Enabling Serendipity During Digital Library Search

Information seekers are generally on their own to discover and use a research library's growing array of digital collections, and coordination of these collections' development and maintenance is often not optimal. The frequent lack of a conscious design for how collections fit together is of equal concern because it means that research libraries are not making the most of the substantial investments they are making in digital initiatives. This paper proposes a framework for a research library's digital collections that offers integrated discovery and a set of best practices to underpin collection building, federated access, and sustainability. The framework's purpose is to give information seekers a powerful and easy way to search across existing and future collections and to retrieve integrated sets of results. The paper and its recommendations are based upon research undertaken by the author and a team of librarians and technologists at Cornell University Library. The team conducted structured interviews of forty-five library staff members involved in digital collection building at Cornell, studied an inventory of the library's more than fifty digital collections, and evaluated seven existing Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and federated search production or prototype systems. The author will discuss her team's research and the rationale for their recommendations to: present a cohesive view of the library's digital collections for both browsing and searching at the object level; take a programmatic (rather than project-based) approach to digital collection building; require that all new digital collections conform to library-developed and agreed-upon OAI best practices for data providers; and implement organizational structures to sustain the library's digital collections over the long term.

Information seekers are generally on their own to discover and use a research library's growing array of digital collections, and coordination of these collections' development and maintenance is often not optimal. The frequent lack of a conscious design for how collections fit together is of equal concern because it means that research libraries are not making the most of the substantial investments they are making in digital initiatives. This paper proposes a framework for a research library's digital collections that offers integrated discovery and a set of best practices to underpin collection building, federated access, and sustainability. The framework's purpose is to give information seekers a powerful and easy way to search across existing and future collections and to retrieve integrated sets of results. The paper and its recommendations are based upon research undertaken by the author and a team of librarians and technologists at Cornell University Library. The team conducted structured interviews of forty-five library staff members involved in digital collection building at Cornell, studied an inventory of the library's more than fifty digital collections, and evaluated seven existing Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and federated search production or prototype systems. The author will discuss her team's research and the rationale for their recommendations to: present a cohesive view of the library's digital collections for both browsing and searching at the object level; take a programmatic (rather than project-based) approach to digital collection building; require that all new digital collections conform to library-developed and agreed-upon OAI best practices for data providers; and implement organizational structures to sustain the library's digital collections over the long term.

We present here the research work on data mining technologies for complicated attributes relationship in digital library collections. Firstly our work and ideology is introduced as the research ba ckground of this paper. Digital library evaluation is an important topic in information systems domain. We creatively import data mining technologies into it to get an intelligent decision support. But traditional data prediction algorithm didn't work well. This is the problem which would be solved in this paper. Secondly related preliminary research is introduced. We researched on attributes of digital library collections, proposed a parallel discretization algorithm based on z-score theory, and by the discretization algorithm disc overed a complicated condition attribute relation among attributes, it is the reason why traditional data prediction algorithm didn't wor k well. At last a stratified decision tree algorithm for value prediction about digital collection is put forward as the ultimate solution to solve the problem. Stratified attribute concept is imported in this algorithm. It can expand the selection of splitting attribute in decis ion tree from flat information to stereoscopic information, eliminate the influence of complicated condition attribute relationsh ip, nested use existing decision tree algorithms, and solve the bottleneck of data mining application in digital library evaluation.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to execute the application of confirmatory factor analysis in structural equation modeling, to investigate the reliability and validity of the proposed integrated digital library user success (IDLUS) scale in academic digital library computing information system in the area of information management and systems.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzed 355 valid responses (MPhil and PhD) from the largest and oldest public sector university in Pakistan. Sample selection was calculated through a stratified random sampling technique from the four faculties of the University of the Punjab. The instrument was constructed based on the available two digital library and information system success models. The first model is Jung’s (1997) digital library user success model that is further composed of flow model (1977), end user computing satisfaction model (1987) and Joshi’s overall user satisfaction model (1990). Similarly, the second model is DeLone and McLean’s reformulated information system success (2003) theory. The question items used a five-point Likert scale and executed regression weights, standardized regression weights, convergent validity, variance extracted, construct reliability and discriminant validity to infer results.FindingsFindings show that the IDLUS scale has excellent validity and reliability estimates.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has theoretical implications for researchers and practical implications for information system developers.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this scale is the first-ever effort to measure the digital library user success in the context of Higher Education Commission-National Digital Library of Pakistan. Therefore, there was a dire need to conduct the psychometric analysis of the scale to examine the model fit statistics on the current sample in the particular cultural norms. Scale is based upon human factors taken from various Web success and information system success models from the fields of human–computer interaction information systems and computer-mediated communication.

The library has the quality in the service in the collection of the library. Enhancing library service quality is paramount to ensure users derive greater satisfaction and value. The Faculty of Animal Husbandry Library, Universitas Padjadjaran, has special collection in the animal husbandry science can access students, lecturer, and staff. The purposes this research knew the collection quality analysis at the Animal Husbandry Library, Universitas Padjadjaran, with analyse of the physical and digital library collections’ at the Faculty of Animal Husbandry Library, Universitas Padjadjaran. The research method used a descriptive quantitative methodology using a survey with 132 participating respondents. The participants comprised students enrolled in the faculty, represented by every academic year, from incoming students to those in their final year. The study procedure encompassed problem identification, questionnaire design, participant selection, questionnaire distribution, and survey data handling. The collected survey data were analyzed descriptively and graphically displayed for simplicity in data interpretation. The survey questions were categorized into four evaluative themes: collection diversity, collection completeness, collection currentness, and collection condition. The outcomes indicated consistent satisfaction from the respondents regarding the evaluated areas. Several recommendations were proposed regarding the physical collection of rare books in sub-optimal conditions. In conclusion, users express satisfaction with the diversity, completeness, timeliness, and condition of both physical and digital collections in the Animal Husbandry Faculty Library, Universitas Padjadjaran. Regular assessment of user satisfaction is necessary as a roadmap for augmenting the quality of library services.

The 21st century has brought digitization ofknowledge, but as libraries go digital, inclusive search tools arebecoming necessary. Though most digital searches cater to highresourcelanguages, leaving speakers of low-resource languages,like Uzbek, underserved. This research proposes an originalconcept for semantic searches in digital libraries tailoredaround the language, culture, and socio-technical milieu of lowresourcelanguages like Karapalpak, Tajik, and regionaldialects of Uzbek. Our solution integrates numeroussophisticated systems to overcome key challenges like the lackof annotated corpora, embarrassment of morphologicalcomplexity, multilingualism, and others. We design acomprehensive semantic search engine that provides meaningawaresearch results aligned with users' intent, regardless of thelinguistic variations and custom-built domain-specific languageresources, multilingual embeddings, and ontologies used. Theframework enables semi-automatic transliteration, crosslanguageretrieval, context-driven query expansion, and out-oflanguagequery imposition. The system, implemented as aprototype on a Uzbekistan digital library corpus,demonstratively surpasses keyword-based searches in accuracyand user satisfaction. This research will promote thedevelopment of knowledge systems that are more culturallyaligned and relevant to users, applicable to other languages withfew accessible resources.

The Saab Medical Library (SML) developed its virtual medical library site in 1997. The spread of the Internet prompted its development, in addition to continuous requests from users to provide such a service for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The virtual library is dynamic, growing and changing continuously, and the role of the traditional reference librarian and the end‐user education programs had to change to fit this borderless library. This paper discusses the aim, preparation, problems and lessons learned after three years of the user education program in a virtual library setting, and how reference work had to change to satisfy the needs of both the system and its users. The reference librarian has to carry out a smooth transition to a virtual library and help users cope with the technological changes. Training at the SML, as in any academic library, aims at teaching how to retrieve information rather than providing answers. This training is presented in different forms such as orientation sessions, seminars, and course‐related instruction, in addition to Web‐based instruction. In a virtual setting, reference librarians should act both as educators and consultants for end‐users, advising them on the search strategy as well as the software set‐up. The “Lebanese Corner” and an e‐reference service were added to complete the picture of this virtual library. This change had advantages and disadvantages for the users.

Users increasingly enjoy unprecedented access to varied and huge number of digital resources provided by the academic D-libraries to enrich their education and knowledge. As an academic digital libraries' contents become huger, it is difficult for users to obtain the needed information resources accurately and quickly. Thus, users expect more sophisticated services from digital library systems such as easy to retrieve relevant resources. One effective solution to handle this issue is to make use of recommendation service. The aim of this study is to investigate on the recommender system categories used in academic D-libraries. The paper review the most important categories including collaborative filtering, content filtering and hybrid filtering with their major strengths and limitations. Then, issues and challenges related to these categories are presented, followed by a discussion of solutions proposed by researchers to mitigate these challenges. Finally, based on the survey, a future research possibilities to develop high-quality recommender systems for academic D-libraries is presented.

Although the field of digital libraries is still young, digital library collections have been built around the world and are being deployed on numerous public web sites. But what is a digital library, exactly? In many respects the best way to characterize the notion is by extension, in terms of actual examples, rather than by intension as in a conventional definition. In a very real sense, digital libraries are whatever people choose to call by the term “digital library.”

In recent years, academic digital libraries have become a very important source of information. Academic digital libraries provide a rich collection in order to satisfy user need for information. The augmentation of user population and the volume of new publications causes many challenges to librarians in the collection development process and determining user needs of information is the fundamental challenge that librarians face. This article presents a demand-driven collection development decision support system based on the PROMETHEE II method. The DSS supports the librarians to make decisions in the collection development process to provide a rich collection that meets the users' needs. The DSS evaluates and determines a set of electronic resources for purchase, subscription, contract reviewing or cancelation. The decision support system extracts users' queries from log files to determine user preferences. Then, the revised Simos' procedure is used to derive the criteria weights. Finally, the authors applied the PROMETHEE II method to evaluate and rank the electronic resources.

Metadata has been proven to play a key role in managing bibliographic data in digital form. The use of metadata contributes to the efficiency of organization of access, search and management of bibliographic data. Through a systematic analysis of the use of metadata in the formation of digital collections, in particular on the example of the description of digital copies of archival documents from the Library's collection of the Manuscripts Department of the NTSh in Lviv, it was established that metadata significantly facilitates access, search, integration and management of digital resources. The analysis of the specifics of the use of metadata in the formation of the Library's digital collections confirms their significance. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the systematic study of the specifics of the application of metadata in this context. The proposed research methodology, which includes the analysis of standards, the development of a metadata scheme, annotation, testing and implementation of metadata, contributes to the improvement of accessibility, organization and structuring of digital collections in the library electronic infrastructure. The article analyzes the role of metadata in solving the problems of digital bibliographic data, such as access, search, integration and data management. A research methodology is proposed, which includes studying existing metadata standards and recommendations, developing a metadata schema, creating annotations for archival documents, performance testing, selecting metadata types, and implementation. This approach made it possible to systematize the process of forming digital collections and improve the accessibility, organization and finding of digital resources in the library's electronic infrastructure.

We use digital library technology to help language learners express themselves by capitalizing on the humangenerated text available on the Web. From a massive collection of n-grams and their occurrence frequencies we extract sequences that begin with the word I, sequences that begin a question, and sequences containing statistically significant collocations. These are preprocessed, filtered, and organized as a digital library collection using the Greenstone software. Users can search the collection to see how particular words are typically used and browse by syntactic class. The digital library is richly interconnected to other resources. It includes links to external vocabularies and thesauri so that users can retrieve words related to any term of interest, and links the collection to the web by locating sample sentences containing these patterns and presenting them to the user. We have conducted an evaluation of how useful the system is in helping students, and the impact it has on their writing. Finally, language activities generated from the digital library content have been designed to help learners master important emotion related vocabulary and expressions. We predict that the application of digital library technology to assist language students will revolutionize second language learning.

Geographic interfaces provide natural, scalable visualizationss for many digital library collections, but the wide range of data in digital libraries presents some particular problems for identifying and disambiguating place names. We describe the toponym-disambiguation system in the Perseus digital library and evaluate its performance. Name categorization varies significantly among different types of documents, but toponym disambiguation performs at a high level of precision and recall with a gazetteer an order of magnitude larger than most other applications.

Background of the study: In today’s libraries, increasing pressures on managing and visualizing digital collections in an efficient, interactive, and user-centered way continue to challenge the profession. Augmented Reality (AR) holds promise to facilitate spatial navigation, access to collections, and learning experiences in libraries. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to conduct a systematic review of the literature related to AR applications in library digital collections, visualization, and management. Method: Using a Systematized Literature Review (SLR) methodology, articles were found through the Publish or Perish software using Google Scholar as the primary search engine. A total of 100 articles were initially screened, and 36 articles that met predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for in-depth thematic analysis to uncover emerging patterns and research clusters. Findings: Five main themes were identified: 1) Augmented Reality (AR) for Library Navigation and Orientation, 2) AR for Visualization of Digital Assets: AR is increasingly investigated as a medium for the visualization of digital collections, 3) Integration of AR with Complementary Technologies, 4) Application of AR in Specialized Library Contexts, and 5) AR as a Facilitator of Educational Objectives. The most significant challenges identified include limited infrastructure, difficulties with system integration, and training/education issues for librarians. Conclusion: This review confirms the high potential for AR to improve user engagement, facilitate information connectivity, and enhance educational functions within libraries. However, the success of AR relies on broadband infrastructure, open content, and partnerships across community sectors, with implications for both theory and the development of immersive services.

Providing access to large digital library collections to novice users requires novel interfaces that are not built around the concept of search, as novice users frequently struggle to formulate appropriate queries. This paper presents the Explore the Stacks system, which provides a novel, browsing-focused interface for exploring digital library collections that is applicable to Big Data scale digital libraries. The system is demonstrated using a collection of approximately one million book illustrations provided by the British Library.