Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (Journal)
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Relevance of a French National Database Dedicated to Infection Prevention and Control (NosoBase®): A Three-Step Quality Evaluation of a Specialized Bibliographic Database
No full textAbstract
Objective – NosoBase® is a collection of documentation centres with a national bibliographic database dedicated to infection prevention and control (IPC), with over 20 years of experience in France. As a quality assurance activity, this study was conducted in 2017 with a three-step approach to evaluate the bibliographic database regarding (1) the availability and coverage of citations; (2) the scope and relevance of content; and (3) the quality of the documentation centre services.
Methods – The three-step quality approach involved (1) evaluating the availability and coverage of citations in NosoBase® by searching for the bibliographic citations of three systematic reviews on hand hygiene practices, published recently in three different peer-reviewed international journals; (2) evaluating the scope and relevance of content in NosoBase® by searching for all documents from 2015 indexed in NosoBase® under hand hygiene related keywords, and analyzing according to publication language, document type (e.g., legislation, research, or guidelines), and target audience; and 3) evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of the documentation centre services, with interviews involving the librarians.
Results – NosoBase® contained 70.8%-80.9% of references directly concerning hand hygiene cited by the three systematic reviews. Of the 200 articles indexed in NosoBase® under hand hygiene related keywords in 2015, 22.5% were French language based, with a significant representation of French non-indexed literature. The analysis of the documentation centre services highlighted future opportunities for growth, building on the strengths of experience and collaborations, to improve marketing and usability, targeting francophone IPC professionals.
Conclusion – Specialized bibliographic databases may be useful and time efficient for the retrieval of relevant specialized content. NosoBase® has significant relevance to French and francophone healthcare professionals in its representation of French documentation and healthcare literature not otherwise indexed internationally. NosoBase® needs to highlight its resources and adapt its services to allow easier access to its content
Delivering Information Literacy via Facebook: Here Comes the Spinach!
No full textAbstract
Objective – Information literacy (IL) skills are critical to undergraduate student success and yet not all students receive equal amounts of curriculum-integrated IL instruction. This study investigated whether Facebook could be employed by libraries as an additional method of delivering IL content to students. To test whether students would engage with IL content provided via a library Facebook page, this study compared the engagement (measured by Facebook’s reach and engagement metrics) with IL content to the library’s normal marketing content.
Methods – We ran a two-part intervention using the University of Canterbury Library’s Facebook page. We created content to help students find, interpret, and reference resources, and measured their reception using Facebook’s metrics. Our first intervention focused on specific courses and mentioned courses by name through hashtagging, while our second intervention targeted peak assessment times during the semester. Statistics on each post’s reach and engagement were collected from Facebook’s analytics.
Results – Students chose to engage with posts on the library Facebook page that contain IL content more than the normal library marketing-related content. Including course-specific identifiers (hashtags) and tagging student clubs and societies in the post further increased engagement. Reach was increased when student clubs and societies shared our content with their followers.
Conclusion – This intervention found that students engaged more with IL content than with general library posts on Facebook. Course-targeted interventions were more successful in engaging students than generic IL content, with timeliness, specificity, and community being important factors in building student engagement. This demonstrates that academic libraries can use Facebook for more than just promotional purposes and offers a potential new channel for delivering IL content
The Information Searching Behaviour of Music Directors
No full textAbstract
Objective – This research project sought to elucidate some of the information searching behaviours of directors/conductors of performing music ensembles when selecting repertoire for performance. Of particular focus was the kind of information needed to select repertoire and where that information was sought and acquired.
Methods – Semi-structured, guided interviews were undertaken with three conductors from varying musical ensemble forms (choral, orchestral, and wind). This included a graphical elicitation exercise following Sonnenwald’s concept of information horizon maps. A narrative analysis was done, and recurring themes were sought in the various responses to questions and created drawings.
Results – The results indicated that directors make significant use of historical and print resources in creating personal lists of repertoire for current or future use. Professional connections for discussion of new or less well-known repertoire were also very important. One particularly interesting outcome was the non-temporally bound nature of conductors’ information searching behaviour, as the current models of information behaviour primarily relate to temporally bound searches. The Internet was noted by the three conductors not as an information source in and of itself but rather as an extension of other information sources.
Conclusions – This research highlighted the atemporal nature of information searching behaviour in music directors and suggested a similar aspect in the broader information search process. It indicated a need for libraries that cater to performers to maintain historical lists of varying types (e.g., concert programs, similar lists created by other prominent members of the community, and other types of repertoire lists). Additionally, maintaining community connections and knowledge of new or newly available repertoire is important
Blind User Experiences of US Academic Libraries can be Improved by More Proactive Reference Service Delivery
No full textA Review of:
Mulliken, A. (2017). There is nothing inherently mysterious about assistive technology: A qualitative study about blind user experiences in US academic libraries. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(2), 115-126. https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.2.6528
Abstract
Objective – To explore blind users’ experiences with academic libraries.
Design – Qualitative questionnaire.
Setting – Academic libraries within the United States of America.
Subjects – 18 individuals who are legally blind, have experience relying on a screen reader to access the internet, and have used an academic library either online or in person within the previous two years.
Methods – An open-ended questionnaire was administered via telephone interview. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using an inductive approach to identify themes using Hill et al.’s (2005) approach.
Main Results – The author found seven themes in the interview data: experiences working with reference librarians in person, difficulty with library websites, screen reader use during reference transactions, preferences for independence, using chat, interactions with disability officers, and challenges of working with citation styles.
Conclusion – The study concluded that academic libraries and librarians should be more proactive when approaching reference services for blind users. The author offered suggestions for practice about how to improve blind user experiences of academic libraries
Bibliometric Analysis Provides a Detailed Map of Information Literacy Literature in the Social Sciences and Humanities
No full textA Review of:
Bhardwaj, R.K. (2017). Information literacy in the social sciences and humanities: A bibliometric study. Information and Learning Science, 188(1/2), 67–89. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-09-2016-0068
Abstract
Objective – To determine the scope and distribution of information literacy research documents in the humanities and social sciences published from 2001 to 2012.
Design – Bibliometric analysis.
Setting – N/A
Subjects – 1,990 document records retrieved from a Scopus database search.
Methods – Using the database Scopus, the author created and conducted a search for documents related to the concept of information literacy. Articles, review papers, conference articles, notes, short surveys, and letters were included in the results. Only documents published from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2012 were included in the study. The author then performed various bibliometric analyses of the results.
Main Results – The author found that the number of publications and citations have increased over time, although the average citations per publication (ACPP) decreased significantly during the time period being studied. The majority of the literature published on this topic is in English and produced within the United States. The Transformative Activity Index was calculated to determine changes in publishing patterns across countries from 2001 to 2012. The amount of research collaboration across countries was calculated as well, with the U.S. being the most collaborative. The top journals publishing on this topic were identified by calculating the h-index. An individual from Universidad de Granada in Spain published the greatest number of articles from a single author, and this university was found to have produced the greatest amount of research. Documents produced by the United Kingdom have the highest citation rates. A total of 1,385 documents were cited at least once, and each item on average was cited five times.
Conclusion – Most of the articles on information literacy in the social sciences and humanities comes from developed countries. The results of this study may help to inform those interested in researching this field further
More DOIs are Accessed Through Library Discovery Services than Through Google
No full textA Review of:
Wang, X., Cui, Y., & Xu, S. (2018). Evaluating the impact of web-scale discovery services on scholarly content seeking. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(5), 545-552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.05.010
Abstract
Objective – To examine trends in digital object identifier (DOI) web referrals and explore the referring domains, especially those originating from web-scale discovery systems like ProQuest’s Summon and Primo.
Design – Log analysis and web traffic analysis.
Setting – CrossRef, a web server that connects DOIs to the corresponding articles’ landing pages.
Subjects – Web traffic that passed through CrossRef between 2011 and 2016.
Methods – The researchers collected data from CrossRef using a web tool called Chronograph. The data captured information about the websites users were on when they requested a DOI (called the referrer) and about the time and date of each request.
The researchers used time series analysis to discover longitudinal patterns in the data. Annual, monthly, and weekly trends were also examined with a seasonal adjustment model, a seasonal trend decomposition, and log transformation. They also isolated traffic from four institutions in Australia, Japan, Sweden, and the United States of America to determine if overall seasonal patterns were reflected locally.
ProQuest websites were of particular interest to the researchers because they determined that it had the highest market share of discovery services. Much of the analysis focused on ProQuest’s serialsolutions.com, exlibrisgroup.com, and proquest.com website domains.
Main Results – ProQuest servers sent over 25 million DOI referrals through CrossRef – more than either Web of Knowledge (n=24.47 million) or Google (n=15.38 million).
Referral traffic grew over the period with the sharpest growth rate occurring between 2011 and 2012. Of ProQuest’s domains, serialsolutions.com (Summon) had more traffic and more growth over the observation period than exlibrisgroup.com (Primo).
In all of the years studied, the busiest months were September to November and January to March, while June to August and December were low points. Seasonal fluctuations were attributed to university vacation schedules as demonstrated in the traffic patterns of four ProQuest-subscribing institutions.
Weekly trend analysis showed that Monday to Thursday had consistently heavy referral traffic. Of the remaining days, the fewest referrals were observed on Saturdays.
Conclusion – DOI referrer traffic is closely tied to the university calendar. Library discovery products are used more frequently to access DOIs than Google
Silence in a Noisy World: Using Student Feedback to Enhance Library Silent Study Space
No full textNo abstract
Dewey Decimal Classification Trending Downward in U.S. Academic Libraries, but Unlikely to Disappear Completely
No full textA Review of:
Lund, B., & Agbaji, D. (2018). Use of Dewey Decimal Classification by academic libraries in the United States. Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, 56(7), 653-661. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2018.1517851
Abstract
Objective – To determine the current use of Dewey Decimal Classification in academic libraries in the United States of America (U.S.).
Design – Cross-sectional survey using a systematic sampling method.
Setting – Online academic library catalogues in the U.S.
Subjects – 3,973 academic library catalogues.
Methods – The researchers identified 3,973 academic libraries affiliated with degree-granting post-secondary institutions in the U.S. The researchers searched each library’s online catalogue for 10 terms from a predetermined list. From the results of each search, the researchers selected at least five titles, noted the classification scheme used to classify each title, and coded the library as using Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), both DDC and LCC, or other classification schemes.
Based on the results of their data collection, the researchers calculated totals. The totals of this current study’s data collection were compared to statistics on DDC usage from two previous reports, one published in 1975 and one in 1996. The researchers performed statistical analyses to determine if there were any discernible trends from the earliest reported statistics through to the current study.
Main Results – Collections classified using DDC were present in 717 libraries (18.9%). Adjusting for the increase in the number of academic libraries in the U.S. between 1975 and 2017, DDC usage in academic libraries has declined by 56% in that time frame. The number of libraries with only DDC in evidence is unreported.
Conclusion – The previous four decades have seen a significant decrease in the use of DDC in U.S. academic libraries in favour of LCC; however, the rate at which DDC has disappeared from academic libraries has slowed dramatically since the 1960s. There is no clear indication that DDC will disappear from academic libraries completely