Experiential Learning: Context and Connections for Legal Research–A Case Study

The American Bar Association requires that all law students receive “substantial instruction” in legal research. This article discusses a unique legal research program that meets this requirement by focusing on experiential learning. Two components of experiential learning, context and connections, are explained pedagogically and specifically as to legal research curriculum.     

Socially Responsive Design and Evaluation of a Workers’ Compensation Thesaurus for a Community Organization with Selective Application of Cognitive Work Analysis: A Case Study

This article presents a case study of the evaluation of social responsiveness and relevance of terminology used in a specialized thesaurus constructed for a community legal clinic library. The thesaurus is intended to assist in meeting information discovery and educational needs of a small organization that advocates on behalf of injured workers for legal and social justice within Ontario's workers’ compensation system. The authors include an overview of the thesaurus project and the historical context of workers’ compensation. They discuss the use of Cognitive Work Analysis as an evaluation methodology particularly appropriate to both the material and the clinic's culture of collaboration, with examples of its application in practice and some lessons learned.     

Organizational Change and Renewal: Can Strategic Communication Methods Ease the Pain? A Case Study from the University of Southern Queensland

ABSTRACT

Strategic communication is not solely the remit of library managers and directors, but is the product of internal culture and engagement with the organization's brand. Libraries need to communicate strategically, in order to demonstrate to individuals across the organization that their message is on point, and that they understand, are committed to, and actively support the university's goals. Much of this work happens via the myriad of interactions library staff at all levels have with students and staff (and indeed community members) of all kinds. When the attitude and behavior of library staff does not truly reflect the library's and the university's branding or goals, this undermines more explicit measures of value. It is important for the leadership of academic libraries to understand and influence how every library staff member views his or her role in the organization, so that their communication is reflective of a confidence in themselves and their profession, and a solid understanding of their institution and the higher education landscape. In large-scale organizational change, both intellectual and emotional buy-in to the organization can wane. We seek to show how a people-centered change process, rather than adversely affecting staff buy-in, could instead increase buy-in to the organizational change.     

Web Design Trends in Academic Libraries—A Longitudinal Study

This study examines several key design elements of 37 academic library Web sites (members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries) and how they have changed between 2012 and 2015. While several studies have reviewed library Web sites looking for common design elements and content, the present work may be the first to look at the design elements of a large group of library Web sites over time. This study has two main goals: to present an objective analysis of the navigation and search interface designs at research university library Web sites, and to assess the usage of Web-scale discovery systems and content management systems in libraries. Other areas explored include when sites were most recently redesigned and whether sites have adopted a mobile-friendly, responsive design. Notable findings include a very high usage of Web-scale discovery systems, an increasing adoption of open source content management systems, and increasing implementation of responsive design. Also noted was a strong and growing standardization in navigation design. This study concludes with a review of the trends and discussion of current design patterns in academic library Web sites.     

From Archive,to Access,to Experience––Historical Documents as a Basis for Immersive Experiences

Libraries have been the key to preserving culture and historic legacy for centuries. One such treasure cataloged in The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Libraries is a collection of over 33,000 Sanborn? Fire Insurance Maps. Originally kept safe in metal drawers, the library has embarked on a journey to digitize this abundance of information, combine it with other media such as photographs, and make it accessible through a web interface. Inspired by these efforts, we accessed this information and took it to the next level. Using state of the art 3D modeling and immersive technologies, we created a historic 3D model and immersive experiences of Penn State, exemplarily for the 1922 campus. The resulting experiences can be accessed through the web but also through head mounted displays (HMDs) and mobile phones in combination with VR viewers such as the Google Cardboard. Additionally, they can be used anywhere in the world or on the campus itself as a way to enable remote and in situ experiences and learning. Immersive experiences let us connect to the past, the present and the future, and as such offer value to digital cultural heritage efforts.     

Leading the Way for Financial Literacy Education: A Case Study on Collaboration

Academic libraries have been involved in financial literacy education, and this will likely increase in the future. This article demonstrates how the author, a business and economics librarian, led the way at her institution to bring financial literacy to the campus by participating in the national Money Smart Week (MSW) program sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She formed a planning committee that included individuals from several campus units. This team organized, planned, and delivered 11 events during MSW. The author also discusses survey results and the instrument that was used to gather data from MSW attendees.     

Mapping the Final Frontier: A Publisher’s Experience Launching an Open Access Journal in the Burgeoning Mixed Access Economy

This article describes a program session that focused on publishers’ experiences launching Open Access (OA) journals and lessons learned. The speakers discussed the current journal marketplace, current journal business models, and the possible shape of the OA landscape and marketplace in the future.     

Evaluating Scholarly Book Publishers—A Case Study in the Field of Journalism

By adapting multiple metrics used for journal article evaluation and replicating recent publisher metrics, the authors tested methods for evaluating scholarly book publishers. Using monographs published in journalism between 2007 and 2011 as a test case, results indicate that these methods may be useful to other scholarly disciplines.     

Comparative Study of Rural Residents＇ Information Needs and Behavior：A Case Study in Jiangsu Province

从分类建设农村信息化的角度,对江苏省苏南、苏中和苏北地区农民的信息需求与信息行为进行调查和比较分析,总结江苏省苏南、苏中和苏北地区农民的信息需求与信息行为特征的共同性和区域差异,在此基础上,提出相关建议：基于江苏省农民信息行为的共同特征改进江苏农村信息服务;基于江苏省农民信息行为的区域差异面向各地区农民开展分类服务;努力做好区域协调建设等。     

Becoming a Broadcasting Leader in 10 Years: A Case Study of Portugal's TVI—Media Capital Group

The main objectives of this article are to analyse (a) some media group strategic corporate management options, especially within the television segment; (b) as well as identify critical success factors to achieve leadership. Some future challenges are also identified within the scope of new broadcasting technologies such as Internet protocol television, cable, satellite, and digital terrestrial television.     

Parents,ICTs, and Children's Prospects for Success: Interviews along the Digital “Access Rainbow”

Interviews with 52 parents of varying income levels and positions on the digital “access rainbow” are used to explore how parents discuss the widespread belief that ICT (information and communication technologies) access affects their children's prospects for success. While all parents agreed that ICT competence is important, differences emerged along socioeconomic lines regarding how parents conceptualized the computer/success relationship. While upper-income parents demonstrated greater ICT proficiency and access and assumed that their children needed ICT proficiency for success, parents in the lower-income groups saw the need for ICT proficiency as more context-dependent and adopted broader definitions of success. All parents expressed concerns about the negative attributes of ICTs as entertainment rather than educational media; for lower- and middle-income families, however, this objection justified limits on use or access among children.     

A Comparative Study of Major OPACs in Selected Academic Libraries for Developing Countries — User Study and Subjective User Evaluation

The lack of an understanding of the characteristics, skills, and searching abilities of a specific user group in computer-based information systems hinders library and information science professionals in making the best decisions when designing, acquiring, and managing information systems. The objective of this study was to provide information on the characteristics of a specific group of international college students from a developing country, in order to assist system managers in the selection of OPACs.The major conclusions of this study are: (1) academic level of study and age of the students affect the preference for the type of OPAC system selected, but the academic major of the students does not affect the preference; (2) system designers should prepare more specific instructions regarding searching methods; (3) system designers should focus on the design of the system menu, since the most common method of learning about OPAC systems was the instructions in the menu; and (4) menu-driven systems should be the first selection of OPAC systems for Korean students.Recommendations are proposed when designing, adopting, or managing a new OPAC system. Topics for further studies on the characteristics of OPAC systems and their use are also suggested.     

“Ebooks for the Classroom+” at University of South Florida Libraries: A Case Study of Database Management

The University of South Florida Libraries has supported a campus-wide “Textbook Affordability Project” initiative by creating and maintaining an ebooks database called “Ebooks for the Classroom+.” This database facilitates faculty members’ adoption of ebooks as textbooks through library acquisitions in the hope that students can achieve academic success without paying for expensive textbooks. It is built and run by the library, using data based on vendor-supplied information. This paper discusses the approaches, the challenges, and the future plans for building and updating the database.     

Using a World Café to Explore New Spaces and New Models for Front Line Services: A Case Study from the Irish University Library Sector

World Café, sometimes termed Knowledge Café, is now an established method of facilitating productive dialogue between a group or groups of people around an issue that matters to the group as a whole. Now a world movement, the methodology is straightforward and uses conversation as a key process to connect people, who may be from different organizations, age groups, cultures, continents, and so forth. Café conversations draw on the wisdom and creativity of the participants to explore issues of concern to them and to confront real life challenges. Following some background information and a brief review of the literature relating to the World Café, this article presents a case study of the application of the model to facilitate discussion and learning around a topic of common concern, frontline desk services, for 61 staff from 11 Irish academic libraries at Maynooth University (MU) Library in October 2015. This was part of a one-day staff development event: MU Library Innovation Day. The application of the World Café methodology is described. The results of the evaluation of the event are presented and discussed. Actions and outcomes are provided. Limitations of the case study are presented.