An Optometry Librarian’s Vision: Improved Student Scholarly Communication

Health profession students benefit academically, clinically, and professionally when they acquire the writing skills necessary for scholarly communication. The purpose of this article is to discuss how a solo, embedded health science librarian spearheaded collaborative efforts and contributed to the creation of a scaffolded writing program within the existing optometry curriculum. The article includes a discussion of the opportunities, challenges, and outcomes of this writing endeavor.     

Gutenberg and the Digital Evolution: Highlights of a Trend-Follower Market from a Distributer’s Perspective

Germany’s acceptance and spread of e-books are typical for a trend-follower. Germans are still reluctant to change their reading habits and strongly support the diversity of small bookshops. Germany’s biggest book distributor and wholesaler KNV strongly believes in the future of the printed books and is building the most modern media distribution center in central Germany. KNV is also placing a lot of efforts in supporting small and medium size bookshops and in establishing multi-channel strategies and promoting online and digital sales. After many unsuccessful efforts to establish an e-reading platform in Germany by various organizations, the “Tolino” platform has the potential to grow to a real significance alongside to Amazon and Apple. Therefore, KNV will support its clients to become part of the new alliance, initiated by the major book chains, Bertelsmann and Deutsche Telekom.     

When the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Development of Cooperative Service and Resource Sharing in Libraries: 1876–2002

SUMMARY

This article will look at the historical development of cooperative service and resource sharing in libraries. Interlibrary Loan, union catalogs, library consortia, and electronic reference, have all impacted library work in the past century. The dissolving of walls is one of the main themes of library history in the 20th century. The developments of these years has clearly put the ability to use both human and institutional resources at the heart of contemporary library service. In looking at how this came to be, this article will examine developments in societal infrastructure and technology that made cooperative schemes both possible and economical. This article will also discuss how these developments have forced libraries to consider cooperative ways to respond to their primary service function. Lastly, conclusions will be drawn about how the emerging cooperative environment is changing the educational role of the librarian.     

Google Scholar’s Coverage of the Engineering Literature: An Empirical Study

Google Scholar’s coverage of the engineering literature is analyzed by comparing its contents with those of Compendex, the premier engineering database. Records retrieved from Compendex were searched in Google Scholar, and a decade by decade comparison was done from the 1950s through 2007. The results show that the percentage of records appearing in Google Scholar increased over time, approaching a 90 percent matching rate for materials published after 1990.     

An Assessment of the University of Washington’s Chat Reference Services

This project assesses the chat reference service of the University of Washington (UW) Libraries. First, I conducted a literature review to examine the evolution of virtual reference services. Then, through OCLC’s Question Point, I examined chats that occurred during weeks 1, 5, and 10 of Winter Quarter 2014. Chats were coded according to pre-set conditions (category of questions, READ Level, time of day, and session time). An analysis showed that the majority of questions were either General Information or Known Item Lookups, the lowest level of difficulty for the answering librarian.     

Crisis Communication Strategy on Social Media and the Public’s Cognitive and Affective Responses: A Case of Foster Farms Salmonella Outbreak

This study examined an organization’s crisis communication strategy (i.e., crisis response strategy and technical translation strategy) on social media and the public’s cognitive and affective responses. Twenty crisis communication messages posted by Foster Farms regarding a salmonella outbreak and 349 public responses were analyzed. The results showed that a technical translation strategy generated more public acceptance of the message and more positive emotions than a crisis response strategy. A crisis response strategy generated more public rejections of the message and more negative emotions than a technical translation strategy.     

‘Library as Laboratory’: Online Pathfinders and the Humanities Graduate Student

SUMMARY

This article explores how online pathfinders can best meet the information needs of graduate students and foster advanced research. The article reviews the literature on pathfinders, including the historic characteristics of print pathfinders, and the recommendations that have emerged for online pathfinder content. The article explores the information needs of humanities graduate students in general terms, and specifically examines extant online pathfinders in the field of art history. The article concludes with recommendations for the content of online pathfinders aimed at the humanities graduate student audience.     

Extrovert and Lonely Individuals’ Social TV Viewing Experiences: A Mediating and Moderating Role of Social Presence

Social TV viewing is generally understood as a simultaneous act of watching TV and engaging in communication about the TV program with other TV viewers connected online. In response to the increasing popularity of this new TV viewing practice, the current study examined how individuals’ extrovert personality and loneliness influence social TV viewing experiences through the theoretical notion of social presence. An online survey was completed by 330 individuals. Results demonstrated that extrovert personality positively influenced social TV viewing experiences; it is important to note that this relationship was mediated by social presence. Loneliness itself was negatively related to social TV viewing experiences; however, this relationship was moderated by social presence. Specifically, when lonely people felt strong social presence, they enjoyed social TV viewing experiences. The findings provide theoretical implications for social TV research, the dynamic role of social presence, social enhancement model, and social compensation model.     

Brand’s Social Media Presence as Networks: The Role of Interactivity and Network Centrality on Engagement

Despite ample research on brand engagement via social media, little research considers the aggregate effect of multiple same-brand accounts on engagement. Multiple same-brand accounts are common because they allow brands to extend their reach, tailor their messaging, and cross-promote their products/services. Therefore, this study tests whether interaction between same-brand social media accounts and centrality within same-brand conversational networks is related to user engagement. An analysis of 3,380 brand accounts found that after controlling for interactions with users, interactions between brand accounts contributed significantly to user engagement and that account centrality measures were associated with measures of engagement.     

A Target’s Perspective: Verbal Aggressiveness,Coping Strategies,and Relational Harm

A total of 361 college students recalled situations when they were the targets of verbally aggressive messages. Results indicated that message source predicted perceived relational harm better than the trait variable of verbal aggressiveness. Greater relational harm was perceived from romantic partners and short-term acquaintances. Males were higher in verbal aggressiveness. Targets’ levels of trait verbal destructiveness predicted which coping strategy each reported, and which coping strategy they chose predicted perceived relational harm.     

Does Facebook Use Predict College Students’ Social Capital? A Replication of Ellison,Steinfield, and Lampe’s (2007) Study Using the Original and More Recent Measures of Facebook Use and Social Capital

In 2007 Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe published an article on the positive association between Facebook use and social capital that started a decade of research on the social outcomes of social network site use. Although cited almost 9,000 times, it received critique on the conceptualization and operationalization of Facebook use and social capital. In this study we replicate Ellison et al.’s study with original and alternative measures of social capital and Facebook use, thereby shedding light on the robustness, stability, and ecological validity of the original findings. We found that Facebook intensity positively predicts the original social capital measures, lending support to the validity of the original findings. Its relationship with structural measures, however, was weak for bridging and absent for bonding social capital.