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OCLC conducted a series of focus group interviews with archivists and archives administrators from across the United States to investigate the needs of archivists and others who might contribute to a national archival aggregator for the Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN) grant. This report details the methods and findings from those focus group interviews and examines the needs of archives and archivists related to describing the collections in their care and contributing description to an archival aggregation. From 2020–2023, OCLC conducted research as a partner on Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN), an IMLS-supported research and demonstration project to build the foundation for a national archival finding aid network to address the inconsistency and inequity of the current archival discovery landscape (LG-246349-OLS-20). The project was led by California Digital Library (CDL), with partners at OCLC, the University of Virginia Library, Shift Collective, and Chain Bridge Group.

This report details methods and summarizes findings from semi-structured individual interviews with end users of archival aggregation for the Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN) grant. It focuses on their information needs and information seeking behavior related to searching and accessing primary source material, and their interactions with archival aggregators.  From 2020–2023, OCLC conducted research as a partner on Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN), an IMLS-supported research and demonstration project to build the foundation for a national archival finding aid network to address the inconsistency and inequity of the current archival discovery landscape (LG-246349-OLS-20). The project was led by California Digital Library (CDL), with partners at OCLC, the University of Virginia Library, Shift Collective, and Chain Bridge Group

This report contextualizes and synthesizes the findings from across all OCLC’s research activities on the Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN) grant, with a focus on how findings relate to future phases of work on the NAFAN project. The findings indicate that there is significant value to be drawn from a national aggregation of archival description. They also identify challenges that must be overcome to build the community of participation that a national finding aid aggregation will require to be sustainable. From 2020–2023, OCLC conducted research as a partner on Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN), an IMLS-supported research and demonstration project to build the foundation for a national archival finding aid network to address the inconsistency and inequity of the current archival discovery landscape (LG-246349-OLS-20). The project was led by California Digital Library (CDL), with partners at OCLC, the University of Virginia Library, Shift Collective, and Chain Bridge Group.

This report summarizes the findings from a national survey of more than 3300 end users searching for archival materials online for the Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN) grant. The survey captures data about search behavior and information needs along with demographic characteristics from a cross section of online users.From 2020–2023, OCLC conducted research as a partner on Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN), an IMLS-supported research and demonstration project to build the foundation for a national archival finding aid network to address the inconsistency and inequity of the current archival discovery landscape (LG-246349-OLS-20). The project was led by California Digital Library (CDL), with partners at OCLC, the University of Virginia Library, Shift Collective, and Chain Bridge Group.

Preprints play an important role in scholarly conversation. This paper examines perceptions of preprints through the lens of students using a simulated Google environment. Data were collected from 116 high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate students with attention toward the helpfulness, credibility, and identification of preprints. Findings show preprint and peer-reviewed cues play little to no role in judging helpfulness or citability, but peer-review does when judging credibility. Further, most students did not recognize these resources as preprints. Implications and recommendations are discussed surrounding awareness and use of these openly available sources of scientific information.

This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Google search. The data were collected as part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded project. Students used a simulated search engine that ensured study participants found the same search results while seeking information for a science-related school project. The 116 students from high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate communities evaluated three online news resources for their helpfulness, citability, credibility, and container. Analysis of quantitative data from the study indicated that students may find news resources helpful for a science project, but do not always consider them citable. Students appeared to focus on the organization that produced the news resource (i.e., source) when judging its credibility. Not all students identified the resources' containers as news, even when the source was widely known. The researchers note differences in judgment between educational stages. Differences were especially pronounced between high school and higher education students, with high school students more likely to find news sources worthy of citing for school projects.

The nation is experiencing an ongoing opioid epidemic, and communities across the country are feeling the epidemic's impact. Public health and human service organizations, professional associations, and nonprofits continue to implement responses to stem the rising overdose deaths; public libraries, too, are a part of this response. This article is the follow-up to Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis in Collaboration with Their Communities: An Introduction (Collaborative Librarianship, volume 11, Issue 1, 2019), and identifies, synthesizes, and shares knowledge and resources that will help public libraries and their community partners develop effective strategies to work together to address the opioid epidemic in America. Eight public libraries and their respective community partners participated in this research study, which is based on interviews with library staff, library board members, staff at community partner organizations, and members of the community. This article highlights the findings from the eight case study sites selected to participate in this research and provides an overview of the partnerships formed and the resources and programming developed to meet community needs. Keywords: libraries, opioids, opioid, community, response, partnership, Introduction Public libraries are respected local institutions that connect community members to credible, accurate information and services. Libraries offer neutral public spaces open to all, with support from service-oriented staff [...]

This qualitative research study examines librarians' research data management (RDM) experiences, specifically the factors that influence their ability to support researchers' needs. Findings from interviews with 36 academic library professionals in the United States identify 5 factors of influence: (1) technical resources; (2) human resources; (3) researchers' perceptions about the library; (4) leadership support; and (5) communication, coordination, and collaboration. Findings show different aspects of these factors facilitate or constrain RDM activity. The implications of these factors on librarians' continued work in RDM are considered.

The nation is experiencing an opioid epidemic. As communities across the country feel the epidemic's impact, public health and human service organizations are implementing responses that include healthcare, education, law enforcement and the judicial system, emergency services, drug and addiction counseling, and community services. Public libraries around the country are choosing to be part of this response. With funding from a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, OCLC and the Public Library Association will identify, synthesize, and share knowledge and resources that will help public libraries and their community partners develop effective strategies and community-driven coalitions that work together to address the opioid epidemic in America. This project is called, 'Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities.' This article is the first of two about the project and it focuses on the issues and preliminary themes surfacing in interviews with library staff and the partners. A second article will focus on the data analysis and overall findings. Keywords: public libraries, libraries, opioids, opioid crisis, collaboration, partners, community, The nation is experiencing an opioid epidemic. In October 2017, the federal government declared a national public health emergency under the Public Health Services Act. As communities across the country [...]

Erving Goffman's theoretical framework and concept of face-work has the potential to greatly increase the understanding of interpersonal dynamics in computer-mediated communication realms. This research used an ethnography of communication approach and the concept of face-work to analyze the transcript of an interaction between a librarian and a library user in a Web-based virtual reference service environment. This highly goal-oriented interaction, even though it lacks the immediacy of face-to-face interaction, was found to be a rich source of face-work.

A challenge of studying information-seeking behavior in open web systems is the unpredictability of those systems. One solution to counteract this issue is employing a simulation to ensure experimental control. However, concerns arise over the realism of such an environment. This paper assesses the realism of a behavioral simulation used to study the evaluation behavior of 175 students from fourth grade through graduate school. We assess realism through the examination of targeted participant feedback about what would have made the simulated environment and tasks more realistic to these participants. Based on this feedback, we reflect on decisions made in designing the simulation and offer recommendations for future studies interested in incorporating behavioral simulation in their research design. We find that a thoughtfully designed simulation can elicit naturalistic behavior when the controlled environment is designed to be realistic in meaningful ways. Because the simulation does not have to perfectly match reality to elicit these behaviors, designing a simulation that is real enough is an effective method to study information-seeking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preprints play an important role in scholarly conversation. This paper examines perceptions of preprints through the lens of students using a simulated Google environment. Data were collected from 116 high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate students with attention toward the helpfulness, credibility, and identification of preprints. Findings show preprint and peer-reviewed cues play little to no role in judging helpfulness or citability, but peer-review does when judging credibility. Further, most students did not recognize these resources as preprints. Implications and recommendations are discussed surrounding awareness and use of these openly available sources of scientific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the life cycle costs of acquiring and maintaining an academic research library and develops a methodology to determine the life cycle costs of collections based on statistical data collected by the Association of Research Libraries. Results indicate the cost structure of a research library is largely driven by its monograph collection. (Author/LRW)

Identifies elements that are important for academic libraries to use in evaluating electronic books, including content; acquisition and collection development; software and hardware standards and protocols; digital rights management; access; archiving; privacy; the market and pricing; and enhancements and ideal features. Describes netLibrary, a Web-based electronic book collection model. (Author/LRW)