Picture the Music: Planning Library Spaces with a Photo Elicitation Study

Presentation given at the Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Denver, CO. Feb. 27, 2015. UMKC Libraries use participatory design methods to envision library spaces optimally supporting music and dance students’ work. In a photo elicitation study, students photographed twenty places, items, and situations in their daily lives, followed by a one-hour interview. This presentation reports study findings and discusses techniques and methods other libraries can apply whether designing new spaces or optimizing current facilities.Music Library Associatio

Discovery Interfaces and Music: Summon

Presentation given at the Music Library Association Annual Meeting on March 2, 2013 in San Jose, California. This presentation examines the Serials Solutions “Summon” product as a discovery interface for music. It was part of a panel discussion on ”Discovery Interfaces and Music” which examined various discovery interfaces and their success (and challenges) with music materials, particularly in light of the needs outlined in the Music Discovery Requirements (MDR) document.Music Library Associatio

Calling All Academic Music Library Reference Desks: A Follow-Up Study

The East Carolina University Music Library established regularly staffed reference desk service and studied whether the presence of a reference desk increased patron comfort level in seeking assistance even when the reference desk was unstaffed. Reference activity statistics and results from a patron survey indicate that the reference desk strengthened reference service during hours the desk was staffed but did not increase patron comfort level at times the desk was unstaffed. This article presents key components of music library reference service highlighted by the survey and makes recommendations for other music libraries considering implementing or continuing reference desk service

Picture the Music: Performing Arts Library Planning with Photo Elicitation

Photo elicitation, a form of ethnographic journaling, provided insights into university music and dance student needs in library and campus spaces and services. In this case study, subjects took a photo for each of twenty prompts related to their daily lives as students and performing artists, then discussed their own photos in a one-hour individual interview. Researchers qualitatively analyzed the gathered data. This article reports findings related to: discovering and obtaining music and dance works, study spaces and sound levels, forces of habit and the implications for student library use, and library-related findings regarding practice rooms and classrooms

UMKC Conservatory Students and Their Work: Research Findings

The initiative for UMKC’s Downtown Campus for the Arts presents a unique opportunity for radical change in Conservatory and Conservatory library spaces and services. To inform planning of the new campus and its library, a UMKC research team harnessed ethnographic methods to research UMKC Conservatory student needs. Ethnographic methods facilitate holistic examination of numerous aspects of the studied population by using open-ended tools to gather qualitative data

User Centered Design

MOBIUS Annual Conference, Columbia, MO, June 3, 2014. Libraries purportedly operate with our users’ needs and desires in mind, but how do we know what those needs and desires really are? The University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries are committed to observing user behavior and collecting data to inform the design of virtual and real-world services and spaces to meet user needs. A user-centered design department and a usability team were formed to deliver an organization-wide user-centered design process with associated training opportunities, online tools, and job responsibilities. A photo survey will contribute rich data to dreaming and planning library space for a future Downtown Campus for the Arts. Students take snapshots of specified places, people, and things in their lives, then verbally expand on those pictures in a follow-up interview.MOBIU

A systematic replication of the Family Connections parent-toddler training program.

As more toddlers are being diagnosed with autism there is an increased need for very early intervention. Preliminary research on interventions suggests toddlers can make important developmental progress and that parents can be part of the intervention process. The purpose of this study was to systematically replicate a parent training program reported by Alai-Rosales et al. (2009). Specifically, the present study taught parents a set of teaching strategies that included arranging the environment, setting up learning opportunities, and using positive reinforcement. Baseline-intervention conditions were replicated across four parent-toddler dyads in order to assess the effects of training on parent and child behaviors. Results indicated increases in parent teaching behaviors, the child targeted behavior (facial orientation), as well as a non-targeted skill, joint attention. Findings are discussed in relation to the challenges of intervention and considerations for future research

Insights from the x-ray crystal structure of coral 8R-lipoxygenase: Calcium activation via a C2-like domain and a structural basis of product chirality

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) catalyze the regio- and stereospecific dioxygenation of polyunsaturated membrane-embedded fatty acids. We report here the 3.2 Å resolution structure of 8R-LOX from the Caribbean sea whip coral Plexaura homomalla, a LOX isozyme with calcium dependence and the uncommon R chiral stereospecificity. Structural and spectroscopic analyses demonstrated calcium binding in a C2-like membrane-binding domain, illuminating the function of similar amino acids in calcium-activated mammalian 5-LOX, the key enzyme in the pathway to the pro-inflammatory leukotrienes. Mutation of Ca2+- ligating amino acids in 8R-LOX resulted not only in a diminished capacity to bind membranes, as monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer, but also in an associated loss of Ca2+-regulated enzyme activity. Moreover, a structural basis for R chiral specificity is also revealed; creation of a small oxygen pocket next to Gly428 (Ala in all S-LOX isozymes) promoted C-8 oxygenation with R chirality on the activated fatty acid substrate. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc