Friday, September 27, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Just Enough of a Good Thing: Indications of Long-Term Efficacy in One-Shot Library Instruction
Students who use Google to search for information on the web are faced with tough decisions and an almost infinite number of choices. Often their problem is under-specified, in that there are endless (more or less effective) strategies for tackling the task and for evaluating solutions. Ideally, students would assess the relevant information about each potential source and make the best selections based on data. However, students, like other decision makers, have physical, cognitive, and time constraints, as well as personal preferences that influence how they search for information on the web, and ultimately how they choose their sources (Agosto, 2002). Today's students are fortunate to live in a time when the availability of information and source choice is so diverse. Unfortunately, the availability of more choices does not always translate to better decision making (Iyengar and Lepper, 2000 and Schwartz, 2000). Researchers have found that when faced with many alternatives, naïve decision makers typically start with simple automatic strategies to eliminate options, and only use more effortful and deliberate strategies when there are very few choices (Lenton and Stewart, 2008 and Payne, 1976). Thus, we would expect students to engage in some level of satisficing, by scanning selections for those that have some minimum easy to understand features, and then stop. (According to Simon (1956), to satisfice is to seek “good enough,” searching until encountering an option that crosses the threshold of acceptability, or implementing any decision that appears satisfactory without evaluating all the alternatives.) Still, since expertise in a field is not necessary to stimulate problem solving by searching for analogies or similarities between the current problem and problems solved in the past (Bearman, Ball, & Ormerod, 2007), students who have been taught how to evaluate sources in one class should be more likely to use those structural similarities to solve their new source evaluation problem. In this examination of student website evaluations, the researchers discovered that library instruction may indeed have provided the knowledge base necessary to increase the likelihood that participants would make analytical and rule-governed decisions about sources. Although past research studies on the efficacy of the one-shot library session have demonstrated mixed results, the current researchers' methods provided an opportunity to measure the relationship between past exposure to library instruction and self-reported use of the library and its resources (such as checking out a book, using a library database, and asking a librarian for help), as well as sophistication and proficiency in the evaluation of web resources.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133313001018
LibQUAL Revisited: Further Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Survey Results at the University of Mississippi
LibQUAL Revisited: Further Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Survey Results at the University of Mississippi
Abstract
This paper updates an earlier 2010 longitudinal study of LibQUAL qualitative and quantitative data from the University of Mississippi libraries with an additional year of LibQUAL data, collated with other library-collected data such as gate-count numbers. In doing so, it identifies several results that are not satisfactorily analyzed by LibQUAL, and it concludes that a more specialized local survey may be helpful to supplement or supplant LibQUAL.
Quality not quantity – Measuring the impact of research
Quality not quantity – Measuring the impact of research
Snippets from Warwick Anderson:
Now more than a decade old, open access is changing where researchers publish and, more importantly, how the wider world accesses – and assesses – their work.
The open access movement is having a significant impact too on how we measure the impact of scientific research.
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, which has now been signed by thousands of individual researchers and organisations, come out with such a strong statement earlier this year:
“Do not use journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an individual scientist’s contributions, or in hiring, promotion or funding decisions.”
Nothing stays the same in science and research. Publishing is set to change further. The democratisation of publishing began with the internet and has a long way yet to run. The challenge for researchers, institutions and funders will be to identify, protect and encourage quality and integrity.
Warwick Anderson is professor and CEO at the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia. This article, “Quality not quantity: Measuring the impact of published research”, was originally published on 18 September in The Conversation. Read the original article.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Planning library spaces and services for Millennials: An evidence-based approach
Library Management
Volume 34, Issue 6-7, 2013, Pages 498-511
Planning library spaces and services for Millennials: An evidence-based approach
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine undergraduates' perception and use of two distinct library spaces - social and communal - in an academic library in order to provide more customized services. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted at D.H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University, including structured questions on perceptions and use of the library, perceptions of library
layout and design, and respondent demographics, as well as open
questions on the advantages and disadvantages of social and communal
spaces. Findings: Undergraduates frequently use the physical library.
Their usage patterns mirror common characteristics of Generation Y by
going there mostly on weekday nights, with friends or in a group. Both
communal and social spaces appear to be well-used for many different
activities ranging from solitary academic
work to technology-driven collaborative work and socializing. Some
demographic variables, such as ethnicity and gender, are found to affect
aspects of perception and use. For example, African American and Asian
students tend to engage in activities that involve library
technology, tools and resources, while White students simply use the
spaces. Despite their excitement and appreciation of the social spaces
in the library, students consider the quiet communal spaces integral to their experience of the library and stress the need of quiet space for academic work. Originality/value: This is one of a few systematic empirical studies on end-users' use of library space. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
We are all aggregators (and publishers) now: How discovery tools empower libraries
We are all aggregators (and publishers) now: How discovery tools empower libraries (no access unfortunately!)
Volume 30, Issue 7, 2013, Pages 7-9
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that the new generation of discovery technologies empower libraries
to behave like "aggregators" and "publishers". The paper summarizes
Montclair State University's experience with the EDS discovery service
and also includes examples from other institutions.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses the experiences of several
institutions to show the value of discovery tools and other technologies
like institutional repositories in enhancing the role of academic libraries
in higher education. Statistics and surveys culled from a variety of
sources are cited in support of this contention. Findings: Many
institutions are successfully incorporating discovery and other
technologies (i.e. institutional repositories) in repositioning and
reinvigorating the academic library. Practical implications: Academic libraries
willing to make the investment in these technologies can capture the
interest of their faculty, staff, and students. Originality/value: The
paper provides an innovative perspective on the use of discovery and
other complementary technologies that act in a synergistic way to
strengthen the bond between libraries and their users. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Brain drain in African academic libraries: A survey
Library Review (unfortunately no access to this)
Volume 62, Issue 6-7, 2013, Pages 362-374
Abstract
Purpose: This study was intended to
identify and assess the extent and impact of the emigration of
professional librarians on every university library in Anglophone Africa as well as the attitudes of library
administrators toward national and international programs that have
been or might be designed to make use of the skills of librarians in the
African diaspora. Design/methodology/approach: The research was
conducted by use of an online survey that was sent to 121 African academic libraries. Findings: The study conclusively demonstrated that African academic libraries
have been impacted - both positively and negatively - by the effects of
the "brain drain". It also revealed that the administrators of these libraries
are highly receptive to the possibility of working with African
emigrant librarians in various forms (i.e. permanent, temporary,
virtual) of structured "return programs". Research
limitations/implications: The survey's relatively low response rate
precluded precise determination as to the degree to which the brain
drain has penetrated African academic libraries.
Additional study will be necessary to clarify the range of its impact
and any differences between regions that might exist. Practical
implications: The study's findings strongly suggest that academic libraries
in English-speaking Africa offer a promising environment for return
programs designed to ameliorate the effects of the brain drain.
Originality/value: This paper is an original study that fills a gap in
the literature of African library
administration. It is of value to practicing librarians and researchers
as well as individuals involved with international development
projects. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Intel: The year of the Linux desktop is here
The Sept. 18 LinuxCon keynote
sessions were kicked off by Intel Chief Linux and Open Source
Technologist and Linux kernel developer Dirk Hohndel who said that
client computing today is mostly Linux. Thanks to Android on smartphones
and tablets, plus the rise of Chromebooks, Intel sees Linux as the
leading end-user operating system.
http://www.zdnet.com/intel-the-year-of-the-linux-desktop-is-here-7000020849/
http://www.zdnet.com/intel-the-year-of-the-linux-desktop-is-here-7000020849/
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Beyond Google - 10 search engines for researchers
Beyond Google- 10 search engines for researchers
(Thanks to Markus Mostert from CHERTL for sharing this)
(Thanks to Markus Mostert from CHERTL for sharing this)
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tablets and phones dirtier than a toilet seat: study
British watchdog Which? claims that your smartphones, keyboards, and tablets are more contaminated with germs than a public toilet seat.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2013/09/18/tablets-and-phones-dirtier-than-a-toilet-seat-study
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Rhodes University Library Digital Content Division
Friday, September 13, 2013
Researchers Struggle to Secure Data in an Insecure Age
Researchers Struggle to Secure Data in an Insecure Age
..............
Academe is well into the Internet age. On any given day, UNC-Chapel Hill will be hit with 30,000 attacks on its firewall, something its IT staff knows well. That's not an unusual number for a large institution. But when it comes to protecting research data from malicious parties, be they foreign spies, gangsters, or hackers—or, for that matter, a federal agency—universities often rely on policies that have changed little from the days when, to secure records, you put them in a locked cabinet behind a locked door.
"We're really just all waking up as a community to both the power and challenges of dealing with this," said Daniel K. Nelson, director of the university's Office of Human Research Ethics...............
..............
Academe is well into the Internet age. On any given day, UNC-Chapel Hill will be hit with 30,000 attacks on its firewall, something its IT staff knows well. That's not an unusual number for a large institution. But when it comes to protecting research data from malicious parties, be they foreign spies, gangsters, or hackers—or, for that matter, a federal agency—universities often rely on policies that have changed little from the days when, to secure records, you put them in a locked cabinet behind a locked door.
"We're really just all waking up as a community to both the power and challenges of dealing with this," said Daniel K. Nelson, director of the university's Office of Human Research Ethics...............
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