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Article
Publication date: 31 March 2020

Stavroula Sant-Geronikolou and Dimitris Kouis

As universities advance towards a new data-informed, intra-institutional collaboration paradigm, new roles and services are continuously added to academic library routines. This…

Abstract

Purpose

As universities advance towards a new data-informed, intra-institutional collaboration paradigm, new roles and services are continuously added to academic library routines. This changing context that exerts considerable stress upon library organizations to prove their value and contributions to student progress is leading the community to start questioning the utility, scope and prospects of patron data collection practices. The study sought library science postgraduate students’ viewpoints about the adequacy and utility of current library use data collection practices in Greek academic libraries. It also aimed to investigate the value, relevance and priority of the integration of library usage data with the rest of university information systems (e.g. learning analytics) along with associated practical and ethical considerations, and advocacy aspects.

Design/methodology/approach

Mixed-methods, Web-based survey distributed to postgraduate students during a seminar designed to familiarize them with trends in academic library use data capabilities.

Findings

Participants acknowledged that neither policies nor procedures are currently adequate to expand and interconnect their data pools to campus information systems. They were opposed to disclosing personally identifiable patron activity data to faculty, while their opinions were divided as to the use of student activity monitoring technology. Nevertheless, they made several comments on how to mitigate the community's considerations around the implementation of this new data management philosophy in the library and were optimistic about the benefits this development could entail for library visibility and student progress.

Originality/value

Results of this first-time research in the Greek higher education context, revelatory of potential road blockers to upgrading the library use data collection practices, can be of significant value to both curricula developers and university decision-makers who seek ways to prepare the ground for the successful implementation of new operations.

Article
Publication date: 18 October 2021

Christos Chrysanthopoulos, Ioannis Drivas, Dimitrios Kouis and Georgios Giannakopoulos

University archives (UA) are the bridge between the past and the present and serve as a beacon for highlighting the contribution of academic institutions to society. Although the…

Abstract

Purpose

University archives (UA) are the bridge between the past and the present and serve as a beacon for highlighting the contribution of academic institutions to society. Although the UA topic was introduced and formalized in the 1950s, the scientific research interest has increased significantly in the past two decades. This paper aims to provide insights into the UA research topic during the previous 15 years.

Design/methodology/approach

The combination of two well-established methods for performing literature review was deployed, aiming to identify, select and assess the research documents. Based on the selection criteria, 49 documents presenting research efforts around the UA topic were finally examined from the Scopus citation index. The selected studies have been classified into three main topics: strategic management of UA and the derived challenges, the educational contribution of UA and the strategic information systems for UA.

Findings

Some of the main findings are the lack of well-defined administrative policies, the low level of awareness and archival consciousness within the universities, the inadequacy of university archivists’ educational and training background, the need to use UA for building relationships with alumni and society, and finally, the need for metadata standardization by the UA management systems.

Originality/value

As a literature review around UA has not been conducted before, the reader will gain insights into the methods and research designs that other scholars had already applied to designate useful findings and results.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. 72 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

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