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1 – 10 of over 32000Allison Faix, Amanda MacDonald and Brooke Taxakis
The aim of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of library research consultations for freshmen and senior undergraduate students, to determine if freshmen or seniors benefit…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of library research consultations for freshmen and senior undergraduate students, to determine if freshmen or seniors benefit more from these sessions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study looks at the results of a survey conducted with students enrolled in a senior level capstone research course and in a freshman level composition course who were required to attend library research consultations.
Findings
The study finds that freshman students can be overwhelmed by the amount of resources a research consultation may help them locate, and research consultations for freshmen should be conducted with this in mind.
Research limitations/implications
Because the size of our study was small, further research with a larger sample size should also be conducted.
Practical implications
If librarians experience high demand for required research consultations, and have difficulty scheduling sessions, then they may take into consideration that senior students benefit more from consultations than freshmen. Research consultations should also be designed to take student class rank into account.
Originality/value
This study shows that upper-level students benefit more from research consultation than freshman students. Librarians should take this research into consideration when consulting with faculty about the most effective methods of instruction for students.
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Amanda Bezet, Taylor Duncan and Kira Litvin
Librarians at Northcentral University (NCU) provide online synchronous research consultations for students to discuss resources and search strategies for class assignments…
Abstract
Purpose
Librarians at Northcentral University (NCU) provide online synchronous research consultations for students to discuss resources and search strategies for class assignments, papers, presentations, theses and dissertations. The purpose of this paper is to document the implementation and assessment of this service and to seek to demonstrate that research consultations provided by NCU librarians contribute to students’ learning and success.
Design/methodology/approach
Research consultations are scheduled using Springshare LibCal and are conducted via Citrix GoToMeeting. Students report their satisfaction and skills learned via the Research Consultation Satisfaction Survey. Dissertation chairs and faculty instructors complete separate surveys, which assess the effect that research consultations had on their students’ work. All surveys were created using Qualtrics.
Findings
Assessment data reveal that students are satisfied with the research consultation service and can identify specific skills learned. Additionally, faculty and dissertation chairs report an improvement in students’ citations and ability to locate relevant sources. Future research may include examination of learning analytics or citation analysis for students who participated in research consultations.
Originality/value
Research consultations are rarely documented in the scholarly literature. An opportunity exists to make virtual research consultations more widely adopted as a distinct library reference service, and further, to measure the impact of this service. This project demonstrates how to successfully implement and assess online research consultations. Techniques discussed may be used in 100 per cent virtual environments, as well as within traditional, brick and mortar schools that may already offer face-to-face research consultations.
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Emily Rogers and Howard S. Carrier
This paper aims to report the findings of a qualitative investigation of student patrons’ experiences with research consultations provided by reference librarians at a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report the findings of a qualitative investigation of student patrons’ experiences with research consultations provided by reference librarians at a comprehensive university located in the southern USA during 2014.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through recorded interviews with patrons who had recently experienced a reference consultation with one of eight professional reference librarians during a semester. The recorded data were transcribed verbatim and the transcripts subjected to content analysis. The qualitative data analysis model selected was that of a conventional, inductive content analysis.
Findings
One principal finding demonstrates the need for marketing of the reference consultation service; participants were surprised at the service’s availability. Other findings illustrate the value participants placed on individual attention from a librarian, perceived librarian expertise, the consultation environment and student/librarian engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations to this study include a small participant pool of undergraduate student patrons, mainly majoring in humanities disciplines. The findings therefore are limited in the confidence with which they can be generalized to larger populations.
Practical implications
The reference consultation remains an integral part of the services offered by an academic library’s reference department; libraries should market consultations accordingly. Academic libraries that do not operate on a subject specialist model should consider strategies for maximizing benefit when matching available staff to consultation requests.
Social implications
This study provides evidence for the value of one-to-one reference service through research consultations provided to library patrons in academic libraries serving institutions of the type described in the research.
Originality/value
A qualitative methodology, using content analysis of lengthy interviews with participants, provides considerable insight into academic library patrons’ attitudes toward the reference consultation service.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of using the Evernote note-taking application in research consultation as a way to respond to the challenges of doing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of using the Evernote note-taking application in research consultation as a way to respond to the challenges of doing research in the twenty-first century digital environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the results of surveys conducted at the time of research consultation and at the end of the semester when the students had completed the research needed for their assignments.
Findings
The study found that students are open to having a tool like Evernote used in the research consultation and that the tool can be helpful in organizing the information and search terms discussed in the consultation.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the size of the sample in the study, further research with a larger sample size should be conducted.
Practical implications
This paper outlines a promising method of collaborating and documenting resources in the research consultation.
Originality/value
Using the note-taking application Evernote in research consultations creates a more interactive service.
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Erin Meyer, Carrie Forbes and Jennifer Bowers
This paper aims to report on the University of Denver Penrose Library's Research Center, a new reference service model created to respond to the changing needs of students and to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on the University of Denver Penrose Library's Research Center, a new reference service model created to respond to the changing needs of students and to strengthen the connection between research and writing.
Design/methodology/approach
An increase in reference questions requiring more time, a financial gift to the university which provided an opportunity to propose a new vision of integrating research and writing, and the opening of a new Writing Center in the library prompted the reference librarians to implement a consultation model in fall quarter 2008. A highly visible, dedicated space for one‐on‐one, in‐depth consultations, the Research Center reinforces skills learned in library instruction sessions and effectively promotes reference services.
Findings
A successful new Research Center reaches a larger segment of the university community, better serves student research needs, and enhances library instructional services. During the course of the academic year, 856 consultations were provided to students and faculty, attesting to the popularity of the service.
Research limitations/implications
More robust assessment data are needed to establish the impact of the Research Center on student learning.
Practical implications
The paper outlines a successful method of delivering research services that leverages existing staff resources, increases the visibility of library services, and provides more personalized, in‐depth research consultations to the university community.
Originality/value
Adapted from the Writing Center consultation model, the Research Center's prominent location and configuration encourage active learning interactions, complement the library instruction program, and actively promote consultations with subject‐specialist librarians.
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Research consultations are a long-established means of providing support to students undertaking research activities (Stapleton et al., 2020). The literature on research…
Abstract
Purpose
Research consultations are a long-established means of providing support to students undertaking research activities (Stapleton et al., 2020). The literature on research consultations consistently reports high levels of satisfaction and that students value the individual, bespoke advice received via one-on-one librarian tuition. However, research consultations are resource-intensive and maximising the learning potential of consultations is a priority to justify the expenditure of time and ensure the sustainability of services. This study reports on the outcomes of a service development where students attending research consultations were offered a screencast recording of their appointment to support retention and application of information literacy skills and research processes covered in the research consultation. The study explored student use and perceptions of the service and how the recording of the appointment was integrated into research practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed-method approach including a questionnaire and interviews. Quantitative elements explored if and how students engaged with recordings made during research consultations while qualitative elements investigated students' perceptions of the service and how content from the recordings was used to complete research activities.
Findings
Findings indicated a high degree of positive feedback on the service and reveal complex user behaviours when using appointment recordings. The study demonstrates that the addition of multimedia recording during individual research consultations (IRCs) may offer significant benefits to students by improving knowledge retention and application and for librarians by reducing follow-up enquiries and increased engagement with the service.
Practical implications
The findings of this study give an evidential basis for library and reference services interesting in incorporating synchronous recording into a research consultation service.
Originality/value
This study is believed to be the first to investigate the perceptions and use of synchronous recording of research consultations between librarians and students.
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Karlene Patricia Robinson, Karlene Saundria Nelson and Jessica Claire Lewis
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative merits of thesis consultation with a librarian prior to graduate submission and to explore whether thesis consultation has a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative merits of thesis consultation with a librarian prior to graduate submission and to explore whether thesis consultation has a significant impact on the quality of the theses submitted by postgraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative case study approach. The total number of thesis scrutiny reports written by librarians between 2009 and 2014 has been reviewed for errors found in theses. Errors have been classified as referencing errors and formatting errors. These have been compiled in a spreadsheet and analyzed using the SPSS statistical package.
Findings
This paper highlights that thesis consultation has had a positive impact on the quality of the theses students submitted for examination at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. Thesis consultation with a strong focus on referencing clearly assisted students learning and applying different citation styles. There was a decrease in the number of referencing errors over time. Not much difference was seen in terms of formatting errors. Further tests showed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between thesis consultation and the number of referencing errors made by graduate students.
Practical implications
This study may have implications for the engagement of academic libraries with their graduate communities. With thesis consultation, a librarian may scrutinize the same thesis more than once. Although this may increase the workload of librarians, thesis consultation/scrutiny will have a positive impact on the quality of research produced by graduate students.
Originality/value
This study shows that students benefited from thesis consultation and there was a significant reduction in citation errors. In reviewing the literature, it has been noted that research done in the area of thesis consultation was very limited; hence, this study significantly contributes to the body of knowledge that presently exists.
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The significance of physician-user interaction has been widely acknowledged in offline and online healthcare consultation. However, limited attempts have been made to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
The significance of physician-user interaction has been widely acknowledged in offline and online healthcare consultation. However, limited attempts have been made to explore the influence of physician-user interaction on users' perceived service quality (PSQ) in the mobile context. Based on the literature on physician-user interaction and media synchronicity theory, this study proposes a theoretical model where the interactive factors common across the offline, online and mobile context, i.e. physicians' informational support and emotional support, the interactive factors unique in the mobile context, i.e. physicians' response speed and voice service, and the interaction between the two categories of interactive factors predict users' PSQ in mobile consultation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collects consultation records between 25,225 users and 738 physicians from a leading Chinese mobile consultation application, and employs linear regression to verify the proposed theoretical model.
Findings
Physicians' informational, emotional support, response speed and voice service are found to have significant positive impacts on users' PSQ. Besides, physicians' response speed strengthens the positive impacts of physicians' informational and emotional support on users' PSQ, while physicians' voice service weakens the positive link between physicians' informational support on users' PSQ.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the antecedents for users' PSQ in mobile consultation by identifying unique interactive factors in the mobile context, and highlighting the individual and interaction effects of different physician-user interactive factors. Besides, this study employs novel methods, which leverages text classification and text pattern recognition to more accurately depict physicians' online behaviors based on objective communication records.
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Sameedha Mahadkar, Grant Mills and Andrew D.F. Price
With the advent of the Darzi review in 2008, and more recently the White Paper “Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS” (2010), the NHS in England is being redesigned to…
Abstract
Purpose
With the advent of the Darzi review in 2008, and more recently the White Paper “Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS” (2010), the NHS in England is being redesigned to provide high quality, person‐centred services with improved capacity and performance. In this change oriented scenario, stakeholder consultation has a critical role to play given the widespread advocacy in government policy and healthcare literature. In order to support informed decision making, the purpose of this paper is to: explore healthcare infrastructure planning through various approaches to stakeholder consultation within English Primary Care Trusts (PCTs); and develop a conceptual approach to strategic asset management (SAM) based on the findings of stakeholder consultation and engagement exercises.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐method triangulation approach including action research has been adopted to evaluate current stakeholder consultation practices with a local PCT and to explore their approach to healthcare infrastructure planning through: a literature review of stakeholder engagement and theory; evaluation of a local consultation exercise; and a web based document review of consultation practices within 149 English PCTs.
Findings
PCT estate managers and healthcare planners have to operate within constantly changing dynamic healthcare environments and need to reduce uncertainty and indecision that often surrounds the debate of reconfiguration of healthcare facilities and services. Consultations by the PCTs vary in: the level of detail provided to the public; sample sizes; detail and transparency of the consultation; distribution and analyses of the consultation; and techniques and approaches.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can be used by healthcare policy makers to: inform how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) could be better involved during patient and public engagement; and determine practical ways of putting patients at the heart of General Practitioners (GP) commissioning.
Originality/value
The research identifies gaps within current stakeholder consultation practices in English PCTs and develops a conceptual approach to SAM that accounts for stakeholder consultation; decision making levels within healthcare infrastructure planning within a wider competency based organisational view, which currently does not exist.
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Kong Zhou, Wen-jun Yin, Xiaofei Hu, Xi Ouyang, Chenglin Gui and Beijing Tan
This study examined the dynamical and positive effects of leader consultation on employee proactivity from a motivational perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the dynamical and positive effects of leader consultation on employee proactivity from a motivational perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected twice a day from 107 employees in a week by using an experience sampling method.
Findings
On a daily basis, leader consultation had a positive effect on employees’ state work engagement, which in turn promoted employees’ proactivity. Moreover, authoritarian leadership weakened the positive relationship between leader consultation and employees’ state work engagement.
Originality/value
The findings provided a new perspective regarding the potential dynamic motivational effect of leader consultation on employees and generated interesting implications for paradoxical leadership theory.
Details