The Historical Newspaper Crisis: Discoverability, Access, Preservation, and the Future of the News Record

This paper discusses, investigates, and theorizes on three themes related to the use of newspapers as primary sources: discoverability, access, and preservation. Evidence includes: the evolution of discovery from union lists and indexes to keyword searching; access overtime of various formats including New York Times microformat and digital holdings in academic Association of Research Libraries (ARL); preservation challenges of multiple formats in the past and future. The authors, academic librarians in the United States, offer insight about how these three themes should be considered in collection development, reference and instruction, and acquisition activities in academic libraries. Finally, the paper will speculate on future challenges librarians and scholars may face discovering and using news sources in light of the shrinking number of newspapers, the lack of a version of record for those existing papers, and the growth of alternative and fleeting news sources

Maintaining Collections with a Flat Budget

This paper focuses on the various processes, methods and tough decisions made by the University of Kansas Libraries to provide library materials while maintaining a flat collections budget for over eight years. During this period, those responsible for the Libraries’ collections have implemented quick stop- gap measures, picked all the ‘low-hanging fruit’, and eventually canceled a large journal package. This case study will help other librarians facing the reality of maintaining collections at a time when budgets, changing formats and publication practices are all obstacles to providing patrons with what they need

From Collection Development to Content Development: Organization and Staffing for the 21st Century

The University of Kansas (KU) Libraries has a new organizational structure that resulted in the creation of the Content Development Department, with fewer librarians dedicated to stewardship of the Libraries’ collections. The impending retirement of three long‐standing and knowledgeable librarians prompted a review of the responsibilities of the new department and identification of the human resources needed to meet the collection demands of a user‐centered library. In an effort to determine how the Libraries can proceed, we completed an environmental scan of current activities and identified, through the literature and contacts with academic colleagues, how collecting practices and formats will develop. Based on evidence gained through a survey of faculty and graduates students at KU, there is a strong sentiment that library resources need to be carefully managed to support the teaching and research needs of the university. This paper will discuss efforts to make a case to continue to support deep subject expertise for collection development, particularly in the arts and humanities. By clearly identifying collection development responsibilities (it’s not just buying books!), KU librarians were successful in transitioning into the new organizational structure with the staffing needed to make knowledgeable collection development decisions

Diversity in Monographs: Selectors, Acquisitions, Publishers, and Vendors

In 2020 the University of Kansas Libraries began a year-long diversity audit of the circulating monograph collection. The study, which utilized the checklist method evaluated the Libraries’ holdings based on a curated list of award winning and nominated titles. In addition to determining if specific titles were part of the collection, the study also sought to learn how these books were acquired. The study found that the library owned 60% of the 6,671 titles checked and of those with a known acquisitions method, 59% came via an approval plan. Titles and publishers not profiled by GOBI were significantly less likely to be in the collection as they were not included in the approval plan or highlighted by a slip notification. The Libraries’ reliance on GOBI and efficient and streamlined selection and acquisition processes has resulted in a less diverse collection

The Long and Winding Road to Building an Electronic Reference Collection

Presentation given at the 2011 College and University Libraries Section, Kansas Library Association Conference, Manhattan, Kansas, October 20-21, 2011.As libraries increasingly embrace e-books, no part of a library’s collection goes unaffected, even the reference collection. Today physical reference collections are shrinking as more titles are provided electronically. This shift has resulted in new challenges to selecting and acquiring e-books, and also to providing strategies for access and discovery. There are many reasons why it makes sense to collect electronic reference sources. Our users value convenience and want access 24/7, no matter their physical location. E-books are especially useful to those enrolled in distance education courses, and also support the provision of research help via instant messaging with students. Furthermore, decreasing the physical collection allows library spaces to be reconfigured for new purposes to enhance the “library as place” for our users. This presentation will outline some of the issues related to transforming the reference collection to e-preferred and discuss our approach to acquiring and promoting reference e-books at the University of Kansas Libraries

The Development of the Virtual Notebook, a Wiki-Based Ready Reference Technology

Traditionally, library professionals have used a variety of ready reference technologies to assist in providing reference and user services. Technologies such as card files, vertical files, and reference notebooks are frequent components of library service desks. Ready reference technologies serve many purposes, most notably, helping staff to answer frequently asked questions and facilitating the sharing of information between library staff. This paper traces the development of the Virtual Notebook, a wiki-based ready reference technology, at Purdue University. The tool is placed within the historical context of ready reference technologies within the library profession and at Purdue. The authors present preliminary results from the implementation of the Virtual Notebook and discuss the tool’s future. The manuscript is an outgrowth of a presentation at the 2008 Brick and Click Symposium at Northwest Missouri State University

Reference E-Books: The Other Hidden Collection

This presentation was given at the 2010 Brick and Click Libraries Symposium at Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, Missouri, November 5, 2010Traditional print reference collections have been reduced significantly over the past few years, as the preference for and the availability of electronic resources have increased. Librarians at the University of Kansas are concerned that the growing numbers of reference e-books in the collection are underutilized. There is a clear need to promote these resources to both library reference staff and users who are unaware of the numerous reference titles purchased individually or contained in electronic packages, such as Credo Reference. Although records for individual titles, from online reference collections and those purchased separately, are loaded into the online catalog, there is currently no easy way to browse the electronic reference collection

Testing an Academic Library Website for Usability with Faculty and Graduate Students

Objectives - This usability study was developed to observe faculty and graduate students’ reactions to a recent redesign of the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries’ website. The redesign included new navigational features, introduction of a federated search tool, a quick search box on the front page, and research subject pages. The study also provided the opportunity to observe the practices of faculty and graduate students in locating and retrieving information on the Libraries’ website. Methods - Ten participants (five faculty and five graduate students) representing diverse disciplines were solicited for the study. Participants were required to access the Libraries’ website to answer a series of questions regarding new and updated features of the website. Observational analysis using Morae™ software was conducted and interviews with each participant provided details of their opinions on how these new features would influence their research and teaching activities. Results - Most of the participants either did not notice or ignored the major website changes. Links to and locations of commonly used resources (e.g. catalogue; databases; e-journals) had been changed minimally, and the faculty and graduate student participants gravitated to those familiar features to complete tasks. Prior to the study, participants had not accessed the new discovery tools; however, once previewed, responses to the tools’ utility were generally favourable. After using the federated search tool on a familiar topic, several participants noted that, when directed to databases they had not previously considered, they were able to locate citations they had missed in the past. Observers noted pitfalls in navigating the site such as inconsistent underscoring of links, ambiguous terminology, and unclear icons meant to expand subject heading lists. Unexpected searching behaviours were observed, including inconsistent and lack of conceptual understanding in searching for e-journal content. Conclusions - This study provides evidence regarding the usability of a library website with a population already familiar with library resources. It demonstrated that faculty and graduate students are not interested in experimenting with new discovery tools but are amenable to their potential value to undergraduate students. The recent trend toward minimizing content and links on websites satisfies this population, one which is already comfortable with the basic attributes of a library’s website

miR-196b target screen reveals mechanisms maintaining leukemia stemness with therapeutic potential.

We have shown that antagomiR inhibition of miRNA miR-21 and miR-196b activity is sufficient to ablate MLL-AF9 leukemia stem cells (LSC) in vivo. Here, we used an shRNA screening approach to mimic miRNA activity on experimentally verified miR-196b targets to identify functionally important and therapeutically relevant pathways downstream of oncogenic miRNA in MLL-r AML. We found Cdkn1b (p27Kip1) is a direct miR-196b target whose repression enhanced an embryonic stem cell–like signature associated with decreased leukemia latency and increased numbers of leukemia stem cells in vivo. Conversely, elevation of p27Kip1 significantly reduced MLL-r leukemia self-renewal, promoted monocytic differentiation of leukemic blasts, and induced cell death. Antagonism of miR-196b activity or pharmacologic inhibition of the Cks1-Skp2–containing SCF E3-ubiquitin ligase complex increased p27Kip1 and inhibited human AML growth. This work illustrates that understanding oncogenic miRNA target pathways can identify actionable targets in leukemia