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The probable impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on work, including professional work, is contested, but it is unlikely to leave them untouched. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to consider the likelihood of the adoption of different approaches to AI in academic libraries. As theoretical lenses to guide the analysis the paper draws on both the library and information science (LIS) literature on librarians' competencies and the notions of jurisdiction and hybrid logics drawn from the sociological theory of the professions. The paper starts by outlining these theories and then reviews the nature of AI and the range of its potential uses in academic libraries. The main focus of the paper is on the application of AI to knowledge discovery. Eleven different potential approaches libraries might adopt to such AI applications are analyzed and their likelihood evaluated. Then it is considered how a range of internal and external factors might influence the adoption of AI. In addition to reflecting on the possible impact of AI on librarianship the paper contributes to understanding how to synthesize the competencies literature with the theory of the profession and presents a new understanding of librarians as hybrid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether free access to scientific literature increases the participation of under‐represented groups in scientific discourse. To this end, we aggregate and match data tracing access to Sci‐Hub, a widely used black open access (OA) repository or shadow library, and publication data from the Web of Science (WoS). We treat the emergence of Sci‐Hub as an exogenous event granting relatively unrestricted access to publications, which are otherwise hidden behind a paywall. We analyze changes in the publication count of researchers from developing countries in a given journal as a proxy for general participation in scientific discourse. Our results indicate that in the exemplary field of mathematics, free access to academic knowledge is likely to improve the representation of authors from developing countries in international journals. Assuming the desirability of greater international diversity in science (e.g., to generate more original work, reproduce empirical findings in different settings, or shift the research focus toward topics that are overlooked by researchers from more developed countries), our findings lend evidence to the claim of the OA movement that scientific knowledge should be free and widely distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper identifies future directions for information practices theoretical discourses addressing marginality, community, and embodiment. We extend arguments from critical research identifying how existing discourses fail to capture the nuanced, lived experiences of people and communities confronting marginalization, predominantly via their reinforcement of deficit narratives. We then connect a series of qualitative projects examining the information practices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual communities in the American South with relevant Library and Information Science (LIS) research to examine how marginality, community, and embodiment shape these practices. Specifically, we introduce a conceptual model that describes marginality by framing information practices as tactical and agentic responses to and refutations of social and structural barriers and risks. While some of the information practices of participants and communities appear to be uninformed or unsafe, they represent the products of community sharing and vetting. Embodied navigations further inform participant practices as they navigate information worlds produced and informed by their intersectional identities. These arguments coincide with key categories established within our model that describe information practices: defensive and protective, and community and self. Based on these insights, we offer directions for future research and theory to reorient existing discourses in ways that inspire middle‐range theory building that fully captures people's lived experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief communication builds on the application of content-based image retrieval (CBIR) and reverse image lookup (RIL), a graduated form of CBIR, as assessment tools for digital library image reuse. It combines literature on the definition, history, usefulness, and limitations of RIL and includes a brief analysis of the 4 published digital library image reuse assessment case studies. In its conclusion, the communication paper proposes that RIL offers benefits for digital library managers in the assessment of their collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the usefulness of OpenAIRE, BASE, Recolecta, and Google Scholar (GS) for evaluating open access (OA) policies that demand a deposit in a repository. A case study was designed focusing on 762 financed articles with a project of FIS‐2012 of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Spanish national health service's main management body for health research. Its finance is therefore subject to the Spanish Government OA mandate. A search was carried out for full‐text OA copies of the 762 articles using the four tools being evaluated and with identification of the repository housing these items. Of the 762 articles concerned, 510 OA copies were found of 353 unique articles (46.3%) in 68 repositories. OA copies were found of 81.9% of the articles in PubMed Central and copies of 49.5% of the articles in an institutional repository (IR). BASE and GS identified 93.5% of the articles and OpenAIRE 86.7%. Recolecta identified just 62.2% of the articles deposited in a Spanish IR. BASE achieved the greatest success, by locating copies deposited in IR, while GS found those deposited in disciplinary repositories. None of the tools identified copies of all the articles, so they need to be used in a complementary way when evaluating OA policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries increasingly offer much of their collection online, rendering it invisible or unavailable to readers who, for reasons of information experience, prefer to browse the shelves. Although the evidence that shelf browsing is an important part of information behavior is increasing, information browsing as a behavior is somewhat of a black box (in contrast to web browsing, which is relatively well understood). It seems likely from early work that browsing is not, in fact, a monolithic behavior, but rather a set of behaviors and goals. The typologies presented in these works, however, are of a too high level to offer much insight into what support is needed for successful online browsing. In contrast, a recent spate of speculative browsing technologies meet some browsing needs, but offer little theoretical understanding of how systems support browsing. The major contribution of this article is a new typology of library browsing behavior based on recent observations of browsing behavior in libraries. The secondary contribution is an understanding of the interface features that would support these types of information browsers in an online environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, cultural heritage institutions have been exploring the benefits of applying Linked Open Data to their catalogs and digital materials. Innovative and creative methods have emerged to publish and reuse digital contents to promote computational access, such as the concepts of Labs and Collections as Data. Data quality has become a requirement for researchers and training methods based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. This article explores how the quality of Linked Open Data made available by cultural heritage institutions can be automatically assessed. The results obtained can be useful for other institutions who wish to publish and assess their collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation explores the initial impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on live chat virtual reference services (VRS) in academic libraries and on user behaviors from March to December 2020 using Goffman's theoretical framework (1956, 1967, 1971). Data from 300 responses by academic librarians to two longitudinal online surveys and 28 semi‐structured interviews were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Results revealed that academic librarians were well‐positioned to provide VRS as university information hubs during pandemic shutdowns. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants received gratitude for VRS help, but also experienced frustrations and angst with limited accessibility during COVID‐19. Participants reported changes including VRS volume, level of complexity, and question topics. Results reveal the range and frequency of new services with librarians striving to make personal connections with users through VRS, video consultations, video chat, and other strategies. Participants found it difficult to maintain these connections, coping through grit and mutual support when remote work became necessary. They adapted to challenges, including isolation, technology learning curves, and disrupted work routines. Librarians' responses chronicle their innovative approaches, fierce determination, emotional labor, and dedication to helping users and colleagues through this unprecedented time. Results have vital implications for the future of VRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, one of the most effective tools applied in combating the erosion of public trust in academic research has been an increased level of transparency in the peer review and editorial process. Publicly available publication ethics guidelines and policies are vital in creating a transparent process that prevents unethical research, publication misconduct, manipulation of the communication of research to practitioners, and the erosion of public trust. This study investigated how these unethical practices, specifically those coded as editorial misconduct, bring the authenticity and integrity of the library and information science academic research digital record into question. Employing a multi‐layered approach, including key informant interviews, researchers determined the frequency and the content of ethical publishing policies and procedures in library and information science journals; exploring the ways the lack of, or nonadherence to these policies and procedures impacted library and information science researchers in instances of editorial misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although digital humanities (DH) has received a lot of attention in recent years, its status as "a discipline in its own right" (Schreibman et al., A companion to digital humanities (pp. xxiii–xxvii). Blackwell; 2004) and its position in the overall academic landscape are still being negotiated. While there are countless essays and opinion pieces that debate the status of DH, little research has been dedicated to exploring the field in a systematic and empirical way (Poole, Journal of Documentation; 2017:73). This study aims to contribute to the existing research gap by comparing articles published over the past three decades in three established English‐language DH journals (Computers and the Humanities, Literary and Linguistic Computing, Digital Humanities Quarterly) with research articles from journals in 15 other academic disciplines (corpus size: 34,041 articles; 299 million tokens). As a method of analysis, we use latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, combined with recent approaches that aggregate topic models by means of hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Our findings indicate that DH is simultaneously a discipline in its own right and a highly interdisciplinary field, with many connecting factors to neighboring disciplines—first and foremost, computational linguistics, and information science. Detailed descriptive analyses shed some light on the diachronic development of DH and also highlight topics that are characteristic for DH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University libraries are partnering with disciplinary data producers to provide long‐term digital curation of research data sets. Managing data set producer expectations and guiding future development of library services requires understanding the decisions libraries make about curatorial activities, why they make these decisions, and the effects on future data reuse. We present a study, comprising interviews (n = 43) and ethnographic observation, of two university libraries who partnered with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) collaboration to curate a significant astronomy data set. The two libraries made different choices of the materials to curate and associated services, which resulted in different reuse possibilities. Each of the libraries offered partial solutions to the SDSS leaders' objectives. The libraries' approaches to curation diverged due to contextual factors, notably the extant infrastructure at their disposal (including technical infrastructure, staff expertise, values and internal culture, and organizational structure). The Data Transfer Process case offers lessons in understanding how libraries choose curation paths and how these choices influence possibilities for data reuse. Outcomes may not match data producers' initial expectations but may create opportunities for reusing data in unexpected and beneficial ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on assigned indexing considers three possible viewpoints—the author's viewpoint as evidenced in the title, the users' viewpoint, and the indexer's viewpoint—and asks whether and which of those views should be reflected in an indexer's choice of terms to assign to an item. We study this question empirically, as opposed to normatively. Based on the literature that discusses whose viewpoints should be reflected, we construct a research model that includes those same three viewpoints as factors that might be influencing term assignment in actual practice. In the unique study design that we employ, the records of term assignments made by identified indexers in academic libraries are cross‐referenced with the results of a survey that those same indexers completed on political views. Our results indicate that in our setting, variance in term assignment was best explained by indexers' personal political views. © 2019 ASIS&T [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the problem of preserving research software within the wider realm of digital curation, academic research libraries, and the scholarly record. We conducted a pilot study to understand the ecosystem in which research software participates, and to identify significant characteristics that have high potential to support future scholarly practices. A set of topical curation dimensions were derived from the extant literature and applied to select cases of institutionally significant research software. This approach yields our main contribution, a curation model and decision framework for preserving research software as a scholarly object. The results of our study highlight the unique characteristics and challenges at play in building curation services in academic research libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations have recognized that engaging with customers on social media is now a critical element of their public relations strategy, but many struggle to find the optimal way to use these new tools. This study examined the success factors of online posts from organizations in evoking a high level of response from group members. Specifically, appeals to community belongingness were discovered to be effective at motivating user engagement on social media. The impact of community‐focused language on garnering likes, comments, and shares was assessed using a methodology that combined text analytics, supervised machine learning, and multilevel regression. In 51,760 postings from 100 academic libraries, it was found that general community appeals increase likes by 60%, comments by 130%, and shares by 39%, whereas specific intracommunity, locally meaningful references increase likes by 16% and shares by 12%. These findings have both theoretical implications, as they constitute a large‐scale, empirical confirmation of the belongingness hypothesis from social psychology, and practical implications, as they suggest best practices for maintaining an organizational online presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today there is the emerging horizon of smart infrastructure due to rapid developments in artificial intelligence, embedded sensing, pervasive computing, and ubiquitous mobility. To navigate this landscape and drive innovations, Virginia Tech launched the strategic development of Intelligent Infrastructure for Human Centered Communities or IIHCC. It is timely to study the integrative design process and transdisciplinary discourse for the "smart" future. This study employed qualitative research methods including ethnographic participant observation, document analysis, and semistructured interviews. The mixed‐methods approach is especially useful for capturing typical scenarios, emergent issues, and practical examples surrounding the smart infrastructure endeavors and the array of challenges and creative frictions encountered. Taking a sociotechnical perspective, this study explored how IIHCC can achieve significant program synergies and inspire new collaborations across intellectual boundaries. Furthermore, it investigated how libraries can work collaboratively and constructively with the community to build a stimulating culture of a transdisciplinary mechanism and collective intelligence. Tying all these together, the study then discusses how we can achieve a synergistic discourse by way of data as distinct unifiers for cross‐domain collaborations. It concludes by presenting multidimensional opportunities and multispectral engagement for libraries to potentially chart a new course and become a driving force in this evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptual model of the Academic Library (AL) service quality is hypothesized in the present article, and then validated and analyzed by a novel evaluation approach. Specifically, the conceptual model integrates the fundamental attributes of the canonical AL service together with those more relevant of the new and widely considered AL Electronic Service (e-services). As concerns the evaluation approach, it incorporates the Fuzzy Sets Theory (FST) so as to deal with the students' uncertainty over their own judgments on the AL service quality and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to validate the conceptual model and to determine the key drivers of the AL service quality. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is proved by an empirical study concerning the AL of the Polytechnic School of the University of Palermo (Italy). Data collected via a survey involving more than 600 students are used, and the key drivers of the AL service quality are found out. Particularly, the obtained results reveal that Collections and materials represents the main driver of the AL service quality followed by Infrastructure and Access to the service, whereas Staff plays the fundamental role of interface between AL service aspects and students' needs and necessities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports an international study of research data management (RDM) activities, services, and capabilities in higher education libraries. It presents the results of a survey covering higher education libraries in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK. The results indicate that libraries have provided leadership in RDM, particularly in advocacy and policy development. Service development is still limited, focused especially on advisory and consultancy services (such as data management planning support and data-related training), rather than technical services (such as provision of a data catalog, and curation of active data). Data curation skills development is underway in libraries, but skills and capabilities are not consistently in place and remain a concern. Other major challenges include resourcing, working with other support services, and achieving "buy in" from researchers and senior managers. Results are compared with previous studies in order to assess trends and relative maturity levels. The range of RDM activities explored in this study are positioned on a "landscape maturity model," which reflects current and planned research data services and practice in academic libraries, representing a "snapshot" of current developments and a baseline for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The omnipresence and escalating efficiency of digital, networked information systems alongside the resulting deluge of digital corpora, apps, software, and data has coincided with increased concerns in the humanities with new topics and methods of inquiry. In particular, digital humanities (DH), the subfield that has emerged as the site of most of this work, has received growing attention in higher education in recent years. This study seeks to facilitate a better understanding of digital humanities by studying the motivations and practices of digital humanists as information workers in the humanities. To this end, we observe information work through interviews with DH scholars about their work practices and through a survey of DH programs such as graduate degrees, certificates, minors, and training institutes. In this study we focus on how the goals behind methodology (a link between theories and method) surface in everyday DH work practices and in DH curricula in order to investigate if the critiques that have appeared in relation to DH information work are well founded and to suggest alternative narratives about information work in DH that will help advance the impact of the field in the humanities and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promise and challenge of information management in the humanities has garnered a great deal of attention and interest (Bulger et al., ; Freiman et al., ; Trace & Karadkar, ; University of Minnesota Libraries, ; Wilson & Patrick, ). Research libraries and archives, as well as groups from within the humanities disciplines themselves, are being tasked with providing robust support for information management practices, including helping to engage humanities scholars with appropriate digital technologies in ways that are sensitive to disciplinary-based cultures and practices. However, significant barriers impede this work, primarily because the infrastructure (services, tools, and collaborative networks) to support scholarly information management is still under development. Under the aegis of the Scholars Tracking Archival Resources (STAR) project we are studying how humanities scholars gather and manage primary source materials with a goal of developing software to support their information management practices. This article reports the findings from our interviews with 26 humanities scholars, in conjunction with a set of initial requirements for a mobile application that will support scholars in capturing documents, recreating the archival context, and uploading these documents to cloud storage for access and sharing from other devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University libraries provide access to thousands of online journals and other content, spending millions of dollars annually on these electronic resources. Providing access to these online resources is costly, and it is difficult both to analyze the value of this content to the institution and to discern those journals that comparatively provide more value. In this research, we examine 1,510 journals from a large research university library, representing more than 40% of the university's annual subscription cost for electronic resources at the time of the study. We utilize a web analytics approach for the creation of a linear regression model to predict usage among these journals. We categorize metrics into two classes: global (journal focused) and local (institution dependent). Using 275 journals for our training set, our analysis shows that a combination of global and local metrics creates the strongest model for predicting full-text downloads. Our linear regression model has an accuracy of more than 80% in predicting downloads for the 1,235 journals in our test set. The implications of the findings are that university libraries that use local metrics have better insight into the value of a journal and therefore more efficient cost content management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As open-access ( OA) publishing funded by article-processing charges ( APCs) becomes more widely accepted, academic institutions need to be aware of the 'total cost of publication' (TCP), comprising subscription costs plus APCs and additional administration costs. This study analyzes data from 23 UK institutions covering the period 2007-2014 modeling the TCP. It shows a clear rise in centrally managed APC payments from 2012 onward, with payments projected to increase further. As well as evidencing the growing availability and acceptance of OA publishing, these trends reflect particular UK policy developments and funding arrangements intended to accelerate the move toward OA publishing (' Gold' OA). Although the mean value of APCs has been relatively stable, there was considerable variation in APC prices paid by institutions since 2007. In particular, 'hybrid' subscription/ OA journals were consistently more expensive than fully OA journals. Most APCs were paid to large 'traditional' commercial publishers who also received considerable subscription income. New administrative costs reported by institutions varied considerably. The total cost of publication modeling shows that APCs are now a significant part of the TCP for academic institutions, in 2013 already constituting an average of 10% of the TCP (excluding administrative costs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]