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.     

创客时代高校图书馆读者创客素养培育探究

[目的/意义]培育读者的创客素养是发展读者核心素养的关键之一,通过提出培育创客素养的有效途径,为在创客时代提升读者创客的创客素养提供借鉴。[方法/过程]基于创客素养教育涵义的分析,对创客素养包含的创客意识、创客道德、创客能力、创客技术和创客精神5个方面内容进行阐述,提出图书馆应通过采取转变思维观念、打造创客环境、渲染创客空间范式、培育不同创客DNA、支持组建创客团队等8种培育创客素养的途径。[结果/结论]图书馆应把握好双创教育的发展态势,正确实行空间再造,积极开展创客活动并实施创客素养教育,真正担当起双创教育的职责,为构建良好的校园创客文化做出贡献。     

Collecting women’s archives at the ANU Archives

The Australian National University Archives holds both the archives of the University and a large collection of business and labour archives in the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. Both are governed by collecting policies, and neither of these policies mention gender. The relative absence of women’s voices in both collections raises the question about whether archival policies should seek to redress past silences.     

We May Be Teaching Information Literacy,but Are the Design First Year Students Actually Getting It?

The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of information literacy instruction for the Design first year students at the Temasek Polytechnic Library. Also of interest was whether or not the librarian was being seen as easily approachable, and if the students were deeming the lessons to be worthwhile. A participant action research approach was used, with the data being collected from multiple choice tests delivered via the institutional learning management system, group exercises, and a diagnostic assessment that was delivered before the workshops. It was found that the students did see the librarian as someone who was eminently approachable, and the majority of them found the lessons to be of value. It was concluded that the use of a diagnostic tool can be very useful in highlighting the gaps in students' knowledge, and that it would be beneficial to use it for all information literacy instruction at TP. Suggested future research could include a study of how much the students retain of IL skills into their third year of study.     

Information-seeking behavior of economics graduate students: If you buy it,will they come?

The information-seeking behavior of social science graduate students has been the subject of many studies, but none have concentrated only on the economics graduate student population and their unique needs. The purpose of this focus group study was to use group discussions to understand the actual online behavior of graduate economics students when conducting research. The results provide insight and information about the skills and characteristics of economics graduate students, their first steps in conducting research online, their use of publicly available and library resources, challenges to finding information, and resources used to overcome these challenges.     

发挥青年编辑优势 提高高校学报审稿效率

由于高校学报来稿研究领域广泛、涵盖学科众多、稿源范围综合等特点,所需审稿专家范围广且重复度较低,“审稿难”问题日益凸显。作为高校学报骨干力量的青年编辑,通常需要专业基础扎实、思维活跃、应变能力强。本文结合自身工作,从青年编辑特点和优势出发,有针对性地提出了一些措施,从熟悉专业、抓住机会、修炼自身等几个方面,阐述如何发挥青年编辑优秀,提高高校学报审稿效率。     

高校图书馆社交媒体阅读推广实证研究

文章通过调查问卷分析高校图书馆用户对社交媒体阅读推广的需求和影响因素。研究表明:微信是用户使用频率最高的社交媒体,图书推荐是用户评价度最高的微信阅读推广类型,阅读服务是用户需求度最高的社交媒体阅读推广类型;用户的性别、学科背景和年级对需求存在显著影响。文章建议:建设以微信、微博为主的阅读推广平台,加强社交媒体阅读服务,积极开展推广活动,提供差异化的阅读推广服务,强化社交媒体平台的宣传推广。     

公共图书馆转型背景下的噪音问题——基于微博的调查

文章以用户在微博上发表的对公共图书馆噪音的看法为数据来源,使用内容分析和情感分析方法研究用户对噪音的认知,分析噪音的来源。研究发现:用户对公共图书馆的噪音问题表示关注和不满;大城市公共图书馆被用户提及最多;用户认为安静才是公共图书馆的应有之义;在用户认为的噪音来源中,用户因素远高于其他因素,最主要的噪音源是少年儿童吵闹。对策包括:转变用户对公共图书馆严肃安静的刻板印象;依据用户需求合理规划空间;改进馆内管理工作。     

Evaluation of Internet Information Sources by High School Students in Ghana

The Internet clearly presents the opportunity for students to expand their knowledge at a fast pace, since they are able to access enormous amount of information. However, accessing the Internet also has its downside since not all information is of good quality. The study explored how 12th grade students at a high school in Ghana evaluated online information sources. These students and the head of the Information Communication Technology department respond to self-administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview, respectively. The study found that most of the high school students did some kind of an evaluation of online information sources, however, they were not applying the right criteria. The study further revealed that students were not introduced to evaluation criteria at school and this had contributed to the gap in their evaluation competencies.     

The IR Has Two Faces: Positioning Institutional Repositories for Success

This article describes the ongoing efforts at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries to evolve the role of the institutional repository (IR) and to effectively position it within the context of the Libraries’ collections, research support, and scholarly communication services. A major component of this process is re-examining the fundamental aims of the IR and aligning it to the Libraries and the campus strategic goals. The authors situate UNLV Libraries’ experience within the context of the current literature to provide background and reasoning for our decision to pursue two, at times conflicting, aims for the IR: one for scholarly communication and another for research administration.