Accessibility from Scratch: One Library’s Journey to Prioritize the Accessibility of Electronic Information Resources

The increased development and use of electronic and information technology in higher education raises questions about accessibility for individuals with disabilities. In academic libraries, providing accessible electronic information resources ensures equal access and opportunity to information. This article provides a contextual understanding of accessibility in higher education as well as strategies for evaluating, negotiating, and procuring accessible electronic resources licensed through third party vendors.     

Planning Istanbul’s Public Library System

The paper is an attempt to analyse the role of Nigerian television (TV) journalists as major participants in mass information production, transfer, and, delivery. The analysis centres on the legal, political, economic, and cultural contexts in which the TV journalists operate, and the dangers, problems, and frustrations involved in this operation. It also analyses the strategic role of the TV and its impact as a medium of mass information. The paper concludes by analyzing how TV programming orientation has been skewed in favour of more literate urban and semi-urban populations, and how Nigeria's legal, political, economic, and cultural environments are unfavourable for conscientious and conscious TV journalists. It suggests that only when the TV journalists re-orient themselves and assert their right as people's conscience can they mobilize society for positive change.     

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.     

A Library’s Partnership Experience with University Extension to Provide Program Content

Many public libraries reply on forming partnerships with other institutions in their communities to expand and strengthen their educational public programing. The Land-Grant University Extension Service can be a natural partner for public libraries, as both organizations share the common goal of providing lifelong learning opportunities to the public. A year-long study based at the St. Martin Public Library in Jackson County, Mississippi shows the impact of programs led by Mississippi State University Extension faculty and staff on library activity at that branch, including new library card sign-ups, use of materials, and future program attendance and growth. From the results of surveys distributed, Extension-led educational programs appeared to have an overall positive impact on library activity at the St. Martin branch.     

Navigating OER: The Library’s Role in Bringing OER to Campus

In 2014, three librarians at the University of San Diego came together to explore open educational resources (OER). Coming from both technical services and digital collections, we were well-versed in the economic challenges facing today’s libraries. In order to formulate the approach that would work best for our campus, we first had to educate ourselves on the past, present, and possible future of the Open Access movement. While traditionally Open Access has focused on serials, OER offer the opportunity to expand its benefits to other formats. This article examines opportunities and tensions surrounding OER, as well as highlighting major players on the OER landscape. Our efforts began with a focus group for faculty to assess their own knowledge of and opinions on OER. After establishing a stipend budget, we sent out a call for proposals to faculty who were interested in participating in the Copley OER Initiative.     

The Library: Big Data’s Boomtown

Since 2012, nearly every sector has developed a fascination with the seemingly new discovery of Big Data and its unprecedented capabilities to fuel analytic breakthroughs. It is clear that the use of Big Data as an information resource will continue to become more prevalent as it is employed in academic research and data-driven decision making, and even emerges as a vehicle for government transparency. This article reviews the emergence and potentials of Big Data, describes the policies fueling the current data surge, and discusses the impact on libraries. As libraries evolve to provide more data services, there is an opportunity for librarians to become experts and authorities in the data age.     

Is RFID Right for Your Library?

ABSTRACT

RFID technology is taking off in libraries at an increasingly rapid pace. Though there are few libraries employing this technology today, the benefits are great. The cost is still prohibitive however. This article discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks to RFID to provide information for librarians that will be useful when deciding if the technology should be employed.     

Comparing Advertising Agencies’ Resources to Academic Libraries’ Collections

Abstract

Collection development analysis in academic libraries typically involves collection-centered and user-centered methods. These approaches focus on building collections that help students with their academic needs but may overlook resources that students need experience with when employed. To address this gap, the authors analyzed early-career advertising agency positions to identify a list of information resources that advertising agencies expect employees to use. This list was then compared against the library websites of 158 universities with advertising programs to see how sufficiently libraries are fulfilling these resource needs. The authors found that overall, university libraries only subscribe to a small number of resources used by advertising agencies.     

IEEE/IEE Electronic Library数据库检索系统

介绍IEEE 公司出版的IEL 全文光盘数据库检索系统。结合工作实践讨论了该系统的特点、检索界面基本要素、检索方法、文献输出格式和下载方式等。     

A Review of “The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development”

This article describes a computer program developed by the author to extract subject-level usage and inventory data from Aleph system reports and to track usage trends by subject over time. Two implementations of the program are detailed, at the Institute of Fine Arts Library and the East Asian collection at Bobst Library, both at New York University. Use of the program in processing inventory, in-house usage, and circulation data in greater detail is demonstrated. Information about usage trends within major Library of Congress subject areas provides collection managers with more precise data for use in a variety of collection management decisions. The article shows that the program offers significant new functionality for collection assessment.     

Will Undergraduate Students Play Games to Learn How to Conduct Library Research?

This exploratory study examines whether undergraduate students will play games to learn how to conduct library research. Results indicate that students will play games that are an integral component of the course curriculum and enable them to accomplish overall course goals at the same time they learn about library research.     

Using Maps to Promote Data-Driven Decision-Making: One Library’s Experience in Data Visualization Instruction

Data play a crucial role in health research, education, and patient care. Initiatives such as Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) and Precision Medicine point to the increasing focus and value of data use and reuse. As the universe of data continues to grow exponentially, health education needs to provide students with practical hands-on learning sessions that illustrate the multitude of uses for data and statistics. Giving students early exposure to data reuse provides a solid background for the more complex data they may gather later in their education. This column describes how librarians at a general academic library used data dashboards and Tableau in two library sessions to provide students with hands-on experience in data visualization and its role in decision-making.     

The Fifth Paradox: Library Management’s Toughest Challenge

Library leaders are trained, experienced, and focused on solving problems. However, an often hidden challenge for library leadership teams is managing paradoxes. This article aims to highlight the difference between solving problems and managing paradoxes and to identify five major paradoxes that libraries face today and will continue to face in the future. A balanced strategy to proactively manage these paradoxes is suggested by embracing the true purpose of your library: transforming and improving the health and well-being of your communities as well as repurposing your library staff to support this strategy.     

Managing a Biomedical Library’s Instruction Program: Redefining Scope

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) library instruction program provides training services to staff, clinicians, and researchers across NIH and several Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operating divisions. The audience, training needs, and training topics are diverse and constantly changing. The NIH library has developed several new services and class topics to meet the needs of its NIH and HHS communities. Context, strategies, and future directions for the NIH library instruction program are described.