Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
EBSCO buys Plum™ Analytics
Very interesting development!
IPSWICH, Mass. — January 14, 2014 — In a deal that brings together the leading subscription services, database, e-book and discovery provider with the leading provider of alternative research metrics, EBSCO Information Services has acquired Plum™Analytics. Plum Analytics is the first altmetrics provider to move beyond metrics about articles and track all research output in any form, providing a powerful tool that augments traditional metrics.
IPSWICH, Mass. — January 14, 2014 — In a deal that brings together the leading subscription services, database, e-book and discovery provider with the leading provider of alternative research metrics, EBSCO Information Services has acquired Plum™Analytics. Plum Analytics is the first altmetrics provider to move beyond metrics about articles and track all research output in any form, providing a powerful tool that augments traditional metrics.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Academics’ online presence - should the Library be involved?
Academics’ online presence: A four-step guide to taking control of your visibility
I was extremely please to discover (via Twitter!) this excellent guide written by Laura Czerniewisz (a faculty member of UCT's Centre for Higher Education Development) and Sarah Goodier - both from the OpenUCT Initiative. I feel that the Rhodes Library will in future become more involved in assisting academics and senior postgrads to raise their research profiles - this Guide gives an excellent introduction to the topic.
As some of you know I have been experimenting with tweeting research publications from Rhodes on @RhodesResearch since June last year. You may like to have a look (the idea is that the Principal Faculty Librarians tweet articles - from the publisher's website - information is gleaned from affiliation alerts which we have set up on various databases). I also provide a monthly blog publication of research from the Science and Pharmacy Faculties (which I have found to be very popular with academics).
It is early days yet but it will be interesting to see what the future holds in this area. With the rise of organisations such as Altmetric and Impact Story which facilitate the collection of article level metrics we might well find that this will become an accepted part of our job responsibilities. On that topic you might like to read the article by Amberyn Thomas (Manager, Scholarly Publications, University of Queensland Library) which appears in Elsevier's latest LibraryConnect issue
From the introduction to Laura's Guide:
"In today’s digital world, if you use the web, you have an online presence. Online content is exploding; there were 1.8 trillion gigabytes of online information in 2011 and academics are part of that content. Universities have web pages profiling their stats. Academic networks such as LinkedIn andAcademia.eduare used by researchers around the globe to keep in contact with colleagues and collaborators. In addition, social media are increasingly being used for purposes in addition to ‘social’. It is fair to say that academics want to make a difference;having an influence is almost a job requirement. Research and other outputs need to be found and read, and nowadays that means online. A searcher browsing a topic is likely to use what they find online rather than forage for more in the analogue world. Moreover someone looking for you personally is likely to accept what they find as the full story. This means that academics need to know what is already out there about them, whether they like what they see, and whether their work is actually ‘findable’at all....."
I was extremely please to discover (via Twitter!) this excellent guide written by Laura Czerniewisz (a faculty member of UCT's Centre for Higher Education Development) and Sarah Goodier - both from the OpenUCT Initiative. I feel that the Rhodes Library will in future become more involved in assisting academics and senior postgrads to raise their research profiles - this Guide gives an excellent introduction to the topic.
As some of you know I have been experimenting with tweeting research publications from Rhodes on @RhodesResearch since June last year. You may like to have a look (the idea is that the Principal Faculty Librarians tweet articles - from the publisher's website - information is gleaned from affiliation alerts which we have set up on various databases). I also provide a monthly blog publication of research from the Science and Pharmacy Faculties (which I have found to be very popular with academics).
It is early days yet but it will be interesting to see what the future holds in this area. With the rise of organisations such as Altmetric and Impact Story which facilitate the collection of article level metrics we might well find that this will become an accepted part of our job responsibilities. On that topic you might like to read the article by Amberyn Thomas (Manager, Scholarly Publications, University of Queensland Library) which appears in Elsevier's latest LibraryConnect issue
From the introduction to Laura's Guide:
"In today’s digital world, if you use the web, you have an online presence. Online content is exploding; there were 1.8 trillion gigabytes of online information in 2011 and academics are part of that content. Universities have web pages profiling their stats. Academic networks such as LinkedIn andAcademia.eduare used by researchers around the globe to keep in contact with colleagues and collaborators. In addition, social media are increasingly being used for purposes in addition to ‘social’. It is fair to say that academics want to make a difference;having an influence is almost a job requirement. Research and other outputs need to be found and read, and nowadays that means online. A searcher browsing a topic is likely to use what they find online rather than forage for more in the analogue world. Moreover someone looking for you personally is likely to accept what they find as the full story. This means that academics need to know what is already out there about them, whether they like what they see, and whether their work is actually ‘findable’at all....."
Thursday, January 9, 2014
What stand-up comedians teach us about library instruction
From the latest C&R L issue
Some useful suggestions here for our IL workshops - know the audience, relate, variety, feecback
Some useful suggestions here for our IL workshops - know the audience, relate, variety, feecback
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
What do our library users want?
Just been browing thought this article Library Space Assessment: User Learning Behaviors in the Library in the J of academic librarianship
One of the results of this study at Olin Library that struck me was --- "We did not anticipate users seeking individual studying space in a social learning environment"
Also - "the availability of food and drink makes it conducive for social learning in the library"- Library cafe??
Perhaps we should investigate what our users want for the new computer-space we are developing in the Level 3?
One of the results of this study at Olin Library that struck me was --- "We did not anticipate users seeking individual studying space in a social learning environment"
Also - "the availability of food and drink makes it conducive for social learning in the library"- Library cafe??
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
2014 Tech trends
What 5 tech experts expect in 2014
Relevance to RU Library?
Openness:
Analytics:
Performance measurements (support researchers - altmetrics? Impact Story?
Google citations? h-index? Incites? Web of Science, Scopus)
Cloud:
Google Calendar? RUL change to this?
Connected learning pathways:
Online learning - for information literacy?
Can we use Pinterest in the RU Library?
I signed up for Pinterest some time ago so this article caught my eye - it considers:
Anyone else in the Library interested in investigating if we could use this???
Abstract: "... investigates social curating activities on the website Pinterest and relates them to the librarian's traditional role of curating information. Pinterest is a social curation site that combines features of gathering, creating, and sharing with the information management characteristics of successful data curation. Libraries have begun to think about pushing services into social networking sites and adding social networking features to their own services. This study evaluates the webpages of Association of Research Libraries member libraries for presence and use of Pinterest, and suggests ways research and academic libraries can use Pinterest to support their patrons."
| 1. |
What are possible uses of Pinterest in instruction and information literacy?
| ||||
| 2. |
How do we create social value within library information services?
| ||||
Abstract: "... investigates social curating activities on the website Pinterest and relates them to the librarian's traditional role of curating information. Pinterest is a social curation site that combines features of gathering, creating, and sharing with the information management characteristics of successful data curation. Libraries have begun to think about pushing services into social networking sites and adding social networking features to their own services. This study evaluates the webpages of Association of Research Libraries member libraries for presence and use of Pinterest, and suggests ways research and academic libraries can use Pinterest to support their patrons."
Monday, December 9, 2013
China tops first BRICS and emerging economies ranking
China has dominated the first BRICS and emerging economies ranking published by Times Higher Education, or THE,
taking 23 slots in the top 100 universities followed by Taiwan with 21.
Peking and Tsinghua universities came first and second, and the
University of Cape Town third.
5 South African universities are included in the listing.
5 South African universities are included in the listing.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
17 Essential Altmetrics Resources (the Library Version)
Compiled by Stacy Konkiel:
“required reading” related specifically to altmetrics and their use in libraries. These articles and blog posts actually comprise a majority of the writing out there on altmetrics in libraries–there’s surprisingly little that librarians have written to date on how our profession might use altmetrics to enhance our work.
Stacy Konkiel is the Science Data Management Librarian for the IU Libraries--Bloomington. Learn more about data management at http://libraries.iub.edu/data.
“required reading” related specifically to altmetrics and their use in libraries. These articles and blog posts actually comprise a majority of the writing out there on altmetrics in libraries–there’s surprisingly little that librarians have written to date on how our profession might use altmetrics to enhance our work.
Stacy Konkiel is the Science Data Management Librarian for the IU Libraries--Bloomington. Learn more about data management at http://libraries.iub.edu/data.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Google Books again
Harvard's Head Librarian Is Delighted That Google Books Will Expand Fair Use
Interview with Robert Darnton, a celebrated book historian and Harvard University's head librarian, ... a strong advocate for the public's access to literature in the digital realm. ...
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
MOOCs: Fad or Revolution?
MOOCs: Fad or Revolution? by Jon Billsberry
Over the past 12 months, MOOCs have arrived like an alien
invasion threatening to overturn centuries of tradition in education. And just
like a scene from Mars Attacks! there are supporters waving “Welcome to Earth”
banners while others are lining up the tanks. Yet there is one strange feature
of MOOCs, despite the cacophony in the corridors and at conferences; there has
been silence in the academic journals. This is simply because data are scarce
and only just becoming available, and the necessary time required for thinking,
writing, reviewing, and production.
Next year, and probably for several years after, MOOCs are
likely to dominate the pages of education journals and the Journal of
Management Education in particular. In this editorial, I want to explore the
initial hype and hyperbole about MOOCs as a way of setting the scene for the
future.
Google Scholar Library - Google Scholar Blog
From GoogleScholar: Today we’re launching Scholar Library, your personal collection of articles in Scholar. You can save articles right from the search page, organize them by topic, and use the power of Scholar search to quickly find just the one you want - at any time and from anywhere. You decide what goes into your library and we’ll provide all the goodies that come with Scholar search results - up to date article links, citing articles, related articles, formatted citations, links to your university’s subscriptions, and more. And if you have a public Scholar profile, it’s easy to quickly set up your library with the articles you want - with a single click, you can import all the articles in your profile as well as all the articles they cite.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Social Media Brings Academic Journals to General Readers
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Dermatology shows that a handful of academic journals have successfully leveraged social media to reach many times the readers of the journals themselves. But the majority of journals have yet to embrace social media and so lag behind professional organizations and patient advocacy groups in their ability to disseminate information in a culturally relevant way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)