June 2021 Editorial

We are pleased to present the June 2021 issue of the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association (JALIA). This issue contains four research papers, two research-in-practice papers, one information-in-practice paper, an obituary, and twelve book reviews. One of the research papers (Singh, 2021) and one of the research-in-practice papers (De Leon, 2021) were from the Fifteenth Australasian Conference on Research Applications in Information and Library Studies (RAILS), held on 28th and 29th of October 2019, at St. Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra, and convened by the School of Information Studies of Charles Sturt University. These two papers unfortunately were unable to fit in the September 2020 RAILS special issue. We thank the authors of these papers for their forbearance in awaiting publication.

The papers in this issue are on a wide variety of topics. The first research paper is very relevant and topical, as we are still responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of authors from Charles Sturt University examine public libraries’ response to the pandemic via a survey of public library managers who completed a survey in August 2020 from 695 branch locations (Garner et al., 2021). Results show that during the period of physical library closures, public libraries established new services and expanded existing services. Challenges are also reported, but overall, the paper demonstrates that libraries were able to continue to serve their communities with agility.

The second paper (Singh, 2021) examines the influence of knowledge sharing within virtual team projects of library and information science students. Although conducted prior to the pandemic, this research offers valuable insights into self-emerged leadership in virtual teams, an environment in which we are increasingly working.

The third research paper (Tong & Song, 2021) maps out existing research on the interaction between social media and government trust, using bibliometric methods and data visualisation techniques. The authors paint a picture of this phenomenon using the CiteSpace software to analyse journal outputs from the Web of Science. Results reveal an interesting relationship between the Internet and governments, the impact of social media on government trust, and the contribution of social media to government trust and mitigation responses.

The final research paper reviews literature from the digital humanities, academic librarianship, and critical librarianship, focusing on potential roles for Australian academic librarians in the digital humanities. Bell and Kennan (2021) discuss the differences between service and collaborative roles, including how service models characterise current perceptions of librarians’ roles. Findings of this review indicate that there are, indeed, roles for librarians in the DH that can contribute to scholarly partnerships beyond service provision.

Moving to the research-in-practice papers, Simon De Leon (2021) provides a case study of using the social return on investment (SROI) impact assessment framework to assist in measuring intangible value in a public library in the Philippines. Overall, this research-in-practice paper shows that the SROI methodology can be applied in a library context and can greatly assist libraries in programming to meet their strategic objectives and goals.

Ponte et al. (2021) from RMIT University investigate the opportunities afforded by open education resources. Their paper reports how the Libraries of the Australasian Network (LATN) Open Textbook Initiative evolved and how a deliberate campaign to increase awareness and adoption of OER was created. Activities included delivering OER awareness sessions, aligning OER textbooks with selected subject areas, delivering an open textbook forum with local and international speakers, and creating a savings bank for self-reported OER adoptions. As a result of this activity, there has been greater visibility of OER and the discussion has evolved from textbook affordability to open educational practices.

The information-in-practice paper (McAuliffe, 2021) explores and reviews some of the literature surrounding the issue of traditional classification methods for queer identities and content in libraries. The conclusion from this review is that there is no one universal solution and all libraries should critically engage with their collection in relation to the safety and information needs of their community before making any decisions.

The final paper is an obituary, a tribute to Edward A. Parr, an influential librarian and educator compiled by Janice Caulfield and Russell Cope (2021).

This issue finishes with twelve book reviews which we hope you will find useful and enjoyable.