library and information science – Page 3

A new direction in information science research: making information science a human science

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Introduction

The term human is a core concept of information science literature. However, information science authors have hardly discussed the term. Consequently, what is and is not human remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to bring consideration of human conditions to the centre stage of information science research.

Method

To ascertain the place of humans in the body of work pertaining to information science, the paper undertakes a content analysis of over 800 articles published between 2011 and 2012 in five major journals of information science, and outlines some research consequences.

Results

Six current humanist research themes were identified from the content analysis.

Conclusions

The paper suggests a new direction for information science authors, which will enable information science to go past the functionality of systems and the optimization of information seeking to engage with the fuller actualization of humans. The goal is to drill deeper in the structures of oppression and vulnerability to allow the worst-off individuals to be well-off. We cannot help our readers as a human species by shunning the concept human.

URL : http://www.informationr.net/ir/20-3/paper686.html

Identifying Open Access Articles within the Top Ten Closed Access LIS Journals: A Global Perspective

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Librarians have embraced the open access movement. They work to raise awareness of issues surrounding scholarly communication, to educate faculty about authors’ rights, and to help implement and maintain institutional repositories (IRs). But for all of the research and commentary from librarians about the importance of IRs and of making research freely available, there still exists the glaring contradiction that few librarians and Library and Information Science (LIS) authors provide free access to their own research publications.

In this study, we will look at the open access availability of articles from the top 20 closed access LIS journals and discuss some factors that may explain the discrepancies between LIS authors’ attitudes towards open access and their own self-archiving practices.

URL : http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1245/

Highly-cited papers in Library and Information Science (LIS): Authors, institutions, and network structures

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“As a follow-up to the highly-cited authors list published by Thomson Reuters in June 2014, we analyze the top-1% most frequently cited papers published between 2002 and 2012 included in the Web of Science (WoS) subject category “Information Science & Library Science.” 798 authors contributed to 305 top-1% publications; these authors were employed at 275 institutions. The authors at Harvard University contributed the largest number of papers, when the addresses are whole-number counted. However, Leiden University leads the ranking, if fractional counting is used.

Twenty-three of the 798 authors were also listed as most highly-cited authors by Thomson Reuters in June 2014 (http://highlycited.com/). Twelve of these 23 authors were involved in publishing four or more of the 305 papers under study. Analysis of co-authorship relations among the 798 highly-cited scientists shows that co-authorships are based on common interests in a specific topic. Three topics were important between 2002 and 2012: (1) collection and exploitation of information in clinical practices, (2) the use of internet in public communication and commerce, and (3) scientometrics.”

URL : http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.02576

Sustaining Professionalism in the Fields of Library and Information Studies

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“This essay analyzes the development and status of professionalism in general and in the fields associated with library and information studies (LIS) in particular. The notable American resistance to educated professionalism is explored and placed in its historic, multinational framework. Throughout, the limitations of various theoretical approaches to analyzing professionalism are addressed and more realistic methods of defining professionalism in context are offered. The field of school librarianship is examined as a domain where professionalism and appropriate LIS education are sustained to some degree in law and regulation but face challenges at the system and building level. Expressed preferences of funders and customers for LIS educational programs, as reflected in recent government reports and other studies, are explored, as well as the approaches to service that appeal to significant stakeholders within and without selected LIS fields. Recommendations are offered for equipping practitioners with the knowledge necessary to determine and strengthen the contemporary relevance of their missions, as well as for managing the perceptions of significant stakeholders while sustaining multiple LIS professionalisms.”

URL : http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1231/

Library and Information Sciences : Trends and Research

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“This book explores the development, trends and research of library and information sciences (LIS) in the digital age. Inside, readers will find research and case studies written by LIS experts, educators and theorists, most of whom have visited China, delivered presentations there and drafted their articles based on feedback they received. As a result, readers will discover the LIS issues and concerns that China and the international community have in common.

The book first introduces the opportunities and challenges faced by the library and information literacy profession and discusses the key role of librarians in the future of information literacy education. Next, it covers trends in LIS education by examining the vision of the iSchool movement and detailing its practice in Syracuse University.

The book then covers issues in information seeking and retrieval by showing how visual data mining technology can be used to detect the relationship and pattern between terms on the Q&A of a social media site. It also includes a case study regarding tracing information seeking behavior and usage on a multimedia website.

Next, the book stresses the importance of building an academic accreditation framework for scientific datasets, explores the relationship between bibliometrics and university rankings, and details the birth and development of East Asian Libraries in North America.

Overall, the book offers readers insight into the changing nature of LIS, including the electronic dissemination of information, the impact of the Internet on libraries, the changing responsibilities of library professionals, the new paradigm for evaluating information, and characteristics and functions of today’s library personnel.”

URL : https://microblogging.infodocs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/chen2014.pdf

Alternative URL : http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/book/978-3-642-54811-6

A bibliometric study of scholarly articles published by library and information science authors about open access

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“Introduction. This study aims to gain a greater understanding of the development of open access practices amongst library and information science authors, since their role is integral to the success of the broader open access movement.
Method. Data were collected from scholarly articles about open access by library and information science authors from 2003 until 2011 found in the Library and Information Science Abstracts database.
Analysis. A bibliometric approach is taken for the information gathered from 203 articles. Excel and SPSS were used to derive descriptive statistics and correlations.
Results. Overall an open access rate of 60% was found, which was lower than expected considering 94% of these articles appeared to endorse open access.
Conclusions. Although these results show a higher open access rate than previous studies, and a linear growth of open access publications over the years, there is still a large gap between theory and practice which needs to be addressed.”

URL : http://www.informationr.net/ir/19-4/paper648.html