Authorship Metadata for Video Games: "Collaborator", "Creator", or "Auteur"?

Author information is the one of the primary access points for information users to find relevant items. While this information is straightforward in most cases, it is not easy to identify and conceptualize who the “author” or “creator” is for collaborative creative works, such as video games. In this exploratory study, we review and compare current practices of authorship representations in knowledge organization systems, focusing on video games as a case study. We find that a video game publisher’s name is often used in the author/contributor fields in library records. As we discuss how video game creators’ information should be recorded in knowledge organization systems, we also explore the applicability of the auteur theory from film studies to solve the collaborative authorship representation problems in video games

Individuals responsible for video games: an exploration of cataloging practice, user need, and authorship theory

Purpose: Author information is one of the primary metadata elements for information access. While assigning "author(s)" has been relatively straightforward in library systems for textual resources, challenges have emerged in recording creatorship information for collaborative creative works, with surrogates erring on the side of caution and providing little information. This study aims to present improvements to the conceptual understanding of collaborative creatorship and relevant cataloging practice in video games. Design/methodology/approach: The current study is a theoretical investigation of the authorship role of individuals in collaborative creative works, using video games as a case study. The investigation is based on the literature on video game user needs and authorship theory. Findings: Reviews of literature present a disconnect between video game information user needs and currently available author information in library systems. Further analysis of the author/creator concept reveals insufficiencies in adopting auteur theory as the theory is applied to film. Exploration of access practices for other large collaborative creative products and an analysis of user tasks show potentially fruitful directions for future studies. This study recommends identifying primary roles that individuals adopt in video game creations and leveraging crowdsourced-creator information in library databases to enhance the visibility of author information for video games. Originality: By incorporating authorship theories and research from various domains such as film studies, intellectual history and library and information science, this study provides interdisciplinary, theoretical considerations as well as practical suggestions to enhance the current cataloging practice.Hyerim Cho (iSchool, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA), Chris Hubbles (Independent Researcher, Boston, Massachusetts, USA), Heather Moulaison-Sandy (iSchool, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA)Includes bibliographical references

A Systematic Literature Review on Image Information Needs and Behaviors

Purpose: With ready access to search engines and social media platforms, the way people find image information has evolved and diversified in the past two decades. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on image information needs and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: Following an eight-step procedure for conducting systematic literature reviews, the paper presents an analysis of peer-reviewed work on image information needs and behaviors, with publications ranging from the years 1997 to 2019. Findings: Application of the inclusion criteria led to 69 peer-reviewed works. These works were synthesized according to the following categories: research methods, users targeted, image types, identified needs, search behaviors, and search obstacles. The reviewed studies show that people seek and use images for multiple reasons, including entertainment, illustration, aesthetic appreciation, knowledge construction, engagement, inspiration, and social interactions. The reviewed studies also report that common strategies for image searches include keyword searches with short queries, browsing, specialization, and reformulation. Observed trends suggest common deployment of query analysis, survey questionnaires, and undergraduate participant pools to research image information needs and behavior. Originality: At this point, after more than two decades of image information needs research, a holistic systematic review of the literature was long overdue. The way users find image information has evolved and diversified due to technological developments in image retrieval. By synthesizing this burgeoning field into specific foci, this systematic literature review provides a foundation for future empirical investigation. With this foundation set, the paper then pinpoints key research gaps to investigate, particularly the influence of user expertise, a need for more diverse population samples, a dearth of qualitative data, new search features, and information and visual literacies instruction

Pointwise convergence of sequential Schr\"odinger means

We study pointwise convergence of the fractional Schr\"odinger means along sequences $t_n$ which converge to zero. Our main result is that bounds on the maximal function $\sup_{n} |e^{it_n(-\Delta)^{\alpha/2}} f|$ can be deduced from those on $\sup_{0<t\le 1} |e^{it(-\Delta)^{\alpha/2}} f|$ when $\{t_n\}$ is contained in the Lorentz space $\ell^{r,\infty}$. Consequently, our results provide seemingly optimal results in higher dimensions, which extend the recent work of Dimou-Seeger, and Li-Wang-Yan to higher dimensions. Our approach based on a localization argument also works for other dispersive equations and provides alternative proofs of previous results on sequential convergence

What Is Genre? How Do We Talk About Fiction?: Assessing Complementary Schemas and Approaches

Describing fiction is notoriously problematic. One aspect of this is the designation “genre” which can mean different things to different communities involved in the book trade, such as publishers/authors, readers, and information professionals. Using sources created by all three (i.e., ProQuest and New York Times Book Review, Library of Congress bibliographic records, GoodReads categories, New York Public Library catalog user-supplied content, and Amazon categories), aboutness and isness metadata are harvested for two novels. Ultimately, we find that although the vocabularies each have different purposes and intended audiences, the compilation of terms from different sources presents a coherent image of a title. Future work in knowledge organization (KO) should consider how best to harness information from multiple sources in providing library users with a more robust perspective on fiction titles

User-Centered Categorization of Mood in Fiction

Readers articulate mood in deeply subjective ways, yet the underlying structure of users’ understanding of the media they consume has important implications for retrieval and access. User articulations might at first seem too idiosyncratic, but organizing them meaningfully has considerable potential to provide a better searching experience for all involved. The current study develops mood categories inductively for fiction organization and retrieval in information systems.We developed and distributed an open-ended survey to 76 fiction readers to understand their preferences with regard to the affective elements in fiction. From the fiction reader responses, the research team identified 161 mood terms and used them for further categorization.Our inductive approach resulted in 30 categories, including angry, cozy, dark, and nostalgic. Results include three overlapping mood families: Emotion, Tone/Narrative, and Atmosphere/Setting, which in turn relate to structures that connect reader-generated data with conceptual frameworks in previous studies.The inherent complexity of “mood” should not dissuade us from carefully investigating users’ preferences in this regard. Adding to the existing efforts of classifying moods conducted by experts, the current study presents mood terms provided by actual end-users when describing different moods in fiction. This study offers a useful roadmap for creating taxonomies for retrieval and description, as well as structures derived from user-provided terms that ultimately have the potential to improve user experience

Understanding appeals of video games for readers’ advisory and recommendation

Information for original publication: Lee, Jin Ha et al. Understanding Appeals of Video Games for Readers' Advisory and Recommendation. Reference & User Services Quarterly, [S.l.], v. 57, n. 2, p. 127-139, dec. 2017. ISSN 1094-9054. Available at: . doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.2.6529.Despite their increasing popularity and inclusion in library collections, video games are rarely suggested in library advisory or recommendation services. In this work, we use the concept of appeals from existing literature in readers' advisory and media studies to understand what attracts people to play certain games. Based on 1,257 survey responses, we identify sixteen different appeals of video games and elaborate how these appeals are expressed in users' terms. We envision these appeals can serve as an additional access point for video games and will be particularly useful for recommendation and advisory services. In addition, we also examined the correlation between appeals and common game genres. The relationships between appeals and genres observed from our data support our argument that appeals can serve as a complementary access point to result in more diversified sets of recommendations across genres. In our future work, we plan to further investigate individual appeals such as mood and narrative across multiple types of media

Public libraries and COVID : perceptions and politics in the United States

Public librarians across the U.S. found themselves in different political environments that challenged their ability to serve their communities, to provide the information that was needed, and to fight disinformation regarding the pandemic. Researchers at the University of Missouri examined how and what librarians communicated to the public about COVID. A survey was sent to a systematic sample of libraries from all states and service area sizes, carried out from January 24 to February 7, 2022. A total of 106 responses were received, with 66 respondents having answered every question. Analysis of closed- and open-ended survey responses points to public librarians’ concerns about 1) local government officials and their decisions, 2) resistance on the part of patrons to accurate information, and 3) problems disentangling the local conversation from national media (and social media) perspectives.Joe Kohlburn (University of Missouri, ORCID 0000-0003-2714-826X), Jenny Bossaller (University of Missouri, ORCID 0000-0001-5732-897X), Hyerim Cho (University of Missouri ORCID 0000-0003-2574-3591), Heather Moulaison-Sandy (University of Missouri, ORCID 0000-0001-7783-7069), Denice Adkins (University of Missouri, ORCID 0000-0002-0023-9914)Includes bibliographical references

Technical Services Education: Transformation and Advocacy

Though change has been constant in information settings for some time now, at the start of a new decade we are presented with an opportunity to review transformations in technical services education and how they may prepare professionals to deal with this continuous change. Education must consider not only how best to understand and serve end-users of systems (in order to anticipate their needs), but also how best to advocate for best practices in addressing needs, and how to implement best practices both ethically and with professionalism. This panel presents views on current and emerging issues concerning preparation and continuing education for technical services careers