ALISE Conference 2010 WIP Submission Sessions 2
Waseem Afzal
Intellectual and Professional Development of MLS Students: Evidence from the Analysis of the Students’ Capstone Portfolios at School of Library & Information Management, Emporia State University
Emporia State University’s School of Library & Information Management (SLIM) has a long-standing tradition of requiring students to showcase their academic work (including class projects, Web sites, term papers-completed during MLS), and to tie it with SLIM’s program outcomes and professional values during the Capstone course. This course is a class that is required to be taken in the last semester of LIS graduate studies. This exercise provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning experience in totality and to explore its relevance with the professional practices. Besides this, the analysis of students’ capstone portfolios enables the administration and faculty to assess (1) the extent to which the school’s mission and core values had impact on the learning of students, (2) the nature of perceptions that students have towards the efficacy of SLIM’S MLS curricula in enhancing academic and professional development, and (3) the extent to which changes are needed to bring the graduate program in greater alignment with the changing academic and professional environment.
John Brobst
Janet L. Capps More Questions than Answers: Taking Stock of Early Literacy The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP, 2008) task force reduced 8000+ hits to 500 relevant documents that could demonstrate correlational evidence between early literacy skills and later predictive literacy development. NELP’s concepts of phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, raid automatic naming (RAN) of letters, colors, and objects, and phonological memory are part of this theoretical approach known as emergent or early literacy (EL). Public libraries are known to be expanding children services that extend EL learning opportunities. These collaborative services include working with young children, their families, caregivers, and local communities. Are librarians adequately trained in EL concepts? How effective are LIS courses in preparing practitioners with research-based EL concepts to fulfill a leadership role within their communities? A decade of fragmented EL LIS course offerings and library initiatives is indicative of the value behind the importance of addressing these questions.
The EL reading research community benefited from the NELP task force report. The LIS community needs to take stock of the EL knowledge levels of adult practitioners working in an environment with expectations of supporting literacy development of young children. This work discusses the EL-Capstone concept inventory instrument and seeks feedback from the LIS community on collaborative partnerships that will assist the field in establishing baselines. Perhaps existing EL training structure is effective but research is needed. Measuring capstone levels at which librarians are prepared to fulfill a leadership role in the community’s effort to impact emergent literacy development is paramount to future design and implementations of librarian training/intervention programs.
Anthony S. Chow
Christian Burris
David Rachlin
Margaret Smith MLIS Candidate
85. Administration and Management
To Fine or Not to Fine: Is Positive Reinforcement More Effective Than Overdue Fines?
The goal for libraries is simple: have people return books and resources on time so that the materials may be returned to circulation. Librarians view this as basic common sense and an expression of simple human decency. In reality, “remembering” when a resource is due is not usually a top priority for patrons. With the need to cultivate a positive perception becoming more critical as online resources become more popular and accessible, a major issue with people who do visit libraries is the overdue book fine.
Anthony S. Chow
Andrea Bottoms
16. LIS Faculty, Students
Diversity and Retention in Librarianship: The Role of Advising and Mentoring
The sense of isolation and being misunderstood can be overwhelming at times combining to serve as a heavy weight of conflicting expectations, uncertainty, and unease that permeates one’s perspective on why the idea to go to library school was a good one in the first place. As one current student recently shared, “I think I've come into a discouraging little time in my library education, where I'm questioning the purpose of the degree. It seems that no matter who I speak to in the profession, it's been an exercise in nay saying. I guess I'll have to come by once I get more of a feeling of exactly where I want to go and therefore can make my own trail.” Students from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds bring with them unique perspectives and expectations that may not fit well within existing paradigms of the profession. Can advising and mentoring help?
Previous research suggests that support and mentoring are critical for students from underrepresented minority backgrounds so there is someone there to “show them the ropes” (Pelay, 2004) and help facilitate a “comfort zone” (Lipsey & Prendergast); this sense of understanding and community helps validate and welcome authentically diverse perspectives and ways of looking at and approaching the field differently. Our poster presentation will provide first hand perspectives on the sense of isolation and feelings of doubt faced by many minority LIS students and practicing librarians and the crucial role mentoring and advising play.
Anthony S. Chow
The Role of Advising and Mentoring in Diversity and Retention in Librarianship
The sense of isolation and being misunderstood can be overwhelming at times combining to serve as a heavy weight of conflicting expectations, uncertainty, and unease that permeates one’s perspective on why the idea to go to library school was a good one in the first place. As one current student recently shared, “I think I've come into a discouraging little time in my library education, where I'm questioning the purpose of the degree. It seems that no matter who I speak to in the profession, it's been an exercise in nay saying. I guess I'll have to come by once I get more of a feeling of exactly where I want to go and therefore can make my own trail.” Students from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds bring with them unique perspectives and expectations that may not fit well within existing paradigms of the profession. Can advising and mentoring help?
Previous research suggests that support and mentoring are critical for students from underrepresented minority backgrounds so there is someone there to “show them the ropes” (Pelay, 2004) and help facilitate a “comfort zone” (Lipsey & Prendergast); this sense of understanding and community helps validate and welcome authentically diverse perspectives and ways of looking at and approaching the field differently. Our poster presentation will provide first hand perspectives on the sense of isolation and feelings of doubt faced by many minority LIS students and practicing librarians and the crucial role mentoring and advising play.
Anthony S. Chow
A virtual world is a simulated environment, accessed by multiple users through an online interface, offering new opportunities for collaboration. Second Life (SL) is the best known virtual world. Volunteers created and supported virtual libraries with the primary goals of investigating library services in virtual worlds, attracting new users to the traditional library, and meeting librarians from around the world. The most successful library initiatives in SL have been achieved primarily by library professionals collaborating in a freelance or pro bono fashion, not necessarily under or with a traditional library. As the role of libraries as collaborative spaces becomes more important, especially in educational institutions, should libraries establish virtual presences?
Studying virtual libraries with a usability theoretical framework can offer insight to their potential value, i.e. whether they can offer efficient, effective, and satisfying services. These core usability factors can be analyzed for a virtual library in two prominent library user groups, for patrons receiving services and the library employees that deliver them.
This study represents one of the first attempts at understanding how to balance the needs and demands of real and virtual libraries within the framework of usability. Our research involves a holistic approach from the perspectives of brick-and-mortar libraries, their virtual SL branches, and independent SL libraries. Sample size includes approximately 50 participants representing both real and virtual worlds. Our poster will specify existing and potential alignment between user needs, how real and virtual libraries compliment them, and the overall management structure and related issues libraries face.
Monica Colon- Aguirre
Karen Freberg, M.A.
A multidisciplinary case study analyzing Google’s key messages concerning the digitalization of books towards academic libraries
Ever since its inception a few years back Google’s initiative to digitize “every book ever published” and make it available free online has garnered a lot of attention from different sectors. Some applaud this initiative and hail it as the ultimate open access initiative, others worry about the implications this could bring to institutions such as libraries, publishing houses and bookshops, all of which are in the book business one way or the other. Although the initiative has encountered a few bumps in the road that have made its mission a little slower than originally intended such as copy right inflictions, Google is still going ahead with the project. At the same time, the initiative that is commended by some as an effort to bring books to anyone around the planet and for bringing the advantages that this entails for purposes of digital preservation of materials to social equality that comes with making every book ever published a free commodity over the Internet, others worry about the future of libraries and the implications that the technology divide might have on the project’s ultimate goals. This case study will center on the strategic key messages that Google is sending specifically to academic librarians as well as the possible implications of one corporation controlling such a great amount of information from a public relations and reputation management point of view as well as an information science vantage point.
Andr de Souza Pena
Patrcia Marques de Arajo
Alexandre de Oliveira de Meira Gusmo
The study of organizational commitment and the development of librarians in Mato Grosso
The study aims to map the degree of organizational commitment and the development of librarians of the Federal University of Mato Grosso. The work will examine the individual's relationship with the organization, intending to discuss in greater detail, the variables related to organizational commitment in its affective dimension, normative and instrumental. Regarding the commitment to career analysis will be given for participation in events, refresher courses, lectures, seminars, etc.. To this end, we intend to adopt the methodology of case study, and as a means of data collection a questionnaire, and interview with a portion of the sample, leaving out that the questionnaires will be sent to all staff of this University in a study. It is expected to portray what is the real commitment of librarians in relation to the profession and organization in which they operate.
Kyong Eun Oh
Collaborating through Topic Map for Knowledge Management (TMKM)
This study aims to propose a topic model for knowledge management that would facilitate collaboration in any organization. Proposed model, Topic Maps for Knowledge Management (TMKM), has four core elements that are topic, types of knowledge, association and occurrence. This model is developed based on the existing topic map, which is the international standardization that provides a way to represent information about structure of information resources (ISO 13250, 2002). Existing topic map model have many strong traits in organizing information resources; however, it does not reflect characteristics of knowledge that it is ineffective in organizing knowledge artifacts for knowledge management. The proposed model, TMKM, is designed to reflect critical characteristics of knowledge. First of all, it lies emphasize on people who have knowledge about certain topics or issues. In addition, it stresses new ideas and opinions. Secondly, TMKM handles both explicit and tacit knowledge by providing environments that facilitate externalization of tacit knowledge and combination of explicit knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Thirdly, it supports creation and sharing of declarative, procedural and causal knowledge (Zack, 1999). Proposed model, TMKM is expected to contribute to effective knowledge management that will accordingly facilitate establishment of collaboration in any institution.
References Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge-Creating Company. New York: Oxford University Press. Zack, M.H. (1999). Managing codified knowledge. Sloan Management Review, 40 (4), 45-58.
Kasey Garrison Dr. Gail Dickinson
Dr. Carol Doll Library Science Program
The Role of Inter-Organizational Collaboration Theory in the Development of a Library Information Science Education Program
Mattessich, P. W., et. al. (2001). Collaboration: What Makes It Work? St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.
Carolyn Hank 17: Pedagogy in LIS
Applying Digital Curation Principles in Practical Settings: A Framework for Implementing Field Experiences from the DigCCurr Project
In the past decade, there has been tremendous growth in digital curation professional opportunities for information and library science graduates. To train students to fill these new professional roles, there is a need for education to address the necessary competencies for managing digital collections. In response, the DigCCurr (Digital Curation Curriculum) project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), has developed a graduate-level curricular framework, course modules, and experiential components to prepare students for digital curation in various environments. This poster reports on the development, implementation and outcomes of the project’s Carolina Digital Curation Fellowship (CDCF) program’s practicum component over a two-year period (2007-09), drawn from the following data collection activities:
1) Practicum agreement forms, establishing learning objectives and product goals;
It is our hope that the findings reported in this poster, as well as openly available documentation for managing practical components, will benefit educators in diverse organizational settings by sharing exemplars of opportunities and strategies for successful identification and implementation of practical digital curation learning experiences, and strategies for incorporating digital curation practices and policies into existing organizational practices. Through adoption of appropriate supervised and relevant experiential components, students can be prepared to serve in digital curatorial roles after graduating.
John B. Harer, PhD
Melissa P. Johnston
Enablers and Barriers to Technology Leadership for the School Library Media Specialist
School library media specialists (SLMS) are expected to accept and fulfill numerous roles in their daily practice; one of these roles is that of leader, especially in the area of technology integration. The guidelines from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), all mention the role of technology leadership when defining the responsibilities of the SLMS. In 2009, AASL released new guidelines for school library media programs that reiterate the belief that the SLMS should act as a leader to ensure that learners are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the technological society of the 21st century.
Mary Wilkins Jordan
Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Come Work at the Library!
What causes people to be satisfied in their jobs? What makes librarians look forward to going to work every day? Knowing this could help those in the LIS field spread around the happiness, and to use these things as tools in recruiting new librarians to our profession.
Allison G. Kaplan
Community Engagement In LIS Education
This poster will present preliminary research on the impact of service-learning projects on a portion of University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) students. The UW-Madison SLIS program has included a practical field experience for its students since the late 1920’s. In recent years, however, there has been an interest in the area of service-learning in LIS education. For SLIS, service-learning is defined as an experience working within a community that is not necessarily supervised by a practicing librarian, as opposed to the field experience that must be supervised by a practicing librarian. In the fall of 2008, the SLIS course, Public Library Services to Children and Young Adults, included within the course meeting time the opportunity for SLIS students to work with children in grades K-3 in a local after school program. Data from student surveys showed that this time provided an invaluable experience for the students but took too much time from the course content. By the fall of 2009, the SLIS program had created a separate, one-credit, course titled “Topics in Community Engagement.” The first “topic” also focused on the children in this after school program but with additional support and collaboration from the Madison Public Library Readmobile program. Early data from this fall semester is suggesting that students, the public library, and the children in the after school program are all benefiting from this community work opportunity. Research to be discussed will include analysis of data from both the 2008 and 2009 classes.
Ji-Hyun Kim
Gap between Information Demand and Availability of Asians in U.S.
Introduction As our society becomes more and more culturally and ethnically diverse, information studies need to respond to information seeking influenced by cultural diversity. Several cultural studies have already revealed that individuals’ information behavior varies between cultures.
Inna Kouper
Howard Rosenbaum
3. LIS as a Discipline
From sociology to information studies: Patterns of theory importation
Theories, concepts, and methods routinely cross disciplinary boundaries. Murray and Evers (1989) define this practice as theory borrowing, i.e., “taking a concept or theory out of its original social and historical context and using it in another to explain the same or a different social or natural phenomenon.” Recent studies demonstrate that the field of information studies borrows theories from different disciplines of social science and humanities (Pettigrew and McKechnie, 2001). But what are the patterns of borrowing from particular disciplines? This poster reports the findings of a study that looked into patterns of borrowing from sociology by examining the content and citations of five volumes of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology.
Our findings show that the ways sociological content is incorporated into information studies are quite diverse and eclectic. Researchers draw on a variety of theoretical frameworks, yet they rarely incorporate theories as a whole. Rather, they seek out particular theoretical statements, concepts, or empirical observations that can help them to support their research on information. For example, they can refer to the whole domain (e.g., sociology of knowledge) as their theoretical orientation. Or employ a particular concept (e.g., social capital) to test certain relationships. Information studies researchers also tend to rely on the importation work of others, i.e., those who already re-worked sociological theory and appropriated it for the purposes of information studies. Thus, Rob Kling is one of the most frequently cited authors in the context of sociological concepts and information studies. Classic sociologists such as K. Marx, R. Merton, N. Luhman, and A. Giddens are mentioned much less frequently.
Hyungkyu Kwon, Ph.D.
Problem-based EEG Neurofeedback Training Model for Successful Online Education
This study developed the electroencephalography(EEG) training model by analyzing the differences between the problem-based learning steps and brain hemispheric lateralization variables to generate successful online education. This study constructs the effective problem-based training through the EEG neurofeedback by applying PBL ( problem-based learning) by the functional characteristics of the brain function. It was discovered that the optimal brainwave control is possible by the problem-based neurofeedback training.
This research proposed a set of systematic procedures for the EEG neurofeedback for the online instruction applying problem-based Neurofeedback training. This online training involves the situation where the instructor applies neurofeedback modalities towards the satisfactory teaching of the student.
In this model, the problem-based training procedures for the student adaptation to the successful education are mainly considered. This model consists of 8 phases: the problem establishment, the brain based examination of symptoms, the problem-based examination of students, the integrated interaction for the instruction, the clarification of the problem, the training procedure establishment, the verification of the mutual role, the training evaluation for the next instruction.
Chris Landbeck
The Nature of Information: A Novel Approach
This study seeks to define the nature of information in two steps: first, to gather and analyze definitions of “information” and related concepts for frequently occurring terms; second, to use those terms found to be prevalent to describe these concepts. In this way, it is hoped that appropriate terms and definitions will be derived, leading to a greater understanding of the world around us and to better, more efficient communication between disparate research areas, and a greater sense of what “information science” is and what it deals with. 44 undergraduates were asked to describe the difference, if any, between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. The resulting essays were analyzed for passage that commented on these terms, and the passages were then labeled with an eye toward bringing similar passages together. To date, results show that subjects not only comment on the nature of the four aforementioned terms, but on the transition between one and another; that any of the four items asked about need not be true or accurate; that there is some disagreement on several of the derived terms; and that results of this research can serve as a base for a discussion about the nature of information. This poster seeks to supplement that data already gathered, using a different set of subjects and a different milieu to validate the results from the first part of the research.
Indication of special needs: The use of non-standard materials in the poster (whiteboard).
Dorian Mari-Elizabeth Lange
This poster explores the connection of the principles, values, and ethics of information that both librarians and journalists strive to uphold. This exploration will focus on three primary parallels.
This poster will ultimately attempt to demonstrate the ethical similarities in the foundations of both professions and further promote the edification and collaboration that will encourage the education of librarians to include working with journalists to uphold our shared values.
In later research, using the above as a foundation, I will examine the pragmatic practical applicability of the actual collaboration of librarians and journalists, and further analyze how these communities could both benefit by their unification on shared ethical ideals. This will ultimately culminate in positing that library education should include instruction in the necessity of collaboration across disciplines to promote and preserve shared purposes and goals.
Jung A Lee
Kathleen Burnett, Ph.D
Mia Liza A. Lustria, Ph.D.
Curriculum development for consumer health informatics in Library and Information Studies Programs
Increasing numbers of people are using the Internet to access health information (Sonnenberg, 2004; Wilkins, 2001). The increasing use of the Internet for researching health information has resulted in the emerging field of health informatics (Thomas, 2003). Library and Information Science [LIS] has provided the theoretical and philosophical foundation for several courses of consumer health informatics (Eysenbach, 2000). Integrating health informatics into the LIS curriculum will enable health information to be effectively disseminated and more easily understood by consumers. This proposed study will be supported by curriculum development theory, which will provide the framework for comprehensive curriculum development within current consumer health informatics courses (Hilda, 1964). This study will analyze the current courses of consumer health informatics within LIS programs by analyzing the curriculums of top five LIS schools based on the U.S. News and World Report (2009). Using Delphi study survey methods, faculty from LIS programs and health information providers will be surveyed concerning curriculum development (Wildemuth, 2009). With the goal of exploring current consumer health informatics courses in LIS programs and comparing each school’s curriculum in order to find what is lacking, this study will inform LIS educators and health information providers of current curriculum trends, and will suggest ways to develop the curriculum of consumer health informatics in the field of LIS.
Lauren H. Mandel Katherine H. Weimer
15. LIS Education and Programs
Necessary Skills for Map and GIS Librarians: Job Descriptions to Inform LIS Curriculum
The ALA Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT) recently published core competencies for map, geographic information systems (GIS), and cataloging/metadata librarians (2008). Together, these types of librarians may be called geographic information librarians (GILs). MAGERT members, experts in the GIL field, developed these competencies based on professional observation of skills required in GILs jobs. However, no formal research has detailed the skills required and preferred in GIS and map librarian job announcements, although such research has occurred in other LIS specialties such as cataloging (Park, Lu, & Marion, 2009). Weimer and Reehling (2006) identify the need for research into GIL job announcements, suggesting content analysis can provide one view of GIL job requirements and fill a knowledge gap in the LIS curricular literature, which does not include geographic information curricular research.
References
Joanne Gard Marshall, PhD
Jennifer Craft Morgan, PhD
Victor W. Marshall, PhD
Deborah Barreau, PhD
Barbara Moran, PhD
Paul Solomon, PhD
Susan Rathbun Grubb, MAT, MLS
Cheryl A. Thompson
15. LIS Education and Programs
Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 2 (WILIS 2): Preliminary Results from the Recent Graduates Survey
WILIS 2 is an IMLS funded project designed to implement an alumni survey that all Library and Information Science (LIS) program can potentially use with their recent graduates. LIS programs have generally lacked the time and resources to systematically survey their graduates. As a result, stakeholders lack an adequate understanding of what happens to graduates. Educators, in particular, do not have ongoing data about the extent to which their programs meet students’ expectations, prepare them for the workplace or meet continuing learning needs. Such an understanding will assist in educating and managing the LIS workforce more effectively. The WILIS 2 project builds on WILIS 1, a comprehensive study of career patterns of graduates of LIS programs in North Carolina. In WILIS 2, a community based participatory research approach was taken to revising the recent graduates portion of the WILIS 1 survey so that is suitable for use by all LIS programs. The web-based survey gathers data on the educational and work histories of the respondents, continuing education needs, satisfaction with LIS as a career, perspectives of recent graduates about their LIS programs and demographics. A pilot test of the WILIS 2 survey was conducted with eight LIS programs in Spring 2009. The overall response rate was 54% (n=1025) with individual program response rates ranging from 35% to 79%. This poster will summarize the key findings from the pilot survey. Up to 35 programs will participate in the full launch of the survey in 2009-2010. For more information, please visit www.wilis.unc.edu
Eileen McElrath
Information Literacy and Instruction
Utilizing Adult Learning Theory in Information Literacy Instruction and Library and Information Science Courses in the Digital Age.
Abstract: This is beginning work whose purpose is a review of the literature about Adult Learning Theory and the development of specific teaching strategies useful for librarians teaching information literacy sessions for adult learners. The strategies will be useful for Library and Information Science (LIS) faculty teaching graduate courses as well. There is much written in educational literature about Adult Learning Theory. There is a gap, however, when searching LIS literature. Adult Learning Theory gains importance in view of the increasing numbers of adults in colleges. Additionally, LIS education consists of graduate students who are, for the most part, adult learners. Adults learn differently than younger people for many reasons. According to Ralph C. Kennedy, M.Ed. ‘Adults differ distinctly in terms of such factors as motivation, interest, values, attitudes, physical and mental abilities, and learning histories’ (Kennedy, 2003). Malcolm Knowles, developer of Adult Learning Theory, describes his Principles of Adult Learning:
Using Adult Learning Theory becomes especially important in the online environment—an environment quite different from face-to-face library instruction and graduate courses. This research will offer practical teaching strategies targeted for adult learners. Comments and suggestions from conference attendees will be much appreciated. Kennedy, Ralph C. “Applying Principles of Adult Learning: The Key to More Effective Training
Patricia Montiel Overall
Assessing Information Literacy of 3rd and 4th Grade Latino Students: A Preliminary Report.
This poster presents preliminary findings from an instrument developed through an IMLS research grant to study the effect of teacher and librarian collaboration on science information literacy for Latino students. The instrument, Children’s Information Literacy Evaluation (CHILE), was given to over 700 third and fourth grade Latino students in public schools in the southwest as a pre- and post-assessment. Standard procedures for survey development were followed including item identification, iterative expert panel review of items, student focus groups, teacher-librarian discussions, and pilot testing of the instrument. Items selected for the instrument reflect the nine Information Literacy Standards proposed in Information Power (1998) and The Standards for the 21st Century Learner (American Association of School Librarians, 2007). The instrument is a 22-item pencil and paper instrument. The instrument was read in English to students in their regular classroom setting. Students who participated in the study during the 2008-2009 school year were primarily from low income Spanish speaking families. Institutional Review Board procedures for data collection were followed including parent consent and student assent in English and Spanish. Validity and reliability will be reported. Results from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) procedures and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical procedures will also be reported. The scores of students who were in classes of teachers participating in an intervention in the IMLS grant funded study as well as scores of students of control teachers in the IMLS study will be presented. Scores were examined to determine whether significant differences between groups existed.
Hea Lim Rhee
The Relationship between Archival Appraisal Practice and the User Study in U.S. State Archives and Records Management Programs
As the quantity of records has experienced explosive growth, the significance of archival appraisal has increased. Many archival studies recommend the disposal of useless records in order to save archives’ resources for processing and preserving records and enhancing users’ access.
Angela R. Sample
By ensuring that individuals have the intellectual abilities of reasoning and critical thinking, […] colleges and universities provide the foundation for continued growth throughout their careers, as well as in their roles as informed citizens and members of communities (ACRL, 2006).
Although information literacy skills are a key target outcome of library use courses, very little research has been conducted regarding whether students transfer these skills to information needs in other coursework and everyday life. This study will explore the question of students’ transference of these skills by means of ethnographic research incorporating in-depth interviews with and observation of students enrolled in one such course and follow-up interviews the semester following completion of the course. The interviews will seek to ascertain if the course enables students to make informed decisions relating to personal finances, political awareness, career plans, etc. The interviews will also ask if the information literacy course prepares them to succeed in other courses, particularly in the realm of framing questions, evaluating informational resources, and incorporating the work of others into their thinking.
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2006, Sep. 1). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. American Library Association. Retrieved April 16, 2009 from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm Document ID: 185693
Kathleen Schisa, MSLIS
An Education in collaboration: Lessons learned from course development partnerships among WISE schools and associations
WISE+ supports partnerships that enable WISE schools and LIS associations to collaborate to develop courses suitable for graduate credit and continuing education. Course topics reflect current issues in the associations’ specialties, and many courses are taught by practicing librarians with robust subject expertise. Students gain valuable exposure to professional associations, and associations have the opportunity to influence the education of current and future constituents. The result is a dynamic classroom where LIS students and professionals network, share ideas, and promote the discussion of the future of the discipline. This poster features WISE+ partnership models, including lessons learned by the host institution and association. A rationale for potential future partnerships including sustainability plans is also presented.
Model 1: Course is developed and taught by an association member for graduate and continuing education credit, with input and approval from the host school. (American Theological Library Association and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Theological Librarianship) Model 2: Month-long course delivered via YouTube is developed by a WISE faculty member. Video lectures are freely available to the entire partner association and to the public (American Library Association and Syracuse University, Gaming in Libraries) Model 4: School partners with multiple organizations to offer an existing elective for continuing education and graduate credit (American Indian Library Association, REFORMA and San Jose State University, Services to Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities) Special Needs: None
Susan E. Searing
Using photography to enhance information literacy
My research proposal uses photography to explore women’s information literacy process. The primary reason for incorporating photography to explore information literacy is to allow participants to actively engage with information during all stages of the project through gathering, creating, describing, and sharing information. The broad research questions are: 1) What kinds of information do women identify as relevant to their daily lives? 2) What kind of relevant information do women choose to share with others people? 3) How are daily experiences described and communicated to other people within and outside the community? 4) How can creative expression through photography be used to develop and apply participants’ ability to acquire, evaluate, and use information and to create, interpret, and communicate information? Participants will be asked to create images to which they relate; use literacy skills to communicate the meaning of their photographs by creating keywords and descriptions; and share the meaning of their photographs with other people via an online photography application. This project is an ethnographic study that focuses holistically on the participants’ personal experiences, considers the cultural and social context. Although results of this project are limited to a select group and not generalizable to a larger population, the findings can be used to inform future studies on information literacy in Kenya and developing nations.
Cherri Shelnutt
An Exploration of the Experiences of Pioneering Online Library and Information Science Graduate Students: A Mixed Methods Study of Students in the 1990s
Dr. Loriene Roy
22: Acquisitions Theory and Practice
Gaining Competency in Acquisitions and Collection Development: A Schema for Preparing Entry Level Information Professionals for 21st Century Library Needs
Library acquisitions and collection development practices have evolved from the identification and purchase of primarily print resources such as monographs and journals to making acquisitions decisions that consider an array of information packaging offering library patrons a diverse blend of print, media, and digital products. Librarians tasked with collection development must utilize a broad range of discovery tools to locate and evaluate appropriate resources. Acquisitions staff are compelled to interact with a greater number of vendors, aggregators, and publishers.
This trend toward more complexity in acquisitions has immediate implications for practicing librarians, vendors, educators and students in library and information science programs. Given the changes in the market and in the acquisitions process, we are examining the current educational preparation of acquisitions librarians to assess how LIS programs are preparing entry level professionals. Our methods include examining the courses offered within the programs accredited by the ALA within the United States and Canada. In addition, we will review job vacancy announcements along with the content of a variety of competency documents that have been developed over the past fifteen years that specify the qualifications that librarians must hold in order to provide adequate services. Future research will include interviewing faculty, acquisitions librarians, and vendors. Together, these data will provide a snapshot of the acquisitions workforce, skills analysis, and projection of career needs into the future.
Cameron Tuai
Using Contingency Theory to Frame Collaboration within an Information Service Unit
The collaboration of librarians and technologists to deliver information services represents a new and growing organizational challenge for many library administrators. The information service literature reveals that a common method of integrating collaborative partners is through horizontal organizational structures. Missing from this literature is a discussion on how to achieve integration while minimizing the costs associated with these time- and labor-intensive structures. Contingency theory can provide a useful approach to understand and manage the costs of collaboration by allowing managers to determine (a) when to use or avoid horizontal structures; (b) when and how to use lower cost alternatives structures; and (c) how to set goals to better control integrating structures. Contingency theory seeks to identify the organizational structure that best fits an organization’s contingency, or context. Previous applications of contingency theory into a library context have largely failed to confirm expected relationships. Analysis of these studies suggests that this problem is due to researchers underestimating the complexity of the library context. This underestimation leads to the stratification of the library into large units of analysis such as divisions. Unfortunately, these sub-sets are internally heterogeneous or externally homogeneous, thus confounding efforts to confirm expected contingency theory relationships. One solution to this methodological problem is to define the study population using a smaller unit of analysis, such as an information service unit. Reducing the number of variables examined can reduce sampling error in regard to the contingency variables under study.
Diane L. Velasquez
National Survey of Practices: E-Government and Public Access Computers in Public Libraries
The research undertaken is a survey that has been sent out to 1485 public libraries serving a population of 25,000 to 99,999. This particular population has according to research done previously has approximately 10 public access computers and has been affected by the e-government movement (Bertot, McClure, & Jaeger, 2006). The survey is looking at public libraries use of government documents and internet connected computers. Government agencies have been sending patrons to public libraries to access their materials. Has sending patrons to libraries for government documents or e-government had a corresponding impact on the services provided by the staff? As of August 24, 2009, there have been 773 (52%) usable responses to the survey out of 836 received. The majority of the responses have come from self-identified suburban public libraries although there are responses from rural and urban libraries. The preliminary findings show that the number one reason patrons use computers is to obtain tax information or forms from the IRS. The libraries have a range of one to 331 computers from the respondents.
Kate Vo Thi-Beard
Asian-American Magazines and Their Role in the Production and Dissemination of Information: Building Community and Cultural Identity Among Readers of Audrey and Asian Wisconzine
My work-in-progress identifies the place of Asian-American magazines and their role in the production and dissemination of information. Specifically, I examine Audrey and Asian Wisconzine to identify how these magazines build community and cultural identity among readers. Audrey is a national, bimonthly, English-language, Asian-American women’s lifestyle magazine while Asian Wisconzine is a regional publication based out of Wisconsin. AW "provides a cultural focus on diverse Asian peoples who have chosen Wisconsin as their new home. It is a forum for ideas, stories, and events that revolve around Asian American communities, woven together to create an educational tool for understanding and acceptance of each other's differences."
My research questions center upon the roles of Audrey and Asian Wisconzine in building community and cultural identity. They include: Who are the readers, which Asian/Asian-American communities are featured and how are they featured, and what do we know about how cultural identities and values are represented? My research methods include a content analysis of the magazines by examining the advertisements, letters to the editor, and feature stories. Through triangulation of these sources, I attempt to identify the readership of Audrey and Asian Wisconzine. The identification of these readerships provides a bigger umbrella of the readership of Asian-American popular magazines, their production and dissemination of information, and their contribution to the expansion or knowledge of the readership of ethnic magazines in the United States.
Holly Weimar, Ed. D.
Tricia Kuon, Ph. D.
19 Distance Education in LIS
Granted: Scholarships, School Librarians, and Culture
Recently, the Sam Houston State University Department of Library Science was awarded the Institute of Museums and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Program Grant for over $800,000 to fund 40 scholarships for students in South Texas. Upon the successful completion of the Library Science program, these scholarship recipients will receive their Master of Library Science degrees. During the application process, the Library Science Department was overwhelmed with more than 600 applications for the mostly online program. One of the requirements of the applications was to submit a statement of need. Within this statement, the committee began to notice a pattern emerging among the applicants’ needs. A question is being posed: Does a full scholarship entice teachers into school librarianship for similar reasons when culture is taken into account? An interest in Distance Education, pursuing further education, and in LIS was stated among the many applicants. Learning as to whether these interests displayed in the cultures represented in the applicants uniformly is of interest to the researchers.
1 Xin Wang, Ph.D Candidate, [email protected],
Inadequate health literacy affects more than 90 million people in the United States (Moore, Bias, Prentice, Fletcher, & Vaughn, 2009). Traditionally, health providers have been the main sources of health information that patients rely on. Kim and Kim (2009) has found that the WWW has generated impact on patient-physicians’ communication. Studies (Eysenbach, Powell, Kuss, & Sa, 2002; Fisher, Burstein, Lynch, & Lazarenko, 2008; Renahy & Chauvin, 2006) have also revealed concerns about the quality and usefulness of web-based health information. Two questions that arise are how best will a website specifically designed for improving health literacy be used by target audiences; and how can a website be designed to meet the needs of diverse users?
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