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Library research as collaborative information seeking
Publication date: Available online 6 September 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Chris Leeder, Chirag Shah Today's students are accustomed to collaborative information behavior, with group work being a common requirement in educational settings. This research focuses on the collaborative information seeking behavior of college students through a library-based study of individuals and pairs conducting exploratory research for a class assignment. Participants used a collaborative search system when completing the study tasks. Findings showed that students working collaboratively found ...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - September 6, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

An evaluation of exponential random graph modeling and its use in library and information science studies
Publication date: Available online 6 September 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Ana Dubnjakovic Social network analytical tools and theories have long been an accepted part of the research landscape in many social and physical sciences including: sociology, political science, psychology, communications, business, geography, biology, physics, and chemistry as well as library and information science (LIS). Given the level of activity in the social network analysis (SNA) area concerning LIS, it is important to review the latest trends in the SNA stochastic modeling, namely exponential r...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - September 6, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Mobile wellness application-seeking behavior by college students —An exploratory study
Publication date: July 2015 Source:Library & Information Science Research, Volume 37, Issue 3 Author(s): Besiki Stvilia, Wonchan Choi (Source: Library and Information Science Research)
Source: Library and Information Science Research - July 20, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Conversation-based programming and newcomer integration: A case study of the Spr åkhörnan program at Malmö City Library
Publication date: January 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research, Volume 38, Issue 1 Author(s): Jamie Johnston The potential of conversation-based programming (i.e., language cafés and conversation groups) for supporting immigrant integration is explored in a case-based study on the Språkhörnan (“language corner”) program at the City Library in Malmö, Sweden. The methodology includes participant observation, interviews with program participants, a focus group with program volunteers, and a questionnaire. The basis of the study's theoretical framework is social capital theory, information g...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - July 20, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Performance evaluation as a tool for strategic decisions about serving visually impaired users: The case of the Lithuanian Library for the Blind
Publication date: Available online 31 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Zinaida Manžuch, Elena Macevičiūtė The complexity of serving diverse and dispersed target audiences of visually impaired persons suggest that there is a need to analyse the performance of libraries for the blind. This issue is currently neglected in library and information science research. Library managers and policy-makers can employ performance data for developing new strategies for service delivery and sustainability. The balanced scorecard and historical benchmarking approaches were applied to an...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Mindful makers: Question prompts to help guide young peoples' critical technical practices in maker spaces in libraries, museums, and community-based youth organizations
This study examines question prompts as a means to scaffold reflection and reflexivity in the design, development, and use of technological artifacts in maker spaces for youth at public libraries, museums, and community-based organizations. Qualitative analysis is applied to data gathered in four focus groups with teens, three semi-structured interviews with adults who facilitate maker spaces, and six observation sessions. Outcomes include a rich description of critical thinking in the context of technology practice, and secondly, a set of eight activation questions that serve as a tool kit to encourage reflection and scaf...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 31, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Undergraduates' information literacy competency: A pilot study of assessment tools based on a latent trait model
This study of information literacy focuses on opinions, evidence, reviews, and data analysis from a sample of Spanish university students from three major fields of study (information/documentation, psychology, and translation/interpretation). The results have been tabulated from the subject area of documentation alone, as this subject is shared in the students' curricular planning. This study highlights students' attitudes, motivation, and evidence with regard to information literacy (IL) competencies. The standardized statistical model for evaluating latent traits was used to capture the structure of such capabilities. D...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 27, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

The uses of phenomenology and phenomenography: A critical review
Publication date: Available online 24 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Sylvain K. Cibangu, Mark Hepworth In recent decades, phenomenology and phenomenography have gained traction in a wide range of scholarly journals just as confusion has increased about them. Meanwhile, inquiry examining both approaches has been given far less attention. Each of these approaches considers variation, namely, the qualitatively different ways of experiencing, as a central point of research. This paper examines the characteristics of phenomenology and sketches its rapports with phenomenography....
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 23, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Research may be harder to conduct than some realize
Publication date: Available online 23 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Peter Hernon, Candy Schwartz (Source: Library and Information Science Research)
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 22, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Linguists as newspaper users: Perceptions and experiences
Publication date: Available online 20 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Maja Krtalić, Sanjica Faletar Tanacković, Damir Hasenay To explore humanities scholars' perceptions and uses of newspapers as an information source, a study was conducted with Croatian researchers and academics in history and linguistic departments at universities and research institutes. This paper presents only a portion of the findings: those from respondents in the field of linguistics. The study began with the general assumption that newspapers are a relevant information source for scientific res...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 20, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

The actuality of determining information need in geographic information systems and science (GIS): A context-to-concept approach
Publication date: Available online 20 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Maryam Nazari Although context has been identified as the key to the manifestation of information literacy (IL), little is known about the actual context of IL in disciplinary areas. This is because disciplinary studies of IL have focused mainly on people's conceptions of IL, not on their lived teaching and learning practices. Introducing university assignments as a contextual construct for disciplinary studies of IL, this study demonstrates how students' and educators' conceptions and experiences of real u...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 20, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Scholarly communication and academic librarians
Publication date: Available online 17 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Liat Klain-Gabbay, Snunith Shoham It is generally accepted among library and information science scholars that academic librarians can potentially assist faculty members with formal and informal scholarly communication processes. However, it is not clear to what extent faculty members and academic librarians are indeed aware of this potential and materialize it in the field. Following interviews with 20 faculty members and 15 academic librarians employed by a university or an academic college in Israel, q...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 18, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

How reference and information service is studied: Research approaches and methods
Publication date: Available online 8 May 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Amy VanScoy, Cady Fontana There is a need for a robust research base for reference and information service (RIS), both for scholarship in the field and for effective decision-making in practice. While a number of studies have been conducted about the research of library and information science (LIS) in general, no analysis has been conducted on RIS research. Focusing specifically on research approach and methods, this study analyzes the journal literature for the decade 2000 to 2009. Of the 24% of papers t...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - May 7, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

Student misidentification of online genres
Publication date: Available online 29 April 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Chris Leeder In the online information environment, new hybrid genres are emerging that resist easy classification into the traditional categories of print formats. However, students are often not equipped with adequate knowledge of online genres, particularly when it comes to finding scholarly sources. Understanding genre provides students a significant advantage in conducting effective research online, because it reduces the cognitive load of information seeking, improves the ability to judge relevance,...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - April 28, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research

From Google to MedlinePlus: The wide range of authoritative health information provision in public libraries
Publication date: Available online 29 April 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Mary Grace Flaherty Public library staff throughout the United States are providing assistance on a variety of health topics. To better understand health information provision in this setting, unobtrusive visits were completed in a total of 73 randomly selected sites in three different states. The query, “Do vaccines cause autism?” was posed to library staff. In 59% of encounters, material provided did not answer the question. In more than half of visits, public library staff referred to the libraries...
Source: Library and Information Science Research - April 28, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research