Instruction librarians are at the forefront of introducing learners to new concepts and skills such as evaluation strategies, searching techniques, and trends in scholarly communication. But how do instruction librarians themselves learn new concepts and skills? Especially if they have been a professional for a significant amount of time and...
Research & Innovative Services Proposal
Research Question:
Should OSU Libraries (OSUL) develop a mobile applications for searching the Libraries' available resources?
As a research-intensive institution with an emphasis on STEM fields, our collections and instruction reflect the scholarly communication of these fields. Typically, we highlight our collection’s academic resources such as journals and discipline-specific reference sources. While these sources provide a research-focused foundation for our students, they might not always spark...
Librarians work with students, in K-12, public, and academic library settings, but often have little background preparation in how students’ development impacts their learning. Learners undergo a tremendous amount of personal and academic growth throughout their lifetime. Understanding key theories about how students develop and grow can help librarians improve...
In Spring 2017, I was tasked with analyzing and providing feedback on the Web of Science and Scopus databases from an advanced researcher point of view. At Oregon State University (OSU), we currently have a subscription to Web of Science, and we wanted to see if switching to Scopus might...
This is a report submitted as part of a collaborative project with 18 other institutions as part of a study convened by Ithaka S+R exploring agricultural science faculty's research behaviors.
Background
Today’s college students, though stereotyped as technology savvy, still require instruction to develop robust information seeking and management skills. While library instruction at Oregon State University has historically been tied to single-session lectures for individual courses provided upon teaching faculty request, this model ensures that some students receive multiple...
Librarians listened and observed as undergraduate students tackled a typical research-based assignment using broad-based discovery tools, including Google Scholar, Web of Science and Summon. We will discuss what we learned about the research processes our users have developed, how they fit unfamiliar tools into those processes, how they carry early...
Graduate students from across all departments at OSU were invited to participate in focus groups to share their insights about current and potential research spaces and services. Themes were created based on the participants’ responses. The space theme clearly points to a desire for graduate student-specific space at OSU, particularly...