Such a Woman: The Life of Octavia Walton LeVert

Paula Lenor Webb Intellect Publishing, 2021 ISBN: 9781954693098 395 p. $14.95 (Pbk

Resource Discovery Tools: Supporting Serendipity

Serendipity, the accidental discovery of something useful, plays an important role in discovery and the acquisition of new knowledge. The process and role of serendipity varies across disciplines. As library collections have become increasingly digital faculty lament the loss of serendipity of browsing library stacks. Resource discovery tools may have features that support serendipity as part of information seeking. A comparison of four commercial Web-scale discovery tools, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat® Local1, Serials Solution2® Summon3™, ExLibris4® Primo Central5™, and EBSCO Discovery Services (EDS)6™, links product features to characteristics that support serendipitous discovery. However, having such features is only part of the equation. Educators need to include serendipity in discussions about the research process. Future research opportunities include determining whether serendipity can be encouraged, evaluating its occurrence in the web scale environment, and studying serendipity in relation to research instruction

Western Kentucky University Libraries, Preparing Information Literate Students at WKU: Report of the Task Force on Universal Information Literacy

Purpose: The Task Force on Universal Information Literacy was formed in the fall of 2010 and charged with reviewing the advisability and viability of providing information literacy instruction to every student at WKU

Academic Library Assessment: Strengthening the Collective

The Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative (FALSC) leads and coordinates projects and resources for academic libraries at 40 state universities and colleges. The cooperative structure brings together stakeholders at multiple levels. The Members Council on Library Services (MCLS; FALSC and library leadership) oversees seven standing committees, each charged with specific work that serves the cooperative. Each committee includes librarians from college and university libraries, and liaisons from FALSC and the MCLS. The Library Assessment Standing Committee (LASC) charge is to: Assist and advise the MCLS regarding methods and tools for library assessment; Create a centralized repository to house examples of best practices for assessment methods and activities; Identify and promote examples of effective library assessment methods; Create a shared repository of examples of library assessment practices for SACS and other accreditation; Provide recommendations to the MCLS for resources and activities to support assessment in all libraries in the collective; Provide regular reports to the MCLS. By bringing librarians from different institutions together around this shared charge, the committee identifies common needs and goals, leverages expertise to address these, and facilitates communication among all the libraries. Evaluation of data visualization tools was a great opportunity to strengthen the collective by pursuing a common goal with many mutually beneficial results