Library and Information Science Commons^™

Vessel Form And Function In The Ceramic Assemblages From Bilbao And Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala, Amy Kaczmarek

Theses and Dissertations

My investigation of two ceramic assemblages from Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa in the Guatemala piedmont zone builds on previous ceramic studies; however, my research focuses on vessel form and decoration as possible indicators related to human activity and site development in the region. I compared data from the Pacific Coast Archaeological Project Relational Database (2002), which include type names, vessel forms, dimensions, and contextual information, with Parsons' findings from the Milwaukee Public Museum Bilbao Project (1967). My quantitative analysis focused on functional vessel attributes related to ceramic types, forms, and decorations from the Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa ceramic assemblages to examine the …

Understanding Wisconsin Legislators' Use Of Social Media, Christian T. Moran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the use of social media by legislative offices of the Wisconsin State Assembly. A survey of legislators and their staff documented the extent to which each office uses Facebook or Twitter. In addition, multivariate analysis of the survey data provided an understanding of which kinds of legislators are more likely to use Facebook or Twitter. There were three important findings. First, most Wisconsin legislators whose offices use Facebook or Twitter do not seem to be doing so to reach the news media. Second, overall, the characteristics of a Wisconsin legislator are …

Historic Museum Collections As Primary Sources: Thomas Wilson's Robenhausen Material At The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum Of Natural History, Kathryn G. Maxwell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the role of early museum curators and their collecting practices in the construction and transmission of archaeological knowledge. During the late 19th century, artifacts from Swiss lake-dwelling sites, including Robenhausen, a Neolithic and early Bronze Age site located on Lake Pfäffikon in Switzerland, were sold and traded in a "lake-dwelling diaspora" to many collectors and museums in the US and UK (Arnold 2013:877). A collection of Robenhausen material acquired by the Smithsonian Institution's (SI) United States National Museum (USNM) in 1904 is used as a proxy for the collecting practices of the time and serves as a …

Investigating User Search Tactic Patterns And System Support In Using Digital Libraries, Soohyung Joo

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate users' search tactic application and system support in using digital libraries. A user study was conducted with sixty digital library users. The study was designed to answer three research questions: 1) How do users engage in a search process by applying different types of search tactics while conducting different search tasks?; 2) How does the system support users to apply different types of search tactics?; 3) How do users' search tactic application and system support for different types of search tactics affect search outputs? Sixty student subjects were recruited from different disciplines in a state …

Innovation In Academic Libraries During A Time Of Crisis, Dane Michael Ward

Theses and Dissertations

During a period of rapid social and technological change, academic Academic libraries and librarianship are experiencing a period of great change, or crisis, influenced by multiple factors including emerging technologies, declining budgets, and changing information. More than a transitory historical phase, these changes represents a fundamental transition between paradigms (Kuhn, 1962). Academic libraries and librarianship are moving from a paradigm focused on collections and books to a paradigm focused on learning. Within this context, innovations are new processes, services and products that facilitate this transition to the new paradigm.

Beyond this definitional work, the work serves as an exploration of …

"Democracy" In A Virtual World: Eve Online's Council Of Stellar Management And The Power Of Influence, Jessica Ireland

Theses and Dissertations

Interest in virtual worlds has grown within academia and popular culture. Virtual worlds are persistent, technologically-mediated, social spaces. Academic literature focuses on issues such as identity, sociality, economics, and governance. However studies of governance focus on internal or external modes of control; less attention has been paid to institutions of governance that operate within both the virtual and real worlds.

In EVE Online, the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) represents a joint venture between developers and users to shape the direction of EVE's virtual society. As a group of elected representatives, the CSM represents societal interests to the game's developer, …

Discovering Regalos: A Case Study Of Saint Anne's Middle School, Nicole Jenks May

Theses and Dissertations

Saint Anne's Middle School is a Catholic, bilingual, bicultural, middle school for girls that participates in the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program. This case study explored reading and language arts as experienced in the school through the lens of a school library media specialist. The students’ social, emotional, and intellectual needs appeared to be met at the school for the most part. The school also exhibited best practices for teaching reading at the middle school level to bilingual students. However, to improve reading, the school would want to consider changing the school’s focus from reading comprehension to reading engagement so …

One Too Many: An Exploration Of The Roots Of Literacy Of Older African Americans In South Carolina Before Brown Versus The Board Of Education, Barbara Johnson Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from 1992 data, The National Adult Literacy Survey recently indicated that a large portion of the US population lacks the literacy skills typically required to complete complex tasks and take advantage of a wide range of employment opportunities. This report also indicated that the reading proficiency of African Americans was substantially lower than that of the White population, particularly within the elder population. A similar picture emerges in the more recent report, Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. As a group, African American adults ages 65 and older had the lowest average …