Characteristics of LIS research articles affecting their citation impact

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
The paper analyzes the citation impact of Library and Information Science (LIS) research articles published in 31 leading international LIS journals in 2015. The main research question is: to what degree do authors’ disciplinary composition in association with topic, methodology, and type of contribution affect their citation impact? The impact is analyzed in terms of the number of citations received and their authority, using outlier normalization and subfield normalization. Quantitative content analysis is used to analyze article characteristics including topic, methodology, type of contribution, and the disciplinary composition of their author teams. The citations received by the articles are traced from 2015 to May 2021. Citing document authority is measured by the citations they had received up to May 2021. The overall finding was that authors’ disciplinary composition is significantly associated with citation scores. The differences in citation scores between disciplinary compositions appeared typically within information retrieval and scientific communication. In both topics LIS and computer science jointly received significantly higher citation scores than many disciplines like LIS alone or humanities in information retrieval; or natural sciences, medicine, or social sciences alone in scientific communication. The paper is original in reporting a joint analysis of content characteristics, authorship composition, and impact.

The evolution and development landscape of scholarly communication based on the analysis of published articles

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
This paper aims to unveil the comprehensive research landscape and gain insights into the evolving trend of primary research content within the scholarly communication domain. Leveraging various literature visualization tools, the study delves into the key research themes and their progression in scholarly communication from articles retrieved in Web of Science spanning the years 1996–2021. Moreover, the investigation delves into the historical roots and seminal works in the field. Notably, recent years have witnessed a remarkable focus from scholars on information dissemination, scientific assessment, emerging evaluation frameworks rooted in modern social media, open access, and social networking. The identified classic works indicate that scientific comprehension, citation behavior, communication, and online collaboration have garnered sustained research interest within the scholarly communication realm. In summary, the prevailing research content has transitioned from a closed, publication-centric model to an open network characterized by globalization and diversity. Concurrently, the transformation of scholarly communication is advancing toward digitalization, openness, socialization, networking, and enhanced accessibility.

A study on copyright issues of different controlled digital lending (CDL) modes

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
In the recent years, CDL has been heatedly talked about, CDL should be treated objectively and rationally. Getting knowledge of CDL modes and their copyright issues is critical for sustainable development of CDL. Rather than CDL becomes a transient phenomenon as a result of many copyright hurdles. The paper will explore CDL modes by combing CDL practices and programs from research papers and official website documents of different library organizations. Then, based on legal frameworks of CDL in the US, Canada and the UK which are summarized, copyright issues of CDL modes are analyzed from perspectives of implementing institution, service resources, and usage mode. Finally, some copyright recommendations for sustainable development of CDL are proposed. We believe that library institutions can use CDL to advance their crucial mission for the public’s interest through making sense of different CDL modes and their copyright issues and implementing some proposals about copyright processing.

A study on copyright issues of different controlled digital lending (CDL) modes

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
In the recent years, CDL has been heatedly talked about, CDL should be treated objectively and rationally. Getting knowledge of CDL modes and their copyright issues is critical for sustainable development of CDL. Rather than CDL becomes a transient phenomenon as a result of many copyright hurdles. The paper will explore CDL modes by combing CDL practices and programs from research papers and official website documents of different library organizations. Then, based on legal frameworks of CDL in the US, Canada and the UK which are summarized, copyright issues of CDL modes are analyzed from perspectives of implementing institution, service resources, and usage mode. Finally, some copyright recommendations for sustainable development of CDL are proposed. We believe that library institutions can use CDL to advance their crucial mission for the public’s interest through making sense of different CDL modes and their copyright issues and implementing some proposals about copyright processing.

The Sustainable Library: A retrospective case study of a public library sharing initiative

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
Sharing initiatives, things collections or libraries of things have become developing features in public libraries within recent years. This article reports on a retrospective case study of The Sustainable Library, a now-concluded Danish sharing initiative from 2016 to 2022. As an early example of a public library sharing initiative, The Sustainable Library is a unique case. Moreover, its explicit focus on sustainability and sharing economy makes it an early example of sustainable librarianship. The study offers empirical insights into the life cycle of the sharing initiative and its different phases. Examining the case from its organizational context, the study asks how and why the sharing initiative was developed, what were its preconditions and drivers, and which barriers were experienced along the way. Finally, the study makes room for hindsight reflections on the role and responsibility of public libraries and sharing initiatives in the sustainability agenda.

The Sustainable Library: A retrospective case study of a public library sharing initiative

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
Sharing initiatives, things collections or libraries of things have become developing features in public libraries within recent years. This article reports on a retrospective case study of The Sustainable Library, a now-concluded Danish sharing initiative from 2016 to 2022. As an early example of a public library sharing initiative, The Sustainable Library is a unique case. Moreover, its explicit focus on sustainability and sharing economy makes it an early example of sustainable librarianship. The study offers empirical insights into the life cycle of the sharing initiative and its different phases. Examining the case from its organizational context, the study asks how and why the sharing initiative was developed, what were its preconditions and drivers, and which barriers were experienced along the way. Finally, the study makes room for hindsight reflections on the role and responsibility of public libraries and sharing initiatives in the sustainability agenda.

Wikipedia and academia: University faculty patterns of use and perceptions of credibility

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
Wikipedia is a widely used information source among students in higher education institutes but is regarded as less credible among teaching faculty. The present study is an attempt to understand how faculty perceive, use and believe Wikipedia as a credible source of information. The paper draws upon a survey data gathered from 257 university faculty members by employing the systematic random sampling technique. The analysis of collected data suggests that faculty members used Wikipedia for multiple purposes ranging from teaching and research to leisure reading. They regarded Wikipedia as a useful and credible source of information while having a positive belief in the Wikipedia project. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that faculty perceptions have grown more favorable regarding Wikipedia use, usefulness, and quality of information. Hence, our study found that faculty members were trying to integrate Wikipedia into their teaching, learning and research endeavors by allowing students to consult and cite Wikipedia information and enabling them to be critical and proficient users of Wikipedia as a part of their information-seeking, gathering, and sense-making practices. However, there is a need of moving beyond the passive consumption of content to contribute to Wikipedia content by creating new entries, and adding to and editing earlier entries. The present study would enhance our understanding of the richness, usefulness, and credibility of Wikipedia information among university faculty from a developing country’s perspective. Such understanding contributes to illustrating the global acceptance level of Wikipedia in academia as a source of information and knowledge.

Wikipedia and academia: University faculty patterns of use and perceptions of credibility

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Ahead of Print.
Wikipedia is a widely used information source among students in higher education institutes but is regarded as less credible among teaching faculty. The present study is an attempt to understand how faculty perceive, use and believe Wikipedia as a credible source of information. The paper draws upon a survey data gathered from 257 university faculty members by employing the systematic random sampling technique. The analysis of collected data suggests that faculty members used Wikipedia for multiple purposes ranging from teaching and research to leisure reading. They regarded Wikipedia as a useful and credible source of information while having a positive belief in the Wikipedia project. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that faculty perceptions have grown more favorable regarding Wikipedia use, usefulness, and quality of information. Hence, our study found that faculty members were trying to integrate Wikipedia into their teaching, learning and research endeavors by allowing students to consult and cite Wikipedia information and enabling them to be critical and proficient users of Wikipedia as a part of their information-seeking, gathering, and sense-making practices. However, there is a need of moving beyond the passive consumption of content to contribute to Wikipedia content by creating new entries, and adding to and editing earlier entries. The present study would enhance our understanding of the richness, usefulness, and credibility of Wikipedia information among university faculty from a developing country’s perspective. Such understanding contributes to illustrating the global acceptance level of Wikipedia in academia as a source of information and knowledge.