Teaching Undergraduate Business Students to Access Public Company Information: Assessing Students’ Use of Library Resources

During the spring 2007 semester, a large cohort of undergraduates enrolled in the BUS110 course offered through the Stony Brook University College of Business. The business librarian and other library instruction librarians provided single library sessions to all sections of the course. Toward the end of the 1-hour library information session, the students were asked to fill out an online user satisfaction survey to assess how much they had learned and to evaluate the teaching tools and methodology of the librarians. Toward the end of the semester the business librarian posted a follow up survey to the BUS110 Blackboard site to assess whether the students had used the resources demonstrated by the librarians in the library session, whether they had had follow-up interactions with the librarians, and whether they had positive attitudes toward the library, librarians, and business databases. The majority of students had used the databases and had a positive attitude toward the instruction and the library.     

How Do We Learn?: Contributions of Learning Theory to Reference Service and Library Instruction

Summary

This article focuses on some major contributions from learning theory that impact how adults learn. Following an overview of two major learning theories—behavioral and cognitive theories—the authors discuss four factors that affect learning. These are attention, perception, memory, and contiguity and practice. Other topics presented include prior knowledge effect and transfer of knowledge problems. The article closes with five recommendations for incorporating results from learning theory research into reference service and user instruction.     

How Can the University Library Better Meet the Information Needs of Research Students? Experiences From Ulster University

This article investigates academic library needs of doctoral students. The study identifies PhD students' information literacy training needs and explores current levels of library engagement, barriers to use, and gaps in existing services. First-year PhD students at Ulster University (UU) were surveyed and interviews were undertaken with three students. Findings show that just over half the respondents start their research from the Library's e-journal interface or library databases and these resources are also their main research tools. Minimal use was made of social media or apps. Students' ability to correctly identify different source types within a reference did not match the confidence they expressed in their own abilities, and two thirds were not aware of basic e-book capabilities. However, over 90% of the respondents strongly agreed that the university library service was essential for their research. The article concludes with a number of recommendations on improving library services for PhD students.     

Why Don't Library Science Students Want to Become Managers?

This JLA column will consider issues of education and training for management positions in libraries and other information organizations from the perspectives of both the provider and the recipient. The column will appear in odd-numbered issues of the journal and focus on management education/training at various stages of the individual's career including the effectiveness of these efforts, their content, and the specific challenges of teaching and learning within the field of librarianship. The column will address both theoretical and practical concerns. Prospective authors are invited to submit articles for this column to the editor at aa3805@wayne.edu.

Very few students who have taken Wayne State University's required management course from me have any interest in library careers in management. Some are even more firm in their decision after taking the course though most graduates will have management responsibilities in their first library position and some will manage a small library. I polled current students and recent graduates about this reluctance. The sixteen responses considered the following possible causes: personality traits, a preference for traditional library activities, a dislike of managerial responsibilities, prior management experience, and salary. Additional, more systematic research is needed to test this hypothesis.     

How Much of Library and Information Science Literature Qualifies as Research?

There is an extensive amount of Library and Information Science (LIS) writing produced each year. While there is general awareness regarding the variety of journal literature, there is no certainty on the percentage of the collection that we can call research. This project is an important first step in answering the question. A content analysis of the LIS academic/scholarly journals at the Simmons College Library was conducted. The research level collection of LIS literature makes the library an ideal candidate for this study. The latest issue of each journal subscribed to for fiscal year 2012–2013 containing academic/scholarly content was analyzed. Each article was analyzed to determine: 1) if it was research or non-research, 2) the method used to collect data for the study in the article, and 3) the subject terms or keywords associated with the article. 105 journal titles were identified out of 177 periodicals. In the 1880 articles analyzed from these, 16% qualified as research. Surveys were found to be the most popular research method used. This study will benefit students, faculty, and staff with research requirements as well as librarians who guide patrons through a search for research literature.     

How Do They Research? An Ethnographic Study of Final Year Undergraduate Research Behavior in an Irish University

The objectives of this study were to identify how, when, and where students research; the impact of learning environments on research productivity, and to recommend improved supports to facilitate research. An ethnographic approach that entailed following five students in the final six weeks of their program enabled deep level analysis. The study examined the practice of undergraduate research inside and outside the library walls and found that the research process can be influenced by a number of factors including age, experience, work commitments, family, peer, academic, and library support. Mobile research is continuing to grow among undergraduate students, particularly those juggling family and work commitments. The research suggests a correlation between intercultural issues such as ethnicity and language with library anxiety. Until they had immersed themselves in the research process, most of the students in this study believed that research was a linear process.     

An Examination of Library and Information Science Undergraduate Students’ Career Aspirations in Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment

This study examined Library and Information Science (LIS) undergraduate students’ career aspirations in entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities. A total of 155 students constituted the sample for the study. A self-designed questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The results demonstrate that 20.3% aspire to set up a small business, 39.2% prefer company employment, 30.4% prefer self-employment, and 20.3% prefer government employment. Forming partnerships, loans from banks and friends, grants from private foundations and personal savings and cash, private stock, and angel investors were identified as sources of funding. Careers available in LIS were identified to include librarian, abstracter, lecturer, web designer, database manager, archivist, information broker, publisher, and researcher. Hindrances to careers in entrepreneurship and self-employment were identified to include lack of access to financial services, access to physical infrastructure, and basic services. The study makes recommendations based on the findings.     

How to Market Your Library’s Electronic Resources

In her presentation titled “How to Market Your Library’s Electronic Resources” at the Mississippi State University Libraries’ eResource &; Emerging Technologies Summit in August 2013, Marie Kennedy provided research, strategies, and applications that answer the question, “How … do librarians best connect their patrons to appropriate electronic resources?” While librarians typically may resist the application of marketing strategies and terminology to library operations, we all have in common the challenge to connect patrons to the resources available to them. Kennedy presented her nine components to the marketing cycle and explicated cross-disciplinary techniques, evidence-based approaches, and experiments with crowd sourcing in pursuit of effective marketing.     

Information Behavior and Japanese Students: How Can an Understanding of the Research Process Lead to Better Information Literacy?

Academic librarians are striving to better serve international students as this emerging population grows on university campuses. Past studies of international students generally focus on linguistic and cultural differences in relation to information literacy skills development. However, it is necessary to go beyond these factors to better serve the population. By using a framework based in information behavior research, the present study investigates the factors that mediate students' behavior and information literacy skills. Practical recommendations based on the findings of an in-depth qualitative study of students' research process are provided.     

Full-Text Database Dependency: An Emerging Trend Among Undergraduate Library Users?

The ever-growing number of full-text electronic databases and their increasing availability has helped to create greater expectations among the undergraduate students who use them in their research. A study was made of nearly three hundred students enrolled in composition classes to determine the indexes and databases most commonly used for assignments and whether having the full text of journal articles online played a role in shaping the nature of their research. The survey results confirmed the authors' belief from encounters at the reference desk that students are becoming dependent on the availability of full-text databases and are using them in some cases to the exclusion of all other information sources.     

How Does a Pre-Assessment of Off-Campus Students’ Information Literacy Affect the Effectiveness of Library Instruction?

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact that pre-tests have on the effectiveness of library instruction when students are given feedback on their pre-test performance. Librarians and academic faculty partnered to measure library instruction outcomes in two Master's degree classes. The Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) was used as a pre-test (before instruction) and a post-test (after instruction) in Class 1 and as a post-test only in Class 2. Students who completed both tests performed significantly better on a post-test, earning higher scores on obtaining information and overall information literacy. They reported greater library/research experience and less reliance on browsing. Compared to students who did not take a pre-test, students who received pre-test-based feedback had higher scores on library/research experience and lower scores on reliance on browsing. To enhance the effectiveness of library instruction, students can be given pre-test-based feedback that compares their actual and perceived literacy and encourages the use of library databases.     

If They Build It Will They Come? Cooperation and Collaboration to Create a Customized Library

SUMMARY

The core mission of Arizona State University (ASU) East Library is electronic delivery of resources and services accompanied by a strong commitment to personalized service and to facilitating the campus educational goals through cooperative and collaborative partnerships with faculty and programs. The Library and the Multimedia Writing and Technical Communication Program (MWTC) have developed and implemented an instructional program in information skills and system design. The MWTC Program emphasizes information access, management, and design as some of the primary skills taught. The Program's applied nature attempts to give students as much practical experience as possible in environments which approximate the workplace. The Library-MWTC partnership combines the expertise of the Library and the faculty to meet the educational goals of the Program in a real-world setting by facilitating the creation and design of a customized MWTC library information system. The faculty and librarian are collaborating to integrate coursework and activities into the new MWTC online degree curriculum to prepare students to take a proactive and decision-making role in information resource and service selection, organization, and system design. The resulting product will be a truly user-centered designed library portal and an educational methodology which may be used for the design of portals for other campus programs.     

What's Theory Got to Do with It? Applying Educational Theory and Research to Revamp Freshman Library Workshops

Although librarians’ increasingly important role as teachers is among the most significant shifts and trends that have been reshaping academic libraries over the past few decades, most academic librarians have not received formal training in pedagogy and teaching. The authors describe how becoming familiar with educational theory and research enabled them to revamp freshmen library workshops. They provide a theoretical overview and present practical classroom applications of learning styles theory, active learning techniques, learning by analogies, collaborative learning, and group work. Learning theories and educational research findings, the authors suggest, can be readily translated into practice and inform the teaching of information literacy to freshmen.     

Interlibrary Loan's Efficacy in Meeting Students’ Expectations to Acquire Textbooks: Results From a Study Conducted in a Large Research Library

Students look to interlibrary loan (ILL) as a mechanism for acquiring textbooks. What are the students’ expectations of ILL and can ILL meet those expectations, especially given that textbooks are perceived as difficult to borrow? This article reports the findings of a survey designed to determine the expectations of students who had placed ILL requests for textbooks. By analyzing the records for those students’ requests using data from ILLiad, the degree to which students’ expectations can be met was determined. Students’ flexibility with editions provides ILL staff methods to increase fill rates and improve service.     

Freshman Overconfidence and Library Research Skills: A Troubling Relationship?

This study focuses on the relationship between freshman college students’ self-reported confidence level in library research and their actual library research skills. A demographic survey and skills test were administered to 377 freshmen at East Carolina University in their first-semester English composition classes. The article addresses two research questions: What is the correlation between freshman students’ self-reported confidence level and tested skills? Do other factors such as age, gender, high school grades, or previous library instruction have an impact on students’ confidence level or skills? Results examine implications for library instruction.     

Will Library E-Books Help Solve the Textbook Affordability Issue? Using Textbook Adoption Lists to Target Collection Development

In response to rising textbook costs, many have urged adoption of open educational resources (OER) for students. However, library-owned e-books also provide free access to students, without the potential disadvantages of OER. In this study the authors explore the suitability of e-books as textbooks by examining the social sciences textbook list in Fall 2017 at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). Overall, 18% of the textbooks were available as a multi-user format and this rate increased with course level. Despite their limited availability, multi-user e-books provide a free, convenient option for students, and they may play a role in the textbook affordability solution.     

Improving Distance Education for Students with Special Needs: A Qualitative Study of Students’ Experiences with an Online Library Research Course

This article describes a study in which seven students with diverse disabilities participated in a one-credit online library research course which had been adapted to be accessible using the best practices literature on distance education for students with special needs. Students provided feedback on the design of the course and participated in in-depth interviews. Results of this study suggest any given class may have students with different types of disabilities, with different paths toward learning. Using the principles of universal design for learning can improve distance education not only for students with special needs, but for all types of learners.