User studies: Electronic journals and user response to new modes of information delivery

Measuring in-library use of printed journals has always been difficult. Even when libraries monitor the use of their journal collections, data collected rarely go beyond the level of title and are often incomplete. Participation in a European Union funded project on the delivery of electronic files of journals to end users (DECOMATE) has enabled the London School of Economics (LSE) to collect qualitative and quantitative data on the use of its journal collections. This paper describes how user statistics are being collected at the LSE. It looks at the difficulties that have been encountered in collecting the data and at the solutions that have been found. Comparisons will be made between patterns of use within a traditional library environment and user behavior as journal literature becomes available as electronic images, accessible over the network. The paper concludes with speculation about the benefits that may derive from collecting and analyzing user statistics.     

Assessing the Health Information Needs of Unaffiliated Health Professionals and Using Training on Openly Available Search Tools and Resources to Provide Solutions to Their Information Access Challenges and Barriers

This article will describe a year-long (2010–11) joint project between Columbia University Medical Center's Health Sciences Library and the Institute for Family Health (IFH), a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) serving disadvantaged populations in New York State. This National Institutes of Health-funded pilot project aimed to (a) determine the medical literature and training needs of IFH personnel, (b) develop generic licensing agreements with publishers that would enable a health sciences library to provide access to electronic resources for FQHC personnel, and (c) develop reference/education services for IFH personnel. How the reference and education aims were met will be described and discussed here as the lessons learned from this project may be useful to librarians considering doing instructional outreach to unaffiliated health professionals working at FQHCs nationwide.     

Design and development of Library and Information Science Gateway: An Indian initiative

Subject gateways are already familiar features of the world information landscape and fulfill a useful role in directing Internet users to quality information. Subject gateways are online services and sites that provide searchable and browsable catalogues of Internet-based resources. The gateways typically focus on a related set of academic subject areas. These sources are online and often linked up with other relevant and related sites for more information on the same area. This paper describes the LISgateway, India's the first gateway in the field of library and information science and is a project of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of New Delhi, India, which was launched in April 2004. The service aims to provide a trusted source of selected, high-quality Internet information and also promote the electronic resources which result from research and teaching in the library profession.     

A Web 2.0 Catalog and Document Delivery: Hold this for me at Western Michigan University

This article details the implementation of an electronic request service that allows users to register item requests directly from the OPAC without re-typing the bibliographic information and at no cost. This project supports the overall efforts of the university by furthering the Western Michigan University strategic plan to implement a user-friendly document delivery service. This article describes this innovative and easy way to access a reservation list to retrieve library items by implementing customized web-based management using MySQL and Voyager Oracle? backend. The advantage of a web-based management system is its ease of use and highly customizable features. Some statistics on the number of requests from 2008–2011 are also included.     

Electronic Document Delivery: The Ibadan University Library Experience

New information communication technologies, such as the Internet and electronic publishing, not only enhance the range of publications that libraries can provide for their users but also increase the speed with which such requests can be met. This article describes the development of electronic document delivery (EDD) at the Kenneth Dike Library at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A successful EDD program depends upon good intranet and Internet network systems, document availability, user awareness and training, and ease of use. The major challenge to this service is inconsistent power supply, which the university is addressing with the aid of a grant from the MacArthur Foundation for backup electric generators and a university solar energy project. It is hoped that this will assure better and more reliable power service in support of EDD in future. New information delivery regulations and laws guiding adequate service will also emerge but must be properly applied for effective and positive results.     

Website creation and resource management: developing collaborative strategies for asynchronous interaction with library users

Objective: To make electronic resources available to library users while effectively harnessing intellectual capital within the library, ultimately fostering the library’s use of technology to interact asynchronously with its patrons (users). Methods: The methods used in the project included: (1) developing a new library website to facilitate the creation, management, accessibility, maintenance and dissemination of library resources; and (2) establishing ownership by those who participated in the project, while creating effective work allocation strategies through the implementation of a content management system that allowed the library to manage cost, complexity and interoperability. Results: Preliminary results indicate that contributors to the system benefit from an increased understanding of the library’s resources and add content valuable to library patrons. These strategies have helped promote the manageable creation and maintenance of electronic content in accomplishing the library’s goal of interacting with its patrons. Conclusions: Establishment of a contributive system for adding to the library’s electronic resources and electronic content has been successful. Further work will look at improving asynchronous interaction, particularly highlighting accessibility of electronic content and resources.     

The information handling techniques of research (laboratory and clinical) scientists: preliminary indications of current practice

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InfoEyes--为视觉障碍用户提供的虚拟参考咨询服务

InfoEyes是美国伊利诺斯州立图书馆组织开展的专门为视觉障碍用户提供的联合虚拟参考咨询项目。本文介绍了这一项目的开展情况，并提出了几点建议。     

Capturing business intelligence required for targeted marketing,demonstrating value,and driving process improvement

The University of Wollongong (UOW) in New South Wales, Australia, has undertaken an innovative and collaborative research project to demonstrate the value that can be provided by academic libraries through a tool called the “library cube”. The library cube consists of two major components: a backend system containing a multidimensional data warehouse linking student borrowing and use of electronic resources to students' academic marks (grades); and a frontend system that allows users to quickly and easily create cross tabulated data views, such as average student marks by frequency of library resource usage and gender. The project is different from the efforts of other institutions to link usage to student outcomes, in that the library cube is not an isolated research project, but is now an ongoing part of UOW's systems and performance reporting. The library cube represents a fundamental shift in evaluating the student experience through the integration of discrete systems and datasets. It has revealed a very strong relationship between student library usage and academic performance. This information will improve UOW library's ability to demonstrate value to clients and stakeholders. The library cube has also delivered some anticipated and unexpected findings on the relationship between social variables, such as gender, age, and citizenship, and library usage behaviors; and in doing so has also identified potential target audiences for library promotions and engagement strategies.     

EARS: Electronic Access to Reference Service.

Electronic Access to Reference Service (EARS) is a front end to the Health Sciences Library''s electronic mail system, with links to the online public catalog. EARS, which became operational in September 1984, is accessed by users at remote sites with either a terminal or microcomputer. It is menu-driven, allowing users to request: a computerized literature search, reference information, a photocopy of a journal article, or a book. This paper traces the history of EARS and discusses its use, its impact on library staff and services, and factors that influence the diffusion of new technology.     

Current Issues in Music Reference

Abstract

The climate of change in music reference represents a challenge to librarians. The three issues in the library literature that probably have the greatest impact on music reference service and are the subject of this paper are changes in users, sources, and modes of access to sources. These three issues are certainly related, as users need to use sources, and they need to know how to access them in order to use them. Reference librarians are called upon to mediate this process. Music library collections have their own peculiarities, however. Because they contain a wider variety of materials than many other kinds of library collections, reference librarians for music collections must be aware of the format, content, and intended uses of these materials, as well as the research patterns of their patrons. In the recent past, as cultural norms have changed with the paradigm of Western culture, users have wanted to use music libraries in new ways, and librarians are challenged to accommodate them. The musical genres used and requested by today's library patrons are different than they once were, both for listening and for academic study. Musical reference sources are being issued in electronic formats, and this represents a challenge for some users. The expanded use of interlibrary loan and electronic access to materials represents new opportunities and challenges. Music librarians are being called upon to provide services to patrons they may never see.     

Real-Time Reference Service for the Remote User

Summary

Academic libraries now provide reference service for the remote user in at least two ways: by the telephone and by electronic mail. The remote user at a computer workstation, however, may not have access to a telephone and may be poorly served by the asynchronous nature of electronic mail. New technologies and collaborative software for serving remote users in real-time such as Internet chat, paging and instant messaging, whiteboard, application sharing, and audio and video conferencing offer new possibilities for remote access to reference services. In this article we review these technologies and report the results of a trial project at Temple University. The results are promising for real-time reference services.     

Web tutorials: bibliographic instruction in a new medium

Libraries are adding electronic resources of all kinds at an increasing pace to provide service to users outside the library and around the world. To meet this new demand, libraries are turning more and more to the use of online tutorials as a valuable means of providing instruction on how to access and use important resources. This article describes the Health Sciences Library and Biocommunications Center's work and experiences while creating tutorials, the ideas used, and ways the work was evaluated.     

UNITED STATES DOCUMENTS IN AN ON-LINE UNION CATALOG

This paper describes use of the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) on-line union calolog and its check-in subsystem in a pilot project centering on the United States documents collection in a large university library. The project extended from the fall of 1974 through July 1976. In August 1976 it became apparent that the process and its product were no longer "experimental" or a "project" but had become part of the library's normal operation, accepted by staff and by users. Activities covered are destined to evolve with expanding capabilities of OCLC, and will certainly be dependent upon the new MARC format, Monthly Catalog. Nevertheless, at this time, a large, viable collection of depository and nondepository items, many timely, are processed and on the shelf, available immediately through the public service terminals by entry and title, and are used by patrons with no access to card files relating to these materials.     

基于大数据的用户阅读行为分析

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The Impact of Network Size and Financial Incentives on Adoption and Participation in New Online Communities

The success of online communities depends heavily on the providers' abilities to motivate potential users to adopt the service and to actively participate. Because research in this field of media economics is rare, especially with regard to newly established communities, this study analyzes what drives community adoption and how direct and indirect financial incentives influence user participation. Extending Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior, this article shows, in 2 empirical studies, that network size significantly affects adoption in newly established communities. The results of the first study indicate a strong effect of indirect financial incentives (saving money) on the intention to adopt. The second study indicates that direct financial incentives (earning money) may well help increase the network's size without altering user motivation through crowding-out effects. It is interesting to note that the presence of direct financial incentives attracts new users, but it does not increase usage.     

Selecting Electronic Document Delivery Options to Provide Quality Service

Abstract

Providing electronic document delivery (EDD) services to off-campus students can be a challenge. Methods of delivery that work well for one group of users might not work at all for another group. Knowing and using the different EDD service options to accomplish the goal of providing quality service to students results in a win-win situation. Student expectations of timely delivery of material are met and the department develops a reputation of dependable quality service. Library users have raised expectations from the 24/7 services available through the World Wide Web. Providing EDD of information to the researcher's desktop helps the library meet these needs and expectations. However, the options for desktop delivery can also be overwhelming, so knowing how and why different software and delivery methods work enables the practitioner to control the outcome of the transaction. This control over the service also ensures that quality service expectations are met by the library since the practitioner has the ability to use a variety of delivery options to the user's desktop.