Reflections on Fake News, Librarians, and Undergraduate Research

The recent explosion of “fake news” highlights the need for academic libraries to provide access to reliable information resources and for librarians to instruct students in using them effectively. Providing reliable resources with minimal barriers to access involves cooperation among librarians, publishers, and vendors; however, I suggest that there is tension between our mutual desires to satisfy student demands for instant and perfect results and to encourage them to become persistent and critical information seekers. Many tools exist to assist students in gaining background information and limiting search results, but ultimately none replace the need to develop and explore questions and to evaluate information sources. In this paper I reflect on the difficulties of persuading students to persist in using library resources and the use of Bernard Lonergan’s generalized empirical method as a framework for critical thinking and information literacy

Citation patterns in chemistry dissertations at a mid-sized university: An internal citation analysis and external comparison

This study analyzes the references cited in 34 chemistry dissertations and compares the results with an earlier study of citations in American Chemical Society journals. The dissertations cite more references and older references and a greater diversity of sources. They have the same tendency to heavily cite journal articles from a small core of traditional journals. This study underscores the value of comparing internal citation analyses with external citation analyses, and of analyzing the number of citing authors as well as the number of citations. Interlibrary loan and internal usage statistics were also used to inform collection development and library instruction

Still Desperately Seeking Citations: Undergraduate Research in the Age of Web-Scale Discovery.

Web-scale discovery services promise fast, easy searching from a single Google-like box, pleasing users and making library resources more discoverable. Some librarians embrace the concept of giving users what they have come to expect from Google, while others are concerned that this will “dumb down” searching and undermine information literacy. In this paper we explore the potential impact of web-scale discovery tools on information literacy, focusing particularly on undergraduate research skills. We review the existing literature and present findings and experiences from two mid-sized academic libraries that have adopted EBSCO Discovery Service as their library home page portal

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44 percent of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11 percent were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20 percent of the journals cited accounted for 80 percent of the references. However, there was considerable variation among sub-disciplines

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44 percent of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11 percent were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20 percent of the journals cited accounted for 80 percent of the references. However, there was considerable variation among sub-disciplines

Contemplating library instruction: Integrating contemplative practices in a mid-sized academic library.

In recent years there has been growing interest in the integration of contemplative practices into higher education, but little has been published regarding contemplative practices or contemplative pedagogies in academic libraries. Nor have explicit links been made to critical librarianship (critlib), particularly regarding the stress associated with the profession and the “resilience narrative” of “doing more with less”. In this paper, we review the literature and describe our experiences introducing a variety of contemplative elements into our library instruction program, most recently in the virtual environment. Building on the three levels of “intervention” modeled by Barbezat and Bush (2014) to include librarians, and incorporating critlib theory, we describe the contemplative practices we have used to alleviate librarian, student, and faculty stress and burnout, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic

Enhancing information literacy using Bernard Lonergan\u27s Generalized Empirical Method: A three-year case study in a first year biology course.

This paper describes a three-year long collaborative project between a science librarian, a biology professor and a physical therapy professor to improve information literacy in an undergraduate biology laboratory course. The authors used Bernard J. Lonergan’s Generalized Empirical Method (GEM) as a cognitional framework, emphasizing the role of experience, understanding, judgement and action in conducting research. They focused on the selection, integration and citation of scholarly articles in formal laboratory reports. The science librarian became embedded in the course, delivering information literacy instruction sessions, grading and providing feedback on the use of information sources in the lab reports. Overall the project was successful. The students’ reference grades improved modestly, their use of websites declined dramatically, and the graduate teaching assistants who ran the laboratory sessions reported a great improvement in the quality of the lab reports and the use of scholarly sources. The authors used their experience to inform changes to the course and the way in which information literacy is integrated into science education. GEM can easily be incorporated with the ACRL Framework and offers a useful approach to information literacy across the disciplines

Measuring and Applying Data about Users in the Seton Hall Library

We present data on how faculty and students at Seton Hall University use scholarly articles and books, how the library can present its findings to stakeholders, and how librarians can learn from these findings to better meet user needs. The data were gathered using questionnaire surveys of university faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students as part of the IMLS Lib-Value project and based on Tenopir and King Studies conducted since 1977. Many questions used the critical incident of the last article and book reading to enable analysis of the characteristics of readings, in addition to characteristics of readers. Seton Hall’s ejournal collection is vital to its users, supporting faculty research and teaching and student coursework. However, high use of books from non-library sources suggests some deficiencies in the collection. Findings show an opportunity to brand library material to clearly distinguish it from what is perceived as ‘free on the web,’ examine use of both print and e-books, and work with professors to increase student awareness and use of library resources

Read in or check out: A four-year analysis of circulation and in-house use of print books

As libraries offer more multi-dimensional study areas and online resources, it is important to understand how print books are being used. The reported decline in print book circulation has largely been based on books checked out of the library without recording in-house use (books used in the library but not checked out). Including in-house use gives a more accurate representation of book circulation, helping to demonstrate the value of the physical library and print collections, and informing collection development. To better understand how our print collections are being used, we analyze holdings, checkout data, and in-house use data by subject, as well as circulation in regard to patron group, library gate count and student enrollment. Our findings show declining use of all print collections with the steepest decline in reference books. The majority of books used in house were not checked out, affirming the need to include in-house use data to provide an accurate picture of print book use and inform collection development. We use our findings to inform the redesign of our reference collection and suggest ways to integrate print and digital formats and promote the value of books and reading

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice