Open source. Open access. Open society. Open knowledge. Open government. Even open food. The word... more Open source. Open access. Open society. Open knowledge. Open government. Even open food. The word “open” has been applied to a wide variety of words to create new terms, some of which make sense, and some not so much. This essay disambiguates the many meanings of the word “open” as it is used in a wide range of contexts.
ABSTRACT This chapter traces the history of digital libraries (DLs) in the United States through ... more ABSTRACT This chapter traces the history of digital libraries (DLs) in the United States through the funding sources that have supported DL research and development over the past decade and a half. A set of related questions are addressed: How have the mission and goals of funding agencies affected the types of projects that have been funded? What have been the deliverables from funded projects and how have the goals of the funding agencies shaped those deliverables? Funding agencies have exerted strong influence over research and development in DLs, and different funding agencies have funded different types of projects, with varying sets of concerns for driving the various fields that feed into DLs. This chapter will address the impact that DL funding has had on the development of research in the field of Library and Information Science, as well as on the practice of librarianship.
This paper presents an analysis of the current state of development of social media policies at i... more This paper presents an analysis of the current state of development of social media policies at institution of higher education. Content analysis of social media policies for all institutions listed in the Carnegie Classification Data File revealed that less than one-quarter of institutions had an accessible social media policy. Analysis was done by institution and campus unit, finding that social media policies were most likely to appear at doctorate-granting institutions and health, athletics, and library units. Policies required that those affiliated with the institution post appropriate content, represent the unit appropriately, and moderate conversations with coworkers and external agencies. This analysis may inform the development and revision of social media policies across the field of higher education, taking into consideration the rapidly changing landscape of social media, issues of academic freedom, and notions of interoperability with policies at the unit and campus lev...
This paper describes work currently underway at the Information Institute of Syracuse to build an... more This paper describes work currently underway at the Information Institute of Syracuse to build an operational digital reference system to support the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL).
Abstract El art��culo ���The Core, Digital Library Education in Library and Information Science P... more Abstract El art��culo ���The Core, Digital Library Education in Library and Information Science Programs��� discute la arte en las bibliotecas digitales, identificando las lecturas de los usuarios para mejorar su desempe��o, discutiendo as�� los pormenores de lo que se debe hacer. Aunque no hay conjunto b��sico de lecturas surgido, hubo un importante consenso en los autores que se incluir��n en las tareas de biblioteca digital curso de lectura, as�� como los temas a tratar. Implicaciones para la gama de lecturas y temas asignados para la ...
... Both the ability of a reference service to scale up to handle an increasingly large number of... more ... Both the ability of a reference service to scale up to handle an increasingly large number of questions, and the quality of the answers ... MaterialsSM (GEM) metadata set. ... has some picture in mind as to what he expects his answer to look like, ie format, data, size, etc. (p. 187). ...
Proceedings of DigCCurr2009 Digital Curation: Practice, Promise and Prospects, 2009
This invited demonstration panel session brings together an international collection of tools for... more This invited demonstration panel session brings together an international collection of tools for performing and facilitating digital curation in the practice setting, as well as for use in the education setting. This is the first of a two-part tools and demo session. Tools to be demonstrated in this session include: Plato, the Planets preservation planning tool [1]; Hoppla (Home and Office Painless Persistent Long-Term Archiving) system [2]; Dioscuri, a modular emulator [3]; the Universal Virtual Computer (UVC)[4]; the ...
Page 1. Digital Library Curriculum Module Evaluation and Tools to Enhance Modules and Visualize T... more Page 1. Digital Library Curriculum Module Evaluation and Tools to Enhance Modules and Visualize Their Usage Seungwon Yang1, Barbara M. Wildemuth2, Seonho Kim1 , Uma Murthy1, Jeffrey P. Pomerantz2, Sanghee Oh2, and Edward A. Fox1 ...
The challenges and issues around digital libraries research are of great interest to the ischool ... more The challenges and issues around digital libraries research are of great interest to the ischool community. Questions such as how to best understand the needs of digital library users, how to identify and develop appropriate information services and resources, how to develop and maintain a community of digital library users, and how to measure the impact of digital libraries to the lives of users, are all central to iShcool's research and education.
3rd Annual VRD Conference: Setting Standards and Making it Real, Orlando, FL. Available on: http://www. vrd. org/conferences/VRD2001/proceedings/silverstein. shtml, 2001
Abstract: Examines situations/purposes users have for searching the Web and perceptions of the te... more Abstract: Examines situations/purposes users have for searching the Web and perceptions of the textual features that assist users in characterizing documents/text retrieval in actual Web searches. The study employs a bottom-up approach to derive a set of genres built around actual use of the Web. After employing content-analytic techniques to derive a user-based genre scheme, the scheme is compared to existing genre lists.(AEF)
Students and faculty members have always interacted informally. However, Facebook and other socia... more Students and faculty members have always interacted informally. However, Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs) present interaction spaces that blur the boundaries between professional, academic and personal lives. The impetus for this study is to understand the extent of SNS-mediated informal interactions between faculty members and students and the policies, preferences, and practices that inform these interactions. Adopting a multiple-case approach, interviews with faculty members and graduate students at three North American library and information science schools were completed to examine behaviors when interacting through Facebook. Additionally, syllabi at two of the case settings were analyzed to see if they contain any polices, guidelines, or other expectations for faculty and student interactions via SNSs. Interview findings show that a majority of faculty members and students prefer not to interact via Facebook, with several having developed ad hoc, informal personal guidelines informing their decision-making. No faculty or students reported explicit SNS policies or guidelines at their respective institutions addressing faculty-student interactions. The lack of explicit directives was apparent in the syllabi analysis as well. The implications for higher education and development of policies are discussed.
Open source. Open access. Open society. Open knowledge. Open government. Even open food. The word... more Open source. Open access. Open society. Open knowledge. Open government. Even open food. The word “open” has been applied to a wide variety of words to create new terms, some of which make sense, and some not so much. This essay disambiguates the many meanings of the word “open” as it is used in a wide range of contexts.
ABSTRACT This chapter traces the history of digital libraries (DLs) in the United States through ... more ABSTRACT This chapter traces the history of digital libraries (DLs) in the United States through the funding sources that have supported DL research and development over the past decade and a half. A set of related questions are addressed: How have the mission and goals of funding agencies affected the types of projects that have been funded? What have been the deliverables from funded projects and how have the goals of the funding agencies shaped those deliverables? Funding agencies have exerted strong influence over research and development in DLs, and different funding agencies have funded different types of projects, with varying sets of concerns for driving the various fields that feed into DLs. This chapter will address the impact that DL funding has had on the development of research in the field of Library and Information Science, as well as on the practice of librarianship.
This paper presents an analysis of the current state of development of social media policies at i... more This paper presents an analysis of the current state of development of social media policies at institution of higher education. Content analysis of social media policies for all institutions listed in the Carnegie Classification Data File revealed that less than one-quarter of institutions had an accessible social media policy. Analysis was done by institution and campus unit, finding that social media policies were most likely to appear at doctorate-granting institutions and health, athletics, and library units. Policies required that those affiliated with the institution post appropriate content, represent the unit appropriately, and moderate conversations with coworkers and external agencies. This analysis may inform the development and revision of social media policies across the field of higher education, taking into consideration the rapidly changing landscape of social media, issues of academic freedom, and notions of interoperability with policies at the unit and campus lev...
This paper describes work currently underway at the Information Institute of Syracuse to build an... more This paper describes work currently underway at the Information Institute of Syracuse to build an operational digital reference system to support the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL).
Abstract El art��culo ���The Core, Digital Library Education in Library and Information Science P... more Abstract El art��culo ���The Core, Digital Library Education in Library and Information Science Programs��� discute la arte en las bibliotecas digitales, identificando las lecturas de los usuarios para mejorar su desempe��o, discutiendo as�� los pormenores de lo que se debe hacer. Aunque no hay conjunto b��sico de lecturas surgido, hubo un importante consenso en los autores que se incluir��n en las tareas de biblioteca digital curso de lectura, as�� como los temas a tratar. Implicaciones para la gama de lecturas y temas asignados para la ...
... Both the ability of a reference service to scale up to handle an increasingly large number of... more ... Both the ability of a reference service to scale up to handle an increasingly large number of questions, and the quality of the answers ... MaterialsSM (GEM) metadata set. ... has some picture in mind as to what he expects his answer to look like, ie format, data, size, etc. (p. 187). ...
Proceedings of DigCCurr2009 Digital Curation: Practice, Promise and Prospects, 2009
This invited demonstration panel session brings together an international collection of tools for... more This invited demonstration panel session brings together an international collection of tools for performing and facilitating digital curation in the practice setting, as well as for use in the education setting. This is the first of a two-part tools and demo session. Tools to be demonstrated in this session include: Plato, the Planets preservation planning tool [1]; Hoppla (Home and Office Painless Persistent Long-Term Archiving) system [2]; Dioscuri, a modular emulator [3]; the Universal Virtual Computer (UVC)[4]; the ...
Page 1. Digital Library Curriculum Module Evaluation and Tools to Enhance Modules and Visualize T... more Page 1. Digital Library Curriculum Module Evaluation and Tools to Enhance Modules and Visualize Their Usage Seungwon Yang1, Barbara M. Wildemuth2, Seonho Kim1 , Uma Murthy1, Jeffrey P. Pomerantz2, Sanghee Oh2, and Edward A. Fox1 ...
The challenges and issues around digital libraries research are of great interest to the ischool ... more The challenges and issues around digital libraries research are of great interest to the ischool community. Questions such as how to best understand the needs of digital library users, how to identify and develop appropriate information services and resources, how to develop and maintain a community of digital library users, and how to measure the impact of digital libraries to the lives of users, are all central to iShcool's research and education.
3rd Annual VRD Conference: Setting Standards and Making it Real, Orlando, FL. Available on: http://www. vrd. org/conferences/VRD2001/proceedings/silverstein. shtml, 2001
Abstract: Examines situations/purposes users have for searching the Web and perceptions of the te... more Abstract: Examines situations/purposes users have for searching the Web and perceptions of the textual features that assist users in characterizing documents/text retrieval in actual Web searches. The study employs a bottom-up approach to derive a set of genres built around actual use of the Web. After employing content-analytic techniques to derive a user-based genre scheme, the scheme is compared to existing genre lists.(AEF)
Students and faculty members have always interacted informally. However, Facebook and other socia... more Students and faculty members have always interacted informally. However, Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs) present interaction spaces that blur the boundaries between professional, academic and personal lives. The impetus for this study is to understand the extent of SNS-mediated informal interactions between faculty members and students and the policies, preferences, and practices that inform these interactions. Adopting a multiple-case approach, interviews with faculty members and graduate students at three North American library and information science schools were completed to examine behaviors when interacting through Facebook. Additionally, syllabi at two of the case settings were analyzed to see if they contain any polices, guidelines, or other expectations for faculty and student interactions via SNSs. Interview findings show that a majority of faculty members and students prefer not to interact via Facebook, with several having developed ad hoc, informal personal guidelines informing their decision-making. No faculty or students reported explicit SNS policies or guidelines at their respective institutions addressing faculty-student interactions. The lack of explicit directives was apparent in the syllabi analysis as well. The implications for higher education and development of policies are discussed.
Executive Summary This report contains some simple statistical analyses of the NCknows project, f... more Executive Summary This report contains some simple statistical analyses of the NCknows project, from its launch on 16 February 2004 through 30 September 2004. There are three evaluation questions that this analysis was designed to answer: 1. What patterns are emerging in the volume of questions received by NCknows? 2. What patterns are emerging in the volume of questions received and handled by individual libraries?
Executive Summary This report contains some simple statistical analyses of the NCknows project, f... more Executive Summary This report contains some simple statistical analyses of the NCknows project, from its launch on 16 February 2004 through 30 December 2004. There are three evaluation questions that this analysis was designed to answer: 1. What patterns are emerging in the volume of questions received by NCknows? 2. What patterns are emerging in the volume of questions received and handled by individual libraries?
Executive Summary This report contains the analysis of the peer review of NCknows transcripts. Th... more Executive Summary This report contains the analysis of the peer review of NCknows transcripts. There are three evaluation questions that this transcript review was designed to answer: 1. What is the quality of reference service being provided to patrons by NCknows? 2. How does the quality of reference service provided by 24/7 librarians compare to the quality of service provided by NCknows librarians? 3. Can a librarian in a public library adequately answer questions from academic library users, and vice versa?
Abstract: In this wildcard session we will extend some early work planning a framework for develo... more Abstract: In this wildcard session we will extend some early work planning a framework for developing an international curriculum fr teaching about digital libraries. Workshop attendees will be asked to conduct a SWOT analysis of DL education in their institutions and in countries, which will be followed by roundtable discussions.
This panel presents three different approaches, methods of analysis and data collection technique... more This panel presents three different approaches, methods of analysis and data collection techniques to evaluate several digital reference formats. Radford and Connaway evaluate criteria important for perceptions of success across different generations of digital reference users, non-users, and librarians. They compare Baby Boomer vs. Millennial generations through 497 in-depth online surveys. Both content delivery and interpersonal communication were found to be important to successful chat encounters. Pomerantz presents a project to evaluate the Slam the Boards effort on Yahoo! Answers (YA) which is the largest web-based community answer board. The volume of questions and answers on YA is massive with librarian-provided answers comprising a small amount. Studies of YA users are required to determine if questioners find value in having questions answered by librarians. New practices, metrics, and organizational partnerships must be developed to make future quality evaluation possible. Mon discusses the use of new technologies in digital reference education and practice, and explores information behavior at the Internet Public Library (IPL). The IPL is building an online learning community site to support teaching, learning and research in digital reference. This paper reports the result of research that informs the implementation of digital technologies within the learning community site.
The online information environment has changed dramatically since the earliest online systems eme... more The online information environment has changed dramatically since the earliest online systems emerged in the 1960s. Growth has occurred both in the number of users of online information as well as in the number of online information resources and providers. The rate of growth in each of these areas increased exponentially with the availability of the public Internet and the World Wide Web. These foundational technological developments created an environment in which almost anyone can “publish” or function as an information provider and have virtually instantaneous access to massive volumes of information.
Today's digital reference service environment faces many opportunities as well as a number of thr... more Today's digital reference service environment faces many opportunities as well as a number of threats. This panel presents three different approaches, methods of data collection, and approaches to analyze and examine quality issues in virtual reference (VR) as well as other reference platforms. One threat has to do with sustainability of VR quality in this time of budgetary constraints. Radford and Connaway will present “Thriving on Theory: A New Model for Synchronous Reference Encounters” describing a new research-based model that delineates quality criteria from user and provider perspectives. This model can be applied to virtual as well as traditional reference interactions. Pomerantz, Shah, Oh, and Oh's paper: “The Same, Yet Different: Comparing Studies of ‘Traditional’ Digital Reference and Social Q&A” compares traditional vs. social question and answering services. Social question and answer (Q&A) services have opened up pluralistic approaches that go beyond professional VR, but also pose threats to quality and professional turf. Gazen examines one of these social Q&A services, Answerbag, in his paper: “When Wrong is Right: Intentionally Bad Answers in a Social Q&A Community” which discusses his analysis of instances in which wrong answers are intentionally offered.
This panel will discuss research and opportunities in the area of subject-based virtual reference... more This panel will discuss research and opportunities in the area of subject-based virtual reference. With larger numbers of users utilizing the internet for reference, and many libraries offering virtual reference desks, there are many opportunities for success and some potential problems. Today's internet user expects “instant answers,” which may not be possible unless they can tap into some subject expertise, or expert system. In this panel, three different avenues of subject-based virtual reference will be discussed. Presentations will focus on the following topics: 1) the potential of multi-library systems and consortia offering virtual reference services staffed by subject specialists in a particular area of expertise; 2) a discussion of progress in automatic question answering systems, and a strategy to take advantage of automatic answering systems and subject specialists to best satisfy users' needs 3) question categorization and automatic routing; and 4) automated question routing based on fielded data. Specific topics are summarized as follows.
What can we learn from resources provided in answers to digital reference questions? Using the In... more What can we learn from resources provided in answers to digital reference questions? Using the Internet Public Library's archive of over 60,000 records of answered reference questions, this project aims to determine (1) characteristics of resources provided in answers to digital reference questions, (2) the extent to which these resources are reusable in future answers, and (3) the useful lifespan of a resource that has been provided. As part of our research, we have developed an XML schema for digital reference questions and answers.
Expert reviewers used a Wiki to provide evaluative comments on a set of educational modules devel... more Expert reviewers used a Wiki to provide evaluative comments on a set of educational modules developed by the Digital Library (DL) Curriculum Development project, a joint effort of researchers at the University of North Carolina and Virginia Tech, with funding from the National Science Foundation. A total of 32 experts from 23 universities in 6 countries provided comments on 10 draft educational modules. The Wiki was an effective tool for the reviewers to identify and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the modules, to share their experiences of teaching DL courses, and to communicate with the project team. The Wiki played an important role as a venue for an evaluation process that was available to the DL community at large.
This poster presents an evaluation of NCknows, a state-wide chat reference service in North Carol... more This poster presents an evaluation of NCknows, a state-wide chat reference service in North Carolina, to explore users' motivation for using this service and how they use the information provided to them in real life situations, which reflects the value of the service to them. Users were interviewed by email or telephone two weeks after their chat sessions with NCknows. The findings suggest that most users were motivated by tasks or projects with which they were involved or by some aspect of their personal life. Over sixty percent of users reported they used the information provided to them to fulfill the information needs that motivated them to use the service. Non-use or partial use cases were also categorized for a better understanding of how the service aided users.
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