I felt like a real librarian : Field experiences as an opportunity for professional identity development

Librarians\u27 professional identity is rarely addressed in LIS literature. Examing the roles of co-op placements in the formation of professional identity, this research explores issues associated with LIS education and field experiences

Workshop: Understanding Your Research Impact

Research impact refers to demonstrating how your research is contributing to your field, to the academy at large, or to the community. In this session you’ll learn about tools for demonstrating the impact and reach of your research. We will explore the benefits and pitfalls of impact metrics such as impact factors, h-index, citation counts, and altmetrics. We will also talk about how an ORCID iD profile can ensure that you receive consistent, reliable attribution for your work. Session Outcomes: Understand key research metrics and altmetrics Learn about different tools to use to find metrics Be aware of the implications of using impact metrics Learn how an ORCID iD can help demonstrate research impac

Journal Workflow Activity

Three broad stages related to journal workflow were identified on whiteboards around the room: Recruiting Content, Preparing Content (i.e. peer review, copy-editing), and Publishing & Promoting Content. For each of those stages, participants were invited to write questions, tips, or comments on sticky notes. Guiding questions were: What delays your journal’s workflow? What helps your workflow? What questions do you have? Several common themes were apparent once participants put their sticky notes in the relevant section. These questions and tips were collected and are included in the below document (also available as a downloadable PDF)

Environmental Protection, Energy Policy and Poverty Reduction – Synergies of an Integrated Approach

This paper describes the mechanisms that link poverty reduction with climate and energy policy. First, there is a brief analysis of the relationship between ongoing climate change, energy use and poverty. This analysis is followed by an overview of different policy options that have the potential to fight poverty while simultaneously limiting global warming and environmental degradation. Mitigating climate change, transforming the energy systems in developing countries and financing adaptation to climate change are pointed out as central policy fields governments and developing agencies should focus on. Furthermore, one can argue that new technologies to increase energy efficiency and the dissemination of renewable energy systems have an especially strong impact on poverty. Access to clean and cost-efficient energy has a direct effect on the income generation potentials of the poor. Finally, this paper identifies appropriate financing mechanisms to implement the aforementioned strategies.

Formation and crystal-chemical studies of metastable and stable mullite-type aluminum borates

Aluminum borate compounds studied here belong to the family of mullite-type materials with the characteristic chains of edge-sharing octahedra. Depending on the individual phases the octahedral chains are linked by different arrangements of AlO4- AlO5-, BO3- and eventually BO4-polyhedra. This work is focused on the conditions of phase formation in the system Al2O3-B2O3, on the thermal and compositional stability ranges of the related phases and on their individual crystal-chemical characterization. The formation of aluminum borate compounds synthesized from sol-gel derived precursors was investigated dependent on the initial Al/B ratio, with a special focus on the compositional range between the thermodynamically stable polymorphs Al4B2O9 and Al18B4O33. Upon increasing initial boron content a decrease of the formation temperature is observed, as revealed by thermal analyses. The formation of Al6-xBxO9 compounds was observed for the compositional range of 1.09 a A x a A 2 and the conditions of synthesis were optimized. The lattice parameters represent an orthorhombic metric with a a b, decreasing in all three directions with increasing boron content, most pronounced in c-direction. Based on Distance Least Squares (DLS) refinements, an improved model for Al6-xBxO9 is presented, simulating a local geometry avoiding long B-O distances. In this model two octahedral chains are linked by planar BO3 groups, yielding split positions for the oxygen atoms and strongly distorted octahedral chains. The crystal structure of Al4B2O9 was re-evaluated by electron diffraction experiments, resolving the question of oxygen disorder in the channels of the crystal structure. Inside crystallites the structural details vary. Domains are found with an ordered distribution of oxygen atoms without any significant signal for the second postulated channel oxygen atom O5, and other domains with a probable disordered configuration of the atoms O5 and O10. Diffuse scattering along the b-direction is assigned to a superstructure with a threefold b-axis. For a series of samples with Al4B2O9 structure a slightly increasing cell volume upon increasing initial boron content is observed. This is suggested to be caused by minor structural differences, which is supported by the results of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, revealing a small increase of the BO4/BO3 ratio upon increasing initial boron content. A new study of (Al1-xGax)4B2O9 compounds is presented is this thesis. For the first time the influence of foreign cations on the Al4B2O9 and Ga4B2O9 structure was investigated, representing a substitution limit of about 70 mol-% Ga3 and Al3 in the Al4B2O9 and Ga4B2O9 structure, respectively. It is demonstrated that the thermal stability of a given member is a function of Al/Ga ratio in the crystal structure: increasing substitution of gallium reduces the decomposition temperature of Al4B2O9 successively, whereas the incorporation of aluminum improves the thermal stability of Ga4B2O9. The compositional range for Al18B4O33/Al20B4O36 was investigated, based on a series of samples prepared along different synthesis routes and with various initial Al/B ratios. Combining the results of NMR spectroscopy and prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) a solid solution is assumed, expressed as Al20-xB4 xO36 with Al substituting B in the range of about 1 a 3%. This is supported by powder diffraction data refinements, observing vacancies on the Al2 site by combining the data of neutron and X-ray powder diffraction. Furthermore, the results of X-ray diffraction experiments indicate disorder effects for samples synthesized from sol-gel precursors with a high amount of aluminum. This is supported by 27Al NMR spectroscopy, representing a differing AlO4/AlO5 ratio for these samples, compared to samples synthesized with an excess of boron or prepared from solid-state reactions. The decomposition process of Al20-xB4 xO36 is observed to start at 1473 K, revealed by thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction experiments. Complete decomposition takes place during a long-term experiment at 1673 K, confirming an incongruent melting of the Al-rich aluminum borate phase, yielding Al2O3 and liquid

Genotypic Confirmation of Transimmunization-Induced Dendritic Cell Maturation

Transimmunization (TI), a novel modification of the widely used immunotherapy extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), induces conversion of processed monocytes into cells expressing phenotypic and functional features of dendritic antigen presenting cells (DC). To further characterize TI-induced DC, we analyzed differential gene expression in the monocyte/DC population after TI treatment. Because ECP, the therapy upon which TI is based, has the unique capacity to induce both anti-cancer immune responses in cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) patients and tolerogenic responses in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), we studied TI-induced gene expression changes in both of these patient populations as well as in healthy normal control individuals with the goal of fully characterizing the gene expression profile(s) induced by TI. Peripheral blood leukocytes from 6 patients (3 patients with CTCL and 3 patients with GVHD) were procured prior to ECP, immediately after ECP, and following TI processing, and were then enriched for monocytes/DC. RNA was extracted and gene expression compared using Affymetrix total human genome microarrays to analyze 39,000 genes. Differential gene expression was considered as a ≥2-fold change and P-value ≤0.05. TI induced significant upregulation of genes associated with DC maturation including: DC-LAMP, CD80, CD40, and Decysin. In addition, TI induced down-regulation of monocyte genes such as CD33 and CD36. These changes in gene expression were seen in both CTCL and GVHD patients, suggesting that TI is capable of mediating DC differentiation regardless of disease process. However, some genes (e.g. IL-19, Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase) were differentially expressed after TI only in GVHD patients, while others, (e.g. heat-shock proteins 70, 27, and 40) were differentially expressed only in CTCL patients. Our microarray findings were confirmed by quantitative realtime PCR on patient samples as well as on samples from healthy normal controls that underwent the TI procedure. Analysis of the microarray data using GeneGo pathway analysis software demonstrated that the chemokines and adhesion signaling pathway was significantly involved in the mechanism of both ECP and TI, suggesting a crucial role for cell adhesion in these therapies. Taken together, our gene expression and pathway data suggest that TI activates specific signaling cascades that lead to activation and up-regulation of mature DC genes. Our results support the use of TI as a method of generating mature dendritic cells for immunotherapy

Survey Research: Useful, Valuable Findings Require Hard Work

Gathering data using a survey is often perceived by practitioner-researchers as one of the easiest ways to carry out research; however, a well-constructed survey can be difficult to develop. Librarian practitioner-researchers often use surveys as an economical and easy way to capture information from a wide swath of people. Once the information is gathered, however, the application and usability of the data is often limited and can fall short of the standards of scholarship. Librarian practitioner-researchers may also default to a survey when it is not the most effective tool for data gathering. But when surveys are designed well and used appropriately, they can systematize evidence in ways that enable research to be used by others. Our research experience with surveys has highlighted how important it is to consider whether a survey is the most appropriate tool for a research project and to devote time and effort to developing a well-constructed survey instrument. We have also seen how inferential statistical analysis can bring depth and rigor to survey findings. When surveys are designed well and used appropriately, they can systematize evidence in ways that enable research to be used by others. This chapter demonstrates the utility and limitations of surveys using as an example a research project that we conducted from 2013 to 2017 to investigate what factors contribute to academic librarians’ research productivity

“Just Like When I Was a Liaison”: Applying a Liaison Approach to Functional Library Models

In this exploratory paper we consolidate themes discussed in literature to highlight three principles of liaison librarianship: building relationships, anticipating and meeting needs, and drawing on specialized expertise. These principles capture how liaison librarians approach their professional activities and together comprise what we define as a liaison approach. Through stories of our own work as scholarly communication librarians, we explore how a liaison approach can extend beyond subject liaison models to be relevant for librarians in functional roles. In sharing our stories, we prompt academic librarians in a variety of roles to consider how the perspective of a liaison approach might be helpful in their work. We offer this perspective, too, as a new lens through which librarians and library administrators may view organizational restructures, so as to address challenges that may be reproduced or replicated when a library moves from subject liaison model to functional model

“It\u27s about Helping People”: Co‐op Experiences of LIS Students in Academic Libraries

The current study examines the prominence of service/helping in the field experiences of Library and Information Studies students, and aims to gain greater understanding of LIS students perceptions of helping as a feature of their professional identity

Determining the Usability of eBooks Using the Think-Aloud Method

Selinda Adelle Berg, Clinical Medicine Librarian, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, [email protected]; Kristin Hoffmann, Head, Research & Instructional Services, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, [email protected]; Diane Dawson, Natural Sciences Liaison Librarian, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, [email protected] widespread acceptance and enthusiasm for eJournals in recent years has led to an increased interest in developing eBook collections in academic libraries. It is generally assumed that eBooks provide the same level of convenience and usability to patrons as eJournals have. This qualitative research study examined the usability of eBooks by observing the strategies of undergraduate science students while they performed information retrieval tasks in print books and eBooks