Understanding patterns of library use among undergraduate students from different disciplines

Objective The objective of this study was to test whether routinely-generated library usage data could be linked with information about students to understand patterns of library use among students from different disciplines at the University of Huddersfield. This information is important for librarians seeking to demonstrate the value of the library, and to ensure that they are providing services which meet user needs. The study seeks to join two strands of library user research which until now have been kept rather separate – an interest in disciplinary differences in usage, and a methodology which involves large-scale routinely-generated data. Methods The study uses anonymised data about individual students derived from two sources: routinely-generated data on various dimensions of physical and electronic library resource usage, and information from the student registry on the course studied by each student. Courses were aggregated at a subject and then disciplinary level. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between the high-level disciplinary groups, and within each disciplinary group at the subject level. Results The study identifies a number of statistically significant differences on various dimensions of usage between both high-level disciplinary groupings and lower subject-level groupings. In some cases, differences are not the same as those observed in earlier studies, reflecting distinctive usage patterns and differences in the way that disciplines or subjects are defined and organised. Arts students at Huddersfield use library resources less than those in social science disciplines, contradicting findings from studies at other institutions, although music students are high users within the arts subject-level grouping. Computing and engineering students were relatively similar, although computing students were more likely to download PDFs, and engineering students were more likely to use the physical library. Conclusions The technique introduced in this study represents an effective way of understanding distinctive usage patterns at an individual institution. There may be potential to aggregate findings across several institutions to help universities benchmark their own performance and usage; this would require a degree of collaboration and standardisation. This study found that students in certain disciplines at Huddersfield use the library in different ways to students in those same disciplines at other institutions: further investigation is needed to understand exactly why these differences exist, but some hypotheses are offered

Guide to Creative Commons for Humanities and Social Science monograph authors

An output of the OAPEN-UK project, this guide explores concerns expressed in public evidence given by researchers, learned societies and publishers to inquiries in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and also concerns expressed by researchers working with the OAPEN-UK project. We have also identified a number of common questions and have drafted answers, which have been checked by experts including Creative Commons. The guide has been edited by active researchers, to make sure that it is relevant and useful to academics faced with making decisions about publishing. This guide is made available in open access using a CC BY licence

OAPEN-UK: An open access business model for scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences

This paper presents the initial findings of OAPEN-UK, a UK research project gathering evidence on the social and technological impacts of an open access business model for scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences

Guide to open access monograph publishing for arts, humanities and social science researchers

This guide has been produced to assist arts, humanities and social sciences researchers in understanding the state of play with regards to open access in the UK and what it means to them as current and future authors of scholarly monographs

Can decolonising the curriculum provide an enhanced engineering education?

Decolonisation is defined and discussed. University College London has several initiatives to decolonise the curriculum and enhance diversity and inclusion. In 2022, a series of online flipped lectures were developed for the postgraduate software engineering module. The aim was to provide a range of perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI) ethics. Teaching was through the decolonisation lens, highlighting historical viewpoints and imbalances in power. Students could reflect on the ethics of AI systems and how these systems perpetuate colonial biases. Students had previously indicated their interests in AI, environmental and social issues, including climate change. Before lectures, students completed questionnaires, providing an understanding of their prior knowledge of topics. A qualitative analysis of the reading material using coding within ATLAS.ti provided insight to select schemas to scaffold students’ knowledge. The suggested reading was then adapted to ensure a greater diversity of viewpoints. The analysis also indicates that adding these additional perspectives may not increase cognitive load. Lectures include real-world perspectives from guest speakers from diverse backgrounds, reinforcing the importance of different opinions. Students greatly valued the different perspectives and opportunities to discuss ethical dilemmas. Students’ answers, following ethics discussions, indicated an improved understanding of engineering concepts. This study suggests that incorporating a range of views can enhance the topics students want to learn. Providing different perspectives can also deliver a more balanced engineering pedagogy. Adopting a decolonisation approach that recognises the past but provides alternative narratives may strengthen opportunities for engagement with other universities: creating new scenarios in engineering education

Multi-Behavioral Endpoint Testing Of An 87-Chemical Compound Library In Freshwater Planarians

There is an increased recognition in the field of toxicology of the value of medium-to-high-throughput screening methods using in vitro and alternative animal models. We have previously introduced the asexual freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica as a new alternative animal model and proposed that it is particularly well-suited for the study of developmental neurotoxicology. In this paper, we discuss how we have expanded and automated our screening methodology to allow for fast screening of multiple behavioral endpoints, developmental toxicity, and mortality. Using an 87-compound library provided by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), consisting of known and suspected neurotoxicants, including drugs, flame retardants, industrial chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides and presumptive negative controls, we further evaluate the benefits and limitations of the system for medium-throughput screening, focusing on the technical aspects of the system. We show that, in the context of this library, planarians are the most sensitive to pesticides with 16/16 compounds causing toxicity and the least sensitive to PAHs, with only 5/17 causing toxicity. Furthermore, while none of the presumptive negative controls were bioactive in adult planarians, 2/5, acetaminophen and acetylsalicylic acid, were bioactive in regenerating worms. Notably, these compounds were previously reported as developmentally toxic in mammalian studies. Through parallel screening of adults and developing animals, planarians are thus a useful model to detect such developmental-specific effects, which was observed for 13 chemicals in this library. We use the data and experience gained from this screen to propose guidelines for best practices when using planarians for toxicology screens

Guide to Creative Commons for humanities and social science monograph authors

A booklet for authors in the humanities and social sciences specifically designed to help them understand the Creative Commons licenses