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In September 2022, the sixth edition of the ISO 2789. Information and documentation. International library statistics standard was published, replacing ISO 2789:2013. This text analyzes the novelties introduced in this new version, which principally have to do with digital resources and services and with the incorporation of data on research support, as well as other aspects. The standard maintains practically the same structure as the previous edition, although the incorporation of an annex regarding the measurement of digital uses is emphasized. Numerous definitions reflecting the new reality of libraries are also added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the use of Spanish university libraries during 2020 versus 2019 is carried out in this paper. The results have been published in a web tool that allows for deeper analysis of the individual libraries as well as the libraries as a whole. This study is not an evaluation of the libraries themselves but consists of measuring, describing, and quantifying the negative impact that the health crisis had on them during 2020. Visits, loans, user training, and catalog visits are variables that were strongly affected, with a significant positive increase being identified only in visits to library web pages. The use of digital resources according to Counter-compiled data increased considerably in some private university libraries, where possible staff cuts were also identified. The paper concludes by outlining reflections that can be further studied with the experiences of people related to libraries and with additional research, including data for the following years after collection and publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The ethical performance of the librarian is addressed, considering its challenges and perspectives. Objective: to enhance the development of the professional ethics of the librarian, through the socialization of the proposed actions. Materials and methods: theoretical methods that were used: historical - logical, modeling, analysis-synthesis and induction-deduction. The empirical analysis correspond to surveys conducted on librarians, managers and users; as well as interviews to prioritized staff and bibliotechnology personalities. Descriptive statistics were used for information processing. Results and discussion: the application of these methods enabled the theoretical foundation of the topic addressed, the characterization of the current state on the ethical performance of the librarian and the elaboration of the proposal for actions to fulfill the objective of the research. Conclusions: the implementation of the proposed actions promotes the strengthening of the professional ethics of the librarian, by influencing his preparation for the mastery of information and communications technologies, and also favors cultural improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work was to propose a theoretical model of pervasive information architecture, focused on the use of recommendation systems to increase the findability of information in university libraries. This research was developed from a multidisciplinary perspective and it is defined as exploratory research since a bibliographic review is carried out. This review allows obtaining information on the theoretical elements necessary to establish the central base of the research. It is also descriptive, as it seeks to bring solutions to issues that arise in the daily life of university libraries. As a result, a model of pervasive information architecture for university libraries is presented with a focus on improving information findability from the inclusion of recommendation systems. It can be concluded that, due to the wide advance in the development of applications and tools for use in libraries, a notable increase in the level of complexity of the information environments of these institutions is perceived, which from the perspective of information architecture creates the need for more refined research projects, whose aim is to improve the information environments of university libraries, always with the main objective of favoring the experiences of users, and helping them in the processes of finding relevant information, at the precise time and with the highest possible quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a low-cost mobile application for a library network is presented. These apps are needed to support the uses made by library users, to improve user loyalty, and to facilitate the recurrent access to multiple websites. The Valencian Public Reading Network is used as a case study to illustrate the approach. The starting point is an analytical process regarding the characteristics of the entity and the requirements of the mobile application. For the development of the application, different platforms for the construction of apps are compared. Then, the final product is evaluated in relation to efficiency and usability. The results indicate that the use of an app, which integrates information from a single point, improves performance in terms of search time and error rate. The main contribution of this work highlights apps as complementary services to websites for library networks in terms of centralisation of information and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies the way in which public libraries communicate their activity to the environment. The objective is to clarify what channels and media are used, what is communicated -content of the communication-, when this communication is carried out and the management of the process. The data protection of the users of the library is partially treated. A double approach, theoretical and practical, is made to achieve the objectives. The practical one is carried out through a survey of public libraries in the Region of Murcia. It is estimated that the sample is representative of the average reality of these centers in the Spanish environment. The treatment of the results is more qualitative than quantitative. The need to plan communication is concluded. Likewise, libraries should expand the variety of their communication channels and improve this with opinion leaders and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International and Spanish scholarship on the social role of libraries for people at a social disadvantage are summarized. Current initiatives in public libraries in Spain are presented along with an analysis of some of the library services that have been developed, including an example from Zagreb City Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Cuba, there is little qualitative research in the context of public libraries. Incidentally, the research group Public Library and community turns its attention to the development of transformative qualitative research. The result of two of his most recent research focuses on the discourses of the participants. These are the discourses of workers of municipal public libraries of «La Lisa» and «Habana del Este» and members of their communities. The discourses revolve around the functions of these libraries, services and activities in their communities. Also, allow to notice the importance of the performance of these social institutions. The methods and techniques of research are discourse analysis and content analysis, and indepth interviews, focus groups, participant observation and social mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to respond a question regarding the level of Anxiety of university students at a private University in the northeast of Mexico based on gender, academic level and age. The study is based on a quantitative approach and used multidimensional library anxiety scale data collection. The sample included 391 students, and results indicated that the level of students' general library anxiety at the university where this research was conducted is low. The three dimensions that had the greatest impact on general library anxiety were the convenience of technology and online access, general library anxiety and research, and library service. Finally, we found no significant difference in students' library anxiety levels based on gender; postgraduate students had lower library anxiety levels than undergraduates, and students under 25 had a higher level of library anxiety than 25-year-old students or older. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their public image, libraries have always been based more on the services provided than on the collection, which is only a tool for the service. Therefore, library services should be the basis for libraries' development and survival. The design of those services must be based on the needs of their users, who are the reason why libraries exist. As a matter of fact, the entire library should be addressed to the users, offering services that cover the needs of the broadest possible target population. Technologies that have brought about disruptive change in the model of the library can be also helpful to this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of rhetoric as the “art of persuasion” in discourse (Eco, 1974) has been the subject of reflection and study. As applied to informative communication, Gomis (1994) shows how journalism develops and operates its own rhetoric. With the arrival of the Internet and specifically with the opening of public communication to the average citizen, the use of participation as a rhetorical resource gains prominence and at the same time users add the rhetorical uses to their contributions. This article focuses on user comments in the front page of ElPaís.com, Abc.es and Lavanguardia.es with two objectives: to detect patterns of participation (in reference to the volume and to the presence of popular topics that generate a greater number of contributions) and to observe the rhetorical uses that are included in the comments of the readers to determine the predominant kind of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It describes the web visibility and accessibility of research in library and documentation in Argentina by studying dissertations submitted to qualify for the bachelor's degree. It is an exploratory study with quantitative approach where the visibility of theses in catalogs and institutional repositories, the number of theses visible on the web/amount accessible in full text, metadata records in catalogs, metadata records in the repositories, the production of dissertations per year according to web visibility, the number of authors per dissertation as web visibility and thematic distribution of the content of dissertations. It is concluded that the production of dissertations in library science in Argentina is spread on the web and that the visibility and accessibility of these is very low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to the importance of the university library for Higher Education as a greater source of knowledge. It also deals with the tasks that have been carried out in this institution since its foundation in the XII century up to now. It also states the different technologies for communication. Besides, its relevance is shown not only to support the academic and research process but also to contribute in the users' cultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overview of the implementation of social web technologies in Spanish university libraries. The research made it possible to determine, among other issues, the reasons why these libraries use (or not) the social web, which 2.0 services are used more and less and for what purposes, obstacles faced by the libraries in carrying out a process of this type, etc. Furthermore, the study attempted to quantify the degree of adoption of these technologies with the help of new measures designed as part of the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a specific instrument to assess the service quality of the public university library. Method. The scale was applied to 437users. A self-administered instrument (27 items) was designed to measure the service quality perceived by library users. It was submitted for review by a multidisciplinary group of experts who assessed its logical and content validity (Lawshe's Model). To determine the construct validity, a factor analysis was used with main components and Varimax rotation. Results. Two items were eliminated from the analysis because they showed a low correlation with the total correlation of the scale. The initial main-components analysis revealed four variables with an explained variation of de 63.038%. The scale has good inner validity and consistency. Consequently, final scale was accepted with 25 items. The global rating of the questionnaire had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.929. Conclusions. It is possible to affirm that the referred instrument is a valid and useful approach to evaluate the service quality of library under this specified context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment in which the work of the librarian develops supposes the reconsideration of already traditional values and the emergence of new ones in the profession. The aim of this research is to describe and analyze the deontological library codes of France, Italy, the United States, Chile, Singapore and Israel and to state reflections about the progress of the deontology of the librarian. The relevant deontological norms have been consulted through the IFLA Web site. Common features in the European and Asian codes are confirmed such as the conservation and preservation of collections, the maintenance of networks of cooperation among libraries and the need to preserve the collective memory and the cultural heritage. The educational character of the Chilean Code is put into context. Some outstanding improvements are provided for its inclusion in the ethical precepts of any country, regardless their situation and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the main elements of an exploratory research (undergraduate thesis to qualify for a sociology degree) on how Internet use is embedded in everyday life of Internet users of three public libraries in Bogota, Colombia: Tintal, Tunal and Virgilio Barco. As a result of the research we propose a map of the ways to access and use Internet, and we reconstruct the process of how these practices are embedded in everyday life of children, young people and adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to reflect on ethics in the use of information from the perspective of the reference services of information institutions in the frame of the so called Society of Information and Knowledge where the unequal access to information among countries with different development levels prevails and within these countries, among their citizens, due not only to available infrastructure, but also to population capabilities to manage new technological developments inside the Information Society. The endeavors of information professionals aimed, as an ethical principal of our profession, at reducing the digital gap to provide the knowledge and training that citizens must possess in order to reach an adequate informational capability being able to use the tools resulting from the technological convergence and therefore modify their daily cultural practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital libraries are one of the content managers that centers and institutions use more frequently nowadays. The data volume they can store, the diversity of formats that can be used, the many domains of knowledge that are present in their contents, and the complexity of human teams that create and maintain them result in great management difficulties, mostly if the idea is to provide users with a customized service. This paper proposes an architecture to manage the user model in a digital library. Said library is focused on integrating emerging technologies based on semantics and diverse techniques for capturing user preferences, in order to facilitate generation of the user model that interacts with a digital library, to semantically annotate the digital objects a digital library contains, and to manage contents taking into account their meaning according to the semantic preferences of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal information management (PIM) raises some problems because the software tools that are used don't adequately respond to user behaviour and activities. The concept and personal information management problems are reviewed, along with the software tools used for this task. A qualitative assessment explores whether an approach based on software tools for conceptual maps can address the problems discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolution of the professional profile of the people in charge of the hospital patients libraries in Spain through the specialized bibliography. Some characteristics have been identified pointing how is their profile actually, and how it should be. They are usually volunteers with no specific training, but when the aim is to offer a service of good quality and to achieve the recognition by the civil service, the hospital and also the users, a professional with specific training is required. In the beginning, the ones in charge had to have a profile according to a public Iibrary librarian: regarding the collection management and the dealing with the user. Nowadays their tasks are closer to the medical libraries' librarians, especially after the Patient's Right to Information Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on evaluation of digital libraries is reviewed, emphasizing the complexity of the processes and the diversity of methodologies. This work proposes an analytical approach to the basic characteristics of the interfaces in a sample of digital libraries by means of parameters and criteria that allow observing its implementation and possible translation towards formalized tools for the participation of real users and experts in the evaluation. Future lines of work are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proposal is presented of an assessment model for university and research libraries, applied in the Centro de Información en Ciencia, Tecnología y Diseño del Sistema de Bibliotecas of the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. The assessment process was compromised by the misunderstanding and low interest on the part of those who have to implement it, the lack of appropriate data, and deficient dissemination channels. So, it is recommended that necessary data be collected, appropriate documentation provided and networking with users, authorities and the society in general ensured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative Interfaces Inc., III, maker of the Innopac Millennium integrated system for public libraries, has introduced new products that are primarily related to user access to opac and to library services via handheld devices (cellphone, PDA, etc.). There are also new tools to strengthen and facilitate user participation through opac and to provide more flexibility in service delivery and communication between the user community and library personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A user-centred public library must focus its innovation in ways that will attract and satisfy users, building user loyalty. This relates not only to technological innovation but also to the development of new services. Based on this concept, we briefly describe the experience of launching innovative services in the Biblioteca Regional de Murcia (Murcia Regional Library). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates shelf availability of monograph titles requested at a university library. The evaluation has been carried out by an external group. Goals, steps and evaluation criteria, as well as evaluation design and implementation are described in detail. The research has used two different techniques: simulation (with two variants) and users' interviews, according to ISO 11620, B2.2.2 indicator «Required Titles Availability» (ISO 11600 Standard). Survey results are analyzed and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analize the role of the university library as a provider of quality information services that collaborate with the basic functions of the University and its commitment with society: teaching well prepared professionals in vast areas of knowledge who possess the capacity of acquiring all the new information that is produced in their field and in their working environment. Skills and abilities in the search and retrieval of information is a must in the formation of our students, if we want them to be immersed, not only in the informational context and in the new methodologies of information, but also in the steady process of scientific research that a good university education implies, process that any country needs for getting a sustainable development. Our proposal of informational literacy includes required application forms, interviews with professors and instructors of classroom courses, an interactive manual for the development of competence in the use of digital resources the university offers, and one on line course presenting the manual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative analysis of the development of the library collection of the Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas (IIMAS) was carried out, based on the references used by the IIMAS researchers in articles published during the year 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The action lines followed by the Central Library of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to face the increasing demand of their services are presented in detail from the year 2000 on, together with their results. An emphasis was put on improving the technological tools and the efficiency in their use. Reading and working spaces were extensively improved. Finally, steps were taken to position the library as a cultural centre: several spaces were rehabilitated for temporal exhibitions related to the history of the Central Library, the book culture and reading; and a electronic information point presenting the most outstanding authors in the library collections was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the behavior of people when using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for information management in their organizations are being criticized for their predominating positivists points of view and for the intense use of quantitative methodologies. This study proposes the method of triangulation as a perspective for the inquiry of the complexity involved in the study of information management in organizations. The triangulation is a step took by the researchers to integrate some diverse data interpretations from different times and environments. In this way, triangulation pretends to integrate different methods, with the objective of getting a better perception of phenomena that are not normally perceived by the existing methods when applied in isolation. The methodology allows for the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches and data, contributing to the existing research models in information management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is aimed at analyzing and describing the cataloguing and indexing procedures in order to obtain the necessary subsides to the working up of a policy of documentary treatment. The partial results show that the cataloguers follow a systematized and consolidated methodology for descriptive cataloguing, but don't show methodology for subject cataloguing; the information retrieval presents failures relating to the search by subject; and the documentary language does not answer adequately the demand, due to the incompatibility between the terms used in the subject cataloguing and those used by the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our study is to offer a methodological propose in studying the users' information needs for a library specialized in the natural stone. More precisely, we are referring to the implementation of the theoretical model Appreciative Inquiiy (AI), articulated by D. Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva (1986). It is a new paradigm that means to value and to recognize the positive nucleus of an organization or a system, seeking the strong points and talents of the individuals that belong to the organizations. From this point of view, the research group, which has the main objective to create, plan and design a library specialized in the natural stone (TinoStone Library), is working on knowing the users' information needs. To do that, the research group is applying a mix collecting data methods, such as questionnaires, interviews, etc. But the newness of applying AI is the way the interviews are done: potential users are invited to imagine, to design and to create in a collaborative way, "the ideal library" in order to share and implement knowledge intentional and actively. It is about a cooperative searching for the best of individuals and the best of organizations, avoiding negativeness and critics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the study which treats the significance of the contents of the digital library and proposes some guidelines as a starting point toward user satisfaction in digital information services. It offers some parameters for the development of didactic contents and learning materials. Details of the study and other significant information are provided.

The article reflects on the public library services within the context of public policy of the trends and scope of state standards for public libraries in Latin Ameica. Also highlighted are the primary actions by the state that made possible the creation, development, and functioning of the public library. The study is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject.

The article focuses on the final results of research into the evolution and trends of user education in Latin America. This study has documented searches and analyses and on the experience of twenty countries of Latin America, with the objective of determining the development, application and trends relating to user education programs in public and academic libraries. It has re-examined the methodology and some of the results and analysis of the information provided by libraries being surveyed.

With the Directive of November 19th regarding rights of hiring and lending, the European Union sought to regulate this issue in order to prevent variations in legislation from being an obstacle lo the free circulation of goods, people, services and capital (article 3 European Union Treaty). The right of authorising public lending by libraries has been regulated in very different ways within the various European countries. The origins of the public lending right were closely related to the birth of modern public libraries. The importance of private libraries, that lent books in exchange for payment, lost out to the creation of public libraries, to which one could go for free. European legislators took up the issue of the author's right for the first time in the Green Book, 1988. However, this document made no reference to the need for regulating non-commercial lending. The WIPO (The World Organisation of Intellectual Property) has not given priority to the recognition of a lending right (Reunion of experts for the possible modification of the text of the Union of Bern, 1993). On the contrary, they identify »a right of culture« by users of public libraries. The majority of European Union member countries make use of the possibility of exempting some lending institutions from the public lending right. The European Commission began infringement proceedings against six member states concerning the right of public lending and commercial hiring on January 16, 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre los servicios ofrecidos por la Biblioteca Nacional de Francia. La autora comenta sobre el uso de las salas de lecturas y a distancia de la biblioteca, incluyendo la sala de investigaciones bibliográficas, de audiovisual y de literatura y arte. También se considera la multitud de servicios para los usuarios de la biblioteca.