June 2022 Editorial

We are pleased to present the June issue of the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association (JALIA).

In this issue, we have two peer-reviewed research papers, one peer-reviewed research-in-practice paper, and twelve book reviews.

The first paper, by Grgić (2022), traces the history of publications by Croatian immigrants and people of Croatian heritage, specifically in New South Wales, and is relevant to questions around migrant’s information and communication needs and practices in Australia. The paper reports on the findings related to the Croatian diaspora in Australia, part of Croatian Emigrant Press Project, a transnational collaborative project between universities, libraries, and archives in Croatia, Australia, and New Zealand, alongside crowd-sourced data from some personal collections. The paper uncovers the evolution of Croatian publications in Australia from serial publications to newspapers to social media. It is interesting to see how even the names of the Croatian newspapers in NSW evolved in parallel with the history of Croatia from before World War II until now. Today, social networking sites such as Facebook have become the site of interactions between members of the Croatian diaspora, as they enable dynamic interactions and discussions of news, and user-generated content.

The second research paper, by Hider (2022), investigates one of the core roles of public libraries – providing access to resources for leisure reading. A questionnaire was developed to explore leisure reading amongst working-age adults, revealing insights into the value of reading for educational, entertainment and relaxation purposes. The research findings show that the combination of free access to print materials, substantial and appealing collections, the ability to browse, and having access to advice from librarians, are all key factors that make public libraries attractive to leisure readers.

The research-in-practice paper from Gunton (2022) looks at academic integrity in the Australian higher education sector, particularly the increasing rates of contract cheating, plagiarism, and academic misconduct. Academic librarians can provide expertise in developing and implementing evidence-based, pedagogical solutions as part of a university-wide approach. This paper describes the development of an online self-paced learning activity for coursework students, demonstrating the role of libraries and librarians in preventing and reducing instances of academic misconduct.

This issue is packed with book reviews, featuring 12 curated by Ian McCallum and Sherrey Quinn. Topics covered include digital repositories, institutional repositories, digital preservation, digital humanities, and IT management in times of crisis providing a cluster of technical book reviews. There are also reviews of a wealth of diverse books about engaging library workers, a readers’ advisory guide to horror, reference and access for archives and manuscripts, and collection management in a connected future. Almost no topic has been overlooked, with Colin Steele rounding out the offering with a special double review on the history of libraries and museums. Consider JALIA book reviews the thinking librarian’s short-cut to enlightenment!