Faculty and Librarian Perceptions of a New Faculty Purchase Program

This study explores new faculty members' and librarians' perceptions of a program that provides each new faculty member with funds to purchase materials supporting their teaching and scholarship. The article describes the results of a survey of perceptions of the faculty and librarians who have participated in the program at Illinois State University. The findings suggest that the program has not been successful as a recruitment tool but has been very valuable for establishing early and strong subject liaison relationships with new faculty members.     

Capturing Citation Activity in Three Health Sciences Departments: A Comparison Study of Scopus and Web of Science

Scopus and Web of Science are the two major citation databases that collect and disseminate bibliometric statistics about research articles, journals, institutions, and individual authors. Liaison librarians are now regularly called upon to utilize these databases to assist faculty in finding citation activity on their published works for tenure and promotion, grant applications, and more. But questions about the accuracy, scope, and coverage of these tools deserve closer scrutiny. Discrepancies in citation capture led to a systematic study on how Scopus and Web of Science compared in a real-life situation encountered by liaisons: comparing three different disciplines at a medical school and nursing program. How many articles would each database retrieve for each faculty member using the author-searching tools provided? How many cited references for each faculty member would each tool generate? Results demonstrated troubling differences in publication and citation activity capture between Scopus and Web of Science. Implications for librarians are discussed.     

Reference and Liaison Librarians: Endangered Species or “Vital Partners?” Views of Academic Library Administrators

Abstract

Reference, liaison, subject librarianship: all of these terms traditionally describe a combination of research assistance, instruction, and collection management. This study used structured interviews with 15 librarians at 14 geographically dispersed, medium to large academic institutions to investigate the current state of reference and liaison librarianship. Library administrators’ views are important to understanding the future of this work since they advocate for resources if they see the necessity. Findings included agreement on the goals of the work and the urgent need to communicate its value in the current higher education landscape; however, the specific means of communication and the types of work that being a partner could include varied.     

Trade Book Collections to Support Teaching Economics Undergraduates: Notes,Suggestions, and Bibliography

The popular economics genre has become a promising tool for the development of information literacy and critical thinking skills in relation to the fundamental principles of economics to undergraduates. This article discusses how a popular economics collection can support faculty teaching economics classes. A bibliographic discussion describes trends in this genre and demonstrates how a few representative examples of this genre may enhance a traditional economics curriculum. Recommendations for librarians supporting economics teaching faculty are discussed. Finally, a thematically organized appendix includes a selected bibliography of titles published between 1918 and 2012.     

Liaison with Teaching Faculty

This paper outlines activities that collection development librarians can undertake to involve faculty in the development of the academic library collection. Complementing these are activities that can enhance the library's visibility in the academic setting.     

University of Central Florida Librarians on Location

Abstract

Librarians on Location is an innovative project implemented at the University of Central Florida and is designed to move reference service out of the library to meet the needs of students. At two campus locations outside of the library, librarians use a wireless laptop to provide reference service and demonstrate library resources. The intent is to proactively meet the information needs of those students and faculty who might otherwise remain unaware of the extensive resources provided by the library. The nature of the project also addresses differing information-seeking styles in an informal setting. Because of the location in different buildings on campus, the project enhances the library's visibility to faculty, administrators, and students. Librarians on Location is one part of an ongoing and innovative outreach program at the University of Central Florida Library.     

The importance of context: Vietnamese,Somali, and Iranian refugee mothers discuss their resettled lives and involvement in their children’s schools

Parental involvement in schools is regarded as critical to student success in Australia, Canada, and the USA, the world’s top refugee resettlement countries. Refugees can be disadvantaged when they are unfamiliar with the practices and when their own cultural beliefs conflict with expectations in their new communities, or when they are consumed by other pressing needs. As part of an evaluation of a nonprofit US refugee agency’s liaison program, three groups of refugee mothers from different world regions spoke about their lives and connections with their children’s schools. Focus groups revealed satisfaction with many aspects of their children’s schools as well as contrasts between the groups’ needs and experiences. Differences indicate the need for the education community and other service providers to be aware of international backgrounds that bring refugees to the countries of resettlement and cultural differences that create diverse concerns of these groups.     

闽东古田话二字组连读变调和声母类化规律

古田县位于福建省东北部,古田话和福州话同系统,但具有自己的特色。在二字组连读变调方面,与福州话前字变调后字不变调不同的是,古田话呈现出前后字不变调、前字变调后字不变调和前后字都变调的特点,连读还引发了后字声母的类化。     

Connecting Faculty Candidates with the Library: Lessons Learned from the Literature and the Field

This paper illustrates how liaison librarians can pursue influential relationships with faculty candidates in their liaison departments during the interview process. Although these interactions tend to be meet and greets, the impression that they leave may assist a potentially new faculty member when evaluating the campus environment and climate. This essay explores the relationship that academic librarians can develop during the hiring process for faculty candidates in their liaison departments, and the continued collaboration post-hire for the successful candidate. Literature for librarian outreach has been synthesized to present suggestions for strategies to engage with faculty candidates during the interview process and to further develop these relationships post-hire.     

Data-Driven Decisions for Library Liaisons: Exploring Strategies for Effectively Managing Diminishing Monograph Collections

Many academic libraries have liaison programs as a means of building relevant and useful library collections and to promote library resources to campus users. Librarians have long served as liaisons without the benefit of much data to guide decisions. In this age of library budget cuts, librarians need to make every dollar count. What collection and use data help liaisons build a quality monograph collection that better meets the needs of library users? This article offers some ideas for providing the data needed by liaisons for more informed decision making and collection management and, ultimately, for ensuring that library materials purchased are needed and used.