Social Media Best Practices in Academic Libraries (2016)

In order to understand current trends and use of social media in libraries, VCU Libraries created and conducted an online survey using SurveyMonkey. Our approach was informed by the study of social media and public relations practice conducted by Wright and Hinson (Wright, Donald K. and Michelle Drifka Hinson. 2015. “Examining Social and Emerging Media Use in Public Relations Practice: A Ten-Year Longitudinal Analysis.” Public Relations Journal 9). The VCU Libraries survey consisted of 22 multiple-choice, multiple-answer, and open ended questions. The survey was distributed to email discussion lists frequented by library professionals involved in management or communications. The data presented here in summary form includes responses from all 198 respondent

Copyright for Creators: Bridging Law and Practice

Everyone is a publisher, a maker, or a creator in the digital age, and understanding copyright is a foundational skill. Artists, designers, and arts scholars need acute awareness of the legal landscape and fair use. To help meet this need, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries, in concert with the VCU School of the Arts, created a series of programs on the nuances of copyright for artists, designers, and art scholars

On solving trust-region and other regularised subproblems in optimization

The solution of trust-region and regularisation subproblems which arise in unconstrained optimization is considered. Building on the pioneering work of Gay, Mor´e and Sorensen, methods which obtain the solution of a sequence of parametrized linear systems by factorization are used. Enhancements using high-order polynomial approximation and inverse iteration ensure that the resulting method is both globally and asymptotically at least superlinearly convergent in all cases, including in the notorious hard case. Numerical experiments validate the effectiveness of our approach. The resulting software is available as packages TRS and RQS as part of the GALAHAD optimization library, and is especially designed for large-scale problems

Networked News Participation: Future Pathways

Civic participation in news production has been a trend under academic scrutiny for at least two decades. The prevalence of digital communication and the dominance of proprietary platforms are two combining forces that disrupt the established journalistic norms. In this article, we investigate news participation and make three grand statements regarding: 1) the holistic definition of participation, 2) the network structure of participation delineating the power dynamics of different media actors, and 3) the transnational context of participation exhibiting the structural constraints within nation-state sovereignty. It is our argument that news participation as a civic act in the digital, globalized age has not fundamentally democratized the information flow as early optimists predicted. Instead, a group of “information elite” have risen to power due to their access to institutional resources, their advantageous positioning in the media ecology, and their entrenchment in the dominant ideology. Participation on proprietary platforms can be easily co-opted to serve the interest of the new information elite

Daily Metacognitive Questioning Sheets: Implementing Metacognitive Strategies in the Secondary Classroom

This study investigated the possible impact that incorporating daily metacognitive questioning in a mathematics classroom could have on student achievement. The study integrated metacognition into the classroom through the daily use of metacognitive questioning sheets that were answered by students who participated in the research study. The study also explored patterns that emerged from the students’ individual responses on the metacognitive sheets using qualitative coding and analyses. Two classes of heterogeneously grouped high school dual-credit college algebra students were taught the same curriculum by the same teacher and given the same summative assessments during the study. One class received the metacognitive questioning sheets daily for two units, and one class received the questioning sheets for only one unit. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two classes on one of the summative assessments at the conclusion of the study. Analyzing the individual students’ metacognitive sheets revealed compatterns among the students such as self-assessing during learning, self-confidence in their learning, and transparency about their misunderstandings and lack of knowledge. While there may not have been a significant difference among the students’ scores in each of the two classes using an ANOVA and paired samples t-tests, there was still evidence that students’ thinking and clearly describing where they were in their own learning had a positive impact on their achievement

Social Media Best Practices in Academic Libraries 2015

While academic libraries worldwide have embraced social media as tools to inform and connect with users, behaviors and expectations are evolving and platforms are growing. In order to understand current trends and use of social media in libraries, VCU Libraries created and conducted an online survey using SurveyMonkey. Our approach was informed by the study of social media and public relations practice conducted by Wright and Hinson (Wright, Donald K. and Michelle Drifka Hinson. 2015. “Examining Social and Emerging Media Use in Public Relations Practice: A Ten-Year Longitudinal Analysis.” Public Relations Journal 9). The VCU Libraries survey consisted of 21 multiple-choice, multiple-answer, and open ended questions. The survey was distributed to email discussion lists frequented by library professionals involved in management or communications. The data presented here in summary form includes responses from all 240 respondents

Reach Out in a New Direction: Applying Public Relations Best Practices to Academic Outreach

Public relations isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies or high-profile celebrities. The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Thinking about outreach in these expansive terms goes beyond simple promotional activities, media relations, or marketing tactics, and the message should resonate with librarians. Building “mutually beneficial relationships” is at the very core of public services, and serving multiple publics should also be a familiar concept as libraries strive to reach a multitude of audiences. This poster presentation explores key public relations best practices to enhance outreach with illustrative examples from a successful campaign at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Trying a new approach for VCU Libraries, the Director of Communication and Public Relations and public services librarians collaborated to create an integrated campaign focused on understanding VCU’s diverse audiences and how to reach them using a consistent message with appealing imagery and concise writing. These efforts culminated in a scalable and sustainable approach for all our publics--from the masses that walk into the building to academic departments--even individual students

Diversity Project: Poster Series Connects Core Values to Library Materials and Expertise

Virginia Commonwealth University celebrates diversity as a core value, and VCU Libraries actively strives to foster inclusion and an understanding of difference. The diversity and culture poster series was envisioned as a way to connect education about diversity directly to library collections and expertise. This poster details the distribution, response, and impact of the series

Connecting Best Practices in Public Relations to Social Media Strategies for Academic Libraries

Academic libraries worldwide use social media to inform and connect with users. VCU Libraries is no different and must keep up with rapidly evolving platforms and user expectations. When our presence stretched across 22 channels, we needed to ensure social media efforts were managed in the most effective and efficient manner possible. To develop a research-based, unified vision for communication for new media, we scanned the literature in the library and public relations fields and then surveyed librarians to address identified gaps. Based on results, we offer recommendations focused on best management practices and strong content strategies

REPORT on Research into ‘closing the gap’ : raising achievement for disadvantaged pupils

This research was commissioned by Peterborough City Council as a work stream as part of their Closing the Gap project. There is a gap in performance between children from rich and poor backgrounds in many countries, but the gap in the UK is considered to be significant (OECD, 2014; Strand 2014). Work by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has estimated that there will be 3.5 million UK children living in poverty by 2020 (JRF, 2014). One strategy to attempt to address the problem was the introduction of The Pupil Premium by the Coalition Government in 2011 to provide additional funding to state funded schools to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers by raising the attainment levels of those children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Ofsted, 2012)