A library’s Web site is well-recognized as the gateway to the library for the vast majority of users. Choosing the most user-friendly Web architecture to reflect the many services libraries offer is a complex process, and librarians are still experimenting with what works best for their users. As part of...
Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate librarians' attitudes towards instruction in virtual reference transactions and to review relevant literature.
Design/methodology/approach – Librarians who provide virtual reference services are surveyed about attitudes towards providing instruction via virtual reference software. In addition to gathering demographic information respondents...
Although the Dunns’ learning styles and Gardner’s multiple intelligences theories are two distinct areas of research, they do not oppose each other and can be used together to improve learning. The design of this tutorial is an attempt to integrate students’ learning styles and their unique blend of intelligences in...
Oregon State University Libraries has developed a variety of digital collections that support the university‘s commitment to natural resources research. Two of these collections are the Umpqua Basin Explorer and the Middle East Water Collection. The existence of both of these digital initiatives represents the ongoing collaborative work between librarians,...
The Oregon State University Archives has a robust photograph collection, which is reflected in its hearty companion digital collection. These collections document the history of the university, as well as the agriculture and natural resources of the Pacific Northwest. While the physical and online collections are popular, we were interested...
Usability, user studies, and evaluating user experiences have been a part of academic libraries for many years. In the last 20 years libraries have created ad hoc usability teams to do user studies. Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries started its ongoing team in 2006, resulting in an increased focus on...
On September 10, 2008, the Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries shut its doors for the annual In-Service Day event. Eighty employees from all three OSU libraries gathered at the Valley Library on the OSU main campus. Karyle Butcher, university librarian, strongly supports this annual event planned by library staff for...
ticTOCs, a new journal table of contents service, provides users a free resource for managing RSS feeds for new content from selected journals. This service could be used as a complement and in some cases as an alternative to other table of contents providers. Using RSS feeds provided by publishers,...
In July 2005, the Oregon State University Libraries began accepting electronic versions of student theses and dissertations into ScholarsArchive@OSU, the library’s institutional repository. By January 2007, all Oregon State University graduate students were required to deposit their final research. This paper compares past processes and workflows for print theses and...
The Internet enables global dissemination and
retrieval of information at any time, as a result, it has
a tremendous impact on how libraries provide
reference services to this new web-based clientele.
One impact is the increase in off-site library users
who make in-person reference interviews impossible.
To serve this new...
Fisheries scientists persistently create, communicate, and use information. In
fact, if they did not, there would be no fisheries science. To exist, science must be
part of a continuum where shared information, from casual hallway communications
to rigorously reviewed articles, documents the questions asked and
the solutions suggested. Relevant information...
Our oceans surround us, and we depend upon them for food, transportation, and recreation. They affect us daily as they shape our climate and rattle our world with unexpected events. Current headlines indicate that they are in flux and perhaps in trouble. Coral reefs are dying due to rising ocean...
In this article, the authors share how they turned themselves from hesitant library blog readers into dedicated bloggers. The authors share how they started their blog named infodoodads and why they started writing it. The authors also share how blogging with partners is a great way to maintain a frequent...
Librarians at Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries used the discussion board features of Blackboard courseware to create an interactive experience for graduate students at a distance who could not attend the on-campus “Literature Review Workshops.” These recently developed workshops have been extremely popular with graduate students across the disciplines and...
This article describes a technique using the Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports and the SHERPA RoMEO Web site to identify a set of core journals in a discipline and determine whether the journals' publishers allow preprint or postprint archiving in their copyright transfer agreements.
This article presents a case study of how Oregon State University Libraries (OSUL) organized to accomplish digitization activities. Digitization activities are broken down into 6 major categories: management, copyright, digital imaging, metadata, hardware/software/web design, and selection. The OSUL departments responsible for tasks within each of these sets of responsibilities are...
Since September 2006, the Oregon State University (OSU) Archives has concentrated on the preparation of collection-level finding aids for all new collections received by the Archives and for collections that have no descriptive information available online. This article presents a preliminary analysis of the results of this approach, demonstrates the...
Patrons are most open to library services when they have specific information needs. At Oregon State University Libraries, we addressed the information literacy needs graduate students have while writing their thesis, and as a result created a workshop focusing on the literature review process. This unique approach of providing instruction...
Expectations for technology proficiency in counseling and counselor education have increased; nevertheless, very little information is available in the counseling literature which describes how to effectively evaluate online resources from a design and utility standpoint. This study provides a model for such assessments, employing an affordable small scale usability study...
This article details the development of the Library Instruction Wiki (http://instructionwiki.org): an effort to develop a web-based, knowledge sharing resource. Though some library instruction is specific to a given institution or class, much of what instruction librarians teach is similar. Library instructors have repeatedly expressed the desire to share resources,...
At Oregon State University (OSU), writing instructors and librarians collaboratively teach research writing and information literacy in first year composition courses (FYC). A four-week unit focuses on the connections between critical thinking, writing and learning, and information literacy. This paper describes the process of developing, implementing, and refining this collaborative...
The ALCTS Technical Services Administrators of Medium-Sized Research Libraries Discussion Group discussed several topics within an overarching theme at the 2006 annual conference in New Orleans: “Threats to and Opportunities for Technical Services Departments”. Topics discussed within that general theme included: Future of the Catalog, Future of Cataloging as a...
Objective ‐ The authors describe a simple and effective tool for selecting digitization
projects from competing alternatives, providing decision makers with objective,
quantitative data.
Methods ‐ The paper adopts the value engineering methodology for the selection,
evaluation and ranking of digitization project proposals. Project selection steps are described. Selection criteria...
Since 2001, librarians at Oregon State University’s Valley Library have been working to build a “teaching library” supported by a clearly articulated instruction program. From the start, we believed that we needed to assess the “teaching library’s” impact, not only to determine the success or failure of our efforts but...
Reviews 5 multicultural poetry books for children and young adult that are appropriate for counselors working with culturally diverse young clients. Cultures addressed include Native American, Black American, Asian Pacific American and Hispanic American.
Program description: Do users want simpler access to "best sources" for subject research? Should libraries filter information by discipline, subject area or course? Should information be tailored to undergraduate level? This presentation will present findings from research on these and other questions.
This article describes the selection, implementation, configuration, and assessment of a proprietary federated search product. The decisions made and processes used to facilitate the implementation are outlined. Users' perception of the product based on a usability study and survey responses are presented. Also described are unique and innovative implementations of...
The world’s ocean and estuaries fascinate many – from oceanographers studying the deep-sea to resource managers regulating fishing seasons to children finding their first seashell on the beach. The complexity of the marine environment is reflected in the specialized and interdisciplinary journals covering marine science. Journals can focus on particular...
Search sessions consist of a person presenting a query to a search engine, followed by that person examining the search
results, selecting some of those search results for further review, possibly following some series of hyperlinks, and perhaps
backtracking to previously viewed pages in the session. The series of pages...
The International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC), comprised of 325 members from 86 countries, has a long history of resource sharing based on personal connections among its members. In 2002, IAMSLIC developed a resource-sharing system using a unified search interface that relies on Z39.50...
How are academic libraries organizing themselves in order to engage in the content selection and digitization of local collections? Are libraries creating new positions or units, assigning responsibilities to existing departments, setting up cross-functional collaboration among existing departments, or using a combination of these strategies? Who holds responsibility for the...
Recent publications about the rising cost of college textbooks by the Public Interest Research and the US Government Accountability Office have caused student groups across the country to explore novel ways to address the problem. Students, publishers, bookstores and academic libraries, because of their role of managing course reserves, are...
Working collaboratively with faculty, librarians can develop scalable models of information literacy instruction that are integrated with classroom work and spark student learning. In this session, librarians from Oregon State University discuss the challenges and benefits of collaborating with faculty to develop and implement such models in large, multi-section courses.
This article is part of a collection of articles dealing with the endeavors and projects of support staff in Oregon libraries. Describes an ordinary workday at a specialized academic branch library.
Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is the professional standard for the content of archival description by U.S. archivists. Published in 2004 and approved by the SAA Council in March 2005, it is the first U.S. standard for the content of archival finding aids. This brief case study of implementation...
This bibliography focuses on works that will provide the reader with supplemental resources on the history of ethnic minorities in Oregon. An effort has been made to highlight materials that are particularly appropriate for use in teaching students of various ages. The featured resources address all historical time periods, but...
Discusses the ease and usefulness of conducting usability studies and provides an example of usability testing at Oregon State University undertaken to improve the DSpace Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ET/D) submission process.
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of bibliotherapy in relation to hospital patients. It includes a brief history as well as discussion of practitioners, patients and problems, methodology and effectiveness. It also offers recommendations for those who provide bibliotherapy within the hospital context. The focus is...
In the Spring of 2001, the Oregon State University Libraries began planning for a collaboration with the university’s Freshman Composition Program. In implementing this project, with no additional library resources, and with the majority of library faculty less experienced in working with freshman students, the coordinators of the program learned...
Reference services at Oregon State University’s Valley Library have undergone several reoganizations in response to institutional changes, shifting service needs and patron demands. Part of this history includes training for and functioning in team-based management. We have now evolved to a management model which utilizes workgroups and an advisory and...
This article is a follow up to an earlier publication that developed the rationale for using conversation as a metaphor to teach research writing. We presented this proposed teaching approach at several conferences, including WILU in May 2005 at Guelph, Canada. The discussions with participants in these presentations validated the...
This narrative details the evolution of a collaborative teaching project into an educational Website about Bibliotherapy, which is the process of facilitating personal development or problem resolution through books. Working with a Counselor Education colleague, the Education librarian at Oregon State University helped develop a tool to evaluate books for...