Book selection behavior in the physical library: implications for ebook collections

Little is known about how readers select books, whether they be print books or ebooks. In this paper we present a study of how people select physical books from academic library shelves. We use the insights gained into book selection behavior to make suggestions for the design of ebook-based digital libraries in order to better facilitate book selection behavior

Vol. 9, issue 2

Dunhuang Exhibit Dazzled All New Video Tutorials Is Your Phone Battery Running Down? Survey Results Lost Providence Bullet Journaling 90 Day Goals Social Media Highlights Book Review: Behold the Dreamers Sew Much More in 215 Upcoming Book Club Selection

A Challenger to the Limit Order Book: The NYSE Specialist

This paper gives a new answer to the challenging question raised by Glosten (1994): "Is the electronic order book inevitable?". While the order book enables traders to compete to supply anonymous liquidity, the specialist system enables one to reap the benefits from repeated interaction. We compare a competitive limit order book and a limit order book with a specialist, like the NYSE. Thanks to non-anonymous interaction, mediated by brokers, uninformed investors can obtain good liquidity from the specialist. This, however, creates an adverse selection problem on the limit order book. Market liquidity and social welfare are improved by the specialist if adverse selection is severe and if brokers have long horizon, so that reputation becomes a matter of concern for them. In contrast, if asymmetric information is limited, spreads are wider and utilitarian welfare is lower when the specialist competes with the limit order book than in a pure limit order book market.Limit order book; specialist; hybrid market

Browsing and book selection in the physical library shelves

Library users should be conveniently interact with collections and be able to easily choose books of interest as they explore and browse a physical book collection. While there exists a growing body of naturalistic studies of browsing and book selection in digital collections, the corresponding literature on behaviour in the physical stacks is surprisingly sparse. We add to this literature in this paper, by conducting observations of patrons in a university library as they selected books from the shelves. Our aim is to further our understanding of patterns of behaviour in browsing and selection in physical collections

How to take a book off the shelf: Learning about ebooks from using a physical library

Little is known about how people select ebooks or books. This paper reports initial results of a study in which we observe patrons of two libraries when selecting books. From the results of the study we aim to gain insights into book selection strategies, which may be used to support ebook selection and purchasing

Introduction - veterinary science

This introduction - co-written with Clare Palmer - sets up the following selection of open access essays in the 'living book': Veterinary Science: Animals, Humans and Health online at: http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Veterinary_scienc

Did social cognition evolve by cultural group selection?

Abstract Cognitive gadgets puts forward an ambitious claim: language, mindreading, and imitation evolved by cultural group selection. Defending this claim requires more than Heyes' spirited and effective critique of nativist claims. The latest human “cognitive gadgets,” such as literacy, did not spread through cultural group selection. Why should social cognition be different? The book leaves this question pending. It also makes strong assumptions regarding cultural evolution: it is moved by selection rather than transformation; it relies on high-fidelity imitation; it requires specific cognitive adaptations to cultural learning. Each of these assumptions raises crucial yet unaddressed difficulties

Centralised order books versus hybrid order books: a paired comparison of trading costs on NSC (Euronext Paris) and SETS (London Stock Exchange).

This article compares the cost of trading large capitalisation equities on the hybrid order-driven segment of the London Stock Exchange and the centralised electronic order book of Euronext. Using samples of stocks matched according to economic sector, free float capitalisation, and trading volume, our study shows that transaction costs are lower on the centralised order book than on the hybrid order book. The presence of dealers outside the electronic order book favours the frequency of large trades, but is associated with higher execution costs for all other trades and higher adverse selection and inventory costs inside the order book.Centralised market; Hybrid market; Order book; Transaction costs; Microstructure;

An Analysis of the Book Selection Behavior of Adolescent Members of Public Libraries in Iran

The correct selection of information sources significantly impacts the readability of the retrieved sources in the library. On the other hand, the collection development, organization of resources, and their classification in libraries, as well as the design of efficient and user-friendly user interfaces that sufficiently support the selection of resources, require sufficient knowledge of the behavior of choosing resources by users. Based on this, the present study aimed to identify the components of book selection behavior by adolescent members of public libraries in Kermanshah Province of Iran. The current research was conducted with a qualitative approach, and the research method was qualitative content analysis. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The participants were adolescent members of Kermanshah Province public libraries affiliated to the Iran Public Libraries Foundation in the winter of 2021. The purposive sampling, also known as judgmental sampling, was used to select participants and continued until data saturation was reached. The qualitative content analysis method was used to analyze the findings. The analysis of the interview data led to the formation of 12 main codes and 285 sub-codes, which were classified into 5 categories and 30 concepts. The main categories were: factors related to the user (including demographic characteristics; personality and intellectual characteristics; interest; life issues and events; previous knowledge; experiences and skills; the goals of selecting a book in public libraries; time and cost spent to select; selection strategies; the process of selecting a book; measurement of credit and quality of resources; the causes of communicating with the book and reading it up to the end; reasons for not reading or half reading books); factors related to books (including apparent and physical elements; bibliographic elements; content elements; mold, language, expression and style); factors related to the library (consisting of reading programs; environmental factors; facilities and facilities; human factors); people, media, productions, occasions, programs, and lists influencing book selection (including persons; media; production of printed works; occasions and programs; lists); and barriers to book selection in public libraries (includes: library; book; person; society). The behavior of selecting information resources of adolescent members of public libraries showed the complexity and influence of this behavior by numerous factors, including individual differences, appearance and content characteristics of books, environmental factors, and library factors. The components identified in the aforementioned behavior can be used as a basis for a broad survey of users’ information resource selection behavior in physical and virtual environments and can also be used as a guide for acquisition, space creation, and service design in libraries, compilation of resources and appearance, and structural design of books by authors and publishers

Mental evolution: a review of Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back

From Bacteria To Bach and Back is an ambitious book that attempts to integrate a theory about the evolution of the human mind with another theory about the evolution of human culture. It is advertised as a defense of memes, but conceptualizes memes more liberally than has been done before. It is also advertised as a defense of the proposal that natural selection operates on culture, but conceptualizes natural selection as a process in which nearly all interesting parameters are free to vary. This liberal conception of key concepts creates space for philosophical innovation, but occasionally makes the empirical content of the theory difficult to pin down. Nevertheless, the book is full of scientific insight, wit, and humor. It will undoubtedly become a cause of both controversy and inspiration for those interested in naturalistic theories of human culture