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Purpose - This paper aims to report on the findings of the second phase of the Behavioural strand of the EC-funded PEER project (http: www.peerproject.eu ). The paper seeks to explore authors' and readers' behaviours in relation to authors' peer-reviewed accepted manuscripts in open access repositories.Design methodology approach - The research was undertaken using a mixed-method approach, involving the distribution of a survey by the 12 participating publishers to their authors in selected journal titles and a participatory workshop with European researchers from selected disciplinary areas.Findings - Researchers' attitudes towards versions of published journal articles made open access via open access repositories may vary depending on whether researchers report behaviours from the perspective of an author or a reader. The research found that disciplinary cultures, norms and traditions shape authors' self-archiving behaviour and readers' use of those versions of journal articles held in repositories.Research limitations implications - One of the limitations of the research is that it was impossible for the research team to gauge the representativeness of the survey compared to the actual disciplinary distribution of the population of EU researchers, as such population information is not available in an aggregated and consistent format.Originality value - The PEER Observatory is an unprecedented large-scale collaboration between publishers, researchers and repositories to investigate the effects of self-archiving at European level. The paper provides a disciplinary reading of the findings and augments the understanding of how disciplinary culture and norms shape authors' and readers' behaviours in relation to self-archiving.

This is the first of a series of studies emanating from the UK JISC-funded RoMEO Project (Rights Metadata for Open-archiving) which investigated the IPR issues relating to academic author self-archiving of research papers. It considers the claims for copyright ownership in research papers by universities, academics, and publishers by drawing on the literature, a survey of 542 academic authors and an analysis of 80 journal publisher copyright transfer agreements. The paper concludes that self-archiving is not best supported by copyright transfer to publishers. It recommends that universities assert their interest in copyright ownership in the long term, that academics retain rights in the short term, and that publishers consider new ways of protecting the value they add through journal publishing.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodological usability evaluation approach for e-commerce websites in developing countries.Design methodology approach - A multi-faceted usability evaluation of three Jordanian e-commerce websites was used, where three usability methods (user testing, heuristic evaluation and web analytics) were applied to the sites.Findings - A four-step approach was developed to facilitate the evaluation of e-commerce sites, mindful of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used in identifying specific usability problems.Research limitations implications - The approach was developed and tested using Jordanian users, experts and e-commerce sites. The study compared the ability of the methods to detect problems that were present, however, usability issues not present on any of the sites could not be considered when creating the approach.Practical implications - The approach helps e-commerce retailers evaluate the usability of their websites and understand which usability method(s) best matches their need.Originality value - This research proposes a new approach for evaluating the usability of e-commerce sites. A novel aspect is the use of web analytics (Google Analytics software) as a component in the usability evaluation in conjunction with heuristics and user testing.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of libraries within Second Life from the viewpoint of the librarians experienced in experimenting within virtual worlds.Design methodology approach - Exploration of currently available literature was undertaken to determine the important issues affecting libraries and librarians within virtual worlds. To explore these issues further, ten Second Life librarians were interviewed in order to distinguish which were most important and why.Findings - There is considerable diversity in the opinions of Second Life librarians, but all interviewees shared the belief that their efforts within Second Life had helped others and improved their own professional development. There was a strong consensus that it was important for librarians to embrace Second Life now, in order to be prepared for a future when virtual worlds, although perhaps not Second Life itself, were commonplace.Practical implications - Virtual worlds are growing in popularity, particularly with younger generations. If they are to be accepted as part of a multidimensional information space, the possibilities available within the virtual space need to be appreciated and understood by the information community. Librarians have a responsibility to aid their users in understanding the complexity and possibilities of information provision and delivery offered by virtual worlds. This can only occur by accepting and supporting experiments in environments like Second Life.Originality value - This paper illustrates to the library community how Second Life is currently being used to provide information services, and to further an understanding of how the entire information community can benefit from embracing the possibility of exploring virtual worlds.

Purpose - This paper sets out to present a brief history of electronic licensing initiatives before considering current practices for managing licences to electronic resources. The intention is to obtain a detailed understanding of the requirements needed for a registry of electronic licences that will enable usage terms and conditions to be presented to end-users at point of use.Design methodology approach - Two extensive focus groups were held, each comprising representatives from the main stakeholder groups. These structured events considered existing and ongoing issues and approaches towards licence management and investigated a range of \"use-cases\" where potential usages for a licence registry were outlined and discussed.Findings - The results form part of a requirements gathering and analysis process which will inform the development of a registry of electronic licences. The work forms part of the JISC-funded Registry of Electronic Licences (RELI) project.. The paper finds that there are many complexities when dealing with electronic licences such as licence specificity, licence interpretation, definitions of authorised users and dissemination of usage terms and conditions.Practical implications - These issues and others are considered and the impact on a subsequent registry of electronic licences is discussed. It is clear from the findings that there is a real and immediate need for a licence registry.Originality value - The paper provides a rich picture of the concerns and practices adopted both when managing licences and when ensuring conformance with licences to electronic resources. The findings have enabled the scope of a licence registry to be determined. The registry is currently under development.

This is the first of a series of studies emanating from the UK JISCfunded RoMEO Project Rights Metadata for Openarchiving which investigated the IPR issues relating to academic author selfarchiving of research papers. It considers the claims for copyright ownership in research papers by universities, academics, and publishers by drawing on the literature, a survey of 542 academic authors and an analysis of 80 journal publisher copyright transfer agreements. The paper concludes that selfarchiving is not best supported by copyright transfer to publishers. It recommends that universities assert their interest in copyright ownership in the long term, that academics retain rights in the short term, and that publishers consider new ways of protecting the value they add through journal publishing.

This paper is the fifth in a series of studies emanating from the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded RoMEO Project (rights metadata for open-archiving). The paper reports the results of two surveys of OAI data providers (DPs) and service providers (SPs) with regards to the rights issues they face. It finds that very few DPs have rights agreements with depositing authors and that there is no standard approach to the creation of rights metadata. The paper considers the rights protection afforded individual and collections of metadata records under UK law and contrasts this with DPs' and SPs' views on the rights status of metadata and how they wish to protect it. The majority of DPs and SPs believe that a standard way of describing both the rights status of documents and of metadata would be useful.

Knowledge audits are important processes through which organisations can understand what knowledge is needed, available and used for their current activities. They can also identify what knowledge is missing and how this omission restricts the organisation's activities. Hence, knowledge audits can surface initiatives to improve the knowledge management (KM) processes of an organisation and, in turn, improve efficiency and effectiveness. An iterative cycle of knowledge audits allows for the organisation's changing environment to be taken account of and for appropriate modifications to be made to the knowledge base. Despite the importance of knowledge audits, literature relating to their undertaking is sparse. This paper addresses the scarcity of such literature and reports the findings of a knowledge audit commissioned by an organisation that brings together public bodies and private organisations with the aim of maximising the collective knowledge, expertise and experience of its diverse members to address a nationally recognised research agenda. The audit included collecting qualitative data from a series of in-depth interviews with a representative sample of employees from the four main departments within the organisation. Interviewees were asked about their own roles, procedures and knowledge needs; they were also asked about their department's knowledge requirements and about knowledge interfaces with external partners. Views about the culture and structure of the organisation were also sought. Results were analysed at a departmental level to form two knowledge maps per department - one illustrating the knowledge required by the department, the knowledge shared with other departments and the mechanisms for sharing this knowledge; the other illustrated knowledge flows with external partners. The maps were then used in conjunction with the interview transcripts to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each department's knowledge activities. This process focussed on the impact of organisational culture and structure as well as the effectiveness of technological and 'soft' solutions for knowledge sharing. Following from the departmental analysis, a cross department comparison enabled best practices and company-wide weaknesses to be identified. Seven resulting recommendations were made that would support the sharing of departmental best practices and address organisational weaknesses: Developing a holistic approach to knowledge sharing Nurturing the organisational culture Clarifying the strategic message Improving the organisation of information Improving the availability of staffDeveloping inter-departmental communication Commissioning future knowledge audits In addition to reporting the outcomes and outputs of the process, the paper also highlights challenges of the process and includes reflections on the suitability of the selected data collection and analysis methods for a knowledge audit.

Purpose - The paper aims to develop a prototype middleware framework between different terminology resources in order to provide a subject cross-browsing service for library portal systems.Design methodology approach - Nine terminology experts were interviewed to collect appropriate knowledge to support the development of a theoretical framework for the research. Based on this, a simplified software-based prototype system was constructed incorporating the knowledge acquired. The prototype involved mappings between the computer science schedule of the Dewey Decimal Classification (which acted as a spine) and two controlled vocabularies, UKAT and ACM Computing Classification. Subsequently, six further experts in the field were invited to evaluate the prototype system and provide feedback to improve the framework.Findings - The major findings showed that, given the large variety of terminology resources distributed throughout the web, the proposed middleware service is essential to integrate technically and semantically the different terminology resources in order to facilitate subject cross-browsing. A set of recommendations are also made, outlining the important approaches and features that support such a cross-browsing middleware service.Originality value - Cross-browsing features are lacking in current library portal meta-search systems. Users are therefore deprived of this valuable retrieval provision. This research investigated the case for such a system and developed a prototype to fill this gap.

Purpose The paper aims to develop a prototype middleware framework between different terminology resources in order to provide a subject crossbrowsing service for library portal systems. Designmethodologyapproach Nine terminology experts were interviewed to collect appropriate knowledge to support the development of a theoretical framework for the research. Based on this, a simplified softwarebased prototype system was constructed incorporating the knowledge acquired. The prototype involved mappings between the computer science schedule of the Dewey Decimal Classification which acted as a spine and two controlled vocabularies, UKAT and ACM Computing Classification. Subsequently, six further experts in the field were invited to evaluate the prototype system and provide feedback to improve the framework. Findings The major findings showed that, given the large variety of terminology resources distributed throughout the web, the proposed middleware service is essential to integrate technically and semantically the different terminology resources in order to facilitate subject crossbrowsing. A set of recommendations are also made, outlining the important approaches and features that support such a crossbrowsing middleware service. Originalityvalue Crossbrowsing features are lacking in current library portal metasearch systems. Users are therefore deprived of this valuable retrieval provision. This research investigated the case for such a system and developed a prototype to fill this gap.