Research Readiness Self-Assessment: Assessing Students\u27 Research Skills and Attitudes

Librarians and learning researchers at Central Michigan University collaboratively developed an online tool that assesses how student research attitudes and perceptions correlate to their actual research skills in order to educate them about state-of-the-art library resources and prepare them to write high-quality research papers. This article describes the reasons for developing the assessment as well as the design process and technical characteristics

How Does a Pre-Assessment of Off-Campus Students\u27 Information Literacy Affect the Effectiveness of Library Instruction?

This study investigates the impact that pre-tests have on the effectiveness of library instruction when students are given feedback on their pre-test performance. Librarians and academic faculty partnered to measure library instruction outcomes in two Master\u27s degree classes. The Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) was used as a pre-test (before instruction) and a post-test (after instruction) in Class 1 and as a post-test only in Class 2. Students who completed both tests performed significantly better on a post-test, earning higher scores on obtaining information and overall information literacy. They reported greater library/research experience and less reliance on browsing. Compared to students who did not take a pre-test, students who received pre-test-based feedback had higher scores on library/research experience and lower scores on reliance on browsing. To enhance the effectiveness of library instruction, students can be given pre-test-based feedback that compares their actual and perceived literacy and encourages the use of library databases

Developing Health Information Literacy: A Needs Analysis from the Perspective of Preprofessional Health Students

Objective: The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to elicit students’ reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to ‘‘what skills to improve’’ and ‘‘how to improve them.’’ Results: Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members’ assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%). Conclusions: The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty

Crowdsourcing homemade facemasks: 772 U.S. health facilities' responses to personal protective equipment shortages in the first half of 2020

PURPOSEWe examined 772 U.S. health facilities' responses to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages in the first half of 2020, as they crowdsourced face coverings from volunteer makers to be used as respiratory protection during crisis surge capacity. The purpose was to examine facemask specification requests from health facilities and develop a framework for crowdsourcing last resort PPE. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACHHomemade facemask donation requests from health facilities in 47 states systematically recorded in a public database maintained by public health graduate students at a major U.S. university were analysed. Open coding was used to content analyse facemask types and specifications, intended uses, delivery logistics and donation management strategies. FINDINGSOur analysis revealed information gaps: Science-based information was scarce in 2020, leading to improvised specifications for facemask materials and designs. It also revealed the emergence of a crowdsourcing structure: Task specifications for volunteer facemasks makers, delivery logistics, and practical management of donations within the pandemic context. In anticipation of future pandemics and localised PPE shortages, we build on this empirical evidence to propose a framework for crowdsourcing science-informed facemasks from volunteers. Categorised within (a) logistics and workflow management, (b) task specifications and management, and (c) practical management of contributions functional areas, the framework outlines the required tasks and specifications for crowdsourcing. ORIGINALITYA novel empirically derived framework for crowdsourcing homemade facemasks is proposed, based on empirical analysis and crowdsourcing system design strategies. Our findings and the framework may be used for refining crisis capacity guidelines, as part of strategic planning and preparation for future pandemics that disrupt supply chains and cause shortages in protective equipment

Health Information Literacy and Competencies of Information Age Students: Results from the Interactive Online Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA)

This study aimed to measure the proficiency of college-age health information consumers in finding and evaluating electronic health information; to assess their ability to discriminate between peer-reviewed scholarly resources and opinion pieces or sales pitches; and to examine the extent to which they are aware of their level of health information competency

Research Readiness Self-Assessment: Assessing Students\u27 Research Skills and Attitudes

Librarians and learning researchers at Central Michigan University collaboratively developed an online tool that assesses how student research attitudes and perceptions correlate to their actual research skills in order to educate them about state-of-the-art library resources and prepare them to write high-quality research papers. This article describes the reasons for developing the assessment as well as the design process and technical characteristics

Project Management and Institutional Collaboration in Libraries

As most libraries in the United States struggle with declining financial support, combined with the ever-increasing need to incorporate new technology into services and the profusion of resources that are available, inter-institutional cooperation is becoming more common. Planning and implementing new projects in libraries is better carried out if the project is formally managed from the beginning to ensure an orderly and efficient completion to the project. Two institutions have developed new services that they sought to expand to other institutions. Though neither project set out to use project-management techniques, the development of the new services illustrates their practical use

Broadening Our Reach: Collaborating for Improvement

ACRL 12th. National ConferenceThis document contains the proposal submitted to the Association of College and Research Libraries for a poster session at the ACRL 12th. National Conference.Association of College and Research Librarie