Editorial: Embracing Curiosity
By Priyanka Sharma, Editor, p1
To my mind, the one unique privilege that our profession affords us is the unbridled encouragement of curiosity – the cradle of creation. Curiosity, to me, is a character trait that enables us to connect and reconnect with ourselves and with the world around us in a continuous and sustained manner. It appears to be a trait we see commonly in great minds and successful people everywhere.
We as librarians are uniquely positioned to develop an intimate understanding of many of the best information tools available to satisfy curiosity. The act of getting to know an information resource, engagement in the varied activities that are needed in order to acquire and set up the resource for use, and the exploration of the resource to satisfy ones’ curiosity – or indeed to help a library patron in satisfying theirs – is the cornerstone of what many of us do. The need to remain curious about the information landscape around us – as well as the technological, economic, social, and political factors that impact the information ecosystem is greater than ever before. We are spoilt for choice when it comes to the sheer breadth and variety of tools that are available to us. So let us embrace and nurture curiosity in our lives – professional and personal.
Moving on to the task at hand: this issue of SJLIM is somewhat abridged as we scramble to ‘regularise’ our publication cycle and attend to administrative matters. We present an article from Hong Kong that underpins the need for libraries – especially academic libraries – to focus on marketing efforts. The article will no doubt resonate with the experience of libraries in Singapore – public, academic and special – and will give us all some food for thought and reflection.
The other article focuses on the information landscape in Singapore – specifically on the information needs of Singapore voters and the ways and means that they use to meet this need and how they perceive the various communication channels.
Assessing the effectiveness of an e-resource marketing campaign in a Hong Kong academic library
By Chloe Lei and Jennifer Gu, p2-15
Abstract:
In response to increased spending but decreased usage of e-resources, Hong Kong Baptist University Library organized a week-long campaign to promote its e-resources. The campaign’s effectiveness was assessed using survey data and usage statistics. Overall, the survey data showed a positive reception towards the campaign but the usage statistics of e-resources showed a mixed pattern in its impact. The sustainability of the campaign is also discussed from it being a pilot event to an annual marketing campaign, which signified the need for a concerted library marketing strategy.
Information Needs and Seeking Behaviour of Voters during Singapore General Election 2015
By Shaheen Majid, Schubert Foo, Hannah Trinity Dumaual and Venkata Ratnadeep Suri, p16-37
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand information needs and different communication channels used by voters for seeking election-related news and information. It also explored voters’ perceptions of the credibility, timeliness, and bias of various information communication channels.
Findings: It was found that the majority of the voters were interested in information about candidates in their constituencies, their speeches and interviews. Only around one-half of the voters were interested in the manifestos of political parties, and analyses made by political commentators. The top four channels for seeking election-related news and information were: news websites, television, Facebook, and print newspapers. Common social media platforms, such as blogs, Twitter, and YouTube were not heavily used. The mainstream media was considered more credible than social media platforms.