A Complete Year of User Retrieval Sessions in a Social Sciences Academic Search Engine

In this paper, we present an open data set extracted from the transaction log of the social sciences academic search engine sowiport. The data set includes a filtered set of 484,449 retrieval sessions which have been carried out by sowiport users in the period from April 2014 to April 2015. We propose a description of interactions performed by the academic search engine users that can be used in different applications such as result ranking improvement, user modeling, query reformulation analysis, search pattern recognition.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted short paper at the 21st International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL 2017

Economic barriers to development : cost of access to internet infrastructure

The Internet is increasingly viewed as an "indispensable" resource for general development and economic growth (UNDP 1999). Its adoption by governments, organizations and individuals has resulted in the shrinking of spatial and temporal distances between different regions of the world, and has greatly facilitated the "free" and quick exchange of information. Such constrictions of time and space impact upon social and economic interactions at all levels of society. Furthermore, ramifications of this impact are felt by a society, group or individual irrespective of whether or not they use the Internet. The ability to access the Internet, and in particular the costs associated with such access, are therefore important points of consideration. Not only do these costs contribute to the disproportional spread of the Internet across the world's population; they also potentially contribute to uneven patterns of development within, and between countries

Digital Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students of Library and Information Science on the Utilization of Electronic Information Resources in Two Federal Universities in Nigeria

This study examined digital literacy skills of undergraduate students of Library and Information Science on the Utilization of Electronic Information Resources in Two Federal Universities in Nigeria. Five (5) objectives were framed to guide the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of the study was 250 final year students comprising 182 and 68 students from the Departments of Library and Information Science, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, (MOUAU) and University of Uyo (UNIUYO) from the 2015/2016 session, respectively. The accidental (aka convenience) sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Data were collected using the structured questionnaire from 122 respondents who completed and returned their questionnaire. This yields 93.33% response rates. The Data generated were analysed using the descriptive statistics to determine the frequency counts and mean scores in accordance with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS Version 23) model. Findings of the study reveals that the electronic information resources available for the students in the two universities are: e-dictionaries, e-encyclopedias, Internet search engines (Google, Wikipedia, etc.), e-newspapers, e-research reports, online databases, e-journals, e-books, and CD-ROMs databases. It also shows that the digital literacy skills of the students include: electronic mailing skills; Internet surfing skills; social networking (social media) skills); basic computer operations skills (e.g. type-setting, formatting, printing, etc.; electronic search and retrieval skills and skills for accessing electronic resources via diverse search engines. The findings further shows that the students acquire digital literacy skills through: digital technology training programmes/practical sessions in their universities; formal lectures as part of course works; self-sponsored IT training programmes; trial and error; and assistance from friends. On the uses of digital literacy skills by the students, the finding reveals that digital literacy skills are used for: typesetting, formatting, and printing of documents; downloading of e-resources for academic works; sending of assignments and term-papers online for assessment by lecturers and social networking. The findings reveals that factors facing digital literacy skills of the students are: epileptic electricity supply; high cost of digital skill training programmes; inaccessibility to internet facilities; inadequate digital facilities, lack of conducive digital literacy learning environment; and poor teaching methods by IT lecturers. It recommends that university-based library schools should design and implement digital literacy programmes to educate and train undergraduate students to develop knowledge and practical skills on the use of digital technologies

Socio-demographic variables and utilization of ict among members of staff of university libraries in cross-river and akwa-ibom state nigeria

This study investigated the influence of socio-demographic variables such as age, level of education, belief, and gender on the utilization of ICT among library staff in university libraries in Cross-River and Akwa-Ibom States, Nigeria. To carry out this study, three research objectives that were later translated to hypotheses were generated on the basis of age, gender, level of education, and belief, to guide the research. Literature relating to the variables selected were reviewed to cover both conceptual and empirical sources. The Ex-post facto research design was utilized for the study. A sample of 461 respondents was drawn from six university libraries using the purposive (census) sampling technique. A structured questionnaire titled, ‘Socio-demographic Variables and Utilization of Information and Communication Technology for Library services (SDVUICTLS)’ was used as the main instrument for data collection. The tool was subjected to face and content validation by experts in Test, Measurement and Evaluation Faculty of Education, University of Calabar. The reliability coefficient ranged from 0.75 to .88 and was established through Cronbach’s Alpha method. The hypotheses were tested at .05 alpha levels. The data analysis techniques used were One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and independent t-test. The results of data analyses revealed that age (F=8.195), level of education (F = 5.232), belief (F = 4.242), significantly influenced utilization of ICT by library staff in the university libraries, while there was no significant influence of gender t=.252) on the utilization of ICT by library staff for library services. Based on these findings, it was recommended that library management/ parent institutions should embark on aggressive training and retraining of staff especially those that are 40 years and above with special reference to utilization of ICT for provision of services in the libraries.  The study equally recommended that Librarians should make personal effort to train themselves with or without the assistance of the management because this will make them to be more relevant and effective in delivering library services to the library user

Electronic administration in Spain: from its beginnings to the present

This study presents the basic lines of electronic administration in Spain. The complexity of the Spanish political-administrative system makes such a study challenging, in view of the considerable degree of autonomy and competences of the regional administrative bodies and local agencies with respect to the central government, the former being more visible in the 17 regions of Spain. Nonetheless, the central government maintains a series of legal instruments that allow a certain common framework of action to be imposed, aside from what is put into effect through diverse programs aimed precisely to develop common tools for the regions and municipalities of Spain. After an introduction that provides some necessary background, this study describes the legislative framework in which Spain's electronic administrative system has developed. The data included in the study refer to investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the services offered by the different Administrations on the internet; internet access by citizens, homes, businesses, and employees, as well as the interactivity existing with administrations by means of the internet; the origins and rise of various political initiatives of the Central Government involving electronic administration; and finally, the situation of civil service personnel, as catalysts of the success of Information Society in the Public Administration within Spain

The emergence and impact of neoliberal ideology on UK public library policy, 1997-2010

Over the last thirty years, the globalisation of neoliberal ideology has been pervasive and all encompassing. The chapter uses a mixed methods approach by combining content and discourse analysis to examine how neoliberal discourses have impacted on public librarianship. Since New Labour’s election in 1997 public service restructuring in the United Kingdom has taken on a more oblique managerialist and consumerist approach. The impact of managerialism in the public library service has focused mainly on modernising and improving services to the individual user, and is based on scenarios where public libraries have to model themselves on the private sector, and where managers have been empowered over professionals. The wider shift away from collectivist service provision to more personalised and individualised forms of consumption are also explored, which is epitomised by the rise of the citizen consumer. The growing concern with the transformation of professional library language and the adoption of neoliberal doctrine is examined. Moreover, the rhetorical use of language and strategies to justify change and transformation are examined and also how at times there has been an “unquestioning” acceptance of neoliberalism by some public librarians (McMenemy, 2009b; Buschman, 2005)

Benefits and challenges of cloud computing adoption and usage in higher education

The aim of this article was to provide evidence pertaining to cloud computing (CC) adoption in education, namely higher education institutions (HEIs) or Universities. A systematic literature review (SLR) of empirical studies exploring the current CC adoption levels in HEIs and the benefits and challenges for using CC in HEIs was performed. A total of 20 papers were included in the SLR. It was discovered that a number of universities have a keen interest in using CC in their institution, and the evidence indicates a high level of successful CC adoption in the HEIs reviewed in the SLR. In conclusion, the SLR identified a clear literature gap in this research area: there exists limited empirical studies focusing on CC utilisation in HEIs

Identifying an Analytical Framework to Assess the Determinants of ICT Adoption in Libraries and its Implications for Teaching and Learning during Insecurity

The security situation in Nigeria, particularly in the country\u27s North-West and North-Central Zones, has forced the closure of many educational institutions. Teaching and learning have become more erratic as a result of this. This issue has far-reaching repercussions for librarians and information specialists. Libraries have long been regarded and recognized by educational institutions for their contribution to high-quality teaching and learning. Several studies have found that information and communication technology (ICT) can improve teaching and learning by facilitating access to information. As a result, governments and school administrators have been working to promote the use of ICT in libraries to aid teaching and learning. Despite these efforts, ICT adoption is still very low in most primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. This research conducted a conceptual analysis based on a literature search to identify the major criteria that should be considered when promoting the adoption of ICT in libraries to enhance quality teaching and learning in the face of security problem