Browsing by Subject "Academic libraries"
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Item The 2.5% Commitment(2017-09-11) Lewis, David W.This article argues that academic libraries should commit 2.5% of their total budgets to organizations and projects that contribute to the common digital infrastructure need to support the open scholarly commons. This level of contribution is necessary if the needed infrastructure is to be put in place. Establishing this level of contribution as the expected norm will help to create the incentives necessary for individual libraries to make contributions at this level.Item 6 Degrees of Information Literacy: How faculty, students, and administration are linked to (Kevin Bacon)— wait, a librarian(2013-04-15) Huisman, Rhonda K.Librarians and library services can be critical in helping students make connections across campus, through their work with faculty assignments, providing reference services, or collecting subject or interdisciplinary materials. However, one of the most interesting ways students can engage with library-related services is by understanding and applying information literacy skills, not only to their research papers, but extending their critical thinking, evaluating, and application abilities to other situations. Information literacy permeates and can be mapped to not only curriculum in themed learning communities, but other academic units across the campus. Instead of library one-shot sessions which simply explain services, information literacy can be thought of as a real-life skill, connected in “6-Degrees” beyond the campusItem Academic Historians in Canada Report Both Positive and Negative Attitudes Towards E-books for Teaching and Research(2013-12) Coates, Heather L.Objective – To understand academic historians’ attitudes towards, and perceptions of, e-books for use in teaching and research. Design – Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews using a grounded theory approach. Subjects – Ten faculty members in departments of history at academic institutions in Southwestern Ontario participated. Methods – Participants were recruited using flyers and email distribution lists. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews lasting 30-60 minutes, between October 2010 and December 2011. After 10 interviews, the authors determined saturation had been reached and ceased recruitment. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for coding. Analysis was conducted using grounded theory procedures incorporating Roger’s Innovation decision model. Main Results – The authors elicited participants' perceptions of e-books without providing a common definition for the concept. Consistent with previous studies, participants were confused about what constituted an e-book, particularly the distinction between e-books and electronic journals and databases. Several comments included illustrate this confusion, indicating the responses collected may represent perceptions of e-resources more generally, rather than e-books in particular. The authors mention that at least one participant who initially responded that they had not used e-books later changed their response as the interview progressed. Unfortunately, the exact number of participants who did so is not reported. Participants reported both negative and positive attitudes towards e-books. Attitudes varied depending on the characteristic discussed. The characteristics identified focused primarily on the delivery mechanism, rather than the content, of e-books. The authors identified four factors each as contributing to positive and negative attitudes. Factors associated with a negative attitude included availability, serendipity, cost, and tradition. These factors stemmed from concerns about changing student research behaviours resulting from the differences between e-books and print books. Factors associated with a positive attitude included convenience, teaching innovations, research practices, and cost benefits. These factors largely reflected benefits to students, such as the ability to access e-books easily (convenience), increased access in general, and the perceived relatively low cost of student e-books. The factor directly benefitting respondents was improved speed and accuracy in their work, enabled by particular technological features. While participants were eager to use e-books in the classroom, there were concerns about implications for research practices. Participants worried that the benefits of browsing and serendipitous discovery would be lost as students chose materials based on convenience rather than other factors, such as quality. Finally, the perceived lack of digitized historical documents available for use as primary sources was also of concern. Conclusions – The authors state that confusion regarding the nature of e-books slows adoption. While participants were exploring ways to incorporate e-books into their norms, values, and research practices, they are unlikely to rely solely on e-books as primary sources. This stems from two perceptions. First, current e-book formats and platforms do not authentically represent all the characteristics of print books. Second, there are insufficient primary sources available as e-books. The validity of these perceptions is not addressed in this article.Item Academic Library Staffing a Decade from Now(2010) Lewis, David W.In this chapter, I will try to provide a summary of the challenges facing academic libraries as they attempt to assemble the staffs they will need in the coming decade. I will begin by identifying the trends I see developing, which will define the kind of staff libraries will require. I will then look at what we can expect of the academic library workforce in 2015. Many of the trends are already clear: the change in the mix of staff between librarians, other professionals, and clerical staff; the increasing need for technology skills for all staff; and the increased need for nonlibrarian professionals—both technologists and those with other expertise, such as human resources and development. Like many service professions, librarianship faces demographic challenges as the Baby Boom generation approaches and enters retirement, but in librarianship these trends are exacerbated by the increasing age of MLS graduates. Finally, I will also consider the organizational development and financial implications of these changes and how academic libraries can manage the transition from the staff they have now to the staff they will need to have a decade hence.Item Age Demographics and the Organizational Dilemma Facing Academic Libraries(2016-01) Lewis, David W.Academic libraries are, because of the age demographics of the librarian workforce, facing an organizational dilemma. Stated most simply the dilemma is: Academic libraries need to exploit new technologies using new service strategies to be effective. They will need to do so with a librarian labor force that consists of a large number of baby boomers many of whom will remain in the workforce for at least another decade. At the same time millennium librarians, who will replace the baby boomers, need to be attracted and provided an environment that will allow them to develop and grow, and that will productively use their skills and expertise. It will be important that both groups be productive and make contributions, but creating an organization with a structure and culture to do both will be difficult because in many cases aspirations and needs of the two groups will differ and be at cross purposes. These two imperatives, keeping baby boomer librarians productive and providing millennium librarians opportunities to grow and develop can be accomplished simultaneously, but not without creatively thinking about the libraries organizational structure and attention to its culture. This paper will layout the problem and suggest the issues that need to be considered.Item Altmetrics 101(2016-12-08) Coates, Heather L.Item Articles on Demand: Making "Just in Time" a Reality through Resource Sharing Services(2016-03-17) Baich, TinaIUPUI University Library’s Resource Sharing & Delivery Services is playing an active role in the library’s strategic shift to a “just in time” collection development philosophy. Using ILL data, the library identified low-use journals where the purchase of individual articles was more cost effective than a subscription. The responsibility then fell to the head of Resource Sharing & Delivery Services to develop a service to fulfill faculty requests from these low-use journals after subscriptions were cancelled. In fall 2014, University Library launched the Articles on Demand for science faculty pilot using the unmediated version of Copyright Clearance Center’s “Get It Now,” giving science faculty quick and easy access to selected journals. The service was expanded to include all faculty in fall 2015. This presentation will describe the background and implementation process of the service, challenges encountered, usage statistics and faculty feedback.Item Assessment in Space Designed for Experimentation: The University of Washington Libraries Research Commons(2014-08) Ray, Lauren; Macy, Katharine V.Since opening in 2010, the University of Washington Libraries Research Commons has used a number of quantitative and qualitative assessment methods to evaluate its space, services and programs. Because it was designed for constant experimentation and change, Research Commons assessment has been driven by the desire to stay true to user needs, make the case for growth, and test new models of space design, programming, and services. This paper will describe assessment activities and projects kept in spirit with the experimental, agile nature of the space, and how the focus shifted from space assessment to programmatic assessment. In order to respond to changing user needs and push for innovation, the Research Commons has evolved to examine space, services, and programs in an integrated holistic manner. This has allowed the staff to not only understand what users do within the space and their preferences, but also how effective are programming and services offered at meeting those user needs.Item Assessment of User Response to IUPUI University Library: 1999-2003 Studies, Report to David Lewis of IUPUI University(2003-08-20) Stamatoplos, Anthony C., 1958-; Mackoy, RobertThis report describes an ongoing assessment of services at the IUPUI University Library. It is the first comprehensive assessment of University Library service, though several ad hoc surveys have been administered over the past several years. A few small surveys had been conducted, focusing on interlibrary loan services and computer workstation needs. A large study had examined users’ experiences with, and perceptions of, University Library services as they related to library instruction for a writing course. That study looked at patron expectations of, and satisfaction with, library services. Certain "drivers of satisfaction" were identified, but they could not necessarily be generalized to University Library patrons as a whole. The current study builds upon that research.Item Blurring of Lines: Academic and Public Libraries Revisited(H.W. Wilson Company, 2006) Steele, Patricia AnnAmong the conclusions reached in Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership in 2005, was the following: "The similarity of perceptions about libraries and their resources across respondents from six countries is striking. It suggests that libraries are seen by information consumers as a common solution, a single organization - one entity with many outlets - constant, consistent, expected." Does this mean that many of the traditional differences between public and academic libraries also are blurring? In this pieces, I would like to explore that thought informally and then suggest some approaches libraries of all types need to take.