Editorial

Happy New Year to all our readers, reviewers, book reviewers, and authors! Our first issue of 2024 has a fine mix of research papers, research-in-practice papers, an information-in-practice paper, and an obituary in addition to a generous offering of ten book reviews. The first research paper by Kay Oddone, Kasey Garrison, and Krystal Gagen-Spriggs (2024), reports research based on an exploratory methodology investigating how teacher librarians might teach with, and about, generative artificial intelligence (GAI). Findings highlight the multifaceted role that teacher librarians can assume, which can encompass a broader educational mandate beyond pedagogical integration, for example, to scaffold students’ capabilities as critical and ethical users of these tools in the creation and use of information. The second research paper reports on a key component for all professions, research. The paper by Helen Partridge, Lisa Given, Angela Murphy, Alisa Howlett, and Elham Sayyad Abdi (2024) provides results of a national survey which indicates that research-supported library and information practitioners are confident practitioner researchers.

The first research-in-practice paper by Maria Larkin and Loretta Atkinson (2024) reports on the process, and lessons learned, from the University of Queensland (UQ) library's recent transition from a service model of individual discipline-focused librarians to one where Outreach Librarians and Learning & Research Librarians deliver services with an explicit team approach. The intent was to enable the future vision of the library to be seen as an essential component of the academic knowledge infrastructure of UQ. The second research-in-practice paper by Lady Catherine de Leon, Lejempf Flores, and Anna Rita Alomo titled (2024) ‘Artificial intelligence and Filipino academic librarians: Perceptions, challenges and opportunities’ reports on a survey of academic librarians in the Philippines, exploring their understanding, expectations and concerns about artificial intelligence (AI). The findings aim to serve as a guide for future developments and strategies, to assist in identifying training needs in enhancing the library profession, assist librarians in identifying training needs, bridge knowledge gaps, and help prepare the profession for the changing landscape as AI becomes more prevalent in the library domain. The final research-in-practice paper by Lai Thi Nguyen, Wirapong Chansanam, and Pitipat Chotkamonsawad (2024) proposes a knowledge organisation system for the ethic groups of Laos using linked open data to assist in standardising metadata. This study aims to link and improve data on Laos ethnic groups by utilising ontological and reconciliation techniques to link incomplete or outdated data, as well as using OpenRefine and RDF extension to link the source database.

An Information-in-practice paper from the University of Wollongong (UOW) by Cate Slater, Leanne Campbell, and Lara Anne Duggan (2024) reports the trial and implementation of a proactive chat widget prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how its usage increased dramatically and it proved invaluable during that period of high uncertainty. UOW Library continues to utilise proactive chat and to build upon and expand its functionality. The lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown that agility and flexibility are required to withstand and succeed in the face of continuing change to the provision of library services.

We also include Caroline Ramsden’s (2024) obituary for her father, the late Professor Michael J. Ramsden, who served as the Head of the Department of Librarianship, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Communication, and Acting Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Projects) at RMIT and was a founding member of the Australian Society of Indexers. A great contributor to the library and information professions, he was also a Fellow of the Library Association of Australia (now ALIA).

As usual, we complete the issue with book reviews. Last issue (December 2023) we tied the book reviews to the theme of social work in libraries. To begin 2024, we have nearly as many themes as we have reviews. We look back to understanding the lessons from the COVID pandemic, and forward to transforming technical services and creating a school library with impact. Our reviews are of books covering the detail of online instruction, cataloguing and metadata creation, Library of Congress subject headings, and genre blends for children and young adults. We also bring you the big picture with reviews of books on the internationalisation of the academic library, and the so-called crisis of information which throws up paradoxes of media and information literacy. We trust you will find useful, and enjoy, our latest offerings.