1,392 research outputs found

    Reference Suite @ FACTS.com

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    Facts On File was founded in 1940 to serve the radio news business with the publication of the weekly Facts On File World News Digest, the complete database of which contains 100,000 articles that have been meticulously indexed and cross-linked to nearly 1,000,000 records from Facts On File annual indexes. The Web version of these two sources went online as FACTS.com in March 1999. Four modules that have been added are Today’s Science, Issues and Controversies, The World Almanac, and Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia. Together, these five modules make up the Reference Suite @ FACTS.com, which was launched in April 2000. In addition, Reuter\u27s newswire delivers stories that are held for two weeks, thus providing a vital bridge between daily news and the articles added weekly, monthly or yearly by the various publications that make up the Reference Suite

    SLIS Student Research Journal, Vol. 1, Iss. 1

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    Influence of Academic Library Services on Media Literacy of Library and Information Science Undergraduates in Federal University Oye- Ekiti.

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    To examine the influence of academic library services on media literacy among library and information science undergraduates at federal university Oye-Ekiti, the study used a descriptive survey of the case study type. For data collection, a structured questionnaire was employed. Purposive and total sampling techniques were used to distribute the questionnaires to 156 respondents, who were LIS undergraduate students ranging in level from 100 to 400. The simple percentage method of analysis was used to analyse the data that had been obtained. The study\u27s findings showed that Federal University Oye-Ekiti LIS undergraduate students are aware of media literacy. The study also showed that Federal University Oye-Ekiti undergraduate LIS students had access to library and information sources through selective information distribution, inter-library loan services, internet services, and supply of information resources. Additionally, the study\u27s findings identified certain obstacles to the development of media literacy in LIS undergraduates, such as poor internet connectivity, a lack of rigorous media literacy assessments, a lack of awareness, and insufficient resources. The study comes to the conclusion that media literacy will benefit LIS undergraduates greatly and provide lifelong learning skills if it is applied properly. The study recommended that LIS undergraduate students need to be educated about and given a thorough understanding of the usage and effects of media literacy

    CHORUS Deliverable 2.2: Second report - identification of multi-disciplinary key issues for gap analysis toward EU multimedia search engines roadmap

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    After addressing the state-of-the-art during the first year of Chorus and establishing the existing landscape in multimedia search engines, we have identified and analyzed gaps within European research effort during our second year. In this period we focused on three directions, notably technological issues, user-centred issues and use-cases and socio- economic and legal aspects. These were assessed by two central studies: firstly, a concerted vision of functional breakdown of generic multimedia search engine, and secondly, a representative use-cases descriptions with the related discussion on requirement for technological challenges. Both studies have been carried out in cooperation and consultation with the community at large through EC concertation meetings (multimedia search engines cluster), several meetings with our Think-Tank, presentations in international conferences, and surveys addressed to EU projects coordinators as well as National initiatives coordinators. Based on the obtained feedback we identified two types of gaps, namely core technological gaps that involve research challenges, and “enablers”, which are not necessarily technical research challenges, but have impact on innovation progress. New socio-economic trends are presented as well as emerging legal challenges

    Corroborating what data collected by 9th-12th grade school librarians articulate and validate a successful school library program

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    Utilizing an experts\u27 consensus from the field of school librarianship of the characteristics of a successful school library program, this study aimed to corroborate what data collected by 9th-12th grade school librarians articulate and validate a successful school library program. Information Power was used as the industry standard for determining the standards of successful school library programs. First; a meta-analysis was done to identify the experts in the field of school librarianship. Second, a Delphi study was used with the experts to corroborate what data needs to be collected by 9th-12th grade school librarians to validate the success of a school library program. By consensus, three data collection techniques were determined to be valid to articulate and validate a successful school library program: library expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) student to report sufficient funding; an analysis of lesson plans to report alternative ways for students to achieve SLM program\u27s support of diverse learning styles; and the student outcomes after collaborative lesson planning of lessons with library components are a valid measure that a SLMS is collaborating, modeling, and promoting

    Can computer technology help elementary students achieve information literacy?

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    In an attempt to determine if computer technology helps elementary students achieve information literacy, a quasi-experiment was conducted using the Solomon four-group design with two fourth grade and two fifth grade classes. Information Literacy Standards from Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning and Eisenberg and Berkowitz\u27 Big 6™ Information Literacy model were used to structure the experiment. The researcher was a participant observer, the school\u27s librarian. Two classes were pretested and posttested, the other two were only posttested following Solomon four-group protocol. The researcher used a rubric to assess students at each step of the Big 6™ Information Literacy model in the course of their information problem-solving search. The scores from the pre- and posttests were not conclusive in themselves. While one class demonstrated improvement on its posttest scores, all the classes\u27 posttest scores were within a few percentage points of each other. Likewise, the Rubric for Assessment determined the four groups to be adequate or slightly better at each of the Big 6™ steps. The role of the teacher-librarian was also studied and found to be crucial. Continuing study of teacher-librarian roles is recommended as computer technology advances and its use continues to increase in education

    Science of Digital Libraries(SciDL)

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    Our purpose is to ensure that people and institutions better manage information through digital libraries (DLs). Thus we address a fundamental human and social need, which is particularly urgent in the modern Information (and Knowledge) Age. Our goal is to significantly advance both the theory and state-of-theart of DLs (and other advanced information systems) - thoroughly validating our approach using highly visible testbeds. Our research objective is to leverage our formal, theory-based approach to the problems of defining, understanding, modeling, building, personalizing, and evaluating DLs. We will construct models and tools based on that theory so organizations and individuals can easily create and maintain fully functional DLs, whose components can interoperate with corresponding components of related DLs. This research should be highly meritorious intellectually. We bring together a team of senior researchers with expertise in information retrieval, human-computer interaction, scenario-based design, personalization, and componentized system development and expect to make important contributions in each of those areas. Of crucial import, however, is that we will integrate our prior research and experience to achieve breakthrough advances in the field of DLs, regarding theory, methodology, systems, and evaluation. We will extend the 5S theory, which has identified five key dimensions or onstructs underlying effective DLs: Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, and Societies. We will use that theory to describe and develop metamodels, models, and systems, which can be tailored to disciplines and/or groups, as well as personalized. We will disseminate our findings as well as provide toolkits as open source software, encouraging wide use. We will validate our work using testbeds, ensuring broad impact. We will put powerful tools into the hands of digital librarians so they may easily plan and configure tailored systems, to support an extensible set of services, including publishing, discovery, searching, browsing, recommending, and access control, handling diverse types of collections, and varied genres and classes of digital objects. With these tools, end-users will for be able to design personal DLs. Testbeds are crucial to validate scientific theories and will be thoroughly integrated into SciDL research and evaluation. We will focus on two application domains, which together should allow comprehensive validation and increase the significance of SciDL's impact on scholarly communities. One is education (through CITIDEL); the other is libraries (through DLA and OCKHAM). CITIDEL deals with content from publishers (e.g, ACM Digital Library), corporate research efforts e.g., CiteSeer), volunteer initiatives (e.g., DBLP, based on the database and logic rogramming literature), CS departments (e.g., NCSTRL, mostly technical reports), educational initiatives (e.g., Computer Science Teaching Center), and universities (e.g., theses and dissertations). DLA is a unit of the Virginia Tech library that virtually publishes scholarly communication such as faculty-edited journals and rare and unique resources including image collections and finding aids from Special Collections. The OCKHAM initiative, calling for simplicity in the library world, emphasizes a three-part solution: lightweightprotocols, component-based development, and open reference models. It provides a framework to research the deployment of the SciDL approach in libraries. Thus our choice of testbeds also will nsure that our research will have additional benefit to and impact on the fields of computing and library and information science, supporting transformations in how we learn and deal with information

    Using electronic information resources: a study of end-user training needs and methods in selected public university libraries in Malaysia

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    This research investigated the library end-users' perceptions of their training needs in relation to using the electronic information resources in selected public universities in Malaysia. It also investigated the training methods preferred by end-users in learning how to use electronic information resources. The subjects of the study were university students and academic staff from three selected public universities in Malaysia. They comprised 433 students and 223 academic staff. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. The main data was gathered through self-administered questionnaires, while the supplementary data was gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Opinions from the librarians responsible for end-user training at the three university libraries were also sought through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Comparisons were made between the two groups of end-users, namely, students and academic staff in areas related to the problems of the study. Appropriate non-parametric statistical techniques such as cross-tabulation, chisquare test, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation test were applied in analysing the data measured at both nominal and ordinal scales. Among the major findings were: (1) a statistically significant differences were found between students and academic staff in terms of knowledge and ability in using electronic information resources. Many academic staff were more knowledgable and able to use electronic information resources than students. However, concerning knowledge in using certain IT facilities, many more students than academic staff knew how to use them; and (2) both students and academic staff preferred one-to-one training methods as their first choice. With regard to the second choice of training method, students preferred computerassisted instruction (CAI), while academic staff preferred library workshops with hands-on training. Recommendations based on the research findings were made

    Analyzing Digital Literacy Demands, Practices, and Discourses within a Library Computer Programming Club for Children

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    abstract: Among researchers, educators, and other stakeholders in literacy education, there has been a growing emphasis on developing literacy pedagogies that are more responsive to the ways young people experience literacy in their everyday lives, which often make use of digital media and other technologies for exchanging meaning. This dissertation project sought to explore the nature of these digital-age literacies in the context of children learning through and about new technologies. Conducting a year-long, multimethod observational study of an out-of-school library-based program designed to engage students in self-directed learning around the domain of computer programming, this project was framed around an analysis of digital-age literacies in design, discourse, and practice. To address each of these areas, the project developed a methodology grounded in interpretive, naturalistic, and participant-observation methodologies in collaboration with a local library Code Club in a metropolitan area of the Southwestern U.S between September 2016 and December 2017. Participants in the project included a total of 47 students aged 8-14, 3 librarians, and 3 parents. Data sources for the project included (1) artifactual data, such as the designed interfaces of the online platforms students regularly engaged with, (2) observational data such as protocol-based field notes taken during and after each Code Club meeting, and (3) interview data, collected during qualitative interviews with students, parents, and library facilitators outside the program. These data sources were analyzed through a multi-method interpretive framework, including the multimodal analysis of digital artifacts, qualitative coding, and discourse analysis. The findings of the project illustrate the multidimensional nature of digital-age literacy experiences as they are rendered “on the screen” at the content level, “behind the screen” at the procedural level, and “beyond the screen” at the contextual level. The project contributes to the literature on literacy education by taking an multi-method, interdisciplinary approach to expand analytical perspectives on digital media and literacy in a digital age, while also providing an empirical account of this approach in a community-embedded context of implementation.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 201

    Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success Research Report Version 1.0

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    Over the past five years, libraries have begun to expand their role in the scholarly publishing value chain by offering a greater range of pre-publication and editorial support services. Given the rapid evolution of these services, there is a clear community need for practical guidance concerning the challenges and opportunities facing library-based publishing programs.Recognizing that library publishing services represent one part of a complex ecology of scholarly communication, Purdue University Libraries, in collaboration with the Libraries of Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Utah, secured an IMLS National Leadership Grant under the title “Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success.” The project, conducted between October 2010 and September 2011, seeks to advance the professionalism of library-based publishing by identifying successful library publishing strategies and services, highlighting best practices, and recommending priorities for building capacity.The project has four components: 1) a survey of librarians designed to provide an overview of current practice for library publishing programs (led by consultant October Ivins); 2) a report presenting best practice case studies of the publishing programs at the partner institutions (written by consultant Raym Crow); 3) a series of workshops held at each participating institution to present and discuss the findings of the survey and case studies; and 4) a review of the existing literature on library publishing services. The results of these research threads are pulled together in this project white paper
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