Volume 69, Issue 4 -

Information, culture, and memory centers are increasingly anchored to urban redevelopment projects within historically marginalized communities challenged by contemporary social and economic disparity. This paper situated libraries, archives, and museums within a sociocultural context to examine the role of cultural heritage institutions in gentrification. Librarians, archivists, curators, and community advocates in Detroit, Michigan shared their viewpoints and experiences of gentrification. Using a modified Delphi process, respondents explored the need for policy, service delivery, and programming assessment in a city of color at-risk to gentrification-induced displacement. This mixed research study was implemented using a concurrent triangulation design. A three-round e-Delphi survey (round one: n = 32; round two: n = 31; round three: n = 30) was conducted from May 2017 to August 2017. A panel of experts was selected composed of information, culture, and community workers who practiced: (a) at an anchor institution; (b) in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification; or (c) with community members seeking to stay put in transitioning neighborhoods. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using inductive analysis and descriptive statistics. A nonparametric statistical test, Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (W), measured the extent of agreement among the e-Delphi panelists’ rankings of issues and recommendations (identified by the panel members) regarding the role of cultural heritage institutions in gentrification and displacement. Thirty panel members (93%) in the first round of the survey indicated that it was important for cultural heritage institutions to assess if revitalization partnerships contributed to gentrification-induced displacement. The panel generated 25 propositions in the second round of survey, which they ranked in the third and final round of the survey. Kendall’s W for the rank ordering of the five most important issues (W = 0.008; X2 = 15.815; df = 6; p = 0.015) and ten most important recommendations (W = 0.050; X2 = 24.467; df = 17; p = 0.085) indicated a very weak level of agreement. The implication of this finding suggested a need for further exploration. This study adds to the global investigation on the role of cultural heritage institutions in gentrification and displacement and contributes to an emerging body of knowledge in cultural heritage informatics in the U.S.

First-time mothers have a unique and varied set of information needs, but at present, these needs are seldom adequately addressed by libraries in China. As a first step in making libraries more helpful to this group, this study reports the results of a series of interviews aimed at understanding new mothers’ current information seeking behaviors. Thirty-seven first-time mothers (children from first year of birth to six years of age) took part in semi-structured in-depth interviews, answering questions about their information demand, information source selection (and factors influencing this selection), and obstacles encountered in the process of information search. It was found that first-time mothers’ information-seeking behavior varies from stage to stage, e. g. between pregnancy and the immediate postpartum period. Internet search plays an important role because of its perceived convenience and accessibility, but trust is the key factor during the process of information selection, regardless of source. Overall, the mothers we interviewed seldom use the library. This paper puts forward some suggestions to remedy that situation: libraries might consider opening a first-time-mothers reading room, increasing cooperative promotions with other institutions, providing diversified service projects, and organizing reading-promotion activities for first-time mothers at different stages. If implemented, these suggestions promise to help mothers navigate the transitions of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare.

This study was conducted to assess the cultural value of the library by performing a perception survey for public library librarians and users. We have undertaken the processes of deriving a preliminary evaluation index based on domestic and foreign research results, determining the final evaluation index, and assessing the library’s cultural value within the scope of librarians and users, among others. As a result of conducting this research, we have divided the evaluation areas around cultural values into four areas of development: local culture, succession and promotion of cultural heritage, contribution to local residents’ cultural enjoyment, and formation of community culture in general. As a result of analyzing by evaluation area, the area of the formation of community culture turned out to have the highest average of 3.92, followed by an average of 3.84 for the area of contribution to the local residents’ cultural enjoyment, 3.82 for the area of development of local culture, and 3.53 for the area of the formation of community culture. Furthermore, respondents demonstrated the highest level of agreement to the evaluation item, stating that libraries contribute to resolving the cultural gap, within the area of formation of community culture.

This study aimed to investigate the information literacy (IL) self-efficacy of business students in Pakistan using a cross-sectional survey research design. The data were collected through a questionnaire containing an information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale along with personal and academic variables. The results revealed that the business students were confident and competent in basic IL skills whereas they were less comfortable in developing and limiting search strategies, referencing, managing citations, using different types of libraries and lacking advanced levels of IL skills. In addition, there was no correlation of students’ perceived IL self-efficacy with gender, social background, ICT trainings received, and IL instructions received. Conversely, the students’ age, program of study, stage of study, and ICT proficiency appeared to be predictors of IL self-efficacy. The results generated pragmatic insights which can be used as a guide in developing useful directions for a need-based information literacy curriculum as well as programs.

In a digital library, an increasingly important problem is how to prevent the exposure of user privacy in an untrusted network. This study aims to design an effective approach for the protection of user privacy in a digital library, by consulting the basic ideas of encryption and anonymization. In our proposed approach, any privacy data, which can identify user’s real identity, should be encrypted first before being submitted to the library server, to achieve anonymization of user identity. Then, to solve the problem of querying encrypted privacy data, additional feature data are constructed for the encrypted data, such that much of the query processing can be completed at the server-side, without decrypting the data, thereby improving the efficiency of each kind of user query operation. Both theoretical analysis and experimental evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, which can improve the security of users’ data privacy and behavior privacy on the untrusted server-side, without compromising the availability (i. e. accuracy, efficiency, and usability) of digital library services. This paper provides a valuable study attempt at the protection of digital library users’ privacy, which has a positive influence on the development of a privacy-preserving library in an untrusted network environment.

Service delivery remains a challenge in post-apartheid South Africa, notwithstanding the proactive legislations that have been in place since the end of apartheid in 1994 to ensure that municipalities enhance the developmental path through service delivery. Given the increasing interest in prioritising knowledge sharing in municipalities, this article advocates for knowledge sharing as a tool to improve service delivery at South African municipalities. It investigates knowledge sharing at the Overstrand municipality in Cape Town, South Africa and adopts a qualitative approach, using convenient sampling and semi-structured interviews. South Africa is a multicultural country where municipalities are recovering from the inequalities and disparities of apartheid. The article identifies methods of knowledge sharing; establishes the barriers to effective knowledge sharing; and suggests ways in which knowledge sharing could be enhanced at the municipality. Data was collected from the different departments of the Overstrand municipality. The findings reveal that knowledge sharing continues to remain a challenge although participants understood and recognised its importance. A lack of trust, poor communication between senior and junior colleagues, a lack of incentives and recognition, fear of losing one’s job and the absence of a formal strategy, relevant information and communication technology make knowledge sharing challenging. The article recommends a formal knowledge management strategy; a knowledge sharing culture; the use of ICTs for knowledge management and the need for leaders to champion knowledge sharing in all the departments of the Overstrand municipality. Although there is emerging research on knowledge management in the public sector, there is a dearth of research on municipalities.