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Article
Publication date: 22 October 2019

Lourdes Díaz-López, Javier Tarango and Claudia-Patricia Contreras

This paper aims to propose the development of formal (scientific content) and informal (content for science communication) educational activities in an inclusive and safe way…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose the development of formal (scientific content) and informal (content for science communication) educational activities in an inclusive and safe way, involving two essential elements, virtual reality (VR) and the digital library; as well as the implications for its enforcement such as educational strategies in the university setting and for the encouragement of scientific culture in society.

Design/methodology/approach

For the integration of content, a simplified conceptual model was designed first, in which universities and research centers are seen as complex systems where different subsystems, from which processes and information resources are derived, converge. To cover the model’s elements, a descriptive documentary review was developed, looking to synthesize each element’s contexts and implications.

Findings

The need to establish transdisciplinary relationships between the VR and the digital library is determined with the goal to integrate educational activities using technology, with the purpose of studying contents from the scientific point of view, as well as with the possibility of transforming them into contexts of general access for society, with the objective of social appropriation of knowledge, citizen science and social innovation. In the conclusion section, some implications in the implementation of this type of initiatives are presented.

Originality/value

The aspects that set this paper apart are: treating VR as emerging documents tending to measure their direct impact, not as isolated elements of a collection; identifying the digital library’s social influence actions through VR; and generating processes to encourage the creation of contents with a differentiated focus according to the population served.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 35 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 June 2024

Efraín Alfredo Barragán-Perea and Javier Tarango

This paper aims to identify alternatives for citizens to get out of the bubble when interacting with the information provided by the internet through search engines. This…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify alternatives for citizens to get out of the bubble when interacting with the information provided by the internet through search engines. This situation arises because there is extensive ignorance about the way search engines operate and the way advanced search algorithms operate, both situations based on the specific segmentation of the public, which creates difficulties in obtaining vast information that allows the contrast and development of diverse perspectives, which do not necessarily lead to the use of critical thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this contribution, a documentary-type investigation was carried out based on the review of the scientific literature on the subject, and the nature of this investigation, due to its purpose, being descriptive. The study takes as document selection criteria those original articles whose content relevance is linked to the purposes of this research proposal, published in scientific databases (SciELO, RedAlyC, Dialnet, ScienceDirect, WoS and Scopus) mostly between the years 2018 and 2023, in Spanish and English, that described the impact of bubble filters on full access to information and data privacy, for which the topics were addressed: internet search algorithms, bubble filters, search engines, privacy policies in search engines and management of personal data.

Findings

At the beginning, this paper clarifies the concepts of search algorithms on the Internet, bubble filters, search engines and privacy policies in search engines, which made it possible to identify alternatives that would allow the user to face the silent reality of the algorithms and avoid the bias in the information that the algorithm provides, in addition, the need to generate algorithmic literacy mechanisms, training in the use of metasearch engines and education in algorithms is proposed, with which citizens can exercise critical thinking in the way they interact on the internet.

Research limitations/implications

This is a theoretical proposal, in which various inferences are made from theoretical knowledge without fieldwork.

Originality/value

It is considered a document of important value in the training processes of librarians and information professionals in the training of users and in the ways of interaction with technology.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2021

Silvia Méndez-Govea, Celia Mireles-Cárdenas and Javier Tarango

This paper aims to confirm the importance of developing knowledge, skills and attitudes in the permanent use of digital scientific information, which complements the training of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to confirm the importance of developing knowledge, skills and attitudes in the permanent use of digital scientific information, which complements the training of professionals in the biomedical and health areas, considering that this type of user communities require up-to-date and truthful information for future decision-making which will directly affect the health of patients.

Design/methodology/approach

The study started from the elaboration of a diagnosis on learning styles in a student community at the undergraduate level in the area of biomedical and health sciences of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (Mexico) (UASLP), through the application of the Honey-Alonso Learning Styles questionnaire (CHAEA), and by using such results it was possible to derive learning strategies for the achievement of digital information competencies that were effective in practice.

Findings

According to the diagnostic results, the learning styles with the greatest presence in students in the area of Biomedical and Health Sciences were identified and from this, precise didactic strategies were derived to enhance information skills in the use of digital sources. For this case, the Big6 Model was used and its implementation was combined (face-to-face and virtual) in the academic community studied, integrating an information skills development program in the digital library of the Center for Information in Biomedical Sciences (CICBI) from the university itself.

Originality/value

A practical experience is presented, which also offered concrete solutions, based on particular characteristics of the users. There is a low presence of studies of digital libraries’ users that consider aspects related to learning styles, especially applied from the perspective of information sciences and the digital library.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 January 2021

Rita Cid, Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo and Javier Tarango

The purpose of this study was to adapt and implement the Association of College and Research Library’s (ACRL’s) Research Competency Guidelines for Literatures in English for…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to adapt and implement the Association of College and Research Library’s (ACRL’s) Research Competency Guidelines for Literatures in English for designing and employing a diagnostic survey about basic information literacy (IL) skills to study how 42 students were familiar with such skills. This 40-item survey included questions about students’ self-perception of their information skills and a test for evaluating their basic IL skills.

Design/methodology/approach

This research focused on integrating IL into a bachelor program in Spanish literature to identify the IL skills that students were familiar with and then determine if there was a relationship among their IL skills, their academic performance and their favorable conditions as students (have a good number of books at home, a personal computer, internet connection and proficiency in a second language).

Findings

The average number of correct answers ranged from regular to low; moreover, the authors compared self-perception results before and after the IL test, proving that such test negatively affected their self-perception. Students were mostly familiar with the skill of selecting information, and the inferential analysis showed that there were no notable relationships among either the IL test results and students’ academic performance or regarding their favorable conditions as students. This made evident the need of promoting ACRL’s Guidelines, particularly among literature professors, to raise awareness of their existence, as they are a useful starting point for designing contents and activities to develop IL.

Originality/value

Little research has been conducted about implementing IL in bachelor programs on literature to determine their information skills and behaviors in digital environments. Apart from grounding the research in specialized sources about research in such discipline, the authors have adapted ACRL’s Guidelines to develop a diagnostic survey that may be useful for professors in these areas and academic librarians in general. It might be useful for librarians to be familiar with the nuances of the results the authors gathered to provide better support for their users from the discipline of literature.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 37 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2017

Aixchel Cordero-Hidalgo, Javier Tarango, Claudia-Patricia Contreras and José Refugio Romo-González

The purpose of this paper is to determine the challenges of scientific literacy that scientific journalism can promote or suppress as a scientific dissemination activity. To…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the challenges of scientific literacy that scientific journalism can promote or suppress as a scientific dissemination activity. To ensure that universities transfer knowledge to society, this vital activity is studied from the perspectives of their stakeholders: professors, researchers, newspaper directors and heads of research areas of two Mexican universities.

Design/methodology/approach

From a participatory action research perspective that consisted in applying semi-structured interviews, this study was conducted in two public universities in Chihuahua, Mexico. The group of participants constituted of a random sample of 90 Mexican professors, taken from a population of 246 subjects with the status of national researchers (confidence level = 95 per cent; margin of error = 5 per cent; P/Q correlation = 90 / 10 per cent), in addition to six local newspaper executives and eight research managers at participating universities.

Findings

Evidence suggests that scientific dissemination has a low social impact, its recognition by universities and scientific evaluation institutions is limited, and the act of making scientific content accessible to the general public is highly complex, especially when it comes to content related to the exact sciences. These results are predictable under the complex models that evaluate scientific production, because the measurement indicators that define scientific competitiveness levels prioritize specific scientific products other than dissemination products such as newspaper articles.

Research limitations/implications

Data were collected from two Mexican public universities under the implication that the behavior identified through data analysis can occur in other similar environments. Although a participatory action research perspective was assumed, and because this research of a projective nature can be a part of a larger research, no particular actions or interventions were planned or executed, apart from the interviews that aimed to collect data that emerged from participants’ own practice and experiences on the issues studied. Further research can consist of developing forward-looking actions that can contribute to the development of scientific literacy, as well as to the exploration and solution of the issues identified through participants’ own practice.

Originality/value

One of the social roles of universities is to ensure that scientific knowledge reaches all citizens. However, there are not sufficient studies regarding scientific dissemination, especially from the perspective of professors as generators of scientific knowledge, newspaper directors and heads of research areas.

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2010

James P. McCarthy and Javier Tarango Ortiz

This paper attempts to compare two academic libraries in very different parts of the world. It aims to look at the influences which their local origins have had on them as well as…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper attempts to compare two academic libraries in very different parts of the world. It aims to look at the influences which their local origins have had on them as well as the commonality which the internationalisation of the library profession has brought on them.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper seeks inferences about the impact of globalisation on the world of academic librarianship. It looks at commonality of experience past, present and future. The process of investigation was to pose a number of questions regarding what academic libraries are, their role in academic landscapes, the impact of globalising technologies and the future of the book.

Findings

The findings are that there is a commonality of experience and that modern library technologies have changed the nature of professional practice significantly in recent decades; that indigenous traditions of practice at local level are being replaced by an integration of internationally shared experience.

Originality/value

The paper should interest those researching the future of academic libraries, comparative developments in academic libraries worldwide, the future of repository storage in the face of digitisation and the future of academic landscapes.

Details

Library Management, vol. 31 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2017

Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo

Abstract

Details

Information and Learning Science, vol. 118 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 August 2022

Marina Salse, Javier Guallar-Delgado, Núria Jornet-Benito, Maria Pilar Mateo Bretos and Josep Oriol Silvestre-Canut

The purpose of this study is to determine which metadata schemas are used in the museums and university collections of the main universities in Spain and other European countries…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine which metadata schemas are used in the museums and university collections of the main universities in Spain and other European countries. Although libraries and archives are also university memory institutions (according to a Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums perspective), their collections are not included in this study because their metadata systems are highly standardized and their inclusion would, therefore, skew our understanding of the diverse realities that the study aims to capture.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis has three components. The first is a bibliographic review based on Web of Science. The second is a direct survey of the individuals responsible for university collections to understand their internal work and documentation systems. Finally, the results obtained are complemented by an analysis of collective university heritage portals in Europe.

Findings

The results of this study confirmed the hypothesis that isolation and a lack of resources are still major issues in many cases. Increasing digitalization and the desire to participate in content aggregation systems are forcing change, although the responsibility for that change at universities is still vague.

Originality/value

Universities, particularly those with a long history, have an important heritage whose parts are often scattered or hidden. Although many contemporary academic publications have focused on the dissemination of university collections, this study focuses on the representation of information based on the conviction that good metadata are essential for dissemination.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. 73 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

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