An exploration of the diffusion of a new technology from communities of practice perspective: Web services technologies in digital libraries

This study explored and described decision factors related to technology adoption. The research used diffusion of innovations and communities of practice (CoP) theoretical frameworks and a case study of Web services technology in the digital library (DL) environment to develop an understanding of the decision-making process. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the research problems and data were collected through semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence (e.g., meeting minutes), and a comprehensive member check. The research conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with seven respondents with different job titles (administraive vs. technical) from five different DL programs selected based on distinctive characteristics such as size of the DL program. Findings of the research suggested that the decision-making process is a complex process in which a number of factors are considered when making technology adoption decisions. These factors are categorized as organizational, individual, and technology specific factors. Further, data showed that DL CoPs played an important role in enabling staff members of a DL program to access up-to-date and experienced-based knowledge, provided a distributed problem solving and learning environment, facilitating informal communication and collaborative activities, and informing the decision-making process.Committee Co-Chair: William E. Moen; Committee Co-Chair: Brian C. O'Connor; Committee Member: Samantha K. Hastings; Committee Member: Rada Mihalcea; Committee Member: Guillermo A. Oyarce: Dean of Program: Herman L. Totten; Dean of Graduate Studies: Sandra L. TerrellPh

A Community-grounded approach to understanding preservation of the cultural heritage of refugee communities

Project APRCH (Agency in the Preservation of Refugee Cultural Heritage), is an effort to ask refugees to speak in their own voice, attaining agency, about the direction they wish to take in the preservation of their (refugee) cultural heritage. Project APRCH focuses on learning from/about the refugee population in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, USA, as a microcosm of similar communities across the United States. It seeks to understand the relationships of particular community members to their intangible cultural heritage as a process for authentic cultural heritage preservation

Building an Institutional Repository in Hard Times

This poster presents an overview of an exploratory research initiative to examine and assess the viability of developing an institutional repository system at a teaching-oriented four-year university with minimal monetary commitment. A need has been identified for an institutional repository and necessary steps have been taken to implement it. Several departments worked together to create a prototype Institutional Repository using DSpace, an open source repository software. This repository represents a unique endeavor, in that it has been instituted at a non-research based university and has chosen to involve students in the planning, design, implementation, and documentation stages of the project. In addition, the university\u27s Library Science students will also be involved in creating and maintaining collections. This poster focuses on the steps taken to set up and the plans to maintain a quality Institutional Repository at Valdosta State University without placing a large demand on the institution\u27s resources

A longitudinal study of connectedness and information flow

Social networks formed in MLIS classroom settings can affect students’ career trajectories after graduation. However, in online learning environments, students often feel isolated and disconnected from their peers. In fact, students who graduated from online or primarily online MLIS programs may not have access to resources such as employment opportunities that traditional peer networks offer. Despite the rise in enrollments in online courses and popularity of distance education in US colleges and universities, little research has been done to investigate the important role such social networks play in graduates’ career and employment prospects. This study thus attempts to do so, by examining the career trajectories of graduates from six MLIS programs. In particular, it analyzes the ways in which social networking, especially in terms of the exchange of employment information, evolved over a 3-year period after graduation

The Potential for Web Services to Enhance Information Access to Legacy Data: An Exploratory Study and Application

This poster presents an overview of an exploratory research project to identify, describe, and investigate the applicability of a Web services (WS) approach to access legacy data. In the Z Texas Implementation Component of the Library of Texas (ZLOT) project, the ZLOT technical team implemented a multi-purpose Texas Library Directory Database (TLDD) that is used as a back- end database to support the Library of Texas (LOT) Resource Discovery Service (RDS). The researchers developed and implemented a prototype WS application to show how a legacy system can be accessed and its data can be searched and retrieved. This study focused on understanding how requests and responses between software applications are encoded in Extensible Markup Language (XML)

The Challenges of Nonstandardized Vendor Usage Data in a Statewide Metasearch Environment: The Library of Texas Experience

This article describes a research and development project the objective of which was to develop a means to produce standardized statewide usage data made available from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Using a range of data collection and evaluation methods, the project staff determined that there were significant problems in producing statewide standardized and comparable database usage statistics. This article provides background information on key issues related to these problems, offers a number of techniques that might be adapted for use in other situations, indicates the opportunities presented by metasearch applications for recording usage data, and makes recommendations for future research and work to obtain more accurate and standardized database usage statistics

Who Do You Know? A Study of Connectedness in Online Education and Employment

This study explored the relationship of online course intensity to development of social networks and the impact of social networks on obtaining employment or employment information to develop a better understanding of the factors that lead to improved employment outcomes and information-gathering. Graduates from three ALA-accredited programs in the Southeastern US who took some of all of their classes online to earn the MLIS degree were surveyed. Findings suggest that there are differences in types of contacts (networks) used in job-finding related to online course intensity; and there are differences in the types of network contacts used to secure employment or employment information. The results point to the importance of fitting network development to program modality (online intensity); the necessity for encouraging and promoting career-related work experiences during the master’s program; and the importance of providing face-to-face contact however infrequently to students enrolled in online programs

Faculty Members’ Perceptions towards Institutional Repository at a Medium-sized University: Application of a Binary Logistic Regression Model

Purpose – The study aimed to investigate the perceptions of faculty members at a medium-sized university towards self-archiving and participation in institutional repositories (IRs). Design/methodology/approach – The research participants were from a medium-sized university. An online survey was distributed and a total of 217 responses were received which yielded a 40 per cent overall response rate. Faculty perceptions of the IR were measured through nine dimensions, the results of which were later summarised using principal component factor analysis. Findings – Faculty members’ perception of IRs and willingness to contribute to the IRs were closely associated with scholarly productivity rather than prior knowledge of and experience with IRs. Those who possessed scholarly materials were significantly more likely to have a positive perception of IRs and, therefore, were more likely to contribute to IRs than those who did not. Seniority in faculty rank contributed negatively to faculty members’ perception of the repository. Research limitations/implications – The study used a non-probability sampling technique to collect data about the faculty’s perception of IRs at a single institution of higher education. Variables for faculty background were limited to rank and academic discipline. Originality/value – In three ways: First, the study contributed to research on faculty perception of IRs in academia and approached the issue from the perspective of a teaching-oriented institution. Second, the relationship between faculty's willingness to participate in and their perception of IRs was measured. Third, a binary logistic regression model was used to estimate factors that influence faculty's perception of the institution's IRs

Texas Library Directory Web Services Application: The Potential for Web Services to Enhance Information Access to Legacy Data

This paper presents an overview of an exploratory research project to identify, describe, and investigate the applicability of the Web services (WS) approach to access legacy data. In the Z Texas Implementation Component of the Library of Texas (ZLOT) project, the ZLOT technical team has implemented a multipurpose Texas Library Directory Database (TLDD) that is used as a back-end database to support the Library of Texas (LOT) Resource Discovery Service (RDS). The researchers developed and implemented a prototype WS application to show how a legacy system can be accessed and its data can be searched and retrieved. This study focused on understanding how requests and responses between software applications are encoded in XML