The Researching Librarian

In reflective practice, librarians think back on their instruction to improve it, and this study addresses guidance provided for reflection on citation management instruction. We refined a previously developed reflective practice template for citation management instruction by asking instructors to critique the template’s set of reflective prompts. This survey also elicited the instructors’ suggestions for new reflective practice prompts. Forty-one librarians in the United States participated in the survey. Their responses allowed us to improve the prior reflective practice template.     

Photography Today

Melissa Milar and William Brohaugh, eds. 1979 Photographer's Market (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1978--- $12.95)

Harold Evans, Pictures on a Page: Photo-Journalism, Graphics and Picture Editing, (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978---$25.00)

James Danziger and Barnaby Conrad, Interviews with Master Photographers (New York and London: Paddington Press, 1978---$10.00)     

Library Learning Space—Empirical Research and Perspective

Dentistry &; Oral Sciences Source from EBSCO Information Services provides indexing and full-text access to an extensive selection of dental journal literature, as well some full-text dental monographs. As stated by EBSCO, titles are chosen from those commonly held in dental school libraries. The database aims to support practitioners, researchers, and advanced dental education. This column includes sample searches from Dentistry &; Oral Sciences Source as well as a discussion of its special content and features.     

Reference for the Remote User Through Embedded Librarianship

Embedded librarians serve an important role in assisting remote users. Despite the varying degrees of embeddedness, all maintain the goal of ensuring the same high-quality reference and instruction services that users have come to expect from the traditional library setting. Embedded librarians select and use technology that most effectively meets the needs of this unique user group. This technology can include the library Web site, course management systems, research guides, lecture and screen capture software, remote reference (including telephone, chat, and email), web conferencing, online survey tools, citation management, and social media.     

Addressing below proficient information literacy skills: Evaluating the efficacy of an evidence-based educational intervention

Over the course of three years, an educational intervention was developed to teach information literacy (IL) skills, change perceptions of IL, and to recalibrate self views of the abilities of first year college students who demonstrate below proficient information literacy skills. The intervention is a modular workshop designed around the three-step analyze, search, evaluate (ASE) model of information literacy, which is easy to remember, easy to adapt to multiple instructional situations, and can provide a foundation for building information literacy skills. Summative evaluation of the intervention demonstrates that students who attend the workshop see an increase in skills and awareness of information literacy as a skill set. Increases in skills, however, were not sufficient to move participants into the proficient range. While workshop participants were able to reassess preworkshop skills, skills gained in the workshop did not result in recalibrated self-views of ability. Like the development of skills, the recalibration of self-assessments may require multiple exposures to information literacy instruction.