Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Collaborative Approaches To The Management Of Geospatial Data Collections In Canadian Academic Libraries: A Historical Case Study, Leanne Trimble, Cheryl Woods, Francine Berish, Daniel Jakubek, Sarah Simpkin

Western Libraries Publications

Special Issue: Geospatial Data Management, Curation, and Preservation - Part 2

The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) is a consortium of the twenty-one university libraries in Ontario, Canada. Since 1967, OCUL member institutions have worked together to share costs and workload through collective purchasing and licensing of information resources and more recently through the establishment of a shared digital infrastructure known as Scholars Portal. Under the auspices of OCUL, Ontario's university map librarians formed the OCUL Map Group in 1973 to seek opportunities to communicate and collaborate to improve the collections and services they offer their users. The opportunities …

Academic Data Library Services In Canada Over Time, S Vincent Gray, Elizabeth Hill

Western Libraries Publications

This Excel spreadsheet both supplements and was used to create the maps (also included) presented in The Academic Data Librarian Profession in Canada: History and Future Directions, a chapter by Vincent Gray and Elizabeth Hill in the forthcoming (2015) ACRL volume The Academic Data Librarian in Theory and Practice. Data were compiled from information sent from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries and Statistics Canada.

Open Access Funds: Getting A Bigger Bang For Our Bucks, Bobby Glushko, Crystal Hampson, P L. Moore, Elizabeth Yates

Western Libraries Publications

Many libraries offer open access publishing funds to support authors in paying article processing charges (APC) levied by some OA journals. However, there are few standard practices for managing or assessing these funds. The Open Access Working Group (OAWG) of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) was asked to investigate and articulate best practices for successful open access fund management. In spring 2015, the OAWG surveyed Canadian academic libraries with OA funds to review their criteria and collect feedback on current practices. The survey proved timely because many OA funds are under review. Shrinking budgets, ending pilots, and questions …

Balancing Visions And Values: An Exploration Of Market Rhetoric In Canadian Academic Library Strategic Plans, Courtney L. Waugh

Western Libraries Publications

Strategic planning documents are key sites to institutional discourse and reflect the public face of the library. This research explores the extent to which market rhetoric permeates the strategic planning documents of three Canadian academic libraries, and examines the ways in which these institutions engage in market discourse to construct their institutional identity. What are the implications of adopting a "customer service" stance? What does it mean to be “innovative”? How do "personalized services" influence ideas of choice? Through content analysis and a critical lens, this exploratory research examines the tension between libraries as public good and libraries as a …

Integrating Library Instruction Into The Course Management System For A First Year Engineering Class: An Evidence-Based Study Measuring The Effectiveness Of Blended Learning On Students’ Information Literacy Levels, Qinqin Zhang, Maren Goodman, Shiyi Xie

Western Libraries Publications

This research examines students in a first-year engineering course who receive library instruction by using a newly developed online module and attending optional in-person tutorials. It aims to evaluate the outcomes of library information literacy instruction using this module combined with in-person help. Results show a significant improvement in information literacy skills from a pre-test to a post-test. Focus group and survey data indicate that most students preferred the self-paced learning style of the online module and that the content of the module helped them to conduct library research for the course. This study also considers best practices for online …