Retooling Library Services for Online Students in Tough Economic Times

ABSTRACT

At a time in our economy when library budgets are strained and staffing is under the microscope, librarians need to reassess and retool their library services for online students to provide quality, depth, and community without causing meltdown. The authors analyze some of the retooling undergone at their library to meet the shifting demographics of students who in 10 years have grown from 1,000 online students to 14,500 and increased to 65% of the students now taking online classes. To meet this challenge, the library centralized library services by closing the regional Library Information Centers and established a Multimedia Department focused on developing tutorials and online training materials, established an outreach librarian position, and worked with reference and instruction librarians to expand their roles as liaisons to the various academic programs. The library is learning to work smarter, not necessarily harder, and much leaner.     

Navigating the MLA Bibliography—Redux: Performance Across Vendor Platforms and Discovery Tools

ABSTRACT

The authors updated their 2009 article on the MLA International Bibliography (MLAIB) by comparing it across three vendor platforms to determine if seemingly comparable searches continued to produce varying results. As much as possible, the authors tested the same searches as were tested in the original article and added additional ones for further exploration. Findings illustrate that while there are fewer differences than was the case previously, differences still exist. The authors also investigated discovery services to identify factors affecting MLAIB searches. The authors discuss the impact of their findings on users, from undergraduates to faculty researchers.     

Germany's New Culture of Welcome—Our Libraries are an Essential Part of it

ABSTRACT

German authorities are expecting more than 1 million refugees by the end of 2015. These people come to Germany to seek protection and assistance and to build a new life, therefore it is important to welcome them and to assist them in their integration as soon as possible. This situation creates a versatile and perfectly fitting opportunity for cultural and educational programs, including libraries, which can play a vital role in this integration process. The key to integration is the knowledge of the German language, and the most important challenge now is to teach the necessary language skills to as many asylum-seekers as possible.     

Refocusing Reference Services Outside the Library Building: One Library's Experience

In response to changing user needs, the library sought ways to meet new challenges and engage users outside of the building. Librarians were removed from the service desk in order to offer support at locations around campus. The service desk in the library was staffed primarily by paraprofessionals with librarians providing support as needed. Targeted staff training was offered, and different scheduling models were used over a period of time. Restructuring the service desk was a complicated endeavor but provided a number of benefits including expansion of services. Along the way, challenges were met and recognized as learning opportunities.     

Embedded gender expectations: A covariate analysis of conflict situations and issues

A recent meta‐analysis of gender differences in the selection of conflict management strategies revealed small effect sizes. To explore the possibility that the primary experiments used situations and instances containing embedded gender expectations, 49 participants completed a survey evaluating the actual scenarios used in the primary research. They rated conflict strategies far efficacy, consequences, and gender bias and evaluated the scenarios for the male/female sex role appropriateness of each situation reported in the primary studies. A covariate analysis provides evidence that gender‐based cognitions play a small, but meaningful role in assessments of conflict situations.     

Reporting Risk: Perceptions of Fear and Risk from Health News Coverage

Using actual news coverage of an environmental risk, this experimental study examined whether providing unrelated risk comparisons and information about other sources of the same risk influenced readers' reactions to the coverage. The study suggests stories that provide information on other sources of a contaminant may do little to reduce risk perceptions; however, providing information about the magnitude of the risk at hand relative to other risks had several communication benefits. Both comparisons lead readers to feel more informed about the risk and, thus, better able to make decisions than those who did not see the comparisons. Media implications are discussed.     

Developing an effective education reform model for indigenous and other minoritized students

Educational disparities between indigenous Maori students and those of the majority continue to be a major issue in New Zealand. Te Kotahitanga, an iterative research and development programme, which commenced in 2001, supports teachers to implement a relationship-based pedagogy in their classrooms in order to improve Maori students' achievement in mainstream secondary schools. This article addresses the question of how gains in Maori students' achievement can be sustained and expanded. Schools, from an earlier phase of the project, in their 6th and 7th year of the programme were examined, using a theory-based model designed to evaluate and promote dimensions necessary for effective institutional support of the teaching innovation. This article demonstrates that schools that have been the most effective implementers of the intervention have seen the greatest gains made by Maori students in the 1st year of national assessments. This article then discusses effective leadership for addressing problems schools encountered while implementing the pedagogic reform.     

Is ‘Learning' Science Enough? – A Cultural Model of Religious Students of Science in an Australian Government School

This paper investigates the cognitive experiences of four religious students studying evolutionary biology in an inner city government secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. The participants in the study were identified using the Religious Background and Behaviours questionnaire (Connors, Tonigan, & Miller, 1996 Connors, G. J., Tonigan, J. S., & Miller, W. R. (1996). A measure of religious background and behaviour for use in behaviour change research. Psychology of Addictive Behaviours, 10, 90–96. doi:10.1037/0893-164X.10.2.90[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants were interviewed and asked to respond to questions about their cognitive experiences of studying evolutionary biology. Students' responses were analysed using cultural analysis of discourse to construct a cultural model of religious students of science. This cultural model suggests that these students employ a human schema and a non-human schema, which assert that humans are fundamentally different from non-humans in terms of origins and that humans have a transcendental purpose in life. For these students, these maxims seem to be challenged by their belief that evolutionary biology is dictated by metaphysical naturalism. The model suggests that because the existential foundation of these students is challenged, they employ a believing schema to classify their religious explanations and a learning schema to classify evolutionary biology. These schemas are then hierarchically arranged with the learning schema being made subordinate to the believing schema. Importantly, these students are thus able to maintain their existential foundation while fulfilling the requirements of school science. However, the quality of this “learning” is questionable.     

Use of First‐hand and Second‐hand Data in Science: Does data type influence classroom conversations?

In this paper, we examine how students discuss and interpret data and whether these actions vary depending on the type of data they analyse. More specifically, we are interested in whether students perform differently when analysing first‐hand data, which they collect themselves, compared with second‐hand data provided to them. Our data analysis focused on two classrooms using two different curriculum units, chemistry in Grade 7 and biology in Grade 8, collected during the 2002/03 school year from a Mid‐western urban middle school in the USA. We analysed classroom videotape associated with lessons in which students discussed first‐hand and second‐hand data both in small group settings and full class discussions. We found the two types of data offer different benefits and limitations, suggesting that both types of data are important for students to work with as they develop skills in scientific inquiry practices. We discuss the characteristics of classroom discussions around different data sources as well as implications for the design of curriculum materials, instructional environments, and student learning in science.     

Inuit Legends, Oral Histories, Art, and Science in the Collaborative Development of Lessons that Foster Two-Way Learning: The Return of the Sun in Nunavut

This paper reports on the development of a science unit for Nunavut students and my collaboration with Louise Uyarak, an early years teacher and a graduate of Arctic College’s teacher education program. The unit addresses light outcomes in the Canadian Common Framework of Science Learning Outcomes, K–12. More importantly, it incorporates aspirations of the local community, the District Education Authority, and the Nunavut government for bi-cultural education in science: an education that develops knowledge in and about science and knowledge passed on to the Inuit by their ancestors. Components of lessons are presented and discussed in the context of how Louise and I worked together to develop a resource that would embody the fundamental nature of culturally responsive teaching and “two-way” science learning.