Library and Informatics Skills Competencies Statements from Major Health Professional Associations

Every major health profession now provides competency statements for preparing new members for their respective professions. These competency statements normally include expectations for training health professions students in library/informatics skills. For purposes of this article, searches were conducted using various sources to produce a comprehensive 32-page Compendium <https://repository.unm.edu/handle/1928/15363> that inventories library/informatics-related competency statements. This compendium should aid readers in integrating their library/informatics skills training into various health professions education curricula.     

Selected List of GLBT Academic Publications

An annotated list is presented describing twenty-one peer-reviewed journals that cover significant aspects of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community, in whole or in part, in a scholarly manner. The titles included are a selective and representative sampling. The entry for each periodical includes the following information: periodical title, publisher/editor and address, basic information, publication data, content, Internet information, book review information, and an abstract.     

Updating Relationships Between Communication Traits and Communication Competence

This study examined the degree to which six self-perceived communication traits are related to self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), both individually and collectively. The results indicate communication apprehension and shyness were strongly and inversely related to SPCC, whereas willingness to communicate was strongly and positively associated with SPCC. When examined collectively, several communication traits were found to predict SPCC.     

An Assessment of the University of Washington’s Chat Reference Services

This project assesses the chat reference service of the University of Washington (UW) Libraries. First, I conducted a literature review to examine the evolution of virtual reference services. Then, through OCLC’s Question Point, I examined chats that occurred during weeks 1, 5, and 10 of Winter Quarter 2014. Chats were coded according to pre-set conditions (category of questions, READ Level, time of day, and session time). An analysis showed that the majority of questions were either General Information or Known Item Lookups, the lowest level of difficulty for the answering librarian.     

Making the Class Struggle a Struggle Over Facts: Carl D. Thompson and the Socialist Party of America's Information Department and Research Bureau, 1913–1915

This essay examines how the Socialist Party of America used information to build and sustain a mass movement. It focuses in particular on the Information Department and Research Bureau, a novel approach to information management in the Progressive Era. Led by Carl D. Thompson, the Information Department provided a model for democratizing information, and, in so doing, made the class struggle as much a struggle over facts as the rights to the full products of one's labor.     

A Process for the Original Cataloging of Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this article is to describe the reasoning, methodology, and impact behind a semi-automated cataloging process for electronic theses and dissertations, and to explain the importance of the retention and addition of cataloger-created metadata. The authors explain an automated process that is initiated by ProQuest and student (author) entered data, and through the addition of metadata by catalogers, including the subject headings, classification number, and so on. The study includes a survey of the public service librarians’ perceived usefulness of the cataloger- and ProQuest-generated metadata to describe theses and dissertations.     

Taking Library Instruction into the Online Classroom: Best Practices for Embedded Librarians

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of online courses has led librarians to adapt their instructional techniques and follow teaching faculty and students into the online environment. Moving beyond Web pages and online research guides, librarians are now becoming instructional partners in online course management systems. Through an online survey of librarians and a literature review, the authors examine best practices for these “embedded librarians.”     

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership at 30 Rock: What Librarians Can Learn from a Case Study of Comedy Writers

ABSTRACT

Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage one's own and others’ emotions and build relationships with people. Emotionally intelligent leadership is more and more important in today's ever-changing organizations like libraries. This article uses Goleman's five-point framework of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills) to analyze the leadership in the comedy sitcom 30 Rock and critique the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership.     

Environment and Policy Factors Shaping Global E-Commerce Diffusion: A Cross-Country Comparison

This article examines the key global, environmental and policy factors that act as determinants of e-commerce diffusion. It is based on systematic comparison of case studies from 10 countries--Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. It finds that B2B e-commerce seems to be driven by global forces, whereas B2C seems to be more of a local phenomenon. A preliminary explanation for this difference is that B2B is driven by global competition and MNCs that "push" e-commerce to their global suppliers, customers, and subsidiaries. This in turn creates pressures on local companies to adopt e-commerce to stay competitive. In contrast, B2C is "pulled" by consumer markets, which are mainly local and therefore divergent. While all consumers desire convenience and low prices, consumer preferences and values, national culture, and distribution systems differ markedly across countries and define differences in local consumer markets. These findings support the transformation perspective about globalization and its impacts. In terms of policy, the case studies suggest that enabling policies such as trade and telecommunications liberalization are likely to have the biggest impact on e-commerce, by making ICT and Internet access more affordable to firms and consumers, and increasing pressure on firms to adopt e-commerce to compete. Specific e-commerce legislation appears not to have as big an impact, although inadequate protection for both buyers and sellers in some countries suggests that mechanisms need to be developed to ensure greater confidence in doing business online.