Selección de temas que preocupan a los profesionales de la información. Crónica de la evolución de la biblioteconomí­a, documentación, industria de la información a lo largo de cada año.
Ediciones Profesionales de la Información SL
The Internet as an archive and production resource: the rise of open audiovisual content in linear and on-demand television
Video platforms and social networks have ceased to be mere content repositories to become primary sources for audiovisual production. This transformation reshapes television routines both in news services, where the web acts as a global correspondent, and in entertainment, with the rise of FAST channels fueled by viral content. However, this massive integration of third-party material poses critical challenges for media archivists: from intellectual property management and verification to the preservation of ephemeral and often degraded digital formats.
Comunicación social y medios de comunicación
Artificial intelligence, scientific inequality and effects on knowledge production: how AI widens asymmetries in research
Unlike other digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has been incorporated into the field of scientific research under a predominantly optimistic narrative. Within this framework, AI is presented in both formal and informal discussions as a technology capable of democratizing research processes, from research design to data analysis, reducing barriers to entry and benefiting traditionally disadvantaged researchers or ecosystems. This essay challenges this premise, arguing that AI does not necessarily reduce inequalities in the production of scientific knowledge, but rather tends to widen them. The central argument is that its effective use depends on pre-existing capital and skills that are unevenly distributed among researchers and institutions. Consequently, the expansion of AI introduces a new layer of value that reinforces cumulative advantages and accentuates the gap between those who know how to integrate it effectively into their research processes and those who do not. Using the specific case of communication research, this essay explores the ambivalent effects of this technology and argues for the need to strengthen methodological and theoretical training as a necessary condition to prevent AI from consolidating a false sense of security regarding competence and a standardization of knowledge production that leads to increased productivity detached from quality.
Comunicación cientí­fica y evaluación de la investigación
News on Information Science and Communication for 2025
Compilation of the main Spanish and world events and news produced during 2025 about information science, libraries, internet, digital content, social communication, and scholarly publication.
Quién es quién en el Anuario ThinkEPI 2025
Presentamos este volumen 19 del Anuario ThinkEPI, una revista que nació en 2007 con el propósito de seleccionar los temas que preocupan en el ámbito de la Información y la Documentación, y que se publica acceso abierto y edición continua. Si en aquel entonces se analizaban temas como los nuevos servicios de internet, Google y la búsqueda semántica, Wikipedia, la incipiente web 2.0, la brecha digital, la usabilidad o el software libre, hoy la atención en lo tecnológico está puesta en el desarrollo y aplicación de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA). A la Información y la Documentación se ha sumado la Comunicación y ha cobrado un espacio importante la comunicación científica y la evaluación de la investigación.
Trends in Information and Documentation training: from public libraries to micro-credentials
This note reflects on the main challenges facing education and training in Library and Information Science in Spain, within a context marked by the closure of university degree programmes, the redefinition of professional profiles, and the emergence of artificial intelligence. It highlights a clear trend towards specialisation, modular learning, and lifelong learning. The paper also examines the impact of AI on the evolution of professional profiles, emphasising the growing importance of critical thinking, information evaluation, strategic vision, and soft skills. In addition, it addresses the need to adopt emerging teaching methodologies—such as challenge-based learning and dual education—to strengthen youth employability and to make visible the non-automatable added value of information professionals. Finally, it underscores the importance of ethical training and information verification in a landscape characterised by disinformation and algorithmic bias.
Quality indicators for social science journals in the era of narrative bibliometrics
In the current landscape of research assessment, driven by movements such as CoARA, there is a shift from purely quantitative models toward narrative bibliometrics, which combines metric indicators with a qualitative justification of impact. This paper analyzes how scientific journals, particularly in the social sciences, can adapt to this new paradigm to enhance their “curricular value” and assist authors in defending their contributions during accreditation and research assessment processes. The methodology involves a comprehensive review of documentation and criteria from major Spanish evaluation agencies (such as ANECA and CNEAI) and indexing bodies like Fecyt and SciELO. As a result, a checklist for editors is proposed, classifying key indicators into five fundamental categories: access and openness, editorial quality, ethics and integrity, process transparency, and impact and visibility. The study concludes that adopting practices such as Open Access publishing (specifically the Diamond route), transparency in authorship contribution (CRediT), and data publication is essential to align journal interests with the emerging narrative needs of researchers.
Public libraries facing unwanted loneliness: initial reflections from the SOLIBCM project
Unwanted loneliness has emerged as a social challenge with demonstrated effects on mental health, social cohesion, and socio-economic costs. This article presents the conceptual and contextual framework of the SOLIBCM project, an applied research study that explores perceptions of unwanted loneliness among university students and its relationship with community spaces, with particular attention to public libraries. The project aims to contribute to empirical evidence in an underexplored field and to inform future lines of intervention that integrate libraries into strategies for the prevention and mitigation of unwanted loneliness.
Bibliotecas y servicios de información y documentación
Bibframe in Spain: A possible strategy for its implementation
This note provides a brief review of the state of Bibframe implementation in 2025, from different perspectives: bibliographic data on the Web, users, direct cataloging in Bibframe, and the parallel evolution of the MARC 21 format. According to this analysis, it can be stated that this vocabulary has already reached a high degree of maturity, and that a hybrid cataloging environment has been established, where RDA, MARC 21, and Bibframe coexist, and it is close to reaching a point of no return. The state of Bibframe application in Spain is also analyzed, and some projects that can benefit from Bibframe while simultaneously contributing to its implementation are proposed.
Normalización en el tratamiento y gestión de información
Actions for the universalization of library services in rural áreas
Starting from the premise that access to culture is a right, and the important social role of the public library, the note contains a brief overview of the actions currently underway in rural Spain to extend quality public library services to one hundred percent of its population, with existing services and recent institutional efforts, from the governmental to the local level and from civil society itself.
Searching for cracks in CoARA: A multi-level proposal for analyzing the Spanish evaluation reform
In this brief note, I present a multilevel analytical framework for analyzing the current reform that Aneca is introducing in the Spanish accreditation and sexenios system, under the auspices of CoARA. This framework defines four types of actors that participate in the evaluation system: institutions, evaluation agencies, technicians and managers of universities and research centers, and researchers. It also establishes four levels of implementation of the reform: strategic, operational, implementation, and results. Thed ifferent actors can participate at one or more levels, establishing relationships of dependency and control between them. This model allows the identification of possible points of friction when the objectives of actors at different levels are not aligned.
From the semantic web to the synthetic web: Knowledge graphs as infrastructure for generative AI
The semantic web was born with the idea of publishing structured and interconnected data. Its adoption was limited by technical barriers, a lack of accessible tools and a weak culture of open data. Even so, projects like DBpedia and, above all, Wikidata demonstrated that knowledge graphs can support reliable and useful applications in specific domains. The emergence of generative AI based on LLMs has changed the landscape. These systems produce fluent responses, but also hallucinations and a lack of traceability. In addition, their knowledge is implicit and difficult to update. This has increased interest in integrating generative AI with knowledge graphs to provide precision, coherence and verification. For this reason, hybrid approaches combining LLMs with knowledge graphs are emerging: RAG techniques that query RDF graphs, triple generation, assistance in knowledge engineering, graph-constrained reasoning and training with structured data. In this context, Wikidata has become a key infrastructure for a “synthetic web”, where its capacity to represent structured data and its potential for factual verification make it possible to build more reliable generative AI systems.
Tecnologí­as de la información y la comunicación
The “impossible mandate.” Competencies, professionalization, and the reality of job postings in public libraries
Public libraries face an “impossible mandate” dictated by strategic guidelines that require them to be safeguards against disinformation, promoters of the SDGs, defenders of cultural rights, and experts in IA. This discourse, however, clashes with an administrative reality that perpetuates deprofessionalization, evidenced by job postings for staff without the required specific training and the increasing outsourcing of services. This article analyzes this structural contradiction, using a heritage project (“Iron, Sea, and Digital Memory”) as a case study to illustrate the actual skills needed (institutional mediation, pedagogical design, responsible digital publishing, accessibility), which are incompatible with the required profile. It is argued that, while a degree does not automatically guarantee excellence—a point that demands professional self-criticism—it is a necessary condition for addressing the complexity of current library work. The analysis is based on specific data regarding calls for proposals in the Basque Country (Table 1), connecting them with previous studies on the precarious situation of libraries in rural areas and small towns nationwide. The underlying problem is identified as a structural funding shortfall, and the legal framework (Law 11/2007, Library Cooperation Council) is reviewed. Finally, the text concludes with a call for collective professional action: to move beyond the implementation of individual “best practices” and become actively involved in defending the library ecosystem through associations—the thankless but essential work of “the third screen.”
Library Labs as devices for community mediation: Public policies, implications and recommendations
This article examines the potential of library labs as devices for community mediation, based on the analysis of three programmes promoted by public administrations at different levels: the Laboratorios Bibliotecarios project of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Lab Bibliotecas of the Instituto Cervantes, and the BiblioLab programme of the Diputació de Barcelona. The text identifies the most recurrent institutional, methodological and community-related challenges involved in their implementation and highlights the opportunities these devices offer to strengthen territorial ties, consolidate networked forms of work, and generate shared knowledge infrastructures. Finally, it puts forward recommendations aimed at facilitating the activation of library labs from any type of library and institutional context.
From Decatur to the Web. Revisiting Personal Influence
Published in 1955, Personal Influence by Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld stands as a foundational text in communication research. Seventy years later, this article explores its context of emergence, its theoretical roots, and its influence on the development of communication studies. The text focuses on the two-step flow of communication model, analysing its connections with limited-effects theory and the critiques it provoked. Finally, the article reflects on the continuing relevance of the model within today’s media environment.
Regreso al futuro: conceptos revisitados y relecturas
Digital preservation and its roles in GLAM, a job niche or a transversal knowledge?
Digital preservation is a discipline that ensures the perpetual availability and access of digital documents. It is especially relevant in GLAMs, as they increasingly work with large volumes of digital information associated with culture and collective memory. Its application requires a variety of skills, which may be explained in greater or lesser detail in job positions and which are not always technological. In this sense, the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Competency Framework is a tool through which institutions can identify and thereby fill knowledge gaps among their professionals, make new hires, and/or assign roles in digital preservation. Could we be talking about a job niche? About one or several specializations? Are there professionals with these necessary knowledges, or should we incorporate digital preservation into ongoing training?
Industrias y polí­ticas culturales: edición, producción, consumo y lectura
Ten years working with the algorithm: reflections, challenges and future prospects
Artificial intelligence in journalism has been in development for more than a decade. During this time, it has generated tangible results and valuable lessons, but it has also revealed challenges and gray areas that demand attention. Its progress, which is difficult to reverse, rekindles the debate about risks and opportunities in an increasingly complex and changing information ecosystem in need of agile and effective responses. This article offers a critical assessment of this initial phase, identifying the contributions and limitations of this tool in production routines, analyzing the ethical, social, and professional challenges, and underscoring the need for constructive collaboration between humans and machines.
Transparency in public administrations in the age of artificial intelligence: concepts and key actions
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in all areas of human activity necessitates a redefinition of the concept of transparency in public administrations. The opacity of algorithms can introduce and amplify cognitive, ethical, and cultural biases, influencing information, sources, and results, as well as automated decisions based on AI tools made by public administrations. This affects a wide variety of instruments used by institutions, from classification algorithms for allocating public aid to tools for medical diagnosis. To guarantee the transparency of their operation, the State must undertake the task of analyzing, cataloging, classifying, and controlling the algorithms it uses, and making this information available to citizens. This is further complicated by the fact that, in many cases, understanding these systems requires technical knowledge that the general public lacks. This paper presents this problem, along with some key action points and success stories.
Public libraries in Catalonia: A data snapshot
This note analyses the availability of data related to public library services in Catalonia and provides a characterization of these services during the year 2023. Regarding the available information, some gaps and inconsistencies are observed in the data provided by various sources. The results show that 95 % of the Catalan population lives in municipalities with a public library, and an additional 2 % has access to a mobile library service, while the remaining 3 % has no access to library services. The ratio of library materials per inhabitant stands at 2.1. In municipalities with up to 20,000 inhabitants, the targets set in the Public Reading Map of Catalonia are comfortably met. However, fewer than half of the municipalities with between 20,000 and 200,000 inhabitants meet these targets, and in the five cities with over 200,000 inhabitants, the ratio ranges from 1.1 to 1.5 documents per inhabitant. In 2023, 11.1 % of the population used the lending service. Usage is higher in municipalities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, reaching 14.4 %, while in the five largest cities it drops to 10.4 %. A correlation is observed between the availability of materials per inhabitant and the percentage of active users: the greater the availability of documents, the higher the proportion of the population using the lending service. The annual loan ratio is 1.9 documents per inhabitant, with higher values in smaller municipalities. No relationship is detected between the average income of municipalities and the level of service or usage of public libraries. The most frequently organized activities are workshops, reading clubs, and storytime sessions, followed by talks, lectures, book presentations and exhibitions. The primary target audiences for these activities are adults and children. A very low percentage of activities are directed toward young people, clearly below their share of the population.
The social functions of the media in Robert K. Merton in light of the digital turn
This paper re-examines Robert K. Merton’s reflections on the social functions of the media as set out in the classic essay “Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action”. It argues that the status-conferral function, the enforcement of social norms, and the narcotising dysfunction do not disappear; rather, they are reconfigured by today’s cross-media environment, the algorithmic operations of platforms, and the expansion of generative AI. Status conferral intensifies through the dynamics of the internet, which can grant visibility unconstrained by time and space. Norm enforcement is fuelled by forms of social surveillance enabled by digital technologies; however, phenomena such as hate speech and disinformation may consolidate deviant attitudes. The contemporary version of the narcotising dysfunction materialises via perpetual feeds, notifications, and the hyper-personalisation of information. Overall, Merton’s theoretical framework continues to offer a valuable map for understanding how social dynamics are reorganised amid the transformation of media and communicative devices.
Spanish Early Career researchers and Artificial Intelligence
This paper presents the results of interviews conducted with Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in 2023 and 2025. The research, framed within the Harbingers Projects, focuses on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their academic lives, and primarily in the process of scientific communication. Their voices have revealed that these researchers without stable employment are not leaders in the new technology but rather critical thinkers who reflect on its possibilities and risks, and experiment with it. However, in 2025, a greater diversity of tools used and a wider range of tasks undertaken with the help of AI were observed
Scholar Labs: Towards AI-powered academic responses
This paper presents a functional analysis of Scholar Labs, the still-in-beta artificial intelligence tool integrated into Google Scholar. Its search interface is examined to clarify its functions and identify the resources offered to final users. To this end, the tool is tested by applying a series of prompts that describe its behavior and assess its effectiveness on the first day of operation. Despite current limitations and the tool’s foreseeable evolution, two major opportunities for the scientific community are evident: new ways to interact with Google Scholar for retrieving academic documents and new challenges for increasing the visibility of our scientific output.
The future of academic articles in the age of generative AI: possible scenarios
The paper explores how generative artificial intelligence may reshape the format, function, and value of the academic article. After reviewing the historical roots and consolidation of the scientific paper, it outlines three possible scenarios: accelerated continuity, in which AI boosts production while undermining quality; format redefinition, promoting more transparent, multimodal, and open publications; and radical disruption, envisioning the replacement of the article by dynamic knowledge environments. The conclusion stresses that the challenge is not merely technological but also epistemic and ethical: to redefine the article’s role in order to safeguard trust, traceability, and responsibility in scholarly communication.
Broadband and journalism: from synergies to opportunities
The relationship between the Broadband Society and journalism (and, by extension, the communication sciences) has developed rapidly and consistently. Digital versions of media outlets are established, readers have become accustomed to online access, and more or less innovative business models have emerged that attempt to monetize the phenomenon. This essay-style research analyzes the state of the art and proposes ideas that can help the publishing industry leverage connectivity. The results indicate an improvement in access speed and content production and distribution capacity, new narrative formats are emerging, and interactivity should be leveraged to strengthen reader engagement. The conclusion is that the increased flow and guaranteed availability of broadband is an opportunity that media outlets should seize to achieve greater monetization and audience loyalty.
A law for 4,590 libraries. The case of Finland as an opportunity for Spain through an analysis based on effort indicators
An assessment is carried out within the context of international and comparative librarianship, analyzing the public library systems of Spain and Finland. The analysis is based on indicators of effort in budget, loans, and visits at the level of autonomous communities (Spain) and regions (Finland) between 2010 and 2023. The results lead to the conclusion that Finland has a highly uniform and homogeneous library system, while the situation in Spain is more variable and heterogeneous. These conclusions are connected to the fact that Finland has a national library law, whereas Spain does not. The results are contextualized for each case by examining key aspects in depth, and the question is raised as to whether a national law regulating the provision of resources for public libraries—based on criteria such as those established in Finland—would be possible, preferable, and/or effective in Spain.
Writing about books on Wikipedia: guidelines for enriching the collaborative encyclopedia from libraries
The relevance of Wikipedia entries on books as a source of discovery, reading guidance, and cultural mediation is analysed. It examines how encyclopedic articles on literary works function as hubs of neutral and sustainable information, in contrast to the dispersed and promotional nature of online reviews. Drawing on the international campaign “Every book its reader”, it explores the criteria of encyclopedic notability, the availability of sources, and the role of libraries and communities of practice in the collaborative creation of quality content. The argument is made that writing about books in Wikipedia aligns with the library’s role as a cultural mediator, where strategies can be developed to enrich the reading experience and strengthen the connections between works, readers, and communities.
From Traditional Journals to Open Platforms: Towards a Public Network of Scientific Publishing?
he current system of scientific communication, dominated by commercial academic journals and author-pays publishing models (APCs), faces increasing concerns over economic sustainability, equity of access, and editorial quality. This paper offers a critical analysis of the traditional model’s limitations and explores emerging proposals for transitioning towards a public, open, and equitable publishing ecosystem. Three complementary approaches are discussed: the redesign of journal funding through competitive public grants (Leopoldina model), the transformation of repositories into professional publishing platforms (Ortega’s proposal), and the creation of federated, community-driven open infrastructures (as proposed by Brembs et al.). Drawing from the Spanish context, the paper assesses the feasibility of establishing a national network of diamond open access journals by leveraging existing policies, infrastructures, and public investment. It concludes that such a transition is not only desirable but feasible, and represents a strategic opportunity to reclaim academic control over scholarly publishing in alignment with the principles of open science.
The Social Educator in the Public Library: From Support to Community Transformation
This article explores the role of social educators in public libraries, highlighting their potential as agents of community transformation. Unlike in Anglo-Saxon countries, where this professional profile is less clearly defined, in Spain it has been consolidated as a structured discipline, with specific training and clearly differentiated functions. Using the example of the Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona, where social educators have been formally integrated into the staff since 2020, the text emphasizes the value of these professionals within libraries. Their tasks and responsibilities include identifying needs, fostering partnerships, mediating conflicts, and designing community-based projects. This model reflects a new understanding of the library as an inclusive and participatory space. The article concludes that the integration of social educators is essential to strengthen the social and educational role of libraries, thereby contributing to a more cohesive and equitable society.
Sustainability and public service media: A commitment to the future through the strategy of public value
Against the backdrop of economic, social and environmental hardship, sustainability is a global imperative for shaping a better future that affects all areas of society. In the case of European public service media, these organisations have begun to incorporate sustainability into their public value strategies, although this practise is still emerging in Spain. In this context, this paper examines the main European initiatives while calling for research and action on the Spanish case.
Google AI Overviews: Challenges and opportunities for Information and Communications scholars
Google AI Overviews, the generative artificial intelligence tool integrated into the world’s most widely used general search engine, has arrived in Spain, bringing with it a new way of understanding and consuming search results. In light of this development, this note aims, on the one hand, to provide a general overview of how AI Overviews currently works, and on the other hand, to reflect on the challenges and opportunities it presents for scholars in the fields of Information and Communication.