Archives des mots-clés : Libraries

Exploring the feasibility of applying data mining for library reference service improvement : a case study of Turku Main Library

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Author : Ming Zhan

Data mining, as a heatedly discussed term, has been studied in various fields. Its possibilities in refining the decision-making process, realizing potential patterns and creating valuable knowledge have won attention of scholars and practitioners. However, there are less studies intending to combine data mining and libraries where data generation occurs all the time.

Therefore, this thesis plans to fill such a gap. Meanwhile, potential opportunities created by data mining are explored to enhance one of the most important elements of libraries: reference service. In order to thoroughly demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of data mining, literature is reviewed to establish a critical understanding of data mining in libraries and attain the current status of library reference service.

The result of the literature review indicates that free online data resources other than data generated on social media are rarely considered to be applied in current library data mining mandates. Therefore, the result of the literature review motivates the presented study to utilize online free resources. Furthermore, the natural match between data mining and libraries is established.

The natural match is explained by emphasizing the data richness reality and considering data mining as one kind of knowledge, an easy choice for libraries, and a wise method to overcome reference service challenges. The natural match, especially the aspect that data mining could be helpful for library reference service, lays the main theoretical foundation for the empirical work in this study.

Turku Main Library was selected as the case to answer the research question: whether data mining is feasible and applicable for reference service improvement. In this case, the daily visit from 2009 to 2015 in Turku Main Library is considered as the resource for data mining.

In addition, corresponding weather conditions are collected from Weather Underground, which is totally free online. Before officially being analyzed, the collected dataset is cleansed and preprocessed in order to ensure the quality of data mining.

Multiple regression analysis is employed to mine the final dataset. Hourly visits are the independent variable and weather conditions, Discomfort Index and seven days in a week are dependent variables. In the end, four models in different seasons are established to predict visiting situations in each season.

Patterns are realized in different seasons and implications are created based on the discovered patterns. In addition, library-climate points are generated by a clustering method, which simplifies the process for librarians using weather data to forecast library visiting situation. Then the data mining result is interpreted from the perspective of improving reference service.

After this data mining work, the result of the case study is presented to librarians so as to collect professional opinions regarding the possibility of employing data mining to improve reference services. In the end, positive opinions are collected, which implies that it is feasible to utilizing data mining as a tool to enhance library reference service.

URL : http://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/124215

Studying Conceptual Models for Publishing Library Data to the Semantic Web

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Author : Sofia Zapounidou

This thesis studies the library data and the way that linked data technologies may affect libraries. The thesis aims to contribute to the research regarding the devel-opment and implementation of a framework for the integration of bibliographic data in the semantic web.

It seeks to make sound propositions for the interopera-bility of conceptual bibliographic models, as well as for future library systems and search environments integrating bibliographic information.

DOI : http://eprints.rclis.org/32108/

Academic Library Innovation through 3D Printing Services

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Authors : Galina Letnikova, Na Xu

Purpose

One of the most innovative library services recently introduced by public and academic libraries, the technology of 3D printing, has the potential to be used in multiple educational settings.

The goal of the project described in this article was to examine how this novel library digital service motivates students’ learning, and to investigate managerial issues related to the introduction of 3D printing services at a medium-size urban community college library with restricted funding.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Since fall 2014, the LaGuardia Library Media Resources Center has been offering a portable consumer-end 3D printer for classroom use. This paper provides historical context for the implementation of 3D printing as a service offered by librarians and discusses how the community college library managed 3D printing services to support class curriculum.

At the end of the three-semester-long project students were asked to volunteer to take a survey conducted by the librarian and the class instructor.

Findings

The results of the student survey demonstrated that library 3D printing services significantly promoted students’ motivation to learn. The conceptual model of a makerspace should be an essential part of the 21st century academic library.

To help make that possible this paper examines certain challenges and limitations faced by librarians when introducing 3D printing, including dedicated space management, professional education, and personnel availability.

Originality/Value

During the project described students were able to use library services to print out and study complex engineering and biology models in 3D.

The proper planning and management of this innovative service allows academic librarians to enhance class curriculum by providing the means of transforming theory into physical reality.

URL : http://academicworks.cuny.edu/lg_pubs/71/

 

Valoriser les ressources numériques alternatives dans les bibliothèques publiques : un vecteur d’opportunités pour le développement des biens communs

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Auteur/Author : Hans Dillaerts

Les ressources numériques alternatives peuvent être définies comme des ressources relevant du domaine public ou des ressources numériques diffusées sous la forme d’une licence libre. La place qu’occupent ces ressources dans les bibliothèques publiques est encore marginale.

Force est de constater que les politiques documentaires des bibliothèques publiques s’articulent prioritairement autour de l’offre commerciale portée par les éditeurs. Alors qu’il paraît évident que l’intégration et la valorisation de ces ressources libres au cœur des politiques documentaires permettraient non seulement aux bibliothèques de proposer une offre plus riche et plus diversifiée, mais aussi de valoriser la richesse littéraire, culturelle et artistique qui se développe sur le Web en dehors de la sphère marchande.

Quelles sont ces ressources numériques alternatives ? Comment opérer et construire une offre documentaire complémentaire des ressources physiques ? Quels enjeux pour les bibliothèques, le métier et les missions des bibliothécaires?

URL : https://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_01561437

 

De la bibliothèque à l’Internet : la matrice réticulaire

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Auteur/Author : Louise Merzeau

Par l’ordonnancement méthodique des livres, la bibliothèque institue la confrontation des raisons qui pourra guider le conseil de lecture, lui-même modèle et condition du conseil au prince ou au peuple souverain.

Dans cette perspective, l’entrée des dispositifs sociotechniques dans l’ère numérique doit être interrogée dans les mêmes termes : quel type de pluralité, de liberté et de discernement autorise-t-elle ? Quelle structure d’autorité organise-telle ?

En un mot, quelle sorte de matrice l’environnement numérique installe-t-il dans l’espace du savoir et de la cité ? Pour répondre, sans doute faut-il d’abord renoncer à penser l’Internet à partir de ce modèle de la bibliothèque.

Pour la très grande majorité des utilisateurs, Internet est en effet tout autre chose qu’une bibliothèque : c’est un milieu de vie plus qu’un support et c’est cette dimension « écologique » qu’il convient aujourd’hui de penser.

Dans ce nouvel écosystème, les individus exercent toutes sortes d’activités très éloignées de l’acte de lecture institué par la bibliothèque, mais ce qui en fait la caractéristique, c’est qu’elles sont toujours en même temps des activités informationnelles.

Ces pratiques informationnelles obéissent à de nouvelles règles, où la médiation identitaire réorganise tous les contenus autour de la personne, elle-même redéfinie comme grappe de données connectées.

Au conseil, tend ainsi à se substituer le principe de la recommandation, qui dépend avant tout d’une économie de l’attention. Ce régime ne suspend pas le principe d’autorité, mais il en modifie profondément l’architecture, les industries de la recommandation dissimulant la complexité croissante de ces procédures derrière une phraséologie de la fluidité, de la transparence et de l’immédiateté.

Il revient alors aux bibliothèques, non de faire entrer de force l’Internet dans leur propre modèle, mais de développer des politiques de médiation, de métadocumentation et d’éditorialisation pour produire une intelligibilité du réseau qui aiderait les citoyens numériques à produire collectivement du conseil.

URL : https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01546684

Linked Data is People: Building a Knowledge Graph to Reshape the Library Staff Directory

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Authors : Jason A. Clark, Scott W. H. Young

One of our greatest library resources is people. Most libraries have staff directory information published on the web, yet most of this data is trapped in local silos, PDFs, or unstructured HTML markup.

With this in mind, the library informatics team at Montana State University (MSU) Library set a goal of remaking our people pages by connecting the local staff database to the Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud.

In pursuing linked data integration for library staff profiles, we have realized two primary use cases: improving the search engine optimization (SEO) for people pages and creating network graph visualizations.

In this article, we will focus on the code to build this library graph model as well as the linked data workflows and ontology expressions developed to support it. Existing linked data work has largely centered around machine-actionable data and improvements for bots or intelligent software agents.

Our work demonstrates that connecting your staff directory to the LOD cloud can reveal relationships among people in dynamic ways, thereby raising staff visibility and bringing an increased level of understanding and collaboration potential for one of our primary assets: the people that make the library happen.

URL : http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/12320

Rethinking the Subscription Paradigm for Journals: Using Interlibrary Loan in Collection Development for Serials

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Authors : Gail Perkins Barton, George E. Relyea, Steven A. Knowlton

Many librarians evaluate local Interlibrary Loan (ILL) statistics in order to affect collection development decisions concerning new subscriptions.

In this study, the authors examine whether the number of ILL article requests received in one academic year can predict the use of those same journal titles once added to library resources.

There is little correlation between ILL requests for individual titles and their later use as subscribed titles. However, there is strong correlation between ILL requests within a subject category and later use of subscribed titles in that subject category.

An additional study examining the sources from which patrons made ILL requests shows that database search results, not journal titles, dominate. These results call into question the need for libraries to subscribe to individual journal titles rather than providing access to a broad array of articles.

URL : http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2017/04/06/crl17-1061.short