Volume 66, Issue 2 -

Most existing research on usage behaviour of mobile book-reading applications (apps) has focused on exploring users’ initial acceptance; there has been a lack of understanding of the factors that affect user loyalty towards mobile book-reading apps that would reveal Chinese undergraduates’ behaviour patterns in using mobile apps. This study was designed to fill this gap by investigating Chinese undergraduates’ continuance intentions towards mobile book-reading apps. The study employed the expectation-confirmation model and technology acceptance model in conjunction with the perception of experiential value to derive an integrated model, followed by an empirical study to validate the model and better understand usage intention of the users of mobile book-reading apps. Survey data were collected from 390 Chinese undergraduates who had previous experience with mobile book-reading apps. The research model was examined using the SmartPLS 2.0 software. Structural equation modelling was used for hypotheses testing and path analysis was used to present the analytical results. The results of this study suggest that perceived usefulness and satisfaction directly influence continuance intention. User satisfaction plays a crucial intervening role in continuance intention from perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and confirmation of users’ expectations. User satisfaction is significantly influenced by expectation confirmation and perceived usefulness, as well as the perceived experiential values. The integrated model in this study successfully establishes the key factors that contribute to continuance intention towards mobile book-reading apps; the model offers a lens for understanding Chinese undergraduates’ apps use behaviour that has practical applications for developing better and more sustainable mobile book-reading apps among this user group.

As a result of increased interest in the international status and culture of Korea, Koreanology is growing among research universities in the North American region. Though the number of Korean language collections is increasing, it is still at a level of one-seventh and one-fourth of Sinology and Japanology, respectively. Taking the overall view of the status of Korean language collections operated by research universities in the North American region through statistical analysis, this study pinpointed the library clusters that the Korean government needs to support strategically by categorizing their advancement forms. As a result, it was found that there are universities which have a high potential for Koreanology to advance as the setup level of the major is high, but they have low library operation levels, and in such clusters there is no librarian specialized in Koreanology.

A public digital cultural resources integration project involves the participation of multiple public cultural institutions, which must undertake different roles and accomplish the project’s missions through cooperation. In this study, we employed some concepts from the role expectation framework from role theory (including the designation and assignment of role expectations, and the designation and assignment of role functions), examined extant literature to obtain the roles of agents and their functions in a collaborative project, designed a role function system, and conducted interviews and a survey with workers in public cultural institutions. The results show that in China’s resources integration projects, there is stronger willingness for institutions to cooperate with institutions of similar administrative ranks; the institutions’ role expectations should be considered when assigning roles, and adequate roles should be given to each entity, with particular notice paid to mediation and coordination from third-party organizations; based on adequate role assignment, the role functions should be further detailed and elaborated at the start of the project.

This study investigates the collaborative pairing patterns of the library and information science (LIS) field in South Korea at both intra- and inter-institutional levels. It is necessary to examine this timely topic considering the recent increasing trend of research collaboration in Korea. The network comes from the articles published in eight Korean LIS journals from 2008 to 2012. The network consists of one large component, nine small components with more than two nodes, and five isolated nodes having intra-institutional co-authorship. The largest component is a small world network but the density is low due to many low degree nodes. Central institutions were analysed using the centrality measure of social network analysis and tended to have co-authorship with various institutions and collaborative partnerships with other institutions in the network. It can be concluded that the distribution of intra- and inter-institutional co-authorship, institution type, regional features and core collaborative authors are influential factors in collaborative pairing. Institutions that have a high degree of centrality and betweenness centrality affect other institutions in their collaborative pairing. The result can be used to analyse co-authorship from diverse perspectives and facilitate active co-authorship at an institutional level.

As the case is elsewhere in the world, Library and Information Science (LIS) education in Africa is largely lagging behind industry developments with reference to the legal and policy framework regulating digital content and technology. Notwithstanding the importance of information ethics, LIS programmes in Africa tend to predominantly focus on ethical issues at the expense of legal issues. For most LIS programmes, the national legal and policy infrastructure regulating digital technology and content is simply missing in the curriculum. Others only have sprinklings of legal knowledge in the curriculum. Digital technology and content is fundamentally changing the way people in Africa access and consume information. The fundamental question is how prepared are librarians for the ever-changing digital rights associated with digital technology and content? In this paper digital rights refer to the application of traditional human rights to digital technology or digital environments. Second, are LIS programmes in Africa preparing professionals that are capable of navigating the difficult terrain of digital rights as well as engaging in legal and policy discourse on digital rights that affect LIS institutions? The paper is the first step in understanding what is taught by LIS programmes in Africa based on the analysis of course titles and descriptions from 11 programmes. Courses reviewed generally touched on some of the legal and technological issues associated with digital content. However, several of the contemporary issues associated with digital content and rights are missing from the courses and curriculum.

In Africa the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) varies considerably from one country to another, for example between Kenya and Tanzania on the one hand and Ethiopia on the other. In Kenya and Tanzania telecommunications systems have been liberalized, while in Ethiopia all ICT infrastructures and services are provided by one single telecommunications operator – one that is owned and run by the government. ICT plays a significant role in poverty reduction and empowerment of the disadvantaged, but this requires that ICT has first to be adopted by them. The main research question is: what are the factors affecting the adoption of ICT in the small hotel and tour operator sector? The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the adoption of ICT in small hotels and tour operators in Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa. The sector was chosen because, driven by demand from customers, it uses ICT more than many other sectors, and because the government requires hoteliers to use a particular software for tax purposes. During the course of several visits between 2009 and 2013 data were collected from hoteliers and tour operator owners/managers. Sixteen hoteliers who had adopted ICT in their businesses were interviewed. One hundred and twenty-eight hoteliers and 57 tour operators responded to a questionnaire. Analysis of the findings indicates that factors affecting the adoption of ICT in these organizations can be arranged according to three levels: individual, organizational and national. The major factors that affect the adoption arise from the national level factors: the political, socio-economic, technological and legal factors that play a critical role in the adoption or rejection of ICT in this sector. This paper provides insights into the impact a monopolized telecommunications service can have on the adoption of ICT.