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This article analyzes the inclusion of public policy papers in three resources--Policy File, Policy Archives, and PAIS International. The databases were analyzed by searching for known policy papers across the three resources, analyzing the subject coverage of the policy papers contained in the databases, and the inclusion of particular policy institutes. PAIS International contained more policy papers based on subject and included more of the selected policy institutes. Policy File contained more of the preselected policy papers., Of the myriad resource types needed by public policy students and researchers, policy papers can be the most difficult to locate because of the various sources in which they can [...]

This study seeks to determine the effectiveness of the BiblioBouts information literacy game for improving the quality of the sources undergraduate students cite in their written papers. BiblioBouts was incorporated [...]

The article discusses the results of a study on how games can help improve the quality of the sources that students cite in their papers. Topics covered include how the researchers aimed to determine the effectiveness of the BiblioBouts information literacy game in improving the quality of sources that undergraduate students cite in their papers and how the results indicate that the players put scholarly sources into play and cited them in their in-game bibliographies.

Find this new publication on sale through the ALA catalog or Web site: Help Wanted:Job and Career Information Resources, edited by Gary W. White. (RUSA Occasional Paper Number 26, ISBN [...]

This article discusses the theme of digital media and their role in reference and user services, which many of the articles focus on in this issue of "Reference & User Services Quarterly." Digital media significantly contributes to information overload. The Principle of Compound Media is a concept stating that information overload is a function of the volume of information available as well as the variety of formats in which information is available. Topics that are mentioned include print on paper and the implications of the Principle of Compound Media for information and knowledge professionals.

The first part of the paper develops a framework explaining the need to disambiguate user inquiries to improve information systems and services. Theoretical grounds for this framework are explained for how questions are categorized on the basis of their ambiguity type, while the relevant literature is reviewed including both the traditional and the digital information service environment. The second part of the paper categorizes a set of questions (400 Qs), originally collected for TREC 8 and 9 QA Tracks, according to ambiguity type. Three types and two dimensions of ambiguity are identified by the author with the acceptable levels of inter-coder agreements presented. The last part of the paper discusses three aspects of information systems and services, mainly related to user-system and user-information intermediary (i.e., a reference librarian) interactions, on the basis of the results of categorization. Those three aspects include (1) increasing user input to make initial queries less ambiguous, (2) reducing search space by disambiguating queries, and (3) clustering search results based on the characteristics of prospective answers. In each of the three aspects, discussions on the evolving environments of virtual reference services were presented.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mention Wikipedia in a group of people and a lively discussion is sure to follow with terms such as peer-review, editing policies, and Web 2.0 entering the conversation. Wikipedia is the open access, Web 2.0 encyclopedia that is harnessing the power (and knowledge) of the masses and making it freely available to the Internet audience. With open access, problems have appeared and solutions have been implemented; however, many netizens (network citizens) are only aware of the negative and high profile misuses of Wikipedia, skewing their view of this knowledge repository. This paper studies how one group of information seekers, librarians, is utilizing this freely accessible web resource in their work, and how positive and negative awareness affects this usage. Usage statistics, awareness statistics, and gender differences for Wikipedia usage are presented in this paper and discussed. Comparisons of librarian statistics to previously published data on university faculty and student usage of Wikipedia are presented. It is established that librarians have greater awareness of negative issues surrounding Wikipedia than of positive issues. This awareness drives usage of Wikipedia in personal and professional settings. Results also indicate that there are no major gender differences in awareness of positive and negative issues concerning Wikipedia, but that males tend to use Wikipedia more than females, confirming the results of previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the two major programs of the 2002 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in the U.S. Number of librarians who were invited to write white papers in advance of the conference; Opinion of reference librarian Catherine Ross regarding the value of reference interview and how it affects the reference process when it does not take place; Views of reference librarian David Tyckoson on reference interview.

The article presents print and electronic information resources about meditation research. The book, The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, The Relaxation Response was a bestseller and was subsequently published in various countries, languages, formats and editions. This book is controversial among those who believe that the spiritual elements of meditation are necessary to reap its benefits; that is why it is an important part of any meditation collection. In print; also available in large print, VHS videotape and audiotape. The book, Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program Collected Papers edited by David W. Orme-Johnson and John T. Farrow, is the complete official collection of research papers on Transcendental Meditation (TM) published by the TM organization. This edition is the compilation of the reports of the 508 research studies on the TM method and TM-Sidhi Program, a program for advanced practitioners, with some that are not included in the first edition of the papers. TM is a method of meditation originating in India and taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi throughout the world beginning in the late 1950s. The article, An Analysis of Recent Meditation Research and Suggestions for Future Directions by Shauna L. Shapiro and Roger Walsh, reviews the recent literature of meditation research, including the most well designed studies on meditation. The authors discuss the psychological, physiological, and transpersonal aspects, dividing meditation into two basic types: concentration and awareness. The site, Health Emotions Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, provides descriptions of state-of-the-art research facilities and descriptions of current research projects, including a recent study of mindfulness meditation.

The article focuses on the role of librarians in United States as information professionals to ensure the understanding of the value of employing a fact-based criterion for evaluating resources. Topics include disregard for facts in news and by political leaders in the U.S. , the use of information literacy in providing us with diverse perspective to work within academic communities, and the combination of information literacy and archiving.

The article focuses on the University of Common Requirements (UCORE)/Roots/Libraries student learning outcomes assessment project conducted at Washington State University in 2013. Data provided compares the students' performance based on learning outcomes including thesis development, source quantity, nature of resources, source analysis, historical roots, argument building, bibliography, and footnotes/citations.

Many online publications offer space for the public to comment on articles. These sections are a window to see readers' reactions to the article and the subject matter. This paper provides an analysis of comment sections from readers on articles about vaccination. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate reactions to authority, which leads to recommendations on how libraries might remain credible and trustworthy places to seek information about contested subjects. Vaccination is a contested practice that has received widespread public attention. This study demonstrates an atmosphere of distrust toward government, media, scientific funding, and drug companies. Librarians working with the public should be aware of this charged atmosphere. Locally created portals that include multiple points of view on contentious subjects will help people make important decisions and will demonstrate independence that will increase trust. This research seeks to answer the following questions framed within the context of online conversation about vaccinations: • What do people say that they trust and do not trust? • How do they speak of authority? • What sources do they say they use to make decisions about health care? • What can librarians learn about observing talk about authority? Section 1 provides an introduction to the problem from historical and philosophical angles. Section 2 describes the method, 3, the findings, and 4, recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on career changes for mid-career librarians. It draws heavily on the experience of the author who left a position in law librarianship for one in general academic reference and instructional librarianship. The occupational changes one faces when leaving one specialization for another, learning to write professional research papers, and seeking out educational opportunities are discussed. The author suggests librarians remain flexible about job rotation and continue to learn about the various aspects of the profession.

The promotion of services in academic libraries often falls under the purview of outreach. This paper explores a number of questions regarding library outreach, specifically how libraries manage and support the marketing and public relations aspect of their services, resources, and facilities. An exploratory survey of more than 100 academic libraries reveals that the management of outreach often occurs on an informal and ad hoc basis, with only a minority maintaining a dedicated budget or articulated mission statement. Overwhelmingly, campus and library events prove the most popular methods of outreach, although blogs and other Web 2.0 tools trail closely behind. Additional survey questions address the use of dedicated positions and committees, and future efforts planned for outreach. This paper should provide a gauge for libraries in measuring their outreach efforts, while also highlighting topics for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper presents the results of a survey of MLIS students' motivations for choosing a library career, as well as their outlook on the job market, preferences for various subfields, and dreams about the future. In 2004 several researchers conducted a survey of MLIS students at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies and reported the results in a 2006 RUSQ article. In a field of constant change, it is essential that a new study is conducted to glean current motivations for pursuing a MLIS degree. New technologies, economic issues, and other factors could affect a new generation of librarians' mindsets. Therefore we replicated the earlier survey, added some new questions, and compared our results. This article describes the results of the current survey. It shows that myriad reasons motivate students to pursue the MLIS, and librarians who have an interest in their new colleagues will find this paper of interest. We also suggest some practical steps that reference librarians (as well as human resource officers and library school administrators) can follow to recruit new librarians. This paper is based on a poster presented at the Alabama Library Association conference (ALLA), April 10, 2009, in Auburn, Alabama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the experience of three sophomore English composition classes that were required to visit the reference desk for class credit. Student perceptions of reference consultations are analyzed to gain a clearer understanding of the students' attitudes toward reference services. Findings of this exploratory study indicate that students suffer from library anxiety and are much more likely to seek out reference help if they are convinced that a consultation will save them time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the transformation of the role of librarians in information science. It explores the development made by information science in natural language searching programs. The ability of librarians to construct complex search strategies is discussed, as well as the use of restatement as a technique for researching.

Since their inception, virtual reference services have evolved considerably and are now a significant component of library services in many types of library environments. The current paper reports on a study undertaken at a research-intensive academic library that analyzed and evaluated a decade-old virtual reference service. The main goal of the study was to obtain a broad and comprehensive picture of the current service, grounded in the actual day-to-day provision, usage, and organization of the service. The group of librarians involved in the study developed a feasible, efficient, and adaptable methodology for assessing and evaluating a virtual reference service. The developed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative methods can be used and applied for a similar evaluation of the service in any type of library environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the subject librarian training practice of CALIS Phase III "Librarian Literacy Training and Qualification Certification" in the charge of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library, this paper elaborates upon a design for a subject librarian training system concerning objectives, methods, courses, tests, organization and management mechanisms. From November 2010 to December 2011, the program has held four phases of liaison librarian training respectively and trained 322 liaisons for 197 universities in China. Additionally, it analyzes major characteristics of the training program and points out what we should note in the training process in order to achieve success in the implementation of subject librarian training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the results of a nationwide study which examined the design, layout, content, site management, and usability of 1,469 academic and public library websites from all 50 states in the United States. Our findings show common trends for homepage design, navigation, and information architecture. Library websites were found to consistently provide information about hours of operation (97.9 percent), library address (91 percent), news and events (88.9 percent), access to OPACs (84.6 percent), online renewal (77.7 percent), contact information (72.5 percent), and ability to give feedback (74.2 percent). Websites were mainly designed (33 percent) and managed (50 percent) by librarians as part of their professional job duties and the majority did not conduct any web usability testing (72.3 percent). This study provides a profile of how the nation's academic and public libraries design and manage their websites and how this compares to recommended best practices from the research literature. Library websites rated high in general usability based on recognized heuristics; however, a need to conduct usability evaluations remains. A basic set of guidelines for library webpage design is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arizona is at the forefront of Latino population growth and political and racial politics. Three different factors could potentially influence the provision of library service to Latinos in the State of Arizona. These are (1) the growth of the Latino community and the consequent growth of its library needs, (2) the growth of state legislation that is hostile to immigrants and Latinos, and (3) the promotion of a pro-immigrant position by the library profession. This paper compares services to the Spanish-speaking in the State of Arizona from 1999 to 2009 in light of conflicting pro- and anti-immigrant sentiments operating in the state during that decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing virtualization of resources, reference service, and instruction, college students have fewer reasons to visit the academic library, a place they believe lacks relevance in their lives. This article explores the idea of revitalizing academic libraries by reconsidering the place of pleasure reading in them. Considerable research has been conducted on reading in the last quarter century. Reading serves a host of essential functions, far more than we have ever guessed. The first part of this paper looks at the social, psychological, moral, emotional, and cognitive role it plays in our lives. The second half examines readers' advisory services that we can borrow or adapt from public libraries, services that can attract new users, promote lifelong reading, and transform academic libraries to be more community, user, and reader focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines students' and practitioners' attitudes toward, and uses of, various reference sources. It was precipitated by questioning the best outcomes of the basic reference class in Library Science programs, specifically asking what types of sources LIS students should be versed in as they enter the workforce -- print or online? This research found some differences between academic and public librarians, and little agreement about the purposes of the basic reference course. Teaching about types of reference sources today is difficult; as Margaret Landesman says, we are moving away from "reference collections" because of "the convergence among formats, [so that] we can't recognize a reference book when we see one."[1] Our students, though, might benefit from using print reference sources, less as a historical artifact, but for the concrete demonstration of organization of information that they offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the assessment of initial data from an ongoing, award-winning service learning project called "Computer Training for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities." The project was researched, designed, and implemented by Masters in Library Science (MLIS) students at a large southeastern university. The two explicit goals of the project were to assess the effectiveness of the core curriculum in preparing students to undertake such a project and to provide technology literacy to clients with intellectual disabilities. However, the three implicit goals were to benefit the students, the clients, and the community partner through the process of engagement. The data reported are based on the first eighteen months of the project and are gathered from an exercise mapping the students' perceptions of the usefulness of the core curriculum, their written reflections concerning their participation in the project, and their records concerning client progress through the instruction. The student data are corroborated through an interview session with the community partner. The methods and results reflect a qualitative text analysis protocol since the first phase of the project was exploratory and the population was limited. Quantitative data reflect only simple descriptive statistics due to sample size and lack of comparative data. Results indicate that the goals of the original project are being met, and other corollary effects, such as students' attitudes concerning underrepresented populations were offected positively and constructively We also identify necessary revisions and challenges as the project progresses, and numerous avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, library professionals have used a variety of ready reference technologies to assist in providing reference and user services. Technologies such as card files, vertical files, and reference notebooks are frequent components of library service desks. Ready reference technologies serve many purposes, most notably, helping staff to answer frequently asked questions and facilitating the sharing of information between library staff. This paper traces the development of the Virtual Notebook, a wiki-based ready reference technology, at Purdue University. The tool is placed within the historical context of ready reference technologies within the library profession and at Purdue. The authors present preliminary results from the implementation of the Virtual Notebook and discuss the tool's future. The manuscript is an outgrowth of a presentation at the 2008 Brick and Click Symposium at Northwest Missouri State University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores on the value of libraries and librarians in decision making wherein the libraries provide quality information to enhance the knowledge and expertise of the campus librarians. It examines the impact of teaching practices to the teaching effectiveness of the campus administrators in the universities. It also cites the availability of educational opportunities for the campus library and librarians.

This paper explores ways in which academic libraries can partner with colleges of education to prepare teachers who can apply research to their practice. Federal mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) require teachers to implement evidence-based practices in their classrooms, which presents a challenge to teacher preparation programs and raises important questions about the nature of evidence in education. We believe that information literacy (IL) skills are critical in preparing teachers who can thoughtfully, critically, and ethically implement evidence-based practices. We report the results of a study into the effectiveness of infusing IL throughout the coursework of a teacher preparation program at the University of New Mexico. We describe the collaboration between library and education faculty, the development of an instrument designed to measure IL skills, and results that revealed a statistically significant difference between the pre and posttest scores of teacher preparation cohorts. We conclude that the integration of IL into coursework is a key element for teacher preparation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses questions that the author has raised regarding the education of reference librarians. Questions that are discussed in the article include what are the differences between teaching and training, how should personal experiences be discussed with students and should online classes be taught in the same manner as in-person classes. Personal experiences that the author has had in addressing each of these questions in relation to teaching a class about reference librarianship are discussed.

During the fall of 2004, the Head of Electronic Resources at the College of Mount St. Joseph's Archbishop Alter Library conducted a survey using a paper-based questionnaire and administered it to several randomly chosen undergraduate courses. The goal of the study was to investigate the college's undergraduates' usage and attitudes toward electronic books. The study grew from the college librarians' informal observations of students' reactions, many times negative, to e-books over a four-year period. Results ran counter to what one might expect of undergraduates belonging to the Millennial or "net" generation. The findings show that students have mixed feelings about using e-books; students will use e-books but prefer using traditional print books. The study gives insight into where electronic and print media are in the current academic realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major review of the reference collection in Bowling Green State University's Jerome Library was made necessary by the decision to incorporate the materials from the reference collection in the science library. The process of planning and implementing this collection review is described, emphasizing how this process has been affected by changes in technology and the demands made by library users. Suggestions that may help ensure a successful review are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates on the activities of the Management and Operation of User Services (MOUSS), as of Winter 2002. Completion of its review following summer meetings in Atlanta; Selection of papers by the MOUSS Research Committee; Schedule of the Interlibrary Loan Issues Discussion Forum.

An instructor in a scholarly writing course assigned her students to use the library chat-based reference service. Interacting with these students required a different set of skills and strategies on the part of the librarians than those used in self-generated chat sessions, largely because the assignment included a significant instruction component involving the selection of a paper topic. Differences between self-generated and assignment-required chat patrons, observations,and data from chat sessions involving significant instruction activity,and long-term implications for service when class assignments require use of the service are examined. Recommendations for enhancing staff training, for managing future assignments, and for areas of further research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on web sites included in the sixth annual Best Free Web Sites List for 2004. What makes this site American Women's History: A Research Guide especially useful is the ease of to be useful to experienced scholars while at the same time being easy to use for the novice researcher. In addition to including searchable access to the Compact Oxford Dictionary, the site AskOxford.com, features many other helpful resources for writers and students. It is divided into several sections: Ask the Experts, World of Words, Better Writing, Games, Global English and Foreign Languages. This site would be an exception teaching tool for upper-level high school English classes or lower-level college students. The Cyberschoolbus site serves as a valuable resource for primary and secondary school educators developing curricula focused on such global concerns as peace, poverty and work. The introduction provides an overview of United Nations history and work, complete with an organizational chart that links to the appropriate homepages. Earthtrends is a free, online database that focuses on issues of sustainable development and the environment. It includes data from more than forty internationally recognized sources, including international and national agencies as well as private corporations and organizations.

Librarians cannot distribute their collections electronically until the problems of intellectual property and free-and-equal access are resolved. Libraries must overcome restrictions of "virtual libraries" thereby making copyrighted texts freely available. Libraries must be promoted as places where readers freely consult both copyrighted books/journals and site-licensed databases that cannot be tapped into from anywhere, at anytime, by anyone in cyberspace.(AEF)

The practice of citing references is integral to scholarship. This paper focuses on three prominent journals for library science: College and Research Libraries, Library Resources and Technical Services, and Reference and User Services Quarterly. Errors in both citations and quotations were found in all three journals, although no statistically significant differences among journals were discovered. Citation errors of less than 10 percent were found for all three journals, while in total, 30.3 quotations were judged to be questionable in some way. The paper includes recommendations for authors, editors and librarians. It also recommends further study of errors in quotations, which appear more troubling than those in citations., The practice of citing references is integral to scholarship. It allows researchers to understand the way that a discipline is constructed, building on the work of earlier scholars. In particular, [...]

Weeding is a technically, emotionally, and politically difficult process for academic librarians, particularly when faced with a collection has not been weeded in years, if ever. Yet there is little research that examines how librarians can be supported in their deselecting activities with training. In this case study, a custom training resource enabled librarians at California State University, Fullerton, to more efficiently and confidently complete their weeding assignments. This paper describes a case study of use of instructional design model 'ADDIE' (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) to design and develop a training resource built on the LibGuide platform for librarians tasked with weeding their subject areas. Use of the ADDIE model encouraged librarian buy-in and resulted in the development of thoughtfully designed training that met librarians' needs and facilitated their success in weeding their subject areas. This paper fills a gap in the literature by describing a case study of using instructional design techniques and concepts to develop a local training resource on deselection., Librarians with weeding experience know how emotional and political weeding can be. It's common for community members to complain that that their local library is 'throwing away' books in their [...]

The article discusses various ideas on how to engage faculty with the academic library. Topics include the suggestion to provide information literacy training to the faculty, reference to a paper by Marjorie V. White published in the 2003 issue of the journal "Reference Librarian," in which he discusses reasons why faculty members may be averse to attending library instruction sessions, and academic librarians more capable of teaching students and faculty about information literacy.

The author discusses suggestions on publishing scholarly articles in research and industry journals, particularly commenting on the standards used by the periodical "Reference and User Services Quarterly" (RUSQ). He addresses issues relating to selecting articles on the same topic, the importance of publishing work relevant to the reader base, and the inclusion of statistical findings.

The article suggests practices for students, scholars, and librarians to convert from paper-full to paperless literature review to aid in the reading, analyzing, organizing and storing resources. Topics covered include a methodical, reproducible, process that harnesses the power digital tools bring to library research, tips and advice for storing and organizing, reading and annotating, and analyzing and writing, and techniques to help librarians become teachers and research partners.

The article focuses on emergence of libraries as most rapidly expanding educational institution in the U.S. It mentions that adult education researcher Gordon Darkenwald has defined nontraditional students by sociocultural responsibilities instead of age. It also discusses responsibilities that includes full-time employment, parenthood, and financial responsibilities.

The first part of the paper develops a framework explaining the need to disambiguate user inquiries to improve information systems and services. Theoretical grounds for this framework are explained for how questions are categorized on the basis of their ambiguity type, while the relevant literature is reviewed including both the traditional and the digital information service environment. The second part of the paper categorizes a set of questions (400 Qs), originally collected for TREC 8 and 9 QA Tracks, according to ambiguity type. Three types and two dimensions of ambiguity are identified by the author with the acceptable levels of inter-coder agreements presented. The last part of the paper discusses three aspects of information systems and services, mainly related to user-system and user-information intermediary (i.e., a reference librarian) interactions, on the basis of the results of categorization. Those three aspects include (1) increasing user input to make initial queries less ambiguous, (2) reducing search space by disambiguating queries, and (3) clustering search results based on the characteristics of prospective answers. In each of the three aspects, discussions on the evolving environments of virtual reference services were presented. (1), Disambiguating human inquiries, either in a semantic or lexical approach, is an essential process to consider in developing information systems and services. This paper discusses this process for design in [...]

The article discusses the authenticity of Wikipedia, free-content Internet encyclopaedia, for students in terms of its content and suggests need for librarians to focus on recruiting editors to address coverage of particular topics. Topics discussed includes suggestions on putting initial details on online social network meetup page, setting up a meetup page on Wikipedia and securing a location on the date of the edit-a-thon.

The article highlights the free open house-style social event, called What's Brewing at Roesch Library, held by the University of Dayton in Ohio featuring local craft breweries designed to market the library's services and facilities to faculty and staff. A background on the origin of the social event and the planning of the event is presented. It also shows the university's promotional efforts for the library and its showcase of library spaces and reading collection through beer tasting.

The article presents suggestions and resources on art auctions and art valuation. It suggests examining the signature or monogram of an artist in painting, print or other artwork. Some of the resources cited include the Arts Signature Dictionary website, the book "Dictionary of Artists" by Emmanuel Benezit and others, the book "Classified Directory of Artist's Signatures, Symbols, and Monograms" by H.H. Caplan, and the Blouin Art Sales Index online resource for art auction records.

The article focuses on a study conducted on the study abroad session in South Africa about social justice. Topics discussed include war, poverty, and political conflicts as the main subjects discussed in news about Africa, the Jewish museum in Africa enabling the students to know about the history of Jewish immigration to South Africa, and the obscured history of South Africa's slavery visible in the Slave Lodge museum.

This paper reviews the development of the subject encyclopedia as an information resource and evaluates its present role, with particular focus on the academic library. The paper looks especially at [...]