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The document provides information on East Asian libraries in North American institutions for the fiscal year 2022-2023. It includes data on physical and electronic collections, fiscal support, staffing, and public services. The document highlights specific collections and acquisitions at certain institutions and mentions challenges faced by some libraries. It also provides contact information for libraries conducting research on East Asian studies. The document offers a comprehensive overview of the East Asian library collections and resources available at these institutions. [Extracted from the article]

There is a need for novel chemical matter for phenotypic and target-based screens to find starting points for drug discovery programmes in neglected infectious diseases and non-hormonal contraceptives that disproportionately affect Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). In some disease areas multiple screens of corporate and other libraries have been carried out, giving rise to some valuable starting points and leading to preclinical candidates. Whilst in other disease areas, little screening has been carried out. Much screening against pathogens has been conducted phenotypically as there are few robustly validated protein targets. However, many of the active compound series identified share the same molecular targets. To address the need for new chemical material, in this article we describe the design of a new library, designed for screening in drug discovery programmes for neglected infectious diseases. The compounds have been selected from the Enamine REAL (REadily AccessibLe) library, a virtual library which contains approximately 4.5 billion molecules. The molecules theoretically can be synthesized quickly using commercially available intermediates and building blocks. The vast majority of these have not been prepared before, so this is a source of novel compounds. In this paper we describe the design of a diverse library of 30,000 compounds from this collection (graphical abstract). The new library will be made available to laboratories working in neglected infectious diseases, subject to a review process. The project has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome). Author summary: Screening of diverse compound libraries is a powerful way to find chemical start points for drug discovery programmes. There is a lack of such chemical libraries available for neglected infectious diseases and other neglected areas such as non-hormonal contraception. In this paper we describe the design of such a library of 30,000 compounds (graphical abstract). The aim was to develop a library of diverse chemical matter unlikely to have been screened in these disease areas. The compounds were selected from the REAL (REadily AccessibLe) Enamine library, a virtual library of 4.5 billion compounds. The methodology for selection of the compounds is described, along with a detailed analysis of the physicochemical properties of the compounds and comparison to other libraries that we have assembled. This shows that the library contains hit/lead-like compounds suitable as chemical start points, and whilst it covers a similar space to some other libraries, the material within the library is mainly different to other libraries. Copies of the library will be made available for screening; the process for gaining access to this library is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the study: The current updated meta-analysis aimed to explore the effects of vitamin D supplementation on various parameters in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), using the latest trials available. Material and methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were screened for the collection of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the efficacy of additional vitamin D vs. the placebo group on NAFLD patients in the last 5 years. Trials included were focused on the assessment of anthropometric and biochemical indices. Results: Our results revealed that additional vitamin D greatly increased serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), and decreased the low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, no significant differences were found in terms of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), c-glutamyltransferase, fasting blood glucose (FBG), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and Ca2+ levels between the supplementation of vitamin D and placebo. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated the advantageous impact of supplementary vitamin D on the levels of 25(OH)D and LDL-C in NAFLD patients. However, the results failed to provide evidence for the superiority of additional vitamin D in relation to the concentrations of serum ALP, AST, TC, Ca, ?-glutamyl transferase (GGT), TC, FBG, IR and HDL-C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to understand the current state of the field of special collections library administration in the United States. Using a dataset gathered through publicly available information about special collections directors from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA), and the Oberlin Group institutional members, the authors explore the educational backgrounds of directors, the types of positions they held prior to taking on their current roles, and the effect of gender on leadership advancement. This article also discusses the similarities and differences between institution types as well as promotions within institutions and across types of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As libraries, archives, and museums make unique digital collections openly available via digital library platforms, they expose these resources to users who may wish to cite them. Often several URLs are available for a single digital object, depending on which route a user took to find it, but the chosen citation URL should be the one most likely to persist over time. Catalyzed by recent digital collections migration initiatives at Indiana University Libraries, this study investigates the prevalence of persistent URLs for digital objects at peer institutions and examines the ways their platforms instruct users to cite them. This study reviewed institutional websites from the Digital Library Federation's (DLF) published list of 195 members and identified representative digital objects from unique digital collections navigable from each institution's main web page in order to determine persistent URL formats and citation options. Findings indicate an equal split between offering and not offering discernible persistent URLs with four major methods used: Handle, DOI, ARK, and PURL. Significant variation in labeling persistent URLs and inclusion in item-specific citations uncovered areas where the user experience could be improved for more reliable citation of these unique resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intriguing new opportunity for research into the nineteenth-century history of print culture, libraries, and local communities is performing full-text analyses on the corpus of books held by a specific library or group of libraries. Creating corpora using books that are known to have been owned by a given library at a given point in time is potentially feasible because digitized records of the books in several hundred nineteenth-century library collections are available in the form of scanned book catalogs: a book or pamphlet listing all of the books available in a particular library. However, there are two potential problems with using those book catalogs to create corpora. First, it is not clear whether most or all of the books that were in these collections have been digitized. Second, the prospect of identifying the digital representations of the books listed in the catalogs is daunting, given the diversity of cataloging practices at the time. This article will report on progress towards developing an automated method to match entries in early nineteenth-century book catalogs with digitized versions of those books, and will also provide estimates of the fractions of the library holdings that have been digitized and made available in the Google Books/HathiTrust corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala, houses the treasures of ancient knowledge in India. It has come in to existence out of royal interest. The kings of Travancore, as a rule, were valorous as well as lovers of art and literature. Srimulam Thirunal was mainly responsible for the spread of Oriental literature throughout the world. It was he who instituted the department for the publication of manuscripts which in due course grew into the present institution. It is located at Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Its origin goes back to the illustrious Maharaja of Travancore, Swati Tirunal (1829-1846). The institute carries out researches on Indian language manuscripts, major part of which are in Sanskrit. Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library has over 65,000 works mostly of palm leaf manuscripts. Currently the Oriental Institute and Manuscript Library is headed by Dr. R. B. Sreekala, Professor and Head of the Department, Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala. The paper highlights the techniques used for the conservation and preservation of the rare manuscript collection in Oriental Research & Manuscript Library, Thiruvananthapuram. It further investigates the hardware and software available for digitizing the invaluable collection of manuscripts for the future generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of a local Jewish community did not prevent medieval Swedish clerics and lay people from being interested in Jews and Jewish questions. They bought, translated, read and preached from most of the available textual sources and thus spread the widely available views of the hermeneutical Jew: a cruel, stubborn and ugly person and at the same time a cipher for the entire Jewish people both in biblical times and today. This article gives an overview of the Latin and vernacular manuscripts with anti-Jewish motifs and texts and shows that the main and most common textual models and motifs were available in Swedish libraries and collections, from legends via apocryphal texts to fake disputations – adding up to a relatively complete ‘hermeneutical Jew’. A focus was, as in the rest of Europe, on Passion-related piety, which was the most common form of piety in the late Middle Ages – and usually connected with distinct anti-Jewish features. The fact that we can establish direct and indirect textual and narrative lines of tradition between the medieval codices and modern printed booklets of the nineteenth century proves the long-lasting intelligibility of anti-Jewish stereotypes in Sweden – developed and spread completely independently from the Jewish minority. The medieval perspective thus adds a much-needed nuance to the debate about antisemitism in the North: it did not need any actual Jews; it simply made up its own, based on the general Christian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents periodicals in the field of library and information science published between 2017 and 2021. The journals dealing with the field as their main or major topic were reviewed, as well as those that have established sections dedicated to librarianship, but are focused on other areas. The analysis is based on the research of sources via COBIB.SR database, and the titles with the hit of at least one issue published during the period 2017-2021 were included. The titles of serial publication available in the collection of the National Library of Serbia were reviewed, as well as those available online. The paper examines the current situation of the professional publishing and its importance for the development of the scientific discipline and practice. At the same time, journals addressing library practice along with other areas were analyzed – literature, arts, history and local topics. The text is an effort to examine the current trends related to publishing periodicals dealing with the theory and practice of librarianship. The results show that the number of scientific journals in 2021 increased compared to the previous period. However, significant number of serial publications issued during the analyzed period belongs to the group of professional magazines dealing with librarianship as their main or major topic. Overall, the analysis of Serbian periodicals on subjects related to library and information activities in the past period shows that they acted as means for active participation in scientific communication, exchange of professional experiences, and promotion of libraries. Also, it shows that their publishers paid great attention to recognizing and fulfilling the needs of the communities in which they operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practically every programming language is equipped with primitive data types, iteration and selection constructs, procedures, functions, class and structure definition, exceptions, and so forth to facilitate program development. These are similar in functionality but may differ a little in syntax. Similarly, libraries and packages for functionalities like collections, input/output, and so forth are available with different names to perform similar functions. A programmer has a hard time memorizing the syntax and features of each programming language. The research aims to choose a single unified high-level programming language, a Unified Programming Language (UPL), whose syntax is like of the most commonly existing programming languages. The benefits of learning and adopting a single programming language for programmers can be comforting, but there are some unintended consequences that need to be addressed. This research has gone through several brainstorming sessions and structured walkthroughs within an accessible community to identify and enlist the issues. The most common concern is the usage of a massive amount of existing code/libraries, which results in uncountable manhours and worthwhile investment spent to build it. The subsequent concerns are the availability of programming tools like IDEs and various commonly required libraries and frameworks related to accessing range of databases, files, network streams, and building GUIs and reports. UPL, when released, will be equipped with all necessary libraries, and will provide a set of tools to hook existing libraries frameworks of existing commonly used programming languages like C/C++, JAVA, PHP, PYTHON, .NET languages and JAVASCRIPT, and more. This may be achieved through employing reflection API and documentation, whichever is appropriate. The UPL requires a compiler to generate binary executable code for various platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010 special issue and a 2011 article on case studies are being combined with the current special collection into the same online special collection page. Summaries of Articles in Special Collection New Technologies in Construction Engineering and Management Research • Li et al. ([6]) presents a new technology that was not widely available in 2010, when the prior special issue was published. The Second Special Collection on Research Methodologies in Construction Engineering and Management is available in the ASCE Library (https://ascelibrary.org/jcemd4/second research methods). This special collection builds on the January 2010 special issue of this journal to provide researchers with critical insights and updated approaches to rigorously conduct research in construction engineering and management (CEM). [Extracted from the article]

Movies beyond the scope of Hollywood and entertainment have shaped notions of race in American culture since the early decades of cinema. A range of nontheatrical sponsors and creators in the US made films to serve practical functions in society—to inform, to organize, to persuade, to promote, etc. The US federal government was a major sponsor of many of these films, which provided American and foreign audiences depictions of race that differed considerably from popular commercial images. For example, Men of the Forest, a film made in 1952 by the United States Information Service focuses on the Hunters, a Black family who owns land and a forestry business in rural Georgia. A documentary of sorts, the film highlights Black life, work, and land ownership in the South in ways not seen in popular feature films of the day. Yet, in the film and others like it, histories of institutional racism are woven into cinematic form and content in ways that are distinct from the entertainment industry. The creators of Men of the Forest omit details of segregation in the South to emphasize the Hunter family as examples of American democracy, a choice suited to the film's Cold War purpose: to counter the anti-American message of Soviet propaganda for foreign audiences. On one hand, by producing and distributing the film, the federal government acknowledged Black farmers and landowners in the Jim Crow South. On the other hand, it avoided the structural inequality surrounding the Hunters to frame their reality as an example of American democratic progress for international circulation. Today, government films like Men of the Forest prompt contemporary reflection on the institutional histories they represent and their evolution into the present. The film and many others are available online due to the digitization of collections from the National Archives, Library of Congress, and elsewhere. With this increase in access, contemporary scholars have the ability to investigate how the federal government and its various internal entities mediated racial ideologies with moving image technologies. As an example of such research, this essay examines Men of the Forest by focusing on the past and present contradictions that arise from its depiction of a Black family with land and an agricultural business in rural Georgia. Two recent events shed light on the histories reflected in the film and their contemporary significance. In 2018, Descendants of Men of the Forest, The Legacy Continues—a documentary created by family members of the film's original participants—contextualized the original production as evidence of the Hunter family's legacy in the community of Guyton, Georgia. Underlying this local effort, Men of the Forest serves as an important historical event and record of the family and the community. On a broader scale, in March 2021, Congress passed a large relief package for disadvantaged minority farmers, intended to help alleviate decades of systemic racism in government agricultural programs. Lawsuits from white farmers and conservative organizations followed quickly, challenging the provision of government aid based on race. In this federal context, Men of the Forest exposes an institutional image of individual success that downplays the structural racism facing people of color, especially those with agricultural livelihoods. Even as politics and legislation evolve, this vision of democracy once exported by the federal government has widespread currency and accumulating effects. The connections between Men of the Forest and these recent events reveal the racial politics at play in government films and the ways in which they take shape in the real world beyond the screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correct identification and proper monitoring are vital components of integrated pest and disease management. The Android application – Smarter Pest Identification Technology (SPIDTECH) – was developed for the digital identification and remote monitoring of insect pests and diseases of rice, corn, coffee, cacao, banana, coconut, sugarcane, tomato, and soybean in the Philippines. SPIDTECH has three main features: the digital identification of insect pests and diseases using a smartphone camera; the digital library that contains images, identification signs, life stages, management practices, and other pertinent information about a pest or disease; and the remote monitoring that enables real-time mapping of reports through user-contributed images and GPS points. The application can identify 71 insects and 63 diseases, while the library features a collection of 104 insects and 89 diseases available in English and Filipino. The identification uses a pretrained Mobile NetV2, a convolutional neural network design by Google for mobile devices. The models were retrained using the pest and disease image dataset collected specifically for this study and logging 55.7–73.3% accuracy. If connected to the internet, devices send image data from the field that are validated and used for model retraining. SPIDTECH recorded more than 7,400 device downloads from March 2019–July 2021 and received 4.8 out of 5 user review ratings. Based on the user-provided registration data in the same period, it has more than 5,600 registered users from 81 provinces with an average user acquisition rate of 266 new users per month. With the current features deployed, the application received more than 8,000 identification requests for different crops. The application has gathered a significant number of users necessary to evaluate the feasibility of the application in assisting in pest and disease identification and remote monitoring for the major crops in the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Library website is the reflection of library resources, services, and all the things about the library. Library website helps the users to access and utilize the services online. The present study investigates the library's website of the top-ranked 30 law institutes of India, ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in the year 2021. The required content information has been collected through searching, browsing, and analyzing the selected library websites of said Institutes from 1st September to 30th October, 2021.It analyzed the General Information of selected 30 law institute's library websites. The study explored that the selected institute's library services and collection and legal databases, remote access eresources. Information is available on library websites GNLUG 88.23%, UPESD 82.35% and IITK 76.47%. WBNUJSK, JMIND, SLSP, NLIUB, SASTRAT, CUB, NLUJAK, ALIM, LPUP, UPESD, PUC have more than 70%. Maximum institutes having SCC online, Lexis Nexis, and MANUPATR, WESTLAW, Hein Online, JASTOR, legal database. All institutes having References Services, Reprographic Services, reading room services, and WEB OPAC/OPAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to assess the information literacy of medical students at the University of Ghana. The convenience sampling technique was used to choose 206 respondents for the study, which yielded a response rate of 93.7 per cent. The study found that the majority of respondents needed information to acquire new knowledge in a subject area and to write assignments or project work. Moreover, most respondents rely on books, electronic books, and journals as their primary sources of knowledge. Furthermore, most respondents stated that they obtain their information via the internet. Additionally, most responders use the databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Again, the majority of respondents are aware of the concept of plagiarism and will acknowledge the author of a book if they use a piece of it in their work or study. Last but not least, respondents' major concerns about information access were low internet speed, high cost of books and other information materials, and information overload. Thus, it is strongly recommended among others that the CHS administration especially the CHS Library should manage and develop their collections in that required and relevant information sources will be available for students to use in their assignments and project works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the level of undergraduates' satisfaction and their perceptions towards library resources and services provided by the Science Library, University of Peradeniya. The survey research method was adopted to achieve the above objectives. A questionnaire was administered to 442 undergraduates of the Faculty of Science. 371 duly filled questionnaires were returned, were then analyzed. The findings revealed that more than 60% of the undergraduates visited the library daily and weekly, while more than 80% of them visited the library for multiple purposes. Regarding the available resources, the majority of the undergraduates were satisfied with the library book collection, periodicals and available magazines. Yet, only 39% and 32% of students reported that they were satisfied with e-resources and audiovisual materials available in the library respectively. Considering the library services, the majority of respondents were satisfied with lending, reference, referral and photocopying services. However, 11% of them were not satisfied, where as 13% of the students were not even aware of online services provided by the library. Further, the findings demonstrated that limited number of computers, unavailability of Wi-Fi facilities, unawareness of the library website, difficulties of accessing the Internet and searching research articles were the main reasons for students' dissatisfaction. However, the majority of the undergraduates praised the library staff for offering an impressive service. The results proved that undergraduates have positive perceptions towards the library and its services. Based on the findings, some suggestions were made to increase user satisfaction and to enhance the library resources and service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Purpose of this study is to review the definitional framework of rare books and to study the historical evolution of special collections in the world and in Iran. Methodology: Descriptive method with inductive approach has been used. First, it reviewed the existing definitions of rare books and their shortcomings to finally reach a comprehensive definition; then the historical course of special collections in the world was analyzed and the history and libraries with special collections in Iran were reviewed. The sources used in this research have been collected using documentary and library methods. Findings: Rare books have a definition beyond the old books and the process of transferring information in them does not only include content data. In the second part, four stages were achieved regarding the evolution of special collections in the world (Identification and segregation of rare books; The evolution of rare books in academic libraries; The evolution of rare books and special collections with the opening of these sections in university libraries; Forming a professional organization (ACRL) to meet educational and communication needs), as well as the differences in approaches to special collections in different societies and cultures and the differences between blacks and whites due to differences of concern throughout history. According to experts, in terms of historical position by global definition, we are now in the fourth stage. By reviewing special collections in Iran, the first library with special collections was the library of Vank Church in Isfahan, and in total, 21 libraries with special collections were found in Iran. Conclusion: Contrary to popular belief, the definition of the term "rare book", which is an important resource in special collections, can vary based on the missions and goals of libraries and their overall strategies, and in general, may not be outside the strategic framework of libraries. Books can be considered potentially scarce and the basis for identifying rare books is largely dependent on the mission of the collections and cannot be evaluated independently. Also, the history of special collections in Iran, unlike the world, does not have a clear course. The stages of its evolution are not clearly defined and the information available in this regard is related to the libraries that have these collections, and the initial purposes of their formation have been largely distorted. This issue will require serious attention to the field of research, and the elimination of existing shortcomings by researchers with different orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the mandate to review all available literature in the study's inclusion parameters, systematic review projects are likely to require full-text access to a significant number of articles that are not available in a library's collection, thereby necessitating ordering content via interlibrary loan (ILL). The aim of this study is to understand what effect a systematic review service has on the copyright royalty fees accompanying ILL requests at an academic health sciences library. Case Presentation: The library created a custom report using ILLiad data to look specifically at 2018 ILL borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews. This subset of borrowing activity was then analyzed to determine its impact on the library's copyright royalty expenditures for the year. In 2018, copyright eligible borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews represented only approximately 5% of total filled requests that involved copyright eligible borrowing. However, these systematic review requests directly or indirectly caused approximately 10% of all the Spencer S. Eccles Library copyright royalty expenditures for 2018 requests. Conclusion: Based on the sample data set, the library's copyright royalty expenditures did increase, but the overall financial impact was modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to find out the current scenario of library resources and services viz. collection including infrastructure, staff position, library services available in the private university libraries in the state of Assam, India. Methodology: Physical survey of all the five libraries has been conducted for which a questionnaire was designed. Findings: With the increasing number of library users, there should be adequate number of library staff to maintain all the different collections and services of the library. Private university libraries e-books and e-journals facility is not sufficient to cater the increasing demands of the users. Research Limitations: The study is applied to private university libraries within the geographical barrier within the state of Assam. It is applied only on the basic level library resources and services expected from a library. Practical Implications: It will provide an opportunity to the library authority to fill up the gap in providing their basic library services. The method and technique of the study may be applied to any other libraries where the libraries are managed by library science professional with proper library procedures. Originality/value: The study is itself a unique one as no such study was conducted in the area of private university libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The median time to culture conversion is 61.2 days. • The duration of time to sputum culture conversion can be shortened when the nutritional status of patients is improved. • Favorable treatment outcomes can be enhanced when the duration of time to culture conversion is short. • Culture conversion and treatment outcomes are considered the most important indicator of treatment efficacy in TB treatment. • The intensive phase duration of injectable drugs can be shortened when the initial time to culture conversion is determined. This study aimed to consider the estimated time to multi-resistant tuberculosis culture conversion, and associated factors, in order to enhance evidence utilization in eastern Africa. We systematically identified available articles on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis culture conversion using PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science core collection, and Science Direct databases. A random-effects model was employed using the R 3.6.1 version and Stata/se 14 software. Nine articles with a sample size of 2458 multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients were included. The two-month culture conversion rate was 75.4%, with a median time of 61.2 days (interquartile range: 48.6-73.8). In the included studies, favorable treatment outcomes of MDR-TB patients were seen in 75% of the cases, while unfavorable treatment outcomes were seen in 18% (10% deaths, 7% defaulted, and 1% treatment failure) of the cases. The independent factor for delayed sputum culture conversion was body mass index below 18.5 kg/m2 (HR = 3.1, 95% CI: 2.0, 6.7). The median time to sputum culture conversion was 61.2 days, which is a reasonably short time. Body mass index was the identified associated factor leading to delayed culture conversion. Therefore, there is a need for awareness of how to improve the nutritional status of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients through appropriate nutritional supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthur Ramos (1903-1949) was one of the most important Brazilian anthropologists of the 20th century, not only because of his invaluable contribution to the debate about Afro-Brazilian cultures, but also for his role in the process of institutionalizing Anthropology in Brazil, with emphasis on the foundation in 1941 of the Brazilian Society of Anthropology and Ethnology (BSAE). Despite the growing interest in his intellectual legacy, the efforts of revisiting his work have not been devoted to the process of routinizing his anthropological knowledge, mainly from his work at the National Faculty of Philosophy. I propose in this work to analyze the routinization of anthropological knowledge based on the work of Arthur Ramos as a teacher, starting from the examination of his course plans, orientations for students etc., available for consultation in the collection of the National Library (NL). It is an approach on the history of Brazilian anthropology that seeks to understand it from its teaching, and not simply from the results of the researches developed and the resulting publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is a companion reproducible paper of a previous paper (Antol et al., 2021) in which we presented an alternative to the traditional paradigm of similarity searching in metric spaces called the Learned Metric Index. Inspired by the advance in learned indexing of structured data, we used machine learning models to replace index pivots, thus posing similarity search as a classification problem. This implementation proved to be more than competitive with the conventional methods in terms of speed and recall, proving the concept as viable. The aim of this publication is to make our source code, datasets, and experiments publicly available. For this purpose, we create a collection of Python3 software libraries, YAML reproducible experiment files, and JSON ground-truth files, all bundled in a Docker image – the Learned Metric Index Framework (LMIF) – which can be run using any Docker-compatible operating system on a CPU with Advanced vector extensions (AVX). We introduce a reproducibility protocol for our experiments using LMIF and provide a closer look at the experimental process. We introduce new experimental results by running the reproducibility protocol introduced herein and discussing the differences with the results reported in our primary work (Antol et al., 2021). Finally, we make an argument that these results can be considered weakly reproducible (in both of the performance metrics), since they point to the same conclusions derived in the primary paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproposta para todas as idades (Re-proposition for all ages) offers experiential readings of epistemological acts of the common human inspired by the emerging problems that affect generations through the ages, and is available in open access in the Integrated Library System - SIBiUSP: https://bit.ly/2IlkIIq. The collection underlines the epistemological foundations of the pedagogical project developed almost five decades by book's organizer, journalist and senior professor Cremilda Celeste de Araújo Medina (PPGCOM ECA-USP and PROLAM USP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability narrative theory can shed light on what kinds of young adult novels of mental illness are currently available and suggest directions for authors and library collections to go in the future. As library staff members develop their collections and assist students, patrons, and scholars in navigating the recent publication explosion of YA novels of mental illness, they should be aware that these novels generally fall into one of disability narrative theorist Arthur Frank's three categories: "restitution," "chaos," or "quest" narratives.i While Frank's research covers memoirs of physical disability, my study found that his categories can also be helpful in sorting fiction about mental illness. Mental illness in this study refers to biological brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In what Frank calls a "narrative of restitution," the disability is cured. A "narrative of chaos" focuses on a period of time in which the disabled person's symptoms cause significant disruption in his or her life. In a "quest narrative," the disabled person is managing his or her symptoms in a healthy way and living life to his or her fullest potential. Most young adult novels of mental illness in this study fall into the category of the chaos narrative. While this is helpful for adolescents (as well as their friends and families) because they can read these books and know that they are not alone in their struggle with alarming symptoms and erratic behavior, authors should shift the emphasis of their future novels to the third type of story, the quest narrative, in which characters live in recovery, managing their mental illnesses and leading a fulfilling life. Library personnel should watch for such empowering recovery stories and recommend them to teens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to discuss the current scenario of rare collections available in the libraries of Lahore city. Lahore is capital of the Punjab province in Pakistan. This study seeks to explore the various aspects such as acquisition, organization, access, preservation & conservation of rare collection of libraries of Lahore, Pakistan. The study is qualitative in nature; based on multiple case study design. A multiple case study helps the researchers in finding the differences among various cases. A semi-structured interview guide was used for data collection tool. Seven interviews of library professionals from four libraries (cases) were conducted. The observation and document analysis of log registers of the cases (libraries) were also done wherever facilitated. It was found that the potential of rare collections remains untapped in the libraries of Lahore. Findings also established that separate funds were not allocated to the public libraries of Lahore for the acquisition and management of the rare collection. This paper identifies the current status and issues in acquisition, management, access and use of rare collection at public libraries of Lahore, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment in which human being, particularly, students operate makes information to be one of the decisive factors for survival. Students seek information to fill an identified gap in their quest for knowledge. This study, therefore, investigated information needs and seeking behaviour of students of the Nigerian Army School of Education, Ilorin, Nigeria. Five (5) research objectives were formulated for this study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Population for the study comprised of students at the Nigerian Army School of Education, Ilorin. Israel (2003) model for determining sample size was used to calculate the sample size with precision levels of 5% and confidence level of 95% and the recommended sample size was two hundred and twelve (212). A simple random sampling technique was used to select the samples from the population. The self-designed questionnaire was divided into six (6) sections. The content-related approach of validation was conducted to ensure the validity of the instrument while Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument and the overall reliability of the instrument was r = 0.832. The collated copies of the questionnaire were analyzed with the IBM SPSS version 21.0 using simple frequency counts and percentage. The presentations of the data for the research objectives were done using tables, pie charts and bar charts. The findings of the study showed that academic information is the major information need of the students of the Nigerian Army School of Education, Ilorin, Nigeria. The findings further revealed that the Internet and library are the most commonly used sources of information. The findings also showed that the major purpose at which the students seek information is to update their knowledge and to enhance their professional activities. However, the findings generally indicated that most students firstly acknowledge their information needs and compare available resources before making the final decision and if they seem not comfortable with the information they need in a particular information material, they will continue searching for information until they are satisfied. Among numerous challenges affecting information seeking behaviour of students, this study found insufficient library opening hours as the major challenge confronting the students of the Nigerian Army School of Education. The study, therefore, recommended that library working hours should be extended to meet the need of the students and that the library management should ensure that adequate collection of books is made available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the extent to which serials publications are accessible and used for learning purposes by the students in Nigerian Universities. The descriptive survey research design was adopted with the study population made up of students from one federal government owned university, one selected state owned university and one selected private owned university in Ogun state. A self-constructed questionnaire was used for data collection in this study, was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). Findings revealed that Nigeria university students have access to different serial collections in academic libraries. Serial publications are available and students have equal access to serials publications in the library. Restriction of some serials materials to undergraduate constitutes impediments to the use of serials by students in the university libraries. Students who visit the library frequently to read Bulletins are better informed about the university issues. It was also revealed that students often visit the serial section in the Universities libraries for academic purposes. The Serial Librarian attitude affects student's use of serial section. There is a need to create conducive environment for students and guide the student in the proper use of serial publications. Serial Librarians should be well guided to give the best to the students in the use of serial publications and there is need for various universities to subscribe to different online or electronic serials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempted reviewing the roles of school libraries in learning activities of senior secondary school students in Ondo State. Ondo State is divided into three senatorial districts where two Local Governments were selected from each of the senatorial district and two secondary schools taken from each of the selected Local Government. Descriptive survey was adopted to carry out the research and a structured questionnaire was administered to collect data from the respondents while a high response rate of 100% was obtained. The validity of the research was determined by ensuring that the questionnaire reflects basic topics in the curriculum of the library and information studies and the reliability of the instrument was determined by subjecting it to Cronbach Alpha Reliability test with section B= 0.69; C= 0.59; D=0.64; E= 0.58 and section F=0.64. The result revealed that students use school library majorly to do their assignments, to prepare for class tests, and to prepare for examinations. All these play significant roles in learning activities of senior secondary school students. Based on the result, it was concluded that the quality and variety of the collection available in the school libraries is a significant factor in students learning acativities, therefore, adequate funding needs to be available to procure current resources that are curriculum related and of general interest to students' learning activities. Also, efforts should be made by school management and government to up-grade the school library with Information and Communication Technology (lCT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gifts and donations form an integral part of an academic library's existence, whether monetary or physical items. While monetary gifts are greatly valued, gift-in-kind donations of physical items can also contribute rare or unique items to collections. However, gift-in-kind donations also bring many challenges, as processing and evaluating physical materials can be time-consuming and labour-intensive; moreover, these materials may occupy significant amounts of space and ultimately may or may not add value to the library collection. Providing clear, publicly available gift and donation information can mitigate some of these challenges and help to set expectations for donors by giving a clear overview of the evaluation process and letting them know which types of material are of interest. The author reviewed donation-related webpages of twenty-one Canadian academic libraries to determine commonalities regarding library donation webpages. This analysis can provide practical assistance to librarians who are creating or revising gift-in-kind policies and procedures in Canadian academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this article is to analyze the national bibliography as a means for promoting the documentary heritage and providing access to it. It discusses various forms of the national bibliography as well as their potential for preserving the memory and ensuring access to documentary resources and their promotion. The article serves the purpose, by drawing on the analysis of foreign publications, of substantiating the idea that the national bibliography as a structured registry of the national publishing output may serve as a reliable means for promoting the documentary heritage. The article elaborates on the evolution of the notion and coverage of the national bibliography as well as its presentation to the public. The national bibliography was defined in the 60ies of the 20th century by joint efforts of UNESCO and IFLA. This definition underlined that the national bibliography must cover the nation's entire published output. The notion of the national bibliography underwent some evolution, and in the 21st century the focus shifted towards registering electronic publishing resources alongside with solving the issues of presenting the national bibliography to the public. Previously, the presence of a bibliographic record in the national bibliography signified that the resource was available within the legal deposit collection of the library, whereas at present the issue of having to register national information resources which do not belong to this collection is gaining persistence. Another significant issue in making the national bibliography a comprehensive registry of the nation's publishing output is the relation between the national bibliography and legal deposit. Successful and sustainable development of the national bibliography requires cooperative effort in creating and updating publication and factual data and efficient communication with publishers and other suppliers of public information within the chain of legal deposit. This interaction substantiates the existence of the national bibliography as the all-reflecting mirror creating opportunities to cognize the national documentary cultural heritage and ensuring its promotion and access, The register of bibliographic and authority data of published documents helps preserve the cultural and historical memory; ensures dissemination of knowledge about historical and cultural events and their interpretation; and gives a panorama of the cultural history, the heritage of the traditional culture, prominent fellow-countrymen and national uniqueness. The analysis of websites of national libraries of various countries which are legal deposit receivers shows that some of them remind the publishers of their obligation to submit legal deposit copies in a laconic manner and some of them provide more information, e.g. types and quantity of legal deposit copies and terms of submission as well as give references to appropriate legal acts. Some of these institutions highlight the significance of legal deposit as a means of preserving cultural heritage and ensuring access to it for the general public and researchers. However, there is no clear message addressed to the integral and primary chain of the legal deposit system, the publishers, about their responsibility about the comprehensiveness of legal deposit and the publishers' benefits from contributing to the preservation and access of the national cultural heritage. The article analyzes the transformation of the national bibliography from a printed list to a presentation of linked data. Digital and information technologies applied in publication processes and creation of new forms of disseminating data of national bibliographies contribute to promoting the national history and cultural memory. Broad access to national bibliographic data allows the general public creating new services and products. The precise definition of purposes of the national bibliography and its users could facilitate the shaping of the appropriate model of the national bibliography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated Effects of Weeding Strategies on Information Resources Management Among Public Libraries in North-Central States of Nigeria, the researcher observed that Every library's print collection is limited by the space available, and collections must change over time to reflect changes in the community and in the library's goals, as result, five (5) research questions and objectives were formulated with respect to how unwanted information resources managed, shelf-time period of information resources, effects of weeding on library organisation and services and the challenges of weeding in public libraries. Survey research method was adopted for the study and staff in the circulation, technical, reference, readers and collection development units of the public libraries in Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) constituted the population of the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and observation, frequency tables and simple percentages were used to analyse the data collected for the study. The study found among others that public libraries in north-central states of Nigeria keep obsolete information resources in store rooms, basic tasks in library management include the acquisition, classification of acquired materials, preservation of materials (especially rare and fragile archival materials such as manuscripts), are affected by weeding activities. The study concluded that every library will have its own method for handling books pulled for discard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author, who is one of the most eminent Italian scholars of Library History and Bibliography, deals with the fate of libraries in the technological age. Until the half of the past century, it would not be possible to think about libraries disappearance, because they were considered fortresses of civil advancement and because even the idea of their destruction would be considered a barbarity. Nowadays, we are facing a profound crisis that led to radical transformations. In the current scenario, libraries are condemned to be "irrelevant" and the only way to control their decline is to transform them into museums, making collections available and preserving library buildings. These opinions are also true with respect to less prestigious libraries, whose collections often testify the history of a territory or a community. A honest reflection on the future of libraries could not take into account "the cultural realities in the different layers of society, of their tendencies, of their needs, and of the technological ways already existing for their satisfaction". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

i.d.a. is an international network of 38 women's and lesbian archives and libraries in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Italy. Together they offer a wealth of documents concerning the organizations and activists of the Women's Movement in 19th and 20th century. Furthermore, they provide a wide range of literature on the feminist and lesbian movements, on women's and gender studies, lesbian and queer theory as well as fiction. The META catalogue was developed as a three years project, financed by the BMFSFJ (Berlin). META reflects the diversity of the i.d.a. affiliated archives and libraries and their collections and shows the bigger part of the metadata available in a digital form. Although data came from libraries as well as from archives and documentation centres with different kind of focuses, technical equipment and data formats META finally provides a homogeneous and user-friendly tool to search the holdings of the i.d.a. member institutions, increasing the visibility of women's and lesbian archives and libraries and their holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust (EAST) is a shared print initiative involving 48 libraries across the Northeast. Initiated in 2012 with a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, EAST addresses directly the growing need for academic libraries to ensure that monographs and journals of scholarly value are not inadvertently discarded as they undertake weeding and deselection programs to free up space for other library services. EAST is currently completing a large-scale analysis of collections across 40 of the participating libraries. This analysis will provide insight into both uniqueness and overlap across the libraries' holdings and will result in agreements by the libraries to retain circulating monographs in their local collections for an agreed upon time period and to make those materials available to researchers and scholars from other EAST libraries. In parallel to this collection analysis, EAST is implementing validation sampling across the libraries to better understand volume availability and condition and the role they may plan in retention decisions. The project team has developed an innovative sampling methodology and tools to support the study. As the largest shared print initiative to date, this project will secure a substantial portion of the scholarly record that is held in the Northeast and positions EAST as an important component of the growing network of shared print initiatives nationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigated quantitative methods of collection use analysis employing library data that are available in ILS and ILL systems to better understand library collection use and user needs. For the purpose of the study, the authors extracted circulation and ILL records from the library's systems using data-mining techniques. By comparing these data to records of books acquired in a four-year period, the study reveals generally good collection use as well as some unmet collection needs. The study also offers a method of compiling and sharing these multiple types of usage data among work groups to create feedback mechanisms to inform the work of selectors and suggest modifications to collection development practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify whether the subordinate has space for expression in the work of João do Rio, Brazil precursor and crazy story in journalism as a profession. The objects of analysis are the texts of the early twentieth century, published in the newspaper Gazeta de Noticias available in the collection from the National Library of Brazil and also the third published work by the chronicler. The specific objectives are: to identify the meaning of the word citizen in the journalist's work and identify the areas of the subordinate layers in the third book of the author, The charming soul of the streets (A alma encantadora de las calles). For the analysis, Weft QDA software, with a qualitative basis is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the decline of budgetary allocation for libraries, information is being made available to wider audience through alternative means, such as digital libraries and online repositories. Increasing demand for certain print materials urge libraries to exploit open-source alternatives, which are highly advantageous for libraries with scarce financial resources and voracious demand from their users. An interview survey results justified the establishment of digital library service as both students and academics, amongst other issues, recorded their inability to spare time for accessing certain print collections. In this regard, like other libraries in the country, the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka has initiated digital library initiatives using freely available software. Amongst a number of open-source software (OSS) available to create and manage digital library collections, Greenstone and DSpace are being experimented for developing two different types of repositories. However, these two software have slight merits and demerits over one another. This paper scrutinizes those features corresponding to the needs of and challenges faced by the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL), which is in its initial stage of launching digitized collections representing both its academic works and local publications. The demand for unpublished works of students and past examinations papers is always high, hence, the Library is has started digitizing materials in demand and rare to find. This comparative analysis is solely based on experiences gained by the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two hundred twenty-nine health sciences libraries (HSLs) worldwide were surveyed regarding the availability of digital collections, evidence of the type of digital collections, level of access, software used, and HSL type. Of the surveyed libraries, 69% (n=157) had digital collections, with an average of 1,531 items in each collection; 49% (n=112) also had institutional repositories. In most cases (n=147), these collections were publicly available. The predominant platforms for disseminating these digital collections were CONTENTdm and library web pages. Only 50% (n=77) of these collections were managed by the health sciences library itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Natural products play a key role in drug discovery programs, both serving as drugs and as templates for the synthesis of drugs, even though the quantities and availabilities of samples for screening are often limitted. Experimental approach: A current collection of physical samples of > 500 compound derived from African medicinal plants aimed at screening for drug discovery has been made by donations from several researchers from across the continent to be directly available for drug discovery programs. A virtual library of 3D structures of compounds has been generated and Lipinski’s “Rule of Five” has been used to evaluate likely oral availability of the samples. Results: A majority of the compound samples are made of flavonoids and about two thirds (2/3) are compliant to the “Rule of Five”. The pharmacological profiles of thirty six (36) selected compounds in the collection have been discussed. Conclusions and implications: The p-ANAPL library is the largest physical collection of natural products derived from African medicinal plants directly available for screening purposes. The virtual library is also available and could be employed in virtual screening campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to build a DNA barcode reference library for the true butterflies of Peninsula Malaysia and assess the value of attaching subspecies names to DNA barcode records. A new DNA barcode library was constructed with butterflies from the Museum of Zoology, University of Malaya collection. The library was analysed in conjunction with publicly available DNA barcodes from other Asia-Pacific localities to test the ability of the DNA barcodes to discriminate species and subspecies. Analyses confirmed the capacity of the new DNA barcode reference library to distinguish the vast majority of species (92%) and revealed that most subspecies possessed unique DNA barcodes (84%). In some cases conspecific subspecies exhibited genetic distances between their DNA barcodes that are typically seen between species, and these were often taxa that have previously been regarded as full species. Subspecies designations as shorthand for geographically and morphologically differentiated groups provide a useful heuristic for assessing how such groups correlate with clustering patterns of DNA barcodes, especially as the number of DNA barcodes per species in reference libraries increases. Our study demonstrates the value in attaching subspecies names to DNA barcode records as they can reveal a history of taxonomic concepts and expose important units of biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A book collection in corpore is usually used to describe a historically formed, indivisible collection of books having a historic, scientific and cultural value. Specialized research on this topic in Lithuania has been scanty, if any, with the exception of research conducted on acquiring and storing book collections in libraries as well as similar topics. The article aims at investigating the theoretical aspects of using the term book collection and providing the analysis of existing practices and trends with regard to book collections both in Lithuanian and foreign libraries. To achieve this objective, the following methods of literary analysis and empirical research have been used: analysis of library websites, expert survey, interviews with the library staff taking care of book collections at their disposal. The objects of research are the book collections in corpore, acquired and stored in the National Library of Lithuania, libraries of state-level and county libraries. The libraries which decide to store and preserve book collections in corpore, undertake a museum function, that is, the inherent function pertinent to a memory institution. This function is not characteristic of public libraries. However, it is among the core functions of the libraries having the national and state status. Based on the criterion of the former owner, collections in corpore can be grouped as follows: personal libraries (the libraries of outstanding statesmen, public figures, science and culture makers) and book heritage of various institutions (institutional libraries). It turned out that currently 144 collections in corpore are being stored in the National Library of Lithuania, state-level and county libraries, with personal libraries identified as the prevailing group among them (137). The seven remaining collections in corpore are institutional libraries. The analysis of the information available in library websites on the collections in corpore revealed that the material presented is rather scarce and the websites do not contain comprehensive information about the scope of the respective collections. Thus, the user's access to information is rather restricted. Today, the acquisition of collections in corpore has been reduced in scope, reflecting the current situation in librarianship. The status of some of the libraries which have acquired a great many book collections in corpore (for example, Vilnius University Library) have to be reviewed. Having established whether we are dealing with a collection in corpore or whether it is merely a donated collection of books, we can integrate the books in question into the library holdings, marking book provenance indicators in a bibliographic description in the online catalogue. Due to their exclusivity, book collections in corpore are becoming book monuments. Such a status puts their custodians under an obligation to treat them as the sets of documents having special value, that is, as book monuments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the growth and development of the architectural engineering college libraries in Haryana, India. It evaluates the available resources, library services provided, library hours, collection of practices and policies, issues on space and related facilities and document technical processing. Study shows that majority of these libraries start to operate in three years already. It demonstrates the significance of improvement in their staff strength and their collection. It suggests to create digital libraries, provide quality services in technical colleges, and establish well-qualified staff.

The discovery and management of scholarly materials have changed in recent years with the introduction of new-generation systems based on decoupled architecture. In addition to offering a modern user experience, new library discovery systems extend the scope of materials available through a single interface far beyond the physical collections of the library, reaching the wealth of scholarly collections of global significance. Such systems also leverage a body of usage data gathered from institutions worldwide to enhance the discoverability of materials. New management systems, built from the outset to manage all types of scholarly assets, harness technological advances, shared bibliographic metadata, and community collaboration to optimize library services. The paper examines some of the current trends in new-generation systems and focuses on the way in which collaboration among stakeholders and the aggregation of information-scholarly content, bibliographic metadata, and usage data-combine with the local and individual context to establish a new level of discovery and management of scholarly materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]