Taking Library Instruction into the Online Classroom: Best Practices for Embedded Librarians

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of online courses has led librarians to adapt their instructional techniques and follow teaching faculty and students into the online environment. Moving beyond Web pages and online research guides, librarians are now becoming instructional partners in online course management systems. Through an online survey of librarians and a literature review, the authors examine best practices for these “embedded librarians.”     

In the Eye of the Beholder

Summary

As with beauty and other concepts, librarians have been viewed in many subjective ways. On the other hand, some attempts have also been made to obtain more objective views of librarians. This paper provides a summary of these views, or images, that extend back to the early 18th century. It presents the many traits that comprise these images, the sources or origins of the images, the various groups that hold the images, and ends with a reason why current images are indefinite and “blurry.”     

Changes in Public Library Youth Services: A Content Analysis of Youth Services Job Advertisements

ABSTRACT

This article investigates requirements and responsibilities for public library youth services librarians. Position advertisements were published in American Libraries in five-year increments, from 1971 to 2001. Youth services librarian positions were analyzed as to changes in position titles, education requirements, job responsibilities, and personality characteristics. Findings suggest that the number of advertised youth services positions is increasing, and job titles are changing from the specific “children's services” to the more generalized “youth services.” Advertised responsibilities of the youth services librarian have consistently emphasized collection management and administrative duties, and many advertisements place a heavy emphasis on personality traits.     

“I Fell into Librarianship”: Experiences of Post-Soviet Librarians at the National Academic Library in Astana,Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the attitudes of librarians in post-Soviet Kazakhstan regarding their roles at the new National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAL). Using ethnographic observation, interviews, and surveys of library staff (n = 24), we find that Kazakhstani librarians either sensed a “calling” to librarianship or “fell into” library careers given life circumstances, and value their library for its contribution to cultural preservation and digital access on a national scale. This pilot project presents NAL to an international community, sharing the voices of Russian- and Kazakh-speaking librarians to highlight the role of libraries in the development of the post-Soviet nation.     

Always Yes,Never No

ABSTRACT

The “difficult” requests submitted by the research library users prove document delivery vendors could hardly replace interlibrary loan librarians. “Difficult” requests ask for the “grey literature” not traded commercially and not kept in libraries. They require the special attention and professional knowledge of the interlibrary loan librarian. Besides usual bibliographic and reference tools, the Internet, e-mail, and the search engines have to be employed to solve them. The help of those responsible for the production of the literature in question is significant. In tackling “difficult” requests, interlibrary loan librarians may further add value to their services by facilitating sharing between scholars or researchers. Five actual cases are presented to illustrate how the “difficult” requests were tackled and solved.     

Barron's Online (barrons.com)

ABSTRACT

In this article Jenkins and Beall, librarians at Auburn University, have identified free Web sites for providing answers to business reference questions most frequently asked in academic libraries. The authors determined these questions by polling other business librarians, researching the topic on the Internet and in business literature, and drawing upon their business reference backgrounds. Web sites were selected by searching the Internet extensively, querying other business librarians and business faculty, combing numerous business academic library Web pages, and experience by the authors in answering business reference questions via the Web. The researchers sought answers and noted productive sites for each question. Jenkins and Beall expect this article will help other librarians determine the most useful Internet sites for answering business reference questions. They also hope this research will provide guidelines for librarians in developing solid lists of essential Web sites for business researchers.     

Interpersonal Skills in the Reference Workplace

SUMMARY

Reference librarians are expected to interact effectively with a variety of clientele and are taught skills such as approachability, showing interest, and verbal and non-verbal cues. Librarians who have a knack for interpersonal skills do very well both at the reference desk and interacting with their co-workers. An area that is rarely addressed in the literature (or in library school) is that of educating librarians about how to establish professional, collegial relationships with one another. It is assumed that if a reference librarian can interact well with patrons, in a professional manner, he or she will be able to successfully “fit into” almost any reference department. This article discusses the importance of interpersonal skills within the Reference Department and ideas for improving these skills to enhance co-worker relations.     

The Impact of “Scholar's Workstations” in an Undergraduate Academic Library

Summary

The Eastern Connecticut State University library planned, with the new facility, a new configuration for user computers to be one-stop-shopping “Scholar's Workstations.” The impact on reference services was dramatic, resulting in modifications in staffing, policies/procedures, printing practices, user orientation and education, etc. Moreover, the reference librarians were troubled by their perceptions of how these workstations were utilized, challenging us to conduct a user survey to determine the validity of these perceptions. In this article, we will describe (1) how we conceived this new configuration and its impact, (2) modifications made, and (3) an analysis of the user survey.     

Process and collaboration: Assessing digital humanities work through an embedded lens

ABSTRACT

To assess the implications of supporting and participating in a digital humanities project team as embedded subject librarians, those involved must examine the dynamic of the group responsible for the work and the processes or infrastructure employed to support this work. Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) method with interview questions based on the American Historical Association's “Career Diversity Five Skills,” this case study interviews respondents involved in “‘A Shaky Truce’: Starkville Civil Rights Struggles, 1960–1980,” a digital public history project created in 2015 by a team of subject librarians, history graduate students, history faculty, and undergraduates.     

Music Reference Sources: Analog in a Digital World

ABSTRACT

Do we need print reference collections at all? In the case of music reference materials, the answer is definitely “yes.” At the University of Memphis, reference titles in the music library are used at about three times the rate of reference materials in the main library. This paper leverages local reference and reserve book usage to investigate how print reference sources support music research of various kinds, how music faculty integrate reference sources into their courses, and how librarians can make finding and using these resources easier for users accustomed to accessing materials online without an intermediary.     

Crossing Three Bridges: Linking Librarianship and Teaching Across the P-16 Educational Continuum

SUMMARY

Georgia State University Library's Education and Communication liaisons teamed up to teach a graduate course on the selection and use of reference resources for the College of Education's Library Media Technology Program. The collaboration between these two librarians can serve as a model for collaboration on three levels: collaboration between two librarians as co-teachers; collaboration between university librarians and academic department faculty; and, finally, “collaboration across work places” between academic librarians and school media specialists in P-12 settings. Unique challenges, benefits, and possibilities for this type of collaborative effort are examined.     

He Asked Me What!?—Using Shared Online Accounts as Training Tools for Distance Learning Librarians

ABSTRACT

This study explores the idea of creating a knowledge base from shared online accounts to use in training librarians who perform distance reference services. Through a survey, follow-up interviews and a case study, the investigators explored current and potential use of shared online accounts as training tools. This study revealed that the participants viewed the concept positively, but many encountered barriers to effectively employing a local knowledge base as a training tool.     

Academic librarian's transition to blended librarianship: a phenomenology of selected academic librarians in Zimbabwe

This paper explores the shared experiences of practices of blended librarianship among Zimbabwean academic librarians to identify how adequately they comply with their dynamic roles and functions. The paper relies on the theoretical constructs from Bell and Shank's (2004, 2007) blended librarianship and Lave and Wenger's (1991) Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) to understand how Zimbabwean academic librarians practice blended librarianship in the workplace through engagement in legitimate work tasks. The investigators used phenomenology to explore academic librarians' experiences of blended librarianship. They selected a sample of 101 academic librarians and delivered a semi-structured questionnaire to the sample, conducted document research and interviewed key informants from the sample. The researchers collected data from the Bindura University of Science Education, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Lupane State University, Midlands State University, the National University of Science and Technology, and PHSBL80 Library which chose to be undisclosed. Each institution adopted blended librarianship in its way. Four (4) different categories of blended librarianship emerged from the experiences; that is “transcending blended librarians”, “partially blended librarians”, “intermittent blended librarians” and “aspiring blended librarians”, displaying each institution's level of instructional technology and instructional design roles. The study proposes that the “Academic librarian's transition to blended librarianship” two-by-two matrix that developed was in this inquiry needs further refinement. Further enquiries may test the matrix within the same sites or other locales altogether to corroborate if the results are replicable.     

Health sciences librarian competency perceptions: a survey of national community college librarians

Objective:The primary objective of this study was to determine how community college health sciences librarians perceive their proficiencies in the essential skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for the practice of a health information professional as defined by the Medical Library Association (MLA) Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success. A secondary objective was to determine their current level of engagement with the professional community and identify barriers to further professional development.Methods:A survey was posted to various email discussion lists, and volunteer follow-up interviews were conducted.Results:The survey was completed by seventy-five community college health sciences librarians, and seven follow-up interviews were performed. Survey results indicated that community college health sciences librarians perceived themselves as having intermediate or advanced intermediate proficiency in the six MLA competencies. Survey and interview results indicated that community college health sciences librarians were engaged with the profession and faced the same barriers to continued professional development and continued education as other academic librarians.Conclusion:The results affirm that community college librarians who are responsible for collections and services in the health sciences meet the MLA competencies, which fills a gap in the literature regarding how these librarians develop professional competencies and are involved in professional associations. The results suggest that community college librarians can improve their skill levels by continuing their education and following trends in the literature.     

We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course

ABSTRACT

At Central Michigan University, librarians teach multiple sections of an eight-week, one-credit research skills class to hundreds of undergraduate students each semester. While the main focus of the course is to teach students how to find, use, and properly cite library resources, librarians also address critical thinking skills by designing lessons to teach World Wide Web organization and how to analyze the information found via search engines. Showing student's obvious hoax sites about “tree octopi” and “male pregnancy” introduces the concepts of critical thinking and Website analysis. Most students quickly refute the information on such sites. However, students have a more difficult time assessing social, historical, or political revisionist Web sites' validity. Contrasting those claims with evidence accepted by international courts, historians, and scientists is useful in pointing out the flaws of seemingly well documented but one-sided revisionist sites. There are dangers in exposing students to these groups via their Websites. Yet, it is important to do so in order to convey the importance of critical analysis of information. The authors discuss students' pre- and post-test (CMU's online assessment tool, the “research readiness self-assessment” [RRSA]) scores to determine whether critical thinking skills have improved.     

Teaching Legal Research in a Government Library

ABSTRACT

Law libraries that serve the public have diverse clientele, types of reference and research requirements, and opportunities for contact that firm and academic law libraries seldom experience. This article explores these opportunities, which the authors take advantage of for providing a “teachable moment.” opportunity to teach something. The specific subjects are diverse: the legislative process, summary dissolution, arbitration rules, or how to use a keyboard's mouse. Our constant goal is to teach or show that libraries and librarians are still an integral part of today's commercial and legal arenas, and to demonstrate that a government agency can actually be a beneficial tax-supported institution.     

The Economic Logic of Copyright

Summary

Current efforts in Congress to strengthen the copyright protection afforded databases should seriously concern all librarians but especially those in legal reference. The reliance on databases, primarily those of Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw, make the users of such services particularly vulnerable to the exercise of monopoly power that copyright grants. An understanding of the unique economic characteristics of “information” and its relation to the public domain is essential to evaluating the economic, let alone social-democratic, impact of current proposals. This paper argues “economic logic” in and of itself does not necessarily support the provision of stronger copyright in general and for databases in particular.     

Enhancing Reference Services Through Technology

Summary

Technology makes it possible for library users to ask reference questions using e-mail or forms on the web and for librarians to conduct reference interviews using chat or videoconferencing software. This article explores each of these technologies and their current and potential use in reference services. A discussion of how technology has changed the way librarians find answers to reference questions is followed by a review of the tools needed for a well-equipped reference desk.