Search

Black and/or African American (Black/AA) individuals have been historically excluded from research, but the recent uptick in Zoom as a platform for virtual focus groups may lead to increased inclusion of Black/AA participants. Researcher reflections from two physical activity-related studies with Black/AA samples, YogaMoves and Mini-Me, that utilized Zoom to conduct virtual focus groups are presented. ‘Lessons learned’ fall under three themes: participant privacy and session security, technological challenges and time burdens, and participant engagement. The present lessons support past research in the need for participant privacy and security, but add novel insights around engaging and supporting Black/AA participants in virtual focus groups. The authors stress not only the importance of participant engagement and community-building, but the lesson of flexibility and understanding of social context, even when the focus group topic may be seemingly unrelated. These lessons can be used by researchers conducting virtual focus groups, particularly when working with Black/AA populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the prevalence of studies exploring the effects of COVID-19 on our profession, the prevalence of Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (i.e. Long COVID) and the experiences of employees suffering from Long COVID have not yet been explored in libraries of any type, including academic libraries. While many of us are now reflecting on what we learned during the pandemic and planning for the endemic period, the effects of Long COVID are still present globally. This article reports the findings of an exploratory study that seeks to address this significant gap in the literature through the administration of a voluntary online survey of academic library employees in the United States and Canada. The findings indicate that the participants experienced a wide range of symptoms, which affected their daily functioning at least a little bit. Fatigue, issues with memory and concentration (i.e. brain fog), and physical limitations were all salient to their workplace experiences, which often led to feelings of frustration and perceptions of reduced productivity. In general, the participants perceived many of their library colleagues being supportive of their Long COVID recovery; however, some did share negative and unsupportive experiences. Flexibility in completing work, as well as demonstrations of empathy and compassion, were identified as key supportive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folk, AL, Garcia, CA, Whitney, SH, and Kovacs, SJ. Relationship between strength and conditioning assessments and rowing performance in female collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res 36(6): 1618–1621, 2022—The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between strength and conditioning variables and rowing performance, as measured by a 2000 m ergometer time, in female collegiate rowers. Twenty-four female collegiate rowers qualified for this study by completing both types of assessments and a demographic questionnaire. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were used to determine the association between the total 2000 m ergometer time and each strength and conditioning assessment. The assessments included a 1 repetition maximum (1RM) squat and a 1RM hang clean. After this, all significant correlations were placed in a stepwise linear regression analysis to predict the total 2000 m ergometer time. The 1RM squat and 1RM hang clean correlated with 2000 m ergometer performance (p = 0.034 and p = 0.002, respectively). Only the 1RM squat emerged as a predictor of 2000 m ergometer performance. This study highlights that the 1RM squat may be a way to predict rowing performance and build successful female collegiate rowing teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the potential relevance of academic self-beliefs to Gross's imposed query model as they apply to undergraduate students, particularly at the IQ2 (transferred) and IQ3 (interpreted) stages. The author argues that, at these two stages, students will decide if they have the skills required to be successful, how much effort they will put into the research process, and if they will seek help from an expert information intermediary. Furthermore, the author proposes an expanded model of the IQ2 (transferred) and IQ3 (interpreted) stages to be tested by future research seeking to understand how undergraduate students navigate the course-related research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although information literacy has been fundamental to the work of teaching librarians for decades, the ways in which students develop their information literacy is not well understood. In addition, the sociocultural nature of information literacy is often neglected when attempting to assess students' information literacy development. The purpose of this study is to discover factors that could potentially enable or constrain the development of undergraduate students' information literacy through qualitative research that explores first-generation college students' experiences with research assignments throughout college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open responses indicated that participants were interested in taking the course not only to learn more about information literacy but to learn how to teach information literacy in a more active, explicit, or reflective manner. All of the responses (15 of 15) indicated that the course was "very helpful" in I learning i more about information literacy and 13 of 15 indicated that the course was "very helpful" in I preparing to teach i information literacy. 9 For more information on the design process for the course, see Teaching Information Literacy: Developing an Online Course for Faculty (Hammons, [5]). Self-paced course The goal of the Teaching Information Literacy course is to help participants expand their understanding of information literacy, both as a concept and in practice, and to provide them with guidance for purposefully and strategically integrating information literacy into their teaching practices.[9] The course is divided into 6 main modules (see Table 2), each intended to take approximately 2 hours to complete. [Extracted from the article]

The future of academic libraries largely depends on our ability to be innovative, anticipate our users' needs, adapt to a changing landscape, and prove our value through evidence. However, if our higher education colleagues do not perceive the profession as being relevant, our ability to innovate, anticipate, and adapt will be moot. This study investigates the visibility of librarians as authors in scholarly higher education (HE) and teaching and learning (TL) journals between 2000 and 2012. Findings include that 1.38% of articles published in these journals were written by a librarian author or authors, most of who are employed at research institutions. Information literacy was the most common topic, and theoretical articles were the most popular article type. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Within the past decade, academic librarianship has increased its focus on critical librarianship and assessing student success, as well as undergoing a complete reconceptualization of information literacy. However, our assessment and scholarship related to information literacy and student success largely neglects the persistent racial and social-class achievement gaps in American higher education. This article draws upon a critical social theory commonly used in higher education research--cultural capital--to consider the ways in which information literacy as threshold concepts may enable or constrain success for students whose identities higher education has traditionally marginalized. Finally, Estela Mara Bensimon's equity cognitive frame is introduced to consider the ways in which we can ground our practice, assessment, and scholarship in our professional values of equity and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite programmes and initiatives intended to enable access to higher education for underrepresented students, higher education in the United States suffers from a persistent social class achievement gap. Although research exists about the social and academic factors that contribute to the social class achievement gap, one ubiquitous practice in higher education has been neglected - the research assignment. In this article, I share a subset of findings from a qualitative study that explores first-generation college students' experiences with research assignments in college. In particular, I present four case studies of participants who relied on their identities and prior knowledge to successfully a complete research assignment. Finally, I introduce the funds of knowledge concept, which honours students' identities and lived experiences, to provide a conceptual approach for engaging underrepresented and minoritised students through research assignments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a survey instrument to measure three components of students’ perceptions of open and affordable course materials – quality, integration, and experience – and discuss its reliability and predictive validity.Design/methodology/approach The authors distributed an end-of-semester online survey to students enrolled in sections of 12 courses that adopted OER in Fall 2016, as well as conducting a within-interview survey with the instructors of those courses. The authors calculated the descriptive statistics from the responses to the student survey, as well as examining the inter-item and inter-rater reliability of the instrument. Finally, explored correlations in the data gathered through both the student and faculty surveys were explored.Findings The authors found that both students and faculty were generally pleased with the quality and experience of using open and affordable digital materials. The authors also found that our three survey subscales had strong inter-item reliability, and that the quality and experience subscales had predictive validity in terms of whether students would choose a traditional or digital text in future courses.Originality/value In addition to providing evidence in terms of the full survey instrument’s reliability and predictive validity, factor analysis indicates that a short scale of quality and experience Likert scale items could be used by practitioners to effectively assess satisfaction of digital materials among traditionally aged undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces psychologist Carol S. Dweck's entity and incremental theories of intelligence and explores the prevalence of these theories in academic librarians who participate in reference and instruction activities. Based on existing research, it is possible that implicit theories of intelligence could affect the ways in which librarians conduct information literacy and library instruction, as well as reference interactions. This article intends to provide a foundation for understanding if further research concerning theories of intelligence, instructional design and pedagogy, and reference practice in academic libraries is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparison seeks to determine if the three documents addressing information literacy skills and competence developed by professional library associations for postsecondary education in four predominantly English-speaking countries--the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand--have similar or varying conceptions of information literacy. In a globalized society, postsecondary institutions not only prepare students to live and work within local, regional, or national contexts but also equip them to function in a global society. If conceptions of information literacy vary between countries, then graduates might not be well prepared to function successfully within this global society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most libraries have fully integrated cadres of student assistants into their daily operations, including helping at points of service. As libraries rely more and more on student assistants, we must maintain exceptional customer service to our users. This requires our student assistants to possess information literacy skills that exceed those of our users. This assessment investigates the information literacy skills of first-year library student assistants when compared to the general first-year student population, and it examines if first-year library student assistants’ information literacy skills increase more than those of their peers during their first semester at college. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Families in rural areas have fewer physical activity (PA) opportunities in the built environment compared to their urban counterparts. Parks are spaces that can facilitate PA without membership or cost barriers. Yet not all parks are created equally, and PA opportunities vary. This may be particularly true in rural communities. There is a dearth of information regarding parks and their attributes in rural spaces and how they may influence PA. PURPOSE: To quantify the number and type of city park PA attributes to assess PA opportunities available in a rural area of Minnesota and examine associations between PA participation and park attributes. METHODS: City parks (n=49) located in multiple rural communities were analyzed. Parks were chosen based on residences of 105 child (age=8.99±1.06 yrs) and parent (age=37.92±5.36 yrs) dyads who participated in the NU-HOME study, a childhood obesity prevention, randomized controlled trial in rural communities. A secondary qualitative assessment of PA opportunities within park boundaries was performed using Google Earth Pro with verification from community websites. Park PA attributes were categorized as conducive to team sport, individual sport, walking, or play activities. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine associations between park PA attributes and subjectively measured parent moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and, separately, objectively measured child MVPA (adjusted for demographic characteristics). RESULTS: Total PA attributes in city parks per each community ranged between 3 and 47, and number of parks per community ranged between 1 and 21. Team sports (e.g., baseball diamond, basketball courts) were the most common PA attributes in parks, followed by play attributes (e.g., playground, splash pads), individual sports (e.g., rinks, frisbee golf), and walking (e.g., tracks, trails). There were no statistically significant associations between number of park PA attributes and parent MVPA (p=0.50) or child MVPA (p=0.83). CONCLUSIONS: The types of PA opportunities available in rural parks should be considered for both PA interventions and health promotion initiatives. Further exploration of the built environment and park access across communities of varying levels of rurality is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]