Survey of Academic Library Subject Specialists: Biology & Medical Sciences


Book Description

This study looks closely at the collection development and spending plans of library specialists in medicine and biology, predominantly from major academic institutions, but also including some corporate libraries and smaller colleges. The study covers overall budgetary allocations for medicine and biology, with time series data, as well as data for spending on eBooks, books, journals, databases, and other information vehicles. The study also reports on collection development plans for specific subject areas such as oncology, pharmacology, and evolutionary biology, just to name a few. The 100-page study also gives extensive data on the use of institutional digital repositories, trends in information literacy, relations with library patrons and many other areas of interest.




Dynamic Research Support in Academic Libraries


Book Description

This inspiring book will enable academic librarians to develop excellent research and instructional services and create a library culture that encompasses exploration, learning and collaboration. Higher education and academic libraries are in a period of rapid evolution. Technology, pedagogical shifts, and programmatic changes in education mean that libraries must continually evaluate and adjust their services to meet new needs. Research and learning across institutions is becoming more team-based, crossing disciplines and dependent on increasingly sophisticated and varied data. To provide valuable services in this shifting, diverse environment, libraries must think about new ways to support research on their campuses, including collaborating across library and departmental boundaries. This book is intended to enrich and expand your vision of research support in academic libraries by: Inspiring you to think creatively about new services. Sparking ideas of potential collaborations within and outside the library, increasing awareness of functional areas that are potential key partners. Providing specific examples of new services, as well as the decision-making and implementation process. Encouraging you to take a broad view of research support rather than thinking of research and instruction services, metadata creation and data services etc as separate initiatives. Dynamic Research Support in Academic Libraries provides illustrative examples of emerging models of research support and is contributed to by library practitioners from across the world. The book is divided into three sections: Part I: Training and Infrastructure, which describes the role of staff development and library spaces in research support Part II: Data Services and Data Literacy, which sets out why the rise of research data services in universities is critical to supporting the current provision of student skills that will help develop them as data-literate citizens. Part III: Research as a Conversation, which discusses academic library initiatives to support the dissemination, discovery and critical analysis of research. This is an essential guide for librarians and information professionals involved in supporting research and scholarly communication, as well as library administrators and students studying library and information science.




Survey of Academic Library Subject Specialists: Psychology & Psychiatry


Book Description

The study looks closely at the policies, preferences and materials purchasing plans of academic library subject specialists in psychology and psychiatry, focusing particularly on research universities and colleges that offer advanced degrees. The report presents data on overall psychology/psychiatry area subject budgets, and spending on books, eBooks, databases, journals and other information vehicles. In addition the report covers trends in prices, use of digital repositories, relations with psychology and psychiatry departments, funding and grants, the role of university presses, and acquisition plans in specific subject areas such as social psychology, experimental psychology, psychoanalysis, children’s psychology and other areas.




The Survey of American College Students


Book Description

The Survey of American College Students: Student Use of Academic Library Reference Department Services, ISBN #: 1-57440-123-8. The data in the report is based on a representative sample of more than 400 full time college students in the United States. Data is broken out by 16 criteria including gender, grade point average, major field of study, income level of students and type, size of college, and mean SAT acceptance score of colleges, among other variables. The 90-page study gives data on the use of web forms for reference, email reference, instant message reference, telephone reference, in-person reference, and overall awareness of and use of reference librarians and subject specialists.




Survey of the Academic Library Role in Course Management Systems


Book Description

The study looks closely at how academic libraries present themselves in the course management system, and the role that they play in developing it and training faculty and students to use it. The report gives detailed data on library staff time devoted to the course management system, the role the library plays in information literacy regarding the course management system, the degree to which libraries offer courses through the CMS, and the degree to which library resources such as course reserves, LibGuides and other subject and course guides, inter-library loan requests, and other library services are integrated into the CMS. Data is broken out by size and type of academic library and for different CMS systems.




The Survey of Academic Library Subject Specialists


Book Description

This report examines academic library purchasing policies in public affairs and political science/government with data based on a sample of 60 academic libraries in the United States and abroad. Comprehensive data details the budgetary allocations for political science and related departments over the past two years as well as projected budgets for the coming year, including itemized spending on print books, ebooks, databases, and scholarly journals and special allocations from endowments and grants. The report investigates the library's relationship with its patrons and how patrons affect decision-making concerning acquisitions and library technologies. What impact have ebooks and digital repositories had on collections and collection strategies? What are the most popular databases in political science utilized by college libraries today? What areas of knowledge, authors, or publishers have become "must-haves" over the years, and how are collection needs and deficits assessed? The 78-page report answers these questions and more, with benchmarking data broken out by enrollment size, type of institution, and budgetary allocation.




Subject Librarians


Book Description

The university subject librarians' role is at the centre of new models of teaching and learning, yet further debate and published contributions are still needed to shape its future direction. Subject Librarians: Engaging with the Learning and Teaching Environment assesses trends and challenges in current practice, and aims to encourage renewed thinking and improved approaches. Its editors and authors include experienced practitioners and academics. At a time of great change and increasing challenges in higher education this book offers directors of academic services, library managers, librarians and lecturers a chance to reflect on the key issues and consider the needs of the learning community. Subject Librarians: Engaging with the Learning and Teaching Environment also provides a perspective on current practice and a reference source for students of Information Management and Information Studies.




Student Engagement and the Academic Library


Book Description

Explore exciting programs and initiatives that can both engage undergraduate students with academic libraries and assist academic librarians in creating a vibrant library atmosphere. In spite of the doom and gloom predicted in the press for the future of libraries, these institutions aren't at the top of the endangered species list just yet. Librarians who are focusing significant attention and staffing resources on undergraduates—and are thinking creatively about what engages this specific group of students—are forging the future for academic libraries. Student Engagement and the Academic Library explores how initiatives that involve high impact educational practices and other creative programs can effectively engage undergraduate students with academic libraries. The methodologies described in this work serve to draw students in and make their learning meaningful, both through curricular initiatives as well as through co-curricular and self-initiated activities, disciplinary initiatives, and partnerships across the university. This book will benefit any librarian seeking to further engage their college-age student populations, and will be especially helpful to libraries that are struggling to establish their programs and initiatives with today's students.




Serving Library Users from Asia


Book Description

Asian populations are among some of the fastest growing cultural groups in the US. While books on serving other target groups in libraries have been published (e.g., disabled, Latino, seniors, etc.), few books on serving library users of Asian heritage have been written. Thus the timely need for this book. Rather than a generalized overview of Asians as a whole, this book has 24 separate chapters—each on 24 specific Asian countries/cultures of East, Southeast, and South Asia—with a wealth of resources for understanding, interacting with, outreaching to, and serving library users of each culture. Resources include cultural guides (both print and online), language helps (with sample library vocabulary), Asian booksellers, nationwide cultural groups, professional literature, and more. Resources and suggestions are given for all three types of libraries—public, school, and academic—making this book valuable for all librarians. The demographics of each Asian culture (numbers and distribution)—plus history of immigration and international student enrollment—is also featured. As a bonus, each chapter spotlights a US public, school, and academic library providing model outreach to Asian library users. Additionally, this book provides a detailed description and analysis of libraries in each of the 24 Asian countries. The history, development, facilities, conditions, technology, classification systems, and more—of public, school, and academic libraries—are all discussed, with detailed documentation. Country conditions influencing libraries and library use are also described: literacy levels, reading cultures, languages and writing systems, educational systems, and more. Based on the author’s 15 years of research and travels to Asia, this work is a must-have for all librarians.




Cases on Research Support Services in Academic Libraries


Book Description

Academic libraries have traditionally had two key functions, to support teaching and to support research. In an evolving and competitive university environment, along with the emergence of various technologies and substantial changes in scientific communication, university management has reached a turning point. Academic libraries are facing a paradigm shift in the role they need to play to achieve the research objectives of universities. Research support services in academic libraries have evolved as a response to these changes. They are heterogeneous, adapt to their university culture, adopt different points of view, take different approaches in their organizational structures, and include a diverse catalog of activities. Having an overview of different experiences will allow libraries to adopt best practices, redefine services, and even establish new management and collaboration models. Cases on Research Support Services in Academic Libraries is a critical scholarly resource that uses case studies to systematize the experiences of research support services in academic libraries for the support of higher education faculty. The cases focus on such items as the role of technology and its impact as well as how these services help to improve the excellence of universities. Featuring a wide range of topics such as library services, data management, and open science, this book is ideal for librarians, academicians, professionals, researchers, and students.