Profiles in Resource Sharing: Peter Bae

ABSTRACT

At a large university library, helping patrons use a full text database such as LEXIS-NEXIS places pressure on reference staff because the service is complex. Staff cannot give the proper attention to patrons because activity at the reference desk can limit the time spent with each individual. Full-text services require more instruction and reference help than electronic bibliographic databases, but patrons often come for assistance just before the assignment is due. To relieve such pressure, librarians at Penn State's Pattee Library developed Just-in-Time demonstrations to help patrons learn how to use LEXIS-NEXIS when they need it. The Justin-Time demonstrations provide a weekly alternative which relieves the “I need it now” pressure by providing instruction on a weekly basis. These demonstrations have been well received by patrons and staff.     

The Challenges of Researching African High Court Opinions: Ten Lessons Learned from a Four-Country Retrievability Survey

This article reveals ten lessons learned from a four-country print-versus-Internet resource retrievability survey of African high court opinions from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa for 1990–2010. The lessons draw upon empirical findings about the courts themselves and the challenges of conducting foreign case law research. This article contributes a new perspective to the conversation about how researchers ought to be equipped for evolving foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) work.     

PubMed Instruction for Medical Students: Searching for a Better Way

In 2007, Duke University Medical Center Library instituted an interactive, online PubMed tutorial and quiz for medical students to replace an in-person lecture. This article describes the events leading to this educational paradigm shift and how the tutorial was implemented. Important concerns in the switch to an online approach to PubMed training were student satisfaction and the extent to which searching skills would improve. To determine the effectiveness of the online model, two years of student quizzes and evaluations were examined. Results indicate that students benefit from and appreciate the interactive tutorial.     

Determining The Presence of Photocatalytic Titanium White Pigments via Embedded Paint Sample Staining: A Proof of Principle

ABSTRACT

Twentieth century paints often contain titanium dioxide and zinc oxide based white pigments that can range from photostable to highly photocatalytic. Photocatalytic pigments can cause the degradation of paint upon UV exposure, whereas photostable pigments may be benign or can protect paintings from degradation. Hence, knowing whether or not a pigment is photocatalytic is of high importance for risk assessment and the subsequent decision making process concerning storage and exposure conditions of objects. Here we present a proof of principle, focused on titanium white paints, for an easy-to-use and low-tech application of a commercial photocatalytic activity indicator ink (PAII) on embedded paint samples or cross sections. This test determines, qualitatively, if a photocatalytic pigment is present in a white paint sample. The PAII paint sample staining application shows an obvious color change, within five minutes of UV irradiation, for paint samples containing photocatalytic pigments. A microscope with a camera and a UV source are the only necessary equipment for the application of this method. A quantitative image processing protocol is also proposed as an extension of the staining method by applying open source software analysis to measure the color change using photographs. The test was evaluated on reference paints with well-characterized pigments and applied on samples from modern paintings by Piet Mondriaan, Robert Ryman, and Lucebert, indicating the presence of harmful photocatalytic pigments in these cases. The novel application of a commercial ink on paint samples offers a simple test, not just for assessment of photocatalytic activity of titanium white pigments, but which may in future be applied for the detection of photoactive forms of zinc white and other potentially harmful semiconductor pigments in art objects.     

Trades,techniques—and a fable

A generation of broadcasters has grown up without a firsthand knowledge of the now‐out‐of‐print FCC “Blue Book.” Mr. Meyer's personal overview of the content and effects of this document will be followed by a future article on “Reaction to the ’Blue Book’.” It is accepted that any one individual's summary of a controversial document will itself be controversial. Richard J. Meyer is Assistant Professor and Director of Educational TV at the University of Wichita, and wrote the MA thesis on which this article is based under the direction of Professor Stanley Donner at Stanford University. He also has worked in broadcasting at stations KZSU, KSAN‐TV and KQED (TV).     

News Aggregation and Content Differences in Online Cancer News

Gatekeepers usually control news information. However, recent technological advancements might require rethinking previous gatekeeping hierarchies. Aggregation algorithms currently filter and present news information to millions of American Internet users daily. A content analysis demonstrates significant differences between health news content retrieved from Web sites that aggregate their articles from many sources (e.g., Google News), and those that focus on providing news from a limited number of sources (e.g., CNN.com). Explanations for these content differences are discussed, as are implications concerning health information seeking and Internet news consumption.     

Book Clubs: Best Practices in Promoting Critical Thinking in Business Classes

The curricular reform movement within education has called for the development of critical thinking skills within the academy. At the authors’ university, the outreach librarian has successfully facilitated several face-to-face book clubs with the goal of honing members’ analytical skills and fostering lifelong learning. As a means of expanding this effort to a formal academic learning objective, the outreach librarian was also virtually embedded into the course management system for several business classes. This article discusses a collaborative faculty/librarian use of online course-related book clubs as a tool for advancing higher level critical thinking skills such as evaluation and reflection.     

Using environmental impact statements as an introduction to technical writing

Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) provide college students with hands‐on experience working with genuine technical documents from the working world, an overview of the writing process, and the strategies and tasks encountered in technical writing. Using EISs can help students understand decision‐making processes, heighten their environmental awareness, and generate class camaraderie. This essay details one method of introducing students to EISs and reports the benefits and problems encountered in doing so.