Project management for digital projects with collaborators beyond the library

ABSTRACT

Librarians are increasingly embracing project management to guide their work outside of routine library operations. Some humanities scholars, too, especially within the digital humanities community, are bringing project management techniques to bear on scholarly digital projects. We argue that librarians and their diverse collaborators can apply project management practices to a broad range of research, teaching, and learning projects with collaborators beyond the library. Two case studies illustrate this argument, one from each author's experience: creating a community biodiversity wiki for West-Central Florida and redesigning an interdisciplinary first-year seminar around creating 3-D models of historic Venetian buildings.     

Collection management in Australian academic libraries: An American perspective

This paper discusses collection management in Australian academic libraries. The author's sabbatical project was interviewing over 30 academic librarians in October/November of 1992 in eight of the largest research university libraries in Australia. These librarians gave their opinions on selection, acquisition, assessment, budget allocation, cooperative arrangements, and resource sharing. This paper also explores the recent changes in the higher education system in Australia and its impact on Australian universities and libraries, as well as the part Australia's distance from suppliers plays in procurement of materials.     

“First years' information literacy backpacks: What's already packed or not packed?”

This survey-based research explores whether first-year college students who have had previous interactions with library instruction, services, and resources at the high school level are better prepared to undertake information literacy challenges and are better equipped to adapt to the rigors of academic research. In this collaborative project, academic librarians across six colleges in New Jersey surveyed first-year students regarding their research preparation and their experiences in high school and in their first year of college. Additionally, the team surveyed a group of vetted, certified high school librarians in New Jersey regarding their resources and instructional practices and followed members of their senior class to college Based on student survey responses relating to their high school experiences, the team was able to identify, study, and compare three groups of first-year students: novice researchers, non-novice researchers, and a subset of non-novices from the high schools with vetted librarians. These were labeled alumni non-novices. The team found that students with prior high school research experiences (non-novices), especially those followed from schools identified as having certified librarians (alumni non-novices), felt more prepared for academic research and performed at a higher level relating to their understanding and use of research tools and strategies. The results point to equity concerns and suggest that students require differentiated attention at the college level.     

Applications of Business Presentation Techniques to One-Shot Library Instruction

One can think of one-shot library instruction sessions as a way to introduce the academic library's resources to first-year students to help them with their research. These classes can also be thought of as an opportunity to “sell” the entire library and its resources to the student. This article will propose suggestions that can be adopted by library instruction librarians based on the recommendations and practices of business marketing practitioners and entrepreneurs who depend on one-shot “selling” meetings to convince their audience to “buy” their wares.     

Where did the reference desk go? Transforming staff and space to meet user needs

ABSTRACT

A sharp decline in the number of reference queries prompted the library administration at Indiana State University to begin a project to combine the circulation, reference, and IT desks to reduce staffing at a new consolidated service point. All faculty and staff in the reference/instruction and circulation units participated in the project. The new arrangement and subsequent removal of librarians from routine desk duties have expanded instructional opportunities, consistent with the university's goals. Project participants plan further assessments to better determine the impacts of the new service arrangements.     

The Implementation of an Independent and Self-Paced Online Library Orientation for Freshman Students and the Use of Sakai as a Quiz Management System (QMS)

The Brooklyn College Library's Reference Unit developed the Library's Online Orientation Program (LOOP) to provide freshman students with an entirely online, independent, flexible, and self-paced introduction to the library's resources and services. The implementation of the LOOP gave the reference librarians much-needed time to focus their teaching on classes that require research. The LOOP includes an assessment component that was created and is managed using Sakai. Sakai was found to be effective in creating and managing the assessment, with minimal ongoing maintenance required. Reference librarians with serious time constraints can look to this model as an alternative to in-person library orientation sessions. Since very little has been written about the use of Sakai as a means of creating and managing online assessment, its benefits and drawbacks are outlined.     

How We Came to Dread Fridays: Developing an Academic Library Assessment Plan Two Hours at a Time

During the summer of 2012, St. John Fisher College's Lavery Library developed a coordinated assessment plan. Committing to weekly meetings, librarians reviewed ACRL Standards, identifying key outcomes that would link to the college strategic plan. Utilizing the unique synergy of the library staff, librarians committed to persistence, collaboration, and flexible teamwork. Based on their summer-long perseverance, the librarians originated an assessment strategy that has not only aligned them with the college but has also positioned them to demonstrate the value they provide to their community.     

The Role of Cooperation in Creating a Library Online Tutorial

SUMMARY

Reference librarians at St. Charles Community College discovered the benefits of cooperation when they began the process of creating an online library tutorial. In the fall of 1999, librarians realized that their walk-in library sessions were becoming ineffective due to poor attendance by students. The tours didn't fit into on-campus students' busy schedules, and failed to serve distance students at all. Two reference librarians decided to work together to create a web-based tutorial introducing students to library online resources. It was an informal process that started with information gathering on what tutorials exist, how they were developed and what type of software was used. After the librarians decided on the format and appropriate software, they brought together their creative and technical strengths to design an appealing and functional tutorial. To create a “virtual tour” of the library's physical layout, the librarians also collaborated with the Instructional Support Center, a group of educational technology specialists who are part of SCC's community college consortium. The tutorial was completed in only a year, partly because working in a small library allows for constant contact between the librarians, but also due to the efficiency of using cooperation. This successful collaborative project eventually won the Missouri Community College Association's 2001 Technology Innovation Award.     

Learning More About How They Think: Information Literacy Instruction in a Campus-Wide Critical Thinking Project

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking and information literacy are strongly connected. At Washington State University, librarians have been involved with first-year experience programs and with a grant-funded critical thinking project that enhanced the library instruction and outreach efforts and has led to increased involvement with new initiatives on campus.     

First-generation students and the first-year transition: State of the literature and implications for library researchers

Few researchers have investigated the library needs of first-generation students in their first year of college or of the structurally disadvantaged groups who disproportionately comprise the first-generation student population. Without understanding how students' intersectional identities manifest in different library use, librarians cannot determine whether library services are helping, neglecting, or harming students. This article critiques the current state of the literature on first-year first-generation students, identifies critical areas for further study, and explains the utility of academic capital and library anxiety as theoretical frameworks to inform future research on first-generation students and first-year students, respectively.     

19世纪末20世纪初美国普瑞特图书馆学校的儿童图书馆员教育

19世纪末,美国普瑞特图书馆学校尝试在一年制图书馆常规技能教育的基础上拓展专业的儿童图书馆员培训,开启了美国儿童图书馆员教育的先河,为第二代儿童图书馆员提供了专门训练,并与20世纪上半叶最具影响力的匹兹堡卡内基儿童图书馆员培训学校有着天然的联系.由其创办者和主要实践者的儿童工作和儿童馆员教育理念出发,探讨普瑞特图书馆学...     

LibGuides: Customizing Subject Guides for Individual Courses

Reference librarians at East Tennessee State University's Sherrod Library identified LibGuides as an efficient way to introduce undergraduate students, particularly those in their first two years of college, to the university library. Selecting pertinent library resources based on a course syllabus and creating a LibGuide for the course provides the students with a limited number of relevant materials. Librarians and professors view the use of subject guides attached to a course management system site as an effective educational solution. Librarians facing exponentially expanding resources and first-year students who are used to turning to Google for all their information needs can utilize LibGuides to guide students toward more relevant library resources.     

The Accidental Archivists: Lessons Learned from a Digital Archive Project

This article tells the story of the University of Colorado Law Library's successful effort to develop its first digital archive. The sudden death of the law school's dean was the catalyst for this project, with a goal to unveil the archive at a memorial symposium scheduled nine months in the future. The University of Colorado Law Library staff had never tackled a project of this type or scale before. This article discusses the technological, cataloging, and management issues that were encountered during the project. It also provides advice and tips on how librarians in their own institutions can accomplish such a project.     

Children's Librarians and BPH Subregional Librarians

Ways are explored in which public library children's librarians can help sighted children increase their understanding of persons with visual impairment and their skills in communicating with them. Interviews were conducted with six children's librarians and six BPH subregional librarians, and searches were made in the public library catalogs and the Regional BPH Library fiche catalog for selected titles. Three areas for discussion emerged: reader advisory and reference questions, collection development, and programming. Public library children's librarians and BPH subregional librarians can jointly coordinate provision of children's services by identifying and building on present strengths in collection development and programming.     

Plowing in Rocky Land: Organizational Culture,Managed Change,and Quality Improvement in Selected Romanian Post-Communist Libraries

Romanian libraries have had a rich heritage of collecting and preserving materials in the domains of national and foreign history, literature, art, and science. During the communist regime they served as propaganda tools for the government's Marxist ideology. In post-communist Romania, there is a desire among some librarians to promote change from a system of limited access to information to a more open system that focuses on quality improvement of library services, operations, and organization. In their efforts to overcome the communist legacy to libraries in their country, some Romanian librarians—with local resources and support from international agencies—are implementing western managerial styles and services. This case study reflects the results, assessments, and recommendations from a survey conducted at a workshop of selected Romanian librarians in August 1998. Considerations for the implementation of needed changes are also included.     

A Value-Added Partnership Between a Chief Learning Officer and a Medical Librarian

A community-based participatory research project was conducted to identify health information needs of clients (an underserved population) at a homeless shelter. Staff at the shelter, medical students, and public librarians were sought as outreach partners; their needs and challenges in accessing health information resources to serve underserved populations were also assessed. The community needs assessment yielded results that helped shape a medical library's efforts in supporting medical students’ service-learning activities related to humanistic education. The resulting data also informed library decisions on health information education outreach programs tailored to vulnerable, underserved populations and community partners serving the specific populations in the communities.     

Educating instruction librarians: A model for Library and Information Science education

The rise of the librarian's role in teaching information literacy competencies and assessing student learning outcomes requires that instruction librarians be cognizant of and competent in a broad array of teaching and assessment skills. A review of the literature shows that, while instruction librarians are proactive in improving their level of expertise, they also express the need to have training and experience during their graduate programs. This article utilizes a case-study approach to propose a model of instruction librarian education. The authors, recent graduates from the University of Hawai'i Library and Information Science Program, analyze the effect of their experiences in a semester-long teaching practicum and a formal graduate level course in instructional methodology. It is proposed that future instruction librarians be provided opportunities for extended teaching practicums combined with coursework in instructional theory during their Library and Information Science program.     

Reaching Beyond Library Employees: Assessing IT Student Workers

ABSTRACT

This article examines a collaboration between academic librarians and campus IT to provide library training and assessment for computer lab consultants who work in the library. Pre- and post-tests were used to gauge lab consultants’ ability to answer frequently asked library questions using online guides. This research project also served as a pilot for collaborations between the library's Coordinator of Outreach and Peer Learning and supervisors of student workers in the library.     

The Origins of the Freedom to Read Foundation: Public Librarians' Campaign to Establish a Legal Defense against Library Censorship

This article examines public librarians' experiences with attempted censorship, including their dismay, anger, and disappointment with fellow librarians and their professional organizations, which those under attack found apathetic in safeguarding user rights and protecting their jobs as library professionals. Some of these librarians became the activists who campaigned for the creation of the American Library Association's (ALA) legal defense machinery, along with other primarily young progressive librarians, who pushed forward their own agenda. This study highlights these public librarians' struggles, which made the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) and ALA leading professional organizations in championing intellectual freedom. The study focuses on cases that shaped ALA's policy that led to the establishment of a defense mechanism for librarians in the late 1960s and 1970s. It also examines the extent to which ALA upheld the organization's professional credo and its members' rights.     

Raise Your Profile: Build Your Program

ABSTRACT

To raise the library's profile within the campus community, it is critical to create a strategic plan and align library goals with those of the university. At George Washington University's Gelman Library, the instruction librarians gained internal and external support to hire two new instruction librarians to better support collaboration with the new university writing program. The library then used assessment data to successfully advocate for an additional two positions.