ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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Virtual Reality as a Tool for Student Orientation in Distance Education Programs: A Study of New Library and Information Science Students
Get PDFVirtual reality (VR) has emerged as a popular technology for gaming and learning, with its uses for teaching presently being investigated in a variety of educational settings. However, one area where the effect of this technology on students has not been examined in detail is as tool for new student orientation in colleges and universities. This study investigates this effect using an experimental methodology and the population of new master of library science (MLS) students entering a library and information science (LIS) program. The results indicate that students who received a VR orientation expressed more optimistic views about the technology, saw greater improvement in scores on an assessment of knowledge about their program and chosen profession, and saw a small decrease in program anxiety compared to those who received the same information as standard text-and-links. The majority of students also indicated a willingness to use VR technology for learning for long periods of time (25 minutes or more). The researchers concluded that VR may be a useful tool for increasing student engagement, as described by Game Engagement Theory
Filling the Gap in Database Usability: Putting Vendor Accessibility Compliance to the Test
Get PDFLibrary database vendors often revamp simpler interfaces of their database platforms with script-enriched interfaces to make them more attractive. Sadly, these enhancements often overlook users who rely on assistive technology, leaving electronic content difficult for this user base despite the potential of electronic materials to be easier for them to access and read than print materials. Even when providers are somewhat aware of this user group's needs there are questions about the effect of their efforts to date and whether accessibility documentation from them can be relied upon. This study examines selected vendors’ VPAT reports (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) through a manual assessment of their database platforms to determine their overall accessibility
Letter from the Editor: The Core Question
Get PDFStatement of support in favor of LITA, ALCTS, and LLAMA merging to form a new ALA division, Core
Cultivating Digitization Competencies: A Case Study in Leveraging Grants as Learning Opportunities in Libraries and Archives
Get PDFThis article is a case study of how six digitization competencies were developed and disseminated via grant-funded digitization projects at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries Special Collections and Archives. The six competencies are project planning, grant writing, project management, metadata, digital capture, and digital asset management. The authors will introduce each competency, discuss why it is important, and describe how it was developed during the course of the grant project, as well as how it was taught in a workshop environment. The differences in competency development for three different stakeholder groups will be examined: early career grant staff gaining on-the-job experience; experienced digital collections librarians experimenting and innovating; and a statewide audience of cultural heritage professionals attending grant-sponsored workshops
The Map as a Search Box: Using Linked Data to Create a Geographic Discovery System
Get PDFThis article describes a bibliographic mapping project recently undertaken at the Library of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). The MARC Advisory Committeerecently approved an update to MARC that enables the use of dereferenceable Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) in MARC subfield $0. The ISAW Library has taken advantage of MARC’s new openness to URIs, using identifiers from the linked data gazetteer Pleiades in MARC records and using this metadata to create maps representing our library’s holdings. By populating our MARC records with URIs from Pleiades, an online, linked open data (LOD) gazetteer of the ancient world, we are able to create maps of the geographic metadata in our library’s catalog. This article describes the background, procedures, and potential future directions for this collection-mapping project
Is Creative Commons a Panacea for Managing Digital Humanities Intellectual Property Rights?
Get PDFDigital humanities is an academic field applying computational methods to explore topics and questions in the humanities field. Digital humanities projects, as a result, consist of a variety of creative works different from those in traditional humanities disciplines. Born to provide free, simple ways to grant permissions to creative works, Creative Commons (CC) licenses have become top options for many digital humanities scholars to handle intellectual property rights in the US. However, there are limitations of using CC licenses that are sometimes unknown by scholars and academic librarians. By analyzing case studies and influential lawsuits about intellectual property rights in the digital age, this article advocates for a critical perspective of copyright education and provides academic librarians with specific recommendations about advising digital humanities scholars to use CC licenses with four limitations in mind: 1) the pitfall of a free license; 2) the risk of irrevocability; 3) the ambiguity of NonCommercial and NonDerivative licenses; 4) the dilemma of ShareAlike and the open movement
The Democratization of Artificial Intelligence: One Library’s Approach
Get PDFThis article argues that the current technological revolution that is happening in Artificial Intelligence is not just about its prevalence in daily life, but the real revolution is about the emergence of AI tools that may help to democratize its use. Lowering the barrier to a technology that is perceived more as science fiction than accessible for mass utilization. A Public Library shares its approach in leveraging available tools to enable AI education for all
Automated Storage & Retrieval System: From Storage to Service
Get PDFThe California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Oviatt Library was the first library in the world to integrate an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) into its operations. The AS/RS continues to provide efficient space management for the library. However, added value has been identified in materials security and inventory as well as customer service. The concept of library as space, paired with improved services and efficiencies, has resulted in the AS/RS becoming a critical component of library operations and future strategy. Staffing, service, and security opportunities paired with support and maintenance challenges, enable the library to provide a unique critique and assessment of an AS/RS
Virtual Reality: The Next Big Thing for Libraries to Consider
Get PDFDuring the 2019 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, a large proportion of programs were about virtual reality. This article discusses how virtual reality could be used in libraries and how some institutions are creating VR content