Information and Library Science and Public policy

This study was about, users’ satisfaction at with services at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Open Registry. The objectives of the research are;

To assess the extent of users’ satisfaction with MoFA registry services, to identify the challenges faced by users of MoFA registry services, to propose measures to improve users’ satisfaction at MoFA registry.

Qualitative research design was used. Methods of data collection included interview and observation methods. These were used to obtain information from registry users. Other instruments used were observation guide that helped the researcher to obtain the relevant information required for the study. Purposive method of sampling was used to carry out the study and a sample population involved 10 (ten) respondents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Registry Unit.

Findings from the research revealed that, MoFA registryprovides appreciable level of registryusers’ service. However, these are just seen as satisfying. Barriers such as large numbers of registry users with few registry staff, and limited registry space affect registry service provision.

Registry users at MoFA are satisfied with the MoFA registry services. And these users would like
the number of registry staff to be increased.

It was therefore recommended that, customer service provision at MoFA registry should go beyond satisfaction. Strategies that exceed registry users’ expectations should be put in place to delight MoFA registry users.

Therefore, there was good registry user’s service provision at MoFA which in turn led to satisfaction of registry users.

The current dynamics of information and the recent technological revolution has compelled academic libraries worldwide to
embrace web technologies. The focus of this study is to assess the extent of utilisation of social networking tools adopted in the
well-resourced public universities in Ghana. The study used quota sampling to select 32 professional librarians from UG,
KNUST, UDS and UCC to answer questionnaires. Simple descriptive tools such as charts and percentage tables were used to
present the findings of the study. The study exposed that, the most utilised social networking tool used among professional
librarians was Facebook then Instant messaging. However, librarians were aware and sometimes use LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs,
Wikis, Flickr, Slideshare, and YouTube, Professional librarians used social networking tools for dissemination of library news,
library events, group discussion, general library information, sharing e-resources, and offering library resources. Therefore, it
was recommended that professional librarians should be encouraged to use the social networking tools for their intended
purposes and observe all ethics regarding it use. Also, the libraries should be stocked with adequate ICT infrastructure and
vibrant internet connectivity to ensure proper functioning and effective usage of networking tools.
Keywords: Social Networking Tools, Social Networking Sites, Web 2.0 Tools, Academic Libraries

This article explores some conditions of possibility on a librarian thinking in Latin America. For such purposes, the proposal for a "Librarianship from Abya Yala" was analyzed, above all because of the challenges of its claims and because it exhibits some generalized symptoms in this class of ideations (such as conceptual and methodological inconsistencies derived from regionalist identity biases). Two basic problems were identified: “identity from exclusion” and the supposed epistemic state of “knowing from inclusion”. The “identity from the exclusion” refers to the problem of trying to define the Latin American identity from the “non-Anglo-Saxon” point of view, and by the criterion of discarding foreign ideas as part of the actions to achieve, in an artificial way, the authentic “Latin American” character (without an epistemic justification involved). On the other hand, the problem of the supposed “knowing from inclusion” (which starts, rather, from exclusion and hermeneutic marginalization) takes up the same identity prejudices, and rests, indirectly, on archaic librarian functionalist thought. Despite this, its most controversial feature turns out to be that it is based on deterministic epistemic states that are not tenable ethically or epistemologically (not even in the most immediate practical sphere).

Reflete  sobre  a  Sociedade  Informática  de  Adam  Schaff  (1995)  e  suas consequências  na  Sociedade  da  Informação,  contextualizada  hodiernamente  pela  pós-verdade.  Assim,  a  questão  de  pesquisa  é  como  a  biblioteca  pública  pode  atuar  nesta sociedade, dita da informação, mas com extensivas lacunas informacionais? Assim, discute, a  partir  do  método  bibliográfico  e  da  abordagem  qualitativa,  as  potencialidades  da biblioteca pública como via dinâmica da democratização do acesso, uso e disseminação da informação  de  formacrítica  e  reflexiva  dentro  deste  espaço.  Deste  modo,  utiliza  como aporte    conceitual    as    discussões    empreendidas    sobre    pós-verdade,    ambivalência socioeconômica  da  informação,  sociedade  da  informação,  desinformação  eo  papel democrático  das  bibliotecas  públicas  frente  a  essas  questões.  Percebe-se,  a  partir  do  que fora  levantado,  que  esta  unidade  de  informação,  se  bem  estruturada,  tem  condições  de atender  às  demandas  emergentes  deste  modelo  de  sociedade,  dado  que  faz  parte  de  seu cerne o planejamento, a ação eo incentivo ao desenvolvimento social.Palavras-chave:Biblioteca Pública. Sociedade Informática. Pós-verdade.

Public libraries stimulate democracy in a society and country by availing genuine information to all the citizens which has turned as fourth basic needs after food, clothes and shelter. Libraries were matters of temples, churches and king palaces in past and the society was feudal in its nature. Establishment of public libraries reflects democratic values of a society and country. India has large number of public libraries; however expenditure on it is low as compared to developed nations in the world. Library legislation is not available in all states in India. The study is based on literature search with authentic sources. It is suggested to increase number of public libraries in India, enact library legislation in all the states, and enhance online services in the public libraries.

Pragmatically, libraries and the library community must solve the myriad legal problems generated by the use of digital technologies at the operational level. These can seem so overwhelming that, as the old saw warns, we can miss the forest for the trees. Viewed together at a more abstract level, these issues are manifestations of changing relations between libraries and national governments.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the subject of “public libraries” in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WoS) and Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC). The present study is a descriptive-analytical research adopting scientometrics approach in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the study consisted of 2976 documents indexed in the WoS during 1900-2017 as well as 232 documents indexed in the ISC during 1999-2017. To collect data, we refined the search to title as (TI=Public Library*) and limited it to the time span (PY=1900-2017) in WoS in order to avoid diversity in the retrieved documents. The same approach was followed to retrieve documents from ISC databases. Research findings showed that foreign researchers were interested in “information science and library”, “computer sciences”, and “architecture” in relation to public library studies. On the other hand, Iranian researchers focused on “public library studies”, “assessment”, and “staff studies including managers and librarians”. Considering the journals publishing research on public library issues, the findings showed that the American Library Journal (n=722) and the Iranian Research on Information Science and public libraries (n=134) published the largest number of articles on the subject at the global and local levels, respectively.  USA, Canada, and England were the most productive countries in “public libraries” research area. Besides, University of Illinois and Islamic Azad University were the most active institutions publishing in this field at international and national levels with 62 and 57 documents, respectively. This study aimed to survey and compare research on public libraries in WoS and ISC. An examination of the subject area of public libraries revealed the trends of research fronts at the global level and in Iran and determines whether or not the topics of interest to world-class researchers are close to that of national researchers or if domestic researchers have addressed public library issues with an indigenous approach.

Tackling inequalities in society remains a serious challenge for post-apartheid South Africa. This battle calls for a multifaceted approach that involves various stakeholders including community libraries. Community libraries are internationally recognised as social institutions that can effect social and economic transformation in society. In South Africa, this is clearly manifested by the provision of a conditional government grant for the development of community libraries in the country. The Department of Arts and Culture started this project in 2007. Despite this recognition for community libraries, their role in tackling inequalities in society is not always clear. Findings from the literature and reports from the Department of Arts and Culture suggest that community libraries are playing an important role in curbing inequalities. This article also attempts to report on the progress of the Department of Arts and Culture's conditional grant community library project. Though there has been some progress in the project but challenges still exist and more effort and support is required. It is vital that community library services be developed and sustained as these libraries can have a positive influence on the development of society.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the role played by public libraries in driving community education and promoting information literacy in digital society. Public libraries being storehouses of knowledge, they have always supported user education while undertaking active part in community information services. We design a simple model to explain and analyze the effects of public libraries on user education and community literacy drive. We also discuss the relevance and value of public libraries in this age of digital technology. Our findings reinforce the claim that public libraries are still relevant even in this digital age, and they indeed support user education for the progressive improvement of society.

Il contributo descrive i risultati dell'azione di valorizzazione della biblioteca di pubblica lettura "Grazia Deledda" nel quartiere di Ponticelli, nella periferia orientale di Napoli. Questo intervento condotto con il supporto di un progetto (SocializziAMO in BIblioteca) finanziato dal Ministero, ha interessato lo "spazio-biblioteca" su più dimensioni (fisica/infrastrutturale, di costruzione di comunità, potenziamento dei servizi, di innovazione nei rapporti tra istituzioni pubbliche e terzo settore).

Nell'articolo è presente sia una piccola ricostruzione della storia del progetto, la descrizione dei risultati preliminari e le riflessioni sull'esperienza realizzata collegandosi ai principali contributi nazionali e internazionali sul ruolo delle biblioteche di pubblica lettura in contesti urbani complessi.

Stanford University is a private institution located in California's Bay region occupying approximately 8180 acres of land. It was founded in 1885 and is about thirty miles from San Francisco ("Stanford Facts" 5). The University's mission is to expand the frontlines of knowledge, inspire creativity, encourage students to think rationally and critically to enable them to contribute constructively to the world using the knowledge they acquire at Stanford ("Stanford Facts" 5). The organization avails multiple student organizations such as the Stanford Pre

Purpose: To study, identify and evaluate the services risks of the public libraries affiliated with Iran Public Libraries Foundation and to provide a solution based on the modern portfolio theory.
Method: This is an applied research in terms of purpose and a qualitative study in terms of the data collection method, which has been carried out by applying the cross-mix method. In order to achieve the purpose of research and identifying the dangers facing libraries, a systematic search was conducted through the databases of Science Direct, Emerald, Normex, Mag Iran, Civilica, Humanities Database and the University of Tehran Journal. In this study, Sandlowski and Barroso's (2007) seven-step method was used. Then, the Shannon entropy quantitative method was used to determine the significance and priority of each of the concepts discovered. Furthermore, a Critical appraisal tool was used to determine the cross-validity. A description of how to use his tool is given in the quality control section. In the present study, all the relevant articles were studied and each of the risks the public library services face was identified and coded. To determine the reliability, the two-coder agreement method was utilized and the kappa coefficient was used to calculate the coefficient of agreement between the two coders.
Findings: The extracted resources were finally evaluated and 52 risks were divided into nine categories: Library Existential Value, Collection, Information Technology, Human Resources Issues, Laws, Regulations, Management, Financial Issues, Evaluation and Access to Information. The results showed that the component "socio-economic changes" and, consequently, the ever-changing needs of customers and provision of their information needs will result in the library's inability to meet the maximum customer information needs. Furthermore, this component received more attention than other components.
Originality/value: Libraries always face risks while delivering their services, and identifying and managing these risks will help solve many of the diffulties and problems facing public libraries. Therefore, the present study can have a significant impact on planning and defining the public libraries' policy in the future.

This paper examines the work of "frontline mediators," a term used by public librarians to describe the practice of facilitating the use of online welfare applications. As welfare agencies closed their offices and required clients to access services online, public librarians operating in low-income communities adopted new practices to facilitate their clients' use of web applications for welfare and other relevant public services. Pulling from interviews and observations from a multi-year ethnographic study, I discuss the emergence of frontline mediators, and examine the key practices and attributes involved with their work. Frontline mediators care for their clients and their clients' information needs. Thus, I argue the idea of caring relationships should be at the center of public service design strategy. The frontline mediator case study offers relevant lessons for human-computer interaction and design researchers interested in broader questions of democracy, civic engagement, and public service.

Políticas de Información: Bibliotecología y Ciencia e la Información
Fuentes y recursos de  información
Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación, TIC
Información y Comunicación internacional
Divulgación y  confidencialidad de la información
Regulación  de recursos electrónicos y computacionales.
Acceso a la información y derechos  intelectuales
Bibliotecas y archivos
Diseminación y  difusíón de la información
Edición y  publicación de la información