Search

Libraries can improve their ebook collections by weeding them to remove outdated and irrelevant content. This paper reports on an ebook weeding project conducted by the Franklin University Library in Columbus, Ohio. It discusses the library's reasons for weeding its ebooks, how the library weeded its demand driven acquisitions ("DDA") pool, and the challenges the library encountered weeding ebooks. The library ultimately conducted a more limited weeding of its ebook collection than initially planned. This paper explains the reasons for this limited weeding project, the decisions the library made throughout the project and the method used to conduct the ebook weeding project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries across the United States provide student engagement events for a diverse set of reasons. Like many academic libraries, the University Library of Columbus (ULC) strives to provide student engagement opportunities to increase the library's visibility and student involvement on campus. In the Fall 2017 semester, a TED Talks series was developed and implemented. The chosen format for the series was to present a TED talk each Tuesday, followed by a brief discussion and a short survey of attendees. This paper shares an overview of the series implementation, promotion, evaluation, and progression during the 2017-2018 academic year, including attendees' feedback and author's recommendations. It suggests that a weekly series such as TED Talks provide a unique venue for academic libraries to engage their academic community on an ongoing basis and build relationships with new and existing patrons. The series can enhance existing library programming or serve as a standalone engagement and outreach initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet and the World Wide Web have influenced the new approaches taken in teaching and learning at institutions of higher learning. The nature of the courses offered, the geographical spread of the teaching sites as well as the diverse and distributed student population are the catalysts for the changes. These non-traditional, or distant learners, have emerged as a significant subset of the student population, however, they are usually at a disadvantage because they do not have access to the information experts who would be able to assist them with their reference and research queries. Many libraries have adapted innovative e-reference services in the mainstream of their operations to bridge this divide. In 2009 the author received the 2008 Fulbright Visiting Researcher Scholar Fellowship and explored the theme “Digital Reference Services—Trends, Use and Implications for Academic Libraries in Jamaica.” The author was based at Syracuse University from September to November 2008, and visited other libraries such as the Ohio State University and the University of Illinois in the United States of America. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the research project that was undertaken. The findings presented are based on review of academic discourses through literature, interviews and observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cataloging Department at the Ohio State University Library continuously reviews workflow to see which areas need improvement. In 2004, the Cataloging Department began receiving complaints about the time it took to locate unprocessed materials within Technical Services. Locating these materials was difficult and time consuming, causing problems for both patrons and staff. The author reports on a project that examined the workflow of unprocessed materials in the Cataloging Department at Ohio State. Using the instructional design ADDIE model, a new workflow was designed and implemented to ensure that items could be located, processed, and delivered to patrons in a timely manner. The paper concludes with suggestions applicable to other libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2002 and early 2003, the Serials and Electronic Resources Department of The Ohio State University Libraries collected for correction a total of 864 nonfunctional URLs in bibliographic records for electronic resources on subscription. This paper identifies the types of errors found and reports the proportion of success versus failure to correct the URLs and restore access to the affected titles. Of the URLs examined, 54% were from .gov websites, with the remainder evenly distributed between .edu, .org, .com, and other websites. The high proportion of nonfunctional government (.gov) URLs may be due to the period of collections and might have been affected by the September 11, 2001 attack. Overall, 15% of the affected URLs ultimately did not require changes; 70% required some type of correction; and 14% could not be corrected (percentages are rounded). The article concludes with a discussion of policy implications for review and ongoing maintenance of URLs in the library's online catalog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]