Analysis of public library users’ digital preservation practices

This research investigated preservation practices of personal digital information by public library users. This qualitative study used semistructured interviews and two visual representation techniques, information source horizons and matrices, for data collection. The constant comparison method and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. A model emerged which describes the effects of social, cognitive, and affective influences on personal preservation decisions as well as the effects of fading cognitive associations and technological advances, combined with information escalation over time. Because the preservation of personal digital information involves personal, social, and technological interactions, the integration of these factors is necessary for a viable solution to the digital preservation problem

Public Library Users are Challenged by Digital Information Preservation. A Review of: Copeland, A. J. (2011). Analysis of public library users’ digital preservation practices. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(7), 1288-1300. doi: 10.1002/asi.21553

<b>Objective</b> – To discover the factors that influence digital information preservation practices and attitudes of adult public library users.<br><b>Design</b> – Mixed methodology combining matrix questionnaires, interviews, and visual mapping.<br><b>Setting</b> – Urban public library on the EastCoast of the United States.<br><b>Subjects</b> – 26 adult members of a publiclibrary’s Friends group.<br><b>Methods</b> – The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 participants. All participants drew maps to indicate the types of information they value and why, and their preferences for information storage and maintenance. Qualitative data were supplemented by a matrix questionnaire on which 22 participants identified the types of digital information they maintain, and modes of storage.<br><b>Main Results</b> – Some public library users may store and organize information inconsistently, utilizing a variety of digital devices. Technical, social, and emotional context influences choices about organization, sharing of information, and short- and long-term preservation. Users reported placing a higher value on born digital information, and information that they had shared with others. <br><b>Conclusion</b> – Public librarians may have a role in facilitating growth of patron knowledge about creation, storage, preservation, and sharing of personal digital information

Analysis of Digital Information Management Strategies by the Faculties of Higher Education Institutions

The present study investigated ‘Digital Information Management practices pertaining to personal and professional digital information by the faculties of ‘Higher Education Institutions’. The study is envisioned to discover the use of Digital Information Management (DIM) and all its multiplicity, degree of usage, form and formats, advantages, and problems encountered while practicing digital preservation and access. This qualitative study used the survey method and questionnaire technique for data accumulation. The study reveals that almost 50% of the faculty members manage their digital content and perceive that they acquired their skills towards DIM from themselves and their colleagues and friends. As the teaching-learning process is the primary objective of digital preservation, Google Drive is a secure medium for digital information storage. Time-saving, storage, and access are the main advantages of DIM and the technicality of digital devices and web services are the main issues. DIM plays an important role in the teaching community as the content preservation system and transition from print to digital content, acquisition, storage, and access are knowledge-intensive processes

Research on Digital Preservation: An empirical analysis

Digital preservation is an evolving area of research for libraries, archives, and museums across the globe over the last two decades. Due to the growing recognition of the need to address various issues dealt with digital preservation, this field of study has generated quite a range of scholarly communications on several aspects. The present paper aims to examine critically the extant literature on digital preservation and libraries for the period from 2001 to 2019 and to assess the evolving trajectory and trends. Out of a total of 1292 extracted records from the Scopus database, a total of 710 articles are considered for the study purpose after the exclusion of non-relevant articles. Employing bibliometric indicators the study primarily assessed the publication pattern, document types, the most prolific authors, most contributing institutions, and focus areas of study as well as the geographical distribution of publications. Along with this, the VOSviewer software is used for co-author network analysis. The findings of the current analysis reveal that the highest number of papers published in the source journal Lecture Notes in Computer Science while the U.S.A. is in the top spot among the countries and author Nelson, M. L. from the U.S.A. has published the maximum number of research papers. It also provides information on various forms of publication on digital preservation and the impactful papers. Though there are studies on the assessment of digital libraries and digital repositories, a bibliometric assessment of literature on digital preservation is a novel attempt. As a metric study, it reflects the relative position of a country, an institution, and a researcher

Public Library: A place for the digital community archive

This article explores the possibility that public libraries can be repositories for digital community archives. The overarching goal is to establish a case for public libraries’ developing digital community archives that are participatory and which emphasize born-digital items rather than digitized physical items. This discussion follows my own research and experience in this area to include personal information management, social media and the personal archive, and the accidental community archive, and demonstrates that public libraries can focus on communities’ current events and people rather than solely on those from the past

Students and their videos: implications for a video digital library

Personal information collections have expanded to include video files but users often organize their content with the same tools they use for other simpler media types. We analyze the ‘native’ video management behavior expressed in 35 self-interviews and diary studies produced by New Zealand students, to create a ‘rich picture’ of personal video collection size, formats, organization and intended usage. We consider how conventional digital libraries can better support usage of personal video material

Personal Digital Archiving : mögliche Beiträge deutscher Bibliotheken zur Archivierung privater digitaler Daten vor dem Hintergrund von Erfahrungen in den USA

Die dauerhafte Archivierung digitaler Daten ist eine der großen Herausforderungen, die das digitale Zeitalter mit sich bringt. Da ein bedeutender Anteil dieser Daten durch private Nutzer erzeugt wird, deren Archivierungsbemühungen bisher in vielen Fällen ungeordnet stattfinden und keinen verbindlichen Regeln folgen, ist die Überlieferung dieser Daten in besonderem Maße gefährdet. Mit diesem Problem beschäftigt sich die in Deutschland noch sehr junge Disziplin des Personal Digital Archiving. Der Forschungsvorsprung der USA auf diesem Gebiet beträgt etwa 15 Jahre, es gibt dort neben einer jährlichen Konferenz bereits eine Vielzahl von bibliothekarischen Veranstaltungen, die sich mit der Vermittlung von Lösungsansätzen für diese Problematik befassen. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht zu ermitteln, welche Kompetenzen die Voraussetzung für das erfolgreiche Archivieren privater Daten sind und inwiefern deutsche Bibliotheken durch die Adaption unterschiedlicher Angebote aus dem US-amerikanischen Bibliotheksbereich zur Etablierung des Themas in Deutschland und zur Sicherung der Überlieferung beitragen können.Long term archiving of digital data is one of the big challenges of the digital age. A significant amount of that data is being created by private users whose efforts in archiving their data often lack structure and established rules. Thus the preservation of personal data is particularly at risk. In Germany, this problem is only just beginning to be addressed by the relatively young discipline of Personal Digital Archiving. Research in this field was established in the US about 15 years ago, and by now numerous efforts including an annual conference and regular events at various libraries try to provide solutions to the problem. Therefore the aim of this thesis is to examine what skills are required in order to successfully archive personal data and in what ways German libraries can raise awareness for the topic and secure the preservation of personal data by adapting strategies employed by libraries in the US

Cyberorganizing Everyday Heritage in and around Public Libraries: An Exploratory Study in Illinois

Trends from both within and without public librarianship create new opportunities for libraries to serve the public’s interest in heritage information. Based on a workshop series in Illinois, this article presents exploratory findings on existing public library heritage services and how cyberorganizing can enhance these services. Public libraries offer heterogeneous heritage services in local contexts composed of multiple actors and institutions. Improving this service area involves organizing within libraries, across local institutions, and among individuals with diverse interests. Part of this organizational work involves digital technologies, but people are the core element in organizing everyday heritage services

Personal Health Information Management by College Students: Patterns of Inaction

Introduction. College students\u27 diverse health information management activities are rarely studied within a personal health context. Our study identified an inactive group of college students and their information management activities to understand what factors determine inactivity. Methods. An online questionnaire was distributed to college students enrolled in a state-owned university in the USA between January and March 2017. A total of eighty-four questions on twelve information management activities grouped by seven types of personal health information were used to identify inactive performers within our student sample. Additionally, potential factors regarding demographics, academics, information resource types, and information workload were tested. Analysis. Our study sample includes 1,408 student responses. K-means clustering segmented the sample into two groups (inactive and active). Group differences between inactive and active personal health information managers were compared. Binary logistic regression was also performed to determine key factors predicting inactivity. Results. The inactive group (N=772, 54.80%) identified more male students, less clinic visits, and health information primarily sought through the Internet and mass media. Additionally, the awareness of personal health information management and training perceptions were found to be significant determinants of the inactivity. The inactive group proved to be lacking in most information management activities, except for discarding, and showed less interests in all types of health documents. Conclusion. Based on the inactive personal health information management group, how to collect, organize, retrieve, backup and migrate personal health documents, should be integrated into a formal college curriculum

Analysis of College Students’ Personal Health Information Activities: Online Survey

Background: With abundant personal health information at hand, individuals are faced with a critical challenge in evaluating the informational value of health care records to keep useful information and discard that which is determined useless. Young, healthy college students who were previously dependents of adult parents or caregivers are less likely to be concerned with disease management. Personal health information management (PHIM) is a special case of personal information management (PIM) that is associated with multiple interactions among varying stakeholders and systems. However, there has been limited evidence to understand informational or behavioral underpinning of the college students’ PHIM activities, which can influence their health in general throughout their lifetime. Objective: This study aimed to investigate demographic and academic profiles of college students with relevance to PHIM activities. Next, we sought to construct major PHIM-related activity components and perceptions among college students. Finally, we sought to discover major factors predicting core PHIM activities among college students we sampled. Methods: A Web survey was administered to collect responses about PHIM behaviors and perceptions among college students from the University of Kentucky from January through March 2017. A total of 1408 college students were included in the analysis. PHIM perceptions, demographics, and academic variations were used as independent variables to predict diverse PHIM activities using a principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analyses (SPSS v.24, IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Majority of the participants were female (956/1408, 67.90%), and the age distribution of this population included an adequate representation of college students of all ages. The most preferred health information resources were family (612/1408, 43.47%), health care professionals (366/1408, 26.00%), friends (27/1408, 1.91%), and the internet (157/1408, 11.15%). Organizational or curatorial activities such as Arranging, Labeling, Categorizing, and Discarding were rated low (average=3.21, average=3.02, average=2.52, and average=2.42, respectively). The PCA results suggested 3 components from perception factors labeled as follows: Assistance (alpha=.85), Awareness (alpha=.716), and Difficulty (alpha=.558). Overall, the Demographics and Academics variables were not significant in predicting dependent variables such as Labeling, Categorizing, Health Education Materials, and Discarding, whereas they were significant for other outcome variables such as Sharing, Collecting, Knowing, Insurance Information, Using, and Owning. Conclusions: College years are a significant time for students to learn decision-making skills for maintaining information, a key aspect of health records, as well as for educators to provide appropriate educational and decision aids in the environment of learning as independent adults. Our study will contribute to better understand knowledge about specific skills and perceptions for college students’ practice of effective PHIM throughout their lives