Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Finding And Using Federal Information Relevant To People With Disabilities, Isabella Folmar, Blake Robinson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Libraries In The Doughnut Economy, Monika Antonelli, Rene Tanner, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Adrian K. Ho

Faculty Publications

This chapter unpacks the principles behind Doughnut Economics and explains how libraries can lead a long overdue social transition by incorporating the principles into their policies and operations. The actualization of Doughnut Economics will bring about a positive transformation of people’s behavior, which in turn will shift the focus of the economy from unfettered growth and opportunistic monetization to the well-being of people and biodiversity on the planet. In addition, libraries can help facilitate a redistribution of wealth in its various forms by supporting and promoting knowledge sharing. The chapter concludes with a discussion of five simple acts that drive …

Common Intellectual Experiences And Academic Libraries, Susan Montgomery, Jonathan H. Harwell

Faculty Publications

As discussed throughout this volume, colleges and universities have explored ways to integrate high-impact practices into their campus learning. At Rollins College, a small liberal arts college with a graduate business school in Winter Park, Florida, faculty members have been essential in fostering initiatives that center on creating a common learning experience for their students. As library faculty members at Rollins, we have been heavily involved with the rFLA (Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts) curriculum for undergraduates. This chapter presents our work as a case study.

Creating A Hip In The Library: A High-Impact Practice Case Study, Susan E. Montgomery

Faculty Publications

High-impact practices, HIPs, have been adopted on college campuses to enhance student learning. The academic library provides services and space contributing to learning at its institution. Librarians conduct space research to learn how the library building can better serve its users. Library space assessment is one way for librarians to engage with faculty and students to create a HIP in the library. This article is a case study of a collaboration between a librarian and a sociology professor to design an observational study. It demonstrates how librarians can contribute to HIPs at their institution by involving students in meaningful research.

Theory And The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning: Inquiry And Practice With Intention, Nancy L. Chick

Faculty Publications

Theory in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is the conceptual basis for the practice of SoTL—or, more precisely, the conceptual bases for the practices of SoTL—as well as the bodies of knowledge, methodological assumptions, and explanations of phenomena that are deployed (explicitly or implicitly) from a range of contexts within SoTL. Put another way, theory is thinking on a meta level, a metacognitive move in which practitioners become aware, critical, and intentional of how and why they are doing their practice. It involves taking stock of the existing conversations to move beyond definitions, to critically evaluate gaps and …

The Secret Lives Of Ebooks: A Paratextual Analysis Illuminates A Veil Of Usage Statistics, Jonathan H. Harwell, Erin Gallagher

Faculty Publications

This study applies the method of paratextual analysis to six electronic books, or ebooks, in an academic library collection at a small liberal arts college. Two books are selected from each of three platforms: ebrary, EBSCO, and SpringerLink. The characteristics of each book are described, including design and readership, as well as 2 years of usage statistics from the specific library, and altmetrics where available. The paratextual study leads to a closer investigation of the usage statistics themselves and concludes that despite industry standards, they are not calculated consistently across vendor platforms and that while these data are invisible …

So, You Find Yourself Supervising Faculty Librarians. What Now?, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Atg Special Report — Purchasing Articles By Demand-Driven Acquisition: An Alternative Serial Distribution Model For Libraries, Jonathan H. Harwell, James Bunnelle

Faculty Publications

It’s 2017, and library patrons still have limited ways to access the text of articles behind pay walls. The current mix of subscriptions, interlibrary loan or document delivery, and pay per view is unsustainable for endangered library budgets, and thus is unsustainable for publishers. It’s time to begin leveraging the tools we use for e-books-- discovery services, demand-driven acquisition (DDA), and perpetual purchase-- and apply them to articles. After all, the distinction between a monograph and a serial is fluid. Books in series, book-length articles, article-length books, and special issues sold as monographs illustrate the folly of treating them as …

Approaching Discovery As Part Of A Library Service Platform: Lessons Learned, Nathan Hosburgh

Faculty Publications

Discovery systems such as Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service, Primo, and WorldCat Discovery Services have become part of academic libraries' standard toolbox. The Olin Library at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, became an early adopter of Serials Solutions Summon Service in 2009, enhancing access to print and electronic material. Although this has led to general improvements over the fractured searching of the traditional online catalog, database list, A-Z journal list, and digital repository, we recognized that the disparate systems hampered our ability to deliver a superior discovery experience and effectively provide other library services for our patrons.
Therefore, we did …

From Co-Location To Collaboration: Working Together To Improve Student Learning, Susan Montgomery, Suzanne D. Robertshaw

Faculty Publications

An academic librarian and the coordinator of a campus tutoring and writing center recently relocated to the library researched their value to second-year students. Differences in the amount and type of available data called for conducting in-depth interviews with students about their research and writing processes. The researchers also reviewed relevant material regarding similar collaborative efforts at other college and universities. The gaps revealed in the environmental scan along with the best practices of librarian/writing center collaboration helped determine future steps needed for both units to move from mere co-location to working in true collaboration.

Oa In The Library Collection: The Challenges Of Identifying And Maintaining Open Access Resources, Nathan Hosburgh, Chris Bulock

Faculty Publications

While librarians, researchers, and the general public have embraced the concept of Open Access (OA), librarians still have a difficult time managing OA resources. To find out why, Bulock and Hosburgh surveyed librarians about their experiences managing OA resources and the strengths and weaknesses of management systems. At this session, they shared survey results, reflected on OA workflows at their own libraries, and updated audience members on relevant standards and initiatives. Survey respondents reported challenges related to hybrid OA, inaccurate metadata, and inconsistent communication along the serials supply chain. Recommended solutions included the creation of consistent, centralized article-level metadata and …

Being Earnest With Collections: Investing In Open Access At A Small Academic Library, Jonathan H. Harwell

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A User-Centered Approach To Addressing Issues Of Discoverability And Access, Nathan Hosburgh, Tess Graham

Faculty Publications

eResource access problems challenge electronic resources librari- ans and frustrate users. Challenges of using library systems can include information overload, links that do not work properly, incorrect metadata, and questionable relevance to search results. Nate Hosburgh, Electronic Resources Librarian at Montana State University, gave a presentation titled “A User-Centered Approach to Addressing Issues of Discoverability and Access” at the Mississippi State University Libraries’ eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit held in the Mitchell Memorial Library on August 2, 2013. Hosburgh spoke of lessons he and his team learned about troubleshooting eResources and his team’s approach to issues of discoverability and access.

Library Security Gates: Effectiveness And Current Practice, Jonathan H. Harwell

Faculty Publications

For years, library personnel have relied on security gates to prevent theft from their collections. However, recent anecdotal evidence suggests that libraries are removing the gates for various reasons, including cost and patron frustration with false alarms. This study examines current practices via a survey of libraries and security gate vendors and analyzes the effectiveness of security gates by empirical testing of alarms and with loss inventories of collection samples, supplemented by lost item statistics from interlibrary loan. Thus we use three primary methods to assess libraries’ approaches to security gates.

A Method For Evaluating Library Liaison Activities In Small Academic Libraries, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

This article presents a practical method for formative, self-reflective assessment of the liaison activities of individual librarians and to evaluate liaison activities in general. Many libraries evaluate their liaison programs, but few evaluate the effectiveness of individual librarians’ efforts within the program.

Librarians of Rollins College redefined and re-branded their liaison program as “Your Librarian.” As part of this effort, the author surveyed the faculty and assessed the program and the effectiveness of individual librarians. The author outlines the liaison responsibilities, the survey instrument, and how the results are analyzed and used in a process of continuous reflective improvement for …

Library Space Assessment: User Learning Behaviors In The Library, Susan Montgomery

Faculty Publications

Library space assessment in academic libraries is beginning to attract attention in the research literature. Libraries need to uncover how as an informal learning space, it contributes to student learning on campus. The Olin Library sought to learn the role of library space in our users’ learning. We surveyed users about their learning behaviors in a specific space prior to a scheduled renovation and then in the same space afterward. We wanted to determine how the renovation changed users’ perceptions of their learning behaviors in that space.

Atg Interviews Kristine S. Baker, Jonathan H. Harwell

Faculty Publications

Jonathan Harwell, Head of Collections & Systems at Rollins College, interviews Kristine S. Baker, Director of Digital Sales at YBP, about demand driven acquisition.

The Third Place: The Library As Collaborative And Community Space In A Time Of Fiscal Restraint, Susan Montgomery, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

In a period of fiscal constraint, when assumptions about the library as place are being challenged, administrators question the contribution of every expense to student success. Libraries have been successful in migrating resources and services to a digital environment accessible beyond the library. What is the role of the library as place when users do not need to visit the building to utilize library services and resources? We argue that the college library building’s core role is as a space for collaborative learning and community interaction which cannot be jettisoned in the new normal.

Open Access And Liberal Arts Colleges: Looking Beyond Research Institutions, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

Editor's Note: Readers of this column are familiar with the development of open access policies and their implementation at research universities. But what about liberal arts colleges? Jonathan Miller explains how a faculty open access policy is both a critical element of information services and an extension of his college's mission.

Quantitative Vs. Qualitative - Do Different Research Methods Give Us Consistent Information About Our Users And Their Library Space Needs?, Susan Montgomery

Faculty Publications

Assessment of how library patrons use space and the evaluation of their needs has become a “hot” topic in library research. But determining the best way to obtain information about their activity can be a challenge. Two types of data collection are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data provides a numerical count of what activities students perform within the library and therefore can be measured. Qualitative data gives personal opinions, feedback and individual perspectives regarding a topic but is not measurable. In this study, we were interested to learn if we would get substantially different results from a user observation study, …

“Publishers Did Not Take The Bait”: A Forgotten Precursor To The Nih Public Access Policy, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

This article compares the recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy (2005–07) with the United States Office of Education policy on copyright in funded research (1965–70).The two policies and the differing technological and political contexts of the periods are compared and contrasted. The author concludes that a more nuanced approach to copyright, the digital information environment, and the support of an energized user community auger well for the success of the NIH policy, but that it is still too soon to tell.