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This paper investigates the information architecture (IA) of American and Arab academic websites in light of Hofestede's theory of culture and Marcus's elements of design reflecting culture. Using 60 academic websites from American and Arab cultures, the results show that IA is influenced by the cultural dimension of Power Distance and suggest that web designers and developers should strongly consider cultural factors when making design decisions, particularly those related to IA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the library profession has long defended readers' privacy, a public library patron's personal information is no longer solely in the hands of intrepid librarians determined to defend intellectual freedom. Libraries use vendors to provide a large portion of their digital content. These vendors gain access to extensive personal information about patrons. Libraries often must negotiate with content providers to ensure privacy protections for their patrons that are in accordance with the American Library Association's Code of Ethics. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of the privacy policies of five of the top digital content vendors of American public libraries. We examined whether these privacy policies (1) meet the privacy standards of the library community, (2) meet other industry standards, and (3) are accessible and understandable to public library patrons. Our results demonstrate that while vendors are largely meeting the Fair Information Practices standards of American industry, the policies fail to meet the heightened standards of the library community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the value of dates in the life cycle of the digital resource, capturing and storing dates metadata in a structured way can have a significant impact on information retrieval. There are a number of format conventions in common use for encoding the date and time values; the Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) is one of the most expressive. This paper presents results of an exploratory analysis of representation of dates in over 8 million metadata records from one of the largest digital aggregators, Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), and compares it to EDTF specifications. This benchmark study provides empirical data - at both the individual provider level and the group level (content hubs or service hubs) - about the overall level and patterns of application of date metadata in DPLA metadata records in relation to EDTF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the use of mobile technology- specifically, smartphones and tablet computers-in outdoor public markets in Australia and the United States, based on a survey and interview (n=44) conducted with attendees in public markets. After noting that past research in a variety of disciplines is deficient in regards to its assessment of technology use in such public spaces, we explore the different reasons and situations in which mobile technology is used in them, identifying the most prevalent problems and deficiencies encountered. We provide a foundation on which future work that examines communal public spaces and the use of technology can be based, and promote a broader view of how technology is used for information seeking and communication in such spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

User Experience (UX) is gaining momentum as a critical success factor across all industries and sectors, including libraries. While usability studies of library websites and related digital interfaces are commonplace, UX is becoming an increasingly popular topic of discussion in the community and is emerging as a new specialization for library professionals. To better understand this phenomenon, this paper reports the results of a qualitative study involving interviews with 16 librarians who have "User Experience" in their official job titles. The results show that UX Librarians share a user-centered mindset and many common responsibilities, including user research, usability testing, and space/service assessments, but each individual UX Librarian is also somewhat unique in how they approach and describe their work. As a whole, the research sheds light on an emerging library specialization and provides a valuable snapshot of the current state of UX Librarianship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People around the world have developed many strategies to thrive with diabetes by harnessing health information about themselves and the health condition in general. This study examines the information management strategies (i.e., what people do with the information they gathered) employed by diabetes patients and how these strategies help them reach their health outcome goals. We conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews and photo-documentation with 52 people living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in the US and in China. These participants introduced us to a wide variety of information management strategies that take advantage of space, people and technology. Many of these strategies involve intricate data mining, information visualization, space and technology connectivity management, artwork, and other skills and techniques that are not well supported by existing tools, services and the social contexts. Our findings suggest that the personal information management activities observed in previous studies are not independent of one another. Strategies, or a personalized collection of information management activities and information items, can be just as important as their individual parts. Also, US participants reported performing different strategies at different frequencies compared to their Chinese counterparts, supporting that social contexts can influence how people manage their information. These findings can point to important directions of future developments in technology and health care services, as well as their application in various social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public library systems intersect with both public and private spheres of social life, but how they do so remains a mystery. Many believe private influences distort the public sphere in public libraries, and if so, then library legitimacy suffers, raising normative and material concerns for library systems. To better understand how libraries negotiate public legitimacy and private influence, we approached the problem using a communications system framework. We used qualitative content analysis to examine data from three US public library systems: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, New York Public Library, and Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, Massachusetts. We recorded the many ways private actors communicate with and through public library systems. Then, we analyzed the signals in terms of their components: transmitter, receiver, medium, and message. We found two dimensions: in the Public Sphere dimension, private actors govern, legitimate, and use the library, and in the Private Sphere dimension, private actors exchange personal services and exert economic power. We describe the communication channels shared by private actors and public library systems, identify signals associated with governance, influence, and legitimacy, and consider how these signals relate. This study explores the signal architectures of social life in public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States' battle against sexual human trafficking, the nascent integration of criminal justice and social service agency work is severely hampered by an array of information problems, which are amenable to mitigation from Information Studies scholars. Naïve information organization and infrastructure design undermine many of these integrated projects. More critical however, is their general focus on process with little reference to supporting victims' personal agency through their required mastery of information resources. Using a systematic analysis of current scholarly research articles on sexual human trafficking, this study identified 31 research and application projects developed in reference to concrete support for government and social service agencies. For each study, analysis examines the nature of the victims' personal information agency, as well as the primary actors in each information situation. Disciplinary distinctions regarding the human rights approach to prostitution, underpin many of Information Studies' missed opportunities for contributing to agency effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]