Noa Aharony

Twitter Use in Libraries: An Exploratory Analysis

Microblogging is a relatively new phenomenon in online social networking that has become increasingly prevalent in the last few years. This study explores the use of Twitter in public and academic libraries to understand microblogging patterns. Analysis of the tweets was conducted in two phases: (1) statistical descriptive analysis and (2) content analysis. The research findings show there are some differences between public and academic libraries, including the number of tweets, linguistic differences, and content. However, it seems that using Twitter in libraries enables both kinds of libraries to broadcast and share information about their activities, opinions, status, and professional interests. The research findings are relevant for librarians and information scientists who wish to better understand and explore the phenomenon of library tweets.

Facebook use in libraries: an exploratory analysis

Purpose – The current study aims to present an exploratory analysis of the use of Facebook in American public and academic libraries, with the purpose of understanding patterns of Facebook use in libraries.Design/methodology/approach – This study presents both a statistical descriptive analysis and a content analysis.Findings – The research findings show that both kinds of libraries use the information section and the wall and that there is a difference in the use of other Facebook sections, which was surprisingly limited in both kinds of libraries. In addition, public libraries use the wall and the photos section as major channels of information more than academic libraries. Concentrating on the content of the Facebook wall posts, it appears that there are some differences between the two sections (categories and sub‐categories). However, it seems that both kinds of libraries use Facebook simply as a way to deliver information to users, rather than as a venue for discussion.Originality/value – Research f...

Information literacy in the professional literature: an exploratory analysis

Purpose – The current study aims to review the different publications dealing with information literacy and the emerging trends reflected over the ten years, 1999‐2009, in the Web of Science (WOS) database.Design/methodology/approach – The study presents both a statistical descriptive analysis of document type, subject areas, authors, source titles, publication years, languages, countries and keywords of publications extracted from the WOS database, as well as a thorough content analysis of keywords and abstracts extracted from the WOS database.Findings – The main results suggest that the term information literacy has various characteristics in an additional and interesting context: health and medicine. This finding may reflect a tendency of association between information literacy and health and medicine and stresses peoples need for information literacy in this specific context.Originality/value – The current study emphasises the notion that information literacy is no longer an issue for librarians or ...

The influence of LIS students’ personality characteristics on their perceptions towards Web 2.0 use

The information world in which library and information science (LIS) students study and are being educated is in a state of constant change. As Web 2.0 is becoming an important and central topic in our information world, the research reported here explores whether LIS students are familiar with technological changes and innovations, and whether they make use of the different Web 2.0 applications. The research examined whether personality characteristics (learning strategies, resistance to change and cognitive appraisal), as well as learning facilitators such as motivation, capacity and importance of studying and integrating different applications of Web 2.0 in the future, influenced LIS students’ perceptions towards Web 2.0 use. Different questionnaires were distributed to 160 randomly selected Israeli students from three different LIS programmes. The research revealed a moderate tendency of LIS students to use Web 2.0 applications. It was found that personality characteristics as well as learning facilitators influenced LIS students’ perceptions towards Web 2.0 use.

An analysis of American academic libraries' websites: 2000‐2010

Purpose – The current study seeks to describe and analyze academic library websites in the years 2000 and 2010, as they appear both in the Internet Archive and in current library websites.Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of 31 academic libraries homepages which were selected from the ACRL accredited LIS schools was conducted.Findings – Findings reveal that the content of academic library websites in the years 2000 and 2010 has much changed over the ten years, presenting an increasing use of e‐journals and Web 2.0 applications, as well as a focus on library users, and a great use of graphics in websites.Practical implications – The comparison documented in the paper should prove very interesting and important to librarians, information scientists, LIS scholars and students, presenting trends, changes and innovations that have occurred within the scope of academic libraries over the last ten years.Originality/value – This study presents a yet unexplored dimension: the comparison, focusing es...

What’s App: a social capital perspective

Purpose – Based on the premises of Putnam’s bridging social capital, and on Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe’s notion of maintained social capital, the purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which the well-being variables of self-esteem and loneliness, as well as What’s App attitudes and intention to use variables, explain the social capital students gain from What’s App use. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted in Israel during the second semester of the 2014 academic year and included 124 students from two major universities in Israel. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather data. Findings – Findings confirm that the well-being variables, as well as What’s App attitudes and intention to use, affect the social capital students gain while using What’s App. Originality/value – The findings of this study shed light on a new technological platform: What’s App that has rarely been examined to date. In addition, it expands the social capital and well-being perspectives to new ...

Psychological factors behind the lack of participation in online discussions

The majority of participants in online communities are lurkers, who browse discussions without actively contributing to them. Their lack of active participation threatens the sustainability of online communities. This review provides an understanding as to why the majority of participants in online communities remain silent. It specifies a variety of factors that come into play when people determine their level of participation: individual differences: need for gratification, personality dispositions, time available and self-efficacy; social-group processes: such as socialization, type of community, tendency toward social loafing, responses to delurking and the quality of responses; technological setting factors: technical design flaws, privacy and safety of the online group. All are factors that are liable to influence involvement in online communities. This article provides an understanding as to why the majority of participants in online communities remain silent.This article specifies a variety of factors that come into play when determining various levels of participation.The paper suggests ways in which to encourage people to participate in online discussions.

Why do students use What’s App? – an exploratory study

Purpose – This study focusses on What’s App, a mobile messaging service for smartphones, that was founded in 2009. The purpose of this study is to explore which factors may influence students’ satisfaction and duration of time, spent on What’s App. Design/methodology/approach – In order to answer this question it uses the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) approach (Katz, 1959), as well as the Big Five model (Costa and McCrae, 1992), and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989). The research was conducted in Israel and encompassed 111 information science (IS) students. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather data. Findings – The findings of this study shed light on a new technological platform: What’s App that has rarely been examined to date, and expands the U&G perspectives to new media. Findings confirm that the U&G paradigm, as well as personality characteristics and perceived enjoyment, effect What’s App satisfaction and duration, and highlight the importance of both the U&G approach and ...

An exploratory study on factors affecting the adoption of cloud computing by information professionals

– The purpose of this study explores what factors may influence information professionals to adopt new technologies, such as cloud computing in their organizations. The objectives of this study are as follows: to what extent does the technology acceptance model (TAM) explain information professionals intentions towards cloud computing, and to what extent do personal characteristics, such as cognitive appraisal and openness to experience, explain information professionals intentions to use cloud computing. , – The research was conducted in Israel during the second semester of the 2013 academic year and encompassed two groups of information professionals: librarians and information specialists. Researchers used seven questionnaires to gather the following data: personal details, computer competence, attitudes to cloud computing, behavioural intention, openness to experience, cognitive appraisal and self-efficacy. , – The current study found that the behavioural intention to use cloud computing was impacted by several of the TAM variables, personal characteristics and computer competence. , – The study expands the scope of research about the TAM by applying it to information professionals and cloud computing and highlights the importance of individual traits, such as cognitive appraisal, personal innovativeness, openness to experience and computer competence when considering technology acceptance. Further, the current study proposes that if directors of information organizations assume that novel technologies may improve their organizations’ functioning, they should be familiar with both the TAM and the issue of individual differences. These factors may help them choose the most appropriate workers.

Twelve years of Wikipedia research

Wikipedia was formally launched in 2001, but the first research papers mentioning it appeared only in 2002. Since then it raised a huge amount of interest in the research community. At first mainly the content creation processes and the quality of the content were studied, but later on it was picked up as a valuable source for data mining and for testing. In this paper we present preliminary results that characterize the research done on and using Wikipedia since 2002.