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This study is based on research on secondary textbook and school library provision in Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Togo, as well as existing recent country reports on textbook provision and an extensive desk research. Considerable variations exist in Sub-Saharan African textbook requirements needed to meet secondary curriculum specifications just as significant differences exist between and within countries in regard to the average price of recommended textbooks. Some countries have no approved textbooks list. This World Bank Working Paper aims to discuss the textbook situation in Sub-Saharan Africa with a special focus on secondary textbook availability, cost and financing, distribution and publishing, and the status of school libraries. Its objective is to analyze the issues in secondary textbook and school library provision and to provide some options and strategies for improvement.

Employment system is the core problem of library human resource managing system and also the foundation stone of library administration. Unless there is a whole hearted employment structural system, otherwise libraries cannot employ the best qualified personnel. The author of the article uses the late revised and passed National Library Organizational Stipulation to discuss the problems of employment. Besides, he also provides some improving suggestions.

Natural disasters can strike without warning anytime anywhere anyone. There are different types of disasters. The economic losses caused by these disasters are mainly more expensive for developing countries that are vulnerable to the disasters like India and Pakistan in this case. Different types of libraries including university libraries and museums are priceless storehouses of knowledge, which once lost could be lost forever. Disaster planning needs to be done in university libraries to save the knowledge for future generations. This is true for all types of libraries everywhere. To study the situation of disaster management in university libraries of India and Pakistan literature review will be done. Information from various websites of both the countries will be collected. Regarding information on university libraries in Pakistan emails will be sent to select university librarians to find out whether they have any disaster management plans and similar studies be searched in professional literature. Initial review of literature shows a nearly similar infrastructural planning in both the countries at central and state government level. Disaster management is an ignored subject in Pakistan as stated by leading newspaper Dawn. Very few papers on this subject are available from Pakistan and intensive and exhaustive review of literature can lead to valid conclusion. In India this was an ignored area but after tsunami there has been awareness at all levels. Majority of the university libraries are ignorant about this important aspect of library planning but there are a few where this is being practiced. This study will highlight similarities and gaps between the approaches to disaster management in university libraries of these two neighbouring countries with nearly similar disaster conditions.

PurposeThis paper presents research that sought to understand how the National Library of Australia engages with soft power in its Annual Report 2019–20. Driving the analysis was the research question: How is soft power discourse reproduced and enacted in the National Library of Australia's Annual Report 2019–20? The research recognises the significance of Australia's soft power, cultural diplomacy, and regional relationships to national interest in the context of a library's contributions to these areas.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a qualitative discourse analysis, with constructivist and interpretivist perspectives. A critical discourse analysis was undertaken that applied a discourse-historical approach.FindingsThe findings suggest that the National Library of Australia primarily engages with soft power discourse through the construction and preservation of an Australian national identity. National identity is framed as key to the Library's collection development, with Australian knowledge prioritised.Originality/valueThis study extends on research addressing the roles of galleries, archives, and museums in cultural diplomacy, but rarely examines soft power and libraries explicitly or in a contemporary context. It contributes to broader understandings of libraries in international relations and the role they can play in soft power attraction and cultural diplomacy.

This book introduces readers to the principles underlying digital libraries, illustrating these principles by reference to a wide range of digital library practices throughout the world. Individual chapters deal with issues such as: digital library users and the services that are offered to them, the standards and protocols with which digital libraries must operate in order to cooperate with other institutions, and issues such as the administration of digital libraries, including discussion of intellectual property rights and preservation issues. A final chapter comprises eight case studies drawn from all over the world, used to illustrate points made in earlier chapters. Throughout the book, the challenges of developing and implementing digital library systems in multilingual and multicultural environments are explored.

PurposeTo date, there has been little research into users of the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013. This paper addresses that gap by presenting key findings from the AHRC-funded Digital Library Futures project. Its purpose is to present a “user-centric” perspective on the potential future impact of the digital collections that are being created under electronic legal deposit regulations.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilises a mixed methods case study of two academic legal deposit libraries in the United Kingdom: The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford; and Cambridge University Library. It combines surveys of users, web log analysis and expert interviews with librarians and cognate professionals.FindingsUser perspectives on NPLD were not fully considered in the planning and implementation of the 2013 regulations. The authors present findings from their user survey to show how contemporary tensions between user behaviour and access protocols risk limiting the instrumental value of NPLD collections, which have high perceived legacy value.Originality/valueThis is the first study to address the user context for UK Non-Print Legal Deposit. Its value lies in presenting a research-led user assessment of NPLD and in proposing “user-centric” analysis as an addition to the existing “four pillars” of legal deposit research.

PurposeIn order to estimate the value of semi-automated subject indexing in operative library catalogues, the study aimed to investigate five different automated implementations of an open source software package on a large set of Swedish union catalogue metadata records, with Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) as the target classification system. It also aimed to contribute to the body of research on aboutness and related challenges in automated subject indexing and evaluation.Design/methodology/approachOn a sample of over 230,000 records with close to 12,000 distinct DDC classes, an open source tool Annif, developed by the National Library of Finland, was applied in the following implementations: lexical algorithm, support vector classifier, fastText, Omikuji Bonsai and an ensemble approach combing the former four. A qualitative study involving two senior catalogue librarians and three students of library and information studies was also conducted to investigate the value and inter-rater agreement of automatically assigned classes, on a sample of 60 records.FindingsThe best results were achieved using the ensemble approach that achieved 66.82% accuracy on the three-digit DDC classification task. The qualitative study confirmed earlier studies reporting low inter-rater agreement but also pointed to the potential value of automatically assigned classes as additional access points in information retrieval.Originality/valueThe paper presents an extensive study of automated classification in an operative library catalogue, accompanied by a qualitative study of automated classes. It demonstrates the value of applying semi-automated indexing in operative information retrieval systems.

Purpose This study aims to explore the transformation of the roles of libraries, application trends and potential research issues of library-supported mobile learning. Design/methodology/approach The publications in the Scopus database from 2009 to 2018 are reviewed and analyzed from various aspects, such as the roles of libraries in mobile learning, types of libraries, research foci and sensing or location-based technologies. Findings The role of libraries as learning material providers is examined the most in library-supported mobile learning studies, followed by the role as inquiry context providers and as knowledge-sharing platforms. In terms of the role as learning material providers, academic libraries were investigated the most and radio frequency identification (RFID) was mainly adopted. In terms of the role as inquiry context providers, special libraries were explored the most; adopted sensing technologies were more diverse (e.g. QR code, augmented reality, RFID and Global Positioning System). Only special libraries played a role as knowledge-sharing platforms, adopting augmented reality. Most research on library-supported mobile learning mainly focused on investigating the affective domain during mobile learning. Practical implications Five potential applications of educational roles in library-supported mobile learning are suggested based on the findings of the present study. Originality/value The current study provides insights relevant to the educational roles of library-supported mobile learning. The findings and suggestions can serve as references for researchers and school teachers conducting library-supported mobile learning.

PurposeThe article investigates the institutional setup of e-lending in public libraries in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Our point of departure is that e-lending has necessitated new library collaborations between local, regional and national levels, and therefore, institutional e-lending setups have emerged. The study seeks to provide better understanding of how the institutional setups are structured, how governance logics have shaped them and what tensions and dynamics become visible in the key actors’ problematisations of these setups.Design/methodology/approachThe study is situated in the neo-institutional tradition and applies the institutional logics perspective. The research questions are answered by taking a qualitative approach, grounded in an extensive interview study with representatives of libraries, publishers and policy actors in three Scandinavian countries. To provide in-depth insight into e-lending setups, the scope of empirical material is then limited to accounts the central library and policy actors involved in establishing e-lending.FindingsThe analysis shows that the e-lending setups are both similar (especially when it comes to financing), and different across Scandinavia, especially when it comes to centralisation and involvement of librarians in this task. The differences are attributed to the influence of different governance logics (question of administrative autonomy, collaboration in the field and existing legal and political frames), and to what extent the digital and market logics are incorporated or rejected in the field.Originality/valueThe study provides new insights into the question of how Scandinavian public libraries face the consequences of the digitalisation of book distribution and consumption by investigating how they organise their e-lending services. This has not been explored before, notably in a comparative perspective.

Purpose For digital libraries, it is useful to understand how users search in a collection. Investigating search patterns can help them to improve the user interface, collection management and search algorithms. However, search patterns may vary widely in different parts of a collection. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to identify these search patterns within a well-curated historical newspaper collection using the existing metadata. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyzed search logs combined with metadata records describing the content of the collection, using this metadata to create subsets in the logs corresponding to different parts of the collection. Findings The study shows that faceted search is more prevalent than non-faceted search in terms of number of unique queries, time spent, clicks and downloads. Distinct search patterns are observed in different parts of the collection, corresponding to historical periods, geographical regions or subject matter. Originality/value First, this study provides deeper insights into search behavior at a fine granularity in a historical newspaper collection, by the inclusion of the metadata in the analysis. Second, it demonstrates how to use metadata categorization as a way to analyze distinct search patterns in a collection.