The future is today: libraries at the service of a changing society
Tribune Open government in new digital states: which libraries for which citizens? || Ismael Peña-López Articles PatrimoniIndustrial.cat: a georeferenced database of Catalonia’s industrial heritage || Eduard J. Álvarez-Palau, Glòria Clavera Ibáñez, Adrià San José Plana, Jordi Martí-Henneberg [ English abstract | Spanish text | Catalan text ] Films preservation in the era of the Netflix paradigm || … Read more
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.
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.
En les últimes dècades, el sorgiment de les noves tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació ha comportat l’ampliació dels estudis bibliomètrics més enllà dels productes de la comunicació científica (articles, ressenyes, etc.) amb la incorporació de l’anàlisi d’altres continguts (pàgines web, repositoris de publicacions tècniques, apunts en xarxes socials, etc.), per mitjà de l’analítica web i de la bibliometria alternativa. Aquest treball presenta les implicacions d’aquest canvi per a l’Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), que els últims anys ha passat a tenir en compte, en el seu sistema d’avaluació del rendiment, el nombre de citacions d’articles científics i el nombre de descàrregues de publicacions tècniques disponibles en el seu portal d’Internet. Com es pot veure en aquest article, els 42 centres de recerca de la institució presenten comportaments diferenciats pel que fa al rendiment en la producció exclusivament científica (nombre d’articles científics i de citacions) i en la producció tècnica (descàrregues de manuals, butlletins i altres publicacions). L’existència d’aquestes diferències està comportant que l’Embrapa consideri, en el seu sistema d’avaluació del rendiment, les particularitats dels seus centres de recerca, ja sigui en l’àmbit del procés de producció de coneixement i tecnologia, ja sigui en les formes de comunicació. A partir d’aquesta experiència, s’arriba a la conclusió que el desenvolupament d’indicadors bibliomètrics adequats per gestionar institucions d’ensenyament i recerca requereix una mirada àmplia, que tingui en compte els acords institucionals, els fluxos d’informació i la influència recíproca entre ciència i societat. — En las últimas décadas, el surgimiento de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación ha supuesto la ampliación de los estudios bibliométricos más allá de los productos de la comunicación científica (artículos, reseñas, etc.) con la incorporación del análisis de otros contenidos (páginas web, repositorios de publicaciones técnicas, apuntes en redes sociales, etc.), por medio de la analítica web y de la bibliometría alternativa. Este trabajo presenta las implicaciones de este cambio para la empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), que en los últimos años ha pasado a tener en cuenta, en su sistema de evaluación del rendimiento, el número de citas de artículos científicos y el número de descargas de publicaciones técnicas disponibles en su portal de Internet. Como se puede ver en este artículo, los 42 centros de investigación de la institución presentan comportamientos diferenciados en cuanto a su rendimiento en la producción exclusivamente científica (número de artículos científicos y de citas) y en la producción técnica (descargas de manuales, boletines y otras publicaciones). La existencia de estas diferencias está comportando que la Embrapa considere, en su sistema de evaluación del rendimiento, las particularidades de sus centros de investigación, ya sea en el ámbito del proceso de producción de conocimiento y tecnología, ya sea en las formas de comunicación. A partir de esta experiencia, se llega a la conclusión que el desarrollo de indicadores bibliométricos adecuados para la gestión de instituciones de enseñanza e investigación requiere una mirada amplia, que contemple los acuerdos institucionales, los flujos de información y la influencia recíproca entre ciencia y sociedad. — In recent decades, the emergence of new information and communication technologies has broadened the remit of bibliometric analysis. Bibliometrics are now used not only to assess products of scholarly communication such as articles or monographs, but to examine technology-related content such as web portals, repositories of technical publications or documents in social networks, which are studied with the help of web analytics and altmetrics. This paper examines the implications of this trend for the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), whose criteria for assessing institutional performance have been extended in recent years to include the number of citations of scientific articles and downloads of the technical publications made available at the corporation’s web portal. As the paper shows, Embrapa’s 42 research centres do not all follow the same pattern in the production of scientific articles and citations, on the one hand, and of technical documents on the other (measured by downloads of manuals, bulletins and other publications). For this reason, Embrapa is beginning to tailor its system of performance assessment to the particularities of each centre, whether these involve the way the centre produces knowledge and technology or how it channels scholarly communication. The paper concludes that the development of suitable bibliometric indicators for managing centres dedicated to research and education requires a broad view of the centres themselves and can take on board such varied factors as institutional agreements, information flows and the ways in which science and society influence each other. — Nas últimas décadas, a emergência das novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação levou à ampliação dos estudos bibliométricos para além dos produtos da Comunicação Científica (artigos, revisões, etc.) com a incorporação da análise de outros conteúdos (páginas da internet, repositórios de publicações técnicas, posts em mídias sociais, etc.), por intermédio da webometria e da altmetria. Este trabalho apresenta as implicações dessa mudança para a Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), que passou a contemplar nos últimos anos, em seu sistema de avaliação de desempenho, o número de citações de artigos científicos e o número de downloads de publicações técnicas disponíveis em seu portal da internet. Como poderá ser observado neste artigo, os 42 centros de pesquisa da instituição apresentam comportamentos diferenciados quanto a seu desempenho na produção exclusivamente científica (número de artigos científicos e de citações) e na produção técnica (downloads de manuais, boletins e outras publicações). A existência dessas diferenças está levando a Embrapa a considerar em seu sistema de avaliação de desempenho as particularidades de seus centros de pesquisa, seja no âmbito de seu processo de produção de conhecimentos e tecnologias, seja em suas formas de comunicação. A partir dessa experiência, conclui-se que o desenvolvimento de indicadores bibliométricos adequados à gestão de instituições de ensino e pesquisa necessita de um olhar abrangente, que contemple os arranjos institucionais, os fluxos de informação, e a influência recíproca entre ciência e sociedade.
Objective. To collect the richly textured viewpoints of academic librarians and students on obstacles to library integration in institutional information systems, namely student success technologies and learning analytics. The aim is to contribute with an initial set of recurring themes to baseline knowledge on Spanish and Greek public university libraries’ prospects of engaging in this new type of intervention.
Methodology. Interviews were conducted between June and November 2016 in two universities in Spain and Greece and were continuously cross-checked against current literature on the academic climate in an interdisciplinary approach. This process helped to effectively outline a conceptual framework for understanding organisational forces and operational issues that could affect the process of connecting library use data to wider student support systems.
Results. Interviewees’ feedback revealed that the practical difficulties involved in systematically tracking in-library student activity workflows and connecting them with campus-wide or even interinstitutional learning analytics initiatives are only some of the operationalisation challenges. Infrastructural capacity-related considerations, the professional development of librarians, user control and strong teacher bias concerns are all high on the stakeholder list of inhibitors that, if they are not tackled, could eventually jeopardize a co-creation and service innovation opportunity of unique value. Easiness of use, voluntariness and feedback were reported among the main criteria with which library data integration in learning analytics systems must comply. A change in data collection practices, the active pursuit of stakeholder engagement and the reconsideration of existing resources, namely infrastructures and funding, were also given as major strategic priorities for the successful implementation of this type of intervention.
[Versió catalana][Versión castellana] Ismael Peña-López Director General of Citizen Participation and Electoral Processes Government of Catalonia ismael.pena@gencat.cat 1 Introduction “Let no Catalan town council be made to forgo its local police force or, for that matter, its own school, library, telephone exchange or national road”. These words, spoken by Enric Prat de la Riba on … Read more