Γεωχωρικές συλλογές τοπικών παραγόμενων δεδομένων σε ιδρυματικά αποθετήρια: απόψεις των Βιβλιοθηκονόμων Χαρτών/ΓΣΠ

The development of Institutional Repositories (IRs) in the last decade has strengthened gray’s literature gathering in academic institutions while at the same time has contributed to the emergence and diffusion of a significant number of collections with cultural content. Continuous changes in academic publishing create new opportunities for academic institutions to provide added value services, utilizing locally produced data, upgrading that way the role of both the institution and its members. In this paper we will present the results of a research addressed to Map/GIS Librarians in western world regarding the development of geospatial collections from locally produced data. The purpose of the survey was to investigate whether Map/GIS Librarians have responded to the new influences of the electronic environment taking advantage of IRs in order to develop innovative geospatial collections from the data produced by their members. Results highlight policies, open access and cooperation as determinants for the formulation of such collections while the point of view of these specialists is of great interest as to how they conceive the development and management of geospatial collections in the modern information environment

Γεωχωρικές συλλογές τοπικών παραγόμενων δεδομένων σε ιδρυματικά αποθετήρια: απόψεις των Βιβλιοθηκονόμων Χαρτών/ΓΣΠ

The development of Institutional Repositories (IRs) in the last decade has strengthened gray’s literature gathering in academic institutions while at the same time has contributed to the emergence and diffusion of a significant number of collections with cultural content. Continuous changes in academic publishing create new opportunities for academic institutions to provide added value services, utilizing locally produced data, upgrading that way the role of both the institution and its members. In this paper we will present the results of a research addressed to Map/GIS Librarians in western world regarding the development of geospatial collections from locally produced data. The purpose of the survey was to investigate whether Map/GIS Librarians have responded to the new influences of the electronic environment taking advantage of IRs in order to develop innovative geospatial collections from the data produced by their members. Results highlight policies, open access and cooperation as determinants for the formulation of such collections while the point of view of these specialists is of great interest as to how they conceive the development and management of geospatial collections in the modern information environment

Geospatial data collection policies, technology and open source in websites of academic libraries worldwide

The proliferation of geospatial data demands the engagement of information organizations, such as academic libraries, for their management and diffusion. The purpose of this paper is to reveal issues related to the development of geospatial collections and explore their efficient use as required by the current information environment. Thus, a research conducted on 363 websites of academic libraries worldwide and 136 websites maintaining geospatial collections were identified. The research questions were formed based on international bibliography and we applied a content analysis method for data extraction. Findings show a significant activity of academic libraries in providing GIS services in accordance with high rates in user education programs, creating the use of geospatial collection and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services more effective. Nevertheless, through their websites we obtained poor response to communicate geospatial collections policies. The majority of the academic libraries surveyed in this study provide commercial software to their users for managing data on a local level, while the minority of library patrons are able to use geospatial data via remote access. This paper explores aspects of development in geospatial collections in academic libraries that have not been adequately raised. Additionally, we provide an overview of geospatial collections worldwide

Geospatial Data in Library Collections

While several surveys and studies focus on developing GIS services in libraries, however, there is no recent research concerning the data that academic libraries organize and offer to their users. This study tries to cover this gap, as we examine the types and forms of digital geospatial data held by academic libraries worldwide, after an investigation carried out to their web pages during June-August 2011. Among the 331 researched libraries only 136 were found providing GIS services while 24 of them had geospatial collection development policies. The results of this exploratory study indicate an overwhelming acceptance of various sources (e.g. digital maps, spatial data, remote sending files, statistical data, satellite images etc) and formats in academic libraries derived from public and commercial sector, without free and open data being excluded. Furthermore, the specific kinds of collections are related to the provided services, and enhance added value services in academic libraries