Digital Commons Network^™

Instant Messaging Reference: Users' Evaluation Of Library Chat, Margie Ruppel, Jody Fagan

Jody C Fagan

This article analyzes survey results of university students who used Morris Messenger, the instant messaging (IM) reference service at Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Morris Library. It focuses on the complete results of two surveys, including a comparison of IM reference and traditional reference desk experiences. An overview of the IM reference system and usage data are also discussed. Survey respondents indicated overall enthusiasm for the IM reference service and provided useful suggestions for improvements, which are also listed.

Hope From Hopelessness: Finding Contemporary Southern Literature Through Anne Tyler’S Use Of The Sound And The Fury, Amy M. Elliott

Amy M. Elliott

Critical debate focuses on the trend of Southern writers and the classification of their work within the tradition of Southern literature. One side of the argument supports contemporary writers as part of the Southern literary tradition. That is, it proposes that contemporary Southern writers continue to write Southern literature not by writing with the same style and magnitude as Faulkner and Warren, but by basing their writing on this tradition and modernizing it. An excellent example lies in Anne Tyler’s use of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury as a foundation for her Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Through …

Using Biography In The Elementary Classroom, Dorothy Bowen

Dorothy N. Bowen

When biography first gained recognition as a genre for adults, it was not considered an appropriate form of literature for children. As it began to gain a place in children's literature, as was true of most books written for children at the time, biography was used as a tool for teaching children to emulate the hero.

Periodical Price Survey 2002: Doing The Digital Flip, Lee C. Van Orsdel, Kathleen Born

Lee C. Van Orsdel

No abstract provided.

On Recommending, Jonathan Furner

Jonathan Furner

The core of any document retrieval system is a mechanism that ranks the documents in a large collection in order of the likelihood with which they match the preferences of any person who interacts with the system. Given a broader interpretation of “recommending” than is commonly accepted, such a preference ordering may be viewed as a recommendation, made by the system to the information-seeker, that is itself typically derived through synthesis of multiple preference orderings expressed as recommendations by indexers, information-seekers, and document authors. The ERIn (Evaluation--Recommendation--Information) model, a decision-theoretic framework for understanding information-related activity, highlights the centrality of recommending …

Changes In The 17th Edition Of Sears List Of Subject Headings, Dorothy Bowen

Dorothy N. Bowen

Users coming to our library catalogs are more often looking for materials dealing with particular subjects rather than seeking specific titles or authors. Therefore, when we prepareour catalogs we must take special care to use terminology which will best retrieve this material. We must pay special attention to the "aboutness" of each item in order to select themost precise term.

Cutting Edge Or Bleeding Edge? Experience Of A Wings Development Partner, Cheryl B. Truesdell

Cheryl B. Truesdell

No abstract provided.

Shera's Social Epistemology Recast As Psychological Bibliology, Jonathan Furner

Jonathan Furner

Shera, the library scientist, is often credited with introducing the term and concept of social epistemology; but his idea is most profitably viewed not as a contribution to epistemology or even to the sociology of knowledge, but rather as the forerunner of a document-focused strain of socio-cognitive psychology influential in the information sciences from the 1970s onwards. In turn, the work of Shera and his colleague Egan is itself reminiscent of the psychological bibliology defined by the documentalists Otlet and Rubakin in the early 20th century.

Discovering Information In Context, Paul Solomon

Paul Solomon

No abstract provided.

Scholarly Communication And Bibliometrics, Christine L. Borgman, Jonathan Furner

Jonathan Furner

Why devote an ARIST chapter to scholarly communication and bibliometrics, and why now? Bibliometrics already is a frequently covered ARIST topic, with chapters such as that by White and McCain (1989) on bibliometrics generally, White and McCain (1997) on visualization of literatures, Wilson and Hood (2001) on informetric laws, and Tabah (2001) on literature dynamics. Similarly, scholarly communication has been addressed in other ARIST chapters such as Bishop and Star (1996) on social informatics and digital libraries, Schamber (1994) on relevance and information behavior, and many earlier chapters on information needs and uses. More than a decade ago, the first …

Every Night When The Sun Goes In - Mixed Choir, Keith D. Rowley

Keith D Rowley

Information Literacy From Australia To Allendale, Kim L. Ranger

Kim L. Ranger

No abstract provided.

Use Of An Academic Library Web Site Search Engine, Jody C. Fagan

Jody C Fagan

No abstract provided.

Interlibrary Loan: Integral Component Of Global Resource Sharing, Robert A. Seal

Robert A Seal

No abstract provided.

A Social Constructivist Approach To Computer-Mediated Instruction, Joseph J. Pear, Darlene E. Crone-Todd

Darlene Crone-Todd