Competitive intelligence as a coping strategy for academic libraries in South Africa

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>This study examined the extent to which public academic libraries in South Africa coped with the changing information environment by using competitive intelligence (CI) to attain competitiveness.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>The study adopted positivism as the main philosophical lens and also incorporated qualitative elements to augment the quantitative data through a survey research design. Questionnaires were e-mailed to 25 directors of public academic libraries in South Africa and 17 were returned, yielding a 68% response rate. Attempts were made to reach to the 25 directors through semi-structured telephonic interviews, and only eight responded some through their representatives, yielding a 32% response rate. Using two instruments permitted the triangulation of data. A noted limitation of the study is that some library directors neither responded to the questionnaire nor the interview.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>Findings revealed that various competitive intelligence techniques were employed; however, their implementation was not formalised. Competitiveness was driven by various factors such as rivalries in the information value chain; relevance; financial and budgetary constraints; changing user expectations and evolving technology.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>This study is novel because there is a dearth of literature on implementation and use of competitive intelligence in academic libraries in South Africa.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Smart Academic Libraries Possibilities Through the Application of the Internet of Things

“…Aligned to the fifth law of library science, as stated by Ranganathan in 1931, that libraries as growing organisms should grow and expand, Makori (2017) proposes a transformation through the utilisation of IoT technologies to develop smart academic libraries. This view is reiterated by Moyane, Dube, Nkomo, and Ngulube (2020), who explain that academic libraries must transform to the point where they are able to drive and support strategic changes that influence teaching, learning, and research within their institution. However, embarking on this transition may be easier said than done, considering the globalisation of information supply by the internet, inadequate budgets, increased open access resources, and the need to justify the value of academic libraries in a constantly changing higher education environment (Makori 2017).…”