Volume 65, Issue 2 -

This paper discusses the possibilities for using social media in promoting public library services and describes the changes that occurred between 2011 and 2013. The results of an analysis of a group of Polish urban public libraries for the occurrence of Web 2.0 elements and social media references are presented. Quantitative analysis included the number of Web 2.0 elements in pages, the number of references to social networking sites and the number of users of various types of Web 2.0 library profiles. Qualitative analysis concerned the extent and type of information shared through social media. This article presents the scope of changes that have occurred in the use of Web 2.0 elements by Polish urban public libraries in recent years, as well as prospects for the further use of social media. It also shows the dynamics of change in terms of how public libraries use Web 2.0 services. This comparative study shows that over the 2 years studied the number of libraries using social media increased, as did the variety of tools and the frequency of their use. The study was conducted using a specific sample of public libraries in urban areas in one Polish province. The study is not representative of all public libraries in Poland. However, the author believes that the study shows certain trends that may be characteristic not only of libraries in the studied region, but also across the whole country, and the results could be widely used in practice to improve social media activity.

One of the most common uses of the capabilities of social networks is for professional, and business purposes. The literature presents conflicting evidence as to the effectiveness of different networks for professional purposes. Therefore, our primary research aim is to conduct a comparative investigation of the effectiveness and factors which influence the effectiveness of different social networks for finding a job. This study focuses on the two most popular networks, Facebook and LinkedIn; the former is not intended specifically for professional purposes while the latter is. To this end, we conducted a user study based on over 220 responses to a questionnaire especially designed for this goal. In our analysis, we distinguish and compare between the users’ perceptions and attitudes toward the effectiveness of the network and its actual helpfulness for finding a job in past experience. Our results indicate that different demographic and network usage variables influence the attitude to effectiveness and helpfulness of the networks. Thus, users with lower incomes preferred Facebook, while more educated users with higher incomes perceived LinkedIn as more effective. Interestingly, we found that despite the fact that LinkedIn was perceived as significantly more effective for finding a job by the majority of the users, the actual helpfulness of the two networks was assessed as quite similar. Our findings provide direct evidence for bridging social capital increase by online social networks. This study has practical implications and recommendations that will enable job candidates to improve their job-hunting strategies.

This study aims to verify and propose a modified technology acceptance model (TAM) to understand the antecedents of e-textbook adoption among college students. An extended TAM is to investigate college students’ intention to adopt e-textbooks. Measurement items were drawn and modified from existing validated scales. After data were collected from college students in Taiwan, structural equation modelling was employed to examine and compare the proposed model with the original model. Moreover, two tests were conducted to determine the extent of common method variance in the current data. The empirical findings support the inclusion of perceived enjoyment in the TAM. The proposed model explained 43% of the variance in behavioural intention, but explained 71% of the variance in attitudes, suggesting an explication of how the different determinants influence college students’ adoption of e-textbooks. The significance of the chi-square difference between the two models indicates that our proposed model shows a better fit to the data than the TAM does. Besides, perceived enjoyment is a critical factor in the influence of attitudes towards the usage of e-textbooks. Perceived ease of use is more influential than perceived usefulness in the determination of attitudes.

This study proposes an attention, Relevance, confidence, satisfaction (ARCS)-based research model that uses a set of ARCS-oriented certified digital general education information literacy (IL) materials for higher education initiated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Taiwan, to determine the motivation for learning in a blended learning environment. The research model is tested using an online questionnaire survey of 292 participants. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the results. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to validate the measurement and hypotheses. Brief comments and in-depth interviews with students who had scored very highly and very poorly in terms of their overall academic performance provided qualitative data on students’ learning motivation. The findings support the validity of the four motivational elements in the ARCS model. The quantitative and qualitative research results demonstrate that the motivation for taking IL courses, whether as a requirement or out of interest, is not a key factor in learning motivation. The results reveal that the ARCS-based digital materials, ARCS-based motivational course design for learning, and the student-centred, inquiring learning environment are critical components for achieving effective online IL courses and favourable learning outcomes.

Web-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications offer benefits in managing interactions between stakeholders. As a result, schools are increasingly adopting them. Consequently, a holistic picture of the factors that contribute to ICT adoption and use in such settings is needed. Since DeLone and McLean (1992) showed the effect of information and system quality on user satisfaction and, in turn, on information system use, researchers have investigated these effects. Most such studies have been conducted in North America and Europe, however. Addressing this deficiency in application, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of parents of children at Queens College in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to determine the effects of information quality and user satisfaction on their behavioral intention to use a learning community management system (LCMS) in a K–12 educational setting. The results of our analyses confirmed that those factors had significant effect, with satisfaction being the most influential determinant. The implications for educational policymakers and software/system vendors are discussed.

This study was aimed at showing the impact of information on female vegetable farmers (discussed as a form of entrepreneurship) in one local government area in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used in collecting data for the study. A total of 210 questionnaires were administered. Of these, 193 useable copies were retrieved (91.9%) and used for analysis. Simple percentage and pie charts were used to analyse the data. The results showed that vegetable farmers mostly used information from agricultural extension officers to request for loans. This information was very minimal as the study did not show its impact to have had any increase in productivity. Information for choice of planting materials, fertilizer application as well as storage and marketing of products were gotten from fellow growers. The study agreed with previous studies that information is really powerful and enhances decision-making regardless of the group of people involved. Although this group seems to have been neglected, they still pulled their weight, striving in their little efforts to move on. The study recommends that government and other stakeholders should encourage this group with adequate information for better economic sustainability and development to benefit from the under-utilized services available to them. The study also recommends that government should use extension officers to organize these female vegetable farmers into cooperative groups to enable them have easy access to loan facilities as an encouragement to boost their acts of entrepreneurship.