Nobody Knows and Nobody Is Responsible: Issues in E-Books Workflow and Access

Hunter Library at Western Carolina University is a midsized academic institution managing 10 large e-book packages and about 80,000 individual e-book titles. Managing e-books involves working with multiple vendors and staff from different areas of technical services. This paper examines issues in e-book workflows; in particular, we will share the results of a project to document our e-book workflows and utilize an existing technology, Microsoft SharePoint, to better manage this workflow and share information and communication among staff involved in this process. The idea for this project came with the almost simultaneous hiring of the electronic resources librarian and the metadata librarian’s assumption of the responsibility for loading e-book machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records into the catalog. We found the existing workflow related to downloading MARC records from vendors’ sites confusing because of the involvement of multiple units within our technical services department, Content Organization and Management (COM). We also noticed there were questions from both users and library faculty about e-book user limits and download rights that were not easily answered by looking at the catalog record, nor was the information readily available. How might we share unique access information with users and public services staff? How might technical services staff better communicate with each other regarding their individual roles and responsibilities in this process? How do we document and maintain relevant information for technical services staff? This project dealt not only with our e-book workflow but also helped to eliminate knowledge silos we discovered in our technical services department

A Case Study of Librarian Outreach to Scientists: Collaborative Research and Scholarly Communication in Conservation Biology

Global collaboration is increasingly important across universities and conservation biology organizations. In this example, a partnership resulted in the creation of a short-course aimed at exploring communication forms and digital tools that facilitate scholarly communication in conservation biology. Questions the authors hoped to answer in the course were: What are the benefits and limitations of these tools? How can researchers in conservation biology use these methods to share data, show impact and connect to colleagues and stakeholders? Why is open access even more important in this highly collaborative scholarly environment? How can communities of interest benefit scientists and the public

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education: E-Journals

Online education, both by for-profit institutions and within traditional universities, has seen recent tremendous growth and appeal - but online education has many aspects that are not well understood. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education provides a thorough and engaging reference on all aspects of this field, from the theoretical dimensions of teaching online to the technological aspects of implementing online courses–with a central focus on the effective education of students.This entry focuses on E-Journals: E-journals, also known as electronic journals or online journals, are scholarly journals that can be accessed electronically, usually via the Internet. Access is often limited to “subscribers,” which can be either individuals or institutions (e.g., libraries) that pay a fee, usually via an annual subscription cost or a pay-per-view model

Overcoming Transactional Distance

Theory is increasingly important as libraries transition traditional reference practices to online learning environments. This paper suggests and explores the boundaries of a new theory of reference interaction in the online environment that is grounded in online learning theories and the educational theory of transactional distance. The paper examines an operational definition of the librarian’s instructional intent in email reference service, considering it the level of customized content in canned, instructional messages at institutions that provide e-mail reference service. This definition is tested statistically, suggesting that when a canned response is edited for content by the responder more instruction is likely to occur and transactional distance is overcome

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education: E-Books

Online education, both by for-profit institutions and within traditional universities, has seen recent tremendous growth and appeal - but online education has many aspects that are not well understood. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education provides a thorough and engaging reference on all aspects of this field, from the theoretical dimensions of teaching online to the technological aspects of implementing online courses–with a central focus on the effective education of students.This entry focuses on E-books: An e-book is a book-length text document in digital form that is formatted to be read on electronic screens such as e-readers, computers, tablets, and mobile phones

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education: E-Readers

Online education, both by for-profit institutions and within traditional universities, has seen recent tremendous growth and appeal - but online education has many aspects that are not well understood. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education provides a thorough and engaging reference on all aspects of this field, from the theoretical dimensions of teaching online to the technological aspects of implementing online courses–with a central focus on the effective education of students.This entry focuses on E-readers: E-readers are intended to serve as devices on which to read electronic books (e-books) and historically have only a single function

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education: Distance Education

Online education, both by for-profit institutions and within traditional universities, has seen recent tremendous growth and appeal - but online education has many aspects that are not well understood. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education provides a thorough and engaging reference on all aspects of this field, from the theoretical dimensions of teaching online to the technological aspects of implementing online courses–with a central focus on the effective education of students.This entry focuses on Distance Education: Distance education (DE), also known as distance learning, has gone through a multitude of iterations, and theorists disagree on its defining features

The Florida Community College Statewide Collection Assessment Project: Outcomes and Impact

A collection assessment project was conducted in 1998 of the twenty eight community college library/Library Resource Center (LRC) collections in Florida.1 The evaluative materials provided to each of the institutions produced a number of outcomes. To assess the project’s impact, a survey was conducted in fall 2000. The impact study found that, in the opinion of library administrators, the Florida Community College Collection Assessment study had influenced the appropriation of additional funds, informed librarians’ collection development decisions, and affected the weeding of collections through the presentation of institution-specific collection assessment reports that were provided for each library. The major finding of the impact study was that the additional funding for community college library acquisitions, passed by the Florida legislature in 1999, was not wholly successful in the revamping of outdated book collections because many of the Florida community college libraries received only part or none of the funding. The utilization of the project data, the findings of the impact study, and other follow-up to the project are reported in this article

Educating the Educators: Outreach to the College of Education Distance Faculty and Native American Students

The focus of "Educating the Educators: Outreach to the College of Education Distance Faculty and Native American Students" is to examine and explore the relationship between the Library and the College of Education regarding provision and promotion of Library services to students and faculty taking and teaching classes virtually and at satellite campus and computer lab locations throughout the state. It will include an overview of the special challenges facing the Library in providing these services to a college that offers a large number of distance education classes, enrolls a large number of Native American students, and includes a majority of the institution’s distance students and part time distance faculty. Specifically, the presentation will explore four areas: • The nature of the programs, students and faculty of the College of Education • The unique conditions under which these courses are offered in rural and reservation locations • The special conditions of the reservation, including population, economic and educational considerations; and finally; • How the library's services and promotion efforts have been adapted to be most effective in this unique environmen

Nobody Knows and Nobody Is Responsible: Issues in E-Books Workflow and Access

Hunter Library at Western Carolina University is a midsized academic institution managing 10 large e-book packages and about 80,000 individual e-book titles. Managing e-books involves working with multiple vendors and staff from different areas of technical services. This paper examines issues in e-book workflows; in particular, we will share the results of a project to document our e-book workflows and utilize an existing technology, Microsoft SharePoint, to better manage this workflow and share information and communication among staff involved in this process. The idea for this project came with the almost simultaneous hiring of the electronic resources librarian and the metadata librarian’s assumption of the responsibility for loading e-book machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records into the catalog. We found the existing workflow related to downloading MARC records from vendors’ sites confusing because of the involvement of multiple units within our technical services department, Content Organization and Management (COM). We also noticed there were questions from both users and library faculty about e-book user limits and download rights that were not easily answered by looking at the catalog record, nor was the information readily available. How might we share unique access information with users and public services staff? How might technical services staff better communicate with each other regarding their individual roles and responsibilities in this process? How do we document and maintain relevant information for technical services staff? This project dealt not only with our e-book workflow but also helped to eliminate knowledge silos we discovered in our technical services department