Academic literature on the topic 'Library Information Specialist 175'

The article deals with the problem of training modern specialists of the specialty "125 - Cyber Security". Issues of providing students with specialized and professional knowledge and skills in cryptographic protection of the information are considered. The necessity of obtaining practical knowledge on information protection with a certain amount of theoretical knowledge for future cybersecurity specialists has been substantiated. Through the analysis of literature and the use of own experience, the essence and structure of the concept of "competence on cryptographic protection of the information" have been determined. Formation of these competencies have been carried out within the framework of interdisciplinary links of educational disciplines, namely: "Applied Cryptology", "Secure Programming". The list of requirements for professionally significant characteristics of a cybersecurity specialist in the field of cryptographic protection of information has been determined. An overview of cryptographic libraries has been conducted and the main criteria for selecting the cryptographic service and the programming environment have been determined. The article demonstrates the need to use modern cryptographic .Net Framework services and the Microsoft Visual Studio application development environment to provide students with the knowledge and practical skills of information protection. The model of formation and development of competences on cryptographic protection of the information for students of the specialty “125-Cyber Security” has been developed and the ways of its realization at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University have been offered. In the course of the research it was determined that in the programming of cryptographic protection mechanisms, practical skills of using cryptographic algorithms in the processing and transmission of data have been effectively formed. It is proved that the definition of the volume of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, taking into account the interdisciplinary connections of educational disciplines, allows preparing specialists with practical skills in cryptographic protection of the information. Such specialists are necessary for IT companies in the labor market.

The article considers the historical preconditions and prospects of professional training of specialists in the field of documentation management and information activities. The modern system of management documentation was preceded by a long period of development and formation associated with changes in socio-economic and socio-political conditions, the relevant historical forms of organization of management processes and its documentation. In turn, the complexity of record-keeping and document-making processes, the development of the document-information market formed the requirements for a document-specialist who would have a universal modern education: possessed knowledge, skills in document science and information activities, and skillfully operated in practice acquired management competencies . The formation of a modern system of documentation management and training of specialists in the relevant field in Ukraine took place in line with the general historical processes of development of our state. 
 The peculiarities of educational programs of higher education institutions that train applicants in the specialty 029 «Information, library and archival affairs» are analyzed. It is noted that the analysis of educational programs of higher education institutions in the capital and the region shows that modern freelance students receive quality knowledge through clear new educational programs, innovative technologies, open access to information via the Internet and social institutions - libraries and archives. Future professionals are trained to work with information through new electronic tools, banks and databases. The introduction of electronic document management, the experience of leading countries, new technologies significantly increases professional requirements, encourages constant updating and improving the training of Ukrainian document specialists. 
 In the conclusions it is generalized that document science as a science and as an academic discipline was initiated in the process of development of two branches of practical activity - office work and archival business, within which the logical development of the theory directly depended on practice; at all stages of the transformation of their historical path was directly dependent on the socio-economic demands of society and the improvement of the management segment of document science; The need for highly qualified specialists in the field of document science in the modern labor market is constantly growing, which explains the large number of free economic zones in which high-quality training of document specialists in unique educational programs.

Background NHS England’s 7-day services policy comprised 10 standards to improve access to quality health care across all days of the week. Six standards targeted hospital specialists on the assumption that their absence caused the higher mortality associated with weekend hospital admission: the ‘weekend effect’. The High-intensity Specialist-Led Acute Care (HiSLAC) collaboration investigated this using the implementation of 7-day services as a ‘natural experiment’. Objectives The objectives were to determine whether or not increasing specialist intensity at weekends improves outcomes for patients undergoing emergency hospital admission, and to explore mechanisms and cost-effectiveness. Design This was a two-phase mixed-methods observational study. Year 1 focused on developing the methodology. Years 2–5 included longitudinal research using quantitative and qualitative methods, and health economics. Methods A Bayesian systematic literature review from 2000 to 2017 quantified the weekend effect. Specialist intensity measured over 5 years used self-reported annual point prevalence surveys of all specialists in English acute hospital trusts, expressed as the weekend-to-weekday ratio of specialist hours per 10 emergency admissions. Hospital Episode Statistics from 2007 to 2018 provided trends in weekend-to-weekday mortality ratios. Mechanisms for the weekend effect were explored qualitatively through focus groups and on-site observations by qualitative researchers, and a two-epoch case record review across 20 trusts. Case-mix differences were examined in a single trust. Health economics modelling estimated costs and outcomes associated with increased specialist provision. Results Of 141 acute trusts, 115 submitted data to the survey, and 20 contributed 4000 case records for review and participated in qualitative research (involving interviews, and observations using elements of an ethnographic approach). Emergency department attendances and admissions have increased every year, outstripping the increase in specialist numbers; numbers of beds and lengths of stay have decreased. The reduction in mortality has plateaued; the proportion of patients dying after discharge from hospital has increased. Specialist hours increased between 2012/13 and 2017/18. Weekend specialist intensity is half that of weekdays, but there is no relationship with admission mortality. Patients admitted on weekends are sicker (they have more comorbid disease and more of them require palliative care); adjustment for severity of acute illness annuls the weekend effect. In-hospital care processes are slightly more efficient at weekends; care quality (errors, adverse events, global quality) is as good at weekends as on weekdays and has improved with time. Qualitative researcher assessments of hospital weekend quality concurred with case record reviewers at trust level. General practitioner referrals at weekends are one-third of those during weekdays and have declined further with time. Limitations Observational research, variable survey response rates and subjective assessments of care quality were compensated for by using a difference-in-difference analysis over time. Conclusions Hospital care is improving. The weekend effect is associated with factors in the community that precede hospital admission. Post-discharge mortality is increasing. Policy-makers should focus their efforts on improving acute and emergency care on a ‘whole-system’ 7-day approach that integrates social, community and secondary health care. Future work Future work should evaluate the role of doctors in hospital and community emergency care and investigate pathways to emergency admission and quality of care following hospital discharge. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 9, No. 13. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

BackgroundMultidisciplinary rehabilitation is recommended for Parkinson’s disease, but evidence suggests that benefit is not sustained.Objectives(1) Implement a specialist domiciliary rehabilitation service for people with Parkinson’s and carers. (2) Provide continuing support from trained care assistants to half receiving the rehabilitation. (3) Evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the service, and the value added by the care assistants, compared with usual care. (4) Assess the costs of the interventions. (5) Investigate the acceptability of the service. (6) Deliver guidance for commissioners.DesignPragmatic three-parallel group randomised controlled trial.SettingCommunity, county of Surrey, England, 2010–11.ParticipantsPeople with Parkinson’s, at all stages of the disease, and live-in carers.InterventionsGroups A and B received specialist rehabilitation from a multidisciplinary team (MDT) – comprising Parkinson’s nurse specialists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists – delivered at home, tailored to individual needs, over 6 weeks (about 9 hours’ individual therapy per patient). In addition to the MDT, participants in group B received ongoing support for a further 4 months from a care assistant trained in Parkinson’s (PCA), embedded in the MDT (1 hour per week per patient). Participants in control group (C) received care as usual (no co-ordinated MDT or ongoing support).Main outcome measuresFollow-up assessments were conducted in participants’ homes at 6, 24 and 36 weeks after baseline. Primary outcomes: Self-Assessment Parkinson’s Disease Disability Scale (patients); the Modified Caregiver Strain Index (carers). Secondary outcomes included: for patients, disease-specific and generic health-related quality of life, psychological well-being, self-efficacy, mobility, falls and speech; for carers, strain, stress, health-related quality of life, psychological well-being and functioning.ResultsA total of 306 people with Parkinson’s (and 182 live-in carers) were randomised [group A,n = 102 (n = 61); group B,n = 101 (n = 60); group C,n = 103 (n = 61)], of whom 269 (155) were analysed at baseline, pilot cohort excluded. Attrition occurred at all stages. A per-protocol analysis [people with Parkinson’s,n = 227 (live-in carers,n = 125)] [group A,n = 75 (n = 45); group B,n = 69 (n = 37); group C,n = 83 (n = 43)] showed that, at the end of the MDT intervention, people with Parkinson’s in groups A and B, compared with group C, had reduced anxiety (p = 0.02); their carers had improved psychological well-being (p = 0.02). People with Parkinson’s in groups A and B also had marginally reduced disability (primary outcome,p = 0.09), and improved non-motor symptoms (p = 0.06) and health-related quality of life (p = 0.07), compared with C. There were significant differences in change scores between week 6 (end of MDT) and week 24 (end of PCA for group B) in favour of group B, owing to worsening in group A (no PCA support) in posture (p = 0.001); non-motor symptoms (p = 0.05); health-related quality of life (p = 0.07); and self-efficacy (p = 0.09). Carers in group B (vs. group A) reported a tendency for reduced strain (p = 0.06). At 36 weeks post recruitment, 3 months after the end of PCA support for group B, there were few differences between the groups. Participants reported learning about Parkinson’s, and valued individual attention. The MDT cost £833; PCA support was £600 extra, per patient (2011 Great British pounds).ConclusionsFurther research is needed into ways of sustaining benefits from rehabilitation including the use of care assistants.Study registrationCurrent Controlled Trials: ISRCTN44577970.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme and the South East Coast Dementias and Neurodegenerative Disease Research Network (DeNDRoN), and the NHS South East Coast. The report will be published in full inHealth Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 2, No. 51. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Objective – This study sought to determine the characteristics of research materials used by history students in preparing their master’s theses. Of which information resources formats did such students make use, and in what proportions? What was the age distribution of resources used? What was the dispersal over journal titles and over subject classification, i.e., the degree of interdisciplinarity? To what extent did the master’s students make use of non-English-language materials? To what extent did their institution’s library hold the resources in question?
 
 The investigator was especially interested in finding quantitative support for what he terms two “hypotheses.” The first of these is that historical research depends to a high degree on monographs, journal articles being far less important to it than they are to research in, especially, the natural sciences and technology. The second is that the age distribution of resources important to historical research is much flatter and longer than that of resources upon which researchers in the natural sciences and technology rely.
 
 Design – Citation analysis, supplemented with comprehensive catalogue searches.
 
 Setting – Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), a mid-sized public university located in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.
 
 Subjects – MA and MS theses (N=47) successfully submitted to the Department of History over the period from academic year 1998/1999 through academic year 2007/2008, inclusive.
 
 Methods – The investigator initially identified the theses through a search of the online catalogue (“Consuls”) of the Connecticut State University system, and retrieved all of them in either electronic or hard-copy form. He then subjected all citations (N=3,498) listed in the references sections of these theses to an examination in order to identify for each cited resource the format, the age, the language, and, in the case of scholarly journal articles, the journal of publication. He carried out bibliographic searches in order to rectify any citations which he had noted to be faulty or incomplete. The study took no account of possible additional citations in footnotes or endnotes or in the text, and did not measure citation intensity (whether, for instance, a thesis referred only once, or perhaps many times, to a given resource). Duplicates “were ignored.” He furthermore performed systematic searches in Consuls and in the Library of Congress (LC) online catalogue in order to establish, insofar as possible, into which assigned LC Classification class each resource fell, and whether it belonged to the holdings of the SCSU library. “Holdings,” as used here, includes physical resources owned, as well as those resources to which the library has licensed access. Not marked as either “held” or “not held” were: resources available online without restriction or charge, items not identified in either Consuls or the LC catalogue, and all government documents. Ages of cited resources were calculated based on the edition or version date actually given in a student’s citation, without any consideration of a possible earlier date of the original version of the publication or document concerned. 
 
 Main Results – Format, age distribution, and journal frequency. The local citation analysis found that 53.2% of all cited resources were monographs, 7.8% were scholarly articles, 5.3% were contributed chapters in books, and 0.6% were dissertations or theses. Non-scholarly periodicals accounted for 15.7%, government documents for 6.7%, and freely available web documents for 4.1%. The remainder, approximately 6.5%, comprised archival papers, judicial documents, directories, interviews, posters, audiovisual materials, and 13 other formats. Cited resources, measured back from the date of acceptance of the citing thesis, ranged from 0 to 479 years old; the mode was 3 years, but the median was “25” (p. 170) or “26” (p. 177) years. Just over 70% (i.e., 2,500 cited resources) were more than ten years old. Almost one thousand of the cited resources were fifty or more years old. The 274 scholarly journal articles included in the references sections were spread over 153 distinct journal titles, of which 105 titles made only one appearance, and 136 titles three or fewer appearances. The mean was 1.8 appearances.
 
 Subject dispersal and language. Of the 2,084 cited resources for which LC classification was locatable, 51.5% had a classification other than history, i.e., other than class C, D, E, or F. Nearly two thirds (66.0%) of the cited scholarly journal articles had appeared in journals with a focus other than history. (Note: table 4 is incorrect, precisely reversing the actual ratio.) Of all cited items, 98.5% were in the English language. Half (27) of the non-English-language resources cited were in Korean, all cited in the same thesis. Books (i.e., monographs plus compilations from which contributed chapters were cited) accounted for 87.0% of foreign-language citations. More than four fifths of the examined theses (83.0%) cited not a single non-English-language resource. 
 
 Local holdings. Of all 3,498 cited items, 3,022 could be coded as either “held” or “not held” by the SCSU library. Of the items so coded (not, as indicated on p. 180, of all cited items), scarcely two fifths (41.0%) belonged to the library’s holdings. The holdings percentage was highest (72.6%) for the 274 scholarly journal articles cited, followed by the 186 contributed chapters (50.0%), the 550 non-scholarly periodical items (49.5%), and the 1,861 monographs (46.8%). For other cited formats, the percentage was much lower, and in some cases, e.g., for the 55 archival and the 44 judicial documents, it was 0.0%. Of the 54 foreign-language resources cited, the institution’s library held only two. 
 
 Conclusion – The investigator concludes that his study’s findings do indeed lend quantitative support to his two “hypotheses.” This outcome will surprise few, if any, librarians; it is in accord with what Koenig (1978) long ago saw as a matter of “intuition” and “all conventional wisdom,” something that many subsequent studies have confirmed. Sherriff accordingly recommends, firstly, that collections which strive to support historical research should, in matters of acquisition policy and budget allocation, take serious account of that field’s relatively strong dependence on monographs. Secondly, the data on age distribution carry obvious implications for librarians’ decision-making on matters such as de-accessioning and weeding, relegation to remote storage, and retrospective acquisitions. This finding should also be considered, for instance, in connection with preservation policy and the maintaining of special collections. He even suggests that librarians “need to teach students the value of reviewing literature historically and showing them how to do so effectively” (p. 177).
 
 Sherriff considers a number of further (tentative) conclusions to be warranted or suggested by the results of this study. First of all, that historical research is now characteristically an interdisciplinary matter, in the sense that it requires extensive access to information resources, including journals, which libraries have traditionally not classified as belonging to the discipline of history itself. For a library supporting such research, this phenomenon “has implications for matters including collection budgets, reference work, bibliographic instruction, and the location of collections and departmental libraries” (p. 168). It also means “that librarians working with history students and history collections need to be aware of the relevant resources in other disciplines. This can improve reference work, research assistance, and bibliographic instruction; it may also help the coordination of acquisitions across departmental lines” (p. 179). Secondly, one may conclude that “there is no ‘core’ collection of journals for history” (p. 178) which will be able to satisfy a large proportion of master’s students’ research needs. Thirdly, the fact that a library such as SCSU’s holds significantly less than half of what master’s students require for preparing their theses “may exercise a narrowing effect on students’ awareness of the existing literature on their topics” (p. 180), “increases the importance of departmental faculty, reference librarians, and subject specialist librarians drawing students’ attention to resources beyond the library’s catalogues and collections” (p. 180), and requires that the library give serious attention to effective document delivery arrangements. Finally, this study’s finding that only a small percentage of master’s students in history made use of non-English-language materials, but then in certain cases used them rather extensively (27 Korean items cited in one thesis, ten Italian in another, nine Spanish in yet another), suggests that acquisition, or at least proactive acquisition, of such materials needn’t be a priority, as long as, once again, the students concerned have easy access to efficient and affordable document delivery services. Sherriff does concede, however, that his finding could indicate “that students are unaware of relevant resources in other languages or are aware of them but lack the language skills necessary to use them” (p. 179).

For centuries, the library has embodied one of the greatest intellectual achievements of mankind. Determining the horizon of university research libraries and librarianship, as a rule, is considered in the perspective of their institutional development. The article considers the problems of library business in the conditions of formation of information society in Ukraine. The analysis of the scientific and information base of the research reveals that the leading topics in the scientific literature are the issues of material and technical support of libraries, financing of the library industry, introduction of innovative management in library services, training of library specialists. The general conclusion of this investigation is as follows: the problems of development of university libraries are a mirror of the problems of information progress of Ukrainian society and education in Ukraine.

The open science and research (OSR) movement has been shaping the world of scholarly communication for a few years now. In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture promoted research information availability and open science through the Open Science and Research Initiative. As a part of this initiative, an evaluation of the openness of Finnish research organizations was completed. The first evaluation indicated that OSR functions needed clearer guidelines and a coordinating unit to further improve the cultural maturity in Lahti University of Applied Sciences (LAMK). Furthermore, the scholarly publishing activities also needed a new home base due to organizational changes. As the information and library services had the basic understanding of scholarly publishing, different publishing channels and responsible conduct of research, it was decided that the library takes on these responsibilities.
 For the new challenges, the traditional information specialist skills set needed updating. New skills were acquired via both formal and informal learning, benchmarking and trial-and-error. These new skills were immediately put to use in LAMK by creating a new open access publishing platform, organizing workshops and lectures for the staff and creating organizational guidelines for open RDI practices. The next organizational maturity evaluation ranking round proved the library’s new expertise, as LAMK climbed two levels up, being the second highest university of applied sciences in Finland.
 As for the role of the information specialists, the new role as OSR experts have opened up new possibilities within the organization. They are now seen more as possible partners in different RDI activities, participating in project work and further developing the way openness is being carried out in all aspects of RDI and teaching. The paper offers a case example of how library professionals can diversify and update their skills pool and shape the future of their profession.

Schools that support collaboration between teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS) outperform those that do not. Teachers at a rural Georgia middle school were not using the library media program or being trained on how to collaborate with the SLMS to promote student achievement. Guided by Bruner's socioconstructivist theory of learning, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate teachers' experiences with integrating technology and information literacy into the curriculum and to examine the collaborative services the SLMS could provide to enhance integration. Eight teachers in Grades 6th through 8th comprised the sample. Data sources included teacher lesson plans and interviews. Data analysis included line-by-line coding of interviews and lesson plans to generate themes. According to study results, teachers were limiting the integration of technology and information literacy into the curriculum because of their lack of awareness of the SLMS's role as an instructional partner, students' lack of information literacy skills, fear, and time constraints. The resulting project was a series of professional development sessions to increase awareness among teachers of the role of the SLMS as an instructional partner in promoting technology use and information literacy among students. This project may facilitate social change by promoting a collaborative culture as teachers and SLMS work together to expose students to information literacy and technology, ultimately creating students who are skillful researchers and critical thinkers, better prepared for lifelong learning.

Studies conducted in numerous states by various researchers demonstrate that library media specialists who take an active role in the instructional process positively impact student achievement in their schools. Principals are the instructional leaders of their schools, yet the research indicates that they are not knowledgeable regarding the role of the library media specialist. This study explored Virginia elementary school principals' perceptions of the instructional role of the library media specialist, the effect of library schedule on these perceptions, and the origin of these perceptions. Principals who responded to the study strongly endorsed the role of library media specialist as teacher of information literacy skills and as instructional partner. There was no statistically significant difference in perceptions based on the type of library schedule in place—fixed, flexible, or mixed/combination. Respondents indicated that they learn about the instructional role of the library media specialist from library media specialists with whom they work, either in their current positions as principals or through their previous experiences as classroom teachers. Principals form their views based on both negative and positive interactions with library media specialists and base their expectations of their current and future library media specialists on these prior experiences and expectations. This finding indicates that school library media specialist preparation programs should prepare their graduates to positively present their key instructional role and that training in this area should be provided for those library media specialists already in the field. Another key finding was that principals place primary responsibility for initiation of collaboration at both the individual teacher and the school level with the library media specialist. Further research is warranted to explore how principals facilitate full implementation of the instructional role of the library media specialist in their schools.

School impact media studies indicate that a well-staffed and funded school library media program with a certified school library media specialist (SLMS) positively correlates with increased student achievement. SLMS must have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities to positively impact student success. In an effort to determine prior knowledge and differentiated learning objectives, the method of certification is critical for planning professional development. This dissertation presents a multi-method investigation of differences between Alternatively Certified (AC) and Traditionally Certified (TC) SLMS as it relates to their perceptions of collaboration, leadership and technology described in Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (1998). The overall findings were used to generate recommendations for SLMS professional development. Of 2350 total SLMS in Florida, 161 AC and 318 TC SLMS responded to an online job task analysis. The strength of association between method of certification and perceptions of job tasks under the three themes (collaboration, leadership, and technology) were compared using statistical analysis (i.e. variance, standard deviation, t-tests, chi-square tests, and ANOVA). Longitudinal comparisons were made between this study and baselines studies from 1996 and 2006. There were no significant differences between AC and TC overall perceptions of collaboration, leadership and technology as indicated by the job task analysis survey. Two tasks within collaboration and technology themes had large significant differences in AC and TC responses. TC SLMS were more likely to "Assist students and/or teachers with general references services (e.g., answer reference questions)" and to "Evaluate the adequacy and suitability of facilities, equipment, materials, and services with regard to their impact on learning outcomes." TC SLMS were significantly more familiar with IP2, made more attempts to implement IP2, and attended more in-services on IP2. Observations and interviews with two AC and two TC SLMS triangulated the survey data and explored questions related to professional development. Interview participants advocated for content developed by other SLMS and mentorship training. SLMS asserted that professional development should include school and county protocols, evaluation tools and methods, relevant and accessible technologies (i.e. school and district software, Student Information System, Library Databases Standards such as CORE Curriculum). The SLMS indicated a preference for the following professional development methods: SLMS designed and implemented professional development; formal and informal SLMS sharing; differentiation and options to opt-out based on prior experiences and expertise; relevant and accessible technology training; and mentorship. These findings inform ways to effectively recruit, train, certify, and differentiate instruction in SLMS programs and professional development courses. Furthermore, our qualitative findings indicate a need to examine the impact of reduced budgets on school library media programs. Future studies should investigate the impact of increased numbers of non-certified SLMS and cuts to library staff on student achievement and K-12 learning communities. While this study counted the total number of non-certified SLMS in addition to the AC and TC SLMS, results from the sample of non-certified SLMS collected during the job task analysis were not analyzed because it was too small for comparison or generalizability.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the collection development practices of electronic resources at the University of Namibia (UNAM) library and its constituent branches. Collection development is one of the critical activities of any library management process; therefore, the goal of collection development in university libraries is to effectively provide relevant and up-to-date information resources. The main aims of the study were: to explore the collection development procedures and policies for electronic resources at the UNAM library; to investigate the factors that influence the collection development of information resources; to assess the extent which teaching staff and subject librarians are involved in collection development at the UNAM library; to discover the barriers to effective collection development of electronic resources at the UNAM library; and to determine the influence of the UNAM library budget allocation on the collection development of electronic resources. The population of the study comprised of 291 teaching staff from all eight faculties of UNAM. A total of 149 faculty members responded to the survey, which gave a response rate of 51.2%, while a total number of 16 library staff were interviewed. The study employed a quantitative approach, and the qualitative approach was applied on the part of the library staff. For quantitative data collection, the study used a self-administered questionnaire, while for qualitative data, the study used an interview schedule with library staff. The data from the interviews were used to complement the data from the survey. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, while the qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The study revealed that not all faculty members are aware of the guideline, procedure, and policies on the collection development activities. Eighty one percent (81%) of the respondents are aware of the importance of their role in selecting library materials, 72% are aware of acquiring books, and 67% are aware of the budget allocated to their faculty. The majority totaling 94% of the faculty members are not aware of weeding or disposal of library books, followed by 83% who are not aware of collection evaluation, and 81% are not aware of the collection development policy in place at the UNAM library. From the data collected, the study found that a majority (67%) of faculty members are aware of ICTs used in collection development activities. Even though the majority of faculty members are aware of ICTs used in collection development activities, (45%) faculty members are not aware that ICTs can be used in collection development. The major challenge facing the UNAM library is the absence of the collection development policy, which makes it difficult for the teaching staff, students, and library staff to understand all the issues related to the collection development of electronic resources in the library. Another challenge is the inadequacy of funds to cater for the increasing costs of electronic resources in various subject fields.<br>Information Science<br>M. A. (Information Science)

Research information management systems (RIMS) are the emerging new service in academic and research libraries. RIMS support universities and libraries in managing their institute, faculty, and researcher information through a single interface. They also allow the researcher to deposit and share their research with the public and enable the reuse of that research. An implementation of RIMS in universities or libraries ensures the proper management of research information for future use. RIMS disseminates research information and publications and supports data, academic, and administrative work by faculty and researchers. Traditionally, an institutional repository, digital library, and research data management software were used to manage research information as part of an institutional repository, but these applications have failed to manage more specialist researcher information and more detailed faculty profiles, etc. Consequently, various specialist software companies have brought RIMS onto the market with applications and products that meet the requirements of individual researchers, libraries, and universities in the management of research information. This chapter provides a comparative evaluation of RIMS (i.e., PURE-Elsevier, Converis-Thomson Routers, and Symplectic Elements). This study contributes towards an understanding of RIMS and assists with the selection of the appropriate software application for implementation of a RIMS system in universities and libraries.

The University of Nevada, Reno Libraries is building a project and assessment-based organization that utilizes applications to increase the discovery of digital collections, enhances the online user experience, supports a growing Digital Humanities measure on campus, and encourages faculty and students to create projects using digital curation and various existing tools. A GeoHumanities Digital Project Specialist and Digital Humanities Historian were added to the library organization to create interactive exhibits. ESRI software was employed to create place-based storytelling using digital content held by CONTENTdm, CatDV, and other library platforms. By reimagining how we use such tools at our disposal, we can create new ways of interacting with information to create innovative ways for our patrons to re-engage with our materials.

The study analyzes the publications on the research literature on RSS feed during 2008-2018. It is found that 175 publications only brought out by the researchers in the core area of computer science, library science, and engineering related field of research. The study analyzes that information science and library science areas are seen as the predominant areas, which have a plurality (39; 28.2%) of the publications distributed in the field. Shell International Ltd has the most (10; 5.71%) publications. USA occupied the top country. It contributed (10; 48%) of the publications on RSS Feed during the period of study.

The professional inquiry (a researcher training and development course) was introduced into the Master of Education program at Massey University, New Zealand in 2014 as a practitioner-based alternative to the research thesis pathway. In contrast with traditional, independent, time intensive models of postgraduate research supervision, the authors developed and implemented an innovative blended learning model of postgraduate research training and development to ensure the growing demand of future, predominantly distance, students would be met. The online, blended model developed and discussed here within the discipline of Education has the potential to be utilized across different disciplines and postgraduate programs including those at doctoral level. In its fifth year of delivery, the online community has grown from nine students and seven specialist academic advisors in the first cohort to 45 students and 27 academics in the current offering, ensuring an accessible and equitable research learning experience for all students.

Graduate students in the humanities increasingly view training in the use of digital tools and methodologies as critical to their success. Graduate students' interest in becoming familiar with digital tools often accompanies their awareness of a competitive academic job market, coupled with a recognition that teaching and research positions increasingly call for experience and skills in the Digital Humanities (DH). Likewise, recent debates over DH's role in the future of humanities scholarship have heightened the sense that DH skills can translate to crucial job skills. While many graduate students receive encouragement from faculty to pursue digital scholarship, individual academic departments often have limited resources to prioritize the development of these skills at the expense of existing curricular components. This chapter looks at initiatives at the University of Michigan Library that demonstrate the ways in which subject librarians, in collaboration with data and technology specialist librarians, can fill this gap by creating opportunities for graduate students to develop DH skills.

This chapter examines the school librarian (SL) in rural China in terms of his/her roles as the school information specialist and reading programme catalyst. The analysis is based on case study observations from site visits and interviews over a four-year period. The analysis surfaced key obstacles faced by the librarians, including: low knowledge base and expertise, limited material resources, and a lack of understanding of their roles by stakeholders within their communities. To alleviate these impediments, the importance of the SL’s roles needs to be understood by the school’s stakeholders, enabling the school librarian to be recognized as a skilled professional with an important and unique contribution to the educational process.

The ability to navigate the web and to use technology effectively and efficiently is no longer an option but a requirement in schools and in the workplace. Information literacy is widely accepted as embracing rapid advances in technologies and recognizing the multiple literacies required of students living and learning in this century. Information literacy has grown to include traditional literacy, computer literacy, media literacy, and network literacy. School library media specialists in the twenty-first century face both challenges and opportunities in the recent high expectations of information literacy. Among the challenges is keeping up with changing technologies and taking the necessary steps to ensure students and teachers have appropriate access to resources and instruction. Opportunities include the chance to transform today’s library into a resource center of the future where information literacy can be easily obtained. Welcome to the world of Ms. West, a middle school teacher turned high school librarian, and see how she ponders upon her new role as being the instructor/specialist of information literacy skills on the campus, a reading advocate and provider of reading materials, as the manager of the resources both information and library resources, and lastly being a collaborator with teachers concerning information literacy issues.

It is the goal of this chapter is to explore the challenges inherent to a “post-fact” society through the lens of the school public information specialist and the library media specialist. The role of the school public information officer (PIO) has changed with the proliferation of opinion as “fact” on the internet and social media. Educating the public on all school-related matters, PIOs must be media-literate, effective content consumers and content generators, with the skills to gauge and predict the opinions of their voting public. Similarly, library media specialists tasked with educating students as consumers of information in the fast-paced, “on demand” digital age requires an understanding of their evolving role as content generators. Effective media literacy instruction encompasses more than simply using technology and electronic media in the educational setting. Rather, it begins with the understanding that students are ill equipped to critically evaluate the electronic mediums they so closely identify with.

It is the goal of this chapter is to explore the challenges inherent to a “post-fact” society through the lens of the school public information specialist and the library media specialist. The role of the school public information officer (PIO) has changed with the proliferation of opinion as “fact” on the internet and social media. Educating the public on all school-related matters, PIOs must be media-literate, effective content consumers and content generators, with the skills to gauge and predict the opinions of their voting public. Similarly, library media specialists tasked with educating students as consumers of information in the fast-paced, “on demand” digital age requires an understanding of their evolving role as content generators. Effective media literacy instruction encompasses more than simply using technology and electronic media in the educational setting. Rather, it begins with the understanding that students are ill equipped to critically evaluate the electronic mediums they so closely identify with.

Characteristic of web-based science communication has been given. The paper specifies services, instruments and programmes which make it possible to realise professional communication of various forms. Advantages of virtual science communication in the Internet environment have been presented.