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What is Librarian 2.0 – New competencies or interactive relations? A library professional viewpoint

Library 2.0 is a change in the way libraries interact with their users. Technological developments on the Web have had a major influence on these changes. The change also places new requirements on librarians’ competencies and skills. This research investigates how librarians themselves see this change in terms of their work identity and working knowledge. The research shows what kinds of qualities and characteristics are expected from a ‘Librarian 2.0’, according to a group of professional librarians. The results associate ‘Librarian 2.0’ firmly with the Web, although some of the more traditional characteristics of librarianship have retained their relevance. This research also shows that the change towards a ‘Librarian 2.0’ can be seen as intimidating by some librarians, a fact that has to be taken into account when libraries develop their future strategies.

Information sharing and the dimensions of social capital in Second Life

Earlier research has shown that the virtual world of Second Life is an environment that fosters the emergence of social capital. The central finding of this study is the pertinence of emotional communication and information sharing in the emergence of social capital in Second Life, and consequently, the significance of emotional intelligence as a basis for successful social and informational exchange. The emergence of social capital in Second Life is deeply affected by the dialectic of the conflicting expectations and experiences of the environment. The emergence of social capital in Second Life may be described as a process of accumulation of emotional intelligence that forms a basis for the exploitation of available structural and relational affordances of social and information exchange. The study is based on qualitative analysis of open-ended data collected using a web survey of Second Life users.

Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing – Lessons Learned

Social capital is put forward as a suitable theoretical framework to explain knowledge sharing mechanisms in organizations. The aim of this paper is to summarize lessons learned from different contexts where the social capital dimensions have been used to explain information and knowledge sharing. The contexts studied are mainly within business organizations, virtual worlds, and higher education. The dimensions of social capital have been found useful when exploring knowledge sharing practices. The studies illuminate important aspects on how the combination of structures, relations and contents support sharing. The different cases also underline the importance of the contextual dimension, the role of the social capital dimensions are focused differently depending on context.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Information Research

The purpose of this book is to collect current research representing different aspects of social information with emphasis on the new innovations supporting contemporary information behavior. To begin with, we need to define what we mean by social information in general and in the area of information science in particular. It is interesting to notice that social information is a concept used and researched in many different disciplines. Besides information science, the concept of social information has been studied in biology, psychology, and sociology among other disciplines.

Knowledge Making in Business Organizations

A significant constituent of knowledge making in expert organizations are the knowledge sharing practices within which knowledge is both disseminated and created. These practices give access to information sources and are based on individual networks. This means that individual and team-based motives to knowledge sharing are prerequisites in expert work to be able to create a common understanding of work processes and individual’s role in these processes. Knowledge-sharing practices are also very much bound to organizational culture and traditions. In the understanding of knowledge making it is important to take individual, group and organizational perspectives into account. This chapter draws a broad picture of how knowledge making is enacted through knowledge sharing and knowledge creation practices in expert work.

The Impact of Multidimensionality of Literacy on the Use of Digital Technology: Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives

Considering the speed at which new digital technologies are evolving, it is the aim of this paper to assess the impact of multidimensionality of literacy on intention to use digital technologies. An empirical research, using antecedent factors of adoption, is executed to investigate the relationships between factors influencing digital immigrants and digital natives’ intentions to use digital technology. By using a survey data of 118 and 127 digital immigrants and digital natives, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) are applied. The results of the analyses while show some similarities, reveal that these two groups are different in many aspects and their intentions to use technology are influenced by different factors. Moreover, fsQCA results, while supporting the SEM findings, show that there are multiple configurations of conditions leading to the outcome of interest.

Knowledge sharing and language diversity in organisations: influence of code switching and convergence

Individual-level knowledge sharing is an important collaborative activity that is critical for organisational performance. As multilingual workplaces are becoming common, it has become increasingly important to understand the impact of language on knowledge sharing. Although previous research on knowledge management acknowledges the influence of language on knowledge sharing, the language use (practices) that actually conditions this effect remains largely unexamined. In this paper, we introduce two types of language practices known as code switching and convergence in sociolinguistics. By using insights on language from sociolinguistics, we attempt to show how code switching and convergence by organisational employees may influence individual-level knowledge sharing in multilingual organisations. We also suggest some new research directions for language and knowledge sharing in both theoretical and methodological terms. Understanding the influence of code switching and convergence on knowledge sharing is one step toward a better understanding of knowledge sharing as a whole in multilingual organisations. It would enhance the odds of developing knowledge management strategies that may neutralise or at least limit the negative influence of language diversity on knowledge sharing.

Role of Information Culture in Workplace Information Literacy: A Literature Review

Information literacy and its related concepts are increasingly important in the digital workplace. How workers use and experience information are dependent on or shaped by the context, such as work tasks, on-the-job experiences, and social aspects. Thus, the role of an organization’s information culture would be expected to influence the development of workplace information literacy. This connection however has not been explored previously. The objective of this paper is to focus information literacy on an organizational level. The connection between information culture and information literacy research is explored in an extensive literature review including about 1800 references in these fields of study. The review shows that only few studies address information literacy in connection to information culture (n = 23), which indicates there is a research gap. With the insights from this analysis it is addressed that there is an advantage of combining the two perspectives in future research.

Public libraries: roles in Big Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of public libraries in the context of Big Data. Design/methodology/approach A mixed method approach was used and had two main data collection phases. A survey of public libraries was used to generate an overview of which professional roles connect public libraries with Big Data. Eight roles were identified, namely, educator, marketer, data organiser, data container, advocator, advisor, developer and organisation server. Semi-structured interviews with library directors and managers were then conducted to gain a deeper understanding of these roles and how they connect to the library’s overall functions. Findings Results of the survey indicated that librarians lack a proper comprehension of and a pragmatic application of Big Data. Their opinions on the eight roles are slightly stronger than neutral. However, they do not demonstrate any strong agreement on these eight roles. In the interviews, the eight roles attained more clear support and are classified into two groups: service-oriented and system-oriented roles. Originality/value As an emerging research field, Big Data is not widely discussed in the library context, especially in public libraries. Therefore, this study fills a research gap between public libraries and Big Data. In addition, Big Data in public libraries could be well managed and readily approached by citizens in undertaking such roles, which entails that public libraries will eventually benefit from the Big Data era.

Understanding big data in librarianship

Big data has been widely discussed. The diverse impacts and potential of big data have been pinpointed and empirically proven. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on the understanding of big data. Big data has been used to refer to different things and its characteristics are not universally accepted either. Therefore, this study aims to generate an overall understanding of big data. The domain of the study is limited to librarianship, because of its unique position in managing and utilising big data. Thus, the aim of this study is to understand big data in librarianship according to how it is defined in that profession. Articles containing definitions of big data were reviewed and 35 definitions were collected. Since the number of analysed definitions is small, a combined method was employed. Both a content analysis and a statistical description of these definitions were conducted. Five aspects are summarised based on the analysis of the collected definitions. These aspects help explicate libraries’ current understanding of big data and librarians’ big data skills.