Open Access Published by De Gruyter Open Access

Volume 3 Issue 1

January 2019

Issue of Open Information Science

Contents
Journal Overview

Research Articles

Open Access April 5, 2019

Risk as a Predictor of Online Competitive Information Acquisition

Daphne Ruth Raban, Lior Koren

Page range: 47-60

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Abstract

This study set out to investigate how personal user traits and behavior and information cues influence the acquisition of online information for actionable decisions. The relationship between personal traits (risk propensity and individual information absorptive capacity), behavioral factors (perceived risk and willingness-to-pay) and informational cues (scenario risk level) was examined by conducting an experiment with 125 mid-level managers. Participants were exposed to high- and low-risk scenarios, given the opportunity to consume free and fee-based competitive information sources, and asked to make a managerial decision. Results of the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) for information sources indicate: (i) a significant correlation between the perceived risk and WTP, (ii) a significant correlation between the perceived risk and the number of competitive intelligence information items bought, (iii) individual absorptive capacity has high internal reliability, and (iv) investment risk propensity and individual information absorptive capacity did not influence WTP or willingness-to-consume competitive intelligence information. Informational cues rather than personal traits impact decision makers' WTP and willingness to-consume competitive intelligence information. This suggests that best practices should be developed for the use of online information sources in decision-making calibrated to the risk level. Risk level indication may also aid to avoid biases stemming from under- or overuse of information.

Open Access May 16, 2019

The Effect of Elaborative Interrogation on the Synthesis of Ideas from Multiple Sources of Information

Omer Farooq

Page range: 76-87

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Abstract

The new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2016) highlights the ability to synthesize ideas from multiple sources of information as one of the key knowledge practices. There is little generalizable empirical research based on cognitive science principles to guide information literacy instruction practice. The present study examined the effectiveness of elaborative interrogation instructional strategy on integration and transformation of ideas from multiple sources of information. 86 participants took part in the study via Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The experiment involved reading five texts on the topic of climate change and responding to embedded elaborative interrogation prompts (treatment groups only), and writing a synthesis paragraph on the topic. Two one-way ANCOVAs were employed to test the hypotheses which indicated that elaborative interrogation prompts did not significantly improve performance on transformation and integration measures. This study contributes to the growing body of literature addressing information literacy instruction based on the new Framework and provides a promising long-term cross-disciplinary research partnership in terms of linking evidencebased guidance for instruction based on cognitive science principles to information literacy knowledge practices in the new Framework.

Open Access April 29, 2019

From “Cuines del Món” Gastronomic BiblioLab to “Cuinem Santa Coloma”: Cooking cultures and social cohesion at Fondo Public Library (Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Barcelona)

Mariona Chavarria Domingo

Page range: 88-97

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Abstract

This communication presents a library service carried out at the Library of Fondo, Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Cuines del Món, a gastronomic BiblioLab, is part of the BiblioLab programme of the MLN at Barcelona province (Catalonia). Cuines del Món starts from an analysis of the surrounding area of the library, a highly intercultural one, and with some associated problems like a high poverty index. Cuines del Món is about gastronomy and cooking but, above all, is about community building, interculturality in view. The aim is to offer a space, a completely equipped kitchen, and related cultural activities, which provide a positive interaction working on common interests producing active and collaborative relationships between people and groups which normally would not establish contact, establishing mechanisms or resources to achieve a culturally diverse participation in its activities, by recognising diversity, promoting the knowledge and the visibility of cultural diversity, and implementing measures to ensure equity, egalitarian access to information and culture, rights, opportunities to people issued from diverse cultural and social origins and avoiding discrimination. All this with an active involvement of citizens.

Open Access June 20, 2019

Engaging a Data Revolution: Open Science Data Hubs and the New Role for Universities in Africa

Christine Mwongeli Mutuku

Page range: 98-114

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Abstract

This paper presents a new ideology for engaging Africa in a data revolution. It explores the idea of creating open-science-data-hubs (OSDH) at flag-ship universities in Africa to preserve and share both internally and externally produced data. Although limited in the technical aspect, the objective here is to explore the pragmatism of how and why such an endeavor in Africa should be undertaken. This paper argues that the African university is uniquely placed to play this new role in today’s technological world and discusses the characteristics and foundational pillars necessary to set up such a program. The arguments provided here challenge Africa to be smart and adopt clever solutions to their data generation, collection and access problems, by finding value and a new role in the intellectuals and institutions of higher learning and in the necessity to involve them in the generation, preservation and sharing of data and knowledge that can be used in the policy formulation process.

Gender issues in Library and Information Science: Focusing on Visual Aspects, topical issue ed. by Lesley S. J. Farmer

Open Access April 1, 2019

An Exploratory Journey of Cultural Visual Literacy of “Non-Conforming” Gender Representations from Pre-Colonial Sub- Saharan Africa

Bharat Mehra, Paul A. Lemieux, Keri Stophel

Page range: 1-21

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Abstract

This article is an exploratory journey of cultural visual literacy of “non-conforming” gender representations from pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides select research-based visual evidence of “non-conforming” genders and sexual orientations in traditional cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa as represented in its popular press, scholarly literature, and government and United Nations publications, amongst other sources. These have been selectively described in the context of key cultural themes that include (alphabetically listed): art, folklore, gender behavior, language, marriage, religion, and, sexual activity. The article provides a glimpse of data that were collected during a collaborative project selected by the University of Tennessee’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy to partner in the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab program of engaged scholarship involving two information science graduate students and a faculty member. A few insights from the exploratory journey of the cultural visual literacy of “non-conforming” gender representations are also reported.

Open Access April 1, 2019

Representing Gender: Visual Literacy Instruction in the Academic Library

Millicent Fullmer

Page range: 22-31

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Abstract

Contemporary society is dominated by visual communication, yet visual literacy is a learned skill that requires training. Gender issues, particularly the subjects of gender diversity and power struggles, are deeply pertinent to today’s visual culture. The critical consumption of information has long been taught in libraries, though instruction has typically prioritized text-based sources. However, visual literacy instruction has the capacity to provoke critical inquiry into issues of gender, race, social class, and ethnicity. As institutions that promote social justice, libraries can help improve diversity and inclusion in their communities through teaching visual literacy skills at all levels. Critical visual literacy instruction can also help academic libraries advance student scholarship, which can only be achieved if they are literate in all forms of knowledge production.

Open Access July 19, 2019

“The Word Real Is No Longer Real”: Deepfakes, Gender, and the Challenges of AI-Altered Video

Travis L. Wagner, Ashley Blewer

Page range: 32-46

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Abstract

It is near-impossible for casual consumers of images to authenticate digitally-altered images without a keen understanding of how to “read” the digital image. As Photoshop did for photographic alteration, so to have advances in artificial intelligence and computer graphics made seamless video alteration seem real to the untrained eye. The colloquialism used to describe these videos are “deepfakes”: a portmanteau of deep learning AI and faked imagery. The implications for these videos serving as authentic representations matters, especially in rhetorics around “fake news.” Yet, this alteration software, one deployable both through high-end editing software and free mobile apps, remains critically under examined. One troubling example of deepfakes is the superimposing of women’s faces into pornographic videos. The implication here is a reification of women’s bodies as a thing to be visually consumed, here circumventing consent. This use is confounding considering the very bodies used to perfect deepfakes were men. This paper explores how the emergence and distribution of deepfakes continues to enforce gendered disparities within visual information. This paper, however, rejects the inevitability of deepfakes arguing that feminist oriented approaches to artificial intelligence building and a critical approaches to visual information literacy can stifle the distribution of violently sexist deepfakes.

Open Access May 11, 2019

The Female Gaze? Postmodernism and the Search for Women in the Digitized Photographic Collections of Swedish Memory Institutions

Rachel Pierce

Page range: 61-75

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Abstract

Both the photograph and digitization are often defined as democratizing forces. But neither exists outside the system of power dynamics that structure art, history, and cultural heritage. This article uses postmodernist theorization of knowledge hierarchies in the archive developed by archival scholars Terry Cook and Joan Schwartz to examine the gendered nature of metadata and data connected to digitized photographic material available on the platforms of the three major Swedish memory institutions: the Royal Library, the Nordic Museum, and the National Archives. Given that digitized photographs require the addition of machine-readable data and metadata to be findable, this information demonstrates the extent to which digitization staffs have consciously thought about the visibility of gender in their online collections. The research questions of this article are thus twofold: (1) to what extend have Swedish memory institutions embraced a postmodern approach to the archive in their photography digitization projects, and (2) has this approach resulted in the greater visibility of women-oriented material? The findings indicate that Swedish institutions have adopted postmodernist thinking about archival flexibility to varying degrees, but none have thought thoroughly about increasing the visibility of woman-oriented material.

Topical issue: Fake News in Library and Information Science

Open Access October 11, 2019

The role of pseudo-cognitive authorities and self-deception in the dissemination of fake news

Thomas J. Froehlich

Page range: 115-136

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Abstract

This paper draws together insights from a variety of fields (including philosophy, psychology, information studies, sociology, politics, and media studies) to synthesize insight into why fake news is created, disseminated, sustained and authorized so as to understand how and why it is successful and how it might be challenged. The premier case for analysis will be Trump, his supporters, his party and his media. Central to this issue is the role of cognitive authorities, a notion first articulated and developed by Patrick Wilson (1983). Honest cognitive authorities have credibility and expertise and are regarded as trustworthy. Their knowledge, based on direct and verifiable knowledge, is sought, communicated and accepted, when an information seeker comes to them about a matter of which an information seeker has come to believe that they have expertise, credibility and knowledge. Pseudo- or false cognitive authorities appear to have the same qualities of credibility, expertise and trustworthiness, but on critical examination they fail in these qualities and strive to impose a partisan agenda irrespective of truth, evidence, logic or facts. Unfortunately, these conditions do not deter believers from accepting them. These authorities are of various types, such news programs or organizations, religious leaders, or social media sites, that create, propagate, authorize and legitimatize fake news stories, that partisan adherents are willing to accept and perpetuate through a form of collective self-deception and who will at the same time denigrate sources and cognitive authorities of genuine and verified information or knowledge. Starting with the InfoWars, we proceed to discuss the nature of the forms of false information on the internet, and the role of deception, particularly self-deception, social self-deception, and collective self-deception in the acceptance real fake news, which is authorized and legitimatized by pseudo-cognitive authorities. In the process we contrast genuine cognitive authorities with dishonest ones, and show how the psychological factors, motivations, and collective self-deception feed each other into a reinforcing collective self-deception so strong it may be equivalent to a cult. This dialogical process (pseudo-cognitive authorities deceiving and self-deceiving themselves and their listeners, who in turn “validate” those authorities through word-of-mouth and seeking and associating with like-minded groups) is reinforced by repetition, the Dunning-Kruger effect, agnotology, and other factors. At the conclusion the roles of information professionals will be examined concerning the difficulties confronting fake news and fake news adherents and developing paths for successful strategies in coping with them.

Open Access August 21, 2019

Discovering fake news embedded in the opposing hashtag activism networks on Twitter: #Gunreformnow vs. #NRA

Miyoung Chong

Page range: 137-153

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Abstract

After Russia’s malicious attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election were revealed, “fake news” gained notoriety and became a popular term in political discourses and related research areas. Empirical research about fake news in diverse settings is in the beginning phase while research has revealed limitedly that “what we know about fake news so far is predominantly based on anecdotal evidence.” The purpose of this study is to investigate fake news included in politically opposing hashtag activism, #Gunreformnow and #NRA (The National Rifle Association). This study attempted to lay out the process of identifying fake news in the hashtag activism network on Twitter as a two-step process: 1) hashtag frequency analysis, top word-pair analysis, and social network analysis and 2) qualitative content analysis. This study discovered several frames through a qualitative approach. One of the prominent fake news frames was intentionally misleading information that attacks the opposing political party and its advocators. The disinformation tweets overall presented far-right wing ideologies and included multiple hashtags and a YouTube video to promote and distribute their agendas while calling for coalition of far-right wing supporters. However, the fake news tweets often failed to provide a reliable source to back up credibility of the content.

Open Access November 1, 2019

Information Literacy vs. Fake News: The Case of Ukraine

Maria Haigh, Thomas Haigh, Tetiana Matychak

Page range: 154-165

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Abstract

We profile the successful Learn to Discern information literacy program, developed in Ukraine in 2015 and now being adapted to the needs of other countries. Drawing on published documents, interviews, and the personal knowledge of one the initiative’s designers we situate this work as a response to the particular challenges of the Ukrainian information environment following Russia’s hybrid offensive which begun in 2014 with its aggressive deployment of propaganda and so-called “fake news.” We argue that the Learn to Discern program was a coming together of three formerly separate strands: a focus on the development of modern library infrastructure, a distinctive Ukrainian model of information and media literacy, and the hands-on debunking of misinformation performed by the StopFake group.

Open Access September 3, 2019

Looks Real, or Really Fake? Warnings, Visual Attention and Detection of False News Articles

Bartosz W. Wojdynski, Matthew T. Binford, Brittany N. Jefferson

Page range: 166-180

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Abstract

In recent years, online misinformation designed to resemble news by adopting news design conventions has proven to be a powerful vehicle for deception and persuasion. In a 2 (prior warning: present/absent) x 2 (article type: false/true) eye-tracking experiment, news consumers (N=49) viewed four science news articles from unfamiliar sources, then rated each article for credibility before being asked to classify each as true news or as false information presented as news. Results show that reminding participants about the existence of fake news significantly improved correct classification of false news articles, but did not lead to a significant increase in misclassification of true news articles as false. Analysis of eye-tracking data showed that duration of visual attention to news identifier elements, such as the headline, byline, timestamp on a page, predicted correct article classification. Implications for consumer education and information design are discussed.

Open Access August 28, 2019

Information ACTism in “Trumping” the Contemporary Fake News Phenomenon in Rural Libraries

Bharat Mehra

Page range: 181-196

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Abstract

Fabricated or fake news has become a phenomenon of unprecedented proportions in the 21st century. Donald J. Trump, the 45th and current President of the United States, has played a major role in its pervasive adoption and spread of misinformation and disinformation since his ascendency on November 8, 2016. In today’s complex political landscape, this article introduces the gerund and present participle “trumping” in mock homage to the fake news legacy of President Trump. “Trumping” simultaneously symbolizes a seemingly contradictory act of subversive and patriotic resistance for libraries to counter his fake news rhetoric to further his political ends. It calls for rural libraries (amongst others) to embrace a multi-pronged approach of information ACTism that draws upon intersections in information literacy-fluency-advocacy in their “trumping” actions to resist the President’s unhealthy behaviors since rural communities (and others) continue to be especially susceptible to his negativity and use of fake news. This think piece is based on analysis of selected news media coverage and provides libraries out-ofthe-box strategies to lead their communities towards critical and reflective analytical political decision-making in the face of fake news bombardment emerging from a person in the highest office of the land.

Open Access July 23, 2019

Fake News and Propaganda: A Critical Discourse Research Perspective

Iulian Vamanu

Page range: 197-208

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Abstract

Having been invoked as a disturbing factor in recent elections across the globe, fake news has become a frequent object of inquiry for scholars and practitioners in various fields of study and practice. My article draws intellectual resources from Library and Information Science, Communication Studies, Argumentation Theory, and Discourse Research to examine propagandistic dimensions of fake news and to suggest possible ways in which scientific research can inform practices of epistemic self-defense. Specifically, the article focuses on a cluster of fake news of potentially propagandistic import, employs a framework developed within Argumentation Theory to explore ten ways in which fake news may be used as propaganda, and suggests how Critical Discourse Research, an emerging cluster of theoretical and methodological approaches to discourses, may provide people with useful tools for identifying and debunking fake news stories. My study has potential implications for further research and for literacy practices. In particular, it encourages empirical studies of its guiding premise that people who became familiar with certain research methods are less susceptible to fake news. It also contributes to the design of effective research literacy practices.

Open Access August 21, 2019

Alternative Facts, Fake News, Conflicting Perceptions, & Their Relevance to Library and Information Professionals

Bill Crowley

Page range: 209-221

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Abstract

This article addresses contemporary and emerging issues involving perceptions of “truth,” particularly truth in social networking and other web environments. It is a work primarily tackling issues concerning perceptions of truth in the United States of America with a lesser emphasis on their impact on other developed nations. Heuristics (trial and error lessons) derived from the author’s tacit knowledge gained in the political arena communicating factual information to legislators and their staff under the American constitutional right to petition for “redress of grievances” are provided. Research dealing with the well-documented predisposition of people, both well and poorly-educated, to seek out information supporting their existing views is considered. Also reviewed are the implications of the increased availability of disinformation and misinformation from hostile, mercenary, illegal, alt-right, alt-left and other contentious online sources. The essay concludes with the examination of the feasibility of a spectrum of possible roles to be played by libraries and information centers and their personnel in support of a broader identification and provision of validated facts at a time of overabundance in often unreliable electronic information.

Open Access July 26, 2019

News Literacy and Fake News Curriculum: School Librarian Perceptions of Pedagogical Practices

Lesley Farmer

Page range: 222-234

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Abstract

People need to consciously and critically analyze and evaluate mass media messages, especially in the light of increasing fake news; they need to be news literate. The logical time to start teaching such literacy is in K-12 educational settings so that all individuals have the opportunity to learn and practice news literacy. California middle and high school teacher librarians were surveyed to ascertain their perceptions of the level of news literacy demonstrated by their schools’ students. Forty-one respondents indicate a need for news literacy instruction, but they also indicated that little curriculum attention was given to that need. Moreover, teacher librarians and classroom teachers need training on news literacy. Fake news is a wake-up call to educators and the community at large to gain competency in critically analyzing fake news in particular, and information in general.

Open Access December 5, 2019

The Self and Others: Revisiting Information Needs and Libraries as Public, Social Institutions in a Post-truth World

Tami Oliphant

Page range: 261-273

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Abstract

The post-truth era and the increasing ease with which fake news is disseminated and consumed is a wicked problem that invites re-examination of the media environment, algorithmic authority, library and information science (LIS) professional practice, and what people bring to information interactions in terms of cognitive biases and worldviews. Fake news has social consequences such as undermining civic discourse and democracy, and inciting hatred. Consequently, the role of libraries as public, social institutions embedded in democratic societies and the relational aspects of information needs are important to consider. An alternative framework, the decent society, a society in which its attendant social institutions do not humiliate, is explored. An example from the Toronto Public Library (TPL) is used to illustrate the ways in which a social institution can uphold the principle of non-humiliation in an increasingly politicized world.

Open Access December 31, 2019

Critical Information Literacy as a Path to Resist “Fake News”: Understanding Disinformation as the Root Problem

Anna Cristina Brisola, Andréa Doyle

Page range: 274-286

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Abstract

This paper proposes to discuss the problem of Fake News, its root problem disinformation and the path to resist it, critical information literacy. It initially distinguishes the concepts of fake news and disinformation through the views of authors as Allcott & Gentzkow (2017), Chomsky (2014), Serrano (2010) and Volkoff (1999). Our perspective considers that none of these phenomena are new or recent, and we do not consider the “combat” of fake news to be a simple task, considering that it involves issues related to the limits of freedom of speech and media censorship. Fake News are understood as intentionally and verifiably false articles created to manipulate people and disinformation as a bigger ensemble of techniques to manipulate public opinion for political gain with perverted (but not only false) information. One way to deal with these matters goes through a more complex process: the development of critical information literacy in the society as a whole. This concept is studied from the work of Downey (2016), Elmborg (2012), Freire (1967;1970) and others. Freire’s critical pedagogy helps the self-construction of subjects aware of their position and their social role, and it is a basic key for the formation of autonomous, critical and responsible individuals. Based on that, critical information literacy is a state of vigilance towards information that enables people to understand that information is socially constructed and to use it to produce new information in a creative and contextualized way. It concludes that critical information literacy is a consistent tool of resistance to Fake News as it allows people not only survive the informational flood but mainly to build a more ethical society in the use of information.

Special Issue: Habits and Rituals, ed. by Raffaela Giovagnoli, and Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic

Open Access October 11, 2019

Bridging Connectionism and Relational Cognition through Bi-directional Affective-Associative Processing

Robert Lowe, Alexander Almér, Christian Balkenius

Page range: 235-260

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Abstract

Connectionist architectures constitute a popular method for modelling animal associative learning processes in order to glean insights into the formation of cognitive capacities. Such approaches (based on purely feedforward activity) are considered limited in their ability to capture relational cognitive capacities. Pavlovian learning value-based models, being not based purely on fully connected feedforward structure, have demonstrated learning capabilities that often mimic those of ‘higher’ relational cognition. Capturing data using such models often reveals how associative mechanisms can exploit structure in the experimental setting, so that ‘explicit’ relational cognitive capacities are not, in fact, required. On the other hand, models of relational cognition, implemented as neural networks, permit formation and retrieval of relational representations of varying levels of complexity. The flexible processing capacities of such models are, however, are subject to constraints as to how offline relational versus online (real-time, real-world) processing may be mediated. In the current article, we review the potential for building a connectionist-relational cognitive architecture with reference to the representational rank view of cognitive capacity put forward by Halford et al. Through interfacing system 1-like (connectionist/associative learning) and system 2-like (relational-cognition) computations through a bidirectional affective processing approach, continuity between Halford et al’s cognitive systems may be operationalized according to real world/online constraints. By addressing i) and ii) in this manner, this paper puts forward a testable unifying framework for system 1-like and system 2-like cognition.

About this journal

Topical Issue:
Information Behaviour and Information Ethics
Guest Editors:
Aurora González-Teruel, University of Valencia, Spain
Margarita Pérez-Pulido, University of Extremadura, Spain
Submission deadline: 15th of June 2023

Open Information Science is an international, open access, cross-disciplinary, single-blind peer-reviewed journal that presents original research on all areas of library and information sciences. It aims to publish the research papers on the most recent issues and developments in the field. Open Information Science is particularly interested in the dissemination of the intellectual efforts of the global academic community in this field. This journal is going to be helpful for researchers, specialists, teachers and practitioners of librarianship.

Scope of the journal includes, but is not limited to:

library and information science - theory and practice
management of library and information systems
organization of knowledge
information technology
research methods
information behavior
information and media literacy
health information seeking behavior
information management
information governance
digital libraries and information systems
school and academic libraries
scholarly communication
library education
public libraries
archival science
cultural heritage
preservations
media studies
media education
social media
e-infrastructures
electronic communications
mass communication
networking
open access

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Open Special Issues:

Open Information Science welcomes proposals for Special Issues from prospective Guest Editors. Please contact the Managing Editor (Joanna.Kosinska@degruyter.com) for more information.

Published Special Issues:

Habits and Rituals, ed. by Raffaela Giovagnoli and Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
Gender Issues in Library and Information Science: Focusing on Visual Aspects, ed. by Lesley S.J. Farmer
Fake News in Library and Information Science, ed. by Renate Chancellor
Access to Information: Freedom and Censorship, ed. by Shannon Oltmann
Information Studies, Race and Racism, ed. by Melissa Villa-Nicholas and LaTesha Velez
Information Management and Digital Information, ed. by Adrienne Muir
Handwriting and Paleography Studies in the Digital Age, ed. by Diego Navarro Bonilla
Paleography Nowadays: Achievements and Challenges, ed. by Diego Navarro Bonilla
Disinformation in the Middle East, ed. by Ahmed Al-Rawi
Digital Wellness, ed. by Valerie Karno