Construction of an evaluation system for information openness of local governments

Evaluating government openness is important in monitoring government performance and promoting government transparency. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an evaluation system for information openness of local governments. In order to select evaluation indicators, we conducted a content analysis on current evaluation systems constructed by researchers and local governments and the materials of a case study on a local government. This evaluation system is composed of 5 first-tier indicators, 30 secondtier indicators and 69 third-tier indicators. Then Delphi Method and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) Method are adopted to determine the weight of each indicator. At last, the practicability of the system is tested by an evaluation of the local government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, which has been undergoing administrative reform and attempting to reinvent itself in the past 5 years.

Construction of an evaluation system for the service capabilities of government to business (G2B) web portals

On the basis of analyzing both domestic and foreign evaluation systems for the e-government and also taking into account of the current situation of government portals in urban centers,the paper is aimed to construct an evaluation system primarily for the measurement of the service capability of business-oriented G2B portals of local governments in general and those G2B portals of the new development zones in particular.This system is composed of 6 first tier indicators,18 second tier indicators and 90 third tier indicators.And the weight of each indicator is determined by Delphi Method and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) Method.Subsequently,we used this system to evaluate the government portals of Tianjin Binhai New Area and Shanghai Pudong New Area and proved to have the desired practicability.

Understanding information seeking behavior of rural women:Field studies in China

Purpose:The purpose of this research is to investigate Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior,with an emphasis on exploration of the intervening variables that influence information needs and information seeking behavior.Design/methodology/approach:The sample consisted of 27 women from 9 villages in Gansu Province,Anhui Province and Tianjin City,China.Data were collected through in-depth individual interview.Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze the data.Findings:Chinese rural women’s needs are basically tied to agricultural technologies,employment and health information.Social network,rather than the Internet,serves as the most frequently used information channel.Women’s cognitive ability,social role and their living environment are the 3 intervening variables that have an impact on their information needs and their information seeking behavior.Research limitations:This qualitative research is based on a small sample and conducted on specific socio-economic settings in China,which may restrict the generalization and application of relevant findings in other settings and countries.Practical implications:The study results will help librarians and information professionals better understand Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior in an effort to find ways to solve problems they may encounter in their information seeking process.Originality/value:This paper introduced an analysis framework that provides an integrated perspective on understanding information needs and information seeking behavior of Chinese women in rural areas.

Investigating the relationships between facets of work task and selection and query-related behavior

Purpose: This study aims to explore the relationships between different facets of work task and selection and query-related behavior.Design/methodology/approach:An experiment was conducted to explore the issue. The researcher recruited 24 participants and assigned six simulated work task situations to each of them. Each experiment lasted around 2 hours and was recorded by the software tool Morae.Findings: Time(frequency) and time(length) are more closely related to user’s selection and query-related behavior compared to the facet ‘process’ of work task. Knowledge level of work task topic, degree of work task difficulty, and subjective work task complexity are significantly correlated with selection and query-related behavior. Work task difficulty and work task complexity are different concepts. Subjective work task complexity, work task difficulty, and knowledge of work task topic are significantly correlated with user’s selection and query-related behavior.Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this study include a small sample size,limited work task situations, and possible spurious relationships. This study has implications in informing task-based information seeking/search/retrieval research and interactive information retrieval(IIR) systems design.Originality/values: Previous studies usually did not touch upon how different facets of work tasks affected interactive activities. Some studies examining task complexity and information behavior were concerned with how work tasks affect users’ behavior at information-seeking level, rather than at information search level. This study makes contribution to interactive information retrieval,task-based information search and retrieval, and personalization of IR.

Chinese college students' understanding of Internet ethical issues: A survey of awareness

Purpose: This study examines Chinese college students’ awareness of ethical issues surrounding the use of information resources and the Internet and their attitude to these issues. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted. Two hundred questionnaires were distributed to students of 9 universities at different levels in Tianjin, China; 171 were returned. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the data. Findings: The results indicate that Chinese college students usually ignored the negative influence of fake or pornographic or other indecent information, invasion of privacy and theft of confidential information, and violation of intellectual property rights. Although they could distinguish to some extent between ethical and unethical behavior, they were not concerned about others’ unethical behavior on the Web. The study also indicates that gender, age, academic major and expertise in using computers were related to the students’ awareness of ethical issues relating to the use of the Internet and their attitude to these issues.Research limitations: The sample is limited to the universities in Tianjin. A larger sample, which includes colleges and universities in the western or other developing areas in China, is needed to further validate our findings.Practical implications: The study helps educators and academic librarians better understand Chinese college students’ awareness of and attitude to ethical issues surrounding the use of the Internet. It thus could assist them in the improvement of information ethics education for college students.Originality/value: This study was one of the first empirical studies to investigate the factors influencing Chinese college students’ awareness of and attitude to Internet ethical issues.

Graduate education of library science in China:Current status and recommendations for improvement

More than twenty years ago,Wuhan University and Nanjing University offered library science(LS)graduate programs.Since then,LS graduate education has been growing quickly in many aspects.At the same time,however,LS graduate education was also facing enormous challenges stemming from the dynamic development and wide applications of information technologies into the pedagogical arena of teaching and learning at all levels.Social evolution also made it necessary for LS educators to re-examine once again their graduate education model,curricular composition,educational philosophy and educational missions.In analyzing the present situation of LS graduate education in China,this paper focuses on the following issues:1)Growing size of LS graduate education(quantity and quality);2)educational objectives,including research direction and placement for graduates;3)structure of knowledge and curricular construction;4)conditions of administering a library school of high quality and 5)the management of teaching resources.The keystone of this paper is to pinpoint where current library science curricular deficiencies are lying.It is hoped that more serious scholarly discussions and perhaps also even concerted efforts among LS scholars and library practioners may be evoked in having the graduate education system of library and information science thoroughly realigned for the informational needs of the 21st century.

Public library services to older adults in China:An empirical study based on content analysis

Purpose:The research is undertaken to help the Chinese public libraries answer the growing needs for library services to the elderly.Based on an investigation of the current situation of the services to older adults in China and a comparative analysis of the services in the U.S.,we attempt to explore what improvements the Chinese public libraries can make to better serve the needs of older adults.Design/methodology/approach:We empirically analyzed the older adults services of 271public libraries in China from 2002 to 2011 via content analysis of both the print materials such as the regulations and policies released by these libraries and the related information on the libraries' websites and the Internet Web pages.Findings:Great strides have been made in the Chinese public libraries' services to older adults in constructing service systems,providing facilities and equipment,exploring cooperative programming,and planning diversified and regularly scheduled activities.Compared with American counterparts,however,the Chinese public libraries need to catch up in understanding the elderly people as library users,planning customized services,formulating service guidelines and evaluation systems,and working with other local agencies for cooperative programming for seniors in communities.Research limitations:It is hard to collect more data covering more geographical areas and longer periods of time.The content analysis of libraries' policies and regulations is a very rough approximation of the libraries' 'real' services.The study should be extended to visits to public libraries in the future.Practical implications:This study provides useful information for the Chinese library policymakers to formulate regulations and policies to provide services to older adults.Originality/value:To the best of our knowledge,the comprehensive survey reported in this paper is the first in-depth investigation of the current situation of public library services to older adults in China,providing the analysis framework for more in-depth surveys in the future.

Self-attribution of digital poverty by rural residents and its implications:Field studies in Anhui,Gansu and Tianjin of China

The paper conducted a grounded theory research on self-attribution analysis by rural residents on their digital poverty status from fields study in Dongzhi County of Anhui Province,Tianzhu of Gansu and Jinghai of Tianjin.It reports main research findings on categories of their feelings of reasons for digital poverty,which include digital ability,digital efforts,digital context and social support.The lack of digital ability is composed of the lack of digitally physical ability,digitally economic ability,digitally psychological ability,and digital literacy,combinations of which can describe the realities of their deficiency of digital ability.Digital efforts consist of time consumed on digital information behavior and using experiences based on it.Digital context is divided into information infrastructure,social norms which refer to social customs,habits,ethics,and epistemology in the digital world,and luck.Social support means social resources including tangible support and emotional support to the digital poor from their social relations and social institutions.Digital poverty model for rural residents is constructed and suggestions on alleviation of digital poverty are proposed.

Value of social capital in bridging accidental digital divide among rural residents:A field report on Jinghai county of Tianjin

The paper reports research findings from a field study on accidental ICT help-seeking behaviors in Huifeng West Village and Tuhe Village of Jinghai County,Tianjin.By employing field observation and in-depth interviews,the relations between local residents’ access to and usage of ICT and their social capital are described:seniors tend to rely on bonding social capital when confronting with difficulties in using mobile devices and computers;the middle-aged always make use of bridging and bonding social capital to shoot ICT troubles and prefer to bridging;children and young adults generally ask for help from friends,or after-sales services in their bridging social capital.

Public libraries in provincial 12th Five-year Plans of China

Based on the frequency and what it infers to of the 'library' in the text,this paper analyzes full texts of30 provincial 12 th Five-year Plans(except for Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and Shanxi Province).The research concludes that:government paid little attention to libraries,but differences among provinces exist;government regarded the library as a symbol of public culture provider,less important than museums and culture centers;free services and construction of public libraries are focuses in future planning;public needs of information cannot be satisfied by the library alone,so other means of public information services are required.In general,government do not have an in-depth understanding of the role of libraries,while the government of Jiangsu Province has a better understanding of the library than that of other provinces.

A grounded theory research on public librarians’ percep-tion of organizational cultures

This research is a case study of Shandong Public library with the application of a grounded theory to identify the perceived dimensions and the theoretical framework of organizational culture in the view of librarians.Research found two dimensions which were internal cultural perception and external cultural perception.In the internal cultural perception,there include two notion areas,which are career orientation and personal characteristics of the individual;in the external cultural perception,there include five notion areas,which are social environment,architecture,systems,tasks and leadership.The theoretical framework of mechanisms of public librarians’ perception of organizational cultures is constructed.The study found two mechanisms of the dynamic evolution of organizational culture of public libraries:the first is the mechanism of individual internalization of cultures,and the other is the mechanism of the person-culture fit.

Experiment on librarians’ implicit stereotype from the group comparative perspective

In order to better reveal the librarians’ image and solve the shortcomings of the investigation,this study introduced the method of Single Target Implicit Association Test to measure librarians’ implicit stereotype in the minds of the public,library science students and librarians themselves.This study tries to answer:1)whether library profession is feminine? 2) whether this profession leaves a more positive or negative impression? 3) whether it is good to choose this profession? The results show that:1) librarian is not viewed as a feminine profession;2) in general,librarians have left people positive impressions,but some subgroups do not agree with that;3) this occupation is neither good nor bad;4) library science students have the tendency of career preferences and derogation at the same time;5) librarians showed implicit vocational preference;6) promoting the professionalism helps to improve the librarians’ stereotypes.

Library transformation in the post-knowledge service era

The transformation is not only the main characteristic of the contemporary librarianship,but also the focus of the theoretical research of the library science.At present,the library transformation is in the post-knowledge service era.In such an era,innovation has become the norm,and transformation has become a topic for discussion.Libraries need to take the initiative to transform.Library transformation is a system.In addition to the profound influence of social environment and industry environment beyond the system,external and internal driving forces exist,which form a joint force to promote the transformation and development of the library.In the post-knowledge service-era,library transformation is composed of four elements:space,resources,services and management.The overall transformation,which is related to the target orientation of the next generation of libraries,is the result of the transformation of the four elements.In the post-knowledge service era,the transformation of libraries not only needs to solve problems in internal and external principles,but also problems in concepts,key elements and path.