Introduction: This paper describes the findings of a study of 1517 public library Websites in Australia, Canada, and the United States over a period of four years. These Websites are referred to as 'electronic branches' of the libraries, thereby extending the definition of physical library branches into the digital realm. The purpose of the…

The automation of a library that basically aims at improving the management of the library's resources and increasing access to these same resources by users has caught on so well in the western world that virtually all academic libraries in that part of the world have automated most of their services. In Africa, however, several challenges are…

The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of WebOPAC Self Training Tool with Guided Exploration (WSTTG), WebOPAC Self Training Tool with non-guided exploration (WSTT) and Traditional (T) groups as the learning strategies on information literacy (IL) skills standards among first year degree students in Malaysian public university. The…

University College Dublin became the first library in the Republic of Ireland to trial patron-driven acquisition (PDA) as a collection development tool in 2013. A total of 42% of UCD Library's book budget was allocated to the project, which included both electronic and print books. This article describes the twelve month project from the tender…

In autumn 2012, the University of Birmingham launched FindIt@Bham, a Primo-based Resource Discovery Service, after a series of focus groups with students and staff to help determine its initial configuration and customization. This article presents the results from a large-scale online survey and focus groups that were conducted to poll users'…

Big data sets and powerful computing capacity have transformed scholarly inquiry across many disciplines. While the impact of data-intensive research methodologies is perhaps most distinct in the natural and social sciences, the humanities have also benefited from these new analytical tools. While full-text data is necessary to study topics such…

Introduction: It has been suggested that cognitive characteristics may affect search. This study investigated how decoding abilities, short-term memory capacity and rapid automatised naming skills relate to query formulation. Method: A total of twenty dyslexic participants and twenty non-dyslexic controls completed four standardised cognitive…

The paper examines the level of library automation and virtual library development in four academic libraries. A validated questionnaire was used to capture the responses from academic librarians of the libraries under study. The paper discovers that none of the four academic libraries is fully automated. The libraries make use of librarians with…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to follow up on the 2009 publication "Building a virtual branch at Vancouver Public Library (VPL) using Web 2.0 tools" and to explore the work that VPL has been doing in the social media space over the past two years. Design/methodology/approach: Following the launch of its new web site in 2008,…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to study the impact of internet search engine usage with special reference to OPAC searches in the Punjabi University Library, Patiala, Punjab (India). Design/methodology/approach: The primary data were collected from 352 users comprising faculty, research scholars and postgraduate students of the university. A…

This paper reports the results of recent research examining the holdings of Australian research library collections recorded in the WorldCat database using OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis software. The objectives of the research are: 1. To better understand the distribution of printed monographs amongst Australian research collections in order…

As a concept, the next-generation catalog (NGC) is not new to librarians, who have been wishing for better OPAC interfaces for their integrated library systems (ILSs). The NGC has been the focus of discussion for more than 5 years now, from the 2006 report of the implementation of Endeca at North Carolina State University, to Marshall Breeding's…

Technology makes it possible to redefine libraries and make them relevant to the public once again. But how good are the digital services offered by public libraries today? The digital services department team of the Pode project at Norway's Oslo Public Library has spent the last 2 years investigating the possibilities available in order to…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the various features and components of web-based online public access catalogues (OPACs) of IIT libraries in India with the help of a specially designed evaluation checklist. Design/methodology/approach: The various features of the web-based OPACs in six IIT libraries (IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT…

In 2009, the author spearheaded the Thunder Bay Public Library's (TBPL) service audit on kiosks. A task force comprising staff from the children's, reference, and adult services departments was formed to work on the audit. Task force members worked together and studied how patrons and staff use kiosks, conducted a literature review, surveyed other…