Boosting the Knowledge Economy: Key Contributions from Information Services in Educational, Cultural and Corporate Environments

This book presents a comprehensive, international and up-to-date review of the key contributions of information services to the Knowledge Economy. Chapters contributed by experts in different areas of LIS focus on the crucial roles libraries, archives and museums are playing in their home institutions -private, public, non-profit-, as much as their impact on the economy and society as a whole. Boosting the Knowledge Economy: Key Contributions from Information Services in Educational, Cultural, and Corporate Environments has a particular interest in learning services, exploring principles and strategies for their implementation - from marketing strategy to analytics -, and covers implications for the LIS profession.

• Provides new insights into the value of information services in the context of the Knowledge Economy
• Presents an overview and analysis of cutting-edge practices in information services, with a particular focus on learning services and their particular contribution to LAMs’ (Libraries, Archives, and Museums) brand awareness and to social capital building
• Introduces a collaborative reflection on the role of information professionals at challenging times, with implications for the design of educational programs in the informationfield

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: May 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781780634531

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction

Francisco-Javier Calzada-Prado,    Library & Information Sciences Department, Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

This work is the collective effort of an international group of researchers, and it brings together a selection of approaches around a central theme: the contribution of information services to the knowledge economy.

Keywords

Information services; knowledge economy

This work is the collective effort of an international group of researchers, and it brings together a selection of approaches around a central theme: the contribution of information services to the knowledge economy.

For the cover, we have chosen a colorful and impactful image, with which we try to reflect the impulse and energy (that boost we refer to in the title) that we believe information services can provide. It probably reminds you, as it does us, of the Hindu festival Holi or Festival of Colors, in which participants throw different-colored powders at each other as a symbol of their joy at the end of winter or, in other words, the triumph of light over darkness: a celebration of renewal, fertility, and the reunion of people. In the aftermath of a global economic crisis, a pandemic, and other critical events that have shaken the economies and information services of all countries, we wish to convey with this book a message of optimism and confidence in the future.

The book is organized into three sections: Key Contributions from Libraries, Key Contributions from Archives and Cultural Heritage Institutions, and Implications for the LIS Professions.

I am honored to open the first section of the book with a discussion of the relevance of educational services and programs in information services and the role of marketing in their design, promotion, and measurement of their impact on organizational strategic goals. Next, in Chapter 3, Professor Kohda of the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST, Japan) discusses the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence in the provision of information services. In Chapter 4, Professor Rodríguez-Bravo, from the Department of Documentary and Cultural Heritage of the University of León (Spain), describes the current role of Knowledge Organization in the discipline, as well as the latest research trends. In Chapter 5, Professor Jorge-García-Reyes, from the Department of Library and Information Sciences of Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) analyzes the contributions of Quality Management in the generation of social impact. This first section of the book closes with a contribution by Professor Martínez-Pestaña, from the Department of Information Science and History of Science at the University of Zaragoza (Spain), in which she analyzes the state of MOOCs in academic libraries, with special reference to the Spanish case.

The second section of the book begins with a contribution from the team led by Professor Caridad Sebastián, with the participation of Professors Martínez-Cardama, García López and Morales García, from the Department of Library and Information Sciences of Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), in which they highlight the importance of audiovisual television archives for our society, as well as the challenges and opportunities that they entail. In Chapter 8, Professor Sugimoto and his team of collaborators, Professors Wijesundara, Mihara and Nagamori, from the Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba (Japan) propose a generalized data model for the description of digital archival objects. In Chapter 9, Professors Ramírez Martín and Portela Filgueiras, from the Library & Information Sciences Department at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) address the strategic value of corporate archives not only for business management, but also for history. Finally, in Chapter 10, Professor Pacios Lozano, Department of Library and Information Sciences of Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), and her collaborators, Professor Núñez-Nickel, from the Department of Business Administration at Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) and Professor Ramos Simón, from the Library Science and Documentation Department, Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), focus on the issue of transparency as an exercise of accountability by information services.

In the third and final section, Professor Ortiz-Repiso, Department of Library and Information Sciences of Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), analyzes the current challenges that information professionals face, especially in the context of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

I trust that both the selection of contributions and the different visions provided will contribute to a better understanding of some of the most significant facets of the current contributions of information services to economic and social progress.

Chapter 2

Learning and information services in the Knowledge Economy: strategic relevance and marketing of educational services and programs

Francisco-Javier Calzada-Prado,    Library & Information Sciences Department, Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the relevance of educational services and programs for the contribution of information services to the Knowledge Economy. It reviews the different ways in which these services and programs are developed, as well as their potential impact on economic and social progress. The importance of market research techniques for their design to respond to the real needs of users is highlighted, as well as their inclusion in organizational marketing plans for their promotion and the measurement of their impact in relation to strategic