PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide the language collection manager a set of tools and concrete concepts for the assessment and management of audience engagement.Design/methodology/approachThis is an original research paper grounded in the cross-disciplinary literature: language documentation, the archival praxis and documentation theory. It seeks to answer the research question: What do students and information professionals tasked with stewarding language resources need to document about their stewardship relationship?FindingsThere are ambiguous concepts that hold together the Archival Multiverse. Documenting the goals and context of rendered stewardship services clarifies these ambiguities.Originality/valueThis is the first paper supported by an extensive systematic review of the relevant interdisciplinary literature to address the concerns of Archival Multiverse in the context of archival language collections.

Introduction. GenAI tools are adopted by information professionals globally, including GenAI incorporation into metadata workflows in archives and libraries. Researchers and practitioners emphasise the critical need for GenAI learning integration into coursework to prepare iSchools graduates for this emerging professional demand. While reports on GenAI content integration in iSchools curricula are increasing, there is a lack of publications about GenAI integration in courses focusing on digital repository metadata. Method. University of North Texas recently integrated GenAI practical metadata learning in an advanced graduate course. This paper describes this integration and reports results of its testing. Analysis. The author performed qualitative and quantitative analyses of practical assignment submissions in which students used GenAI tools for generating metadata records and evaluated the process and outcomes. Results. AI-generated metadata varied in completeness depending on the GenAI tool, its version, and prompt used, while typically lacking accuracy. Students expressed appreciation of this practical experience, reported developing greater confidence in using GenAI tools and understanding their advantages and disadvantages in metadata work, demonstrated development of analytical and troubleshooting skills. Conclusion. This paper is expected to be useful for iSchools metadata educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Resource Description and Access (RDA) is the primary cataloging content standard for libraries and cultural heritage institutions in North America and elsewhere. However, access to RDA via RDA Toolkit and the training necessary to use RDA can vary significantly from institution to institution. This session explores the complexities surrounding access to RDA and other content standards, barriers to RDA implementation, the challenges presented by the intended transition from original RDA to official RDA, the effects these issues have on catalogers, and ways in which these topics can be addressed in LIS education. The session begins with Sonia Archer-Capuzzo’s presentation of a recent study of catalogers in North Carolina and the barriers they encountered to using RDA and transitioning to official RDA. The speakers explore the following key areas: 1) analyzing RDA access barriers, including those that disproportionately affect many types of libraries (e.g., small public libraries) and librarians (e.g., those without a recent MLIS or similar degree); 2) evaluating RDA implementation barriers, including training challenges and the lack of true multilingual accessibility to RDA; 3) navigating standards behind a paywall, including practical budgetary workarounds to using RDA and/or leveraging open-access resources, consortia agreements, and other institutional subscriptions, as well as ethical considerations related to access and copyright; 4) exploring alternative cataloging standards in order to broaden understanding of the cataloging landscape and identify alternative tools; 5) leveraging professional networks to provide support, mentorship, and information sharing; and 6) how these issues should be incorporated into cataloging and metadata courses.

Introduction. Generative AI tools are increasingly used in creating descriptive metadata the quality of which is key for information discovery and support of information user tasks. Machine-readable online information resources such as websites naturally lend themselves to automatic metadata creation. Yet, assessments of AI-generated metadata for them are lacking. AI metadata quality research to date is limited to 2 metadata standards. Method. This experimental study assessed the quality of AI-generated descriptive metadata in 4 most widely used standards: Dublin core, MODS, MARC, and BIBFRAME. Three generative AI tools – Gemini, Gemini advanced, and ChatGPT4 – were used to create metadata for an educational website. Analysis. Zero-shot queries prompting AI tools to generate metadata followed the same structure and included the link to metadata scheme’s openly accessible documentation. Comparative in-depth analysis of accuracy and completeness of entire resulting AI-generated metadata records was performed. Results. Overall, AI-generated metadata does not meet the quality threshold. ChatGPT performs somewhat better than 2 other tools on completeness, but accuracy is similarly low in all 3 tools. Conclusions. Current metadata-generating effectiveness of AI tools does not allow to conclude that involvement of human metadata experts in creation of quality (and therefore functional) metadata can be significantly reduced without strong negative impact on information discovery.

Introduction. Specialized repositories aggregating digital data that focus on languages (of indigenous groups, refugees, etc.) are known as digital language archives (DLA). DLA rapid growth is galvanized by language documentation efforts supported by funding agencies. Recent studies examine DLA user needs and explore support of these needs in digital repositories. Training of LAM professionals in curating and managing DLA to support user needs is emerging, with no research yet into its effectiveness. Method. Our federally funded interdisciplinary project creates and tests the 1st US LAM graduate course with DLA focus. The curriculum development builds on team’s experience with DLA, available DLA user studies, and collaborations of LAM and linguistics researchers with language communities. We report on the current state of curriculum development, discuss analysis results and future steps. Analysis. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of data collected through course-level and module-level surveys, and content analysis. Results. Overall, the project-developed training materials are effective in developing learning objectives. Areas for improvement are identified. Conclusions. The team is refining the LAM curriculum and developing language community DLA training workshops based on student evaluation results, collecting community feedback for future analysis. The project is expected to positively impact LAM education and DLA users’ experiences.

This virtual workshop on digital language archives digital libraries that steward, curate, and provide online access to language materials - continues (after the initial JCDL LangArc 2021 and LangArc 2023 workshops) addressing the evolving needs of those who access, manage, and contribute to digital language archives. LangArc 2025 explores a wide range of issues related to digital language archives. Among these are challenges and opportunities; sustainable strategies for working with language communities and researchers on facilitating depositing and improving accessibility; organizing information and enhancing descriptive metadata, usability, information architecture and retrieval; quality assurance; ethical issues; ways of encouraging reuse of deposited materials in research, education, and outreach; integration of emerging technologies into digital language archival workflows; and academic coursework and other training for those who develop and maintain digital language archives. This workshop is expected to advance and sustain interdisciplinary partnerships between information professionals and researchers, linguists, historians, anthropologists, educators, language communities (notably Indigenous and underrepresented), students, and other interested audiences, which are crucial for the development of digital language archives.

Repositories of digital collections focusing on languages and cultures are known as digital language archives. In the past 15 years, they have grown exponentially, due to language documentation and revitalization work. Materials resulting from these efforts – mostly housed by GLAM institutions, including in community-centered digital collections – are valuable for education, research, and empowering communities. Information professionals are responsible for organizing and describing them to facilitate access and discovery. A gap exists between the ways these information resources are usually organized and expectations of language communities’ members and language preservation and revitalization researchers. GLAM-stewarded community language archive items possess uncommon for other information resources attributes and relationships of importance to target audiences. Their metadata representation – and specific information needs of intended audiences – are not yet in the mainstream GLAM curriculum. The paper describes addressing this training gap as part of the advanced graduate metadata course.

Introduction. Lexicography, or the practice of compiling dictionaries, has profound impacts on how information, culture, and identity are understood and communicated. The emergence of revitalization lexicography serves as an example of community informatics practices in which societal implications of dictionary building are investigated and refined by and for minority language communities to reverse epistemic and cultural erasure. Method. To advance engagement of information and archival sciences with revitalization lexicography, this conceptual paper proposes the archival community informatics framework. The framework is then mapped to current revitalization lexicography projects as an entry point to understanding the information practices of communities engaging in revitalization efforts. Results. Mapping the framework to existing initiatives reveals commonalities between archival and lexicographical community informatics, as well as areas for methodological support from the information science and archives fields to aid revitalization lexicographers in the cultural heritage preservation functions of minority language dictionaries. Analysis. This paper argues for further information science analysis of dictionaries—with a conceptualization of dictionaries as archival repositories—housing collections of word definitions, cultural values, traditions, and information practices. The authors posit that through interdisciplinary engagement, the information needs of minority language community members and revitalization lexicographers can be supported.

In the Arabian Gulf countries, including but not limited to Kuwait, digital library metadata education is currently in its early stages. Empirical data assessing student learning outcomes of metadata instruction would allow for data-driven curriculum development as the courses and academic programs that are intended to provide such education evolve in the region. The study presented in this article provides these much-needed data from an undergraduate library and information science program in Kuwait. In this project, we examined the metadata records created to represent Arabic-language eBooks as part of individual and group assignments. A total of 187 student-created Dublin Core metadata records were collected from multiple sections of the metadata course (including female-only and male-only sections) over four semesters in 2021 and 2022. The dataset included 177 individually created records, and 10 records created by student teams. Accuracy and completeness of these metadata records were evaluated and compared across sections and between individual and team projects. The study's findings are presented and discussed in the context of metadata teaching practices in this Kuwaiti undergraduate program, and specifically with regard to activities and assessments intended to develop the Dublin Core record-creation skills. The study results demonstrate that students overall experience the most problems with representing copyright and intellectual rights and source information, describing what times and locations the information resource is about, and representing those who made non-major contributions to the information resource. Substantial differences were also observed in the patterns of metadata accuracy and completeness between individual work and teamwork, and between the metadata created by students in female-only and male-only course sections. Ideas for future research projects that would collectively allow forming a robust understanding of current metadata education and its outcomes in the Arabian Gulf region, as well as suggested curriculum enhancements, are discussed.

Our interdisciplinary team including information and language scholars and educators and practicing information professionals at University of North Texas (UNT) and Indiana University (IU) is developing an evidence-based practice-oriented online curriculum to train library, archives, and museums (LAM) professionals in the archiving, curation, and ethical dissemination of resources that provide the means to revitalize community memory and language. During this 2-year project, over 30 LAM students will complete the project-developed UNT graduate course INFO 5385 Community Language Archiving and Curation for Information Professionals, and additional estimated 100 students at UNT and IU will complete individual project-developed learning modules integrated into other courses. Development of the learning materials is informed by digital language archive practices, research, and existing training materials for archive depositors. Resulting open-access adaptable learning resources are expected to be widely used by academic programs and educators for training LAM students and by participatory archives as continuing education resources.

This exploratory study is the first one that examined student-created metadata for physical non-text resources. We applied in-depth qualitative and quantitative content analysis to the Dublin Core (DCTERMS) metadata created by the graduate students in two sections of an introductory digital library metadata course. The analysis of bibliographic records that represent paintings identified record fields in which novice metadata creators tend to make mistakes. Examples of the most common kinds of metadata errors for each quality criterion (accuracy, completeness, and consistency) are discussed and compared with results of previous relevant research. Finding of comparative analysis for the asynchronous course section and the section with synchronous class meetings are also presented. Implications are discussed, along with future directions for research.

Knowledge representation through metadata is crucial to successful knowledge management and ensuring access. Libraries, especially those associated with universities and colleges, have been long engaged in important activities of developing, adapting, implementing, and managing descriptive and administrative metadata, bibliographic authority control, etc. A substantial amount of research exists in knowledge representation practices of libraries that operate in North America and Western Europe. However, some other regions of the world, in particular the Arabian Gulf region which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, are currently underrepresented in this research. The exploratory project presented in this paper aimed to address this gap with the goal of developing an understanding of the current state of knowledge representation (including descriptive metadata practices, identity management, use of knowledge organisation systems, and more) in academic libraries of Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, as well as plans and preparedness of these institutions and their staff for future developments in this area to facilitate discovery of resources, specifically in the aggregated digital environment. The qualitative study used semi-structured interviews of metadata managers at a representative sample of regional university libraries. The findings provide insights into this previously under-researched area and contribute to understanding of related knowledge management barriers and perspectives on a global scale. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

This chapter provides an overview of current knowledge of user search behavior and needs regarding digital repositories. It examines the relevant research, organizes key themes, and discusses how user search behavior in digital repositories is investigated and the extent to which these investigative methods are answering key questions. This chapter explores the results of studies seeking to address the following questions that researchers and practitioners ask when analyzing and trying to predict user search behavior: Context impacting use of digital repositories: what materials do digital repositories provide access to, and which audiences do they serve? What are the user expectations toward digital repositories and the tools offered to support discovery in them? How do users interact with digital repositories? What are the typical keyword search constructions? How are system features typically used and how might interface design affect their use? How do controlled vocabularies contribute to discoverability in digital repositories? Based on this overview, the chapter concludes with recommendations of methods and tools practitioners can use to investigate user interactions with and expectations toward digital repositories and to obtain actionable data that will inform improvements in discoverability.

A high proportion of materials held by archives in Arabian Gulf and included in digital collections are oral histories, manuscripts, and other language content. As metadata is important for resource discovery, this study aimed to develop understanding of the current state of metadata practices in digital collections of archival institutions in the Arabian Gulf region. It also explored perspectives (including attitudes and possible barriers) for development of large-scale regional portals that would facilitate discovery of Arab digital archives (including language collections) by aggregating metadata. This research project used semi-structured interviews of the managers of 4 out of 5 digital language archives in Kuwait. Results provide insights into perspectives of metadata interoperability among archives and suggest the need for metadata training, and documenting metadata creation guidelines. Findings contribute to evaluating the feasibility of and planning for future functional regional aggregations of cultural heritage digital collections.

As the possibility of sharing inaccurate information on social media increases markedly during the health crisis, there is a need to develop an understanding of social media users’ motivations for online sharing of information related to major public health challenges such as COVID-19. This study utilised an online survey based on Theory of Planned Behaviour and Diffusion of Innovation Theory to examine how the behavioural intention to share COVID-19-related content on social media is impacted and to develop a model of health information sharing. Results indicate that opinion leadership, beliefs held towards the source of the information, and peers’ influence serve as determinants of the intention to share COVID-19-related information on social media, while the opinion-seeking attitude does not, which could be explained by opinion seekers’ inherent tendency to seek more sources to verify new information obtained. The study contributes to the Information Science field by addressing the previously under-researched area and proposing a new model that explains the impact of the factors on behavioural intention to share health-related information during the health crisis in the online network environment.