20papers in this issue.
This study aims to explore the utilization of kiosks, a case of self-service technology in library services, by applying task-technology fit theory to reveal the factors that affect the satisfaction and continued use of library kiosk services and to conduct a review of library non-face-to-face services. We organized the kiosk characteristic factors through a literature review and established a research model mediated by related theories. We collected 229 valid questionnaire data from users with experience using library kiosks and analyzed them using SPSS 26.0 and SmartPLS 4.0 programs. The analysis results confirmed that the fit of library services and self-service technology was significantly influenced by the usefulness and enjoyment of kiosk technology characteristics and the kiosk-friendly environment of the usage environment attributes. In addition, we found the fit between library services and self-service technology to significantly affect library kiosk usage satisfaction and intention to continue using the kiosk, so this study proposed a plan for library kiosk services utilizing the significant factors. In addition, to effectively use the kiosks as a non-face-to-face library service, we suggest operating them in line to provide library information materials, install them in various locations within the library to increase accessibility, and provide education on how to use them for learning and to raise positive awareness of the kiosks for the digitally disadvantaged.
The emergence of Open Access (OA) and other changes to the academic publishing ecosystem have made the prevalence of predatory journals a significant concern. Academic librarians play a crucial role in the academic environment that protects researchers and takes action against predatory journals. Nonetheless, there isn’t many research that looks into how academic librarians view and handle predatory journals. This study aims to give an exploratory analysis of the overall perceptions of predatory journals among university librarians in South Korea. A survey was administered to academic librarians between April 10 and May 1, 2024, and 78 respondents’ answers were examined. The findings demonstrate that opinions among South Korean academic librarians on predatory journals are not all uniform. Based on their readiness and willingness to supply services, the respondents could be roughly categorized into four groups, according to cluster analysis. The study affirms that training librarians and improving cooperation between academic libraries and researchers are critical prerequisites for the advancement of services aimed at predatory publications. We anticipate that this study, which is the first of its type to explore how academic librarians in South Korea see predatory journals, will be a valuable starting point for university libraries as they plan and offer services related to predatory journals in the future.
This study aims to identify the core competencies required in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) and to propose curriculum design strategies based on these competencies. The expansion and increasing demand for librarian certification pathways have led to the weakening of professional expertise and growing uncertainty in the job market. In response, this research collected competency-related data from the websites of 16 four-year LIS programs at universities across the country and qualitative data through in-depth interviews with professors from related academic fields and public library managers. The analysis identified five core competencies in LIS: information management and processing, information technology and data utilization, library management and collaboration, user services and communication, and cultural and community understanding. Based on these competencies, the study suggests curriculum design strategies across institutional, practical, and educational dimensions. This research serves as a foundational resource for improving LIS curricula and certification systems and is expected to facilitate collaborative discussions between educators and practitioners in the field.
This study analyzes trends in data curation research. A total of 1,849 scholarly records were extracted from Scopus and WoS, with 1,797 papers selected after removing duplicates. Titles, keywords, and abstracts were analyzed through keyword frequency analysis, LDA topic modeling, and network analysis. Frequent keywords like ‘research’ and ‘information’ suggest that data curation is widely applied in medical research, biomedical research, data management, and infrastructure. LDA modeling identified five main topics: improving medical data quality, enhancing big data management, managing scientific data and repositories, annotating and modeling medical data, and gene/protein database research. Network analysis showed that ‘analysis’ was central in global discussions, while ‘gene’ and ‘system’ were locally central. These findings highlight the importance of data curation in various research areas.
International research has actively explored and analyzed the implementation of e-learning platforms by libraries in response to the advancement of online learning models. In contrast, within Korea, while the significance and necessity of online library services and education are acknowledged, there remains a paucity of studies providing detailed methodologies for their implementation. This study aims to propose a practical e-learning platform for public libraries, detailing design guidelines and developing a prototype. Utilizing the Rapid Prototyping methodology, this study reviewed theoretical backgrounds and prior research, selecting Moodle LMS for initial design guidelines. The validity and reliability of the evaluation were assessed by experts and users. Based on the evaluation results, the final design guidelines and prototype of the e-learning platform for libraries were established. The final guidelines consist of four main functions, nine detailed functions, and forty specific instructions.
This study examined university library services for students, including international students, and the AI-based information services provided by libraries. Additionally, the standards of Korean language education for international students were investigated. Based on the analysis of library services and these standards, a book recommendation system for learning Korean was developed using ChatGPT. The recommendation results from three training datasets were evaluated for recommendation precision. The results of the chatbot’s book recommendations based on the 13 test questions were evaluated by recommendation precision. The comparison of the recommendation precision showed that the chatbot using the combined dataset was more successful in recommending all relevant books compared to the individual datasets. This study serves as an example of an effective approach to utilizing artificial intelligence technology for user services in university libraries.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that influence youth reading habits through exploratory data analysis of various reading variables. Using data from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey, we divided participants into a reading group and a non-reading group and analyzed the factors influencing reading habits through a t-test that compared the mean differences between the two groups. The results are as follows: The reading group showed higher scores than the non-reading group in learning-related factors such as study time and academic engagement, positive emotional factors, career-related factors, and social activity factors such as club participation and volunteering. On the other hand, the non-reading group scored higher in key factors such as academic helplessness, emotional problems like aggression and depression, and experiences of delinquent behavior. Additionally, this study suggests further research topics such as the relationship between reading and interactions with parents, cooperation as a social emotion, and physical activity, areas that have not been deeply explored in previous studies.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how information use behavior and satisfaction appear by personality type for liberal arts learning among college students, and to propose a customized information service plan that can help college students study in university libraries. To this end, a survey was conducted on 169 university students enrolled in C University. The analysis consisted of demographic characteristics, MBTI personality type, information use behavior, satisfaction, and university library service perception survey. Frequency analysis, cross-analysis, multinomial logistic regression, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression analysis were performed on the collected data using the SPSS 29 statistical program. As a result of the study, first, significant results were found in ‘preferred information sources’, ‘information source consideration factors’, and ‘information collection patterns’ according to personality type. Second, there were statistically significant differences in satisfaction according to personality type in ‘system utilization ability’, ‘data selection ability’, and ‘the degree of recognition of the usefulness of learning activities’. Third, in the relationship between preferred information sources and satisfaction based on personality types and information use behaviors, there appears to be an inverse relationship when the content includes various topics with a lack of academic depth or expertise. However, the preference for ‘social media’ is positively correlated with ‘satisfaction with search results,’ as it provides diverse perspectives and viewpoints in liberal education
Information literacy is a necessary competency for all people living in the information society, but undergraduate students are especially in need of information literacy in the process of academic performance and career preparation. In this study, we conducted frequency analysis, network analysis, and topic modeling on the English abstracts of information literacy-related research on undergraduate students listed in KCI to identify trends in information literacy research on undergraduate students. The main keywords and subsequent research topics were derived by analyzing the frequency analysis and keyword network and comparing the results, and eight subtopics were derived from the topic modeling to observe the main research areas. Information literacy for college students was mainly studied for educational purposes, and nursing information and analysis model development were the main subtopics.
In the era of digital transformation, discussions about digital curation have become increasingly active not only in academia but also in various fields. The primary purpose of this study is to analyze the conceptual changes in digital curation over time, particularly by examining the definition statements related to digital curation as described in academic literature. To achieve this, academic research papers from 2009, when the term “digital curation” was first mentioned, to 2023 were collected, and definition statements that explained relevant concepts were extracted. Basic statistical analyses were conducted. Using DMR topic modeling and word networks, the relationships among keywords and the changes in their importance over time were examined, and a conceptual map of digital curation was made focusing on the main topics. The results revealed that the concept of digital curation is primarily centered around the themes of “data preservation,” “traditional curator roles,” and “product recommendation curation.” Depending on the researchers’ intentions for utilizing digital curation, the concept was expanded to include topics such as “content distribution and classification,” “information usage,” and “curation models.” This study is significant in that it analyzed the concept of digital curation through definition statements reflecting the perspectives of researchers. Additionally, the study holds value in explicitly identifying changes in the concepts that researchers emphasize over time through the trends in topic prevalence.
This study investigates the collaboration networks in the field of AI-driven diagnostic medical imaging, focusing on the influence of two social capital concepts—network closure and structural holes—on research performance. The analysis reveals a highly fragmented network structure with one dominant component, while individual clusters exhibit strong internal cohesion. Both network closure, measured by density, and structural holes, assessed through efficiency, positively impact research performance, as demonstrated by QAP regression analysis. The findings highlight that, in the integration of AI into diagnostic medical imaging, robust connections among researchers are vital, and the presence of structural holes, which enable the assimilation of diverse knowledge, also significantly enhances research outcomes. This underscores the importance of fostering a well-balanced network to optimize collaboration and knowledge production in this emerging interdisciplinary field.
This study aims to identify and compare the primary research topics in domestic and international research support services through topic modeling. The analysis revealed 12 major topics in domestic studies and 15 in international ones. The findings highlight the need for in-depth research on digital technology in open access, data management, research data management in university libraries, and digital research support services. Furthermore, the need for further research has been identified to analyze specific types of digital research support services and to explore the evolving role of information professionals in research data management. This study is significant in that it comprehensively analyzes existing research and provides guidance for future research directions.
In the rapid digital transformation era, kiosks have become a common element in daily life. However, their widespread deployment has introduced new challenges for socially marginalized groups, including individuals with disabilities and the elderly. This study aims to evaluate the usability of kiosks for individuals with low vision and propose improvement strategies. The study was conducted with eight low-vision university students from A University in Gyeongsangbuk-do and four non-disabled university students from Daegu. Usability was assessed through experiments involving a self-service certificate issuance kiosk and a fast-food restaurant kiosk, using Jakob Nielsen’s five usability evaluation criteria: learnability, efficiency, memorability, error prevention, and satisfaction. The results revealed that individuals with low vision faced significant difficulties with small text size, low contrast, no physical buttons, and lack of screen zoom functionality. To address these issues, the study recommends enhancements such as increasing text size and contrast, incorporating physical buttons, adding zoom functionality, ensuring consistent UI design, and providing auditory feedback. This study provides foundational data for enhancing information accessibility for individuals with low vision. It offers critical insights into kiosk design and policy recommendations, thereby contributing to the mitigation of the digital divide.
This study discusses the current state and challenges of global scholarly communication and the internationalization of scholarly journals. This study defines journal internationalization from the viewpoint of global scholarly communication and examines how the pursuit of knowledge universality, inclusiveness, and bibliodiversity, as well as scholar-led global scholarly communication, are being impeded. It proposes no-fee OA and repository-based OA journal publishing models and the development of multilingual scholarly information systems as a means to foster healthy global scholarly communication. Additionally, the study discusses the significance of international and national support and policy development, the roles of university libraries and library consortia, and the awareness of researchers, universities, and learned societies in promoting global scholarly communication.
In co-authorship networks, temporal networks can be modeled by identifying the formation and dissolution (linking and removing) of co-authorship relationships over time from the publication year information of the papers. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the overall research collaboration networks of data papers and articles from an evolutionary perspective for modeling the temporal network in terms of informetrics and investigating the dynamic and structural mechanisms of the temporal co-authorship network. For that purpose, Biodiversity Data Journal, a mixed data journal in the biodiversity domain was used as the unit of analysis in this study as this domain had proposed data paper as a new mechanism for data publication. In addition, bibliometric records of 247 data papers and 638 articles involving two or more researchers were collected from the Web of Science. The results indicated that the dynamic co-authorship networks of data papers and articles in the biodiversity domain exhibited the scale-free property of a complex network and the small-world property in the Watts-Strogatz sense during the network evolution. Also, both publication types kept the structure of locally cohesive author groups over time in the networks. The implementation of TTBC (Temporal Triadic Betweenness Centrality) has allowed for the examination and tracking of the evolutionary trends of important or influential time-dependent authors (nodes) by the target year. And last, visualization with a dynamic approach enabled a more effective identification of analysis results, such as the exhibited structural difference in the temporal co-authorship networks of data papers and articles in the biodiversity domain, which can be interpreted as the structural properties of the networks among collaborative researchers dealing with data.
This study aims to identify the symptoms and related factors of musculoskeletal disorders among teacher librarians, with the goal of raising awareness about their health and safety, and providing foundational data for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. An online survey was conducted with teacher librarians working in elementary, middle, and high school libraries, and data were analyzed based on responses from 204 participants. The survey provided by KOSHA was utilized to identify the musculoskeletal disorder symptoms and the collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 29.0 program. Of the 204 librarian teachers, 92.6% have experienced symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders such as pain, soreness, and tingling in relation to their work over the past year. Additionally, 20.6% were classified as normal, 44.1% as requiring management, and 35.3% as reporting pain. By body part, the highest incidence was reported in the hands․wrists․fingers, followed by the lower back, shoulders, neck, arms․elbows, and legs․feet.
In contemporary South Korea, ultra-low birth rates have become a critical social issue. Equally important is the social responsibility to support the healthy physical and mental development of children. This study aimed to assess the children and adolescents related to online health information available on the websites of 17 metropolitan representative libraries in South Korea. Using literature review and content analysis methodologies, the study found that only two libraries (11.8%) offered 32 health-related resources for children and adolescents through their library websites. Of these resources, 25 (78.1%) were provided by public health centers, while hospitals contributed six resources (18.8%), and public institutions provided two resources (6.3%). Additionally, an evaluation of these 32 health information resources using the HON code, a recognized tool for assessing online health information, revealed relatively low satisfaction in areas such as “complementarity,” “attribution,” “transparency of authorship,” and “honesty in advertising and editorial policy.” Furthermore, the researcher conducted a comparative evaluation of children and adolescent health information resources available through the search engines Naver and Google in Korea. Based on these findings, the study outlines recommendations for improving online health information services related to children and adolescents.
This study empirically analyzes the impact of role stress, user misconduct, and job satisfaction on turnover intention by categorizing turnover intention into workplace turnover intention and occupational turnover intention among academic librarians working at national, public, and private universities across South Korea. Data were collected through a survey conducted from September 13 to September 20, 2023, yielding 447 responses, which were subsequently analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. The results revealed that role ambiguity and severe user misconduct (physical threats) positively influenced both workplace turnover intention and occupational turnover intention, while age negatively influenced both. The study found that librarians who experience unclear responsibilities and physical threats are more likely to have a strong intention to leave both their workplace and occupation. As differential factors, role overload and the location of the workplace in the metropolitan area were found to be significant. Role overload positively influenced only occupational turnover intention, while the metropolitan location negatively influenced only workplace turnover intention. These findings suggest that excessive workload increases doubt about the occupation itself, leading to consideration of occupational turnover and that librarians working outside the metropolitan area exhibit higher workplace turnover intention. Both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction negatively influenced workplace and occupational turnover intention. These results indicate that differentiated strategies tailored to specific types of turnover intention are warranted to effectively manage turnover intention among academic librarians.
This study aimed to compare and analyze the content structures of the information literacy curriculum ‘Library and Information Life’ and domestic and international digital literacy curricula to discuss the scope of digital literacy integration based on information literacy. Common areas and learning elements were extracted from domestic and international digital literacy curricula and mapped against the ‘Library and Information Life’ curriculum. Results showed that while the middle school curriculum aligned in information literacy, creation and sharing, and digital ethics, ‘Library and Information Life’ did not mention ICT utilization, communication, and collaboration competencies. The high school ‘Media and Information Life’ curriculum also addressed ICT utilization, communication, and collaboration competencies in a limited manner. This study is significant in proposing a concrete discussion on the scope of digital literacy integration based on information literacy. The findings can serve as foundational data for determining the scope of digital literacy application when revising the ‘Library and Information Life’ curriculum in the future.
This study aims to develop novel centrality measures applicable to networks that include both directional and weighted information, such as interlibrary loan networks and logistics transportation networks. While weighted PageRank has traditionally been used in such cases, experimental results reveal that it yields similar outcomes to neighborhood centrality, which measures local centrality. However, triangle betweenness centrality (TBC), despite assessing global centrality in weighted networks, does not consider link directions. To address these limitations, we propose two modified versions of the existing TBC measure: TBC-T for trust networks and TBC-F for flow networks. Applying these measures to two interlibrary loan networks, we find that TBC-T considers only the weights of inlinks, while TBC-F incorporates both inlink and outlink weights. These newly developed measures are expected to be useful for measuring node global centrality in weighted directed networks.