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 



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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 



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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