Definig the Boundaries of an Italian Systems Librarianship: Library Managers and System Managers of an Automated Library System

Systems librarianship has become a field of interest for professional literature from the late 1980s and until current days many authors have continued to investigate the roles, competencies and related issues of the systems librarians’ position within their organisation and library environments. This branch of literature has been reviewed by the researcher1 with the main purposes to cover the topic at an international level and define the limits of the debate

Vital Decisions

Presents findings from surveys conducted in 2001 and 2002. Looks at how Internet users make decisions about what online health information to trust. Includes a guide from the Medical Library Association about smart health-search strategies

Tailoring graduate attributes to meet the needs of international students in a pathway program

Increasingly within higher education there has been a drive towards transformation of the learning experience to incorporate skills that extend beyond traditional definitions of academic literacy. This has meant that today’s graduates are expected to leace their places of study with an increased awareness of the attributes they have acquired over the course of their educational journey. This set of accumulated skills, knowledge, and abilities of students has come to be known as Graduate Attributes (GAs), which this paper sets out to define, and then reshape around the needs of international students on pathway, or pre-degree, programmes. Having reviewed the relevant literature and found definitions of a phenomenon that is still relatively new to higher education, it then provides an instance of how the formulation of these attributes has been tailored to meet the needs of international students. In order to do this, and take into account a shorter timeframe of study, the focus was on the acquisition of Core Learning Values (CLVs) rather than Graduate Attributes. To capture a sense of how this worked in practice, the study focuses on the case of Eynesbury Institute of Business and Technology (EIBT), which serves as the setting for a study that explored the way ‘values’ can be added to the study experience of those in Australian first-year pathway instititions. As such this is a small scale instance of action research that has been designed as a means of reflection for EIBT, and as a means of stimulating further developments in the area of interlinking values with attributes so as to enhance the activity of providing a positive learning experience of international students on pathway programmes

A study on the effects of tertiary education on open source information gathering skills

Since the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), a large amount of information has become available and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Where in the past, the art of the intelligence profession was finding scarce information, currently information gathering is more focused on sorting relevant information from the available abundance. The purpose of the current study was to gain a better understanding of how information is gathered on the Web by potential intelligence analysts. Although the WWW is used by many people to search for information daily, relatively little research exists on how this source should be used and what to consider when using it in the intelligence context. As the intelligence profession mostly recruits university graduates as analysts, the current study aimed to investigate how information collection skills differ between security science students who are at different stages of a three-year tertiary intelligence course. A mixed-method approach was employed using three cohorts of students with 40 participants. Each participant was asked to gather information on a defined problem utilising resources available on the WWW, to list all information gathered and the search terms used. In addition, each participant was asked to specify search strategies employed to address the problem, which were analysed qualitatively. Statistical tests were used to determine statistically significant differences between the three levels of cohorts concerning volume of information gathered, number of search terms utilised and number of clicks used. It was found that the second year cohort utilised a statistically significant greater number of search terms than the first year cohort. Qualitative data were analysed to identify that eight strategies overall, varying in frequency of use and level of sophistication, were used by participants at different stages of the course. The greatest searching skill acquisition was found to occur in the first year of the course, followed by further refinements of skills throughout the second and third year of the course. Replication of the study is recommended and future research directions are suggested

Criteria in English language textbook evaluation checklists: a systematic review

The systematic review was carried out to examine evaluation criteria in textbook evaluation checklists used to evaluate ESL/EFL textbooks around the world and to identify gaps and additional criteria that could be included in future textbook evaluation checklists to meet the demand of current teaching and learning situations. Two databases - Scopus and the Web of Science - were explored to collect data. Primary searches between 2011 and 2021 revealed 92 studies dealing with the topic under investigation. After scrutinizing abstracts and removing duplicates, 36 studies were retained for further analysis. A thematic analysis was conducted to derive themes for the criteria enlisted in these studies. The themes of criteria that emerged were: (1) practical considerations; (2) layout and design; (3) language skills; (4) language activities and tasks; (5) topic/subject of the content; (6) appropriateness for students; (7) cultural considerations; (8) supplementary materials; and (9) fitness with the language program aims and objectives. It is recommended that future textbook evaluation checklists could focus on criteria that relate to an ESL/EFL textbook’s relatability to its users, especially in terms of its culture representation, its ability to enable self-study, and a wider integration of technology, especially in the era of online distance learning which is expected to stay even if the COVID-19 pandemic subsides later

The role of information in postgraduates' decision-making cycle.

The global market for international postgraduate students is becoming increasingly competitive as more institutions offer Masters level courses and universities need to increase revenues. The UK Government and universities want to stop the declining trend in market share of international students and have ambitious plans to attract these students to the UK. Understanding the decision making and information searching processes of international postgraduates will help universities to support these students as they make their decisions and tailor their marketing communications strategies to raise awareness of the institution, increase applications and ensure postgraduates' satisfaction whilst at university. The aim of this study is to explore the role of information within the individual decision making cycle of international non-EU postgraduate students when selecting a business qualification and studying at university and evolve a decision making cycle model. The information requirements of international postgraduates at all stages of the decision making process from the time they recognised a need to study, through application and enrolment to graduation, were investigated. Influential members of the decision making unit were identified and their information needs explored alongside the factors that impacted on the decision making cycle. The methodological approach was underpinned by an interpretivist philosophy. A quantitative scoping study, based on the author's previous research, was used as an exploratory framework to help design the qualitative data collection. Under an inductive research approach 42 interviews were conducted with international non-EU postgraduates studying a business qualification in a post-92 English university. Thematic and Interpretative Phenomenological analysis were carried out on the full transcripts. A theoretical contribution is made by evolving a new conceptual model of the role of information in the decision making cycle of individuals when making a significant purchase decision; the Iterative Decision Making Cycle Model. The model is unique as it builds on models proposed by both marketing and consumer behaviour scholars, and Kuhlthau, a LIS academic, to create a new model which reflects the connectedness of individuals in the digital era. Kuhlthau's research is extended into a new context as the focus is on the postgraduate as an information seeker and their use of information when making a high involvement purchase decision. A new consumer Decision Maker and Information Searcher Typology is proposed. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in marketing and LIS as it helps individuals to understand the cyclical and iterative nature of the decision making cycle, the sequence of decisions made regarding the country, university and course and then city to study in and the significance of online sources including the university website, rankings and online reviews regardless of their credibility. There is a need to stimulate recommendations and information exchange amongst prospective, current students and alumni due to the influence of word of mouth information sources and communicate pertinent information to students, parents, agents and partner staff as important target audiences. Despite living in an information rich world there was a lack of rationality and informedness amongst certain groups of postgraduates when making these significant decisions and 'new', 'experienced' and 'connected' prospective postgraduates should receive tailored information as identified in the typology. Once at university information plays an important role in structuring expectations and contributing to the student experience and satisfaction levels of international postgraduates. Recommendations are made to the Government and universities on targeting prospective postgraduates and other influential members of the DMU, on tailoring the messages and media to be used when communicating with these target audiences and to provide the information required by postgraduates immediately post purchase and whilst studying at university

Historical Fabrications on the Internet: Recognition, Evaluation, and Use in Bibliographic Instruction

Although the Internet provides access to a wealth of information, there is little, if any, control over the quality of that information. Side-by-side with reliable information, one finds disinformation, misinformation, and hoaxes. The authors of this paper discuss numerous examples of fabricated historical information on the Internet (ranging from denials of the Holocaust to personal vendettas), offer suggestions on how to evaluate websites, and argue that these fabrications can be incorporated into bibliographic instruction classes