Mobile Technologies & Academics: Do Students Use Mobile Technologies in Their Academic Lives and are Librarians Ready to Meet this Challenge?

In this paper we report on two surveys and offer an introductory plan that librarians may use to begin implementing mobile access to selected library databases and services. Results from the first survey helped us to gain insight into where students at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah, stand regarding their use of mobile devices for academic activities in general and their desire for access to library services and resources in particular. A second survey, conducted with librarians, gave us an idea of the extent to which responding libraries offer mobile access, their future plans for mobile implementation, and their opinions about whether and how mobile technologies may be useful to library patrons. In the last segment of the paper, we outline steps librarians can take as they go mobile

E-Sources: Challenges for Librarians, Students, and Teachers

Libraries face many challenges as electronic resources proliferate and become the expected means of accessing information. In a period of ten years, expectations of library users for desktop access to information has required dramatic shifts in the behind the scenes work performed at the library as well as the instruction provided to students. This presentation provides an overview of the issues

Undergraduates and Topic Selection: A Librarian’s Role

Research shows that undergraduate students struggle with the initial stage of the research process, mainly identifying and defining a topic. Little current research addresses how undergraduates engage in this process, including how and where they seek help. The results of focus groups indicate that students have individual and varied methods for topic selection, but that many of them choose topics based on their perception of a few major characteristics, mainly perceived ease, pleasing the instructor/following the assignment, personal relatability and/or interest, and the ability to locate sufficient resources to research a topic. Many students identified their instructor as a person to ask for assistance, but fewer recognized a librarian’s role in this process. This article identifies how embedded librarians might better assist students with this difficult piece of the research process. http://www.libraryinnovation.org/article/view/26

Environmental Information Sources

Annotated web sites and listing of books related to environmental science

Sudden Selector’s Guide to Biology Resources

This volume will help librarians assigned to develop collections in biology to get up to speed and stay up-to-date in the wide-ranging discipline of the life sciences. Beginning with a discussion of the primary subfields of biology—from botany to ecology to zoology--the author introduces the reader to a plethora of resources useful for understanding the subject as well as for collecting materials about it. Included are lists of core reference books, serials, and texts; databases, e-journal collections, and data repositories; selection tools, subject guides, and disciplinary review sources; collection management articles pertinent to the life sciences; and current awareness sources, including professional organizations, journals, and blogs. Even the experienced biology selector will find it useful to consult this volume in the Sudden Selector’s series, for its practical guidance and in-depth annotations of resources ranging from the popular to the professional

Environmental Resources on the World Wide Web

Comprehensive coverage of environmentally related WWW sites, electronic journals, publications, and other resources