Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

One Laptop Per Child Policy In Ghana: Any Impact On Teaching And Learning?, Samuel Owusu-Ansah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper assesses the impact of “One Laptop Per Child Policy” on teaching and learning in basic schools in Ghana. Specifically, 500 students were randomly selected together with 10 information and communication technology (ICT) instructors in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Both questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used for gathering data. The data collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Findings of the study showed that stringent criteria are used to assess the needs of students and in the distribution of the laptops. The use of user-friendly laptops and qualified instructors has significantly improved the students’ knowledge …

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - September 2015, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Content, Credibility, And Readership: Putting Your Institutional Repository On The Map, Maureen E. Schlangen

Roesch Library Staff Publications

Open-access institutional repositories have become a reliable and stable medium for sharing scholarly work, advancing research, and elevating an institution’s profile. However, it takes time and effective marketing to gather content, build the repository’s credibility, and attract readership. Here, a handful of successful repository managers share what they have learned from the launch and growth of their repositories.

Personal Research Sessions: A Consultation-Based Program For Research Support, Jennifer L.A. Whelan

Staff publications

A gradual decline in reference questions at the Holy Cross Libraries prompted research librarians to offer Personal Research Sessions. The PRS program allows students to meet one-on-one with a research librarian by appointment. Established in 2011, the PRS program has become increasingly popular and successful.

University Of Windsor Faculty Survey: Analytical Memo, Ithaka S+R, Canadian Association Of Research Libraries (Carl)

Leddy Library Reports

The University of Windsor Faculty Survey: Analytical Memo is a companion report to the 2014 University of Windsor Faculty Survey: Report of Findings. It presents an analytical review of the survey responses from Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit service which assists academic libraries to understand and navigate the economic and technological changes impacting universities and their libraries in the 21st century.

Research Consultations And Co-Location Adds Value To The Reference & Information Services And Instruction Continuum: Towards To Holistic Learning Experience At The Singapore Management University Library, Rajendra Munoo

Research Collection Library

Research Librarians at the Li Ka Shing Library perform multifunctional roles in the areas of collection, information, learning, research and outreach. In this presentation, participants will learn more about the information and learning roles where the former includes the provision of reference and information services and the latter involves the design, development and delivery of instruction and information literacy programmes as part of their student and faculty engagement strategy. They will also learn more about the library’s grounded service offering through a learning roadmap for every student which encompasses the following components: Matriculation [Orientation] > In Class Instruction [Information Literacy] > Research …

Instruction @ The Uri Libraries - August 2015, Mary C. Macdonald, Amanda Izenstark

Instruction @ the URI Libraries

Newsletter from the Instruction Unit at the University of Rhode Island Libraries. Highlights important updates, resources, and features of the instruction program, along with additional related news. Published in January, May, and August.

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - August 2015, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

A Phenomenological Study Of Conservative Academic Librarians, Kaetrena Davis Kendrick, Ione Damasco

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

Librarianship posits itself as a profession that strives for neutrality, particularly within customer service and information provision; however, factors such as political activity, conference programming, and disproportionate representations of specific viewpoints in the literature indicate that neutrality may be compromised. These factors may alienate librarians who do not subscribe to majority political opinions within librarianship.

A phenomenological study was conducted to understand the career experiences of academic librarians who identify as socially or politically conservative. Themes linking service provision, ethics, workplace relationships, and professional engagement emerged that demonstrate the professional impact politicized activity has on practicing librarians in all specialties.

Librarians Teaching Professors: Reaching Overlooked Adult Learners, Ashley R. Sanders

Library Staff Publications and Research

This presentation was given at the Summer Teaching Retreat for Librarians 2015 at Santa Ana College, California. This session briefly describes the characteristics of adult learners, their unique barriers to learning, potential solutions, and how I used interest in the burgeoning field of Digital Humanities as an avenue to launch a new instructional series that serves faculty members - a population often overlooked when we think about an academic library’s instructional mission.

Driving The Bus: Building Use Study And Space Assessment At Wright State University Libraries, Mandy Shannon, Sue Polanka, Bette S. Sydelko

University Libraries' Staff Publications

In response to the library’s strategic plan, the Wright State University Dunbar Library is in the midst of a long-term, multi-modal building use study. In the spring of 2015, the library’s assessment team used a combination of an open-source tablet-based software program, photographs, questionnaires, and preference-based voting to capture information about physical space use, building user perceptions, and user needs.

In the second phase of this building use study, librarians are working in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Research to develop two needs-assessment surveys based on the responses in the first phase. One survey will be distributed to students; …

"I Never Had To Use The Library In High School": A Library Instruction Program For At-Risk Students, Rachel A. Fleming-May, Regina N. Mays, Rachel Radom

UT Libraries Faculty: Peer-Reviewed Publications

Most academic library instruction is limited to one class period, despite empirical evidence that this approach is likely less effective than more sustained instruction. To determine if additional sessions would boost student learning and reduce library anxiety, the authors collaborated with representatives from a program for at-risk undergraduates to develop a three-workshop model for basic instruction and orientation. They first delivered the program during the summer of 2012 and subsequently offered it to three additional groups of students, including a cohort of doctoral students in the sciences. This article describes the process of designing the workshops and evaluating their effectiveness, …

Literacy Work In The Reign Of Human Capital [Table Of Contents], Evan Watkins

Education

In recent years, a number of books in the field of literacy research have addressed the experiences of literacy users or the multiple processes of learning literacy skills in a rapidly changing technological environment. In contrast to these studies, this book addresses the subjects of literacy. In other words, it is about how literacy workers are subjected to the relations between new forms of labor and the concept of human capital as a dominant economic structure in the United States. It is about how literacies become forms of value producing labor in everyday life both within and beyond the workplace …

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - July 2015, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Supporting Research Through Information Literacy Programmes: Smu Libraries' Learning Journeys, Yuyun W. Ishak

Research Collection Library

Singapore Management University (SMU) has been building its research programmes towards high-impact and larger scale research. The number of postgraduate students has grown from 615 students in 2010 to 1,260 students in January 2015. The growing population of postgraduates, especially those with research requirements, has posed both opportunities and challenges to library’s resources, facilities and services.

Library is committed to provide resources and services that support research. This includes developing and implementing Information Literacy (IL) programmes that are relevant to researchers and postgraduates. The IL programmes were structured and offered within an Information Literacy Framework that SMU Libraries have been …

The Lyon Declaration On Access To Information And Development, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A large format infographic presenting key facts about the Lyon Declaration and providing details about IFLA.

Preservation Perspectives: Connecting The Next Generation To The Past, Bill Stolz

University Libraries' Staff Publications

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of being a librarian dealing on topics including presidential museum and tomb of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, World War II and historical sites in Kentucky.

Preservation Perspectives: Caring For Family Papers, Bill Stolz

University Libraries' Staff Publications

The article offers tips to protect, preserve and prolong the life of family papers. It suggests to make an inventory of the items, whether business records, order books, diaries and letters. It recommends to thoroughly examine the material and prioritize items by the condition, where deteriorating or damaged items need to be taken to a conservator for advice and stabilization's estimate.

Foregrounding The Research Log In Information Literacy Instruction, Louise R. Fluk

Publications and Research

Updating an earlier study, this article reviews the literature of information literacy (IL) instruction since 2008 for empirical evidence of the value of research logs or research journals for effective pedagogy, assessment, and prevention of plagiarism in IL instruction at the college level. The review reveals a mismatch between the acknowledged theoretical and practical value of research log assignments and the mixed advocacy for them in the literature. The article further analyzes the literature for the drawbacks of research log assignments and points toward ways of mitigating these drawbacks.

“It’S In The Syllabus”: Identifying Information Literacy And Data Information Literacy Opportunities Using A Grounded Theory Approach, Clarence Maybee, Jake Carlson, Maribeth Slebodnik, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Developing innovative library services requires a real world understanding of faculty members' desired curricular goals. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive and deeper understanding of Purdue's nutrition science and political science faculties' expectations for student learning related to information and data information literacies. Course syllabi were examined using grounded theory techniques that allowed us to identify how faculty were addressing information and data information literacies in their courses, but it also enabled us to understand the interconnectedness of these literacies to other departmental intentions for student learning, such as developing a professional identity or learning to conduct original research. …

Performance Assessment In Academic Libraries Through Campus Collaboration, Debbie Sharp, Beth Fuchs

Library Presentations

Librarians and classroom faculty share the common goal of developing students’ research abilities. This session will describe a collaborative approach to performance assessment of information literacy learning outcomes, one of our general education competencies. Through collaboration with faculty, we create an assessment that aligns course requirements with information literacy learning outcomes, and that can be applied across disciplines, departments, teaching formats, and class sizes. We will model the assessment process, and participants will use our rubric to score sample responses.

Creating Effective Instructional Materials With I-Learn, Stacey Greenwell

Library Presentations

Given the proliferation of information and the lifelong importance of information literacy and critical thinking skills, librarians need to know how to best design information literacy instructional materials in order to help students locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. This poster builds upon an experimental research study conducted to determine how instructional materials designed using the I-LEARN model could increase student understanding and application of information literacy concepts. The findings from the research study show that I-LEARN can be particularly valuable in designing online course guides and provides an easy-to-use framework for developing reusable guide content.

Beyond Graduation: Teaching Students About Open Access Resources, Teresa Williams

Scholarship and Professional Work

Poster presentation at the 2015 American Library Association Annual Conference, June 27, San Francisco, CA.

Flipping The Business Information Literacy Classroom: Redesign, Implementation And Assessment Of A Case Study, Ilana Stonebraker

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

A team of librarians at Purdue University transformed a business information literacy course from a traditional lecture, 40-student class into multiple sections of a flipped, 70-student classroom to meet the request that the successful course be required for all 500 undergraduate students. Scaling up required the adoption of flipped learning techniques for better utilization of library teaching resources. This case study provides key insights for others implementing credit classes or integrating similar content into one-shots or embedded work. It also describes the assessed results determined through student feedback (focus groups) and student performance (pre/post-tests).

From Co-Location To Collaboration: Working Together To Improve Student Learning, Susan Montgomery, Suzanne D. Robertshaw

Faculty Publications

An academic librarian and the coordinator of a campus tutoring and writing center recently relocated to the library researched their value to second-year students. Differences in the amount and type of available data called for conducting in-depth interviews with students about their research and writing processes. The researchers also reviewed relevant material regarding similar collaborative efforts at other college and universities. The gaps revealed in the environmental scan along with the best practices of librarian/writing center collaboration helped determine future steps needed for both units to move from mere co-location to working in true collaboration.

Collecting Cats: Library Lessons From Neko Atsume, Kelly M. Blanchat, Megan Brooks

Publications and Research

This blog post is the culmination of a Twitter conversation between librarians talking about their experiences playing a phone game. The game is called Nekoatsume and it involves taking care of digital cats in a virtual backyard. Nekoatsume is entirely in Japanese, a key fact that actually started the Twitter conversation (and not the fact that the game involves cats, as might be expected). Despite the language barrier, Nekoatsume is remarkably user-friendly; library databases should be just as user-friendly as a game in a foreign language, but too often they’re not. With so many variables in acquiring research — design, …

Using Ipads To Facilitate Library Instruction Sessions In A Scale-Up Classroom, Michelle Gibeault

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study details a trial in which three undergraduate library instruction sessions were conducted on a class set of iPads, within a SCALE-UP classroom. The iPads suggested strong potential as replacements for desktop computers and demonstrated support for key active learning approaches: instant polling, content sharing, and navigation of web pages and databases. The SCALE-UP classroom has made notable contributions in promoting undergraduate learning, and its advantages were found to be extensible to library instruction. The pedagogy which the space is designed to reinforce, collaborative learning segments interspersed with lecture components, seemed to promote student engagement in library instruction sessions.

Learning To Learn: Embedding Peer Support As A Core Learning Skill At Third Level, Gerard Ryder, Philip Russell

Conference Papers

This paper presents an overview of the Peer Learning Support Programme which has been developed by Mechanical Engineering staff and librarians at the Institute of Technology Tallaght in support of the Institute's Learning to Learn at Third Level module.

The Georgia State University Copyright Case After The Appeal: Is It More Appealing?, Judson L. Strain

Faculty Scholarship – Library Science

This presentation covers the Appellate Court review of the District Court's findings in the academic publishers' and Copyright Clearance Center's case against Georgia State University's electronic reserve policies.

Social Media As Game Strategy: Twitter In The #Infolit Instruction Session, Kelly M. Blanchat, Lydia Willoughby

Publications and Research

The lure of distractions can entice even the strongest of student wills in a computer classroom. Research requires strategic thinking and ordered planning to drown out the noise of online distractions. This poster demonstrates a unique way to capitalize on the natural overlap of research, communication, and social media by employing game strategy to lead learning outcomes for undergraduate student research. Instead of silencing social media, this activity incorporates Twitter as a platform to introduce information literacy concepts and participatory practices of scholarship.