Keeping it Current: Avenues for Staff Development

This article explores and identifies avenues for library staff development. It discusses methods for assessment of staff needs, the creation of a plan for professional development opportunities, and methods of evaluating effectiveness through case-based scenarios at Central Washington University

Keeping it Current: Avenues for Staff Development

Whether you are providing staff training in preparation for new library initiatives, or just trying to keep up with current programs and technology, staff development is an integral part of maintaining a progressive and prepared library. The multitude of means for delivering staff development have also made it easier to overcome various time, space, or technology restrictions to making it a regular part of library work. However, regardless of how deliverable staff trainings may be, in our busy lives it still takes time to make a plan for staff development. This article outlines a method for making such a plan for your own library and examines case study examples from Central Washington University. Before creating your master plan for staff development at your own institution, make sure you have the approval of your library administration at an early stage. Getting buyin from administration is extremely important for supporting staff development and assessing its feasibility. Bringing in an expensive workshop facilitator or sending staff and faculty to conferences can be a serious fiscal undertaking. However, staff development doesn’t always need to be a pricey burden and this article will include examples of staff development activities that do not require bringing in experts

Pulling It All Together: Developing an Assessment Toolkit

This presentation discusses topics such as good assessment practices, assessment tools, data analysis and presentation, and assessment promotion

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

The objective of this research is to find out the teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension at one of Senior High School in Bengkulu, Indonesia. This research is mixed-method research design. The subjects in this research are two English teachers who teach English at class X, XI, and XII. The data were collected using an observation checklist. The result of the research showed that the teachers used some strategies in teaching reading with the highest percentage were Question Generating (27%), Encouraging the Use of Dictionaries (25%) and Question Answering (23%). This indicated that the teachers only used a few strategies in teaching reading comprehension. For the next researchers, they could conduct research about the teachers’ strategies used by English teachers in a wider area. So, the result will be more advantageous and be applied in a larger area.Keywords: Teachers’ Strategies, Reading Comprehensio

Transforming Technical Services: Evolving Functions in Large Research University Libraries

Technical services functions in academic libraries have evolved in response to fiscal pressures and advances in technology. In this study the author investigates how technical services in large research university libraries are adapting to support the changing roles of academic libraries. The author conducted hour-long phone interviews in early 2014 with the representatives from nineteen out of the twenty-five university libraries in the Technical Services Directors Large Research Libraries Interest Group. This paper presents the results and discussion based on the interview data: use of the name, Technical Services; new and emerging functions of technical services; organizational structure of technical services units; change drivers that are affecting technical services now, and those that will soon; and challenges in managing technical services. Five models of a technical services organizational structure were developed from participants’ organizational charts and interview data. This research also highlights the skills needed among technical services personnel.UT Librarie

Qualitative trends in library & information science (LIS) research

Background Over the past two decades, theorists have noted an increase in the use of qualitative research methods within library and information science (LIS). However, no recent study has sought to provide rigorous evidence of this increase. This ongoing study seeks to address two research questions: 1. How widespread is the use of qualitative data collection and analysis methods in the recent LIS research literature? 2. What are some common themes and trends within the body of recent LIS studies that have used qualitative methods? Data Collection The researchers mined the Web of Science database for abstracts from the top four LIS research journals for the period 2001-2006. Next, they designed an automated program to search the resulting pool of abstracts for set of 14 keywords. Manual analysis was then used to remove false drops. Data Analysis The study includes two data analysis stages. For Stage 1, the researchers used statistical methods to generate a quantitative snapshot of the data. The study is currently in Stage 2, which entails the use of qualitative data analysis techniques to search for themes and patterns within the pool of abstracts. Expected Findings The quantitative results will provide concrete evidence of the frequency of qualitative research methods within these top-ranked LIS research journals. The qualitative analysis will point to possible trends within LIS studies that use qualitative methods, such as dominant data collection or data analysis methods. Together, these results will help to provide a better understanding of the current face of LIS research

The Documentality of “SMONG” as Social Control for Disaster Risk Reduction in Simeulue Island

Aim – This study aims to analyze nandong smong as an oral tradition with the documentality approach by Frohmann. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study analyzes nandong smong using qualitative method, especially case study research. The data collected in this study used secondary data obtained from literature sources or journal documents and previous research related to nandong smong. In this research, data analysis document analysis. Finding – Nandong smong is one of the oral traditions that has become a disaster mitigation tool for the people of Simeulue. According to Frohmann\u27s concept of documentality, Nandong Smong has four aspects of documentality, as follows functionality, historicity, social complexity, and autonomous agency. Nandong smong as an oral document still survives and has a role for the people of Simeulue to this day. As an oral document, nandong smong has a certain social function for the people of Simeulue which is different from other regions. Nandong smong has the power to affect the emotions of the Simeulue community so that it can become a disaster mitigation tool when a tsunami occurs. This was proven when there was a tsunami in 2004, Nandong Smong was able to save them from a tsunam

INFLUENCE OF LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT AND USER EDUCATION ON UNDERGRADUATES’ USE OF LIBRARY AT COLLEGE OF EDUCATION WARRI, NIGERIA.

The study investigated the influence of library environment and user education on undergraduates’ use of the college main library at the college of education warri. The study adopted the survey research design and the population consisted of 10,000 regular undergraduates in five faculties from which a sample size of 400 respondents was selected, using a random sampling technique. The research instrument used for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire while data were analyzed using frequency distribution, percentages. The research finding disclosed the customer education methods were library orientation for fresh learners and use of library course with guided library tour. In order to study and read for exams, most undergraduates used the library daily or weekly. That college library environment was defined by excellent library building, but insufficient technological equipment to be used for electronic sources and bad network / internet connectivity to access electronic databases were some of the main problems of using the college library. The research discovered a substantial connection between autonomous factors (library environment and customer education) and dependent variable (database use); whereas both library environment and customer education contributed jointly and independently to library use among graduates. In order to sensitize more learners and draw their attention to the accessible resources and facilities, the college library environment (both inner and external) should be produced more conducive to attracting customers to the library at all time