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LIMERICK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (IRELAND)
PROCEEDINGS
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE “WESTERN
BALKAN INFORMATION AND MEDIA LITERACY”
Freedom, Accuracy and Truth
20-21 June 2019
Bihac 2019
Published by:
Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland
For Publisher:
Ratko Knežević Ph.D., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Editors:
Asma’a S. Assim, M.A. Librarian KU, Abu Dhabi, UAE, editor
Findrik, Nikola Ph.D., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, editor
Ratko Knežević, Ph.D. English Lit., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Editor-
in-Chief
Jerald Cavanagh, M.A Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Padraig Kirby, M.A Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Reviewers Committee:
Jerald Cavanagh, M.A Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Ratko Knežević, Ph.D. English Lit., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Organisation Committee:
Ratko Knežević, Ph.D. President, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jerald Cavanagh, M.A. Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Padraig Kirby, M.A Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Asma’a S. Assim, M.A. Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates
Scientific Committee:
Assim, Asma’a M.A., Librarian, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Biscan, Frida M.A. National and University Library, Zagreb, Croatia
Cavanagh, Jerald M.A. Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Cevher, Nilay M.A. (Ph.D. Candidate), Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
Erdelez, Sanda Ph.D., Professor and Director, School of Library and Information Studies,
Simmons College, USA
Findrik, Nikola Ph.D., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Halilagic, Dzenita B.A. Librarian, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kazachenkova, Lyubov General Director of the Publishing & Consulting Center 'The Modern
Library', Editor-in-Chief of The Modern Library Magazine, the member of Russian Union of
Journalists and Russian Library Association, Moscow, Russia
Kirby, Padraig M.A. Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
Knezevic, Ratko Ph.D., University of Bihac, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Koukourakis, Manolis Ph.D., University of Rethymnon – Crete, Greece
Landøy, Ane Cand. Philol, Academic librarian at University of Bergen Library, Norway
Latinovic-Rauski, Gordana, MLIS, Manager, collections & Information services, KAUST – Saudi
Arabia
Lau, Jesús Ph.D., Mexico
Lukic, Dragana Ph.D., Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Meiramova, Saltanat Associate Professor, Candidate of pedagogical sciences, Saken Seifullin
Agrotechnical University, Nur-Sultan City, Kazakhstan
Milakovic, Natalja M.A. Head of Russian Corner at the National and University Library of the
Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ostojic, Jovana MSc in English Language and Literature, Zagreb, Croatia
Penda, Petar Ph.D., University of Banjaluka, Dean of Faculty of Philology, Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Pilipovic, Radovan Ph.D., Director of Serb Orthodox Patriarchy Archive, Belgrade, Serbia
Popa, Daniela Ph.D., University of Transylvania, Brasov, Romania
Rai, Alka M.A. MLIS, Deputy Librarian, Ambedkar University, Delhi, India
Repanovici, Angela Ph.D., University of Transylvania, Brasov, Romania
Sagatbek Daukenkyzy, Sumbile M.A. Saken Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Nur-
Sultan City, Kazakhstan
Sapro-Ficovic, Marica Ph.D., Dubrovnik Public Library, Croatia
Saracevic, Tefko Ph.D., Keynote speaker, USA
Secker, Jane, Ph.D., Keynote speaker, City University of London, UK
Serageldin, Ismail Ph.D., Keynote speaker, Egypt
Singh, Jagtar, Ph.D., Keynote speaker, Punjabi University, Patiala, India
Sobot, Pero M.A. IZUM, Institute of Information Sciences in Maribor, Slovenia
Soylu, Demet Ph.D., Research Assistant Department of Information Management YıldırımBeyazıt
University, Ankara, Turkey
Stankovic, Beba Senior Librarian, National Library of Serbia, Vice President of Serbian Library
Association, Belgrade, Serbia
Tursynova, Fariza M.A. Saken Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Nur-Sultan City,
Kazakhstan
Weideman, Melius, Ph.D., Keynote speaker, CPUT (Cape Peninsula University of technology),
Cape Town, South African Republic
Edition number: 70
Printed by:
“ES-STAR” Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................................7
Keynote and Guest Speakers ......................................................................................9
Melius Weideman
Digital Library Design: Forget the Technicalities-Serve the Crawler and the User! ...13
Jagtar Singh
Media and Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Good Governance ...........21
Dilara Begum
Menstrual Literacy: Raising Awareness from Girlhood to Womanhood .......................25
Melius Weideman
Digital Library Design for Visibility: A Case Study on University Digital Libraries ....35
Ane Landøy, Angela Repanovici
Academic Library Development Projects as Tools in Designing
Pedagogical Approach in Information Literacy ............................................................47
Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, Tania Akter, Ratko Knezevic
The Role of MOOCs in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Four .................53
Tolga Medeni, Tunç Medeni, Demet Soylu
Blockchain: Its Meaning and Value for Information and Library Sciences...................67
Judith Mavodza
Truth and Accuracy in Newspaper Archives: Comment on UAE History Sources ........71
Merve Yavuzdemir
Contribution of Information Literacy Education to Public Cohesion of Syrian
Immigrant in Public Libraries .......................................................................................77
Erdinç Alaca, Demet Soylu, Tunç Meden
Citizen-Centered Smart Practices in Public Libraries in Turkey ..................................89
Ane Landøy, Gunnstein Akselberg
Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum ...................................................107
Pero Šobot, Tatjana Žnidarec, Romana Muhvič Šumandl
COBISS for all generations – Project of integrating school libraries into COBISS ......115
Mohammad M. AlHamad
Utilization of Altmetrics as a Measure of Trust of Archival Data .................................125
Boško M. Branković
Information Literacy in the Science of History ..............................................................129
Tunç Medeni, Demet Soylu, Claudia Ferreira, Ratko Knezevic
Examples from EduCitizens Project SMART Cases and Suggestions of
Technological Aspects to Address Gender Equality and non-Discrimination
for Development and Engagement of Women ................................................................135
Walid Ghali
Knowledge management in a challenging Middle East publishing setting –
The role of Muslim Civilizations Abstracts (MCA) Project ...........................................143
Yakup Özsaraç
Foundation Archive and Endowments ...........................................................................153
Mary Sengati-Zimba
Information Literacy Needs of Faculty: A Case of One University
in the Middle East ..........................................................................................................161
Introduction
The Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference is supported, inspired by and
dedicated to the work and achievements of European Union Capacity Building in the Field of
Higher Education (CBHE) project 561987 Library Network Support Services (LNSS):
modernizing libraries in Western Balkan countries through staff development and reforming
library services, as a sustainability of the project. This is a unique, pioneering European Union
funded project which aims to reinforce and modernize libraries and improve the level of
competencies and skills of library staff in the Western Balkan countries by developing innovative
libraries as a support to education and lifelonglearning.
CBHE is the European Union‘s program which aims to support the modernization, accessibility
and internationalization of higher education in the Partner Countries in regions such as Eastern
Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through
university cooperation projects. The wider objective of the LNSS project is to reinforce and
modernize libraries and improve the level of competencies and skills of library staff in the Higher
Education Institutions (HEI‘s) and in Society by developing innovative libraries as a support to
education and lifelong learning. The specific objectives of the project are to implement English
for Specific Purposes (Libraries & library terminology) training for all target groups; to undertake
in depth training needs detection and assessment with competency mapping; to implement an
innovative Train the Trainers program as part of an LNSS Curriculum incorporating a suite of
quality, relevant and modern library staff development modules addressing the most urgent
training needs of 21st century librarians and library staff in the InformationAge.
The project will develop and implement IL and Research Skills training programs in libraries and
in HEI‘s to help learners identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and ethically use information in
their daily lives for lifelong learning and the Knowledge Economy. Other key objectives are to
hold Library Training Seminars and Workshops involving all Stakeholders for exchange of
experience to improve the competencies and skills of Librarians. Strategic planning issues are also
addressed such as the development of a Consortium Strategic Plan for the effective future
development of libraries in both Regions and to implement this plan. The project will also
develop initiatives to ensure access to and democratization of libraries for people with disabilities.
Development of Frameworks for Library Collection Development Policy to meet the needs of
academic staff and students in each Institute/University in the project are also a key goal. There
were more projects that derived from this action such as LNSS in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus
https://lnss-projects.eu/amb/, as well as DIREKT-Project developing trans-regional IL for lifelong
learning and the knowledge economy in Europe and Asia https://direkt-cbhe.com/.
The Conference takes its inspiration also from previous European Union projects such as Tempus
Project 517117 Developing information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge economy in
Western Balkan countries. This was a unique, pioneering European Union funded project which
developed information literacy for lifelong learning in the Western Balkans during the period
2011-2015. The Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference is now listed among
the most important Information Literacy Conferences of the World. At this year WBIMLC has
attracted delegates from all over the world. Apart from the representatives coming from Bosnia
and Herzegovina there will be delegates for example from Egypt, India, Ireland, South African
Republic, Norway, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Finland, United Kingdom, USA etc.
As a result of the involvement of leading international experts in the IL field in WBIMLC, the
concept of Information Literacy which prior to WBIMLC was almost completely unknown in the
Western Balkan region has firmly taken hold and is now embedded in many universitiesin the
Region.
This conference presents Conference papers in two sections. First presented are those papers by
the keynote and guest speakers. Later in the proceedings are the papers of those representatives
from many other parts of the world who recognise that the Western Balkans due largely to the
7
WBIMLC 2019
work of this CBHE project and previous projects is now becoming an important centre and
champion of information literacy globally.
The conference emphasises the positive influence of European Union funding programmes
inregionssuchastheWesternBalkansinacceleratingstrategicengagementwithILintheregion making
Information literacy a high priority for both educators and learners in the Western Balkans into
the future.
We must be mindful also that Information Literacy is no longer a university or even library
centric phenomenon as commentators such as Paul Zurkowski have already proposed. Now a
more universal approach is needed across all sectors and affecting all citizens and Society in
general. This has recently been highlighted by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals (CILIP) in the UK and their high level definition of Information Literacy which has
recently been launched (April2018):
Information Literacy is the ability to think critically and make balanced judgments about
any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to reach and express
informed views and to engage fully with Society CILIP 2018, available:
https://infolit.org.uk/new-il-definition/
WBIMLC 2019 celebrates the clear enthusiasm and passion of IL enthusiasts not only in the
Western Balkans but on the international level. Given the topic of this year‘s Conference,
Freedom, Accuracy and Truth WBIMLC 2019 also highlights the relevance of Information
Literacy in today‘s world.
Information Literacy can be a very convincing antidote to these complex issues. IL can help us
decipher whether information is accurate and trustful, enables is to look at who‘s behind the
information, how they operate, what motives they might have. IL helps us to be free when
rejecting or accepting it.
Getting to the truth with Information Literacy.
Editorial Board WBIMLC2019
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Over the years, WBIMLC has been honored to have some of the foremost authorities in the
IL field as Keynote Speakers. This year we will host an elite selected scholars in the field:
Jane Secker
Jane Secker is Senior Lecturer in Educational Development at the City University of
London which she is Deputy Director of the MA in Academic Practice. She is module
leader for the Technology Enhanced Learning module and launched a new module in
October 2018 on Digital Literacies and Open Practice. She was Copyright and Digital
Literacy Advisor at London School of Economics and Political Science for over 15 years
where she advised staff about copyright issues and the online environment. She is Chair of
the CILIP Information Literacy Group and a co-founder of LILAC (Librarians’ Information
Literacy Annual Conference). She is a co-author of several books including Rethinking
Information Literacy (jointly authored with Emma Coonan and published in 2013 by Facet)
and copyright and E-learning: a guide for practitioners (co-authored with Chris Morrisoon)
published by Facet in 2016. Jane is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She has a PhD from the Aberystwyth University and
has worked on numerous research projects funded by the British Library, JISC and the
University of London.
Ismail Serageldin
Dr Ismail Serageldin, Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria and the
Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new
Library of Alexandria in Egypt, which he headed from its inauguration in 2002 to his
retirement in 2017. He serves on many boards and advisory committees for various
international institutions. A graduate of Cairo and Harvard (PhD) he has held many
important international positions, including Vice President of the World Bank (1992-
2000), and professor at the Collège de France, Paris,(2010-2011). He has published
over 100 books and monographs and over 500 papers on a wide range of topics, and has
received over 36 honorary doctorates. He is a member of many academies and has been
decorated by Chile, Japan, Azerbaijan and other countries and has received the Legion
d’Honneur from France and is a Commander of the order of Arts and Letters of the
French Republic.
The International Scientific Conference of Librarians
Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference 2019
Tefko Saracevic
Dr Tefko Saracevic, Professor Emeritus at Rutgers School of Communication and
Information, USA. Studied electrical engineering at the University of Zagreb, Croatia;
completed Master (1962) and PhD. (1970) studies in information science at Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He stayed at Case till 1985, when
moved to Rutgers. He was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 1991, and he is
Professor Emeritus since 2010. DR. Saracevic presented papers at international
meetings in 48 countries. He was the president of the American Society for Information
Science; received the Society’s Award of Merit (the highest award given by the
Society). Also, he received the Gerard Salton Award for Excellence in Research, by the
Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval, Association for Computing Machinery
(also the highest award given by the Group). As of December 2018, he has received
4,858 citations in Scopus database (the largest abstract and citation database of
scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings; excludes self-citations). In
Google Scholar (with a broader coverage of all kinds of documents in addition to
journals) he received 13,504 citations.
Melius Weideman
Dr Melius Weideman is the founder and leader of WARC - the Website Attributes
Research Centre at CPUT (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) in Cape Town, South
African Republic. After working in the electronics and computer industry, he joined the
academy in 1984. His research interests were initially focused on computer viruses, but
after 1994 the Internet, and specifically search engines started fascinating him. He
graduated with a Doctorate in Information Science from the University of Cape Town in
2001 and had managed to find a way to assist students in finding study-related materials
easily through the correct application of search engine technology. Numerous of his
publications have seen the light since then on topics including website visibility, website
usability, search engines, and information retrieval. During 2007 he was chosen from 40
international applicants to become the first Fellow at the Munich University of Applied
Sciences. In mid-2008 he spent three months teaching at this university. Campus02, in
Graz, Austria invited him to do two workshop series on Internet Marketing through
Websites in 2008. He also spent three months at MUNI in Brno, Czech Republic,
10 WBIMLC 2019
The International Scientific Conference of Librarians
Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference 2019
(2012/2013) on an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. He was appointed as an Associate
Professor in 2004 and a full Professor at CPUT in 2008. He is an NRF rated researcher.
Jagtar Singh
Dr Jagtar Singh is serving as Professor of Library and Information Science as well as
Professor In-charge of Punjabi University Library, Patiala. He has his masters in
English Literature and PhD in Library and Information Science. He has 35 years of
teaching and research experience and has visited 25 countries on various academic
assignments. He has many awards and honours to his credit including the
Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship in the UK, 1992-93. He has contributed
more than 100 papers and 10 authored and edited books. He has served as Lead Editor
for the UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue - MILID
Yearbooks 2015 and 2016, respectively. He has worked jointly with Alton Grizzle,
Programme Specialist, UNESCO to develop Five Laws of Media and Information
Literacy, now adopted by UNESCO. He has contributed to the development of IFLA-
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Empowering 8 Model
of Information Literacy, and also developed the HIL-Health Informational Literacy
Model. He is content creator and Mentor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's
International Network of Emerging Library Innovators-INELI India Programme being
implemented by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai. His
areas of interest include media and information literacy, knowledge organization, open
access, LIS education, research and training, and information ethics and aesthetics. He
can be contacted at: jagtardeep@gmail.com
11
WBIMLC 2019
The International Scientific Conference of Librarians
Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference 2019
GUEST SPEAKER
Dilara Begum
Dr Dilara Begum is Associate Professor and Chairperson of Information Studies and Library
Management department and Librarian (Acting) at East West University. She has completed her
B.A (Hons.) and M.A from University of Dhaka and Ph. D. from Punjabi University Patiala,
India. She was a former fellow of IFLA, ALP (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand).
She has more than 18 years of experiences in research, teaching, and information management.
Her research interest includes information management, digital library, information literacy etc.
She served as a Full-Time Faculty at Maldives National University, Male, Maldives in 2011. She
is acting as elected Secretary of Information Literacy Section of International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). She is also acting as General Secretary, Digital
Library Network of South Asia (DLNetSA). Beside these, she has served in numerous significant
and diversified roles including Country Coordinator of Information Literacy Consortium
sponsored by UNESCO, Standing Committee Member of ECIL since 2013 to till now to organize
the European Conference of Information literacy, elected Senior Vice President and Women
Affairs Secretary of Library Association of Bangladesh (LAB) from 2009-2014, Acting President
of Library Association of Bangladesh in 2012. She has more than thirty five (35) national and
international publications. She had opportunity to visit more than 26 countries for academic
research and professional purposes as well as international conferences. She was invited by the
U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' (ECA) premier
professional exchange program as foreign leader and scholar to attend the International Visitor
Leadership Program (IVLP) for meeting American colleagues and become better acquainted with
the United States, its culture, and its people. Recently, she has been awarded the prestigious,
“Prof. Indira Parikh 50 Women in Education Leaders" in recognition of her contribution to her
own sector nationally and internationally. She is considered one of the pioneers of Digital Library
development in Bangladesh as well as an international expert on the mentioned fields.
12 WBIMLC 2019
DIGITAL LIBRARY DESIGN: FORGET THE
TECHNICALITIES-SERVE THE CRAWLER AND THE USER!
Plenary Presentation
Melius Weideman
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, WARC, P.O. Box 3109, Tyger Valley, 7536, SOUTH
AFRICA, melius@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Many universities host a digital library, often storing copies of master’s and/or doctoral theses
from graduates at that university in it. Sometimes other academic research documents, like
published journal articles and conference papers, are also included. Normally, the university
wants the contents of this digital library to be easily accessible through search engines, to ensure
wide dissemination of these outputs. Also, once a user finds the digital library, the owners want it
to be easy to use, to ensure many returning information seekers.
A literature survey was done, and it was found that in some cases, university digital libraries
were not visible to search engines, and in others they were not easy to use. A number of university
digital libraries were used as a sample, and an inspection was made of these digital libraries.
It was found that often the theses were stored as separate files instead of one (PDF) document,
and in others many documents were not accessible to search engine crawlers. In some cases,
digital libraries were hidden behind a login, meaning the search engine crawlers cannot get to
the documents to index them. Also, some PDF documents were stored as images instead of
searchable text, again meaning that a crawler cannot read and interpret the text inside the
document. Filenames were non-sensical, and meta-data was often not added to the base
documents. Some of these digital libraries were difficult to use, with complex menu structures and
a lack of calls-to-action.
In conclusion, there are relatively easy ways to improve the visibility and usability of a digital
library. Any designer working on a university digital library should consider the basics of search
engine optimisation and usability design in the creation of the digital library.
Key words: digital library, website content, search engine, information retrieval
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Most universities the world over have a bricks-and-mortar library, serving staff and students with
(mostly) hard-copy books and other materials. Some of these also host a DL (Digital Library) as a
supplementary service.
Most users of any one of these library services expect to be served with an answer to their
information need – it could be a book, an electronic document or any other form of information.
In the case of a DL, it is often assumed that a user will start using the DL by viewing the DL
homepage, then clicking through the menus, in the process “drilling down” until they find the
required information. Alternatively, a “Search” box is often presented, where users can shorten
the process by typing in a search query, hopefully finding what they need in a different way. This
is equivalent to the early versions of Yahoo!, where users could use the drill-down approach, by
successively clicking on different category headings, until they satisfy their information need. Or,
they could use the “Search” box and type in a query.
While the drill-down approach takes slightly longer, the search method relies heavily on the
ability of the searcher to specify an efficient search query. Previous research has proven that the
success rate of search-by-query is rather low – figures of around 30% have been noted (Fan et al
2018; Wirth et al 2016; Weideman 2001).
Regardless of this low figure, it seems that search-by-query has become very popular, and most
modern search engines offer only this method of searching.
However, it should be noted that the assumption that users will all start looking for information in
a DL starting at the homepage, is seldom correct. With modern search engines, the answers
The International Scientific Conference of Librarians
Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference 2019
served on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) are often webpage addresses of pages which
are not a website’s homepage, but another webpage further down in the website hierarchy. This
factor was fundamental in this research project.
1.2. The Perfect Website
Depending on who one asks, there could be many definitions of “a good website”, or even “the
perfect website”. To the financial manager, a website qualifies for this title if it was done cheaply
and quickly. To an engineer, it could be if the website was delivered “on spec, on budget and on
time”, like a civil engineering project (i.e. a new bridge built). To a Web designer, it could be if
the website was designed using the latest design technologies and languages.
However, this author would like to postulate that the perfect website is one which serves its two
audiences (the human visitor and the search engine crawler) best. That is, a website which has a
high degree of website usability and website visibility.
If a website is easy to find through a search engine, and easy to use once the human visits it,
nothing else really matters at that point – not the cost, not the time it took to design, not the
platform used to design it, etc.
In a sense, using a website could be “an emotional experience” – one often experiences
satisfaction if information is easily found, or a transaction is completed quickly. Or the human
user can experience frustration if unclear error messages prevent him/her from completing a task,
or if navigation systems make it difficult to know where to go next. In contrast, driving over a
newly built bridge is unlikely to evoke the same kind of emotions in a human.
1.3. Research Questions
1.3.1 How visible are academic documents, stored in a university DL, to search engine crawlers?
1.3.2 How easy are university DLs to use?
1.4. Research Problem
DLs are often designed in such a way that they are unfriendly to the human user and/or the
documents stored in it are difficult to find through a search engine (Arlitsch et al 2013; Onaifoet
al 2013; Weideman 2010a: Weideman 2010b).
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. University Digital Libraries
The DL of a typical university could be used to store not only post-graduate theses awarded by
that university, but often also any other research publications emanating from that university:
journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, conference posters, etc.
Numerous case studies have been done on the DL of a specific university or country, often
relating the way it was designed, how successful it was, and other factors (Zhou et al 2019; Finley
2018; Wang et al 2016; Johnston 2004).
In many cases, DLs sat behind a login, expecting users to have a university username and
password before being allowed to view the contents of the DL (Weideman 2019a). This presents a
problem to search engine crawlers, since they cannot type in this information, preventing them
from viewing and indexing the information inside the DL. It is debatable whether it is a wise
decision to require a login for a DL, since it reduces the visibility of the documents stored in the
DL to zero.
Designing a DL is similar to designing any other large, database-based website – it has to be done
after careful planning. Again, there are numerous academic studies done on this process for DLs
(Raza 2019; Van Do et al 2019; Chaputulaet al 2018; Khan et al 2018; Rahrovaniet al 2018).
However, none of these studies refer to the value of designing a DL to be usable and visible at the
same time.
14 WBIMLC 2019
The International Scientific Conference of Librarians
Western Balkan Information and Media Literacy Conference 2019
It is this author’s opinion that this is a serious deviation from “best practice”, which stipulates that
a website should be designed to satisfy its two audiences, as noted above.
2.2. Information Retrieval
IR (Information Retrieval) is a topic much older than the Internet itself, since humans have been
trying to find ways to effectively retrieve stored information for centuries.
In fact, the Sumerians of the third millennium are credited with some of the first work on IR,
where they tried to find efficient ways of extracting information stored on clay tablets (Weideman
2001). Looking at more recent developments, finding information stored in some form of
electronic media was a challenge even before the birth of the Internet. The use of search engines
to extract information stored in an unknown location actually predates the Internet itself – the first
search engine (Archie) was released around 1990 – four years before the Internet’s birth (Vanberg
2012; Seymour et al 2011).
Many earlier studies investigated some aspects of IR:
- An early study was done on semantic searching in DLs as a D-Space case study
(Koutsomitropoulos 2015)
- Another study investigated the relationship between research into classification science
and IR (Miksa 2017).
- A more recent study considered some models for information interaction in the IR
context (Savolainen 2018).
- And, more recently, a study was done on digital preservation practice (Anyaokuet al
2019).
It is clear that mankind is still learning more about IR in general, and IR remains an important
issue in the study of DLs.
2.3. Search Engines
2.3.1. Leaders
It is generally accepted that Google, Bing and Yahoo! are the three leaders in search in the
Western world (Anonymous 2019; Weideman 2009). However, if a global picture is required, one
must include the Chinese (Baidu) and Russian offerings (Yandex). And a latecomer is
Duckduckgo, with the claim that no private information of searchers is collected (Weideman
2019b).
If any website owner wants his/her website to be indexed and shown on a SERP, they should
consider the six big search engines mentioned above, and their requirements for SEO.
2.3.2 Prior Research - General
Again, research papers on search engines and related matters abound:
- A recent study was done on the wisdom of choosing different search engines, based on
relevance judgements (Sünkleret al 2017).
- Work has been done on efficient search queries to be used when searching for electronic
theses and dissertations (Coates 2014).
- A study was done on the value of academic content on the Web and making it more
visible to crawlers (Weideman 2012).
- An early study considered the use of search engines in Information Science research
(Bar-Ilan 2004).
2.3.3 Prior Research – SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Many studies have been done on SEO in general, and as applicable to DLs (Weideman 2019a;
Weideman 2018; Marks et al 2016; Marsh 2015; Scott 2015; Arlitschet al 2013; Onaifoet al
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2013; Weideman 2010a, Weideman 2010b). All of them highlight the importance of doing basic
SEO on any website where high rankings on SERPs is important.
3. DL DESIGN
3.1. Identifying University DLs
A list of DLs from the worlds’ top universities was selected, and each one’s DL was identified
and used for the IR of Ph.D. theses in PDF format (Weideman 2019a; Weideman 2010a;
Weideman 2010b).
A number of tests were done on these DLs, in an attempt to determine their levels of website
visibility and usability.
3.2 DL Visibility
It was found that:
3.2.1 Different query generation methods delivered different results. Using the first five non-
keywords from the tile of the thesis seemed to consistently deliver better results (higher
rankings).
3.2.2 In 61% of the tests, the Ph.D. thesis being searched for, was not listed in the top 10
results.
3.2.3 In other similar tests, it was found that the PDF documents were stored as separate
chapters, which would dilute the SEO value and the chances of finding these
documents.
3.2.4 Those DLs sitting behind a login, are completely isolated from search engine crawlers,
and their content will not be indexed.
3.2.5 Some PDF thesis documents were also stored as images instead of searchable files,
which again make sit impossible for the crawler to index these files, even if they are
found in the DL.
3.2.6 Basic SEO guidelines were not followed in many cases, further leading to problems
with indexing (non-sensical HTML filenames, missing basic meta-data).
These results indicate that the DLs in question has a low visibility of the PDF documents stored in
them.
One must consider the fact that the typical research publication is ideal for SEO – it normally
contains a large number of very specific, meaningful phrases, and difficult to spell words, which
should make it easy to find that document through a search engine. This is especially true for
papers on medical, engineering and scientific topics.
Table 1: Digital Library Usability test results
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3.3 DL Usability
Usability is an old research topic, and the publications of especially Nielsen and Krug cover all
the basics. Lately, many studies have been done on usability in general, and as applicable
specifically to DLs (Guayet al 2019; Inal 2018; Kautonenet al 2018; Sheikh 2017).
In some recent experiments on top university DLs (Weideman 2019a), it was found that many of
these DLs were difficult to navigate – see Table 1.
4 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In summary, the following conclusions and recommendations can be made:
4.1 All DLs (in fact, all websites) should be easy to find and easy to use.
4.2 For website visibility, apply the basic guidelines for SEO to all webpages (Weideman
2009). Figure 1: Example of a bare-bones HTML page
4.3 Consider creating a single text-only webpage (a “bare-bones HTML” webpage),
containing all the titles and author names of each thesis in the DL. Also provide a link
to each full-text PDF file in the DL (see Figure 1).
4.4 Also provide SEO friendly: filenames, meta-data, text, ALT tags and body text.
4.5 For website usability, apply the basics as provided by Nielsen and Krug.
5 LITERATURE
Anonymous, 2019. Search Engine Market Share Worldwide Apr 2018 - Apr 2019. Retrieved
from: http://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share [28 May 2019].
Anyaoku, E.N., Echedom, A.U.N. &Baro, E.E. 2019. Digital preservation practices in university
libraries: An investigation of institutional repositories in Africa. Digital Library Perspectives,
35(1): 41-64.
Arlitsch, K. &OBrien, P.S. 2013. Improving the Visibility and Use of Digital Repositories through
SEO. Chicago: ALA TechSource.
Bar-Ilan, J. 2004. The Use of Web Search Engines in Information Science Research. Annual
Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), 38: 231.
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Chaputula, A.H. &Mutula, S. 2018. Provision of library and information services through mobile
phones in public university libraries in Malawi. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication,
67(1/2): 52-69.
Coates, M. 2014. Search engine queries used to locate electronic theses and dissertations, Library
Hi Tech, 32(4): 667-686.
Fan, A., Chen, L. & Chen, G. 2018. A multi-view semi-supervised approach for task-level web
search success evaluation. Information Sciences, 430/431: 554-566.
Finley, P. 2018. Mountain West digital library. Reference Reviews, 32(6): 38.
Guay, S., Rudin, L. & Reynolds, S. 2019. Testing, testing: a usability case study at University of
Toronto Scarborough Library. Library Management, 40(1/2): 88-97.
Inal, Y. 2018. University students’ heuristic usability inspection of the national library of Turkey
website. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 70(1): 66-77.
Johnston, L. 2004. An overview of digital library repository development at the University of
Virginia Library. OCLC Systems & Services, 20(4): 170.
Kautonen, H. & Nieminen, M. 2018. Conceptualising Benefits of User-Centred Design for Digital
Library Services. Liber Quarterly, 27:1-34.
Khan, S.A. & Bhatti, R. 2018. Semantic Web and ontology-based applications for digital
libraries: An investigation from LIS professionals in Pakistan. The Electronic Library, 36(5): 826-
841.
Koutsomitropoulos, G.S.D. 2015. Towards an evaluation of semantic searching in digital
repositories: a DSpace case-study. Program: electronic library and information systems, 49(1):
63-90.
Marks, T. & Le, A. 2016. Increasing Article Findability Online: The Four C's of Search Engine
Optimization. Retrieved from: https://works.bepress.com/aallcallforpapers/90/ [12 May 2019].
Marsh, R.M. 2015. The role of institutional repositories in developing the communication of
scholarly research. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, 31(4):
163-195.
Miksa, S.D. 2017. The relationship between classification research and information retrieval
research, 1952 to 1970. Journal of Documentation, 73(6): 1343-1379.
Onaifo, D. & Rasmussen, D. 2013. Increasing libraries' content findability on the web with search
engine optimization. Library Hi Tech, 31(1): 87-108.
Rahrovani, S., Mirzabeigi, M. &Abbaspour, J. 2018. The concreteness of searching module icons
and their effectiveness in digital library applications. The Electronic Library, 36(5): 800-810.
Raza, M. 2019. Application of linked data technologies in digital libraries: a review of literature.
Library Hi Tech News, 36(3): 9-12.
Savolainen, R. 2018. Pioneering models for information interaction in the context of information
seeking and retrieval. Journal of Documentation, 74(5): 966-986.
Scott, D. 2015. White Hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Structured Web Data for Libraries.
Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 10(1): 1-
21.
Seymour, T., Frantsvog, D. & Kumar, S. 2011. History of Search Engines. International Journal
of Management & Information Systems, 15(4): 47-58.
Sheikh, A. 2017. Evaluating the usability of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
library website: a case study. The Electronic Library, 35(1): 121-136.
Sünkler, S. & Lewandowski, D. 2017. Does it matter which search engine is used? A user study
using post-task relevance judgments. In proceedings of ASIST, Washington, DC, October.
Vanberg, A.D. 2012. From Archie to Google - Search engine providers and emergent challenges
in relation to EU competition law. European Journal of Law and Technology, 3(1): 1-18.
Van Do, H., Dorner, D.G. & Calvert, P. 2019. Discovering the contextual factors for digital
library education in Vietnam. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, 68(1/2): 125-147.
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Wang, Z., Zhang, J. & Huang, J. 2016. Multi-granularity hierarchical topic-based segmentation of
structured, digital library resources. The Electronic Library, l. 35(1): 99-120.
Weideman, M. 2019a. Digital library design for visibility: a case study on university digital
libraries. In proceedings of Western Balkans Information and Media Literacy Conference:
Freedom, Accuracy and Truth. Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved from:
https://www.wbimlc.org/proceedings [05June 2019].
Weideman, M. 2019b. Search Engines. Retrieved from: http://web-visibility.co.za/website-
visibility-search-eng ines-seo/ [23 May 2019].
Weideman, M. 2018. Fake news: the role of search engines and website content. In proceedings
of the International scientific conference: Alternative facts, Fake News, getting to the truth with
Information Literacy. Bihac, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Retrieved from: https://docs.wixstatic.com/
ugd/3a3c2d_b312292fcb6b4ece89cafb8c6b3c942a.pdf [28 May 2019].
Weideman, M. 2012. Academic Content – a valuable resource to establish your presence on the
Web. Plenary keynote at the 2nd International Conference on Integrated Information, Budapest,
Hungary. Retrieved from: www.web-visibility.co.za//0046-plenary-paper-2012-weideman-
academic-content-web-visibility-presence.html [26 May 2019].
Weideman, M. 2010a. Empirical study on crawler visibility of PDF documents in digital libraries.
In proceedings of The Third IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and
Information Technology (ICCSIT 2010), Chengdu, China. 10-13 July, 373-379.
Weideman, M. 2010b. Search engine query generation for effective retrieval of known academic
publications. In proceedings of The Twelfth World Wide Web conference (ZAW3-10). Retrieved
from: www.web-visibility. co.za/0103-conference-paper-2010-weideman-query-generation-
known-academic-publications.html. Durban, South Africa. [13May 2019].
Weideman, M. 2009. Website Visibility: the theory and practice of improving rankings. Oxford:
Chandos.
Weideman, M. 2001. Internet searching as a study aid for information technology and information
systems learners at a tertiary level. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cape Town, Cape
Town.
Wirth, W., Sommer, K., Pape, T. & Karnowski, V. 2016. Success in online searches: Differences
between evaluation and finding tasks. Journal of the Association for Information Science &
Technology, 67(12): 2897-2908.
Zhou, L., Huang, R. &Zijlstra, T. 2019. Towards digital scholarship services in China’s university
libraries: Establishing a guiding framework from literature. The Electronic Library, 37(1): 108-
126.
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MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY FOR LIFELONG
LEARNING AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
Jagtar Singh
Professor, Department of Library and Information Science,
Punjai University, Patiala-147 002, Punjab -INDIA
Email: jagtardeep@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Education is a one time process but learning is a lifelong process. But all is not well with
education and learning in India. Students are not allowed to exercise choice, hence their inbuilt
potential remains suppressed in majority of the cases. Value- based practice-oriented education
here is a myth and not a reality. Since education is highly theoretical; knowledge, practice,
personality development and positive thinking like learning outcomes of education remain a
distant dream. Media and information literacy, being promoted by UNESCO as composite
concept, can go a long way to develop critical thinking and independent lifelong learning among
information seekers to enable them to ensure good governance based on transparency,
accountability and rule of law. Hence, an effort is made in this paper to build a case for
promoting MIL across frontiers to ensure good governance, rule of law, intercultural dialogue
and peaceful co-existence.
Key words: Media and Information Literacy; Lifelong Learning; Good Governance; Sustainable
Development; Social media; Peaceful Co-existence.
1. INTRODUCTION
If we look around today, we find the world is surrounded by many gaps and divides. There is a
gap between and within the nations and institutions, between tacit knowledge and explicit
knowledge, between theory and practice, between the competent and the incompetent. Similarly,
there are many divides, such as the divide between the rich and the poor, the rural and the urban
residents, and the elite and elite non-elite. All these gaps and divides are potential perils for the
sustainable development of nations worldwide. But among these, the capacity gap is the biggest
gap. In information economy, it can be bridged only by equipping the information seekers with
media and information literacy skills. The art of accessing and processing information has seen
many vicissitudes. In the library users’ context, it started with library orientation and moved to
media and information literacy through library instruction, bibliographic instruction, user
education and information literacy. Nowadays, media and information literacy (MIL) is being
promoted as a composite concept by UNESCO through its Global Alliance for Partnerships on
media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL), and the Media and Information Literacy and
Intercultural Dialogue- MILID UNITWIN. In fact, media and information literacy can go a long
way to enhance awareness and understanding of people about motive of the corporate sector that
is programming human minds in the name of globalization. In this hegemonic environment, at
stake is the culture of local communities and freedom and independence of the marginalized
sections of the society. It is a well known fact that media is controlled by corporate sector,
politicians and the respective governments. Hence media is overloading the masses with fake
news most of the time because of their hidden motive. In this context, MIL can play a pivotal role
to develop critical thinking and independent learning among people at the grass root level. This
paper presents the author's perspective as to how MIL can empower people to ensure lifelong
learning, good governance and sustainable development.
2. MIL AS A HUMAN RIGHT
After food, clothing and shelter, information has become fourth human need. Hence the concept
and practice of media and information literacy must be promoted as a basic human right to serve
human needs of information seekers It is firm belief of UNESCO that MIL empowers citizens,
including children and youth, with competencies related to media, information, ITC and other
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aspects of literacy which are needed for 21st century. In India, the Right to Information (RTI) Act
has enhanced information seekers' assertiveness, and the government officials, bureaucrats and
politicians are also scared making wrong decisions by using their discretion. Discrimination and
discretion always promote corruption and MIL and RTI Act have the capacity to work as an
antidote to corruption and discretion.. Hence MIL must be promoted as a human right to empower
people across frontiers. Moreover, MIL is necessary to build capacity of people for efficient and
effective use of social media. Sometimes social media is being used to spread false news and
manipulate public opinion. Though social media is emerging as a counter narrative to the
commercial media, yet MIL instruction is needed to lead its promises and perils into the socially
desirable direction.
3. EDUCATION AND LEARNING
The basic purpose of education is to realize the inbuilt potential of students to make them wealth
of society at large. Listening, reading, writing and observation are basic modes of learning. The
ultimate purpose of education is to put one's learning to practice. But unfortunately, value-based
education is missing. Hence, there is a lot of conflict in a pluralistic country like India. We must
look beyond literacy and focus on learning outcome-based education. Value based education can
lead to a conflict free society and peaceful co-existence. In fact, in stead of logic, arguments and
discretion; good feelings should fire our imagination for harmonious living. People must have
positive thinking, noble feelings, and enduring ethics and aesthetics. MIL can build such capacity
among people. Hence sustainable MIL policies and strategies must be adopted by all governments
and other bodies at all levels and across frontiers. Education must lead people and governments
into the right direction, and learning must focus peoples' attention on putting knowledge to work.
4. KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
Addressing the lack of direction, T.S.Eliot has very rightly said in his poem The Rock:
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
Actually, there is an immediate need to clear the confusion between knowledge and information.
Information is highly temporal and varies from person to person, place to place and time to time.
Information is useful only in decision making and eliminating uncertainty, whereas knowledge
resides in the heads of people and is used in problem solving. For both decision making and
problem solving, one needs accurate information and trustworthy competence. MIL can be very
useful here as well to ensure freedom of people from provoking boundaries and misconceptions.
In fact, reality is temporary and truth is ultimate. People must realize this truth that media has its
motive and many a time misinforms the people. But MIL equips people with evaluative skills to
find out truth behind the stories being promoted by the media to please their masters.
5. INFORMATION AND DECISION MAKING
Quality of decision making depends on quality of information. MIL can equip people with
evaluative skills to judge quality of information and make sustainable decisions. As has been said
in the beginning of this paper that there are many gaps and divides. The divide between the
'information-rich' and the 'information-poor' is increasing day by day. Similarly the capacity gap
is also a potential danger to information democracy. MIL can enable people with searching,
browsing and evaluative skills, and also sensitize them to make ethical and legal use of
information in decision making. It can also empower people to force governments at different
level to adopt MIL policies and strategies.
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6. COMMONSENCE AND PRACTICE
Commonsense is the basic faculty needed by one and all for remaining in bliss and rhythm. But
commonsense is not so common as it is inbuilt among people. But MIL can make people aware of
the value of commonsense in smooth functioning and harmonious living. Practice is another
essential condition to realize the Sustainable
Development Goals and ensuring a level playing field for one and all. In fact, commonsense-
based practice can make nations independent, free, sustainable.
7. GOOD GOVERNANCE
Governance means decision making and decision implementation. But the quality of decisions is
directly related to the motive and the quality of information available for decision making. Good
governance is based on eight major parameters. These are: participation, rule of law,
transparency, responsiveness, consensus, equity and inclusion, efficiency and effectiveness, and
accountability. But accountability can be enforced only by transparency and rule of law. MIL can
be a fruitful mechanism to make people aware or their rights and duties and enable them to keep a
strict watch on governments that have tendency to use discretion and discrimination and allow
corruption.
8. CONCLUSION
Media is controlled by corporate sector, politicians and governments, hence mostly misinforming
the masses with fake news. In India, media is to get license from the government, therefore, has a
motive to dance to the tunes of the governments in power as well as the politicians. Ordinary
people are indeed framed by the purse-holders and the employers. Hence, the employees feel
helpless and are always worried about their job security. This system needs be changed. For this,
we need to unite and promote MIL across frontiers to facilitate lifelong learning and ensure good
governance. This conference can pass a resolution or a declaration to this effect.
9. LITERUTURE
Baker, K. (2013). Information literacy and cultural heritage. Information Literacy and Cultural
Herit age. https://doi.org/10.1533/9781780633862
El-Gammal, W., El-Kassar, A. N., & Canaan Messarra, L. (2018). Corporate ethics, governance
and social responsibility in MENA countries. Management Decision. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-
03-2017-0287
Frau-Meigs, D., Velez, I., & Michel, J. F. (2017). Public policies in media and information
literacy in Europe: Cross-country comparisons. Public Policies in Media and Information
Literacy in Europe: Cross-Country Comparisons. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315628851
Genner, S., &Süss, D. (2017). Socialization as Media Effect. In The International Encyclopedia
of Media Effects. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0138
Jagtar Singh (2008) Sense-making: Information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge
management. DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology, 28(2), March, 13-17.
Jagtar Singh & Begum, D. (2010) Student awareness of health information initiative of the
governments of India and Bangladesh: A Study of Punjabi University, Patiala and East West
University, Dhaka. Papers of the 76th IFLA World Library and Information Congress, 10-15
August 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden. Retrieved from http://conference.ifla.org/past-wlic/2010/100-
singh-en.pdf
Jagtar Singh & F. Woody Horton, Jr. (2013) Media and Information Literacy Survey: Research
Habits and Practices of University Students. In MILID Yearbook 2013: Media and Information
Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue. In Ulla Carlson and Sherri Hope Culver (eds.) Gothenburg:
NORDICOM, pp. 286-291.
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Jagtar Singh, & Begum, D. (2012). Education, Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning: Three
Pillars of Nation Building in the Emerging Knowledge Society. Bangladesh Journal of Library
and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjlis.v2i1.12921
Jagtar Singh, et al (2016). MILID Yearbook 2016: Media and Information Literacy: Reinforcing
Human Rights, Countering Radicalization and Extremism. Paris: UNESCO.
Jagtar Singh, et al. (2015). MILID Yearbook 2015: Media and Information Literacy for the
Sustainable Development Goals. Goteborg, Sweden: NORDICOM.
Joshi, D. (2011). Good governance, state capacity, and the millennium development goals.
Perspectives on Global Development and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1163/156914911
X582468
Kind, T., & Evans, Y. (2015). Social media for lifelong learning. International Review of
Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2014.990421
Kurbanoglu, S. S. (2003). Self-efficacy: A concept closely linked to information literacy and
lifelong learning. Journal of Documentation. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410310506295
Madhu, P. (2011). What is Good Governance?SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1766267
Martínez-Cerdá, J. F., Torrent-Sellens, J., González-González, I., &Ficapal-Cusí, P. (2018).
Opening the black-box in lifelong E-learning for employability: A framework for a Socio-
Technical E-learning Employability System of Measurement (STELEM). Sustainability
(Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041014
Ng’asike, J. T. (2019). Indigenous knowledge practices for sustainable lifelong education in
pastoralist communities of Kenya. International Review of Education.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09767-4
Ranaweera, P. (2017). Importance of information literacy skills for an information literate society.
National Institute of Library & Information Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9
781107415324.004
Rupley, K. H., Brown, D., & Marshall, R. S. (2012). Governance, media and the quality of
environmental disclosure. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jaccpubpol.2012.09.002
Schmidt Hanbidge, A., Tin, T., & Sanderson, N. (2018). Information literacy skills on the Go :
Mobile Learning innovation. Journal of Information Literacy. https://doi.org/10.11645/12.1.2322
Sturges, P., &Gastinger, A. (2010). Information literacy as a human right. In Libri.
https://doi.org/10.1515/ libr.2010.017
Weiner, S. (2017). Information literacy and the Workforce: A Review. Education Libraries.
https://doi.org/ 10.26443/el.v34i2.306
Weiss, T. G. (2000). Governance, Good Governance and Global Governance: Conceptual and
actual challenges. Third World Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/713701075
Wrobel-Lachowska, M., Wisniewski, Z., &Polak-Sopinska, A. (2018). The Role of the Lifelong
Learning in Logistics 4.0. In Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60018-5_39
24 WBIMLC 2019
MENSTRUAL LITERACY: RAISING AWARENESS FROM
GIRLHOOD TO WOMANHOOD
Dr Dilara Begum
Associate Professor and Chairperson
Department of Information Studies and Library Management
&
Librarian (Acting)
East West University
Dhaka, Bangladesh
E-mail: dilara@ewubd.edu/ dilara.lab@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although Bangladesh has produced substantial advancement in bringing down
poverty and improving food security, however, the overall nutritional status is not satisfactory.
Malnutrition among young children, adolescent girls and women are still prevalent. It is an
eternal truth that the female is acting as a foremost impactor for the progress of any nations.
They are considered as a half backbone of the nation. In this case, able-bodied female lead to
make a healthy family or society and obviously the country as well. Adolescence is a point of
rapid passage from girlhood to womanhood. The onset of menstruation is one of the most
significant changes that occur in girls during the teenage. Most of the teenage girls in
Bangladesh feel hesitant to talk about this issue with their parents. The primary purpose of this
paper is to elucidate how health information professionals can make juvenile girls aware about
this topic with the collaboration of community health workers.
METHOD: A systematic literature review has been conducted through giving a special focus on
the actions taken by the Non-Government Organization (NGO) as well as Government
Organization (GO) for the awareness of menstrual literacy. Also, the author's experiences have
been incorporated into this paper.
VALUE: This paper illustrated the possibilities for the collaboration between the Health
Information Professionals (HIPs) and Community Health Workers (CHWs) for promoting
menstrual literacy among adolescent girls. Lastly, the article made an effort to come up with
recommendations for the implication of this collaboration.
1. INTRODUCTION
From the very outset of the human creation male and female have been taking share in the
process of increasing their successor/generations. Only male or only female cannot do it alone,
rather, it is a collaborative effort. Nevertheless, from the ancient time to even now the
discriminating attitude towards female is not fully abolished, rather, it exists in all places,
socioeconomic, socio-political and social-ethnic settings.
Because of their vital role in the GDP, recently, women are not thought to be working at home
merely as housewife rather, house-holder/house-keeper/house manager, etc. So, directly or
indirectly, the female is acting as a foremost impactor for the progress of any nation. As a result,
able-bodied female lead to make a healthy family or society and obviously country as well.
The world population is 7.5 billion now and it will hit 9.8 billion and the youth population will
hit 1.4 billion by 2050 (PRB, 2017). Agreeing to the ICRW, there are currently an estimated 600
million girls in the world between the ages of 10 and 19 and adolescents as people between the
ages of 10 and 24 years. It is mentionable here that adolescence is marked in girls with the onset
of menstruation and is one of the most significant changes that occur in girls during the teenage.
The huge bulk of these girls around 90 per cent – live in developing nations. Across the world,
adolescent girls face extremely limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, which
leads to an estimated 20,000 births to teen girls each day, and more than three million unsafe
abortions by adolescent girls each year. Also, more than 3000 teenagers die every day, totalling
1.2 million deaths a year, from largely preventable causes (WHO, 2017) such as good health
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services, training, and social reinforcement. But how many adolescent people know about
preventable causes?
According to UNICEF, Bangladesh – belonging in developing countries – has seen impressive
progress in health and nutrition in the last few decades. Nevertheless, most of the teen-age girls
in Bangladesh feel hesitant to speak around the menstrual issue with their parents or other
protectors. Even many girls are not aware of menstruation before their menarche. A substantial
number of adolescent girls, especially in the rural areas, are still using unhygienic rags as they
recycle them without washing and drying properly, which causes infections and eventually
harms not just reproductive health but also creates different deadly diseases. Adolescent girls
need a variety of information about the physiology of menstruation and its management for
different situations. Though Bangladesh has been making considerable developments in
reproductive health issues, the provision and promotion of menstrual literacy are in a dormant
stage. Under this circumstance, Health Information Professionals (HIPs) can contribute in the
promotion of national and community menstrual literacy that will assist adolescent girls for
being healthy women in the future and this is very significant with regard to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) as well as country reputation and achievement. Community health
workers (CHWs) play a vital and unique role in linking diverse and underserved populations to
health and social service system ((Spencer, Gunter & Palmisano, 2010). CHWs are Front-line
public health workers who have a clear concerned about the community they serve. The
collaboration between HIPs and CHWs are needed to promote menstrual literacy in Bangladesh.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Information literacy is essential for overall development of a country. People who want to cope
with information world, online service, for obtaining relevant information quickly and
effectively from different sources. It also encompasses digital literacy, media literacy, health
literacy, agricultural literacy, etc. (Rani, 2014)
Health Literacy is defined in the Institute of Medicine report as "the degree to which individuals
have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services
needed to make appropriate health decisions." "Health literacy is the use of a wide range of
skills that improve the ability of people to act on information in order to live healthier lives.
These skills include reading, composition, listening, speaking, numeracy, and critical analysis,
as well as communication and interaction skills" (the Government of Canada's Office of Literacy
and Essential Skills, 2011). The Medical Library Association's (MLA's) definition is more
elaborated and further defines health information literacy as “the set of powers needed to:
recognize a health information need; identify potential information sources and employ them to
retrieve relevant data; evaluate the quality of the information and its applicability to a specific
state of affairs; and analyze, understand, and utilize the info to build sound health decisions”.
Thus, health information should be reliable, understandable, accessible whenever people need as
well as culturally sensitive. We are living in an ocean of information. It is rather hard to find out
trustworthy information from scores of junk information. Quality based information is inevitable
to provide better health care to the community. Health information professionals are playing a
vital role in providing accurate and reliable information to support patient care and overall
country's heaths performance. They are also working to provide the absolute high-quality
clinical information and ensuring the availability of this information among their community.
Health professionals in Bangladesh had taken into consideration the relationships between
health, cognition and environmental support to reach a more advanced understanding of how to
change lifestyles in recent years. This concept relates to health literacy and simple dissemination
of the message, enhance people's ability to think about health behaviours, to seek and use the
information and motivates people to take action to improve health (Jahan, 2000).
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Community Health Workers (CHWs) are a potent force for promoting health behaviours and
drawing out the scope of the health system around the globe. CHWs are a diverse category of
health workers who commonly work in communities outside of fixed health facilities, have
some formal, but limited, training for the tasks they are expected to perform (HB, R, & Rogers
MM., 2014)
The Government of Bangladesh is constitutionally committed to supplying the basic medical
requirements to all segments of people in the society and the ‘improvement of the nutritional and
the public health status of the people’(“Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,”
1972). In the former period of Bangladesh, health care infrastructure was poor with primary care
in curative service, with maternal, child and new-born health. After the 1990s with several
advantages and facilities, the Bangladesh health system changed to health promotion and
prevention services. Bangladesh has a well-structured health system with three tiers of Primary
Health Care - Upazila Health Complex, Union Health and Family Welfare Centers and
Community Clinics, these are backed by District Hospitals, Large Urban Centers for further
Secondary and tertiary level care. (Islam & Biswas, 2014). The government of Bangladesh
establishes Community Clinic (CC) (1 CC for about 6000 population) in 1996 to extend Primary
Health Care (PHC) at the doorsteps of the villagers all over the country. Health Assistants (HA)
and Family Welfare Assistants (FWA) are service providers and they trained on ESP (Essential
Service Package) under the Health and Population Sector Program (HPSP). Since 2011, CCs
have been performing their roles as the name of Community-Based Health Care (CBHC).
According to Community Based Health Care (CBHC), at present more than 13,000 CCs are on
board. Thousands of villagers, particularly poor, women & children are receiving services from
the nearby CCs. Effective community engagement prevails with CC through CG, CSG & local
Government representatives. The community owns CC and plays an active role in its betterment
in all regards. People are satisfied with the services of CC as it is the single stop service outlet in
respect of Health, Family Planning & Nutrition. In many cases, Medical Officers and Sub-
Assistant Community Medical Officers (SACMO) in the Family Planning sector are visiting
CCs periodically and providing services for complicated cases. All the CCs have been provided
with a laptop and internet connection and have been reporting online. E-health from CC to UHC
has been brought out in some spots.
3. IS MENSTRUATION CURSE OR BENISON?
“There are approximately 350 million adolescents comprising about 22% of the population in
the rural areas of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR). Adolescents are not a homogenous
population. They exist in a variety of circumstances and have diverse needs. The passage from
childhood to adulthood involves dramatic physical, sexual, psychological and social
developmental changes, all taking space at the same time. In addition to opportunities for
development, this transition poses risks to their wellness and welfare" (SEAR, n.d.).
Menstruation is a normal biological process and a key sign of reproductive health, yet in many
cultures, it is treated as something negative, shameful or dirty.
Many researchers have drawn attention to menstruation. Cakir et al (2007) defined that the
enormous physical and hormonal change for a young girl happens during adolescence. And the
age of menarche is determined by general health, genetic factors, socioeconomic and nutritional
status. It is typically between 12 and 13 age, but with the betterments, in the nutritional status
and general health, it has worsened in many populations during the last decades (Bullough,
1981; Chowdhury et al., 2000). Rees (1995) stated that menarche occurs between the ages of 10
and 16 years in most young women in developed nations.
Most girls do not know about menstruation before their menarche. Before starting menstruation,
every girl is not cognizant about it and whenever they are inserting into their puberty period,
they feel that they are riding into an ocean. Even women in developing countries have
misconceptions about menstrual issues and its management as well.
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Menstrual problems are mostly perceived as only minor health concerns and therefore irrelevant
to the public health agenda, especially for women in developing nations who may face severe
conditions (Harlow and Campbell, 2000). They are sharing with several problems such as
premenstrual syndrome, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, amenorrhea and so along. Thither is a lack
of up-to-date information regarding the knowledge and attitudes of teenage young women
during menstruation. Even when adolescents first face this period, they imagined that they are in
big trouble or they have been bearing a serious disease as easily as they are starting to go. In this
circumstance, adolescents are feeling hesitant to talk about subjects related to biology and
hygiene practices with their parents.
According to WHO, globally, there are 44 births per 1,000 to girls aged 15 to 19 per year and
half of all mental health disorders in adulthood start by age 14, but most cases are undetected
and untreated. They too claimed that adolescents who suffer from mental health disorders that
impact health later in life. (WHO, 2018).
4. SOCIAL BELIEFS ON MENSTRUATION
The continued silence around menstruation combined with limited access to information at
home and in schools results in millions of women and girls having very little knowledge about
what is happening to their bodies when they menstruate and how to deal with it. Besides those,
social beliefs that are evident from different phenomena such as a study from UNICEF revealed
that 1 out of 3 female children in South Asia knew nothing about menstruation prior to getting it
while 48% of girls in Iran and 10% of girls in India think that menstruation is a disease
(WaterAid 2013, Menstrual Hygiene Matters). Even, most cultures strongly believe that during
menstruation, women are being impure. In Tanzania, some conceive that if a menstrual cloth is
seen by others, the possessor of the fabric may be damned. In Nigeria, people who follow the
religion of the Celestial Church believe a woman or girl should not touch any gauge (charm)
during menstruation or it will become ineffective. In Surinam, menstrual blood is thought to be
serious, and a malevolent person can do harm to a menstruating woman or girl by using black
magic (‘wise'). It is too thought that a woman can use her menstrual blood to impose her will on
a man. In India, menstruating women are prevented from cooking, as it is thought that it poisons
the food. Predominant among the Hindu communities in western Nepal and in certain parts of
India is the practice of keeping menstrual women/girls in seclusion in small 'menstrual sheds.'
The sheds lack access to basic amenities forcing women and girls on their cycles to reside in
unhygienic conditions. In Japan due to the monthly cycle, women are prevented from becoming
sushi chefs. In Sierra Leone, it is believed that used sanitary napkins can be applied to make
someone sterile. In the rural areas of Kenya, many women use twigs, leaves, chicken feathers,
which make the monthly cycle a difficult time for girls to attend schools. In central Ghana,
menstruating women and young ladies are not left to cut across a river due to a belief that the
river god does not approve of that.
5. OBJECTIVE OF THIS PAPER
The primary aim of this report is to elucidate how health information professionals can instill
awareness among juvenile girls about this menstruation in collaboration with community health
workers who are also designated by different names like community Health Care Provider
(CHCP), Health Assistant (HA), Family Welfare Assistant (FWA), Shasta Sebika (SS).
6. NEED FOR COMMENCING MENSTRUAL LITERACY IN BANGLADESH
The population of Bangladesh is 164.7 million and population aged 0-14 is 28 per cent (UNFPA,
2017). According to UNICEF, Bangladesh is belonging in developing countries and has seen
impressive progress in health and nutrition in the last few decades. As, the greater part of the
high school young ladies in Bangladesh feel reluctant to discuss menstrual issues with their
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folks. A noteworthy number of juvenile young girls, particularly in the rustic regions, are as yet
utilizing unhygienic clothes as they reuse them without washing and drying appropriately, which
causes contaminations and inevitably hurts regenerative wellbeing as well as makes diverse
lethal sicknesses
Nevertheless, most of the teen-age girls in Bangladesh feel hesitant to talk about menstrual
issues with their parents or other protectors. A significant number of adolescent girls, especially
in the rural areas, are still using unhygienic rags as they reuse them without washing and drying
properly, which causes infections and eventually harms not only reproductive health but also
creates different deadly diseases.
In Bangladesh, People commonly believe that:
The menstruating woman should not sleep with her married man as this would harm him.
Must not touch a holy book or say her prayers.
Must not go near cows. If she executes, it is considered that the cattle will make less milk
and get sick.
Must not visit ill people or female parents with newborn children. This would bring harm
or induce illness.
Must not touch the container where rice is stored. This would destroy rice production and
bring bad luck to the household.
Should not leave her home because she may be attacked by evil spirits which can make her
infertile.
Although Bangladesh achieved success in public health, some portions remain poor because of
the low utilization of primary and community health service. Grounds for not practising (or low
using) community health services include cultural and social belief systems, discrimination
against poor, distance of the facilities, lack of information or sources of attention, lack of
awareness of the value of services etc. (‘Improving primary health care using community clinics
in rural Bangladesh’, n.d.). A research conducted in Bangladesh, by the International Centre for
Research on Women (ICRW) found adolescents lack access to health facilities, particularly to
meet their sexual and reproductive health needs (ICRW, 2014). In another study, ICDDR, B
found that teens face many health troubles and often do not have access to adequate information
to address health problems or even don’t know who to approach. This study also revealed that
most girls do not have any knowledge about menstruation before they experience it given the
taboos around menstruation.
In community health care, the community health workers play an active role like a doctor or
semi doctor for the people in remote areas. They are the pillar or building block of the
community-based health care system. They provide a lot of basic and primary health care and
services from desk to door for adolescent girls of the community. Researchers agreed that
CHWs are selected because they are community residents, who may not be indigenes of the
community or they are indigenous members residing in the community; they are also expected
to have a close understanding or share the ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status and life
experiences of the community. Therefore, these characteristics proved that CHWs can better
mobilize and increase community members’ acceptance of the health services provided.
Bangladesh is looking forward to achieving the SDGs through meeting its various indicators
where horizontal development is the prime focus rather than a vertical one. To achieve the SDGs
in the health sector, empowerment of both health care providers and receivers in terms of
gaining their health information literacy skills (HIL) are must ensure the horizontal development
and eventually the SDGs. In schools, girls do not get actual education on menstrual health.
Misconceptions, lack of information, lack of proper education may cause deterioration of
maternal health situation, which in turn will hamper the fulfillment of the SDGs, particularly
SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG-4 (Quality Education) and SDG-5 (Gender
Equality)
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In Bangladesh, CHWs provide a range of services to the adolescent girls. But adolescent girls
from rural community are not aware of their Menstrual Cycle Literacy and its management. In
addition, awareness of hygiene practices during menstruation is limited in Bangladesh. They get
services but not properly educated or self-empowered to lead a healthy life. Besides, CHWs has
also some lacking like lack of training, lack of Menstrual Cycle Literacy education, lack of
health literacy, media literacy etc.
7. INITIATIVES TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS (GOs) AND NON-
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs)
Specially, the Government of Bangladesh has taken different types of initiatives to provide
health information not only in urban areas but also in rural and remote areas. In this
circumstance, the government has formed various types of the institution including Upazilla
Health Complex, Union Health Complex, Family Welfare Center and Community Clinics. In
Bangladesh, Community Clinics (CCs) are the focal point for the achievement of Millennium
Development Goals as well as acting as a medium for the fulfilment of 2015-2030 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The Government of Bangladesh has invested heavily for the
betterment of these CCs. According to Bangladesh National Hygiene Baseline Survey, 2014,
over 90% of women and girls surveyed across households get menstrual and reproduction
information from female relatives which indicate that formal information and the initiatives of
mass media are the barriers to provide quality information to the adolescent girls. According to
the above research, it has been delineated clearly that CCs are playing the main central peak for
human resources development as well as swelling the health services around every corner of
Bangladesh for every kind of people. Primarily, CCs are the vivid paradigm of Public-Private
Partnership for the Government of Bangladesh.
CCs are providing various types of services such as reproductive and maternal health issues,
Health services of new-born baby, health services regarding family planning, nutrition-related
issues and so on. CCs can transform the progression of the entire health services system in
Bangladesh. In the modern society, a significant number of efforts have been making, especially
in the developing countries, from different GO-NGOs and other private organizations in terms
of girls ‘education, women empowerment, reproductive and maternal health care, etc.
Government has already developed the National Adolescent Health Strategy 2017-2030 to be
able to get a healthy and productive life according to a socially secure and supportive
environment. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been taking various types of
initiatives on the basis of PPP to ensure the effective implementation of this strategy and to
disseminate these initiatives to all adolescent boys and girls. The government has already moved
to improve health services for adolescents, especially girls, through the setting up of health
corners which is called Adolescent Friendly Health Corners (AFHCs). DGFP, the Population
Council has evaluated AFHCs to assess their performance and quality of services to extend this
corner around the world as these corners has built at selected areas.
Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH), Adolescent Sexual and Reproduction Health (ASRH)
programs are workable step by the government. It should be mentionable here that Bangladesh is
new for providing AFHS and only a few NGOs provide services for adolescents but the services
are limited specially school-based menstrual education. Though unmarried adolescent girls are
going to AFHCs to enjoy their services but more programs need to implement to spread the
awareness of menstrual education such as arranging weekly-based menstrual education session
for those adolescent girls who feel hesitate to go to AFHCs. A research report conducted by The
Population Council, Inc. (2017) found that school-going adolescent girls preferred to get special
service hours and their preferable time is afternoon service hours once a week or opening for
weekend service hours. Therefore, introducing the program of weekly-based menstrual
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education session in school will be effective for school-going adolescent. This program can be
organized with the collaboration of HIPs and CHWs.
However, many NGOs have been taking initiatives for promoting awareness of menstrual issues
and Essential Health Care (EHC) in one of them. EHC initiated in 1991, Shashtyashebikas and
Shasthyakormis are mainly part of EHC. It is the foundation of BRAC's health program,
combining promotive, preventive and basic curative services. It has revolutionized the primary
healthcare approach in Bangladesh, reaching millions with low-cost basic health services
through BRAC's frontline community health workers.
BRAC's water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme has been conducting two separated
program such as Hygiene and WASH in Schools featuring on menstruation hygiene and its
significance but complete guidelines need to be incorporated in this program about menstrual
education for adolescent girls. BRAC's sanitary napkin production programme has been
supplying affordable, biodegradable napkins since 1999, to meet the public health needs of poor
women and girls in rural areas.
Share-net Bangladesh is another NGOs initiative in this regard. It is the country hub of Share-
Net International which is acting as as a knowledge platform focusing on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The platform aims to contribute significantly to policy
and program development in the field of SRHR in developing countries. The Share-Net
Bangladesh is the first of its global node, drawing on the years of experiences and interventions
by practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in the field of sexual reproductive health,
especially placing at the centre of human rights.
Shornokishore Network Foundation (named as Shornokishoree) is a registered non-profit and
social change maker development organization in Bangladesh which started its journey in 2012.
Initially, it has focused to work with adolescent girls -Shornokishoree (Golden Girl). Later on, it
also worked with adolescent boys organization - SurjoKishor (Empowered Sunny Boy).
SKNF gradually expanded its strategic priorities and coverage throughout the country. Its
creative strategies are to establish secondary school-based clubs, health education and
classroom-based training, peer education at community for non-school going adolescents,
community mobilization for addressing barriers, advocacy for supporting policy, programs and
utilization of ICT and TV media for reaching the millions of targets population for achieving the
national plan and the SDGs. SKNF has started with few districts in 8 divisions and gradually
expanded its coverage to 491 upaliza of all 64 districts of Bangladesh. However, most of the
services – coming from GO-NGOs and private organizations – in this regard sound like the
effort for vertical development rather than horizontal one as the aspect of gaining menstrual
literacy skills among adolescent girls are absent or somehow partial not complete services which
effect not to reach this literacy to adolescent girls. Again, the initiatives taken by GOs and
NGOs do not outspread around the country.
8. BUILDING AWARENESS WITH THE HELP OF HIPs
Menstrual Cycle and Menstrual Hygiene Education are the prime services of primary health care
mainly provided by community health workers to teenage girls. Menstrual Hygiene
Management (MHM) directly affect women's reproductive health, education and labour
participation as well as closely associated with gender equity and women empowerment in any
parts of the world. Even though, it leads to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
According to BMJ, 41 % of schoolgirls in Bangladesh cannot attend classes during their
menstrual cycle. Women in rural Bangladesh use home-based or unsanitary methods of
menstrual protection such as old fabric, rags, sand, ash, and hay to manage menstruation.
Sanitary Napkin cost is not cheap in Bangladesh because good quality sanitary napkin requires
12 to 15 types of raw materials from outside of the country. This is one of the significant issues
to use unhygienic material during menstruation. Therefore, HIPs and CHWs can be worked
together for the awareness of menstrual education.
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9. RECOMMENDATION FOR JOINT COLLABORATION OF HIPs AND CHWs
A joint collaboration of HIPs and CHWs may be built at two stages
• To make self-empowered and skilled and fully health literate CHWs
• To make the community people health educated (Begum, Hasan and Aziz, 2017)
Based on the above recommendation, the following proposals can consider promoting menstrual
literacy in Bangladesh:
First, collaboration to make CHWs skilled and fully literate on menstrual literacy can be
considered:
To start joint collaboration, the following steps should explore to observe the lacking of
menstrual literacy concept among CHWs:
• HIPs can take initiatives to identify the activities of CHWs and explore what types of
information CHWs are providing to adolescent girls about menstrual literacy. These
initiatives can be arranged by the project of public-private partnership.
Prepare extensive and comprehensive training and manual or literature for providing
menstrual education and how to promote it.
Arrange training for CHWs to teach about advance menstrual education and further
treatment so that they can give advice at the critical movement.
Explore which sources they often use to gather menstrual information, make these
sources available to them, and instruct them how they will search or seek authentic
information. After knowing their usual channel make them aware of further channel
and media of gathering knowledge and how can they utilize existing channels. Make
CHWs habituated with breaking the taboos and superstition of this concept and
building awareness among the community.
Teach CHWs with advanced technology like internet, mobile phone, computer so that
they can be self-dependent and self-empowered.
Create the attitude of collaborative learning and work with other professions like
health information professionals.
The second collaborative fields to promote menstrual literacy can be built to make the
adolescent girls educated are:
• Measuring the awareness level and literacy level of adolescent girls
• Identifying what type of information, they need and expect and how they express their
needs and lackings
• Categorize information according to general and special need, primary, secondary and
tertiary need and address the needs on a priority basis
• Identify what teenage girls frequently do when they are in the menstrual cycle
• Create relation with seeking information, topics of their search and amount of result
and the sources, the efficiency of that sources
• Create reliable sources of menstrual literacy
• Recognize what kinds of media habituated with juvenile young girls
• Explore the level of understanding of teenage girls and take initiatives to make process
and object easier to understand.
10. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Government of Bangladesh has been striving to ensure right to healthcare and medical
treatment for all citizens. Menstrual literacy is a national as well as an international issue and it
is related to development, national growth, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and so on.
Health information professionals can play a pivotal role in Menstrual literacy for adolescent
girls. Joint Collaboration with CHWs and HIPs provide ultimate results in this literacy which
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helps to reach SDGs. Policy makers, developers and interested authorities should take proper
action to promote this issue for the progression of the nation for ensuring better health service to
adolescent girls.
11. REFERENCES:
Adolescent health and development. (2018). South-East Asia Regional Office. Retrieved 13
February 2018, from http://www.searo.who.int/entity/child_adolescent/topics/adolescent_
health/en/
Begum, D., Hasan, M. N., & Aziz, M. T. (2017). Possible and potential areas of joint
collaboration among community health workers and health information professionals in
promoting health information literacy in the community: A case study on Northern Part of
Bangladesh. International Conference on “Managing Change for Better Public Service Delivery:
Southand Southeast Asian Experience” (pp. 23–25). Savar, Dhaka: BPATC.
Data | UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from
https://www.unfpa.org/data
Hasan, M. N., Begum, D., Islam, M. A., &Akter, S. (2017). Access to information as a tool for
empowering adolescent girls in Bangladesh: A rural perspective. In LIBRARIES AND
INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES: RECENT TRENDS (pp. 218–219).
Menstrual hygiene matters | WASH Matters. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from
/publications/menstrual-hygiene-matters
Share Net Bangladesh. (2018). Share Net Bangladesh. Retrieved 20 February 2018, from
http://www.share-netbangladesh.org/
Shornokishoree Network Foundation. (2018). Shornokishoree. Retrieved 21 February 2018, from
http://www.shornokishoree.org/
World Health Organization, Adolescent health and development. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27,
2018, from http://www.searo.who.int/child_adolescent/topics/adolescent_health/en/
World Population Data (2017). Retrieved 13 February 2018, from http://www.prb.org/
Publications/Datasheets/ 2017/2017-world-population-data-sheet.aspx
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DIGITAL LIBRARY DESIGN FOR VISIBILITY: A CASE STUDY
ON UNIVERSITY DIGITAL LIBRARIES
Melius Weideman
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, WARC, P.O. Box 3109, Tyger Valley, 7536, SOUTH
AFRICA, melius@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
The designers of digital libraries often assume that a user will enter the digital library at the
homepage, and then work their way through the system in a top-down fashion. This might be true
if the user knows the URL of the homepage or clicks through to it from the host universities’
website.
However, as a result of the use of search engines to find academic documents, users often enter a
website through any one of the many webpages which are hierarchically spread out below the
homepage, i.e. “from the side”. The search engine they have been using could very easily present
as one of the many answers, a webpage containing an abstract of, or the full text of the academic
document at stake. The purpose of this research project was to determine what the general
visibility to search engines was of a collection of doctoral theses stored in the digital libraries of
some of the top universities in the world.
The highest ranked universities globally were determined by aggregating the scores of a number
of ranking institutions, then inspecting the websites of a selection of these top institutions. Where
a digital library with PDF theses documents (not behind a login) was found, one document from
each of the sample digital libraries was identified. A proven query generation method was used to
then search for these documents, knowing that they do exist on a website which is open access. A
number of top search engines were used in the process.
The results of these searches were recorded, and it was found that many DLs were hidden behind
a login or were simply impossible to find on the university website. Only four DLs met all the
conditions, and four Ph.D. theses in PDF format were downloaded.
The results of the 36 searches (360 websites investigated) has proven that in 22 of the 36 cases
(61%), the required thesis was not listed. In nine of the 36 cases (25%), the thesis was listed in
the first position on the result page.
It is recommended that the visibility of academic documents stored in university digital libraries
be improved by providing rich text (abstracts, for example) in a plain text format on an indexable
webpage, linking to the actual documents. This will provide ample food for crawlers to index,
thereby increasing global exposure to the works of academic scholars.
Key words: digital library design, search engines, pdf thesis document, website visibility
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Many websites which are designed to be used in a drill-down fashion (commercial online
shopping websites, find-it-under-the-category-heading, digital libraries, the early Yahoo! type
indices, etc), assume that all users will start at the homepage. They will then make consecutive
selections from menus, and drill down into the hierarchy of webpages until they find what they
want.
However, since the advent of modern search engines, this assumption is seldom correct. Currently
many Internet users, when looking for information, are faced with a SERP (Search Engine Result
Page), from which they have to make a choice by clicking on a website summary listed. They will
then be taken to the website address linked to the result, and this webpage is not necessarily a
traditional homepage.
When looking for academic full-text documents, for example, a SERP might lead them to the
actual full-text PDF (Portable Document Format) document, which is found far down in the
hierarchy of a DL (Digital Library) website, and many clicks removed from the homepage.
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1.2 Research Problem
The research problem identified in this research project was that some academic documents in
digital libraries were difficult to find, leading to reduced exposure to these works, resulting in a
reduction of the quality of other research outputs, due to the latest published research not being
findable (Beelet al 2010; Weideman 2010b; Marks et al 2016; Mixteret al 2014).
1.3 Aim and Objectives
The aim of this research project was to determine the visibility of these PDF documents. It was
achieved through each one of these objectives:
1.3.1 To identify the top universities in the world, according to global rankings.
1.3.2 To identify those universities from this list, which had an open access DL, with some
Ph.D. theses stored in PDF format.
1.3.3 To make a selection from the list of a relevant sample of DLs.
1.3.4 To identify one Ph.D. thesis document from each one of the chosen DLs.
1.3.5 To search for these documents, using top search engines, knowing that these documents
are stored on the Internet, freely accessible to crawlers.
1.3.6 To summarize the actual visibility of the chosen sample set of documents.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 PDF Documents
One of the most commonly used document storage formats during the last two decades (apart
from a raw format like Microsoft Word’s .DOCX, or Windows’ Notepad .TXT), is the ubiquitous
PDF format. Adobe Systems introduced the PDF format in the early 1990s, to allow document
exchange across platforms. After this event, the PDF format has been widely accepted. This
success was due to, amongst other reasons, the fact that a PDF document could not be opened or
edited with Microsoft Word or ASCII text editor programs.
Shortly afterwards, many similar third-party offerings became available, offering the same
alternative file creation format: PDF Converter Professional 4, DeskPDF Professional and
BullZip PDF Printer (Mendelson 2007) to name but a few.
Currently, a search on popular search engines using a query like “”PDF program” produces over-
populated SERPs offering taglines like “create PDF files, PDF Converter, Adobe Reader, PDF
Software”, etc. To enable users to protect their data files from being edited by others, various
commercial enterprises actually started up (McClure 2009).
The PDF format has also been dubbed as being the best, most focused method for academics to
ensure that their published works would easy to access and freely available (Donovan 2009).
Although early research showed that Google does not index PDF files (Weideman 2010a), that
has subsequently changed and most search engines index PDF files with ease now. So, the PDF
file format has become the standard format for academics to publish their works in, to ensure
protection of the content. Hence the decision to, for this project, focus on PDF -formatted
documents only.
The format of stored documents was researched a decade ago, and PDF, RTF, HTML and text
formats were noted as being prevalent (Skibinskiet al 2009).
In summary, many digital libraries store their documents in the PDF format, and most search
engines now index these documents with ease. In this research project, only PDF documents will
be considered.
2.2 Information Retrieval
Some decades ago, Ingwersen defined IR as “… concerned with the processes involved in the
representation, storage, searching and finding of information which is relevant to a requirement
for information desired by a human user” (Ingwersen 1992).
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More recently, research was completed on the creation of a search engine inside a DL. It was
found that this product differed from other similar systems in that it would crawl the Web, much
like search engine crawlers, and index documents found this as way, as opposed to authors
submitting their documents to a directory (Wuet al 2014). It was also confirmed that the
information retrieval process is complex and cannot be simplified to a simple sequence of steps
(Li et al 2017).
The practice of “ego searching” also received some attention in research literature (Goldsborough
2013).As a form of information retrieval, it was suggested that some standard SEO (search engine
optimization) practices be applied to improve the chances of finding relevant information.More
than a decade ago, the importance of DLs exposing their content to allow more complex querying
was proven (Fox 2006).
In summary, it is clear that information retrieval, especially from DLs, is alive and well, and in
fact remains a crucial issue in the study of the use of these DLs.
2.3 University Digital Libraries
During 1988, the term “digital library” was used for the first time in a report of the CNRI
(Anonymous2010).
Much research has been done on the design of DLs (The Stanford Digital Libraries Group 1995;
McCray et al2001; Beard 2017). However, at that stage the focus was mostly on technical aspects
of DL design - see Figure 1.
Figure 1: DL design (The Stanford Digital Libraries Group 1995).
Case studies on actual DLs having been designed and which are in operation abound (Finley
2018; Liu et al 2018; Mann 2018; Uutoni2018).
Some questions have been asked about the real value of DLs (Lagozeiet al2005).However, DLs
have become closely linked to university physical libraries (McMartinet al2006).In another
project, ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) have been defined as a sub-category of DLs
(Schöpfelet al2014).
It is clear that DLs are an integral part of university libraries, and more and more Internet
searchers are turning to these DLs to satisfy their information needs – hence this research.
2.4 Search Engines
Google announced that it could index PDF documents after the turn of the century (Boyd 2017).
This was a major event and heralded the beginning of the era of PDF documents playing an
important role in DLs.Online search for information has become an ordinary part of everyday life
(White et al 2006).
It has been proven that if one considers the biggest search engines to be used (Google, Bing,
Yahoo!), one can actually ignore the others (Weideman 2009).
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Research on search engines has been ongoing since the mid-1990s (Vaughan et al 2003). In this
case, work was done of the interface design of search engines, in an attempt to find the best way
to design these interfaces.
As searchers have become more and more au fait with this “new” process of finding information
without an intermediary (the librarian), they actually startedswitching between search engines, if
the first one did not provide the correct answer (Heath et al 2008). This is equivalent to a library
visitor going to another bricks-and-mortar library if the first one they used could not supply the
book they were looking for.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Identifying University Digital Libraries
In a research project done on library websites, the THE (Times Higher Education) index of
universities was used as a source of university rankings to select a sample from. (Harinarayana et
al 2010). A similar but expanded process was used in this research project:
3.1.1 Lists of the top universities in the world were taken from six different ranking lists
(Weideman 2010a; Weideman 2010b), if they did provide a clear indication of the
algorithm they have used for the rankings. Out of the original six ranking lists, four
remained to be used further. See Appendix A – the four ranking lists to be used are
highlighted in green.
3.1.2 For each university in the top 20 of each ranking list, a score was allocated: 20 for the
number one university, 19 for number two, up to a score of one for the number 20 on
the list.
3.1.3 Each university on the list was categorized according to continent, to later ensure that a
fair spread is obtained across the globe – see Table 2.
3.1.4 These scores were added, and the list was re-sorted from the highest total score to the
lowest – see Appendix A and B.
3.1.5 Next, the top 10 in from this list was inspected, and some questions asked:
3.1.5.1 Does this university have a DL?
3.1.5.2 If yes, does it allow free access (i.e. can one use it without having to log in?)
3.1.5.3 Can one then download a Ph.D. thesis in PDF format from the DL?
3.1.6 After having completed 3.1.5, only those with a “YES” answer to each one of the three
questions above were retained.
3.1.7 Finally, one university from each continent on the list NOT included yet was selected.
3.1.8 Those universities having made it to this final list, are indicated in green in Appendix A
and B.
Table 1: List of university ranking lists
Table 2: List of continents
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3.2 Identifying Sample PDF Documents
Once the DLs meeting all the conditions were identified (there were only four out of 12
possibilities; Harvard, MIT, CalTech and UC Berkeley), one Ph.D. thesis from each one was
identified. The thesis was chosen randomly, after meeting the following conditions:
The thesis had to be:
- Published in 2015 or earlier (to allow search engine crawler visitation).
- Published in PDF format.
The sample PDF theses to be used were identified as being these four documents:
3.2.1 Harvard.GERMAN-DISSERTATION-2015.PDF
3.2.2 MIT.830390586-MIT.PDF
3.2.3 CalTech.Anna_CT_Abelin_may2014.PDF
3.2.4 UCBerkeley.qt9hq1z1t7.PDF
3.3 Search Query Generation
A decision had to be taken on how search queries were to be generated, to ensure that the
probability of finding these documents would be as high as possible. Previous research was used
to identify the best methods for generating search queries, when looking for academic documents
through search engines (Weideman 2010a; Weideman 2010b). These three methods are,
respectively:
- Filter out the first five keywords from the title…
- Link the surnames of all authors…
- Copy the first words of the first sentence...
The three SQs (Search Queries) for each thesis were as follows:
3.2.1 SQ1: Investigating exploiting metabolic vulnerabilities cancer
SQ2: German
SQ3: It is more relevant than ever to understand how metabolism influences
tumor growth
3.2.2 SQ1: Digital Cellular Solids reconfigurable composite
SQ2: Cheung
SQ3: The digital revolutions in communication and computation have enabled
engineered systems that functionally scale to Avogadro numbers of their
functional units
3.2.3 SQ1: RATIOMETRIC-BASED MEASURE GENE COEXPRESSION
SQ2: Abelin
SQ3: One of the fundamental and longstanding goals of modern biology is to
fully comprehend the role of each gene in the genome
3.2.4 SQ1: 21st Century Zombies Media Cinema
SQ2: Taylor
SQ3: In the epigraph Shannon Jackson outlines the vastness of what
performance is
The final step was to execute searches for these four documents, using Google, Bing and Yahoo!,
based on the search queries listed above. Therefore, a total of 36 searches were done (3 search
engines X 4 documents X 3 search queries), and only the first SERP (10 results) of each search
was inspected.
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4 RESULTS
Notations used below:
- G = www.google.com, B = www.bing.com, Y = www.yahoo.com
- 1/3/4… = the search query produced the required thesis in this position on the SERP.
- X = the search query did not produce any correct listings.
To make the summary below easier to read, colours were used:
green = a “best” result, yellow = a “good” result, red = a “bad” result.
3.2.1
G:SQ1 = 1.SQ2 = X.SQ3 = X. B:SQ1 =1. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X. Y:SQ1 =1. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X.
3.2.2
G:SQ1 = 1. SQ2 = 4. SQ3 = 4. B:SQ1 =1. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X. Y:SQ1 = 1. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X.
3.2.3
G:SQ1 = 3. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X. B:SQ1 = 3. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X. Y:SQ1 = X. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X.
3.2.4
G:SQ1 = 1. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = X. B:SQ1 = X. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = 1. Y:SQ1 = 3. SQ2 = X. SQ3 = 1.
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Quite a few conclusions are evident from the findings above. These include:
5.1 SQ1 seems to be the most effective search query method – it produced the best result
seven out of 12 times (58.3% of the time).
5.2 SQ2 seems to be the least efficient search query method – it consistently produced the
worst result - nine out of 12 times (75% of the time). This can be understood, since all
thesis have a single author, and one surname only as search query is unlikely to produce
accurate search results.
5.3 In all but one case (3.2.3. Y) did the search engines produce at least one listed result of
the actual thesis.
5.4 In 22 out of the 36 searches (61%) the required thesis was not listed at all (all the red
blocks above).
5.5 In nine of the 36 searches (25%) the required thesis was listed in the first position on the
result page.
These results seem to indicate (especially 5.4) that a lot is left to be desired, in terms of the
general visibility of Ph.D. theses stored in the DLs of top universities the world over. When
considering that any research publication normally contains numerous very specific text phrases,
often difficult to spell (making it easier to find through search engines), these results are even
more troublesome.
It is recommended that the visibility of theses (and all other research documents) in DLs should
be improved, using one or more of many possible schemes:
5.6 Provide a single text-only webpage in the DL, containing the titles and abstracts of all
research documents, and ensure that it has been designed to be search engine friendly.
Insert a link from each title to the full-text document, as stored in the DL.
5.7 Apply all the basic SEO principles to this page, before submitting it to the search
engines.
5.8 Ensure that all PDF documents have their meta-data fields completed, and that they
have been given SEO-friendly filenames.
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5.9 Ensure that all websites have an XML sitemap, and that their URLs have been
submitted to Google and Bing.
6 FURTHER RESEARCH
Following on this completed project, it could be expanded to include variations, as listed below.
6.1 Obtain more theses from more universities, since many drop out along the way.
6.2 Add other search queries to improve the retrieval efficiency.
6.3 Add more search engines to the list of three.
7 LITERATURE
Anonymous. 2010. CNRI (Corporation for National Research Initiatives). Retrieved from:
http://www.cnri. reston.va.us/ [20 May 2019].
Beard, I. 2017. The eBethArké Syriac digital library: a case study. Digital Library Perspectives,
33(1):40-47.
Beel, J., Gipp, B. &Eilde, E. 2010. Academic Search Engine Optimization (ASEO): Optimizing
Scholarly Literature for Google Scholar & Co. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 41(2): 176-190.
Boyd, C. 2017. 10 Tips to Make Your PDFs SEO Friendly. Retrieved from:
https://www.searchenginejournal. com/pdf-seo-best-practices/59975/#close [23 May 2019].
Donovan, S.K. 2009. A tax on productivity? Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 40(2): 201-205.
Finley, P. 2018. Mountain West digital library. Reference Reviews, 32(6): 38-38.
Fox, R. 2006. Lingua Fraca of Digital Libraries. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital
library perspectives, 22(1): 26-33.
Goldsborough, R. 2013. Personal Computing: Helping others find you on the Web. The Journal
of Court Reporting, p74. Retrieved from: https://www.thejcr.com/2013/06/12/personal-
computing-helping-others-find-you-on-the-web/ [01 May 2019].
Harinarayana, N.S. & Raju, N.V. 2010. Web 2.0 features in university library web sites. The
Electronic Library, 28(1): 69-88.
Heath, P.A. & White, R.W. 2008. Defection Detection: Predicting Search Engine Switching.
Poster presentation in proceedings of WWW 2008, Beijing, China.
Ingwersen, P. 1992. Information retrieval interaction. Taylor Graham: London.
Lagozei, C., Kraffti, D.B., Payettei, S. & Jesurogaii, S. 2005. What Is a Digital Library Anymore,
Anyway? D-Lib Magazine, 11(11): 1-23.
Li, G. & Wu, L. 2017. New service system as an information-seeking context: Investigation of an
unfamiliar Discovery Service. Journal of Documentation, 73(5): 1082-1098.
Liu, W. &Su, J. 2018. Online digital library sampling based on query related graph. The
Electronic Library, 36(6): 1082-1098.
Mann, B.J. 2018. United Nations Digital Library. Reference Reviews, 32(6): 17-18.
Marks, T. & Le, A. 2016. Increasing Article Findability Online: The Four C's of Search Engine
Optimization. Retrieved from: https://works.bepress.com/aallcallforpapers/90/ [12 May 2019].
McClure, M. 2009. Vitrium adds sales power to PDFs. Information Today .Retrieved from:
www.infotoday.com [10 May 2019].
McCray, A.T. & Gallagher, M.E. 2001. Principles for Digital Library Development.
Communications of the ACM, 44(5): 49-54.
McMartin, F., Iverson, E., Manduca, C. & Wolf, A. 2006. Factors Motivating Use of Digital
Libraries. In proceedings of JCDL, North Carolina.
Mendelson, E. 2007. A PDQ Guide to PDFs,PC Magazine,p30-31, November.
Mixter, J., OBrien, P. &Arlitsch, K. 2014. Describing Theses and Dissertations Using
Schema.org. In proceedings of the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata
Applications. p138-146.
Schöpfel, J., Zendulkova, D. &Fatemi, O. 2014. Electronic theses and dissertations in CRIS.
41
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In proceedings of CRIS 2014 12th International Conference on Current Research Information
Systems, 13-15 May, Rome, Italy.
Skibinski, P. & Swacha, J. 2009. The efficient storage of text documents in digital libraries.
Information Technology and Libraries: p143-153.
The Stanford Digital Libraries Group. 1995. The Stanford Digital Library Project.
Communications of the ACM, 38(4): 59-60.
Uutoni, W. 2018. Providing digital reference services: a Namibian case study. Information and
Learning Science, 119(5/6): 342-356.
Vaughan, M.W., Degen, H., Resnick, M. &Gremett, P. 2003. Best Practices and Future Visions
for Search User Interfaces: A Workshop. In proceedings of CHI, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA:
1052-1053.
Weideman, M. 2010a. Empirical study on crawler visibility of PDF documents in digital libraries.
In proceedings of The Third IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and
Information Technology (ICCSIT 2010), Chengdu, China. 10 – 13 July. 373-379.
Weideman, M. 2010b. Search engine query generation for effective retrieval of known academic
publications. In proceedings of The Twelfth World Wide Web conference (ZAW3-10), Durban,
SA. Retrieved from: www.web-visibility.co.za/0103-conference-paper-2010-weideman-query-
generation-known-academic-publications.html. [13May 2019].
Weideman, M. 2009. Website Visibility: the theory and practice of improving rankings. Oxford:
Chandos,
White, R.W., Kules, B., Drucker, S.M. & Schraefel, M.C. 2006. Supporting Exploratory Search.
Communications of the ACM, 49(1): 36-39.
Wu, J., William, K., Chen, H.H., Khabsa, M., Caragea, C., Tuarob, S., Orobia, A., Jordan, D.,
Mitra, P. & Giles, C.L. 2014. CiteSeerX: AI in a Digital Library Search Engine. AI Magazine,
4(3): 2930-2937.
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APPENDIX A
University Scoring – Part 1
NO UNIVERSITY CON CWUR THE TOPUNI WEBO TOTAL
1 Stanford NA 19 18 19 19 75
2 Harvard NA 20 15 18 20 73
3 MIT NA 18 17 20 18 73
4 Oxford EU 16 20 15 17 68
5 Cambridge EU 17 19 16 10 62
6 CalTech NA 12 16 17 0 45
7
UCalif,
Berkeley
NA 15 6 0 16 37
8 Princeton NA 14 14 8 0 36
9 Yale NA 10 13 5 7 35
10 Chicago NA 11 11 12 0 34
11 Columbia NA 13 5 3 12 33
12 Cornell NA 7 2 7 13 29
13 Pennsylvania NA 8 8 2 11 29
14 Johns Hopkins NA 5 9 4 9 27
15
Imperial
College London
EU 0 12 13 0 25
16 UCL EU 0 7 14 0 21
17 ETH Zurich
(Swiss Federal
Inst. of Techno) EU 0 10 11 0 21
18
Michigan, Ann
Arbor
NA 3 1 15 0 19
19 UCLA NA 6 4 0 8 18
20 UniWashington NA 0 0 0 14 14
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21
Nanyang
Technical
University,
Singapore
AS 0 0 10 0 10
22 UniTokyo,
Japan AS 9 0 0 0 9
23
Ecole
Polytechnique
Federale de
Lausanne
EU 0 0 9 0 9
24 UCSanDiego NA 1 0 0 6 7
25 UniToronto NA 4 0 0 2 6
26 National Uni of
Singapore,
Singapore AS 0 0 6 0 6
27
Uni of
Wisconsin,
Madison
NA 0 0 0 6 6
28 Duke Uni NA 0 3 0 1 4
29
Uni of
Minnesota,
System
NA 0 0 0 4 4
30 Pennsylvania
State Uni NA 0 0 0 3 3
31
Uni
Washington,
Seattle
NA 2 0 0 0 2
32
The Australian
National
University
AUS 0 0 1 0 1
33 Swiss FedTech EU 0 0 0 0 0
34 WashingtonUni NA 0 0 0 0 0
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APPENDIX B
University Scoring – Part 2
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ACADEMIC LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AS TOOLS
IN DESIGNING PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH IN
INFORMATION LITERACY
Ane Landøy, Angela Repanovici
University of Bergen Library, Norway (ane.landoy@uib.no),
Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania (arepanovici@unitbv.ro)
ABSTRACT:
Information literacy, "(…) the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any
information we find and use. (…)” (CILIP 2018), is an important skill set for academia in the 21st
century. Over the years since its first inception, it has become a key competence for academic
librarians to offer to students.
Although there has always been a need to find, evaluate, and effectively use information, the
abilities needed to do so have just grown larger, more complex, and more important in the
information and communication technology (ICT) environment. There is also a shift towards
broader contexts, to connect information literacy with an active, effective and responsible
citizenship (Virkus, 2003).
Information literacy is about dealing with information overload – how to choose and decide what
is useful and trustworthy. Hence, the focus of information literacy training was different from
Bergen, with a large amount of electronic information resources in 2007, to Brasov, with less
(Repanovici & Landøy 2007; 2014).
Our common interest in information literacy in academic libraries also led us to reach out
internationally, and apply for funding to support the development of IL in academic libraries in
Republic of Moldova, and in the Western Balkans. In this paper, we will show examples of best
practices from the projects.
In the Republic of Moldova, we joined forces with Academy of Economic Sciences (ASEM) in
Chisinau. First, we trained the ASEM librarians, and then we developed a new project, where we
targeted all academic libraries in the republic. In this project, the libraries were supported to
make IL trainings for their students, as well as Open Access and bibliometric services (Landøy et
al 2017).
Transilvania University of Brasov also participated in two Erasmus+ CBHE-projects: One in
Armenia, Moldova and Belarus and one in Western Balkans. In both these projects one of the
modules for staff development is “enhancing librarians’ development in teaching Information
Literacy”.
In this paper we will show how the collaborations from our libraries within development of
information literacy and other issues, has been beneficial for students and academics at our
universities as well as in the international projects we have participated in.
Key words: Collaboration; Norway; Romania; Moldova; Western Balkans; Information literacy;
Academic libraries; Development
1. INTRODUCTION
University of Bergen Library and Transilvania University of Brasov have collaborated for more
than a decade, with a special focus on joint development projects and joint research in Library and
Information Science matters. One aspect of our collaborations is in development of information
literacy (IL), both as a theoretical concept and as practical trainings for our students (Repanovici
& Landøy 2007; 2014).
Our first joint research and development study took place in 2007. Wanting to support and
augment our understandings of students’ acts and attitudes with regard to library usage, we
handed out short and similar paper-based questionnaires. They were given to students in both
libraries, fall term 2007 and spring term 2008. In Bergen we had 93 respondents, 100 in Brasov.
The questionnaires had been developed in Romanian, translated to English and then to
Norwegian. We wanted to explore students conduct and understandings with regard to the use of
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libraries, especially the university library, and the electronic resources provided. (Repanovici &
Landoy 2014)
Students both in Bergen and in Brasov replied that they preferred the Internet as information
source, and wanted to access it from home. At the same time, we found that they were not
knowledgeable with evaluation of electronic information resources, with ethic notions, with
plagiarism and the communication of the results in the scientific research. Thus, this needed to be
taken into consideration when planning information literacy trainings. (Repanovici & Landoy
2014)
The trainings, as they were developed and given, were carefully to evaluated. The post-training
evaluations from students were compared, and used as basic for further development of courses.
“Students find these courses useful and relevant. In evaluations, they give high
marks for relevance, and they also comment upon this when asked, be it written or
oral. When asked what they find relevant, the answers cover both the practical
tools for finding information (databases, journals, other resources, as well as the
new knowledge in searching and evaluating information. Flattering enough for the
library and the actual librarian, students also give the library high marks for
performance, and for the conception of the course.” (Repanovici & Landoy 2007)
Students evidently regarded the course as more relevant if it included practical tasks as a starting
point, and that it would be offered exactly when they needed it. Keeping the students’ concerns
about their use of time in mind when planning meant that we would use different search examples
for different group of students. Professors/university teaching staff told us that they realized their
students had learned new information literacy skills. Also, they realized that they were relieved
from using tutorial time to show students how to evaluate information and how to cite. The
university teaching departments kept asking for courses for more student groups at more levels.
(Repanovici & Landoy 2007)
When information literacy is considered a tool for dealing with information overload – how to
choose and decide what is useful and trustworthy it became obvious that the focus of trainings
would be different from Bergen, with a large amount of electronic information resources in the
library in 2007, to Brasov, with less.
We also share with you the results of our latest research in students’ attitudes to the university
library, and the development of academic libraries:
In 2016 we did a web-survey with Survey Monkey among Transilvania University of Brasov
engineering students, and interviews in Bergen. In Brasov, there were 105 respondents: 27 %
male, 73 % female; 39 % in their first year and 43 % in their 4th year. The student’s ages were
18-21 years: 38%, 22-23: 50 %, over 24:12 %.
In Bergen, there were 12 students interviewed: 5 males, 7 females. 3 at bachelor level and 9 at
master. They were all users of the library. 8 were from the Faculty of humanities, 1 law, 3 from
social sciences, and they were invited to have a coffee and an interview. (Landoy & Repanovici
2016)
We wanted to discover what, if anything, students envisioned as new and interesting trends in
academic libraries. In the survey, the suggestions were formulated in the questions, but in the
interviews, there were no pre-formulated suggestions. (Landoy & Repanovici 2016).
Brasov students wanted the library to be more like a learning centre, providing connection to
electricity and internet (93 of 105 students replied that this was the most important). The second
most important were “boards, video projectors connected to laptops for presentations” (73
students agreed to this), and third “furniture - tables and chairs - which can be moved”. The least
important of the formulated choices was “mobile walls to create various private spaces for
individual or team study”.
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In Bergen, all 12 students would use “boards, video projectors connected to laptops for
presentations” and half would use “furniture - tables and chairs - which can be moved” and
“mobile walls to create various private spaces for individual or team study. Internet and electricity
were not mentioned by any of the students, probably because it is seen as given (Landoy &
Repanovici 2016).
If the library was called “Centre for Technological Transfer”, the Romanian students saw “copy
and printing devices and scanners” as the most important feature, closely followed by “workshops
on various topics of interest” and “laptops and mass-media technology for borrowing”. “Gaming
space” was least important (Fig. 1 Facilities provided by Centre for Technological Transfer).
1 2 3 4 5 Rating Average
Response
Count
2 1 20 32 49 4,20 104
717 34 29 17 3,31 104
02826 69 4,54 105
0 5 12 30 58 4,34 105
0 4 29 35 35 3,98 103
1 4 15 28 55 4,28 103
1 7 12 38 46 4,16 104
0 3 15 37 50 4,28 105
2 6 19 32 46 4,09 105
0413 26 62 4,39 105
2
105
0
Laptops and mass-media technology for borrow (photo
3. Which of the following facili ties should be provided by the Centre for Technologi cal Transfer on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 - l east important, 5 - most important?
Exhibitions of new products by different c ompanies
Answer Options
Workshops on various topics of interes t
skipped question
Online documentation for downloading and usi ng the
An area with 3D printers, supplies and rel ated software
Online documentation regarding the use of the
Gaming space - Lego, chess for stimulati ng creativity
Others
answered question
Copy and printing devices, scanners
Online communication with a speci alized support IT
Training courses for using the vari ous technologies
Fig. 1 Facilities provided by Centre for Technological Transfer
In Bergen, where the majority of the students were from the Faculty of Humanities, the
library/learning centre would be a more interesting place than the centre for technology transfer,
according to the students that we interviewed. All 12 would be interested in relevant books,
journals, media, databases (both printed and electronic) and 9 mentioned study spaces in different
kinds of zones (more or less quiet; with or without computer). 8 found accommodating and
knowledgeable library staff to be important (Landoy & Repanovici 2016).
2. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Our common interest in information literacy in academic libraries also led us to reach out
internationally, and apply for funding to support the development of IL in academic libraries in
Republic of Moldova, and in the Western Balkans.
In the Republic of Moldova, we joined forces with Academy of Economic Sciences (ASEM) in
Chisinau. First, we trained the ASEM librarians, and then we developed a new project, where we
targeted all academic libraries in the republic. In this project, the libraries were supported to make
IL trainings for their students, as well as Open Access and bibliometric services.
The project contains diverse capacity building activities:
– Workshops
– Summer schools
– Study trip to Bergen
– Participation in conferences
– Strategy development
– Learning and sharing best practices
– English language skills
And some networking and content-activities:
– Electronic journals
– Bibliography
– Institutional repositories
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– Academic writing centres
– Dissemination activities
– Project web page
In the project, all 18 academic libraries in Republic of Moldova collaborated, under the guidance
of University of Bergen Library, The scientific library of Academy of Economic Science and our
Romanian expert.
In the project document, it is stated that: “If the project is successful the librarians working in the
academic libraries in Moldova will be better trained for running modern library services. This will
influence the quality of higher education and research. The librarians will have better English
language skills, and will have strengthened their networks, both within and outside Moldova. The
general public will have a better understanding of the importance of libraries.”
Information literacy is only one part of the project, and the practical activities include a week of
summer school, where different aspect of IL in academic libraries, both in Republic of Moldova
and internationally was discussed. The newest trends of IL, Gamification, and Academic Writing
Centres, were also explored. Later, there was a workshop with deliverables: trainings to be
developed and performed, and evaluations to be reported.
Transilvania University of Brasov was head of a TEMPUS project: “Developing information
literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge economy in Western Balkan countries, 2010-2013”.
In this project IL programs for lifelong learning and their use in curricula was developed,
including innovative online IL modules for lifelong learning and the harmonization of the IL
programs with those currently active in Western Balkan countries. The project aimed at
strengthening the capacities of higher education institutions in the Western Balkans for the
strategic planning and implementation of IL programs to instill transferable skills for a
competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy.
http://www.lit.ie/projects/tempus/default.aspx
Transilvania University of Brasov also participated in two Erasmus+ CBHE Projects: (561633)
“Library Network Support Services (LNSS): modernizing libraries in Armenia, Moldova and
Belarus through library staff development and reforming library services” 2015-2018 https://lnss-
projects.eu/amb/curriculum/module-4-information-literacy-research-skills/and (Erasmus+ CBHE
Project 561987) “Library Network Support Services (LNSS): modernizing libraries in Western
Balkans through library staff development and reforming library services” 2015-2018 https://lnss-
projects.eu/bal/
In the 2 ERASMUS + projects one of the modules for staff development is enhancing librarian’s
development in teaching Information Literacy, Module 4, Information Literacy Research Skills
Information Literacy & Research skills- to help learners find and use information effectively and
ethically- this module will cover:
International Information Literacy Standards- SCONUL, ACRL, ALA, ANZIL,
Using Online Information Literacy Modules for teaching Information Literacy
Mind the Information Gap! Knowing the critical information sources and resources
Critically analysing information resources
Referencing citation and Avoiding Plagiarism
Introduction to the Literature Review
Using Electronic Library Databases for your research
Evaluating sources of information
Web & Internet search strategies for the Information Age
Using Bibliographic software for your referencing and research
Academic writing including Dissertation Writing
Becoming a Subject Liaison Librarian: skills for collaborating with Academic staff
Information Literacy for Entrepreneurship
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Train the Trainer: Teaching and pedagogical skills for Librarians.Lnss-projects.eu.
(2019).
In LNSS project developed in Western Balkans, the consortium developed Library Network
Support Services Western Balkans Platform on LibGuides. Lnss-albania.libguides.com.
(2019). (Fig. 2)
The Western Balkan Online Library Platform is a highly inventive, innovative and unique
collaborative reservoir of related library resources and expert content which can be used, shared
and further developed by any Library or Information Center to help develop their service.
Using this resource and platform, the project developed a host of resources, both in English and to
be translated into the language of partners. Libraries in the Western Balkan region are now part of
the international community Springhare, a unique global phenomenon of over 120,000 libraries
from 80 countries.
Fig. 2: The Western Balkan Online Library Platform
(https://lnss-albania.libguides. com/c.php?g=665627&p=4714039)
3. CONCLUSIONS
The collaborations from our libraries within development of information literacy and other issues,
as shown in this paper, has been beneficial for students and academics at our universities and in
the projects, we have participated in.
Project collaboration has generated a strong impact in participating countries. The impact is
measurable through co-published works, courses, summer schools, workshops and trainings
attended by many librarians. The introduction of the Information Literacy course in the
curriculum of many specializations and the awareness of the importance of the Information
Literacy in the academic environment contributes to this. Graduates with abilities to search,
evaluate and ethical use of information will help their easier integration into the labor market and
raising the level of critical thinking of citizens, who are able to think, analyze and make the best
decisions.
Our noble mission proved to be rewarding with professional achievements.
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4. REFERENCES
Chartered institute of library information professionals (CILIP). 2018. New definition
https://infolit.org.uk/definitions-models/ Accessed May 2nd 2018.
Landoy, A. & Repanovici, A. 2016. “How to explore trends and challenges for building future
libraries” Presentation at QQML2016 in London.
LANDOY, A. et al. Innovative and Sustainable Information Services for Moldovan Higher
Education: Evaluation of Moldavian Libraries System. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in
Libraries, [S.l.], v. 4, n. 2, p. 451-461, June 2017. ISSN 2241-1925. Available at:
<http://www.qqml-journal.net/index.php/qqml/ article/view/260>. Date accessed: 17 mar. 2019.
Repanovici, A., & Landoy, A. 2007. Information literacy applied on electronic resources,
practices from Brasov, Romania and Bergen, Norway. In Proceedings of the World Library and
Information Congress: 73rd IFLA General Conference 2007. Durban, South Africa: IFLA.
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/3522. Accessed August 1, 2018.
Repanovici, A., & Landoy, A. 2014. Digital Library in a Collaborative Context: Romania and
Norway 2003-2012. In S. Chakraborty, & A. Das (Eds.), Collaboration in International and
Comparative Librarianship (pp. 257-272). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-
4365-9.ch021
Virkus, S. 2003. Information literacy in Europe: A literature review. Information Research: An
International Electronic Journal, 8(4), 159.
Lnss-projects.eu. (2019). LNSS Armenia | Module 4: Information Literacy Research Skills.
[online] Available at: https://lnss-projects.eu/amb/curriculum/module-4-information-literacy-
research-skills/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].
Lnss-albania.libguides.com. (2019). LNSS Platform. [online] Available at: https://lnss-albania
52 WBIMLC 2019
THE ROLE OF MOOCs IN ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL FOUR
Mohammad Fakhrul Islam
Stamford University Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
hemelmbaru@gmail.com
Tania Akter
Britannia University
Cumilla, Bangladesh
taniacou08@gmail.com
Ratko Knezevic
University of Bihac
Bosnia and Herzegovina
ratko.knezevic@unbi.ba
ABSTRACT
Purpose- Education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development.
More specifically, Education for All has been a core issue of international development.
Sustainable Development Goals in Education (SDG 4) is “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (Uvalić-Trumbić& Daniel, 2016,
p. 35). MOOCs can be the handy way to achieve such inclusive and quality education for
achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MOOCs changes the way of teaching as well
with the help of electronic resources which can make our classroom more meaningful and
efficient ever than before. Through the proper use of electronic resources student can gain
knowledge more practically, more visualization is possible which can make long-term benefits for
the learners and practitioners which leads us towards the attainment of Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). This paper is aiming at illustrating the potential of MOOCs for achieving the
Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) as binding for all nations of our planet
which eventually affects all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Design/methodology/approach – The study is descriptive in nature based solely on secondary
data. To accomplish the objectives of the study, authors reviewed (Exhaustive Content Analysis)
related prior surveys, reports, articles and studies. Systematic charts, statistics, graphs and
related tools were used to visualize how MOOCs helps to attain sustainable development in
education.
Findings – This study indicated how MOOCs are valuable to give quality, inclusive education
and what the future extents of MOOCs are. Explicit consideration is given to why students use
MOOCs and what the potential drawbacks to MOOCs are. Finally, it showed how MOOCs helps
to accomplish the sustainable development goals.
Research limitations-The study was solely based on secondary data. It could be better to impart
some primary data with respective respondents to generalize the implications of the study.
Originality/ Value- This study has drawn attention to the importance of the relationships between
MOOCs and sustainable development attainment in the current context. The findings have
significant implications for researchers and practitioners. Despite the existence of research on
sustainable development, no empirical study was conducted particularly on MOOCs towards
sustainable development related research.
Keywords: MOOCs, Education, Sustainable development Goals (SDGs), Bangladesh.
1. INTRODUCTION
“Narrow the gaps. Bridge the divides. Rebuild trust by bringing people together around common
goals. Unity is our path. Our future depends on it.”(António Guterres,Secretary-General of the
United Nations, 2018). So, to build a better future, Heads of State and Government of the 193
member countries of the United Nations adopted agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG):
2030 on September 2015. The creation of this path to promote sustainable development was
undertaken through the setting up of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets.
The 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace and
prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. The SDGs cover social and economic
development issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, global warming, gender
equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice (UN Report,
2016).
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Education for All has been a concept at the heart of international development since 1990, firstly
within the Millennium Development Goals and more recently within the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), most notably as SDG 4, ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ (Uvalić-Trumbić& Daniel, 2016).
In addition to that, ‘SDG 4 is to be achieved through the accomplishment of ten targets, which
together represent the most comprehensive and ambitious agenda for global education ever
attempted’ (OECD, 2017 p. 27).
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to
improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools
required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems. More recently the
OECD has noted: Making SDG 4 a reality will transform lives around the globe. ‘Education is so
central to the achievement of a sustainable, prosperous and equitable planet that failure to
achieve this particular SDG puts at risk the achievement of the 17 SDGs as a whole. It is well
recognized that education plays a critical role in eradicating poverty and steering the vision for
prosperous and sustainable development’ (OECD, 2017 p. 27). Probably Nobel laureate Malala
Yousafzai says the best line in short so far about the importance of education for attaining SDGs
which is “All the SDGs come down to education”. A World at School's Policy and Advocacy
Director Kolleen Bouchane (2015) said: "Education has a unique power to catalyze gains in other
areas. Very few, if any, health or economic interventions will be sustainable without gains in
education.”
While education, and higher education, are seen as critical to the SDGs there are those who see
distance education (Through MOOCs) as playing a central role (e.g., Uvalić-Trumbić& Daniel,
2016), those who see open educational resources as important (MacKinnon, Pasfield-Neofitou,
Manns, & Grant, 2016), others who forefront education for sustainable development (e.g.,
Gokool-Ramdoo&Rumjaun, 2016).MOOCs, a term introduced in 1998 by Jay Cross, founder of
the Internet Time Group, has become extremelypopular. Nowadays, it has become a viable
alternative to traditional education methods, so it has been adopted by many institutions, countries
across the globe especially because of the possibility of wide access. According to CIPD (2013),
MOOCs can be defined as ‘learning that is delivered, enabled or mediated using electronic
technology for the explicit purpose of training, learning or development in organizations. While
the definition provided by Kaplan-Leiserson (2002) seems to be comprehensive, it shows the
different forms MOOCs may take. This definition is ‘MOOCs is education or training courses
delivered to remote locations via synchronous or asynchronous means of instruction, including
written correspondence, text, graphics, audio or video tape, CD-ROM, MOOCs,
videoconferencing interactive TV, facsimile, and the World Wide Web’ (cited by Stone, D. and
Dulebohn, J, 2013).
MOOCs can be handy and effective way to attain SDG 4 in many ways. Massive open online
courses (MOOCs) are free open education offered through online platforms which is an important
tool to achieve Goal 4 (Patru, Mariana; Balaji, Venkataraman, 2016). MOOCs can play a crucial
role in reducing the ‘Digital Divide’ and strengthening ‘Democratization of Education’ (Anshu
Miglani and Ashish Kumar Awadhiya, 2017, p.58). MOO Csoffers the access to quality education
to the learners in a cost effective way irrespective of their location (Fozdar & Kumar, 2007).
Mobile Learning (m-Learning) have emerged as a trend in the field of education. It is removing
the time and geographical barriers for learning by placing learning opportunities at the fingertips
of learners (Awadhiya, A. K., & Miglani, A. 2016).
Quality education influences the trajectory of an individual’s actions for decades and, in a
collective sense, determines the course of human society itself. In other words, progress with the
rest of the SDGs critically depends on advancing SDG 4 (P.S. Narayan, 2017). So, with
improved education, so many other areas are positively affected. In short, education has the
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power to make the world a better place what sustainability actually means. MOOCs help to attain
SDG 4 and eventually all the SDGs will affect positively towards attainment within 2030.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Education is, therefore, also considered as the bedrock of the socio-economic, cultural and
political uplift of a society or a country. Education is necessary because it acquaints people with
the need-based skills, knowledge and information in their respective fields. Education strengthens
the capabilities of the people and helps to bring them up as the knowledge population (Ritimoni
B.2018).Although the benefits of education for the individual are clear, the aggregate effects on
economic growth are more difficult to measure and remain a matter of dispute (Krueger and
Lindahl,2001; Pritchett, 1997; and Bloom and Canning, 2004).The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) highlighted the potential role of education in relation to
sustainable development (Rickinson, Lundholm, & Hopwood, 2009).Education is held to be
central to sustainability (McKeowyn 2000). Indeed, education and sustainability are inextricably
linked.
Access to Education and Training Resources: As documented in the accompanying background
paper -‘An Analysis of the Role of ICTs to Achieving the MDGs-A Background Paper’, a number
of the African countries including Rwanda, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria,
Tunisia and many others are implementing various forms of education programs and initiatives
using ICTs to improve and widen access to educational resources in a number of ways including:
improved access to learning materials and resources, widening of access to education through
MOOCs etc. A number of these initiatives are contributing to promoting universal primary
education in a number of these countries.
MOOCs can be raised as an alternative way for making education accessible and for providing
scope for skill-based education at a minimum cost. In fact, MOOCs, in particular, can play a
significant role in transforming and empowering the vibrant adult population of a country into
productive human resources by providing need-based training and equipping them with need-
based skills, which are necessary for maintaining a decent standard of living (Ritimoni B., 2018).
But there are no such studies have made on the role of MOOCs as an aid of attaining SDG 4 and
eventually the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some studies also
contributed to demonstrate the ways of achieving SDGs and challenges of attainment of some
particular goal(s). But no such study was conducted on the impact of MOOCs on the attainment
of SDG 4 (Quality Education). These gaps call for further empirical studies such as the current
study to add to the literature.
3. METHODOLOGY
The study is descriptive in nature based solely on secondary data. To accomplish the objectives of
the study, authors reviewed related articles, Statistics, News, Conventions and studies. Systematic
charts, graphs and related tools were used to visualize how MOOCs helps to attain Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) particularly in education (SDG 4). The study uses following
conceptual framework to examine how MOOCs helps nations to attain sustainable development
goals in education (SDG 4) and eventually the all 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Conceptual framework of the research:
Figure: How MOOCs aid to attain SDG 4 and SDGs
E-Learning
Attainment of
SDG 4
SDG 4
Quality
Education
SDGs: 17
Goals
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4. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Sustainable Development Goal 4 is the education-related goal of the United National 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015. Its overall aim is: to: “ensure
inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
MOOCs offer education through online platforms. The (initial) philosophy of MOOCs were to
open up quality education to a wider audience. As such, MOOCs are an important tool to achieve
Goal 4 ("Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all"). SDG Dashboards (2018) provides the latest updates (detail in Appendix)
of SDG 4. Here, the study will provide a roadmap for achieving the 10 targets (7 outcome targets
and 3 implementation targets) which constitute SDG4 (Quality education) though using E-
learning and related means. By reviewing related studies, cases, events the study tried to
summarize that, how the MOOCs help to achieve each targets of SDG 4. The findings are
summarized as below:
Seven Outcome Targets
4.1 Universal primary and secondary education
Access to a basic education (Primary and or secondary) is the fundamental right of every child on
earth. Educational access increased enormously in the past century. Illiteracy fell dramatically and
a higher proportion of people are completing primary, secondary, or tertiary education than ever
before. Despite this progress, however, in some parts of the world, this privilege appears to be far
out of reach. There are approximately 57 million children who do not attend school, due to living
in remote or conflict-affected areas, or caring for sick parents or orphaned children. Moreover, the
numbers of children needing secondary schooling are considerable. Some 400 million children
from 12 to 17 are not in school (Binder, 2006). While MOOCs will never completely replace
formal schooling, still it is a valuable tool available for those limited by the constraints of
having to be somewhere at a specific time and place to attend classes. MOOCs can shift the way
in which education is delivered and accessed, and assist students in remote and regional locations
to obtain a basic/fair education.
For example, MOOCs are now use as a means of making education more accessible to the
African continent, regardless of gender, race, religion or geographical locality. Some African
countries are using ICTs to create new avenues for access to schooling for the underserved
communities and vulnerable groups (Clement Dzidonu, 2010). As documented in the
accompanying background paper -‘An Analysis of the Role of ICTs to Achieving the MDGs-A
Background Paper’, a number of the African countries including Rwanda, Ghana, Ethiopia,
Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia and many others are implementing various forms of
MOOCs programs and initiatives using ICTs to improve and widen access to educational
resources in a number of ways including: improved access to learning materials and resources,
widening of access to education through MOOCs etc. A number of these initiatives are
contributing to promoting universal primary education in a number of these countries.
By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and
secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
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4.2 Early childhood development and universal pre-primary education
Basic education builds on preschool education and education in the family. It is the only the stage
of education, that all pupils have to. Basic education is divided to primary education and
secondary education (J. Tupy & J. Jerabek, 2007). Quality early childhood development and pre-
primary education so important to following education of a child. MOOCs can be handy in that
particular time of education. Studies have shown that children learn by using their senses. It is
assumed that the sense of sight and hearing are the most important senses in the learning process.
Shepherd Chimururi, the executive director of an audio and visual learning company in
Zimbabwe, observed the positive impact of both audio and visual elements in the classroom.
When he compared the abilities of two children, he realized that the child who had watched a
video of a trumpeting elephant had a longer lasting and clearer image of the scenario than the
child who had only seen a picture of the elephant. MOOCs has this positive impact on learning
because children develop better hand-eye coordination and motor skills. These skills help them to
form clearer images and improve their capabilities to solve problems. Besides learning skills,
MOOCs can help children to develop emotional and social skills. MOOCs can have a powerful
impact on children’s behavior. Christopher Pappas, founder of The Industry’s Network,
explains that MOOCs software that uses bright colors and images can increase the engagement of
learners. In practice, children are more motivated to learn when they see an interactive and
colorful screen in comparison to a boring black and white map on paper. MOOCs platforms also
provide a range of multimedia tools which help children to communicate with other children and
teachers. Through cooperation and interaction, kids learn new topics more easily and have
better insights (Anne Steinhoff, 2016).
Many digital tools enable the connection between two children, two countries, and two cultures.
For example, Glovico is an organization which offers real-time courses with native teachers. A
connected device and Skype are sufficient to link a child in a developing country with a native
teacher anywhere else in the world. Moreover, Glovico is a Social Businesses which operates
specifically in developing countries. Glovico permits people from developing countries to be
teachers and earn additional income and enables children to get foreign language classes from
home.
4.3 Equal success to technical/vocational and higher education
That particular target asserts that, It is imperative to reduce barriers to skills development and
technical and vocational education and training (TVET), starting from the secondary level, as
well as to tertiary education, including university, and to provide lifelong learning opportunities
for youth and adults. The provision of tertiary education should be made progressively free, in
line with existing international agreements.
Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) is one of the manpower development programmes of
study that is attracting the attention of various countries around the world. MOOCs have changed
the face of education, training and vocational learning forever (Draves, 2002).
Ueno, Maomi (2004) conducted a study that, proposes a model of transnational technical and
vocational education and training (TVET) delivery through the use of MOOCs. The results from
this trial indicate that the use of MOOCs is a very efficient method for delivering TVET between
countries and in promoting communities of practice. In the study of Muhammad Bappa-Aliyu
• By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary
education
• By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and
quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including
university
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(2012), which aim to assess the Necessities of integrating MOOCs in Technical and Vocational
Education, the study concluded that MOOCs is so significant that no any TVE program can afford
to neglect, thereby recommending its full implementation in all areas of TVE and practically
oriented courses. The use of interactive electronic media has proven advantageous in recent study
on vocational and technical education students and even seen as a solution to shortage of staff and
materials in the field (Karahocaa, et-al, 2010). Eventually, MOOCs is the right direction to move
towards for TVET institutions in developing countries. There should also be gradual investment
in MOOCs in developing countries in order to increase prospects of future growth and
development in these economies. TVET systems in Africa are slowly and steadily also starting to
move towards implementing MOOCs in their teaching learning process (Edwin Obwoge, M., &
Stela Kwamboka, O. 2016).
4.4 Relevant skills for decent work
Today, the young people who represent the world’s most dynamic human resources are almost
three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. Young people aged 15 to 24 make up 18%
of the global population but 40% of the global unemployed. (Silvia Montoya, 2018). Here TVET
is also crucial, because it is estimated that 80% of the jobs undertaken worldwide require
technical and vocational skills (UNESCO 2005).In 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, workers hold a job for an average of 4.2 years before moving on. And 35% of
workplace skills in all industries are expected to change by 2020, according to the World
Economic Forum (Forbes: William Arruda, 2018)
MOOCs can be useful ways to improve access to skills training (ILO). According to Karmakar
(2000), MOOCs creates opportunities for organizations in the following ways: save time, cost,
and effort; satisfy educational needs from remote areas; provide self-learning opportunities; have
a positive impact on the learning process and provide a mechanism for collaborative learning
which leads to relevant work for generations to come. MOOCs can be raised as an alternative way
for making education accessible and for providing scope for skill-based education at a minimum
cost. In fact, MOOCs, in particular, can play a significant role in transforming and empowering
the vibrant adult population of a country into productive human resources by providing need-
based training and equipping them with need-based skills, which are necessary for maintaining a
decent standard of living. (Ritimoni Bordoloi, 2018). Across the world, health workers are using
ICTs as a medium of MOOCs to remind parents about their children’s vaccinations; farmers are
using them to market their crops; and once voiceless people are coming together as never before
to make their voices heard.
4.5 Gender equality and inclusion
The primary objective of the MOOCs is to provide knowledge and skills to those who did not
have access to learning. MOOCs contribute to remove gender equality by giving women and girls
improved access to education (Patru, Mariana; Balaji, Venkataraman, 2016). Students with
disabilities, rural students, students with parental responsibilities and job holders are populations
• By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all
levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons
with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
• By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have
relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment,
decent jobs and entrepreneurship
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who now have increased access to higher education due to MOOCs. Access limited by the
location of the student, life circumstances that cannot be changed, or responsibilities that cannot
be ignored, no longer act as barriers to higher education (Susan L. Renes,2015).MOOCs/e-
teaching for students with disabilities provides the e-environment for them to learn (Bjekiü et al.
2012). Today, e-education (MOOCs/e-teaching is the central part of e-education) of students with
disabilities is already widespread (Barrett, 2011). In India, Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU), they established some Special study centers for some identified groups
(Women, Minority community, physically challenged, rural community Residents of Remote and
Isolated areas, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes 9. Jail inmates) those are not in formal
education. The Study Centers are using successfully MOOCs mediums to make them include in
education. So, MOOCs tool ensures easy access to education for all in turn promotes inclusive
education.
4.6 Universal youth literacy
Literacy continues to be a pressing global challenge: nearly 760 million adults worldwide are
illiterate and up to 250 million children are not acquiring basic skills even though half of them are
in school. This data also shows the urgent need for imparting education to millions of people
living in this world. But can new digital technologies finally help crack the literacy problem?
Therefore, democratization of education is an absolute necessity so that everyone can get equal
opportunity in education without any bias and differentiation. However, for proliferating the
benefits of education, there is an urgent need to reduce the disparities present in the Indian
education system, and make education accessible in the real sense, so that everyone irrespective
of caste, class, religion, sex, place, occupation, etc. can avail the benefits of education.
MOOCs is particularly useful for inspiring young students to achieve these benefits. MOOCs can
help students transcend the limitations of their geographic locations, conquer their financial
difficulties, overcome time constraints, solve their problems and better their lives in every
imaginable way. At present in India, Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds
(SWAYAM), has been introduced by the Ministry of HRD, GOI, where teachers from institutions
like the IITs, IIMs, and central universities have been offering online courses to the citizens of
India to inspire and include youths to have educations.
4.7 Citizenship education for sustainable development
MOOCs is the unifying term to describe the fields of online learning, web-based training and
technology-delivered instruction. Nothing is changing as fast as all the terms related to MOOCs.
It is evident that MOOCs has transformed our society as 'knowledge society' (Claudia Blezu,
2008). Through the online media people are getting updates from all around. Different online
educational platforms, Data banks, portals are helping students to get knowledge in different
aspects like Education, Economy, Social, international issues. Through the rooming online
platforms, a learner can learn any aspect as he/she likes with no time, thus got the necessary
knowledge, information and facts of the esteemed area of learning.
• By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both
men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
• By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for
sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality,
promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable
development.
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Three means of implementation
4.8 An Effective Learnings environment
MOOCs can become a great addition to the traditional learning process, making it more diverse
and allowing students from all over the world to gain additional knowledge about certain subjects.
However, it’s important to develop both types of educational technologies equally and learn how
to combine them in a most effective way in order to get the best results. Today's learners want
relevant, mobile, self-paced, and personalized content. This need is fulfilled with using e-leaning;
here, students can learn at their own comfort and requirement. The time required to learn through
MOOCs is reduced to 25%-60% of what is required in traditional learning. As eLearning is a
paperless way of learning, it protects the environment to a lot of extent. As per a study done on
MOOCs courses, it has been found that distance-based learning programs consumed around 90%
less power and generated 85% less amount of CO2 emissions as compared to traditional campus-
based educational courses. With eLearning, there is no need to cut trees for obtaining paper. Thus,
eLearning is a highly eco-friendly way of learning. MOOCs delivers following benefits which are
very crucial to build a proper learning environment: Online learning Accommodates Everyone’s
Needs, Lectures Can Be Taken Any Number of Times, offers Access to Updated Content, Quick
Delivery of Lessons, Scalability, Consistency, Reduced Costs, Effectiveness, Greener approach,
flexibility and Less Impact on Environment etc. Due to the wide set of benefits it gives to
students; MOOCs has become quite popular and appreciated among students all over the world.
4.9 Scholarships
In line with the SDG4 -Education 2030 focus on equity, inclusion and quality, scholarships
should be transparently targeted at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. With tuition
rates raising an average of 3.5% every year, scholarships are one of the best ways to reduce these
growing costs and scholarship search platforms exist to help students find the most relevant one.
Online platforms are the easiest way to search and apply scholarships worldwide. Though there
are few steps or actions still prevailing in the path of scholarships but these are minimal, we
should say. Communicating with concern professor, having information of scholarships,
preparing proposal and related works are getting a piece of cake than before through extensive
use of online platforms.
4.10 Teachers and educators
• Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender
sensitive and provide safe, non-
violent, inclusive and effective learning
environments for all.
• By 2030, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to
developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island
developing States and African coun
tries, for enrolment in higher education,
including vocational training and information and communications technology,
technical, engineering and scientific programs, in developed countries and other
developing countries
• By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through
international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially
least developed countries and small island developing States
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‘MOOCs have the potential to revolutionize the way we teach and how we learn’ (DfES, 2003).
Over the past years, MOOCs has become a vital source of expansion and studying in education.
Due to the opportunities created by MOOCs, teaching and learning can now happen at any time
and in anywhere. The explosive growth of the World Wide Web (WWW) has made information
technology a popular platform for providing e-service, MOOCs service (Richard & Haya, 2009;
Fry, K., 2001). MOOCs could be an effective tool for transferring knowledge and it has a
potential to overtake the traditional teaching method. Web-based training helps facilitate learners
and instructors in educational environment. Tao et al. (2006) really thought that this new learning
environment was centered on electronic networks had found a way for undergraduate to have
learning schedules that is more suitable for them as well as separate from other students (Tao, Y.
H., Yeh, C. R., & Sun, S. I., 2006). With the developing of computer and Internet technologies,
this technology has a high interaction and collaboration level between instructors or lectures and
peers than traditional environment for learning (Giddens, A., 2001). Hence, MOOCs system
might be able to deliver a broad array of solutions to enable learning and improve students’
performance. There are numbers of advantages for using this technology and learning materials in
the university classroom (Hassan, M. S., 2007): More active learning class, Diversified teaching
method, Better student attention and realization, Effective time management for lecturer’s, and
Visual stimulation. The major advantage of MOOCs lies in its flexibility and ability to cover
distances. The curriculum can be repeated until it is understood by the students. Hence full time
and part time undergraduates can take part in their degree courses selected from any place or
location so students can gain multiple learning ways depending on their needs (Aggarwal, D.,
2009).
Above analysis clearly exerts that, MOOCs certainly a handy way to attain every targets of SDG
4 and eventually the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
5. CHALLENGES TO ATTAIN SDG4 THROUGH MOOCs:
Just as a glass may be half full, it may also be half empty. MOOCs do have its pros and cons. The
pros are mostly focused on the availability, low costs, and flexibility of the whole process. The
cons, however, are mostly about the personal and emotional factors. Thus, the challenges to attain
SDG 4 with using MOOCs are:
• Since MOOCs is based on Internet technology and it creates a virtual “class room” for the
students; therefore, it depends on Internet connection. Also, this technology requires
students to have a massive technical skills and Internet connection with high bandwidth to
download the materials from the courses and upload their tasks or work with e-system.
• Tsai and Weng’s (2015) study pointed out that social support from mentors and peers
(usually a neglected factor) has significant effect on students’ learning satisfaction; also,
family support affects students’ continuous intentions to participate online courses.
Therefore, MOOCs may possibly deteriorate institutions’ role of socialization. Traditional
education allows students to socialize, to make new friends, and to learn something more
from their professors. With MOOCs, this can be hard (if not impossible) to achieve.
That’s why some students might feel isolated and deprived of support.
• Since tests for assessments in MOOCs are possibly done with the use of proxy, it is very
difficult to regulate bad activities like cheating.
• MOOCs depend on technology a lot. Therefore, equipment failure is an obstacle to
implement proper MOOCs.
• Cloud computing facilities are not familiar to each and every one. But these are the
mighty way to implement successful MOOCs system.
• While MOOCs might look like a learning tool available to anyone, in reality, it’s not. Not
all people have stable internet access and computers that are powerful enough to support
online streaming.
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• Some might have all the necessary technologies but struggle with using it. For example,
older students might find it hard to master all the newest tech gigs. This problem,
however, can be solved by offering them some proper tutorials.
• Being able to learn at a comfortable pace and organize your learning on your own is a
disaster for some students. While some people are good in self-organization, some cannot
do this without having a clear deadline on writing a term paper and the need to report
their progress to the teacher. Some can do so but still feel better working and learning
around people because it motivates them more.
• The feedback is one of the biggest drivers of students’ progress. The students are able to
improve only when they know their flaws and weak points. While online instructors do
give students feedback, they still might not have enough time to work with them properly,
explaining every detail. This could lead to some students falling behind, having gaps in
their knowledge, and not completing the course successfully enough.
6. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
• Today, still only 47% of the world’s population has access to the internet. In some
regions, such as the Arab States and the Asia-Pacific, the rate of internet access is even
lower — and in Sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is a dismal 25%. Even for those who have
access, the reading material on the internet is of widely varying quality, while digital
devices pose their own problems of use and abuse.
• It must be noted, though, that MOOCs will require some technological skills for students
and teacher. Moreover, ability for collaborative work and autonomy are necessary, to
avoid isolation.
• A considerable investment of time and effort, especially in the case of the teacher, is
needed. This will help to ensure the involvement and commitment of all students.
• Compared to traditional teaching, students acquire a greater role. More participation and
responsibility is expected from them. This requirement of discipline from the student will
teach him to develop habits and skills such as managing your time, motivation and
organizational skills, all of them vital to the workplace.
• MOOCs must be linked to the core policies and strategies of education and research.
• Training should be provided to the facilitators, teachers and all concerned officials of
regarding proper use MOOCs.
• Above all, government needs to develop a MOOCs Policy to provide support for the
deployment of digital technologies and affordable broadband and Internet services across
the length and breadth of the country to address the “digital divide.”
7. LIMITATIONS AND SCOPE OF FUTURE STUDY
The paper gives an overview of some of the existing initiatives that were taken to aid in achieving
SDG 4. The impacts of MOOCs on sustainable education were illustrated thoroughly and shown
the importance of MOOCs as critical success factor for achieving the SDG 4 eventually all the
SDGs. But, the study was solely based on secondary data. It could be better to impart some
primary data with respective respondents to generalize the implications of the study.
8. CONCLUSION
At a special UN summit in September 2015 world leaders adopted a new vision for global
development: “Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The
Sustainable Development Goals provide a ‘recipe’ for countries to be productive and prosperous,
resulting in populations that are well-educated and well-equipped for employment in the
21st century. Education plays in developing the knowledge and skills of people for a socially
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progressive society and a vibrant knowledge-based economy (Council of Ministers of Education,
2012). Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) empowers people to change the way they
think and work towards a sustainable future" (UNESCO). ESD is the process of equipping
students with the knowledge and understanding, skills and attributes needed to work and live in a
way that safeguards the three dimensions of SDGs as: environmental, social and economic
wellbeing, both in the present and for future generations.
And, MOOCs can facilitate as well as strengthen the education to a significant extent. It is
because MOOCs can easily provide quality education and global learning at the doorstep of the
people at a cheaper cost. It also encourages people to share their knowledge and innovative
thoughts by using various means of MOOCs in a wider context. The cons of MOOCs, however,
are mostly about the personal and emotional factors. Most of them aren’t critical and can be easily
fixed with time. Thus, MOOCs surely works as critical success factor for achieving the SDG 4
eventually attaining all sustainable development goals (SDGs).
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BLOCKCHAIN: ITS MEANING AND VALUE FOR
INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCES
Tolga Medeni
AYBU, MIS, tolgamedeni@gmail.com
Tunç Medeni
AYBU, MIS, tuncmedeni@gmail.com
Demet Soylu
AYBU, DIM, bunchnoble@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Technology provides supportive tools to improve and enhance our lives. Currently, one of these
tools is the blockchain. Blockchain could be defined as an architecture to establish networked
applications between the joining parties. With its theoretical structure, solid, alteration-protected
system and applications can be built. Through that, users can access knowledge without
hesitating to trust its source. Accordingly, any person can upload any written content to the
blockchain, which in return suggests a new, decentralized way of recording, storing and sharing
data and information. In this work possible research and practical implications of blockchain will
be discussed with a focus on library sciences and social media.
Key words: Block-chain Architecture, Intellectual Property, Authentic Works, Library Services,
Media Content
1. INTRODUCTION
Technology itself gives supportive tools to build up and enrich our modern lives. If it is taken as
so-called technological fashion, we may divide the evolution of the computer science into several
eras. Between 50s to 70s that was Artificial Intelligence (AI), between 70s to 80s that was
Personal Computers (PCs), in 90s that was Internet, in 2000s that was mobile Phones, in 2010s
that was the mobilized Internet and currently it is blockchain smart contracts and also AI, again.
From an application developer perspective, blockchain could be defined as an architecture to
establish networked applications between the joining parties (Bogner, Chanson and Meeuw,
2016). Speaking of what would come from this structure is the possible inter-applications
transparency, the applications would know the existence of each other. Think about an
architecture that help to keep track of all the data records and meta information of the application,
this will lead to no redundant work, no redundant content. This will help to understand and
explain why the applications created and why the digital content is being exist.
From the information and knowledge management perspective, people can easily know each
other, and a smart system can easily create semantic connections based on a blockchain. From a
computer scientist perspective, it could be defined as a complex linked list, which every chain is
connected with previous chain ring, and it is created over its previous chain rings. (Hamida,
2017). With its theoretical structure, solid, alteration-protected system and applications can be
built.
Until now, the software engineering has been evolved for applications that were created by the
organizations, the teams and also individuals. The most well-known and currently in use tools
could be presented as life-cycle models (a wide variety of, from classical to agile, (Sommerville,
2015)) and standards such as IEEE’s Software Project Management Plan (SPMP) (IEEE,1998),
Software Design Description (SDD) (IEEE 2009) and Software Requirements Specification
(SRS) (IEEE,1998). The base tools have been evolved since the 70s. Even with the current
structure, software engineering discipline suffers for not being a solid, very well-defined
engineering discipline to give direct solutions to the different projects (Brooks, 1986). In this
perspective, a new challenge is near for the Software Engineering, the so called blockchain based
development and unfortunately, the discipline is not ready for this challenge. However, for the
scientists, who are currently working under the title of software engineers and related disciplines
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such as information technologies, management information systems etc., this also brings new
opportunities to continue on research.
At the moment, even the blockchain seems to concentrate on financial applications, its potential
has been grown with the implementation of smart contract into specific systems architectures built
over well-known blockchain projects such as Ethereum (Ethereum.org, 2019), and Hyperledger
(Hyperledger.org, 2019). In this environment, for the sake of coming new software engineering
challenges, it is required to look at from a scientific perspective.
2. CURRENT POTENTIAL RESEARCH SUBJECTS ON BLOCKCHAIN:
Currently every well-known Information Technology (IT) companies, (such as Facebook, Oracle,
SAP, among others, try to build up their own blockchain structures and teams to answer coming
demands from their customers. There are many magazine news available on the social media and
blogs. However, these are not formally announced by the companies.) Based on our research, the
required areas could be listed as follows:
2.1. Development methodologies:
Current development methodologies focused especially answer to the demand of organizational
requirements. It could be structured based, object oriented based or even component based. All
applications and systems could be created through classical models such as waterfall etc. to
contemporary models such as spiral model, among others. (Details of development model and
methodologies are out of the scope of this paper, however as given as reference, Sommerville’s
Software Engineering is one of the main course books). However, for the blockchain based
applications, there is not any predefined models. From the scientific perspective, this subject is
open for studies.
2.2. Standards:
From the software project management, there are three main standards available, SPMP, SRS and
SDD. These standards are very well defined for the solo applications. In an environment, every
applications, systems and users know each other, these basic standards also required to be
updated. Also, specific requirements will be need based on the specific sectoral requirements.
2.3. Data, information, knowledge and content management:
Currently data management mostly structured over Relational Database Management Systems. To
answer the requirements of transactions, NOSQL oriented databases also started to be in-use. In a
blockchain structure the following questions rises such as, how to carry previously created data
into a blockchain, how the simple CRUD operations will be executed and especially, how a
search mechanism such as in search engines currently is run, and how this system could be
implemented to maintain digital copyright and intellectual rights. To answer all these questions,
new algorithms and best practices will be also researched. Through that, users can access
knowledge without hesitating to trust its source. Accordingly, any person can upload any written
content to the blockchain, which in return suggests a new, decentralized way of recording, storing
and sharing data and information.
2.4. Security:
Even the currently whitepapers explain the blockchain as the most secure environment, there will
be always breaches. This is also another area of study which will require special attention.
Especially with a current development in the Quantum Computing, old blocks of the chain rings
that were encrypted without Quantum Computers will be opened for possible issues.
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2.5. Operating System:
Ethereum is advertised as a “big distributed operating system”. From this perspective, this will
also require studying on subjects of the basic operating systems concepts and the applicability of
current best practices.
2.6. Distributed Computing:
Not only just for the mining purposes, but also computational purposes, there is a big architecture
that will be available for the researchers. Especially with the current CPU and GPU based
distributed computing, a blockchain, which will combine all the system architectures could be
part new studies.
2.7. Application Development Framework:
From Microsoft’s .Net Framework, Sun’s (or currently Oracle’s) Java Virtual Machine (JVM),
Google’s Android platform the Apple’s IOS, the separate framework are available for the
developers. There will also specific platforms, cross-platform development toolkits or the updated
platforms concentrated on the work over blockchain platforms available. The question rises, is it
possible to deploy them through a specific platform..?
2.8. Application:
Theoretically speaking, currently every application developed previously with other structures can
be deploy to blockchain. Applications also will be evolved to work on this architecture.
2.9. Business Processes:
Processes are very important for the organizations to keep alive in the business world. From a
document management system to supply the requirements of the main functional processes of the
organizations, several different business process oriented systems have been developed.
Blockchain and smart contracts actually in development for the inter and extra organizational
processes between organizations and their stakeholders.
2.10. Artificial Intelligence:
Deep learning and information retrieval requires high computation power. With the power of
interconnected systems, each party can easily act as a nerve of the nervous system. This means,
for the real game changer AI application, blockchain would be the establisher.
3. THE BLOCK-CHAIN USE TO ENSURE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND
AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS (A PLAGIARISM TOOL TO BE UTILIZED IN
LIBRARIES):
Whether it is a so-called possible technological fashion, blockchain, the architecture to establish
networked applications between the joining parties, provides the theoretical structure, solid,
alteration-protected system based on which applications for library sciences can also be built.
Through that, users can access knowledge without hesitating to trust its source. Accordingly, any
person can upload any written content to the blockchain, which in return suggests a new,
decentralized way of recording, storing and sharing data and information. For libraries and other
knowledge-intensive institutions it could also be used to build a metadata system and an enhanced
network, which could keep track of ‘digital-first sale rights and ownership’ and support
‘community-based-borrowing’, skill-sharing and gamified skill-training initiatives. More
particularly, law libraries could use it to dedicate a unique digital place at which the most recent
and authentic versions of their legal documents are existing. (SJSU 2017a, b, Brown 2018)
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One of the particular areas interlinking blockchain systems and intellectual property, where users
that benefit from library or data center services are required to entrust the knowledge, is the
creation and dissemination of academic works. In this domain, for instance, the written work is
very important for academicians to prove their works to other academicians. To do so, what is
expected from academicians is to address properly the sources they use, while writing down their
research. If academicians do not make proper referencing, quoting and citing, and just copy and
paste what was previously done as if it was written by themselves, it is an unethical practice and
called ‘Plagiarism’.
Currently while there are certain tools to check the originality of the academic writings against
plagiarism, none of these particularly work over a blockchain architecture.
4. FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSION:
Accordingly, a system proposal could be presented to build up a system for checking the
Plagiarism level of the academic writings or other creative outputs that will work over a
blockchain architecture. As a proof-of-concept, this block-chain-based plagiarism system will
ensure utilizing authentic versions of academic works or other mediacontent for ‘knowledge
workers’, to be provided as a library service. The suggested block-chain based architecture for
libraries and other knowledge-intensive institutions can then play a crucial role to ensure the
authenticity and trustworthiness of any content at social media, as a significant component of
media literacy to pave the way for truth, accuracy and freedom of information.
All these areas suggested in this paper could attract the research interest of the scientists in
different fields, however before creating a well-established system environment, proper
standardization is required. Accordingly, the standardization of the blockchain from the
perspective of platform independent software application development is also another area of
future research.
5. REFERENCE LIST
Bogner A., Chanson M. and Meeuw A., 2016, A Decentralised Sharing App running a Smart
Contract on the Ethereum Blockchain, IoT’16 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on
the Internet of Things, pp 177-178.
Hamida E. B. , Brousmiche K. L., Levard H. and Thea E., 2017, Blockchain for Enterprise:
Overview, Opportunities and Challenges. The Thirteenth International Conference on Wireless
and Mobile Communications (ICWMC 2017), Jul 2017, Nice, France.
Sommerville I., 2015, Software Engineering, 10th ed. Pearson.
IEEE 1058-1998 IEEE Standard for Software Project Management Plan, SPMP.
IEEE 1016-2009 IEEE Standard for Information Technology—Systems Design—Software
Design Description.
IEEE 830-1998 IEEE Recommend Practice for Software Requirements Specification.
Brooks, F. P., 1986, No Silver Bullet- Essence and Accident in Software Engineering.
https://www.ethereum.org,last access: 2019.03.16.
https://www.hyperledger.org, last access: 2019.03.16.
SJSU (2017a) https://ischoolblogs.sjsu.edu/blockchains/blockchains-applied/applications/ , last
access: 2019.05.05
SJSU (2017b) https://ischoolblogs.sjsu.edu/blockchains/law-and-the-blockchain-by-debbie-
ginsberg/ , last access: 2019.05.05
Brown, J. L. (2018) https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-02-01-blockchain-in-the-library-
researchers-explore-potential-applications
70 WBIMLC 2019
TRUTH AND ACCURACY IN NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES:
COMMENT ON UAE HISTORY SOURCES
Judith Mavodza
Zayed University, P.O. Box 144534, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Judith.Mavodza@zu.ac.ae
ABSTRACT:
This paper addresses two issues. The first one relates to the quality of newspaper archives as
reliable sources of historical information about the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Newspapers
are expected to provide information and general knowledge and to build and develop knowledge
bases. The involvement of Westerners in the history of the region makesNew York Times (1851-
2013) archive, the Sunday Times (1822-2006) archive, and the Times Digital Archive (1785-
2006), the Times of India (1838-2002), Daily Mail Historical Archive,and Wall Street Journal
(1889-1994) historical sources to depend on and use. The same newspapers also carried news
and information regarding many happenings around the world. The second issue is a comment on
user competencies in deciphering “Truth and Accuracy” whileusing archival newspaper library
databases. This is connected to acquisition of information literacy (IL) skills with special
reference to a specific university library. Usage statistics of archival newspaper databases are
provided in demonstrating the extent oftheir discovery and access.The conclusion is that use of
archival newspaper databases is accompanied byuniversity-wide curriculum-related implications
about the need to seamlessly factor IL into the educational and research agenda for the sake of
truth and accuracy in historical research.
Key words: information literacy, digital newspaper archives, library anxiety, gatekeepers
1. INTRODUCTION
A chronology of the formation of the UAE is well documented in the New York Times (1851-
2013) archive, the Sunday Times (1822-2006) archive, and the Times Digital Archive (1785-
2006), the Times of India (1838-2002), Daily Mail Historical Archive and Wall Street Journal
(1889-1994) newspapers. This refers to the period ranging from the Trucial States which were
tribal confederations in what the British referred to as the "Pirate Coast" (Persian Gulf), to the
independent Sheikhdoms in 1971 and after. Originally, they were signatories to treaties (hence
“trucial”) with the British Government, and all the developments are recorded in the archived
newspapers. Friedman (2017) points out that this was a period of British military domination.
According to Schwartz and Cook (2002, p. 18), “memory, like history, is rooted in archives.” For
that reason, the value of newspaper archives cannot be ignored, regardless of their shortcomings.
However, Schwartz and Cook (2002) point out that “users of archives (historians and others) and
shapers of archives (records creators, records managers, and archivists) add layers of meaning,
layers which become naturalized, internalized, and unquestioned.” Thus, when using the
mentioned digital archives in the library, their contents are understood to be highly reliable, but
must be critically read. Admittedly, Bingham (2010, p. 225) points out that:
although there was once widespread skepticism about using newspapers because of their
doubtful accuracy and their ephemeral nature, ever since the ‘cultural turn’ and the
increasing scholarly interest in language, representation and meaning, there are few who
deny the value of newspaper content for understanding politics, culture and society.
Archival myth and neutrality is questioned by Schwartz and Cook (2002), but they do not deny
their high value as historical information sources. Bingham (2010) expresses the misgiving that
“despite their political, social and cultural importance, newspapers have not, on the whole,
featured prominently in histories of modern Britain.” The main reason quoted for this is the
difficulty in accessing and using old print newspapers. That has since changed with digitization,
so the status of their use may be gradually changing.
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2. STRENGTHS OF NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES
While it comes easy to give negative comment about the quality of news in a newspaper, there is
merit in stepping back and defining what Truth means. One must consider whose terms Truth
refers to, i.e. whether it is the writer’s or that of the subject of the writing. With digitized
newspaper archives, finding information for use in historical scholarship has becomeless
complicated because it is easy to sift through the old news electronically. Bingham (2010, p.227)
makes the comment that “historians can now, after all, quickly and easily establish whether
newspapers contain material relevant to their research questions”. It is important to keep in mind
that newspapers must highlight prevailing news at any point in time as a way of making sure that
the past is not forgotten. On their part, historians and other researchers must therefore make the
effort to use a variety of sources to verify and compare facts. The example of the formation of the
UAE, when viewed from the mentioned archives, reflects the official narratives of the news
writers. A typical conclusion summarizing the shaping of the UAE is expressed by Friedman
(2017, p. 112) suggesting that:
ultimately, the seven-shaykhdom UAE was the result of more than three years of failed
negotiations to unify the nine pre-state shaykhdoms. Thus, the formation of the UAE
may be viewed as a success born of failure.
Whether that is how the citizens and responsible authorities viewed the situation or not, as
reported in archival newspapers, is debatable. In fact, reading future archives of today’s
newspapers and media after fifty to a hundred years is likely to make fascinating research as
patterns of fake news, truth, and accuracy emerge in retrospect, impacting the interpretation of
current events. Ott (2017, p. 59) notes the emergence of a “post-truth, post-news, President
Trump, Twitter-world” essentially highlighting the evolution from traditional news-making and
reporting, which is represented by newspaper archives (exemplified by those mentioned above),to
the addition of modern opinion-laden platforms and media. This implies an unfolding picture of a
typical newspaper archive that future researchers will use. Schwartz and Cook (2002) point out
the weakness of the tendency to document primarily mainstream culture and powerful records
creators and “further privileging the official narratives of the state over the private stories of
individuals,” perhaps advocating the archiving of alternative news sources such as Twitter for
posterity. But then, if complemented by an additional variety of information sources, truth can be
verified so that any investigation of what is known about the past yields objective results.
3. SHORTCOMINGS OF NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES
The reason that Bingham (2010) mentions limited use of newspaper archives in researching
British history is that researchers find access to them to be very costly. Previously the problem
was to do with the tediousness of travelling to specific locations that kept the archives, and then
the actual effort of paging through paper or microfiche or microfilm. Now the focus has shifted
towards reliance on institutional access to digitized collections. Those archives are not necessarily
available to wider readership. Thus, about UAE-related newspaper archives, when researchers
need them, the only access is through libraries that have the archival database collections and
resources to guide users how to effectively benefit from them in their search for Truth.
But then, in some cases, the news published in the newspapers could be erroneous for a variety of
reasons. They reflect the perceptions of their creators who had (and still possess) a “gatekeeper”
role (White, 1950). Even while Heinderyckx (2015, p. 254) explains that “gatekeeping used to be
fundamentally about managing editorial space”, some of the stories written may even have ended
up being twisted and distorted, creating a bad impression of individuals, or a country, and
completely removed from Accuracy and Truth. Schwartz and Cook (2002, p. 5) mention the
“power over collective memory and national identity” that archival collections have. So if
inaccurate, the impact is extensive.
Additionally, once published in print as the old collections were, they cannot be changed or
updated because of their nature. This makes them rigid as news and information sources. When
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read from an archive, such as those mentioned above, that represents misinformation, particularly
if that coincides with information evaluation skills challenges. The information evaluation
challenge is best controlled through an embedded and blended IL program to seamlessly guide
students towards critically analysing what they read from newspapers so that they do not take
given texts at face value. That limits the extent of some information ending up being
misrepresented (as that in turn results in instances of false history and sometimes in distorted
expressions of official stories rather than the real facts).
Another shortcoming is that in systematic content analysis, name variations are sometimes a
challenge existing in the mentioned newspaper archives. For example, Abu Dhabi has variants
such as Abū Ẓabī, Abou Dhabi, Abu Dhaby, and that has the potential to jeopardize the number of
relevant retrievals from the databases even when indexing strategies keep improving.
Additionally, the use of certain commonly used terms may not have been sufficiently appreciated
or even been misunderstood in earlier newspaper reporting, e.g. a search for wasta (a frequently
used term which loosely translates to "who you know") fails to give hits, meaning that accurate
reports about social and business interactions that took place are not retrieved.
4. WHAT LIBRARY DATABASE STATISTICS REVEAL
Usage of the archival newspaper databases that one university library subscribes to is low to
sporadic. Statistics used in the table below are obtained from accumulated library data
representing the activity of a user population of approximately 10000 students, faculty, and staff.
Table 1 reflects that regular subject or keyword searches take place, but actual record views are
low, suggesting little usage of the material, i.e. not benefitting from what can potentially be
retrieved. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) archive reflects the least viewed records with three
views in three years. That may indicate/ imply the extent of historical involvement and
documented events relevant to the UAE from an American perspective, compared to Times
Digital Archive which is British in origin, and appears to possess records that are viewed much
more noticeably (with 5050 views from 2016 to 2018).On a comparative level, the Times Digital
Archive seems the most used database of all six, followed by the Daily Mail Historical Archive
(also British in origin) with 1272 views from 2016 to 2018. The numbers of document views still
reflect low usage even where they are contextually the highest. Admittedly, archival newspaper
database usage cannot be equal through the entire population since historical scholarship about
the UAE does not necessarily cover the research scope of every academic researcher or enrolled
student. All the same, use of the mentioned newspaper archives over the years 2016 to 2018 has
been limited. This is demonstrated in Table 1.
Table 1: Searching and viewing records in six newspaper archive titles (2016-2018)
Years
Historical Wall Street
Journal (WSJ)
Times of India
New York Times (NYT)
Regular
searches
Record
views
Regular
searches
Record
views
Regular
searches
Record
views
2016
3152
0
3076
3
3315
15
2017
3279
0
3280
1
3409
1
2018
4545
3
4599
1
4598
5
Total
10,976
3
10,995
5
11,322
21
Years
Daily Mail Historical
Archive
Sunday Times Digital
Archive
Times Digital Archive
Regular
searches
Record
views
Regular
searches
Record
views
Regular
searches
Record
views
2016
474
1010
435
225
2585
3278
2017
267
80
378
87
1890
835
2018
321
182
440
101
1029
940
Total
1,062
1,272
1,253
413
5,464
5050
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Although low usage per sedoes not automatically signify bad archival resources, implications are
on their relevance to research interests of the user community, to research focus in a UAE
context, and the structure of the library IL program in relation to the curriculum. Concerning IL, it
must be embedded in a blended manner to the curriculum for more user familiarity with the
databases and exhaustive use. The approach is in line with the new Framework for Information
Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2015) which emphasizes knowledge and comprehension
rather than solely the acquisition of specific IL skills. It proposes blending inquiry with practice-
based experiences, promoting an adaptive understanding of the nature of information (Detmering,
2015). Usage levels ultimately have budgetary implications since the newspaper archives are
database subscriptions. The statistics also reflect potential gaps in research, and that in turn
impacts the alignment of facts as presented in the newspaper archives with reality, Truth, and
Accuracy according to the nationals in the country and the region.
5. LIBRARY USE DYNAMICS DIVULGED
The statistics discussed above tell part of a story about newspaper archives and are applicable to
other libraries too. While a library may have enthusiastic and knowledgeable librarians,
researchers and students may sometimes miss the advantages of consulting with them. Kolowich
(2011) points out that “to many students the idea of a librarian as an academic expert who is
available to talk about assignments and hold their hands through the research process is, in fact,
foreign to most students”. The fact that students possess a wide variety of IL skills upon entry into
university only intensifies the situation. A point to note is that database usage is highly dependent
on the extent to which faculty uses them and requires students to retrieve reliable documents from
them for projects they assign, and course readings. Faculty-librarian collaboration is done and is
not new as librarians all over the world have found it to be practical. Sometimes faculty at the
university investigated create credit-worthy assignments demonstrating proof that a student has
been attentive to the IL unit addressed by the librarian. But up to the time of writing this paper,
that practice has been sporadic. Even worse is that some “faculty may have low expectations for
librarians, and consequently students may not be connected to librarians or see why working with
librarians may be helpful” (Miller & Murillo, 2012, p. 60). And yet, as Armstrong (2012) puts it,
librarians can “provide faculty with updated information about library research tools and services
that faculty may use in their own research and/or work with students” (p. 40). So, the low use of
newspaper databases may be due to lack of skills or knowledge of their availability and content,
or simply not acknowledging the research and consultant role of the librarians. Given the fact that
when students come to university, they are in fact expected to master the correct and official
history of their country, it is this author’s conviction that educators need to model the importance
of relevant library database use and encourage librarian involvement to them.
Having pointed out the tendencies of library users, it is essential to also highlight the fact that
sometimes librarians are the cause of library anxiety, i.e. fear or phobia of the library. Library
anxiety as a concept was researched on by Mellon (2015), who explained that this is a fear of the
overwhelming and confusing library space, as well as the process of using the library to find
materials. The variety of database interface, particularly the digitized versions of old newspapers,
can be intimidating. That may very often be aggravated by librarians’ inaccurate assumptions that
everyone who visits or uses the online resources of the library understands how libraries work.
Additionally, the use of such terms as “Boolean logic”, “primary sources”, or off-loading too
much information, for example, need to be unbundled and explicitly explained so that the
messages are understood, and users do not feel alienated. Otherwise the librarians, in a state of
benevolent exuberance, end up being what is referred to by Bradley (1997, p. 20) as
“unconsciously incompetent.” That is a position of genuinely trying to offer services only per
what they have been trained but unaware of their lack of knowledge or expertise on how to
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appropriately communicate in the host culture. So even with attempts to market the newspaper
archives to faculty and students while monitoring usage, there may be a case for revision of
communication methods to enhance database use instruction methods.
6. CONLUSION
Two main discussions have been raised in this paper. The first is a consideration of newspaper
archives as a source of truth and accurate information in relation to a specific country. The second
is the role of the library in IL skills support for enabling library users to reach relevant
information in their quest for Truth and Accuracy in historical research.
The conclusion is that on their own, newspaper archives cannot stand as the sole source of
historical events about a place. While they very effectively provide accounts of life as it was
taking place, their veracity is as good as any other current newspaper. The “gatekeeper” role of
producers of the news brings in a certain level of subjectivity in the messages published. Retrieval
of relevant news items can also be hampered by access capabilities of users and the content
analysis processes.
Low usage of this set of resources may not necessarily be a negative attribute but has a bearing on
the university’s research focus and strategy, research about the UAE’s history, curriculum and IL
matters, as well as the library budget, and all those matters require re-visiting. That can enhance
usage as well as the ability to navigate the resources. The library also needs to stay alert when it
comes to user information habits that are reflected by the available statistics. There may well be a
question of preference for print versus e-resources. In this instance, that becomes a challenge
because these resources come as given, even though printing of selected required parts is possible.
Low database usage statistics may be a symptom of other underlying factors. This paper gives
hints at university-wide curriculum-related implications of the need to seamlessly factor IL into
the educational and research agenda for the sake of truth and accuracy in historical research about
the dynamics of UAE history.
8. REFERENCES
ACRL (2015). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Armstrong, A. (2012). Marketing the library’s instructional services. In Duke, L.M. & Asher, A.
D. (Eds.). College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know (pp. 31-48). Chicago:
ALA
Bingham, A. (2010). The digitization of newspaper archives: Opportunities and challenges for
historians. Twentieth Century British History, 21(2), 225-231.
Bradley, F. (1997). From unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence. Adults Learning
(England), 9(2), 20-21.
Detmering, R., Johnson, A. M., Sproles, C., McClellan, S., & Linares, R. H. (2015). Library
instruction and information literacy 2014. Reference Services Review, 43(4), 533-642.
doi:10.1108/RSR-07-2015-0037
Friedman, B. (2017). From union (ʾīttihād) to united (muttahida): The United Arab Emirates, a
success born of failure. Middle Eastern Studies, 53(1), 112-135.
doi:10.1080/00263206.2016.1196666
Heinderyckx, F. (2015). Gatekeeping theory redux. In Vos, T.P. &Heinderyckx, F. (Eds.),
Gatekeeping in transition (pp. 253-267). London: Routledge.
Kolowich, S. (2011). What students don't know. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/
news/2011/08/22/what-students-dont-know
Mellon, C. A. (2015). Library Anxiety: A Grounded Theory and Its Development. College &
Research Libraries, 76(3), 276-282. DOI:10.5860/crl.76.3.276.
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Miller, S. & Murillo, N. (2012). Why don’t students ask librarians for help?: Undergraduate help-
seeking behavior in three academic libraries. In Duke, L.M. &Asher, A. D. (Eds.). College
Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know (pp. 49-70). Chicago: ALA.
Ott, B. L. (2017). The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement. Critical
Studies in Media Communication, 34(1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2016.1266686
Schwartz, J. M., & Cook, T. (2002). Archives, records, and power: The making of modern
memory. Archival Science, 2(1-2), 1-19. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02435628
White, D. M. (1950). The 'gatekeeper': a case study in the selection of news. Journalism
Quarterly, 27 (3), 383-390.
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CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION LITERACY EDUCATION
TO PUBLIC COHESION OF SYRIAN IMMIGRANT IN PUBLIC
LIBRARIES
Merve Yavuzdemir
Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate of Libraries and Publication,
Ankara/Turkey, myavuzdemir@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT:
The numbers of refugees who escaped from the war in Syria and settled in Turkey have reached to
3,400,195 since 2011. According to the United Nations Refugee Organization (UNHCR) 2016
data, the Syrians are in the first place among the nations forced to leave their country in the
World. According to the 2016 Global Trends Report Turkey is the world's most refugee hosting
country, 98 % of which are Syrian refugees.
For many years, public libraries are not only places that provide information to people, but also
public spaces that bring people together, educate, help, and give library services to all.
Rabert Taylor; defines information literacy as reaching information to solve real life problems,
access to information from different sources, to ensure the continuity of information, know the
strategies for when and how to obtain information. When refugees know the country they are
migrating, know the rules and sensitivities of the country, and learn their rights and opportunities
it would be supportive of social cohesion. Knowing how to reach this vital information when
starting a new life in a new country; in other words to be gained with information literacy skills
that will facilitate the adaptation of Syrian refugees to Turkey.
Migration is not the truth of my country. Turkey is the best example to deal with this immigration
crisis. The benefits that information literacy offers to migration governance will inspire other
countries.
Key words: information literacy, public libraries, migration, social cohesion
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the year 2011 to escape the war in Syria, the number of people who took refuge in Turkey
has reached to 3.606.737 (according to the Directorate General of Migration Management data
20.05.2019).1According to United Nations Refugee Organization (UNHCR) 2016 data, Syrians
are among the first nations to be forced to leave their country globally.2Global Trend 2016 report
state that Turkey is the country that hosts the most refugees in the world and 98% of them is
Syrian.
2. MIGRATION AND PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES
Public libraries in developed countries are regarded as Welcome Gate for immigrants and serve as
a bridge for immigrants to social life. Because, libraries are the most important public places to
analyze the society they are in, to provide free and equal service to meet the needs of the society
and to improve the sense of unity and belonging in the society. Multicultural and multilingual
services offered for migrants or refugees are part of the service offered by public libraries.
Libraries should conduct community analysis to meet the needs of their users. It is useful to re-
evaluate the library design in the direction of the results of the analysis. Public libraries should
ensure that both the space design and the services they offer are accessible and inclusive. Some of
these services are listed below:
1. Simplification of library membership
2. Multilingual presentation of the library information and user manual
1 http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/gecici-koruma_363_378_4713_icerik
2 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-Turkey. (2016). Refugees and Asylum Seekers in
Turkey, https://www.unhcr.org/tr/en/refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-turkey
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3. Providing services in Camps and Refugee Centers through Mobile Libraries
4. Posting of posters to encourage the arrival of refugees in libraries
5. Turkish Language Training Courses
6. Speaking Classes
7. Exam Preparation Courses
8. Help with Homework
9. Career seminars for young people
10. Refugee Rights Seminars
11. Multilingual story times
12. Computer Classes
13. Citizenship Trainings
14. Cultural Nights
15. Establishment of Multilingual bookshelves in Libraries
16. Book Clubs
17. Makerspace / Production Spaces Movement
18. Informing the community health centers and the library
19. Provision of printed and digital materials that refugees can teach Turkish to new refugees in
libraries
20. Information Literacy Programs
3. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN TURKEY
3.1. General Statistics
Turkey has a long tradition of libraries. Public libraries are administered by the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism, Directorate General of Libraries and Publications (DGLP) in Turkey.
Beside, there are also municipal libraries governed and financed by the local authorities.
Figure 1 Structure and Organization of Public Libraries in Turkey
Although there is no law governing the public libraries in Turkey, there are some regulations,
most of which were revised in 2012, related to the services of public libraries: Public Libraries
Regulation,” (Official Journal, 11.01.2012, 28170), Public Libraries Tasks and Services
Regulation, (Official Journal, 24.07.2012, 164493).
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Table 1 Public Libraries’ Statistics in Turkey
Public Library
1171
Children Library
56
Literature Museum Library
7
Mobile Library
53
Number of Users
25.091.232
Number of Members
2.201.039
Number of Books
19.993.613
Number of Loaned Books
10.443.581
3.2. Refugee Services in Turkish Public Libraries
According to the records of KOHA Library Automation System (retrieved on 25 April 2019),
20.993 foreign people became members of the public library amongpeople who have received a
residence permit for at least 6 months in Turkey.
When the members of the library are listed according to their nationality, it is determined that
they are members of 103 nationalities and the first five countries according to the number of
members; The Syrian Arab Republic, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Iraq,
the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.The majority of the foreign members
are students. Children under the age of 18 are 39% of the total number of foreign members.
Figure 2 Top 10 Cities Where Syrian Refugees Have the Highest Library Membership
The distribution of the libraries of the Syrian library members according to the provinces where
they are members and the map of the General Directorate of Migration Management on the
distribution of Syrian Refugees are compared. It has been observed that Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa,
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Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Mardin are common. Mersin and Adana provinces are
provinces where there is no crossing.
Figure 3 Top 10 Cities with the Highest Number of Syrian Refugees
In the border cities (Mersin, Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, Sanlıurfa and Mardin) and in the center of
Ankara province, a total of 27 public libraries were analyzed in 7 provinces. The problems and
solutions of the employees of the library were discussed. According to research, the most
important problem encountered in public libraries is language and socio-psycho-cultural
problems.
Various studies are carried out in different countries regarding library services to support social
cohesion. However, immigration is very different from other countries that have faced in Turkey.
Therefore, different adaptation strategies are needed for our country. In this context, the studies
that will contribute to social cohesion in our public libraries are categorized under 4 different
groups: Language, Awareness Raising, Promotional Activities and Cultural Activities.
3.3. Information Literacy Projects
The rapid increase in the amount of information, the diversification of information access sources
and the rapid development of technology have made it inevitable for individuals to have
information literacy skills. In this context, the need for the implementation of Information
Literacy Programs has emerged in public libraries serving as community centers.
In our age when knowledge production and consumption increased rapidly, although
technological advances have facilitated access to information, it is observed that students have
difficulty in the process of acquiring information literacy skills.
Increasing students' knowledge literacy skills; access to qualified knowledge, critical thinking,
knowledge evaluation, use and transmission skills should be gained at school. Raising the concept
of learning to learn instead of traditional teaching, it has increased the importance of being
effective in the learning process, knowing the ways of learning and taking responsibility for
learning. Although teachers contribute to the development of information literacy skills by
directing students to various sources of information in print and electronic environment through
research assignments, this method alone is not enough. In this context; librarians and teachers
have a great responsibility, and in the process of gaining information literacy skills, teachers
should work in partnership with librarians.
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In cooperation with the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications of the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism and General Directorate of Basic Education of the Ministry of National
Education, studies on the implementation of Information Literacy Programs under the
coordination of schools and public libraries are ongoing in Turkey.
3.4. Information Literacy Program For Refugee In Public Library
Within the scope of the Turkish Third National Council Action Plan, there is an action item on
“the development of information literacy among children and young people.”
Furthermore, the activities carried out under the responsibility of our General Directorate within
the scope of the Social Cohesion Strategy Document and the National Action Plan carried out by
the Directorate General of Migration Management include “the provision of training activities on
information literacy to immigrant children and families in public libraries.” In this context,
information literacy studies conducted by our General Directorate were arranged to include the
social integration process of migrants.
In addition, the public's access to information enables people to make informed decisions that can
improve their lives. Communities that have access to timely and necessary information for
everyone are better positioned to eliminate poverty and inequality, provide quality education, and
support people's health, culture, research and innovation. Within the scope of the UN 2030
Agenda, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) believes that
increasing the access to information and information across the community, supported by
information and communication technologies (ICT) promotes sustainable development and
improves people's lives.
Access to information is an issue that can support activities for all development areas. The
information society is far more than an Internet connection. The library is the assurance that
information and the skills necessary to use the information are accessible to all. Information
literacy has a great importance in achieving the information society and achieving the sustainable
development goals determined under UN 2030 Agenda. The access of the vulnerable groups of
the society, especially migrants, to the right information is an important input in building strong
societies.
In April 2019, information literacy awareness seminars were held in Aydın and Muğla in
cooperation with IOM and DGMM in the social cohesion meetings of approximately 1500
migrants. These seminars emphasized the importance of accessing the true information.
According to researches3, Turkey ranks first among countries most exposed to the false news.
Therefore, the accuracy of the information obtained and the importance of interpreting the
information is explained with examples.
4. METHODOLOGY
The purpose of the research reported in this article is to understand the information literacy
practices of refugees and how these practices contribute to social inclusion by public libraries in
Turkey.
Research objectives are to examine the barrier in the process of addressing their key information,
to show how Turkish policies developed in order to sustainable services to refugees and to
underline the role of public libraries in terms of information literacy and integration.
3 https://teyit.org/
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4.1. Survey Instrument
Instrument adapted from an article4 from IFLA WLIC 2017 survey instrument. Data was
collected online via Google Forms. The study was announced via Kilis Public Library (18), Bursa
(13) and Aydın (7) City Migration Office. The purposeful sampling approach was used through
the announcement.
Participation was voluntary and participants could drop at any stage if they wish to.
Questionnaire is composed of 18 questions. Different question types were used to understand
phenomena of information needs of refugees.
4.2. Sample characteristics
A total of 38 people responded to the survey (N= 38). %47,4of the participants were female (18)
and % 52,6 were male (20). Age of participant differs from 18 to 45. The average of age is 24,4.
Approximately half of participants graduated from primary school who is all from Kilis. On the
other hand, %42 of participants was at university now.
%55,3 of the participant live in Turkey between 3-5 years.
7
21
8
2
0
5
10
15
20
25
0--3
3--5
5--10
10+
How long have you lived in Turkey?
4 Zenab Ahmed (2017). Role of Information Literacy Services in Moulding Developing Countries into
Knowledge Base Economies: A Case Study of Migrant Workers in Qatar. IFLA WLIC 2017
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18 of participant are from Syria and settled in Kilis; others come Turkey from Azerbaijan, Africa,
Palestine, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Congo, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Yemen.
The participants were asked about their mother tongue. The mother tongue of 23 participants is
Arabic. Other participants include 9 languages: Azerbaijani, Persian, French, English, Kazakh,
Kyrgyz, Russian, Turkish and Urdu.
5. SURVEY QUESTIONS AND FINDINGS
Do you own any electronic devices? (any number of answers)
What do you use your electronic devices for? (any number of answers)
How often do you use internet for information? (One Answer)
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If you have a question, where do you first seek information to answer it? (One answer)
Which for you is the most reliable source of information? (any number of answers)
What are the obstacles you encounter in accessing the right information?
20%
12%
30%
25%
5%
8%
not being sure of the accuracy
of the information
fake news
no barrier
insufficiency of information
resources
language
access to information sources
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Which subject do you need information?
Is it easy for you to differentiate between a government document and a non-government
document?
Have you ever used a public library before?
010 20 30 40
Yes, I regularly go to the
library
I know what a library is but
have never used services of …
If taught how to use a library’s
ser vices & r esour ces, I would …
Not interested in a library
No
Yes
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Are you a member of the Turkish public library?
What services would you like a public library to offer? (information literacy, language education,
immigration laws seminar, cultural activities etc.)
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
50% of participants have lived in Turkey between 3-5 years. 86,8% of the participants have their
own smartphone and they use is mostly for social media-facebook, watsapp etc. (94,7%) ,
entertainment-movies, radio etc. (84,2%) and local and international news (60,5%). More than a
half of them always use internet for information. Even they have a question, they firstly seek it on
internet (92,1%). 81,6 % of participants think that internet is the most reliable source of
information. Libraries (55,3%) and Family member/friends (47,4%) are the following information
sources for refugees.
Accuracy and insufficiency of informationnis the top obstacle the refugees encounter in accessing
the right information. On the other hand, 86,8 of participants said that it is easy to differentiate
between a government document and a non-government document.
Medical health, education opportunities, cultural and social information are the most needed
information subjects.
Only 23,7% of them are member of libraries. They said that they don’t have enough information
about public libraries services. If taught how to use a library’s services & resources, they would
like to go to a library. Language education, information literacy program and cultural activities
are the public library program that refugees demand mostly.
Social media and internet where fake news and negative discourses are faced intensely are mostly
used by refugees. Turkey is the country most exposed to the false news. The fact that the first
place where the right information is applied for refugees is the internet can cause problems.
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As a result of this data, by providing sufficient information about public libraries, the levels of
information literacy can be increased, concerns about misinformation can be reduced, language
problem, which is an important obstacle to accessing the right information, can be solved and the
library activities and social cohesion can be supported through refugees.
7. CONCLUSION
Studies, surveys and interviews have shown that the inclusion of refugees in the information
ecosystem is critical to social cohesion. The development of information literacy skills will
benefit migrants to be included in the social life and provide added value to the country in which
they are located.
Public libraries have a major role to organize in order for information literacy programs to be
accessible to refugees of all ages. Public libraries, widely used in connection with the central
administration in Turkey, should be able to shape information literacy programs in accordance
with the information needs of local people. In addition, there are actions related to information
literacy in national policies on cultural and social cohesion in Turkey and in certain periods,
monitoring and evaluation studies support the sustainability of the issue.
Turkey is exposed to mass immigration since 2011 should be regarded as an opportunity not a
problem. When the right strategy and national policies are supported and the right investments are
made, refugees (of which more than half of them are young) will contribute to the development of
the country. Public libraries serve with an exemplary model of social cohesion and governance,
taking into account inter-institutional co-operation and local community participation.
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my institution, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General
Directorate of Libraries and Documentation. I also had great pleasure of working with my friend
Öznur Özer, Librarian. I would also thank to Ayfer İÇÖZ, Librarian in Kilis Children Library and
Burcu Demir, migration expert in Bursa Migration Office played a decisive role in collection data
by the questionnaire.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my husband and my kids; Hüseyin Emir and
Beyza Yavuzdemir for provided me with encouragement and patience throughout the duration of
this research.
9. REFERENCES
Batal, S. (2010). Yeni Kamu Yönetiminde Yönetişim Kavrami Ve Türkiye’de Yerel Yönetimler
Alanindaki Uygulama Örnekleri. Mevzuat DergisiYıl: 13 Sayı: 145
Güllüpınar, F. (2017). Suriyelilerin Eğitimine “Suriyelilerin Gözünden Bakmak: Eskişehir’de
Suriyelilerin Toplumla Bütünleşme Perspektifleri Üzerine Değerlendirmeler,” Göç Konferansı
2017 – Seçilmiş Bildiriler s.153
İçişleri Bakanlığı, Göçİdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü (2018).Göç İstatistikleri. Geçici Koruma
İstatistikleri. http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/gecici-koruma_363_378_4713_icerikadresindeneldee
dildi.
Birleşmiş Milletler Mülteci Örgütü. (2016). Türkiye’deki Mültecilerve Sığınmacılar,
http://www.unhcr.org/tr/turkiyedeki-multeciler-ve-siginmacilaradresindeneldeedildi.
Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2016. (2016). The UN Refugee Agency.
Türkiye’de ‘KayıpbirKuşak’ oluşmasınıönlemek.(2017).UNICEF
The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict ad Education, UNESCO, 2011. No Lost Generation:
Protecting the future of children affected by the crises in Syria, January, 2014.
Uluslararası Kütüphane Derneklerive Kurumları Federasyonu Çok-Kültürlü Topluluklar:
Kütüphane Hizmetleri Kılavuzu 3.bs.2009
Birleşmiş Milletler Çocuk Haklarina Dair Sözleşmesi (1995)
Uluslararası Göç Örgütü (IOM) Göç Terimleri Sözlüğü 2. Baskı s. 65.
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http://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/iml31_turkish_2ndedition.pdf
Kültürve Turizm Bakanlığı Halk Kütüphaneleri Yönetmeliği, 2017
KütüphanelerveYayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü KOHA Üyelik Verileri
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CITIZEN-CENTERED SMART PRACTICES IN PUBLIC
LIBRARIES IN TURKEY
Erdinç Alaca, Demet Soylu, Tunç Medeni
AYBU, Ankara, Turkey (alacaerdinc.61@hotmail.com, bunchnoble@gmail.com,
tuncmedeni@gmail.com)
ABSTRACT
Beside many organizations such as universities and non-profit government organizations, public
libraries are the leading organizations to contribute to the social, cultural and economical
development of the society and make social attempts with public value. Especially as public
libraries are responsible for providing free service for all the segments of society without
discriminating any social group, they have significant role in socio-cultural development phases
of persons and they take more responsibilities in influencing society in a positive way.
Accordingly, development of smart practice for the persons to attend a training on a specific topic
can be considered as a social responsibility. Even if in most of the county and provincial public
libraries in Turkey citizen-centered smart practices are at limited level, it is possible to identify
smart practice examples in this field. Within the frame of this study, implementation of the citizen-
centered smart practices performed in public libraries in Turkey and its results have been
analyzed in detail in order to be an example for other organizations and institutions. 12 cases
were selected from public libraries (Ayvalik Country Public Library, Bornova Country Public
Library, Düzce Provincial Public Library, Halil Hamit Paşa Provincial Public Library, Or-An
Sevgi Yılı County Public Library, Trabzon Provincial Public Library and İskender Pala
Provincial Public Library) in Turkey. These cases were handled and used within the frame of
EduCitizens Educate to Participate Project, which is an Erasmus Plus Key Action 2 Strategic
Partnership Project focusing on user and citizen-centric services. These cases were analyzed in
terms of qualitative and quantitative metric. As part of our study it has been found that user
centered smart practices will be disseminated in other organizations that will be contributed to
the socio-cultural and economical development of the society.
Keywords: Public Libraries, citizen-centric innovative services, innovaton in libraries,
EduCitizens Project, Turkey
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
Innovation is a concept that is derived from the Latin innovates which is used in terms of doing
something new and different, innovating and transforming and it has a meaning in Turkish
referring to “innovativeness/renewal and renaissance (Yamaç, 2001). The importance of this
concept is increasing each day. There are many definitions of the concept of the innovation.
Some of the approaches to this concept have been listed below: Innovation is;
• A new or significantly improved product (goods or service) or process, a new marketing method
or a new organizational method (OECD, 2006, p. 50),
• Presentation or use of a thought, vehicle, system, policy, program, product, service or process
for the first time (Güleş and Bülbül, 2004, p. 125),
• An approach that is not only new but also useful, that can create value for the customer / user
(Anthony, 2014, p. 1),
• Defined as a process that starts with the theoretical phase and is a product that includes the
marketability of this product (Kavak, 2009, p. 618).
Within the context of public libraries, innovation is considered as a process, while the concept of
innovative service within the scope of public libraries is handled in such four different categories
as: (1) A completely new service, (2) Presenting an existing service in a new way, (3) A new
service developed for the needs of the local area, (4) A new service resulting from the
development / expansion of an existing service (Alaca, 2017, p. 66).
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As the regional differences of public libraries in Turkey in terms of building, staff, user,
collection and budget are indicators of the inequalities in terms of conditions, this situation makes
it difficult to perceive the concept of innovation as an equal service for everybody. Within the
frame of innovation management approach including the concept of innovative service, Önal
(2015, p. 164), mentions that it will not be a suitable approach to recommend a specific
innovation for every institution as such organizational characteristics as target group, field of
service, budget, technological infrastructure will vary. Within this context, making different
definitions of the concept will enable the appropriate way to be selected, which will therefore be
innovative, rather than limiting it to one general definition or perspective.
It is possible to say that every application analyzed within the scope of this study, based on the
concepts of innovation and innovative service within the scope of public libraries, can be
considered as innovative at the regional level. On the other hand, the satisfaction of the users
through the provision of users and implementations, the continuity of the applications and the
marketing of the applications fulfill the requirements of innovation. Innovation is a process
consisting of user satisfaction, continuity and marketing trilogy. It is not possible to create
innovation if one of these phases is missing. Designing and implementation of the user-centered
services within the frame of innovation will not only have a positive impact on the user
satisfaction, it will also influence the service development strategy of public libraries. Moreover,
it is very important the adoption of this approach is important in terms of organizational
efficiency.
Within the scope of this study, 12 different smart practice examples collected from seven different
public libraries have been handled and analyzed in detail. While each example is considered as
innovative at the institutional and regional level, it also has the potential to set an example for
similar institutions.
2. PURPOSE, SCOPE AND METHOD OF THE STUDY
This study aims to analyze the smart practice examples/services and disseminate these services
for public libraries in Turkey to take as role models, which will contribute to educate
participative, social, extrovert, self-confident persons who have high level of knowledge, culture.
Within this context, the subject has been limited with the public libraries in Turkey. In accordance
with this, 12 smart practices collected from selected Public Libraries were analyzed in detail.
Descriptive method was used for our data collection and analysis. To collect the data, structured
and semi-structured interviews were made with the participants. The GRID from the EduCitizens
project (http://www.educitizens.org/) was utilized to collect, analyze and present the data.
3. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY
In this part of the study, data collected from Ayvalik Country Public Library, Bornova Country
Public Library, Düzce Provincial Public Library, Halil Hamit Paşa Provincial Public Library, Or-
An Sevgi Yılı County Public Library, Trabzon Provincial Public Library and İskender Pala
Provincial Public Library are presented in tables. Pertaining to the services, “Basic Quantitative
Evaluation” (scoring) and “Qualitative Evaluation” are made (in accordance with the terminology
of the EduCitizens Grid (EduCitizens, 2018) 12 different smart practices collected from seven
different public libraries have been given a code from 1-12 in order to render the data in the
tables. Coding is as follows:
1) Art of Paper Marbling: Painting on Water –EBRU- (Ayvalık County Public Library)
2) Listening Activity (Bornova County Public Library)
3) Treasure Hunt (Bornova County Public Library)
4) Plagiarism (Bornova County Public Library)
5) Enriched Reading Activity(Bornova County Public Library)
6) Organization of Shelves (Bornova County Public Library)
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7) Independence for Health (Düzce Provincial Public Library)
8) Information Literacy Training (Halil Hamit Paşa Provincial Public Library)
9) Treatment with a Book: Bibliotheraphy (İskender Pala Provincial Public Library)
10) Small Authors (Trabzon Provincial Public Library)
11) Trabzon Provincial Public Newspaper (Trabzon Provincial Public Library)
12) Volunteer Chorus of Turkish Classical Music (Or-An Sevgi Yılı County Public
Library)
Some of the resulting evaluations and presentations of the collected data with respect to these
services are used as part of EduCitizens project outputs. However this paper provides a more
comprehensive coverage, reflecting the perspective of the Turkish team that contributed to the
project.
3.1 Quantitative Evaluation
In this section, evaluations pertaining to the smart practices have been made under the titles of;
• Basic Formal Evaluation,
• Didactic Transposition Indicators,
• Narrative Quality of Method Indicators,
• Formal Quality of the Creation and Production Indicators,
• Dissemination and Impact
Based on these evaluations a total scoring can be reached for each service.
Table 1. Essential formal requirements pertaining to the smart practices
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Participants and organization are
mentioned
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Target audience is mentioned
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Actors and participants are identified
consistently and the roles they performed
are named
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
All sources are cited ; copyrighted
material, if used, is identified and used
with clear permission
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Table 1 shows the basic formal features of the smart practices implemented in public libraries and
it has been seen that all 12 smart practices meet all the requirements.
Table 2. Didactic transposition indicators pertaining the smart practices
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Work was shared equally among all
participants
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The learning goals are clear
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
A common preparation process was done
by the participants/students
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
A common creation process was done by
the participant/students
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The results had been shared by the
participants/students
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Is there an evidence that the learning
goals had been reached?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The project involves several areas of
knowledge
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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Table 2 shows didactic transposition indicators of the smart practices implemented in public
libraries and it has been seen that all 12 smart practices meet all the requirements.
Table 3. Narrative quality of method indicators pertaining to the smart practices
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
The method stimulated follow-up
activities of learners
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The approach is suitable for the
participants (e.g. age groups, education
background…)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The content is clearly relevant to the
theme of the assignment or topic; the
message is clear
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The method leaves open space for
intervention of learners
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Learner-centered approaches had been
used.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
In Table 3, narrative quality of method indicators of the smartpractices implemented in public
libraries is given and it was observed that all 12 smart practices meet all the requirements.
Table 4. Fformal quality of the creation and production indicators pertaining to the practices
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
The impact of the method builds up the
community capacity
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The tools/methods chosen are suitable to
create discussion
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
There is a careful selection of resources
stimulating the learner to engage in the
learning process
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The talking-ratio in the method are in
favor of the learner
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The use of the resources is simple and
accurate, focused on local needs
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The methods are easy reproduceable by
the participant/students
In table 4, formal quality of the creation and production indicators pertaining to the smart
practices have been given and all 12 smart practices were found out to meet the criteria.
Table 5. Dissemination and impact indicators pertaining to the smart practices
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
The method leads to reflection
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The method is shared
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Tools are used to measure the impact of
the method
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Feedback can be provided to the learners
and trainer/teacher
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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Table 5 shows the dissemination and impact indicators of the smart practices implemented in
public libraries and it is understood that almost all of the 12 practices meet almost all of the
requirements. It was understood that no tool was used to measure the impact on all 12 smart
practices.
3.2 Qualitative evaluation
In this section, qualitative evaluation pertaining to the smart practices have been carried out under
the subtitles of;
• Generalinformation
• Special information
Both two titles are composed of detailed sub-titles in order to reveal the implementation stages of
the smart practices. Sub-titles pertaining to the general information are shown in 6-7-8-9 and
information regarding the special information are indicated in Table 10-11-12-13 and conformity
of each smart practice to the sub-titles is presented with tables.
Table 6.General information pertaining to the smart practices
Art of Paper Marbling:
Painting on Water –EBRU-
Listening
Activity
Treasure Hunt
When was the method
first used?
2013
2011
2013
How often was the
method applied?
10 times
150 times
From 5 to 10
times
Geographical coverage of
the method –
for which
audiences can you use it?
Local
Local
Local
How many organisations
are using the method?
Unknown
1
1
Which kind of institutions
perform the method?
From the governmental
sector
From the
governmental
sector
From the
governmental
sector
How many educators are
performing the method?
2
1
2
Target groups
Housewives - Retired -
Students - Residents of
Ayvalık
Children
(Primary
school)
Children
(Primary
school)
Number of learners with
this method
Over 150 participants
1.500
participants
100 participants
How is/was the creation
of the method financed?
1) Directorate of Public
Education & Training
Center
2) Attendees
No cost
No cost
Three different smart practices were developed for different purposes.
The first activity provided by the library is Art of Paper Marbling: Painting on Water (EBRU in
Turkish Name). It was first used in 2013. It was applied 10 times and implemented at local level.
Organizations from the government sector performed the method. During the implementation of
the practice, two educators led the session. The target groups were housewives, retired people,
students and residents of Ayvalik County. The method was financed by Directorate of Public
Education &Training Center and some attendees supported the method in terms of finance issues.
Over 150 participants took part in the training.
The activity has been developed with the aim of introducing the historical background,
implementation of art of paper marbling as an intangible cultural heritage accepted by UNESCO,
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improving the artistic skills of users, enabling them to gain artistic awareness, skills and
competency. This activity also has the purpose of enriching library services, increasing the quality
of library services, provide the citizens with the opportunity of meeting art craftsmen and art
masters, increase the popularity and attractiveness of library services for users. It has managed to
build interactive learning atmosphere for users. It helped the library to be an attraction center via
creative services.
The Second activity is Listening Activity, which was firstly performed in 2011. It was
implemented 150 times in local level by institutions from the governmental sector. Over 1500
participants attended the training. The method had no cost. One educator led the training, which
provided for library users to enable them achieve the sense of listening carefully and
comprehending what they listen, to equip students with necessary skills to retrieve information
resource, and use what they they learned and gained, enabling them to gain information literacy
skills. This activity has enabled the library to turn out to be an adventure and fun space for users
and librarians working.
The third activity is Treasure Hunt, which enables the users to perceive the importance of
retrieving information resources, gain information literacy and meta-literacy skills, foster the
users to experiment information literacy process with gamified tools, to put forward the unique
role of libraries in creating pro-active services. It was implemented in 2013 for the first time. It
was known to have been applied from 5 to 10 times in local level. Institutions from governmental
sector performed the method. Target group was the children continuing education in primary
school. The method had no cost.
Table 7.General information pertaining to the Smart Practices
Plagiarism
Enriched
Reading
Activity
Organization of
Shelves
When was the method first used?
2013
2014
2013
How often was the method applied?
From 5 to 10
times
60 times
From 5 to 10
times
Geographical coverage of the method –
for which audiences can you use it?
Local
Local
Local
How many organisations are using the
method?
1
1
1
Which kind of institutions perform the
method?
From the
governmental
sector
From the
governmental
sector
From the
governmental
sector
How many educators are performing
the method?
2
At least 3
2
Target groups
Students (From
8th class
secondary school
student to high
school students)
Children and
Youth (Pre-
school, primary
school,
secondary
school and high
school groups)
Students (Pre-
school age
children and
those in 5th
class)
Number of learners with this method
60 participants
1.200
participants
Nearly 750
participants
How is/was the creation of the method
financed?
No cost
Volunteers
Volunteers
Three smart practices have been developed for different purposes in Table 7.
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The first activity is plagiarism which aims to emphasize the importance of giving a reference in
school assignments, research and other studies, put forward the role of libraries in raising the
awareness of students, children about plagiarism. It was used in 2013 for the first time from 5 to
10 times in local level by governmental organizations. It aimed to give training to students (from
8th class secondary school student to high school students). Totally 60 persons participated in the
training. It had no cost.
The second activity is Enriched Reading Activity which has the purpose of enabling the children
to gain reading habit, reading literacy skills. It was firstly used in 2014 in local level and it was
performed 60 times. One educator supported the training process. The method was used by
governmental organizations and its target group was children and youth.
The third activity is Organization of Shelves, which enabled the participants to in fixing the books
in an organized way, not randomly, bring relevant topics together in accordance with visual
materials in external cover, gain the competency in detailed classification capacities in accordance
with age groups, gain perception and awareness to handle the books not only with external
characteristics but with content, feel tolerance towards each other in the library, have good time
and memory in library with books. The activity was firstly used in 2013 in local level. It was used
from 5 to 10 times by governmental organizations. Students who were in pre-school age and in 5th
grade, whose total number was approximately 750, participated in the training.
Table 8. General information pertaining to the smart practices
Independence
for Health
Information Literacy
Training
Treatment with
a Book:
Bibliotheraphy
When was the method first used?
2016
2014
2015
How often was the method
applied?
14 times
13 times
86 times
Geographical coverage of the
method – for which audiences can
you use it?
Local
Local
Local
How many organisations are using
the method?
1
It is being
implemented in
different public and
university libraries
throughout Turkey.
Unknown
Which kind of institutions perform
the method?
From the
governmental
sector
From the
governmental sector
From the
governmental
sector
How many educators are
performing the method?
1
2
3
Target groups
Students (age
9-15)
Housewives-
Prisoners- Retired
persons- Visually
disabled people-
Patients
Drug addicts-
Prisoners
Number of learners with this
method
Over 700
participants
Over 200 participants
841 participants
How is/was the creation of the
method financed?
No cost
Library
budget
No cost
Three smart practices were developed for different purposes. The activity of Independence for
Health aims to o increase the level of perception and awareness of students about addiction types,
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to inform students in the 9-15 age group about substance, alcohol, drugs, smoke and technology
addiction, to help students stay away from harmful substances,enable students to learn how to
protect themselves from addictions, guiding students on behalf of an independent life, enable the
Family members, friends and other individuals to be informed about addiction, enable students to
live as healthier individuals, draw attention to social problems within the public library,
emphasize that public libraries are an individual-oriented institution, put forward the social
responsibilities of public libraries, spread the public library perception to an extensive by reaching
out to their families through the students, to enable the development of library user profile. It was
used in 2014 14 times in local level with the support of one educator by the government
organizations. It aimed to give training to students at the age of 9-15, who are over 700 in
population.
The second training is Information Literacy Training which aims to enable the disadvantaged
groups to use technology, gain information and computer literacy skills, develop these skills,
adapt to the changing conditions of the digital era, create digital communities and e-citizens,
improving the skills of –digital immigrants, contribute to the social, cultural and economical
development of individuals, gain insight and awareness about library and increase use of library,
create digital society. Information Literacy Training was firstly used in 2014 13 times in local
level. It is currently being implemented in different public and university libraries throughout
Turkey. Housewives, prisoners, retired persons, visually disabled people were the target groups pf
the method. It was financed by library budget.
The third activity is Treatment with a Book: Bibliotheraphy which enablesthe prisoners to get rid
of the feeling of alienation, make them have self-confidence, Enable them to learn how to cope
with their psychological and social problems, provides the opportunity for the participants to
recognize and understand themselves, their characteristics, and the complexity of human thought
and behaviors, change the behaviors of the prisoners in a positive way and improve their
psychological situation and perform social therapy sessions for them in order to encourage them
not to repeat their problematic behavior, raise awareness about public libraries, underline the
importance of social responsibilities of libraries besides cultural responsibilities. The method was
was firstly used in 2015 86 times in local level by governmental organizations. Drug addicts and
prisoners were the target groups of the training. 841 participants attend the training. It had no cost
for the library.
Table 9.General information pertaining to the smart practices
Small Authors
Trabzon
Provincial
Public
Newspaper
Volunteer
Chorus of
Turkish
Classical Music
When was the method first used?
2013
2017
2007
How often was the method applied?
From 2 to 4
times
From 2 to 4
times
11 times
Geographical coverage of the method –
for which audiences can you use it?
Local
Local
Local
How many organisations are using the
method?
It is being
implemented in
different public
libraries
throughout
Turkey.
Unknown
1
Which kind of institutions perform the
method?
From the
governmental
From the
governmental
From the
governmental
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sector
sector
sector
How many educators are performing the
method?
13
11
5
Target groups
Students
(primary
school)
Students
(college school)
Everybody
Number of learners with this method
Over 32
participants
Over 32
participants
At least 500
participants
How is/was the creation of the method
financed?
Library budgets
Library budgets
Library budgets
and volunteers
The practices given in Table 9 were developed for different purposes. The first activity is small
authors. Small Authors was firstly implemented in 2013. It was done from 2 to 4 times. It is still
being implemented in different public libraries throughout Turkey by organizations from
governmental sector. 13 educators worked in the training. Students from primary school were the
target group of the training. Over 32 participants attended the training Expenses were covered
from library budget. It has the aim of providing continuity of students' use of library, encouraging
young users to write, introducing the authors to enable their integration with the public, ensure the
development of the user group to benefit from the library, ensure the togetherness of the student-
parent relationship in reading books, to contribute to the habits of reading by providing early
literacy education to the students, diversify library user group, augment the students to cooperate
with various institutions and NGO (Non-governmental organizations)
The second activity is on creating Trabzon Provincial Public Newspaper. It was firstly
implemented in 2017 from 2 to 4 times in local level. Organizations from the governmental sector
carried out the method. The target group was students, their total number is over 32. It has the aim
of supporting the integration of the students with the public by introducing cultural activities and
cultural institutions in Trabzon, enabling the continual use of library, ensure that students / young
people are sensitive to social problems, increase the awareness of the students / young people
about the environment they live in and their level of awareness of their own city, ensure that the
views of the students towards the library are changed positively by seeing that the Trabzon
Provincial Public Library is involved in such projects.
The third activity is Volunteers Chorus of Turkish Classical Music, which enables the users to
gain artistic skills, to get the chance to socialize and interact with other people through music. The
activity helped the library to be an attraction center for users. Within the frame of the activity, the
concerts were given in the library and users had the chance to see the library and discover the
opportunities of libraries. It was firstly used in 2007 by government organizations in local level. It
was performed 11 times. 5 educators led the training. There was no limitation for the target
group. Every person from different backgrounds had the chance to participate. At least 500
participants took part in the training.
Table 10.Special information pertaining to the Smart Practices
Art of Paper
Marbling:
Painting on
Water –
EBRU-
Listening Activity
Treasure
Hunt
How interactive is the
method?
Very
Very
Very
Which aspects make your
method interactive?
Mutual
discussion
Question-
Mutual discussion
Question-answer
Brainstorming
Mutual
discussion
Question-
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answer
Brainstorming
answer
Brainstorming
How strong does the
method motivate
participants for further
learning?
Very
Quite
Very
To which age range do
the participants belong?
Under 21 years
old
21-60
61-67
67 +
Under 21 years old
Under 21
years old
Which kind of
participatory aspects does
the method have?
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants
with different
knowledge
levels
Easy transferable,
Involve participants with
different knowledge
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants
with different
knowledge
In which way does the
method have impact on
the participants regarding
following aspects?
Participation in
society-
Awareness as
citizen-
Living active
life-
Empowerment
Participation in society-
Living active life-
Empowerment
Participation
in society-
Living active
life-
Empowerment
How long was the
implementation process
of the method?
6 years
7 years
5 years
How does the preparation
of the method look like?
Do you use f. e. fixed
curricula or non-formal
planning?
Fixed curricula
are used.
Fixed curricula are used.
Fixed
curricula are
used.
How does the
documentation of the
results look like?
Photography
Photography
Photography
When are the first results/
effects noticeable?
2013
2011
2013
How is the method
transferable to other
education sectors?
Curriculum can
be used.
Curriculum can be used.
Curriculum
can be used.
How innovative is the
method?
Just so
Not really
Quite
What makes the method
innovative?
Blend of
traditional art
with the newest
artistic
materials and
method is the
innovative part
-
Only specific
to this library.
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of the method.
How does the promotion
of the method look like?
Social media
tools,
Library board,
Inter-personal
communication,
Via Public
Education &
Training Center
Social media tools,
General Directorate of
Libraries and Publications
Social media
tools,
General
Directorate of
Libraries and
Publications
What kind of assessment
methods do/ did you use
in order to follow the
impact of the method?
Observation
and interview
Observation and feedbacks
Observation
In Table 10, special detailed information was provided for the smart practices. For the activity of
art of paper marbling, the method has been very interactive. It had mutual discussion, question-
answer, brainstorming sessions. The method was found out to be very motivating by the
participants. Participants under 21 years old, between 21-60, 61-67 and over 67 benefited from
the method. The method can be transferred to another field and organizations, it can be used by
different educational organizations, such as universities, private and government education and
training centers, public training centers. It can involve participants with different knowledge
level. It can be adapted to different learning atmospheres. It enables the participation of citizens
in society, it is a citizen-centered approach. It has the blend of traditional and post-modern art.
The listening activity and the Treasure Hunt are also one of the influential and interactive
methods used within the frame of user-centered approaches. It was based upon mutual discussion,
question-answer and brainstorming session. Both aimed to appeal to the participants under 21
years old. They can be adapted to other learning environments and used with different target
groups. All these three methods were disseminated and promoted by social media tools.
Differently from this, first method was promoted also by library board, inter-personal
communication, public and education training center. For 3 practices commonly used assessment
method was observation.
Table 11.Special information pertaining to the Smart Practices
Plagiarism
Enriched
Reading
Activity
Organization
of Shelves
How interactive is the method?
Very
Very
Very
Which aspects make your method
interactive?
Mutual
discussion
Question-
answer
Brainstorming
Human
interaction
Reflective
session
Mutual
discussion
Question-answer
Brainstorming
Reflective &
Refractive
Critical thinking
skills
Peer discussion
Mutual
discussion
Question-
answer
Brainstorming
Gamification
Reflective
Thinking
Environment
Human
Interaction
Active
engagement
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Social inclusion
How strong does the method motivate
participants for further learning?
Very
Quite
Quite
To which age range do the participants
belong?
Under 21 years
old
Under 21 years
old
Under 21 years
old
Which kind of participatory aspects
does the method have?
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants
with different
knowledge
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants with
different
knowledge
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants
with different
knowledge
In which way does the method have
impact on the participants regarding
following aspects?
Participation in
society-
Empowerment
Participation in
society-
Living active
life-
Empowerment
Participation in
society-
Empowerment
How long was the implementation
process of the method?
5 years
4 years
6 years
How does the preparation of the
method look like? Do you use f. e.
fixed curricula or non-formal
planning?
Fixed curricula
are used.
Fixed curricula
are used.
Fixed curricula
are used.
How does the documentation of the
results look like?
Photography
Photography
Photography
When are the first results/ effects
noticeable?
2013
2013
2013
How is the method transferable to
other education sectors?
Curriculum can
be used.
Curriculum can
be used.
Curriculum can
be used.
How innovative is the method?
Quite
Just so
Not really
What makes the method innovative?
Specific to this
library in
Turkey.
-
-
How does the promotion of the method
look like?
Social media
tools,
General
Directorate of
Libraries and
Publications
Social media
tools,
General
Directorate of
Libraries and
Publications
Social media
tools,
General
Directorate of
Libraries and
Publications
What kind of assessment methods do/
did you use in order to follow the
impact of the method?
Observation
and feedbacks
Observation
Observation
According to Table 11, all three practices were interactive and they used mutual discussion,
question-answer, brainstorming. Both the activities of Plagiarism and Organization of Shelves
used human interaction. Different from this, plagiarism activity used reflective section. While the
activity of Organization of Shelves benefited from gamification applications an technology, active
engagement, peer discussion, Enriched Reading Activity used critical thinking skills. While
plagiarism activity was observed to be very interactive, Enriched Reading Activity and
Organization of Shelves was quite interactive. All three practices appealed to participants under
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21 years old and they aimed to enable the participation in society and empowerment of citizens.
For all three practices, fixed curriculum has been used. They were all promoted by social media
tools, general directorate of libraries and publications. Assessment method was observation for all
three methods.
Table 12.Special information pertaining to the Smart Practices
Independence
for Health
Information
Literacy Training
Treatment with a
Book:
Bibliotheraphy
How interactive is the method?
Very
Very
Very
Which aspects make your
method interactive?
Mutual
discussion
Question-answer
Brainstorming
Mutual discussion
Question-answer
Brainstorming
Mutual discussion
Question-answer
Brainstorming
Socio-theraphy
How strong does the method
motivate participants for
further learning?
Very
Very
Very
To which age range do the
participants belong?
Under 21 years
old
25-60 years old
Under 21 years old,
21-60
Which kind of participatory
aspects does the method have?
Easy
transferable,
Involve
participants with
different
knowledge
Easy transferable,
Involve participants
with different
knowledge
Easy transferable,
Involve participants
with different
knowledge
In which way does the method
have impact on the participants
regarding following aspects?
Participation in
society-
Living active
life-
Awareness as
citizen-
Empowerment
Participation in
society-
Living active life-
Awareness as
citizen-
Empowerment
Participation in
society-
Living active life-
Awareness as
citizen-
Empowerment
How long was the
implementation process of the
method?
3 years
3 years
3 years
How does the preparation of
the method look like? Do you
use f. e. fixed curricula or non-
formal planning?
Fixed curricula
are used.
Fixed curricula are
used.
Fixed curricula are
used.
How does the documentation
of the results look like?
Photography
No documentation
No documentation
When are the first results/
effects noticeable?
2016
2014
2015
How is the method transferable
to other education sectors?
Curriculum can
be used.
Curriculum can be
used.
Curriculum can be
used.
How innovative is the method?
Just so
Just so
Very
What makes the method
innovative?
It is the first
training provided
by a public
library in Düzce
As the target group
the method can be
handled as
innovative.
This service is
offered in a public
library for the first
time in Turkey.
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county.
How does the promotion of the
method look like?
Social media
tools, local press
support
Social media tools,
local press
Because of target
groups, materials of
the trainings are not
allowed to be used.
What kind of assessment
methods do/
did you use in
order to follow the impact of
the method?
Observation and
interview
Observation and
interview
Observation and
interview
In Table 12, all three methods were found out to be very interactive in terms of providing mutual
discussion, question-answer, brainstorming sessions. The method inspired and motivated the
participants. First method was used foe participants under 21 years old, the second for participants
between 25-60 years old and the third for participants under 21 years old and participants between
21-60. All three methods aimed to foster the participation in society, enable the citizens to lead an
active life also create awareness on citizen inclusion and empowerment. They all have been
performed for 3years. The first method was found out innovative as it is the first training
provided by a public library in Düzce county. All three methods were easily transferable to the
other learning environments. Pertaining to the activity of Independence for Health and
Information literacy training, promotion was made with social media tools and support of local
press. The common assessment method used was observation and interview.
Table 13.Special information pertaining to the Smart Practices
Small Authors
Trabzon
Provincial Public
Newspaper
Volunteer
Chorus of
Turkish
Classical
Music
How interactive is the method?
Very
Very
Partially
Which aspects make your method
interactive?
Mutual
discussion-
Question-answer-
Brainstorming
Mutual discussion-
Question-answer-
Brainstorming
Mutual
discussion
How strong does the method
motivate participants for further
learning?
Very
Very
Very
To which age range do the
participants belong?
Under 21 years
old
Under 21 years old
Over the age
of 25
(Especially
over 50)
Which kind of participatory aspects
does the method have?
Easy transferable,
Involve
participants with
different
knowledge
Easy transferable,
Involve
participants with
different
knowledge
Easy
transferable
In which way does the method have
impact on the participants regarding
following aspects?
Participation in
society-
Living active life-
Awareness as
citizen-
Participation in
society-
Living active life-
Awareness as
citizen-
Participation in
society-
Living active
life-
Empowerment
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Empowerment
Empowerment
How long was the implementation
process of the method?
5 years
2 years
12 years
How does the preparation of the
method look like? Do you use f. e.
fixed curricula or non-formal
planning?
Fixed curricula
are used.
Fixed curricula are
used.
Fixed curricula
are used.
How does the documentation of the
results look like?
Photography,
Children’s story
books
Photography,
Children’s
newspaper
Photography
When are the first results/ effects
noticeable?
2013
2017
2007
How is the method transferable to
other education sectors?
Curriculum can
be used.
Curriculum can be
used.
Curriculum
can be used.
How innovative is the method?
Quite
Quite
Just so
What makes the method
innovative?
In Trabzon
region, it is one of
the first initiatives
performed for
children.
It is an activity
which aims to
improve the media
literacy skills of
children.
-
How does the promotion of the
method look like?
Local
newspapers-
National Radio
Channels (TRT)-
Social media
tools- Webpage
of library
Local newspapers-
National Radio
Channels (TRT)-
Social media tools-
Webpage of
library
Social media
tools
Webpage of
library
What kind of assessment methods
do/ did you use in order to follow
the impact of the method?
Observation,
interview and
feedbacks
Observation,
interview and
feedbacks
Observation,
interview and
feedbacks
In Table 13, special information for the other practices “Small Authors”, “Trabzon Provincial
Public Newspaper” and “Volunter Chorus of Turkish Classical Music was given. While the
activities of Small Authors and Trabzon Provincial Public Newspaper has been found out to be
very interactive, the third practise “Volunteer Chorus of Turkish Classical Music” was found
partially interactive. First and latter practices include mutual discussion. First and second practice
appealed to participants under 21 years old. The third practice aimed to provide service for
participants over 25 years old. All three practices were easily transferable to other sectors and
educational environments. Fixed curricula were used for 3 cases. In Trabzon region, the activity
of Small Authors is one of the first initiatives performed for children. Trabzon Provincial Public
Newspaper is an activity which aims to improve the media literacy skills of children. The first and
second practice has been promoted through local newspapers, National Radio Channels (TRT),
social media tools, web page of library.
4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Within the frame of this study, user/citizen-centered smart practices of different public libraries in
Turkey (Ayvalik Country Public Library, Bornova Country Public Library, Düzce Provincial
Public Library, Halil Hamiş Paşa Provincial Public Library, Or-An Sevgi Yılı County Public
Library, Trabzon Provincial Public Library and İskender Pala Provincial Public Library) have
been analyzed and assessed quantitatively and qualitatively. As a result of the quantitative
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evaluation of the study, it was found out that all the practices have met the criteria for essential
formal requirements, didactic transposition indicators, narrative quality of method indicators and
formal quality of the creation and production indicators. Namely, in all practices, participants,
organization AND target audience were mentioned. Actors and participants were identified
consistently. All sources are cited; copyrighted material, if used, is identified and used with clear
permission . Labor division was made between participants and it was managed successfully. All
the learning goals were identified clearly. Logistical arrangements and management was carried
out with high performance. Learning materials were prepared with efficient management system.
The trainings included several areas of knowledge. All the methods were observes to stimulate
and support the follow-up activities of the learners. The approaches were in accordance with the
needs, (special, learning, etc), educational and organizational, socio-cultural background of the
participants. The content has been prepared in accordance with the topic. Learner centered
approach was adopted within the frame of the activities. The used methods helped to build
community capacity and contributed to the establishment of user-centered learning atmosphere.
The use of the resources was clear, accurate and complied with the learning needs of the
individuals. The methods were found to be reproducable. All the methods could provide
feedback for the learners, trainers and teachers. The methods were shared with other individuals,
NGOs and organizations and successful dissemination activity was well-achieved. One missing
point was that no tool was used to measure the impact of all these methods and smart practices.
This can be done as a suggested future work. Their efficiency might be measured in different
implementation stages and activities, data can be collected in experimental basis and can be
analyzed in different studies. Measurement tools can be developed and used for further efficiency
analyses.
As for the qualitative part of the study, general characteristics of the practices were evaluated and
information was provided on how many times methods were performed, who implemented the
method, how many educators led the training sessions., to what extent the method was creative,
innovative and motivating. Results of the qualitative part of the study indicated that relevant
libraries participating in this study were active in implementing user-oriented, citizen-centric
inclusive services. All the handled cases were found out to be interactive reflective, enabled the
individuals to interact with each other and give them the chance to get socialized, get to know
people. All were observed to have mutual discussion, question-answer, brainstorming sessions.
Different from others, in the activity of Organization of Shelves, gamified implementations were
applied and adopted. Plagiarsim and Organization of Shelves Activities had reflective thinking
sessions and both enabled the development of critical-thinking, analytical thinking skills of
participants. Also they both ad human interaction feature. Treatment with a Book:
Bibliotheraphy session included the use of socio-theraphy. While implementation of some cases
were financed by Directorate of Public Education& Training Center and some attendees, some of
the practices (Independence for Health, Treatment with a Book, Listening Activity, Treasure
Hunt activity, Plagiarism) had no cost. Such activities as Enriched Reading Activity, Organization
of Shelves were financed by volunteers. Information Literacy Training, Small Authors, Trabzon
Provincial Public Newspaper, Volunteer Chorus of Turkish Classical Music was financed by
library budget. Differently from other practices. Second sponsor of the Volunteer Chorus of
Turkish Classical Music was volunteers, as well. Activities of Plagiarism, Organization of
Shelves were applied 5 to 10 times. Higher implementation rates belong to Listening Activity
(150 times), Enriched Reading Activity (60 times), Treatment with a Book: Bibliotheraphy (86
times) respectively. Total number of participants is 1500 for the Listening Activity, 1200 for the
Enriched Reading Activity, 841 for the activity of Treatment with a Book: Bibliotheraphy),
nearly 750 participants for the activity of Organization of Shelves, over 700 for the activity of
Independence for Health, at least 500 participants for the Volunteer Chorus of Turkish Classical
Music, more than 200 for the activity of Information Literacy Training, over 150 participants for
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the activity of Art of Paper Marbling on Water-EBRU, 100 participats for the activity of Treasure
Hunt. 60 participants for the Plagiarsim Activity. As for the target groups, students were the
target groups of the activity of Small Authors, Plagiarism, Organization of Shelves, Enriched
Reading Activity, Trabzon Provincial Public Newspaper, Independence for Health. Besides these,
for Information Literacy Training, housewives, prisoners, retired persons, visually disabled
people, patients were the target group, Differently drug addicts and prisoners were the target
group of the Treatment with a Book: Bibliotheraphy. Common point for all the activities is that
they were all implemented in local level. All the activities were transferable to other learning
environments and fields. They all can be used by other educational institutions, public and
training centers, they can be used as non-formal learning methods and techniques within the
frame of other projects in local, national, international and global level. Most of the smart
practices have been found out innovative as they were firsty implemented in their local
surroundings.
These 13 cases belonging to Turkey were selected from the Handbook of EduCitizens project and
analyzed in detail. As further study, other smart practices belonging to different European
Countries can be analyzed and evaluated in terms of these quantitative and qualitative evaluation
criteria. The metric used within the frame of EduCitizens Project (Evaluation Grid) can be used
for analyzing and evaluating the smart cases of other projects or organizations.
5. REFERENCES
Alaca, E. (2017). Halk kütüphanelerinde yenilikçi hizmet: Bartın Ulus Kültür ve Sanatevi Halk
Kütüphanesi örneği.İstanbul: Hiperyayın.
Anthony, C. A. (2014). Innovation in public libraries. Retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.
org/2014/02/innovation-in-public-libraries/address.
Edu Citizens: Educate to Participate. (2018). Retrieved from https://educitizens.weebly.com/
uploads/1/0/1/5/101585812/educitizens_evaluation_grid_new.pdf adress.
Güleş, H. K. and Bülbül, H. (2004). Yenilikçilikişletmeleriçinstratejikrekabetaracı. Ankara: Nobel
YayınDağıtım.
Kavak, Ç. (2009) Bilgi ekonomisindeinovasyonkavramıvetemelgöstergeleri. Retrieved from
http://ab.org.tr/ab09/kitap/kavak_inovasyon_AB09.pdf address.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]. (2006). Oslo Kılavuzu:
Yenilikverilerinintoplanmasıveyorumlanmasıiçinilkeler. Retreieved from http://www.tubitak.
gov.tr/tubitak_content_files/BTYPD/kilavuzlar/Oslo_3_TR.pdf address.
Önal, İ. (2015). Yaratıcıkütüphanelerdeyenilikçibilgihizmetleri. U. Al and Z. Taşkın (Eds.). Prof.
Dr. İrfan Çakın’aarmağan içinde (p. 162-174). Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Bilgi ve Belge
Yönetimi Bölümü.
Yamaç, K. (2001). Nedirbuinovasyon?. Retrieved from http://www.kadriyamac.com/tr/yazi/
guncel/s/11 address.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank all owners, facilitators and implementers of the cases collected for their
valuable contributions and Martin Barthel, who is the German coordinator of EduCitizens:
Educate to Participate Project, Erasmus Plus Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership Project funded
by European Union Commission.
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INTEGRATING INFORMATION LITERACY INTO THE
CURRICULUM
Ane Landøy, Gunnstein Akselberg
University of Bergen, Norway; ane.landoy@uib.no, Gunnstein.akselberg@uib.no
ABSTRACT:
Information literacy is regarded as a crucial skill for university students (Landøy, 2010). In this
paper, we will discuss collaborative efforts between academic libraries and the scholarly
community they are serving, in order to enhance the take-up of information literacy (IL) from
students.
At University of Bergen, the Library has taken ownership to IL and regards the training of
students in IL as one of the main strategic tasks (Landøy, 2010). The trainings in IL are not
compulsory for students, although IL is mentioned as one of the core skills in the “qualification
framework” given by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Education (NKR, 2011:22). The
University leadership supports the Library efforts.
When it comes to the practical implementation, however, the scholarly departments are most
important for students to participate in the trainings.
Our joint efforts, which will be discussed in the paper, include informational and motivational
measures from administrative and academic staff at the departments, and close collaborations in
planning of content. The departments have some similar and some different needs for their
students, and the academic librarian will be able to choose from a set of descriptions with
matching training content.
1. INTRODUCTION: INFORMATION LITERACY AND ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Information literacy, as a tool for students to assess and understand the reliability of the
information they are gathering, is an important task, especially for academic libraries worldwide.
In this framework, information literacy can be defined as in the new definition from the Chartered
institute of library information professionals (CILIP). "Information literacy is the ability to think
critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us
as citizens to reach and express informed views and to engage fully with society” (CILIP 2018).
In an educational and academic setting, university libraries have an impact on how successful
students are in acquiring skills that are necessary for their academic endeavours.
Information literacy is one of the most useful tools developed in the academic sector to get
students to become better acquainted with the vast academic resources found in the academic
libraries, to bring these resources into use at all academic and scientific levels in their own studies
and work, to develop the technical skills needed to master and make practical and efficient use of
resources, to seek strategically relevant knowledge in the vast amount of knowledge that
academic libraries manage and which is a necessary input to, and to be able to develop both a
subject-critical assessment of this knowledge material and, moreover, be able to better see his/her
own narrow discipline in a larger academic perspective and, moreover, in a broader scientific
theory context. Such challenges are difficult or impossible for students to both cope with and
resolve on their own, and too demanding to achieve the necessary skills and competencies needed
without expert guidance on the use of information literacy tools.
Earlier research from University of Bergen Library shows that even when academic staff
promotes the information literacy trainings, not all students participate in the training (Landøy,
2010). The University library, in close collaboration with the professors, situate the training at the
optimum time in the academic cycle; “just in time” for the deadlines the students have for their
work, but even so, the number of students attending is lower than expected for some subject.
In this paper, we will look at some joint efforts with the objective to enhance the student
participation in the Library information literacy courses.
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2. INFORMATION LITERACY AS A CORE COMPETENCE FOR NORWEGIAN
STUDENTS: THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORK
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research finalized the Norwegian
Qualifications Framework in 2009 and made it law in 2011, as part of the European Qualification
Framework and the Bologna process in Norway. The Qualifications Framework formulates the
knowledge, skills and general competencies all students are expected to achieve through
completed study courses at different levels. Education policy increasingly emphasizes that higher
education must qualify students beyond the subject-specific. Being a practitioner of a given
profession or possessing a given professional knowledge therefore assume qualifications that are
explicitly linked to students' future participation as citizens, as workers, and as participants in
lifelong learning processes.
Libraries in higher education are constantly developing their educational offerings. This can be
seen as an important step in strengthening our role as professional and educational resource
environments for the mother institutions. Within the framework, qualifications we can understand
within the term “information competence” are formulated as expected learning outcomes for the
study programs. This also shows how the implementation of the qualification framework
challenges the library's educational and professional competence.
The Norwegian Qualification Framework is developed for all levels of formal education. In the
following, we will concentrate on levels Bachelor, Master and PhD.
The European Quality Framework defines national qualification frameworks as: “National
qualifications framework means an instrument for the classification of qualifications according to
a set of criteria for specified levels of learning achieved, which aims to integrate and coordinate
national qualifications subsystems and improve the transparency, access, progression and quality
of qualifications in relation to the labour market and civil society.” The Ministry formulated their
understanding as: “A qualification framework is a collective, systematic and level-divided
description of formal qualifications that can be achieved within an education system. The
framework is a systematic description of the level and competence acquired for the levels in the
Norwegian education system. National qualifications frameworks are based on the nation’s
education system, shows level and progression and correlation with working life and social life.”
(NKF, 2011:7)
Information literacy may be found embedded in the framework under the headings of “SKILLS”
(defined as “The ability to utilise knowledge to solve problems or tasks (cognitive, practical,
creative and communication skills)”and “GENERAL COMPETENCE”, which is defined as: “The
ability to utilise knowledge and skills in an independent manner in different situations”. For
Bachelor level (first cycle of higher education), the framework mentions skills like “can find,
evaluate and refer to information and scholarly subject matter and present it in a manner that
sheds light on the problem” and “masters relevant scholarly tools, techniques and forms of
communication”. In Master level (second cycle) the skills includes “can analyze and deal
critically with various sources of information and use them to structure and formulate scholarly
arguments” (NKF, 2011:23f)
3. THE ACADEMIC LIBRARIES AND ACADEMIC RESEARCH
In order to get the most optimal benefit for students at all academic levels of the resources
available in the academic libraries, close cooperation between the academic libraries and the
academic units at the faculty and department level is highly necessary. Here, academic libraries
have no doubt sat down in the driver's seat. Many of the academic libraries have on the one hand
invested heavily in the task of developing good, useful and solid information literacy tools of a
technical, archival and material nature. On the other hand, the academic libraries have invested
heavily in qualifying the librarians for the new tasks and requirements associated with an
academic library through continuing education and retraining. For the librarians, this has partly
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meant a change in the work situation from pure service activities, such as delivering ordered book
and literature material to users and the public, to assist professionals and researchers at all
academic levels with advisory services.
The librarians have changed their librarian status and position librarians from largely being
service librarians to largely becoming academic librarians. In addition many of the academic
libraries today have put in place solid and decent technical and practical resources aimed at
academic and research activities, and they also have a solid staff of resourceful librarians who can
engage in expert information literacy guidance. Many of the academic libraries have developed
into a living research environment or research recruitment arena where students and researchers
stay for shorter or longer periods. Previously, the practice of students and scholars was just to
retrieve ordered material. That is, university libraries were previously not intended for students.
The role of university libraries as a reading room for students - mainly at the lower level - is old,
but after the university libraries became academic libraries, the students' library behaviour and the
role of the library have changed noticeably. The academic libraries have been transformed into
study libraries in a completely new and different manner. The students can stay here for much of
the day because the libraries have become more study and research friendly, because one can ask
the librarians for academic advice and academic guidance, and because most research libraries
now have open bookshelves where the students can go, both to orient themselves and to find just
the books and literature they need for their professional work and exams. In the middle of tightly
packed bookshelves that strain from professional knowledge, there will be group rooms and
reading, study and conversation hooks, where academic discussions and academic presentations
take place. An academic library today is not what a university library was.
4. FOUR ESSENTIAL ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTORS
The four key players in the development, adaptation and adaptation of information literacy in
academia are 1) the academic libraries, 2) the academic institutions, 3) scholarly staff (teachers
and professors) and 4) the students.
By academic libraries is meant here: the academic libraries, the non-fiction collections, the
technical and digital access to the academic literature, the physical facilitation in and by the
libraries, the physical access to the collections, and the physical and practical facilities for being
able to reside in the academic libraries over a longer period of time.
Academic institutions here mean universities and university colleges at various organizational
levels: at the upper academic and administrative university level (rectorate and director level), at
the academic and administrative faculty level, at the academic and administrative level, and at the
academic and administrative level, center level.
Scholarly staff here is meant to be scientific and educational staff who are involved in various
aspects of teaching and research related to student work and on BA level, MA level and Ph.D
level.
With students here are meant academically active students who work with and complete scholarly
work in the form of bachelor theses, master theses and Ph.D. dissertations.
5. RESPONSE FROM ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
As mentioned earlier, many of the academic libraries have, in recent years, undergone a radical
change of structure, which has been aimed at meeting the new tasks and the new requirements -
related to the internal reorientation with greater information literacy and thus to a more
comprehensive, more challenging and more frequent collaboration with academic professionals -
providing staff and the physical and electronic access to sources, archives, literature and
professional knowledge for academia and academia students and scholarly staff in a most
practical and professional manner.
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5.1. Material and physical adaptations
Libraries have been physically partially rebuilt and partially adapted and adjusted to allow
students and researchers to make much use of the amount of knowledge found in the libraries to a
much greater extent and in a completely different practical way than before. The libraries are also
more adapted to students and researchers staying in the library area near the sources and the
academic library's expertise for long periods, and also discuss academic material and research
issues with other professionals and researchers who use the libraries at corresponding
academically in a fruitful way.
5.2. From service librarians to academic librarians
The biggest change that has taken place when the traditional university libraries became academic
libraries, is probably both that the library staff has been given other tasks than before, and that it
is retrained and has gained greater academic competence in addition to the previously solid
library skills. The academic library staff has been strongly accredited, which has meant that the
academic libraries can, to a much greater extent than before, engage in academic dialogue with
the academic staff and the researchers at the faculties and departments. The same applies to the
dialogue and collaboration with the students at BA, MA and Ph.D. level.
6. RESPONSE FROM ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS
While many of the academic libraries, both physically and humanly, have largely adapted to the
new needs and requirements of the stronger demand for joint explicit focus on information
literacy, the traditional academic institutions - on all levels - are quite a success. The challenge is
found especially at the faculty and department level. The reason for this is that there are so many
different traditions associated with teaching, dissemination and research practice.
First, there are great fundamental and practical differences between the traditional faculties.
Humanities and law stand out, for example, by studying, analysing and dealing with new and old
texts, artefacts, values, norms, ideologies and philosophies, while natural science and medicine
often focus on technology, practical implementation and physical measurements. Secondly, there
are major differences within the same faculty, for example, at department level where, for
example, theoretical physics has several similarities with philosophy, and where, for example,
social medicine has several similarities with sociology, while the medicine used may have several
similarities with chemistry and physics.
In this way, the various faculties and departments will have different needs and requirements for
the academic libraries - and hence the physical structures of the libraries and the academic
libraries as academic competence and profile.
Without having enough knowledge and experience to conclude on these issues, we have little
suspicion that the relationship related to information literacy may be best developed between the
academic libraries and the humanities faculties, institutes, and academic communities. Many
departments and academic communities have established good cooperation arrangements with the
academic environments and students at BA, MA and Ph.D. level.
7. RESPONSE FROM TEACHERS AND RESEARCHERS IN ACADEMIC
INSTITUTIONS
Academic teachers and researchers like to be free and independent without too much interference
from others. That is, there are great cultural differences. The individual culture is perhaps most
developed on law and in the humanities. In medicine and in science, enough co-operation in large
and partly large contexts is more widespread. This of course puts the mark on teaching,
dissemination and research. But in addition to such institutional cultural differences, there are also
strong individual sympathies, antipathies and priorities. Some are very open to collaboration
across disciplines and subject boundaries, and are positive about input, assessments and common
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solutions. Others, on the other hand, are in a strong academic defence position and believe they
themselves are the best advisors, evaluators and little open to cooperation - not just across
disciplines, departments and faculties, but also to closer collaboration with academic libraries.
8. RESPONSE FROM STUDENTS ON BA, MA AND Ph.D. LEVEL
As far as we have experienced with the practical information literacy implementation and with the
collaboration of the academic libraries and the traditional academic institutions at the faculty and
department level, the students on all three main levels – BA, MA and Ph.D. – are very positive
and much cooperative. This is a very good platform to start with and to expand information
literacy tools and methods from to faculties and institutes. We think the students very soon will
convince the academic staff ¬– teachers and scholars – to focus on information literacy as a very
advanced academic tool.
9. THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION
LITERARCY TRAINING
In the early 2000’s, the academic sector not only had to cope with the growth of ICT, but also the
implementation of the Bologna process, the rise in lifelong learning and widening of access to
higher education bringing in new learners with different previous educational experiences. This
became a new force for change in the academic library world.
The University of Bergen library has always given library trainings, but the content of the
trainings differed.
Figure 1 shows the number of library trainings/courses over the 20-year period from 1998-2018.
The data from 1998-2017 are taken from the library annual reports found at the library web-site
(the reports from 2014 and 2015 did not include the number of trainings) (UiB/UB 2019), while
the data from 2018 are found in the reporting tool.
The number of courses are stable around 200-250, and the main reason for the fluctuations are
probably the changing ways of registration and documentation through the years, where some
years the number of hours used for teaching were reported, some years heavy-duty supervisions
and time consuming questions were included, while for other years only the number of courses.
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It is evident from the data in the annual reports, however, that the content of the trainings change.
In the 1990’s and early 2000’s the content is reported to be mainly library usage: How to find
information through tools, catalogues, and databases. In 2003 the concept “learning centre” is first
mentioned, and the discussion goes on to “the digital library” and that trainings in information
literacy are needed.
Among the academic librarians, who all had (the equivalent of) master’s or doctoral degrees in
university subjects, (not library science) the shift from library trainings focusing on tools to the
needs in the informational society brought major changes in pedagogical conceptualization. Thus,
the didactic activities to a higher degree are determined by the learners. The activities should vary
and be produced in small and heterogeneous groups, based on mutual support. Productive
learning and problem-solving learning are the main focus, trying to integrate theory into practice
and encourage the transfer of knowledge and skills from one discipline to another (Voogt, J.M., &
Pelgrum, W.J., 2003).
However, as Hyldegård et al (2011) reminds us: Students cannot be considered as a single group.
The information behaviour depends on the level of study, the subject, the libraries' dissemination,
interpretations of what is needed in relation to the given situation, preferences and different types
of learning styles and personality traits just to mention some of the factors that matter in this
context. Information search does not play a major role purely in terms of consciousness among
students, but that it of course gets more importance the longer you get in the study. In general,
students are happy with the tools and aids that the libraries make available, but the research also
indicates that the knowledge of them is generally overlooked and that extensive use of them
should not be too cumbersome. The students' use depends primarily on the requirements of the
teachers at their educational institution.
The constructivist and post-constructivist perspective on learning puts the transfer of knowledge
and skills from teacher to student in a second plan, emphasizing the active role of the pupil /
student in their own development of knowledge and skills. We are talking about a new
perspective, which places learning in a process of co-participation. The new vision of learning
(Situated learning), explore the situational character of human understanding and communication
(Popa, D., 2013).
In 2007 the module based web-course “Søk&Skriv” (Search & Write) was launched, developed in
collaboration with the academic libraries at the University of Oslo and Bergen, the Bergen
University College, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, and Aalborg University in Denmark
(www.sokogskriv.no/en). The idea behind the development of the web-course was to develop
good models for academic writing combined with tips for better searches. What characterizes
writing as a good academic artisanship, and how students, through methodically reading of text,
may gather information and use this in an ethical way in their own texts.
In the continuing development of «Søk&Skriv» the library has passed from a focus on theories
behind search to directly showing how a student, through planning of the search operation may
have a better basis for finding the needed information. The web-course presents searching as a
systematic operation, and the students say that they are well helped when it comes to search, and
the information source examples are plentiful and concrete (Kavli et al 2014:25)
As mentioned, the Norwegian Qualification Framework (NKR) emphasizes that bachelor students
(1 cycle) “can find, evaluate and refer to information and scholarly subject matter and present it in
a manner that sheds light on the problem”. It further expects master students (2. cycle) to be able
to “analyze and deal critically with various sources of information and use them to structure and
formulate scholarly arguments».
In the Søk&Skriv website these demands are articulated through a concretization of what
characterizes good handling of information. The library sees as important that students become
competent to utilize information in an appropriate manner in their studies and research. This
presupposes a strengthened understanding of what it means to evaluate information and sources in
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a creative and ethically correct manner. This competence may be transferred to other areas (Kavli
et al 2014:31).
10. PRACTICAL COLLABORATION ISSUES
The library quickly realized, when the call for developing the library trainings to include more
information literacy skills, that this would require close collaboration with the academic
departments and the professors/teaching staff. The university leadership encouraged the
development of information literacy courses, but the departments are the organisational level
where the practical work needs to be done. The main challenge has been to get the students to
come to the courses offered. One helpful thing is when the administrative staff at the department
includes the library training in the students’ schedule in the learning management system.
Another is when the teacher recommends the library training to the students, or even joins them in
the library teaching session.
The library has also developed the information literacy trainings to have a progression from the
first year introductory course to the specialized trainings at master level. There is always a
balance to be considered, between the boredom in repetition for the students that have participated
already, and the confusion of students who has not participated in the course on the lower level.
However, with the Søk & Skriv modular web-course to use as a refreshment tool, and the constant
pedagogical developments from the library, in close cooperation with the departments and
academic staff, the students are well served.
The Library has not tried to use formal assessment as a means to attract students to the trainings.
11. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Information literacy is an academic tool that gives students on all academic levels profound
academic outcomes, insights and knowledge unparalleled in academia. We have to develop and
improve this tool technically (digitally, electronically, etc.), institutional and individual. All
academic institutions (faculties, institutes and centres) must develop information literacy
programmes and stimulate their teachers and researchers to take part in this vital investment.
Nobody should have any professional excuse not to take part in the development and practices
linked to information literacy. Teachers and scholars at all academic levels should be trained in
using information as often as possible.
Faculties and institutes not trained in information should be specially trained in using information
literacy tools and methods. And above all, teachers and scholars without any training and with
low motivation should be focused on specially to gain practices, experience and insight. To
participate in information literacy programmes should be compulsory, and information literacy
activities should be a natural part in all teaching and research.
Both materially and mentally, the conditions must be facilitated for good relations and optimal
communication between faculties and departments on the one hand and the academic libraries on
the other. In addition, the universities have to – on the management level, at the faculty level and
at the department level – set aside funds for relevant costs and secure employees have enough
time to work on relevant information literacy tasks.
12. REFERENCES:
Hyldegård, J., Lund, H., Moring, C., Pors, N.O. and Schreiber, T. 2011. Studerende, Læring Og
Webtutorials. En Analyse aftre Norske læringssystemer. (Students, Learning and Web‐Based
Tutorials: a Analysis of Three Norwegian Learning Systems). Evalueringsrapport (Evaluation
Report), Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen.
10.1108/14678041211284731
Kavli, S., Mitternacht, S., Seland, E.H, Solheim, B.: 2014 Hjelp til skriving og etisk kjeldebruk I
høgare utdanning (Help with writing and ethical use of sources in higher education). Bibliotheca
Nova 2-2014,
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Landøy, A (2010): Assessment of information literacy skills, some experiences from University
of Bergen. First International Conference in Romania on Information Literacy /
CulturaInformaţiei, April 21st - 23rd 2010, Sibiu, Romania. http://hdl.handle.net/1956/3893
[accessed 04.04.2019]
Nasjonalt kvalifikasjonsramm everk for livslang læring 2011 (NKR)/National qualification
framework for lifelong learning https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/e579f913fa1d45c
2bf2219afc726670b/nkr.pdf
Popa, D. 2013. Strategii de stimulare a învăţării autoreglate la elevii cu dificultăţi de învăţare.
Cluj: Presa Universitară Clujeană.
Søkogskriv: www.sokogskriv.no/en [accessed May 6th 2019]
Voogt, J. M., &Pelgrum, W. J. 2003. ICT and the curriculum. In R. B. Kozma (Ed.), Technology,
innovation and educational change: A global perspective. A report of the IEA Second Information
Technology in Education Study, Module 2. Eugene: International Society for Technology in
Education
UiB/UB 2019: https://www.uib.no/ub/71634/plandokumenter-og-rapporter. [Accessed May 5th
2019]
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COBISS FOR ALL GENERATIONS
PROJECT OF INTEGRATING SCHOOL LIBRARIES INTO
COBISS
mag. Pero Šobot, Tatjana Žnidarec,Romana Muhvič Šumandl
Institute of Information Science, Prešernova 17, Maribor, Slovenia, pero.sobot@izum.si
ABSTRACT:
COBISS.net is a regional network of library information systems and current research
information systems with more than 1300 participating libraries from 7 countries. The
autonomous national library systems COBISS.XX cooperate in processing material according to
common library rules, in training of employees, managing researcher's bibliographies,
exchanging records on a daily basis and coordinating in professional issues. TheCOBISS.net
network, which operates on a uniform technological platform COBISS, includes all major
libraries of participating countries. These are national, university, special and public libraries
and in some countries even school libraries. The entire COBISS.net network includes more than
1.4 million active library members, which annually borrow, renew and reservemore than 33.4
million items of material, while the university and special libraries are connected into systems
and services of full-text database providers via the members database. In 2018 we have
completed a two-year project of including school libraries in Slovenia. The presentation will
showcase the procedure and the results of including 463 school libraries into COBISS.SI.
Key words: information systems and services, information technology, libraries, databases,
COBISS.net, COBISS.SI, IZUM, school library, community, information literacy, lifelong
learning
1. INTRODUCTION
From the early beginnings (in 1987) the vision and the goal of the creators of the COBISS system
was to connect all libraries in the country into a uniform library information system, which would
include different types of libraries with unified cataloguing and common rules of operation. This
was started in the former country (of Yugoslavia), and after its breakup, the co-operation
continued with most of the newly formed countries. Later two more countries from the Western
Balkans region joined the network. This article describes the COBISS system, the expansion of
the COBISS system within the COBISS.net network, the co-operation among the system
members and the role of IZUM (The Institute of Information Science) in establishing, co-
ordinating and developing the COBISS system. Special emphasis will be placed on the prevalence
of the COBISS system in Slovenia, because of the wide variety of libraries participating in the
system – from the largest national library to the smallest school library.
2. COBISS SYSTEM AND COBISS.NET NETWORK
COBISS is an acronym that stands for Co-operative Online Bibliographic System and Services
(COBISS, 2019) and it represents an organisational model of connecting libraries into a national
library information system with shared cataloguing, COBIB shared bibliographic/catalogue
database and local databases of the participating libraries, COLIB library database, CONOR
authority database (database for authority control of personal and corporate names) and with
multiple other functions. At the same time, the acronym also stands for the adjoining software
which has been the precondition for the online communication link between the libraries from the
beginning. The basic concept of the COBISS system is to connect as many different types of
libraries as possible into a uniform system via standardized and shared cataloguing (each item is
only catalogued once) of different types of library material. Consequently, this improves the
quality of bibliographic records and rationalizes the work of the participating parties through
unified management of catalogues and bibliographies. The added value of such a concept is the
multifunctionality of records in bibliographic/catalogue databases which are then used for various
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purposes, locally and globally. The most prominent is the use for publicly available publication of
research results (Authors/researchers, 2019).The basis for a high quality and efficient operation of
the COBISS system is the qualification of professionals for shared cataloguing (specialized
librarians – cataloguers).
Picture1: Shared cataloguing in COBISS.SI
A common feature of shared cataloguing is a strong link between local databases (catalogues) of
individual libraries with the shared COBIB database (union catalogue). In both, the COBIB
shared bibliographic database and the local databases of all participating libraries, the structure of
bibliographic records and that of summary holdings data is the same. The local databases
additionally contain uniformly structured copy-specific holdings data, vital for the local library
functions and for the display in the COBISS+ online application (COBISS+, 2019).For creating
records for serial titles, the international ISSN database is used as the authority database; from the
ISSN database, the relevant data is downloaded into COBIB and the local databases. It is also
possible to download bibliographic records from WorldCat and from the Library of Congress
Union Catalog (Picture1). Because databases contain bibliographic records for different types of
material (monographs, serials, integrating resources, articles and other component parts) and
additionally also records for performed works, the bibliographies for all registered researchers can
be publicly downloaded from the COBISS system. For the preparation of personal bibliographies
of researchers within the COBISS system, a unified typology of documents/works must be used.
The bibliographic units are classified in accordance with the aforementioned typology. The type
of every bibliographic unit is specified according to the definitions in the prescribed typology
(e.g. original scientific article, review article, professional article, scientific or professional
monograph, scientific or professional conference contribution, etc.).
The third generation of the COBISS software used by librarians (2000 of active users per day) for
library automation and access to various databases is comprised of software modules for
cataloguing, loan, holdings, serials, acquisitions, interlibrary loan, electronic resources, reports
and application administration. Users can use the free online applications COBISS+ and Mcobiss
(a version of COBISS+ adapted to mobile devices) (mCOBISS, 2019) for searching material that
can be in printed or electronic form (records can also contain links to full texts), searching in
other specialized databases and other information resources, as well as for library services such as
the My COBISS (My Library) service (Picture3). COBISS+ (mCOBISS) provides information
about the availability of an individual copy to the users (whether the material is available or on
loan, due date), and they can use My COBISS to check the loan history, renew the loan period,
reserve material, order material via interlibrary loan, check the current status of debts, settle
outstanding debts online and subscribe to electronic notification services.
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At the same time, COBISS is also a model of a system representing the platform for the national
library information systems in Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Bulgaria and Albania (Picture2).
Picture 2: The COBISS.net network and the number of participating libraries (by year)
All these systems are interconnected into the COBISS.net regional network (COBISS.net, 2019).
COBISS.SI, COBISS.SR, COBISS.MK, COBISS.BH+COBISS.RS, COBISS.CG, COBISS.BG
and COBISS.AL are designations for the autonomous library information systems that are being
established in individual countries. Table 1 shows the results of use in numbers of the COBISS
systems in the COBISS.net network from the beginning to the year 2018.
Table 1: Library usage in the COBISS systems (31 December 2018)
SI
BH
MK
SR
CG
BG
AL
RS
.net
Joined
(year)
1987 1998 2001 2003 2003 2010 2012 2014
Libraries
910
61
53
204
37
2
30
24
1,321
Records
15.7
m
702,6
03
1.1 m 7.8 m
743,8
47
1.1 m
133,6
03
325,4
39
27.6
m
Holdings
23.8
m
1.3 m 2.2 m
10.2
m
890,1
98
968,6
22
75,34
9
487,3
63
40 m
Transactio
ns
31.1
m
253,7
84
324,5
54
1.6 m
41,64
9
26,09
0
/
81,67
6
33.4
m
Members
1.2 m
31,80
0
34,15
1
146,8
17
7,053 5,303 / 4,222 1.4 m
Searches
29,2
m
521,2
00
330,9
47
4.2 m
237,0
73
933,7
80
22,45
1
143,1
60
35.6
m
Each national library information system built on the COBISS platform is co-created by the
National COBISS Centre (NCC) and the libraries as members of the system.COBISS.net is an
established international development cooperation project for the development of national library
information systems and current research information systems (E-CRIS.XX). Linking between
the two systems is crucial for managing researchers' bibliographies and evaluating research
results.
At the same time, COBISS.net is also a form of cultural cooperation, which is especially
appreciated in the region, as it contributes to mutual understanding and dialogue. Previous
collaboration has yielded very positive results. Since 2003 (when the Agreement on the
establishment of the COBISS.net network and the free exchange of bibliographic records created
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in autonomous library information systems) by the end of 2018 there have been over 739,416
bibliographic records exchanges between the systems (COBISS.net in numbers, 2019). In the
beginning of May 2019, the seven shared COBIB databases contained more than 11.7 million of
bibliographic records and the local databases of more than 1,342 libraries contained more than
28.6 million of bibliographic records and more than 41.1 million holdings entries. In 2018,
libraries created only 25% of new records on average in their own databases and downloaded
75% of records, which saved a lot of time and money. Because of its extensive co-operation, the
COBISS.net network is very important for the development of the Western Balkan region and its
successful integration into the EU.
3. COBISS.SI SYSTEM AND IZUM
COBISS.SI is an autonomous library information system that already includes 914 Slovene
libraries as of the beginning of May 2019. This is 97% of all libraries registered in Slovenia
(COBISS.SI, 2019). The system includes all types of libraries: national, academic (83), special
(132), public (62) and school (636) libraries. This also includes eight Slovene libraries abroad. In
the COBISS.SI system, 680 licenced library professionals actively create in average more than
160,000 records per year (Dornik, 2019). And in the libraries, more than 1200 librarians actively
use the software for their work in various software modules on a daily basis.
The COBISS.SI system provides its users, who performed 29,150,925 searches, created
26,653,757 reports and carried out more than 33,427,753 loan transactions, reservations and loan
renewals in 2018 (STAT, 2019) access to the bibliographic/catalogue databases of the
participating libraries as well as access to other databases like COLIB.SI, CONOR.SI, SGC,
CORES.SI, ELINKS.SI and other information resources, such as JCR (Journal Citation
Reports®), SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper),...
Picture 3: Functionalities of the COBISS system
Data collected in the COBISS.SI system is used for various purposes through publicly accessible
applications (Picture 3). Applications like the online application Bibliographies (Osebne
bibliografije, 2019) enable the preparation of various personal bibliographies reports from the
COBISS system as well as from the SICRIS system (Slovenian Current Research Information
System) (SICRIS, 2019).Within COBISS you can prepare a report of a personal bibliography for
any author or serial. The SICRIS system enables you to prepare personal or research group
bibliography, assessed bibliography according to the SRA (Slovenian Research Agency) reports
required for the appointment to titles at universities and citation reports. The web application
Most read books allows preparing the list of most frequently borrowed items within a certain
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period of time (based on loan statistics of libraries with automated loan). The web application
Public Lending Remuneration Scheme allows the preparation of the lists of borrowed items (i.e.
loan statistics) by authors who are entitled to payment (under the criteria of the competent state
authority) based on the number of loans of their works in libraries. The data from local databases
of libraries is also available on the Z39.50, SRW/SRU, OAI-PMH, LDAPand SIP2servers for
various local applications or connections with different services needed by libraries to perform
their duties (Picture 4).
Picture 4: COBISS Data sharing to other systems (Petek& Šobot, 2014) (Šobot et-al., 2013)
IZUM is a public institution established by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as an
information infrastructural service for Slovenian science, culture and education (IZUM,
2019).Along with other agents of information activities in the country, it ensures that Slovenia is a
part of the modern information society. According to the Research and Development Act, IZUM
is defined as a public infrastructural institution and registered as a research organisation.
According to the Librarianship Act, it is defined as a library information service in the
COBISS.SI national bibliographic system. IZUM is a non-profit organisation, a public institution
with more than 110 employees. For almost a quarter of a century, IZUM has been present in the
wider region with its professional and innovative initiatives, and over this period it has won the
trust of the public. IZUM has become an important regional centre for the development of library
information systems and research information systems. This was also recognised by UNESCO,
who, at its General Assembly in November 2011, awarded IZUM the status of a UNESCO
Regional Centre. IZUM performs its activities for the users in the Republic of Slovenia on the
basis of the annual Action Plan, which is mainly financed by the Slovenian Research Agency.
IZUM carries out part of its activities on the basis of special agreements with direct users or
subscribers to the services from Slovenia and abroad.
The activities of IZUM are mainly engaged in the development and operation of the COBISS
system and services, which represents the core of the library information system in Slovenia and
of library information systems in some other countries linked in the COBISS.net network. IZUM
and the national COBISS centres outside Slovenia have concluded individual umbrella
agreements, based on which IZUM provides the know-how for organising and managing a library
information system on the COBISS platform and COBISS software for library automation, which
is IZUM's original product as well as computer capacities for the operation of the system and the
central services. IZUM does not cooperate directly with the libraries from the participating
countries, because this role is carried out by the national COBISS centres. IZUM also develops
the SICRIS, which not only includes data on research organisations, researchers and research
projects, but also supports the development of similar systems (E-CRIS) in other countries. On
the basis of consortium agreements with foreign e-resource providers, IZUM provides users in
Slovenia with free access to different foreign databases and services (Web of Science, OCLC
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FirstSearch, ProQuest, etc.). On the scientific and professional basis, IZUM co-operates with
similar organisations worldwide; in accordance with the guidelines of its founder, it has also
expanded its activities abroad.
IZUM holds various staff training programmes (librarians and IT staff) (in 2018 there were 140
days of training courses held for 921 participants), organizes specialized workshops and
international COBISS conferences (COBISS conferences, 2019).
4. PROJECT FOR INCLUDING SCHOOL LIBRARIES INTO THE COBISS.SI
Ever since the beginning of the COBISS system, IZUM has ensured that the COBISS system is
also suitable for school libraries. The most important advantages for school libraries participating
in the COBISS system are the possibility of downloading bibliographic records from the shared
COBIB database into the local database of the library, automation of local library functions,
compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), help and counselling via e-
mail, telephone or reference service, inclusion of their library into the COBISS+ web application,
co-operating in and using the web applications Most Read Books, Biblos, Public Lending
Remuneration Scheme and Online Learning. By using the COBISS+ web application, the school
library users can view the local database, use the My COBISS service (MyCOBISS, 2019), access
and view the local database of any library participating in the COBISS system and use the
mCOBISSmobile application (Picture 3). Finally, when developing the COBISS system, IZUM
adhered to the principles of the IFLA/UNESCO school libraries manifesto, which means that the
entire school population has a uniform library information system available for the duration of the
education process.
Table 2: School libraries in COBISS.SI
Date
Primary
schools
Secondary and upper
secondary schools
Music schools
Other
Total
31 Dec
2015
87 76 2 7 172
30 Apr
2019
474 117 31 14 636
In the past, the strategy for library automation in smaller school libraries was aimed (by the
ministry) towards preparing local applications for cataloguing and lending school library material,
so the majority of school libraries adhered to these recommendations. Therefore at the end of
2015 the share of school libraries in the COBISS.SI system was only 27%.Larger secondary
school libraries(secondary and upper secondary schools), especially in schools with an
international curriculum, were individually included into the COBISS.SI system based on the
judgement of the management and professional staff. As the years went by, most larger school
libraries were gradually included in the system, so by the end of 2015, the system included 65%
of all larger school libraries (Table 2). Even some primary school libraries decided to take part in
the common system, however, only 18% were included in the system. The remaining 9 libraries
were from music schools, kindergartens, boarding homes and various institutions for students. As
a rule, the decision for inclusion in these smaller schools was influenced by library professionals
who were familiar with the advantages of the COBISS system over local applications based on
studies and personal experience. And so, in the last 15 years, IZUM (based on long-lasting
experience) prepared some project tasks with the intention to include the remaining school
libraries by gradually including all school libraries in accordance with the funds available for this
purpose, but these projects were never completed for various reasons.
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An important factor and a key development towards the inclusion of school libraries into the
COBISS.SI system was the passing of the Act Amending the Librarianship Act (ZKnj-1A)
(Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 92/2015), which entered into force in
December 2015. In accordance with the act, all school libraries that were not yet using the
COBISS system were required to adapt the COBISS.SI system within three years (Žnidarec,
2019).
Picture5: Training courses by month
The preparations for implementing the project of the inclusion of school libraries into the
COBISS.SI system began immediately. Aside from the school libraries, IZUM, the National
Education Institute Slovenia and the National and University Library participated in the project.
The formal condition that needed to be met by the libraries was the signing of the agreement for
participating in the COBISS.SI system – full membership. After that, the libraries needed to
ensure the technical requirements by acquiring computer equipment. This was followed by the
training of school librarians, which took place in multiple stages and was performed by the
National Education Institute Slovenia, the National and University Library as well as by IZUM
that provided the training for using and implementing COBISS software. The training was co-
financed in the framework of the project Strengthening competences of professionals in the field
of managing an educational institution in the period from 2016 to 2018 and it took place from 1
September 2016 do 31 August 2018. The National Education Institute was tasked to organize the
training and it signed an agreement with IZUM, which required the National Education Institute
to hold training sessions for up to 450 persons (one person from each school) in the specified
period. The training was free of charge for one participant from each school. IZUM co-ordinated
the dates and locations of the training sessions with the National Education Institute. Because
there were 450 libraries to be included in a 24-month period (Picture5) the contents of the
training, the number of participants on individual dates and of course the number of dates needed
to be adjusted.
After the training, IZUM started the final stages of the inclusion. The first urgent task was to
document the holdings in libraries and prepare Holdings minutes and Loan minutes which form
the foundation for implementing the COBISS software environment. Immediately after receiving
the data required for the implementation, the environments were installed on IZUM's servers and
school librarians could begin working in the COBISS system. Considering the time frame of the
training, the entire procedure of preparing and verifying the minutes as well as implementing the
local database needed to be carried out in groups of 20–30 libraries in less than a month on
average.
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In December 2018, the project of including school libraries was completed successfully despite
significant initial challenges. Today, school libraries represent an important component of the
local, regional, and national library network because there are 636 libraries participating in the
COBISS.SI system (Picture6). The number of included libraries in the framework of the project
alone is 463.
Picture6: School libraries in the COBISS.SI system before and after the inclusion project
Today COBISS covers the entire active reading public of Slovenia (Picture 7). With the majority
of school libraries included in the COBISS.SI system, it became a proper Slovene library system.
School-goers now have a unified library information system available throughout their education
process and it enables them the use of all functionalities of a modern library catalogue.
Picture 7: Active reading public
5. CONCLUSION
The COBISS system is designed as a national library information system which allows the
participation of different kinds of libraries with the purpose of ensuring open access information
in a shared, professional manner while adhering to uniform rules to the end user in their own
country as well as between participating countries in the wider region. School libraries were given
a role of an important partner in the local, regional and national library network. And so, COBISS
covers the entire active reading public of Slovenia, i.e. all individuals who see books as
quintessential tools in their everyday life – in education, professional work, relaxation and
entertainment, artistic experiences, interest in current developments, etc. The model of including
school libraries has been successfully tested by completing the project and can be used as such by
other COBISS members in case a similar project would be implemented in the entire region or the
COBISS.net network.
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6. LITERATURE
Act Amending the Librarianship Act (ZKnj-1A). Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No.
92/2015.
Authors/researchers, 2019. Available at https://www.cobiss.si/en/researchers.htm (May 14, 2019)
COBISS conferences, 2019. Available at https://www.cobiss.net/cobiss-conferences.htm (May 14,
2019)
COBISS, 2019. Available at https://www.cobiss.net/cobiss-platform.htm (May 14, 2019)
COBISS.net in numbers. (2019). Available at https://www.cobiss.net/doc/stat_indicators_
2018.pdf (May 14, 2019)
COBISS.Net, 2019. Available at http://www.cobiss.net/ (May 14, 2019)
COBISS.SI, 2019. Available at https://www.cobiss.si/en/ (May 14, 2019)
COBISS+, 2019. Available at https://plus.si.cobiss.net/opac7/bib/search?q&db=cobib&mat=
allmaterials (May 14, 2019)
Dornik, E., 2019. COBIB.SI: increment of bibliographic records in 2017. Organizacija znanja,
23(1/2), pp. 21-28.
IZUM, 2019. Available at https://www.izum.si/en/ (May 14, 2019)
Kazalci rasti, 2019. Available at https://www.cobiss.si/kazalci/ (May 14, 2019)
mCOBISS, 2019. Available at http://m.cobiss.si/ (May 14, 2019)
MyCOBISS, 2019. Available at https://plus.si.cobiss.net/opac7/user/login (May 14, 2019)
Osebne bibliografije, 2019. Available at http://splet02.izum.si/cobiss/BibPersonal.jsp?init=
t&code=& type=conor (May 14, 2019)
Petek, M. & Šobot, P., 2014. COBISS authentication/authorisation solutions and
shibbolethisation of web services. In: R. Knežević & N. Findrik, eds. Proceedings 11th
international scientific conference ''Western Balkan information literacy'', June on Una river, 11-
14 June 2014. Bihać : Kantonalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bihać, pp. 161-171.
SICRIS, 2019. Available at https://www.sicris.si/public/jqm/cris.aspx?lang=eng&opdescr=
home&opt=1 (May 14, 2019)
Šobot, P., Šoštarič, D. & Petek, M., 2013. Povezivanje baza i servisa sistema COBISS.SI sa
različitim informacionim servisima. In: R. Knežević, A. Bećiraj & N. Findrik, eds. Zbornik
radova X Međunarodne naučne konferencije bibliotekara Juni na Uni, “Informacijska pismenost
– cjeloživotno učenje”. Bihać: Kantonalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bihać, pp.34-39.
Žnidarec, T., 2019. V letu 2018 smo zaključili projekt vključevanja šolskih knjižnic v sistem
COBISS.SI. Blog COBISS. Available at https://blog.cobiss.si/2019/02/19/projekt-vkljucevanja-
solskih-knjiznic-v-sistem-cobiss-si/ (May 14, 2019)
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UTILIZATION OF ALTMETRICS AS A MEASURE OF TRUST
OF ARCHIVAL DATA
Mohammad M. AlHamad
Abu Dhabi Polytechnic, P.O. Box 111499, Abu Dhabi, UAE, mohd_mazin2002@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT:
Altmetrics is a new method that is currently used to capture the impact of published scholarly
works based on data visibility on the web as a supplement to traditional bibliometrics methods.
There is a lack of studies on altmetrics adoption by archives and cultural heritage organizations.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the potentials of embracing altmetrics as a trusted
measure of archival data.
Key words: Archival data, Archives, Altmetrics, Bibliometric Methods
1. INTRODUCTION
It is important to understand the value of unstructured metadata in supporting the users’
engagement with records and archives. However, there are limited studies that cover this area.
This limitation exists, it is observed, because of financial constraints in recruiting experts, a lack
of skills among archivists, as well as the time required to conduct a user-based evaluation (Kelly,
2017; Duff et al., 2008). In addition, the volume of records keeps expanding exponentially and,
therefore, creates a need to have a reliable method to measure the value, visibility, reliability, and
the impact of these records (Papakostidis&Giannoudis, 2018). At the same time, communication
methods continue to evolve with and about archives in the era of social networking platforms
(Kelly, 2017). A new method called altmetrics (alternative metrics) which is currently used to
capture the impact of published scholarly works as a supplement to traditional bibliometrics
methods, may be used on archives to find the impact of the online holdings, including the
unpublished electronic collections, digital repositories, and government information (Thelwall et
al., 2013; Kelly, 2017; Das, 2015).
2. ARCHIVAL DATA
Archival data is defined as information that have been previously aggregated by others and can be
utilized in systematic studies (Jones, 2010). There are five major categories of Archival data that
have been classified in previous literature (Jones, 2010; Singleton & Straits, 2005) - Public
documents and official records; Private documents; Mass media; Physical, Nonverbal materials;
Social science data archives. The use of archival data research process involves one or more of
these purposes: “general research procedures (e.g., procuring data, data documentation, data
sharing), research design (e.g., cross-sectional, short-term longitudinal, long-term longitudinal
designs), measures (e.g., types of measures used, missing measures), and samples (e.g., sample
size, sample type)” (Jones, 2010).
3. ALTMETRICS
Altmetrics is a relatively new discipline of analysing scholarship based on data visibility on the
web (including: social media, mainstream media mentions, peer reviews, and citations to research
in policy documents) (Priem et al., 2010). Altmetrics measure a broad aspect of research visibility
and impact in comparison to bibliometric methods, and provides a supplement to the traditional
impact factor methodology based on citation filters (Fenner, 2014). For instance:
(1) Citation, h-index, and journal impact take relatively long time to be measured waiting for the
cycle of publication to be completed and for studies to be cited by others.
(2) Bibliometric methods overlook new forms of scholarly content such as scripts, videos,
datasets, conference, news, presentation slides, and research blogs.
(3) Altmetrics can capture the impact of research outside of academic publishing, potentially
resulting in the discovery of unidentified readers, and identify value further than the traditional
scholarly consumption groups.
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(4) The current impact factor methodologies embrace a “quantity over quality” argument.
However, analyse social media conversations about publications and analyse the reason for
mentioning or citing a work.
(5) The journal impact factor explores the impact of entire journals; altmetrics instead explore the
impact of each individual publication.
Stacy Konkiel and Dave Scherer (2013) indicated three values for using altmetrics to institutional
repositories. First, altmetrics can be used by repository administrators in persuading the potential
depositors that there is added value in providing open access to their content. In other words,
increasing altmetrics scores might have an impact on increasing the deposit rates. Second,
collecting figures beyond general usage statistics can inform university administrators the value
of the institutional repositories as a platform for hosting open access content. In addition,
understanding the impact of repository content on the community can be used to build a case for
community engagement. Third, altmetrics can complement traditional usage statistics to support
collection development plans, and can be used for resource allocation and marketing purposes.
Altmetrics are categorized in the following ways (Cave, 2012): usage (e.g. HTML views,
PDF/XML downloads, book holdings), captures (e.g. bookmarks, favorites, readers, groups),
mentions (e.g. blog posts, news stories, Wikipedia articles, comments, reviews), social media (e.g.
user activity from Twitter, Google+, Facebook), citations (e.g. CrossRef, PubMed Central, Web
of Science, Scopus, Microsoft Academic Search).
4. ARCHIVES AND ALTMETRICS
The lack of studies on altmetrics adoption by archives and cultural heritage organizations does not
say that these institutions are not embracing social media. Indeed, there are many studies
conducted on the use of social media by archives and cultural heritage organizations, however,
these studies focus on the use of social media to increase the awareness of archives, instead of
studying their impact on archival holdings (Kelly, 2017). For example, there is scholarship
available to guide repositories in planning and evaluating their social media activities. These
guidelines indicate the need for engaging and encouraging conversation about archival holdings
by utilizing web technologies. In a study on the use of social media by repositories, Robert Schier
(2011) stated that many repositories adopt social media as a tool to promote their collection
instead of establishing a trusted relationship with users. Another study showed that special
collection departments in research libraries have succeeded in using social media for promoting
purposes. However, they were less successful in developing relationships via social media and
engaging with external users (Griffin & Taylor, 2013).
The value of capturing users’ feedback on archives, and the difficulty to do so, were highlighted
in previous studies. Martha O’Hara Conway and Merrilee Proffitt (2012) mentioned that assessing
archival collections is essential for helping institutions become more user-centered. Lisa R. Carter
(2013), argued that knowing the collections and how they are used can help with writing grants,
informing new accessions, and in evaluating the workflow and instruction. They also stated that
collecting user-driven data that measure how scholars interact with the tools available is critical.
A study published in 2008 about archivists' views of user-based evaluation found that archivists
valued user feedback, but the evaluations lacked standardized measures (Duff et al., 2008). For
example, the study indicated that users based value on the “success of the user’s most recent
search or visit” (Duff et al., 2008). In another study, user feedback about their use of digital
collections was found to be vital for collecting institutions to prosperously demonstrate the
significance of their collections (Marsh et al., 2015). However, archives assessment demonstrates
a shortage of “reliable measures of institutional impact or nuanced portraits of audience
engagement”, as reported in a yearlong interdisciplinary research on assessing and indicating the
value and impact of digitized ethnographic collections (Marsh et al., 2015). Furthermore, the lack
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of methods for using data-driven decision-making in institutions impacts the change and
definition of metrics which allow for cross-institutional comparison (Chapman &Yakel, 2012).
There are many potential benefits for using altmetrics for archives (Kelly, 2017). Altmetrics can
facilitate new methods of tracking collections, where archives can find discussion of their
collections in virtual spaces. This may provide archives an opportunity to show the effect and
influence of their holding in both academic and non-academic environments. Likewise, since
altmetrics capture data beyond scholarly works, altmetrics may help archivists better understand
the diversity and representation of how collections are being used. Moreover, archives can
enhance other services by adopting altmetrics to influence decisions about digitization,
accessions, and processing priorities, as discussion of users’ needs in these areas may be
occurring online.
5. REFERENCES
Carter, L. R. (2012). Articulating value: building a culture of assessment in special collections.
RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, 13(2), 89-99.
Cave, R. (2012, November). Overview of the altmetrics landscape. In Proceedings of the
Charleston Library Conference (pp. 349-356). West Lafayette: Purdue University Press.
Chapman, J., & Yakel, E. (2012). Data-driven management and interoperable metrics for special
collections and archives user services. RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural
Heritage, 13(2), 129-151.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches. New edn. London: SAGE.
Das, T. (2015). Measuring scholarly use of government information: An altmetrics analysis of
federal statistics. Government Information Quarterly, 32(3), 246-252.
Duff, W., Dryden, J., Limkilde, C., Cherry, J., & Bogomazova, E. (2008). Archivists' views of
user-based evaluation: Benefits, barriers, and requirements. The American Archivist, 71(1), 144-
166.
Fenner, M. (2014). Altmetrics and other novel measures for scientific impact. In Opening science
(pp. 179-189). Springer International Publishing.
Griffin, M., & Taylor, T. I. (2013). Of fans, friends, and followers: Methods for assessing social
media outreach in special collections repositories. Journal of Web Librarianship, 7(3), 255-271.
Hicks, D., Wouters, P., Waltman, L., De Rijcke, S., & Rafols, I. (2015). The Leiden Manifesto for
research metrics. Nature, 520(7548), 429.
Jones, C. (2010). Archival data: Advantages and disadvantages for research in psychology. Social
and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(11), 1008-1017.
Kelly, E. J. (2017). Altmetrics and archives. Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies, 4(1), 1.
Konkiel, S., & Scherer, D. (2013). New opportunities for repositories in the age of altmetrics.
Bulletin of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 39(4), 22-26.
Marsh, D. E., Punzalan, R. L., Leopold, R., Butler, B., & Petrozzi, M. (2016). Stories of impact:
the role of narrative in understanding the value and impact of digital collections. Archival
Science, 16(4), 327-372.
Papakostidis, C., & Giannoudis, P. V. (2018). Impact Factor and Altmetrics: What Is the Future?.
In Medical Writing and Research Methodology for the Orthopaedic Surgeon (pp. 71-79).
Springer, Cham.
Priem, J., Taraborelli, D., Groth, P., & Neylon, C. (2010). Altmetrics: A manifesto.
Schrier, R. A. (2011). Digital librarianship & social media: The digital library as conversation
facilitator. D-Lib Magazine, 17(7), 2.
Thelwall, M., Haustein, S., Larivière, V., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2013). Do altmetrics work? Twitter
and ten other social web services. PloS one, 8(5), e64841.
Singleton, R. A. Jr, & Straits, B. C. (2005). Approaches to Social Research. New York: Oxford
University Press.
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Turiano, N. A. (2014). Archival data analysis introduction. The International Journal of Aging
and Human Development, 79(4), 323-325.
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INFORMATION LITERACY IN THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY
Boško M. Branković
University of Banja Luka
Faculty of Philosophy
bosko.brankovic@ff.unibl.org
ABSTRACT
The paper wrote about information literacy in the science of History pointing out that this
scientific field in Bosnia and Herzegovina follows the world trend or how historians in their
research in addition to traditional ways of research use new ways introduced by information
literacy such as the Internet, digital browsers, digitized books, digitized journals and digitized
archive materials. Moreover, the paper deals with information literacy and the use of new
technologies in the method of teaching history from primary and secondary education upto
Higher Education level.
Key words: science of History, History teaching, historical sources, historian, information
literacy, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Contemporary researches in the science of History in Bosnia and Herzegovina follows the world
trends which has radically expanded the field of History: The fading of the past history bipolarity
has not led to "the end of history," as some theoreticians proclaimed but the world has entered a
new era, historical era which is currently running, "the time of the present." (Mandić, 2008: 13–
14). Due to these and similar movements contemporary scientific doctrine of History includes
terms: the new world order, post-socialist society, globalisation, unipolarity (Mandić, 2008: 14).
The commercialisation of the Internet and its application in all the spheres of modern society are
the principles based on which the mankind functions now. It is inconceivable to do any research
in any scientific field nowadays without using the information resources, therefore, it is almost
impossible one can participate in the development of scientific achievements unless having the
basic knowledge of information literacy. The same definition applies to History, whether it is
research in History as science or the method of History teaching. It is widely known that in the
research approach there are six steps that need to be mastered in order to achieve the results, and
one of the steps is locating sources based on which the research will be carried out and the
obtained results presented.
In the science of History, until the emergence of information resources and digitization there were
two types of sources used, primary and secondary printed sources. However, since the
introduction of information resources in scientific research the process of scientific research has
accelerated, although the emergence of electronic publications and the digitization of archive
material did not change the division of resources to primary and secondary ones. In addition to
simplifying and faster search of literature and archive resources, the Internet has enabled faster
and easier communication among researchers and historians around the world resulting in the
process of scientific communication having three aspects: informal communication among
historians during the collection of research material, exchange of opinions, suggestions during the
preparation of scientific work and distribution of texts (citation) through later scientific works of
other historians.
Historically, the "chain of" information transmission varied from verbally then in writing up to
electronic one nowadays. So with the development of IT resources and their entry into the wider
application, there was a change in the traditional system based on the information transmission in
printed paper which has led to the emergence of electronic books, electronic journals, electronic
databases, etc. Briefly defined historians can access information today through information
resources from various primary or secondary sources such as libraries or archives but also in
formal or informal communication with fellow historians around the world.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most important system of scientific information from libraries is
the COBISS system (Co-operative Online Bibliographic System & Services). COBISS system is
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an organisational model used to merge libraries funds into a unique library-information system
with mutual cataloging. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Republika Srpska has an
autonomous system from the Bosnia and Herzegovina system but shares a common platform with
other members), this system is used in Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. All
countries have autonomous systems but they share a common platform. Also, historians in Bosnia
and Herzegovina have a possibility, as well as any other historian in the world, to do research
through Google Books as well as other Internet services.
As for the web site, the vast majority of libraries in the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and
Herzegovina have good and transparent websites: the National and University Library of the
Republic of Srpska (http://nub.rs/pocetna/), the Home Library East Sarajevo (http://www.mat
bibli.rs.ba/), Gazi Husrev Bey's Library of Sarajevo (http://www.ghb.ba), National Library of
Mostar (http://www.nbm.ba/), Library of Sarajevo (http://bgs.ba/).
For historians, the most important material is found in the archives and these institutions
represent, as Knut Kjeldstadli defined it: our common memory (Ćelstali, 2004: 175). The main
task of the archives is to protect cultural and historical treasure and to ensure that these
testimonies are available to present and future generations of researchers. In order for this work to
be done adequately archives today have the task of ensuring that the originals of preserved
archive material are less used and to use as many copies as possible or alternative forms of using
the archive material such as photocopy, microfilm and digital document (Porubović-Vidović,
2000: 292).
Today there are more and more archives in the world that digitize their archives as is the case in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most archives in Bosnia and Herzegovina work on digitization of their
archive material, but due to workload and insufficient financial support this job runs slowly.
However, materials are available in digital form in all archives in Bosnia and Herzegovina
including the two largest ones: the Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and the
Archive of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka. The procedure for obtaining digitized archive
material is to investigate the fund on the spot and mark the signature that one wants to digitize
and then make a payment for the digitization of the requested material and wait for the
digitization process to end in the archive service in charge of the job. Also, in some archives in
Bosnia and Herzegovina it is possible to order digitization of the material via e-mail, if they know
the signature of the requested documents, but also getting the requested archive material via e-
mail after the ordering and payment made to the account of the archive according to the
determined price list.
It is very important to historians that the archive fund is fully digitized and available in digital
form for searching, otherwise, if archive material was selectively digitized, misinterpretation of
historians researchers of this material may occur when using and drawing false conclusions based
on the partially available material which can especially happen if the historian researcher is not a
good connoisseur of an epoch or a problem that explores on the basis of archive material. Also,
significant help to historians in the search of digitized archive funds is a well-edited archive site
where significant assistance was provided through transparent digital signatures. Moreover, if
there is such an option there is a possibility to search by timestamp or keywords. In Bosnia and
Herzegovina currently there are good and transparent Internet sites of the Archive of Bosnia and
Herzegovina in Sarajevo (http://www.arhivbih.gov.ba/), the Archive of the Republika Srpska in
Banja Luka (http://www.arhivrs.org/), Historical Archive in Sarajevo (http://www.arhivsa.ba/
wordpress/) and Archive of the Tuzla Canton (http://www.arhivtk.ba/).
To the extent that the Internet and the digitization of sources and literature have opened up large
and multifaceted opportunities to historians in the advancement and faster advancement and
development of historical science, they have brought a number of problems with them and the
most important was, and remains, the way of quoting digital sources and sources from the
Internet. As a historian always has to indicate from which source or literature there was his
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response to the problem he was dealing with in his work, the citation of sources and literature in
his critical apparatus was subject to strict control. Thus how the standards of quoting printed
sources and literature were not fully adapted to the citation of sources and literature taken from
the Internet there are a number of problems that historians encounter in their work (Maндић,
2007: 222). To the extent that the Internet and the digitization of sources and literature have
opened up large and multifaceted opportunities to historians in the advancement and faster
advancement and development of historical science, they have brought a number of problems
with them and the most important was, and remains, the way of quoting digital sources and
sources from the Internet. As a historian always has to indicate from which source or literature
there was his response to the problem he was dealing with in his work, the citation of sources and
literature in his critical apparatus was subject to strict control. Thus how the standards of quoting
printed sources and literature were not fully adapted to the citation of sources and literature taken
from the Internet there are a number of problems that historians encounter in their work (Maндић,
2007: 222–223). However, this attitude of a part of historians did not stop the use of data from the
Internet and digitized data that are portable through various modes, among others, initially
through diskettes, and later via CD, USB, etc. With the advent of e-mail, discussion forums and
blogs we have come to the emergence of new types of historical sources but also less and less use
of letters, postcards, diaries, records and telegrams (Mандић, 2007:223). Also, when it comes to
Internet sources, historians still have a certain degree of criticism and suspicion in certain defects
due to their susceptibility to various forms of change, abuse on the Internet and the change of
page content (Мандић, 2007: 223).
When it comes to the method of quoting today we have more guides for citations in the world and
it depends on science to science as well as from the research institution which one will be taken
for application. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the American Psyhological Assocition (APA) and the
Chicago Manual of Style are most commonly used. The Chicago Manual of Style is the most
prevalent among historians in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska. This guide
issued by the University of Chicago, has been providing a complete and satisfactory instruction
for quoting electronic information since 2003. Regardless of which quotation guide is in use,
everyone agrees in one that data downloaded from the Internet is quoted in the following way: the
name of the website, the page update, the protocol and the address and the date of access (data
downloads) (Мандић, 2007: 224–225).
When it comes to the doubt about the citation of the archive document, often more to the
document a source was cited (the archive fund) from where the document was taken in addition to
the document itself. A satisfactory form of citation should only contain data on the electronic
form of the document (Мандић, 2007: 227).
It is known that historical knowledge is based on the study of historical sources and literature and
that under the study of this discipline there are knowledge that can be divided into three groups by
the content: history, methodology and theory of historical science which in sum represents the
notion of scientific historiography (Ђуровић, 2010: 20–21). The teaching of history in primary
and secondary schools contributes to the acquisition of knowledge from the past, i.e. scientifically
established material is didactically and psychologically transmitted from science into teaching and
was adapted to the age of the pupils in order for them to understand the past of mankind, but, as
far as possible, through the basis of history to understood the present and be ready to foresee the
future (Pejić, 2011: 7). In order for the teacher to present the past to the student and at the same
time provide the ability to understand the present, it is necessary to explain in a comprehensible
manner how the present time is met in the reconstruction of the past in the present (Делетић,
2006: 8).
The methodology of teaching history follows the trends of the scientific study of history
(Страдлинг, 2001: 12). As it became a resource in research in historical science, the Internet has
become an unavoidable resource in the teaching of history. In the teaching of history when using
Internet resources and data from the Internet in the classroom a historian-teacher needs to identify
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primary sources from secondary ones and to be completely sure of the credibility and reliability of
the data before their application in the teaching. In addition to downloading data from the Internet
teachers can also use word processing programs as an additional teaching tool but also open their
own websites that can be used by students. Through these pages students can download the
necessary materials for teaching (Страдлинг, 2001: 204–205; Pejić, 2011: 154–155). All of this is
widely used by primary and secondary schools teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is
the cheapest and fastest way to follow the global trend in the history teaching methodology.
Unlike other sources the Internet reflects the pluralism that characterizes the study of
contemporary history especially the history of the 20th century because the history of that time,
besides historians, was written by journalists, film authors, photographers, writers, historians
amateurs etc. Therefore, there are a large number of materials that are placed on the Internet and
are of suspicious origin and content with the goal of providing false information or propaganda in
the name of a political aim or group (Страдлинг, 2001: 202–203). Also, one needs to look at the
other side of the critical historiography available on the Internet, as Robert Stradling says: the
more subtle form of partiality lies in the fact that the search engines are mostly American, with
views of 20th-century events: exclusively from the American angle. Thus, in his opinion the
teacher and student must be careful in the search and: enter into websites offering an alternative
also as a European perspective. Such a way offers the teacher and student the opportunity to
practice: their critical historical analysis skills (Страдлинг, 2001: 203). The same definition
applies to other periods in historical science, the old age, the Middle Ages and the new age
especially if it is a national history of the Middle Ages and a new age. It is particularly
symptomatic in historical science in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the history of 20th century and
subject to the application of a history revision or customization of content in order to propagate a
particular national group or to look at the past from its own national angle with the frequent use of
"make-ups" or creation of historical facts with a conclusion adapted to the national group to
which the historian belongs.
University teaching in the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina where modern
information technologies are used: assuming the student's active role in the information process,
rapid exchange of information, control of information flows, asynchronous communication in
delayed time, establishment of connection with remote individuals and databases - eliminated
adverse impact of spatial distances and achieves maximum cost-effectiveness, the possibility of
independent student learning (...) as well as learning at any place (Илић, Ковачевић, 2013: 515).
Research has shown that the introduction of information technology into university education
among students has led to the gathering of facts more than to the process of knowledge creation
but at the same time to a greater interaction with information which means that students try to find
new knowledge instead of passive knowledge acquisition and it significantly improved the
teaching process (Илић, Ковачевић, 2013: 518). However, it is evident that the traditional way of
teaching will continue to be present in the university education in the Republic of Srpska and
Bosnia and Herzegovina in the future because the teacher will never be able to replace a computer
or vice versa (Илић, Ковачевић, 2013: 514; 520).
Today, the information literacy at schools, universities and education in general is one of the basic
tasks of the society, because the society that does not invest in it does not follow the world trends
and thus lags behind in its own educational, cultural and economic development. It is an
unavoidable fact that contemporary education, from elementary through high school to university:
it is based on the principles of globalization and informatization, and as such requires general
information and communication literacy (Јовановић, Минић, 2013: 132). It is evident that
Bosnia and Herzegovina is working on improving information literacy investing in equipping
schools and universities with computer resources but it is also evident that this does not fully meet
the needs of the science-teaching process. It is certain that the equipping of schools and
universities with computer resources goes along with information literacy of teachers and students
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in order to achieve much better results in education and science. Also, it is necessary to
emphasize that public (state) universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and therefore the faculties
have transparent websites that have been constantly updated and improved: University of Banja
Luka (http://www.unibl.org/), University of East Sarajevo (https://www.ues.rs.ba/), University of
Sarajevo (https://www.unsa.ba/), University of Tuzla (http://www.untz.ba/), University of Zenica
(https://unze.ba/), University of Bihac (http://unbi.ba/), “Dzemal Bijedic“ University in Mostar
(https://www.unmo.ba/) and the University of Mostar (https://www.sum.ba/).
CONCLUSION
Historical science in Bosnia and Herzegovina follows the global trend and historians in their
research in addition to traditional research methods use and new ways of information literacy:
digitized books, digitized journals and digitized archival material. Also, history teachers use new
technologies in the method of teaching History from basic, through secondary to higher
education. When it comes to libraries, historians in Bosnia and Herzegovina are helped by the
most important system of scientific information from libraries - the COBISS system. As
historians have the most important materials in the archives, historians in Bosnia and Herzegovina
are increasingly seeking digitalized archives and search engines of funds in archives located on
the archives web pages. Archive material in digital form can be obtained in all archives in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. The methodology of teaching History follows the trends of the scientific study
of History. As it became a resource in research in historical science the Internet has become an
unavoidable resource in the teaching of History. In addition to downloading data from the Internet
teachers use additional word processing programs as an additional teaching tool but also open
their own websites that students use. It is evident that Bosnia and Herzegovina is working on
improving information literacy investing in equipping schools and universities with computer
resources but also that it does not fully meet the needs of the scientific-teaching process. What is
encouraging is that researchers, teachers and students are constantly improving their knowledge in
the field of information literacy.
LITERATURE:
Ćelstali, Knut (2004). Prošlost nije više što je nekad bila. Uvod u istoriografija. Beograd:
Geopoetika.
Делетић, Здравко (2006). Наука о историји. Ниш: Центар за балканске студије.
Ђуровић, Арсен (2010). „Свет у написаној речи – друштво у огледалу прошле стварности“.
У: Кључна знања из прошлости у наставним предметима. Свет око нас и природа и
друштво као основа за учење Историје (19–24). Београд: Завод за вредновање квалитета
образовања и васпитања.
Илић, Миле, Ковачевић, Бранка (2013). „Примјена нових информационих технологија у
универзитетској настави“. U: Tehnologija, informatika i obrazovanje. Stanje i problemi, ciljevi i
mogućnosti, promjene i perspektive. Međunarodni naučni skup, 20–21. septembar 2013. godine
(513–523). Banja Luka: Filozofski fakultet Banja Luka, Institut za pedagoška istraživanja
Beograd, Centar za razvoj i primenu nauke, tehnologije i informatike Novi Sad.
Јовановић, Марија, Минић, Весна (2013). „Карактеристике информатичко-комуникацијске
писмености савремених педагога“. U: Tehnologija, informatika i obrazovanje. Stanje i
problemi, ciljevi i mogućnosti, promjene i perspektive. Međunarodni naučni skup, 20–21.
septembar 2013. godine (131–140). Banja Luka: Filozofski fakultet Banja Luka, Institut za
pedagoška istraživanja Beograd, Centar za razvoj i primenu nauke, tehnologije i informatike Novi
Sad.
Мандић, Слободан (2007). Проблем цитирања електронских информација. Tokovi istorije,
br. 1/2, 221–232.
Mandić, Slobodan (2008). Kompjuterizacija i istoriografija: 1995–2005. Beograd: Istorijski arhiv
Beograda.
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Porubović-Vidović, Olivera (2000). „Digitalizacija arhivske građe kao alternativa korišćenju
originala“. U: Arhivska građa kao izvor za istoriju. Međunarodni naučni skup, 15–16. maj 2000.
godine (291–304). Beograd: Arhiv Srbije.
Pejić, Ranko (2011). Metodika nastave istorije. Istočno Sarajevo: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna
sredstva.
Страдлинг, Роберт (2001). Како предавати историју Европе 20. вијека. Сарајево: Савјет
Европе.
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EXAMPLES FROM EDUCITIZENS PROJECT SMART CASES
AND SUGGESTIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS TO
ADDRESS GENDER EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT OF WOMEN
Tunç Medeni
AYBU, MIS, tuncmedeni@gmail.com
Demet Soylu
AYBU, DIM, bunchnoble@gmail.com
Claudia Ferreira
FAJDP, claudia.ferreira@fajdp.pt
Ratko Knezevic
University of Bihac, ratko.knezevic@unbi.ba
ABSTRACT:
EduCitizens project has provided an evaluation grid, S.M.A.R.T. framework and method hand-
booklet for identifying, evaluating and disseminating smart practice in citizenship building.
FAJDP/ FNAJ are among the EduCitizens project partner that specializes on issues of gender
and non-discrimination. “Human Library for Equal Opportunities and Interculturality”, “Open
roads for Equality”, “Capacita.te” are FNAJ/FAJDP’s three smart cases that incorporate these
issues. In our study these, within the S.M.A.R.T. framework, these three cases are presented to
underline non-formal educational initiatives on gender equity and non-discrimination, and for
future work, suggestions will be provided on designing and delivering new initiatives with the
support of technological tools.
Key words: EduCitizens project, SMART practices, Gender Equality and Non-discrimination,
Women engagement and development
1. INTRODUCTION
In order to create and assess innovative services all over Europe and across all educational
sectors, EduCitizens project has sought to create tested instructions and provide an evaluation grid
for identifying smart practice in citizenship building. In order to collect these practices in a
method hand-booklet as a tool-box for trainers, teacher and other facilitators, the project was
organized in a series of multinational meetings including one in Ankara, hosted by the partnering
AYBU team. At every meeting the partners presented smart practice examples of participative
methods or projects in education. All methods were documented, collected and published at the
end of the project. The grid, suggested S.M.A.R.T. framework and the method hand-booklet can
be used by institutions from all education sectors in formal and non-formal learning. (EduCitizens
Project, 2018)
There are many way to define non-formal education or to determine its difference from and
relation with formal and informal education. At the same time, there is no comprehensive model
with enough explanatory power to address these different perspectives. Also, SMART as a
concept could be understood and utilized in different ways. With this in mind, our team has
developed one tailored conceptualization of SMART, benefiting from the rich portfolio of
practice cases provided by our project partners. The presented conceptualization covers the
original four EduCitizens categories (citizenship, engagement, participation and education) and
were used as case categories so that the initials could make it S.M.A.R.T.:
S: Stakeholder diversity, Social inclusion and intercultural dialogue (actor-oriented) that could
cover citizenship
M: Mindfulness, awareness, discovery (pre-action-oriented)
A: Action, engagement and empowerment (action-oriented) that covers engagement and
participation
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R: Reflection, self-experience and learning (post-action-oriented) that could cover education
T: Technology-supported, digital, virtual (tool-oriented) (EduCitizens Smart Practises, 2018)
A visualization of the SMART framework could also be found below (Figure 1). Here the
relationships among the different components can also be depicted. Accordingly, pre-action,
action and post-action phases are distinguished with respect to the main orientation of the cases. It
can also be seen that actor orientation and tool orientation could be related with either of pre-
action, action and post-action phases.
Figure 1 SMART Framework Components and their Relationships (Medeni, Soylu, Alaca, 2018)
The best of the cases collected from project partners were also incorporated into a booklet
publication. Accordingly selected cases from partnering countries and organizations have been
classified under one of these suggested categories by our team, prioritizing to which it fits the
most. Then this categorized list was sent to all partners, and final changes were made, based upon
their feedback.
Porto Federation of Youth Associations (FAJDP)/ FNAJ are among the EduCitizens project
partner that specializes on issues of gender and non-discrimination. As part of the project,
FAJDP’s three cases that incorporate these issues have been particularly identified as SMART
practices in the booklet (EduCitizens Handbook, 2019):
1. The “Human Library for Equal Opportunities and Interculturality” in 2008 to fight against
racism and other forms of discrimination. Young women association/organization leaders and
woman in politics were among the human books.
2.“Open roads for Equality” project in 2013 that contributed to addressing issues on gender
equality, aiming to increase knowledge about Gender Equality in youth, strengthen Civil Society
role as a structuring agent for Gender Equality values, disseminate information on gender
violence prevention, including relationships violence and trafficking in human beings.
3. “Capacita.te” (“Enable Yourself” or “Capacitate”) - Local Training Plan project since 2015 that
incorporated non-formal education/training activities on gender equality and non-discrimination.
While the first two cases were considered to be an example of “S: Stakeholder diversity, Social
inclusion and intercultural dialogue”, the third one was identified as an example of “A: Action,
engagement and empowerment”. Next, these three SMART cases will be presented to underline
the actor and action orientation for non-formal educational initiatives on gender equity and non-
discrimination.
EduCitizens FNAJ/FAJDP’s three smart (SmArt) cases on gender and non-discrimination
(Adapted from EduCitizens Handbook (2019, pp 52-63 and 161-164))
Human Library for Equal Opportunities and Interculturality
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As a FAJDP itinerant campaign, the project was started in 2008 with the European Commission
co-financing support, as an an answer to one of FAJDP major issues. In 2008, FAJDP strength to
work with youth organization and youth in general in matters such as equal opportunities for all,
interculturality, human rights raise, European awareness and fight against racism and other forms
of discrimination. The objectives of the project are the following: Raise awareness of the cultural
diversity; Fostering Interculturality; Stereotypes deconstruction; Development of skills to manage
Interculturality; Encouraging European citizenship; Raising awareness on political and social
issues.
To do so, FAJDP used “Human Books” and an Info-Bus to work with youngster between 12 and
18 years old in schools and public places. The “Human Books” were persons who symbolize
some kind of stereotype and the goal was to put the youngster reading these books – making them
questions that they always want to ask but never had the opportunity to do it. “Don't judge the
book by his cover” was the motto.
The Info-Bus was the physical space/area where this Human Library was accommodated and also
a space full of information and materials about European Union (EU) and European citizenship.
This itinerary campaign was presented in Porto district public schools and public places between
May and July 2008, being visited by more than 26.000 youngsters. Direct readers for the Books
were more than 4.200 and the Human Library was open 32 times. This was possible thanks to a
very good feedback from schools and municipalities. Another valuable contribution came from
the partnerships that were established with other organizations.
The students visited the Library with their teachers and during class breaks, where they can “read
a book” and/or participated in other activities regarding Equal Opportunities for All,
Interculturality and European Union aspects, like quizzes or non formal education activities. In
small groups, they can make any type of questions to the Book they have chosen by the Cover.
This give them the direct power of what type of Book they wanted to read and which question
were relevant to them. The main goal was to work their empathy by curiosity in a protect
environment, where they can ask anything, building a trust communication channel during the
activity. In the end, it was about the feeling that a Book is much more than the cover.
During the activity, some students were reading the Books in small groups and others participated
in non-formal activities related to Equal Opportunities and Interculturality (like quizzes or table
games). Each class lasted around 2 hours in this activity, where each student could read 2 or 3
books and participated in other activities related to non-discrimination. A debriefing was always
made by FAJDP team in the end of the activity and some tools were shared with teachers, so they
could work these topics in classroom in the future. This debriefing put together all the small
groups who were reading Books, sharing their feelings about what they had experience.
As a successful example: the Book who had more readers was the Gay Book, normally a
homosexual boy and girl who were read by the participants. All the groups acted more or less the
same: a lot of laughs in the beginning and a serious but relaxed way of communication in the end.
As a result students get the idea of being something or somehow don't define all of you as a
human being. And it is OK whatever you like boys or girls, if you were from other religion or a
woman with a decision maker status. One girl once said in the end of this activity: “the most
important thing I have learn today is that I can be and love whatever I want to!”
This Smart practice was special, being able to put people together, talking and reflecting about
important social issues. And probably these people are those who would never had a chance to be
together otherwise. Consequently, this project had an enormous impact, both for young people
involved, for FAJDP and its partners as well as the surrounding community. In terms of results
achieved the spread in terms of public debate could be referred: the project did put people talking
about those certain things that spread intolerant behaviors against minority groups. And by that,
the “Human Library” biggest aim, which is “Don’t Judge the Book by the Cover”, was achieved.
It was also innovative because with a cover of a Library, persons could take place of Books and
curiosity of the readers did the rest!
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Open roads for Equality
FNAJ promoted this project in 2013 in the Northern Portugal, as a co-financed project by CIG –
Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality – aimed to contribute in this field,
based on the implementation of concrete activities for Youth. The project articulated theoretical
concepts about: Equality, difference, gender discrimination, gender identity and sexual
orientation; Ethnic /racial background, age, disability, religion and / or belief, social background
and territory; Diversity and citizenship; roles and gender stereotypes, violence against women and
against girls, violence in relationships and trafficking of human beings; Awareness and promotion
of new social practices among youth, in a culture of nonviolence and respect for human rights.
Accordingly, the project aims were: Promotion of Gender Equality, Citizenship and
NonDiscrimination in youth; Increase knowledge about Gender Equality in youth; Strengthening
Civil Society role as a structuring agent for Gender Equality; Gender Equality values
dissemination through education and information; Gender violence prevention, including
relationships violence and trafficking in human beings. To do that, FNAJ used an Info-Bus during
2 months to work with youngster between 12 and 18 years old in schools and public places. Open
Roads for Equality made 11 visits in north Portugal and received more than 2.000 young visitors.
Between 4 and 6 FNAJ staff were involved in the project, participating in the Info-Bus activities.
This project directly involved young students by going to meet them in schools. The visits were
pre-programmed with schools, and non-formal educational methods were used to promote
learning processes about Equality issues. Open Roads for Equality was a project where young
people can experience different aspects related with diversity, making part in these activities: a)
Visiting an itinerant and interactive exhibition inside an Info-Bus; b) Participate in Activities and
games inside and around the Info-Bus; c) Workshops and Seminars for Youth and Civil Society in
general.
The Infobus was decorated with an exhibition of 6 panels, 1 TV with videos and 3 interactive
gaming tables about: Concepts: Stereotypes, Preconceptions, Discrimination, Intolerance,
Diversity and Equality; Gender; Sexual Orientation; Ethnic and Racial Background; Disability;
Citizenship, Youth and Active Aging. The activities were all based on non-formal education, 1-
hour structured time for each group to: Critical discussion about equality and non-discrimination
after visiting the 6 panels and experience the 3 interactive gaming tables; Videos watching and
collective commentary on them; Group dynamics about exclusion and inclusion of discriminated
persons and reflection about it; Dissemination of materials about Equal Opportunities for All,
giving teachers the opportunity to explore this issues in classrooms (debriefing).
An example success story of this project could be given that the students were get to debate
among themselves, that is to say, instead of being only the facilitating team to deconstruct the
prejudices and stereotypes exhibited by some students, the students who disagreed were
encouraged to participate in the deconstruction. This meant that not only was the process
discussed in pairs, but also that discussion continued outside the Infobus and was sometimes
carried into the classroom. In addition, all the dynamics were designed and adapted to the needs
of the students allowing, in a flexible way, awareness and learning.
Accordingly, what makes it a smart method could be considered that it is a non-formal learning
that promotes the development of capacities, characteristics and values of young people, where
they themselves are the actors of the construction and passing of knowledge, assuming a
preponderant role in their own education. In this way the debate beyond the moment of awareness
can be promoted.
Capacita.te
Since 2015, the project has been developed by FAJDP in partnership with the Youth Department
from Porto City Hall. Capacita.te means something like “Enable Yourself” or “Capacitate”,
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giving the idea of “To Train” and is the answer for the Local Training Plan developed by Porto
City Hall Youth Office and executed by FAJDP.
Portuguese young people feel - too often - that political decision-making structures are working
away from them. This feeling includes local power structures as City Halls as well. Through
training sessions, and with close involvement of local power agents, FAJDP promotes a set of
actions in different fields, giving participants important tools for the future and the opportunity to
contact with Porto City Hall politicians and Youth Workers in an informal environment.
Since 2015, together with the Porto City Hall, a Training Plan for Youth, Youth Workers and
Associative Leaders has been planned. This plan is developed for the whole year and a set of
session and training are scheduled. All actions are based on non-formal education and put
together people with different backgrounds – graduates or not, employed or not, students or not,
Association leaders or not, among others.
All Sessions were based on non-formal education – practical games and roleplaying, group
dynamics and participatory exercises. The sessions brought together people with different
characteristics and backgrounds (with and without associative membership, with and without
higher education, with and without knowledge about Youth Policies, Youth Workers or not, etc.).
In 2017, the Capacita.te plan was about: 11 March: Leadership and volunteer management; 29
March: Communication in Youth Association; 03 April: Project management with young people
08 April: Accounting for Youth Association’s 19-21 May: Capacita.te Boot Camp 04 October:
Gender Equality / No Discrimination; 21 October: Basic life support; 11 November: Europe and
world mobility. Last year, in the middle of the Plan, Capacita.te Bootcamp activitywas was held.
During one weekend, in Baião (Porto district, but more like a rural area rather than a city), a
group of young people (with and without knowledge about Youth Associations or Youth Policies)
and a team of FAJDP and Porto City Hall facilitators, were together to work about Participation,
Citizenship and what role Youth Associations can have to promote it. As a success story, after
Bootcamp, one of these young participants was invited by a Youth Association – who had meet
him in these activity – to become a Community Facilitator in a specific project for youth,
promoting peer education.
While having a Training Plan for youth is not new, having it with a partnership with a City Hall
and building it with the youth policy perspective and needs can be considered innovative. This
Training Plan is a smart method, as it engaged youth with formal city hall politicians and support
people. It also involves non-formal education approaches with formal themes as Youth Policies.
And, in the end, involves Youth with different backgrounds who can share different knowledges
2. SUGGESTIONS FOR sMaRT, TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT FOR MINDFULLNESS,
REFLECTION AND EDUCATION
For future work, suggestions can be provided on designing and delivering new initiatives that also
incorporate orientations towards pre-action, post-action and technology. Particularly, use of
innovative technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), among others
that are being developed in order to tackle gender inequality issues will be our focus for future
directions. For instance, the Whole Story app uses location-based AR to show augmented female
statues alongside existing male figures. Furthermore, use of (avatars or) virtual reality tools to see
from and understand the perspective of other gender side. (https://www.wikitude.com/blog-how-
augmented-reality-is-changing-the-game-for-gender-equality/, https://arpost.co/2018/09/07/how-
virtual-rea lity-promotes-gender-equality/, https://arpost.co/2018/06/05/how-vr-can-combat-
implicit-racism-through-perspe ctive-taking/, https://medium.com/@tanjaaitamurto/the-power-of-
virtual-reality-in-advancing-gender-equality-6b f847df4db4) (Figure 2)
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Figure 2 Examples of technologies to enhance mindfullness, reflection and learning
Meanwhile, technology education helps bridge the gender gap and should be encouraged
(Singularity Hub, 2018). Games for learning should also be designed to encourage more the
involvement of girls. Other examples for the general picture including interaction with important
actors, engagement and action can also be seen in the below illustration (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Examples of internet-based tools for women’s interaction with important actors for their
development, engagement and action
To sum up, all these exemplified technological tools (among others) could be used to develop
new initiatives to facilitate realization of M: Mindfulness, awareness, discovery (pre-action-
oriented), R: Reflection, self-experience and learning (post-action-oriented), and T: Technology-
supported, digital, virtual (tool-oriented) sMaRT cases, which have been so far covered less than
the other EduCitizens SmArt initiatives introduced above.
FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSION:
This paper has provided selected examples from EduCitizens project, “Human Library for Equal
Opportunities and Interculturality”, “Open roads for Equality”, and “Capacita.te”,that underline
issues of gender and non-discrimination, approached within the S.M.A.R.T. framework. These
examples could be especially valuable as good practices for respective participants’ developing
information literacy, critical thinking for realizing true knowledge in a free and emancipating
way. They learn not to judge someone by its appearance, dwell into deeper meaning to
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deconstruct knowledge and identify truth, engage with different stakeholders to take action for
change and difference-making. For future work, suggestions are also provided on designing and
delivering new initiatives with the support of technological tools. These tools could be
particularly useful for access to unbiased information and equal opportunities, and become aware
of and appreciate the perspective of others.
REFERENCE LIST
EduCitizens Project (2019). Retrieved from http://www.educitizens.org/ address in 03.04.2019
EduCitizens SMART Practises. (2019). Retrieved from
https://ec.europa.eu/epale/en/resource-centre/content/educitizens-smart-practices-civic-education
address in 03.04.2019.
EduCitizens Handbook (2019). Retrieved from https://www.crnonline.de/uploads/1/0/1/
5/101585812/educitizens_ handbook_nov2018mabfinal.pdf address n in 03.04.2019
https://www.wikitude.com/blog-how-augmented-reality-is-changing-the-game-for-gender-
equality/
https://arpost.co/2018/09/07/how-virtual-reality-promotes-gender-equality/
https://arpost.co/2018/06/05/how-vr-can-combat-implicit-racism-through-perspective-taking/
https://medium.com/@tanjaaitamurto/the-power-of-virtual-reality-in-advancing-gender-equality-
6bf847df4db 4 (Medeni, Soylu, Alaca, 2018/2019)
Singularity Hub (2018). Retrieved from https://singularityhub.com/2018/07/29/how-technology-
is-helping-close-the-gender-gap-and-empower-women/#sm.0000gul8e246ueydz1o2cdbioci12
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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN A CHALLENGING MIDDLE
EAST PUBLISHING SETTING – THE ROLE OF MUSLIM
CIVILIZATIONS ABSTRACTS (MCA) PROJECT
Dr Walid Ghali, ACLIP
Head Librarian, Aga Khan Library, London
Assistant Professor
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
walid.ghali@aku.edu
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to shed light on a promising bibliographic project led by the Institute for the
Study of Muslim Civilisations in London. The project aims at facilitating access to a wide range
of literature in different languages related to various disciplines in Islamic and Middle Eastern
studies. Although the project aims to tackle challenges relating to knowledge management in the
Muslim world, the project itself faces many challenges including but not restricted to the setting
of the publishing processes in the Middle East, readership statistics and the relationship between
authors and publishers. The paper also will demonstrate the importance of bibliographical projects
in the knowledge management cycle and its historical significance in Islamic studies.
1. INTRODUCTION
It is of fundamental importance to mention how Muslim scholars possessed the epistemological
concept of the organisation and classification of knowledge in the first few centuries of Muslim
history. Although it is not easy to mention every single example in this regard, a cursory glance at
the 10th Century survey of Islamic Culture by Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Al-Nadim (d. 995 AD)
enables us to say that Muslims realised the importance of knowledge organisation before
bibliographical science was established.
Ibn al-Nadim’s work, known as Kitab al-Fihrist, literally means ‘the Catalogue’ is an index of all
the books written in Arabic either by Arabs or non-Arabs and was divided into ten discourses.
The first six of them deal with books on Islamic subjects such as 1)the Scriptures of Muslims,
Jews and Christians, with an emphasis on the Quran and Quranic sciences; 2)grammar and
philology; 3) history, biography, genealogy and related subjects; 4) poetry; 5) scholastic theology
(kalam); 6) law and tradition. The last four discourses deal with non-Islamic subjects including 7)
philosophy and the ancient sciences; 8) legends, fables, magic, conjuring Inc; 9) the doctrines of
the non-monotheistic creeds; 10) alchemy.1 The author, who happened to be a bookseller, often
mentions the size of a book and the number of pages, so that copyists creating shorter versions
would not cheat buyers. He often refers to copies written by famous calligraphers, bibliographies
and other libraries and speaks of an auction and the trade in books. In the opening section, he
deals with the alphabets (Arabs and non-Arabs) and their style of writing and also with the
writing-pen, paper and its different varieties. In his study on the structure of al-Fihrist, Devin
Stewart mentions,“ Countless specialized studies have used al-Fihrist as a source of data; because
it includes the titles of works that are no longer extant, as well as biographical information on
little known early authors, it throws light on otherwise obscure facets of medieval history in many
fields”.2
Al-Fihrist is a prime example of how Muslims organised and produced knowledge. However, one
could argue that there is a gap in this field because of many reasons. In the following section,
therefore, I will shed light on the major challenges in knowledge management as a result of the
setting of publishing in the Arab world. In doing so, there is a need to understand the knowledge
1 "Al-fihrist: A 10th Century Ad Survey Of Islamic Culture ..." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web.
31 May. 2019 https://www.kazi.org/product/al-fihrist-a-10th-century-ad-survey-of-islamic-cult.
2 Devin Stewart, the Structure of the Fihrist: Ibn al-Nadim as Historian of Islamic Legal and Theological
Schools, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Aug., 2007), pp. 369-387
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management lifecycle vis-a-vis the increasing demand for projects that involve knowledge
organisation, such as indexing and abstracting services,
Although there is no hard and fast rule for the stages of knowledge management, the key steps
can be summarised in a) the Creation stage: often nothing more than an idea; b) the mobilization
stage: the idea becomes more concrete; c) the Dissemination stage: the knowledge in question
starts to become relatively widely understood in the relevant field; and d) the commoditization
stage: knowledge turns into common-knowledge, or in economic language, a public good.
That was a basic introduction to position publishing in the landscape of knowledge management
in the Arab world. In the next few minutes, I aim to focus on three main aspects: first, share with
you some general observations about the current book trade in the Middle East. Secondly, the role
that libraries play in the knowledge management cycle; and finally bibliographies as a tool in the
process of knowledge organisation and creation.
2. PUBLISHING IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES
As it is the case in the author-publisher relationship, the bibliographers and publishers are not
always in a good term. When I started the preparation for this paper, it wasn’t easy to obtain the
necessary statistics to establish the groundwork and methodology. What I received from
publishers, national libraries and librarians were all varied in a way or another. However, the most
exciting response received after many phone calls, emails and even Facebook posts was wishing
me good luck indicating that this is not an easy undertaking.
That said, there are some reports available online about book trade in the Arab world. For
example, in the annual report of the Arab Publishing Association, it was noted that in 2011 with
the beginning of the political unrest in the Middle East an important market in Syria was closed
and there was a 50% drop in the number of publications compared with 2010. We could say the
same thing about the home countries of the Arab Spring (Egypt, Tunisia and Libya).
On 30 June 2013, the English page of Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published its “debate series”to
feature the publishing industry in the Arab world. Rana Idriss, director of Dar al-Adab, a leading
Lebanese publisher of Arabic quality fiction, considered that the Arab world is facing a
publishing crisis, mainly due to the high levels of piracy (on printed and e-books) but first and
foremost, to the closure of the market in different countries such as Syria.3Also, there are
restrictions on the publishing industry in Libya, Sudan, Iraq. Moreover, the noticeable increase of
the publishing and readership rates in the Gulf is a point of enhancement, but with a high level of
censorship which form a significant challenge.
It seems that every year during the international book fairs that take place in Egypt, Algeria and
Sharjah, the publishing topic repeatedly returns to the centre of discussion. In addition to the
general points mentioned in the al-Sharq al-Awsat report, detailed information about these
challenges is published in many other reports. The following section summarises some of these
challenges that are connected to the knowledge management discussion.
2.1. Authors-publisher poor relationship
It has been mentioned that there has been a crisis in relations between authors and publishers in
the Arab world for the last two decades. For instance, a group of Egyptian authors expressed their
concern about the decreasing number of publishing houses funded by the government. According
to al-Sharq al-Awsat, the number of publishing houses financed by the Egyptian government
dropped from 27 to none in a few years after 2011. The report added that the private sector has
little interest in enriching the intellectual and cultural life of Egypt, and their primary interest is
the commercial business. One of the authors anonymously commented, “if it is true that
3 The Arab Book Market - Vrijgeestesleven.be. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vrijgeestesleven.be/vanaf
70/b91/buchmarkt_arabische_welt.pdf
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publishers are not able to make profits from the book trade, how have they been able to remain to
function, and more surprisingly, how do they manage to attend international book fairs?”
In response to this poor relationship and to avoid any potential rejection of his works by
publishers, one of the authors decided to establish an online publishing platform where authors
can upload their works online. Although there are many similar examples of such platforms, I
would like to share with you the name of the online publishing that was established by Jamal al-
Jaziry known as Dar Humartak al-Arja4. The reason he gave this memorable name to his project
is to illustrate the relationship between Publishers and authors.5
To conclude, Sheikha Latifa Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-Chairman of the
Dubai Culture & Arts Authority commented in this problem by inviting more rigorous, productive
and collaborative relationship between writers, editors and publishers which will drive an
innovative and forward-looking approach to create books.”
2.2. Lack of reliable figures for book production and sales
The second barrier I would like to mention here is the lack of reliable figures for book production
and trade in the Arab world. As you know, building reliable statistics is not a straight forward
exercise in the Middle East, but it is not impossible. Sometimes it is easier to obtain figures about
production than collecting numbers for sales. In anyways, there is no centralised Arab system
which monitors book sales in the Middle East, something like the Nielsen BookScan for the
English speaking world. The figures that circulated are always incomplete, taken from various
sources, and impossible to check. Their liability depends most of the time on the authority of the
speaker. I will share with you more examples in the next few minutes.
Number of Publications per million inhabitants
Source: Thomson Reuters (Scientific) Inc. Web of Science. Science Citation Index Expanded,
compiled for UNESCO by the Observatories des Sciences et des techniques for population data;
World Bank (2010) World Development Indicators.
4 This is an Egyptian popular proverb that can be translated as “Better make do with what you have”. The
mean here refer to the publishers and their attitude towards the authors rights or benefits.
5 Farzat, Adnan. Udaba’ a’lanu tamarrudahum. Al-Sharq al-Awsat (Monday 07/12/2015).
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Barriers to the development of publishing structures
The third barrier is the absence of a publishing structure and the weak role of the institutions that
organize the Publishing industry. To this end, it is worth saying a few words about ITTIHAD AL-
NASHIRIN AL-ARAB (the Arab Publishers Association), which is the main body that works to
upgrade the profession of publishing and to set a charter of honour to be adhered to by Arab
Publishers, including all the rules and regulations. It was established during the General
Conference for Arab Publishers that was held in Beirut in April 1995.The Arab Publishers
Association consists of Arab Local Associations, represented by a Member for each one in the
Board Members. On its official website, the association mentions that it aims to achieve the
following objectives:
To expand areas of cooperation and joint action, and consolidate relations between the
Arab publishers and their associations for the good of Arab culture and the publishing
industry.
To facilitate the opportunities and possibilities that lead to the promotion of book
culture and the development of cultural awareness in the region and abroad. To
organise and manage all necessary conferences, seminars and training courses.
To consolidate links between regional, international organisations and associations
which are related to the field of the book publishing industry and issues about
intellectual property.
To uphold and enrich the core values of Arab culture and civilisation, in addition to
protecting this culture against all attempts to distort or undermine it.
To protect the literary rights of publishers, their interests and to uphold the right of
freedom of publication; taking all the moral and legal procedures to do so, and respond
vigorously to combat the attack on property rights and intellectual property rights.
To work to increase awareness in the collective conscience of the Arab societies of the
importance of respect for property rights and the criminalisation of domestic violence.
In line with the above principles, the Association is supposed to protect authors’ and publishers’
rights; however, censorship remains one of the significant obstacles in the Arab book trade.
Censorship is known to be strictest in certain countries such as Saudi Arabia, and less severe in
Lebanon. The other Arab countries range between those two extremes. A study published by
RAND cooperation in 2009 about the Barriers to the Broad Dissemination of Creative Works in
the Arab World, reports that 90% of the 350 Dar al-Saqi titles were forbidden access to the 2008
Riyadh international book fair, and 230 new books out of 560 were banned from the 2007 Kuwait
book exhibition.6
The overthrow of dictatorships in several Arab countries has raised hopes of overcoming
censorship. For example, enthusiastic accounts came from Tunisia and Egypt after the
Revolutions, in 2011, celebrating the return of books that had been banned under the previous
regimes. But one year later, debates and protests started again when the post-revolution
governments started to impose their limitations on the freedom of expression. The decrease of
political censorship threatened to be counterbalanced by an increase of religious censorship, and
in the current, unstable situation, the struggle for freedom of expression in all its forms is still on-
going.7
6 The Arab Book Market - Vrijgeestesleven.be. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.vrijgeestesleven.be/
vanaf70/b91/buchmarkt_arabische_welt.pdf
7 Ibid.
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3. LIBRARIES AND READERSHIP IN THE ARAB WORLD
There is a direct relationship between the proper functioning of libraries and the enhancement of
the publishing and book trade. If the Arab world is facing a publishing crisis, due to limited
markets and low readership, libraries could contribute to the resolution of this crisis. A recent
report issued by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) concluded that “publishing services
are rapidly becoming a norm for research libraries”. This shows how difficult it is to have a
knowledge society without libraries; it is not only a place for reading but has become a cultural
hub where new research can be developed, debates take place, and knowledge can be
disseminated.
For libraries, to live up to the challenge of efficiently capturing the material to feed the emerging
methodological trends in scholarship and teaching, they have to understand the working of the
regional book publishing and distribution sector.8
It happened that after September 11, 2001, had a direct impact on the Middle Eastern collections
in the United States. Arabic book holdings in the U.S libraries have doubled between 1992-2007
to reflect the sustained scholarly and policy interest in the region. This, of course, had an indirect
impact on the publishing market and the work of vendors in the Middle East. According to the
latest statistics that was produced in July 2017, the number of Arabic records on the WorldCat
reached 2 million records. Arabic language, however not from the top 10 languages on this
massive database.9
The other important role of libraries is to improve the readership in their respective communities
— an impact that hard to measure though. We hear assertions such as “Arabs read six minutes a
year on average”, a widely quoted figure not backed by any statistical evidence.
On the other hand, some reports mention that there is no shortage of readers in the Arab world.
Instead, that there is, in fact, an abundance of Arabs keen to read, both in the region itself as well
as in the growing diaspora abroad and that they are consuming content across a multitude of
topics and platforms, with a discerning eye towards high quality, customised Arabic content.10
These two extreme positions can be questioned, but quite apart from propaganda and defensive
positions, most Arab publishers agree that the reading rates are low in the Arab world. This can be
partly explained by the literacy levels. It is noted that the average adult literacy rate was 72.9%,
according to UNDP’s Arab Development Challenges Report in 2011.11
The report on readership averages in the Arab world that was prepared by Mohamed bin Rashid
AL Maktoum Foundation and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) summarised
this phenomenon in a few points12:
The report admitted that there is a problem in the readership average.
There are discrepancies in the figures mentioned in the different reports that have been
published in the last ten years.
There is no mechanism to be used to measure this problem and collect statistics.
The new forms of readership (audiobooks and online) have been ignored in most of the
previous reports.
There is an increasing number of initiatives to encourage free reading and better
utilisation of libraries.
8 Gali, Christopher. p.2
9 Ibid, p.3.
10 Arabic Publishing Industry Needs A Holistic Ecosystem." Insert Name of Site in Italics. Web. 31 May.
2019 https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/arabic-publishing-industry-needs-a-holistic
11 The Arab Book Market - Vrijgeestesleven.be." Insert Name of Site in Italics. Web. 31 May. 2019
http://www.vrijgeestesleven.be/vanaf70/b91/buchmarkt_arabische_welt.pdf
12 Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Launches Arab ..." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 31 May. 2019 https://www.biz4pr.com/mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum-foundation-launches-
arab-k
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In addition to the statistics mentioned in this report, the study managed to establish a standardised
indicator to measure the readership average in the Arab world. This indicator or framework
comprises three main components: level of reading (textbooks, free reading; individuals profile
and their attitude towards reading; and access to reading. However, even thoughin many rich
countries in the Arab region are building new libraries, most of these libraries are not hospitable
spaces for readers. On the other hand, there are other countries which suffer from a lack of public
and school libraries. This unbalanced distribution has a direct effect on readership statistics.
Either way, there is a need for the existing libraries to reassess their role in supporting the
evolving needs and behaviours of their users.13
In doing so, libraries should be able to identify opportunities to shape the scholarly
communication environment actively and to undertake a range of new initiatives such as: creating
institutional repositories that support thearchiving and distribution of the scholarly and teaching
materials, developing digital publishing services, engaging in education, and providing a
customised bibliographical and indexing services to researchers.
Among the roles above, the last two points are relevant to the bibliographical initiatives. The first
point is the online publishing and Open Access. Currently, there are approximately 2900 OA
digital repositories internationally listed on the Directory of Open Access Repositories, Open-
DOAR, which is an authoritative quality-assured world directory of academic Open Access
repositories -- with about 37 repositories in Arab states and 525 Open Access Journals published
in Arab countries listed in the Directory of OA Journals (DOAJ), of which 28 are available in
Arabic language. This show the low number of Arabic resources that are available in OA.
This number accounts for a comprehensive directory that covers all open access scientific and
scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content. DOAJ also currently
indexes 3977 OA articles which are published in Arabic. This accounts for 0.02% of a total of
~1,976,226 articles available on DOAJ. 53 OA journals published in the Arabic language are
listed in the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources (ROAD).14
Furthermore, in Arab states, research is done mainly through Higher education institutes and their
affiliated research centres with minimal involvement of the private sector. The total Scopus
output from the Arab World during the period 2003-2013 is topped by Egypt, with approximately
85,000 publishers. This number can be associated mainly with the Hindawi publishing
corporation based in Cairo, Egypt.15
UNESCO's Global Open Access Portal for the Arab States currently provides detailed OA
profiles for Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco,
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab
Emirates, and Yemen.
There are many examples of agencies and programs that are active in the region for Open Access
initiatives such as EIFL.net- an international not-for-profit organisation based in Europe with a
global network of partners (Helping in setting up IR and training support). INASP (AJOL),
BioMed Central (free membership scheme for qualifying universities and research institutions in
low-income countries), SCOAP3 - Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in
Particle Physics (partnership) and in many cases with UNESCO sponsorship.The availability of
scientists and researchers is higher than in developing countries but less than in OECD countries:
there are about 35,000 fulltime researchers, and half of this number works in Egypt. International
collaboration is high due to funding availability, and governments have procured advanced
technologies.
13 https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2017/02/access-books-key-better-society/
14 Overview Of Oa In Arab StatesUnited Nations Educational. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/
communication-and-information/portals-and-platforms
15 Ibid.
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On the other hand, there are several Arabic websites offer a free download of books that are still
in print and not free of rights. Here are some figures from the only one which is relatively
“transparent” and presents indications about the volume of frequentation and downloads. It covers
only a small part of the market but gives an idea about the frequency of downloads per genre of
books (August 2013).16
Studies have shown that throughout the Arab world, religious books constitute 17% of all books
published in Arab countries compared to 5% of worldwide. The second higher sellers are novel,
with original titles better than translations.17
The following table shows some statistics about downloading Arabic resources, which is in the
OA by subjects. It worth mentioning that Open Access, as part of the publishing process in the
Arab world, is not challenges free either.
It is worth to mention that the reasons for the low usage of the downloadable books range from
the low level of awareness and lack of government framework and policy regulations. However,
other reasons can be added to the list such as:
Lack of skilled individuals to manage Open Access projects and to maintain the
standards of quality assurance and good scientific practice.
There is a lack of open access journals being published in Arabic.
Most Arab publishers do not have their earlier publications archived as InDesign or
Word files, which means that a tremendous effort and expense is required to collect,
retype, and proofread the texts all over again. And to top it all off, tablet users make up
only 10% of the population of the Arab world.
Consequently, we cannot assert that paper books will disappear, at least not those addressing
frequent readers. Although affected by the rise of digital books, paper books will remain.18
16 Figures from one website of freedownload of books: http://www.aljlees.com/
17Gali, Christopher.
Genres
Books
available
Total
downloads
Average
downloads
Qur’an and Hadîth
227
1,489,822
6563
Books for IPhone and IPad
30
65,718
2190
Islamic ideology and fiqh
650
3,542,162
5449
Politics and essays
366
2,071,703
5660
Memoirs
98
676,633
6904
Children’s books
67
399,700
5966
Novels and short stories
294
1,436,221
4885
Literature and Arabic language
325
1,834,379
5644
Computer
177
1,341,571
7579
History and Geography
104
658,212
6329
Law
129
906,187
7025
Medicine (vulg.) and Psychology
161
1,284,203
7976
Genealogy (of Arab tribes)
20
197,703
9885
Women, make-up, cooking
82
834,727
10180
Business, Economy and Human development
136
856,683
6299
Science
84
797,000
9488
Foreign language (mainly books about Islam)
59
255,256
4326
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However, it is clear that in public institutions, universities and schools, the future is in favour of
digital books. This assumption has been confirmed by one of the significant book vendors in the
Middle East who has been in this business for more than 60 years.
4. BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
It was mentioned in the first section of this paper the famous bibliographical work in Muslim
culture known as al-Fihrist, which is one the oldest and most important bibliographical initiatives
in Muslim civilisations. This work assessed in producing a lot of knowledge after the 10th century
onward. Although there are similar projects that cover the literature about Islam and Muslims that
is written in European languages, it is crucial to establish a similar initiative to introduce the
literature written in languages in Muslim majorities countries. One major reason is the challenges
in publishing and readership in the Muslim world.
Bibliographies, as defined by Carter and Barker (2010),is a twofold scholarly discipline—the
organised listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as
physical objects (descriptive bibliography).National bibliographies in the Middle East still are the
predominant type of bibliography. The reason for this is that these projects are managed by the
national libraries, which is funded by the government. Secondly, most of the Arab countries have
legal deposit regulation as part of the publishing process. For any author to obtain the national
library ISBN, he has to deposit at least ten copies of his book. Morocco and Tunisia have
published their national bibliographies consistently and have made them accessible, albeit in
different forms and to a different extent, on the web portals of their national libraries. Other
projects, including Dalil al-Matbuat al-Masriyah by Aida Ibrahim Nosseir, have been completed
as part of the individual’s studies or as a separate project.
Another project that was completed in the Arab world by Brill is the Bibliography of Arabic
Books Online (BABO) which aims to become a comprehensive bibliographic database containing
information about virtually all books published in Arabic before 1960.
Muslim Civilisations Abstract (MCA) however aims to create an influential dialogue between
academics and academia in various Muslim contexts and their equivalents around the world.
More recently, the MCA strives to document endangered produced knowledge and intellectual
efforts on Muslim cultures and societies in unstable countries along with supporting struggling
scholars and academics in these contexts. The main medium for such endeavours is to collect
short book-reviews of books published in Muslim contexts and disseminate them, in books and
online, in various languages. These book reviews and their translationsare commissioned to
academics and scholars based mainly in Muslim contexts, who get remunerated for their services.
This model helps support the contributors financially and intellectually by publishing their
reviews and translations under their names.
The MCA project is a platform that could help to overcome some of the challenges related to
publishing and open access to Arabic literature. The project is timely and much needed, as there
are increasing numbers of initiatives aiming to create abstracts and indexes of scholarly literature
available worldwide. In addition to the well-known Index Islamicus, which is restricted to
European languages, there is also Oxford Bibliographies (5-year-old) which provides faculty and
students alike with a seamless pathway to the most accurate and reliable resources for a variety of
academic topics.19 What MCA can offer, in my view, is a means of facilitating access to a wide
range of literature in different languages and related to various disciplines in the Middle East.
This provision would encourage inquiry and the exchange of ideas, which could impact the small
18 The Arab World Slow To Adopt Digital Publishing." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May.
2019 https://publishingperspectives.com/2015/05/the-arab-world-slow-to-adopt-digital
19 About - Obo.Retrieved from https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/page/40
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but influential constituency of scholars of Islamic civilisations quickly, within and outside the
Muslim world.
5. CONCLUSION
This paper attempt to provide an overview of the challenges about the knowledge organisation in
Muslim countries. There are many reasons for these difficulties, such as the publishing setting and
the lack of projects that aim to organise knowledge. There is a need for more studies to examine
the landscape of Arab publishing, and its impact on the way libraries and research.
Bibliographies remain a vital tool in the field of knowledge organisation. Many projects look at
organising the literature in western languages to make information about research available for a
broader range of scholars, libraries and agencies. That said, there is a need to establish more work
in Muslim countries where significant literature is being published but does not connect to the
global academia. To this end, the Muslim Civilisations Abstract Project is a promising
bibliographical resource if it takes into account the inclusion of new media formats and full-text
resources in national bibliographies. Also, making the project available through an open access
platform will make it a more prominent tool in the knowledge management cycle connecting the
authors, publishers and other stakeholders.
Utilising the technology to create a bibliographical platform can be one step towards connecting
the academia in the Middle East with the rest of the world. This will create more integration and
will enhance the knowledge management cycle.
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FOUNDATION ARCHIVE AND ENDOWMENTS
Yakup Özsaraç
AYBU, yakupybu@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Archives are documents that preserve documents. They also make these documents, which are the
memory of the nation, available for use. They also serve as a bridge between researchers and
archival materials. Apart from document protection, archives play a role in the change and
development process of their institutions, while they process the documents during the activities
of the institutions to which they belong and shape them through their institutions within the
framework of order and system. One of these institutions is a foundation institution.
General Directorate of Foundations Archive (VGMA) under the auspices of the General
Directorate of Foundations (VGM); as written in the logo of the VGM, is perhaps the oldest
social science archive in our country, which has the document of the foundation of the Turks,
which has been classified in the hands of the Turks since their arrival in Anatolia in 1041. This
archive is a very important data treasure. With the development of computer technology in the
2000s, digitalization studies have begun for endowments in this archive. Today, there are
foundations in 40 states in 3 continents where the Ottoman Empire ruled and endowments which
are the certificates of these foundations. In the General Directorate of Foundations Archives
(VGMA), there are 42.612 foundations left from the Ottoman Empire to the present day being
42.150 Recorded Documents and 426 Appendants. 92% of the 38.612 these foundations rest
within the borders of present-day Turkey, and 8% are in other countries. Half of these remaining
4000 foundations are in countries of the Balkan region. 21.000 of the total documents which
compose 50% of the documents indicating the evidence for the existence of these 42.612
foundations are the Personality Records which have information related to assignments, 17.000
of it, representing 40%, belong to endowments and 10% of them are the other type of documents
(Özyer, 2005, 36).
In this paper, which we prepared basing upon the documents and information pertaining to the
foundations in the archive, we will use the endowments we collected from Foundation Archive
Module (VAYS) as a source, we will explain to which record books (registries) these endowments
were recorded and we will put forward the classification of these registry books. In addition, we
will present this extensive archive and classified version of 27 thousand foundations with their
geographical locations (where they were established) in this paper
Key words: Archive, Foundations, Endowments, Geography, Endowment Book.
1. INTRODUCTION
The official document, which contains the characteristics and charitable conditions of the real
estates and real estate properties that the foundation has established, and has been proved by kadı
before the witness, is called as "endowment".
The endowment or the foundation certificate-charter is a legal document that contains the
provisions and rules which the ruler has issued regarding the formation and functioning of the
foundation. The lawyers looked for a number of conditions about the person to establish the
foundation and the things that were endowed. According to these, anyone who is free and rational
and has not been retained from using his property due to any debt has the right to establish a
foundation. It is also necessary that the income of the foundation is sustained, that it is under the
full ownership of the foundation and that it can be used comfortably.
Foundation papers were written in paper and parchment scrolls, or in volumes ranging from one
to four hundred pages. In our opinion, it is possible to allocate a foundation to seven sections in
general.
One or more kadis (kadi, judges, soldiers), even sultans' attestation, signatures and seals.
1. An introduction part where after the Foundation expresses praise to Allah and the pray to the
Prophet, describes the world, explains its perspective of life and explains the grounds of the
foundation it established, etc.
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2. Information about the Foundation: name, father's name, profession, personal qualities, etc.
3. A description of the movable and immovable income sources, which have been devoted by the
foundation, for the purpose of building and the operation of the buildings allocated by the
Foundation and for the benefit of humanity. This section also contains forms of the goods in
question.
4. The conditions determined by the related foundation and the services to be realized with the
foundation income, the wages to be paid to the personnel and the revenues of the foundation...
5. Among the opinions of the ancients and the great Islamic jurists, the judge who chooses the
most favorable opinion for the category of the foundation.
6. Damnation statements for the ones to disrupt the conditions stated in the foundation certificate-
charter, the history of the endowment and the witnesses...
The foundation certificate-charters prepared by such a systematic system were registered by the
kadis in the court registers. They handed the original of the foundation certificate-charters to the
trustees, who were appointed to manage the foundations according to their contents.
2. OTTOMAN ARCHIVES AND ENDOWMENTS
We see that there is a tradition of holding books in the Ottoman Empire from the earliest stage.
Correspondingly, the books were found in the Ottoman Archives since the beginning of the 14th
century. For example, the oldest book on land demolitions today dates back to 835 (1432). In the
18th century, the number of these is over a thousand, including mufassal, icmâl and tımar-
ruznamçe. Also mühimme, ruûs, bonds; accounting mukâtaa, ruznamçe of Divan-ı Hümâyûn
from the 18th century, reparation, discovery and ethic of revenue office; mevâcib of the military
office; ruznamçe books of the foundation and alike, also the complaints books after the 17th
century constitute the types of around 400,000 books as a result of the expansion of the
boundaries and organization of the state, some exist formerly, some of which arose from the
necessity and today exist in the Ottoman Archives. In addition to these, the court records, the
orders sent from the center and the cadre records in which the local decisions were written reach
significant amounts (Göyünç, 1991, 90).
One of the places where these books are kept is the Ruûs Kalemi. This place is one of the most
important officces of the Divan-ı Hümâyû and is the office where all servants except the queen,
the governor, governor of sanjak, owners of mevali, fiefdom and commandery, and all the civil
servants who receive salaries from the treasury, general directorate of foundations and customs
and are assigned and their records are kept. The paper showing the appointment treatment of such
civil servants is called the ruûs, and they are recorded in the Ruûs books kept at this office. In
addition, the Ottoman archives in the foundation Evkâf-ı Hümâyûn Nezâreti documents are
evaluated and classified separately. Today, the foundations are collected in the archives of the
foundations and classified and presented to the researchers.
3. FOUNDATION ARCHIVE AND ENDOWMENTS
Foundations that have survived to the present day and are registered in books are located in
Ankara Archives General Directorate of Foundations. In the foundation archive under the
auspices of the General Directorate of Foundations (VGMA), there are 2376 registers of different
numbers, dates and contents. 197 of these books are unique in terms of original calligraphy,
gilding and skin and are kept in special cases. It is estimated that there are approximately 237,500
documents as the original or copy of these books. 27,019 of these documents are the foundation
certificate-charters and addendum foundation certificate-charters which are the legal basis of the
foundations. Others consist of verdict, kayd-i hakanî, edict, warrant, title deed, explanation,
extract, condition amendment, equalization sheet, imperial decree, Şûrâ-yı Evkaf and Şûrâ-yı
Devlet decisions, records and similar documents. But they do not represent all the foundation
certificate-charter. The number of foundations established in the period of the Ottoman Empire
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can be known after scanning all Şer'iye registers and Tahir books belonging to the courts of the
Ottoman period.
The volume of the pledges expands in proportion to the conditions of the foundation by the
endowed real estate and charities. Two ways were followed in the organization of the foundation
certificate-charters. In the first, the certificate-charter was created by combining the papers. In
order to emphasize that no addition was made to these certificate-charters, "merging is authentic"
expression was written and preserved in the form of a roll. In the second case, the charters are
arranged in the form of hardcover books. In some of these types of charters, the letter is enclosed
or gilded. The original foundation certificate-charters which belong to the sultan, sultana and high
bureaucracy are usually written innaskhi and thuluth writing and the representations were copied
with diwani or diwani hybrids. The art of writing and the quality of stationery materials vary
according to the time and the importance of charter. For the preservation of the original charter,
copies of the documents have been issued by Kadi. The authenticity of these copies are faithful to
the original can be understood from the expressions such as "tıbku aslıhi'l-â'lâ", "tıbku aslıhi'ş-
şerîfi'l-hâkânî" or "tıbku aslıhi'ş-şerîf bilâ tağyîr ve't-tahrîf" on the document. (Kütükoğlu, 1998:
359-369).
Ibrahim Ates and H. Baki Kunter divided the charters at VGMA into four groups as of their
establishment dates:
1-Foundation certificate-charters before the Ottoman period,
2-The foundation certificate-charters of the Ottoman period,
3-The foundation certificate-charters of Parliament and the Government of the Republic of
Turkey period,
4-Between 1926-1967 the deeds of trust established in accordance with the Civil Code and the
articles of foundation of foundations established in accordance with the provisions of the Law No.
903 adopted in 1967 (Ateş, 1985: 26-31; Kunter, 1942: XV-XXIII).
Foundation Records Archive, is a fund composed of any kind of documents and papers related to
the establishment and organisation of the foundations with documents such as foundation
certificate-charter, edict, warrant, judgments, title-deed etc. throughout history.
Foundation Records Archive consists of books and records kept before the establishment of the
Evkaf-ı Hümayun in 1826 (1242 Hegira calendar), Chief Harem Eunuch, the minister of selâtin
foundations at the center, Haremeyn foundation inspector, Evkaf accountants and books kept by
various authorities and by headquarters and provincial organizations after the establishment of the
Ministry of Evkaf-ı Humayun.
In the Ottoman Empire, while the foundation works were discussed in the diwan, the ministry of
selâtin foundations, Chief Harem Eunuch, the Haremeyn foundation inspector, the Evkaf
accountant and the trustees were present and were waiting readily. Government services and
foundation services were closely linked. In cities and towns, public services such as public works,
education, culture, health and welfare were largely covered by autonomously managed
foundations. Therefore, issues related to foundations were discussed in the court until the
establishment of the Evkaf-ı Hümâyûn Ministry and the decisions taken were recorded. After the
establishment of the Evkaf-ı Hümâyûn Ministry, the records of the foundations which were kept
by the officials, who were in the custody of either the Chief Harem Eunuch and the foundations in
their possession, were transferred to this ministry. After that, the Foundations (Evkaf-ı Hümayun)
Ministry kept the records of the foundation more regularly. Here are the records of the Foundation
Records Archive, which were kept before and after the ministry. The Foundation Records Archive
was kept in the Istanbul Atik Ali Pasha Madrassah in the last period of the Ministry of
Foundations (Evkaf-ı Hümayun Nezareti). The books which should be worked on during the day
used to be brought to the Foundation Records Office and returned to the storehouse when the job
was done, the storehouse used to be closed and sealed during the nights (Alkan, 2010; 2-34).
Much as The Foundation Records Administration (Archive) remained in İstanbul after the
removal of Ministry of Foundations in 1924 and the establishment of the General Directorate of
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Foundations, it was transferred to General Directorate of Foundations in Ankara in February 26,
1936.
The most important objectives and purposes of the Foundation's Records Archive are to provide
the creation of the works of the foundation from the generation to the generation by revealing the
foundation and other documents related to the foundation works of the General Directorate of
Foundations to which it has been connected, the aim of this course is to present the documents to
local and foreign researchers who want to do research and to form a source for documentary
research.
Before the VAYS (Foundation Archive Management System) project carried out in the
Foundation Records Archive in 2005, there were 2376 logbook and these books were composed
of funds such as judgment (ahkam); title-deed, warrant, edict, certificate, treasury, type record
(ruznamçe), new personality, explanation, explanation of regulations, extracts, accounting, fodula,
evamir, and the average of each logbooks, except for the type and foundation treasury books, has
600-750 documents, and in the typeface and foundation treasury books the number varies
between 2000-3000 and the total number of documents are estimated to be 500.000.
The books in the Foundation Records Archive are composed of funds in various ways and these
funds have not been changed due to references to each other on the books and should not be
changed.
A total of 27,419 foundation certificate charter and addendum charters which were in the archive,
25,461 of which were in Ottoman, and 1.958 of them were Arabic, the translation of the Ottoman
ones to Arabic and the ones from Arabic to Turkish were completed.
As previously mentioned, the number of foundations established in the Ottoman Empire is
42,612. 38.612 of them are in Turkey, there are also 4,000 beyond our national borders.
Accordingly, while the rest of foundations established rates as 92% in the territory of Turkey and
the rest 4% was established in Balkans and the other % 4 in Balkan countries.
In the last period, the Ottoman Empire made reforms in the administration of the Anatolian and
Rumelia provinces. One of the most prominent of these reforms were 1864-1870 Directories of
Provinces. With these regulations, the provincial administration was taken over from the
beginning and a new and established province has been organized, vital changes have been made
in terms of city centers as named today. The new administrative units in the Ottoman Empire are
described in detail. The state is divided into 27 provinces and 123 sanjaks in administrative terms.
In the territory of Rumelia, the state had 44 provinces, while in the Anatolian territory there were
16 districts and 74 sanjaks. In North Africa, there were 1 province and 5 districts. In addition,
some of the brigadier generals called elviye-i gayri-mülhaka were directly connected to the center.
Egypt, Bosnia and Crete, which has a special status as the territory outside of this regulation
because of their different status and condition, have been divided into the Hijaz and Yemen
regions as they are based on the distant and tribal order (Gökbilgin, 1946, 641-703).
Table 1 Distribution of the Foundations (11.697) in Anatolian Record Books according to the
Registries
The books are mainly composed of records in the Ottoman Empire, which are expressed as
Anatolia and starting from the Anatolian side of Istanbul, and are now composed of Iraq, Syria,
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Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Crimea and Cyprus.
However in the registry books, endowments belonging to the cities and counties in Rumelia. The
reason for this is that, some foundations have income and charities in Rumelia or the kadi position
is one of the Anatolian cities.
The series of Rumeli Vakfiye Books consists of 814 books containing 5 books. According to
these notebooks, the distribution is as follows.
Table 2 Distribution of the Endowments in the Rumeli Registry Books (814)
Most of these registry books have Istanbul and Rumeli records.
There are also records for Kudüs, Çeşme, Kıbrıs, Sakız, Midilli, Adana, Erzincan, Gediz, Elazığ,
Yalova, Çankırı, Keskin, Kastamonu, Amasya, Tosya, Antalya, Bolu, Tavas, İzmit, Kütahya, Bursa,
Çorum, Mihaliç, Gönen, Bayındır, Konya, Gördes, Sandıklı, Akdağmadeni, Niksar, Koçhisar, Çine,
Yozgat, Çine, Balıkesir, Zile, Terme, Tokat, Nif, Tavas, Bozkır ve Maraş. Istanbul Endowment SEries
(570-577) are composed of 8 registry books. Most of these registry books are situated in Istanbul and
its surroundings, there are 528 endowments belonging to Tekirdağ, Gelibolu, Niğde, Edirne, Sofya,
Selanik, Şam, Erzurum ve Bursa including the period (1431/1918).
Registry books series called as Pious Foundations is a fund composed of 13 record book. In this
record book, there 3.545 records.
Table 4 Distribution of the Endowments in Record Book of Pious Foundations (3.545) according
to the Record Books.
Most of these foundations are situated in Istanbul and its surroundings and Rumelia. Apart from
these, there are endowments belonging to Sivas, Chios, Rhodes, Limni, Lesbos., Kıbrıs, Konya,
İzmit, Manisa, İzmir, Antep, Yalova, Niksar, Ürgüp, Erzurum, Simav, Emet, Kastamonu, İskilip,
Erzincan, Karahisâr-ı Sahib, Merzifon, Bursa, Amed, İskenderiye, Amasya, Edremit, Maraş,
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Aydın, Bolu, Mudurnu, Şam, Tokat, Besni, Burdur, Bigadiç, Çankırı, Denizli, Kayseri, Arapgir,
Niğde, Adapazarı, Yalova, Trablusşam, Ankara and Alaşehir.
The Haremeyn Foundation Book Series consists of 19 notebooks and 3029 endowements in these
books.
In addition to managing the foundations of Mecca and Medina, Haremeyn Nezâreti (Dârüssaâde
Ağalığı), undertook the management and control of the foundations, which were generally
allocated to Haremeyn in the foundations and which were stipulated to be governed by the
Haremeyn. In addition, important foundations that have been transferred from Islamic states such
as Ayyubids, Mamluks and Seljuks also fall under the jurisdiction of this charter. In the Ottoman
Empire, the desire for Haremeyn also appears under the supervision of the foundations.
Table 5 Distribution of the Endowments in Haremeyn Record Books (3.029)-
These record books include records belonging to İstanbul, Kili, Kütahya, Belgrad, Filibe, Şumnu,
Şam, Trapoliçe, Karitene, Vidin, Ruha, Tire, Rodosçuk, Cide, Sapanca, Edirne, Aydın,
Murtazaabad, İzmir, Tokat, İzmit, Yalova, Bayramiç, Ürgüp, İskefsir, Bafra, Lefkoşe,
İsmailgeçidi, Arnavud Belgradı, Halep, Bağdad, Hanya, Samsun, Peçin, Bursa, Maraş, Bozcaada,
Kastamonu, Manisa, Nevşehir, Karahisar-ı Nallı, Kalecik, Bolu, Budaközü, Kilis, Karaman, Vize,
Trablusşam, Mısır, Sofya, Hotin, Rusçuk, Yüreğir, Kestel, Yalvaç, Küre, Kemah, Taraklıborlu,
Turgutlu, Mekke, Medîne, Selanik, Adana, Ayaş, Edremid, Balyabadra, Antakya, Midilli,
Akhisar, Konya, Kefe, Niş, Bodrum, Sivas, Silistre, Zile, Trabzon, Atina, Amasya, Kalvatra,
Edirene, Antep, Kırili, Kandiye, Ilıca-i Bergama, Molva, Tatya, Sakız, Muğla, Ankara, Eğriboz,
Bergos, Sefer-i Hisar, Sayda, İshaklı, Gördes, Kale-i Sultâniye, Erzurum, Görice, Zara, Mostar,
Kavala, Bi'retü'l-Fırat, Tiflis, Ahısha, Bender, Çerkeş, İslimye, Sinop, Yafa, Gemlik, Balçık,
Birgi, Şeyhli, Harput, Varna, Travnik, Siroz, Merzifon, Alaşehir, Bayındır, Vudine, Ayvalık,
Kuşadası, Akka, Biga, Bozok, Süleymanlı, Kalunya, Bendirekli, Kudüs, Gölköy, Karahisâr-ı
Şarkî, İskenderiye, Rodos, Tırnova, Harabolu, Silivri, Akçaabad, Bilecik ve Crete.
According to the results we collected, Ottoman foundations are as follows in the figure.
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Figure 1 Ottoman foundations
In this article, we examined the endowments of foundations as foundation documents and their
funds in the archives of foundations. We have determined that these foundations are classified
according to the organization, management and the regions they serve. It should be known that
not only in the archives of foundations but also in many places such as the Ottoman Archives, the
Municipal Register, the Land Registry Archives Archives and the Istanbul Mufti's Office, there
may be an endowment. Many of these endowments are now in the Archives of the General
Directorate of Foundations. Foundations, their number including the period 1401 and today,
which was determined basing upon the sources in archives and endowments which are the
establishment documents of these foundations have beeen classified and shared in this study. . In
this article, it is determined that the foundations that we have taken with holistic approach have 6
foundation record book series and there are 19.917 endowments in these record books. Today we
see that there are 5,083 foundations in Turkish Republic.Some of these foundations, which are
very different from the Ottoman foundations in terms of quality and service areas, are like the
provincial / district assistance association. Some of them have been established as a university
foundation.
REFERENCE LIST
AKGÜNDÜZ, A. (1988). İslam Hukukunda ve Osmanlı Tatbikatında Vakıf Müessesesi. Ankara:
Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi
BALOĞLU Z. (ed) (1996) The Foundations of Turkey. İstanbul: Tüsev
GÖYÜNÇ, N, (1991) “Defter” DİA, c. IX, İstanbul,
KAZICI, Z. (1988) “İslami ve Sosyal Açıdan Vakıflar.” İstanbul: Marifet Yayınları
KOZAK, İ, E. (1985). Bir Sosyal Siyaset Müessesesi Olarak Vakıf. İstanbul: Akabe Yayınları
KÖPRÜLÜ, M. F. (1983) İslam ve Türk Tarihi Araştırmaları ve Vakıf Müessesesi. İstanbul
KUNTER, H.B. (1969) “Türk Vakıfları ve Vakfiyeler Üzerine Mücmel Bir Etüt” VD. Sayı 1
Ankara
KURT, İ. (1996) Para Vakıfları: Nazariyat ve Tabikat İstanbul: Ensar Neşriyat
KÜTÜKOĞLU, M. (1994) Osmanlı Belgelerinin Dili İstanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
ÖZCAN T. (2003) Osmanlı Para Vakıfları Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları
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ÖZTÜRK, N (1983). “Menşei ve Tarihi Gelişimi Açısından Vakıflar” Ankara: Vakıflar Genel
Müdürlüğü Yayınları 1.Baskı
ÖZTÜRK, N (1994). “Batılılaşma Döneminde Vakıfların Çözülmesine yol açan Uygulamalar”
Ankara: VD. 23. Sayı
ÖZTÜRK, N (1995). Türk Yenileşme Tarihi Çerçevesinde Vakıf Müessesesi Ankara Türkiye Diyanet
Vakfı Yayınları
ÖZYER, K. “Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü Vakıf Kayıtlar Arşivi” Uluslararası Türk Arşivleri
Sempozyumu” 17-19 Kasım 2005, İstanbul,
PAKALIN, M, Z. (1971). Osmanlı Tarih Deyimleri ve Terimleri Sözlüğü İstanbul:
ŞİMŞEK, M. (1985) Osmanlı Cemiyetinde Para Vakıfları Üzerine Münakaşalar Ankara
Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, Sayı: 27
YEDİYILDIZ, B. (2003) 18. Yüzyılda Türkiye’de Vakıf Müessesesi Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu
Yayınları
YEĞİN A (1983) Osmanlıca Türkçe Yeni Lügat, İstanbul: Hizmet Vakfı Yayınları
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INFORMATION LITERACY NEEDS OF FACULTY: A CASE OF
ONE UNIVERSITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Mary Sengati-Zimba
Zayed University, P.O. Box 144534, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Mary.Sengati-Zimba@zu.ac.ae
ABSTRACT:
Most people expect faculty as teachers and researchers to be knowledgeable and well skilled in
information literacy (IL) and thus when librarians are planning IL sessions for students, faculty
and other academic staff are overlooked. At this university in the Middle East, recently there has
been a push for professors to publish not only to contribute to the knowledge base but also
contribute to raising their university rank. The ranking fever has had a snowballing effect, as the
higher the rank, the better the university is considered and higher chances of attracting students,
which in turn also increases chances of better funding from financing bodies, as well as attracting
quality faculty. Faculty need to know the key journals in their disciplines especially those that
are ranked highly. In addition, they need to be able to cite their sources and present them in
various formats required by editors of the journals they are publishing in. Furthermore, faculty
need to be knowledgeable on how to identify vanity publishers who are also taking advantage of
young professors who want to accelerate in promotion. Librarians being information
professionals have the skills to guide faculty on how to gain the skills. This paper will discuss how
librarians are supporting faculty through training sessions to meet the demands of academic
publishing. This is a paper that describes practice at this institution and compares what is done to
other universities in the world, supporting the argument that faculty do need IL skills to be more
effective searchers and researchers. Most studies in the literature focus on faculty and librarians’
collaboration in teaching and integrating IL in the course content, as well as faculty perspectives
of their students IL. This paper will contribute to the literature and add to the knowledge base
about the IL skills for faculty.
Keywords: Information Literacy, Faculty, workshops, workplace information literacy, academic
staff
1. INTRODUCTION
Information literacy (IL) skills are key to everyone for daily life, academic and work place. Many
studies on IL skills have focused on IL skills for students both in schools and colleges, thinking of
building life long learning skills. Very few studies have been written about IL needs of faculty or
what faculty needs as their workplace IL skills. Studies conducted about IL mostly discuss
curriculum, best practice, teaching strategies, integration of IL in the curriculum, student
perception of IL and faculty perception of IL. This tendency disregards the fact that academic
faculty as researchers and instructors also have needs of their own and do require some sort of
training in IL to be able to manoeuvre their way through the information available, evaluate it and
use it ethically while creating knowledge. There are many advantages for training faculty in IL,
for the faculty, the students and Librarians; IL literate faculty will become allies of librarians and
libraries (Eva & Shea 2015, Cowan & Eva 2016), they will be able to inform their students.
Inaddition, they will reinforce IL skills taught to their students, and will be able to design
assignments and assessments that are realistic, requiring students to apply and practice their
learned IL skills, hence engaging them effectively (Leckie 1996 in Cowan & Eva 2016: 166). In
addition, with faculty buy-in, it will be possible for IL skills to be better integrated throughout the
curriculum.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Most studies look at collaboration amongst Librarians and faculty in delivering IL, a review of
literature found very few studies about IL for faculty. Cowan & Eva (2016) for instance discussed
how faculty can be taught IL skills in order for them take on the teaching role for their students.
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Storie& Campbell (2012) studied the whole university community needs for IL skills.
Specifically, they found out that only a few faculty received IL instruction, the majority lack
search skills indicating a limitation in their IL skills as only a few managed to conduct searches.
Maharana and Misha (2007) studying faculty at Sambapur University in India, addressed the issue
of IL levels of faculty and found-out there was heavy reliance on search engines for research,
instead of using subscription databases, faculty also demonstrated limitations in conducting
effective searches due to lack of search skills competency. Other studies (Moore & Ivory 2000,
Dixon, Barboza, Jensen & Schwartz 2017) found-out that faculty lacked knowledge of the
research process, as they relied on a single database or journals they were familiar with or their
favourite journals hence missing out on valuable information published elsewhere. All in all,
these studies indicate there is need for providing IL training to facultyin order for them to have
solid research skills and use a variety of resources in their research.
3. CONTEXT: THE INSTITUTION
The institution under discussion is Zayed University located in the United Arab Emirates. It was
established in 1998. From inception Information Literacy has been one of the six learning
outcomes. Librarians have engaged in teaching IL to students in not for-credit programs, and over
the years IL has undergone various transformations but still very much present. The student
population is about 10,000 FTE located in two campuses; Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Most of the
students are undergraduate enrolled in eight colleges: Arts and Creative Enterprises, Business,
Communication and Media Sciences, Education, Humanities & Social Sciences, Natural,
Sciences and Public Health, University College, Technological Innovation and the University
College. There are about 300 students enrolled in graduate programs (masters) (ZU Fact book
2017-2018).There are approximately 300members of faculty from 56 countries(ZU Fact book
2017-2018), although most have received their education in western universities, they come with
varying levels of information literacy skills depending on their education preparation and fields of
studies.
The university was primarily a teaching-focused university with small class sizes, a maximum of
18 students. Faculty performance evaluation was mainly in teaching, research and services where
teaching played a key role. In 2013 the university focus changed to more research orientation to
meet one of its strategic planning goals i.e. “Enhance the leadership role of the University in
scientific research and development in ways that contribute to a knowledge-based economy” (ZU
Fact book 2017-2018: 8). With this faculty were required to engage in more research and publish
and or creative activities. During this transition a wave of panic engulfed faculty and they began
to ask many questions about publishing standards, where to publish, where one could get funding
for research, the fastest way of changing references in a paper to fit the various journal editor’s
requirements, reliable journals and or recommended journal for their topic or discipline. All the
questions were directed to liaison librarians either through email communication or face to face
and at the reference desk. While all the anxiety was taking place, some faculty began receiving
emails from vanity and fake publishers inviting them to publish books, papers or others forms of
research with them promising quick turnaround for the results encouraging them that it is a quick
way to get known and promoted.
During this time Librarians had been providing faculty workshops either on demand or on a topic
that Librarians felt faculty would find interesting. For example, in 2015 during the faculty
Professional Development week several Librarians presented workshops on topics such as
“increasing your research visibility”, “copy right awareness”, “patents and your rights”,
“Introduction to RefWorks for researchers”, “Research 101” etc. such workshops were organized
in collaboration with the University Office of Research. The workshops facilitated during faculty
Profession Development week or Research Days were required for faculty and thus attendance
was impressive ranging from 25 to 30 plus attendees per session. In addition, there were several
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one-on-one consultations, but with the frequency and increase in number of queries, an agenda
was tabled at the Library Information Literacy Council (ILC) to discuss the best and most
effective way to manage faculty information literacy needs. A task force was created and agreed
to conduct a needs analysis survey. A simple survey with 7- items with close-ended questions
was created to find out what were the actual IL needs of faculty, i.e. their training needs, best
times to meet or to organize training and frequency of the sessions. A survey was created and
reviewed by members of the ILC. After approval, the survey was sent was sent out to all faculty
through a campus email announcement. A link was provided for faculty to access the survey. A
total of 98 faculty responded. From the responses, the librarians agreed with participants that the
workshops were to be offered on Monday and Wednesdayduring lunch break from 12: 30 to
13:15 hours, allowing faculty time to return to their teaching commitments.
Table 1: Results of the survey: Workshops of interest
Faculty indicated that they were very interested in all suggested topics except for Arabic
databases. This is mainly because most respondents lack Arabic language skills, nor do they need
the resources for their research or teaching. The most favoured topic of interest was “Where
should I publish my article” followed by “Jumpstarting your Literature Review” and “Finding
books and E-books” as well as “Introduction to library resources”, all topics supporting the need
to be equipped with skills for scholarship and publishing so as to meet the research agenda and be
able to promote in the academic ladder.
4. WORKSHOPS FOR FACULTY IL SKILLS
From the results of the survey librarians agreed to facilitate 6 workshops which were selected by
most faculty indicating they were very interested (Table 1). The mode of presentation was face to
face workshops with a lot of hands-on activities followed by individual consultations either with a
workshop facilitator or the subject liaisons. Since the sessions were taking place during lunch
break, the Library leadership agreed to provide a light lunch for the attendees to maximize the
time they are in the workshop. Announcements were sent through campus email requesting
faculty to sign up in advance to allow arrangement of food and preparation of teaching materials
such as handouts. The topics that were promoted were as follows:
• Library Basics includes: Introduction to the library, services and its resources; finding
books, using e-books and ILL services
• Finding Articles, covers: Introduction to Library databases, search strategies, and
creating alerts for articles/publications in researcher’s area of interest
• Jumpstarting your Literature Review, involves consultation with subject Librarians to
work on individual research topic, introducing the most relevant database,
brainstorming for keywords and creating a plan for the literature review- this workshop
requires participants to register 2 weeks in advance and indicate their research area or
topic prior to the session. Liaison librarians them work with the faculty, a consultation
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relationship follows with follow-up sessions and or email communication and setting
alerts.
• Manage Citations with RefWorks, introduces researchers/faculty to a reference
management software, covers how to manage references found during a literature
search, creating accounts, creating references manually, exporting citations from
databases and catalogues local and other Libraries, creating bibliographies in a citation
style of choice and using the cite as you write application.
The last workshop is:
• Where should I Publish my Research, covers how to find suitable and appropriate
journals to publish, criteria for evaluating journal and book publishers, conference
providers, how to track one’s research dissemination and increase researcher’s
visibility, explanation of various search metrics.
These workshops have proved to be popular with both new and continuing faculty and have now
become part and parcel of the Library outreach activities. Sessions are repeated every semester.
Librarians and students have both become beneficiaries of the workshops as faculty attending the
workshops appreciate the depth of knowledge of Librarians and see the value for their students to
tap in this knowledge assisting in using scholarly resources for the assignments and using
RefWorks to manage their citations. The number of students’ instruction sessions have increased
especially in the majors. The faculty invite Librarians to introduce search strategies and using
discipline specific databases, and for senior students how to find articles in grade A and B
journals, while others want their students to learn how to use RefWorks.
5. CONCLUSION
This paper has demonstrated that everyone including faculty need information literacy skills.
With technological development new tools are created and a lot of information is published at an
exponential speed requiring researchers and educators to be well versed and knowledgeable about
strategies for getting information for the research effectively, to be able to evaluate the resources
they find and to communicate the information in the medium that will enhance their professional
visibility. As observed by other researchers and authors in the previous studies, exposing faculty
to IL allows Librarians to promote their subject skills and knowledge, showing what they can do
to support faculty and studentsresearch. This allows for more connections to be formed and
Librarians get invited to deliver IL sessions to students in the classroom. Faculty search skills also
improve as we now receive fewer questions. Some Librarians have also been invited to work with
faculty as co-researchers.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
From our experience, we recommend that librarians should find out faculty IL needs, work with
them closely in a manner that is preferred whether it is online or face to face to ensure that their
information and search skills assist them in their research and teaching. When workshops are
organized on the topics that faculty have indicated they need to learn more, attendance will be
good, and more learning will take place.
Faculty who are information literate will indeed be Library allies and teach their students the
effective and proper way of finding and using reliable resources in their projects. This becomes a
win- win situation for the students, the faculty, the Library and the university.
7. REFERENCES
Baron-Nixon, L. (2006-2007). Information literacy: Imperatives for faculty. In Essays on
Teaching Excellence: Towards the Best in the Academy, 18(4). Retrieved May 20, 2019 from
Vanderbilt Center for Teaching at: https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-wp0/wp-content/uploads/sites/
59/2019/03/27130656/vol18no04_info_literacy.htm
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Cowan, S. & Eva, N. (2016). Changing our aim: Infiltrating faculty with information literacy.
Communication in Information Literacy.10 (2), 163-177. DOI: 10.15760/comminfolit.
2016.10.2.31.
Eva, N. & Shea, E. (2015). Marketing to faculty in an academic library. Reference and User
Services Quarterly, 54(4), 26-28.
Lau, J. (2001). Faculty-Librarian collaboration: A Mexican experience. Reference Services
Review, 29(2), 95-105. Retrieved from: http://www.mcb.co.uk/rsr.htm.
Maharana, B. & Misha, C. (2007). A Survey of Digital Information Literacy of Faculty at
Sambalpur University. Library Philosophy and Practice ejournal, 144.
Moore, A. C. & Ivory, G. (2000). Investigating and Improving the Information Literacy of
College Faculty. Report presented at the University Council of Educational Administrators
Convention, Albuquerque, NM, November 4, 2000. Retrieved May 20, 2019 from:
https://ia800205.us.archive.org/33/items/ERIC_ED449783/ERIC_ED449783.pdf
Rafique, G.M. (2014). Information literacy skills of faculty members: A study of the University of
Lahore, Pakistan. Library Philosophy and Practice e-journal 1072.
Storie, D. & Campbell, S. (2012). Determining the information literacy need of a medical and
dental faculty. Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association, 33 (2). doi:10.5596/c2012-
011.
Zayed University (2018). Fact book. Zayed University, Retrieved May 20 2019 from:
https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/files/contents/open_data/factbook-2017-18.pdf
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