Library websites popularity: does Facebook really matter?

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the utilization of social media (Facebook) is an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library site usage in Malaysian public universities. Nine top ranked Malaysian public universities involved in this research and number of Facebook followers for each library website is listed. Alexa software was used as the approach to study the issue of visibility. Alexa is able to determine web site usage, by showing the percentage of visitors of library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for each University website (domain) over a month. It is found that Universiti Utara Malaysia library website scored the highest percentage of visitors based on the library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for the University website in Alexa. To check such irregularities in access, this paper use EvalAccess 2.0 and it is found that Universiti Sains Malaysia’s library website scored higher irregularities. In term of number of Facebook followers, Univesity of Malaya library has the highest score. It is showed that the utilization of social media (Facebook) is not yet an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library websites. However, expectedly, top ranked universities’ library web sites, are more visible and popular. This research is limited to the situation in Malaysia where public universities are more noticeable and seldom face financial constraints rather than private universities. It is highly important for those universities’ library web sites that are not highly visible to initiate the necessary measures in improving the development of their web sites as the usage of the website is an indicator of online quality

A review of library e-service quality scales

There has been a growing importance of e-service over the past 10 years, and libraries are continuously updating their capability to offer users with the enhanced and easy access of the service. It is necessary to carry out some form of assessment to justify the reality of the situation, whether the current libraries offer quality e-service and satisfy their users or not. The purpose of this paper was to review the existing models developed in accessing the quality of library e-service. Literature search method will be used to identify the most comprehensive model that can be implemented in evaluating the quality of library e-service. Since prominent models of service quality and the quality of e-service in non-library setting have been used as the basis for the development of the models for the library setting, only selected prominent models and their limitations will be highlighted. From the review, it was found that the hierarchical type of model is the most comprehensive model in service quality, e-service quality for non-library setting, as well as for the library setting. This paper also suggests that libraries should adopt models that have been developed originally from the library setting, as different types of users have different set of expectations and needs. Limited research have addressed on the issues of library e-service quality models and assessments. Therefore, the findings should be valuable to academics and also practitioners

Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on photosynthesis, growth and biomass in Shorea platycarpa F. Heim (Meranti Paya)

Elevated atmospheric CO2 is widely reported to stimulate the plant growth and affect plant physiological processes. However, studies on the respond of tropical plant species to elevated CO2 are quite limited and remain largely unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 treatments on the photosynthetic characteristics, growth and biomass in Shorea platycarpa. Saplings of S. platycarpa were grown for seven months in the open roof gas chamber supplied with elevated CO2 (800±50 μmol mol-1) and in the shade house with ambient CO2 (400±50 μmol mol-1). Measurements of S. platycarpa growth and photosynthetic characteristics were made at frequent intervals. Biomass characteristics were determined using destructive methods after seven months of treatment and nondestructive method was used for leaf area index (LAI) determination. Photosynthetic rate (A) of S. platycarpa was not significantly affected by elevated CO2. Increased water use efficiency (WUE) of S. platycarpa grown in elevated CO2 was due to the reduced stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration rate (E). The CO2 elevation had no significant effect on the S. platycarpa relative growth rates (RGR) and biomass but significantly reduced the leaf area. A weak correlation was found between photosynthetic rate (A) and relative growth rate (RGR). The results clearly showed that photosynthesis, growth rate and biomass of S. platycarpa were not significantly enhanced by elevated CO2. The findings indicated that elevated CO2 did not affect a relatively slow growing and a late successional peat swamp tree species