Search

This paper presents the results of two educational experiments carried out to determine whether the process of specifying requirements (catalog-based reuse as opposed to conventional specification) has an impact on effectiveness and productivity in co-located and distributed software development environments. The participants in the experiments were 76 students enrolled in three courses on project management for software development at the University of Murcia, Spain, and the Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco. The results of a fixed effects meta-analysis (Hedges' g) obtained a medium effect (-0.495, p=0.034) for productivity, and a large effect (-1.077, p<0.001) for effectiveness, in favor of using a catalog-based reuse process rather than a conventional specification process. The other co-factor examined, distribution (either global or co-located), had no statistically significant interaction with the process used (catalog-based reuse or conventional specification) for either effectiveness or productivity. Further research is required to study the effectiveness and productivity of the catalog-based requirements engineering learning method so that it can be taught in software engineering courses and applied in real software engineering projects.

This article provides a historical context for Placido de Montoliu's Eurhythmics instruction at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, between 1913-1922 and 1930-1931, and it highlights pedagogical and philosophical principles that shaped his approach. The research is based on noncirculating, historical documents at the Bryn Mawr College Library Archives. Examples include Placido de Montoliu's class schedule, contracts, letters, catalogues, student records, photographs, newspaper clippings, and alumni newsletters. Also referenced are Montoliu's two essays, "The Meaning of Eurhythmics" and "Concepts of Time, Measure and Rhythm," written in 1931 for Overtones, at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where Montoliu taught between 1925-1940. In an earlier article the author established Montoliu as one of the first of Dalcroze's students to bring Eurhythmics instruction to America and the first to integrate Eurhythmics fully into an American college curriculum. The present study centers on Montoliu's assertions that rhythm should be the basis for a child's first music learning experience and that it should be taught through aural and kinesthetic experience, as opposed to learning through written notation. Montoliu sought to create the "condition" of rhythm in his students through exercises in movement. Within his curriculum, he integrated hearing, singing, reading, coordination, and response. Hand-held percussion instruments were used to simulate ensemble experience, and children were invited to direct the group. Instruction culminated in semiannual demonstrations before the community. Equally important to the development of the child's coordination and muscle control was cultivation of her artistic temperament. He also placed value on student attention, effort, seriousness, concentration, and interest in Eurhythmics.

This paper describes the language policies at 38 institutions of higher education on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. As a commonwealth of the US, Spanish and English hold co-official status on Puerto Rico despite the fact that majority of islanders use Spanish as their first language. Given the colonial status of the island, English has held a privileged role in higher education where institutional policies have allowed professors to teach in English or Spanish. After a description of the language context of Puerto Rico, data is presented that used document analysis of university catalogues along with structured interviews with registrars' offices from the majority of the island's campuses. The findings describe varying levels of open-language policies, which the author argues can be beneficial to students and professors who are bilingual but a detriment to students who have yet to develop academic language proficiency in both languages. The findings further indicate that the majority of institutions have de facto open-language policies, which allow instructors to use textbooks largely published in English and present their lectures and assessments in Spanish or a mixture of Spanish and English.

The intent of this case study was to gain insight into the information needs and research behaviors of upper-division performing arts students, and how to best address those needs. This article presents findings from focus group interviews of thirty music, dance, and theater majors at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The data revealed several themes, including that performing arts students have unmet multimedia, primary, and interdisciplinary research needs and that they struggle with the discovery layer and the catalog. The findings have implications for how library instruction and research services should evolve to serve this population.

Patron-Driven Acquisitions (PDA) is a new model used for e-book acquisition by academic libraries. A key component of this model is to make records of ebooks available in a library catalog and let actual patron usage decide whether or not an item is purchased. However, there has been a lack of research examining the role of the library catalog as a tool for e-book discovery and use in PDA. This paper presents a case study of using PDA for e-book acquisition in an academic library, with a focus on the role of the library catalog in this purchasing model. The implications and challenges are also discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how education for sustainable development (ESD) was measured in the taught curriculum at the University of Bristol (UoB), providing comparison to other methods of measurement and how measurements were used to engage academics in considering the visibility of the penetration of sustainable development into their teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The process of designing a quantitative and comparative method of reviewing ESD utilising a reflective process at the UoB is considered, which can be applied by other institutions. The UoB decided on an in-house method of assessment using the Unit and Programme Catalogue, a list of all taught units. Initially this revealed that some information relating to ESD was not clearly articulated. A school ESD review refined the data along with the release of key information set data, a nationally published data set which identifies mandatory, typical and optional diets taken by students on programmes. Findings: Text-based methods of assessing ESD penetration into programmes of study have limited use as direct measures of sustainability visibility in programmes, but can be improved by using interpretative methodologies. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies can produce data, which is a useful catalyst for academic reflection. Most importantly, it provides a tool for engagement while also enabling the targeting of resources and support. The UoB has avoided the pitfalls of manipulatable text count methods, and shown that comparative methods can be combined effectively with real engagement with academics and students for a measurement method that showcases good practice. Originality/value: Increasingly, universities and the higher education sector more widely are looking to embed ESD. To assess progress, systems of measurement and monitoring are required. This case study shares a replicable methodology combining quantitative and qualitative methods developed at the UoB which has been used by academics as a reflective tool to change their practice.

Academic libraries are turning increasingly to unified search solutions to simplify search and discovery of library resources. Unfortunately, very little research has been published on library user search behavior in single search box environments. This study examines how users search a large public university library using a prominent, single search box on the library website. The article examines two semesters of real-world data, totaling nearly 1.4 million transactions. Findings include that unified library search is about more than the catalog and articles, though these predominate. Additionally, a small number of the most popular search queries accounts for a disproportionate amount of the overall queries. Also discussed are the merits of ongoing evaluation of library user search behavior.

This study identified nearly 700 English-language refereed journals in education and psychology that were founded in 2000-2009. Part one discusses the publishers, format, open-access availability, and current status of these publications. Titles were then searched against coverage lists of EBSCO Academic Search Complete, Gale Academic OneFile, ProQuest Central, ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science, DOAJ, Google Scholar, WorldCAT, and the library catalogs of the "Big Ten" universities to determine whether databases and libraries include these new publications. Subscription database coverage was poor, ranging from 8.8 percent (ProQuest Central) to 42.0 percent (PsycINFO). Psychology materials were heavily favored over education items in several databases. Although some library catalogs provide better title-level coverage, they are unable to search individual articles. Google Scholar only indexed the publishers' versions of the journals in 143 (58.0%) of 247 cases examined. Significant differences in database coverage and library holdings were found when comparing publications of major corporations (Elsevier, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, Sage, Springer, and Wiley) against periodicals produced by smaller companies, colleges/universities, and scholarly/professional organizations. This article also describes a "ubiquity index" devised by the author to identify approximately 70 "journals of the decade" based on database coverage and library holdings. The study provides much cause for concern about the comprehensiveness and currency of existing discovery tools. It also offers evidence that the relationship between libraries and publishing conglomerates deserves further examination.

The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken advantage of these technologies with multiple integrated library systems (ILSs) now featuring this scalability. One of the best-known among these younger systems has been the Evergreen open source ILS, which was adopted in 2009 by the South Carolina Library Evergreen Network Delivery System (SC LENDS). Widespread resource-sharing library consortia, especially those powered by Evergreen, are quickly growing. With Evergreen, SC LENDS was able to begin its pilot program of 10 library systems and then scale to accommodate adding libraries as they elected to join. Investment in open source paid off for libraries beyond South Carolina, creating a single, more coherent collection out of many. This article discusses a practical approach to collection deduping.

Librarians are familiar with the single-line form, the consolidated index, which represents a very large portion of a library's print and online collection. Their end users are familiar with the idea of a single search across a comprehensive index that produces a large, relevancy-ranked results list. Even though most patrons would not recognize the term web-scale discovery (WSD), it is what they have come to expect. More and more libraries are stepping up to meet their users' expectations by implementing WSD services. Librarians around the world are trying to learn what these services are and how they work, evaluating the services on the market, selecting and implementing a service, and then teaching colleagues and patrons all about it. Based on her efforts to evaluate today's highly touted web-scale discovery systems, the author shares tips for evaluating the various services that are out there, based on her work in selecting a web-scale solution for the University of Central Florida.

A number of academic, public, regional, and state libraries use WorldCat Local (WCL) as a resource location tool that enables users to search, find, and gain access to a range of print and electronic resources. This article describes a study undertaken to assess a Research I university's implementation of WCL. The study sought to understand the usability and functionality of this implementation of WCL from a user perspective to: (1) gain a sense of how users viewed WCL as a research tool; (2) begin to understand user preferences regarding WCL usability and functionality; and (3) explore how users interact with WCL for information and resource location and access. The study sought to assess the usability and functionality of WCL as implemented by the host institution. The overarching research question driving this study was: to what extent do users find WCL (as implemented) to be a useful tool in finding information that meets their information needs (i.e., research)? (Contains 3 tables.)

Academic, government, and corporate librarians organize and leverage internal resources and content through institutional repositories and library catalogs. Getting more value and usage from the content they license is a key goal. However, the ever-growing amount of content and shifting user demands for new materials or features has made the process of updating and navigating the repositories cumbersome and costly. Integrating such content together for a good user experience is an additional challenge. A number of solutions have been developed to help institutions better aggregate, manage, and expose licensed and in-house content, including VuFind (http://vufind.org) and SciVerse Applications (www.applications.sciverse.com). Given the pressures for librarians to make more resources readily available while receiving more value from the content they license, there is a growing need for flexible platforms that enable customization and integration. The rapidly evolving technology presents a great opportunity for librarians to remain important stakeholders in developing solutions that help their users' search and discovery processes while maximizing the institutions' investments in content and resources. Customizable platforms that enable collaboration between end users, librarians, and developers will create a broader ecosystem where user needs come to the fore as solutions are proposed, built, and integrated.

The author, a digital access architect in the information systems department of the Orange County Library System in Florida, was given the challenge of creating a library mobile app around the 2009 holiday season. At that time, Sheri Chambers, digital content manager in the information systems department, and Debbie Moss, assistant director of the Orange County Library System (OCLS), were given iPod touches as gifts and began to get to know the world of iPhone applications. Debbie was particularly struck by the Urbanspoon application, an app that uses a slot-machine system to recommend restaurants based on ratings, location, and type of food. She began considering the possibility of applying the Urbanspoon concept to the creation of a library app. The assignment was to create a search and resource discovery application for mobile devices, using the metaphor of a slot machine with three rotating reels and the shake-it features of iPhones and iPads. This article discusses how the author created the OCLS Shake It! app. When the user shakes the app or taps the Spin button, the app comes up with a combination from the selectors (audience, genre, and format) and makes a request to the database of records from the library catalog for a match. Users can also lock down any or all of a field's selectors for a customized shake or spin to limit their results to, for example, an audience. A web programmer's script determines which of the records are suitable for the app combination and returns a random matching title. This title is displayed to the end user in the app as a tappable link that opens the title in the mobile-friendly version of the catalog. The information in the mobile catalog, which is created by a third party, includes the availability of the title, its shelf location, and a request the title for home delivery option, if the title can be requested.

Purpose: This paper aims to elaborate the library data migration process from LAMP (Library Automation Management Program) to the open source software Koha's (2.2.8 Windows based) Pakistani flavour PakLAG-Koha in six legislative assembly libraries of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: The paper explains different steps of the data migration from one ILM (integrated library management system) to a new ILM in six libraries over the course of three months. Qualitative research methods, i.e. direct observation and interviews, were adopted for finding the problems and solutions of the delayed project. Training and support was offered by a local volunteer group (PakLAG). One of the authors of the paper presented first-hand experience of being a consultant of this project. The study and results are the author's own reflections and first-hand experiences, and hence results are based on direct observations. Findings: The paper identifies several critical issues and their solutions concerning data migration within a local scenario as well as how local consultants and support groups are coping with these issues. It was noticed that the data migration can be done quickly if any support group is properly involved with the library staff. Originality/value: This paper provides first-hand experience and success story of library data migration from DOS-based ILM to open source software. Process, tools and findings discussed in this paper are valuable for the libraries planning to convert non-MARC data to open source MARC-based software Koha. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)

Technology makes it possible to redefine libraries and make them relevant to the public once again. But how good are the digital services offered by public libraries today? The digital services department team of the Pode project at Norway's Oslo Public Library has spent the last 2 years investigating the possibilities available in order to present the library's metadata in new and appealing contexts. The main goal of the project has been to gain access to the metadata in order to provide better services to the users. The Pode project has looked at mashups, using the library specific protocols Z39.50 and SRU, and has lately used Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Linked Data in order to provide a better presentation of its OPAC. The aims of the project are to make sure that the users are always presented with a results list and to enrich the catalog with relevant additional content, thus providing a good user experience. This article will address the results of that work.

The last 5 years have heralded a number of important changes to virtual libraries in academic and public settings. Despite this continual effort to improve library catalogs and websites, the fundamentals of these online spaces remain relatively unchanged. Digital collections are within reach of many libraries, yet they remain difficult to integrate. Social media is slowly making its way into online library spaces, but new opportunities to integrate with online communities remain limited. This article will examine factors that have influenced how the library's virtual space has evolved and suggest some avenues for future development and direction. Two initiatives from public and academic libraries will be used to illustrate how new technologies have made it possible for Yellowhead Regional Library (YRL) in Alberta, Canada, to develop a discovery platform for the iPad. The same technologies will help music students at Alberta's Grant MacEwan University, where the author serves as music and performing arts librarian, to discover hard-to-find music materials.

This study explores student use of the mobile Web in general and expectations for an academic library's mobile Web site in particular through focus groups with students at Kent State University. Participants expressed more interest in using their mobile Web device to interact with library resources and services than anticipated. Results showed an interest in using research databases, the library catalog, and reference services on the mobile Web as well as contacting and being contacted by the library using text messaging.

In this study, three years of SFX usage logs at Texas A&M University were analyzed to determine how patrons use link resolver services. The study contrasts the actions taken by users when full text is and is not available and compares public versus staff usage. The results confirmed users' preference for full-text services but also provided insights into actions taken when full text was not an option. Changes in patterns of usage over a multiyear period are shown. The data was used to redesign the SFX services menu for a more streamlined offering of services, emphasizing those that users would actually choose to use. (Contains 13 figures.)

This article proposes a metadata dictionary (MDD) be used as a tool for metadata management. The MDD is a repository of critical data necessary for managing metadata to create "shareable" digital collections. An operational definition of metadata management is provided. The authors explore activities involved in metadata management in organizational settings and indicate how the MDD can support these activities. A detailed discussion of the metadata dictionary and its structure, benefits and challenges is provided. (Contains 2 figures.)

The rumored death of librarianship caused by the advent of technology has not, and will not, come to pass. In this article, the author describes how technology has exponentially increased the librarian's ability to provide library service at the Calcasieu Parish Public Library, where she serves as head of Collection & Computing Services. The core of library service is organizing, providing access, and guiding others in the use of materials. Material format changes (handwritten scrolls to printed books to ebooks) and methods change, but the core service roles do not. These service roles can be called the organizer, the gatekeeper, and the navigator. The author contends that library administrators need to recognize the impact of technology on library work and the need to dedicate staff time for training to use technology for library work. Library job descriptions need to take technology skills into account. When staffing libraries, administrators should look for people who have the combination of technology and people skills that will continue to support the core library services of organizing, providing access and guidance in using the library. Libraries will forever need librarians to fill the core service roles of organizers, gatekeepers, and navigators.

One of the most exciting developments to occur within the library profession in recent years has been the re-evaluation of library's role in resource discovery in the web environment. This has involved recognition of short-comings of online library catalogues, a re-affirmation of the importance of metadata and a new focus on the wealth of information held in library collections. Digital technology now offers incredible opportunities to reveal library collections and to make new discoveries about them. However, a fundamental problem remains. Many of library's important and unique collections cannot be discovered using search services in common use because they have not been processed and described. They languish, unappreciated and unused, hidden behind institution walls. In July 2009, the National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) group released the Re-imagining Library Services Strategic Plan which outlines ways in which the member libraries will collaborate to adopt new opportunities in service delivery. There are nine projects in the Re-imagining Libraries strategic plan. The Description and Cataloguing Project--known as Project 8--was established in October 2008. In this article, the author outlines six action areas of the Description and Cataloguing Project.

The article presents a usage-based analysis of color attribution, i.e. the construal of the relation between color property and an entity to which it is attributed in painting descriptions. The study is based on the corpus of 100 catalog entries written for American art museums. It focuses on the two most frequent morpho-syntactic patterns in the attributive use of basic color terms--A[subscript C]N and N of N[subscript C]--where the color concept surfaces either as an adjective or a noun. Drawing on a number of studies in the Vantage Theory framework, the morpho-syntactic variation in the color word usage is interpreted in terms of alternative vantage construal. The two patterns exhibit features comparable to those described for dominant and recessive vantages in color categorization, and are analyzed as two vantages in the construal of color attribution as an atemporal relation. Thus, the study attempts to apply Vantage Theory, originally developed for modeling color categorization at the lexeme level, to more complex attributive constructions. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Traditional online library catalogs do not tend to order search results by ranked relevance, and they can befuddle users with clunky interfaces. However, that's changing because of two technology trends. First, a growing number of universities are shelling out serious money for sophisticated software that makes exploring their collections more like the easy-to-filter experience of an online Sears catalog. Second, University of Virginia and other colleges, including Villanova University and the University of Rochester, are producing free open-source programs that tackle the same problems with no licensing fees. A key feature of this software is that it helps make sense of data through "faceted" searching, common when one shops online for a new jacket or stereo system.

This article provides an overview of and rationale for the use of authority in school libraries--from both an historical and current/future perspective. First, the importance of consistent, meaningful authority term context and form is discussed. Then, the exciting, yet challenging, role of authority in today's information world is discussed--using the role of authority in tagging and social networks as a foundation for analysis and debate. A list of some of the information retrieval/evaluation/delivery tasks found in Facebook that could be classified as both Web-based authority and Library 2.0 authority-exchange features is presented.

In spite of its popularity, keyword search mode has not been standardized. Though information professionals are quick to adapt to various presentations of keyword search mode, novice end-users may find keyword search confusing. This article compares keyword search mode in some major reference databases and calls for standardization. (Contains 3 tables and 16 notes.)

As library patrons move online, librarians must move instructional content online to join them. One means of educating library users is to meet them on their computers with electronic tutorials. Electronic tutorials may be used for various instructional tasks such as teaching users about the basic elements of a library catalog, pointing out the finer features of a specialty database, or providing a step-by-step procedure for a specific task. In addition to the complexity of creating content, developing an electronic tutorial may be an intimidating task to some librarians, especially to those less comfortable with technology. This article seeks to ease concerns by streamlining the tutorial creation process. First, the article will discuss strategies and initial issues to be considered. Issues include identifying the staff available, the audience, the objectives and outcomes, the desired level of interactivity, the instruction style, informational content, design content, storyboarding, target length, and evaluation. Next, the article proposes a set of criteria for evaluating tutorial creation software and then applies the criteria to selected user-friendly products. The software falls into three categories: movie-based, Web-based, and podcasting. Movie-based software to be evaluated includes Camtasia, Captivate, Snapz, iShowU, and Wink. Web-based software includes Microsoft Producer and ReadyGo Mobile. Podcasting tools Audacity and Hipcast are also reviewed. The article concludes with suggested tips for tutorial creation. By identifying the initial considerations, developing an eye for critiquing software, reviewing software currently on the market, and following best practices, the author hopes to guide the librarian to a successful electronic tutorial. (Contains 37 notes.)

Librarians build collections. To do this they use tools that help them identify, organize, and retrieve items for the collection. Zotero (zoh-TAIR-oh) is such a tool that helps the user build a library of useful books, articles, web sites, blogs, etc., discovered while surfing online. A visit to Zotero's homepage, www.zotero.org, shows a number of different rotating catch phrases that succinctly describe the free Firefox extension. Zotero, like some other useful Web 2.0 applications such as del.icio.us, lives in the Firefox browser, making it easy to grab a citation from a library catalog, an article from a database, newspaper articles from newspaper sites such as "The New York Times," Google Scholar, Google Book Search, and even Amazon.com. Today's high school and college student have come to expect a smorgasbord of Web 2.0 tools that are both available and free to use. The robust capabilities of Zotero set it apart from most other add-ons or Web 2.0 utilities. No other free utility gives the ability to see, save, sort, search, and cite research items with the click of a mouse. In this article, the authors discuss how to use Zotero and how to create a library with it. (Contains 10 figures.)

In today's world of instant everything, everyone has been exposed to some form of Web 2.0 technology, and higher education is not exempt from its long reach. Libraries of all types are incorporating Web 2.0 features to attract users as well as to showcase library services. The Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) has become more user-friendly with libraries placing interactive interfaces on the traditional catalog. Whether provided by a company or created by their own institution, OPACs that offer social applications are becoming more popular in academic libraries. Due to the increase in usage of social applications and other Web 2.0 technologies, librarians must embrace some new innovations that are beneficial to their users and that promote the library's presence as the center for information retrieval. This article examines the use of OPACs and their impact in libraries. It reviews the OPACs of four academic institutions, namely (1) San Francisco State University, which uses LibraryThing; (2) University of Pennsylvania, which uses PennTags; (3) St. Lawrence University, which uses Encore; and (4) Harvard University, which uses AquaBrowser.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Library, where the author serves as the digital services librarian, is increasingly challenged to make it easier for users to find information from many heterogeneous information sources. Information is scattered throughout different software applications (i.e., library catalog, federated search engine, link resolver, and vendor websites), and each specializes in one thing. How could the library integrate the functionalities of one application with another and provide a single point of entry for users to search across? To improve the user experience, the library launched an effort to integrate the federated search engine into the library's intranet website. The result is a simple search box that leverages the federated search engine's built-in application programming interfaces (APIs). In this article, the author describes how this project demonstrated the power of APIs and their potential to be used by other enterprise search portals inside or outside of the library. (Contains 3 figures.)

This research aims to ascertain the conceptual basics underlying the design of the "Seven Epitomes", the first library catalog to establish the bibliographic model in imperial China. The analytical framework for the study consists of a reconstructed version of the catalog and its historical contexts. In analyzing the surviving text of the catalog, the study identifies its bibliographic objectives as the identification, choice, finding, and collocating objectives. Further deduced from these objectives, the study reasons out four general purposes that might be intended by the catalog's compiler Liu Xin: the catalog was to be a guide to literature, a plan for knowledge organization, a retrieval tool, and a library inventory. "Ru" classicism (or Confucianism) was the catalog's guiding philosophy. In classicism-dominated imperial China, generations of bibliographers followed this model and focused their attention primarily on making bibliography both a classicist guide to literature and a plan for organizing knowledge.

In 2000, Eastern Washington University became part of the Cascade Consortium and participated in consortial borrowing through the Cascade Union Catalog. In 2003, the Orbis and Cascade consortia merged into the Orbis Cascade Alliance, which manages the Summit Union Catalog. Since 2000, Cascade or Summit consortial borrowing has increased while other interlibrary loans of borrowed returnables has decreased. This article examines the overall impact the Orbis Cascade merger has had on the participating libraries and compares patterns-of-use data before and after the merger. (Contains 9 tables.)

This article explores ontological principles and their potential applications in the formal description of archival photographs. Current archival descriptive practices are reviewed and the larger question is addressed: do archivists who are engaged in describing photographs need a more formalized system of representation, or do existing encoding schemes and description standards provide enough foundation and structure? The emerging semantic Web 3.0 environment presents new challenges. Ontology, formalizations, semantic annotations, and effective machine processing are of immediate and practical importance. To begin exploring these concepts within the context of archival description, a new semantic archives model is proposed. (Contains 123 notes and 12 figures.)

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a free multidisciplinary catalog of digital learning materials, peer reviews, learning assignments, and member comments designed to facilitate faculty instruction. The catalog's goal is to expand the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed online teaching materials. We present an overview of MERLOT, describe the peer reviewing of materials, and highlight the psychology resources found in its catalog. The MERLOT Psychology Portal provides instructors with a wide range of teaching materials, resources, and tools as well as guidelines for the creation of digital learning objects. MERLOT offers an organized, streamlined, and timesaving way to find good digital materials for teaching psychology.

This article describes the opportunities out of the 2007 turmoil precipitated by the dramatic shifts that redefined the industry in 2006. The turmoil made companies that avoided major business transitions more attractive and sparked explosive interest in open source alternatives. Some companies held a steady course and benefited from the fallout. The consolidated entities formed by recent acquisitions stand as formidable competitors in their respective market sectors, wielding vast resources to retain--or even strengthen--their industry positions. Sales of new integrated library system (ILS) products dipped 15%, offset by increased procurements of replacement interfaces and tools for managing electronic content and creating digital collections. The overall library automation economy held even with aggregate revenues at $570 million. A majority of companies increased their workforce in 2007. Several factors limited opportunities to sell traditional library automation systems this year. The higher-end market of public and academic libraries has saturated; fewer libraries have legacy systems in immediate need of replacement. Recent migrations from legacy systems have largely run to completion. Many libraries still use Dynix Classic, though most have made procurement decisions. Other libraries considering ILS replacements are holding off, hoping better options will emerge soon, especially on the open source front. Libraries feel a sense of urgency to acquire next-generation interfaces that will allow them to cast aside library catalogs that work more like the web of 1998 than 2008 and gain tools to manage ever-growing collections of electronic content. (Contains 5 tables.)

A questionnaire survey conducted at the State Library of Victoria indicates that users in general, and not just scholars, value the standard elements of bibliographic data found in the Library's catalogues, and consider all these elements useful for finding, identifying and selecting items. Rather than making do with less, users wanted more bibliographic data, including more content details and additional elements, such as reviews. They considered all kinds of cataloguing error to be significant, but were able to differentiate between those that were likely to have most impact on their catalogue use. (Contains 9 tables and 3 notes.)

The Knowledge Bank is The Ohio State University's institutional repository, which houses various works by students, faculty, and staff. One of the text collections in the Knowledge Bank is electronic honors theses. Training students to submit their theses was initially given in the form of in-person workshops. Turnout for these workshops was sparse despite attempts to vary the times and days on which they were held and in contrast to the increasing number of questions received about the submission process. In addition to low turnout, requests for workshops at branch campuses made the idea of providing the workshop via the Web seem a desirable solution. This article discusses the criteria for creating such online tutorials and includes information from the literature about similar projects creating Web-based instruction. The authors created the KB Honors Theses tutorial through the use of screen-capture software and voiceover narration. The process through which the authors created their online tutorial is given, including technical aspects and examples of solutions to problems that arose. A description of each module of the tutorial serves as an overview of the content. Each module can be accessed as part of an overall video or individually. Testing and evaluation of the tutorial is also described, including an examination of Web statistics to determine which operating systems and browsers are most commonly used to access OSU Libraries Web pages. Details of problems encountered and solutions to those problems are given. The article concludes with ideas for future directions for the online tutorial. (Contains 3 tables and 12 notes.)

Many libraries use RSS to syndicate information about their collections to users. A survey of 65 academic libraries revealed their most common use for RSS is to disseminate information about library holdings, such as lists of new acquisitions. Even though typical RSS feeds are ill suited to the task of carrying rich bibliographic metadata, great potential exists for developing applications that can exploit metadata exposed to Web services via RSS. Using the MODS metadata format, entire catalog records can be seamlessly embedded in RSS 2.0 feeds. Existing tools, such as Library of Congress Java toolkits and XSLT stylesheets, can facilitate this process, while a new XSLT stylesheet may be used to create the RSS feeds complete with MODS records. As an example of the added functionality these MODS/RSS feeds can offer, records from a MODS-enriched RSS feed can be ingested into a non-RSS application such as Zotero. As more emerging library technologies use Web services architectures to handle data objects, the ability to syndicate catalog records will become more critical to providing innovative library Web services. (Contains 12 figures and 35 notes.)

In the past decade, academic libraries have struggled with the design of an effective library home page. Since librarians' mental models of information architecture differ from those of their patrons, usability assessments are necessary in designing a user-centered home page. This study details a usability sequence of card sort and paper and online survey methods conducted at the Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. The three top complaints about the existing Web page included information overload, lack of visual cues and guidance, and difficulty getting to what students knew was the heart of the library's Web page: online resources. Using qualitative and quantitative data from the card sorting sessions, the Web librarian, under the direction of the Web Advisory Committee, was able to create a more user-centered home page. Unique to this study are the use of undergraduate students in creating test instruments and a means of gathering information about what students value most in their library's home page. (Contains 3 figures, 5 tables and 28 notes.)

This article describes the card-sorting techniques used by several academic libraries, reports and discusses the results of card-sorting usability tests of the Western Michigan University Libraries' Web site, and reveals how the WMU libraries incorporated the findings into a new Web site redesign, setting the design direction early on. The article briefly describes open and closed card-sorting techniques and quantitative and qualitative methods of analyzing data commonly used in computer and library science fields. Findings from this study allowed the library design team to vastly improve its initial redesign decisions for a new Web site tabbed navigation system. Card sorting not only helped the design team validate its redesign decisions, but it also opened the WMU libraries to outside innovation, inviting Web site visitors to redesign the Web site free from the libraries' influence. The simple and inexpensive techniques used here may be useful to any Web librarian or design team embarking upon redesign and usability testing of their own sites and interested in building a more compelling, insightful Web site. (Contains 5 figures and 31 notes.)

The world of readers' advisory (RA) is embracing many of the tools that collectively are referred to as Library 2.0. RA has long shared many of the beliefs supported by Library 2.0--well before there even was such a thing--including conversations with readers, valuing and empowering the experience of the reader, and near constant reevaluation of RA services. Nowhere is this more evident than in the rebirth and adaptation of the annotation--a tool to help librarians remember books in an RA context. For years RA librarians have either kept some type of annotation on books they have read or felt guilty that they have not. Now, with online tools and upgrades to library catalogs, many RA librarians are ditching the guilt in favor of a new method of creating annotations--and are discovering an increasingly collaborative RA community as they enable a new wave of user-created content.

To bring the library catalog and other online resources right into users' workspace quickly and easily without needing much more than a short XML file, the author, a reference and Web services librarian at Williams College, learned to build and use OpenSearch plug-ins. OpenSearch is a set of simple technologies and standards that allows the sharing of search results. It was developed by A9.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Part of OpenSearch is the OpenSearch description document, an XML file that describes a search engine. It allows other programs (like Web browsers) to integrate elements of that search engine into their interface. Here, the author describes how to create an OpenSearch plug-in for the library. (Contains 4 online resources.)