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This paper introduces the WeChat mobile library service programme at Shanghai University Library and identifies problems and resolutions by reviewing the development process and experience and user feedback. A case study was conducted, and user feedback from a web survey was analysed to identify the programme's problems. Accordingly, recommendations and resolutions were developed. The author discovers that a WeChat account is crucial as an interaction platform between libraries and patrons, particularly on mobile devices. Patrons prefer to receive library services via WeChat rather than other channels. Their favourite features include online public access catalogue (OPAC), my library, and study facility availability. Libraries should conduct regular assessments to understand patrons' feedback or requests and make timely adjustments accordingly. The web survey and its data are novel in this area and provide a credible example to optimize WeChat library services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How should the information on the Internet be organized? This question and the possible solutions spark debates among people concerned with how we identify, classify, and retrieve Internet content. This paper discusses the benefits and the controversies of using a tagging system to organize Internet resources. Tagging refers to a classification system where individual Internet users apply labels, or tags, to digital resources. Tagging increased in popularity with the advent of Web 2.0 applications that encourage interaction among users. As more information is available digitally, the challenge to find an organizational system scalable to the Internet will continue to require forward thinking. Trained to ensure access to a range of informational resources, librarians need to be concerned with access to Internet content. Librarians can play a pivotal role by advocating for a system that supports the user at the moment of need. Tagging may just be the necessary system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries have evolved into a primary source of Internet access in many communities, generating wide-ranging impacts in the communities that public libraries serve. Based on the findings of the 2007 Public Libraries and the Internet study, this article examines the ways in which the Internet access delivered by public libraries affects their communities. This article describes the public access technology roles of public libraries and explores the relationships among community impacts, community expectations, and public policies related to libraries. The analysis emphasizes the effects of future Internet platforms and applications and online communities on the community impacts. This article also examines ways in which to measure these impacts from other perspectives, including developing a means of assessing the users' perceptions of the impacts of public library Internet access in their own lives and in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon findings from a national survey of U.S. public libraries, this paper examines trends in Internet and public computing access in public libraries across states from 2004 to 2006. Based on library-supplied information about levels and types of Internet and public computing access, the authors offer insights into the network-based content and services that public libraries provide. Examining data from 2004 to 2006 reveals trends and accomplishments in certain states and geographic regions. This paper details and discusses the data, identifies and analyzes issues related to Internet access, and suggests areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The E-rate program has provided tremendous benefits to libraries, allowing many libraries and library systems to acquire technological equipment and services that would otherwise be too expensive, increasing the availability of public Internet access through libraries. This article analyzes the data related to the E-rate program and the discounts that it has provided to libraries and library systems between 2000 and 2004. By examining the E-rate data in a longitudinal manner, this article explores the trends in the application for and the provision of E-rate discounts to libraries and library consortia at national and state levels. The data suggest that, despite a number of controversies over the years, the program has provided a significant level of support for libraries and library consortia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitous data center optical interconnection is a promising scenario to meet the high burstiness and high-bandwidth requirements of services in terms of the user-access-oriented interconnection between user and data center, inter-data- center, and intra-data-center interconnection. However, in the current mode of operation, the control of the data center and optical network is separately deployed. Enabling even limited interworking among these separated control systems does not provide a mechanism to exchange resource information and enhance the high-level performance requirement of applications. Our previous work implemented cross-stratum optimization of optical network and application strata resources inter-data-center, which allows the accommodation of data center services. In view of this, this study extends to the ubiquitous data center optical interconnection scenario. This article presents a novel SUDOI architecture aimed at extensive user access from the perspective of heterogeneous cross-stratum and multi-layer networking modes. SUDOI can enable cross-stratum optimization of application and optical network stratum resources, and enhance multiple- layer resource integration in the ubiquitous data center optical interconnection. The functional modules of SUDOI architecture, including the core elements of various controllers, are described in detail. The cooperation procedure in user-access-oriented interconnection, multiple- layer resource integration inter-data-center, and intra-data-center service modes is investigated. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed architecture are also experimentally demonstrated on our OaaS testbed with OpenFlow-enabled optical nodes, and compared to the CSO scheme in terms of blocking probability and resource occupation rate. Numerical results are given and analyzed based on the testbed. Some future discussion and exploration issues are presented in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author reflects on the move of design thinking from the physical to encompass the emotional and behavioural, the designers' creation of a context for experience and why user experience (UX) is a discipline providing the user-centric and analytical data-driven approach needed when designing appropriate and effective products and services. He discusses various research methods that allow designers to work within the intersection of user, context and system to define design principles.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) streaming technology based on various service requirements often remains on the elusive benefits of user-friendly video streaming in cloud computing environments. Cloud-assisted P2P media streaming gives an opportunity to enhance on-demand, dynamic and easily accessible videos. This paper outlines the fundamental video block device (VBD) method for user-friendly viewing patterns that inherits from user access patterns and provides efficient delivery using an enhanced BitTorrent protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a survey on the efforts of public academic libraries in Tennessee to address unaffiliated user access to resources and services. Topics covered include the security problems faced by the institutions, plan to limit access to library materials, and the availability of commercial databases and computers in libraries. Also mentioned are the different reasons of libraries to allow unaffiliated users to have access to library materials.

From the users' point of view two aspects are essential for the quality of library online services. On the one hand, relevant content must be available. On the other hand, it should be simple and intuitive to find and to access this content. Therefore, the topics usability and usefulness are of great importance for libraries. This article describes how these two aspects can be evaluated and how libraries can use BibEval and PECI for assessments of their own services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on several factors influencing library usage by academic staff and students of the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. It notes that several factors including discipline, age, and gender has an influence on usage patterns and preferences. The study found that both academic staff and students of the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta use the university library at different degrees.

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 discusses the transition, challenges and strategies of public libraries to the digital age on the example of the Main Library of Vienna, Austria. The library improved its accessibility, created new working space for e-readers, and division into college-areas to improve their flexibility. Other topics mentioned were integration and presence of social media at the library, devolpment of digital choices such as ebooks, and the use of the internet at the library.

The article examines the initiatives of the academic libraries in promoting open access as well as the challenges and obstacles associated to it among the developing countries. It notes the struggle of academic libraries in their involvement to scholarly publishing to gather scholars through open access. It points out that the reality of open access' objective is far when library users only read the publications and research works by academics and scholars published in open access journals and archives.

The article discusses measures librarians can take to ensure patron privacy is maintained through Internet browser settings and programs. The author states that as of 2010, 85.7 percent of public libraries provided wireless internet access, meaning that more users could potentially be victims of Internet crimes. Three major categories are discussed as areas in which increased security can be provided. First, the security features of internet browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple's Safari are covered. The author then discusses choosing the best browser settings, such as navigation history, protecting passwords, and limiting administrative access. Browser extensions, such as script monitoring, advertisement removers, and child safety feedback, are also included.

The purpose of the study is to examine the factors affecting library use amongst university students. Logistic regression analysis is applied on data collected using stratified random questionnaire-based interviews of 388 students of a public university in Malaysia. Results of the marginal effects indicate that students of Indian and other descent are more likely to use the library than their Malay cohorts. In addition, those who have attended library induction sessions, those who believe that the library provides a useful avenue for them to achieve their academic goals, and frequent online users are more likely to utilize the library than their cohorts, all else equal. Students in their third/fourth/final year of studies have a lower propensity for library visits than their second year counterparts, ceteris paribus. Meanwhile, factors such as gender, parental education, campus residence, field of study, and job status do not affect library utilization in a statistically significant manner. Based on these results, several observations are noted vis-à-vis the determinants of library use amongst university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an adaptation of the March 2010 report "Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries," sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The article attempts to examine the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by faculty members at self-financing engineering colleges in India as well as how this application is affecting the Indian higher education system. It presents the results of a study which aimed to examine how faculty members use their time when searching for information, the colleges' availability of access to electronic resources (e-resources) and how faculty members utilize e-resources. The study suggests that engineering colleges add more computer terminals for faculty members, increase bandwidth for improved access speed, and appoint information technology (IT) staff to provide guidance to users.

The article presents a paper about scientists' use patterns of information when doing research at the North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) in Jorhat, North East India. It states that it is necessary to discover the information needs of scientists so that libraries can provide the resources and services which their users need. Topics include the frequency of library visits, the purpose of the visits, and the library's schedule of holidays. Information is also provided on internet access, the rate of satisfaction, and the level of library automation.

This article presents a study done at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia regarding libraries of developing countries not having basic Internet access facilities, mostly due to poverty. It discusses conditions at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India as evaluated by surveys of research students and post-graduate students who attend there. Topics include where the students access the internet, what searches they do, and which academic databases they use, and the differences between online information and print information is also assessed.

The article presents a study done in 2011 at Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria which looks at the impact that information and communication technology (ICT) has had on the libraries at universities in Nigeria. It discusses the modes of access to information, including the internet, electronic databases, and CD-ROMs, as being central to the success of modernizing information services at academic libraries. It also focuses on problems which libraries face in acquiring ICT such as lack of funding for hardware and software, lack of electricity or generators, and a lack of technical skills.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has established international standards for website accessibility which attempt to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities to use materials published on the World Wide Web (Web). This article provides a summation of the research conducted into the accessibility of public library websites in Western Australia. A discussion is provided of the website audit methods used and results obtained. The research demonstrates the level of compliance with Australian and International standards as well as results of surveys used to determine the perceived willingness to comply with those standards, barriers to compliance and benefits of an accessible website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study on the use of information technology and resources in Nigerian universities, studying Internet use and other use of electronic information resources by students and faculty of Obafemi Awolowo University. Information resources available at the university, particularly those offered by academic libraries, are considered. Computer and information technology technical support services are examined. Results of a survey of university students on their use of and familiarity with Internet access provided by the academic libraries are given.

The article considers the role of cell phones and cell phone systems in automation of services of the library of Delta State University in Abraka, Nigeria. Limits on Internet access in Nigeria which limit the Internet's role in library automation and services are noted. The use of cell phones as a means of communication between the library and its users is considered, particularly the use of text messages to conduct use studies for the library. A survey of student library users finds that while all felt cell phone system use would be of benefit to them and the library, most complained of problems in the telecommunication infrastructure of the library.

The article explores the state of Internet connectivity in the libraries of African universities. It discuss the challenges posed by the lack of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure. The article also offers recommendations for solving the challenges and launching African university libraries to the global information and research interchange, including liberalization of telecommunication market, and incorporation of bandwidth management in the institutional objectives.

The nature of learning in a public library is relevant to what place e-learning and social networking technologies might have there. That a public library aims to provide something for everyone is also important. Alice Springs Public Library (ASPL) is a place of learning; it is also a crowded and composite space. The use ASPL could make of the opportunities offered by e-learning and social networking technologies is affected or determined by the organisation's mission, available space, funding, staffing levels and expertise, and any congruence between the way ASPL is already used for learning and the way these technologies can also be used in that space. These technologies will be facets of a composite service, accessible to everyone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a selection of literature pertaining to the subject of censorship in modern libraries. It interrogates the literature in terms of the ethical debates informing much of the contemporary academic writing on this subject. A multi-pronged approach to the subject is adopted. The review includes evaluations of the relevant aspects of particular professional codes and statements. It also evaluates opinions that have been proffered with regard to the use of Internet filters in public libraries. In public libraries, librarians must also decide whether to enable an entirely free flow of information from other mediums or to take it upon themselves to protect readers from material that might be considered harmful. These issues are complicated further in school libraries where the question of a particular duty of care to young minds arises. This paper also investigates recent representations of libricide, the most extreme form of censorship which manifests in the destruction of libraries and the burning of books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents Guerrilla marketing as marketing style suitable for libraries, advertising their services and popularization of reading in general. It informs about project Guerrilla Readers realized in KIKS FF MU in Brno which sets an aim to apply and analyse unconventional marketing methods in this sphere and to share acquired knowledge and experiences above all in virtual platform compound of free accessible implements and services of the Internet which work on principle of social media and networking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose and Method: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the implications of Elfreda A. Chatman's viewpoint for user studies. This study tries to understand Chatman's study by dividing it into a Pre-Theoretical Period and a Theoretical Period. First, what she attempted to discuss in the Pre-Theoretical Period is delineated. Based upon this understanding, an integrated interpretation of her theories is provided, then the implications of her viewpoint for the development of user studies are discussed. Results: At the end of the Pre-Theoretical Period, Chatman made a discovery which indicated that the maintenance of interpersonal relationships was always a primary concern of poor people during information seeking and use (ISU), rather than relying on such relationships without any inhibition. This discovery led her to a new way of looking at information poverty and ISU of the poor, which was developed in the ensuring period. Chatman developed her new understanding of ISU in the Theoretical Period. This distinct understanding, not like past studies, focused on ISU as a part of maintaining a "taken-for-granted life". This understanding contributed to the advance of user studies because it made it possible to capture intersubjectivity and reflexitivity between ISU and society. This is one of the implications of her viewpoint. Three future research issues can be elicited as implications other than those of Chatman's theories. The first is to expand the subject of analysis, especially analysis of ISU in organizations. The second is to explore the process of creation and re- vision of knowledge, beyond merely exploring the use and maintenance of knowledge as Chatman did. The third is to analyze more deeply the interrelationship between ISU and its situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public library services, particularly in the USA, have successfully and imaginatively implemented Web 2.0 tools in a variety of ways. These include improving access to content for library users, opening up dialogue with them, and showing them more about what their library can do for them. This article describes how some of these libraries have used the tools for their virtual services, a discovery made during a study tour in 2007, and how they have progressed into 2008 with the same services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of the use of the library by the students at the Akani-Ibiam Federal Polytechnic in Unwana Afikpo, Nigeria. It explores the usage of various resources in the library such as available materials, function of the staffs in the effectiveness of the materials, and the problems that are faced by the students in gaining access to those materials. It discusses the history of the library, its objectives, and its lack of Internet connectivity.

The Internet is an oft-cited learning resource, useful to consumers who seek to educate themselves on specific technical issues or knowledge-intensive topics. Availability of public-access Internet portals and decreasing costs of personal computers have created a consensus that unequal access to information, or a 'Digital Divide', presents a like problem specific to information for uninsured or under-insured healthcare consumers. Access to information, however, is now an essential part of consumer-centric healthcare management. To date little research has been done to differentiate levels of health information access on the Web by different subgroups, linking online socioeconomic characteristics and health seeking behaviors. This analysis of a landmark Pew Foundation survey seeks to differentiate and delineate information access, or lack of desired access, across targeted, 'digitally underserved' subgroups. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's rapidly changing world of technology and information, libraries find themselves trying to understand more about their users. The results of a qualitative survey of 184 women library patrons give insight into why and how they use library and information technology and how they learned to use that technology. Women discuss what services they particularly value, including traditional services like printed books and reference, but also their appreciation and use of the Internet, including the library's Web site and databases. Trends showed that women are still the ones who bring children to the library and encourage their use of books. They also value the library as a place of solitude where they can find books or just be by themselves. Women use a variety of resources outside of the library to locate information as they make choices about how to find information in everyday life. It will be important for public libraries to discover ways to increase their role in educating women about library use, particularly electronic resources, and how to effectively locate and evaluate information from the Web and other resources so libraries can remain a vital part of lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents literature based historical review of Internet access in Kenyan university libraries since the first connectivity in the country in 1994. The literature is based on four major newspapers in Kenya that are reputed for tracking Internet growth and its integration in the country's institutions. These major newspapers are The Standard, Daily Nation, Kenya Times and East African. Despite the fact that the Internet is increasingly being adopted in most universities the world over, universities in Kenya are struggling to provide efficient internet access to students and staff because of several constraints such as costs, infrastructure, policy and poor management vision. The findings of this work identify several areas that need attention to enhance a wider adoption and use of the Internet by university libraries in Kenya. Moreover, there is a need for demonstrated interventions that will provide conditions that enhance individual employees' interaction, acceptability and use of the Internet. In addition, university libraries should equip their employees with the required levels of Internet-related knowledge and skills. From a practical perspective, the training offered to the staff should be designed to not only offer mastery of the skills, but also promote positive perceptions and appreciations of the technology. There is also need for libraries to identify appropriate proactive measures that can promote positive Internet response. Similarly, university libraries require clear drawn-up ICT policies specifying the envisioned role of both general and specific ICTs. Extending the service to library clients at a subsidized fee should supplement the recurrent expenditure incurred in the provision of the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the topic of the usage of the internet in libraries and how libraries have increased their functions and made their collections more accessible. With the advent of web 2.0, the internet has become more of a place for collective intelligence and a more simpler, interactive user guide. The author examines how libraries can incorporate this interactive platform to let users help design the services of the library.

The dawn of the Internet era has prompted many researchers to investigate changes in the use of academic libraries, but most studies explore student use, rather than faculty use, of library space. In contrast, this study surveys use of the academic library space among faculty and doctoral students and explores the phenomenological differences between using library space and using the library remotely. The authors hypothesized that older scholars (by age and by ‘scholarly age,’ as measured by the year in which the scholar's last academic degree was earned) would report greater use of the physical library and less use of the library's electronic resources and would make more positive statements about the physical space than would younger scholars. In three of the four major themes that emerged from the qualitative survey data, this hypothesis is supported. However, in the fourth theme, ‘conduciveness to scholarship,’ the opposite position was supported. Younger scholars were far more likely than older scholars to make statements reflecting the idea that the physical library is a unique place that facilitates the kind of concentration necessary for doing serious scholarly work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most of the 400 years of the Bodleian Library's existence, users have had to travel to Oxford to use its collections. In recent years, Oxford has undertaken a number of focused, 'boutique' digitisation projects. Now, as a partner in the Google Library Project, an immense range of scholarly and other 19th century out-of-copyright library materials from the Bodleian's collections will be digitised en masse and will be made freely available over the internet to anyone who has Web access. Millions of books and journals will be scanned in the course of the project and the author contends that digitisation on such a scale represents a revolution in the dissemination of information that parallels the impact of the invention of printing from moveable type in the 15th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the great challenges for the National Library of Australia is to enable individuals, whatever their institutional affiliation, and wherever they are, to access copies of material from the collections. Copies direct was developed to enable online ordering and payment for copies of material, regardless of format, and has already increased use of the collections. This is consistent with the Commonwealth GovernmentOnline strategy, based on developing more and better services online to overcome barriers of distance and access and to meet more effectively the real needs of individuals, organisations and enterprises. Through online access Australians are better able to obtain services from agencies, in this case access to their national documentary heritage. This paper describes the development of the service, its technical infrastructure, issues considered in its development and includes a report on an evaluation undertaken in 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an update on the Web-OPAC as Library Resources Portal Project, launched by Lingnan University Library, Hong Kong. In August 2004, Lingnan Library introduced a new feature to the Web-OPAC as Library Resources Portal Project, i.e., by converting some 300 Naxos Spoken Library titles into MARC records, with the use of an in-house developed software programme. The result was that on top of allowing users to gain direct access to the NSWL titles from the Web-OPAC, it also enhanced their intellectual access to different collections held inside the Library. Such a setup allowed a unified retrieval from multiple translations or different expressions of the same work - - enhancing users' ability to search across different collections under the same platform, regardless of their media or formats. Following the success of the NSWL Project, Lingnan Library announced at the 5th Annual Hong Kong Innovative Users Group Meeting on 1st December 2004 that as the second phase of the Web-OPAC as Library Resources Portal Project, they successfully converted a total number of 4,676 Naxos Music Library titles into individual MARC records. The NML MARC Project adopted basically the same concepts and principles in making the NML titles inter-searchable with other library collections, to further reinforce the concept of One-Stop searching for the library users under the Web-OPAC. Lingnan Library's users are now able to access Naxos' complete catalogue of music recordings at any time of day or night via Lingnan's Web-OPAC, inside the library at a Listening station, or from any computer with Internet access via remote log-in options, etc. This is almost an unlimited access to an online resource of more than 80,000 audio tracks that takes up no shelf space at all. This paper documents Lingnan Library's experience in: (1) how to introduce the NML titles to the bibliographic database, and its subsequent finds, as well as its impacts on the cataloguers and users. it also features the locally developed System Software, together with technical procedures explaining how to convert the 4,676 NML titles in MARC format, as well as the necessary manpower and expertise involved for the preparation and implementation of the project. (2) the techniques in bringing consistency to the bibliographic records, and authority control to names of individual composers, lyrists, musician-performers, as well as other professional music groups, after the NML titles were successfully uploaded onto the bibliographic database. This paper is also supplemented with a brief analytical study on the contents of the NML at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]