Volume 72, Issue 3

The traditional notion of university library strategy has been that of a pattern of goal-oriented activities that implement a strategic plan. Through conceptual analysis, this paper integrates strategic planning with two other perspectives—strategy based upon competitive position and upon library resources—to propose that a university library can best serve its academic community through a “strategic process” when supporting research and teaching. Drawing extensively upon applicable library science and strategic management literature, the paper presents the potential contribution of each perspective and of the entire strategic process using relevant examples. Successfully applying the strategic process enables university library managers to move forward with optimism in difficult competitive and financial situations. The process enables the university library to gain sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors by providing faculty and students with intellectual value in support of their discovery and education. As it operates, the strategic process empowers the university library to fulfill its traditional mission—providing persistent, generalized access to information—but to do so in transformed ways. The process also enhances library managers’ ability to communicate such successes to university decision-makers, illuminating the library’s effective use of scarce financial resources.

Using bounded rationality in decision-making by Simon, H. A. 1957. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations , 2nd ed. New York: Free Press; Simon, H. A. 1976. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations , 3rd ed. New York: Free Press) and planning theory by Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 1994a. Planning responsibly for Adult Education . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 1994b. “The Politics of Responsibility: A Theory of Program Planning Practice for Adult Education.” Adult Education Quarterly 45 (1): 249–68; Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 1996. What Really Matters in Adult Education Program Planning: Lessons in Negotiating Power and Interests . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 1998. “Working the Planning Table: The Political Practice of Adult Education.” Studies in Continuing Education 20 (1): 5–22; Cervero, R. M., and A. L. Wilson. 2006. Working the Planning Table: Negotiating Democratically for Adult, Continuing, and Workplace Education . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, this case study explored 2017 Every Student Succeeds Act (Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESEA) 2015. Pub. L. No. 114-95 § 114 Stat. 1177 ) grant application documents submitted by state education agencies (SEAs). Specifically explored was the presence or absence of requests in the grant applications for funds that can be used to support school library programs and employ and/or provide professional development funding for licensed school librarians. The purpose was to provide a description of decision-making and planning at the level of state administrators who functioned in the context of SEA and Local Education Agency organizations and were responsible for writing 2017 ESSA plans. Collected was data in four phases. The findings of this research informed a new model that illustrate sources of power relationships among legitimate interests in 2017 ESSA planning. A second proposed model can be applied to all types of libraries and their decision-making and planning. Both models can be tested in future research studies.

Environmental factors significantly affect the dynamic strategic alignment of information systems (IS) in coping with a rapidly changing environment, especially for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in emerging economies. By examining the case study of a medium-sized Chinese state-owned real estate company, this research aims to investigate what environmental factors affect SOEs’ strategic alignment. The thematic analysis method was used to analyse semi-structured interviews with staffs at all levels of the organisation and relevant strategy documents. The research develops a holistic model to illustrate the influencing factors from SOEs’ internal (i.e., organisational structure, culture and resources) and external environments (i.e., politics, economy, technology and national culture) while highlighting the overall influences from the nature of SOEs. It identifies that organisational resources, whose easy access is enabled by SOEs’ state-owned character, significantly reduce the need for strategic alignment to gain competitive advantage in the short term. In addition, SOEs’ inherent attributes of organisational structure and culture impede the social and structural integration between business and IT. Managerial implications are suggested with a particular emphasis on internal factors, such as developing IS/IT from organisational resources and cultivating the perception of the importance of IS. The paper also points to the importance of implementing government authorities’ policies and instructions about IS strategy.

This paper evaluates freshmen undergraduate students’ comprehension of library vocabularies used by librarians in library orientation sessions. For the assessment, a questionnaire survey was conducted among a group of 1456 freshmen students during library orientations at a premier public university in Bangladesh. In addition to students’ socio-demographic and personal information, the survey included 15-multiple choice questions on the definition of library terminologies. For each definition, the correct answer was given a score of “1” whereas the wrong or unsure response was assigned a score of “0.” Statistical procedures, t -test and ANOVA, were run to test the equality of means between student groups. A Generalised Estimating Equation (GEE) model was applied to determine the effect of socio-demographic and personal variables on students’ category-specific scores. The findings indicate that more than half of the terms were either incorrectly defined or not known to students. There were significant differences in freshmen’s total and category-specific scores based on gender, age, previous residence, discipline enrolled, computer and library experience and in terms of their previous exposure to library instructions. The GEE model showed that category-specific scores were significantly associated with term types and prior computer and library experience.

This study aimed to analyze the effects of soft skills on the work productivity of academic library professionals in Pakistan. The study employed quantitative survey method. The data was collected through a self-compiled online questionnaire from academic library professionals, yielding a response rate was 83%. Findings of this study reveal that library professionals’ level of different soft skills, interpersonal, emotional intelligence, leadership, motivation, and communication is high, which indicates that they are proficient in soft skills. Results of correlation test used to examine the relationship between the variables, soft skills, and work productivity of library professionals disclose a significant relationship between variables across the study. Moreover, soft skills have profound effects on the work productivity of library professionals, and no difference is found in library professionals’ perceptions based on their demographic characteristics. Soft skills help librarians to manage and perform different jobs effectively. Based on the outcomes of the study, it is suggested that LIS schools, professional associations, and other organizations offering professional development programs should endeavor to develop soft skills among LIS students and professionals by incorporating necessary contents in LIS curricula and offering training sessions. The research paper is the first attempt to explore the relationship between soft skills and work productivity from the perspective of librarianship in Pakistan; it will make a unique contribution to the literature.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the contributions of public libraries to the satisfaction of the intellectual needs of rural inhabitants in West Bengal, India. The study applied a quantitative survey method with the help of a well-structured questionnaire. Questionnaires were distributed among to the users (students, officers/professionals, self-employed individuals, businessmen, jobseekers, retired persons, and housewives) of 45 rural public libraries in five selected districts of West Bengal. The study found that the largest group of respondents belonged to the students and jobseekers categories, who visit the rural public libraries for seeking academic and job-related information. Many students from humble backgrounds were solely dependent on public libraries because they have procured some textbooks from middle school up to graduation level. Jobseekers were mostly consulting the Career Guidance Section of the library to prepare for various competitive exams. The study also revealed that public libraries have been trying to satisfy the intellectual and informational needs of the rural inhabitants by providing various services and facilities. Respondents have further reported that public libraries should adopt modern technologies and provide ICT-based library services as well. The outcome of this study would help to develop and upgrade the public library collection, services, and facilities in developing countries in a way that reflects patrons’ stated needs.

This study aims to investigate the mobile phone utilization for health information seeking among adults who are 45 years or older in rural areas in China. Using Andersen’s Behavioral Model (BM), we examine the factors that influence the target group’s behaviors of online health information seeking and contacting healthcare providers via mobile phones. By using stratified sampling method, we conducted a survey among 607 rural adults who were 45 years or older from six villages in Jiangsu Province, China. The results reveal that participants can be excluded from such services for not using a smartphone. eHealth information literacy could serve as a strong influential factor for online health information seeking and contacting healthcare providers via mobile phones. Participants with lower emotional wellbeing are more inclined to seek health information online via mobile phones. The results indicate variables such as utilization of technological devices and eHealth literacy should be included in Andersen’s model when investigating the utilization of mHealth services. This study contributes to the literature on mHealth adoption in rural areas in China and has implications for practitioners to tailor the mHealth service for socio-economically disadvantaged groups.

Human capital is considered crucial for the sustainability and success of libraries in this era of globalization. The presented study investigated the effect of human capital on innovation capability and employee job performance in academic libraries. Further, it also explored the effect of innovation capability on employee job performance in academic libraries This study implemented a survey research design. Structured questionnaires were employed to collect the data using the convenience sampling technique. The population of the study included 387 librarians and library assistants from academic libraries in the Southern Africa Region which incorporates three countries, namely Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.23. The results indicated that human capital had a significant and positive effect on innovation capability and employee job performance in academic libraries. Innovation capability also had a significant and positive effect on employee job performance. The major limitation of the study is that it focused only on three Southern African countries, namely Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, the study only concentrated on academic libraries and excluded the other types of libraries such as public, school, and special libraries. The study illustrates essential implications to library managers on the significance of human capital and, therefore, recommends that library managers should place emphasis on the part which human capital plays and invest in the most viable elements of human capital, which can develop innovation capabilities and, in turn, play a substantial part in boosting employees’ job performance.