Library and Information Science Commons^™

Learning Communities: A Selective Overview Of Academic Library Involvement, Jean-Paul Orgeron

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

In 1932, Alexander Meiklejohn published a book that addressed the implementation of learning communities at the University of Wisconsin in 1927. The book, The Experimental College, serves as proof of the existence of such communities well over sixty years ago. It is clear that in the mid to late 1990s learning communities have piqued the curiosities of students and teaching faculty alike. Though they go by different names at various colleges and universities, and have somewhat different components, the common idea of learning communities is to have from two to four courses linked so that the courses have the same …

Inspec On Firstsearch: An Evaluation And Tutorial For Effective Searching, Lutishoor Salisbury, Usha Gupta

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

This paper focuses on providing critical evaluation and searching tips for users of the INSPEC database on FirstSearch on the Web. It introduces the idea of records and fields, fields searching to focus a search for effective retrieval, and the use of the Related Headings feature. Also explained is the idea of precision searching using the proximity operators and bound-phrase searching capabilities. Other ways to search for specific types of information (for example, foreign names, reviews, theses and dissertations, and chemical searching) are also presented. We provide practical examples to illustrate the search features using the Basic, Advanced, and Command …

A Model Job Training Program For Summer Youth: Library Interns At Grambling State University A. C. Lewis Memorial Library, Grambling, Louisiana, Sally Carroll, Sandy Stokley

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

A six-week university library intern program sponsored by the Job Training Partnership Act investigated the impact on 12 economically disadvantaged young persons facing nationally recognized problems pertaining to inadequate reading and math skills, work ethics, job skills, and motivation to complete school. Participants, predominantly (92%) African-American high school students, worked at Grambling State University, an historically black university, under predominantly (85%) African-American supervisors. Interns received academic enrichment, work experience, and life skills, primarily through pre-testing, classroom training, orientations by departmental supervisor, "hands-on" group projects, written assignments, daily reviews, and post-testing. Statistical data verify recommendations in the literature that job training …

Providing Library Services To Distance Students And Faculty In The College Of Human Resources And Family Sciences, Mary Cassner, Kate Adams

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Library resources and services are an essential component of any educational experience. Guidelines written by the Association of College and Research Libraries serve as a framework for providing library support to distance students and faculty. This article provides a case study of services and resources offered to students and faculty involved in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Human Resources and Family Sciences Interdepartmental Master's Program. Included are results of research studies related to meeting the library and information needs of distance learners and faculty in the college.

Professional Development Grant Evaluative Report, Dana W. R. Boden

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Survey of Chair and Institutional Correlates of Library Faculty Perceptions of Chair Faculty Development Roles and Leadership Practices

The “Lost” U.S. Technical Reports: Obtaining Reports From The 1940s And ‘50s, Robert L. Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Although centralized distribution of U.S. government technical reports began in 1946, the reports distributed by predecessors of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) for the first 15 years are now effectively “lost.” They are not available from NTIS, and they are not listed in the NTIS bibliographic database. Those reports are available from the Photoduplication Service of the Library of Congress, and many are available from other sources as well. This article describes bibliographic tools and resources available to identify those reports and provides advice on how to obtain them at a reasonable price.

Core Competencies And The Learning Organization, Joan Giesecke, Beth Mcneil

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Designing libraries that can thrive in changing, chaotic environments is a continuous challenge for today's managers. To succeed, libraries must now be agile, flexible, and able to adjust to a world that resembles an amusement park roller-coaster ride or white-water rafting.

One system that can help managers in today's environment is that of the learning organization. A learning organization is an organization that has an enhanced capacity to learn, adapt, and change, and is "skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and insights." In these organizations, staff are encouraged to continuously learn new skills. For learning to be effective, however, …

A Checklist Of Considerations For Writing A Book Proposal: Meeting Tenure Criteria, Paul G. Haschak

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

With an apparently increasing emphasis on research, writing and publication in tenure criteria for academic librarians who hold faculty status, illustrated in the study by Park and Riggs (1991), tenure-track academic librarians should not overlook book publication as a possible alternative to the publication of journal articles, as an outlet for their research.

Similarly, they should not overlook or minimize the importance of putting together an effective proposal package to sell their book ideas to publishers. While Buchman (1987) and others have acknowledged that there is not one way to put a proposal package together--and therefore no magic formula exists--there …

Drug, Pharmaceutical, And Pharmacy-Related Sites: A Webliography Of Core Sites, Paul G. Haschak

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

The World Wide Web (WWW) increasingly is becoming an important learning, teaching, and research tool for teachers and students, alike, who are seeking useful drug, pharmaceutical, and pharmacy-related sites on the Web, for their research. However, the seemingly inexhaustible number of WWW links can be daunting even to the most experienced Web user.

The following webliography is presented specifically for educators and students seeking a concise, annotated core list of WWW links on pharmaceutical, drug, and pharmacy-related topics.

The Collegial Environment And The Functional Organization, Mary K. Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Libraries are generally organized by function in order to carry out their mission efficiently. Academic librarians who are faculty also have a collegial organization that exists apart from any functional arrangement. Public and technical services librarians in this sort of organization are colleagues who have responsibility for the library in the way that teaching faculty are responsible for the programs in their departments. This article discusses the characteristics of the successful collegial organization and the relationship of technical and public services librarians in a collegial library.

Scenario Planning And Collection Development, Joan Giesecke

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

In changing times with many uncertainties, managers need planning processes that encourage flexibility and creativity.We can think strategically about the future; we can envision an ideal future. But in the practical, real world of decision-making, we need a system that helps us to both think the unthinkable and plan for multiple options. We can not always guess correctly about the future, so we need to design techniques that let us envision a variety of options and then plan for those possibilities.

One technique that can help managers plan for multiple futures is scenario-driven planning. Scenario planning is a structured, disciplined …

Cataloging Environmental Impact Statements And Related Documents, Mary K. Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) have been published by federal agencies such as the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Environmental Protection Agency, since the 1970s. These government documents can be an important source of environmental information. Some EISs are depository items, but most are not. Only a small number of each EIS is printed, and they are not always easy to identify and acquire. Their important content and fugitive nature makes it essential to catalog them to make their existence widely known. This article uses the timber sale EISs published by the …

Pisatin Demethylation By Fungal Pathogens And Nonpathogens Of Pea: Association With Pisatin Tolerance And Virulence, Leslie M. Delserone, K. Mccluskey, D. E. Matthews, H. D. Vanetten

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have indicated that detoxification of their hosts’ phytoalexins is a tolerance mechanism for some true fungi, but not the fungus-like Oomycota, and may be involved in determining the virulence of a pathogen. In the present study, the associations between demethylation of the pea phytoalexin pisatin, tolerance to pisatin, and viru­lence on pea were examined for 50 fungal isolates which represent 17 species of pathogens and nonpathogens of pea. All isolates of Pythium coloratum and P. irregulare failed to metabolize and were sensitive to pisatin, consistent with previous observations that members of the Oomycota generally lack the ability …

Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, entomologist and systematic biologist, published nearly 4,000 papers, some of them only a few lines long. Cockerell’s special interest in bees led him to describe and name specimens from the United States, the West Indies, Honduras, the Philippines, Africa, and Asia. He published at least 5,500 names for species and varieties of bees and almost 150 names for genera and subgenera. It has been estimated that this represented over a quarter of all known species of bees during his lifetime. Above all, however, Cockerell was a general systematist. In addition to extensive studies of bees and …

Henry Bryant Bigelow, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Over his long career Bigelow contributed substantially to the knowledge of Atlantic marine life, including such divergent forms as plankton, jellyfish, and sharks; completed a comprehensive oceanographic survey of the Gulf of Maine; and helped to establish Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In “The Oceanographic and How It Grew” (in Oceanography: The Past: The Proceedings of the Third International Congress on the History of Oceanography [1980]), Roger Revelle wrote, “Bigelow was certainly one of the fathers of oceanography in the United States in general and of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in particular through his pioneering Gulf of Maine studies, his …

Gail Borden, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Gail Borden (1801-1874) was a surveyor and inventor, and also a Western settler, school teacher, customs inspector, land dealer, and politician. He helped compile the first topographic map of Texas, which was completed in 1835. He is credited with attempting to create an amphibious vehicle that he called the terraqueous machine in 1848. He developed a condensed-beef-broth-and-flour concoction that he called a "meat biscuit." In what proved later to be his most successful venture, he created a commercially viable method for producing condensed milk that was consistently pure and long-lasting.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Of 1998: U.S. Copyright Office Summary

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)1 was signed into law by President Clinton on October 28, 1998. The legislation implements two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The DMCA also addresses a number of other significant copyright-related issues.

The DMCA is divided into five titles:

Title I, the “WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act of 1998,” implements the WIPO treaties.

Title II, the “Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act,” creates limitations on the liability of online service providers for copyright infringement when engaging in certain …

Head In The Clouds, Feet On The Ground: The 1998 Nasig Conference, Charity K. Martin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) was established in 1985. Approximately 700 people attended this year's annual conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder on June 18-21. The theme was "Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground." Being new to serials, I made it one of the first professional conferences I attended.

Instructional Support To A Rural Graduate Population: An Assessment Of Library Services, Mary Cassner, Kate Adams

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

A survey was conducted to assess instructional support by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries to a specialized group of students. Faculty who had taught extended education courses were also surveyed as to the use of library services in support of course delivery to students. Findings provide direction for improving library services to the distant student.

The Cost Of Interlibrary Loan Services In A Medium-Sized Academic Library, Ted Naylor

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Interlibrary loan has traditionally been the main access to information beyond the individual library collection. The increase in access to document delivery services and full-text databases, however, has created the need to evaluate interlibrary loan services within the overall access environment. One of the most important factors in this evaluation concerns the cost to provide interlibrary loan. The purpose of this article is to provide the results of a study of one year's interlibrary loan expense at the Library at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. The study was conducted to identify areas of greater and lesser interlibrary loan expense, …

Waiting For The Electrician Or Someone Like Him: Client-Centered Technical Services, Mary K. Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Academics are being admonished to be "client-centered"--generally used to mean consumer or customer-oriented. This paper looks at the origins of "client-centeredness" in mental health care, and explores the idea of "client-centered" academic institutions, specifically the technical services functions of academic libraries. Philosophical and practical recommendations for a client-centered technical services operation conclude the paper.

Initiating An Effective Personnel Development Program, Virginia A. Baldwin, William J. Gibbs, Marlene M. Slough

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This study identified the educational interests of library personnel and investigated whether level of interest was a valid indicator of program participation. In the fall semester of 1993, Eastern Illinois University’s Booth Library surveyed all administrators, faculty, and staff. The objectives of the survey were to identify: (1) indicators of educational interests of library personnel at a medium-sized university; (2) departmental differences in educational interests; and (3) the relationship between employee interest in educational programs and employee participation in programs developed.

United States Agricultural Information Network / International, Dana W. R. Boden, Mary Cassner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

General overview of the first ever United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN)/ International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) Joint Conference and Pre-Conference Workshops held April 3-7, 1997, Tucson, Arizona. The conference theme was "The Information Frontier: Linking People and Resources in a Changing World". Representatives from over 35 countries were in attendance.

Selective Guide To Literature On Aerospace Engineering, Thomas G. De Petro, Ted Naylor

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The term "aerospace" incorporates all aspects of flight including aviation, aeronautics, and astronautics. This ASEE Selective Guide to Literature on Aerospace Engineering identifies essential sources of information according to their function and format. The Guide will be useful for practicing engineers, engineering faculty, and engineering students and all who need to know where to look for information on a variety of topics in aerospace engineering. Librarians, library and information science students, and other information professionals will find it useful for planning access services and for collection development. From the launching of balloons in the 19th century to the airplane and …

Judith Sharn Young, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

From Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary:

Astronomer Judith Sharn Young has been prolific throughout her 15-year professional career, publishing over 100 papers and giving nearly as many talks and seminars. Her interests lie in galaxy formation and evolution, star formation, and interstellar matter (the matter that lies between the stars in galaxies). She has received several professional awards and honors, including, in 1986, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society. Young was the first recipient of this award, which is given to a woman in the early stages of her career who has …

Booming The Town: Nebraska Newspaper Project, David Harlan, Beth Jedlicka, Katherine L. Walter

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Since the Nebraska State Historical Society began in the late 1870s, many newspaper editors have served on its Board. Among these was J. Sterling Morton, owner/editor of the Nebraska City News. Morton, and others like him, urged the Society to begin collecting newspapers as early as 1890. The Society's efforts to gather papers from all over the state have resulted in a large and significant historical collection. Researchers use the Society's newspapers today to gather information about historical events, to study the development and demise of communities, and to trace ancestors. Now, the Nebraska State Historical Society and the University …

"Tax Exempt" Status, Nebraska Sales Tax And The Irs

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Incremental Re-Engineering: Changes In The Roles Of Technical Services Librarians, Joan Giesecke, Katherine L. Walter

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The role of technical services librarians is being questioned as libraries downsize their operations. Technical services librarians can take a proactive approach to redefining their roles rather than waiting for change to be forced upon them. At one ARL library, technical services librarians initiated discussions with the administration to redefine their roles, increase their involvement in library decision-making, and improve their own career development opportunities. This paper will describe the process used at one library and how this model can be applied in other settings.

United States Agricultural Information Network (Usain) Fourth, Dana W. R. Boden, Elaine Maytag Nowick, Mary Cassner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

General overview of the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) Fourth National Conference held April 26-29, 1995,in Lexington, Kentucky. The conference theme was "Cultivating New Ground in Electronic Information: Use of the Information Highway to Support Agriculture".

Effects Of Offshore Oil And Gas Development: A Current Awareness Bibliography, Sue Ann Gardner, D. Landry, J. Riley

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This bibliography is a compilation of current publications (citations with abstracts) from a wide variety of electronic and print information sources relating to offshore oil and gas development.

Subject categories covered include:
Biology: Ecological, anatomical, and physiological effects of oil and/or gas, Species as biomarkers, PAH uptake and bioaccumulation, etc.
Chemistry/Geochemistry/Geology: Biochemistry, Biodegradation, Bioremediation, Hydrocarbon degradation, Environmental sampling, Soil contamination, etc.
Engineering/Physics: Technological advancements in facility/equipment design and use, Spill response and recovery equipment, Physical properties of oil and gas, etc.
Environment/Ecosystem Management/Spills: Environmental assessment and management, Oil and/or gas spill description and analysis, etc.
Socioeconomic/Regulation/General: Social and economic ramifications, …