This paper aims to identify how public libraries used Twitter in the initial months after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis was performed on a dataset of 9,450 tweets published by 38 public libraries in New York City between December 2019 and April 2020. The study showed that 85.5% of the tweets published by NYC public libraries were related to regular library communications, such as announcements of library service updates, book recommendations, suggested readings and activities, celebrations of specific occasions or individuals, and notices of upcoming events. Meanwhile, 14.5% of the tweets published from January/April 2020 were directly and explicitly related to COVID-19. NYC public libraries posted details of the remote library services available during the closure, as well as comforting and socially supportive messages, and provided information about the financial, health, and food-related support available to the community. The findings suggest that during the pandemic, NYC public libraries mostly continued to conduct business as usual and, in doing so, may have brought a valuable feeling of normalcy to the communities they serve during those problematic and strained days.

This research aims to provide an understanding of knowledge sharing behaviour through the adaptation of two major theories, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TpB) which were developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen from social psychology. Exploring knowledge sharing from a social psychological perspective provides an understanding of the process an individual goes through to make the decision to share his/her knowledge with others as well as the different psychological factors facilitating or hindering knowledge sharing behaviour. Research findings are based on a web-survey of 158 group members of one online community of educators, Tapped In (TI). TI is a professional online community developed and supported by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI International), and directed to enhancing the quality of teaching by developing web-based opportunities of learning and engaging. Proposing an extended theoretical model of knowledge sharing behaviour in online community, this research tested the predictive power of five major variables on the individuals' intention to share expertise and knowledge. Variables included attitude, subjective norms, descriptive norms, controllability and knowledge sharing self-efficacy (KSSE). The study found that normative pressures, including subjective norms and descriptive norms, had a strong influence on the formation of the individual's intention to share in this specific online community. Knowledge sharing self-efficacy also was found to significantly account for explaining the individual's motivation to share his/her knowledge with other members. Attitude and controllability were not found to have significant impacts on the formation of intention.

This study aims to overview the research trends in Knowledge Management (KM) using a bibliometric and content analysis. Several research questions pertaining to the annual growth of KM publications, the key topics discussed, popular methodologies, country of origin, and citations analysis are posed and answered. In total, 475 articles published in the Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM) were retrieved from the Scopus bibliographical database. The results showed a relatively steady growth in the number of articles published in JIKM between 2002 and 2016. US scholars authored 21% of the articles published in JIKM, followed by those from India (almost 10%), Australia (8%), and the UK (7.5%). It is also noteworthy that scientific papers published in JIKM are referenced in highly cited journals of computer science, business, and library and information science. Topics such as knowledge discovery, taxonomy and ontology, and knowledge representation were the major KM research trends to arise from the current phenomena of “big data” and data analytics, as reflected in the subject matter of published works. A comparison between the counts for qualitative and quantitative research methodologies showed a clear tendency toward the latter, including questionnaires, while case studies, content analysis, and framework and conceptual papers also proved to be important for KM researchers.

This study investigates the current coverage and treatment of strands of diversity in Library and Information Science (LIS) graduate curricula by examining 19 American Library Association (ALA) accredited Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) programmes. The purpose is to analyze the depth and breadth of diversity-related topics in LIS programmes to determine the emphasis that LIS educators place on diversity-related content in the relevant coursework. Diversity-related topics were identified and categorized based on the published literature, and the contents of 84 course syllabi were examined. The findings show that while diversity-related topics are not prioritized in LIS programmes at present, the relevant content in curricula is increasing at a slow but significant rate. Diversity-related courses prepare aspiring librarians and information professionals to work with different cultural groups, young adults, and children. However, there is little interest in providing equitable services to minority groups in terms of gender and race/ethnicity, and people with disabilities. The findings of this study can provide a practical roadmap and useful insights for LIS educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the levels of motivation and needs satisfaction of academic library employees, adopting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to examine individuals’ motivation. Design/methodology/approach The study collects and analyzes quantitative survey data. The research population comprises 108 employees working across eight college libraries at Kuwait University. Findings While participants generally agreed that their needs were being satisfied at each of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy, they reported higher levels of satisfaction of their self-actualization and social needs. Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow’s motivation theory representing the quest for reaching one’s full potential as a person. Research limitations/implications One limitation is the relatively small sample size due to Kuwait having only one public university. Future research could overcome this limitation by investigating both private and public universities. Practical implications This research contributes significantly and in various ways to understanding motivation in a library setting. It elucidates many aspects of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory criticized in previous literature. Overall, the study’s results should be useful to scholars in the library field interested in motivation, to academic librarians and to managers in academia. Originality/value Though many prior studies have focused on motivation in a library setting, Maslow’s theory has been little considered in the context of academic libraries. This study uses a theoretical framework based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to understand and explain the levels of motivation and needs satisfaction of academic library employees.