Electronic Serials Cataloging: Now That We're Here,What Do We Do?

Summary

Many aspects of electronic serials cataloging have not yet developed standard practice, or are still in transition. This article will explore some problematic issues in electronic serials cataloging first by presenting current CONSER policy in these areas and then by examining the practices of three institutions who are cataloging electronic serials. For brevity, the term “electronic serial” will be used to mean “remote access computer file serial” unless the more specific term is needed for clarity. The five topics covered in this discussion are: Access and Location Information, Multiple Versions, Definition of Electronic Serial, Bibliographic Access Points and Display of Computer File Characteristics.     

The Plugged-in Reference Librarian: Who Do We Think We Are?

In recent years, academic reference librarians often find themselves working in closer proximity to computer workstations, labs, and information commons. They are spending a greater portion of their time assisting library users with the vast array of software and hardware used to access library resources. This study examines whether an increased demand for technological knowledge and proficiency is reflected in job expectations for academic reference librarians. Researchers compared randomly chosen academic reference librarian job advertisements from 1999 to those from 2011, examining both job responsibilities and candidate qualifications. Results were mixed, with some variables gaining prominence but others declining. There was no apparent increase in demand for technological skills and responsibilities overall.     

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.     

A Vendor Perspective: What Do All of These Changes Mean for Vendors?

Vendor keynote speaker Caitlin Trasande addressed the practical and applied implications of how government mandates and regulations drive innovations and research information management technologies, while tying in remarks made by Jane Marks, the publisher keynote speaker, and Scott Plutchak, the librarian keynote speaker. She is uniquely positioned to do this as she has been at Digital Science for 5 years, most recently as Head of Research Policy; holds a PhD in Neurobiology; and was very recently appointed Senior Strategy Editor at Nature. Trasande used products developed by Digital Science as examples to demonstrate how all sectors of the scholarly community are finding solutions to help enable compliance with mandates, such as those on data and Open Access. She also provided a futuristic look at how the UK government has begun to ask funded researchers to document the social impact of their research; how Digital Science worked with the UK government, and how likely this is to also happen in the United States.     

Let’s Talk About Men: Some Suggestions on How We Can Include Men in Conversations About Gender Roles in Librarianship

Nine years ago, I did not imagine listing gender issues as one of my core research interests. Now I cannot imagine my research revolving around anything else. The way I study gender though, has taken a rather startling turn away from women to focus (sometimes uncomfortably) on men. What follows is an argument about why studying men and masculinities can make us better librarians. I argue that studying men broadly is important, and librarians should explore methods and strategies for studying a specific type of men: well-educated, white men with established careers in libraries. While my narrative is highly personal, it is based on 9 years of research and reflection about how librarians discuss gender and professional identity.     

Case Studies in Electronic Serials Cataloging,or What Am I Supposed to Do with This?

SUMMARY

Shadle examined the CONSER recommended aggregator-neutral record, providing background on its development, as well as examples and discussion of records demonstrating the changes that are underway. He also included a brief discussion on electronic serials and integrating resources, with examples that served to clarify their differences. Lastly, there was discussion on title changes and buried title changes as they might appear in electronic serials, with suggestions on ways to most effectively handle them.     

We Ning-ed a Virtual Pre-Workshop: Now What?

In 2009, a group of instruction-minded librarians in Oklahoma added unconference-like elements to their usual workshop structure and agenda to make their workshop more participatory and attendee-driven. The result was a virtual pre-workshop hosted on a Ning social networking site. The virtual pre-workshop enhanced the actual physical workshop in several ways. The group's new challenge: where to host its new pre-workshop format without Ning and how to gear the new format to be more mobile friendly while not excluding non-mobile interested workshop participants.     

Microaggressions in Academic Spaces: What About the Library?

Microaggressions are subtle aggressions, often unintentional, which are usually directed at certain groups of people, generally minorities. Due to their insidious frequency, they cause great discomfort. They can even cause permanent problems with adapting and integrating of various kinds. University libraries, as the social spaces that they are, accommodate a wide variety of people and can be places where microaggressions occur in different directions: librarians towards users, users towards librarians and among these groups. This study analyzes the incidence of various types of microaggressions in the academic library environment from the point of view of one group of users: academics and researchers. An online survey was completed by a large number of academics and researchers from a large geographic area. Data was obtained on both observed and felt or experienced microaggressions in the library, either towards themselves or other users, or towards the librarian. The results indicate that researchers are more aggressive than librarians, making the library space a safer place for diversity than the university. Nevertheless, for certain aspects the library shows some data that invites reflection and an opportunity to further reduce occurrences.     

Student Values and Research: Are Millennials Really Changing the Future of Reference and Research?

ABSTRACT

This article provides perspective on the research habits of Millennials, placing them in generational context while questioning whether adherence to generational differences hinders educational pedagogy. An exploratory survey at Pima Community College (PCC) East Campus provides context from which Millennial behaviors, commonly perceived by faculty and in literature, can be scrutinized. The article discusses the preference for experiential learning across generations and the misnomer of the digital native, while discussing the student as information consumer and the consumer behavior behind library use. The significance of customer service and user education to library use is demonstrated. The future of libraries is discussed to include service barriers and the outlook that the Web is enhancing rather than eliminating the need for libraries.     

Student Values and Research: Are Millennials Really Changing the Future of Reference and Research?

ABSTRACT

This article provides perspective on the research habits of Millennials, placing them in generational context while questioning whether adherence to generational differences hinders educational pedagogy. An exploratory survey at Pima Community College (PCC) East Campus provides context from which Millennial behaviors, commonly perceived by faculty and in literature, can be scrutinized. The article discusses the preference for experiential learning across generations and the misnomer of the digital native, while discussing the student as information consumer and the consumer behavior behind library use. The significance of customer service and user education to library use is demonstrated. The future of libraries is discussed to include service barriers and the outlook that the Web is enhancing rather than eliminating the need for libraries.

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 49, Issue 4, pages 341–364, 2009. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930820902832454     

When Online Instruction Doesn’t Measure Up: How Can You Tell,and What Should You Do?

At Duquesne University, freshmen are required to take a one-credit information literacy course. This course has traditionally been offered mostly face-to-face, but has expanded into more online offerings. Unfortunately, the experience for students and instructors online was not as positive as those involved with the face-to-face version of the course. Assessment results on a variety of levels and anecdotal evidence indicated that students did not work as well together to learn as those did in the face-to-face version of the course. Not only did instructors receive lower student evaluation scores, but students did not perform as well on their final, collaborative project. While there will be barriers to learning online, especially when students work together in a group, instructors and instructional designers can take distinct steps to make the experience a positive one. Instructors must use particular interventions to increase student-to-student interaction that leads to learning.     

Influences of the Digest Classification System: What Can We Know?

Robert C. Berring has called West Publishing Company's American Digest System “the key aspect of the new form of legal literature” that West and other publishers developed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Berring argued that West's digests provided practicing lawyers not only the means for locating precedential cases, but a “paradigm for thinking about the law itself” that influenced American lawyers until the development of online legal research systems in the 1970s. This article discusses questions raised by Berring's scholarship, and examines the late nineteenth and early twentieth century legal environment in which the West digests were created and became essential research tools for American lawyers.     

Electronic Copyright Rights: Do You Have What You Need?

Publishing agreements have long operated with certain assumptions about what books are and what publishers do. These assumptions are increasingly at odds with the new technological forms in which books are created and marketed, from e-books and Kindle 2 read-aloud works to so-called “vooks” that incorporate on-demand streaming video and other internet-based features in conjunction with hard copy books. Publishers’ contracts need to be re-thought in light of these changed circumstances. Specifically, publishing contracts today should focus on the activities in which the publisher may engage, and not the form in which the work may be presented, a point that was made clear several years ago in the Random House v. RosettaBooks litigation. In defining these activities, contracts should track the language of the exclusive rights enumerated in §106 of the Copyright Act. Finally, to the extent that books are becoming “audiovisual works” publishers may be able to shift to a work-made-for-hire model for obtaining ownership, rather than relying on grants from individual authors.