41,085 research outputs found
Rod Library Annual Report 2018
Get PDFRod Library had another exciting year, building on successful programs and introducing new resources and services. While we continue to await word on a possible building renovation, we remain committed to fostering student success and to enhancing diversity and inclusion and supporting community engagement in accord with the University strategic plan. In addition to continuing to provide reference assistance, group instruction, and research consultations in near-record numbers, we undertook new initiatives to engage with the University and the larger community.
We look forward to new ventures in the coming year and thank you for your continued support of our efforts.
Katherine Martin, University of Northern Iowa, Rod Library Interim Dean of Library Service
Rod Library Annual Report 2016
Get PDFWhat an amazing year! We opened the new Makerspace and ScholarSpace funded by external grants. Our instruction sessions and research consultations were at an all-time high. Rod Library joined the Open Textbook Network, supporting the development of free online textbooks to reduce student debt. We moved to Alma, a new system which will allow us to work more collaboratively with Iowa and Iowa State and improve library workflows and patron information discovery. And we were the winner of the 2016 Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award for our successful crowdfunding campaign which resulted in the purchase of a Microsoft Surface Hub.
How do you top that? Well, as always, we listen to our users and work to continue to meet the challenges and embrace the opportunities presented to us. We hope that this will be the year we get the go ahead to begin planning a renovation of the Rod Library building. We’ve made many improvements to the building over the last five years, but the mechanical systems are in desperate need of replacement. We’ll be hiring new faculty – a new Business Librarian and Special Collections Coordinator and University Archivist. We’ll continue to strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion, working to diversify our staff and our collections, and guaranteeing the library is a welcoming place for everyone. We’ll begin the process to align our current strategic plan with that of the University’s and develop metrics to ensure that we are accomplishing the goals we have committed to. Finally, we are developing initiatives to better document how we contribute to the University’s goals through analysis of library use as it correlates to student recruitment, retention, and success.
Here’s to another great year!
Chris Cox, Dean | Rod Librar
Research fronts in library and information science in Spain
No full textPublications and author cocitations in library and information science in Spain during the period from 1985 to 1994 were analyzed as a measure of the structure, specificity and composition of research fronts in this country. A cocitation matrix developed from an ad hoc database was subjected to cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal components analysis, The resulting cocitation maps identified specific areas of r~search and their knowledge bases. We inferred the degree of consolidation of the discipline of library and information science, and of the subdisciplines informetrics, librarianship and university affiliation, from the research activities revealed. In this respect, the conclusions from the study show the existence of several research fronts in Spanish literature the contents of which are in most cases difficult to compare with those in other countries. A lesser degree of maturity of research in this field is shown
Library Connection, v9n2, Spring 2022
Get PDFInside this Issue:
--- Showing Off UNI Student Research--- Student Assistant Highlighted: Raegan Chrstianson--- Mary Ann Bolton Undergraduate Research Award--- Collection Management: A Never Ending Process--- RodCon 2022--- Scholarly Communication Committee--- Rod Library\u27s Fall Semester--- INSPIRE: Student Research & Engagement Conference--- New: Fall 2023 Library Course--- Upcoming Eventshttps://scholarworks.uni.edu/libcon/1017/thumbnail.jp
Involving university library staff in ongoing research
Get PDFTo embed university library practitioners in research, this paper proposes a strategy of maximum immersion. The strategy involves the inclusion of as many employees from as many sections or departments in the library as is practically feasible in research projects of an ongoing or repetitive nature. The paper argues that this strategy will overcome most of the obstacles that normally hinder research by library practitioners, including a lack of research experience and a lack of time. To succeed, the strategy should comply with a number of conditions, such as that the research has to be relevant and beneficial to the university, library and research participants, the research process should develop research experience and build capacity, the research technique should be relatively easy to apply, involvement in the research activity should create lasting enthusiasm, and the process should be dynamic. In the second part of the paper the author uses the example of citation counting of theses and dissertations as a research application that fits the conditions outlined in the first part. The paper concludes with the opinion that, although sufficient thought and planning should go into selecting a research application for ongoing research, it is no more than a means to an end. The ultimate purpose is to get libraries embedded in research – not for the sake of research, but for the sake of its benefits
Assessing library web page usability: how benchmarking can help
No full textThis article looks at how the ‘Mystery Shopper’ methodology used by a consortium of universities was adapted to assess the usability of the library web pages of all four universities. Using a methodology refined from a previous web usability exercise, the various elements in the process are described. The outcomes of the project are briefly discussed, along with lessons learnt from the process
A Connectionist and Multivariate Approach to Science Maps: Som, Clustering and Mds Applied to Library & Information Science Research.
Get PDFThe visualization of scientific field structures is a classic of scientometric studies. This paper presents a domain analysis of the library and information science discipline based on author co-citation analysis (ACA) and journal cocitation analysis (JCA). The techniques used for map construction are the self-organizing map (SOM) neural
algorithm, Ward’s clustering method and multidimensional
scaling (MDS). The results of this study are compared with
similar research developed by Howard White and Katherine
McCain [1]. The methodologies used allow us to confirm that
the subject domains identified in this paper are, as well,
present in our study for the corresponding period. The appearance of studies pertaining to library science reveals
the relationship of this realm with information science.
Especially significant is the presence of the management on the journal maps. From a methodological standpoint, meanwhile, we would agree with those authors who consider
MDS, the SOM and clustering as complementary methods
that provide representations of the same reality from different analytical points of view. Even so, the MDS representation is the one offering greater possibilities for the structural representation of the clusters in a set of variables
A connectionist and multivariate approach to science maps: the SOM, clustering and MDS applied to library and information science research
No full textThe visualization of scientific field structures is a classic of scientometric studies. This paper presents a domain analysis of the library and information science discipline based on author co-citation analysis (ACA) and journal cocitation analysis (JCA). The techniques used for map construction are the self-organizing map (SOM) neural algorithm, Ward’s clustering method and multidimensional scaling (MDS). The results of this study are compared with similar research developed by Howard White and Katherine McCain [1]. The methodologies used allow us to confirm that the subject domains identified in this paper are, as well,
present in our study for the corresponding period. The appearance of studies pertaining to library science reveals the relationship of this realm with information science. Especially significant is the presence of the management on the journal maps. From a methodological standpoint, meanwhile, we would agree with those authors who consider MDS, the SOM and clustering as complementary methods that provide representations of the same reality from different analytical points of view. Even so, the MDS representation is the one offering greater possibilities for the structural representation of the clusters in a set of variables
Looking for the link between library usage and student attainment
No full textIn 2010, the University of Huddersfield shared results from its analysis of anonymised library usage data [1]. Data was analysed for over 700 courses over four years - 2005/6 – 2008/9; this included the number of e-resources accessed, the number of book loans and the number of accesses to the University Library. This investigation suggested a strong correlation between library usage and degree results, and also significant underuse of expensive library resources at both School and course level. At the time, it was highlighted that the correlation between library usage and grade had not yet been significance-tested and that it was not known whether the Huddersfield findings were an anomaly or the norm [2]. As a result, a number of universities approached Huddersfield in order to benchmark against the data.
In the light of the recent Comprehensive Public Spending Review and the Lord Browne’s Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance [3], it was thought that, if the Huddersfield experience was found to be of statistical significance across a broad range of universities, there was potential for the results to be used as a factor to enhance student attainment. In parallel, there is a continuing focus on the student experience and a desire that all students should achieve their full potential whilst studying at university. Results could also be used by libraries to target their resources more effectively where budgets are shrinking.
In September 2010, the JISC released a call through the Activity Data programme [4] and in February 2011 the University of Huddersfield along with 7 partners: University of Bradford, De Montfort University, University of Exeter, University of Lincoln, Liverpool John Moores University, University of Salford and Teesside University were awarded JISC funding to prove the hypothesis that:
‘There is a statistically significant correlation across a number of universities between library activity data and student attainment
Library News March 2025
Get PDFHow the Library Supports Your Research from Idea to Publication Author Metrics in Context 2024 Library Staff Acknowledgments and Publications Why Does My Editor Alter My Hyphens?https://openworks.mdanderson.org/rmlnews25/1002/thumbnail.jp
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