Like other academic libraries, Oregon State University Libraries (OSUL) diligently reaches out to a wide variety of campus groups as part of its mission to develop user-focused services that contribute to student success. Outreach to student groups focuses on equipping “students with tools and resources needed to succeed in and...
To guide the design, content, and development of a natural resources digital library, the Oregon State University Libraries commissioned a needs assessment. Interviews with citizens, policy makers, and scientists show that potential users want to quickly find, retrieve, integrate, and synthesize well organized and geo-referenced information on Oregon's natural resources,...
This has been a banner year for open access, and the momentum shows no sign of letting up. College and university faculties, and the granting agencies that fund a significant amount of their research, are increasingly embracing open access to ensure research findings across disciplines are freely accessible to the...
The article discusses effective methods for measuring the success of classroom instruction using original primary sources in special collections and archives and how to translate these effects to demonstrate learning impact that can be used in other assessment projects. The global economic crisis has reportedly pushed assessment activities in libraries...
The article discusses how to bring the educational benefits that come from analyzing and interpreting physical materials to a bigger class environment and whether these benefits are worth the costs. It notes the growth of literature on instruction in special collections environments and the creative instructional methods presented by its...
Collaborative planning to streamline as well as to provide citizens with easier access to geospatial data has a long history in Oregon. A milestone in this process was the launch of the Oregon Spatial Data Library (OSDL) in November 2009. The Oregon Spatial Data Library is a joint effort between...
This article discusses findings from a longitudinal research study that examined the way graduate students carry out the literature review and how they were impacted by attending a library literature review workshop. The literature review research process serves as an important gateway for graduate students’ into their scholarly communities’ practices,...
Library faculty are often tenure track, requiring a record of significant publishing and service before achieving tenure. However, meaningful tools and methods for evaluating the scholarship of librarianship frequently fall short of providing an accurate picture of the scholarship of any particular candidate. The authors conducted a case study analyzing...
The Oregon ExplorerTM (www.oregonexplorer.info) strives to support informed decisions and actions by people concerned with Oregon's natural resources and environment. The Oregon Explorer's multi-media environment integrates archived digital documents, mapping and decision support tools, and finding aids for specific natural resource issues and topics. This paper presents the chronology of...