Integrating gender perspectives into higher education curricula is widely recognized as essential for inclusive and socially responsive teaching, yet implementation remains uneven across disciplines and institutional contexts. This study examines how gender perspectives are incorporated into Library and Information Science (LIS) teaching across six European countries. A cross-sectional survey of 115 academic staff collected sociodemographic and professional information, perceptions of institutional support and barriers, and qualitative reflections. Quantitative analysis identified a three-factor institutional support model—formal commitment, policy implementation and expertise, and student and faculty engagement—with no significant differences by gender or country. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed four themes: the educational value of gender perspectives, curricular integration, institutional enablers (training, resources, workload recognition), and resistance or controversy. Findings suggest that formal commitments alone are insufficient and must be supported by concrete institutional mechanisms. The study provides comparative evidence and practical recommendations for embedding gender perspectives sustainably in LIS curricula.
Academic libraries face escalating pressure to respond to technological change, shifting institutional expectations, and new workforce demands, yet research on how leadership responses remains fragmented. A scoping review and bibliometric analysis of academic library leadership scholarship published from 2015 to 2024 in Scopus, following the JBI framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The final dataset included 128 documents. Publications increased during 2020–2021, with the United States as the leading contributor. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed six themes, grouped into three broader domains: organizational, people-centered, and adaptive leadership. Most studies were practice-based or descriptive, and few used explicit theoretical frameworks, with transformational leadership most common. The findings show that although leadership scholarship in academic libraries has grown, it remains limited in scale, narrowly grounded in theory, and uneven across global contexts. The review highlights the need for more diverse conceptual models, greater methodological rigor, and expanded research in underrepresented regions.
The integration of artificial intelligence into academic libraries transforms information intermediation from a solo activity to a hybrid human-machine process. To understand this shift, a multilevel model was developed to examine how librarian guidance intensity and perceived AI cognitive authority influence creative outcomes in student teams. Data were collected from 30 teams (90 individuals) participating in a mathematical modeling competition using a three-wave design. Multilevel structural equation modeling results indicated that at the team level, librarian guidance intensity positively predicted solution novelty, a relationship mediated by information integration capability. At the individual level, perceived AI cognitive authority negatively predicted creative confidence through the mechanism of increased cognitive load. Crucially, a cross-level interaction effect was found: intensive librarian guidance buffered the positive relationship between perceived AI authority and cognitive load, thereby mitigating the psychological burden of human-AI negotiation. These findings offer an evidence-based framework for designing AI-augmented library services that balance objective performance gains with the preservation of individual creative agency.
Researchers browsing open scholarly resources on Gallica, the digital platform of the French national library, need to tinker with its dysfunctional search engine in order to make discoveries. While discovering unknown, yet relevant scientific resources is of paramount importance for knowledge making, little is known about how researchers deploy specific informational practices on, usually ill-equipped, digital scholarly platforms to turn search engines, designed for findability, into discovery engines. By crossing semi-directed interviews with log analysis, multiple “regimes of engagement” with Gallica were identified. Building on pragmatic sociology, the regime of unstructured exploration as a strategy for users to venture into the “noise” and make discoveries was studied and showed the inherent tension between findability and discoverability, heightened by the hegemony of general search engine. This mixed-methods ethnography of discovery practices on a digital library can help design specific tools and scientific policies.
In today's digital society, visually impaired individuals constitute a vulnerable population experiencing substantial barriers to information access. Adopting a human-centered perspective revealed the informational capability of these users when interacting with smart mobile devices, emphasizing the transformative potential of information and communication technology (ICT) and assistive technologies. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 37 visually impaired participants, analyzed via constructivist grounded theory, identified mobile search behaviors and interaction patterns to develop a comprehensive model of informational capability within the mobile internet environment. Five fundamental dimensions shaped informational capability: structural factors, agency factors, contextual factors, functional activities, and information utility. These dimensions and their manifestations formed the foundation for a holistic model of informational capability for visually impaired users in the mobile internet context. The model further illuminated three distinct information behavior patterns: exploratory, basic, and avoidant. The study contributes to advancing information equity and supporting the self-actualization of visually impaired individuals.
Opinion leaders (OLs) play an essential role in controlling the spread of information within groups. While affording information and exerting influence on others, they also interact with the group's development. This study aimed to dynamically identify and analyze OLs in diabetes online communities (DOCs). Through descriptive analysis, sentiment analysis, and LDA modeling, the heterogeneity of OLs and common users and long- and short-term Ols was explored. Results showed that emotions did not fluctuate significantly, while topics became abundant with community development. To become an OL or even a long-term OL, it is necessary to provide practical diabetes information and closely relate to users' daily lives. Additionally, positive emotions better enable OLs to gain long-term user support. Research on OLs in DOCs and utilizes rolling time windows to provide new ideas for subsequent research on OL identification, generating new insights into developing DOCs was introduced.
Researchers in the social sciences, information science, and information behavior research commonly use the diary method as a highly flexible way to self-record activities in context and in real time, without the researcher's presence. The goal is to synthesize experiences with the diary method in information behavior research and to derive recommendations for future research. The literature review covered 86 records (77 empirical studies) published in Scopus and Web of Science before and in 2023. The diary method proved effective for exploratory research, capturing activities of information behavior in a rich context, especially internal factors such as feelings, thoughts, and motivations. Researchers' decisions (protocol structure, medium, pretesting, training, trigger, type and frequency of reminders, sampling, participant number, record number, data collection duration, and data analysis) significantly impact the quantity and quality of the data. Therefore, it is essential to consider them thoroughly before starting the research and describe them when publishing.
Access to clear and usable information plays a central role in how immigrants navigate everyday life in Nordic welfare societies. First-generation immigrants in Finland, Norway, and Sweden require information that explains how institutional systems are organized and how services can be accessed in practice. Semi-structured interviews with 54 first-generation immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe examined information practices across five domains: social life, health care, labor market participation, cultural engagement, and education. The findings show that difficulties in locating reliable information, limited access to familiar languages, and fragmented institutional communication constrain participation across daily life. Participants often relied on informal networks to compensate for unclear or inaccessible official information. These challenges shaped service use as well as immigrants' confidence and sense of belonging. The study highlights information practices as a cross-cutting element of integration and underscores how Nordic welfare institutions organize and communicate information.
Research integrity issues have significantly increased in recent years, particularly in health sciences. This qualitative systematic review investigates common forms of misconduct, contributing factors and mitigation strategies. A search in PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS in January 2023 yielded 1233 articles, of which 27 were selected after screening and quality assessment, primarily from Europe. The synthesis, guided by meta-ethnography approach (Noblit & Hare, 1988), revealed that the three forms of misconduct of most concern to researchers are fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, and unethical authorship, while emerging issues include power manipulation and failure to report integrity concerns. The synthesis highlights the detrimental effects of a ‘scientific success culture’ and the impact of situational factors on accountability among researchers. Educational and training interventions emerge as key solutions. Based on insights from the review and existing frameworks, the study recommends six core instructional areas to address misconduct in the health sciences.
Understanding the intentions of neuroscience researchers to share data is crucial for promoting data sharing within the field. Key determinants of data sharing intentions are explored using structural equation modeling (SEM) based on consequentialist theory. A survey was conducted among 552 Chinese neuroscience researchers using convenience sampling and several scales, including the Egoism Scale, Utilitarianism Scale, and the Chinese versions of the Research Ethics Scale and Data Sharing Intention Scale. SEM analysis revealed a good fit (chi 2/df = 1.637, RMSEA = 0.025, CFI = 0.960, GFI = 0.979). Egoism influenced data sharing intentions indirectly through research ethics ((3 = 0.333, p < 0.001), showing complete mediation. Utilitarianism had a strong direct effect ((3 = 0.813, p < 0.01) and a significant indirect effect ((3 = 0.0735, p < 0.001) on data sharing intentions. Practice norms had a weaker influence ((3 = 0.225, p < 0.01). Valuable insights into the data sharing intentions of neuroscience researchers are offered, highlighting the strong influence of utilitarianism on their decisions. Promoting awareness of the collective benefits through education and outreach is crucial for encouraging extensive data sharing among researchers.
The community library has demonstrated potential in supporting innovation. The causal relationship between library services and innovation, focusing on how community libraries promote knowledge dissemination and increase patent output, was investigated. Using the Community Library Enhancement Program in a Chinese province as a quasi-natural experiment, the difference-in-differences method was applied to examine the effect on patent publications in 122 counties. The results demonstrate that the community libraries have significantly increased patent output, particularly in regions with lower innovation performance, by strengthening cooperative relationships with the higher-level libraries. The circulation of the libraries increased significantly during the policy implementation, yet the activities held did not. This contrast indicates the limitations in community libraries in providing opportunities for sharing tacit knowledge and promoting deeper innovation activities. The role of library services in fostering innovation and the need for community libraries to implement more inspiring and intellectually stimulating interactive library activities to enhance tacit knowledge sharing were substantiated, thereby maximizing their contribution to innovation.
Literature reviews provide comprehensive overviews of research on a given topic, serving as a foundation for future studies and uncovering new insights by situating findings within a broader context. However, little research has examined these reviews as a collective body. The landscape of review studies on health information behavior and how they have evolved over time was explored. To achieve this, a review of reviews was conducted using a sample of 91 review studies identified through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow diagram. The findings reveal that while some researchers are well-integrated into co-authorship networks, most authors tend to work independently when producing review studies. These reviews are widely dispersed across journals rather than concentrated in a few core outlets. Systematic reviews, purpose-specific reviews, and traditional reviews are the most commonly used types. These findings have practical implications for researchers aiming to produce high-quality review studies, and for journal editors, funding agencies, and policymakers seeking to trace and support the development of this field.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings substantial convenience to individuals' daily lives and redefines the knowledge and skills college students need. Enhancing the AI readiness (AIR) of college students will help them adapt to the advent of the AI era as early as possible. Little is known about college students' AIR and it is unclear what factors influence college students' AIR. Inspired by the social cognitive theory, a theoretical framework, that is “Environment - Cognition - AIR”, is proposed to examine the factors affecting college students' AIR and uncover the mechanisms that underlie the effect of these factors on college students' AIR. Five hundred sixty-eight college students were recruited to participate in the questionnaire survey. The partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to validate the theoretical framework. The results show that the college environmental factors (i.e., social support, teaching condition, and teaching activity) influence college students' AIR through cognitive factors (i.e., perceived relevance and self-efficacy). Perceived relevance and self-efficacy are mediating variables. These findings push the boundaries of technology readiness and provide empirical evidence for improving college students' AIR and facilitating AI education in higher education institutions.
Online academic Q&A platforms foster collaborative knowledge creation through textual cues such as emotional expressiveness and politeness. While prior research focused on individual cues, people naturally interpret combinations of textual cues (CTCs), which remain understudied. This experiment examines how CTCs influence active participation (knowledge co-creation) and reduce passive observation (lurking) across STEM and non-STEM topics. A 2 x 3 factorial design with 109 university students tested two topic types and three CTCs associated with gain, hedonic, and normative motivations. Results show that aligning textual cues with user motivations boosts participation. Complex questions featuring hedonic and normative cues prompted more engagement than neutral ones. Gain-framed cues were more effective in STEM discussions, while hedonic and normative cues performed better in non-STEM contexts. These findings highlight how CTCs shape user behavior differently across disciplines. The insights can guide the design of more engaging prompts, enabling platform managers to foster sustainable, interactive knowledge-sharing communities.
Considering the growing national investment in informal STEM education and libraries' emerging role within that landscape, it is timely to systematically review library-based STEM education projects to understand how libraries have contributed to STEM education over time in the US. This study conducts a systematic review of grant-funded projects related to STEM education from 2012 to 2022 from the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS). One hundred and twenty-eight library STEM education projects were analyzed to understand trends in growth and focus of IMLS-funded library STEM education projects. Based on the content analysis of project abstracts and Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) topic modeling method, library STEM education projects contribute to diversification at multiple levels, such as participant populations, program structures, STEM disciplinary focus, funding scale and distribution, and network of collaboration were demonstrated. Findings highlight the unique role libraries have played in broadening the landscape of informal STEM learning.
This study examines how career origin, whether librarianship constitutes a first or second career, shapes academic librarians' engagement with faculty status, tenure processes, and institutional loyalty. Using the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) as a theoretical framework, the research analyzed how librarians navigate the framework's phases across different career pathways, offering possible new understandings to which librarians care more about librarian faculty status than others and why. Through semi-structured interviews at two comparable institutions, the study reveals that first-career librarians often view faculty status as an expected component of their professional identity and demonstrate stronger institutional loyalty, while second-career librarians approach faculty status more pragmatically, drawing on previous experiences to maintain work-life boundaries and evaluate institutional alignment with personal values. The findings suggest that career origin influences how librarians navigate tenure expectations, and recommends mentorship programs, hybrid faculty models, and dual career ladders that recognize diverse professional backgrounds to support both groups.
Doctoral student researchers' adoption and utilization of research information management systems (RIMS) were examined through a survey of 231 doctoral students at U.S. universities classified as having very high research activity. Doctoral student researchers primarily use RIMS to discover papers, including obtaining papers, finding papers, obtaining citations, and verifying citations. They also use RIMS to network and advance their professional career and engage in scholarly discourse. This study highlights significant differences in how RIMS are perceived and utilized based on the students' level of extraversion, publication count, and RIMS usage frequency. The findings suggest that introverted doctoral students with fewer publications perceive greater benefits from RIMS, particularly for tasks like networking and engaging with their academic communities. Extraverted students with more publications tend to engage less frequently with RIMS and perceive fewer advantages, raising important questions about whether current RIMS designs adequately support different doctoral student groups.
This study examines how information-seeking behaviors evolved during the first year of COVID-19, addressing gaps in understanding longitudinal information and emotional needs during extended health crises. Eight hundred seventy-two U.S. adults were surveyed during Dec 2020-May 2021 using open-ended questions about information sought at pandemic onset versus survey time. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis and the Social-Ecological Framework. Three key transitions in information needs emerged: from pandemic-specific to everyday life information, from individual to societal concerns, and from immediate to long-term considerations. Different patterns of emotional changes paralleled these informational shifts were identified. Contributing factors of these changes occurred at multiple ecological levels, individual, interpersonal, and societal, highlighting the complex, multilayered nature of influences on information-seeking behavior during crisis. These findings can inform how libraries and health communicators can better structure information services during extended health emergencies. Future research should explore affective influences on health information-seeking behaviors.
