Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Exploration Of Academic Librarian Positions Dedicated To Serving First Year College Students, Katelyn Angell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

Within library literature there are many articles that describe academic librarians' experiences working with first-year college students, for example, teaching information literacy skills, assessing student learning, and serving as a personal librarian. While these positions have become common, there is not much formal research that compiles and investigates the professional responsibilities, campus partnerships, challenges, and successes of librarians in a first-year experience role. Interdepartmental collaboration is the primary focus of this exploration, as there are a multitude of campus stakeholders needed to ensure the overall success of first-year students. A survey of first-year librarians describes common themes and challenges across …

Where Students Start And What They Do When They Get Stuck: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Academic Information-Seeking And Help-Seeking Practices, Eamon Tewell, Susan E. Thomas, Gloria Willson

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

This study investigates two questions key to academic library resources and services: Which sources are students most likely to use to begin their academic work? Whom do students tend to consult for research assistance? In-depth interviews conducted with 15 undergraduate and graduate students were thematically analyzed through a three-step process. The findings indicate that students are most likely to consult faculty and peers for assistance and are largely unaware of librarians' roles, while they tend to begin research using library databases and do not necessarily start with Google. In addition, student use of small study groups as learning networks and …

Access To Physical Media In Academic Libraries: From Policy Review To Action Plan, Rachel King

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

Streaming video is becoming the preferred means of viewing video for consumers, but physical formats do continue to offer libraries certain advantages: greater variety of choice for patrons at a lower cost. Many academic libraries have invested heavily in DVD collections, and these videos may be housed in closed stacks that satisfy some stakeholders but that discourage use and do not meet student needs or expectations. This article provides a framework for deciding whether or not to open up a closed collection, and uses the author’s library’s closed-stack collection as a case study.

A Decade Of Critical Information Literacy: A Review Of The Literature, Eamon Tewell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

As information literacy continues in its centrality to many academic libraries’ missions, a line of inquiry has developed in response to ACRL’s charge to develop information literate citizens. The literature of critical information literacy questions widely held assumptions about information literacy and considers in what ways librarians may encourage students to engage with and act upon information’s complex and inherently political nature. This review explores the research into critical information literacy, including critical pedagogy and critiques of information literacy, in order to provide an entry point for this emerging approach to information literacy.

House Of Cards: The Academic Library Media Center In The Era Of Streaming Video, Rachel King

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

In a time of increasing financial pressures on universities, the expense of library resources—and the potential for cost inflation—threaten the academic library collection. This article asks whether the academic library media center will be able to continue to offer a stable inventory of films, given the legal and commercial structures currently in place. It provides a history of the film industry’s interactions with its intermediaries, forecasts some of the obstacles to ongoing feature film affordability and access in libraries, offers strategies for librarians, and suggests some cause for hope.

Increased Size Of E-Book Collection Positively Impacts Usage But May Reach Critical Mass, Eamon Tewell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

A Review of: Lamothe, A. R. (2013). Factors influencing the usage of an electronic book collection: Size of the e-book collection, the student population, and the faculty population. College & Research Libraries, 74(1), 39-59. Retrieved 12 July 2013 from http://crl.acrl.org/content/74/1/39.full.pdf

Open Source Assessment Of Academic Library Patron Satisfaction, Katelyn Angell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – While academic libraries have often purchased proprietary software to assess patron satisfaction, the open source movement has generated high-quality software available free of charge. These tools are useful alternatives in an era marked by tremendous budget cuts familiar to many academic libraries. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of open source software to effectively and affordably measure the quality of service at academic libraries.

Design/methodology/approach – The author’s experience with using the open source tool LimeSurvey to administer a library survey over a three-year period serves as a case study for other institutions. A …

Collaborating For Academic Success: A Tri-Institutional Information Literacy Program For High School Students, Eamon Tewell, Katelyn Angell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

This article describes a nearly decade-long partnership between three institutions representing school, public, and academic settings in Westchester County, New York. The program, designed to improve the academic performance of local high school students, is unique due to the extensive contact students have with academic librarians during the school year, including two day-long orientations and individual consultation sessions. Using experiences as partners in this collaborative effort, interviews with six teachers and librarians, and the existing literature, this article identifies best practices and key factors for academic libraries that are considering or currently providing instructional and outreach activities to high schools.

Pcc Training For Copy Catalogers: Is It Worth The Investment? The Columbia University Libraries Experience, Natalia Gelber, Irina Kandarasheva

Post Library Faculty Publications

This paper presents a case study program implemented at Columbia University Libraries that trains copy catalogers in Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) principles. Under the guidance of the NACO coordinator and cataloging supervisors, copy catalogers create PCC-level records for belles lettres materials, construct name and. uniform title headings, and submit classification number proposals for literary authors in a variety of languages in both roman and nonroman scripts. The benefits of the program include timely and efficient processing of materials, high-quality bibliographic records, better collocation of belles lettres, and upgrade of vendor or member records …

Reading The Academic Library Blog Through The Lens Of Genre Theory: A Preliminary Discussion, Mellissa J. Hinton

Post Library Faculty Publications

This article is a theoretical discussion that introduces examining the emerging library blog of the public academic library from the approach of genre theory. Genre theory classifies texts not only by form but by the social actions performed, a definition developed by Carol Miller. Public and private spheres are found to intersect in the library blog, complicating the traditional role of the librarian as objective information provider. Reprinted by permission of the publisher