Library and Information Science Commons^™

Exploring The Experiences Of Australian Science Researchers; Library, Google And Beyond, Ewa Maria Niewiadomska

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Universities and research institutions in Australia are under pressure to produce high-quality research outputs. To generate the desired level of research, continuous provision of information is required. As a result of developments of digital technologies, the information behaviour of academics, both as consumers and creators of new information and knowledge, has evolved and changed over the decades.

In this study, the primary research question focused on how science academics based at Australian universities experience digital information sources as part of their scholarly activities. To support these research goals, the thesis explores where science academics seek information to support their research …

E-Book Adoption In Academic And Research Libraries, Pervaiz Ahmad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Electronic books (e-books) have grown in importance in Academic and Research Libraries (ARLs). Some ARLs are now spending more on e-book acquisitions than hardcopy books. Whether this investment in e-book provision is justified by adoption outcomes is often the subject of simplistic, rather than rigorous research. This research has attempted to rigorously explore the phenomenon of e-book adoption in a case study ARL, namely, Edith Cowan University (ECU) Library.

The study population consisted of ECU academics, students and non-academic staff. The research had three aims. First, by employing a theoretical framework based on technology adoption and information behaviour theory, the …

Information Provision And Retrieval In The Farming Industry In Western Australia, Hasham Al Musawi

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Agricultural information dissemination to farmers has been studied extensively. However, farmers preferred methods of delivery has not been investigated thoroughly within a Western Australia (WA) context.

Availability of different information delivery channels have led to the overwhelming and overlapping of information available to farmers. As a consequence, the type of information required by WA farmers should be considered as knowing information needs could allow farmers to access relevant, concise and timely agricultural information.

To answer the research questions, a survey was designed, using Likert-scale, close ended and open ended questions techniques, enabling qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study‘s findings …

Community Building, Multiculturalism And The Suburban Public Library, Rajeswari Chelliah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research investigates the role of public libraries in building communities and cross-cultural citizenship through provision of equitable information resources and services to English as Additional Language (EAL) speakers, particularly in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. The rapidly changing demographic profile of Western Australia is producing an ever increasing diversity of people who need to access information in order to thrive in their new community. However, access to these information services pose challenges to users who lack competency in language, computer and general literacy, while the increasing diversity in the local population creates widely divergent competencies in information seeking skills among …

A Study On The Effects Of Tertiary Education On Open Source Information Gathering Skills, Sara T.K. Cunow

Theses : Honours

Since the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), a large amount of information has become available and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Where in the past, the art of the intelligence profession was finding scarce information, currently information gathering is more focused on sorting relevant information from the available abundance. The purpose of the current study was to gain a better understanding of how information is gathered on the Web by potential intelligence analysts. Although the WWW is used by many people to search for information daily, relatively little research exists on how this source should be …

Searching For Health Information On The Internet : The Experiences Of Western Australian Adolescents, Lee-Anne Martins

Theses : Honours

Adolescents readily engage in online entertainment pursuits, however, it is their online social activities and health information searches that encourage psychosocial development and influence identity formation and autonomy. Considerable research has been completed on various aspects of adolescents’ encounters with online health information (for example, see Percheski & Hargittai, 2011), yet minimal research has been conducted using Australian adolescents. This study extends existing research utilising Western Australian adolescents who have used the Internet to obtain health information. The areas explored include how Western Australian adolescents search for online health information, by means of which devices, and their experiences of using …

Pictures In Words : Indexing, Folksonomy And Representation Of Subject Content In Historic Photographs, Brian Stewart

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Subject access to images is a major issue for image collections. Research is needed to understand how indexing and tagging contribute to make the subjects of historic photographs accessible.

This thesis firstly investigates the evidence of cognitive dissonance between indexers and users in the way they attribute subjects to historic photographs, and, secondly, how indexers and users might work together to enhance subject description. It analyses how current indexing and social tagging represent the subject content of historic photographs. It also suggests a practical way indexers can work with taggers to deal with the classic problem of resource constraints and …

An Exploratory Study Of The Benefits And Inhibitors Of Digital Libraries In Iraq, Basima Abdulbari Fezaa

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research study explores the potential of digital libraries (DLS) in Iraq and identifies inhibitors to adoption. Iraq is an ancient civilisation, with a recorded history of more than 5000 years. The Mesopotamian civilisation and the Babylonian Civilisation (both in Iraq) are amongst the most ancient in the world, and have existed from the times of the ancient Egyptian, Indus Valley, Persian civilisations. Iraq has a rich cultural history, with many rare historical manuscripts, antiques etc., on which many treatises have written and still continues to be a popular subject of research. In its recent history, Iraq has had much …

Aligning With The Rapidly Shifting Technological Goalposts : The Review And Update Of The Rimpa Technology Survey, Devitt Larkin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2008 the Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA) organisation (then known as the Records Management Association of Australasia – RMAA) launched its Technology Survey. The survey attempted to capture a snapshot, predominantly but not exclusively in Australia and New Zealand, and gain empirical evidence about the use of technology adoption trends, RIM capabilities in host organisations and the role of RIM personnel in technology selection and adoption. The survey had a particular focus on Records Management (RM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems and processes, but also featured questions on the demographics of the participants, organisational policies and …

Information Dissemination For Farming Communities In Thailand, Khumphicha Tantisantisom

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The use of information and communication technology tools has been applied in many disciplines, including agricultural sectors. It may be applied in many modules such as data gathering, data processing, information management and information dissemination. One issue that cannot be neglected is the readiness of technology service users, or farmers in this case. It was found that most Thai farmers were poor and illiterate; therefore, offering them the best available tools and services may not be always what they would like to use. To answer the research questions, action research methodology was selected in this study to find a practical …

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: Investigating The Information Needs Of Clients Of Web Based Public Sector Information Services, Julie Ann Johnson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research grew from two frustrations. The first was the personal frustration experienced when attempting to find information on websites; especially government websites. Often the sites were loaded down with all sorts of information such as corporate organisation charts and press releases but lacked the information which would allow clients to interact effectively with the agency or meet their information needs and move on. The second frustration was that of Edith Cowan University students who battled with a diverse, overlapping and incomplete set of both online and paper based resources as they sought to make decisions about their selections of …

Website Accessibility Issues In Western Australian Public Libraries, Vivienne L. Conway

Theses : Honours

Website accessibility is a very real and pressing issue for public libraries internationally. Tim Berners-Lee credited with founding the Web, states "The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." (Henry & McGee, 2010). There is wide-spread support for adherence to the Web Content Advisory Guidelines Version 1.0 and 2.0 (WCAG) throughout Federal, State and Local levels of government in Australia. The Guidelines have also been affirmed by the Australian Human Rights Commission, disability advocacy groups such as Vision Australia, and the Australian Library and Information Association. The Australian Government …

Factors Influencing Academics' Usage Of Electronic Journals, Margaret Krikorian

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Through a survey of academics at Edith Cowan University, Australia, this study explored their usage of and attitudes towards academic electronic journals (EJs). The data provided insights into the way academics were using EJs at the time of the study and their thoughts on how they will use them in the future. The emergence of academics publishing their work in EJs is a fairly recent phenomenon compared to the established tradition of publishing in paper-based journals. Many publishers have also begun to replace paper journals with electronic ones and many librarians have begun incorporating EJs into their resource collections. Librarians …

Multivalent Metadata : Exploiting The Layers Of Meaning In Digital Resources, Alison M. Anderson

Theses : Honours

The rapid growth of the World Wide Web was due in part to the simplicity of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It is anticipated that the next generation of web technology, coined the Semantic Web, by Tim Berners-Lee (1989, p. 1), will be driven by the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The XML suite of technologies provides a framework for the application of metadata, and hence semantic information, to web resources. Advantages of a semantic web include improved sharing and reuse of resources, enhanced search mechanisms and knowledge management. The knowledge or meaning contained in digital information may vary according to …

The History And Development Of The Education And Training Of Library Technicians In Australia, Christine E. Hart

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The history and development of the education and training of library Technicians in Australia is currently recorded in the literature in a piecemeal und uncoordinated manner. The aim of this research is to provide a current and coherent account of the history and development of courses, examine the role of major stakeholders and identify the major issues that have accompanied the evolution of education and training for paraprofessional library staff. A comprehensive chronicle of the education and training of library technicians will contribute to the research and literature of Library and information science in Australia. The research will examine: • …

An Investigation Into The Use Of The Internet For Medical Informatics, Patricia A. Williams

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The rapid evolution and popularity of the Internet technologies, and the World Wide Web, have resulted in unrestricted worldwide access to medical and health information. This has provided the medical profession with the ability to access up to date research more immediately than by traditional means, and has created the potential for advanced information collation. Also the availability of medical literature, previously difficult to obtain for the general public, is having an effect that is both a benefit and a burden to the medical profession. Whilst benefits exist in the use of the Internet in General Practice for clinical support, …