Demonstrating Library Impact Through Acknowledgment: An Examination of Acknowledgments in Theses and Dissertations

Academic libraries are increasingly seeking ways to demonstrate their impact on student learning. Acknowledgments - formal statements of indebtedness – in graduate theses and dissertations provide a rather unexplored area for demonstrating impact of the academic library on student learning. This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to characterize acknowledgments of the Texas A&M University Libraries (TAMU Libraries) in theses and dissertations, both overall and for three disciplines specifically: civil engineering, geography, and history. This study also searched for mentions of the TAMU Libraries throughout the entire body of theses and dissertations. Overall, acknowledgments to the TAMU Libraries in theses and dissertations were less than 1%, though acknowledgments were found in all three disciplines with over a quarter of the history theses and dissertations containing an acknowledgment to libraries. There was no statistically significant difference found between the numbers of acknowledgments in theses versus dissertations. Acknowledgments to the TAMU Libraries were found in the theses and dissertations of 28 different departments. Mentions to the TAMU Libraries – not necessarily a formal acknowledgment – were found throughout the text of theses and dissertations with most concentrated in the acknowledgment, method, and bibliography sections.     

They’re good blogs,Brent: (Mostly) painless branding for information professionals

ABSTRACT

Social media is a powerful tool for building an online presence, but it asks a lot. While it affords plentiful opportunities for professional development and networking, building a professional brand in an online space is not without its drawbacks and risks. By working from a set of actionable principles and benchmarks, users can minimize frustrations and setbacks to build a useful professional presence, all while imbuing the web with the tenets of good information stewardship.     

The Methodological Foundations of Standardization in the Field of Library and Information Support of Science

This paper characterizes the methodological foundations of national standardization in the Russian Federation, in particular in the library and information field. The activities of Technical Standardization Committee 191 Scientific and Technical Information, Librarianship, and Publishing are reported.     

Historical case study: A research strategy for diachronic analysis

History and case study are two diachronic research strategies commonly used to study political discourse as it relates to public libraries. Though suitable for some studies, these strategies are inexhaustive. A new, blended research strategy is therefore needed to accomplish what history and case study alone cannot. This hybrid strategy, historical case study, must analyze cases from the distant past to the present, using eclectic data sources, in order to produce both idiographic and nomothetic knowledge. To develop historical case study, the universal components of diachronic analysis are first identified. A general research design for historical case study is then introduced. Finally, historical case study is tested in an actual research project. Findings from this project reveal that historical case study is a successful diachronic research strategy. Historical case study is a new and valuable research design suitable for addressing questions related to change, continuity, development, and evolution.     

Co-rumination and Immune Inflammatory Response in Healthy Young Adults: Associations with Interleukin-6 and C-Reactive Protein

A rich literature exists reinforcing the notion that both perceived and received social support has stress ameliorating and protective benefits both psychologically and physiologically. However, recent literature suggests that excessive dyadic negative problem talk about an issue, a phenomenon labeled co-rumination, may reverse much of the beneficial effects of social support. Healthy young adults participated in a laboratory research study exploring the associations between co-rumination and immune system inflammatory response. Partial correlations indicated a positive association between co-rumination and C-reactive protein and a negative association between co-rumination and interleukin-6 after controlling for stress, anxiety, and temperature. Discussion focuses on the means by which co-rumination may lead to negative health outcomes.     

Persistent Misperceptions: Americans’ Misplaced Confidence in Privacy Policies, 2003–2015

This paper examines the persistence of Americans’ misunderstanding of the function of privacy policies. We also identify groups that have misplaced confidence in the privacy policy label and address whether the groups’ patterns of misperception have changed over time. The findings add a new dimension to the argument that the usefulness of privacy policies needs to be reassessed. As a remedy, we call for media literacy programs to address structural features of media systems that lead to broadly held misperceptions such as the one examined here.     

Susceptibility to Deception in a Political News Interview: Effects of Identification,Perceived Cooperativeness,and Ingroup Vulnerability

This article explores people’s susceptibility to political deception. Participants watched a news interview in which a politician either answered all the questions or deceptively evaded a question. In Study 1 (n = 202), deception is perceived through the dodge being irrelevant for voters who do not identify with the politician. In Study 2 (n = 618), partisan voters consider the politician more deceptive, and acting more deceptively, when the politician has their opposing party affiliation, independent of whether he dodges. When the politician shares their party identification, voters identify with the politician more and consider his responses more relevant. Findings are consistent with theoretical positions of identification, the cooperative principle, and social identity.