Differently Able: A Review of Academic Library Websites for People With Disabilities

ABSTRACT

As an interdisciplinary field, Gerontology shares with History, Literary Criticism, Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology the use of autobiography as a primary research tool. In addition, Gerontology, like Counseling, Social Work and Psychoanalysis, uses autobiography as a counseling technique. We believe that autobiography also has merit in orienting older, non-traditional students, and students in social work related fields, to the library and its resources. In this paper we describe a pilot project based on this theory.     

Accommodating Employees with Disabilities: Perceptions of Irish Academic Library Managers

This research study investigated the views and practice of third level academic library managers in the Republic of Ireland regarding reasonable accommodation of employees with disabilities (as defined in the Irish Employment Equality Act 1998 as amended by the Equality Act 2004 Equality Act. 2010. 2010 Chapter 15. 8 Web. Apr. 2010 <http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_act_2010.aspx> [Google Scholar]).

A mixed methods study (sample of 163 library managers) employed both an online survey (response rate 108/163) and follow-up telephone interviews (23% of respondents). Questions were based on a literature review.

Library managers were aware of a legal duty to accommodate. A majority of library managers subscribed to the social model of disability rather than the medical model. They were less aware of the needs of employees with less visible disabilities. A small majority of library managers reported the presence of an accommodation procedure at their college. A large majority of library managers would not spend more than 0–10% of the library budget on accommodation—in practice, this should be sufficient. A small majority believe that a legal obligation to accommodate is necessary. A majority would adopt a graduated approach (informal to formal) in relation to discriminatory conduct.

On the whole, the legislation was working in practice. However, further disability awareness training of staff was required, and further research should examine the views of library staff with disabilities.     

Library Services for Persons with Disabilities: Twentieth Anniversary Update

The Sauls Memorial Virtual Library closed its physical space in 2012. This article outlines the reasons for this change and how the library staff and hospital leadership planned and executed the enormous undertaking. Outcomes of the change and lessons learned from the process are discussed.     

Perceptions of Public Library Accessibility for People with Disabilities

More than 5,000 households with a person identified as having a physical, mental, or emotional condition that impairs participation in activities were surveyed about their opinions concerning barriers to public library use and opinions about efforts by public libraries to be useful to people with disabilities. Results showed that perceptions of accessibility, collections, and presence of assistive or adaptive devices for people with disabilities were slightly more positive if someone in the household had used the public library in the past year. Data used for the study were from the October 2002 Current Population Survey, a federal survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.     

高校图书馆“毕业季”延伸服务的调查与思考

[目的/意义] 毕业生是高校图书馆的特定用户之一,对"毕业季"延伸服务和活动进行调查与分析,可为相关实践工作提供参考。[方法/过程] 对2017年高校图书馆"毕业季"延伸服务和活动的网页新闻发布、微信推送情况进行抽样调查,并分析其总体特点。[结果/结论] 从专项经费和运营团队、馆员的情感与精力、经典项目、创意服务、与校友延伸服务对接、品牌化与推广方面,提出改进高校图书馆"毕业季"延伸服务的建议。     

加拿大多伦多公共图书馆残障用户服务研究

加拿大多伦多公共图书馆在残障用户服务方面颇有建树。笔者在实地调查的基础上,综合网络调查、文献调查和访谈调查等方式,对其服务政策、服务资源、服务形式、服务管理加以梳理和分析,采用以IFLA第89号专业报告为框架构建的公共图书馆残障用户服务调查评估指标体系对其作简单的定性评价。结合课题组对广东省公共图书馆残障用户服务调查所反映的国内图书馆残障用户服务的情况,指出多伦多公共图书馆残障用户服务中可为国内业界带来启示或引为借鉴的几个方面:注重残障用户服务管理,注重残障用户服务的基础资源建设,注重残障用户服务细节。表4。参考文献24。     

新读者入馆教育现状的调查与思考

对116所"211工程"高校图书馆的新读者入馆教育现状进行调查,从网站主页是否开展新读者入馆教育、设置新读者专栏、读者分类信息导航、入馆教育栏目的链接路径、内容丰富并持续更新、新读者在线学习考试等系统的开发这6个方面,对调查所得的数据进行分析,探究各校新读者入馆教育现状和存在的问题,认为信息网络时代更多的高校图书馆应利用网络和社交媒体做好入馆信息服务工作,提出加强对博、硕士研究生和教师新读者的入馆教育,建立内容丰富并持续更新的新读者专栏,加强迎新季后续系列化培训互动活动的组织和丰富数字图书馆环境下新读者教育内容和形式的4点建议。     

Chinese Academic Library Research Evaluation Services

A web content analysis and case study were employed to analyze the research evaluation service practices and activities in 12 Chinese academic libraries – Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shandong Normal University, and Donghua University. Specifically, the following aspects were examined: names of the services, service type, user training, support platforms, staffing, partnerships, marketing, and publicity and the time when the services were developed. The study found that a majority of Chinese academic libraries engaged in a variety of research evaluation service activities from article/journal/author assessments to patent assessments. Most research evaluation services were expanding from basic services such as citation searches, sci-tech novelty searches, and scholarly output statistical analyses to higher level services such as subject evaluations, subject/field trend analyses, and talent evaluations. Consequently, the user training, support platforms, staffing, partnerships, and marketing and publicity related to research evaluation services are increasing. The study also found that research evaluation services in Chinese academic libraries are based mainly on bibliometrics, and many of the services are being gradually automated and service management is being gradually standardized and institutionalized, while service effectiveness is gradually moving towards productization and specialization. However, these services do not yet extend to all aspects of the research impact cycle. Recommendations from the study include: incorporating new metrics and new types of research output into the current research evaluation systems; using unique author identifier profile systems to link research evaluation data systems and constructing a research impact cycle-oriented service system.     

对新世纪高校图书馆建设的几点思考

新世纪高校图书馆建设受到四大潮流冲击：世界科技革命、市场经济、素质教育和知识经济对图书情报业提出严峻的挑战。目前高校图书馆存在的“五重五轻”现象暖流相适应，因此，应当从更新观念，制定规划、盘活馆藏、提高档次、加强培训、完善服务方面入手，搞好新世纪高校图书馆建设。     

图书馆焦虑的测量、前因和后果——基于高校图书馆用户的实证研究

[目的/意义]从高校图书馆用户出发,引入图书馆焦虑的前因变量学业压力和后果变量到馆行为,构建理论模型并进行检验。[方法/过程]通过问卷调研获得226位高校图书馆用户数据,并采用标记变量法控制潜在的共同方法偏差,利用偏最小二乘结构方程(PLS-SEM)验证新的图书馆焦虑量表的结构,并检验图书馆焦虑与其前因变量和后果变量的关系。[结果/结论]验证5个维度18项的图书馆焦虑量表并发现共同方法偏差对图书馆焦虑测量的影响,说明利用标记变量法控制共同方法偏差适用于图情领域的实证研究。在控制共同方法偏差的影响后,发现学业压力对高校图书馆用户的图书馆焦虑产生显著负向影响,并间接影响用户到馆频次。同时,图书馆焦虑直接影响高校图书馆用户到馆频次并间接影响其到馆停留时间。这说明了高校图书馆用户图书馆焦虑的前因变量和后果变量,揭示了图书馆焦虑产生的内在机制,为理解我国图书馆用户的图书馆焦虑提供新的实证依据,也为图书馆缓解用户的图书馆焦虑提供新的思路。     

我国高校图书馆多媒体信息服务调查研究

采用网络实证调查的方法,对我国大陆和港台高校图书馆的多媒体信息服务方式和内容进行分析,提出了改善传统视听服务,建置VOD视频点播系统,利用多媒体资料为教学服务的服务新方向。     

高校图书馆的文献信息服务

针对网络化条件下,高校图书馆用户需求的变化,提出了发展我国高校图书馆文献信息服务的若干对策。     

Theories of Value and Demonstrating their Practical Implementation in Academic Library Services

Academic libraries are increasingly required to provide tangible evidence of their value to the scholarly community. Library responses have developed from early process-focused investigations to develop input and output measures, or user satisfaction studies, that do not provide much evidence of value, to attempting to demonstrate value from different perspectives, depending on the philosophical point of view with which the concept is regarded, for example in economic or social terms. This article attempts to explore a number of theoretical approaches that have been used to inform assessments of value in academic libraries, as well as some practical approaches to consider when undertaking studies of the value of academic library services.¹     

Breaking New Ground: The Case for Seed Libraries in the Academic Library

Seed libraries are a relatively new innovation in the library field, offering seeds, gardening information, and the opportunity for community and ecological engagement to members. While they are increasingly popular in public libraries, they have not yet established a foothold in academic libraries. This paper defines the nature and role of seed libraries, the current state of seed libraries in North American universities, and offers recommendations for the establishment of seed libraries in academic libraries.     

Library Services for Persons with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination with respect to the disabled in public entities and in "public accommodations and services operated by private entities." Passage of the ADA has prompted libraries all over the country to evaluate services to these users and has generated a vast number of resources on the ADA and on services to disabled patrons. This article examines the burgeoning literature and presents a case study of The University of Alabama Libraries' efforts to meet these users' needs. The case study focuses on the establishment of an adaptive technologies lab to serve the needs of blind, visually impaired and learning disabled students, and upon the continual efforts to heighten staff awareness.     

Library Instruction Assessment in Academic Libraries

SUMMARY

Determining the best methods of assessment for a library instruction program in a large research university can be a challenging task. Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University Library has pilot-tested three methods of formative and summative assessment for its library instruction program-attitudinal, outcomes-based, and gap-measure-and determined not only key areas of improvement for the program, but also the benefits and drawbacks of each method of assessment. Attitudinal assessment has guided program improvement in areas of marketing and user satisfaction but does not provide the measurement of learning that outcomes-based assessment covers. The latter can be difficult to achieve in single-session, short-term instruction, while gap-measure assessment can provide a more nuanced view of both patron and instructor attitudes toward learning outcomes, if not actual data on achievement of the objectives themselves. The authors have determined that a combination of these three different types of assessment can address the shortcomings of a single method alone and provide a better measure of the program as a whole.     

国外高校图书馆留学生延伸服务及思考

[目的/意义] 留学生是高校图书馆的特殊的用户群体,国外高校图书馆对留学生延伸服务的研究已有较长历史和实践经验,通过对相关研究成果的分析为国内高校图书馆提高留学生延伸服务提供意见和建议。[方法/过程] 通过文献分析法对部分国外相关研究和实践进行考察和分析。[结果/结论] 国外相关研究重视案例及数据分析,对不同层次留学生延伸服务提出不同的研究重点,重视比较分析、研究方法的科学性及社交媒介带来的影响。我国高校图书馆留学生延伸服务的研究及其实践应注重多方合作和国际化服务能力的提升,并朝更加细化、多元化和个性化的方向发展。     

Marketing the Academic Library

Abstract

Academic libraries do not often launch public relations campaigns. However, recent changes and enhancements at the Geoffrey R. Weller Library at the University of Northern British Columbia prompted librarians to embark on a public awareness campaign built upon the “@ your library” framework. The campaign featured multiple strategies, including posters, displays, brochures, newspaper ads, and giveaways. The goal of the campaign was to break away from the stereotypical image of the library as a research necessity, and show it instead as the beating heart of the University. The campaign is evaluated and the continued need for marketing and promotion of academic library services is examined.     

Supporting Our Troops: Library Services and Support for Veterans

Veterans are a unique population that can be found in libraries across the United States. Libraries of all types are developing new approaches to the veterans in their patron populations in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This study identifies several common strategies that libraries, especially public and academic libraries, are employing to support their patrons who are veterans, as well as distinctions in strategy according to library type. It further explores whether libraries are relying upon library staff who are veterans when developing services and programming for patrons who are veterans.