Utilization of Digital Information Resources by Undergraduates at Lead City University, Ibadan Nigeria

The innate need for growth and the growing popularity of digital information resources have prompted many academic libraries, including Lead City University to invest on the provision of digital information resources. However, studies have shown that provision of digital information resources does not automatically guarantee utilization. This study therefore investigates the utilization of digital information resources among undergraduate students at Lead City University, Ibadan Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative research method with a questionnaire used as research instrument. The study sample consists of 342 undergraduate students and the data collected was analysed with aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings show that there is a low level of digital resources utilization among the undergraduates. It was also found that challenges such as lack information retrieval skills, slow internet and inadequate computer system are among the challenges affecting the utilization of digital information resources by the undergraduate students

Bibliometric-enhanced Retrieval Models for Big Scholarly Information Systems

Bibliometric techniques are not yet widely used to enhance retrieval processes in digital libraries, although they offer value-added effects for users. In this paper we will explore how statistical modelling of scholarship, such as Bradfordizing or network analysis of coauthorship network, can improve retrieval services for specific communities, as well as for large, cross-domain large collections. This paper aims to raise awareness of the missing link between information retrieval (IR) and bibliometrics / scientometrics and to create a common ground for the incorporation of bibliometric-enhanced services into retrieval at the digital library interface.Comment: 4 pages, IEEE BigData 2013, Workshop on Scholarly Big Data: Challenges and Idea

Analysis of Issues and Challenges of Copyright of Textual Digital Resources from the Viewpoint of Managers of Academic Digital Libraries in Tehran

Objective: Due to the inherent features of the digital environment, such as the ease of dissemination of information widely and quickly, or the possibility of manipulating digital content by anonymous users, the digital environment and digital libraries pose many challenges to copyright and legislative decision-making to approve new laws and rules. Investigating the issues and challenges of copyright of digital content, especially textual resources can help to develop digital libraries. The aim of this research was to identify, determine and prioritize the issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources from the viewpoint of managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran. Methodology: The methodology of this applied research was the analytical survey and the total number of managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran was selected as the research population (31 managers). The data were collected through library studies and a questionnaire. First, previous studies and the documentary research method were used to review the fundamental issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources in order to design a questionnaire based on the research model. Then, by reviewing the literature and the basis of the research model, a questionnaire with 60 items and eight sections was developed after validation using expert opinion and reliability verification using Cronbach's alpha method and distributed among 31 managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical methods by the SPSS and the Smart PLS softwares Findings: The findings showed that from the viewpoints of managers of academic digital libraries' in Tehran, issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources are as follows in order of importance: defective copyright laws, exceptions and fair use, the nature of the digital space, libraries actions, protective and system and network technologies, economy, contract and licenses, and moral considerations. The model validity of the issues and challenges affecting the copyright of digital textual resources was verified using structural and measurement models. Indicators of the nature of the digital environment in order of importance were: the ease of unauthorized sharing of copyrighted works simultaneously among multiple users; the ease of scientific and literary manipulation (plagiarism); the ambiguity of responsibility and the right to protect the digital content by digital libraries; the ease of copy and paste of digital texts; the distortion and dissemination of copyrighted materials; the problem of validating the authenticity of digital content; the possibility of unauthorized reproduction at the international level; the inaccurate identification of the production site and the publisher of the work; and failure to identify the provenance and publisher of digital content. Conclusion: The challenge of defective copyright laws is the most important problem facing the copyright of textual digital resources. Due to the widespread use of digital information resources, there is a strong need to solve problems and challenges related to the defective copyright laws. Therefore, it is important to investigate and resolve issues related to elements and constituents of copyright, including the limitations of copyright for digital libraries due to the legal issues, the challenges of new media and data formats, and the need for contracts between publishers and content creators, etc

INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL INFORMATION RESOURCES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES AS A RESILIENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract Information and communication technology has significantly changed the concept of the libraries from analog method to digital era. Academic libraries are tasked with the responsibility to provide access to digital information resources needed by library users and researchers. Few academic libraries currently contain electronic resources, but more are projected to do so in the future as digital resources and services support teaching, learning, research, as well as the preservation and conservation of written information. The paper therefore identifies the hindrances facing academic libraries, such as inadequate funding, poor bibliographic control, insufficient ICT facilities, epileptic power supply, man-power training and changing roles of professional librarians. Survey research design was adopted for the study to collect data from three academic libraries in Lagos state (University of Lagos Library, Yaba College of Technology Library and Federal College of Education Akoka, Library. Statistical tools such as frequency distribution, percentage prevalence, and chi-square were used to test the research questions at the 0.05 level of significance. A total of 240 questionnaires were distributed to the students of the study institutions, and 195 of them were returned filled out. The results show the various types of digital resources and identified the types of information resources digitized, the reasons for digitization, impacts of easy access to the digitized resources, storage/preservation techniques of digitized resources and the challenges faced by professional librarians in the process of information resources digitization and the effective utilization of the e-resources by researchers/library users. The study concluded that digitization of resources will empower the students/patrons/researchers with large scope of information access and utilization for knowledge development. The research also recommended that academic libraries should establish a wider networking with stable internet facilities to provide digitized resources and services to students/researchers on payment bases to avert the problem of financial constrain for the services rendered. Finally. the paper concluded that effective digitization of resources brings positive change to the educational system and economic development in Nigeria

Design and Evaluation of Techniques to Utilize Implicit Rating Data in Complex Information Systems.

Research in personalization, including recommender systems, focuses on applications such as in online shopping malls and simple information systems. These systems consider user profile and item information obtained from data explicitly entered by users - where it is possible to classify items involved and to make personalization based on a direct mapping from user or user group to item or item group. However, in complex, dynamic, and professional information systems, such as Digital Libraries, additional capabilities are needed to achieve personalization to support their distinctive features: large numbers of digital objects, dynamic updates, sparse rating data, biased rating data on specific items, and challenges in getting explicit rating data from users. In this report, we present techniques for collecting, storing, processing, and utilizing implicit rating data of Digital Libraries for analysis and decision support. We present our pilot study to find virtual user groups using implicit rating data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of implicit rating data for characterizing users and finding virtual user communities, through statistical hypothesis testing. Further, we describe a visual data mining tool named VUDM (Visual User model Data Mining tool) that utilizes implicit rating data. We provide the results of formative evaluation of VUDM and discuss the problems raised and plans for further studies

An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Researchers’ Data Management Practices at UVM: Integrated Findings to Develop Research Data Services

This article reports on the integrated findings of an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design aimed to understand data management behaviors and challenges of faculty at the University of Vermont (UVM) in order to develop relevant research data services. The exploratory sequential mixed methods design is characterized by an initial qualitative phase of data collection and analysis, followed by a phase of quantitative data collection and analysis, with a final phase of integration or linking of data from the two separate strands of data. A joint display was used to integrate data focused on the three primary research questions: How do faculty at UVM manage their research data, in particular how do they share and preserve data in the long-term?; What challenges or barriers do UVM faculty face in effectively managing their research data?; and What institutional data management support or services are UVM faculty interested in? As a result of the analysis, this study suggests four major areas of research data services for UVM to address: infrastructure, metadata, data analysis and statistical support, and informational research data services. The implementation of these potential areas of research data services is underscored by the need for cross-campus collaboration and support

An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Researchers’ Data Management Practices at UVM: Findings from the Quantitative Phase

This article reports on the second quantitative phase of an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design focused on researcher data management practices and related institutional support and services. The study aims to understand data management activities and challenges of faculty at the University of Vermont (UVM), a higher research activity Research University, in order to develop appropriate research data services (RDS). Data was collected via a survey, built on themes from the initial qualitative data analysis from the first phase of this study. The survey was distributed to a nonrandom census sample of full-time UVM faculty and researchers (P=1,190); from this population, a total of 319 participants completed the survey for a 26.8% response rate. The survey collected information on five dimensions of data management: data management activities; data management plans; data management challenges; data management support; and attitudes and behaviors towards data management planning. Frequencies, cross tabulations, and chi-square tests of independence were calculated using demographic variables including gender, rank, college, and discipline. Results from the analysis provide a snapshot of research data management activities at UVM, including types of data collected, use of metadata, short- and long-term storage of data, and data sharing practices. The survey identified key challenges to data management, including data description (metadata) and sharing data with others; this latter challenge is particular impacted by confidentiality issues and lack of time, personnel, and infrastructure to make data available. Faculty also provided insight to RDS that they think UVM should support, as well as RDS they were personally interested in. Data from this study will be integrated with data from the first qualitative phase of the research project and analyzed for meta-inferences to help determine future research data services at UVM

A Survey of Church Libraries

This article reports the results of a survey of congregational libraries, documents the current state of congregational libraries, and updates previous statistical studies. A survey was conducted to collect demographic statistics, information on collection size and composition, budgets and acquisitions methods, staffing characteristics, automation, and circulation

Organizational challenges of the semantic web in digital libraries

The Semantic Web initiative holds large promises for the future. There is, however, a considerable gap in Semantic Web research between the contributions in the technological field and the research done in the organizational field. This paper examines, from a socio-technical point of view the impact of Semantic Web technology on the strategic, organizational and technological levels. Building on a comprehensive case study at the National Library in Norway our findings indicate that the highest impact will be at the organizational level. The reason is mainly because inter-organizational and cross-organizational structures have to be established to address the problems of ontology engineering, and a development framework for ontology engineering in digital libraries must be examined