Editorial: Research methodology in library and information studies (LIS) 2018

publishersversionNon peer reviewe

Three views of the "musical work": Bibliographical control in the music domain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of the “musical work”, and its consequences for library/information provision. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis of journal and monograph literature is supported by interviews with music editors, examination of documents, and self-reflection on music cataloguing practice. Findings – The nature of a musical work is shown to be complex, and influenced by many contextual factors. Phenomenological and ontological models can prove useful in understanding practical issues of information provision. The work of music editors has a strong relation to that of cataloguers and curators. Bibliographic models such as FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) can gain from, and contribute to, music information, through the centrality of the concept of “work”. Research limitations/implications – The literature review is selective rather than comprehensive. Practical implications – The study provides direct guidance for library/information practitioners in the music domain, and an insight into issues of relevance to information provision in any specialized subject. Originality/value – The paper is a contribution to the literature on the application of philosophical and conceptual analysis to documents and bibliographic entities in specialized subject areas, and to domain analysis

A Discussion of Problems in Implementing Organisational Cultural Change::Developing A Learning Organisation in University Libraries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on organisational cultural change and problems in its implementation, focussing on the case of building a learning organisation (LO) within university library context. Design/methodology/approach – Key literature published within Library and Information Science, Business and Management and other related fields were reviewed to identify themes regarding organisational cultural change in relation to development of an LO emerging in the recent years. Findings – Reviewed literature in this paper highlights key challenges in examining organisational cultural change for the purpose of building an LO. These include a lack of an agreed definition of the LO concept, practical approaches and measure for assessing achievement of the cultural change. A need for in-depth studies which focus on current practices and related problems in this regard is also revealed, and the systems approach is proposed as a suitable approach for holistic investigation of all critical elements that possibly affect establishment of an LO. Originality/value – The paper raises awareness of the importance of examining organisational cultural change as a critical supportive influence of developing an LO. Problems to be considered in its implementation are synthesised and served as a basis for further investigation in the author’s doctoral research project. </jats:sec

Early modern Oxford bindings in twenty-first century markup

Purpose – The Bodleian Binders Book contains nearly 150 pages of seventeenth century library records, revealing information about the binders used by the library and the thousands of bindings they produced. The purpose of this paper is to explore a pilot project to survey and record bindings information contained in the Binders Book. Design/methodology/approach – A sample size of seven pages (91 works, 65 identifiable bindings) to develop a methodology for surveying and recording bindings listed in the manuscript. To create a successful product that would be useful to bindings researchers, it addressed questions of bindings terminology and the role of the library in the knowledge creation process within the context that text encoding is changing the landscape of library functions. Text encoding formats were examined, and a basic TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) transcription was produced. This facilitates tagging of names and titles and the display of transcriptions with text images. Findings – Encoding was found not only to make the manuscript content more accessible, but to allow for the construction of new knowledge: characteristic Oxford binding traits were revealed and bindings were matched to binders. Plans for added functionality were formed. Originality/value – This research presents a “big picture” analysis of Oxford bindings as a result of text encoding and the foundation for qualitative and statistical analysis. It exemplifies the benefits of interdisciplinary methods – in this case from Digital Humanities – to enhance access to and interpretation of specialist materials and the library's provenance record