Library and Information Science Commons^™

“Discovery” Focus As An Impetus For Organizational Learning, Jennifer L. Fabbi

Library Faculty Publications

The University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries' focus on the concept of discovery and the tools and processes that enable our users to find information began with an organizational review of the Libraries' Technical Services Division. This article outlines the phases of this review and subsequent planning and organizational commitment to discovery. Using the theoretical lens of organizational learning, it highlights how the emerging focus on discovery has provided an impetus for genuine learning and change.

Building Pathfinders With Screen Capture Tools, Patrick Griffis

Library Faculty Publications

This article outlines freely available screen capturing tools, covering their benefits and drawbacks as well as their potential applications. In discussing these tools, the author illustrates how they can be used to build pathfinding tutorials for users and how these tutorials can be shared with users. The author notes that the availability of these screen capturing tools at no cost, coupled with their ease of use, provides ample opportunity for low-stakes experimentation from library staff in building dynamic pathfinders to promote the discovery of library resources.

Usability As A Method For Assessing Discovery, Thomas A. Ipri, Michael A. Yunkin, Jeanne M. Brown

Library Faculty Publications

The University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries engaged in three projects that helped identify areas of its website that had inhibited discovery of services and resources. These projects also helped generate staff interest in the Usability Working Group, which led these endeavors. The first project studied student responses to the site. The second focused on a usability test with the Libraries’ peer research coaches and resulted in a presentation of those findings to the Libraries staff. The final project involved a specialized test, the results of which also were presented to staff. All three of these projects led to improvements …

Unlv Special Collections In The Twenty-First Century, Tom D. Sommer

Library Faculty Publications

University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Special Collections is consistently striving to provide several avenues of discovery to its diverse range of patrons. Specifically, UNLV Special Collections has planned and implemented several online tools to facilitate unearthing treasures in the collections. These online tools incorporate Web 2.0 features as well as searchable interfaces to collections.

Surviving Your First Library Job Search, Or, An Explanation Of What I Had To Learn The Hard Way, Re-Produced Here, For You, So That You Are Not Driven To Drink As Well, Steven Hoover

Library Faculty Publications

Searching for a library job can be a life-changing ordeal, but try not to let that bother you. The scars that it will leave on your psyche are likely to heal in time. When I was starting the job search process, I found that the professional literature had a lot to say about writing good cover letters and developing solid interview skills but not a lot of information about what searching for a job was really like on a daily basis. Hopefully, after reading this article, you have a little better sense of what to expect during your search, pick …

Dirt: Digital Research Tools Wiki, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Publications

This wiki listing of Web-based tools and commercial software is geared to humanities/social sciences researchers. Users can identify tools for specific research tasks. Project organizers are the only editors, but they actively solicit suggestions.

Collection Assessment Of Monograph Purchases At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries, J. Cory Tucker

Library Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to describe an assessment project of the monograph collection at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Lied Library. The circulation statistics and in-house use of all monographs for the nine colleges at UNLV were assessed analyzing the last five years of data. The analysis included an assessment of the circulation statistics and in-house use of books purchased on an approval plan compared with books purchased by individual liaison librarians. The findings illustrated the fact that overall use of the monograph collection has declined over the past five years. The findings also showed that …

Whipping Up The “Why Paper”: Inquiry Into Diverse Perspectives, Jennifer L. Fabbi, P. S. Mcmillen, Abigail Hawkins

Library Faculty Publications

Students are introduced to various databases that provide access to alternative perspectives and to an advanced organizer designed to foster critical evaluation of sources.

In a Valuing Cultural Diversity course, required for all undergraduate education majors, students are asked to write a "Why" paper to investigate and understand alternative perspectives, looking particularly at the perspectives of a cultural group different from their own.

Cooking Up Concept Maps, Abigail Hawkins, Jennifer L. Fabbi, P. S. Mcmillen

Library Faculty Publications

Concept maps allow students to visually work through an idea for potentially useful search terms.

A common roadblock students experience in the research process is identifying central concepts in their research questions and devising useful ways to reframe search terms. Concept mapping is one instructional strategy that can be used to help students better identify the central concepts in their research questions and expand on other ways these concepts are articulated in the literature.

Documenting The American South, Tom D. Sommer

Library Faculty Publications

If you’re interested in researching the American South, then the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill has an extensive digital collection for you. Documenting the American South is a fascinating digital collection that is geared towards K–12 and college-level students and teachers. The collection provides its users a variety of sources ranging from texts, images, and other materials that originate from various libraries of the UNC. These materials provide a springboard into several aspects of the American South and the Tar Heel State.

Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Publications

A worthwhile update to the first edition (2004), this volume combines a dictionary-style thesaurus with notes, comparisons, and brief essays from notable contemporary writers and editors that clarify complexities and ruminate on points of contention.

A Mother, A Teacher, Nancy Drew, And A U.N. Interpreter: The Aspirations Of Deborah Wiles, Amy L. Johnson, Jennifer L. Fabbi

Library Faculty Publications

In an interview, Deborah Wiles, a children's book author and National Book Award finalist, discusses the new trilogy of novels she is writing based on the 1960s. Other topics discussed include balancing humor with seriousness, making connections between seemingly disconnected themes, striving to help young people make difficult choices, and honoring family in her stories.

New Avenues For Integrating Information Literacy Into The Curriculum, Abigail Hawkins Gonzales, P. S. Mcmillen, Jennifer L. Fabbi

Library Faculty Publications

A generally understood mission of library instruction programs is to promote information literacy (IL) and critical thinking across the curriculum. The majority of programmatic IL collaborations with higher education core curricula are found in introductory composition or communication courses. Other more unconventional avenues offer potentially more effective ways to teach students the basic IL concepts and skills. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), conversations with College of Education faculty helped librarians identify a strategic and unique point of entry for IL instruction. Using the ADDIE model as a conceptual framework, librarians and an instructional designer met with the …

Using Link Resolver Reports For Collection Management, Eva Stowers, J. Cory Tucker

Library Faculty Publications

In 2007–2008, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries conducted a large collection assessment project. The Collection Assessment Committee identified several possible ways to conduct the review, one of which was using reports from the link resolver SFX. The committee used several link resolver reports in conjunction with statistics from the Libraries' document delivery department to identify trends in journal usage among disciplines. The link resolver reports can help identify new journals for purchase and are useful for providing information on user behavior.

Benchmarking Usage Statistics In Collection Management Decisions For Serials, J. Cory Tucker

Library Faculty Publications

Starting in 2007, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries began a collection assessment project to examine the usage of library resources and analyze user behavior of library patrons. To complete the project, a collection assessment committee was organized, and a subgroup of the committee was selected to gather and analyze data including usage statistics, collection specific information, and other data as needed. Once the data had been gathered and analyzed, the collection management department began using the statistics in decision making and changed the collection development policy for electronic resources to incorporate benchmarking of usage statistics.

Smartphones: A Potential Discovery Tool, Eva Stowers, Wendy Starkweather

Library Faculty Publications

The anticipated wide adoption of smartphones by researchers is viewed by the authors as a basis for developing mobile-based services. In response to the UNLV Libraries’ strategic plan’s focus on experimentation and outreach, the authors investigate the current and potential role of smartphones as a valuable discovery tool for library users.

Assessment Tool Or Edutainment Toy, Patrick Griffis

Library Faculty Publications

The use of Clickers as a tool for library instruction has been growing in popularity because library instructors view this technology as a mechanism to foster interactivity within library instruction sessions in order to increase overall student engagement. However, a newly emerging area of interest for library instructors is the use of Clickers as a tool for library instruction assessment. This paper posits some of the viewpoints of various instructors using Clickers including the viewpoints of library instructors. The central question considered in this paper is whether Clickers are an effective and feasible tool for library instruction assessment. This examination …

Success Factors And Strategic Planning: Rebuilding An Academic Library Digitization Program, Cory K. Lampert, Jason Vaughan

Library Faculty Publications

This paper discusses a dual approach of case study and research survey to investigate the complex factors in sustaining academic library digitization programs. The case study involves the background of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries’ digitization program and elaborates on the authors’ efforts to gain staff support for this program. A related survey was administered to all Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members, seeking to collect baseline data on their digital collections, understand their respective administrative frameworks, and to gather feedback on both negative obstacles and positive inputs affecting their success. Results from the survey, combined with …

To The Instruction Cave, Librarian!: Graphic Novels And Information Literacy, Steven Hoover

Library Faculty Publications

Information literacy librarians have been known to troll the waters of popular culture for phenomena that are capable of teaching information literacy skills and simultaneously engaging student interest. For these librarians, graphic novels have reached a point where they are too big to ignore.

Enhancing Opac Records For Discovery, Patrick Griffis, Cyrus Ford Zarganj

Library Faculty Publications

This article proposes adding keywords and descriptors to the catalog records of electronic databases and media items to enhance their discovery. The authors contend that subject liaisons can add value to OPAC records and enhance discovery of electronic databases and media items by providing searchable keywords and resource descriptions. The authors provide an examination of OPAC records at their own library, which illustrates the disparity of useful keywords and descriptions within the notes field for media item records versus electronic database records. The authors outline methods for identifying useful keywords for indexing OPAC records of electronic databases. Also included is …

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation: Exploring Age-Related Resources, Susie Skarl, Sidney Lowe

Library Faculty Publications

In the past few years, as technology has radically changed how we find and use information resources, library staff have begun to notice significant generational differences in the information-seeking behavior of library patrons. These frequent observations at the reference desk and in library instruction classes planted the first small seeds of our interest in this topic. Internet sites and online articles about generational differences are plentiful and focus on a wide range of subjects, such as learning styles, social behaviors, moral values, technological skills, marketing, communication, and workplace performance.

Cultivating The Librarian Within: Effectively Lntegrating Library Lnstruction Into Freshman Composition, Jesse Ulmer, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

It has become common practice for library instruction to be included in lower-level college composition courses. Students are typically required to visit the library once or twice a semester to receive instruction on how to find books and journal articles for an upcoming writing assignment that incorporates formal research. But does this current model of instruction truly address course outcomes that seek to produce students who are information literate, critical thinkers and life-long learners? Faculty who teach such courses are often reluctant to surrender precious class time to a librarian, but this paper argues that the merging of bibliographic instruction …