Sink or swim? Motivating library staff in a time of career stagnation*

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Ethical issues and learning analytics: Are academic library practitioners prepared?

Academic libraries are participating in the collection and analysis of student data. Under the umbrella of learning analytics, these practices are directed toward developing an understanding of how libraries contribute to student learning, the educational experience, and efficient operations of academic institutions. Learning analytics, however, is loaded with ethical issues, which are made more complex by the high ethical bar library practitioners espouse as part of their professional values. This article discusses findings from a survey of academic library practitioners. The survey identifies what ethical issues practitioners associate with learning analytics and the degree to which they are prepared to address such issues. The discussion suggests pathways forward for filling knowledge and practice gaps.     

In the right vein? How adequately are departments of information and library studies educating for health care information management and library services in a changing health service?

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Evidence based library and information practice: what's in it for you?

With its roots in evidence‐based medicine, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice emerged 15 years ago and, with health librarians leading the way, has since been adopted by librarians and libraries in all sectors. EBLIP is an iterative process that may see you undertaking your own research although most likely, it will see you integrate your experience as a library and information professionals with research evidence generated both within and without the library science sector. As a library and information worker, you can use the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice process to help inform your decision‐making, streamline services and identify ways forward to fit your personal context.     

Displacement or complementarity? Assessing the relationship between social media and public library usage in the U.S., South Korea,and Singapore

The relevancy of public libraries is often called into question, with some saying that library services have been or will be displaced by, among other things, new media such as social media. This study tested this displacement hypothesis with survey data collected from three nations (the U.S.: N = 879; South Korea: N = 700; and Singapore: N = 987). Ordinal regressions were used to investigate the relationship between the use of social media and nine public library services, taking into account individual demographic differences. The results show that for all three nations, social media use has significant complementary relationships with all nine library services examined. Computer and information literacy training showed the largest effect size. However, signs of displacement effects were observed in the odds ratio statistics, particularly among daily social media users and in reference services, library visits, and time spent in the library, suggesting that where displacement is concerned, these areas warrant extra attention.     

Wanted dead or alive? Western genre items in the 21st century United States library

The Western genre, that is frontier adventure stories set west of the Mississippi River, has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity, yet there has been no substantive look at the collection of Western genre novels and films in libraries. The online catalogs of 100 libraries across the United States were examined, and a follow-up questionnaire was sent, to determine the scope of Western genre item holdings and the institutional attitudes towards this genre. This study found that Western genre items are still well represented in most collections. However, it also revealed weaknesses in the way genre collection development is conducted.     

Are we there yet?: Mixed methods research in library and information science

Mixed methods research (MMR)—which integrates qualitative and quantitative methods in one study to improve the study's quality—is not common in library and information science (LIS) and has not been discussed in its literature. While still evolving and generating much discussion about its nature and standards for its evaluation, MMR has been employed in the social and behavioral sciences for more than three decades. It is already considered the third approach to research, along with the quantitative and qualitative approaches. How did this approach shape research in LIS? An analysis of 465 articles published in four major LIS research journals revealed that 22 articles (5%) employed MMR. However, the recognition of MMR by name or as a research method was absent from these articles and from the methodological literature in LIS. The various strengths of MMR suggest that being cognizant of its possible use in LIS would benefit researchers in the field.     

What do academic libraries tweet about,and what makes a library tweet useful?

People spend an increasing amount of time using social media systems to network, share information, learn, or engage in leisure activities (e.g., gaming). Libraries too are establishing a social media presence to promote the library and provide services to user populations through the social media systems the users frequent. This study explores Twitter uses by six large academic libraries and factors that make library tweets useful. 752 tweets were analyzed by topic to develop a subject typology of library tweets. In addition, tweets and Twitter user characteristics were analyzed to explore what makes library tweets useful, as measured by the number of retweets and favorites received. Content analysis of the samples of library tweets revealed nine content types, with the event and resource categories being the most frequent. In addition, the analysis showed that tweets related to study support services and building and maintaining connections with the library community were the most frequently retweeted and selected as favorites. The presence of a URL in the tweet was positively associated with the number of retweets, and the number of users followed was positively associated with the number of favorites received. Finally, a negative correlation was found between the account age and number of favorites.     

Flat or float? a study of vendor discount rates applied to firm orders in a college library

Library book vendors generally provide two types of discount rates to institutions for firm orders: flat—fixed rate for all books, and float—book-by-book discount. A perplexing question for acquisitions departments is which discount scale is better. This article summarizes a study conducted in a medium-sized, public, college library for the purpose of ascertaining if there is a difference in savings between the two schedules. The results indicate that, at Kean College, float rate (0%–33.3%) gains slightly more savings (0.7% of $35,795.84) than flat rate (12%) based on 870 book orders distributed between university presses (38.4%) and nonuniversity presses (61.6%). However, if the flat rate is 13% or higher, for the same distribution, the flat discount is considered monetarily more advantageous. These findings suggest options and flexibility for acquisitions personnel in obtaining the most cost-effective arrangement for the institution.     

Can Google Scholar and Mendeley help to assess the scholarly impacts of dissertations?

Dissertations can be the single most important scholarly outputs of junior researchers. Whilst sets of journal articles are often evaluated with the help of citation counts from the Web of Science or Scopus, these do not index dissertations and so their impact is hard to assess. In response, this article introduces a new multistage method to extract Google Scholar citation counts for large collections of dissertations from repositories indexed by Google. The method was used to extract Google Scholar citation counts for 77,884 American doctoral dissertations from 2013 to 2017 via ProQuest, with a precision of over 95%. Some ProQuest dissertations that were dual indexed with other repositories could not be retrieved with ProQuest-specific searches but could be found with Google Scholar searches of the other repositories. The Google Scholar citation counts were then compared with Mendeley reader counts, a known source of scholarly-like impact data. A fifth of the dissertations had at least one citation recorded in Google Scholar and slightly fewer had at least one Mendeley reader. Based on numerical comparisons, the Mendeley reader counts seem to be more useful for impact assessment purposes for dissertations that are less than two years old, whilst Google Scholar citations are more useful for older dissertations, especially in social sciences, arts and humanities. Google Scholar citation counts may reflect a more scholarly type of impact than that of Mendeley reader counts because dissertations attract a substantial minority of their citations from other dissertations. In summary, the new method now makes it possible for research funders, institutions and others to systematically evaluate the impact of dissertations, although additional Google Scholar queries for other online repositories are needed to ensure comprehensive coverage.     

A post-American world? Assessing the cognitive and attitudinal impacts of challenges to American exceptionalism

A number of voices have emerged in U.S. political discourse questioning the legitimacy of American exceptionalism, suggesting we are in a “post-American world.” Our research examines the effects that political messages that explicitly challenge American exceptionalism can have on U.S. public opinion. Drawing upon social identity theory, we find that explicit challenges to American exceptionalism significantly impact Americans’ views toward their own nation, their willingness to denigrate foreign publics, and their broader foreign policy preferences.     

How important is software to library and information science research? A content analysis of full-text publications

We investigate the contributions of scientific software to library and information science (LIS) research using a sample of 572 English language articles published in 13 journals in 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2017. In particular, we examine the use and citation of software freely available for academic use in the LIS literature; we also explore the extent to which researchers follow software citation instructions provided by software developers. Twenty-seven percent of the LIS journal articles in our sample explicitly mention and use software. Yet although LIS researchers are becoming increasingly reliant on software that is freely available for academic use, many still fail to include formal citations of such software in their publications. We also find that a substantial proportion of researchers, when documenting software use, do not cite the software in the manner recommended by its developers.     

How do public libraries create social capital? An analysis of interactions between library staff and patrons

In this qualitative study exploring the content of social interactions between library staff and patrons, interviews were held with 15 library staff members in three neighborhood branch libraries in a large American midwestern city. An analysis of the interviews suggests that public libraries may contribute to social capital through the relationships and interactions that occur between staff and patrons. Some of the ways in which these relationships and interactions may contribute to social capital include: building patrons' trust in the library and its staff, connecting people to both community and library resources, providing social support for patrons, reducing social isolation, helping patrons gain skills to function in an increasingly online world, and providing a positive place for neighborhood residents to gather. The kinds of social interactions occurring in libraries that may help to build social capital are highlighted.     

What difference does it make? One study of student background and the evaluation of library instruction

The results of a six-year study indicate little relationship between students' demographics, previous library instruction, or prior use of library resources and how they evaluated library instruction for one undergraduate anthropology course. There is a more positive relationship between subject interest and evaluation of the instruction. These results suggest that librarians should be less concerned about students' prior experience and more concerned with ensuring that course-related library instruction focuses on specific goals and reinforces student interest in the subject.