The following article summarises the results of the LIBACT1/GR project concerning the implementation of UNIMARC and CDS/ISIS in the National Library of Greece and the conversion…
Abstract
The following article summarises the results of the LIBACT1/GR project concerning the implementation of UNIMARC and CDS/ISIS in the National Library of Greece and the conversion of the existing records of the Library into the UNIMARC format. The article outlines the basic features of the CDS/ISIS implementation and describes a solution to the problems of implementing UNIMARC on this piece of software. A technique used for the automated UNIMARC formatting of the Library's bibliographic and authority records (from simple ASCII text original files) is also described and evaluated.
Nikolaos Korfiatis, Marios Poulos and George Bokos
The purpose of this research is to address the need for a definition of metadata descriptors for use in enhancing the accuracy of bibliometric instruments of scholarly evaluation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to address the need for a definition of metadata descriptors for use in enhancing the accuracy of bibliometric instruments of scholarly evaluation, such as the impact factor.
Design/methodology/approach
A semantic vocabulary – COAP – is constructed, deployed on top of the Resource Description Framework (RDF), by extending the Friend‐of‐a‐Friend (FOAF) schema.
Findings
An extension of the FOAF vocabulary is considered as the ability to describe a publication record such as this paper in terms of scholar contributions and participations. In order to achieve that, the FOAF vocabulary is extended.
Practical implications
The application of this semantic vocabulary could be used as a way of enhancing the accuracy of source data for bibliometric evaluation instruments.
Originality/value
The paper discusses how metadata descriptors can contribute to the improvement of already established scholar evaluation instruments such as the impact factor. It will be of use in the development of digital libraries.
Details
Keywords
Marios Poulos, Nikolaos Korfiatis and George Bokos
This paper aims to present the semantic content identifier (SCI), a permanent identifier, computed through a linear‐time onion‐peeling algorithm that enables the extraction of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the semantic content identifier (SCI), a permanent identifier, computed through a linear‐time onion‐peeling algorithm that enables the extraction of semantic features from a text, and the integration of this information within the permanent identifier.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ SCI to propose a mechanism for simultaneously checking the authenticity and degrees of similarity between different information objects, and present an empirical investigation of the method. A management scenario for the control of the authentication process and the detection of the degree of violation of documents is proposed.
Findings
Such a mechanism could be adopted as a component of libraries' strategy for the protection of the copyrights for documents published on the web.
Practical implications
The use of the proposed numeric code can be utilised efficiently as a constituent part of the digital object identifier (DOI) system, making its computation more efficient and meaningful.
Originality/value
The identifier proposed in the paper can result in a more efficient index for identifying and retrieving objects in a digital library, as well as online repositories and commercial applications that can handle information retrieval requests more effectively.
Details
Keywords
Petros Kostagiolas, Iliana Araka, Roxana Theodorou and George Bokos
Although issues on disaster prevention have extensively been studied in the literature and have been embedded in everyday library practices all over the world, the vast majority…
Abstract
Purpose
Although issues on disaster prevention have extensively been studied in the literature and have been embedded in everyday library practices all over the world, the vast majority of Greek libraries have not developed any specific measures. This paper seeks to review several disaster management approaches for academic libraries and to make suggestions for Greek academic libraries by analyzing the results of a nationwide survey.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature regarding disaster management approaches for academic libraries is reviewed and accompanied by a survey conducted in July 2010 in order to study the level of risk and disaster preparedness in Greek academic libraries.
Findings
In Greece, disaster management within academic libraries seems to be dealt with inefficiently, if not completely neglected. The fearsome economic crisis is further degrading the level of disaster preparedness due to a number of side effects, including the lack of personnel and equipment maintenance activities, inadequate buildings and insufficient funding.
Originality/value
While the literature is flooded with risk and disaster preparedness approaches based on the work undertaken in most Western countries, this is the only study presenting evidence on the level of preparedness for Greek academic libraries.
Details
Keywords
Nikolaos Th. Korfiatis, Marios Poulos and George Bokos
The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to evaluating contributions in collaborative authoring environments, and in particular, Wikis using social network measures.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to evaluating contributions in collaborative authoring environments, and in particular, Wikis using social network measures.
Design/methodology/approach
A social network model for Wikipedia has been constructed, and metrics of importance such as centrality have been defined. Data has been gathered from articles belonging to the same topic using a web crawler, in order to evaluate the outcome of the social network measures in the articles.
Findings
Finds that the question of the reliability regarding Wikipedia content is a challenging one and as Wikipedia grows, the problem becomes more demanding, especially for topics with controversial views such as politics or history.
Practical implications
It is believed that the approach presented here could be used to improve the authoritativeness of content found in Wikipedia and similar sources.
Originality/value
This work tries to develop a network approach to the evaluation of Wiki contributions, and approaches the problem of quality Wikipedia content from a social network point of view.
Details
Keywords
This review reports on the first Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference held in Chania, Crete, Greece.
Abstract
Purpose
This review reports on the first Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference held in Chania, Crete, Greece.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach is anthropological participant observation.
Findings
Approximately 150 attendees from 50 different countries participated and exchanged ideas, methodologies, and techniques related to library research.
Practical implications
Presentation of research related to various types of libraries is a way to disseminate research results as well as promote and stimulate further research.
Originality/value
There is a need to expand the body of both qualitative and quantitative LIS research related to library research, particularly the evaluation of library services.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social, economic and demographic determinants of rural households' risk perception of farmer–herder (FH) conflicts in Nigeria. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social, economic and demographic determinants of rural households' risk perception of farmer–herder (FH) conflicts in Nigeria. The paper also investigates two aspects of FH conflict risk perception relating to food production and physical insecurity.
Design/methodology/approach
A FH conflict risk perception model is constructed and tested using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), ordinary least squares (OLS) and seemingly unrelated regression equation (SURE) models. The study uses cross-sectional data from 401 rural households in Nigeria.
Findings
Results show that in addition to economic determinants like farm size, land ownership and crop diversity, socio-demographic variables like age and number of languages spoken are significant predictors of household risk perception of FH conflict. Second, although gender and frequency of FH conflict have no significant effect on the risk perception of FH conflict, there is a significant moderating effect of frequency of FH conflicts on the influence of gender on the risk perception of FH conflict. Third, findings also highlight the important predictors of the risk perception of FH conflicts relating to food production and physical insecurity.
Originality/value
Findings give insight into policies targeted at influencing the risk behaviour of rural households. This is important to aid the development of efficient risk management initiatives.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore female teachers and vice principal’s leadership on girls attendance and learning, safety and security issues in rural girls’ schools…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore female teachers and vice principal’s leadership on girls attendance and learning, safety and security issues in rural girls’ schools experiencing Boko Haram insurgencies. The secondary purpose is to recommend innovative educational policy initiatives at the school, community and state levels, so as to ameliorate girls and teachers’ challenges, and to sustain girls in schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative educational research orientation and an ethnographic-narrative research design were used for the study. Purposeful sampling procedure was adopted through the selection of female teachers and a vice principal. Soft qualitative oral data (SQOD) were collected from structured interviews and focus groups and participant observation data. Data analysis engaged hand data analysis (HAD) for transcription, while the coding and theming process involved qualitative computer software data analysis (CSDA) of NVivo 8.0. The measures of validity involved the qualitative process of member checking, while ethical issues of anonymity with participants were addressed in the process of data collection, and reporting.
Findings
Major findings revealed a symbiotic relationship between female teacher’s moral leadership and the application of law of tort in the girls’ school; teachers’ adopted spiritual leadership and moral decision making process on girls’ safety, and learning motivation; and improved school community collaboration for security and safety of the girls and effective communication.
Practical implications
Educational policy options are prescribed. They include the training of teachers and girls on fire safety and conflict crisis; recruitment of female school counsellors; housing incentives for female teachers; support grassroot initiatives on school security; and sustaining school-community/parents involvement.
Originality/value
Boko Haram’s impact on teacher and school leadership in girls’ school(s) has not been studied so far. The paper is the first, thereby filling the gap of the literature on girls’ rural education and terrorism.