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1 – 10 of over 27000With the rise of alternate discovery services, such as Google Scholar, in conjunction with the increase in open access content, researchers have the option to bypass academic…
Abstract
With the rise of alternate discovery services, such as Google Scholar, in conjunction with the increase in open access content, researchers have the option to bypass academic libraries when they search for and retrieve scholarly information. This state of affairs implies that academic libraries exist in competition with these alternate services and with the patrons who use them, and as a result, may be disintermediated from the scholarly information seeking and retrieval process. Drawing from decision and game theory, bounded rationality, information seeking theory, citation theory, and social computing theory, this study investigates how academic librarians are responding as competitors to changing scholarly information seeking and collecting practices. Bibliographic data was collected in 2010 from a systematic random sample of references on CiteULike.org and analyzed with three years of bibliometric data collected from Google Scholar. Findings suggest that although scholars may choose to bypass libraries when they seek scholarly information, academic libraries continue to provide a majority of scholarly documentation needs through open access and institutional repositories. Overall, the results indicate that academic librarians are playing the scholarly communication game competitively.
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Lea Currie, Frances Devlin, Judith Emde and Kathryn Graves
The purpose of this paper is to determine undergraduate students' information‐seeking behavior and their thought processes involved in, criteria applied to, and methods of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine undergraduate students' information‐seeking behavior and their thought processes involved in, criteria applied to, and methods of, evaluating the results of their searches, in determining which information to apply to their research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper observed, recorded and analyzed the processes and sources used by undergraduate students when seeking information on a given topic.
Findings
Students did not use as many of the criteria necessary for evaluating sources for a research paper as the authors had hoped to observe; therefore, the students identified relatively few scholarly sources.
Practical implications
Even though many of the students had had a course‐integrated library instruction session before participating in the study, it did not seem to increase their evaluative skills, leading the authors to think that research skills need to be integrated in the curriculum in more meaningful ways by teaching faculty.
Originality/value
The paper raises awareness of the search strategies and criteria that undergraduate students use to find information for their research papers.
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Tessa Withorn, Carolyn Caffrey, Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Jillian Eslami, Anthony Andora, Maggie Clarke, Nicole Patch, Karla Salinas Guajardo and Syann Lunsford
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2018.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description of all 422 sources, and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and anyone interested as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of television (TV) content for scholarly purposes. It focuses on: profile of scholars using TV content; the structure of their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of television (TV) content for scholarly purposes. It focuses on: profile of scholars using TV content; the structure of their need for TV content; the situations in which scholars need TV content; and their patterns of use of TV content in each research stage.
Design/methodology/approach
Taylor’s four components of the information use environment has contributed to the development of a conceptual framework. The data from the use of TV content by 668 scholars were profiled using correspondence analysis and co-word analysis. Additionally, the data from 15 interviews and content from 240 journal articles were analysed.
Findings
The authors determined that the environment of the scholarly use of TV content is unique in terms of the scholars’ academic domains, research topics, motivation, and patterns of use. Six academic domains were identified as having used TV content to a meaningful degree, and their knowledge structure was presented as a map depicting the scholars’ needs for TV content. Scholars are likely to use TV content when they deal with timely social and cultural topics, or human behaviour. The scholars also showed different patterns of use of TV content at each stage of research.
Originality/value
In this study, TV content was newly examined from the perspective of an information source for scholarly purposes, and it was found to be a meaningful source in several domains. This result extends the knowledge of information sources in scholarly communication and information services.
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Carol Tenopir, Rachel Volentine and Donald W. King
The purpose of this paper is to examine how often university academic staff members use and create various forms of social media for their work and how that use influences their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how often university academic staff members use and create various forms of social media for their work and how that use influences their use of traditional scholarly information sources.
Design/methodology/approach
This article is based on a 2011 academic reading study conducted at six higher learning institutions in the United Kingdom. Approximately 2,000 respondents completed the web‐based survey. The study used the critical incident of last reading by academics to gather information on the purpose, outcomes, and values of scholarly readings and access to library collections. In addition, academics were asked about their use and creation of social media as part of their work activities. The authors looked at six categories of social media – blogs, videos/YouTube, RSS feeds, Twitter feeds, user comments in articles, podcasts, and other. This article focuses on the influence of social media on scholarly reading patterns.
Findings
Most UK academics use one or more forms of social media for work‐related purposes, but creation is less common. Frequency of use and creation is not as high as might be expected, with academics using or creating social media occasionally rather than regularly. There are some differences in use or creation based on demographic factors, including discipline and age. The use and creation of social media does not adversely affect the use of traditional scholarly material, and high frequency users or creators of social media read more scholarly material than others.
Originality/value
This paper illustrates that academics who are engaged with traditional materials for their scholarly work are also embracing various forms of social media to a higher degree than their colleagues. This suggests that social media tools could be a good addition to traditional forms of scholarly content as a way to promote academic growth. Social media is not replacing traditional scholarly material, but rather is enhancing their use.
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Tessa Withorn, Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Carolyn Caffrey, Anthony Andora, Cristina Springfield, Dana Ospina, Maggie Clarke, George Martinez, Amalia Castañeda, Aric Haas and Wendolyn Vermeer
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2019.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description of all 370 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested as a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Bulu Maharana, Kalpana Nayak and N.K. Sahu
The essential purpose of this paper is to measure the amount of web resources used for scholarly contributions in the area of library and information science (LIS) in India. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The essential purpose of this paper is to measure the amount of web resources used for scholarly contributions in the area of library and information science (LIS) in India. It further aims to make an analysis of the nature and type of web resources and studies the various standards for web citations.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the result of analysis of 292 web citations spread over 95 scholarly papers published in the proceedings of the National Conference of the Society for Information Science, India (SIS‐2005) has been reported. All the 292 web citations were scanned and data relating to types of web domains, file formats, styles of citations, etc., were collected through a structured check list. The data thus obtained were systematically analyzed, figurative representations were made and appropriate interpretations were drawn.
Findings
The study revealed that 292 (34.88 per cent) out of 837 were web citations, proving a significant correlation between the use of Internet resources and research productivity of LIS professionals in India. The highest number of web citations (35.6 per cent) was from .edu/.ac type domains. Most of the web resources (46.9 per cent) cited in the study were hypertext markup language (HTML) files.
Originality/value
The paper is the result of an original analysis of web citations undertaken in order to study the dependence of LIS professionals in India on web sources for their scholarly contributions. This carries research value for web content providers, authors and researchers in LIS.
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Catherine Lantz, Glenda Maria Insua, Annie R. Armstrong and Annie Pho
The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain over the course of a semester.
Design/methodology/approach
A rubric was developed for citation analysis of student-annotated bibliographies and final bibliographies. Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations (for first assignment only) and citation accuracy.
Findings
Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other.
Originality/value
This research is unique in its analysis of two separate bibliography assignments completed by first-year students over the course of a semester. It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.
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This paper aims to investigate the role of documentary editions in supporting the development of historical collections in libraries, their function as evidential and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the role of documentary editions in supporting the development of historical collections in libraries, their function as evidential and informational objects and considerations for their evaluation in collection development. Framed as objects possessing bibliographic and archival characteristics, attention is given to the evaluative challenges these objects present during collection development.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides an archival and bibliographic analysis of documentary editions through examining and discussing their archival and bibliographic elements. Consideration is given to how these elements are expressed as information and evidence, how they operate as scholarly and archive-like objects and how they acquire value as collected objects. This approach clarifies the informational and evidential characteristics of these works, offering a framework for their evaluation in libraries.
Findings
Documentary editions possess archival and bibliographic characteristics, requiring that evaluators critique the scholarly value and archival integrity of their content. This has implications for the curation of archival objects in library collections, where library and archival expertise can support a more nuanced assessment of these works.
Originality/value
The blurred documentary character of these works has been identified by scholars (Cox, 1991). This paper presents evaluative considerations. Here, these characteristics are clarified, and an approach for evaluating these works is offered.
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This study aims to look at three classes of first-year students enrolled in an Information Literacy course and examines the difficulties these students encountered when attempting…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to look at three classes of first-year students enrolled in an Information Literacy course and examines the difficulties these students encountered when attempting to identify different types of information.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 41 annotated bibliography assignments, in which students were required to state which type of source they had chosen and why were examined and trends in the misidentification of sources were analysed.
Findings
Students in the study misidentified half of the sources they used, and struggled equally when identifying sources they located through library databases and the Internet. Trends in the misidentification of these sources were analysed, leading to recommendations for assisting students with learning how to identify sources.
Research limitations and implications
Although the sample size of this study was small, further research into how students identify different types of information would help librarians develop further strategies for teaching source identification as a first step in the source evaluation process.
Originality/value
Librarians and writing instructors often collaborate to help first-year college students learn how to evaluate the sources they use in research projects, but often overlook making sure these students can first correctly identify the different types of information they are evaluating.
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