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The Human Library in the Netherlands: A successful exchange of life

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Figure. Statements concerning the impact of The Human Library. Source: Jambor, 2015.

The originally Danish principle of The Human Library has been known in the Netherlands for about six years now. Even during the coronavirus crisis, the organizers managed to reach more than 700 people in over 20 sessions. The high average rating given by the participants is in line with the positive results of previous studies on the impact of The Human Library. A distinction can be made between short-term and long-term effects, effects on voluntary participants versus participants in an edition of The Human Library in a mandatory setting, such as a work situation, and effects achieved in terms of awareness, change in attitude and behavioural change. In almost all of these areas, The Human Library scores high. In the future, more research can be done into the distinction between these different situations, as well as on the effect on the ‘books’ rather than the ‘readers’, on whom almost all research now focuses.

Wikimedia 2030 movement strategy: How an inclusive open strategy process has placed people at the centre

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Figure 1. Scheme of the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy Process organized by phases, subphases, involved actors and the strategy practices in terms of the degree of openness

Objectives: In 2017, the Wikimedia Movement embarked on an open strategy process to decide the scope of action towards the horizon of 2030. Contrary to the development of a traditional strategy, an open strategy process allows numerous people to generate, discuss, and evaluate ideas. This study examines how this open strategy process and its output documents support inclusivity and address people’s needs.

Methodology: Inclusivity practices employed in the different phases of the open strategy process are reviewed — encompassing aspects such as modes of participation, transparency, and decision-making. Through discourse analysis, the aim is to highlight the main characteristics of the strategy product created and how it has been interpreted by the Wikimedia Movement, online communities, and affiliates.

Results: The results of the study are two-fold. Firstly, a wide array of participation modes employed to include the Wikimedia Movement actors have been identified. Secondly, it has been found that the resulting strategy documents place people at the centre of the discourse, not only in the proposed new strategic direction but also in the strategic principles and recommendations that were produced. Thus, this paper extends the understanding of open strategy in large and collaborative environments, showing that inclusivity practices help elaborate proposals of changes that need to be implemented later by relevant stakeholders.

20 years of the encyclopaedia anyone can edit: Wikipedia and the pursuit of knowledge equity

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When referring to collaborative knowledge creation, sharing and curation, Wikipedia stands out as the benchmark. On January 15, 2021 Wikipedia celebrated its 20th anniversary. There are many good things to say about Wikipedia: it has successfully demonstrated that ordinary people, and not just academic elites, can build and produce knowledge – and useful knowledge at that, if we take into account that Wikipedia is consistently one of the top 10 most visited webs on the internet, with more than 20 billion monthly pageviews (Wikimedia statistics, 2021). People don’t have to pay for the content, it is ad-free and independent, hosted by a non-profit organization – the Wikimedia Foundation – that mostly relies on small donations from individuals around the world. It is a unique model – free knowledge by the people for the people – that has held true for two decades by valiantly pursuing an aspirational vision: a world where everyone can have access to the sum of all knowledge.

Le retour des collections

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  [Versió catalana] [Versión castellana] Bertrand Calenge Directeur des études Département des Études et de la Recherche ENSSIB École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques Université de Lyon bertrand.calenge@enssib.fr   En réfléchissant à ce propos liminaire à la revue BiD: textos universitaris de Biblioteconomia i Documentació, j’ai opéré un retour sur vingt … Read more

Altering the collections landscape: an overview of patron-driven-acquisitions at Arizona State University Libraries

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Figura 1. Exemple de registre de l'OPAC (catàleg en línia) per a un llibre tramès en format imprès

En 2009, las bibliotecas de la Arizona State University adoptaron un plan de adquisiciones dirigidas por el usuario (PDA, del inglés Patron Driven Acquisition) tanto para libros electrónicos como para los libros impresos. En este artículo se describe el proceso de la toma de decisión que dio lugar a un cambio permanente en el desarrollo de colecciones en una biblioteca de investigación académica importante. Se analiza la forma en que funciona el programa desde la perspectiva de los profesionales especialistas y se ofrece información sobre la experiencia del usuario. Finalmente, el artículo comenta las orientaciones futuras de los PDA y plantea algunas preguntas que deben tenerse en cuenta en el contexto de un cambio de paradigma más grande en las prácticas de desarrollo de la colección. — In 2009, Arizona State University Libraries adopted a patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) plan for both electronic and print books. This article describes the decision making process that resulted in a permanent change in collection development at a major academic research library. It considers how the program works from the perspective of library subject specialists and provides some information on the user experience. Finally, the article discusses future directions for PDA and poses questions that must be considered in the context of a major paradigm shift in collection development practices.

Editorial

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  [Versió catalana] [Versió castellana] Mario Pérez-Montoro Universitat de Barcelona perez-montoro@ub.edu Candela Ollé Universitat Oberta de Catalunya collec@uoc.edu   Back in June 1998, an enthusiastic group of professors in library and information science at the University of Barcelona launched the first issue of the journal BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació. The new publication … Read more

Collection Development Policy: where does it start and where will it end?

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  [Versión castellana | English version] Glòria Pérez-Salmerón Exdirectora de la Biblioteca Nacional de España perezsalmeron@gmail.com   La política de desenvolupament de la col·lecció (PDC) és el compromís de la biblioteca; és la seva declaració de principis per configurar una col·lecció coherent amb la missió i els objectius definits en la seva estratègia, tenint en … Read more