Does Data Count? How Library Administrators Make Decisions
Saturday, June 24, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. in Morial Convention Center, Room 291
Susan J. Beck, Head of Public Services, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Wanda V. Dole, Dean of Libraries, Washburn UniversitySusan J. Beck discusses her research on the impact of assessment on decision making in 9 Association of Research Libraries. Wanda Dole replicated Beck’s research design to see if similar results would be found in 9 Carnegie MA I Libraries. Each researcher will discuss her results and then focus on the differences and commonalities between the two different types of libraries. Audience members will be asked to take the surveys used in this research, and critique them so they may be improved for future use. Audience participation is expected.
Librarians as Research Subjects
Saturday, June 24, 10:30 a.m. – Noon in the Morial Convention Center, Rooms 240 - 241
“Estimating the Benefit and Worth of Librarian-Provided Information Literacy Instruction to Teaching Faculty and to Institutions of Higher Education”
Leslie Simmel, MLS, DBA, Bentley College
Colleen Anderson, MLIS, MBA, Bryant CollegeThis research explores two questions about Information Literacy instruction’s value to faculty and higher education institutions: What is the net benefit of librarian-provided IL instruction to faculty who incorporate it into their curricula and what is the net worth of librarian-provided IL instruction to institutions of higher education? Using a “value-in-use” assessment approach, in-depth faculty interviews helped identify the benefit and cost elements associated with using the service. Estimates of the service’s net worth were developed by comparing costs associated with librarian-provided IL instruction to those associated with instructors providing the service themselves.
“Facework in Chat Reference Encounters”
Marie Radford, PhD, Rutgers University
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD, OCLCRadford and Connaway discuss their research analyzing chat transcripts and a series of focus groups with librarians, users and non-users of chat reference, using sociologist Erving Goffman’s theory of impression management and concept of facework. Deference (protecting the “face” of the other in interactions) is integral to success in face-to-face reference encounters. Preliminary analysis of results reveals that deference is also important to the success of chat reference encounters.
“Interpreting Skill Development in Academic Library Reference Work: an Application of the Dreyfus Model”
Jennifer Sweeney, PhD, UCLA
Sweeney’s research addresses a method to describe skill levels among academic reference librarians from novice to expert. It is commonly accepted that a beginner’s performance is different from that of the individual with years of experience; yet existing statements of reference competencies do not address level of skill. The researcher used the Dreyfus Model of Adult Skill Acquisition, a developmental model drawing on theories of situated performance and experiential learning. It has been successfully employed in fields requiring complex intellectual work. This is its first application to the library setting.
New Minds, New Approaches: Juried Papers by LIS Students
Sunday, June 25, 10:30 – Noon in the Morial Convention Center, Rooms 240 – 241
“Digitization Trends in U.S. Public Libraries”, Jeanne Holba Puacz, doctoral student & IMLS Fellow at the School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas
“Copy Cataloging Done Smarter: The Use of Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Records in Non-PPC Libraries”, Robert O. Ellett, Jr. (completed doctorate in 2006)
“Users' Information Seeking Behaviors with Cross Language Information Retrieval Systems”, YooJin Ha, doctoral student at Rutgers University.
“The Missing Link: Alternatives in Gift Processing at the University of Illinois”, Merinda Kaye Hensley, Masters student at the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana, Leep Program.
**Program includes Shera Award Presentations **
Four Star Research
Sunday, June 25, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. in the Morial Convention Center, Room 342
“Information Support for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: an Analysis of Police Department Cyber-Connections”
Lynn Westbrook, University of Texas at Austin
Intimate partner violence holds social and economic significance for the nation as a whole as well as intense, personal significance for each victim. Social and public policy efforts increasingly require police departments to provide information and referrals for victims. Westbrook’s research examines the extent and nature of Internet-based formal information support for IPV victims as offered by police departments. The project objectives are to analyze the information content, navigational complexity, and cyber-safety techniques of police department web site support for IPV victims. Preliminary results will be reported.
“Public Library Facility Closure: How Research Can Better Facilitate a Proactive Management Response”
Christie Koontz, GeoLib Program, Florida State University
Koontz reports on research funded by the American Library Association to make an initial examination and analysis of closure of public library facilities from the time period of 1999 through 2003 using existing data collected by the Federal State Cooperative System of the National Center for Educational Statistics, Department of Education. The researcher will review past key research regarding public library facility closure, the current and completed ALA-funded project, and suggest future research.
“BLAST (Bringing Libraries and Schools Together): a Collaborative Program Between an Urban Public School and an Urban Public Library”
Georgene DeFilippo, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Dr. Rita Bean, University of PittsburghBLAST read aloud program is presented in schools where students’ standardized scores are below grade level in the area of reading for students identified as low income and from multicultural families. The researchers investigate how third grade students’ participation in the BLAST program influences students’ interest and motivation to read and what is the programs effect on students’ vocabulary. Their methodology included using pre and post student interviews, pre and post student attitude surveys, pre and post vocabulary assessment, teacher interviews and questionnaire.