Basic Competencies for Statistical Work in the Library and Information Science Profession

Knowledge sharing in an organization nowadays has been a strong force toward attaining organizational goals. Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals are at the forefront of information gathering and dissemination, and at such, knowledge sharing among such professionals needs to be investigated. The study examined the attitudes of LIS professionals in Nigeria toward knowledge sharing; and they comprised the population of the study in this research. The responses were collated through online survey using Google forms; the link was posted on Nigerian Library Association online platform and WhatsApp groups of all the library professionals in Nigeria, given a timeframe of two weeks for data collection. Descriptive statistics was employed for data analysis. Ninety-four responses were recorded within a space of two weeks. The results revealed that the attitudes of LIS professionals to knowledge sharing with a grand mean score of 4.5, which indicated positive attitudes. The avenue for knowledge sharing varies significantly from Conferences, Seminars, Face-to-face with social media platforms. Also, years of work experience was found to have significant influence on intrinsic motivational factors to sustain knowledge sharing attitudes of the professionals in library and information science specialty in Nigeria. The second hypothesis was also rejected for the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis that states that extrinsic motivation has significant influence on knowledge sharing attitudes of library and information science professionals in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends, among, others that a mentoring programme be established for peer-to-peer and promotion of knowledge sharing should further be strengthened. Keywords: Extrinsic motivation, Intrinsic motivational factors, Knowledge sharing attitudes, Knowledge sharing, Library and Information Science Professionals, Nigeria. DOI: 10.7176/IKM/11-1-01 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to have a closer look at the awareness of referencing utilities among the library professionals in India. In a research environment, referencing and bibliography play an important role in the dissemination of research findings through scholarly writings. Citing references while writing scholarly articles has become more eloquent mainly due to the availability of a range of bibliography management utilities. Currently, there are various types of Bibliography Management Software (BMS) available for the management of the citation, referencing and compiling bibliographies. Librarians have a crucial role to play in helping the faculty, students and research scholars in the process of writing their scholarly articles and theses, especially in the area of referencing.Design/methodology/approach– The study was conducted through an online survey with an aim to assess the perception, awareness and use of BMS by the Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals in India.Findings– In the academic environment, published results of research findings are crucial for the advancement of knowledge. The published research findings are often supported and disputed using the citation of previous studies. There are a number of supporting technologies that are intended to help in procuring needed citations and streamlining them for better research output. The role of the librarian in this endeavor is undisputed. This study shows that there is a need for strengthening the awareness of BMS at the institutional level and also hands-on experience is needed for library professionals to help in the process of research writing and advocate for adopting correct referencing style (citation style) while writing scholarly articles.Practical implications– The increased use of information and communication technology in the process of scholarly writing, especially in the search and retrieval of relevant articles and the availability of electronic journals and books, have resulted in an increased number of research articles being written by research scholars. The downside to this overflow of scholarly and creative writing is the incorrect way of using referencing style in the dissemination of research and the possibilities of malpractice and plagiarism. This study will help in creating awareness of the utility of citation and BMS in content writing, especially among library and information professionals, as they play an important role in facilitating research.Social implications– This study will be beneficial for the LIS professionals in understanding the effectiveness of their services when complemented by the use of technology-powered tools. Creating awareness of the use of BMS in content development in scholarly communication promises to create a flawless scholarly output as library professionals will help researchers in guiding research writings with correct referencing and citation.Originality/value– Use of BMS helps in the development of content in an organized, methodical and scientific way. The role of library and information professionals working with different researchers and scholars in advocating and practicing the use of BMS will go a long way in creating more streamlined content.

This chapter provides the genesis of the massive open online courses (MOOCs) concept and perceptions of library and information science professionals towards the evolution of MOOCs in libraries and the information science domain by using a survey. The results of this study revealed that a majority of library and information science professionals who participated in this survey were working in academic libraries and aware of the MOOCs concept from three years, by scholarly literature. The MOOCs concept was updated and useful in libraries and the information science domain, while a lack of MOOCs related specific to competencies and skills emerged as the main barrier. This survey also showed that the concept of MOOCs will continue to grow in the future. This chapter will be helpful to understand the concept of MOOCs and the insights of library and information science professionals in the MOOCs context.

Academic libraries and information technology centres are under serious threat due to the increasing pressure to achieve higher level of performance in a competitive global environment. Most of these challenges are as result of information communication technology (ICT) and digital revolution. This chapter discusses the impact of digital revolution on academic libraries and the need to acquire core competencies and new skills to effectively the 21st century academic libraries and information technology centres. Further, the author examines the sets of skills required by Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals to survive in the digital-based environments.

Social networking sites (SNS) are widely using by the library information science professionals for libraries for various purposes due to their characteristics, facilities and connectivity. This study provides views of library and information science professionals regarding usages of SNS tools and services for their libraries. It was discovered from the study that maximum number of library and information science professionals who responded in this survey were associated with academic libraries have known about SNS tools and services from more than four years from internet/search engines, use SNS several times in daily, for interacting with the users and getting feedback from the users , used SNS namely ‘Facebook’ , for marketing of library services and products but did not have policy for using SNS into their libraries and lack of credibility of SNS tools and services emerged as major barrier to use SNS for libraries. Apart from this, maximum number of respondents said that SNS tools and services will be used for libraries in full extend in future.

This chapter describes the background, methodology, and results of a preliminary study undertaken in 2018 to determine university faculty awareness and perceptions of copyright as it affects teaching and learning. Copyright remains the cardinal bridge between creation and access to knowledge and knowledge-based materials. However, the issue of copyright awareness has now become a global concern. Since tertiary education revolves around the use of other people's copyrighted works, this study seeks to investigate the level of copyright awareness among Library and Information Science Professionals in Tamil Nadu, India. The study revealed that copyright awareness among LIS professionals is not up to the level expected due to the fact that the academic institution does not have copyright awareness policy to effectively regulate, monitor, and protect its intellectual property, academic and institutional values, as well as to defend its teaching, research, and service mission. This study shows that most of the respondents belonging to ‘below 25 years' (50%) and ‘26 to 35 years' (41.5%) age groups use copyrighted information by ‘seeking permission from copyright holder(s)', followed by ‘crediting original author/authority' (respectively 37.5% and 24.4%).

Information explosion is the common phenomenon in the modern era in which no library can stand alone in fulfilling the information needs and requirements of its users. Resource sharing provides the means to maximize the usage of library collection irrespective of its type. Networking of libraries facilitates resource sharing among the participating libraries in an effective manner and it indirectly facilitates marketing of library sources among a group of libraries. Technology alone is not sufficient to bring together the sources. The attitudes of the people involved in the information dissemination are also a decisive factor in determining the success of resource sharing through networking of libraries. This chapter presents the attitude of information professionals for effective resource sharing and networking of academic libraries in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The study revealed that library and information science professionals have a positive attitude towards resource sharing and networking of libraries.

This study explores the general perspectives of library and information science (LIS) professionals on knowledge management in the university libraries of Pakistan. The study specifically examines the perceptions, understandings, role and responsibilities of Pakistani LIS professionals toward knowledge management. A questionnaire was used as an instrument to evaluate the perceptions, understandings, role and responsibilities of LIS professionals toward knowledge management. The questionnaires were administered to subject librarians who were included in the sample at the universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Generalising the findings of this study over the population of LIS community in Pakistan reveals that knowledge management is for the improvement of library services and productive purposes. Accordingly, the Pakistani LIS professionals use knowledge management practices for the improvement of their respective library service. The LIS community is also very familiar with the term “knowledge management”. It succeeded mainly to generalise that majority of the LIS professionals mentioned that they have used knowledge management in their libraries.

The implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA) in 2013 or after will have a powerful impact on the skill set required of new library and information science professionals. This article chronicles the development of an RDA “boot camp” at UNC–Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science. Curriculum for the three-hour camp included a review of relevant theoretical frameworks and a hands-on exercise creating RDA records. Findings from a post–boot camp survey point to areas for further growth in cataloging and metadata course development and suggest that students are eager for more practical experience with emerging schema.

Libraries and information centers are dynamic institutions established with the purpose of disseminating information to the users of information. Libraries as institutions are witnessing transformation due to the developments occurring in the information landscape. Libraries have travelled a long journey from traditional libraries to the modern digital and virtual libraries. Nature of activities performed by library and information professionals in the traditional libraries also got changed with the passage of time. In order to perform activities in the libraries in an effective and efficient manner, library and information science professionals need competencies in terms of skills, knowledge, etc., related to the activities to be performed in libraries. Information technology has changed the way librarians perform their work and the expectations of library users. Thus with the transition of libraries from traditional to digital, nature of competencies has changed. Present paper highlights the changing nature of LIS competencies. Role of library and information science schools is also discussed in nurturing these competencies among the LIS professionals for producing competent manpower essential for managing libraries and information centers in the digital information environment.

College and university libraries need to develop undergraduate internships to encourage low-income and ethnic-minority students to enter the library profession. Such internships can be run on limited budgets. This article presents a case-study model for an internship program and its related promotional efforts currently in place at California State University, Bakersfield. The article discusses the need for greater ethnic diversity in libraries and the value of internships as a tool to confront minority underrepresentation in the library profession. Introduction Colleges and universities can confront the issue of lack of diversity in the library profession by providing library internships to students from minority or economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These internship programs, if kept small, can be run on limited budgets and can have profound effects. Librarians at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) developed an internship program designed to equip students with skills and experience they can carry forward into library and information science graduate programs and the professional workforce. The program will broaden Hispanic and other ethnic minority representation in libraries. CSUB's program is part of the minority recruitment continuum within the profession. It focuses its efforts on individuals, rather than groups of students, and its small scale allows for an intensive undergraduate introduction to library science and in-depth mentoring. Meanwhile, across the profession, there are numerous examples of minority recruitment programs that are opening doors and providing opportunities. For example, the American Library Association funded its Spectrum Initiative in 1997, providing scholarships to minority students who pursue degrees in library science.1 Efforts such as the Diversity Internship in Libraries Program, sponsored by the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Simmons College Libraries, and the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, expose high-school students to the profession through internships. On a larger scale, the Mellon Foundation's two $500,000 grants to the Mellon Librarian Recruitment Program for undergraduate students at Atlanta University, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Occidental, Swarthmore, and Wellesley include internships, library science career awareness, and scholarships.2 The University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science actively recruits minority students into its Knowledge River program and provides them with an extensive support network, financial assistance, and culturally sensitive educational opportunities.3 CSUB does not offer a degree in library science, which makes its internship program somewhat unusual. While there are numerous internships available to library science students, library science internship programs for undergraduates and graduate students in other disciplines are rare. The CSUB program locates students with the potential for and interest in becoming librarians before they enter a library or information studies graduate program. The goal is to teach these selected students about the library profession by offering them both academic training and experiential learning before library science graduate school. The internship provides basic academic study in librarianship followed by supervised training and experience, preparation for graduate school, constructive evaluations, and mentoring that can lead to completion of a graduate degree. The internship program was one of several CSUB projects funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Title V grant for Hispanic-serving institutions. The paid and competitive internship, which requires a commitment often to twenty hours per week and can last up to one year, is divided into four components: training and study, professional development and mentoring, assigned professional projects, and evaluation. The Need for Internships The need for greater ethnic and social diversity in libraries is well-documented. …

In this digital era, massive open online courses (MOOCs) are receiving huge attention. MOOCs have moved beyond the academic circle. The high popularity and adaptation of MOOCs are only for being free and providing a totally new kind of learning experience. But there are the several challenges that the library and information science professionals will face as MOOCs take off. These include influencing faculties, copyright and licensing, delivery demographic and scale. This chapter shows how MOOCs integrate in the field of library and information science service in this digital age.

This study explores the usage patterns of social media applications by library and information science (LIS) professionals in higher education institutions in Karnataka, India. The results obtained through a survey of 424 library professionals indicate a widespread adoption of social media applications among library professionals, with 96.7% of respondents affirming their usage. The study delves further into the specific social media tools employed by library professionals, revealing that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn are the most frequently used platforms. Additionally, academic-related social media tools like ResearchGate and LinkedIn are notably popular, while others such as RefWorks and Zotero see limited use. Library professionals predominantly utilize social media for communication with users, sharing information about library resources, and providing services such as current awareness services and selective dissemination of information. Furthermore, the research unveils the role of social media in engaging the research community, with platforms like ResearchGate and Academia.edu being prominent choices. These findings have implications for designing effective training programs, optimizing social media applications, and formulating policies to harness the potential of social media for enriching library services and fostering professional development among LIS professionals in higher education institutions.

Purpose This chapter argues that despite efforts to increase the diversity of the library and information science profession, little has changed in the last four decades. Methodology/approach This chapter presents historical and current data on diversity within the profession and examples of initiatives to improve diversity in schools of library and information science. Findings The chapter explores the ways in which the racial climate of the profession has impacted all of these efforts to improve diversity in the field.

As dean of Atlanta University School of Library Service, Dr. Virginia Lacy Jones was an advocate for library education, Black librarianship, and the recruitment and retention of minority librarians. During a time when there were few library science programs for the training of Black librarians, she stood on her soapbox for representation in the profession, practices, and curriculum. Dr. Jones provided Black librarianship with the blueprint for relentless advocacy, a model for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the library and information science profession that many librarians and library educators rely on today.