Search

This article presents a case study exploring the use of a student coding camp as a bottom-up mobile design process to generate library mobile apps. A code camp sources student programmer talent and ideas for designing software services and features. This case study reviews process, outcomes, and next steps in mobile web app coding camps. It concludes by offering implications for services design beyond the local camp presented in this study. By understanding how patrons expect to integrate library services and resources into their use of mobile devices, librarians can better design the user experience for this environment., INTRODUCTION Mobile applications offer an exciting opportunity for libraries to expand the reach of their services, to build new connections, and to offer unique, previously unavailable services for their users. [...]

Assessment has become a persistently hot topic in the library world, particularly when it comes to establishing value for academic library services. In an effort to assess performance and develop training tools to improve text/SMS reference services for an academic library, we used the Reference and User Services Association's Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers as the framework for an analytic rubric. We then used the rubric to assess academic librarian responses collected over a three-year period as part of text/SMS reference service. Results include implications for librarian friendliness, response time, attentiveness, and follow-up, as well as patron return rates. Comparative trends in text reference and the physical reference desk response times are also examined., According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project's 'Smartphone Research,' approximately half of all American adults (45%) and two-thirds of young adults own a smartphone, and as of May [...]

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 [...]

When I put out a call on Twitter for ideas for the Accidental Technologist, I didn't expect to get anything quite as bold as this. Matt Finch (@booksadventures on Twitter) [...]

ABSTRACT This paper describes the ways in which libraries are currently implementing and managing web-based research guides (a.k.a. Pathfinders, LibGuides, Subject Guides, etc.) by examining two sets of data from [...]

Abstract Google Apps for Education is not only helping elementary school librarian Zoe Midler connect with students and teachers to infuse information and research skills seamlessly into the curriculum but [...]

Abstract Although web sites accessed on phones are the most obvious type of mobile Internet use, they're not the only kind_ This chapter provides other examples of mobile library services [...]

Abstract Although mobile services to underserved populations are limited at present, truly innovative services based on existing projects are possible. These include augmented reality tools, curation of local media, content [...]

This study employs the case study approach to examine a QR code pilot implemented at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CUB) Libraries in Fall 2010 using Microsoft Tag. Through [...]

Several Australian local governments have expressed interest in using vending machines to extend access to library materials. There has been one successful Australian use of a vending machine, but their [...]

Apps, mobile access and augmented reality can present different ways for people to find out about local studies related information whether they are in the library, or at an historical [...]

MyLanguage is a project of seven state and territory library services commenced in 2004. The consortium has a commitment to expanding the possibilities of electronic multicultural library services. An early [...]

Abstract Since 1994, the Public Libraries and the Internet and Public Library Funding and Technology Access national surveys have charted the involvement with and use of the Internet by US [...]

At a time in our economy when library budgets are strained and staffing is under the microscope, librarians need to reassess and retool their library services for online students to provide quality, depth, and community without causing meltdown. The authors analyze some of the retooling undergone at their library to meet the shifting demographics of students who in l O years have grown from 1,000 online students to 14,500 and increased to 65% of the students now taking online classes. To meet this challenge, the library centralized library services by closing the regional Library Information Centers and established a Multimedia Department focused on developing tutorials and online training materials, established an outreach librarian position, and worked with reference and instruction librarians to expand their roles as liaisons to the various academic programs. The library is learning to work smarter, not necessarily harder, and much leaner. KEYWORDS library management, library online services, library outreach, online students, strategic decision making, strategic planning DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2010.488964

Library and information management (LIM) organisations are on an almost continual path of change driven by changes in technology, service models, staffing structures, and financial allocations. The way in which LIM organisations approach change varies, as does the success rate of change management procedures undertaken. One particular approach to change management is Appreciative Inquiry (AI). AI has been gaining in popularity since its inception over two decades ago. This technique seeks to identify what works with individuals, teams, or whole organisations and then build on those elements, a digression from the common approach of looking for a problem that needs to be fixed. This paper explores the AI technique and its potential for application by LIM organisations., INTRODUCTION Pick up a popular magazine these days and you are bound to come across a pop quiz asking 'How stressed are you?', in which the quiz invariably links the [...]

This paper examines whether the same appeal characteristics work for reading and for games. Explored are the use of readers advisory skills in working with young people to investigate how [...]

A description of one of the world's most innovative libraries, which aims to be the most advanced public library in the world using creativity, technical innovation and scientific understanding. The [...]

Nearly one-fifth of Americans have some form of disability, and accessibility guidelines and standards that apply to libraries are complicated, unclear, and difficult to achieve. Understanding how persons with disabilities [...]