Data Privacy and Academic Libraries: Non-PII,PII, and Librarians’ Reflections (Part 2)

Abstract

Using personally identifiable information (PII) (patron data) to make informed decisions in academic libraries through learning analytics programs has increasingly become more commonplace. In this column, we discuss how libraries around the world have used PII to make informed decisions about hours (gate count), electronic resources (collection usage and authentication), and research assistance (virtual reference). In addition, we discuss the use of learning analytics in library environments including the benefits and concerns associated with its use. Finally, we discuss how we have used PII at our institution’s library and the data metrics we plan utilize at some point in the future.     

Academic Libraries: “Social” or “Communal?” The Nature and Future of Academic Libraries

The apparent death of academic libraries, as measured by declining circulation of print materials, reduced use of reference services, and falling gate counts, has led to calls for a more “social” approach to academic libraries: installing cafés, expanding group study spaces, and developing “information commons.” This study compares these social models with the traditional academic library, whose spirit is best understood as “communal.” It argues that this communal spirit is unique and greatly valued by academic library users. Efforts to create a more social academic library threaten this communal spirit and may do more harm than good.     

Academic Libraries’ Outreach Efforts: Identifying Themes in the Literature

Outreach programs remain essential in fostering the use of library collections and services. A review of one hundred seventy-four papers on academic library outreach from 2008 to January 2019 highlighted the popularity of these programs during this period as well as the identification of five themes. These themes point to the importance of library outreach to targeted groups, the popularity of specialized library outreach programs, the need for collaboration in fostering outreach efforts, the benefits of managing these programs and the use of social media for library outreach. Foremost, these materials highlight opportunities and challenges for librarians in providing library outreach in academic institutions.     

The Prince’s Dream: A Future For Academic Libraries

This article discusses the role of values in providing principles for the academic library. It examines the role of libraries in relation to the human record and the wider question of cultural heritage. The roles of technology and scientific management as tools rather than ends in themselves are explored alongside the nature of research. Co-operation and (when possible) integration of libraries with other cultural institutions is advocated.     

Content and Design Features of Academic Health Sciences Libraries’ Home Pages

The goal of this content analysis was to identify commonly used content and design features of academic health sciences library home pages. After developing a checklist, data were collected from 135 academic health sciences library home pages. The core components of these library home pages included a contact phone number, a contact email address, an Ask-a-Librarian feature, the physical address listed, a feedback/suggestions link, subject guides, a discovery tool or database-specific search box, multimedia, social media, a site search option, a responsive web design, and a copyright year or update date.     

Academic Libraries and Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Do We Know?

This paper examines the rising rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children in the United States (1 in 59), and explores the role academic libraries can play in helping college students with ASD. A literature review of how different types of libraries (school, public, academic) support students with ASD indicates research in this area in general is lacking. Findings point to lack of adequate training and awareness for librarians and staff, resources, services and spaces are universal challenges. Several initiatives that academic libraries and librarians may consider in helping students with ASD are identified and described.     

Visiting Libraries in Central Asia: An Academic Librarian’s Research Experience

ABSTRACT

In May 2017, I had the opportunity to spend three weeks visiting several libraries in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan as part of my research project on international student services and information literacy. I visited these countries to conduct fieldwork research on American University of Central Asia’s information literacy program, library services for international and first year students, and more broadly to build exchanges and partnerships with Fresno State and these universities. In this travel report, I briefly cover my experiences conducting research and training at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan and my shorter trips to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.     

They Paved Paradise: School Librarians and School Libraries Are Disappearing and We Won’t Know What We’ve Lost Until It’s Gone

Abstract

Many schools in the U.S. have eliminated school librarian positions. This column explores how we got to this crisis point, details several successes in the fight for school libraries, and makes a few suggestions for what school librarians can do to preserve libraries for the sake of our students and teachers.     

Dissemination and Discovery of Diverse Data: Do Libraries Promote Their Unique Research Data Collections?

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries acquire and steward numeric datasets as well as large collections of image files, audio archives, digital texts, and other non-numeric resources. This article considers how a sample of libraries in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom present these collections and make them available for discovery. And, importantly, the article examines whether these non-numeric collections are positioned on the library Website as research datasets, rather than as artifacts of limited local and/or historical interest. Findings from this analysis may help collection managers and Web designers as libraries define their role in connecting users to research data.     

Patron-Driven Acquisition and Circulation at an Academic Library: Interaction Effects and Circulation Performance of Print Books Acquired via Librarians’ Orders,Approval Plans,and Patrons’ Interlibrary Loan Requests

Numerous publications on patron-driven acquisition (PDA) for print books and similar materials have reported that patron-requested materials circulate more. Tying circulation to selector may be failing to address the complex of factors that contributes to items' circulation. In the present study, the authors revisit a PDA program's data and to determine whether PDA print books' circulation advantage persists when the potential interactions of several additional variables are taken into account. As with prior studies, library patrons were significantly better predictors of circulation than were librarians or approval plans. However, librarians proved to be significantly better predictors than were approval plans.     

Future Development of Academic Libraries in E-learning Times—— Interpretation and Thinking in ACRL＇ s Futhures Thinking for Academic Librarians： Higher Education in 2025

E-learning时代高校教育环境、学术交流的新发展对高校图书馆原有的工作和服务模式提出了新挑战。基于对ACRL未来研究报告的解读,分析高校图书馆未来15年可能要面对的新变化,对高校图书馆如何结合环境变化和用户需求,确定业务定位,制定战略目标,规划教学、科研信息服务的未来发展,调整组织结构、工作模式等提出参考意见。     

Print Newspapers: Are They Still Being Used in Academic and Research Libraries?

A six-month print newspaper usage study at the University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library showed a marked decrease in use from a more limited study done four years previously. In general, patrons used only the major national, international, and regional newspapers. Communications with other academic and research libraries confirm these findings.     

Bundles,Big Deals,and the Copyright Wars: What Can Academic Libraries Learn from the Record Industry Crash?

This article reviews the contention that U.S. laws favor copyright owners over consumers, and pre-existing models over innovation. The relationship of commercial publishers to the Open Access movement is compared to that of the creators/users of file sharers and the Record Industry. The library literature bears out the contention that journal publishers have exhibited some of the behaviors that contributed to the decline of the major record labels. Librarians who support free scholarship will find the music industry plight instructive; just as iTunes fulfilled consumer demand, Open Access and other alternatives will transform publishing.     

‘Terrible Panizzi’: Patriotism and Realism of the ‘Prince of Librarians’

Abstract

This article deals with the figure of Antonio Panizzi, considered as an Italian patriot and English librarian. It highlights the constant attention he devoted to the Italian political events throughout his life: from his arrival in London (1823) as a political exile, to his informal ambassador in United Kingdom, a role that allowed him to lobby the political class and the press on behalf of the cause of Italian patriots forced in the prisons of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The article describes the multifaceted library activity carried out by Panizzi at the British Library, of which he became Principal Librarian in 1856. Panizzi is considered to be the first Promethean Librarian of the 19th century, a great reformer with new ideas on library services, innovative methodologies, and working practices in librarianship. Panizzi rigorously carried out the activity of librarian at the British Library without ever forgetting the need for a free, unified, and democratic Italian state.     

Assessment of KU Libraries’ Slavic & Eurasian Collection: Purpose,Process, and Potential

This paper discusses collection-related assessment projects that were conducted in 2013–2014 by the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries’ International Collections librarians in cooperation with librarians for assessment and resource sharing. While these assessment projects were undertaken in an effort to strengthen the library reports for KU’s Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) grant applications, which were submitted by KU’s area studies centers, the results also have implications for collection development work. The article begins with background about the NRC grants and explains why and how these assessment projects developed. Highlights of results from each assessment project are presented in the following order: assessment of the research needs of area studies faculty and graduate students at KU; citation patterns (2005–2013) of area studies, and more specifically, Slavic and Eurasian studies faculty at KU; and resource sharing data for the Slavic and Eurasian collection 2011–2013. The article concludes with a discussion about how the assessment data inform collection development practices and decisions.