Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Information Literacy Opportunities Within The Discovery Tool Environment, Nancy E. Fawley, Nikki Krysak

Library Faculty Publications

Discovery tools such as Primo, EBSCO Discovery Service, Summon, and WorldCat Local aim to make scholarly research more intuitive for students in part because of their single interface for searching across multiple platforms, including the library, fee-based databases, and unique digital collections. Discovery tools are in sync with the way many undergraduates look for information because they offer a more “Google-like” experience in contrast with previous methods of research that required first knowing which database to use, then searching each one differently according to its specifications. However, broad searches across multiple formats with different systems of controlled vocabulary force instructors …

Guidelines For Media Resources In Academic Libraries (2012), Mary S. Laskowski, Cyrus Ford Zarganj, Nancy E. Friedland, Jacqueline Fritz, Jim Holmes, Lora Lennertz Jetton, M. Claire Stewart, Joe M. Williams

Library Faculty Publications

Technology used in teaching, learning, and research has created new challenges and opportunities for managers of college and university library media resource collections and services.

Moving images, sounds, and still images have become increasingly important in teaching, learning and research, and academic librarians are working closely with other agencies on campus to support faculty and student information needs. In some institutions, librarians have become true partners in the delivery of instruction, working with faculty, technologists, and instructional developers to create “new learning communities.”

Most academic libraries collect media, and these materials are as vital and diverse as any print collection …

Appearances Do Matter! What Libraries Can Learn From Clinton Kelly, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

One could easily mistake Clinton Kelly’s closing keynote presentation at ACRL 2011 in Philadelphia last March as light fare. Kelly, cohost of TLC’s What Not To Wear, spoke enthusiastically about the importance of one’s appearance and the necessity of making an extra effort in the way individuals present themselves. His keynote address, and the fact that a fashion expert was a speaker at a conference for librarians, sparked debates on Twitter and in the blogosphere.

Do appearances matter? I say they do and add that this applies to buildings and objects, as well. Academic libraries, especially, could benefit from some …

Map Displays And Exhibits, Katherine Rankin

Library Faculty Publications

Many patrons do not even know libraries have map collections, let alone what kinds of maps are in them or how they could use those maps. Map displays and exhibits can help increase interest in map collections. Muriel Strickland wrote an article on casual map displays with the title "Map Displays: a Means of Promoting Map Use" in volume 17, number 3 of the WAML IB (June 1986). One of the purposes of my writing this article is to reprise some of the valuable information in Muriel's article; because it was published so long ago, many of the present WAmL …

Hitch Your Wagon To Institutional Goals, Anne E. Zald, Michelle Millet

Library Faculty Publications

The landscape of accreditation and accountability in higher education is in a period of rapid change, coalescing around issues identified in the 2006 report of the Spellings Commission, “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education.” Information literacy librarians need to connect their instructional efforts to the institutional strategies and initiatives that address continuous improvement whatever their source, e.g. accreditation agencies, funding bodies such as state legislatures, institutional participation in the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA), University & College Accountability Network (U-CAN), or internal initiatives of the institution’s administration. The challenge for instruction librarians is great, requiring …

Notes From The Field: 10 Short Lessons On One-Shot Instruction, Megan Oakleaf, Steven Hoover, Beth S. Woodard, Jennifer Corbin, Randy Hensley, Diana K. Wakimoto, Christopher V, Hollister, Debra Gilchrist, Michelle Millet, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Publications

Librarians teach. It might not be what we planned to do when we entered the profession, or it may have been our secret hope all along. Either way, we teach. We teach users of all types, including students, faculty, and our co-workers. We teach in multiple venues including classrooms, reference desks, face-to-face, and online. While the variety of teaching audiences and environments are endless, one teaching scenario remains quintessential: the one-shot library instruction session. No one knows better than librarians the limitations of this format, yet it remains central to our teaching efforts.

Libraries Atwitter: Trends In Academic Library Tweeting, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Sam A. Leif, Susie Skarl

Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – This paper aims to present an overview of how libraries are using Twitter in an academic setting.

Design/methodology/approach – This study analyzed the current state of 296 Twitter accounts from a random sample of academic libraries. A total of 19 different criteria were explored, with an emphasis on the following three categories: layout and design, content and number of tweets, and account followers.

Findings – Only 34 per cent of libraries in the study had a Twitter account and characteristics varied widely among libraries, however it is evident that it is possible to successfully communicate with patrons via …

Ebook Collection Analysis: Subject And Publisher Trends, J. Cory Tucker

Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an assessment of an ebook collection in an academic library, and attempts to locate usage trends by subject and publisher.

Design/methodology/approach – The research was based on: three years of usage data from two e-book packages: NetLibrary and Ebrary; two methods of purchase: NetLibrary was a one-time purchase; Ebrary is purchased on a subscription basis. The research evaluated usage difference over time between the two packages and analyzed subject and publisher usage.

Findings – The research found that Ebrary showed increased usage over time; NetLibrary demonstrated decreased usage; subject analysis showed ebooks in …

Addressing Academic Integrity: Perspectives From Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

Understanding the cultural aspects that affect a student’s ability to appropriately use resources is important in developing outreach and instruction in multicultural settings. Differences in educational philosophies, students’ previous scholastic training and cultural differences in individual motivation are all factors that may affect a freshman’s ability to understand an American university’s idea of academic integrity and can inadvertently cause problems where independent work and critical thinking are required. At Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar), a branch campus of the American university in the Middle East, a special class on academic integrity and ethical behavior was integrated into the …