Creating a Canonical Scientific and Technical Information Classification System for NCSTRL+

The purpose of this paper is to describe the new subject classification system for the NCSTRL+ project. NCSTRL+ is a canonical digital library (DL) based on the Networked Computer Science Technical Report Library (NCSTRL). The current NCSTRL+ classification system uses the NASA Scientific and Technical (STI) subject classifications, which has a bias towards the aerospace, aeronautics, and engineering disciplines. Examination of other scientific and technical information classification systems showed similar discipline-centric weaknesses. Traditional, library-oriented classification systems represented all disciplines, but were too generalized to serve the needs of a scientific and technically oriented digital library. Lack of a suitable existing classification system led to the creation of a lightweight, balanced, general classification system that allows the mapping of more specialized classification schemes into the new framework. We have developed the following classification system to give equal weight to all STI disciplines, while being compact and lightweight

A credit based information literacy course module for science undergraduates:an assessment

The Library of the University of Colombo offers an Information Literacy (IL) course module for the first year science undergraduates as a credit based optional course. This study was done among the seventy five students who followed the IL course module in 2011. Actual IL skills acquired by students from the course, students’ perceptions towards IL awareness levels and their readiness to apply IL skills during the next academic period were assessed. Actual IL skills acquired by the students were measured by their assignment marks and a user survey was conducted to assess the students’ perceptions towards IL awareness levels. All the students completed the course successfully and earned one credit by exceeding the pass mark level while 23 students passed with honours and 46 passed with satisfactory grades. Students’ perceptions towards the IL awareness show a significant improvement for the majority of the IL attributes at the end of the course. The highest awareness level shown for the attribute “library skills” followed by “mind mapping technique” and “internet searching techniques”. Students identified this IL course module as the best place to acquire IL skills and they ensured that they apply IL skills during their next academic period. The faculty identified this as a very useful and important module for science undergraduates and suggestions were made to make this compulsory for all undergraduates of the faculty of science. An advanced IL module for the third and fourth year students was also recommended

Research Management Systems: Systematic Mapping of Literature (2007-2017)

Research management in relation to Research and Development (R&D) has found a comprehensive and powerful tool in the Current Research Information System (CRIS). Publications on the subject are still emerging, so knowing what research has been done and its contributions presents an opportunity to build theoretical and reference frameworks, and to identify gaps and potential opportunities for future developments in information technology. Various articles covering these systems were analyzed with the objective of identifying the research areas, countries and institutions in which they were published, as well as their research approaches, contributions and topics covered. A systematic mapping of literature was carried out, which included 33 articles published on Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, from 2007 to 2017. To ensure valid results, the evaluation guide for researchers was used during for the design and review phases of the systematic mapping studies, as well as the corresponding evaluation rubric; in addition, a strategy to define direct decision rules on how to classify an article based on the results of evaluations of multiple researchers was adopted. The findings show that the main research areas are Information Science & Library Science and Computer Science; the largest concentration of publications is found in Europe; research focuses on Evaluation Research; contributions are oriented to create processes and models, and to describe the applications and uses of CRIS. It is concluded that there are areas of opportunity for the development of research in this area, such as the expansion of the research areas in which it is used, the possibilities of collaboration, sharing and exchange at a global level, and the coverage towards integration issues with open access

HILT IV : subject interoperability through building and embedding pilot terminology web services

A report of work carried out within the JISC-funded HILT Phase IV project, the paper looks at the project's context against the background of other recent and ongoing terminologies work, describes its outcome and conclusions, including technical outcomes and terminological characteristics, and considers possible future research and development directions. The Phase IV project has taken HILT to the point where the launch of an operational support service in the area of subject interoperability is a feasible option and where both investigation of specific needs in this area and practical collaborative work are sensible and feasible next steps. Moving forward requires detailed work, not only on terminology interoperability and associated service delivery issues, but also on service and end user needs and engagement, service sustainability issues, and the practicalities of interworking with other terminology services and projects in UK, Europe, and global contexts

HILT : High-Level Thesaurus Project. Phase IV and Embedding Project Extension : Final Report

Ensuring that Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) users of the JISC IE can find appropriate learning, research and information resources by subject search and browse in an environment where most national and institutional service providers - usually for very good local reasons - use different subject schemes to describe their resources is a major challenge facing the JISC domain (and, indeed, other domains beyond JISC). Encouraging the use of standard terminologies in some services (institutional repositories, for example) is a related challenge. Under the auspices of the HILT project, JISC has been investigating mechanisms to assist the community with this problem through a JISC Shared Infrastructure Service that would help optimise the value obtained from expenditure on content and services by facilitating subject-search-based resource sharing to benefit users in the learning and research communities. The project has been through a number of phases, with work from earlier phases reported, both in published work elsewhere, and in project reports (see the project website: http://hilt.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/). HILT Phase IV had two elements - the core project, whose focus was 'to research, investigate and develop pilot solutions for problems pertaining to cross-searching multi-subject scheme information environments, as well as providing a variety of other terminological searching aids', and a short extension to encompass the pilot embedding of routines to interact with HILT M2M services in the user interfaces of various information services serving the JISC community. Both elements contributed to the developments summarised in this report

The (unknown) role of map librarian and the challenge of satisfying the cartographic user needs

The (unknown) role of map librarian and the challenge of satisfying the cartographic user needs The profession of librarianship is developed and is being recognized in Sri Lanka. But we have neither heard of a map library nor a map librarian in our local environment. In Europe and USA map libraries are well known and map librarians are recognized Librarians who deal with maps come under the special library group and have to manage the map collection in a special manner. It needs specialized knowledge in managing map collection. Reading of maps needs technical equipments and storage and preservation too is different from books. Hence the librarian who deals with maps should undergo training to familiarize himself/herself with the technical methods of storage, search co ordination and manage archives and enhance access of cartographic materials. After world War 11 traditional map depositories are converted into cartographic centres and new technology is heavily used in map production, storage and usage. This paper highlights the role to be played by map librarians in a modern library using new technologies. Map users are very much advanced in using different type of technologies in reading, creating, copying etc.maps. This technological advancement has not caused much change in map collection in the developing countries. Even in the 21st century we see the traditional collection of maps in Sri Lanka. . While studying the situation (advance collection and advance users) in other countries, a sample study was carried out with reference to the local environment by selecting academic and special library groups. This paper elucidates the role played by a librarian who handle maps, who is not recognized as a map librarian It also discuses the attitudes of the cartographic users towards map libraries in our country the institutions where map collections are available, the barriers experienced by the users in accessing the collections, important issues neglected by the higher authorities and lack of a national body to authorize map production in the country. The role that could be played by the national body or a regulatory body such as management of collection and databases, setting of standards, copyright law and implementing a national policy in map production and the problems faced in producing maps are discussed. The study reveals that the gap between the traditional map libraries (collection) and the users of cartographic material is widening. The author suggests that the librarians could overcome this problem by undergoing professional training. This will change the attitude of the users towards the map librarians and map libraries. This will give recognition to the professionals who work as map librarians