Polona Vilar

Digital libraries: to meet or manage user expectations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the nature of, and rationale for, user expectations in the digital library setting, and ways in which they may best be met and/or managed.Design/methodology/approach – An analysis of the literature, focusing on empirical studies, and bringing out main themes and issues.Findings – User expectations of digital libraries are often unrealistic, usually unrealistically high, mainly due to the ubiquity of the web search engine as an information environment. Expectations differ between user groups. Both meeting and managing expectations have been promoted as a solution; it is likely that a mix of the two will be most effective. More empirical and conceptual studies are needed. Ways of making the nature of digital library collections and their organisation “visible”, embedded in a natural way within their interfaces, are desirable.Originality/value – This is the first paper to review the literature of this topic.

Education and training for digital librarians: A Slovenia/UK comparison

Purpose – To determine and compare approaches to the education and training of librarians for work in digital libraries. More precisely, to identify – in general terms, rather than specifically – the important competencies required by information professionals in creating and managing digital libraries, and in facilitating their use, and to assess how these competencies are treated in LIS education and training, and therefore how the capacities of the information professions are being developed.Design/methodology/approach – Literature analysis of the skill sets required by librarians working with digital materials. Evaluation of formal education and of professional development programmes in the UK and in Slovenia, to assess how these needs are being met.Findings – Both formal education and continuing development training are adapting to cover aspects of the digital library environment, both in the UK and in Slovenia. This is happening as part of the normal process of the redesign of degree programmes and ...

Are we effective? How would we know?: Approaches to the evaluation of library services in Lithuania, Slovenia and the United Kingdom

Purpose – A comparison of methods for evaluating the performance of library services in three European countries – Lithuania, Slovenia and the United Kingdom – is given, with emphasis on developing trends and novel methods.Design/methodology/approach – The published and unpublished literature is analysed and evaluated, to bring out themes and comparisons.Findings – Common themes are identified, and suggestions made as to how the competences of the library profession can be improved, and practitioners supported, in embedding performance evaluation into a more evidence‐based practice.Originality/value – This is the only paper to date making explicit international comparisons of evaluation of library services.

Comparison and evaluation of the user interfaces of e‐journals

Purpose – Aims to present a comparison and evaluation of four user interfaces of web‐based e‐journals (Science Direct, ProQuest Direct, EBSCO Host and Emerald).Design/methodology/approach – The systems were assessed in an expert study according to accepted guidelines regarding user friendliness and functionality. User friendliness features studied were: language(s) and type(s) of interface; navigation options; personalization; and screen features. Functions inspected were: database selection; query formulation and reformulation; results manipulation; and help.Findings – Many similarities were found, but some differences among the systems were also discovered and analysed in detail. The greatest differences were found in the area of query formulation, and between the interface languages and types.Research limitations/implications – The user interfaces of four full‐text IR systems offering e‐journals which are accessible at the University of Ljubljana are surveyed.Practical implications – The interfaces are...

Archival Literacy: Different Users, Different Information Needs, Behaviour and Skills

A pilot study of Slovenian and Bosnian archivists was conducted regarding their opinions and perceptions of archival users, because this area is still neglected in the two countries. Most participants thought of researchers and lay users coming to the archives or sending requests as the biggest user groups. They did not consider creators or themselves as users. They thought the knowledge of the history, creators, languages and scripts as some of the specific skills. They have not heard of archival literacy but thought that the definition of information literacy may be applied to archives as well. Most of them had received no education in this area and thought there is no particular need for it. Interviewing proved to be an appropriate data gathering method. We need to improve terminology, establish better rapport with clearer introductions and develop more specific questions particularly in information literacy area.

Paper or Electronic: Preferences of Slovenian Students

This paper presents Slovenia’s results as part of an international study investigating student preferences of class readings regarding format (print or electronic) and factors impacting these preferences and behaviours. Common beliefs are that digital media is about to prevail over print materials, but several studies have found the contrary: most students still prefer print format over digital for their academic readings. They feel their comprehension and retention is better in print, but they like the convenience and accessibility of electronic. This issue is relevant to both libraries and teachers and instructors. The main research question of this study is: What are students’ format preferences when engaging with their academic readings? Secondary questions ask about the factors that impact their behaviors. An online survey of 25 questions was distributed in spring 2015 to students in different disciplines and levels at three public universities. Results were obtained using descriptive statistical analysis.

Information searching behaviour of young Slovenian researchers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an empirical study of information behaviour of young Slovenian researchers.Design/methodology/approach – Built on some well‐known models of scholarly information behaviour the study complements a previously conducted study of the same population, which focused on the aspects of user friendliness. This second study is an attempt to shape a more detailed picture of the investigated user group. Presented are types of scholarly information behaviour, enriched by some complementary issues regarding their behaviour as digital users.Findings – The respondents were found to express many of the features of both digital scholars and other users of digital technology. Direct searching and power browsing are most often expressed searching behaviours; also common are probing and accessing. Collecting behaviour is mostly expressed through “squirrelling”, and sometimes gathering. Satisfaction with the system and with search results is very influential, bu...

Academic Strategic Documents as a Framework for Good Information Literacy Programs: Case Study of Law Faculties in the Republic of Croatia

This study investigates the representation of IL within the educational environment of the institutions at the formal level, i.e. in strategic documents of four Croatian Law Faculties, by using the method of content analysis, in order to identify possible activities and methods that offer opportunities for collaboration of librarians and teachers in teaching. In addition, this study will serve to set guidelines for future research and understanding of the wider context of IL in the field of law, and as an aid in the design of IL programs for law students conducted by faculties’ libraries.

The Bologna reform at the department of library and information science and book studies, university of Ljubljana

Relevance of the new Bologna study programme at the Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies at University of Ljubljana is demonstrated from different aspects. The example of IS&R themes and topics which are recognized as one of LIS core areas is used to show the differences from the previous study programme in terms of content, together with coverage of Web 2.0 related themes. In regard to teaching and learning methods it is shown how e-learning is used to support the educational process. At the end a few insights into employability of future graduates are added.

Focus group interview through storytelling: Researching pre-school children’s attitudes towards books and reading

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an adapted form of a qualitative research method, focus group interview, for use with small children and demonstrate its use in a small-scale study. Researchers often avoid direct study of children, and study them indirectly by asking adults. This was frequent before 1990s, but today, researchers increasingly discuss research with children rather than on children. Nevertheless, in research with young children it is not possible to use all research methods, therefore the authors modified and tested one. The additional research objectives, besides verification of methodology, were to determine the pre-school children’s attitudes to books, book-related places, reading. Design/methodology/approach – The adaptation of the focus group interview involved merging the content questions of the research with a story and using a toy as the storyteller. This resembled storytelling and enabled the children to directly participate by talking to the animation toy instead ...