Philip Hider

Using the Contingent Valuation Method for Dollar Valuations of Library Services.

An application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) for estimating the economic value of a regional public library service is described, and some of the key methodological issues surrounding CVM and other stated preference techniques are discussed with reference to library use and funding contexts. Given the range of valuations that can result from different forms of question, it is important to only compare resulting benefit‐cost ratios based on the same survey design. However, if CVM surveys are carefully designed and administered, they can produce estimates that are as convincing as those produced by other valuation methods. It was found that the Wagga Wagga City Library, in New South Wales, Australia, provides good value for the money, in line with that of other comparable studies in the United States and Norway.

Search goal revision in models of information retrieval

Research indicates that considerable amounts of search goal revision can take place during user-system interaction. Following a review of the treatment of this phenomenon in various models of information retrieval, an alternative model is proposed which attempts to explain search goal redefinition more fully, by distinguishing between goal change due to new information gained and goal change due to old knowledge remembered. In the case of the latter, it is postulated that external stimuli, contained for example in system feedback, raise the user’s nonconscious knowledge to consciousness, providing the user with a better understanding of their information want and goal. The new model is described as an instance of a more general model of information acquisition, embracing a spectrum of information behaviour, from purposeful query-based searching to incidental encountering.

A Comparison Between the RDA Taxonomies and End-User Categorizations of Content and Carrier

Resource Description and Access (RDA) includes new lists of content and carrier types intended to replace the General Material Designations (GMDs) and Specific Material Designations (SMDs) of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR), and which represent taxonomies designed to facilitate searching on content and carrier attributes of resources. However, these taxonomies were not constructed through analysis of end-user categorizations, nor have they been tested on end-users. This study investigates how end-users categorize library resources by employing the free-listing technique, commonly used by cognitive scientists and information architects. The results indicate that end-user categorizations of library resources may emphasize other facets, such as purpose, audience, and extent, in addition to content and carrier, and also levels of the content and carrier facets other than those represented by the RDA terms.

Investigating the News Seeking Behavior of Young Adults

This study investigated the news-seeking and browsing behaviours of young adults, partly in the context of everyday life information seeking (ELIS), in order to explore their perceptions of and attitudes towards print and online news media. The study is significant because traditional print newspapers face a steady decline in their readership with the growth of free online content. Therefore, it is important to understand the online news-seeking behaviours of young adults to try and predict changes and trends in this field. A qualitative (interpretivist) approach was adopted and twenty university students were interviewed. Findings indicate that, contrary to expectations, print newspapers were still favoured by young people in this sample and the most successful online news disseminators were the ones who have attached themselves to a popular website. Finally, the impact of newspaper reading and publishing trends on library reading rooms is also discussed.

Moving from LIS to IS+L: Curriculum renewal at Charles Sturt University

The paper describes a recent review of Library and Information Management courses offered by the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, and the resulting program of curriculum renewal and expansion. This program aimed to address concerns over the long-term sustainability of the courses and respond to an increasingly converging professional landscape. The courses were redesigned in a way that allowed them to maintain their relevance to the School’s established librarianship market, while at the same time develop a significant application to other information fields. This was achieved by essentially turning the curriculum on its head. Instead of a library focussed core with electives in other information areas, the new curriculum offers core subjects that cover the information-people-technology nexus in generic fashion and provides a foundation for a wide range of specialisations. This transformation represents what could be described as a move from a traditional Library and Information Studies (LIS) approach to a broader Information Studies (IS) orientation, accommodating advanced areas of study in specific fields, including Librarianship (L). The paper goes on to discuss key issues concerning the implementation of the course redesigns, and the results of their implementation to date.

Are Librarians the Ultimate Knowledge Managers? A Study of Knowledge, Skills, Practice and Mindset

This paper seeks to establish the state of knowledge of Knowledge Management (KM) among Library and Information Services (LIS) professionals, the extent to which they find positions in the KM sector, the extent to which they practise identifiable KM processes in their work and the adequacy of educational preparation and professional development opportunities. It draws on research begun in 2005, which included a survey of advertisements for KM positions, a survey of KM courses in Australia; and an online questionnaire for LIS and KM practitioners and educators. The literature review highlights knowledge, skills and attributes associated with KM, and notes some overlap with those required for the LIS profession. The job analysis suggests that there may be some overlap between LIS and KM practice and between what are perceived to be LIS and KM core competencies, but that the two are quite distinct. Findings from the survey of KM courses suggest only a limited amount of overlap between what are considered by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to be core LIS professional attributes and the curricula of the KM courses offered by Australian universities. The survey of practitioners did not reveal significant differences of perception between the LIS and KM groups, but noted that the two were not mutually exclusive. Significant comments from survey respondents are reported. Conclusions are mainly concerned with education and professional development, and are aimed primarily at educators and the professional association.

Library Resource Categories and Their Possible Groupings.

The resource typologies proposed in the new standard, Resource Description and Access (RDA), are evaluated in the context of a particular university library catalogue through two card-sort exercises. Although it was found that end-users recognised the content and carrier aspects of the resource types as listed in RDA, they did not categorise them as RDA has done. Instead, content and carrier aspects were used to construct more complex classifications, which were also heavily influenced by other aspects, such as seriality. There was also much variation in these classifications, particularly at lower levels, suggesting that polyhierarchical systems may be advantageous.

Constructing Record Quality Measures Based on Catalog Use

ABSTRACT Approaches to the measurement of catalog record quality are discussed. The systematic application of specific evaluation criteria may be more reliable than expert opinion, if not necessarily more accurate, and the construction of an error weightings table based on empirical investigation into catalog use is described. Although this process proved to be complex, and involved significant methodological problems, it was shown to be readily achievable. As catalog use may in many cases be insufficiently uniform across libraries to allow for generic evaluation criteria, it is proposed that cataloging managers construct their own set by studying the impact that record quality has on the particular use of their own catalogs. Thus more empirical research into catalog use is advocated, in order to supplement expert opinion and to build toward a practice of evidence-based cataloging.

Research Literature and its Perceived Relevance to University Librarians

Two factors identified as contributing to the lack of communication between researchers and practitioners, terminology and relevance, are the focus of this paper. A questionnaire distributed to senior staff in academic libraries asked participants to assess abstracts from articles in top ranked LIS journals. Results indicated a relatively high level of understanding of the articles, indicating that terminology was not a problem, and two thirds of the articles were rated as relevant to the profession. This result suggests that there is less of a gap in understanding between researchers and professionals than has been perceived. Involvement of practitioners in joint projects may be more feasible than was previously thought.

Coding online information seeking

This paper reports on a coding scheme devised during preliminary data collection of online searching using Camtasia, and compares this scheme with one recently developed by Hargittai for a similar purpose. The author’s scheme is put forward as a prototype for a standard ‘core’ system, which might assist in the process of transcription of recordings and facilitate comparison of findings across research projects. In a case study, the coding system is applied to the examination of cross-database searching through a particular library’s online interface, which offers SFX and MetaLib linking tools.