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Librarians have been involved in collecting and disseminating statistics for many years. Utilizing statistics to describe and assess the operation of library activities as a part of library tradition has received growing attention from researchers, policymakers, library managers, and professionals. However, few studies have investigated how statistics are used in libraries. This report compares directors’ uses of statistics provided by national agencies in the USA and China to highlight differences and similarities of the uses the two countries’ directors make of statistics and the statistical information that directors find particular useful. The results are intended to provide library administrators with an insight of how library statistics are used in the managerial process and may also help the national statistical providers to obtain an understanding of the characteristics and pattern of use of their products. © 2001, MCB UP Limited

This study investigates the state of school education for digital libraries. For this study, a web survey was conducted of syllabi of courses on the subject of digital libraries. Similarities and differences on such subjects as teaching emphases, course outlines, textbooks and assignments were compared. The majority of classes now contain a "hands-on" element, a practical component of the course that requires that the students interact with digital libraries. Those students who have received practical experience with digital libraries, like those provided in the "hands-on" courses, are best served for future practice in the field of librarianship. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.

This study investigates the state of education for digital libraries. For this study, a Web survey was conducted of syllabi of courses on the subject of digital libraries (DL). Similarities and differences on such subjects as teaching emphases, course outlines, textbooks and assignments were compared. The majority of classes now contain a “hands-on” element, a practical component of the course that requires that the students interact with digital libraries. Not all of the course contents are up-to-date in the field of library and information technology. While the quality of DL education seems to have advanced at those schools and institutions that offer classes with “hands-on” requirements, the educational approach at many of the “hands-off” universities seems somewhat technophobic and overly dependent on outdated pedagogical methods. Those students who have received practical experience with digital libraries, like those provided in the “hands-on” courses, appear to be best served for future practice in the field of librarianship. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

This study investigates current practice in digitizing library materials in the USA. Building a good digital collection has been a common task, pervasive in all types of libraries. Digitization becomes more and more crucial, affecting libraries while they work towards becoming digital. Researchers and practitioners would like to know what practices have been developed to deal with the challenges that pose the most significant problems or concerns for libraries in digitization. Through probing some widespread issues on what materials to digitize, and the associated standards and technologies in digitization in US libraries, this survey of current literature reveals a number of prominent library digitization practices, methods and challenges, and highlights the best practices, trends and interests in library digitization pertaining to both policy and technology marketplace issues.

Librarians have been involved in collecting and disseminating statistics for many years. Utilising statistics to describe and assess the operation of library activities as a part of library tradition has received growing attention from researchers, policymakers, library managers, and professionals. However, few studies have investigated how statistics are used in libraries. This report compares directors’ uses of statistics provided by national agencies in the USA and China to highlight the differences and similarities between the ways in which the two groups of directors make use of statistics, and the statistical information that directors find particularly useful. The results are intended to provide library administrators with an insight of how library statistics are used in the managerial process, and may also help the national statistical providers to obtain an understanding of the characteristics and pattern of use of their products. © 2001, MCB UP Limited

A collection of empirical research published by Dr. yan Quan Liu and his reasearch teams in the field of information and library science for the 21st-century readers. - Back cover.

This book is a print version of the online course ILS508 User Services. The course content includes the instructor's lecture notes, assignment instructions, assigned readings, discussions an coursework from the students in the classes.

This books is a print version of the online course ILS 440 Information Service Technology offered at Southern Connecticut State University. The course content includes the instructor's lecture notes, assignment instructions, assigned readings, discussions and coursework from students in the classes.

Thirteen chapters and 47 sections of the book"Digital libraries, its theory and practices" were worked on and the book is ready to send to the publisher. Did a paper that was accepted by the journal Library Hi Tech. Visited China and gave 2 seminars in 2 universities in China.

As mobile technology becomes integral to everyday life, libraries rework their services to meet the needs of their users. Advancing library services for mobile users requires seamless, intuitive experiences that support research, learning, and engagement. From mobile-friendly catalogs and e-book pla...

This work compiles a database that provides analytical case studies of typical digital libraries as an enhancement for educating and learning to meet the needs of students, librarians, scholars, and those who are interested in this resource.

The primary purpose of this book is to help students understand the principles of multimedia interface design to develop essential skills. The underlying philosophy of the approach of this text is that concepts are learned and remembered better when learned in a real work environment.

The forecasting of energy consumption in China is a key requirement for achieving national energy security and energy planning. In this study, multi-variable linear regression (MLR) and support vector regression (SVR) were utilized with a gated recurrent unit (GRU) artificial neural network of Chinese energy to establish a forecasting model. The derived model was validated through four economic variables; the gross domestic product (GDP), population, imports, and exports. The performance of various forecasting models was assessed via MAPE and RMSE, and three scenarios were configured based on different sources of variable data. In predicting Chinese energy consumption from 2015 to 2021, results from the established GRU model of the highest predictive accuracy showed that Chinese energy consumption would be likely to fluctuate from 2954.04 Mtoe to 5618.67 Mtoe in 2021.

We report findings that help us better understand the difficulty of tasks which involve information seeking, retrieving, gathering, and use. We examined the data gathered from two interactive information retrieval user studies on how users' perception of task difficulty changes before and after searching for information to solve tasks, and how the difficulty of tasks relates with users' background, previous experience with the tasks, and knowledge of the task topics, etc. The two studies employed carefully designed tasks with different types along several dimensions: task structure (subtasks being dependent upon or parallel with each other), task goal in quality (being specific or amorphous), and naming (being named or unnamed). It was found that while in some types of tasks, users' perceptions of task difficulty did not change before and after working on the tasks, in others, this did, either increasing or decreasing. Specifically, in the dependent-structured task, this did not change. In the parallel-structured or specific/named task, it decreased. In the amorphous/unnamed task, it increased. We also found that users' background factors do not normally correlate with their perceived task difficulty, or perceived difficulty change. In addition to helping understand the dynamic and complex nature of task difficulty, our findings have implications for system design that can provide assistance to users with their search and task solving strategies.

In this paper, we examined why information searchers perceive search tasks as difficult, and what factors/reasons make them perceive tasks as difficult. We also examined if task difficulty reasons vary across different tasks (task types). Data was collected through a controlled laboratory experiment in which tasks were designed following a classification scheme. A total of 32 undergraduate students participated, each was given 4 search tasks, and they were asked in questionnaires both before and after the tasks for task difficulty ratings and why they gave those ratings. We developed a coding scheme based on the difficulty reasons users gave, which covered various aspects of task, user, and user-task interaction. Difficulty reasons were categorized following this scheme. Results showed that searchers had some common reasons for task difficulty in different tasks, but most of the difficulty reasons varied across tasks. For each task, there were also common reasons for task difficulty, although there was some variation here as well. Task difficulty was also found to be negatively correlated with users topic knowledge, previous experience, and topic interest. Our findings help understand search task difficulty, as well as the relationships between task difficulty and task type, knowledge background, etc. These can also be helpful with experiment task design. © 2013 ACM.

We report findings on how the user's perception of task difficulty changes before and after searching for information to solve tasks. We found that while in one type of task, the dependent task, this did not change, in another, the parallel task, it did. The findings have implications on designing systems that can provide assistance to users with their search and task solving strategies.

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the status and construction pattern of Web 2.0 technologies employed in top Chinese university libraries, their functionalities and features. Design/methodology/approach - A combination of online survey and content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of 38 top Chinese university libraries' web sites. The Web 2.0 tools are categorized by generally accepted standards with some adjustment for library practices. Data were collected by accessing these university library web sites on two separate occasions during the period of February 10-20, 2009 by utilizing a checklist of 52 questions. Findings - More than two-thirds of the 38 top Chinese university libraries apply one or more kinds of Web 2.0 tools through the basic functions of their web sites. Among six types of tools, Catalog 2.0 and RSS are the most common, while IM, Blog, SNS and Wiki are less frequent. Research limitations/implications - Internal applications that are not publicly accessible contain hidden information that may not be gathered through content analysis since these links usually cannot be found on library web sites. It is difficult to get exact information as to the applications of Web 2.0 in these libraries without an interview method in combination to observation. Originality/value - This study provides an overall picture of Web 2.0 tools developed in top Chinese university libraries, allowing for future evaluation and planning. The implementation of Web 2.0 applications and their constructing pattern is not only indicative of the development of the Chinese digital libraries, but also to their development of digital libraries in the world at large.

Purpose - This paper aims to explore Web 2.0 technologies usage and trends in the top 100 US academic libraries as exemplified through the academic library websites. Design/methodology/approach - The top 100 universities were selected from the US News & World Report's (USNWR) 2013 ranked list's top 100 of the best colleges in the USA. Content analysis was used in terms of quantitative approach. A checklist was developed as the main research instrument based on other checklists and questionnaires. Each of the selected university library websites was visited within a period of two weeks to explore implementation and usage of web tools, including SNS, blog, RSS, wikis, podcast/vodcast, and social bookmarking/tagging. Findings - All 100 academic libraries had a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, making SNS the most widely applied Web 2.0 tool. The wild was the least applied Web 2.0 technology, with a 34 percent participation rate. Blog was the second most popular tool with a 99 percent participation rate, followed by RSS and IM/Chat with 97 percent and 91 percent respectively. The vodcast and podcast had 47 percent and 46 percent participation rates respectively, while social bookmarking/tagging were also used by 39 percent of the academic libraries. Research limitations/implications - This study is completely based on publicly available data regarding usage of Web 2.0 applications. Web 2.0 tools used on library intranets were not analyzed for this study. Outcomes suggest that academic libraries are increasingly using Web 2.0 applications to promote themselves, enhance library services, and highlight resources to patrons. Originality/value - This is the first research that draws an overall picture of the usage and trends of Web 2.0 applications in the top 100 US academic libraries. This study demonstrates some noticeable patterns regarding usage, trends, and adoption which are relevant to how Web 2.0 applications are perceived and used within academic libraries. The study provides academic libraries with helpful information to better meet their user needs by effectively applying Web 2.0. Additionally, library managers, librarians and other libraries may also find this research beneficial as they plan to deploy Web 2.0.