Radovan Vrana

The developments in mobile learning and its application in the higher education including libraries

As technological devices become more present in education, more researchers and educators are looking into different aspects of technology enhanced learning. Most recently, focus in technology enhanced learning is put on use of mobile devices i.e. mobile learning or m-learning. Mobile learning promotes concept of anytime anywhere learning which is important for students who frequently change places of learning and need access to the learning material as they move from one place to another. Such concept of learning is possible because more and more students have some type of a mobile device and mobile devices are mostly cheap, portable and flexible, have no start-up time, and require virtually no maintenance. While the mobile technology seems to be very attractive to students and usable in the learning process, there are also problems which burden further development of mobile learning or at least they are not helping its development: technological problems and obsolesce, lack of digital content made for use on mobile devices, lack of training of proper use of mobile devices in the learning process etc. Most of these and similar problems could be overcome if universities put more effort in adoption of mobile technologies among students and teaching staff.

Organizational aspects of digitization projects in the Croatian public libraries

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to present findings from research in the Croatian public libraries on organizational aspects of digitization projects.Design/methodology/approach – This research article is based on research done in 152 public libraries in Croatia invited by e‐mail to participate in the web survey, which was chosen as the most appropriate tool for investigating geographically dispersed libraries.Findings – Findings from the survey indicate a modest number of public libraries engaged in digitization projects. These results can be attributed to unfavorable conditions for initiation of digitization projects. Almost half of public libraries plan to launch digitization projects as soon as necessary conditions for digitization become favorable. Digital content available in the surveyed public libraries already received a positive feedback from users. Instead of mass digitization, public libraries chose systematic digitization of selected library collections. To improve the quality of dig...

Public libraries in Croatia and the digitization challenge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the current state of digitization and digital collection development in public libraries in Croatia.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on an online survey of public libraries in Croatia on digital collection development and digitization. In total, 165 public libraries were invited to participate in the survey, and Web survey was chosen as the most appropriate tool for surveying geographically dispersed libraries.Findings – The findings indicate that public libraries in Croatia have taken steps towards enlargement of digital content in their holdings by digitizing their existing library collections. Although the number of digital collections in public libraries in Croatia is still rather small, it is expected that it will increase in the near future. It is also encouraging that public libraries started digitization projects on their own, thus gaining the necessary experience and skills that would help them and other libraries in future digiti...

Improving visibility of public libraries in the local community: A study of five public libraries in Zagreb, Croatia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish whether or not promotional efforts can help public libraries to become more visible and their services more recognizable in the local community. At present, libraries employ different promotional efforts for their products and services, usually less aggressive than commercial information providers. Their final goal is to reclaim the role of the primary provider of quality information resources and accompanying services from electronic media.Design/methodology/approach – The first part of the paper offers an introduction followed by information about the actual promotional activities in public libraries. The third part of the paper was based on a user survey in five major public libraries in Zagreb, Croatia.Findings – The predominant way of acquiring information about public libraries and their activities is by word of mouth while other means of communication, such as TV, radio and the internet, are used less. The results suggest the need for better use o...

Digital Literacy as a Prerequisite for Achieving Good Academic Performance

The paper presents results from the research of students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science in Zagreb, Croatia about their perceptions and views on digital literacy. The results indicate that students recognize and relate the concept of digital literacy with a number of ICT supported activities in which they are involved on a daily basis at the university. Furthermore, the research showed that there is a connection between use of ICT and academic performance of the students in research. The students also exhibited a need for expansion of their current knowledge in a number of ICT related areas among which are many related to the content creation for the internet and multimedia. The research results will serve as an important component in the development of new or expanded university courses that include the use of ICT in any form.

Promotion of Scientific Literacy and Popularization of Science with Support of Libraries and Internet Services

The first part of the paper describes the concept of scientific literacy and its roles in lives of citizens and development of society. Scientific literacy is a prerequisite for citizens to make informed decisions and to be informed consumers and help in raising the quality of life of an individual. Scientific literacy should be taught from a very early age and this education should continue throughout one’s life including lifelong learning of adults. The second part of the paper highlights briefly the role of libraries in promotion of scientific literacy and popularization of science with the help of selected internet services.

Open science, open access and open educational resources: Challenges and opportunities

This paper discusses the concept of openness in general and its implementation in access to research and teaching material used in academic institutions. Though idea of openness i.e. open science and open access to information sources is not new, it is still not universally accepted and it is not understood equally in all parts of the world. The greatest benefits of open access can be observed in academic activities i.e. in research and teaching at academic institutions. However, open access is not understood and presented equally everywhere. There are differences in openness and rights of users in access and use of scientific and educational materials in open access digital repositories. While the number of open access digital repositories increases there are many questions waiting to be answered from quality of content, roles in management of open access information resources, responsibility for maintenance of digital information resources, financing of digital information resources, quality of scientific and educational digital resources etc.

Journal publishing in era of economic crisis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present findings from the research of aspects of journal publishing in the field of social sciences in Croatia in changing working conditions caused by the rapid development of information and communication technology.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on an online survey of 79 journals in the field of social sciences in Croatia.Findings – Findings indicate a dual publishing nature of the scientific journals as they exist both in the traditional paper based and in the electronic environment. In addition to slow shift towards publishing exclusively in the electronic environment, editorial teams cope with insufficient financial support for the publication of printed versions of their journals, low‐quality of article submissions, badly formatted articles, lack of help to the editor, etc. Researched journals use the internet for the improvement of the interaction with authors, reviewers and readers and digital repositories for long‐term storage of artic...

ICT‐supported communication of scientists and teaching staff at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb

Purpose – Information and communication technology (ICT) has a great influence on the global system of scientific communication. The existing system is changing towards a new communication paradigm based on the exchange of scientific information in electronic information environment. Scientists are already experiencing changes in the ways they create, find, share, process, store and use scientific information. The aim of this paper is to present results from the research among scientists and teaching staff at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb (Croatia), regarding changes they experienced during the use of ICT in scientific communication.Design/methodology/approach – The first part of the paper offers an introduction followed by a view on the impact of ICT on scientific communication in the second part. The third part presents the research among scientists and teaching staff at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia, and the findings of that research. An onli...

Supporting mobile learning: Usability of digital collections in Croatia for use on mobile devices

Mobile learning is growing in popularity as use of mobile devices by students worldwide increases. At the same time the number of digital information resources such as digital collections in libraries available online has also increased. Digital collections in libraries are valuable and proven resource of information in education. As students use mobile devices more frequently it is expected that use of digital information resources including digital collections in education will also increase. To achieve this goal user interfaces of digital collections must be developed in such a manner to be easily used, especially on mobile devices. This paper presents results of the research of elements of user interfaces of digital collections in libraries in Croatia available on the Web to establish the level of their mobile usability and accessibility as a prerequisite for their potential use in the learning process. To fulfill that potential, digital collections have to support different screen sizes on mobile devices and be accessible on new and old mobile devices, offer assortment of common functions to user etc. The results of this research will help librarians in planning further development of digital collections and educators in planning use of digital collections in their curricula.