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While assessment and user experience (UX) have been identified as areas of growing focus in all types of libraries, there is currently little infrastructure to prepare students for these roles (Applegate, 2016; Askew and Theodore-Shusta, 2013; Nitecki et al., 2015; Oakleaf, 2013; Passonneau and Erickson, 2014). As a step toward addressing this gap, a team from an American Library Association-accredited master’s program situated at a large public land-grant institution (LGU) worked with practitioner partners from academic libraries and information agencies to develop a new model for preparing information professionals with assessment and UX expertise. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In fall of 2015, faculty members applied for funding from the US Institute for Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians program for a program to develop formalized assessment and UX training in Library and Information Science (LIS) education. The student cohort would have interests in two areas: academic libraries and specialized information agencies. The two groups would complete much of the same coursework, earn the ALA-accredited master’s degree and have the opportunity to engage in co-curricular activities focused on UX and assessment. However, each sub-group would also pursue a subject-specific curriculum. In April 2016, IMLS funded the program.

In addition to reviewing the literature related to best practices in curriculum development, the authors describe the process of designing the program, including the curriculum, co-curricular mentoring and practicum opportunities, and the tools developed to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

At a time in which the library practitioner and LIS educator communities are contemplating how best to prepare professionals with much-needed expertise in assessment and UX, UX-A represents an innovative approach in professional preparation. Although the UX-A program is grant-funded, several of the program components could be adapted and incorporated without such support.

This paper discusses the structure and history of the program, issues related to developing a new curricular program for LIS education, and the educational and professional development needs of the assessment and UX professional community. It includes an extensive review of literature related to LIS curriculum development, practica, and professional mentoring, as well as suggestions for implementing elements of the program in other settings.

The purpose of this paper is to provide library managers with the ability to recognize and address World 2.0 information issues to enhance their ability to develop management plans for the future.

This paper explores what World 2.0 means to library managers in three ways. Three information dimensions are identified using models to examine World 2.0 in a historical context. An analysis is conducted of the different generations of users in World 2.0 including their diverse attitudes, beliefs, experiences and skills and how these influence their engagement with the information environment. Four key characteristics of Web 2.0 are identified through an analysis of Web 2.0 in relation to World 2.0.

Key findings in this paper are that: three dimensions of information in World 2.0 exist and can be used by library managers to help them understand the challenges and to facilitate the construction of strategic management plans that address them. Generational and organizational perspectives of World 2.0 can influence how libraries engage Web 2.0, and should be considered when library managers make strategic management plans for the future. The four characteristics of Web 2.0 create considerations for library managers during their planning processes.

This paper is of interest because it provides library managers with a thorough understanding of World 2.0 and how it may influence their libraries and their users so they can make more informed, more successful planning choices.

Knowledge creation relies on melding powerful technological tools with efficient human organizations. Digital libraries (DLs) provide the technological mechanisms to cross national and disciplinary boundaries, and promote an organizational structure that encourages communication between scholars who are both creating and consuming information. The DL is especially good at coordinating and integrating findings about a specific topic that is being studied by different disciplines and different nations, which is an essential component to further our knowledge. This paper will briefly outline the knowledge creation process, and will introduce the author’s SEEK model (structure for encompassing extensible knowledge) that provides a framework for exploring the relationship between technology and human organizations in international interdisciplinary knowledge creation. The paper will also introduce two models of electronically‐based scholarly organizations that promote international collaboration and facilitate knowledge creation, and will offer eight steps towards building the effective organization for utilizing DLs for international collaboration.

This paper aims to identify topics that are being addressed in the institutional repository (IR) literature, and to determine what the role of the librarian will be in IR projects.

A thorough search was conducted to identify literature that has been published about IRs. A conceptual content analysis was conducted on the literature using eight category coding steps and a multicoder process including a review of intercoder agreement.

The analysis of the 30 articles revealed that concepts found in the IR literature can be grouped into five major themes – definition, implementation, management, outcomes, and librarian's role. The analysis also indicated that there is only a limited discussion of the librarian's role particularly with regard to the relationship with self‐archiving authors, which is a key characteristic of IRs.

The paper identifies areas in the literature that have not been addressed and suggests areas for future research. Its limitations are that: the cut‐off date for literature was October 30, 2004; the literature review was comprehensive but not exhaustive; nine articles had a single coder but were included because of high levels of coder agreement; and coding was on general concepts at the most elemental level.

The paper identifies six roles that are the responsibilities of librarians in the IR environment: understanding software, project planning and management, collection definition, metadata guidance, submission review, and author training.

This paper makes an original contribution by identifying what is missing in the literature and by offering recommendations about the role of librarians in the IR environment.

A report on the 7th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) and some of the sessions presented at the 2004 conference, which had the theme of “Distributing Knowledge Worldwide Through Better Scholarly Communication.”

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the main contents of the 18th BOBCATSSS Symposium, held in Parma, Italy in January 2010, dedicated to the main theme “Bridging the digital divide: libraries providing access for all?”

The report provides a concise presentation of the main themes discussed during the conference.

The topics presented focused mainly on the fields of access and delivery, community support and collections, with some others focusing on leadership and management.

This symposium is one of the few conferences in the world where students are the main characters and participate as organisers, reviewers and presenters of the contributions. Reports on such conferences are of interest to both students and to teachers and professionals.