Editorial

This is a brief overview that explains the trends followed by the journal during these difficult times for scientific endeavours in the field of information sciences and also the challenges that the journal and the professional community have recently faced. Beyond any obstacle, knowledge can be enhanced only through ethics, communication and academic cooperation.

This article examines the nature of the concepts of disnormative information and normative information.

Information can also be viewed in relation to its accuracy, values, norms and attitudes prevailing in society. Not all our actions comply with the norms and values accepted by the society and some of the information can be against our values and norms or even against the legislation. This information is here defined as the disnormative information. Disnormative information is the opposite of normative information which is supporting the values, norms and legislation of our society given by authorities, scientists etc. Disnormative information is often distributed via internet and especially in discussion forums and other social media services. It promotes counterculture, it is based on experience, opinions and pseudoscience, not scientific results, and it does not support the generally accepted conventions of our society.

Keywords: disnormative information information knowledge information seeking

In the last decades, a line of research on library quality assessment, library relevance and library impact has been developed in library and information science all over the world, with the aim of quality improvement and possible implications in organizational strategy and culture.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how Romanian researchers perceive the importance of library in their academic lives and how library usage relates to researchers' outcomes and visibility.

A case study involved a qualitative approach through content analysis of a series of answers obtained by means of twenty completed questionnaires and six registered semi-structured interviews with researchers in mathematics, chemical pharmaceutics, industrial ecology and organic chemistry.

As a result, in order to offer high quality services, Romanian research libraries have to be more prepared to address different requests from their users and to adopt adequate techniques and initiatives in supporting research and, also, formal, informal and professional education.

Keywords: library relevance library quality assessment library impact Romanian research libraries researchers' visibility

The early studies concerning library users were focused was on identifying general patterns of research and retrieval of information. Along the years, the studies have shifted towards measuring the degree of satisfaction with library services. The present study is taking into consideration both approaches and investigates aspects related the reasons for frequenting the library. In February 2018, on the premises of “Carol I” Central University Library of Bucharest, we have conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with the new users of the library. Our main findings are the following: the main reason for coming to the library is studying for or writing a paper, users have a rather stereotypical representation of the library and the users regard the library as a place with a potential for interaction with fellow students.

Keywords: monastery internet online environment community

Language is the main and the most effective vehicle of communication among people, a tool to fix their ideas and express them to their neighbour. The degree to which people manage to raise a foundation based on the rules of the language which they was born with depends on the degree to which their message has been received and understood; the higher this degree is, the better the communication is and the happier people are. This fact is imperative nowadays, in a vivid and modern society, since the unprecedented explosion of the media, especially the virtual one, requires that people should know other languages, mainly English, besides speaking their mother tongue. Free movement, especially of individuals looking for a job or for completing studies, should be taken into account. The university libraries face a great flow of young foreign students, so it is important that any librarian from all library services possess a bit of foreign languages, at least a bit of English; the more this bit, the more sustainable their activity. This goal could be achieved by means of language-learning courses, of all levels, but the university curriculum must include such compulsory foreign language-learning courses (English language learning), focused on both general and professional thesaurus. No less important is the role of language proficiency in other library services, other than communication and reference services, especially in the research activity, where librarians deal with texts mostly written in English. This article, therefore, aims to argue the importance of knowing foreign languages, especially of knowing English, in the effort to raise and maintain a high standard of the library services.

Keywords: University Libraries Language Plurilingualism Library Services Communication Translating Services Foreign Language Learning

Higher education in Romania has a long tradition to serve the academic, cultural, scientific life, but it is little known about the information transfer throughout informal channels of communication taking place within its institutions. The article aims to show the importance of information transmitted through informal channels in higher education institutions in Romania and to present aspects of informal communication. The article also approaches aspects such as what is informal communication in a higher education institution, and why is this type of information used among the members of the community of a higher education institution. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the informal communication channels in the university environment and their impact on the official communication, respectively on the general institutional performances.

Keywords: informal communication information informal channels of communication higher education