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The assignment of indexing terms and metadata to documents, data, and other information representations is considered useful, but the utility of including a single term is seldom discussed. The author discusses a simple model of document ordering and then shows how assigning index and metadata labels improves or decreases retrieval performance. The Indexing and Metadata Advantage ( IMA) factor measures how indexing or assigning a metadata term helps (or hurts) ordering performance. Performance values and the associated IMA expressions are computed, consistent with several different assumptions. The economic value associated with various term assignment decisions is developed. The IMA term advantage model itself is empirically validated with computer software that shows that the analytic results obtained agree completely with the actual performance gains and losses found when ordering all sets of 14 or fewer documents. When the formulas in the software are changed to differ from this model, the predictions of the actual performance are erroneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A knowledge map of digital library ( DL) research shows the semantic organization of DL research topics and also the evolution of the field. The research reported in this article aims to find the core topics and subtopics of DL research in order to build a knowledge map of the DL domain. The methodology is comprised of a four-step research process, and two knowledge organization methods (classification and thesaurus building) were used. A knowledge map covering 21 core topics and 1,015 subtopics of DL research was created and provides a systematic overview of DL research during the last two decades (1990-2010). We argue that the map can work as a knowledge platform to guide, evaluate, and improve the activities of DL research, education, and practices. Moreover, it can be transformed into a DL ontology for various applications. The research methodology can be used to map any human knowledge domain; it is a novel and scientific method for producing comprehensive and systematic knowledge maps based on literary warrant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of the 113 academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) was administered to investigate whether Web usability Policies/Standards/Guidelines (PSGs) are in place, the levels of difficulty surrounding implementation, the impact of PSGs on actual usability practice, e.g., testing, resources, etc., and the relationship between ARL ranking and usability practice or PSGs. The response rate was over 74%. Results show that 25 (30%) libraries have PSGs dedicated to Web usability. Seventy-one (85%) libraries have conducted usability testing on their main Web sites, online public access catalogs (OPAC), or lower-level pages. Nevertheless, only seven libraries performed iterative testing of these platforms at pre-, during, and post-design stages. Statistical analysis indicates that having PSGs does not affect the amount of usability testing performed or the resources available for library Web usability initiatives. In addition, ARL ranking has no or little impact on PSGs, testing, or resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the intermix of local citation analysis and survey of journal use and reading patterns for evaluating an academic library's research collection. Journal articles and their cited references from faculties at the University of New South Wales were downloaded from the Web of Science (WoS) and journal impact factors from the Journal Citation Reports. The survey of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) academic staff asked both reader-related and reading-related questions. Both methods showed that academics in medicine published more and had more coauthors per paper than academics in the other faculties; however, when correlated with the number of students and academic staff, science published more and engineering published in higher impact journals. When “recalled” numbers of articles published were compared to “actual” numbers, all faculties over-estimated their productivity by nearly two-fold. The distribution of cited serial references was highly skewed with over half of the titles cited only once. The survey results corresponded with U.S. university surveys with one exception: Engineering academics reported the highest number of article readings and read mostly for research related activities. Citation analysis data showed that the UNSW library provided the majority of journals in which researchers published and cited, mostly in electronic formats. However, the availability of non-journal cited sources was low. The joint methods provided both confirmatory and contradictory results and proved useful in evaluating library research collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exist ample demonstrations that indicators of scholarly impact analogous to the citation-based ISI Impact Factor can be derived from usage data; however, so far, usage can practically be recorded only at the level of distinct information services. This leads to community-specific assessments of scholarly impact that are difficult to generalize to the global scholarly community. In contrast, the ISI Impact Factor is based on citation data and thereby represents the global community of scholarly authors. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of community characteristics on assessments of scholarly impact from usage. We define a journal Usage Impact Factor that mimics the definition of the Thomson Scientific ISI Impact Factor. Usage Impact Factor rankings are calculated on the basis of a large-scale usage dataset recorded by the linking servers of the California State University system from 2003 to 2005. The resulting journal rankings are then compared to the Thomson Scientific ISI Impact Factor that is used as a reference indicator of general impact. Our results indicate that the particular scientific and demographic characteristics of a discipline have a strong effect on resulting usage-based assessments of scholarly impact. In particular, we observed that as the number of graduate students and faculty increases in a particular discipline, Usage Impact Factor rankings will converge more strongly with the ISI Impact Factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems offices that deal with library information technologies have played an important role in academic libraries; however, not much is known about how systems offices are positioned within academic libraries. This study examined the present status and the influence of systems offices by exploring the power differences among five principal functional units based on strategic contingencies theory. A mail questionnaire was sent to the principal functional unit heads of each of 95 university libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries in the United States. A total of 484 questionnaires were sent; 235 questionnaires were returned. The three major findings of this study were that (a) systems offices had more perceived power than all but public services; (b) systems offices had higher levels on contingency variables than did most of the other units; and finally, (c) criticality was a factor affecting perceived power between systems offices and most of the other units. The study findings imply that strategic contingencies theory may be partially applicable to library settings. Library staff or units may strategically increase their power by aligning their services with goals critical to their library and cooperating with other staff or other units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors propose a bibliometric model for discarding journal volumes at academic libraries, i.e., removal to offsite storage as part of the library's serials collection. The method is based on the volume as the unit of measurement and on user satisfaction with given titles. The discarding age, calculated for each volume, from the year of publication to the year of decision to discard, is dependent on citation half-life, relative productivity, knowledge area, and residual utility (potential consultations). The model makes it possible to predict the approximate size of a collection when a stationary state is reached in which the inflow of journal volumes is equal to the outflow from discarding. The model is also able to determine the rate of growth of the holdings. This information can be used to optimize future use of available space and economic and maintenance resources; thus promoting efficient management of the collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the cycle of scholarly communication, scholars play the role of both consumer and contributor of intellectual works within the stores of recorded knowledge. In the digital environment scholars are seeking and using information in new ways and generating new types of scholarly products, many of which are specialized resources for access to research information. These practices have important implications for the collection and organization of digital access resources. Drawing on a series of qualitative studies investigating the information work of scientists and humanities scholars, specific information seeking activities influenced by the Internet and two general modes of information access evident in research practice are identified in this article. These conceptual modes of access are examined in relation to the digital access resources currently being developed by researchers in the humanities and neuroscience. Scholars' modes of access and their “working” and “implicit” assemblages of information represent what researchers actually do when gathering and working with research materials and therefore provide a useful framework for the collection and organization of access resources in research libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A "new model" academic chemistry library is proposed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in which primary access to journals is electronic, replacing traditional print access, binding, and shelving. Print journals will continue to be purchased and archived unbound in a remote storage facility following unbound display and access for twelve months. The new model, initially proposed by administrative chemistry faculty, was assessed in a feasibility study which looked at the stability, quantity, and quality of electronic journals; it also included a survey of chemistry faculty, a review of internal management data, and an analysis of use of chemistry journals, both print and electronic. The feasibility study found support for the model in every area, but with a few caution flags and speed bumps predicted along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the accelerating trend of ownership rights in digital property, copyright, in specific. This trend is in contrast to the stated legislative purpose of copyright law to be neutral as to the technology that either owners employ to embody the copyrighted work or that others employ to facilitate access and use of the work. Recent legislative initiatives as well as interpretive court decisions have undermined this important concept. There is an ascendancy of digital ownership rights that threatens to undermine the concept of technological neutrality, which in essence guarantees that ownership and well as "use" rights apply equally to analog and digital environments. The result of this skewing is twofold: an unstable environment with respect to the access and use rights of individuals, institutions, and other users of copyrighted material, and the incentive of copyright owners to present works to the public in digital formats alone, where ownership rights are strongest. This article attempts to plot that digital ascendancy and demonstrate the undermining of neutrality principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users' queries for visual information in American history were studied to identify the image attributes important for retrieval and the characteristics of users' queries for images. The queries were collected from 38 faculty and graduate students of American history in 1999 in a local setting. Pre- and post-test questionnaires and interview were employed to gather users' requests and search terms. The Library of Congress American Memory photo archive was used to search for images. Thirty-eight natural language statements, 185 search terms provided by the participants, and 219 descriptors indicated by the participants in relevant retrieved records were analyzed to find the distribution of subject content of users' queries. Over half of the search requests fell into the category "general/nameable needs." It was also found that most image content was described in terms of kind of person, thing, event, or condition depending on location or time. Title, date, and subject descriptors were mentioned as appropriate representation of image subject content. The result of this study suggests the principle categories of search terms for users in American history, suggesting directions for the development of indexing tools and system design for image retrieval systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usage and user feedback about a state digital library, in which the developers/designers, content providers, different types of libraries and their staffs, and a variety of user groups represent a loose federation of separate organizations with diverse expectations and needs, are investigated. Through corroboratory evidence from usage statistics of Internet-based database services available through the digital library, responses to a statewide-administered library survey, and a Web-based survey of end users, the authors identify contributing factors for the organizational usability of state digital libraries. The authors refine and enhance an organizational usability model for the unique environment of state digital libraries and identify three modes of interaction (influence, communication, activity) and the challenges each interaction presents: in addressing diverse player needs and expectations; the unequal awareness and training in using state digital libraries; and the lack of sufficient communication channels among players. In addition, the findings highlight the double-edged impact of physical libraries on the state digital library. The term and notion of the "half-life" index-number of literature obsolescence, as well as their borrowing from nuclear physics and adaptation into the literature of literature obsolescence, have up to now been attributed to the librarian Burton and the physicist Kebler and to their famous 1960 journal article. In this article it is documented that (1) Burton and Kebler in their 1960 article were not the first to use the term literature "half-life"; (2) it was not Burton and Kebler who borrowed the conception of "half-life" from nuclear physics and not them who adapted it into the literature of literature obsolescence; (3) in their 1960 article Burton and Kebler first made critical and later ambiguous statements, and finally attributed only "some validity" to the idea of literature half-life; (4) Burton and Kebler stated and... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]