Hacking Blackboard: Customizing Access to Library Resources Through the Blackboard Course Management System

Academic libraries have long been trying to gain access to users through their favorite online spaces, such as social networking sites. In this article a project of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's University Libraries, which integrated library resources with the campus course management system, Blackboard, is detailed. The main objective was to push the best resources to students based on their actual needs. For years, static HTML Web pages were created, but the proliferation of these pages required tremendous maintenance. In addition it is not certain that students are able to access the most relevant resources buried deep in the Web site. Because of these challenges, the Course Resources Tool and the Library Resources Portal were created to provide high levels of customization based on information that was gathered from users as they log into Blackboard. The tools have been customized so that subject specialist liaisons can integrate library resources at the major, department, course, and course section levels. Despite some difficulties in launching and promoting these projects, there has been positive feedback. There was also an increase in usage statistics that rivals the use of the library's main Web site. This article describes the tools, documents the difficulties with each phase of the project, and discusses the lessons learned. Also, a brief overview of possible expansions of the Blackboard Course Resources Tool and the Library Resources Portal is provided.     

An evaluation on the effectiveness of Web 2.0 Startpages (Netvibes & Pageflakes) within NHS libraries

Carol McCormick was Learning Resources Advisor in the library at James Cook University Hospital, South Teesside when she completed her BSc (Hons) Librarianship (Work Based Learning) degree at Northumbria University. She gained a 1st Class Honours and is now Learning Resources Librarian. Carol's dissertation formed part of a wider action research project into the provision of current awareness services at James Cook University Hospital. This article reports on the evaluation which was conducted after a Web 2.0 Startpage, or portal, had been introduced to improve access to current awareness information for all staff within the Trust. It is the second article in the Dissertations into practice series to examine the use of web‐based tools to improve access to information for NHS staff. AM     

Student Employees and the Academic Library's Multicultural Mission

Academic libraries play an important role in encouraging cultural diversity on university and college campuses, thus supporting universities' efforts to recruit and retain minority students and faculty. Although geographic and demographic circumstances may constrain a library's ability to recruit minority faculty and classified staff, by recruiting minority student workers a library can contribute materially to university efforts to foster genuine diversity. Strategies employed by the Libraries and Learning Resources Multicultural Affairs Committee at Bowling Green State Unviersity to increase hiring of minority student workers are described.     

Profiles in Resource Sharing: Tom Bruno

Abstract

Health sciences libraries are expanding services that use online technologies to support teaching, research, and clinical care needs. Saint Louis University's Health Sciences Center (SLU HSC) Library has developed strong, user-centered, online services in interlibrary loan, bibliographic instruction, and electronic reserves. The authors present their successful experiences in using electronic technologies to improve library services.

Journal articles are provided, often the same day as requested through interlibrary loan, and delivered in electronic format using OCLC's ILLiad program. First-year SLU medical students now complete a self-paced, all online, Health Information Resources course that targets the most relevant biomedical resources, reduces student study time, and is viewed as a model for the entire curriculum. ERes, the electronic reserves program, allows faculty to provide course materials that are accessible at the convenience of students 24 hours a day. These online programs are examples of using electronic technologies to better support user needs for excellent library services.     

Student Assistant Training in a Small Academic Library

Abstract

At Valparaiso University's main library, the Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources (formerly the Moellering Library), student employees are an integral part of day-to-day operations. Students work at the reference desk and must be able to handle reference questions. Since the fall 2000 semester, the Reference Services Librarian has been creating a training program for the student assistants, consisting of an initial training period and a series of quizzes combined with review sessions. Student assistants are also indispensable in Instruction Services. These students are charged with library web site and instruction materials' updates. Methods, lessons learned throughout the process, and quiz questions are used to illustrate the development of the training program. Student performance evaluations and feedback are positive.     

An Academic Librarian's Search for Meaning: A Survey of Lifelong Learning in Library Literature

Lifelong learning is not a new term; many colleges and universities in the United States have lifelong learning programs or departments, such as the Lifelong Learning College at the University of Indianapolis, or an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. At one Midwestern University, lifelong learning is part of the University mission statement, which spurred the creation of a new position in the Library—Lifelong Learning Librarian. Discussions with the Dean of the Library and colleagues, however, indicated that there was no consensus on campus as to what lifelong learning means for the University's students. The author conducted an analysis of 228 citations from a library literature database and a content analysis of 137 PDFs from that set in order to discover how library professionals use the term lifelong learning in published literature. Results indicate two potential paths for developing the new librarian position on campus.     

Long Distance Relationships: Assessing the Library Service Needs of Rural Students in eLearning Courses

ABSTRACT

In states with limited road accessibility, rural students can feel isolated from library services. This article explores the creation, implementation, and results of an on-going longitudinal study assessing the library service needs of rural students in eLearning courses. To align with current practices in online pedagogies, including the Association of College and Research Libraries' Standards for Distance Learning Library Services and recent revisions to the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, this survey has been designed to help the library identify and improve services to enhance rural student success.     

ACADEMIC LIBRARIES AND LEARNING SUPPORT IN COLLABORATION

This article begins with an overview of Bournemouth University's pioneering Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PAL) and describes how in 2005/06 the library became involved, collaborating with the PAL Coordinator to develop materials for use by PAL Leaders. PAL is intended to foster cross-year support between students on the same course. It encourages students to support each other and learn cooperatively under the guidance of trained students from the year above—called PAL Leaders. Two documents were produced to support and empower these leaders. The first, Using the Library for Your Research, provides leaders with key guidance information on the University Library, its resources and the services it provides. The second, Citing References Using the Harvard System, aims to explain and demystify the Harvard referencing system and to encourage good referencing habits in students from an early stage of their course through a practical hands-on exercise. Feedback from PAL Leaders continues to inform the development of these guidance materials, in particular the referencing exercise that was reworked to better suit the needs of the leaders delivering it.     

The University Library's Role in Planning a Successful Distance Learning Program

Summary

This article examines the role a university library plays in planning the student support services that are so crucial to a successful distance learning program. The content of the paper is based on the experience the author acquired as a member of Texas Tech University's Distance Learning Council. The Council's efforts to plan, prioritize, and develop a distance learning program that will include strong support from the Library are emphasized. The work of the Distance Learning Council and its committees is discussed when it relates to the TTU Library's contribution to the program.     

Have a Legal Question Without the Resources to Get an Answer?

This article explores the Western New York's Library Resources Council's Ask the Lawyer Program. The program provides a timely model for local cultural heritage communities, such as archives, to collectively retain a lawyer in a non-representational capacity to answer both specific and hypothetical questions that arise as a result of their work.     

Making Sense of an Academic Library Web Site: Toward a More Usable Interface for University Researchers

ABSTRACT

Library patrons familiar with Web searching conventions often find library searching to be less familiar and even intimidating. This article describes and evaluates a series of usability research studies employing two different and popular methodologies: user-centered redesign and usability testing. Card sorting and affinity mapping were used to conceptualize how information should be classified and presented on the library's main page. Usability scenarios and think-aloud protocols were used to explore how students, especially those new to the campus, conceptualize the information-seeking process and how they go about conducting a search. Participants included library employees, university faculty, staff, and students. These methods can be replicated by any library, large or small, and demonstrate that even small-scale usability evaluations can improve patrons' understanding of and access to library resources.     

Bibliographie Instruction for Business Classes

Abstract

A contribution to an issue devoted to end-user research needs and information-seeking behavior, this paper describes a cooperative venture between faculty members, librarians and students to assess and improve methods of bibliographic instruction for business classes in order to assist students with their research needs. At St. Edward' s University' s Scarborough-Phillips Library, bibliographic instruction (BI) of business information is offered to students upon the request of faculty members of the Business School-it is not a required credit course. A new approach to eliminating information overload in BI sessions was attempted, proved successful and will likely be repeated.     

On the Road,Playing with Legos®, and Learning about the Library: The Rutgers University Art Library Lego Playing Station,Part Two

ABSTRACT

In Playing with LEGO®, Learning about the Library, and “Making” Campus Connections: The Rutgers University Art Library Lego Playing Station, Part One, the author discusses the importance of outreach, creativity, and innovation to the future of academic libraries. Low-cost making activities, can encourage creative problem-solving skills and be an innovative way to teach students, faculty, and staff more about academic libraries. In this article, the author will look more closely at the hands-on learning experiences that resulted when academic library faculty and staff were introduced to the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology by means of a mobile makerspace.     

Evaluating the Children's Literature Collection

This article reports on an evaluation study of the Children's Literature Collection conducted at Gustavus Adolphus College Library in 1992. Among the goals were to assess quality and extent of the collection and to find out why students were dissatisfied with the collection. The methodology included the inductive method of checking a collection against a major review instrument and annual lists of "best" titles, as well as a user survey in order to compare findings about quality and size of the collection with students' perception of the two measures. Surprisingly it was found that students major dissatisfaction stemmed not so much from lack of quality and quantity of the collection but rather from problems with access via the online catalog and shelf arrangement.     

Graduate LIS Students' Attitude Toward University Libraries and Personnel

This is an attitudinal survey that profiles Kuwait University Library and Information Science (KULIS) students' attitudes concerning Kuwait University's (KU's) libraries. It uses the phenomenological approach to analyze respondents' data regarding confidence in their skills and the effect on attitude toward KU's resources. It furthermore explores the attitudes of KU staff and the level of assistance offered to KULIS students. The results show that most of the respondents visited the library to access electronic resources. Some respondents disagreed that the staff had treated the KULIS suspiciously, yet a majority disagreed that the KU library staff was professionally trained to help KULIS students. Several respondents strongly agreed that they were confident in their searching skills. The results of the survey are used to recommend curriculum changes and ways to improve library and other academic support services at academic institutions generally.     

Locating Learning Development in a University Library: Promoting Effective Academic Help Seeking

The Centre for Learning and Study Support at De Montfort University relocated to the Department of Library Services in September 2006. During that academic year student use of study support tutorials increased by over 100%. This article considers the factors that led to this increase, using as a starting point, the experiences and opinions of students who have needed help for academic study. It analyzes student responses to a short survey. Many students do not ask for help and the survey findings suggest that this is more a response to ambivalence about the acceptability of needing help in higher education (HE) and less a positive decision about an individual's learning. The article goes on to identify the conditions that encourage appropriate help-seeking behavior and to suggest that these can be successfully created in the academic environment of a library. The article acknowledges the potential impact of social learning spaces on students’ approaches to learning and suggests that the integration of learning development activities facilitates an overtly positive learning environment.     

UCLA's Polish Collections and Collecting Poland at the UCLA Library: 2006–2011

The author's purpose in this article is to acquaint the reader with some interesting aspects of the UCLA library's collection of Poland-related and Polish-language print materials. Then, the author gives an account of the strategies for the collection development activities that he undertook from 2006 to 2011, during his curatorial tenure at UCLA's Young Research Library, to revitalize the Polish-language collection. Lastly, the author describes a methodology he used to assess the effectiveness of these activities; this methodology should be of broad interest to anyone involved in area- or language-focused collection development.     

Planning for Distance Learning

Abstract

The article examines the role that student support services plays in planning a distance learning program, especially the services offered by a university library. The content of the paper is based on the experience the author acquired as a member of Texas Tech University's Distance Learning Council. The Council's efforts to plan a program that will include strong support from the Library are discussed.     

Leading campus OER initiatives through library–faculty collaboration

With the rising costs of tuition and textbooks, Open Educational Resources (OERs) are becoming increasingly important. The university library, in collaboration with faculty, is a natural leader of OER initiatives at institutions of higher education. Cleveland State University's Michael Schwartz Library embraced this leadership role by assisting a faculty member with developing an OER, which involved balancing the workload between librarians and the faculty member, determining successful modes of communication, taking advantage of graphic design skills, and more. The success of this initial collaboration has led the Library to expand its support of OER initiatives on campus.     

FROM THE EDITOR

Abstract

American University Library participated in the LibQUAL+ survey of library service quality sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries. Upon analyzing the results, the library's Assessment Team decided to engage in follow-up assessment in order to gain a better understanding of undergraduate perceptions of and priorities for library service. The team conducted three focus groups of randomly selected undergraduate students. This article addresses the team's methodology, implementation, and results of the focus group study. It also describes how the results of LibQUAL+, the focus groups, and other assessment activities are being incorporated into the library's short- and long-range planning and marketing activities.