Hamid Jamali - Libraries Research Group at Charles Sturt University

An overview of university presses in Australia and their relationship with libraries

University presses play an important role in scholarly communication, especially in the humanities and social sciences. Yet in Australia, little has been written about them in the last decade. I recently conducted a mapping study of university presses in Australia, and looked at who’s active, what they publish, and how they are structured. The full paper is now available on Figshare.

In total, I identified nine active university presses out of the 42 Australian universities. While this is a small number, it’s not insignificant given our population and higher education size.… Continue reading “An overview of university presses in Australia and their relationship with libraries”

Custom AI tools for cataloguing!

The rise of generative AI has sparked debates across professions, including within the library and information sciences, about its potential to transform specific tasks. Among the many specialised tasks that information professionals perform, cataloguing and creating metadata records are particularly complex.

Many wonder whether AI tools like ChatGPT can perform cataloguing or create metadata with reasonable accuracy and reliability. Some have conducted experiments to test AI’s capability in this area. Such experiments include using ChatGPT for LCSH Subject assignment, identifying errors in catalogue records, creating MARC records using RDA or DC, and creating MARC21 using RDA.… Continue reading “Custom AI tools for cataloguing!”

Gender parity in Australian journals’ editors

Although there is no conclusive evidence, there have been at least speculations in the past about the impact that the gender of editors, reviewers and authors might have on the fairness of decisions made for the publication of manuscripts submitted to scholarly journals. As a result, tens of studies in the past have looked at gender parity (the notion of 50:50 representation) and equity (the notion of proportional representation compared to the broader population) of journal editorial positions. To mention a few more recent ones, studies in urology (1), general surgery (2), psychology (3), endocrinology (4), neurology (5), library science (6), and mathematics (7) all point to under-representation of women in various journal editorial positions.… Continue reading “Gender parity in Australian journals’ editors”

COVID and the use of library collections

Hamid JAMali & Philip Hider

Public libraries in many countries were quick to expand and promote access to their digital collections during the COVID pandemic, particularly during periods of lockdown. We analysed the usage data of two library networks in Greater Sydney and, as one might expect, the use of digital collections peaked during the New South Wales lockdowns. The graph below shows the normalised use of digital and physical collections from 2019 to 2021, with the two lockdown periods shaded.… Continue reading “COVID and the use of library collections”

Academic library’s impact on students

By Dilini Bodhinayaka and Hamid Jamali

Academic libraries are increasingly required to demonstrate the impact of their services. Therefore, measuring library impact has become more critical than ever. As Iroaganachi and Nkiko (2016) stated, impact measurement “serves the purpose of assuring the parent institutions that the library needs the same relative share of the institutional budget, even in the budget itself is shrinking” (p. 9). Evidence of impact can also inform the decision making of library managers.

One important area of library impact is the impact on students.… Continue reading “Academic library’s impact on students”

Academic libraries in LIS education research

In my recent paper about the research on library and information science education (access a free version of the paper) that was published in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, I examined 1,986 articles on LIS education published from 1999 to 2018 to find out what has been the concern of LIS researchers when it comes to its education. The analysis revealed that LIS researchers have been more concerned with what to teach (i.e. curriculum; 793 articles) than with how to teach (i.e.… Continue reading “Academic libraries in LIS education research”

Defining the value and impact of libraries

Associate Professor Hamid Jamali

Value and impact are terms that are sometimes loosely defined and used. Assessing and providing evidence of the value and impact of libraries is something that many researchers and practitioners, at least over the last two decades, have tried to address. The reason for great attention to value and impact has been partly the pressure on libraries to demonstrate their value and impact in order to justify their budget or investment by stakeholders. Terms such as value, impact and outcome have been used sometimes interchangeably without clear differentiation.… Continue reading “Defining the value and impact of libraries”

About the Libraries Research Group

Our research focuses on key issues affecting the sector, examining the ways in which library and information services can be improved, and library collections enhanced, as well the role of libraries and librarianship in contemporary society.

Building on CSU’s position as the leading and largest provider of library education in Australia, we are ideally placed to be the group librarians turn to when they need an evidence base for their decisions, or new solutions to real-world problems.