Experiències i anàlisis

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.

Changing with the times: the library at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey Campus

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Fotografia 1. Auditori. Font: Tecnológico de Monterrey

Libraries provide a stage for learning, creating and sharing experience; and both library services and the information professionals in charge of them are changing with the times, just as our educational systems are, offering us new ways to acquire knowledge.

The library at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey Campus, has evolved into Biblio TEC: a physical building that is at once an information reference service and a series of spaces designed to facilitate learning and interaction in study-related activities of different kinds.

With a surface area of some 17,000 sq. m., the building is divided into six levels of flexible spaces that can be adapted to the needs of individuals, teams and large groups of library users and that maximise the possibilities of private or group study and of learning in general.

On this new stage, the librarian’s role has also changed and librarians are no longer the keepers of services who decide what is to be used and how; instead, they have become information curators whose mission in this day and age is to facilitate the process by which patrons learn to acquire and use increasing amounts of information.

Creating, Managing and Analyzing an Academic Library Chatbot

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Figura 1. Interfície gràfica d'usuari d'ANTswers

Part 1 of this paper discusses how to create and manage an academic library chatbot, including the type of statistics that should be kept and the importance of regularly reviewing transcripts. Created in 2014, the chatbot in question has been developed to the point where, on average, it correctly answers library users’ questions 70% of the time. Part 2 is an analysis of over 10,000 user-submitted sentences (questions and statements). The analysis used UAM CorpusTool to create layers and code transcripts according to sentence structure, opening and closing statements, showing interest, and types of service and materials requested. While the library chatbot is clearly marked as being a computer program, a number of users regularly treat the chatbot as human and hold long non-library related conversations with it.

A kitchen in the library: the Espai Cuines del Món at the Biblioteca del Fondo (Santa Coloma de Gramenet)

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Detall del fullet explicatiu Cuines del Món-Biblioteca del Fondo (novembre de 2016). Foto: Mariona Chavarria

  [Versió catalana] [Versión castellana] Mariona Chavarria Domingo Library Director Biblioteca del Fondo Xarxa de Biblioteques de Santa Coloma de Gramenet chavarriadm@diba.cat   Abstract Dedicated to world cuisine, the Espai Cuines del Món of the library the Biblioteca del Fondo in Santa Coloma de Gramenet is at once a physical space and an ongoing cultural … Read more

How to implement entrepreneurship in LIS education: a Danish example

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The effectuation model

The present article intends to illustrate how entrepreneurship-centered teaching and learning can be implemented in a LIS-specific context while at the same time thematizing the challenges of implementing entrepreneurship in a general university context. The paper presents a concept of teaching and learning that is designed partly to meet academic requirements and partly to work satisfactorily, and in an appropriate manner, in a specifically LIS-related (i.e., a non-business) context. The theoretical basis of this teaching- and learning-related concept is explained and discussed. In addition, the article presents particular experiences, results and achievements obtained in seminars and course units at the Royal School of Library and Information Science, where the concept was developed.

Crowdsourcing in the memory institutions: mass transcriptions*

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Classificació dels diferents tipus de crowdsourcing [elaboració pròpia a partir d'Estellés-Arolas i González-Ladrón-de-Guevara (2012)]

In recent years, the growth of web-based social participation and the open source movement have prompted a number of initiatives, including the movement known as crowdsourcing . This paper examines crowdsourcing as a volunteering phenomenon and considers what motivates individuals to participate in crowdsourcing. In addition, the paper reviews the main projects in mass transcription being made in memory institutions worldwide (libraries, archives, museums and galleries), briefly introducing each project and analyzing its main features. Finally, a selection of best practices is offered to guide institutions in the implementation of mass transcription projects.

Selected critical examples of scientometric publication analysis

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Diagram 1. The framework of Informetrics (from Björneborn & Ingwersen, 2004, p. 1217).

Objetivos: detallar una selección de factores de importancia capital para calcular, presentar e interpretar los resultados de análisis de publicaciones desde una óptica cienciométrica, en particular con relación al análisis del crecimiento y de las cuotas mundiales, así como la lógica que hay detrás del cálculo de las medias de autores, instituciones o países por publicación indexados por Web of Science.

Metodología: ejemplos de estudios sobre evaluación de investigación anteriores y también de casos basados en datos recogidos en línea para este artículo demuestran conflictos, detalles problemáticos, inconvenientes y cómo superarlos en el análisis de publicaciones con respecto a la aplicación, al cálculo, a la presentación y a la interpretación de herramientas analíticas.

Resultados: proporciona una visión de la cienciometría en el contexto del análisis infométrico, casos seleccionados de productividad de investigación, patrones y tendencias de investigación de publicaciones en todas las disciplinas y en los campos de la energía renovable y la energía eólica en diferentes periodos de tiempo y mediante diferentes tipos de análisis y presentación.

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.