Reading in the digital age: A case study in faculty and librarian collaboration

ABSTRACT

This article describes a collaborative partnership of two librarians and an English professor who created a unit for a senior capstone seminar on “The Digital Turn in English Studies.” After reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” in both print and digitized versions, students completed a survey on reading preferences and provided feedback on an experimental eTextReader allowing for annotation. Students also did blog postings providing a fuller picture of attitudes toward digital texts. We situate quantitative and qualitative findings in three contexts: the field of digital humanities, reading in the digital age, and tool development.     

Teachers' perceptions of teacher and librarian collaboration: Instrumentation development and validation

Teacher and librarian collaboration is recommended in professional library and information science guidelines for school librarians. The guidelines suggest that when school librarians become an integral part of instruction, student learning improves. A proposed model of teacher and librarian collaboration identifies four facets of collaborative practices that are involved in teacher and librarian collaboration. The teacher and librarian collaboration model suggests that high level collaborative endeavors are most likely to have an effect on student learning. Exploratory factor analysis procedures were used to examine the structure of the Teacher and Librarian Collaboration (TLC-II) survey, an instrument developed using previously described collaborative endeavors between teachers and librarians. The analysis used responses from a sample of teachers from two school districts in the United States. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on teacher scores (N = 194) for each of two sets of 16 questions regarding frequency of collaborative endeavors and importance to student learning. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine internal consistency reliability of the survey. Four factors emerged: Integrated Instruction, Integrated Curriculum, Coordination, and traditional cooperative roles between teacher and librarian. The factorial validity needs to be assessed with confirmatory factor analysis.     

Research on teacher and librarian collaboration: An examination of underlying structures of models

This article reports on quantitative data collected in a mixed methods study of teacher and librarian collaboration. This practice is discussed extensively in the literature on school librarianship as an instructional strategy that positively affects student academic achievement. However, while there is much anecdotal evidence regarding successful teacher and librarian collaboration, there is little hard research that defines specific practices that lead to successful collaborations. This study provides empirical data on teacher and librarian collaboration which helps us understand the nature of collaboration and the extent to which theory and practice are integrated. Two surveys based on proposed theoretical models of teacher and librarian collaboration were used for this study. The first survey was based on Loertscger's Taxonomy. The second survey was based on a new proposed model of teacher and librarian collaboration (TLC Model) which builds on the taxonomy and expands our understanding of teacher and librarian collaboration. Participants in the study included teachers, librarians and principals from kindergarten through middle school. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out on both surveys to identify underlying structures of teacher and librarian collaboration. Three factors emerged from the data identifying a range of underlying structures: integrated instruction, library and librarian as resource, and traditional role for teacher and librarian. Further research on the TLC Model with a larger number of participants and survey items is needed to examine the stability of the factor structures and to further refine the new measure.     

Two physiotherapists, one librarian and a systematic literature review: collaboration in action

AIM: This paper explores the processes of collaboration between a librarian and two academic physiotherapists working on a systematic review jointly funded by the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD), Bath, UK. The aim of this paper is to describe and evaluate some of the processes of collaboration between the three authors in their work in progress on a funded systematic literature review on the topic of hydrotherapy and pain. METHODS: The vehicle for describing and analysing these processes is a joint (National Health Service Trust and University) funded systematic literature review currently in progress on the topic of hydrotherapy and pain. RESULTS: Systematic review methodology is becoming increasingly complex and is rapidly developing its own research base. Librarian input is a key element in a successful systematic review. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews play a critical role in informing healthcare delivery and research in the UK. The individual nature and inherent complexity of each review demands close collaboration between librarians, academics and clinicians. In addition to enhancing the reviews themselves, there are many other personal and institutional benefits of collaborative working. Consideration may need to be given to library staff structures and roles if these benefits are to be maximized and sustained.     

Subject librarian as coauthor: A case study with recommendations

ABSTRACT

It can be challenging for subject librarians to participate in or lead Digital Humanities projects. This article presents a case study of a cataloging and digitization project that led to the creation of a Digital History website, both led by a subject librarian. Recommendations, such as leveraging your librarian skills and targeting graduate students, will be useful for other subject librarians who are looking for ways to become involved in the Digital Humanities.     

Opportunities for faculty‐librarian collaboration in an expanded dentistry curriculum

With the increased emphasis on evidence based practice, developing information literacy skills earlier in health care education programmes is widely accepted. However finding opportunities for relevant teaching can present challenges, often leading to a lack of integration. In this paper, guest writers Sean Stone and colleagues from Indiana University discuss their involvement with an expanded dental hygiene curriculum in the University School of Dentistry. This expansion has provided the opportunity to plan integration of information and oral health literacy instruction and evidence based practice across the new curriculum, and provide transferable skills for any major. In particular, the paper addresses the developmental work the health librarian team engaged in from course design, delivery and assessment to improve student preparedness for evidence based practice. H.S.     

Faculty and librarian collaborations: A case study and proposal for online learning environments

To design a new distance education course with an emphasis on student group work, a collaborative effort among the University of Missouri St. Louis Libraries and faculty was established. The collaborative process resulted in a more individualized service experience for library users, and the problems of course construction, using the Blackboard course management system, were shared and solved with new efficiency. The goals of the institution and individuals involved were initially successful and have expanded into a larger effort of developing new resources and collaborative efforts throughout the campus. New methods, new technologies, and new roles and responsibilities for faculty and librarians are described. As librarians assume online “course librarian” positions, significant responsibilities can be shifted to their support, and new resources can be made available to students with considerable ease—particularly via library electronic resources, databases, and electronic communication.     

The librarian as research informationist: a case study

Question:

How can an embedded research informationist add value to the scientific output of research teams?

Setting:

The University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library is an academic health sciences library serving the clinical, educational, and research needs of the UCLA community.

Methods:

A grant from the National Library of Medicine funded a librarian to join a UCLA research team as an informationist. The informationist meets regularly with the research team and provides guidance related to data management, preservation, and other information-related issues.

Main Results:

Early results suggest that the informationist''s involvement has influenced the team''s data gathering, storage, and curation methods. The UCLA Library has also changed the librarian''s title to research informationist to reflect the new activities that she performs.

Conclusion:

The research informationist role provides an opportunity for librarians to become effective members of research teams and improve research output.     

Preparing students for research: faculty/librarian collaboration in a pre‐doctoral physical therapy research course

In this article, guest writers Susan Bigelow and Dr Salome Brooks from Springfield College, Massachusetts, present an overview of their evaluative research study in which a faculty professor and the liaison librarian collaborated to develop an information literacy course entitled Physical Therapy (PT) and Health care Research Skills, in order to teach necessary information literacy skills to upper‐level undergraduate PT students. Triangulation of the Physical Therapy and Information Literacy standards in alignment with the course objectives strengthened the collaboration, course development and expectations of student performance. Student performance was assessed through formal and expected evaluative means, and the preliminary evidence suggests some key successes in the course outcomes. H.S.     

Unexpected collaborations: A science librarian and a reference archivist co-teaching

Libraries and archives are often grouped together as knowledge organizations with some shared goals and purposes, and in academic institutions this is no different. They might compete for the same resources or be managed by the same administrative teams; however, how much collaboration is there between libraries and archives in academia? Some might suppose that there is consistent collaboration and interconnected priorities and projects which foster that collaboration. Those librarians providing support for historians or history departments may have strong working relationships with reference archivists, but what about those working in other areas of librarianship? Would there be opportunity, for example, for an academic science librarian to partner with a reference archivist to elucidate the treasures hidden within archives relevant to scientists? We can definitively answer that question from our own personal experience. Since 2018, the authors, a science librarian and reference archivist, have worked together to introduce those beyond history departments the opportunities for archival research. In this column, we describe how we started working together, our various collaborative efforts over the years, and what we have learned along the way.     

Personal librarian programs in medical and academic health sciences libraries: a preliminary study

Objective:This preliminary study examined how personal librarian programs are implemented within medical and academic health sciences libraries. Increasing awareness of these programs and how they are implemented could create a larger and more accessible knowledge base for establishing best practices that similar libraries can look to when creating their own programs.Methods:To characterize existing programs, a twenty-two-item survey was sent to MEDLIB-L, AAHSL-ALL, ARCL-HSIG, and PSS-Lists email listservs in October 2018 to reach a broad audience of medical and academic health sciences librarians. Survey responses were analyzed using Qualtrics and Excel.Results:Of the 2,882 potential email recipients, 49 survey sessions were recorded, and a total of 38 survey sessions were completed (1.3% response rate). Of the 38 completed responses, representatives of 12 libraries (31.5%) reported that a personal librarian program had been implemented at their institution. For implementation, eight libraries involved 1–5 librarians, and four involved 6–10. Librarians were assigned 50–100 (n=6), 101–150 (n=1), or 151 or more (n=1) students each. The identified programs served medical students (n=11), nursing students (n=7), health professions students (n=7), dental students (n=2), and students in other fields (n=4). Services provided and communication methods were also identified.Conclusions:The personal librarian programs identified by the survey were uniquely structured to best meet the needs of their users, though similarities in implementation existed across institutions. Medical and academic health sciences libraries can look to these libraries as practical examples when starting their own personal library programs.     

我国高校图书馆学科馆员制度研究述略

章在献及网站调研的基础上，对建立学科馆员制度的必要性、学科馆员的工作职责、学科馆员的素质要求、学科馆员制度的实施措施等问题进行综述并介绍有关高校的实践经验。     

综合馆员:教育设计型图书馆员

利用1999-2004年间在期刊上的部分招聘广告、一份职业讨论表和一个求职招聘网站(Educause)的信息,研究"教育设计型图书馆员"这类新兴岗位的职业特征.对其中10个独特的岗位作了具体研究和分析,提出了这个岗位对从业人员的素质要求,以及其职责所在.     

Quantifying the degree of research collaboration: A comparative study of collaborative measures

This article reports a comparative study of five measures that quantify the degree of research collaboration, including the collaborative index, the degree of collaboration, the collaborative coefficient, the revised collaborative coefficient, and degree centrality. The empirical results showed that these measures all capture the notion of research collaboration, which is consistent with prior studies. Moreover, the results showed that degree centrality, the revised collaborative coefficient, and the degree of collaboration had the highest coefficient estimates on research productivity, the average JIF, and the average number of citations, respectively. Overall, this article suggests that the degree of collaboration and the revised collaborative coefficient are superior measures that can be applied to bibliometric studies for future researchers.     

Research workflow skills for education doctoral students and postdocs: A qualitative study

This paper is a qualitative study of how doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers construct their research workflows. The purpose of this study is to examine how doctoral students are constructing their scholarly workflows and to recommend best practices for supporting such early-career scholars. This study will also provide preliminary answers to these questions to help with programming, training, and identifying how academic libraries can support doctoral students and postdoc research work.     

Towards effective collaboration between academics and library staff: A comparative Australian/Vietnamese study

From the literature it is clear that collaboration between academics and library staff brings benefits. Exactly what enables and constrains such collaboration remains unclear. Using the lens of Giddens' Structuration Theory, constraining and enabling factors during collaboration between library staff and academics in universities in two contrasting countries, Australia and Vietnam, was explored. The analysis of the qualitative data, collected within an interpretivist framework, indicates that structural factors were dominant, for example, those related to governance and resources. Other times the role of agency was evident, for example, in trust building and personal relationships. Efforts on the part of library staff in the Vietnamese university, particularly, overcame structural barriers. The contrast between the universities of the two countries enhanced the clarity of the findings. A model, highlighting factors pertinent to effective collaboration is included.     

Weeding: A quantitative and qualitative approach

This approach to weeding an academic library collection combines recorded use, checking of lists and bibliographies, the expertise of librarians and faculty members, and accessibility to develop a model weeding procedure. The results and benefits of using this approach in a medium-sized university are described and discussed.