Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Faraway Flix: Connecting To International Students Through Film, Laura Bohuski

DLTS Faculty Publications

WKU has, at any given time, about 20,000 students enrolled in university programs across four campuses. WKU is a campus that is actively engaged in making international connections, so much so that its current vision statement asserts that WKU is “a leading American university with international reach.”1 Western’s drive to establish and maintain international connections has been successful: of the 20,000 students currently attending WKU, 1,300 are international students from 70 seventy different countries.2 With such a diverse student population, many of the departments at Western are actively engaged in developing programs to help connect our extensive international population with …

Talking To Ourselves: Internal Communication Strategies For Reference Services, John Gottfried, Laura Delancey, Amanda Hardin

DLTS Faculty Publications

At many academic libraries, spiral notebooks and three ring binders have given way to blogs and wikis as a means of facilitating communication at the reference desk. Western Kentucky University Libraries opted instead to create a custom internal website to log reference transactions, highlight current issues, and manage scheduling changes. This solution incorporated numerous platforms and technologies, including LibGuides, Facebook, and Google Calendar. It avoided some of the pitfalls described in the literature, such as relying too heavily on user-generated content, and has been successful largely because it is embedded in the reference workspace and contains features that librarians will …

Virtual Conference And Meeting Systems: Resources For Online Connections, John Gottfried, Laura Delancey, Carol L. Watwood, Amanda Hardin

DLTS Faculty Publications

Librarians have always tried to stretch the limits of applicable technologies to create effective connections among researchers and resources. We thrive on the tools and tactics that help us do this, and we are always on the prowl for newer, better alternatives. This is one of the best ways we have of keeping high service standards in the face of shrinking budgets and skeletal staffing. Fortunately, there have never been so many technologies to choose from, and there have never been so many challenges calling out for technological intervention.

Hosting online instruction sessions is, for example, an excellent opportunity for …

Java City: Developing A Successful Cultural Center, Jack G. Montgomery Jr.

DLTS Faculty Publications

Introduction:

Western Kentucky University Library had a large two-level, but largely unused lobby that had once been the library’s entrance but had been closed as a new entrance was created. By 2002, it sat empty and all but devoid of human traffic just outside our Reference area. Also, in 2002, Reference statistics were down, as was Circulation and library usage in general. Dean Binder believed that with the renovation and development of this former lobby, the library would realize an increase in campus visibility and library usage would increase.

Resource Discovery Tools: Supporting Serendipity, Tammera M. Race

DLTS Faculty Publications

Serendipity, the accidental discovery of something useful, plays an important role in discovery and the acquisition of new knowledge. The process and role of serendipity varies across disciplines. As library collections have become increasingly digital faculty lament the loss of serendipity of browsing library stacks. Resource discovery tools may have features that support serendipity as part of information seeking. A comparison of four commercial Web-scale discovery tools, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat® Local1, Serials Solution2® Summon3™, ExLibris4® Primo Central5™, and EBSCO Discovery Services (EDS)6™, links product features to characteristics that support serendipitous discovery. However, having such features is only …

In Memoriam: Alfred Jaeger (1923-2003), Connie Foster

DLTS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Net Result: Enthusiasm For Exploring The Internet, Connie Foster, Cynthia Etkin, Sandra L. Staebell, Mary Margaret (Peggy) Wright

DLTS Faculty Publications

What began as a vision and committee charge from the dean of libraries at Western Kentucky University (WKU) ended as a successful faculty retreat focusing on the Internet. For the third year all University Libraries faculty from public and technical services, special collections, and the Kentucky Museum set aside one day before the beginning of the fall semester to retreat from their normal library responsibilities and environment to explore, in-depth, a single topic, and in 1993 the retreat focused on the Internet.

Current Periodicals: Subject Access The Mac Way, Connie Foster

DLTS Faculty Publications

At Western Kentucky University, the Library uses a Macintosh to filter and edit information on current serials to produce a periodicals guide for faculty and students. This tool has proven useful in collections development, reference and serials control within the Library. It has also provided the Library with a means to communicate to the academic community the extent of serials holdings in specific disciplines. Additionally, the Library has used the information within the guide to generate other lists of serials holdings for its patrons.