2022. he was a member of the cala strategic plan task force. dr. lian ruan is the head librarian at the illinois fire service institute, university of illinois urbana champaign and is currently cala’s executive director and co-chaired the cala strategic plan task force. 005-title-180-article text-985-3-11-20210624 005-180-article text-968-6-11-20210624-cl international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 79-80 issn: 2474-3542 book review: curating research data, volume one: practical strategies for your digital repository, eds. lisa r. johnston. chicago: association of college and research libraries, 2017. 294p. $65. isbn: 978-0838988589. research data management (rdm) presents both an opportunity and a challenge for academic libraries. while the campus library is a natural fit for providing digital data curation services due to our expertise in information and archival sciences, it can be difficult for libraries to establish complex infrastructure and employ dedicated staff when they are faced with shrinking budgets. however, external pressures from funding agencies, academic journals, and changing disciplinary practices are bringing more research libraries to the table to work with campus partners and deliver rdm services for researchers. volume one of curating research data provides a good basis for further exploring these issues, while also examining other topics such as rdm service levels at various institutions, marketing and outreach, and data reuse. while librarians providing digital data curation services are the stated audience for volume one, this book still provides a useful overview of the drivers for the development of rdm services at research libraries. librarians not immersed in the rdm field will still benefit from reading select chapters from this volume, especially if they are interested in developing a stronger understanding of the various data management pressures facing researchers. however, some of the chapters discuss more specialized areas of rdm and do not necessarily include enough introductory content for librarians with a beginner’s understanding of data curation. because each chapter contains an extensive notes and bibliography section, readers new to these concepts will be able to easily find and locate additional articles, books, and reports that strengthen their understanding of rdm topics. this edited volume is organized into three thematic sections. the introductory chapter by johnston, the volume’s editor, clearly lays out the purpose of each section and provides a brief introduction to each chapter contained in the volume. one of the strengths of this edited volume is that it brings together a selection of chapters authored by librarians, data curators, and researchers involved in rdm initiatives at universities and research centers. brief biographies of each contributor are provided at the very end of the book and it is useful to read them before starting each chapter, as it helps identify a contributor’s institutional affiliation and experience with rdm. some of the chapters are written in a case study style, while others analyze the results of original research or focus on more theoretical aspects of data curation. due to this varied chapter style, the time period covered in each chapter tends to vary. for example, chapter six analyzes 2015 survey data to explore the types of data services research libraries are providing (p. 126), while chapter two examines policies from funding agencies, journals, and research institutions over a much broader time period. quail / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 80 finally, while the majority of the chapters have more of a u.s. focus, some chapters discuss and explore rdm issues and/or approaches in geographies such as canada and the u.k. in particular, chapter three focuses exclusively on canadian digital research data infrastructure initiatives. the chapters in section one provide a broad overview of the factors motivating libraries to support researchers in their digital research data curation practices. chapter two by briney, goben, and zilinski stands out as a particularly useful chapter that can help librarians new to the rdm field better understand some of the pressures facing researchers. although it focuses primarily on the u.s. context, the chapter’s examination of pressures from funding agencies, journals, and academic institutions provides a useful backdrop for understanding the difficulties researchers face in navigating policies that are not always in alignment. chapter five is also an eye-opening read, as imker examines the more traditional data sharing practices of scientists and highlights some of the challenges researchers face in adopting new data curation strategies. section two contains a selection of chapters that cover topics such as different rdm services offered by academic institutions, cost-recovery practices, and the marketing of data curation services. chapter six by kouper, fear, ishida, kollen, and williams is a valuable read for librarians involved in rdm initiatives, as well as librarians with a general interest in this area. this chapter analyzes the types of basic, intermediate, and advanced rdm services being offered at 124 arl libraries. the other chapters in this section may be more relevant for librarians involved in providing digital data curation services. for example, chapter eight (by nilsen) examines different revenue models for academic library data repositories, while chapter nine (by gerwig) highlights effective marketing practices used by libraries to increase awareness and use of their campus data repositories and services. finally, the chapters included in section three focus on data curation and reuse issues. ogier, nicholls, and speer’s (chapter ten) comparison of retention practices in university recordkeeping, library collection management, and data curation is particularly interesting, as this chapter highlights how data repositories need to develop criteria to help them determine when to retain or dispose of data. downs and chen’s case study in chapter twelve also illustrates how complicated it can be to rescue orphaned data sets and makes a strong case for involving data curators in projects from the beginning to ensure that even basic metadata practices are followed. in conclusion, volume one of curating research data would be a valuable addition to any research library’s collection due to its breadth of focus and its ability to provide content that both seasoned rdm professionals and librarians new to digital data curation will find useful and engaging. --stephanie quail, york university, toronto, on, canada doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.31 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.31 international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 111-112. issn: 2474-3542 digital transformative library collections and services: a smart library approach edited by dr. nitin s joshi and dr. baban k more, agra, social development federation, 2023. 276p. $39.5. isbn: 978-81-953404-2-2. the book digital transformative library collection and services: a smart library approach presents a comprehensive overview of transforming digital library services and practical applications in the concept of "smart library." some things still seem visionary, but other essays point to concrete practical tools, already used in many libraries. information and communication technology (ict) plays a crucial role in information management in libraries as good organizations. an introduction of the book was written by dr. rajendra kumbhar, professor, department of library and information science, savitribai phule university, pune (mh). professsor kumbhar explores a smart library system and its role in the digital transformation of library services over the network to satisfy the user's information needs instantly. the forwarded message was presented by professor r.l. raina, vice chancellor, jaipur national university, jaipur (rajasthan). professor raina describes that digital transformation lics have really given a fresh touch to the five laws of library and information science. this book was edited by dr. nitin joshi and dr. baban more through their hard work resulted in physical and intellectual areas of innovative library services at renowned universities, i.e., mit world peace university, pune. this book is the outcome of a quality response to both editors and publisher “social development federation” appeals. this is not a book about library services of published materials, but about describing the borne-digital transformation of library collections and services with ict applications. in fact, authors and editors have become more achievable with the development and implementation of emerging technologies as a practical handbook and toolkit for lis professionals. this book emphasizes best practices and applications of emerging technologies to the digital transformation of library services in the mobile world. this book features 22 chapters related to themes and innovative library services. each of the 22 chapters presents another aspect, and each build on the previous topic. especially in the book, chapter contributors were describing well-equipped library systems, mobile library services, qr code-enabled services, mobile apps-enabled collections, smart library services, etc. the first chapter introduces fundamentals about the digital transformation of the lis profession in the technical era, and what emerging technologies are used for digital transformation. chapters 2 and 3 cover what aspects can be described, and how for innovative library services in academic libraries. chapter 4 is dedicated to e-resources consortia approaches and their management in indian organisations. chapters 5 to 10 present the major standards to implement mobile library services; mobile apps; mopac, mobile library website; library kiosk; database and block chain etc. with explain their workings. chapters 11 to 15 provided the practical knowledge on e-resources (e-books; e-journals; databases, national digital library and subject gateways) subscriptions and management in libraries. chapters 16 to 18 cover how to singh / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 112 institutional repositories, online learning platforms and homeobook are implemented to better use of library collections and services by users on their mobile devices. chapter 19 is dedicated to exploring the growth and development of university libraries especial in digital transformation areas. chapters 20 and 21 present open access resources and saklyai (an open-source learning management system) and its impact on higher educational institutional india. the final chapter covers a comparative study of api 6th edition and api 7th edition with interoperability in enhancing the quality & visibility of research publications. each chapter of this book covered systematic contents with brief text, tables, and illustrations. the text of the book is well structured with its chapters under the main heading, subheadings, and short paragraphs in simple language. in view of above-mentioned chapter wise contents, this edited book is very helpful to demonstrate a wide range of current topics related to digital transformation in the lis profession including innovative library services, mobile library services, mobile library app, library kiosk, e-resources consortia, digital libraries, blockchain, open education resources, ndli gateway, academic library 4.0 overview, smart library services and role of libraries in digital transformation services, who is useful for lis professional to the enhancement of library services in the digital age. although the book covers a broad range of emerging topics in the form of high-quality chapters inside the book brought out by the editors with illustratively explain will be very useful as a toolkit for lis professionals and researchers to the digital transformation of library services in the mobile world. the key analyses of the book are: 1. book is being completed at the digital transformation of library collections and services with emerging technologies like mobile technologies, qr code technologies, library apps, rfid, barcode, cloud computing, block chain open resources, open education, and open learning platforms, etc. 2. this book covers the introductory part to promote the value of digital transformation in libraries and changes the way of information delivery to satisfy users’ information needs instantly. 3. total publishing output in this book is very fruitful for lis professionals and students as a practical handbook for transforming their libraries. 4. the most often addressed innovative library services “mobile app-oriented services” and “library kiosk (a self-service tool)” applications in libraries to follow the sustainable development goals of unesco. the book can also serve as a toolkit for lis professionals and students for easily understand and implementing emerging technologies for digital transformation of library services in their libraries. with the help of this book techno-servo lis professionals, researchers and students will be inspired to enhance digital transformation of library collections and services for cost-effective delivery of information services on mobile devices of users’ worldwide. --b. p. singh, ayush central library, dayalbagh educational institute, agra, india 8-316 article issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org influence of librarians’ attitudes on users’ patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria juliana patrick michael and olalekan moses olayemi abstract: the study investigated the influence of librarians' attitudes on users' patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. survey design was used for the study. the study population comprised 5,616 undergraduates in five selected private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. the sample size of 365 was determined using research advisor’s table. multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the participants and questionnaire was used to collect data. the collected data was analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and simple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis. the findings of the study revealed that three dimensions of librarians’ job attitude measured; interpersonal relationship (m=3.28), professionalism (m=3.16), and perception and image (m=2.97) were all highly rated by the respondents. the study further revealed that the librarians’ attitudes significantly influenced library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria (r2= 0.034, β = 0.185, t(300) = 3.263, p < 0.05). the study concluded that librarians’ attitudes had a significant influence on library patronage in private university libraries in lagos state. based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that the librarians should increase their selfconfidence by being proactive and strive to be in the forefront of university activities in order to gain more visibility and launder the image of their profession. to cite this article: michael, j. p. & olayemi, o. m. (2023). influence of librarians’ attitudes on users’ patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 69-82. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.292 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.292 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 69-82. issn: 2474-3542 influence of librarians' attitudes on users' patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria juliana p. michael, nigerian institute of medical research, lagos, nigeria olalekan moses olayemi, nigerian institute of medical research, lagos, nigeria abstract the study investigated the influence of librarians' attitudes on users' patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. survey design was used for the study. the study population comprised 5,616 undergraduates in five selected private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. the sample size of 365 was determined using research advisor’s table. multistage sampling technique was used to select the participants and questionnaire was used to collect data. the collected data was analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and simple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis. the findings of the study revealed that three dimensions of librarians’ job attitude measured; interpersonal relationship (m=3.28), professionalism (m=3.16), and perception and image (m=2.97) were all highly rated by the respondents. the study further revealed that the librarians’ attitudes significantly influenced library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria (r2= 0.034, β = 0.185, t(300) = 3.263, p < 0.05). the study concluded that librarians’ attitudes had a significant influence on library patronage in private university libraries in lagos state. based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that the librarians should increase their self-confidence by being proactive and strive to be in the forefront of university activities in order to gain more visibility and launder the image of their profession. keywords: librarians’ attitudes, library patronage, private universities, lagos state introduction university libraries play a critical role in teaching, learning and research by providing a wide range of information resources and services to its users in various formats to meet the information needs of the academic community. aside stocking the university libraries with appropriate information resources and providing conducive environment, the librarian's attitude toward users is critical to their patronage. in fact, patronage remains essential in ensuring the positive strength of the library because without patronage, the library cannot rate its performance. the frequency of users’ patronage, the types of materials consulted by the users during visits, and their purpose of patronage are all indicators of library utilization and the library michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 70 effectiveness (abdulsalami & efosa, 2020). as such, librarians’ attitudes is a vital element that contributes to the welcoming atmosphere in a library. librarians’ attitudes differ from person to person, which are often based on individual background, level of education, environment, skills and experience amongst other factors (tella & odunola 2020; omehia, 2018). ard et al. (2006) noted some factors that could affect the health of a library; quantity and quality of the staff. staff here represent the librarian and other people working in the library who create the level of morale and the caliber of service. their attitudes determine whether the library will be advancing or conservative, dynamic or static, user friendly or otherwise. attitude has been a subject in relation to library usage and influential to great patronage of the library. in other words, whether the library will be an information livewire or a boring storeroom depends on the attitude of the workers. attitude may influence greatly the degree to which the library is used. it can either lead to lower patronage / poor output turn out or enhance the patronage. to this effect, gojeh, dutse and daudu (2013) noted the library staff cooperation or attitude is an important aspect which could be favorable or unfavorable to the users. the librarian’s attitude therefore is one of the significant determinants in relation to library patronage. oyewumi, oladapo and adigun (2014) also stated that the best impact of library resources and services are felt when the array of expertise could only be of benefit to the patrons through the adequacy and relevance of the librarian to accomplish a mission. thus, the role of librarians’ attitudes in the accomplishment of library goals cannot be over-emphasized. amongst the most treasured resources in academic library is its workforce. without welltrained, and motivated librarians and library staff, an academic library program is ill prepared to meet the needs of its user (connor, 2009). therefore, librarians need to enhance their personal attitude and competence to cope with global challenges. hence, the librarian is expected to improve and expand their knowledge, abilities and professionalism so as to be thoroughly acquainted with major library functions. amongst the competency standard proposed by american library association (ala), is professional competency that has to be maintained and improved. this is important because a poor enterprising spirit and unfriendly service ethics, breeds poor relation which can deter the users and as well worsen an already poor image (ala, 2007). perception and image, interpersonal relationship, and professionalism are all important factors in defining librarians’ attitudes. perception and image of the librarian is a strong determinants of library patronage. perceptions that users have on the library and its staff is a factor identified to influence library use. this is because perception is a strong feeling that affects virtually everything in life. mohanty (2002) observed that the level of comfort in the library may impact student perceptions of the library, and their willingness to view the library as more than a quiet place to study. as a result, users’ perception on the library tends to influence the patronage greatly. in validating this fact, wolf (2005) established that the possibility of library patronage is often influenced by a student’s perception. this arises from the reasoning that students with negative or neutral perceptions of the library are less likely to utilize it compared to those with positive outlooks. to improve users’ perception of the uniqueness of the library and increase patronage, wilcox and chia (2013) suggested engagement in creating connections with users, so as to build up the image, which can be attained through: orientation, in-depth subject workshops, and information literacy workshops or classes. one of the major gaps in library patronage is the lack of interaction between the library staff and the users. the facial expression and unfriendly attitude of a librarian has been the target michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 71 of critic of many library visitors for long. librarian cold faces when interacting with visitors remains a sensitive issue (suwarno, 2016). lack of long-term interpersonal relationship/ communication skills among librarians has resulted in a large gap between users and staff, which creates lack of confidence and feelings of inadequacy among librarians. these are some of the major hurdles faced by many university students (kiilu & otike, 2016). professionalism demonstrated by library staff also has a significant role on how the users perceived the library and the profession. this is typically exhibited by their level of competence, skills and experience with the users. quality of services rendered to users or readers in any library is closely related with the professional skills of staffs. if the library is managed by qualified, experienced and cultured staff, users will always be encouraged to make use of the library. as a result, professionalism of library staff at work should promote the image of the profession in the best possible manner on all occasions. consequently, library staff will need to move quickly and expand their knowledge through continuing education programs, professional trainings that will enable them to fit, as they project positive image to users through their attitude and services rendered or else the library will face a continual decline in patronage particularly with the use of information communication technology (ict) which has not only changed the role of libraries but also the users’ access (udem, ikenwe & ugwuamoke, 2020). statement of the problem library patronage by undergraduates is essential for their academic development. there is no institution that can boast of providing quality education for its users outside the services of a good library resources and qualified professionals. however, mohammed, abduallahi and abubakar (2017) reported the diminishing nature of patronage with the provision of digital information resources and services in the university library. the study of odu (2017) identified the attitude of library staff towards users amongst other factors as reasons for the state of apathy towards the library. similarly, abdulsalami and efosa (2020) study on the non-patronage of library information resources and services by students at federal universities library, revealed that patronage was low. this has become a source of concern to librarians as low library patronage is likely to cause inadequate study time and bad study habit, which is a common occurrence among students today, that often breed poor academic performance and if not dealt with, can results in outright failure which undoubtedly can underrate the standard of higher education. objectives the main objective of this study is to find out influence of librarians' attitudes on users' patronage in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. the specific objectives are to find out attitudes of the librarians toward users of private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria; and to determine the influence of librarians’ attitudes on library patronage in private university libraries in lagos state. michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 72 literature review librarians’ attitudes attitudes are the tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation. attitude influences an individual’s choice of action and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards. velnampy (2008) defines attitude as the feelings and belief that largely determines the perception of employees and their environment, commit themselves to intended actions and untimely act as accordingly as expected. an attitude in this study is defined as the beliefs, opinion and perception of the profession, interpersonal relationship and image of librarian. therefore, it is used to represent the users’ perceptions on the value attached to library services rendered to enhance patronage in libraries. it represents the conceptual value of library patronage and potentials of professional maturity that ensures growth. librarians’ attitudes refer to the behavior demonstrated by library personnel to its users towards meeting their information. the success of a library in achieving its target in terms of vision and mission is closely linked to how its users perceive the services offered as well as their attitudes towards the same (kiriri, 2019). library staff are key factors in library operations. users rely greatly on their expertise to feel at home within the premise of the library, to improve their perception of the unique value of the library, and to intensify constant use. therefore, their attitudes are major determinant of library patronage. librarians’ attitudes in the academic library environment are considered a reliable criterion in determining library effectiveness (oden & owolabi, 2021). users of library have varying needs, and it is the duty of the library staff to make every concerted effort to meet these needs. meeting the information needs of users require the provision of the actual information resources and services that will satisfy their needs. meanwhile, gwang (2011) identified challenges associated with the provision of library and information services to nigerians in the 21st century, which included the nature of professional practice described as passive, reactive, and assertive. similarly, the best impact of the library resources and services are felt when the array of expertise could only be of benefit to the patrons through the adequacy and relevance of the librarian to accomplish a mission. in the light of the above, he urged librarians to maximize resources in order to serve the library patrons effectively (ibidapo, 2001). on the other hand, librarians too will need to acquire new knowledge and skills that facilitate effective service delivery so as to portray their competence to their users. an investigation on librarians’ attitudes toward information technology revealed that librarians’ level of knowledge in technology is a good predictor of their attitude toward application of information technology in libraries (ramzan, 2004). the role and attitudes of librarians in this change process has been central as they are the agents of introducing new technology-based library resources, services, and systems. successful implementation of information and other technologies can be linked with enhancement of librarians’ own knowledge and skills in the areas of information resource, tools, access modes, management, and their ability to integrate them to provide efficient library services. alternative services and sources can be offered to improve the users’ perception of the value of the library and thereby increase sustained use of the library. engaging users by creating connections with them becomes necessary in order to create awareness of library resources and services. this may be virtual or face to face interactions by subject librarians to provide support michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 73 in terms of subject and e-resource expertise. engagement with users can also be attained through orientation, in-depth subject workshops, and information literacy workshops or classes (wilcox & chia, 2013). at this point, the ability of library staff to perform as tutors or facilitators will greatly enhance the value of libraries and improve their image in a positive direction. this is solely because the level of satisfaction users derived from academic libraries is pertinent to its existence, continuity and the relevance placed on it by student-users (ikenwe & iwari-idowu, 2014). influence of librarians’ attitudes on library patronage many studies have actually examined the librarian’s view of their users, but few have actually studied users view about the librarian’s attitude in the course of their service provision in the library, especially in private universities. motiang, wallis and karodia (2014) evaluated user satisfaction with library services at the university of limpopo, medunsa campus. the results indicated that majority of the respondents are satisfied with the library staff, their availability and happy with the information supplied. sivathaasan (2013) investigated the satisfactory level of undergraduates of faculty of management studies and commerce with the facilities offered by the main library, university of jaffna, sri-lanka, with a sample size of 202 students through a selfdeveloped questionnaire. the result revealed among others that students were relatively most satisfied with competence of the library staff. on the contrary, ali, yu, and amran (2018) investigated library users’ perceptions towards librarians in a public library in selangor, malaysia. the findings of the study show that the library users do have negative perception towards librarians. adam (2017) studied undergraduate students’ perception on library service quality from three dimensions which are library information resources, services and facilities that are available for use in yusuf maitama sule university library, kano. the findings revealed that the students agreed that the library provides them with information that are current and relevant. the findings also revealed that majority of the undergraduates were appreciable of the services of the library staff. oden and owolabi (2021) investigated the influence of staff attitude on service delivery in university libraries in ogun state, nigeria. the findings of the study showed that respondents affirmed that the library staff delivered quality services and their staff attitude was positive. the study also found out that the staff attitude had a significant influence on service delivery. similarly, adeniran (2011) evaluated user satisfaction of academic library services based on students’ perspectives and determine the relationship between user satisfaction and the overall library service quality. the results of the study indicate that users are satisfied with both library’s support for learning and research, and the library’s treatment of users and students rated the overall quality of services provided by the library as good. however, a few users were dissatisfied with the library’s support for learning and research, and the library’s treatment of users. tella and odunola (2020) examined the influence of demographic variables on library patronage by the undergraduate students at universities in south west nigeria. the findings revealed that negative attitudes of some of the librarians were identified as one of the prominent hindrances to library patronage by the undergraduates. udem, ikenwe, and ugwuamoke (2020) explored the undergraduates’ perception of the quality and value of library services offered to them in the 21st century in federal universities in southeast nigeria. according to the findings, the main barriers to a high perception of library services' quality and value were a lack of current michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 74 information resources and an unfriendly staff. in the same vein, idowu and oso (2022) investigated the influence of library service quality on the perceived librarians’ image in selected private universities in south-west, nigeria. the outcome of the study revealed that majority of the undergraduate students have negative perception of librarians’ image because they disagree with many of the items related to the librarians’ image. the findings of the study also revealed that perception of undergraduates about library service quality and satisfaction with services offered by librarians had relationship with librarians’ image. the study concluded that quality of services offered by librarians determine the perception and image that library users have about librarians. abdulsalami and efosa (2020) examined the non-patronage of library resources and services by students at federal university lafia. the findings of the study revealed that there is low patronage of library resources and services by respondents of the study, which has a significant effect on the students themselves. poor staff / user relationship was one of the factors responsible for the non-patronage. methodology survey design was used for the study. the target population comprised 5,616 undergraduates in five selected private universities in lagos state, nigeria. the universities studied are: anchor university ayobo, caleb university, eko university of health medical sciences, ijanikin; pan atlantic university, lekki-epe, and st. augustine university, epe. these private universities were selected because they have been existing for quite some time with a reasonable number of undergraduates. likewise, they are well-known. the sample size was determined using research advisor table and the result gives 365. multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the participants. in the first stage, stratified proportionate sampling technique was applied to select the undergraduates from each of the institution understudy according to their respective representation in the population. in the second stage, convenience sampling was also employed in administering the research instrument to the participants of the study. questionnaire was used for the data collection. the questionnaire provided questions on the influence of librarian’s attitude in the university library, and it comprised three subsections. the first subsection consists of (6) six items that was used to measure professionalism, the second consists of five (5) items that measured interpersonal relation, and the third consists of (6) six items to measure perception and image. the dependent variable library patronage was measured using frequency of library visit, types of materials consulted during visit, and purpose of library visit. the response format was four-point likert scale. the items were developed by the researcher based on the related literature reviewed. the cronbach alpha scale for the instrument was 0.75, signifying that the research instrument had an acceptable level of internal consistency and reliability. data collected from the administered copies of questionnaire were analysed using frequency counts, percentage, mean and standard deviation which were used to get answers to the research questions. simple linear regression was used to test the hypothesis. the analyses were done with the aid of the statistical product and service solutions (spss), version 23. out of the 365 copies of questionnaire handed out to the study participants, 303 were returned while 62 were unreturned. all the 303 returned copies of questionnaire were rightly filled by the participants and suitable for use. this resulted in a total of 303 useable responses, or 83.0% usable response rate. michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 75 results research question one: what is the attitude of the librarian towards users of private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria? table 1 perceived attitude of the librarian (average weighted mean = 3.14) statement strongly agree (4) agree (3) disagree (2) strongly disagree (1) m sd interpersonal relationship average mean = 3.28 0.52 the library staff do their work well 135(44.6%) 159(52.4%) 6(2%) 3(1%) 3.41 .58 the library staff have proper management of the library 129(43.4%) 144(48.5%) 18(6.1%) 6(2%) 3.33 .68 the library staff are friendly 126(41.6%) 153(50.5%) 18(5.9%) 6(2%) 3.32 .67 librarians know how to communicate what they do 96(32%) 174(58%) 27(9%) 3(1%) 3.21 .63 librarians’ have good interpersonal relationship with users 99(32.7%) 165(54.4%) 33(10.9%) 6(2%) 3.18 .69 professionalism average mean = 3.16 0.58 the librarian knows how to give out the right information sources 108(35.6%) 174(57.4%) 9(3%) 12(4%) 3.25 .69 librarians are expertise in the search of electronic resources 99(32.7%) 180(59.4%) 24(7.9%) 3.24 .58 librarians are pro-active in supplying information to users 102(34%) 168(56%) 15(5%) 15(5%) 3.19 .74 the library staff always demonstrates good knowledge of the collections 102(33.7%) 150(49.5%) 42(13.8%) 9(3%) 3.14 .75 librarians’ have the knowledge to answer users’ questions 81(26.7%) 180(59.4%) 33(10.9%) 9(3%) 3.10 .69 michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 76 librarians are expertise in the search of electronic resources 84(28%) 150(50%) 57(19%) 9(3%) 3.03 .76 perception and image average mean = 2.97 0.77 librarians are needed in this century 144(47.6%) 84(27.7%) 54(17.8%) 21(6.9%) 3.15 .95 there is always pleasant quietude from library officer’s desk 132(43.5%) 63(20.8%) 96(31.7%) 12(4%) 3.04 .95 librarians have good communications and public relations skills 108(36%) 108(36%) 66(22%) 108(36%) 3.02 .90 librarians are willing to go extra mile to satisfy users 111(36.7%) 90(29.7%) 84(27.7%) 18(5.9%) 2.97 .93 librarians do not have nonchalant attitude while rendering services 102(33.7%) 90(29.7%) 84(27.7%) 27(8.9%) 2.88 .97 the appearance of librarians makes them approachable 90(29.7%) 87(28.7%) 75(24.8%) 51(16.8%) 2.71 1.06 source: researcher’s field survey, 2022 decision rule: 1.0-1.49 = strongly disagree; 1.50-2.49 = disagree; 2.50-3.49 = agree; 3.504.0= strongly agree. m=mean; sd = standard deviation the result in table 1 shows that undergraduates rated highly (agreed) the general attitude of librarians in private university libraries in lagos state (average weighted mean = 3.14). further analysis revealed that the three dimensions of librarians’ attitudes namely interpersonal relationship had the highest mean score (m=3.28), followed by professionalism (m=3.16) and lastly perception and image (m=2.97) were also highly rated (agreed) by undergraduates of private university libraries in lagos state on a 4-point likert-type rating scale. this finding suggests that undergraduates are more inclined to the interpersonal relationship and professionalism than the perception and image of librarians in private university libraries in lagos state. the findings also suggest that the job attitude of librarians in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria received positive remarks from library users. this can motivate users to further patronize the libraries and make use of the information resources. michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 77 hypothesis one: librarians’ attitudes will not significantly influence library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. hypothesis one was tested with simple linear regression analysis. the results of the regression analysis are presented in table 2. table 2 simple linear regression analysis of librarians’ attitudes and library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries predictors b βeta (β) t p r2 adj. r2 f anov a (sig.) (constant) 1.986 11.110 .000 0.034 0.031 10.646 0.001 librarians’ attitudes .184 .185 3.263 .001 dependent variable: library patronage predictors: (constant), librarians’ attitudes df (f-statistic) = 1, 301 df (t-statistic) = 300 source: field survey results, 2022 table 2 reveals that librarians’ attitudes significantly influenced library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state (r2= 0.034, β = 0.185, t(300) = 3.263, p < 0.05). the model shows that librarians’ attitudes explain 3.4% (r2= 0.034) change in library patronage of undergraduates in the private university libraries. this implies that library patronage depends on librarians’ attitudes of private university libraries in lagos state. hence, the null hypothesis which states that librarians’ attitudes will not significantly influence library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state, was rejected. the regression model also shows that when librarians’ attitudes is enhanced by one unit on a measurement scale, there will be corresponding 18.4% (0.184) increase in the library patronage of undergraduates in the private university libraries. therefore, librarians’ attitudes are vital to enhancing the library patronage of undergraduate students in private university libraries in lagos state. discussion of findings the result of this study revealed that the three dimensions of librarians’ job attitude namely interpersonal relationship, professionalism, and perception and image were all highly rated by the undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state. this suggested that the undergraduates have positive attitude towards the library staff. this finding is in line with earlier study by oden and owolabi (2021) who examined the influence of staff attitude on service delivery in university libraries in ogun state, nigeria. their findings revealed that the michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 78 respondents affirmed that the library staff delivered quality services and their staff attitude was positive. this outcome further corroborates the study of adam (2017) that revealed that majority of the undergraduates perceived the services of the library staff were appreciable. another significant finding of this study was that, of the three dimensions of librarians’ job attitudes examined interpersonal relationship and professionalism were all rated high, while perception and image was ranked lowest by the undergraduates. the outcome suggested that the librarian do have a good interpersonal interaction with the library users as well as demonstrating relevant professional competencies. this finding agrees with that of motiang, wallis and karodia (2014) who found out that majority of their respondents were satisfied with the library staff, their availability and happy with the information supplied. this outcome also supported the findings of sivathaasan (2013) that revealed that students were relatively most satisfied with competence of the library staff. the discovery of the present study suggest that the undergraduates seem not to have negative view of the library staff. this finding supports wilcox and chia (2013) assertion who suggested engagement in creating connections with users, so as to build up the image of the profession. image has also been identified as a direct motivator in the use or non-use of the library. it has a significant impact on how users will respond to the services and use of library (kiilu & otike, 2016). however, the finding of the present study sharply contrasted with the outcome of some previous studies. tella and odunola (2020) found out that negative attitudes of some librarians were identified as one of the prominent hindrances to library patronage by the undergraduates. the findings of abdulsalami and efosa (2020) also identified poor staff user relationship as one of the factors responsible for the non-library patronage. another notable finding of the study regarding the image and perception shows that “the appearance of librarians makes them approachable” received the lowest score. this suggests that the respondents were not completely satisfied with the appearance of the librarians. librarian’s physical appearance, comeliness, and approach are all important factors in forming general impressions and opinions about them. this is because perceptions and image constitute a value assessment of an individual and, as such, may impact how other members of the broader public perceive them. this finding supported idowu and oso (2022), who found out that the majority of the undergraduate students have negative perception of librarians’ image because they disagree with many of the items related to the librarians’ image. the result of the hypothesis revealed that librarians’ attitudes significantly influence library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state. this suggests that an improvement in librarians’ attitudes will improve library patronage. regardless of the quality of library collections or its environment, if librarian attitudes toward the users are unfriendly, such library will undoubtedly have poor patronage. this further indicates that positive librarians’ attitudes toward library users could also be a panacea for low library patronage. therefore, the importance of librarians’ attitudes on library patronage cannot be overemphasized. this finding agrees with oden and owolabi (2021) who found out that staff attitude had a significant influence on service delivery. in the same vein, idowu and oso (2022) findings also revealed that perception of undergraduates about library service quality and satisfaction with services offered by librarians had relationship with librarians’ image. the study suggests that library user’ perception and image of librarians are influenced by the quality of the services they provide. based on these findings, librarians would need to constantly acquire new knowledge michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 79 and skills in order to be aware of new opportunities and possibilities for improving their userrelationship and services. conclusion every established university library expects that students patronize and make optimal use of its information resources and facilities through regular visits. meanwhile, the quality of service delivered by the librarian generally could have a significant impact on users’ patronage. as such, librarians' attitudes toward users are expected to be empathic, supportive, and professional enough. this study concluded that librarians’ attitudes influence library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in lagos state, nigeria. this means that librarians’ attitudes contribute to the degree to which the library is used. based on the outcome of this study, it is recommended that the librarians should increase their self-confidence by being proactive and strive to be in the forefront of university activities in order to gain more visibility and launder the image of their profession. the librarians also need to be more innovate and provide value-added services as well as improve their physical appearance so as to make them more approachable to their users. finally, the management of university libraries understudy should further commend the librarians for their fair display of interpersonal relationship, and professionalism. this can further motivate librarians to sustain their professional attitude. by implication, findings of this study would create awareness into existing librarians’ attitudes in private universities. one glaring limitation of the study is a dearth of current literature on librarians’ attitudes especially with regards to its influence on library patronage. thus, this study would help to further bridge this gap. references abdulsalami, t. l., & efosa, e. 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(2016). attitudes and roles of librarians in modern era (an ethical and cultural approach). international journal of library and information science, 10(4), 41-44. tella, a., & odunola, a. o. (2020). demographic variables and library patronage of undergraduate students at universities in south west nigeria. mousaion, 38(4), 1-18. udem, o. k., ikenwe, j. i., & ugwuamoke, e. c. (2020). undergraduates’ perception of library service quality and value in the 21st-century in southeast nigeria: a case study. library philosophy and practice (e-journal), 4501. velnampy t. (2008). job attitude and employees performance of public sector organizations in jaffna district, sri lanka. gitam journal of management, 6(2) 66-73. wilcox, e., & chia, y. b., (2013). fostering a sticky relationship with academic library users. library management, 34(3), 175-187. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/iijikm.v12i2.2 https://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/1944/311/1/04cali_5.pdf michael and olayemi/ international journal of librarianship 8(3) 82 about the authors juliana patrick michael is a chief librarian at the nigerian institute of medical research, lagos, nigeria and a phd student at the department of information resources management, babcock university ilishan-remo, ogun state. her research focuses on reader’s service, resources management, and information communication technology. olalekan moses olayemi is a principal librarian at the nigerian institute of medical research, lagos, nigeria. he received his phd in information resources management with specialization in library and information science from babcock university, ilishan-remo, ogun state, nigeria. his research interests are in the areas of medical libraries, information communication technology, and health information literacy. 5-292 title page 5-292 article-rev issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the development of academic data services in canada and china: profiles of data services at fudan university and the university of windsor kristi thompson and shenqin yin abstract: the following notes provide a comparative perspective on the development of data services at fudan university in china and at the university of windsor in canada. the two universities are very different and operate in different environments. fudan university is a major research university, one of the most respected academic institutions in china, a member of the elite c9 group (people’s daily, n.d.) of, and is located in shanghai, one of the world’s largest cities. the university of windsor is a mid-size, mid-ranked comprehensive university in canada, situated in windsor, a smaller canadian city on the u.s. border adjoining the much larger detroit. canada has one of the world’s wealthiest economies; china’s economy is still developing. the academic environments in the two countries are quite different. however, while the institutions may be dissimilar, the needs of their academic data users are not. we hope this article will help illustrate some of the broad commonalities in academic data services that stretch across borders, and will encourage institutions in disparate situations to recognize the feasibility of collaborating on common solutions. to cite this article: thompson k., & yin, s. (2017). the development of academic data services in canada and china: profiles of data services at fudan university and the university of windsor. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 73-78. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.32 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 73-78 issn: 2474-3542 the development of academic data services in canada and china: profiles of data services at fudan university and the university of windsor kristi thompson, university of windsor, windsor, on, canada shenqin yin, fudan university, shanghai, china the following notes provide a comparative perspective on the development of data services at fudan university in china and at the university of windsor in canada. the two universities are very different and operate in different environments. fudan university is a major research university, one of the most respected academic institutions in china, a member of the elite c9 group (people’s daily, n.d.), and is located in shanghai, one of the world’s largest cities. the university of windsor is a mid-size, mid-ranked comprehensive university in canada, situated in windsor, a smaller canadian city on the u.s. border adjoining the much larger detroit. canada has one of the world’s wealthiest economies; china’s economy is still developing. the academic environments in the two countries are quite different. however, while the institutions may be dissimilar, the needs of their academic data users are not. we hope this article will help illustrate some of the broad commonalities in academic data services that stretch across borders, and will encourage institutions in disparate situations to recognize the feasibility of collaborating on common solutions. background and research fudan university currently has three separate institutions engaged with providing academic data services: the library, the social science data centre, and the institution for big data. early data support included purchasing resources such as statistical yearbooks, economic and social statistical databases such as chinainfobank, cnki (china economic and statistical database), and csmar (china financial and economic database). the library offered data usage training and support to faculty and students. the first data librarian was hired in 2016. in 2011, the social science data center of fudan university was established, and it started up the project of developing a social science data platform in april 2012. the development plan of the project proceeded in five phases: survey and research, selection and appraisal, internationalization and secondary development, policy development, and pilot run. the initial phase included an investigation into 35 social science data centers around the world by conducting a literature review, doing website research and visiting selected locations. sites visited included norc at the university of chicago, the interuniversity consortium for political and social research (icpsr) at the university of michigan, chrr (center for human resource research) thompson and yin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 74 of ohio state university, and iqss (the institute for quantitative social science) at harvard university, in addition to centers in the uk and australia. the working team conducted surveys on organization structure, funds, data collections, software platforms, metadata, policy, and data curation and management services. the institution for big data is the newest of the three support services and was founded in 2015 (yang, 2015), together with the school of data science. it provides collection, storage and analysis services for “big data” collections, usually conceived of as datasets ranging in size from gigabytes to terabytes. at the university of windsor, the process of developing academic data services began early but proceeded in fits and starts. as with fudan, at first data services largely consisted of purchasing individual data files for researchers. data was purchased primarily from statistics canada, canada’s national statistical agency on tapes, which were then loaded to local computer systems. unlike at fudan this was initially done by information technology services (its), however in 1996 statistics canada launched the data liberation initiative, an agreement under which universities paid a single fee to access the entire statistics canada data collection. this subscription model included support and training, and at many canadian institutions, including windsor, data support moved to the library (boyko and watkins, 2011). data services remained basic, primarily data references and provision of data files, and were provided by a single librarian who also had a number of other responsibilities. in many institutions, this service was provided by the government information librarian; at windsor the librarian was also responsible for business and economics. various stakeholders in the university expressed an interest in providing expanded data services, and in 2003 a group including several faculties and departments, its, the library, and other offices on campus compiled a proposal for developing a research and instructional data centre. authors of the report reviewed service models at major universities including harvard, stanford, emory and, in canada, mcgill and calgary. the initial proposal was quite ambitious and covered archival support as well as statistical and software consulting, and in 2005 a more modest proposal for a centre in the library was accepted by library administration. the new proposal reviewed current needs and goals from a library perspective and suggested starting with two staff positions, a data librarian and a data analyst, with the idea that additional staff including technicians and archivists could added later. services were to include support for statistical analysis and software in addition to the provision of data files from statistics canada and other sources. 1 at the time there were relatively few available models providing integrated data, software and statistical consulting support from a single library service point. in 2006 the library filled the two positions with staff members hired from data and statistical services at princeton university, and the academic data centre opened; the new staff developed a service based on the one deployed at princeton (see edelstein and thompson, 2004). in 2012 a geospatial analyst was hired as well. 1 thanks to katharine ball and cathy maskell for providing the authors with recollections and documentation of the early development of data services at windsor thompson and yin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 75 infrastructure, software selection and appraisal in 2013, fudan decided to test deploy four social science platforms, including fedora commons, dspace, nesstar, and dataverse. after six-months of testing and evaluation, it was decided that dataverse, a platform developed at harvard university, met their requirements fairly well, although it still lacked some features. however, as an open source system, dataverse could be expanded and customized. fudan selected dataverse as their social science data platform to be localized and secondarily developed with customizations to meet local needs. the fudan working team implemented a chinese interface for dataverse, which is the first interface other than english to be available. the fudan university dataverse network (http://dvn.fudan.edu.cn) is based on dvn3.3. it uses a specialized language search, providing a chinese search engine with chinese word segmentation, navigation with chinese character index, and supports online analysis in chinese without character disorder, which is unique to this particular dataverse repository archive. fudan has contributed their international code to the dataverse network so it will be available to other institutions, and is currently collaborating with harvard’s dataverse development team to integrate their code with dataverse 4.0. after about a year of technical work and policy development, the fudan university dataverse repository pilot was launched in june 2014, and the public launch took place in december 2014. about 18 representatives of the media were present to take part in the ceremony and report on this achievement. at windsor, the initial focus was on providing in-person and classroom support to users of statistics and data. in 2010, the library was successful in its application to host a secure enclave for analysis of restricted government data, and opened the statistics canada research data centre, windsor branch. these services proved very popular (thompson, 2012) and left little time for local technology development, and after 2012, budgetary constraints meant the library was in a hiring freeze. however, windsor was (and still is) a member of the ocul (ontario consortium of university libraries), and these libraries pooled their resources with some additional government funding to provide a nesstar implementation housed at the university of toronto, canada’s largest university. branded odesi (ontario data documentation, extraction service and infrastructure), the service launched in 2008 with a collection largely consisting of statistics canada data. further sources including large canadian and international polling data collections were added later, and the collection continues to expand. nesstar was selected in part because it implements the open ddi (data documentation initiative) open standard for metadata, and an important part of the ocul implementation was developing a canadian best practices document that could then be shared with the rest of canada. nesstar turned out to be highly suited for discovery of and access to curated, published data such as government surveys and commercial polls, but ocul found it less useful for long-term preservation of institutional research data and unsuited for self-archiving by individual faculty members. this led to other options being explored, and like fudan, in 2011 the ontario university consortium launched an instance of dataverse as a pilot (barsky et al, 2017). ontario university libraries, including windsor, were quick to launch institutional dataverses on the platform, and in 2012 the pilot concluded with dataverse becoming a core service. as with nesstar, the technical http://dvn.fudan.edu.cn/ thompson and yin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 76 infrastructure is provided as a central service, but support for end users is provided locally by each institution. windsor is also piloting the use of a new ocul service, the ontario library research cloud, a secure storage network for big data files. data curation services the fudan dataverse repository currently has datasets ranging from research findings to working papers, journal papers, and social science datasets. the majority of current datasets are survey and census data deposited by fudan university affiliated researchers working in demography, economics, social science, geography, etc. file types include text, data files (i.e. dta, spss, xls, csv, etc.), image files (i.e. jpg), and gis (geographic information systems) data. in addition to original research data collected by fudan university faculty, the archive also houses and distributes population census data, statistical yearbooks, and other government data. in addition to census and geospatial data, widely used collections include the fudan yangtze river delta social transformation survey and fudan energy data curation and management. data needs to be findable to be useful, and the creation and maintenance of descriptive metadata is necessary to keep a data repository from turning into a data graveyard. the fudan university dataverse team provides many services to encourage researchers to move their data from local hard disks to be safely preserved in the dataverse repository. services include:  curation & data management services: helping the researchers describe their data and other files, converting files to preservation-friendly formats, cleaning the original data to make it easier for others to reuse, etc.  branding & customization: helping make customized banners for many of their researchers’ dataverses.  outreach: techniques include social media such as wechat, a series of three videos prepared by faculty and students, and a regular newsletter. outreach has been very successful and the repository now houses over 5,700 projects collected from 1,319 researchers that are affiliated with the university. the fudan university dataverse team has taken a leadership role in promoting data management using the dataverse platform in china. they have conducted two chinese domestic seminars, reported on dataverse and data curation platforms at 14 nationwide academic conferences between 2013-2017, and are founding members of the “china academic library research data management implementation group”2 formed to promote the development of chinese domestic research data management. windsor and other ontario universities offer data management services that are broadly similar to those at fudan: data documentation, file conversion and cleaning, dataverse branding and customization, and outreach through web, email and social media such as twitter. while 2 the nine university members of this group include peking university, tsinghua university, zhejiang university, wuhan university, beijing institute of technology, shanghai jiaotong university, shanghai international studies university, tongji university, and fudan university thompson and yin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 77 uptake of dataverse by windsor researchers has been relatively slow thus far, canada’s funding agencies are starting to insist that data collected as part of funded research needs to be archived and made accessible. this mandate promises to ramp up demand considerably. with dataverse hosting already in place, windsor should be well situated to meet this demand and the data team has collaborated with other campus organizations to organize a series of presentations and workshops to promote data deposit. the windsor data team contributes to the portage network, probably canada’s closest equivalent to china’s research data management implementation group. windsor’s data librarian also is leading a team of data librarians in a project to recover, document and publish a major collection of government health survey files (cooper, thompson and trimble, 2017), using dataverse as a staging repository. the team intends to publish the data openly on both nesstar and dataverse once it is in useable form, and is simultaneously developing a guide to data rescue to share with the data community. this group project encapsulates much of what is happening today in data librarianship – a person at one institution wanted to provide some files to local researchers, and found that the best way to do this was to enlist a larger group to do the work and share the results. academic data service is fundamentally the process of making data as accessible as possible to as wide a range of researchers as possible. so it is perhaps not surprising that the common element that most unites the experiences of these two very separate institutions is that of sharing. both institutions have focused on working with open standards and open source software (particularly dataverse and ddi), both have been involved with contributing code, practices, documentation or standards to their communities, and both have found that the best way to advance local goals is to work formally and informally with alliances of other institutions. in a rapidly evolving area such as data, often the best way for an individual institution to make progress is to help the entire community move forward as well. the authors of this article are hoping to continue their investigation into and knowledgesharing around the development of data services in china and canada in the fall of 2018, when fudan university has offered to host two librarians from the university of windsor as visiting scholars. look for the results of their research to be published in a future issue of the international journal of librarianship! references barsky, e., laliberte, l., leahey, a., & trimble, l. (2017). collaborative research data curation services: a view from canada. in l. r. johnston (ed.), curating research data, volume one: practical strategies for your digital repository (pp. 79-101). chicago: association of college and research libraries. boyko, e., & watkins, w. (2011, november). the canadian data liberation initiative: an idea worth considering? retrieved from http://www.ihsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/ihsnwp006.pdf http://www.ihsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/ihsn-wp006.pdf http://www.ihsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/ihsn-wp006.pdf thompson and yin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 78 cooper, a., thompson, k., & trimble, l. (2017, may 24). documenting data rescue. the ontario data community data rescue group and the data rescue & curation guide for data rescuers. presented at iassist 2017. retrieved from https://works.bepress.com/kristi_thompson/6/ edelstein, d., & thompson, k. (2004). a reference model for providing statistical consulting services in an academic library setting. iassist quarterly, 28(2), 35-38. retrieved from http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/leddylibrarypub/9/ people’s daily online (english ed.). (n.d.). china’s ivy league: c9 league. retrieved from http://en.people.cn/203691/7822275.html thompson, k. (2012, june 6). “bringing them in: what 5 years of data can tell us about growing a data service.” presented at iassist 2012. retrieved from http://www.iassistdata.org/downloads/2012/2012_pk1_thompson.pdf yang, m. (2015, october 9). fudan university launches big data institute. shanghai daily (online ed.). retrieved from http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/fudan-university-launches-big-datainstitute/shdaily.shtml about the authors kristi thompson is the data librarian at university of windsor with additional responsibilities in information services and systems, and the guest editor of this issue of the international journal of librarianship. she previously co-edited databrarianship: the academic data librarian in theory and practice for acrl with lynda kellam, and has published and spoken widely on academic data librarianship. shenqin yin is an assistant director of the social science data research center of fudan university, a member of dataverse advisory team. she also supervises graduate library students. her research areas include research data management, open government data and public governance, especially population data, youth development data and user information behavior data. https://works.bepress.com/kristi_thompson/6/ http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/leddylibrarypub/9/ http://en.people.cn/203691/7822275.html http://www.iassistdata.org/downloads/2012/2012_pk1_thompson.pdf http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/fudan-university-launches-big-data-institute/shdaily.shtml http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/fudan-university-launches-big-data-institute/shdaily.shtml http://www.baidu.com/link?url=wegcvwrfu6cd8g6gmuue5zgnic3vrje8vmwwovlro5yw6u9kpxpf1chmenh0mtmt1e6bewgtl98s7fesv565cfrdilml5gooo_hiv4jdklrcyhfeu-xopkjp6ikkovf2 08.32-123-1-rv_liu-edits_final_title_1 08.32-123-1-rv_liu-edits_final_1 international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 1-3. issn: 2474-3542 an issue featuring diverse authors and topics this issue is an epitome of the journal itself. as the name of the journal – the international journal of librarianship indicates, this issue features a diverse group of authors with different lis background from countries in different continents. among them are trained librarians, independent researcher, and burgeoning phd students. the diverse topics covered include: • research conducted by a team of ala emerging leaders 2022 on the ala members’ attitudes and their perceived challenges on attending international conferences, • the development of the archival public accounts on china’s most popular social media platform wechat, • job seeking prior to and during the covid-19 pandemic in the american academic libraries and the implications for both the job seekers and the hiring institutions, • job ads analysis of the qualifications and skills required for cataloging positions in academic libraries, • users’ perception of librarians’ attitudes in a nigerian private university library and how that impacts users’ use of library, • a literature review of mobile-based library services, • an investigation of the availability of the cataloguing and classification courses on mooc platforms, • and a review of the book digital transformative library collection and services: a smart library approach. grace liu et al. surveyed ala members on their attitudes, needs and barriers to participating in international conferences. their findings revealed a gap between librarians’ strong interest in attending such conferences and the fact that more than half of them never or rarely participated in one, primary due to lack of institutional funding. their study was born out of an ala emerging leaders project to investigate the interests in attending international conferences of the members of the ala international relations round table (irrt). this group of researchers expanded the study to all ala members and aimed to answer the research questions on what interests and challenges ala members’ participation in international conferences, what they need and how can professional organizations like ala support their members. the authors were able to uncover the barriers and pointed out the differences between members from public libraries and academic libraries. the authors explored the differences between in-person and virtual international conferences, the differences between funding in public and academic libraries, and individual decision making and shared the recommendations on how to support librarians in attending international conferences. they called for support for librarians’ professional network and professional development and explained why that’s something important. ren / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 2 wechat is the most popular social media platform in china. two chinese phd students from the school of information management of sun yat-sen university, china presented a thorough review of the current state of archival education in the social media environment wechat in mainland china. these two authors examined and explored how the advancement of information technology influenced the archival work and education. wechat allows individuals or institutions to create personal or public account on the platform and allows others to subscribe to or view the content published on the public account and therefore can reach a wider audience. such archival outlet can be used for disseminating official news, quality archival research articles, experiential learning, and industry information. the authors enlisted 17 public archival wechat public accounts ran by 17 universities in china, which is almost half of all the chinese universities that provide archival education. andrea quinn, the law librarian at emory university’s school of law described the challenges covid-19 pandemic posed to job seekers and search committee members. the author compared a group of individuals hired by academic libraries before covid-19 to another group hired by academic libraries during covid-19 and reported interesting findings that have implications for both the job seekers and the hiring institutions. interestingly, pre-existing geographic ties to the hiring institution plays an important part in the hiring during the pandemic. andrea’s findings have strong implications for those seeking jobs at academic libraries and for mlis students when they choose field work locations. peng mu analyzed cataloging librarians job ads in the united states academic libraries to find what skills, knowledge and abilities are required for those positions. his findings have implications for lis educators in curriculum development and help lis students who are seeking such jobs. data were collected from universities’ websites, indeed.com and code4lib job from 2016-2023. the author identified essential qualities that candidates should have when seeking a cataloging librarians’ position. michael and olayemi from nigeria investigated the possible influence of librarians’ attitudes toward users on users’ patronage in private university libraries. librarians’ attitudes were defined by users’ perception of the librarians, librarians’ interpersonal relationship skill and their professionalism. their findings provided evidence for librarians being approachable and professional and the value of the interpersonal and communication skills in a service industry. considering how the covid-19 pandemic forced libraries to find alternative ways to reach remote users, singh and madhusudhan from india reviewed literature related to the available mobile app based library services like mobile opac, website, and databases during 2015-2022. the authors observed the types of the publications, the pattern of authorships, the growth trend of the publications and provided projections on the future state of the research on this topic. adetayo from the adeleke university in nigeria explores if cataloging and classification can be learnt on mooc platforms. the author found no catalog or classification courses offered on current mooc platforms and made recommendations on how such courses can be included in mooc platforms. lastly, singh reviewed the book digital transformative library collection and services: a smart library approach which presents a comprehensive overview of the transforming digital library services and practical applications in the concept of “smart library.” we hope you enjoy reading this issue! http://indeed.com/ ren / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 3 xiaoai ren co-editors-in-chief editing contributors to this issue: copy editing: anne kaay, denise lynne montgomery, helen power, jessica koos layout editing: cordelia tang, cindy li international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 111-112 issn:2474-3542 library improvement through data analytics, by lesley s. j. farmer and alan m. safer, chicago: ala neal-schuman, 2016. 184p. $75. isbn: 978-0-8389-1425-0. data-driven decision making has become a common practice in most industries. during the last 20 years, with the advance of the internet and the digital age, data has played an increasingly important role in people’s work and life. now more than ever, data can easily be collected and shared. more than ever, we have the computing capacity that can treat and analyze a large amount of data. pure data is useless without treatment and analysis. data analytics and data science are critical to turn data into knowledge. in the library field, more and more librarians and library administrators are trying to take advantage of this data deluge to improve library services or to provide new services to their users and community, based on data and data analytics. in the last five to ten years there have been many published articles and books that deal with library data analytics and data-drive decision making. this book by dr. farmer and dr. safer stands out among them in the following three areas. first, one third of the book is devoted to the practical use of statistics in the library. the concepts of both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics are well explained in plain english. the coverage of statistics is basic and precise. one whole chapter is devoted to data preparation and data cleaning, which is an important topic often neglected by other works. another chapter talks about how to choose different statistical methods to meet different data analysis purposes. for example, if your goal is to find the direction and strength of the linear relationship between two quantitative variables, such as the relationship between the amount of books the library has and the student enrollment of the school, the pearson correlation method should be used. it lists more than ten statistical methods, and describes the usage of each, and gives examples for each method. this is very valuable in helping librarians choose what statistical method to use when doing data analytics. this part of the book also talks briefly about several statistical software packages, including the popular minitab, spss, sas, r, and tableau. it lists some advantages and disadvantages of each and gives advice on which to choose. another key feature of the book is a collection of fourteen case studies (fourteen chapters) that look at how data analytics can be used to improve services or to introduce new services, in areas ranging from collection development, benchmarking library performance, and reference services, to institutional repositories. though quite a few cases are taken from k-12 school libraries, there are several from public and academic libraries. these fourteen case studies can function as exemplars for the readers to learn how to put data analytics theory into practice. wang / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 112 the last outstanding feature of the book is its bibliography. it lists more than forty references on both practice and theory in data analytics, including introduction to statistics. in the first part of the book, the authors introduced a model of data-driven decision making: the six sigma model. according to the authors, “six sigma is the most well known of these datadriven models for organizational continuous improvement. the business sector in particular uses six sigma as a management tool to optimize cost-effective practice, control quality, and increase customer satisfaction by using data to identify problems and their causes, and then identify workable solutions.” a total of six chapters are devoted to this topic. this section is helpful but not that useful and has no direct relationship to the rest of the book. one thing this book does not cover is data visualization. it only briefly introduces several graphs in the data cleaning chapter. the authors appear to be avoiding dealing with this topic in this book. considering that data visualization is such a big topic and there are already so many publications in this area, it is not a big drawback to not deal with it here. another minor drawback of this book is that some tables and figures are not explained very well. --yongming wang, the college of new jersey, ewing, nj, usa doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.46 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.46 international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 109-110 issn:2474-3542 library analytics and metrics: using data to drive decisions and services, eds. ben showers. croydon, uk: facet publishing, 2015. 224p. $80.55. isbn-13: 978-1856049658. libraries and cultural heritage institutions have a long history of collecting data on the use of their services, ranging from circulation, gate counts and reference transactions to electronic resources usage. now, more than ever, supporting institutions are asking libraries to use that data to demonstrate value in new and complex ways. in addition, with the help of analytics and metrics, libraries have developed new and unique ways to improve services and enhance their patrons’ experiences by harnessing the power of their data. showers begins the book with an analogy of the streetlight effect—a parable in which a man only looks under the streetlight to search for his lost car keys. he does not find the keys and he must walk home. library data and information collection often works in a similar way – looking where it is convenient to look rather than where the answers might be. showers cautions librarians to begin the process of analytics and metrics by asking the right questions and focusing on those questions, or else they may become too distracted in the collecting and their efforts may go off course. the editor carefully lays out the book with each of the six main chapters focusing on a current trend in metrics and analytics. each chapter includes a discussion of a trending development and at least one case study to illuminate the concept of the chapter. the studies cover a broad range of institution and/or consortium sizes and missions. the first chapter, “library data: big and small,” emphasizes the importance of small local data and how understanding that can lead to big data collaborations. in the second chapter, “data-driven collections management,” showers highlights two case studies focused on collection management. as he notes, “data-driven collections management is not a new concept for libraries,” however, these studies clearly outline unique projects whose aims are to create collection analytics tools for librarians that are very practical and actionable. the editor moves toward examining different institutions’ unique responses to the ever increasing demands from outside sources to demonstrate impact and value in the third chapter. the case studies in this chapter, “using data to demonstrate library impact and value,” come from different countries and illustrate a variety of different technical solutions. however, each study showcases how a library can demonstrate value by correlating library use with student retention and performance. showers appropriately notes the ethical impact of utilizing patron data for this type of analytics; a topic that is more thoroughly discussed in chapter 6. sewell / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 110 the 4th chapter, “going beyond the numbers: using qualitative research to transform the library user’s experience,” illustrates how to use data to improve patrons’ experiences through qualitative and ethnographic techniques. these studies go beyond the “what” of library services and collections patrons use to “how” and “why”. the set of case studies in chapter 5, “web and social metrics for the cultural heritage sector,” focus on cultural heritage centers and their use of web-metrics to get the most out of their users’ experiences. chapter 6, “understanding and managing the risks of analytics,” concludes this collection of case studies with thoughtful discussion of ethical and legal considerations of creating and using data. concerns include those of privacy and ownership of user records. researchers are strongly encouraged to bear in mind the benefits of the data collection for the user. this book is unique in that it ties together a disparate collection of forward thinking projects aimed at utilizing library and cultural heritage metrics and analytics from institutions of varying ranges of size and projects of varying ranges of technological complexity. this book could be helpful to practitioners, managers, and directors seeking a broad range of skills for not only demonstrating their institution’s value, but also enhancing their users’ experiences. each chapter provides links and references to allow the reader to learn more about each study and additional resources to provide further reading on each concept. --bethany badgett sewell, the college of new jersey, ewing, nj, usa doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.48 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.48 international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 1-2 issn:2474-3542 editorial: celebrating one year anniversary and introducing the third issue it has been one year since the launch of the inaugural issue in december 2016. since then, ijol has published two issues and 18 articles covering a wide range of topics, such as data librarianship, academic library services, services in public libraries and innovative technology. ijol has become an effective venue for librarians, professors and other professionals in library and information science (lis) to communicate their original research, practices, reviews, opinions and other reports. authors and other contributors from all over the world, including canada, china, finland, south africa, the uk and the us, have made ijol a real international publication. in october 2017, the library of congress started to archive ijol permanently. this ensures that all intellectual work published in ijol from the beginning will be preserved for generations to see. now we are proud to publish our third issue. in this issue: zhang et al. investigated five lis schools to reveal the current state and development of data science education in china. they also did a case study on another institution, fudan university to obtain further information and insights on this topic. what is the role of the chinese american librarians in lis diversity in the 21st century? ruan and liu aim to answer this question through a national survey of chinese american librarians association (cala) members followed by semi-structured interviews of selected survey participants. the findings of this study have contributed to cala’s strategic planning and other initiatives. li reports the “database center of the yi culture” project for the preservation of the culture of yi people, the sixth largest ethnic group in china. this article details the background, values, plans and achievements of the project as well as the challenges of building such a database. international students have often been defined in library literature as a special population with cultural backgrounds or languages differing from their host countries. bordonaro conducted a preliminary research on the library use and perceptions of cross-border students enrolled in a binational joint degree program offered by brock university in canada and the state university of new york at buffalo in the us. this study suggests that cross-border students be considered international students, and that cross-border university library settings be a viable topic of study for librarianship. and in our last featured article, wu and yang explored the possible patterns of time-toacceptance for refereed articles in lis publications. through an examination on all 85 isi-indexed lis journals, the authors identified 17 journals with valid data online and developed their estimation models of time-to-acceptance. liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 2 in the column entitled “reports from the field”, xu shares how the lafayette college library in the us uses internal grants to integrate information literacy into upper-level courses. in another article, xu and chen present their approaches to address an email notification issue in aleph, one of the most adopted integrated library systems. another column returning in this issue is “lis education around the world”. in part ii of the directory, ren continues to outline the lis education accreditation processes across the world, including ireland, germany, and south africa. this issue also includes two book reviews of publications in data analytics in the library and reports on two international conferences in china. lastly, i would like to express my gratitude to all editors, peer reviewers and authors who have made significant contributions to this issue. guoying liu university of windsor microsoft word book-1.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 104 issn:2474-3542 linked data for cultural heritage. eds. ed jones & michele seikel, chicago: ala editions, 2016, $75. isbn 978-0-8389-1439-7. linked data for cultural heritage is a collection of chapters on linked data and its application in cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums (lams). the editors, ed jones and michelle siekel, are both experienced lis professionals and this curated collection provides a succinct overview of the state of linked data in lams. each of the six chapters covers a different aspect of how linked data can be utilized in lams with case studies and project highlights, with some conceptual overlap in chapters three and four. the first chapter provides a wealth of information on large, ongoing linked data projects, such as europeana and dpla, while taking time to explain the background and scope of each highlighted project. the second chapter explores the benefits of utilizing linked data and rdf triples due to its flexibility. chapter three delves into linked data for authority control, covering the ways thesauri and controlled vocabularies can be enhanced; chapter four focuses on controlled vocabularies for science, technical, and medical resources. chapter five describes the uses of schema.org and the ways that oclc research has utilized the ontologies found there. to conclude, the last chapter discusses bibframe and the library of congress’ efforts with linked data and provides some insight as to where it stands as a potential replacement for marc21. this book is very timely, written when the profession is looking to the future and possesses a greater need to openly share the rich bibliographic data generated by lams. aimed at practitioners, linked data for cultural heritage is written in a manner that is accessible to someone who may not specialize in cataloging or be a metadata expert. the purpose of this book is to serve as a detailed introduction to linked data. professionals who want more details on what exactly a rdf triple might be or how an ontology fits into the larger linked data picture will find this text useful. linked data for cultural heritage is more informational and less of a how-to guide on implementing similar linked data projects—unlike the van hooland and verborgh 2014 text, linked data for libraries, archives and museums. linked data for cultural heritage is ideal for busy librarians or archivists who may have heard a presentation on linked data or have minimal experience with the topic and desire an easy to digest text that will increase their familiarity. i highly recommend this book as a part of a collection that supports an information and library science degree program and for any library with a collection of professional texts to be used by their faculty and staff librarians. references van hooland, s., & verborgh, r. (eds.). (2014). linked data for libraries, archives and museums: how to clean, link and publish your metadata. chicago: ala neal-schuman. --tiffany henry, university of north carolina greensboro, nc, usa issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org creating a forum for library professionals: a case study of cala canada chapter lei jin, guoying liu, and wei zhang abstract: this paper examines the establishment, growth, achievements, and future planning of the cala canada chapter. since its inception in june 2018, the chapter has experienced significant growth, with the number of members doubling, and the number of life members also doubling. currently there are a total of thirty members in the chapter, comprising ten life members, eight overseas members, and seven student members, with the majority residing or working in ontario. the chapter has achieved notable milestones, including the organization of successful events such as conferences, workshops, and networking sessions. the chapter has also contributed to the development of the library profession in canada, particularly by promoting diversity and inclusivity. looking forward, the chapter plans to expand its reach and increase its membership by promoting itself in other regions of the country. the chapter aims to continue providing valuable resources, programs, and opportunities for its members to enhance their professional development and foster collaboration. through these efforts, the canada chapter aims to play an essential role in advancing the library profession in canada and promoting its growth and innovation. to cite this article: jin, l., liu, g., & zhang, w. (2023). creating a forum for library professionals: a case study of cala canada chapter. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 73-86. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.2.300 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 73-86 issn: 2474-3542 creating a forum for library professionals: a case study of cala canada chapter lei jin, toronto metropolitan university, canada guoying liu, university of windsor, canada wei zhang, mcmaster university, canada abstract this paper examines the establishment, growth, achievements, and future planning of the cala canada chapter. since its inception in june 2018, the chapter has experienced significant growth, with the number of members doubling, and the number of life members also doubling. currently there are a total of thirty members in the chapter, comprising ten life members, eight overseas members, and seven student members, with the majority residing or working in ontario. the chapter has achieved notable milestones, including the organization of successful events such as conferences, workshops, and networking sessions. the chapter has also contributed to the development of the library profession in canada, particularly by promoting diversity and inclusivity. looking forward, the chapter plans to expand its reach and increase its membership by promoting itself in other regions of the country. the chapter aims to continue providing valuable resources, programs, and opportunities for its members to enhance their professional development and foster collaboration. through these efforts, the canada chapter aims to play an essential role in advancing the library profession in canada and promoting its growth and innovation. keywords: leadership, chinese american librarians association, cala canada chapter, library professional development introduction the presence of chinese librarians and other library professionals in canada is growing, yet the channels for this group to connect professionally remain limited. the chinese american librarians association (cala) provides a platform for chinese librarians to connect, network, and collaborate across north america. even though chinese librarians in canada are active in cala, participating in research awards, emerging leaders programs, and chairing committees, the number of canadian memberships in cala remains low. the lack of chapter opportunities and local connections can hinder the growth and engagement of canadian members within cala. in this jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 74 paper, we argue that the establishment of a canada chapter within cala was necessary to better serve and engage with chinese librarians and library professionals in canada, and explore the challenges during the process, and highlight some of the achievements and activities since its inception. library associations, cala and the canadian landscape the literature on the importance of professional organizations in the development of librarianship is abundant. pfeffer and salancik (1978, p. 23) defines that “organizations are collections of individual efforts that are coordinated to achieve things that could not be achieved through individual action alone.” library associations have been playing such a crucial role in the development and growth of librarianship. they offer a wide range of benefits, including networking opportunities, professional development, advocacy, and support services. the chinese american librarian association, with its 50-year history, strives to achieve these goals and offers these values to its members, as stated by its objectives (calabrochure_2021_en.pdf, n.d.): ● to enhance communication among chinese american librarians as well as between chinese american librarians and other librarians; ● to serve as a forum for discussions of mutual problems and professional concerns among chinese american librarians; ● to promote sino-american librarianship and library services, and the development of chinese american librarianship and service; ● to provide a vehicle whereby chinese american librarians may cooperate with other organizations. meanwhile in canada, the number of individuals who are in the profession of library and information science has been increasing. according to the 2016 census data from statistics canada, the chinese librarian population in canada is estimated to be around 410, including library school students of chinese descent. on the other hand, the number of canadian members in cala is not growing proportionally. from 2013-2015, only nine cala members were from canada, accounting for 1.79% of the total membership. according to garrison and cramer (2021), memberships in many library organizations are declining as “increasingly librarians are foregoing formal organizational memberships to instead connect, learn, and network with each other in new and innovative ways.” the challenges for engaging with professional organization, as observed from focus groups conducted by frank (1997), include the absence of sufficient financial support, the considerable amount of time required, as well the pressure of navigating complex organizations. one librarian in the survey pointed out that “it is very difficult to ‘figure out’ associations such as ala or sla.” the authors, two of whom are long-time cala members, share the same feelings for cala. with its large body and primarily us-based regional chapters, it is very challenging for canadian library professionals to engage with cala more effectively. nonetheless, there is a gap for canadian chinese librarians to connect and network professionally within the canadian context. while there is an increasing number of racialized library organizations or groups in canada, such as the visible minority librarians of canada jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 75 network, their impact and reach may be constrained. goldman (2014) supports the significance of participating in state and regional associations, highlighting the advantages that come with it. these benefits consist of reasonable expenses, reduced travel distances to attend workshops and conferences, greater access to networking opportunities, and simpler access to leadership positions. thus, the inception of cala canada chapter is the response to the needs of this distinct group of library professionals. pathways to the cala canada chapter conception canadian chinese librarians have been increasingly involved in the activities of cala since 2008, and have made significant contributions to its various committees and initiatives. in the early years, there was only one member from canada serving on a cala committee, but the number increased over time, and canadian members started to play more important roles, co-chairing or chairing committees and leading task forces (cala, 2023). in 2015, one member from canada was elected to the at-large board of directors, and another member was selected to deliver a theme speech to the 21st century librarian seminar in china (cala, 2023a; huang, 2014). one notable achievement of canadian chinese librarians was the creation of the international journal of librarianship for cala, a new open access, peer-reviewed journal that launched in 2016 (ren et al., 2017). two canadian chinese librarians, guoying liu and qing zou, took the lead in this initiative and served on the core editorial team, with liu as the inaugural editor-in-chief and zou as the webmaster (liu and wang, 2017). they invited and supported many library professionals in canada to contribute to the journal as authors, peer reviewers, or editors. one of the articles published in the journal, co-authored by four professionals at ryerson university (name changed to toronto metropolitan university in 2022), was included as a further reading resource in the nmc horizon report: 2017 library edition, and its first author was recognized as one of the movers & shakers 2019 – innovators by the library journal (becker et al., 2017; fialkoff, 2019; liu and wang, 2018). this journal has deepened the collaboration among chinese librarians in canada, the united states, and other countries, and helped advocate for the chinese librarianship within the library profession. despite the growing involvement of canadian chinese librarians in cala, there was no chapter representing their interests and needs. in response, guoying liu, lei jin and other chinese librarians in canada established a partnership to create a new chapter of cala in 2018. this initiative drew support from a group of professionals, particularly academic librarians in ontario and other provinces. to ensure compliance with cala's bylaws and constitution, they consulted with cala leaders and existing members in canada. the establishment of this new chapter not only reflects the distinct environment of canadian librarianship but also strengthens the connections between cala and canadian library professionals (liu, 2018, p.1). jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 76 petition and discussion in accordance with cala bylaws, a petition was initiated to establish a canada chapter of cala. the petition was signed by twelve individuals, including one library school student at the university of toronto, one information professional at wediscovery technology inc., and ten academic librarians from lakehead university, mcgill university, toronto metropolitan university (formerly ryerson university), the university of british columbia, the university of manitoba, and the university of windsor. the group urged the cala executive committee and cala board of directors to consider creating a canada chapter to promote chinese librarianship and library services in canada, enhance communication among chinese librarians in canada, and provide a venue for cooperation with other cala chapters and canadian, provincial, and international library associations. on june 14, 2018, the petition was submitted to the cala executive committee (ec), and the cala president welcomed it, recognizing the benefits of such a chapter. since this was the first time cala was considering a chapter outside of the united states, the ec sought consultation from an attorney to ensure that there would be no negative impact on cala's tax and legal statuses (l. yang, personal communication, june 14, 2018). the attorney confirmed that the canada chapter was permissible as long as its finances were managed within the u.s. following that, cala board discussed the petition through online meetings and emails. one issue that arose was whether canadian members should continue to pay the previously established "overseas" membership fee of $15 or be charged the same as u.s. members, which was $35 per year. the board decided to keep the current fee for canadian members since it should be determined by where the member works or resides. the establishment of the chapter should benefit canadian members. the membership categories were defined similarly to ala's membership setup for international members from canada. one board member suggested that the canada chapter explore future collaboration opportunities with sla chapters based in canada and seek to include more public librarians in the chapter. the board approved the establishment of the canada chapter through online voting, making it the first cala chapter outside of the united states. the board anticipated that more chapters could arise from this one in the future if membership grows to support more local needs. cala members who are canadians in the u.s. may also join this chapter in the future (y. zhang, r. pun, et al., personal communication, september 4-10, 2018). inception and expansion on october 3, 2018, the canada chapter of the cala held its inaugural board meeting, during which the board members were officially established. the board had seven members, including the president, vice president, treasurer, webmaster, events planner, and secretary. their primary goal was to create a community for cala members in canada and to recruit more members from the country (liu, 2019). during the meeting, the board decided to adopt the cala bylaws and extend the first board's term to two years to ensure the new chapter was well-established before the next board takes over. they also established communication channels, including a website, a listserv hosted at the university of manitoba, and a wechat group for board members. jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 77 to promote the establishment of the canada chapter, the board planned to reach out to existing library schools in canada, attend library conferences, and distribute promotional materials. their short-term action plans included announcing the establishment of the new chapter, recruiting current librarians with and without a chinese background, and reaching out to library school students to encourage membership. the chapter also planned to establish programs for membership retention, such as mentorship initiatives and online webinars (liu, 2019). the canada chapter collaborated with the ontario library association (ola), canada's largest library association, to host annual activities in conjunction with ola's annual super conference. the planning process included sending out a call for proposals, inviting keynote speakers, arranging logistics, and more. the first chapter event was held on january 30-31, 2020, along with the ola super conference, with the primary goal of promoting the chapter and recruiting new members. the event was a success, with the opening meetup of the "chinese american librarians association: canadian chapter meetup" held in the ola super conference unconference centre on the first day, and the following hybrid annual conference held at toronto metropolitan university (formerly ryerson university) library (ola super conference, 2020). the success of this event has motivated the canada chapter to continue to organize annual events in collaboration with ola and canadian institutions, and to explore opportunities for collaboration with other organizations in canada and other cala chapters. major achievements annual conferences the inaugural annual conference was held on january 31, 2020, right on the eve of a global pandemic that was about to unfold. the half-day conference was well attended with both in-person and remote participants. it brought together more than 50 participants (30 onsite, 20 virtual) with various cultural backgrounds to discuss a wide range of topics. this conference is co-sponsored by cala and toronto metropolitan university (formerly ryerson university) library. talia chung, university librarian of university of ottawa, shared her personal journey to becoming senior library administrator. her perseverance in overcoming the many hurdles and challenges from being an immigrant, visible minority, as well as a working mom, had undoubtedly inspired many with a similar cultural background in their own pursuit of personal and professional fulfillment. talia’s keynote talk was followed by the report and analysis from the visible minority librarians of canada network mentorship program, the personal experience of professional development, a thorough review of current chinese canadian bibliography, and illuminating and practical tips on dealing with political diversities in our daily lives. there were also professional research projects shared among the group from collaboration with it staff, workflow management during staffing crisis, the introduction of the international group of ex libris user group, as well as the development of a web geographic information system (gis) learning module. these thought-provoking presentations provided attendees opportunities to share, exchange, and engage in ideas and best practices that have a positive impact on the professional and career development of librarians (jin and liu, 2020). the following annual conference events in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 were all being held virtually with participants joining from across north america. keynote speakers included greg eow, jack leong, and linda zhang. each speaker focused on topics such as diversity, jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 78 inclusivity, equity and respect: centering core values in collections and collaborations, personal journey to senior management as well as preserving and reimagining chinatown project. presentations shared in these conferences covered a variety of topics, ranging from covid-19 related challenges and best practices, developments on the edi front, gis and social justice, pedagogical reflections, as well as technical solutions to collection development, among others. the presentations from the first three conferences have been homogeneous to some degree, with all the presenters from academic libraries, and only one librarian from outside of canada. however, a more diverse conference was delivered in 2023, with 30% of topics were on or by specialized libraries, and 44% of the presenters from outside of canada. these annual gatherings, in person or virtual, provided us opportunities to share and reflect on the many challenges and successes during the previous year and felt a constant need to find serenity and sanity to counterbalance uncertain and anxious moments, while being immigrants, being minorities, being asian. finding any resolution is never the goal but it is our wish to be more self-conscious of these sentiments, identify roots of the issue and hopefully land on refreshed perspectives and change it around with small actions in our everyday lives. membership growth as of march 16, 2023, the canada chapter has a total of thirty members, comprising ten life members, eight overseas members, and seven student members. figure 1 provides a visual breakdown of the membership distribution. since its establishment in june 2018, the canada chapter has experienced significant growth, with the number of canadian members doubling, and that of life members also doubling. figure 2 indicates that over half of the current members (20 out of 30) joined the chapter after 2019. it is worth noting that the majority of the chapter's members reside or work in ontario, as shown in figure 3. to expand its membership and increase its reach across canada, the chapter needs to undertake measures to promote itself in other regions of the country. jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 79 figure 1. number of members by membership level figure 2. number of members by current membership level start year 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 honorary member life member overseas member regular member student member count of membership level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1998 2002 2010 2016 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 count of current membership level start year jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 80 figure 3. members by province canadian members’ contribution to cala since the establishment of the chapter in 2018, there has been a noticeable increase in the involvement of canadian members in cala, as shown in figure 4. in the most current year, 20222023, three canadians are serving on the cala board of directors, including one member on the cala executive committee as the incoming vice president/president elect for 2024-2025 (cala, 2023a). this marks the first time a non-u.s. member has been elected as the president since cala was founded in 1973. additionally, a canadian member is currently running for the position of president for the 2025-2026 term. figure 4. number of canadian officers by year count of members by province alberta british columbia manitoba ontario quebec 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 number of canadian officers jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 81 canadian members have made significant contributions to cala, with an increasing number of members receiving awards, grants and honors since the establishment of the canada chapter in 2018. notable awards include the distinguished service award in 2020, the jing liao award for best research in 2022, and the sheila suen lai research grant in 2021 and 2022. additionally, canadian members have received the president's recognition award at least five times since 2019 (cala, 2023b). the cala canada chapter has also played a significant role in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (edi) in the library profession in canada. canadian members of the chapter were invited to share their views and first-hand experiences with students and communities of asian backgrounds on edi (cho, bolefski, tellis, jin, & kumaran, 2022) and the university of windsor’s second annual equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization (edid) week (university of windsor, 2023). these activities have helped to raise awareness and advance conversations around edi issues in the canadian library community. challenges and opportunities the chinese american librarians association (cala) currently consists of eight chapters: greater mid-atlantic (gma), midwest chapter (mw), northeast chapter (ne), northern california chapter (nca), southern california chapter (sca), southeast chapter (se), southwest chapter (sw) and canada chapter (about, n.d.), each catering to specific geographical regions within the united states. being the youngest and the first chapter to be established outside the u.s., cala canada encounters a set of distinct challenges. therefore, cala canada recognizes the significance of collaboration and partnerships in amplifying its impact and advancing the library profession on a broader scale. moving forward, cala canada will actively foster collaboration with other library organizations and institutions, forging strategic partnerships that will enhance its reach and influence. through strategic partnerships, cala canada can pool resources, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects that have a far-reaching impact. joint initiatives such as conferences, workshops, and research endeavors can promote professional development, foster engagement, and address common challenges faced by library professionals worldwide. collaborative efforts also enable the sharing of best practices, innovation, and expertise, ultimately benefiting library professionals and patrons nationwide. like other volunteer-based organizations, cala canada faces the challenge of ensuring consistent and dedicated participation from its members. we need to foster a strong sense of purpose and motivation among our members, as they may have other personal and professional commitments that compete for their time and attention. effective communication, regular engagement, and recognition of volunteers' contributions are crucial to maintain their long-term involvement. cala canada board also needs to address the challenge of managing a diverse group of members with varying levels of expertise and experience. members may come from different educational backgrounds and professional fields within the library sector. providing training opportunities and mentorship programs can help ensure that members have the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute effectively to cala's initiatives. jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 82 recruiting and retaining a diverse and dedicated member base is crucial for cala canada's growth and sustainability. cala canada needs to implement effective recruitment strategies that align with its mission and target the chinese canadian library community. by actively reaching out to potential members and promoting the benefits and opportunities of joining the chapter, it can expand its membership base and attract individuals who will contribute to its collective mission. outreach efforts should include partnerships with library schools, professional associations, and community organizations. engaging with potential members through social media, networking events, and conferences can help raise awareness about cala's initiatives and attract individuals who are passionate about promoting chinese american librarianship. expanding cala canada's current reach geographically or across different projects may present challenges in terms of maintaining consistent collaboration and coordination. implementing effective communication channels, such as virtual meetings and collaborative platforms, will be vital in keeping volunteers connected and aligned with cala's mission and goals. regular updates, newsletters, and knowledge-sharing sessions can help foster a sense of community among volunteers working on various initiatives under the cala umbrella. in the united states, several library associations have been established to address racial diversity, including the american indian library association, black caucus american library association, and the national association to promote library & information services to latinos and the spanish speaking, among others. conversely, there are currently limited comparable associations or chapters focusing on racialized librarians in canada (associations in canada for information professionals, n.d.). nevertheless, it is anticipated that the accomplishments of cala canada can act as a catalyst, inspiring the formation of additional associations or chapters dedicated to supporting racialized librarians within canada to boost the promotion of equity, diversity, and inclusion. conclusion in conclusion, the establishment of cala canada has proven to be a timely and crucial response to the needs of chinese canadian library professionals. since its inception in 2018, remarkable progress has been made, leading to notable accomplishments. the annual conferences have successfully drawn presenters and attendees from across canada and the united states, facilitating knowledge sharing and fostering collaboration among professionals in the field. furthermore, membership within the canada chapter has witnessed a substantial increase, with more individuals actively participating in cala committees and receiving well-deserved recognition for their outstanding contributions. moreover, cala canada serves as an invaluable platform for promoting chinese heritage and culture, while simultaneously playing a pivotal role in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the library community. by embracing diversity and actively addressing the unique challenges faced by chinese canadian library professionals, cala canada has effectively fostered a supportive and inclusive environment for its members. nevertheless, the growth of cala canada is not without its challenges. encouraging consistent participation and engagement from its geographically dispersed members remains a priority, as sustained involvement is vital for the chapter's success and longevity. additionally, jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 83 the diverse range of expertise and experience among its members necessitates careful management and coordination to ensure that all perspectives are valued and effectively utilized. to ensure continued growth and sustainability, the canada chapter must also develop an effective recruitment strategy. furthermore, the canada chapter should strive to expand its reach geographically, extending its influence beyond its current boundaries, and actively seeking collaborations with other library organizations and institutions to tap into a diverse pool of expertise, perspectives, and resources. to conclude, while cala canada has achieved remarkable progress and made significant contributions to the chinese canadian library professional community, there are ongoing challenges that require attention and strategic planning. by addressing these challenges head-on, the chapter can continue to grow, adapt, and thrive, ensuring its enduring impact in supporting its members, promoting chinese heritage and culture, and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the library profession. acknowledgement the inaugural board of cala canada chapter guoying liu (president) lei jin (vice president) haiyun cao cordelia tang (secretary) fangmin wang (event planning) wei xuan (webmaster) jason zou (treasurer) references about. (n.d.). cala official website. retrieved 22 may 2023, from https://cala-web.org/about/ associations in canada for information professionals. (n.d.). retrieved 22 may 2023, from https://librarianship.ca/resources/associations/ becker, a. s., cummins, m., davis, a., freeman, a., giesinger hall, c., ananthanarayanan, v., langley, k., and wolfson, n. 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(2018, march 28). occupation national occupational classification (noc) 2016 (691), employment income statistics (3), highest certificate, diploma or degree (7), visible minority (15), work activity during the reference year (4), age (4d) and sex (3) for the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2015 and reported employment income in 2015, in private households of canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas, 2016 census 25% sample data. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rpeng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc =01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0& sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= university of windsor. (2023). equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization (edid) week 2023. retrieved march 25, 2023. https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2023-03-20/sessionsexplore-accessibility-diversity-racial-equity zhang, l. (2023). your future heritages of chinatown, chinatown 2050 and planting imagination, cala canada chapter annual conference, january 31, 2023, toronto, canada ___________________________________________________________________ about the authors lei jin is e-resources librarian at toronto metropolitan university (formerly known as ryerson university. she was the president of cala canada chapter (2020-2022), and has been actively involved in various committees of cala. her research focuses on usage data analysis, and collection development and assessment. guoying liu is librarian iv, systems librarian and engineering liaison at university of windsor leddy library. she was the inaugural president of cala canada chapter (2018-2020), and will become the first non-us president of cala in july 2024. her research interests include equity, https://www.olasuperconference.ca/sc2019/whats-happening/unconference-centre/index.html https://www.olasuperconference.ca/sc2019/whats-happening/unconference-centre/index.html https://www.olasuperconference.ca/sc2019/whats-happening/unconference-centre/index.html https://www.olasuperconference.ca/sc2019/whats-happening/unconference-centre/index.html https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gk=1&grp=1&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef= https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2023-03-20/sessions-explore-accessibility-diversity-racial-equity https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2023-03-20/sessions-explore-accessibility-diversity-racial-equity jin et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 86 diversity and inclusion and librarianship, library services to international students, library technology, and library publishing. wei zhang is e-resources & collection analysis librarian at mcmaster university library, and currently vice president of cala canada chapter. she focuses on collection development and assessment, e-resources management and access, and equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization in libraries. 07-300-title-page 07-300-jin-article abstract international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 81 issn: 2474-3542 book review: the data librarian’s handbook, by robin rice and john southall, london: facet publishing, december 2016, 192p. paper $69.52. isbn: 978-1783300471. rice (data librarian, edina and data library) and southall (data librarian, bodleian libraries, university of oxford) have produced a concise, wide-ranging introduction to data librarianship. the authors aim to cover the basics of all central areas of the field, from its history to current issues such as data sharing. data literacy and helping patrons find the right data set to analyze get sufficient attention. the challenging topic of research data management gets two chapters. included are eight short examples (“vignettes”) discussing experiences with research data management planning, written by other data librarians, which give life to the subject. each chapter concludes with “key take-away points” and “reflective questions,” which help the reader focus on the most essential elements. rice and southall write clearly and even entertainingly. the book is well organized and flows smoothly. although both authors are from the united kingdom, the book takes an international approach and is suitable for an international audience. while the shortness of the book (159 pages) limits its detail, its coverage is quite comprehensive. it is highly recommended as a source for all new data librarians and other librarians starting to work with data. --daniel edelstein, university of windsor doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.33 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.33 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org ala un 2030 sustainable development goals task force robin kear and loida garcia-febo abstract: this field report explores the recent planning and work underway by the american library association’s united nations 2030 sustainable development goals task force. to cite this article: kear, r., & garcia-febo, l. (2020). ala un 2030 sustainable development goals task force. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 94-97. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.173 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 94-97. issn: 2474-3542 ala un 2030 sustainable development goals task force robin kear, university of pittsburgh, pittsburgh, pa, usa loida garcia-febo, international library consultant, usa abstract this field report explores the recent planning and work underway by the american library association’s united nations 2030 sustainable development goals task force. keywords: american library association, sustainability, sustainable development goals, and american library association un sdg task force introduction the american library association (ala) united nations 2030 sustainable development goals (sdgs) task force (tf) was created in january of 2020 by the ala executive board during its midwinter meeting. the tf purpose is to develop a multi-year strategic plan in the coming year to increase participation by libraries in efforts to achieve the sdgs. this is an initiative from the ala president-elect julius c. jefferson jr. for his upcoming presidential year. the 17 sustainable development goals were adopted by all the united nations member states during the general assembly of september 2015. these represent a plan to guide countries worldwide in their development efforts. thus, setting up an agenda to be accomplished by 2030. as per the united nations, the sustainable development goals are a “call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere” (united nations, 2015a). the international federations of library associations and institutions (ifla) has advocated for access to information, culture, education and information and technology communications (icts) on behalf of libraries at the united nations since january 2014. librarians representing ifla and working together with civil society organizations and a global network of librarians were successful in ensuring that access to information was part of the text of target 16.10 of goal 16 peace justice and strong institutions. target 16.10 reads, “ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements” (united nations, 2015b). the inclusion of “access to information” was a historical win for the library community because it is the first time the united nations included it in a document of such nature. the millennium development goals, which were the u.n. goals in place before the sdgs, did not include it. these 8 millennium development goals guided the world for the previous 17 years kear and garcia-febo / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 95 on national and local levels. progress in these goals did happen and were most effective when everyone worked together globally. the 2012 un sustainable development conference in rio (rio+20) was an important conference that considered environmental issues and worked to expand the worldwide goals to advance society. open forums and a more democratic process was created to scope the goals; 5 million people were involved in the process. the 2030 sdgs were born to advance 5 main areas: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships. the 17 goals and 169 targets are interdependent. ifla has asked library associations around the world to join in a global effort to highlight how libraries contribute to the sdgs. these efforts help our libraries, our profession, and our communities. from 2016 to 2018, ifla ran the international advocacy programme (iap) as a capacity-building program designed to promote and support the role libraries can play in the planning and implementation of global goals (ifla, 2018). six regional workshops were held around the world with library administrators and leaders from 76 countries to build capacity for national library groups to work with their national governments. the overall goals of the workshops were to raise awareness on the un 2030 agenda, sdgs, and the significance of public access to information in the achievement of the sdgs. the workshop trainers gave a thorough understanding of the un2030 agenda and how to identify stakeholders in their own countries. it helped participants develop a national advocacy plan and create plans to meet with library associations, local governments, national governments, and community groups. there is a toolkit and booklet available from the ifla website; along with templates and social media channel suggestions, such as #lib4dev (ifla, 2017). task force activities the tf has been active amid the pandemic developing resources such as webinars and charts to help libraries understand how they are already helping communities meet the sdgs. the role of libraries in the un 2030 is significant and ala members and united states libraries can directly or indirectly support many of the goals and targets. libraries also are uniquely positioned to raise awareness of the sdgs with their broad reach into communities. to date, the tf has created two charts for use by libraries, one chart featuring how libraries are helping communities meet the united nations sustainable development goals, in general, and another one specifically showing examples of how this is done in times of covid19. a third chart was developed by the los angeles public library featuring its programs and services and how they speak to each one of the sdgs. all charts are published on a dedicated website developed by ala’s international relations office (iro) that serves as a resource site for all tf activities (ala, 2020). a webinar entitled “libraries contributing to meet the united nations sustainable development goals: a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere” was presented on june 9, 2020 by the tf. it highlighted inspiring stories from libraries in australia, france and germany presented by leaders of library associations in those countries. they presented the websites created to share these stories and discussed how libraries are helping communities meet the sdgs in each country. the goal was to encourage u.s. libraries to connect the dots between their existing services and the way they are already meeting the sdgs. the event, moderated by loida garcia-febo, chair of the tf, welcomed the following guest speakers, thanos giannakopoulos, director the dag hammarskjöld library at the united nations in new york; vicki mcdonald, state librarian and chief executive officer of kear and garcia-febo / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 96 the state library of queensland, australian library and information association president 2017-2018, and chair of the professional committee at ifla; raphaëlle bats, international relations officer of the national school of libraries and information sciences (enssib), governing board member of le comité français international bibliothèques et documentation (cfibd); hella klauser, internationale kooperation, german library association, deutscher bibliotheksverband e.v., kompetenznetzwerk für bibliotheken. additionally, the chair of the tf has been invited to share the group’s efforts at virtual events such as the “library 2.020 mini-conference: sustainability in libraries” webinar presented on october 14, 2020 by the san jose state university school of information and “libraries and sustainability the 17 goals in focus for libraries worldwide,” a webinar presented on september 24, 2020 by the german library association. six members of the tf will be featured speakers at “philippine libraries and their role in the united nations sustainable development goals (sdgs),” a virtual event on november 20, 2020 highlighting the celebration of the philippines 30th library and information services month. the tf is supported by the ala’s international relations office. the members of the task force work together to develop resources. they are connie champlain, tina chan, robin kear, erika long, donna scheeder, john szabo, evviva weinraub, daniela sokokovic, and shaddy shadrach. in the upcoming months, the tf will be tackling the development of a multi-year strategic plan. the process will include ala members and other library associations. in the meantime, as garcia-febo said, members will continue collaborating to develop resources that demonstrate how “libraries are essential to development and their services are a platform to do good in the world by adopting sustainable thinking and transforming lives through education and lifelong learning” (ala, 2020). libraries facilitate access to information and can have an impact across the whole 2030 agenda. libraries are well positioned to work across society. we promote the rights of citizens, develop relevant collections, model standards of information ethics, and give access to technology. as a national association, we need to advocate these contributions loudly and consistently to the world’s development. we need to increase awareness and give clear statements of the critical contribution we can make and have clear examples of good practice and evidence to support our claims. the ala tf can help us do that. references american library association (ala). (2020). ala task force on united nations 2030 sustainable development goals. retrieved november 11, 2020 from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/ala-task-force-united-nations-2030-sustainabledevelopment-goals international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla). (2017). ifla toolkit: libraries, development and the united nations 2030 agenda. retrieved november 11, 2020 from https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/10156 international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla). (2018). the international advocacy programme (iap). retrieved november 11, 2020 from https://www.ifla.org/ldp/iap united nations. (2015). the sustainable development agenda – united nations sustainable development. retrieved november 11, 2020 from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/ kear and garcia-febo / international journal of librarianship 5(2) 97 united nations. (2015). the sustainable development goals – goal 16: promote just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. retrieved november 11, 2020 from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice/.   about the authors robin kear is a liaison librarian at the university of pittsburgh in the usa. robin served as an information services intern for the united nations in nairobi, kenya, and has taught in vietnam and kazakhstan. she is currently secretary of the ifla social sciences library section, chairing the ala conference committee and serving on the ala center for the future of libraries advisory group. loida garcia-febo is puerto rican, graduated in business, with a master's degree in lis. international library consultant, and president of the american library association, 20182019. at ifla: governing board 2013-2017 and currently a member of the management of library associations section. at ala: chair, ala un 2030 sustainable development goals. 008_173-report_title-final 008_173-report-final international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 1-2 issn:2474-3542 editorial: introducing this special issue on data librarianship i am delighted to be introducing this special issue of the international journal of librarianship devoted to data librarianship and academic data services. the topic is a timely one. data has been receiving increased attention as a topic for librarianship over the last few years as ordinary desktop computers become able to crunch larger and larger datasets. in addition to the clear need for better techniques for storage and access, regulatory frameworks have played a role. many government bodies, funding agencies and academic journals are mandating data preservation and sharing as part of a general push for greater academic transparency. academic data services, both established and new, are stepping forward to help researchers meet these requirements. in canada and the u.s., data services often began with the need to deliver what were then considered large quantities of government data on tape to local researchers, while in europe and parts of africa, the founding of national data archives played a significant role. in china data services have taken off with the need to track and manage quantities of faculty-produced datasets, a need that universities around the globe are grappling with. over time, the issue of how to handle large quantities of data has moved from being a technical one to being one of documentation, description, sharing, and knowledge transfer – a challenge librarians are uniquely positioned to deal with given our experience with cataloguing, organization, and information literacy. several books and other publications (including two reviewed in this issue) have been published recently that attempt to help librarians and libraries cope with what is for many a new role. however, to the best of my knowledge most of what is currently available in english focuses on north america and, occasionally, great britain. but data is a global concern for researchers, for libraries, and in the end, for society. while the collection of articles and commentaries presented here do not quite span the globe, several comparative perspectives are presented. what is an academic data service? what types of services do different libraries and organizations offer? what are the common elements that stretch across borders? how can data services and concepts enrich other aspects of academic library service? in this issue, our contributors grapple with these questions and more as they explore diverse aspects of this growing specialty in our profession. in this issue meryl brodsky reports on a syllabus study of data literacy requirements at her institution’s business school. she looks at the factors associated with varying data literacy requirements (including some differences she found surprising) and discusses the implications for librarians looking to offer data literacy programs. thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 2 shu liu interviewed library users at her institution to analyze researcher needs across the research lifecycle and gauge how the chinese subject service model works in meeting those needs. western readers may be particularly interested in some of the unique and unfamiliar aspects of chinese academic librarianship, such as “discipline support service,” in which librarians team up with administration to provide evaluation of programs. heidi winkler and joy perrin turn to curation of massive digital collections, focusing on the ways that access to large federated collections can influence decisions and practices at individual institutions. they discuss some of the difficult stewardship decisions that need to be made given limited resources, including deselection. some academic libraries have been providing services ranging from digital curation to data literacy for half a century now. chiu-chuang chou gives a historical perspective on the development of data services at her institution and provides a “data services 101” that outlines the key sources a budding data librarian should consult. and in our last featured article, lili li turns to the role of data in library evaluation. the libqual survey is widely used in north america, and he provides a case study that incorporates a thoughtful discussion of how librarians can use readily available tools to learn more from their survey data. commentary two commentary articles provide a wide-ranging look at the field of data librarianship as it is practiced. the first is a collection of virtual interviews conducted with an international panel of well-known and influential data librarians, archivists and educators. our six interviewees generously shared highlights of their careers, observations on how the field has evolved over time, and words of advice for people and institutions looking to get started in data services. the second commentary is a dialog between two data librarians, one based in china, the other in canada, comparing the development of academic data services at their respective institutions and noting some key similarities and differences. i was very fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with shenqin yin on this column. this special issue also includes two book reviews looking at recent publications in data librarianship and a report on a recent conference in china. lastly, i would like to thank all the people who contributed. our authors were a delight to work with, and our many reviewers and copy-editors are indispensable and much appreciated. i particularly would like to thank the panel of international experts who generously shared their thoughts. all the members of the editorial team need to be thanked as well, and especially editorin-chief guoying liu, who developed the concept for this special issue and invited me to help make it a reality. kristi thompson university of windsor international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 1-2 issn: 2474-3542 guest editorial: pathways to library leadership: celebrating 50 years of chinese american librarians association (cala) the chinese american librarians association (cala) was established in 1973, and over the past five decades, it has grown to become the home association of librarians of chinese descent in north america and beyond. supporting members’ professional development and research scholarship and enhancing leadership development are the core of cala’s missions. to celebrate cala’s 50th anniversary, the public relations & fundraising committee proposed a special issue for the international journal of librarianship under the theme "pathways to library leadership." this special issue features seven articles and reports that provide a diverse range of perspectives and valuable resources for library professionals seeking to enhance their leadership skills and advance their careers. as a contested term, the definition of leadership varies based on time, organization, culture, and more. yang, in his article “leadership and libraries: status quo and emerging trends,” explores the multifaceted concept of leadership with a focus on challenges and dilemmas leaders face in the context of academic libraries. he believes that “the primary function of a leader is to provide direction and clarity regarding the organizational raison d’être and objectives.” beyond cala’s regular programs and procedures, some members put their efforts to advocate leadership of minority librarians. in the paper “path to leadership: national forum on advancing asian/pacific islander american librarianship,” gao et al. detail the plan and implementation of their grant-winning project, path to leadership: national forum to advance asian/pacific islander american (apia) librarianship. they also include project evaluation and curriculum outline to fully develop an apia leadership program. li's study, "chinese canadian librarians: leadership roles and career barriers," insightfully examines the leadership roles held by chinese canadian librarians and their perceptions of the job and working environment based on the data from the visible minority librarians of canada network (vimloc) 2021 survey. she presents valuable recommendations for increasing representation in librarianship and supporting chinese librarians in leadership roles and recommends leadership programs tailored to minority librarians in canada. mi, et al. share their inspiring experiences of building trust as black, indigenous, and people of color (bipoc) women leaders in the academic libraries in their paper "our journey of building trust: case studies of bipoc women leaders in academic libraries." the paper provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by bipoc leaders in their roles and how they develop their skill sets to facilitate their efforts in trust-building. habing and ruan’s article "leading through partnership: how the illinois fire service institute library leads to serve its user-community," offers a unique perspective on library leadership through partnership. the authors provide illuminating analysis on the role of wu / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 2 partnerships in responding to the unique information needs of firefighters and how the illinois fire service institute library has established itself as a leader in partnership in both the library and information science field and the fire service. the article "creating a forum for library professionals: a case study of cala canada chapter" is a useful case study that highlights the establishment, growth, and achievements of a professional forum. the authors, jin, liu, and zhang, provide insights into the valuable resources, programs, and opportunities provided by the cala canada chapter, which promotes diversity and inclusivity in the library profession in canada. the article also offers a discussion of the challenges and plans of the chapter, including expanding its reach and increasing its membership. liu et al.'s article, "retrospect and prospect: the creation and development of an academic journal," offers a reflective account of the journey of creating and advancing an openaccess academic journal. the article provides a valuable contribution to the literature on academic publishing, particularly in the library and information science field. as cala commemorates its 50th anniversary, it is not only a time of celebration but also an opportunity to recognize the extraordinary achievements of its leaders and the vital role cala plays in fostering the growth and development of library professionals. through this special issue and the remarkable stories it presents, we hope to inspire a new generation of library leaders, providing them with the knowledge, motivation, and guidance they need to navigate their own paths to success. guest editor: jingjing wu, texas tech university, united states editing contributors to this issue: copy editing: sunny chung, anne kaay, kimberly kennedy, denise montgomery, julia zheng layout editing: yongming wang issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org a directory to international lis education accreditation processes: part ii xiaoai ren abstract: let us continue to look at the lis education accreditation processes across the world in part ii of this directory. this time, readers will find information on the accreditation processes for higher education in general, and lis education in particular in ireland, germany, and south africa. in ireland, the library association of ireland (lai) accredits only lis programs that meet the academic quality assurance requirements of the state agency quality and qualifications ireland (qqi). in south africa, a lis program provider will first contact the library and information association of south africa (liasa) for input before submitting the accreditation application to the council on higher education (che), the statutory body in south africa for quality assurance in higher education. in germany, the accreditation council is the central decision-making body that is responsible for the accreditation of all study programs of any disciplines in germany. there is no specialized accreditation institution for lis accreditations, and german library associations is not involved in the lis education accreditation processes. to cite this article: ren, x. (2017). a directory to international lis education accreditation processes: part ii. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 104-108. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.52 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 104-108 issn:2474-3542 a directory to international lis education accreditation processes: part ii xiaoai ren the department of library and information studies, valdosta state university, valdosta, ga, usa let us continue to look at the lis education accreditation processes across the world in part ii of this directory. this time, readers will find information on the accreditation processes for higher education in general, and lis education in particular in ireland, germany, and south africa. in ireland, the library association of ireland (lai) accredits only lis programs that meet the academic quality assurance requirements of the state agency quality and qualifications ireland (qqi). in south africa, a lis program provider will first contact the library and information association of south africa (liasa) for input before submitting the accreditation application to the council on higher education (che), the statutory body in south africa for quality assurance in higher education. in germany, the accreditation council is the central decisionmaking body that is responsible for the accreditation of all study programs of any disciplines in germany. there is no specialized accreditation institution for lis accreditations, and german library associations is not involved in the lis education accreditation processes. ireland accreditation office (https://www.libraryassociation.ie/) the professional standards committee of the library association of ireland (lai) is responsible for accrediting the courses offered by universities and colleges in ireland that offer information and library studies courses. two lis programs are accredited in ireland by lai. one is in university college dublin and the other is in dublin business school. lai accredits courses and programs leading to graduate and postgraduate qualifications in library and information management. the lai’s program accreditation process assures that the quality of library and information studies education programs in ireland is in line with international norms. accreditation can only be undertaken for courses and programs that meet the academic quality assurance requirements of the agencies responsible for quality assurance in the republic of ireland e.g. quality and qualifications ireland (qqi). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/library_and_information_association_of_south_africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/library_and_information_association_of_south_africa https://www.libraryassociation.ie/ ren / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 105 quality and qualifications ireland (qqi) qqi was established by the qualifications and quality assurance (education and training) act 2012. it is an independent, state agency of the department of education and skills. qqi is responsible for the external quality assurance of further and higher education, and validates and approves programs in ireland. any programs can apply to qqi to have their programs approved to a national qualification (qqi award). accreditation process the professional standards committee first seeks a report from the institutions seeking accreditation. this is followed by a site visit and subsequent discussions. once a program is accredited, the accreditation lasts for a period of five years. a monitoring process is in place to assess progress. the course provider must meet with the professional standards committee annually to update the committee on course development and to discuss matters of common interests. procedures for accreditation (https://www.libraryassociation.ie/sites/default/files/accreditation%20guidelines%202014.pdf) 1. the course provider should make a formal application to the lai professional standards committee. 2. the professional standards committee will convene a meeting with the provider to discuss course content, institutional educational policy, resourcing etc. 3. an accreditation timetable will be drawn up by the committee and approved by the provider. 4. the provider will map core content provision as nearly as possible to the professional knowledge and skills base. 5. the provider will be advised by the lai of other key courses, which in the opinion of the professional standards committee would be important in the context of course delivery in ireland. 6. the provider should supply detailed information as to the content of all courses, topics and fields of knowledge covered during the course year; and the faculty and staff involved in the course provision. 7. the provider should show evidence of engagement with practitioners, employers and leading figures in the information field. 8. the provider should supply data as to the expected number of students or the number of students already registered. 9. evidence of institutional backing and support for the course should be shown. 10. a date will be set by which the course documentation should be sent to the lai professional standards committee for review and assessment. a non-refundable accreditation fee of €1,000 is payable to the lai on submission of course documents. 11. the accreditation panel consists of the members of the professional standards committee or their nominees, no less than three members of the committee should take part in the assessment process. no more than three members should participate in the subsequent site visit; these three members must have already participated in the assessment process. http://www.qqi.ie/publications/publications/qualifications%20and%20quality%20assurance%20act%202012.pdf http://www.qqi.ie/publications/publications/qualifications%20and%20quality%20assurance%20act%202012.pdf https://www.libraryassociation.ie/sites/default/files/accreditation%20guidelines%202014.pdf ren / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 106 12. the assessment should be completed in four to six weeks. nominees of the professional standards committee will participate in a site visit, preferably in tandem with assessors from the appropriate academic quality assurance body. useful links • the professional standards committee of the library association of ireland (lai) https://www.libraryassociation.ie/library-association-ireland/committees-panels-taskforces/education-committee-professional-standar-1 • quality and qualifications ireland (qqi) http://www.qqi.ie/pages/home.aspx • the professional knowledge and skills base https://www.libraryassociation.ie/career/pksb germany accreditation agency – foundation for the accreditation of study programmes in germany (http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/index.php?id=44&l=1) all bachelor and master programs in germany must be accredited. the accreditation council is responsible for the accreditation of all study programs of any disciplines in germany. there is no specialized accreditation institution for lis accreditations, and german library associations not involved in the accreditation processes. the accreditation council is the central decision-making body of the foundation for the accreditation of study programs in germany. the foundation was established by the accreditation foundation law (asg). its statutory mission is to organize the quality assurance system for study programs and teaching by accrediting study programs. members of the accreditation council are appointed for a period of four years in agreement between the standing conference of the ministers of education and cultural affairs of the länder and the german rectors’ conference. the accreditation council contracts with accreditation agencies to carry out the accreditation of study programs. these accreditation agencies themselves must be accredited by the accreditation council before they accredit study programs. currently there are 12 lis programs accredited in germany, both bachelor and master programs. a detailed list of the programs is available in the central database of the german accreditation council. accreditation process the accreditation process in germany is a multistage procedure based upon the principle of peer review. if an institution of higher education applies to an accreditation agency for accreditation for one of its study programs, the agency will appoint a group of experts, which will reflect both the academic focus, and the specific profile of the study program. the expert group will comprise representatives of all the relevant stakeholders. the assessment of the study program https://www.libraryassociation.ie/library-association-ireland/committees-panels-task-forces/education-committee-professional-standar-1 https://www.libraryassociation.ie/library-association-ireland/committees-panels-task-forces/education-committee-professional-standar-1 http://www.qqi.ie/pages/home.aspx https://www.libraryassociation.ie/career/pksb http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/index.php?id=44&l=1 ren / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 107 by the expert group takes place in accordance with the rules for the accreditation of study programmes and for system accreditation. it generally includes an on-site visit to the higher education institution, as well as the analysis of the higher education institution’s application rationale. in this context, the group of experts will conduct on-site interviews with the management of the higher education institution, teaching staff and students. finally, the experts will prepare a report with a recommendation on the accreditation of the study program. based upon the report and according to the rules for decisions stipulated by the accreditation council, the agency’s relevant decision-making body will then decide upon the accreditation for the respective study program: an accreditation with conditions, a suspension, or a refusal of accreditation. a program accreditation is usually valid for a period of between five and seven years. useful links • the list of accreditation agencies o http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/index.php?id=agenturen&l=1 • the central database of the accreditation council o http://www.hs-kompass2.de/kompass/xml/akkr/maske_en.html (entering "bibliothek" (the german word for "library") in the "study programme" search field) • the rules for the accreditation of study programmes and for system accreditation o http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/fileadmin/seiteninhalte/ar/beschluesse/en/ar _regeln_studiengaenge_en_aktuell.pdf • german library associations o http://www.bibliotheksverband.de/metamenue/english.html south africa accreditation office (http://www.che.ac.za/) the council on higher education (che) is an independent statutory body established in may 1998 in terms of the higher education act. the che has executive responsibility for quality assurance and promotion and discharges this responsibility through the establishment of a permanent committee (as required by the higher education act), the higher education quality committee (heqc). only programs accredited by the heqc can be offered by a higher education institution, accreditation process when a new accreditation or a review of an existing accreditation is required, the curriculum and supporting documents are submitted to the che through heqc-online, this is a web-based accreditation application system. institutions can submit applications throughout the year. heqc does the review, including reviewing the process followed by the institution on consulting with the relevant professional organization, before making the final decision. http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/index.php?id=agenturen&l=1 http://www.hs-kompass2.de/kompass/xml/akkr/maske_en.html http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/fileadmin/seiteninhalte/ar/beschluesse/en/ar_regeln_studiengaenge_en_aktuell.pdf http://www.akkreditierungsrat.de/fileadmin/seiteninhalte/ar/beschluesse/en/ar_regeln_studiengaenge_en_aktuell.pdf http://www.bibliotheksverband.de/metamenue/english.html http://www.che.ac.za/ ren / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 108 the library and information association of south africa (liasa) is the professional organization for the library and information services sector. therefore, when a new accreditation application is submitted to che, liasa will make input into the minimum standards, how the qualification is meeting the needs in the lis sector, how the established core competencies are addressed in the qualification, etc. typically, the submitting institution would contact liasa for a report prior to submitting to the che. the che would review and follow their processes, again consult with the professional body, prior to final decision. useful links • heqc-online o http://heqc-online.che.ac.za • the library and information association of south africa (liasa) o http://www.liasa.org.za about the author dr. xiaoai ren is an assistant professor in the master of library and information science program at valdosta state university. this is a fully online program. dr. ren teaches reference course. she holds an m.s. in information management from peking university and a ph.d. in information science from the university at albany. her research interests include library cooperation at regional, national, and interaction levels, reference services, international librarianship, and ebooks in libraries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/library_and_information_association_of_south_africa http://heqc-online.che.ac.za/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/library_and_information_association_of_south_africa http://www.liasa.org.za/ 08.52-265-1-sm_title 08.52-265-1-sm issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org lives in data: some prominent data librarians, archivists and educators share their thoughts kristi thompson and guoying liu abstract: we asked several data librarians, archivists and educators who have had prominent and interesting careers if they would be willing to let us profile them and share some of their thoughts on the field. six graciously agreed to be interviewed via email. many of our respondents played key roles in developing data services and infrastructure in their respective countries, while others are involved in building the future of the field through education, advancing standards, and advocacy. our virtual panel includes tuomas j. alaterä, finland; ann green and jian qin, united states; guangjing li, china; wendy watkins, canada; and lynn woolfrey, south africa. to cite this article: thompson, k. & liu, g. (2017). lives in data: some prominent data librarians, archivists and educators share their thoughts. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 66-72. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.35 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 66-72 issn:2474-3542 lives in data: some prominent data librarians, archivists and educators share their thoughts we wanted to gain a wider-ranging international perspective on the evolving field of academic data librarianship. we asked several data librarians, archivists and educators who have had prominent and interesting careers if they would be willing to let us profile them and share some of their thoughts on the field. six graciously agreed to be interviewed via email. many of our respondents played key roles in developing data services and infrastructure in their respective countries, while others are involved in building the future of the field through education, advancing standards, and advocacy. our virtual panel includes tuomas j. alaterä, finland; ann green and jian qin, united states; guangjing li, china; wendy watkins, canada; and lynn woolfrey, south africa. responses were compiled by kristi thompson and have been excerpted and edited for brevity. tuomas j. alaterä is an it services specialist at the finnish social science data archive, and current president of the international association of social science information services and technology (iassist), a prominent international organization for professionals who support research and teaching with data. tuomas on how he became involved in working with data: by a phone call! back in year 2000, and before the reign of google, curated subject specific web resources were a thing. as a trainee at the department of information studies, with a background in political science and web design, i was hired to work on a project on political science resources. rather soon we set to build an online learning environment for teaching and learning quantitative methods. the simple key to success was to make real research data available, and walk students through the analysis process in spss and provide information on how to interpret the results. the fsd has its roots in traditional european social science data archive model. it grew out of a need to archive research data for reuse and provide information services related to that purpose. now our spectrum of services has widened a lot. we offer a data portal for researchers and students to browse, search and download datasets. data cleaning and producing descriptive metadata about the datasets is a big part of the daily work, but guidance and instruction on research data management, data protection and privacy is gaining more and more visibility. so one could say that at first i was mostly concerned with accessibility and data literacy. i then started thinking about data services on a broader scale. i’ve always found building networks to be the way to the profession, because then, and even now, there is fairly little formal training on how one become a data librarian or data support professional. thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 67 iassist on the other hand strives to foster the development of data professionals. though our annual conference, interest groups and mailing lists we provide our members a network that is there for collegial support, exchange of knowledge and learning. and even for safety, in case someone finds her or himself thrown in at the deep end of data support duties. in future we hope to run a series of webinars as well. on how data services have evolved over the course of his career: the demand for data services has grown immensely. i would argue that we have moved from the sidelines to centre field. nowadays it is technically easier to share, access, analyse and visualise data online, and data sharing has become ideologically more desirable. not to say that it didn’t happen before, but the culture is changing. requirements from the funders and journals on making the data available have further accelerated this development. the business model of scientific publishing is changing because of open science. services for making also data and methods available in order to secure the reproducibility of research are in demand right now. many modern research data infrastructures are now being built on and around the structures that social sciences have had in place for decades. for sure, the scales are different, the pace is different and the ways of using the data are different. but this makes me proud of the practitioners of “soft sciences”. it shows that we correctly identified the needs and benefits that data sharing can have. advice for someone getting started in data services: collaborate. seek networking options, check webinars, and convince your superior to allow you to attend conferences or workshops. like iassist, for example! most academic institutions need local data support services and repositories. however, the services requested are fairly similar in most. this is not the time or place to start reinventing the wheel, but to figure out how to get the wheels turning and keep them rolling in the best possible way for your institution. one key element is to learn to know your customers, and the policies within which you will be operating. don’t start from scratch but reach out, interview other service providers and find ways to collaborate. if there is no data policy in place, then advocate that your institution should start on defining one. services are also becoming more standardised. best practices like the fair data principles, or criteria for trustworthiness like the data seal of approval, can act as a yardstick for emerging services. ann green is currently an independent research consultant. she was previously the data archivist at the cornell institute for social and economic research (ciser) and later director of the yale university social science statistical laboratory. she recalls: as the first data archivist at the cornell institute for social and economic research (ciser), i was charged with helping to establish a social science data archive and statistical consulting service to support research and teaching needs at cornell. it was an exciting challenge at a time (about 30 years ago) when other data archives and data services were in development across the world. thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 68 at a time when a data archivist was a rare professional title, i was fortunate to be “drafted” to take on the data archivist position at cornell, having been a reference librarian at cornell’s graduate library. it meant building a data collection from scratch, taking programming courses, visiting data libraries across the country, and diving in to set up new services for faculty and graduate students in the social sciences. the university library worked closely with ciser to address the new challenges of building a digital archive and providing a range of support services. on how data services have evolved over the course of her career: before data analysts could access data directly via ftp and the internet, local social science data archives provided carefully managed collections of data that their research and teaching communities needed. local data collections (on tape and then disk) helped reduce duplication and loss of data, provided a home for consultation and training, and gave a voice for user requirements and program development. in the ‘80’s and 90’s, data archives were housed in libraries, research centers, government agencies, and in academic departments… with the advent of internet based dissemination of data, some of these local collections and services were reorganized or absorbed into libraries. most recently, mandates and incentives to share data, along with an increasing emphasis upon replication and reproducibility, have seen a resurgence of interest in making research data available along with the necessary information to make it usable for the long term. data archives and repositories with the mandate to guarantee access and understandability over time should build upon these decades of data archiving expertise and the data management best practices that have been developed and refined throughout the history of data archives. advice for someone starting out: my advice would be to connect with other professionals in the data archive world. for example, iassist is an organization of individuals (working primarily in the social sciences, but increasingly in other fields) who meet annually and are connected by an active email support network. iassist conferences (and others) provide an excellent opportunity to present ideas, track down solutions, find mentors, and build collaborations. connections can also be made through workshops sponsored by icpsr and other major archives, and by taking part in data user groups and research data management organizations. it is important to continually build expertise: learn about methods, applications, and data analysis in the fields being supported by data services, take programming classes and write code, and be familiar with data collection techniques. cross boundaries between data science initiatives, data librarians, and digital archivists. become active in a solution to a data challenge – contribute to the development of a metadata standard, participate in an assessment standard like data seal of approval, focus upon specific tool development, or take part in data rescue efforts. advocate for and take on the commitment to long term accessibility, understandability, and reuse of critical data resources. explore the dynamics of digital preservation including metadata standards, format migration, replicated storage, and usability over time. thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 69 guangjian li is a professor in the department of information management, peking university as well as a phd student supervisor and the dean of the department. he holds positions on numerous national societies and boards which are helping shape the development of data service and infrastructure in china, and also sits on the editorial boards of four journals in information science. his responses were translated from the chinese by xiaoai ren, one of the editors of the ijol. guangjian’s initial involvement in the data field came about through his work in digital infrastructure: i participated in the construction of the network and automation system in the new national library of science, chinese academy of sciences (cas) and the construction of the cas national digital library. i also participated in the research and development of the library portal, federated search, and intelligent search. later i worked for the national science library, chinese academy of sciences (nslc). the nslc is the research library service system of cas as well as the national library of sciences in chinese national science and technology libraries (nstl) system. it functions as a key library for collecting information resources and providing information services in natural sciences, interdisciplinary fields, and high tech fields, for the researchers and students of cas and for the researchers around the country. it also provides services in information analysis, research information management, digital library development, scientific publishing, and promotion of sciences. my current employer is in higher education. on how data services have evolved over his career: data services at the early stage were mainly about data collection development and sharing for academic and research purposes. the service model was a passive service in which we provided access to what we had. as big data and machine learning develops at rapid pace, recent data services are focusing more on providing customized data based on users’ need. the new service model is one of active service which we provide what the user needs. advice for someone starting out: be curious! think critically and be willing to give it a try and make a difference. first and foremost, continuous learning is the best way to quickly merge into this field and keep growing; second, critical thinking ensures one’s creativity and motivation; third, practice leads to innovation; lastly, do not fear change. it’s the best way to move forward. jian qin is a professor at syracuse university ischool, where she teaches courses on information organization, metadata, and fundamentals of digital data. her research areas include metadata, schema representation of information, ontological modeling, research data management, impact assessment, and collaboration networks. she co-authored the book metadata with marcia lei zeng. on how her initial research into data literacy snowballed: about 10 years ago i obtained my first nsf grant to develop a scientific data literacy course. during the project life, i had the opportunity to work with faculty in other disciplines and study thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 70 their data management needs, which snowballed into a few other funded projects related to research data management. from the conversations and interactions with scientists, i gained indepth understanding of the issues, practices, and requirements for research data management. i have been working on an nsf-funded big metadata analytics project since 2013. this project takes the metadata from genbank (an international data repository for genetic sequences) as the source to study the dynamics and structures of collaboration networks and the impact of cyberinfrastructure on data-intensive science’ productivity and knowledge transfer and diffusion. the data collection is very large and has a high demand for computational power. the university academic computing worked with us to meet our needs for data storage, computing resources, and technical support. on how data librarianship has changed during her career: as an educator having worked in library and information science for the last 30 years, the biggest change in data services is the knowledge and skills required of librarians to perform their duties. the continuing increase in data science and services prompted the demand for data science knowledge and skills. a strong research method training and graduate level of disciplinary knowledge is becoming the new desired qualification for librarians who will engage in data science and services. another change is the proactive, agile response to data service trends in libraries, that is, starting new data services from small and adjusting frequently and rapidly before a full-scale deployment. this approach allows libraries to make a quick response to service programs rising from the change of bigger environment while minimize the risk of doing (or not doing) it. advice for people (and institutions) starting out: because data services are still new compared to traditional libraries services, even a small-scale experiment requires the support from administration at university and library levels, which means committing the funding and resources needed by the new data services. to make such a support long-term and part of library operations, institutionalization of data services is key. this means that a data service project needs to promote awareness among constituencies (faculty, administrators, etc.) and build a community of practice early on. policies about data services are also part of the process. wendy watkins is the retired head of the library data centre at carleton university in ottawa, canada, and is currently an active member of the portage training expert group and a founding donor of evidence for democracy. she was a major force in creating canada’s data liberation initiative, a project that greatly increased the availability of canadian government data to academics. she reflected on some highlights of her career: i came to be a data librarian by a very circuitous path. i have never been to library school. instead, i came to carleton’s library from the sociology department where i reported to the dean of social sciences. my first professional job was as a hockey sociologist for the canadian hockey review, a judicial enquiry. from there i held a number of research positions that involved data analyses in thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 71 a variety of contexts. in 1981 was offered the position as data archivist in the faculty of social science at carleton where i both provided a data service as well as active research services for 10 years. i was then offered a 2-year sabbatical to work with ernie boyko at statistics canada, where i wrote “liberating the data”, a paper that became the basis of canada’s data liberation initiative (dli), now in its 20th year. on returning to carleton, my position moved to the library where my research duties remained the same. i was appointed as data librarian in 2005 and promoted to librarian iv in 2010. in addition, i have held many positions in local, national and international organizations. on how data librarianship has changed during her career: when i began you required an it background as the job involved knowing how to run jobs on a mainframe computer with spss/fortran coding. there was no internet but since there were so few institutions we formed a cohesive group and shared what we could via bitnet and arpanet. at that time, it was also imperative that you have a background in research methods and statistics at an advanced level. this was needed to ‘debug’ programs and advise researchers on appropriate statistical methods for the data they were planning to analyse. through the efforts of ernie boyko and others, data liberation (dli) came on stream and things changed drastically. most of our early colleagues had been in social science research centres; the new members were primarily in libraries and had no research background or statistical expertise. canada’s data libraries expanded from nine to more than 50 virtually overnight and now the dli boasts nearly 80 members. advice for a new data librarian: my first piece of advice to a would-be data librarian is to choose an undergraduate degree that is rich in research methods and statistics. that way, the data end of the job is covered. trying to pick up these advanced skills on the job as a librarian is very difficult; and without a library degree after, it is nearly impossible to obtain a faculty position within a library. my second would be to attend professional meetings and follow listservs with groups like iassist, the research data alliance, etc. as well as taking part in as many hands-on workshops as possible. these tend to marry the fields of research data and librarianship. and finally, finding a mentor within the field can be invaluable. the international data librarianship community is replete with colleagues who are more than willing to lend a hand to their newest members. you will be amazed by their generosity. lynn woolfrey manages the research data infrastructure and services at datafirst, a research data service based at the university of cape town, south africa. her career provides a glimpse into how data and politics intersect. thompson / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 72 she shares: i worked as an information officer/librarian for a research unit at the university of cape town, the southern africa labour and development research unit. we were tasked with undertaking the first inclusive household survey in south africa (previous household surveys either left out “black” households, or enumerated them with a separate questionnaire). the data from this survey was used to inform the post-apartheid government’s socioeconomic policies. i was tasked with curating the data from the survey, and liaison with data users. in 2001 we obtained funding to establish a research data service to curate the growing collection of government survey data. we expanded our services to include census and survey data from other sources, such as the private sector or donor organisations. on how evolving tools and standards have changed how she works: when i started curating data for research, there were few tools for my work. now there are a proliferation of useful and often free tools. for example, we used to pay to use the nesstar server software to publish data. we now use free software, the national data archive (nada) dissemination tool, available from the international household survey network, an initiative of the world bank. since then, too, data curation standards have been established by our community of practice. we adhere to these in our data preparation, metadata creation and data publishing activities. for example, we use the dublin core standard to describe the documents we share with the data, and the data documentation initiative standard for describing our datasets. also, data sharing requirements. in the 1990s we had to persuade projects and government departments to share their data, and we had to provide training to build quantitative skills, as these were in short supply among african academics. these days, we are approached by data owners to curate and publish their data, as this is often a funding requirement. governments also now realize the legitimacy of their data depends on them sharing the data with the academic community. advice for someone starting their career in data, or anyone developing a new service: use standards and best practice. we have built up our reputation as a trusted repository, and garnered awards (we are the only african data repository to be certified with the data seal of approval). use community resources. make use of the expertise that exists in our community of practice, and ask for help from organisations like iassist, the uk data service, and the icpsr. build healthy relationships with data owners. i suggest working with institutions within government and academia who collect data, to build a relationship of trust. this encourages data owners to deposit data with the service. many thanks to our panelists for taking the time to share their insights with our readers. edited by: kristi thompson, guest editor, ijol guoying liu, editor-in-chief, ijol with thanks for their assistance to editors keven liu, xiaoai ren and yongming wang 07.35-135-1-sm_interview_july18-title_1 07.35-135-1-sm_interview_july18_1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org local content in information management: the story of the celebrated content of the first university library in nigeria taiwo adetoun akinde abstract: this article expresses the pride of the nationally and internationally patronised and celebrated services and resources at the kenneth dike library (kdl), university of ibadan, the first university library in nigeria. the work outlines the library’s history from inception to date, emphasising the rarity, age, uniqueness and the relevance of its contents in the face of modern and emerging information and communications technologies. the contents discussed include print and non-print materials (for instance, electronic resources and the institution’s repository), artefacts, realia, pictures, drawings, processes, services, capacity, architecture, management and personnel deployed in the main and branch libraries of the university of ibadan library system. the author proffers reasons why the kdl is perceived the best among other university libraries in nigeria and highlighted ten recent “firsts” recorded by the library which have further enhanced its reputation as the first and the best. the work concludes with a call on the private sector and good spirited individuals to support the federal government of nigeria and the university of ibadan towards achieving all the laudable goals of the kdl for now and the future. to cite this article: akinde, t. a. (2021). local content in information management: the story of the celebrated content of the first university library in nigeria. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 89-104. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.177 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 89-104. issn: 2474-3542 local content in information management: the story of the celebrated content of the first university library in nigeria taiwo adetoun akinde university of ibadan, oyo state, nigeria abstract this article expresses the pride of the nationally and internationally patronised and celebrated services and resources at the kenneth dike library (kdl), university of ibadan, the first university library in nigeria. the work outlines the library’s history from inception to date, emphasising the rarity, age, uniqueness and the relevance of its contents in the face of modern and emerging information and communications technologies. the contents discussed include print and non-print materials (for instance, electronic resources and the institution’s repository), artefacts, realia, pictures, drawings, processes, services, capacity, architecture, management and personnel deployed in the main and branch libraries of the university of ibadan library system. the author proffers reasons why the kdl is perceived the best among other university libraries in nigeria and highlighted ten recent “firsts” recorded by the library which have further enhanced its reputation as the first and the best. the work concludes with a call on the private sector and good spirited individuals to support the federal government of nigeria and the university of ibadan towards achieving all the laudable goals of the kdl for now and the future. keywords: local content, information management, kenneth dike library, university of ibadan, nigerian university libraries introduction the university of ibadan library is the first university library to be established in nigeria. it was established under the british colonial administration in 1948 at the inception of the university to provide, manage, and disseminate quality information resources to support the teaching, learning, research and community development activities of the university. the library operated in a prefabricated wooden building at the eleyele site of the university until 1954 when it moved with the university to its permanent site at oyo road, ibadan. the library was officially commissioned on november 17, 1954 (akinde, oseghale, & okoroma, 2018). as the university grows in population and in the diversity of its courses, faculty deans and department heads established libraries which they ran outside the control of the main library. by the resolution of the university senate in 1974, however, these faculty libraries and departmental reading rooms came under the jurisdiction of the main library in order to ensure a akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 90 coordinated development of all library resources and services in the university and to effectively meet the users’ information needs while ensuring easy, speedy and timely information retrieval (odularu, 2000). presently, there are 27 faculty and departmental libraries. chief among them is the e. latunde oladeku medical library, situated at the university college hospital (uch) in ibadan. notwithstanding, the acquisition, management and sometimes, the cataloguing of resources and the recruitment and deployment of personnel to these branch libraries are done centrally at the main library where the office of the university librarian (and most of the management staff) is located. the four-storeyed main library was named kenneth dike library (kdl) in honour of the first indigenous vice-chancellor of the university, professor kenneth onwuka dike, in 1988 (as engraved on the library building). the photographs of the kdl at the beginning and now as shown in figures 1 and 2 below. figure 1. the library in the beginning (at eleyele) akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 91 figure 2. the kdl now the kenneth dike library content: the story of age and uniqueness the kdl is the oldest university library in the country. it was fortunate in acquiring at its inception a number of substantial book collections, private papers and manuscripts. these include the following collections: the 10,000 volume undergraduate collection at the higher college library, yaba; the henry carr collection of approximatley 18,000 volumes mainly in arts, law, and sciences; the f. montague dyke collection of 10,000 books, journals, pamphlets and reprints; the leeds clergy library of 1,000 volumes; the sir charles orr memorial library of 250 volumes on nigerian history; sir herbert macaulay library; cowan and cocking collections and evelyn martin libraries; the c.m.s yoruba mission library; the miscellaneous collection of 9,000 volumes given by the british council and the american studies collection; the library of madam funmilayo ransome-kuti; original arabic manuscripts of local provenance collected from several private libraries in west africa; and more than 10,000 maps on africa, west africa and nigeria (the university college, ibadan, 1955). the library’s africana collections showcase works published by africans, nigerians and/or works written by foreigners about africa, nigeria and the university of ibadan staff publications. to enhance access and retrieval of its increasing resource, the nigeriana sub akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 92 collection was moved, of recent, from the africana collections in the reference section and was made to operate as an independent unit. apart from being made a selective depository of the carnegie institute of washington which donated 131 volumes of its publication, the library was the legal depository for all nigerian publications until 1970. consequently, under the publication ordinance of 1950, it received two copies of every work published in nigeria and it continues to receive to date, through the national library of nigeria, a complimentary copy of all publications produced in the country (akinde, oseghale and okoroma, 2018). hence, the publication ordinance section has been tagged, in-house, as “a library inside the library.” federal, regional, state, local governments’ and intergovernmental publications (e.g.,un, oau, ecowas, among others) can also be found in the document section of the library. local cultural artefacts, sculptures, art works and realias of great value are preserved and conserved for study and research purposes and are kept, for security reasons, in a section of the office of the university librarian. there are special and rare collections of art works, drawings of reputable artists, pictorials of events, buildings, national, local and the university dignitaries from the colonial era to present placed in strategic locations in the library and at the exhibition area of the reference section (as in figure 3). figure 3. exhibition and the reading area of the reference section the university of ibadan library system is one of the largest university libraries in west africa with a collection estimated at well over one million volumes (ekpenyong, 2005). the magnitude and speciality of this collection attracts students from all over the country. the users of akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 93 this great library include undergraduates, graduate students, academic and non-teaching staff, other members of the university community (e.g., uch senior staff and alumni/alumnae), students and staff of other higher learning institutions in and outside the country who are specially introduced by their librarian and any researcher with serious reasons for using the library for study and reference. in all cases, claims of scholarship and research are always given the first consideration (oladele, 2007). as observed by dow, meringlo and st. clair (1995) regarding academic libraries and confirmed by akinde, oseghale and okoroma (2018) in kdl, graduate students are heavy users of the kdl resources that cover the core areas of their field and the theory of their discipline. however, the currency and speciality of materials will depend upon the subject and nature of the graduate degree. from the author’s observations of consultations and use of the library resources and services by students and researchers from universities in and out of nigeria, it can be said that the library stack unique and rare collections that can not be found in any other universities in nigeria and that being the first university library in nigeria, it sets a good, efficient and effective tradition of library services for other academic libraries to follow. its age remains its advantage as observed. the library, which seats about 1,250 users in addition to staff offices and space for the collections (university of ibadan, 2010), has a commercialised bindery for book repair and binding graduate students’ dissertations and theses. the kdl opens to users by 8:00am to 9:00pm monday to friday, 8:00am to 2:00pm on saturday, and 5:00pm to 9:00pm on sunday all year, but remains closed on national holidays with notices given in advance. registered users are permitted to borrow a predetermined number of books for certain numbers of days (depending on users’ status) at the circulation desk of the library during its operational hours (see figure 4). the general reading room on the ground floor is open daily when the university is in session and all day long during examination period. worthy of note is the traditional drum which is always beaten by the library porters at intervals, and at least three times, to warn staff and users dispersed on the four floors, extension and basement of the imminent closure and to summon or draw their attention during emergencies. this cultural piece is as shown in figure 5. figure 4. circulation desk akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 94 figure 5. the kdl call drum. for emergencies and distaster management, fire extinguishers and buckets of sands are placed at strategic locations to arrest fire distaster. in addition, food and drink items are not allowed in the kdl to prevent insects and mice and the consequent hazards on the majorly paper-based library information resources. however, a commercialised coffee room was provided for light refreshments and entertainment for students, staff, and library visitors. it is regretful to note that the coffee room, which was sometimes privatised, is presently moribund. the cleaning of the library and its environment is contracted out to the private sector while the clearing of grasses and trimming of its surrounding trees are handled by the university’s works and maintenance unit and tree management committee. ramp and elevator provide accessible movement in and around the kdl; though, the elevator is presently under maintenance. the library has an eletrical power generating plant installed for electricity back-up. on personnel capacity, the kdl has about 30 academic staff with the minimum qualification of masters in library and information science (mlis) or related field of study and more than 70 other staff (para-professional with a minimum of national diploma in library and information science and support staff with a minimum qualification of five credit passes including english and mathematics in the senior secondary school certificate examination). this staff capacity has been found to be grossly inadequate and highly stretched because of the need to deploy staff to branch libraries to replace those who have retired or resigned from the services of the kdl in recent times. however, it is praiseworthy to note that the library can boast of many of its academic staff who have successfully completed doctorate degrees from universities in and out of the country, recently. akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 95 the kenneth dike library content: the story of relevancy inspite of age to address the global paradigm shift from print resources to electronic-based information resources, the kdl has subscribed to a number of electronic journals, databases and databanks which users can access for free, with or without library-provided passwords while on campus and off campus via the library webpage on the university of ibadan website or the publishers’ websites. furthermore, a task force was convened in the 2009/2010 academic session to automate library operations and especially, the card catalogue with the deployment of virtua, an integrated webbased library management software, supplied by the vtls incorporated, the united states of america and later in 2015/2016 with an indigenous, proprietary software made for the kdl named ui-ala by mr. a. babarinde, a nigerian computer scientist. as soon as the new software is fully deployed, the kdl online public access catalogue (opac) will be hosted on the internet to enable access to the bibliographic details of its resources, circulation and reference services from anywhere in the world. presently, the opac is accessible to users within the library (the opac is as shown in figure 6 below). figure 6. the kdl opac the digitisation chamber, another recent innovation which replaced the moribund microfilm/microfiche unit, was created for the conversion of manuscripts and rare collections into machine-readable format to conserve and preserve african and/or nigerian literary heritage, provide multiple electronic access to rare, fragile and/or aged, important and not-easy-to-replace print resources, and enhance the visibility of faculty research/intellectual output via the university of ibadan institutional repository and the virtual library housed in the kdl. as the repository is being populated with the university of ibadan collective research works, faculty members are akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 96 enjoined to submit their research publications to the library through their department heads in order not to be left behind. furthermore, a computer laboratory (e-resources unit) which housed 100 internet-ready computers, scanners and network printers has been provided for student and staff to search and retrieve literature and print at affordable prices. a view of one of the processes in the digitisation chamber and the computer laboratory are shown in figures 7 and 8 below. figure 7. one of the processes in the kdl digitisation chamber figure 8. the computer laboratory (for e-resources search and retrieval) akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 97 in addition, reprographic services are provided via commercial photocopying and document delivery to prevent theft, mutilation of print materials and other library crimes perpetrated as a result of insufficient access and inadequate resources. however, the fair use policy of the library informes users on the number of pages they are allowed to duplicate. the kdl also housed an e-classroom, an electronic learning facility with an electronic board, a multimedia projector and modern computers for interactive library staff seminars and other hands-on it trainings. the e-classroom could also be leased for postgraduate lectures and seminar/conferences organised by persons in and out of the university on approval and at a fee. the computers in the e-classroom were recently changed to modern pcs that combines the central processing units (cpu) with the monitors (the photograph of the seminar room/e-classroom before and now is as shown in figures 9 and 10). figure 9. seminar room /e-classroom (before) figure 10. seminar room /e-classroom (now) akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 98 moreover, carrels (individual study rooms) are provided for senior staff, researchers and postgraduate students for private study on a first-come, first-served basis. for record and aesthetic purposes, halls of fame (for example, figure 11) for past vice chancellors and university librarians were placed stragetically on the walls by the flight of stairs to the first and second floors of the library for general information, education and admiration. furthermore, artificial flowers in beautiful vases, gold plated guides and solid glass doors grace the library (see figure 12). figure 11. hall of fame for the vcs figure 12. the circulation section approach akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 99 the kenneth dike library content: on being the first and the best the kenneth dike library, apart from being the first university library in nigeria, has indeed recorded some firsts in recent time, which are listed as follows: 1. the 24/7 library service, especially during examination periods, is the first of such in any nigerian university library; 2. the recent publication of the university of ibadan journal of library and information science by emerald, a leading international publisher of repute. this is the first of its kind by a university library in nigeria. there are plans to publish three issues in one volume annually. the journal is presently in its third volume; 3. in-house trainings for the library senior staff to develop the capacity of its senior personnel towards better service ethics, delivery and feedback. library senior staff seasonal training has been initiated by the reconvened research and development committee to expose library senior staff to best professional practices. resource persons with necessary and relevant expertise are being invited from within and outside the university; 4. efforts at training the university academic community. apart from using its website and social media to create awareness of new accessions and promote the use of library resources, the library moved a step further in training some faculty members in available electronic resources, information and digital literacies, literature search and retrieval skills, citation and references management and plagiarism awareness and detection, to encourage an informed, productive and visible faculty; 5. aside the indigenous ui-ala proprietary library management software earlier stated, a library software has been developed locally in the kdl. this software will soon be deployed to manage the bibliographic information and contents of students’ projects and dissertations which are almost becoming a nuisance and threat to the library environment because of the usual space constraint as a result of the increase in student enrollment without a commensurate building expansion. the last extension to the kdl is the postgraduate/research library which was added more than three decades ago; 6. an easily accessible and fully air-conditioned chat room with a plasma flat screen television and easy chairs and tables, one of its kind in the south west, nigeria, has been recently provided at the middle of the first floor of the kdl for patrons’ academic discussions, leisure and socialisation; 7. a sub-unit within the systems unit was recently created with the mandate of monitoring and harnessing emerging technologies to keep the kdl a step ahead in training its staff on how to deploy relevant information and telecommunications technologies for library resource and service management; akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 100 8. an active library website, served by inverter-powered 24/7 servers located in the system unit with staff trained to offer online user support services, is another recent development. other units of the library, such as reference and cataloguing, are also provided with inverters as an alternative power source for effective and sustainable service delivery; 9. for an inclusive library service, the library has recently acquired an electronic braille set for visually impaired patrons. this will be available as soon as the library staff are trained in its use, operations and management; the library, with the support of the university administration, has recently renovated the old but solid library building in order to preserve the architectural heritage of the kdl which has attracted both national and international attention based on the number and nature of requests daily received from local and international institutions and individuals for research/study visits, tours, internship and volunteering. most of the library visitors always leave with pictures of the kdl structure and copies of its celebrated contents for further study and treasure! the kdl has been perceived as the best university library in nigeria as a result of its rare, aged, unique, and relevant contents, the appreciable national and international patronage and these ten pacesetting firsts highlighted above, among others. however, the ten firsts would not have been achieved without the support of the university of ibadan management and the able administration of the fifth substantive university librarian, dr. b.a. oladele, the two-term university librarian between 2006 to 2016; the sixth substantive and present university librarian, dr. helen komolafeopadeji, the university librarian from 2016 to date; the esteemed members of their management teams (including the deputy university librarians: mr. s. akinyode, mr. c.o. ola, dr. josephine igbeka, dr. beatrice fabunmi and other senior staff members such as mrs. bolarinwa adeyemi) and the ever-committed library staff members. nonetheless, the author humbly acknowledges past substanstive university libraians (prof. w. j. harris,1948 – 1968; mrs. t. olabisi odeinde, 1972 – 1987; mrs. olufunmilayo g. tamuno, 1988 – 1998 and late mr. ikem, 19992003), past acting university librarians (late mr. s.s.a. odularu and dr. mrs. georgina d. ekpenyong) and their teams who laboured to lay the foundation that the present management and staff are building upon. we are committed to ensuring that the labours of our past heroes shall never be in vain! displayed below (figures 13-18) are the photographs of all the substantive university librarians in their academic gowns as principal officers of the university of ibadan. figure 13. the 1st substantive university librarian (ul) akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 101 figure 14. the 2nd substantive ul figure 15. the 3rd substantive ul figure 16. the 4th substantive ul akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 102 figure 17. the 5th substantive ul figure 18. the 6th substantive and present ul (2016 ) conclusion in sum, the university of ibadan’s history of educational exploits can not be told without mentioning the contributions of the kdl in providing information resources for staff and students to support its teaching, learning, research and community service mandates. therefore, the library ought to be celebrated as the titanic literary and cultural repository which has adequately and sufficiently assisted the university of ibandan to fulfill these mandates in its more than 70 years of existence and 66 years of producing university graduates. akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 103 thus, in this spirit of celebration, the cooperation and support of all is solicited and anticipated towards achieving all the laudable goals of the kdl for now and the future. an instance of the area where the library needs support is in the acquisition of a luxurious bus to convey staff on evening and night duties to and from bus-stops proximate to their homes (because of the hazards associated with staff movements at these unholy hours) and to aid staff members in attending training and social events organised outside ibadan with ease. furthermore, to offer a sustainable library service and support the lean accomodation provided by the university housing committee, private/public partnerships could also be useful in building a housing unit that will be dedicated to library staff who may wish to stay overnight (when duty calls) or live on the university campus at little or no cost. a philantropist recently donated some resources and gave the reference section of the kdl a facelift, which demontrates a lasting support and kind guestures for the library. references akinde, t. a., oseghale, o., & okoroma, f. n. (2018). the kenneth dike library users in historical perspectives: a statistical study of use and users’ behaviour over time. in b. a. oladele & c. o. ola (eds.), ibadan university library system: the journey continues…(pp.51-64). ibadan: university of ibadan press. dow, r., meringlo, s., & st. clair, g. (1995). academic collections in a changing environment. in g. b. mccabe & r. person (eds.), academic libraries: their rationale and role in america higher education (pp. 101-123). connecticut: greenwood press. ekpenyong, g. d. (2005). university of ibadan library system: a guide. kenneth dike library. ibadan: ui. odularu, s. s. a. (2000). fifty years of library services at the university of ibadan (1948-1998). in b.a.mojuetan (eds.), ibadan at fifty (1948-1998): nigeria’s premier university in perspective (pp.184-199). ibadan: ibadan university press. oladele, b. a. (2007). foreword. university of ibadan library system: a guide. kenneth dike library. ibadan: ui. the university college, ibadan. (1955). the university college, ibadan report for 1948 to 1953. ibadan: uci. university of ibadan. (2010). university of ibadan calendar 2008-2012. ibadan: ui. about the author dr. taiwo adetoun akinde was engaged as librarian ii by the kenneth dike library, university of ibadan in 2008 and has risen to the position of principal librarian. a cataloguer between august, 2001 and january, 2016; she was certified as a chartered librarian by the librarians registration council of nigeria in 2011 and a member of the nigerian library association (nla) since 2001. she has authored and/or co-authored books and articles published in refereed, peerreviewed local and international journals. her area of research interests is in the application of information and communications technologies (icts) to teaching, learning and research; library akinde / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 104 automation; indigenous knowledge/local content collection, digitization and dissemination; book publishing and continuing professional education. dr. akinde, who was appointed the faculty librarian of the faculty of education, university of ibadan on the 19th of january, 2016, obtained a ph. d degree in library and information science from the university of ibadan in 2017. an editor, blogger and seasoned christian counsellor, she is the author of the books “marriage: foundation, expectations and realities” and “what to consider before marriage: a christian perspective.” 007-title-177-article text-987-2-11-20210624 007-177-article text-970-4-11-20210624-huang_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org are you local? academic library hiring prior to and during covid-19 in the united states andrea m. quinn abstract: using only limited information, job candidates must assess academic libraries as prospective workplaces, while search committee members at academic libraries must make hiring decisions. highlighting challenges that the pandemic posed to job seekers and search committee members, such as further limiting opportunities to gather information, this study compares a group of individuals hired by u.s. academic libraries before covid-19 to a group of individuals hired by academic libraries during covid-19. results have implications for job seekers and hiring institutions, as they indicate that academic libraries hire more individuals with pre-existing ties to the state or region of the hiring institution and that the pandemic strengthened this tendency. to cite this article: quinn, a. m. (2023). are you local? academic library hiring prior to and during covid19 in the united states. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 42-59. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.302 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.302 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 42-59. issn: 2474-3542 are you local? academic library hiring prior to and during covid-19 in the united states andrea m. quinn, macmillan law library, emory university, united states abstract using only limited information, job candidates must assess academic libraries as prospective workplaces, while search committee members at academic libraries must make hiring decisions. highlighting challenges that the pandemic posed to job seekers and search committee members, such as further limiting opportunities to gather information, this study compares a group of individuals hired by u.s. academic libraries before covid-19 to a group of individuals hired by academic libraries during covid-19. results have implications for job seekers and hiring institutions, as they indicate that academic libraries hire more individuals with pre-existing ties to the state or region of the hiring institution and that the pandemic strengthened this tendency. keywords: covid-19, pandemic, job search, academic library, information science, implicit bias introduction the question this article addresses is whether candidates applying for academic library positions benefit from having pre-existing connections to specific academic institutions, particular u.s. states, or certain u.s. regions. given the sample size used for this study, i do not claim my results are statistically significant; however, i do show that, for the group of individuals whose outcomes i tracked, nearly half of the successful hirees from the pre-pandemic period and approximately two-thirds of the successful hirees from the pandemic period had pre-existing geographic ties to their hiring institutions. these results have implications for individuals responsible for hiring academic librarians, for those interested in pursuing careers in academic librarianship, and for academic librarians going on the job market. individuals looking for a job at an academic library must overcome a variety of obstacles, and in-person, on-campus visits with top candidates have long been part of the interview process (defa, 2012). during covid-19, however, it was largely impossible to continue with that model. as a result, a process that was already demanding for search committee members and job seekers at the best of times only became more challenging due to constraints arising from the pandemic. academic librarians had to pivot during the pandemic, and job candidates had to adapt as well. although the u.s. department of health and human services declared an end to the covid-19 public health emergency in 2023, the pandemic appears to have altered how quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 43 academic libraries conduct job searches and how candidates for those positions look for and assess open positions (u.s. department of health and human services, 2023). for example, green writes that, as a result of the pandemic, many academic libraries cut back on hiring, and hosoi, reiter and zabel note that academic libraries shifted gears to conduct interviews online during the pandemic (green 2022; hosoi, reiter & zabel, 2021, 695). such shifts may represent long-term changes with respect to the number of available academic library positions and the processes used to appraise candidates. even without the added challenges of a pandemic, and given that each party on either side of an academic library job search holds only limited information about the other party, a key starting point for my research was whether or not search committee members and job candidates relied more heavily during covid-19 on whatever limited information they did hold, amplifying the significance of that information. to that end, the author compared profiles of fifty people hired by academic libraries in the u.s. before covid-19 to profiles of fifty individuals hired by academic libraries during covid-19. the results show that, given the sets of individuals studied, more people hired by academic libraries during the pandemic already had geographic ties to the state or the region where they were hired than was the case for the sample of individuals hired by academic libraries before covid-19. the findings suggest that, during covid-19, risk aversion on the part of both search committee members and on the part of job candidates and limited opportunities for candidates and search committee members to gather extensive information about the other, encouraged hiring where connections already existed. understanding why pre-existing ties to a particular area played a greater role during covid-19 may help those currently seeking academic library jobs better understand how search committee members assess candidates, and it may allow search committee members to evaluate their decision-making processes when it comes to hiring. literature review a range of works are relevant to this project, including assessments about the academic library job market, works on search committee members and the role of information, works on applicant decision-making processes, and scholarship about the impact of covid-19 on job seekers and employers. the job market for academic librarians in terms of hurdles that individuals seeking academic library positions face, many academic libraries require prospective hires to have acquired a master's degree in library science (mls) before they start their jobs, many applicants are expected to have already worked at a library, and applicants are often expected to possess specialized skills (chen & zhang, 2017). having an mls is frequently “necessary,” but it is often “not sufficient” to guarantee that an individual looking for a job as a librarian at an academic institution will be hired (torres, gold, & donnelly, 2022, 2). in 2012, tewell noted that mls graduates at that time "face[d] considerable challenges finding an entry level job" in an academic library (2012, 420). similarly, in 2014, eckard, rosener, and scripps-hoekstra described the job market for those seeking a position in an quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 44 academic library as "competitive," and they noted that several factors, including prior work experience and a record of publishing increased an individual's chances of getting a job (2014, 108 and 111). by 2020, the situation had not improved for other reasons, as allard found that mls graduates that year "bore the full force of the pandemic," at a time when fewer new library jobs were posted and when some offers to candidates were withdrawn entirely (2021, 32; allard, 2020). in addition, as a result of travel restrictions, limitations on in-person meetings, and uncertainty about what would happen next, both job seekers and search committee members in academic libraries had to deal with substantial complications during the height of covid-19, and ford (2021) offers evidence that the pandemic made it more difficult for mls graduates to find jobs, including those in academic libraries. of the one hundred thirty-one managers at academic libraries that fletcher, grandy, thurman, and whitney surveyed (2022), 53% stated that they froze job searches during covid-19, and another 20% canceled searches during the pandemic. a number of other recent works focus on the logistical and technical hurdles involved in either running an academic library job search during covid-19 or in having to navigate the job search process during the pandemic. levine, for example, provides a summary of responses from (in combination) twenty-two job seekers and search committee members, offering insights on how best to structure virtual interviews, the limitations of virtual interviews, and whether zoom might serve as an alternative to screening interviews previously conducted by telephone (2021). in a work that describes some of the pluses and minuses of interviewing for a number of positions in 2021, soto-luna offers suggestions to search committee members conducting virtual interviews and describes the process of searching for an academic library position (2022). such works offer more qualitative, personal insights into academic library job searches around the time of the pandemic. search committee members and information gathering even before the pandemic, search committee members, who were tasked with deciding which person should be recommended to the dean or library head to receive a job offer, have had to reach those decisions while relying on limited information. search committee members typically have access to candidates' cvs, application letters, input from professional references, and candidate presentations and publications, and search committee members usually have more than one opportunity to talk with candidates to gain insights into their skills, interests, and personalities. nonetheless, and as pike, bateman, and butler point out, a fundamental challenge that characterizes any hiring process is that there are necessarily bounds to the details available about any candidate, where gaps in information create challenges for individuals making hiring decisions (2018, 730). even experienced members of search committees are not able to gather all the relevant details about any one candidate given constraints on their time, how much and what sort of information they are able to access about each candidate, and what kinds of questions they can ask candidates. even given extensive insights into someone's work history, education, background, and more, some individuals who are hired will not succeed at their new workplace, and others will opt not to remain at a new workplace. for search committee members, it becomes necessary to balance dual goals of identifying their best candidate while also gauging if that person is likely to accept a job offer and remain an effective part of the organization for the long term (purohit, gollapudi, raghavan, 2019, 1). quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 45 in addition to the fact that search committee members cannot know all there is to know about the candidates under consideration, it is also the case that search committee members do not give every bit of information they do collect equal attention. for example, search committee members accord particular weight to similarities they perceive between themselves and certain candidates (rivera, 2012, 1001; hadlock & pierce, 2021). search committee members may also focus more heavily on some pieces of information or some candidate characteristics than others, at times relying on cognitive shortcuts to make hiring decisions. for example, search committee members may attach particular importance to recommendations they get from recommenders they know particularly well (marsden & gorman, 2001, 468-69). although they do not focus specifically on academic libraries, a point marsden and gorman make is relevant when it comes to information gathering: although trusted connections may provide committee members with extra insights into prospective hires, relying on networks in this way may mean that individuals who are most "socially similar" to the people who actively refer them are the ones who get hired (marsden & gorman, 2001, 471). the flip side of this is that some job applicants face more obstacles than other applicants (ford, 2018, 38; leske, 2016; brodock & massam, 2016). leske points out that both overt and hidden assumptions that search committee members make about particular candidates can seep into recruitment and hiring processes (2016). for example, mccarthy and cheng (2014, 331) and graves and powell (1996) note that, not only do a candidate’s demographic characteristics potentially influence an interviewer's perceptions, but interviewers also assess candidates based partly on the degree to which they see similarities between themselves and particular candidates. when a search committee member perceives a "common bond" with the candidate, the search committee member is likelier to relate to and advocate for that candidate (wilkie, 2017, 1). another set of challenges for candidates relate to search committee member preferences and assumptions about a candidate's potential "fit" with their institution. being able to gauge if a specific applicant is a "fit" for a position is often a fundamental goal for search committee members, in part because the stakes are so high, with a hiring decision potentially having a significant impact on the organization for years to come. (pike, bateman, & butler, 2018, 729). gaspar and brown write that hiring for “fit” is “especially critical” in libraries, as librarians need to understand and disseminate an institution’s values while engaging with a broad range of people across campus (2015, 374). when members of an organization screen potential hires, they are "more likely to admit” new members who are like they are (jackson et al., 1991, 676). as a result, one key problem with "hiring for cultural fit" is that trying to find an individual who meets that criterion may also “stifle diversity," as the new hiree is likelier to be suited to the organization’s existing culture and less likely to either push that culture to be more inclusive or to foster change from within it (farkas, 2019, 78; blackmore & rahimi, 2019, 444). the additional element of covid-19 with respect to academic library positions, one core goal of on-campus visits is for search committee members and candidates to gather as much information as possible about one another. covid-19 largely upended this approach, as the vast majority of all-day interviews for academic library positions had to be held virtually (michalak & rysavy, 2022, 102). looking at the impact that covid-19 had on hiring at academic libraries, fletcher, grandy, thurman, and whitney (2022) found that, for one hundred thirty-one institutions that they studied, all but one campus held at least some portion of their job interviews virtually beginning in march 2020. quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 46 restrictions that accompanied covid-19 created added challenges for hiring committees and candidates well beyond the usual limits on available information that job seekers and search committee members gather in normal times. not only did candidates have fewer and more restricted opportunities to learn about possible future workplaces and potential colleagues, but search committee members also had fewer and more limited chances to get to know individual candidates. mccarthy et al. (2021) summarize some ways in which covid-19 had an impact on job seekers, including experiences of "heightened anxiety" as a result of concerns about their health and safety and the health and safety of others and due to "apprehension regarding employment and financial stability" (1103). in kniffin et al.'s view, covid-19 can be characterized as a traumatic event that increased feelings of uncertainty and loss in areas including job security and social connections (2021). further, joshi et al. highlight several drawbacks to the sort of video (versus in-person) interviews that were used during the pandemic, including the fact that video interviews don't allow for the transmission of nonverbal cues as a source of information (2020, 1318). if interviews before the pandemic were already an imperfect way to gather information, then covid-19 limited candidate-search committee member interactions and opportunities to learn about the other party to an even greater degree. allard’s survey of 2020 mls graduates who applied for a range of positions including those within academic libraries indicates that those graduates were "more conservative" when it came to employment decisions than were graduates who came before them, where this conservatism included being likelier to remain with a current job or employer (2021, 32). the idea that covid-19 led some academic library job seekers to cast a more limited net when searching for jobs is further supported by ford's finding that during the pandemic, some job hunters who had completed mls programs adopted "new geographic considerations," including prioritizing jobs located where they would be able to live closer to their family members or be in an area that was already familiar to them (ford, 2021). looking for work during "normal" times is already a stress-inducing enterprise, and covid-19 added additional layers of difficulty, social isolation, and uncertainty to the environment for job seekers (martin, 2021, 3). further, covid-19 made the idea of relocating to an entirely new place during a time of upheaval and uncertainty less appealing to at least some number of job seekers, including those seeking employment at academic libraries (allard, 2021, 34). methods given the added challenges the pandemic created, did academic library job candidates and search committee members rely more heavily on the existence of geographic ties to make employment decisions? specifically, did a greater percentage of academic library hirees who found positions during the pandemic have pre-existing connections to the institutions that hired them than was the case for individuals hired by academic libraries before the pandemic? to address these questions, the author tracked the educational backgrounds of people hired for in-person academic library positions in the united states for two distinct time periods: a group of individuals hired in the years just prior to covid-19 and a second group of people quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 47 hired during covid-19.1 information about a total of one hundred individuals who were hired for permanent positions (“hirees”) and the positions they took at a range of academic libraries across the united states was compiled. because of the relatively small total number of hirees considered for this study, the results are not statistically significant. the results highlight the possible significance of pre-existing geographic ties between successful candidates and hiring institutions, and the results offer avenues for further research using a much larger pools of unsuccessful candidates and hirees at academic libraries. hirees, unsuccessful job candidates, and search committee members were not interviewed for this project because a central assumption about pre-existing geographic ties playing a part in hiring decisions is that those decisions were made without the individual who selected the hiree having explicit knowledge or an understanding of the role of such bias. implicit bias, sometimes referred to as unconscious bias, can result in discriminatory behavior when it comes to hiring (houser, 2019, 293). as houser notes, decision-makers, including those responsible for making hires or recommending individuals for hire, are not aware of their own cognitive biases (2019, 304-305). because individuals making hiring decisions do not understand their own biases, trying to measure implicit or unconscious bias can pose numerous challenges for scholars (see noon, 2018). as work by reynolds et al. indicates, for scholars trying to understand psychological processes involved in scenarios such as the hiring of an individual, finding evidence of bias and getting people to acknowledge how they evaluate job candidates is complex (2021). as such, using questionnaires or surveys to determine whether and to what degree members of hiring committees have unconscious biases about job candidates is best left to researchers with expertise in psychology and related fields. the data for this study were collected by first assembling a list of approximately one hundred and twenty-five job descriptions from pre-pandemic and pandemic times from a combination of postings, using code4lib.org, higheredjobs.com, and jobs.diglib.org. although these resources may not cover as wide a range of types of academic library jobs as some other job posting resources do, the aforementioned resources were readily available over an extended period of time, which made it possible to conduct the research necessary for tracking hiring outcomes prior to and during covid-19. for each position, the job title, the name of the academic institution that posted the position, and the date the job was posted were recorded. information about the person who was ultimately hired for each position was also recorded, along with that individual’s name, all post-baccalaureate degrees they had earned, and the names and locations of the institutions at which they earned their post-baccalaureate degrees. the educational background of each hiree was confirmed by cross-checking staffing information from campus library websites, individual linkedin profiles, alumni news, information from acrl's college & research library news, and campus and library announcements about recent hires. in cases where it was impossible to determine who had been hired for a position, if it was not possible to verify through more than one source who had been hired for the position, or if information about the hiree's post-baccalaureate educational background was not available, that case was removed from the sample. if the hiree had not 1 an added wrinkle is that the pandemic increased the option to do remote work for certain academic library jobs, which meant that for at least some applicants, applying for a job in a new location did not mean having to relocate there (allard, 2021, 34), but for the purposes of this work, i focus specifically on posted in-person (not remote) positions. quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 48 received an mls from a degree-granting institution located in the united states, information about those hirees was excluded from the final sample.2 allard’s 2020 survey (2021, 36) covers one hundred forty-four people hired by academic libraries, and library research service (2019) estimated that approximately one hundred fifty-five positions at academic libraries were posted in 2018, so the aim is that a sample of one hundred mls graduates hired by academic institutions during two periods (a time period just prior to covid-19 and a second time period during covid-19) is approximately representative of the profiles of the total pool of hirees from before and during the pandemic. one goal was to cast a wide net with respect to the types of institutions and types of jobs for which hiring outcomes were tracked, where these ranged from institutions of different sizes of both public and private institutions and a variety of different positions within units across academic libraries. for the pre-pandemic time period, information was collected about people hired in twenty-six different states, with the largest number hired in california and pennsylvania (5 hirees each), followed by new york (4 hirees), georgia, north carolina, and washington state (3 hirees each); the remaining hirees in the other twenty states numbered either one or two individuals per state. for the pandemic period, information was gathered about people hired in twenty-three different states, with the highest number hired in california (9 hirees), followed by massachusetts (6 hirees), north carolina (5 hirees), michigan (4 hirees), and pennsylvania and washington state (3 hirees each); the remaining hirees in the seventeen other states numbered one or two people per state. as set out in the job postings, some of the academic library positions tracked for this project explicitly required candidates to have several years or more of prior, relevant experience; other positions were ostensibly entry-level jobs. for individuals who were hired prior to the pandemic and those hired during the pandemic, the sample of hirees excluded any persons who were already working at a library at a particular academic institution and were then hired to a new position at that exact same academic institution.3 the types of positions tracked for this project were labeled according to nine broad categories used by san jose state university school of information’s overview of academic library job postings in 2022 (2022, 35). in extremely broad terms, these categories offer a way to categorize distinct academic library positions. in addition to tracking when a position was posted, which academic library posted the position, when someone was hired for the position (before or during the pandemic), and what the educational background of the successful applicant (hiree) was, geographic information regarding the location of institution(s) where each hiree earned their mls and where they earned any other advanced degree(s) was also recorded. specifically, information about which state within the u.s. was home to the institution where the hiree earned their mls, ma, or phd, as applicable, was noted. for each advanced degree earned, information about which of the three categories the hiring state fell into was noted: 1) if the state where the hiree received an advanced degree was the same state as the one that was home to the hiring institution; 2) if one or more of the states where the hiree earned an advanced degree shared a border with the hiring institution’s 2 oliver & prosser (2018, 614-615) offer evidence that academic library positions requiring an mls have decreased over time, with some types of positions being particularly likely not to require an mls; here, i focus only on hirees who had an mls from a u.s. institution at the time of their hire. 3 such boomerang employees would have likely been familiar with people on the search committee and in the library they went back to work for. hiring boomerang employees is "thought to be less risky" than hiring a totally new employee because they are, in arnold et al.'s words, "a known entity" (arnold et al., 2021, 2199). quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 49 state, or 3) if the hiring institution was in a state that was neither in the state where the hiree earned an advanced degree nor in a state bordering where the hiree earned an advanced degree. in terms of regional proximity, the closest measure for the purposes of this paper were those cases where the hiring institution was located in the exact same state as where the hiree had earned an advanced degree. an absence of regional ties was represented by cases where the hiree had not earned an advanced degree in the hiring state and had not earned an advanced degree in any state that bordered the hiring state. results when comparing profiles of the fifty people hired at academic libraries before covid-19 to the fifty people hired at academic libraries during covid-19, a greater percentage of the individuals hired during pandemic times had pre-existing geographic ties to the hiring institution than was the case for those hired before the pandemic. table 1 provides a summary of the number and percentage of hirees with geographic ties to their hiring institutions for the pre-pandemic and pandemic time periods. table 1 pre-covid and covid hiring for academic library positions connection of hirees to hiring institution hirees with no evident preexisting geographic tie to hiring institution hirees receiving non-mls degree(s) in same state as hiring institution hirees receiving advanced degrees in a state bordering hiring institution state hirees receiving mls from institution in same state as hiring institution totals pre-covid time period* 26 (52%) 7 (14%) 5 (10%) 12 (24%) 50 (100%) covid time period* 17 (34%) 9 (18%) 4 (8%) 20 (40%) 50 (100%) total hirees for pre-covid and covid time periods 43 (43%) 16 (16%) 9 (9%) 32 (32%) 100 (100%) * the pre-covid-19 hiring period covers 2016 through december of 2019; the covid-19 period covers the period between spring of 2020 and spring of 2022. as summarized in table 1, between 2016 and 2019, little more than half (52%) of the fifty pre-covid-19 hirees tracked did not have an evident geographic connection to the institution that hired them. that is, of the fifty pre-pandemic hirees, twenty-six individuals did not receive their mls or any other advanced (post-baccalaureate) degree from an academic institution located in the same u.s. state where the academic library that hired them was located quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 50 or from an institution that bordered the state in which the institution that hired them was located. of the pre-pandemic hirees, 24% received their mls from an institution located in the same state as the hiring institution, 14% received an advanced degree other than an mls from an institution located in the same state as the hiring institution, and the remaining 10% of these hirees received an advanced degree other than their mls from a state that bordered the state in which the hiring institution was located. that means 48%, or slightly less than half, of the people hired prior to covid-19 had some sort of pre-existing geographic tie to the hiring institution. an even higher percentage of individuals from the sample of pandemic hirees had geographic ties to their hiring institutions. two-thirds (66%) of the pandemic hirees had a geographic tie to the academic library that hired them. specifically, of the fifty people hired during the pandemic, 40% or 20 individuals, received their mls from an academic institution located in the exact same state as the academic library that hired them. another 18% of the individuals from the group hired during the pandemic received an advanced degree other than their mls from an institution located in the same state as the hiring institution, and a further 8% of pandemic hirees received an advanced degree from a state that bordered the state where the hiring institution was located. in the next section, i explore some possible reasons for the apparent or potential shift in hiring patterns between pre-pandemic and pandemic times. a summary of job categories, geographical proximity, time period the person was hired, and each hiree’s identifying number is provided in the appendix (table 2). discussion a question guiding this research was whether ties to a particular state or region would be more important during the pandemic – at a time when academic library job interviews took place online instead of in person – than they were prior to the pandemic. in those cases where candidates had already lived in a particular state or region of the u.s., they had first-hand experience they could draw on when it came to deciding to apply for a position in that area and when it came to opting to move to that location when offered a job there. during the pandemic, taking a job at an institution in an area that was more familiar may have seemed less risky than taking a job somewhere completely unknown. based on a survey of employed 2020 mls graduates, allard writes that those graduates were "much less likely to have relocated” for their new jobs than was the case for 2019 graduates, where going with what was familiar was an important factor for those seeking jobs at libraries (2021, 34). for search committee members, the fact that a candidate had previously demonstrated a willingness to live in the same state or region as the location of the hiring institution may have been interpreted as sincere interest in the position. at a time when the hiring process was more complicated than usual, search committee members may have considered indicators of past interest in living in a particular area to be especially important. conclusion members of most organizations are finding ways to ensure that hiring practices include people who represent a wide range of skills, backgrounds, interests, and experiences, and in this respect, quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 51 understanding some of the patterns that characterize academic library hiring is useful for anyone involved in assessing candidates. along different lines, the results presented here suggest that to be well-positioned, individuals seeking jobs at academic libraries may need to cultivate ties to locations they are interested in targeting in their job searches. even though a higher percentage of hirees had ties to the state or region of the hiring institution during the pandemic, nearly onehalf of the hirees from the pre-pandemic group similarly had ties to the state or region of the hiring institution. in other words, even before the pandemic, pre-existing geographic ties mattered when it came to getting an academic library job. for students enrolled in mls programs, being aware of the significance of pre-existing geographic ties to a hiring institution may be relevant to them for the purposes of planning where they decide to seek out directed field work opportunities, internships, volunteer work, and other positions that may have an impact on future job opportunities. the fact that 24% of hirees from before the pandemic received an mls from the same state as their hiring institution and 40% of hirees from the pandemic period received an mls from the same state as their hiring institution may also highlight the importance of information school alumni networks, long-standing hiring patterns whereby graduates are likelier to apply for jobs near their degree program institution, or search committee member preferences to hire graduates from an institution with which they are familiar. at the same time, the increase in hiring characterized by geographic connections during the pandemic suggests that risk-aversion or possibly a desire to stick with what was familiar was a relevant factor for both candidates and search committee members. additional avenues of study related to this research would require further information. having a far larger sample of hirees from pre-pandemic and pandemic times would allow for hypothesis testing in a way that is not possible given the small sample size used for the current study. in addition, it would be useful to access information about all of the candidates for the positions tracked here, including those individuals who were not hired, in order to compare their profiles to those of the successful candidates or hirees. relatedly, it is important to assess whether the u.s. and its particular ecosystem of mls placements is an anomaly or if successful hirees who have graduated from mls programs or hirees of academic libraries in other countries also appear to have pre-existing geographic ties to their hiring institutions. next, by relying on state borders to denote proximity in the united states, this study may have missed out on more meaningful ways to categorize geographic ties; for example, using membership in regional associations might have been a useful proxy. this study also did not consider factors specific to search committee members at these different hiring institutions, yet it is plausible that search committee members who themselves come from a wider range of places outside their hiring institution might be more open to hiring a person without pre-existing geographic ties to the state or region where their library is located. additionally, with respect to the candidates who did not have pre-existing regional ties to the hiring institution who were nonetheless hired, what factors contributed to getting them a job offer or put another way, what allowed them to overcome the absence of geographic ties to the hiring institution in those cases? further research into how search committee decision making works and to what extent the pandemic has permanently changed academic library hiring is also warranted. looking beyond the pandemic, candidate interviews for academic library positions have in some instances continued to take place remotely, without a campus interview. next, even after quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 52 the pandemic, some people remain less willing to relocate for a new job. such factors, and others, suggest that some of the patterns that this study has potentially identified may continue to define hiring patterns for academic libraries. references allard, s. 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(2023, may 9). fact sheet: end of the covid-19 public health emergency. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/09/factsheet-end-of-the-covid-19-public-health-emergency.html wilkie, d. (2017, april 25). hidden bias more subtle and difficult to recognize than bias of decades past. hr news. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employeerelations/pages/hidden-bias-more-subtle-and-difficult-to-recognize-than-bias-of-decadespast.aspx –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12158 https://proceedings.mlr.press/v97/purohit19a.html https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/apl0000804 https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412463213 https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.83.3.125 https://ischool.sjsu.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/career_trends.pdf?1655307854 https://ischool.sjsu.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/career_trends.pdf?1655307854 https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2012.0040 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/7028 https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/09/fact-sheet-end-of-the-covid-19-public-health-emergency.html https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/09/fact-sheet-end-of-the-covid-19-public-health-emergency.html https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/hidden-bias-more-subtle-and-difficult-to-recognize-than-bias-of-decades-past.aspx https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/hidden-bias-more-subtle-and-difficult-to-recognize-than-bias-of-decades-past.aspx https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/hidden-bias-more-subtle-and-difficult-to-recognize-than-bias-of-decades-past.aspx quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 56 about the authors andrea m. quinn is the law librarian for digital initiatives and research services at the macmillan law library at emory university’s school of law. her research and teaching focus on issues related to scholarly communications, academic librarianship, legal and political institutions, and copyright law. she thanks the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions. appendix table 2 academic library hiree proximity to hiring institution, pre-covid versus covid hiree id hiring period job category proximity to hiring institution hiree 1 pre-covid mmgt/admin none hiree 2 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll same as mls hiree 3 pre-covid mmgt/admin none hiree 4 pre-covid ref/research none hiree 5 pre-covid mmgt/admin same as other adv degree hiree 6 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr same as other adv degree hiree 7 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll same as mls hiree 8 pre-covid mmgt/admin same as other adv degree hiree 9 pre-covid web srvc, ux, soc media none hiree 10 pre-covid collectn, acquist, circ none hiree 11 pre-covid catalog, metadata none hiree 12 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 13 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 14 pre-covid ref/research same as mls hiree 15 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 16 pre-covid mmgt/admin borders adv degree hiree 17 pre-covid web srvc, ux, soc media none hiree 18 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll same as mls hiree 19 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 20 pre-covid mmgt/admin none hiree 21 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 22 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr none hiree 23 pre-covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 24 pre-covid collectn, acquist, circ same as mls hiree 25 pre-covid mmgt/admin none quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 57 hiree 26 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt borders adv degree hiree 27 pre-covid info systems, tech same as mls hiree 28 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 29 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 30 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr none hiree 31 pre-covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 32 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 33 pre-covid mmgt/admin borders adv degree hiree 34 pre-covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 35 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr borders adv degree hiree 36 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 37 pre-covid ref/research same as mlis hiree 38 pre-covid info systems, tech same as mlis hiree 39 pre-covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 40 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 41 pre-covid ref/research none hiree 42 pre-covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 43 pre-covid ref/research none hiree 44 pre-covid catalog, metadata none hiree 45 pre-covid ref/research none hiree 46 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 47 pre-covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 48 pre-covid ref/research none hiree 49 pre-covid dig init, dig mmgt same as mls hiree 50 pre-covid mmgt/admin borders adv degree hiree 51 covid ref/research none hiree 52 covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 53 covid ref/research none hiree 54 covid outreach/prog/instr borders adv degree hiree 55 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 56 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 57 covid catalog, metadata none hiree 58 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 59 covid dig init, dig mmgt same as mls hiree 60 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 61 covid collectn, acquist, circ borders adv degree hiree 62 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 58 hiree 63 covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 64 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 65 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 66 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 67 covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 68 covid mmgt/admin same as mls hiree 69 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 70 covid collectn, acquist, circ borders adv degree hiree 71 covid info systems, tech none hiree 72 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 73 covid outreach/prog/instr same as mls hiree 74 covid ref/research none hiree 75 covid dig init, dig mmgt same as other adv degree hiree 76 covid outreach/prog/instr same as other adv degree hiree 77 covid ref/research same as other adv degree hiree 78 covid web srvc, ux, soc media none hiree 79 covid outreach/prog/instr none hiree 80 covid dig init, dig mmgt borders adv degree hiree 81 covid ref/research none hiree 82 covid info systems, tech same as mls hiree 83 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 84 covid collectn, acquist, circ none hiree 85 covid ref/research borders adv degree hiree 86 covid data mmgt, data analysis none hiree 87 covid info systems, tech borders adv degree hiree 88 covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 89 covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 90 covid dig init, dig mmgt same as mls hiree 91 covid arch/pres/spec coll same as mls hiree 92 covid mmgt/admin none hiree 93 covid dig init, dig mmgt none hiree 94 covid arch/pres/spec coll none hiree 95 covid ref/research same as mls hiree 96 covid mmgt/admin borders adv degree hiree 97 covid outreach/prog/instr none hiree 98 covid arch/pres/spec coll same as mls hiree 99 covid web srvc, ux, soc media same as other adv degree quinn / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 59 hiree 100 covid dig init, dig mmgt same as mls table 2 job categories for are drawn from sjsu school of information. 2022. “mlis skills at work: a snapshot of job postings spring 2022,” 35. the full description of the abbreviated academic library position categories are: ref/research = reference or research web srvc, ux, soc media = web services, user experience, or social media arch/pres/spec coll = archives, preservation, or special collections outreach/prog/instr = outreach, programming, or instruction mmgt/admin = management or administration dig init, dig mmgt = digital initiatives or digital management info systems, tech = information systems or technology catalog, metadata = cataloging or metadata collectn, acquist, circ = collection, acquisition, or circulation 3-302 title page3 3-302 article issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the reflective practice for sustainable future: a case study focusing the library of buddhist and pali university of sri lanka damayanthi gunasekera and manori samarakoon abstract: this paper reviews the initiatives taken by the library of buddhist and pali university of sri lanka (bpusl) to achieve the sdgs to create a 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 a 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. to cite this article: gunasekera, d., & samarakoon, m. (2020). the reflective practice for sustainable future: a case study focusing the library of buddhist and pali university of sri lanka. international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2020.vol5.2.171 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 5(2), 45-60. issn: 2474-3542 the reflective practice for sustainable future: a case study focusing the library of buddhist and pali university of sri lanka damayanthi gunasekera and manori samarakoon the buddhist and pali university of sri lanka, homagama, sri lanka abstract this paper reviews the initiatives taken by the library of buddhist and pali university of sri lanka (bpusl) to achieve the sdgs to create a 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 a 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. keywords: sustainable development goals, sustainable future, academic libraries, librarian’s role introduction there are hundreds of public, academic, national, special, research and school libraries to ensure that information is available for everyone to access and use in each country. in this digital era, libraries assist people to develop the capacity of effective use of information by organizing information in different forms to ensure continuous support for use in future generations. samantaray (2017) stated that due to the development of society, depending on well-educated and well-informed community, information and knowledge are important components in any society today (p. 31). gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 46 hence, university libraries act as hubs of academic activities, specially organizing subject related activities which refers to the university curriculum supporting to achieve university vision and mission. university libraries can also support the delivery of sustainable development goals (sdgs) also known as the global goals targeting in a number of ways, by implementing a number of activities mainly aiming at goal 4, ensuring quality, equal and lifelong education for all. sustainable future and sri lanka as one of the member countries of the un, the government of sri lanka has undertaken several initiatives to facilitate its implementation in the country in 2015. the ministry of sustainable development and wildlife has established the sustainable development division and has commenced working on a national sustainable development roadmap that will lead towards the formulation of policy and institutional framework, strategy and action plan towards ensuring the sustainable development in sri lanka. these included: ● establishment of a dedicated ministry for sustainable development as the focal point for coordinating, facilitating and reporting on the implementation of the sdgs, which is ministry of sustainable development, wildlife and regional development (msdwrd); ● establishment of a parliamentary select committee for sustainable development to provide political leadership for the implementation of the sdgs; and ● enactment of the sustainable development act no. 19 of 2017 to provide the legal framework for implementing the sdgs. (voluntary national review, 2018, p. 37) as the most responsible organization for the subject of sustainable development in sri lanka, the ministry took several steps to engage with other line ministries and national and 335 sub-national stakeholders through awareness, consultation and capacity building training programmes during the 2015-2018 periods. in addition, the msdwrd took the following steps to facilitate the involvement of public agencies in the sdgs implementation process in sri lanka: ● a strategy for public service delivery has been drafted covering several goals related to sustainable development ● a draft handbook which maps sdgs implementation responsibilities of 425 statutory agencies, based on the mandates of these agencies, has been prepared. ● a ‘task force for preparation of vocational national review’ (vnr) was appointed from key government agencies to guide and assist the vnr process ● creating a council to promote this concept among sri lankans, consisting 10 staff members? ● publication of sdgs indicators framework in three languages the ministry established the sustainable development division and commenced work on a national sustainable development roadmap that will lead towards the formulation of policy and institutional framework, strategy and action plan towards ensuring the sustainable development goals in sri lanka. the parliamentary select committee, on the united nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development, has been established with the objectives of facilitating the implementation of sdgs. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 47 the committee consists of 15 members of parliament and its role is further can be discussed in this manner: “the select committee is mandated to make recommendations on: formulating national policies and laws in consultation with relevant line ministries; allocation of adequate domestic resources and finding international funding resources; coordinating among government implementing agencies; networking measures at national, provincial and local levels; encouraging public-private partnerships; obtaining the support of united nations agencies and csos; sharing expertise and experiences among countries at regional and international levels; developing a separate database and reviewing progress periodically; and consideration of all matters which are connected with or incidental to the above issues” (voluntary national review, 2018, p. 27). furthermore, the main responsibility of the ministry is popularizing the agenda for sustainable goals in the country and the main popularizing tool selected by the sdg council is conducting workshops national and regional level to inform about the objectives and how these available resources in each stakeholder should be applied and used for the sustainable development in a country. all people should be clearly informed about the aims, objectives and benefits of the project, as there are 17 goals which involve a number of areas and 169 aims, further 224 targets. as a result of participating in promotional workshops by bpusl authorities, initiatives were taken to implement the concept at bpusl in 2019. hence this article adopted a broader approach to explore the efforts taken by the authors to create a sustainable environment at the library and to assist universities for achieving sustainable goals at bpusl, as a case study. the article further discussed that sustainable collection development, and the designs related areas of the sustainability planned in the library and service provision for the future. it will begin with a short overview of the contribution of the sri lankan government, and then the effort taken by the government to promote this concept in the country. the rest of this paper explored how sdgs are addressed and promoted by the bpusl and its library to create sustainable environment at the library as well as in the university. literature review evolution of the sdgs concept the united nations conference on the ‘human environment’ was authorized by the un general assembly in 1968. although the idea came in 1968, the general assembly of the un decided to convene a conference in 1972 at stockholm to discuss the resolution. the major theme expressed the idea that it was possible to combine economic growth with environmental protection. later, the concept was developed with the integration of environment and economics and reexamined with environment and development as reported in the brundtland report in 1987. united nations conference on environment and development (unced), by name earth summit, held at rio de janeiro, brazil in 1992 to reconcile worldwide economic development with protection of the environment. the social dimension was given equal importance to the economic dimension and environmental protection at the summit. most importantly, agenda 21 was signed by a majority of the world's countries, indicating a commitment to break with the 20th century tradition of unsustainable use of the world's resources. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 48 however, in the beginning of millennium, in 2000, world leaders gathered at the un to shape a broad vision which was translated into millennium development goals (mdgs). the mdgs are designed to bring about a positive change in the lives of billions of people in the world. each country is responsible for working out details of comprehensive development framework and funding strategies. hence that many countries of the world adopted the concept and work carried out to achieve those eight goals by about 2015 (ukubeyinje & stella, 2019). further summits (the millennium summit 2000, the johannesburg world summit on sustainable development 2002 and the new york world summit 2005) have consolidated this basic definition with some minor revisions. the concept was changed from mdgs to sustainable development at the un conference held in 2012. as the mdgs came to their deadlines in 2015 a new agenda emerged at sustainable development summit held in 2015, to transform the world to better meet human needs and the requirements of the economic transformations known as sdgs. at the un development summit held in 2015, more than 150 world leaders adopted the new 2030 agenda for sustainable development, including the sdgs. (maria & chinemerem, 2019). the adoption by united nations member states of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (un, 2015) set the global, national and local framework for putting that responsibility into action. achieving the 17 sustainable development goals (sdgs) and the 169 targets will mean that “no one was left behind”, but it will also reflect the progressive and cumulative engagement of countries, communities, sectors, public and private organizations and citizens in this process (pinto, 2017; maria & chinemerem, 2019). within this quest for global sustainable development, the library and information services (lis) sector should be a keypartner and active contributor. literature stated the meaning of “sustainable development” as the process of transformations of a country’s economic, social, political, educational, religious and cultural value towards improvement in human dignity and general well-being of its citizens. according to shah (2012), sustainable development is “the development that provides a better quality of life for both the present and future generations” (p. 3). nicholas and perpetual (2015) stated sustainable development is the “overall change and improvement in any given society as related to individual progress” (p. 29). the world commission on environment and development defines the concept of sustainable development in this manner, “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (wced, 1987, p. 43). samantaray (2017) opined on these definitions and assumes that all people must be able to maintain a reasonable quality of life independently. based on these concepts, the world commission could discuss linkages between economic development, social equality, poverty and environmental protection. while the social dimension was present through the emphasis on the concept of needs, with an overriding priority being the poor of the world, the emphasis was on economy and environment. objectives of sdgs jhingan (2011) enumerated the objectives of sustainable development as thus: 1. creation of sustainable improvements in the quality of life for all people; gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 49 2. lifting living standards, which is inclusive of bettering people’s health and educational opportunities, giving everyone a chance to participate in public life, helping to ensure a clean environment, promoting intergenerational equity; 3. maximizing the net benefits of economic development subject to maintaining the stock of all environmental and natural resource assets (physical, human and natural) over time; 4. accelerating economic development in order to conserve and enhance the stock of human, environmental and physical capital without making future generations worse off. in essence, sustainable development is a process of changing the social environmental and economic exploitation of resources which is available in a country and also connected with five ps, people, planet, prosperity, partnership and peace. it involves more than growth and it requires a change in the content of growth, to make it less materialand energy-intensive and more equitable in its impact. these changes are required in all countries as part of a package of measures to maintain. sustainable future and academic libraries information is power, it gives knowledge. no wonder it is viewed as a valuable natural resource useful for personal, community, economic, educational, cultural, social and technological development (tyonu & ezeogu, 2015). people who are in society need information and they search for information from many sources. libraries are the main sources of information. university students, academic and non-academic staff are the main users of academic libraries. students need information for their studies, academics and professionals require specific information for research and discovery, others may need general information in their areas of specialty. in that way society needs different information and libraries should be ready to supply in an accessible way as it is the main source of information of any society. because for any nation to develop, it needs to have relevant up to date and adequate information on food, security, democracy, health, education, gender equality, etc. (onoyeyan & adesina, 2014). libraries, whether school, academic, public or special, have great responsibilities in achieving sustainable development by acquiring, packaging, organizing and disseminating knowledge and experience to the citizenry. libraries can further influence the actualization of sustainable development by enabling access to information in all formats across geographical, cultural, linguistic and political frontiers (ubale & yahaya, 2016). information in the development of any nation cannot be left behind because it is a vital factor for sustainable development. a nation of any country needs to provide sdgs for its citizens to meet their ever-increasing demand and have a comfortable life. to accomplish this, the library has to play an important role by creating, organizing, processing, storing, disseminating and providing sustainable information and facilitating quick access to information using modern technology. libraries should focus on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development identifying technological tools and methods to connect this concept (abata-ebire et al., 2018). sustainable information refers to: resources that either facilitates integration and participation according to the three constitutive parts of sustainable development and/or contributes to the strengthening of gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 50 the process in which society is transformed according to the ideals of sustainable development and impacts evaluation (noilin, 2010, p. 19) sustainable information is seen to consist of two distinct parts: information for sustainable development (seen as a resource for the project of sustainable development) and development of sustainable information (creating sustainable information and communication technologies). it is argued that an articulation of sustainable information is important for information science and neighbouring research disciplines. specific emphasis is placed on sustainable information as an area to be developed within information ethics. beyond serving as the “intellectual heart” of the universities, university libraries are technology centres capable of creating both information for sustainable development and development of sustainable information (marmot, 2014, p. 64; fallin, 2016). furthermore, university libraries can bridge the digital gaps and accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals by being hubs where people come to access resources. it can also “act as catalysts or conduits capable of connecting diverse social groups and organizations, and linking different creative and community practices” (wyatt et al., 2015, p. 9). academic libraries play a significant role in knowledge management which is essential for the transformation of information and intellectual capital necessary for the achievement of sdgs (wong, 2010). academics are the best knowledge creators while academic libraries and librarians are the leading player in knowledge management (lee, 2005). universities and research organizations are themselves knowledge reservoirs (lee, 2005) but university libraries as constituents of the parent university are knowledge repositories (mahajan, 2005). supporting this view, anasi et al. (2018) and (hayes, 2004) opined that a university can be viewed as a knowledge factory creating new knowledge through research and by educating knowledge workers, both of which are essential for modern economy; this is made possible with the support of the librarians playing their traditional role of acquiring, organizing and disseminating knowledge among the members of the university community to promote research activities. these contributions not only towards the building of knowledge society and knowledge economy but also enhances the achievement of sdgs. university/academic libraries have traditionally been pillars of knowledge, amplifiers of learning, leaders of research assistance and social inclusion and area adopters of modern technologies. facilitating the implementation of sdg 4, which focuses on quality education, academic libraries facilitate accessing relevant information and support universities to produce quality output and for achieving its mission and vision. academic libraries can ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all in this attempt. maria and chinemerem (2019) also emphasized the importance of libraries in achieving sdgs and state, “to achieve qualitative education at all levels without the support of libraries and librarians would be difficult” (p. 32). a quality is the heart of education and what takes place in the classroom and other learning environments is fundamentally important to the future well-being of children, young people and adults. a quality education is one, which satisfies basic learning needs and enriches the lives of learners and their overall experiences of living (samantaray, 2017). gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 51 furthermore, information sharing is emphasized by sdgs with the concept of equal access hence that university/academic libraries can facilitate sustainable future in many ways: raising awareness of idea of sdgs among current users, information literacy skill improvement sessions, arranging story telling sessions, building digital repositories and launching surveys etc. information gathering, information analysis and creation databases for information sharing and raising awareness have been seen as crucial roles of the libraries in this endeavor. nolin (2010) considered three constitutive parts of information for sustainable development: ● development of sustainable information technology ● development of sustainable information conservation ● development of sustainable information sharing according to the international advocacy programme (ipa) of the ifla and ala are active in raising awareness of ideas of sdgs. ifla’s consistent position is that access to information is essential in achieving the sdgs, and that libraries are not only key partners for governments but are already contributing to progress towards the achievement of the 17 goals. for this reason, ifla launched the iap in 2016, a new capacity-building programme designed to promote and support the role libraries can play in the planning and implementation of the un 2030 agenda and the sdgs (ifla, 2016). the objectives of the iap are to: ● raise the level of awareness on the sdgs of library workers at community, national and regional levels, and to promote the important role libraries can play in development by contributing to the un 2030 agenda and the sdgs ● increase the participation of library associations and public library representatives in advocacy work at national and regional levels to secure sustainable public access to information through library services and programmes. jankowska (2008) stated the role of the academic libraries at the tradition of sustainability and stated that it has been overshadowed as digitization, collection development, and providing adequate technologies have become core library missions (p. 323). academic libraries must keep up with user demands and needs, but that does not mean that we should turn our backs on the very concepts that libraries were founded upon. this is not even a matter of maintaining the past; it is an issue of developing and planning for a future that is realistic, achievable, and most importantlysustainable. education is essential to the success of every one of the 17 new sustainable development goals. methodology objectives of the study are: ● to share our reflective practices among lis professionals in the field ● to highlight sri lankan librarians are in action to achieve sd goals ● to inform how university/academic libraries are addressing the issue of achieving sd goals. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 52 to achieve the above objectives, action research method was engaged to process the article as it is the most suitable method because action is the reflective process of progressive problemsolving led by individuals working with others in teams or as a part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. the way the library team of the bpusl is addressing the issue of creating a sustainable future at the library as well as in the university is explored in this article. there are two types of action research: participatory and practical. denscombe (2010) wrote that an action research strategy's purpose is to solve a particular problem and to produce guidelines for effective practices (denscombe, 2010, p.123). action research simultaneously assists in practical problem solving and expands scientific knowledge, as well as enhances the competencies of the respective actors. furthermore, out of three purposes of action research two purposes are most applicable to this study: ● building the reflective practitioner ● building professional cultures reflective practices support the improvement of the process of doing any activity in the library, such as organizing information, creation of metadata through subject analysis etc. and that reflection will help to create a skillful professional to the field. thus, action research is the most suitable method for such an attempt. as introduced by mcniff (2002), action research is an inquiry by the self into the self which can be called “a kind of self-reflective practice” (p.24). therefore, knowledge generated through such inquiry would be widely acknowledged as a kind of knowledge which will support the development of individuals in the system. further, there is clear empirical evidence to support the idea that individual inquiries into their own practice have influenced the quality of learning and action within the institutional setting. the article analyzes and describes the professional role, which has been played by the professional librarians at bpusl. sustainable future and buddhist and pali university bpusl was established in 1981 by the act of 1981, no. 74 with the objective of producing quality monk graduates to the country for dissemination of buddhism and pali language nationally and internationally and the buddhist philosophy worldwide. bpusl has affiliated colleges in 12 foreign countries to support achieving this objective internationally while three faculties, namely faculty of buddhist studies, faculty of language studies and faculty of graduate studies are taking numerous actions to achieve the objectives nationally (goal 4: quality education). policy goal 4: inclusive, equitable and relevant quality education is ensured, while promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all undergraduate students of bpusl and postgraduate students who are all over the island. the idea underpinning these goals is that institutions that contribute to the education of future professionals must also communicate to students their role in the building of tomorrow's sustainable society. it is required to integrate sustainable development into their educational programmes in each educational institution. hence, not only the main goal, but the other 16 goals gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 53 were considered in creating a sustainable environment at the university to generate quality education, set by the un for a sustainable future in the university. the first step taken by the university was forming a committee consisting of all the heads of the departments and in charge of various units to discuss how application should be done at the university using available resources. approval was given for the plan and budget submitted by each section covering specially goal 4 and 3, 6 and 16. monthly meeting and presentation mechanisms to capture updates from all sections was also initiated. in addition to that, the university decided to take assistance from higher authorities of the following government organizations such as divisional secretariat office, homagama provincial council, police station homagama, army head office and army school which are available around the university, to implement planned activities for achieving goals. second, a workshop was held to increase awareness among the academic and nonacademic staff members and students. in addition, several steps were taken to continue the project successfully applying recommended practices at the university and incorporating suggestions to the bpusl corporate plan set for 2019-2023 as well, with the aim of having quality education and creating a sustainable future in the university. in addition to that the following general steps were taken by the bpusl under the theme of “sustainable university” (goal 3) to create a green environment at the university related to goal 3 & 8. table 1. general key performance indicators key performance indicators theme physically and mentally fitness of the university community arrangement of meditation programmes for academic, non-academic and for students, medical health camp and blood donation campaign one day workshop on use of traditional medicine for covid19. conducting religious activities at senior citizen places and at children orphanages theme sustainable environment planting allamanda flower trees and pine trees (areca nut palm) each side of the way to university with collaboration of army officers growing vegetables around the student hostels (as university has more than 5 acres of land) planning to conduct a workshop on growing inorganic vegetables. (resource person from the district agriculture centre of the area (homagama). distributing different plants among academic and non-academic staff for gardening assigning to grow vegetables and other things to each section of the university by allocating one friday in a month for that. conducting a workshop for all students to raise awareness about sdgs gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 54 reflective practice at the library the sustainable development of collections and library services should become important components of academic library operations. an actualization of achieving sustainability as a goal of academic libraries is necessary to promote relevant, quality information while helping users disseminate information and knowledge to a broad category of users and provide equal access to all users. therefore, the role of libraries must be to be ready with relevant information for the actualization of sdgs by creating sustainable information and sharing information for sustainable development. in this context, university libraries have a vital role to play in making sdgs a reality in the country. it is evident from these completed and planned programmes; librarian as a member of the university sustainable development committee, participated in several internal meetings where all the instructions and guidance given to initiate the project at each section compiling specific objectives and goals related to 17 sdgs. the main objective of the initiating sustainable project at the bpusl library is to improve the quality of the service and save the time of the reader while improving the user satisfaction by offering quick service through improved library facilities. in addition to goal 16, target ten aims to ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedom in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. furthermore, libraries must begin to focus on creating more responsible operational models in terms of environmental impact if they are to keep information open and free to all, and if they are to support broader goals of scholarly community sustainability. accordingly, to create balanced social, environment and economical sustainable development at the library, following practices were implemented at the library: 1. users were guided and added new value for the process. notices were displayed informing library users (students, academic and non-academic staff) emphasizing the value of saving electricity and water targeting goals 6 and 7 near water taps and inside the library toilets. numbering system was introduced to each electric item which is fixed on walls to recognize each and for easy operation (where natural light is not available). the main objective was to save the time of the reader as well as save energy. 2. flowerpots and fixing natural useful plants at the entrance and inside the library building, in walking stages for helping to reduce stress of the library users by creating environmentally friendly surroundings, was completed. cloak rooms are available in each side of the library entrance and then there is a veranda where natural plants were plotted targeting goal 3: good health and well-being. 3. the path to the library building was designed in an attractive way by planting flower trees. 4. wall painting which indicates the traditional buddhist education in sri lanka was colour washed to make the library entrance attractive. 5. green environment inside the library by supplying natural light and ventilation in the reading areas and walking stages which are used by university students to by heart stanza (98% of the library users are buddhist bhikkus) and other literature ensuring healthy life, promoting the well-being and supporting quality education and friendly infrastructure (goal 3, 4 and 9: industries, innovations and infrastructure), were created. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 55 6. 'bana' preaching activity was organized (religious activity preaching the dhamma) in january 2020 to improve mental well-being of the library users. it was held in the library with the participation of all the staff members of the university targeting goal 16: peace, justice and strong institutions) 7. scanning of old (which cannot be handled) rear valuable buddhist books were started to create digital archives. it is a national requirement as there are no buddhist digital archives in the country ensuring quality education and equal access aiming at goal 4, and 16. 8. two surveys were conducted targeting feedback from the staff and students with the aim of developing library services. a research study conducted with non-academic staff of bpusl aiming at goal 7, saving paper and energy was completed and submitted for publishing. it was “a behavioral study of buddhist and pali university staff on facebook.” one of the general goals is to save stationeries etc. used in the library while offering quality service to the library users. the main purpose was to understand why and how non-academic staff is behaving in using facebook as a library . they need to introduce online communication user groups with the aim of supporting the said project and to reduce paper usage, save time and labour cost etc. these local researchers have also revealed the possibility of creating such groups and its usefulness to any organization (thuseethan & vasanthapriyan, 2015; suraweera, 2010; abeysekera, 2017) . hence that research was conducted and findings revealed that bpusl non-academic lower level staff members are efficient users of facebook but not the skillful creators of posts. the main purpose of using facebook was to look forward to news while the main problem affected by them was ‘unknown friends’ requests’. it was suggested to create library user groups, free wi-fi connection for each mobile phone at the university and it training sessions for the staff to improve their knowledge and skills on it usage. a questionnaire was distributed among final year students with the aim of getting their perception on the library collection and overall satisfaction on facilities and services. the main purpose of the study was to analyze student perceptions on existing services and develop the library facilities according to the research findings (sdg 4,5,6 and 16). the problem that affected the research was that there were several complaints from the students stating that there were no sufficient materials available for their subjects in the library. data analysis is being done now to identify significant findings. library collection automation project was started to create a modern learning environment at the university. automation project initiated in 2019 which is in progress and currently a server machine and other equipment were purchased. networking of library building is also being completed. data entering commenced and nearly 35,000 entries were entered to excel sheets. total collection is 60,000 and data transferring to ‘koha’ will be done in a short time ensuring quick access to information ensuring goal ‘16: promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’ (thomas, 2017, p.5). bpusl library is expecting to integrate membership profiles and other modules, acquisition, periodical, online lending activities and other functions of the library with the aim of creating a sustainable environment in the library. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 56 expected practices bpusl library planned and engaged in implementing the following practices for the betterment of the library users and creating a sustainable environment at the library. it is: ● to place two water filters for the readers with the aim of increasing welfare facilities at the library and to increase the user satisfaction targeting goals 3, 4 and 6. ● to conduct a user awareness programme to develop the literacy skills about the goals, its usefulness to the individual and to the university and how the library is adjusting communication methods and providing access to other facilities during this covid 19 pandemic period. ● to conduct study session ‘computer literacy skills’ with the hope of improving skills of university students) (4.6 by 2030, ensure that all youth and 50% of adults, both men and women, achieve computer literacy, ) ● to conduct a two hours session for university staff and students to raise awareness about the right to information act 2017 which is legally facilitated to access any information for the citizens of sri lanka aiming at goal 16 access to justice, access to information. ● to create digital oer (open educational resources) on related subjects which is directly relevant to enhance usage across borders (goal 16; equal access) ● to establish a ‘sustainable library corner’ at the library to provide information on sustainable programmes that are existing in the university and to keep all related materials together on sdgs for reference purpose. main challenges faced by the frontline officer were the lack of staff, unstable network and ict facilities to carry out the approved plan. only two academic officers, librarian and senior assistant librarian with 12 staff members, were available to run the library. when there is additional work to be completed out of daily routines, much effort should be made. discussion and conclusion the sustainable development of collections and library services has become important components of academic library operations currently. because an actualization of achieving sustainability as a goal of academic libraries is necessary to promote relevant, quality information while helping users disseminate information and knowledge to a broad category of users and provide equal access to all users. accordingly, this concept paper has established the relationship between academic libraries and sdgs. many goals out of 17 have been applied and implemented and discussed with ways in which librarians can be instrumental to meeting them. policy goal 4: inclusive, equitable and relevant quality education is ensured, while promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all; is the most related goal out of 17 to the bpusl. it ensures access to and participation of quality education. three faculties and other support service units including the university have initiated several steps to achieve these goals by about 2023. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 57 bpusl library will be able to provide quality satisfied efficient service to the library users at the right time saving time of the reader, energy and extra expenses after completion of those planned targets. this will be beneficial to the university to produce quality and skillful graduates nationally and internationally while achieving the vision and mission of the university. on the whole the sustainable development project will be useful to the university students and the staff and will improve their physical and mental skills by organizing, engaging and participating in those workshops and training sessions. it will also develop their managerial, technical and vocational skills, active learning, analytical thinking, creativity, originality, innovation, leadership & social influence, coordination and time management. this will affect the university as well as to the country to have a sustainable future. it can conclude that the three objectives formulated in the study is sharing, highlighting and informing how authors have addressed the issue among professionals in the field. the objectives were achieved as all the past and future plans are recorded in this article. suggestions with all this experience gained from the reflective practices, the following recommendations were made: ● bpusl library should be developed into a virtual learning centre facilitated by icts. ● stable networking facilities, smart classroom, chat-rooms, weblogs, library websites should be created and improved. this will enable the library to function effectively as hubs connecting creative minds for knowledge creation as well as enabling the branch library to contribute to the actualization of sdgs. this could encourage increased use of icts for knowledge management which is crucial to the implementation of sdgs. ● the library should embark on outreach programmes looking out of the box, aiming at combating illiteracy aggressively through effective participation in information literacy programmes for increased access to quality information that will enhance education, health and socio-economic needs especially among socially marginalized communities in order to achieve sdgs. this can be easily implemented through bpusl students at temples that are situated in illiteracy areas. ● main and faculty libraries should create, acquire and disseminate sustainable information resources to library users and other categories of stakeholders to increase the awareness and sensitization. awareness must also be created during library workshops, conferences, and webinars to ensure that librarians understand emerging ict enabled platforms such as chat-rooms, weblogs, library websites and their capabilities in facilitating the actualization of sdgs. ● collection development should strive to acquire information materials on the sdgs and bring the materials to the awareness of the library users. in addition, both information for sustainability and information for sustainable development should be created, collected and organized. ● number of management level library staff as well as other categories should be increased and training should be given to improve the ict skills of the staff. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 58 references abata-ebire, blessing damilola; jeremy adetayo adebowale & beatrice yemsi ojokuk (2018). achieving sustainable development goals (sdgs) in nigeria: the roles of libraries, international journal of applied technologies in library and information management 4 (2) 10 – pp.89-95, retrieved from file:///c:/users/job%2012496/documents/sustainabledev/roleof%20the%20librarian.docx.p df anasi, s. n., ukangwa, c. c., & fagbe, a. 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(2016). digcomp 2.0: the digital voluntary national review on the status of implementing sustainable development goals (2018). rajagirirya, ministry of sustainable development, wildlife and regional development. gunasekera and samarakoon/ international journal of librarianship 5(2) 60 wong, d.m.l. (2010),knowledge management catalyst for sustainable development, international symposium in information technology, itsim, vol. 3, pp. 1444-1449. world commission on environment and development report (1987). new york, retrieved from doi: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/139811?ln=en wyatt, d., mcquire, s. & butt, d. (2015), public libraries in a digital culture, retrieved from:https://publiccultures.unimelb.edu.au/sites/publiccultures.unimelb.edu.au/files/publicl ibrariesinadigital culture.pdf about the authors damayanthi gunasekera is currently librarian (acting) at the buddhist and pali university of sri lanka. she has more than 25 years of experience in librarianship at the open university of sri lanka. she earned an mphil degree in 2017, masters degree in 2003 from the university of colombo. she completed postgraduate diploma in distance education in 2008 and her first degree in library and information science earned in 1991. she has written, presented and published 24 research articles locally and internationally on distance learning and support services, authority control and metadata creation, copyright and distance education etc.. she has a fellowship at sri lanka library association. member of the academic committee of the information studies unit which offers balis degree programme by the ousl. she is a lecturer, editor and reviewer of the lessons written for the balis programme. manaori samarakoon is currently working as senior assistant librarian at the buddhist and pali university of sri lanka. she has more than eight years of working experience and earned her masters degree in lis in 2014 from university of kelaniya. her first degree is in lis 2008 from the same university. she has published more than 11 research articles and presented a number of conference papers locally and internationally. she is a member of sri lanka library association. 004_171-article_title-1 (1) 004_171-article-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org librarians’ attitudes, needs, and barriers to participating in international conferences: a survey of ala members grace liu, shoshana frank, elizabeth dawson, and olanike olaniyi abstract: this article presents the results of a survey of american library association (ala) members exploring the interests, barriers, reasons, decision-influencing factors, support needs, and preferences of librarians in attending international conferences. the study reveals that although a majority of librarians expressed a strong interest in attending such conferences, more than half of them never or rarely participate, primarily due to a lack of institutional funding, which is more prevalent in public libraries. the primary reason for attending international conferences is to gain exposure to new perspectives and library practices in other countries. factors such as the overall cost of the conference, its theme and reputation, and the availability of financial support also significantly influence librarians' participation decisions. to enhance and improve librarians' participation in international conferences, we recommend that professional institutions provide funding, advocacy, and informational support to help build their capabilities, networks, and awareness. overall, the study highlights the significant potential for librarians to broaden their horizons and expand their professional development opportunities through attending international conferences and underscores the need for greater support and resources to facilitate their participation. to cite this article: liu, g., frank, s., dawson, e., & olaniyi, o. (2023). librarians’ attitudes, needs, and barriers to participating in international conferences: a survey of ala members. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 4-25. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.304 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.304 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 4-25. issn: 2474-3542 librarians’ attitudes, needs, and barriers to participating in international conferences: a survey of ala members grace liu, west chester university, pennsylvania, united states shoshana frank, illinois, united states elizabeth dawson1, arizona western college, arizona, united states olanike olaniyi, indianapolis public library, indiana, united states abstract this article presents the results of a survey of american library association (ala) members exploring the interests, barriers, reasons, decision-influencing factors, support needs, and preferences of librarians in attending international conferences. the study reveals that although a majority of librarians expressed a strong interest in attending such conferences, more than half of them never or rarely participate, primarily due to a lack of institutional funding, which is more prevalent in public libraries. the primary reason for attending international conferences is to gain exposure to new perspectives and library practices in other countries. factors such as the overall cost of the conference, its theme and reputation, and the availability of financial support also significantly influence librarians' participation decisions. to enhance and improve librarians' participation in international conferences, we recommend that professional institutions provide funding, advocacy, and informational support to help build their capabilities, networks, and awareness. overall, the study highlights the significant potential for librarians to broaden their horizons and expand their professional development opportunities through attending international conferences and underscores the need for greater support and resources to facilitate their participation. keywords: international conferences, public and academic librarians, international library practices, international networking introduction the opportunities and challenges facing information professionals are rapidly unfolding across a vast international landscape. global librarianship offers our colleagues the opportunity to become agents of change, advocates for international policy change, and catalysts for social 1corresponding author liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 5 justice (chaparro-univazo, 2007). international conferences, with their global scope and focus on bringing industry professionals together from all over the world, are important to librarianship. international conferences can give librarians a different cultural experience and provide new perspectives and insight into global library initiatives that may have a positive impact on their home organization (egholm, et al., 1998). being able to engage and collaborate with colleagues at an international level allows librarians to extend their professional network and achieve substantial professional growth. presenting at an international conference enables librarians to share their perspectives with a wider audience and gain international recognition. the experience may push librarians past limits to reach their full professional potential (thull, 2014; arda for researchers, 2022). as opined in association of council on education, the responses on key institutional priorities from u.s institutions, contributions to internationalization in tenure guidelines and procedures between 2006 and 2011, the categories 1 and 3 of the findings showed international activities and presentation at international conferences on top the list (47%) that “should be considered in tenure and promotion decisions.” in that study, out of the 91 tenure codes analyzed, 52 showed criteria and codes for the presentations and research publication to include professional associations and “the [tenure and promotion committee] will consider presentations of current research at refereed high quality professional conferences as evidence of a candidate’s professional achievement and growth. for example, the most important activities within this area include being an invited speaker at a national or international symposium or conference, and publishing and presenting research at refereed conferences sponsored by major professional associations, with selective review processes and highly selective acceptance rates” (helms, 2015). considering the benefits and potential opportunities brought by international conferences, as part of the 2022 emerging leader project of the ala, the international relations round table (irrt) sponsored a group of emerging leaders2 to investigate their members' interest in attending international conferences, as well as the barriers. after completing the irrt member survey, the group wanted to expand outside the specific irrt interest group, by gauging the needs and challenges of all ala members. as such the group initiated a study to understand the needs and challenges of all ala members to participate in international conferences. the ala member survey intends to answer the following research questions: 1. what are librarians’3 interests in participating in international conferences? 2. what are their challenges in participating in international conferences? 3. what are their needs in participating in international conferences? 4. how do professional organizations support their members’ participation in international conferences? since these research questions have not been systematically studied, the answers can contribute to a better understanding of librarians’ and library workers’ interests, barriers, and needs to engage in international conferences. this article will present the ala member survey results to inform future researchers. 2 group members include elizabeth dawson, shoshana frank, timothy furgal, olanike olaniyi along with member guides erica saito and grace liu; all participated in creating the ala member survey. 3 librarians are used as a collective term, which includes library professionals, library workers, information specialists, library managers, and other types of individual members at ala. liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 6 literature review although there is some noticeable participation in international conferences among librarians, limited research has been done to understand the extent of librarians’ interests and needs in attending international conferences. our literature review only identified a few articles published over the past 15 years in the library field. the majority of these studies explored the benefits, reasons, and barriers of continued professional development activities while attending conferences in general or in specific international conferences such as the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) conference. one of the most significant publications is from kozlowska and scoulas (2020), which explored the international scholarly activity among academic librarians in the united states. some of their study questions related to librarians’ participation in international conferences outside of the united states. the article provided considerable evidence on the interest and activities among the survey respondents in international conference participation. their research found about 47% (n=87) of respondents participated in an international conference outside of the united states. more than 60% of librarians had been to international conferences one to three times in their careers. about 16% of the respondents reported that they attended international conferences more than seven times. in terms of roles played at these conferences, 39.88% of the respondents attended as participants and 34.52% attended as presenters. among the us librarians who participated in international conferences, the majority of the respondents traveled to either europe (32.37%) or canada (30.64%). international conferences bring considerable benefits to librarians. thull (2014) highlighted the benefits of professional rejuvenation, networking opportunities, dissemination of information, and the ability to see new perspectives on librarianship. he further stressed that “the exposure, learning, and networking that can occur can be life-changing and help put our career choice into perspective in terms of its value not only to the patrons we serve directly but to patrons the world over” (thull, 2014). harker (2009), learned through their research that international conferences allow participants to get an outsider’s perspective, and spark enthusiasm that leads to a later change in practice. besides the informational impact (such as getting new information and ideas) and social impact (such as networking), dumbell (2017, 2019) emphasized the affective impact and significant emotional benefits of conference attendance, such as feeling inspired, energized, motivated, grateful, valued, confident, and affirmation of meaningful work and belonging to a greater library community. barry and garciafebo (2012) discussed the multiculturalism of ifla conferences and mentioned that new professionals benefited from being exposed to different views through interaction with colleagues from other cultures, religions, and library sectors. when it comes to factors that influence conference attendance, superio and anderson's (2016) research on the attendance of the international association of aquatic and marine science libraries and information centers annual conference, identified five different factors that affect members’ attendance. these factors include; (a) destination stimuli (opportunity to visit another country and the attractiveness of the destination); (b) professional and social networking opportunities (interaction with colleagues and friends, developing a professional network, and involvement with the association); (c) educational opportunities (keeping up-toliu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 7 date with professional knowledge and fulfilling the desire to learn); (d) safety and health situations (safety and security situation at the destination, hygiene standards, and personal health conditions); (e) travelability (time required to travel, total cost, and personal financial situation). research from the travel and tourism industry also iterates similar motivating factors. malek, et al. (2011) specified the motives of professional and pleasure-seeking for attending an international conference, such as building professional relationships, having personal interaction, feeling part of a global community, gaining new knowledge, meeting like-minded people, looking for a peer reputation, getting away from home, getting new experiences, and visiting a new destination. there are many factors that can negatively influence conference attendance, and the most significant barrier for librarians to attend international conferences is the lack of funding. kozlowska and scoulas’ (2020) found that among the 53% who had never participated in international conferences, the most prevailing reasons were “too expensive” (45.28%), and “library doesn’t finance international travel” (22.64%). corcoran and mcguinness’ (2014) research identified time, financial restraints, and lack of encouragement from employers as the main barriers for librarians to seek continued professional development. dumbell’s (2019) doctoral thesis summarized the barriers to conference attendance into four categories, including lack of funding, time constraints, awareness (lack of information about the event), and location of the event. dumbell’s (2019) research summarized previous studies on the reasons for attending conferences into four concepts: information and ideas, networking, inspiration and invigoration, and other reasons such as specific duty. this research also discussed the nine factors that influence the impact of conference attendance, including attending with colleagues, the serendipity of encountering relevant content and contacts, social media use, experience, role and attributes of attendee, taking responsibility and planning, the time factor, alignment with strategy and budget, dissemination of ideas and culture of ideas. regarding the roles that library associations can play in its members’ professional development activities, corcoran and mcguinness (2014) stated that professional library organizations need to reinforce their support of their members’ endeavors and provide incentives to participate and should “build on librarians' personal motivation and job satisfaction, the likelihood of career progression, and deepening working relationships with non-lis colleagues” (p. 176). methodology we designed a survey questionnaire with 20 survey questions (see appendix). the questions included several single-select multiple-choice questions, multi-select multiple-choice questions, and open-ended questions. these questions covered the interests, barriers, reasons, decisioninfluencing factors, needs, and preferences of ala members in participating in international conferences, along with several questions to capture the characteristics of the survey respondents. the study proposal was submitted to the west chester university institutional review board and was approved with an exempt decision (irb #: irb-fy2022-336). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049670.2016.1251010 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049670.2016.1251010 liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 8 an online qualtrics survey was constructed and distributed to ala members through ala connect (a centralized ala member communication platform) between may 16th to may 31st, 2022. various members of the research team posted the survey several times to various distribution lists of ala, ala divisions, round tables, and sections. those divisions include: ● ala members (43,100 members) ● association of college & research libraries (acrl) (7,100 members) ● acrl sections (incl. framework for information literacy for higher education; policy, politics and international relations section; instruction section; university libraries section) ● reference and user services association (rusa) (1,900 members) ● rusa sections (incl. business reference and services section; history section; collection development and evaluation section; emerging technologies section; sharing and transforming access to resources section; reference services section) ● evidence synthesis methods interest group (738 members) ● ala emerging leaders interest group (993 members) ● international relations round table (1,000 members) ● association for library service to children (2,900 members) these messages were sent to the approximately 43,100 members of ala connect with the goal of reaching as many interested participants as possible. given the structure of ala connect which relies on individual member’s subscription of the digests to receive the message, it is not possible to confirm how many members of the potential 43,100 actually saw the survey, and thus to calculate the response rate for survey participation. the survey was anonymous. no incentive was provided. the survey received 282 responses and 277 completed responses for the entire questionnaire. survey data analysis characteristics of the survey respondents the survey respondents (n=277) encompass a diverse array of job functions within the library profession. as table 1 shows, approximately 24.6% of the surveyed respondents indicated that their primary job function is "instruction or reference," a percentage comparable to those who chose "library management/supervision" (22%). around 10% served “mixed roles,” whereas less than 10% chose one of the following functions: “cataloging or technical services,” “acquisition, collection, or electronic resources,” “outreach or engagement,” “systems and information technology,” “access services,” and “special collection or archive.” in addition, there are 11.2% (n=31) respondents who fall under the “other” category as their job functions are not covered by the above categories. table 1 characteristics of survey respondents: primary job function primary job function n % cataloguing or technical services 25 9.03% acquisition, collection, or electronic resources 20 7.22% outreach or engagement 16 5.78% instruction or reference 68 24.55% liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 9 systems and information technology 7 2.53% access services 8 2.89% library management/supervision 61 22.02% special collection or archive 12 4.33% general services (mixed roles) 29 10.47% other 31 11.19% total 277 100% the survey respondents represent various types of libraries, with a significant portion (49.8%; n=138) coming from academic libraries. about 1/3 (30.3%; n=84) were from public libraries, while a smaller percentage (5% or less) were from school libraries, government libraries, or special libraries (see table 2). table 2 characteristics of survey respondents: library type library type n % public 84 30.32% academic 138 49.82% school 12 4.33% government 11 3.97% special (corporate, medical, law, religious, museum, private business, etc.) 15 5.42% other 17 6.14% total 277 100% regarding their years of experience in the profession, 32.5% (n=90) of respondents were in the library profession for more than 21 years. for the respondents who were in the library profession for less than 20 years, the years of service were relatively evenly distributed (15%18%) among the other year ranges (see details in table 3). table 3 characteristics of survey respondents: years in library profession years in library profession n % 0–5 48 17.33% 6–10 42 15.16% 11–15 49 17.69% 16–20 48 17.33% longer than 21 90 32.49% total 277 100% liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 10 interests the survey investigated librarians’ interest level in attending international conferences hosted outside of the u.s., including both virtual and in-person conferences. a majority (68.8%; n=194 out of 282) of the respondents expressed their strong interest, among which 37.2% (n=105) of the respondents reported “extremely interested” and 31.6% (n=89) were “very interested.” in addition, 20.2% (n=57) were “moderately interested,” 7.1% (n=20) were “slightly interested,” and 3.9% (n=11) were “not at all interested” in attending international conferences. in terms of the frequency of conference attendance, 43.3% (n=122) of respondents had “never” participated in any international conference before; 22% (n=62) “rarely (once in more than 3 years)” and 18.8% (n=53) occasionally (once in 2-3 years) attended international conferences. only about 16% (n=45) of respondents attended international conferences frequently (on average once per year) (10.6%) or very frequently (on average more than once per year) (5.3%). a crosstabulation analysis of conference attendance frequency and interest level (see figure 1) finds that nearly half (49.5%) of respondents who are “extremely interested” in attending international conferences either never (30.5%) or rarely (19%) attended international conferences. the trend is also evident among the respondents who are “very interested” in attending international conferences — about 61.8% never (37.1%) or rarely (24.7%) attended international conferences. figure 1 conference attendance frequency across interest levels barriers in our survey, respondents were asked to indicate their top one to three barriers to attending both in-person and virtual international conferences (see table 4). when it comes to in-person conferences, a significant majority of respondents (82.3%; n=232 out of 282) identified "lack of financial support" as a primary barrier (39.12%), followed by “traveling (incl. visa, trip arrangements)” (15.7%; n=93), and “difficulty in scheduling or having to use personal time” (12.5%; n=74) (details in table 4). about 9 out of 282 (3.2%) respondents reported “no barriers.” about 12.8% of respondents (n=36 out of 282) selected “other” and specified the barriers. these additional barriers include covid-19 (n=15), health issues (n=5), justification (hard to justify the international conference attendance to the management or supervisor) (n=4), and time away from work (n=4). liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 11 table 4 barriers to attending in-person international conferences barriers to in-person conference (1-3 multiple select) n % margin of errora (±) lack of financial support 232 39.12% 3.93% language barriers 48 8.09% 2.19% traveling (incl. visa, trip arrangements) 93 15.68% 2.93% difficulty in scheduling or have to use personal time 74 12.48% 2.66% lack of supervisor support 30 5.06% 1.76% time away from family 35 5.90% 1.90% unfamiliarity with overseas destinations or safety concerns 36 6.07% 1.92% other (please specify) 36 6.07% 1.92% no barriers 9 1.52% 0.98% total 593 100% a margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=593. a follow-up question was posed to the respondents regarding the availability of institutional funding for attending an international conference. it was found that the availability of funding varied considerably across institutions (see table 5). notably, 29.8% (n=84) of the respondents reported that institutional funding was "not available at all." table 5 institutional funding availability institutional funding available n % margin of error a (±) not available at all 84 29.79% 5.34% available, but less than $500 27 9.57% 3.43% more than 500, but less than $1,000 39 13.83% 4.03% more than $1,000, but less than $1,500 29 10.28% 3.54% more than $1,500, but less than $2,000 15 5.32% 2.62% more than $2000 29 10.28% 3.54% not sure 59 20.92% 4.75% total 100% 282 a margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with sample size n=282. liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 12 a cross-tabulation analysis was carried out to understand the differences in funding levels across library types, especially between academic and public libraries. the data presented in figure 2 highlights that there is a significant disparity between public and academic library respondents in terms of funding availability for attending international conferences. specifically, 42% of public library respondents reported that funding was entirely unavailable for attending in-person international conferences, whereas only 20% of academic library respondents reported the same. academic library respondents had access to a higher percentage of funding overall. notably, 17% of academic library respondents reported having potential funding of over $2,000 available, whereas only 2% of public library respondents reported having access to funding at this level. figure 2 funding level comparison between academic and public libraries the respondents were also asked about the barriers to attending virtual international conferences. in contrast to in-person conferences, the top barriers identified were "different time zones" (25.9%; n=152), "unaware of the conference opportunities" (22.5%; n=132), and "conflicts in schedule" (17.9%; n=105), as outlined in table 6. table 6 barriers to attending virtual international conferences barriers to virtual conference (1-3 multiple select) n % margin of errora (±) lack of financial support 69 11.75% 2.61% language barriers 37 6.30% 1.97% different time zone 152 25.89% 3.54% conflicts in schedule 105 17.89% 3.10% lack of supervisor support 13 2.21% 1.19% unaware of the conference opportunities 132 22.49% 3.38% unfamiliarity with international conference settings 24 4.09% 1.60% other (please specify) 18 3.07% 1.40% no barriers 37 6.30% 1.97% total 587 100.00% a margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=587. liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 13 when comparing the barriers encountered by respondents in both in-person and virtual conferences, the data highlights a notable difference in financial barriers (see table 7). specifically, 24.5% (n=69 out of 282) of respondents reported facing financial obstacles in attending virtual conferences. this percentage reflects a 57.8% reduction compared to the prevalence of financial barriers experienced in the context of in-person conferences. however, it is worth noting that "conflicts in schedule" emerged as a more prominent barrier in the virtual setting (11% increase). in addition, about 10% more respondents selected “no barriers” for the virtual conferences than for the in-person conference (details in table 7). varied responses were provided by the respondents as “other” barriers, which included internet connection cost, technology issues, trouble staying engaged (multi-tasking while working), computer screen fatigue, virtual meeting fatigue/exhaustion, work/life distractions, and perceived lower priority. several respondents just expressed their dislike (n=5) of virtual conferences compared to inperson conferences. table 7 a comparison of the same barriers between in-person and virtual international conferences in-person conference virtual conference barriers (1-3 multiple select) n % (of n=282) margin of errora (±) n % (of n=282) margin of errora (±) % change lack of financial support 232 82.27% 4.46% 69 24.47% 5.02% -57.80% language barriers 48 17.02% 4.39% 37 13.12% 3.94% -3.90% conflicts in schedule 74 26.24% 5.13% 105 37.23% 5.64% 10.99% lack of supervisor support 30 10.64% 3.60% 13 4.61% 2.45% -6.03% unfamiliarity concerns 36 12.77% 3.89% 24 8.51% 3.26% -4.26% no barriers 9 3.19% 2.05% 37 13.12% 3.94% 9.93% amargin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with sample size n=282. reasons and decision-influencing factors a single-choice question was utilized to get insights into respondents’ most distinct reason for attending international conferences. as indicated in figure 3, “exposure to new perspectives and library practices in other countries” was the most significant reason (45.7%; n=129), followed by “networking/collaboration with global peers” (18.8%; n=53), “professional development at the international level” (17.7%; n=50), and “social and cultural experiences in other countries” (10.6%; n=30). only 5.7% (n=16) ranked “opportunity to present on an international platform” as their most important reason for attending international conferences. liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 14 figure 3 reasons for attending an international conference the survey also included questions about the key factors influencing respondents' decisions regarding in-person versus virtual international conference participation. based on the survey responses, three key factors emerged as the primary influences for attending in-person conferences: the conference's overall cost (including registration, travel, and accommodation) (24.2%; n=186), conference themes, topics, or its reputation (22.5%; n=173), and availability of financial support (20.7%; n=159). in contrast, the top three factors that influence decisions to participate in virtual conferences are the conference's themes, topics, or reputation (30.6%; n=219), conference schedule and timing (23.6%; n=169), and cost of the conference registration (22.2%; n=159) (details in table 8). when comparing the factors that influence attendance at both in-person and virtual conferences, the availability of financial support appears to be less important for virtual conferences. however, the overall cost of the conference remains a significant factor for both types of conferences. conversely, schedule/timing, conference's themes, topics, reputation, as well as conference speakers or participants carry greater weight in decision-making for virtual conferences than for in-person. table 8 comparison of decision-influencing factors for in-person vs. virtual conferences in-person conference virtual conference decision-influencing factors (1-3 multiple select) count % margin of errora (±) count % margin of errorb (±) availability of financial support 159 20.68% 2.86% 80 11.17% 2.31% overall cost of the conference 186 24.19% 3.03% 159 22.21% 3.04% conference themes, topics, or its reputation 173 22.50% 2.95% 219 30.59% 3.38% conference schedule and timing 74 9.62% 2.08% 169 23.60% 3.11% conference speakers or participants 39 5.07% 1.55% 80 11.17% 2.31% other (please specify) 13 1.69% 0.91% 9 1.26% 0.82% liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 15 distance of conference location 53 6.89% 1.79% attractiveness of conference location 72 9.36% 2.06% total 769 100% 716 100% a margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=769. b margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=716. as a follow-up question to the decision factors for in-person international conferences, the survey asked about the optimal time period for attending the conference. 41.5% (n=117) of respondents expressed a preference for conferences held during the summer months (june to august). however, a considerable proportion of participants remain uncertain about the ideal timing (25.9%; n=73). support needs and preferences the survey questionnaire included five distinct support options that could be potentially facilitated through ala or irrt. respondents were asked to rank the support options that would provide the greatest benefit and enable library staff to participate in international conferences. the results indicate that a majority of respondents (57.1%; n=161) prefer receiving monthly newsletters about conference opportunities and proposals (see table 9). the survey also found that 40-45% of respondents welcomed the options including “organizing webinars to navigate conference opportunities and prepare proposals” (40.1%), “creating a listserv to share conference information and facilitate discussions” (45.4%), and “creating a library guide on international conference opportunities and sharing tips” (45%). while the survey did not include financial support as an option, several respondents (n=10) identified the need for such support in the forms of scholarships, grants, or information on funding opportunities. additionally, respondents identified other needs, such as “raising awareness of the benefits of attending international conferences”, “increasing management's support”, “advocating for virtual delivery or recording of international conferences to reduce carbon footprint”, and “encouraging hosts to organize hybrid conferences to facilitate attendance from abroad.” table 9 support needs for engaging in international conferences support needs (1-3 multiple select) count % of choice (n=628) margin of errora (±) % of sample (n=282) margin of errorb (±) organize webinars to help navigate conference opportunities and prepare for conference or proposals 113 17.99% 4.48% 40.07% 5.72% create a listserv to share conference information and facilitate discussions 128 20.38% 4.70% 45.39% 5.81% create a library guide on international 127 20.22% 4.69% 45.04% 5.81% liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 16 conference opportunities and share tips send out monthly newsletters about conference opportunities, calls for proposals, etc. 161 25.64% 5.10% 57.09% 5.78% connect and post international conference opportunities on social media platforms 76 12.10% 3.81% 26.95% 5.18% other (please specify) 23 3.66% 2.19% 8.16% 3.19% total 628 100% a margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=628. b margin of error for sample proportion is calculated at a 95% confidence interval with n=282. regarding preferred conference types, participants were asked to select one option from the five distinct choices provided. as illustrated in figure 4, librarians are primarily interested in conferences related to their profession, either on trending professional development topics (43%; n=119) or within their subject or professional areas (39.7%; n=110). only 6.5% (n=18) of respondents are interested in event-based book fairs, exhibits, or cultural experience. less than 5% of respondents are interested in the conference that is “outside other library fields, but within their subject or professional areas”, or “the conference that is library-related but outside of the professional roles” (3.6%), or “others” (2.5%). figure 4 preferences by conference types discussion and recommendations our research suggests that there is a significant interest among respondents in attending international conferences, with nearly 70% indicating a strong desire to do so. however, among librarians who expressed interest, over 50% reported never or rarely attending such events. the most common obstacle cited was a lack of institutional funding, with 82% of librarians identifying it as a significant barrier. this barrier was more pronounced in public libraries compared to academic librarians. while funding is less of a concern for virtual conferences, nearly 25% of librarians still identified it as a barrier to attending virtual international conferences. librarians cited exposure to new perspectives and library practices in other countries as the primary reason for attending international conferences. in terms of making decisions about attending such events, factors such as the overall cost of the conference, the liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 17 conference theme and reputation, and the availability of financial support were found to significantly influence librarians' decisions to attend in-person international conferences. while financial support is less considered when making decisions about attending virtual conferences, the overall cost of the conference still remains a significant influence for 22% of respondents. the research highlights the strong interest among librarians in leveraging international conferences to broaden their horizons and expand their professional development opportunities. however, we also found that there are significant barriers and challenges for librarians to pursue international conference opportunities. the research brings attention to the disparity between the support provided by public and academic libraries and calls for further efforts to address these barriers and promote greater equity and inclusivity in international conference participation. the survey asked respondents for suggestions on how to help librarians participate in international conferences. based on their feedback and our previous data analysis, six areas were identified for institutional support that have the potential to encourage, enhance, and improve librarians' participation in international conferences: (a) funding support one area of institutional support that could encourage librarians to participate in international conferences is funding support. the survey results showed that lack of funding is a major barrier for librarians to attend in-person conferences. to address this, librarians suggested providing multiple funding opportunities in the form of grants, awards, scholarships, or vendor sponsorship. they also expressed the need for ala to be a strong advocate for institutional support and provide resources and strategies to help them justify funding requests. additionally, librarians would benefit from information support on international conference grant opportunities within or outside of ala or from the event organizers. given the high cost of attending inperson conferences, some librarians also suggested exploring low-cost or free virtual international conference opportunities, while recognizing that in-person conferences offer unique cultural experiences that cannot be replicated virtually. (b) advocacy support librarians expressed the need for help in raising library management's awareness of the benefits gained by attending international conferences. ala can play a vital role in advocating for librarians with international conference organizers, such as negotiating discounted registration fees or advocating for virtual delivery. ala can set standards for recording international conferences to reduce carbon footprint, resolve time zone issues, and scheduling challenges. also suggested was keeping librarians aware of conference recordings and engaging with local library associations to encourage members to have "watch parties" or discussion sessions based on the international conference content relevant to their membership. additionally, ala can collaborate with international conference organizers and encourage them to offer hybrid conferences to increase attendance from abroad. (c) informational support providing information on international conference opportunities (including virtual conferences), calls for proposals, and funding opportunities on one convenient website will greatly support librarians in their participation in international conferences. librarians have also expressed the need for information related to international travel, such as passport requirements, liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 18 travel arrangements, costs, and how to deal with medical or emergency issues. knowledge sharing through annotated lists, blogs, listservs, webinars, and library guides can also be a valuable resource for librarians seeking tips and past experiences related to conference participation. sending monthly newsletters about conference opportunities and calls for proposals can further enhance information sharing. to meet librarians' preferences, information gathering can focus on library-related conferences on trending professional development topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) issues, or on library-related subjects or professional areas such as copyright or collection-sharing. many librarians have stressed the importance of timely information, as knowing about conference opportunities early on will assist in planning and funding requests for attending conferences. (d) capability building to support librarians who plan to submit proposals and present at international conferences, the institution can provide training, workshops, or webinar sessions to help build their capabilities. these sessions can help librarians become more prepared and confident in presenting to audiences from different backgrounds, as well as handling unique situations that may arise during international conferences, such as presentation translation and dealing with poster mailing, carrying, or printing. providing such training opportunities will help librarians to feel more confident and prepared when presenting at international conferences. (e) network building in addition to providing useful information, institutions can also create a network for librarians to share information and support each other. this network can help coordinate attendance at international conferences and reduce lodging costs by connecting potential roommates. librarians would appreciate networking opportunities before or after conference participation. one idea is to establish a "buddy system" for those new to international travel or to create a cohort of librarians attending international conferences. research shows that attending conferences with colleagues enriches the attendees' experience, making the conference more friendly and the attendees feel more accountable. the shared experience often positively impacts the attendees' relationships with colleagues, as they discuss the content after being immediately exposed to it (dumbell, 2019). (f) awareness building to effectively address the support needs of librarians, it is essential to prioritize awareness building efforts. transparent and effective communication channels can be established to ensure that librarians are well-informed about the various opportunities available to them. in order to achieve this, intentional marketing efforts are necessary to promote awareness of conference opportunities and to engage library leadership in supporting their employees' participation in international conferences. one effective way to promote awareness is by collecting and sharing testimonials about the value of international professional development. these testimonials can illustrate the positive changes and innovations that international conference experiences have brought to the library, as well as how they have enriched librarians' professional development. by highlighting the benefits of international conference participation, more librarians and institutions may be encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities. liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 19 in addition to supporting ala members’ participation in international conferences outside of the united states, it is important to recognize that ala has a large number of international members from over 100 countries. therefore, providing more opportunities and support for international members’ engagement at ala can help to bring diverse perspectives to the organization. one way to achieve this is by inviting international librarians to visit u.s. libraries through visiting librarian programs, sister library programs, or library exchange programs. coordinated efforts and collaboration among ala communities that focus on international engagement, such as irrt or acrl european studies section, can further advance opportunities for librarians to share experiences and knowledge across borders. conclusion this study explored the attitudes, interests, and needs of librarians in attending international conferences, based on a survey of ala members. the findings indicated that while there is a strong interest in attending international conferences, more than half of the respondents never or rarely attend such conferences. lack of institutional funding emerged as the most significant barrier to participation, especially in public libraries. nevertheless, exposure to new perspectives and practices from other countries is highly valued by librarians, and this remains the most compelling reason for attending international conferences. factors such as overall cost, conference theme and reputation, and availability of financial support also play a crucial role in participation decision-making. our research underscores the need for greater support and resources to help librarians pursue international conference opportunities. we recommend that professional institutions provide funding, advocacy, and informational support to enhance librarians' participation in international conferences, which can broaden their horizons and expand their professional development opportunities. ultimately, these efforts will contribute to building the capabilities, networks, and awareness of librarians within the profession, and promote the growth and advancement of the library field. references arda for researchers. (2022). benefits of attending international conferences. https://www.ardaconference.com/blog/benefits-of-attending-international-conference/ barry, t. & garcia-febo, l. (2012). expanding horizons: developing the next generation of international professionals. the australian library journal, 61(1), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2012.10722298 chaparro-univazo, s. (2007). where social justice meets librarianship. information for social change, 25(2007): 33-38. https://ia802800.us.archive.org/9/items/information_for_social_change/isc%2025%20w hole%20issue.pdf corcoran, m. & mcguinness, c. (2014). keeping ahead of the curve: academic librarians and continuing professional development in ireland. library management, 35(3), 175–198. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm-06-2013-0048 https://www.ardaconference.com/blog/benefits-of-attending-international-conference/ https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2012.10722298 liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 20 dumbell, p. (2017). ‘attending ifla was amazing’: benefits of conference attendance as reported by delegates. journal of the australian library and information association 66(1): 4-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2016.1251010 dumbell, p. (2019). the impact of conference attendance on australian academic librarians and libraries [doctoral dissertation, curtin university]. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275682017.pdf egholm, c., johannsen, c. g., & moring, c. (1998). evaluation of the 63rd ifla council and general conference 1997. ifla journal, 24(1): 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/034003529802400107 helms, r. m. (2015). internationalizing the tenure code: policies to promote a globally focused faculty. washington, dc: american council on education. kozlowska, a., & scoulas, j. m. (2020). international scholarly activity among academic librarians in the united states. college & research libraries, 81(6): 1021-1042. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.81.6.1021 malek, a., mohamed, b. and ekiz, e. h. (2011). an analysis of conference attendees’ motivations: case of international conference attendees in singapore, journal of travel and tourism research (online), spring 2011:50-64. https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/an-analysis-of-conference-attendeemotivations-case-of-internatio harker, e. (2009). learning and teaching in action. health information and libraries journal, 26(2), 156-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00847.x superio, d. l. & anderson, k. l. (2016). factors affecting the attendance of iamslic members at iamslic annual conference. http://hdl.handle.net/1834/41112 thull, j. (2014). international library conferences: the professional development benefits for librarians, the hurdles of attending and the potential outcomes. in s. s. hines (ed.), revolutionizing the development of library and information professionals: planning for the future (pp. 17-30). igi global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-4675-9.ch002 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– about the authors grace liu is an assistant professor and business librarian at west chester university. her research focuses on information literacy, library instruction pedagogies, information needs study, and research data quality. email: yliu@wcupa.edu. shoshana frank is an independent researcher and librarian. her research focuses on diversity and inclusion in library collections, information access, diverse community programming, and utilization of open-access data. email: frank.shoshana@gmail.com https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275682017.pdf https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/an-analysis-of-conference-attendee-motivations-case-of-internatio https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/an-analysis-of-conference-attendee-motivations-case-of-internatio mailto:yliu@wcupa.edu mailto:frank.shoshana@gmail.com liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 21 elizabeth dawson is a ph.d. student at northern arizona university and a technical services librarian at arizona western college. her research focuses on higher education and academic libraries, student learning, and inclusion in libraries. email: elizabeth.dawson@azwestern.edu olanike olaniyi is a collection development librarian (world languages and diversity) at the indianapolis public library. her research focuses on dei, community informatics, library outreach and engagements, and community data. email oolaniyi@indypl.org acknowledgments ala emerging leader (2022) timothy furgal, and ala-irrt emerging leader member guide erica saito participated in creating the ala member survey. appendix survey questionnaire 1. what is your interest level in attending international conferences hosted outside of the u.s. including both virtual and in-person? (jointly referred to as “international conferences” hereafter)? o extremely interested o very interested o moderately interested o slightly interested o not at all interested 2. how frequently do you attend international conferences? o very frequently (on average more than once per year) o frequently (on average once per year) o occasionally (once in 2-3 years) o rarely (once in more than 3 years) o never (haven’t participated in any international conferences before) 3. what are the top barriers for you to attending an in-person international conference? (select 1-3 answers) ▢ lack of financial support ▢ language barriers ▢ traveling (incl. visa, trip arrangements) liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 22 ▢ difficulty in scheduling or have to use personal time ▢ lack of supervisor support ▢ time away from family ▢ unfamiliarity with overseas destinations or safety concerns ▢ other (please specify) ▢ no barriers 4. what are the top barriers for you to attending a virtual international conference? (select 1-3 answers) ▢ lack of financial support ▢ language barriers ▢ different time zone ▢ conflicts in schedule ▢ lack of supervisor support ▢ unaware of the conference opportunities ▢ unfamiliarity with international conference settings ▢ other (please specify) ▢ no barriers 5. how much institutional funding is available for you to attend an international conference? o not available at all o available, but less than $500 o more than 500, but less than $1,000 o more than $1,000, but less than $1,500 o more than $1,500, but less than $2,000 o more than $2000 o not sure 6. what is the most important reason for you to attend an international conference? liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 23 o professional development at the international level o networking/collaboration with global peers o opportunity to present on an international platform o exposure to new perspectives and library practices in other countries o social and cultural experiences in other countries o other (please specify) 7. what are the best ways that the international relations round table (ala-irrt) can support you in engaging in international conferences? (select 1-3 answers) ▢ organize webinars to help navigate conference opportunities and prepare for conferences or proposals ▢ create a listserv to share conference information and facilitate discussions ▢ create a library guide on international conference opportunities and share tips ▢ send out monthly newsletters about conference opportunities, call for proposals, etc. ▢ connect and post international conference opportunities on social media platforms ▢ other (please specify) 8. what are the top factors that influence your decision for in-person conference participation? (select 1-3 answers) ▢ availability of financial support ▢ overall cost of the conference (registration, travel, and accommodation) ▢ distance of conference location ▢ attractiveness of conference location ▢ conference themes, topics, or its reputation ▢ conference schedule and timing ▢ conference speakers or participants ▢ other (please specify) 9. when is the best time period for you to attend an in-person international conference? liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 24 o march may o june august o september november o december february o not sure o other (please specify) 10. what are the top factors that influence your decision for virtual conference participation? (select 1-3 answers) ▢ availability of financial support ▢ cost of the conference registration ▢ conference themes, topics, or its reputation ▢ conference schedule and timing ▢ conference speakers or participants ▢ other (please specify) 11. what types of international conferences are you most interested in? o event-based book fair, exhibits, cultural experience, etc. o library-related trending professional development topics o library-related in the subject/professional areas o library-related but outside of the professional roles o outside of the library field, but within your subject/professional areas o other (please specify) 12. what is your primary library professional area or job function? o cataloging or technical services o acquisition, collection, or electronic resources o outreach or engagement o instruction or reference o systems and information technology o access services o library management/supervision liu, frank, dawson and olaniyi / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 25 o special collection or archive o general services (mixed roles) o other 13. which type of library are you from? o public o academic o school o government o special (corporate, medical, law, religious, museum, private business, etc.) o other 14. how many years have you been in the library profession? o 0–5 o 6–10 o 11–15 o 16–20 o longer than 21 what are your ideas or suggestions for irrt to help ala members participate in international conferences? 1-304 title page1 1-304 article international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 114 issn:2474-3542 2017 shenzhen international conference on libraries and digital humanities the university town library of shenzhen hosted the three-day international conference on libraries and digital humanities from december 6th to 8th, 2017. the university town library of shenzhen (shenzhen science & technology library) is the first library in china functioning both as academic library and public library, serving faculty members, students, scientists, and the general public in shenzhen. about three hundred world renowned digital humanities scholars, lis experts and professionals from the british library, stanford university, ucla, university of london, king’s college london, australia national university, beijing university, and wuhan university attended this conference. this conference is focusing on discussing the following topics: the future development of digital humanities; the roles played by libraries in the development of digital humanities; and what exactly libraries can provide for the development of digital humanities. furthermore, dialogues were also happening in various formats around these themes: the critical technology in digital humanities; data, resources, network, and platform construction for digital humanities; higher education and digital humanities; digital humanities and its research and application in multiple disciplines. the conference then concluded with the conversation on the role of libraries in the development of the digital humanities. participants are looking forward to the future collaboration between china and western countries in the field of digital humanities. they also discussed the establishment of the possible collaboration mechanism during the conference. --liyang wang, university town library of shenzhen, shenzhen, china doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.56 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.56 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org constraints facing african academic libraries in applying electronic security systems to protect library materials gladness kotoroi abstract: this article reviews published literature to identify factors that impede the application of electronic security systems (esss) in protecting library materials in african academic libraries. the information for the study was gathered through a review of online literature from databases, namely proquest, ebsco, emerald, library literature, research gate information, and google search engine. the scope of the literature covered the time when african academic libraries began to use esss to protect their collections to the present. it covered only literature that addresses the challenges that hinder african academic libraries from utilizing esss to protect library materials. information was collected by reading the abstracts and conclusion of the online documents. in the beginning, a total of 91 articles were collected as a population of the study. however, only fifty-four (54) articles were found to be relevant to the area of the study. basic keywords and advanced searching, namely truncations, headings, boolean operators, electronic security systems, academic libraries, security, african libraries, theft and mutilation were also used to get relevant literature on the topic from peer-reviewed and scholarly resources. based on the findings of the reviewed literatures it is concluded that african academic libraries undergo nearly the same challenges where most of which can be addressed because they are generated by the managements, library staff and the environment in which the libraries operate rather than the esss. the researcher recommends that african academic library managements should cope with the technological changes so as to compete with the market demand. with that regard, the reported esss challenges facing african academic libraries should be aggressively addressed in order to make the application of esss effective. equally, another study should be carried out to inform about the ramifications of not addressing electronic security systems. to cite this article: kotoroi, g. (2023). constraints facing african academic libraries in applying electronic security systems to protect library materials. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 31-48. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.272 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 31-48 issn: 2474-3542 constraints facing african academic libraries in applying electronic security systems to protect library materials gladness kotoroi mzumbe university, tanzania abstract this article reviews published literature to identify factors that impede the application of electronic security systems (esss) in protecting library materials in african academic libraries. the information for the study was gathered through a review of online literature from databases, namely proquest, ebsco, emerald, library literature, research gate information, and google search engine. the scope of the literature covered the time when african academic libraries began to use esss to protect their collections to the present. it covered only literature that addresses the challenges that hinder african academic libraries from utilizing esss to protect library materials. information was collected by reading the abstracts and conclusion of the online documents. in the beginning, a total of 91 articles were collected as a population of the study. however, only fiftyfour (54) articles were found to be relevant to the area of the study. basic keywords and advanced searching, namely truncations, headings, boolean operators, electronic security systems, academic libraries, security, african libraries, theft and mutilation were also used to get relevant literature on the topic from peer-reviewed and scholarly resources. based on the findings of the reviewed literatures it is concluded that african academic libraries undergo nearly the same challenges where most of which can be addressed because they are generated by the managements, library staff and the environment in which the libraries operate rather than the esss. the researcher recommends that african academic library managements should cope with the technological changes so as to compete with the market demand. with that regard, the reported esss challenges facing african academic libraries should be aggressively addressed in order to make the application of esss effective. equally, another study should be carried out to inform about the ramifications of not addressing electronic security systems. keywords: electronic security system, materials, academic libraries, security, african libraries, theft and mutilation. introduction new development in digital technologies over the years has brought a lot of transformations to traditional library work (hussain & ahmad, 2021). academic and research libraries around the world, including those in the underdeveloped nations have incorporated technology into all of their internal operations and activities. an academic library is considered to be the foundation of any kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 32 higher learning institution, as all activities such as learning, teaching, research and consulting rely on the materials available in the library (ifijeh, 2014; idris, hassan & abdul-qadir, 2013). correspondingly, it has been enlightened by ozowa (2016) that, “the library is important because it assists users in obtaining information resources for reading and report writing, as well as to improve students' academic performance.” mutula (2008) and hoskand and stilwell (2011) on the other hand concur that academic institutions of higher learning devote a lot of financial resources to offer necessary information resources for their libraries in an environment of reduced budgetary provisions and inadequate funding. along with that, library professionals are not only responsible for operating services but also to ensure that library resources are safe and in good condition (gupta, 2019). security issue in academic libraries however, is not a peculiar phenomenon (osayande, 2019). security systems in libraries began in ancient times, immediately after the discovery of libraries in the world in the 7th century bc to avoid the loss and damage of information resources (abduldayan, 2019 & watstein, 1983). due to technological advancement, libraries are now able to provide multidimensional information and services that cannot be protected from theft and mutilation using traditional methods. because of the increasing number of materials, academic libraries were forced to shift to modern security systems (esss). although the majority of african academic libraries managed to install and use esss to restrain theft and mutilation of library materials, various factors still deterred the application of the systems. these may emanate from technological, personnel and organizational factors. because of the significance of esss in the libraries, all these factors need to be addressed for the sake of effective application of the systems for library collection management security purposes. electronic security systems are critical for efficient library management as they assist library managements in maintaining order and reducing or eliminating library material theft and unethical losses. the aim of the study is to present the descriptive literature reviews regarding challenges in the application of esss in academic libraries with an emphasis on the works of african libraries. protection of library materials in the collection using electronic security system services technology systems, particularly electronic security system services have been wired and integrated into all in-house functions and activities of academic and research libraries all over the world including in the developing countries. academic library collections contain both printed and online resources which need to be protected. however, the current information environment is highly ictdriven. thus, there is a high level of dependence on new technological innovations to offer dynamic and cutting-edge information services that meet the changing needs of the users. for academic libraries to flawlessly deliver effective information services that meet up with the current challenges, there is a need of adopting and integrating new modern ways of protecting library materials. nweke (2019) and isebe (2014) hold that library materials theft and mutilation is a "library epidemic" desolating every academic library globally. the perseverance of the theft and mutilation of the library collection problem has impelled librarians to plan strategies to snatch the problem so as to remain with the current collections to meet their users’ needs. however, kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 33 regrettably, the issue of library security remains mysterious despite the introduction of technologydriven security solutions (kulkarni & powdwal, 2008). although the application of ict services is tiresome due to technical issues, inadequate funds and human factor, it has to be carried out at any cost to ensure the security of the materials in the collection. application of electronic security systems in academic libraries the role of university libraries in response to the needs and demands of customers is changing rapidly and becoming dependent upon technological solutions (ondiek, 2013) and the primary role of academic libraries is to provide quality services to customers. this makes the appeal for esss an essential requirement in academic libraries (gupter, 2021; 2017 & ondiek, 2013). most of the academic libraries in the modern world now rely on esss to prevent their resources and premises from theft and mutilation. their faith is erected in the effectiveness and reliability of esss on the library materials security and their implementation. the application of esss is much vital as they provide protection to the library resources through involving techniques like alarm systems, access control systems, fire control systems, attendance record systems, environmental control, shelving space method, and physical and chemical treatment for natural damages of bindings (nath, 2021). from accrued benefits for applying esss to protect library resources, professionals should adopt a better electronic system for the library security purposes. gupta and margam (2021) specified that security systems in academic libraries should function seamlessly without disturbing the main objectives of a library, i.e. providing user services with ease and simplicity. they also involve the protection of personnel (both staff and users), collections, equipment, physical facilities and other information resources from mutilation, theft, and physical attack. however, the effectiveness of electronic security systems in libraries depends on three main issues, namely regular maintenance, presence of experts and regular power supply. it is also explained by li, dai & cui (2020) that “if an electronic security system performs its work effectively and efficiently it can lead to the reduction of theft, mutilation vandalism and illegal borrowing of reading materials.” different studies explain the effectiveness of library electronic security systems. kombu (2020) recommended that “the installation of electronic security systems should go directly with its ability to perform work because most libraries continue to face damage and theft of reading materials as their electronic security systems do not work properly.” this implies that electronic security systems need to be operated effectively to minimize theft and damage to information resources. another study by osayande (2019) suggests that “the better way to deal with security in academic libraries is to embrace electronic security systems which will better ensure the effective security of library materials from theft, mutilation or other forms of crimes.” komba (2020) also indicated that cctv cameras and smoke detectors need to have air conditioning to control the temperature which can cause damage to library materials. these are few among many scholars who have indicated the advantage of the application of esss in academic libraries for security purposes. kumar (2014) and randall and newell (2014) seconded the application of video surveillance or closed-circuit television (cctv) cameras that they help to monitor movements in kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 34 the library; thus, enhancing the security of materials and personnel. it was also commented by molner and wagner (2004) that, “radio frequency identification (rfid) system helps to track the movement of books and the library user(s) carrying them within the library.” although many electronic gadgets are expensive, academic libraries should keep on applying them for the longterm expense of the alternative (loss of collections) as it is even more expensive (martin, 2013). another benefit of using esss in academic given out by gupter (2021) is that electronic security systems have played a significant role in different aspects of life, including providing security to any subject under study, including a library environment. nath (2021) also acknowledged that the adoption of esss in the library has led to a manifold increase in the overall safety of its collection, services and investments. this has helped librarians to act smartly against any theft or mutilation, and unauthorized physical and digital access of library materials by the users. types of esss applied by academic libraries for managing theft and mutilation of materials electronic security systems are the equipment that perform operations like access control and secure library materials (nath, 2021). it is also provided by rajendran and rathinasabapathy (2007) that “electronic security systems (esss) are devices that are used with the aid of an electrical gadget to secure library materials.” among the esss which libraries use in the libraries they include cctv surveillance systems, ip surveillance systems, detection and alarm systems, access control systems and rfid electronic security systems (ekere, 2019; nweke, 2019; osayende, 2019 & gupta et al., 2017). equally, ezeabasili (2018) and osayande, (2011) commented that in southern nigeria there are some electronic security systems such as radio frequency identification (rfid) systems, perimeter and alarm systems, movement detectors, and fire alarm systems. these have been installed in the library because they are very useful to academic libraries in preventing theft of library materials. furthermore, komba (2020), acknowledged that “there are different types of electronic security systems which are used at the university of dar es salaam (udsm) and nelson mandela african institution of science and technology (nm-ist) libraries including theft detecting machines at the entrance of the library to detect if the reader has gone out with library materials without permission from the staffs”. below is a list and clarifications about some of the esss used by academic libraries to protect against theft and mutilation: radiofrequency identification (rfid) radiofrequency identification is an exciting and fast‐growing technology for snowballing competence and refining viability and is an important area of study in today's information environment (madhusudhan, 2010). the rfid system is generally used to describe any technology that uses radio signals to identify specific objects. in developing countries, according to waddenkeri (2006), rfid technology is embryonic as one of the modern information 2.0 systems increasingly being adopted and implemented in libraries and information establishments to kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 35 increase the efficiency and quality of the delivery of information services to customers. waddenkeri (2006) and makori (2013) further detailed that, “among the various technologies, the radio frequency identification seems to be dominating in the information industry as a means to improve efficiency in library activities and services. in fact, this is one of the significant technologies of the new millennium that has invaded libraries. the use of rfid according to nagalakshmi (2011) has been extended to libraries, keeping libraries efficient and competitive in a shifting environment. libraries use rfid technology to increase the speed and convenience of their procedures and to improve the quality of their services (boyd, 2018). equally, nisha (2018) elaborated that rfid is one of the tools in the academic library to manage and govern libraries’ resources. similarly, ondieki (2013) quantified that, barcoding and electromechanical (em) technology was used for the security of information materials. furthermore, yavuz and gözel (2016) indicated that, with the improvement of technological advances in recent years, rfid applications, whose history begins in the 1940s, have become quite popular decrement of their size and increment in their reading distance has led to the use of such technology in different areas commonly. radio frequency identification (rfid) is an electromagnetic wireless system of communication that is used in libraries for identification and security purposes. each rfid tag is attached to all items of a particular library and instantly responds with its unique item id number which is the same as the accession or stock number used by many libraries. the rfid system helps library staff in security, stocktaking, and patrons self-service such as auto door, drop-box, self-check-in/out, and many more (sungkur, ozeer & nagowah, 2021). figure 1: rfid system components source: doğan, caglar, yavu, and gözel (2016) closed circuit television (cctv) the important aspect pointed out by gupter (2021) related to the kind of esss used in the library for the protection of library materials, is that, “the loss encountered can be enlisted, and necessary actions could be taken to prevent such kind of loss.” in an academic library, the cctv system serves the twofold purpose of ensuring the safety and security of library collection and library staff and enforcing discipline among the users (gupter, 2020; lavanya, 2017; gupta & margam, 2021). this technology is useful to the library community because of its usage in various multi-purpose kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 36 tasks, which led to the improved security of collection. the system is a cost-effective device for enforcing safety and maintaining discipline in the library. it also reduces the requirement for library security guards (pathak, 2019). furthermore, is is recommended by gupter (2021) that cctv implementation improves service efficiency in libraries and enables more diversified applications and service modes. according to madhusudhan (2010), cctv can make personal and professional lives in the library more convenient. also, circo and mcgarrell (2020) suggested that integrated cctv programs might increase the reporting of minor crimes that were not reported before. the study of circo and mc garrell (2020) further revealed that the inclusion of the latest cctv system in studied libraries brings improvement in the security of the library materials and premises. it also increases the ease of doing a task while saving time, energy and money. the comfort, thus gained by the library professionals not only increases their efficiency but also improves their attitude toward the users/visitors. therefore, it can be inferred that growth in the number of visitors could be related to the implementation of the latest security technologies as more resources are preserved from miscreants to be used by the seekers. electronic resource management (erm) an erm system is the technique used by library professionals to trace the selection, acquisition, access, licensing, usage, evaluation, retention, and de-selection of library’s electronic information resources (breeding, 2018; gul & bano, 2019). the primary purpose of any robotic system is to perform some useful tasks that a human either cannot or would prefer not to do and to hopefully do it better, cheaper, safer, and more reli-ably (everett, 2003. electronic resource management (erm) involves overseeing all aspects of ers including operations and systems that are created to manage these resources in libraries from pre-selection activities to renewal or cancellation decisions (bothmann and holmberg, 2008; england & miller, 2016). kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 37 figure 2: the terms framework (emery & stone, 2013 a, b) challenges hindering the application of electronic security systems in african academic libraries in modern knowledge and learning environments, university libraries have to look for creative solutions in order to be relevant to the needs and demands of customers (ondiek, 2013). electronic security systems (esss) in libraries have made a significant improvement in the security of library materials and to track materials more effectively throughout the library (gupta & madhusudhan, 2017). although the security of library material is essential to its effective exploitation or use due to knowledge expansion, compound factors disturb the protection of library resources. previous studies have reported that application of esss emanate from human factors, organizational factors and technological factors (masenya and chisita, 2022; mubofu et al., 2022; ngamba and casmir, 2021; chisenga, 2016 & maidabino, 2010). this paper reviewed various types of literature relating to the application of esss in academic libraries and the challenges they are bumped into and eventually propose various methods that academic libraries can deploy to address the challenges. a descriptive survey research design carried out by ezeabasili (2018) aimed at examining the use of electronic security systems in federal university libraries in southern nigeria. sample of the study comprised 111 librarians who were drown from federal universities. the findings indicated that available electronic security systems in the researched libraries are not in regular use while others are no longer in use. the study further indicated that the main reasons for the low use of esss in the three universities include poor maintenance, inadequate funding and poor power supply. equally, komba (2020) conducted a study anticipating to assess the effectiveness of library electronic security systems in higher learning institutions in tanzania with specific reference to the university of dar es salaam (udsm) and nelson mandela african institution of science and technology (nm-aist) libraries using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. findings kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 38 indicated that the performance of library electronic security systems faces the challenges such as poor library management, absence of user training and education programs, unreliable electrical power resources, lack of commitments among library staff, poor library budgets and inadequate funds. in the same motive, osayande and odaro (2019) conducted a study focusing three university libraries in south-west nigeria. the study findings designated that the three universities faced different challenges in operating electronic security systems including insufficient power supply, lack of enough budget, lack of skills and awareness of the importance of electronic security systems, and also lack of regular maintenance of electronic systems. similarly, chioma and nwosu (2018) steered a study using a sample of 111 librarians drawn from seven federal universities. the study aimed at investigating the impact of electronic security systems on the security of information resources in federal university libraries in southern nigeria. the study findings indicated that electronic security systems are an adequate check of threats to information resources in libraries studied, only that they are not used on regular basis. even when they are not in use at all, their presence alone serves as a prevention against thieves. in the same manner, odaro (2011) piloted a study which aimed at scrutinizing the effectiveness of electronic security systems in academic libraries with a focus on the selected university libraries in south-west nigeria. a survey design was used and a participant observation method was also employed to measure how effective the electronic security devices are. the study unveiled that academic libraries have suffered adversely from security issues and other anti-social menace and that the installation of security devices would drastically improve the situation. odaro (2011) also suggested that the better way to deal with security in academic libraries is to embrace electronic security systems. that will better ensure the effective security of library materials from theft, mutilation or other forms of crime. ondiek (2013) carried out a survey research design to collect data, ideas, opinions, views and suggestions from the respondents drawn from various university libraries in kenya. data were collected using a web‐based structured questionnaire, document analysis and participant observation. the findings showed that few university libraries in kenya are using radio frequency identification technology to handle and support information services and activities. the study also found various problems hindering the adoption of the technology, such as lack of information communication technology (ict) policies, lack of a business approach, limited market opportunities, lack of lobbying or negotiating skills, inadequate funding and budgeting, and lack of ict competencies and skills. the study recommended that library ict professionals, information professionals and other stakeholders should make tireless efforts to implement and use rfid technology with the view to building, strengthening, improving and supporting information work and activities in university libraries. it also identified the problems library management encounter in the process of utilizing ai, namely inadequate funds, technological barriers, job loss and so on. in conclusion, the researchers noted that the utilization of artificial intelligence (ai) in library and information centres is creating a new standard for effective and kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 39 efficient service provision in the library. however, there is low utilization of ai technology in academic libraries in developing countries, which is a result of the problems identified earlier. bhaskar, tiwari and joshi (2021) carried out a study to provide a systematic literature review on blockchain technology in education. their aim was to offer a detailed understanding of the present scenario in terms of benefits, barriers, present blockchain technology application, and future areas where blockchain technology can be implemented in the other fields of education. the study identified the benefits, barriers and present application of blockchain technology in education. the analysis shows that blockchain technology in education is still a young discipline, but has a lot of potentials to benefit the educational sector at large. it further indicated that the application of the system in academic libraries is scalable, and security and cost still remain barriers and need attention from the professionals in the field. barfi (2015) conducted a study aiming at exploring the opportunities, experience, developments and challenges of academic library automation, with a perspective from anglophone west africa, namely ghana nigeria, sierra leone, gambia and liberia. literature was triangulated with empirical data to determine whether responses are the same for all countries. questionnaires were used for the empirical data at the same time the systematic literature review (slr) method was adopted for the secondary data. findings revealed that the majority of the libraries were at different stages in the automation process. the findings indicated that challenges and opportunities from all researched institutions were similar. some of the challenges that were discovered included poor internet connectivity, inadequate technical expertise to manage automated systems, lack of computers, poor cooperation, erratic power supply and inadequate project management skills. osayande (2019) conducted a study about impact of rfid (radio frequency identification) technology on libraries aiming to assess performance of rfid in libraries and provide guidance for researchers and practitioners in adopting rfid in libraries. the study found out that libraries face various challenges in implementing rfid in libraries, including high cost, frequency block, chances of removal of exposed tags exit gate sensor problems, user privacy concerns, reader collision, tag collision, and interoperability. abioye & adeowu (2013) investigated the security risk management in the selected academic libraries in osun state, nigeria using a descriptive survey design study and established that inadequate funding, shortage of staff/personnel, erratic power supply, and lack of institutional security policy/disaster plan were the challenges confronting security management in the libraries. ekere, akor & solomon (2019) investigated the use of ict for security and theft prevention in two university libraries in nigeria using 80 library staff of the two universities. the data were analyzed by using simple statistical tools like frequencies and percentages. the findings of the study revealed that all of the literate or skilled personnel that can operate, teach and instruct the use of telecommunication security systems are the main challenges affecting the application of esss. yusof & saman (2016) used a formal innovation-decision framework to analyze the literature on the use of rfid in libraries to identify common applications, potential benefits, kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 40 barriers, and critical success factors and indicated policy factors economic factors, technical issues, and personal issues as the main challenges for the application of rfid in the libraries ezeabasili and nwosu (2018) correspondingly found out that the available electronic security systems are not in use in federal university libraries in nigeria because of a lack of funding and poor maintenance ozowa et al (2016) evaluated the use of electronic surveillance and modern technological security devices to detect book theft and mutilation at francis sulemanu idachaba library, university of agriculture, makurdi and found out that the main challenges affecting the application and effectiveness of electronic surveillance are insufficient funding budget allocated to the library, poor power supply and the high cost of installing esss. hampwaye (2022) investigated the types of security problems facing higher learning institutions libraries in zambia; as well as security measures put in place by higher learning institutions libraries to mitigate against security problems. the study also assessed the effectiveness of the security systems used by these libraries. this study took an exploratory study approach and used the qualitative method. respondents were selected using a technique known as purposive sampling. the study found significant differences in the application of organizational security measures among zambian higher learning institutions and libraries due to several challenges such as lack of security policies, incompetent staff and insufficient funds for security systems. the findings also revealed that half of the higher learning institutions' libraries surveyed have implemented technological security measures, but that organizational measures and security device maintenance need to be improved. methodology the purpose of this study was to identify factors that impede the application of electronic security systems in african academic libraries. the information for the study was gathered through a systematic review of literature (xiao and watson, 2019). seven steps were adopted where the selected articles and theses/dissertations are the ones published in local and foreign library and information science research journals. the first step was the formulation of the research problem, the second step was to develop the review protocol, the third steps was screening the literature found, the fourth steps was to assess the quality of the screened literature, the fifth step was to retrieve the literature, the six step was to analyze and the seventh step was to synthase the literature and reporting the results. the researcher collected online literature from databases such as proquest, ebsco and emerald, library literature, research gate information, and google search engine. abstracts and conclusions were consulted to find the required literature for this study. after the complication of the review of the literature strategy, the researcher also performed five-step procedures to collect data. the first procedure involve a search which was carried out in electronic databases such as proquest, ebsco, emerald, library literature, research gate, semantic scholars, google scholars, google search engine, taylor & francis, sage publications, and jstor, eric. the second stage comprised evaluation of the studies related to the review kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 41 procedures. this was done by filtering the search based on the types of document whereby key words and titles techniques was adopted. stage three embraced exclusion and inclusion of the documents where documents other than those written in english were excluded. in the stage four only those studies related to the subject area. it covered only literature that addresses the challenges that hinder africa’s academic libraries from utilizing esss. in the last stage the researcher manually excluded duplicated and non-english studies from the list. the scope of the literature covered the time when the academic libraries of africa began to use esss to protect their collections to the present. the review of literature covered a period of six months starting from september 2022 to january 2023. a total of 54 studies were selected through this process for the review. inclusion and exclusion criteria the inclusion and exclusion of the literature was grounded on the abstract and the conclusion of the selected articles that the researcher has read. equally the conclusion of the sample size was also reached after the researcher came to the point of information saturation. it implies that the reviewed articles were giving similar information. simultaneously, basic keywords and advanced searching such as truncations, headings, boolean operators, electronic security systems, academic libraries, security, african libraries, theft, and mutilation were also used to get relevant literature on the topic from peer-reviewed and scholarly resources. english-language studies were only selected. and duplicate articles and studies were also excluded. thematic/content analysis was used to analyze data collected from semi-systematic review of the literature where the scope of the literature was limited. presentation of findings and general discussion the sole objective of the research was to investigate the difficulties academic libraries in africa face in using electronic security technology to protect their collection items from damages and theft. the sample of the study included 54 reviewed literature and the findings were thematic/content analysis as indicated below. presentation of findings the review of some literature discussed the challenges hindering the utilization of electronic security systems in academic libraries to combat theft and mutilation. according to the findings of the reviewed works of literature of african academic libraries, challenges hindering academic libraries in africa from using esss were nearly the same. such challenges include poor library management, lack of user training and education programs, unreliable electrical power resources, lack of commitment among library staff, poor library budgets, and insufficient funds. this implies kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 42 that the problems are not with the esss themselves, but rather it is with the intuitional and human factors (library staff). it seems that they do not put much effort into supporting the use of the esss application in their libraries. regarding the challenges mentioned, the managements of african higher learning institutions must change their mindset and recognize the importance of using esss due to the growing number of library users, which traditional methods cannot manage. furthermore, the library's collection now includes both electronic and printed resources that must be electronically protected. this observation is parallel with the study findings of mambo & comfort (2022) who commented that the challenges of using esss are not directly connected to library electronic security systems but rather to library managements which is linked to the absence of user training and education programs, lack of reliable electrical resources, poor library budgets for running and maintenance of library electronic security systems, absence of full automation of information resources, poor library rules and regulations, poor control and close supervision. further findings reported on limited funds as challenges preventing african academic libraries from utilizing esss to protect library materials. with a limited budget, the library cannot purchase current materials and maintain esss as they demand money to support. library requires a sufficient budget to facilitate the acquisition of esss and equally conducting training to staff. the african higher learning managements should consider allocating more budget to the library to facilitate management of library material and other resources from dishonest users. theft and mutilation directly affect material availability and this hampers effective service delivery. consistently, since the allocated budget to the library is not enough to cater for library requirements, it is about time now for the african library managements to be creative and innovative to find ways of supplementing the budget rather than keeping on complaining about the deficiency. to supplement their budget they can write or respond to project funds proposals once they are announced by the country’s donors. the reviewed literature’s findings indicated that other challenges stemmed from library staff who are not committed to using the system. as a result, they felt embarrassed while using the electronic security system to safeguard library materials. with this evidence, there is a need to find out ways for solving all the issues that cause library staff not be comfortable to using esss. managements need to facilitate training for all library staff to strengthen their confidence in using electronic security systems. approximately, 95% of the reviewed literature for the purposes of this study provided possible solutions to combat the challenges. burudi, wasike & ndegwa (2021) in their study titled, “challenges facing academic libraries in utilizing mobile devices in access and use of information at kenyatta university and university of nairobi in kenya” recommended that universities should establish mobile phone resource centers where mobile phone users can get technical assistance, as well as invest in good internet connectivity covering the entire university area, including student residences, to enable access to library materials even from outside the libraries, thus decongesting the libraries, and to install adequate power sockets in and outside the libraries to allow mobile phone users to use the library resources through their phones. chioma appraised the “use of kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 43 electronic security systems in the security of information resources in federal university libraries in southern nigeria” and suggested that if libraries could overcome the challenges of using electronic security systems, threats to library information resources would be a thing of the past. dzandza (2019) carried out a study in ghana using the delone and mclean (2003) is success theory to determine the impact of is management on the quality of the is, the use of the is, and the benefits gained. the researcher used nine (30%) out of the 30 university libraries which are members of the consortium of academic and research libraries in ghana (carligh). a mixed method approach with questionnaires and interviews combined with content analysis of the university websites were used to gather data. findings indicated that academic libraries in ghana are making use of some iss including ils, dam, social media and websites, among others, amidst a number of challenges. the research also revealed that the management of iss affects the quality thereof. the quality of iss affects use, and use affects the benefits gained from use. the researcher proposed an is management standard guideline that ghanaian academic libraries could adopt for using and managing iss to enhance efficiency and better service delivery usman-philip, ekere & akor (2019) explored the use of ict for security and theft prevention in two university libraries in nigeria and recommended that the exploring and information experts should take out time to educate their parent organizations on the benefits associated with libraries and information centre about the use of telecommunication security systems and devices that the library parent body can release adequate funds which will be used for the purchase of telecommunication security devices in the library. the issue of the challenges of using electronic security systems by academic libraries, particularly in african countries has been raised since african academic libraries started using esss to safeguard library materials. despite the recommendations provided by the researcher, the same issues are still upsetting african academic libraries. this suggests that the research findings, recommendations and suggestions probably from researchers are not used or implemented to assist the investigated institutions in solving the identified problems. this could be the reason why african academic libraries continue to face similar challenges. another reason could be that researchers do not communicate the results of their findings to the institutions being studied for them to understand what has transpired. to bridge this gap, researchers should cultivate a culture of sharing the emerged findings with the investigated intuitions in order to brand research findings speaking to the investigated institution. similarly, the researched institutions should cultivate a culture of putting the research findings that the researchers communicate at the end into action. conclusion based on the findings of the reviewed literature, it is evident that african academic libraries undergo nearly the same challenges where most of which can be addressed because they are generated by the management, library staff, and the environment in which the libraries operate rather than the esss. the study concludes that this is a serious problem that can deteriorate library kotoroi / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 44 service provision because the collection will continue to have insufficient resources to meet the needs of users. this is a call to all african academic libraries to come up with a possible solution on how to effectively address the challenges to facilitate the effective use of esss, while taking into account the needs and benefits of using electronic security systems in protecting library collections. recommendations application of esss in academic libraries is inevitable due to technological changes. thus, african academic library managements should cope with the technological changes so as compete with the market demand. with that regard, the reported esss challenges facing african academic libraries should be aggressively addressed in order to make the application of esss effective. the study further recommends that all african academic libraries should come up with a possible solution for how to effectively address the challenges to facilitate the effective use of esss while taking into account the needs and benefits of using electronic security systems in protecting library collections. areas for further study the scope of the study was to identify the challenges that impede african academic libraries from utilizing ess services. in this view, another study can be carried out to inform about the ramifications of not addressing electronic security 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(2016). the adoption and implementation of rfid: a literature survey. libres: library and information science research electronic journal, 26(1), 31. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author gladness kotoroi is a librarian at mzumbe university – main campus college. she holds phd and master’s degrees in information studies. her areas of interest for research, teaching and consultancy are mainly on library information management, library collection development, information technology, information literacy and research methods. she has authored multiple articles published in various academic journals. 272-title-page 272-kotoroi-layout constraints facing african academic libraries in applying electronic security systems to protect library materials abstract issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org health sciences libraries as universities information hub in times of health emergencies: emergence of covid-19, monkeypox and tomato flu adebowale j. adetayo abstract: the world has witnessed several viral outbreaks in recent years such as the covid-19 pandemic, monkeypox and tomato flu. these have caused a devastating effect on the communities that experience the outbreaks. as a result of these, being informed about diseases has become critical to preventing and curbing the spread of the diseases in communities, especially in academia. health science libraries and librarians can serve vital informational roles in the fight toward eradicating and preventing future outbreaks. this paper presents the reasons and how health science librarians can achieve those important roles. to cite this article: adetayo, a. j. (2023). health sciences libraries as universities information hub in times of health emergencies: emergence of covid-19, monkeypox and tomato flu. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.283 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 121-126 issn: 2474-3542 health sciences libraries as universities information hub in times of health emergencies: emergence of covid-19, monkeypox and tomato flu adebowale j. adetayo adeleke university, nigeria abstract the world has witnessed several viral outbreaks in recent years such as the covid-19 pandemic, monkeypox and tomato flu. these have caused a devastating effect on the communities that experience the outbreaks. as a result of these, being informed about diseases has become critical to preventing and curbing the spread of the diseases in communities, especially in academia. health science libraries and librarians can serve vital informational roles in the fight toward eradicating and preventing future outbreaks. this paper presents the reasons and how health science librarians can achieve those important roles. keywords: covid-19, monkeypox, tomato flu introduction viral and deadly diseases are becoming the new normal in society. the emergence of the covid19 pandemic in 2020, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) that can range from asymptomatic to severe respiratory illness, pneumonia and death has awoken many to the awful consequences when measures are not put in place to deter the rise of deadly diseases(adetayo, sanni, and aborisade 2021). as a result, more than 6 million lives were lost (world health organization 2022). the pandemic also had economic and psychological consequences due to control measures such as closures of public and commercial areas via lockdown which affected business operations of many (adetayo, williams-ilemobola, and asiru 2022). to make the matter worst, just as covid-19 was waning, reports were made that another viral outbreak called monkeypox was beginning to spread in 13 countries. about 42, 954 people have already been infected by it around the world as of august 22, 2022. this has also led to the death of 12 people (cdc 2022b). monkeypox is a zoonotic viral disease caused by a double-strand adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 122 enclosed dna virus from the poxviridae family, which is part of the orthopoxvirus genus. monkeypox was first documented in 1970 in the democratic republic of the congo. while monkeypox is yet to be fully resolved, report are been made that india is now experiencing tomato flu, a virus-borne disease with symptoms comparable to covid-19 but is unrelated to sars cov-2. this disease was discovered in the kollam region of kerala. (zaidi 2022) with 82 cases reported. this tomato flu got its name from the appearance of red and painful blisters all over the body that eventually develops to the size of a tomato. these blisters mimic those observed in children infected with the monkeypox virus. due to the recurring episodes of viral diseases, the time has now come for health science librarians to step up their games by providing informational support to the institutions they serve to deter or curb the spread of these viruses on their campuses. need for health sciences librarians in health emergencies health sciences librarians are key to the measures to deter or curb the spread of viral diseases. this is because of the skillsets they possess which combine the understanding of health and management of information. during the covid-19 pandemic, there were lockdowns in various places around the world which meant that schools had to shut down also, thereby affecting the calendars of many schools that were not able to go completely online due to technological difficulties. this was especially true in many african countries. in nigeria, most schools did not operate for months, many tried to adopt online mediums to continue their academic session but some were unsuccessful (adetayo, komolafe, and olalere 2022). after the covid-19 pandemic was in decline in 2021, schools started reopening but measures such as masking, social distancing and hand washing were adopted, which often were not followed by many. one of the reasons for this was that many people did not physically see anyone they know die from the virus. also, the widespread misinformation about covid-19 led many to disregard the measures. as other viruses continue to emerge, it becomes imperative for campus management to harness the skills of health science librarians in helping the campus communities to be well informed before, during or after health emergencies. this would require health science librarians to adopt not just physical means but also technological means to reach many young people who are heavy consumers of technology initiatives such as social media. this incorporation of health science librarians could be the tool that would solve current and deter future health emergencies from having the colossal impact that covid-19 had on the educational system. adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 123 health science libraries and librarians' roles health science libraries and librarians can take a pivoted role in deterring, curbing and solving the spread of diseases on campuses. the health science libraries should be stocked with books that address various viral diseases. efforts should also be made to provide access to credible online resources that address past and current pandemics/diseases. determent – prevention is better than cure! this has been a popular statement in the health discipline. while this is true, it is a broad statement that does not go to specifics about how to prevent each disease that is encountered daily. for instance, monkeypox is primarily transmitted through bodily fluids, blood, aerosol, or infected lesions. however, many students spent much of their time on social media making social connections. most probably do not go searching for information about every single disease. some may not know that to prevent zoonotic transmission, animal management or interaction with unvaccinated animals, such as rats and primates, is critical. also, sick or dead animals should be avoided, and any things they come into contact with should be discarded promptly. furthermore, they may not be aware that monkeypox can occur through close human-to-human contact or respiratory secretions (farahat et al. 2022). this is where health science librarians become vital. health science librarians must be intentional in regularly sharing preventive measures for different diseases with students. they can incorporate these into their information literacy programmes by organizing health seminars, use of library boards, selective dissemination of information, library websites, and social media platforms among others. they need to educate the campus community that avoidance of infected human contact, sharing eating utensils, clothing, or bedding materials. and good hand hygiene are recommended for prevention. to date, monkeypox has no definitive vaccination or medicine; it is treated as a syndrome. nonetheless, in certain places, such as the united states, a licensed vaccination called jynneos® has been recommended (rao et al. 2022). these are vital information students and teachers should be aware of. they should also know that an emerging disease called tomato flu is highly contagious and spread through contact and so far, no vaccine is available for the virus. curbingdespite preventive measures, diseases spread at times. in this situation, all that can be done is to limit its impact on the campus. however, if students are not aware of the symptoms of these diseases, they may not be able to act quickly to avoid being infected. for instance, monkeypox symptoms include a headache, fever, and fatigue, followed by lymphadenopathy and a rash. the rash generally begins on the face and spreads to other regions of the body in a centrifugal pattern (cdc 2022a). likewise, the predominant symptoms of tomato flu in children are similar to those of chikungunya, which include high fever, rashes, and severe joint pain(da cunha and trinta 2017). other symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, dehydration, joint swelling, body pains, and frequent influenza-like symptoms, which are similar to those seen in dengue (hasan et al. 2016). these are some information students would need to know for the virus to be curbed on campuses with cases. aside from efforts made by campus management and medical personnel, health science librarians can assist in curbing the spread of the virus by making the campus community informed. adetayo / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 124 as a result, health science librarians would need to play the role of health reference librarians in which they are always available through phone calls, chats or reference desk to answer users' inquiries about how to prevent students from contracting viral diseases. the health best practices should also be circulated through all library platforms. for instance, students need to know that it is critical to wash hands with soap or alcohol-based hand sanitisers following contact with suspected cases of monkeypox. also, when caring for patients afflicted with the virus, it is highly advantageous to utilize personal protective equipment. depending on the severity of their symptoms, infected people must be isolated at home. this also goes for tomato flu, which requires the isolation of infected persons. furthermore, to prevent the transmission of the tomato flu, utensils, clothing, and other objects used by sick people must be sanitized. experts also recommend rest, plenty of drinks, and a hot water sponge to relieve discomfort and rashes (mint 2022). information first aid – those that have contacted the disease should not be left out. at times, infected people would not want to speak up, since they feel they may be marginalised. therefore, they may need to inquire about information about it from trusted sources. librarians being one of the most trusted sources of information (woldetsadik 2021) could make themselves available to give the necessary assistance. this is what i tagged as ‘information first aid’. health science librarians are not doctors and they don’t have the license to give therapeutic advice. however, health science librarians can recommend trusted sources where they can find answers. they can also link them to medical personnel from the campus hospital. techno-friendly health science librarians information has become easy to get nowadays. with a click of a button, one can easily get the required information. however, the internet is filled with a lot of misinformation and disinformation. if one is not careful, misinformation may be taken as fact. health science librarians need to become savvy in the use of the internet to sort facts from fiction. this will become helpful in their role as information first aider. they would need to have the latest facts about the health emergencies since updates are constantly developing in the case of a new strain of the disease. conclusions the role of health science librarians in preventing the spread of future viral diseases and curbing ongoing multiple viral diseases plaguing the world cannot be overemphasized. health science librarians are not only needed but crucial to protecting academic communities from the deadly impact of diseases on their health and achieving their academic goals. as a result, it is recommended that health science librarians are equipped with the necessary resources and tools to meet the information demands of the academic communities. 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https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7122e1. woldetsadik, mulugeta. 2021. “nurses, librarians, and doctors are britain’s most trusted professions – 21st century library & information technology network.” december 13, 2021. https://mylibrarianship.wordpress.com/2021/12/13/2021-ipsos-mori-veracity-indexof-most-trusted-professions-clergy-priests-trusted-by-58-of-the-population/. world health organization. 2022. “who coronavirus (covid-19) dashboard.” august 23, 2022. https://covid19.who.int/. zaidi, zuhair. 2022. “what is tomato flu? causes, symptoms, prevention, and treatment.” business standard news. august 23, 2022. https://www.businessstandard.com/article/current-affairs/what-is-tomato-flu-causes-symptoms-and-treatment122082201034_1.html. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author adebowale jeremy adetayo is an academic staff of adeleke university. his research interest is information science, health information management, and library science. he has published many articles in reputable journals and currently working on projects relating to pandemics, vaccines and virtual learning. he has a ph.d in library and information science. 283-title-page 283-adetayo-layout abstract viral and deadly diseases are becoming the new normal in society. the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) that can range from asymptomatic to severe respiratory illness, pneumonia ... international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 1-2 issn: 2474-3542 editorial welcome to the march 2023 (vol. 8, no. 1) issue of the international journal of librarianship (ijol). it is the first issue after we changed to quarterly publication from previously biannual one. from now on, ijol will publish four times a year, in march, june, september, and december, respectively. in this issue, we present to you ten articles that cover a variety of topics. the first article is from shanghai library in china, one of the largest public libraries in the world, and it is about folio, the open source library service platform, which was officially launched in september, 2022 at shanghai library. in this article, the five authors talk about the background, implementation process, and challenges they have encountered since the project started in 2019. next article is by yildiz from turkey, which deals with children’s libraries in the covid-19 pandemic in turkey. by discussing a case study, the author highlights how children’s libraries can be used as a learning center for disadvantaged children during the tumultuous time. the article from gladness kotoroi of mzumbe university in tanzania reviews published literature to identify factors that impede the application of electronic security systems (esss) in protecting library materials in african academic libraries. the scope of the literature covered the time when african academic libraries began to use esss to protect their collections to the present. rui (jeff) ge is the discovery / web services librarian at stockton university in the united states. in this article, the author discusses the recent library project of redesigning and rebuilding the library website by using the springshare suite products. the topics of the rationale for the redesign, detailed procedures, lessons learned, and suggestions for future improvement are discussed. the authors of the next five articles are all from one nation, nigeria. the study of alex-nmecha and onifade from university of ibdan investigates how lis professionals and health practitioners have adopted bibliotherapy and relevant information services to enhance mental health issues in nigeria since 1962 to date. the findings from the study revealed that bibliotherapy is used by clinical psychologists in neuropsychiatric hospitals in nigeria; however, lis professionals do not have the knowledge and adequate skills to practice bibliotherapy. eireyi-edewede and idahosa from benson idahosa university talk about librarians’ awareness of, and attitude towards, the deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries in south-south nigeria. their study reveals that, librarians in university libraries in south-south nigeria have low level of awareness of cloud computing technology. however, librarians attitude towards deployment of cloud computing technologies in university libraries is high respectively. four authors from kwara state university, sulyman, ajani, amzat, and james, conducted a study that analyzes the usage of the library catalog (still card catalog) as a predictor of library use among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state university. findings revealed that 69.1% of users consult the library catalogues before using information resources, while subject, class wang / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 2 number, series and author(s) of information resources are the major access points used in searching and locating information resources to be used in the library. sulyman, ajami, and ahmed explore the engagement in open research practices by librarians in kwara state university. their study concludes that open research is one of the mainstays of scientific evolution that enables researchers to increase visibility for their works and recommends amongst others that it is imperative for librarians in kwara state to be making their research works available in open educational resources, it is one of the states with the highest library schools in nigeria. in the commentary article by ademowake adetayo, the author argues that health science libraries and librarians can serve vital informational roles in the fight toward eradicating and preventing future pandemic outbreaks. lastly, the study by banik from assam university in india focuses on the importance and advantages of various auto-identification technology that are used in academic libraries in india. there are various auto-identification technologies that are used in libraries, like bar codes, smart cards, bio-metric, gprs, and radio frequency identification (rfid). in this paper, the author studied some auto-id technology and the benefits and challenges of these technologies. happy reading! yongming wang co-editor-in-chief international journal of librarianship issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org more than a number: measuring value and roi in a library microgrant program melody condron, wenli gao, and keith komos abstract: the objective of this study was to identify whether the internal microgrant program at the university of houston libraries provided a suitable return on investment. this study identified three criteria for assessing return on investment from library microgrants: engagement, continuation, and professional impact. the results indicated that compared to costs for other library outreach programs and events, the amount for the microgrant program is not excessive. however, it resulted in significant participation and impact, with many continuing positive outcomes. internal microgrant programs offered a positive return on investment for the university of houston libraries during the period reviewed. this study will help with the decision-making process of other libraries looking to fund similar programs. it also has implications for assessment in libraries with similar existing programs. to cite this article: condron, m., gao, w., & komos, k. (2018). more than a number: measuring value and roi in a library microgrant program. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 94-103. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.57 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 94-103 issn:2474-3542 more than a number: measuring value and roi in a library microgrant program melody condron, wenli gao, and keith komos university of houston, houston, tx, usa abstract the objective of this study was to identify whether the internal microgrant program at the university of houston libraries provided a suitable return on investment. this study identified three criteria for assessing return on investment from library microgrants: engagement, continuation, and professional impact. the results indicated that compared to costs for other library outreach programs and events, the amount for the microgrant program is not excessive. however, it resulted in significant participation and impact, with many continuing positive outcomes. internal microgrant programs offered a positive return on investment for the university of houston libraries during the period reviewed. this study will help with the decision-making process of other libraries looking to fund similar programs. it also has implications for assessment in libraries with similar existing programs. keywords: microgrant, return on investment, library assessment, program impact introduction the university of houston libraries first implemented the internal microgrant program in 2007 as a tool to highlight the libraries’ strategic directions. the microgrant program was designed to foster the creation of new and innovative initiatives in support of university of houston libraries’ strategic directions and the university’s tier one initiatives. at the outset of the program, successful microgrant applications were awarded up to $2000, but most projects were able to succeed for less than that amount. since that time the program has grown and changed, and requirements and guidelines have shifted as budgets and expectations have changed. so, too, has the library administration changed; a new dean of libraries was hired in august 2015. university of houston libraries also has a new 2017-2021 strategic plan. as the needs, leadership, and strategic plans for the libraries shifted, it became important to identify whether the microgrant program should continue to receive support, both in terms of staffing resources and financing. several questions emerge from this review: does the microgrant program still encourage new endeavors that fulfill the libraries’ goals and plans? is the funding adequate, sub-par, or excessive based on the need? can the impact of microgrant programs be quantified and, if so, how? condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 95 literature review return on investment (roi) is a cost-benefit analysis that “seeks to estimate and compare costs and benefits of an undertaking” (matthews, 2011, p.1). in a strict sense, roi is a quantitative measure that calculates the ratio of value returned for money invested. however, when examining the value of library use, it also includes indirect benefits such as more productive faculty, more successful students, and more satisfied library users. the history of libraries using roi analysis is long, with public libraries in particular as early adopters of using roi to demonstrate value. imholz and arns (2007) reviewed 17 public library valuation studies, including cost benefit analysis, economic impact, and social returns on investment to show their value in their communities. aabo (2009) conducted a meta-analysis of previous library roi studies. findings from his study showed 84.2% (32 of 38) studies were from public libraries. besides public libraries, special libraries evaluated their impact with roi. jemison et al. (2009) reported a work group from department of veterans affairs library network created tools to measure roi. this group divided these tools into three components: an roi analysis tool, a library scorecard, and a management support report. later on, the health sciences and human services library of the university of maryland used an automated tool to calculate roi and cost benefit figures for their annual book and journal expenditures (bodycomb & del baglivo, 2012). while public and special libraries were early adopters of roi studies, academic libraries also began to respond to the need to use roi to measure the value of academic libraries. some studies measured the contribution of library collections to university research and teaching. pan, wiersma, and fong (2011) used citation analysis and faculty interviews to calculate roi. their study demonstrated that “the library collection development efforts directly support the research and teaching outcomes of academic faculty” (pan, wiersma, & fong, 2011, p.464). tenopir (2010) presented a case study at university of illinois at urbana-champaign where researchers used roi to measure the value of e-journals in relation to grants income. faculty members reported that “ejournals have transformed the way they do research, including making them more productive and competitive” (tenopir, 2010, p.39). other studies used the contingent valuation method to measure users’ willingness to pay time and money for the service they received. harless and allen (1999) surveyed 382 students and faculty at virginia commonwealth university. the results indicated that students were willing to pay $5.59 per semester for reference desk service and instructional faculty were willing to pay $45.76 per year to maintain current library hours. the ratio of roi in this study was 3.5 to 1. in kingma and mcclure (2015)’s study, the economic and environmental value of syracuse university library showed an roi of $4.19 returned to the university for every $1 spent each year. the investment of library expenditure and professional staff also had a positive effect on student retention. mezick (2007) employed statistical measures to analyze the relationship of both library expenditures and number of professional library staff to student persistence. the result of this study revealed that each category of expenditure correlated significantly with student retention within every carnegie classification. the strongest relationships existed between total library expenditures and serial expenditures at baccalaureate colleges. despite the fact that roi studies at public, special, and academic libraries aim to measure the value of library work and services, a gap exists in research to measure roi for library internal grant programs. barry (2005) describes the elements of a library-funded grant program to support faculty projects, how to find money for such a program, when and how to call for proposals, and condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 96 how to evaluate potential projects. however, he did not mention how to measure the return for such grant programs. herring (2014) describes the ohio state university libraries course enhancement grant program and how it impacted the collaboration between librarians and instructors. the focus of the evaluation of the program was on students’ assessment of course objectives and outcomes, rather than on roi for the grant program. throughout the literature, there are many studies aiming to evaluate library programs and services, both in public and academic libraries. rhoden and crumbley (2013) published a study to examine the outreach department of calvert library in southern maryland for its effort to reach and serve customers who do not have access to library services. the results indicated the outreach services were worth the cost. miller (2014) surveyed the faculty and assessed the liaison program at rollins college. the purpose of this study was not to share the results of liaison assessment, rather it was designed to share the assessment methods that can be useful for other libraries. in another study about library outreach events during exam weeks, survey results showed libraries use feedback from users in person and on social media, number of attendees at each event, questionnaires and surveys, and number of users in the library as ways to assess outreach events (meyers-martin & borchard , 2015). none of these studies directly incorporate monetary investment into account in evaluating library programs and activities. the goal of this paper is to help fill the gap and measure roi for library internal grant-funded projects. aims the aim of this study is to identify whether the internal microgrant program at the university of houston libraries provides a suitable roi, based on funding provided. despite the perceived success of individual microgrant projects, no significant assessment of the overall program was previously conducted. without such data it is difficult to claim that the program is worthwhile. externally, interested librarians and their administrators want to know the details of the program, including how successful the program has been. was it, and is it still viable and worth the effort? internally, administrators and librarians at university of houston want to know whether the program should continue to be funded at the same level. as such, the purpose of assessing roi for the library’s microgrant program is two-fold: first, to identify the relevance and sustainability of the program and its funding, and second, to offer a model for identifying whether similar programs are worthwhile for other libraries to pursue. this project aims to answer the following research questions: • what defines success in a library microgrant program? • how can an individual project be assessed in terms of contribution to students/patrons, library staff members, and the library profession? • how many funded library microgrants produced sustainable results past original time of project? • do library microgrant-funded projects contribute to a library’s success and goals in the long term? method condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 97 this study reviewed available data from the 39 funded microgrant projects approved at the university of houston libraries between 2007 and 2015. roi criteria related to microgrant funding is not clearly defined by previous research. as such, the project team identified three primary criteria for assessment: engagement, continuation, and professional impact. in looking at levels of engagement, this review identified how many individuals took part in each project at four different levels: initial planning team, collaborators, volunteers, and participants. continuation tracked whether projects resulted in a continuing impact, including the repetition of the event or a permanent/semi-permanent change in workflow within the libraries. finally, professional impact gauged the contributions of the microgrant program to the library and the library profession by identifying presentations, articles, and awards generated by the university of houston libraries microgrants. engagement, continuation, and professional impact were deemed by the research team to be highly relevant to the expressed goals of the microgrant program. in addition, all three are directly related to the university of houston libraries’ strategic plans for this period. missing data was an issue during this study, as roi had not been part of early consideration for the microgrant program. microgrant teams were required to submit a final report, but some final reports were not retained and could not be found. where possible, microgrant collaborators and participants were asked for details or participation estimates when data was insufficient. of the 39 approved projects, 8 were not included in the review because projects were not implemented fully. of the remaining 31 projects, all had sufficient information available for assessment. engagement was the primary means of assessing participation in each project. engagement was considered at four levels: the initial planning team, collaborators, volunteers, and participants. the initial planning team consisted of those who wrote and submitted the microgrant. these individuals usually contributed most to each project, experiencing the highest level of engagement. collaborators were those who participated in the planning or creation of the project, though they were not the initiators and may not have participated in the project’s entirety. often these collaborators did not work in the library and common collaborators included members of the faculty or individuals from area organizations or community groups. collaborators had a relatively high engagement level in the project. volunteers were those asked to participate in some working aspect to the project, often at an event related to the project. these individuals had a moderate level of engagement, as they had a specific role to play. participant engagement included all others who either participated in or attended events or related project engagement. when considering engagement level this study looked at both the broad, total engagement numbers as well as the breakdown of engagement by level; implications of higher levels of engagement may indicate higher impact, including the forging of faculty and community relationships and student interest. in addition, engagement was broken down by year to identify trends in participation. during this assessment, the study identified one project with particularly high participation. the project, finals mania, a large event that served free food to students in coordination with other finals week activities, has an extreme high number of participants. it is an outlier, thus is broken out in some of the per-project reporting for engagement only. continuation was assessed by identifying continuing impact, including whether an event was repeated, or a process resulted in a permanent or semi-permanent change in library workflow. projects were counted and separated into those that did and did not have any continuing aspect. most information on continuation was collected by members of the microgrant project who were still working at the library, as final reports for the project would not contain continuation condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 98 information. in some cases, librarians who had moved to new jobs, or those in the same project area were able to provide continuation information. projects that continued beyond the initial scope were included even if they were no longer active at the time of the study. professional impact was gauged by identifying “first level” professional outcomes: papers, awards, and presentations that resulted from or focused on the microgrant project or program. the impact of these end products resulted in a higher reputation for the university of houston libraries. participants from previous microgrants were asked to self-report any awards, presentations and programs. in addition, supervisors and others who track professional involvement were contacted for information. papers, awards, and presentations were all considered equally in terms of impact. results from the years 2007 to 2015, 31 microgrants were awarded, completed, and offered viable data that could be used for study. the number of microgrants awarded had dropped since 2009. as a result, there was a review and change of application process in 2012, which led to no microgrant for that year. figure 1 shows the number of microgrants awarded by year. figure 1. number of microgrants awarded by year. total cost for the microgrant program during this period was $43,011, with an average budget of $5,376 per year, and an average of $1,387 per project. total engagement from 2007 to 2015 included 4,617 individuals. on average, microgrant projects experienced total engagement of 149 individuals per project. however, that number is more accurately reported as 100 individuals per project when eliminating finals mania, which had an unusually high total participation count of 1,612. total participation was 4,161, with an average of 134.22, or 88.7 without the high attendance rate from finals mania. on average, projects included 4.45 team 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 99 members, 3.74 collaborators, and 6.51 volunteers. figure 2 is the number of planning team, collaborators and volunteers by year, and figure 3 is the number of participants by year. figure 2. number of planning team, collaborators and volunteers by year. figure 3. number of participants by year. when assessing continuation, in all, 42% of the 31 microgrant projects were continued in some manner: either through adoption of a new process or workflow or as a continuing event or 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 planning team collaborators volunteers 79 2017 820 207 100 0 125 243 570 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 100 program. this percentage is reasonably high, given that some projects cannot be gauged on continuation; for example, the foley’s scrapbook microgrant project focused on improving the condition and accessibility of specific special collections materials. once completed, this project did have a lasting effect but was not “continued” as other projects were. microgrant projects resulted in 16 presentations and articles. projects coming from the microgrant funding were presented locally and nationally at the texas library association conferences, the internet librarian conference, library assessment conference, and the association of college and research libraries conference. articles were published in titles such as journal of academic librarianship, journal of library innovation, and library journal. additionally, microgrant support resulted in three awards, two from the texas library association: the branding iron award for collateral materials, and best of show: university of houston libraries for broadcast advertising. a recent project, walk and learn for wellness, was recognized by university of houston staff council for cougar cudos. discussion results of this study imply a positive impact and roi for microgrants projects at university of houston libraries. this positive impact comes from the defined success measures of engagement, continuation, and professional impact, as these criteria fit most closely with the outlined goals and strategic plans for university of houston libraries. this is in line with similar efforts to define roi in other library-related research where benefit analysis, economic impact, social returns, and value to research and teaching were considered. while not relying on roi in the strictest sense, these success measures nevertheless provide a clearer picture of program value within the library. compared to non-microgrant events in the library funded by other means, microgrant projects had a high level of engagement to cost ratio. event planners at university of houston libraries estimated that an event for 100 participants (the adjusted average engagement total for microgrant programs reviewed) commonly costs between $2,200-$4,500, or $22-$45 per person. the average cost of each microgrant program was $1,387, or $13.87 per person. while this comparison initially indicates value, this number obviously depends on the amenities and needs of each program, which are difficult to compare with other events out of context. in addition, many microgrant programs are not events but programs or initiatives for which there is no clear price point comparison. the cost comparison per project also does not include the cost of staff time. there would likely be value in continued research into the roi of internal grant programs in relation to the staff time and volunteer hours spent on grant versus non-grant programs. because this time is currently not tracked for either type of program at university of houston libraries it could not be assessed during this study. further, the nature of the microgrant program in funding innovation and new ideas is difficult to quantify. some projects could not be proven as worthwhile without testing or trial. they are unlikely to have moved forward without microgrant funding. it is difficult to quantify if projects funded through the microgrant program offer a significant return in the way of innovation within the library. as with the research by harless and allen (1999), which assessed roi by whether people would spend time or money on the activity, the high level of engagement condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 101 (time) may be a positive indication that engagement at all levels shows a willingness to participate in new, untested projects and programs. there are several limitations to this study. first, because of the time span of the program, the library has changed administrators and strategic plans, thus selection criteria have changed over time. other libraries embarking on a similar internal grant program would benefit from clearly outlining the goals at the outset so that participants are informed and assessment measures are clear. due to programmatic change, some projects awarded in the first few years would not fit into criteria under the new guidelines, thus projects of a similar nature were directed to seek funding elsewhere. at the beginning of the program, the inclusion of an assessment tool was not required, leading to incomplete or missing data. many project team reports do not report information such as engagement numbers. researchers for this project made an effort to contact those microgrant team members, but because of personnel changes or the length of time which has passed, some of the numbers were estimates. another challenge was a lack of existing literature or research relating to internal library grants. throughout the literature, there were no existing guidelines for this type of assessment, so the researchers established our own criteria. the adopted criteria mainly consists of quantitative information, without considering qualitative feedbacks, which could be essential for measuring participants’ perceptions about the program or indirect impact. finally, one project was identified during the study to be an outlier due to high participation. the inclusion of that program and the related engagement numbers created challenges for reporting and comparison. conclusion compared to costs for other library outreach programs, the amount allocated for the microgrant program is not excessive, yet it resulted in significant participation and impact, with many continuing positive outcomes. available cost comparison estimates additionally indicate a value of engagement per person compared to financial cost. moreover, the program is a great way to encourage innovation and provides library staff chances to try out new ideas, with over 40% of projects deemed valuable enough to continue past the initial microgrant plan. because most of the programs involved members from multiple library departments, it also fosters collaboration internally. externally, professional contributions from papers, presentations, and awards related to microgrant programs enhance the university of houston libraries’ national reputation while improving the professional standing of those involved in each project. finally, microgrants have established relationships between other campus units and the community. as such, the internal microgrant program appears to offer a positive roi at the university of houston libraries based on defined criteria. the research team recommends that other interested libraries with the budget to offer this kind of internal grant programs proceed mindfully. when creating such a program, set clear guidelines, expectations, and priorities for microgrant funding based on goals for the program. compare the library microgrant budget with other programming and project budgets in the library to create a budget that balances the library’s financial situation and program needs. it is also suggested that libraries establish a tracking system and build in assessment for each project to not only help the implementation of the projects but also facilitate future assessment of the program. condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 102 when assessing outcomes, clearly define impact or value. besides the criteria used in this study, identify other indicators that will show the success of a program. finally, if professional engagement is a priority for the library, encourage project teams to produce scholarly outcomes from the projects. references aabo, s. (2009). libraries and return on investment (roi): a meta-analysis. new library world, 110(7/8), 311-324. barry, j. (2005). supporting faculty/librarian collaboration in the development of internet resources. internet reference services quarterly, 10(2), 101-105. bodycomb, a., & del baglivo, m. (2012). using an automated tool to calculate return on investment and cost benefit figures for resources: the health sciences and human services library experience. journal of the medical library association: jmla, 100(2), 127-130. harless, d. w., & allen, f. r. (1999). using the contingent valuation method to measure patron benefits of reference desk service in an academic library. college & research libraries, 60(1), 56-69. herring, d. n. (2014). a purposeful collaboration: using a library course enhancement grant program to enrich esl instruction. the reference librarian, 55(2), 128-143. imholz, s., & arns, j. w. (2007). worth their weight: an assessment of the evolving field of library evaluation. public library quarterly, 26(3-4), 31-48. jemison, k., poletti, e., schneider, j., clark, n., & stone, r. d. (2009). measuring return on investment in va libraries. journal of hospital librarianship, 9(4), 379-390. kingma, b., & mcclure, k. (2015). lib-value: values, outcomes, and return on investment of academic libraries, phase iii: roi of the syracuse university library. college & research libraries, 76(1), 63-80. matthews, j. r. (2010). what’s the return on roi? the benefits and challenges of calculating your library’s return on investment. library leadership & management, 25(1). meyers-martin, c., & borchard, l. (2015). the finals stretch: exams week library outreach surveyed. reference services review, 43(4), 510-532. mezick, e. m. (2007). return on investment: libraries and student retention. the journal of academic librarianship, 33(5), 561-566. miller, j. (2014). a method for evaluating library liaison activities in small academic libraries. journal of library administration, 54(6), 483-500. pan, d., wiersma, g., & fong, y. (2011). towards demonstrating value: measuring the contributions of library collections to university research and teaching goals. proceedings of the 2011 association of college and research libraries conference, philadelphia, pa. pp. 459-465. retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/nati onal/2011/papers/towards_demonstratin.pdf rhoden, m., & crumbley, m. (2013). an evaluation of current outreach services at calvert library and its future outlook. qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 4, 379386. tenopir, c. (2010). measuring the value of the academic library: return on investment and other value measures. the serials librarian, 58(1-4), 39-48. condron, gao, & komos / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 103 about the authors melody condron is the resource description and management coordinator at university of houston. her research interests include information organization theory, advances in next-generation library systems, personal digital archiving, and cooperative metadata. wenli gao is the data services librarian at university of houston. her research interests include data visualization, digital scholarship, and data services. keith komos is the technical lead at university of houston. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org qualifications and skills required for cataloging positions in academic libraries: a job advertisement analysis peng mu abstract: this research analyses cataloging librarian job advertisements in the united states academic libraries. the purpose is to find what skills and knowledge are required for cataloging positions in academic libraries. the results may help library information science (lis) educators develop new curricula and prepare students to meet the needs of prospective employers. the research will also help lis students find jobs in the technical service area, and incumbent cataloging librarians promote their expertise. to cite this article: mu, p. (2023). qualifications and skills required for cataloging positions in academic libraries: a job advertisement analysis. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 60-68. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.319 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.xxx https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 60-68. issn: 2474-3542 qualifications and skills required for cataloging positions in academic libraries: a job advertisement analysis peng mu samford university, al, united states abstract this research analyses cataloging librarian job advertisements in the united states academic libraries. the purpose is to find what skills and knowledge are required for cataloging positions in academic libraries. the results may help library information science (lis) educators develop new curricula and prepare students to meet the needs of prospective employers. the research will also help lis students find jobs in the technical service area, and incumbent cataloging librarians promote their expertise. keywords: cataloging skills, job analysis, job requirements, academic libraries, cataloging librarian, metadata librarian introduction cataloging librarians’ roles and responsibilities in academic libraries have evolved along with the changing technology and cataloging standards. cataloging departments have experienced staff reductions due to the budget constraints in the libraries. cataloging librarians face increasing working stress and new challenges (e.g., heavier workloads, multitasking, work-related burnout). they must acquire new skills and manipulate different metadata schemes. the american library association (ala) adopted the core competences of librarianship in 2009. in 2015, the association for library collections and technical services cataloging and metadata management section (alcts camms) competencies and education for a career in cataloging interest group (ceccig) charged a task force to create a core competencies document specifically for catalogers (evans, 2018). alcts approved the core competencies for cataloging and metadata professional librarians in 2017. the document defined competencies of knowledge, skills, and behaviors for cataloging and metadata professional librarians. this research analyses cataloging librarian job advertisements in the united states academic libraries. the purpose is to find what skills and knowledge are required for cataloging positions in academic libraries. the results may help library information science (lis) educators develop new curricula and prepare students to meet the needs of prospective employers. the mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 61 research will also help lis students find jobs in the technical service area, and incumbent cataloging librarians promote their expertise. literature review analysis of job announcements has been a popular method since the 1950s to observe trends in the library profession. job announcements reveal current trends in desired qualifications and skills that employers look for in new personnels. reser and schuneman (1992) examined 1,133 jobs advertised by 480 institutions in 1988. they found technical services positions required more computer skills, previous work experience and foreign-language skills than public services positions. xu (1996) analyzed job advertisements from 1971 to 1990 to trace the impact of automation on requirements and qualifications of catalogers. xu’s study showed positions for cataloging librarians were likely to require previous work experience, computer skills, and special knowledge of anglo-american cataloguing rules (aacr2), library of congress subject headings (lcsh), library of congress classification (lcc), dewey decimal classification (ddc), and the machine-readable cataloging (marc) format. hosoi (2000) examined 124 advertisements for catalog positions in u.s. academic libraries. she found that almost all the job postings required the mls degree; a majority of the postings required at least 1 year of work experience; and most positions involved special cataloging responsibilities and skills. chaudhry and komathi (2001) carried out a study to identify the requirements for cataloging positions in the electronic environment. they analyzed 131 advertisements from 1990 to 1999. they concluded that “knowledge of cataloging tools and resources had been the most important requirement while it skills also appeared to be in high demand”. khurshid (2003) reviewed the job descriptions published in american libraries and college & research libraries news from 2000 to 2001. she found major changes in job requirements and qualifications of catalogers occurred in the skills area. hall-ellis (2005) explored 150 entry-level cataloger position announcements from 2000–2003 to identify employers’ expectations and requirements. she found “the entry-level cataloger needs to possess an accredited library degree, understand the cataloging code, rule interpretations, classification, subject analysis, authority control, marc formats, database quality assurance processes, and integrated library system operations.” park (2009) conducted a content analysis of 349 job descriptions to study the roles that cataloging professionals play in the digital environment. the results indicated that “the advancement of technology has affected every aspect of the cataloging profession: job titles, competencies/skills, and responsibilities.” another study conducted by hall-ellis (2015) investigated 146 entry level position announcements posted from september 2000 through august 2013. she found “an applicant for an entry-level position as a catalog librarian or a metadata specialist needs to possess an accredited library degree and to understand the emerging rda cataloging code, rule interpretations, classification schemes, subject analysis, authority control, marc formats, metadata schemas, database quality assurance processes, and integrated library system operations.” dieckman (2018) analyzed qualifications sought by employers for serials/continuing resources catalogers between 2002 and 2017. the results showed “qualifications related to traditional cataloging were common.” mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 62 qualifications related to serials management, and electronic resources management were often listed. methodology this research examines the qualifications and skills required of cataloging librarians in american academic libraries. data was collected from job advertisements for cataloging librarian positions posted on universities’ websites, indeed.com, and code4lib jobs from 2016 to 2023. only fulltime positions at academic libraries in the united states were included. the position must be a professional position rather than a para-professional position, or a part-time position. job titles should have the word “cataloging”, “cataloger”, “catalog”, or “metadata”. technical services positions could be included if the main responsibilities are cataloging. the advertisements selected should contain the section of required and desirable/preferred qualifications. the data was entered into a spreadsheet for analysis. duplicate postings were removed. reposted advertisements were only counted once. the categories included institutes, posting dates, job titles, education and work experience, original cataloging, content standards, structure standards, data encoding standards, value standards, conceptual models for library data, rare materials, e-resource, library management systems, metadata tools, computer skills, and language skills. the contents collected included required and desirable/preferred qualifications in the job advertisements. responsibilities were also examined to see if the required qualifications lacked details. findings job titles a total of 108 position advertisements were identified. table 1 shows the different job titles. cataloging and metadata librarian (25) and metadata librarian (24) are the most popular titles in cataloging positions, followed by head of cataloging & metadata (11), technical services librarian (6), cataloging librarian (5), and metadata management librarian (5). head of technical services has 4, catalog librarian, e-resources metadata librarian has 3 respectively. other titles included in this study have 2 or 1 respectively. table 1 job titles job titles number percentage cataloging and metadata librarian 25 23.1 metadata librarian 24 22.2 head of cataloging & metadata 11 10.2 technical services librarian 6 5.6 cataloging librarian 5 4.6 metadata management librarian 5 4.6 head of technical services 4 3.7 mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 63 catalog librarian 3 2.8 e-resources metadata librarian 3 2.8 coordinator of metadata 2 1.9 metadata and discovery librarian 2 1.9 acquisitions and metadata librarian 2 1.9 digital metadata librarian 2 1.9 special collections cataloger 2 1.9 other titles 12 11.1 education and work experience the findings show that almost all (103 out of 108 or 95.4%) professional cataloging positions require the master of library science (mls) from an ala-accredited program. 56 advertisements out of 108 or 51.9% accept equivalent degrees. only 5 advertisements did not mention the mls degree requirement. those employers might think the mls degree requirement is default. in terms of academic library work experience, 101 advertisements out of 108 (93.5%) required experience. experience in an academic library is preferable. 13 advertisements required a minimum of one year of experience, 24 advertisements required more than two years of experience, 25 advertisements required a minimum of three years of experience, 2 advertisements required five years of experience, 1 advertisement required seven years of experience. 36 advertisements did not specify a period. standards according to the core competencies for cataloging and metadata professional librarians approved by alcts, content standards include resource description and access (rda), aacr2, descriptive cataloging for rare materials (dcrm), describing archives: a content standard (dacs); structure standards include metadata encoding and transmission standard (mets), dublin core, metadata object description schema (mods), metadata authority description schema (mads), marc, linked data, bibliographic framework (bibframe), resource description framework (rdf), encoded archival description (ead); value standards include the lcsh, lcc; conceptual models for library data include functional requirements for bibliographic records (frbr), functional requirements for authority data (frad). table 2 standards standards number percentage rda/ aacr2 81 75.0 dacs/dcrm 15 13.9 mets 20 18.5 dublin core 52 48.1 mods/mads 42 38.9 marc 87 80.6 linked data 54 50.0 ead 30 27.8 mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 64 lcsh 68 63.0 lcc 62 57.4 frbr/frad 10 9.3 table 2 highlights that knowledge and experience with standards for bibliographic data (marc, aacr2, rda), controlled vocabularies and classification lcsh, lcc are the most frequently mentioned in the advertisements, followed by the experience with nonmarc metadata, particularly dublin core, mods/mads, and ead. 15 advertisements mentioned familiarity with archival descriptive standards (especially dacs) and experience cataloging rare books according to dcrm standards. it is interesting that up to 54 advertisements mentioned familiarity with linked data concepts, understanding of linked data principles (e.g., bibframe, rdf). skills the skills in this research include working knowledge of common bibliographic utilities (e.g., online computer library center (oclc), or exlibris) and data manipulation tools, experience working with national cooperative cataloging programs, performing original and complex cataloging for materials in a variety of formats, practices in specialized cataloging, such as rare materials and e-resource, experience working with integrated library management systems, computer skills, and a working knowledge of non-english languages. table 3 skills skills number percentage oclc/exlibris 61 56.5 pcc 19 17.6 marcedit/openrefine 37 34.3 original cataloging 49 45.4 rare materials 36 33.3 e-resource 35 32.4 library management systems 66 61.1 computer skills 41 38.0 foreign languages 43 39.8 table 3 indicates that experience working with integrated library management systems (61.1%), bibliographic utilities oclc/exlibris (56.5%) are the most mentioned skills in all the job advertisements, followed by original cataloging (45.4%), and computer skills (38%). integrated library management systems include alma, sierra, voyager, or millennium. discovery layer systems include primo, summon, and blacklight. 49 advertisements (45.4%) mentioned experience with creating original marc records, copy cataloging, editing, exporting, and importing bibliographic records in all formats in oclc connexion. 43 advertisements (39.8%) required reading knowledge of foreign languages, particularly spanish, french, german, italian and non-roman scripts. 41 advertisements (38%) mentioned computer skills, including experience with scripting languages and/or tools for data manipulation: python, perl, php, java shell script, mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 65 xslt, etc. and knowledge of sql and databases. 37 advertisements (34.3%) mentioned knowledge of data manipulation tools, such as marcedit and openrefine. 36 advertisements (33.3%) mentioned cataloging rare materials in archives and special collections. 35 advertisements (32.4%) mentioned cataloging of electronic resources, including integrating resources, e-books, electronic journals, and licensed databases. 19 advertisements (17.6%) mentioned experience with a national cooperative cataloging program such as the program for cooperative cataloging (pcc), naco, bibco, conser or saco. discussion analysis of the data shows that a master’s degree in library science has been considered an essential qualification for entry into academic librarianship; meanwhile 51.9% employers accept equivalent degrees. cataloging is an essential aspect of library work. cataloging librarians need a strong understanding of cataloging principles, standards, as well as knowledge of metadata, and classification systems. coursework in cataloging is a critical component of an mls program. students who have taken cataloging courses have the skills and knowledge necessary to work in cataloging roles. the finding in this study agrees with the previous research. sproles and ratledge (2004) found the demand for an ala-mls peaked in 1997 for technical services positions with 97% of positions requiring one. the acceptance of equivalent degrees was at its height in 1997 with 10%. this study has the same result for the requirement of the master’s degree in library science. on the other hand, the data shows that more employers are willing to accept equivalent degrees. in terms of academic library work experience, 101 advertisements out of 108 (93.5%) required previous working experience. it is a significant increase compared to the previous research. chaudhry and komathi (2002) reported working experience relevant to the job was mentioned as a requirement in 48.1% advertisements. sproles and ratledge (2004) reported technical services positions saw an upward trend towards working experience, from a low of 34% in 1987 to a high of 49% in 1997. the applicant who wants to find a position in cataloging areas should no longer expect that a graduate degree in library information science is enough. he/she should seek to gain as much practical experience as possible. reser and schuneman (1992) stated that a cataloger requires more training than a public services position, therefore there are less entrylevel technical services positions. sproles and ratledge (2004) noted that experience gained on the job appears to be mandatory for most advertised positions. applicants without prior experience will find themselves at a major disadvantage. they also declared that new hires in professional positions did not receive sufficient training. the data indicates that traditional cataloging knowledge and skills continue to be highly valuable and necessary. traditional cataloging skills encompass practices and techniques used to organize and describe information resources in libraries. these skills include descriptive cataloging, subject analysis and classification, authority control, and metadata creation. most of the jobs required knowledge and experience of cataloging standards and protocols, such as rda/ aacr2, marc, lcsh, and lcc. over half of the jobs required experience of automated library management systems, and bibliographic utilities. nearly half of the jobs asked for experience with nonmarc metadata, particularly dublin core, mods/mads, and ead. 45.4% of employers ask for the skills for original cataloging, copy cataloging, editing, exporting, and importing bibliographic records in all formats in oclc connexion. mu / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 66 cataloging is heavily dependent on technology. 38% of advertisements mentioned computer skills, including scripting languages (python, perl, php, java shell script, xslt, etc.), microsoft office software suite, sql and databases. 34.3% of advertisements required working knowledge of common automation and data manipulation tools (marcedit, openrefine). an interesting trend was many of positions required familiarity with emerging trends and issues in cataloging, such as linked data and semantic web technologies. the result of this study indicates 39.8% of job postings mentioned foreign language skills. 19 jobs asked for working knowledge or bibliographic knowledge of foreign languages; 14 jobs asked for reading knowledge of foreign languages; 5 jobs asked for knowledge of foreign languages; and 5 jobs required advanced reading knowledge of or proficiency in non-english languages. it appears that language skills are still desirable in cataloging positions. beile and adams (2000) found that 30.7% of technical services positions required or preferred foreign language skills in 1996. deeken and thomas (2006) reported that 64% of cataloging positions required foreign-language skills. conclusions this research studies the qualification and skills required for cataloging positions in academic libraries. based on the findings, today’s cataloging librarian in an academic library should have the following qualities: • a master’s degree in library science (mls) from an ala-accredited program. • one or more years of experience in academic libraries. • knowledge and experience with standards for bibliographic data and cataloging tools. • experience with creating original marc records, copy cataloging, editing, exporting, and importing bibliographic records. • experience working with integrated library management systems. high level of computer/automation knowledge and experience. knowledge of new technologies like linked data. • working knowledge of foreign languages. future studies need to address the cataloging librarians’ skills other than cataloging tools and resources, like management skills, interpersonal skills, project management skills, supervision/leadership ability, diversity awareness and teamwork skills. the responsibilities of cataloging librarians have been expanding over the years. many employers require cataloging librarians to serve as the primary contact for research queries and individual consultations for faculty and students in liaison areas, participate in the library instruction program by teaching classes in the liaison area, engage in service to the libraries, the university, the community, and the profession, including serving on committees. more research should be done on the adaptability and versatility of cataloging librarians in academic libraries. references beile, p. m., & adams, m. m. 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(1992). the academic library job market: a content analysis comparing public and technical services. college and research libraries, 53(1), 49–59. sproles, c., & ratledge, d. (2004). an analysis of entry-level librarian ads published in american libraries, 1982-2002. electronic journal of academic & special librarianship, 5(2/3), 1-25. triumph, t. f., & beile, p. m. (2015). the trending academic library job market: an analysis of library position announcements from 2011 with comparisons to 1996 and 1988. college & research libraries, 76(6), 716–730. turner, r. (2020). analyzing cataloging job descriptions: are cataloging jobs disappearing, changing, or merging? cataloging & classification quarterly, 58(6), 591–602. https://doi-org.ezproxy.samford.edu/10.1080/01639374.2020.1795768 xu, h. (1996, january 1). the impact of automation on job requirements and qualifications for catalogers and reference librarians in academic libraries. library resources & technical services, 40(1), 9. ______________________________________________________________________________ about the author peng mu obtained his master’s degree in library and information science from wayne state university in 2004. he is currently cataloging and metadata librarian at samford university, birmingham, alabama. his research is centered on new trends in cataloging practice. his professional interests include cataloging materials for all formats, subject analysis, authority control, classification, archives, and digital library. https://doi-org.ezproxy.samford.edu/10.1080/01639374.2020.1795768 4-319 title page 4-319 article international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 113 issn:2474-3542 cala’s 21st century librarian seminar series – 2017 balis conference on september 13 and 14, 2017, four chinese american librarians association (cala, an affiliate of american library association) members went to beijing, china, to attend balis conference and give a presentation to balis members (beijing academic library information systems, a consortium of close to ninety academic libraries in beijing). this event is part of cala’s 21st century librarian seminar series, which started in 2006. for the past 11 years, cala has held a series of joint conferences with several chinese counterparts including yunnan provincial library commission, universities from shanxi province and shanghai, to give lectures, exchange ideas, and discuss the practice and trends in international library fields. this is cala’s first collaboration with beijing academic libraries. cala members’ presentation topics in balis conference are the current practice and development in american academic libraries. the topics are the role of library and librarian in the digital age: the knowledge and skill sets; data-driven decision-making methods and practices in american academic libraries; the practice of research data management in american universities; and managing electronic and print resources: a paradigm shift in library system design and bibliographic control. the balis conference was taking place at beijing normal university library on september 13. about 170 chinese academic librarians from beijing area attended the presentation. on september 14, there was a round table discussion held at beijing foreign studies university library. more than twenty mid to upper level managers from beijing academic libraries joined the cala team to discuss a wide range of topics from electronic resource management to research data management, from next generation library system to library and librarian’s role and place in digital age.. both cala and balis show strong interest to continue cooperation and exchange in the future. --yongming wang, the college of new jersey, ewing, nj, usa doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.53 https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.53 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org redesigning library’s website with springshare products: a case study rui (jeff) ge abstract: this article chronicles the website redesign process of a medium-sized academic library using springshare products, namely libguides cms, libanswers, libcal, and libwizard, at stockton university in new jersey. the project was completed in such a short timeframe and with limited resources that the focus was placed on reconstructing the information architecture (ia) in order to establish the navigation system of the website. the topics of the rationale for the redesign, detailed procedures, lessons learned, and suggestions for future improvement are discussed. to cite this article: ge, r. (2023). redesigning library’s website with springshare products: a case study. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 49-65. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.287 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 49-65 issn: 2474-3542 redesigning library’s website with springshare products: a case study rui (jeff) ge, stockton university, nj, usa abstract this article chronicles the website redesign process of a medium-sized academic library using springshare products, namely libguides cms, libanswers, libcal, and libwizard, at stockton university in new jersey. the project was completed in such a short timeframe and with limited resources that the focus was placed on reconstructing the information architecture (ia) in order to establish the navigation system of the website. the topics of the rationale for the redesign, detailed procedures, lessons learned, and suggestions for future improvement are discussed. keywords: web development, website redesign, academic library, springshare, web content management platform (cms) background the richard e. bjork library at stockton university has had a website since 2001. the website was hosted on a university server and developed and maintained by the university's it service. during this period, several librarians had access to the backend of the system to maintain content updates. the first major redesign on bjork library's website was conducted in 2015, when libguides cms was first introduced and became the library's web content management system. the libguides cms is a “service as a service” (saas), cloud-based, web content management system (cms) developed by springshare, a library technology vendor. the redesign was led by a team of five librarians, who operated without a designated team leader to manage the process and keep the project on schedule. the homepage provided top-level navigation for the resources, services, special collections, subject research guides, and about pages; clustered link lists and search boxes were grouped under three major columns; a group of four rectangle buttons was served as quick links to respective library services and resources; liaison librarian portraits were arranged in a grid with embedded links which, when clicked, would lead to their individual profile page (see figure 1). although subsequent revisions and a more recent version (see figure 2) had achieved somewhat improvements compared to the 2015 version, the website had still been lacking effective global navigation. many highly accessed resources and informative web pages were buried from sight. for instance, during the covid-19 crisis, as remote services such as online study room ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 50 reservations, zoom-based research consultation booking, and virtual reference were activated, they needed to be easily findable by website users. furthermore, even though springshare had gradually adopted the responsive design concept for its products, if the library chose to customize the header and footer, they would still need additional coding in order to be fully mobile-friendly. in addition, since the campus was to be fully re-opened in the fall year semester, the library aimed to provide a better online user experience for its patrons and impress the campus community with a new look to its web presence. considering the aforementioned and the limited timeframe involved (only 5 months from project inception until the beginning of the fall semester), the library technology team, composed of five librarians (including the web services librarian as project lead), believed a formal, full-scale redesign of the library's website was not an option. they decided that this redesign effort should have a focus on establishing the navigation system by re-evaluating the site’s information architecture (ia), reconstructing the home page and applying responsive design to the entire website (in particular the header and footer sections) during the summer months (may to august) of 2021. the results proved that the decision was quite practical. this article chronicles the redesign process, provides certain resources and tips, and concludes lessons learned, with an expectation that other libraries under similar circumstances may find them helpful in their website redesign process. ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 51 figure 1. screenshot of the library’s homepage in libguides cms in 2015 ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 52 figure 2. screenshot of a subsequent redesign of the homepage resource availability any website redesign project for an academic library is a complicated process, even if all the necessary resources are available. at the time the redesign project was initiated, the website had been running on the libguides cms platform for nearly 5 years. apart from libguides, the library had also subscribed to springshare's other applications such as libanswers, libcal, and libwizard to support the library's online reference service, research appointment reservation system, room booking module, hours calendar, webform submission, etc. the librarians and several library technicians had learned to use libguides cms to create and maintain subject guides for liaison programs and libanswers for online chat reference. although a few librarians and staff from the university's it services had admin-level access to the system, the main ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 53 responsibility of design and development had fallen to the library staff, only two of whom had web technical expertise and design skills, namely the web services librarian and the systems coordinator. the library technology team (tech team) was composed of the distance education librarian, user experience librarian, electronic resources librarian, associate director of the library, systems coordinator, and web services librarian, among whom the latter worked as the lead of the redesign project. the university’s director of information systems and business intelligence was invited on as a consultant and participated in tech team's meetings on a regular basis, providing advice on the overall design and guidelines. in fact, the library was fortunate that their cms is independent from that of the university (omni cms) and was encouraged to maintain that difference in the site structure and look and feel of the redesign, since many institutions require their library website to use the same content management system in order to achieve the same look and feel. this practice created a limitation, if not an obstacle, to the web design and development projects for the libraries. redesign process old site structure a library website serves as an essential gateway to all services, resources, electronic or physical, online reference platform (silvis et al., 2019), and discovery layer of the library service platform (lsp) of a university's library. an effective information architecture (ia) of this "large, information-rich system," is critical to ensure the available resources and services are findable and easy to find (silvis et al., 2019; rosenfeld et al., 2015, p. 25). ia is defined as "the process of organizing information including defining site hierarchies, web content, labeling schemes, and navigation in a way that is easy for people to find, understand and manage the information" (u.s. department of health and human services, n.d.). the best practice for redesigning the information architecture (ia) of a website is to review the existing site structure before any redesign is done. in the case of bjork library’s redesign, the first step was to audit the web pages/guides. the web services librarian exported all pages from the old website using a feature in libguides cms called export all records and uploaded the exported csv file in google sheets. the spreadsheet contained such fields as id, title, url, owner, group, status (published/unpublished/private), date of creation/update, friendly url, and guide types, namely general-purpose guides, subject guides, topic guides, and course guides. since the last three types of guides/web pages are generally created and maintained by subject librarians (guide owners) for liaison programs, the published general-purpose guides are those that most affected the site structure (in stockton's case only). the spreadsheet also helped filter out, with ease and in a timely manner, the unwanted guides (webpages) that were not conducive to establishing the new site structure. according to the auditing results, the web services librarian was able to create a site structure diagram for the library's old website (see figure 3). in this diagram, besides the homepage, all top-level guide pages were marked in yellow, while secondaryand tertiary-level pages were marked in green and blue respectively. hyperlinks to and page id of the web pages were also embedded for quick reference to each page. no subject guides or special collections ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 54 guides were included in the diagram, since they contributed little to re-generating the overall site structure. figure 3. screenshot of a diagram of the old website structure new site structure 1. card sorting to help decide what pages should be included and what content should go into which categories in order to finally establish the new site/navigation structure, a card sorting exercise was conducted online based on the old site structure by the tech team members with jamboard, a google tool that enables the participants to label each card and drag/drop them into different categories or regroup/re-label them as needed. each tech team member was assigned a copy of the card file showing the names (titles) of the web pages that reflected their category (primary/secondary/tertiary) and topics (labels) and was asked to re-group and/or re-label the categories/web pages. the exercise was expected to generate helpful results in creating a librariancentered site structure for the website redesign. (see figure 4) ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 55 figure 4. screenshot of a copy of card sorting exercise in jamboard 2. best practices the tech team also benefited from considering best practices in the website structure and homepage layout of other academic libraries with a similar scale. the special focus was on those websites that had a mega dropdown menu as their main navigation, since the tech team concluded that such a menu type would be ideal to present the library’s web content in a well-organized and effective way. other best practices included, on the library's homepage, displaying a simple search box for finding the library's physical and electronic resources, opening hours of the major library services, quick links/icons that take users to the most popular resources or services, library news and events, and links to the library's social media. 3. discussion and new site diagram based on the results of the card sorting exercise, references to the websites of peer academic libraries, and discussions with members of the tech team, a spreadsheet was generated to reflect both the modifications to the old site structure and a draft of the new structure, including more detailed information, such as top-level and second-level menu items, link items under each secondlevel menu item, and the urls of each link item (see figure 5). the web services librarian also added columns for collecting suggested actions from team members on whether to keep, remove, move the link item, or modify the label of the link item. a copy of the spreadsheet was distributed to each tech team member, who was asked to accomplish the suggested actions independently. each member then presented their version of the spreadsheet for discussion until they finally reached an agreement on the new site structure. after ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 56 some thorough discussions, the library tech team finally agreed on a new site structure that best fit the library’s needs and created a new diagram (see figure 6). figure 5. a copy of the spreadsheet used for collecting input on the new site structure. figure 6. screenshot of the new site structure diagram ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 57 design and development 1. wireframing before any actual coding or development took place, the web services librarian created two online wireframes (see figures 7 and 8) to sketch and illustrate the allocation of space, the content layout of the future homepage, and the details of the navigation menu with a tool called figma (https://figma.com). the wireframes, a mixture of low-fidelity and high-fidelity images, were shared among the members of the tech team for deciding what elements should be allocated on which sections of the homepage and how the mega menu looked and behaved upon mouse hoverover action. these wireframes served both as visual guides to what the key website components looked like and a depiction of a page's interface that showed the spacing of elements on the page, how content was prioritized, what functionalities were available, and how users would interact with the site. the wireframes also provided intuitive graphics for the discussion at the tech team meeting and made the decision-making much easier. ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 58 figure 7. screenshot of initial design of homepage in figma, with page header and footer in high-fidelity and main content low-fidelity wireframes ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 59 figure 8. screenshots of wireframes in figma depicting the opening mega dropdown menu and the 2nd-level page titles/links, upon mouse hover-overing on the top-level categories ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 60 2. coding once the website structure was established and wireframes finalized, the web services librarian created a testing environment in libguides cms. a testing group was created to contain each type of guide for testing, including a general-purpose guide resembling the redesigned homepage. the website header (including the navigation mega dropdown menu) and the homepage were among the first coding tasks. libguides cms allows developers to customize the header and footer for the website. the customized header and footer apply to the whole website and all guide pages. the platform also supports cascading style sheet (css) and javascript (js) code inclusion, either embedded or uploaded. the web services librarian hard-coded the html of the mega dropdown menu in the header and footer sections and embedded the css and js code in the platform. additional css and js files also needed to be uploaded to the system to style the look and feel and to control the behavior of special plugins like jquery datatable which was utilized to construct the contact list of library staff. besides libguides cms, the library also subscribed to springshare’s libanswers, libcal, and libwizard to support the library's virtual reference, study room booking, research appointment booking, opening hours, and online form submission services. however, it seemed that these products were developed independently and in different timelines. each product has its own style sheets and javascript library (with different bootstrap versions) for customizing the look and feel of the web page. the css and js code that worked in libguides did not apply in libanswers or libcal. to achieve a uniform look and feel for the website, multiple versions of style sheets and js code were created to accommodate each independent product. even the same html code used in the customized header (including the mega dropdown menu) and footer for all three products needed to be added to and updated separately for each product. another shortcoming of libguides cms, as a web content management system, is that it lacks a sandbox to contain web pages under testing. any changes in the style of web elements (font, color, link, etc.) would happen in the live website once a new style sheet (css file) was applied. although this could be mitigated by changing the status of a guide page to "unpublished" or "private," the practice only worked with guide content and did not resolve the issue completely. the issue was even worse with libanwsers and libcal, where no testing environment could be established, and every committed edit to web content became live immediately. as a result, the web services librarian had to dedicate large periods exclusively to drafting code changes, implementing those changes on the live site, and then immediately testing the changes to ensure functionality. fortunately, these web pages only covered a small percentage (appx. 10%) of the total and the testing took place during summer when web traffic was low. the libguides cms provides a page layout template editing option for all its major page types (guide, homepage, search, subject, profile, and a-z). this feature enables developers to change the in-page navigation from tabbed navigation to side navigation and vice versa with ease. the feature also allows the change of content layout within all the page types. the redesigned homepage, for example, was developed by rearranging the existing boxes of and adding new boxes to a guide page template. 3. responsive design “responsive web design is about using html and css to automatically resize, hide, shrink, or enlarge, a website, to make it look good on all devices (desktops, tablets, and phones)” (w3c ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 61 schools, 2023). although springshare has stated libguides cms is mobile-friendly out of the box, it is not always accurate (rosenthal, 2016). to make the navigation menu and homepage content adjust smoothly to various screen sizes, the web services librarian had to add separate css code by including media queries to define the css code for different viewport widths. the design of the header and footer of the website also followed this workflow. the result was that all pages and content on the library's website looked equally good and were accessible on different screen sizes, be it a desktop, pad, or smartphone. testing, revision, and deployment upon coding the navigation menu and homepage, the web services librarian shared the testing site with the tech team for feedback and suggestions. the responses were quite positive. however, due to the limited timeframe, it was not feasible to create a complete website in the testing environment. the focus was on testing the header and footer, the mega dropdown navigation menu, the homepage, and each distinct guide type. after making revisions and corrections from the tech team's feedback, we decided to apply the header, navigation menu, and footer to the live website and open the testing up to all librarians and staff. issues caused by the conflict between multiple style sheets and different versions of font awesome1 and bootstrap libraries2 began to come up. the web services librarian had to tackle and fix all the issues upon deployment of the new website. troubleshooting conflicts of style issues and different javascript libraries was very labor-intensive and time-consuming, and always with the risk of no workable solution being found. fortunately, no major issues were found, except for the site’s a-z databases page, on which a good deal of time was spent finding a resolution to the conflicts in javascript code. since no usability testing on the old website was conducted before the redesign, the tech team had very little users' feedback data and had to rely on their professional knowledge and refer to the best practices of other academic libraries' websites. though a usability test conducted a few months later showed very positive results, it would have been a good practice to do this testing earlier rather than later. the new design the library’s tech team believes the redesign project has achieved its primary goal of providing a global navigation menu that enhances the findability of key resources and services. services such as study room booking and appointment reservation with librarians are presented both in the mega dropdown menu as intuitive slideshows with thumbnail photos depicting respective study rooms and librarian portraits (see figure 9) and as in the outstanding quick-link iconic buttons. simple dropdown menus are also utilized to include top-level navigation that contains fewer sub-level pages in about us and my accounts (see figure 10). 1 font awesome is a widely-used icon set that gives you scalable vector images that can be customized with css. (https://sites.uci.edu/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-use-font-awesome-on-your-site/) 2 the most popular front-end framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web. (https://cdnjs.com/libraries/bootstrap) ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 62 figure 9. partial screenshot depicting a 2-column mega dropdown menu and a slideshow of librarian’s portraits upon mouse hover-overing the research tab figure 10. partial screenshot depicting the mega dropdown and simple dropdown menus on the homepage, outstanding iconic buttons with text captions that prioritize the popular services and popular resources help users get what they need immediately. the operation hours of the library building and special collections are also presented on the homepage beside the flashfind search box. quick links to other key resources and services labeled as “i want to...,” an event poster, and a twitter widget for news & events constitute the bottom section of the homepage (see figure 11). the new design also now provides a uniform header and footer for every page of the website. ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 63 figure 11. screenshot of redesigned homepage ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 64 lessons learned the redesign project of bjork library's website was conducted within a span of five months in 2021. the library tech team learned a few lessons from this project. planning phase ● the timeframe affordable for the redesign affects the scale of the project. ● the redesign project should have a focus, especially when the time frame and resources are limited. ● the timing of the redesign should be well chosen. it is always a good practice to leave the testing and deployment phase to a period (e.g., summer) during which fewer activities and traffic happen on the website. in case any issues arise during the testing phase, developers will have the leeway to make any adjustments. ● a project lead is essential for any redesign project in that they take responsibility and control of the progress, assigning tasks to related stakeholders, and reporting feedback. the project lead should also have the authority to make the final decisions on the design when different ideas come up. development phase ● the creation of a testing environment is a must. although libguides cms does not provide a ready sandbox for testing purposes, it is always a good practice to build a testing environment before the redesign goes live. a group in libguides cms was created to meet this need at the start of the redesign project at bjork library. any modifications in the testing group would not affect the live site. ● understanding the limitations of a proprietary cms such as libguides and its difference from other springshare products may help developers become prepared for the coding incompatibility between the applications and plan a proper solution. ● a good command of html, css, and javascript, in particular the bootstrap library, is essential to customization of mega dropdown menu, sections such as header and footer, and making these sections mobile-friendly, especially when the out of box mobile responsive features do not avail. future improvement any web redesign project cannot be perfect. if a redesign project of bjork library's website needs to be done in the future, the following tasks are expected to be included: ● usability testing should be conducted to collect data on how the users interact with the website. periodical usability testing on certain features of the website may be conducted to decide if that feature is user-friendly. ● card sorting tasks should be done by a greater audience including experienced users and novice users of the website so that results can be compared to generate a user-centered navigation structure. ge / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 65 ● integration of google analytics tag manager in the data collection process is helpful to learn the statistics of the end user's behavior of link clicks within a web page. ● a search option (e.g., a search box) for information restricted to the library's website is to be added for a better user experience. ● if possible, migration of the top-level and secondary-level web pages to an open-source platform, such as drupal or wordpress, is to be considered to overcome the shortcomings of springshare platforms. this practice would enable developers to access the site's source code and thus have greater control over all the phases of web development. conclusion the experience of redesigning and developing the website at bjork library with libguides cms and related products provided by springshare was both challenging and complex. other academic libraries that adopted the same platform may learn from this experience in their website redesign projects – but they should always take their specific case scenarios into account. references affairs, a. s. for p. (2013, october 18). glossary. usability.gov. retrieved february 13, 2023, from https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/glossary/i/index.html rosenfeld, l., morville, p., & arango, j. (2015). information architecture: for the web and beyond. o'reilly media. rosenthal, d. (2016, april 28). are your libguides 2.0 (images, tables, & videos) mobile friendly? maybe not, and here’s what you can do about it. acrl techconnect. retrieved february 18, 2023, from https://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/post/are-your-libguides-2-0-images-tablesvideos-mobile-friendly-maybe-not-and-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it/ silvis, i. m., bothma, t. j. d., & de beer, k. j. w. (2019). evaluating the usability of the information architecture of academic library websites. library hi tech, 37(3), 566–590. https://doi.org/10.1108/lht-07-2017-0151 w3c schools, w. c. s. (n.d.). what is responsive web design. html responsive web design. retrieved february 13, 2023, from https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_responsive.asp ___________________________________________________________________________ about the author rui (jeff) ge is the discovery/web services librarian at richard e. bjork library at stockton university, new jersey, a position that began in july of 2019. previous work experiences include library systems technician at the patterson library, lakehead university, ontario, canada. he has a ma in library and information science from mcgill university, quebec, canada, and a ba in english from the capital normal university, beijing, china. https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/glossary/i/index.html https://doi.org/10.1108/lht-07-2017-0151 https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_responsive.asp 287-title-page 287-ge-layout references issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org mobile apps–based applications in libraries and information centers: a systematic review of the literature and future research agendas b. p. singh and margam madhusudhan abstract: due to the worldwide rapid adoption of mobile-based applications in libraries to foster the delivery of information services on mobile devices of library users, there are vast and growing collections of peer-reviewed research and conference papers available in various online databases. analyzing the literature related to mobile-based library services is one method to conduct future research to enhance library collections and services in the digital age. the primary goal of this paper is to review the most relevant literature in the field to better understand these previous research works, identify trends and to determine the research gaps for future studies. a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature on mobile-based applications in libraries and information centers of peer-reviewed research papers, and conference proceedings published in online databases (proquest-lisa and web of science) during the last seven years (2015–2022) was conducted for critical analysis and to address the present trends of mobile-based applications in these studies. we identified that many studies have described the use of mobile apps–based applications like mobile online public access catalogue (mopac), mobile websites, mobile databases, whatsapp, sms, rss, and quick response (qr) codes in the enhancement of library collections and services around the globe. we observed that 75.93% of documents were published as research articles, and 42.59% of publications were identified under the two authorship patterns. also, the authors investigated the current and future state of the research in this field by synthesizing the results of published high-quality experimental studies and systematic mapping studies on related disciplines. we hope that this study will be helpful for librarians and information professionals to better understand and implement the applications of mobile technologies for enhancement of library collections and services in the virtual world. to cite this article: singh, b. p. & madhusudhan, m. (2023). mobile apps–based applications in libraries and information centers: a systematic review of the literature and future research agendas. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 83-102. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.294 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.294 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 83-102. issn: 2474-3542 mobile apps–based applications in libraries and information centers: a systematic review of the literature and future research agendas b. p. singh1, ayush central library, dayalbagh educational institute, agra, india margam madhusudhan, university of delhi, delhi, india abstract due to the worldwide rapid adoption of mobile-based applications in libraries to foster the delivery of information services on mobile devices of library users, there are vast and growing collections of peer-reviewed research and conference papers available in various online databases. analyzing the literature related to mobile-based library services is one method to conduct future research to enhance library collections and services in the digital age. the primary goal of this paper is to review the most relevant literature in the field to better understand these previous research works, identify trends and to determine the research gaps for future studies. a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature on mobile-based applications in libraries and information centres of peer-reviewed research papers, and conference proceedings published in online databases (proquest-lisa and web of science) during the last seven years (2015–2022) was conducted for critical analysis and to address the present trends of mobile-based applications in these studies. we identified that many studies have described the use of mobile apps–based applications like mobile online public access catalogue (mopac), mobile websites, mobile databases, whatsapp, sms, rss, and quick response (qr) codes in the enhancement of library collections and services around the globe. we observed that 75.93% of documents were published as research articles, and 42.59% of publications were identified under the two authorship patterns. also, the authors investigated the current and future state of the research in this field by synthesizing the results of published highquality experimental studies and systematic mapping studies on related disciplines. we hope that this study will be helpful for librarians and information professionals to better understand and implement the applications of mobile technologies for enhancement of library collections and services in the virtual world. keywords: libraries, mobile apps, whatsapp-based services, mobile library services, smartphone, mobile library websites, mopac, review of literature, qr codes 1corresponding author singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 84 introduction the mobile app is known as a short form of “mobile software application.” mobile applications or “apps” became available to download on a mobile device in 2008 (donker et al., 2013). since then, their use has increased rapidly, and it is anticipated to continue rising in the mobile world. as of june 2022, an estimated 2.65 million apps are available on the google play store, but library-related apps are limited to the enhancement of library services in the virtual world. mobile-based applications in libraries help provide e-information services to users on their mobile devices. these services can comprise two categories: the first is those traditional library services modified to be available via mobile devices, and the second is those created for mobile devices. to provide remote access to library collections and services on users' mobile devices, mobile technologies have become authoritative for libraries and information canters. mobile device companies and computer scientists define “mobile apps” differently. a significant and straightforward definition is “a small application that runs on a smartphone and a tablet is called the app” (j. han et al., 2020). the mobile applications for libraries look similar to library automation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. when computer applications were introduced into the library system in a few library operations like acquisition, circulation, and serials management, opac was implemented as isolated computer applications for libraries. various app development tools and mobile technologies are currently used to develop mobile apps for different operating systems such as android and windows. for android app development, mostly javascript was used, while apple apps are typically developed using the x-code and deployed to iphone, ipod touch, or ipad. a review of the literature is a pathway to conducting future research in a related area. fostering the growth of mobile applications for enhancement of library collections and services spans various mobile-based applications in libraries and their operational practices. the latest research and practical examples are evaluating and optimizing library websites, collections, and services for mobile access anywhere, anytime over the networks. the flowchart of the systematic review of the literature is shown in below figure 1. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 85 figure 1 flowchart of review of literature objectives of the study the objective of the study is to present a comprehensive review of the literature on the type of mobile applications reported in libraries and information canters. the review also aims to assess the quality of the reviewed studies and current research trends. the other objectives of this study are as follows: 1. the primary objective of the study is to systematically review the available literature in areas of mobile-based application in libraries to identify the current trends of research in across the globe. 2. to find out which mobile-based applications and services have been reported so far in libraries. 3. to observe the available publication types where the most literature was published on mobile-based applications in libraries. 4. to find out the preferred document type, authorship pattern, and growth of publications in the last seven years in the area of mobile-based services in libraries. 5. to determine the research gap and future research agendas in the study area through depth analysis of the available literature. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 86 research methodology the process of a systematic review of the literature and the methodology adopted have been discussed in a standard format. a total of 51 documents (excluding websites) published in the last seven years (2015-2022) were considered for the comprehensive review and analysis. these documents included research articles, conference proceedings, and books chapters. all the documents have been retrieved through the databases web of science, lisa, and scopus. the literature has been included through observation and depth analysis of content of the available literature. the methodology of this systematic literature review is presented in figure 1 as a flowchart. many articles were published on mobile technology applications in library services, but the scope of this systematic review study is limited to covering ten specific areas of selected studies containing the following: (1) app-based applications in libraries, (2) mobile-based applications in libraries, (3) mobile apps, (4) applications of whatsapp in libraries, (5) application of smartphones in libraries, (6) quick response (qr) codes in libraries, (7) smsbased library services, (8) mobile websites in libraries, (9) mobile databases in libraries, (10) mobile technologies in libraries. review of the literature to conduct a systematic review of the literature, the first step is to collect all the publications from the selected sources (databases). these publications were identified by searching the proquest-lisa, web of science, and scopus. the search strings used during these searches were “mobile applications in libraries,” “mobile library websites,” “use of whatsapp in library services,” “mopac,” “mobile databases,” “qr code applications in libraries” and “apps-based applications” and “use of mobile applications in libraries.” the above-mentioned databases and journals were selected as being the latest and most relevant sources. there are many peer-reviewed research papers existing on various facets related to mobile technology applications for the enhancement of library collections and services. the scope of this study is limited to peer-reviewed articles and research papers, which were published in various reputable international and national journals by indian and foreign authors during the last seven years. the reviewed articles are focused on comprehensive reports, which were published worldwide, keeping in view the seminal results coming out of the relationship between mobile technologies and modern libraries. the review of relevant articles and research papers are presented below. mobile library services madhusudhan & dar (2017) explored the “mobile library services initiated and adopted by university libraries for quickly mobilizing the library services as a new way to information delivery.” saravani & haddow (2017) interviewed 42 library professionals and analyzed the level of awareness and skill requirements for implementing mobile technology (m-tech) advancements in libraries. the researchers found high awareness of the impact of m-tech applications on library services and noticed major factors to accepting m-tech on both the organizational and individual levels. kubat (2017) examined the survey results of the future of mobile applications in university libraries in turkey. he noted that turkish university libraries singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 87 used a comparable level of mobile technology to offer mobile library services, like short messaging services (sms), mobile device-enabled services, mobile websites, mobile library catalogues, chatboxes, consultations through instant messaging, mobile augmented reality,qr code applications, etc. in his study, singh (2018) focused on mobile-oriented library services, including a mobile app, library app, mobile library website, mopac, and mobile databases. it has been found that 72.34% of central university libraries (cul) in india provide a mobile opac, 74.47% of cul provide digital repository services and only 23.40% of cul provide mobile services to users over the networks. dar (2019) concentrated on the initiatives of mobile library understanding among different categories of students. he showed that a large number of students agreed to adopt mobile library services as new initiatives for instant accessibility of their daily informational needs. this study focuses on innovative services with web-based library services and moves into mobile library services. mansouri & soleymani (2019) observed that services such as searching databases, renewing/reservation of reading materials, circulation, mobile reference service, ask a librarian, library tours and instructions were frequently used by the users in academic libraries while the services of search, search using barcode scanners and databases were mostly used in public libraries. ocran, underwood & arthur (2020) proposed strategies for implementing mobile applications in library services. they investigated the preparedness of the library to implement mobile library services at the university of cape coast. they presented a positive perception regarding the implementation of mobile library services for enhancement of library collections and services. this study showed that most students had at least one mobile device used for 24/7 online access to library services. they also recommended that library professionals be highly trained in implementing mobile technology in their libraries. yi, barun & donghun (2022) proposed a model for mobile curation services in academic libraries. they discussed the development of mobile library services with the key modules as prototype curation services like my page, my log services, sms notifications and live chat for the academic libraries. they described the concept of content curation using mobile technologies to fulfill the users’ information needs. st. patrick’s duncan (2021) discussed the mobile library services which were provided for students' daily information needs at the university of the west indies, mona campus. he highlighted that mobile library services are available with the touch of a fingertip. in this study, the author also explored mobile services to enhance the usage of library collections and services, as well as best practices for implementing mobile library services in academic libraries mobile library apps maideen (2017) focused on the various kinds of software and apps used as mobile technology in libraries. sharma and madhusudhan (2017) discussed how mobile devices are being used by library science students and librarians. jumah & dar (2019) conducted a study to access e-information resources on mobile devices in kuwait. this study explored the academic library user needs for mobile-based library services and the technical competence of library professionals to provide services “on the go.” singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 88 digital services are rendered through digital platforms via mobile applications. izuagbe, ifijeh & ilo (2021) identify digital platforms for library services as telegram, whatsapp, youtube, zoom, messenger, and google classroom. in line with this, nasir (2020) reported that academic libraries in malaysia render digital services through chat services (library whatsapp group). swogger & linares (2016) defined the inherent challenges in their study of browzine to the development and marketing of mobile apps to library users. canuel & crichton (2015) describe leveraging apps for research and learning in their study. they offer wonderful opportunities to engage researchers and students with information access in new ways with the mobile app anywhere and anytime. this survey study wellexplained that academic libraries smoothly implemented and promoted mobile apps for collection development in an economical and efficient manner. ali & asl (2019) focused on mobile application components for the set up and development of mobile-based library services. they also investigated the essential components required to develop a mobile app to deliver library services on users’ mobile devices. additionally, they found that mobile-based library services such as sms notifications e-mail alerts, ask-a-librarian, information searching, databases, renewing/reserving books, automatic circulation of books through barcode/qr code scanners and e-document delivery, etc. were essential services to provide proactive library services on the users’ mobile devices in all types of libraries. kesselman (2022) discovered the best mobile applications that are useful to develop an innovative future-forward way that supports library services. he suggested ios and android mobile applications in libraries for creativity and innovation for mobile services. kaddipujar; jacob & kumbar (2022) examined app inventor for android mobile app development using the drag-and-drop approach for the library at raman research institute. the researchers explore the mit app inventor with salient features for implementing and developing apps by librarians for their libraries. this mit inverter-generated app helps libraries to extend their mobile-based services to its users. ajab mohideen, sheikh & kaur (2022) designed and developed a mobile app for library services using open-source software. this mobile app was developed using the koha (an open-source library information system) and tested it through user acceptance tests and system acceptance tests by experts who observed that it is properly operational, accessible, and useful for libraries. the major features of this app were circulation, an online public access catalog (opac) search, patrons’ personal book collections, patron accounts, librarian chat, book borrowing using qr codes, social media integration, and sms notifications of library activities, etc. chautula, harvey & mutula (2018) studied library and information services using mobile applications in public university libraries in malawi. they found that only one library offered library services using mobile phones. in the university libraries, reference services were provided by mobile phones, as were e-journal access, online public access catalogue (opac), whatsapp, and sms notifications. the authors describe the practical implications of mobile applications as a tool for prototype models for planning and implementation of library and information services using mobile phones in the digital world. central library iit delhi (2023) explored and implemented mobile technologies to provide library services to the users through a mobile app on their mobile devises. these mobilesingh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 89 based library services are a faster way to receive a response to simple questions that can be answered 24x7. whatsapp applications in libraries chaputula, abdullah & brave (2020) surveyed the use of whatsapp and social media in academic libraries at mzuzu university library, malawi. this study was conducted using semistructured interviews with five library staff/librarians that worked in the reference section and implemented whatsapp-based services in their libraries to deliver information from mobile devices. he observed that whatsapp has been successfully used to instantly provide reference services to students and research scholars. he has analyzed several technical and service-related challenges that adversely affect the instant delivery of services to users. the authors have recommended that whatsapp applications to instantly supply information in an efficient way for mobile devices of users at a minimal cost. ansari & tripathi (2017) conducted a study on the use of whatsapp in library and information services. in this study, they indicated that users showed a positive attitude to getting library services (sms notifications, service information, virtual reference service, and audiovideo content, etc.) over whatsapp. a total of 91.04% of users showed interest in using whatsapp for library services. they also observed that libraries can deliver various services over whatsapp for better satisfaction and enhanced usage of library collections and services. guo, lam, chiu & ho (2022) explained the whatsapp-based reference service and user satisfaction in a major academic library in hong kong. this study adapted the questionnaire instrument to investigate relationships between library services and users. the authors observed various opinions toward using reference services and preferred methods, including irregularity between users' frequently used methods and preferred methods. tung wah college (2022) explored that library staff used whatsapp for reference services, sharing of documents and instant replies to users’ questions during library hours. the service is highly used for quick and simple questions that can be answered in a short reply. smartphone applications in libraries al-sadiq (2015) describes the possibility of using smartphone applications and qr codes in information institutions. the researcher dealt with the benefits of smartphones and their potential if used with qr codes. then she pointed out the need to use this technology in providing library services and indicated how to use it efficiently. in his study, ebiye (2015) investigated the impact of smartphones and tablets on the information-seeking behaviour of students and staff in bayelsa state, nigeria. he has noticed that smartphones and tablets have made a deep impact on their education, especially concerning easy internet access, quick browsing, saving time and cost-effectiveness for teaching and e-learning materials/e-books. elahi et al (2016) discussed smartphone implications in educational environments. in this study, they identified the services that are possible to deliver using smartphone applications, including mobile-based library services. sambo, lawal & helen (2021) examined the use of smartphones for informationseeking in nigerian universities and found that apple ios was the most highly used smartphones for information-seeking and retrieval by undergraduate students followed by google android, windows’ blackberry, open webos, meego, symbian and others. also, the authors discovered that “factors affecting the use of smartphones for information-seeking by undergraduate students singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 90 include a poor battery, high rate of theft on campus, lack of technical experts on repairs when faulty within the campus, high cost of data subscription/internet access.” zahr (2021) explained the utility of smartphone applications for libraries rendering academic library services. applications of mobile technologies in libraries: ward, hahn & mestre (2015) explored that potential students are interested in mobile applications for instant access to library services, as well as assessing the e-resources for academic and research activities. rajasekhar & sasikala (2018) observed that, “mobile applications could support learning processes by making library resources everywhere at the same time, by bringing new users to the library through increased accessibility to the resources libraries offer, and by creating a new way to enhance connections between users and libraries.” johnson dei (2020) studied the adoption and implementation of mobile technologies in the delivery of library services in academic libraries. he observed a “strong awareness and appreciation of mobile technology–based library services among the students and library staff.” the main reason for using mobile technology is the absence of physical presence, making it easier to use. the sample respondents 174 (43.50%) strongly agreed, and 161 (40.25%) respondents from the selected study area agreed that they were using mobile technology services for academic and research purposes. significantly few respondents disagreed,20 (5%), and with 12 (3%) strongly disagreed. 33 (8.25%) were neutral. these results are similar to the findings of the studies of acheampong & agyemang (2021). acheampong & dei (2020) discussed the rapid growth in the usage of mobile devices, mobile broadband availability, and wi-fi connectivity in most academic libraries in ghana. they effectively deliver m-tech-based library services to users on their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, pda's, ipod and e-book readers, etc). the researchers noticed that continued training and ict skills are an essential need for staff due to the lack of trained staff for the adoption of m-tech in library services. jakati & kumar (2022) describe the mobile applications in libraries for fostering the delivery of information resources and services over networks. they pointed out the benefits of mobile applications in mobile libraries. ajibade, patrick (2022) opened mobileresponsive digital repositories and present an examination of the open access approach of institutional research output over mobile devices. the authors observed that almost all academic libraries use open-source software to develop mobile-accessible institutional repositories. mobile applications in libraries gunjal & gaffar (2019) surveyed on awareness, accessibility and usage aspects of mobile applications in the library among the users of nit, rourkela. this study describes the awareness and purpose of accessibility, and the usage of library resources and services using mobile applications. dinazzah & rahmi (2022) conducted a study on mobile library applications in indonesia's digital libraries using a descriptive and qualitative methodology to analyze the development of m-library apps in indonesia. they found that indonesia's digital libraries are in the progressive stage and libraries use mobile applications in their digital libraries. researchers also found that mobile applications in all mostlydigital libraries in indonesia are designed and developed by third-party vendors. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 91 mobile sms-based library services since the beginning of the 21st century, mobile technologies have supported mobile learning in different formats. in the mobile learning context, the most popular and stable mobile technology, “short message service” (sms) is used to send text messages on cellular phones to update users. through mobile applications, text messaging is a cost-effective platform. maghribi, osman & zainal (2017) presented a few insights to set up and implement a web-based system with mobile sms technology to enhance library services. this web-based system helped the library professionals to notify the library patrons through sms notification to inform patrons about the current status of check-out/in of books, due date and reservation of books. they focused on the integration of web-based and mobile sms in library services to enhance the work productivity and efficiency of library staff. the researchers highlighted that the delivery of sms-based library services using mobile applications is highly beneficial for users in a cost-effective manner. khanim & ahmed (2018) explore the possibility of implementing mobile sms technology to improve the delivery of information services in academic libraries. this study was conducted to examine the library notification service for users in the university of malay library. they found a large number of weaknesses in the existing e-mail notification system and the essential need to implement sms notifications for information updates regarding library services. a total of 72% of respondents face problems with notifications related to the return of books. this study also revealed that the majority of users demanded to improvements in the library notification service using mobile sms-based notification systems in the university of malaya library. the authors suggested enhancement of library reference services via implementing multimedia messaging services (mms) and live chatting over mobile devices in the near future. mobile library websites becker (2015) defined comprehensive goals for the setup and development of a mobile library website. he explained the common goals of accessibility & discovery of e-resources, enhancing the usage of reference services, accessing patron information, information literacy, audio video tours for patrons, supporting off-campus accessibility through mobile initiatives, delivery of eresources and raising the profile of the library as well as their working staff. anbu k & kataria (2015) presented a model for designing and testing mobile library websites’ remote access to library e-resources and services. mobile databases in libraries april & rachel (2015) studied the use and compatibility of the mobile accessible database of eresources at adelphi university libraries in 2015 and observed that 28% of the library services were appropriate and effective for mobile use. beg, khan & anjum (2022) conducted a systematic review of literature on data usages issues in mobile apps and they examined “the authors proposed three main thematic taxonomies, including architectural style, security and privacy strategies, and user-usages in the mobile app recommendation domain”. in this study, the researchers suggested a set of future research to investigate and development of mobile app– based databases in the higher education and emerging research domain. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 92 applications of quick response (qr) codes in libraries viktoriya (2020) describes the applications of qr codes in libraries for the marketing of library services and products. he has explored the qr codes in two categories: dynamic and static for several uses. he noted that the prospect of qr-coding technology as a type of mobile service in libraries from the point of view as a cost-effective digital marketing means of communication is substantiated around the globe. kadli (2020) discussed that qr codes play a vital role in shaping and delivering different types of library services with mobile applications. he has focused on qr codes and their applications for enhancement of library services and explored the advantages (speed, accuracy, quality, and cost-effectiveness) of qr code technology in the delivery of library services. in his study bondarenko (2020) reviewed and analyzed the literature on qrcoding technology in domestic and foreign e-resources. he found the possibility of providing information services via qr codes in the libraries. he highlighted the advantages of qr-code technology in libraries, mainly which are easily used and cost-effective due to it being freely available on the internet. madzidon & harun (2022) designed a library borrowing system using a qr code for enhancement of library services. this qr code requires unique authentication via a registered username and password, and it will be implemented by the librarians and administrators for the users. this system was designed to make borrowing books easier and helps librarians/administrators to track the usage of library resources and services. kharat, nagarkar & panage (2022) conducted a study on the implementation of qr code technology in mba college and institute libraries affiliated with savitribai phule pune university, pune and pimpri chinchwad. the researchers observed that qr codes will be more popular in the future due to their effectiveness and library users will prefer to easily scan the qr code multiple times. singh (2015) explained that the qr code is a powerful tool for the promotion and enhancement of the usage of library products and services with mobile devices. he suggested that every library design a qr code for the library website and other services to be easily accessible. findings from reviews through a comprehensive literature review of a select 54 articles, chapters and websites, we present the findings in descriptive form using r in different tables as displayed below. type of reviewed publication sources table 1 presents the distinct types of the select documents used for the review study. five (5) types of documents were identified where 41 (75.93%) of them were research articles from journals, 3 (5.6%) were conference papers, 5 (9.3%) were book chapters, 2 (3.70%) were books and 3 (5.6%) were library websites. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 93 table 1 type of reviewed publications (n=54) figure 2 depicts the publication type-wise distribution of the reviewed articles. most papers were published as research articles in reputable journals, followed by proquest-lisa databases. figure 2 type of reviewed publication sources authorship pattern of reviewed publications table 2 summarizes different types of authorship patterns for all selected publications. four authorship types were identified, where the highest (42.59%) numbers of publications were identified as having two authors, 27.78% of publications had single authors, and 7.41% publications had under four authors. document type total no & frequency 54 (100%) research articles 41 (75.93) book chapters 5 (9.3) conference papers 3 (5.6) books 2 (3.70) websites 3 (5.6) singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 94 table 2 authorship pattern authorship pattern of publications (n=51) s.no. number of authors in a publication number of publications (%) 1. 1 15 (27.78) 2. 2 23 (42.59) 3. 3 9 (16.67) 4. 4 4 (7.41) total publications (excluding websites) 51(100) distribution timeline of reviewed publications table 3 presents the yearly distribution of the reviewed publications/articles with their percentage. it was noticed that most of the searched publications were from the years 2022, 2015, 2020, 2017, 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2016. figure 3 depicts the yearly publication distribution of the articles. most research articles were published in emerald database journals, followed by conference papers related to computer science, library and information sciences. table 3 distribution timeline of reviewed publications year total no. of reviewed publications percentage (%) 2022 11 21.57 2021 6 11.76 2020 7 13.72 2019 6 11.76 2018 4 7.84 2017 7 13.72 2016 2 3.92 2015 8 15.69 figure 3 shows the distribution timeline of the reviewed publications used for the study. it has been observed that most of the publications were from the years 2022, 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2016. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 95 figure 3 distribution timeline of reviewed publications figure 3 shows the distribution timeline of the reviewed publications for the study. it indicates that the growth of publications in the select area of mobile-based applications in libraries has decreased after 2017 up to 2021. there is a growth of publications after 2021. it is worth mentioning here that 2019-2021 is the period of the covid pandemic. the growth in publications after 2021 shows that due to the impact of the covid pandemic, libraries highly used mobile based applications for enhancing library services. source of reviewed articles figure 4 shows that most of the considered articles under review were published in the journals “library hi-tech news” and “library philosophy and practice,” followed by “desidoc journal of library and information technology,” “the electronic library” and “journal of academic librarianship.” figure 4 distribution of articles in different journals 0 5 10 15 20 25 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 no of publication percentage 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 a pp lie d in fo rm at io n… bu lle tin o f t he a a s co lle ge a nd … d es id o c jo ur na l o f… g lo ba l k no w le dg e, … in fo rm at io n an d… in fo rm at io n te ch no lo gy … in te rn at io na l j ou rn al fo r… in te rn at io na l j ou rn al o f… in te rn at io na l j ou rn al o f… in te rn at io na l j ou rn al o f… jo ur na l o f a ca de m ic … jo ur na l o f e du ca tio n… jo ur na l o f i nf or m at io n… jo ur na l k ej ur ut er aa n, … jo ur na l o f. le ar n an d… jo ur na l o f l ib ra ri an sh ip … jo ur na l o f w eb … li br ar y h i t ec h n ew s li br ar y m an ag em en t li br ar y ph ilo so ph y an d… m ed ic al r ef er en ce … th e el ec tr on ic l ib ra ry u kr ai ni an jo ur na l o n… singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 96 discussion and future research agendas the above reviews show that much has to be done in incorporating the use of mobile-based applications in the efficient and cost-effective and delivery of information services to enhance the usage of library collections and services in libraries. most of the studies present a key role of mobile technologies in fostering library services and their significant role in reading in most parts of the developing mobile world. the results of this study show that most (75.93%) of the studies related to mobile applications in libraries measured the use of mobile-based library services and were published as research articles in peer-reviewed international and national journals. the study of kesselman (2022) & ajab mohideen, sheikh & kaur (2022) reported the best mobile applications for enhanced library services for faster delivery of information on users’ mobile devices through m-tech platforms. madhusudhan & dar (2017) assert that the initiatives of mobile information services in university libraries will be a boon to creating a cost-effective information superhighway for enhancement of library collection and services worldwide. the rapid rise in mobile applications, particularly in libraries and information centers, will enable information service administrators, librarians, policymakers, scientists, academicians, and researchers to attain optimum use of library resources over mobile networks. similar use of mobile applications also reported by previous studies by saravani & haddow (2017) & ocran, underwood & arthur (2020) have reported that mobile-based applications in libraries help to improve information searching and mobilize library services. this improved mobile access to information will make fostering open learning on the go a new way to get a wider spectrum of users who desire and possess the ability to actively learn using the mobile apps on their mobile devices (acheampong & agyemang, 2021). this study investigates the challenges faces by library professionals to implement and use mobile apps in libraries and represent the library without walls in the virtual environment. the study of jakati & kumar (2022), chaputula & mutula (2018) & singh (2018) have presented the mobile-based applications for enhancement of library services and reported that a lack of support from institutional authorities, lack of ict skilled manpower and funds are major problems for implementing mobile-based library services in libraries and information centers. due to the revolutionary growth in mobile technologies, new tools and techniques play a vital role in delivering mobile library services to users around the globe. mobile applications are inevitable platforms of mobile communication. currently, more and more changes in mobile applications in libraries are shifting information delivery away from web-based services to mobile-based services. existing mobile-based library applications help to improve library services inside and outside the library itself. further, to enhance collections and services through m-tech platforms, each library designs a mobile app to fulfil the users’ informational demands on their mobile devices. the outcomes of this systematic review underscore and support the work of all authors of selected studies to process future research concerning mobile applications in libraries for enhancement of library services. we recommend thorough research on open-source mobile applications for the enhancement of library services. singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 97 conclusion this study presents an in-depth analysis and explores the significance of available literature through a systematic review on mobile app-based applications in libraries. in this study, the authors mainly review the different theoretical and practical aspects of the implementation and use of mobile apps, mobile websites, mobile databases, sms-based services, mobile technologies, and qr codes in libraries, including the best practices, standards and advances related to mobile applications. from the perspective of fulfilling library users’ needs for instant information on their mobile devices, library and information professionals are progressive in implementing mobile and qr code technologies in their libraries. the reviews of these select articles will not only guide librarians/library professionals to effectively and efficiently implement mobile applications in their libraries, but also boost the theoretical and practical approaches of mobile technologies and their implementation in libraries. mobile-based applications in libraries such as mobile apps, mobile websites, check-out & check-in of documents, searching databases, sms services, qr codes and enabling wi-fi internet connection will help the libraries to satisfy the users’ information needs and enhance library services and products that will provide information accurately and instantly. the covid pandemic has forced researchers and libraries to find alternative ways of reaching remote users. mobile technologies along with the internet have penetrated deep into our society. by embarking on mobile and networking technologies, libraries can change the whole scenario of information access and its use. the various studies reported in this review show sample opportunities for the libraries to reach remote users and provide cost-effective services in a timely manner through mobile applications. but a critical analysis of available technologies and dynamic user behaviours by the libraries and information professionals is needed. based on the covered research studies, the authors noted the research gap for future research possibilities. finally, the authors suggested areas of future research directions that will be useful for potential and dynamic researchers in the applications for e the enhancement of library services in the networking environment. therefore, more positive efforts are still needed in the development of apps-based library services to put things in perspective in the mobile world. future works will ensure the enhancement of the usage of library collections and services in the respective libraries and information centers. references acheampong, e., & agyemang, f. g. 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(2021). smart applications for smarter libraries: application models for rendering academic library services through smartphones. in singh, b.p. & madhusudhan, margam (eds.), applying mobile technologies in transformation of library services. agra, social development federation, 1-20. websites bell, s. j. (2022). moving to mobile: space as a service in the academic library, educause review. https://er.educause.edu/search?topic_search=mobile+computing&q=&sortby=publicatio ndate_search&sortorder=desc&page=1 central library, iit-delhi, (2023). library app. https://library.iitd.ac.in/pdf/mobileapplications-in-library-services/ hong kong, tung wah college (2022). whatsapp the library service. retrieved may 10, 2022, from. https://www.twc.edu.hk/en/administration_units/lib/our_service/whatsapp –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– https://er.educause.edu/search?topic_search=mobile+computing&q=&sortby=publicationdate_search&sortorder=desc&page=1 https://er.educause.edu/search?topic_search=mobile+computing&q=&sortby=publicationdate_search&sortorder=desc&page=1 singh and madhusudhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 102 about the authors b. p. singh obtained his m.sc. (computer science) from maharishi dayanand university, rohtak and pursuing phd in library and information science from university of delhi, delhi. he has more than 18 years professional and administrative experience in reputed organizations. presently, he is working as a faculty librarian, ayush central library, dayalbagh educational institute (deemed to be university), agra. he has published 41 research papers and book chapters in international/national journals and edited books. he was awarded various international and national awards/fellowships like bi-international grant-2018, ifla scholarship-2019, ala-alcts online course grant-2020, ala-core online course scholarship-2021, drdo cash award2008 & 2010 and innovative librarian award-2021. his research interests include ict applications in libraries, mobile library services, mobile appsbased services, etd management, research support services, research data management and open science. email: bpsingh@dei.ac.in dr. margam madhusudhan is currently working as a professor in the department of library and information science, university of delhi, delhi. under his supervision, 13 phds, 29 master students, and 170+ project reports have been awarded. he has published eight books and 175 publications, including 96 articles. he has completed one major research project for drdo and two minor projects. he has also awarded various international/national awards for his outstanding academic and research contributions in library and information science discipline. his areas of interest include designing and evaluating websites, web-opacs, ict in libraries, social networking sites, e-resources, mobile-based library services, and text mining. email: mmadhusudhan@libinfosci.du.ac.in 6-294 title page6 6-294 article issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org measuring an academic library’s performance and service: a case study in georgia southern university library lili li abstract: this paper shares the georgia southern university library’s experience of libqual in user-centered and service-oriented academic learning environment. on the basis of reviewing the library literature on libqual, this study presents the process of data analysis and data visualization for academic library assessments. using the 2016 libqual survey at the georgia southern university library as a sample, this study illustrates basic methods of analyzing and interpreting the libqual survey raw data and user response raw data saved in excel files. also mentioned in this study are other common statistical tools and a set of general procedures, including data analysis, data validation, data migration, data mining, and data visualization, for academic library assessments to identify patron needs and satisfactory factors. to cite this article: li, l. (2017). measuring an academic library’s performance and service: a case study in georgia southern university library. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 53-65. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.26 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 53-65 issn: 2474-3542 measuring an academic library’s performance and service: a case study in georgia southern university library lili li georgia southern university zach s. henderson library, statesboro, georgia, usa abstract this paper shares the georgia southern university library’s experience of libqual in usercentered and service-oriented academic learning environment. on the basis of reviewing the library literature on libqual, this study presents the process of data analysis and data visualization for academic library assessments. using the 2016 libqual survey at the georgia southern university library as a sample, this study illustrates basic methods of analyzing and interpreting the libqual survey raw data and user response raw data saved in excel files. also mentioned in this study are other common statistical tools and a set of general procedures, including data analysis, data validation, data migration, data mining, and data visualization, for academic library assessments to identify patron needs and satisfactory factors. keywords: academic libraries, assessment, data analysis, data visualization, information visualization, libqual, library assessment introduction the internet and the world wide web (www) surge in the 1990s changed ways of information delivery and dissemination in the modern information society. the rapid advance of information technologies has boosted dynamic demands and expectations from faculty and students. due to the uncertainty of the global economic outlook, fiscal retrenchments year after year require that many academic libraries offer the best information resources and services within stringent operating budgets. many academic library administrators, executives, and librarians have realized that measurements of institutional effectiveness are more necessary than ever. library administrators need to present sufficient proofs how their library resources and services are planned and delivered in ways that maximize positive impacts on accreditation of academic programs, teaching and learning activities and research projects in colleges and universities. in the current external environment, libraries are challenged to be nimble, innovative, responsive, proactive and, most of all, able to demonstrate their value. libraries must be able to li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 54 measure their outcomes and systematically make technology, budget allocation, service, and policy decisions based on a range of data — needs assessment data, customer evaluation data, stakeholder expectation data, and internal process and organizational effectiveness data. pressure to offer value-added service is mounting in intensity, and the rate of change is relentless. (lakos & phipps, 2004, p. 346-347) in ever-changing academic learning environments, an academic library’ operations, sources, supports, and values must be associated with student learning outcomes promoted by a college or a university’s mission. therefore, this paper intends to share the georgia southern university library’s (gsul) experience of libqual; specifically, how an academic library performance quality and service improvement measurement could be improved via a process of collecting and analyzing libqual survey data to identify patron needs and satisfaction. literature review in the service-oriented and user-centered academic learning environment, library assessment is a required process to measure a library’s performance quality and service improvement while supporting the missions and the needs of an academic institution of higher education. what is library assessment? defined by the online encyclopedia wikipedia, a library assessment is “a process undertaken by libraries to learn about the needs of users (and non-users) and to evaluate how well they support these needs, in order to improve library facilities, services and resources” (library assessment, 2017, para. 1). in his book titled library assessment in higher education (2nd ed.), joseph r. matthews (2015) indicates that ranges and scopes of an academic library assessment have been expanded to include student learning outcomes (i.e. student’s achievements, experiences, and retention), teaching effectiveness, research environment, library as a place, and impacts on a college or a university’s reputation. the purpose of his book is to provide “a broad perspective about assessment activities that occur in colleges and universities as a preface to investigating library assessment and evaluation options aimed at determining the library contribution to the ‘holistic’ success of an academic organization’s mission and vision” (p. 3). among many library assessment tools, such as climatequal, libqual+, libvalue, mines for libraries, statsqual, etc., libqual+ (http://www.libqual.org) has become a benchmark most widely used by many academic libraries in the world to measure their patron needs and satisfaction. confirmed by the lib qual.org, “since 2000, more than 1,300 libraries in 33 countries have participated in libqual+, including college and university, community college, health sciences, and academic law libraries.” (association of research libraries, n.d., para. 2). apparently, this achievement has proven the global reputation of the libqual+. during 2007, libqual+ is on track to be used to collect data from the 1,000,000th library user from the 1,000th institution! libqual+ now has been used in the united states, canada, australia, new zealand, the united kingdom (england, scotland, and wales), france, ireland, the netherlands, switzerland, germany, denmark, finland, norway, sweden, egypt, the united arab emirates, and south africa. a chinese version is being implemented in hong kong in the fall of li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 55 2007. currently, the system supports 12 languages: afrikaans, american english, british english, chinese (traditional), danish, dutch, finnish, french (canadian), french (european), german, norwegian, and swedish. the various editions of libqual+ have been used over a period of eight years. (thompson, n.d., para. 10) since 2000, thousands of research papers have been published regarding library assessments via libqual surveys. generally speaking, those primary published research papers on libqual can be divided into the following five different categories: 1. the first category tracks the evolution of libqual and other emerging library assessment methods and tools (such as thompson, cook, & heath, 2000; kalb, 2010; roy, khare, liu, hawkes, & swiatek-kelley, 2012; savage, piotrowski, & massengale, 2017). 2. the second category explores the libqual’s factor structure, reliability, validity and unidimensionality associated with library service quality (such as thompson , cook, & thompson, 2002; thompson, cook, & kyrillidou., 2005; morales, ladhari, reynoso, toro, & sepulveda, 2012; fagan, 2014). 3. the third category discusses practical approaches of using libqual surveys for qualitative and quantitative analysis (such as voorbij, 2012; neurohr, ackermann, o'mahony, & white, 2013; killick, weerden, & weerden, 2014; deltor & ball, 2015). 4. the fourth category measures users’ perceptions of the values of academic libraries and the quality of library services (such as cook & heath, 2001; thompson, cook, & health, 2001; hossain, 2016; boyce, 2017) during the process of the libqual assessment. 5. the fifth category presents various case studies focusing on real-world samples using libqual in dynamic academic library settings (such as tatarka, chapa, li, & rutner, 2010; greenwood, watson, & dennis, 2011; helgesen & nesset, 2011; dennis, greenwood, & watson, 2013). library literature using libqual data supports academic library administrators in making critical decisions for enhancing and integrating their library resources and services. “the library literature regarding assessment tools, and individual assessment activities is vast, but library literature analyzing programmatic, effective assessment is not. systematic assessment within libraries is gaining momentum but is still a nascent area of librarianship” (lewin & passonneau, 2012). although there are a large number of research papers available focusing on academic library assessments via libqual, but only few library literatures directly illustrate the process of customizing the libqual discipline analysis and user subgroup analysis. therefore, the purpose of this study is to illustrate how to initialize and implement a process of information visualization based on the libqual survey raw data and user response data saved in microsoft excel files. the importance of this study is to assist other academic librarians to know how to use microsoft excel to analyze libqual survey raw data and user response data, if they do not have other content analysis software available. li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 56 methodology one of the strengths of libqual+ is information visualization. information visualization is a visual process of transferring abstract data to two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphs or objects to improve human recognition. explained by hsuanwei michelle chen (2017), “the views of information and visualization bring up two important aspects to consider: (1) information visualization is used to discover new insights and knowledge from abstract data through graphical means; and (2) information visualization can be considered a representation of data that amplifies cognition” (p. 6). as we all know, libqual+ is a web-based library survey to assess a library’s performance quality and service improvement. a libqual survey focuses patron comments from three aspects: information control, library as a place, and affect of service. at the cost of us$3,200 for the registration fee, libqual provides a registered institution with a standard libqual+ analysis report, which includes final summary data, representativeness information, raw data files in .csv format, spss syntax files, survey comments, and results notebook. if library administrators and librarians intend to view more detailed information, however, libqual will charge additional us$3,200 for customized discipline analysis and us$3,200 for user subgroup analysis separately. obviously, it is a heavy burden for academic libraries if they do not have additional operating budgets available. figure 1. the gsul’s libqual+ 2016 survey radar chart. data reprinted from the association of research libraries’ libqual+ 2016 survey: georgia southern university. li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 57 measured by the libqual’s 22 survey questions and 3 scales (desired, minimum, and perceived), a well-known libqual radar chart presented in this section indicates where the three dimensions of the gsul’s service quality have met or not met patron desires and expectations in 2016. from the perspectives of most of the gsul librarians and staff, the libqual user response data report is more practical for them to understand how and where to improve their library service quality. georgia southern university library (http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/) participated in the libqual surveys in 2003, 2006, 2010, 2013, and 2016. due to a stringent operating budget, the university library decided to use its own technical forces to engage in the user subgroup analysis, instead of paying an additional us$3,200 to the libqual.org. after downloading the 2016 libqual survey raw data and user response raw data from the website of libqual.org, the university librarians would use the microsoft excel software to complete the following tasks: 1. data analysis: data analysis refers to a general interpretation process of analyzing and summarizing the large amount of data collected by the appropriate statistical analysis method, extracting the useful information and forming the conclusion, and summarizing the data in detail. data analysis can be divided into several different phases, including data visualization, data filtering, data mining, data visualization, etc. 2. data validation: as a part of data analysis, data validation is a process of ensuring that users enter qualified and useful data required by default business rules and regulations. in microsoft excel, for instance, data validation can be done by selecting “data validation” under the data menu on the top, which will prevent users from entering an invalid input. before a data analysis, data validation can also be done by checking and removing invalid data cells in a data set. 3. data migration: data migration is one of the common business operations to transfer data from one system to another while changing data formats, data types, or data storage systems, if it is required. for academic librarians, data migration often occurs when they have to outsource microsoft excel files to other statistical software to generate interactive data visualization, such as gephi, sas, spss, tableau, etc. 4. data mining: data mining is a process for knowledge discovery to turn raw data into useful information. the purpose of data mining is to identify established and/or specific associations, patterns, structures, etc. in a large statistical data set. from the perspective of academic library assessments, data mining means to dig out hidden meanings from the collected raw data sets through the libqual surveys. 5. data filtering: data filtering is a way of controlling and processing data. with the assistance of specific computer software, data filtering only presents those data rows that satisfy the specified criteria and hide those rows that do not need to be displayed. after passing the process of data filtering, this new set of data can be copied, edited, formatted, and printed to create new charts, graphics, tables, etc. li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 58 6. data visualization: as a part of information visualization, data visualization refers to a technical process of converting abstract data to 2-d or 3-d graphics or objects. in various scenarios of academic library assessments, data visualization is a technical process of presenting statistical data in any graphical or pictorial formats, such as bars, charts, circles, columns, curves, hexagons, lines, pies, rectangles, squares, triangles, etc. this is a required step to assist academic administrators, executives, librarians, library staff, and other stakeholders to “see” data analysis in a different visual way. academic librarians and it specialists who have knowledge and skills in microsoft excel, particularly with filters and pivot tables, charts, and dashboards, as well as relational database management system (rdbms) and sql (structure query language) can complete these tasks successfully. to complete quantitative content analysis and qualitative content analysis, furthermore, three data analytics tools – excel, spss (statistical package for the social science), and sas (statistical analysis system) – are widely used in academic library assessments. many studies have been done to compare strengths and weaknesses among these conventional statistical software products. as business intelligence specialist at bell canada, for instance, angela ju shared her insights while comparing excel, spss, and sas from the aspects of user friendliness, charts and graphics, analysis capability, and popularity. based on her study, angela ju recommends that excel spreadsheet is easy to learn and friendly to use. it has a clear advantage in basic descriptive analysis. spss is all you need if you wanted to minimize your data management efforts without formulating complex software programs. sas is a likely choice for a person who manages complex data analytics on a continuous basis. choosing analytics tool is a tradeoff between benefits and costs: if you only opened a statistic program three times a week, it is not worthy to spend hundreds of hours to learn sas language; but for people who use sas several hours a day, the steep learning curve and complex command structure are only a small price to pay for its extraordinary power. (ju, 2015, para. 15) results and discussion “all roads lead to roma” is the way to interpret the hidden values from the collected libqual raw data. based on the methods we discussed previously, it is not difficult to assemble statistical data to present in 2-d or 3-d graphical ways. as you can see, the following is the libqual survey raw data downloaded for the georgia southern university library. to help other librarians and library staff understand the related excel column values, some reference notes are inserted on the top of the excel file. after a process of data validation, rows with null values have been deleted. the row numbers in this excel file range from row number 1 to row number 2290. how many georgia southern faculty and students participated in the libqual 2016 survey held by the university library? to answer this question, we may use the count function in excel to get the number of entries in a number field that is in a range or array of numbers. so, we can type li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 59 =count(c29:c2290) to calculate the number of users who participated in the 2016 libqual survey at georgia southern university. the result is: 2,262 (note: the count function must count from row 29 under the column c, since row 1-28 under the column c has no userid). in addition, three columns in the above-mentioned raw data file have important meanings. discloca (column h) refers to different colleges in georgia southern university. ugroupid (column i) means user categories for georgia southern faculty and students. roleid (column j) are user ranks. using the same count function in excel, we can calculate the number of faculty and the number of students separately. at the same time, we need to add data filters for discloca (column h), ugroupid (column i), and roleid (column j) separately, if we intend to view how many faculty members or undergraduates or graduates from which departments participated in this libqual survey. the count function will also be used to count the filtered data values. figure 2. the gsul’s libqual+ 2016 survey raw data. data reprinted from the association of research libraries’ libqual 2016 survey raw data: georgia southern university (2016). because of the limit of the length of this paper, it is not possible to present each graph for the gsul’s 2016 libqual survey. except for the 2016 libqual survey raw data report, many of the gsul librarians and staff are more interested in the 2016 libqual user response li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 60 raw data. compared to those abstract statistical data, user comments from the real world will help librarians and library staff see many differences between the library service quality and the user satisfaction. of course, some users may not understand that an academic library can only provide the best customer services at an affordable operating budget. desired customer services will not exist all the time. for librarians and library staff who are engaged in academic library assessment, they need to dig out the hidden values from the collected raw data. after a process of data validation, rows without any proper comments have been deleted. there are only 409 rows in this file. how do we identify user responses from this excel file? the countif function in excel will help us count text in excel. for example, we can type =countif(e2:e409, "business") to count how many responses we received from the business school. the number is 66. to illustrate the method how to interpret the related user comments, the gsul’s 2016 libqual user response raw data is listed here for your review: figure 3. the gsul’s libqual+ 2016 survey user response raw data. data reprinted from the association of research libraries’ libqual 2016 survey comments: georgia southern university (2016). however, it is a little tricky to interpret user comments under the section of “textresponse” from the downloaded libqual user response raw data file. the countif function in excel cannot count a specific text in a range of paragraphs (multiple strings in multiple cells). to solve this puzzle, one solution is to insert a new column (column i) to the right side of the section of “textresponse” (column h in this case). then, using different keywords, such as “complaint”, “ill”, “library”, “parking spaces”, “praise”, “study rooms”, “web page”, etc., to categorize different user responses. next, using the countif function in excel to count the data. by the way, the countif function in excel is case sensitive. to convert abstract statistical data, the final process is to present the collected data in a graphic ways: li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 61 figure 4. categorized user responses in the gsul’s libqual+ 2016 survey. data from the association of research libraries’ libqual+ 2016 survey comments: georgia southern university (2016). generally speaking, the library performance quality is still recognized. the library services offered by librarians and library staff are acceptable to faculty and students at georgia southern university. their praises have formed a strong contrast to a few complaints regarding various library scenarios. of course, there are some major issues waiting to be solved to further improve the library service quality. first of all, study rooms are the top concerns from georgia southern students. the library has to review this issue from mechanisms of making reservations, including policies and regulations regarding the scheduling conflicts, staff miscommunication, public service trainings, etc. under an overbooked scenario, vacant library classrooms can be used as a backup for students who need presentation rooms or study rooms to prepare their group discussions or group projects. as a trial, the library has placed two brody private study stations to enhance students’ library experience. also, the library administration has been collaborating with department of custodial services regarding the size of garbage cans and the noisy sound generated from carpet vacuum cleaners. as core functions to an academic library, at the same time, library collections and instructions have to be reviewed to match dynamic user needs. as for the size of the parking space, it will take time for the university library to negotiate a solution with multiple university departments, since it depends on additional funding support and the university’s strategic planning. additionally, the libqual survey raw data indicates that 2,262 users participated the 2016 libqual survey organized by the georgia southern university library. however, the libqual user response raw data suggests that 408 georgia southern faculty and students, which are only 18% of the 2016 libqual survey participants, made their comments about the library information resources and services. georgia southern university has over 1,500 faculty and staff as well as 20,000 students. it is still a great challenge for the university library to li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 62 encourage more faculty and students to share their experience and opinions in the future libqual surveys. table 1. the gsul’s libqual+2016 survey user response raw data report faculty graduates undergraduates rank number rank number rank number professor 8 doctoral 23 5th year & above 21 associate professor 10 master 56 4th year 80 assistant professor 16 3rd year 68 lecturer 5 2nd year 60 adjunct faculty 2 1st year 53 other faculty 3 subtotal: 44 subtotal: 79 subtotal: 285 total: 408 note: reprinted from li, l. (2016). the gsul’s libqual 2016 survey user response raw data report (rep.). statesboro, ga: georgia southern university library. conclusion the essential summary of academic library assessment is to support the library administration’s strategic decisions. through a visual process of transferring abstract data to graphic patterns, it is assessment librarians’ primary duties to uncover the hidden truth in statistical data. in addition to excel, spss, and sas, other data visualization software like gephi (https://gephi.org/) and tableau (https://www.tableau.com/) are also useful to promote business intelligence and data visualization for academic library assessments. all in all, an academic library assessment is only a means to boost institutional effectiveness in ever-changing academic learning environment. li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 63 references association of research libraries. (n.d.). what is libqual+®? retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/about/about_lq/general_info association of research libraries. (2016). libqual+ 2016 survey comments: georgia southern university. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/repository/mczscpa association of research libraries. (2016). libqual+ 2016 survey: georgia southern university. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/documents/libqual/notebooks/13098.pdf association of research libraries. (2016). libqual+ 2016 survey raw data: georgia southern university. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/repository/mrdzscpa association of research libraries. (2016). libqual+ 2016 survey report: georgia southern university. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/documents/libqual/notebooks/13098.pdf boyce, c. (2017). measuring perceptual (in) congruence between information service providers and users. college & research libraries, 78(3), 359-381. doi:10.5860/crl.78.3.359 chen, h. m. 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(2017). academic librarians engage with assessment methods and tools. portal: libraries and the academy, 17(2), 403-417. doi:10.1353/pla.2017.0025 tatarka, a., chapa, k., li, x., & rutner, j. (2010). library assessment plans: four case studies. performance measurement and metrics, 11(2), 199-210. doi:10.1108/14678041011064106 thompson, b. (n.d.). birth of libqual+. in libqual+. retrieved from https://www.libqual.org/about/about_lq/birth_lq thompson, b., cook, c., & heath, f. (2000). the libqual gap measurement model: the bad, the ugly, and the good of gap measurement. performance measurement and metrics, 1(3), 165-178. doi:10.1108/eum0000000007216 thompson, b., cook, c., & heath, f. (2001). how many dimensions does it take to measure users' perceptions of libraries?: a libqual study. portal: libraries and the academy, 1(2), 129-138. doi:10.1353/pla.2001.0030 li / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 65 thompson, b., cook, c., & kyrillidou, m. (2005). concurrent validity of libqual ™ scores: what do libqual ™ scores measure? the journal of academic librarianship, 31(6), 517-522. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2005.08.002 thompson, b., cook, c., & thompson, r. l. (2002). reliability and structure of libqual scores: measuring perceived library service quality. portal: libraries and the academy, 2(1), 3-12. doi:10.1353/pla.2002.0022 voorbij, h. (2012). the use of libqual by european research libraries. performance measurement and metrics, 13(3), 154-168. doi:10.1108/14678041211284704 about the author lili li is associate professor/e-information service librarian of the georgia southern university library. since 2005, he has been presenting at different international, national, and state conferences. his researches focus on numerous emerging technology, information literacy, library assessment and evaluation, integrated library system, library digitization, usability test, web 2.0, web design, etc. in the fields of library and information sciences. 06.26-81-1-sm-modified_lili_title_1 06.26-81-1-sm-modified_lili_1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org cataloguing and classification as predictors of library use among the users of libraries of public universities in kwara state florence o. ajani, abdulakeem s. sulyman, omolara b. amzat, and bukola o. james abstract: this study investigates cataloguing and classification as a predictor of library use among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. descriptive survey method is used for the population of users of libraries of kwara state university, malete and university of ilorin. convenience sampling is used to select 427 users who filled the online questionnaire titled questionnaire for cataloguing and classification as a predictor of library use among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. findings revealed that 69.1% of users consult the library catalogues before using information resources, while subject, class number, series and author(s) of information resources are the major access points used in searching and locating information resources to be used in the library. this study concludes that consulting library catalogues before using information resources minimizes the stress users will go through when searching for information resources in the library and increases users’ library usage. it recommends amongst other things that cataloguers and classifiers of libraries of public universities in kwara state should ensure that catalogue cards are properly filed and subjects of information resources of their libraries are adequately covered in order to enhance easy location and use of information resources. to cite this article: ajani, f. o., sulyman, a. s, amzat, o. b. & james, b. o. (2023). cataloguing and classification as predictors of library use among the users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 96-107. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.1.277 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(1), 96-107 issn:2474-3542 cataloguing and classification as predictors of library use among the users of libraries of public universities in kwara state florence o. ajani, abdulakeem s. sulyman, omolara b. amzat, and bukola o. james kwara state university, malete, nigeria abstract this study investigates cataloguing and classification as a predictor of library use among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. descriptive survey method is used for the population of users of libraries of kwara state university, malete and university of ilorin. convenience sampling is used to select 427 users who filled the online questionnaire titled questionnaire for cataloguing and classification as a predictor of library use among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. findings revealed that 69.1% of users consult the library catalogues before using information resources, while subject, class number, series and author(s) of information resources are the major access points used in searching and locating information resources to be used in the library. this study concludes that consulting library catalogues before using information resources minimizes the stress users will go through when searching for information resources in the library and increases users’ library usage. it recommends amongst other things that cataloguers and classifiers of libraries of public universities in kwara state should ensure that catalogue cards are properly filed and subjects of information resources of their libraries are adequately covered in order to enhance easy location and use of information resources. keywords: cataloguing, classification, information resources, library users, libraries, kwara state university, university of ilorin introduction public universities are referred to as public because their affairs are being administered by either the federal or state government. this means that the establishment, control and administration of universities by either the federal or state tier of government qualifies such university as public owned. public universities, like their private owned counterparts, cannot operate effectively without a functioning library with up-to-date collection and quality information services to support the mandates of the university (ajani & ismaila, 2021). public universities' libraries are libraries found in the universities established, owned, managed and financed by the government through the public funds. the libraries of these universities bridge the gap between students, researchers and scholars in the university system and the information resources they need to expand scholarships, serve as the nerve center and ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 97 intellectual hub that provide information resources needed to support the university system to achieve the motives for which the university is established. central to the services of all libraries are cataloguing and classification (jimoh and igwe, 2011) and libraries of public universities are inclusive. this is because through cataloguing and classification, information resources housed in the library will be processed, described based on their bibliographic details and organised into different subjects or disciplines, based on the common characteristics of the library information resources. the output of cataloguing and classification is to have a catalogue and assigned call number, which will aid in finding and location of information materials on the shelves. jimoh and nwalo (2016) succinctly viewed cataloguing as the process of describing books and other information materials, showing the bibliographic details such as author, editor, publisher, series, tracing and other access points. it entails the process through which a library catalogue is created in order to achieve easy retrieval of information. cataloguing consists of two major aspects: descriptive and subject cataloguing. descriptive cataloguing highlights the important bibliographic elements of the book, while subject cataloguing which is also known as classification identifies the subject treated by the book. having identified the subject of the book, it is, thereafter, classified according to the schedules of an acceptable classification scheme. classification groups related subject together and assigns appropriate notation from a classification scheme for easy identification of an item as a member of the group. aina (2012) submitted that cataloguing and classification are a complex process used in providing access tools to materials in a collection so that users of such collections can access the materials in that collection. cataloguing and classification are essential to library services by serving as a search tool necessary for every collection to be arranged in logical and systematic order. the vital impact of cataloguing and classification to provision of quick access to information resources makes this study focuses on users of two academic libraries in kwara state, nigeria: university of ilorin and kwara state university, malete. the reason for the choice of the two libraries is because they housed more than two-hundred-thousand information resources in both print and electronic formats. the institutions their libraries were understudied have closed to fifty-thousand students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. however, only the undergraduate were sampled in this study. statement of the problem cataloguing and classification are integral components of knowledge organisation in libraries and information centers. they are double-edged sword that facilitates quick, easy and timely access to information resources in libraries. through the cataloguing and classification, images of libraries have been redeemed and it has helped in increasing the level of patronage of libraries because it boosts users' confidence in the prompt identification, location and retrieval of information resources on the library shelves. as vital as cataloguing and classification are to maximising the usage of library information resources, it has been established by jimoh and nwalo (2016); david-west and angrey (2018) that most libraries have not attached importance to cataloguing and classification. this makes it difficult for library users to identify, find, locate, retrieve and eventually use library collections ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 98 optimally. hence, this paper is designed to unravel the status of cataloguing and classification as a predictor of library use among the users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. objectives of the study this study will be conducted with both general and specific objectives. the general objective is to ascertain if cataloguing and classification serve as a predictor of library use among the users of libraries of public universities in kwara state. the specific objectives are to: 1. determine if users consult the library catalogues before using the information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state, 2. find out the ways cataloguing and classification promote usage of information resources among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state, 3. evaluate the benefits of cataloguing and classification to users when using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state, and; 4. find out the challenges of cataloguing and classification limiting users from using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state. research questions this study will aim at answering the following question: 1. do users consult the library catalogues before using the information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? 2. what are the ways cataloguing and classification promote usage of information resources among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state? 3. what are the benefits of cataloguing and classification to users when using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? 4. what are the challenges of cataloguing and classification limiting users from using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? review of related literature many studies have validated the assertion that cataloguing and classification are highly useful to both the librarians and users. from the point of librarians, it helps in stock management, location and retrieval of information materials, while also helps in saving the time of the users thereby encourage the users to continuously patronise the library for their information needs. tyopev, igbudu and ver (2020) conducted a study on “undergraduates’ awareness, use and satisfaction with online public access catalogue (opac) of benue state university library, makurdi, nigeria.” they reported that a majority of the respondents indicated that they are not aware of the opac and concluded that there is poor awareness of the opac services among undergraduates of benue state university library. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 99 cabonero and donendo (2013), in their paper titled “cataloging and classification skills of library and information science practitioners in their workplaces: a case analysis.” the respondents interviewed in their study believed that cataloguing and classification have important contributions to the successful processing of materials for use by library clienteles, no matter what type of library it maybe. they further submitted that without cataloguing and classification which are integral parts of knowledge organisation, information resources in the library will be difficult to identify and locate, let alone used. david-west and angrey (2018), in their paper titled “cataloguing and classification skills and information dissemination in libraries.” they affirmed that cataloguing and classification are useful for the dissemination of information in libraries by noting that access to information by users helps developing countries to eradicate illiteracy. accepting that cataloguing and classification aid information dissemination, they further recommend that library and information resources should be organized in a way that it can be accessed and retrieved in a timely manner. information dissemination requires systematic collection, organization and storage of information relevant to the needs of the user community. muhammad, baffa and garba (2018) conducted a research on “cataloguing and classification of library materials in libraries of kano state, northwestern nigeria: challenges and prospects.” they reported that the major challenges of cataloguing and classification in today's libraries are low patronage of the library among the users due to increase availability and use of information communication technology (ict), inadequate bibliographical data by the local printers or publishers, inconsistency in the subject headings and assignment of notation, shortage of staff and attitudes of staff towards shelving and shelf reading. david-west and wali (2020) conducted a research on “student’s attitude towards cataloguing and classification in university of port harcourt: a case study of student’s industrial work experience scheme (siwes),” their findings concluded that cataloguing and classification is the gateway to information resources, access and utilization. the conclusion of david-west and wali can be inferred to mean that cataloguing and classification provide the keys to the library information resources through different access points like author, title, subject, classification number, call number, isbn/issn and other bibliographic information about information resources library catalogues recorded. the emergence of electronic cataloguing has further improved the effect of cataloguing and classification on the use of library information resources. this was stressed in orbih and aina (2014) when they studied “the issues, benefits and challenges of original cataloguing versus copy cataloguing: the experience at the lagos state university.” they reported that cataloguing-inpublication (cip), online cataloguing using databases of other libraries and resource sharing of catalogue details among libraries have been valuable in the dissemination and use of information resources among the library users. methodology this study is conducted by using the descriptive survey method. this method, according to different scholars, is suitable to a research situation where the population is heterogeneous and the researcher has to pick a portion of the population (kolawole and ijiebor, 2018) that will provide data to represent the research results. the population of the study is users of public universities' ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 100 libraries in kwara state. random sampling is used to collect data from the respondents with the use of an online questionnaire. the questionnaire was made available online for two weeks in order to create room for more users to fill the questionnaire. the data collected is presented and analysed using simple percentage and frequency table. analysis of findings, discussion and interpretations table 1 demographic information of respondents attributes options f per % institution of respondents kwara state university 293 69% university of ilorin 134 31% total 427 100% gender male 137 32% female 290 68% total 427 100% level of respondents 100 level 77 18% 200 level 106 25% 300 level 123 29% 400 level 121 28% total 427 100% age range 15 – 19 years 187 44% 20 – 24 years 117 27% 25 – 29 years 94 22% 30 – 34 years 21 5% 35 and above years 8 2% total 427 100% table 1 above reveals that majority of the respondents (69%) are from kwara state university, while only 31% are from university of ilorin. it also shows that 68% of respondents are female, with males having 32%. 29% are in 300 level, 28% in 400 level, 25% in 200 level and only 18% are in 100 level. 44% are within the age range of 15 – 19 years, 20 – 24 years have 27%, while 25 – 29 years have 22%. research question one: do users consult the library catalogues before using the information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? table 2 users consultation of library catalogues attributes f per % yes 295 69.1% no 132 30.9% total 427 100% ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 101 table 2 indicates that 69.1% of respondents consult the library catalogues before consulting the information materials in their libraries, while 30.9% don’t consult library catalogues before using the information resources in their libraries. as expected, users of academic libraries should enlighten individuals, this therefore means that they should follow standardised procedures in their dealings with the library resources. the major reason users consult library catalogues is to save their time, due to the access points they provide. obiozor-ekeze (2016) posited that cataloguing is concerned with providing the correct and accurate physical description of a document (print and non-print), showing the user the location of the book, its physical description, and its subject content using acceptable rules – anglo american cataloguing rules ii (aacr ii), international standard bibliographic description (isbd), resources description and access (rda). cataloguing and classification are keys and very vital in the description, arrangement and location of information resources in libraries, which their unavailability makes it difficult for library users to access the information resources housed in libraries. akidi and omekwu (2019) noted that cataloguing and classification are a gateway to information resources access and utilization; means of organizing library resources to ensure that access and retrieval of such information resources are made easy. librarians have observed that users consult library catalogues before using information materials provided in academic libraries. they further stressed the importance of consulting library catalogues by stating that cataloguing and classification are a gateway to information resource access and utilization, as well as a method of organizing library resources to ensure easy access and retrieval of such information resources. research question two: what are the ways cataloguing and classification promote usage of information resources among users of libraries of public universities in kwara state? table 3 ways cataloguing and classification promote usage of information resources s/n attributes yes no f % f % mean std. dev. 1. title of the information resources 290 67.9% 137 32.1% 1.32 .467 2. author(s) of the information resources 328 76.8% 99 23.2% 1.23 .423 3. subject of the information resources 335 78.5% 92 21.5% 1.22 .412 4. isbn/issn of the information resources 296 69.3% 131 30.7% 1.31 .462 5. series of the information resources 327 76.6% 100 23.4% 1.23 .424 6. class number of the information resources 333 78.0% 94 22.0% 1.22 .415 ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 102 table 3 reveals that 78.5% of the respondents believed that cataloguing and classification promote their usage of information resources in their libraries through subject of the information resources, followed by 78.0% who also believed that class number of the information resources in library catalogues promote their usage of information resources in their libraries, while 76.8% believed that author(s) of the information resources promote their usage of libraries’ information resources. ordinarily, subject is the easiest access point for library users, it is only those who are versed in research, reading or have books recommended to them that would be searching for information resources through other access points. for instance, students, scholars and researcher of biology, chemistry or mass communication would ask for information on their subject interest and rarely by author(s). the respondents affirm their position with 78.0% choosing class number as another major means of using information resources in their libraries. the significance of cataloguing and classification in promoting library usage among users is affirmed by obiozor-ekeze's (2016) where she submitted that the main reason for classifying information materials in libraries is to create access such as subjects, class numbers, authors, titles and series, for information materials because the more accessible information sources are, the more likely they are to be used. cataloguing and classification facilitates access to the library information resources through titles, while the authors of the information resources are also considered as means of access, not just its subjects. this agrees with orbih and aina (2014) that it is used for the description of the essential parts of a publication. furthermore, isbn/issn and class number of the information resources provide access to information resources; while card catalogue and/or online catalogue also provide means of access to the library information resources. the findings where 76.6% of respondents posited that series of the information resources promote their library usage can be contested. however, it can be argued that the respondents are conscious of their choices, because as it was shown in the table for demographic characteristics of respondents that significant percentage of the respondents are in 300 and 400 levels. this means that since most of the respondents have reached the level that requires serious research to prepare their assignments, projects and seminar papers, using journals, newspapers, reports, conference proceedings, magazines and serial publications becomes inevitable for them. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 103 research question three: what are the benefits of cataloguing and classification to users when using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? table 4 benefits of cataloguing and classification to users table 4 above reveals that 49.4% of users of kwara state university and university of ilorin libraries agreed that cataloguing and classification make searching for information more easier with (2.70 ± 1.32) ranked highest; followed by cataloguing and classification guiding users to the relevant information resources in the library (2.56 ± 1.31). cataloguing and classification saving time in finding information resources ranked third with (2.57 ± 1.10). however, exposing users to other relevant information resources closed to their search ranked lowest (2.50 ± 1.20). findings of this table indicate that cataloguing and classification have enormous value on efficient description of information resources with the aim of enhancing easy location, identification and retrieval of information resources in libraries. the realisation of importance of cataloguing and classification makes nwalo (2003) posited that cataloguing and classification are essential means of accessing library information materials, which in the end facilitate their usage. orbih and aina (2014) and obiozor-ekeze (2016) further stressed the importance of cataloguing and classification by submitting that cataloguing and classification aid the usage of information resources by making the search for information in the library easier; guiding users to the relevant s/ n attributes sa a u d sd f % f % f % f % f % mean std. dev. 1. making searching for information more easier 58 13.6% 211 49.4% 36 8.4% 47 11.0% 75 17.6% 2.70 1.32 2. guiding users to the relevant information resources in the library 92 21.5% 170 39.8% 55 12.9% 52 12.2% 58 13.6% 2.56 1.31 3. helping in finding and retrieving useful information for research 54 12.6% 229 53.6% 27 6.3% 91 21.3% 26 6.1% 2.55 1.13 4. saving time in finding information resources 60 14.1% 181 42.4% 95 22.2% 64 15.0% 27 6.3% 2.57 1.10 5. exposing users to other relevant information resources close to their search 61 14.3% 233 54.6% 50 11.7% 26 6.1% 57 13.3% 2.50 1.20 ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 104 information materials in the library; helping in finding and retrieving information materials in the library; and saving time in finding information materials. research question four: what are the challenges of cataloguing and classification limiting users from using information resources of libraries of public universities in kwara state? table 5 challenges of cataloguing and classification limiting users from using information resources s/ n attributes yes no f % f % mean std. dev. 1. inadequate knowledge of how library information resources are arranged 327 76.6% 100 23.4% 1.23 0.42 2. lack of awareness of cataloguing and classification in the library 349 81.7% 78 18.3% 1.18 0.39 3. poor awareness of electronic cataloguing system 326 76.3% 101 23.7% 1.24 0.42 4. inadequate coverage of subjects treated by the information resources in the library 326 76.3% 101 23.7% 1.24 0.42 6. improper filing/arrangement of catalogue cards 328 76.8% 99 23.2% 1.23 0.42 6. inadequate availability of catalogue cards' cabinets 310 72.6% 117 27.4% 1.27 0.44 7. improper shelving of information materials 320 74.9% 107 25.1% 1.25 0.43 table 5 above shows that majority (81.7%) of users of kwara state university and university of ilorin libraries believed that lack of awareness of cataloguing and classification in the library is challenge to them in using the information resources in libraries in their institutions, 76.8% believed that improper filing/arrangement of catalogue cards is also a challenge, while 76.3% believed that inadequate coverage of subjects treated by the information resources in the library and absence of electronic cataloguing system are challenges to using information resources in libraries in their institutions. however, 27.4% opined that inadequate availability of catalogue cards' cabinets is not a challenge, while 25.1% also opined that improper shelving of information materials is not a challenge to them when using information resources in libraries in their institutions. based on the results of the table, it can be deduced that there are a lot of challenges affecting users from using information resources in libraries of kwara state university and university of ilorin. the results are consistent with the findings of orbin and aina (2014) ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 105 where they found that librarians perceived that inadequate coverage of subjects treated by the information resources in the library; lack of awareness of cataloguing and classification in the library; and unavailability of electronic cataloguing system in the library is a challenge to using information resources in the library. posigha, ojohwoh and oberhiri-oruma (2019) also discovered that inadequate knowledge of how library information resources are arranged, unavailability of electronic cataloguing system, inadequate coverage of subjects treated by the information resources in the library and improper shelving of information materials are challenges to using information resources in academic libraries. adebayo (2013) has a different view by finding out that insufficient number of professional cataloguers among others, lack of ict skills are the challenges associated with cataloguing of information resources in selected university libraries in southwest nigeria. finding out that absence of electronic cataloguing system challenges the use of information resources in the libraries understudied contradicts the findings of ajani and ismaila (2021), where 97.3% of users of kwara state university agreed that opac of their institution’s library is more visible than the card catalogues. and also, based on observations of these researchers, there is adequate and up-to-date electronic cataloguing system in the libraries understudied. conclusion and recommendations cataloguing and classification are integral parts of library services. the end products of cataloguing and classification such as catalogue cards, opacs or webpacs aid in easy location and retrieval of information resources housed by libraries. it is therefore logical to conclude that consulting library catalogues before minimises the stress users have to go through when searching for information resources. classification number, subject, author and series are the major access points used in searching and locating information resources in public universities in kwara state. cataloguing and classification have significant benefits on information services provided to users of public universities in kwara state by saving users’ time, make searching for information more easier and guiding users to relevant information resources in the library. among the challenges limiting users from exploiting the benefits of cataloguing and classification are lack of awareness of cataloguing and classification, improper filing/arrangement of catalogue cards and inadequate coverage of subjects treated by the information resources. based on the findings, this study hereby recommends the following: 1. users of libraries in public universities in kwara state should be encouraged to always consult the library catalogues so as to reduce their time when searching for information resources in libraries in their institutions. 2. orientation of users of public universities in kwara state should focus on teaching users how to exploit every access point available for every information resources in libraries in their institutions. 3. users of libraries in public universities in kwara state should be exposed to the benefits of cataloguing and classification can serve them for easy searching and identifying for information resources in their institutions. 4. cataloguers and classifiers of libraries in public universities in kwara state should ensure that subjects of information resources of their libraries are adequately covered, and catalogue cards are properly filed. ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 106 references adebayo, o. (2013). challenges associated with cataloguing electronic resources in selected university libraries in southwest nigeria. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 35. 1–10 [online]. retrieved from: http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl36adebayo.pdf. aina, l.o. (2012). mentoring in cataloguing: bridging the gap between the young and the adult. journal on annual seminar/workshop theme: repositioning the cataloguer for information management in a network environment 21st to 26th october, benin city, edo state. in the nigerian library association cataloguing, classification indexing section. 32:88–93. ajani, f.o. & ismaila, y.a. (2021). perception of the use of card catalogue and online public access catalogue (opac) among undergraduates of kwara state university, malete, nigeria. library and information perspectives and research, 3(2), 42–55. doi: 10.47524/lipr.v3i2.43. akidi, o. j. & omekwu, c.o. (2019). assessment of cataloguing and classification practices of the national library of nigeria in the digital age: a bibliographic control perspective. international journal of library and information science. retrieved from doi:10.34218/ijilis.8.1.2019.003. cabonero, d.a. & dolendo, r.b. (2013). cataloging and classification skills of library and information science practitioners in their workplaces: a case analysis. library philosophy and practice (e-journal). 960. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/960 david-west, b.t. & angrey, c.u. (2018). cataloguing and classification skills and information dissemination in libraries. journal of educational research and review, vol. 6(7), pp. 94-97. david-west, b.t. & wali, n. (2020). student’s attitude towards cataloguing and classification in university of port harcourt: a case study of student’s industrial work experience scheme (siwes). research journal of library and information science, 4(2), pp. 22-28. jimoh, r. & igwe, k.n. 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(2016). cataloguing and classification of library materials in 21st century: challenges facing festus aghagbo nwako library awka. library research journal, 47– 51. http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl36adebayo.pdf https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/960 ajani et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(1) 107 orbih, d. e. & aina, a. j. (2014). issues, benefits and challenges of original cataloguing versus copy cataloguing: the experience at the lagos state university. international journal of library and information science, 6 (5), 88–97. doi: 10.5897/ijlis2013.0416. orbin, d. & aina a. j. (2014). issues, benefits, and challenges of original cataloguing versus copy cataloguing: the experience at the lagos state university. retrieved from doi:10:5897/ijlis.vwww.academicjournals.org posigha, b. e., ojohwoh, r. & oberhiri-oruma, g. (2019). the challenges and prospects of cataloguing and classification in academic libraries in bayelsa state, nigeria. asian journal of information science and technology (ajist), 9 (3), 14–18. tyopev, c.m., igbudu, m.t. & ver, a. (2020). undergraduates’ awareness, use and satisfaction with online public access catalogue (opac) of benue state university library, makurdi, nigeria. journal of library services and technologies, 2(1), 58–68 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors florence o. ajani, ph.d. is the deputy university librarian of kwara state university, malete, nigeria. she is a registered librarian with a profound and avid interest in knowledge organisation, globalisation in libraries, reference services and academic librarianship. she is a member of nigerian library association (nla) and nigerian school library association (nsla). she holds a b.sc. degree in computer science from university of ilorin (1997), master of library, archival and information studies (2005) and ph.d. degree in school media from the university of ibadan (2018). for more than a decade, dr. ajani has been expanding the frontiers of librarianship through teaching and research which have culminated in different publications in conference proceedings, seminar papers and journal articles at both local and international fronts. abdulakeem sodeeq sulyman is a budding library and information science scholar and public intellectual with deep interest in advancing the coast of scholarship and intellectual emancipation. he currently studies library and information science at the institute of professional and continuous education, kwara state university, malete, nigeria. he is a prolific writer with three books to his credit, serves as ad-hoc reviewer of reputable journals and has published more than ten journal articles on librarianship. omolara basirat amzat is a graduate of library and information science from the institute of professional and continuous education, kwara state university, malete, nigeria. she is a cerebral scholar with a strong passion for application of ict to library services, teaching, learning and advancing the frontiers of knowledge. these qualities have distinguished and earned her lecturing job at babalola academy, college of health technology, ilorin, kwara state, nigeria and she has many journal articles to her credit. bukola olutola james is a graduate of library and information science from the institute of professional and continuous education, kwara state university, malete, nigeria. she is a wikibrarian who has oversaw and executed many wikimedia, its affiliates–and other international projects–aimed at shaping and rebranding the image of librarianship in nigeria. aside that, her quest for scholarship and distinction has propelled her to actively participate various associations and groups concerned with standardizing library and information practices in nigeria. 277-title-page 277-sulyman-layout microsoft word news-2.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 116-117 issn:2474-3542 2018 chinese library annual conference and cala’s involvement 2018 chinese library annual conference: library society of china annual conference & chinese library exhibition was held in langfang, hebei province, china from may 30th to june 2nd, 2018. the conference was organized by the library society of china and the langfang government of hebei province under the auspices of the ministry of culture and tourism of the people's republic of china. almost 4,000 people attended the conference, with 26 delegates from 13 countries and regions. gloria perez-salmeron, president and gerald leitner, secretary general of the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) and delegates from ala and cala were among the attendees. the conference program consists of four themed forums and six sessions with 24 topics. the four themed forums are: new era, new start, and new development: interpretation and implementation of the public library law; improving the quality of library collection; new era, new action: create a new climate for children’s reading; and assessment and rating of public libraries. the six sessions are: library education and national information literacy; modern library management and librarianship development; utilization and innovations of library technology; innovations and practice of library service; library and national reading; and library work and society development. the 24 topics cover a wide variety of library issues ranging from information literacy, moocs, ethnic minority libraries, artificial intelligence, data mashup & knowledge discovery, demand-driven service, digital humanities to resource sharing, ancient books preservation, and library and bookstore cooperation. the chinese american librarians association (cala) presented a session titled “innovative library services and teaching with emerging technologies” at the conference. the session was organized by michael bailou huang, director of global library initiatives at stony brook university. the presentation titles and speakers are listed as follows: “time-to-acceptance modeling for ssci journals of library and information science” by le yang, cala president 2017-2018, head of digital library & collection development, wenzhoukean university, and jingjing wu, web librarian, texas tech university. “leadership and partnership: cala and chinese libraries contributing to the ifla global vision planning” by lian ruan, cala executive director 2016-2019, head librarian, director of ifsi international programs, illinois fire service institute, university of illinois at urbanachampaign. “robots for books: building an automated retrieval center for print collections” by ying zhang, head, acquisitions & collection services, university of central florida libraries, cala president 2018-2019. “transforming stony brook university libraries into collaborative spaces” by michael bailou huang, director of global library initiatives; full librarian, health sciences library, stony huang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 117 brook university. “next generation shared ils and shared lsp: trend in american libraries” by ping fu, professor and head of library technology services, central washington university. “universities information literacy education in wechat environment” by jinchi guo, associate research librarian, reference department, east china normal university library, shanghai, china, and jie huang, associate librarian/special projects cataloging librarian, cataloging and metadata services, penn state university libraries. “transforming and sustaining family literacy through story times and outreaches” by shuqin jiao, library regional supervisor, arthur f. turner community library, yolo county library, california. “discovery of students’ learning skills through library statistic to transform or innovate services” by yiping wang, media & instruction librarian, laney library, peralta community college. “scholarsphere and sycamore scholars comparison of two university institutional repositories” by xiaocan wang, emerging technologies librarian, missouri southern state university, and jie huang, associate librarian/special projects cataloging librarian, cataloging and metadata services, penn state university libraries. “elearning: online professional development for librarians” by jingjing wu, web librarian, texas tech university libraries, and shuzhen zhao, bibliographic services librarian; head, acquisitions/bibliographic services, leddy library, university of windsor, canada. “understanding the lack of student engagement in chinese library science undergraduate education” by lihong zhou, professor, assistant to the dean, school of information management, wuhan university, wuhan, china. “transform, think out of the box, connect, collaborate the east asia, south east asia and pacific libraries with us libraries” by katherina lee, chair, ala international relations committee-east asia and pacific subcommittee. the pre-conference of the 2018 chinese library annual conference entitled “reading, the city and culture: international forum for library and bookstore cooperation” was held at sichuan provincial library in chengdu, china from may 28th to 30th, 2018. about 300 people attended the conference. at the meeting, the silk road association of national libraries was founded with the endorsement of the chengdu initiative by the delegates from about 30 countries. --michael bailou huang, stony brook university, stony brook, ny, usa microsoft word book-3.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 107-109 issn:2474-3542 library linked data in the cloud: oclc's experiments with new models of resource description. series: synthesis lectures on the semantic web: theory and technology (book 9) by carol jean godby, shenghui wang, jeffrey k. mixter, morgan & claypool publishers ©2015, 240p. isbn: 1627052194, 9781627052191 this book is the ninth book of the series synthesis lectures on the semantic web: theory and technology, published by morgan & claypool. it addresses the challenge all libraries as a whole have been facing: exposing library materials to multiple search engines and having the presence of library metadata on the web. this book describes oclc’s experiments in linked data technology. oclc’s efforts are enormous and time-consuming, involving various processes such as concept designing, data modeling, metadata mapping, computer programming, and format conversion. although the series of the synthesis lectures cover more topics surrounding semantic web and library linked data, this book provides a relatively comprehensive overview of how to publish traditional library metadata to the cloud. it also gives conceptual and technical details with concrete examples to explain these experiments. as transforming libraries’ data into linked data goes beyond the library field, some chapters, terms, and explanation may present a challenge to readers. without the basic understanding on concepts and topics such as schema markup, frbr (functional requirements for bibliographic records), and library authority files, some readers may have a certain degree of difficulty weaving different pieces of information together to achieve a full understanding of these experiments. the long list of the resources contained in the bibliography section is very useful for those new to library linked data to grasp basic knowledge and for those who have a strong interest in this topic to pursue further understanding. majority of the bibliographies come with a url, which is convenient for access. this book is organized into five chapters. the first chapter begins with an introduction of the difference between the web of documents and the semantic web, which illustrates the fundamental reason for the worldwide linked data movement. several sections provide a broad view of the milestones related to library linked data from 1995 to 2014. they briefly cover these core library linked data achievements (e.g., frbr, rda-resource description and access, and worldcat linked data) that were made through the collaboration among library of congress, oclc, and other library communities. meanwhile, this chapter concisely discusses the procedure of oclc’s experiments on converting raw bibliographic records in worldcat to rdf markups. this procedure involves mapping marc records to the schema.org standard, creating corresponding rdf turtles, applying fast (faceted application of subject terminology) and viaf (virtual international authority file) ids, as well as assigning cool uris (uniform resource identifier). the figures and tables in this chapter are particularly helpful for readers to understand activities involved in oclc’s linked data experiments. this chapter does a good job of providing necessary wang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 108 background information and basic knowledge that can help readers delve into the following chapters. chapter two describes modeling library authority files (e.g., library congress subject headings, fast, dewey decimal classification, and viaf) as linked data. it discusses the process of mapping these files in skos (simple knowledge organization system), foaf (friend of a friend), and fast as well as designing/creating the uris to be put in a set of rdf datasets for these authority files. the authors also point out the strength and limitation of modeling using different standards. for example, skos is not rich enough to model persons while foaf is a better fit. additionally, this chapter introduces the viaf project and describes how to model these authority files as rdf turtles using schema.org, skos, etc. examining the development of modeling these files calls for the need to evolve viaf into an authoritative hub of data. chapter three provides how to model and discover the creative works library communities have generated with marc for years in depth. starting from the review of treating creative works as the entities of objects and explaining the relationship with other three entities (i.e., expressions, manifestations, and items) defined by frbr group 1 conceptual model, several sections detail modeling frbr concepts with schema.org in conjunction with a set of bibliography vocabulary, designing the syntax and semantics of urls in rdf descriptions, and other modeling efforts of creative works. furthermore, the chapter succinctly reviews the data mining algorithms that are used to discover creative works in worldcat. this chapter demonstrates the complexity of modeling and discovering creative works. text mining plays an important role in processing unstructured (free-text) information to generate meaningful information and knowledge. chapter four first analyzes the need to apply text mining algorithms to library linked data projects. then it discusses the algorithms oclc used to promote strings in marc records to entities. these algorithms can identify whether strings are names with identifiers (e.g., appearing in a controlled marc field), labeled names (not subject to authority control), names in semi-structured text (e.g., an illustrator name in marc 600 filed), or names in unstructured text (e.g., information contained in marc 520 field). the chapter also examines subject/concept matching and explains the methods (e.g., thesaurus-matching and instance-based mapping) that can algorithmically map these concepts to authority files and vocabularies in the domain of library resource description. lastly, the chapter introduces the document clustering which is important to handle a large amount of data. it also analyzes the pros and cons of different clustering algorithms and points out the future need to handle digital objects and cultural heritage materials. this chapter may be particularly interesting for library professionals with some computer programming background. chapter five briefly summarizes the experiments oclc has taken and indicates future directions. some directions oclc is looking ahead include closely collaborating with the schema.org group as it provides a set of robust semantic web standards and with other library communities such as library of congress as it is also experimenting with bibframe (bibliographic framework) and rda. this chapter shares the lessons oclc has learned along the way and the action it takes such as participating in community standard initiatives and forming joint forces. in addition, this chapter discusses in details oclc’s challenges in three regards (i.e., wang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 109 conceptual, technical, and environmental). generally speaking, the detail-oriented description throughout the book is instrumental for those pursuing or will pursue a library data project. this book is a good reference book for those implementing a library linked data project. the challenge of comprehending this book can be overcome by reading more than once and performing the relevant reading. this book clearly demonstrates the efforts and the contributions oclc has made through its various experiments to transform legacy library metadata and increase the visibility and usability of libraries’ creative works. overall, this book is a valuable addition to the literature of library linked data. it can spark an interest and provide an eye-opening experience for beginners while offering intriguing thinking and processing specifics for some readers to understand details involved in the library linked data projects. --xiaocan (lucy) wang, emerging technologies librarian/associate professor, spiva library, missouri southern state university. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org academic library leadership: race and gender binh p. le abstract: nearly 80% of american librarians are women. similarly, the majority of american librarians are white; people of color – e.g., african americans, asian americans, and latino americans – represent a small percentage of the u.s. library workforce. throughout history, library leadership positions, regardless of the type of library (e.g., academic, public, or special), have been held by white males. this library leadership landscape was significantly altered following the enactment of a number of progressive laws and affirmative action programs, starting with the passage of title vii of the civil rights act of 1964. the problem, however, is that not every underrepresented group benefit from these laws and programs (hereafter policies). in fact, based on the present study, it appears that these policies have done little to help increase the number of people of color who are library directors in some of america’s largest and most prestigious academic libraries. to cite this article: le, b. p. (2021). academic library leadership: race and gender. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.184 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 13-26. issn: 2474-3542 academic library leadership: race and gender binh p. le1 pennsylvania state university, state college, pa, usa abstract nearly 80% of american librarians are women. similarly, the majority of american librarians are white; people of color – e.g., african americans, asian americans, and latino americans – represent a small percentage of the u.s. library workforce. throughout history, library leadership positions, regardless of the type of library (e.g., academic, public, or special), have been held by white males. this library leadership landscape was significantly altered following the enactment of a number of progressive laws and affirmative action programs, starting with the passage of title vii of the civil rights act of 1964. the problem, however, is that not every underrepresented group benefit from these laws and programs (hereafter policies). in fact, based on the present study, it appears that these policies have done little to help increase the number of people of color who are library directors in some of america’s largest and most prestigious academic libraries. keywords: academic library director, minority academic library director, library leadership, title vii, title ix, affirmative action programs introduction in trying to protect and to level the playing field for women and underrepresented groups in the workplace, including higher education, the u.s. congress enacted a number of significant laws (e.g., title vii of the civil rights act of 1964 and title ix of the education amendment of 1972) starting in the mid-1960s. additionally, the federal government also established a series of affirmative action programs shortly afterward. these policies have had many profound impacts on multiple aspects of american society. with regard to the library profession, for example, one effect of the implementation of these policies is that the number of women academic library directors has increased significantly (e.g., hollis, 1999; deyrup, 2004). financially, many of these academic library directors, especially those in large academic libraries, are better compensated than their counterparts (e.g., deans) at the same institutions. the problem, however, is that not all of the underrepresented groups – e.g., african americans, asian americans, or latino americans – that these policies were specifically designed to help have benefited equally from them. this paper is an attempt to look at whether these policies have helped to increase the number of minority library 1 the author wishes to thank to the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 14 directors at 33 large and prestigious u.s. academic libraries whose universities are ranked among the top 50 in the world. literature review the aim of this section is to provide a brief review of scholarly works, albeit scarce, relating to the representation of women and people of color in leadership positions in large academic libraries, most of which are members of the association of research libraries (arl). for decades, men have disproportionally occupied the position of library director at the major american academic libraries, especially the large and prestigious ones, such as the arl libraries. however, the landscape of academic library leadership had begun to change, first gradually and then drastically, by the early 1980s. this shift in academic library leadership was the result of multiple forces, including the civil rights movement, the second wave of feminism (1960s-1980s), and especially the enactment of many significant laws prohibiting racial and gender discrimination in the workplace (e.g., equal pay act of 1963 and title vii of the civil rights act of 1964), as well as in education (e.g., title ix of the education amendment of 1972). it is worth noting that the first wave of feminism, which took place between 1848 and 1920, focused heavily on women’s suffrage. the second wave of feminism, besides fighting for political equality, aimed to dismantle social inequalities against women. importantly, the second wave of feminism, unlike the first wave of feminism which comprised primarily middle-class white women, tended to be more inclusive. it included women from different social classes, political orientations (e.g., socialists), and racial groups. barbara b. moran wrote about the impact that some of these changes had on the increase in the number of women in library leadership positions in an article entitled “the impact of affirmative action on academic libraries,” published in library trends in 1985. it was reported that, “the greatest numerical gains for women have been found in the mid-level administrative positions, especially the assistant and associate directors’ positions in both types of university libraries and in the department head level of the arl group” (p. 214). according to moran, however, the problem was that: there are a few more women directors, but the gains on that level are disappointing … the number of women directing the large university libraries was low in 1972 and remains low in 1982. in the non-arl group, there were, in 1982, sixteen female directors (17.6 percent) up from five (5.6 percent) while in the arl group there were twelve female directors (13.5 percent) in 1982 compared to two (2.2 percent) in 1972” (1985, p. 214). however, in a later study, moran, leonard, and zellers (2009) found that: at the highest levels of administration in academic libraries, women still have not achieved parity; the percentage of women holding directors’ positions is still lower than the overall percentage of women working in academic libraries. however, in both arl and carnegie liberal arts libraries, the number of women in administration has increased dramatically (p. 222). regarding the underrepresentation of people of color in top-level library leadership, deborah r. hollis’ 1999 article “affirmative action or increased competition: a look at women and minority library deans,” published in the journal of library administration, examined the le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 15 race and gender of the library directors of the 86 academic libraries in eight division i athletic conferences of the national collegiate athletic association (ncaa). hollis (1999) found that the number of female directors doubled between 1986 and 1992 (p. 69). in terms of racial categories, hollis pointed out that “white women have made substantial gains in the last twelve years with promotion to the top-level ranks in eighty-six major academic libraries” (p. 70). at the same time, the number of librarians of color holding leadership positions in major academic and research libraries continued to be small. hollis’ study also omitted lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (lgbtq) academic library leaders. it is understandable why this group was omitted from hollis’ study: data on lgbtq people in the library profession were not readily available. hollis (1999) attributed the absence of statistical data on lgbtq people to the neglect of government agencies (e.g., the u.s. census bureau) and professional organizations (e.g., the american library association) (p. 51) in collecting them. while sharon k. epp’s study (2008) focused on the leadership skills that african american women “need in order to be successful leaders in today’s association of research libraries,” the author did allude to the fact that african american women are underrepresented in library leadership positions (p. 255). with regard to asian americans serving in the top-level library leadership positions, le (2015) as well as zhou and lim (2012), found that asian americans are also underrepresented in library leadership positions, including in large academic and research libraries. in fact, only a handful of asian americans hold the position of library director in over 3,500 u.s. academic libraries. ominously, the number of asian american library directors has further decreased because of recent retirements. interestingly with the number of women library directors, most of whom are white, increasing substantially since the 1980s, deyrup (2004) believed that the battle for gender, economic, and professional parity in academic library leadership may be over. in an article titled “is the revolution over? gender, economic, and professional parity in academic library leadership positions,” published in college & research libraries in 2004, deyrup stated that, “the number of library women directors more than doubled between 1982 and 1997 and from 22.4 to 45.2 percent, and as the statistics have shown, women now dominate leadership positions in academic libraries” (p. 245). furthermore, according to deyrup, “women library directors at the top institutions are generally much better compensated … and it must be remembered that the majority of these arl directors are now women” (p. 244). the literature on the race and gender of american academic library directors is scarce. indeed, most of the work and its accompanying data discussed above were published a number of years, if not decades, ago. it is now worth taking a look at the gender and race of america’s academic library directors whose universities have been ranked among the top 50 in the world, to determine whether the gender and racial composition has changed. different universities use different titles for the highest administrator responsible for their libraries. these titles include university librarian, library director, dean of libraries, vice provost/president for information, and chief librarian, among others. for the sake of uniformity, the title “library director” will be used throughout the paper. le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 16 methodology this paper examines the racial and gender composition of the library directors of the american academic libraries whose universities are among the top 50 internationally ranked institutions by u.s. news & world report (2019) and times higher education (2019). u.s. news & world report stated that, “these institutions from the u.s. and more than 60 other countries have been ranked based on 13 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations” (morse & vega-rodriguez, 2019). times higher education also utilizes 13 academic performance indicators. they are grouped into five areas: teaching, research, citations, international outlook, and industry income. since the inception of these rankings, many critics have argued that the rankings produced by these organizations tend to be subjective and reward prestige and wealth (jaschik, 2018). they have been particularly critical of the criteria used by u.s. news & world report for its annual rankings of american colleges and universities (nietzel, 2019a; nietzel, 2019b; tierney, 2013). however, regarding the rankings of international universities, these organizations have utilized objective and measurable criteria. consequently, their rankings are more credible. in fact, their rankings have been used by many institutions and governments in helping to establish educational policies. for example, according to susan adams, times higher education … emphasizes scholarship, research funding and reputation and does not consider things like entry requirements, graduation rates, professor ratings or alumni salaries. we think the’s [times higher education] list is worth covering because it’s become one of the most respected international university rankings, cited in higher education legislation in countries like russia and india, which hope to boost their institutions’ stature (adams, 2019). each of the two lists ranked over 1200 universities around the globe. this paper identifies only the u.s. universities that were ranked among the top 50 from each list. times higher education included 23 u.s. universities among its top 50 globally ranked institutions (see table 1). in u.s. news & world report’s list, 29 u.s. universities made the top 50 (see table 2). many of these top u.s. universities appear in both lists. in hopes of yielding additional universities, the author used both lists to draw up a combined list of globally ranked u.s. universities, which resulted in a total number of 33. the goal of this paper is to elicit information about the race and gender of the library directors at these top 33 u.s. universities. the research was conducted between april 15, 2020 and june 30, 2020. the author searched each university’s website to identify the name, title, gender, and race of each library director. the author took screenshots of the pages found, making sure that the furnished text and image (picture of the library director) were captured for the record. the author identified the race and gender of the library directors by examining the photos included on the websites. information on whether any of these library directors are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer could not be found from these websites. because of the high quality of the photos (e.g., high resolution and discernable colors), the author was able to identify the racial backgrounds (e.g., black, white, or asian) and the gender identities (e.g., male or female) of the subjects in this study. additionally, the author, who has been a professional librarian for a significant number of years and an active member of the library profession nationally and internationally, has met, seen, or interacted with a number of these le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 17 library directors at national and international conferences. in other words, the author’s familiarity with the subjects through professional activities has further allowed him to identify the race and gender. however, by relying on a visual inspection of the photos and given his limited familiarity with the subjects of the study, the author faced some challenges in identifying the race and gender. for example, the author could not ascertain whether a subject in this study is a mixed-raced person based on the color of his/her skin as shown in the photos or on an encounter the author may have had with a subject through professional activities. similarly, the author could not determine whether a subject in this study is a transgender person. additionally, because of the need to comply with u.s. privacy laws the author did not attempt to contact the subjects or their institutions for information pertaining to their race and gender. table 1. times higher education’s global university rankings (numerical order). source: times higher education (2019). university country 1 university of oxford united kingdom 2 california institute of technology united states 3 university of cambridge united kingdom 4 stanford university united states 5 massachusetts institute of technology united states 6 princeton university united states 7 harvard university united states 8 yale university united states 9 university of chicago united states 10 imperial college united kingdom 11 university of pennsylvania united states 12 johns hopkins university united states 13 university of california, berkeley united states 14 eth zurich switzerland 15 ucl united kingdom 16 columbia university united states 17 university of california, los angeles united states 18 university of toronto canada 19 cornell university united states 20 duke university united states 21 university of michigan, ann arbor united states 22 northwestern university united states 23 tsinghua university china 24 peking university china 25 national university of singapore singapore 26 university of washington united states 27 carnegie university united states 28 london school of economics and political science united kingdom 29 new york university united states 30 university of edinburgh united kingdom 31 university of california, san diego united states 32 lmu munich germany 33 university of melbourne australia 34 university of british columbia canada 35 university of hong kong hong kong 36 king’s college london united kingdom le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 18 37 university of tokyo japan 38 ecole polytechnique federale de lausanne switzerland 39 georgia institute of technology united states 40 university of texas, austin united states 41 karolinska institute sweden 42 mcgill university canada 43 technical university of munich germany 44 heidelberg university germany 45 ku leuven belgium 46 paris sciences et lettres-psl research university paris france 47 the hong kong university of science and technology hong kong 48 university of illinois, urbana-champaign united states 49 nanyang technological university singapore 50 australia national university australia table 2. u.s. news & world report’s global university rankings (numerical order). source: u.s. news & world report (2019). university country 1 harvard university united states 2 massachusetts institute of technology united states 3 stanford university united states 4 university of california, berkeley united states 5 university of oxford united kingdom 6 california institute of technology united states 7 columbia university united states 8 princeton university united states 9 university of cambridge united kingdom 10 university of washington united states 11 johns hopkins university united states 12 yale university united states 13 university of chicago united states 14 university of california, los angeles united states 15 university of california, san francisco united states 16 university of pennsylvania united states 17 university of michigan, ann arbor united states 18 university of toronto canada 19 university of california, san diego united states 20 imperial college london united kingdom 21 university college london united kingdom 22 duke university united states 23 cornell university united states 24 northwestern university united states 25 university of melbourne australia university of sydney australia 27 university of edinburgh united kingdom 28 university of british columbia canada 29 washington university united states 30 university of copenhagen denmark 31 university of north carolina, chapel hill united states le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 19 32 singapore national university singapore 33 university of texas, austin united states 34 tsinghua university china 35 king’s college london united kingdom 36 sorbonne universite france 37 university of wisconsin, madison united states 38 university of amsterdam netherlands 39 university of california, santa barbara united states 40 university of queensland australia 41 university of munich germany 42 ecole polytechnique federale of lausanne switzerland 43 ohio state university united states 44 university of minnesota united states 45 university of pittsburgh united states 46 mcgill university canada 47 university of colorado united states 48 boston university united states 49 karolinska institute sweden 50 king abdulaziz university saudi arabia results and analyses unsurprisingly, many american universities dominate the rankings of the top universities in the world. among these 33 universities, 17 are private and 16 are public. interestingly, 17 of the 23 u.s. universities ranked by times higher education are private, whereas 15 of the 29 ranked by u.s. news & world report are private. geographically, the majority of these universities are located on the east coast, the midwest, and the west coast of the u.s. furthermore, for the most part, these universities are located in or near major metropolitan areas such as boston, new york city, chicago, los angles, and san francisco. significantly, the libraries at 27 of these 33 universities are members of the arl. the non-arl member universities include carnegie mellon university, the california institute of technology, stanford university, the university of california at santa barbara, the university of california at san diego, and the university of california at san francisco. the arl comprises 122 of the largest and most prestigious academic and research libraries in north america. gender among the 33 library directors identified in this study, 12 (or 36%) are men and 21 (or 64%) are women (see table 3). twelve women hold the position of library director at (12) private universities; the other nine women hold the same position at (9) public universities. five men hold the position of library director at (5) private universities; the other seven men hold the same title at (7) public universities. it is worth noting that women hold the library director position at five (out of six ranked) ivy league libraries, including harvard, yale, columbia, princeton, and the university of pennsylvania. it is also worth noting that women occupy the library directorship at some of the world-renowned scienceand technology-centered universities such le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 20 as the california institute of technology, the massachusetts institute of technology, and the georgia institute of technology. table 3. gender and race of university librarians of the 33 internationally ranked u.s. universities (alphabetical order) sources: u.s. news & world report (2019); times higher education (2019). university gender race boston university male black carnegie mellon university male white california institute of tech. female white columbia university female white cornell university male white duke university female white georgia institute of tech. female white harvard university female white johns hopkins university male white mass. institute of tech. female white new york university female white northwestern university female white ohio state university male white princeton university female white stanford university male white university of california (b) male white university of california (la) female white university of california (sb) female white university of california (sd) male white university of california (sf) male white university of chicago female white university of colorado male white university of illinois male white university of michigan male white university of minnesota female white university of north carolina female black university of pennsylvania female white university of pittsburgh female white university of texas female white university of washington female white university of wisconsin female white washington university female black yale university female white the findings in this study concerning the gender composition of the library directorship at the globally ranked u.s. universities confirms the previous studies on the issue (e.g., sullivan 1996; hollis, 1999; and deyrup 2004). broadly, the number of women library directors has increased significantly over the past few decades. the drastic growth of women library directors, however, occurred in large academic and research libraries (deyrup, 2004). the main factors contributing to the increase in the number of women library directors, according to deyrup (2004), are as follows: le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 21 unlike their predecessors, these female academic library directors – now in their fifties and sixties – directly benefited from the feminist movement. they were part of the first generation of women to reap the rewards from the implementation of title ix in 1972. this federal regulation prohibited discrimination in higher education and made it possible for women who worked within academic librarianship to be promoted and gain leadership status (p. 245). undoubtedly, the various movements (e.g., organization for women and women strike for peace) of the second wave of feminism, the enactment of anti-discriminatory laws and policies, and other societal forces have certainly opened up leadership opportunities for many women in multiple professional areas of employment, including the library profession. it must be noted, however, that many professional organizations, including the ala and the arl, have also assisted in opening up library leadership paths for many women by establishing a number of highlevel leadership development programs. starting in the early 2000s, a number of such programs have been instituted to prepare librarians to become leaders in their profession. for example, programs such as the leading change institute (previously known as the frye leadership institute), the arl’s research leadership fellows program, ucla’s senior fellows program, and the acrl/harvard leadership institute for academic librarians have produced a number of library directors, including the ones holding the library directorship at these globally ranked u.s. universities. in fact, eight library directors, six of whom are women that are included in this study, participated in the yearlong arl’s research leadership fellows program. [it is worth noting that in order to participate in the yearlong arl research leadership fellows program, the participants must work in one of the arl libraries.] the impact of these high-level leadership development programs cannot be overlooked (neely, 2009, p. 831). take the arl’s research leadership fellows program as an example. german, owen, parchuck and sandore (2012) reported that: the results of the survey give evidence that the arl rlf program has achieved the goals it set out … the survey results confirm the success of the program. sponsors and fellows each described the noticeable impact of the program on the profession, the institutions and on the participants themselves. a pool of talented leaders has been created and tapped for top positions. a significant number of the participants have moved on and up the leadership ranks directly following the program (p. 806). statistically, the majority of the participants in these high-level leadership development programs have been women. for example, the 2018-2019 arl leadership fellows program included 6 men and 22 women (arl, 2020). similarly, the 2019 leading change institute cohort comprised a significant number of women, most of whom hold mid-level library administrative positions (leading change institute, 2020). it is worth noting that the leading change institute is a highly respected higher education leadership development organization. in fact, since its inception in 2000, many of its participants have been appointed to senior-level library leadership positions at many large academic and research libraries in the united states and canada. all in all, these high-level leadership development programs have significantly contributed and continue to contribute to the increase in the number of women in top-level library leadership positions in large academic libraries. interestingly, because of the tremendous progress that has been made in the area of propelling women into leadership positions, many scholars (e.g., moran, leonard, and zellar, 2009) believe that the gender gap in academic library administration has been obliterated. le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 22 race of the 33 library directors in this study, 30 (or 90%) are white and 3 (10%) are african american (see table 3). of the three african american library directors, there are two women and one man. one of the two female library directors works at a private university; the other works at a public university. the male library director works at a private (parochial) university. asian americans, latino americans, and native americans are not represented in this group. clearly white library directors, especially white women, continue to dominate the leadership positions in large academic libraries. this is not a new phenomenon. as noted above, the underrepresentation of people of color in leadership positions in libraries, especially in the large and prestigious research libraries, has been addressed in a number of studies dating back to the early 1980s (e.g., epps, 2008, hollis, 1999, p. 50). for example, in discussing the underrepresentation of african americans in seniorlevel positions in the libraries of the association of research libraries, epps (2008) stated: throughout the years, a number of african american women have emerged as influential leaders in librarianship – clara stanton jones, carla hayden, and althea jenkins, to name a few. despite the prominence of african american women and women of color, in general, on the national landscape of leadership in librarianship, the number of african american women holding leadership positions as deans, directors, or assistant/associate deans/directors of association of research libraries (arl) is extremely low and does not reflect proportionally the number of african american librarians in arl libraries (p. 255). similarly, asian americans are also underrepresented in library leadership positions. zhou (2012) contended that asian americans, despite being highly educated, are severely underrepresented in the top leadership positions in higher education (p. 1). he further stated that “although aapi [asian american/pacific islander] librarians are more educated than general credentialed librarians, and have published more, with similar years of experience, their probability to be represented at the top leadership level is one third of whites and one half of blacks according to this research” (p. 1). it is worth noting that while scholarly studies on the underrepresentation of african americans and asian americans have appeared, albeit scarce, in the library leadership literature, no in-depth analyses of this topic on other racial and ethnic groups (e.g., latino americans, native americans) can be found. this is rather surprising, because over the years a small number of latino americans have held senior-level leadership positions in the libraries of the association of research libraries (e.g., colorado state university) as well as in the american library association. in fact, two latino american women had served as president of the american library association. many of these studies were conducted more than two decades ago. today, 20 later, the situation has not changed at all, in spite of the establishment of progressive laws and library leadership development programs. roger c. schonfeld and liam sweeney (2017), the authors of inclusion, diversity, and equity: members of the association of research libraries: employee demographics and director perspectives, commissioned by the andrew w. mellon foundation, reported: “we found that as positions become increasingly senior, they also become increasingly white” (p. 8). interestingly, the hiring process seemed to be the cause of this phenomenon. for example, according to schonfeld and sweeney, “directors acknowledge these barriers, and claim le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 23 that they primarily occur at the application pool stage of the interview process and are most commonly a result of geographic location” (p. 31). the problem, however, is that schonfeld and sweeney found that “we did not notice a difference in the race/ethnicity composition for responding arls based on their degree of urbanization” (p. 31). many factors contribute to the underrepresentation of people of color in top library leadership positions. in fact, it is much more complicated than just the hiring process and geography. for example, lauren rivera, professor of management at northwestern university, in her 2012 study, found that employers tend to look beyond technical skills required for the jobs. in fact, she pointed out that employers seek “candidates who were not only competent but culturally similar to themselves in terms of leisure pursuits, experiences, and self-presentation of styles (2012, p. 999). the problem, however, is that the higher education leaders (e.g., provosts, presidents) who hire library directors are mostly white. it is unlikely that, as rivera discovered, they will hire people who do not share similar social and cultural backgrounds. in response to these challenges, a number of attempts have been made to address the underrepresentation of people of color in the senior-level leadership positions in different types of libraries. among these, in addition to the high-level leadership development programs, have been the creation of many mid-level leadership development programs and institutes (e.g., arl leadership and career development program, ala emerging leaders, and aurora library leadership institute) by national and state library organizations. these mid-level leadership development programs were designed to offer librarians from various social, racial, and economic backgrounds opportunities to acquire essential leadership skills and to become library leaders. over the years, a small number of librarians of color have been chosen to participate in these midlevel leadership development programs, some of whom subsequently assumed senior-level library leadership positions. however, many librarians of color could not participate in these mid-level (e.g., department heads, project leaders/managers, and unit heads) leadership development programs. a number of factors may have prevented their participation. first, it is costly to participate in many of these programs. the costs include travel, program fees, housing, and other expenses. while some may receive financial support from their institutions or scholarships, they still have to spend a substantial amount of their own money to attend. second, many of these programs require the participants to commit a considerable amount of time, ranging from a week to a year or longer. for many, leaving a family or a job for an extended period of time is not a viable option. it is particularly difficult for those with family obligations and/or those libraries with limited resources. third, a major and important leadership development program such as the arl leadership and career development program only selects participants from the libraries of the arl. arl statistics indicate that a good number of librarians of color work in the 100 plus arl libraries (arl, 2020). however, the vast majority of librarians of color are employed in the other 3500 plus academic libraries throughout the united states. in other words, a significant number of librarians of color may have been excluded from some of the leadership development programs such as that of the arl. lastly, many of these leadership development programs have faced difficulties in trying to recruit librarians of color into their programs. in addition to the factors discussed above, the fact is that there are not that many librarians of color in the profession from which to recruit. over the years, despite a number of attempts (e.g., the ala spectrum scholarship program) by library organizations such as the ala and the acrl, among others, to recruit people of color into the profession, the number of librarians of color is still small. simply put, there are le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 24 not enough librarians of color to feed the library profession’s leadership pipeline. thus, unless the composition of the library workforce is significantly diversified, the existing library leadership landscape with regard to its racial composition is not going to be significantly altered. conclusion unquestionably, social movements and progressive governmental policies have significantly altered some aspects of the landscape of u.s. library leadership. in particular, these polices have effectively leveled the playing field for women to attain top-level leadership positions in all types of libraries (e.g., the librarian of congress is a woman), including the major academic libraries in this study whose universities are ranked among the top 50 institutions in the world. basically, one may reasonably argue that the gender barrier has been eradicated in the area of leadership advancement for women in the library field. in terms of race, as this study has shown, there are very few people of color – african americans, asian americans, hispanic americans, and native americans – holding library leadership positions in america’s most prestigious universities. despite the ala’s efforts and those of other professional organizations (the ala’s spectrum scholarship program and the arl’s initiative to recruit a diverse workforce) to recruit people of color into the profession over the past several decades, the number of librarians who are people of color is still too small. and given the small number of people of color who are professional librarians, it is difficult to develop a sizable talented pool of potential library leaders who can compete for top-level library positions, including top positions in prestigious academic libraries. additionally, societal biases, intentionally or unintentionally, continue to be a major barrier to the advancement of people of color into top-level leadership positions in numerous fields, including the library field. references adams, s. 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(2019). best global universities rankings. u.s. news & world report. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings. accessed 20 may 2020. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/articles/methodology https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/articles/methodology https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/your-annual-reminder-to-ignore-the-em-us-news-world-report-em-college-rankings/279103/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/your-annual-reminder-to-ignore-the-em-us-news-world-report-em-college-rankings/279103/ le / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 26 u.s. news & world report. (2019). u.s. news unveils 2019 best global universities. https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2018-10-30/us-news-unveils2019-best-global-universities-rankings. accessed 21 may 2020. times higher education. 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(2012). leadership achievement gap of asian/pacific american librarians. doctoral dissertation. california state university, sacramento. http://csusdspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.9/1890. accessed 15 june 2020. about the author binh p. le, ed.d. is a tenured library faculty member at the pennsylvania state university. he holds the rank of librarian (full professor). his research interests include library leadership, higher education leadership, asian american librarianship and leadership, and asian american history and politics. 002-title-184-article text-931-2-11-20210624 002-184-article text-938-2-11-20210624-huang issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org path to leadership: national forum on advancing asian/pacific islander american librarianship wenli gao, ray pun, lessa kanani’opua pelayo-lozada, lian ruan abstract: in august 2021, the chinese american librarians association (cala), in partnership with the asian/pacific american librarians association (apala), received $100,000 in funding from the institute of museum and library services (imls) laura bush 21st century librarian program national forum grant in the lifelong learning project category for path to leadership: national forum to advance asian/pacific islander american (apia) librarianship. funding from the grant resulted in an online national forum, webinars, and a reunion program. this paper details the planning and implementation of this project. it also includes project evaluation and a proposed curriculum outline to fully develop an apia leadership program. to cite this article: gao, w., pun, r., pelayo-lozada, l. k., ruan, l. (2023). path to leadership: national forum on advancing asian/pacific islander american librarianship. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 11-27. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.2.264 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 11-27 issn: 2474-3542 path to leadership: national forum on advancing asian/pacific islander american librarianship wenli gao, university of houston, united states ray pun, alder graduate school of education, united states lessa kanani’opua pelayo-lozada, palos verdes library district, united states lian ruan, illinois fire service institute library, united states abstract in august 2021, the chinese american librarians association (cala), in partnership with the asian/pacific american librarians association (apala), received $100,000 in funding from the institute of museum and library services (imls) laura bush 21st century librarian program national forum grant in the lifelong learning project category for path to leadership: national forum to advance asian/pacific islander american (apia) librarianship. funding from the grant resulted in an online national forum, webinars, and a reunion program. this paper details the planning and implementation of this project. it also includes project evaluation and a proposed curriculum outline to fully develop an apia leadership program. keywords: grant, library associations, leadership, self-advocacy introduction in a profession that is predominately white (datausa, 2017), the chinese american librarians association (cala) and the asian/pacific american librarians association (apala) recognize the importance of supporting asian/pacific islander american (apia) library workers in both leadership and formal management roles. cala and apala believe that empowered apia library workers can influence decisions and advocate for our apia communities regardless of position or title, as they often lead from the middle. in addition, the associations work together to serve apia communities and to build coalitions with other marginalized communities. while our apia library workers have demonstrated they can lead from any position, apia leaders deserve to have a seat at the leadership table, as they significantly benefit the library organizations and the profession as a whole in the united states. representation matters, and library users who see leaders who share cultural values and appearances often have more positive and enriching experiences with our institutions. apia leaders develop deep and trusting relationships with members of the apia community and are able to ensure that libraries collections and programs gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 12 are culturally relevant. finally, apia leaders continue to push for equity, diversity, inclusion initiatives, and social justice values, advocating for the needs of apia staff and community. with this in mind, cala and apala leaders jointly applied for an institute of museum and library services (imls) laura bush 21st century librarian program national forum grant. cala and apala envisioned a program that acknowledges shared commonalities, as well as differences, celebrating the apia community’s unique strengths. in 2021, cala and apala were awarded $100,000 in funding for the path to leadership: national forum to advance asian/pacific islander american librarianship (henceforth referred to as path to leadership national forum) for september 2021 to december 2022. preparation throughout the project, co-project directors met with advisory board members (see appendix 1) on a quarterly basis to discuss the process of the forum, procedure, and findings of the project. to begin codifying and documenting the barriers, challenges, and successes of apia library leaders, project directors and advisory board members designed an application form to survey forum applicants (see appendix 2). the following questions guided the design of the project: 1. what are the current needs and barriers in leadership development among apia library workers and within apia groups? 2. what do current apia leaders perceive as most beneficial in overcoming barriers and developing leadership? 3. how can apia focused library associations such as cala and apala better serve communities of apia library workers in developing leadership and management opportunities and skills? each guiding question also consists of an objective and an activity to address the question respectively. in addition, the project outlines three major outcomes: • participants will identify barriers and paths to leadership from experiences shared by current apia leaders as well as their own experiences in the profession. • participants will contribute to the development of a leadership program curriculum tailored specifically for apia library workers based on the forum’s discussions. • participants will form and participate in a networking community to support and share their leadership development experiences. path to leadership national forum the online national forum happened in january 2022. 113 participants attended the forum to discuss the leadership barriers and opportunities for apia library workers. see below for the program schedule. gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 13 2-day program schedule day 1 program on january 27, 2022 (in pacific time): 11:00 – 11:10 am: welcome & introductions to program and agenda day 1 11:10 – 12:00 pm: keynote speaker: ala president patricia “patty” wong, moderated by dr. ling hwey jeng 12:00 – 12:15 pm: break 12:15 – 1:00 pm: brainstorming session in break out group discussions 1:00 – 1:40 pm: reflecting together: sharing out responses from break out discussions 1:40 – 1:45 pm: break 1:45 – 2:00 pm: regroup and conclude for today & q&a from participants 2:00 pm: (optional) break out groups on special topics such as library directors, technical services librarians, etc. day 2 program on january 28, 2022 (in pacific time): 11:00 – 11:05 am: welcome back & agenda day 2 11:05 – 11:15 am: information and data to path to leadership forum participants 11:15 – 12:30 pm: forum panel & q&a 12:30 – 12:45 pm: break 12:45 – 1:30 pm: brainstorming session in break out group discussions 1:30 – 2:00 pm: reflecting together: sharing out responses from break out discussions 2:00 – 2:15 pm: concluding thoughts and adjournment webinar series the project also produced a webinar series open to forum participants as well as cala and apala members. webinars were hosted in march, april, and may 2022 for attendees to continue engaging and connecting with each other. see below for webinar descriptions. path to leadership webinar #1: leadership capacity wherever we are by dr. ling hwey jeng description: a position of power gives the appearance of leadership. a person can occupy a position with authority to supervise and manage, and still fail to lead. leadership is about the capacity of intentional or unintentional activism in each leader/person to exercise influence over others in order to reach a common goal. everyone can build and expand their leadership capacity whether they work at frontline customer service, or in the backroom providing infrastructural support. wherever we are at work or in life, we can anchor ourselves in a position to bring out the best in others, to create connections among people and resources, and to enable positive changes for the greater collective good. our internal leadership capacity encompasses at least several areas of competencies: professional knowledge and skills, personal and social responsibilities, inclusive and equitable treatment of people, stakeholder relationships, and asset-based approach to community building. the goal is to identify the areas of leadership capacity we already practice regardless of our position, and other areas where we have the potential to develop. gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 14 path to leadership webinar #2: virtual community gathering description: it’s been 3 months since our forum in january and we invite all forum participants to attend this session for networking and catching up. we’ll provide an update on upcoming activities related to path to leadership at ala annual including the reunion event. come by and reconnect with your breakout groups too! this session will not be recorded. path to leadership webinar #3: panel discussion on mixed race experiences moderated by alanna aiko moore description: join cala/apala for another path to leadership webinar! today’s panel of mixed-race asian pacific islanders will share their experiences being multiracial, explore questions of authenticity and belonging, and talk about how they navigate their identity and create community. panelists include path to leaders participants and other leaders in the field. panelists: nicky andrews, victor betts, heidi estrada, and neil ordinario an anonymous final evaluation survey was sent out to all participants at the end of the last webinar. four questions were required, and one was optional: 1. what have you applied from the forum to your job or professional activities since the forum? 2. what was helpful in the webinar series? 3. what was not helpful in the webinar series? 4. what would you like to know or further explore around aapi leadership? 5. (optional) please share any barriers you may have experienced when participating in any part of the path to leadership program (e.g., taking time off to attend, supervisor's hesitations to grant time to attend such programs, etc.) 24 responses were returned and compiled. see appendix 3. reunion at american library association (ala) annual conference the imls grant enabled more than 40 participants to attend the reunion meeting in-person at ala annual conference 2022 in washington d.c. it was a wonderful opportunity for many first time ala conference attendees to connect in person and also to attend this conference under the ala presidency of patty wong, a cala and apala member and past president, and the first asian american president of ala. leadership curriculum outline based on the 2 half day forum discussions, there were three key areas to focus on for a leadership development curriculum for apia library workers. section one focuses on identifying and embracing alternative leadership approaches such as servant leadership, which are more in line with apia values, versus molding into more “traditional” approaches such as transactional leadership. understanding one’s leadership gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 15 approach and connecting to an inclusive leadership practice resonated most with forum participants. inclusive leadership is defined as: “the practice of leadership that carefully maximizes the contributions of all stakeholders in the community or organization. inclusion means being at the table at multiple levels of the organization, being a valued contributor, and being fully responsible for your contribution to the ultimate result” (university of texas at san antonio, 2022). inclusive leadership may also include participatory decision making and understanding multiple perspectives. in this mode, there needs to be a discussion on how to bring identity into leadership and learning other people’s processes, and how to name and disrupt a system that resists and prohibits changes focused on inclusion. inclusive leadership/alternative leadership requires a clearer distinction between the roles of leadership and management. participants shared that they perceive management as the leader, but others — including keynote speaker patty wong and forum panelists —stated that anyone can be a leader, anyone can lead from any position. the cultural dimension needs to be mentioned because hierarchy is often viewed as authoritative in asian cultures. it also creates opportunities to discuss how asian and pacific islander values affect personal leadership approaches and connect to a greater sociopolitical context. section two examines how to build community internally and externally. the leadership development program should encourage peer-to-peer and cohort systems where there is accountability and support. “one-off programs” should be avoided because participants may feel isolated. affinity groups within the cohort may discuss specific issues such as barriers in the workplace or how culture affects spaces in the workplace in quarterly virtual calls led by program participants for a year after such a program. these types of interactions reinforce participants’ relationships with one another, instills trust and promotes networking and accountability. building community internally and externally also focuses on communication skills and relationship building. this may include learning how to communicate effectively and strategically and aid in developing skills that enable participants to communicate with their workplace colleagues assertively and clearly while remaining true to their own selves. an example, role-playing scenarios, would be valuable and which forum participants recommended would be a helpful practice. another example would involve providing a session on facilitation skills, and how to lead an effective meeting, which ensures and builds community internally. one important component for this section is to host a panel discussion featuring cohort participants or external speakers to share and reflect on their leadership journey. these conversations can be inspiring and help to build the network for apia library workers. section three highlights self-advocacy and overcoming barriers. participants need to come together to share their struggles and challenges, and ways to overcome barriers in the workplace and how to advocate for themselves. vulnerability, honesty, and authenticity are important values that need to be embraced within such programs. a discussion of self-advocacy strategies, to which participants bring workplace issues and get feedback from cohort members may be one helpful approach to bridging relationships and developing support. this third section is more of a reflective moment on addressing such questions as: “how do we advocate for ourselves as library workers? how do we tell our stories? what do we do to amplify our own skills? how do we move past gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 16 modesty narratives that many of our cultures have internalized in us?” these questions can guide important discussions on overcoming barriers and support participants in building and strengthening a path to leadership. the content of each section can be applied within 3-4 days we recommend hosting inperson sessions allowing participants to discuss difficult issues together. remote offering is also possible, but it may need to be spread out over additional days. in addition, it is important to host virtual gatherings to bring participants back together to build community, trust, support, and accountability with and for each other. part 1 identifying and understanding leadership approaches • introduction to leadership approaches and one’s default preference • what is inclusive leadership? • understand differences between leadership and management • understand how culture affects leadership approaches part 2 building community internally and externally • learning communication skills to build community internally • a session on effective facilitation skills • building community externally — peer-to-peer mentorship program in the cohort • host a panel discussion focusing on diverse aapi library workers’ experiences part 3 developing self advocacy and overcoming barriers to leadership • understand the barriers to leadership based on culture • select discussion questions on self-advocacy and barriers: o how do we advocate for ourselves as library workers? o how do we tell our stories? o what do we do to amplify our own skills? o how do we move past "modesty" narratives that many of our cultures have internalized in us?” the outline above creates a potential foundation for future association leaders such as those in cala and apala who may be interested in developing an intentional leadership program that engages with apia library workers’ interest in leadership. the outline curriculum and findings provide guidance for next steps in creating a program that connects to the apia library workers’ experiences. future leadership programs may consider adapting these sections in their curricula as an alternative to traditional leadership programs, such as existing programs in the library field. conclusion this project was started in the midst of covid-19, with increasing waves of anti-asian sentiments and violence across the united states of america. through this lens and the trauma of both, our participants were authentic, honest, and vulnerable throughout the process. we continue to see the lack of presence of apia library workers in formal and informal library leadership roles after decades of recruitment and retention efforts. however, we remain hopeful to see a future gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 17 leadership program focused on apia library workers, a program that will flourish and support the greater community of aspiring apia library leaders in the field. in conclusion, this paper reflects on the two-day virtual forum and virtual activities following the forum is part of an important and long-term visionary project to support apia library leaders in the field supported by cala and apala. we were thrilled to have the opportunity to come together in-person at the ala annual conference 2022 in washington, dc. participants reconnected in-person, shared updates, and learned more about different progressions and experiences from fellow participants in-person. this was an opportunity for participants to come together in the meeting and connect with one another in-person after a period of remote engagement due to covid-19. this gathering also reflected the diversity of our community. to learn more about this project, please visit the project website https://apialibrarianship.org/ . references datausa (2017). diversity. retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/soc/librarians#ethnicity university of texas at san antonio (2022). inclusive leadership. retrieved from https://www.utsa.edu/inclusiveexcellence/our-approach/inclusive-leadership.html https://apialibrarianship.org/ https://datausa.io/profile/soc/librarians#ethnicity https://www.utsa.edu/inclusiveexcellence/our-approach/inclusive-leadership.html gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 18 appendix 1: project personnel and advisory board co-project directors: • raymond pun, apala president 2021-2022 • wenli gao, cala president 2021-2022 • lessa pelayo-lozada, apala executive director, 2019-2022 • lian ruan, cala executive director 2019-2022 project team members: • elaine tai, project assistant, • ying liao, project treasurer • haoyong lan, project web designer forum co-facilitators: • alanna aiko moore • ling hwey jeng advisory board members: • candice mack (chair) • tarida anantachai • ariana hussain • leo lo • pearl ly • maria mccauley • mimosa shah • safi safullah • miriam tuliao • shali zhang forum break out group facilitators • monnee tong • moon kim • jessica dai • jamie kurumaji • hanna ahn • andrew carlos • edward junhao lim • kathleen baril • tina chan • jaena rae cabrera • jamie lin • regina gong • shelly black gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 19 appendix 2: application questions basic information: 1. your name 2. your email address leadership questions: 3. on a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your own leadership skills? (1 being less skilled and 5 being very skilled) 4. what kinds of opportunities have supported your career? please check all that applies • mentorship • leadership development programs • funding • supportive work or community environment (including supervisors and workplace colleagues) • other 5. if you selected other, please share with us: 6. what kinds of opportunities would have supported your career? please check all that applies • mentorship • leadership development programs • funding • supportive work or community environment (including supervisors and workplace colleagues) • other 7. if you selected other, please share with us: 8. what have been some barriers you have experienced in your career? please check all that applies: • unsupportive work environment (including supervisors and workplace colleagues) • isolating community environment • unable to move • ageism • racism • sexism • homophobia gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 20 • ableism • other 9. if you selected "unable to move" (due to familial responsibilities, lack of funding or something else) and/or "other," please share with us the reasons: 10. how can library associations like cala and apala better serve communities of apia library workers in developing leadership and management opportunities and skills? (300 words max) 11. if you were to participate in leadership development programs like "path to leadership: national forum on advancing asian/pacific islander americanlibrarianship," what would you like to learn? (300 words max) forum questions: 12a. are you applying to attend this forum? yes / no 12b. are you able to commit to both dates to the national forum? the dates are currently set as january 27 at 11-2 pm pt and january 28 at 11-2:30 pm pt (tentatively) yes / no 13. what do you hope to carry forward with you by attending the forum? (300 words max) 14. if selected, how do you plan on directly applying what you have gained from the forum to the profession in the future? (300 words max) 15. would you be interested in moderating or presenting in our webinars in spring 2022 that highlight post-forum experiences? 16. please write a brief bio of yourself (if selected and accepted, this bio will be used for our website). (150 words max) demographics: 17a. do you identify as asian american/pacific islander (aapi) ? yes/no 17b. if not, what is your relationship with aapi communities? 17c. if yes, please list your cultural, ethnic or racial heritage (e.g., asian/pacific islander, maõri; chinese american; south asian/indian; mixed race/native hawaiian, middle eastern, etc.): gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 21 18. your pronouns (she/he/they/ze): 19a. name of institution you work in? (if you are a student, please list your school). 19b. location of your institution (drop down menu) 20. what type of library do you work in? • public • academic • school • special • lis educator • student • other 21. what is your work title/role? (if student, please list student) 22. how long have you worked in libraries? • 0-10 years • 11-20 years • 21+ years 23. are you a member of the following associations? (please note association membership does not affect acceptance). • apala • cala • none of the above 24. optional: what other questions or comments would you like to share with us? gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 22 appendix 3: responses from project evaluation question 1: what have you applied from the forum to your job or professional activities or personally since the forum in january? • connecting further with other forum participants. • i have approached more projects with a community-based, asset-based approach because of this program. i am also more confident that i belong to the apia and apala community. as someone who identifies as mixed race chinese american i struggle with imposter syndrome and this program has helped me feel included, valued, and empowered. • practicing my own leadership style and learning to be comfortable with letting it grow even if it's different from leaders around me in my organization. taking steps to contribute more and take on responsibilities with courage. learning from, leaning on, and supporting path to leadership participants. • i've really tried to create a safe space for my diverse staff to converse and to develop allyship support for one another. • i have more awareness of the marginalization that folks within the aapi umbrella term experience and how others can come to the forefront and push other people out. • not sure if i've applied anything specifically from the forum to my job or professional activities, but i always try to operate as an anti-racist, support marginalized communities in my personal practice, and continue to learn/unlearn. • the forum instilled more confidence in me as an aapi leader. • to see myself being able to lead from all sides. • centering aapi and bipoc library staff experiences • i have shared our results with our race and equity team, assisted staff with an aapi heritage display, and shared with staff the benefits of joining apala. i also shared the facebook group, instagram, and upcoming conventions that my group thought would be appropriate for myself. i was also given the chance to attend ala as a result of joining apala through their travel stipend. • this was the fourth leadership-style training i had attended as a library professional. i found it useful in helping spark ideas around what leadership could look like that doesn't mimic what we are trained to think of as "leader-like behavior." rather than using gallup strengthsfinder tests or relying upon articles from harvard business review, what could leadership training that accounts for our unique identities and struggle look like? • the two-day session made me think towards a capstone project that i completed for a course (social justice in the information professions). leading with the work of lis scholars such as silvia vong and lalitha nataraj, i asked, "what would the antidote to typical leadership training be for library workers?" i developed an annotated bibliography and a digital zine of activities, with the idea that these items could be used in tandem with each other or individually for a reading group among library workers curious about integrating critical reflective practice into their work. the full project can be viewed at this link • continue to provide opportunities and mentor individuals of color • i am still mulling over how to bring my whole self to work which can be hard at a pwi. https://www.dropbox.com/s/08taln6hg5e1piv/is%20540%20final%20project%20-%20bibliography%20and%20zine%20-%20revised.pdf?dl=0 gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 23 • i've been cognizant of my time and where i choose to spend it, in regards to self-care and priorities. i've also been lifting up colleagues' voices, connecting others to what they need and encouraging colleagues in taking a step up and taking space. • had more confidence in my leadership knowledge and skills. • different types of leadership styles, along with seeking mentorship in my field. • leadership skills and capacities can be developed and enhanced through many forms and opportunities, including serving on one's own communities or professional library associations. • a greater awareness of my own biases, making sure others have opportunities to lead, and really looking at my institution's culture to see where small changes i can make might be useful for everyone/change. • nothing yet, as none of the information shared was practical for my situation • the idea of personal voyage in self racial identification. • self-awareness of challenges encountered as an aapi leader and manager. patty wong's keynote helped me recognize how to move past obstacles in these situations. • i really appreciated the forum as a place to connect and listen to other leaders. thank you so much for your hard work in putting this together! however, i don't know if i learned anything new from this forum. to give some context, i grew up in hawaii, where i felt seen and represented in different settings. i got to see people similar to patty wong in leadership positions when i used to live in hawaii. i was privileged to grow up in this setting and this gave me the confidence to pursue leadership positions. i really admire patty wong, but i would've loved to hear how she dealt with her struggles on top of her triumphs. i enjoyed that we got to be in breakout groups, but since we are talking about tough topics, i wonder how we could've built trust with each other before diving right in. • the forum and sessions have been so empowering. i've used that energy in bipoc spaces i help coordinate. the takeaways i've gotten are very much a foundation or head space that i go into in all aspects of my professional and personal life. it reminds me that i am not a stereotype and that i have power in my truth wherever i go. i can feel more whole in all the spaces i occupy. • be more proactive to serve as a mentor to fellow aapi staff question 2: what was helpful in the webinar series? • hearing stories that reflect my own personal experience. • working in a nearly all white library system just the opportunity to see and hear from different apia professionals gave me resilience to keep doing the work. the acknowledgement that what i'm experiencing isn't just a one off, that it happens everywhere but there are ways to be strong in the face of structural and systemic racism and oppression. and that it's good and okay and right to do that in a way that is authentic and true to you as a person, your passions, your skills, your culture, your strengths. • loved the discussion moderated by alanna aiko moore with nicky andrews, victor betts, heidi estrada, and neil ordinario! would love to build on this conversation. • leadership thoughts and strategies that are not mainstream/white-centric • i really enjoyed the second day of the january webinar and the panel featuring lalitha nataraj and more. gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 24 • the ability to learn more about the commonalities affecting the aapi communities, but also the differences that help us celebrate our diversity. i especially appreciated nicky andrews challenging the notion of what indigenous means and the ability to see the uscentric lens many of us operate under. • although the reunion event hasn't happened yet, i imagine the ability to build community and continue maintaining connection with each other would be the greatest benefit. • the mixed race panel was very important to me personally. • i appreciated having a safe space to discuss the hardships of the field while encouraging new aapi library staff. • opportunities to learn from and network with aapi librarians • knowing that there is a supportive community where everyone can thrive. • i enjoyed getting to hear individually from speakers like dr. lim, as well as chatting with participants in the small group sessions. • listening to different perspectives. i always tell students that you don't know what you don't know. so hearing the experiences of others help me gain a better understanding of what it means to be a bipoc librarian, information specialist, or faculty. • i think it was helpful just to know that there is a community of people with similar experiences in the profession. • discussion, small break out groups • the experience shared by speakers and fellow participants showed that i was not the only one who experienced stereotypical bias against aapi groups. • showcasing different apia identities and their roles within the library and beyond. • each session of the webinar series presented a very focused topic that was easy to relate to one's own situation and provided a different perspective. the series was very beneficial. • talking with others who have had similar experiences and building a community based on some of those shared experiences. • getting to meet library colleagues across the country • the honesty of the speakers • able to continue to engage with program attendees. • i was not able to attend the webinar series due to schedule conflicts. • knowing that patty wong is a reluctant leader opened my eyes to what leadership can look like for me. it's not one size fits all. i also enjoyed one of the follow up webinar series where we talked about our hands, head, and heart and how those things combine. • to hear young professionals' experiences at work question 3: what was not helpful in the webinar series? • not getting a chance to talk and discuss with other participants. • unfortunately, i was not able to attend the other two webinars. • i have not had the same level of struggles and trauma that some of our attendees have had to endure. so instead of bringing me up and energizing me, sometimes i felt dragged down • this might have been unwelcomed because it would potentially added more time to the webinars, but it would have been helpful to have activities throughout the webinars to gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 25 collectively process the information being shared, whether it's arriving at some sort of collective actionable takeaways, ways to build solidarity, etc. i recognize this happened early on in the kick-off calls in january but it would have been helpful to continue with this momentum. • i wasn't able to attend a few of the webinars due to conflicts. i wished they were scheduled earlier. • while i appreciated the discussion about the adversity aapi library workers faced, i felt like more could have been done to discuss how to recruit aapi folx into the field/ • none, it was great. • it was sometimes hard to keep up with the conversations in the chat while listening to the speakers and keeping focused. • none that i can think of at the moment. • i thought all the webinars i was able to attend were great. • being talked at (information overload). even when it's good information. • i wish all webinars had been recorded as i missed a couple of them, but i understand the reasons for privacy. • staying with the same group each time i would have liked to meet more people • not enough time for questions. • i would've liked more participant interaction during webinars. i missed the most recent one, but don't recall if there were opportunities to connect with others, other than through private messages using webinar chats. • i'd love more opportunities to connect with other participants and really talk about what we have been learning or reflecting upon. • i would like to hear more presentations from leaders in the field, less from professors question 4: what would you like to know or further explore around aapi leadership? • there seems to be a willingness from several participants to step into formal leadership positions. however, i and others have not been successful in getting desired positions. we think there's a disconnect between the field wanting to prepare leaders and organizations being willing to hire or promote people who are ready to become leaders, but may not have a decade of experience. • i would love to continue to connect with and hear from other aapi leaders. as the only aapi person in a leadership role at my library, being able to calibrate with others is so vital. • continue to practice and understand different ways of leading in the aapi community; mentoring connections; collaborating and organizing change work. • more on executive leadership please! it's one thing to lead in a lower or middle management level, but it's different at the executive level. • i would be curious if other activities develop out of this effort. • i'd like to know more about different/underrepresented voices in aapi, to help me better serve my community. • i would like to explore strategies and plans to actually recruit aapi folx into the field. • leadership styles • more ways to create pipelines for those seeking librarianship gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 26 • how can we be better allies and supporters of individuals from minoritized backgrounds? how can we better advocate for ourselves in the workplace? • mentoring opportunities, collaborative leadership and learning, partnership opportunities, networking • i would be interested to know how aapi leaders interact on campus with dei initiatives. • anti-blackness, acknowledging native hawaiian and pacific islanders along with asian americans. • more practical advice from experienced aapi leaders. • mentorship skills and individual values. • inviting aapi speakers from public libraries and school libraries would be helpful. some participants were from public libraries. • non-western ways of leading and how we can incorporate those ways into our own leadership styles to make organizational and cultural change. • lgbtq+ experiences, navigating starting a family and balancing professional life, advantages and experiences of phds for library leadership • pacific islander identification • authenticity and thriving as aapi in a predominantly-white profession. • i would be curious about regional differences among aa&pi leadership. how is it different on the east coast vs. west coast? california vs. ny? when i engage in these circles, i have always noticed that aa&pi in california and hawaii tend to be more confident than aa&pi in other states. why is that? • work life balance. • i would like to see this kind of initiatives become part of aapi's annual event question 5: please share any barriers you may have experienced when participating in any part of the path to leadership program (e.g. taking time off to attend, repeated requests, supervisor's hesitation, etc.) • i'm not attending ala annual due to other conference commitments, so i hope i'm not missing out too much. • getting supervisor's approval and understanding of the forum. • just missed a few webinars due to other meetings/teaching classes. • though i can always make time, i realized that my colleagues might not have the same freedom of time to connect, collaborate, or network. • for what i was able to attend, the path to leadership was a great experience and brilliant idea. since i'm a manager, i had trouble justifying to myself that i need to prioritize an experience just for me (as opposed to working on daily operations stuff) and so i couldn't attend most of the events after the required meetings. i also had trouble being in the right headspace for the program of course, if you're physically tired, you won't be present. • supervisor has been very supportive, but sometimes we're just so short staffed that i have to work a desk even when i've asked for and been approved for the time. • taking time off to attend, the times the webinars were held. • technology (e.g., my work computer) so nothing the organizers could have resolved 😅😅. • not having time to attend, having it available only live, without a recorded option. gao et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 27 ______________________________________________________________________________ about the authors wenli gao is the head of collections strategies & services at university of houston. raymond pun is the academic and research librarian at alder graduate school of education. lessa kanani’opua pelayo-lozada is the adult services assistant manager at palos verdes library district. lian ruan is the head librarian at illinois fire service institute library, university of illinois at urbana-champaign. 03-265-gao-title-page 03-265-gao-article-version2 wenli gao, university of houston, united states ray pun, alder graduate school of education, united states lessa kanani’opua pelayo-lozada, palos verdes library district, united states lian ruan, illinois fire service institute library, united states abstract leadership curriculum outline conclusion references datausa (2017). diversity. retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/soc/librarians#ethnicity appendix 1: project personnel and advisory board appendix 2: application questions issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org implementing controlled digital lending with google drive and apps script: a case study at the nyu shanghai library qinghua xu, leon lin, and xiaohua wu abstract: the unexpected outbreak of covid-19 near the beginning of 2020 has significantly interrupted the daily operations of a wide range of academic institutions across china. as a result, libraries in china faced a challenge of providing their patrons access to their physical collections while the campuses may remain closed. as the outbreak became a global pandemic, the pressing demand for solutions became only more evident among academic libraries worldwide. controlled digital lending (cdl) is an emerging concept that enables libraries to digitize a physical item from their collections and loan the access-restricted file to one user at a time for a limited time based on the “owned to loaned” ratio in the library’s collections. despite all the discussions and enthusiasm about cdl, there is, however, still a lack of technical infrastructure to support individual libraries to manage their self-hosted collections. with covid-19 still very much a presence in our lives, many libraries are more than eager to figure out the best approach to circulating materials that only exist in print form to their users in a secure and legitimate way. nyu shanghai is a sino-foreign university located in shanghai, mainland china. this article describes our temporary but creative implementation of cdl amid the covid-19 pandemic. we managed to work out a technical solution in a very short time, to lend out digital versions of library materials to users when the library is physically inaccessible to them. by collaborating with our campus it, a google spreadsheet with google apps scripts was developed to allow a team of access services staff to do hourly loans, which is a desired function for our reserve collection. further, when the access to a file expires, staff will be notified via email. we hope our experience can be useful for those libraries that are interested in lending their physical materials using cdl and are in urgent need for an applicable solution without a cost. to cite this article: xu, q., lin, l. & wu, x. (2021). implementing controlled digital lending with google drive and apps script: a case study at the nyu shanghai library. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 37-54. https://doi.org/ 10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.193 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 37-54. issn: 2474-3542 implementing controlled digital lending with google drive and apps script: a case study at the nyu shanghai library qinghua xu, shanghai new york university, shanghai, china leon lin, china, shanghai new york university, shanghai, china xiaohan wu, shanghai new york university, shanghai, china abstract the unexpected outbreak of covid-19 near the beginning of 2020 has significantly interrupted the daily operations of a wide range of academic institutions across china. as a result, libraries in china faced a challenge of providing their patrons access to their physical collections while the campuses may remain closed. as the outbreak became a global pandemic, the pressing demand for solutions became only more evident among academic libraries worldwide. controlled digital lending (cdl) is an emerging concept that enables libraries to digitize a physical item from their collections and loan the access-restricted file to one user at a time for a limited time based on the “owned to loaned” ratio in the library’s collections. despite all the discussions and enthusiasm about cdl, there is, however, still a lack of technical infrastructure to support individual libraries to manage their self-hosted collections. with covid-19 still very much a presence in our lives, many libraries are more than eager to figure out the best approach to circulating materials that only exist in print form to their users in a secure and legitimate way. nyu shanghai is a sino-foreign university located in shanghai, mainland china. this article describes our temporary but creative implementation of cdl amid the covid-19 pandemic. we managed to work out a technical solution in a very short time, to lend out digital versions of library materials to users when the library is physically inaccessible to them. by collaborating with our campus it, a google spreadsheet with google apps scripts was developed to allow a team of access services staff to do hourly loans, which is a desired function for our reserve collection. further, when the access to a file expires, staff will be notified via email. we hope our experience can be useful for those libraries that are interested in lending their physical materials using cdl and are in urgent need for an applicable solution without a cost. keywords: cdl, controlled digital lending, course reserve, google apps scripts, access services, covid-19 introduction controlled digital lending (cdl) is “an emerging method that allows libraries to loan print books to patrons in a ‘lend like print’ fashion ” (main page | controlled digital lending by libraries, n.d.), when there are no alternatives available in the ebook licensing market. the https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=lmbeg7 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=lmbeg7 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=lmbeg7 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=lmbeg7 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 38 white paper on cdl published in 2018 is a foundational document that explains the legal and policy rationales for cdl as well as a variety of risk factors and practical considerations that can guide libraries seeking to implement cdl. (hansen & courtney, 2018, p. 1) controlled digital lending has three core principles: ● “a library must own a legal copy of the physical book, by purchase or gift. ● the library must maintain an ‘owned to loaned’ ratio, simultaneously lending no more copies than it legally owns. ● the library must use technical measures to ensure that the digital file cannot be copied or redistributed.” (controlled digital lending fact sheet | controlled digital lending by libraries, n.d.) in theory, for materials that exist only in print, a library can choose to loan a digitized copy of a book it owns, only to a single user at a time, in place of the physical item. meanwhile, the corresponding physical copy should be removed from the collection and be placed in storage while the digital version is shared with a patron. nyu shanghai is china’s first sino-us research university and the third degreegranting campus of the nyu global network, located in shanghai, china. our student body currently consists of nearly 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students. we started exploring cdl before the chinese new year of 2020 (january 2020) and planned to continue the discussion when the spring 2020 semester starts. no one had expected that we would not be able to return to campus for almost three months due to the unexpected outbreak of covid19. in response to the global public health crisis triggered by the pandemic, nyu shanghai followed public health guidance and delayed the opening for the spring 2020 semester and moved to online teaching instead. how to make sure our patrons could continue to access the collections remotely became a challenge for our library staff. our first response was to check whether a book was already available in licensed electronic format; if not, then to further check if there was such a licensed e-version for purchase. however, given the fact that not all of the items in our collections have their corresponding licensed electronic versions, the library access team had to devise a solution to this problem. controlled digital lending seemed to be the only viable option under the special circumstance. our previous preliminary work on cdl led us to quickly move the experiment forward into practice. in retrospect, we found we were among the first few small libraries (if not the first) to adopt a cdl-flavored approach to the problems we were facing amid the covid-19 crisis. this article is intended to share our technical solution with those who are interested in an easy-to-implement cdl solution. the cdl related legal discussions are not covered in this study. literature review despite all the discussions and enthusiasm about cdl, there is, however, still a lack of technical infrastructure or a universal solution to support individual libraries implementing cdl, let alone a tailored one. one of the major concerns about cdl is that lending libraries must have control over the library-owned, print-turned digital materials. “at its core,” as the courtney & hansen’s https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=uowpuy https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=uowpuy xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 39 white paper pointed out, “cdl is about replicating with digital lending the legal and economically significant aspects of physical lending. to do so, we libraries must truly exercise control in the process.” (hansen & courtney, 2018, p. 3). in other words, the materials to be lent should be under such “control” that technically a patron is not able to reproduce the content of the materials by downloading, printing or sharing. the technical control that a library has of its cdl materials is to ensure its legal control of such materials. therefore, to put cdl into practice, the implementation must be designed so that “technical control” over the materials to be lent will be guaranteed. though the term “cdl” got attention quite recently, the idea behind it is barely new. so are the attempts to realize it. internet archive (ia) (https://archive.org/) partnered with boston public library to pilot cdl services in 2011 (bailey, 2019). ia uses adobe digital editions (https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html) for digital rights management (drm) behind the scenes to manage its implementation of cdl (borrowing from the lending library, n.d.). besides, internet archive assists with many libraries to digitize their collections and make them available via “controlled digital lending,” allowing the libraries to lend digital copies of their printed books (fowler, 2020). anabaptist mennonite biblical seminary (ambs) library (https://www.ambs.edu/library), for example, worked with the internet archive to make it possible for students taking their classes remotely to have access to their textbooks. this proved particularly helpful during the pandemic (board & stutzman, 2020). compared with internet archives, the cdl service provided by hathitrust temporary access service (etas) (https://www.hathitrust.org/etas-description) allows its member libraries’ users to access digital copies of print materials (when available in hathitrust) that they own but that are not accessible because the libraries are closed in light of a public health emergency. etas is more restricted in terms of controlling the lending. first, a library must meet the library and patron eligibility before it can enable the service. second, the services must target a smaller group of users: faculty, staff, and students of member libraries. furthermore, the hathitrust platform emulates the lending of physical items by allowing users to “check out a [digital] copy for a limited period of time” (hathitrust digital library, n.d.). the owned-to-loaned ratio is strictly maintained at 1-1 at the same time. thus, controlled lending. besides the two large-scale cdl solutions mentioned above, a few institutions created hybrid solutions for lending course reserve materials in response to the pandemic. according to the “aserl’s resource guide to controlled digital lending for research libraries,” oregon state university library utilized alma digital (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/training/alma_digital), developed by exlibris (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/), to host the content and limit both the number of users accessing the digital items and the time they are allowed to access. the combination of libcal (https://www.springshare.com/libcal/) email (checkout) with digify – a digital rights management software (https://digify.com/digital-rights-management.html) allows students to place requests via libcal and the access is limited by digify. this solution was in practice at carnegie mellon. similarly, canvas learning management system can limit downloading and copying while the libcal is used for students to place a request (burger et al., 2021). by coincidence or not, recent days also have seen a trend toward institutions developing their own versions of cdl applications. in march of 2021, lyrasis (https://www.lyrasis.org/pages/main.aspx) and columbia university collaboration announced a new partnership to deploy simplye (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplye/id1046583900), an open-source e-reader app developed by new york public library, to columbia university https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=xefgbc https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=41bm6l https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=e7mjsh xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 40 library users. “the first phase of the partnership includes approximately 20,000 ebooks prepared for discovery through clio (columbia’s local blacklight-based catalog) and delivered through the simplye mobile app, hosted by lyrasis” (lyrasis, 2021). as of this writing, nyu libraries (https://library.nyu.edu/) announced they have launched a pilot project aiming at delivering over 150,000 ebooks to nyu users via the simplye app, which can be a potential platform to host cdl items. without losing any amount of the control over the materials to be loaned, simplye reduces “number of logins needed,” allowing the users to access the ebooks using their campus ids and passwords (kannan, 2021). for all the creative features and benefits of the above technical approaches to the implementation of cdl, they may not be suitable for libraries that are looking for a quick, easy, and affordable way to implement a version of cdl that can be embedded into their current workflows as seamlessly as possible. since cloud drive services are now widely available, it is only natural that some libraries have come up with the idea of using one of such drives to manage their digitized items. for example, google drive (https://www.google.com/drive/) provides a convenient way to manage and share files with specific trusted users. with regard to implementing cdl files, the file owner can easily limit the sharing so that only a specific authorized user can have access to the shared item for a limited period of time. this “controlled access” can be further narrowed by disabling download and print privileges granted by default when a file is shared. fordham university has recently deployed a home-grown digital reserves platform using google drive as its backend. their beta version of cdl code was announced in march 2021 through controlled digital lending implementers (cdli) (cdl implementers, n.d.) listserv and is hosted on github. an institution must have google workspace (google docs, sheets, slides, etc.) to use the application (fordham-university-libraries/g-cdl, 2021/2021). apart from google drive, google also provides an apps script service which enables its users to take advantage of cloud-based scripts to customize the behavior of tools from google workspace. this makes it possible for a short-term implementation of cdl to be developed in a rather quick manner and easily ported to similar scenarios with or without modifications of the scripts. furthermore, google’s team drive extends the functionality of drive to the level that a team, instead of a single owner, can control the stored materials in it with the same and equal privileges. methodology this study makes use of the interpretive research approach in the sense that no numeric data or quantitative analysis was used or produced. the purpose of this study is to explain in detail why and how nyu shanghai library leveraged google sheets and drive to initialize and implement a temporary version of cdl service for the patrons. in order to implement a temporary cdl platform that meets our expectations, we tested four different options (nyu box, ares, google drive and locklizard) available to us within just one week and decided to use google sheets as the final solution. the term “available” was defined as the status in which a tool or an application has been purchased or developed by the library or the community to which the library belongs. the tests were performed by the library access team staff using their work laptops and google accounts. test results were then reviewed and discussed in team meetings organized by the access services librarian. the testing process was divided into two phases. the first phase was to quickly test if a tool could satisfy two important requirements: it allows for hourly loans and it is available https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=rggsei https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=2m8pa5 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=2m8pa5 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=2m8pa5 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=wra7xx https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=wra7xx xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 41 across the nyu community. those that passed the first phase were then examined in the second phase where the access team explored the possibility of embedding them into the team’s daily workflow. due to time constraints, it was not possible for the library to conduct a thorough, databased analysis of the aforementioned solutions to cdl implementation. utilities from google workspace, such as google sheets and drive, are not designed exclusively for implementing cdl services and have such limitations as lack of a feature-rich ebook viewer and storage restrictions on data scale, but they are adequately effective when being leveraged to quickly implement a working solution that satisfies the library’s specific requirements. although the tools the library has tested have not been statistically compared and analyzed, with the sample of google drive, this study presents the technical architecture of this project, indicating that it is possible to implement a makeshift cdl-service platform that is affordable and effective enough, which might be helpful and inspiring to other academic libraries that are looking for similar solutions. our technical solution we decided to use google drive and sheets as the base of our implementation of cdl for two practical reasons. first, back in february 2020, given the limited time, there were no other existing options available to us that could meet our urgent needs: restricting access and loaning reserves at four hourly intervals. before we concluded that google drive was the way to go, we investigated three other options at hand. the first was nyu box (https://www.nyu.edu/life/informationtechnology/websites-storage-and-sharing/nyu-box.html) but the service is mainly available to the faculty at our university, excluding a major audience branch of the library: the students. then we looked into atlas’ ares (https://www.atlas-sys.com/ares), the course reserve system used at our university. one of the key features provided by ares is electronic reserves, such as urls of journal articles, scanned chapter files, ebooks, etc. these can be posted in ares and made accessible to all the students enrolled in corresponding courses. thus, we thought ares may offer an additional tool of the type. however, we were told that it was not possible for atlas to provide a solution immediately. we also examined a digital rights management solution called locklizard (https://www.locklizard.com/). unfortunately, the tool could not control access by hour, a key requirement for our reserve services, so we did not move forward with it. another reason is that google drive and sheets are part of google workspace (formerly g suite), the go-to set of communication applications across the nyu community. well supported by nyu it services, drive and sheets are the ideal tools for the library to experiment with and customize. after using google drive to share a file for a couple of weeks, some of its limitations came to our attention and proved indeed to be functional shortcomings from our perspective. first of all, only the document owner could uncheck the option to disable downloading, printing, and sharing in the settings, which meant only the owner could “loan” the file to a patron. secondly, only the owner of a file could set the file expiration date. thirdly, when it came to setting an expiration time, the minimum unit provided was a day. for course reserves, we would like to manage our loans on an hourly basis because materials from our reserve collections are supposed to be lent for 4 hours. those limitations combined make it inconvenient (if not impossible) for a team of access services staff to manage both the files and access to them as a group. xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 42 we reached out to our campus google workspace expert for advice. after reviewing our case, the expert advised us to use team drive (or shared drives) in place of google drive (or my drive). a team drive differs from an individual user drive in that staff members can be added to a shared drive in such a way that each of them can perform the same operations using their own account regardless of whoever is the document owner. in that case, the last challenge facing us was how to customize google scripts. although it allows us to prohibit downloading, sharing and copying, google team drive does not come with a feature which allows for user-defined expirations on an hourly basis. it turned out what we needed then was to develop a google script which sets an hour-level time limit on a file and removes the users from the shared file automatically based on the expiration time. the script had gone through four versions, from march 2020 to early june 2020. 1st version and problems in the first place, we found a google script that could set an auto expiration date for a shared link (agarwal, 2017). the workings of this script consist of two parts: a time-driven trigger (https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/triggers/installable#time-driven_triggers) which launches the script at the set time (a date or a point of time); and the functions defined in the script which will automatically disable the shared link and remove the shared user from the viewer list. we decided to try out this script and add more functions based on our needs. however, we still faced two problems by then. one was that we needed an email notification feature to inform the library staff when a shared link expires. by doing so, the library staff can check in the item(s) in our ils and put the book(s) back on the shelf. the other problem was that sometimes the script would finish without removing the added viewers at all. 2nd version and bugfixes in regard to the first problem in the first version, we added an email notification function to the script so that each time a shared link expires, the library staff group will be notified via email. a drawback of this method, however, is that the email address to whom the notification will go can be set and modified only in the script. for the second problem, after several days of intensive searching and troubleshooting, we found that the root cause was that geteditors() methed from driveapp api acts in a different way than does getviewers(). these two methods return different values in google team drive, as shown in figure 1. figure 1. note: adapted from stack overflow (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54189752/how-do-i-get-the-managers contributors-etc-of-a-google-team-drive). https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=qqbcgy https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54189752/how-do-i-get-the-managers-%20%20%20contributors-etc-of-a-google-team-drive https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54189752/how-do-i-get-the-managers-%20%20%20contributors-etc-of-a-google-team-drive xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 43 when the script runs getediters(), it will return all members with edit permissions (e.g. manager, content, and contributors) of this team drive folder. such users are treated as special members of a shared drive by design and therefore should not be removed. our previous attempts to remove them created a logic conflict in the script’s runtime, which in turn triggered an error and stopped the script. as a result, the viewer-removing function did not run as expected. to prevent this from happening again, we agreed to not assign any contributors in this specific team drive folder. 3rd version and improvements in spite of the verbal agreement, to err is human. therefore, in order to improve the error tolerance, we added a try block (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/exception_handling_syntax) to catch and skip errors of this type. besides, the error logs caught by the try block will also be helpful when it comes to debugging the script. 4th version (currently in use and the final version) with all the above-mentioned problems and bugs resolved, we made one additional improvement: adding a function to allow the receiver address to be edited in the 2nd tab of the spreadsheet. for more details, refer to appendix a. whole project structure to make the project concise and easy to extend, we split the project into the following three script files: menu.gs this script file is to add and modify the menu ui of the spreadsheet. any users would take any interactions through these menus. for the sake of simplicity, we have only two options - authorize and start tracing. this script includes an important function called onopen(), which initializes the customized menus upon opening the spreadsheet. utility.gs this script file includes the function that makes the process more efficient and straightforward. here we only have an authorizing function for the spreadsheet to gain necessary permissions from a user. for future use, we may add more functions to improve processes or services. code.gs this script includes the main function to achieve the auto expiration feature. it includes the functions of automatically removing shared links, setting triggers at 15-minute intervals and sending email notifications for every trigger. for public use these script files are ready for public use (see appendix a). one important notice for any library that would like to adopt the scripts is that the user must replace the receiver email address in the 2nd tab of the spreadsheet with their own. one thing to point out is that during our test, we found out that it is not required that your institution must have a google workplace license. a free google account would also work. however, we would recommend using a shared account if more than one staff member will manage the service. xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 44 for a detailed, step-by-step adoption of our workflow using google workspace (https://workspace.google.com/) with the scripts, see appendix a. conclusion nyu shanghai library has a small reserve collection ranging from 200-300 physical titles each semester. for example, 542 books circulated around 3,000 times during fiscal year 2019. the total number of physical books on reserve for spring and summer 2020 was around 180; the circulation, however, decreased significantly in fiscal year 2020, to nearly one-third of the average in the past years. not to mention that this circulation number included the transactions prior to the pandemic. as to the circulation of our cdl items, from early march of 2020 (when the project was initiated) to the middle april of 2021, we have fulfilled 64 requests in total. therefore, our workflow may be more applicable to small libraries. we feel the script can be useful for libraries seeking a simple solution to implementing cdl in a short time. it is worth mentioning that file sizes larger than 100mb will not be displayed by google drive’s built-in pdf viewer. users may get a “file is too large to view” error message and be asked to download the file. since the cdl file is not downloadable, it is suggested to reduce the file size down to 50-60mb before sharing with a patron. adobe acrobat dc pro offers such a feature called “reduce file size” to allow users to compress a pdf file size. (https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-to/compress-pdf.html) the experience of reading a book using google drive is not very ideal (but acceptable for the short term). that is why we all need a long-term technical solution to automate the process., i.e., something similar to the various commercial ebook platforms. some disadvantages of using the pdf viewer for cdl purposes are: users cannot jump to a section from a table of content; they cannot search or browse; they cannot download it and read it offline. from the library staff’s point of view, it is troublesome having to manually set the due time and share the link with a patron. in addition, staff need to operate multiple systems such as ils, illiad, and spreadsheets to keep track of the checked-out materials and the stats. furthermore, because we disable downloading, we have to reduce the size of the original scans to make the file viewable for users, which is also time-consuming. another potential risk is that the user can see the file in their browser unless they refresh or close the browser window after the shared link expires. but that problem also occurs when you use google’s own expiration feature. the other questions to consider include a mechanism by which a patron can discover a cdl item and initiate a request on it. last but not least, libraries that adopt cdl need to consider putting it together with a list of criteria as to what to scan. the white paper suggests focusing efforts on low-risk book candidates such as books in public domain, out of print, etc. (hansen & courtney, 2018, p. 38). nyu shanghai campus reopened on april 27, 2020, ending a nearly three-month closure due to the covid-19 pandemic. as we still have users who are outside china and are not able to return to campus for in-person classes, we may still lend cdl copies at the request of patrons using the workflow we developed. the service has not been actively promoted at the current stage. as new york university favors simplye more, we may investigate the possibility of utilizing simplye as our cdl platform. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-to/compress-pdf.html https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=mbhme9 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 45 references agarwal, a. 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https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=vtdi67 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=vtdi67 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=vtdi67 https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=obumbi https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=obumbi https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=obumbi https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=obumbi https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ypgwyn https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ypgwyn https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ypgwyn https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ypgwyn https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ypgwyn https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ucslhv https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ucslhv https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ucslhv https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ucslhv https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=ftdfob https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=go8isk https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=go8isk https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=go8isk xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 46 appendix a cdl using google drive and apps script step 1. disable downloading, sharing and printing if you use team drive, go to “shared drive setting” (one-time setup) figure 2 uncheck “viewers and commenters can download, print and copy files”. figure 3 if you use google drive, select the file and go to share with people settings (you will have to do this for every file). xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 47 figure 4 uncheck “viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print and copy.” figure 5 step 2. make a copy of this google spreadsheet. a google spreadsheet is simply an instance of google sheets (https://www.google.com/sheets/about/). the script is bound with the newly-copied sheet which can be placed in the same folder as the pdf files. step 2. 1. authorize the script (one-time) after copying the above spreadsheet, you will need to first authorize the script. this should be done by the owner of the file (for google drive) or team drive manager. figure 6 step 2.2. click on start tracking expiry date below “authorize” (one-time). a dialog box will pop up asking for your permission to continue. click on continue. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1enfs2cxkn9khzi4ku2dycec45dftfopsamnqzsvf2o8/copy?usp=sharing https://www.google.com/sheets/about/ xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 48 figure 7 then a separate browser window will be populated (see below), asking you to choose the proper account to run the scripts. figure 8 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 49 next, google will ask you to confirm that you allow the scripts to modify the files stored in the shared drive. click on allow at the bottom. figure 9 step 2.3. replace the email address with your group’s. click on the second tab “setupemailadd” in the spreadsheet and replace the original email with your preferred email address (group email address is recommended, for example, the email of your service account). the current version of the script only supports adding one email address. xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 50 figure 10 step 2.4. adjust your time zone settings to make the script work properly ● go to files, click spreadsheet settings ○ choose the correct “time zone” xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 51 figure 11 ● go to tools, click script editor ○ switch to legacy editor if you are on the new editor ○ under files, click project properties ○ choose the correct “time zone” under the “info” tab figure 12 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 52 figure 13 step 3. check out the physical item in ils (optional) before we share the digital file with a patron, we check out the physical book to a dummy patron in our ils and move the book from the shelf to our storage. this way, the book will show in our catalog as checked-out with its due date/time, meanwhile only one copy is being circulated at a time. that might work for a regular circulating item; however, it may be troublesome having to check in/out a physical course reserve item frequently. at present, we were able to handle the reserve request as the number of requests is relatively low. step 4. select the file find the target file to be checked out in the google drive folder. click on +share to add a viewer figure 14 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 53 step 5 add a patron to be a viewer of a file figure 15 optional: we also uncheck “notify people” because we’d like to use an email template to notify patrons via our regular circulation email address instead of this team drive group. the name convention of the pdf file we came up with consists of a barcode and the title of the physical item: barcode_title. we also have an inventory list of all pdf files for staff to keep track of. step 6. copy the link copy the shared link of the file to be entered into the spreadsheet (see step 7) figure 16 xu, lin and wu / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 54 step 7. enter the information in the script spreadsheet you are only required to enter information for “file url”, “expiration time” and “file name”. please leave column “status” empty. the rest columns are optional and can be modified as needed. step 7.1. you may start filling out the information from row 2 and leave the first row as your example. paste the url copied from the previous step in “file url” column step 7.2. enter the expiration time in the exact format as shown in the example step 7.3. leave the status column blank since the script will automatically fill in that column around the expiration time. step 7.4. enter something in the “file name” field step 7.5. enter information for the rest of columns as needed if you use google team drive, all members of the team drive should be able to manage this process. but if you use google drive, it has to be the owner of the file who can manage the lending, which is why we highly recommend using a shared account or a service account. step 8. email the patron (optional) if you check “notify people”, you may skip this step. currently, we use a simple email template to notify the patron. the template basically contains the below information: item title shared link expiration time our contact information in the email, we also make sure to let patrons know the file cannot be downloaded, printed or shared. step 9. you will receive an email upon file expiration step 10. check in the physical item (optional) about the authors qinghua xu is the head of access services and stem librarian at nyu shanghai where she oversees circulation, stack maintenance, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and course reserves. meanwhile, she serves as the primary liaison to the stem departments, with responsibilities for delivering a program of instruction, consultation and research support. leon lin is the course reserves coordinator at nyu shanghai library. he manages the course reserves, both physical and electronic, and serves as a member of the access services team of the library. xiaohan wu is the senior academic and research support at information technology of nyu shanghai. he works as the system administrator of virtual computer lab system, it assets management system, including system integration and server maintenance. meanwhile, he is in a role of google education service tier-2 supports, managing and improving google services in the use of academics and research. 004-title-193-article text-984-2-11-20210624 004-193-article text-983-2-11-20210624-cl-huang_ct international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 109-110 issn:2474-3542 the 9th shanghai international library forum (silf 2018) the 9th shanghai international library forum (silf 2018) was held on october 17-19, 2018 at the shanghai library. the forum was organized by the shanghai library (institute of scientific and technical information of shanghai) and co-organized by the shanghai society for library science and the shanghai society for scientific & technical information. a total of 292 delegates from 24 countries and regions attended the forum. the forum program consisted of three keynote speeches, one plenary session which included seven presentations, and five concurrent sessions: digital scholarship and humanistic studies; public service and reading promotion; information technology and smart libraries; space design and service innovation; and academic publication and professional communication. the three keynote speeches were delivered by chen chao, director of shanghai library titled “intelligence and inclusiveness: the power to re-envision the public library;” gloria perezsalmeron, ifla president titled “libraries as motors for change;” and peter k. bol, professor of chinese history at harvard university titled “the digital humanities and a cyberinfrastructure for china studies.” michael bailou huang, director of global library initiatives at stony brook university chaired the concurrent session v titled “academic publication and professional communication—collaboration, openness and moving forward together: the international future of academic publication in library and information studies.” at this well attended session, guoying liu, university of windsor, together with fangmin wang of ryerson university, talked about the chinese american librarians association’s peer-reviewed academic english journal: international journal of librarianship. in addition, guoying presented about hot topics in recent lis publications. cala executive director lian ruan shared her experience about working together with chinese and american academic librarians for a monograph publication. ping fu of central washington university co-presented with kristi thompson of university of windsor on “how to publish in an english academic journal.” kristi, joined by shenqin yin of fudan university in shanghai, china, made a presentation titled “collaboration between a canadian and chinese author and their different national perspectives on library and information science— a case study.” at the round table titled “international communication and sharing of library and information academic achievements” co-chaired by xiaoming jin of shanghai library and shushi wu of the national library of china, editors-in-chief and representatives of 23 journals from china, canada, and the united states gathered together and shared their perspectives on the future of academic publications in library and information studies. a joint initiative of the library and information science journals about open access was endorsed by the 23 participating journals including international journal of librarianship and other core lis journals in china such as journal of the national library of china, library journal, library construction, journal of academic libraries, library and information work, library forum, and chinese library journal. huang and liu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 110 the joint initiative calls for promoting the rapid and wider dissemination of research results in library and information science and making the research results in this field freely available to the public. michael bailou huang, stony brook university, stony brook, ny, usa guoying liu, university of windsor, ontario, canada issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the development and innovation of archival education in china under the social media environment: taking archival wechat public accounts operated by universities as an example yang chen and yike zhan abstract: this paper conducts a thorough review of the current state of archival education within mainland china. furthermore, it endeavors to explore the future developmental trends of archival education within social media environments. to accomplish this, we examine the operation of wechat public accounts of archives within chinese universities as a prime example. the paper highlights the transformative role of social media on the conventional approach to archival education. social media has fostered advancement and originality in archival education, broadened the scope and depth of its significance, and has had an unparalleled impact on its ongoing development. nevertheless, the utilization of social media also poses a myriad of predicaments. the paramount difficulty we confront today pertains to how we can effectively harness the benefits of archival wechat public accounts on a sustained and enduring basis, while ensuring their persistent existence and growth. to cite this article: chen, y. & zhan, y. (2023). the development and innovation of archival education in china under the social media environment: taking archival wechat public accounts operated by universities as an example. international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 2641. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.291 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.3.291 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(3), 26-41. issn: 2474-3542 the development and innovation of archival education in china under the social media environment: taking archival wechat public accounts operated by universities as an example yang chen, school of information management, sun yat-sen university, china yike zhan, school of information management, sun yat-sen university, china abstract this paper conducts a thorough review of the current state of archival education within mainland china. furthermore, it endeavors to explore the future developmental trends of archival education within social media environments. to accomplish this, we examine the operation of wechat public accounts of archives within chinese universities as a prime example. the paper highlights the transformative role of social media on the conventional approach to archival education. social media has fostered advancement and originality in archival education, broadened the scope and depth of its significance, and has had an unparalleled impact on its ongoing development. nevertheless, the utilization of social media also poses a myriad of predicaments. the paramount difficulty we confront today pertains to how we can effectively harness the benefits of archival wechat public accounts on a sustained and enduring basis, while ensuring their persistent existence and growth. keywords: archival education, social media, wechat public accounts, universities, china introduction in digital environment, the iterative evolution of information technologies has promoted the continuous reform of archival work, especially the technologies represented by the internet, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, which have had a profound impact on the environment, ideologies and modes of archival work. it is indispensable to constantly update the concepts, curriculum system and talent training path of archival education. this paper examines the operation of wechat public accounts of archives within chinese universities as a prime example. the wechat public account, also known as the wechat public platform, was officially launched in august 2012. it is a new functional module added by tencent on the basis of wechat, which is similar to instagram and twitter. individuals or corporate organizations can apply for public accounts. the wechat public account is a platform for expressing ideas, sharing and disseminating knowledge. once users subscribe to the wechat public accounts, they can receive relevant information, such as pictures, texts, videos, voices, etc. chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 27 many industries have tried to strengthen their ties with customers by creating and operating wechat public accounts. in the era of digitalization, wechat public accounts have become carriers for information releases and online interactions, and important platforms for providing public services. they are also the main channels for people to receive various kinds of information on a daily basis. after 2014, many archival institutions and universities in china have created and operated wechat public accounts to advocate archival education, archival research and archival work, which has found a broad audience. their development has reflected remarkable characteristics. first, wechat public accounts have adhered to the formation of personalized features for a long time, and tweeted articles around archival industry, which has formed a certain degree of reader cohesion. wechat public accounts with mature operations generally have a stable reading volume of articles, which means consistent groups of followers. second, wechat public accounts are dedicated to the promotion of high-quality original articles. the foundation of the existence of archival wechat public accounts is to maintain the quality of tweets, ensure the originality of articles, and retain valuable historical and cultural knowledge. readers can strengthen emotional identification and enhance their understanding of archives, archival work and archival science while following tweets. third, wechat public accounts focus on improving users’ reading experience, such as paying attention to the typesetting, making pictures, texts, audios and videos, etc. in terms of language expression, the combination of professionalism and popularity is particularly preferred. fourth, the two-way interaction between operators and readers is enhanced. for example, authors and editors of articles and readers have online communications in message boards; authors and editors can respond to readers’ messages one by one, and answer questions timely so as to improve readers’ satisfaction. background of archival education in china china’s modern archival education began in the 1930s. through constant adjustment and systematic reform, an archival education system with chinese characteristics gradually formed. entering the 21st century, china’s archival education has entered a new stage of stable growth. in 1996, there were 24 universities offering the major of archival science, 27 in 2000, 31 in 2005, and a total of 32 universities offering the major of archival science by 2010. different from the western countries, which mainly focus on postgraduate education, china’s archival education is based on undergraduate education, supplemented by graduate and postgraduate education, and aims to provide society with specialized professional talents. the new liberal arts have provided an important direction for the development of archival education in china. from a historical perspective, whether in china or in western countries, social science has always been closely linked with social change and progress, and is an important driving force for social development. from a realistic perspective, since the beginning of the 21st century, the trend of integration between liberal arts and modern information technology has become more and more obvious, the boundaries between various branches of liberal arts have become increasingly blurred, and the development of new technologies, industries and products continue to trigger new social topics. it requires people to adapt to changes as well as break through the traditional thinking mode of liberal arts, “promote the expansion of academic vision of liberal arts and the change of thinking paradigm, and promote the integration and innovation of research content as well as methods of liberal arts” (fan, 2021). chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 28 archival science needs to respond and adjust itself according to the new situation, which is part of social sciences. people also need to take into consideration the characteristics of archival education under the background of information technology innovation, use technical means to promote the integration of new media into archival education, and build an efficient education system within the whole life cycle so as to make contributions to the construction of new liberal arts in china. research questions and methodology this paper uses literature research method and network survey method, focusing on the interaction between china’s archival education and archival wechat public accounts operated by universities, and proposes the following research questions: rq1: how can china’s archival education system promote its development and innovation in the social media environment? rq2: what is the current situation of archival wechat public accounts operated by universities in china? rq3: how does archival wechat public accounts operated by universities promote the development of archival education in china? literature research method in chinese social science research is mainly applied for analyzing secondary data, emphasizing the collection and analysis of literature through standardized methods, and conducting in-depth historical and exploratory analysis of the research object (qiu, 2007). this method runs through the whole research process and provides solid literature support for this study. according to the needs of the topic selection, the types of literature surveyed in this study mainly include research papers, academic journals, newspapers, etc., as well as academic databases in both chinese and foreign languages (including cnki, wanfang data, web of science, scopus, springer, proquest, etc.). it needs to be pointed out that although the literature referred to in this study is relatively extensive, the main channel for collecting and analyzing literature related to china’s archival education and archival wechat public account is to search and read the titles, abstracts and key words in papers published in 10 chinese journals of archival science that have been indexed in peking university’s a guide to the core journal of china (中文核心期刊要目总览) from 1996 to 2022 through cnki artificially. the journals are archives science bulletin (档案学通讯), archives science study (档 案学研究), china archives (中国档案), beijing archives (北京档案), zhejiang archives (浙江 档案), archives and construction (档案与建设), archives management (档案管理), shanxi archives (山西档案), lantai world (兰台世界) and archives (档案). in 1996, the xiiith congress of international council on archives (ica) was held in beijing, china. much literature on archival education in china’s archival science circle emerged after this event. however, literature concentrating on archival wechat public accounts emerged largely after the major amendment of the wechat public platform authentication service agreement in 2016. network survey method refers to the practice of collecting, recording, organizing, and analyzing the information from the internet or the wechat public accounts. in china, some universities have their own archives, and they also operate wechat public accounts. taking sun yat-sen university as an example, we can search sun yat-sen university archives (中山大学档 chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 29 案馆) in wechat search column, but it is not a desired research object for this topic. however, lingnan archives (岭南档案) which is operated by students majoring in archival science in sun yat-sen university is our real research object. in this research, we choose to search educational units and their public accounts in wechat one by one and then make assessments on whether the accounts are operated by students or teachers in universities. there are three specific steps for applying the method in this research. first, according to the latest china archival undertaking development report (2022) published by renmin university of china, we search the name of educational units in wechat search column, and check the relevant news released by public accounts. generally, news for any educational unit in chinese universities can usually be found on wechat. then, we check the public accounts that release relevant news one by one, and determine the main positioning of public accounts based on the content of information released in the past. finally, we check the authentication information of public accounts, identify the main operator, and judge whether the public account is consistent with the research scope of this study. through this process, we selected 17 archival wechat public accounts operated by educational units of chinese universities. literature review in view of the general situation of china’s modern archival education, relevant research has referred to the history of archival education, the existing problems and solutions in class teaching, the curriculum design for archival science, the experience of archival education in other countries as well as its impacts on china, and the reorganization and innovation of archival science discipline system under the background of new liberal arts construction. the history of china’s modern archival education is deeply related to the steady development of education towards library and information science (feng et al., 2020). the characteristics and achievements (xiao et al., 2011) as well as problems and countermeasures (kong, 1999; fan, 2000; zhang, 2000; lian, 2002; chen, 2013; yang, 2022) of china’s archival higher education from the late 1970s to the 2010s have been analyzed. during the process of new liberal arts construction, china’s archival education has a new development vision and multiple demands placed on it (zhou, 2021). therefore, it is helpful to clarify the principles of formulating and optimizing professional training programs for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in archival science (chen, 2008; jian, 2010; bian, 2019). in this respect, rational construction of the curriculum system is also important (fang, 2014; ni, 2014). from a global perspective, the development and achievements as well as characteristics of european and american archival education have been summarized (liu, 1998; an, 2003; wang, 2008; li, 2008; xiao, 2021), and archival education among ischools worldwide has been introduced (li et al., 2021). through these efforts, similarities and differences with china’s archival education have been noticed. with the development of social media, application of wechat public accounts in archival education has gradually received attention in relevant research. at the macro level, the development status as well as strategies of archival wechat public account operations have been elaborated (sun et al., 2020), and based on the core positioning of the construction of new media platforms for the major of archival science in universities, the urgent needs to establish operating mechanisms in terms of teams, platforms and information contents have been analyzed (xie et al., 2019). besides, the significance of applying wechat online services represented by archival wechat articles to campus culture construction and archival advocacy has been chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 30 affirmed (cheng, 2019; xu et al., 2020), and overall steps to promote the development of archival wechat public accounts have been proposed (xu, 2021). at the micro level, there are studies paying attention to the sources for information delivery, which select typical archival wechat public accounts to investigate account types, platform contents, the wechat communication index (wci), etc., and summarize the communication characteristics as well as feasible paths for improvement (chen, 2018; fan et al., 2019; chen, 2022; luo, 2022). also, there are studies paying attention to the audience in information delivery, which adapt the grounded theory to sort out information needs of archival wechat public accounts’ users and influencing factors of these needs, and put forward suggestions for existing problems (li et al., 2020). based on different aspects, relevant research has deepened the understanding of china’s modern archival education as well as the operational practice of archival wechat public accounts, which reflects theoretical innovativeness and application value. in general, the research on the development of archival education in china mainly involves five aspects: (i) the origin and history of archival education; (ii) the concepts and paradigms of archival education; (iii) the construction and layout of degree programs related with archival science; (iv) the construction of faculty, teaching plans and premium courses; and (v) comparative discussions on archival education between china and other countries. in this overall situation, the research focusing on application of wechat public accounts in archival education includes four aspects: (i) services provided by archival wechat public accounts; (ii) professional functions of archival wechat public accounts; (iii) operation strategies of archival wechat public accounts; and (iv) evaluation on the contents and the effect in advocacy of articles on archival wechat public accounts. however, there are also avenues for further research. with regard to the reform and development of china’s archival education in the new media environment, more attention needs to be paid to the optimization of archival teaching and research systems using social media such as wechat. in fact, related research mostly discusses how to develop, operate and utilize archival wechat public accounts as new tools for propagation from the technical view specifically, but it is also necessary to concentrate on the impacts from archival wechat public accounts operation on archival education in the new media environment. it is of significance not only to the highquality development of china’s archival education, but also to the growth and prosperity of archives management in china. current situation of china’s archival education according to chen and su’s report the characteristics of the development of archival higher education in china and its international impacts in aeri 2019, china has established the largest and most complete archival education system in the world. as of may 2023, there are 34 universities offering undergraduate education in archival science, 30 universities offering postgraduate education and 12 universities independently offering doctoral education (table 1). the number of masters degree sites is close to the number of undergraduate education sites. also, since 2019, 4 independent doctoral degree awarding points and 2 doctoral degree anchoring points have been added (yang, 2022). on the one hand, this situation reflects that the higher education of archival science in china has entered a higher level of development. on the other hand, it also reflects the trend of increasing demands for individuals with advanced degrees in archival science in the current society. chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 31 table 1 list of higher education institutions of archival science in china no. school name location bachelor master doctor 1 renmin university of china beijing √ √ √ 2 beijing union university beijing √ √ 3 tianjin normal university tianjin √ 4 nankai university tianjin √ √ √ 5 hebei university hebei √ √ √ 6 shanxi university shanxi √ 7 hohhot college for nationalities inner mongolia √ 8 shanghai university shanghai √ √ √ 9 shanghai normal university shanghai √ 10 nanjing university jiangsu √ √ √ 11 nanjing university of science and technology jiangsu √ 12 soochow university jiangsu √ √ 13 yangzhou university jiangsu √ √ 14 yancheng teachers university jiangsu √ 15 zhejiang university zhejiang √ √ 16 anhui university anhui √ √ 17 fujian normal university fujian √ √ 18 nanchang university jiangxi √ √ 19 shandong university shandong √ √ 20 zhengzhou university henan √ √ √ 21 zhengzhou university of aeronautics henan √ √ 22 xiangtan university hunan √ √ √ 23 wuhan university hubei √ √ √ 24 hubei university hubei √ √ 25 central china normal university hubei √ √ 26 heilongjiang university heilongjiang √ √ 27 jilin university jilin √ √ √ 28 liaoning university liaoning √ √ 29 liaoning institute of science and technology liaoning √ 30 sichuan university sichuan √ √ 31 guizhou education university guizhou √ 32 yunnan university yunnan √ √ 33 sun yat-sen university guangdong √ √ √ 34 hanshan normal university guangdong √ 35 guangxi minzu university guangxi √ √ 36 northwest university shaanxi √ √ chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 32 37 xizang minzu university shaanxi √ 38 political college of national defence university shaanxi √ √ in terms of geographical location, the overall distribution of archival education in china is relatively uniform. east china has the most universities offering undergraduate, masters, and doctoral education in archival science. compared with east china, the number of universities offering archival science education in north china, central china, northeast china, southwest and south china is smaller, but most provinces offer it. in northwest china, only shaanxi province offers archival science education, while gansu, qinghai, ningxia and xinjiang haven’t offered it yet. china has formed a complete archival science education system that includes undergraduate, master and doctor education. in the advent of the big data era, universities are closely integrating archival education with the current new generation of information technology,and they have initially explored and established a modern archival education system that adapts to the digital age. moreover, the forms of archival education are also constantly innovative, such as the integration with social media. the paper takes archival wechat public accounts as an example to investigate the innovation situation of archival education in china. current situation of archival wechat public accounts in universities upon inputting pertinent data pertaining to educational institutions, including schools, colleges, and majors, into the search field of the wechat public account, a discovery was made that out of the 38 universities that provide archival education within china, a total of 17 universities have established their own archival wechat public accounts, which constitutes 44.7% of the aforementioned universities. the paper provides details on the names of universities and colleges, the names of archival wechat public accounts, their founding dates/times, their number of releases, their release frequency, as well as column sorting and operation mode. as shown in table 2 (survey deadline: may 31, 2023): table 2 summary of survey on archival wechat public accounts of universities no. university and college wechat account founding time number of posts release frequency column sorting operation mode 1 school of information resource management, renmin university of china about archives ( 档案那些事 儿) 2014.6.1 1657 4-5/week knowledge dissemination, archive repository, contact us joint operation of teachers and students chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 33 2 school of information management, sun yat-sen university lingnan archives (岭南档案) 2014.10. 22 547 1/week featured archives, academic frontiers, industry trends, research team, etc. joint operation of teachers and students 3 school of history and archives, yunnan university information and archives in yunnan university (云大情报 与档案) 2015.3.4 773 2-3/week undergraduate campus, home of graduate students, department introduction main operation of teachers 4 school of information management, zhengzhou university zero distance with archives (档案零距 离) 2015.11. 23 545 1-2/week lantai news, special columns main operation of students 5 school of management, hebei university agents of archiving time (时光特攻) 2015.11. 26 596 2-3/week news delivery, archival practice, about us joint operation of teachers and students 6 school of humanities, shanghai normal university me & archives (吾观档案) 2015.12.2 175 1-2/week characteristic archives, archival practice, student activities, industry trends, shanghai history and culture main operation of students 7 school of information management, heilongjiang university archive gangster (档案黑帮) 2016.4.21 33 irregular release major overview, undergraduate and master teaching, teach and research joint operation of teachers and students 8 school of management, jilin university meet archives (遇见兰台) 2016.5.4 184 previously regular, now irregular subject introduction, academic exchange, student activities joint operation of teachers and students 9 school of history and culture,shandong university archival science of shandong university (山大文秘 档案学系) 2016.6.9 190 1/week news delivery, academic report, student presence, conference notice main operation of teachers chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 34 10 school of information management, wuhan university ica (国际档案 理事会) 2016.7.28 728 2-3/week ica exclusive, industry news, iaw activities joint operation of teachers and students 11 school of management, liaoning institute of science and technology archives exhibition planning platform (档案展览 策划平台) 2016.9.1 30 no longer updated archives exhibition, history in archives, student activities main operation of students 12 public management school of xiangtan university archives of xiangtan university (xtua 闻 湘拾档) 2017.3.30 117 no longer updated popularizing social science knowledge, social hot spots, expert interviews joint operation of teachers and students 13 school of management, tianjin normal university go with archives (与档同行) 2017.9.20 449 previously regular, now irregular tianshi archives, characteristic classroom, archives news joint operation of teachers and students 14 school of public administration, sichuan university future archives laboratory (未来档案 实验室) 2017.12.4 56 no longer updated archive future imagination, experience sharing joint operation of teachers and students 15 school of social sciences of soochow university library information and archival science in soochow university (苏大图情 档) 2018.11. 16 233 previously regular, now irregular news flash, feature column, about us joint operation of teachers and students 16 school of information resource management, liaoning university archives of liaoning university (辽档云) 2020.8.9 456 3/week charging station, teacherstudent interaction, about us main operation of students 17 school of social development yangzhou university archives of yangzhou university (扬大档案 人) 2021.2.1 82 1/week reading club, news delivery, exchange and q&a, teachers achievements, graduation salon joint operation of teachers and students chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 35 judging from the founding time of archival wechat public accounts, since the school of information resource management of renmin university of china established the first archival wechat public account about archives in 2014, more and more universities have created their own archival wechat public accounts in 2015, 2016, and 2017 (figure 1). social media is playing an increasingly important role in higher education. figure 1 distribution of founding time of archival wechat public accounts in terms of release frequency, 58.8% (10) of the archival wechat public accounts have formed their own posting rules (figure 2). among them, about archives tweets 4-5 times every week; while ica, archives of liaoning university, information and archives in yunnan university, agents of archiving time, each tweet 2-3 times per week. zero distance with archives and me & archives tweet 1-2 times per week while lingnan archives, archival science of shandong university, archives of yangzhou university tweet once per week. among the 17 archival wechat public accounts, 17.6% (3) used to be released regularly, but with the passage of time, they are now released irregularly. they are go with archives, library information and archival science in soochow university and meet archives. archive gangster is relatively special. since its establishment, it has been tweeted irregularly, that is, the release time is not fixed, and the release content has not yet formed a regular pattern. besides, 17.6% (3) of the archival wechat public accounts have not been updated since 2021, basically in a state of death, such as archives exhibition planning platform, archives of xiangtan university, future archives laboratory. to a great extent, the frequency of releases has an impact on how archival wechat public accounts contribute to the advancement of archival education. those with a higher frequency of releases can make a relatively significant impact on the educational sphere in a short span of time; however, they also require a proficient operational team and content generation ability. on the other hand, those with a lower frequency of releases may take more time to establish their social influence. if there is indeed more time and time utilization is also more effective, they have a higher probability of creating remarkable and superior articles. chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 36 figure 2 the distribution of archival wechat public accounts by posting frequency in terms of the operation mode of archival wechat public accounts, 65% (11) of them are jointly operated by teachers and students, including theme selection, modification and releasing. among them, about archives and ica are aimed at the teachers and students whose major is archival science in china, which is good for cross-school cooperation. 23% (4) of the archival wechat public accounts are mainly operated by students, such as zero distance with archives, me & archives, archives exhibition planning platform, archives of liaoning university. the remaining 12% (2) of the archival wechat public accounts are mainly operated by teachers, such as information and archives in yunnan university, archival science of shandong university. generally, wechat public accounts operated by students independently can efficiently cater to the young people’ taste in terms of page design, topic selection, language expression, etc., but they have weak points in adhering to the professional direction and spreading knowledge of archival science accurately; wechat public accounts operated by teachers and students jointly, whose information release is often more formal and official, can sufficiently embody professionalism but also keep away from students’ preferences in some occasions. throughout the well-run archival wechat public accounts, its core release content mainly includes the following four parts. first, official news, such as discipline construction, curriculum construction, teaching staff, academic achievements, etc. second, academic information, such as the latest information, academic reports, conferences, etc. third, student activities, such as experience introduction, research display, learning experience, etc. fourth, industry information, such as laws and regulations, archival practice, work experience, etc. the four components encompass a blend of theoretical and practical knowledge, highlighting the most contemporary advancements in archival science. additionally, these components comprise industry practices, dynamic practices, and other related topics. chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 37 in the digital age, social media represented by archival wechat public accounts has injected new vitality into china’s higher archival education. archival wechat public account innovates a multi-party cooperation mechanism, which is conducive to improving the quality of teaching. first, teacher-student cooperation as 65% of archival wechat public accounts are jointly operated by teachers and students. by guiding students to operate archival wechat public accounts, teachers closely combine theoretical teaching with practical activities, which greatly enhances effective communication and cooperation. taking lingnan archives as an example, the operation team has 17 members, including 1 professor, 1 postdoctoral fellow, 6 doctoral students, 1 master student and 8 undergraduates. in the process of specific operation, the team is divided into four groups and they cooperate with each other. the themes of tweets are closely combined with professor’s research projects and students can also combine their own research interests, then form some tweets, which can cultivate students’ theoretical sensitivity, reflecting the characteristics of the combination of teaching and research. second, industry-universityresearch cooperation. team of about archives worked closely with enterprises such as sinopec, team members have conducted several investigations and developed a series of research reports. teams of lingnan archives work closely with local archival enterprises, aiming to introduce the latest achievements of electronic archives management based on industry hot topics. meanwhile, guangzhou archival society (广州市档案学会) provides external support for the operation and practice of lingnan archives, such as data sources and social resources. as an open social media platform, archival wechat public account is conducive to knowledge innovation, dissemination and exchange. first, to promote exchanges between academia and industry. taking about archives and ica as examples, their team members come from different universities in china; they cooperate and communicate with each other on common topics to promote exchange and cooperation in the field of domestic archival higher education. second, when the tweets are published, all subscribers can make comments, which forms a complementary relationship with the basic theory education of archives, and has positive significance for the development and innovation of archival education. future development of china’s archival education from the perspective of social media the operation of archival wechat public accounts is significant to the development and innovation of archival education in the social media environment. it is expected to facilitate china’s archival education from three aspects in the future. first, the diversified, professional and inclusive ideology of archival wechat public accounts operation is conducive to promote the overall reform of archival education in china. china’s ministry of education is expected to unceasingly revise the curriculum of archival science in the future. in this process, the traditional teaching paradigm, mainly based on historical archives, archives management and practical knowledge of archival work, will be replaced by new paradigm which emphasizes more on archival advocacy and archival activism. china’s universities are also expected to optimize the deployment of teachers and form their own training programs based on the different regional characteristics. second, the operation of archival wechat public accounts is expected to supplement the teaching contents of archival courses, such as strengthening the practice of new media operation chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 38 and maintenance, promoting the combination of theory and work in learning process, and providing intellectual support for keeping the sustainability of archival wechat public accounts. the shortage of human resources can be alleviated in public accounts operation through continuous practical training. practical training can enable students to directly acquire operational skills, facilitate occupational planning and employment, and cultivate fresh archivists of the new era with both comprehensive abilities and professional literacy. third, archival wechat public accounts operation is expected to profoundly change the existing teaching form for archival courses, expand the field of publicity, and improve the communication effects. in the digital era, university classes no longer have to be common for students and teachers in time and space, also, “water lessons” are supposed to be out of favor. in this case, universities will pay more and more attention to the role of new media in teaching and launch a number of “golden courses” with online and offline influences to improve the quality of knowledge delivery. in addition to offline teaching, videos and other learning materials will be offered to the society through tweets of archival wechat public accounts, supplemented by online q&a, microtests, etc., which is expected to expand the form of archival advocacy and enhance the social influence of archival education. conclusion the advent of novel entities is invariably accompanied by an expansion and transformation. social media, born in the digital era, has profoundly influenced peoples’ lives and practices. archival wechat public accounts play an increasingly important role in advocating and promoting archival education in china, but how to maintain the sustainability and long-term development of them is truly an important issue. from the research results above, we find that sustainable operation of wechat public accounts is inseparable from the output of contents. it is not easy to be constantly enthusiastic about professional work, collective work and persistent work. besides, when cooperation has become mainstream, how to better utilize social media to promote cooperation between domestic and foreign universities, cooperation between teachers and students, cooperation between schools and enterprises, cooperation among industry, education and research, etc. are also significant topics that need to be considered in the future. references an, x. 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(2021). prospects of archives subject in china under the background of new liberal arts. information and documentation services, 42(1), 37-41. _____________________________________________________________________________ about the authors yang chen is a ph. d. student from school of information management of sunyat-sen university, china. she is also a joint ph. d student in school of information science of university of illinois urbana-champaign. her research interests include electronic records management, government data archiving and government data open. yike zhan is a ph. d. student from school of information management of sun yat-sen university, china. his major is archival science. he took part in many research projects in chen and zhan / international journal of librarianship 8(3) 41 china. his research interests include electronic records management and the fundamental theory of archival science. acknowledgements the authors thank the financial support of the china national first-class undergraduate major construction project (archival science) of sun yat-sen university. thanks to the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library and the school of information sciences at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (uiuc) in the united states for support provided. 2-291 title page2 2-291 article microsoft word book-2.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 105-106 issn:2474-3542 practical ontologies for information professionals. by david stuart. chicago, il: ala nealshuman, 2016. 184 p. $88. isbn-13: 9780838915110 in recent years, there has been an increase of interest in ontologies in the information profession that leads to a good number of articles and books published on this topic. for many years, librarians and other information professionals have been working with the semantic web which is the major driving force of the increasing attention in ontologies that involve in bringing data from various places to a dataset. the author of this book, david stuart, explains the importance of ontologies for information discovery, introduces how information professionals can develop new ontologies and interrogate existing ontologies. stuart introduces ontologies with 7 chapters. firstly, he defines the concept of ontologies. “an ontology is a formal representation of knowledge with rich semantic relationships between terms.” he clarifies the differences between ontology and comparable terms that are often not differentiated to those who are new to the field. those terms are taxonomies, thesaurus, and vocabularies. readers can learn the concepts and terminology of the information organization through the book. the author also explains the functions of ontologies. with more and more data being created in the digital world, ontologies will help aid information retrieval, information management, and discovery of new information. stuart proceeds to explain the relationships between ontologies and the semantic web. the library community has been engaged in publishing bibliographic metadata with linked data. the book provides librarians with ideas of how ontologies can be utilized to empower the linked data and the semantic web. in chapter 3, he introduces some existing ontologies, their application, and roles for the digital world. the ontology languages discussed in the book include resource description framework schema (rdfs), web ontology language (owl) and simple knowledge organization system (skos) which are extensively used for the semantic web and adopted by the library community. in chapter 4 and 5, stuart introduces how to adopt ontologies, the tools for examining ontologies, the techniques for selecting ontologies and the approaches to reuse ontologies to accommodate one’s own needs or to build new ontologies. he explains the steps for the librarians and information professionals to develop ontologies. in the following chapter, stuart provides an insightful analysis on some interrogating tools such as rdf query language (sparql) and semantic web crawlers. the last chapter is a prospective conclusion on ontologies. stuart is optimistic about the future of ontologies and thinks that ontologies will continue to come in a variety of forms, “open or closed, formal or informal, centralized or distributed.” stuart states that library and information professional should recognize the values of ontologies in data sharing, the possibility of the semantic web and the expansion of the library and information professional’s work in the use of existing ontologies, or the development of new ontologies. with the new development of technology in the information profession, librarians no longer solely work with the library bibliographic metadata. there is a need for librarians to get familiar with the new trends chen & ngu / international journal of librarianship 3(1) 106 in the information age. linked data has been the hot topic of the web technologies in the library profession in recent years, and library professionals have been actively working in the areas. librarians or information professionals will have many opportunities to work in these areas in the future. nevertheless, ontologies are only one of the tools for semantic web in the information technology. this book will be useful for lis students, librarians and information professionals who do not have much background information about ontology and would like to get some basic concepts on ontologies and on how to build ontologies. the structure of the book is straightforward with main topics clearly laid out. the ideas and information are conveyed concisely. the limitation is that the book does not cover comprehensive hands-on practice with particular pieces of software for the development of ontologies. it focuses more on the principles and strategies of many aspects of ontologies. besides, the book emphasizes informal ontologies rather than formal ontologies. to develop more formal and professional ontologies, one needs more extensive knowledge of computer science in addition to knowledge and skills on ontologies. the book provides many resources about ontology if readers would like to explore this area in depth. finally, it inspires some ideas for librarians to develop subject-specific ontology beyond creating bibliographic data. --suzhen chen, university of hawaiʻi at mānoa, hi, usa --lucy w. ngu, lone star college-university park, tx, usa international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 1-2 issn:2474-3542 guest editorial: celebrating the two year anniversary and announcing the fifth issue with all the supports from international lis community and the dedications of our editorial team, the international journal of librarianship has been proceeding steadily. at this point, ijol has published 4 issues and 45 articles. among them, there are 4 editorial reports, 21 featured articles, 3 reports from the field, 2 commentaries, 7 book reviews, 3 articles on lis education around the world, and 5 news reports. these articles covered a wide variety of topics including information literacy, digital resource discovery, makerspace, digital stewardship, social science data services in both public and academic libraries in canada, china, finland, south africa, uk, and usa. below is a quick run-down of the fifth issue: “featured articles” section magliaro and munro analyzed the information literacy needs and levels of 44 social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university using the technology acceptance model in their article titled “study of the information literacy needs of social work graduate students at a midsized canadian university.” the analysis from this study provides a more holistic presentation of social work graduate students’ information literacy needs. by telling the story of the berlin state library in the twentieth century in the article titled “from a divided library in a divided city to one library in two houses: a centennial for a great european research library reunited and restored,” daniel william kinney discussed the impact of different historical eras on the library as a cultural institution and how the library is once again serving international scholarship and preserving an important part of the world's documentary heritage despite destruction of the building and the evacuation and loss of collections. in their article, “shared next generation ilss and academic library consortia: trends, opportunities and challenges,” liu and fu reported two case studies of the adoption of shared next generation ilss in academic library consortia. one library consortium of 39 academic libraries in oregon, washington, and idaho has completed the migration. the significant impacts, numerous opportunities and challenges from the shared next generation ils on its member libraries have been discussed. the other library consortium of 21 university libraries in ontario, canada is currently launching and implementing the new system. in her article “new developments of chinese government publications and library collections,” xue discussed the scope of chinese government publications, its availability in digital format, the types of publications libraries usually collect, and opportunities and challenges in collecting them. nero and he described the process and workflow of the quality control of cataloging tangible and ren / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 2 electronic resources in their library; and also discussed why quality control on cataloging is performed. the importance of training cataloging staff on current cataloging rules and practices as a preventive measure to reduce mistakes is an essential part of the process. the ultimate goal of quality control is to eliminate errors and ensure the library’s resources are accessible. commentaries section in the paper titled “vocabulary integration reexamined,” dr. choi reexamined the issues and challenges in vocabulary mapping and integration between different controlled vocabulary systems. the paper outlined the history of the study of vocabulary mapping efforts and suggested a way in which the emerging practices on semantic issues and mapping problems can be articulated. library associations around the world in his article “promoting translational research within the global library and information community: access to research dissemination, promotion of timely issues, and professional development through ifla journal,” professor witt, the editor of ifla journal described how ifla journal seeks to help bridge the gap between research and practice in the global lis profession through an editorial process and publishing mandate by encouraging mixed methods approaches to research, and engaging librarians and their communities in the research process. news section michael huang and ijol editor-in-chief guoying liu reflected upon their conference experiences in the 9th shanghai international library forum (silf 2018). this international conference promotes international interaction and collaboration among lis community. lastly, i would like to thank all the editors and peer reviewers who worked tirelessly on this issue. i would also like to extend my gratitude and thankfulness to all the content contributors for this issue. xiaoai ren, valdosta state university issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science diversity lian ruan and weiling liu abstract: with a goal to examine the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science (lis) diversity in the 21st century, the authors conducted a study funded by the ala (american library association) diversity research program between 2013 and 2014. this study included a national survey of cala (chinese american librarians association) members and qualitative semi-structured interviews of ten selected survey participants (both senior and emerging leaders of cala members). despite some limitations of the study, the research findings document best practices and lessons learned among chinese american librarians to inform and improve the diversity initiative, namely by increasing cala’s leadership training and mentorship opportunities, improving communication and cultural understanding, and developing connections with other people or organizations with diversity agendas. the findings have provided fruitful ideas to cala in many ways especially its 2020 strategic planning, collaboration with other organizations and leadership training initiatives occurring between 2015 and 2017. the findings also suggest strategies for the recruitment and retention of chinese american librarians to the lis field. the findings and outcomes also provide much needed evidence to increase the role of chinese american librarians in the diversity efforts that support 2017 ala’s strategic directions: equity, diversity and inclusion. to cite this article: ruan, l., & liu, w. (2017). the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science diversity. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 18-36. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.39 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 18-36 issn:2474-3542 the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science diversity lian ruan, university of illinois at urbana-champaign, champaign, il, usa weiling liu, university of louisville, louisville, ky, usa abstract with a goal to examine the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science (lis) diversity in the 21st century, the authors conducted a study funded by the ala (american library association) diversity research program between 2013 and 2014. this study included a national survey of cala (chinese american librarians association) members and qualitative semi-structured interviews of ten selected survey participants (both senior and emerging leaders of cala members). despite some limitations of the study, the research findings document best practices and lessons learned among chinese american librarians to inform and improve the diversity initiative, namely by increasing cala’s leadership training and mentorship opportunities, improving communication and cultural understanding, and developing connections with other people or organizations with diversity agendas. the findings have provided fruitful ideas to cala in many ways especially its 2020 strategic planning, collaboration with other organizations and leadership training initiatives occurring between 2015 and 2017. the findings also suggest strategies for the recruitment and retention of chinese american librarians to the lis field. the findings and outcomes also provide much needed evidence to increase the role of chinese american librarians in the diversity efforts that support 2017 ala’s strategic directions: equity, diversity and inclusion. keywords: diversity, chinese american librarians, chinese american librarians association introduction diversity is a crucial focal point of discussion and progress in librarianship today. as ala states in its policy, “ in the services and operations of libraries, efforts to include diversity in programs, activities, services, professional literature, products and continuing education must be ongoing and encouraged (ala, 2010). ” diversity continues to be one of ala’s strategic directions as it was adopted by the ala council at the 2017 midwinter meeting in atlanta, ga. research on diversity in librarianship is essential for change to happen and is a way to realize ala’s strategies to: “(g)ather, develop, and disseminate research documenting the value of equity, diversity, and inclusion” (ala, 2017). diversity is an abstract concept and people may have different interpretations about what it means. ala’s diversity strategic directions include a broader concept. the definition used for this article refers to “[s]tate or fact of being ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 19 diverse; different characteristics and experiences that define individuals (acrl racial and ethnic diversity committee, 2012. p.551).” it is focused more on the racial diversity issues related to the differences such as in language, cultural background and professional experience. the authors intend to identify, document, and examine the critical role chinese americans librarians have played in lis diversity through reporting the findings and outcomes of the study they completed in 2014. literature review as related statistics reports show, the demographics of the american population are quickly shifting, and libraries in america need to adjust to these changes. the asian american population is expected to increase rapidly and is estimated to account for 9.3 percent of the total population in 2060 (u.s. census bureau, 2015, p. 9). according to the 2010 census, the chinese population was the largest asian group in america (u.s. census bureau, 2012, p. 1). in contrast, however, some researchers indicate that diversity in lis has not changed greatly over time (jaeger, subramaniam, jones, & bertot, 2011, p. 166) and “across the spectrum of library types (academic, school, special, and public), the demographic makeup of the profession has remained predominantly white and female” (morales, knowles, & bourg, 2014, p. 441). this is clear evidence as to why diversity is still significant for ala and the librarianship profession. in many studies on race and ethnic diversity in lis, the attention has been focused on recruitment or retention; for example, kim’s study on recruiting lis students of color (2008) and riley-reid’s literature review on retention issues of library faculty of color (2017). the starting point of these researches is from the perspective of the organization. there are some studies from individuals’ perceptions; for example, vinopal’s climatequal study on staff perceptions about the organization’s climate (2016) and alabi’s research on racial microaggression (2015). as studies about the diversity have become central to lis, “[i]dentifying research opportunities related to diversity and underrepresented populations can occur in numerous ways. any specific population can serve as the starting point for research” (jaeger, bertot, & franklin, 2010, p. 177). inspired by ala’s diversity agenda, the authors attempt to explore diversity issues related to chinese american librarians. the literature review reveals that with bilingual and bicultural backgrounds, chinese american librarians have played a key service role to chinese communities and lis within the u.s. and have acted as a bridge between mainstream american culture and the chinese culture to fill language and cultural gaps (jiang, 2012, p. 11; liu, 2001, p. 59; zhao, 2012, p. 12; zhou, 2003, p. 18). however, a review of the literature on lis diversity shows a rather limited discussion of diversity programs involving chinese american librarians. it is hoped that this study will fill in the gap by gathering evidence about diversity initiatives engaged in by cala members and facilitating further discussion about how the role of chinese american librarians in diversity efforts can be improved. research objectives of the study the research objectives of the study are threefold: (1) to offer insights into the implications of diversity in promoting chinese american librarianship and understanding their role within lis; (2) to identify and document chinese american librarians’ best practices and lessons learned for diversity practices from ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 20 which other ethnic/minority librarians may benefit; and (3) to further the discussion of diversity that will improve the role of chinese american librarians within the lis community. method of the study the method included a national survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews via telephone and digital recording of ten selected interviewees who had participated in the survey and diversity initiatives at their institutions (see appendix a and appendix b for questionnaires). the survey questionnaire consisted of twelve questions regarding participants’ demographic and educational background, their perception of diversity efforts and strategies, and their involvement with diversity. the survey was set up as a web form using limesurvey (http://limesurvey.com), an online survey software. the survey welcome page included a background narrative on the study, a brief description of the project’s goals and its voluntary nature, as well as the principal investigators’ contact information, including email addresses and telephone numbers. the participants were asked to consent before they could continue with the survey. during the survey timeframe, follow-up emails for the survey were sent three times to increase the rate of participation. for the qualitative interviews in this study, the cloud-based online meeting service anymeeting (http://anymeeting.com) was used to conduct and record these interviews, and the participants were interviewed in english. prior to the interviews, all selected interviewees received an email invitation packet with the same information as was included in the online survey. they were asked to submit a signed consent form and were informed that the interviews would be conducted and recorded via anymeeting. cala’s active members in the u.s. were the target survey population for this study. surveying the views of cala members in libraries is invaluable in that it uncovers challenges and potential solutions to diversity issues from an organizational perspective. cala is one of the most active groups among u.s. minority librarian associations and has been affiliated with ala since 1976. according to cala’s constitution, their objective is to improve communication, collaboration, and professional development of chinese american librarians and to facilitate discussion about related problems and professional concerns (“cala: constitution”, 2016, p. 1). diversity is a primary interest for cala, making it an ideal organization to survey for this study. any interested individual can become a member of cala. in other words, cala’s membership does not include solely chinese american librarians but any individuals who are interested in chinese american librarianship. the criteria for participation in the interview required that the interviewee must participate in the survey, have a leadership position in a library, and was participating or had participated in a diversity program. ten interviewees were selected based on the above criteria, but one decided to withdraw. the professional titles among these were one director, one head, two deans, and five librarians. six of the participants possessed a master’s degree and three had ph.d. seven of the nine interviewees were immigrants. in terms of leadership and diversity roles, two were founding members of the ala spectrum scholarship program (a program with the mission of providing scholarships to minority students), two were ala emerging leaders (a leadership development program), three were former cala presidents, one was a former ala president and one was a spectrum scholarship program recipient. ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 21 for both the survey and the semi-structured interviews, approval for the use of human subjects in this study was obtained from the institutional review board of the institution with which the principal investigator was affiliated. data collection and analysis of the project data analysis for the survey was done using the built-in report generated in limesurvey and ms access. all digitally recorded interviews were fully transcribed into texts and analyzed. the participants’ answers to the survey and interview questionnaires were confidential. to protect the privacy interests of the subjects, no names or other identifying information of any participants were included in the survey, interviews, or digital-voice recordings and full transcripts. a data key connecting participant names to a unique identifying number was used while data was extracted from the survey and digital-voice recordings, and throughout the analysis process. for the interviews, the project team, consisting of two principal investigators who interviewed together and two native english-speaking graduate students who transcribed the interviews, gathered interview data analysis based on interview transcripts, coded the data, and then synthesized the data. discussion of research findings findings of the survey the survey was conducted in december 2013 and early 2014 (12/7/2013 4/18/2014). the online survey invitation was emailed to 347 active cala members in the united states. members who received the invitation needed to answer one question giving their consent first before they could precede with the survey. there were 140 respondents who completed the full survey. the response rate was 40%. of 140 respondents, 115 (82.1%) were in the age range of 40 or older (question 5);104 (74.3%) were female and 36 (25.7%) were male (question 6). as to the highest degree possessed, 124 (88.6%) respondents held a master’s degree and 16 (11.4%) held a doctoral degree (question 7). most of the respondents (66.4%, 93) were from an academic library and some (16.4%, 23) were from a public library (question 8). the rest (17.1%, 24) were non-affiliated individuals or from a special library, national library, library school, information related company or non-profit sector. as figure 1 shows, the number of respondents whose primary job responsibilities or lis majors focus on traditional library functions remained a high percentage (question 9). ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 22 figure 1. primary job responsibilities or lis major focuses the majority of respondents were in intermediate or higher professional ranks: 41 (29.3%) were in senior level, 35 (25.0%) in advanced level, and 22 (15.7%) in intermediate level. nineteen (13.6%) respondents specified in the other option that they are in the rank equivalent to intermediate level or higher (question 10). as for leadership positions (question 11), only four (2.9%) respondents answered as branch library manager, nine (6.4%) responded as library director, and six (4.3%) responded as dean. there were 36 (25.7%) respondents in the position level as department head/team leader and 24 (17.1%) as committee chair or service unit manager (question 11). almost half of the respondents (43.6%, 61) selected the option “other”. about 64.3% (90) of the respondents had worked in library and information science field for more than 10 years (question 12). as to the first four survey questions on diversity, 104 of 140 (74.3%) respondents answered that their organizations had diversity programs or initiatives, 36 (25.7%) reported that their organizations had no programs or initiatives. among those (104) whose organizations had diversity programs, 58 of them had participated, 25 of them had not and the rest gave no answers. the respondents ranked the effectiveness of their roles in diversity programs with a 5-level scale, 5 being the most effective and 1 being the least (question 1). of the 58 respondents who reported to have participated in diversity programs, 10 (7.0% of 140) participants ranked the effectiveness of their roles in diversity programs as 5; 25 (17.5% of 140) participants ranked it as 4 while 16 (11.2% of 140) ranked it as 3; four (2.8% of 140) ranked it as 1 and three (2.1% of 140) ranked it as 2. table 1 shows the effectiveness ranks by professional rank and library type. ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 23 table 1. the effectiveness ranks of the respondent’s role in diversity program/initiatives concerning the awareness of acrl standards and ala diversity programs (question 3), 94 (67.1%) respondents were aware of ala’s diversity initiatives and about 67 (47.9%) were aware of acrl’s diversity competency standards (question 2). looking at the answers to the questions on diversity issues in sociological, educational, professional, philosophical, and political areas (question 4), the top three issues ranked as the most critical by the participants were sociological issues (72.1%, 101), educational issues (46.4%, 65) and professional issues (45.7%, 64). the next two were political issues (40.7%, 57) and philosophical and historical issues (27.9%, 39). after the completion of the survey questionnaire, the study moved to the interview stage. it took about one and half months to complete all interviews. findings of interviews qualitative interviews are believed to be an effective means of performing an in-depth investigation into the role of chinese american librarians in lis diversity. this approach mixes structured and open-ended questions to obtain additional information (m. gall, j. gall, & borg, 2003). it permits the principal investigators to collect rich data in a limited period of time. furthermore, it is optimal for this study because of its small scale. acrl’s standards on cultural competence offered a framework to examine chinese american librarians’ roles in engaging with the complexities of providing services to diverse ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 24 populations (acrl, 2012, p. 551). one interviewee asked to withdraw from the study, so only the answers from nine interviewees are reported in this article (a1-a9). seven themes emerged from analyzing the interview data. they are: 1) expand leadership opportunities and enhance leadership training; 2) improve communication skills; 3) provide mentors and identify role models; 4) build partnerships with researchers, educators, ethnic caucus, and ala; 5) be aware of cultural identity and learn about other cultures (suggested rephrase: offer cultural and educational programs); 6) develop cala as an important platform for professional development and advancement; and 7) continue cala recruitment and retention. interviewees believed that improvement in these seven areas will effectively enhance the role of chinese american librarians in the lis diversity. these areas are critically important and call for immediate attention and timely action of the part of cala and chinese american librarians. leadership opportunity and leadership training one of the themes revealed through the interview synthesis was the need for leadership training and leadership opportunities. the strategies and factors most stated by interviewees include the importance of the support and involvement of leadership in diversity programs as well as the importance of providing opportunities and training in leadership roles for librarians and staff. having diverse training programs in place will help provide those leadership opportunities. a2 pointed out that there was more and more inclination to implement initiatives and a number of other leadership institutes—not necessarily targeting just individuals of color, but being very inclusive of the idea that there was, on many levels, a kind of glass ceiling [a2]. others also offered their careful thoughts: i believe we need more chinese americans going to leadership positions… so, when you are in the leadership position, you can make better policies, such as a better recruitment policy to recruit those people. [a5] you cannot recruit from a population in which you have no leadership… one of the really important things is that you have to have leaders of the program, leaders who are interested in promoting the role of chinese american librarians in library and information science and its diversity. [a7] acknowledging the importance of leadership in making changes to improve diversity, how can one find leadership opportunities? interviewees suggested taking calculated risks, going beyond one’s comfort zone, and outlining a career plan as a roadmap to achieve career advancement. communication skills all interviewees worked in libraries that had at least a minimally diversified staff: mostly white/caucasian, black, hispanic, asian, and american indian/native american, presented here in approximate order of percentage, highest to lowest. the most commonly expressed challenge among the interviewees was communication, whether linguistic or cultural, and their difficulties communicating within library systems that consist mostly of white/caucasians and native english speakers. all interviewees were concerned about communication and believed it to be very important. as a5 put it, librarians promoting diversity should “make our voices heard, and outreach ourselves. yes, we need to do outreach… the most ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 25 important strategy we should keep in mind is communication” [a5]. most interviewees talked about how communication is one of the greatest difficulties for chinese american librarians. the language barrier between native and non-native english speakers is an issue since many are immigrants. the facets of communication that deserve attention are communication environment, the virtue of listening, and the need to get one’s voice heard. a1 acknowledged the difficulty language had in communicating cultural or personal differences in work styles and expectations. the issues a1 encountered is “basically miscommunication.” diversity efforts could help improve communication, and the point a1 made shows the pressing need. a1 also witnessed how challenging it could be to use email communication because english is still the second language. a1 believed that the best way to communicate is face-to-face when handling issues too sensitive or too difficult to handle in an email. this is essential for creating a conversation environment that encourages efficient communication while eliminating the confusion or conflicts that arise from cultural or linguistic miscommunication. a parallel requirement is the virtue of listening as a factor of good communication in a diversified setting. a3 makes the point that listening is important in a position of leadership, and a4 reflects on a particular listening tactic for ensuring understanding. a number of strategies can be used to improve listening skills to promote better communication abilities as a8 suggested. looking forward, implementing workshops or offering training materials to improve listening skills could be beneficial in a diverse community. while listening is a virtue, an individual will not hear anything unless there is something said. a6 noted that chinese american librarians do good work but they usually shy away from standing out to get credit for it. a6 suggested is a cultural thing as we are taught to be humble. quietness and humility are good virtues, but they should be supplemented with agency and confidence. taking active steps to be heard will significantly improve the conversation about diversity. this change to be outspoken is not limited to direct and oral communications. a5 believed that written and formal publications are powerful and influential: the lesson that i learned is that you have to have things written down. you can get your voice out, you can speak, you can make presentations, you just have your voice heard— but that’s not enough. you have to have it written down. like in the goal 2000 document, we have it written down as an official document. then they began to pay attention to it, and then they have some scholars in the spectrum scholarship established. conversation requires an environment effective for communication, for those involved to listen to each other, and for them to speak out. these principles are basic, but their application on a cultural level takes time. chinese american librarians are encouraged by the interviewees to apply these communication principles in their career development and advancement. mentor and role models language and specific cultural barriers raise communication issues within the library as well as in the training and mentoring programs for lis students and new library professionals. these concerns point to ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 26 a need for more and longer mentorships with linguistically and culturally/ethnically diversified mentors. diverse mentors would help build stronger communication channels between emerging professionals and existing library leadership and groups, as a3 suggested: help people understand what is going on, especially when their english language skills are not so advanced. have mentoring and training programs for incoming chinese librarians such as the program in cala. you need to promote this program more. interviewees’ responses show the importance of educating future and new library professionals about the various library fields available and providing them with mentorships that will facilitate the matching of their interests with the corresponding library field(s). this will help with retention in diversified libraries in the future. the requirement for mentoring as a diversity need is repeated throughout the interviews. “i always think mentoring is very important. i just cannot emphasize it enough” [a4]. a4 defined mentors as being role models who share their experiences with younger librarians so they can learn from the mentors’ experiences. interviewees appreciated the cala mentoring program for providing a good role model. as a2 observed: when we actually think about mentoring our younger professionals, we tend to cluster around the things we know. so, if there’s not already a propensity to work in this area of diversity across different spectrums then it doesn’t come naturally to us...i think actually the training and the thinking and the cultural shift has to happen at the coaching and mentoring level. interviewees pointed out that mentors need to be experienced in communication to act as an intermediary between native english speakers and those who have less experience with the english language. mentors should be trained and educated in matters of diversity because they are the ones who pass their knowledge on to their mentees. improving the mentorship initiatives in lis as it relates to diversity will promote diversity. cala’s mentoring program needs to reach out to more cala members and to collaborate further with the mentoring programs of other ethnic affiliates and organizations. partnership with researchers, educators, ethnic caaucus, and ala collaboration is an implied agenda of diversity efforts. working together to encourage progress is the primary agenda of diversity initiatives and research. a4 recognized that making real commitments and sustaining diversity efforts are both challenging for any institutional library. individual effort alone is not enough. collaboration is necessary to promote and sustain diversity in lis. interviewees discussed partnerships between researchers and practitioners in the lis field, while a7 observed that more research on diversity is needed as a7 had done research on how library educators and librarians in the field work together on various issues. collaborative research as a means of promoting and instructing on matters of diversity is an application of its subject matter in itself. collaborative research about diversity becomes more diverse for the fact that it involves different people from diverse backgrounds. this observation emphasizes the power of collaboration in research on diversity. to push beyond research, one of our interviewees pointed to the importance of organizational ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 27 collaboration. specifically, a5 suggested that cala establish good relationships with ala and the other four ethnic caucuses like aila (american indian library association), apala (asian/pacific american librarians association), bcala (the black caucus american library association), and reforma (the national association to promote library & information services to latinos and the spanish speaking), and cosponsor programs or do joint conferences. a5 argued that cala should foster a close relationship with the current ala diversity office and do outreach. to go even broader, collaboration and partnership also mean going beyond the united states with international partners to receive mutual benefits. a1 gives a specific example of how international collaboration with china as a diversity initiative can have a positive effect on the mission of the lis field and it is mutually beneficial. a1’s library has the rare “oracle” bones collection and materials from china’s republican era. in collaborating with partners in china, a1’s library was able to digitize the collection so they can better preserve the chinese heritage as well as be more easily accessed by scholars worldwide, including chinese scholars and chinese users. a1’s example is one of many practical ways we can benefit from efforts to increase partnership with organizations and people, both domestic and international. cultural identity and learning of other cultures when two cultures interact, differences need to be acknowledged, and the people involved in the interaction should be prepared to react and respond to these differences appropriately. a6 recommends educating chinese and chinese americans on “how to survive in a different culture”, that is, how to get along in western culture, with western colleagues, and communicate better. by promoting chinese cultural identity and by encouraging the exchange of cultural education between people of western culture and those of chinese heritage, lis diversity efforts will not be as hindered by cultural miscommunications and misunderstandings. a3 pointed out that cala should do more in promoting chinese american librarians and in helping to promote chinese culture, literature, and the cala organization to nonchinese users. in order to promote a cultural identity in lis, the culturally diverse librarians actively associate with the cultures that define them. a9 believed recognizing individual’s own cultural identity is important in diversity efforts across other ethnic groups. “there are all kinds of ethnic groups and they all have their own kind of culture and heritage that i think needs to be respected and identified and promoted as well” [a9]. a2 grew up in a diverse community and was sometimes misidentified regarding her ethnic identity. a2 raised their children to think about not only cultural diversity but also cultural similarities: i think that one is good for promoting chinese culture in this diversified world. it’s very important for our organization [cala] to have money to support and to promote those programs. i just feel like the chinese american librarian association should do more about chinese things to promote our culture… every year, we need to have some money for those programs. a1 also explained the balance of the two sides of maintaining cultural heritage and being open to learning other cultures, especially “the main stream”: ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 28 one thing i want to emphasize is that, on one side we have to emphasize that we are special, we are unique, and on the other side we have to say that we are part of the main stream… and, you have to do it using the same language as the main stream. cala as an important platform for professional development and advancement all interviewees enthusiastically talked about the important role cala has played and how much they benefited from cala in many ways. all believed that cala is a good venue for promoting the increased role of chinese americans in lis diversity. interviewees made insightful comments regarding the importance of cala in advocating for chinese american librarians in career development and advancement. as a9 commented, cala as a platform for professional development has been a great source and support for young librarians. the interviewee applied for the cala conference travel grant and was one of the full recipients. cala’s website is a good source and provides members with rich information about what happens in the library and information profession. “cala has been providing us a great platform and we need to make good use of this platform to promote ourselves and cooperate with each other and support each other” [a9]. a6 was able to join the ala emerging leader program because of cala. the interviewee encouraged cala members to take full advantage of cala resources for career development and advancement recruitment and retention of further importance is incorporating the diversity efforts into recruitment efforts based on community demographics and specific community needs, which are often culturally or ethnically represented. these diversity efforts consist of diversity in hiring/staffing, recruiting for lis, library practice, and information equity, including digital information equity. interviewees’ specific suggestions include outreach programs in high schools, colleges, universities, and in library’s local communities. these programs should direct their efforts to recruit specific groups that are representative of the community’s demographic and that cater to the dynamic and changing needs of that specific community. to recruit successfully, chinese american librarians should make themselves visible and reach out to the community of chinese americans. a4 pointed out that chinese american librarians need to be more visible even if they work in the backend offices such as systems, technical services or website management: “you must purposely go to the community.” when chinese american librarians are seen in the lis profession, it becomes normalized, which makes the recruitment of more chinese americans into the lis field easier because the risks associated with feeling out-of-place are effectively removed. focusing on specific underrepresented groups in recruitment efforts could make the process more efficient and yield more successful results. in cala, generations x (those born between the early 1960s and early 1980s) and y (those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, referred to as millennials) are underrepresented. many from these age groups are also american born chinese (abc), which is an important factor to keep in mind when recruiting this population. a2, as an abc, offers insight from personal experience: [a] lot of the meetings and lot of the side-bar conversations are held in chinese, and ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 29 especially mandarin. [w]e have cantonese speakers and we have mandarin speakers. sometimes, there is a feeling of exclusion that comes out, even though it’s totally unintentional. some level of the recruitment effort always needs to give attention to ensuring that the environment is suitable for new recruits. finding ways to be inclusive to abc participants in cala, especially when it comes to language barriers, will be an impactful step in the process of recruitment because it will help the new abc recruits feel like they belong. it is also important to recognize and acknowledge cultural differences between generations. a2 offers this observation: “[t]hey loved the social part, they learn so much. but, for them it’s not just about culture, and so to focus only on the culture all the time is very weighing on them. they don’t know how to deal with that and they opt out. they think it is a little too heavy and it seems very old school for them. so, they would rather be associated with something that is innovative, creative, and engaging, and that is going to make the maximum use of their skills, whether it is in the it industry or whether it is in early literacy. creating programs that specifically deal with the issues of retention would be useful as interviewees suggested. these programs could focus on procuring, producing, and curating archives, which could be used to learn about current hiring practices, training and mentoring methods, retention rates among the various emerging minority populations, recruitment strategies, and previous retention programs’ successes or failures. through the collection, synthesis, and documentation of this information, new recruitment and retention strategies can be created and refined. this process will also enable the continuation of such efforts in future generations of librarians. a7 stressed that after recruitment, retention programs require the most emphasis: because we can go out and recruit; we can promote particularly within the large ethnic compositions in cities like queens, san francisco, etc.; we can recruit and promote, but… we don’t know enough about what happens to these diverse librarians once they are in the profession. what is it that keeps them? what is it that makes them turn away? … look very hard at retention in two places: the programs of education and then the libraries that employ them. this is a best practices issue—what’s done that retains and keeps enthusiastic the people that are brought in, and what is it that turns them away? concentrate on developing the kind of best practices that surround retention. diversity in lis is a practical and achievable goal, but that does not mean that it will be easy. making changes will take time and effort. using the recommended strategies will improve the role chinese american librarians have on diversity in lis. significance, implementation and impact of the study this study has significance for chinese american librarians as the findings shed light on some key areas of focus in diversity and potential improvement for the role of chinese american librarians to promote and increase lis diversity. the findings expand the understanding of the chinese american librarian community in terms of their unique cultural experience and expand on the best practices and lessons ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 30 learned as they relate specifically to diversity efforts. to strengthen the diversity efforts in lis, it is crucial for the minorities to be in the leadership positions. leadership and professional development mentoring programs have proved to be the best practices in providing opportunities for librarians to grow. communication skills are fundamental and learning of cultural backgrounds would help narrow the gaps. partnering with ala and other ethnic minority librarian groups will help each learn from the others in refining strategies for recruitment and retention. in order to show the positive effects of the research performed, the authors would like to illustrate a few examples of how these findings were applied to cala from 2014 to 2017. following a7’s advice, the authors presented the report at the cala poster sessions during the 2014 ala conference and 2014 cala midwest chapter annual conference program as well as to the ala diversity council at the 2014 ala annual conference. in 2015, the 2020 cala strategic plan task force co-chaired by lian ruan used the study findings in the planning process to develop striving for excellence: cala 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020) that was approved by the cala board. the plan outlines six strategic areas to maximize strengths, utilize expertise, sharpen skills, deliver high value to members, and heighten the association’s far-reaching impact on cala and the lis field. the six areas are: 1) membership recruitment, retention, and engagement; 2) leadership training and development; 3) local chapter development; 4) professional development opportunities through training and mentoring; 5) professional networking through cuttingedge technologies; and 6) cala’s impact on local, state, national, and international levels. programs and initiatives that applied the ideas suggested by the findings also include the 2015 cala annual program chaired by lian ruan with the theme of “partnership beyond cala: training leaders of color for action.” barbara stripling was invited as keynote speaker and the presidents of five ethnic affiliates served as panel speakers (eileen k. bosch apala; isabel espinal reforma; janice rice aila; zhijia shen cala; kelvin watson bcala). the ala committee on diversity and the ala task force on equity, diversity and inclusion were invited as co-sponsors of the event. drawn from the study findings, an imls (institute of museum and library services) grant proposal titled “librarian leadership academy for leaders of color” was initiated and proposed by cala president (2015-2016), in partnership with ala, arl, and ethnic affiliates. as a result of the study, the first cala leadership training academy was organized in 2016 during the ala annual conference, which offered a series of training activities that included a one-day workshop during the ala annual conference in orlando, florida and five virtual sessions with webinars and evaluation. this series was organized by the cala leadership training academy task force led by hong wu, who worked with maureen sullivan, a former ala president. the cala leadership training academy under president qi chen (2016-2017) continued its program in 2017 during the ala annual conference in chicago. the program was extended to other ala conference attendees and was well-received. the 2018 program under president le yang (2017-2018) is under preparation. in terms of promotion and recruitment, cala is at a historic high with over 700 members as reported at the end of 2016-2017 fiscal year (ending on june 30, 2017). while there may be a number of contributing factors, this research has certainly contributed some small amount to the growth of the organization. overall, this study had a very positive impact on cala. the study’s findings have been successfully applied in practical ways, which shows that the research the authors have done is both pragmatic and useful. ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 31 limitations and recommendation for future study in terms of limitations, the target population of this research consisted of only cala’s active u.s. members during the research project time, and because of the demographics of cala, most who received the survey were academic librarians and immigrants to the u.s. there is more to investigate regarding the role of chinese american librarians in other library settings, including public, school, and special libraries. comparative studies among different cultural backgrounds and from ethnic caucus affiliates may help further evaluate the role of librarians of color in lis diversity and what can be done to enhance that role in the future. acknowledgements the authors would like to thank the ala (american library association) office for diversity research grant program for providing partial financial support for doing the research. the authors would also like to thank ethan madarieta and haley johnson, graduate student assistants from the graduate school of library and information science employed at the illinois fire service institute library, university of illinois at urbana-champaign, for transcribing and analyzing interview data, as well as graduate student assistant kyle huizenga from the school of information sciences, university of illinois at urbanachampaign for helping prepare the article for publication. the authors would like to thank our home institutions for their sincere support. references acrl racial and ethnic diversity committee. (2012, october). diversity standards: cultural competency for academic librarians. college & research libraries news, 73(9), 551-561. ala. (2010, august 4). b.3 diversity (old number 60) [text]. retrieved october 4, 2017, from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/b3-diversity-old-number-60 ala. (2017). american library association strategic directions. retrieved july 6, 2017 from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/cro/getinvolved/strategic-directions2017_update.pdf alabi, j. (2015). racial microaggressions in academic libraries: results of a survey of minority and non-minority librarians. the journal of academic librarianship, 41(1), 47-53. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2014.10.008 cala. (2016). chinese american library association: constitution. retrieved april 7, 2017 from http://www.cala-web.org/constitution gall, m. d., gall, j. p., & borg, w. r. (2003). educational research: an introduction. (7th ed.). boston: allyn and bacon. jaeger, p., bertot, j., & franklin, r. (2010). diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in lis research. the library quarterly: information, community, policy, 80(2), 175-181. ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 32 doi:10.1086/651053 jaeger, p. t., subramaniam, m. m., jones, c. b., & bertot, j. c. (2011). diversity and lis education: inclusion and the age of information. journal of education for library & information science, 52(3), 166-183. jiang, s. (2012). finding the chinese-american self in scholarly activities and achievements. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 34, 3-11. retrieved from http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl34jiang.pdf kim, k., & sin, s. (2008). increasing ethnic diversity in lis: strategies suggested by librarians of color. the library quarterly: information, community, policy, 78(2), 153-177. doi:10.1086/528887 liu, m. (2001). contributions of chinese-american librarians to library and information science. chinese studies in history, 34(3), 44-60.doi:10.2753/csh0009-4633340344 morales, m., knowles, e. c., & bourg, c. (2014). diversity, social justice, and the future of libraries. portal: libraries and the academy, 14(3), 439–451. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2014.0017 riley-reid, t. (2017). breaking down barriers: making it easier for academic librarians of color to stay. the journal of academic librarianship, 43(5), 392-396. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2017.06.017 u.s. department of commerce, economics and statistics administration, u.s. census bureau. (2012). the asian population: 2010. (2010 census briefs report number: c2010br-11). retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/census/library/publications/2012/dec/c2010br-11.pdf u.s. department of commerce, economics and statistics administration, u.s. census bureau. (2015). projections of the size and composition of the u.s. population: 2014 to 2060 (2014 national population projections report number: p25-1143). u.s. census bureau, washington, dc. retrieved from http://www.census.gov/content/dam/census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf vinopal, j. (2016). the quest for diversity in library staffing: from awareness to action – in the library with the lead pipe. retrieved october 2, 2017, http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2016/quest-for-diversity/#footnote_41_7388 zhao, l. (2012). organizational action increases the visibility of chinese american librarians. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 34, 12-19. retrieved from http://www.iclc.us/cliej/cl34zhao.pdf zhou, j. z. (2003). asian american librarians and chinese american librarians: their impact on the profession and on u.s. communities. journal of library and information science, 29(2), 14-21. ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 33 appendix a. survey questions 1. does your organization have diversity program and/or initiative? o yes o no if yes, have you participated in it? o yes o no please rank the effectiveness of your role in diversity program/initiative in which you participated (5 being the most, 1 being the least) 1 (the least effective) 2 3 4 5 (the most effective) ______________________________________________________________________ 2. are you aware of acrl diversity standards: cultural competency for academic libraries (http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/diversity)? o yes o no 3. are you aware of ala diversity initiatives (http://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity)? o yes o no 4. what type of diversity issues do you think are critical in library and information sciences (these types are topics used at ifla wlic 2013 ltr section )? (3 = the most critical, 1 = the least critical) __ sociological issues (e.g. library staff, collections and services representing communities served?) __ educational issues (e.g. lis courses, library training, and internship programs) __ professional issues (e.g. multilingualism) __ philosophical and historical issues (e.g. “community” concept, and model of libraries provided by unesco) __ political issues (e.g. libraries’ role in diversity issues) http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/diversity http://conference.ifla.org/past/2013/diversity-in-libraries%20.htm http://en.unesco.org/ ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 34 5. which of the following age category best describes you (select only one answer)? o 20-29 o 30-39 o 40-49 o 50-59 o 60+ 6. what is your gender? o male o female 7. what is the highest degree you possess (select only one answer)? o master o ph.d. 8. what is the type of organization you are working or last worked with (select only one answer)? o academic library o public library o school library o special library o publisher or library information company o other (specify) 9. what are your primary job responsibilities or lis major focuses if you are currently a student (select all that apply)? o acquisitions o archives/records o assessment/ user experience o collection management o cataloging and classification o circulation/document delivery/interlibrary loan o data/geographical information o digital library/special collections o distance education o electronic resources/serials o government documents & publications o library administration/management (library director, university librarian or dean) o media resources/services o metadata o outreach/scholarly communication o reference/instructional services ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 35 o systems/technology o web management/webmaster/web services o other (please specify) ___________________ 10. what is your professional rank (select only one answer)? o lis student o entry level (e.g. instructor/librarian i) o intermediate level (e.g. assistant professor/ librarian ii) o advanced level (e.g. associate professor/ librarian iii) o senior level (e.g. professor/ librarian iv or v) o other (specify) 11. what is your leadership position (select only one answer)? o branch library manager o committee chair/service unit manager o department head/team leader o library director o university librarian /dean o other (specify)_________ 12. what is the total number of years of your services in library and information science field (select only one answer)? o less than 1 year o 1 – 5 o 6 – 10 o 11 – 15 o 16 – 20 o 21 – more appendix b. interview questions 1. please describe your involvement with the diversity programs or initiatives. 2. please share your experience and suggestions on important strategies, factors, and other issues related to your diversity efforts. 3. what are your best practices? 4. what lessons have you learned? 5. to chinese american librarians, what do you think we can do to promote and increase our role in lis diversity? 6. what are your suggestions and recommendations to recruit, promote, and retain chinese american librarians in diversity? ruan and liu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 36 about the authors lian ruan is head librarian and director of illinois fire service institute international programs at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign, usa. dr. ruan’s research cover users of information and international librarianship. she is president (2015/2016) and executive director (2016/2019) of chinese american librarians association. she has helped trained 349 chinese librarians in the us since 2005. weiling liu is professor and head of office of libraries technology at university of louisville, louisville, kentucky, usa. ms. liu is a life member of chinese american librarians association (cala). she is a member of cala’s board of directors (2014-2020) and served as the webmaster (2013-2017) and co-chair of web committee (2011-2017). 02.the role of chinese american librarians_title 02.the role of chinese american librarians-updated issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org represent changes of knowledge organization systems on the semantic web qing zou abstract: traditional knowledge organization systems (kos) including thesauri, classification schemes, taxonomies, subject heading systems, name authorities, and other lists of terms and codes have been playing important roles in indexing, information organization, and retrieval. with the advent of the semantic web, a large number of them have been converted into linked open data (lod) datasets. since the simple knowledge organization systems (skos) and skos extension for labels (skos-xl) became formal world wide web consortium (w3c) recommendations, they have been applied to knowledge organization systems. in this article, the issues surrounding changes, versioning control, and evolution of kos are investigated. from kos services providers and consumers perspectives, this study focuses on the representation of changes on the semantic web. to cite this article: zou, q. (2018). represent changes of knowledge organization systems on the semantic web. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 67-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.64 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 67-77 issn:2474-3542 represent changes of knowledge organization systems on the semantic web qing zou lakehead university, canada abstract traditional knowledge organization systems (kos) including thesauri, classification schemes, taxonomies, subject heading systems, name authorities, and other lists of terms and codes have been playing important roles in indexing, information organization, and retrieval. with the advent of the semantic web, a large number of them have been converted into linked open data (lod) datasets. since the simple knowledge organization systems (skos) and skos extension for labels (skos-xl) became formal world wide web consortium (w3c) recommendations, they have been applied to knowledge organization systems. in this article, the issues surrounding changes, versioning control, and evolution of kos are investigated. from kos services providers and consumers perspectives, this study focuses on the representation of changes on the semantic web. keywords: kos, change representation, linked data, skos, skos-xl introduction the simple knowledge organization system (skos) provides a common data model for organizing knowledge organization systems such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject headings, and taxonomies (w3c, 2012). since the simple knowledge organization systems (skos) and skos extension for labels (skos-xl) became formal world wide web consortium (w3c) recommendations, they have been applied to knowledge organization systems. skos and skos-xl capture the common relations of kos in a formal and explicit way. moreover, it potentially improves the interoperability between kos. skos and skos-xl can not only bring paper format koss but electronic format koss into an open and highly connected zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 68 linked data world. however, an actively used kos needs to be regularly updated to reflect the development of human knowledge. therefore, changes are inevitable for kos. changes need to be properly managed by kos services providers and kos consumers because an out-of-date or poorly managed kos may provide obsolete information that may hinder information retrieval. kos services providers often actively maintain their koss. for example, a thesaurus such as arts and architecture thesaurus (aat)1, subject heading systems such as library of congress subject headings (lcsh) 2 , canadian subject headings (csh) 3 and rvm (répertoire de vedettesmatière)4 publish revisions regularly. however, kos consumers have difficulty to keep up with kos services providers. for instance, researchers have identified obsolete subject headings in library automation systems (buckland, 2012; chan & vizine-goetz, 1997). to actively manage kos changes at the consumers' side, kos changes need to be explicitly expressed and properly propagated. with more and more koss being published on the semantic web, the issue of kos changes needs to be investigated in this new context. literature review this section is organized into two subsections. related studies about kos changes are reviewed in the first subsection. studies related to change representation are summarized in the second subsection. changes in kos the obsolete problem caused by kos changes especially in subject heading systems has long been identified (ashman, 2006; buckland, 2012; chan & vizine-goetz, 1997). changes in kos are caused by new topics, names, concepts, and cultural changes (buckland, 2012). if changes in kos are not propagated to applications, the old terms, concepts, and names become obsolete. since skos has been widely applied in publishing kos on the semantic web, the capabilities of handling kos changes in skos have been examined (tennis, 2005). the two mechanisms (i.e., notes and web ontology language (owl) versioning) for concept schema revision provided by skos do not “account for … refinement, lumping and other transformations of concepts” (tennis, 2005, p. 276). although tennis (2005) proposes an approach to extend skos core to track vocabularies changes over their lifetime through capturing three different changes including lumping, refining, and relationship changes, there are no detailed explanations on how the 1 http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/ 2 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html 3 https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/canadian-subject-headings/pages/canadian-subject-headings.aspx 4 https://rvmweb.bibl.ulaval.ca/ zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 69 approach works. for example, regarding relationship changes, it is not clear that the proposed "skos:wasrelated” will stick to the concept along its lifetime or not. if one concept has associative relations with two concepts and two association relations are changed to hierarchical relations more than one time, there will be more than two “skos:wasrelated” of one concept in the kos. there is no way to tell the temporal differences between the two “skos:wasrelated”. in addition, it is not clear what the differences between the proposed “skos:conceptlump” and “skos:concept” and between the proposed “skos:conceptrefinement” and “skos:concept”. from the perspectives of services providers and consumers, the approach may not be applicable. tennis (2007) categorized characteristics of scheme changes into three major changes including “structural change, word-use change and textual change” (p.90). traditionally, term records have been used to manage values of thesaurus entries by thesaurus management manuals and standards (aitchison, bawden, & gilchrist, 2000; national information standards organization, 2005; soergel, 1974). tennis (2007) proposed values records, an expanded version of term records, for managing changes. however, although the approach was claimed for scheme versioning in the semantic web, it has not been empirically tested. tennis and sutton (2008) differentiate the abstract concept and "concept instances" to capture concept evolution in vocabulary development applications. however, this approach is bound to vocabulary development applications as shown in the iterative workflow described in the article. no doubt, there are some advantages to link concept instances to their abstract concepts. this approach also brings in extra work on maintaining abstract concepts. it is not clear how this approach can couple with situations when any changes happen to abstract concepts including addition, modification, and deletion. change representation change representation is one of the six phases (i.e., change capturing, change representation, semantics of change, change implementation, change propagation, and change validation) of ontology evolution in a cyclic loop (stojanovic, maedche, motik, & stojanovic, 2002). ontology can be defined as an “explicit specification of a conceptualization” (gruber, 1993, p. 199). in a broader sense, traditional knowledge organization systems include terms list, subject headings, classification schemes, taxonomies, and thesauri are ontologies. uschold and gruninger (2004) categorized taxonomies and thesauri as “lightweight-ontologies”. since ontology change refers to “the generic problem of changing an ontology in response to a certain need” (flouris, manakanatas, kondylakis, plexousakis, & antoniou, 2008, p. 117), studies focusing on ontology evolution, versioning and change management are relevant to kos changes. ontology changes have been categorized into 1) atomic (basic) change; and 2) composite changes (javed, abgaz, & pahl, 2013). noy, chugh, liu, and musen (2006) introduced a change and annotation ontology (chao) to explicitly express the changes between different versions of ontologies. a change history ontology is used to represent changes (khattak, batool, pervez, khan, & lee, 2013). a layered change history log has been introduced to log ontology changes (javed, zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 70 2013). taking into consideration of syntactic and semantics of ontologies, zeginis, tzitzikas, and christophides (2011) proposed “delta functions” to compare rdfs. a temporal logic approach is used to manage and reason in different versions of an ontology (huang & stuckenschmidt, 2005). palma, corcho, & haase (2009) proposed owl 2 change ontology for managing changes following a temporal ordering. types of kos changes have been identified. changes happened in a thesaurus fall into six categories: “amendment of existing terms, status of existing terms, deletion or demotion of existing terms, addition of new, or deletion of old relationships, addition of new terms, amendment of existing structure” (aitchison et al., 2000, p. 170). changes can be categorized into three general groups including “structural change, word-use change and textual change” (tennis, 2007, p. 90). with more and more kos published on the semantic web, kos changes need to be discussed in this new context. in summary, change representation in ontology needs to take features of ontologies into consideration. since koss and ontologies are different, some methods (such as reasoning) used in ontologies cannot apply to koss. in this study, methods such as change log and temporal order are utilized in the investigation of kos changes. objective of the study this study aims to explore how to represent kos changes on the semantic web. methodology in order to address the issue, this study takes a three steps approach: 1) formally define changes in kos, 2) to model change sets; 3) to apply the change sets model to use cases which are taken from tennis’s studies. changes representation in the context of the semantic web, resource description framework (rdf) is the fundamental tool and model for representing resources (manola & miller, 2004). knowledge organization systems can be encoded in rdf statements using skos and skos-xl. kos changes can be defined as any modification of a kos. definition 1. a knowledge organization system is a set of concepts interrelated by relationships. a kos k can be denoted as: k = (c, a, r) where c is a set of concepts, a is a set of attributes, and r is a set of relations. for each concept zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 71 ci c, a(ci)= {a1, a2, …, am }, and r(ci) = { r1, r2, …, rn}. in other words, a kos can be considered as a set of rdf triples of form <subject, predicate, object> with semantics defined in rdf, skos and skos-xl, if the kos only uses skos and skosxl, rdf. definition 2. operator + is an addition operation and +c is an operation to add a concept, +a(c) is an operation to add an attribute to concept c, and +r(c) is an operation to add a relation to concept c. more specifically, the three operations are denoted as follows: kold = (cold , a old , r old) and knew = (cnew , a new , r new) kold +c = knew , c∈cnew cold) kold +a(c) = knew , c∈ coldc∈cnewa(c)∈anew aold) kold +r(c) = knew , c∈ coldc∈cnewr(c)∈rnew rold) definition 3. operator is a deletion operation and -c is an operation to delete a concept, -a(c) is an operation to delete an attribute of concept c, and -r(c) is an operation to delete a relation of concept c. more specifically, the three operations are denoted as follows: kold = (cold , a old , r old) and knew = (cnew , a new , r new) kold -c = knew , c∈ cold cnew) kold -a(c) = knew , c∈ coldc∈cnewa(c)∈ aold anew) kold -r(c) = knew , c∈ coldc∈cnewr(c)∈ rold rnew) definition 4. given two knowledge organization systems kold = (cold , a old , r old) and knew = (cnew , a new , r new), the changes are ∆( kold ->knew) = ∆c and ∆c = cnew cold = { cnew (ccold)}, ∆a =cnew | a(c) a new aold) }, ∆r =cnew | r(c) r new rold) } two basic operations add and delete are defined above. in terms of changes in kos, tennis (2007) identified structural change, word-use change and textual change. more specifically, kos changes include concept splitting and lumping (tennis, 2005). take the example used in tennis (2005), the changes can be represented using the definitions: table 1. change example 1 dc2002 terms (a) applications (b) web services skos:concept “applications” skos:concept “web services” dc2003 metadata thesaurus (a) applications nt web services skos:concept “applications” skos:narrower “web services” skos:concept “web services” the change in table 1 can be considered as one relation addition operation. the concept “applications” has a “skos:narrower” relation with the concept “web services” after the change: zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 72 ∆= ∆r=r(concept(“applications”)) = “skos:narrower” and “skos:narrower(concept(“application”)) -> concept(“web services”) the change can be represented by turtle (a terse rdf triple language (beckett, berners-lee, prud’hommeaux, & carothers, 2014)) as follows: changelog:operation01 a ch:relationadd ; ch:hastimestamp “2018-03-01 15:34:45+5” ; ch:subject skos:concept “application” ; ch:relation “skos:narrower”; ch:target skos:concept “web services” . changes are a set of operations. therefore, a general model was built on changeset (tunnicliffe & davis, 2009), change log history (khattak, latif, & lee, 2013), and layered change log (javed et al., 2013). figure 1. a kos change set model in this model, a change set contains a set of change operations. a change set represents a series of kos changes. kos concepts, attributes, and relations participant in kos changes and are changed by change operations. to express kos changes, an ontology5 was developed based on the model. at the core of this ontology, changes are formally defined. figure 2 shows that the hierarchical structure of the atomicchange class. 5 http://nkos.info/ontology/cs.owl zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 73 figure 2. the atomicchange class and subclasses the example 1 is complete with the following statements that link the operation to a change set using the developed ontology. suppose that "ch" is the prefix for the ontology. the following is in a turtle format: changelog: changeset01 a ch:changeset ch:haschangebegintime “2017-12-01 15:34:45+5”; ch:haschangeendtime “2017-12-01 15:35:00+5”. ch:operator changelog:agent01 ; ch:hasoperation changelog:operation01. changelog:operation01 a ch:relationadd ; ch:hastimestamp “2018-03-01 15:34:45+5” ; ch:subject skos:concept “application” ; ch:relation “skos:narrower”; ch:target skos:concept “web services” . the statements indicate when the change starts and ends, who is the operator, and to which operation it links. in this example, the operation (changelog:operation01) is a relationadd operation that includes subject, relation, and target. the second example is listed in table 2 (tennis, 2005). in the example, two concepts lumped together. table 2. change example 2 dc2002 terms (a) metadata harvesting (b) open archives initiative skos:concept “metadata harvesting” skos:concept “open archives initiative” dc2003 metadata thesaurus skos:concept “open archives initiative protocol for metadata harvesting” zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 74 (a) open archives initiative protocol for metadata harvesting with the change set model, the change can be represented in turtle format as follows: changelog: changeset02 a ch:changeset; // a change set ch:hasreason “reason 2”; ch:haschangebegintime “2017-12-02 15:34:45+5”; ch:haschangeendtime “2017-12-02 15:35:00+5”. ch:hasoperation changelog:orderedoperations. changelog:conceptdelete01 a ch:conceptdelete ; // a change operation ch:operator changelog:agent01 ; ch:subject skos:concept “metadata harvesting” . changelog:conceptdelete02 a ch:conceptdelete ; // a change operation ch:hastimestamp “2017-12-02 15:34:45+5” ; ch:operator changelog:agent01 ; ch:subject skos:concept “open archives initiative” . changelog:conceptadd02 a ch:conceptadd ; // a change operation ch:hastimestamp “2017-12-02 15:34:46+5” ; ch:operator changelog:agent01 ; ch:subject skos:concept “open archives initiative protocol for metadata harvesting” . changelog:orderedoperations ch:hasorderedoperationlist changlog:operationlist02. changelog:operationlist02 a ch:opertionlist; ch:hascontents changelog:conceptdelete01; ch:hasnext changelog:opertionlist03. changelog:operationlist03 a ch:opertionlist; ch:hascontents changelog:conceptdelete03; ch:hasnext changelog:opertionlist04. changelog:operationlist04 a ch:opertionlist; ch:hascontents changelog:conceptadd02; zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 75 ch:hasnext changelog:endopertionlist. changelog: endopertionlist a ch:emptylist. in this example, there are three operations that should be executed in order. an ordered operation list is defined. the refinement changes in tennis (2007, p.15) is listed as follows: table 3. change example 3 dc2003 metadata thesaurus (a) cultural heritage [no other concepts] skos:concept “cultural heritage” dc2004 metadata thesaurus (a) cultural heritage nt sekisui-zu skos:concept “sekisui-zu” skos:concept “cultural heritage” skos:narrower skos:concept “sekisui-zu” the change can be represented as a conceptadd and relationadd operations. for the sake of simplicity, the detailed statements are not listed here. however, they are similar to the examples above. in the ontology, there are only add and delete operations. a modification operation can be expressed by one delete and add operations. discussion and conclusion the goal of this study is to represent kos changes. definitions are given to express kos changes. in addition, a change set model was proposed along with types of changes. as a result, an ontology for representing kos changes was proposed. this study took the examples from other studies as use cases. through the examples, it is clear that kos changes can be expressed by the proposed approach. using this approach, kos changes are explicitly expressed. the explicitly rdf statements can be queried by using sparql protocol and rdf query language (sparql). moreover, changes can be separated from the kos that makes easier to manage kos and changes. formally expressed changes and the separation of changes with kos make it possible to deal with kos changes on the semantic web. five groups of stakeholders (i.e., lod dataset producer group, vocabulary producer group, researcher group, web site/tool developer group, and kos service provider group) of kos have been identified (zeng & mayr, 2018, p. 5). kos changes need to propagate not only from zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 76 producer groups to kos consumers end but within producer groups. for example, a lod dataset producer may use more than one koss as indicated by zeng and mayr (2018). this study is the first step to connect kos producer groups to consumer groups. the following steps including generating change sets and change propagation from kos sources to applications need to be investigated. the ultimate goal is to keep kos current at the application level through change sets without downloading the full kos every time. references aitchison, j., bawden, d., & gilchrist, a. (2000). thesaurus construction and use: a practical manual (4th ed.). london, united kingdom: aslib. ashman, a. b. (2006). the persistence of superseded subject headings in online catalogs. technical services quarterly, 24(2), 27–34. https://doi.org/10.1300/j124v24n02_03 beckett, d., berners-lee, t., prud’hommeaux, e., & carothers, g. (2014). rdf 1.1 turtle. w3c. retrieved from https://www.w3.org/tr/turtle/#language-features buckland, m. k. (2012). obsolescence in subject description. journal of documentation, 68(2), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211209168 chan, l. m., & vizine-goetz, d. (1997). errors and obsolete elements in assigned library of congress subject headings: implications for subject cataloging and subject authority control. library resources & technical services, 41(4), 295–322. flouris, g., manakanatas, d., kondylakis, h., plexousakis, d., & antoniou, g. 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(2018). knowledge organization systems (kos) in the semantic web: a multi-dimensional review. international journal on digital libraries. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00799-018-0241-2 about the author qing zou is a digital initiatives librarian at lakehead university library, canada. his research interests include linked data, integrated library systems, digital libraries, and digital archives. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the development of data science education in china from the lis perspective jilong zhang, anna fu, hao wang, and shenqin yin abstract: the aim of this paper is to introduce the development of data science in higher education in china, including the policy and educational programs at various levels. we investigated the data science education of five lis (library and information studies) schools in china, using fudan university’s data management and application master’s program as an example for more specific information about the curriculum structure, course focus and teaching methods in data science education. the paper further describes the action of promoting data science and data science education in the field of lis by the china academic library research data management implementation group. to cite this article: zhang, j., fu, a., wang, h., & yin, s. (2017). the development of data science education in china from the lis perspective. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 3-17. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.29 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 3-17 issn:2474-3542 the development of data science education in china from the lis perspective jilong zhang, anna fu, hao wang, and shenqin yin fudan university library, shanghai, china abstract the aim of this paper is to introduce the development of data science in higher education in china, including the policy and educational programs at various levels. we investigated the data science education of five lis (library and information studies) schools in china, using fudan university’s data management and application master’s program as an example for more specific information about the curriculum structure, course focus and teaching methods in data science education. the paper further describes the action of promoting data science and data science education in the field of lis by the china academic library research data management implementation group. keywords: data science education, lis programs, education of lis, curriculum introduction the era of big data has arrived with enormous challenges to every aspect of society. from science to education, healthcare, government, and commerce, the future of every sector is linked to the relatively new term “data science.” people with specialized data skills are in urgent demand everywhere and a shortage of data talent appears in many countries (manyika et al., 2011; department for business, innovation & skills, 2013; liu & jia, 2015). in 2016, professor yongwei wu from tsinghua university predicted that in three to five years china could face a shortage of as many as 1,500,000 data specialists (bai, 2016). as a significant source of talent, institutions of higher education are considered a vital place for cultivating data scientists and specialists (chen & he, 2016). in response, an increasing number of degree programs and courses in data science have been developed by universities in china. as the disciplines that educate people who are capable of addressing big data challenges, data science and data science education have attracted intense attention from a wide range of domains and disciplines (song & zhu, 2016), the current paper aims to depict the state of data science education in china, especially from the lis perspective. zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 4 literature review data science is closely related to statistics and computer science, and university students in these areas are usually seen as a primary source of potential data talent. however, faculties in these fields point out numerous opportunities and challenges they are facing when developing educational programs, and have provided an array of recommendations on curriculum design and educator development (baumer, 2017; ramamurthy et al, 2016, bauman et al, 2014). sun and yin (2017) state that to cultivate data scientists with big data abilities, statistics programs need to: add courses related to the theory and software of big data, foster students’ abilities in programing and computing, and integrate machine learning and big data analysis into their course content. however, zhang and huang (2014), suggested that bayesian theory and neural network content be incorporated into teaching content, and that instruction should focus on students’ practical and presentation skills and their sense of curiosity. they also highlighted the importance for statistics faculties to collaborate with faculties in mathematics and computer science. regarding computer science education, wang et al. (2017) identified data scientists, big data system engineers, big data algorithm engineers, machine learning engineers and big data algorithm scientists as five distinct data talents, and suggested enhancing the big data abilities of computer science students by developing course architecture with a focus on big data and big data tools. in addition to these two disciplines, with the significant impact of the new science paradigm, educational programs in journalism, economic management, business, publishing science, biological sciences and social science also become more data-centric with more concentration on their students’ awareness and abilities to tackle big data problems (shen et al.., 2014; kirkpatrick, 2015; wang & liu, 2016; bichler et al., 2017; yu, 2017; macmillan, 2015, stephenson & caravello, 2007). as an academic field or academic program, data science is relatively new. however, there has already been a number of data science degree programs launched by universities, and schools or departments offering such programs include business, computer science, statistics, mathematics, lis, and arts and sciences (tang & sae-lim, 2016). the variety of disciplines indicates the multidisciplinary nature of data science. song and zhu (2016) surveyed 48 data science programs in the us and found the number of master’s programs outnumbers certificate, bachelor’s and doctoral programs. most of these programs are developed by collaborations between multiple schools and departments. research by aasheim et al. (2015) and tang & saelim (2016), found similar results and speculated that undergraduate programs may become a new trend in this area. the 2016 park city mathematics institute (pcmi) organized a workshop and 25 faculties from computer science, statistics, and mathematics gathered to discuss their vision for data science education at the undergraduate level, and the appropriate content that should be covered by an undergraduate data science program. as a product of the workshop, a guideline for curriculum design of undergraduate programs in data science has been published (veaux et al., 2017). in the lis field, an increasing number of job positions list data knowledge and skills as crucial requirements for the successful candidate (chen & zhang, 2017). job titles are varied, and include data specialist, data curator, data librarian, data archivist, data scientist, and some other titles including the word “data.” in response to increased demand, lis schools start to revamp their programs by offering new data science and data curation programs and incorporating data science, data management and data curation courses into their existing programs (tonta, 2016). several authors surveyed the data science education offered by lis schools and focused on the level of zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 5 education, curriculum structure, teaching content and approaches. harris-pierce & liu (2012) noted that 16 lis schools in the us and canada offer courses on data curation and recommended more lis schools add data curation courses to their programs. si et al. (2013) investigated 63 scientific data courses offered by 25 ischools around the world and found that the curriculum covered basic knowledge and methods of data curation, but lacked content such as data curation tools and user training approaches. cao et al. (2016) surveyed 16 institutes offering data curation education listed by dcc website and nine of which were lis schools. among these programs, fifty percent of core courses are in the area of lis, such as information organization and access, database and information system, metadata, digital library, while the rest cover digital preservation and data curation technology. some case studies discuss the data science and data literacy education of lis schools in more details. within the context of e-science, qin and d’lgnazio (2010, 2016) introduced their course design and teaching experience from the scientific data literacy project. heidorn et al. (2007) described their experience of developing a data curation education program (dcep) at the university of illinois at urbana -champaign (uiuc). huang and ji (2015) suggested that lis schools in china learn from the success of dcep by focusing on data curation education, developing a project team, and organizing a relevant conference. although some researchers claim that “data” has triggered next wave of curriculum changes in lis schools (tonta, 2016), ma and pu (2016) expressed great concern that compared to the computer science, software engineering and statistics disciplines (which are the primary sources of it and data talent), lis schools still have a long way to go. after analyzing the course content of various programs in data science, tang & sae-lim (2016) point out that ischools’ courses cover less content on mathematics and statistics than other schools and departments, and therefore, doubt the competitiveness of data science programs offered by ischools. discipline construction of data science in china in order to produce appropriately skilled data talent, the ministry of education (moe) of the people’s republic of china has taken a series of positive actions. in terms of undergraduate education, moe identified data science, big data technology, information and computing sciences, statistics, applied statistics, computer science and technology, software engineering, information management and information systems as the seven most relevant disciplines to the area of big data (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2016). in china, there are currently 2,638 higher education sites offering undergraduate programs in these fields. the breakdown is as follows: 983 in computer science and technology, 563 in software engineering, 237 in statistics, 107 in applied statistics, 526 in information and computer science, 219 in information management and information system, and 3 in data science and big data technology (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2016). among these majors, data science and big data technology are relatively new, as they were established by the moe in 2015. the first three universities approved to offer data science and big data technology programs are peking university, university of international business and economics and central south university. a year later, moe approved requests from 32 additional universities to develop bachelor’s degrees in data science and big data technology. graduates of the data science programs from four of these universities obtain bachelor of science degrees, while the rest obtain bachelor of engineering degrees (ministry of education of the people's republic of china, 2017a). zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 6 since 2012, the moe began releasing lists of undergraduate programs with low employment rates, in order to review and optimize the major structure of undergraduate programs in china. during this process, data science and big data technology became two of the prioritized majors and received strong support from the moe. universities were encouraged to improve their existing programs and to develop new programs relating to big data, based on the needs of social and economic development as well as the universities’ existing teaching conditions (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2017b). regarding postgraduate education, according to the guidelines in “regulation of establishment and management in degree granting and talents-nurturing discipline catalogue” released by the china academic degree & graduate education development centre and moe, second-level disciplines and specialties to be offered at the postgraduate level should be deliberated on by the universities themselves. some well-positioned universities received support to develop programs in big data and cultivate graduates with the skills and competencies to handle big data and solve big data problems (ministry of education of the people's republic of china, 2016). depending on the existing faculties in the departments or schools of information, computer science, and statistics, some chinese universities have launched various data science courses and programs to bridge the gap between the required and current level of data scientists. for instance, fudan university (fdu) launched a phd program in data science in 2010 and two years later, they developed a postgraduate course titled data science. in 2015, fdu began to offer master’s programs in data science and their undergraduates could select data science as a minor. in 2013, beihang university developed postgraduate programs in data science. in 2014, tsinghua university announced the establishment of the academy of data science and launched a number of multidisciplinary master’s programs in data science. these programs are a collaboration between six faculties (e.g. information school, economic and commercial school et al.) and are guided by the postgraduate school. programs such as data science, engineering and commercial analysis are built as the forerunners. in 2008, the chinese university of hong kong developed a master’s program in data science and business statistics since 2008. additionally, chinese academy of sciences, sun yat-sen university and east china normal university all have established their own research institutes to cultivate postgraduates in data science. for vocational education, moe released a revised version of the catalogue of university diplomatic education majors (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china, 2015) in october 2015, taking the initiative in meeting the needs of the big data era, by adding new programs in cloud computing and application, technology of e-commerce and cyber data analysis and application. in 2016, moe granted approval to 50 vocational colleges to launch cloud computing and application programs, and approval to 53 additional vocational colleges to begin offering technology of e-commerce programs (ministry of education of the people's republic of china, 2016). zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 7 data science education of lis programs investigation of data science education in five lis schools in china method five top lis schools in china (table 1) were used as a sample population to gain a general understanding of data science education in china’s lis schools. with the exception of the national science library of chinese academy of sciences, which offers only postgraduate programs, the other four schools offer bachelors, master’s and doctoral programs. table 1. five sample lis schools university lis school website abbreviation wuhan university school of information management http://sim.whu.edu.cn/ whu nanjing university school of information management http://im.nju.edu.cn/ nju renmin university of china school of information resources management http://irm.ruc.edu.cn/ ruc peking university department of information management http://www.im.pku.edu.cn/portal/view.do pku chinese academy of sciences national science library http://www.las.ac.cn/ cas documents including program descriptions, course catalogues, curriculum structures, course syllabi and school news on the websites of the sample lis schools were searched and analyzed. when course information for a specific lis school could not be found on its website, the authors browsed the websites of the undergraduate college or graduate school of the sample universities. although an attempt was made to collect as much as information about these five lis schools as possible, it was not possible to find some detailed or latest information about programs and courses on the websites. zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 8 findings the length of program description of each lis school varies, but the basic information such as the name of the program is usually available. our investigation indicates that lis schools in china seem to be more confident in using information rather than data to describe their programs. as a result, the word “data” rarely appears in the name of the programs offered by the sample lis schools. even though, sometimes “data” can be found in the curriculum and course content. for instance, in addition to traditional lis courses such as information organization and information description, the undergraduate program in library science at whu involves courses such as database principle and application, and spss and data management were seen in experimental and practical teaching. the other typical lis undergraduate program at whu is information management and information system, courses of which include data structure and database system principle. similar curriculum structure can be seen in the program descriptions for pku and nju. both undergraduate programs of pku cover courses such as statistics, data analysis, data mining, data structure and algorithm, while programs of nju include data structure within core courses and data repository and data mining in other courses. additionally, the master’s program in library science at nju offers database technology and the information science master’s program offers data mining technology and cloud computing. comparatively, data science education of lis programs at ruc tends to be more systematic and its program description is more explicit in terms of data science education. one of its bachelor’s degree programs, information resource management makes a clear statement that students in this program are educated to master the basic theory of information resource management as well as the theory and technology of data management. graduates from this program are expected to be qualified for the positions of data organization, data locating, data processing, data storage, data retrieval, data disposal and data mining in companies, enterprises or government agencies (school of information resources management of ruc, 2016). courses in this program are more data-centric, and include data management, basis of data analysis, data repository, data mining, web analysis and text mining, social network analysis, internet information analysis, data preservation, database system and data structure. the requirements for the information resource management master’s program are higher than the undergraduate program. the curriculum contains data mining and commercial intelligence, forecasting and deciding, competitive intelligence analysis, knowledge management, data repository, technology of data mining, and information forecasting. furthermore, both information analysis master’s program and library and information science master’s program at ruc provide students with courses in data mining and commercial intelligence, and data, model and decision. in terms of the intelligence theory and method master’s program, data mining and analysis are also included in the research content. the digital libraries program emphasizes database creation and management, data storage, data interchange format, data analysis and management technology, and data mining. guided by moe, data science education in lis programs at the graduate level in china seem to be more flexible and innovative than that at the undergraduate level. more elements of “data” occur in the description of the master’s programs and phd programs. one of the master’s programs developed by cas is titled “methods and technology of big data intelligence analysis.” the program description is: “the international frontier technology including data mining, complex network, social network, text analysis and knowledge discovery, and particularly emphasizing the trend of research for the development, exploitation and technology of intelligence analysis, and zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 9 their application to the new methods, index and modes of informetrics.” (national science library of cas, 2017) by contrast, doctoral programs vary a lot due to the interdisciplinary character and wide application of data science, as well as the specialized nature of doctoral education. nju offers a doctoral program named data intelligence and information system, while ruc offers the doctoral program in big data governance. in addition to curriculum, on the web site of the school of information management of nju, we found that they also encourage their students to be involved in extra-curricular activities and competitions relating to big data, data analysis and data application (school of information management of nanjing university, 2015). the case study of master’s program of data management and application at fdu introduction to the program the literature and information center (lic) at fdu launched the master’s programs in lis in 2014, with the collaboration of the national library of china, shanghai library, and shanghai science and technology intelligence research centre. at present, there are four two-year master’s programs with six professors (three doctoral mentors included) and 27 associate professors. the data management and application program provides a professional education and prepares students for data-intensive professional roles in a broad range of sectors. the program focuses on the knowledge and skills that lis students require to manage data effectively in modern libraries and other information settings. graduates are expected to be able to solve data management problems in modern libraries and other organizations with their knowledge in library science, information science, management science and computer science. the lic has enrolled two batches of students since 2015, a total of 55 students, of which eleven selected data management and application program. these students have a wide range of undergraduate backgrounds from computer science, information management, information systems, applied mathematics and statistics to archive science. what and how we teach the data management and application program is a 24-month program and students are required to obtain 40 credits for graduation. courses include: course learning, specialized practice, social practice, and a dissertation. in terms of course learning, students are required to complete two introductory courses worth five credits, eight specialized courses for 23 credits, and four elective courses for seven credits. see table 2 for detailed course information. zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 10 table 2. course information course type course information teaching method faculty introductory courses introduction to library science, research methods and dissertation preparation face-toface lic specialized courses development of information resources, library management, information service and user research, information organization and retrieval, digital library, research and implementation of data curation, information analysis and visualization, the frontier and dynamics of lis face-toface lic elective courses such as second language, academic writing in english face-toface other schools, e.g. college of foreign language and literature, the specialized curricula of the data management and application programs fall into two categories: traditional and typical lis courses including the development of information resources, information service and users, information organization and retrieval, and the frontier and dynamics of lis, and specialized data science courses including the technology of digital library, research and application of data curation and information analysis and visualization. all of the courses are important for preparing students for their future careers in the library and information profession. however, compared to the former category, the later category focuses on data policy, management, analysis and service. although digital library remains the course title, the course content differs from the previous course. in addition to digital library technology, information systems and project management, the course incorporates the concepts and technology of big data, data management and services. the research and application of data curation course is designed to introduce research data management, and, from the data curation point of view, to provide students with knowledge and skills in data selection and evaluation, data ingestion, long-term data preservation and data access and dissemination. this course gives students a broad view of the background of research data management, the history of the development of data curation, the modules and tools of data curation, as well as national and international practices. students are also required to master the theoretical knowledge of data curation, and apply it into daily research activities to effectively manage research data and make data management plans. the objective of the information analysis and visualization course is to foster students’ abilities in data mining, data analysis and data visualization, with the help of computer tools including ms excel, spss, r, python, tableau and citespace. course instructors not only focus on knowledge acquisition, but also provide students with opportunities to understand the value of data, data related professions and work involving data by zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 11 inviting guest speakers. for instance, last semester, the digital library course invited a chief engineer working at a computer company, a manager from an internet finance company, a specialist of a population data platform, and a data librarian from a us academic library to present to students. these four guest speakers with diverse work experience and educational backgrounds introduced what they do with data and what they think data specialists should be. this allows students to connect “data” with their learning and future careers. additionally, interdisciplinary teamwork is crucial for preparing data specialists in today’s data-driven world, so group work is used widely in this program. in the research and application of data curation course, students are divided into three groups at the beginning of the semester. one of the group assignments is to investigate the data management plan (dmp) online and dmp tool. each group is required to choose a tool to study and explore its function and implementation. about two weeks later, groups present their findings with slides. assignments also play an important role in the master’s program, especially for courses such as information analysis and visualization. the instructors of these courses hope that their students use the appropriate tools to analyze and use data after their learning. therefore, they have designed a series of assignments to help students become skilled in using tools instead of just knowing the tools. in addition to the curriculum, students in lic at fdu are required to have a 6-month internship during their two year education. lic has established a few formal internship sites both domestic and abroad, including at: migrated population service centre of china national health and family planning commission, eastmoney.com, shanghai population data research centre and a variety of libraries. during the internship, students work on real-world data problems in the specialty fields under the mentorship of multi-mentor teams from both lic and their workplace. practice content includes management, sharing and service of migrated population investigation data, disposal and application of financial big data, open government data, population data sharing, and the management and service of research data. nearly fifty percent of students’ dissertations are relevant to their internships and under collaborative guidance and supervision from both their program supervisor and internship mentors. three of the graduates this year focus on demographic data, while the other two students studying the reliability of research data repository, and the exploitation and utilization of adolescent research data separately. all these topics are very relevant to their internships and the research projects they engaged in. reflections and discussion lis faculty are always facing challenges in developing curricula that meet the needs of students and employers. when lis meets “data,” the nature and scope of lis work changes a lot. it is impossible to solve the problem by waiting for lis students to graduate with more data science skills; lis faculty should be more creative and proactive in how they integrate new knowledge and skills into their curriculum. three core courses concerning big data, data curation and service, and data analysis have been included within the data management and application program, but the faculty of fdu are still trying to make the current curriculum more data-centric. more courses geared towards developing students’ statistical and computing skills need to be added in the future, so that the graduates can be more competitive compared to graduates from data science programs in other disciplines. diverse discipline backgrounds give our students varied standpoints and provide them with knowledge and specialized skills when studying and doing research. however, it is clear that such zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 12 diversity makes it more difficult for faculty to design curriculum and assignments, especially from a teaching perspective. to provide students with different training based on their undergraduate backgrounds, interests and future career plans, faculty need to pay more attention to integrating specific projects into the program. further, skills and abilities required by academic libraries are different from healthcare, new media or internet, and the latest technology may soon become obsolete. it is impossible to cover every aspect of data science in a two year degree program, and to produce graduates with complete knowledge and skills in data science. therefore, the lis faculty at fdu is planning to include contents such as life-long learning and open access materials relevant to data science into the students’ learning process. promoting data science in the lis field the results of the survey report on mlis (master of library and information studies) program development in china (wang, 2015) indicate that data mining has become one of the most useful courses in lis programs. survey respondents suggest that the teaching content in statistic tools, programming languages and data mining in lis programs needs to be expanded and enriched. it is obvious that data science has become a crucial component of lis education. how should lis practitioners promote the awareness of data science and what can be done by lis faculties to improve the educational content and pedagogical structure? such urgent questions need to be discussed in the lis field. in this context, the china academic library research data management implementation group (calrdmig) was established by nine university libraries, including fdu library, pku library, tsinghua university library, shanghai jiao tong university library, zhejiang university library, beijing institute of technology library, shanghai international studies university library, tongji university library and wuhan university library in 2014. this section uses calrdmig as an example, to introduce the efforts of lis practitioners to promote data science and related education. to have a crucial role in the future development of the data science ecosystem, lis professionals need to know very well about the changes, potential and challenges of data to the development of lis. therefore, in the first annual meeting, every member of calrdmig selected specific topics in relation to research data management based on their organizational strength and strategic priorities. topics included but were not limited to the following: scanning environment, organizing the framework of managing research data, drafting the measures and policies of managing research data, drafting and implementing the standards and regulations of research data, investigating the platforms and tools, selecting the model for the system, localizing software and system in china and secondary development, training sessions and programs for managing research data, drafting the developing plan of research data management service for university libraries and providing best practice, and building supportive environment for using and applying research data. members meet every year to discuss the new progress of each area. data science education as a topic of broad and current interest has been discussed many times. for instance, at the 2015 annual conference at the beijing institute of technology, participants from nine university libraries discussed the education and training of managing research data. three aspects were covered: data literacy education for library users, data science education for lis students, and post education and professional training for librarians. in addition zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 13 to library managers and senior librarians, young librarians and data librarians were also invited to join the meeting, where participants could share their experiences and challenges they meet in a data-intensive context. compared to irregularly held conferences with a loose pattern of communication, it is much more effective to build a cohesive community of enthusiastic data science lis practitioners, faculties and researchers. three years into its development, calrdmig has generated some stimulating outcomes. members can share their experience of data management, data service and cultivation of data talents, with lis people and people from organizations in other fields and sectors. the 2016 annual conference was held at the shanghai university of foreign studies on may 18. after that, calrdmig members organized a forum named “shaping intelligence, gaining value from data: china academic research data management & information technology for library (it4l) conference, 2016” with a total of 120 participants from more than 60 university and public libraries. apart from data professionals in the lis area, professor xizhe peng from fdu’s social science data research centre, deputy director weidong wang from ruc’s social investigation data centre, and associate professor deqing yang from fdu’s school of big data gave speeches to the forum. at the end of conference, the group released a proposal for universities and research institutes in china to: raise awareness of data management and data sharing, promote the drafting of related policies, communicate and collaborate with the relevant fields to research data, and boost technological and research innovation by developing data collecting, archiving, publishing, sharing, and using. conclusion institutions of higher education play an important role in helping develop data talents. in china, with the influence of a series of measures from the moe, an increasing number of programs and institutes in data science have been established. to keep pace with the transformation of big data, it is incumbent on lis faculties to ensure that their curricula are effective and appropriate in preparing graduates with competencies for data-intensive workplaces. the results of this investigation indicate that lis schools in china have integrated data science into their degree programs from undergraduate to postgraduate level, although different faculties focus on different knowledge and skills in the area of data science. data science education at the postgraduate level is more systematic and explicit. however, in contrast to lis programs in the us, the uk and other western countries, lis faculties in china use data to describe their programs much less. the authors of this paper believe that data science education in chinese lis programs is still in the early stage of development. the data management and application master’s program has been implemented by lic at fdu for more than two years. although it is not possible to cover all data science knowledge and skills within a two year master’s program, graduates of the program are expected to be competitive and have appropriate skills to cope with data problems. in the future, more courses on statistical and computing skills, especially the latest data technologies will be integrated into the program. given the multidisciplinary nature of data science, more collaborations with other departments, such as school of data science at fdu may be necessary. moocs may act as supplementary courses for solving the problem of time constraints in the master’s program. zhang et al. / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 14 furthermore, lis faculty at fdu will continue to focus on students’ ability to solve real-world problems and try to provide them with more real-world project opportunities. it is time for lis faculties and researchers to do more research on how data science education should be better incorporated into lis programs in china. a number of chinese researchers have surveyed the educational programs of data science and data curation in north america and europe and provided suggestions on learning experience from those existing educational programs. however, few specifically investigate and concentrate on the data science education offered by chinese lis schools and faculties. this study investigated the five top lis schools in china using the material available on their web sites. this paper introduced a case study of fdu, and contributes to a basic understanding of the current state of data science education in lis programs in china. further research could include more lis schools and materials to gain a better understanding of the development and effectiveness of data science education provided by lis programs in china. references aasheim, c. l., williams, s., 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[in chinese] about the authors jilong zhang is associate university librarian, executive deputy director of the institute for humanities and social science data, and deputy director of the social science data research center at fudan university. anna fu is data librarian, department of data management and technical service at fudan university library. hao wang is master's student at the literature and information center at fudan university. shenqin yin is digital library projects manager of the department of data management and technical service, and assistant director of the social science data research center at fudan university. http://yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/~tonta/yayinlar/tonta-pakistan-jiml-2016-888-2369-1-sm.pdf http://yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/~tonta/yayinlar/tonta-pakistan-jiml-2016-888-2369-1-sm.pdf http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~nolan/papers/data.science.guidelines.16.9.25.pdf http://xueshu.baidu.com/s?wd=paperuri%3a%28481f34b67597895200f1fd0c92abdfc6%29&filter=sc_long_sign&tn=se_xueshusource_2kduw22v&sc_vurl=http%3a%2f%2fcdmd.cnki.com.cn%2farticle%2fcdmd-10269-1016126721.htm&ie=utf-8&sc_us=2266641113642335464 http://xueshu.baidu.com/s?wd=paperuri%3a%28481f34b67597895200f1fd0c92abdfc6%29&filter=sc_long_sign&tn=se_xueshusource_2kduw22v&sc_vurl=http%3a%2f%2fcdmd.cnki.com.cn%2farticle%2fcdmd-10269-1016126721.htm&ie=utf-8&sc_us=2266641113642335464 http://xueshu.baidu.com/s?wd=paperuri%3a%28481f34b67597895200f1fd0c92abdfc6%29&filter=sc_long_sign&tn=se_xueshusource_2kduw22v&sc_vurl=http%3a%2f%2fcdmd.cnki.com.cn%2farticle%2fcdmd-10269-1016126721.htm&ie=utf-8&sc_us=2266641113642335464 01.the development of data science education_title 01.the development of data science education issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org promoting translational research within the global library and information community: access to research dissemination, promotion of timely issues, and professional development through ifla journal steve witt abstract: within the global library and information science profession there is often a disconnect between research and practice. ifla journal seeks to help bridge this gap through an editorial process and publishing mandate that encourages mixed methods approaches to research that engages librarians and their communities in the research and information dissemination process in order to translate research in a manner that helps to shape impactful professional practice and share outcomes with the wider profession. this article describes ways in which to engage ifla journal and participate in some of its ongoing professional development activities. to cite this article: witt, s. (2018). promoting translational research within the global library and information community: access to research dissemination, promotion of timely issues, and professional development through ifla journal. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 103-108. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 103-108 issn:2474-3542 promoting translational research within the global library and information community: access to research dissemination, promotion of timely issues, and professional development through ifla journal steve witt university of illinois at urbana-champaign, champaign, il, usa abstract within the global library and information science profession there is often a disconnect between research and practice. ifla journal seeks to help bridge this gap through an editorial process and publishing mandate that encourages mixed methods approaches to research that engages librarians and their communities in the research and information dissemination process in order to translate research in a manner that helps to shape impactful professional practice and share outcomes with the wider profession. this article describes ways in which to engage ifla journal and participate in some of its ongoing professional development activities. keywords: translational research, library science, publishing, professional development for over forty years, the editors of ifla journal have strived to publish articles that reflect the work and mission of the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla). as recounted by jerry w. mansfield, past chair of the journal’s editorial committee, the history of ifla journal sees a publication that has evolved from a chronicle of ifla activities to a peerreviewed journal that examines the challenges faced by librarians and information professionals that range from the investigating role of information in society, improving communities, developing inclusive services, supporting economic development, increasing access to knowledge, and actively engaging in the local and international policies that impact libraries and the world’s population (mansfield, 2014). the broad mandate of ifla journal requires a long-standing dedication to channeling the global voice of the library and information professions while promoting research that impacts practice. the success of ifla journal relies on the participation of practitioners and academics. this essay provides information on the scope of the journal and ways in which to engage the ifla community through its scholarly journal. if one reflects upon past publications and often cited articles from the journal, the diversity of authors, perspectives, and issues are unmatched within the field’s literature. reviewing some of the most frequently read articles that are featured on the journal’s website, one sees the depth and breadth of the journal’s coverage. articles focus on topics that remain timely such as freedom of expression, cultural heritage, development, indigenous knowledge, building leadership within the witt / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 104 profession, and perspectives from around the globe that inform our professional practice. nakata’s landmark article “indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface” continues to be one of the most read ifla journal papers while koltay’s contributions to our knowledge of data management practices breaks new ground in a pressing new professional initiative (nakata, 2002; koltay, 2016). these articles reflect the strength of the profession as a global field. the important work to advocate the critical need for information access and the role of libraries and allied cultural organizations in facilitating knowledge production is predicated upon the availability of research and evidence from the field. the lyon declaration on access to information and development, launched at the world library and information congress 2014, marks a critical initiative to assert and advocate the role of the profession in cultures and societies around the world (international federation of library associations and institutions, 2014). over 300 organizations from throughout the library and development community endorsed the document, calling upon united nations member states to integrate access to information into the post-2015 development framework. declarations such as the one issued in lyon in 2014 mark the ambitions and ideals of the library profession and successfully added the profession’s voice to the important un2030 conversations that will impact development initiatives for years to come (bradley, 2016). practitioners need access to both the tools and resources to translate their experience and the impact of their work to a wide and globally situated professional audience to make these initiatives successful. to contribute to the success of initiatives such as ifla’s work within the un2030 sustainable development goals, ifla journal aims to reflect the profession as a whole while ensuring a diversity of research methods, theoretical perspectives, and levels of inquiry that reflect the breadth and depth of ifla’s membership and remit. one strategy ifla journal employs to reach the professional units that support ifla’s work is to partner with sections to develop topical and thematic special issues. the inaugural special issue of the journal focused on national libraries as centered of innovation. subsequent special issues focused on cultural heritage preservation, data services, and privacy (cooke, 2018; drijfhout & de boer, 2015; horstmann & witt, 2017). in particular, the main goals of these special issues are to gather interdisciplinary and inter-professional research that contributes to professional practice and policy decisions that are important to the topics being addressed in global forums such as the un. ifla journal focuses its special issues in a manner that encourages exchange between library researchers and practitioners and those from allied fields to inspire wider research that relates to practice and furthers dialogue with other professions ranging from archivists to urban planners. currently, ifla journal has open calls for two special issues that focus on challenges identified by professional sections. these include knowledge management, and information literacy. special issue on knowledge management managing institutional knowledge is increasingly recognized as a crucial element in improving competitiveness, innovation, and creativity. libraries seeking to be resilient organizations in a quickly and unpredictably changing world know that km is essential to their internal management strategy, and librarians in particular have the necessary skills and competencies to put it into action. witt / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 105 libraries contribute to their parent institutions by helping them to develop their own approach to km, providing them with methods and tools to address their own development, and transform themselves in a transforming world. as the number of knowledge workers increases in all sectors, practicing effective km requires attention to human resources, a mature use of technologies and the ability to deploy effective processes. ifla journal invites papers for a special issue focused on knowledge management across all continents. we intend to gather the latest theories, research, and practices from libraries and information professions to further the discourse on the current state of knowledge management in libraries and other information-rich institutions. we are particularly interested in articles employing quantitative or qualitative research methods in their approach to knowledge management. guest editors: leda bultrini operating systems and knowledge management, director arpa lazio (regional agency for environment prot.) italy wilda newman information resources manager knowledge resources associates, llc united states mary augusta thomas deputy director smithsonian libraries united states jennifer a. bartlett interim associate dean, teaching, learning, & research division university of kentucky libraries united states submission deadline: articles for the special issue should be submitted to ifla journal for peer review on or before friday, 19 april 2019. witt / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 106 special issue on information literacy: ifla journal and ifla’s library theory and research (ltr) and information literacy (il) sections are soliciting articles for a special issue focusing on theory and practice in information literacy. with the potential to transform lives and societies, the importance of information literacy is appreciated world-wide. our understandings of information literacy come from across the globe and ranges in focus from practice-based to highly theoretical; from everyday life to education and workplace settings; and for infants through to the elderly. the information literacy special issue aims to examine a range of critical approaches and research models that contribute to building new theory; the challenges of applying theory in practice and how learning theories can inform practice. in particular, the main goal of the special issue is to explore how the body of information literacy practice can inform the building of theory, which in turn can inform future practice. it will also explore the potential for developing knowledge to guide information literacy practice across disciplines, contexts and environments. guest editors: dr. gaby haddow libraries, archives, records & information science school of media, creative arts & social inquiry curtin university australia dr. min chou congressman frank j. guarini library new jersey city university united states submission deadline: articles for the special issue should be submitted to ifla journal for peer review before june 30 2019. training libraries in translational research in addition to special issues, the journal seeks to work within the association’s professional bodies to promote research and publishing that engages the diversity of the profession and speaks to the multiple challenges librarians face. to channel the global nature of ifla’s membership, the journal encourages wider collaboration and networking throughout ifla that will inspire research and scholarship on topics important to the profession. one of the strengths of ifla is that it brings together librarians from varied perspectives and backgrounds to discuss professional matters and advocate important issues. by encouraging and facilitating collaborative research among colleagues within ifla, the profession will benefit by increasing access to publishing witt / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 107 opportunities among members while raising the level of the research and scholarship published in the journal. the journal seeks to increase ifla members’ access to research tools and expertise to enable further efforts towards translational research. librarians are increasingly being called upon to be researchers within their organizational and community settings. this research allows librarians to take an evidence based approach to identifying problems with local partners, measuring impact, and sharing the results of work to stakeholders and the broader profession. librarians often conduct studies in community settings and apply for grants that require documentation of real-world impact. many funders require components such as dissemination plans, stakeholder engagement, or community participation. to meet these demands, librarians need to be able to understand and adopt research methods that will allow them to work with their communities to craft research questions and interpret project results to inform practice and policy. working with the social science libraries section, ifla journal plans to develop a series of workshops that introduce participants to methods for conducting research in real-world settings and translating empirical findings to both practice and publishable results. these workshops will introduce students to methods and tools to equip them to design, conduct, and critique qualitative and mixed methods research. participants will explore the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of data collection methods and evaluate strategies for using and combining them. the workshop will focus on research designs that encourage community participation and that incorporate in-depth interviews, focus groups, surveys, participant observation, and archival research. the majority of the workshop will focus on issues of research design and data collection to allow participants to design projects and community programs in a manner that will allow quality assessment and analysis to disseminate results to stake-holders and the broader professional community. the ifla journal editorial committee hopes to host its inaugural workshop at the wlic 2019 meeting in athens, greece. we also look forward to partnering with other organizations to host and conduct similar events. as ifla journal continues to evolve, the editor and editorial committee seek your input and collaboration. there are multiple ways in which to engage the journal and publishing process beyond submitting research. from opportunities to edit a special issue to professional development and even serving on the journal editorial committee, the journal strives to reach the global library and information science community through both its publishing mandate and vision to make research and publishing opportunities more accessible to the ifla membership and field globally. references bradley, f. (2016). ‘a world with universal literacy.’ ifla journal, 42(2), 118–125. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035216647393 cooke, l. (2018). privacy, libraries and the era of big data. ifla journal, 44(3), 167–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035218789601 drijfhout, d., & de boer, t. (2015). ifla journal special issue on cultural heritage. ifla journal, 41(3), 191–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035215604316 witt / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 108 horstmann, w., & witt, m. (2017). libraries tackle the challenge of research data management. ifla journal, 43(1), 3–4. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035216688787 international federation of library associations and institutions. (2014). the lyon declaration. retrieved december 7, 2018, from https://www.lyondeclaration.org/ koltay, t. (2016). data governance, data literacy and the management of data quality. ifla journal, 42(4), 303–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035216672238 mansfield, j. w. (2014). a brief history of the ifla journal. ifla journal, 40(4), 237–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035214554169 nakata, m. (2002). indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: underlying issues at the intersection of knowledge and information systems. ifla journal, 28(5–6), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/034003520202800513 about the author dr. steve witt is an associate professor at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign where he is the head of the international and area studies library, director of the center for global studies, and japanese studies subject specialist. professor witt is also the editor of ifla journal. his research focuses on the trajectory and impacts of international developments in library and information science, placing global trends in librarianship and knowledge production in the context of wider social and technological developments. 8 8final guest editors: dr. min chou congressman frank j. guarini library new jersey city university united states submission deadline: international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 28-46 issn: 2474-3542 chinese canadian librarians: leadership roles and career barriers yanli li, wilfrid laurier university, canada abstract based on the data from the visible minority librarians of canada network (vimloc) 2021 survey, this research examined the leadership roles held by chinese canadian librarians and their perceptions of inclusivity of work climate, job satisfaction, and race as a career barrier. their encounters with racial microaggressions and mentorship experience were also explored. of the 38 respondents, 79% (n=30) were in non-management positions. 82% (n=31) felt very satisfied or satisfied with their jobs; however, their work climate was not found to be inclusive to all respondents. 87% (n=33) indicated that race was a barrier to their career. fisher’s exact tests were run to compare the management group and non-management group. the results showed that those in management positions were less satisfied with their jobs and less likely to feel free to express their views openly. they experienced various forms of racial microaggressions. nearly half of the respondents sought mentoring support and two-thirds of them found mentorship extremely helpful or very helpful. to increase representation in librarianship, library school students and firstgeneration immigrants of chinese descent need to be inspired to enter librarianship and reach higher professional goals. chinese librarians would benefit from leadership programs tailored to minority librarians in canada. keywords: chinese librarian, career barrier, diversity, leadership, microaggression introduction this research focuses on the librarians who identify as chinese in canada (referred to as “chinese canadian librarians”). they fall within the category of “visible minority librarians,” which is an accepted term used for “librarians of colour” or “racial minority librarians” in this country. visible minorities refer to “persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-caucasian in race or nonwhite in colour” (government of canada, 2021). as racial minority librarians are underrepresented in the profession, various efforts have been made to increase diversity in canadian librarianship, including library school enrolment diversification, diversity-related training opportunities, mentorship programs, targeted hiring of minority librarians, and financial support. despite some progress, racial minority librarians still account for a small proportion of the librarian population. among the very limited studies that involve canadian racial minority librarians, chinese has been consistently reported as the largest ethnic group (capal, 2016, 2019; kandiuk, 2014; kumaran & cai, 2015). racism and microaggressions against chinese canadians have been documented (lou et al., 2022; stanley, 2011). anecdotally, chinese canadian librarians have experienced 29 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) barriers in employment and career advancement (cho, 2014; li, 2014). however, there is a lack of in-depth research focused on this group. this research analyzed the leadership roles held by chinese canadian librarians and their perceptions of inclusivity of work climate, job satisfaction, and race as a career barrier. their experiences of racial microaggressions and seeking mentorship support were also investigated. the findings will help chinese canadian librarians to understand their positions in the library leadership landscape and racial challenges faced in their career. the results will also help libraries and professional associations identify the needs of this group of librarians and develop initiatives to support them to reach higher professional goals. literature review the author conducted a literature review to ascertain the existence of any research on the profile, workplace experiences, leadership, and career barriers of chinese canadian librarians. only two book chapters were found. the literature review was expanded to include materials on canadian racial minority librarians. a few studies on chinese american librarians were also worth inclusion as they provided valuable insights. representation in canadian librarianship kumaran and cai (2015) conducted the first national survey in 2013 on behalf of the visible minority librarians of canada network (vimloc), which identified 120 visible minority librarians. the figure increased by 35% to 162 in the vimloc 2021 survey (li et al., 2022). concerning academic librarians only, visible minorities went up from 9% in 2016 to 10% in 2018 according to the census data from canadian association of professional academic librarians (capal, 2016, 2019). although the aforementioned surveys were different in survey scope and data collection period, they consistently reported that chinese was the largest ethnic group among visible minorities. for instance, chinese librarians accounted for 36% (n=43) and 24% (n=38) in the vimloc 2013 survey and vimloc 2021 survey, respectively. in kandiuk’s (2014) survey of canadian academic librarians, 40% (n=21) identified as chinese. in the 2016 canadian census, 410 (39%) out of the 1,055 visible minority librarians were chinese (statistics canada, 2018). diversity in leadership there has been a lack of racial minorities in leadership roles in the library world. in the 8r’s canadian library human resource individual survey, visible minorities comprised 7% of the professional librarian labour force, and 4% of the librarians in senior administrator roles (ingles et al., 2005). their gap with caucasian peers in leadership persisted. in kandiuk (2014), only 10.5% of the minority librarians worked in administration, compared to 20.9% of respondents who did not identify as aboriginal or visible minority. this racial gap was also noted in the “diversity census and inclusion survey insight report” for carl libraries, where 83.3% of senior leader positions were filled by white persons, compared to 14.4% by racialized persons (ccdi consulting, 2022). 30 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) a few studies on chinese librarians in the united states provide great insights into their leadership status. in a survey of 157 chinese american librarians, yang (1996) analyzed their perspectives of job satisfaction, career promotion, and racial barriers to career advancement. the results showed that approximately 75% of the respondents were in managerial positions, with 48.4% in middle management positions, 17.8% in senior management positions, and the remaining 10.2% as deans or directors. regarding career advancement, 83% of the respondents received promotion in their career, while 11.5% had to seek new jobs due to lack of career advancement opportunities. building on the questionnaire used in yang’s (1996) study, ruan and xiong (2008) surveyed 162 chinese american librarians about their career choice and career advancement. additional questions were also included to identify barriers these librarians faced and their coping strategies. the results suggested that 63% of the respondents were promoted in their careers, significantly lower than 83% in yang (1996). the percentage of top-level positions they held had almost no improvement over a decade, at 11% in ruan and xiong (2008) and 10.2% in yang (1996). these findings were echoed in liu (2000), which reported that most with management responsibilities remained at the middle administrative level, and very few reached top administrative library positions. similarly, tan (2004) lamented the scarcity of leadership positions held by chinese american librarians. although many librarians excelled in job performance, few held commanding positions in major institutions. workplace experiences the inclusivity and diversity of work climate play a role in one’s perception of job satisfaction and desire for career advancement. visible minority academic librarians in kandiuk’s (2014) survey reported on their perceptions of the climate in the department and/or in the library outside the department within their institutions. a significant number of respondents indicated that they were unable to speak their mind and express their views openly. they were not or only somewhat treated with respect and accepted as an equal member, and did not feel or only somewhat felt that their knowledge and work contributions were valued by colleagues. based on the 8r’s 2013 institutional survey findings, 41% of the libraries surveyed indicated that racial discrimination was a barrier to minorities’ representation in canadian librarianship to a moderate/great extent (delong et al., 2015). racial microaggressions are subtle, hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults directed toward people of colour, whether intentional or unintentional. as racism and discrimination become more subtle and invisible, the issue of racial microaggressions in librarianship has been increasingly discussed (alabi, 2015, 2018; dalton et al., 2018; prietogutiérrez & colmenero-ruiz, 2023; swanson et al., 2018). a majority of studies are in the american context while only two studies involve librarians working in canadian academic libraries. alwan et al. (2018) surveyed american and canadian academic librarians about their experiences of status-based microaggressions while interacting with teaching faculty in the context of information literacy instruction. the results revealed that racial minorities tended to experience assumptions of inferiority at a higher rate than non-minorities. dee winn (2022), a black female librarian, experienced racial and gendered discrimination in canadian academic libraries. microaggressions against her increased after she earned a management position. 31 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) career barriers racial minority librarians may face different challenges to succeed in their career. kumaran’s (2012) book leadership in libraries: a focus on ethnic-minority librarians focused on first generation or immigrant minority librarians. in her perspective, culture, profession, and gender could define leadership. this group of librarians need to be aware of different leadership styles and improve their skills in language, communication, critical thinking, human relations, and time management, among others. in another study, kumaran (2015) stressed the importance of including visible minority librarians in the succession planning process. she identified the challenges faced by visible minority librarians in pursuing leadership positions, including lack of mentorship support, experiences of tokenism and racism, and lack of training. in managers’ perspectives, minority librarians faced challenges in communication, customer service, knowledge regarding the canadian work environment, and accepting feedback properly (kumaran & cai, 2015). only two book chapters addressed the barriers faced by chinese canadian librarians entering the library profession. allan cho (2014), a canadian-born chinese librarian, faced challenges of misperceptions and biases. lillian li (2014), born in china, described her personal journey into librarianship in china and then in canada. she faced many challenges as a new immigrant: financial strain, cultural shock, redoing her library degree, job hunting, and finally settling into the new culture. similarly, challenges faced by chinese american librarians included cultural differences, demonstrations of leadership, communication, race, information technology skills, differing value systems, and others (e.g. politics, children) (liu, 2000; ruan & xiong, 2008; yang, 1996). mentoring support to overcome career barriers as racial minority librarians, mentoring support has been commonly cited as an important solution. for example, in the survey of visible minority librarians of canada in 2013, respondents indicated that they would need a mentorship program to seek advice from other librarians with similar backgrounds (kumaran & cai, 2015). in the vimloc 2021 survey, nearly 60% of the visible minority librarians received support from mentors, 54% of whom engaged in formal mentorship, and nearly half had a minority mentor (li et al., 2022). in kandiuk’s (2014) study, 32% of visible minority librarians in academic libraries received mentoring support, with 22% participating in a formal mentorship program and 22% having a minority mentor. these studies reported that mentorship could help minorities gain encouragement, build a professional network, and address professional concerns due to minority identities. for chinese librarians in canada, cho (2014) and li (2014) highlighted the benefits of mentorship. this holds true among chinese librarians in the united states. good mentoring could help mentees advance in their careers at a faster pace (ruan & xiong, 2008). mentorship support through the chinese american librarians association (cala) mentorship program was perceived to be helpful. minority mentors could better assist mentees because the lack of linguistic and cultural barriers between them allowed for clearer communication (ruan & liu, 2017). other strategies that were considered important for chinese librarians to be successful in their jobs and as leaders were also discussed. for instance, liu (2000) suggested that they must “examine his/her personal service philosophy, career expectations in terms of peer recognition, and adjust one’s 32 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) social consciousness and ethical viewpoints. frequent and open communication with peers is a key in solving many misunderstandings” (p. 113). method this research used the data from the vimloc 2021 survey (li et al., 2021), which was conducted to investigate the changes in the library landscape regarding canadian visible minority librarians since the initial survey in 2013 (kumaran & cai, 2015). after a research ethics review was approved in the respective researchers’ institutions, a questionnaire was created in english using qualtrics xm and translated to french. the surveys were open between january and march 2021. 162 visible minority librarians completed the survey. of the 159 respondents who answered the question about ethnic identity, 38 librarians identified as chinese. for the purpose of this research, four librarians with a mixed white and chinese identity were not included. survey questions covered their demographics, education, and employment conditions. the demographics section asked questions about ethnicity, age, gender identity, disability status, and generation. the employment section consisted of one question about their current management position, three questions about the inclusivity of their work climate, ten questions about their experiences of racial microaggressions, one question about their perception of race as a career barrier, one question about job satisfaction, and three questions about mentoring support. responses to these questions formed the basis of the present research. this study examined first the management positions held by the chinese canadian librarians and how their positions were distributed by their demographic characteristics. given the small sample, the author was concerned that these respondents might be identifiable based on their demographics. hence, the respondents in supervisor, middle management, and senior administrator roles were combined into the “management” group. those in non-management positions formed the “non-management” group. these two groups were then compared regarding their perceptions of job satisfaction, inclusivity of work climate, and race as a career barrier. because 20% or more of the cells in the contingency tables had expected counts of less than five, fisher’s exact tests were run rather than chi-square tests (kim, 2017). when the test involved more than two-row by two-column contingency tables, the freeman-halton extension of the fisher’s exact test was employed (ibraheem & devine, 2013). moreover, this study examined chinese canadian librarians’ experiences of microaggressions. there were 10 items in the racial microaggressions scale, which were mostly adapted from alabi (2015). respondents were asked to rate the frequency of experience using a 5-point likert scale: 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, and 5 = always. the author calculated a microaggression composite score for each respondent, with a higher score indicating a higher frequency of encounter with stated microaggressions. stata 13 was used for all data analyses. results management positions as shown in figure 1, of the 38 chinese canadian librarians, 79% (n=30) were in non-management positions, 13% 33 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) (n=5) were supervisors, and 5% (n=2) were in middle management positions (e.g. branch head, department head). only one respondent was a senior administrator (e.g. head/chief librarian or director, deputy/assistant head/chief librarian or director). figure 1. management positions held by chinese canadian librarians (n=38) chinese canadian librarians in the non-management group and management group were broken down based on their personal characteristics (age, gender, disability status, generation) and employment characteristics (years of experience as a librarian, library type, in a full-time position or not, in a permanent position or not) (table 1). an overwhelming majority of those aged 35 and less did not take on any leadership roles. six librarians aged 36-55 and one librarian over age of 55 held management positions. eight females but none of the males were in management positions. one librarian with a disability and seven librarians without a disability were in management positions. regarding generation status, first generation minorities refer to those who were born elsewhere and moved to canada at some point during their lives. by comparison, second generation minorities were born in canada to one or more immigrant parents (statistics canada, 2021). in this survey, third and later generation was offered as a response option, but nobody selected it. a higher percentage of first-generation librarians took on managerial roles compared to second generation librarians. librarians with more than 10 years of experience were more likely to be in managerial roles. more academic librarians were in management positions compared to public librarians. a majority of the respondents were working full time or in permanent positions; however, only a small fraction held managerial positions. despite these differences, fisher’s exact tests indicated that differing demographic characteristics did not significantly correlate to a position in management. table 1. demographic characteristics (n=38) indicator category non-management management n % n % age 35 and less 14 93% 1 7% 34 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 36-55 16 73% 6 27% 55+ 0 0% 1 100% gender identity female 27 77% 8 23% male 2 100% 0 0% other or prefer not to answer 0 0% 1 100% disability yes 3 75% 1 25% no 27 79% 7 21% generation first 16 70% 7 30% second 14 93% 1 7% librarian experience 0-5 11 92% 1 8% 6-10 10 91% 1 9% 11-15 2 40% 3 60% 16-20 4 67% 2 33% 21-25 3 75% 1 25% library type academic 17 74% 6 26% public 11 92% 1 8% special 0 0% 1 100% other 2 100% 0 0% full time position yes 29 78% 8 22% no 1 100% 0 0% permanent position yes 26 76% 8 24% no 4 100% 0 0% job satisfaction respondents were asked “overall, how satisfied are you with your current job?” the author collapsed the five response categories into three: “very satisfied” and “satisfied” formed one single category; “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” formed another, and “dissatisfied” and “very dissatisfied” were combined to make a third group. a majority of respondents (82%, n=31) felt very satisfied or satisfied, 16% (n=6) felt neutral, and 3% (n=1) felt dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. respondents in management and nonmanagement positions differed significantly in their perceptions of job satisfaction (p = .025). the non-management group (90%, n=27) was more likely to feel very satisfied or satisfied compared to the management group (50%, n=4), whereas the management group (50%, n=4) were more 35 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) likely to be neutral or feel dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their job compared to the nonmanagement group (10%, n=3) (figure 2). figure 2. perceptions of job satisfaction by management position (n=38) inclusivity of work climate respondents described their experience with respect to three statements concerning the inclusivity of their work climate. these questions were adapted from kandiuk (2014). the author collapsed the five responses into three groups: “strongly agree” and “agree” formed one single group, “neither agree or disagree” became another, and “strongly disagree” and “disagree” were pooled to make a third group. for each question, the responses from librarians in management positions and non-management positions were separated and compared using fisher’s exact test (table 2). regarding the first two statements, in each case, 13% (n=5) of the respondents had a neutral attitude or disagreed with the statement. the non-management group was more likely to agree with the statement than the management group; however, the difference was not significant in fisher’s exact tests. for the third statement, “i feel free to speak my mind and express my views openly amongst colleagues in my department,” 37% (n=14) of respondents were opposed or neutral. this finding mirrors that of kandiuk (2014), where 38% of respondents somewhat felt or did not feel free to express views openly among colleagues, and that of damasco and hodges (2012), where 31.7% felt they could not freely voice their opinions at their library. a higher percentage of librarians in non-management positions strongly agreed or agreed with this statement, whereas those in management positions were more opposed or neutral. the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = .010). 36 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) table 2. perceptions of inclusive work climate (n=38) question percent responses p value 1. i am treated with respect and accepted as an equal member by colleagues in my department. all respondents strongly agree or agree 87% 33 neither agree or disagree 8% 3 disagree or strongly disagree 5% 2 respondents in non-management positions strongly agree or agree 94% 28 neither agree or disagree 3% 1 disagree or strongly disagree 3% 1 .075 respondents in management positions strongly agree or agree 62% 5 neither agree or disagree 25% 2 disagree or strongly disagree 13% 1 2. my knowledge and work contributions are valued by colleagues in my department. all respondents strongly agree or agree 87% 33 neither agree or disagree 13% 5 disagree or strongly disagree 0% 0 respondents in non-management positions strongly agree or agree 93% 28 neither agree or disagree 7% 2 disagree or strongly disagree 0% 0 .053 37 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) respondents in management positions strongly agree or agree 62% 5 neither agree or disagree 38% 3 disagree or strongly disagree 0% 0 3. i feel free to speak my mind and express my views openly amongst colleagues in my department. all respondents strongly agree or agree 63% 24 neither agree or disagree 24% 9 disagree or strongly disagree 13% 5 respondents in non-management positions strongly agree or agree 74% 22 neither agree or disagree 13% 4 disagree or strongly disagree 13% 4 .010 respondents in management positions strongly agree or agree 25% 2 neither agree or disagree 62% 5 disagree or strongly disagree 13% 1 race as a career barrier respondents shared their perceptions regarding to what extent race was a barrier to their library career aspirations. there were six response options from “not at all” to “to a very great extent.” overall, 13% (n=5) selected “not at all”. in other words, 87% (n=33) of the respondents thought that race was a career barrier to different degrees. four respondents (21%) indicated “to a great extent” and no one indicated “to a very great extent.” figure 3 illustrated a comparison between the management and non-management group. 84% (n=25) of the librarians in non-management positions versus 50% (n=4) of those in management positions indicated “to a small extent,” “to some extent,” or “to a moderate extent.” meanwhile, race was perceived as a career barrier to a great extent among 38% (n=3) of the librarians in management positions compared to just 3% (n=1) of those in non-management positions. nevertheless, the result of fisher’s exact test suggested that the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant (p = .118). 38 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) figure 3. perceptions of race as a career barrier by management position (n=38) racial microaggressions respondents rated the frequency with which they encountered 10 racial microaggressions on a 5point scale, with a possible range of 10-50. the microaggression composite scores for chinese canadian librarians ranged between 10 and 37 with a median score of 19. the average composite score was 21. table 3 provided the numbers of librarians who experienced various types of microaggression with different frequencies. of the 34 respondents, five (15%) never or rarely encountered any microaggressions, suggesting that 85% experienced at least one stated microaggression. two respondents experienced all of the 10 indicated microaggressions either sometimes, often, or always. meanwhile, 65% (n=22) did not always or often encounter any microaggression, meaning that they might experience them with a lower frequency (sometimes or rarely). by extension, 35% (n=12) always or often encountered at least one stated microaggression. one respondent even indicated that they always or often experienced six types of microaggressions. table 3. occurrence of racial microaggressions (n=34) total numbers of microaggression number of respondents who experienced microaggressions never or rarely sometimes often or always 0 2 5 22 1 1 10 3 2 2 4 2 3 1 5 3 4 2 6 1 39 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 5 4 3 2 6 2 0 1 7 3 1 0 8 2 0 0 9 10 0 0 10 5 0 0 to examine how frequently these librarians experienced each type of microaggression, the author calculated and compared their response mean scores ranging from 1.49 to 2.58 (table 4), with a higher score indicating encounter with a microaggression more often. the most frequently reported microaggression was “i was told that people of all racial groups face the same barriers in employment or promotion.” the least frequently reported microaggression was “i was told that i was hired because of my race.” table 4. comparing mean scores for experiences of each racial microaggression microaggression mean response s i was told that people of all racial groups face the same barriers in employment or promotion. 2.58 36 a colleague assumed that i would have a lower english proficiency because of my race. 2.35 37 i was told that i was overly sensitive about issues of race. 2.34 35 i was told that all people in my racial group are all the same. 2.31 35 i was told that people should not think about race anymore. 2.17 36 my opinion was ignored in a group discussion because of my race. 2.11 37 i was told that people of colour do not experience racism anymore. 2.08 36 a colleague showed surprise at my professional success because of my race. 1.89 37 a colleague claimed that he/she felt threatened because of my race. 1.50 36 i was told that i was hired because of my race. 1.49 37 the respondents also submitted additional comments through the open-ended text box in the survey about their experiences that might not align with the stated microaggressions. they noted that they felt they were being stereotyped because of race. they experienced unequal treatment when faced with the same situation as a white colleague. a couple of respondents felt excluded as they were generically lumped into a “you people” category or perceived as foreigners. they also experienced being mistaken for another colleague of the same race or other asians on more 40 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) than one occasion. they were perceived to represent all people of colour, and were expected to know everything about china/the chinese when a relevant topic came up in a conversation or project. intersectionality of gender and race also influenced how a person was treated. two respondents indicated that their microaggression experiences involved sexual harassments. they were also expected to be subservient in a patriarchal work environment. when seeking leadership opportunities, two respondents noted double standards when they applied for a management position, allowing for easier justification for choosing non-minority candidates. one respondent was frustrated about having always been discouraged from going into management due to race. mentorship experience respondents were asked if they had ever sought support from a mentor during their career. of the 38 respondents, nearly a half (47%, n=18) responded with “yes.” 10 respondents participated in formal mentorship programs offered within their work organization, or by library associations such as the british columbia library association, ontario library association, and vimloc. a comparison between the two groups by management position showed that 63% (n=5) of the librarians in management positions received mentorship support compared to 43% (n=13) of those in non-management positions (figure 4). however, the difference between the two groups was not significant in fisher’s exact test (p = .438). of the 18 respondents who sought mentoring support, 12 (67%) indicated it was “extremely helpful” or “very helpful,” four (22%) indicated “moderately helpful,” one “slightly helpful,” and one “not at all helpful.” 11 respondents were assisted by a minority mentor; eight of them found mentorship extremely helpful or very helpful, two “moderately helpful,” and one “slightly helpful.” one respondent noted that it was hard to approach minority senior leaders: there were very few people of colour in senior administrative roles, and those who were tended to be quite shy about occupying the limelight and were unlikely to call attention to their racial or cultural identity. as a result, i never felt that i could approach those individuals for advice. the visible minority mentors that i have had have tended to be peer mentors, often colleagues i have sought out for peer support because i know that they have similarly experienced racial or gender discrimination in the workplace. figure 4. seeking mentoring support by management position (n=38) 41 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) discussion the results from this research identified a big gap for chinese canadian librarians in terms of taking up leadership opportunities. 79% of the respondents were not in any managerial positions. this could be due to several reasons. first, as a couple of respondents noted, the lack of minorities in leadership positions led some chinese librarians to feel discouraged about applying for higher management positions. second, race or ethnic background could have deterred them from moving up. 87% (n=33) of the chinese canadian librarians in this paper reported that race has been a career barrier, in contrast with 23.6% (n=37) of the chinese american librarians in yang (1996) and only one respondent in ruan and xiong (2008). third, some might have less motivation to move up the career ladder. 82% of the respondents felt very satisfied or satisfied with their current jobs, close to 81% in yang (1996), and higher than 61% in ruan and xiong (2008). motivation for career advancement was not asked in the vimloc 2021 survey, but previous research revealed that chinese librarians in the united states desired a stable job, tended to feel satisfied with their jobs, and made little effort to seek job changes (ruan & xiong, 2008). further research is needed to look into chinese librarians in canada as to whether they lack interest in career advancement. the work climate was not found to be inclusive to all respondents. particularly, 37% of the chinese canadian librarians did not explicitly agree with the statement that they felt free to speak their mind and express their views openly amongst colleagues. those in management positions were less satisfied with their jobs and less likely to feel free to express their views openly. although it was not possible to explain the differences based on the survey data, this finding warrants attention. moving up to management positions requires qualifications, courage, and effort; however, if negative work experience persists in managerial roles, the librarians may choose to step down. this will decrease representation of chinese librarians in the leadership landscape, which, in turn, will dampen the desire of chinese and other ethnic minority librarians to pursue leadership opportunities. it was also unfortunate that 85% of the respondents confronted at least one stated microaggression. in some situations, respondents noted that they had difficulty knowing whether the microaggressions were related to race as some were not outright verbal. as a result, they tended to rate the incidents with a lower frequency in the survey (i.e. “rarely, “never”). therefore, the percentage of respondents who encountered microaggressions might be higher than actually captured. although it is important to stand up against racial microaggressions, it is not easy to do so. as stated by the respondents, when confronted with microaggressions, their concerns and experiences were dismissed by library leadership; the victims performed a lot of emotional labour to fit in with the workplace culture by themselves. these microaggressive behaviours caused mental stress, demeaned their personal worth, and constituted a barrier to their professional success. despite being the largest ethnic group among racial minorities, chinese librarians account for a small proportion in the librarian population in canada. to increase representation, it is imperative to encourage more people of chinese descent to earn a master of library and information science (mlis) or equivalent degree and enter librarianship. students enrolled in the accredited programs can apply for scholarships such as the ala (n.d.) spectrum scholarship, cala’s (n.d.) scholarship of library and information science, the sheila suen lai scholarship of library and information science, and lisa zhao scholarship. it is equally important to inspire 42 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) first generation chinese immigrants to enter librarianship and pursue leadership roles. first generation immigrants face additional cultural challenges compared with second and later generation who have assimilated into the culture of the country in which they were born (kumaran, 2012). findings from this research indicated that first generation librarians had a higher rate of taking on management positions than second generation librarians. this would be inspiring to those who are new to canada and wondering if there is any chance of becoming a librarian and moving up their career ladder. li (2014)’s story is a great manifestation of this possibility. one librarian in this research study also described her experience that conveyed a positive message: “as a first-generation immigrant, i always feel insecure about my level of french. i had doubts about the job prospect and it hurt my self-confidence. on the other hand, with my current job, my managers and colleagues make me realize my value as a professional with kindness and confidence in myself. yes, sometimes i make small mistakes, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of what i say. as a result, i feel comfortable expressing myself with my accent, with occasional small mistakes, etc. in this caring and respectful environment, i perfect my french and other professional skills with pleasure.” seeking mentoring guidance and participating in leadership programs are important for minority librarians to build leadership skills. ruan and liu (2017) alongside this paper showed that assistance from minority mentors was found beneficial especially due to similar ethnic background and less cultural barriers between the mentoring pair. therefore, library school students or librarians of chinese descent can apply to the mentorship programs offered by vimloc or cala to seek leadership advice or guidance from minority mentors. in addition, professional associations in the united states such as the association of research libraries (arl, n.d.) have developed leadership programs for racial minority librarians. although the american programs accept canadian applicants, those successfully accepted account for just a tiny portion of the whole minority librarian population in canada. some libraries have offered their own leadership programs, but without a focus on ethnic-minority librarians (kumaran, 2015). hence, libraries and professional associations need to develop leadership programs for racial minority librarians in canada. if possible, these programs need to consider the unique needs of librarians from various ethnic backgrounds and support them to reach their full leadership potential. limitations and further research first, this research analyzed 38 chinese canadian librarians, representing nearly 10% of the total chinese librarian population (410) in canada based on the 2016 census data (statistics canada, 2018). the analysis resulting from this study may not reflect the complete picture of all chinese librarians in canada. in addition, some of the non-significant findings from this research need to be corroborated if a larger dataset is available in the future. second, to protect privacy in the small-sized sample, the author grouped management positions (supervisors, middle management, senior administrators) into the “management” category. hence, it was not possible to analyze the differences between respondents in each position. third, this study used data from the vimloc 2021 survey, which was intended to examine the changes of visible minority librarians in their demographics, education, and employment situation since the vimloc 2013 survey. although the questions covered in the survey provided 43 li / international journal of librarianship 8(2) invaluable information about chinese canadian librarians, there were limitations with the data. for instance, no questions were asked about their motivations for career advancement, or the strategies they have adopted other than seeking mentoring support to overcome the barriers throughout their career. future qualitative research can seek to examine more in-depth the struggles faced by chinese librarians and to address the aforementioned questions. conclusion chinese canadian librarians were the largest ethnic group among the minorities. however, their representation in management positions did not exhibit the same pattern. the scarcity of leadership positions held by chinese canadian librarians could be due to various reasons. this research revealed that a considerable number of librarians did not feel free to voice their opinions in the workplace. they suffered racial microaggressions in different forms and to different degrees. some librarians did not feel satisfied with their jobs. an overwhelming majority indicated that race was a career barrier. all these factors could hurt their self-esteem, lower their morale, and diminish their desire to pursue leadership positions. to increase representation in librarianship, library school students and first-generation immigrants of chinese background need to be inspired to enter librarianship. to achieve greater professional success, chinese librarians in canada can benefit from mentoring support and leadership programs tailored to minority librarians developed by professional 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(1996). chinese american librarians job survey. journal of educational media & library sciences, 34(2), 111-123. about the author yanli li is a business and economics librarian at wilfrid laurier university, canada. she holds a ph.d. in economics from renmin university of china and an mlis from the university of british columbia, canada. her research interests focus on the diversity and inclusion in librarianship and information seeking behaviours. her publications can be found at https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6194-437x. http://www.white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl25rx2.pdf http://www.white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl25rx2.pdf https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/rp-eng.cfm?tabid=2&lang=e&a=r&apath=3&detail=0&dim=0&fl=a&free=0&gc=01&gl=-1&gid=1325190&gk=1&grp=1&o=d&pid=112125&prid=10&ptype=109445&s=0&showall=0&sub=0&temporal=2017&theme=124&vid=0&vnamee=&vnamef=&d1=2&d2=0&d3=0&d4=0&d5=0&d6=0 https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3vd.pl?function=getvd&tvd=117200&cvd=117200&clv=0&mlv=1&d=1 https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3vd.pl?function=getvd&tvd=117200&cvd=117200&clv=0&mlv=1&d=1 https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.79.7.876 http://www.white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl17tan.htm literature review representation in canadian librarianship diversity in leadership workplace experiences career barriers mentoring support method results management positions job satisfaction inclusivity of work climate race as a career barrier racial microaggressions mentorship experience discussion limitations and further research conclusion references international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 1-2 issn:2474-3542 guest editorial: on linked data the semantic web is “an extension of the current web in which information is given welldefined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation" (berners-lee, hendler, & lassila, 2001, p. 37). linked data is a web of data that is one of the important steps to weave the semantic web into the structure of the existing web. the four rules and five stars (berners-lee, 2006) of linked data provide general guidelines for moving towards linked data. libraries, archives, and museums (lams) are organizations that have a long tradition of organizing and preserving information. various tools and systems, such as classification schema, subject lists, taxonomy, and thesauri, have been developed for such purposes. even for today, many sources including library of congress subject headings, authority files, getty thesauri, etc., are still highly valuable in the new context of semantic web. these sources can be utilized to further enhance linked data since data produced by lams “tends to be of very high quality, being collected, revised and maintained by trained professionals” (hannemann & kett, 2010, p. 2). there are benefits of making library data as linked open data. although the growth of linked data on the web is significant, libraries, archives, and museums should have contributed more. this special issue is our effort to move towards linked data. in this special issue, i am proud to present five featured articles, two regular articles, and three book reviews. yang and wang (2018) wrote an introduction piece on linked data from professionals’ point of view. they explained linked data technologies in plain english. meanwhile they discussed the current state of library implementation in linked data. liu (2018) spent tremendous effort to compile an annotated bibliography on linked data (part 1 & 2). she reviewed recent literature on library linked data. this is a great resource for anyone who wants to keep abreast of library linked data. xia and liu (2018) present a use case in implementing linked data in the real world, an exciting work about the digital humanities platform of shanghai library that is built on traditional authority files. this work shows that the converge between digital humanities and digital libraries on library linked data is inevitable and beneficial to the both sides. zou (2018)’s work is more specific on how to address the problem between producers of knowledge organization systems and the consumers. diao (2018) traces the historical development of library catalogs and summarizes the development into three stages: the agricultural, the industrial, and the information catalog stage. zou / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 2 from a historical angle, he discusses what is the future of library catalogs. condron, gao, & komos (2018) focus on the internal microgrant program at the university of houston libraries. they provide insights on decision-making processes of funding similar programs. all three books reviewed are significant works on linked data. this first book, named “linked data for cultural heritage”, focuses on the application of linked data in lams. the second book, titled “practical ontologies for information professionals”, provides a practical guide on ontology. the third book, named “library linked data in the cloud: oclc's experiments with new models of resource description”, discusses in detail oclc’s practice and implementation in linked data. also included in this issue are two reports on international conferences and the part iii of the series of lis education accreditation process across the world. last but not the least, i would like to thank all authors, reviewers, editors, and members of advisory board for making this issue possible. qing zou, lakehead university references berners-lee, t. (2006). linked data design issues. retrieved from http://www.w3.org/designissues/linkeddata.html berners-lee, t., hendler, j. a., & lassila, o. (2001, may). the semantic web. scientific american, 284(5), 34–43. condron, m., gao, w., & komos, k. (2018). more than a number: measuring value and roi in a library microgrant program. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 94-103. diao, j. (2018). evolution of western library catalogs: the rising expectations of users. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 78-93. hannemann, j., & kett, j. (2010). world library and information congress: 79th ifla general conference and assembly. in proceedings of the world library and information congress (pp. 1–11). gothenburge, sweden. liu, w. (2018). linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part one. international journal of librarianship, 3(1). 36-53. liu, w. (2018). linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part two. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 54-66. wang, y., & yang, s. q. (2018). linked data technologies and what libraries have accomplished so far. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 3-20. xia, c. & liu, w. (2018). name authority control in digital humanities: building a name authority database at shanghai library. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 21-35. zou, q. (2018). represent changes of knowledge organization systems on the semantic web. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 67-77. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org establishing a vibrant information literacy program in the absence of curriculum mandate: a case study lijuan xu abstract: this article describes how the skillman library at lafayette college uses internal grants to successfully integrate information literacy into upper-level courses. there is a general consensus among faculty grant recipients that integrating information literacy in their courses not only improves students’ skills as consumers of information but also helps students understand how scholars have answered questions in their particular field, and how the students themselves can contribute to the creation of knowledge. due to their positive grant course experience, faculty members continue to build information literacy in their courses and are advocates for information literacy. the grant program created a culture of information literacy at lafayette college and led to further pedagogical and curricular changes. it has also allowed librarians to venture into new territories such as studio art and expanded our involvement from guest lecturers to co-designing and coteaching courses. to cite this article: xu, l. (2017). establishing a vibrant information literacy program in the absence of curriculum mandate: a case study. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 84-91. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.36 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 84-91 issn:2474-3542 establishing a vibrant information literacy program in the absence of curriculum mandate: a case study lijuan xu lafayette college, easton, pa, usa abstract this article describes how the skillman library at lafayette college uses internal grants to successfully integrate information literacy into upper-level courses. there is a general consensus among faculty grant recipients that integrating information literacy in their courses not only improves students’ skills as consumers of information but also helps students understand how scholars have answered questions in their particular field, and how the students themselves can contribute to the creation of knowledge. due to their positive grant course experience, faculty members continue to build information literacy in their courses and are advocates for information literacy. the grant program created a culture of information literacy at lafayette college and led to further pedagogical and curricular changes. it has also allowed librarians to venture into new territories such as studio art and expanded our involvement from guest lecturers to co-designing and co-teaching courses. keywords: information literacy, pedagogy, innovation, collaboration, grant many institutions, including lafayette college, do not offer credit-bearing information literacy courses or have information literacy fully incorporated into majors and programs. in spite of this, librarians can still establish a vibrant information literacy program. one approach is to use internal grants to encourage faculty members to integrate information literacy into upper level courses, a model the skillman library at lafayette college has followed since 2002. this article will describe the logistics and outcomes of such a program as well as reflect on the challenges in sustaining it and share thoughts on how to move forward. institutional context lafayette college is a private, liberal arts residential college with 2,400 students. founded in 1826, it offers a bachelor of arts in thirty-seven fields and a bachelor of science in fourteen fields, including four in engineering (“lafayette at a glance,” n.d.). all first-year students are required to xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 85 take a fall semester seminar, capped at sixteen students, that focuses on a specific topic and engages students in active learning. information literacy has been an integral part of the first year seminar program since the program’s inception in 1992. each first year seminar works with a designated librarian and includes at least two library sessions, through which students learn about library resources and services, and how to conduct basic research and evaluate information. in may 2011, when the college revised its core curriculum, lafayette faculty members voted to continue their support for the integration of information literacy in the curriculum by formally adopting four information literacy outcomes that are based on the association of college and research libraries ([acrl], 2000) information literacy competency standards for higher education: il1. identify and articulate the need for information relevant to a specific purpose or goal. il2. select the most appropriate investigative methods for different information needs and develop and employ effective search strategies to locate useful information. il3. evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected information into personal knowledge bases and value systems. il4. understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and access, and use information ethically, wisely, and legally (“first year seminar library instruction,” n.d.). however, the effort to have campus-wide full integration of information literacy is largely limited to the first year seminars. to encourage faculty to integrate information literacy into their upper-level courses so that students have opportunities to develop discipline or program specific information literacy skills, the library and the office of the provost started providing information literacy grants in 2002. information literacy grants each spring since 2002, two to four information literacy grants ($1,500 each) are available to faculty members interested in incorporating information literacy into their upper-level courses. while the library runs the program, the office of the provost provides the funding. faculty members participate in a lunchtime presentation in the following fall to share their grant experience with the campus community. the lunchtime program, which all new faculty members attend as a part of their orientation, is co-sponsored by the library and the center for the integration of teaching, learning, and scholarship (citls). requirements successful grant applications must meet a set of guidelines developed by the library according to the information literacy competency standards for higher education (acrl, 2000). for a course to be eligible, the faculty member must collaborate with a research and instruction librarian and include projects that require students to find, evaluate, and use information throughout the semester. in addition, they need to incorporate projects that would help students do at least one of the following: xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 86 • discover that the information they use exists within a framework developed to record, store, and access it and that research allows them to tap into an ongoing conversation among scholars; • critically examine the research process; • explore the economic, social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding information in today's society (“information literacy grants,” 2017). faculty members can apply for and receive only one grant. the ultimate goal of the program is that once the faculty members have received a grant and incorporate information literacy work in a course, they will build information literacy into their other courses. to ensure the continuity of the program, the grants are not available to visiting or adjunct faculty members. process at the beginning of each fall semester, the office of the provost emails all faculty members about the information literacy grant program, soliciting grant applications. the grant information is also included on the list of available funding opportunities that the office of the provost maintains and shares with the faculty members every year. faculty members have till the end of the fall semester to turn in their grant proposals. as suggested in the call for proposals, any faculty member who is interested in applying is encouraged to meet with the associate director of research and instructional services to discuss their ideas before submitting their applications. such early conversations serve as the initial screening of potential grant proposals. they help gauge a faculty member’s commitment to building information literacy into their courses and, more importantly, to make sure that they understand and are prepared to implement the grant criteria. during these meetings, the faculty member and the associate director of research and instructional services discuss the learning outcomes and goals for the proposed course and whether it would be a good fit for information literacy. sometimes as a result of this conversation, the faculty member switches to a different course to apply for the grant application. if the course was taught before, the faculty member explains how it is going to be different from its previous nongrant funded version. this leads naturally to conversations regarding assignments and the amount of class time the faculty member intends to set aside for information literacy-related work. what kinds of information literacy projects might be appropriate as well as how to sequence them so that students can build up the skills needed for the successful completion of their final projects are also discussed. integrating information literacy into a course will inevitably take time away from covering content. once the grant is in place, the library does not have any mechanism to ensure that each recipient follows through. it is therefore important to raise issues such as time commitment and the balance between content and skills at the planning stage. faculty members need to be aware of the potential conflict so that when pressed for time, they will not treat the information literacy component as expendable. if a faculty member feels they are not ready for the full-scale integration of information literacy, they can still work with a librarian without a grant. based on these discussions, faculty members send in draft proposals for feedback. after incorporating suggestions, faculty members then submit their final proposals, outlining what information literacy component(s) they intend to address in their proposed course and how. the xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 87 oneto two-page proposals are fairly informal. the faculty member can work out the details with the designated librarian once the grant has been awarded. after discussing the final applications with the research and instruction team and recruiting librarians for the courses, the associate director of research and instructional services recommends the successful proposals to the provost, who, along with the dean of faculty, then approves them and sends each faculty member a formal letter confirming the decision. the letter, copied to the relevant department head, reiterates the work that the grant entails. outcomes, assessment, and reflections recipients and assignments since the beginning of the grant program, thirty-seven faculty members from various disciplines have received an information literacy grant. among them, eight are full or associate professors. the majority are tenure-track assistant professors. here is a breakdown of the grant recipients by discipline: • eleven from the humanities: english, spanish, art, music, philosophy, and religious studies • ten from the social sciences: anthropology and sociology, economics, government and law, and history • ten from interdisciplinary programs: environmental studies, engineering studies, film and media studies, international affairs, values and science / technology, and women and gender studies • four from the sciences: biology, chemistry, computer science, and geology • two from engineering: civil engineering and mechanical engineering while some faculty members use the grant as an opportunity to revamp their existing courses, others use it to design new courses. most of the faculty members focus on helping students understand how scholarship takes place within a context so that students can situate their research in existing debates and organize previous scholarship for their own arguments. this effort is often combined with having students examine their own research process, for example, keep a journal to document and reflect on the different stages of their process, or interview experts about how they conduct research. class information literacy projects include: • summarizing assigned readings and assessing the arguments against their source base; • analyzing different disciplinary views on a topic presented in the sources and how and why they differ; • submitting a “shelfie” photo with a book in the stacks and having a subsequent class discussion on the research process; • using concept mapping to refine topics and develop research questions; • identifying an article’s contribution to the ongoing scholarly conversation and finding out how the article has been received since its publication; • following the source or data trail of a reading. xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 88 these exercises culminate in the end of the semester research project, whether it is an annotated bibliography, a literature review, a standard research paper, a research design, or a national science foundation style grant proposal (“information literacy grant recipients,” 2017). assessment and reflections as mentioned earlier, the goal for the grant program is to have faculty members become interested in information literacy and teach discipline specific information literacy skills with the grant, and subsequent courses without it. therefore, students’ information literacy skills across grant-funded courses are not assessed. the courses’ differences in disciplines, levels, projects, focus, and learning goals also pose special challenges for assessment. for individual courses, since information literacy is fully integrated into the course, the faculty member and the librarian rely on information literacy-related discussions, projects, presentations, and reflections to evaluate students’ learning outcomes. some courses have incorporated information literacy-related questions in students’ mid-term evaluations to gauge students’ progress. grant recipients’ perspective grant recipients have many opportunities to reflect on their grant courses and offer feedback. they participate in a lunchtime panel presentation in the following fall to discuss with the campus community their grant experience, including what worked in their courses and what challenges they encountered. in 2006, the associate director of research and instructional services conducted individual interviews with the grant recipients still teaching at the college, collecting feedback on their information literacy experience and whether they were continuing information literacy effort in their courses. starting in fall 2008, feature interviews with grant recipients are published the library’s bi-annual newsletter and web site. such formal and other informal conversations (e.g., updates from the class librarian) help gauge the success of the grant courses. overall, faculty members are overwhelmingly positive about their grant course experience: they were able to accomplish what they planned to do in their grant proposals and were overall pleased with the quality of students’ projects. there is a general consensus among grant recipients that the integration of information literacy not only greatly improved students’ skills as consumers of information but also helped them understand how scholars have answered questions in their particular field and how they themselves can contribute to the creation of knowledge. in addition to using the grant as an opportunity to address concerns they had for students and their research skills, faculty members also took it as a chance to enhance their courses and improve their pedagogy with the help of a librarian (barnhart-park & carpenter, 2002). in their lunchtime presentations and interviews, grant recipients all spoke about the importance of collaborating with a librarian to teach information literacy and attributed the success in their grant courses to the librarian’s involvement. as one faculty member put it, simply going through the process—discussing her ideas with librarians and preparing her grant application—improved her course (a. armstrong, personal communication, november 17, 2016). many remarked on how important it is to have a librarian whom they could turn to for support during the semester to discuss the classes and assignments. having the librarian join the classes also helps the faculty members reflect on their teaching. the opportunity to collaborate with a librarian to improve their xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 89 courses has consequently become one of the primary reasons to apply for an information literacy grant. motivated by their success, most of the grant recipients continue to build information literacy into their courses. for some, information literacy has simply become “a way of thinking” (c. phillips, 2011) and shapes how they approach the design of their courses and assignments. as one faculty member remarks, what he did in his grant course extends to his other courses (b. hendrickson, 2014). another agrees, “i do not see how i can go back to my old way of teaching” (n. gil, 2015). he now incorporates information literacy into all his courses. grant recipients have also become information literacy advocates, both on campus and outside the college. their advocacy has helped generate more awareness and interest among other faculty members in the grant program, and in working with librarians to improve their courses. for example, three people from the same faculty member cohort ended up applying for and receiving a grant in three consecutive years. as a result of the work by one biology faculty member in a 200-level neuroanatomy class, information literacy is now part of the general introduction to biology course. grant recipients in biology, english, and history have initiated conversations within their respective departments to discuss how to build information literacy into majors and so far the history department has formally adopted information literacy into its curriculum. recipients and their librarian collaborators have also presented at conferences and helped other schools (e.g. brandeis university and trinity university) to develop their information literacy program. librarians’ perspective from the librarians’ perspective, being involved in the design and development of the course syllabi and assignments, makes the experience much more meaningful than that with non-grant courses. the librarians also teach designated information literacy sessions and meet with students individually about their projects. when schedules permit, librarians attend regular classes and participate in class discussions. in some courses, librarians are regarded as co-teachers (xu & gil, 2017). being embedded in the course or co-teaching the course not only raises the profile and presence of the library and the librarian, but also makes the approach to information literacy more organic in that it allows librarians to follow students’ progress and address any research-related questions as they arise. having learned about the benefits of this model, some faculty members specifically request that librarians embed in their courses. one benefit that faculty members stress about having librarians in their classes is that it helps faculty members become better teachers. likewise, librarians’ teaching skills have improved from watching faculty members teach. in addition, regularly attending the classes helps librarians gain subject knowledge and become familiar with the research practices in a particular field. this in turn enables these librarians to better help students in the grant course, in other courses, and at the research help desk. despite the small size of the college, faculty members might not be aware of their colleagues’ research interests and pedagogical practice. since librarians work closely with classes of all levels and from various disciplines and also provide opportunities for faculty members to share their grant experience, librarians become intermediaries that connect faculty members from different disciplines, thus fostering cross-campus collaborations. xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 90 challenges and next steps one challenge in running the grant program is librarian workload. this issue will become more pressing as more faculty members collaborate with librarians and the college expands. how do librarians keep doing their best work and continue to sustain the program in the long run? while librarians continue to work with faculty members with or without a grant, they will also need to explore programs that would complement their effort. the “what’s your favorite writing assignment?” faculty member panel presentation is a good example. co-sponsored by the library, citls, and the college writing program (cwp), this panel provides an opportunity to discuss alternative research assignments that promote critical thinking. the discipline breakdown of grant recipients indicates a lag in services to natural sciences and engineering with four and two recipients respectively. this spring, librarians are working with a chemistry professor on a grant course. the professor’s input and feedback will be crucial to the library. librarians have also made progress this semester with the computer science department through work with a computer science writing course on issues related to “fake news”, search algorithm biases, open source development, etc. further conversations will need to take place among librarians on how to continue and expand this kind of work. despite its disadvantages, the person-specific model for the grants also means that grant recipients are teaching various levels of courses and could play important roles in the college's curriculum in their capacity as a department head, citls director, and first year seminar program coordinator. with this year's first year seminar information literacy assessment results, the first year seminar program coordinator, the cwp director, and the associate director of research and instructional services have discussed how information literacy, like writing, needs to be integrated into the college's four-year curriculum. this information was included in the information literacy assessment report and will be emphasized when the assessment results are shared with the campus at a presentation in fall 2017. the library can start approaching departments that have multiple grant recipients to discuss how to build on information literacy sequentially through the years. this would help address the repetition and overlap issue when courses from the same department or program incorporate information literacy. it would also provide a welcome opportunity for librarians to revisit the grant guidelines in light of the framework for information literacy for higher education (acrl, 2016). conclusion using information literacy grants allows librarians to successfully integrate information literacy into many upper-level courses and to play a more meaningful teaching role. it has also created a fortunate cumulative effect since grant recipients continue information literacy work in their other courses. the impact of the grant program extends further to other faculty members and their courses since grant recipients formally and informally share their experience with colleagues. as a result, the grant program has resulted in a culture of information literacy on our campus and has led to further pedagogical and curricular changes. although librarians have been able to achieve systematic and full curriculum integration of information literacy in only one department, the grant xu / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 91 program has generated more awareness of and interest in the importance of information literacy and what librarians can do. acknowledgements the author would like to thank the office of the provost for funding the grant program, terese heidenwolf for her leadership and for getting the program started, many faculty members for their advocacy and support, and the library colleagues, whose contributions make the success of the program possible. references association of college and research libraries. (2000). information literacy competency standards for higher education. retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/standards/standards.pdf association of college and research libraries. (2016). framework for information literacy for higher education. retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework_ilhe.pdf barnhart-park, a.c., & carpenter, w.j. (2002). information literacy and literary questions. academic exchange quarterly, 6(4), 10-16 first year seminar library instruction. (n.d.). retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/services-help/services/instruction-and-information literacy/first-year-seminar-library-instruction/ gil, n. (january 2015). interview with nestor gil. retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/people/nestor-gil/ hendrickson, b. (january 2014). interview with brett hendrickson. retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/people/brett-hendrickson/ information literacy grants. (2017, january 5). retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/services-help/services/instruction-and-informationliteracy/information-literacy-grants/ information literacy grant recipients. (2017, january 5). retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/services-help/services/instruction-and-informationliteracy/information-literacy-grant-recipients/ lafayette at a glance. (n.d.). retrieved https://about.lafayette.edu/lafayette-at-a-glance/ phillips, c. (january 2011). interview with chris phillips. retrieved from https://library.lafayette.edu/people/chris-phillips/ xu, l., & gil, n. (2017). librarians as co-teachers and curators: integrating information literacy in a studio art course at a liberal arts college. art documentation: journal of the art libraries society of north america, 36 (1), 122-136. about the author lijuan xu is the associate director of research & instructional services at lafayette college, easton, pa. 06.establishing a vibrant information literacy_title 06.establishing a vibrant information literacy issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org leadership and libraries: status quo and emerging trends le yang abstract: leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been studied by scholars for decades. there is no one definition of leadership that is universally accepted, and the concept is often interpreted differently in different contexts and sectors. as a result, leaders can face challenges in leading effectively and ethically in their roles. this article aims to critically examine the concept of leadership from an academic lens. it will review relevant literature and research on leadership, and discuss the different ways in which leadership can be understood and practiced. the article will also explore the challenges and dilemmas that leaders face, and offer some suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome. the article concludes by asserting that leadership is a critical component of any successful organization, and that it is essential for leaders to be cognizant of the challenges they may encounter and the responsibilities they must fulfill. to cite this article: yang, l. (2023). leadership and libraries: status quo and emerging trends. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.2.303 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 3-10 issn: 2474-3542 leadership and libraries: status quo and emerging trends le yang, university of oregon, united states abstract leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been studied by scholars for decades. there is no one definition of leadership that is universally accepted, and the concept is often interpreted differently in different contexts and sectors. as a result, leaders can face challenges in leading effectively and ethically in their roles. this article aims to critically examine the concept of leadership from an academic lens. it will review relevant literature and research on leadership, and discuss the different ways in which leadership can be understood and practiced. the article will also explore the challenges and dilemmas that leaders face, and offer some suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome. the article concludes by asserting that leadership is a critical component of any successful organization, and that it is essential for leaders to be cognizant of the challenges they may encounter and the responsibilities they must fulfill. keywords: leadership, academic libraries when i was invited to write an article about leadership, i was initially uncertain about what leadership really means. the concept of leadership is elusive and multifaceted, and its application varies across different contexts and sectors. in non-profit associations, members have the opportunity to vote and elect their own leaders who have paid membership dues and served as volunteers in assuming some duties and providing services. however, non-profit institution employees do not have the same opportunity to choose their own managers or executive leaders, who are usually hired by direct supervisors or one more level up. when scrutinizing leadership in a for-profit corporation environment, the evaluation criteria should be completely different compared to others, as their leaders’ focus could be customer-oriented and profit-driven, evaluated by investors and the board. like many readers of this journal, we all apply, interview, and are offered academic positions that are evaluated by a committee but the final decision is made by the hiring managers. we receive paychecks that are paid by students’ tuition, agency funding, and taxpayers’ money. therefore, we should all be obligated to offer our professional knowledge and services to the academic community and the advancement of knowledge and society. notwithstanding, i also face challenges and dilemmas in navigating the complex and dynamic landscape of leadership in my salary-based and non-elected position. in this article, i aim to explore the notion of leadership from an academic perspective, drawing on relevant literature and research. yang / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 4 i also hope to shed some light on this topic and stimulate further discussion and reflection among the readers of this journal. leadership is a contextual term with distinct definitions and meanings in different environments (martin, 2019); however, all kinds of leadership trainings, seminars, presentations, and courses seem to have a homogeneous prescription of what successful leadership is based on a community-shared recipe for leadership studies (alvesson, 2020). leadership scholars, as many critiques observed, generally produce beautiful images to define leadership as broadly good (spoelstra & ten bo, 2011), that misguided practitioners to believe leadership only exists in the good. while if it’s not good, it shouldn’t be called leadership but something else, such as supervision (hannah et al., 2014), or even worse, tyranny (jackson & parry, 2008). as a result, leadership appears as more like an ideological solution than practical (alvesson & karrena, 2016; learmonth & morrell, 2019; tourish, 2019), that the “word simply can’t wait any longer for more authentic leaders and leadership” (avolio & walumbwa, 2014, p.353). the success of leadership approaches is disputed, however, due to ambiguous constructs and a lack of empirical support (ashford & sitkin, 2019; fischer, 2018). granted, the dominance of popular leadership theories, such as transformational leadership and authentic leadership, are still highly influential in academia despite their weakness (gardner et al, 2020; tourish, 2019), at least in the u.s. according to alvesson (2020). consequently, the prosperity of these flimsy leadership theories hypnotizes credulous leadership practitioners to embrace the prescribed formula and to pay for lecturing and consulting using their positive messages, hoping to produce a wealth of positive outcomes for employees and the organization (alvesson, 2020). fisher (2018) points out that the leadership style research lacks realism and the constructs are ambiguous, whereas the proliferation of misleading leadership styles in practice makes the practitioners disinclined to consider a more realistic picture of organizations, work, management, tasks, and objectives (alvesson, 2020). martin (2019) called it the romance of leadership, which was created by the leadership literature to weigh heavy on inspirational stories but light on realworld applications. in reality, organizational operation is more often characterized as administrative, managerial, and supervisory work, falling short of expectations for prescribed leadership approaches (sveningsson & alvesson, 2003). studies show that managers and senior executives do not often emerge well from the employees’ perspective and are in fact associated with many negative perceptions (cunha et al., 2009; einarsen et al., 2007), such as toxic or destructive (einarsen et al., 2007; kaiser & craig, 2014); hence, those in managerial roles are not typically seen as leaders by their subordinates (ashford & sitkin, 2019; learmonth & morrell, 2019). conflating leadership and management neglects the fact that managers spend more time on daily operations and managerial work than on something distinctively involving leadership (sveningsson & alvesson, 2003), which is understood as managing meaning, influencing thinking and feeling (alvesson, gabriel, & paulsen, 2017), in contrast to management, which involves a more substantial process with authority (bedeian & hunt, 2006). i am not a scholarly expert devoted to leadership studies, but i understand that leadership has all kinds of variants in essentially different organizations, for-profit or non-profit, governmental or non-governmental, industrial or academic, volunteer-based associations or employment-based institutions. it is critically important for leaders to position right their own expectations in the associated essence of the organizations they work for, because “one environment might call for a leader to be direct, assertive, and top down. a different environment, however, requires a leader to build consensus, use diplomacy, and allow for bottom up action” yang / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 5 (martin, 2019, p.15). regarding libraries or academic libraries specifically, the mixed essence of academic, non-profit, employment-based institutions determines the operation of the organizations to be a mixture of both top-down and bottom-up management culture. although the research on library leadership has not come to a consensus on the leadership skills needed to be successful, a recent study (martin, 2018) about academic librarians’ perceptions of leadership shows that future library leaders are expected to be, in order, people-first, visionary, change agents, experienced librarians, role models, and communicators. in these themes, millennials value the theme of change agent the most, and gen-xers the theme of communication. the findings cannot be claimed to represent all academic librarians, but considering the highly-shared culture among academic libraries, it does provide some common ground for library leaders to consider developing the skillsets. in meeting the expectations and beyond that, library leaders should also look into the future when more rapid technological iterations might drastically influence the profession, and library leaders should be prepared with the needed skillsets and functionality to lead libraries for those who will remain in the profession and be impacted, and also address some of the highlighted expectations expressed in the above-mentioned survey result, which are people-first, visionary, and change agents. libraries are very different from what they used to be a decade ago, and will be more different in the near future from what they are now, but the “skewing older arl librarians” status quo indicates a lack of youth and fresh ideas to take on leadership roles (martin, 2018). nevertheless, the change will not stop for librarianship. there has been a significant shift from a “purely traditional manner of librarianship to a more agile, innovative, and digital way of doing things” (ashiq, et al., 2021, p.1). the respondents in the above-mentioned survey also recognize that librarianship will be filled with change in the near future from the mission, equipment, personnel skillsets, and service models (martin, 2018). the call for library leaders to be visionary and change agents require library leaders to actively participate in, instead of responding to, the change of the broader landscape of higher education and research ecosystem (acrl, 2019). many studies discovered that the rapid changes in information technologies and patron needs being faced by the library leadership remained the most fundamental challenges for the profession (ashiq, rehman, & mujtaba, 2020; madge & robu, 2019), but most libraries were still trying to adhere to the traditional roles (le, 2015; wong & chan, 2018) that had failed to meet the needs and expectations of their modern library patrons (ashiq, usmani, & naeem, 2022; hicks & given, 2013), which further added to the stress of library leaders trying to demonstrate library values to their users and the upper management (harland et al., 2017; le, 2016). according to wolff-eisenberg (2017), library leaders felt “increasingly less valued by, involved with, and aligned strategically with other senior academic leadership (p.4),” of which sentiments lead to feelings of inferiority within the academic organizational hierarchy and result in a lack of commitment to provide effective services (ashiq et al., 2018; wolff-eisenberg, 2017). pinfield et al. (2017) criticize that library leaders are risk-averse and lack creativity and imagination, and martin (2016) added that library leaders are not fully committed to change due to the possibility of failure. risk-taker is not a term usually associated with librarianship or library leaders, but the expected perceptions of future library leaders from both inside and outside of librarianship suggest that stakeholders would like to see new services, projects, or ideas to be implemented, which, involve risks. apparently, the profession seems to call for leaders who are open to and comfortable yang / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 6 with a certain level of risky changes, and further, to expect leaders to create, facilitate, and lead those changes (hesselbein, 2010). moreover, the arl survey of the library directors and deans indicates an impending retirement and transition in leadership (wilder, 2017), which opens a window to examine the assumptions of success in leadership, organizations, and the profession (martin, 2018). granted the majority of arl directors and deans see that the crisis in leadership is looming (maier, 2016), but the qualifications being sought in the position advertisement of leadership positions are still those in conventional librarianship (maciel et al., 2018). it seems that the issues in library leadership not only exhibit the disconnection between leadership theories and realism, but also appear as some contradictions between reality and practice. despite the profession has been seen in some survival crises, library administrators have continued to focus on conventional skills and transactional management perspectives when recruiting new professionals in libraries (maciel et al., 2018). by cutting leadership off from its practice in the real world, the library-associated institutions or organizations invested in surveying, acknowledging, analyzing, concluding, and publishing reports while at the same time, library practitioners disconnect from what should be done more and more from the application. another disconnection between the imagination and reality is that library professionals are reluctant to adopt and embrace the latest developments and become increasingly resistant to changes (ashiq, et al., 2021; finley & kluever, 2009; hicks & given, 2013), while in the meantime library professionals have expressed their expectations of future library leaders to create and lead changes in the organizations (martin, 2018). the discrepancy between the survey results and the actual practice shows that library employees’ activities and reactions are more influenced by their feelings than their rational thoughts (martin, 2018), and that organizational culture is the main factor that determines whether organizations thrive, fail, innovate, or decline (martin, 2019). organizational culture consists of shared values, belief systems, and accepted norms of behaviors, and it evaluates and selects who belongs here (taylor, 2017). moreover, the culture becomes more and more dominant when the same process of hiring like-minded people and removing dissenters repeats, thereby creating a uniform value and belief system in the organization (popper, 2012), restraining dysfunctional culture in an organization from being corrected before the organization deteriorates or fails (martin, 2019). some successful leaders who guide organizations to accomplish goals, innovate new solutions, and support the organizational mission may still be seen as poor leaders because they do not fit the expectations of the organizational culture (bligh, et al., 2011; martin, 2019). changing the real culture – how people behave and manifest their culture – is difficult and protracted mainly because culture poses the greatest resistance. people in a particular field may be hesitant to challenge the status quo or question the norm because they are part of it; however, sometimes challenging the status quo is necessary (alvesson, 2020). when a leader considers transforming the culture, leader must accentuate essential organizational values. it can start from leaders’ being able to create values and ascertain their values are not altered or obscured in a multitude of other competing values created by informal leaders in that existent culture (grint, 2010). a leader must also be able to persuade the informal leaders of the library to adopt and disseminate the new cultural values. cultural members have to perceive the reasons for change as credible and valid, and their acceptance of new values will depend at least partially on how the new values benefit their work and if they will be compensated for adopting these new values (deal & kennedy, 1982). schein (2004) posits that the approach can be effective for mid-life stagnant organizations; however, it may be necessary to undertake a comprehensive turnover of personnel yang / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 7 for highly dysfunctional cultures. it should be noted, though, that very few leaders have been able to effectuate holistic and enduring culture change that many organizations often profess they desire (martin, 2019). for leaders, when considering the moral implications of what is deemed good or legitimate within an organization, it is important to ask: for whom is it good and in what way? hence, it is imperative for libraries to adopt a new perspective on leadership and organizational effectiveness. the idealized notion of leadership must be dispelled in favor of a more pragmatic and sophisticated approach. while culture, environment, and mission are significant drivers of the organization’s progress, a library leader’s role is to possess a philosophical outlook that guides decision-making, to remind the library of its purpose, to reinterpret that purpose as necessary, and to ensure that the library’s work aligns with its values. in essence, the primary function of a leader is to provide direction and clarity regarding the organizational raison d’être and objectives, irrespective of the variety, setting, and span of the organization. in doing this, leaders can help their organizations to achieve their full potential and make a positive impact on the communities they serve. references acrl research planning and review committee. 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(2008). a very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying leadership. london: sage publications. kaiser, r. b., & craig, s. b. (2014). destructive leadership in and of organizations. in d. v. day (ed.). oxford handbook of leadership and organizations (p.p. 260-284). oxford: oxford university press. le, b. p. (2015). academic library leadership in the digital age. library management, 36(4/5), 300-314. le, b. p. (2016). leadership aspirations of asian american academic librarians. international information & library review, 48(2), 112-121. learmonth, m., & morrell, k. (2019). critical perspectives on leadership: the language of corporate power. london: routledge. maciel, l., kaspar, w. a., & vanduinkerken, w. (2018). (desperately) seeking service leadership in academic libraries: an analysis of dean and director position advertisements. journal of library administration, 58(1), 18-53. madge, o. l., & robu, i. (2019). medical academic libraries in romania–breaking with the past and turning towards the future. health information & libraries journal, 36(1), 96-100. martin, j. (2016). perceptions of transformational leadership in academic libraries. journal of library administration, 56(3), 266-284. meier, j. j. (2016). the future of academic libraries: conversations with today's leaders about tomorrow. portal: libraries and the academy, 16(2), 263-288. martin, j. (2019). the leadership/followership process: a different understanding of library leadership. the journal of academic librarianship, 45(1), 15-21. martin, j. (2018). what do academic librarians value in a leader? reflections on past positive library leaders and a consideration of future library leaders. college & research libraries, 79(6), 799-821. pinfield, s., cox, a., & rutter, s. (2017). mapping the future of academic libraries: a report for sconul. retrieved april 1, 2023, from https://www.sconul.ac.uk/news/mapping-thefuture-of-academic-libraries. popper, m. (2012). fact and fantasy about leadership. northampton, ma: edward elgar. schein, e. (2004). organizational culture and leadership. san francisco: joessey-bass. sidani, y. m., & rowe, w. g. (2018). a reconceptualization of authentic leadership: leader legitimation via follower-centered assessment of the moral dimension. the leadership quarterly, 29(6), 623-636. spoelstra, s., & ten bos, r. (2011). leadership. in m. painter-moorland, & r. ten bos (ed.). business ethics and continental philosophy (p.p. 181-198). cambridge: cambridge university press. sveningsson, s., & alvesson, m. (2003). the good visions, the bad micro-management and the ugly ambiguity: contradictions of (non)-leadership in a knowledge-intensive company. organization studies, 24(6), 961-88. https://www.sconul.ac.uk/news/mapping-the-future-of-academic-libraries https://www.sconul.ac.uk/news/mapping-the-future-of-academic-libraries yang / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 10 taylor, b. (2017). five questions to ask about corporate culture to get beyond the usual meaningless blather. harvard business review. retrieved april 1, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2017/06/5-questions-to-ask-about-corporate-culture-to-get-beyond-theusual-meaningless-blather. tourish, d. (2019). management studies in crisis: fraud, deception and meaningless research. cambridge: cambridge university press. wilder, s. (2017). delayed retirements and the youth movement among arl library professionals. washington, d.c.: association of research libraries. retrieved april 1, 2023, from https://www.arl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/rli-2017-stanley-wilder-article1.pdf. wong, g. k. w., & chan, d. l. (2018). adaptive leadership in academic libraries. library management, 39(1/2), 106-115. wolff-eisenberg, c. (2017). ithaka s+r us library survey 2016. new york: ithaka. retrieved april 1, 2023 from https://sr.ithaka.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/03/sr_report_library_survey_2016_04032017.pdf. about the author le yang is the former president of the chinese american librarians association (cala), 20172018. he has been active with and providing services to cala, ifla, ala, jclc, and acrl. yang worked at texas tech university and wenzhou-kean university before he joined the university of oregon on may 15, 2022. his research interests encompass digital librarianship, digital systems, data management, and data visualization. he has disseminated his research findings widely in conferences and journals and has served as a peer reviewer and editorial board member for several library and information science journals. https://hbr.org/2017/06/5-questions-to-ask-about-corporate-culture-to-get-beyond-the-usual-meaningless-blather https://hbr.org/2017/06/5-questions-to-ask-about-corporate-culture-to-get-beyond-the-usual-meaningless-blather https://www.arl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/rli-2017-stanley-wilder-article1.pdf https://sr.ithaka.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/sr_report_library_survey_2016_04032017.pdf https://sr.ithaka.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/sr_report_library_survey_2016_04032017.pdf 02-303-title-page 02-303-yang-layout abstract issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part two weiling liu abstract: it has been a decade since tim berners-lee coined linked data in 2006. more and more linked data datasets have been made available for information retrieval on the web. it is essential for librarians, especially academic librarians, to keep up with the state of linked data. there is so much information about linked data that one may wonder where to begin when they want to join the linked data community. with this in mind, the author compiled this annotated bibliography as a starter kit. due to the many resources available, this list focuses on literature in english only and of specific projects, case studies, research studies, and tools that may be helpful to academic librarians, in addition to the overview of linked data concept and the current state of linked data evolution and adoption. to cite this article: liu, w. (2018). linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part two. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 54-66. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.51 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 54-66 issn:2474-3542 linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part two weiling liu university of louisville, louisville, kentucky, usa abstract it has been a decade since tim berners-lee coined linked data in 2006. more and more linked data datasets have been made available for information retrieval on the web. it is essential for librarians, especially academic librarians, to keep up with the state of linked data. there is so much information about linked data that one may wonder where to begin when they want to join the linked data community. with this in mind, the author compiled this annotated bibliography as a starter kit. due to the many resources available, this list focuses on literature in english only and of specific projects, case studies, research studies, and tools that may be helpful to academic librarians, in addition to the overview of linked data concept and the current state of linked data evolution and adoption. keywords: linked data, linked open data, library linked data, semantic web, academic library, bibliography introduction resources for part one are selected with a focus on linked data concepts, current state, and case studies of linked data evolution and adoption in a university setting. resources for part two are selected with a focus on research studies of linked data vocabularies, library linked data, novel approaches and tools used to address issues and challenges related to linked data implementation. the publication dates of the resources are within the past five years from 2017. literature covered in part two include 14 journal articles, one book, two conference papers, one committee document, one book chapter, one research project report, and a few websites. the bibliographies are grouped into five sections: 1) studies or research projects on linked data; 2) novel approaches and tools; 3) vocabularies; 4) library linked data, and 5) websites. this starter kit is by no means a comprehensive list; the author attempts to list some examples of projects or research studies that illustrate the use of linked data, and solutions or approaches that deal with some specific challenges encountered in the linked data publication and consumption. like part one, part two also lists some related websites. the bibliographies are in liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 55 ascending chronological order by year then by author for easy reading and also listed in the references. studies and research projects this section includes some recent publications of research studies on linked data, revealing the impact of linked data, current state of adoption, and problems or issues to be resolved. moulaison, h. l., & million, a. j. (2014). the disruptive qualities of linked data in the library environment: analysis and recommendations. cataloging & classification quarterly, 52(4), 367–387. doi:10.1080/01639374.2014.880981 in this article, the authors evaluate the disruptive qualities of linked data and the implication for libraries based on christensen’s disruptive technologies theory. they conclude that linked data may play a role in improving bibliographic library technology, but there is not much evidence that indicates it will emerge as a disruptive technology in the library environment. they also recommend that it is still premature at this time to use linked data to encode library data, but it is one of many solutions that should be explored in a systematic and controlled way. niknia, m., & mirtaheri, s. l. (2015). mapping a decade of linked data progress through coword analysis. webology, 12(2). retrieved from http://www.webology.org/2015/v12n2/a141.pdf the authors conducted a study on the evolution of linked data based on 717 scopus articles and their associated 19977 keywords published between the 1970s and 2014. the study uses co-word analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis along with strategic diagrams and network analysis to map and visualize the progress of linked data as a research topic. the results show that studies on linked data began in the 1970s and commonly associated with computer science. the explosion of publication is observed since 2008 with the focus shifted from technology to the semantic web. the results also show that the usa has published the highest number of articles. in conclusion, the authors suggest that studies on user experience may become important after computing-related issues are solved. hallo, m., luján-mora, s., maté, a., & trujillo, j. (2016). current state of linked data in digital libraries. journal of information science, 42(2), 117–127. doi:10.1177/0165551515594729 the authors present a study about the current uses of linked data in digital libraries (lddl) concerning the benefits, vocabularies, and ontologies used, problems and future trends. the study was conducted using an adapted methodology for literature review based on information extracted from a group of selected publications and five national libraries websites worldwide. liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 56 the paper includes the description of each selected library’s linked data project and discussions of the findings along with a comparison table of features of selected libraries. it also offers suggestions for ways in which libraries can contribute to the semantic web. for example, the preservation of linked datasets and the adoption of 5-star linked open data standards. arlitsch, k. (2017). semantic web identity of academic libraries. journal of library administration, 57(3), 346–358. doi:10.1080/01930826.2017.1288970 this article is a summary of part of the research for a recent doctoral dissertation written by arlitsch. the study is about the semantic web identity (swi) of arl (association of research libraries) libraries and other academic organizations. the research hypothesis is that “certain proprietary and open semantic web knowledge bases must be actively engaged so that an organization can be optimally recognized and understood as an entity by google” (arlitsch, 2017, p. 350). arlitsch argues that the implication of swi goes far beyond the simple display of a knowledge graph card in google search engine results pages. swi may help strengthen the chances for funding for a research center or student enrollment, faculty recruitment, etc. for an academic institution. novel approches and tools to tackle some issues of linked data, researchers have developed tools or novel approaches. this section collected some publications on linked data quality assessment and management. although the literature included here focuses on linked data in general, it is helpful for librarians to know about these tools or approaches that have been experimented. sequeda, j. f., & miranker, d. p. (2013). ultrawrap: sparql execution on relational data. web semantics: science, services and agents on the world wide web, 22, 19–39. doi:10.1016/j.websem.2013.08.002 the authors postulate that existing legacy relational databases already include the algorithms and optimizations required to execute sparql queries on rdf representation of the legacy relational data. to resolve the contradiction among two previous studies, the authors built ultrawrap, a system which not only can detail an rdf graph representation of the relational data based on the w3c rdb2rdf direct mapping standard but also translate the relational schema and accompany sql constraints into an owl (the web ontology language) ontology. in this article, the authors explore the hypothesis with ultrawrap, and the results suggest that “effective wrappers will be those that are designed to complement the optimizer of the target database.” (sequeda, & miranker, 2013, p. 19). ristoski, p., bizer, c., & paulheim, h. (2015). mining the web of linked data with rapidminer. web semantics: science, services and agents on the world wide web, 35, 142–151. doi:10.1016/j.websem.2015.06.004 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 57 this article presents the full functionality of the raidminer linked open data extension. this extension is a part of rapidminer, a data mining and analysis platform. the raidminer linked open data extension allows “operators” to access linked open data in rapidminer and use it in sophisticated data analysis workflow without the need for expert knowledge in sparql or rdf. these “operators” are fundamental building blocks in rapidminer, and each of them performs a specific action on data, such as data import, data linking, and feature generation. through an example with statistical data from the world bank, the article illustrates how relevant datasets can be discovered on the fly, and overlapping data found in different datasets can be integrated. the extension is available for free download from the rapidminer marketplace under the agpl license at https://marketplace.rapidi.com/updateserver/faces/product_details.xhtml?productid=rmx_lod debattista, j., auer, sö., & lange, c. (2016). luzzu—a methodology and framework for linked data quality assessment. j. data and information quality, 8(1), 4:1–4:32. doi:10.1145/2992786 the article defines a conceptual methodology for assessing linked data quality based on the data quality lifecycle. through a thorough discussion, the article illustrates the possibilities of luzzu, a modular, open-source framework, for assessing linked data quality regarding scalability, extensibility, interoperability, and customizability. the article concludes that although there are some limitations, luzzu framework allows users (both linked data publisher and consumer) to analyze data quality from a single visual entry point easily. this project is only the first step in the long-term research agenda, and the next step is to examine techniques for incremental quality assessment. with descriptions and a table, the article also compares luzzu against nine other available linked data quality assessment frameworks from a different angle than that was used in a previous investigation done by other researchers in 2015. dunsire, g., fritz, d., & fritz, r. (2016). instructions, interfaces, and interoperable data: the rimmf experience with rda. paper presented at ifla wlic 2016. retrieved from http://library.ifla.org/1324/1/093-dunsire-en.pdf this article presents a case study of a software tool, rimmf (resource description and access (rda) in many metadata formats). rimmf, developed by tmq, inc., bridges the gap between professional cataloguers and the technologies underpinning legacy (i.e., marc – machine-readable cataloging) and modern (i.e., linked data) metadata. rimmf is based on frbr (functional requirements for bibliographic records) and rda terminology, but it can export data for linked data applications in rdf (resource description framework). this function allows catalogers to produce well-formed linked data without the new technical skills and also help to improve their understanding of the complexities involved. rimmf is still a prototype and training tool. however, it has been extensively tested “‘in the field’ in a series of liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 58 hackathons for rda data, known as ‘jane-athons’ from an initial focus on the works of jane austen” (dunsire, fritz & fritz, 2016, p.7). this article also includes an overview of the evolution of bibliographic rules and standards such as rda and frbr a conceptual bibliographic model published by ifla (international federation of library associations and institutions). kalou, a. k., koutsomitropoulos, d. a., & solomou, g. d. (2016). combining the best of both worlds: a semantic web book mashup as a linked data service over cms infrastructure. journal of library metadata, 16(3–4), 0–0. doi:10.1080/19386389.2016.1258897 this article proposes a proof-of-concept web-based application, books@hpclab a semantic mashup, which combines restful services, semantic technologies, and cms (content management system). the article illustrates how personalized book recommendations can be generated from various web sources and made available as linked data via this mashup. the authors also demonstrate how commercial metadata can be enriched with bibliographic information via linked data principles. it also shows the potentials of the application for use in digital libraries, open educational repositories, online learning systems, and online course providers due to its enclosed automated web services. the article also includes the evaluation of the application’s performance to see how well it can match user search needs (effectiveness) and how quickly the results are retrieved (efficiency). rietveld, l. (2016). publishing and consuming linked data: optimizing for the unknown. ios press. this dissertation presents new novel approaches for tackling some technical problems related to publishing and consuming linked data. the issues include many areas, from data reuse to hosting solutions, finding, navigating and using linked datasets. there is also the lack of resources and methods for scientists to evaluate their work on linked data in general. it first gives an overview of the problems from the perspectives of three linked data stakeholders: the provider, developer and scientist, the proposed solutions, and contents of each chapter. it then provides detailed descriptions of the problems, associated background and related works as well as proposed solutions. as the author concludes, these solutions improve the state of the art for linked data publishers, developers and scientists. they are a step towards a web of linked data that is more accessible and technically scalable (rietveld, 2016, p. 143). the paper is very well organized. each chapter discussing a solution including an introduction and conclusion to recap the problem and summarize the answers. some implementations are described in a step-by-step manner. readers may visit the sites to learn more about the approaches discussed in the paper: lod laundromat (http://lodlaundromat.org/), sampld (https://github.com/data2semantics/graphsampling), yasgui (http://doc.yasgui.org/), and lod lab (http://lodlaundromat.org/lodlab/). liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 59 lee, y. (2017). a life-cycle workflow architecture for linked data. in proceedings of the 2017 international conference on machine learning and soft computing (pp. 117–121). new york, ny, usa: acm. doi:10.1145/3036290.3036302 this article describes phase one of a research plan aiming to address the need for scalable data management solutions that can efficiently store, index and query native rdf data. the article provides a systematic overview of the proposed novel linked data life-cycle workflow architecture. the architecture includes four components: “acquisition system,” “ontology learning method,” “rdf store & mdh*” and “analysis system.” the article describes each component of the architecture, such as storage, indexing, query processing and application approaches of linked data and how related issues are addressed. through the descriptions and visual diagrams, readers get a better idea of the whole life-cycle of linked data and associated problems. vocabularies “the promise of the web of data is not only to enable client applications to discover new data sources by following rdf links at run-time but also to help them to integrate data from these sources” (heath & bizer, 2011, p. 24). vocabularies or ontologies are a crucial component in linked data. they are the bridges between data sources in data integrations. in this section, readers will find publications about projects or studies with a focus on this aspect. oh, s. g., yi, m., & jang, w. (2015). deploying linked open vocabulary (lov) to enhance library linked data. journal of information science theory and practice, 3(2), 6–15. doi:10.1633/jistap.2015.3.2.1 this article discusses the potential role of linked open vocabularies (lov), a portal for rdfs (resource description framework schema) and owl (web ontology language), in improving the implementation of linked data in the library community. the article evaluates the lov system based on the criteria developed by a previous study. it also gives a comparative analysis with some significant open data repositories; the report proposes a few approaches in which lov can be used to improve linking as well as access to open linked datasets. the suggestions include the use of lov for building an open and specialized library linked data repository, and for classifying, mapping, and analyzing data for big data archiving. the urls to the lov and evaluated open data repositories are listed below. • lov system: http://lov.okfn.org/dataset/lov/ • open data repositories o datahub.io: http://datahub.io/ o lodstats: http://stats.lod2.eu/ o datacatalogs.org: http://datacatalogs.org/ – (now it is dataportals.org) o european union open data portal: https://open-data.europa.eu/en/data/ liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 60 binding, c., & tudhope, d. (2016). improving interoperability using vocabulary linked data. international journal on digital libraries, 17(1), 5–21. doi:10.1007/s00799-015-0166-y the authors discuss various aspects of vocabulary mapping through a case study for the ariadne project, based on the getty art and architecture thesaurus as a hub. the study results indicate the enhanced opportunities for interactive vocabulary mapping and cross-searching. in this pilot experiment, the authors also demonstrate the potential use of the vocabulary mapping tool developed for the project to assist cross-search over archaeological datasets from different countries. the authors point out that the problems of expressing high-quality mappings between data and a reference vocabulary are related to the issues involved in mapping between vocabularies as linked data. radio, e., & hanrath, s. (2016). measuring the impact and effectiveness of transitioning to a linked data vocabulary. journal of library metadata, 16(2), 80–94. doi:10.1080/19386389.2016.1215734 through a test case transitioning the metadata of an institutional repository to oclc’s fast (faceted application of subject terminology), this article attempts to measure the accuracy of mapping pre-existing terms to a controlled vocabulary and its impact on usage and resource discovery. the authors note that the study results indicate a need for increased attention and participation to identify areas of underor misrepresentation in linked data vocabularies. they also note that one should not expect any immediate increase in usage: “there is no explicit promise that exposing resources as linked data will result in such an event, but not participating in linked data activities may prove to be a missed opportunity” (radio & hanrath, 2016, p. 92). library linked data the library community began its work on exploring ways to replace marc around the same time when tim berners-lee proposed linked data principle in 2006. influenced by linked data principles, the library leading organizations have launched linked data initiatives and collaborative projects. in this section, readers will find selected recent reports, documents, and publications that explore the use of library linked data (or linked library data) or demonstrate the development of linked data activities in the library community, particularly, those from the major players such as the library of congress and oclc. konstantinou, n., houssos, n., & manta, a. (2014). exposing bibliographic information as linked open data using standards-based mappings: methodology and results. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 147(1), 260-267. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.169 this article describes an approach that uses international standards, such as library of congress linked data service for generating and publishing linked data in the case of digital repositories that contain bibliographic information. it presents not only the methodology used in liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 61 implementation but also various available options. it discusses several benefits (semantic annotation, query simplification, increased discoverability, and reusability) and challenges associated with the approach (multidisciplinary, technology barrier, concept mismatch, and exceptions to the general rule). the article concludes that the investment in semantics pays off in a long run although linked open data generation requires some initial resource investment in person-hours. godby, c.j., & denenberg. r. (2015). common ground: exploring compatibilities between the linked data models of the library of congress and oclc. retrieved from https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-loc-linkeddata-2015.pdf this white paper was jointly released by oclc and the library of congress (lc). the article compares the linked data initiatives at both institutions, explaining the differences between lc’s bibframe and oclc’s model which is based on schema.org. it includes a figure which visualizes the differences between the two models as well as an overview of the recent activities of both institutions since 2013. phipps, j., dunsire, g., & hillmann, d. (2015). building a platform to manage rda vocabularies and data for an international, linked data world. journal of library metadata, 15(3–4), 252–264. doi:10.1080/19386389.2015.1099990 the authors describe the open metadata registry (omr) on which rda (resource description and access) is built as well as the evolution of the current rda registry including the rationale for decisions, directions, and ongoing development. tharani, k. (2015). linked data in libraries: a case study of harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata with bibframe. information technology & libraries, 34(1), 5–19. in this article, tharani presents a case study in which bibframe is used for harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata on the web for the libraries. it gives a step-by-step explanation of the implementation as well as an overview of bibframe and a detailed explanation of linked data. in this project, technology and format used for data preparation are very common, for example, mysql for storing data and xslt (extensible stylesheet language transformations) scripts for transforming data. one exception is the generation of rdf triples, for which the specific programming effort is described as complex. through this case study, the article demonstrates bibframe’s potential in making digital libraries more accessible, and the challenges bibframe is facing. tharani points out that “[a]lthough initially introduced as a replacement for marc, bibframe is far from being an either-or proposition given the marc legacy” (2015, p. 16). liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 62 library of congress, acquisitions & bibliographic access directorate (aba). (2016, june 16). bibframe pilot (phase one—sept. 8, 2015 – march 31, 2016): report and assessment. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/pdf/bibframe-pilot-phase1analysis.pdf this aba report assesses the library of congress’ first bibframe (bibliographic framework initiative) pilot. the report includes two parts that were prepared respectively by ndmso (the network development & marc standards office) and coin (the cooperative & instructional programs division) of aba. this pilot is phase one based on bibframe 1.0 environment with a focus on the input of data and impact on catalogers. part one of the report reviews the preparation and training, including training, pilot environment, workflow, lessons learned and best practices. part two reviews the pilot system based on some questions that were articulated before the start of the pilot. bibframe 2.0 is already available, and phase two of the pilot is currently in progress according to the report. however, this report seemed to be current on bibframe’s website (http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/) when this annotated bibliography was in writing. colye, k. (2016). bibliographic description and the semantic web. in frbr, before and after: a look at our bibliographic models (pp.137-156). retrieved from http://kcoyle.net/beforeandafter/c10-978-0-8389-1364-2.pdf this chapter demonstrates through specific projects how the conceptual model of frbr is used in recent rdf vocabularies developed for library data and in bibliographic models designed outside of the library. projects discussed here include those that have transformed the entity-relation model of frbr, such as frbrer, rda in rdf, bibframe, and the projects that use alternation of frbr, for example, frbrcore, frbroo’s object-oriented model, <indecs> event-oriented model, and fabio frbr-aligned bibliographic ontology. in summary, the chapter highlights that frbrcore and bibframe are the projects that show promise as vocabularies for the open web. in this chapter, readers will see how frbr is related to bibframe, rda in rdf, and differences among the projects. mccallum, s. h. (2017). bibframe development. jlis.it, 8(3), 71-85. http://doi.org/10.4403/jlis.it-12415 in the article, mccallum discusses the development of linked data in the library of congress (lc) over the past decade. the report examines the evolution through five areas: using rdf, lc linked data service, developing bibframe (bibliographic framework initiative), models, and exploring. readers will learn from this article not only the overview of development history but also how linked data principles align with lc’s goals recommended in on the record: report of the library of congress working group on the future of bibliographic control in 2008. through the concrete examples, readers will see the differences between current formats and linked data liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 63 principles. readers will also see how bibframe is related to frbr (functional requirements for bibliographic records), rda (resource description and access), and marc (machinereadable cataloging). baxmeyer, j., coyle, k., dylan, j., han, m. j., folsom, s., schreur, p., & thompson, t. (2017, june). linked data infrastructure models: areas of focus for pcc strategies. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/linkeddatainfrastructuremodels.pdf this white paper is prepared for the library of congress’ pcc (program cooperative cataloging) linked data advisory committee. the paper gives an overview of ppc’s four components: bibco (monographic bibliographic record cooperative program), conser (cooperative online serials program), naco (name authority cooperative program), and saco (subject authority cooperative program). it describes the known challenges with linked data in the library environment and outlines some high-level requirements. in the appendix of this paper, it also lists some grant-funded projects and library system vendors who are active with linked data. although it is a document prepared for pcc’s internal committee, it gives general readers an overview of issues associated with linked data in the library community. websites this section aims to provide readers with a quick reference list of selected website resources that are related to the focus of part two. the author idenitfies them here in this section for readers’ convenience because they are good for keeping up-to-date on linked data development and helpful for implementation. creative commons (https://creativecommons.org) creative commons is a global nonprofit organization. it enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge. the combination of its solutions and users is “a vast and growing digital commons, a pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law” (creative commons, 2018). the licenses and tools provided by creative commons “were designed specifically to work with the web, which makes content that is offered under their terms easy to search for, discover, and use” (creative commons, 2018). international semantic web conference (iswc) iswc is a series of international academic conferences forum, for the semantic web/ linked data community. since 2002, each year scientists, industry specialists, and practitioners come from all over the world to discuss “the future of practical, scalable, user-friendly, and game changing solutions” (iswc, 2018, march 26). the conferences are usually held in different countries, and there is no central website. however, wikipedia lists all the links to the annual liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 64 meetings. the conference proceedings are published in the lecture notes in computer science by springer-verlag. linked library data interest group (lita / alcts) (http://www.ala.org/lita/about/igs/linked/lit-iglld) originated in 2011, the linked library data interest group is a joint interest group of lita (library and information technology association) and alcts (association for library collections & technical services). it is entirely self-initiated and not appointed by its parent associations or ala (american library association). this group attempts to provide an avenue for librarians to discuss issues related to library linked data. open knowledge international (https://okfn.org/) open knowledge international is a global non-profit organization. it focuses on realizing open data’s value to society. it helps civil society groups access and use data to take action on social problems. it supports many initiatives, such as ckan (an open source data management solution) and global open data index. one of its projects, open definition, defines open bibliographic data (https://opendefinition.org/bibliographic/). rightsstatements.org (http://rightsstatements.org/en/about.html) rightsstatements.org, a joint initiative of europeana and dpla (the digital public library of america), provides 12 standardized rights statements specifically for the needs of cultural heritage institutions and online digital aggregation platforms. as stated on the about page, these statements provide a minimum, baseline standard for any digital aggregator that adopts the rightsstatements.org standard as well as europeana and organizations contributing to the dpla. these rights statements established by rightsstatements.org are ready for use by institutions to communicate the copyright and re-use status of digital cultural heritage objects to the public. the rights statements are also made available as linked data. summary the author hopes that part two has provided readers more resources that may lead to a more indepth understanding of linked data, especially issues and challenges encountered in its implementation as well as its benefits in the library, archive, and museum community. as stated in “library linked data incubator group final report,” the ownership of library data is complicated and data with unclear and untested rights issues can hinder their release as open data (baker et al., 2011). the resources selected in this kit were a side product of the author’s six-month sabbatical project about an ideal assistant system or application for library resource searching in 2017. given the complexity of data, limited time, and original focus on informationseeking behaviors and information discovery, the kit still lacks some resources such as those liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 65 dealing with rights issues. hopefully, the website resources about rights and licenses for linked data included here are useful to readers. references arlitsch, k. (2017). semantic web identity of academic libraries. journal of library administration, 57(3), 346–358. doi:10.1080/01930826.2017.1288970 baker, t., bermès, e., coyle, k., dunsire, g., isaac, a., murray, p., . . . zeng, m. (2011). library linked data incubator group final report. retrieved from w3c incubator. world wide web consortium website: https://www.w3.org/2005/incubator/lld/xgr-lld20111025/ baxmeyer, j., coyle, k., dylan, j., han, m. j., folsom, s., schreur, p., & thompson, t. (2017, june). linked data infrastructure models: areas of focus for pcc strategies. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/linkeddatainfrastructuremodels.pdf binding, c., & tudhope, d. (2016). improving interoperability using vocabulary linked data. international journal on digital libraries, 17(1), 5–21. doi:10.1007/s00799-015-0166-y colye, k. (2016). bibliographic description and the semantic web. in frbr, before and after: a look at our bibliographic models (pp.137-156). retrieved from http://kcoyle.net/beforeandafter/c10-978-0-8389-1364-2.pdf debattista, j., auer, sö., & lange, c. (2016). luzzu—a methodology and framework for linked data quality assessment. j. data and information quality, 8(1), 4:1–4:32. doi:10.1145/2992786 dunsire, g., fritz, d., & fritz, r. (2016). instructions, interfaces, and interoperable data: the rimmf experience with rda. paper presented at ifla wlic 2016. retrieved from http://library.ifla.org/1324/1/093-dunsire-en.pdf creative commons. (2018, march 7). frequently asked questions. retrieved from https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-is-creative-commons-and-what-do-you-do godby, c.j., & denenberg. r. (2015). common ground: exploring compatibilities between the linked data models of the library of congress and oclc. retrieved from https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-loc-linked-data2015.pdf hallo, m., luján-mora, s., maté, a., & trujillo, j. (2016). current state of linked data in digital libraries. journal of information science, 42(2), 117–127. doi:10.1177/0165551515594729 heath, t., & bizer, c. (2011). linked data: evolving the web into a global data space. 1st ed. synthesis lectures on the semantic web: theory and technology, 1:1. san rafael, ca: morgan & claypool. retrieved from http://linkeddatabook.com/editions/1.0 wikipedia. (2018, march 26). international semantic web conference (iswc). retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=international_semantic_web_conference&oldid =832489256 kalou, a. k., koutsomitropoulos, d. a., & solomou, g. d. (2016). combining the best of both worlds: a semantic web book mashup as a linked data service over cms infrastructure. journal of library metadata, 16(3–4), 0–0. doi:10.1080/19386389.2016.1258897 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 66 konstantinou, n., houssos, n., & manta, a. (2014). exposing bibliographic information as linked open data using standards-based mappings: methodology and results. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 147(1), 260-267. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.169 lee, y. (2017). a life-cycle workflow architecture for linked data. in proceedings of the 2017 international conference on machine learning and soft computing (pp. 117–121). new york, ny, usa: acm. doi:10.1145/3036290.3036302 library of congress, acquisitions & bibliographic access directorate (aba). (2016, june 16). bibframe pilot (phase one—sept. 8, 2015 – march 31, 2016): report and assessment. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/pdf/bibframe-pilot-phase1-analysis.pdf mccallum, s. h. (2017). bibframe development. jlis.it, 8(3), 71-85. http://doi.org/10.4403/jlis.it-12415 moulaison, h. l., & million, a. j. (2014). the disruptive qualities of linked data in the library environment: analysis and recommendations. cataloging & classification quarterly, 52(4), 367–387. doi:10.1080/01639374.2014.880981 niknia, m., & mirtaheri, s. l. (2015). mapping a decade of linked data progress through coword analysis. webology, 12(2). retrieved from http://www.webology.org/2015/v12n2/a141.pdf oh, s. g., yi, m., & jang, w. (2015). deploying linked open vocabulary (lov) to enhance library linked data. journal of information science theory and practice, 3(2), 6–15. doi:10.1633/jistap.2015.3.2.1 phipps, j., dunsire, g., & hillmann, d. (2015). building a platform to manage rda vocabularies and data for an international, linked data world. journal of library metadata, 15(3–4), 252–264. doi:10.1080/19386389.2015.1099990 radio, e., & hanrath, s. (2016). measuring the impact and effectiveness of transitioning to a linked data vocabulary. journal of library metadata, 16(2), 80–94. doi:10.1080/19386389.2016.1215734 rietveld, l. (2016). publishing and consuming linked data: optimizing for the unknown. ios press. ristoski, p., bizer, c., & paulheim, h. (2015). mining the web of linked data with rapidminer. web semantics: science, services and agents on the world wide web, 35, 142–151. doi:10.1016/j.websem.2015.06.004 sequeda, j. f., & miranker, d. p. (2013). ultrawrap: sparql execution on relational data. web semantics: science, services and agents on the world wide web, 22, 19–39. doi:10.1016/j.websem.2013.08.002 tharani, k. (2015). linked data in libraries: a case study of harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata with bibframe. information technology & libraries, 34(1), 5– 19. about the author weiling liu is professor and head of office of libraries technology at university of louisville, louisville, kentucky, usa. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org our journey of building trust: case studies of bipoc women leaders in academic libraries xiying mi, afra bolefski, mai lu, ximin mi abstract: this article showcases the authors’ personal journeys of building trust with their teams as bipoc women leaders in the academic libraries. the article attempts to focus on trustbuilding with team members through changes either at personal level or at a larger professional context level. this paper elucidates challenges and opportunities that bipoc leaders are experiencing in their roles in academic library settings as well as how junior and mid-level leaders develop their skill sets to facilitate their effort in trust-building. literature searches show that study and research in the area of bipoc leadership in the library context are sparse. the authors strive to contribute to the area, share the experience of building trust in their teams as a leader and invite bipoc peers to explore possibilities of building trust and advancing their careers in the library leadership path. to cite this article: mi, x., bolefski, a., lu, m., & mi, x. (2023). our journey of building trust: case studies of bipoc women leaders in academic libraries. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 47-62. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.2.293 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 47-62 issn: 2474-3542 our journey of building trust: case studies of bipoc women leaders in academic libraries xiying mi, university of wisconsin-madison, united states afra bolefski, university of manitoba, canada mai lu, university of toronto, canada ximin mi, georgia institute of technology, united states abstract this article showcases the authors’ personal journeys of building trust with their teams as bipoc women leaders in the academic libraries. the article attempts to focus on trust-building with team members through changes either at personal level or at a larger professional context level. this paper elucidates challenges and opportunities that bipoc leaders are experiencing in their roles in academic library settings as well as how junior and mid-level leaders develop their skill sets to facilitate their effort in trust-building. literature searches show that study and research in the area of bipoc leadership in the library context are sparse. the authors strive to contribute to the area, share the experience of building trust in their teams as a leader and invite bipoc peers to explore possibilities of building trust and advancing their careers in the library leadership path. keywords: women leaders, bipoc, virtual leadership, changes in academic libraries, trustbuilding introduction there is a wealth of literature on the art of library leadership in general; however, very little is written about black, indigenous, or people of colour (bipoc) library leaders. the authors conducted searches in the library literature and found very few results featuring bipoc women of colour in leadership roles, in academic libraries. in google scholar, a search of “bipoc women leaders or leadership ‘library’” as titles or part of the title between 2012-2022 generates zero result. a search of “library leaders or leadership ‘bipoc women’” within the last ten years generates 235 results but unfortunately most of the results are not within the library context. a mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 48 similar search conducted in library & information science abstracts (lisa) generated 411 results with a good amount of them not relevant. lista returns 40 search results with some of them irrelevant. broadening the search in lista and lisa by separating out the search components (e.g. women, leader, library, bipoc), adding synonyms (e.g. bipoc or racialized or visible minorit* or black or indigenous) and using wildcard operators produced a larger set of search results, but most of the results were not relevant to the library sector and did not showcase the perspectives of bipoc women library leaders in academic libraries. in the u.s., 87.8% of the 179,000 librarians identified as white and in canada, 89% of the 9570 librarians identified as white (chan, 2020). this lack of diversity in librarianship becomes more apparent in leadership roles. the visible minority librarians of canada (vimloc) conducted a study of racialized library workers in 2021 and out of the 160 respondents, 5% of respondents (n=8) worked in a senior administrator role (e.g. chief librarian, director) and 13% of respondents (n=21) reported working in middle management (e.g. branch head, department head), while the majority of respondents reported working in non-management (li et al., 2021). this is not surprising considering the small numbers of bipoc library leaders working in academic libraries. statistics show that, of the 33 library directors at the top-ranked u.s. universities, based on 2019 u.s. news & world report and times higher education, 30 library directors (or 90%) were white and 3 (10%) were african american, with no asian americans, latino americans, or native americans represented (le, 2021). bipoc women in library leadership is even more rare, which leaves a large gap in the literature. the authors believe it is important to fill the gap by sharing our own stories which will hopefully inspire peers to explore their leadership potential. the authors of this paper are all bipoc women leaders in academic libraries in canada and the united states. the term bipoc refers to black, indigenous, and people of colour. there have been various terms used to describe non-white groups, including visible minorities, racialized, as well as naming individual groups such as black americans, chinese canadians, and so forth. while bipoc is a concise acronym, there is a lack of consensus in terminology (harmon, 2021). in canada, the term “racialized” was recommended as an alternative to bipoc, as it recognizes that race is a construct and includes a complex socio-cultural process (ajele, 2021; simon fraser university library student learning commons, 2021). canadian librarians allan cho, afra bolefski, cecilia tellis, lei jin, and maha kumaran opted to use the term “racialized” in their panel presentation for the canadian association of research libraries’ inclusion perspectives series (cho, et al., 2022). the terms “bipoc” and “racialized” are used in this paper, based on the author’s preference. with the scarcity of literature on bipoc women in academic library leadership, we feel compelled to share our stories, in the hopes that this will inspire others to pursue leadership roles in academic libraries. when sharing our library leadership experiences, we considered the significant upheaval caused by the global pandemic, among other changes happening in academic libraries and our individual organizations. we focus on how to develop relationships and build trust with our teams and nurture success. mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 49 literature review well before the pandemic, researchers were investigating the state of constant changes in academic libraries. with library collections shifting from traditional resources to digital formats; priorities shifting from collections to services; and the rise of data services as a key area for library support (aslam, 2020; koltay, 2019; owens & wong, 2021), academic libraries were entering an era of connecting spaces, collections, technology and community with a stronger digital presence, and more intensive data and technology services. along with the change of business was the changing understanding of ourselves as organizations and teams. at the organizational level, student success and in-depth support for research have become some of the key measures of success. at the team level, equity, diversity, inclusion, and access strategy gained more ground as part of our culture (owens & wong, 2021). it is a two-fold process for library leadership to navigate through changes. first, leaders must determine how changes affect themselves as individuals, and as leaders, how changes affect their teams. library leaders were tasked to develop skills that would help them adjust to changes and to support their teams through changes. to address these ongoing changes, library leaders need to recalibrate their organization priorities, update policies and procedures, develop new skill sets to keep up with these changes, and invest in training resources within the organization to achieve the organizational goals and vision (aslam, 2020). beyond these specific tasks, it is key for academic library leaders to build trust with their teams. trust building is not only a task for senior leaders; it is equally, if not more important, for mid-level managers who supervise teams. second, leaders must develop strategies to respond to or anticipate future changes. newman (2021) argued that in crisis situations, leaders must act quickly and be proactive. while leaders must critically assess information available to them, they must not fear making the wrong decision as delayed actions can have consequences. the pandemic added a new layer of change for leaders: virtual leadership. managing a team remotely has many challenges: remote supervision, communication, and wellness were some of the key themes. the perceived lack of supervision was one challenge raised by larson et al. (2020). obenauf (2021) stated that a main issue they contend with while working remotely as a manager is “not [being] in the building to witness the day-to-day activities that take place in the library” (p. 2). a similar view was highlighted by jaskowska (2020) who found that when staff are dispersed remotely and there is a lack of physical contact, directors feel a lack of control. a few authors cited similar communication difficulties when managing a remote library team such as a lack of non-verbal cues and eye contact (hudson-vitale & waltz, 2020; shaghaei et al., 2022) and misinterpretation of tone (obenauf, 2021; shaghaei et al., 2022; williams, 2022). additionally, obenauf (2021) noted that managing staff remotely requires “extensive use of email, streaming video software (zoom, skype, etc.), and other digital tools that don’t always lend themselves to cultivating an easy rapport with and among staff” (p. 2). the overuse of email is cited in an interview conducted by spina (2020) as slowing crucial communications. when leading teams remotely, there are clear communication limitations that may lead to difficulties in connecting with staff. this may prevent leaders from establishing rapport with their teams, as they would otherwise be able to do in person. some common solutions noted to offset this challenge were implementing face-to-face interaction with individual staff members using video conferencing software such as zoom or teams (rysavy & michalak, 2020; williams, 2022); providing regular and timely communication using the appropriate platforms (newman, 2021; petrov & tipton, 2020); and mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 50 ensuring a formal means of communication is centralized and easy to access for reference (williams, 2022). as newman (2021) points out “clear communication helps to build trust and a sense of community and reduces anxiety” (p. 5). to counteract these sentiments and navigate the new landscape of library leadership, several researchers noted the importance for leaders to build social capital or political capital. social capital is created through relationship building, developing strong networks, and utilizing former colleagues and mentors to collaborate or problem solving (klare, 2017; o’bryan, 2018). in the study on “accidental directors”, library leaders who had been thrust into senior positions unexpectedly reported that they found success when they drew on their past professional experiences, strong communication skills and emotional intelligence (klare, 2017). some good practices recommended in past literature includes establishing structured check-ins with their staff (jaskowska, 2020; larson et al., 2020; o’neil et al., 2020; petrov & tipton, 2020; rysavy & michalak, 2020; spina, 2020), sharing their availability to ensure staff can contact them for urgent issues, as well as setting clear expectations (petrov & tipton, 2020). mineo (2014) outlined that the foundation of trust in leadership is organizational credibility, respect, and fairness. credibility consists of open and accessible communications, efficient coordinating human and material resources, and integrity in carrying out vision with consistency. respect includes supporting professional development and showing appreciation, collaboration with employees in relevant decisions, and caring for employees as individuals with personal lives. fairness means balanced treatment for all in terms of rewards, absence of favoritism in hiring and promotions, and lack of discrimination and process for appeals. additionally, rysavy and michalak (2020) noted that supervisors can build trust with their remote employees by ensuring they “over clarify and set specific guidelines” (p. 535). o’bryan (2018) argued that political capital, the ability to develop and use political connections, especially connections with positional power is key for academic library leaders. in academic libraries, strategies to build political capital can include building relationships with longstanding faculty, volunteering for committee work, and becoming involved with regional, state, or national library organizations in leadership roles. klare (2017) also noted the importance of being professionally active through committee work and professional programming. lastly, the need to ensure staff are supported emotionally was another common challenge. the pandemic posed tremendous stress and great emotional turmoil, including fear, anxiety, helplessness, and in some instances, hopelessness (lawton-misra & pretorius, 2021) to many people, including library employees. the disruption of our lives, the loss of normal familial interactions, and the economic and financial fears of losing our livelihoods all became a bigger source of threat than the virus itself (edmondson, et al., 2020). edmondson et al. (2020) stated the significance of leaders “to try to invoke or provoke a degree of reflection, spending the time to talk about a shared sense of purpose and core values while also spending the time to emotionally check in” (para. 33) to be emotionally connected to the team and keep the morale up. leaders need to be attuned to wellness needs of employees (hudson-vitale & waltz, 2020). o’neil et al. (2020) and newman (2021) argue that leaders need to display specific soft skills when managing their staff remotely, especially through a crisis. examples of some of these skills required are leaders' empathy (o’neil et al., 2020; spina, 2020), flexibility (spina, 2020), and high emotional intelligence (o’neil et al., 2020). leaders can also implement specific strategies when supporting their staff such as encouraging use of sick time, scheduling in breaks, limiting virtual meetings, creating virtual space for informal chats, etc. (hudson-vitale & waltz, 2020). larson et al. (2020) mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 51 refers to a “two-pronged approach” that leaders can take when providing support to employees in crisis situations, that of “acknowledging the stress and anxiety that employees may be feeling in difficult circumstances, but also providing affirmation of their confidence in their teams” (offer encouragement and emotional support section, para. 2). when remote leaders actively promote staff wellbeing, they are building trust with their team by showing they care. case studies counter storytelling is a research method used to amplify voices historically marginalized. more specifically, a counter story is known “as a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told” (solórzano & yosso, 2002a, as cited in dominguez-whitehead et al., 2021, p. 146) and is grounded in critical race theory. this method acknowledges the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, and values the importance of representation and “demonstrating that those who experience marginalization are not alone” (solórzano & yosso, 2002b, as cited in dominguez-whitehead et al., 2021, p. 146). this paper uses case studies to highlight the authors’ experiences as bipoc women library leaders working in academic libraries. the four authors hope to share our personal experience as mid-level library leaders and how we navigate our teams and accomplish success at work. our work covers from public services to technical services, from subject librarianship to data services. we hope to compare our firsthand experience as leaders with the literature to reflect what does or does not work for our team dynamics as bipoc leaders. each case study focuses on a different experience of change and the trust building process. mai lu, from the university of toronto libraries, shared how relationship building, and communication supported changes throughout her career including transitioning from public libraries to academic libraries. xiying mi at the university of wisconsin-madison libraries, discussed her experience as a new manager, leading a team of seasoned library workers. afra bolefski, from the university of manitoba, described how she led a newly created team, born out of a reorganization at her institution. ximin mi, at georgia institute of technology, reflected on her approach of leading with trust over authority as her team pivoted to remote service delivery. while each experience took place in a different institution, there were common themes throughout the four narratives. all four authors self-identify as women of color, working in leadership roles in academic libraries. the self-awareness of our strengths and areas for improvement helped us select the appropriate strategy to gain support from our teams and to position our teams for success. mai’s experience in public and academic libraries: adapting to change my leadership journey spans 20 years and includes working in public libraries and academic libraries. in this time, i’ve learned that change is a constant. learning to adapt to change to prepare for changes you can see coming and to handle changes that you don’t see coming, is a critical leadership skill. i have found that building and maintaining relationships has helped me immensely in dealing with change, and building trust with my teams was critical for fostering relationship-building. i started my career in public libraries. my first full time position as a librarian, was in a branch library, where all librarians had a supervisory role. it was intimidating for me, as a recent library school graduate, to suddenly supervise seasoned library technicians. in my case, my direct reports included the page supervisor, the circulation services supervisor, and the volunteer mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 52 supervisor. fortunately, my team of direct reports were kind and supportive, and they helped me learn how to be a good supervisor. i sought out their perspectives and opinions on issues. i observed how they led their respective teams and asked many, many questions to understand their decision-making and problem-solving processes. in the public library, i progressed from a librarian to a senior librarian, and then to a branch manager. with each new position, i gained more confidence as a leader. while developing my leadership skills, i also honed my communication and interpersonal skills, so that i could develop more relationship building. i participated in as many training and development courses as possible, including change management, project management, challenging conversations, how to coach staff, and more. when the library re-organized and created a new planning and development team, i moved out of public services to a library business consultant position. in this role, i sharpened different skills. i liaised with external consultants to shape the library’s master plan, wrote business cases for redeveloping the central library, and led a compliance review of cash handling services. in this role, i strengthened my skills around strategic thinking and business acumen. as an individual contributor, i earned the trust of my manager and colleagues by doing what i said i would do, being open to feedback, and sharing the experience that i had gained in my career. i also maintained strong relationships with my network of library workers from my previous positions and relied on their support to help advance initiatives in my new role. in 2019, i transitioned from public libraries to academic libraries. my first role in academic libraries was as the head of public services at a large public university in canada. although this was a different type of library, i was able to use my public library experience to help me adapt to academic libraries. i made an effort to get to know my team members as people, not just as colleagues or direct reports. i joined in june 2019 and in less than a year, the university shut down in response to a global pandemic. my work pivoted from in-person, face-to-face public services to developing contact-free services, remote learning, and virtual meetings. i relied on my branch management skills from public libraries to coordinate the closure and re-opening of the library, to develop curbside pickup services, and to communicate service changes as they occurred to the organization. the successful execution of these changes were due to a unified team effort. i made sure to show appreciation and recognize team members for their contributions regularly. i wanted every member of my team to understand the valuable role they played in supporting student success and delivering high quality library services in a period of constant change. one of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it allowed me to meet a greater number of academic librarians than i would have been able to pre-pandemic. as my position was based at one of the campus libraries and the main campus was approximately 30 km away, it was challenging to participate in inter-campus committees. pre-pandemic, if i wanted to participate in a meeting on the main campus, i would have to add a 2.5 hour round trip in my day for commuting between campuses. during the pandemic, i could simply join a zoom call and virtually meet with colleagues from the main campus. i participated on committees and working groups with members from across the tri-campus university. this increased participation accelerated my ability to meet people, participate in initiatives from across the university, and learn about the different aspects of academic librarianship that were new to me. building relationships and developing my network of academic librarians helped me adjust to academic librarianship. mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 53 over the course of my career, i was one of a small number of racialized librarians and often the only racialized library manager, or one of two, in the organization. i grew my network of bipoc librarian colleagues and bipoc managers by participating in mentorship programs through organizations, such as the visual minority librarians of canada (vimloc) and volunteered to work on edi-related committees. i try to encourage other bipoc librarians to consider leadership opportunities, if they are interested, as i have found it very rewarding. i credit the successes in my career to building and maintaining strong relationships; learning from colleagues around me, including my direct reports, my peers, and my supervisors; and adapting to changes around me, be it as a brand-new supervisor starting out in my career, trying out a brand-new position in a newly created department, or transitioning to another type of library. building trust within teams allowed me to develop strong relationships and this helped us thrive through stressful times. learning never stops. i continue to seek out opportunities to develop different skills and meet more library colleagues, and to add more tools to my “toolbox” of skills, techniques, and strategies. xiying’s experience at university of wisconsin-madison: leading a mature department as the new manager i am currently the head of the resource description at university of wisconsin-madison libraries. my team has 18 people including myself. i have 14 direct reports and one of them is a manager who has four direct reports. my position reports to the associate university librarian for digital strategies. the primary tasks for the team are to create access for all the physical, electronic and special collections as well as part of the digital collections on university of wisconsinmadison campus, and collaborating with the university of wisconsin system as well as contributing to the big ten academic alliance and the program for cooperative cataloging in various ways. having recently moved from a young and small team, leading a department three times bigger and composed of more mature team members is a daunting task. most colleagues on the team are long serving members in this institution. one team member has spent over 50 years here and devoted their entire career to this library. twelve of them have been in the library for over ten years, some of them over twenty years. five new members are here under three years with four completely new hires this year including myself. there are 5 male members and thirteen female members, with 3 bipoc women on the team. there are 8-9 people on the team focusing on the physical collection. per library policy, physical materials cannot leave the building without proper process. this group of people have to be onsite most of the time through covid while a few other people who mostly focus on electronic collections take turns to work from home about 2 days a week. the challenges to me are at multiple levels. at the personal level, as an asian woman, i am smaller in physical size and younger in age than most of the team members, i also have shorter professional experience than most of my teammates, not to mention the lack of institutional knowledge. at the institutional level, every team member already has a well-established scope of responsibilities and tasks. what adds another layer of complexity to this is that the department has lost 42% of fte during the past five years without proper replacement. yet the workload has not reduced at all with a steady purchasing trend. beside trying to recruit new members, managing the mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 54 current tasks presents challenges. at the professional level, this team covers a wide range of cataloging and metadata services for the library system. i personally don’t have the knowledge or experience to direct every aspect of the work. understanding the challenges i am facing, building trust and showing respect are my guiding principles towards me as a junior team lead. the first strategy i take is to create an open, accessible, and meaningful communication channel with my colleagues with the hopes that the communication will build my credibility. although i was offered a hybrid work schedule, i first decided to work on-site full time on top of being available through microsoft teams and emails. i want to be able to respond to team members’ requests, questions, or even just casual talks to make connections with everyone so that we get to know each other personally. my presence in the office also demonstrates my commitment to the department and the library, which is also vital to win the trust from the team members. on top of building personal connections, i started to organize monthly department meetings to bring the team together. there were connections that already existed, but they are loose and tasks-driven instead of being organized at the departmental level. one goal that i wanted to achieve through these meetings was to practice transparency and fairness in my management. the departmental meetings offer a platform for me and all team members to share professional development opportunities in the library, on campus, and externally. at these meetings i also share opportunities to volunteer on upcoming tasks. as the department has lost multiple employees, there are tasks left behind that need to be completed. instead of assigning tasks, i would invite team members to pick up tasks they are either good at or interested in. in addition to transparent and fair opportunities for professional growth, i also encourage the participation of the staff members in managing the team. to accomplish this goal, i would share the meeting agenda before every meeting and invite inputs so that no issue is left unaddressed. in general, as a manager i try to create a transparent and fair environment so there would be mutual trust in this team and everyone would feel safe to open up on ideas on departmental goals and challenges, potential solutions, opportunities on taking initiatives, and how i can best advocate for this department. i acknowledge credits and give visibility to team members. as the manager of the team, i am fortunate to have a reservoir of talented people on different aspects of our work and organizational knowledge. when i am asked to present at cross-departmental meetings on the issues related to our department, i often invite my colleagues to join me and share their insights. by doing this, i wanted to show my team that i respect their knowledge, value their inputs, and strive to provide a platform for them to be recognized. through such activities, i am fostering the mutual respect between colleagues and enhancing the trust-building process. working here for about nine months now, i do find myself very supported and well received by my colleagues in the department. there is a long way to build trust and i am wellstarted on this journey. most importantly, i have found the best teammates to embark with. mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 55 afra’s experience at the university of manitoba: leading a team remotely in a newly created role/department as a racialized leader in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, on october 1, 2020, i took on the new leadership role of head, social sciences division, where i oversaw a newly formed department (“division”), the social sciences division, comprised of liaison librarians supporting six faculties at a large canadian research-intensive university. unfortunately, unlike some of the other new division heads with similar experience in my library (none of whom were racialized), i was not offered any one-on-one leadership coaching at the onset of my role, something i learned of two years later. without this coaching, i turned to my background and experience as a racialized librarian as well as my previous leadership experience to be successful in this role. success for me was to be a facilitator and champion for my team, allowing time and space for the librarians to share their concerns or ask tough questions and bringing those issues forward to be addressed promptly, being empathetic to their challenges, and advocating for them to library administration, individually and as a group. i specifically targeted this aspect of leadership as it was one i felt was most needed for a newly-formed division requiring a lot of navigational support. to do this, i set the foundation early on by ensuring i set a consistent tone for communications both informally and formally, was open and transparent with my availability to respond to messages or take calls and created opportunities for team building amongst a disparate group of librarians. when executed properly, my hope was to become a leader my team could trust. i must confess that i didn’t consider the impact of how my gender or race would play a part. prior to the library-wide re-organization, the liaison librarians supporting professional programs worked closely with library support staff in their respective smaller unit libraries, where specialized collections and services were set up to support the unique needs of their faculties. having held this position in the past, i can attest that we had very little contact or collaboration with the librarians housed in the main campus library, many of whom are now in this division. hence, the new division in effect merged the librarians from these two smaller specialized unit libraries together with the main campus librarians (the rest of the division’s librarians) into a new team with very little previous contact and understandably, clear differences in work culture. building cohesion and trust would be just one obstacle i would have to manage. the first strategy i used to put this in motion was to utilize microsoft teams. by the time i took on the division head position, the university and library system had already set up microsoft teams (“ms teams”) as a vehicle to promote communication, collaboration, and team-building due to a lockdown that commenced in mid-march 2020 as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. as staff worked from home, ms teams was the primary tool used to fill the gap left from not being physically present on campus and one i attempted to maximize from day one as division head. creating a private ms teams channel for my division to connect to each other was my first step. i regularly posted messages as a primary way to push out information to the team but also used it informally, to touch base and encourage the team to discuss things on the channel, which helped build rapport amongst members of the team. as a leader, i would also send individual messages or set up one-on-one calls to each on the team, this allowed us to talk more openly and frankly. on a weekly basis, i would have at least three or more calls with individual librarians in the division. division meetings were set up every two to three weeks and early on, i carved out time to recognize the individual achievements of each librarian. i believe this is an important aspect of being a champion. i also set up ‘roundtables’ to ensure everyone had an opportunity to voice mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 56 concerns or ask questions in a safe space, one without judgment. for those not comfortable with doing so, i would ensure opportunities for them to share their thoughts and i would raise their concerns in the meetings anonymously. this was appreciated as some members of my team were not always comfortable raising their concerns for others to hear, which i knew all too well in my experience as a racialized librarian. thus, establishing consistent communication in a safe environment was one way i was able to build trust with my team. the second approach i took was to set up clear boundaries around my availability. for me to be successful as a leader, and especially as a racialized leader, i needed to ensure i had the uninterrupted time to execute on key deliverables. in the context of working remotely, this was done by appropriately utilizing the correct ms teams availability icons to demonstrate my availability. outside of attending meetings and performing my own duties, i would largely be available to my team and others, denoting that by using the green circle icon next to my initials. in the event i was not available, i would use the red “busy” icon. however, in time i observed many on my team not checking the availability icon leading some to calling me during a ms teams meeting, etc. this then prompted me to be more specific and have a process in place by encouraging them to reach out when they would see i was available, marked by the green “available” sign, or to expect a delay in response, if the “do not disturb” sign was up. i also adhered to this process of checking one’s status before communicating with the librarians on my team. i found this approach helpful in establishing respect for my time and for theirs. another practical tactic i used was adding a feature on ms teams, the calendar pro app, which was a second way of being transparent in my and the team’s availability while working from home. each librarian had access to the shared calendar and entered their ‘out of office’ days so that all on the team could be aware of who was available and when. this feature also ensured we worked cohesively as a team as librarians would consult with the calendar before requesting time off, to ensure there was enough support for the division. ensuring i was transparent with my availability, mirroring this to my team and providing a means for them to share out, established a respect of people’s boundaries and an understanding of the division’s needs. a final strategy i incorporated as leader was to create opportunities for the team to build rapport with each other. a practical way of instituting this was for each to take on a back-up support role for each other. this was crucial as we temporarily ‘lost’ 1.5 fte librarian positions on my first day as division head due to a research leave and a vacancy created by my own promotion, requiring a backfill of half of my liaison responsibilities. this created workload issues for a few librarians in the division and had to be addressed by formalizing a back-up support program whereby each librarian was required to support another librarian who had an especially busy portfolio. a few months in and i launched a series of virtual workshops where librarians would provide training on their area of specialty to the others in the division. the areas of focus were on the subject areas that most found challenging or required previous expertise, namely that of business, data, and law. this series helped the division’s librarians gain basic knowledge in these areas (especially useful for liaisons taking on new back-up areas) and comfort in handling basic inquiries. these initiatives were also a main way of building rapport within the team by instituting these peer-peer learning opportunities. trying to lead a team remotely is no easy feat. regular and timely communication, demonstrating transparency with my availability, and finding unique opportunities to build team cohesion were initial steps i took to be approachable, transparent, and honest, key foundations to mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 57 building trust. i also leaned on my own experience as a racialized librarian to help inform me as a leader which made me more sensitive and open to the individual needs of my team. ximin’s experience at georgia tech: leading with trust not authority i started at georgia tech library in summer of 2017 to develop the data visualization service. over the years as the data visualization service manager, i grew a team of student assistants and part-time staff members to provide the campus community a suite of services, including instruction, research consultation, space / hardware / software management. data visualization service features our hybrid service access that bundles space, technology and staff. the in-person service is crucial as it provides users with hardware access and technical troubleshooting, which was interrupted by covid. my first strategy is to keep consistent principles and practice to manage the team and operate the services. i aligned our priorities with that of the library’s during the pandemic, which is to continue the services as much as possible while at the same time prioritize the safety of my team members and users. we quickly switched all our services, primarily instruction and research consultations, remote. in the midst of uncertainty, i want to reassure our users of the access to our service to assist their learning and research. my second strategy is to offer open and easy communication options within the team as well as with our users. communication is the key for a manager to understand our efficiency and effectiveness internally and externally. to offer users convenient access to the service, we came up with a suite of communication options. users can reach us through the library’s web chat or stop by the info desk, they can be referred via liaison librarians by email, or attend our online drop-in hours. this setup requires collaborative support from multiple departments in the library, including it, public services, and research engagement. without authority to these teams, i was able to convince them to prioritize our communication routing among their tasks. as a technologyheavy service, a good number of the consultation questions in the past were to help patrons install software applications and configure their devices to work as intended. because of the device differences, in the past the team members often needed to get on people’s devices to troubleshoot specific configuration. this was made difficult during covid since we met patrons virtually, and therefore, had no access to their physical devices. to remove the technology barriers, our team quickly researched virtual environment options and switched all instruction and most project support online. my bipoc background allows me to understand and sympathize with the various challenges my team members and users face. while trying to our users remotely, i prioritized the safety and emotional well-being of my team members. during a time of disconnection, we continued our weekly team meetings online. during these meetings, i encourage team members to share wins and struggles professionally and personally. for the challenges people encountered and shared at our meetings, the team tried to provide support resources, cover each other’s shifts if needed, and offer emotional support. at an extraordinary time like this, our team established strong trust and bonding via exchange at our regular gathering. in a sense, the distance of covid strengthens the trust and support among team members. mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 58 one unique challenge while trying to balance service consistency and caring for the team's emotional distress, is the lack of authority of my position. as mentioned before, my team consists of student assistants and part-time staff members who have another home department in the library. both groups of people have other priorities at our institution. the question for me is how to get their buy-in on the quickly changing workflow. this challenge holds true to our collaborating departments within and outside of the library. my approach is to be transparent, share my work plan and rationale with all stakeholders, listen to and incorporate their feedback into our workflow so that the plan reflects shared values and objectives. while trying to navigate the crisis, our library discovered great opportunities. in 2020, the library’s web chat grew 500% in 2020 and another 200% in 2021, the research consultation went up 28% in 2020, and the gadget checkout soared 600% in 2021. for data & visualization, the team discovered great potential of growth in delivering our workshops online. the service hosts a series of hands-on technical workshops on python programming, sql querying and tableau dashboarding. these workshops have always been popular in the classroom. since the beginning of covid, we moved the whole instruction series online with a combination of cloud solutions and sharing detailed instruction. attending classes and workshops online from home saves people time running around campus. the service saw the peak of online workshop attendance of nearly 5,000. through covid, patrons have gotten used to online access to our services and demand it to be part of our permanent offering. the lesson i learnt from this journey is that the most effective way of leading a team is by creating goals every team member agrees and strives to achieve, then building trust and support within the team. guided by these goals, people see more commonality than differences. coworkers within and outside of our service team went extra miles to make sure the technologies worked, the collaboration was seamless, and services were delivered to our users at the best quality possible. discussion our personal experiences as bipoc leaders in academic libraries echo back to some of the key findings in literature. all four mid-level leaders recognized that improving communication and building relationships with the team and users are some key aspects for creating an effective and strong team. the authors also recognize the importance of drawing from past experience as a racialized or bipoc librarian and emotional intelligence to understand, facilitate, collaborate with the team. trust is nurtured and strengthened through transparent communication and strong relationships between the managers and the teammates. drawing from past experience for people moving into new leadership roles, there are usually new challenges and scenarios that can emerge. it is advisable to draw experience from the past to guide decision-making. this is especially true when there is limited mentorship to support new leaders. as bipoc leaders represent a small percentage of library leaders in academia, we have a unique opportunity to learn from our previous experiences, including challenges, and adopt new approaches to lead our teams to thrive and succeed through change. building and maintaining relationships mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 59 effective leaders need to build relationships with their team members. building strong relationships with the team and users helps with productivity and long-term collaboration and fosters collegiality and respect. some opportunities to build relationships with the team include learning from team members about the organization and their areas of work, giving recognition for their contributions, and creating a safe and supportive space for members to share their concerns and unique challenges. a leader can also establish a healthy work relationship which sets reasonable boundaries for collaboration and individual work time. communication communication is another key theme to ensuring successful leadership . all authors emphasized the importance of open, accessible, and meaningful communication, such as casual one-on-one check-ins or regular team meetings. in addition to communicating with the team, it is equally important to offer team members straightforward communication channels to access pertinent services and resources. when library leaders regularly communicate pertinent information in a timely manner, whether it be in person or virtually, their team is better equipped to succeed. building trust trust is the glue that holds the team together and facilitates team success. the effort of drawing upon past experiences for decision-making, of building strong connections with team members, and prioritizing communication all aim to build trust between the leader and their team, as well as amongst the team members. the authors note that creating shared goals agreed upon by the team helps strengthen its sense of unity and improves morale, especially during challenging times. displaying respect for team members’ contributions and affording them visibility and recognition for their work are effective practices in building trust on the team. conclusions in reviewing the literature and reflecting on our own experiences, we conclude that trust is the key component of being a successful library leader, and that building trust between leaders and team members amidst change and disruption is challenging but doable. change is a constant in the library world. taking on a leadership role in academic libraries requires an open and positive attitude towards change, as well as the ability to adapt to, embrace, and advocate for change. midlevel managers work on both managing business and help navigating library culture. they cannot succeed without the support and buy-in of their teams. in striving to achieve this, they must foster trust within their teams, namely between co-workers and between the leader and their team. cultivating a culture of trust can be achieved when a leader creates an open, transparent, fair, and inclusive work environment. a leader earns credibility by being transparent and clear with team plans, goals, and agendas. lastly, learning from colleagues, respecting them, and supporting their professional growth helps to bring out the best in them, thereby supporting their leaders to build the best teams. we hope that by sharing our experiences, we will encourage more bipoc women in libraries to explore leadership and share their experiences as well. we acknowledge that, due to the limited number of cases presented here, and the composition of this group of authors, we are unable to cover all experiences of bipoc library mi et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 60 leaders. as a result, the findings and conclusions drawn from this study may not fully represent the entire bipoc library leadership group in the u.s. and 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(2020). georgia tech library impact report 2020. georgia institute of technology. https://library.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/2021-01/impact-report-2020.pdf about the authors xiying mi is the head of resource description department at the memorial library of the university of wisconsin-madison. afra bolefski is the head of social sciences devision of the university of manitoba libraries. mai lu is the access and inclusion librarian at the john p. robarts library of the university of toronto. ximin mi is the data visualization librarian at the georgia institute of technology library. https://doi.org/10.53377/lq.10930 https://doi.org/10.53377/lq.10930 https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/inclusive-antiracist-writing/bipoc https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/inclusive-antiracist-writing/bipoc https://tinyurl.com/mrmueudc https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2426 https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2426 https://library.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/2021-01/impact-report-2020.pdf https://library.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/2021-01/impact-report-2020.pdf 05-293-title-page 05-293-mi-article abstract introduction mai’s experience in public and academic libraries: adapting to change xiying’s experience at university of wisconsin-madison: leading a mature department as the new manager afra’s experience at the university of manitoba: leading a team remotely in a newly created role/department as a racialized leader ximin’s experience at georgia tech: leading with trust not authority chan, j. (2020, november 30). beyond tokenism: the importance of staff diversity in libraries. bcla perspectives, 12(1). https://bclaconnect.ca/perspectives/2020/11/30/beyond-tokenism-the-importance-of-staff-diversity-in-libraries/ microsoft word news-1.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 115 issn:2474-3542 2018 ala midwinter meeting & exhibits the american library association (ala) midwinter meeting was held in denver, colorado from february 9-13, 2018. ala is the largest library association in the world, whose mission is to “promote library and librarianship” (ala mission & priorities1). this year, more than 8,000 library and information professionals including librarians, library staff, scholars, educators, publishers, and vendors attended the ala midwinter in denver to present, discuss, share or collaborate on issues of importance in various aspects in the library and information profession. a lot of sessions were held and various topics were discussed. topics of highlights this year include new technology, leadership, diversity, access to information and library services, copyright, intellectual freedom, literacy, career development, best practices in a variety of fields of librarianship, evaluation of library impact and library staff development. library professionals brought up the unfavorable facts of the current environment to the discussion table and call for librarians and other information professionals to seek advocates for libraries and the library profession. stories about the importance of libraries, librarians and books were told. some librarians/staff talked about the changes of their roles to make themselves more relevant in the rapidly changing information world. others shared their experiences and strategies on how they strived to make library collections and resources more accessible to users, carried out programs to connect to the communities and maintain sustainable development. there were also discussions and presentations about efforts made to support diversity, equity and inclusion. for technology and technical services aspects, library professionals discussed some changes and new advances in library technology and how libraries can use the new technology to improve library services. for instances, at some events of association for library collections & technical services (alcts), librarians/staff talked about how linked data were practically applied in their libraries, the name reconciliation work and database cleanup projects for their special collections with new technology and tools. at the exhibit hall, more than 450 exhibitors including library vendors, publishers and authors provide the attendees with the opportunities to learn library services, products, tools, technology and new books. a number of cala members attended ala midwinter and got involved in various activities including making presentations or organizing interest group sessions. --suzhen chen, university of hawaiʻi at mānoa, hi, usa 1 about ala. retrieved march 20, 2018, from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/ issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org ubiquitous learning for distance education students: the experience of conducting real-time online library instruction programs through mobile technology leo f.h. ma and ling ling yu abstract: library services for hong kong-based students enrolled in distance learning programs on information studies, offered by the charles sturt university (csu), australia in collaboration with the school of professional and continuing education of the university of hong kong (hkuspace), were supported by the university of hong kong libraries utilizing a face-to-face format for many years. with the advancement of internet technology, new e-learning software, mobile technology and ever-growing online resources, csu and hkuspace course administrators considered that online library instruction programs could be supported and delivered by the librarians of csu at australia remotely to hong kong students. several real-time, online instruction programs were initiated since late 2013. the successful launching of the programs provides evidence to support the provision of online library instruction through not only personal computers, but also mobile devices. based on a qualitative analysis, it was concluded that delivering library instruction programs by internet and mobile technology to distance learning students in higher education is achievable. more library services can be planned by making use of this successful experience. to cite this article: ma, l.f.h., & yu, l.l. (2019). ubiquitous learning for distance education students: the experience of conducting real-time online library instruction programs through mobile technology. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 93-102. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 93-102 issn: 2474-3542 ubiquitous learning for distance education students: the experience of conducting real-time online library instruction programs through mobile technology1 leo f.h. ma, the chinese university of hong kong, hong kong ling ling yu, university of hong kong school of professional and continuing education, hong kong abstract library services for hong kong-based students enrolled in distance learning programs on information studies, offered by the charles sturt university (csu), australia in collaboration with the school of professional and continuing education of the university of hong kong (hkuspace), were supported by the university of hong kong libraries utilizing a face-to-face format for many years. with the advancement of internet technology, new e-learning software, mobile technology and ever-growing online resources, csu and hkuspace course administrators considered that online library instruction programs could be supported and delivered by the librarians of csu at australia remotely to hong kong students. several real-time, online instruction programs were initiated since late 2013. the successful launching of the programs provides evidence to support the provision of online library instruction through not only personal computers, but also mobile devices. based on a qualitative analysis, it was concluded that delivering library instruction programs by internet and mobile technology to distance learning students in higher education is achievable. more library services can be planned by making use of this successful experience. keywords: ubiquitous learning; distance education; university of hong kong; charles sturt university introduction library services for hong kong-based students enrolled in distance learning programs on information studies, offered by the charles sturt university (csu), australia in 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: ma, l.f.h & yu, l.l. (2018). ubiquitous learning for distance education students: the experience of conducting real-time online library instruction programs through mobile technology. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 94 collaboration with the school of professional and continuing education of the university of hong kong (hkuspace), were supported by the university of hong kong libraries utilizing a face-to-face format for many years. with the advancement of internet technology, new e-learning software, mobile technology and ever-growing online resources, csu and hkuspace course administrators considered that online library instruction programs could be supported and delivered by the librarians of csu at australia remotely to hong kong students. several real-time, online library instruction programs were initiated since late 2013. a practical approach was adopted in designing these sessions in order to investigate the feasibility of providing library user education programs for distance learning students in hong kong. students were asked to access the pre-set hyperlink or to download the adobe connect apps in order to connect to the sessions with their smartphones. each session was observed by the authors through participation in real-time and examination of the recorded session. ubiquitous learning: an overview in traditional learning environments such as the “sage on the stage” inside the classroom, the learning process is often confined by spatial and temporal constraints. with the surge in development of educational technology during the last decades, learning models have been rapidly evolving from electronic learning (e-learning) to mobile learning (mlearning) as well as to ubiquitous learning (u-learning) (liu & hwang, 2010; virtanen, kääriäinen, liikanen & haavisto, 2017; yang, okamoto & tseng, 2008). there is no doubt that the proliferation of ubiquitous learning has completely changed the landscape of learning activities in higher education. in kinshuk’s definition, “[a] ubiquitous learning system supports learners through embedded and invisible computers in everyday life. such environments allow students to learn at any time and any place, encouraging them to more experiential learning such as learning by doing, interacting and sharing, and facilitates on-demand learning, hands-on or minds-on learning and authentic learning.” (kinshuk, 2008). through ubiquitous technology, students can engage themselves in learning activities whenever and wherever they like (hwang, tsai & yang, 2008; sakamura & koshizuka, 2005). there are a number of unique advantages of adopting ubiquitous learning: ▪ permanency: learners never lose their work unless it is purposefully deleted. in addition, all the learning processes are recorded continuously everyday. ▪ accessibility: learners have access to their documents, data, or videos from anywhere. that information is provided based upon the student’s request. therefore, the learning involved is self-directed. ▪ immediacy: wherever learners are, they can get any information immediately. thus, learners can solve problems quickly. otherwise, the learner can record the questions and look for the answer later. ▪ interactivity: learners can interact with experts, teachers, or peers in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication. hence, the experts are more reachable and the knowledge becomes more available. ▪ situating of instructional activities: the learning could be embedded in our daily life. the problems encountered as well as the knowledge required are all presented in their natural and authentic forms. this helps ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 95 learners notice the features of problem situations that make particular actions relevant. ▪ adaptability: learners can get the right information at the right place in the right way (bomsdorf, 2005). it has been widely accepted in the literature that ubiquitous learning environments can enhance students’ engagement in the learning process through personalization and customization to their needs (jones & jo, 2004; jung, 2014). byod for distance learning as norris & soloway rightly put it in their 2011 article, “[w]e live in an age of mobilism, in which users want to be connected all of the time, everywhere, on devices that are affordable and globally adopted.” (norris & soloway, 2011). even though norris and soloway wrote their article focusing on k-12 education, their observation about the needs of individual to be digitally connected anytime anywhere is also applicable to higher education. with the trend of personal technology ownership among students, universities worldwide have been adopting the byod (bring your own device) program for teaching and learning activities. the byod program encourages faculty, staff, and especially students to use their own personal devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, e-readers, etc. to facilitate the access to licensed information and applications, and to engage in academic discussion. these mobile devices are desirable educational tools for new teaching pedagogy as they facilitate experiential and active learning activities. bristow et al. points out that there are three main reasons for implementing the byod program: “1) mobile devices are ubiquitous amongst college/university students; 2) byod provides an effective teaching pedagogy which will enhance student learning; and 3) if implemented correctly and with strategic planning, such programs can allow institutions of higher education to reduce costs related to computer labs and technical support.” (bristow, titus, harris & gulati, 2017). thus, the byod program is beneficial to the key players in higher education, namely students, faculty, staff and the institution overall. it is more important than ever that information and communication technologies (ict) play a vital role in distance education. firat states it very clearly: “[t]here is a tendency to use cutting-edge and new communication technologies in distance education.” (firat, 2017). with the emerging mobile technologies over the past two decades, there is a demand for designing and integrating mobile technologies into distance education. how to make best use of the flexibility, portability and connectivity of mobile technologies is the major concern in designing new teaching pedagogies for distance education. in practical terms, mobile learning can be advantageous in the following ways: ◼ can be used for independent and collaborative learning experiences ◼ helps learners to overcome the digital divide ◼ helps to make learning informal ◼ helps learners to be more focused for longer periods ◼ the provision of course content to off-campus students ◼ the provision of feedback to off-campus students ◼ the provision of student support services to off-campus students ◼ student-to-student interactivity ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 96 ◼ student-to-tutor and institutional interactivity (yousuf, 2007) in this paper, the authors use the library and information science programs offered jointly by charles stuart university and hkuspace to illustrate how to conduct realtime online library instruction programs through mobile technology. information studies offered by charles stuart university and collaborated with hkuspace hkuspace has been collaborating with csu in offering library and information science courses since the 1990s. csu is one of the australia’s leading providers of online and distance education at the bachelor and post-graduate level, as well as the single subject study program (charles sturt university, 2019b). currently csu offers two library and information science degree programs jointly with hkuspace to hong kong students, namely the bachelor of information studies (bis) and master of information studies (mis). students will be awarded a bis degree when they complete 192 credits. bis graduates can pursue an mis degree if they take an additional 48 credits. however, mis students can also choose to graduate with the award of the graduate diploma of information studies upon completion of the mis core modules, which is a total of 64 credits. the total enrollment of both bis and mis programs every year is around 80 students. as an experienced distance learning university, csu has been applying all kinds of e-learning technology to their teaching pedagogy to facilitate student learning. in the past, all learning materials in print and other formats were delivered to hong kong students by mail; but now, all these learning materials and resources are consolidated together on their e-learning platform, interact 2.0, for easy access anytime and anywhere. in the following sections, the authors provide more detail about the real-time online library instruction programs supported and delivered by the librarians of csu remotely in australia to students in hong kong since 2013. real-time online library instruction programs in the past few years as the e-learning technology used for setting up online classes matured in the commercial market, csu and hkuspace determined it was a suitable time to offer online library instruction by connecting students and instructors through the use of online meeting technology (charles sturt university, 2019a). csu librarians made use of e-learning technology to conduct online library instruction programs since december 2013 (see figure 1). the pilot programs were conducted on december 5, 2013 at 6:00pm hkt (9:00pm oz) and subsequently on march 17, 2014 at 6:30pm hkt (9:30 pm oz) and october 27, 2014 at 6:00 pm hkt (9:00pm oz). the online library instruction sessions were hosted in new south wales of australia and delivered to hong kong students who could use mobile devices to connect to the instruction programs in real-time. the hardware requirements for students to participate in the online library instruction programs were: ❑ a tablet computer or a smartphone ❑ wireless network / mobile data network (either 3g or 4g) ❑ a headphone and a microphone (optional) ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 97 figure 1. real-time online library instruction programs by csu csu adopted adobe connect as the connection software. for mobile devices using the android ios, the adobe connect mobile app version connect 9 c2012 had to be downloaded on the smartphone. logistically, csu had to first set up the online meeting room and then notify the hong kong students of the link for accessing it (http://connect.csu.edu.au/r5wokaxeoqz/). after clicking this link, the students could then join the online instruction session. (see figure 2) figure 2. joining the online meeting room http://connect.csu.edu.au/r5wokaxeoqz/ ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 98 similar to the face-to-face library instruction offered by csu librarians, the students attending this online instruction program could also: a. experience different types of online information services offered by csu library, e.g., live chats, web forms (see figure 3); b. engage in exploring the characteristics and functions of primo search, google scholar and selected subscribed databases; c. be aware of the availability of scanned e-books, subscribed and/or purchased e-books; and d. find out how to identify information resources using the subject study guides prepared by the subject librarians of csu. figure 3. online library services offered by csu library the interaction between the librarian and the participants in the online instruction session is almost the same as the on-site class (see figure 4): a. students can interact with the librarian in real-time; b. individual students can be recognized on screen; c. students can listen to and read the librarian’s notes on the screen; d. students can raise questions verbally during the instruction session; and e. students can communicate with other participants together with the librarian. there are other advantages for conducting this online instruction session. first, students can choose to text their questions or comments which can be shown immediately on screen during the session. secondly, the online class can be recorded and archived so that the students can access it again anytime and anywhere they want. ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 99 figure 4. verbal interaction during real-time online library instruction session major challenges and findings before the pilot programs, both csu and hkuspace identified the following possible concerns over the adoption and adaptation to new e-learning technology by students: 1. students taking bis and mis courses come from different backgrounds and age groups. as pointed out by sharples, the students’ it literacy could be quite different when learning through mobile technology (sharples, 2018). apparently straightforward tasks such as connecting to the online instruction session could be quite difficult to some students because: a. they might not know how to download the adobe connect app on their mobile phone; b. they might not know how to set the audio-in and audio-out to make the verbal communication feature work; c. they might not want to use the guest login and prefer to set the userid and password instead; and d. the link that they receive might be re-formatted and the access could not be as simple as just clicking the link to the online meeting room. 2. students use different brands and products of smartphones and tablet computers, which might also be a problem when participating in the online instruction (osang, ngole & tsuma, 2013): a. mobile devices with different screen sizes might not have the same screen display during the instruction session. the screen size of the standard smartphone is comparatively small for instruction information. b. the keyboard is usually too small and there might be typos in their text message. 3. there are concerns on the speed, cost and security of data transmission of mobile networks. while we appreciate the mobility of retrieving data from wifi, the data transmission speed of mobile networks might vary according to the data plan and location of the individual user. it is therefore difficult to ensure the effective data transfer rate of each student. if free wifi is not available, there might be a communication cost when using a third party network. also, there is no guarantee on the network security if a public network is used. ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 100 4. students might not necessarily choose a good learning environment for the online library instruction section. they might choose a convenient location but not necessary a suitable place for learning purposes. after the pilot programs, it was found that both the bis and mis students had no problem in adopting this new instruction format using mobile devices. and the following major findings are: • all participants found the setting and connection to the online instruction programs to be user-friendly. • all participants did not have any problem in using different kinds of mobile products and devices. • the data transmission of the entire network including wifi and mobile network was smooth. • there are sufficient wifi spots freely available in hong kong. • students did not have any problems with using smartphones with small screen displays. • students did not have any typos when texting their messages. • although there was no guarantee on the quality of the learning environment, it was at least students’ preferred choice as to the location in which to access the session. • time zone differences between hong kong and australia would limit the time schedule of the session. apart from the above findings, we also collected qualitative responses from the participating students by questionnaires through email to make sure that their comments could be reflected in the pilot study: • they enjoyed this online learning mode and agreed that mobile technology could facilitate learning at their preferred location. • they preferred to participate interactively by texting their message in the text box more than by verbal online chat using voice accessories. • they found the recorded library instruction session useful for later review. • they appreciated this interactive and global learning opportunity with the csu librarians and students from different backgrounds. • they agreed that this online library instruction session could substitute the traditional face-to-face library instruction programs. concluding remarks the successful launching of the above real-time online library instruction program provides evidence to support the provision of online library user education programs not only through personal computers, but also mobile devices as well. based on the qualitative results of the pilot study, it can also be concluded that delivering library instruction programs by internet and mobile technology to distance learning students in higher education anytime and anywhere is achievable. as indicated in our experience, the critical factor for the successful pilot programs is that both bis and mis students could adapt to ubiquitous learning through mobile technology very easily. looking ahead, more ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 101 real-time online library services can be offered to distance learning students of higher education in hong kong. references bomsdorf, b. (2005). adaptation of learning spaces: supporting ubiquitous learning in higher distance education. paper presented at the mobile computing and ambient intelligence: the challenge of multimedia. bristow, d., titus, d., harris, g., & gulati, r. (2017). the marketing concept and byob in the university classroom: are we practicing what we teach? atlantic marketing journal, 6(1), 93-110. charles sturt university. (2019a). adobe connect (online meeting). retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au/division/dit/staff/training/self-help/sc/adobe-connect-onlinemeeting. charles sturt university. (2019b). online and distance education. retrieved from http://futurestudents.csu.edu.au/international/csu-in-your-country/csu-canada/online. firat, m. (2017). e-learning tools and ict usage of open and distance education students. journal of technology and information education, 9(1), 99-108. doi:10.5507/jtie.2016.028 hwang, g.-j., tsai, c.-c., & yang, s. j. h. (2008). criteria, strategies and research issues of context-aware ubiquitous learning. journal of educational technology & society, 11(2), 81-91. jones, v., & jo, j. h. (2004). ubiquitous learning environment: an adaptive teaching system using ubiquitous technology. beyond the comfort zone: proceedings of the 21st ascilite conference, 468-474. jung, h.-j. (2014). ubiquitous learning: determinants impacting learners’ satisfaction and performance with smartphones. language learning & technology, 18(3), 97-119. kinshuk, s. g. (2008). adaptivity and personalization in ubiquitous learning systems. in a. holzinger (ed.), hci and usability for education and work (pp. 331-338). berlin: springer liu, g. z., & hwang, g. j. (2010). a key step to understanding paradigm shifts in e‐learning: towards context‐aware ubiquitous learning. british journal of educational technology, 41(2), e1-e9. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00976.x norris, c. a., & solow, e. (2011). learning and schooling in the age of mobilism. educational technology, 11/12, 3-10. osang, f. b., ngole, j., & tsuma, c. (2013). prospects and challenges of mobile learning implementation in nigeria: case study national open university of nigeria. paper presented at the international conference on ict for africa 2013, harare, zimbabwe. ma and yu / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 102 sakamura, k., & koshizuka, n. (2005). ubiquitous computing technologies for ubiquitous learning. paper presented at the ieee international workshop on wireless and mobile technologies in education (wmte'05), tokushima, japan. sharples, m. (ed.) (2018). big issues in mobile learning: report of a workshop by the kaleidoscope network of excellence mobile learning initiative. nottingham: university of nottingham. university, c. s. (2019). adobe connect (online meeting). retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au/division/dit/staff/training/self-help/sc/adobe-connect-onlinemeeting. virtanen, m., kääriäinen, m., liikanen, e., & haavisto, e. (2017). the comparison of students’ satisfaction between ubiquitous and web-based learning environments. education and information technologies, 22, 2565-2581. doi:10.1007/s10639-016-9561-2 yang, s. j. h., okamoto, t., & tseng, s.s. (2008). context-aware and ubiquitous learning. journal of educational technology & society, 11(2), 1-2. yousuf, m. i. (2007). effectiveness of mobile learning in distance education. the turkish online journal of distance education, 8(4), 114-124. about the authors leo f. h. ma is head of upper-campus libraries at the chinese university of hong kong. ling ling yu is the senior programme director of library and information science subject group under the college of life sciences and technology of hku space. 6--107.title 6--107_2 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org new developments of chinese government publications and library collections susan xue abstract: chinese government publications constitute a significantly large portion of print and digital information output in china. this material genre is critical to the operation of the country, to people’s lives, and therefore, is important to research and scholarly work. overseas scholars rely heavily on libraries to access and use chinese government publications, however, collecting this type of materials has been a challenge since the scope of chinese government publications has not been clear, and the collecting channels have been limited. this paper intends to discuss the scope of chinese government publications, its availability in digital format, the types of publications library normally collects, and opportunities and challenges in collecting them. to cite this article: xue, s. (2018). new developments of chinese government publications and library collections. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 72-84. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 72-84 issn:2474-3542 new developments of chinese government publications and library collections1 susan xue university of california, berkeley, ca, usa abstract chinese government publications constitute a significantly large portion of print and digital information output in china. this material genre is critical to the operation of the country, to people’s lives, and therefore, is important to research and scholarly work. overseas scholars rely heavily on libraries to access and use chinese government publications, however, collecting this type of materials has been a challenge since the scope of chinese government publications has not been clear, and the collecting channels have been limited. this paper intends to discuss the scope of chinese government publications, its availability in digital format, the types of publications library normally collects, and opportunities and challenges in collecting them. keywords: chinese government publication, government information policy, digital government information, collection development, government website introduction for many years, there has not been a clear definition for “government publication” in china. it was therefore not clear what constitutes government publications, except for perhaps laws and regulations, which clearly were issued and published by the government. this situation lasted until 2008, when the chinese government issued the regulation of the people’s republic of china on the disclosure of government information (hereinafter referred to as “regulation”). for the first time, government information was officially defined as “the information produced or acquired and recorded or kept in certain forms by administrative organs in the process of performing their duties (“政府信息，是指行政机关在履行职责过程中制作或者获取的， 以一定形式记录、保存的信息)” (state council, 2008). this definition specifies four 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: xue, s. (2018) new developments of chinese government publications and library collections. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china, pp. 150-158. xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 73 fundamental aspects of chinese government publications: publisher or compiler; producing process; the nature and content are, and the format. first, publisher or compiler should be a government administrative body; second, a government publication shall be produced or acquired during or for government operations; third, the nature and content of government information embody the will of the government and are guidelines to its operations; fourth, the format of government publications can vary. the term of government information has been used interchangeably with government publications (ministry of culture, 2010). the term of government information has been used more often in recent years, likely because government publications have been increasingly produced in digital format. in this paper, the term of government publication will be used interchangeably with government information, to reflect this trend. by the definition above, chinese governments at all levels have published massive official publications, just as many other countries’ governments have done. the regulation cited above requires central ministries and provincial governments to compile a catalog of the information they disclosed; many have done so and posted such catalogs on their government websites. the regulation also provides a list of government information that should be made available to the public. in the chapter two of the regulation, twenty-three types of government information produced by national, provincial, city, county and township governments are required to be disclosed to the public. in principal, they fall in these four categories: government information that concerns vital interests of citizens, corporate bodies and organizations; government information that requires awareness and participation of citizens; government information that illustrates the organizational structure, functionality and operational procedure of a government body; and other government information that is required by law and regulations to be disclosed to the public (state council, 2008). the author reviewed twenty randomly selected government websites to gain insight of the scope of government information and the level of compliance with the regulation. those selected government bodies are the national people’s congress, the state council, ministry of education, ministry of civil affairs, ministry of justice, ministry of commerce, ministry of agriculture and rural affairs, national health commission, shandong province, anhui province, liaoning province, zhejiang province, hubei province, guangdong province, beijing city, shanghai city, ningbo city, fuzhou city, kunming city, and lanzhou city. all websites reviewed publish their information online, and about ninety-five percent of the government publications are comprehensive. combining findings from various official government websites and comparing to the list from the regulation, this paper intends to discuss the scope of the chinese government publications and its increasing availability in digital format, the types of publications libraries normally collect, and the opportunities and challenges in collecting them. the scope of chinese government publications the scope of chinese government information or publications is very broad. to make the massive publications easier to understand, this paper attempts to categorize them by the functionality or nature of administrative duties: laws and regulations, national plans and policies, statistics, documents related to policies issued at ministries, regional and lower xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 74 levels, documents issued at all levels related to operational procedures, requirements and implementation. laws and regulations laws are prepared and enacted by the national people’s congress (npc), the legislative body of china. regulations can be issued by any of the following government bodies: the communist party of china central committee and its general office, the state council, ministries and other institutions of the central government, provincial government, municipal governments, local people’s congress, county governments, supreme people’s court (spc), supreme people’s procuratorate (spp), local judicial bodies, and military institutions. regulations include a number of different types of documents, as they are usually enforced by a regulatory agency formed or mandated to carry out the purpose or provisions of a legislation. laws and major categories of regulations are listed below: • law 法律. examples: supervision law of the people's republic of china 中华 人民共和国监察法; constitution of the people's republic of china (2018 amendment) 中华人民共和国宪法 (2018 修正). in 2008, the national people’s congress standing committee regulated that in general, legislative bills are required to collect comments and feedback from the general public through major news media and npc’s website. feedback and suggestions are summarized and published in npc gazettes. • resolution 决议. resolutions are normally issued by the npc or the state council. example: resolution of the standing committee of the national people's congress on intensifying legal publicity and education 全国人大常委 会关于加强法制宣传教育的决议. • regulation 条例. regulations can be issued by central government ministries, provincial governments and its bureaus, municipal governments and its divisions. examples: regulation on the implementation of the environmental protection tax law of the people's republic of china 中华人民共和国环境保护税法实 施条例; interim regulation of the people's republic of china on value added tax (2017 revision) 中 华 人 民 共 和 国 增 值 税 暂 行 条 例 (2017 修 订 ); regulation of shanghai municipality on the protection of the rights and interests of overseas chinese (0914-2016) 上海市华侨权益保护条例. • rule 规则 . it can be issued by the central government and ministries as well as local governments. examples: rules for the in-flight security of the public air passenger transport (2017) 公共航空旅客运输飞行中安全保卫工作规则 (2017). • provision 规定. it can be issued by governments at county and above level. example: provisions on the administrative reconsideration involving land and resources (2017 revision) 国土资源行政复议规定 (2017 修订). • decree 命令. it is normally issued by the central government and ministries. example: decree of the state council concerning the use of uniform legal measures in the country 国务院关于在我国统一实行法定计量单位的命令. • order 条令. it can be issued by the central government and ministries. example: xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 75 order on rewards for the people's policemen of public security organs 公安机 关人民警察奖励条令. • decision 决定. it can be issued by governments at all levels to communicate a decision on regular operational issue. example: decision of the ministry of transport on revising the measures for the supervision and administration of the safety production of highway and water transportation projects (2016) 交 通运输部关于修改《公路水运工程安全生产监督管理办法》的决定 (2016). • notice 通知. it can be issued by governments at all levels, normally to notify subordinates a particular matter. example: notice of the state administration for industry and commerce and the state administration of taxation on strengthening information sharing and joint regulation 工商总局、税务总局 关于加强信息共享和联合监管的通知. • announcements 公 告 . it can be issued by governments at all level to communicate a decision on a particular issue. example: announcement of the state administration of taxation on issues concerning the collection and administration of consumption taxes on refined oil 国家税务总局关于成品 油消费税征收管理有关问题的公告. • opinion 意见. it can be issued by governments at all level. example: opinions of the state administration of taxation on standardizing administrative examination and approvals and improving administrative examination and approval work 国家税务总局关于规范行政审批行为改进行政审批有关工 作的意见. • measure 办法. it can be issued by government at all levels, generally applies to management issues. example: measures for the administration of the utilization of insurance funds 保险资金运用管理办法. • reply 批复. it can be issued by government at all levels, but more often at the central government and provincial government level, as it replies to subordinate bodies. example: official reply of the state council on approving the cancellation of the control line of shenzhen special economic zone 国务院关 于同意撤销深圳经济特区管理线的批复. • letter 函. it can be issued by government at all levels, and commonly used for operational matters. example: letter of the general office of the state council on approval of the establishment of the inter-ministerial joint meeting system for market regulation 国务院办公厅关于同意建立市场监管部际联席会议制 度的函. • interpretation 解释. it is normally issued by the central government, the supreme people's court and the supreme people's procuratorate for further explanation of law or decision on cases. examples: interpretation of the supreme people's court on application of the administrative litigation law of the people's republic of china 最高人民法院关于适用《中华人民共和国行政诉讼法》的解释; interpretation of article 104 of the basic law of the hong kong special administrative region of the people's republic of china by the standing committee of the national people's congress 全国人大常委会关于《中华人民 xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 76 共和国香港特别行政区基本法》第一百零四条的解释. national plans and policies this type of documents plays a critical role in economic development, government operations, and all aspects of people’s lives. a number of different types of documents are included in this category: • national economy and social development plans and policies, example: outline of the 13th five-year plan for the national economic and social development of the people's republic of china 中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展第十三个五年 规划纲要 2016-2020. • special project plans and policies, example: the 13th five-year plan for the development of national environmental protection standards 国家环境保护标准 “十三五”发展规划. the 13th five-year plan for the development of railway铁路“ 十三五”发展规划. the 13th five-year plan for the development of informatization in countryside 十三五”全国农业农村信息化发展规划. • other national policies, example: china's arctic policy 中国的北极政策. • white papers, example: judicial transparency by people's courts 中国法院的司法 公开. statistics statistics constitute a large portion of government information. enterprises and institutions may also produce statistics; however, official statistics are the only resource that carries authority and has been systematically collected nationwide at all administrative levels. official statistics concern all aspects of national economy at macro and micro scale, it also concerns people’s daily life. it promotes informed decision-making by government officials, monitors the overall economic and social development, and provides critical information to scholars in social sciences, science and humanities disciplines. some of the major types of statistics are listed below: • census data. examples: population census 人口普查, economic census 经济普查, agricultural census 农业普查, industrial census 工业普查, basic unit census 基本单 位普查, the third industry census 第三产业普查. • national statistics that cover 25 categories ranging from national account such as gdp to the development of regional sectors, example: china statistical yearbook 中国统 计年鉴 • provincial, municipal and other regional statistical yearbooks that cover categories similar to national statistics, example: beijing statistical yearbook 北京统计年鉴, xinjiang production and construction group statistical yearbook 新疆生产建设兵 团统计年鉴. • subject statistics at national and lower levels, example: china civils’ statistical yearbook 中国民政统计年鉴, 《2015 年全国收费公路统计公报》; beijing inputout table 北京投入产出表. • statistical bulletins produced by the central government ministries, provincial and xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 77 municipal governments, examples: statistical bulletin of the ministry of human resources and social security 人力资源和社会保障事业发展统计公报; statistical bulletin of ministry of education 教育部教育发展统计公报; statistical bulletin of investment in science and technology in jilin province 吉林省科技经费投入统计 公报; statistical bulletin of average wages in urban institutions in shenzhen 深圳 市城镇单位平均工资数据公报. • surveys conducted by national and provincial statistics bureaus, examples: china countryside statistical survey 新中国农村统计调查; 2000-2011 shanxi statistical survey 2000-2011 山西统计调查. • budgetary plans and reports from governments at all levels, example: collection of budgetary plans for selective provinces and cities in 2015 部分省（区、市）财政 预算报告汇编2015. • financial accounts report from governments at all levels, example: report on the final national accounts in 2016 by the central government 关于 2016 年中央决 算的报告. documents related to plans and policies issued at regional and lower levels this type of documents includes a wide range of publications and information, and has been issued by central ministries, provincial, municipal and county government bodies. they are ranging from regional plans to interpretation of policies and regulations. • regional plans and policies, example: general city plan for beijing (2016-2035) 北京城市总体规划（2016 年—2035）. the plan for costal line protection and utilization plan for zhejiang province 浙江省海岸线保护与利用规划. • annual report on government operations, example: report on government operations for shandong province 2018 山东省政府工作报告 2018. report on government operations for shanghai city 2018, 上海市政府工作报告 2018. • report on implementation of regional or provincial plan, example: report on the implementation of the 13th five year plan for utilizing foreign investments by anhui provincial government 安徽省“十三五”利用外资和境外投资规划实施 进 展 情 况 . report on 2016 governing by law for guangdong provincial government 广东省人民政府关于2016年法治政府建设情况的报告. • regional or provincial policy on important economic or political issues, example, support the development of digital economy (anhui province) 支持数字经济发 展若干政策 (安徽省). policy on further expanding opening and utilizing foreign investments for guangdong province 广东省进一步扩大对外开放积极利用外资 若干政策措施. • interpretation of regional or provincial policies, example: explanation for the policy of the 13th five year plan for public health in anhui province 安徽省“十 三五”卫生与健康规划政策解读. explanation for measures of the protection of intellectual property in liaoning province 辽宁省知识产权保护办法解读. xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 78 documents related to operational procedures, requirements and implementation governments at all levels issue documents for their daily operations. there are many different types of documents included in this category: proposing or implementing projects or activities, reviewing and approving requests, plans for dealing with emergency, and announcing appointment or removal of officials. major types of documents are listed below: • report on implementing an order from upper-level government bodies, example: shandong province’s report on implementing the 8th decree of the state archives administration 关于贯彻落实国家档案局8号令情况的报告（山东省）. • notice on implementation of plans, example: jiamusi city’s plan for dealing with major emergency of road accidents 佳木斯市立即启动重大交通事故应急预案. • appointment or removal of officials, example: list of shandong province’s approval of appointment and removal of officers 山东省人民政府任免的工作人员名单. • approval and implementation of major projects, example: approval of the relocation of haerbin railway freight port by heilongjiang provincial government 黑龙江省 人民政府关于哈尔滨铁路货运口岸迁址的批复. • implementation of policies and measures concerning people’s lives such as education, social services, health care, and employment issues. example: implementing measures for the prevention and resolution of medical disputes in anhui province 安徽省医疗纠纷预防与处置办法. • measures for requisition of land, housing demolition and compensation and similar cases. example: measures for adjusting comprehensive prices of requisition of land by shandong provincial government 山东省人民政府关于调整山东省征地 区片综合地价标准的批复. • reports on distribution and use of funding and donation for disaster relief. example: report on disaster relief donations by the bureau of civil affairs of haikou city 海口市民政局关于赈灾捐款接收情况的报告. • announcement or reports on land use plan at village and township level. example: announcement for taking back the use right for eleven state-owned lands (fushun county, liaoning province) 关于收回11宗国有土地使用权的公告 (辽宁省抚顺 县). • reports on family planning, example: report on health and family planning work in 2016 and 2017 plan by the health and family planning department of jingmen city 荆门市卫生计生委2016年工作总结和2017年工作计划. • details about service charges for administrative services, reasoning and criteria. example: anhui highway toll rates, issued by the department of transportation of anhui province 安徽省高速公路收费标准安徽省交通运输厅. • announcement or report on government procurement, items and criteria. example: xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 79 announcement on landscape project of dashi street of guangzhou city 广州市大 石街市政绿化养护工程结果公告. • requirements, documents, conditions, procedure, length of time for applying for administration permits or licensing. example: approval procedure of business license for telecommunications by zhejiang communications administration 电信 业务经营许可申请审批 – 浙江省通信管理局. • notice of approval of application for a project or service, example: approval of establishment of shanxi zhongsheng firm of tax accountants 关于新批准设立山 西中昇税务师事务所的公示. • reasons and occasions for imposing fines. example: announcement on imposing administrative penalty – daxing office of beijing administration for industry and commerce 行政处罚决定书 北京市工商行政管理局大兴分局公告. publishing of chinese government publications before the regulation taking effect in 2008, there were no laws or regulations specifically determining how chinese government publications should be published, except one regulation on publishing laws and regulations. the state council issued a regulation in 1990 stating that no individuals are allowed to compile and publish laws and regulations. laws should be compiled by the npc, regulations should be compiled by the state council, military regulations should be compiled by the central military commission, departmental regulations should be compiled by responsible departments, and local regulations should be compiled by local npcs and local government (state administration for industry & commerce of china, 1990). there was another document issued by the former general administration of press and publication stating that without approval, any publishing house should not publish government white cover report ( 政 府 白 皮 书 ) (general administration of press and publication, 1998). the major regulation concerning publications regulation on the administration of publication (2016 revised) (state administration of press, publication, radio, film and television of the people's republic of china, 2006) stipulated that how publishing and publications should be approved and managed in general, but nothing specifies if government publications should be approved and managed differently. in practice, laws and regulations and statistics tend to be published by designated publishing houses, such as china law press and china statistics press. regulated by these orders, only certain types of government documents have been published in print format. one major type is gazettes, which carry laws and regulations, as well as feedback on proposed laws and regulations, appointment and removal of officials, decisions, notices, reports, and other policy documents. major gazettes include: • gazette of the standing committee of the national people's congress of the people's republic of china 人大常委会公报. • state council gazette 国务院公报. xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 80 • gazette of the supreme people's court 最高法院公报. • gazette of the supreme people’s procuratorate 最高人民检察院公报. • gazettes of ministries and commissions 各部委公报. • gazettes of provincial governments 各省政府公报. • gazettes of municipal governments 各市政府公报. while the regulation about publishing laws and regulations is still valid, the regulation in 2008 mainly focuses on publishing government information online, as government information goes digital. it clearly stipulates channels of publishing or releasing government information. this will greatly improve the availability of government publications when implemented widely. one major requirement that the regulation emphasizes is that governments at all levels should “actively” publish their information follow these requirements: • administrative offices should actively publish government information through government gazettes, government website, press conference, newspapers and televisions. • governments at all levels should designate a reading room in archives and public libraries, and actively provide government information to these institutions. equipment should be provided to facilitate public’s access to government information. • individual government offices are responsible for their own information publishing. laws and regulations should be published by following certain regulation. • in general, government information that is required to be released to the public by law should be published within 20 working days. • individual government offices should compile and publish their own catalog of government publications and keep it up-to-date. catalogs should classify information by category, include document title, abstract, date and index. it should also include institution name, office hours, contact information and email. in 2017, the state council issued a notice to provide further guidelines on developing official government website. it regulates the management responsibility, rule for domain name for government website, functionality and maintenance of government websites. it further specifies how government information should be published, and particularly emphasizes that governments at all levels should publish information accurately and in a timely manner. laws and regulations should have effective and expiration dates and should be searchable; statistics should be kept up-to-date and downloadable; and operational procedures should be accurate and indicate who is the issuing authority (the state council, 2017). xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 81 chinese government publications and library collections libraries used to collect chinese government publications in traditional ways and formats through publishers and book vendors, and publications are in print format. now that government publications are published both in print format and increasingly in digital format, the way that library collects government publications needs to be re-considered. the fact that chinese government publications go digital will greatly increase their availability and provide more accesses to scholars and the general public. it also has enormous impacts on how library should collect and manage those materials. current practice of collecting government publications it has been a tradition that library collects some of the chinese government publications, as they are important information resources for scholars in social sciences, humanities and science disciplines. the main types of government publications that many libraries normally collect are: • gazette of the standing committee of the national people's congress • state council gazette • collections of laws • collections of national regulations • selective collections of national plans and policies • national population census data • statistical yearbooks and surveys since there was no clear definition for “government publications” before 2008, only those core publications, including laws, regulations and statistics listed above had been published in print format by designated publishing houses. publishers were either not authorized to compile government publications other than those core documents or not clear about what else can be compiled as government publications. therefore, many important polices and documents were not available for libraries to collect in old days, ultimately, not available to scholars and other users. required by the regulation, nowadays, not only those core publications have been available in digital format, other types of government publications such as regional/local regulations and policies are also available in print and digital formats. commercial publishers and aggregators have also developed valued-added databases based on officially released information and data. these new practices have prompted the vigorous development of government information publications, and therefore provide libraries with more government information to collect, and users with easier access to such information. opportunities and challenges in collecting digital government publications digital publishing has developed very fast in china, many scholarly publications are available in digital format, including born-digital and digitized publications. going along with this trend, xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 82 government information goes digital, which is a critical step forward, for the transparency of government administrative operations and services. the development of digital government information since the 2008 regulation has direct impact on libraries in several aspects. opportunities provided by this new trend benefit both libraries and users: first, the regulation makes it clear what the scope of government information is and what types of documents or information are openly available; second, individual government offices are required to compile and publish a catalog of their information, which provides a useful tool for library to view and select; third, major types of government publications are required to be published through official government websites, which provides great convenience for library to aggregate those documents; last but not least, the visuality and browsability of government information make it easier for librarians to provide research consultation to scholars. instead of viewing many hard copies of books, librarians can easily browse and search relevant government websites for information. libraries in china as well as overseas have utilized advanced technology and matured online catalog platform for managing library collections, they are in a good position to further build chinese government publications in digital format. it takes time for chinese governments at all levels to implement the regulation and other requirements, fully develop their website, and publish their publications, documents and data at a full scale. currently, libraries also face challenges in collecting and using government publications in this new era. first, there are too many individual government websites, it is impossible to search each and every individual website, in an occasion when someone is researching on a nationwide topic. the national library of china has developed a central platform: chinese government public information online (http://govinfo.nlc.cn/). it is a great tool to get started in aggregating government information; however, as many central government offices and local governments may not yet provide their documents and data to this platform, the information there is far from being comprehensive. based on local academic community’s needs, libraries may need to create their own digital government publication collection by subject, region or issuing agencies. documents from different sources in different formats and different versions will need value-added work in aggregation. second, many, if not all, government offices compile and publish their own catalogs, which is a huge difference than before. however, it is not easy for libraries to fully use them as catalogs are sometime organized in different ways and publication are classified in a way different from library’s practice. there have been studies in library and information literature on how government publication catalogs should be compiled. researchers praise this positive development (chen, 2013; zheng, 2011); however, they focus more on how to improve the usability of these catalogs by standardizing classification and metadata and enhancing searching functionality (bai, 2013; zhang, 2009). libraries may need to take action in integrating and re-compiling some of the government publications catalogs based on local academic community’s needs. lastly, librarians need to gain professional knowledge of chinese government publications through professional training. individual copies of chinese government publications may have been in some libraries for a long period of time; however, many librarians may not realize that those books are actually government publications, or are unsure whether they are officially published or not. since digital government publications have become much more http://govinfo.nlc.cn/ xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 83 widely accessible via government websites now, the brand and identity of those websites would help define the nature of government publications. librarians would learn from their daily work in collecting government documents and serving scholars, and gain professional knowledge of this publication genre. conclusion the regulation of the people’s republic of china on the disclosure of government information and the guidelines on developing government website released in 2017 set the direction and requirements for publishing or releasing government information. now that there is a definition for “government information” and there are also requirements for publishing government information online, libraries and scholars would benefit greatly from the new policies. based on the increased availability of government information in digital format, libraries need to actively build digital chinese government publications, develop a richer collection based on previously built print collection. while relying on the chinese government public information online developed by the national library of china and government websites, libraries need to consider developing their subject or regional collections to meet local academic community’s needs. libraries may also need to consolidate or integrate catalogs produced by various government offices for their own local academic needs. by collecting and using more published government publications, librarians would develop their professional knowledge and serve scholars in a more efficient way. references bai, ql. (2013). analysis of issues related to online government publication catalogs 政府 信息网站公开目录体系存在的问题分析. 图书馆学研究(3), 64-66, 37. chen h, xian, ry. (2013). thoughts and suggestions on creating the catalog system to the government information disclosure through official website of ministry of land and resources 对国土资源部门户网站政府信息公开目录体系建设的思考和建议. 国 土资源信息化(6), 3-6, 24. general administration of press and publication. (1998, september 10). 关于不得擅自出版 政府白皮书的通知. retrieved march 30, 2018, from radio and television administration of guangdong province: http://www.xwcbj.gd.gov.cn/xwcbgdj/gfxwj/199811/398c347fea8d4a5b801f50bb6a 0a3b54.shtml ministry of culture. (2010, april 2). wen hua bu gong bu 2009 nian zheng fu xin xi gong kai gong zuo nian du bao gao 文化部公布2009年政府信息公开工作年度报告. retrieved march 14, 2018, from the state council of china: http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2010-04/02/content_1571908.htm state administration for industry & commerce of china. (1990, july 29). 法规汇编编辑出 版管理规定. retrieved march 30, 2018, from state administration for industry & xue / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 84 commerce of china: http://home.saic.gov.cn/zw/zcfg/xzfg/199007/t19900729_215576.html state administration of press, publication, radio, film and television of the people's republic of china. (2006, january 11). regulation on publishing management, chu ban guan li tiao li, 出版管理条例. retrieved november 11, 2018, from state administration of press, publication, radio, film and television of the people's republic of china: http://www.gapp.gov.cn/govpublic/83/81282.shtml state council. (2008, may 1). 中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例. retrieved november 23, 2018, from the state council of china: http://www.gov.cn/xxgk/pub/govpublic/tiaoli.html the state council. (2017, may 15). state council on issuing guidelines to developing government websites, guo wu yuan ban gong ting guan yu yin fa zheng fu wang zhan zhi yin de tong zhi, 国务院办公厅关于印发政府网站发展指引的通知. retrieved november 11, 2018, from the state council pf people's republic of china: http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-06/08/content_5200760.htm zeng, wz. (2011). a study on the construction of service system of government information openness catalog in digital era 数字时代政府信息公开目录服务体系 建设研究. 图书馆(2), 58-61. zhang, xm, luo, xc. (2009). some thought on china's government information openness catalog 关于政府信息公开目录的若干思考. 情报学报(3), 437-422. about the author susan xue is head of information and public services, c. v. starr east asian library at uc berkeley. she received ba and ma degree in political science from renmin university in china, and mlis degree from the university of western ontario. susan’s research interests are in the areas of government publications in china and us, electronic information resources, and information policy. contact email: sxue@berkeley.edu mailto:sxue@berkeley.edu 5 5textfinal issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org challenges that affect the utilization of klisc’s resources and services at university of nairobi naomy waithera mwaurah and ben wekalao namande abstract: it is not feasible for a library to hold or acquire a full collection of information resources which may be required by its patrons. to deal with this issue, library cooperation was adopted, for instance, interlibrary loaning, document delivery and library network, formed to build the acquiring capacity of cooperating institutions to grow the accessibility of information resources and offer computerized services. in kenya, there is klisc which has carried out commendable activities to support research in kenya. klisc has done admirable exercises to support research in kenya. these exercises incorporate collaborative acquisition of information resources, ict training of information experts and the preparation of researchers to improve their abilities in retrieving information. despite the activities and services that klisc provide, its resources are yet to be appreciated by a majority of the users of the member institutions. also, not all information providers and institutions of higher learning are members. kenya has over 600 institutions but only 112 are klisc members as of 2018 and the numbers keep reducing. the study therefore tried to identify the challenges that the klisc members face that could be affecting utilization of the electronic resources, members pulling out and also discouraging other institutions from joining. the study found out that klisc members experienced the following challenges; slow internet connectivity, information illiteracy, lack of searching skills, low awareness levels, slow downloading speed, unfriendly platforms, password requirements for some databases, poor ict infrastructure, poor ict skills for both users and staff, delays in releasing of funds by the management, and slow communication from the publishers. klisc itself faces the following challenges: members do not efficiently communicate about their information needs, lack of sponsorship since inasp pulled out, delay by klisc’s members to pay their annual subscription fee, and the management team is overwhelmed by work. the study therefore recommended the following: institutions should invest more on ict infrastructure, klisc should come up with a way of ensuring relevancy, klisc should stand on its own as an institution and acquire its own offices and employ staff who will just be working for klisc, klisc should create a mini-consortium to cater for research institutions and also other specialized fields in different institutions in kenya, klisc should come up with a way of dealing with individual defaulters in a way that does not affect the other members, the publishers should improve the interfaces of their databases to make them user friendly and easy to navigate, and the publishers should also ensure fast communications with the institutions. to cite this article: mwaurah, n.w., & namande, b. w. (2021). challenges that affect the utilization of klisc’s resources and services at university of nairobi. international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2021.vol6.1.128 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 6(1), 27-36. issn: 2474-3542 challenges that affect the utilization of klisc’s resources and services at university of nairobi naomy waithera mwaurah, boma international hospitality college, kenya ben wekalao namande, kisii university, kenya abstract it is not feasible for a library to hold or acquire a full collection of information resources which may be required by its patrons. to deal with this issue, library cooperation was adopted, for instance, interlibrary loaning, document delivery and library network, formed to build the acquiring capacity of cooperating institutions to grow the accessibility of information resources and offer computerized services. in kenya, there is klisc which has carried out commendable activities to support research in kenya. klisc has done admirable exercises to support research in kenya. these exercises incorporate collaborative acquisition of information resources, ict training of information experts and the preparation of researchers to improve their abilities in retrieving information. despite the activities and services that klisc provide, its resources are yet to be appreciated by a majority of the users of the member institutions. also, not all information providers and institutions of higher learning are members. kenya has over 600 institutions but only 112 are klisc members as of 2018 and the numbers keep reducing. the study therefore tried to identify the challenges that the klisc members face that could be affecting utilization of the electronic resources, members pulling out and also discouraging other institutions from joining. the study found out that klisc members experienced the following challenges; slow internet connectivity, information illiteracy, lack of searching skills, low awareness levels, slow downloading speed, unfriendly platforms, password requirements for some databases, poor ict infrastructure, poor ict skills for both users and staff, delays in releasing of funds by the management, and slow communication from the publishers. klisc itself faces the following challenges: members do not efficiently communicate about their information needs, lack of sponsorship since inasp pulled out, delay by klisc’s members to pay their annual subscription fee, and the management team is overwhelmed by work. the study therefore recommended the following: institutions should invest more on ict infrastructure, klisc should come up with a way of ensuring relevancy, klisc should stand on its own as an institution and acquire its own offices and employ staff who will just be working for klisc, klisc should create a mini-consortium to cater for research institutions and also other specialized fields in different institutions in kenya, klisc should come up with a way of dealing with individual defaulters in a way that does not affect the other members, the publishers should improve the interfaces of their databases to make them user friendly and easy to navigate, and the publishers should also ensure fast communications with the institutions. mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 28 keywords: information resources, library consortium, challenges, kenya library and information service consortium (klisc), university of nairobi background of the study it is not feasible for a library to hold or acquire full collection of information resources which may be required by its patrons. to deal with this issue, library collaboration began long ago, for example, interlibrary loaning, document delivery and library network. today, the more traditional arrangement of resource sharing is referred to library consortia. consortium refers to, “co-operation, co-ordination and collaboration between and amongst libraries for the purpose of sharing information resources.” through this collaboration, it has become possible to acquire information resources in stabilized and cheaper prices (islam & melezbah-ul-islam, 2000). consortia are formed to build the acquiring capacity of cooperating institutions to grow the accessibility of information resources and offer computerized services. consortia may be formed at different levels such as: local, regional, national or international level, on a functional or formal basis, or on subject basis (chander &gupta, 2015). in the united states, academic library consortia have been in existence for many decades, after gaining force in the 1970s courtesy of shared catalogues and then later in the 1990s transitioning into the shared acquisition of e-resources (chadwell, 2011). in india, the ministry of human resource development (mhrd) has formed the indian national digital library in science and technology (indest) consortium. it is through this consortium that the ministry contributes funds needed for the subscription to electronic information resources for 38 major institutions, and other centrally funded government institutions. in addition, 60 government-aided engineering college and technical departments in universities have furthermore joined the consortium with the monetary support from the indian council for technical education. institutions in the indest consortium have an arranged foundation of pcs accessible at their institutions (galyani & talawar, 2009). in nigeria, various categories of library collaborations exist such as: the national virtual library project; nigerian university network; and nigerian university libraries consortium. they were created to accommodate all academic institutions with an aim of increasing scholarly and research information centres in nigeria. courtesy of icts advancements, there has been a move that has prompted libraries shifting from holding specific physical information resources locally to offering access to various information resources, irrespective of format and location. this move from proprietorship to access seems to be the power that progresses consortia development amongst libraries and moreover extending the quantity of researches on library collaborations in nigeria. these realities are obvious in the continuous library trainings, courses and meetings sorted out by the nigerian library association (nla) and librarian registration council of nigeria with prominence on open access for library and information centres, and information sharing, libraries and citizens as cohorts in managing the information society (posigha, godfrey, & seimode, 2015). the university of nairobi is located in nairobi city which has a population of over 3.5 million. nairobi has an area of over 700 square kilometres and stands at an altitude of 1,675 meters above sea level. nairobi is the capital, commercial, administrative and cultural centre of kenya. the library department is a member and has been the host of klisc until 2019 when mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 29 kenyatta university took over. through this joint effort, the library has taken part in various preparing workshops to upgrade staff capacity as well as enhance membership. the school of business was initiated in the academic year 1956/57. it has three departments, namely: business administration, finance and accounting and management science. it offers 6 post-graduate courses, that is, master of business administration, master of science in finance, master of science in marketing, master of science in human resource management, master of science in entrepreneurship and innovations management, and doctor of philosophy in business administration. it has over 13,000 students with two satellite campuses in mombasa and kisumu (university of nairobi, 2017). challenges faced by consortia members in accessing and using the information resources although a library collaboration fulfils various requirements that might be hard to accomplish when sought after independently, it equally brings concerns and difficulties that libraries rarely experience as sole elements. as reported in the philippines, many library consortia members differ in various aspects such as collection range, facilities, source of money, technical development, organization, and category of patrons served. the differences may make it difficult for the member libraries to agree on some aspects (fresnido & yap, 2014). they report that the different level of technological advancement is the most common in the philippines. this becomes a problem when some members have less to provide in terms of electronic resources and ict infrastructures as well as digital and online services. these members are forced to depend on the institutions that have and this in a way misshapes the idea of collaboration and correspondence and replaces such with reliance. this wrecks the feeling of parity as far as resource sharing is concerned. the survey by veenapani, singh and devi in 2008, “to determine the use of ugcinfonet digital library consortium by teachers and researchers,” identified the challenges experienced by the clients of the consortium as: ict illiteracy, inconsistent power supply, poor web availability, inadequate pcs and issues in selection of required journal titles (veenapani, singh, & devi, 2008). another study done on “ugc-infornet digital library consortium to access its awareness and usage among faculty members of state universities in tamil nadu,” found the following challenges: insufficient internet points in university library, user-unfriendly e-journal platforms, slow internet bandwidth, technical problems, frequent power cut, lack of important information sources, lack of support from library staff (thanuskodi, 2012). dzandza and alemna (2011) reported that it was only south africa from the whole of africa which has made serious endeavours in the advancement of consortia. by the time, south africa had five university library consortia, namely: calico (cape library cooperative), esal (eastern seaboard association of libraries), frelico (free state libraries and information consortium), gaeli (gauteng and environs library consortium), and seals (south eastern academic libraries’ system). however, the inspiration and the nature, power, and achievement of collaboration vary broadly among the five named library consortia in south africa. they face a number of varying challenges ranging from socio-political and language barriers to telecommunication infrastructure. in ghana, it was not until 2004 when the consortium of academic and research libraries in ghana (carligh) was created as the single library consortium with only 18 members as of 2009. carligh aims to gather libraries from scholarly and research institutions mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 30 cooperatively to aide in binding resources to realize a common goal of providing sufficient information to their patrons (dzandza&alemna, 2011). dzanda and alemna (2011) reported the following challenges as being faced by carligh members: • internet breakdown • challenges dealing with the publishers • much more learning needed by the staff • complexity in accessing some of the databases • denied access to full texts from some databases • lengthy and difficult subscription procedures • delayed release of finances from mother institution • irrelevant electronic resources • escalating prices of electronic resources • disagreement among members galyani and talawar (2009) recognize financing issues as a fundamental test. joining a consortium calls for beginning interests in licenses and ict. libraries are additionally much of the time not prepared to trade out the investment funds offered by not taking care of the print version of the journals. various libraries are in this way hesitant to join consortia understandings particularly where publishers constrain instalments for off-consortia conveyance of documents, either in electronic or paper format. there is likewise the test of ventures to be made in local, consortium based, focal hardware set up, mounting of information, progression of interfaces, organization of access among others. academic libraries likewise encounter difficulties, for example, expanding requests and elevated standards from clients, spending cuts, elevated prices of library materials particularly electronic journals, and increase in the quantity of information resources at large. chauhan and mahajan (2013) indicated that many universities in india are unable to sustain subscriptions to even core journals because of the ever escalating prices of journal subscriptions. however, numerous measures have been put in place to overcome the price increase of scholarly literature, information surplus and rising information needs of users. according to a survey done by kiilu, gathoni and kabugu (2011) on “monitoring and evaluation of electronic resources in academic and research institutions in kenya,” the following challenges were reported to be hindering effective access to electronic information resources: poor searching skills, unstable and unreliable internet connectivity, lack of access to computers, not aware of any training on e-resources, not aware of any e-resources, unfriendly platforms. the survey concluded that more work was required to adequately promote the available resources. provision and utilization of e-resources entails the use of ict facilities which includes steady and consistent internet connectivity and computer terminals. the survey therefore concluded that improved infrastructure would enhance access to and use of e-resources (kiilu, gathoni, & kabugu, 2011). mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 31 mwanzia (2014) cites the following challenges faced by klisc members: poor ict infrastructure, slow internet speed, password requirements for some publishers, slow communication by publishers, some publishers do not allow access to full text, long embargo periods, lack of searching skills, use of ip that restrict use within institutions, high subscription fee for some members, available information resources do not cater for major information needs, not able to share in case of regional branches, and resources not available to all. mwanzia (2014) suggested promotion of klisc, improve infrastructure, fair treatment, independent secretariat for klisc, separation of klisc’s accounts from that of nairobi university, and effective communication. problem statement klisc has done admirable activities to support research in kenya. these activities incorporate collaborative acquisition of information resources, ict training of information experts and the preparation of researchers to improve their abilities in retrieving information. despite the activities and services that klisc provide, its resources are yet to be appreciated by a majority of the users of the member institutions. also, not all information providers and institutions of higher learning are members. kenya has over 600 institutions but only 112 are klisc members. the study therefore tried to identify the challenges that the klisc members face that could be affecting utilization of the electronic resources and also discouraging other institutions from joining. research aim the study aimed at identifying the challenges that affect the utilization of klisc's resources and services. research method the study used descriptive survey design. descriptive survey is a method of collecting information by interviews or administering questionnaires to a sample of individuals. the design utilizes both elements of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. the study population was drawn from member libraries of klisc in nairobi county and klisc’s executive committee. the targeted population was 2 uon’s librarians (director and acquisition librarian) 9 klisc’s executive members and 1342 post graduate students from uon’s school of business, totalling to 1353. the librarians together with the klisc’s representatives were purposively selected while the post graduate students were selected using simple random sampling. the study sample consisted of the library director and acquisition librarian of jomo kenyatta memorial library, 3 klisc executive management committee (chairman, secretary and treasurer) and post graduate students from school of business at uon. the determination of the sample size was guided by a simplified formula for proportions, (israel, 2003). the formula mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 32 was used to get the sample size of the students as the library directors and klisc’s representatives were purposively selected. n =n (1 + n *(e)2) where n= sample size n= population size e=level of precision or sampling error 95% confidence level and precision=.1 =1342/(1+1342(0.1)2) = 99.93=100 table 1. sample size. source: (researcher, 2018). respondents population size sample size jkml librarians 2 2 klisc executive committee 9 3 uon post graduate students 1342 100 total 1353 105 results the study's main objective was to identify the challenges that klisc members were facing that affected the utilization of klisc's resources and services. this would help to suggest solutions for the challenges that would maybe increase klisc’s membership. the study posed a question to interrogate the challenges that the users, librarians and klisc itself faced. 76 respondents translating to 84% of the total respondents were faced with slow internet connectivity, 57 respondents or 63% were information illiterate, 55 respondents or 61% lacked the searching skills, 43 respondents (48%) had low awareness levels of the information resources, 21 respondents (23%) experienced slow downloading speed, while 14 respondents or 16% found the databases’ platforms to be user unfriendly. none complained of unreliable electricity supply probably because of the availability of an automatic generator. figure 1 below shows how the users responded. the respondents were allowed to select multiple choice. mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 33 figure 1. challenges. source: field data (2019). the librarians also added the following challenges: uon’s library director indicated that, “some of these databases have password requirements while other have long embargo periods for specific articles and books which limits their access. major information needs are also not much catered for and therefore we have had to individually subscribe to other specialized databases.” she also added the following challenges: restriction to full text by some publishers, poor ict infrastructure, limited skills by staff, slow communication by the publishers especially in communicating changes and also setting up of administrator accounts. the acquisition librarian added that many institutions’ management delay in releasing the annual klisc subscription fee which affects all the members. an example given was that of ebscohost which was inaccessible to all the klisc members even those who had already remitted their annual subscription fees. the klisc representatives were also asked about the challenges they face and they cited that the members did not communicate about their information needs in time and also delay in paying their annual subscription fees. one representative indicated that, “klisc is facing financial problems courtesy of delay by members to submit their subscription fees which results to a delay in klisc remitting the same to the publishers. at the time, ebscohost is not accessible to all the klisc members since klisc has not paid. the financial problem has also made klisc to be reluctant about marketing itself to the non-members since it is unable to manage the ones it has.” another representative added that, “our recent challenge is that of inasp (international network for the availability of scientific publications) pulling out its support.” inasp had supported klisc for 8 years and in 2017 its time expired. though this was expected, it is a challenge as klisc has to now stand on its own. one representative also added that they get overwhelmed since they have demanding positions at their places of work other than being klisc’s executive committee. in support of the above results, veenapani et al (2008) also reported information illiteracy and poor web availability as the main challenges. thanuskodi (2012) in his study found out that mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 34 user-unfriendly platforms and slow internet were the main challenges while dzanda and alemna (2011) reported that delayed release of funds from mother institutions and denied access to full text by some databases were the challenges. kiilu et al (2011) and mwanzia (2014) also reported staff’s lack of ict skills as a challenge. suggestions to the challenges 76 respondents suggested that a reliable service provider be sourced to improve on internet connectivity. 65 respondents suggested that internet bandwidth be increased so as to reduce downloading time. 57 respondents requested that more attention be focused on information literacy program while 55 respondents indicated that more training should be done on access and use of the klisc’s information resources. 43 respondents suggested persistent marketing of the klisc’s information resources so that more patrons become aware of them while 37 respondents requested of improvement of the ict infrastructure. 14 respondents believed that if the databases’ platforms were made user-friendly, this would solve their problems. the uon’s library director indicated that, “improved ict infrastructure will go along away in ensuring that these information resources are conveniently accessed and utilized by our patrons. this also entails more computers to cater for our large numbers of patrons, the university might not be able to acquire enough computers for all its patrons and therefore we request those patrons who are able to acquire laptops for themselves to do so. those with smart phones can also be able to access the resources”. the director also made a plea to the management to adequately support the course especially when it comes to funding and budget allocation to the library. she also requested that klisc should find a way of dealing with the institutions that delay in paying their annual subscription fees independently and in a way that does not affect all the members. the klisc management representatives’ suggestions were that klisc should be promoted and marketed more and that effective communication to be worked on. they also suggested that ict infrastructures for the individual institutions be improved for effective availability of electronic resources. this is in line with mwanzia's (2014) suggestions, that is, promotion of klisc, improve infrastructure, fair treatment, and independent secretariat for klisc, separation of klisc’s accounts from that of nairobi university, and effective communication. conclusion and recommendations the study concluded that klisc members experienced the following challenges; slow internet connectivity, information illiteracy, lack of searching skills, low awareness levels, slow downloading speed, unfriendly platforms, password requirements for some databases, poor ict infrastructure, poor ict skills for both users and staff, delays in releasing of funds by the management, and slow communication from the publishers. klisc itself faces the following challenges: members do not efficiently communicate about their information needs, lack of sponsorship since inasp pulled out, delay by klisc’s members to pay their annual subscription fee, and the management team is overwhelmed by work. mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 35 the study therefore recommended the following: • institutions should invest more on ict infrastructure to cater for the huge number of users in need of these information resources. this includes acquisition of more computers and also increased bandwidth for the institution to boost the internet speed. • klisc should come up with a way of ensuring relevancy such as availing highly specialized databases to cater for institutions dealing with specialized fields. institutions should also take it upon them to look for relevant databases to their users as well as frequently forward their information needs to klisc. • klisc should stand on its own as an institution and acquire its own offices and employ staff who will just be working for klisc. • klisc should create a mini-consortium to cater for research institutions and also other specialized fields in different institutions in kenya. • the publisher should improve the interfaces of their databases to make them user friendly and easy to navigate. • the publishers should also ensure fast communications with the institutions and if possible give administrator accounts as soon as an institution subscribes to their databases. references chadwell, f. a. (2011). assessing the value of academic library consortia. journal of library administration, 51(7-8), 645-661. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2011.601268 chander, r., & gupta, a. (2015). library consortia in india. kowledge librarian: an international peer reviewed bilingual e-journal of library and information science, 2(3). fresnido, a. m. b., & yap, j. m. (2014). academic library consortia in the philippines. library management, 35(1/2), 15-36. galyani, g., & talawar, v. g. (2009). library consortia in developing countries: an overview. program, 43(1), 94-104. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330910934138 islam, m. a., & mezbah-ul-islam, m. (2000). concept, issues and importance of library consortium: problems and prospects of university library consortium in bangladesh. university of dhaka: bangladesh. israel, g. (2003). determining sample size. retrieved from https://www.tarleton.edu/academicassessment/documents/samplesize.pdf kiilu, d., gathoni, n., & kabugu, a. (2011). monitoring and evaluation of electronic resources in academic and research institutions in kenya. inasp/klisc. posigha, b. e., godfrey, v. z., & seimode, f. d. (2015). the trend of academic libraries consortia in the north central and south east geo-political zones of nigeria. library review, 64(4/5), 305-320. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr-07-2014-0084 thanuskodi, s. (2012). awareness and usage of ugc-infonet digital library consortium among faculty members of state universities in tamil nadu: a survey. international journal of information science, 2(3), 13-18. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijis.20120203.02 mwaurah and namande / international journal of librarianship 6(1) 36 university of nairobi. (2017). uon profile | university of nairobi. retrieved august 24, 2017, from university of nairobi website: http://uonbi.ac.ke/about/profile veenapani, s., singh, k., & devi, r. (2008). use of e-resources and ugc-infonet consortium by the teachers and research scholars in manipur university. international caliber, 563. about the authors naomy mwaurah is the assistant librarian at boma international hospitality college. ben wekalao namande is a lecturer and the chairperson of the research and innovation committee at kisii university. he is also a part-time lecturer at kenyatta university. 003-title-128-article text-939-2-11-20210624 003-128-article text-913-5-11-20210624-huang-ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part one weiling liu abstract: it has been a decade since tim berners-lee coined linked data in 2006. more and more linked data datasets have been made available for information retrieval on the web. it is essential for librarians, especially academic librarians, to keep up with the state of linked data. there is so much information about linked data that one may wonder where to begin when they want to join the linked data community. with this in mind, the author compiled this annotated bibliography as a starter kit. due to the many resources available, this list focuses on literature in english only and of specific projects, case studies, research studies, and tools that may be helpful to academic librarians, in addition to the overview of linked data concept and the current state of linked data evolution and adoption. to cite this article: liu, w. (2018). linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part one. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 36-53. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.47 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 36-53 issn:2474-3542 linked data in a nutshell: a starter kit of selected annotated bibliography and resources for academic librarians: part one weiling liu university of louisville, louisville, kentucky, usa abstract it has been a decade since tim berners-lee coined linked data in 2006. more and more linked data datasets have been made available for information retrieval on the web. it is essential for librarians, especially academic librarians, to keep up with the state of linked data. there is so much information about linked data that one may wonder where to begin when they want to join the linked data community. with this in mind, the author compiled this annotated bibliography as a starter kit. due to the many resources available, this list focuses on literature in english only and of specific projects, case studies, research studies, and tools that may be helpful to academic librarians, in addition to the overview of linked data concept and the current state of linked data evolution and adoption. keywords: linked data, linked open data, library linked data, semantic web, academic library, bibliography introduction linked data is an approach to publishing data using uris (uniform resource identifiers) on the web that can be shared and re-used by humans and computers. linked data are empowered by semantic technologies such as rdf (resource description framework), sparql (a query language for rdf), owl (web ontology language), and skos (simple knowledge organization system). linked data offers opportunities to extend the web (the web of documents) (linked data glossary, n.d.) towards a semantic web which is also called “the web of data” (wood, zaidman, ruth, & hausenblas, 2014, p. 3). the impact of linked data has shown on users’ search experiences and expectations on the web (e.g., google, facebook). tim berners-lee first coined the term, linked data, in 2006. since then, linked data datasets have grown considerably worldwide although there are still various challenges and issues liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 37 to be resolved, and even questions about its future. in the united states, some large-scale linked data datasets have been available or notable projects have been launched for years. for example, bibframe (bibliographic framework transition initiative) by library of congress, viaf (virtual international authority file) by online computer library center (oclc), and medical subject headings (mesh) rdf by the national library of medicine. two examples of new highprofile projects started after the w3c (world wide web consortium) library linked data incubator group’s 2011 final report include bibflow and linked data for libraries (ld4l). the library, archive, and museum (lam) community are encouraged to bring their resources into the semantic web environment via linked data (coyle, 2013, p. 57). they are strongly encouraged “to become more knowledgeable and attuned to the development and rollout of bibframe and how it fits within libraries and the larger linked data sphere” (library of congress, 2016). also, as mitchell suggests, it is essential to get more library staff up to speed with the current state of linked data and the future changes influenced by linked data (mitchell, 2016). motivated by these statements, the author has created this annotated bibliographic list as a starter kit, especially for those working in an academic setting. there is a lot of literature documenting linked data’s development, such as case studies, experiments, and research studies around the world. this kit focuses on literature and sources in english only and of specific projects, case studies, research studies, and tools. the kit is divided into two parts: part one focuses on linked data concepts, current state, and case studies of linked data evolution and adoption in a university setting. part two focuses on research studies of linked data vocabularies, library linked data, novel approaches and tools used to address issues and challenges related to linked data implementation. included in part one are references to five books, 17 journal articles, 14 websites, three reports, and several web-based articles. through these resources, readers will find answers to some fundamental questions such as: a) what is linked data (ld)?; b)linked open data (lod), and library linked data or linked library data (lld)?; c) how do they differ from each other?; what are the benefits of using linked data? and; d)how is it implemented and what is the current state of linked data adoption in the lam community? all the annotated resources in the sections below, except those in the website section, are listed in the references. for readers to easily follow the linked data development, the list in each section is ordered in ascending chronological order by year then by author. in the description and annotation of this kit, the term, linked data, will be used as a whole including lld and lod unless it is specified in a citation. the author hopes that through part one, readers will come to a basic understanding of linked data, an overview of linked data publishing and consumption, and the current state of linked data development in the lam community. concepts, benefits and current state liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 38 in this section, readers will find selected resources about linked data, and technologies used to implement it and the current state of linked data evolution and adoption. for a quick start, readers may begin with the blog article by jennifer lohmann. readers will see the original articles in which the concepts of the semantic web, linked data and linked open data were first proposed. readers will find detailed explanations of linked data’s potential benefits to the libraries, related issues, and recommendations for all library stakeholders (leaders, standard bodies, data and system designers, librarians, and archivists). last, in this section, readers will find some experts’ views on the future of linked data. berners-lee, t., hendler, j., & lassila, o. (2001). the semantic web. scientific american. retrieved from http://wwwsop.inria.fr/acacia/fabien/lecture/licence_travaux_etude2002/thesemanticweb/ the authors of this article describe an expected evolution of the current web to a semantic web and define that semantic web is an extension of the existing web. in semantic web, information is given well-defined meaning and able to be processed by computer software agents for the human users. in the article, the authors also describe how semantic web can be realized regarding expressing meaning, knowledge presentation, ontologies and software agents. berners-lee, t. (2006, july 27). linked data design issues. retrieved from https://www.w3.org/designissues/linkeddata.html this article discusses the solutions to the problems of semantic web, which define linked data and the four principles of linked data. later in 2010, berners-lee also added the information about linked open data and the 5-star linked open data standards. it is in this article that berners-lee, who proposed the semantic web in 2001, coined the term linked data. baker, t., bermès, e., coyle, k., dunsire, g., isaac, a., murray, p., . . . zeng, m. (2011). library linked data incubator group final report. retrieved from: https://www.w3.org/2005/incubator/lld/xgr-lld-20111025/ this final report is by w3c library linked data incubator group which was chartered from may 2010 through august 2011 to help increase global interoperability of library data on the web. through the analysis of use case survey and inventory of available datasets, the report covers the benefits of linked data, current issues related to existing library data and linked data initiatives, and recommendations for the future. in the appendix, it also includes the survey and inventory results as well as descriptions of relevant technologies and semantic “alignments” – links among vocabularies, metadata element sets, or datasets. this report is an excellent starting point resource to get an overview of library linked data. it includes definitions of linked data, linked open data, and library linked data. although there have been many updates to the state of linked data development and adoption liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 39 over the past few years, the critical recommendations given in the report for all stakeholders remain significant. coyle, k. (2013). linked data: an evolution. jlis.it, 4(1), 53-61. doi:10.4403/jlis.it-5443 coyle briefly summarizes the characteristics of users and resources that libraries are facing nowadays. coyle also highlights some library initiatives that follow semantic web standards and points out the importance of the library’s role in today’s information age: making library data available online where it will interact with existing and future information resources. coyle believes that linked data can provide significant support to libraries to ensure their leadership role in the future. pesch, o., & miller, e. (2016). using bibframe and library linked data to solve real problems: an interview with eric miller of zepheira. the serials librarian, 71(1), 1–8. doi:10.1080/0361526x.2016.1183159 this paper records the conversation between pesch and miller about the past, present, and future of bibframe (bibliographic framework initiative). questions cover many aspects including libraries’ missions and the role the web plays in these mission statements, the basic premise behind the creation of bibframe, to what extent linked data is useful now. following the interview, miller provides advice to libraries. mitchell, e. (2016, january 4). a linked data landscape: critical decisions for data licensing, shared standards, and system design. american libraries. retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/01/04/linked-data-landscape/ mitchell gives a summary of the current state of linked data adoption in the lam community. he suggests three focus points: education – training library staff for the upcoming changes; experimentation – exploring new systems with caution; and flexibility – monitoring standards as they are available. mitchell, e. t. (2016). library linked data: early activity and development [monograph]. library technology reports, 52(1), 5-33. retrieved from https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/534 mitchell gives an update on the broader state of linked data adoption focusing on the 2014 oclc's surveys of linked data adoption and updates from national and international project teams. in the 2013 issue of library technology reports (vol. 50, no. 5), mitchell explored the fundamentals of linked data and its related problems as well as the state of adoption and technology use across the lam community. mitchell revisits this topic in this report, but is focusing on current trends, challenges, and opportunities. liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 40 for example, the emerged technical concepts in linked data such as trig, n-quads, and json-ld that may influence linked data adoption in the future. in chapter 2, mitchell illustrates the trends explored in chapter 1 by examining a few representative projects and research initiatives in the linked data community. the projects include bibframe, bibframe lite, europeana, british library and british museum programs, and advances in oclc’s linked data projects. mitchell also discusses some high-profile research projects and initiatives such as bibflow and ld4l. the broad trends observed by mitchell through the review of projects and literature include the following: • an increasing interest in offering sparql endpoints as part of data publishing • the distinction between discovery (end-user), access/service (developer/professional), and policy/rights (legal) perspectives in ld services • the increasing need to bring together uri minting services and ensure that vocabulary adoption is done in a manageable way • the discussion around comprehensive versus distributed standards • the value of peer-to-peer metadata sharing and linking versus large or centralized sharing • reconciliation and interoperability across metadata standards (mitchell, 2016, p. 19) in chapter 3, mitchell examines trends around specific approaches, application systems, vocabularies, standards, and tools used in the projects mentioned in chapter 2. mitchell concludes that the cases and studies explored in chapter 2 indicate that “the ld lam community is reaching a level of maturity that may be shaping next steps in linked data adoption toward production systems and permanent migration” (p. 22). mitchell points out that oslo public library’s transformation to linked data-based services is an example of one project that has reached this goal. in chapter 4, mitchell explores the emerging issues of linked data adoption in the lam community such as data openness, standards compatibility and lack of support systems. mitchell also reviews some critical broad questions and topics of future exploration, for example, the role of large-scale projects and the impact of linked data on cataloger work and notions of value in the future. mitchell concludes that considerable progress has been seen in the past two years in building applications, vocabularies and best practices in the lam community. zaino, j. (2016, november 29). 2017 trends for semantic web and semantic technologies. retrieved from http://www.dataversity.net/2017-predictions-semantic-web-semantictechnologies/ zaino summarizes the views of a few experts on 2017 trends of semantic web and semantic web technologies. experts shared similar thoughts on the slow progress in the broader adoption of semantic web, such as linked data. they believed that the future would be focusing on artificial intelligence (ai). however, semantic web remains essential to the development of ai, as stated: “never doubt one thing: that is, that the semantic web, and semantic technologies liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 41 and techniques, have and will continue to propel the industry forward.” the experts include amit sheth, michael bergman, and david wood. sheth is the executive director of kno.e.sis—the ohio center of excellence in knowledge-enabled computing, who is also an educator, researcher, and entrepreneur. bergman, ceo of structured dynamics, is a co-founder of knowledge-based artificial intelligence startup cognonto. wood, an author of books including linking enterprise data, is cto of 3 round stones and director of technology at ephox + tinymce. lohmann, j. (2017, april 19). linked data definitions: bringing clarity to linked data terms and buzz words. [blog post]. retrieved from https://medium.com/library-linknetwork/linked-data-definitions-75d6e199d3ad the article starts with the concept of the marc record and illustrates linked data usage with two screenshots of web search results supported by linked data. at the end of the article, lohmann gives a brief description of library.link, a network of linked data contributed by libraries. this article explains the linked data concept in a non-technical way and seems to be a quick way to understand the concept of linked data. case studies, experiments, and projects from the resources given above, the readers may have learned the concepts of linked data, linked open data and library linked data as well as linked data benefits to the lam community. in this section, readers will find literature about linked data case studies, experiments, and projects. except for one published in 2009, the resources selected in this section are within the past five years. the types of datasets used in the projects or initiatives, experiments, and case studies cover many areas in an academic setting, such as archives, legal documents, theses and dissertations, medical databases, and music databases. involved systems include integrated library system, digital collection, discovery, and clinical decision support system. malmsten, m. (2009). exposing library data as linked data. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228391527_exposing_library_data_as_linke d_data this article gives an overview of the linked data implementation with libris (http://libris.kb.se), the swedish union catalogue. it describes the rationales behind this application as well as steps needed to convert the catalog to linked data. it also explains a minimal api (application program interface) for exporting bibliographic data and relations from an integrated library system. lampert, c., & southwick, s. (2013). leading to linking: introducing linked data to academic library digital collections. journal of library metadata, 13(2/3), 230–253. doi:10.1080/19386389.2013.82609 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 42 this article presents an overview of a project that transforms metadata of an academic library’s digital collections into linked data. it begins with an introduction of linked data concepts within the context of digital collections. the article covers the rationale for the project, technologies used for the data transformation, publishing and management, lessons learned, and the approach the project team took to learn about linked data concepts. thompson, k., & richard, j. (2013). moving our data to the semantic web: leveraging a content management system to create the linked open library. journal of library metadata, 13(2– 3), 290–309. doi:10.1080/19386389.2013.828551 this article describes two pilot projects of smithsonian libraries. one uses drupal (version 7), a content management system, to publish bibliographic data taken from the library catalog and present it as linked open data. the other creates linked open data from a much-cited botanical reference work, taxonomic literature ii (tl-2). smithsonian libraries successfully published their 4,000 digital objects as linked open data and converted tl-2 to linked open data with "4-star" quality scale. in the lessons learned section, the authors point out that the most challenging aspect of publishing linked open data with "5-star" [see berners-lee’s (2006) article in the previous section for linked open data definition] is to identify correct links in other data sources on the web. it is also difficult to create linked open data links especially when there are few or no common identifiers in the local dataset. hanson, e. m. (2014). a beginner’s guide to creating library linked data: lessons from ncsu’s organization name linked data project. serials review, 40(4), 251–258. doi:10.1080/00987913.2014.975887 in this article, hanson describes the organization name linked data (onld) project at the north carolina state university libraries (ncsu), a leading partner of gokb project. this article also covers project planning in addition to exploring best practices for data clean up, conversion, and publishing linked data. in conclusion, hanson states that the ncsu onld project has proved to be an excellent linked data pilot. hanson points out that the project was completed in a relatively short time frame with a small team although the creation of links between locally created datasets and externally linked datasets was manually done. tools and workflows developed during the project can be used for future projects. hanson also encourages librarians to get involved, especially those who work with serials. mak, l., higgins, d., collie, a., & nicholson, s. (2014). enabling and integrating etd repositories through linked data. library management, 35(4/5), 284–292. doi:10.1108/lm-08-2013-0075 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 43 in the article, the authors describe the process of developing a linked data model that uses electronic theses and dissertation (etd) data. through the analysis of graph data, the article illustrates a new perspective in examining the academic research landscape which describes the relationships between departments, faculty members, themes, and dissertation authors. antelman, k., & wilson, k. (2015). the global open knowledgebase (gokb): open linked data supporting electronic resources management and scholarly communication. insights, 28(1), 42-50. doi:10.1629/uksg.217 this article gives a detailed overview of gokb (http://gokb.org) and its potential benefits. gokb is a repository of open data related to library e-resources. gokb was initially a collaboration between kuali ole (the open library environment) partners and jisc of the united kingdom. gokb now has attracted others from all over the world. the article is based on a breakout session held at the 38th uksg annual conference in glasgow on march-april 2015. bushman, b., anderson, d., & fu, g. (2015). transforming the medical subject headings into linked data: creating the authorized version of mesh in rdf. journal of library metadata, 15(3–4), 157–176. doi:10.1080/19386389.2015.1099967 this article reviews the project initiated by national library of medicine (nlm) that converts the medical subject headings from xml to rdf. it also examines the collaborative process, the technical and organizational issues, and the future of linked data at the library. the authors point out that this mesh rdf pilot has brought together representatives from many areas of nlm. it has dramatically improved the knowledge sharing across the library about linked data along with related aspects such as data modeling, application development, version control, and workflow management. it is only a beginning, and there are still many unsolved challenges, for example, the publication of mesh rdf is not yet real linked data, and the decision on data modeling still needs more discussions. lafia, s., jablonski, j., kuhn, w., cooley, s., & medrano, f. a. (2016). spatial discovery and the research library. transactions in gis, 20(3), 399–412. doi:10.1111/tgis.12235 this article presents a proof-of-concept model developed in a joint research project by the library and the center for spatial studies, both at the university of california, santa barbara (ucsb). this model uses linked data solution in which spatial and non-spatial research data can be shared in a self-deposit environment like arcgis online. through this model, the authors demonstrate how academic libraries can increase the discoverability and reusability of research publications and data across disciplinary boundaries by linking publications stored in a library repository to data hosted on an external system like esri open data. van ballegooie, m., borie, j., & senior, a. (2017). the canadian linked data initiative: charting a path to a linked data future. the serials librarian, 72(1–4), 207–213. doi:10.1080/0361526x.2017.1292751 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 44 this article is a preliminary report on the progress of cldi (canadian linked data initiative), which is a collaboration between library and archives canada, bibliothèque et archives nationales du québec, canadiana.org, and five of canada's largest research libraries. this report covers the work of cldi in five critical areas of activity: digital collections, education and training, legacy metadata enhancement, grant funding, and the adaptation and evaluation of bibframe tools. this article reports on the first nine months of the partnership since september 2015 when the cldi was formed and also outlines the new opportunities and challenges in this collaborative project. for example, the development of cross-country, cross-institutional collaboration is one of the most immediate opportunities. a problem is how to bring individual library units onboard when both human and funding resources are scarce. marco-ruiz, l., pedrinaci, c., maldonado, j. a., panziera, l., chen, r., & bellika, j. g. (2016). publication, discovery and interoperability of clinical decision support systems: a linked data approach. journal of biomedical informatics, 62, 243–264. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2016.07.011 this article is a study in which linked data principles are used to develop methods and models to enhance clinical decision support (cds) services. the three areas the study focused on include developing ways to define the cds service semantics, discovering services based on such methods, and analyzing their metadata, functionality and data models. the study results show that linked data makes it possible to integrate cds services under shared linked knowledge bases and to use intelligent queries for their discovery in a health network. linked data also enables the possibility to analyze services based on rich unambiguous semantics that powers the interoperability and reuse of cds services. page, k. r., bechhofer, s., fazekas, g., weigl, d. m., & wilmering, t. (2017). realising a layered digital library: exploration and analysis of the live music archive through linked data. in 2017 acm/ieee joint conference on digital libraries (jcdl) (pp. 1–10). doi:10.1109/jcdl.2017.7991563 this article illustrates how calma (computational analysis of the live music archive), a digital library layered over the live music archive, was built using a linked data approach. the live music archive is part of an online resource, internet archive, which provides access to a sizeable community-contributed collection of live recordings. through concrete examples and exploratory investigation, the authors demonstrate the benefits of calma in the capability and flexibility it can bring to scholarly users. as summarized in the article, there have been some previous successful implementations of applying semantic web technologies in the context of digital music collections with similar research focuses. however, there are some limitations of those applications. calma is described as an implemented example of linked data of practical use which exhibits as a better solution regarding information consumption, enrichment, and reuse. liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 45 szőke, á., förhécz, a., kőrösi, g., & strausz, g. (2013). versioned linking of semantic enrichment of legal documents. artificial intelligence and law, 21(4), 485–519. doi:10.1007/s10506-013-9145-z this article illustrates the benefits of linked data in improving access to legal information on the web. the proposed semantic enrichment approach presented in this article is a combination of a knowledge base-based enrichment method of legal texts and a linking method. it is intended to address three issues:1) the ambiguousness of legal texts, 2) utilizing the application of legal reasoners, and 3) change management of legal texts. the review of current approaches in the field, such as akoma ntoso and metalex, show that solutions to these issues were not found or only partially handled. however, the new semantic enrichment approach, as the case study shows, can address these problems. the article provides useful information on background and the new enrichment methodology, great detailed explanations on the identification and the versioning of legal resources, and a good overview of the linking approach and the proof-of-concept experiment. resource for implementation this section includes selected bibliographies of literature for publishing and consuming linked data. readers will learn more details about linked data, linked open data, library linked data and tools for use in the development as well as various linked data related resources. readers may find information about consumption of linked data in many of the resources on this list, but there is an article reviewing linked data browsers and exploratory search system. heath, t., & bizer, c. (2011). linked data: evolving the web into a global data space. synthesis lectures on the semantic web: theory and technology, 1:1. san rafael, ca: morgan & claypool. retrieved from http://linkeddatabook.com/editions/1.0 this book provides an overview of the principles of linked data and relevant aspects of the web of data. it also provides guidance and best practices on two main topics – the publication and consumption of linked data. there are seven chapters in the book. the first three chapters cover the overview of linked data principles and the web of data. chapter 4 and 5 are about architectural approaches to publishing linked data, methods for automated linking of data sets, and how to choose uris and vocabularies to identify and describe resources as well as debugging approaches for linked data deployment. chapter 6 gives an overview of existing linked data applications and tools, and chapter 7 is the summary and outlook. through this book, “[r]eaders can expect to gain a rich technical understanding of linked data fundamentals, as the basis for application development, research or further study” (heath & bizer, 2011). hooland, s., & verborgh, r. (2014). linked data for libraries, archives and museums: how to clean, link and publish your metadata. chicago, il: neal-schuman liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 46 in the book, the authors explore the evolution of metadata and implementation of linked data in theory and practice, with a focus on the common metadata shared by the lam community through the discussions and illustrations of case studies. this handbook is very informative and well-structured with practical hands-on examples. it is an excellent resource for those who are interested in learning more about linked data and wishing to get started with their institution's linked data projects. there are seven chapters, and five of them are on specific topics: modeling, cleaning, reconciling, enriching, and publishing. each of these sections gives its goal, target audience, conceptual insights and practical skills as well as case studies. the book also provides links to websites for downloading the metadata used in each case study. wood, d., zaidman, m., ruth, l., & hausenblas, m. (2014). linked data: structured data on the web. shelter island, ny: manning. this book presents the linked data concepts in context, covering techniques for how to publish linked data and optimize web pages with linked data for searching as well as how to consume linked data. it brings the contents to readers in step-by-step work through examples of increasing complexity. the book has four parts and eleven chapters. the book also provides links to source codes used in the book. appendices include supplemental information such as a reference to development environment setups of the tools used in the book. the intended audience is web developers who are interested in publishing and consuming linked data. however, it is written in such an easy to understand manner; it does not require any previous knowledge about linked data or semantic web technologies but a basic familiarity with web technologies such as html, http, and uris. godby, c., wang, s., & mixter, j. (2015). library linked data in the cloud: oclc's experiments with new models of resource description. san rafael, ca: morgan & claypool. this book describes oclc's experiments with library linked data and its contributions to the transformation of legacy data from a web of documents to a web of data. it focuses on modeling bibliographic descriptions as linked data not only in theory but also with technical details and practical applications. the main topics covered in chapters are the semantic web and library standards, modeling library authority files and creative works, discovering creative works, using text mining for entity identification, and the library linked data cloud. at the end of the book, the authors address a few lessons learned and challenges confronted. the book is intended for those who are interested in modeling bibliographic descriptions as linked data, but beginners may get an overview of what oclc has been working on regarding linked data. jacksi, k., dimililer, n., & zeebaree, s. r. m. (2016). state of the art exploration systems for linked data: a review. international journal of advanced computer science and applications (ijacsa), 7(11). doi:10.14569/ijacsa.2016.071120 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 47 the article gives a review of semantic web technology and an overview of the search strategies. the article provides the survey results of state-of-the-art linked data browsers (ldbs) and exploratory search systems (esss) based on linked open data. the article also compares each of the ldbs and esss concerning features such as algorithms, data presentations, and explanations. as the use of linked open data has notably increased on the web, the challenge for users becomes more apparent, and a lot of ldbs have been developed to address issues. the detailed review of these ldbs and esss is beneficial for librarians as a linked data consumer as well as a contributor. jones, e., & seikel, m. (eds.). (2016). linked data for cultural heritage. chicago, il: american library association. in the book, the editors present six contributions by an authoritative group of authors including librarians, technology experts, and project managers who implemented linked data projects across the lam community, to help readers understand linked data concepts and its purpose. the book begins with a brief overview of the basic description of linked data and its promises and challenges. individual chapters cover different topics including a survey of several linked open data projects around the world, controlled vocabularies, and their purpose, best practices regarding creating library thesauri, metadata element sets, oclc’s experiment with schema.org, and bibframe data model. it is “[r]ecommended for readers interested in lis and the history and methods of disseminating information in virtual environments” (harris, 2016, p.108). more specifically, readers “will find current perspectives on such questions as what linked data can or cannot (yet) do, what kinds of tools exist to assist the conversion, what level of human intervention will be needed, why are controlled vocabularies needed, and how can they be found and selected” (ojennus, 2017, p.174). coyle, k. (2012). linked data tools: connecting on the web [monograph]. library technology reports,48(4), 6-46. retrieved from https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/183 coyle presents an overview of current library data activities and introduces semantic web concepts in the context of library data, including primary components of linked data. coyle discusses metadata elements, the building blocks of metadata scheme as well as controlled vocabularies for linked data. coyle also covers in the last two chapters various tools and resources on linked data for both beginners and advanced users, linked data implementation, and related communities. websites this section aims to provide readers with a quick reference list of selected website resources. linked data standards, library linked datasets or linked data services, notable library linked data liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 48 projects or initiatives in the united states, tools, and subject conferences. most of these resources are mentioned in the literature in section 1-3. however, the author identifies them here for readers’ convenience because they are not only good for keeping up-to-date on linked data development in the libraries but also essential for implementation. the american art collaborative: linked open data initiative (http://americanartcollaborative.org/) the american art collaborative (aac) is a consortium of 14 art museums in the united states. the collaborative believes that linked open data offers the productive potential to increase the understanding of art and is committed to building a network of practitioners, sharing information with the library, archives, and museum community, and establishing a critical mass of linked open data on the web. the website includes various links to related information and resources such as “linked data and tools,” “aac browse app demo,” and “the linked art data model.” bibflow (https://bibflow.library.ucdavis.edu/) bibflow, funded by the institute of museum and library services, is a two-year project of the university of california, davis’ university library and zepheira. as its official title “reinventing cataloging: models for the future of library operations” indicates, this project is investigating the future of library cataloging and related workflows, in light of modern technology infrastructures such as the web, new data models, and formats such as rda (resource description and access) and bibframe. the roadmap of this project is available on the website. dbpedia (http://dbpedia.org/) dbpedia is an open community project. the structured information found in dbpedia is extracted from wikipedia with crowd-sourced community effort and available on the web. dbpedia makes it possible for search engines like google to use sophisticated queries against wikipedia, and to link the different datasets on the web to wikipedia data. json for linked data (https://json-ld.org/) javascript object notation (json) for linked data (json-ld), based on the already successful json format, is a lightweight linked data format which is easy for both machines to parse and generate and humans to read and write. this site includes some popular programming environments and resources for developers. it also provides a playground not only helpful to developers but also general users who are interested in learning json-ln. library.link network (http://library.link) liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 49 this website is the home of the library.link network (lln). lln was created as a collaboration by zepheira and library industry partners: atlas systems, ebsco novelist, innovative interfaces, and sirsidynix. library.link provides a platform on behalf of libraries for libraries to publish their content on the web using linked data standards and semantic technologies. “link domain data, filters and services for university of manitoba libraries (http://link.lib.umanitoba.ca/data.html)” is an example of library data published using library.link. the library of congress: bibframe (bibliographic framework initiative) (https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/) bibframe is an initiative by the library of congress. a primary focus of this effort is to explore a way for the transition from the marc 21 formats to bibframe, a data model that makes bibliographic data more useful both within and outside the library community using linked data principles. the library of congress linked data service: authorities and vocabularies. (http://id.loc.gov/) influenced by linked data, the library of congress’ linked data service provides commonly found standards and vocabularies published by the library of congress that are accessible by both humans and machines. the website includes data values and the controlled vocabularies such as library of congress subject headings. ld4l: linked data for libraries (https://ld4l.org/) the linked data for libraries (ld4l) website, as described on the site, is a gateway to linked data projects for library communities. ld4l website contains information on linked data for production (ld4p) (2016-2018) and ld4l labs (2016-2018) as well as ld4l (2014–2016). ld4p focuses on production workflows based on linked open data. ld4l labs focuses on developing tools and providing support to pilot solutions that can be in production at research libraries in the future. ld4l projects are all collaborations and funded by the andrew w. mellon foundation. national library of medicine: medical subject headings rdf (http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh) this website is the home for mesh rdf. mesh is a linked data representation of the mesh biomedical vocabulary produced by the national library of medicine. resources offered on mesh rdf includes a downloadable sparql query editor, a restful (rest representational state transfer) interface for retrieving mesh data as well as a file in rdf ntriples format, a sparql endpoint api, and some sample queries. oclc linked data (http://www.oclc.org/developer/develop/linked-data.en.html) liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 50 this page summarizes oclc’s linked data development including datasets, ongoing projects and products in development. for example, the dewey decimal classification (ddc), the virtual international authorities file (viaf) and faceted application of subject terminology (fast) that have been published as linked data. worldcat linked data is an ongoing experimental project. openrefine (http://openrefine.org/) as described on the site, openrefine (a free open source and formerly google refine) is a powerful tool for working with messy data. it can be used for cleaning and transforming data from one format to another. it is now a community site and has been maintained by volunteers since 2012 when google stopped supporting this project. schema.org (http://schema.org/) schema.org, an initiative launched by bing, google, and yahoo in 2011 and later joined by yandex, is a collaborative, community activity. it intends to use the schema.org vocabulary along with the microdata, rdfa (resource description framework in attributes), or json-ld formats to markup website content with metadata about itself. oclc has been working with schema.org for years on its linked data projects such as worldcat.org by appending schema.org descriptive mark-up to worldcat.org pages. swib semantic web in libraries (http://swib.org) this website is for semantic web in libraries conferences. according to the information available on the site, swib conference is an annual conference, started in 2009, and is organized by zbw german national library of economics / leibniz information centre for economics and the north rhine-westphalian library service centre (hbz). since 2012, the conferences are in english. as stated on the site, the conference focuses on linked open data in libraries and related organizations and is oriented not only for it professionals or developers, but also librarians and researchers from all over the world: “wib revolve around opening data, linking data and creating tools and software for linked open data production scenarios. these areas of focus are supplemented by presentations of research projects in applied sciences, industry applications and linked open data activities in other areas” (swib17, n.d.). previous conference presentations are accessible from the history tab of the site. w3c (world wide web consortium) (https://www.w3.org) the site is the official website of world wide web consortium. it contains all the information about linked data and related standards and specifications (https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data) and resources for tools such as sparql (https://www.w3.org/tr/rdf-sparql-query/) and wiki (https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/tools). liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 51 the wiki on tools is on w3c, but the community maintains its content. it includes a collection of references to complete development environments, editors, libraries or modules for various programming languages, specialized browsers, etc. summary linked data, explained as the web of data, will significantly benefit information search and discovery. the transition of library data from the format for the web of documents to the web of data will impact not only users’ search experiences but also library’s future workflows. this starter kit is expected to give academic librarians a good starting point to learn more about linked data. this unique list includes the references to original articles and resources about linked data standards and framework; examples of practices covering most domains of an academic library such as art, medical, and music; and different types of data: bibliographic data, and local metadata for archives, digital collections, and etd. the list also has references to books on how to implement linked data as well as websites of standards, notable projects or initiatives, and tools. as a starting point, the focus of part one is primarily on fundamental theory and practices for publishing and consuming linked data. other aspects such as data management, specific applications, and assessment will be included in part two. references antelman, k., & wilson, k. (2015). the global open knowledgebase (gokb): open linked data supporting electronic resources management and scholarly communication. insights, 28(1), 42-50. doi:10.1629/uksg.217 baker, t., bermès, e., coyle, k., dunsire, g., isaac, a., murray, p., . . . zeng, m. (2011). library linked data incubator group final report. retrieved from w3c incubator. world wide web consortium website: https://www.w3.org/2005/incubator/lld/xgr-lld20111025/ berners-lee, t. (2006, july 27). linked data design issues. retrieved from https://www.w3.org/designissues/linkeddata.html berners-lee, t., hendler, j., & lassila, o. (2001). the semantic web. scientific american. retrieved from http://wwwsop.inria.fr/acacia/fabien/lecture/licence_travaux_etude2002/thesemanticweb/ bushman, b., anderson, d., & fu, g. (2015). transforming the medical subject headings into linked data: creating the authorized version of mesh in rdf. journal of library metadata, 15(3–4), 157–176. doi:10.1080/19386389.2015.1099967 cole, t. w., han, m., weathers, w. f., & joyner, e. (2013). library marc records into linked open data: challenges and opportunities. journal of library metadata, 13(2/3), 163–196. doi:10.1080/19386389.2013.826074 coyle, k. (2012). linked data tools: connecting on the web [monograph]. library technology reports, 48(4), 6-46. retrieved from: https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/183 liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 52 coyle, k. (2013). linked data: an evolution. jlis.it, 4(1), 53. doi:10.4403/jlis.it-5443 godby, c., wang, s., & mixter, j. (2015). library linked data in the cloud: oclc's experiments with new models of resource description. san rafael, ca: morgan & claypool. doi:10.2200/s00620ed1v01y201412wbe012 gracy, k. f., zeng, m. l., & skirvin, l. (2013). exploring methods to improve access to music resources by aligning library data with linked data: a report of methodologies and preliminary findings. journal of the american society for information science and technology, 64(10), 2078. hanson, e. m. (2014). a beginner’s guide to creating library linked data: lessons from ncsu’s organization name linked data project. serials review, 40(4), 251–258. doi:10.1080/00987913.2014.975887 harris, j. (2016). linked data for cultural heritage. [review of the book linked data for cultural heritage, ed. by e. jones & m. seikel]. library journal, 141(20), 108. heath, t., & bizer, c. (2011). linked data: evolving the web into a global data space. synthesis lectures on the semantic web: theory and technology, 1:1. san rafael, ca: morgan & claypool. retrieved from http://linkeddatabook.com/editions/1.0 hooland, s., verborgh, r., & neal-schuman publishers. (2014). linked data for libraries, archives and museums: how to clean, link and publish your metadata (u.s. edition. ed.). chicago, il: neal-schuman. jacksi, k., dimililer, n., & zeebaree, s. r. m. (2016). state of the art exploration systems for linked data: a review. international journal of advanced computer science and applications (ijacsa), 7(11). doi:10.14569/ijacsa.2016.071120 jones, e., & seikel, m. (eds.). (2016). linked data for cultural heritage. chicago, il: american library association. lafia, s., jablonski, j., kuhn, w., cooley, s., & medrano, f. a. (2016). spatial discovery and the research library. transactions in gis, 20(3), 399–412. doi:10.1111/tgis.12235 lampert, c., & southwick, s. (2013). leading to linking: introducing linked data to academic library digital collections. journal of library metadata, 13(2/3), 230–253. doi:10.1080/19386389.2013.82609 library of congress. (2016, november 22). bibframe and pcc. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/bibframe/bibframe-and-pcc.html linked data glossary. (n.d.). retrieved march 16, 2018, from https://www.w3.org/tr/2013/note-ld-glossary-20130627/#web-of-documents lohmann, j. (2017, april 19). linked data definitions: bringing clarity to linked data terms and buzz words. [blog post]. retrieved from https://medium.com/library-linknetwork/linked-data-definitions-75d6e199d3ad mak, l., higgins, d., collie, a., & nicholson, s. (2014). enabling and integrating etd repositories through linked data. library management, 35(4/5), 284–292. doi:10.1108/lm-08-2013-0075 malmsten, m. (2009). exposing library data as linked data. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228391527_exposing_library_data_as_linked_ data liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 53 marco-ruiz, l., pedrinaci, c., maldonado, j. a., panziera, l., chen, r., & bellika, j. g. (2016). publication, discovery and interoperability of clinical decision support systems: a linked data approach. journal of biomedical informatics, 62, 243–264. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2016.07.011 mitchell, e. (2016, january 4). a linked data landscape: critical decisions for data licensing, shared standards, and system design. american libraries. retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/01/04/linked-data-landscape/ mitchell, e. t. (2016). library linked data: early activity and development [monograph]. library technology reports, 52(1), 5-33. retrieved from https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/issue/view/534 ojennus, p. (2017). [review of the book linked data for cultural heritage, ed. by e. jones & m. seikel]. library resources & technical services, 61(3), 173-174. page, k. r., bechhofer, s., fazekas, g., weigl, d. m., & wilmering, t. 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(2016, november 29). 2017 trends for semantic web and semantic technologies. retrieved from http://www.dataversity.net/2017-predictions-semantic-web-semantictechnologies/ about the author weiling liu is professor and head of office of libraries technology at university of louisville, louisville, kentucky, usa. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 87-99 issn: 2474-3542 retrospect and prospect: the creation and development of an academic journal guoying liu, university of windsor, canada yongming wang, the college of new jersey, united states xiaoai ren, valdosta state university, united states michael bailou huang, stony brook university, united states kevin liu, shanghai library, china qing zou, lakehead university, canada abstract this article reflects the initiation, establishment, and development of the international journal of librarianship (ijol), an open access academic journal published by the chinese american librarians association (cala). sustainability and high quality have been set as the top priorities by the core editorial team throughout the journey of the creation, promotion, and advancement of this journal. the opportunities, challenges, and success are discussed along with the future directions of ijol. this article contributes to the literature in the creation and development of academic journals, especially the open access publications in library and information science (lis). keywords: chinese american librarians association (cala), ijol, academic journal introduction the international journal of librarianship (ijol) is an open access, peer-reviewed academic journal for scholarly communication of research, best practices, and perspectives on all aspects of library, librarianship, and information science, throughout the world (ijol, 2023; liu, 2016). it is published by the chinese american librarians association (cala). founded in 1973 in the united states, cala is an affiliate of american library association (ala), international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla), and joint council of librarians of color (jclc). cala now has ten chapters and more than six hundred active members throughout the world (https://cala-web.org/about/ ). https://cala-web.org/about/ liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 88 since its launch in 2016, ijol “enjoys an ever-expanding cohort of authorship and readership” which are way beyond the cala community (wang & ren, 2022, p.1). by the end of 2022, it had published one hundred and thirty-four articles by more than two hundred authors from over twenty countries in all five continents around the world. the publication of ijol has greatly amplified the scholarly voices from under-represented regions and cultures in lis academic publication landscape. though the majority published papers whose authors are from north america, there are significant number of papers whose authors are from africa – about thirty percent overall – which are typically underrepresented in the mainstream english publishing arena. the process of creating an academic journal is rarely documented in literature (loft, jorissen & walton, 2002). this article aims to examine the establishment and development of ijol and to provide insights on its events, achievements and future directions responding to new challenges in the lis field. conception and initiation the journey of ijol creation started with the seventh cala 21st century librarian seminar series in baoshan, yunnan, china in july 2015, an event sponsored by the yunnan academic library committee, baoshan university, and cala. the delegation from cala consisted of seven members from canada and the united states, including cala executive director, cala incoming vice president, three professional librarians selected by the cala international relations committee, dean of libraries at texas tech university, and ala president 2014-2015. the papers presented in the seminar were published in the journal of baoshan university, a print chinese journal published by baoshan university. even though the abstract of each paper from the delegation was in both english and chinese but the full text was in chinese. this publication arrangement was a challenge for the delegation to translate their papers – written in english – from english to chinese. in addition, it was impossible to share their work with the whole cala community, their own institutions, and other related communities, whose primary communication language is english. this challenge led to discussions on cala publications and the trend of open access academic publication among the members. following the discussions, the cala open access academic journal task force (oaajtf) was formed to examine the necessity and possibility of starting a high-quality academic publication for cala with the strong support of cala executive committee (ec), especially the executive director. in the past half century, cala has grown into an international organization consisting of chapters and members throughout the united states, canada, china, singapore, and other countries and regions (cala, 2023a). it aims to: ● enhance communication among chinese american librarians as well as between chinese american librarians and other librarians, and ● serve as a forum for discussions of mutual problems and professional concerns among chinese american librarians. (cala, 2021) cala is the largest asian-american professional library association in north america (echevarria and wertheimer, 1997). there has been a growing interest for cala and its members to have their own academic english journal. according to the membership committee 2022-2023, cala had over six hundred members, among which over sixty percent were academic librarians in the united states or canada at the end of 2022. crampsie, neville & henry (2020) pointed out liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 89 that “academic publishing continued[s] to be a prominent expectation for many academic librarians” (p. 248) and “most tenure-earning academic librarians in north america were [are] required to do research, and many non-tenure-earning librarians were [are] expected or encouraged to publish.” (p. 249) in addition to individual members’ desire to disseminate their research and scholarly work through academic publishing, cala, as an organization, demands publishing options for the intellectual work produced through scholarly activities it hosts or co-hosts. in 2014-2019, eleven formal international collaborations were recorded between cala and library related organizations in mainland china (ruan, 2019). such collaborations brought in conferences, seminars, and other academic exchange activities that produced intellectual work by cala members. these activities call for academic publication venues to share with the cala community and beyond. at the end of 2015, there were two academic publications associated with cala as follows: ● journal of library and information science: a partnership of cala with the journal publisher, national taiwan normal university. it is published mainly in chinese and not open access, which makes it hard to serve as a venue for most cala members to share their work in english. ● cala occasional papers series (ops): an irregularly published, open access, less scholarly publication. unlike a standard open access academic journal, the ops did not have an online submission and publication system, nor archival or digital object identifier (doi) services. it published the inaugural issue in march 2008 and the last issue in june 2013. there were twelve issues in total. each issue contained one paper so twelve papers were published with this publication. in their report to cala ec, liu et al. (2015) indicated that the ops suspended publishing for about two and half years due to the lack of paper submissions and the full text articles it published were not accessible during the investigation period. the oaajtf not only examined the history, landscape, opportunities, and challenges with cala academic publications, but also consulted with various cala leaders and related parties, including chairs of cala publications committee and editors of previous and existing cala publications. the committee recommended to cala ec to create a new open access, high standard academic journal rather than convert from an old, less academic one. the recommendation was approved by the ec after constructive discussions between the oaajtf, the ec, and other stakeholders. the following goals were set up as the major responsibilities of the oaajtf: ● establish a reputable, peer-reviewed, regularly published (biannual), and sustainable cala academic journal. ● make this journal as a primary publication venue for cala members and other chinese librarians in north america, china, and other regions in the world for their academic work (liu, et al., 2015). liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 90 establishment and development design and creation the previously mentioned publications had made significant contributions to cala and the open scholarship of lis profession. however, the challenges they faced were noticeable as well, which included the difficulty of obtaining manuscripts of submissions, and building a stable, dedicated editorial team in the long run under the existing cala organizational structure. historically, cala tended to treat journal editorial teams as other committees and appointed new editors every few years. this practice introduced significant challenges for running the academic journal smoothly. journal editing and publication require a long-term commitment and specialized expertise and experiences from its core editorial team. compared to other committees in cala, a journal editorial team needs multiple years’ devotion: (1) to foster a culture of collaboration and dedication, (2) to establish talent pools of reviewers, authors, and other contributors through marketing, mentoring and additional support, and (3) to build strong relationships with various partners in cala and other lis communities to succeed in the long run. a succession plan shall be in place to ensure the expertise and experiences with the journal operations be carried throughout the process of carefully selecting and appointing new leaders for the journal. based on the constructive advice from previous editors, cala leaders and other professionals, the oaajtf set sustainability and high quality as top priorities for the new journal. with the support of cala ec and other leaders, the team developed the journal bylaws to address the challenges experienced by previous cala publications and ensure the sustainability of the new one. the bylaws named the new journal as the international journal of librarianship (ijol), and defined its scope, publication frequency, along with the structure and responsibilities of editorial team and editorial advisory board. eligibility criteria, terms, and appointment procedures were determined for the editors, peer reviewers, and advisory board members. the editorial and publication process was established along with the double-blinded peer reviewing process for featured articles and reports from the field submitted to the new journal. following the approval of the bylaws by the cala ec, the oaajtf developed plans for budget and actions, project timelines, and established the inaugural editorial board. the six-member editorial board worked diligently and collaboratively. they accomplished extensive tasks towards the official launch of ijol within about one year. relevant documents were created for the journal, including ethical and privacy statements, copyright notice, author guidelines, invitation letters for advisory board members, appointment letters for copy editors and layout editors, and call for papers. although the journal is in english, these letters and call for papers have been translated into chinese to promote it to cala members and other information professionals in china. the editorial board reached out to various professionals in cala and other organizations to build the teams for advisory board, peer reviewing, copyediting and layout editing. they also reached out to potential authors to invite manuscript submissions. in the meantime, the editorial board fulfilled a variety of tasks including issn application, crossref membership application, and journal logo design. the open journal system (ojs) was adopted to manage the workflow for submission, peer review, and publication. the journal website was developed for registration, paper submission, public access to articles and issues published, announcements and other contents related to ijol. liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 91 articles, authorship, and readership about one year after the establishment of oaajtf, the inaugural issue of the ijol was officially launched in december 2016. it contained seven articles, of which five were peer-reviewed. at the time of writing this article, thirteen issues (two issues per year except the first year) have been published with a total number of one hundred and thirty-four articles of which ninety are peerreviewed. all issues have been published on schedule. articles published in the journal have designated dois and are indexed and freely accessible via ebsco and proquest databases, the directory of open access journals, and many other online platforms upon publication. they are preserved permanently by the library of congress and the pkp preservation network (pn) system, a lockss program. after six-year publishing, ijol has extended its influence and authorship far beyond the cala community and has become a truly global journal in lis field. the 134 published articles are authored by more than 200 scholars from more than twenty countries in five continents. its readership has also expanded greatly over the years. up to march 2023, the total abstract views has reached 106,327 and the full-text downloads 46,139, which on average equals to 341 full-text downloads per article. the highest download of the individual article is 1,656, and the highest abstract view of the individual article is 6,123. many articles report research and other intellectual work produced by international collaboration, such as the collaboration between canada and the united states, canada and china, or china and the united states. some issues were co-edited via international collaboration by the experts from canada, china, finland, or the united states, for example, the special issue on sustainability and libraries in december 2020 and the special issue on folio in december 2021. figure 1 details the number of articles published by each issue in ijol, and each issue’s readership, plus the theme if the issue is a special issue. issue number of articles abstract views full-text downloads special issue vol.1, no.1 7 10,303 3,553 vol.2, no.1 11 14,284 3,960 data librarianship vol.2, no.2 13 12,414 3,815 vol.3, no.1 14 15,848 4,852 linked data vol.3, no.2 9 7,916 3,628 vol.4, no.1 9 6,184 2,802 vol.4, no.2 8 6,006 3,073 vol.5, no.1 9 9,304 5,106 data science and ai vol.5, no.2 9 7,532 4,788 sustainability and libraries vol.6, no.1 8 4,700 2,187 vol.6, no.2 10 5,383 4,026 folio vol.7, no.1 12 4,155 2,430 pandemic and libraries vol.7, no.2 15 2,297 1,919 total 134 106,326 46,139 figure 1. the number of articles published (2016-2022) and its readership (2016-2023) liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 92 the journal also welcomes guest editors on specialized topics. by the end of 2022, six special issues had been published on a variety of emerging lis topics, including data librarianship, linked data, data science and artificial intelligence, sustainability and libraries, folio open-source library services platform, and pandemic and libraries. over the years, ijol has built a community of highly diversified authors, editors, reviewers, and other contributors from various countries and regions, including australia, brazil, canada, china, finland, ghana, india, japan, kazakhstan, kenya, lebanon, nigeria, norway, pakistan, philippines, south africa, sri lanka, tanzania, the uk, the us, and zimbabwe. the journal has become a truly international publication that has increased voices from those under-represented regions and cultures in lis academic publication landscape. figure 2 illustrates the countries or regions of authors published with ijol in 2016-2022. figure 2. author’s countries or regions in 2016-2022 figure 3 shows the countries or regions of ijol authors on the map of the world, including the number of publishing authors from each country or region. the map indicates that one hundred twenty authors are from the united states, representing sixty percent of the total number of authors published with ijol. there is still a lot for the journal to do in future to include more voices from under-represented regions, especially outside of north america. 0% 50% 100% authors' coutries/regions by issue australia brazil canada mainland china finland ghana hong kong india japan kazakhstan kenya lebanon nigeria norway pakistan philippines sri lanka tanzania uk us zimbabwe liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 93 figure 3. author’s countries or regions on the map of the world in addition to featured articles, reports from the field, reviews, commentaries, the editorial board developed two columns unique to this journal, the lis education around the world and the library associations around the world. articles published in the columns introduce related topics on an international scale, such as lis education accreditation and practices in different countries, the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) journal and professional development, and lebanese library association. (ijol, 2023) these columns help improve the diversity of this journal and the international connection among libraries and other related information organizations in different regions in the world. promotion, partnership and advocacy promotion, presentations and library visits marketing is important to a newly created journal like ijol. since its inception, the editorial board has posted calls for papers, new releases issues, and other announcements to cala listserv and other library related networks. they wrote articles about the new journal for ala and cala publications, such as the international leads and the cala newsletter. (ren, 2016; ren et al., 2017) they also presented to a number of national and international library conferences introducing the journal to cala and wider lis communities, including 2016 cala annual conference, 2017 american library association annual conference, the 83rd ifla general conference and assembly, and the shanghai international library forum (silf) in 2018 (liu et al., 2016; liu and wang, 2017; liu and wang, 2017a; liu and wang, 2018). the editorial board also embraces opportunities to promote this journal in collaboration with other cala leaders or projects to online or in-person webinars and library conferences, such as the online spring 2022 augusta baker diversity series hosted by the university of south carolina, the 2022 ifla wlic conference in dublin, ireland, and the 4th national joint liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 94 conference of librarians of color in st. pete beach, florida in 2023 (gao et al., 2022; yao et al., 2022; yao et al., 2023). via cala and other networks and opportunities, the editorial board visited libraries and other organizations to introduce this journal and provided instructions on the academic journal article writing and publication to librarians, library school students and other information professionals in china, including the new york university shanghai and fudan university (liu, 2018; liu and thompson, 2018). during the pandemic, the editor-in-chief of ijol hosted online conversations with librarians, library school students and professors from canada, china, and the united states about publishing journal articles (liu, 2021). she also shared experience with publishing journal issues and working with international authors from all over the world at the library publishing forum virtual conference in 2021 in collaboration with a guest editor of ijol (pun and liu, 2021). through these efforts, the journal has been recognized by many cala members and beyond. according to the third membership survey conducted by the cala assessment and evaluation committee at the end of 2017, over half of the participants responded that they have heard of or have used the ijol. this journal is ranked the first place among all three academic publications of cala listed on this survey question although it was launched for only one year during the response period of the survey (xiong, et al., 2019). working with authors many librarians and other professionals in the lis field do not have formal training or experience with academic writing towards journal article publishing. the editorial board takes the role of working with authors to bridge the gap. when they find innovative projects fitting to the journal, the editorial board will reach out and provide individual consultation to potential authors as needed. one example is the publication of the article titled “the state of library makerspaces” by wang et al. (2016). the authors are academic librarians at a canadian university who have done an excellent project related to makerspaces. however, they were not sure about how to report the project as a journal article. the editor-in-chief provided suggestions to the team via telephone meetings. the paper was published in the journal and later was recommended by the nmc horizon report: 2017 library edition as a resource for further reading on makerspaces (becker et al., 2017). another example is with an author from an institution in china who never published in an english journal. one editor of ijol provided him guidance on the academic writing in english and additional copy-editing service to the manuscript submitted. this article was published in 2017 as a featured article on the preservation of the culture of yi people, an ethnic group in china, which is rarely reported in english publications (li, 2017). ijol also fostered the collaboration between editors and authors. in the special issue of data librarianship, through discussions on the special topic the guest editor in canada formed a partnership with a professor in china to publish an article comparing the development of academic data services at universities of canada and china (thompson and yin, 2017). liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 95 partnership and advocacy ijol has established partnership with the silf since its inception. silf conferences help promote the journal while the journal reports silf activities and invites paper submissions from the presenters or other speakers to the silf conferences. in collaboration with shanghai library, ijol hosted a concurrent session titled “academic publication and professional communication collaboration, openness and moving forward together: the international future of academic publication in library and information studies” in the ninth silf conference in 2018 in shanghai, china. this well-attended session consists of five presentations on topics of academic journal and monograph publications, tips and experiences about publishing in english academic journals, international collaboration of publications between chinese and american or canadian authors, and the current topics in lis publications. at the end of the session, shanghai library and the national library of china co-hosted a round table titled “international communication and sharing of library and information academic achievements” in which editors and representatives of academic journals from china, canada, and the united states shared their perspectives on the future of lis academic publications. a joint initiative of the lis journals advocating open access and international collaboration was endorsed by twentythree participating journals including ijol and other core lis journals in china such as journal of the national library of china, library journal, and library construction . the initiative “calls for promoting the rapid and wider dissemination of research results in lis and making the research results in this field freely available to the public” (huang and liu, 2018, p. 109-110). ijol has also made significant contributions to the ifla library publishing special interest group (sig), a global library publishing community promoting open access for full and immediate access to scholarly output. since the sig was founded in 2018, the editor-in-chief of ijol has been heavily involved in its establishment and development. she has chaired the communications subcommittee, served as the sig representative to the library publishing coalition (lpc) board, and led an international team, including other ijol editorial board members to create the ifla library publishing map of the world in collaboration with lpc (o’neil, liu & shibaeva, 2022). this further promoted ijol to the wider community of lis open access academic publications. discussions and future directions as ijol enters its six-year anniversary, a new leadership for this journal has been formed. the two new co-editors-in-chief appointed in july 2022 have been the founding members of ijol and contributed to every aspect of the journal’s development. the new leadership strives to continue upholding the journal’s principles of sustainable development and the pursuit of high quality. ijol’s primary goal for the next several years is to further streamline the publication process and enhance the control for quality. ijol should align its publishing practice with longestablished professional standards and operate more efficiently and smoothly. to accomplish that, the first step is to make sure the journal has high-quality volunteers at every step of the process including peer reviewing, copyediting, layout designing, and more. ijol has been using its online and open access features to its advantage by adopting the pre-publication practice to speed up the dissemination of information and reduce the unnecessary delay during the process. it is currently experimenting with the quarterly publication frequency to liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 96 determine whether that arrangement better suits the stakeholder’s expectations and the allocation of the workload for editors and reviewers than its previous biannual publication frequency. the ultimate goal is to streamline the process and increase efficiency. as cala’s official publication, ijol continues to provide a unique venue for cala members and other librarians to publish. it provides an inclusive platform for quality reports on library practices and studies done by librarians from various countries and backgrounds. going forward, ijol will focus on identifying its niche and strength areas and become more distinct and reputable in the lis publishing industry. to achieve that, it requires the editorial team and leadership to constantly go back to its original intentions in the summer of 2015 in baoshan, china when a group of cala delegations faced the challenge of language barriers. ijol will continue to serve as the primary publication platform for cala members, and subsequently for librarians around the world. moreover, ijol will improve the communication among authors and publications in different languages, especially between english and chinese by translating and introducing to the english world more literature published in chinese language. another important issue or challenge facing the publishing industry in general is how to avoid and detect plagiarism and the ai-generated submissions. ijol must be keenly aware of the latest trend and apply the best practice to ensure the integrity and high quality of the journal. the plagiarism detection application called ithenticate used by ijol lacks the detection function for ai-generated content. it is hoped that that function will be developed in the near future. once the function is available, ijol will implement it. last but not the least, ijol will work hard to make the journal website more 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(2022). from outlier to mainstream: cala’s journey for diversity, equity & inclusion in the library world, spring 2022 augusta baker diversity series (online), university of south carolina, april 14, 2022. huang, b. h., and liu, g. (2018). the 9th shanghai international library forum (silf 2018), international journal of librarianship, 3(2), p. 109-110. https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/93/184. international journal of librarianship (ijol). (2023). about the journal. https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about. li, q. (2017). building a specialized database of the culture of yi people. international journal of librarianship,2(2), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.44. liu, g. (2016). editorial: message from editor-in-chief, international journal of librarianship, 1(1), p.1. https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/17/85. liu, g. (2018). library academic writing and publication, workshop to librarians at the library of new york university shanghai, october 22, 2018, shanghai, china. liu, g. (2021). publishing journal articles, in online lecture series, university of illinois at urbana-champaign illinois (uiuc) fire service institute (ifsi), may 21, 2021. liu, g., chao, s. j., chen, s., wang, y., & zou, j. (2015). cala open access academic journal task force. internal document. liu, g. and thompson, k. (2018). peer-reviewed journal article writing and publication, workshop to librarians and graduate students at fudan university, october 25, 2018. shanghai, china. liu, g. and wang, y. (2017). establishing a new refereed open access journal, world library and information congress 83rd ifla general conference and assembly poster sessions, august 21-22, 2017, wroclaw, poland. liu, g. and wang, y. (2017a). the creation of a new library journal titled ’international journal of librarianship’, american library association (ala) 2017 annual conference poster sessions, june 25, 2017, chicago, il. liu, g. and wang, f. (2018). international journal of librarianship – a peer-reviewed academic english journal, the ninth shanghai international library forum, october 19, 2018, shanghai, china. liu, g., wang, y., and ren, x. (2016). creating an academic journal for a professional association, the cala annual conference poster sessions, june 26, 2016, orlando, fl. o'neill, m., liu, g. and shibaeva, e. a. (2022). inspiring, enabling, engaging and connecting library publishers through ifla's global library publishing map and the activities of the ifla sig on library publishing, 2022 ifla wlic conference, july 27-28, 2022, dublin, ireland. pun, r. and liu, g. (2021). capturing publishing efforts to the international journal of librarianship by the chinese american librarians association (cala): a case study, 2021 https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/93/184 https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.44 https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/17/85 liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 98 library publishing forum virtual conference, may 10-14, 2021. ren, x. (2016). international journal of librarianship (ijol) launched, cala newsletter, no. 115, fall 2016. p. 18. https://retired.cala-web.org/files/newsletter/calanews2016fall.pdf. ren, x., liu, g., liu, k., wang, y. and zou, q. (2017). introducing the international journal of librarianship ijol. international leads, march 2017, pp. 7. ruan, l. (2019). handbook & key documents for the cala executive committee of the board (ec). internal document. https://cala.wildapricot.org/resources/documents/ec/executive_committee_handbook.pdf tami, e. and wertheimer, a. b. (1997). surveying the role of ethnic-american library associations, library trends, 42 (2): 373–391. thompson k., & yin, s. (2017). the development of academic data services in canada and china: profiles of data services at fudan university and the university of windsor. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 73-78. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.32 wang, y. and ren, x. (2022). editorial: celebrating six-year anniversary and launching the thirteenth issue, international journal of librarianship, 7(2), p.1-3. https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/271/343. xiong, j.a., gao, w., wang, x., he, y., xue, li & huang, j. (2019). scoping the chinese american librarians association services with a national survey. international journal of librarianship,4(1), 38-58. https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/98/193. yao, h., huang, m. b., gao, w., and liu, g. (2022). reconnect, rebuild and rebrand: cala members’ initiatives to help move our institutions above & beyond the pandemic, 2022 ifla wlic conference, july 27-28, 2022, dublin, ireland. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/123456789/2165. yao, h., huang, m. b., gao, w., and liu, g. (2023). moving forward together: cala’s actions towards edi”, the 4th national joint conference of librarians of color, february 11, 2023, st. pete beach, florida. about the authors guoying liu is librarian iv, systems librarian and engineering liaison at university of windsor leddy library. she initiated and served as the inaugural editor-in-chief of the international journal of librarianship (2016-2022). her research interests include equity, diversity and inclusion and librarianship, library services to international students, library technology, and library publishing. yongming wang is the systems librarian at the college of new jersey. his research interests include the application of information technologies at the libraries, data analytics, machine learning, and digital library. xiaoai ren is an associate professor in the department of library and information studies at valdosta state university. her research interests include environmental literacy services in libraries, collaborative learning in online environments, and information-seeking behaviors. michael bailou huang is suny distinguished librarian and director of global library initiatives https://retired.cala-web.org/files/newsletter/calanews2016fall.pdf https://cala.wildapricot.org/resources/documents/ec/executive_committee_handbook.pdf https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.32 https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/271/343 https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/article/view/98/193 https://repository.ifla.org/handle/123456789/2165 liu et al. / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 99 at stony brook university. he is cala executive director (2022-2025), and a member of the ifla’s north america regional division committee. keven liu is the deputy director of shanghai library and institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai. he is a member of the governing board of dcmi, the director board of open library foundation and the standing committee of ifla local history and genealogy section. qing zou is the head of digital initiatives at the lakehead university library. abstract references issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org from a divided library in a divided city to one library in two houses: a centennial for a great european research library reunited and restored daniel william kinney abstract: the berlin state library—prussian cultural heritage foundation probably suffered more from the vicissitudes of the twentieth century than any other german cultural institution. it experienced the destruction of the building and the evacuation and loss of collections. like berlin, it was divided after world war ii and was reunited after berlin was reunited. in 2018, the library marks a century since the establishment of the prussian state library. but the legacy of the past century remains. significant collections are still held in eastern european libraries and the library must undertake the restitution of books acquired directly or indirectly through nazi persecution. this article draws upon resources written in german and english to present the story of an important library that was under duress for much of the twentieth century. it discusses the impact of different historical eras on the library as a cultural institution and on the documentary heritage embodied in the library's rich collections. although problems caused by these events remain, with reunification and restoration, the library is once again serving international scholarship and preserving an important part of the world's documentary heritage. to cite this article: kinney, d.w. (2018). from a divided library in a divided city to one library in two houses: a centennial for a great european research library reunited and restored. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 36-52. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 36-52 issn:2474-3542 from a divided library in a divided city to one library in two houses: a centennial for a great european research library reunited and restored daniel william kinney stony brook university, stony brook, ny, usa abstract the berlin state library—prussian cultural heritage foundation probably suffered more from the vicissitudes of the twentieth century than any other german cultural institution. it experienced the destruction of the building and the evacuation and loss of collections. like berlin, it was divided after world war ii and was reunited after berlin was reunited. in 2018, the library marks a century since the establishment of the prussian state library. but the legacy of the past century remains. significant collections are still held in eastern european libraries and the library must undertake the restitution of books acquired directly or indirectly through nazi persecution. this article draws upon resources written in german and english to present the story of an important library that was under duress for much of the twentieth century. it discusses the impact of different historical eras on the library as a cultural institution and on the documentary heritage embodied in the library's rich collections. although problems caused by these events remain, with reunification and restoration, the library is once again serving international scholarship and preserving an important part of the world's documentary heritage. keywords: research libraries, germany, berlin, international librarianship january 1, 2017 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the berlin state library—prussian cultural heritage foundation and the reunification of the former prussian state library, which during the cold war was split into two separate libraries: the german state library in east berlin and the state library, prussian cultural heritage foundation in west berlin. peter whitehead (1976), who was a zoologist at the natural history museum, london, wrote that before the war, berlin, together with paris and london housed one of the very great european libraries (p. 7). the reunification of the former prussian state library ended almost half a century of division brought about by the devastation of the second world war and the division of berlin during the cold war. hans stimmann (1997), former secretary of the berlin senate’s department for urban development, environmental protection, and technology, wrote that nothing epitomizes more the deep-seated and difficult division of germany and berlin than the history of the berlin state library in the twentieth century (p. 75). in 1992, the east and west berlin libraries became one library in two houses. the story of the berlin state library is the story of a phoenix among european research libraries. it rose from the ashes of world war ii, survived the cold war and the berlin wall, and, with the reunification of germany and berlin, returned to its former status as the largest research library in german-speaking lands. the events of the past hundred years have affected the library as a cultural heritage institution as kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 37 well as the world's documentary heritage embodied in the library's collections. the account that follows tells the story of the survival of a great european research library threatened by the tumultuous events and social upheaval of the twentieth century. it remains a timely example of the troubled fortunes of the world’s cultural and documentary heritage in countries and regions ravaged by war and conflict. historical overview (1661-1945) the former prussian state library was founded in 1661 and was known as the library of the elector until 1701 when it became the royal library. in the nineteenth century, prussia began to place great importance on education. wilhelm von humboldt understood that libraries were essential to research and scholarship and he considered the royal library the central scholarly institute of his planned berlin university (kunze & dube, 1961, p. 22). a new library building on unter den linden in the center of berlin, which was considered “the best and most beautiful library building in the world,” (richards, 1984, p. 233) was dedicated in 1914 in the last royal ceremony before the first world war. after the abdication of kaiser wilhelm ii in 1918 until the defeat of the third reich in 1945, the library was known as the prussian state library. before the nazi seizure of power, the prussian state library had a worldwide reputation based on its collections and services. the list of eminent librarians that served in the library has been described as a “hall of fame of librarianship” (reichmann, 1962, p. 225). it had become the world-class library demanded by the great classicist and nobel prize winner theodor mommsen in speeches given before the prussian house of representatives in the 1870s (mommsen, 1905). the third reich (1933-1945) was a dark period in the library’s history. located in the capital city, the prussian state library was the dominant library in the nation and it was closely controlled by the nazi party. during the third reich, german libraries were subject to nazi racial laws and ideology. the passage of a civil service law for the professions in 1933 required that library staff of non-aryan descent or staff who were political opponents of national socialism be dismissed. georg leyh, director of the university library at tubingen, characterized the impact of the law as a “moral earthquake” (dosa, 1974, p. 59). as a result of this law, “many eminent librarians were harassed, demoted, dismissed, or imprisoned” (dosa, 1974, p. 60). the trauma caused to the library by the nazis and the war would last for decades. in a report written in 1947, leyh describes the destruction and devastation of german libraries as a catastrophe without comparison in the history of knowledge and the history of libraries (p. 5). klaus-dieter lehmann (1997), former president of the prussian cultural heritage foundation, noted that no other cultural establishment in germany suffered so long and intensively as the prussian state library. almost three hundred years of tradition were shattered by bombing raids in 1944 (p. 59). these traditions had enabled the library to develop world-famous special collections of incunabula, manuscripts, rare books, and especially music materials and to assume a leadership role in german librarianship and library education. the library was first struck by a bomb on april 9, 1941. the damage to the building was not extensive, but it made the library administration very aware of the danger to the library’s collections. during world war ii, the library’s collections were sent to thirty storage depots for safety from air raids. approximately 850,000 volumes, almost 30 percent of the library’s print collection, never returned to the library from storage (schochow, 2003, p. 307). the berlin state library estimates that about 335,000 volumes, including the alphabetical book catalog, were destroyed (breslau, 1995, p. 8). kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 38 richard s. hill, a reference librarian in the music division of the library of congress, wrote about the condition of the library building after visiting berlin in june 1946. he reported that the library was hit by ten big bombs and innumerable fire bombs (p. 327). the worst damage was done on february 16, 1944 when a bomb hit the center of the building: o the bomb came through the dome over the big, circular reading room, plunged unimpeded through the equivalent of six or seven open stories, and cut through three stack levels under the floor of the room. the explosion blew out half of the dome, and opened up three huge, roughly concentric rings in the successive floors of the stacks, leaving twisted remnants of the steel shelving showing as the rings get smaller at each descending level. it looks like a gruesome architect’s model, with sections excised to show the construction within (hill, 1946, p. 328). the same air raid left the music division’s reading room unusable. damage to the library from other air raids included the destruction of the incunabula division, a large, triangular slice taken out of the building, and a rent in the ceiling through which the sky could be seen (hill, 1946, p. 328-329). as hill notes, had the library not evacuated its collections, the damage would have been “incalculable” (p. 328). marta l. dosa states: “most of those who witnessed this devastation were convinced that the library had lost its leading position for decades to come” (dosa, 1974, p. 167). it was not until the present century that the damage done during the second world war was repaired. the corner stone for the rebuilding of the library on unter den linden was laid in april 2006, and the topping-out ceremony for the library took place in february 2008. in march 2013 the new general reading room was opened, and in july 2013, the restored frame of the cupula over the main entrance that was destroyed in the air raid in 1941was crowned with a wreath. after three-quarters of a century, the restored historic building once again graces the heart of berlin. the architectural firm of h. g. merz won an international competition in 2000 for the restoration of the building on unter den linden and the rebuilding of the reading room. merz designed a glass cube to replace the original octagonal reading room. light is an important element in the design of the reading room, which has been described as a "light cube." the building on unter den linden can once again assume its historical reputation as the "cathedral of knowledge" (kress-adams and adams, 2013, p. 51). images of the original reading room and the new reading room are on the library's website (http://staatsbibliothekberlin.de/). the cold war era despite extensive damage to the building and the loss of collections and staff, the former prussian state library reopened on october 1, 1946 in east berlin under the name public research library. rudolf hoecker, who had previously worked in the periodicals division of the prussian sate library and served as director of the berlin university library from 1930 until 1933, became the director. the nazis forced hoecker to resign from his position as director of the university library because he was a member of the social democratic party, which ultimately made him particularly acceptable to the soviets (hill, 1946, p. 330). the library on unter den linden was renamed the german state library in 1954. during the years of the german democratic republic (1949-1990), the german state library in east berlin was once again dominated by political ideology: its mission was to serve the socialist society (kunze, 1961, p. 73). the library's new mission was symbolized by werner stötzer's bronze kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 39 relief entitled "questions of a reading worker" (also the title of a poem by bertolt brecht) and his bronze sculpture "reading worker" was installed in the library's fountain courtyard in 1961. the change from the library’s tradition of serving primarily researchers and scholars to becoming a research library that also served the general public in a communist state required the ideological retraining of the staff (dosa, 1974, p. 167). the stasi, the east german secret police, even had the library bugged (zimmer, 1990, p. 3). there was censorship of library materials under the communist government as well. in the years right after the war, the work of the library was supported by the soviet military authority, which ordered the removal of fascist and militaristic literature (kunze, 1961, p. 56). whereas the nazis banned "decadent" and jewish literature, the socialist unity party, or the sed (sozialistische einheitspartei deutschlands, or socialist unity party of germany) took anti-socialist literature out of circulation. training and professional development of staff were directed towards the creation of a socialist work community (kunze, 1961, p. 71). party membership was important for advancement under the communist regime, just as it was under the nazis. hoecker wrote to general eisenhower in august 1945 requesting the return of collections stored in hattorf in the district of göttingen in lower saxony, but the collections stored in hattorf and in other places in the american occupation zone (banz castle in bavaria, and laubach castle and arnsburg abbey in hesse) were sent to marburg in west germany. the collections stored in beuron abbey in baden-württemberg, which was in the french occupation zone, were sent to the university library in tubingen in west germany. eisenhower’s deputy general lucius d. clay did order the return of books that had been evacuated to tepl in the sudetenland and transported to frankfurt am main by american troops, who discovered them still in freight cars on a railroad siding. the approximately 350,000 volumes were stored in the offenbach archival depot, and when captain s. j. pomrenze, the officer in charge of the depot, requested permission to store them elsewhere, clay had them returned to berlin (hill, 1946, pp. 348-349). the american authorities in berlin received a letter of thanks stating that the returned collections would form the basis for “the reconstruction of the library” (schochow, 2003, p. 158). the collections housed in marburg and tubingen were returned to west berlin in the 1960s. from 1968 until the reunification of the former prussian state library, the library in west berlin was named the state library, prussian cultural heritage foundation. in 1978, it moved into a new building on potsdamer straße designed by renowned architect hans scharoun. the east german view after the adoption of the law establishing the prussian cultural heritage foundation in 1957 was that the collections housed in the american and french zones were held in trust and that the west was depriving the german state library of its rightful ownership of these collections through formal legalistic tricks (schmidt, 1961, p. 85). hill wrote in his 1946 article that he wanted to apprise american scholars who believed that, since the war had ended, they could gain access to german library materials that it could be “at least a few months longer” before the political situation of a divided country that was hindering access to library collections would be solved (p. 327). but access to materials that belonged to the former prussian state library would be difficult throughout the cold war. the west berlin library’s name and its refusal to return the collections to the library in east berlin extended the cold war to the now separate libraries with each claiming to be the successor of the prussian state library. bach scholar robert l. marshall described the difficulties of conducting research in a divided berlin: in berlin the priceless collection of music manuscripts, including vast numbers of autographs of bach, mozart, and beethoven, is fairly divided kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 40 between east and west. but the catalogue of the manuscripts is still in east berlin. what this means is that a user must first go to east berlin—no easy matter itself—to get a call number for the item he needs, and then return to west berlin to fetch it. the reason for this complication is that east berlin claims that the manuscripts in west berlin actually belong to them—since, before the war, they were all housed together on unter den linden—and were only separated and dispersed (with many of them remaining in the regions that now constitute west germany) to avoid destruction during the bombing of the city during the war. accordingly, there is little disposition on the part of the authorities in the east to cooperate with western scholars looking for materials in west berlin; and they refuse to answer inquiries on the phone (1990, p. 2). and the two libraries were just over a mile apart! there were, however, notable accomplishments during the time of the east german democratic republic. the change of the name from public research library to the german state library was intended to express the place of the library in german and international librarianship (kunze, 1961, p. 66). from the start, great attention was paid to the acquisition of material from the soviet union and other socialist countries. emphasis was placed on the natural sciences, technology, medicine, and agriculture. these disciplines were considered important for supporting a socialist society (kunze, 1961p, 58). the music department was championed as an example of the library's international standing. in addition to its extraordinary collections, it cooperated with the rilm project (répertoire international de littérature musicale), was a member of the international association of music libraries (iaml), and participated in international congresses. the german state library opened a new department for children's and youth books in 1951 that included books from all over the world (kunze, 1961, pp. 62-63). it was a research collection that specialized in historic children's literature and the secondary literature in this area of study. beginning in 1978, the library expanded the scope of the collection to include original illustrations for children's books and books for young adults. in the festschrift for the three-hundredth anniversary of the library, kunze (1961) mentions three things that needed to be accomplished in the future: reuniting the almost two million volumes of the former prussian state library that were held in the west with the collections in east berlin, the restoration of the domed reading hall destroyed in an air raid, and the application of technology and automation to the library's operations. (p. 75). these three goals would not be accomplished during the fifty-year history of the german democratic republic. by the 1980s, the economic problems of the german democratic republic were causing great difficulties for the german state library in east berlin. librarianship in east germany was outdated and ideologically restricted. priceless volumes were stored in four concrete book towers for lack of space, and many books were moldy and unsalvageable. there was no electronic data processing for basic library functions, such as cataloging and circulation. the library lacked bookbinding capabilities for the preservation of the collections. technology for information exchange and access to international databases was absent. telephone lines were not stable and did not support such access (zimmer, 1990, p. 2). the day before the fall of the berlin wall on november 9, 1989, the president of the east german library association karl-heinz jügelt presented the association's position on the renewal and reform of the library and information science system in east germany to the east german council of ministers and the central committee of the sed, the east german communist party (bibliotheksverband der deutschen demokratischen republik, 1990). the kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 41 document began with a statement on the importance of the nation's library and information system to the progress of all areas of their socialist democracy. despite the best efforts of all types of libraries, the growing demands from the fields of scholarship, education, and culture were not being satisfactorily met. the document enumerated problems and issues that needed to be addressed to meet demands and modernize the library and information science system in the german democratic republic. technology, equipment, furnishings, space, and buildings were at the top of the list. the technological capabilities of east german libraries were not at the same level as in western countries, especially with regard to online catalogs, databases, and fax service. there was also the need for software and standards. as a consequence of these problems, east german libraries could not take part in international cooperative efforts and were falling further and further behind. in addition, foreign subject literature and data storage media were not sufficiently available or not at all available. the position paper stated that unless these problems were addressed, the result would be the inability of east germany to compete internationally. the document called for increased financial support from the east german government and criticizes the low value placed on libraries by the sed. there is also mention of the low pay of librarians, which was behind that of other specialists. the report notes the urgent need for restoration, conservation, and preservation of rich cultural heritage collections and the necessary personnel, financial, and technical means to pursue unesco's appeal for national preservation programs. in 1990, the year of german reunification, dieter schmidmaier, the last director of the german state library in east berlin, wrote a position paper on the status and place of that library in a renewed east german library system that echoed the problems and issues described in the position paper published by the east german library association (schmidmaier, 1990). the aftermath of the second world war and the cold war today, the berlin state library remains greatly affected by events that occurred more than three-quarters of a century ago. dominik sackmann wrote in 1998: “the past is present. nazism, the shoah, and two world wars continue to reverberate even at the end of the twentieth century” (sackmann, 1998, p. 160). that statement is still true almost two decades into the twenty-first century. the destruction of europe’s cultural heritage and the confiscation and looting of cultural treasures and artifacts by the nazis continue to be important issues more than seven decades after the end of the second world war. books such as the rape of europa (nicholas, 1994), the monuments men (edsel & witter, 2010), and the lady in gold (o’connor, 2012) attest to the interest in these topics. a recent addition to the list of works is stolen words: the nazi plunder of jewish books by mark glickman (2016). rabbi glickman recounts how the nazis raided homes, libraries, and other institutions to amass millions of books and other materials owned by jewish citizens. the fate of the treasures evacuated from the prussian state library some of the collections belonging to the prussian state library that were evacuated during the war became the spoils of war. collections that were stored in areas that after the war became part of poland have not been returned, and books transported out of germany and the storage depots by the red army and distributed to libraries in eastern europe have also not been returned. many of the prussian state library’s greatest treasures were evacuated to grüssau abbey (today krzeszów abbey in lower silesia, poland) in 1944 and transported to kraków kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 42 in 1946. for over thirty years the fate of the collections stored in grüssau abbey was unknown. the fear was that these collections were destroyed in the war. more than 500 cases from the library’s manuscript department containing manuscripts of some of the world’s most important composers were stored in grüssau. the treasure trove of music manuscripts included almost a quarter of the known surviving mozart manuscripts, as well as manuscripts of bach, beethoven, brahms, haydn, schubert, schumann, mendelssohn, meyerbeer and others (lewis, 1981, p. 37). the presumed loss of so many mozart manuscripts had a profound impact on the publication of the neue mozart ausgabe (mozart, 1955-1991), the new edition of the complete works of mozart. the authoritativeness and completeness of this new definitive edition of mozart’s works were threatened from the outset (lewis, 1981, pp. 95-96). the varnhagen collection, also stored in grüssau, was important for the study of early german romantic literature. the collection originally belonged to karl varnhagen von ense and contained the papers of his wife rahel varnhagen, goethe, wilhelm von humboldt, the schlegel brothers, heine, hegel, fichte and others (hertz, 1981, p. 224). in the preface to her biography of rahel varnhagen, hannah arendt mentions that the extensive correspondence between rahel varnhagen and pauline wiesel contained in the varnhagen collection was the greatest loss to her book, because the letters were the most important source on rahel varnhagen's life after her marriage. arendt also intended to include some letters and diaries in notes and in an appendix to her biography (1974, pp. iii-xiv). among the other treasures stored in grüssau were natural science watercolor paintings and oil paintings from a seventeenthcentury dutch expedition to brazil that count johann moritz von nassau-siegen gave to friedrich wilhelm, the great elector of brandenburg, as a gift in 1652 (lewis, 1981, pp. 2526). only sixty-two of the approximately two thousand drawings and paintings important to the fields of ethnology, zoology, and botany had been photographed (whitehead, 1976, p.11). manuscripts from the oriental and east asian department, genealogical collections, personal papers, etc. were also included in the materials stored in grüssau (schmidt, 1961, p. 82). the mystery was finally solved in 1977 when it became publicly known that the grüssau collections were in the jagiellonian library in kraków. nigel lewis (1981) tells the fascinating story of the evacuated grüssau treasures in his book paperchase: mozart, beethoven, bach…the search for their lost music. when it became known that these valuable collections were in the jagiellonian library, poland’s first secretary edward gierek ceremoniously returned the manuscripts of mozart’s magic flute, the orchestral score (minus the choral finale) of beethoven’s ninth symphony, and five other manuscripts by mozart, bach, and beethoven to east german general secretary erich honecker after the ratification of a friendship treaty in may 1977. the remainder of the collections from grüssau is still in the jagiellonian library. werner schochow (2003) has written an account based on primary sources of the evacuation and storage of the prussian state library’s collections and the fate of the collections in the various storage depots after the war. overview of the political situation poland suffered large-scale destruction and plunder of its cultural property during the nazi occupation. the polish government-in-exile and the polish underground in occupied poland coordinated efforts to register this cultural looting for future compensation demands. karol estreicher, an art historian and bibliographer at the jagiellonian university, was the leader of this effort. estreicher was chiefly responsible for the publication of cultural losses of poland (estreicher, 1944). it was an index of losses suffered by cultural institutions that could be used in determining compensation and restitution after the war (sroka, 2012, p. 9). the soviet union also experienced severe cultural losses during the german invasion. in the 1990s kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 43 there were still strong sentiments about the war. the russians too wanted compensation, even if it meant selling what was termed "trophy literature" on the antiquarian market (sutter, 1994, p. 408). similarly, the polish viewpoint in the 1990s concerning the collections of the former prussian state library was that they are in the jagiellonian library as a result of the war that poland did not start (sroka, 2007, p. 660). marek sroka summarizes the stalemate between poland and germany with regard to the collections still in the jagiellonian library: the fall of communism and the unification of germany did indeed change the character of negotiations. poland was no longer negotiating with one of two german states that were often in competition with each other. moreover, the polish government no longer had to be concerned that its foreign policy follow the dictates of the soviet union as it had for the previous fifty years. paradoxically, this may have made future negotiations more challenging as poland and east germany (now the federal republic of germany) were conducting their foreign policy as sovereign states for the first time since the end of world war ii (2007, p. 659). thus, the greatest impediment to the return of collections still held in east european libraries remains the question of war reparations. treasures returned, treasures retained the prussian state library experienced two kinds of expropriation of books and collections during the third reich and after the war. whereas collections originally belonging to the former prussian state library became war plunder, the nazis also confiscated books and collections from individuals and institutions and distributed them to german libraries. cornelia briel (2013) published an important study of the prussian state library’s role in the nazi confiscation of books. since the prussian state library was central to the german library system, it was heavily involved in the acquisition and distribution of library materials stolen by the nazis (briel, 2013, p. 303). the washington conference on holocaust-era assets sponsored by the u.s. state department and the u.s. holocaust memorial museum in 1998 provided the impetus to investigate the issue of confiscated books still in the library’s collections. in december 1999, the german federal government, states, and municipalities issued a joint declaration on the discovery and return of property confiscated as a result of nazi persecution and still in the possession of public institutions (kultusministerkonferenz, germany, 1999). in february 2001, the federal commissioner for culture and media issued a set of recommendations that required libraries to search for nazi-confiscated materials in their collections (germany, beauftragte der bundesregierung für kultur und medien, 2001). this required a systematic analysis of the provenance of books that may have been confiscated by the state and national socialist organizations from jewish citizens and institutions, communists, social democrats, freemasons, church establishments, etc. and integrated into the collections of research and public libraries (bödeker & bötte, 2008, p. 6). as the successor to the prussian state library, the berlin state library has endeavored to identify books in its collection that were acquired directly or indirectly through nazi confiscation, research their provenance, and return them to their rightful owners or their heirs. the quest to determine provenance and to restitute stolen property includes searching the yad vashem names database. books that are possible nazi stolen property have clues to their provenance documented in the online catalog and are listed in the international database of lost art in magdeburg. examples of success include the return of the private library of rabbi leo baeck to his granddaughter in new york in april 2006 and the return of a collection of music archival kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 44 materials that belonged to the pianist arthur rubenstein to three of his children on may 5, 2007 in new york (hollender, 2006, pp. 32-37)). confiscated or stolen books were sometimes inventoried as gift books (pudler, 2008, p. 149 n.8). an examination of the records for gifts enabled the berlin state library to return 330 books confiscated from the potsdam masonic lodge (schneider-kempf, 2013, p. 8). in 2010, the berlin state library returned two volumes printed in the seventeenth century that came from the library of wilhelm-friedrich, count of lynar, who was hanged as a result of his participation in the july 20, 1944 failed attempt on hitler’s life and whose family was dispossessed by the nazis. (staatsbibliothek zu berlin— preußischer kulturbesitz, 2010, p. 16). with regard to the issue of collections of the former prussian state library still held by other libraries, the general director of the berlin state library barbara schneider-kempf (2014) reports that there has recently been some cooperation between the berlin state library and the jagiellonian library with digitization projects (p. 7). the strengthening of such partnerships with eastern european libraries is part of the berlin state library’s strategic plan, as is research into the history and provenance of books stolen by the nazis (staatsbibliothek zu berlin—preußischer kulturbesitz, 2015). since 2009, the library has participated in a series of dialogues with russian librarians on the return of collections evacuated during the war and transported to the soviet union by the red army and on the return of books taken from russian libraries during the german invasion (schneider-kempf, 2013, pp. 2-3). the berlin state library reunited and restored in accordance with the german unification treaty, the german state library in east berlin was placed under the trusteeship of the prussian cultural heritage foundation in 1990 and reunited with the state library, prussian cultural heritage foundation on january 1, 1992. the conception for the reunification was one library in two houses. it was seen as a way to merge the libraries rationally, economically, and as quickly as possible (cope, 1999, p. 44). neither building could house the collections with room left for future growth and adequate space for staff and users. moreover, the two buildings symbolized the old and the modern berlin and were located in the heart of the city near three universities and research and cultural institutions. no alternative to the concept of one library in two houses was considered viable by concerned parties, staff, and users (jammers, 1997, p. 43). but the costs of restoring the old building led the office of the federal auditor general to question the concept (cope, 1999, p. 45). the general director of the east berlin library, dieter schmidmaier, feared that the high cost of renovations to the war-damaged building on unter den linden would place the library low on the list of priorities because of the need to renovate so many public buildings in east berlin (eberhart, 1990, p. 616-617). r. l. cope blames these problems on the sed's bad record in curating the cultural assets taken over from the former prussian state. the library on unter den linden was in many ways left in the same condition as it was when the war ended in 1945, and the reunited library was facing the kinds of problems not dealt with in west germany since the time of postwar reconstruction. (cope, 1999, p. 54). the alternative of locating all the collections in the scharoun building on potsdamer straße was examined (cope, 1999, p. 46), but it was not considered feasible based on cost, functional considerations, and capacity (jammers, 1997, pp. 46-47). the final costs would eventually need to include the reconstruction of the central reading room destroyed in the war and the demolition of the book storage towers built where the reading room would be located. it should also be kept in mind that the time span between the reunification treaty on october 3, 1990 and the merger of the two libraries on january 1, 1992 allowed a little more than a year for planning the merger. kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 45 as originally planned, the library building on unter den linden was to be a library for historical research and the building on potsdamer straße a modern research and lending library and information center, but several departures from the concept were necessary for practical reasons (jammers, 1997b, pp. 294-296). the library created nine special collections. the building on unter den linden houses music, maps, and a new department for historical prints. the manuscripts department, the east european department, the oriental department, and the east asian department are in the library on potsdamer straße. the combined serials collections from both libraries formed a new department located in a storage unit in berlin westhafen. the children's and young adults' department is temporarily housed in westhafen. the planned distribution of books between the two houses was based on publication dates. since the building on unter den linden was to be a library for historical research, books published from 1501 until 1955 were to be housed there, and books published from 1956 on would be housed in the building on potsdamer straße (landwehrmeyer, 1993, pp. 55-57). one complicated problem that needed to be dealt with at the outset was the different catalogs. although the public catalog of the prussian state library had been destroyed, the east berlin library possessed a catalog of the prewar collection with abridged entries that was intended for internal use. this catalog included items that were in west berlin, lost, or destroyed. the west berlin library had no catalog of the prewar collection and had to recatalog the prewar items in its collections. the retrospective conversion of the card catalog and the creation of an online catalog was an imperative (landwehrmeyer, 1993, pp. 57-60). there were cards in an old form of german handwriting that many staff and users could not decipher. the cataloging records dating before 1890 were not standardized, but later entries followed the prussian instructions. identifying duplicate records in the parallel catalogs was an important consideration. the project resulted in an online catalog that greatly improved access over the handwritten cards and made the holdings of the library available on the internet (hartwig, 2006). the reunification of the east and west berlin successors of the prussian state library was not without personnel issues and problems. the cultural differences between east and west berliners that was common in berlin at the time was a source of friction and misunderstanding. different mindsets had developed over five decades of separation. in a contemporary account of the reunification of the libraries, a west berliner stated that in east berlin librarianship was practiced as the west berliners did thirty years previously and that the east berliners needed to become familiar with the american style of librarianship. an east berliner felt slighted by the perceived attitude of superiority exhibited by the west berliners and noted that they in east berlin ran a national library with far less means than in the west. (rückert, 1991, p. 4). to make matters worse, the east berliners received unequal pay for the same work. different processes and areas of responsibility needed to be integrated and duplicate work eliminated. departments needed to be combined and restructured. the staff of the combined serials department faced the fundamental question of what was considered a serial for the purposes of the new department (zeller, 1999, p. 88). the new organizational structure was primarily that of the west berlin library, because there were features of the library in east berlin that were specific to the communist system (jammers, 1997a, pp. 4041). jammers holds that the staff deserve recognition for what was accomplished during the difficult transition (jammers, 1997b, p. 40). cope hopes for a better future for the library, because "the achievements of its staff over earlier decades merit no less" (cope, 1999, p. 55). since the reunification of the library, the call for the application of advanced technology and national and international cooperation made by dieter schmidmaier and others has been met in full measure. the many digitization projects undertaken by the berlin state library evidence the library's creative use of technology and show that it is both a partner and a leader kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 46 at the international level. the library has been recognized by other nations and entities, which substantiates its worldwide reputation. the field of east asian scholarship is one area in which the berlin state library has had a significant impact from its founding in the seventeenth century. guido auster (1961) and werner knopp (1999) describe the development of the library's east asian collections. the library has continued this tradition into the current century by dedicating itself to the acquisition of digital resources in east asian studies. one of the first achievements in this area was the award-winning internet guide for chinese studies maintained by the sinological institute at leiden university and supported by the berlin state library, heidelberg university, and the german research foundation. the berlin state library has developed virtual subject libraries, which ann lipp has described as the digital face of the library's special collections. lipp highlighted crossasia, the virtual subject library for east and south asia (lipp, 2011, p. 59). in 2009, minister of general administration of press and publication liu binjie presented general director barbara schneider-kempf with the gift from the chinese government of an expensive database in chinese studies, which was made available on crossasia and which greatly increased the library's offerings of electronic reference sources and newspapers from china. with this gift, the chinese government recognized and supported the library's long history of developing its east asian collections (chinesische datenbank, 2010, p. 86). the berlin state library began digitizing material from its east asian collections in 2009. the project to digitize east asian materials is a good example of the library's efforts at international cooperation. the library collaborated with the jagiellonian library on this project, and the east asian collections of the former prussian state library now housed in kraków were reunited virtually with the collections in berlin (siebert, 2011, p. 61). the "europeana 1914-1918" digital collection is an example of the international leadership role of the berlin state library. as part of the centenary commemoration of world war i, the library led a consortium of ten national libraries from eight european countries, including the bibliothèque nationale de france and the british library, and two additional partners in the development of a common virtual collection on world war i comprised of letters, diaries, photographs, music, newspapers, and other items from the special collections of national libraries. the online collection of about 400,000 sources presents a comprehensive overview of life on the front and in the homeland. the berlin state library contributed 6800 digital objects to the collection. conclusion karol estreicher, the proponent of restitution for poland's cultural losses, wrote in his diary in 1940 that the cultural heritage of a nation is essential for its survival (sroka, 2012, p. 6, n.8). unesco established the memory of the world programme to raise awareness of the world's documentary heritage and to foster its preservation. the program is an international undertaking based on the concept that documentary heritage is an important part of the world's cultural heritage and transcends political and chronological boundaries. international protection of the world's cultural and documentary heritage is critical to the survival of civilization. unesco had already promulgated the hague convention in 1954 as a legal instrument that obligates the signees to protect cultural heritage in times of armed conflict. the ordeal of the berlin state library during the past one hundred years demonstrates the importance of the unesco memory of the world programme. indeed, the library is included on the list of libraries in memory of the world: libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century published by unesco (memory of the world, 1996, p. 10). damage kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 47 to the cultural property of any nation damages the cultural heritage of all humankind. there is a need for international protection of our global cultural and documentary heritage. to publicize the universality of the program, unesco's memory of the world programme has established the memory of the world register of items that are a part of the cultural heritage of all. the berlin state library has four items from its collections on the register: the autographs of bach's b-minor mass and beethoven's ninth symphony, a placard of martin luther's ninetyfive theses printed in nuremberg in 1517, and the hebrew bible used by luther in making his german translation of the bible. edmund burke (1791) likened history to a great volume unrolled for our instruction so that we can learn from past errors (p. 209). the story of the berlin state library provides an example of how susceptible libraries and other cultural institutions are to social and political upheaval and to the consequences of war. the berlin state library was often mentioned together with the bibliothèque nationale de france and the british library as three of the greatest libraries in europe. seen in this light, the story of the library provides an understanding of the magnitude of harm done to the world's documentary heritage in the twentieth century by the events described above. there is significant and meaningful documentation to tell this story in detail (schochow, 1989, p. xi). further research and publication would underscore the importance of the memory of the world programme. publications in english would reach a wider audience. in berlin, the old library building has been restored, but the debates about cultural loss, war reparations, and restitution still affect the library (sroka, 2007, p. 651). the former prussian state library, now the berlin state library–prussian cultural heritage foundation, is famous for its rich collections, exceptional services to its users and to the international community of libraries and scholars, and for its highly qualified and accomplished staff. it is once again one of the world’s preeminent research libraries (staatsbibliothek zu berlin--preußischer kulturbesitz, 2015, p. 7). its survival is a testimony to the importance placed upon research libraries as cultural and documentary heritage institutions. the berlin state library is also a symbol of a reunited germany. the building on unter den linden and the scharoun building on potsdamer straße are registered architectural monuments. its two houses, once in two different worlds 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(1984). “aryan librarianship”: academic and research libraries under hitler, the journal of library history (1974-1987) 19(2), 231-258. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25541502 sackmann, d. (1998). classical music: a state secret (s. gillespie, trans.), the musical quarterly 82, 160-189. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/742239 schmidmaier, d. (1990). positionspapier zur stellung der deutschen staatsbibliothek in http://www.jstor.org/stable/4305252 http://www.jstor.org/stable/25541502 http://www.jstor.org/stable/742239 kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 51 einem erneuerten bibliothekswesen der ddr [position paper on the place of the german state library in a renewed library system of the gdr]. bibliotheksdienst 24(1), 155-162. schmidt, w. (1961). die verlagerung der bestände im zweiten weltkrieg und ihre rückführung [the relocation of collections in the second world war and their return]. in h. kunze, w. dube & g. fröschner (eds.), deutsche staatsbibliothek: 1661-1961 (pp. 77-86). leipzig: veb verlag für buch-und bibliothekswesen. schneider-kempf, b. (2012). jahresbericht der bibliothek: kurzbilanz 2012/ausblick 2013 [yearly report of the library: brief balance sheet 2012/outlook 2013]. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ ueber_uns/pdf/kurzbilanz12_ausblick13.pdf schneider-kempf, b. (2013). kurzbilanz 2013/ausblick 2014 [brief balance sheet 2013/outlook 2014]. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothekberlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ ueber_uns/pdf/kurzbilanz13_ausblick14.pdf schneider-kempf, b. (2014). schaut auf dieser bibliothek [look at this library]. interviewed by s. hoff. bibliotheksmagazin 9(3), 3-8. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothekberlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ueber_uns/pdf/bibliotheksmagazin/b ibliotheksmagazin_3-2014.pdf schochow, w. (1989). die preußische staatsbibliothek, 1918-1945: ein geschichtliche überblick: mit einem quellenteil [the prussian state library, 1918-1945: a historical overview with a section on sources]. cologne: böhlau verlag. schochow, w. (2003). bücherschicksale: die verlagerungsgeschichte der preußischen staatsbibliothek: auslagerung, zerstörung, entfremdung, rückführung, dargestellt aus den quellen [the fates of books: the history of the relocation of the prussian state library: evacuation, destruction, estrangement, return, prepared from the sources]. berlin: de gruyter. siebert, m. (2014). digitalisierung "ostasiatisch": besonderheiten und herausforderung ostasiatischer materialien in westlichen digitalisierungsprojekten [digitization "east asian": specificities and challenges of east asian materials in western digitization projects]. bibliotheksmagazin 1, 57-63. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothekberlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ueber_uns/pdf/bibliotheksmagazin/b m_1-14.pdf sroka, m. (2007). the music collection of the former prussian state library at the jagiellonian library in kraków, poland: past, present, and future developments. library trends 55(3), 651-664. sroka, m. (2012). "nations will not survive without their cultural heritage": karol estreicher, polish cultural restitution plans and the recovery of polish cultural property from the american zone of occupation. the polish review 57(3), 3-28. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/polishreview.57.3.0003 staatsbibliothek zu berlin–preußischer kulturbesitz. (2010). jahresbericht für das jahr 2010 [annual report for the year 2010]. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/ fileadmin/user_uplaod/zentrale_seiten/ueber_uns/pdf/jahresbericht-2010.pdf staatsbibliothek zu berlin—preußischer kulturbesitz. (2015). strategie, 2015-2020 [strategy, 2015-2020]. retrieved from http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de /fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ueber_uns/pdf/sbb_strategie_2020.pdf stimmann, h. (1997). die staatsbibliothek unter den linden als bestandteil der hauptstadtplannung [the state library on unter den linden as a component of the planning of the capital city]. in g. spitzer (ed.), die staatsbibliothek unter den http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zentrale_seiten/ kinney / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 52 linden: ein kolloquium in der staatsbibliothek zu berlin am 11. juni 1997 (pp. 7578). frankfurt am main: vittorio klostermann. sutter, s. c. (1994). the fall of the bibliographic wall: libraries and archives in unified germany. college & research libraries 55(5), 403-411. retrieved from https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/14915/16361 whitehead, p. j. p. (1976). the lost berlin manuscripts. notes 33(1), 7-15. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/897520 zeller, j. (1999). zeitungsabteilung nahrung des geistes im getreidespeicher: zur vorstellung öder zeitungsabteilung bei der eröffnungsveranstalltung am 8. mai '98 [serials department nourishment of the spirit in a granary: by way of an introduction of the remote serials department at the opening ceremony on 8 may '98]. in a. jammers (ed.). schätze wieder vereint: die zusammenführung der historischen sonderabteilungen der staatsbibliothek zu berlin (pp. 81-95). berlin: staatsbibliothek zu berlin--preußische kulturbesitz zimmer, d. e. (1990, june 29). bücher im regen: ein nationales notprogram zur rettung der bibliotheken der ddr ist nötig [books in the rain: a national emergency program for the rescue of books in the gdr is necessary]. zeit online. retrieved from http://www.zeit.de/1990/27/buecher-im-regen about the author daniel william kinney is the subject specialist for german, italian and latin in the university libraries, stony brook university. he is also metadata and authority control librarian. he has an m.a. from queens college, cuny, and an m.s.l.s. from the palmer graduate school of library and information science, long island university. http://www.jstor.org/stable/897520 3 3textfinal issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org leading through partnership: how the illinois fire service institute library leads to serve its user-community kelda habing and lian ruan abstract: in the over three decades since its establishment in 1990, the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library has been a leader through taking the initiative in developing and maintaining partnerships for the benefit of its primary user community: the firefighters of illinois. partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels have allowed the ifsi library to respond to the unique information needs of firefighters through the creation and continued use of services and programs which have been created specifically to meet these unique needs, and the ifsi library’s place within the illinois state fire academy allows these services and programs to be promoted and made available to firefighters across the state. by taking the initiative to create partnerships for the benefit of firefighters, the ifsi library has established itself as a leader in partnership with both the library and information science field as well as to the fire service. the services and programs made possible through the ifsi library’s partnerships have contributed to illinois firefighters’ ability to access the information and resources that they need to continue keeping their communities safe. to cite this article: habing, k. & ruan, l. (2023). leading through partnership: how the illinois fire service institute library leads to serve its user-community. international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 63-72. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2023.vol8.2.296 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 8(2), 63-72 issn: 2474-3542 leading through partnership: how the illinois fire service institute library leads to serve its user-community kelda habing and lian ruan illinois fire service institute, university of illinois urbana-champaign, united states abstract in the over three decades since its establishment in 1990, the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) library has been a leader through taking the initiative in developing and maintaining partnerships for the benefit of its primary user community: the firefighters of illinois. partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels have allowed the ifsi library to respond to the unique information needs of firefighters through the creation and continued use of services and programs which have been created specifically to meet these unique needs, and the ifsi library’s place within the illinois state fire academy allows these services and programs to be promoted and made available to firefighters across the state. by taking the initiative to create partnerships for the benefit of firefighters, the ifsi library has established itself as a leader in partnership with both the library and information science field as well as to the fire service. the services and programs made possible through the ifsi library’s partnerships have contributed to illinois firefighters’ ability to access the information and resources that they need to continue keeping their communities safe. keywords: leadership, community partnership, firefighters, special libraries introduction the illinois fire service institute (ifsi) is the statutory fire academy of the state of illinois (illinois fire service institute act, 1979), operated by the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (uiuc). ifsi is the oldest continuous fire training institution in the united states and has provided training to illinois firefighters since 1925 (ifsi, 2023). through its law-mandated role in the training of firefighters and its mission statement “helping firefighters do their work through training, education, information, and research,” ifsi is connected to all fire departments and firefighters across illinois. in 2022, ifsi courses reached 58,638 firefighters, fire departments, students, and other individuals across all 102 illinois counties (ifsi, 2022). in addition to its work with illinois firefighters, since 2009 ifsi has reached 277 international students from china, brazil, and south korea through courses at ifsi or at locations outside of the united states in international students’ home countries. the ifsi library was established by a solo librarian in 1990 as an in-house library for ifsi instructors, both onsite and those acting as field instructors across the state. as ifsi has become a habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 64 world-class institution, the ifsi library has also grown to match ifsi’s mission and to serve a larger user community. in 1999, the ifsi library transitioned from an in-house to a statewide library; while out-of-state and international reference requests to the library have increased, the ifsi library’s primary users are illinois firefighters. as of january 2023, illinois had 1,107 fire departments with 65.2% being composed completely of volunteer firefighters who are not compensated for their time and services, 14.5% composed completely of career firefighters who receive a salary, and 20.3% composed of a mix of volunteer and career firefighters (usfa, 2023). whether volunteer or career, firefighters face high training and education requirements which must be supported by accessible and comprehensive library services. through past studies and continued work with illinois firefighters, the ifsi library has identified their unique information needs and created unique services and programs to support their needs. many of the ifsi library’s initiatives for firefighters would not have been possible without the library’s proactive creation of strategic partnerships. the ifsi library has established itself as a leader by taking the initiative and fostering partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels for the benefit of its firefighter user community. local and state partnerships provide the key connections needed to create and continue services for firefighters and allow the ifsi library to connect to all firefighters across the state, while national and international partnerships, especially with professional organizations, have provided opportunities for staff development and connection with the larger library community. this report from the field will describe the partnerships that the ifsi library has created at these levels and the benefits to the firefighter user community that these partnerships have supported, especially the library’s ability to continue to meet the dynamic needs of firefighters. local partnerships the ifsi library’s first level of leadership through a partnership is at the local level and includes the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (uiuc), especially the uiuc main library, school of information sciences (ischool), and ifsi instructors. these local partnerships have been key to providing firefighters with accessibility to the information that they need, supporting library operations and special projects, and conducting library outreach to illinois firefighters. uiuc main library while ifsi is a part of uiuc, the ifsi library is not a branch of the uiuc main library as it is a standalone special library on campus. this separation allows the ifsi library to maintain access to ifsi library materials for firefighters regardless of their affiliation with the university. despite this separation, the ifsi library has maintained close ties with the uiuc main library, with university librarians having visited the ifsi library in the past. two aspects of this partnership with the main library are the ifsi library’s use of main library libguides and the illinois digital environment for access to learning and scholarship, both online resources that are maintained and hosted through the main library. the use of libguides and ideals has allowed the ifsi library to make the information that firefighters need easily accessible for them when they need it, as well as to highlight other aspects of firefighting such as fire service history and the important role that ifsi plays in the fire service as illinois’ statutory fire academy. libguides is an online content management system that allows librarians to curate and share knowledge and information on specific topics. the ifsi library has found that firefighters prefer more direct guidance toward the answers that they seek, and not simply directed toward habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 65 potential resources which they must sift through themselves (ruan, 2004). the use of libguides can help to provide this guided and pointed experience for firefighter information seekers. through its partnership with the main library, the ifsi library has created 22 libguides which have grossed nearly 148,500 views since their implementation (https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/lib_guides.cfm). libguides are regularly updated and new libguides are created to continue to provide useful information for firefighters. libguides cover a wide range of subjects relevant to firefighters including: • types of emergencies and fires o agricultural, ethanol, wildland-urban interface, hazardous materials, natural disasters • historical o diversity in the fire service, major u.s. fires, significant illinois fires, u.s. fire service • issues faced by first responders o cancer, pandemics, resiliency • fire safety for different populations o children, those with disabilities, libraries and cultural institutions • tools and techniques firefighters can use to complete their jobs o grant writing, search and rescue, technology the illinois digital environment for access to learning and scholarship (ideals) is the institutional repository for uiuc which collects, disseminates, and provides access to research and scholarship at uiuc. ifsi’s collections include 13 collections which cover the areas of ifsi operations (annual reports, course calendars, library and international programs, marketing, newsletters), illinois fire service and ifsi history (covid-19 and illinois firefighters, covid-19 and the illinois fire service institute, illinois fire college, significant fires and emergencies in illinois history), and research and findings reports (ifsi research, illinois homeland security summit, illinois terrorism task force, illinois volunteer fire service summit). these collections provide firefighters with access to the research and activities that are occurring at ifsi to train and support illinois firefighters, in addition to collections and items which feature experience-based knowledge. experience-based knowledge has been found by the ifsi library to be the most commonly desired form of knowledge by firefighters for training, teaching, and research (ruan, 2011). ideals collections related to the history of the fire service especially include experiencebased knowledge, with the two collections on covid-19 being created as part of a grant to document firefighters’ experience-based knowledge gained during the pandemic. ischool the ifsi library has a long history of working with uiuc students who have been hired to work at the reference desk, in the archives, or on special projects. the majority of students are hired from the uiuc school of information sciences (ischool), but in addition to ischool students, computer science and architecture students have been hired in the past by the ifsi library particularly to work on special projects such as the design of the new ifsi library building or the creation and maintenance of databases and websites. these undergraduate and graduate students gain valuable experience in a special library environment and have been crucial to library operations and the creation and maintenance of new projects and resources. for example, two recent grant-funded projects received by the ifsi library relied on the skills and dedication of https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/lib_guides.cfm habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 66 student workers: the children fire safety literacy reading and discussion program through the american library association, and the experience-based knowledge management initiatives to support illinois firefighters dynamic needs in response to the covid-19 pandemic through the institute of museum and library services. students who have been hired to staff the reference desk also address another unique factor of firefighter information need, which is that they often require a quick response time to reference requests and prefer more personal assistance with their queries even when online assistance may be available (ruan, 2003). student workers allow the ifsi library to respond to all firefighter requests quickly and in a personable manner. in addition to the ifsi library’s extensive work with ischool and other uiuc students, the ifsi head librarian has also served as an adjunct faculty at the ischool and has taught the course special library administration, gaining leadership experience through leading the course and inspiring graduate students to become interested in special librarianship. ifsi instructors within ifsi, the ifsi library has established partnerships with ifsi instructors who, in addition to being key library users, play a role in promoting the library to students and encouraging students to use the library, especially as many firefighter students at ifsi may not be aware of the information resources available to them or may not have access to other information resources. a survey conducted by the ifsi library found that local information resources for firefighters are scarce and fragmented, and many fire departments only maintain small libraries, with few personnel to maintain the library and none with librarians staffing the library (ruan, 2001). firefighters from small or rural fire departments may also be less likely to use library services. thus, much of illinois’ firefighter population is often hard to reach or is an “invisible” population to the ifsi library (ruan, 2003). additionally, the high rate of volunteer firefighter turnover (nvfc, 2023) likely increases the difficulty of making connections with the firefighter user community. the ifsi library’s partnership with ifsi instructors is crucial to make firefighter students aware of the library’s services and resources which they can use both during their time at ifsi and even when they return home to their fire departments. there are three primary ways in which ifsi instructors have been partners with the ifsi library: 1) inviting ifsi librarians to give short library instruction presentations to classes; 2) including the ifsi library as a resource to receive the required texts listed on course syllabi; and 3) assigning course work which brings firefighter students to the library. the short library presentations are 5-10 minutes long at classes in-person at ifsi and are intended to welcome students to use the library and let them know what library resources are available to them. after the presentations, some students visited the library on the same day as a librarian spoke to them. while not all courses list the ifsi library on their syllabus, those that do have contributed to students’ use of the library. for example, students in ifsi’s instructor i and ii courses, which both direct students to the ifsi library in their syllabi, have mentioned their course syllabus as a reason for visiting the library to receive textbooks. ifsi students may also be directed to the library through instructors for projects, such as the basic firefighter/nfpa i academy course which has included an assignment requiring students to research and present on a fallen firefighter. students have often come to the library for assistance in using the illinois firefighter line of duty deaths database (iflodd), or to find more in-depth information on the fallen firefighter they are researching. another course utilized the ifsi library’s children’s collection to conduct fire safety programming for children in their community. through the ifsi library’s partnership with ifsi habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 67 instructors, more ifsi students and illinois firefighters have been made aware of how the library can assist them in the course of their firefighting duties. state partnerships the ifsi library’s leadership through partnerships at the state level is crucial as the library’s goal is to reach all firefighters across the state. two important partnerships are with illinois firefighters themselves, as the ifsi library’s primary user community, and with the illinois state library, which allows the ifsi library to reach firefighters regardless of their location in the state and provides support for library projects and initiatives. illinois firefighters as the ifsi library’s primary user community, it is important for the ifsi library to establish and maintain trust and respect with illinois firefighters, and to help them come to see the ifsi library as a place that is truly for firefighters, both to meet their information needs and to tell their stories. the library’s development and continued use of resources such as the illinois firefighter line of duty deaths database (iflodd) and the illinois firefighter medal of valor and medal of honor database, as well as guidance by a library advisory committee comprised of illinois firefighters, has increased the esteem that illinois firefighters hold for the library. iflodd and the illinois firefighter medal of valor/honor database serve as forms of experience-based knowledge, which includes the knowledge of how to react in certain situations given context and experience with past situations and is the most commonly desired form of knowledge by firefighters (ruan, 2011). to document the knowledge, the ifsi library conducts research as well as interviews firefighters and family members to learn more about a fallen firefighter or the act that led to the award of a medal. iflodd highlights the sacrifices made by illinois firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. it includes firefighter records from 1857 to the present day and is updated regularly as new information about incidents becomes available or a new death occurs. iflodd currently includes 912 records, with 1,537 images and 14 oral history interviews, making it the most comprehensive source of information on illinois firefighter line-of-duty deaths. as of 2022, iflodd has been visited over 150,000 times, and has been recognized by state and national organizations and publications such as the illinois library association as an exemplary illinois state library grant award recipient in the ila reporter, and by scout report and genealogy news. the illinois firefighter medal of honor is the highest award given by the state of illinois to a firefighter for an act of bravery or heroism that goes above and beyond the call of duty, and the illinois medal of valor is an award given by the state of illinois for an act of heroism or bravery which shows courage and dedication in the face of danger. the illinois firefighter medal of honor and medal of valor database includes 302 records from 1994 to the present day, with summaries of the event that led to the award of a medal and citations related to the awards. due to the sensitive nature of the information in iflodd and the medal of honor/valor database, the ifsi library’s thorough and conscientious work in researching, interviewing, and providing information on fallen or honored firefighters has helped to tell the story of illinois firefighters and has strengthened the connection between the ifsi library and the illinois firefighter user-community. the library advisory committee is composed of illinois firefighters who represent more than 15 fire organizations across the state. these advisors serve as the library’s “eyes and ears” habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 68 on firefighters’ information needs and provide insight into the ways that the library can adapt services and create new services to better meet these needs. advisors are key library supporters, especially through the promotion of the library and its programs to firefighters and fire departments with which they are affiliated and enthusiastically providing the ifsi library with letters of support particularly for grant applications. to keep advisors up to date on the ifsi library’s activities, advisors attend an annual meeting with library staff. in this meeting, advisors share their thoughts and insights on how the library has met firefighter needs in the past year, and the ifsi library staff tell them of plans for the next year based on the library’s achievements of the past year. illinois state library to reach illinois firefighters no matter their location across the state, the ifsi library’s partnership with the illinois state library through membership in one of illinois’ regional library systems has been crucial. partnership with the illinois state library has allowed the ifsi library to reach firefighters through interlibrary loan, the illinois digital archives, and the award of state grant funding. in 1999, when the ifsi library transitioned from an in-house to a state-wide library, the library joined a regional library system to provide interlibrary loan services to firefighters across the state at no cost to them. the system was at that time called the lincoln trail library system and has since been merged with other regional systems into the illinois heartland library system (ihls). the ifsi library’s becoming a member of a regional library system is an exemplary example of the ifsi library’s leadership and initiative in creating partnerships, as this was a unique case due to the ifsi library’s location within uiuc but not as a branch of the main library which was already a member of the regional library system. to allow all firefighters regardless of affiliation with the university to access ifsi library materials via interlibrary loan, it was necessary for the ifsi library to join as a separate member. through the ifsi library’s efforts to become a unique member of the lincoln trail library system, the library’s commitment to providing library services to firefighter patrons across the state was confirmed, regardless of the new paths the library would have to forge or the challenges that the library would have to overcome. since then, interlibrary loan services continue to be extensively used by the ifsi library and have become an integral part of the services that are available to illinois firefighters. as firefighters are scattered across the state and face challenges in traveling to ifsi due to long travel times and scheduling around shifts at their fire department or another job, many are unable to come to ifsi in person to pick up the books that they need for courses, promotional exams, or research to improve their fire department’s operations and community safety. when firefighters contact the ifsi library and ask about having books shipped to them due to difficulties in coming to ifsi, ifsi staff enthusiastically promote interlibrary loan services and highlight the ease of receiving books through interlibrary loan. requested books are sent to firefighters through ihls and can be both picked up and returned at the firefighters’ local public library—a much shorter journey from their fire department than to ifsi. the ifsi library’s extensive use of interlibrary loan has allowed more illinois firefighters to access the information that they need, and the ifsi library is grateful for the understanding shown by the public libraries of illinois who may not be accustomed to receiving direct interlibrary loans and are more familiar with receiving interlibrary loans which they have requested for patrons through oclc. the establishment and extensive use of interlibrary loan services have helped to make the ifsi library accessible to all illinois habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 69 firefighters and has helped the library adapt to the changes that came from the necessity of evolving from an in-house to a state-wide library. in addition to the physical materials which can be disseminated to firefighters through the illinois state library’s regional interlibrary loan systems, the ifsi library can also utilize the illinois digital archives (ida). ida is the repository for the digital collections of the illinois state library as well as other libraries and institutions in the state. the ifsi library currently has three collections in ida: the covid-19 and the illinois fire service, illinois firefighter line of duty death digital image collection, and the springfield fire department image collection. these digital collections highlight the ifsi library’s commitment to telling the stories of firefighters and making these stories available both to firefighters themselves as well as to the general public. the collections in ida all feature further examples of experience-based knowledge, which are crucial to firefighters’ training and education as well as to their trust in the ifsi library. finally, the ifsi library’s partnership with the illinois state library through membership in a regional library system has made the ifsi library eligible to receive state grant funding. between 1999 and 2014, the ifsi library received 14 grants totaling over $258,000 from the illinois office of the secretary of state and the illinois state library (https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/grants/). grant funding was received from a variety of grant programs, with many projects funded through the library service and technology act grant program. grant projects included outreach, workshops, and training to illinois firefighters, fire departments, and public libraries; the creation of and support for online resources; the creation of iflodd; evaluation of ifsi library subject access; and purchasing support for materials and supplies. while available state grant funding has decreased since 2014, the grants received from the illinois state library were key in building the foundation of the ifsi library’s services for all illinois firefighters. national partnerships leadership through partnership at the national level by the ifsi library has primarily consisted of membership in national professional organizations, leadership within these organizations, and grant funding received through these organizations. through these organizations, ifsi librarians have gained valuable connections to librarians and libraries across the country, leadership skills, and opportunities for ifsi library growth. memberships in national organizations have provided ifsi librarians with sources for networking, staff professional development, and exposure to new ideas and trends in librarianship across the u.s. ifsi librarians have presented on the ifsi library and other aspects of librarianship including at the conferences of the chinese american librarians association (cala), american library association (ala), ala international relations roundtable (irrt), medical library association (mla), special library association (sla), and joint council of librarians of color (jclc) (https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/research/index.cfm). these conference presentations for organizations of which the ifsi library and/or ifsi librarians are members have allowed the ifsi library to highlight the innovative work which the ifsi library conducts for illinois firefighters and to make the unique information needs of firefighters more widely known to the national library community. membership in national organizations not only has allowed ifsi librarians to promote the library’s accomplishments and findings but also to foster connections between the ifsi library and other libraries that have provided support for ifsi habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 70 library initiatives. for example, a recent grant application submitted by the ifsi library included letters of support from representatives of a wide number of organizations including ala, sla, and jclc. the connection to a national network of libraries and their support of ifsi library initiatives are crucial for the ifsi library to be competitive when applying for grants. the ifsi head librarian has also held leadership positions within these national organizations, especially within cala of which she was president (2015-2016), executive director (2016-2022), and corepresentative to ifla (2017-2019). as a member of ala, she has served on the ala task force on equity diversity and inclusion (2014-2016) and the ala nominating committee (2017); and, as a member of sla, she served on the emergency preparedness and recovery advisory council (2013-2016). through these leadership positions, the head librarian has gained valuable leadership experience which she has brought back to her work at the ifsi library and applied to her leadership of the library team, her advocacy of the ifsi library to ifsi administration, and her vision for what the ifsi library can become. additionally, the ifsi library has received grant funding from partnerships with national organizations. grant funding received from organizations with which the ifsi library is affiliated includes two from ala and one from sla. grants from ala include the “children fire safety literacy reading and discussion program” (2022) which enhanced the ifsi library’s humanities efforts on children’s fire safety and literacy through the purchase of fire safety, firefighting, and fire history children’s books for inclusion in a reading program in which firefighters read to children in their community, and the “role of chinese american librarians in library and information science diversity” (2013) which collected and analyzed data on chinese american librarians who have been involved with diversity initiatives to address diversity issues within the u.s. the grant from sla (2003) supported a survey to support evidence-based practice in special libraries serving fire service personnel and researchers in public safety and homeland security areas. through these grants, the ifsi library has been able to create new programming to meet firefighters’ unique needs and to further the ifsi library’s understanding of firefighter patrons as well as the broader field of librarianship. international partnerships while the ifsi library’s primary users are in the state of illinois, the development of international partnerships beyond illinois and the u.s. has allowed the library to connect to other similar libraries and the larger library community and to create opportunities for library staff professional development. through its membership in the international network for fire information and reference exchange (infire) and the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla), the ifsi library has grown its leadership to an international level. as a member of infire, the ifsi library has gained access to a network of fire and emergency libraries and affiliate organizations, who have come together to facilitate the exchange of resources and expertise among members, as well as to provide opportunities for networking and professional development, especially through the infire conference. between 1999 and 2015, ifsi librarians presented at 11 infire annual conferences on a variety of topics related to meeting the information needs of firefighters such as internet outreach and digital resources for firefighters, reaching underserved firefighters, mapping vocabularies for fire science materials, and the development of experience-based knowledge management services. additionally, ifsi librarians have served within infire in various capacities including as chair and members of the executive habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 71 committee, and as treasurers. these ifsi librarian positions within infire have helped grow the leadership skills of ifsi librarians, increasing their capacity for taking on further leadership roles for the benefit of the ifsi library in the future. the ifsi library’s infire membership has also allowed the library to connect with similar fire and emergency libraries, allowing both the ifsi library and other infire members to learn of the innovative ways that others have responded to the unique information needs of firefighters. the ifsi library is also affiliated with ifla through the ifsi head librarian’s ifla membership which she has held since 2011. she has given multiple presentations at past ifla congresses and has been a member of the information literacy section standing committee and the library theory and research section standing committee. due to ifsi’s work with international students, it is crucial for the ifsi library to continue to be involved in global library communities. as the ifsi library continues to plan for the future, continued international collaborations through membership and leadership roles within international organizations will help increase support for the library’s new initiatives and provide crucial opportunities for continued staff development and understanding of international library trends. conclusion through the ifsi library’s leadership initiatives, local, state, national, and international partnerships have been created that support and enhance the ifsi library’s work for its user community: the firefighters of illinois. local and state partnerships provide the key connections needed to create and continue services for firefighters and allow the ifsi library to connect to all firefighters across the state, while national and international partnerships, especially with professional organizations, have provided opportunities for staff development and connection with the larger library community. the ifsi library plans to continue strengthening its current partnerships and to expand its list of partners, particularly through work with more international partners. these partnerships have allowed the ifsi library to grow from an in-house to a statewide library, and for its work to become known even at the international level. the ifsi library serves as proof that through taking a leadership role with proactive partnership-making, a small, special library can become a leader on a large scale and serve as an example of how to successfully meet the information needs of firefighters. references illinois fire service institute. (2023). about ifsi. https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/about/. illinois fire service institute. (2022). annual report. https://www.fsi.illinois.edu/documents/annual%20report/fy21-22.pdf. illinois fire service institute act, 110 ilcs 365. (1979). national volunteer fire council. (2023). volunteer fire service fact sheet. https://www.nvfc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/nvfc-volunteer-fire-service-factsheet.pdf ruan, l. (2001). providing better subject access to nonprint fire and emergency materials for firefighters. cataloging and classification quarterly, 31(3-4). https://doi.org/10.1300/j104v31n03_05. habing and ruan / international journal of librarianship 8(2) 72 ruan, l. (2003). meeting changing information needs of illinois firefighters: analysis of queries received from outreach reference services. the reference librarian, 39(82), pp. 69-105. https://doi.org/ 10.1300/j120v39n82_06. ruan, l. (2004). ruan, l. (2004). designing and developing internet reference services to support firefighter distance learners in illinois. internet reference services quarterly, 9(1-2), pp. 147-172. https://doi.org/ 10.1300/j136v09n01_11. ruan, l. (2011). information-seeking and sharing behaviors among fire service field staff instructors: a qualitative study. https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=96533fba-a6d0-4671-93fefcc281e90695%40redis&bdata=jnnpdgu9zwrzlwxpdmumc2nvcgu9c2l0zq%3d% 3d#an=ed533981&db=eric. united states fire administration. (2023). national fire department registry summary. https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/registry-summary-2023.pdf. about the authors kelda habing is the research and grants librarian at the university of illinois urbana-champaign illinois fire service institute. she received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the university of illinois urbana-champaign. lian ruan is the head librarian and director of international programs at the university of illinois urbana-champaign illinois fire service institute. she has received multiple awards for her work and served as president and executive director of the chinese american librarians association (cala), and on ala and ifla committees. 06-296-title-page 06-296-habing-article leading through partnership: how the illinois fire service institute library leads to serve its user-community abstract issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org hathitrust and local digital stewardship: a case study in how massive digital libraries affect local digital resources decisions heidi m. winkler and joy m. perrin abstract: this article reviews the influence that massive digital libraries like the hathitrust digital library can have on local, smaller institutions’ digitization, preservation, and curation programs. the history of hathitrust’s digital preservation efforts as a trusted repository is reviewed. a case study is presented showing how one academic library made difficult digital stewardship decisions in a modern world of globally federated preservation initiatives. the authors introduce the concept of deselection as part of the digital curation process and discuss how digital collection administrators can refine their local digital preservation efforts to better reflect the realities of constrained human and financial resources. to cite this article: winkler, m.h., & perrin, m.j. (2017). hathitrust and local digital stewardship: a case study in how massive digital libraries affect local digital resources decisions. international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 32-41. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.1.11 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(1), 32-41 issn:2474-3542 hathitrust and local digital stewardship: a case study in how massive digital libraries affect local digital resources decisions heidi m. winkler, joy m. perrin texas tech university libraries, lubbock, tx, usa abstract this article reviews the influence that massive digital libraries like the hathitrust digital library can have on local, smaller institutions’ digitization, preservation, and curation programs. the history of hathitrust’s digital preservation efforts as a trusted repository is reviewed. a case study is presented showing how one academic library made difficult digital stewardship decisions in a modern world of globally federated preservation initiatives. the authors introduce the concept of deselection as part of the digital curation process and discuss how digital collection administrators can refine their local digital preservation efforts to better reflect the realities of constrained human and financial resources. keywords: digital weeding, digital curation, digital stewardship, levels of preservation, trusted repository, digital preservation introduction taycher (2010) estimated that there were nearly one hundred thirty million books published worldwide. the hathitrust digital library claimed in late 2016 a collection of at least 7,364,677 digitized book titles, a number that is constantly growing (hathitrust digital library, n.d.-a). the hathitrust digital library is a “digital preservation repository” that was founded in 2008 through a multi-university collaboration to house books scanned by google, the internet archive, and microsoft, in addition to books scanned by the various partner institutions (hathitrust digital library, n.d.-b). the hathitrust digital library represents a massive effort to curate and house these digitized books. if the taycher estimate was correct, this leaves millions of books worldwide still restricted to physical format that would benefit from digitization and ultimately digital preservation. identifying these items, scanning them, and making sure they are properly protected for the future are new challenges in this increasingly digital age. as individual organizations look to digitize their holdings, they must first address a number of questions, including which items should be marked for digitization, and what should the stewards of these items do with them once they are digitized? winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 33 this article addresses the influence that massive digital libraries like hathitrust have on local institutions’ digitization, preservation, and curation programs and the choices made about which items are preserved at the highest levels of preservation and which ones are not. this discussion requires clarifying what digital preservation and curation, which is collectively known as digital stewardship, is in this context. background digital stewardship the bound book can be regarded as a reasonably reliable format. books sitting on shelves in a library are fairly stable. if left alone, they will degrade far more slowly than if they are frequently checked out and used by patrons. the opposite is true for digital files and formats. if a digital file is left alone, untouched, and unchecked, it will almost certainly corrupt. the united states library of congress defines digital preservation as “the active management of digital content over time to ensure ongoing access” (library of congress, n.d., para. 1). digital preservation can encompass both born-digital content (materials that originate in a digital environment, such as on a computer) as well as content that was reformatted from a physical form to a digital form (alcts, 2008). in the context of this article, all discussions of digital preservation will be in reference to the files created when a book is digitized through scanning. digital preservation follows four simple tenets: tenet 1: make multiple copies of the digital content, and make sure those copies are backed up (standford university, n.d.); tenet 2: save those copies in geographically distant locations; tenet 3: check on the copies regularly to make sure they have not been altered in some way (the national digital stewardship alliance, 2014), and; tenet 4: check the format of the items to make sure they are still usable (digital curation centre, n.d.). digital files are particularly vulnerable to corruption and destruction (digital preservation coalition, 2017). typically, digital files are stored on hard drives or servers, which can crash or fail. if the digital file is stored on two or three different media formats, there is a greater chance that if one of the storage media fails, the other copies will remain safe. every copy of a digital file must be checked at regular intervals via checksums to ensure their data is not being corrupted. those files must also be prepared for transfer to new media as their original physical media, hardware, software, or formatting become obsolete. digital preservation is first and foremost concerned with making sure that a file’s bits survive for the foreseeable (and unforeseeable) future; however, people and institutions cannot rest on simple preservation of the bits of the electronic file alone (alcts, 2007). the technical aspects of preserving digital files are fairly straightforward compared to the complexities of developing policies for managing a digital archive to avoid unintentional human error. the technical infrastructure of a digital preservation system could appear to work perfectly, but if there are no policies in place for how often administrators should check their data, file corruption could go unnoticed. administrators need to put processes into place that detail how to go about correcting winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 34 any mistakes they or others make while handling digital data. the more people there are within an organization involved in the digital preservation process, the more likely it will be that human error will occur. preservation resides within and alongside digital curation, which focuses on building and managing the value of digital objects (lazorchak, 2011). digital content administrators must curate their materials so that they are continually useful. digital curation may take the form of reorganizing collections, adding metadata, or enhancing digital files to make them useful to current and future patrons and administrators. digital stewardship is the term given to the lifecycle management approach that encompasses both digital curation and digital preservation (lazorchak, 2011). it may seem that the more difficult and expensive aspect of converting books to digital formats is the actual scanning, but the cost of long-term stewardship will continue for as long as the digital file exists. as lazorchak wrote, digital stewardship is an active process; an organization cannot simply post a file online to its website or repository and consider it permanently preserved. rather, institutions must take steps to ensure that their digital content is secure. the past two decades have seen the advent of a partnership approach to managing digital content. institutions form agreements with one another to curate digital collections from a central location and pool their resources to preserve this content for years to come. one remarkable example of this community digital management is the hathitrust digital library. the hathitrust digital library: trusted repository hathitrust’s mission is to preserve and make accessible history’s broad cultural and academic records. by november 2016, the library had amassed over 600 terabytes of data (hathitrust digital library, n.d.-a). a humanities researcher exploring one title could potentially find dozens of different digitized editions of that title, all with different editors, different introductions, different text, and even unique marginalia. hathitrust gives users access to a wide berth of digitized academic materials from over 100 partner institutions. for example, the library of the complutense of madrid alone used hathitrust to provide global users access to the roughly 120,000 out-of-copyright books from the 16th to 19th centuries that it had digitized (magán, palafox, tardón, & sanz, 2011). with this much academic research and cultural heritage potential under its stewardship, hathitrust must take strategic, purposeful steps in its digital preservation efforts to ensure these materials are available for generations to come. in march 2010, hathitrust became a certified trusted repository by the center for research libraries (hathitrust digital library, 2011). the criteria for being certified as a trusted repository, meaning that the institution has been assessed for its reliability and commitment to long-term digital preservation, is extensive. organizations must not only document how they meet minimum requirements, but must be able to show evidence of their compliance. hathitrust’s certification required an audit that covered three major areas: organizational infrastructure; digital object management; and technologies, technical infrastructure, and security. within each of these three areas was more specific criteria. according to its own website, hathitrust utilizes various strategies in its work “to ensure the long-term integrity of deposited materials” (hathitrust digital library, n. d. c, para. 1). it validates all its digital content upon ingesting it into its system and checks the integrity of all of its files on a quarterly basis. the library also employs digital preservation community-approved standards and formats that are supported across a variety of platforms, and it is confident in its ability to adapt and migrate to new preservation formats over winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 35 time. what is important to note about the trustworthy repositories audit & certification (trac) document (oclc & crl, 2007) is that while technical requirements for digital preservation are laid out for institutions to consult and follow, they are far outnumbered by administrative, policybased requirements. the designation requires organizations to have strict policies that reduce the chance of human error. the task of preserving materials securely is a prohibitively expensive undertaking for any single organization. it becomes feasible, however, when many different organizations pool their resources. when an institution joins the membership of hathitrust, it is contributing to the longterm preservation of all the volumes that are held in this massive digital library. in the following case study, one university library realized the positive effect that acting in concert with hathitrust’s holdings could have on its own digital stewardship decisions. digital stewardship at the institutional level when the texas tech university (ttu) libraries began digitizing content in 2004, digital preservation was an afterthought. like many organizations excited about digitization, the project teams creating digital collections were focused on access. getting digital content online as quickly as possible outweighed any concerns about its long-term survival. the library primarily digitized out-of-copyright books. the scanning effort ramped up just as google announced its massive book digitization project (google, n.d.). as the google book project picked up speed, interest and support of book digitization by the library waned on the assumption that all the books had been scanned by other organizations. the staff involved did not realize that some of the items they had scanned were not available elsewhere and were in need of additional preservation. the library was also involved in a nascent electronic theses and dissertations (etd) initiative. it did not take long for the etd collection database to twice experience corruption (perrin, winkler, & yang, 2015). at the time, backups done nightly and then retained for 30 days were considered sufficient protection against any malfunctions. in both cases, however, the corruption was not noticed until well after the 30-day window for the backup had passed. while the collection’s pdf (portable document format) files were undamaged, a year’s worth of metadata was lost and had to be redone. these incidents taught the library two vital lessons about digital preservation. first, digital content is more than just files. effective digital library content is a combination of both an item’s file and its metadata, and both must be protected equally. second, 30-day backups only work if it can be guaranteed that the items will be checked at least every 30 days. these crises led the library to invest in basic digital preservation. it acquired a second storage site located miles from the university campus in order to maintain geographically distant copies, providing a small level of protection. updates to the digital archive on campus are replicated immediately to the remote site. physical access to the offsite storage continues to be restricted to a few information technology (it) staff members in order to keep human error to a minimum. checksums are regularly confirmed on both the files on campus and the off-site storage to protect against file corruption. all files that are stored in both locations are considered to be in the dark archive. the digitized collections benefitted from the digital preservation measures taken to protect the born-digital collection. in addition, the library’s digital resources unit (dru) had at the time winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 36 a policy to save every single file created during the digitization process just in case. since the team had no guidance from content owners about what was important, everything was kept, including failed projects or items that were scanned but never intended to be online. all this digital hoarding resulted in the dark archive server ballooning to 10 terabytes in both of its locations (20 terabytes total). furthermore, these files were not organized consistently. each project contained different file formats and utilized different naming schemas. some collections even contained duplicated files from multiple scans. while the files themselves were secure, the dru realized that the collections needed curation. in 2013, the unit’s new digital stewardship librarian (dsl) was given authority over the library’s dark archive servers and the responsibility of managing the digital preservation and curation efforts of the library. this librarian was tasked with organizing the digital archive, bringing the older collections already in the dark archive up to newer curation standards, and preparing new content for preservation. she began by reviewing the content in the dark archive and assessing each collection for its individual digital preservation needs. she had to approach the archive from a different perspective than the “preserve everything just in case” model. that process began with gaining context about why and how each digital collection had come into being over the previous decade. the digital collections had begun with the intent to digitize, in the name of open access, as many out-of-copyright books from the library stacks as possible. over time, the dru had refined its approach to focus on the preservation of materials unique to the university, such as etds, university yearbooks, and other special collections. now the dsl had to make decisions about collections that no longer met the mission of the digital library and were taking up space that could be used for other materials. the dsl selected seven digital collections that had been scanned from textbooks, cookbooks, copies of state legislative records, novels, and plays that were no longer within the mandate of the dark archive. she identified hathitrust’s catalog as a tool against which she could compare these collections, since it was also a repository of scanned book content, albeit much larger. she decided to evaluate exactly how much overlap existed between these seven collections and hathitrust. the dsl’s evaluation addressed replicated content as opposed to replicated editions. since this librarian was the only one assigned to the project, she did not have the time to individually investigate what could often be dozens of editions of the same book in the hathitrust catalog. rather than getting into the minutiae of what to do if the library had the 1892 edition of a textbook and hathitrust had the 1891 edition, for example, she tried to gauge quickly whether the contents of the books were essentially identical. when they were, she marked the ttu copies as part of the overlap. the dsl discovered that of the 391 individual records comprising the seven scanned collections, 307 were also being preserved as part of the hathitrust collections. the dsl decided to weed these 307 items from the local digital archive. a process for how to record which items were deselected and why needed to be created before the items were removed irrevocably. in the dark archive, the librarian started keeping a log of archive changes and a list of policies. the log kept records that stated which items had been moved or removed from the dark archive and why. if someone looked for an item available online and could not find it in the archive, they would have an explanation for why it was not there. the librarian created a policy stating that items would sit in “ready to delete” for two weeks as project stakeholders were notified of their removal from the dark archive and the reasoning behind it. winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 37 while there was significant overlap between the ttu collections and hathitrust’s holdings, the librarian also identified items that texas tech had that hathitrust did not have. those items would be moved into a second group to eventually be submitted to the hathitrust collection and removed from the library’s dark archive. the library decided, however, that public online access to the removed content would continue to be maintained through its dspace, which is hosted off-campus through a statewide consortium. it does not cost the university extra to continue offering access to these items. from the patron’s perspective, nothing has changed. instead, preservation copies have been carefully deselected from the locally maintained dark archive in order to free up resources to apply digital preservation measures to items that are unique to the university. since public access to the materials would continue, the dsl did not take account of usage statistics or the age of the items in her assessment. instead, she focused on rarity and determining whether the library held the only copies of the content. the collections’ sponsors approved the items being removed from the dark archive thanks to continued public access. the levels of preservation the library has since adopted a policy to assign collections a level of preservation that dictates how items will ultimately be processed into the dark archive. this policy ensures that everyone involved in the workflow understands the importance of the collection and can handle items properly without wasting resources on lower-level collections. the library assigns a low level one status to its online-only digital content. the items are objects that are not unique to the university that the library has confirmed are being preserved in a trusted repository like the hathitrust. most of the items that have been assigned to this level are part of the library’s legacy collections and would likely be rejected if proposed now. since, however, the repository’s web analytics do indicate that these copies get some use, their online presence will be maintained. the items removed from the archive in the deselection project described above constitute level one items. when books are brought in for digitization, the dru first checks hathitrust to determine if the book already exists in some form in its catalog. if the item is in hathitrust, the book is not scanned and the item never even achieves a level one status. level two items are born digital; namely, the theses and dissertations that have been submitted electronically to the university since 2005. in this level, the display copy pdf is the only copy the library publishes online and preserves in the dark archive. level three encompasses items that are physically unique to the university and have been scanned. in this case, the display copy is online, while both the archive-quality tiff (tagged image file format, .tif) files and display-quality jpegs (joint photographic experts group, .jpg) or pdfs are in the local dark archive. items are scanned as a 600 dpi (dots per inch) full color tiff, but in order to display them effectively online, the quality is reduced for the display copy. in some cases, the online copy has a watermark. the archive copies contain more information than the display copies, and so the extra tiff files are kept. saving these files is especially important for cultural heritage materials. level four is for items that cannot be displayed online but are unique to the university and born digital. embargoed etds are kept offline temporarily or permanently to respect publication winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 38 holds, grant obligations, or occasionally, author safety. because of this, the official copies of these items only exist on the dark archive server. discussion and future research directions the authors noted throughout this process that the priorities that guide deselection within traditional physical collections do not work in the same way for digital weeding processes. for a traditional physical collection, heavy usage by patrons signals that an item has earned its place in the stacks and needs extra protection and care. for a digital item, though, heavy usage is not necessarily as important of a measure as is its rarity online. some digital content can be culturally significant but not necessarily unique. take, for example, the legislative manual for the 37th legislature of the state of texas. any student of texas state legislative history would be able to use the content of this document to pore over legislature rules as well as the rolls of standing committees for the 1921 state legislature. these students would easily find this manual and others like it in the hathitrust catalog, but they may be surprised to find that these documents have been digitized many times by many other institutions. in the grand scheme of digitization, it does not cost much to scan one item and make it available online, but if all of these organizations apply the same levels of digital preservation to their respective copies of this single item, it would be a waste of resources. instead, if the item is not already in hathitrust, one of them could submit it to ensure that it is preserved. each institution could subsequently treat the item like a level one item. what makes an item unique? if an institution has the only official copy of a work, or if its copy is a rare edition or has noteworthy marginalia, it may be considered unique. for all practical purposes, a unique book would be one that is not in hathitrust. professionals involved with local digitization may not realize that some of their unique items have cultural significance and are worthy of greater preservation efforts. it would also be a mistake to assume an entire collection needs to be preserved locally if an organization like hathitrust, with greater resources and experience, can house some or all of the collection. the authors recognize that digital deselection may not be a comfortable process for librarians. after all, traditional physical book weeding has long been considered one of the least desirable library tasks (snyder, 2014). many librarians feel uncomfortable taking on a project that entails permanently removing materials from the library; slote (1975) noted that people have an almost “sacred” regard for books and that their deselection from a collection can become “painful” (p. 5). when one considers the emotional connections librarians can have with physical collections, then it is not surprising that they are equally, if not more, defensive of their digitized book collections. at ttu alone, some of the library’s digital book collections have taken years to complete and are as a result technically worth tens of thousands of dollars. with such a sunken cost mentality associated with digitization, the realization that a collection might not be worth local digital preservation can be difficult to process, but it is necessary if the collection’s value to the library does not justify the expense. while hathitrust currently only handles books, a similar model can be adopted for other formats. the minnesota digital library image preservation prototype project, for example, created a prototype for how to deposit images into hathitrust for “access, storage, and preservation purposes” (hathitrust digital library, n.d.-d, para. 1). the project found certain problems with expanding the infrastructure of hathitrust to other formats besides books. one winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 39 major difficulty that the project stumbled upon was that organizations often do not keep their master images formatted to hathitrust’s specifications (celeste & skinner, 2010). they also realized that institutions uploading images to hathitrust might experience difficulty mapping their local metadata to the schema that hathitrust requires. the project’s findings indicate that what is good for digital book preservation may not work well when expanded to other types of digital preservation. additionally, rights issues with images and other media may be more complex than with books, and institutions may feel less comfortable signing away rights to their image collections. instead of trying to make hathitrust work for other formats, academia might find it more beneficial to their content to create separate digital library systems for different digitized formats such as images, video, and audio. these systems would allow each format’s unique metadata and formatting problems to be handled while still being supported through a consortial model to pay for the curation and preservation of the items. conclusion digital stewardship concerns the preservation and curation of digital objects over the course of their lifecycles. these efforts have traditionally been internal institutional matters; ensuring the survival of digital files was a local issue that would be dealt with in different ways and with different budgets. not all digital preservation efforts are created equal, however, not all digital content needs to be given the same consideration for local preservation. as each organization plans their digital projects, a part of every project should include an evaluation of the collection’s unique stewardship needs. in the new global partnership approach to digital preservation and curation, smaller institutions must consider the limits of their preservation and curation resources. they must decide what they must absolutely steward themselves to do, and what would be better stewarded by a trusted repository with more extensive resources. local theses and dissertations, yearbooks, or other unique community publications may be more valuable items to digitize than other items that are considered more traditionally culturally significant. not all organizations will choose to handle their items the same way, but no matter how they choose to move forward, they need to take into consideration the greater digital library world. instead of each institution expending funds and efforts to preserve items, it might be best to funnel the items and funds to a central organization like hathitrust so that they can be preserved more efficiently and at a higher level. references alcts preservation and reformatting section, working group on defining digital preservation. (2007, june 24). definitions of digital preservation. retrieved february 18, 2015, from http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/preserv/defdigpres0408 celeste e. & skinner k. (2010). minnesota digital library and hathitrust image preservation prototype project report: executive summary. minnesota digital library. retrieved june 30, 2017 from http://www.mndigital.org/projects/preservation/esreport.pdf digital curation centre (n.d.) what is digital curation? retrieved july 6, 2017, from http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-curation/what-digital-curation http://www.mndigital.org/projects/preservation/esreport.pdf winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 40 digital preservation coalition (2017). why digital preservation matters. digital preservation handbook. retrieved july 6, 2017, from http://www.dpconline.org/handbook/digitalpreservation/why-digital-preservation-matters google. (n.d.). google books history. retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://www.google.com/googlebooks/about/history.html hathitrust digital library. (2011). hathitrust trustworthy repository audit and certification (trac). retrieved june 30, 2017 from hathi trust digital library:from https://www.hathitrust.org/trac hathitrust digital library. (n.d.-a). welcome to hathitrust! retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://www.hathitrust.org/about hathitrust digital library. (n.d.-b). our partnership. retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://www.hathitrust.org/partnership hathitrust digital library. (n.d.-c). digital preservation policy. retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://www.hathitrust.org/preservation hathitrust digital library. (n.d.-d). minnesota digital library image preservation prototype project. retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://www.hathitrust.org/mdl_images lazorchak, b. (2011, august 23). digital preservation, digital curation, digital stewardship: what's in (some) names? retrieved june 30, 2017 from https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2011/08/digital-preservation-digital-curation-digitalstewardship-what%e2%80%99s-in-some-names/ library of congress. (n.d.). digital preservation: about. retrieved july 3, 2017 from http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/about/ stanford university (n.d.) .preservation principles. retrieved july 6, 2017, from https://www.lockss.org/about/principles/#decentralized magán, j. a., palafox, m., tardón, e., & sanz, a. (2011). mass digitization at the complutense university library: access to and preservation of its cultural heritage. liber quarterly, 21(1), 48–68. doi: http://doi.org/10.18352/lq.8007 the national digital stewardship alliance . (2014) checking your digital content. retrieved july 6, 2017, from http://ndsa.org/documents/ndsa-fixity-guidance-report-final100214.pdf oclc, & crl (2007). trusted repositories audit & certification: criteria and checklist. chicago: crl, the center for research libraries. retrieved june 30, 2017, from http://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/pages/trac_0.pdf perrin, j., winkler, h., & yang, l. (2015). digital preservation challenges with an etd collection — a case study at texas tech university. the journal of academic librarianship, 41(1), 98-104. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2014.11.002 https://www.hathitrust.org/partnership http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/about/ https://www.lockss.org/about/principles/#decentralized http://doi.org/10.18352/lq.8007 winkler and perrin / international journal of librarianship 2(1) 41 snyder, c. e. (2014). data-driven deselection: multiple point data using a decision support tool in an academic library. collection management, 39(1), 17-31. doi:10.1080/01462679.2013.866607 taycher, l. (2010, august 5). books of the world, stand up and be counted! all 129,864,880 of you. retrieved june 30, 2017 from http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/books-ofworld-stand-up-and-be-counted.html about the authors joy m. perrin (orcid: 0000-0001-5524-9071) is the digital resources librarian at the texas tech university libraries. she holds a master of library science from the university of north texas. ms. perrin has ten years’ experience with digital projects and is the author of the 2015 book digitizing flat media: principles and practices. heidi winkler (orcid: 0000-0003-4645-9741) is the digital stewardship librarian at the texas tech university libraries. she holds a master of science in information studies from the university of texas at austin. ms. winkler’s research interest include digital preservation and curation, and her work has appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals. http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/books-of-world-stand-up-and-be-counted.html http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/books-of-world-stand-up-and-be-counted.html 04.11-102-1-le001_hathitrust_final_title_1 04.11-102-1-le001_hathitrust_final_1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org linked data technologies and what libraries have accomplished so far yongming wang and sharon q. yang abstract: for the past ten years libraries have been working diligently towards linked data and the semantic web. due to the complexity and vast scope of linked data, many people have a hard time to understand its technical details and its potential for the library community. this paper aims to help librarians better understand some important concepts by explaining the basic linked data technologies that consist of resource description framework (rdf), the ontology, and the query language. it also includes an overview of the achievements by libraries around the world in their efforts to turn library data into linked data including those by library of congress, oclc, and some other national libraries. some of the challenges and setbacks that libraries have encountered are analyzed and discussed. in spite of the difficulties, there is no way to turn back. libraries will have to succeed. to cite this article: wang, y., & yang, s. q. (2018). linked data technologies and what libraries have accomplished so far. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 3-20. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.62 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions ht:/j.aajlogidxppio/bu/umsin������������������������������ international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 3-20 issn:2474-3542 linked data technologies and what libraries have accomplished so far yongming wang, the college of new jersey sharon q. yang, rider university abstract for the past ten years libraries have been working diligently towards linked data and the semantic web. due to the complexity and vast scope of linked data, many people have a hard time to understand its technical details and its potential for the library community. this paper aims to help librarians better understand some important concepts by explaining the basic linked data technologies that consist of resource description framework (rdf), the ontology, and the query language. it also includes an overview of the achievements by libraries around the world in their efforts to turn library data into linked data including those by library of congress, oclc, and some other national libraries. some of the challenges and setbacks that libraries have encountered are analyzed and discussed. in spite of the difficulties, there is no way to turn back. libraries will have to succeed. keywords: linked data, semantic web, resource description framework, bibframe, library of congress, oclc introduction what is linked data? according to david wood, the co-chair of the w3c’s (world wide web consortium) rdf working group which lays the foundation for linked data and the semantic web, “linked data is a set of techniques to represent and connect structured data on the web… linked data makes the world wide web into a global database that we call the web of data” (wood, zaidman, ruth, & hausenblas, 2014). linked data technologies, with its broader concept, semantic web, has gained rapid momentum and popularity on the world wide web. the linked data technologies hold the potential to evolve the current web of document into the web of data. imagine that in the future internet world, not only web documents but all data are 4wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) connected. more importantly, these connected data are not only accessible to human but to machine also. in other words, all devices that are connected on the internet can access and process those linked data and thereby make smart decisions automatically. this will greatly enhance the way we access information and make informed decisions. the ideas are not new. as early as late 90’s, tim berners-lee (2000), the inventor of world wide web, had a vision for semantic web: “i have a dream for the web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. a ‘semantic web’, which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the dayto-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. the ‘intelligent agents’ people have touted for ages will finally materialize.” in 2004, w3c published the first recommendation of the data model for linked data, the rdf 1.0. in 2005, w3c formed the semantic web interest group. and in 2006, tim bernerslee published the linked data principles and design rules, which paves the way for large scale adoption and development of linked data technologies (berners-lee, 2006). the last ten plus years has witnessed rapid adoption and usage of linked data by companies small and large. companies such as google and facebook use linked data to enhance their searching capability and connections (wood et al., 2014). retail company bestbuy uses linked data to improve its business bottom lines (wood et al., 2014). literature review as early as 2011, the library linked data incubator group (2011) published its final report as a w3c incubator group report. this group consisted of the international experts in the library and information fields who are specialized in semantic web and metadata. in this report, it surveyed the current situation of linked data, summarized the use cases, and made some important recommendations for implementing the linked data in the library community. another international effort that closely relates to semantic web and linked data is the annual international conference on dublin core and metadata applications by the dublin core metadata initiative (dcmi). this annual conference started in 1995 as workshops only and in 2001 expanded to full conferences with additions of tutorials, presentations, and peer-reviewed papers. from the early on, dcmi tackles the issues related to semantic web, especially the ontology and vocabularies. the theme of 2005 conference is “vocabularies in practice.” one paper in this year’s proceeding introduced the concept of skos (simple knowledge organization system) and recommended a way to use skos core and dcmi metadata terms in combination (miles, 2005). one project report in the 2009 conference proceeding has the title “research on linked data and co-reference resolution,” which described the transformation of a dataset of academic authors and their publications into linked data (glaser, 2009). this is one of the earliest publications on linked data application in library community. and since 2012, 5wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) there has been increasing focus on the topic of linked data in this annual conference series. in more practical area, karen coyle (2012) published “linked data tools: connecting on the web” in library technology report. in this report, she introduced the basic technologies of linked data in a tutorial format. a year later, erik t. mitchell (2013) published “library linked data: research and adoption” in library technology report, in which he talked about the development and research of linked data in library community. in 2016, mitchell (2016) published another report dealing with the library adoption and practice of linked data entitled “library linked data: early activity and development.” the three reports by colye and mitchell have played an important role in helping librarians learn about linked data. since 2015, more articles on the case studies and use examples in linked data have been published. karim tharani’s article (2015) explores the possibility of using bibframe to harvesting and sharing bibliographic data as linked data by ways of a case study. the article of jin, hahn, and croll (2016) also talks about their project of transforming and enriching nearly 300,000 e-books marc records to bibrame records and in the meantime increasing the discoverability of accessibility of those resources. kimmy szeto’s article explores how linked open data can transform and enhance the discovery and search of music resources. (szeto, 2017) recently, another project by oclc’s pcc (program for cooperative cataloging) was carried out to transform the legacy library metadata, that is, the marc records, to linked data. the major task of this project is to create a linked data authority control database by aggregating the traditional marc records of people, organization, and places from many sources and converting them into linked data. as stated in pcc 2015-2017 strategic directions (godby & smithyoshimura, 2017): “existing methods of library authority control are based on constructing unique authorized access points as text strings (literals). this string-based approach works somewhat well in the closed environment of a traditional library catalog, but not in an open environment where data are shared and linked, and so require unique identifiers. the web presents both a challenge and an opportunity for libraries, which are now in a position to take advantage of data created outside of the library world, and also to contribute library authority data for use by other communities” (p.20). another issue in transforming library legacy metadata into linked data is that there are several efforts from different library organizations, resulting in different conceptual models. zepounidou et al. (2017) compare four conceptual models, namely functional requirements for bibliographic records (frbr), frbr object-oriented (frbroo), bibliographic framework (bibframe), and europeana data model (edm), and try to find the common ground and convergences among them. therefore, the goal of interoperability can be realized. there are many publications in linked data. but sometimes the librarians still feel it’s a challenge to understand the concept of linked data. according to banerjee (2017): “even though librarians have read about and attended sessions discussing topics such as linked data and frbr (functional requirements for bibliographic records) for more than a decade, they still find these things confusing.” (p.21) 6wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) linked data technology resource description framework (rdf) data model simply put, a data model is an abstract of real data and their relationships. the most familiar data model we encounter is the tabular data model such as csv file, which lists data in table structured format. the data model for linked data is resource description framework (rdf). it is the way to represent the data or resources on the web. rdf is the most important concept to understand in order to understand linked data. in order to understand rdf, first we need to know uri (universal resource identifier). in a nutshell, uri defines a unique address for anything on the internet, much like the post mail address for every home on the earth. that “anything” on the internet not only includes physical entities such as apple or da vinci, but includes abstract concepts like love and peace also. take for example: the uri, http://example.org/yongming-wang, is unique in the whole internet and it refers to one of the authors of this article, yongming wang (note that example.org is not a real domain name. it’s a web convention to be used to demonstrate a website example. anyone can use it for demonstration purpose). the above uri is also a url. in other words, url is one type of uri on the web. recently, the name of uri has been changed to iri, short for international resource identifier. so, what exactly is rdf? and what role does it play in linked data technology? rdf is a data model which is used to identify or describe things (also called entities) and their relationships on the web. a rdf statement, also called a rdf triple, has three parts: subject, predicate, and object. the subject and object designate two separate things, and the predicate describes the relationship between the subject and object. its format goes like this: <subject> <predicate> <object> here is an example: <bob> <is a friend of> <alice>. it can be expressed in a graph as seen in figure 1. figure 1: part of informal graph of the sample triples. reprinted from w3c rdf 1.1 primer1 1retrieved from https://www.w3.org/tr/rdf11-primer/#fig1. copyright © [24 june 2014] world wide web 7wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) according to the linked data principles, a subject must comprise universal resource identifier (uri), and an object can be either a uri or a literal. the predicate should be defined by rdf vocabulary and has to be a uri. rdf vocabulary is like a schema in a relational database. the difference is that while a schema is to define the scope and type of the data, rdf vocabulary is to define the relationship between data elements. therefore, in the above example, the subject <bob> is stated in the format like http://example.org/bob/ which is a unique uri on the web, or a unique url (http uri). the object <alice> is another unique url such as http://example.org/alice. lastly, the predicate <is a friend of> is also presented in the form of a uri such as http://example.org/friendof/. to write the statement “<bob> <is a friend> <alice> explicitly in an official rdf statement, it should look like this: <http://example.org/bob> <http://example.org/friendof> <http://example.org/alice> multiple triples will be shown as a graph describing multiple things and their relationships. furthermore, the beauty of linked data is that those multiple things and relationships reside across the internet at different locations (aka web servers). the application developers can write applications to aggregate those things (data) on the fly. the users can follow those links (the relationships) to find more information relevant to their interest. see figure 2 for an example. figure 2: informal graph of the sample triples. reprinted from w3c rdf 1.1 primer2 consortium, (mit, ercim, keio, beihang). http://www.w3.org/consortium/legal/2015/doc-license 2 retrieved from https://www.w3.org/tr/rdf11-primer/#fig1. copyright © [24 june 2014] world wide web consortium, (mit, ercim, keio, beihang). http://www.w3.org/consortium/legal/2015/doc-license 8wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) there are six triples in figure 2, in the form of <subject> <predicate> <object>. they are: <bob> <is a> <person>. <bob> <is a friend of> <alice>. <bob> <is born on> <the 4th of july 1990>. <bob> <is interested in> <the mona lisa>. <the mona lisa> <was created by> <leonardo da vinci>. <the video 'la joconde à washington'> <is about> <the mona lisa> this kind of graph can be extended unlimitedly. in such a way, almost everything on the web can be uniquely described and linked together. eventually, the graph will look like the giant graph in figure 3. figure 3: linking open data cloud diagram 20173 rdf vocabularies it will be a challenge to tackle the topic of rdf vocabulary as compared to other linked data concepts such as rdf data model that this paper talked about before and rdf serialization that will be discussed later. much of the confusion and the slow adaptation of linked data is caused by the complexity of rdf vocabulary. simply put, rdf vocabularies are like the schema in a relational database. according to wood (2014): 3 reprinted from the linking open data cloud diagram, by andrejs abele, john p. mccrae, paul buitelaar, anja jentzsch and richard cyganiak. retrieved from http://lod-cloud.net/. cc-by-sa license. 9wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) “[rdf vocabularies] provide definitions of the terms used to make relationships between data elements. unlike a relational database’s schema, however, rdf vocabularies are distributed over the web and are developed by people all over the world, and only come into common use in linked data if a lot of people choose to use them.” (p. 38) rdf vocabulary itself is in http uri format and is defined and preserved in the well-known web places. examples follow. rdf vocabulary is used in the predicate position of the rdf triples to define the relationship between a subject and an object. let us take the previous example of “bob is a friend of alice” to show how the rdf vocabulary is used. as shown before, the rdf statement for “bob is a friend of alice” is written like this: <http://example.org/bob> <http://example.org/friendof> <http://example.org/alice> to use the rdf vocabulary in the predicate position in real life, we need to replace <http://example.org/friendof> with: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows. let’s take a look at it closely. there are basically two parts in http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ is the namespace for foaf (friend of a friend) vocabulary, and “knows” part is a property of foaf vocabulary. foaf is an open source project developed in mid-2000 for linking people on the web. foaf is widely used in social networking by many linked data projects. when we want to describe that someone is a friend of someone else, we can use this foaf property and any computer program of linked data can automatically recognize and understand its meaning. as mentioned above, the foaf vocabulary is in http uri format (http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/), and it’s kept at the well-known web place (http://xmlns.com). a namespace is generally considered a placeholder to uniquely identify a set of names or properties. in the namespace of “foaf”, short for http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/, all its properties, including the one we use here, “knows”, are centrally preserved and uniquely defined. in other words, no ambiguity exists that “foaf:knows” (short for http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows ) refers to a relationship between two persons. we will never confuse it with other “knows.” in this sense, the namespace can also be called the prefix. in order to fully understand rdf vocabularies, and especially, to be able to create your own rdf vocabulary, it is essential to learn the two key components of rdf vocabulary: resource description framework schema (rdfs) and web ontology language (owl). rdfs is the definition language for rdf vocabulary. rdfs defines the classes and types which helps create new rdf vocabularies. owl is an extension of rdf. due to their complexities and the length limitation of this paper, the authors will not elaborate them here. another important rdf vocabulary is simple knowledge organization system (skos). the main purpose of skos is to turn the traditional controlled vocabularies such as thesauri and all sorts of subject headings (e.g. library of congress subject heading) into rdf vocabularies. this feature makes skos especially important for the library community. for better understanding of rdfs, owl, and skos, the authors recommend a book titled “semantic web for the working ontologist” by dean allenmang and james hendler (allenmang & hendler, 2012). as the book includes many examples and is written in an easy 10wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) and light style, allenmang and hendler makes learning the rather difficult topics of semantic modeling and ontology an easy task. rdf serialization rdf serialization, is the way the rdf statements are written so that the computer program can read and process them. there are different types of rdf serialization. the common ones are: turtle (short for terse rdf triple language), rdf/xml (the original rdf format in xml), rdfa (rdf embedded in html attributes), and the newer and more popular one called jsonld. this paper will focus on json-ld in this article. json-ld, short for javascript object notation (json) for linking data, became popular because it’s a favorite scripting language for many web developers and almost all the programming languages have multiple libraries to parse it. json is easy to write and read. let’s still take the previous example to show how its rdf triples can be written in json-ld format. let’s take the following three rdf statements: <bob> <is a> <person>. <bob> <is a friend of> <alice>. <bob> <is born on> <the 4th of july 1990>. their formal rdf triples are: <http://example.org/bob> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/person> <http://example.org/bob> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows> <http://example.org/alice> <http://example.org/bob> <http://schema.org/birthdate> "1990-0704"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema#date> in the above example, http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type can be shorten as rdf:type, which belongs to rdfs. http://schema.org/birthdate comes from another popular rdf vocabulary, schema.org. and 1990-07-04 is a literal object of the type date as defined in xml schema. the json-ld format is as following: { "@context": { "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/", "person": "foaf:person", "knows": { "@id": "foaf:knows", "@type": "@id" }, "birthdate": { "@id": "http://schema.org/birthdate", "@type": "http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema#date" } }, 11wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) "@id": "http://example.org/bob#me/", "@type": "person", "birthdate": "1990-07-04", "knows": "http://example.org/alice#me/" } as illustrated above, json-ld format is easy to understand. they are all in key-value pairs. the only tricky part is the context object inside which the prefixes or namespaces are defined. sparql – the query language sparql is not an acronym. its whole name is sparql protocol and rdf query language. sparql is the querying language for rdf dataset just as sql is the query language for relational databases. the syntax of sparql and sql are similar. but their similarity stops there. actually, in order to learn sparql quickly, one should forget what one has learned about sql. we can use sparql to query the local rdf file with rdf data in the form of triples (see examples later). we can also use sparql to query remote rdf data store no matter where it is on the web as long as that rdf data store provides a sparql endpoint service. further, we can combine any number of local and remote queries to get the data we want in our application. that is the real power of sparql and linked data. first, we will start with a simple sparql example. we will demonstrate how to use sparql to query a local rdf file. suppose we have a file named bob.rdf with the following content: (bob.rdf) prefix foaf: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ . prefix rdf: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns . prefix schema: http://schema.org/ . prefix xsd: http://www.w3.org/2001/xmlschema# . http://example.org/bob#me rdf:type foaf:person . http://example.org/bob#me schema:birthdate “1990-07-04”^^xds:date . http://example.org/bob#me foaf:knows http://example.org/alice#me . http://example.org/bob#me foaf:knows http://example.org/lisa#me . we want to use sparql to find all bob’s friends in bob.rdf file. here is the query: (notes: sparql finds the result by pattern matching. any word with a question mark is a variable.) prefix foaf: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ . select ?x from bob.rdf 12wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) where { http://example.org/bob#me foaf:knows ?y ; } the result will be like this: x alice lisa inside the where clause, ?y is the variable. http://example.org/bob#me and foaf:knows are given values. it asks to find the value of the object position in all triples given the subject of http://example.org/bob#me and the predicate of foaf:knows. hence alice and lisa. if we want to find both subject and object based on the predicate’s value of foaf:knows, we will use the query as following: prefix foaf: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ . select ?x (as name) ?y (as friend) from bob.rdf where { ?a foaf:knows ?b ; } the result: name friend bob alice bob lisa once again, sparql finds the result by matching the given values in the where clause, and return all values for the variables in one or more triple positions. this is just a simple introduction to sparql. it can get rather complicated in the real application. involvement of library community libraries became aware of the value of linked data and the semantic web as a great way to describe library resources as early as 2005 when the us, canada, and uk formed a joint committee to revise aacr2 cataloging rule. the release of rda (resource description and access) in 2010 provided guidelines to catalog and describe library resources in such a way that the resulting bibliographic data will be in alignment with linked data, a web standard recognized and shared by other communities on the internet. the advantages of linked data are 13wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) manifold, including release of bibliographic data from the silos to the web, link to resources from other communities, and retrieval of library resources by internet search engines. according to research, 82% of the information consumers start by searching an internet search engine and only 1% from a library’s website (oclc, 2011; wordstream, 2017). exposure of rich library data in the semantic web and the internet will lead to more use of library resources and better services to users. since 2010 libraries are vigorously pursuing the goal of transforming bibliographic data into linked data which is the required format for the semantic web. the road is rocky and the development is slower than anticipated. one reason is that linked data is very new to libraries and it is a drastic departure from the traditional cataloging practice. many technicalities need to be ironed out before the new practice is put to production. the lack of participation could be another possible setback. so far only big libraries and organizations have the technical expertise and financial resources to devote to the test and development of the linked data projects. lc, oclc, and other national libraries have been the leading forces in linked data projects in libraries. most small libraries are watching and waiting rather than participating. there is a lack of prototypes that will demonstrate the benefits of library data as linked data and many librarians still cannot envision how the future semantic catalog looks and works. the magnitude of data involved, about 40 years of cataloged data, is not an easy task to be transformed into linked data. library vocabularies and ontologies are complex and take a long time to complete. in spite of the aforementioned obstacles, linked data is the right path that libraries worldwide chose to follow and they have made great progress. the following is a description of the accomplishments by library community towards linked data and the semantic web. library of congress (lc) lc has been a world leader in promoting linked data technologies and their potential applications in libraries. the first move made by lc was to convert the lcsh, name authority file, and other controlled languages into rdf statements and uris, and thus made them ready for use by other semantic web applications. lc is also instrumental in the development of rda cataloging rule which is based on frbr (functional requirement requirements for bibliographic records) and supports linked data. after the release of rda in 2011, lc immediately began its work on bibframe (bibliographic framework), which is a new display standard intended to replace marc. in late 2012 and early 2013 bibframe 1.0 was released for testing in a pilot project. it included a series of tools such as bibframe editor, marc to bibframe comparison viewer, and marcxml to bibframe transformation tool. lc has been diligently testing and modifying bibframe since then. this is a time consuming and complicated process. bibframe ontologies or vocabularies are the core and also the more difficult part of bibframe development. conversion of existing marc to bibframe is another challenge. lc has 19 million marc records (mccallum, 2017). the latest data model and second generation of bibframe is bibframe 2.0 released in 2016. the revised new data model includes three core categories of abstraction: work, instance, and item and further defines three additional concepts related to the core categories: agents, 14wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) subjects, and events (lc, 2016). bibframe 2.0 has released marc to bibframe conversation specifications and programs. however, bibframe editor 2.0 is still under construction. the bibframe editor 2.0 will have more complete ontologies that have classes and properties specially designed to describe library resources. the two major vocabularies or ontologies used in bibframe 2.0 are bibframe and madsrdf (metadata authority description schema in rdf). in addition, bibframe 2.0 also draws on a few foundation ontologies developed by world wide web consortium including owl (web ontology language), rdfs (rdf schema), and skos (simple knowledge organization system). “the bibframe 2 ontology is much better integrated with the rdf environment, yet it is also more in synch with the rda cataloguing rules even while staying rule agnostic” (mccallum, 2017, p.79). despite of the complex ontologies and vocabularies, bibframe editor itself is a simple tool that will turn the bibliographic data via a web-based input screen into rdf statements, one of the building blocks for linked data. the bibframe 2.0 conversion programs are expected to be able to process a bigger number of marc records and include fuller data from marc records. it is unknown as to how and where bibframe data will be searched and displayed. lc has made great progress in bibframe development. it is obvious that bibframe will be an ongoing project with future revisions of vocabularies and version releases long after it is in production. online computer library center (oclc) oclc is another leading force in linked data research and projects in libraries. most of the oclc linked data projects revolves around worldcat.org, a database of more than 400 million bibliographic records from more than 16,000 libraries (oclc linked data research, 2017). collaborating with lc and other national libraries, oclc has achieved remarkable success in this area. the first publicly visible project oclc undertook was to add schema.org mark-up to its worldcat.org records. schema.org is created by major internet search engines such as google, bing, and yandex that provides combined requirements and specifications for any individual or organization to follow if they want to be searched and displayed as linked data. “with the addition of schema.org mark-up to all book, journal and other bibliographic resources in worldcat.org, the entire publicly available version of worldcat is now available for use by intelligent web crawlers, like google and bing, that can make use of this metadata in search indexes and other applications” (murphy, 2012). as schema.org vocabulary is more general in nature and not detailed enough to describe library resources, oclc also led and participated in the effort to reconcile schema.org vocabulary with bibframe vocabulary and the development of bibliographic extension of schema.org vocabulary (http://bib.schema.org/). oclc implemented worldcat.org works so all the manifestations of the same work are linked and displayed in a cluster using the oclc frbr work set algorithm. “the algorithm collects bibliographic records into groups based on author and title information from bibliographic and authority records” (oclc linked data research, 2017). the internet search 15wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) engine standards are followed as “the worldcat work entity is based upon properties defined by the schema:creativework type” (oclc developer network, 2017). the advantage of gathering all formats of a work under its title is self-evident. as of july 2017, about 215 million work entities are available in worlcat.org (oclc linked data research, 2017). oclc persons is a similar project except it is about person entities. “worldcat person entities connect related information about a person into a brief description that includes various formats of the person’s name, creative works that the person has produced, and biographic sources of information about the person. as of july 2017, worldcat persons include more than 117 million descriptions of authors, directors, musicians, and others, which have been mined directly from worldcat. these entities were used in a linked data pilot program in which libraries used worldcat persons in their regular workflows” (oclc linked data research, 2017). virtual international authority file (viaf) is another successful linked data project initiated by oclc and several national libraries including lc, german national library, and french national library. located at https://viaf.org/, viaf is an international authority file based on authority data from a list of national libraries and maintained by oclc. to summarize its function, “viaf matches and links the authority files of national libraries. it then groups all authority records for a given entity into a merged “super” authority record that brings together the different descriptions for that entity” (oclc linked data research, 2017). viaf api allows users to search authority data by keywords, name, title, and more and retrieve authority records and relationships between authority records. viaf is under open data commons attributions license and any individual or organization can use it. “viaf has been available as linked data since 2009 and is now one of the most widely used linked data resources published by the library community” (oclc linked data research, 2017). oclc and lc collaborated in developing fast (faceted application of subject terminology), a general-purpose subject heading schema derived from library of congress subject headings (lcsh). the purpose of fast is to create a simple to use and easy to understand faceted subject scheme than lcsh. the two subject headings are compatible and lchs can be converted into fast. since 2011 fast is available as linked data. fast is known to be used by some national libraries and organizations for subject indexing and metadata description. according to oclc, fast is “one of the library domain’s most widely used subject vocabularies” (oclc linked data research, 2017). the successful linked data projects of worldcat works and worldcat persons entities, and schema.org markup “helped drive more than 74 million visits to worldcat.org in 2016 and more than 17 million visits to local library catalogs around the globe” (cocl linked data research, 2017). other us library linked data projects the library linked data movement also comprises projects undertaken by zepheira and many other academic libraries. eric miller, ceo of zepheira, a linked data consulting company that developed bibframe 1.0, advocated immediate action by libraries to publish their data on the 16wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) web so internet search engines can search and display them on the top of the result page. toward this end, zepheira started the libhub initiative in 2014 and library.link network in 2016. partnering with vendors including ebsco, sirsidynix, and innovative interfaces, the library.link network project involves a four-step process in which “zepheira copies a partner library’s catalog, converts records into the structured bibframe format, and then hosts these bibframe records in the library.link global, shared content distribution network designed for large-scale web ingest” and “creative commons licensing—requiring attribution to the library— is also added to each record, ensuring that service providers such as google and microsoft know where the data came from and what companies are allowed to do with it” (enis, 2016). the final step is to publish library bibliographic data, events, hours, and staff information on the web. the initial participants include public libraries. the work is under progress. data conversion is a key component in linked data development for libraries. colorado college is leading two projects. “one is to convert not only marc but other data they hold in formats like mods, dublin core, and other xml file formats to bibframe rdf for access across these files. another converts marc records to bibframe and then converts bibframe to schema.org for sending to google” (mccallum, 2017, p.83). a few large academic libraries received grants from the andrew w. mellon foundation for collaboration on linked data projects from 2014 to 2018 (ld4l project team, 2016). the partner universities include cornell, harvard, columbia, stanford, princeton, and others. the projects supported by the grants include linked data for libraries (ld4l), linked data for libraries labs (ld4l labs), and linked data for production (ld4p). the goals of those projects is to create an ontology compatible with bibframe and other existing ontologies for describing local scholarly collections, to develop an open source semantic system to edit, search, and display scholarly resources, to test and pilot workflow in linked data technical services, and to create tools and guidelines for future work university of california davis library also piloted a bibflow project to study the workflow. those efforts extend lc’s work on linked data and will benefit all libraries. national library of medicine also actively participated in bibframe test and ontology development. in 2014 nlm published beta versions of two of its datasets as linked data: pubchemrdf, containing information on the biological activities of small molecules and mesh rdf, nlm’s thesaurus of medical subject headings. both rdf products are searchable from their own sparql query interfaces or querying can be directly integrated into programs and services using their sparql endpoints (davis library, university of california, 2016). library system vendors bibframe editor 2.0 is still not released. therefore, it is hard at this stage for library system vendor to invest money and manpower into a data model that is still evolving. however, some vendors expressed their commitment to linked data and their intention to incorporate bibframe into their systems. a few have taken actions to prepare for the bibframe editor 2.0 release. 17wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 1. ex libris is developing what is called bibframe publishing feature which will turn marc into bibframe data. the company’s roadmap for alma includes cataloging in bibframe format and discovery of materials cataloged in all formats in primo including those in linked data. innovative interfaces, inc. and sirsidynix partnered with zepheira to add additional function into their existing system which will enable libraries to transform marc into bibframe data. they will also incorporate library location data to make the display location-sensitive for patrons. they will enhance their discovery layers to discover linked data and connect to outside resources for enriched content. 2. in september of 2017 librarians from 16 european countries and the us met in germany and discussed the barriers for implementation of bibframe. they felt that the lack of interest from the vendors of integrated library systems (ils) is one of the key issues. the discussion let to the publication of “bibframe expectations for ils vendors” in february 2018 (organizer group 2018 european bibframe workshop, 2018). linked data projects in non-us libraries libraries in the world are watching closely the development of bibfame 2.0 and preparing themselves for the release of the new display standard. libraries in europe became interested in linked data and semantic web technologies long before the us libraries. european libraries are pioneers in semantic web technologies. the first known library catalog that embedded linked data is libris, the swedish union catalog. as early as 2008 the catalog data became available as linked data and now it contains links to wikipedia, dbpedia, lc authority files (names and subjects) and viaf (papadakis, kyprianos & stefanidakis, 2015). the british library began to publish its british national bibliography (linked open bnb) as linked data as early as 2011. statistics are not available as to how it is being used. french national library (bnf) has been engaged in the project called “data.bnf.fr” which aims to make the catalog data of bnf into linked data. the goal of the project is to allow users to access library data on the web and link bnf data to dbpedia, viaf, and other sources (papadakis, kyprianos & stefanidakis, 2015. german national library (dnb) is developing a linked data service for the long term commitment to semantic web and has been supplying its data in the rdf standard since 2010. the national library of spain (bne) had a similar project called “datos.bne.es” which aims to release its bibliographic data as linked data and eventually to become part of the semantic web. canadian linked data initiative (cldi) is a collaboration between five canada’s largest research libraries, including national library of canada (library and archives canada) and bibliothèque et archives nationales du québec. the participating libraries felt they were behind in many areas for the impending shift from marc to linked data and bibframe. the aim of the initiative is to get canadian libraries up to date in strategic planning to embrace the changes in bibliographic control. the participants are discussing staff training, data preparation, enhanced discovery process and anything that is necessary to get canadian libraries for a smooth transition into linked data world. the japanese national library, also called national diet library (ndl), provides 18wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) metadata as linked open data (lod) to facilitate effective use by computer systems or applications. national library of china (nlc) is vigorously engaged in research and discussions on linked data and semantic web technologies in chinese language environment. conclusion it has been almost 20 years since the inception of frbr, then rda, and now long waited bibframe. the road to linked data has been bumpy, but there is no way to turn back. bibframe will be an on-going development even with the upcoming release of bibframe editor 2.0. we hope that in the next five to ten years, most library data, including millions of bibliographic records in silos, will appear as linked data, freely and openly searchable and accessible on the web as many national libraries have done so. yet libraries still face the new challenge to get bibliographic data into the search path of internet search engines. “with an imperative to support novel means of discovery, and a wealth of experience in producing highquality structured data, libraries are natural complementors to linked data” (heath, 2011, p.36). what libraries are trying to accomplish will benefit the society. with that goal in mind, we will succeed. “the library community is poised to make great strides with semantic web technologies, as evidenced by recent endeavors involving bibframe, a protocol that is largely considered to be the next generation standard for assigning and managing bibliographic metadata” (johnson, 2015, p.42). references allemang, d. & hendler, j. (2012). semantic web for the working ontologist. 2nd edition. waltham, ma: elsevier. banerjee, k. (2017). translating technobabble: all you really need to know about uris, linked data, and frbr. computers in libraries, 37(10), 21-24 berners-lee, t., & fischetti, m. (2000). weaving the web: the original design and ultimate destiny of the world wide web. san francisco: harperbusiness. berners-lee, t. (2006). linked data. retrieved from https://www.w3.org/designissues/linkeddata.html, coyle, k. (2012). linked data tools: connecting on the web. library technology reports, 48(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/ltr.48n4 davis library, university of california. (2016). survey of current library linked data implementation. retrieved from https://bibflow.library.ucdavis.edu/xi-survey-of-currentlibrary-linked-data-implementation/ enis, m. (2016, june 21). library.link builds open web visibility for library catalogs, events. retrieved march 27, 2018, from library journal website: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2016/06/marketing/ 19wang & yang / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) library-link-builds-open-web-visibility-for-library-catalogs-event glaser, h., millard, i., sung, w., lee, s., kim, p., & you, b. (2009). research on linked data and co-reference resolution. international conference on dublin core and metadata applications, 0, pp. 113-117. retrieved from http://dcpapers.dublincore.org/pubs/article/view/958/957 godly, c. j., & smith-yoshimura, k. (2017). from records to things: managing the transition from legacy library metadata to linked data. bulletin of the association for information science and technology, 43(2), 18-23 heath, t. & bizer, c. (2011). linked data: evolving the web into a global data space. morgan & claypool publishers. jin, q., hahn, j., & croll, g. (2016). bibframe transformation for enhanced discovery. lrts, 60(4), 223-235. johnson, l., adams becker, s., estrada, v., & freeman, a. (2015). nmc horizon report: 2015 library edition. austin, texas:the new media consortium. retrieved from https://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2015-library-edition/ ld4l project team. (2016). ld4l gateway. retrieved march 27, 2018, from ld4l-linked data for libraries website: https://www.ld4l.org/ library linked data incubator group. (2011, october 25). library linked data incubator group final report. retrieved from https://www.w3.org/2005/incubator/lld/xgr-lld20111025/ library of congress. (2016, april 21). overview of the bibframe 2.0 model. retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/bibframe2-model.html mccallum, s. (2017). bibframe development [pdf]. jlis.it: italian journal of library, archives, and information science, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.4403/jlis.it-12415 miles, a., matthews, b., wilson, m., & brickley, d. (2005). skos core: simple knowledge organisation for the web. international conference on dublin core and metadata applications, 0, pp. 3-10. retrieved from http://dcpapers.dublincore.org/pubs/article/view/798 mitchell, e. t. (2013). library linked data: research and adoption. library technology reports. 49(5). http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/ltr.49n5 mitchell, e. t. (2016). library linked data: early activity and development. library technology reports. 52(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/ltr.52n1 murphy, b. (2012, june 20). oclc adds linked data to worldcat.org. retrieved from https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2012/201238.html oclc. (2013). meeting the e-resources challenge: an oclc report on effective management, access and delivery of electronic collections [pdf]. retrieved from https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/pdfs/oclc-e-resources-report-us.pdf oclc linked data research. 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(2015). linked data in libraries: a case study of harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata with bibframe. information and library technologies. 34(1). https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v34i1.5664 wood, d., zaidman, m., ruth, l., & hausenblas, m. (2014). linked data: structured data on the web. shelter island, ny: manning publications co. wordstream. (n.d.). google ads: what are google ads & how do they work? retrieved from http://www.wordstream.com/google-ads zapounidou, s., sfakakis, m., & papatheodorou, c. (2017). representing and integrating bibliographic information into the semantic web: a comparison of four conceptual models. journal of information science, 43(4), 525-553. about the authors yongming wang is systems librarian / associate professor of the college of new jersey. his research interests include linked data, next-gen library system, text and data analytics, digital library and institutional repository. sharon q. yang is systems librarian / professor of rider university. her research interests include linked data and semantic web, library system and discovery service, institutional repository, open access, copyright. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org name authority control in digital humanities: building a name authority database at shanghai library cuijuan xia and wei liu abstract: name authority control is an important tool for libraries. however, traditional library data are not built in the way that digital humanities research requires, which makes it difficult for digital humanities researchers to use them directly. this study is to address this problem through using the linked data approach to build knowledge bases in transforming and normalizing name authority data into the format that can be easily deployed by digital humanities research. a name authority database was built on various sources and formed the content infrastructure to provide linked open data services, which enables sophisticated searches and uses of document resources knowledge base with multiple types of documents and multimedia, instead of digital collections with only a keyword search function. the process of design and development as well as the way through which resources are interlinked are described in detail in this paper. to cite this article: xia, c. & liu, w. (2018). name authority control in digital humanities: building a name authority database at shanghai library. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 21-35. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2018.vol3.1.68 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 21-35 issn:2474-3542 name authority control in digital humanities: building a name authority database at shanghai library cuijuan xia and wei liu shanghai library, shanghai, china abstract name authority control is an important tool for libraries. however, traditional library data are not built in the way that digital humanities research requires, which makes it difficult for digital humanities researchers to use them directly. this study is to address this problem through using the linked data approach to build knowledge bases in transforming and normalizing name authority data into the format that can be easily deployed by digital humanities research. a name authority database was built on various sources and formed the content infrastructure to provide linked open data services, which enables sophisticated searches and uses of document resources knowledge base with multiple types of documents and multimedia, instead of digital collections with only a keyword search function. the process of design and development as well as the way through which resources are interlinked are described in detail in this paper. keywords: name authority, authority control, digital humanities, genealogy, visualization, linked data, web service introduction with the advent of digital humanities, humanities research has been through a “paradigm shift” (kuhn, 1970). human beings may be the most important research subject in history, humanity, and social studies. a person's date of birth, death, where the events happened, and other related information about the person such as employment, social activities, and intellectual works are the fundamental building blocks of society and history. for example, social network analysis—a research method in digital humanities—has been utilized and has revealed that cultural centers shifted from rome to paris, then to los angles and new york, from b.c. 600 to 2012. this was xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 22 discovered through the spatiotemporal birth and death information of 150,000 notable individuals spanning that time period (schich et al., 2014). this research relies on name authority databases to identify individuals. however, the question of how to uniquely identify a person is not new. name authority control is the effort to distinguish one person from another, even they have the same name. with the development of linked data and semantic web, a person is often treated as an entity and the name of this person and other related information are the attributes of the entity. in digital humanities, it becomes even more important to maintain a name authority list to differentiate a person from another and aggregate related information about one person. temporal and spatial information are two essential dimensions relating to a person. in addition, a person's biographical information, including awards received, achievements, employment, works, and social relationships can be a starting point for a humanities research. researchers at shanghai library aim to leverage traditional name authority files and explore expanding name authority into digital humanities by using linked open data (lod) to construct a new name authority database that amalgamates names from genealogy, rare book collections, archives, and other special collections of the shanghai library. the new name authority database is the fundamental block of the digital humanities infrastructure of shanghai library that provides services to researchers and ensures its openness, consistency, and high efficiency. literature review name authority control is one of the core functions of libraries. library of congress (lc) name authority file1，the german national library (dnb)2, norwegian national library3，and oclc (online computer library center) virtual international authority file (viaf)4 are examples of name authority control. in particular, viaf combines the name authority files from different sources into a single name authority service, and expands “the concept of universal bibliographic control by (1) allowing national and regional variations in authorized form to coexist; and (2) supporting needs for variations in preferred language, script and spelling” (oclc, 2012, para. 5). the name authority files (e.g., lc authorities, dnb, and viaf) contain a large number of individual persons and corporate bodies. more importantly, the “[l]ibrary data tends to be of very high quality, being collected, revised and maintained by trained professionals” (hannemann & kett, 2010, p. 2). the name authority files are valuable sources that offer a backbone for the semantic web (neubert & tochtermann, 2012). 1 http://id.loc.gov/download/ 2 http://www.dnb.de/en/standardisierung/gnd/gnd_node.html 3 http://data.bibsys.no/autreg/index.html 4 https://www.oclc.org/en/viaf.html xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 23 in digital humanities, many scholarly projects (e.g., fihrist 5 -union catalogue of manuscripts from the islamicate world) have relied on viaf for authority control (smithyoshimura, & michelson, 2013). for libraries, the main purposes of name authority control are to facilitate information organization and retrieval. humanities scholars have different views on “preferred name” that could “exclude some historical or cultural perspectives” and furthermore they need to “know the provenance of each form of name” (smith-yoshimura, & michelson, 2013, paras. 7–8). moreover, digital humanities scholars have requirements for the types of information they compile and organize. the requirements are often associated with scholars' research interests. they collect more granular information than what is in name authority files. for example, the china biographical database (cbdb) project contains not only names but other biographical information, including social associations, career data and kin relations (harvard university, academia sinica, & peking university, 2018). regarding content organization, name authority files focus on one person with different names and establish “see also” relations and the relations between different names and corresponding works. events, employment, experiences are very sketchy or missing in name authority files. for example, in the lc name authority file, one person's information only consists of a formal name, alternative names, date of birth, date of death, and works. in digital humanities databases, the coverage of one person is broader. for example, in the database of names of biographies6 created by the institute of history and philology, academia sinica (“台湾中研院历史语言研究所”), one person’s information consists of two parts: 1) basic information about a person including name, alternative names with provenance information, date of birth, date of death, place of birth, expertise, and other fields, and 2) detailed biographical information including employment, key events related to the person and descriptive information from other biographical sources7. the way of establishing a name authority file is incremental. cataloguers add entries into the name authority files following a set of rules. in digital humanities, the databases are often created and maintained by researchers in the fields. the databases are more specific. technology-wise, early name authority files were coded in machine-readable cataloging (marc) format and highly coupled with integrated library systems in libraries. with the development of linked open data, national libraries from various countries started to publish name authority files as linked open data. the approach is similar to mapping authority file entries (marc fields) into the simple knowledge organization system (skos) predicates and stores in resource description framework (rdf) statements (papadakis, kyprianos, & stefanidakis, 2015). each person’s information is encoded in rdf statements that are more suitable for publishing on the internet. in this way, each person has a unique hypertext transfer protocol (http) universal resource identifier (uri) so that it can dereference on the internet. for example, http://viaf.org/viaf/71426854 is the http uri for a notable chinese scholar named hu shi (“胡 5 https://www.fihrist.org.uk/about 6 http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttsweb/html_name/index.php 7 http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttsweb/html_name/build.php xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 24 适”). in comparison, the databases in digital humanities often store information in relational databases. for example, the china biographical database uses microsoft access. with libraries' deeper participation in digital humanities, name authority files in libraries are not enough to support the research requirements of digital humanities. thus, the convergence of name authority control and digital humanities is inevitable and can benefit both. meanwhile, the need to build cyberinfrastructure (american council of learned societies, 2006) has a significant impact on libraries and digital humanities. name authority files such as viaf can be the fundamental blocks that support cyberinfrastructure for digital humanities (smith-yoshimura, & michelson, 2013). the aim of the name authority database at shanghai library is to further explore how to integrate name authority files with digital humanities databases and take advantage of new models such as the international federation of library association (ifla) library reference model (riva, bœuf, & žumer, 2017) and bibframe (bibliographic framework) 2.0 (library of congress, 2016) for modelling data in the name authority database. in these models, a person is defined as an entity that is an individual human being and identified by a unique uri. the person, or entity, is restricted to real individuals who live or are assumed to have lived. the different names of one person are attributed to values of the entity, along with other attributes such as birth and death dates, place of birth and death, expertise and so on. the person entity is associated with a work or instance through roles such as author, editor, artist, photographer, composer, and illustrator. building a name authority database at shanghai library the name authority database at shanghai library can be enriched and augmented with the genealogy databases, manuscripts, archives, and rare books collections of shanghai library. names included in the name authority database are mainly collected from bibliographical databases of shanghai library including names of authors and some historically and culturally important people related to the authors. supplementary data is from wikipedia, name list, and the cbdb open database. the name authority database is built on linked open data. linked data is a method and technique to publish data on the semantic web and is related to a knowledge graph. in linked data, the name of an entity (such as a real person) can be expressed by a string, and the name is just an attribute of a real-world object. properties are the conceptualization of relations between a concept and features of the concept. http uris are used as unique identifiers in linked data. one of the functions of http uris is to uniquely identify an object that can be utilized in name authority control for the identification of individuals. in reality, a name is not a unique property for an object but can be distinct in combination xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 25 with other properties of the object. for example, a person has a name, date of birth and death, birthplace, kinship relationships, social relationships, etc. all that information can uniquely identify a person. in linked data, information is expressed in a set of rdf triples that provide support to the uniqueness of an object. an http uri can be referenced in the semantic web and linked to a structured description of the referent of the http uri. this feature can be utilized by the name authority database that provides data services through the internet. as part of the infrastructure of the digital humanities platform, the name authority database provides not only basic information on a person, but key events, social relationships, and works that can be displayed, searched, aggregated and analyzed. data model the main task of data modeling in the construction of the name authority database is to conceptualize a “person” and the attributes of the concept, such as date of birth and death, place of birth, nationality, and relationships between related concepts, including relationships between one person and other persons, a person and other related entities such as documentations, organizations, places, time, events, and objects. person, place, time, event, physical objects and materials and their relations are conceptualized in a model denoted in figure 1. in this model, person, place, time, event, physical objects and materials are concepts drawn for material resources that exist in the real world. the concepts connect with each other through attributes and relations. figure 1. an abstract data model of a name authority (xia, 2017, p. 51) with the model, concepts, attributes, and relations can be formalized, which is the process of developing an ontology. figure 2 shows the person ontology model of the name authority in xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 26 shanghai library. in figure 2, each concept is denoted by a rounded rectangle. each relation is illustrated by a directed arrow. the design of a person ontology needs to address multiple names of a person, relations between one person and others, important events of a person such as birth, death, marriage, and employment. regarding multiple names of a person, foaf:name is for formal names and the shl:name class is for alternative names. in addition, types of names are denoted by a property (shl:nametype) of shl:name. the class of shl:name is repeatable to include all names used by a person. properties of the class are for describing things related to a specific name. for example, the pseudonym name xiaofan (“小凡”) of a notable chinese writer maodun (“茅盾”) was used the first time in shen bao yue kan (“《申报月刊》”) in 1934. the class shl:name is for the pseudonym name xiaofan (“小凡”) and foaf:name is for the predominant name maodun. the relationships between one person and another can be kinship and social relationships. in cbdb, there are more than 100 descriptions for relationships between two individuals. it is straightforward to define a property for a relationship. the abstract data model of name authority was formalized into a person ontology. in the ontology, a relationship class is developed and different relationships are distinguished by a property relationtype. for important relationships, relationships in the relationship vocabulary8are re-used, such as friend (rel:friendof), spouse (rel:spouseof), and child/parent (rel:childof) relationships. the event class is for important events that can happen to a human being and has time, place and other properties to describe general events. regarding special events, sub-class can be used to extend the event class. for example, an employment event can be named as officialevent as a sub-class of event, the two properties of prov ontology 9 (i.e., prov:startedattime and prov:endedattime) are reused with a self-defined property officialposition for describing the position of an employment event. furthermore, the positions are from a controlled vocabulary. 8 http://vocab.org/relationship/ 9 https://www.w3.org/tr/2013/rec-prov-o-20130430/ xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 27 figure 2. the name authority ontology model data collection, clean, and augment the aim of data collection is to gather metadata about authors (often including name and dynasty) and to enrich information on a person based on the structure of the person ontology. metadata about authors are the core of the name authority database at shanghai library. the metadata consists of an author's name and time period (e.g., dynasty), other brief information as well as some other basic information about the authors. unfortunately, metadata are not sufficient for name authority control in digital humanities. more data needs to be retrieved from the celebrity encyclopedia (“人物百科”), name dictionary (“人名辞典”), and the professionals and experts database (“专业人物数据库”) to supplement the metadata. the primary goal of data cleansing is to integrate data from different sources to distinguish different persons with the same name and merge the same person with different names. a traditional approach used in the library relies on a human being through manual processes to augment entries of name authority databases. in the age of big data, this type of process cannot solely rely on human involvement. hybrid approaches can be used to speed up the process through leveraging automatic tools and knowledge bases and validation by a human being. for example, the author of a rare book titled “yu yang shan ren jing hua lu” (“渔洋山人精华 录”) has two entries “[qing dynasty] wang shizhen” ( “【清】王士禛”) and “[qing dynasty] xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 28 wang shizhen” (“【清】王士祯”). detailed information retrieved for the name authority database in shanghai library shows the following: original text: “王士祯（1634 年 9 月 17 日—1711 年 6 月 26 日），原名王士禛，字子真，一字贻 上，号阮亭，又号渔洋山人，世称王渔洋，谥文简。” translation: “wang shizhen (“王士祯”)(1634-9-15 – 1711-6-26), original name is “wang shizhen” (“王士禛”), courtesy name is 子真, another courtesy name is 贻上, pseudonym is 阮亭, another pseudonym is 渔洋山人, known for 王渔洋, and posthumous name is 文简. ” it is straightforward for a human to determine that these are the two names of the same person. if such a task is performed automatically, one of the approaches is to segment the description into smaller units and to extract useful information such as works, birth place, date of birth and death, original name, courtesy name (“字”), pseudonym (“号”), etc. then an algorithm is used to compare how close the two names are related. in this example, the two names are associated with the same work, “yu yang shan ren jing hua lu” (“渔洋山人精华录”). also, the date of birth and death (i.e., september 17, 1634, and june 26, 1711) fall into the same period of the qing dynasty. therefore, it is safe to determine that they are the two names of the same person. a data cleansing application developed by shanghai library can perform such a task. if the application cannot determine whether the two names are of the same person, it lists the two names that can be validated by a human. the goal of data merge is to augment the same individual's information from different sources. regarding one property of a person, there may be multiple values (e.g., one value from each source). the values may be the different. the principal in the name authority database is to keep a unique value such as date of birth and death, birthplace, and gender if possible. in the process, the authority and reliability of each source are examined, then the best data available is picked. properties often have multiple values such as name (e.g., ancient chinese often has multiple names), employment and important activities that are kept with links to the sources. take “wang shizhen” for example, after the data cleansing process, the two names “【清】 王士禛” and “【清】王士祯” for the name authority database are the names of the same person. the person is uniquely identified by one http uri, and the names are included in this person's name authority entry. “wang shizhen” (“王士祯”) is the formal name denoted by foaf:name， “wang shizhen” (“王士禛”) is a type of "original name" denoted by shl:name，“yu yang shanren” (“渔洋山人”) is denoted by the type of “pseudonym (“号”)” using shl:name，“zi zhen(“子真”) is a type of courtesy name (“字”) using shl:name. the property of brief biography can accommodate data from different sources such as data from shanghai library and the national library of china. xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 29 name authority services the name authority database based on linked data is a part of the knowledge base of the digital humanity platform at shanghai library. the main purpose of this knowledge base is to provide services to other knowledge bases over the internet through content negotiation, a sparql (sparql protocol and rdf query language) endpoint, restful application programming interfaces (api), and development kits. content negotiation is to respond to clients’ requests based on the type of request (e.g., html/text or rdf/xml) that are sent from the client side. in the name authority database, each has a unique http uri. in the document knowledge base of the digital humanities platform at shanghai library, the authors or persons in the content can be denoted by http uris for the person. not only the alternative names, but also different pseudo names of the same person, can link to the same http uri. therefore, it becomes possible to access all of the works of the person from the http uri of this person. meanwhile, the work itself is an http uri entity. the relation between works and authors are relations between entities, not the relation between strings. in this way, different works link to the author via http uri and the author can link to different works through a http uri as well. figure 3 shows that from the http uri of a person, all works of this person can be discovered regardless of the type of the document. figure 3. relations among a scholar (i.e., hu shi), place, time, event, object and work the data interface is openly available to provide detailed information about individuals, which includes restful apis and a sparql endpoint. this interface is built on a light-weight web service framework that supports http protocol. api calls often consist of various parameters and form into urls. such interface does not rely on specific systems or platforms as long as systems or platforms support the technology infrastructure of the internet. this interface could serve not only shanghai library but also other libraries, the third-party organizations, or individual researchers. name authority control can be realized in applications by using this data interface. taking “ba jin” (“巴金”) as an example, the following url is formatted as one restful api with xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 30 a parameter “ba jin” (“巴金”)： http://data1.library.sh.cn/sg/persons/巴金 this request can return all information about "ba jin” (“巴金”) in a javascript object notation for the linked data (json-ld) format. { //http uri of ba jin "@id": "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/person/6pnc6xdap3cfkcup", "@type": "http://www.library.sh.cn/ontology/person", "identifier": "a000001", "friendof": [ // friends of ba jin "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/person/ej89g3k7m1eyvfot", "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/person/khmt77c5kjeuutwa", ... ], "birthday": "1904", "briefbiography": "著名作家,文学翻译家,曾任......", "createdwork": "《第四病室》；《随想录》", "ethnicity": "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/ethnicity/han", "name": [ //all types of names of bajin "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/nameother/0bz4zhl13kxmsczq", "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/nameother/fd3skfeilxepcvd2", "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/nameother/442de7v00aqyrvmi", ... ], "nationality": "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/nationality/china", "nativeplace": "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/place/n9gd2vjf73f59ve6", "officialevent": [ //employment of ba jin "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/officialposition/wg5a3cbayol114mk", "http://data.library.sh.cn/entity/officialposition/otnroqrhove20qvm", … ], "speciality": "作家", "gender": "男", "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name": [ { "@language": "cht", "@value": "巴金" }, ], "@context": { //namespace of every property and class used in json-ld } } } xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 31 discussion a typical entry in the name authority database consists of date of birth and death, employment history, and all sorts of relations such as the kinship or social relations of a person. all of this data can be referenced or used as facet, classification, and personalized recommendation functions in applications. in addition, the data can be leveraged for distinguishing two types of situations (i.e., the same name but for different people, the same person with different names). improve precision and recall without name authority control, search engines can only use string matching algorithms to find results. with regards to searching by names, if the input is "mao dun” (“茅盾”), the results can only consist of records containing the string "mao dun” (“茅盾”). if the input is "shen yanbing” (“沈雁冰”), the results can only consist of records containing the string "shen yanbing” (“沈雁 冰”). with name authority control, if the input is "mao dun” (“茅盾”), the system can combine "mao dun” (“茅盾”) with "shen yanbing” (“沈雁冰”) and return results containing the two names since they are the two names of the same person. in the name authority database at shanghai library, an exact search function supporting name authority control has been implemented. the search function is based on concept matching instead of string matching. the system provides sparql endpoint data service supporting a search by names. the sparql endpoint data service searches persons' names first and then returns corresponding http uris. through name http uris, other related entities such as works can be retrieved accordingly. for example, regardless of whether users input "mao dun” (“茅盾”) or “shen yanbing” (“沈雁冰”) or “shen dehong” (“沈德鸿”) (the three different names of the same person), there is a unique http uri of the person entity that is returned. through the http uri, the bibliographical database returns all of the works for which mao dun (“茅盾”) is responsible. this way, both precision and recall are improved. figure 4. searches based on name authority control xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 32 dynamic display of relations between visualization between entities in recent years, researchers at shanghai library started to experiment with shifting the focus on content from work and reorganized metadata to the full, digitized content of historical archives. effort was made to build internal relations based on the content of historical archives, and further link people, places, times, events, and physical objects in the digital humanities platform. based on the abstract model in figure 1, relations can be constructed between the resource databases of libraries. since all works are identified by http uris, this can break silos within and beyond the libraries that own the works. a person can be an author who created works, a creator who created personal archives, notes and photos, and an actor to act in films. all of these things created by individuals have nothing to do with the organization that collected them or how many organizations collected them. from the entity of a person, all things related to that person can be aggregated. this can further reveal people who are related to the creator, events that the person was involved in, and how they are related to time and space. the genealogy database and “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) archives10 of shanghai library are linked together through http uris in the name authority database. figure 5 shows that when users visited the “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) archives, the system returned an html page containing all persons who had corresponded with him at a specific time period, which was visualized in directed graphs. at the same time, when visiting his http uri, the system would search in the genealogy database and related genealogy documents. figure 5. connections between genealogy and archives through relationships of sheng xuanhuai 10 http://sd.library.sh.cn/sd/home/index xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 33 in the “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) archives, social relationships can be revealed through the linkages between archival documents. there are more than 110,000 corresponding between “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) and other important persons at that time, including politicians and businessmen. the number of individuals corresponding, when they corresponded, and where the correspondences happened all reveal certain contexts of the correspondence. figure 6 shows the corresponding relations of “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) with others. each dot represents one person and this person’s detailed information can be found when clicking on the dot. the directed line between two person means they corresponded. the system displays the number of times there were correspondences when a mouse is hovered over a directed line. figure 6 contains a full view of the corresponding relationships and shows that “sheng xuanhuai” (“盛宣怀”) –the left orange donut communicated with “sheng kang” (“盛康”) the right orange donut more than any other individual. figure 6. a full communication map from the sheng xuanhuai archives in the platform, visualization tools directly help people visualize a related relationship. conclusion the name authority database in shanghai library has advantages over traditional library name authority files and biographical databases in the digital humanities. it leverages ontology and linked data technologies and establishes a linked open data platform that provides linked open data services for name authority control. it has used foaf, schema.org, geonames schema and integrated name authority files from the library, celebrity encyclopedia（人物百科 ), name dictionary（人名辞典）, professional and domain-specific database of celebrities（专业人物数 xia & liu / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 34 据库）, and other data sources. as a result, it consists of 840,000 individuals’ information. it provides services for genealogy, manuscripts and rare books collections in shanghai library. meanwhile, it provides http uris, restful apis, and a sparql endpoint to serve other libraries and researchers. however, the name authority database in shanghai library needs to be augmented with more data. for example, the place of birth information can only be found in 150,000 entries. the date of birth and death information can only be found in 250,000 entries. name duplication is another problem that needs to be addressed. for example, there are about 70,000 entries that need to be cleared and merged. a person’s ontology needs to be extended and further adjusted to support different services such as the integration of historical geographical information systems. acknowledgement thanks qing zou for providing valuable guidance during the writing of the paper. he provided insights for the innovative meaning of the paper and worked a lot to translate chinese into english. references american council of learned societies. 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(2017). building a digital humanities platform by using linked open data services. journal of library and information science, 43(1), 47–70. about the authors cuijuan xia is a senior engineer of shanghai library system and network center and the director of the digital humanities projects. she is expert in humanities data modeling, ontology design and system architecture design. she has more than 40 papers published. wei liu (aka. keven liu) is the deputy director of shanghai library and institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai. he is an adjunct professor of fudan university and shanghai university in shanghai, china. he took part in many major digital library projects in china since 1995. he is very active in developing digital humanities infrastructures in recent years. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org teaching a cataloging/metadata course in a changing world: experience and reflection suzhen chen and margaret joyce abstract: in this paper, we explore the most essential knowledge and skills to impart in an introductory-level cataloging and metadata course. we use the basic cataloging and metadata class in the university of hawai‘i at mānoa library and information science program as a case study, sharing our experiences, thoughts, and planned future direction in teaching cataloging, classification, metadata, and information organization. we investigate what university of hawai‘i at mānoa library and information science (lis) students expect to learn from the class, as well as how they perceive knowledge of and skills in cataloging and metadata affecting their career paths. we also inquire into topics that the students are interested in exploring related to cataloging and metadata. we examine emerging trends and evaluate which information and skills are most useful for lis students and new librarians to learn for their library careers. these ideas are built upon our own experiences teaching these topics. this article synthesizes literature review, observation of trends within cataloging and metadata, and surveys taken by students enrolled in the course. to cite this article: chen, s. & joyce, m. (2019). teaching a cataloging/metadata course in a changing world: experience and reflection. international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 111-122. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 111-122 issn: 2474-3542 teaching a cataloging/metadata course in a changing world: experience and reflection suzhen chen, margaret joyce university of hawaii at manoa, honolulu, hawaii, usa abstract in this paper, we explore the most essential knowledge and skills to impart in an introductory-level cataloging and metadata course. we use the basic cataloging and metadata class in the university of hawai‘i at mānoa library and information science program as a case study, sharing our experiences, thoughts, and planned future direction in teaching cataloging, classification, metadata, and information organization. we investigate what university of hawai‘i at mānoa library and information science (lis) students expect to learn from the class, as well as how they perceive knowledge of and skills in cataloging and metadata affecting their career paths. we also inquire into topics that the students are interested in exploring related to cataloging and metadata. we examine emerging trends and evaluate which information and skills are most useful for lis students and new librarians to learn for their library careers. these ideas are built upon our own experiences teaching these topics. this article synthesizes literature review, observation of trends within cataloging and metadata, and surveys taken by students enrolled in the course. keywords: cataloging, metadata, information organization, library, library and information science, student, pedagogy, inquiry-based learning, motivation introduction cataloging and metadata skills are fundamental aspects of the organization of knowledge and information. metadata is used to facilitate discovery, retrieval, and interoperability in a variety of contexts, such as library catalogs (traditional cataloging), digital repositories, databases, and web platforms. to ground ourselves in current thought on the topics of the utility of metadata management courses and the manner of instruction in these courses, we will review recent literature related to the teaching of cataloging and metadata. literature within the field shows that knowledge and skills related to cataloging, classification, metadata management, and information organization are among the core skills of librarianship. ala’s core competences of librarianship includes knowledge of “the systems of cataloging, metadata, indexing, and classification standards and methods used to organize recorded knowledge and information” (ala’s core competences of librarianship, 2009). many cataloging/metadata professionals have emphasized the importance of these skills in information chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 112 organization. in 2002, gorman stated that cataloging is the “intellectual foundation of librarianship” (p. 11). this was echoed by hsieh-yee (2002), who highlighted the ways in which a firm grasp of the theory of cataloging, subject analysis, thesaurus, and classification, etc. would aid professional librarians. carlyle equated understanding cataloging with understanding library resources (dull, 2011). olson (1997) stressed the need to understand catalogs and integrated library systems in a “holistic manner” (p. 52), meaning that the cataloger or cataloging instructor must focus not only on standards, but also on the reasoning behind such standards and the way that their adoption would affect both the library community and the user. in other words, we don’t only need to learn and teach the how of cataloging, but also the why: the way in which these rules relate to other library functions. indeed, gorman (2002) asserts the need for a reference librarian to understand the criteria used for description in selecting resources as well as for an instruction librarian to understand the structure of the catalog when advising on search strategies to use with it. standards are created so that the catalog “can effectively perform its mediating function between the collection and the users” (olson, 1997, p. 52), which is part of the goal of all library services. metadata consistency is important for collocating information and enhancing data exchange in automated computerized environments locally, nationally, and internationally. rousidis et al. (2015) stated that 21 variations were used for fertilization when no controlled vocabulary was used in their project to perform a descriptive analysis of the dc (dublin core) subject metadata element in a repository. the inconsistent use of the data inadvertently affected data processing. this shows some of the ways standardization in cataloging and metadata matters in information retrieval and information sharing. this strengthens the argument that a basic understanding of cataloging and metadata practices will benefit librarians who follow a variety of career paths. the applicability of metadata skills has only increased in the digital world. joudrey and mcginnis (2014) opined that “whether they intend to work in cataloging or not, students will need a conceptual grounding in metadata concepts to navigate the changing graduate education for information organization, cataloging, and metadata” (p. 515). well-applied and understood metadata enhances discoverability for a variety of library collections and is a driving force in building useable digital collections (saumure & shiri, 2008). if lis graduates become more capable of applying whatever standards are proper to manage and organize information within and outside libraries, information will be better classified and users will be able to find and access information in the networked environment easier and faster (hsieh-lee, 2004). saumure & shiri (2008) stated that the importance of metadata in these knowledge organization domains may be the reason that “has led knowledge organization educators to point out the utility and necessity of teaching students about metadata” (p. 660). these examples show that the importance of cataloging and metadata in information organization is evident to those who deal with metadata. however, new lis students may not be aware of the importance of these skills. this is especially true as more and more lis programs do not consider cataloging and metadata a core course, according to a 2016 study (alajmi & ur rehman). chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 113 addressing the current metadata landscape metadata professionals know how important it is to stay abreast of changes in the field. over the last several years, there have been many new standards and practices that have required additional training and adjustments to cataloging workflows. in that time, catalogers have started “organizing information by looking at entities, attributes, and relationships in an “frbr-ized” world” (joudrey & mcginnis, 2014, p. 508). there was the wide adoption of rda (resource description & access) standard based on the frbr (functional requirements for bibliographic records) model, which is a framework established by the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) to aid in the understanding and development of standards for bibliographic description (ifla study group, 1998). we now look towards a revised rda content standard following the lrm (library reference model), a high-level conceptual reference model developed by ifla within an entity-relationship modeling framework (riva et al., 2017). these changes represent shifting structures and models in metadata that even the most experienced librarian needs time to absorb. marc cataloging has been proclaimed obsolete for many years, and yet it remains the main schema for metadata used in integrated library systems (cole, han, & schwartz, 2018). metadata and cataloging professionals have seen many projects using bibframe (bibliographic framework) and linked data described as the future of cataloging. standards such as rdf (resource description framework), a framework for describing web resources, and sparql (sparql protocol and rdf query language), an rdf query language, are used in these linked data environments. these new tools have been discussed, tested, and utilized in the library community. we have seen the role of metadata gain importance as ontologies and taxonomies are also playing a crucial role in the semantic web. the expansion of “linked-data vocabularies has been motivated by new technology and the promise of new means for sharing knowledge” (moulaison et al., 2012, p. 2). the organization of information continues to evolve, though modules on subjects such as taxonomies, ontologies, and thesauri are not heavily emphasized in the lis schools’ courses (alajmi & ur rehman, 2016), which can leave students unaware of the importance of metadata skills. as more resources move to the interconnected web, emerging topics such as metadata applications and uses in the open web, ontologies, and classifying web resources will receive more attention. omekwu & eteng (2006) state that information professionals need new skill sets to perform new information service roles. future librarians will need to incorporate these realities into new or redefined roles for information organization professionals. though the nature of our work and the tools we use to do it may change, the fundamental purpose of our work does not. this, then, is what we must instill in new library professionals. changes and the scope of relevant projects and schemas do provide a challenge for lis educators. we cannot ensure that the standards we teach our students will be the ones they continue to use throughout their career. we must accept that “change is inevitable for organizational survival and the maintenance of professional relevance” (omekwu & eteng, 2006, p. 267). while ideally, the students would have time to adjust to current standards before new ones are introduced, in some ways prospective changes will prepare the students for careers in the library field, which is always evolving. chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 114 student surveys in order to gauge the knowledge of incoming and outgoing students in the cataloging and metadata class, we, as cataloging instructors in the uhm lis program, constructed a two-part survey. the intent of the first part of the survey was to gather information on the students’ background knowledge of cataloging and metadata skills, why they took the class, and what they expected to learn from the course. the second part of the survey, administered at the end of the course, was used to solicit student opinions on the most valuable aspects of the course. we used the information gathered to learn more about the students, their experiences, and to inspire improvements to the course. surveys were given over multiple semesters at the beginning of the term from 2016 to 2019, to 48 students overall, with 46 responses returned. in the survey, multiple questions were asked, among which were “what is your knowledge/experience with cataloging and metadata?” (q1), “what do you expect to learn from this course?” (q2), and “what is your main reason for taking this course?” (q3). when asked about their background with cataloging and metadata, about 54% (25 out of 46) of the students stated that they did not have knowledge of/experience with cataloging and metadata creation. about 46% (21 out of 46) of students indicated that they had very limited or minimum knowledge of/experience with metadata creation. for q3, why they chose to take the course, about 61% (28 out of 46) of students stated that they took the course because it was a required/core course. 65% (30 out of 46) of the surveyed students expressed their awareness of the importance of the course and a desire to learn about the topics covered. selected responses for q2 as to what the students expected to learn from the class “this required course will provide me with the important and fundamental skills i will need to be a good school librarian.” “to learn more about cataloging and metadata creation will help me in my professional career.” “need it for cataloging & metadata skill.” “to learn how to actually catalog.” “learn more about cataloging & metadata creation. interested in becoming a digital librarian, so will be helpful.” from the survey, we learned that most students who took the class had no or minimal knowledge of cataloging and metadata. among the 61% of students who indicated that they took chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 115 the class because it was required, only a small percentage added language about the importance of knowledge and skills of cataloging and metadata. this suggests that as more lis schools do not require basic cataloging and metadata, library and information science students will choose not to take the class. this could create a discrepancy between the knowledge and skills needed by lis students as future librarians/information specialists in many settings and the education that they receive in library school. at the end of the course each semester, follow-up questions were asked in part two of the survey. one of the questions was “which aspects of the course were most valuable?” below is a selection of the students’ feedback to the question. acquire cataloging skills • gain cataloging experience • learn how bibliographic records are created • learn from hands-on examples gain knowledge of different tools and resources • use cataloging and classification tools • become familiar with metadata creation resources learn the basics of metadata and cataloging • learning the inner workings of record creation • practicing different organizational techniques • knowing more about the unseen parts of librarian work • helpful for the future as a librarian even though some students do not initially realize the importance of the introductory-level cataloging and metadata class, many subsequently discover the value of understanding cataloging, classification, and metadata. as seen above, the practical aspects of the course were particularly well received, as students learned to both understand existing records and create their own using the same tools as professionals in the field (oclc connexion, rda toolkit, classweb). much of the class discussion, though, focused on the “why” of certain rules and the way that the structures of traditional cataloging influence the cataloging of resources, as the students sought to link philosophy and practice. course content and goals as adjunct instructors, as well as practicing catalogers at a public co-educational research university, it is of paramount importance for us, the lis instructors, to help the students to acquire knowledge and skills to prepare for their careers in librarianship. in order to accomplish this goal, we feel that it is not enough to only teach traditional cataloging skills; we must also incorporate new developments in the field. this is a significant challenge since the course schedule is already rigorous, allowing only enough time to give students chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 116 a grounding in key aspects of cataloging and metadata management. how, then, can we prepare students to encounter metadata in a variety of contexts, while also providing them with knowledge of and perspective on different aspects of bibliographic data in the library environment? the field of cataloging, metadata, and information organization is changing constantly, and there are many topics to cover. as instructors for a lis class, we cannot incorporate all relevant aspects into the 16-week introductory-level cataloging/metadata class. therefore, we use a variety of strategies and teaching methods to improve student learning outcomes and encourage students to not only learn the rules, but to think about how those rules were constructed and what purposes they serve: 1. promote student learning. pedagogy, the art, occupation, or practice of teaching, is a topic of interest to educators. pedagogy encompasses theory and a method of teaching based on such a theory (oxford english dictionary, 2019). the content of the introductory-level cataloging and metadata course requires reflective thinking and inquiring learning skills rather than pure memorization of factual knowledge. basic knowledge of a cataloging standard, metadata scheme, thesaurus, and classification system can be transferable to learning other standards, thesauri, controlled vocabularies, etc. only if the students understand the underlying structure that is common to those standards. the most important skill for practical cataloging, then, is not knowing what the rule in a particular situation is by rote, but instead, being familiar enough with cataloging resources to select the right one to use to find the information you need. this relates to a central tenet of librarianship, that we need not always be an expert in every topic, but that our training provides us with the skills necessary to find the answers. recognizing the importance of an introduction to cataloging and metadata class for all library students means that instructors must also recognize that most of the students in the class will not go on to be catalogers. how, then, can we motivate students to think about the tools that cataloging offers them, such as classification, description, and subject analysis? jerome bruner, an american educational psychologist, strongly supports discovery learning. as a constructivist, he believes that learning does not only involve mastery of the contents, but also an attitude toward learning and inquiry and the ability to solve problems on one’s own (boettcher, 2010). motivating students is essential to achieve better student learning outcomes. in the class, we have found it more effective to provide opportunities for students to explore the metadata topics related to their own interests, rather than to instill in them extensive knowledge of cataloging and metadata rules and standards. in the past two years, we have provided students with more opportunities to select their own topics, lead class discussions, and share ideas both online and in class. this has resulted in the students being more engaged in class, as they can relate the material to their intended career path. connecting classroom work with topics that the students see impacting their future roles as librarians has been one of our goals in adjusting coursework. in addition to requiring the students to create marc records that cover description, subject analysis and classification, students are also required to give a final presentation on a topic of their choice related to cataloging and metadata. these short presentations mirror the kinds of presentations given at professional conferences and provide the students with an opportunity to do research and present findings. the presentations also give students the chance to talk about the cataloging of different formats and subjects, inadequacies and issues with current vocabularies, and a variety of metadata standards. these presentations build on the work of the previous weeks, allowing students to compare chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 117 standards and think critically about the ways that cataloging and metadata impact access and discovery. being able to compare standards and not differences is one demonstrable way to show an understanding of both the practical and the philosophical aspects of metadata application. in order to get to know what topics students are interested in exploring, we collect some topics that the students have researched, presented, and discussed during past classes. here is a selection of the topics. cataloging for specific languages, formats, and subjects • cataloging graphic materials • music cataloging • cataloging realia • cataloging rare books • cataloging children’s books • classification for the classics • cataloging magazines and newspapers • cataloging non-roman script resources • cataloging graphic music metadata in other contexts • cataloging and metadata for archival collections • cataloging couture • cataloging materials in museums • folksonomies and social tagging • semantic networks for information • metaloging geospatial data • linked data critical thinking about cataloging and metadata • critique of the catalog • cooperative cataloging • criticism of lgbtq classification and subject headings • cataloging on a global scale • user-centered classification • ethical issues in cataloging • indigenous knowledge organization including hawaiian knowledge organization systems from the topics, we learn that students’ interests within the field vary significantly. the topics cover not only the practical concerns of cataloging library material for different subjects, languages, and formats, but also expand to think of some of the broader applications of metadata. in the presentation the students have the opportunity to address their concerns, whether it be investigating the “how” of the ways that different aspects of works are represented within the chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 118 marc format, or asking “why” questions about how information can be adapted, reevaluated, and made more inclusive. through their choice and exploration of a topic, the individual student has more opportunity to initiate their own learning and apply the skills and topics covered in class to their particular concerns. another way that we have encouraged students to find material related to cataloging and metadata relevant to their interests is by replacing the previously required short essay on a peerreviewed article with leading a class discussion on such an article. in this case, the student who read the article has to think more carefully about how to explain the content to their classmates and come up with questions to facilitate discussions that involve the class as a whole. knowing that they will be sharing their work with their classmates and formulating questions also makes the students more likely to pick topics that speak to them. while including additional class discussion does take up time in an already compressed class schedule, the time is well spent in getting students to consider multiple aspects of cataloging and metadata in information organization and bringing real-world examples from multiple perspectives into the classroom. though we have only recently introduced this aspect of student-led discussion to the course, it has been quite valuable in allowing students to express their interests and relate them to the material covered, while also engaging the students with each other when discussing cataloging and metadata related topics. this direction emphasizes the need to leave students not only understanding the rules and practical applications of providing good metadata, but also recognizing the important role it can play in many aspects of librarianship. we hope that through taking the class, the students will be able to identify the ways that metadata can aid or hinder their work and understand how the frameworks of controlled vocabularies, classification schemes, and metadata elements impact the interaction between librarians, patrons, and resources. in the future, there will be a need to continue to promote students’ learning through pedagogy, learning outcomes, and assessment, and to continue to motivate the students to achieve through their work, involvement, and participation in the course. 2. balance theory and practice in the course. according to the oxford english dictionary, a theory is the conceptual fundamentals of a subject or area of study (oxford english dictionary, 2019). theorizing and conceptualizing information are the practices of establishing the phenomenon of study for a discipline and refining the phenomenon studied by the discipline; they are essential analytic practices for establishing a discipline (carlin, 2009). on the other hand, learning theory is a way and process of understanding a discipline. in the profession of librarianship, technology is changing constantly. rules in cataloging and metadata are changing as well. the basic knowledge of theory such as cataloging, authority control, subject headings, and thesaurus will be helpful for students to apply the fundamentals of cataloging to the organization of information resources in all kinds of formats (hsieh-yee, 2010). one of the many challenges in an introduction to cataloging and metadata class is striking the right balance between theory and the very practical rules involved in creating standardized metadata. should instructors focus on preparing students to create records or helping students understand the organizational principles behind current practices? this conundrum mirrors the larger one in lis instruction: wanting our students to be prepared both to do practical library work and to think critically about the underlying aspects of the profession. as in many situations, we have found that the most valuable thing might be to have a bit of both. chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 119 regarding theory, the course outcomes are achieved through lectures, readings, and discussions relating to the concerns current cataloging practice was created to address. in this way, students learn the structures common to a variety of metadata standards and leave the class able to identify issues with the application of metadata practices in various settings. though we cannot give comprehensive focus to the different areas of metadata skill, giving space to talk about the theory and evolution of knowledge organization helps the students to think critically about the current issues in cataloging and metadata in information organization. the class provides hands-on experience through the quizzes covering different aspects of cataloging. these topics converge in the students’ final project: the creation of five complete metadata records that allow them to synthesize their understanding of description, subject analysis, and classification. in order to give the students practical experiences in metadata creation in a broader context, we also collaborated with the cala (chinese american librarians association) academic resource & repository system (calasys), getting the students involved in hands-on metadata experience through the cala institutional repository, which stores materials and documents including publications, research, reports, and datasets. the students create metadata records for the institutional repository, utilizing the skills they have learned throughout the course. 3. balance traditional cataloging knowledge and skills in library settings and metadata in the semantic web. there is an increasing awareness that library users and information seekers become more self-sufficient and move beyond library collections in the pursuit of information in today’s “technology-driven research, teaching, and learning environments” (calhoun, 2007, p. 7). metadata plays an essential role not only in managing library resources, but also in organizing and classifying many types of web resources. in order to provide better information services, libraries have been interested in creating and displaying many other types of metadata besides descriptive cataloging, including “rights, technical, structural, administrative, evaluative, preservation, and linking metadata” (calhoun, 2007, p. 18). in addition to introducing different types of metadata to lis students, lis instructors should also prepare students to “identify areas for metadata development, application, and evaluation” (hsieh-lee, 2004, p. 66). lis students need to learn skills that are applicable beyond the traditional library-cataloging environment. accordingly, course content should address new developments in the interconnected worldwide computer network and enable students to grasp the fundamentals of metadata for digital objects, special collections, and other resources that will be accessible online and linked to one another. the skills and knowledge needed in a library career are evolving. the teaching of cataloging and metadata also needs to change and adapt to suit emerging trends and changes in users’ information seeking behaviors. in recent years, new concepts and new standards have been introduced. new models have been developed, tested, and utilized. as more resources move to the semantic web, linked data becomes an increasingly engaging topic in the field. in the linked data environment, data can be linked to other data located on the web (berners-lee, 2006). in the future, new networked architecture and content management systems will be developed. lis educators for information organization should watch the latest trends and developments. as more web resources are moving to the interconnected web, emerging topics including metadata applications and uses in the open web, ontologies, and classifying web resources will receive more attention. during the past few years, we have gradually introduced different types of metadata schemas and metadata standards, metadata creation tools, and resources chen and joyce / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 120 including linked data into the course. in addition, the students have had the opportunity to work with the web publishing tool omeka and create metadata records in a real-world situation. the class project will help the students have a better understanding of metadata creation in the digital environment. we will regularly revisit the syllabus and course content and incorporate emerging trends in the field. summary based on the survey results from the uhm lis students who took the introductory-level cataloging and metadata class, most lis students had no background and minimum knowledge or skills in cataloging and metadata before they took the class. the basic cataloging/metadata class helped them to gain knowledge and skills in the area and to understand that metadata plays an important role in digital scholarship. we feel it is essential to combine the traditional cataloging/metadata skills with a focus on emerging trends in the field to prepare students for their future careers. “metadata is an evolving area of information organization that is constantly in flux and the technologies used to support its teaching and implementation are changing just as rapidly” (hsiehyee, 2006, p. 2). changes and innovation must drive not only the course content, but also the instructors’ pedagogical approach, as the instructors need to inspire the students to pursue inquirybased learning. as the metadata landscape changes, it is necessary for us, the instructors, to continue to evaluate the course content, our pedagogy, and student learning outcomes. over the past few years, as instructors for the cataloging and metadata course, we have been focusing primarily on the skills necessary for cataloging in the traditional library-focused environment, but have incorporated new content to address broader issues and a wider variety of tools and situations in which metadata, and the knowledge of how to create and follow appropriate standards, is valuable. methods involved in teaching the cataloging and metadata course need to evolve as the nature of information seeking changes. there is a need to incorporate new concepts and developments related to rapidly changing digital technology while staying true to the essence of “traditional” cataloging and classification in the library setting. on the one hand, we acknowledge that topics such as classification, cataloging, and indexing form the backbone of knowledge organization education (alajmi & ur rehman, 2016); on the other hand, we understand that to remain relevant, lis instructors must take the opportunity to learn and equip ourselves with updated knowledge and skills in the field. this will allow us to incorporate new developments in the curriculum to reflect the changes in the information world and provide useful and enriching experiences for the students, no matter their experience or focus. references ala council. 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(2019). in oxford english dictionary. retrieved march 2, 2019, from https://wwwoed-com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/view/entry/200431?redirectedfrom=theory#eid about the authors suzhen chen is a chinese language cataloging/metadata librarian at the university of hawaiʻi at mānoa. she obtained a master's degree in library and information science from the university of illinois at urbana-champaign in 2009. margaret joyce has been the hawaiian materials cataloging/metadata librarian at the university of hawaii at manoa since 2017. she received her mlis at the university of illinois, with a certificate in special collections. she previously worked for several years as an english as a foreign language teacher. https://doi.org/10.1300/j124v15n01_06 https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610660816 https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610660816 https://www.oed.com/ https://www.oed.com/ https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/cataloguing/frbr-lrm/ifla-lrm-august-2017_rev201712.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551507084300 https://www-oed-com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/view/entry/200431?redirectedfrom=theory#eid https://www-oed-com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/view/entry/200431?redirectedfrom=theory#eid 6--132-701-1-ce-suzhenchen_title 6--132-701-1-ce-suzhenchen-proofread-1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org evolution of western library catalogs: the rising expectations of users junli diao abstract: this paper traces the historical development of library catalogs from primitive catalogs in ancient times to current next generational catalogs, which are summarized into three stages: the agricultural catalog stage, the industrial catalog stage and the information catalog stage. in particular, this paper focuses on the discussion of the rise of users’ expectations on library catalogs at different stages and gives emphasis to what impact they have created accordingly. to cite this article: diao, j. (2018). evolution of western library catalogs: the rising expectations of users. international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 78-93. doi: https://doi.org/10.23974/ ijol.2018.vol3.1.69 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 78-93 issn:2474-3542 evolution of western library catalogs: the rising expectations of users junli, diao york college, city university of new york abstract this paper traces the historical development of library catalogs from primitive catalogs in ancient times to current next generational catalogs, which are summarized into three stages: the agricultural catalog stage, the industrial catalog stage and the information catalog stage. in particular, this paper focuses on the discussion of the rise of users’ expectations on library catalogs at different stages and gives emphasis to what impact they have created accordingly. keywords: library catalog, cataloging, evolution, user, users’ expectation, primitive catalog, alphabetical list, codex, printed book catalog, card catalog, online catalog, next generational catalog, ngc introduction library catalogs are frequently used, but how they evolved into what they are has not been fully addressed in the library and information science literature. norris (1939) surveyed the history of catalogs and cataloging methods, with an intensive discussion of a temporal span starting with the middle ages and ending in the middle of 19th century. clarke (2014) delivered a historical review of library catalogs from ancient times to the present and concentrated on the argument of the alternative functional purposes that library catalogs pertain to serve beyond finding, selecting, identifying and obtaining library materials. most of cataloging textbooks focus on the methodological and practical explanation and analysis of systematically describing, representing, organizing and classifying resources, chiefly touching the progress of modern library catalogs after 1800. fons (2016) reviewed the evolution of library catalogs and librarianship and emphasized the convenience and efficiency that catalogs bring to users. therefore, this article attempts to add to the discussion about the historical trajectory of the development of library catalogs from ancient diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 79 times to the current period, with particular exploration of the role that user expectations played in the development, which has never been examined. in order to trace the evolution of library catalogs, one must first discuss and clarify the definition of catalogs. joundrey, taylor, and miller (2015) considered that “a catalog is an organized compilation of bibliographic metadata that represents the holdings of a particular institution and/or resources accessible in a particular location” (p. 7). chan and salaba (2015) indicated that a library catalog is a bibliographic file which provides the items in the collection or collections the catalog represents with data that describes the physical characteristics of the resource and offers the physical item with identification numbers, subject content and physical location of the item in the collection (pp. 23-24). definitions of such in cataloging textbooks are elaborated and extracted from the characteristics and principles of contemporary library catalogs. the major trait of library catalogs, described as an aggregation of structuralized bibliographic metadata, did not exist in the pre-modern period. a contemporary-based and affirmative definition could either say too much or too little. if one follows the contemporary impression of what a library catalog is, one runs the risk of forgetting our remote past and failing ourselves for being shortsighted about our exciting future. therefore, defining library catalogs, which is an historic term, is not an easy task. while celebrating the monumental achievement of the card catalog, the library of congress in its book the card catalog: books, cards, and literary treasures articulated that the card catalog was “a road map for navigating the wilderness of books” (p. 9). if this definition could be expanded beyond books and the card catalog environment, one would say that a library catalog was a road map for navigating the wilderness of library resources, or a library catalog serves as a gateway that bridges library users’ needs and library resources. a broad, open and inclusive definition like this might be a safer and wiser idea for one to approach an historic term, which will help us embrace the conceptual mode what a catalog is and what purpose it serves, regardless of material formats, supporting techniques and organizing principles, and which will help us understand that our current library catalogs have come a long way. primitive catalogs in ancient libraries archaeologists have contested that some of the earliest libraries, dating from approximately 3,000bce to 2,300bce, are located among the ruins of the most ancient cities of the tigris euphrates valleys (tolzmann, hessel, & peiss, 2001). the excavated clay tablets with cuneiform scripts provide us with a glimpse of earliest library collection management: grouping objects by their physical attributes or listing by types of the content. in the ancient city of ebla in syria, the room close to an audience hall holds tablets that documented the business of state and the smaller rooms contain tablets concerning economic affairs; round tablets stored on the floor specially contain economic and administrative texts, and diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 80 square ones don’t have such preference but are stored on the middle and upper shelves; moreover, clay tablets contained lists of kings, gods, cities, states, objects, animals and professions (wellisch, 1981, pp. 490-496). a more sophisticated list of titles taken from the first line of texts or a brief summary of the contents of clay tablets was found in the ancient city of hattusas in turkey (casson, 2001, p. 6). it contains titles of literary works used as a “point” to represent a whole literature work. as we know, listing is metacognitive behavior that involves calculating, sequencing and abstracting information, which makes itself one of the fundamental activities giving birth to library catalogs. if one recalls the common definition that metadata is data about data, one would get an inspiration that choosing a title to represent an entire literary work in the city of hattusas’s library could be regarded as primitive metadata creation activity. such a list then would be a proven “primitive catalog.” since literacy is closely tied to power in ancient times, users of ancient libraries should be a small number of the ruling classes, such as kings, royal families, government officials or other significant figures. scribes who mastered and interpreted the complicated and sacred writing system can be considered as librarians (tolzmann, hessel, & peiss, p. 4). it was believed that the capability of reading messages from the text graced them with the power and privilege of communicating between earthly beings and heavenly spirits (lyons, 2011, p. 17). perhaps library users in ancient times were immensely awed by the primitive catalogs, which not only offered them certain convenient access to obtain what they wanted among the countless clay tablets, but also a theological pathway leading to the acquaintance with earthly beings and heavenly spirits. alphabetic lists in greek and roman time libraries in ancient times functioned more as “storage” halls. as growing social complexity and productivity gave rise to new approaches of communication, libraries gradually developed into houses of knowledge and the collected texts demonstrated a high level of narrative skill and intellectual output (casson, 2001, p. 17). alphabetic sequencing began to be employed in the library’s collection management. in ancient greece, an increasing number of libraries emerged and blossomed, including government sponsored libraries, so-called public libraries that only opened to a small population who were able to read, and private libraries owned by prominent scholars (murray, 2009, p. 14). the famous alexandrian library (300bce-48bce approximately) had a collection of around 490,000 papyrus rolls on the scholarship of language and literature in the main hall, which were shelved by alphabetical order from the beginning (casson, 2001, p. 36). later, one of the most important scholar librarians, zenodotus, employed alphabetical sequencing in the compilation of a glossary of rare words. another famous scholar librarian, callimachus, compiled annotated bibliographies called “pinakes,” which classified works by subject and arranged them alphabetically by authors with biographical information and listing of works supplied (tolzmann, hessel, & peiss, 2001, p. 8). such an arrangement and description of collections gained its canonical reputation and brought profound impact to bibliographic practices in the history of diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 81 library science. after greece fell, rome rose and inherited its culture and legacies. in roman times, libraries flourished but very few libraries employed bibliographical catalogs that were arranged by authors’ names, under which titles or first lines of the work, lengths of works, and occasionally biographical information were supplied (johnson & harris, 1976, p. 70). hypothetically speaking, greco-roman society was a “literate” one. the greco-roman culture and civilization were disseminated and rooted through libraries in places where the empire reached. library shelves were filled with epics of homer, works by great philosophers, literature, laws, and works by professionals. librarians or library administrators were scholars, like zenodotus and callimachus in ancient greece or very well-educated slaves in the roman empire. users of libraries were learned and liberated persons who were passionate about books and libraries. author-alphabetical catalogs created by librarians or library administrators were not merely a label of identification, but also the groundwork unconsciously laid for the principle of authorship in the future world. library catalogs have demonstrated a sense of conceptualization and abstracting while describing and organizing textual materials. users, who either inhabited cities or made their way to libraries from afar, would be captivated by such intelligent endeavor and gave their salutation and admiration to librarians who organized collections in such a manner. manuscript codex catalogs if papyrus rolls are a sign of ancient libraries, then the parchment codex libraries are characteristic of the middle ages (tolzmann, hessel, & peiss, 2001, p. 17). papyrus rolls were subject to changes of climate and they deteriorated easily in wet and damp areas. by the fifth century, papyrus rolls had been replaced by a new material—parchment, chiefly made from the skins of sheep and goats, and began to earn their place on the shelves of libraries (murray, 2009, p. 14). library catalogs took a new physical form—the manuscript codex. the fall of the roman empire buried libraries with classical texts. the rise of christianity brought forth ecclesiastical libraries with theological manuscripts. in the early middle ages, libraries were chiefly monopolized by churches. in the late middle ages, university and college libraries began to emerge. strongly influenced by church libraries, college and university library collections were dominated by religious works, in addition to a small number of subject collections on philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and some local materials (johnson & harris, 1976, p. 122). in general, libraries in the middle ages were relatively small and collection management mainly depended upon librarians’ knowledge and memorization. some relatively big libraries had catalogs, taking the form of pure inventories or accession lists of books organized by authors, titles, or a catchword from the title or the first line of the text (harris, 1984, p. 92). alphabetical ordering, an important technique developed and used in greek and roman times for arranging collections, glossaries and lexica, was not fully utilized by libraries in medieval times. in some academic libraries, the catalogs or booklists were arranged more or less alphabetically, but sometimes indiscriminately by author, title, catchword, or size (johnson & harris, 1976, p. 122). however, diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 82 this doesn’t necessarily mean that the evolution of catalogs during the middle ages remained at a standstill. although europe’s political landscapes were divided by feudal kings, nobles, and manors with the support of a self-sufficient economic system, what penetrated the boundaries and divisions of kingdoms and states was the church, exerting a powerful influence on all aspects of life and unifying and stabilizing europe under one big umbrella—christianity. possibly inspired by christian uniformity, some monks created a union catalog that covered the major books collected in monastic libraries, one of which in england was an alphabetical catalog with the indication of locations by numbers (harris, 1984, p. 92). compared with the “literate” greco-roman period, literacy in the middle ages was declining. low literacy and theological control enshrined the well-educated librarians, who were in charge of books and reading. church libraries mostly served monastic scholars inhabiting the designated local monasteries or visiting monk scholars from other churches. non-ecclesiastic users of medieval libraries usually were the privileged classes, including nobles, government officials, or monastery benefactors, and also rising merchants as commerce rose and expanded in europe (murray, 2009, p. 33). with the rise of colleges and universities during the late middle ages, an increasing number of students and scholars came to be educated with religious work and classical learning, creating significant impact on library planning and facilities (murray, p. 66-67). however, given the size of collections, users’ influence in library catalogs, either in church libraries or academic libraries, seemed to be extremely insignificant during this period, even though the privileged classes might exert political, cultural and even personal influence on library collections through their patronage. printed book catalogs innovation, individualism, democracy and civil liberties gradually sprouted after medieval europe and transformed the european political, social and cultural landscape. the technique of papermanufacturing and the advance in movable type printing gave birth to printed books, which disseminated information on a massive scale and perfectly matched with the enlightened civilians’ and intellectuals’ emerging demand for reading and learning. the foundation of european monarchies and the catholic church were shaken by the enlightenment and the french revolution. monastery libraries were secularized and royal libraries were nationalized as state properties. the center of the house of knowledge was shifted from church libraries to academic and national libraries. the increased size of library collections and capacities called for a corresponding catalog—the printed book catalog, which had the ability to be used by multiple users simultaneously. the bodleian library of oxford university in england had its first printed catalog in 1605 and the second in 1620. the first catalog contained entries for 4,000 manuscripts and printed books utilizing techniques like interfiling, alphabetical listing and subject classification; the second one was improved by the introduction of cross-references, publication information, and book location in the library (ranz, 1964, pp. 2-3). the british museum library tried to create a printed book catalog but the attempt was delayed for more than half a century by the inability to decide between a strictly-alphabetized catalog, which enabled users to find a particular known item, or a subject diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 83 classed catalog, which permitted users to find one and its related items by taking a reasonable guess of the right subject. it was not until 1900 that a 47-volume printed book catalog eventually came out, including a ten-volume supplement that added books acquired from 1882 and 1889 (norris, 1939, p. 213). in colonial america, the library of harvard college created its first printed book catalog in 1723, which was “arranged first by size and then alphabetically through the first letter of the entry word” (ranz, 1964, p. 9). unlike the british museum library’s struggle between an alphabetical catalog and a classed catalog, american libraries took great courage and effort to enthusiastically experiment with both approaches. american librarians’ endeavor and creativity brought the united states to the center of the international arena of library development. the renaissance, the reformation, and the industrial revolution brought about a radical transformation to european intellectual life. users of libraries were modern european men and women who cast aside the yoke of medieval times. their thriving for scholarship and professional advancement accelerated the size and complexity of library’s collections. in colonial america, the tradition of education and self-employment of the pioneers and their descendants in fast-growing settlements created a hunger for books in both humanities (art of thinking) and sciences (art of doing) (murray, 2009, p. 153). the expansion of collections and the influx of users pressured librarians to formulate a practical strategy to classify and manage books systematically and efficiently. after the failed attempt to arrange books by size and their acquisition dates, a titlealphabetic or a subject-classed printed book catalog dominated libraries in the 18th and 19th centuries in europe and america. the positive effect of printed book catalogs was apparent. they were in print format and could be reproduced in multiple copies as desired. users could hold one volume in their hands and spend as much time as they needed to browse without interfering with others or keeping them waiting behind. users were very much attracted by the appealing visual representation of book catalogs. the uniformity of book description and the systematization of the arrangement of titles and analysis of subjects within the catalogs could stimulate users’ thinking and learning. moreover, the printed multivolume catalogs gave librarians themselves a strong sense of satisfaction and accomplishment after the intelligent project was wrapped up, because they embodied the library tradition in the book format that librarians had been accustomed to seeing for a few centuries (ranz, 1964, p. 41). however, compiling book catalogs was labor intensive and printing them was costly. they became out-of-date immediately after the printing was finished. there was no way to insert the incoming collection into the printed catalogs, which usually frustrated users and failed their expectations. to overcome this disadvantage, libraries were forced to print supplements as a remedy or print bulletins of new acquisitions periodically or try other innovative ways to make new acquisitions visible (ranz, p. 46). printed card catalog the combination of steam, iron and electricity speeded up the wheels of machines, which dramatically increased the quantity and variety of industrial products from 19th century onwards. mass production supported by divisions of labor and specialized techniques not only generated a diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 84 demand for skilled professionals and educated civil citizens, but also led to the standardization of tools and products so as to attain unified, interoperable and efficient services. inescapably impacted by this social trend, library catalogs were transformed into a dazzling new chapter—the standardized card catalog. the origin of the printed card catalog was conceived in the paper slips used to present bibliographical information in the 16th century in germany and playing cards adopted to organize and describe books transferred from ecclesiastic and royal libraries during the french revolution (valentine, 2012, p. 149). in 1861 the harvard college library made its card catalog open to the public and its flexibility brought huge convenience to both librarians and users (ranz, 1964, p. 53). in addition to flexibility, the groundbreaking and revolutionized aspect of the card catalogs lies in the potential that designing, manufacturing, printing, filing and storing cards could be standardized, as well as bearing information. with a great vision beyond the era, melvil dewey (1851-1931), the designer and creator of the dewey decimal classification, made a strong effort to bring standardization in various aspects of library operations and feverishly persuaded the library of congress (lc) to undertake a leadership role in providing centralized cataloging services and creating and distributing standardized cataloging cards to american libraries. not until 1901, though, did the lc officially proclaim this responsibility to print and distribute the standardized 3×5 inch cataloging cards to libraries across the whole country, which carried the lc’s extraordinary achievement in library science: lc classification and lc subject headings. under the principal of standardization, every book went through the same standardized cataloging procedure by experts and every catalog card carried an equal amount of information in terms of quantity and quality. therefore, libraries, no matter the “smaller libraries in the farthest corners of the country” or “the greatest ones in the world,” were put in equal status by providing users with the same quality catalogs (the library of congress, 2017, p. 113). capitalism and industrialization increased the population who had faith in self-empowerment and sought self-improvement through education and learning. to acquire knowledge and wisdom or improve their lives and careers, they flowed into libraries and became persistent users for educational, professional and recreational reading. a standardized catalog allowed users to either promptly find the desired book or simply predict where similar books might be shelved. users’ eagerness and insatiability for books gave impetus to libraries to design an unprecedentedly sophisticated catalog that could clearly and precisely show users where individual books were located on the bookshelves, as well as the neighboring books of the same or similar subject. the emergence of card catalogs definitely met this need with clarity, precision and systematization of information achieved through structured numerical numbers, signs or alphabets. such a catalog, integrated with alphabetized entries, formatted bibliographical descriptions, crossed references, coordinated subject headings and structured call numbers, grew out of librarians’ sole crafting endeavor and turned out to be both a library’s home-made hallmark of that era and a monumental cornerstone in the history of libraries. such a catalog not only presented metadata information desired by users, but also carried a built-in collective identity and legacy of the library community as a whole, as opposed to the pre-card-catalog time when library catalogs were tied to individual librarian’s credit and endeavor. card catalogs became a prominent marker of library community diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 85 which defined what librarians had achieved together. such a catalog was not a commercial product developed by vendors and sold back to libraries. librarians were the designers and creators. online catalogs electronic computer and internet technology revolutionized the view of how data was stored, manipulated and transferred. when they were introduced into library settings, the nature of a library’s catalog was profoundly changed. in 1966, henriette d. avrams launched the first automated cataloging system well-known as machine-readable cataloging (marc). it did not take very long for its value to be recognized and accepted by the international library community as an efficient and effective replacement of the cumbersome and labor-intensive card catalogs. ohio state university and dallas public library integrated marc records in their library systems and implemented large-scale online catalogs in 1975 and 1978 respectively (borgman, 1996, p. 499). soon after, the library community followed their actions and started converting card catalogs into machine readable online catalogs and gaining bibliographic automation in managing library collections. strongly influenced by its predecessor, the first generation online catalogs provided an emulation of card catalog search experience characterized as finding known items (typically author, title and control numbers), which lacked authority control and cross-reference (hildreth, 1987, p. 650). the second generation online catalogs “represent a marriage of the library catalog and conventional online information retrieval (ir) system familiar to librarians who search online abstracting databases via dialog, brs, orbit, medline, etc.” (hildreth, 650-651). added features included subject access, boolean operators, truncation, etc. in the 1980s, an increasing number of commercial vendors began to provide libraries with more comprehensive and reliable integrated and multifunctional library systems, which covered the major functions of all types of libraries, including cataloging, acquisition, circulation, public access interface, and even library facilities’ booking and usage (de gennaro, 1983, p. 633). the public access catalog, commonly known as online public access catalog (opac), started to offer advanced features and services to users, such as applying limits to refine the search results by language, year, record type, format type, and location, as well as reserving titles or gaining remote access to library subscribed databases. with all these advantages, opacs prevailed for decades and are still prominently used by libraries which haven’t completely migrated to next generation catalogs. apparently, the emergence and development of online catalogs seemed to be propelled by technological innovation and financial considerations. soon after online catalogs were introduced into libraries, card-catalog users were attracted or intimidated by the technologically refreshing and exciting interfaces that provided both searching and browsing functions. to be able to adapt to a completely new catalog and master the system effectively, users themselves needed to learn. users needed to be trained and educated by public service librarians, or learn from reading printed handouts, or by participating in programs and workshops offered by the libraries. as online catalogs grew more sophisticated and complicated, libraries’ instruction on helping users how to diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 86 effectively retrieve and evaluate information became even more crucial, especially in the context of research and academic libraries. online catalogs cannot be seen only as a bibliographic facility tools that show what libraries collect and subscribe. they are an instructional device that cultivates users to the realm of how information is guided by the conventions of scholarly community in organization, storage, production and retrieval (peters, 135-136). the notion that online catalogs turn out to be instructional devices doesn’t necessarily mean that users are just information consumers, who quietly sit and attentively receive training or education offered by libraries in locating, retrieving and evaluating library resources, without inserting any influence on the catalog system or librarians’ perceptions of their roles. as a matter of fact, users of online catalogs deliver a noticeable backwash impact both on the system and librarians’ perceptions through their information seeking needs and behavior, which was originally ignored, or at least unforeseen by the system designers. online catalogs in the 1970s and 1980s were technically directed by bibliographic networks, vendors and technical services librarians, not by the needs and expressed wishes of the library patrons (adams, 1988, p. 33). to become competent online catalog users, they have to learn how to organize and synthesize ideas and translate them into queries, posing queries into databases and get the results that they wanted. in the 1990s, user interfaces of online catalogs were significantly improved, but the improvements stayed on the surface without reaching the core functionality concerning users’ inner motivation and physical behaviors in the process of searching for information and dealing with information obtained (borgman 1996, p. 501). however, what was ignored in libraries' online catalogs was captured by commercial websites. users strongly influenced by web searching, such as google and amazon, which both have clean boxes, criticize that libraries’ online catalogs function like robots, neither intellectually intuitive nor stimulating, which create a necessity of providing further assistance to facilitate the search and help accomplish their tasks, such as handouts and training classes. therefore, online catalogs as an instructional tool and online catalogs lacking the consideration of users’ needs and information seeking behaviors could be considered as two sides of the same coin. absence of the consideration of users’ needs enhances and amplifies the necessity of libraries’ instruction or training; through libraries’ instruction or training, users bring to surface the hidden aspect that online catalogs lack a friendly design based on what they really want. this poses a question, “should libraries continue educating their users or should libraries adopt a new system that emphasizes users’ needs?” perhaps, next generation catalogs could answer this question. next generation catalogs at the beginning of the 21st century, the breakthrough in computer technology, network, and new materials has greatly increased the abundance of information accessed, disseminated and reconstructed. semantic web and linked data technologies show great potential in giving web content identity, structural relationship and semantic meaning; the application of web 2.0 increases both global networking and interpersonal interactions and communications in a collaborative and diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 87 end-user-friendly approach through personal, portable and intelligent devices. the sizes of devices are getting smaller but the capacities are bigger and the functions have multiplied, which makes seeking information online an entirely different experience. changes in technologies lead to new tools and systems that upgrade or overturn their predecessors very quickly. change becomes a new constant. in the 1990s, tentative discussions began to emerge on what a future library online catalog should do. rosenthal (1991) implied that the online catalogs should be able to work as a portal with the capacity of searching libraries’ whole collections (p. 10). turner and cobbe (1990) indicated that online catalogs should be capable of interacting with other online systems (p. 52). morgan brought up the definition of next generation catalogs (ngc) for discussion via ngc4lib mailing list and articulated four principles of ngc: “it is not a catalog, it avoids multiple databases, it is bent on providing services against search results and it is built using things open” (as cited in nagy, 2011, p. 11). although these tentative discussions sounded a little vague at the time, it did suggest that the library community attempted to decouple itself from the rigid online catalogs and explore the possibility of replacement that aims at having the entire collections covered in one single search and providing better services that could reflect users’ needs. the first ngc was implemented in 2006, when the north carolina state university libraries launched the endecapowered discovery layer over catalogs, offering a refreshing end-user search experience that demonstrated advanced features and enhanced functionalities. since then, an increasing number of libraries, especially academic libraries, have gradually replaced their outdated and clumsy opac with the intuitive and easy-to-use ngc. ngc, which came to be known as discovery tools, discovery layers, or web-scale discovery services, provides searches through “centralized index of metadata obtained from many publishers and database vendors as well as the subscribing library’s opac, institutional repository, and other selected resources, returning results almost instantly” (rose-wiles & hofmann 2013, p. 150). in addition to the centralized index that empowers resources that libraries own and subscribe to, ngc offers end-users interfaces equipped with intelligent functionalities, such as one single point of entry to all library resources, simple search interface, faceted navigation, relevance ranking, rating, spelling suggestions, recommendations, user contributions, auto citation generation, social media integration and frbr display, just to name a few (dragomir, 2016, p. 18). the typical ngc, such as worldcat local, summon, primo, encore, aquabrowser, and endeca, is a third-party product provided to the library community by vendors that possesses cutting-edge technologies, able support and necessary resources. however, the emergence and implementation of ngc are not only propelled by a pure technology stimulus or business profits, but also driven by the change of demographic landscape—the rise of the millennial generation, who were born between 1982 and 1998 and comprises the major population of current colleges and universities’ enrollment (u.s. census bureau, 2017). millennials are “digital natives” (fromm & garton, 2013, p. 19). after they were born, they were blessed with technology advances. computers, internet, digital cameras, digital music players, cell phones, and other digital devices became an extension of their bodies. intimate interaction with digitals led millennials to develop a mindset different from previous generations. they tend to be impatient, exploratory and resultsdiao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 88 oriented learners; they are digital natives, multitaskers, and gamers who love human-machine interaction; they are both information consumers and generators who seek choices and convenience in the way to approach the world, and they prefer personalization and customization in utilizing their products and services (sweeney, 2006, pp. 2-10). commercial websites, for instance, amazon and ebay, capture those characteristics precisely and correspondingly create new or update existing products and services, making them customized to millennials’ behaviors and needs. users with such experiences walk into our libraries and they find that our opac is nothing but a dull and cumbersome tool to use. ngc, equipped with fast-responded, engaging, interactive, facet-navigated, and social-media-integrated search interface and functionalities, not only give millennial users familiar searching experience gained from commercial websites, but also grant users more power and freedom to personalize, customize and socialize their search results. by doing so, millennial users develop their digital identity in the library community and gain a strong sense of ownership and satisfaction. the rising expectations of users from primitive clay tablets’ lists to most recent ngc discovery tools, library catalogs progressed continuously and cumulatively for over thousands of years. on the time axis, the continuity and cumulativeness are conjectured into three broad evolutional stages by two distinctive fault lines, where technology brought about innovation and change. these three stages are the agricultural catalog stage, the industrial catalog stage and the information catalog stage. during the agricultural catalog stage, the form of catalogs was compilations of natural and raw materials with some handcrafting refinement. library catalogs were a pure inventory of text-bearing but handcrafted objects, namely clay tablets, papyrus rolls and skin codices. arranging such objects was more inclined to recordkeeping purpose. during the industrial catalog stage, the form of catalogs was profoundly transformed by the marriage of printing technology and paper-manufacturing. every piece of the massively-produced books was inseparably interwoven with machinery elements. industrial operations standardized procedures and products, textualized and typographicalized ideas and thoughts, and quickly made agricultural handcrafts obsolete. library catalogs, whether printed book catalogs or card catalogs, could no longer be easily and accurately perceived by the naked human eyes what materials they were made of. after the digital binaries in computer and internet technology reshaped the form of catalogs in the way users get access to, utilize, disseminate and interact with texts, library catalogs were entering the beginning of the information stage. online catalogs bring libraries beyond walls and libraries are tsunamied with information. instead of dropping an anchor into the sea of information to maintain the stability of tradition and glory, the library community tests the waters and follows the tides and rejuvenates online catalogs into a dynamic discovery tool that offers a platform for both learning and socializing. the agricultural catalog stage when library catalogs were growing slowly at the agricultural stage, library users had extremely diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 89 limited impact or influence on the catalogs. the perceivable reasons are twofold. first, the number of users who could gain access to library materials was fairly small. in the agricultural stage, literacy was controlled by a small number of ruling classes, the capability of reading and writing was closely tied with bureaucratic, administrative, legal and religious systems. even centuries after alphabetic writing was introduced, the restrictions on literacy remained to a few similar functions (kaestle, 1985, p. 15). secondly, compared with the illiterate mass, librarians were men of learning, men of the literate and men of knowledge. valued by the ruling classes, librarians earned their status as literati by being the gatekeepers of libraries. one could argue a logical inference that librarians might be in a totally dominant position in terms of administering libraries and organizing their collections. users could be in an inferior, humbled and passive position, accepting whatever approaches that librarians took to give order and direction to libraries’ collections. such a dichotomous relationship that one projects between librarians and users could be a reflection of the sociopolitical stratification in human society where restricted literacy and oral culture prevails. “rather than fashion their world with clay or earth, librarian-gods breathe life into existence by providing structure” (maxwell, 2006, p. 43). if maxwell’s remark is literally taken, it may perfectly match with library catalogs during the agricultural stage, when librarians designed the methods of arrangement without considering what users need. the industrial catalog stage in the agricultural catalog stage, god was considered as the power. when library catalogs were taken into the industrial stage by printing presses and paper manufacturing, libraries gradually shifted their major roles from bookkeeping storages to book-reading centers and knowledge was considered as the spring of power. compared with users during the agricultural stage, users in the industrial stage became significantly active and their increased patronage activities started to exert certain “pressure” onto librarians’ work. widespread literacy promoted the norm of typographical features and regularization of scholarly practices. new scientific ideas, new geographical discoveries and new ways of thinking demystified and secularized god’s grace. western scholarship and knowledge disciplines flourished. books found their natural places—on open shelves rather than stay chained to the table or hidden in the chest. people used libraries far more often than before and read more frequently than they used to. library collections expanded and space was added, offering more freedom and room for users to conduct quiet, personal and introspective reading activities. libraries embraced an influx of users from all walks of life. they could be revolutionaries or pornography writers, enlightened free thinkers or skillful professionals, explorers preparing their next adventure or scientists designing experiments. users’ community was diversified and libraries’ collections were multiplied. confronted with increasingly expanded collections, users were discontented with the simple accession lists or inventory type catalogs, and were not satisfied with the situation of having browsed the shelf to find a book. they wanted libraries to offer them a nice and magical tool which enabled them to find that specific needle in the haystack. in that nice and magical tool, they wanted the appearance of sufficient conceptual and structured information so that they could have an idea what that needle was and what it was about, without stepping into the barn and inspecting the hay in person. such “wantness” can be diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 90 traced in the balance of decisions how the access points for bibliographic records and catalog systems were determined by librarians. such “wantness” was precisely captured in charles cutter (1837-1903)’s three well-known objectives as to what library catalogs should be. these three objectives are not only his own philosophical remarks on the functions of library catalogs, but also an articulation built on his own practical cataloging experience and observing how users wanted to find books. the information catalog stage computer and internet technology advanced library catalogs into the information stage. the information highways created by computers and the internet penetrate spatial-temporal, societal and national boundaries and integrate the geographically-dissected globe into a connected village. human minds and bodies have been remarkably extended and expanded in a way that never happened before in human history. global citizen, information literate, lifelong learners and civil society are frequently mentioned in pedagogical texts, which cultivate individuals to engage themselves in this ever-changing world with a broader vision, strengthen their information competence and competitiveness, sustain the pursuit of knowledge, and take active responsibilities for democracy and freedom. educators and policymakers incorporate into educational settings with a consensus that classrooms should help develop three-dimensional (civic, global and digital) citizens, who are “informed, engaged and active,” who reflect “global forces, challenges and opportunities,” and who reflect “the prevalence of the digital space” (partnership for 21st century skills, 2014, p. 6). users who attempt to build civic learning and global awareness and grow as digital literacy experts demonstrate a different demographic landscape in library setting. they are more confident and competitive in information utilization and dissemination. they desire more results with less effort, and they want more information autonomy but less subjection. they expect that libraries not only function as book-reading places, but also information commons providing services in an integrative, dynamic and cross-disciplinary model that could contextualize their information needs as a result of synergy between different departments and various professionals (beagle, 1999, p. 88). they desire an innovative and engaging online catalog adapted to the needs of user communities and operable on handheld devices, particularly smart phones and tablets. they want to transfer the capability of retrieving information gained on commercial websites into an online gateway where the segregated and fragmented catalogs, databases, digital collections and institutional repositories could be synchronized together for one-stop shopping. they want less predetermined scholarly descriptions in online catalogs, which were inherited from the 18th century, and more user-friendly, loosely-controlled, and common-sense-based social tags and applications. they expect that library catalogs not only reflect librarians’ perceptions and observations as a technological tool, but also a cultural and social platform that captures the traits of the information age. fostered by users’ expectations, library catalogs as a social space encourage library professionals, either frontline user services librarians or backroom technical services librarians, to rediscover and redefine their roles where traditional boundaries are being blended by emerging situations, and to take risks in an area where responsibilities overlap (tarulli & spiteri, 2012, p. 130). diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 91 conclusion this article gives a broad overview of the major milestones in the evolution of library catalogs from ancient times to the 21st century with a highlight on the discussion of users’ rising expectations and needs. evolution is a term that suggests historical, contemporary and anticipatory gradual growth. it is also a term which delineates the possibility of innovation that grows out of quantitative increase and the potential that the new grows out of the old. in this sense, the development of library catalogs could be considered as an evolving process, which experiences both gradual growth and instant innovation at certain points in its course. these points are the crossing intersections where technology brings revolution to the methods of representing and disseminating information and where we human beings want more and better, guided by our basic inherent desire of doing less. to this point, one would say that we are only at the threshold of the 21st century, and users’ expectations for the gateways that connect themselves with libraries’ resources will not pause or remain still. therefore, it is anticipated that the drastic and profound changes of library catalogs are likely to continue in the near future. let’s be prepared with our ceaseless effort and creativity, experimental boldness and dynamic adaptability. acknowledgement i want to thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestion. special thanks are given to my colleague professor john drobnicki for proofreading the manuscript. references adams, j. a. (1988). the computer catalog: a democratic or authoritarian technology? library journal, 113(2), 31-36. beagle, d. (1999). conceptualizing an information commons. the journal of academic librarianship, 25(2), 82-89. borgman. c. l. (1996). why are online catalogs still hard to use? journal of the american society for information science, 47(7), 493-503. casson, l. (2001). libraries in the ancient world. new haven: yale university press. chan, l. m., & salaba, a. (2015). cataloging and classification: an introduction. lanham: rowman & littlefield. clarke, r. i. (2014). find, identify, select… socialize? alternative objectives of library catalogs. proceedings of the association for information science and technology, 51(1), 1-5. de gennaro, r. (1983). library automation and networking: perspectives on three decades. library journal, 108(7), 629-635. dragomir, v. 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(1939). a history of cataloguing and cataloguing methods 1100-1850: with an introductory survey of ancient times. london: grafton & co.. partnership for 21st century skills (2014). reimaging citizenship for the 21st century: a call to action for policymakers and educators. retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/reimagining_citizenship_for_21st_century_webver sion.pdf peters, t. a. (1991). the online catalog: a critical examination of public use. jefferson, north carolina: mcfarland & company. ranz, j. (1964). the printed book catalogue in american libraries: 1723-1900. chicago: american library association. rose-wiles, l. m., & hofmann., m. a. (2013). still desperately seeking citation: undergraduate research in the age of web-scale discovery. journal of library administration, 53(2/3): 147166. rosenthal, j. a. (1991). crumbling walls: the impact of the electronic age on libraries and their clienteles. journal of library administration, 14(1), 9-17. sweeny, r. t. (2006). millennial behaviors and higher education focus group results: how are diao / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 93 millennials different from previous generations at the same age? retrieved from https://certi.mst.edu/media/administrative/certi/documents/article-millennial-behaviors.pdf tarulli, l., & spiteri, l. f. (2012). library catalogues of the future: a social space and collaborative tool? library trends, 61(1), 107-131. tolzmann, d. h., hessel, a., & peiss, r. (2001). the memory of mankind: the story of libraries since the dawn of history. delaware: oak knoll press. turner, m., & cobbe, h. (1990). "jam tomorrow": the present and future state of the british library's automated music catalogues. fontes artis musicae, 37(1), 48-56. us census bureau. (2017). the changing economics and demographics of young adulthood: 1975-2016. retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/census/library/publications/2017/demo/p20-579.pdf valentine., p. m. (2012). a social history of books and libraries from cuneiform to bytes. lanham, maryland: scarecrow press. wellisch, h. h. (1981). ebla: the world's oldest library. the journal of library history (19741987), 16(3), 488-500. about the author professor diao’s current research interests focus on the intersection of library, history and writing through the lens of comparative perspective. his research covers reinvestigation and reevaluation of traditional classification schemes from a cultural perspective, rethinking of cataloging librarians’ roles in the age of library digitalization and career deprofessionalization, history of romanization of chinese language and related issues in the library of congress, and chinese writing and its impact on chinese libraries in the course of its history. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org building a specialized database of the culture of yi people quanhua li abstract: to build a specialized database with local characteristics is one of the future directions for the academic library at prefectural level in china. the academic library can play an important role in preserving the local cultures. it is also an important channel to establish the relationship between the academic library and the local communities. in selecting a project properly, it is important to understand its background, choose the right theme, determine the appropriate content, analyze the key relevant issues and potential problems, set clear goals, and find the right way to get the job done. it is also important to establish a partnership with enterprises. it is important to build a database by the industrial standard, have persistent efforts, enrich, update the database continuously, and pay close attention to the effectiveness of the popularization and usage of the database. to cite this article: li, q. (2017). building a specialized database of the culture of yi people. international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.44 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 2(2), 37-45 issn:2474-3542 building a specialized database of the culture of yi people quanhua li chuxiong normal university, chuxiong, yunnan, china abstract to build a specialized database with local characteristics is one of the future directions for the academic library at prefectural level in china. the academic library can play an important role in preserving the local cultures. it is also an important channel to establish the relationship between the academic library and the local communities. in selecting a project properly, it is important to understand its background, choose the right theme, determine the appropriate content, analyze the key relevant issues and potential problems, set clear goals, and find the right way to get the job done. it is also important to establish a partnership with enterprises. it is important to build a database by the industrial standard, have persistent efforts, enrich, update the database continuously, and pay close attention to the effectiveness of the popularization and usage of the database. keywords: specialized database, database building, yi culture, yi people, academic library introduction the yi people are one of the approximately 50 ethnic groups in china. yi is also one of few ethnic groups who have their own written language. based on 2010 government census data, there is a population of 8.7 million yi people, which ranks the sixth largest ethnic group in china. most yi population live in the southwest region of china, including yunnan province, sichuan province, guizhou province, and guangxi zhuang autonomous region. in addition, there are roughly one million yi people living in vietnam, laos, myanmar, and thailand. the total population of yi people worldwide reach nine million. the chuxiong normal university is located in the yunnan chuxiong yi autonomous prefecture, one of the most concentrated areas of yi people in china. the library of chuxiong normal university wanted to build a specialized database about yi culture by utilizing its rich and unique collections of yi culture and yi people. background and database theme to build a database with local features was not an easy job for a small academic library at the prefectural level, for the library was limited in equipment, budget, and well-qualified personnel in li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 38 digital technology. as soon as such a project got started at chuxiong normal university, the library had to bear the cost and hire well-trained staff to maintain it. meanwhile, in order to increase the value of the database, it was important to select the right theme and have a full understanding of its background. in 2014, the chinese central government provided special funds to support the development of the prefectural colleges and universities. the library at chuxiong normal university seized the historical opportunity and proposed to build a database for the yi culture and a data center in china. at the meeting to decide the name of the database, participating scholars suggested several titles, such as “yunnan yi cultural database”, “the yi cultural database of china”, “chuxiong yi cultural database”. in consideration of the ever-increasing globalization, the progress of the “one belt, one road” development program, and the fact that the yi culture has existed across the region and abroad, the academic committee of the library finally decided on the title as “database center of the yi culture” which is much more inclusive. next, it is necessary to explore how the domestic and international backgrounds are relevant to build this specialized database. background information in china after careful and thorough information research, the project team found that there was no such database that had ever been built in china. however, the following information was useful and required attention. first, there were research projects relevant to the database and they were supported by the central government. professors quanhua li and jianchai wang, and mr. jianhui gao, a librarian, were conducting a research project which was called “the building of a comprehensive platform for the digital reservation, continuation, and utilization of the yi cultural heritage”. this research project was funded with 3.5 million chinese yuan by the central government of china. the first stage of the research project had already made great progress, and the needed software and hardware were ready. the purpose of the project was to conduct research on building “one platform with three centers” project for the yi cultural heritage. that meant to build a shared digital platform for the yi cultural heritage, a digital database center for the digitalization of the yi cultural heritage, a center for the development of the yi culture and art products, and a center for the digitalization and exhibition of the yi culture. at the same time, a project to build a specialized database of yi people in chuxiong prefecture conducted by chuxiong normal university library was approved by the committee of the academic libraries of yunnan province. the project was assigned to chuxiong normal university by the same committee. by then, the database project had more than 15,000 pieces of information and 13,982 metadata records (li, 2015a) had already been uploaded. in yunnan province, there were two social science research projects that were relevant to the database. a research scientist, zhongliang li, directed a research project on the yi ancient works and their digitized reservation (project number: 13btq042). this project was funded by the national social science foundation and the project would be completed in 2017. this project did a comprehensive research study on the distribution of the ancient works of the yi in the southwest of china. it also provided suggestions for the digitized reservation and utilization of the ancient works of the yi (gao, li, & li, 2016). li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 39 another research project was directed by professor luogui long at honghe university to study the digitized reservation and utilization of the important ancient works by the yi in yunnan province. this research project compiled statistics of the important ancient works in yunnan province and made good suggestions for the digitized reservation and utilization of the works. the project was supported by yunnan social science foundation. still another research project directed by jianhui gao, a librarian at chuxiong normal university, studied the collection and processing of the information on the oral history of the yi in southwest of china. this project was funded by the national social science foundation and the result of the research project could contribute to the specialized database (gao, 2016). international research on yi culture a few international scholars did research on the yi people. professor steven harrell at the department of anthropology and the research institute of the international studies at washington university is one of the few (his works include mountain patterns: the survival of nuosu culture in china, 2000 and field studies of ethnic identity: yi communities of southwest china, 2002) (harrell, 2000). a russian scholar, pote gullart also published his research work: princess of the black bone life in the tibetan which was translated and published by sichuan wenyi publishing house in 2004 (gullart, 2004). however, neither scholars have touched on the issues of digitalization and utilization of the yi culture. compared with the development in china, the digitalization and utilization of the minorities’ culture in europe started earlier than in china and the technology is more advanced, such as the 3d-murale supported by the european union that has provided multimedia in recording, categorizing, reserving and restoring ancient vessels, buildings, and archeological sites (ren, 2005). these developments gave many ideas and technical inspirations to the building of the digital database for the yi culture. therefore, there was no such a database of yi culture and yi people in the world yet. most relevant research was done in yunnan province and the scholars in the library at chuxiong normal university which seemed to have done more research works than did other scholars elsewhere. values and significance of the database uniqueness as mentioned above, there was no such “yi cultural database” ever created in china or abroad. therefore, the database we proposed to build would be the only one in the world. besides taking consideration of its cultural values, we also had to consider its potential market value. it is well known that academic libraries spend more than 40% of its budget on purchasing databases and 99% of the market has been dominated by commercial database vendors. face with such a circumstance, the academic libraries with advanced technology and skilled professional staff should feel embarrassed. as the biggest consumer, it was a wise idea for an academic library to build such a database with potential market values. after the database is built, the library can work with the database vendor to realize its market value. the benefit are two folds. first, it shows that the academic library has the ability to turn its knowledge into commercial value; secondly, the library can use the money returned to enhance and maintain the database. li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 40 collecting and preserving the yi culture since the governments at all levels took a great effort to preserve the cultures of minority people, there were an increasing number of research institutions established in both yunnan and sichuan provinces where there is a diverse population of minority people living in china. the number of scholars who were interested in the yi culture was increasing. the most particularly encouraging phenomenon was that more and more young scholars were engaged in research projects on the yi culture. although the research was relatively abundant, the results were scattered and uncollected (yang, 2011). in the age of global information digitalization, it was time to collect and centralize the research results on the yi culture. therefore, to build a digitized database for the yi culture had strategic values. at the same time, many resources of the yi culture faced the danger of being permanently lost. for example, some of the yi classical works were still scattered in the hands of individuals. there were fewer yi individuals who were learning and handing down their language and writings to the younger generation. therefore, it was necessary to build a digitized database to maintain and preserve such yi cultural resources. the database would facilitate the collection and preservation of the yi culture, and also allow scholars to access the yi culture and facilitate their research. increasing digitized resources of the yi culture digitized information is the major form of cultural heritage preservation in the future. in the various forms of the existence of the world culture, many forms of the current yi culture are living fossil of the world cultures. the proposed “digital metadata of the yi culture” would be the historical archive of the yi. the database would not only add great value to the chinese culture but also to world culture. in this sense, to build this specialized database would be an invaluable contribution to the culture of the minorities in china. goals and objectives in terms of its content, the database should be as complete as possible, systematic, and current, so as to facilitate understanding, research, and preservation of the yi culture. for the digital technology and standard, the metadata should be standardized and easy to use. as for the website, it should be attractive, accessible, unique, and with strong characteristics of the yi. first, the project team developed a list of contents based on the distribution of the yi population with the help of all levels of the government administrations on minority affairs and obtained the current information about digitalization and utilization of the yi culture through the research institutions. second, the project identified and listed the cultural resources of the yi that were valuable but not yet digitized and facing the liability of being permanently lost. this task was completed by field research, survey, and statistical analysis. third, the project started the technical tasks of database creation through cooperation with commercial entities. li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 41 database contents, working procedures, scheduling, the major tasks and potential problems contents of the database the yi culture can be defined as a system of all the elements relevant to the laboring and living activities of the yi population (liu, 2007). what to be included in the database was decided according to the purpose of building the database. the essential purpose of the database was to make it the most complete, most systematic, and most updated database that could facilitate the understanding of, research on, and collecting of the yi culture. therefore, the content of the database included all aspects of the yi culture, such as books, newspapers and research papers, audio resources, video resources, biographies, picture resources and other resources. working procedures we conducted a systematic study of the major distribution, category, preservation and current digitalization of yi culture. yi is a minority with a long history and rich culture. the fifth national census of china indicates that the total population of the yi is 8.71 million and they inhabit in each of the provinces of china. most of them live in yunnan province, sichuan province, and east part of the guangxi zhuang autonomous region (fang, 1984). the most highly concentrated areas are in chuxiong yi autonomous prefecture in yunnan province and the liangshan yi autonomous prefecture in sichuan province. the rich cultural resources of the yi include written characters, oral language, music, and dance. however, the digitalization of the yi culture is very limited. for example, the national library of china has not digitized the yi cultural resources yet, although it possesses more than 500 volumes of the ancient books in yi language. similarly, the collections of the yi culture and ancient books in both the university libraries at the minzu university of china and the southwest minzu university are only kept in paper form. most of the yi cultural resources in the national library of china, the minzu university of china, and the southwest minzu university are solicited from yunnan province (wu & wang, 2008). the chuxiong yi autonomous prefecture is one of the two yi autonomous prefectures in china. it has already digitized the “yi bimo scripture” which has 106 volumes. about 15,000 entries of the outstanding yi literature in chuxiong have also been digitized. there are also many yi people inhabited in honghe hani and yi autonomous prefecture and the “honghe yi language dictionary” has also been digitized. these digitized resources of the yi culture were about 30% of the total yi cultural resources (li, 2010). we analyzed and sorted what had been done in the chuxiong normal university library. there were two projects funded by the central government and another two projects funded by the national social science foundation. we figured out the relationships between these projects. this proposed project at chuxiong normal university would build the main database of the yi culture. other databases would be the branches. the main database and the branches would support and complement each other. each would have its own tasks but also cooperate with each other in building the digitized database of the yi culture. at the same time, we also analyzed and learned from the building of other digitized databases of other minorities’ cultures. li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 42 one of the major purposes of analyzing the distribution, category, preservation, and to what extent it had been digitized of the yi cultural resources was to compile a useful bibliography list of the content for the digitalization of the yi cultural resources. then the project could prioritize its tasks according to its plan, which was the guide for building of the database. the database website should be attractively designed, eye-catching, easy to access and navigate, with appropriate items, efficient and convenient to use. the website design was done by the technical center for digitalization at chuxiong normal university. it was proposed that the home page menu include books, newspapers, research papers, online resources, audio resources, video resources, biography of famous yi individuals, photo resources, ancient books in the yi language, manuscripts, letters, stone carving, and rubbing. for the written information of the yi culture, we digitized it through the format of electronic books. for the oral history, rap music, songs and similar resources, we digitized them in record format. for dancing, sacrifice, holidays, production activities, and daily life, we digitized them as video recording. for the information that had already been digitized, we categorized, catalogued, and condensed them in standardized format to be electronically transferrable. for the field research and questionnaires, we visited different levels of government organizations that oversee minority affairs and research institutions. questionnaires were administered in these organizations to understand yi cultural resources and if they were digitized. we also made plans to save and preserve the yi cultural resources that might be permanently lost. at the same time, we found out the distribution and classification of the yi culture through selections and analyses. we also compiled statistics of the yi cultural resources so that the yi cultural resources could be better utilized. schedule after deciding on the tasks and procedures, we made a schedule so that the project could be carried out effectively and the database could be built on time. it could take four years to complete the enormous task, for the yi culture is a complex, huge and continuously changing system. table 1 displays the working schedule for building the database of yi culture: table 1. schedule for building the database of yi culture timeline goals 2014 deciding on the project title, contents, items, ways to build database, and procedures. developing a complete project proposal and getting approval by specialists. 2015 conducting a survey and collecting relevant information on the yi culture, compiling a list of contents about the digitized database of the yi cultural resources, making a good plan and getting it approved about the needed hardware and software with a budget on the building of the database. submitting the plan to the university for approval. 2016 purchasing the needed hardware and software for the building of the database, and building the database working platform with the cooperation of the enterprises that won the bid for the project. 2017 completing the digitized database of the yi culture with at least 40,000 entries and testing the database online, collecting and evaluating the information about its usage, and making improvement. li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 43 major tasks and potential problems we paid close attention to the major tasks and potential problems, and made sure that the project was carried out appropriately and effectively. the major tasks of building the database were to decide on the cataloguing and to build the digitized database communication platform. the decision on the cataloguing would determine the route of database building. first, such a decision required a comprehensive understanding of the total information on the yi cultural resources; second, the identification of the valuable resources, and third, knowing what was digitized and what was not. based on full knowledge of the valuable resources, we decided on the new catalogue. one of the reasons of building the database was its usage and the best way to facilitate the usage was to build a website with an effective infrastructure, which could not be accomplished by the project team alone. it was accomplished by the cooperation between the library and two information technology companies. the challenges in database building of the yi culture include full understanding of the yi cultural resources, collecting and sorting resources, fully understanding the distribution of the resources, and obtaining the copyright of the yi cultural resources. these were enormous tasks that could not be accomplished without a full support of the government organizations that administer the minority affairs and research institutions of minority cultures. the collection and classification of the resources did not only need many personnel support, but also the technical support in photo taking, information classification, and cataloguing. cooperation with the enterprise and the completion of the database platform in recent years, the information industry has gradually taken away services historically covered by the traditional libraries. information development and commercial services have consciously or unconsciously penetrated the services of the academic library. they have become an unlisted part of the services of the academic libraries (li, 2015b). although the academic libraries have the resources and equipment in building digital database, they are less experienced and less equipped with technology in terms of standardization and communication than the information companies, such as the beijing chaoxing group and chongqing weipu. therefore, a partnership with such companies could balance the deficiencies of the academic libraries. such a cooperation could also make database building more effective. we adhered to the principles of cooperation and paid attention to both social and financial efficiencies. for the companies, they could learn the needs of the colleges and universities and make adjustments to their investment when collaborating with academic libraries. at the same time, they could easily understand the value of the database. as soon as they saw the commercial value, the companies became interested in the specialized database building. the project for the database had invited bidders with the principle of cooperation. biding for the project was divided into two parts. for the first part, bidding focused on the hardware to build the database. for the second part, bidding focused on the software to build the database. finally, kunming longben li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 44 keji company succeeded in bidding for the first part of the project and beijing chaoxing group won the bidding for the second part of the project. the draft of the cooperation contract with the companies was prepared by chuxiong normal university library which had provided the office space for the project. kunming long ben company built the data center, provided servers, terminals, the network, internet access and the maintenance services. the company also built the center for engineering and technology for digitalization of the yi culture and heritages, the center for the yi culture development and art products, and the center for exhibition and digitalization of the yi culture. beijing chaoxing group built the platform for the metadata, processed and standardized the metadata, built the online network and ensured the function of the platform. enriching the database and improving the popularization the uniqueness of the database for the yi culture is its resources. as any of the resources may grow, the database needs to be enriched continuously. the same procedure will be needed for database building of the yi culture. on the one hand, the current existing resources may not be all collected right away. on the other hand, the yi culture is still developing and changing. therefore, the database must be continuously updated so that the specialized database can be complete and current. the life of the specialized database depends on its usage and popularity. therefore, it is important to collect the statistics of the database usage. accurate usage statistics may demonstrate the usage and popularity. if the database is rarely used, it means that the database is not valued or little is known to the public. the usage and popularity of the database depend on two variables. whether the database is valuable to students and scholars or whether the database is easy to be popularized and easily accessible by the users. therefore, it is necessary to promote the use of the database, to understand how the database has been used, and to improve the accessibility and value of the database. conclusion after four years of continuous work, the first phase of database building has been completed. approximately 40,000 entries have been uploaded and currently, the database is at its online trial stage (url: http://yzwh.cxtc.edu.cn:8080/). the next step is to continue collecting and processing the original resources of yi culture to increase the entries to reach 100,000. the database of the yi culture is very important heritage and is important to build chinese culture as a whole. it is an important way of preserving and protecting the yi culture and an important channel to improve the capabilities of the university libraries at the prefectural level in building a digital database. through our experiences, we have realized that the following are essential to ensure the success of the project. first, obtaining the support of the university administration and supports of different levels of the government agencies is essential. second, obtaining funding for the research on the project is important. it is also important to gather relative information, obtain cooperation with other research institutions, and rally the support of different organizations. third, it is important to http://yzwh.cxtc.edu.cn:8080/ li / international journal of librarianship 2(2) 45 follow the scientific method in building the database. collaborating with enterprises and deciding the appropriate methods and procedures, paying close attention to the patrons and relevant problems are all important, too. we hope that database building by the university library at prefecture level may open a new development for the small academic libraries like us. one of the biggest challenges we encountered during the project was the copyright issue. because we were collecting and preserving large amounts of previous works and research, it was critical to clear the copyright and ensure intellectual protection. this task occupied a tremendous amount of time and effort. it is suggested for successful future projects to make a comprehensive plan, ensure the budget, and clear the copyright beforehand to avoid the potential trouble. references fang, g. (1984). history of yi. chengdu, china: sichuan nationalities publishing house. [in chinese] gao, j., li, h., & li, z. (2016). research on the preservation and digitization of the yi ancient literature. new century library, (5), 45-50. [in chinese] gullart, p. (2004). princes of the black bone life in the tibetan (l. he, trans.). chengdu, china: sichuan literature and art publishing house. [in chinese] harrell, s. (2000). mountain patterns: the survival of nuosu culture in china. seattle, wa: university of washington press. li, q. (2015a). the significance and strategy of national characteristic database building in local academic library. proceedings of cala 21st century librarian seminar series yunnan, china, 188-191. [in chinese] li, q. (2015b). analysis on the allocation of academic library resources in the transformation area. library and information services, (1), 63-65. [in chinese] li, t. (ed.). (2010). the collection of yi cultural heritages and literatures. kunming, china: yunnan people’s publishing house. [in chinese] liu, x. (2007). the cultural history of yi. wuhan, china: hubei education press. [in chinese] ren, p. (2005). research on the long-term preservation of the digital resources in european countries. the university library journal, (4), 46-49. [in chinese] wu, q., & wang, j. (2008). the digitization of the yi literature. guizhou ethnic studies, (4), 4749. [in chinese] yang, p. (2011). the cultural history of yi in chuxiong. kunming, china: the minorities publishing house of yunnan. [in chinese] about the author quanhua li is the library director, chuxiong normal university library, yunnan, china. 03.building a specialized database of the culture of yi people_title 03.building a specialized database of the culture of yi people issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org a home for all lebanese libraries dalal rahme to cite this article: rahme, d. (2022). a home for all lebanese libraries. international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 162-163. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.125 to submit your article to this journal: go to https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2022.vol7.2.125 https://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 7(2), 162-163 issn: 2474-3542 a home for all lebanese libraries dalal rahme lla board member 2017-2019 the lebanese library association (lla) was founded in 1960 in beirut, lebanon. its aim is to improve the standard of libraries and support librarians in lebanon and the region. it is meant to be a home for all libraries and information centers in lebanon, to advocate for the establishment of policies and to advance the information field in lebanon. the lebanese library association activities are managed by 10 elected volunteers, who set and run the agenda for two consecutive years. lla has its own internal laws to facilitate and improve its work at the national and international levels. the association used to publish a quarterly publication which was unfortunately discontinued. in 1975, lla suspended its activities because of the lebanese war and resumed its activities in 1990. since its foundation, lla became a member of the international federation of library associations (ifla) and actively participated in all annual conferences and meetings. board members have always been active members in different ifla committees and have managed to encourage other professionals in lebanon to get involved. lla work affected the information field in lebanon in many ways. lla contributed in setting the curriculum for the only university teaching library science and documentation in lebanon for years, the lebanese university. upon the request of the lebanese government lla set and corrected entrance exams for students applying to the library science program at the lebanese university (the public university in lebanon). lla board members provided training and consulting services for many institutions in lebanon such as the national library and the youth women christian association, many public libraries in different regions in lebanon and much more. because of the work lla is doing, it became a role model to follow among other library associations in the region. lla holds a biennial conference, which attracts information specialists not only from lebanon but also from the mena region. today lla has around 200 members from different types of libraries: school libraries, governmental libraries, academic libraries, special libraries and the national library. it is constantly increasing its annual activities and holding seminars, workshops, training courses and events targeting different types of information professionals. http://lebaneselibraryassociation.org/ rahme / international journal of librarianship 7(2) 163 ________________________________________________________________________ about the author dalal rahme has over 13 years of experience in academic libraries. she received her m.s in information science from the university of illinois at urbana champaign in 2014 with a specialization in the data curation and socio-technical data analytics. she is currently the scholarly communications librarian at the american university of beirut (aub) and an instructor at the library juice academy. she served on several committees at ifla (faife 2018-2019), ala (students chapter 2013-2014) and the lebanese library association (board member 20172019). 125_v7n2_rahme_title+page 125_rahme_xr_ct issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the state of library makerspaces fangmin wang, weina wang, sally wilson and namir ahmed abstract: in this paper, we describe the maker concept, movement and culture and its impact on and relationship with libraries. we provide a comprehensive review of library makerspaces in north america supported by several case studies. we intend this review to be used as a reference resource or tool for libraries planning to implement a new makerspace. to cite this article: wang, f., wang, w., wilson, s., & ahmed, n. (2016). the state of library makerspaces. international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 2-16. https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2016.vol1.1.12 to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 1(1), 2-16 issn:2474-3542 the state of library makerspaces fangmin wang, weina wang, sally wilson and namir ahmed ryerson university library & archives, toronto, ontario, canada abstract in this paper, we describe the maker concept, movement and culture and its impact on and relationship with libraries. we provide a comprehensive review of library makerspaces in north america supported by several case studies. we intend this review to be used as a reference resource or tool for libraries planning to implement a new makerspace. keywords: makerspace, library, learning, digital, technologies, maker introduction makerspaces have been gaining momentum in libraries across north america. this trend reflects a paradigm shift; libraries are no longer built for bookshelves, but are creative and collaborative learning spaces designed for innovation and knowledge creation in the digital age. more and more public libraries, academic libraries, and even small libraries with limited staff and resources have started embracing the maker concept as a way to facilitate community engagement and empowerment. although digital fabrication tools such as 3d printers and laser cutters are common in most library makerspaces, they do not define the space. instead, it is the people and community that define and promote the maker culture. maker movement decades ago tinkering was considered a basic skill; however, the importance of this skill waned during the latter half of the twentieth century due to the rise of mass production, consumerism and the ubiquity of inexpensive goods. this trend has recently started to reverse. the creation of the web, the rise of hacker culture, and the availability of fabrication equipment has led to a resurgence in making things both digitally and physically. dale dougherty, who founded make: magazine in 2005, called this trend the “maker movement”. to help readers of make create a community and share knowledge, a public event called maker faire was launched a year later. the definition of “makers” is broad. as morin (2013) indicated, “you can think of makers as people creating physical things using the web.” according to dougherty (2012), everyone is a maker. a maker can be someone who is gardening or someone who is building electronic toys. the rise of the maker movement stems from people’s growing interest in engaging with physical objects and making things rather than just consuming them. three factors have helped build the maker movement. the first is the emergence of digital fabrication tools and software such as 3d printers, 3d scanners, laser cutters, computer assisted wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 3 design (cad) software, etc. such formerly expensive industrial tools have become personalized and available to individuals at a reasonable price. second is the collaboration and innovation fostered by the internet. individual makers can now connect with others via the web to share ideas, learn technologies, create their communities, and work on projects together. the third and final element is the emergence of increasingly accessible and flexible factory services such as circuit manufacturing. factories around the world can now take orders of any size and scale (anderson, 2013). large companies have been getting involved in the maker movement too. partnering with other companies and organizations, ge has launched a large-scale program called "ge garages". this program provides space, digital manufacturing technology tools, workshops, and speaker sessions for individuals to learn new ways of prototyping and bringing their ideas to life (barba, 2014). the maker movement even got the white house’s attention. president barack obama hosted the first-ever white house maker faire and proclaimed june 18, 2014 a national day of making. the event featured makers from students to entrepreneurs and innovators of all ages to spark creativity and encourage invention. the rise of the maker movement is now considered a huge opportunity for the country to revive its manufacturing industry (kalil & miller, 2014). libraries and museums have also started embracing the maker movement. sections of physical space have been turned into makerspaces and programs such as craft nights have been introduced into local communities. the growing shift from consumers of things to makers of things is going to have a transformative impact on the economy and future. this is a special moment in history, and the maker movement has only just begun (morin, 2013). maker culture the maker movement is not only a result of the democratization of digital technologies, but also a social movement that embraces every type of making and makers. the maker movement links us to the past and transforms our views towards the future. in fact, it is a resurrection of some of our cultural values rooted in history. today, makers from a wide range of ages and backgrounds create their own communities to share work and expertise. maker culture offers individuals an exceptional social experience and helps unfold their full potential (dougherty, 2013). as lay (2014) indicated, “the idea of ‘maker culture’ is that learning is best achieved through doing. it’s the philosophy in which a person should create things using their hands or by using technology in a unique way”. maker culture has a strong focus on learning practical skills that can be used to turn creative ideas into physical realities. in their innovative pedagogy 2013 report, sharples et al. (2013, p. 33) stated, “the emerging ‘maker culture’ emphasizes informal, networked, peer-led, and shared learning motivated by fun and selffulfillment”. maker culture embraces the experimentation, invention, prototyping, and investigation of theory through self-directed practical work. it also encourages playful learning, knowledge sharing, creative thinking, social interaction, informal mentoring, and community collaboration and support. maker culture is considered an extension of do it yourself (diy) culture with a strong technology focus, which fosters learning through using 3d printing, electronics, robotics, laser cutters, cnc (computer numerical control) machines, etc. it also embraces interests in other traditional handson work and activities such as woodworking, metalworking, arts, and crafts. wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 4 makerspace defined with the rise of maker movement and maker culture in the mid-2000s, a new type of space called a makerspace emerged. a makerspace is usually equipped with tools and technologies for people to get together to work on projects and learn practical skills from each other. the makerspace playbook states that: makerspaces come in all shapes and sizes, but they all serve as a gathering point for tools, projects, mentors and expertise. a collection of tools does not define a makerspace. rather, we define it by what it enables: making. (2013, p. 1). the main focus of a makerspace is learning and education. a makerspace enables learners to become producers of knowledge, rather than consumers of knowledge. it encourages collaborative, hands-on, project-based, and experiential learning. makerspaces are usually created in a community environment, such as a community centre, library, business, university or k-12 school campus. according to educause (2013), “a makerspace is a physical location where people gather to share resources and knowledge, work on projects, network, and build. makerspaces provide tools and working room in a community environment a library, community center, private organization, or campus” (p. 1). makerspaces provide access to tools, education, and community. they are great facilities for experimenting with emerging technologies, project development, idea prototyping and selfdirected learning and discovery. because of their hands-on learning nature, makerspaces have been quickly adopted in stem education (science, technology, engineering, math). however, makerspaces are not only for scientific and technological activities. increasingly, makerspaces serve the educational need in fields other than stem. one good example is the maker lab in the humanities at the university of victoria. the library as incubator project (2012) defines makerspaces as, “collaborative learning environments where people come together to share materials and learn new skills”, and concludes that, “makerspaces are not necessarily born out of a specific set of materials or spaces, but rather a mindset of community partnership, collaboration, and creation.” according to the 2014 new media consortium (nmc) horizon report, there has been a growing interest in makerspaces as a result of the broad integration of creative processes and hands-on learning. institutional leaders are increasingly viewing their students as creators rather than consumers; the expert panel expects this trend to peak within three to five years. in the 2015 and 2016 nmc horizon reports, makerspaces were identified as one of the mid-term (2-3 years) key trends accelerating technology adoption in higher education. makerspaces in libraries once aware of the characteristics of the makerspace, it is easy to see the link between a library and a makerspace. in the age of print, a library was perceived as a repository of information and knowledge. today, the role of the library is changing because of the digital revolution. tashjian (2014) stated that “makerspaces are shifting educational and public organizations from being places where things are made or information is found to places where knowledge and ideas are developed and imagination and creativity are fostered.” as an educational and public organization, the library is also undergoing this transformative shift. wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 5 bagley (2012) explained that “the maker movement in libraries is about teaching our patrons to think for themselves, to think creatively, and to look for do-it-yourself solutions before running off to the store.” therefore, a key role for a library makerspace is to help create creative people. tod colegrove, director of the delamare library, said that a noisy library with a messy innovation workshop is actually a return to the library’s origin (rutkin, 2014). learning from books is no longer the only way of acquiring knowledge. modern society requires students to have highly specialized skills in technology. the best way to acquire this kind of knowledge and skills is through hands-on learning. the president of the american library association (ala), barbara stripling, indicated that today’s library should focus more on being a place of active learning than a repository (rutkin, 2014). she also stated that information needs to be understood and applied, not just gathered. the idea of making or makerspaces in libraries is not new. in 1873 the gowanda free library started out as the gowanda ladies social society, where a group of local women would meet regularly to socialize, quilt, knit, sew, and discuss books they had read. in 1905, as the head of the children’s department at the carnegie library of pittsburgh, ms. frances jenkins olcott, helped create home libraries in working-class houses. in these home libraries, the library staff would teach children about crafts such as sewing and basketry (good & borman, 2013). the manitoba crafts museum and library was created in 1933 for preserving the heritage of craft culture of manitoba. the library was also used as a meeting place and provided resources for learning craft skills such as knitting and quilting (manitoba crafts museum and library, 2014). on her “words of learning” blog, fleming (2014) mentioned that “in 1960, the nebraska public library commission hosted a variety of special activities, including creative arts, which were organized by area groups.” the first tool lending library, rebuilding together central ohio tool library, was founded in 1976 in the city of columbus, ohio. today, this unique tool library is open to the people of franklin county, lending out 200 varieties and close to 4,500 tools. the community can borrow tools and access a variety of informative resources about making (rebuilding together central ohio, 2014). historically, libraries have encouraged life-long learning through their collections and programs. this, combined with the revived interest in making, has led to the emergence of a new type of library space, one equipped with new digital tools such as 3d printers and laser cutters. the fayetteville free library, the new york public library, the westport public library in connecticut, the chicago public library, and the delamare science and engineering library at the university of nevada, reno are all examples of this trend. these library makerspace pioneers are igniting a new wave of library transformation in the 21st century. makerspaces in public libraries public libraries have always played a very important role in facilitating literacy and learning. by providing the general public with access to new technologies, public library makerspaces can help develop a new generation of workers who will build a stronger economy (scott, 2012). fayetteville free library the maker movement and maker culture were first embraced by public libraries. in 2011, the fayetteville free library (ffl) in fayetteville, new york opened the first modern library makerspace, the first of its kind in north america. while lauren smedley was working on a graduate school project paper at syracuse university, she wrote a proposal about creating makerspaces in public libraries. the fayetteville free library, interested in ms. smedley’s wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 6 makerspace idea, hired her to realize her dream at ffl. the new makerspace facility was called “fab lab”, short for “fabulous laboratory” (mccue, 2011). the fab lab focuses on fabrication tools and related resources and programs, wherein community members can come together to learn and use technologies and tools such as 3d printing, 3d scanning, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, sewing, crafting, hand tools, and electronics to make tangible objects. besides the 2,500 square foot fab lab, the ffl has two additional makerspaces, the creation lab and little makers. both facilities are approximately 250 square feet. the creation lab is a digital media lab focused on digital creation, which includes a wide range of digital media hardware and software such as video cameras, podcasting equipment, a green screen wall, and computers geared for media creation. the little makers is a play zone outfitted with toys, tools, and supplies including a diy gallery wall and an “invention box” for children to learn, create, and build. a series of hands-on making and learning opportunities are offered through the ffl’s maker programs, including family craft night, home repair, knitting, microcomputers and controllers, painting, robotics, sewing, quilting, 3d design and 3d printing. before using the 3d printers, vinyl cutter or laser cutter independently, library patrons have to be certified by the library. they can book a 45-minute one-on-one certification appointment to receive basic safety and operational training. makerspace usage is free at the ffl, but small fees are required for using certain materials. there are also various maker clubs organized by the ffl for community members to meet and socialize, including the adult robotics club (fayetteville free library, 2014). susan considine, the ffl’s executive director, sees the creation of makerspaces as encouraging a culture of innovation, and responding to the changing needs of its community (doran, 2012). the ffl has introduced new opportunities for its community to learn, create and develop new ideas. syracuse university’s school of information studies professor david lankes praised the ffl for setting a good example of what libraries can and should do in today’s world (doran, 2012). he also stated that libraries are increasingly becoming places of creation rather than places of consumption, and as such, they are helping the community get smarter. westport public library enis (2012) describes how, in 2012, the westport public library (wpl) in connecticut launched its makerspace and has served as a model for many other public libraries. one of the goals of the wpl’s makerspace is to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit within the community. wpl’s director maxine bleiweis wanted to see the new space become a place where people from the community could invent. she believes learning should be at every stage of a person’s life and that the makerspace is a great venue to support the library’s lifelong learning mission (enis, 2012). the wpl allows its makerspace to evolve naturally. instead of making a decision by itself, the library seeks community feedback to figure out next steps for its makerspace and works with the community to implement changes. the wpl demonstrates an interesting model; the library provides the makerspace framework but is not in charge of its future direction, and community members form its heart. the wpl hosted connecticut's first mini maker faire in april 2012. nearly 2,200 people attended the event. it was the community that proposed the mini maker faire idea. the creation of the wpl’s makerspace was in response to the community’s strong interest in the maker movement (enis, 2012). the wpl’s makerspace has a unique structure, a large and open metal structure designed to look like the early airplane hangar where the wright brothers built their plane (coyne, 2013). the concept of flight is used as a metaphor for imagination in the makerspace. this area of the library provides cutting edge equipment such as 3d printers, and hosts various presentations and participatory workshops including topics such as robotics, arts, crafts, and intellectual property rights for inventors. the wpl is considering purchasing a programmable robot (nao) for wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 7 community members to learn coding, such as python, to program the robot's behavior, voice, and movements. community members can also schedule an appointment with a 3d printer coach. the majority of these coaches are volunteers from the community. in the wpl’s makerspace, people of all ages are interacting and working together. in september 2013, a major grant from the institute of museum and library services (imls) was awarded to the wpl to enhance its makerspace, and provide hands-on and innovative learning experiences. as a result, the maker-in-residence program was established. community members can work with the maker-in-residence and participate in projects such as digital quilt making, book-making, and creating makey makey musical instruments (westport public library, 2014). the wpl staff believes that they not only have the responsibility to improve the literacy levels of the community, but also to help community members develop new skills and knowledge to prepare for future jobs and new business opportunities. they believe entrepreneurship will be the key to america’s economic prosperity in the 21st century (westport public library, 2014). chicago public library in 2009, the chicago public library (cpl) launched a unique collaborative learning centre known as youmedia, the first dedicated space at the cpl for high school teens to learn digital media skills. youmedia consists of 5,500 square feet of space in the harold washington library center , the cpl’s central library in downtown chicago. the design of the youmedia space is based on a three-year ethnographic study of youth participation in the new media ecology, which concluded that young people are living and learning with digital media in three ways: “hanging out” with friends in social spaces, “messing around” with digital media, and “geeking out” to explore interests. youmedia provides a drop-in, out-of-school learning environment to teens. based on teen interest, programs such as book discussions, low-tech maker crafts and recycled crafts were also created. all the programs in youmedia aim to inspire young people to create rather than consume. every teen who uses the youmedia space is encouraged to learn based on self-interest and collaboration with peers (chicago public library, 2014). youmedia started as a learning space equipped with computers and digital media software. in the summer of 2013, the cpl used the imls grant they received to create a maker lab, an addition to youmedia, which has made the cpl a library leader in digital learning and collaborative creativity (zupon, 2013). the cpl’s maker lab was created in partnership with the museum of science and industry. it allows the general public to access cutting-edge technologies such as three 3d printers, two laser cutters, one milling machine, one vinyl cutter, and design software on a fleet of computers. free workshops and drop-in demonstrations related to these technologies and tools are offered to the public (chicago public library, 2014). the imls grant only allowed the cpl to run the makerspace for 6 months, and the project was initially considered as a pilot. however, the cpl has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from patrons. with more than 30,000 visitors to the maker lab over the pilot period, it is certainly a successful initiative. it even attracted investment from major tech companies. motorola mobility provided funding to the cpl for running the maker lab for at least another year, offering more patrons hands-on experience in 3d software and advanced manufacturing technology. google also offered 500 finch robots, which can be used to teach basic programming skills. inventables, a chicago based online hardware store for diy manufacturing, donated 3d-carving machines. the central library runs a program that is intended to attract more women into the traditionally maledominated technology field. for many training technology sessions offered by the cpl, including how to use laser cutters and 3d printers, at least half of the participants are female. the makerspace wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 8 has now become an integral part of the library enabling the city of chicago to become a major hub of advanced manufacturing over the next few decades (rutkin, 2014). recently, cpl’s maker lab established a connection between library patrons and the city colleges of chicago, which offers degrees in advanced manufacturing. college recruiters have offered several information sessions at the maker lab. this initiative provides a great opportunity for the library patrons who are interested in taking the skills they have learned from the maker lab programs a step further (inklebarger, 2014). ottawa public library since 2013, canadian libraries have started following the maker movement and creating their own makerspaces. as in the u.s., most library makerspaces in canada are housed in public libraries. the ottawa public library (opl) collaborated with the u.s. embassy in ottawa to open the first public makerspace in early 2014. the makerspace is called the imagine space, sponsored by the american corners program as a one-year pilot project. the goal of the imagine space is to provide public access to new technologies and tools, enhance hands-on learning experiences, and create a collaborative environment for exchanging ideas and sparking innovation. the u.s. embassy contributed $58,000 to purchase equipment, space preparation, and programming and the opl provided the space and staff to manage the activities of the makerspace. the imagine space features a 3d printer, a laser cutter, a digital modeler, green screen, video and audio editing software, hand tools and electronics, and a wall-to-wall whiteboard. the equipment is bookable by opl users. 3d printing and laser cutter certification classes, along with other maker events, are also offered to the community. digital literacy, innovation, and entrepreneurship are the important elements that brought both the u.s. embassy and opl together to create the imagine space (hendry, 2014). toronto public library in february 2014, with $44,000 in funding support from the metcalf foundation, the toronto public library (tpl) opened a digital media lab known as the digital innovation hub in its downtown toronto reference library branch. this hub has attracted considerable media attention. the creation of the hub is based on a survey of the tpl community and consultations with other library makerspace pioneers, such as the fayetteville free library. the hub provides access to new technologies like 3d printers and scanners, raspberry pi computers, arduino kits, makey makey kits, digital design workstations, high definition video cameras and audio mixers. one librarian and three design technicians currently staff the hub, providing support and delivering various programs and services. the hub is intended to be a space that fosters a community and collaborative learning. a variety of workshops have been offered to the public, ranging from 3d design to electronics and computer programming. the tpl has been building partnerships with local makerspaces and innovators including hacklab.to, makerkids, and site 3 colaboratory. these partnerships have helped the hub host regular meetups, speaker events, and innovators in residence programs on topics such as robotics, wearable computing and art. with growing interest from the public, the hub has become more and more appealing, even to patrons who rarely used or visited the tpl. to meet emerging needs of high schools, the tpl has developed a school visits program to help build digital literacy among students. another metcalf foundation $50,000 grant was received to strengthen the hub’s programming and expand its outreach to include youth in underemployed areas of the city (gaitskell, 2014). as the previous tpl city librarian jane pyper stated, the digital innovation hub is a space that inspires collaboration and creativity; it has broadened public access to emerging technologies and will create immense opportunities for torontonians to gain digital skills needed to be successful in wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 9 today’s digital world (price, 2014). since the launch of the first digital innovation hub in the toronto reference library, additional hubs have opened. makerspaces in academic libraries the library makerspace trend started with public libraries, but more and more academic libraries are recognizing the benefit of makerspaces and their relevance to their strategic mission. this emerging trend can bring faculty and students together across disciplines, facilitate collaborative and hands-on learning, encourage knowledge sharing and creation, and help academic libraries adapt to the ever changing needs of their community. in 2015, the association of research libraries (arl) conducted a survey of its 124 arl member libraries to gather information for senior library staff to support decisions related to engagement with 3d printing, rapid fabrication and digitization technologies, and makerspaces in general. a rapid fabrication/makerspace services spec kit (association of research libraries, 2015) was developed based on the survey results. among the 64 libraries that responded, offering makerspaces services appear to be of significant interest to arl libraries, and a substantial majority of the responding libraries are currently engaged with makerspace service deployment. respondent comments about the role of makerspace in their libraries are overwhelmingly positive: makerspaces are noted for fostering innovation, creativity, active learning, and scholarly communication etc. a number of respondents emphasized that the core competitive advantage of the library is not in providing hardware or simple physical space but in creating an environment that combines service, space, and expertise to foster individual and collaborative “investigation, interrogation, and learning through doing” (p. 13). in the spec kit, arl also outlined the strategic relevance of makerspaces to research libraries. first, makerspaces represent a unique use of library space. the assessment and renovation of libraries’ use of space has been recognized as a current strategic issue for libraries in general. second, libraries are increasingly engaging with data management. digitization and fabrication technologies both make use of and produce research data. third, fabrication is becoming increasingly important throughout the various stages of research lifecycles. there is a clear trend towards adoption in higher education generally. these technologies may be used early on as part of prototyping for research or to embed sensors for research data collection, or later on as part of analysis or research collaboration. delamare science and engineering library, university of nevada in reno the makerspace at delamare science and engineering library at the university of nevada in reno has been recognized as one of the most interesting academic makerspaces in america (conway, 2014). this library service has benefited students and faculty from engineering, chemistry, theatre, art, anthropology and many other disciplines. the advancement of learning or research often demands going beyond pencil and paper. increasingly, in order to complete their assignments, students are asked to produce posters, videos, tutorials, prototypes and models. the delamare library makerspace plays an important role in supporting student knowledge creation utilizing new technologies and tools. furthermore, through collaboration with community organizations, a number of events have been hosted at the delamare library to promote hands-on learning. for example, bridgewire makerspace, a nevada based organization, were invited to offer popular lock-picking workshops at the delamare library (fisher, 2012). the process of creating a makerspace at the delamare library was not straightforward. despite state budget cuts and lack of space for the makerspace, mr. tod colegrove, the director of the delamare library, was able to secure an internal grant to acquire a 3d printer. space for the wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 10 makerspace was gained by moving little used print journals to an automated storage and retrieval system which freed up 18,000 square feet for people space. savings was also realized by using surplus furniture from other university departments and the county school district. a white board was one of the students’ most wanted items for collaborative work. instead of paying $500 for a 6by-4-foot white board, walls were painted with white board paint ($500 per 100 square feet). several low cost but very useful electronics prototyping tool kits were also acquired, including items such as arduino kits. each tool kit cost less than an engineering or science book. in order to market the new space, 3d printers and scanners were placed in the entry lobby of the library for visibility. within four months, more than 1,000 people had used the 3d printers and scanners. after the rollout of the makerspace and its programs and services, the number of library users increased dramatically (good & borman, 2013). the makerspace provides access to a wide range of digital fabrication tools such as 3d scanners, printers and a laser cutter as well as a collection of emerging augmented and virtual reality tools. students are able to borrow physical computing devices (arduino, raspberry pi and makey makey kits). the library’s research subject guides are used to provide information and guidance regarding services and technologies offered. makerspaces were not new to the university but the technologies and tools in existing makerspaces remained largely inaccessible to students and faculty outside of specific programs or research projects. uniquely, delamare library’s makerspace is completely open to everyone in the university for sharing technologies, tools, resources and expertise. north carolina state university libraries it didn’t take much effort for north carolina state university’s (ncsu) new hunt library to sell its first 3d printing service to support ncsu’s research and learning mission. a connection was made immediately for the researchers from nc state’s institute for transportation research and education (itre) to apply the technology to turn their custom design, a map of a busy roundabout at pullen road and stinson drive, into a scale-model reality in a matter of days (ncsu web, 2013). students have also started to use the 3d printing and scanning equipment to build prototypes for their own projects. recently, the ncsu libraries have partnered with teams from across campus for a unique student sustainability challenge called make-a-thon, aiming to make an impact on campus sustainability. over one weekend nc state students came up with smart and creative solutions such as knowurshower and trasher to help solve real-world sustainability issues. students demonstrated what is possible when ingenuity meets library makerspace (di monte, 2016). the success of hunt library’s 3d printing service inspired the opening of a full-on makerspace, the digital media lab, at the hill library in june 2015. david woodbury, the head of user experience in ncsu who oversees the two makerspace libraries, pointed out that the new space is moving past the model of having students drop off files to be 3d printed by someone else and is now designed to give students a place to actually make things from start to finish (brewer, 2015). in june 2016, the ncsu libraries’ makerspace program won special libraries association’s springshare innovation in libraries award. in addition to the incredible work with 3d technology, wearable electronics, programming with arduino & raspberry pi, and milling with cnc machines, the makerspace is also recognized for their unique work targeting women in stem fields with their on-going speaker series, and by integrating their makerspace program into the curriculum of disciplines that aren’t normally associated with technology (springshare, 2016). http://search.proquest.com/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/brewer,+bailey/$n?accountid=13631 wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 11 digital media experience lab, ryerson university library & archives in february 2015, the transformative new ryerson university student learning centre (slc) opened in downtown toronto as a place for students to collaborate, study, share ideas and learn beyond the traditional classroom. located on the third floor of the slc, the isaac olowolafe digital media experience (dme) lab is ryerson’s first dedicated makerspace, and was launched for students from all disciplines. as a new addition to the ryerson university library & archives (rula), the dme is one of many rula initiatives to exemplify the library of the 21st century in which learning resources extend well beyond books. as stated by fangmin wang, head of library information technology services, “traditionally, users talk about the serendipity of the stacks. our dme lab is a serendipity place in the digital age” (braganza, 2015). with everything from 3d printers to virtual reality headsets, the dme provides students with access to a wide range of emerging technologies for experimentation and exploration. students can attend a variety of workshops in the dme and get one-on-one instruction from dme student staff in the use of advanced media creation tools. although the initial plan of the dme was as a lab to help students learn digital media tools such as adobe photoshop, it soon expanded its scope after recognizing the rise of the library makerspace and its importance to rula’s future. the dme not only encourages do-it-yourself but also learn-it-together, through its peer-to-peer learning service model supported by a full-time coordinator and 7 part-time student staff who come from a wide range of academic backgrounds. the dme provides an experiential learning environment that enables digital skills development while it disseminates knowledge. the dme also promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration at ryerson while inspiring digital innovation in other institutions. the projects created in the dme have been exhibited at the royal ontario museum and toronto international film festival’s digiplayspace. many ryerson faculty members have also started using the dme to integrate emerging technology into their curriculum. for example, the department of architecture worked with the dme to develop student digital skills including the use of oculus virtual reality headsets to visualize 3d model design assignments. librarians and library staff have also started participating in dme programming and activities. library staff had a well-established knitting group that met regularly to work on group and individual projects. when the dme acquired a knitting machine, staff from the library were eager to learn about this new technology. the acquisition of this machine and launch of the dme’s “knit happens” weekly drop-in has not only integrated library staff, it has also broadened the reach of the dme to students who may not have considered coming into the space. other library staff have been involved with the dme as a result of establishing its technology lending program. staff from several units in the library and a master’s practicum student worked to develop the policies, procedures and workflow for circulating dme equipment using the library’s integrated library system. once this service was operationalized, lunch and learn sessions were held to familiarize all library staff with the service. madlab, gerstein science information centre, university of toronto the madlab at the gerstein science information centre is a student-centric facility open to university of toronto students, staff and faculty. unlike many other academic library makerspaces, it runs on a self-service rather than full-service model. the lab is open from 9-5 each weekday, but access is only through self-serve pre-arranged times. there are two main foci of the space, mobile app development and 3d scanning and printing. students who wish to use the 3d facilities must follow a multi-step process of certification, requesting a print time, having their project approved, then getting a key for the space and printing their project. the certification process involves wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 12 learning about the types of printers in the lab (by viewing videos and reading user manuals), attending safety training in the lab and passing a knowledge test (university of toronto, 2016). this self-service operating model allows the maker lab to run without additional staff. however, students have to book prints at least 48 hours in advance and the lack of immediate mentoring and technical support can be constraining. other university makerspaces (university of victoria and university of toronto) opened in september 2012, what differentiates canada’s first makerspace, the university of victoria libraries’ mlab is that it’s anchored in blending humanities research lab with a collaborative makerspace. “with research priority areas in physical computing, digital fabrication, and multi-site exhibits, the mlab intersects culture criticism with experimental prototyping and electronics” (university of victoria, 2016). the critical making lab at the faculty of information (ischool), university of toronto is another example of a university makerspace. the lab provides tools, materials and training for building devices such as wearable computers, rfid systems, ubiquitous computing networks, and other physical computing technologies, and is only open to students and faculty in the ischool. the critical making lab organizes its efforts around the making of material objects. its ultimate goal is to perform a practice-based engagement with the pragmatic and theoretical issues around information and information technology through the sharing of results and ongoing critical analysis of materials, designs, and outcomes with the lab participants (university of toronto, 2016). other makerspaces (mobile makerspaces) it’s obvious that not every library is equipped with adequate funding, tools, resources, or staffing to run a local makerspace. libraries have been thinking out of the box to create alternative makerspaces within limited budgets. mobile makerspaces have gained popularity due to their flexibility and ease of creation. the concept of mobile makerspaces originated from the earliest book wagon project operated by staff in washington county, maryland in 1905 (goldstein, 1961). when patrons couldn’t come to a brick and mortar library, the bookmobile worked just as well. space, location and accessibility are just a few reasons why a library may think of going mobile. moorefield-lang (2015) did comprehensive research through case studies of six librarians and educators who made the decision to go mobile with a makerspace. in her research, two makerspaces were in fully built trucks, one was carried in a library van, two makerspaces were transported in school buses, and one traveled across campus in a cart. moorefield-lang’s six mobile makerspaces included: monticello high school in charlottesville (usa)’s “makers on the move” program which allowed them to visit their younger peers at the nearby elementary and middle schools to engage in maker activities. europe’s first mobile library fablab, called frysklab mobile, which allows library staff to visit small villages, schools and libraries, or other countries easily. one frysklab event of note was the makertour 2015 that included twelve stops in eight different countries across europe. chicago public library took another step in 2014 to roll out mini makerlabs. mini makerlabs were established in three separate library branches across the chicago area. the mini makerlab funneled users to the central branch makerspace. elon university’s mobilemaker which used a rolling cart to establish a pop-up makerspace in the residential hall. wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 13 the dhmakerbus, canada’s first mobile makerspace, was created by london public library, ontario. the makerbus not only opens up the community to the world of making, it also provides teachers and librarians with professional development opportunities. sparktruck, managed by the d.school at standford university, began in a rental truck in february 2012 and soon became a nation-wide maker experience. the team travels across the usa offering pop-up maker opportunities at libraries, schools, community centers, and more. some of the popular projects included vibrobots, which are small vibrating robots that run on a small battery and motor, as well as stamp creation using the laser cutter. since moorefield-lang’s study, many more mobile makerspaces have emerged. mobile makerspaces are an inexpensive way to promote maker culture and get community members excited about learning through making. however, there are also limitations to this approach. through implementing the mobilemaker in elson, gierdowski & reis (2015) discovered that mobility and security were mutually exclusive; with the mobile design chosen, greater mobility was sacrificed to achieve greater security. they also discovered that the level of access was reduced due to staffing limitations. as a result, they are currently discussing the possibility of finding a permanent location. conclusions our research has indicated that the adoption of makerspaces within libraries has been growing. the impact of diy has led to new ways of learning through making and creating. by offering technologies and equipment such as 3d printers and virtual reality tools, libraries are creating an inclusive learning environment for students who do not have equal access to new technology resources and support. as learning itself becomes more distributed, students can learn anywhere and in any flexible space. libraries need to actively think about ways to incorporate the making concept as they are developing their learning spaces and programs. our literature review has shown that makerspaces in public libraries have been well received by the public library user community. they have become or are becoming strategic priorities for public libraries seeking to reposition themselves in the digital age. as pointed out in the horizon report 2016, makerspaces in academic libraries have become increasingly popular as libraries respond to changes in curriculum and to the societal need for active learning, cross-disciplinary approaches and creativity. being open and accessible is the key to building a successful makerspace in both public and academic libraries. however, makerspaces have been approached differently by public and academic libraries. public libraries in general aim to foster lifelong learning and community engagement through programs that appeal to a broad demographic with widely varying interests. their maker programs, such as crafts nights and lego workshops, are informative, entertaining and suitable for all ages. academic library makerspaces, on the other hand, tend to be tied to the educational mission of the university and pedagogical needs of the curriculum. the makerspace programs in academic libraries are developed to help students acquire knowledge and skills in emerging technologies and support creative curriculum development. an academic library makerspace is the perfect place for students to interact, collaborate and create as they gain practical knowledge and digital skill sets. although more and more libraries are interested in creating a makerspace, many factors need to be considered including sustainability, staffing, funding, ongoing maintenance of the technology, operational model and future directions of the space. the success of a library makerspace is not just about providing technologies such as 3d printers but about building a great community that embraces the maker movement and advocates for learning by making or doing. at ryerson, many wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 14 academic programs require hand-on skills and are career-oriented. the library’s digital media experience lab has met the needs of students in supporting their projects either for their school work or extracurricular activities. for some libraries, having mobile maker programs with portable tools and technologies may be an effective way to reach out their community. for others, makerspaces are more sustainable if library staff are trained in an educational role and assist with daily operations. libraries need to identify their strengths and constraints, and create makerspaces that are unique and meet their needs and priorities. we have learned that many makerspaces in academic libraries have been used to support students in the context of experiential learning; however, little consideration has been given to how to support researchers and faculty members especially for those who are from non-engineering or technology related programs. for many researchers, emerging technologies have started to become research methodologies. for example, virtual reality has been used to create digital reconstructions of historical monuments for visualization. 3d printing has been explored as an innovative way of engaging with primary materials in the arts and humanities. for faculty members and researchers who have limited access to lab facilities, equipment and technical expertise, library makerspaces could intensify their research outcomes as well as contribute to pedagogical innovation. our next step is to investigate how academic libraries can establish a new business model that leverages the makerspace concept to support faculty wishing to integrate innovative technologies in their research and curriculum. we would like to see a library research and innovation collaboratory that truly facilitates new knowledge creation and exchange, disseminates cutting-edge research and helps establish exemplary teaching and learning practices. references anderson, c. 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(2014, february 13). roundup: new makerspaces, media labs, and innovation hubs open (or coming soon) inside three canadian public libraries. library journal. retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7095.pdf http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/07/ux/westport-library-unveils-new-maker-space/ http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/07/ux/westport-library-unveils-new-maker-space/ https://www.fflib.org/make/makerspace-faqs https://www.fflib.org/make/makerspace-faqs http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=2340 http://worlds-of-learning.com/2014/03/24/if-you-let-them-build-it-they-will-learn/ http://worlds-of-learning.com/2014/03/24/if-you-let-them-build-it-they-will-learn/ http://issuu.com/printaction/docs/printaction_april2014 http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/nepean-centrepointe-library-unveils-imagine-spac http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/nepean-centrepointe-library-unveils-imagine-spac http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/nepean-centrepointe-library-unveils-imagine-space-an-american-corner http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blog/long-live-maker-lab http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blog/long-live-maker-lab http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/06/04/first-ever-white-house-maker-faire-celebrating-nation-makers http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/06/04/first-ever-white-house-maker-faire-celebrating-nation-makers http://statenews.com/article/2014/07/msu-library-hosts-maker-day http://www.studygs.net/citation.htm http://www.studygs.net/citation.htm http://www.libraryasincubatorproject.org/?p=4594 http://makerspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/makerspaceplaybook-feb2013.pdf http://makerspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/makerspaceplaybook-feb2013.pdf http://www.mcml.ca/about-mcml/ http://www.mcml.ca/about-mcml/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2011/11/15/first-public-library-to-create-a-maker-space/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2011/11/15/first-public-library-to-create-a-maker-space/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brit-morin/what-is-the-maker-movemen_b_3201977.html https://www.ncsu.edu/huntlibrary/create/ http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2014-nmc-horizon-report-he-en-sc.pdf http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-he-en.pdf http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-he-en.pdf wang et al. / international journal of librarianship 1(1) 2-16 16 http://www.infodocket.com/2014/02/13/roundup-new-makerspaces-media-labs-and-innovation-hubs-foundinside-three-canadian-public-libraries/ rebuilding together central ohio. (2014). our programs. retrieved from http://www.rtcentralohio.org/about-us/ourprogram/ rutkin, a. (2014, july 17). books out, 3d printers in for reinvented us libraries. new scientist. retrieved from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329784.000-books-out-3d-printers-in-for-reinvented-uslibraries.html?full=true#.u-0hlkgrb_s scott, h. (2012, november 11). making the case for a public library makerspace. public libraries online. retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2012/11/making-the-case-for-a-public-library-makerspace/ sharples, m., mcandrew, p., weller, m., ferguson, r., fitzgerald, e., histr, t., & gaved, m. (2013, september). innovating pedagogy 2013: open university innovation report 2. retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.iet.main/files/files/ecms/webcontent/innovating_pedagogy_report_2013.pdf springshare blog. (2016, july 1). ncsu’s makerspace program wins sla’s springshare innovation award. retrieved from http://blog.springshare.com/2016/07/01/ncsus-makerspace-program-wins-slas-springshare-innovationaward/ tashjian, k. (2014, march 12). learn about the makerspace movement. retrieved from http://allaccessri.org/2014/03/12/learn-about-the-makerspace-movement/ university of toronto. (2016). madlab. retrieved from http://mobile.utoronto.ca/madlab university of toronto. (2016). critical making lab. retrieved from http://criticalmaking.com/ uinversity of victoria. (2016). about the mlab. retrieved from http://maker.uvic.ca/about/ westport public library. (2014). makerspace. retrieved from http://westportlibrary.org/services/maker-space zupon, p. (2013, april 9). presenting maker spaces: libraries are truly more than books. retrieved from http://blogs.wayne.edu/turninginformationintoknowledge/2013/04/09/presenting-maker-spaces-libraries-aretruly-more-than-books/ about the authors fangmin wang is the head of ryerson university’s library information technology services. he has been responsible for many technology innovations to enhance library services. fangmin was instrumental in creating the digital media experience lab in ryerson’s student learning centre, which has served as an innovation hub for students to learn new technologies. fangmin obtained his mlis degree from mcgill university. weina wang is the borrowing and lending services system librarian at ryerson university library. being a digital media and technology advocate, she has led staff through a series of technological changes in order to respond to the 21st century patron needs. weina obtained her m.sc. degree in information systems from the university of sheffield, uk. sally wilson is the web services librarian at ryerson university, toronto. she has led many projects including systems migrations and large-scale web projects. she obtained her mls degree from the university of toronto. namir ahmed is the coordinator for ryerson library’s digital media experience lab. he has a background in archaeology and digital media. namir is an ma candidate at western university. http://www.infodocket.com/2014/02/13/roundup-new-makerspaces-media-labs-and-innovation-hubs-found-inside-three-canadian-public-libraries/ http://www.infodocket.com/2014/02/13/roundup-new-makerspaces-media-labs-and-innovation-hubs-found-inside-three-canadian-public-libraries/ http://www.rtcentralohio.org/about-us/our-program/ http://www.rtcentralohio.org/about-us/our-program/ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329784.000-books-out-3d-printers-in-for-reinvented-us-libraries.html?full=true#.u-0hlkgrb_s http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329784.000-books-out-3d-printers-in-for-reinvented-us-libraries.html?full=true#.u-0hlkgrb_s http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329784.000-books-out-3d-printers-in-for-reinvented-us-libraries.html?full=true#.u-0hlkgrb_s http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329784.000-books-out-3d-printers-in-for-reinvented-us-libraries.html?full=true#.u-0hlkgrb_s http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2012/11/making-the-case-for-a-public-library-makerspace/ http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.iet.main/files/files/ecms/web-content/innovating_pedagogy_report_2013.pdf http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.iet.main/files/files/ecms/web-content/innovating_pedagogy_report_2013.pdf http://blog.springshare.com/2016/07/01/ncsus-makerspace-program-wins-slas-springshare-in http://blog.springshare.com/2016/07/01/ncsus-makerspace-program-wins-slas-springshare-in http://blog.springshare.com/2016/07/01/ncsus-makerspace-program-wins-slas-springshare-innovation-award/ http://allaccessri.org/2014/03/12/learn-about-the-makerspace-movement/ http://allaccessri.org/2014/03/12/learn-about-the-makerspace-movement/ http://mobile.utoronto.ca/madlab http://criticalmaking.com/ http://maker.uvic.ca/about/ http://westportlibrary.org/services/maker-space http://westportlibrary.org/services/maker-space http://blogs.wayne.edu/turninginformationintoknowledge/2013/04/09/presenting-maker-spaces-libraries-are-truly-more-than-books/ http://blogs.wayne.edu/turninginformationintoknowledge/2013/04/09/presenting-maker-spaces-libraries-are-truly-more-than-books/ ijol-issue1-2016-2_makerspace_title_new ijol-issue1-2016-maker-ft issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org the big ten academic alliance library directors: a preliminary exploration of managerial and leadership attributes binh p. le abstract: this study examines the managerial and leadership attributes of the 14 library directors of the big ten academic alliance’s universities prior to being appointed to their current positions. special attention will be given to the managerial and leadership attributes that the decision-makers (e.g., university presidents, provosts, members of search committees, or members of the board of trustees) considered to be important. this study hopes to provide examples of leadership attributes that aspiring academic library leaders, especially those who desire to lead large academic and research libraries, may want to develop. to cite this article: le, b.p. (2019). the big ten academic alliance library directors: a preliminary exploration of managerial and leadership attributes. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 19-37. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 19-37 issn: 2474-3542 the big ten academic alliance library directors: a preliminary exploration of managerial and leadership attributes1 binh p. le the pennsylvania state university, usa abstract this study examines the managerial and leadership attributes of the 14 library directors of the big ten academic alliance’s universities prior to being appointed to their current positions. special attention will be given to the managerial and leadership attributes that the decision-makers (e.g., university presidents, provosts, members of search committees, or members of the board of trustees) considered to be important. this study hopes to provide examples of leadership attributes that aspiring academic library leaders, especially those who desire to lead large academic and research libraries, may want to develop. keywords: higher education leadership, library leadership, big ten academic alliance, and the big ten academic alliance library directors. introduction the big ten academic alliance (btaa) is one of the largest academic and athletic consortia in the united states. it comprises 14 public and private universities, including the university of michigan, the pennsylvania state university, the university of wisconsin, and northwestern university. originally, the consortium’s main mission was to promote athletic collaboration. in recent decades, academic collaboration has become one of the two vital components of the consortium’s mission. in the area of library collaboration, for example, members (students, faculty, and staff) of these institutions have access to the consortium’s combined library collections of over 113 million volumes (big 10 academic alliance’s annual report, 2016-2017). 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: binh p. le. (2018). the big ten academic alliance library directors: an exploratory study of leadership and attainment. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china. the author wishes to acknowledge the office of the vice provost for educational equity of the pennsylvania state university for its multicultural faculty development support funds. the author would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 20 individually, each of these libraries holds millions of volumes; employs hundreds of professionals and paraprofessionals; and spends millions of dollars annually on salaries, resources, and facilities. table 1. big ten academic alliance member universities ___________________________________________________________________________ indiana university michigan state university northwestern university (private) ohio state university pennsylvania state university purdue university rutgers university university of illinois university of iowa university of maryland university of michigan university of minnesota university of nebraska-lincoln university of wisconsin-madison source: big ten academic alliance’s annual report 2016-2017. ______________________________________________________________________________ effectively managing and leading libraries such as these, especially in an era in which the public resources devoted to higher education are diminishing and the digital revolution, which has brought profound and disruptive changes, is still raging, demands exceptional library leaders. although the effectiveness of organizations such as libraries requires excellent contributions from their members, the role played by leaders cannot be overlooked. in fact, great leaders provide vision, formulate strategic directions, execute established plans, embrace bold initiatives, and motivate their employees to buy into their organizations’ mission, all of which are essential to the success of organizations. simply put, without these leadership abilities, organizations are unlikely to succeed and thrive, especially in challenging environments. but effective leaders in every field are products of years of hard work and higher leadership aspirations. in fact, in order to be chosen to lead libraries such as the btaa libraries, they must possess a significant amount of demonstrated leadership, managerial, and technical abilities, as well as notable accomplishments. this study attempts to examine the managerial and leadership attributes and the notable accomplishments of the 14 library directors of the btaa (hereinafter aalds) libraries prior to attaining their current positions. besides contributing to the literature on library leadership, the study hopes to provide library leaders whose aspirations are to lead large academic and research libraries with some library leadership development paths that they might want to follow. le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 21 literature review the literature on leadership is extensive. early research on leadership focused on the political and military realms. the foundations of leadership expounded in these areas include character, courage and fearlessness, integrity and honesty, self-discipline and self-confidence, loyalty to colleagues, ability to lead by example, and ability to build teams and delegate (cronin & thomas, 2012). there is also a substantial body of work on leadership theories, e.g., trait, behavioral, situational or contingency, transactional, and transformational (avolio & bass, 1997; bass, 1985; burns, 2003; covey, 1989; gardner, 1995; fiedler, 1967; house & shamir, 1993; and hood) and leadership styles, e.g., autocratic, collaborative/participative, bureaucratic, charismatic, and laissez-faire (e.g., amanchukwu, stanley, & olo, 2015; ekvall & arvonen, 1991; fiedler & house, 1994; and yukl, 1989). while many aspects of these broad theoretical works are primarily concerned with political and military leadership throughout history, some of the aforementioned works apply to library leadership. for example, leadership attributes such as integrity, trust, honesty, leading by example, etc. are important in every field, including the library field. on the other hand, some leadership styles (e.g., charismatic or bureaucratic) are not as prevalent or suitable (in today’s environment) as they once were. in recent decades, because of the rapid replacement of manual laborers with knowledge workers, leadership styles, such as collaborative and participative have become more prevalent and suitable in managing and leading organizations such as libraries. in recent decades, the literature on leadership has grown exponentially. the most influential authors include burns (1978), bennis (1989), collins (2001), maxell (2005, 2007, 2011), goleman (2002, 2017), goldsmith (2010), peters (1997), covey (1990), and kotter (1996, 2013). generally, most of these works (e.g., bennis’ on becoming a leader, goleman’s primal leadership: realizing the power of emotional intelligence (2002), maxwell’s, developing the leader within you (2005), and cashman’s leading from the inside out: becoming a leader for life (2008)) discuss the attributes that make great leaders in the contemporary world. these works do not differentiate whether an individual holds a formal or a non-formal leadership position. according to these authors, one can be a leader without holding a formal title. in the library field, it is not unusual for many librarians who hold no formal titles, such as director or associate director, to play an important role in their organizations (e.g., libraries, universities, or professional organizations) through expertise or experience. more important, these authors contend that leadership skills can be learned. the impact of this body of work on the library profession has been profound. for example, over the last couple of decades, library organizations, such as the american library association (ala), the association of research libraries (arl), and the association of college and research libraries (acrl), have established many leadership development programs (e.g., the arl library fellows program), aimed at training future library leaders. interestingly, a number of the btaa library directors have participated in many of these leadership development programs. the literature on leadership in the library profession, on the other hand, is far less extensive. in fact, most of the studies on leadership in the library profession have been published in the past le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 22 couple of decades. notable works on library leadership include hernon, powell, and young (2003), fagan (2012), galbraith, smith, and walker (2001), kreitz (2009), martin (2016), moropa (2010), riggs (1998, 2001), schreiber and shannon (2008), sears (2014), and spies (2000). these studies centered on (a) key leadership attributes, e.g., visionary, risk-taking and technical competencies such as budgeting, technology experience, and fundraising, (b) personal characteristics, e.g., integrity, trustworthiness, and self-knowledge, and (c) strategies for developing future library leaders, e.g., mentoring, succession planning, and leadership development programs. in particular, a fair number of works focus on the technical competencies, such as budgeting, communication skills, team building, project management, and fundraising. in fact, library leaders are unlikely to attain the top leadership positions in large academic libraries without possessing extensive technical experience and competencies. what is missing from this body of library literature is the types of leadership and technical competencies that institutions look for when they hire their library directors. in a recent study of the 44 job announcements for academic library directors between 2011 and 2015, mariel, kasper, and van duinkerken (2017) found that higher education institutions continue to place strong emphasis on technical skills in selecting their library directors. furthermore, given the number of scandals (e.g., admissions scandals) that have taken place at many higher education institutions in recent decades, a requirement that applicants have moral and ethical attributes seems to be absent from these job announcements. in another study, fitsimmons (2008) compared the leadership attributes that library leaders (e.g., university librarians) and university administrators (e.g., presidents, vice presidents and provosts) thought to be essential for library directors to possess. interestingly, the author found that the leadership attributes that the two groups consider to be essential are similar. specifically, the technical competencies appeared to be more important than leadership competencies. this study attempts to examine what the senior administrators actually did consider (not thought) to be essential managerial and leadership attributes by examining the information sources issued by their institutions (leaders) following the hiring of these aalds. methods this study examines the leadership attributes of the 14 aalds who held the position of library director of the libraries of the btaa to the end of 2017. the aalds include eight men and six women. one of the aalds is an interim library director who has been in his current position since july 2015. the majority of the aalds have been in their current positions between 5 to 7 years. due to (1) the confidentiality of the hiring process, it was not feasible to interview the individuals (e.g., search committee members, provosts, or vice presidents) involved in the hiring process. for the same reason, a survey instrument was not used. and (2) due to the scarcity of information (e.g., feature articles, book chapters, and books/autobiographies) available on the btaa library directors, this study relied mostly on primary sources (e.g., news items, official announcements, and individual and institutional websites) available in the public domain. in collecting data for this study, the author, using google, conducted a number of searches for le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 23 information sources published on the websites of the universities and libraries of the btaa, the acrl, the ala, the arl, and linkedin. the searches on these websites yielded a limited amount of information (e.g., educational backgrounds, positions held, scholarly activities, and service records) about the career of the aalds. interestingly, a small amount of information about the aalds has been made available by the aalds themselves via personal websites and linkedin. similarly, a fair amount of information about the aalds was retrieved from the btaa universities’ and libraries’ media outlets, such as newsletters, students newspapers, and offices of strategic communication. lastly, the websites and print publications published by the libraries and other professional organizations also provided information on the aalds. it is worth noting that, despite numerous efforts, the researcher was able to retrieve only a small amount of information on a couple of the aalds. the btaa libraries use various titles, such as university librarian and dean of libraries, dean of libraries and scholarly communication, or vice president for information services and university librarian to describe the position that has been commonly called “library director.” for the sake of convenience, the title “library director” will be used when appropriate. additionally, instead of using the names of the aalds, he, him, she, and her will be used when suitable. limitations as noted, due to the confidential nature of the hiring process, conducting individual interviews or surveys with all the parties involved in the hiring process from the candidates to the decisionmakers was not possible. consequently, the study relies on the limited information available. furthermore, due to the scarcity of information available on the aalds, it would be difficult to generalize from the findings. findings and discussion educational backgrounds the educational backgrounds of the 14 aalds shows the following characteristics. thirteen of the aalds hold master’s degrees in library science. among these 13, six hold multiple master’s degrees and three hold doctoral degrees. two of the aalds do not hold either master’s degrees or doctoral degrees in library science. one holds a ph.d. in computer science; the other holds a ph.d. in psychology. it is not uncommon for directors of large academic libraries to not hold advanced degrees in the field of library science. for example, sidney verba, an eminent political scientist, served as director of harvard’s university libraries from 1984 to 2007 (mineo, 2019). what is interesting, however, is that, traditionally, librarians without academic credentials in the field of library science tended to come from the humanities and arts. in the present study, two library directors without formal library education credentials possess advanced degrees in engineering (science) and psychology (social science). it is worth noting that the library director who holds a doctoral degree in psychology possesses an extensive technological background and has been involved in numerous information-technology-related initiatives with national and international implications (e.g., the digital preservation network). in addition to the aalds’ formal education, a small number of aalds attended some of the very highly selective leadership le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 24 development programs, such as the frye institute (now the leading change institute), the association of research libraries’ leadership fellows program, and harvard’s leadership institute for academic librarians. it is not surprising that many of these library directors participated in the leadership development programs (e.g., arl leadership fellows program and ala emerging leaders) sponsored by library organizations, such as the arl and the acrl because graduate programs in the field of library and information science generally lack leadership and managerial education. prior leadership positions the majority of the aalds have held the position of associate dean of library (e.g., associate dean for public services, associate dean for library administration, or associate dean for technology). some have held the position of associate dean in multiple areas of library services at different times. additionally, the majority of the aalds have served as either assistant dean or department head or both before moving up to the associate rank. the career advancement of the aalds has not departed significantly from the traditional academic library advancement route. as shown, most of them have advanced from the lower mid-levels (e.g., department head, project director) to the middle senior-levels (e.g., assistant director, associate director) to the high senior-levels (e.g., director). in some ways, the career advancement pattern of academic library directors is similar to that of academic deans. the major difference, however, is that the leadership advancement of academic library directors tends to stop at the directorship level, whereas academic deans may (and may have) advance to higher positions, such as provost, vice president, and president. while many of the aalds have taken the traditional leadership advancement route, it is worth noting that seven of the aalds have served as interim directors. evidently, serving as interim director of libraries has certainly provided these “future” aalds with opportunities to gain practical leadership skills. for example, when edward van gemert served as interim director of libraries at the university of wisconsin, he provided: leadership and direction of the total general purpose operating revenues of approximately $24 million plus gift funds for the 15 libraries that comprise the general library system. significant budget and resource planning and close collaboration with campus administration. works with the uw foundation, uw alumni association and other campus units building relationships for the development and advancement and liaison including private fundraising on behalf of the library (van gemert, 2018). furthermore, in serving in the interim positions, these aalds revealed a couple of important leadership attributes: (1) the willingness to take on positions with greater responsibilities, and (2) the recognition by others (e.g., senior administrators) of their leadership abilities. it is also worthwhile to mention that four aalds served as director of libraries before taking on their current positions. for the most part, they tended to work in large and highly selective institutions (e.g., the university of tennessee and the university of california at santa barbara), where the size of the collections and the number of staff were large. interestingly, the majority (10) of the aalds came from outside their current institutions, albeit many had spent a le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 25 considerable amount of time working in the libraries of the btaa. four were internally promoted. as shown, serving as associate directors, interim directors, and directors has enabled these aalds to attain not only the practical leadership skills and the opportunities to demonstrate their leadership abilities, but also the higher leadership positions in larger libraries and universities. scholarly activities job announcements for directors of large academic and research libraries require candidates to possess a record of publications. while higher education institutions do not specifically indicate the number and type of publications, the candidates are expected to have published a number of peer-reviewed articles and books or chapters. in this study, a significant number of the aalds have published monographs, book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as college & research libraries, journal of academic librarianship, library administration and management, library hi tech, and portal: libraries and the academy. for example, sarah pritchard, dean of libraries and the charles deering mccormick university librarian, has published over 70 articles and reviews (northwestern university libraries, 2018). pritchard was also a founding board member and an editor of portal: libraries and the academy, one of the premier journals in the field of library science (northwestern university libraries, 2018). similarly, when purdue university appointed james mullins as its dean of libraries, the purdue news reported that, mullins “is a published authority on university services and operation.” (2004). besides publishing in peer-reviewed journals, many of the aalds have also served on the editorial boards and/or as editors of the library profession’s journals. for example, ohio state university’s office of academic affairs issued the following statement upon the appointment of damon e. jaggars as vice provost and director of university libraries. it stated: his work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings; and his national editorial service includes board membership for portal: libraries and the academy, co-editorship of a special issue of evidence based library and information practice and a stint as editor-in-chief of the journal of library administration (office of academic affairs, 2016). in addition, many of the aalds have also presented papers and served on expert panels at national and international conferences. subsequently, many of their presentations were published as book chapters in conference proceedings or articles in peer-reviewed journals. additionally, a number of the aalds have also served as consultants. for example, according to northwestern university libraries, sarah pritchard has “lectured and consulted internationally on library management, women’s studies, digital systems, collection and development and other professional issues” (2018). scholarly activities serve several important functions. at the fundamental level, scholarly activities increase one’s knowledge and expertise. besides educating oneself to become an expert, scholarly activities enable one to be recognized by colleagues in the profession. recognition by colleagues is important to one’s professional credentials and opens up more professional opportunities. for example, he or she will be asked to evaluate colleagues for promotion and tenure, to provide consultation in the areas of their expertise, to contribute to publications (e.g., le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 26 journals and books), or to serve on the editorial boards of journals, etc. moreover, scholarly activities enhance one’s credibility among the leaders of one’s institution. in fact, it is quite common for the library director to be a member of his/her institution’s senior leadership teams (e.g., provost’s council of academic deans or president’s leadership council). furthermore, while many universities do not require a library director to have an extensive record of scholarly activities, having such a record and one that is similar to that of other academic leaders at their institutions would certainly enhance library directors’ credibility. professional service in an earlier study on the professional service (public service) of the ucla (university of california) library senior fellows, anderson (1985) pointed out that the majority of the participants held extensive records of professional service. the same study also found that participants employed in the libraries of the acrl were more active professionally than their nonacrl colleagues. generally, these participants have served on committees, task forces, and boards (hereinafter committees) at their institutions, in the library profession’s organizations, and other professional organizations worldwide. many have also held leadership positions in their professional organizations (e.g., chair or vice chair). in this study, the majority of the aalds possessed extensive records of professional service. furthermore, they have held leadership positions on committees in various organizations. for example, when ohio state university appointed damon e. jaggars as vice provost and director of university libraries, ohio state university’s office of academic affairs mentioned that jaggars’ professional service includes “various leadership roles in the american library association, the association of college and research libraries and the taiga forum” (2016). similarly, in announcing the appointment of ed van gemert as vice provost for libraries and university librarian, the university of wisconsin’s libraries furnished the following statement regarding van gemert’s professional service activities. it stated: van gemert has served as chair of the council of wisconsin libraries, was on the steering committee of the coalition of networked information, served in leadership roles with the association of research libraries, the big ten academic alliance and served as chair of the hathitrust strategic advisory board (library news & events, 2017). in particular, many of the btaa institutions seem to favor leaders who have served on the board of directors of prestigious organizations. for example, according to the university of michigan libraries, james hilton “serves on many boards, including internet2, duraspace, digital preservation network, and the hathitrust board of governors” (2018). similarly, according to the resume of wendy pradt lougee, university librarian and dean of libraries and mcknight presidential professor at the university of minnesota, she has served on the board of directors of the research libraries group, the council on library and information sources, the digital library federation (president 2009), the national information standards organization, the association of research libraries (president 2012-2013), and the hathitrust (lougee, 2018). le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 27 it is worthwhile to note that it is not just the number of committees and leadership positions they have held but also the importance of the committees on which they have served. for example, according to his resume, following are some of the committees john wilkin, dean of libraries and university of librarian at the university of illinois urbana-champaign, has served on: digital preservation network’s executive committee, advisory board for the berkeley law digital library copyrights project, hathitrust executive committee and hathitrust board of governors, university of michigan blue ribbon panel on research data strategy, research libraries group council, um decennial accreditation: the university’s knowledge environment and roles of research, professional and creative activities, ad hoc task force to review oclc policy for use and transfer of worldcat records, and arl digital repository issues task force (wilkin, 2016). professional service serves multiple functions. at the basic level, professional service enables organizations to carry out their functions. in fact, many non-profit professional organizations rely heavily on their members to carry out the work of the organizations (e.g., the american library association) or institutions, especially shared-governance organizations (e.g., universities). second, in many cases, professional service is part of one’s jobs. in fact, professional service is a major component of consideration for promotion at many higher education institutions. third, professional service provides an individual with opportunities to educate himself/herself on issues affecting his/her organization and to develop and hone his/her leadership skills. last, serving on important committees, including holding leadership roles on these committees, affords an individual the opportunities to have a profound impact on his/her institution, organization, or the broader community. in the present study, the aalds have served on important committees and held key leadership positions on the committees on which they have served. furthermore, the aalds’ professional service has had a significant impact on their institutions and professional organizations. managerial credentials attaining directorship positions at any large academic or research library, especially the libraries of the arl, of which all of the btaa libraries are members, requires the candidates to possess a wide array of significant managerial and leadership skills. it includes having competencies and work experience in complex networked environments; managing large library collections; administering sizable budgets (in the millions); supervising large professional and nonprofessional staffs; understanding key human resources issues; overseeing large physical facilities, etc. in the case of the aalds, the majority of them possess extensive managerial experience, especially the aalds who have held library directorship positions, either in interim or regular capacity, before assuming their leadership positions in the btaa libraries. for example, according to the information furnished in her resume, sarah pritchard, the incoming dean of libraries and the charles deering mccormick university librarian at northwestern university, who held the position of university librarian at the university of california at santa barbara, she “directed library services, collections, digital resources, capital projects, fundraising, and consortial initiatives. … oversaw collections of several million items in four locations, a staff of 175 fte, and a budget of about $16 million” (pritchard, 2016). previously, at smith college, pritchard, who held the position of director of libraries, “directed four libraries, archives and le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 28 special collections, and media services. managed collections of 1.4 million items, a budget of $5 million and a staff of 65” (pritchard, 2016). similarly, nancy busch, the incoming dean of the university of nebraska-lincoln libraries, who held the position of associate dean of libraries, was responsible for “budget and personnel management and supervision of staff development and the diversity of personnel” (smith, 2013). likewise, clifford h. haka, while serving as associate director for administrative services at michigan state university, was responsible for “librarywide budget development and execution, personnel, facilities, and other main office functions” (haka, 2016). some of the aalds possessed additional, unique experiences. for example, according to ohio state university’s office of academic affairs, damon e. jaggars’ administrative experience includes “service planning, collection development and management, facilities planning and design, budgetary management, and human resources,” as well as possessing “deep experience building and managing distinctive and unique collections” (2016). additionally, he “has substantive experience developing and managing information technology infrastructures within research libraries and broad experience with service quality assessment” (2016). in brief, all of the aalds possessed extensive managerial experiences in the core areas of library management: budgeting, facilities management, personnel administration, and collection development. decision-makers’ decisions in order to be selected to lead large academic and research libraries like the libraries of the btaa, the candidates must possess more than just a wide range of in-depth managerial and leadership skills. in the case of the aalds, they must also possess other managerial and leadership attributes that the decision-makers look for. interestingly, it seems that each of these universities looked for different types or a combination of leadership attributes. some of the btaa institutions looked for major accomplishments, including awards bestowed on the libraries they had led. for example, when rutgers university appointed krisellen maloney as its new vice president for information services and university librarian, rutgers university libraries included the following statement in its announcement: at utsa (university of texas at san antonio), maloney led a five-year, multimillion dollar renovation of the john peace library, oversaw the development of the university’s first faculty center … under her leadership, the utsa libraries received wider recognition both locally and nationally, most notably winning the american library association’s prestigious john cotton dana award for library public relations in 2004 (2015). in addition to looking for major accomplishments, the leadership of the btaa institutions also looked for initiatives that had a significant impact. for example, when the university of maryland appointed babak hamidzadeh as the interim dean of libraries, it released the following statement: in his time at the university of maryland, he has started several new programs and initiatives … he has provided technical infrastructure and support to the 16 campuses of the university system of maryland and affiliated institutions’ library consortium, and has been an active member of the consortium’s council of library directors (brown, 2015). le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 29 similarly, according to the university of minnesota libraries, wendy pradt lougee had launched many groundbreaking initiatives before assuming her current position, many of which not only had an impact but also garnered notable awards. it stated: her work in launching and developing a premier digital library program at michigan was recognized with the american library association’s hugh atkinson award [2003], computerworld honors program laureate [2002], and michigan’s walter h. kaiser award [2001] (2018). the other btaa institutions chose to highlight other special projects and grants. for example, when the university of illinois selected john wilkin to lead its libraries, the illinois news bureau reported that: wilkin’s involvement in mass digitalization as a means of preserving library books predates the well-known book-scanning project headed by google. in 1997, he received a national endowment for the humanities grant to digitize the “middle english dictionary” and make it accessible online. in 1999, he received an andrew w. mellon foundation grant for the digitalization of 7,500 19th century monographs published in the u.s. this work poised him to lead hathitrust when it began about a decade later. in his role as executive director, he successfully guided hathitrust’s defense when the authors guild sued hathitrust and a handful of its partner libraries (rhodes, 2013). carolyn walters also has many accomplishments. indiana university released the following statement when it appointed walters as the ruth lilly dean of libraries. it stated: during her tenure as interim ruth lilly dean of university libraries from 2009 to 2010, the iu libraries, along with iuts, received a $2.3 million grant awarded to seven academic institutions by the andrew w. mellon foundation to develop kuali ole, a community source software package developed by and for academic libraries to manage and provide access to library collections and licensed and local digital content. at that time, the iu libraries were also selected as the recipient of the 2010 association of college and research libraries’ excellence in academic libraries award (wood, 2015). while the btaa institutions looked for a wide array of administrative and leadership experience and accomplishments, they also looked for people who gained leadership and managerial experience at compatible institutions. for example, when pennsylvania state university hired barbara dewey as dean of libraries and scholarly communications, the university stated that dewey, who had served as dean of libraries at the university of tennessee since 2000 and interim dean of libraries at the university of iowa, has “garnered significant experience at several big ten universities” (shockey, 2010). similarly, when ohio state university chose damon jaggars as vice provost and director of libraries, the university’s office of academic affairs stated: he previously served as interim vice provost and university librarian at columbia university and has significant successful leadership experience supporting the evolving academic enterprise in the libraries both at columbia and another top-tier researchintensive university, the university of texas (ut) at austin (2016). le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 30 another leadership attribute that the leaders of the btaa institutions have also valued is a collaborative leadership style. for example, indiana university released the following statement when it appointed carolyn walters as dean of libraries. it stated: as executive associate dean, her key achievements have included launching iu’s participation as the first library selected for the google books project; providing oversight and support for the expansion of the iu libraries auxiliary library facility, which added space for its 3.5 million library volumes; and developing effective partnerships between the iu libraries, iuts and academic units, such as the office of the vice provost for undergraduate education and the college of arts and sciences (wood, 2015). likewise, steve fleagle, associate vice president and chief information officer and co-chair of the search committee, made the following statement when the university of iowa appointed john culshaw as its dean of libraries. he stated: the search committee worked hard to identify candidates with a demonstrated commitment to scholarship and research, and serving students and faculty. his on campus interviews confirmed how strongly he holds those commitments, and also showed his ability to connect well with a wide range of internal and external constituents (yows, 2013). in fact, the majority of the press releases by the btaa universities mentioned at least some aspects of a collaborative leadership style. table 2 contains examples of statements on a collaborative leadership style extracted from the press releases published by the btaa universities. table 2: collaborative leadership style ______________________________________________________________________________ • particularly his collaboration across the uw system • his collaborative leadership style • as an advocate for collaboration between academics and technology • developing effective partnerships between the iu libraries, uits and academic units, such as the office of the vice provost for undergraduate education and the college of arts and sciences • instrumental in expanding the iu libraries’ partnership with university information technology services • fostered partnerships with key stakeholders throughout the university ______________________________________________________________________________ in addition to a collaborative leadership style, a couple of the btaa institutions indicated that personal attributes were also important. for example, when the university of nebraskalincoln selected nancy busch as dean of its libraries, the university’s senior vice chancellor, ellen weissinger wrote: it was clear to me that nancy’s interview generated widespread and enthusiastic support among the faculty and staff of the libraries. i received equally positive feedback from chancellor (harvey) perlman, the vice chancellors, the deans and the faculty senate. le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 31 nancy will begin her tenure as dean with the trust and confidence of the campus (smith, 2013). the leadership at the university of wisconsin held a similar view. for example, when the university of wisconsin selected edward van gemert to lead the university of wisconsinmadison libraries, provost paul m. deluca stated, “uw-madison’s libraries play a crucial role in ensuring the success of the university’s teaching and research mission. within an exceptionally strong candidate pool, ed’s character and abilities stood out” (brooks, 2013). remarkably, job announcements rarely mention personal attributes, yet some of the hiring administrators of the btaa have shown that these personal attributes are still important leadership qualities. additionally, the btaa leaders seem to look for innovative leadership when they hire their library directors. obviously, in order to be successful in today’s rapidly changing environment, leaders in every industry must be innovative. based on the materials examined, the majority of the aalds possess extensive records of initiating and implementing successful innovative initiatives (e.g., the jstor project, the middle english dictionary project, the information commons at indiana university, and the digital preservation network). for example, upon the announcement of the appointment of james hilton as dean of the university of michigan’s libraries, jeff mackiemason, dean of the university’s school of information, stated, “james is one of the very best leaders in information resources for higher education and scholarship. he has been a transformative innovator, first at michigan and then at virginia” (2013). likewise, when barbara dewey was appointed dean of libraries and scholarly communications, rodney ericson, executive vice president and provost of penn state university, stated, “barbara dewey brings great depth and breadth of experience to the position, and an outstanding record of vision and leadership that will keep penn state in the forefront of information resources” (shockey, 2010). while all of the aforementioned leadership attributes are important, the btaa leadership seems to place greater emphasis on visionary leadership. more specifically, they were interested in hiring library leaders who have a clear vison concerning the future of academic and research libraries. for example, in announcing the appointment of james mullins as dean of libraries, sally mason, provost of purdue university, remarked: after a thorough national search, we are very pleased to have found someone with the vision and the practical experience to continue to lead purdue to the next level of excellence. he has the administrative experience and expertise with university libraries to accomplish that task (winter, 2004). similarly, martha e. pollack, provost of the university of michigan, made the following statement when the university named james hilton as dean of libraries. she said, “as dean of libraries and university librarian, james’ vision and leadership will be essential to our ability to address the changing nature of information acquisition and knowledge dissemination” (university of michigan libraries, 2013). like james hilton, james mullins, and wendy pradt lougee, john wilkin is another visionary leader. as shown, he has been involved in a great number of innovative and visionary projects (e.g., the hathitrust) over the last three decades. thus, it was not surprising that provost ilesanmi adesida made the following remark in the announcement naming wilkin university librarian and dean of libraries at the university of illinois: le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 32 john began his academic career with a degree in literature, and he has been involved in the digital preservation of library collections since the mid-1990s. he has a proven track record of developing and implementing a clear vision for the library of the 21st century (rhodes, 2013). table 3 includes a number of statements concerning the importance of vision made by the hiring administrators of the btaa universities. table 3. vision ______________________________________________________________________________ • we are very pleased to have found someone with the vision and the practical experience to continue to lead purdue to the next level of excellence. • he has a strong vision for the future of the libraries. • he has a proven track record of developing and implementing a clear vision for the library of the 21st century. • james’ vision and leadership will be essential to our ability to address the changing nature of information acquisition and knowledge dissemination. • she is a deeply respected authority on academic libraries who brings exceptional experience, commitment and vision to her role as ruth lilly dean of university libraries. • she brings great depth and breadth of experience to the position, and an outstanding record of vision and leadership that will keep penn state in the forefront of information resources. • he began his academic career with a degree in literature, and he has been involved in the digital preservation of library collections since the mid-1990s. he has a proven track record of developing and implementing a clear vision for the library of the 21st century. • after a thorough national search, we are very pleased to have found someone with the vision and the practical experience to continue to lead purdue to the next level of excellence. he has the administrative experience and expertise with university libraries to accomplish that task. ______________________________________________________________________________ conclusions a number of initial conclusions can be drawn from these preliminary findings. first, despite being selected to lead some of the largest academic libraries in the united states, with academic titles such as vice provost for libraries and university librarian, vice provost and director of university libraries, and dean of libraries and university librarian, many of the aalds do not hold doctoral degrees in library science. second, before being appointed as aalds, the majority of the aalds held different positions, such as associate directors, interim directors, and directors. evidently, serving in these positions has enabled these aalds to attain not only the practical and vital leadership skills and opportunities to demonstrate their leadership abilities, but also the higher leadership positions. third, many of the aalds possess extensive records of scholarly activities. besides producing a number of publications (e.g., journal articles, monographs, book chapters), le / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 33 some of the aalds served as editors, and on the editorial boards of journals. fourth, the majority of the aalds have been active in the area of professional service. they have served on all types of committees, usually important committees, at their institutions and in professional organizations. they have also served as leaders on professional committees. significantly, they served on and led some of the most important boards in the profession. fifth, virtually all of the aalds had extensive core 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(2001). leadership in organization. upper saddle river, nj: prentice-hall. about the author dr. binh p. le is a tenured faculty member of the pennsylvania state university. he holds the rank of librarian (full professor). his articles have appeared in library management, international information & library review, library administration and management; bulletin of bibliography; journal of asia-pacific affairs; and international third world studies journal and review. https://www.lib.umich.edu/users/hilton https://www.library.wisc.edu/news/2017/09/19/edward-van-gemert-vi https://www.library.wisc.edu/news/2017/09/19/edward-van-gemert-vi http://www.purdue.edu/uns/html3moth/2004/040413.mason.library.html http://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/01/iu-libraries-dean 2--103-630-2-ce.title 2--103-630-2-ce corrected-1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org is it necessary: quality control in cataloging? muriel d. nero and jia he abstract: catalogers and technical services departments have always struggled with how much is too much when creating and enhancing bibliographic records as well as with what physical processing is needed to make these materials shelf-ready for timely circulation. along with these decisions, catalogers also must address what quality control measures, if any, should be in place to guarantee resources are discoverable in the opac and discovery service. the authors of this paper describe their process and workflow for the quality control of tangible and electronic resources; they also discuss why quality control is performed. the importance of training cataloging staff on current cataloging rules and practices as a preventive measure to reduce mistakes is an essential part of the process. the ultimate goal of quality control is to eliminate errors and ensure the library’s resources are accessible. to cite this article: nero, m.d., & he, j. (2018). is it necessary: quality control in cataloging? international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 85-95. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 85-95 issn:2474-3542 is it necessary: quality control in cataloging? muriel d. nero and jia he the marx library of the university of south alabama, mobile, alabama, usa abstract catalogers and technical services departments have always struggled with how much is too much when creating and enhancing bibliographic records as well as with what physical processing is needed to make these materials shelf-ready for timely circulation. along with these decisions, catalogers also must address what quality control measures, if any, should be in place to guarantee resources are discoverable in the opac and discovery service. the authors of this paper describe their process and workflow for the quality control of tangible and electronic resources; they also discuss why quality control is performed. the importance of training cataloging staff on current cataloging rules and practices as a preventive measure to reduce mistakes is an essential part of the process. the ultimate goal of quality control is to eliminate errors and ensure the library’s resources are accessible. keywords: cataloging, quality control, technical services, cataloging staff training introduction quality control is most often found in the business world; indeed, some companies have an entire department committed to the quality control of their products. the marx library cataloging department of the university of south alabama uses a similar process of quality control to examine cataloged materials for errors before they are transferred to the circulation department for shelving, transferred to other locations, or used to fulfill hold requests for specific titles. at this academic library, the students and faculty are the customers, and the cataloging department’s purpose is to comply with the component of the library’s mission statement that states that one of the goals of the library is to “provide access to research materials at a level appropriate for successful academic performance” (university of south alabama, n.d.). performing quality control inspections on cataloged materials provides assurance that students and faculty will have access to the materials they need to complete course assignments and research endeavors. this paper will begin with a description of the workflow and processes involved in quality control and explain why this is a valuable part of this department’s operations. the bibliographic review process for books, dvds, and e-books and the physical inspection of the tangible resources for the shelves are the main components of the quality control checklist. this includes examining the bibliographic, holdings, and item records in the voyager cataloging module as well as checking oclc to ensure the marx library symbol (acm) has been added to the correct record. some of the steps for examining the physical processing include checking barcodes, spine labels, nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 86 and the lc classification (library of congress) call number written on dvds or inside books. another aspect requires inspecting the physical processing of books done by gobi library solutions from ebsco. although time consuming, quality control is important to ensure all cataloged items meet the current cataloging standards and follow local practices for the cohesion of the collection. this practice also ensures the discoverability of resources via the university libraries’ online catalog southcat, and the ebsco discovery service. literature review with the phrase “quality control,” most people think of businesses or large companies massproducing products and the inspection of these manufactured goods before they go to consumers. therefore, the research process for this paper began by specifically searching for the literature on quality control as it pertains to libraries. the search yielded articles spanning three decades, with the earliest publication in 1983 and the latest in 2015, and addressing some aspects of quality control on the following topics: cataloging or technical services, cataloging standards, library catalogs, cataloging evaluation, outsourcing , database quality, metadata quality, bibliographic quality, authority control, continuing education for staff training, and tools to measure quality. in most of the articles reviewed, the authors discussed how to define quality control, the purpose of quality control, and the role of catalogers in providing quality control. quality is not easily defined, it has two aspects: extent and accuracy. “extent” refers to how much information is provided in the bibliographic record, while “accuracy” refers to the correctness of what is supplied by the cataloger (graham, 1990). schultz-jones, snow, miksa, & hasenyager (2012) expand extent and accuracy to include the details of the bibliographic record, compliance with cataloging standards, workflow of the processes, and user success in finding records. for the marx library cataloging department, the quality control process is a fusion of these two definitions with the examination of the marc fields of bibliographic records as well as the physical processing of physical items for circulation. by doing this, a standard is created that helps build and establish a cohesive and uniform database of resources. sheeran (1996) shares this same opinion about maintaining a cohesive collection by saying “if libraries are going to continue to provide accurate, efficient access to the materials that they collect, then the database must be maintained in a cohesive, correct manner.” catalogers are essential players in the operation and organization of libraries. although what they do is behind the scenes, the cataloger’s data driven work of inputting crucial elements in the correct marc fields allows materials to be discoverable in the opacs. as harmon (1996) states, “if a cataloger does not put the data in the record, the machine is not going to pull it out.” paiste (2003) goes beyond the typical reasons for quality control and examines many other factors for total quality management. there is more to quality control than detecting and eliminating errors. it is a continuous process that involves assessing, evaluating, planning, and improving your current activities. libraries and librarians are service oriented and want to meet the needs of the patrons; therefore, assessing patron needs and expectations, and then implementing the necessary changes will increase patron satisfaction. paiste (2003) also emphasizes the need for continuous improvement and strategic planning. this allows for examination of production and service to improve the efficiency of quality control activities. one nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 87 tool to achieve continuous improvement is prevention. the emphasis should be on having knowledge of the cataloging rules and standards to prevent making mistakes and to self-check before the inspection process. “in a total quality environment, the goal is to perform tasks correctly the first time. rather than review arbitrary quantities of cataloged materials, prevention should be emphasized” (paiste, 2003). mcgurr (2011) reiterates this sentiment on prevention by expressing the need for cataloging departments to be watchful of the workflow practices and not wait for a crisis to happen before changes are made. at the center of the library is the bibliographic database. catalogers are responsible for the bibliographic database and their work must be of high quality to provide access to the library’s resources (sheeran, 1996). as noted by alberto petrucciani (2015), libraries are the only social institution responsible for the “control, organization, communication, and preservation of information about the published output of human knowledge and expression.” background the university of south alabama has an enrollment of more than 15,000 students and offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees for over 100 academic programs. besides the marx library, the university has three other libraries on campus: the biomedical library, the mitchell college of business learning resource center, and the doy leale mccall rare book and manuscript library, which is housed in the marx library. for this paper, the marx library’s cataloging department will be the focus of the bibliographic and physical quality control process for the marx library, the mitchell college of business learning resource center, and the doy leale mccall rare book and manuscript library. the marx library has a book budget of $200,000, which also includes the purchase of dvds and single title e-books. this flat budget has been in effect for several years prior to the 2013/2014 fiscal year, which for the university of south alabama begins on october 1 and ends on september 30. the marx library subject librarians begin ordering at the beginning of the fiscal year, and are expected to spend half of the allotted funds by the end of january with the rest being spent by july 1. the majority of materials requested by faculty and purchased by the marx library subject librarians support the university’s undergraduate programs. although some purchases support graduate and doctoral programs, these higher level programs tend to request fewer monographs and are in favor of more costly purchases such as journals and databases. the marx library cataloging personnel currently, the cataloging department of the marx library is comprised of two librarians: the head of cataloging, and the cataloging electronic resources librarian. the full-time staff includes an lta ii (library technical assistant) and an lta i. for most of 2014, there was one librarian and three full-time staff because the head of cataloging retired in january of 2014. in 2015, the personnel changed again to two librarians and three fulltime staff. after a staff retirement in the beginning of 2015, the department was back to four, the current personnel. the department also has two student assistants who are scheduled to work 20 hours a week. nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 88 because this is a small unit, each person has specific and shared cataloging responsibilities. the head of cataloging, and the cataloging electronic resources librarian perform most of the original cataloging as well as copy cataloging for monographs, serials, government documents, and archival resources. the cataloging electronic resources librarian is primarily responsible for cataloging electronic resources such as e-books and streaming videos. the cataloging of dvds, the only remaining media collection in the marx library, is also under the purview of the cataloging electronic resources librarian. the head of cataloging performs original and complex copy cataloging for all materials regardless of format. the lta ii and lta i both perform copy cataloging of all print materials but are not responsible for copy cataloging electronic resources or dvds. the lta ii is the leader of the quality control inspection process, and the librarians serve as backup inspectors. the lta ii also supervises the student assistants who are responsible for the physical processing of materials. the lta i takes the lead for cataloging government documents and filters materials that need original cataloging to the librarians. the lta i also monitors and orders the necessary supplies for physical processing, such as the covers to laminate paperbacks. the lta ii has been in the cataloging department since 1980 and has witnessed the evolution of what is considered quality control for the department. initially, quality control only focused on making sure the lc call number on the spine label matched what was written in the books. several factors made it necessary to include other steps in the quality control process: the migration to a new ils (integrated library system), the creation of more location holdings, and the training of new cataloging staff. cataloging and physical processing during the cataloging process, catalogers follow these basic steps for copy cataloging: 1) searching by isbn (international standard book number), author, title, or other command line search in oclc connexion client; 2) selecting and examining the record and making necessary changes such as updating records that do not meet the current cataloging rules and practices, rda (resource description and access); 3) updating the oclc holdings to add the marx library oclc symbol to record; 4) exporting the oclc record to voyager cataloging module to overlay the order record; 5) performing authority control of name and subject headings; and 6) saving the record to the database. for original cataloging, the bibliographic record is created in oclc connexion client, and then imported into the voyager cataloging module. after the bibliographic record is completed and saved, the holdings record is created to display location and call number, as well as to indicate the number of volumes for multivolume book sets or dvds. the final steps include adding the barcode to the item record and denoting permanent location and item type. the item record also has fields to add the enumeration (volume number), chronology (month/s), and year of the work. this is also where the items status is noted. the item status remains “in process” until it is removed by the circulation department for shelving. after the catalogers have completed the cataloging of books, these materials are placed on one of two trucks. books that have no call number labels or need a corrected call number are placed on one truck, and books that need full physical processing are placed on the other truck. dvds are placed on a separate truck from the books. this separation of materials allows the student assistants nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 89 to easily discern what needs to be done to the items. if during the cataloging process, a cataloger finds a problem with the physical processing of a book from gobi, the problem is corrected in the voyager cataloging module, the book is flagged, and the problem noted so the student will know to make the necessary physical correction. for instance, sometimes the lc call numbers need to be corrected. most often it is simply a date that needs to be changed because the publication for the paperback edition is different from the hardcover edition. government documents and books for the archives are not placed on these trucks because they do not go through the physical processing. for example, books for the doy leale mccall rare book and manuscript library do not receive barcodes or any of the physical processing. books and media for government documents only receive barcodes and no other physical processing. the sudoc classification labels are created and applied in the government documents department because these materials are acquired by the head of government documents who assigns the sudoc classification. books ordered from gobi include minimal physical processing. before making the transition to gobi, the library used baker & taylor. with baker & taylor, the library outsourced all physical processing including the laminating of paperbacks. when baker & taylor dropped the academic market, the marx library had to switch to gobi. since the cost to laminate paperbacks from gobi was substantially higher; therefore, it was more cost effective to have this done in-house by the student assistants. currently, the marx library pays $2.67 per book for the following: supply and apply 3m strips, supply and apply date due slips, and generate and apply labels. when materials are not purchased from gobi, the two student assistants provide all the physical processing which includes the following depending on the item: applying ownership stamps, generating spine labels, affixing date due slips, inserting security strips, laminating paperbacks, and pam (pamphlet) binding. the catalogers apply the barcodes to books and media during the cataloging process. for dvds, the physical processing involves applying barcodes and date due slips to the inside of the dvd case and writing the lc or assigned number on the dvd. however, spine labels are only created for nonfiction titles because they receive lc classification while feature films do not. quality control inspection after the students have completed a truck, the lta ii begins the full quality control inspection. the process begins with checking the bibliographic, holdings, and item records in the voyager cataloging module, and in oclc connexion client to ensure marx library’s oclc holding symbol is on the correct record. the second phase examines the student’s physical processing. during this second phase, any errors are noted on a checklist and returned to the cataloger for bibliographic corrections or to the student for physical corrections. an example of a correction that needs to be made by a cataloger is if the lc call number written in the book or on the dvd does not match what is on the holdings record. for physical corrections, the lc call number on the item could be missing volume numbers for multivolume sets if the volume number is coveredup by the placement of the spine label. nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 90 for many years, this detailed quality control process was done but not recorded to track errors. the lta ii was simply reporting the number of trucks being inspected, but there were no actual book counts. in 2014, the new head of cataloging realized the truck number does not reflect the amount of work the lta ii was doing. in may 2014, the lta ii began counting the number of books going through the quality control inspection. from may to december 2014, 3384 books went through the quality control process; in 2015, the number was 5508; in 2016, it was 3663; and in 2017, a total of 4766 books went through this process. e-books between 2014 and 2017, the marx library subscribed to or purchased over 67,309 e-book titles from twelve vendors including proquest ebook central, ebsco, springer, project muse, jstor, wiley, sage, taylor & francis, science direct, igi global, oxford scholarship online, and acls. among these e-book titles, approximately 90 percent were large vendor packages and 10 percent were individual titles. the quality control process for e-books, whether they are in a large vendor packages or individual titles, is specifically focused on the bibliographic and holdings records; there are no item records for these titles. the cataloging electronic resources librarian is solely responsible for providing the quality control inspection of e-book records. for the large e-book vendor packages, marcedit is the software used to edit the records. its basic gui (graphical user interface) is designed for a non-coder and provides many convenient analysis and conversion capabilities that do not require any direct knowledge of programming or scripting (university of illinois at urbana-champaign, n.d.). in other words, marcedit is not only easy for people to use, but it can also perform some complicated editing tasks on the e-books’ marc records. with marcedit, marc fields are deleted, added, and validated to accomplish the quality control of the large vendor e-book packages. in some instances, print and e-books may share the same isbn number; therefore, the 020 fields for isbn numbers are deleted to prevent e-book records from overlaying existing print bibliographic records in the catalog. for the purpose of clarity and uniformity, non-library of congress subject headings (6xx fields) are deleted. in addition, all classification fields are deleted such as the 050 field for lc or 082 for dewey decimal classification. electronic resources do not need an lc call number because they are not tangible items to be shelved, and we have found that displaying call numbers for e-books only causes confusion for students who, after seeing the number, go look for the item in the stacks. further quality control processing of e-book records includes the application of rda to the bibliographic records, since the marx library adopted and applied rda as their cataloging standard in 2013. currently, most vendor provided marc records follow rda. the rda helper in marcedit is available to correct any issues. for the consideration of local control and e-book ownership, the university of south alabama library proxy is added to the electronic location and access (856 field) of each record to place the access restrictions. in marcedit, marc validator is used to check and verify the accuracy of fields for all records in the e-book package file. if any errors are detected, the nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 91 cataloging electronic resources librarian will locate the records and fix the fields until no errors are found in the e-book package file. after the editing, the e-book package file is ready to be uploaded to voyager. before the loading process, some e-book records from the package file are randomly selected as test records to check if they are displayed correctly and are accessible in voyager. if everything goes well, the e-book package file will be split into two separate files. for example: for a 500 records e-book package file, it will be separated in two files: one contains 100 records, the other contains 400 records. the smaller file with 100 records will be sent to the computer center where it will be uploaded for a test run before the complete file of records is uploaded to the library catalog. if no problems are found, the entire e-book package file will be uploaded to the marx library e-book collections. this process and workflow is also used for the streaming videos. training cataloging personnel staff training is essential to maintain the quality of cataloging work. by understanding staffs’ and students’ professional levels, cataloging proficiency levels, and working patterns, the cataloging department is able to offer different training sessions to empower them to contribute to the quality cataloging workflow. without staff training, bibliographic errors would stymie the cataloging portion of the workflow. hider & tan (2008) define errors by their cause such as “non-application of a rule, misinterpretation of information on sources, poor subject analysis, non-recognition of a piece of information, miscoding, incorrect typography, and so on.” these are all avoidable errors if professionals “are prepared to update their knowledge and skills regularly to meet new metadata challenges and opportunities in the twenty-first century” (park, tosaka, maszaros & lu, 2010). this coincides with khurshid’s (1997) total quality management (tqm) philosophy which states quality cataloging greatly depends on the competency of the catalogers. this expertise is acquired by training and development and should be supported by libraries. to make sure staff is able to learn the newest cataloging information and practices, they are encouraged to view cataloging webinars and attend workshops when feasible. the head of cataloging only requires staff to report the date and title of the webinar and the information to be covered. the head of cataloging also uses this to report on staff professional development during annual staff evaluations. the head of the cataloging department and the cataloging electronic resources librarian also conduct cataloging workshops to help staff understand the newest developments concerning cataloging standards and practices. from 2015 to 2016, two workshops were held that covered topics such as toolbar and options on oclc connexion client, rda rules and standards, voyager cataloging functions, and cataloging reference tools and resources. follow-up instructions or demonstrations take place during the monthly department meetings when necessary. student assistant training most student workers do not have any library work experience before they come to work in the cataloging department. because their job responsibilities are solely physical processing, they do nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 92 not need cataloging experience but they do need to be detail oriented. in addition, most of them were born in 1990s so it is easy to train them to work with technology such as using the software to print the spine labels. plus, they have a strong motivation to gain work experience which will benefit their academic or career development in the future. with proper training, they can handle the physical processing work very well and help improve the output of cataloged materials. the lta ii is responsible for training the student assistants. she has worked in the cataloging department for more than 30 years and has been an integral part of the physical processing of materials and the training of student assistants. usually, the training sessions take several days and depend on the student’s class schedule as well as the quantity of materials available for physical processing. the training sessions include demonstrations of applying call number labels, date due slips, security tapes on different materials, pam binding, and laminating paperbacks. chen (2008) states “under the influence of today’s new trends in the cataloging area along with technological changes, a transformation of the pattern of employment in the library’s technical services is already underway.” to keep the quality of the cataloging work under this employment pattern, well designed training programs and workshops will not only benefit the career development of professionals and paraprofessionals, but they will also improve the quality of cataloging work. why quality control? the processes and workflows for quality control have been described in detail, so why quality control is performed needs explanation. undoubtedly, the major reason is to ensure access to our abundant collection of print and electronic resources. library resources would be in circulation much faster without quality control, but there is greater potential for a variety of mistakes to render the library’s catalog useless. over the years, a host of issues have been uncovered due to the lack of quality control in the early years of the marx library. books with misspelled words or incorrect subfield indicators in the marc title field for titles that begin with an article, “a,” “an,’ or “the,” have disappeared from the opac and discovery service side of searches. the wrong lc number has sent users on the hunt for a book never to be found or shelved in a very different subject area. a barcode was applied to only the first volume of a multivolume set and there was no barcoded record of the existing volumes. name and subject authority control, was inconsistent so multiple instances of names or subjects were displayed during a search. different formats of titles shared the same bibliographic identity which confused users on what format they were looking for. a prime example of this issue was a dvd version of a title was placed on the same holding as the vhs tape version. outsourcing some of our physical processing has greatly expedited the wait time for new books to enter circulation. however, this does not mean these books are 100% mistake free. it is still necessary for catalogers to check the prescribed lc call number as well as to make sure the book is not part of a series that adheres to a different local lc structure or a juvenile title that does not follow our local lc practice. propas & johnson (1998) make the case for librarians to nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 93 implement their own checks to make sure the quality of vendor services is acceptable and for professional librarians to “continue to maintain the intellectual understanding of what constitutes bibliographic integrity and quality.” because we have instituted a detailed quality control process and greatly improved staff training, these mistakes no longer happen or the issue is caught and corrected before library users have access to the resource. as cataloging personnel dwindles and technical services staff are asked or required to leave their comfort areas to work in public services, there is the temptation to let some things go. however, the inspection of the bibliographic and physical quality of the resources should not be one of those processes that falls by the wayside; it’s too important. without the bibliographic inspection of records, easily corrected errors or misunderstanding of rules go unrevealed and cataloging staff continue to commit erroneous mistakes. bade (2008) contends that library users are not looking for a perfect record but simply want to find what they are looking for. however, in order for library users to find the best information for their research, the cataloging records should be in high quality and mistake free, and the format of the resources should be clearly discernible to the user. in summation, hanson & schalow (1999) give the most convincing statement on why the marx library cataloging department performs quality control: “delivering quality in technical services requires that we strive to meet what often seem to be competing expectations from our customers: rapid availability of library materials as well as detailed and accurate cataloging and processing of those materials.” ultimately, it is the responsibility of the cataloging team to perform quality control to identify problems, implement solutions, and take ownership of the bibliographic integrity of the collection. conclusion at this juncture, the marx library cataloging department will continue to follow its current workflow and procedures for quality control. despite a smaller book budget and a small cataloging staff compared to other academic institutions, the cataloging department is, nevertheless, able to provide an effective level of quality control for cataloged materials. however, several factors could initiate changes to the current process, such as a dramatic increase in the book budget and the attrition of cataloging librarians and staff due to retirement or other reasons without rehiring for these positions. the department’s motto is that the quality of work is more important than the quantity of work produced. our motto is similar to khurshid’s (1997) total quality management (tqm) philosophy on doing it right the first time. it is fruitless to rush the cataloging process only to boost monthly output statistics if the work is riddled with mistakes. if more emphasis is placed on training and the reasons why things are done in a certain way, output will increase naturally and without mistakes. this encourages the cataloging librarians and staff to take pride in their work and to seek opportunities to increase their cataloging knowledge and skills. paiste (2003) refers to this as building a “culture of quality” which embodies the following aspects: holding a systems (departments, libraries, institutions) view, pride in workmanship, valuing and empowering employees, and personal learning. nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 94 additionally, inspecting the physical processing of materials is as important as inspecting the data in the bibliographic, holdings, and item records. an error free record is the ultimate goal; however, if the call number or barcode do not match the right item, this item is rendered inaccessible. the quality control of cataloged materials is a comprehensive process that follows a set of workflow to ensure the accuracy of the bibliographic, holdings, and item records. the physical processing must coincide with the information in these records so the library’s collection is accessible to students, faculty, and researchers. in conclusion, the loss of quality control would be harmful to the integrity and accessibility of the library’s resources. “the battle to maintain quality must go on, error must be kept to a minimum” (soules, 1983). as sheeran (1996) said, “the bibliographic database is at the center of the library, and, in order to provide effective access to the library materials, it must necessarily be a high quality.” the marx library cataloging department will continue to provide some level of quality control to maintain a cohesive collection and to adhere to the library’s mission statement to provide timely and efficient access to resources. references bade, d. (2008). the perfect bibliographic record: platonic ideal, rhetorical strategy or nonsense?. cataloging & classification quarterly, 46(1), 109-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802183081 chen, s. (2008). empowering student assistants in the cataloging department through innovative training: the e-learning courseware for basic cataloging (ecbc) project. cataloging & classification quarterly, 46(2), 221-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802177646 graham, p. s. (1990). quality in cataloging: making distinctions. the journal of academic librarianship, 16(4), 213-218. retrieved from professional development collection. hanson, h., & schalow, j. (1999). two aspects of quality in technical services: automating for quick availability, and identifying problems, effecting solutions. library collections, acquisitions, & technical services, 23(4), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649055.1999.10765621 harmon, j. c. (1996). the death of quality cataloging: does it make a difference for library users? the journal of academic librarianship, 22(4), 306-307. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0099-1333(96)90124-x hider, p., & tan, k. c. (2008). constructing record quality measures based on catalog use. cataloging & classification quarterly, 46(4), 338-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802322515 khurshid, z. (1997). the application of tqm in cataloguing. library management, 18(6), 274 279. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129710176706 mcgurr, m. (2008). improving the flow of materials in a cataloging department. library resources & technical services, 52(2), 54-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/lrts.52n2.54 paiste, m. s. (2003). defining and achieving quality in cataloging in academic libraries: a literature review. library collections, acquisitions, and technical services, 27(3), 327338. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1464-9055(03)00069-1 park, j., tosaka, y., maszaros, s., & lu, c. (2010). from metadata creation to metadata quality control: continuing education needs among cataloging and metadata https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802183081 https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802177646 https://doi.org/10.1080/14649055.1999.10765621 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0099-1333(96)90124-x https://doi.org/10.1080/01639370802322515 http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/lrts.52n2.54 https://doi.org/10.1016/s1464-9055(03)00069-1 nero and he / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 95 professionals. journal of education for library and information science, 51(3), 158-176. retrieved from jstor. petrucciani, a. (2015). quality of library catalogs and value of (good) catalogs. cataloging & classification quarterly, 53(3-4), 303-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2014.1003669 propas, s. w., & johnson, s. (1998). outsourcing, quality control, and the acquisitions professional. library acquisitions: practice & theory, 22(3), 279–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0364-6408(98)00082-9 schultz-jones, b., snow, k., miksa, s., & hasenyager jr, r. l. (2012). historical and current implications of cataloguing quality for next-generation catalogues. library trends, 61(1), 49-82. retrieved from project muse. sheeran, r. (1996). maintaining the cohesive collection: the case for the local cataloger. the journal of academic librarianship, 22(6), 462-465. https://doi.org/10.1016/s00991333(96)90009-9 soules, a. (1983). the deterioration of quality cataloging. library journal, 108(1), 27-29. retrieved from academic search complete. university of illinois at urbana-champaign (n.d.). marcedit: an introduction to the marc record editing software marcedit. retrieved from http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=463460&p=3168262 university of south alabama (n.d.). university of south alabama libraries mission statement. retrieved from http://www.southalabama.edu/departments/library/resources/missionstate.pdf about the authors muriel d. nero, senior librarian, is the head of cataloging at the marx library of the university of south alabama. she received her master of library and information science from the university of alabama. her research interests include the future of cataloging for academic libraries and professional development for library staff. jia he, assistant librarian, is the cataloging electronic resources librarian at the marx library of the university of south alabama. she received her master of library and information science from the university of wisconsin milwaukee. her research interests include technical services in academic libraries and library services for international students. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40732596 https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2014.1003669 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0364-6408(98)00082-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0099-1333(96)90009-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0099-1333(96)90009-9 http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=463460&p=3168262 http://www.southalabama.edu/departments/library/resources/missionstate.pdf 6 94 introduction literature review issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org scoping the chinese american librarians association services with a national survey jian anna xiong, xiaocan wang, yan he, lijun xue and jie huang abstract: the assessment and evaluation committee of the chinese american librarians association (cala) designed an online survey for its members in order to elicit various types of information. the primary goals of this survey were to facilitate a stronger organization by serving its members more efficiently and effectively. this survey was distributed to all members through cala’s discussion list and website. the thirty three survey questions in six categories corresponded to the six areas of the cala 2020 strategic plan. this article is a comprehensive report and analysis of the survey results. the survey data and conclusions may assist the board in gauging the level of cala members’ awareness, perception, and usage of the association’s policies and services. it will also provide an understanding of its members’ level of satisfaction with the services provided by cala. the findings of the survey can be used as an important reference for the association to better develop its future strategic plan and long-term goals, such as launching innovative and quality programs and services; using cutting-edge technologies to recruit and engage cala members; creating professional development networking platforms; and promoting leadership training and services. the article will share the findings and interpretation of this survey in order to increase the awareness of issues, difficulties, and challenges with respect to organizational development. to cite this article: xiong, j.a., & et al. (2019). scoping the chinese american librarians association services with a national survey. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 38-58. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 38-58 issn: 2474-3542 scoping the chinese american librarians association services with a national survey jian anna xiong, southern illinois university carbondale, united states wenli gao, university of houston, united states xiaocan wang, missouri southern state university, united states yan he, indiana university kokomo, united states lijun xue, madonna university, united states jie huang, penn state university, united states abstract the assessment and evaluation committee of the chinese american librarians association (cala) designed an online survey for its members in order to elicit various types of information. the primary goals of this survey were to facilitate a stronger organization by serving its members more efficiently and effectively. this survey was distributed to all members through cala’s discussion list and website. the thirty three survey questions in six categories corresponded to the six areas of the cala 2020 strategic plan. this article is a comprehensive report and analysis of the survey results. the survey data and conclusions may assist the board in gauging the level of cala members’ awareness, perception, and usage of the association’s policies and services. it will also provide an understanding of its members’ level of satisfaction with the services provided by cala. the findings of the survey can be used as an important reference for the association to better develop its future strategic plan and long-term goals, such as launching innovative and quality programs and services; using cutting-edge technologies to recruit and engage cala members; creating professional development networking platforms; and promoting leadership training and services. the article will share the findings and interpretation of this survey in order to increase the awareness of issues, difficulties, and challenges with respect to organizational development. keywords: assessment, evaluation, library organization, librarian, chinese american introduction the chinese american librarians association (cala) is an active affiliate of the american library association (ala) and a member of the council of national library and information associations (cnlia). cala has about 500 active members in the united states, as well as in canada, china, hong kong, singapore, and taiwan. in order to make cala a stronger organization by serving its members more efficiently and effectively, an assessment and evaluation committee was established. this committee is responsible for assessing and evaluating xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 39 the association’s operations and strategic directions at the organizational level, as well as providing feedback and suggestions for improvement. the committee conducted its first member survey in 2007, followed by the second survey in 2014 in conjunction with its 40th anniversary. as cala started to implement its 2020 strategic plan, it was time to reevaluate members’ perceptions about the strategic plan and other key areas that are critical for the cala leadership’s strategic decision-making process. the 2014 cala self-assessment survey results showed that the majority of cala members believed cala needs to conduct an assessment every three years. meanwhile in 2014, a group of members worked together to propose the merging of cala’s selfassessment task force and cala’s assessment task force into a standing committee – cala’s assessment and evaluation committee. these committees had the vision to reorganize, ensuring better continuity along with regular organizational assessment, as well as a higher quality of evaluation. in addition, this committee made it possible to have long term plans and a larger scope of tasks, which would be beyond the ability of a temporary task force. after careful consideration, in 2016 the task force was changed to the cala assessment and evaluation committee, which was added into cala’s by-laws and handbook. in 2017, the assessment and evaluation committee launched its third membership survey. this survey contained 33 questions to determine members’ understanding about the 2020 cala strategic plan, as well as members’ involvement and familiarity with cala’s services and professional networking activities. the survey also included demographic questions to categorize the responses by the respondents' primary work setting, years of professional experience, geographic area, and gender. literature review brief review of other library association surveys it is very important for library associations to determine and meet the needs and expectations of members. it is also crucial for members to be engaged in discussions of significance pertaining to the development of these associations. library associations have used a variety of assessment tools to identify member needs, including surveys, website feedback forms, focus groups, and interviews. most associations have used membership surveys to gauge different aspects of members’ experiences and opinions on services and benefits. some associations use third-party providers to design, distribute, collect, and analyze the surveys, while others develop their own instruments. wu, lu, and ho (2009) stated, in the first cala self-assessment publication, that “every member-based professional association values its membership as the heart and soul of its organization. when the time comes for organizational evaluation, membership surveys are often employed as a formal mechanism of self-assessment for an association to measure its performance and the effectiveness of services to its members” (p. 100). the american library association (ala, 2010) has administered different types of member surveys. ala has invited members to take demographic surveys to update its member profiles. the ala’s membership office has conducted monthly surveys of members to provide an ongoing feedback mechanism for ala leadership to follow the implementation of their strategic plans. members receive the surveys by email in the 6th month of their membership year. furthermore, ala also administers the membership value survey every year to identify organizational strengths and potential areas for improvement. the purposes of this membership survey are to evaluate the perceived value of ala membership, members’ overall satisfaction, xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 40 their motivations to join or renew the membership, and the likeliness of recommending membership to a colleague. the association of specialized government and cooperative library agencies (asgcla), a division of the american library association, incorporates the drop member survey on their website to help them understand why members have not renewed their membership. the special libraries association (sla) has undertaken surveys to determine the opinions, attitudes, and needs of sla’s members, as well as to collect opinions for their new products, services, and benefits (thompson, 1992). for example, the sla 2014 membership survey asked members to rate sla benefits and describe their overall level of satisfaction with the association. the survey also measured the member interest in the potential new benefits such as webinar topics and certification programs. as the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users, the international federation of library associations and institutions (ifla) contracted with tbi communications in 2017 to carry out its first member and viewpoints survey to give members a chance to share their thoughts and expectations of the ifla. some membership surveys are intended to obtain members’ opinions on special topics to either contribute to the design of research projects or to provide organizations with valuable guidance on making important decisions. the association of research libraries (arl) conducted a member survey in 2005 on journal bundling practices (hahn, 2006). this survey provided “updates on perceptions of the landscape of large publishers' journal bundles in the rapidly changing journal publication marketplace.” in collaboration with divisions from the special libraries association and the american society for engineering education, the continuing education committee of the association of college & research libraries’ (acrl) science and technology section (sts) distributed surveys in 2004, 2005, and 2007 to identify the continuing education interests of its constituents (spackman, 2006; crook & calzonetti, 2009). in 2008, the american society for information science and technology (asis&t) teamed up with wileyblackwell, the publisher of its journal, to survey its members on the notion of open access and to investigate the feasibility of making its journal open access. in another instance, the medical library association’s (mla) ethical awareness task force implemented a survey in 2013 to determine mla members' awareness of and opinions about the code of ethics for health sciences librarianship (byrd, devine & corcoran, 2014). some library associations collect data from the member libraries via surveys. the institute of museum and library services (imls) administrates its annual public libraries survey across the country to examine key indicators of public library use, financial health, staffing, and resources. summary of the first two cala surveys as stated earlier, cala is an affiliate of the american library association (ala) and it is one of its five active ethnic caucuses. since its establishment in 1973, two surveys, one in 2009 and one in 2014, have been conducted under the leadership of the cala board of directors and the selfassessment task force. the aims of both surveys were to help the organization’s leadership understand members' perceptions and involvement, as well as solicit suggestions and xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 41 recommendations for future improvement in the key areas of membership services, recruitment, and retention. the first cala survey was conducted in 2007 (wu, lu, & ho, 2009). after experiencing a 35-year steady growth in numbers of membership and expansion of regional chapters, the cala leadership felt an increasing need to understand members' perceptions and involvement in order to carry out its long term objectives and short term strategic goals. a task force appointed by the board of directors designed and conducted a survey with 18 questions, mainly focusing on members’ awareness of cala’s organizational structure and policies, its services to members, the extent of participation in events sponsored by cala, and the level of satisfaction with cala leadership. out of 382 online and print surveys sent to the cala members, 171 had responded for a return rate of 50%. as a result of reviewing the survey responses, several initiatives took place to enhance communication and membership recruitment during 2008-2009. the second cala survey was launched in 2014 in conjunction with its 40th anniversary (xiong, kuo, & liu, 2016). the survey was conducted twice, once during the month of may and once in september, due to an initial low response rate. the objective of the survey was to provide insight into the perspectives of cala members on the important issues facing the organization. these issues included the satisfaction level with cala’s leadership in accomplishing cala’s mission and vision; identifying concerns that needed to be addressed; and collecting suggestions and comments from members for achieving organizational excellence. the scope of the 2014 survey was expanded to 6 categories with 35 questions in total. the survey extensively explored key aspects of organizational structures, its policies, its service, the extent of member participation, as well as member satisfaction in regards to the organization’s leadership. the survey revealed not only a strong support for cala as a representative organization of chinese american librarians in north america and but also a new demographic trend of its growing overseas membership. methods the cala assessment and evaluation committee designed the membership survey in 2017. the survey contained a total of 33 questions divided into six sections. the survey was designed to investigate members’ understanding of the cala 2020 strategic plan, involvement with cala, its membership services from 2014-2017, members’ choices of technologies for professional networking, demographics and other general information (see details of the survey in appendix a). after receiving irb approval from southern illinois university carbondale in december 2017, the committee distributed the survey to 491 active cala members through the survey monkey online survey platform. the survey was open for a month and 70 responses were collected. the committee extended the survey response period for two weeks and promoted the survey through cala’s discussion list, facebook page, and online chat group. another 42 responses were collected. a total of 112 out of 491 active cala members responded to the survey, representing a 22.8% response rate. the raw data was downloaded from surveymonkey. it was then analyzed in excel and graphics were created using tableau visualization software. xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 42 survey results and analysis demographics of the survey respondents an analysis of respondents revealed that most were female (69.7%), with the rest identified as male (29.29%) and other (1.01%). due to the nature of this organization, most members are asian and pacific islanders (84.85%). members from other ethnic groups also responded to the survey, with 10.1% indicating that they were white and 2.02% stating they were hispanic or latino. an additional 3.03% identified themselves as other ethnicities. because academic libraries are more inclined to encourage librarians to be involved in professional organizations, it was not surprising to see 65.66% respondents coming from academic libraries. most of the respondents have been a cala member for over a year but less than 10 years (47.47%), while 44.44% of the respondents have been a cala member for over 10 years. only 8.08% of the respondents have been in cala for less than or equal to a year, suggesting that special efforts should be made to encourage new members to respond to the survey. most of the respondents are from the midwest chapter, the northern and southern california chapters combined, and the northeast chapter (see figure 1 below). members from non-us areas also responded to the survey, with a total of 10.1% coming from china, canada, australia, and taiwan. note. q=survey question. figure 1. number of responses from cala chapters (q30) members’ awareness and knowledge of cala’s 2015-2020 strategic plan cala proposed its 2015-2020 strategic plan in 2014. in this survey, a section was designed to investigate members’ understanding of the strategic plan (see figure 2 below) and to learn more effective ways to communicate future strategic plans. a total of 32.14% identified themselves as either “very familiar” or “somewhat familiar” with the strategic plan, and 16.07% believed they were “slightly familiar.” on the contrary, 51.79% respondents were “not aware of the plan at all” xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 43 or “only heard of the plan but never read it” before taking the survey. this suggests that the cala leadership team may need to create a more effective communication plan for its future strategic directions. the members who are aware of the strategic plan learned about it from cala’s conference brochure, board meeting, email discussion list, website, and other cala members. as a limited number of people are able to attend the cala conference or board meetings in person, it is suggested that the cala email discussion list and website should be used as cala’s primary communication channels. figure 2. members’ understanding of cala 2015-2020 strategic plan (q1) involvement with cala 2014-2017 the survey was also designed to understand members’ involvement with cala and to discover barriers as well as solutions to encourage more involvement. the results showed 60.58% of the members began their involvement in cala service as a result of peer recommendations and invitations. it is recommended that current cala members actively invite peers to join committees and task forces. table 1 showed that lack of time remains the major obstacle for not taking the opportunity to serve, with 25.96% of the members stating they were too busy. other major reasons for lack of involvement include being unable to attend conferences due to financial constraints or lack of institutional support (18.27%), being already committed to other committees, such as ala (22.12%), and a lack of knowledge about how to volunteer to serve in cala (11.54%). the results of the survey suggested that a broader conversation needs to happen on how to promote volunteer service, as well as the issues of workload and financial support for attending the cala conference for committee-related work. it is also proposed that members be informed that attending conferences in person is not required for committee work. 31.25% 22.32% 20.54% 16.07% 9.82% not aware of the plan at all somewhat familiar only heard of the plan but have never read it before i did this survey slightly familiar very familiar xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 44 n/a 39.42% too busy 25.96% unable to attend conference due to financial constraints or lack of institutional support 18.27% already committed to other committees, such as ala, preferred to promote more junior members to serve 22.12% other (please specify): 14.42% don’t know how to volunteer to serve in cala 11.54% not enough experience 8.65% do not feel like serving 2.88% being a board director for 3-year term is a long commitment 1.92% table 1. reasons for not serving (q6) membership services 2014-2017 cala provides various support for its members, such as a leadership academy, chapter level, national and international level training opportunities, a mentoring program, scholarships and grants, online job announcements, and research and publishing opportunities. among the 102 respondents who answered the question about the cala leadership academy, 24.5% were aware of and had participated in the academy. another 36.27% were aware of the academy, but had not participated in it, while 39.22% were not aware of it. the cala leadership academy was a onetime event, and a lot of effort was made to ensure its success. these reasons may have contributed to member awareness of it. chapter-level training programs had the best participation rate. the majority of the respondents were aware but were not able to participate in national or internationallevel training programs. this indicated that future national or international-level training programs should be made more accessible, for example, through online platforms or by providing recordings of these programs. table 2 shows the comparison of awareness and participation for different levels of training programs. xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 45 cala leadership academy national level international level chapter level not aware 39.22% (40) 21.57% (22) 32.35% (33) 26.47% (27) aware but have not participated 36.27% (37) 49.02% (50) 43.14% (44) 32.35% (33) aware and participated 24.51% (25) 29.41% (30) 24.51% (25) 41.18 (42) table 2. awareness of cala training programs (q8-10) in regard to the mentoring program, 65.69% of the respondents were either not aware of the program, or were aware but have never participated. among the 34.3% who have used the program, 91.18% rated it as either “good,” “very good” or “excellent,” and the remaining 8.82% rated it as “poor” or “fair.” the results revealed a need for better promotion of this program to encourage more members to get involved. it is a great benefit for new members who are still in library school or early in their career. it also provides a rich experience for senior librarians to further develop their leadership skills by mentoring new professionals. cala could emphasize these mutual benefits in order to grow a pool of librarians to serve as mentors. in terms of the various scholarships and grants that cala provides, the results indicate that members were aware of them and rated them highly; 50.99% of the respondents rated them as either “good,” “very good,” or “excellent.” however, 36.27% were “not aware or were aware but had not used them.” it would be worthwhile to investigate why people were not applying for cala’s grants and scholarships even if they were aware of their existence. this information would be valuable for committees to evaluate their criteria and standards to ensure more inclusiveness. approximately 63% of the respondents were very pleased about the presence of job announcements on the cala discussion list. it was suggested that members keep posting job opportunities on the list. in terms of research and publishing opportunities provided by cala, people have heard of those opportunities or have used them. figure 3 shows the number of responses for corresponding research and publication opportunities. figure 3. research and publication opportunities (q16) xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 46 the survey also asked members about their need for professional development. figure 4 below shows that special topics such as data management, data visualization, copyright, etc. received the most votes (65.69%). respondents were also interested in specific programs related to libraries, such as instruction, cataloging, etc. (54.9%) and leadership skills (48.04%). based on the frequency of the choices, figure 4 was created to represent respondents’ interest in professional development topics. figure 4. professional training topics (q18) as an organization, one of cala’s purposes was to create networking opportunities for people with similar backgrounds. as figure 5 shows, establishing a personal connection was respondents’ top choice for networking, with attending on-site conferences (83%), personal relationships (69%), and working on committees (64%) being top preferences for ways to network within cala with other library professionals. in addition, 53% of the respondents also reported that they used social networking tools such as facebook and linkedin, with the majority of the respondents using them daily or weekly (59%). facebook and linkedin were among the top social networking tools currently being used (64% each). however, 40% of the respondents selected other tools, and specified wechat 37 times as the tool they used, thus confirming that wechat has become an effective communication channel through the cala community. xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 47 figure 5. preferred ways of networking within cala (q20) the open comments section provided additional valuable information. by and large, respondents acknowledged the efforts and great work of the survey committee as well as cala as an organization in general. other comments included shortening the survey to encourage survey participation; adding more services for public library members, non-asian members, new members and members from developing countries; developing more collaboration and promotion at the national level with acrl, apala, and ala, as well as with related professional organizations outside of library networks; more financial support for committee work; more transparency about the operations and decision-making at the national level; the need for long term cala recruitment efforts; and the desire for no dues for the first year of membership for students. conclusion and future plans the cala assessment and evaluation committee developed this survey in order to meet its charge to assess and evaluate the association’s operations and strategic directions at the organizational level. the committee members reviewed two previous survey questionnaires and results, then designed this survey to align with the cala 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020). before the survey was distributed to all cala members, the committee sent it to a group of selected members for testing and feedback. the committee distributed the survey using multiple communication channels to receive a higher response rate. a total of 112 active members participated in and completed the survey. their responses were very useful to gauge the level of active cala members’ awareness, perception, and usage of the association’s policies, activities and strategic plan. it also provided a general sense of the 83.00% 69.00% 64.00% 54.00% 53.00% 8.00% attend on-site conferences through personal relationship work on the same committee attend virtual conferences use social networking (e.g., facebook and linkedin) other (please specify) xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 48 level of members’ satisfaction with the services provided by cala. after carefully analyzing all the collected responses, the committee identified the following findings. although cala members can learn about the 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020) from its email discussion list, website, meetings, and conference programs, etc., over 27% respondents were not aware of this strategic plan at all. in regards to how much members knew about the plan, more than 50% respondents were either unaware of it or had only heard of it but never read it before answering the particular questions related to the strategic plan. this result suggests that cala needs more communication with its members about the strategic plan. communication should continue through the most effective venues, such as the cala website and discussion list, along with various social media platforms (e.g., wechat) to market the strategic plan. based on the responses to questions about members’ involvement in cala’s services, being busy is the number one reason that respondents did not serve on cala committees or task forces. the finding that more than half of respondents might not consider volunteering or nominating themselves to serve in the future is disconcerting. as peer recommendations and invitations are the most effective strategies to recruit new members to serve in cala, the organization definitely needs to encourage its members to regularly reach out to new members to get them involved in cala services through their personal invitation. responses from the questions about membership services in 2014-2017 led to three findings: (1) except for the fact that some members are aware of the opportunities at the chapterlevel and participated in the chapter-level training, more than 70% respondents were not aware or aware but have not taken advantage of the training opportunities at the national or international level or the cala leadership academy 2015-2017. these results suggest that cala should develop marketing strategies to promote the awareness of these training opportunities, such as tying these opportunities to professional development, tenure, and promotion. (2) in regard to the awareness of various service opportunities (e.g., cala mentoring program, program registration discount, scholarship and grants, and online job announcements 2014-2017), the responses vary slightly depending upon the specific questions. however, these responses still show the need for marketing these services and for encouraging members to take advantage of them, especially considering the low awareness of cala’s mentoring program. (3) in terms of research and publication opportunities provided by cala, it is encouraging that more people are aware of cala newsletter, presentations/posters at cala conferences and workshops, and the journals, international journal of librarianship and journal of library and information science. the responses to the questions about “professional networking through cutting-edge technologies” produced these interesting findings: attending on-site conferences and building personal relationships are still the preferred ways for networking. approximately 40% of respondents use social networking tools on a daily basis, while 64% of respondents report using facebook and linkedin. many respondents suggested using wechat for social communication by cala as it is one of the most popular social networking tools in china. in conclusion, the assessment project collected valuable and helpful information from many cala members. the survey results and findings as documented in a comprehensive report will definitely help the cala board better understand members’ needs and perceptions of various services and activities. this will facilitate data-driven decisions on further improvements within the association. the board can use the findings of the survey as an important reference to better develop its future strategic plan and long-term goals, such as launching innovative and quality programs and services; using cutting-edge technologies to recruit and engage cala members; xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 49 creating professional development networking platforms; and promoting leadership training and services. with the survey results archived in cala’s repository and publicly shared with all cala members and other library organizations, the committee hopes to increase the awareness of issues, difficulties, and challenges with respect to the organization’s strategic development. acknowledgement the authors would like to thank all respondents for their participation in the cala selfassessment survey 2014-2017. we would like to thank le yang, qi chen, and lian ruan for their strong support of and guidance on our committee’s work during their terms of serving as cala president. our sincere thanks also go to cala web committee and membership committee that offer generous help for the cala assessment and evaluation committee to smoothly move forward with the assessment survey. last but not least, we would like to give thanks to the editors and reviewers of international journal of librarianship, as well as professor mary taylor from morris library of southern illinois university carbondale for proof reading and editing our article, also for their suggestions on improving the article. references american library association. (2010). member survey. retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/membership/membership_survey byrd, g. d., devine, p. j., & corcoran, k. e. (2014). health sciences librarians' awareness and assessment of the medical library association code of ethics for health sciences librarianship: the results of a membership survey. journal of the medical library association: jmla, 102(4), 257-270. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3163/15365050.102.4.007 calzonetti, j. a., & crook, l. (2009). the 2007 sts continuing education survey: continuing education needs of science/technology librarians. issues in science & technology librarianship, 57. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5062/f4st7mrg hahn, k. (2006). the state of the large publisher bundle: findings from an arl member survey. arl bimonthly report, 245(5).retrieved from http://old.arl.org/bm~doc/arlbr245bundle.pdf spackman, e., freedman, f., gabaldón, c., baldwin, v., & powell, j. (2006). the 2005 continuing education survey: what science librarians want to know. issues in science & technology librarianship, 48. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5062/f4v9860g thompson, a. (1992). special libraries association membership needs assessment survey. special libraries, 83(1), 32-50. wu, d., lu, s., & ho, d. (2009). self-assessment to better serve members of chinese american librarians association. 圖書館學與資訊科學, 35(1). xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 50 xiong, j. a., kuo, j., & liu, w. l. (2016). an analysis report of 2014 cala self-assessment survey. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 41, 20-76. retrieved from http://www.white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl41xkl.pdf xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 51 appendix a cala self-assessment survey 2014-2017 i. cala 2020 strategic plan 1. how well do you know cala 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020) proposed in 2014? o not aware of the plan at all o only heard of the plan but have never read it before i do this survey o slightly familiar o somewhat familiar o very familiar 2. i learned about cala 2020 strategic plan (2015-2020) from: (please check all that apply) o cala conference brochure o cala board meeting o cala email listserv o cala website o other cala members o not aware of the plan at all o other (please specify) ii. members’ involvement in cala’s services 3. how did you start your first service in cala? (please check all that apply) o peer recommendation/invitation o self-nomination o cala online volunteer form o other (please specify) 4. have you ever considered either volunteering or nominating yourself to serve? o yes, and participated o yes, but have not participated o not considered 5. would you consider to volunteer or nominate yourself to serve in future? o would not consider o might or might not consider o definitely consider 6. if you have not taken the opportunities to serve, please choose all the reasons that apply: xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 52 o n/a o don’t know how to volunteer to serve in cala o already committed in other committees, such as ala o already served on ala committees, preferred to promote more junior members to serve o being a board director for 3-year term is a long commitment o do not feel like serving o not enough experience o too busy o unable to attend conference due to financial constraints or lack of institutional support o other (please specify): iii. membership services 2014-2017 7. cala leadership academy 2015-2017 o not aware o aware but have not participated o aware and participated 8. any cala’s international level training opportunities (not including cala leadership academy), conferences, poster sessions, and workshops 2014-2017 o not aware o aware but have not participated o aware and participated 9. any cala’s national level training opportunities (not including cala leadership academy), conferences, poster sessions, and workshops 2014-2017 o not aware o aware but have not participated o aware and participated 10. any cala’s chapter level training opportunities (not including cala leadership academy), conferences, poster sessions, and workshops 2014-2017 o not aware o aware but have not participated o aware and participated 11. cala mentoring program 2014-2017 o not aware or aware but have not used it o poor xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 53 o fair o good o very good o excellent 12. print membership directory 2014-2017 o not aware or aware but have not used it o poor o fair o good o very good o excellent 13. program registration discounts and banquet discounts 2014-2017 (amount of discounts amount, length of time that are valid, etc.) o not aware or aware but have not used it o poor o fair o good o very good o excellent 14. scholarships and grants 2014-2017 (amount, types, etc.) o not aware or aware but have not used it o poor o fair o good o very good o excellent 15. online job announcements 2014-2017 o not aware or aware but have not used it o poor o fair o good o very good o excellent xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 54 16. which research and publishing opportunities provided by cala have you heard of or have you used (please check all that apply): o cala newsletter o cala occasional paper series o international journal of librarianship o journal of library and information science o presentations/posters at cala conferences and workshops o none of above o other (please specify): 17. have you been supported by cala for you to run for ala or state level election during 20142017? o yes o no o other, please specify (e.g. have not run the election, requested support but received no response or was rejected, don’t know how to request the support, etc.): 18. what training topics would you want cala provide at local chapter, national and international levels? (please check all that apply) o leadership skills o specific areas in libraries, such as instruction, cataloging, etc. o special topics such as data management, data visualization, copyright, etc. o other (please specify) iv. professional networking through cutting-edge technologies 19. how do you normally network with other library professionals? (please check all that apply) o attend on-site conferences o attend virtual conferences o work on the same committee o use social networking (e.g., facebook and linkedin) o through personal relationship o other (please specify) 20. which way you would prefer to network within cala with other library professionals? (please check all that apply) o attend on-site conferences o attend virtual conferences xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 55 o work on the same committee o use social networking (e.g., facebook and linkedin) o through personal relationship o other (please specify) 21. how often do you use social networking tools (e.g., facebook and linkedin)? o never o yearly o quarterly o monthly o weekly o daily 22. which social networking tools you are currently use? (please check all that apply) o blog o facebook o google+ o linkedin o pinterest o twitter o other (please specify) 23. which cutting-edge technologies (including those are not listed above in this survey) you would like cala to use for the purpose of creating more professional networking platforms s v. general 24. why did you choose to join cala? (please check all that apply) o professional development opportunities o opportunities to network with members o being part of a professional association o other (please specify) 25. cala continued to be an inclusive librarians association that welcomes and values diversity, and opens its membership to all library professionals who are interested in the mission and vision of cala. o strongly disagree o disagree xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 56 o neutral o agree o strongly agree 26. cala connected members to develop a sense of belonging in cala, regardless of age, experience, and background; engaged members and provide services to develop a community in which members can obtain guidance and camaraderie for various professional needs. o strongly disagree o disagree o neutral o agree o strongly agree 27. please provide here any additional suggestions and comments on this survey which you had no opportunity to provide above: vi. demographics 28. please choose your type of membership: o affiliated membership o honorary membership o institutional membership o life membership o non-salaried membership o overseas membership o regular membership o student membership o other (please specify) 29. how long have you been a cala member? o 10 years o >6 and <=10 years o >1 and <=6 years o <= 1 year 30. please choose the cala chapter/group that you currently belong to: o greater mid-atlantic o midwest o northeast xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 57 o northern california o southern california o southeast o southwest o all other u.s. states o non-u.s. areas, please specify: 31. please choose the type of library you are working for: o academic o public o school o special o other (please specify) 32. please specify your ethnicity: o white o hispanic or latino o black or african american o native american or american indian o asian / pacific islander o other 33. please choose your gender: o female o male o other (please specify) about the authors jian anna xiong is the government information librarian/associate professor at southern illinois university carbondale. wenli gao is the data services librarian at university of houston. xiaocan wang is the emerging technologies librarian/systems librarian at missouri southern state university. xiong et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 58 yan he is the information literacy librarian at indiana university kokomo. lijun xue is the catalog/reference librarian at madonna university. jie huang is the special projects cataloging librarian at penn state university. 3--98-619-1-le.title 3--98-619-1-le_1 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org a study of the information literacy needs of social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university jelena magliaro and sharon munro abstract: this study consists of an analysis of the information literacy (il) needs and levels of 44 social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university using the technology acceptance model. students completed a quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary open-ended questions. results showed that students who received a library tour and/or in-class library instruction were more knowledgeable and confident about library resources and services. the study clearly demonstrates that information literacy sessions should be essential components of graduate education. a comprehensive literature review of information literacy studies focusing on social work students is also provided, along with the current graduate social work modified beile test of information literacy for education (b-tiled) assessment tool (beile o’neil, 2005). the authors recommend that information literacy surveys in canada include the relevant required elements for the institutional quality assurance process (iqap) and program learning outcomes. given the lack of a canadian national document for information literacy standards, such surveys should also reflect the components of acrl’s new framework for information literacy for higher education. this study can serve as a model for replication at other universities, particularly those that are part of the ontario council of university libraries and that have graduate social work programs. to cite this article: magliaro, j., & munro, s. (2018). a study of the information literacy needs of social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 3-35. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 3-35 issn:2474-3542 a study of the information literacy needs of social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university jelena magliaro and sharon munro university of windsor, windsor, on, canada abstract this study consists of an analysis of the information literacy (il) needs and levels of 44 social work graduate students at a mid-sized canadian university using the technology acceptance model. students completed a quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary open-ended questions. results showed that students who received a library tour and/or in-class library instruction were more knowledgeable and confident about library resources and services. the study clearly demonstrates that information literacy sessions should be essential components of graduate education. a comprehensive literature review of information literacy studies focusing on social work students is also provided, along with the current graduate social work modified beile test of information literacy for education (b-tiled) assessment tool (beile o’neil, 2005). the authors recommend that information literacy surveys in canada include the relevant required elements for the institutional quality assurance process (iqap) and program learning outcomes. given the lack of a canadian national document for information literacy standards, such surveys should also reflect the components of acrl’s new framework for information literacy for higher education. this study can serve as a model for replication at other universities, particularly those that are part of the ontario council of university libraries and that have graduate social work programs. keywords: information literacy, social work graduate students, library instruction, embedded librarianship; liaison roles; b-tiled introduction the academic library is the gateway to a wide range of resources for students and faculty. there can be an overwhelming number of choices. the increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice in social work makes the acquisition of information literacy (il) skills and abilities even more important for students, faculty and practitioners. in addition, changing standards for reviews of undergraduate and graduate programs mean that analysis and evaluation of programs, services and resources are now required rather than just descriptions of the same. the academic library must also reflect the values and meet the goals of its home institution and, in partnership with faculty, magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 4 make information literacy an integral part of the curriculum and accreditation processes on campus. this is particularly important for canadian university accreditation schemes as few authors have examined the role of information literacy in institution-wide accreditation practices (bradley, 2013). information literacy standards in 2000, the association of college and research libraries (acrl) standards committee and the acrl board of directors reviewed and approved information literacy standards for higher education. these standards provided a definition for what constituted an information literate individual. much has changed since these standards were originally devised and acrl has now developed a framework for information literacy for higher education. within this framework, information literacy is defined as:“…the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.” (association of college and research libraries [acrl], 2015, introduction for faculty and administrators, para.1). one of the major underpinnings of the new framework is collaboration among librarians, faculty and students and all of the many benefits that this entails for information literacy. the framework contains six frames consisting of: authority is constructed and contextual; information creation as a process; information has value; research as inquiry; scholarship as conversation; and searching as strategic exploration (acrl, 2015). information literacy is viewed through these frames, “…each of which includes a concept central to information literacy, knowledge practices, and dispositions” (acrl, 2015, appendix 1: implementing the framework, para.2). students need to master the concepts and knowledge in each of the frames in order to gain expertise in their disciplines or professions (acrl, 2015). the framework is based on the concept of metaliteracy with information literacy seen as “…an overarching set of abilities in which students are consumers and creators of information who can participate successfully in collaborative spaces” (acrl, 2015, introduction, para.4). it reflects the new realities of today’s complex information environment by putting more emphasis on electronic resources; by accommodating a variety of learning styles and models; and by incorporating new realities such as blended learning and the flipped classroom (acrl, 2015). saunders (2017) analyses the new framework from a social justice perspective and gives an overview of some of the reactions to it, both positive and negative. she also provides insight into the efforts made by acrl to include social justice and anti-oppression perspectives and practices in the framework. however, she believes that more needs to be done and offers her own framework entitled “information social justice” for consideration and discussion. she notes in the definition for her proposed framework: information is created within existing power structures, and those power structures can impact the production and dissemination of information, as well as distort, suppress, or misrepresent information. to understand and use information most effectively, users must be able to examine and interrogate the power structures that impact that information, and analyze the ways that information can be used to both inform and misinform (p. 67). magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 5 the increased emphasis on social justice and anti-oppression practices in information literacy theory, standards and practices, fits well with social work. as noted in the new acrl framework, successful information literacy programs require collaboration between librarians, course instructors and students and an understanding of the objectives, goals and outcomes of such programs by all involved. gullikson (2006) found that not much had been written about the views and reactions of faculty to the original acrl standards in the library literature (p. 584). she conducted a study of faculty perceptions of the standards at four canadian universities. she found that some faculty viewed the language used in the standards for information literacy outcomes as confusing or repetitive. faculty were also more likely to be in agreement about expected information literacy outcomes for students prior to or in the first year of university than for other years. gullikson (2006) recommended that further research be done to identify the information literacy outcomes that were of the most or least importance to faculty (p. 591). catalano (2010) describes a study that was undertaken to assess the information literacy skills and knowledge of graduate education students at hofstra university using the acrl standards. she notes that program accreditation is making standards-based information literacy skills increasingly important (p. 21). the study showed that the students were more skilled at evaluating information sources than anticipated but did need “…advanced bibliographic search skills and strategies that are often not addressed in traditional “one-shot” library instruction sessions” (p. 31). catalano recommends multiple information literacy sessions or a one-credit course for graduate students throughout the program in order to meet their needs (p. 31). gordon and bartoli (2012) discuss the collaborative efforts of a librarian and faculty member to integrate information literacy into a graduate counseling psychology program. instead of using the acrl standards, they chose to use “discipline-based standards” from the association of counselor education and supervision (aces) for their instructional goals (p. 23). by so doing, they hoped to emphasize the relevance of information literacy goals and skills to the workplace as well as to faculty and administrators. they found that this approach had much more appeal to faculty members and students and made them more aware of the relevance of information literacy for specific courses and disciplines (p. 37). information literacy and accreditation information literacy should be an integral part of academic programs and their accreditation processes, but this is not necessarily the case. bradley (2013) discovered that little had been written about information literacy in relation to accreditation standards for various professions. she conducted a study of accreditation standards for three professions – social work, nursing and engineering – and looked for references to information literacy in the standards (p. 44). she found that the standards for professional programs for the uk and australia paralleled the original acrl information literacy competency standards more closely than was the case for canada and the united states. bradley believes that this is partly due to the absence of a national document for information literacy standards/guidelines in canada, whereas the united kingdom, australia and the united states all have such documents (p. 63). however, she notes that this does not explain why the acrl competency standards have not become a more integral part of accreditation processes in canada (p. 64). she believes that the accreditation process is a prime opportunity for magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 6 librarians to demonstrate their value to programs and that they should play an active part in this process. she recommends that librarians and their professional associations become more involved with revising and integrating il-related outcomes into accreditation standards for professional programs. she also holds that the reverse is true and that consideration should be given to including professionals and academics who are not librarians in the revision process of information literacy-related standards for librarians (p. 65). social work and evidence-based practice evidence-based practice has brought a new tenor to social work practice, making research an integral part of clinical work. gibbs and gambrill (2002) describe it as “…the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of clients” (p. 452). they note that “ebp is designed to create professionals who are lifelong learners who draw on practice-related research findings and involve clients as informed participants in decisions made” (p. 452). lewis (2003) emphasizes the importance of social work research for policy and practice (p. 579), noting that the profession needs “…critically reflective social workers” who will “…develop and demonstrate the same sorts of skills and values that research in our field demands” (p. 585). not everyone is a proponent of evidence-based practice. poole (2010) advocates for antioppressive and critical social work practices and worries about “…interests that welcome evidence-based and other modernist inventions meant to limit, control and prescribe” (p. 8). herz and johansson (2011) are concerned that the move towards evidence-based programs “…might be at the cost of losing social-psychological thinking about complex, liquid, and changing social and cultural conditions” (p. 41). johnson, whitfield, & grohe (2011) discuss problem-based learning noting its applicability to social work because of “…the nature of “real world” problems that occur and the solutions that need to be obtained to meet the client’s multiple information needs in solving problems or finding resolutions to situations” (p. 8). some writers, such as lewis (2003), have expressed concern that research is predominantly the enclave of academics and that all stakeholders need to be involved (p. 580). wheeler and goodman (2007) echo lewis’s concerns noting the importance of information literacy skills and continuing education for health and mental health social workers so that they can be “…involved in the development of the very evidence that is increasingly driving the decision making and resource allocations in health and mental care” (p. 236). mirabito (2012) examines the constantly changing and complex work environment that social workers find themselves in and advocates for research partnerships between academic and field educators in order to ensure that academic curricula reflect social work practice in agencies (p. 245). information literacy and students and faculty the foundations of research skills are laid during professional training. silfen and zgoda (2008) reviewed the literature and found that little had been published about social work students and their information literacy needs. they note that the rise of evidence-based practice in social work has increased the importance of information literacy instruction for social work students and requires more attention from librarians in the literature (p. 104). weetman dacosta (2010) found magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 7 that material pertaining to information literacy tends to be published in the professional literature for librarians and that “…where articles were found in mainstream educational journals, most were written by library and information professionals” (p. 204). lampert (2005) notes that “…specific recommendations and successful strategies for infusing subject specific information literacy skills into graduate studies are not prevalent in information literacy literature” (p. 7). bellard (2007) finds that information literacy instruction for graduate students is often not incorporated into the curricula and “…remains sporadic at best and offered mainly in a variety of supplemental venues (e.g., online tutorials, assignment related instruction workshops, orientations)” (p. 495). howard, mcmillen, and pollio (2003) believe that social work schools have not spent enough time “…teaching students the knowledge and skills they need to identify and effectively search the many available sources of practice-relevant information” (p. 19). the authors note that this may be due to inadequate training in this area for faculty members themselves and warn that “…continued neglect of didactic efforts in this area will seriously hinder efforts to promote evidence-based practice” (p. 19). lampert (2005) states: when the current lack of entry-level graduate student information literacy skills is combined with the paucity of higher cognitive skills often displayed in student writing of literature reviews, the critical need for collaboration between librarians and discipline faculty becomes clear. this situation calls for the incorporation of information literacy skills training into graduate curriculum (p. 7). bingham, wirjapranata and chinnery (2016) describe a collaborative program developed by faculty and information professionals at the university of auckland which “…aimed to cultivate third-year social work students’ understanding of the research-practice nexus by actively inducting them into the use of ebp and relevant il skills prior to their first practicum” (p. 202). in their concluding remarks, the authors strongly advocate for the integration of both in field work and courses, noting that this “…would embed the importance of the research-practice connection across the curriculum more forcefully and facilitate the development of more information literature ebp practitioners” (p. 209). bury describes a survey research study that “…investigates the information literacy (il) instruction practices, attitudes and perceptions of university faculty at york university” (p. 45). this study was conducted across multiple disciplines. results of the survey showed that faculty were concerned about the information literacy competencies of students, particularly lower-level undergraduates (p. 49) and that they also thought that the research skills of graduate students were not at a desired level (p. 51). a strong majority of faculty were in favour of students receiving information literacy instruction (p. 51) and also supported a collaborative model with librarians for teaching information literacy competencies (p. 53), but bury notes that her study found that there was not a high rate of integration of information literacy instruction within courses (p. 59). she makes several recommendations including the need for librarians to take a stronger advocacy role in promoting and educating faculty about the benefits of information literacy instruction (p. 60). as noted previously, not much work has been done about social work students and their information literacy needs. table 1 gives an overview of several studies pertaining to information literacy and msw students. a review of the literature clearly shows the need for integrating information literacy into social work curricula and for collaboration between faculty and librarians, librarians and students, and librarians and social work practitioners so that social workers can be effective researchers and practitioners. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 8 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations bellard (2007) 198 msw students looking at the information literacy needs of nontraditional msw students as conveyed through their feedback about a mandatory information literacy workshop pre and post questionnaires; in-class observation and hands-on exercises students over-rate their research skills and have difficulty locating, critically evaluating and citing materials. more instruction needed. majority of participants indicated that information literacy workshops should be integrated into the curriculum. no longitudinal evidence. the information literacy workshop focuses on basic information gathering techniques. longitudinal studies to assess graduate level information literacy programs. further study of perceptions and expectations of students and faculty about graduate level information literacy more collaboration between librarians, teaching faculty and administrators so that curricula match the needs of nontraditional graduate students. pre-assessment of students’ abilities through the assigning of a short research paper prior to admission to graduate school. borderline students to take a basic information literacy workshop incorporate information literacy sessions into the curriculum. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 9 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations brustman et al. (2007) 104 msw students improve information and computer literacy skills of msw students series of required workshops closely tied to the acrl information literacy standards done by university at albany librarians in collaboration with faculty in the school of social welfare. surveys and assessment tests administered to measure students’ understanding and rating of workshop content. classroom observations. workshops have made students more aware of library resources and services pertaining to social welfare and how to use both efficiently and effectively. social work students are now the highest users of reference services. small size of library classroom resulting in more classes and heavier workload for librarians. getting the students to take the classes early in the msw program. more promotion of the workshops by librarians and faculty use a database to track student completion of the workshops. develop a webct version of the social welfare research seminar expand the study to other institutions. emphasize the strengths and differences of social welfare resources and clearly outline the library’s interlibrary loan process. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 10 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations ismail (2009) 100 traditional and nontraditional students in the msw program at marywood university comprising of 55 weekend students; 7 part-time; 16 full-time; and 22 satellite students to get feedback from currently enrolled traditional and nontraditional students about their library use and needs and to compare same. conducted a survey, available online and in print which included openended questions, multiple choice questions and rating scales. survey gathered demographic information and feedback about student needs, use and satisfaction regarding library services and resources. additional/improved assistance needed for nontraditional students including weekend assistance. nontraditional msw students have specific library needs that may differ from other students. reference email/chat service was the least used resource. low response rate to survey. follow-up study of nontraditional students consisting of focus groups and/or a survey to gain more insight into their preferences for seeking library assistance and the impact of student demographics on those preferences. create a separate gateway for remote and/or nontraditional students. librarians need to organize formal library instruction sessions for satellite students and explore other options for providing library assistance. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 11 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations johnson, whitfield & grohe (2011) 10 faculty participants from a variety of disciplines. one of the faculty participants then incorporated what he had learned into the syllabus for an msw course. to show the benefits of collaboration between librarians and faculty members for improving students’ information literacy skills. program with three phases: a) workshop about the acrl guidelines and information literacy b) collaboration and then a midterm presentation by librarians and faculty c) teaching a class using the improved syllabus and the final presentation a preand posttest were given to get baseline measurements for students’ information literacy-related knowledge. noticeable improvement in the quality of the students’ papers. study shows the positive impact of collaboration between librarians and faculty for both the faculty and the students small sample size. increase sample size and have a more diverse population. more content in future for librarian participants. use this study as the basis for future research on information literacy collaborations between faculty and librarians. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 12 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations johnston (2010) 100 first year social work students (on and off campus) to provide the students with information literacy and research skills through an online module set up in blackboard and to assess the efficacy of the same. participation in a compulsory online information literacy module and evaluation of the same through a survey; focus groups; observations and task results. majority of students liked and used the tutorial. they learned new techniques and skills for their assignments; could complete it at their convenience; and thought that the quality of their assignments was improved by it. only 25 students out of 100 completed the survey – 13 oncampus students and 12 offcampus). develop and support the online information literacy tutorial. build information literacy content into the social work program. have face-to-face training available for those who want it. further assess the effectiveness of the module. continue to develop information literacy skills for all disciplines. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 13 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations kitchin et al. (2013) 26 second year ma social work students evaluation of a self-audit tool aimed at promoting information literacy, information technology, information and study skills data was collected regarding students’ experiences with this tool through a small-scale evaluation study. students found the identification and evaluation of information skills to be helpful. they also appreciated the selfdirected learning approach engendered by the audit. the results showed that the students lacked confidence about their information skills prior to second year. study was dependent on student self-reports of confidence and so was limited to students’ perception of their progress. this was a small-scale evaluation study. more attention needs to be paid in postgraduate programmes to developing students’ abilities to find, incorporate and use information. examine, develop and evaluate the provision of information skills for social work programmes at all levels. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 14 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations silfen et al. (2008) 55 msw students at boston college to use a citation study to identify the information literacy needs of graduate social work students and the role that librarians can play in promoting evidencebased practice. small study of journal citations in graduate social work students’ reference lists for a required paper to determine the quality of their sources. students need instruction that focuses on evidencebased searching skills and that will help them to find peer-reviewed articles and sources that are researchbased. correlational analyses were limited – additional research needs to be done. small number of participants. increase the number of participants and citations studied. have a control group for the next study. spend less time on the mechanics of searching databases and more time focusing on the retrieval of high-quality information. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 15 table 1: summaries of some recent information literacy studies with social work students and faculty study participants purpose method results limitations recommendations sizemore et al. (2008) undergraduate social work students – no number given. pilot project using constructivist learning theory to teach research skills to social work students who were looking at social policy responses to social problems. increasingly focused instruction moved from formal class group meetings to small groups of students to individual students. collaboration with faculty on improving assignments and learning outcomes. qualitative evidence indicates positive changes in students’ experiences with the research process and knowledge related to the course content. no data specified. incorporate the use of web 2.0 tools in order to connect with students through a variety of resources. combine this with face-toface contact with librarians. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 16 social work at the university of windsor the university of windsor is a mid-sized university in the city of windsor in southern ontario, canada and is very close to the windsor-detroit border. the university has a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs containing more than 15,000 full and part time students. the school of social work at the university of windsor is a dynamic and thriving institution, offering several bsw and msw program options. the advanced standing msw program is one year in duration and is for students who have an honours bsw degree. the regular track msw program takes two years of full-time study to complete and is for students with a four-year honours degree in a related social science discipline or helping profession. the school of social work has also developed an off-campus msw for working professionals program with regular and advanced tracks. another exciting development is the msw/jd program. this is a joint degree program with the faculty of law that allows students to attain a juris doctor and an msw degree in three years if they have a bsw degree and in four years if they have an honours degree in a related field. the school of social work also has a phd program with a focus on civic engagement. the school of social work at the university of windsor has been very supportive of library services and resources. the social work librarian has office space in the school of social work and spends one full day a week at the school providing research help to students and faculty. she provides information literacy sessions and also goes to mississauga and oshawa with the instructors and coordinators for the msw working professionals program to participate in orientation sessions for new students. she serves as the library representative on the school of social work’s council and has a web page on the school of social work’s website. purpose of the study the purpose of this study was to examine data pertaining to the information literacy levels and needs of graduate students in social work at the university of windsor. the quantitative data was collected at the very beginning of the semester for each program, in order to ascertain the students' knowledge, abilities and experience with information literacy at the start of their graduate studies. participants in the study volunteered to complete a quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary open-ended questions. some students also took part in semistructured follow-up interviews which included observation of the participants’ behavior whilst completing specific tasks. methodology this study examined the information literacy needs and levels of 44 social work graduate students from a total sample of 201 graduate students by using a quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary open-ended questions (appendix a) (magliaro, 2011). the quantitative component consisted of the adapted quantitative instrument called “the beile test of information literacy for education” (b-tiled) (beile o’neil, 2005), which is used to measure a pre-service student’s magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 17 (student teacher candidates in-training) il (information literacy) skills. questions #7,8,10, 12,13,15,18,19,21,23,24, and 26 were slightly modified in order to reflect canadian and relevant social work content as well as “to target appropriate standards, performance indicators, and outcomes” (magliaro, 2011, p.64). as il encompasses components that go beyond what b-tiled is intended to measure, the instrument was modified to measure il needs of master of social work students. it was also extended through the use of supplementary, open-ended questions based on the davis, bagozzi, and warshaw (1989) technology acceptance model (tam). tam is a particularly useful model for studying the il and information competency of graduate students, because it utilizes a behavioral component to explain the end-user’s behaviours. it should be noted that the main assumption behind tam is that specific beliefs (i.e., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) are primary determinants for the adoption of information technology and information systems (it/is) (lu, yu, lio, & yao, 2003). perceived usefulness is described as the extent to which one believes that utilizing the system will improve one’s performance, whereas perceived ease of use reflects the belief that utilizing the system will be effortless (davis et al., 1989; venkatesh & davis, 2000). thus, one of the key goals of tam is to measure the impact of external variables on internal beliefs, attitudes, and intentions (davis et al., 1989; lu, yu, lio, & yao, 2003). based on the modified b-tiled and extended tam, the survey research questions were formulated encompassing quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary openended questions. part 1a: quantitative research question: a. which graduate profile variable best predicts graduate students’ il? part 1b: qualitative research question: b. how do graduate students perceive the usefulness and ease of use of library services? results this study examined the il needs of master of social work students through the use of a quantitative questionnaire that included supplementary open-ended questions. the questionnaire consisted of three parts: (i) questions geared towards establishing a profile of a graduate student; (ii) modified b-tiled instrument (beile o’neil, 2005); and (iii) open-ended questions (technology acceptance model [tam], davis et al., 1989). the first part of the survey encompassed 12 questions, capturing the profile variables of various graduate students. the second section focused on questions related to the students’ perceived ability to search library databases and the internet to find information. it also looked at students’ past experiences with library instruction. the last part of the survey included the tam open-ended questions. this part explored “usefulness and ease of use” by requiring responses regarding “library instructions, library experience instructional needs and software usage”. the original criterion-related validity of the survey was noted by comparing the results on a 22item b-tiled written test with the original morner’s (1993) 8-item in library test. the cronbach’s alpha for master of social work modified b-tiled survey was .658. a total of 44 social work graduate students (21.9%) out of 201 completed the survey. thirty-nine were female (88.6%), 41 (93.2%) were full time students and 23 (52.3%) were first year students. thirty (68.2%) graduate students were enrolled in major course work and a special research project. seventy-five percent of the students were between 20 and 29 years of age. a total of 23 (52.3%) graduate students had taken less than 6 courses; had completed a bachelor of arts degree; had participated in a library magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 18 tour and had in-class library instruction. there were no international graduate students and 84.09% indicated that english was their first language (see appendix b table 1a). however, the majority of students (79.5%) did not have one-to-one instruction with a librarian at the very beginning of semester. in addition, the majority of students (88.6%) noted that graduate students need instruction on how to use library information resources in their subject areas (see appendix b table 1a & table 1b). after performing seven one-way analyses of variance (anova) for significance at the .05 confidence level, there was a significant difference f (1,42) = 4.710, p<.05 between those participants who were in their first year of study (m =12.57) and those who were in their second year of study (m=14.67), as well as those students who had completed less than six courses (m=12.57) and those who had completed more than six courses (m=14.67). in addition, there was a significant difference f (1,42) =6.692, p<.05 between those participants whose last degree was a bachelor of arts (m=14.47) and a bachelor of social work (m=12.29) (see appendix b -table 1a & 2a). part 2 of the modified b-tield survey consisted of six questions about the graduate students’ self-perceived ability to do electronic searches and about their past undergraduate/graduate experiences with library instruction at their current institution. on a scale of 1 to 5, the majority of students rated themselves as a 4 out of 5 in terms of their ability to search the library databases and the internet (appendix b table 1b). with regard to students’ past undergraduate/graduate experiences with library instruction at their current institution, after performing five one-way analysis of variance (anova) for significance at the .05 confidence level, there were a significant difference f (1,42) = 6.133, p<.05 between those students who had taken a library tour (m =14.70) and those who did not (m=12.33) participate. there was also a significant difference f (1,42) = 4.116, p<.05 between those students who had library instruction sessions (m=14.65) and those who did not receive such instruction (m=12.67) (see appendix b table 1b & 2b) part 3 of the survey contained open-ended questions on the usefulness and ease of use of library services. the participants provided feedback for the following three elements: (i) the perceived usefulness of library instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels; (ii) the graduate students’ need for instruction on the use of library resources and services; and (iii) the use of specific library resources. with regard to perceived usefulness of library instruction, 10 students (22.7%) had never received undergraduate library instruction while 21 students (47.8%) had never received graduate library instruction. a total of 26 graduate students (59%) identified themselves as moderate users of academic library resources and services. however, a large majority of 88% (n=39) students indicated that graduate students need instruction on how to use library information resources in their subject areas. they had mostly used scholars portal (n=24) but had not used refworks (n=38) nor foxy leddy (n=42). as a point of clarification, refworks is a bibliographic citation management tool and foxy leddy allowed library patrons to search several library resources at one time. after performing one-way analysis of variance (anova) for significance at the .05 confidence level, there was a significant difference f (1,41) = 4.992, p<.05 between those participants who found library resources easy to use and accessible (m=14.43) and those who did not find this to be the case (m=12.13) (appendix b table 3a and table 3b). magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 19 analysis of the study this data analysis provides a more holistic presentation of social work graduate students’ il needs. magliaro (2011) further developed the b-tiled survey to accommodate 10 graduate departments including social work (appendix a). the responses to the quantitative research question which graduate profile variable best predicts graduate students’ il?showed significant differences for “year of study”, “# of courses completed” and “last degree completed”. the first year graduate students who are entering graduate programs may come from a variety of institutions and so may have a range of experiences or lack thereof with information literacy instruction. students who completed more than 6 courses (some might be at the thesis stage) and had bachelor of arts degrees did have higher il results. responses to the qualitative research question how do graduate students perceive usefulness and ease of use of library services? – showed statistical significance for “library tour” and “library instruction” and “ease of use”. this indicates the necessity for providing such services on an ongoing basis and the importance of targeting such services to entry level graduate students. survey limitations the demographic data gathered did not include information about the institutions at which the graduate students completed their previous degrees. so it is not clear as to which institutions provided the social work graduate students with library instruction. therefore, it is necessary to provide information literacy instruction at the start and throughout the graduate program. future surveys should include more specific demographic information about the social work students and should specify which of the four main streams they are pursuing (advanced standing msw oncampus; regular track msw on-campus; advanced standing msw for working professionals off-campus; and regular track msw for working professionals off-campus). data from the distance education msw working professionals program was not collected. another limitation is that the b-tiled survey might not reflect the full breadth of skills and knowledge expected of graduate students (beile o’neil, 2005). for example, standard four was not included because it was not conducive to the multiple-choice format since it pertains to group work. future surveys should include the updated acrl standards. information gleaned from iqap reviews and social work program outcomes can help to develop a more comprehensive survey. social work focus group meetings with graduate students, faculty and librarians would also be helpful. conclusion there is much to be gained from this study. indeed, magliaro’s (2011) original dissertation, which is the basis for this paper, has already been referenced in three recent doctoral dissertations (ayoub. 2016; bishop, 2015; dumouchel, 2017). our review of the literature has indicated that very few projects of this nature have been done with social work students. so this research will not only provide information to our immediate campus community about the information literacy levels and needs of graduate students in social work, but it also serves as a first step towards developing more comprehensive information literacy assessment surveys. analysis of the data and magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 20 conclusions gleaned from this study may lead to recommendations regarding the design of discipline-specific program instruction or workshops focused on increasing information literacy levels of social work graduate students. the ultimate goal would be to revise and modify the current instrumentation, so that future studies of a similar nature can better analyse and serve the information literacy needs of social work graduate students. it is clear from this study that providing at least one standardized mandatory information literacy instruction session at the beginning of a student’s graduate career as well as compulsory subject-specific information literacy instruction throughout face-to-face, online and/or blended would benefit many graduate students. finally, this data analysis serves as a model study that can be implemented at other universities, particularly those that are part of the ontario council of university libraries (ocul) consortium, such as the university of windsor. references association of 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(2010). revelations of an off-campus user group: library use and needs of faculty and students at a satellite graduate social work program. journal of library administration, 50(5-6), 712-736. doi: 10.1080/01930826.2010.488957 ismail, l. (2009). what they are telling us: library use and needs of traditional and non traditional students in a graduate social work program. the journal of academic librarianship, 35(6), 555-564. johnson, o.j., & whitfield, j.s., & grohe, b. (2011). improving social work students’ information literacy skills: a faculty and librarian collaboration. journal on excellence in college teaching, 22(3), 5-21. johnston, n. (2010). is an online learning module an effective way to develop information literacy skills? australian academic & research libraries, 41(3), 207-218. kitchin, s., & lampitt, s. (2013). evaluation of a self-audit tool to support information skills development in postgraduate students. sconul focus 59, 54-59. kovach, m., & montgomery, h. 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(2003). preparing the next generation of researchers. social work education: the international journal, 22(6), 577-587. magliaro, jelena, "comparing information literacy needs of graduate students in selected graduate programs through the technology acceptance model and affordance theory" (2011). electronic theses and dissertations. 424. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/424 http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/10.1016/j.acalib.2006.06.001 http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/10.1016/j.acalib.2006.06.001 magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 22 mirabito, d.m. (2012). educating a new generation of social workers: challenges and skills needed for contemporary agency-based practice. clinical social work journal, 40(2), 245-254. poole, j.m. (2010). progressive until graduation? helping bsw students hold onto anti oppressive and critical social work practices. critical social work, 11(2), 2-11. saunders, l. (2017). connecting information literacy and social justice: why and how. communications in information literacy, 11(1), 55-75. silfen, k., & zgoda, k. (2008). evidence-based practice and information literacy in social work: an assessment of students’ reference lists. behavioral and social sciences librarian, 27(2), 104-115. doi: 10.1080/01639260802202082 sizemore, l. et al. (2008). social policy and constructivism using constructivist learning theory in teaching social work students research skills. the southeastern librarian, 56(3), 1720. weetman, dacosta, j. (2010). is there an information literacy skills gap to be bridged? an examination of faculty perceptions and activities relating to information literacy in the united states and england. college and research libraries, 71(3), 203-222. wheeler, d.p., & goodman, h. (2007). health and mental health social workers need information literacy skills. health and social work, 32(3), 235-237. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 23 appendix a: part 1: survey instrument – for graduate students this questionnaire aims to compare the information literacy skills of graduate students in the selected graduate programs. the questionnaire is divided into three parts: part 1we ask you to provide background information about yourself. part 2we ask you to indicate the answer that best applies to you. part 3we ask you to elaborate on your experiences with library services. part 1: demographics please complete the following by placing a checkmark (√) in the appropriate spaces: 1. gender: male __________ female ___________ 2. student status: full-time __________ part-time ________ 3. year of study: 1___ 2____ 3____ 4+ _____ 4. program of study department: ________________________ (e.g. ma psychology, phd education) 5. program of study: (use checkmark √): course work only __________ course work and special research project __________ course work and thesis ______________ 6. total number of courses currently completed in this programme _____________ 7. what is your age range? ________ 20-29 ________ 30-39 ________ 40-49 ________ 50-59 ________ 60+ 8. are you an international student? yes ___ no ____ 9. year of completion of your last degree: ________________ indicate your last completed degree: _______________ 10. start year of your current degree: ____________________ 11. do you work or have you worked (in the last 5 years) in a library-related position? yes ___ no ____ 12. is english your first language? yes ___ no ____ magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 24 part 2: please circle the answer that best applies to you (only one answer) 1. overall, on a scale 1-5, where 1 means low ability and 5 means high ability, how would you rate your ability to search library databases to find information? (circle one) 1…….2………..3…………4…………5 2. overall, on a scale 1-5, where 1 means low ability and 5 means high ability, how would you rate your ability to search the internet to find information? (circle one) 1…….2………..3…………4…………5 please indicate whether you have experienced any of the following since you began your studies at the university of windsor. 3. have you attended an organized tour of the academic library? a. yes b. no 4. have you attended a library instruction session held in your classroom? a. yes b. no c. none was organized. 5. have you attended a library instruction session held in the academic library? a. yes b. no 6. have you had one-on-one intensive instruction with a librarian? a. yes b. no 7. which of the following characteristics best indicates scholarly research? (circle one) a. available in an academic library b. indexed by social service abstracts c. reviewed by experts for publication d. written by university faculty 8. in a graduate course you are examining the topic of ‘child development’. you are not familiar with this topic and you want to find a brief history and summary about it from a social work perspective. which of the following sources would be your first choice to consult? a. a book on the topic, such as child development: a case study. b. a journal article c. general web site (via google) d. a social work encyclopedia, such as encyclopedia of child development 9. research or periodical databases are designed to include items based on which of the following criteria? a. found on the internet b. not found on the internet c. owned by your library d. relevant subject matter magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 25 10. social service abstracts is the most appropriate database to use to locate: a. social work article citations, publications and documents b. social work publications from 1877 to current c. full-text social work articles d. ontario ministry of education statistics 11. most research and periodical databases have basic and advanced searching interfaces. which of the following can be done only in advanced searching? (circle one) a. add boolean or search connectors between terms b. enter multiple search terms c. search by keyword d. search multiple terms by field 12. research studies in social work are generally first communicated through (circle one): a. books published by social work associations b. social work encyclopedia entries c. newsletters of social work associations d. professional conferences and journal articles 13. you have been assigned to write a short class paper on effective instruction techniques for explaining child welfare to english as second language (esl) students. your professor indicated three recent scholarly sources would be sufficient. which strategy is best to locate items? (circle one) a. search a general database for journal articles b. search social work and education databases for journal articles c. search the library catalog for books d. search the library catalog for encyclopedias 14. select the set of search terms that best represent the main concepts in the following: “what are the health risks associated with the use of drug therapy for hyperactive students?” a. drug therapy, health risks, hyperactivity b. drug therapy, health risks, students c. drug therapy, hyperactivity, students d. drugs, hyperactivity, therapy 15. select the option that best represents synonyms and related terms for the concept “university students.” a. universities, adult learners, community colleges… b. gen x, students, undergraduates… c. graduate students, undergraduate students, post-secondary students... d. university, adult learners, educational attendees... 16. while researching a paper on character education, you find that it is also sometimes called values education or moral education. you decide to look for information on the subject in a research database, and to save time you write a search statement that includes all three terms. magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 26 which of the following is the best example to use when you have fairly synonymous terms and it does not matter which of the terms is found in the record? a. character and values and moral b. character or values or moral c. character, values and moral d. character, values or moral 17. you are using a research database that uses an asterisk (*) as its truncation symbol. when you type in read* you would retrieve records that contained which of the following words? a. examine, peruse, reader, reading b. peruse, read, reader, reading c. read, reader, reads, readmit d. read, reader, reading, reapply 18. you have a class assignment to investigate how group work impacts student learning. a keyword search in social service abstracts on “group work” has returned over 600 items. to narrow your search, which of the following steps would you perform next? a. add ‘impacts’ as a keyword and combine with ‘group work’ b. add ‘student learning’ as a keyword and combine with ‘group work’ c. limit search results by date d. limit search results by publication type 19. the following citation is for: massaro, d. (1991). broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. in h. l. pick, jr., p. van den broek, & d. c. knill (eds.), cognition: conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). washington, dc: american psychological association. a. a book b. a chapter in a book c. a journal article d. a social service abstracts document 20. your professor suggested you read a particular article and gave you the following citation: shayer, m. (2003). not just piaget, not just vygotsky. learning and instruction 13(5), 465-485. which of the following would you type into the library’s catalog to locate the actual article? a. author search: shayer b. journal title search: learning and instruction c. journal title search: not just piaget, not just vygotsky d. subject search: piaget and vygotsky 21. the following item was retrieved from a social service abstracts database search. what kind of source is it? title: public attitudes towards multiculturalism and bilingualism in canada magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 27 author(s): dasko, donna. publication year: 2003 abstract: the purpose of this study was to examine canadian public attitudes toward multiculturalism and bilingualism. notes: presented at the annual conference – canadian and french perspective on diversity (ottawa, april 10-14, 2003). number of pages: 24 a. a book b. a book chapter c. a conference paper d. a journal article 22. using this result from an internet search engine, who is the “owner” of this web site? state policies on planning, funding, and standards. does the state have technology requirements for students? http://www.edweek.org/reports/tc98/states/fl.htm a. business or commercial entity b. college or university c. other organization d. state government agency 23. while conducting research on the canadian legislative system, you find the following story on the internet: bmj 2001; 322:1200 (19 may) canada's parliament calls for tighter water standards alarmed by growing fears of widespread pollution of drinking water, canada's parliament has passed a resolution calling for a national law setting out enforceable national standards for water quality. forty six people have recently become infected with cryptosporidium in the small farming town of north battleford, saskatchewan, and three deaths were at first thought to have been caused by the parasite. the province's chief medical health officer later said that cryptosporidium was not the cause of two of the deaths but may have played a minor part in the third. (source: the bmj is published by bmj publishing group ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the british medical association) given this, the following action is in order: a. you can use the story as it is obviously from a reputable news source b. you decide to investigate the reputation of the publisher by looking at their web site c. you decide to investigate the reputation of the publisher by looking at other web sites d. you should not use the story because web information is not always trustworthy 24. which of the next four sentences may be used as a citation? magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 28 (1) technology use in the schools is often characterized as a potentially dehumanizing force. (2) perhaps the fear that the virtual world may lead to passivity and isolation, at the expense of literal social interaction, is valid. (3) certainly, educators must ask which uses of technology result in increased learning and a better quality of life. (4) to address these issues, hunter (2005) has proposed that “students should work in groups with the computer peripheral and the teacher acting as a facilitator” (p.25). a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 25. when is it ethical to use the ideas of another person in a research paper? a. it is never ethical to use someone else’s ideas b. only if you do not use their exact words c. only when you give them credit d. only when you receive their permission 26. you are planning conference presentation. browsing the internet, you find the report “child abuse: recognize it, report it, prevent it” by the ontario’s provincial government. if you distribute 30 copies of the report to the other conference attendees, which of the following copyright choices is the proper action? a. permission is not needed as the report is from a government agency. b. permission is not needed as the report was found on the internet. c. permission is not needed as you are only distributing 30 copies. d. permission to distribute 30 copies of the report must be acquired. 27. you have an assignment that requires you to use course management software to practice setting up a class grade book. your school has purchased the software and loaded it in the computer lab, but you have a difficult time getting to the lab due to work conflicts. a friend loans you the software and you load it on your computer. is this legal? a. no, because this action constitutes a violation of copyright. b. yes, because it is already freely available in the lab. c. yes, because it is education software and therefore able to be shared. d. yes, because your friend owns it and can share as he wants. 28. browsing a weekly news magazine, you come across an article that discusses the future of space exploration. as you are teaching this topic you decide to make copies of the article and share it with your class. which of the following concepts makes it legally permissible to reproduce portions of works for educational purposes without permission? magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 29 a. copyright b. fair use c. freedom of information d. intellectual freedom part 3: please elaborate on your experiences with library services in general. usefulness and ease of use 1) library instructions how many times have you been given instruction on how to use library resources by librarians? at the undergraduate level: 0 1 2 3+ at the graduate level: 0 1 2 3+ 2) if you were given library instruction at the undergraduate level: (a) what kind of instruction did you receive? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (b) did you find the instruction useful? (elaborate) …………………………………………………………………………………….. 2a) if you were given library instruction at the graduate level: (a) what kind of instruction did you receive? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (b) did you find the instruction useful? (elaborate) …………………………………………………………………………………….. 3) library experience magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 30 circle the number that best reflects your experience with academic library resources and services. 1 2 3 little experience (limited use) some experience (moderate use) extensive experience (frequent use) (a) describe some of the experiences you have had with academic library services and resources: …………………………………………………………………………………….. 4) instructional needs (a) do you think that graduate students need instruction on how to use library information resources in their subject areas? yes________ no ____ please explain. …………………………………………………………………………………….. (b) which library services and resources do you need the most help with to meet your graduate student information needs? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (c) what library resources do you use most in your subject area (e.g. wilsonweb, scholars portal, project muse, cbca, etc)? …………………………………………………………………………………….. 5) specific software use: (a) explain the purpose of the “get it” button as in ? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (b) you click on the “get it” button and receive the following message: “no full-text available.” what do you do next? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (c) do you use refworks – online research management, writing and collaboration tool? magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 31 yes ________ no__________ if yes, for what purpose do you use refworks? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (d) do you use the foxy leddy libx toolbar – a toolbar that allows you to quickly search the university of windsor's library resources? yes ________ no__________ if yes, for what purpose do you use the foxy leddy libx toolbar? …………………………………………………………………………………….. (e) do you find library resources easy to access and use? yes ________ no_________ if not, please specify some main difficulties you have encountered. …………………………………………………………………………………….. (f) list the ways in which you think library services could be improved to better suit graduate students’ needs. …………………………………………………………………………………….. thank you! voluntary contact information if you wish to participate in a qualitative follow-up study, please leave your name, phone number or email: name: _______________________________telephone number: _____________________ e-mail:_______________________________ magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 32 appendix b: table 1a descriptive statistics for il results for master of social work students part 1a: modified b-tiled survey: quantitative research questions variable variable categories: n % b-tiled m b-tiled sd gender male 5 11.4% 12.60 5.771 female 39 88.6% 13.69 3.001 student status full-time 41 93.2% 13.61 3.434 part-time 3 6.8% 13.00 2.000 year of study first year 23 52.3% 12.57 3.847 second year 21 47.7% 14.67 2.309 program of study (master’s students only) course work only 14 31.8% 13.43 3.817 course work and special research project (major paper) 30 68.2% 13.63 3.168 age group 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-60+ 33 5 4 2 75.00% 11.36% 9.09% 4.55% 14.00 14.20 12.75 6.50 3.021 3.033 3.500 2.121 # of courses completed less than 6 courses 23 52.3% 12.57 3.727 6 or more courses 21 47.7% 14.67 2.517 last completed degree bachelor of arts 23 52.3% 14.74 2.416 bachelor of social work 21 47.7% 12.29 3.783 english as first language yes no – eal (english as additional language) 37 7 84.09% 15.91% 13.68 13.57 3.010 5.033 total 44 13.57 3.344 magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 33 table 1b part 1b: open-ended tam questions: qualitative research question descriptive statistics based on the graduate student’s past experience at the library instructions at the current institution variable variable categories: n % b-tiled m b-tiled sd ability to search library databases 2 3 4 5 3 12 25 4 6.82% 27.27% 56.82% 9.09% 12.33 12.33 14.24 14.00 1.155 4.960 2.368 3.559 ability to search the internet 2 3 4 5 1 5 22 16 2.27% 11.36% 50.00% 36.36% 11.00 11.60 13.50 14.44 . 5.459 3.391 2.337 library tour yes 23 52.3% 14.70 2.530 no 21 47.7% 12.33 3.733 classroom instruction yes 23 52.3% 13.74 3.922 no 12 27.3% 13.17 3.215 none was organized 9 20.5% 13.67 1.803 library instructions yes 20 45.5% 14.65 2.455 no 24 54.5% 12.67 3.749 one-on-one instructions yes 9 20.5% 13.89 2.315 no 35 79.5% 13.49 3.584 instructional needs yes 39 88.6% 13.54 3.417 no 5 11.4% 13.8 3.033 total 44 13.57 3.344 magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 34 table 2a part 1a: anova results for il results for master of social work students variable df ms f sig. gender 1 5.288 .467 .498 42 11.322 student status 1 1.039 .091 .764 42 11.423 year of study 1 48.477 4.710 .036* 42 10.293 program of study 1 .400 .035 .853 42 11.438 # of courses completed 1 48.477 4.710 .036* 42 10.293 last completed degree 1 66.075 6.692 .013* 42 9.874 english as first language 1 42 2.687 11.384 .236 .630 total 43 480.795 *p<.05 table 2b part 1b: anova results for il results for master of social work students variable df ms f sig. library tour 1 61.259 6.133 .017* 42 9.989 classroom instruction 2 1.347 .116 .891 41 11.661 library instructions 1 42.912 4.116 .049* 42 10.426 one-on-one instructions 1 1.164 .102 .751 42 11.420 instructional needs 1 .303 .026 .871 42 11.440 total 43 480.795 *p<.05 magliaro and munro / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 35 table 3a ease of use anova mean results variable variable categories: n % b-tiled m b-tiled sd ease of use yes 28 14.43 2.741 no 15 12.13 3.962 total 43 13.63 3.344 table 3b ease of use anova results variable df mean square f sig. ease of use 1 51.456 4.992 .031* 41 10.307 total 42 480.795 *p<.05 note: this research was supported by the social sciences and humanities research council of canada. acknowledgement: the authors would like to note their sincere gratitude and acknowledgement to dr. penny minton beile for granting them permission to modify the beile test of information literacy for education (b-tiled) and allowing copyright permissions needed for publication. about the authors dr. jelena magliaro’s academic background in computer science, psychology and education has influenced her research interests, focusing on the role of technology use in teaching and learning. dr. magliaro works at university of windsor as a budget analyst. sharon munro is an information services librarian at the leddy library, university of windsor. she is the liaison librarian for social work and human kinetics. in addition to a master’s degree in library and information studies, she also has undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work. 2 79corrected microsoft word lis-edu.docx international journal of librarianship, 3(1), 110-114 issn:2474-3542 a directory to international lis education accreditation processes: part iii xiaoai ren the department of library and information studies, valdosta state university, valdosta, georgia, usa we will continue to look at lis education accreditation processes across the world in part iii of this directory. this time, readers will find information on the accreditation processes for lis education in new zealand. any new lis education programs and degrees offered by universities in new zealand, or any significant changes made to the existing structure of lis education programs in new zealand universities must get approval from the committee on university academic programmes (cuap). the library and information association of new zealand aotearoa (lianza) assesses the lis education providers in new zealand on their coverage of the body of knowledge regularly. approving agency committee on university academic programmes (cuap) (https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/about-universities-new-zealand/unz-committees-andworking-groups/committee-university-academic) the new zealand vice-chancellors’ committee (now called universities new zealand) is the statutory body under the 1989 education act with primary responsibility for the university sector's quality assurance matters. universities nz has delegated its powers to the committee on university academic programmes (cuap). its main functions include programme approval and accreditation. cuap meets twice a year (usually july and november) to consider proposals by universities for new degree programs or major changes to existing ones, as well as additional meeting to action a range of academic matters. proposals for a new program or for a major change to an existing program submitted to cuap are subject to a peer review process. without approval from cuap, no new or significantly modified programmes will be funded by the tertiary education commission (http://www.tec.govt.nz/). assessing organization the lianza professional registration board (https://lianza.org.nz/node/41) ren / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 111 the library and information association of new zealand aotearoa (lianza) introduced the individual professional registration scheme in 2007. the scheme provides an assurance that registered library and information professionals meet professional standards of competency in their body of knowledge and understand the ethics required for library and information work. the eligible applicants must meet certain requirements by obtaining a recognized degree at undergraduate level or higher; applying the body of knowledge practically in a library and information environment, and be a current member of one of several specified library and information management associations. the lianza professional registration board (pr board) is responsible for assessing the lis education providers, developing standards and criteria, and reviewing incoming applications. the board consists of at least eight members. it is a team of experienced library and information professionals. each board member is appointed for an initial term of three years. the lianza pr board conducts regular reviews of new zealand lis degree education providers a minimum of every five years, or as needed when a degree program is significantly updated or revised. the review is led by a member of the pr board and carried out by a panel appointed for this task. two or three reviewers form a review panel for undertaking the reviews. at least one reviewer remains on the review panel for the next review to ensure continuity of the assessment process. the review panel assesses the knowledge coverage of the curriculum and determine whether the curriculum meets the professional registration scheme, and thereby comply with the lianza professional registration program. the pr board is responsible for ratifying the recommendations of the review panel. lis education providers recognized by lianza (https://lianza.org.nz/node/282) lianza recognizes the following lis degrees in new zealand • master of information studies (mis) with the libraries specialization (libs) victoria university of wellington • bachelor of applied science with information and library studies (ils) major – open polytechnic of new zealand • bachelor of arts with ils major or double major with ils / humanities or ils / communication – open polytechnic of new zealand • bachelor of library and information studies open polytechnic of new zealand • other new zealand graduate qualifications may be approved by the pr board if linked to a related discipline (such as information technology (it), information studies (is), archives, records management, or maori information management) where these qualifications can be mapped against the body of knowledge lianza also recognizes overseas degrees recognized by the following library associations: • chartered institute of library & information professionals in the united kingdom (cilip) • australian library & information association (alia) ren / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 112 • american library association (ala) • canadian library association (cla) individuals with lianza recognized lis degrees are eligible to apply to the professional registration scheme. applicants who hold a lianza recognized degree with three years of work experience are automatically granted professional registration. all registered library and information professionals must renew their registration every three years by documenting annual professional development activities. registered individuals may apply for an extension for up to 12 months. professional registration process to gain registration, one must: 1. join lianza or an affiliated organization 2. hold a recognized degree 3. complete application form 4. map experience against body of knowledge (unless holding a degree from one of the recognized new zealand lis education providers) 5. attach cv and transcripts 6. email application and all relevant documents 7. receive confirmation of application 8. pay fees for entry to the professional registration scheme and for ongoing membership. bodies of knowledge (bok) (https://lianza.org.nz/professional-registration/bodies-knowledge) the bodies of knowledge (bok) identify the different areas of competency for the library and information profession. there are six clusters of 11 boks. the pr board reviews boks annualy to ensure it is still fit for purpose. clusters boks bok cluster 1: understanding the information environment bok 1 information environment, information policy & ethics ren / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 113 bok cluster 2: understanding information needs, generations and access bok 2 generating, communicating & using information bok 3 information needs & design bok 4 the information access process bok cluster 3 : understanding information resource and knowledge management bok 5 organisation, retrieval, preservation and conservation bok 8 information resource management and knowledge management bok cluster 4: understanding information and communication technologies bok 7 application of information and communication technologies (icts) bok cluster 5 : understanding management in information organisations bok 6 research, analysis and interpretation of information bok 9 management in information organisationseffectiveness bok cluster 6 : understanding maori knowledge paradigms bok 11 awareness of indigenous knowledge paradigms conclusion part iii of the a directory to international lis education accreditation processes concludes the series of reports on the lis education accreditation processes around the world. part i includes information about the lis education accreditation in north america, uk, and australia. part ii introduces lis education accreditation in ireland, germany, and south africa. part iii is about the lis education accreditation in new zealand. we identified three lis education accreditation ren / international journal of librarianship, 3(1) 114 processes by synthesizing findings from these countries. they are accreditation done by professional association; accreditation done by government organization; and a parallel accreditation done by both professional association and government organization with professional organization focusing on reviewing the lis program from the professional perspective, and the government organization focusing on reviewing the lis program from higher education quality assurance perspective. many countries still do not have a formal lis education accreditation process in place at this time. acknowledgement the series on lis education accreditation processes around the world would not have been completed without the generous support and help from lis educators and professionals around the world. i want to thank cathal mccauley, the maynooth university librarian for explaining to me the lis education accreditation done by the library association of ireland (lai) in ireland. i thank dr. michael seadle from berlin school of library and information science, dr. achim oßwald and his colleague susanne röltgen from th köln for communicating with me via emails on the lis education accreditation system in germany. i would also like to thank liasa president nikki crowster and liasa manager annamarie goosen for providing information on lis education accreditation in south africa. finally yet importantly, i want to thank joanna matthew, jess davidson, marney kaka, jaimee murdoch, jan irvine, and jennifer campbell-meier for their generous support on helping me find information about lis education accreditation in new zealand. about the author dr. xiaoai ren is an associate professor in the master of library and information science program at valdosta state university. this is a fully online program. dr. ren teaches reference course. she holds an m.s. in information management from peking university and a ph.d. in information science from the university at albany state university of new york. her research interests include library cooperation at regional, national, and international levels, reference services, international librarianship, and ebooks in libraries. issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org vocabulary integration reexamined yunseon choi abstract: several thesauri have been published in various domains, or in the same subject domain. this heterogeneity caused the significant incompatibility of transferring or sharing data among different systems and databases. therefore, thesaurus integration is a solution for handling this incompatibility issue. to achieve interoperability between different thesauri, mapping systems have been developed for establishing equivalents between terms in different thesauri. however, there is still ambiguity in term semantics and hierarchical relations used in thesauri. the purpose of this paper is to reexamine the issues and challenges in vocabulary mapping and integration between different controlled vocabulary systems. the paper outlines the history of the study of vocabulary mapping efforts and suggests a way in which the emerging practices on semantic issues and mapping problems can be articulated. to cite this article: choi, y. (2018). vocabulary integration reexamined. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 96-102. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 96-102 issn:2474-3542 vocabulary integration reexamined yunseon choi valdosta state university, valdosta, ga, usa abstract several thesauri have been published in various domains, or in the same subject domain. this heterogeneity caused the significant incompatibility of transferring or sharing data among different systems and databases. therefore, thesaurus integration is a solution for handling this incompatibility issue. to achieve interoperability between different thesauri, mapping systems have been developed for establishing equivalents between terms in different thesauri. however, there is still ambiguity in term semantics and hierarchical relations used in thesauri. the purpose of this paper is to reexamine the issues and challenges in vocabulary mapping and integration between different controlled vocabulary systems. the paper outlines the history of the study of vocabulary mapping efforts and suggests a way in which the emerging practices on semantic issues and mapping problems can be articulated. keywords: vocabulary mapping, controlled vocabulary, thesaurus, interoperability, ontologies introduction a thesaurus is a tool for vocabulary control, and it is the most complex type of controlled vocabulary in use in the library and information science professions. thesauri are often called subject headings in the library context, and generally follow the standards for thesaurus construction using broader term (bt), narrower term (nt), and related term (rt) (niso, 2017). by guiding indexers and searchers about which terms to use, a thesaurus can help improve the quality of retrieval. thesauri have been published in various domains, or in the same subject domain. this caused the significant incompatibility of transferring or sharing data among different systems and databases. thesaurus integration is a solution for handling with this incompatibility issues. thesaurus reconciliation goes through several processes including mapping, switching, merging, and integration. and thesaurus mapping is a central process for thesaurus reconciliation where terms, concepts and hierarchical relationships between concepts are identified (doerr, 2001). to achieve interoperability between different thesauri, mapping systems have been developed for establishing equivalents between terms in different thesauri. however, there is still ambiguity in term of semantics and hierarchical relations used in thesauri. this paper reexamines the problems of thesaurus integration and merging, in particular focusing on issues related to vocabulary mapping. this paper provides a review of the challenges and issues of thesaurus choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 97 integration and provides a brief account of projects that have investigated the integration and/or merging of controlled vocabularies and different structure in various domains. this paper concludes with a path to exploring the future thinking of research for vocabulary mapping and integration. challenges for vocabulary integration the purpose of thesaurus integration is to integrate various indexes of a collection of documents into a single tool for indexing and retrieving (aitchison, gilchrist, & bawden, 2000). several thesauri have been published in various domains, or in the same subject domain. unesco thesaurus, getty art and architecture thesaurus (aat), eric thesaurus, and agrovoc have been used in digital libraries (sunny & angadi, 2017). the examples of thesauri with traditional knowledge include library of congress name authority file for personal and corporate names and getty’s thesaurus of geographic names (tgn) for place names (sunny & angadi, 2017). this heterogeneity caused the significant incompatibility of transferring or sharing data among different systems and databases. therefore, thesaurus integration is a solution for handling this incompatibility issues. the main differences in controlled languages in the same field include specificity, exhaustivity, compound terms, synonyms, and inter-relationships (aitchison, gilchrist, & bawden, 2000). for example, there are different levels of specificity and exhaustivity between thesauri in describing the same subjects. in addition, there are different levels of hierarchical structures among thesauri. doerr (1996) also points out the remaining heterogeneity between different thesauri such as different word use (i.e., language level and terminology degree) and different coverage (i.e., the scope of thesaurus). integrating different languages and different cultures the central process of thesaurus mapping is establishing vocabulary equivalence (chan & zeng, 2002). there are various levels of vocabulary mapping: terminological level (subject heading), semantic level (authority record), and syntactic level (application) (freyre and naudi, 2001). however, it is not easy to find one-to-one relationships between terms in different vocabularies due to the differences in linguistic expressions for the same concept. in addition, polysemous terms with multiple meanings hinder vocabularies mapping. on the other hand, the interoperability issues among different thesauri are associated with the questions of integrating the views of different cultures, since controlled vocabulary or subject terms in classification systems need to be properly translated during the process of vocabulary mapping. literally translated language might be meaningless and there are also difficulties with transferring a whole conceptual structure from one to another culture appropriately (hudon, 1997). integrating different structures knowledge organization systems (kos) such as subject headings and classification schemes have their own structures and guidelines and differ from one another in their structure, semantic, lexical, and notation or entry features (iyer and giguere, 1995). furthermore, depending on communities and the defined usage of the term, there are a number of ways to investigate vocabularies and their functions (niso, 2017). semantic problems in thesaurus integration doerr (2001) points out that hierarchical relations without subsumption (subclass and subproperty) would result in ambiguity in thesaurus mapping and the semantics of hierarchical relations should be made. in thesauri, the semantic differences of hierarchical relations have occurred, because bt choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 98 (broader term)/nt (narrower term) relations were defined differently in different thesauri. in some thesauri it means subsumption (subclass and subproperty), while in other thesauri it can mean bti (broader term instance) or btp (broader term partitive). fisseha (2003) also points out ambiguity in thesauri regrading typical hierarchical relations such as broader term and narrower term and shows that their semantics are not explicitly defined. for example, “sweet” corn is a property of corn, but in the agrovoc multilingual thesaurus, the term “sweet corn” is listed as a narrower term of the “maize” (figure 1). agrovoc thesaurus can be accessed online (http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/functionalities/search). the semantic relationship between terms are not clearly explicated in the thesaurus. fig. 1. hierarchical relations in agrovoc multilingual thesaurus the subsumption relations between all terms of two thesauri can be identified from a complete mapping using ontological reasoning (fisseha, 2003). the term ontology has been used in several disciplines, from philosophy to computer science. as a branch of philosophy, ontology studies the structures of the objects, properties and relations of reality (smith, 1997). in computer science, which came out of artificial intelligence, the ontology is a model of the representation of objects in the world with properties and relationships (garshol, 2004). gruber (1993) defines an ontology as “a formal, explicit specification of a conceptualisation” (p.1) and explains the definition:  conceptualisation refers to an abstract, simplified view of the world that we wish to represent for some purpose.  explicit refers to type of concepts used, and the constraints on their use are explicitly defined.  formal refers to the fact that an ontology must be able to be read by the computer.  shared refers to the notion that an ontology captures consensual knowledge, that is, it is not private to some individual, but accepted by a group. other researchers describe ontologies as taxonomic hierarchies (baeza-yates & ribeiro-neto, 1999; vickery, 1997). vickery (1997) notes the aspect of taxonomic hierarchies of classes, with class definitions and the subsumption relations. baeza-yates and ribeiro-neto describe ontologies as hierarchical taxonomies of terms representing topics. unlike general taxonomies, ontologies classify terms and defines the relationships between the terms, and also expand on taxonomies which clarify the context of terms (niso, 2017). in figure 2, between two terms maize and sweet corn, ontological relation such as the “kind of” can be formalized to specify the semantics of relationship between terms. it can be stated that sweet corn is a kind of maize. http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/functionalities/search choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 99 fig. 2. explicit relationships in ontologies thesaurus integration tools using ontologies and semantic frameworks have been developed to resolve problems associated with ambiguity in hierarchical structure of thesauri. the examples of the tools include the yam++ online and the visual terminology alignment tool (vista). the yam++ online is a web tool for ontology and thesaurus matching (bellahsene et al., 2017). the yam++ online tool has been partially supported by the french national research agency (anr) within the doremus (doing resuable musica data) project focusing on developing controlled vocabularies for music. the visual terminology alignment tool (vista) aims to help users to work on the intellectual handling of the assignment between two terminologies by visualizing vocabulary hierarchies (axaridou et al., 2018). examples of merged thesauri to achieve interoperability among different controlled vocabularies, several attempts to merge thesauri have been made by adopting different approaches and methods to deal with inconsistencies in the process of thesaurus integration: integrated energy vocabulary (1979) the integrated energy vocabulary for the energy domain was developed by integrating 11 existing vocabularies covering the subject area of energy research and development (niehoff, 1976; niehoff & kwansy, 1979). brs (bibliographic retrieval services)/term vocabulary database (1984) the brs/term vocabulary database provides natural language synonyms and controlled vocabulary descriptors from seven bibliographic databases in the social and behavioral sciences (knapp, 1984). term database, formerly on the bibliographic retrieval service (brs), merges terms and codes from controlled languages used in behavioral and social sciences databases. the national technical information service (ntis) database (1984) the national technical information service (ntis) database is an integrated database from government agencies which have their own thesaurus. the ntis thesaurus represents a single thesaurus by merging various thesauri and natural language terms (piternick, 1984). unified medical language system (1990) the national library of medicine’s unified medical language system (umls) was developed to integrate biomedical terminology. it aims to build a repository of biomedical terms and their choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 100 interrelationships to help users retrieve and organize information (mccray & hole, 1990). the unified medical language system (umls) merged concepts from some 50 sources into a metathesaurus, which retains links to its original sources. unified agricultural thesaurus (uat) (1996) the three producers of the databases such as the us national agricultural library (nal), the un food and agricultural organization (fao) and cab international (cabi) cooperated to create a unified agricultural thesaurus. it integrated agrovoc and cab thesaurus (clarke & dextre, 1996) by creating a reorganized, classified structure derived from agrovoc and cab thesaurus. it aims to provide users with a comprehensive, multilingual thesaurus system. hilt (high-level thesaurus) (1997) the hilt (‘high-level thesaurus’) project aimed to focus on the problems associated with cross-searching and browsing by subject in a cross-sectoral and cross-domain environment encompassing libraries, archives, and museums. it integrated distributed and heterogeneous thesaurus databases and merged multilingual and monolingual thesauri (kramer, nikolai, & habeck, 1997). precision medical vocabulary (2018) the precision medical vocabulary (pmv) is a controlled vocabulary related with precision medicine (yu, et al., 2018). it was integrated from several controlled vocabularies including medical subject headings (mesh), national cancer institute thesaurus (ncit) and systematized nomenclature of medicine clinical terms (snomed ct), and databases in specific domain such as hugo gene nomenclature committee (hgnc) and online mendelian inheritance in man (omim) for gene, human phenotype ontology (hpo) for human phenotype, drugbank and rxnorm for drug. the pmv also integrated some biomedical resources such as drugbank, clinvar and ncbi gene with the foundational vocabulary by utilizing a series of mapping and integration strategies. controlled vocabularies for music metadata (2018) three major french cultural institutions (the french national library (bnf), radio france and the philharmonie de paris) cooperated to develop controlled vocabularies to describe semantically their catalogs of music works and events. the controlled vocabularies for music has been partially supported by the french national research agency (anr) within the doremus (doing resuable musica data) project. the controlled vocabularies for music provides music-specific, multilingual controlled vocabularies including topics such as musical genres, keys, or medium of performance (lisena et al, 2018). the controlled vocabularies for music was developed by merging a number of existing vocabularies (iaml, rameau, diabolo, itema3, itema3-musdoc, and redomi) and was formalized using semantic web languages. conclusion as a tool for vocabulary control, thesauri have been used to provide effective access to resources and to achieve indexing consistency. since several controlled vocabularies have been developed in various domains, the tasks of thesaurus integration and mapping became challenged and faced difficulties due to different culture, different languages, and semantic problems in thesauri. in this paper, we reexamined a set of the issues and trends in vocabulary mapping between different thesauri and aimed to share emerging practices on semantic issues and mapping problems. term hierarchies in thesauri often do not express subsumption and are ambiguous because they do not choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 101 express all subsumption relations. the subsumption relations between terms of two thesauri can be identified from a complete mapping using the successful formalization of ontology and semantic frameworks which result in explicit semantics between terms. references aitchison, j., gilchrist, a., & bawden, d. (2000). thesaurus construction and use: a practical manual. 4th ed. emerald group publishing limited. axaridou a., konsolaki, k., kozlov, a., haase, p., & doerr, m. (2018). vista: visual terminology alignment tool for factual knowledge aggregation. third international workshop on semantic web for cultural heritage. in conjunction with 15th extended semantic web conference (eswc 2018), heraklion, crete, greece, june 3-7, 2018. baeza-yates, r. & ribeiro-neto, b. (1999). modern information retrieval: acm press, addison-wesley. bellahsene, z., emonet, v., ngo, d., & todorov, k. (2017). yam++ online: a web platform for ontology and thesaurus matching and mapping validation. the semantic web: eswc 2017 satellite events, portorož, slovenia, 2017. chan, l. m. and zeng, m. l. (2002) ensuring interoperability among subject vocabularies and knowledge organization schemes: a methodological analysis. 68th ifla council and general conference. august 18-24, 2002. retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla68/papers/008-122e.pdf clarke, d. & dextre, s. g. (1996). integrating thesauri in the agricultural sciences.’ in: compatability and integration of order systems. research seminar proceedings of the tip/isko meeting (pp. 111-122). warsaw, 13-15 september 1996. warsaw: wydawnictwo sbp, 1996 doerr. m. (2001). semantic problems of thesaurus mapping. journal of digital information, 1(8) doerr, m. (1996) "authority services in global information spaces: a requirements analysis and feasibility study", technical report forth-ics/tr-163, february english heritage, national monuments record (2000) nmr monument type thesaurus, june 19. retrieved from http://www.rchme.gov.uk/thesaurus/mon_types/default.htm fisseha, f. (2003). reengineering agrovoc to ontologies: step towards better semantic structure. nkos workshop. freyre, e. & naudi, m. (2001) macs: subject access across languages and networks. in subject retrieval in a networked environment: papers presented at an ifla satellite meeting sponsored by the ifla section on classification and indexing & ifla section on information technology, oclc, dublin, ohio, usa, 14-16 august 2001. dublin, oh: oclc. garshol, l. m. (2004). metadata? thesauri? taxonomies? topic maps! journal of information science, 30(4): 378–391. hudon, m. (1997). multilingual thesaurus construction: integrating the views of different cultures in one gateway to knowledge concepts. knowledge organization 24(2), 84-91. knapp, s. d. (1984). creating brs/term, a vocabulary database for searchers. database, 7(4), 70–75. kramer, r., nikolai, r., & habeck, c. (1997) "thesaurus federations: loosely integrated thesauri for document retrieval in networks based on internet technologies". international journal on digital libraries 1(2), 122-131. iyer, h. & giguere, m. (1995). towards designing an expert system to map mathematics http://www.rchme.gov.uk/thesaurus/mon_types/default.htm choi / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 102 classificatory structures. knowledge organization 22(3/4), 141-147. lisena, p., todorov, k., ccconi, c., leresche, f., canno, i., puyrenier, f., voisin, m., le meur, t., & troncy, r. (2018). controlled vocabularies for music metadata. 19th international society for music information retrieval conference, paris, france, 2018. mccray, a. t. & hole, w. t. (1990). the scope and structure of the first version of the umls semantic network. proceedings of the fourteenth annual symposium on computer applications in medical care (pp. 126-130). los alamitos, ca: institute of electrical and electronics engineers, november, 4-7 1990. national information standards organization. (2017). issues in vocabulary management: a technical report of the national information standards organization. niso tr-06 2017. retrieved from https://groups.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/18410/niso_tr-062017_issues_in_vocabulary_management.pdf niehoff, r. t. (1976). development of an integrated energy vocabulary and the possibilities for on-line subject switching. journal of the american society for information science, 27(1). 3-17. piternick, a. b. (1984). searching vocabularies: a developing category of online search tools. online review, 8(5). 441-449. smith, b. (1997). an essay in mereotopology. in hahn, l., ed., the philosophy of roderick chisholm (library of living philosophers), lasalle: open court. sunny, s. k. & angadi, m., (2017). applications of thesaurus in digital libraries. journal of library & information technology. 37(5). 313-319. vickery, b. (1997). ontologies. journal of information science, 23(4). 277–288. yu, m., liu, y., kang, h., zheng, s., li, j., & hou, l. (2018). building a controlled vocabulary for standardizing precision medicine terms. kdd2018, 19-23, august, 2018, london, united kingdom. retrieved from http://www.eurecom.fr/en/publication/5646/download/data-publi-5646.pdf about the author dr. yunseon choi is an assistant professor in the department of library and information studies at valdosta state university where she teaches organization of information, thesaurus construction, metadata, and cataloging. she earned her phd in library and information science from the university of illinois. her research interests encompass diverse aspects of information organization in the context of information technologies, including data science with social impacts, linked data, ontologies, and semantic web. https://groups.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/18410/niso_tr-06-2017_issues_in_vocabulary_management.pdf https://groups.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/18410/niso_tr-06-2017_issues_in_vocabulary_management.pdf http://www.eurecom.fr/en/publication/5646/download/data-publi-5646.pdf 7 7textfinal semantic problems in thesaurus integration unified agricultural thesaurus (uat) (1996) issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org shared next generation ilss and academic library consortia: trends, opportunities and challenges guoying liu and ping fu abstract: next generation integrated library systems (ilss) have been maturing and adopted by more and more academic libraries. many academic libraries have joined a consortium to collaboratively move towards a shared next generation ils that sustains a deeper collaboration. has this been a trend for academic libraries to share the new system in consortia? this article examines the adoption of the leading products in next generation ilss to reveal the trend. two case studies are conducted on a) a pioneer consortial adopter and b) a newly formed partnership on shared next generation ilss, for further investigations on the impact on consortial members, the challenges the new shared system may cause, and the opportunities it brings to academic library consortia and their members. to cite this article: liu, g., & fu, p. (2018). shared next generation ilss and academic library consortia: trends, opportunities and challenges. international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 53-71. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 3(2), 53-71 issn:2474-3542 shared next generation ilss and academic library consortia: trends, opportunities and challenges1 guoying liu, university of windsor, windsor, on, canada ping fu, central washington university, ellensburg, wa, usa abstract next generation integrated library systems (ilss) have been maturing and adopted by more and more academic libraries. many academic libraries have joined a consortium to collaboratively move towards a shared next generation ils that sustains a deeper collaboration. has this been a trend for academic libraries to share the new system in consortia? this article examines the adoption of the leading products in next generation ilss to reveal the trend. two case studies are conducted on a) a pioneer consortial adopter and b) a newly formed partnership on shared next generation ilss, for further investigations on the impact on consortial members, the challenges the new shared system may cause, and the opportunities it brings to academic library consortia and their members. keywords: integrated library systems, next generation integrated library systems, library services platforms, consortia, academic libraries, collaboration introduction library consortia library consortia are groups of two or more libraries that “partner to coordinate activities, share resources and combine expertise” (rosa and storey, 2016, p93). partnership, or collaboration, is the main purpose of a consortium. other names have been used for collaborating libraries in library literature as well, such as cooperatives, networks, collectives, and alliances (horton, 2015). in this article, we adopt the term consortium and/or consortia for libraries that collaborate with each other to achieve common goals. library consortia have existed for over a century. their scope, type and size are varied. the collaboration of libraries can be at the local, regional, national or international level. some consortia serve exclusively one specific type of libraries, such as academic or 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: liu, g. and fu, p. (2018) shared next generation ilss and academic library consortia: trends, opportunities and challenges. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china, pp. 309-323. liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 54 public, while others include multiple types. many of them started as academic only and later expanded to include public, special and other types of libraries. (bostick, 2001; horton, 2015). the size of a library consortium could be as huge as online computer library center (oclc) which had over 22,000 members in 2012 (horton, 2015), or be very small like keio-waseda consortium which only consists of two members (proquest, 2018). library consortia’s activities are varied as well. a 2006-2007 american library association (ala) national survey on consortia revealed that the most common services and activities within consortia are communication, resource sharing, professional development, consulting and technical assistance and cooperative purchasing. other less common activities include automation, networking and other technology services, etc. (davis, 2007). a more recent examination by rosa and storey (2016) found that american libraries all face the challenges of funding, evolving role of the library, and the changing nature of scholarly communication. they are “more connected than they have ever been in the history of library and information science” (p85). resource sharing, cooperative acquisitions and e-content licensing, as well as shared online catalog are among the most used services in library consortia. next generation ilss library automation has experienced several phases of development since its beginning in 1960s (borgman, 1997). earliest library systems were created to provide a specific function or resolve a particular issue, such as circulating materials or creating catalog cards. the following efforts are to integrate these separate pieces of software into one system, the integrated library system (ils). a standard traditional ils normally contains the modules of cataloging, circulation, serials management and open public access catalog (opac). this type of systems were designed for print resources management. with the advances of information technology, library automation products based on server/client emerged on the market around mid-1990s. in the meantime, electronic resources started to grow. however the main functional modules of ilss remain unchanged. a number of add-on library systems were developed to address various library needs beyond what a traditional ils can meet, such as link resolvers, electronic resource management systems, digital asset management, institutional repositories and discovery interfaces. (breeding, 2013; liu, 2015) the year of 2011 witnesses the start of a new cycle of library automation the emerging of next generation ils. meanwhile, breeding (2011b) proposed a concept of library services platform (lsp) to differentiate the next generation ils from the traditional ils. in this paper, we use next generation ilss for the new emerging systems to emphasize its integration feature and avoid any confusion it may cause because both lsps and next generation ilss have been used often in library literature and libraries. the next generation ilss are able to manage all forms of library collections including print, electronic and digital resources. they can introduce pertinent workflows according to the type of resources (print or electronic), the call of services (local or remote) and the acquisitions models (purchasing or licensing) (breeding, 2011b; liu, 2015). the new systems shall also take advantage of cloud computing and other latest technologies and architectures (grant, 2012). liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 55 alma from ex libris and worldshare management services (wms) from oclc are the two earliest products that have been developed from ground up in this area (wilson, 2012). since their launch in 2012, both products have been maturing. by the end of 2016, alma has been adopted in over 800 libraries and wms in over 400 libraries. other two products active in current market are sierra by innovative interfaces and folio, an open source initiative supported by ebsco (breeding, 2016; breeding, 2017b). sierra took a different approach from alma and wms. it reused many millennium system functions rather than creating original innovations (grant, 2012). sierra has been installed in over 600 libraries since it was introduced in 2011. folio entered the market in 2016 and is currently under development (breeding, 2017b). academic library consortia and library automation “the growth of information technology has increased the importance of consortia” (kopp, 1998, p.7). library automation started around 1960s when most of the early academic library consortia were formed (borgman, 1997; kopp, 1998). libraries were motivated to collaboratively develop systems and share automation techniques to computerize manual, labor-intensive operations to improve overall efficiency. automating large-scale technical processing was the primary concern of large consortia at the time (bostick, 2001; kopp, 1998). in 1970s and 1980s, computer hardware became less expensive and the automated library systems emerged. ils was born combining automated back room operations (borgman, 1997). it became unnecessary for libraries to cooperate to acquire automated systems. libraries tended to focus on the development and implementation of their local ilss rather than consortial activities. as a result, the growth of consortia slowed down to some degree (kopp, 1998). by the late 1980s to 1990s, most libraries had “achieved certain levels of local systems and networking sophistication” (kopp, 1998, p.14). combining with fiscal, political and other factors, academic library consortia re-flourished with an emphasis on acquiring and providing access to electronic resources via the internet as well as sharing physical resources (kopp, 1998; potter, 1997). from the 1990s into 2000s, many libraries had their own separate standalone ilss in house. however, the development of cloud computing pushed libraries to reconsider the remotely hosted library systems supported by vendors and consortia (machovec, 2014). next generation ilss were introduced. in his 2011 automation market report, breeding (2011a) predicted that more libraries would consider adopting the cloud based, multi-tenant automation products as well as participating in shared automation systems in consortia to save cost. libraries have become “willing to look at much more profound and fundamentally ground-breaking collaborations” and demand automation vendors to offer collaborative functionality to support library success (horton, 2012a, p.130). in 2011, orbis cascade alliance (oca) decided to create a “truly shared integrated library system” for all of its 37 member institutions (horton, 2012b, para. 3.). this would allow for deeper collaboration among its members, including unified collections and shared technical services. according to an oclc survey (2013), in response to what the most valuable aspect of joining a consortium is, 12% of u.s. library consortia leaders chose a shared ils, liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 56 which is on par with e-content purchasing and third to professional networking (30%) and cost savings (23%). in his regular column in the collaborative librarianship, ayre (2015) illustrated all compelling features for library consortia to collaborate deeper by adopting shared next generation ilss. it was stated that all sharing activities and services would be streamlined and simplified, including user access and staff workflow. a shared system would save individual member libraries not only on hardware, software and licenses costs but also personnel for system administration, cataloging, collection development, and even selections and acquisitions. would it be a new direction for academic libraries to collaboratively select and manage shared next generation ilss? this article aims to analyze the trends, impacts, opportunities and challenges for academic libraries in the shared next generation ilss. literature review a great deal of research articles and presentations have addressed the topic of next generation ilss and consortia in library literature. although the concept of next generation ilss is still relatively new in the profession. oca is a pioneer of library consortia in the adoption of shared next generation ilss. it has served as a model for many other academic library consortia (helmer, et al., 2012). from system selection and migration to its impact on the library operations and various functional areas, librarians and other researchers from oca have contributed a number of papers sharing their experiences and insights of a shared next-generation ils in a large academic library consortium. cornish, jost and arch (2013) detailed the process for selecting a shared next generation ils for all 37 oca members, including the foundational steps, request for information (rfi), teams and processes of request for proposal (rfp), and negotiation with suppliers. steve shadle at the university of washington libraries presented the migration experience to the next generation ils and a single shared catalog in oca, including the motivation for the consortial migration, the implementation process and lessons they have learned (shadle and davis, 2016). stewart and morrison (2016) from the same institution further examined the consortial migration and its impact on acquisitions workflows and collection building in the shared system. shared ils migration is also investigated from a technical services perspective by the staff from another oca library (zhu and spidal, 2015). the consortially shared ils has also changed the library operations in oca (mckiel and dooley, 2014). librarians from pioneering libraries in the oca looked at the acquisitions policies and workflows in the new system (spring, drake and romaine, 2014). the challenges and opportunities for collaboration on acquisitions have also been discussed (spring et al., 2015). romaine and wang (2017) analyzed the serials and electronic resources management (erm) functionality and workflows in a shared ils. the discovery end accompanied with a next generation ils and its impact on library database usage is liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 57 included in the literature as well (evelhoch, 2016). in addition, fu (2017) investigated the impact of next generation ilss on the u.s. library consortia. literature sees newer articles coming from other consortia who have selected or are interested in a shared next generation ils. deng, sotelo and culbertson (2018) at the university of california, san diego, conducted literature review and a survey on cataloging consortial collections in preparation for the upcoming migration to the next generation ils in the consortium. five trends have been identified, including the outlook that local library catalog is not dead yet, as well as several approaches for consortial cataloging. cote and ostergaard (2017) from the treasure state academic and information services (trails) consortium examined the role of electronic resources librarians in the process of consortial migration to next generation ilss. they concluded that the north american serials interest group (nasig)’s core competencies for electronic resources librarians “provide a framework from which to approach” the next generation ils implementation (p. 228). consortia from other regions or countries, such as hong kong, canada and south africa, are also interested in this topic. eight universities in hong kong in the joint university librarians advisory committee (julac) started a new adventure in 2013 aiming to collaborate on a shared next generation ils. after several years of planning, consultation and rfp process, julac selected alma and primo in 2016 and went live with the shared system in july 2017. major challenges they encountered include merging bibliographic records, user account authentication, user-initiated borrowing, data migration, and multilingual authority control, etc. opportunities are also presented to participating libraries, such as shared cataloging, shared collection development, shared workflow, expertise and training (chan and lam, 2016; lam, 2017). in 2016 library technology conference, anika ervin-ward and amy greenberg (2016a) presented the ontario council of university libraries (ocul) collaborative futures (cf) project. the ocul cf project aims to collaboratively adopt a shared next generation ils. the ocul case study section in this article will detail its goals, approaches and status along with the discussion on challenges and opportunities of this provincial project in canada. in south africa, mfengu (2014) interviewed senior library management teams in four institutions of cape library consortium and found that these institutions were willing to adopt the next generation ils in the next five years. they were in a process of preparing for this move in terms of staff and infrastructure change. the member institutions would like to take advantage of consortial approach and still function individually. machovec (2014) listed the following challenges facing consortial solutions of next generation ilss: selecting a system, determining costs, defining levels of collaboration, security, scalability and performance of the solution, and the integration with other library applications. although alma is the dominating product selected by home institutions of the authors of the related literature, machovec (2014) did name a couple of examples other than alma, such as the private academic libraries of indiana (palni) who migrated to wms and mobius consortium who have upgraded to sierra. liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 58 rarely does research in the literature target the trend of academic library consortial adoption of the next generation ilss. more investigations from various perspectives and environments would provide further expositions on the impacts, challenges and opportunities of such a substantial joint adventure for academic libraries around the world. methods to identify the trend for academic libraries to adopt a shared ils within a consortium, the authors of this article collected and analyzed the number of academic library consortia that have moved to a shared next generation ils in the past few years. marshall breeding’s annual product reports are a good source for the adoption number of next generation ilss. the library automation statistics tracked on the library technology guides (https://librarytechnology.org/) are another source of data for this article. however, these sources do not provide separate information on academic consortia. the press releases on individual products have been collected and reviewed for the analysis. in the next generation ils market, only alma, wms and sierra have sufficient installations in libraries to be meaningful for this study (breeding, 2017a). although wms has gained sizable market in academic libraries, it “has had few selections by large academic libraries or consortia” (breeding, 2017b, 2nd para. under academic libraries/oclc). there is little information on academic libraries adoption of wms either on library literature or on the internet. it lacks literature on sierra as well. the press center of innovative interfaces (https://www.iii.com/press-center/) contains news releases on the selection and migration of sierra by libraries but the data are available only from 2016. it appears the number of press releases is not complete for all library adoptions of sierra. good news is that it looks like all press releases on alma adoption since 2011 are preserved and accessible via the news and events on the ex libris website (http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/press-releases/). the number of total adoptions of alma on the press releases also agrees with what has been presented in marshall breeding’s reports and statistics (breeding, 2018a; breeding, 2018c). in addition, the number matches what is described in the internal document of the ex libris’ response to ocul cf rfp for a next generation ils in january 2018 (one of the authors of this article sit on the ocul cf rfp requirements and evaluation working group). therefore, data collected via the press releases on alma adoption on the ex libris website are quite reliable. this article reviews all available data on the adoption of sierra (from january 5, 2016 to april 9, 2018) and alma (from january 6, 2011 to april 3, 2018) on the internet. the analysis mainly relies on alma’s adoption data during 2011-2018 with a particular focus on the consortial adoption. all adoption numbers from the websites of ex libris, innovative interfaces, and library technology guides are collected and verified during april 1-15, 2018. in addition to the analysis on the adoption number, two cases, oca and ocul, under different stages of consortial adoption of a next generation ils are studied to provide in-depth analysis on the impact of shared next generation ilss on consortia and their https://librarytechnology.org/ https://www.iii.com/press-center/ http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/press-releases/ liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 59 members as well as the challenges and opportunities to them. oca is the pioneer in this area in the world, who have gone live with alma for a couple of year; whereas ocul is among the first consortia in canada aiming for a completely shared next generation ils, and is currently selecting a shared system. adoption of next generation ilss in academic library consortia data from library technology guides by marshall breeding table 1 lists the number of consortia respondents and the total number of all respondents to the annual international survey of library automation in 2012-2017. the respondents come from all types of libraries primarily in english speaking countries (breeding, 2018d). the data include a variety of library automation products, such as traditional ilss and next generation ilss. some comments in the 2017 survey state they are part of a consortial shared system, but responded as individual libraries (breeding, 2018b). table 1 shows that the number of consortia respondents from 2012 to 2017. although it appears that during 2012-2017, the number of consortia respondents to the annual library automation perceptions survey goes up gradually (see figure 1), the percentage of consortia respondents among the total number of respondents (both consortial and individual respondents) does not support such trend (see figure 2). year consortia total 2012 97 3,032 2013 91 3,003 2014 95 3,143 2015 127 3,459 2016 116 4,042 2017 142 3,992 table 1. number of respondents (consortia and total) figure 1. number of consortia respondents 0 50 100 150 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 number of consortia respondents liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 60 figure 2. the percentage of consortial respondents based on the integrated system turnover maintained by marshall breeding (2018a), figure 3 illustrates the number of academic libraries who have selected alma, sierra or wms in 2010-2017. alma appears starting to lead the market after 2015. figure 3. number of academic libraries that acquired a new ils/lsp 2010-2017) press releases for alma adoption the press releases from news & events on the website of ex libris (http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/press-releases/) were examined for the product alma since its beginning, january 6, 2011 when the first announcement was released on alma. table 2 displays the number of consortia who have selected alma in 2011-2017. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 percentage of consortia respondents 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 number of academic libraries that selected a new system alma sierra wms http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/press-releases/ liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 61 year number of consortia selected alma 2011 2 2012 2 2013 3 2014 7 2015 7 2016 11 2017 10 table 2. number of consortia selected alma figure 4 shows the continual growing number of consortia that have selected alma as their shared next generation ilss in the past few years. it indicates that academic libraries are more likely working together to select a shared next generation ils. figure 4. number of consortia that have selected alma the press releases on the year of 2018 have also been reviewed carefully. till april 3, 2018, five individual institutions and three consortia have selected alma in the year of 2018. the three consortia include two japanese universities, and seven university members of michigan shared system alliance, and 64 campuses in the state university of new york. there are 78 academic libraries have selected alma in total in 2018, and among them 73 are part of a consortium who selected the product together. that means among alma adopters, about 94% academic libraries have joined a consortium for a shared next generation ils in 2018. case studies case study 1 oca: experience, impacts, opportunities and challenges oca is a library consortium of 39 academic libraries in oregon, washington, and idaho, serving faculty and the equivalent of more than 280,000 full-time students. from january 2013 to january 2015, the then 37 oca libraries completed migration from three different locally hosted ilss and four different discovery platforms to a shared next generation ils, 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 number of consortia liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 62 alma, and a single discovery platform primo. the alliance and its member libraries took a multi-year process for exploring systems options, creating policies and standards for data cleaning, planning and organizing the migration, and creating collaborative programs and teams after migration. the alliance created numerous working groups to perform collaborative tasks at each stage of the project. through analyzing the oca programs, documents, reports published on the oca websites, conference presentations authored by the oca members and delivered at the ex libris users of north america conferences, in-person interview, and journal articles authored and published by librarians and professionals of the oca member libraries, we find, particularly, from a member institution’s perspective, the shared next generation ils has made significant impacts and generated numerous opportunities and challenges on almost all aspects, particularly on the following areas of the oca and its member institutions: resource sharing according to the oca alliance-wide summit borrowing 2017 and summit lending 2017, there were a total of 312,874 borrowing requests and a total of 261,372 lending requests received among its 39 institutions in 2017. the fill rate was 80% and 93% respectively. our study shows that the new shared system has greatly improved users’ access to information through resources sharing in the oca libraries. compared to the previous oca’s resource sharing system called summit, the new summit seamlessly integrated consortial borrowing and lending systems and interlibrary loan system with the shared ils alma and front end system primo. the new summit allows patrons to easily search and request library materials owned by consortial members or other libraries outside the consortium through a single primo user interface. every member library can follow the same procedures and policies to achieve efficiency and predictability. during an in-person interview, erin bledsoe, a senior circulation staff at central washington university, who participated in the oca alliance resource sharing implementation team, responded that the new shared ils brought significant benefits to both patron and library staff. she emphasized that the new shared ils “allows the user to access all of the library and consortial holdings; physical, electronic and digital, by searching in one search box.” patrons “no longer have to interface with third party vendor (i.e. worldcat).” the new system provides “real-time availability, not requestability.” the shared best practices also “allow for similar experiences throughout consortium.” erin bledsoe added that “detailed audit trail can help staff troubleshoot problems. general messages and notes can be used to indicate damage, multiple parts.” she recognized that shared creation of documentation and best practices are helpful for staff training and professional development. discovery and user experience our study shows the new shared next generation ils provides a single high-quality, webbased discovery and delivery platform for all consortium member institutions. it enables discovery of resources, regardless of format or resource type, in local or consortial collections and beyond. it enables member institutions to customize the search experience by controlling for preferred formats and locations and implementing individual liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 63 institution’s needs and brand components. the new primo interface has become a central portal for access to unique local information resources, including digital collections from member libraries. it provides users with a web-based portal for assistance in conducting searches on the internet, evaluating the quality of information resources, learning how to use various databases and linking them to library resources throughout the consortium. it also provides users with the advantages of a union catalog, such as consistent query interpretation across multiple libraries with quick response time across a large number of library records. it supports efficient computerized library services, including up to the minute information about the availability of library materials, circulation information, journal collection status, and computerized checkout. it offers access to an array of online user-initiated services, such as the ability to review materials checked-out, renew books, and request books from other libraries. however, zebulin evelhoch (2016), an e-resource librarian from central washington university, one oca member, through his analysis, noted that “the first year postmigration (2015) compared to the two years pre-migration (2013-2014) saw a decline in web page views of database (a-z) web pages, journal full-text article requests, and database record views and result clicks. the implementation of primo thus had a noticeable negative impact on both direct database access and overall electronic resource usage during the first year post-migration” (p16). however, for the second year and third year after golive, the access numbers were back to normal. our study suggests that patrons need to be educated and trained to be familiar with a new discovery system during the transition of migration from a traditional opac. shared content our study finds that the new shared ils allows the consortium to continually assesse, manage, and develop initiatives that broaden access by providing cost-effective sharing, licensing, and description of such content. for example, for databases and e-journals acquisitions and subscriptions, member libraries can identify resources of interest and the alliance works with the vendor, negotiating discounts, coordinating trials, licensing and invoicing. the oca electronic resources program is run on an opt-in/opt-out model. subscriptions are started and purchases made when a sufficient number of libraries commit. the consortium launched its first consortial demand-driven acquisitions (dda) e-book purchase program in 2011 facilitated by a partnership with ybp and proquest and funded by the consortium membership. the dda program ended in 2017. currently the consortium adopted the evidence-based acquisitions model, partnered with wiley and taylor & francis. another shared content project is oxford university press frontlist purchase. our study finds the new shared ils increases leverage in negotiations with library vendors and other system service providers. it saves labor and overhead costs by centralizing management of contractual agreements. collaborative technical services our study finds that oca’s alma implementation differs from a stand-alone institution’s version. according to the oca strategic agenda, the oca wanted to “manage and build the combined collections of members as one collection”; however, the shared bibliographic liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 64 database environment still allows oca member institutions to retain some local control and to provide a place for local order and holdings records. in order to accomplish this, ex libris created a three-layer system. the first layer, called the institution zone (iz), houses local institutional holdings, inventory, and order records. each oca member institution has its own iz. the second layer, called the network zone (nz), which houses the bibliographic records of oca’s member libraries, separate but linked to the local/institutional repository (iz) for each oca member. while the third layer, called community zone (cz), composed of e-resource records, the alma knowledge base (kb), is available to all alma users, not only for oca members. the three-layer system made it possible and easier for oca member institutions to work closely on collaborative technical services such as the ebook, chinese, japanese, and arabic cataloging pilots. these technical services were difficult when more than 30 local ilss were in use and workflows varied across the consortium. thus, the shared next generation ils opened up new opportunities and made collaboration in acquisitions, cataloging, collection development, circulation, systems, and other areas easier to achieve. it allows libraries to streamline staff operations and realize cost savings through sharing standardized bibliographic and authority records. as a result of this type of collaboration, since the implementation of the shared ils, the consortium members have worked together and developed a number of bibliographic records polices and shared ils operational policies, best practices, procedures & workflows, normalization rules, nz account configuration & procedures and guidelines. the consortium member libraries also share a single normalization rules for converting source records in alma and publishing to primo. systems the maintenance and upgrades of the oca shared ils are centrally managed by the vendor. the cloud shared ils lessens the necessity for each library to maintain the full complement of experts and hardware to operate their own. our study shows that systems staff at oca member libraries have more time to develop local applications and support customizations. the shared ils enables sharing customization and distributed testing of new release, central monitoring, deploying and publishing. the systems staff of the oca member institutions also collaborated on user roles management, systems authentication, systems configuration, alma/primo api development, primo new ui customization, resource sharing configuration, integration with other systems, etc. it enables the oca systems program manager and the alliance systems team to provide centralized library automation support and services to various types of libraries in the oca. unique & local digital content each oca member institution has its own archival collection, institutional repository and other unique digital repositories. the new shared ils enables the alliance to consider aggregating its member institutions’ local and unique digital content. in order to achieve this goal, the oca formed a few of working groups on archival collection, digital content metadata standards, preservation and aggregation. the oca council approved an aadc/dpla proposal proposed by the content creation & dissemination team in liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 65 february 2016. aadc stands for aggregate alliance digital content and dpla stands for the digital public library of america, a national-level portal for digital content from libraries and other cultural heritage institutions with value-added search and browse features. the aadc/dpla project allows all alliance members to share digital objects in primo and dpla. the project adheres to national standards for library automation and digitization to ensure compatibility and transferability of records and links members to regional, state, and national library networks which increase the oca member institutions’ visibility and brand awareness by providing open access to their unique and local content via the dpla. case study 2 ocul cf project ocul is an academic library consortium of 21 university libraries in ontario, the largest province in canada. it has been existing for over 50 years for the collaboration and cooperation among ontarian institutions to enhance services to students, faculty and researchers in ontario and beyond. the collaboration activities in ocul include group purchasing, shared digital information infrastructure, collaborative planning and professional development, etc. (ervin-ward and greenberg, 2016a; ocul, 2018a; ocul, 2018b) one example of shared systems is the sfx link resolver. academic libraries in the ocul consortium implemented a shared sfx in 2004 (cheung, thomas and patrick, 2010). each institution has its own instance while scholars portal maintains the central instance. institutions relied on sfx for e-resource managing and linking for many years since then. other innovation or collaboration based on sfx have been developed, such as the integration of sfx with evergreen open source ils for the unified view of print and electronic serials created by a local member, the university of windsor, and the ocul usage rights database implemented consortially for institutions to display licensing terms on various databases to users in library catalog, journal a-z list or other search interfaces (liu and zheng, 2011; scholars portal, 2017). with the emergence of discovery layers and next generation ilss, libraries in ocul started to adopt other link resolvers or knowledge bases. it became a big burden for libraries to maintain multiple knowledge bases and link resolvers. libraries began questioning the future of sfx and some other services offered by the consortium (ervinward and greenberg, 2016a). from 2012, the ocul technical advisory group initiated discussions on cloud computing and web scale library systems across the province. a unified resources management (urm) summit was held in toronto in february 2013. as a result, the ocul collaborative approaches task force was established to identify potential opportunities by the new type of systems (ervin-ward and greenburg, 2016b). in the meantime, one ocul member, the university of windsor contracted with alma as an early adopter. university of windsor is the first university in ontario that selected a next generation ils. alma replaced several separate systems at the university, including evergreen open source ils, sfx and syrup, a homegrown course reserve system (liu, 2015). with the efforts of the ocul collaborative approaches task force and consultations with ocul members, the ocul collaborative futures (cf) project was liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 66 launched in 2014. the ocul cf project “aims to maximize the existing expertise and resources of ocul members while fostering a deeper and more comprehensive collaborative venture among ontario’s academic libraries” (ervin-ward and greenberg, 2016b, p2). more specifically, the cf project intends to implement a shared next generation ils where members can collaborate to effectively manage electronic and print resources as well as to have a sustainable system for the management and preservation of ocul print resources. the project consists of the following three phases: the first phase is the feasibility study. steering committee and several working groups were formed collaboratively to develop shared vision and collaboration framework; conduct market research, financial analysis, and business process and workflow analysis; and develop communications plan. models of collaboration for systems, workflow and collections are also investigated. an request for information (rfi) was created and sent to various vendors in the market as well as companies or organizations that support open source solutions, including oclc (mws), innovative interfaces (sierra), proquest (intota), sirsidynix (symphony), ex libris (alma), equinox software (evergreen) and kuali (kauli ole), etc. the findings show that most solutions are incomplete, and few products are quite mature at that time. many can be installed in consortial environments however the level of consortial support varies dramatically. this phase completed in july 2015 (ervin-ward and greenberg, 2016a; ocul, 2018c). the second phase is in the period of august 2015 to fall 2016. it focuses on system requirements development and procurement preparations. there are 18 institutions optedin to participate in this phase. further investigation and planning have been conducted on the shared next generation ilss and possible deeper collaboration among members. (ocul, 2018b). from winter 2017, cf enters phase three, the procurement and implementation at libraries. thirteen institutions agreed to move forward with the shared system and another three libraries indicated continual interest with their decision forthcoming. a governance structure has been established. four working groups were formed including communications, memorandum of understanding and governance, requirements and evaluation, and shared policy work group. an expert advisory network was also developed to include individuals who are responsible for different areas of the ocul cf project at local libraries. by end of 2017, an rfp has been issued for the shared system. the project team have been evaluating the responses to select a supplier. data migration and system implementation will be following the selection. deeper collaborations based on the shared next generation ils are expected among participating libraries in near future (ocul, 2018b). in late summer of 2018, ocul cf announced that the alma and primo were chosen as the solution after a long course of investigation, evaluation and negotiation. the new system is expected to be launched for all participating institutions in december 2019. currently the consortium and its members are actively preparing for the upcoming implementation in early 2019. it is quite challenging for such a large scope collaboration project among ontario’s academic libraries. these libraries vary a lot in terms of full time equivalent (fte) student population, library collections size and existing local ilss. for example, in the liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 67 consortium, york university has over 52k fte student population while algoma university has only about 1.2k fte students. york university libraries hold near 3.4 million of bibliographic records, however algoma university library only contains about 137k bibliographic records. the current systems used in the participating members spread a wide range as well, including eight different ils solutions, four discovery layers, and a variety of institution repositories, e-reserves, learning management systems, student information systems, and financial systems across the province. the priorities and preferred timelines to move to a shared new system are quite different among these campuses. in addition, there is a mini consortium within the participating libraries, the triuniversity group of libraries (tug) (https://www.tug-libraries.on.ca/). it is a big challenge for the ocul cf consortium to determine the cost sharing and collaboration model, and agree on various policies and workflows. this newly formed partnership articulates a number of outcomes from the shared system as follows: • shared records, cataloguing and electronic resource management • shared record loading (bibliographic records) • shared discovery • shared patron services and policies • shared analytics, acquisitions and collection management (university of ottawa, 2017, p42) the shared system will foster the deeper collaboration among ontarian academic libraries to leverage local resources and services for users to experience “a large, diverse ontario-wide library collection” (ervin-ward and greenberg, 2016a, slide 10). conclusions the next generation ilss have been getting mature since its inception around 2011. it’s been adopted by many academic libraries in the world. academic libraries have a long history of collaboration in various activities to provide information services to students, faculty and other researchers. due to the advancements of information technology and the budget restriction, academic libraries tend to work together on collective purchasing, shared professional development, and many other activities. the next generation ilss allow for deeper collaboration among libraries. the adoption data of next generation ilss, especially alma, indicate that more and more academic libraries are joining together to collaboratively investigate, select and implement a shared next generation ils. academic consortia are under different stages in moving to next generation ilss. the case study on oca, the pioneer adopter of alma, reveals that a shared next generation ils has significant impact on all aspects of library operations and services in oca, especially in the areas of resource sharing, discovery and user experience, shared content, collaborative technical services, systems, as well as unique and local digital content. it also poses both challenges and opportunities to individual members in all these areas. the study on the ocul cf project shows the challenges and opportunities of a shared next generation ils to the newly formed partnership within ocul consortium. the participating libraries are significantly different in terms of sizes, resources, services, existing systems and priorities. it is challenging for such a heterogeneous consortium to liu and fu / international journal of librarianship 3(2) 68 collaboratively move to a shared next generation ils. however, the shared new system will foster deeper collaboration among the members to achieve their common goals. in the future, a comprehensive investigation on all institutions who have adopted next generation ilss would help provide a complete picture on the trends of the consortial adoption of next generation ilss by academic libraries. surveys and interviews on library staff from various perspectives and environments would further the understanding on the impacts, challenges and opportunities of shared next generation systems. references ayre, l.b. 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(2015) how is that going to work? part ii – acquisitions challenges and opportunities in a shared ils. faculty & staff publications. published version. submission 13. retrieved april 20, 2018 from http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/librariesfac_pubs/13 spring, k., drake, m. and romaine, s. (2014) how is that going to work? rethinking acquisitions in a next-generation ils. faculty & staff publications. published version. submission 11. retrieved april 20, 2018 from http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/librariesfac_pubs/11 stewart, m. and morrison, c.a. (2016). consortial migration to a next-generation ils and its impact on acquisitions workflows. lrts 60(4), p. 259-269 university of ottawa. (2017) request for proposals (rfp) software as a service (saas) library services platform. retrieved april 20, 2018 from https://ocul.on.ca/sites/default/files/2017052-rfp_for_lsp_28-nov2017_final_0.pdf wilson, k. (2012）introducing the next generation of library management systems. serials review, 38, p. 110-123. zhu, l. and spidal, d.f. (2015) shared integrated library system migration from a technical services perspective. technical services quarterly, 32:3, 253-273. doi: 10.1080/07317131.2015.1029844 about the authors guoying liu is librarian, head of systems at leddy library, university of windsor. ping fu is professor and head of library technology services in the brooks library at central washington university. http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/librariesfac_pubs/13 http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/librariesfac_pubs/11 https://ocul.on.ca/sites/default/files/2017052-rfp_for_lsp_28-nov-2017_final_0.pdf https://ocul.on.ca/sites/default/files/2017052-rfp_for_lsp_28-nov-2017_final_0.pdf 94-titlepage 94corrected_jan6-2019 international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 108-109 issn: 2474-3542 association of college & research libraries 2019: recasting the narrative yali feng, university of illinois at urbana-champaign, united states association of college & research libraries (acrl) holds the most prestigious conferences for academic and research libraries in the united states. acrl 2019 was held april 10–13, 2019, in cleveland, ohio. about 3,000 attendees enjoyed more than 500 conference programs and had the chance to meet with representatives from more than 200 major companies. acrl had three keynote speakers, with core themes of “recasting the narrative” for justice and inclusiveness. the three keynote speakers were michele norris, viet thanh nguyen, and alison bechdel. • michele norris is a peabody award-winning journalist. she presented on two projects, the race card project and the bridge, which focused on race, identity, connectivity and inclusion. • viet thanh nguyen is a writer, author of the sympathizer, and pulitzer prize winner. his speech powerfully advocated just representation of refugee voices and focused on the vietnam war. • alison bechdel is a cartoonist whose work is involved with “expanding the expressive potential of the graphic form”. for that, she received the 2014 macarthur “genius” grant. in her speech, alison narrated her journey of exploring gender identity, which is deeply intertwined with her family history. overall, these three outstanding speakers exhibited their efforts of exploring the same goal: finding a better approach to reach peace and happiness, with different angles at different levels. the acrl 2019 proceedings included 12 tracks with corresponding session numbers listed in brackets: administration, management, and leadership (15), assessment (12), collection (4), outreach (8), professional/staff development (8), reference (3), scholarly communication (9), special collections/archives (1), teaching and learning (24), technical services (2), and technology and tools (2). the track of teaching and learning received the most conference attention. there were several themes that caught my attention. first, there was an overarching focus on the importance of diversity and social justice, as reflected by keynote speakers and throughout the conference. secondly, i was surprised by the interesting attention to emotions and mental health in the library context, which were explored broadly in presentations, posters, roundtables, and panel discussions. emotion management, emotional labor, emotional intelligence, and the importance of empathy all were considered from multiple perspectives. we can expect more discussion and debates on such topics as stress and confusion increases with incoming ai http://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences/acrl2019/papers feng / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 109 applications and more unfolding diversity issues. the publishers and libraries and their workers are trying to find an anchor for this incoming technology wave. thirdly, a focus on various aspects of data was one of the threads in the conference, especially with respect to how to respond to emerging data science. topics such as research data management and sharing, data skill building and application, continuing digitization of physical sources, and recasting the narrative with data through breaking disciplinary boundaries were among the data related topics that received considerable attention. for further detail, please refer to acrl 2019 website (https://conference.acrl.org/). references https://conference.acrl.org/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences/acrl2019/papers https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/what-to-watch-for-at-acrl-2019-research-data-edition/ https://conference.acrl.org/ https://conference.acrl.org/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences/acrl2019/papers https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/what-to-watch-for-at-acrl-2019-research-data-edition/ issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org embedded information literacy instruction in the mobile environment: a case study jinchi guo and han zhu abstract: information literacy instruction in various countries has expanded in a variety of ways. at universities, it has mainly taken the form of credit-based courses, lectures, and embedded instruction. while european and american universities carry out more embedded instruction, universities in china focus more on credit-based courses and lectures, leaving embedded instruction in an exploratory stage. this paper is a preliminary study of a research project that aims to investigate the department-based, embedded information literacy instruction among the libraries of 42 "double-first class" universities in china. using east china normal university library as an example, this paper discusses the teaching mode, teaching philosophy, teaching design, teaching methods and contents in order to explore how embedded information literacy instruction can make use of the mobile internet platform. the specific areas to be examined include teaching resources, enhancing classroom interactions, and after-class feed-pushing as part of teaching support. finally, some recommendations are put forward for the extension and expansion of embedded information literacy instruction. to cite this article: guo, j., & zhu, h. (2019). embedded information literacy instruction in the mobile environment: a case study. international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 94-110. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(2), 94-110 issn: 2474-3542 embedded information literacy instruction in the mobile environment: a case study1 jinchi guo, han zhu east china normal university library, shanghai, china abstract information literacy instruction in various countries has expanded in a variety of ways. at universities, it has mainly taken the form of credit-based courses, lectures, and embedded instruction. while european and american universities carry out more embedded instruction, universities in china focus more on credit-based courses and lectures, leaving embedded instruction in an exploratory stage. this paper is a preliminary study of a research project that aims to investigate the department-based, embedded information literacy instruction among the libraries of 42 "double-first class" universities in china. using east china normal university library as an example, this paper discusses the teaching mode, teaching philosophy, teaching design, teaching methods and contents in order to explore how embedded information literacy instruction can make use of the mobile internet platform. the specific areas to be examined include teaching resources, enhancing classroom interactions, and after-class feed-pushing as part of teaching support. finally, some recommendations are put forward for the extension and expansion of embedded information literacy instruction. keywords: information literacy, embedded instruction, mobile internet, university library introduction the term “information literacy" was originated by paul zurkowski, the president of the information industry association (iia), in his proposal to the national commission on libraries and information science (nclis) in 1974 (behrens, 1994). forest woody horton, an american information scientist, proposed in 1983 to design and offer information literacy courses (horton, 1983). it has been over 40 years since the concept of “information literacy” was first suggested. with various changes over 1 this paper is one of the research project, “practical research on mobile information literacy education in university libraries” (project no.: 16btq006), funded by the national social science fund of china. guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 95 the years, information literacy instruction has undergone continuous development. according to the revised rules and regulations on libraries in institutions of higher education (ministry of education of the people's republic of china, 2016) released by the ministry of education of the people’s republic of china (hereinafter referred to as the “moe of the prc”) on january 2016, “the academic libraries shall attach great importance to information literacy instruction, strengthen the development of systematic information literacy courses and seek improvements and innovations in freshman orientation and lectures by leverage of modern educational technologies.” the revised version also specified that one of the top tasks for academic libraries is to carry out information literacy instruction. in july 2017, the information literacy instruction working group, which is a subcommittee of the steering committee for academic libraries of china (scal) of the moe of the prc, issued the guiding opinions on further strengthening information literacy instruction by the institutions of higher education (exposure draft) (the information literacy instruction working group of the steering committee for academic libraries of china (scal) of the moe of the prc, 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the “guiding opinions”) to define that, “embedded instruction is an educational form in which colleges and universities integrate information literacy instruction into their specialized courses or generalknowledge courses, thus improving students’ professional information literacy with clearly pre-set targets, and this form of instruction usually requires the collaboration and coordination among different departments and administrations of the college or university. ” the guiding opinions further prescribed that embedded instruction is one of the major forms of information literacy instruction employed by colleges and universities. literature review the earliest embedded instruction launched by both librarians and faculty members of international universities can be traced back as early as 1959, at wayne state university of the united states of america. p. b. knapp and other librarians collaborated with departments to conduct a pilot project, embedding library education in some academic courses (knapp pb, 1963). in 1999, the society of college, national and university libraries (sconul), which represents all university libraries in the uk and ireland, as well as national libraries and many of the uk’s colleges of higher education, proposed in information skills in higher education (sconul, 1999) that “the development of the idea of ‘information literacy’ requires a collaborative and integrated approach to curriculum design and delivery based on close co-operation” between staff members and librarians. meanwhile, the association of college & research libraries (acrl), the largest division of the american library association (ala), wrote in its information literacy competency standards for higher education (acrl, 2000) that, “integrated in the content, structure and system of subject curriculum, information literacy requires the cooperation among librarians, faculty members, and guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 96 administrators.” after that, the global practice of embedding information literacy instruction into a department-based curriculum had been carried out, and other influential practices include the big6 model of information problem-solving (eisenberg and berkowitz, 1988), problem based learning (diekema, 2011), and coeducation by librarians and faculty (belanger, 2012). the earliest paper on chinese universities’ information literacy instruction was published in 1997 about the development of information literacy skills in university faculty (yao, 1997). li (2003) introduced the embedded information literacy instruction in university by analyzing the information literacy instruction courses in three universities in the united states and their experiences of creating these multi-campus, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional courses. although the research on embedded information literacy instruction is not very extensive, the relevant research findings can be classified into four categories: 1) international universities’ embedded instruction the research on the practices of international universities’ embedded information literacy instruction. the authors investigated the reasons for the prevalence of embedded information literacy instruction, including an exploration of various instruction models, target planning, instructional design, instruction methods, appraisal and evaluation systems, and online instruction. gong (2010) analyzed international universities’ cases and categorized three models of embedded information literacy instruction, which are problem-based learning (pbl), discipline-based online information literacy instruction & guidance, and multi-level and multi-dimensional embedding.she concluded that faculty members are the key to the success of embedded information literacy instruction, and librarians are important partners to faculty members. gong also stated that differentiated embedding should be “student-centered”. hu and peng (2011) revealed that the us universities they studied tended to adopt faceto-face classroom instruction while taking online instruction as a supplement. the authors further summarized some useful lessons that helped the universities with their embedded information literacy instruction, such as positive interactions between the librarians and the faculty members, good utilization of internet-based instruction tools and placing emphasis on instruction assessment. fu (2011) introduced the case of the university of west florida’s embedded information literacy instruction, in which she analyzed how it was embedded in academic courses, and how it also improved students’ research capacities and information literacy skills. xiong (2015) summarized some good practices of embedded information literacy instruction at several international universities, which included emphasizing target planning and instructional design; adopting student-centered pbl methods; establishing a reasonable appraisal and evaluation mechanism; and utilizing new information technology to support embedded information literacy instruction. huang (2016) listed 3 reasons for the popularity of embedded information literacy instruction in europe, america, and australia, i.e., external reasons, internal advantages and promotion by the library industry. huang also mentioned that the development of information technology exerted certain impacts on the models of information literacy instruction and that the co-instruction by librarians guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 97 and faculty members has grown and matured via concerted efforts of developing online information literacy courses and drafting the guidance on embedded information literacy instruction. wu et al. (2016) summarized 3 models of international universities’ embedded information literacy instruction, i.e., embedded instruction by librarians alone, embedded instruction by both librarians and faculty members, and faculty members taking the leading role while librarians serve as teaching assistants. the instruction consisted of guidance on resource use and students’ academic research. the effectiveness of the instruction was assessed using questionnaires. wu was thus inspired that to create a successfully embedded information literacy instruction, librarians should carefully select a course as a pilot project, give special focus on students’ feedback and learning evaluation results, and build cooperation with the school and its administrative departments. zhou and tang (2018) analyzed the achievements of embedded information literacy instruction of the university of wisconsin and put forward some information literacy embedding strategies based on "meta literacy". 2) comparative studies on chinese and international universities’ embedded instruction the research on comparative case studies on chinese and international universities’ embedded instruction from the aspect of management mechanism, the ways of realization, instructional design, teaching research, incentive mechanism. xie and zhao (2012) sketched out the status quo of embedded information literacy instruction of chinese and international universities and provided some enlightenment. these two researchers also pointed out that embedded instruction should be student-centered, and that librarians should proactively engage themselves in the classroom andonline embedded instruction.). si et al. (2013) discussed typical cases of embedded instruction of some international universities, and summed up some reasons for their success, such as advanced teaching philosophy, abundant teaching resources, well-qualified librarians working on embedded instruction, effective communication and cooperation, as well as active popularizing and marketing. zhang and tu (2015)’s comparative study analyzed the embedded instruction of 15 famous chinese and international universities from the perspectives of participants, management mechanisms, service facilities, implementation methods, and emotions. 3) chinese universities’ embedded instruction the research on cases of chinese universities’ embedded instruction. shenyang normal university library adopted big6 to carry out embedded instruction. thanks to faculty members and librarians’ co-instruction, not only students’ capabilities of searching, information reading comprehension, information expression, and communication have improved, but their awareness of being independent researchers has also increased (hong & cui, 2008). shanghai jiao tong university library executed the embedded instruction in “flipped classes” and made certain achievements in quite a lot of information literacy embedded courses. the researchers involved also suggested some strategies to improve the effectiveness of embedded instruction, such as helping students to enhance their learning motivation, improving librarians’ teaching abilities, strengthening software platform construction, technology application, and more guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 98 (huang et al., 2018). capital normal university library’s embedded information literacy instruction involved both librarians and faculty members under 2 models: one was led by the librarians and the other was led by the faculty members (hu & peng, 2013). zhang (2013), after analyzing the cases of the national science library and harvard university library, put forward that the “embedding” in embedded information literacy instruction was mainly reflected at four dimensions, i.e., targets, contents, environment, and mechanism. also, zhang made some suggestions like taking advantage of students’ existing skills of using social media to change the status quo of teacher-centered teaching, providing a good environment and technical support through the collaborative mechanism, and increasing the interaction between teachers and students. in order to resolve the problems in embedded instruction, chongqing university library initiated an information literacy skills learning project which was composed of digital resources retrieval training, library resources utilization training, search engine usage training, and academic writing training. these four levels of training have been embedded into the whole process of a specialized information literacy instruction course (zhang, yang & yuan, 2015). southeast university library adopted both classroom and online embedded instruction throughout the entire instruction process to adapt itself to the medical school’s pbl (tang, 2015). in the embedded instruction courses of southeast university, the library collected and answers students’ questions in real-time, analyzed the needs of teachers and students, and shared the solutions to the popular questions in the class group on social media, by using qq group (similar to msn chat group), a blog, and more (tang, 2015). beijing foreign studies university library embedded information literacy instruction into the generalknowledge courses designed for undergraduates. the researchers involved explored the contents, forms and methods of such embedding, and proposed some noteworthy issues (zhou, 2016). 4) theoretical research on embedded instruction in china theoretical research on embedded instruction in china, covering instruction models, environments, methods. zhang (2013) conducted a literature review, and classified the embedded information literacy instruction in china and several other countries into four models: course-related lectures, scalable model, multi-level teaching based on students’ capabilities, and end-to-end library-faculty cooperation. based on “collaborative theory”, tang (2014) proposed that librarians and faculty members should jointly work on embedded information literacy instruction from four aspects: information exchange, information retrieval, content creation and information evaluation. zhang (2015) analyzed the implementation approaches, instructional design, educational research and incentive mechanism, and further emphasized the significance of establishing an embedded instruction research team as well as research on course reform. xiang (2014) advised that in the context of e-learning, the cooperative mechanism among librarians, faculty members, and relevant administrative departments should be established to support the development of universities’ embedded instruction. the author also encouraged librarians to participate in embedded instruction related training to learn how to assess students’ performance to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of instruction. liu et al. (2016) adopted “actor network guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 99 theory” to analyze the operational mechanism of embedded information literacy instruction, and further proposed to improve embedded information literacy instruction theories by highlighting the core role of universities and benefits to all involved. in summarizing the literature in the four categories of existing research on embedded information literacy instruction above, we learned that research on the influence of mobile/internet developments on embedded instruction has seldom been examined. a survey on information literacy instruction conducted among chinese university libraries in 2015 indicates that 83.9% of 545 libraries have carried out freshman orientation, 91.5% of them have given series of lectures on information literacy, and 69.2% of them have provided credit-based courses. however, the survey also shows that only 17.8% of these libraries have tried embedded information literacy instruction, among which more than half have just one to three courses (yue et al., 2016). we initiated an online survey in march 2019 to look into the current situation of information literacy instruction in 42 “double-first class” universities in china. the results indicate that more than 90% of the universities have freshman orientation and lectures as the major form of information literacy instruction, and 76.2% offer credit courses, while only 16.7% implement embedded instruction. both the literature review and the survey show that embedded instruction in china is still in a preliminary stage. table 1 information literacy instruction in “double-first class” universities number of university libraries freshman orientation lectures credit courses embedding teaching 42 92.9% 97.6% 76.2% 16.7% research methods the information literacy instruction course of the east china normal university (ecnu) was offered to students for the first time in 1997. since 2006, librarians of ecnu have started trying to embed the information literacy instruction in some academic courses. since 2013, ecnu started using mobile technology to support information literacy instruction. so far, the library has collaborated with more than ten departments of ecnu to conduct embedded information literacy instruction. in this paper, we will use the case study research method (robert k. yin, 2011) to study the teaching/learning practice of ecnu’s department-based, embedded information literacy instruction. this paper seeks to address the following questions: (1) how did the librarians explore the implementation of embedded information literacy instruction in ecnu? (2) what pedagogical practices have the ecnu librarians tried in order to embed information literacy instruction in academic courses? guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 100 (3) how is an embedded information literacy instruction class designed? (4) how can information literacy instruction be embedded in the teaching and learning processes of academic courses? (5) how can mobile technology be taken advantage of in order to support embedded information literacy instruction? the purpose of this paper is to answer the questions above by studying the practice of ecnu’s embedded information literacy instruction. we hope this paper will provide an example of the application of embedded information literacy instruction in higher education. case study: east china normal university (“ecnu”) overview east china normal university library (hereinafter referred to as the “library”) carries out its information literacy instruction in 3 major ways: freshman orientation, lectures and courses, of which all involve collaboration with faculty members to some extent. after years of practice, the library has built up some experience in information literacy instruction embedded courses. freshman orientation freshman orientation is a fundamental opportunity for information literacy instruction in guiding freshmen on how to use library resources, how to find the books they need, how to utilize abundant electronic resources, and more. the library conducts freshman orientation in different ways, such as lectures, touring the library, and through “the beginner’s guide,” a module that can be found both on the library website and its official wechat account. the library has explored three ways to collaborate with faculty members in terms of freshman orientation: 1) giving lectures in the ecnu library and arranging library tours according to department; 2) enhancing students’ general knowledge on library services, plus introducing specific collections and database(s) for a specific department/discipline; 3) giving lectures in departments; lectures lectures consist of information literacy series, workshops, and database demonstrations given by database vendors. the library provides customized workshops to different departments, and in each department, the students of the same major or same class could attend such workshops as a group. both teachers and students are allowed to reserve such workshops, with workshop time, venue and contents to be further discussed and determined with the library. courses the library has designed diversified information literacy courses targeting different student groups with different needs, including optional courses open to all guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 101 undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as embedded department-based courses. in terms of optional courses, the library designed the course “information literacy” for undergraduates and awarded them one or two credits for this, with students of liberal arts and science attending separately. the instruction designed for postgraduates of liberal arts and science is entitled “literature research.” it is worth mentioning that nevertheless, three classes were created for the liberal arts postgraduates each semester, and classrooms are completely full. as for lecture series, all teachers and students are welcome to attend, and undergraduates can obtain one credit for listening to these lectures. see below for the information literacy instruction embedded into faculty courses. instructional models the library’s pilot of embedding information literacy into faculty courses was launched in 2006. starting from scratch and making progress step by step, the library has been cooperating with more than ten departments under two models until now: one is led by faculty and the other by librarians. faculty taking the lead in this model, faculty play a major role in librarian-faculty collaboration, integrating information literacy instruction into department-based specialized courses and liberal education. this involves many departments and institutes under the school of social development, school of humanities and social science, school of psychology and cognitive science, faculty of economics and management, faculty of education sciences, as well as meng xiancheng college, mba education center, and the executive development programs center. usually, librarians take one and a half to three hours to introduce the library’s resources, databases, etc. relating to the students’ disciplines or majors, and guide them on how to acquire and utilize information. librarians taking the lead in this model, the librarians play a major role in library-department collaboration, taking half of or entire course hours for information literacy instruction, which involves the school of software engineering and the school of music. co-developed by librarians and teachers of the school of software engineering, “academic writing – information retrieval and use,” is a compulsory course for the undergraduates in their last year’s study. the librarian takes half, of the hours (0.5 credits) to expound on related databases, to help students to improve their retrieval capability and literature research skills. co-developed by librarians and teachers of the school of music, “music information retrieval” is a compulsory course for first-year postgraduates of the school. the librarian concerned takes all of the course hours (two credits) to focus on information retrieval, assisting students in strengthening their information acquisition and analysis capabilities, and enhancing their awareness of maintaining academic standards. information literacy instruction has also been embedded into generalknowledge courses for second-year postgraduates, guiding them on how to draft a thesis guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 102 proposal via case analysis. exceptional embedded information literacy instruction as an optional course, “literature research” attracts students from different schools and departments. some students, after learning for some time, quickly become a “master” of information retrieval. not only do they excel beyond their classmates who did not choose the course, but they also become supervisors’ right hand with their search skills, leaving their classmates and supervisors impressed and amazed. some students become “instructors” themselves after attending the class. for example, a doctoral student, who reported to her supervisor that the skills she had learned from the author’s class were very helpful to her academic research, was requested by her supervisor to give her classmates a lecture themed “database and information retrieval.” in another example, a postgraduate, after taking the course literature research for two weeks was also given 20-30 minutes at her supervisor’s class to share what she had learned from the author’s class. instructional design teaching philosophy “education is not the filling of a pail，but the lighting of a fire.”(duszynski, 2008) in spite of limited hours for most information literacy instruction embedded courses, the authors hold that information literacy instruction is not to impart information retrieval knowledge to students, but for students to think about teaching, attach importance to students’ grasp of ideas and methods, cultivate students’ critical thinking and creativity, and stimulate their curiosity and desire to learn. the library’s mission is to make students realize information literacy is a powerful momentum to improve their learning capacity. pre-class preparation for all the information literacy instruction embedded courses, either led by university teachers or by librarians, meticulous pre-class preparation is the key to success. the course led by faculty will be used as an example. 1) teaching contents for each course based on librarian-faculty collaboration, all lessons are prepared from scratch. at the end of the previous semester or before the start of a new semester, and during the first several weeks of a semester, librarians will have an in-depth discussion with the teachers of specialized courses or general-knowledge courses in order to determine the teaching content and hours in accordance with their course targets, plans, and outlines. students’ information literacy related questions are obtained in advance. 2) teaching supports teaching supports mainly refers to teaching equipment, software, etc. in addition to common devices such as computers, a projector and internet, it is requested that technical staff of the library install a teaching software called “rain classroom” (tsinghua university, 2016; please see the following paragraph for details about the software) on a specific computer, and remind students to take phones installed with the application “wechat” to class. guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 103 3) rain classroom, a teaching software used on mobile devices in a mobile environment, students take mobile phones wherever they go. they use wechat so frequently, that some cannot even keep from peeping at their phones in class. considering these behaviors, we made an attempt to use “rain classroom” via mobile phones in 2017. “rain classroom” is a teaching tool created by mooc-cn education investment co., ltd. founded by tsinghua holdings co., ltd. all the functions rely on powerpoint and wechat, which are easy and convenient to use. only the teacher’s computer needs to have it installed. after class begins, teachers open their powerpoint to automatically create a qr code for students to scan to enter “rain classroom.” each page of powerpoint will be simultaneously transmitted to students’ mobile phones, which frees students from copying or taking photos, thus making them focus more on listening and thinking. the interactive function of “rain classroom” makes teaching more efficient and provokes a surge in student participation. teachers can send out questions and set a time limit for students to answer via mobile phones. after the time is up, teachers can check the answers conveniently. students can raise any queries and doubts through “rain classroom.” they can also send pictures or messages to teachers’ mobile phones for teachers to promptly check, save or show to the whole class through the projector. there are three main types of exercises in the “rain classroom:” 1) polls: polls consist of one-choice questions and multiple-choice questions. there is no right or wrong answer in a poll, so students will not have the pressure of giving the correct answer. 2) multiple choice: multiple choice questions consist of single-answer questions and multiple-answer questions, and students are expected to select only correct answers from the choices offered. 3) open question: open questions invite students to demonstrate their understanding and there is no right or wrong answer in an open question. classroom teaching classroom teaching is used to highlight knowledge points, while summarizing and refining thoughts and methods through these points. the major steps of classroom teaching are as follows: step 1: warm-up 1) display the questions collected before class and tell students today’s target is to answer them; select good questions to start the class and arouse students’ interests. 2) send an exercise or exercises (polls or multiple choice questions) to students’ mobile phones and set a time limit such as 1-2 minutes, to understand students’ information literacy level. 3) discuss key points and difficulties to trigger students’ thinking. step 2: explanation and summarization our teaching contents are mainly composed of three factors: guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 104 1) discipline related information retrieval and use, including the library’s resources (databases and collections), and use of search engines; 2) information analysis and evaluation; 3) academic writing and maintenance of academic standards. the above contents are expounded via case sharing, unfolding all the details before making a summary. covering the questions raised by students or teachers, the cases are not only closely related to general-knowledge or specialized courses embedded with information literacy, but also factor in the needs and characteristics of students of different types and abilities. for instance, 1) to postgraduates and doctoral students, our cases try to reveal the train of thought to do literature research for a thesis/dissertation proposal. 2) to the junior and senior students, our cases focus more on the major sources of academic information, i.e. databases, and on the differences between databases and search engines. meanwhile, some interesting cases catering to undergraduates are also displayed, such as a case on how to use effective search methods to find information about studying abroad or job-hunting. another case was presented on how a senior was guided to search and screen recruitment information, lock work scope by analyzing his major, industry, and location, etc., and finally received some offers. 3) to freshmen and sophomores taking information literacy instruction embedded general-knowledge courses on science and technology innovation, after finding that some students’ projects are related to mobile internet, we added the contents on how to acquire information and use the library, etc. through mobile devices. quizzes are inserted throughout the case sharing process, and students have 12 minutes to answer each of them. quizzes throughout the class help students to keep their attention focused while providing both teachers and students a chance to assess how well students have acquired the knowledge they just learned. all in all, this teaching is not simply a general introduction to universal search knowledge. instead, every effort is taken to make faculty members and students feel that we have a thorough grasp of their discipline’s features and their real needs, and what we offer is a customized course especially for them. in the meantime, it is anticipated that students understand the class to be “informative” and that they really can learn something. we guide students to sum up methods and ideas from cases and questions, then make analyses and summarizations. next the whole retrieval process is clarified, thus leaving students inspired and enlightened. step 3: provoking thoughts 1) before the class is dismissed, send an exercise or exercises (polls or open questions) to students and they will have 2-3 minutes to finish it/them with the “rain classroom” on their mobile devices. the goal is to obtain students’ comments and feedback. guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 105 2) besides sending exercises via “rain classroom,” teachers can leave open questions as homework to provoke students’ deeper thinking and stimulate their curiosity about information literacy knowledge. during the class, students can press the “unclear” button on the corresponding slide(s) of the ppt file whenever they need more explanation about the content, so the teacher can adjust the pace of teaching based on students’ feedback. during the whole class, there is an attempt to keep balance by providing enough information while leaving time for students to think. answering questions via mobile phones is very popular among students, as they are more willing to interact with teachers in this way. review and follow-up after class, we continue to adjust and improve the design of classroom teaching by reflecting on classroom observation, reviewing feedback from faculty and students, and analyzing the data on students’ participation, their answers to exercises, etc. via “rain classroom.” what’s more, video clips, voice messages, pictures, documents, and other materials are sent to faculty members and students via “rain classroom” for their information or further study. they can check these materials on their cell phones at any time, which is a beneficial supplement to classroom teaching. librarians also keep close communication with faculty members by “wechat” and join the students’ “wechat” group to follow up with their needs. for instance, with the author’s help, an undergraduate who had planned to write a term paper about “machu picchu” found some rare research findings, on which he wrote his paper and became the only student who got an “a” in his class. another undergraduate majoring in music wanted to study the representative works of aaron avshalomov (1894-1964), a russian-born jewish composer, but got stuck due to not being able to find musical scores. together with the author, she tried again and again for three and a half months. finally, she discovered that the free library of philadelphia had the musical score. after resolving copyright issues, she became the only one in china who has ever seen it, thus completing her thesis as “unique” research in china. unexpected achievement information literacy instruction based on librarian-faculty collaboration is not only “coteaching”, but also an engine for faculty members to improve their academic research capacity. for the faculty members who had attended the author’s information literacy course along with students, the author followed up on their teaching and academic activities, cleared up their doubts and confusion in information retrieval, and discussed with them better retrieval strategy. thanks to the solid foundation resulting from more comprehensive literature research, a couple of teachers successfully initiated some national research projects. for example, a teacher of the faculty of education sciences won some research projects at national or shanghai municipality level. another teacher of the faculty of economics and management won a young scholar’s project guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 106 sponsored by the national social science fund of china. reflection and recommendations it’s concluded that there are three major problems in universities’ embedding information literacy instruction into faculty courses: 1) being proactive in advancing information literacy instruction based on librarian-faculty collaboration, librarians find it difficult to get an entry point or to meet teachers/students’ real needs. related publicity by libraries cannot be effectively conveyed, so teachers and students lack interest due to limited understanding. 2) despite the fact that both faculty members and students have a strong desire for high-quality academic information, they struggle with searching for valuable information on their own, without knowing how to improve information retrieval skills effectively, or that libraries already have information literacy courses. 3) last but not least is, are the librarians qualified enough to teach information literacy courses? could they win the trust of teachers in specialized courses? based on the library’s exploration and practices during the past dozens of years, the authors made some reflections and recommendations as follows. formulating and improving relevant policies the guiding opinions mentioned in the literature review specified several major forms of information literacy instruction, i.e., credit courses, information literacy instruction embedded courses, lectures, and workshops. it also specified that one of the top tasks for academic libraries is to carry out information literacy instruction. we do anticipate that the draft of guiding opinions (still in the stage of soliciting comments), could be finalized and released very soon, thus providing a legal basis for further implementation of librarian-faculty collaboration based information literacy instruction. cooperating with university administrators and faculty members the guiding opinions also pointed out information literacy instruction embedded into department-based courses requires the cooperation and collaboration of multiple parties, including administrative departments such as the office of academic affairs, administration of postgraduate school, as well as all departments and libraries, with each party taking their own responsibilities: librarians to carry out diversified information literacy instruction (including that which is embedded into faculty courses), the administrative departments to coordinate the parties involved, and departments to incorporate information literacy into their curriculum plans. encouraging librarians to explore and innovate for libraries, collaborating with university administrators and faculty members requires policy support and guidance. however, top-to-down collaboration is not the only means to carry out embedded information literacy instruction. the information literacy librarian explores their individuality, gives full play to their advantages, and finds the guo and zhu / international journal of librarianship 4(2) 107 entry point for cooperation from multiple perspectives. for example, after the author taught the optional postgraduate course “literature research” for years, the course has drawn so many students and teachers of ecnu or those from other universities to audit. considering the popularity among teachers and students, some faculty members and departments took the initiative to contact the author for cooperation. incorporating into teaching and study university teachers and students have a strong desire to search for academic information. information literacy instruction should be based on different needs and be incorporated into the end-to-end process of research, teaching and study. it should cover the teachers who would like to apply for sponsoring research projects, undergraduates who participate in scientific innovation programs, postgraduates and doctoral students who draft proposals for theses/dissertations, all the students about to graduate or looking for foreign supervisors to continue their study abroad, etc. if all these needs could be satisfied with our information literacy instruction, this would be a great accomplishment. utilizing new technology to support teaching class hours for information literacy instruction are limited, so we have all reasons to apply new technology to improve teaching efficiency and effectiveness. for example, we could use an online teaching platform such as “blackboard” on pc, and its mobile version has been recently launched. the “rain classroom,” a teaching software for mobile devices, has been widely applied to classroom teaching by many university teachers, including librarians. to faculty members and students who attend the library’s class, it is a novel, impressive, interesting and useful tool, allowing them to study teaching contents before and after class; to us, we are so amazed to see the teaching results it has helped us to achieve. for instance, a student said, “i think the ‘rain classroom’ introduced a new way of teacher-student interaction into the classroom”. a survey taken in the science & technology innovation course of da xia college has shown that 42.9% of students were very satisfied with the performance of the “rain classroom” and 54.2% of students have rated somewhat satisfied. in total, 97.1% of students in the science & technology innovation course of da xia college were satisfied with the “rain classroom.” though new technology tools, such as the “rain classroom” can enhance student learning, they are not the solutions to all the problems in the process of teaching and learning. we think educational philosophy and teaching content play more crucial roles in teaching and learning than technology, while technology could be a useful tool to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning. references acrl. 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(2018). research on the strategy of the embedded information literacy a case study of the university of wisconsin system flex degree. research on library science, (4):21-25. about the authors guo jinchi is associate research librarian in the reference department of east china normal university library, shanghai, china. her research interests include information retrieval, information literacy, information consultation, information technology, and social media. she has published a monograph and a number of articles in journals and conference proceedings, such as libri, library trends. she also teaches a graduate course “information retrieval.” currently, she is chairing a project funded by the national social science fund of china. she can be reached at jcguo@library.ecnu.edu.cn zhu han is librarian in the digital department of east china normal university library, shanghai, china. her research interests include information organization and information retrieval. she has published a number of articles in journals. she is participating in a project funded by the national social science fund of china. she can be reached at hzhu@library.ecnu.edu.cn. *han zhu is the corresponding author. mailto:hzhu@library.ecnu.edu.cn 5--embedded_information_literacy_title 5--embedded_information_literacy-rev issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org organic learning in undergraduate library instruction kanu a. nagra and bernadette m. lópez-fitzsimmons abstract: organic learning engages undergraduates in discovering new knowledge based on prior learning through variety of guided activities that stimulate inquiry-based learning and critical thinking in the research process. some activities include searching, browsing, accessing, gathering, evaluating, assessing, reflecting, organizing, linking, and synthesizing. learning how to access information by using a variety of search strategies as well as delivery platforms such as google, discovery, individual databases, and the internet can be overwhelming and challenging. when students discover how to search and access desired sources through a variety of explicitly designed information literacy instructions with clearly defined learning outcomes, they take ownership of developing their learning and research skills. through organic learning, they experience lightbulb moments, asking questions, discussing topics, and then searching again for more information. organic learning unconsciously involves students in self-education, engaging them in the research process without pressuring them to practice redundant, rote exercises. often undergraduates encounter difficulty in conceptualizing the research process as complex and multi-faceted. the authors argue that organic learning strategies to activate prior learning that builds advanced searching skills and increase new scholarly knowledge. to cite this article: nagra, k.a., & lópez-fitzsimmons, b.m. (2019). organic learning in undergraduate library instruction. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 72-92. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 72-92 issn: 2474-3542 organic learning in undergraduate library instruction kanu a. nagra, borough of manhattan community college, city university of new york (cuny), new york, n.y. bernadette m. lópez-fitzsimmons, manhattan college, riverdale, n.y. abstract organic learning engages undergraduates in discovering new knowledge based on prior learning through variety of guided activities that stimulate inquiry-based learning and critical thinking in the research process. some activities include searching, browsing, accessing, gathering, evaluating, assessing, reflecting, organizing, linking, and synthesizing. learning how to access information by using a variety of search strategies as well as delivery platforms such as google, discovery, individual databases, and the internet can be overwhelming and challenging. when students discover how to search and access desired sources through a variety of explicitly designed information literacy instructions with clearly defined learning outcomes, they take ownership of developing their learning and research skills. through organic learning, they experience lightbulb moments, asking questions, discussing topics, and then searching again for more information. organic learning unconsciously involves students in self-education, engaging them in the research process without pressuring them to practice redundant, rote exercises. often undergraduates encounter difficulty in conceptualizing the research process as complex and multi-faceted. the authors argue that organic learning strategies to activate prior learning that builds advanced searching skills and increase new scholarly knowledge. keywords: organic learning, undergraduates, library instruction, student-driven learning, student-centric learning, active learning, constructivist learning, autonomous learning, selfdirected learning, student-centered learning, individualized learning, student-regulated learning, discovery teaching and learning, holistic learning introduction overview organic learning is a healthy way of learning to absorb essential learning nutrients and to satisfy the growing appetite for more knowledge for success in academic, professional and personal endeavors. this paper discusses specific teaching approaches, pedagogical styles, and classroom management strategies that support meaningful and purposeful learning in twenty-first-century undergraduate library instruction to accomplish organic learning. the authors argue that organic learning in library instruction focuses on student-centric learning where undergraduates participate in the research process at different stages of cognitive development. students discover nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 73 how to use information from a wide gamut of sources and manipulate multiple search strategies across several types of information technology platforms. the authors use several terms interchangeably and synonymously to represent organic and student-centric learning, including student-regulated, student-directed, student-centered, and student-managed learning. they also employ terms that emphasize self-education, including selfregulated, self-directed, and self-managed learning. all of these terms refer to learning environments where students explore and discover new knowledge based on prior knowledge, engaging in inquiry-based thinking processes -reflecting, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing information. though team work and collaboration are integral in organic learning, the endgame focuses on producing individual and independent lifelong learners who can easily adapt their skills and generate knowledge in a rapidly-changing, technologically-driven global world. the authors contend that organic or self-managed learning is based on constructivist principles; they explain how constructivism has accommodated millennials’ learning needs. in this paper, the following words are used interchangeably and synonymously as well: undergraduates, students, learners, and millennials. the authors recount their own experiences in which organic learning has been successful in classroom teaching and research assistance sessions, supporting the academic needs of diverse student populations at an urban community college and a four-year college in new york city. concentrating on helping students understand the complex and iterative nature of the research process, they guide them in using a variety of sources, accessing information via multiple delivery platforms, evaluating the information found in the sources, thinking critically about the information and, finally, synthesizing the information into their research papers so that they include their own observations and conclusions. the article begins with an overview and definition of organic learning in twenty-first century undergraduate library instruction classrooms, reference desk experiences, and research consultations. this is followed by a conceptual analysis based on acrl il framework, methods, review of the literature, and a discussion of specific teaching approaches, classroom management strategies, instructional designs, and pedagogies used in library instruction. student-centric and student-managed learning supports students’ involvement in the research process under the librarians’ guidance while fulfilling courses’ research requirements. as students move through the research process – examining different types of information in multiple kinds of sources presented in various formats -they become aware of how to discern authoritative information from inaccurate, biased or fake news. this process facilitates the development of critical thinking skills, engaging students in learning disciplinary academic content that renders them accountable for participating in successful learning as they generate new knowledge. through discovery, students realize that “information creation as a process” (acrl framework no. 2, 2019, para. 7), emphasizing that “information has value” (acrl framework no. 3, 2018, para. 7). as their skills and knowledge evolve, undergraduates become responsible for directing and managing their own successful learning. acknowledging that they themselves are involved in scholarly investigations makes students more accountable for their own learning and the development of proficient research skills. this type of learning engages students in activities in which they learn as they explore, discover, find, evaluate, assess, synthesize, and, ultimately, create new knowledge. not only do undergraduates develop self-efficacy and self-confidence nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 74 with regard to their abilities to conduct research successfully, they also recognize that they are contributing new knowledge to academic and scholarly endeavors. when librarians and teaching faculty “believe strongly in their instructional efficacy support development of students’ intrinsic interests and academic self-directedness” (bandura, 1997/1999, p. 20). as they witness their contributions to “scholarship as conversation” (acrl framework no.5, 2019, para. 7), learners participate in the experience of “learning to learn,” delving into “research as inquiry” (acrl framework no. 4, 2019, para. 7) as they develop inquiry-based thinking skills (thoutenhootd & pirrie, 2015; wingate, 2007). the authors of this paper use the acrl il framework in organic learning as studentcentered and student-regulated learning in library instruction classroom, reference desk sessions, and research consultations based on the acrl framework. wingate emphasizes the concept of “learning to learn” at the undergraduate level where students learn from contexts supported by their learning environments (2007, p. 392). the authors use this concept in conjunction with the acrl framework, explaining research that supports student-driven learning experiences in successfully developing fluid library and information literacy skills. these skills are necessary in the academic, professional, and personal pursuits in twenty-first century life. organic learning conceptual analysis: the acrl framework for information literacy in recent decades, there has been an emphasis on experiential learning at all educational levels, including community college, four-year colleges, university, and professional and graduate programs. experiential learning incorporates theory in practical applications such as hands-on activities that engage students in exploring and discovering new knowledge as well as developing additional technological skills. according to dewey’s (1910) metatheory, undergraduates’ who participate in active rather than passive learning are able to apply inferential thinking to the process of action and then engage in reflecting. reflection on newly acquired knowledge stimulates critical thinking and increases learning. engaging in activities affords students the opportunities to be involved in their own learning and, thereby, become accountable for their own learning. as they recognize their own abilities to learn, they are motivated to take more risks in learning, building new knowledge, and developing a variety of skills built on previously learned knowledge and skills. in social psychology theories or substantive theory -including gestalt theory, group dynamics, field theory, and change theory – scholars claims that action research includes “authentic learning, or performance-based assessment practice,” in library instruction (lewin & lewin,1948, 22). these practices, known as formative assessments, include the use of rubrics, journals, portfolios, and specific interventions that address stages of the information search process (lewin & lewin, 1948; kuhlthau, 1986) such as brainstorming, mind maps, graphic organizers, statements of intent, anticipatory slips, exit slips, kwl (already know; want to know; ultimately will know/learn) charts, gaming, and peer review (kuhlthau, 1986). based on observing the use of these interventions, the evidence indicates that undergraduates’ can “self-diagnose and selfremediate” as they document progress in their research and develop inquiry-based skills based on logical, sequential, and analytical thinking. these successful learning experiences support a “can do” attitude toward learning to research and use information literacy skills. with practice in nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 75 groups and individually, millennials can increase their self-efficacy and self-confidence (clark, 2017, p. 416). in higher education, experiential learning is often equated to learning autonomously rather than scientific, formulaic learning. while the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries focused on traditional teacher-centric education using memorization and rote exercises to prepare learners for the industrial revolution’s jobs that consisted of redundant tasks, the late twentieth and twenty-first century education prepares students to problem-solve, adapt skills, and generate new knowledge to meet the information age’s challenges in a fiercely competitive, rapidly changing, and technologically driven global ecosystem (elder, 1997/1999). educational methods and pedagogies used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prepared students for dronelike jobs that no longer exist. these teaching techniques have gradually been replaced by more compelling instructional practices that promote concentration, attention to detail, assessing and evaluating data, and analytical thinking – all necessary in the twenty-first century and beyond. organic learning takes place “through the culture in which one lives—where learning is derived from, or characteristic of culture and society” (morrison, 2014, para. 1). students learn from experience and their engagement at different capacities throughout a self-directed learning process. for the most part, organic learning adheres to the following stages of experiential learning: 1. observing a model 2. participating in a hands-on or small group activity 3. exploring the outcomes by reflecting, examining, evaluating, assessing, and synthesizing 4. sharing their findings with peers 5. synthesizing the new knowledge, making connections to other learned lessons 6. assuming responsibility for successful learning. (morrison, 2014; teaching excellence in adult literacy staff at the american institutes for research, 2010) in the last several decades, academic and research libraries have been collaborating with colleagues in higher education to adapt “learning outcomes, tools, and resources” at their respective institutions to include “information literacy concepts and skills into their curricula” (acrl frameworks, 2019, para. 9). organic learning practices in library instruction embrace to the six concepts of information literacy framework of acrl 2019 listed below: 1. authority is constructed and contextual 2. information creation as a process 3. information has value 4. research as inquiry 5. scholarship as conversation 6. searching as strategic exploration (acrl framework, 2019, para.7) each standard concept of the acrl information literacy framework supports engaging students at the different levels of research as well as in variety of organic learning activities. in the following sections, the authors discuss how active learning practices -including teaching approaches, classroom management strategies, and purposeful instructional designs - facilitate students’ organic learning at several stages as well as the six standard concepts of the acrl information literacy framework. they speak to specific instructional styles, lecture/lesson designs, and classroom management techniques that support meaningful and purposeful learning. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 76 methods the review of the literature in this paper supports organic learning in library instruction in academic libraries. based on their own experience, the authors of this paper explain organic learning instructional strategies for one-shot information literacy (il) classes, credit-bearing il courses, research consultations, and reference sessions. they describe how these pedagogies, techniques, and practices prepare students for academic success and lifelong learning. literature review plato juxtaposed two arguments about education: instruction can dictate content to learners so that they commit to memory facts and/or ideas; learning environments can support students discovering knowledge on their own (thomas, 2013). these opposing viewpoints introduced ongoing discussions on learning environments that have endured for centuries. while aristotle and the romans included coercion and corporal punishment in education, plato took a different stance, introducing the concept of “play” in learning (thomas, 2013, p. 5). rather than following a master teacher in a rigid, restrictive environment (thomas, 2013) often managed with punitive measures, plato’s play facilitates successful learning by sparking interests, stimulating epiphanies, and developing deeper intellectual comprehension. in contemporary learning environments, plato’s play could be interpreted as gaming, where learning takes place autonomously in a comfortable, supportive learning environment. elzen and roush (2013) posit that gaming unites undergraduate learners in expressing their shared interests in the library, exposing them to potentially useful resources for academic, professional, and personal endeavors (p. 809). since they often lack logic-based thinking skills for conducting investigative inquiries, millennials can learn what they need to learn about research as well as gain a deeper intellectual understanding in academic disciplines through gaming in libraries (d’angour, 2013; hunnicutt, 1990). thus, learning students would benefit from gaming by developing critical thinking skills and becoming cognizant of different types of resources which is in sync with the acrl information literacy framework no. 4, “research as inquiry,” and no. 6, “searching as strategic exploration” (acrl, 2019, para. 7). organic learning can be viewed as “student-centered learning”; both terms present students as “owners of their learning” (lee & hannafin, 2016, pp. 707-708), rendering them accountable for their involvement in learning processes, including searching for, accessing, evaluating and using information from a variety of authoritative sources. though organic learning is widely used at all educational levels, academics and scholars have not yet documented a significant amount of evidence that provide guidelines to educators. currently, there is a paucity of empirical data to support organic learning’s impact on student engagement and autonomous learning. frequently, learners remember the experience but cannot recall the content and re-use skills. it is important, therefore, for organic learning to be purposeful and strategic, following intentional instructional designs to guard against education becoming merely entertainment, recreation, and amusement. the shift in education has increasingly been emphasizing a constructivist approach to examine effective and ineffective teaching and learning in higher education. constructivist nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 77 psychologists view the process of learning academic disciplines and/or professional skills as a “quasi-autonomous process that is self-regulated” (scheerens, 2015, p. 4). constructivist learning takes places in a learning environment where there are no lectures, no demonstrations, and no presentations (cooperstein & kocevar-weidinger, 2004, p. 141). instead, learners are presented with a prompt, usually a problem, case, or question. working in small groups or pairs, students attempt to resolve the issue at-hand through exploration and discovery, analyzing and evaluating information from multiple sources. below are the main highlights of constructivism: 1. learning is meaningful, purposeful, and authentic. students interpret, analyze, and synthesize the accessed information. they must manipulate, discover, and create new knowledge based on prior knowledge, adding their contributions to the scholarly community. 2. new learning is built on prior knowledge. students must make connections between old knowledge and new information. they must compare, question, challenge, investigate, accept or discard old information and beliefs to advance intellectually. 3. learning is enhanced by social interaction in a democratic environment. students have the opportunity to compare and share their ideas with peers, specialists, researchers, and others. 4. learning occurs as conflicts are resolved. whole class share provide learners with the opportunity to share their ideas with others as well as learn from other collaborators. 5. meaningful learning is realized through authentic activities. selected activities are based on learning in real life or researching for an assignment. (cooperstein & kocevarweidinger, 2004; scheerens, 2015) from the premise of self-directed (student-directed) or self-regulated (student-regulated) learning based on constructivism has evolved the concept of organic learning. according to ashton-warner’s (1963/1986) pedagogical philosophy, the “organic teaching methodology” (p. 2) is contextual, “arising from the immediate conditions of the context” allowing learning to occur based on the situation at-hand (thompson, 2000, p. 91). active learning refers to real world activities founded on students’ experience in life. in library instruction curricula, lectures and lessons are designed to facilitate reflection, creating opportunities for learners to interact with the accessed information at their respective cognitive and research levels (finch & jefferson, 2013, p. 181). successful organic learning focuses on two main areas: the teaching librarian/professor and the learning student. concentrating on these areas diminishes teaching faculty’s autonomy and creativity while placing more accountability on students’ initiating, coordinating, managing and directing their own learning and academic achievements. student-centric learning is a holistic approach in which interactive experiences engage learners, providing extrinsic motivation that activates learners’ self-awareness of their own abilities to learn successfully. the american psychological association (2019) states that selfefficacy “reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one's own motivation, behavior, and social environment” (para. 1). in learning theory, self-efficacy supports students’ intrinsic motivation to add new knowledge to prior knowledge by engaging in more autonomous learning experiences. thus, students are able to expand their current knowledge by adding to it as more learning occurs. according to bandura (1997/1999), “efficacy beliefs play a vital role in the development of self-directed lifelong learners (p. 17). library instruction introduces a wide https://search-proquest-com.www.library.manhattan.edu/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/kocevar-weidinger,+elisabeth/$n?accountid=12258 https://search-proquest-com.www.library.manhattan.edu/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/kocevar-weidinger,+elisabeth/$n?accountid=12258 https://search-proquest-com.www.library.manhattan.edu/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/kocevar-weidinger,+elisabeth/$n?accountid=12258 nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 78 variety of information sources and research skills so that undergraduates cultivate lifelong learning skills. eventually, millennials can evolve as more intrinsically motivated individuals to learn in formal and informal learning environments, increasing self-efficacy and self-esteem. extracurricular and co-curricular experiences foster formal (teacher-centric) and informal learning (student-centric) as well as the integration and synthesis of the two areas across academic disciplines and professional trainings. at all levels of higher education, reconfiguring assessment strategies to encompass all aspects of institutional effectiveness and ineffectiveness primarily based on learning outcomes has become the norm. most institutions focus on a central mission in sync with systematically and strategically coordinated curricula targeted at specific learning outcomes, many of which include organic learning experiences. state-of-the-art communication technologies in education are constantly monitoring and tracking effective and ineffective teaching styles and learning outcomes as well as instructional designs of curricula. accreditors such as the middle states association (msa), new york state department of education (nysed), and others require rigorous self-study evaluations with empirical data, documenting numerous structural reforms in extensive reports submitted to local, state, federal, and regional educational agencies. these reports verify the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of centralization vs. decentralization, accountability, and evaluations based on syllabi with organic learning components, and curriculum mapping based on rubrics. frequently, reports reflect mixed views and equivocal patterns, resulting in functional decentralization in some areas but centralization in other areas (scheerens, 2015). organic learning is not merely entertainment in the classroom; rather, it is meaningful and purposeful learning intended to elicit higher order and inquiry-based thinking skills in information literacy classes. self-regulated learning is another term that can be used for organic learning, and both terms focus on individualized or independent learning, placing the responsibility for successful learning on individual learners. though the terms are often used interchangeably, “learning to learn” is defined as the “ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organize one’s own learning, including the effective management of time and information, both individually and in groups” (thoutenhoofd & pirrie, 2015, p. 73). self-regulated or organic learning depends on “cognitive and affective processes that operate on the capacity of an individual to process information” for optimal academic success (thoutenhofd & pirrie, 2015, p. 74). individualized, self-directed (student-directed) learning is focused on reaching specific learning outcomes, and this emphasizes self-generated and self-regulated learning based on personal initiative, perseverance, and the resilience of adapting learning skills in different learning environments—academic, professional, or personal. another aspect of organic learning considers “compliance with pre-determined external norms” (thoutenhoofd & pirrie, 2015, p. 74) with the assistance of facilitators such as a librarian and/or course teaching professor. it demands that learners be involved in and, responsible for, their own learning. learning to learn is a theoretical concept introduced at the undergraduate level, but it and extends far beyond, differentiating learning in post-secondary education from that of grades k-12. traditional library instruction includes a tour of the online resources and services as well as a lecture about academic research protocols and style manuals. this is usually followed by nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 79 having learners engage in hands-on activities using databases and their tools, increasing selfefficacy and self-esteem in conducting research. self-efficacy plateaus, however, with this style of teaching (clark, 2017); a continuum of increasingly challenging types of research assignments need to be added to the curricula so that learners continue evolving as savvy users of multiple types of information sources rather than losing or forgetting their skills. bandura (1997/1999) posits that “self-regulatory skills will not contribute much if students cannot get themselves to apply the persistently in the face of difficulties stressors or competing attractions” (p. 18). since they do not automatically transfer skills and re-apply knowledge, undergraduates need to develop “skills in regulating motivational, affective, and social determinants of their intellectual functioning as well as the cognitive aspects” (bandura, 1997/1999, p. 18). zimmerman (1990) maintains that learners who self-regulate well perform better academically than those who selfregulate poorly or not at all. in the twenty-first century, teaching diverse populations at the community college and four-year colleges requires differentiation rather leveled lessons. because students’ unpreparedness for rigorous undergraduate academics (ozga & sukhnandan, 1998; drew, 2001) is common, academic learning support services– including the librarycan facilitate their developing skills and expending knowledge in order to succeed in higher education and beyond (ozga & sukhnandan,1998; drew, 2001). organic learning borrows theoretical and practical applications from three areas: constructivist psychologists (piaget, 1932, 1936, 1945, 1957, 1958/2013; piaget & cook, 1952), social psychologists (bruner, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1966, 1973; vygotsky, 1962, 1978, 1987/1934), and behavioral psychologists (skinner, 1938, 1948, 1951, 1953). piaget’s constructivism refers to individuals construct their own mental image of the world (thomas, 2013). while bruner claims that scaffolding should be used to provide learners with support until they are able to work independently without them. vygotsky (1978) recommends that instructors focus on the level above students’ current knowledge so that they can learn with assistance. teaching a level above millennials’ current knowledge is known as the “zone of proximal development” or “zpd” (vygotsky, 1978, p. 33). in the twenty-first century learning classroom, differentiating lessons allows more advanced students to work on more challenging assignments while those who need support can use scaffolds until they catch up with their peers. behaviorists like skinner (1938, 1948, 1951, 1953). believe that instructors should dissect complex ideas into “chunks” or “learnable portions,” spoon-feeding them to students in a logical, systematic sequence (thomas, 2013, p. 77). organic learning blends the theoretical concepts from these three areas to facilitate learning to learn. at the college level, there should be a systematic, logical, and comprehensive support structure so that successful learning takes place. learning to learn is often a “complex development process involving changing perceptions, learning habits, and epistemological beliefs” (wingate, 2007, p. 395). in library instruction, there needs to be a consistent, gradual escalation of student learning taking place through embedding information literacy lessons in academic disciplinary teaching. as mentioned earlier, it is important to apply a holistic approach to learning, involving different contexts, strategic teaching methodologies, and a plethora of classroom management techniques. learning in different contexts within a consistent structure is in sync with acrl framework no. 1 – “authority is constructed and contextual” (acrl, 2019, para. 7; wingate, 2007, p. 397). nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 80 to avoid focusing on students’ deficiencies, community colleges and four year colleges have been approaching teaching and learning from a holistic approach. a basic element of this approach is to understand academic literacy as discipline-specific, and students must appreciate their role in this type of learning. students cannot merely receive knowledge passively; rather, they must engage in critical and inquiry-based thinking, eventually creating new knowledge. this type of engagement is known as “learning to learn” and it can be explained in two ways: 1. understand and recognize learning so that students evolve as independent learners. 2. understand and recognize knowledge to become competent building new knowledge based on prior knowledge in academic disciplines. (wingate, 2007, p. 394) in sum, organic learning utilizes community building activities, having students collaborate in small groups where each individual assumes a designated charge such as notetaker, taskmaster, coordinator, or spokesperson. in these cooperative groups, students experience learning to learn, conducting research, sharing ideas, and creating new knowledge as interactive, dynamic, playful, and progressive. social interaction and communication skills are emphasized, followed by sharing ideas respectfully and then collaborating to resolve a problem and propose possible solutions. while the organic learning experiences focus on developing social skills and building a sense of community through learning, the traditional classroom concentrates on redundant, rote activities which students complete in isolation following a textbook. in the following section, the authors will present several authentic organic learning activities, specific classroom management strategies, and effective instructional designs used in library instruction. librarians and teaching faculty assume the role of facilitators, using prompts, scaffolds, and models to engage learners in differentiated, dynamic research processes and inquiry-based thinking. their solicited and unsolicited coaching motivates learners, engages them in scholarly conversations about research topics, and provides them with feedback on how to use information from sources in their research and course assignments. discussion pedagogical strategies and techniques for successful organic learning: a model the model described in figure 1 represents some of the pedagogical strategies and techniques which authors of this paper are using in their library instructional classes for organic learning. each method is discussed in detail in next parts of this section. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 81 organic learning the discovery-inquiry learning method brainstorming fun with post-its! flipped classroom coaching reading strategies for comprehension anticipatory slips role play, gaming, case scenarios & discussions exit slips venn diagrams community building activities & ice breakers small group work and think-pair-share managing fast paced learning teaming -up with teaching faculty concept maps, graphic organizers and mind mapping figure 1: pedagogical strategies and techniques for successful organic learning: a model brainstorming often students feel overwhelmed narrowing a topic. librarians can help students find resources that will be helpful in targeting a more-focused topic. as students find resources that reveal related issues and subtopics known to them, they are more likely to be able to focus their research question or statement. together with the librarian, peers, and the course teaching instructor, students can brainstorm potential research ideas related to the broader topic they already have. they can examine the different types of research they have already found, comparing them to additional materials they find as they narrow their topics. engaging millennials in “scholarship as conversation” (acrl il framework no. 5, 2019, para. 7) and “research as inquiry” (acrl il framework no. 4, 2019, para. 7) will facilitate experiencing the research process, beginning with a broad topic and the narrowing it so that it becomes more focused. graphic organizers or concept maps will help learners sketch out their subtopics in a visual aid, helping them discern what they already have, what they still need to find, and what they can eliminate because it is superfluous. librarians can help students brainstorm by walking through the course assignment, asking students what they have already done and supporting their next step in the research process. sometimes students prepare a draft of the paper and then ask for further assistance from nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 82 librarians so that they can enhance the information in their research with additional sources. this is an excellent way to brainstorm for precise information, making use of a variety of information sources from different mediums. in addition, it demonstrates that learners are learning how to research by thinking of related topics and other data that will support their research topics; this activity is supported by acrl il framework no. 3, “information has value” (2019, para. 7). brainstorming can be done at different stages of the research process, engaging learners in reflection, inquiry-based thinking, synthesizing concepts to experiences or findings, and expanding students’ understanding of scholarly investigations by continually exploring, inquiring, discovering, and creating new knowledge by writing about it in their papers. this experience is in sync with “information creation as a process” (acrl framework no. 2, 2019, para. 7). flipped classroom with the advent of technology, library instructors can introduce undergraduates to information sources without seeing them in class or at the reference desk. librarians and classroom instructor can apply differentiated methods that facilitate teaching students with preferences for serving particular learning styles. rivera (2015) revealed benefits of application of flipped classroom model in library instruction as compare to traditional methods. he highlighted it as worthwhile method to overcome the challenge of insufficient time available in library instruction classes as well as to enhance teaching learning experience. undergraduates can begin research in advance, prepare exercises ahead of time, and attend the class ready to ask questions about their research topic. it immediately allows students to engage in self-directed learning which helps them to take ownership of their own research. the authors of this paper provide several examples of possible exercises that students can prepare on their own prior to coming to class or a consultation. these exercises can be customized to a particular course’s research assignment requirements. below are some activities that can be used in a flipped classroom: 1. complete the online tutorials available on library website, 2. compare search results in individual databases and to those of discovery searches 3. compare search results in google to those of library databases 4. compare citation features in open web to those in library databases 5. find keywords and subject terms in library resources; write the keywords and subject terms down as notes; briefly explain their relationship to the research topic. 6. search streaming video databases for documentaries and related information to design questions and area of inquiry etc. the authors have found flipped classroom method to be very useful in research consultations, library one-shots, and credit-bearing information literacy courses. the flipped classroom can also be done with teaching faculty who are amenable to co-teaching an information literacy lesson. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 83 concept maps, graphic organizers, and mind mapping several different types of concept maps are available for free on the internet and in subscription library databases which can enhance learning experience of students. the authors of this paper noticed that in many of their instruction classes as well as in research consultation sessions that students are thrilled to learn about the feature of mind mapping and topic finder available to them in some research databases such as credo reference and gale virtual reference library. it helps them to narrow as well as broaden the focus of their research topics. the authors of this paper found the mind maps are not only useful for understanding and creation of content analysis but the visual features of concept mapping available in databases are helpful in sparking light bulb moments in their students which prepares them well for life-long self-regulated learning. role playing, gaming, case scenarios and discussions role playing activities such as gallery walks, playing games, and discussing case scenarios in class are very beneficial to stimulate learning experience. for example, as students engage in activities with their peers in class, organic learning occurs through enjoyable team collaborations, inquiry, discovery, and exploration. the class room activities provide space, time and dialog with peers which facilitates communication and socialization to discuss perspectives on the given problem/area of study. as students ask questions, they gain a better understanding of the lesson or research activity from a variety of opinions. role playing helps to cultivate social communicative competencies and strengthens team-building skills. through ongoing scholarly discussions, students can freely ask questions to fill information gaps in their research with support from their peers. small group work and think pair share organic learning, or student-directed learning, involves collaboration, community building, and team work. cooperation and collaboration with others is important in conducting research, especially when soliciting feedback from peers. small group work also involves introverted learners who oftentimes have knowledge but are skeptical about contributing in large groups. small group work and pair share activities allow these learners to participate, contribute, and help others who might not have acquired as much knowledge yet. while impulsive learners might overlook important details, introverts observe minutia, contributing unique perspectives to research projects. collaboration builds relationships among students so that they feel comfortable and supported, and this type of learning environment will build individual learners’ self-esteem and self-efficacy. developing cooperative and collaborative skills is in sync with the acrl framework nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 (acrl frameworks, 2019) which are necessary in developing lifelong learning skills. librarians can assign different tasks to group members such as coordinator, taskmaster, spokesperson, note taker, and others. assigning everyone a task involves all group members. each individual is held responsible for completing a task, building on each one’s strengths and weaknesses. small group work and pair share are excellent opportunities to prepare learners for the work environment. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 84 anticipatory slips giving students anticipatory slips at the beginning of class acts as catalyst for multi-layered lessons. it immediately sparks curiosity in undergraduates’ inquisitive minds so that they wonder about the new information that will soon be presented. before students start searching and perusing result lists, librarians can distribute anticipatory slips to elicit scholarly discussions related to research anxiety and angst. then, learners will feel free to share their pre-conceived ideas, or fears, without being overcome by anxiety or feel embarrassed. anticipatory guides can be used for the following reasons: sets the stage for the upcoming lesson, planting the seeds so that students’ curiosity is sparked. prepares learners for predicting, anticipating ideas presented in the text, and verify their predictions. builds new knowledge upon prior knowledge, increasing students’ interest in the topic. (weta public broadcasting, 2018) librarians can customize anticipatory slips or guides to create an authentic learning experience based on learners’ needs. collaborating with teaching faculty on anticipatory prompts will also be helpful in targeting specific learning outcomes. anticipatory slips can be differentiated, creating more complex prompts or questions for advanced learners while those who need more support can use simpler guides. in whole class share, anticipatory slips or guides are a convenient, quick way to transition to the upcoming lesson while engaging learners. the authors have discovered that using this technique creates an enjoyable and productive learning experience. exit slips librarians can use exist slips as a formative assessment to solicit student feedback about what they have learned and what they are still confused about. when students complete exit slips, they provide instructors with immediate feedback. thus, librarians and instructors can use these as comprehension checks. students increase their metacognitive skills by reflecting on lessons, reflecting on what they have learned, and thinking critically about what they still need to find and gather for their research assignments. writing comments on exit slips allows learners to share their ideas and thoughts with the instructors as well as acknowledge their own successful learning as responsible individuals (weta public broadcasting, 2018). venn diagrams using venn diagrams help students organize complex abstract ideas visually so that they can start to organize their ideas, evaluate what they have gathered, and pose more questions that will lead to more precise or missing information that may be missing. librarians can use venn diagrams as formative assessment; they provide immediate feedback about students’ progress. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 85 with this information, millennials are more willing to contribute their ideas and ask questions in whole class share. venn diagrams are primarily a “thinking tool,” enabling students to categorize information visually so that they can discern relationships between two or among three sets of items (arbs, 2018, para. 2). with venn diagrams, students can easily understand similarities, difference, and common areas. fun with post-its! using post-its is a simple, enjoyable way to elicit feedback from learners. this tool is also a versatile way to engage learners to think about their own learning. for example, an instructor can distribute three different colored post-its to learners, asking them to answer the following questions: yellow: what do i already know? green: what do i want to learn? blue: what am i still confused about? if time allows, students can be invited to share their post-its on poster paper which can be hung on the walls and/or boards with masking tape. having learners move around the room/lab to view the post-its supports “scholarship as conversation,” “research as inquiry,” (acrl frameworks, 2019, para. 7) community building and collaboration, and organic learning. instructors can customize questions, prompting students to reflect on, and synthesize, their ideas related to the lesson. they will autonomously take responsibility for their own learning by becoming aware of what they have learned based on previous knowledge. having students’ complete post-its is another painless way to facilitate critical thinking about the research process, stimulating collaboration among peers. coaching reading strategies for comprehension community college and four-year college students are usually new to research. their experience in finding authoritative sources is often limited to searching google and they have not developed critical thinking skills to assess and evaluate information found on the web. students frequently ask whether the websites’ top level domains – including .com, .gov, .org, or .edu -will guarantee that the information is accurate, timely, and authoritative. they do not realize that reading the text carefully to verify the facts is part of the research process. other times, they seem relieved to find sources that are suitable for their topics, but they do not know what to do once they have the articles. librarians can be helpful to students at this point in their research. as students enter college having less and less exposure to different types of reading and at various levels of difficulty in reading, they need guidance with reading techniques, including skimming articles rather than relying completely on the abstract and keywords. learners are accustomed to being spoon-fed information written in basic language. they can absorb small chunks of knowledge without necessarily recognizing how to expand their knowledge. nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 86 librarians can encourage students to scan the article, looking at the bold headings, gleaning the main ideas from the introduction and conclusion, and scanning data in tables and diagrams as well as finding the explanations in the text. undergraduates can discuss how they plan on using the information with librarians during research consultations. providing mind maps and graphic organizers helps students to organize their ideas, particularly incorporating information from sources in their papers. librarians might recommend using the following strategies in order to understand what they are reading: summarizing, sequencing, inferencing, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, self-questioning, problem-solving and synthesizing background knowledge. afterwards, students might want to follow up with a research consultation or reference desk visit to engage in more dialogue about their research topic. community-building activities and ice breakers organic learning depends on collaborative exercises in the classroom. using ice breakers and community building activities at the beginning of class facilitates “scholarship as conversation,” team building to engage in “research as inquiry,” peer discussions related on “information having value,” (acrl il frameworks, 2019, para. 7) and recognizing research as exploration, discovery, and enlightenment. managing the fast pace of millennials today’s learners are easily distracted by portable device. they are accustomed to being entertained by games and social media. their online world provides them with instant gratification. it is safe to say they are fast paced as they want everything and an end product quickly. undergraduates appreciate the companionship that receive from texting and instant messaging. therefore, millennials experience culture shock when they have to slow down and dedicate time to research. often times, undergraduates find it difficult to set aside time for their studies, be attentive to their course work, and self-discipline themselves in adhering to regular and consistent study routines. engaging students in classroom activities distracts them temporarily from using their portable devices. during these short intervals of time, instructors can teach students information literacy skills in chunks with instant gratification. one way to engage learners is to keep them busy searching in a variety of sources and using different information communication technologies for searching. when library instructors change activities every eight to ten minutes during a lesson, they execute an effective classroom management technique for learners who are fast paced. as a result, they create an optimal learning environment for student-centric and selfmanaged acquisition of new knowledge and increased skills. similarly, at the reference desk and during research consultations, it is important to engage students, guiding them in conducting their own searches, learning how to change the word order of phrases, changing names to acronyms and vice versa, etc. teaching information literacy requires practice, and students learn by conducting their own searches rather than relying on the librarian to find materials for them. even though it is faster, and easier, for the librarians to find relevant sources for students, millennials need to develop self-confidence and selfefficacy by regularly searching for their own information sources. practicing research strategies nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 87 supports students’ developing and improving search techniques so that they access the most relevant information for their topics. afterwards, they must dedicate time to reading the materials carefully and judiciously selecting ideas to integrate in their research assignments. each stage of research requires time, dedication, and practice. the discovery-inquiry learning method in library instruction both the education and library and information science fields use the terms discovery and inquiry with respect to learning; yet, the terms have different meanings in these distinct but related fields. discovery library instruction affords librarians, teaching faculty, and students the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds by using elements of discovery from both disciplines—education and library science (buck & steffy, 2013; hammer 1997). in education, hammer (1997) argues that “[d]iscovery learning approaches, in particular, are designed to engage students in inquiry through which, guided by the teacher and materials, they "discover" the intended content” (p. 485). he contends that discovery teaching occurs when instructors manage students’ unintended discoveries as well as the intended discoveries. successful “discovery teaching” depends on librarians’ and course instructors’ unanticipated perceptions and insights as they explore and discover, and even learn from students (hammer, 1997, p. 485). ultimately, successful discovery teaching and learning with regard to information literacy will include scholarly conversations based on a series of inquiries about the intended and unintended findings of students, librarians, and teaching faculty. with regard to the meaning of discovery in library world, proprietary and open source vendors have been developing discovery tools—also called web-scale discovery tools—to “accommodate patrons and make library searching easier and more attractive” to users (buck & steffy, 2013, p. 67). because users/students learn from information sources, library science has borrowed and re-applied the term discovery from education, cognitive psychology, and related disciplines. buff and steffy (2013) maintain that “discovery tools streamline searching and aim to provide a user-friendly experience that meets the expectations of today's user. while these tools simplify the search experience, the results still require refinement” (p. 67). in teaching students how to use discovery tools, librarians and teaching faculty must facilitate student learning through guided activities and anticipate that they will make unintended as well as intended discoveries. millennials’ hyperactivity and short attention spans interfere in learning complex concepts. librarians should limit explanations and dedicate more time to classroom activities. when millennials search and gather information in databases, they will encounter issues, prompting them to wonder, ask more questions, and conduct more search strategies, and engage in scholarly conversations. teaming-up with teaching faculty on library instruction team-teaching with course teaching faculty is a strategic way to render the information literacy lessons meaningful. teaching faculty often understand the resources that are needed in their field so students take their advice seriously. teaching faculty know more about their students’ strengths and weaknesses than a librarian (kim, 2016; lindstrom & shonrock, 2006: isbell, 1995). therefore, when teaching faculty are engaged in information literacy lessons, learners will, most likely, consider co-teaching class instruction important and participate actively in class nagra and lópez-fitzsimmons / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 88 activities. when everyone contributes to scholarly conversations and asks questions, learning is enjoyable and productive. conclusion one size does not fit all is very true for our diverse students’ learning experiences. in organic learning, students learn from experience and their engagement at different capacities and intellectual levels throughout a self-directed and self-managed learning process. organic learning unconsciously involves students in the learning process, engaging them in several stages of research without pressuring them to practice redundant exercises and/or rote exercises. students experience a sense of wonder, become inquisitive, and pose questions, engaging in scholarly conversations with peers and educators. designing instructional materials and lessons that target undergraduates’ learning outcomes can be successfully realized by applying organic learning techniques in library instruction, research consultations, and reference sessions. organic learning can be fun and seamless, alleviating research anxiety and stress among students. students take ownership of their own learning in organic learning environment and perform research efficiently. organic learning demands that librarians and course teaching faculty strategically design and plan classroom instruction that is targeted towards clearly defined and explicit learning outcomes. this creates a win-win situation for all – librarians, course teaching faculty, and especially students. above all, organic learning sets the stage for undergraduates’ success in academic, professional, and personal endeavors by developing lifelong learning skills based on supportive scholarly conversation and inquiry-based learning. the authors highlighted a model for pedagogical strategies and techniques which have been successful in their information literacy classes. these pedagogical strategies and techniques can be adapted for library instruction in any type of library. references ashton-warner, s. 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(1990). self-regulating academic learning and achievement: the emergence of a social cognitive perspective. educational psychology review, 2(2), 173-201. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01322178 about the author kanu a. nagra, ph.d., m.l.i.s., m.l.s., is associate professor and e-resources librarian at the borough of manhattan community college, city university of new york (cuny), new york, n.y. bernadette m. lópez-fitzsimmons, m.l.s., m.a., m.a., is associate librarian for instruction, research, and outreach at manhattan college, riverdale, n.y. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01322178 5--109-625-1-ce (2).title 5--109-625-1-ce (2)_2 issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org developing a media collection that addresses trends while targeting the needs of users: an analysis of online streaming videos (osv) at csu san marcos hua yi abstract: in the past two decades, library collections have gone through drastic changes, moving from print based to primarily electronic based. the transition started with electronic indexes and abstracts, then e-journals, e-books, and finally online streaming videos (osv). new technology brings new challenges as well as opportunities. librarians must keep abreast of: ● ongoing developments in new acquisitions models (subscription vs. purchase, local campus acquisitions vs. consortia deals, librarian-selection vs. user-selection etc.), ● new pricing models (single year pricing, multi-year pricing, pricing based on ftes or on usage, etc.) and ● new assessment methods and standards (vendor usage statistics, web logins and standardized usage guided by library professional organizations). through literature reviews and a study of the usage of two osv databases during six semesters at california state university of san marcos, this research aims to review the osv trends in collection building/management and osv use in academic libraries. the research findings indicated that osv was a valuable teaching and learning resource at csusm. more longitudinal studies covering wider osv resources would be valuable to test and support this observation. to cite this article: yi, h. (2019). developing a media collection that addresses trends while targeting the needs of users: an analysis of online streaming videos (osv) at csu san marcos. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 59-71. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 59-71 issn: 2474-3542 developing a media collection that addresses trends while targeting the needs of users: an analysis of online streaming videos (osv) at csu san marcos1 hua yi california state university, san marcos, united states abstract in the past two decades, library collections have gone through drastic changes, moving from print based to primarily electronic based. the transition started with electronic indexes and abstracts, then e-journals, e-books, and finally online streaming videos (osv). new technology brings new challenges as well as opportunities. librarians must keep abreast of: ● ongoing developments in new acquisitions models (subscription vs. purchase, local campus acquisitions vs. consortia deals, librarian-selection vs. user-selection etc.), ● new pricing models (single year pricing, multi-year pricing, pricing based on ftes or on usage, etc.) and ● new assessment methods and standards (vendor usage statistics, web logins and standardized usage guided by library professional organizations). through literature reviews and a study of the usage of two osv databases during six semesters at california state university of san marcos, this research aims to review the osv trends in collection building/management and osv use in academic libraries. the research findings indicated that osv was a valuable teaching and learning resource at csusm. more longitudinal studies covering wider osv resources would be valuable to test and support this observation. keywords: online streaming videos, usage, electronic resources, academic libraries introduction in the past two decades, library collections have gone through drastic changes from print based to primarily electronic based. these transitions started with electronic indexes/abstracts moving to e-journals, then to e-books and most recently to online streaming videos (osv). new 1 early version presented at the 9th shanghai international library forum and published in the conference proceedings as follows: yi hua (2018). developing a media collection that addresses trends while targeting the needs of users: an analysis of online streaming videos (osv) at csu san marcos. in proceedings of shanghai international library forum (silf), october 18-19, 2018, shanghai, china. yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 60 technology brings new challenges as well as opportunities. librarians must keep abreast of ongoing developments in new acquisitions models, new pricing models, and new assessment methods and standards. in the past few years, california state university, san marcos (csusm) library has acquired several osv databases. in addition to the conventional collection of dvd and vhs, these osv resources were added to the media collection through purchasing (with perpetual rights), subscription (licensing) and patron-driven-acquisitions (pda) models. we need to assess the value of these databases in newer format to ensure they are supporting users and meeting their progressive expectations. through literature reviews and a study of the usage of two osv databases during six semesters at csusm, this research aims to review trends in osv collection building, management, and use in academic libraries. in short, in this increasingly complicated time, it is more important than ever before for librarians to engage in this type of research in order to keep up with information trends and better support teaching and learning. literature review trends there are many writings in the library literature noting that osv has increasingly become the mainstream video format in academic libraries. it is one of the most impactful resources for engaged teaching and learning. this resource type is continuing to grow as more libraries are adopting it, more content is being made available in this format, and more users are accessing it. library journal’s recent survey of academic libraries in north america showed 95% of respondents provided streaming videos in their libraries, and 83% of these respondents offered streaming videos from multiple vendors (dixon, 2017). several studies described the process of how video resources have evolved from film reels, u-matic tapes, vhs, dvd, laserdisc and self-streamed videos to osv databases provided by commercial vendors (e.g. bergman, 2010; little 2011). like books and journals, videos have evolved from tangible formats to electronic formats. some factors contributing to this process (for example, economic or social factors) are similar factors that contributed to the evolution of books and journals. however, unlike print resources, previous videos always need a playing device, be it a standalone laserdisc player or a dvd drive on the computer. in this sense, technological factors have probably played a bigger part in the process of making tangible video formats obsolete as we cannot help but note that new macbook is not equipped with a dvd drive. in discussing factors influencing the trends of osv growth, several studies lined up the most important environmental factors from technology advancement, to economic environment, yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 61 and to users and user behaviors (e.g. handman, 2010; yi, 2016). the rapid development in network and computer technology has made discovery and delivery of electronic resources quick and easy. budget limitations make it a necessity for academic libraries to tailor their collection resources to those materials actually used by faculty and students. users “live” online for work, study, social life, entertainment and more. they expect the resources they need will be available to them online. as yi (2012, 2016) argued, three factors (demand from users, supply from vendors, and both infused by technology) interact with one another and push or accelerate the trends in electronic resources. the argument applies to osv too as this format has higher technological requirements and is in high demand (dixon, 2017). acquisition models acquisition models for osv are complicated and diverse. the acquisition models and/or practices in academic libraries were discussed in many studies (e.g. decesare, 2014; ferguson and erdmann, 2016; handman, 2010 and many more). here is a glimpse. table 1: a glance at osv acquisitions options: selection methods title by title packages selection entities individual institution (e.g. a university library) consortia deals (e.g.a higher education consortium in a region) selection party librarians users ownership purchase perpetual rights licensing/lease acquisition budget implications one-time payment ongoing payment terms of licensing one year multi-years hosting self publisher; third party user -use single user multi-users to unlimited users access username/password ip copyrights with digital rights management (drm); without public performing rights (ppr) without drm; with ppr when choosing one or more osv acquisitions for libraries, the issues considered include budget, staffing, technical requirements, and special organizational needs, etc. in addition to those elements which also apply to e-books or e-journals (yi, 2016), there are factors unique to videos such as format migration, closed caption, public performance rights and more. what is listed in the table above is just a glimpse. librarians need to pay attention to these issues and know our options. each acquisition model has its pros and cons for individual situations. each library needs to choose the best fit for its specific institution. yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 62 usage there are quite a few articles on general increase of the availability and use of osv in academic libraries (e.g. dixon 2017; enis 2015; and kaltura 2015, 2016, 2017). kaltura surveys educators, instructional designers, it professionals, digital media professionals, and students from around the globe on their video use annually. year-on-year surveys by kaltura (2015) show, quantitatively and anecdotally, a steady increase in osv use in academic settings. they help us gain a broad picture of osv’s impact on education. for example, kaltura’s surveys showed: table 2: examples of use increase in kaltura surveys: videos regularly showed in classroom in 2014 76% higher education respondents in 2015 84% higher education respondents videos for supplementing course materials in 2015 72% higher education respondents in 2016 79% higher education respondents videos for remote teaching and learning in 2016 66% higher education respondents in 2017 73% higher education respondents many of the categories reported by kaltura correspond to the usage impact elements discussed in several other studies (e.g. bossenga, et. al. 2014; cottrell, 2012; and enis, 2015). especially noticeable are faculty use of videos as a teaching tool in classroom and online class assignments, providing easy access for internet-generation students. most of the articles discussed above are based on surveys. i have found limited literature grounded in the actual usage statistics of osv. one research article including usage data is the paper by cleary et. al. (2014). the article was based on two universities’ [queensland university of technology (qut) and la trobe university (la trobe)] experience with kanopy’s patrondriven-acquisition (pda) and non-pda models. they reasoned that a trial/experimental subscription of kanopy osv would help them “gain an insight into online video usage, demand and viewing behavior.” (cleary et. al, 2014, p. 3) this information could then help libraries make ongoing osv collection decisions and justify precious collection funding. their data indicated several impact factors on usage: increasing discoverability by marc records, marketing content on campus, and embedding osv in teaching etc. the authors also noted the length of time of database availability correlated with usage as familiarity with the platform/interface and awareness of the content would have a positive impact on users. this factor is consistent with the findings by yi (2016) when studying e-book usage. overall, cleary et. al.’s study of the qut yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 63 and la trobe campuses showed that usage justified the pda of osv. the cost per title view was lower than other subscription models and at the same time also made large amounts of content available to users for free. in addition, it saved staff labor cost in selection and guaranteed usage for the acquired/paid titles. the findings convinced librarians of both universities to continue their pda osv acquisitions. methods as noted above, osv is a relative newcomer to the world of electronic resources. most library literature about osv covers general trends. few articles in the literature are based on database usage data. the qut and la trobe article (cleary et. al., 2014), reviewed above, is based on data nearly five years old. online videos have come a long way since then, particularly people’s awareness and use of osv in everyday life. youtube statistics (2017) show that its billion users generate billions of views each day. kaltura (2017) stated 99% of responding institutions reported instructors incorporating video curriculum regularly. it is now time to look at more recent acquisitions and usage of osv in academic libraries to see whether some of the observations from earlier studies still hold true and whether any new issues have arisen. a current empirical research study could provide additional insight into how academic libraries are doing now and help us to understand user needs and build quality osv collections that better support users. this research is based on the usage data of two osv databases that the california state university san marcos (csusm) subscribes to. it will focus on the usage of these databases and the relevant issues. csusm has a variety of osv products such as self-streamed titles hosted by campus it, individually purchased titles hosted on vender sites, small packages purchased perpetually, a pda database and several subscriptions, individual titles or packages. due to data limitations, this study focuses on two subscribed osv products: media education foundation (mef) on kanopy platform and business and economics (b&e) collection by films on demand (fod). csusm started both subscriptions around the summer of 2014. this study examines usage data of mef/kanopy and b&e/fod over six academic semesters, namely fall 2014, spring 2015, fall 2015, spring 2016, fall 2016 and spring 2017. data collection usage data from the above period was collected from the kanopy and fod sites and broken down by semesters. data clean-up this research is focused on the mef collection via kanopy platform and fod’s b&e collection only. csusm library also subscribes to other videos individually or via package hosted on yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 64 kanopy platform. therefor, clean-up was needed to remove those titles and their usage as they are not within the scope of this study. data normalization as those working in the library statistics field know, data normalization is a critical and necessary step for data manipulation. counting online usage of networked electronic resources (counter) is the industrial standard for library usage statistics. however, as discussed above osv is the newcomer of library electronic resources. counter usage data is not available for emf/kanopy and b&e/fod during all six semesters under study. after a closer look at the usage data available on both kanopy and fod platforms, two categories of usage data stand out as comparable and informative for the study: first, views (how many times a video has been watched) and second, length of time viewed. the two platforms (kanopy and fod) use different terminology and mathematical measurement. for consistency, the paper will use “views” to count number of times a video has been watched and “minutes” as the measuring unit for viewing time. data analysis and findings mef/kanopy general observations for mef/kanopy, during the period under study, ● both views and minutes showed similar usage patterns (see figure 1). ● in general, both views and minutes demonstrated a steady growth in use (see the dotted trend lines on figure 1). ● usage (views and minutes) has more than doubled during the period under study. for example: o in fall 2016, views were 1374 times and viewing time were 32990.94 minutes in total, while in fall 2014 views were 527 and minutes were 11742.80. each category increased 160.72% and 180.94% respectively. o in spring 2017, views were 1101 and minutes were 26020.90 while in spring 2015 views were 450 and minutes were 10269. the increase was 144.67% and 153.39% respectively. table 3: mef/kanopy usage by views and minutes fall 2014 spring 2015 fall 2015 spring 2016 fall 2016 spring 2017 views 527 450 497 1323 1374 1101 minutes 11742.89 10269.29 10190.78 32838.94 32990.94 26020.91 yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 65 figure 1: mef/kanopy usage by views and minutes mef/kanopy deep data analysis it is quite clear that the upward linear slopes demonstrated an increase over time in use for both the viewing times and the length of viewing in minutes. in addition to the overall steady usage increase, the usage statistics showed a sharp surge in spring and fall 2016. in order to understand the surge, a closer examination of the usage at title level was conducted. the detailed information reveals that several “high performer” videos contributed to the surge. for example, the video “tough guise 2” had a record of 34 views and 886.32 minutes usage in fall 2014. however, in fall 2016 the video was used for 271 views and 7447.23 minutes. this is an increase of 697.06% in views and 759.64% in minutes respectively. as noted previously in the literature (e.g. yi, 2016), usage could be skewed by high performing titles. b&e/films on demand – general observations table 4: b&e/films on demand usage by view and minutes fall 2014 spring 2015 fall 2015 spring 2016 fall 2016 spring 2017 views 636 518 626 531 364 554 minutes 7110.10 6132.63 6372.98 5097.07 4119.00 3562.55 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 fall 2014 spring 2015 fall 2015 spring 2016 fall 2016 spring 2017 v ie w s m in u te s mef/kanopy usage minutes views linear (minutes) linear (views) yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 66 figure 2: b&e/films on demand usage by view and minutes for b&e/films on demand, during the period under study, usage patterns are different from those of mef/kanopy. table 4 and figure 2 reveal: ● minutes usage showed a steady downward trend. ● view usage trend is less conclusive even if the linear trend line shows a downward slope (see figure 2 dotted line for views). here are the possible explanations for this downward slope: it is mainly due to low numbers in fall 2016 with a slight impact from the fall 2014 number. if we look at the numbers in spring 2015, fall 2015, spring 2015 and spring 2017 (see table 4), taking out the numbers for fall 2014 and fall 2016, the usage would show a steady pattern over time. to further illustrate this point, please see figure 3 and figure 4 below for controlled trend lines. figure 3 b&e/films on demand views without fall 2016 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 fall 2014 spring 2015 fall 2015 spring 2016 fall 2016 spring 2017 v ie w s m in u te s b&e/films on demand usage minutes views linear (minutes) linear (views) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 fall 2014 spring 2015 fall 2015 spring 2016 spring 2017 views without fall 2016 views linear (views) yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 67 figure 4: b&e/films on demand views without fall 2014 and fall 2016 b&e/films on demand deep data analysis the observations and findings above lead to some questions: why the views number in fall 2016 was lower and what contributed to the steady decrease for minutes overtime? quite a few authors have discussed the factors that impact database usage (e.g. cottrell, 2012; herlihy and yi, 2010; yi and herlihy, 2007). among these factors, the ones that stand out the most include curriculum changes, currency of the resources, availability of alternative resources, presence in library catalogs, database/packages content changes, and possible data skewing by higher performance titles etc. a systematic study of each of these factors is beyond the scope of this research. it will necessitate another full-length research study. however, by mining raw usage data and checking the csusm unified library management system (ulms), we could get some insightful statistics and derive valuable information to inform a hypothesis. alternative resources and library cataloging impact by searching for the video “made in la” in our ulms, we found two records (see figure 5). the first one on the list is from fod. however, the second one (alternative resource) has a more recent date (2012/c 07 vs. 2014). it is highly likely a user would go to a more recent resource (impact of currency). a search of “maquilapolis” also revealed two records (see figure 6). this time the fod resource is second on the list. users are more likely to click on the first link and, needless to say, the first one has the more recent date. yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 68 figure 5: ulms list and alternative resource example 1 figure 6: ulms list and alternative resource example 2 possible curriculum changes and high performers a closer examination and comparison of raw data in earlier semesters with later semesters revealed some interesting information. ● only three of the top ten titles with the highest minutes stats in fall 2014 were used in fall 2016. that is only 30%. the other seven titles were not used at all. ● a quick calculation showed the seven titles that were not-used in fall 2016 generated 69.52% views for the top used titles in fall 2014. ● an examination of the spring 2017 raw usage data also revealed that the seven titles which were not used in fall 2016 were not used in 2017, either. this situation (from highest usage generators in an earlier semester to dropping to no-use in later semesters) leads to the assumption that it is highly likely that there was some change in the curriculum. ● also, the author couldn’t help noticing spring 2017 views statistics started rising again. could this be an indication of increase in use in the following semesters? an extended period of study is needed to answer this question. yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 69 conclusion based on this study, mef/kanopy osv revealed a steady increase over time in use both by the number of titles viewed and by the number of minutes watched. it demonstrated that osv is a highly sought-after material in today’s teaching and learning environment at csusm. deep data analysis also indicated that high performing videos can skew usage patterns. it makes sense that researchers should take the skewing impact, whether high performing videos or other factors, into consideration when analyzing data. the usage patterns for b&e/films on demand during the period under study are less conclusive. when controlling the possible skewing factors, views remained relatively constant over the time period under research while minutes showed a decline trend. however, after probing into raw usage data and other factors, the findings of the study yielded some important insights. anecdotal evidence indicates that high turnover video titles could be a result of curriculum change. the evidence also indicated that alternative resources and library catalog listings could have impacted use. in order to make definitive conclusions for these observations, further research is needed. instead of providing conclusive answers for some of the questions regarding osv in an academic setting, this study leads to several suggestions for future studies. for example, a study of relevant curriculum is needed to assess the curriculum change impact on osv use. it would involve mapping of osv subject content to courses offered; systematically matching class assignments, required course viewing/reading lists, and student group projects to osv titles; evaluating student fte (full time equivalent) enrollment fluctuations in related subject fields during the time period under study; comparing overlapping content in various resources and analyzing a longer period of longitudinal studies. these are just some of the factors for consideration in future studies. references bergman, j. b. (2010). making the most of your video collection: trends in patron access and resource sharing. library trends, 58(3), 335-348. bossenga, s., et. al. (carli commercial products committee 2013-14) (2014). streaming video in academic libraries: a white paper. retrieved from https://www.carli.illinois.edu/sites/files/files/2014commercialproductscommstreamingvideoin academiclibraries.pdf (accessed january 31st, 2018). https://www.carli.illinois.edu/sites/files/files/2014commercialproductscommstreamingvideoinacademiclibraries.pdf https://www.carli.illinois.edu/sites/files/files/2014commercialproductscommstreamingvideoinacademiclibraries.pdf yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 70 carlson, a., sanders, m. r., and mcquillan, b. (2012). on beyond e-journals: integrating ebooks, streaming videos, and digital collections at the helin library consortium. serials librarian, 62(1-4), 189-195. clearly, c., humphrey, o., and bates, a. (2014). possible, inevitable or fait acccompli? an analysis of streamlining video acquisition, acceptance and use in higher education, in a. kosina (ed.), vala 2014 biennial conference: streaming with possibilities (pp. 1-16). melbourne, australia. cottrell, t. (2012). video management – mystified with the rest of us. the bottom line, 25(2), 44-48. decesare, j. (2014). patron-driven access to streaming video: profile of kanopy streaming. against the grain, 26(4), 73-75. eng, s., and hernandez, f. a. (2006). managing streaming video: a new role for technical services. library collections, acquisitions, & technical services, 30(3/4), 214-223. enis, m. (2015). on demand academic streaming media. library journal, 140(17), 45-49. ferguson, j., and erdmann, a. (2016). streaming video in academic libraries: finding the right solution. retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/09/21/streaming-videoacademic-libraries/ (accessed january 18th 2018). handman, g. (2010). license to look: evolving models for library video acquisition and access. library trends, 58(3), 324-334. herlihy, c.s., and yi, h. (2010). e-books in academic libraries: how does currency affect usage? new library world, 111(9/10), 371-380. kaltura. (2015). the state of video in education 2015: a kaltura report. retrieved from http://site.kaltura.com/rs/984-sdm859/images/the_state_of_video_in_education_2015_a_kaltura_report.pdf (accessed january 20th, 2018). kaltura. (2016). the state of video in education 2016: a kaltura report. retrieved from https://www.wu.ac.at/fileadmin/wu/h/structure/servicecenters/learn/the_state_of_video_in_edu cation_2016_-_a_kaltura_report.pdf (accessed january 20th, 2018). kaltura (2017). the state of video in education 2017: a kaltura report. retrieved from https://corp.kaltura.com/sites/default/files/the_state_of_video_in_education_2017.pdf (accessed january 25th, 2018). little, g. (2011). the revolution will be streamed online: academic libraries and video. the journal of academic librarianship, 37(1), 70-72. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/09/21/streaming-video-academic-libraries/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/09/21/streaming-video-academic-libraries/ http://site.kaltura.com/rs/984-sdm-859/images/the_state_of_video_in_education_2015_a_kaltura_report.pdf http://site.kaltura.com/rs/984-sdm-859/images/the_state_of_video_in_education_2015_a_kaltura_report.pdf https://www.wu.ac.at/fileadmin/wu/h/structure/servicecenters/learn/the_state_of_video_in_education_2016_-_a_kaltura_report.pdf https://www.wu.ac.at/fileadmin/wu/h/structure/servicecenters/learn/the_state_of_video_in_education_2016_-_a_kaltura_report.pdf https://corp.kaltura.com/sites/default/files/the_state_of_video_in_education_2017.pdf yi / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 71 morris, s. e., and currie, l.h. (2016). to stream or not to stream? new library world, 117(7/8), 485-498. schroeder r., and williamsen j. (2011). streaming video: the collaborative convergence of technical services, collection development, and information technology in the academic library. collection management, 36(2), 89-106. yi, h., and borin, j. (2006). measuring trends in electronic resource usage: analyzing database statistics to assess current and future directions. proceedings from the 3rd shanghai international library forum: management innovation & library services (pp. 352-366). shanghai, china. yi, h. (2012). building resources that directly impact academic users: a case study of patrondriven acquisitions at california state university, presented at the third csusm faculty scholarship & creative activities, san marcos, ca. yi, h. (2016). an analytical study of e-book usage: patron-driven-acquisitions collections and a subscribed e-book database in. proceedings from the 8th shanghai international library forum: libraries: enabling progress (pp. 309-318). shanghai scientific and technological literature publishing house, shanghai. about the author hua yi has been an academic librarian for over twenty years. the majority of her academic library career has been in the area of collection development. in the past decade, she has been concentrating her research on collection assessment with a focus on electronic resource usage. she has published in the areas of collection assessment models, electronic resource usage patterns and the impact of ebooks in academic libraries. 4--89-571-3-ce (1)-author-info.title 4--89-571-3-ce (1)-author-info_2-final issn: 2474-3542 journal homepage: http://journal.calaijol.org an agglomerative-adapted partition approach for largescale graphs tao chen, rongrong shan, hui li, dongsheng wang and wei liu abstract: in recent years, an increasing number of knowledge bases have been built using linked data, thus datasets have grown substantially. it is neither reasonable to store a large amount of triple data in a single graph, nor appropriate to store rdf in named graphs by class uris, because many joins can cause performance problems between graphs. this paper presents an agglomerative-adapted approach for large-scale graphs, which is also a bottom-up merging process. the proposed algorithm can partition triples data in three levels: blank nodes, associated nodes, and inference nodes. regarding blank nodes and classes/nodes involved in reasoning rules, it is better to store with an optimal neighbor node in the same partition instead of splitting into separate partitions. the process of merging associated nodes, needs to start with the node in the smallest cost and then repeat it until the final number of partitions is met. finally, the feasibility and rationality of the merging algorithm are analyzed in detail through bibliographic cases. in summary, the partitioning methods proposed in this paper can be applied in distributed storage, data retrieval, data export, and semantic reasoning of large-scale triples graphs. in the future, we will research the automation setting of the number of partitions with machine learning algorithms. to cite this article: chen, t., & et al. (2019). an agglomerative-adapted partition approach for large-scale graphs. international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 3-18. to submit your article to this journal: go to http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions http://ojs.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions international journal of librarianship, 4(1), 3-18 issn: 2474-3542 an agglomerative-adapted partition approach for large-scale graphs tao chen, shanghai library/institute of scientific & technical information of shanghai, shanghai, china; school of information management, nanjing university, nanjing, china rongrong shan, department of library, information & archives shanghai university, shanghai, china hui li, shanghai library/institute of scientific & technical information of shanghai, shanghai, china; school of information management, nanjing university, nanjing, china dongsheng wang, computer science, university of copenhagen, copenhagen, denmark wei liu, shanghai library/institute of scientific & technical information of shanghai, shanghai, china abstract in recent years, an increasing number of knowledge bases have been built using linked data, thus datasets have grown substantially. it is neither reasonable to store a large amount of triple data in a single graph, nor appropriate to store rdf in named graphs by class uris, because many joins can cause performance problems between graphs. this paper presents an agglomerative-adapted approach for large-scale graphs, which is also a bottom-up merging process. the proposed algorithm can partition triples data in three levels: blank nodes, associated nodes, and inference nodes. regarding blank nodes and classes/nodes involved in reasoning rules, it is better to store with an optimal neighbor node in the same partition instead of splitting into separate partitions. the process of merging associated nodes, needs to start with the node in the smallest cost and then repeat it until the final number of partitions is met. finally, the feasibility and rationality of the merging algorithm are analyzed in detail through bibliographic cases. in summary, the partitioning methods proposed in this paper can be applied in distributed storage, data retrieval, data export, and semantic reasoning of large-scale triples graphs. in the future, we will research the automation setting of the number of partitions with machine learning algorithms. keywords: linked data, agglomerative-adapted partition, merging algorithm, large-scale graph, k-graph introduction with the rapid development of linked data, more and more organizations are using this mature technology to build and publish their knowledge bases or datasets (erkimbaev, zitserman, kobzev, serebrjakov and teymurazov, 2013; knoblock et al, 2017; chen tao, zhang yongjuan, chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 4 liu wei and zhu qinghua, 2019). as can be seen from the latest linked open data (lod) cloud1, there is a growing number of big datasets, such as dbpedia2, scigraph3, viaf4, uniprot5, and so on. all of these large datasets have become the infrastructure and core components of their fields. for example, the 2016-04 release of the dbpedia dataset describes 6.0 million entities, consisting of 9.5 billion rdf triples. dbpedia data is categorized into hundreds of entity classes, and has been linked by a number of applications and datasets. these large datasets often provide segmented downloads for different classes in official publishing sites. when these databases can be applied, we need to dump and restore them in a local repository which also introduces a number of challenges. the resource description framework 6 (rdf) is a family of world wide web consortium (w3c) specifications originally designed as a metadata data model. it has come to be used as a general method for conceptual description or modeling of information that is implemented in web resources. considering the large amount of data, it can lead to performance problems, especially restoring these data in a graph. in fact, normally we only need to operate data on its sub-graph, such as retrieval, export, reasoning in some classes. some researchers might think of splitting the graph into several named graphs, which is having multiple rdf graphs in a single document/repository and naming them with uris. if we divide them on average, the data for the one class can be divided into multiple graphs at random. if we create named graphs by class uris, a larger number of graphs are generated. excessive joins in federated queries can also cause performance degradation. therefore, this is not the better solution, especially when the data size between classes is unbalanced. for example, some named graphs only have hundreds of triples, while some others have millions of triples. in view of this background, we propose a simple agglomerative-adapted partition approach that can be used to split triples in large-scale graphs. literature review a great deal of research articles and presentations have addressed the topic of triples partitions and rdf performance in application. these studies mainly focus on the use of distributed framework, efficient storage and indexing, and dynamic partitioning algorithms. many research efforts have been devoted to develop distributed rdf data management systems implemented on the hadoop computing framework and mapreduce algorithm. for example, apache jena elephas7 is a set of libraries which provide various basic building blocks for writing apache hadoop based applications which work with rdf data. some researchers use hadoop to store and retrieve large numbers of rdf triples stored in flat text files in hadoop distribute file system (hdfs) (mohammad, pankil, latifur and bhavani, 2009; kurt and richard, 2010; khushboo and abhishek, 2017). vaibhav, murat, bhavani and paolo (2012) proposed jena-hbase, which stored rdf indices in hbase and directly carried out queries 1https://lod-cloud.net/ 2https://wiki.dbpedia.org/ 3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ 4https://viaf.org/ 5https://www.uniprot.org/ 6https://www.w3.org/rdf/ 7https://jena.apache.org/documentation/hadoop/ chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 5 through hbase apis. nikolaos, ioannis, dimitrios and nectarios (2012) demonstrated the h2rdf system, a distributed rdf store that combines a multiple-indexing scheme with bigtable and mapreduce. alfredo, rajkumar, vincenzo and giovanni (2017) provided a mapreduce-model-based algorithm for managing big rdf graphs, which tried to exploit the computational power offered by the mapreduce processing model. there are also a number of researchers who have made breakthroughs in data storage and indexing. zeng, yang, wang, shao and wang (2013) introduced trinity.rdf, a distributed, memory-based graph engine for web scale rdf data stored in its native graph form. it achieved much better performance for sparql queries than the state-of-the-art approaches. gu, hu and huang (2014) proposed rainbow, a scalable and efficient rdf triple store. the rdf data indexing scheme in rainbow is a hybrid one which was designed based on the statistical analysis of user query space. li and heflin (2010) presented a query optimization algorithm to identify the potentially relevant semantic web data sources using structural query features and a term index. razen, yasser and panos (2014) presented phd-store, a sparql engine for federations of many independent rdf repositories. phd-store followed an adaptive approach that allowed it to start processing queries immediately, thus minimizing the data-to-query time, while distributed and indexed only those parts of the graph that benefit the most frequent query patterns. some other researchers use graph partitioning optimization techniques about rdf graph patter matching. for instance, ruben, miel and pieter (2014) introduced linked data fragments (ldf), a publishing method that allowed efficient offloading of query execution from servers to clients through a lightweight partitioning strategy. huang and daniel (2016) introduced a dynamic graph partitioning algorithm, designed for large, constantly changing graphs, and he also proposed a partitioning framework that adjusted on the fly as the graph structure changed. wang and kenneth (2012) proposed a promising approach that utilized the graph nature of rdf datasets to minimize relations among partitions after dataset partitioning, and optimized system design based on it. hao, li, yuan and jin (2017) described an association-oriented streaming graph partitioning method named assc. this approach first computed the rank values of vertices with a hybrid approximate pagerank algorithm, and then split these vertices with an adapted variant affinity propagation algorithm. the agglomerative-adapted approach proposed in this paper belongs to the third category mentioned above. this approach is mainly based on the ontology structure and rdf data, and merges the different nodes from the aspect of measurement. methods building the reformation graph several key concepts need to be pointed out before the key approaches and methods are introduced. an ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization which describes individuals (instances), classes (concepts), attributes/properties, and relations. in knowledge graphs, it describes classes with nodes and uses directional edges to represent attributes. as shown in figure 1, nodes c1, c2, c3, ... are classes, and p1, p2, p3, ... represent properties. there are two type of properties, datatypeproperty and objectproperty that describe what kind of values a triple with the property should have. datatype properties relate individuals to literal data chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 6 (e.g. strings, numbers, datetypes, etc.) like p1, p2, p3 in figure 1, whereas object properties relate individuals to other individuals like properties p5, p6, p7, etc. in figure 1, there are also some different types of nodes/classes: standalone node, association node, blank node, and inference node. a standalone node is a node without relationships with other nodes. this type of nodes only has datatype properties, such as node c1 in figure 1 has p1, p2 and p3 properties. an associated node, most commonly used in knowledge graphs, has an association with another node through object property. for instance, node c2 and node c5 are associated with property p5; node c6 and node c9 are linked with property p10. a blank node is a node in an rdf graph that represents a resource (anonymous resource) for which a uri or literal is not given. blank nodes are recommended to be used with related entity resources as there are different node ids for the same triples of blank node in two graphs. the node connected to p23 belongs to this node type. an inference node is a node reasoned by other classes and properties based on inference rules. for example, the node r12 is inferred from p16 and p17 properties which belong to node c9 and node c10 respectively. in splitting the reorganization diagram, we can try to get the largest possible trees. as demonstrated in figure 1, there are four top nodes c1, c2, c3 and c4, thus the easiest way to do this is to split this graph into four trees which is shown in figure 2. however, if you want to split this graph into more or fewer trees, you can use the method we proposed later. figure1. a pseudo-reformation path-goal graph constructed figure 2. the split trees and the duplicate areas chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 7 the significant features of the graph might be the shared nodes such as c5 belongs to c2 and c3 connects with p5 and p6. there are two methods for how these common nodes are partitioned. as many partitions will bring more joins between different partitions, splitting these nodes into partitions separately will cause efficiency problems while making a sparql query. however, storing them in multiple partitions can result in duplication of triples. therefore, we need to make a balance between these two methods, since our original intent is to minimize duplication of data and minimize the number of joins with each other. partition process for trees given a tree as shown on the right part of figure 3, we need to extract “partition templates” from the tree. we propose to partition it with an agglomerative-adapted merging process to obtain reasonable sized partitions. firstly, we define the cost of a partition template as the total number of no-duplicate triples that are mapped to their predicates, and define the neighbors of a certain partition as the partitions that share the same nodes/predicates and are next to each other. the basic approach is to start with as many small partitions as possible and always merge the lowest cost partition with its smallest neighbor partition into a new partition. the new partition size and sequential partition list are then updated and continuously moved to the next smallest partition to iteratively partition. as illustrated in step 0) in figure 4, we initialize the cost of each predicate by loading the triples and mapping their predicates, and the cost of each minimum partition is simply the sum of the cost of all its predicates. then we can divide all the nodes into separate partitions, except for blank nodes, which must be put together with their corresponding resources. there are eight initial partitions in this step, and the cost in node c10 and its blank node is 50+115+20=185, of which 50 and 115 are the triple number of p17 and p18 in node c10, and 20 is the triple number of p23 in blank node. next we have to do four merging steps.of course, the number of merging times is not fixed. that needs to be based on the final number of partitions to determine. in step 1), we determine the least partition cost is 35 which is the sum of the quantities of property p13 and p14 of node c8, and we merge it with its neighbor node c5. for node c8, it has two neighbor partitions, c5and c11oriented partitions; however, the cost of c5 is 60 fewer than 80 of c11. so we chose the least one, c5, as the best adjacent merge node and the cost of new figure 3. take the c3-oriented tree from last graph as an example chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 8 partition merged with c5 and c8 is 60+20+15=95. it is important to note that the inference node r12 is not processed at this step. it will be merged in the last step. subsequently, in step 2), we continue to search and get the next least partition, which is c6-oriented partition, with cost of 75, and we merge it with its best neighbor partition with least cost. after merging, the new partition includes c3 and c6 nodes, and the cost is 70+20+75=165. similarly, we repeat this process in step 3) to merge nodes c5, c8, and c11. the last step is how to merge the inference node, which is most important step in the entire process. the nodes corresponding to the properties used in the inference rules need to be stored in the same partition as the inference node. in step 4), for instance, we should put nodes c9, c10, and r12 in one partition, and the total cost in this partition is 230+185+50=465. figure 4. an example of agglomerative-inspired merging process chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 9 if we want to split the graph into three partitions, when we merge four times, it has already produced relatively balanced partition sizes, as shown in figure 5, with costs of 165, 175 and 465. we can further merge partition one (with nodes c3 and c6) and two (with nodes c5, c8 and c11) if we want to split the graph into two partitions. eventually we can get two partitions with costs of 340 and 465. the proposed agglomerative-adapted approach is a bottom-up consolidation process. note that “bottom” here means the node with the lowest cost and not the leaf of the trees. there are some details and observations about partition principles or rules: 1) do not split triples belonging to the same resource, but you can split sub-triples that exist in the object resource to another partition. 2) if triples t and t’ combined with some axioms (strong relationships) will infer some new triples, they must appear in the same partition. 3) try to reduce duplicate nodes in partition templates as much as possible. 4) try to balance the overall sizes of partition templates, avoiding some template sizes getting too large while others too small. 5) a blank node is a resource without global identity, and it must appear in the same partition with its related subject resource. 6) only split triples corresponding to the object properties, do not split triples of datatype properties. traditionally, agglomeration is a hierarchical clustering method that starts to treat each object as singleton clusters and then successively merge pairs of clusters until there is one single cluster that contains all objects. the significant features that could be referred to are 1) the cluster number is flexible and could be obtained by cutting an endrogram and 2) the merging process is to always merge the closest or most similar two clusters. figure 5. rule merging process for last example in figure 6 chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 10 note that the situation and application methods are of great difference in our case, but we adapt the ideas of agglomeration to our own partition approach. in this example, we assign very small cost values to simplify the description of the idea. however, the actual costs should be larger, which can produce a cartesian product. algorithm and implementation the main flow of the algorithm is shown in figure 6, where we take four merging steps, of which steps 2 to 4 require iteration to achieve the final desired result. the algorithm should operate the ontology and rdf data, and we give the core sparql statements and algorithm with pseudocode of the merging approach in the following. step1: statistic cost of associated nodes 1: q ← select ?node (count(distinct *) as ?cost) where { ?uri ?p ?o . {select distinct ?node ?uri where { ?uri a ?node . filter (isiri(?uri)) }} } group by ?node 2: entitymaps<node, cost> <-perform this sparql query and save the output in entitymap variable. first, we perform the statistics algorithm of associated nodes in step 1 in the whole raw graph or model (raw_model). it is important to note that blank nodes are not counted here, because these nodes will be merged into the corresponding nodes later. after execution, this figure 6. algorithm flowchart chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 11 algorithm will output all the associated nodes and their cost value, which can be recorded in variable entitymaps<node, cost>. step2: merge costs of blank nodes to associated node 1: void mergeblanknodes(entitymaps<node, cost>, raw_model) { 2: while time < entitymaps.size 3: q ← select distinct ?p 4: where { 5: ?uri a <node> ; ?p ?s . 6: filter (isblank(?s)) 7: } 8: bp_list<property> <-launch this sparql to query all properties which have blank nodes as object value. 9: if bp_list.size > 0 then 10: while time < bp_list.size 11: mergeblanknode(cost, raw_model, node, "<" + property + ">"); 12: end 13: end 14: } 15: void mergeblanknode(cost, raw_model, node, path) { 16: q ← select (count(distinct *) as ?count) 17: where { 18: ?s ?p ?o . 19: {select ?s where { 20: ?uri a <node> ; path ?s . 21: ?s ?p ?o . 22: }} 23: } 24: cost ← cost + count <-run sparql query to count cost of blank node (?s) in property path of associated node. 25: q ← select distinct ?p 26: where { 27: ?uri a <node> ; path ?s . 28: ?s ?p ?o . 29: filter (isblank(?o)) 30: } 31: bp_list<property> <-launch this sparql to get all properties which have blank nodes of path resource (?s). 32: if bp_list.size > 0 then 33: while time < bp_list.size 34: path = path + "/<" + property + ">"; 35: mergeblanknode(cost, raw_model, node, path); 36: end 37: } subsequently, with the output of the last step, entitymaps<node, cost>, we can use algorithm 2 to merge blank nodes to each associated node. blank nodes can have multiple layers when used; therefore, this step can be looped and recursively executed, which is shown in function mergeblanknode(cost, raw_model, node, path). this algorithm will count the cost of chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 12 all blank nodes of each associated node, and the cost will be summarized with the value of the associated node counted from algorithm 1 in line 24. until now, we have merged blank nodes, and the output can be put into the entitymaps<node, cost> variable for subsequent operation. at this point, the nodes in entitymaps have not changed, but the costs of blank nodes are summarized. step3: merge inference nodes in a semantic web application, an inference engine or reasoner is used to derive additional rdf assertions, which are entailed from some base rdf together with any optional ontology information, and the axioms and rules associated with the reasoner. all classes involved in inference rules are divided the same partition, which can guarantee the efficiency of reasoning. when merging, the node with less cost will be merged into a large one, and then update entitymaps value. the operation of this step is relatively simple and can be only performed in the entitymaps variable. after this merging step, the size of entitymaps will be changed. the inference nodes will less cost value will be merged into the nodes with more cost. step4: merge associated nodes in this step, we will extract the node with the smallest cost and use the ontology structure to calculate the optimal adjacent node. this is not a simple use of sparql to directly query the neighbor nodes, so we can use the following flowchart in figure 7 to illustrate the algorithm. as shown in the figure 7, the input of the algorithm is class or node uri which has the smallest cost value in entitymaps, and the output result is the optimal neighbor node, the class of the upper subject or lower object resource of this node. for a node uri, it may be a subject to connect other resources, or it may act as object of other resources. therefore, it is necessary to find the subject and object classes for this node uri. because process 1 and 2 are similar, we figure 7. flowchart for getting neighbor node chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 13 will only explain process 1 for looking for an adjacent subject class. first, we need to determine whether the node uri is an object of another resource, that is, to identify a possible subject resource. if such a subject resource does not exist, this indicates that the input node is not connected to another subject resource. conversely, when such a subject resource exists, the next step is to determine the resource type of this subject, iri or a blank node. if the subject type is a blank node, it means that this blank node must exist as an object for another resource. we should repeat this step until the end subject of the iri type is found. once found, it is convenient to find out the class type with property rdf:type of this resource which is marked subject_class. based on the same principle, we can find the class of the adjacent object resource marked object_class here. after getting the output result, we select the class with minimum cost in subject_class and object_class as the output value. of course, if one of subject_class or object_class does not exist, you can use the other class as output value. finally, the cost of the input class can be merged into the output class, which will update the value of the output class in entitymaps, while removing the input class too. the following pseudocode shows the algorithm implementation of this step in apache jena framework. the final result of the merging step recursion is that the size of entitymaps is k. 1: void mergeassociatednodes(entitymaps<node, cost>, raw_model) { 2: entitymap<minclass, min> <-get the node with smallest cost in entitymaps. 3: relclasses <-define the list of relation classes of node with smallest cost in entitymaps. 4: mergeups(relclasses, raw_model, minclass, ""); <-get the subject's class with function mergeups. 5: mergesubs(relclasses, raw_model, minclass, ""); <-get the object's class with function mergesubs. 6: mergenode2relclass(entitymaps<node, cost>, minclass, relclasses); <-merge minclass node to the optimal neighbor node. 7: if entitymaps.size > k then 8: mergeassociatednodes(entitymaps<node, cost>, raw_model); <-after each recursion, the size of entitymaps will gradually tend to the set value of k. 9: } 10: void mergeups(relclasses, raw_model, node, property) {<-only offers the program logic of mergeups function in paper. 11: if property is blank then 12: property ← a 13: else 14: property ← property + "/a" 15: q ← select distinct ?class ?p 16: where { 17: ?s a ?class ; ?p ?o . 18: ?o property <node> . 19: filter (isiri(?s)) 20: } 21: if results.size > 0 then <-results are the outputs in sparql query. 22: relclasses.add(class); <-add the class queried in sparql to relclasses list. 23: else 24: q ← select distinct ?class ?p 25: where { 26: ?s a ?class ; ?p ?o . 27: ?o property <node> . 28: filter (isblank(?s)) 29: } chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 14 30: property ← "<" + p + ">/" + property; 31: mergeups(relclasses, raw_model, node, property); <-recursive queries until the iri entity node. 32: } experiments and analysis figure 8 is a practical case of the bibliographic platform in our actual project. we use the ideas and algorithms we proposed to split the whole graph to partitions with different degrees. the bibliographic platform is developed based on bibframe (bibliographic framework), which is a data model for bibliographic description. bibframe was designed to replace the marc standards and to use linked data principles to make bibliographic data more useful both within and outside the library community. the bibframe vocabulary consists of rdf classes and properties. classes include the three core classes, work, instance, and item. properties describe characteristics of the resource and relationships among resources. the highest level of abstraction, a work, reflects the conceptual essence of the cataloged resource. a work may have one or more individual which reflects information such as publisher, place, and date of publication. an item is an actual copy (physical or electronic) of an instance. it reflects information such as its location (physical or virtual), shelf mark, and barcode. the three core classes are connected by properties. for example, an instance may be an "instance of" a particular bibframe work, and an item is connected to an instance via bf:itemof property. chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 15 in this figure, we mark the cost of classes that need to be summarized by several properties. however, there are some classes without a mark that only have one property, and in this case, the cost of class is the same as its property cost. when actually in use, we use a large number of blank nodes without the background color in figure 8, such as geographiccoverage, title, temporal nodes. the associated nodes, e.g. work, instance, item, place and person nodes, are drawn with background color. in order to verify the feasibility of the proposed algorithm, we consider dividing the entire graph into 5, 4, and 3 partitions, respectively. as seen in figure 9, the bibliographic platform contains five associated nodes, so we only need to merge blank nodes if we want to split the graph to 5 partitions. when you need to split them into 4 partitions, you must merge the triples data from the place class into the work class. similarly, for 3-graph, the person class should be merged into the upper classes, work and instance. you will find that person class has been stored in two copies. the advantage of two copies is that the relative independence and integrity of the data can be guaranteed when using partitioned data, which is conducive to the improvement of the efficiency of use. in this project, we didn't use reasoning, so we did not provide the result of inference nodes merging. figure 8. the reformation tree for bibliographic platform chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 16 in statistics, standard deviation (sd) is a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data values. a low sd indicates that the data points tend to be close to the mean of the set, while a high sd indicates that the data points are spread out over a wider range of values. the sd can be calculated with following formula: where { } are the observed values of the sample items, is the mean value of these observations, and n is the number of observations in the sample. in the sd formula, for this example, the n is partitions number, and are costs of nodes. as we calculated 5-graph, the sd value is 5.3720e+05. with the same method, the sd values are 5.0496e+05 and 3.7213e+05 for 4-graph and 3-graph respectively. as you can see from the results, 3-graph has a smaller sd value. conclusion and future work this paper presents an agglomerative-adapted partition approach for large-scale rdf graphs. according to the characteristics of ontology structure and triples, we propose a bottom-up and multi-layer node-merging algorithm which contains blank nodes merging, associated nodes merging, and inference nodes merging. relative independence and moderate equilibrium are the main points of consideration in the process of partition segmentation. when merging, blank nodes cannot be split into new partitions, and classes involved in the inference rules are recommended to be in one same partition. the merging algorithm can be looped based on the desired number of partitions, k-graph, and the triples in each partition can be efficiently stored, retrieved, exported, and inferred. in this paper, we give an example of a bibliographic platform based on bibframe ontology to verify the proposed partition algorithm. figure 9. partitions comparison of different degrees for bibliographic platform chen et al. / international journal of librarianship 4(1) 17 there is still a lot to be studied and improved upon in the future. for example, the case in this paper does not involve rule reasoning, which will be added in subsequent research. reasoning is regarded as one of the core functions of semantic web. another job that needs to be improved is how to set the k value. currently, k is selected on the basis of experience, which depends too much on the human factor. finally, we will use the method of machine learning to automatically detect the optimal k value. acknowledgement the research is granted financial support from national social science fund of china (19btq024). references 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(2012). a graph partitioning approach to distributed rdf stores. in proc. ieee 10th international symposium on parallel and distributed processing with application (ispa), 411-418. doi:10.1109/ispa.2012.60 yun hao, gaofeng li, pingpeng yuan, & hai jin (2017). an association-oriented partitioning approach for streaming graph query. scientific programming, 11:1-11. doi:10.1155/2017/2573592 about the authors dr. tao chen is a postdoctoral researcher in nanjing university and shanghai library. his academic background in computer science and electrical engineering has influenced his research interests, focusing on data science, linked data, ontology and semantic web. he has more than 20 papers published. rongrong shan is phd candidate at the department of library, information science & archive at shanghai university. dr. hui li is a postdoctoral in shanghai library. she is a recent phd graduate in computer science. her research interests are in the area of social network analysis and natural language processing. dongsheng wang is currently a phd candidate in computer science at university of copenhagen, he received master’s degree from korea university. his research interests are in the areas of big data, semantic web and data mining. wei liu (aka. keven liu) is the deputy director of shanghai library and institute of scientific and technological information of shanghai. he is an adjunct professor of fudan university and shanghai university in shanghai, china. he took part in many major digital library projects in china since 1995. he is very active in developing digital humanities infrastructures in recent years. 1--106.title 1--106-acknowledgement-updated