Librarian’s perception on data librarianship core concepts: a survey of motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate trainings platforms

Purpose

Data librarianship, or data-driven librarianship, is the combination of information science, data science and e-science fields and is gaining gradual importance in the library and information science (LIS) profession. Hence, this study investigates the data librarianship core concepts (motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms) to learn and successfully launch data librarianship services.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey method was used and the data were collected through online questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was applied and 132 responses were received with 76 respondents from the public and 56 from the private sector universities of Pakistan. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 25) was used, and descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyzed the data.

Findings

LIS professionals understand the importance of data-driven library services and perceive that such services are helpful in evolving the image of the library, helping with the establishment of institutional data repositories/data banks, developing data resources and services for library patrons and especially researchers, and receiving appreciation and acknowledgment from the higher authorities. The major challenges that emerged from the data were: missing data policies, limited training opportunities for data librarianship roles, no additional financial benefits, lack of infrastructure and systems, lack of organizational support for the initiation of data-driven services, and lack of skills, knowledge and expertise. Data librarianship is in its early stages in Pakistan, and consequently, the LIS professionals are lacking basic, advanced and technical data-driven skills.

Research limitations/implications

The policy, theoretical and practical implications describe an immediate need for framing data policies. Such policies will help the libraries or any other relevant entities to store the data and assign metadata and documentation in such a way that it is easy to retrieve and reusable for others.

Originality/value

This is the first study in Pakistan to investigate the perceptions of LIS professionals about data librarianship core concepts: motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms to grasp data-driven skills and successfully launch library services.

Health information seeking and sharing behavior of young adults on social media in Pakistan

Social media such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Twitter have radically enhanced the public access to health information. Still, studies have unexplored the factors that contribute toward such behaviors especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study identifies the factors that contribute to the likelihood of young adults’ health information seeking and sharing on social media. Specifically, drawing upon health belief model (HBM), the study attempts to understand how health belief and e-Health literacy affects health information seeking and sharing on social media. The study collected data from 413 young adults through Google Forms on a random basis. The results generated applying structural equation modeling confirmed that HBM related factors such as perceived susceptibility, perceived severity and perceived benefits positively while perceived barriers negatively influence young adults’ health information seeking and sharing intentions on social media. Furthermore, e-Health literacy was positively associated with health information seeking and sharing intentions on social media. This study is amongst a first few studies in the context of developing world to investigate the young adults’ intentions of seeking and sharing health information on social media based on HBM.

Exploring COVID-19 research papers published on journals in the field of LIS

As the COVID-19 pandemic prevails, research related to COVID-19 has spread beyond medicine, health science, and biology to almost all academic fields. Library and information science is one of the most active fields that publish COVID-19-related research papers. This study examined 696 research papers related to COVID-19 whose journal being categorized as “information science & library science” by Web of Science. The result of bibliometric analysis showed that the publications were active and on the rise. Most papers were published in English and produced in the United States. According to the keyword clustering map produced by semantic network analysis, two fields, bibliometrics and health communication, were publishing research papers related to COVID-19 most actively. Moreover, the most productive journal was a library and information science journal focusing on health informatics. Additionally, a tendency was found that researchers preferred to publish on journals with high impact factors. Compared with non-COVID-19-related research papers, there was a significant decrease of “time for acceptance” of COVID-19-related papers, and the proportion of open access was relatively high. Confronting the global crisis of COVID-19, the library and information science field also made efforts and challenges to resolve the slow peer-review, delayed publishing, and high paywalls, which have been recognized as a “chronic diseases” of the academic publishing ecosystem. It is expected that these endeavors can serve as a turning point to reconsider and innovate the traditional research-publishing lifecycle.

The Linkage between Ethical Leadership, Well-Being, Work Engagement, and Innovative Work Behavior: The Empirical Evidence from the Higher Education Sector of China

In this study, we investigate the relationship between ethical leadership (EL), work engagement (WE), well-being, and innovative work behavior (IWB). The significance of these variables has increased in the current era when the influence of technology is exponentially increasing in the education sector. We investigate the role of ethical leadership in determining innovative work behavior. Moreover, we investigate the moderating effect of WB in the relationship between EL and WE. We also examine the mediating impact of WE in the relationship between EL and IWB. We used a questionnaire survey approach to collect data. The target population of this study was the academic personnel, i.e., senior professors, lecturers, and supporting staff associated with the higher education sector located in Zhejiang Province, China. Data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, we sent 300 research questionnaires and received 251 responses. In the second phase, after a three-month interval, we sent 200 questionnaires and received 162 responses. However, over the two phases, we collected a total of 413 questionnaires; 43 were discarded. Therefore, for analysis, we used 370 questionnaires. The data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling through SmartPLS 3.2.2. First, in the direct relationship, results confirm that EL positively influences the IWB. Secondly, WB has a positive and moderating relationship between EL and IWB. Thirdly, we address the relationship between EL and WE. The outcome indicates that there is a positive and significant relationship. Fourth, the results of this study indicate that there is positive and significant relationship between WE and IWB. Finally, the outcomes imply that WE positively mediates between EL and IWB. Ethical leadership and well-being are important for innovative work behavior that supports managers in introducing a supportive workplace environment that promotes good interpersonal relationships with subordinates. Therefore, a good interpersonal relationship between managers and subordinates enhances the work quality. So, ethical leaders provide a supportive work environment to all subordinates regarding their work.

Measuring Ethical Values with AI for Better Teamwork

Do employees with high ethical and moral values perform better? Comparing personality characteristics, moral values, and risk-taking behavior with individual and team performance has long been researched. Until now, these determinants of individual personality have been measured through surveys. However, individuals are notoriously bad at self-assessment. Combining machine learning (ML) with social network analysis (SNA) and natural language processing (NLP), this research draws on email conversations to predict the personal values of individuals. These values are then compared with the individual and team performance of employees. This prediction builds on a two-layered ML model. Building on features of social network structure, network dynamics, and network content derived from email conversations, we predict personality characteristics, moral values, and the risk-taking behavior of employees. In turn, we use these values to predict individual and team performance. Our results indicate that more conscientious and less extroverted team members increase the performance of their teams. Willingness to take social risks decreases the performance of innovation teams in a healthcare environment. Similarly, a focus on values such as power and self-enhancement increases the team performance of a global services provider. In sum, the contributions of this paper are twofold: it first introduces a novel approach to measuring personal values based on “honest signals” in emails. Second, these values are then used to build better teams by identifying ideal personality characteristics for a chosen task.

Do multilingual employees better adjust to work environment changes? Examining the case of a credit union during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

Organizations have been challenged to identify antecedents to improved employee adjustment to the work environment changes that arose in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This study aims to explore the effect of multilingualism on employee ability to adjust to workplace changes based on the concept that multilinguals have been found to switch between tasks more efficiently as compared to monolinguals.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying a sequential explanatory mixed methods research approach, quantitative performance evaluation data on 207 credit union employees is analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling to predict employee performance, and thematic analysis of qualitative data representing the adjustment narratives of six monolingual and six multilingual employees within the sample is conducted, corresponding to the period during which employees were adjusting to broad workplace changes after the onset of the global pandemic.

Findings

The results suggest greater predicted improvement in the performance of multilingual employees. Reliance on the task-switching ability associated with multilingualism is found to be the primary self-evaluative factor for successful change adjustment among multilingual employees.

Practical implications

In light of work performance benefits identified in this study, organizations may consider multilingualism as a characteristic preceding better adjustment to organizational change, and not simply as a skill applicable to tasks requiring language proficiency, suggesting practical implications for human resource and organizational management.

Originality/value

This is the first sequential explanatory study focusing on the task-switching ability of multilinguals as an antecedent to change adjustment evidenced by improved work performance within an organizational context.

Activities and Experiences of Children and Makerspace Coaches During After-School and School Programs in a Public Library Makerspace

Public library makerspaces intend to contribute to the development of children from marginalized communities through the education of digital technology and creativity and by stimulating young people to experience new social roles and develop their identity. Learning in these informal settings puts demands on the organization of the makerspace, the activities, and the support of the children. The present study investigates how children evaluate their activities and experiences in a public library makerspace both in the after-school programs and during school visits. Furthermore, it examines the effectiveness of the training program for the makerspace coaches. The study covers self-evaluations by children (n = 307), and interviews with children (n = 27) and makerspace coaches (n = 11). Children report a lot of experiences concerning creating (maker skills, creativity) and maker mindset (motivation, persistence, confidence). Experiences with collaboration (helping each other) were mentioned to a lesser extent. Critical features of the training program for makerspace coaches were (i) adaptation to the prior knowledge, skills and needs of makerspace coaches, (ii) input of expert maker educators, (iii) emphasis on learning by doing, (iv) room for self-employed learning, and (v) collaboration with colleagues.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41979-022-00070-w.

Libraries and financial literacy

Purpose

The recent financial crises and the economic problems caused by the pandemic highlight the importance of financial literacy (FL). Libraries have an essential role in developing informational literacy and promoting access to information. In this study the authors seek to identify, based on the published literature, in which areas and in what roles libraries engage in the development of FL, and what options are available for those who intend to set out in this direction in the near future.

Design/methodology/approach

The basis of the research is a review of the literature, as comprehensive as possible, achieved by keyword- and discipline-focused searches run in the Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA), the Web of Science (WoS) and the Scopus database. At the beginning of the study, the initial list of results had 765 publications, but this number decreased significantly after removing duplicates and sorting the results. Finally, 138 publications were included in the analysis.

Findings

Libraries engage in the development of FL mostly through their collections, with recommendations, through education, by organizing programs and through information service. Most successful methods do not require any specialized FL knowledge from librarians. Necessary competences are more related to organizational skills, cooperation with partners and creativity.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on publications which include the term financial culture, any of its synonyms, or broader or more specific terms and which are related to libraries in the manner described in the search strategy. The international literature databases chosen for the searches limited the scope of the articles available for inclusion.

Originality/value

The study summarizes the results in libraries related to FL from the past 10 years. There has been no other similar summary published recently applicable in practice.

Complex Social Value-Based Approach for Decision-Making and Valorization Process in Chinese World Cultural Heritage Site: The Case of Kulangsu (China)

China is undertaking effective actions to adhere to wider international standards with better consideration of the notion of authenticity, collective memory, identity, and the sense of belonging. Besides the traditional participatory management discussions, scholars are also interested in finding out how the ICTs can encourage and enable new forms of engagement with heritage in different cultural contexts. The article offers an innovative approach to understanding the value of community participation in order to obtain a more sustainable way for integrative approaches in cultural heritage management. It focuses on the identification of criteria for the evaluation of Digital Community Engagement (DCE) and proposes the multivariate evaluation model based on the online questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. The result shows that the transparency of the restoration process, the possibility of adopting bottom-up suggestions, and the coherency with the residents’ interests are the most important factors to influence the Willingness to Participate and the Willingness to Pay. The analysis based on theme-coding is essential to understand the opinions of various stakeholders with different educational and professional backgrounds. It concludes that multi-disciplinary and value-based methods should be encouraged as an exploratory way of enhancing community engagement in the specified urban heritage context.

How Do Different Types of University Academics Perceive Work from Home Amidst COVID-19 and Beyond?

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a massive and unintentional shift to work from home (WFH) or working remotely, as well as broad adoption of web-based platforms. The goal of this research is to uncover the attitudes to WFH among different types of academics in the Sri Lankan higher education sector. An online questionnaire survey was conducted amidst a severe COVID-19 wave during June–September 2021, and 337 valid responses were received. The questionnaire contained 49 questions under four sections excluding demographic questions. The gathered data were analysed using multiple regression models. Results of the study ascertained a significant (p < 0.01) positive attitude among academics towards online teaching (academic orientation), other than academics who from disciplines with more practical components, and there was a significant (p < 0.01) positive attitude among academics to conducting research (research orientation) while WFH. Further, the findings indicate a significant (p < 0.01) negative attitude to WFH when disseminating knowledge and engaging in community services with various stakeholders. When considering the criticality of demographics variables in the new normal, a hybrid working model can be introduced by reaping the benefits of WFH based on different types of academic orientations and their favourability towards the WFH model, rather than reverting to a full physical academic working environment. As a developing country, Sri Lanka can formulate policies on effective hybrid working models for academics to realise the potential from the lessons learned. This experience will enable the country to accomplish or move towards accomplishing the fourth goal of SDGs, quality education by 2030.

The role of collegiality in academic review, promotion, and tenure

Review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) processes at universities typically assess candidates along three dimensions: research, teaching, and service. In recent years, some have argued for the inclusion of a controversial fourth criterion: collegiality. While collegiality plays a role in the morale and effectiveness of academic departments, it is amorphic and difficult to assess, and could be misused to stifle dissent or enforce homogeneity. Despite this, some institutions have opted to include this additional element in their RPT documents and processes, but it is unknown the extent of this practice and how it varies across institution type and disciplinary units. This study is based on two sets of data: survey data collected as part of a project that explored the publishing decisions of faculty and how these related to perceived importance in RPT processes, and 864 RPT documents collected from 129 universities from the United States and Canada. We analysed these RPT documents to determine the degree to which collegiality and related terms are mentioned, if they are defined, and if and how they may be assessed during the RPT process. Results show that when collegiality and related terms appear in these documents they are most often just briefly mentioned. It is less common for collegiality and related terms to be defined or assessed in RPT documents. Although the terms are mentioned across all types of institutions, there is a statistically significant difference in how prevalent they are at each. Collegiality is more commonly mentioned in the documents of doctoral research-focused universities (60%), than of master’s universities and colleges (31%) or baccalaureate colleges (15%). Results from the accompanying survey of faculty also support this finding: individuals from R-Types were more likely to perceive collegiality to be a factor in their RPT processes. We conclude that collegiality likely plays an important role in RPT processes, whether it is explicitly acknowledged in policies and guidelines or not, and point to several strategies in how it might be best incorporated in the assessment of academic careers.

“Hi! How can I help you today?”: investigating the quality of chatbots–millennials relationship within the fashion industry

Purpose

Chatbots represent one of the most relevant trends within the communication settings and the management of relationships with consumers. New generations, such as millennials are favourable to interact with chatbots instead of human service assistants as they recognise the benefit linked to the technological advancements. Based on these premises, the paper intends to investigate what are the main factors affecting the quality of millennials–chatbots relationships and the new generations’ attitude and intention of using them within a specific industry such as the fashion one.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to achieve the aim, an online survey based on Likert-scale items from previous research has been implemented to test developed hypotheses. Construct reliability and discriminant validity of the hypothetical research model has been tested. Additionally, a partial least square analysis technique has been used with a bootstrapping technique for evaluating the significance level of path analysis.

Findings

A total of 191 responses have been collected. Most of millennials have familiarity with the concept of chatbot (52.4%). Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of chatbots positively influence the attitude towards using them by millennials. Attitude towards using chatbots positively influence the behavioural intention to use chatbots. Finally, also perceived trust and perceived risk affect the behavioural intention to use chatbots.

Research limitations/implications

This study enriches the stream of research focused on investigating the acceptance of new technologies and their use for the development of high-quality relationships with customers. This study presents some limitations: the research model has been tested by using a convenient sample; then the study has been tailored for investigating millennials' perceptions in a specific industry; finally, the study focused on relational variables as determinants of using chatbots.

Practical implications

This study provides professionals operating in the fashion industry with practical and managerial insights relating to the perceptions collected among a precise customer cluster represented by millennials.

Originality/value

The paper investigates millennials' perceptions about chatbots within a specific industry related to the fashion system. Additionally, the paper explores at what extent relational variables such as trust and risk could affect the quality of millennials–chatbots relationship.

A systematized review on data librarianship literature: Current services, challenges, skills, and motivational factors

Data librarianship is becoming more common as a means of developing and integrating data-driven library services. Consequently, the academic and research libraries’ traditional role in providing information support and training has been expanded to include support in all aspects of the research lifecycle. Hence, this study systematically reviews the data librarianship literature focusing on current data librarianship services, challenges, skills, and motivational factors. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive search strategy was formulated to extract maximum relevant results. The bibliographic data were retrieved from the Scopus, Web of Science, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA), and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). Finally, 27 studies that fulfill the criteria were included in this study. The findings revealed that two main factors that contribute to the success or failure in this emerging data librarianship roles are skills, knowledge, and expertise; and limited support and advocacy from library leadership and higher authorities. One is on the part of library professionals who can develop the required skills, knowledge, and expertise and the other is on the part of library leadership. The library professionals are hesitant to embrace this new role due to non-additional benefits, no relevant job description, and lacking leadership support. Overall, the findings revealed that the data librarianship scope is dynamic and has been expanded, albeit the progress is slow. The theoretical, practical, policy, and social implications described that the data librarianship services tend to be improved, and the relevant skills, knowledge, and expertise should be developed. The policy initiatives need to be taken, improved, and expanded to advance technical services related to data librarianship.

How Does Employee-Organization Relationship Affect Work Engagement and Work Well-Being of Knowledge-Based Employees?

In the employment relationship, organizational factors are the main factors that affect employee behavior. Especially for knowledge-based workers, it is even more crucial for organizations to give enough attention to their individual needs. Based on Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory, this study constructs a moderated mediating model to explore how the impact of the employee-organization relationship (EOR) on work engagement (WE) and work well-being (WWB) of knowledge-based employees. In this study, existence-relatedness-growth need satisfaction (GNS) is used as a mediator and the perceived symbiotic relationship is used as a moderator. Data collected from 791 knowledge-based employees in higher education institutions from more than 20 provinces and cities in China are used to test the model. The results show that (1) EOR has significant positive effects on WE and WWB. (2) Need satisfaction for relatedness partially mediates the effects of EOR on WE and WWB. (3) Need satisfaction for growth mediates the effect of EOR on WE while the mediating role of need satisfaction for growth between EOR and WWB is unsupported. (4) The mediating role of need satisfaction for the existence of EOR on both WE and WWB is unsupported. (5) The perceived symbiotic relationship moderates the relationship between EOR and WE and WWB. The findings are of theoretical significance in expanding the research field of EOR and providing a basis for organizations to implement EOR strategies.

Information needs and information-seeking behaviour of maritime students: a systematic literature review using the PRISMA method

Purpose

Digital information seeking behavior incorporates the effective information seeking, retrieving and using in maritime studies. Moreover, digital information literacy skills support the employment of digital tools and information databases for decision making and for performing specific tasks online. The main aim of this paper is to explore the relevant research for the information needs and information seeking behaviour of maritime students.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review over scholarly publications in English language over the last decade was performed through PRISMA method.

Findings

The systematic literature review resulted to 22 related publications that are consistent with the criteria of the systematic literature review. These publications are analysed and discussed. The need for further research in the area of information seeking behaviour of students of maritime studies as well as of digital information literacy is exposed.

Originality/value

This work explores the behavioural patterns surrounding the central role of information for maritime students as well as for decision-making in the maritime sector. Digital information literacy competencies are discussed in order to be included in the curricula of maritime studies.

An exploration of ethnic minorities' needs for multilingual information access of public digital cultural services

Purpose

Ethnic minorities (EMs), who make up a sizable proportion of multilingual users, are more likely to browse and search in their native language. It is helpful to identify multilingual users' information needs to provide public digital cultural services (PDCS) for making their life better.

Design/methodology/approach

The in-context interview is an efficient way to explore EMs' information needs and evoke their daily experience with PDCS. The material from 31 one-on-one interviews with EMs in China was recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings reveal that language proficiency is a critical factor influencing multilingual information access (MLIA) and multilingual users' information needs. Moreover, language ability, digital literacy and cultural literacy are important components of multilingual information literacy (MLIL), which is helpful for EMs to access PDCS. In light of Kochen's theory, the information needs of PDCS can be classified into the aroused need of resources, the recognized need of functions and services and expressed need. For the expressed need, it is necessary to develop a one-stop convergence platform of PDCS to process various requests of resources, functions and services in the future.

Originality/value

The findings will be valuable for governments, public institutions and social organizations in identifying, addressing and resolving these issues about PDCS.

Revalidation of the Mentoring Competency Assessment to evaluate skills of research mentors: The MCA-21

Introduction

The Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) is an example of a validated instrument for measuring mentor skills for postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine research. The purpose of this study was to revalidate the MCA scale using a larger, more diverse population since the original MCA was validated on a small sample of predominantly senior white male faculty.

Methods

The MCA was completed by 1626 mentors from a survey data set of 1759 respondents who participated in eight or more hours of face-to-face Entering Mentoring-based training between 2010 and 2019. We conducted principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation to investigate the internal structure of the MCA and Hatcher's criteria were applied. After a team of mentoring experts independently interpreted the PCA results and reached a consensus on the interpretations of the components, factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analysis were applied to assess the construct validity and the reliability.

Results

While the 26-item MCA instrument was originally validated with six subscales, through the factor and reliability analyses, all the parameter estimates for each item of seven components of 24-item MCA were significant and had relatively high internal consistency; the alpha coefficient for the components ranged from 0.77 to 0.86.

Conclusions

Five items from the MCA have been dropped, leaving a condensed 21 item scale (MCA-21) which loads onto six competencies, and should now be used to effectively measure mentoring skills. We provide recommendations for furthering the scale development and validation of common measures.

Librarian views of the ACRL Framework and the impact of covid-19 on information literacy instruction in community colleges

Community colleges offer a unique context in higher education and yet specific guidance on implementing the ACRL Framework in community colleges is lacking. Semi-structured interviews with 30 community college librarians who had instruction duties explored the state of the implementation of the Framework in community colleges and the effect of the recent pandemic on information literacy instruction (ILI). The Framework is most lauded for its effect on the design and delivery of instruction, but its components mainly underpin ILI rather than being explicitly taught. The pandemic limited one-shot information literacy instruction but opened up opportunities for embedding librarianship in online courses. The value of this study lies in the potential for identifying opportunities for improving ILI in community colleges, based on a better understanding of librarians' attitudes and experiences of their instructional roles. Community college librarians with responsibility for ILI can be more fully supported when their instructional challenges are better understood.

Support Staff Take an Essential Role in Research Services

The profound transformation of medical libraries over the last twenty years reflects the advancements in medical education and health care delivery, increased expectations of users, and accelerated evolution of technology. The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library (CWML) used this opportunity to rethink how staffing could be redeployed to accommodate these new developments. After assessing processes, workflows, and individual responsibilities, library administration devised a novel team approach that would allow clerical & technical (C&T) staff to work across departmental lines to provide a broader variety of in-depth and frontline services. This paper will share how the C&T staff at the CWML developed a broader skill set, while providing library services to users in the rapidly changing field of medical education and health care services.

Bring Your Own Story: The Evolution of a Library Program to Celebrate Diverse Voices

The Harriet F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine collaborated with the college's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to enhance its existing diversity programming, created to foster a sense of community throughout the college. Through this partnership, a library-driven idea for an occasional diversity-themed lunch and learn session gained valuable institutional support and transformed into a larger event series. A second related project emerged with a goal of creating a diversity corner for the college. These collaborative efforts have helped the library further its mission to be an inclusive entity within the college and have afforded the library greater programming reach.

Authentic Leadership, Trust (in the Leader), and Flourishing: Does Precariousness Matter?

Orientation

This study employed a second stage moderated mediation analysis to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on employee flourishing via trust in the leader (mediating variable) and job overload (moderating variable).

Research Purpose

To explore the relationship between authentic leadership and flourishing by considering the indirect effect of trust in the leader as potentially moderated by job overload.

Motivation for the Study

An authentic leadership style, trust in the leader, and job overload may impact employee flourishing. A deeper understanding of the potential interaction effect of trust in the leader and job overload in the relationship between authentic leadership and flourishing may improve individual and organizational productivity.

Research Approach/Design and Method

This study used a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design and PROCESS for moderated mediation. The sample consisted of 314 employees in a prominent steel manufacturing organization in South Africa. The Authentic Leadership Inventory, Workplace Trust Survey (WTS), Flourishing-at-Work Scale, and the Job Demands-Resources Scale were utilized.

Main Findings

The study found that authentic leadership was a significant predictor of flourishing through trust in the leader. Job overload did not moderate the relationship between trust in the leader and employee flourishing.

Practical/Managerial Implications

This study emphasizes the potential role of authentic leadership in fostering a trustful relationship between employees and their leaders. It might result in the increased flourishing of employees. The non-significant influence of job overload on trusting relationships in precarious work contexts was also illuminated.

Contribution/Value-Add

Through the analysis of these relations, organizations may be favorably equipped to optimize the resources required to improve performance. Moreover, the investigation into trust in the leader combined with job overload increases our understanding of supporting and promoting employee flourishing at work.

Graduate student intellectual journeys: a functional method to identify library service gaps

Purpose

Investment in graduate education is costly in various ways so completion success is a big concern for universities and stakeholders. Largely the graduate educational landscape moves along a commonly structured path from acceptance to graduation. Despite many having successfully attained the award, the research literacies that signal doctoral achievement remain obscure and scholars continue to struggle with developing clear and tangible measures for the competencies that represent attainment of the degree. Feedback gathered from faculty at a large research institution through a series of semi-structured interviews illustrated the challenge departments have to effectively communicate what it takes to get through graduate education. As a result students still have a difficult time understanding the complexity of graduate training. This study views graduate education from the lens of intellectual journeys, as opposed to the research lifecycle, as a way of uncovering distinct disciplinary discourse practices and offering libraries critical points to align services using this framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is highly flexible and adaptable to many contexts besides graduate education. This study takes a different approach from previous studies in its framing of discussions with academic faculty, using journey maps, to focus on the intellectual journeys of graduate students. Faculty from different disciplines participated in one-on-one, hour-long interviews. Discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and then coded into NVivo. Iterative review on the data continued until themes emerged. The data gathered were used to compile a detailed map of the processes and requirements that make up graduate education. This approach to the data helped to identify what faculty perceive as the greatest struggles for graduate students and provide evidence of the key places within the intellectual journeys of graduate students.

Findings

This paper provides a discussion of graduate student personas revealed through intellectual journeys, assesses the issues students encounter, shares critical time points and key places within these intellectual journeys where significant development occur, and suggests how libraries can and should connect with graduate committee members to establish missing support structures. Practical suggestions for library support are given for the areas where students struggle most. These critical services can be aligned to key developmental phases that will not only positively impact the time to completion but also retention.

Originality/value

First, the methodology discussed is highly flexible and adaptable to many contexts besides graduate education. Second, librarians adopting this methodology can generate their own editable journey maps not only to offer the most critical services but these tools also double as visual communication and negotiation tools for graduate students and their mentors during graduate training. Third, previous research has suggested that the most instrumental factor for graduate students completing their degree was the concept of forward progress. Framing the graduate experience and orienting library graduate support through the lens of disciplinary intellectual journeys achieves an action-oriented approach that supplements and addresses structural inequities by providing consequential support at meaningful points in a student’s journey thus allowing students to make forward progress and ultimately lead to faster completion rates.

Libraries, sustainability and sustainable development: a review of the research literature

Purpose

The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of and insights into a selected bibliography of 102 research publications on libraries – of all types – sustainability and sustainable development, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Design/methodology/approach

The review procedure is inspired by the hermeneutic literature review method, referring to a circular process of searching, sorting, selecting, acquiring, reading, identifying and refining. The publications are mapped to provide an overview of the research field. Following the research mapping, all publications are categorized as either environmental, economic, social, cultural or holistic according to their usage and understanding of the core concepts of sustainability and sustainable development. Finally, the main rationales behind the core concepts are identified, and their possible implications on the role of libraries and librarians are discussed.

Findings

Of the 102 research publications, 45 are categorized as environmental, 9 as economic, 9 as social, 3 as cultural and 36 as holistic. The main rationales identified across these categories are optimization, legitimation, demonstration and transformation. The possible implications behind these rationales are that libraries and librarians should be resourceful, explicit about their motivations, serve as good examples and act as change agents. Increasingly, libraries and librarians are expected to act proactively in relation to the global sustainability agenda.

Originality/value

This literature review provides a unique overview of and insights into an emerging research field, which are needed for future research and discussion about the potentiality of libraries and librarians in solving global sustainability challenges.

The quest for attractiveness of publicly owned libraries: a service quality perspective

Purpose

Publicly owned libraries deliver a fundamental public service, fostering the citizens' access to knowledge. However, little is known about the factors underpinning the public libraries' organizational attractiveness. The article aims to shed light on this issue, investigating how the public libraries' service offering contributes to increasing their attractiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

Secondary data were collected from the national census study of libraries carried out in 2019 by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). More than 4,500 publicly owned libraries established in Italy were involved in the analysis. A linear regression model was designed to examine the implications of public libraries' service offering on the number of people who visited them in 2019. The units of analysis were grouped in three clusters based on their organizational size.

Findings

Small-sized libraries' attractiveness relied on loan services (LS) and catalogs' integration, as well as on the availability of spaces for promoting social exchanges (SE) and interactions. The same was true for medium-sized libraries, whose attractiveness was also fostered by digitization. Large-sized libraries' ability to attract users was primarily affected by LS and by the provision of people-centered cultural services (CS).

Practical implications

Publicly owned libraries should arrange tailored strategies to increase their attractiveness. Small-sized and medium-sized libraries should exploit community-oriented initiatives to establish a co-creating dialog with users. Conversely, large-sized entities should advance the users' access to conventional services and implement people-centered cultural activities, recontextualizing their exchange with users in the digital domain to enhance service quality.

Originality/value

The article originally investigates the factors affecting the attractiveness of publicly owned libraries, providing intriguing insights to managers and practitioners.

Martin Library Leadership survey: development, reliability and validation

Purpose

An effective measurement of library leadership is crucial to understanding the current state of library leadership and to developing library leaders. This study sought to validate and measure the reliability of the Martin Library Leadership survey.

Design/methodology/approach

This survey is based on the Martin Library Leadership Definition, an evidence-based definition of library leadership. The first version of the survey consisted of 28 questions plus questions on respondent and library leader demographics. Each question measured one of the three components of the definition. This version of the survey was distributed to multiple ALA listservs and after analysis 16 items were removed. The resulting 12 question version of the survey was sent to the same ALA listservs and completed by 291 librarians and library staff from various library types and library work areas. The responses were analyzed using SPSS.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis found three factors that align with the three components of the Martin Library Leadership Definition, and questions loaded in their expected factors at least 0.7. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine internal consistency. The alpha for the entire survey was 0.956. The Martin Library Leadership survey was validated and found to be reliable.

Originality/value

The results of this study provide strong and consistent evidence the Martin Library Leadership survey is valid and can be used in further library leadership research and professional development.

Work Performance Self-Efficacy of Pakistani University Librarians

This research aims to investigate the work performance self-efficacy of university librarians using a cross-sectional survey method. The data were collected from currently working 200 university librarians at Higher Education Commission (HEC) recognized public and private sector universities in Punjab, Pakistan by adopting a validated and reliable questionnaire. Survey results indicate that university librarians focus on work goals and are therefore able to meet deadlines through planning and time management. They make efforts to update knowledge and skills pertaining to their job by actively participating in meetings and social gatherings. They are not harmful to their respective institutes and avoid sharing any negative aspect with other colleagues. A relationship is found between task and contextual performance, whereas there is no significant association between counterproductive work behavior and task performance. No correlation is observed between work performance self-efficacy and type of organization (public vs. private) in which university librarians are currently working. Furthermore, designations of the study participants do not affect their work performance self-efficacy, however, gender, age, and experience appear to be the predictors of job performance self-efficacy. These findings provide a pragmatic insight into work performance self-efficacy of university librarians that can be used as a guide in developing cohesive and useful directions for a need-based performance development training program.

Digital humanities degrees and supplemental credentials in Information Schools (iSchools)

The digital humanities (DH) is an emerging field of teaching and research that invites modern technologies to address traditional humanities questions while simultaneously making space for humanistic critiques of those technologies. A natural relationship exists between DH and the field of information studies (the iField), particularly surrounding their common focus on the interface between humans and computers, as well as subfields such as the organization of information, libraries and archives, data preservation, and information in society. Thus, we propose that iField programs in universities should take an active role in DH education. We are particularly interested in programs that are officially Information Schools (iSchools), members of the international iSchools Organization. Our research began as part of a DH curriculum committee convened by the iSchools Organization. To support iSchool engagement in DH education, we have inventoried and analyzed the degrees and supplemental credentials offered by DH education programs throughout the world. Our study deployed multiple data collection methods, which included conducting both ad hoc and comprehensive website surveys, querying an online DH catalog, and inviting members of the iSchools Organization to participate in an online questionnaire. This work has revealed several common patterns for the current structure of DH programs, including the various types of degrees or supplemental credentials offered. We observe that iSchools have a significant opportunity to become more engaged in DH education and we suggest several possible approaches based on our research.

Graduate students in public health predict their actual usage of different library services and resources quite accurately

BACKGROUND

Public health students need to use different resources to those used by other health science students.

OBJECTIVES

To compare how users expect to interact with library resources and services with how they reported actual interactions and expected future usage, to inform library planning.

METHODS

During first semester orientation, a paper questionnaire was administered to graduate students (n = 25), followed by an end of semester questionnaire in a mandatory public health course. Differences (orientation vs. actual and actual vs. predicted future) were analysed using chi-square tests.

RESULTS

Most graduate students utilized library resources as frequently as they anticipated at the semester's start. Regarding which library resources they would use, respondents' predictions during orientation were accurate. Respondent confidence in their abilities to use the library resources rose by the semester's end, and the group's expectations of using electronic books in the future semester increased significantly.

DISCUSSION

Graduate students had realistic expectations when predicting their library resource usage and difficulties and most expected to value the quiet space as much as they did.

CONCLUSION

Such tracking of group expectations, experience and predicted usage helps library managers' plan where support is required.