Special Libraries in Kazakhstan: an Overview

Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia where a lot of state and industrial developments are still ongoing as a result of a transition from a Soviet regime. As such, libraries as institutions remain to be a part of its professional reformation. The predominant known types of libraries are categorized as public, academic, or school libraries and library professionals are not aware of the existence of the concept of special libraries. As libraries continue to improve, cultural and information and knowledge about special libraries are left behind and there is no single association which directly monitors the status of these repositories of knowledge. Hence, information about special libraries are very scarce and no survey has been done to count and know the status of existing special libraries in the countr

Tracking the use of libguides: a content and usage study applying return on investment

Introduction Library collections and information products are valuable assets that need to be assessed based on their usage and effectiveness. The services rendered of a library which can be expressed by acquiring numerous materials and tools that support studying, teaching, and research has its own accounting value that needs to be measured based on its return on investment (ROI). A LibGuide is a powerful tool that complements the learning of students through a guide that functions as an electronic instructional material. This study considers the return on investment by calculating the cost per view of published LibGuides from 2017 to early 2018. Methods The study used the limited built-in tracking tool of the Springshare’s LibGuides platform to determine the monthly view statistics of the published guides. Due to its limitations, the increase of usage of every LibGuide was calculated based on the number of views for the first six months of 2018. The ROI was measured by calculating the current valuation of the content management system over the total number of published guides for 2017. The quotient will be divided from the total number of views per day and it will result to the cost per view. Only the top ten most viewed were considered. Results The cost per view based on the top most accessed LibGuide is 6.15 USD. Based on a total of more than 19, 900 views with 56 guides published in 2017, only two LibGuides received more than six usage views a day and the rest is below four. Most LibGuides from 2017 generated more than 50% increase usage considering that it is only half of 2018. Based on a quick survey conducted during the summer months, most students are unaware of the published guides. Conclusions It is worth noting that LibGuide utilization is low but is expected to rise up in the next years to come. It will take more time to receive the ROI. Students are unaware of the existence of the guides. Subject Librarians have to exert extra effort to keep on reminding the students about the LibGuides and that more marketing plans and collaboration from the faculty members should be developed to maximize the full potential of the LibGuide as an e-learning tool

Kazakhstan Develops Smart Cities Institutional Repositories as Backbones of Digital Kazakhstan

As a young and developing city, Astana and its people are preparing their way to become a smart city. A smart city “improves the quality of life for its citizens through technological means” (Guerra, 2017). Kourtit, Nijkamp &Arribas (2012) define smart cities as highly productive cities as they perform to have highly educated people. This paper introduces the development of Institutional Repositories as possible technological component of a smart city. In Kazakhstan, the government is pushing towards providing better online access to its citizens. It is also embarking on digital library projects being spearheaded by the National Academic Library. With such projects being developed, how sufficient in terms of open- access information do the five largest cities of Kazakhstan have? State universities have their own institutional repository projects that may be a good inclusion to the smart city project. A survey of Astana University libraries and other four major cities was conducted to find out the number of existing Institutional Repositories that could possibly support the goal of the government to realize its full potential to be an innovative smart city..

Academic Library Sessions: Experiences and Challenges of Nazarbayev University Library

The Reference Department of the Nazarbayev University Library is responsible for the development and delivery of library sessions and workshops. These are offered as part of the educational process and partnership in supporting curricular and research needs as well as to enhance the lifelong learning experience of our library users. The following categories of sessions are provided: library orientation, instruction sessions, information sessions and publishers/partners sessions. These sessions will ultimately become part of the structured information literacy program of the library. The paper seeks to describe, evaluate and assess the library sessions and workshops conducted in 2017. The paper also defines the challenges faced by librarians in conducting the sessions. Another objective is to identify improvements for raising effectiveness in organizing and delivering the library sessions

Defining, Understanding and Promoting Cultural Diversity Through the Human Library Program

This paper will provide the role of libraries in promoting dialogues to reduce discrimination, share how libraries document human library sessions as a form of oral history, and provide information on the “effect” of human library sessions to readers. This case study documents the human library program as an alternative source of information which promotes cultural diversity to improve many facets of literacies which include media and information literacy. Human library aims to lessen our prejudices and makes us more tolerant individuals. In order to achieve cultural equality and social inclusivity, DLSU Libraries continues to offer human library sessions to form critical thinkers, lifelong learners and catalysts for social transformation. Most readers thought that the most important learning experience they gained while reading the books was to accept and understand each one of us as unique individuals. The human library program encourages people to be more tolerant and embolden acceptance

Parametric and adsorption kinetic studies of methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using Bornean rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) skin

In this study, methylene blue (MB) dye removal from water sample by adsorption onto rambutan skin, was examined. The adsorption studies using batch experiments were carried out under different parametric conditions of initial dye concentrations (3.0 mg/l – 15.0 mg/l), solution pH 2 – 12 and solution temperature 30°C – 60°C. MB adsorption uptake was found to increase with the increase in initial dye concentration and solution temperature and was also favourable at higher pH. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were used to examine the experimental isotherms and their corresponding constants. The equilibrium data obtained were best represented by Freundlich isotherm model with a high R2value of 0.898. The adsorption kinetic rates complied with the pseudo-second-order model indicated that chemisorption might be the rate-limiting step that controlled the overall adsorption process. Thermodynamic data analysis indicated that the adsorption process was endothermic in nature. The data presented above suggest that the rambutan skin could be an alternative low-cost biosorbent for the removal of cationic dye from textile industrial effluent

Planar digital nanoliter dispensing system based on thermocapillary actuation

We provide guidelines for the design and operation of a planar digital nanodispensing system based on thermocapillary actuation. Thin metallic microheaters embedded within a chemically patterned glass substrate are electronically activated to generate and control 2D surface temperature distributions which either arrest or trigger liquid flow and droplet formation on demand. This flow control is a consequence of the variation of a liquid’s surface tension with temperature, which is used to draw liquid toward cooler regions of the supporting substrate. A liquid sample consisting of several microliters is placed on a flat rectangular supply cell defined by chemical patterning. Thermocapillary switches are then activated to extract a slender fluid filament from the cell and to divide the filament into an array of droplets whose position and volume are digitally controlled. Experimental results for the power required to extract a filament and to divide it into two or more droplets as a function of geometric and operating parameters are in excellent agreement with hydrodynamic simulations. The capability to dispense ultralow volumes onto a 2D substrate extends the functionality of microfluidic devices based on thermocapillary actuation previously shown effective in routing and mixing nanoliter liquid samples on glass or silicon substrates