Digital Commons Network^™

A Critical Librarianship Approach For Teaching Patent Searching: Who Becomes An Inventor In America?, Dave Zwicky, Ilana Stonebraker

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The ways in which a technology is invented, owned, and approved are strongly influenced by the same oppressive and exclusionary structures that critical librarianship interrogates. Patents, limited-term grants of rights to inventions, are issued to inventors in exchange for detailed specifications of the invention. This paper examines current practices used by business librarians in teaching students how to find patents and how these practices could be critically informed given the nature of the United States patent system as it exists today. An output of this work is a suggested lesson plan with recommended resources.

Oppressive Authority: Dismantling, Reexamining, And Reconstructing Notions Of Authority In Information Literacy Instruction, Melissa Chomintra

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The following chapter examines ways knowledge authority structures can be oppressive in relation to information literacy instruction and discusses how librarians can implement equitable and inclusive pedagogy in their library instruction by dismantling, reexamining, and reconstructing notions of authority.

Student Information Use During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Heather A. Howard, Annette Bochenek, Zoeanna A. Mayhook, Trena Trowbridge, Steven Lux

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Since early 2020, life for students has changed tremendously. It has been a time of stress, turmoil, and trauma for students. Researchers from a large Midwestern university wanted to determine how student information use has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the results of a mixed-methods study undertaken in 2021 using surveys and follow-up focus groups to determine if and how student information use has changed. To answer this, we explored student use of news sources, social media sources, political affiliations, and information responses, coupled with to what extent these factors demonstrate or impact potential changes in information …

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: A Values-Based Evaluation Tool For Collections Decisions, Heather A. Howard, Dave Zwicky, Danielle Walker

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

As libraries and communities consider institutional values and ethical standards, there is a need to scrutinize how those values and standards connect with collections decisions. An existing body of literature about the contents of the collections exists, with respect to issues like decolonization and open access, but little about the business relationships libraries maintain in order to acquire these collections. In this paper, librarians from Purdue University take a critical approach to identifying the values of their institution at multiple levels, including a newly released Libraries strategic plan, to create a values-based evaluation tool for future collection assessment.

The Gender Wage Gap In Research Libraries, Heather A. Howard, Meara Habashi, Jason B. Reed

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The gender wage gap impacts millions of women throughout the US and world, with women in the US making on average 82% of men’s salaries (US Census Bureau, 2018). In research libraries, a field dominated by women, this has historically been true as well, with men rising to top positions at a higher rate and making more money than women in the same positions. Over the decades following the implementation of Affirmative Action, the number of women in administrative positions in research libraries has increased dramatically. This article explores the issue of women’s salaries in research libraries in five job …

Using Qualitative Methods To Supplement Quantitative Research: A Case Study In Evaluating Student Usage Of Facilities, Thom Gerrish, Matthew M. Benzing, Susan Hurst

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Quantitative research is an important tool in understanding library users; quantifiable data is objective and can be processed and analyzed in ways that bring about new insights. Unfortunately, it is better at telling us where and when than it is at telling us the whys. Our library, the Business, Engineering, Science, and Technology library at Miami University, did a headcount study to see how many people were using which rooms at what times of the day and night. There were many things we learned from that data, but in order to flesh it out and make it more of a …

Student Information Use And Decision-Making In Innovation Competitions And The Impact Of Librarian Interventions, Heather A. Howard, Dave Zwicky

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

At a large Midwestern university, librarians work closely with an annual undergraduate agricultural innovation competition to guide students through the process of conducting market research and assessing patentability. In 2018, the authors conducted an exploratory study using focus groups of students who had participated in that year’s competition in order to learn how students find and use information in a competition setting, to evaluate the impact of library support on the students’ success, and inform further assessment activities. Results showed that students used information from the library and from their own research, notably seeking out first-hand expertise, to practice evidence-based …

Thoughts On Patents And Information Literacy, Dave Zwicky

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Patents are an under-used information source, in part because of an often-narrow focus by patent librarians on the tools and techniques of patentability searching. This approach can ignore a range of potential applications of patent information, using patents in their contexts as technical, design, historical, legal, and commercial documents. This paper suggests the adoption of a flexible approach, viewing patents and patent information in the greater context of information literacy, including that of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, more commonly known as the ACRL Framework.

Unsubstantiated Conclusions: A Scoping Review On Generational Differences Of Leadership In Academic Libraries, Erin R. B. Eldermire, Erla P. Heyns, Heather A. Howard

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The academic library profession is experiencing a large turnover in leadership. To date, information on differences in the generational expectations about how to lead is scarce and the research is contradictory. This article presents a scoping review of the literature on generational expectations of academic library leaders. Based on predefined eligibility criteria, the authors searched twelve bibliographic databases and performed a broad web search. 5,435 articles were located and considered for inclusion, however, only four eligible articles were identified and included for analysis. There is little empirical evidence that generational differences are evident in the academic library setting or in …

Humanities And Social Sciences Dissertation Bibliographies And Collections: The View From A Stem University, Trevor Burrows, Robert S. Freeman, Erla Heyns, Jean-Pierre V. M. Herubel

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This study utilized dissertation bibliographies produced at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, a STEM-oriented university, to ascertain how well Purdue’s Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) Library supports doctoral research. To examine a critical mass of data, the authors gathered all the bibliographies of dissertations written in 11 disciplines within the College of Liberal Arts in 2011 and 2015. Data for each citation included year of publication, language, format type, and local availability in print or digitally. Revealing disciplinary trends in using sources, this study provided critical information for reconceptualizing the HSSE Library’s orientation to learning and research and …

Spatial Information Literacy For Digital Humanities: The Case Study Of Leveraging Geospatial Information For African American History Education., Nicole Kong, Cornelius Bynum, Chrystal Johnson, Jennifer Sdunzik, Xiaoyue Qin

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The rise of “digital humanities” and the “spatial turn” in the humanities has generated many new insights in the study of culture, history, literature, and arts. Within this research trend, the library's geospatial service can play an active role by introducing spatial information literacy and technology. In this article, we use the information literacy framework to explore the library's role in supporting digital humanities by introducing a successful collaboration involving a librarian and history and education researchers in hosting a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-funded summer institute for school teachers. Our results suggest that the framework has opened a …

A Pilot “Big Data” Education Module Curriculum For Engineering Graduate Education: Development And Implementation, Megan R. Sapp Nelson, Line C. Pouchard

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Projects in engineering higher education increasingly produce data in the volume, variety, velocity, and need for veracity such that the output of the research is considered “Big Data”. While engineering faculty members do conceive of and direct the research producing this data, there may be gaps in faculty members’ knowledge in training graduate and undergraduate research assistants in the practical management of Big Data. The project described in this research paper details the development of a Big Data education module for graduate researchers in Electrical and Computer Engineering. The project has the following objectives: to document and describe current data …

Realizing Critical Business Information Literacy: Opportunities, Definitions, And Best Practices, Ilana Stonebraker, Caitlan Maxwell, Kenny Garcia, Jessica Jerrit

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

What does it mean to be an ethical businessperson, and how does an ethical businessperson create, locate, organize, and evaluate business information? Critical business information literacy (CBIL) is the application of social justice to business information literacy. This article seeks to define, discuss, and realize CBIL by tracing the literatures of critical librarianship, critical management, and corporate social responsibility. To establish best practices, the authors drew upon applications of CBIL at four institutions of different size, geography, and scale. The intent is to provide spaces and foundations for further CBIL application and discussion.

Integrating Data Information Literacy Into A Service- Learning Engineering Design Course, Margaret Phillips, Mohammad Jahanshahi

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Over the past several years increasing emphasis has been placed on the development of data information literacy (DIL) skills for engineering researchers to comply with funding requirements and to facilitate data sharing, reuse, and preservation. These efforts have been largely aimed at faculty members and graduate students, and to some extent undergraduate students in preparation for their roles as future researchers. However, little attention has been directed at developing DIL skills in undergraduate engineering students engaged in non-research activities, such as service-learning design projects that integrate instruction and community service. This work-in-progress paper reports on using service-learning pedagogy to integrate …

A Contemporary Citation Analysis Of Geography Education Journals: 2009–2015, Thom Gerrish, Donald Patrick Albert

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This study examined the flow of citations from 713 documents emanating from ten geography education journals from 2009 to 2011. The citations generated from these articles were tracked within and between this set of journals from 2009 through 2015. Our searches found 1,067 citations, or an average of 1.5 citations per article. After excluding self-citations, the remaining citations (33.6 percent) filtered out into other geography education journals and were classified into three groups: splash, wave, and ripple. Although the Journal of Geography in Higher Education generated the largest in-degree count, it shared the lead with the International Research in Geographical …

Information Literacy Supporting Student Motivation And Performance: Course-Level Analyses, Michael Flierl, Emily Bonem, Clarence Maybee, Rachel Fundator

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This study examines the effects of information literacy (IL) on student learning and motivation in university courses. We investigated student course-level learning gains and student perceptions of their learning environments by examining data from over 3,000 students in 102 course sections across seven colleges. Results provide evidence of the following: 1) students who synthesize information and communicate the results tend to perceive higher levels of motivation than students who do so less often; 2) there is a significant positive relationship between synthesizing information and communicating the results and course level learning gains. Our results point to the efficacy of IL …

Bibliography Of Books On Sexual Minority Health 2005 To Mid-2015, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

No abstract provided.

Sexual Minority Health: A Bibliography And Preliminary Study Of The Book Literature, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The literature on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual (LGBT) people appears in many types of resources and disciplines. To begin to address the need for relevant, easily accessible information for LGBT people and health care providers, this study identified popular and scholarly books published in the past 10 years and analyzed topics; number of books published per year; more prolific authors; and primary publishers. The results indicated that a relatively small number of books were published (521) by a wide range of publishers/self-publishers. Most were about mental health, relationships, or family and 24% were personal accounts.

Designing Rich Information Experiences To Shape Learning Outcomes, Clarence Maybee, Christine Susan Bruce, Mandy Lupton, Kristen Rebmann

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Students in higher education typically learn to use information as part of their course of study, which is intended to support ongoing academic, personal and professional growth. Informing the development of effective information literacy education, this research uses a phenomenographic approach to investigate the experiences of a teacher and students engaged in lessons focused on exploring language and gender topics by tracing and analyzing their evolution through scholarly discourse. The findings suggest that the way learners use information influences content-focused learning outcomes, and reveal how teachers may enact lessons that enable students to learn to use information in ways that …

To Honor Our Past: Historical Research, Library History And The Historiographical Imperative: Conceptual Reflections And Exploratory Observations, Jean-Pierre V. M. Hérubel

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This exploratory discussion considers history of libraries, in its broadest context; moreover, it frames the entire enterprise of pursuing history as it relates to LIS in the context of doing history and of doing history vis-à-vis LIS. Is it valuable intellectually for LIS professionals to consider their own history, writing historically oriented research, and what is the nature of this research within the professionalization of LIS itself as both practice and discipline? Necessarily conceptual and offering theoretical insight, this discussion perforce tenders the idea that historiographical innovations and other disciplinary approaches and perspectives can invigorate library history beyond its current …

Motivating Learners Through Information Literacy, Clarence Maybee, Michael Flierl

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This paper is included in the Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society, the proceedings of the European Conference on Information Literacy, 2016. The paper introduces a model for creating information literacy learning activities that motivate students. The model draws from informed learning, an approach to information literacy that emphasizes the role that information plays in fostering learning about a subject. Self-determination theory, a motivational theory that focuses on enabling self-determined learners, is applied within the informed learning framework. The results of the investigation outline characteristics of motivating learning activities that enable learning subject content through engagement with information. The …

Keynote Address: The State Of Information Literacy Policy: A Global Priority, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Access to information is important for economic development and community-based solutions to global challenges. However, access to information alone is not sufficient: people need to know how to find, evaluate, manage, analyze, and compile information and communicate the results effectively for the intended audience. This paper presents a global overview of information literacy policy. The paper discusses the meaning of information literacy and its relation to information policy. The paper proposes a role of information literacy in addressing global challenges. It gives national examples of information literacy policy. Finally, the paper identifies challenges in information literacy policy and discusses ways …

Setting The Stage For Success: Developing An Orientation Program For Academic Library Faculty, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

No abstract provided.

Experiences Of Informed Learning In The Undergraduate Classroom, Clarence Maybee

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The same thing can be experienced in a variety of ways. For example, think of a time that you and a friend read the same book, but each got something quite different out of it. Essentially you experienced different aspects of the book. Applying this to higher education, we cannot assume that all students are experiencing their coursework in the same way. In fact, a number of studies reveal that this is not the case. Learning occurs when students begin to experience the thing being learned about in a new way. Learning designs that teach undergraduates to use information require …

Study Of User Search Activities With Two Discovery Tools At An Academic Library, Xi Niu, Tao Zhang, Hsin-Liang Chen

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The goal of this study was to investigate and compare user search activities of two discovery tools at an academic library. The implementation of a new discovery tool (Primo by Ex Libris) to replace an existing system (VuFind) provided a unique opportunity to collect transaction logs of both systems and examine user search behavior in an empirical test. Results from a transaction log analysis and a user study of this study have contributed to the understanding of users’ search behavior and their preferences and perceptions of the two systems. We find both commonalities and differences between VuFind and Primo for …

Beyond Jee: Finding Publication Venues To Get Your Message To The ‘Right’ Audience, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Very few publications exist outlining the different publishing opportunities within engineering education as a discipline. Most researchers think immediately of the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE), and as the primary publication associated with the American Society for Engineering Education it is a logical first thought.

Questions arise with new graduate students and young faculty who are trying to learn the scope of engineering education as a research discipline and need to identify possible publication venues. A broad list of publications has been generated and is maintained by the ASEE Student Division in cooperation with the Center for Engineering Learning and …

Learning To Use Information: Informed Learning In The Undergraduate Classroom, Clarence Maybee, Christine S. Bruce, Mandy Lupton, Kristen Rebmann

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

“Informed learning” is a pedagogy that focuses on learning subject content through engaging with academic or professional information practices. Adopting the position that more powerful learning is achieved where students are taught how to use information and subject content simultaneously, the research reported here investigated an informed learning lesson. Using phenomenographic methods, student’s experiences of the lesson were compared to what the teacher enacted in the classroom. Based on an analysis of student interviews using variation theory, three ways of experiencing the informed learning lesson emerged. Some students understood the lesson to be about learning to use information, i.e., researching …

Who Teaches Information Literacy Competencies? Report Of A Study Of Faculty, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Information literacy is recognized as an essential competency for educational success. It relates to all disciplines but is not a separate discipline, so it is not clear who takes responsibility for teaching this competency to undergraduates. This is a report of a survey conducted to better understand the extent to which teaching information literacy concepts by faculty occurred in a research university. The results indicated that faculty in the disciplines generally teach information literacy competencies to undergraduate students without collaborating with others on their campus. Many faculty also had the expectation that students know how to avoid plagiarism, find articles …

Information-Seeking Behaviors Of First-Semester Veterinary Students: A Preliminary Report, Sharon A. Weiner, Gretchen Stephens, Abdelfattah Y.M. Nour

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Although emphasis in veterinary education is increasingly being placed on the ability to find, use, and communicate information, studies on the information behaviors of veterinary students or professionals are few. Improved knowledge in this area will provide valuable information for course and curriculum planning and the design of information resources. This article describes a survey of the information-seeking behaviors of first-semester veterinary students at Purdue University. A survey was administered as the first phase of a progressive semester-long assignment for a first semester DVM course in systemic mammalian physiology. The survey probed for understanding of the scientific literature and its …

Lifelong Learning And Information Literacy Skills And The First Year Engineering Undergraduate: Report Of A Self-Assessment, Meagan Ross, Michael Fosmire, Ruth Eh Wertz, Monica Cardella, Senay Purzer

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

ABET accreditation requires engineering students to attain ‘a recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning.” (Outcome 3.i) However, there are few standard tools that attempt to assess the skills and techniques students need in order to achieve those outcomes. Focusing on the problem articulation and information literacy skills embedded in lifelong learning competencies, the authors constructed a standardized assessment to measure student self-perceptions of how often they employ those skills. The criteria for these competencies were based on the Information Search Process of Carol Kuhlthau, engineering design process characteristics, and the authors’ own analysis …