Electronic Instruction at Carlson Library

A review of: Crawford, Gregory A., and Jessica Feldt. “An Analysis of the Literature on Instruction in Academic Libraries.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 46.3 (Spr. 2007): 77-87. Objective – To discover which journals publish a preponderance of the literature on instruction in academic libraries, and to further learn what topics are discussed in the literature and what methods of inquiry are used to explore those topics. Design – Comparative analysis. Setting – The ERIC database. Subjects – Journal articles published between 1971 and 2002, found in the ERIC database via the descriptor ‘library instruction.’ Methods – Journal articles published between 1971 and 2002 were searched in the ERIC database using the term ‘library instruction,’ because the term has been used by ERIC since the inception of the database. Article characteristics such as year of publication, journal in which a given article was published, and types of articles were identified. After normalizing the identification of article types by comparing individual codifications of a random sample of articles from the results list, the researchers coded all of the articles according to the articles’ main topics. These article topics were then condensed into broader topics (e.g. articles coded initially as addressing the topics of instruction to “graduate students” or “high school students” were condensed under the heading “instruction of specific populations”). Those articles deemed to have a research component were further analyzed in terms of research methodology, scope, and use of statistics. The questions guiding the authors' study consisted of: In which journals are articles on instruction in academic libraries published? What are the topics of the articles that have been published? How has the literature of instruction in academic libraries changed over the years? What is the nature of research [authors' emphasis] articles on instruction in academic libraries? For research articles, what are the research methods used and what types of statistics are utilized? (77-78). Main results – The search found 791 articles appearing in 90 journals. However, only six journals were responsible for publishing 60% of the articles on the results list. Based on the categorization into topics or types, five article types – “general essays,” articles on “instruction for searching online catalogs and databases,” “articles on course- or assignment-related instruction,” “programmatic and management issues,” and “specific institution instruction” – accounted for 54% of the total articles; eleven other topics are represented in the remaining articles. Only 24.5% of the articles could be considered “research-based.” While nine types of research methods were used, 62.3% of the research-based articles relied on surveys or questionnaires. However, taking into account what could be an expected decline in interest for studying instruction for microforms, and an increased interest in studying instruction for the Internet, the types of articles published each year between 1971 and 2002 remained generally static. Conclusion – The authors conclude that, unsurprisingly, a select few journals are responsible for publishing the majority of articles on instruction in academic libraries, and note that these journals are “closely associated with academic librarianship and instruction” (85). The authors’ findings concerning the types of articles published over the course of the date range examined, although interesting, are equally unsurprising. What is surprising and alarming, is that only a quarter of all articles published are research-based. Furthermore, those articles that were found to be research-based did not often employ sophisticated research methods, preferring for example, the use of descriptive statistics over inferential statistics. Ideally, this article will spur the development and publication of more, and more rigorous, research-based scholarship in addition to pointing authors both to the journals most likely to publish their research and to the topics that have been historically (since 1971) underrepresented in the literature.

<p>Electronic resources (ERs) in academic libraries have become a global phenomenon, and as libraries rely more on these resources managing them effectively becomes crucial. Electronic resource management (ERM) has consequently become a core function which many academic libraries around the globe appear to find challenging to implement effectively. Challenges of managing ERs are particularly pronounced in developing countries such as Ghana where the introduction of ICTs has typically been characterised by inadequate resources. Although there is an extensive literature on both the management and use of ERs, little research has studied how the two aspects could affect each other. Ineffective management of ERs could negatively affect their use; likewise, low usage of ERs could negatively impact on the management of these resources. Studying the concepts of management and usage of ERs together would result in better recommendations to inform practice and eliminate the challenges. In addition, the literature on the management of ERs is predominantly centred around libraries in the developed country context. Moreover, academic libraries in Ghana do not appear to be effective in managing ERs. There is a lack of understanding on how academic libraries in Ghana are managing ERs, and the ways in which this is affecting their usage and vice-versa. The study therefore fills the gaps by exploring the connection between the management and usage of ERs in academic libraries in a developing country context. Placed within a post-positivist worldview, this mixed-methods research employed a multiple case study approach, involving two public and two private universities in Ghana. Stakeholders included in the study were library staff, faculty, students, and consortium executives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with library staff and members of the governing council of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) concurrently with surveys of faculty and postgraduate students of the institutions investigated. These were supported by document analysis. To guide data collection and analysis, the Techniques for Electronic Resource Management (TERMS) framework (Emery & Stone, 2013), and an initial conceptual model of factors developed using constructs from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis 2003) and the literature underpinned the study. The interview findings revealed inadequate planning for ERs in the case institutions owing to operational challenges including inadequate policies for ERs, inadequate funding, and understaffing. Although efforts were being made to follow standard procedures some components of ER workflow were absent in both public and private case libraries, whereas other aspects of the workflow were responsibilities of parties external to the libraries. The document analysis showed that, the total average completeness of collection development policies of case libraries was 25% which indicated the lack of vital elements in these policies. The survey findings showed a generally low awareness and usage of ERs by faculty and students due to inadequate promotional efforts by the case libraries, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of relevant content. Consequently, respondents had a negative perception on the usefulness of the ERs which may have caused the observed low usage. The study also found three main factors as affecting the management and usage of ERs in academic libraries in Ghana which were governmental, organisational and individual factors. Governmental factors such as regulations on staffing, inadequate funding, and nationwide rationing of electricity supply were hindrances. At the organisational level, an enabler was collaboration with stakeholders, whereas obstacles included inadequate policies, staffing challenges, resource-related factors, lack of investment for sustainability, centralised management structure, low institutional commitment, poor communication, and low usage of ERs. Enabling individual factors consisted of religious beliefs, social influence, oral information, and interest in IT. Hindering individual factors comprised negative effects of oral information, resistance to change, fear of speaking against authority, reluctance to submit contents to institutional repository, negative perception on the ERs and lack of time. The findings also established various ways in which the management and usage of ERs affected each other. Low user input in the selection of ERs, access related challenges, inadequate publicity, training, and evaluation of ERs negatively affected the usage of ERs. However, case libraries that occasionally allowed users to schedule training sessions observed increased attendance to training with a corresponding increase in ER usage, which provided a basis for institutional budgetary support. On the other hand, failure of users to attend training programmes after signing up, low referral of students to the ERs by faculty and low usage of ERs of the library negatively affected ERM particularly in the areas of budgeting for ER subscription and sustainability. However, faculty and students facilitated the management of ERs of the library in terms of creating awareness of the ERs among their colleagues and peers, and also accessing the resources using mobile devices to supplement the library’s inadequate computers. The TERMS framework and initial conceptual model of factors were revised based on the findings. The study adds to the Library and Information Science research relevant to the understanding of the management and usage of ERs, factors affecting both concepts and how these two concepts are related. In addition, the study contributes to practice by recommending strategies for effective ERM to encourage increased usage of ERs. It is also hoped that academic libraries in other developing countries can draw lessons from the findings. The study also provides advanced countries with a deeper insight to guide them in providing support to developing countries. The findings also have implications for policy and decision makers in terms of prioritisation and allocation of resources for effective ERM and usage in academic libraries as contemporary issues are revealed. Keywords: Academic institutions, Academic libraries, Electronic resources, Electronic resources in Africa, Electronic resource management, Electronic resource usage</p>

A Scoping Review: Synthesizing Evidence on Data Management Instruction in Academic Libraries

After an overview of the literature on challenges facing library instructors and their coordinators, the chapter describes how the communities of practice model relates to professional development in librarianship, specifically in the area of instructional development. A case study of a community of practice fostered by an instruction coordinator at an academic library is detailed. Academic librarians may encounter several challenges when entering the classroom as library instructors, and instruction coordinators seek to address these and other challenges as they build library instruction programs. By developing a community of practice, instruction coordinators can enable library instructors to learn together. The case study describes how the Instruction Coordinator cultivates library instructor development for members of the Teaching and Learning Team at Loyola University New Orleans’ Monroe Library through a community of practice model. The practical implications for this chapter are that instruction coordinators can establish instructional development opportunities that allow library instructors to enhance their teaching abilities and ultimately further library instruction programs. Communities of practice are well known in several fields and have been discussed in the library literature. This chapter provides additional value to researchers and practitioners through the discussion and application of the concept in the context of library instruction at academic institutions. The case study provides specific examples of how instruction coordinators at other academic libraries can apply the community of practice model and instructional development opportunities to a library instruction program in order to build and sustain a learning culture that supports library instructor development.

Academic libraries have undertaken an important role in facilitating students’ acquisition of digital literacy knowledge and skills, preparing students to navigate an increasingly complex information society. One approach to this is through embedded librarianship, which focuses on placing librarians in user contexts. This article presents the results of a case study on digital literacy instruction at the Copenhagen University Library. It examines library instructors’ practice when teaching digital literacy courses, and to what degree this instruction takes the variety of students’ different disciplinary backgrounds into account. This case study is comprised of four library courses, using both observational studies of these courses and interviews with the library instructors responsible. In the article we adopt a sociocultural approach to digital literacy, seeing it as highly context-dependent, and we argue that library instructors should situate the acquisition of digital literacy knowledge and skills in students’ specific disciplinary context. We find that digital literacy instruction at Copenhagen University library is mostly situated in a general academic library context and seldom focuses on students’ actual disciplinary context. We term this approach to embedded librarianship, where students have increased access to library expertise and resources, but their disciplinary perspective is not prioritized, “practical embeddedness”. Our findings suggest that academic libraries would benefit from pursuing an alternative approach, here termed “epistemological embeddedness”, which prioritizes discipline-specific knowledge and approaches. This greater emphasis on epistemological embeddedness could ensure that students learn digital literacy approaches that can help them navigate the information-rich contexts they meet beyond their academic tenure

Information technology is having a huge influence on health care. With ease of access and an abundance of information, today's health care personnel are expected to practice and develop policies or programs based upon evidence in order to avoid inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Our library has the responsibility to serve the needs of students, faculty, and practitioners of medicine and public health and strives to create an information literate workforce. In this article, the authors reflect on the library's instruction program and evaluate and plan for the future order to determine if the library's instruction program is properly developing an evidence-based medical and public health workforce.

This study examines the experiences of academic library instructors when shifting from primarily in-person to primarily online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 20-question survey was distributed to academic and medical librarian listservs. Questions asked 244 participants about various aspects of their experiences providing library instruction during the pandemic. Results indicated that most respondents experienced a successful transition to online instruction during, though many found the experience challenging. Open-ended responses revealed areas where instructors felt online instruction was more effective than in-person instruction, and areas where they felt it was not. Many instructors indicated an intention to continue to provide online instruction options into the future. Based on these survey results, a few key areas of recommendation are proposed where academic libraries can better prepare their instruction librarians for future emergent situations.

This paper supplements the panel, which was delivered in a “Lively Lunch” format and included presentations by librarians who have employed EBSCO’s Discovery System (EDS) in their academic institutions. The panelists addressed several important aspects of launching a discovery system in an academic library, such as Implementation; Information Literacy; and Assessment, Usability and Customization. The implementation component included technical aspects, business requirements, enhancing the operability of link resolvers, launch preparation, and implementation success. The information literacy portion addressed how academic reference services and library instruction have been transformed because of EDS. Assessment, Usability and Customization focused on customizing the search box and assessing EDS using statistics and usability testing. Michael Gorrell, Executive Vice President of Technology and Chief Information Officer of EBSCO Publishing, was present, and a Q&A time was scheduled at the end of each session for audience members to ask questions, comment, and share experiences. The implementation process of a Discovery Service involves many different aspects and is a large undertaking for any library. Depending on the size of the library, its technology infrastructure, and the number of staff involved, the implementation time can vary greatly. In addition, the planning processes and the considerations made prior to implementation are also affected by the nature and needs of end-users in these institutions. Selecting the resources to include in the discovery service, resolving technical issues, developing a strategy to publicize and market to end-users, and assessing and customizing the product are all part of a continuous course of implementing Discovery Services—a process that begins long before implementation and has no fixed completion. This process involves a collaborative and consorted effort from all areas of librarian expertise, from technical services to public services. The simplicity and comprehensiveness of discovery tools redefine how libraries deliver services across the board, changing the expectations users have of the experience of searching library resources and challenging librarians to redesign instruction and teach information literacy in new ways. These considerations and our own experience with implementing EBSCO’s Discovery System (EDS) at the University of South Florida prompted us to open up a discussion across university and college libraries in the U.S. and across librarian functions, technical, and public services, in order to share, discuss, and learn from each other the lessons of Discovery Service implementation and use. We wanted to focus on the continuous nature of this process, involving the user perspective, as well as the perspective of the vendor, EBSCO. We believe that talking with our colleagues and collaborating with publishers makes us much better positioned to anticipate the changing needs of users and enhance the experience, accessibility, and discoverability of

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to assess the information literacy proficiency of transfer students. This assessment of skills was undertaken to improve the services provided to transfer students in academic libraries, with a particular focus on information literacy instruction.Design/methodology/approachThe Project Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS) test was administered to assess the information literacy proficiency of a cohort of undergraduate students taking courses on two regional campuses of a four-year institution. In total, 114 students participated, and SAILS test scores were compared to several demographic characteristics using one-way and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).FindingsResults showed that undergraduate students generally lack information literacy skills, even at the junior and senior levels. Previous library instruction had a positive impact on scores for two of the Association of College and Research Libraries information literacy standards, suggesting that library instruction programs can be effective at improving these skills. When examining performance across the board on the various information literacy skills, there was no significant difference between transfer and native students in this result set.Research limitations/implicationsThis study had a limited sample size, and only tested students taking courses from two regional campus locations. Follow-up studies could broaden the scope to include main campus transfer students to form a larger sample size.Originality/valueIt was difficult to find original research within the library literature that directly addressed information literacy skills in a mixed population of transfer and native students. Further research in this area can serve to improve the services offered to all students within academic libraries.

Guidelines for Bibliographic Instruction in Academic Libraries

Writing Objectives for Bibliographic Instruction in Academic Libraries (Book Review)

Toward Guidelines for Bibliographic Instruction in Academic Libraries

PurposeThis paper aims to provide academic instruction librarians with a model for integrating concepts from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework into “one-shot” library instruction sessions without losing the practical experience of searching the library resources.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adapted the Cephalonian method as the structure of first-year library instruction sessions for an English composition class. The sessions were re-designed to emphasize the core concepts of information literacy while incorporating active learning activities and discussion.FindingsThe authors found the Cephalonian method to be a useful structure for incorporating aspects of the ACRL Framework into the first-year library instruction program. The call-and-response format fosters conversations and leads seamlessly into hands-on activities. When used as part of “flipped” instruction, the Cephalonian method allows instructors to engage students who have completed the online portion and those who have not.Practical implicationsThis paper offers librarians practical ideas for incorporating the information literacy concepts outlined in the ACRL Framework into one-shot instruction sessions.Originality/valueWith the recent adoption of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education by ACRL, there is a need for practical examples of how to incorporate the frames into existing library instruction programs.

Most librarians and staff who perform library instruction in academic settings place a high value on assessment. They understand that determining what our students bring with them to the instruction lab and what they learn during the hour we teach them helps improve teaching. Some study the latest in assessment techniques and educational theory and form high ideals for themselves and for their libraries’ instruction programs. However, when faced with realities of our programs, successful though they may be, improving assessment that is performed across instructional programs can be a daunting task. Academic libraries’ efforts to institute or improve library instruction assessment can lead to anxiety as librarians are pulled between using old favorite assessment tools and making major overhauls. The authors of this article have developed an approach to assessment wherein librarians study the components of learning and use these to enhance familiar tools they already use for library assessment during instruction. This allows librarians to greatly improve the quality of their tools while feeling a sense of ownership without losing particular features of importance. This study discusses three popular assessment tools (pretest/posttest sets, posttests, and activities) that were enhanced using this technique and the evidence of learning that each gathers. The authors use data collected with each tool to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each tool and suggests strategies for tool selection.

The aim of the study was to investigate customer care services and strategies in academic libraries in tertiary institutions in KwaZulu-Natal. The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data from academic staff, students and library staff. The population targeted was sampled using a stratified random sampling technique. Three hundred and eighty six (386) questionnaires were distributed to academic staff and students (library users/customers), and interviews were conducted with fifteen (15) library management, unit and/or committee responsible for customer care. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used to analyze quantitative data collected from the library users/ customers, and Microsoft Excel was used to analyze data collected from the library staff of the five academic libraries studied. The libraries revealed by the users to have customer care policies in place were Mangosuthu Technikon and the Durban Institute of Technology. In contrast the University of Durban Westville has no customer care policies while at the University of Zululand, there is no difference between those aware and unaware. Interviews with the library staff of the five academic libraries revealed that only two (Mangosuthu Technikon and the University of Natal) have a unit/person responsible for customer care. Furthermore, the results revealed that academic libraries do not have proper methods and strategies for conducting customer care. The findings revealed that library users/customers are generally satisfied with knowledge resources offered to them by their libraries. Subsequently, the study recommends that academic libraries incorporate a unit/person or committee responsible for customer care. Library staff should also be given regular training regarding customer care.