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Purpose - Librarians and the library profession keep repeating that libraries contribute greatly to generating social capital by \"building community\". However, little evidence of this has been presented. This paper aims to be a first step towards correcting this situation by asking whether public libraries matter in the creation of generalized trust.Design methodology approach - This study used quantitative data in analyzing macro-level data on whether public library expenditure could explain social trust patterns in the OECD countries. Additionally, a few qualitative interviews with public library leaders in the USA and Norway were used to indicate by what mechanisms, or by which processes, libraries generate generalized trust.Findings - The main finding is that public libraries seem the most important factor in creating generalized trust in the OECD area, even more so than efficient impartial public institutions. However, there is the problem of causal direction. It might be the case that it is high trusting countries that prioritize public libraries. Therefore, times series data are needed as well as qualitative data on the process of trust creation in the library. Interviews with library leaders point towards the fact that they see outreach activities as creating trust and that people trust the library. Replication of these results, however, is crucial. Moreover, the findings appear to indicate that when the library's attention is directed at disadvantaged groups of non-users it is the widespread trust in the public library institution that breeds trust among these groups too.Originality value - The paper contributes to the understanding theory of the creation of generalized trust in general and to the role of the public library in this process.

Patron-driven acquisition (PDA), also known as demand-driven acquisition, patron-initiated purchasing, or books on demand, allows patrons to select and purchase hooks for the library collection without staff mediation or oversight. This essay presents the argument that PDA programs are unlikely to improve the quality of academic library collections. In particular, they risk failing to distinguish between students' immediate desires and their long-term educational needs, making poor use of librarians' knowledge and expertise, failing to represent the full range of library stakeholders, and producing collections that are biased or poorly balanced. Although PDA can lead to efficiencies in information delivery, those efficiencies do not necessarily support the broader educational goals of the academic library. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

According to a recent review article by Rankin et al., the rationale for implementing the \"traditional\" informationist program \"is the growing amount of biomedical information that challenges health care practitioners to stay current\" [5]. [...] keeping the librarians on the library payroll serves to reinforce the fact that the liaison service is a library activity and serves a common good.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to argue the case for libraries to develop a more holistic and strategic approach to their innovation activities, with a view to enhancing their innovation performance, and innovation capabilities.Design methodology approach - Whilst libraries need to and do innovate, there is little evidence of discussion of innovation and its processes in the library and information management literature. This paper commences with a review of the nature of innovation, and then proceeds to briefly discuss seven aspects of innovation that could usefully be facets of an innovation strategy. These include: innovation capabilities and culture; the innovation portfolio; innovation processes; innovation leadership; innovative and creative teams; open innovation and collaboration; and, user engagement in innovation.Findings - A model showing the seven facets of an innovation strategy is proposed. Planning and ongoing reflection on all of these would be a sound basis for a more holistic, and dynamic approach to innovation activities within libraries.Originality value - The paper is one of very few to mention innovation processes and management (as opposed to specific innovations) in the library and information management field, and the first to propose the facets of an holistic and strategic approach.

As public libraries are becoming e-government access points relied on by both patrons and government agencies, it is important for libraries to consider the implications of these roles. While providing e-government access serves to reinforce the tremendously important role of public libraries in the United States social infrastructure, it also creates new demands on libraries and opens up significant new opportunities. Drawing upon several different strands of research, this paper examines the nexus of public libraries, values, trust, and e-government, focusing on the ways in which the values of librarianship and the trust that communities place in their public libraries reinforce the role of public libraries in the provision of e-government. The unique values embraced by public libraries have not only shaped the missions of libraries, they have influenced popular opinion surrounding public libraries and fostered the confidence that communities place in them as a source of trusted information and assistance in finding information. As public libraries have embraced the provision of Internet access, these values and trust have become intertwined with their new social role as a public access point for e-government both in normal information activities and in the most extreme circumstances. This paper explores the intersections of these issues and the relation of the vital e-government role of public libraries to library funding, public policy, library and information science education, and research initiatives.

Research libraries have a mission to build collections that will meet the research needs of their user communities over time, to curate these collections to ensure perpetual access, and to facilitate intellectual and physical access to these collections as effectively as possible. Recent mass digitization projects as well as financial pressures and limited space to store print collections have created a new environment and new challenges for large research libraries. This paper will describe one approach to these challenges: HathiTrust, a shared digital repository owned and operated by a partnership of more than forty major libraries. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Purpose - The main objective of this paper is to review work on the usability and impact of digital libraries.Design methodology approach - Work on the usability and impact of digital libraries is reviewed. Specific studies on the usability and impact of digital libraries in specific domains are also discussed in order to identify general and specific usability and impact measures.Findings - The usability studies reviewed in this paper show that a number of approaches have been used to assess usability. In addition to the technical aspects of digital library design (e.g. architecture, interfaces and search tools), there are a number of usability issues such as globalisation, localisation, language, culture issues, content and human information behaviour. Digital libraries should, however, be evaluated primarily with respect to their target users, applications and contexts.Research limitations implications - Although a digital library evaluation study may have several objectives, ranging from the evaluation of its design and architecture to the evaluation of its usability and its impact on the target users, this paper focuses on usability and impact.Originality value - This paper provides insights into the state-of-the art in relation to the usability and impact of digital libraries.