M. Krishnananda Herala, A. Sreenivasa Ravi and T.B. Rajashekar
Bibliographic databases on CDROM, although being updated less frequently than their online counterparts, can be used for providing an in‐house SDI (selective dissemination of…
Abstract
Bibliographic databases on CDROM, although being updated less frequently than their online counterparts, can be used for providing an in‐house SDI (selective dissemination of information) service as it can be cheaper than the alternatives available from online database services. In a developing country like India, where setting up CDROM networks for end‐user access is beyond the budgets of most of the libraries/information centres, SDI through CDROM databases is an effective alternative. Even in a networked environment, this type of information filtering and delivery may be preferable, as the end‐users may not have the motivation or time to learn the search software of different CDROM titles. However, most of the popular CDROM search software packages do not support any facility to process SDI profiles automatically. One has to execute each saved search strategy and download the corresponding retrieved records manually. This is quite labour‐intensive and time‐consuming. This paper discusses a method of running an SDI service automatically using a pair of Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) utilities called Stackey and Batutil.
A. Sreenivasa Ravi, A. Hariharan and B. Sadananda RAO
Rich collections of conference proceedings are available in major science and technology (S & T) libraries in India. Unfortunately, no bibliographic tool is available to provide…
Abstract
Rich collections of conference proceedings are available in major science and technology (S & T) libraries in India. Unfortunately, no bibliographic tool is available to provide access to these information sources at national/regional level at present. Recognising this fact, Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC) has set up a project of creating a database and publishing a union catalogue of S & T conference proceedings available within the country. In the first phase, 30 major research and development institutions in the city of Bangalore, South India have been covered and the first volume of the union catalogue was published in 1991. It is printed using a desktop publishing system and the database is available on Unesco's CDS/ISIS mini‐micro version 2.3.
Eero Sormunen, Jaana Kekÿlÿinen, Jussi Koivisto and Kalervo Jÿrvelin
The increasing flood of documentary information through the Internet and other information sources challenges the developers of information retrieval systems. It is not enough…
Abstract
The increasing flood of documentary information through the Internet and other information sources challenges the developers of information retrieval systems. It is not enough that an IR system is able to make a distinction between relevant and non‐relevant documents. The reduction of information overload requires that IR systems provide the capability of screening the most valuable documents out of the mass of potentially or marginally relevant documents. This paper introduces a new concept‐based method to analyse the text characteristics of documents at varying relevance levels. The results of the document analysis were applied in an experiment on query expansion (QE) in a probabilistic IR system. Statistical differences in textual characteristics of highly relevant and less relevant documents were investigated by applying a facet analysis technique. In highly relevant documents a larger number of aspects of the request were discussed, searchable expressions for the aspects were distributed over a larger set of text paragraphs, and a larger set of unique expressions were used per aspect than in marginally relevant documents. A query expansion experiment verified that the findings of the text analysis can be exploited in formulating more effective queries for best match retrieval in the search for highly relevant documents. The results revealed that expanded queries with concept‐based structures performed better than unexpanded queries or Ñnatural languageÒ queries. Further, it was shown that highly relevant documents benefit essentially more from the concept‐based QE in ranking than marginally relevant documents.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore one broad question: what do information, information processes, information services, as well as information systems and technology have to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore one broad question: what do information, information processes, information services, as well as information systems and technology have to do with the spiritual?
Design/methodology/approach
The task is accomplished by conducting a literature review of 31 refereed texts in information studies. The paper proceeds by inspecting the manifestation of spirituality in information sources, generic information processes, as well as specific information processes: conceptualizing, seeking, processing, using, storing, describing and providing information.
Findings
A total of 11 relationships between information phenomena and the spiritual are discovered. Based on these, a definition of spiritual information is put forth. There are also some descriptive statistics on the corpus as a whole.
Research limitations/implications
The results are susceptible to limitations imposed by the reviewed studies themselves. Errors of interpretation were a possibility. The article suggests many directions for further research in the context of the spiritual, and discusses how to view spirituality in information science.
Practical implications
Practical implications are only mentioned here and there, because research implications are of primary concern in the investigation.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to synthesize information research in the spiritual domain. Beyond the subject area, the article demonstrates how to classify information processes, and conduct a context‐centric literature review in the field of information studies.
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This paper aims to provide a review of recent trends in the open access (OA) movement, as well as to discuss the significance of those trends for information access in developing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a review of recent trends in the open access (OA) movement, as well as to discuss the significance of those trends for information access in developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of the recent literature was carried out, focusing on the benefits of a greater information access in developing countries. The paper also brings together the diverse experiences from the authors on OA publishing and archiving with institutions in a number of developing countries.
Findings
Knowledge workers in developing countries are now getting access to scholarly and scientific publications and electronic resources at a level that is unmatched historically. This is highly significant, if developing countries are to meet the millennium development goals. The OA movement and the growing number of Open Archive Initiative‐compliant institutional repositories promise to provide even greater access to resources and publications that were previously inaccessible. These low cost technology and interoperability standards are providing great opportunities for libraries and publishers in developing countries to disseminate local research and to bridge the south‐north knowledge gap.
Originality/value
This paper therefore provides recommendations for knowledge workers on how to actively participate in and contribute to the global knowledge commons. The results and recommendations contained in the paper should be of interest to authors, policy makers, funding agencies and information professionals in both developing and developed countries.
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B.S. Shivaram and B.S. Biradar
This paper aims to examine the grey literature archiving pattern at open-access repositories with special reference to Indian open-access repositories.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the grey literature archiving pattern at open-access repositories with special reference to Indian open-access repositories.
Design/methodology/approach
The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) was used to collect data from different document types archived by open-access repositories across the world. Data were collected by advanced search and browse features available at the BASE on document types, the number of repositories by country wise and Indian academic and research repositories. Data were tabulated using MS Excel for further analysis.
Findings
Findings indicated that open-access repositories across the world are primarily archiving reviewed literature. Grey literature is archived more at European and North American repositories compared to rest of the world. Reports, theses, dissertations and data sets are the major grey document types archived. In India, a significant contributor to the BASE index with 146 open-access sources, reviewed literature is the largest archived document types, and grey literature is above world average due to the presence of theses and dissertations at repositories of academic institutions.
Originality/value
Grey literature is considered as valuable sources of information for research and development. The study enables to get insights about the amount of grey content archived at open-access repositories. These findings can further be used to investigate the reasons/technology limitations for the lesser volume of grey content in repositories. Furthermore, this study helps to better understand the grey literature archiving pattern and need for corrective measures based on the success stories of repositories of Europe and North America.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine institutional repositories developed in India and Canada containing documents on women's studies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine institutional repositories developed in India and Canada containing documents on women's studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology consisted of identification of institutional repositories containing documents on women's studies, development of a tool for evaluation, followed by actual evaluation/content analysis of identified repositories.
Findings
It was found that there were 22 institutional repositories in Canada and three in India containing documents on women's studies. The highest number of documents on women's studies were available in the IR of University of British Columbia, i.e. 9,778. About 56 per cent (14) of the repositories contained community on the women's studies.
Research limitations/implications
Those institutional repositories containing documents on women's studies developed in India and Canada were considered for the study.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies focused on issues on women's studies and repositories.
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Md Mukhlesur Rahman and Muhammad Mezbah-ul-Islam
The aim of this paper was to identify various institutional repository (IR) initiatives taken by Bangladeshi institutions, including identifying prospects, exploring strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper was to identify various institutional repository (IR) initiatives taken by Bangladeshi institutions, including identifying prospects, exploring strategies, and framing guideline for building IRs in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a general review and counts the development of IR practices in Bangladesh. Other secondary sources, such as research reports, articles and internet, are used. Discussions were also held with staff members of some other libraries, who intended to establish IR in their respective institutions. Data were collected from different institutions, currently practicing IRs in Bangladesh, through personal visit and website.
Findings
The study explored the existing status of practicing IRs in Bangladesh and identified the trends at national and global level of IRs. Results showed that some institutions established their repositories in Bangladesh using DSpace, others used Greenstone and EPrints.
Originality/value
This paper provides basic information for beginners and helps in planning to build IR in their respective organizations in Bangladesh.
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Digital repositories are emerging technologies for knowledge sharing and management in academic institutions. Digital repositories collect, store, preserve, index and share the…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital repositories are emerging technologies for knowledge sharing and management in academic institutions. Digital repositories collect, store, preserve, index and share the intellectual capital of faculty and research staff, namely their scholarly publications and teaching material. In a developing country like India, capturing this intellectual capital is becoming important and unavoidable for business schools. Creation of a digital archive for scholarly and teaching material is a growing requirement and is feasible assuming faculties use digital resources for their creation and are ready to share them. The paper aims to discuss a survey conducted and a pilot implementation of an institutional repository at the Icfai Business School (Business School Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India), Ahmedabad, India.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted at the Icfai Business School, with the questionnaire being used as a tool to collect data, to determine the usage of digital resources by faculty and research staff in scholarly activities and teaching; understand the need and use of an institutional repository by the faculty. The pilot implementation of the institutional repository at Icfai Business School, Ahmedabad is also described.
Findings
The study indicates that faculty in business schools from different academic areas and teaching experience do use digital resources for scholarly publications and teaching material, they do indicate a knowledge sharing culture and tend to show a positive attitude towards the need and use of a Digital institutional repository. Implementing the pilot institutional repository using Open Source DSpace software was an experience and provided visibility to the institutional intellectual capital.
Research limitations/implications
Infrastructure, funding and manpower were the initial limitations. Once the institutional repository was installed, management of the repository was necessary. Planning of communities and collections, system maintenance like backups, populating the repository with the seed collection, creating awareness for initiating faculty self‐archiving for the growth of the repository were some of the challenges faced. Staff were to be trained to ensure that documents were properly uploaded and metadata submitted into the repository.
Practical implications
The pilot institutional repository aims to collect, preserve, share the intellectual capital and enhance institutional visibility. The intellectual output of faculty and research staff is available at one centralized location for search. Information retrieval from this repository on the basis of communities, collections, keywords, author, and titles is possible. As the repository is OAI enabled, visibility to the work of the faculty and the institution is enhanced.
Originality/value
Implementing the pilot institutional repository at Icfai Business School, Ahmedabad has created a central facility for systematic archiving of the intellectual output of faculty and research staff. The institutional repository is of utility and value to both the faculty and the institute as it gives visibility to the work done. It is one of the few business schools in India who have implemented an open access institutional digital repository to capture the intellectual capital and share knowledge.
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This paper deals with standardising commands for CD‐ROM searching, such as NISO Z 39.58 and ISO 8777, and the command languages evolved through EasyNet and Euronet. The standard…
Abstract
This paper deals with standardising commands for CD‐ROM searching, such as NISO Z 39.58 and ISO 8777, and the command languages evolved through EasyNet and Euronet. The standard commands are also compared with the software from database providers SilverPlatter, Dialog, and ISI. Apart from a discussion on the various attempts towards standardising search software, the groundwork for command languages and their implementation, the influence of the command languages on the evolving CD products is also highlighted.