Designing future library leaders: Investigating the incorporation of design thinking and methods in master’s level library education

MLIS graduates need to be collaborative, creative, socially innovative, flexible, and adaptable problem solvers—characteristics that may be achieved by incorporating design thinking into master’s level library education. Yet explicit integration of design thinking and methods appears to be missing in MLIS degree programs. This paper presentation will report on findings from Designing Future Library Leaders, a project that investigated the current state of design thinking and methods in master’s level library education in the United States through a field scan of existing curricula, a nationwide survey of library practitioners, and a national forum connecting MLIS educators and library professionals

Breaking Records: The History of Bibliographic Records and Their Influence in Conceptualizing Bibliographic Data

A bibliographic record is a conceptual whole that includes all bibliographic information about a resource together in one place. With the Semantic Web, individual data statements are linked across the web. This position article argues that the traditional conceptualization of bibliographic records affects the affordances and limitations of that data. A historical analysis of the development of bibliographic records contrasted with the Semantic Web model reveals how the “record” model shaped library cataloging and the implications on library catalogs today. Reification of the record model for bibliographic data hampers possibilities for innovation in cataloging, inspiring a reconceptualization of bibliographic description

Color by Numbers: An Exploration of the Use of Color as Classification Notation

Notation is a fundamental component of a classification scheme, especially library and bibliographic classification. However, notation is often considered an afterthought or auxiliary to classification itself. With the advances in technology, classification systems, including their notation, must evolve. What, if any, possibilities lie beyond alphanumeric characters and symbols? The author explores the possible use of color as classificatory notation by looking at the traditional qualities of notation and the classificatory needs it must accommodate, various theories and standards of color, and their possible applications to classification notation. Theoretical and practical implications are considered and discussed, as well as larger implications for notation and classification overall

Toward a Design Epistemology for Librarianship

The design of information tools and services is an integral component of librarianship, yet American librarianship has self-identified as a social science for more than 100 years. This paper suggests an alternative epistemological perspective to the scientific tradition in librarianship: design epistemology. The paper discusses key elements that comprise design epistemology and presents examples of manifestations of these elements in librarianship. Analysis reveals that librarianship has much in common with design epistemology, yet the field lacks explicit acknowledgement of design as a fundamental epistemological framework. The paper concludes with a call for reconceptualizing librarianship as a design discipline

A Qualitative Investigation of Users’ Video Game Information Needs and Behaviors

Video games are popular consumer products as well as research subjects, yet little exists about how players and other stakeholders find video games and what information they need to select, acquire, and play video games. With the aim of better understanding people’s game-related information needs and behaviors, we conducted 56 semi-structured interviews with users who find, play, purchase, collect, and recommend video games. Participants included casual and avid gamers, parents, collectors, industry professionals, librarians, and scholars. From this user data, we derive and discuss key design implications for video game information systems: designing for target user populations, enabling recommendations on appeals, offering multiple automatic organization options, and providing relationship-based, user-generated, subject and visual metadata. We anticipate this work will contribute to building future video game information systems with new and improved access to games

Why Video Game Genres Fail: A Classificatory Analysis

This paper explores the current affordances and limitations of video game genre from a library and information science perspective with an emphasis on classification theory. We identify and discuss various purposes of genre relating to video games, including identity, collocation and retrieval, commercial marketing, and educational instruction. Through the use of examples, we discuss the ways in which these purposes are supported by genre classification and conceptualization, and the implications for video games. Suggestions for improved conceptualizations such as family resemblances, prototype theory, faceted classification, and appeal factors for video game genres are considered, with discussions of strengths and weaknesses. This analysis helps inform potential future practical applications for describing video games at cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, museums, and archives, as well as furthering the understanding of video game genre and genre classification for game studies at large

Transitioning from the MLS to the MLD: Integrating Design Thinking and Philosophy into Library and Information Science Education

Purpose As change creates more uncertainty for library practitioners, graduate library education needs to explore how to best prepare students to manage ambiguity through new approaches to identifying and solving challenging problems. We advocate for incorporating design into graduate library education. Design/Methodology/Approach First, we discuss the need for a design approach to librarianship. We then introduce the nature of design thinking and philosophy, and discuss the ways in which it is already present in librarianship. We review past developments and recent trends with a special focus on the ways in which design thinking, methods, and philosophies are (or are not) incorporated into LIS education. Findings We synthesize these findings to propose recommendations and suggestions for an alternative degree program to the traditional MLS: the MLD (Master of Library Design). This includes the presentation of a new model of library education that blends design philosophy with traditional library science content. Originality/Value This is the first article in the library literature to propose the development of a new type of library degree that we refer to as the Master of Library Design, hence it has a high level of originality. While the library literature has examples of practitioners applying design thinking to improve library services, this article’s value is that it promotes the integration of design thinking and philosophy more broadly in order to better equip future library professionals for a rapidly changing information landscape

Developing a Video Game Metadata Schema for the Seattle Interactive Media Museum

As interest in video games increases, so does the need for intelligent access to them. However, traditional organizational systems and standards fall short. In order to fill this gap, we are collaborating with the Seattle Interactive Media Museum to develop a formal metadata schema for video games. In the paper, we describe how the schema was established from a user-centered design approach and introduce the core elements from our schema. We also discuss the challenges we encountered as we were conducting a domain analysis and cataloging real-world examples of video games. Inconsistent, vague, and subjective sources of information for title, genre, release date, feature, region, language, developer and publisher information confirm the importance of developing a standardized description model for video games

MicroRNA-30c targets cytoskeleton genes involved in breast cancer cell invasion

Metastasis remains a significant challenge in treating cancer. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis is needed to develop more effective treatments. Here we show that human breast tumor biomarker miR-30c regulates invasion by targeting the cytoskeleton network genes encoding Twinfilin 1 (TWF1) and Vimentin (VIM). Both VIM and TWF1 have been shown to regulate epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Similar to TWF1, VIM also regulates F-actin formation, a key component of cellular transition to a more invasive mesenchymal phenotype. To further characterize the role of the TWF1 pathway in breast cancer, we found that IL-11 is an important target of TWF1 that regulates breast cancer cell invasion and STAT3 phosphorylation. The miR-30c-VIM/TWF1 signaling cascade is also associated with clinical outcome in breast cancer patients

Communication of palliative care needs in discharge letters from hospice providers to primary care : a multisite sequential explanatory mixed methods study

Background The provision of palliative care is increasing, with many people dying in community-based settings. It is essential that communication is effective if and when patients transition from hospice to community palliative care. Past research has indicated that communication issues are prevalent during hospital discharges, but little is known about hospice discharges. Methods An explanatory sequential mixed methods study consisting of a retrospective review of hospice discharge letters, followed by hospice focus groups, to explore patterns in communication of palliative care needs of discharged patients and describe why these patients were being discharged. Discharge letters were extracted for key content information using a standardised form. Letters were then examined for language patterns using a linguistic methodology termed corpus linguistics. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the focus group transcripts. Findings were triangulated to develop an explanatory understanding of discharge communication from hospice care. Results We sampled 250 discharge letters from five UK hospices whereby patients had been discharged to primary care. Twenty-five staff took part in focus groups. The main reasons for discharge extracted from the letters were symptoms “managed/resolved” (75.2%), and/or the “patient wishes to die/for care at home” (37.2%). Most patients had some form of physical needs documented on the letters (98.4%) but spiritual needs were rarely documented (2.4%). Psychological/emotional needs and social needs were documented in 46.4 and 35.6% of letters respectively. There was sometimes ambiguity in “who” will be following up “what” in the discharge letters, and whether described patients’ needs were resolved or ongoing for managing in the community setting. The extent to which patients received a copy of their discharge letter varied. Focus groups conveyed a lack of consensus on what constitutes “complexity” and “complex pain”. Conclusions The content and structure of discharge letters varied between hospices, although generally focused on physical needs. Our study provides insights into patterns associated with those discharged from hospice, and how policy and guidance in this area may be improved, such as greater consistency of sharing letters with patients. A patient-centred set of hospice-specific discharge letter principles could help improve future practice