Perché le biblioteche servono ancora, nonostante internet

The most "social" and useful thing that libraries can do is - today as in the past - to help citizens to find, evaluate and exploit the information sources necessary to carry out their social roles and tasks in the best way, also ensuring that citizens of the future will continue to access the bibliographic documents produced both in the past and in the present

Perché le biblioteche servono ancora, nonostante internet

The most "social" and useful thing that libraries can do is - today as in the past - to help citizens to find, evaluate and exploit the information sources necessary to carry out their social roles and tasks in the best way, also ensuring that citizens of the future will continue to access the bibliographic documents produced both in the past and in the present

Towards a Critical Turn in Library UX

In the past decade, cataloguing and classification and information literacy have experienced a critical turn, acknowledging the political, economic, and social forces that shape complex information environments. Library user experience (UX) has yet to undergo such a transformation, however; instead, it continues to be seen as a toolkit of value-neutral approaches for evaluating and improving library services and spaces to enhance user satisfaction and engagement. Library UX draws upon ethnography but is also informed by the principles and values of usability and design. Little attention has been paid to the origins or epistemological underpinnings of UX as a construct, the ways these inform UX practice, and ultimately, how they impact what academic libraries are and what they do, however. With the exception of a 2016 article by Lanclos and Asher, the relationship between corporatism, UX, and the mission and values of academic libraries has yet to be acknowledged or examined. This paper seeks to address this gap. While a handful of library UX practitioners have started to promote a more thoughtful study of individuals\u27 activities and needs, in the main, library UX remains a theoretically weak practice, one that sets out to solve complex problems with practical “solutions.” The failure to interrogate UX as a construct and a practice necessarily forecloses the user-centered problems we address, the tools and strategies we use, and the solutions we propose. We contend that UX would benefit from a deeper engagement with user-centered theories emerging from Library and Information Science (LIS) and critical and feminist perspectives on practice, embodiment, and power or risk perpetuating oppressive, hegemonic ideas about the academic library as a white space and its users as able-bodied

Developing Optimal Subject Representation for Adult Non-fiction Public Library Collections: The Intersections of Hermeneutics and Technology

The problem of how to select a mix of subjects for a public library collection that facilitates a holistic representation of knowledge is grounded in the question of how subjective choice can adequately suffice when a selector lacks specialised domain awareness. This paper advocates bringing hermeneutic insight to bear upon the interpretation of subject priority to create a more defined link between objectivity in knowledge organisation and the promotion of a more generalised communal understanding. The paper also outlines how knowledge domains that are considered appropriate to civil society settings can be manifested in the acts of selecting and evaluating collections and how, through bracketing these choices, a more reflexive practice might be achieved. A conceptual innovation is offered which combines the linking of a hermeneutic approach to subject knowledge with comparative meta-collection analysis, utilising the WorldCat union catalogue, to help optimise the range and depth of available information in public libraries

Perché le biblioteche servono ancora, nonostante internet

The most "social" and useful thing that libraries can do is - today as in the past - to help citizens to find, evaluate and exploit the information sources necessary to carry out their social roles and tasks in the best way, also ensuring that citizens of the future will continue to access the bibliographic documents produced both in the past and in the present

Perché le biblioteche servono ancora, nonostante internet

The most "social" and useful thing that libraries can do is - today as in the past - to help citizens to find, evaluate and exploit the information sources necessary to carry out their social roles and tasks in the best way, also ensuring that citizens of the future will continue to access the bibliographic documents produced both in the past and in the present

Perspectives on Digital Humanism

This open access book aims to set an agenda for research and action in the field of Digital Humanism through short essays written by selected thinkers from a variety of disciplines, including computer science, philosophy, education, law, economics, history, anthropology, political science, and sociology. This initiative emerged from the Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism and the associated lecture series. Digital Humanism deals with the complex relationships between people and machines in digital times. It acknowledges the potential of information technology. At the same time, it points to societal threats such as privacy violations and ethical concerns around artificial intelligence, automation and loss of jobs, ongoing monopolization on the Web, and sovereignty. Digital Humanism aims to address these topics with a sense of urgency but with a constructive mindset. The book argues for a Digital Humanism that analyses and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind toward a better society and life while fully respecting universal human rights. It is a call to shaping technologies in accordance with human values and needs

Perspectives on Digital Humanism

This open access book aims to set an agenda for research and action in the field of Digital Humanism through short essays written by selected thinkers from a variety of disciplines, including computer science, philosophy, education, law, economics, history, anthropology, political science, and sociology. This initiative emerged from the Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism and the associated lecture series. Digital Humanism deals with the complex relationships between people and machines in digital times. It acknowledges the potential of information technology. At the same time, it points to societal threats such as privacy violations and ethical concerns around artificial intelligence, automation and loss of jobs, ongoing monopolization on the Web, and sovereignty. Digital Humanism aims to address these topics with a sense of urgency but with a constructive mindset. The book argues for a Digital Humanism that analyses and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind toward a better society and life while fully respecting universal human rights. It is a call to shaping technologies in accordance with human values and needs

A qualitative study to investigate service user experience of participating in research

Service user and carer involvement in research and health services is mandated by policy and has been taken up with different degrees of success in the NHS. This study employs a phenomenological approach to consider the service user and carer experience of participating in a service evaluation of a health centre in the North West of England. This was a small-scale study nested within a larger knowledge transfer project. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with members of the review team, comprising a service user and carer assuming research roles, as well as an academic, an NHS manager and a project coordinator. Data was subject to qualitative, phenomenological analysis. The service user and carer perspectives take centre stage in this thesis, but are framed by the perspectives of the other participants in the study. Findings account for the features and experiences of involvement as described by the participants and exemplify how they made sense of involvement practices. They are structured in three broad themes: Work/Occupation, Personal Identity/sense of self, and Purpose. Several subthemes reflect wider discussion around the key concepts. Work/Occupation comprises the sub-themes: Motivation/background, Professionalism, Experience transfer and Relations with staff. Personal identity/Sense has subthemes: Yearning for a different status, Duality of role and Fulfilment or reward. Finally, the Purpose theme was constituted by four subthemes including: For self/for others dichotomy, Opportunity, Gaining transferrable skills and Social relations/democratic. Notions of Professionalism were prominent in the participants’ narratives, both as perceived requirement and personal development opportunity. This contrasts with existing literature in the field of service user and care involvement on professionalism. Competition within a work context is seen as positive and motivating and is not seen as antithetical to cooperative ideals. Reflexivity is found to be an important added dimension for the participating service user and carer