Digital content creation: A global view on curriculum design

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to share the types, uses, and students' recommendations about reusable digital learning objects at Northwest Missouri State University, which can be used or adapted by other libraries in both online and on‐ground information literacy instruction environments.Design/methodology/approachThe rationale for incorporation of learning objects, their application, and uses is discussed. Examples of successful applications of learning objects in online and on‐ground instructional classes are provided. Models for developing one's own learning objects are included. A survey and analysis for soliciting students' opinions about the reuse of learning objects is included.FindingsThe paper provides suggestions for developing and evaluating learning objects. This includes successful applications of digital learning objects in traditional and online information literacy classes. It shares easy to incorporate learning objects that can be used in tutorials or on‐ground bibliographic sessions and includes a student survey about reuse of learning objects, analysis of survey results, and suggestions for survey improvement.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey population was small. The librarians plan to replicate the survey with a larger audience. The survey may be adapted for use by other academic libraries.Practical implicationsThe paper provides links to libraries of digital learning objects that instruction librarians can immediately begin linking to and using in tutorials or information literacy sessions.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that access to a library of learning objects enables use of learning objects and enhances ideas for locally created prototypes. The survey can be easily adapted to other library environments to gather suggestions for reuse of local learning objects.

"Perceptions of Library Use on Thesis Writing Motivation of Library and Information Science Students at Padang State University." Thesis. Library and Information Science Study Program, Department of Information and Library Science, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Padang State University. This research was motivated by the lack of motivation to use the library in looking for reading materials for thesis writing within the Padang State University environment. Most students look for references more from the internet such as Google Scholar and the UNP digital library than from the library, resulting in fewer library visits at the Faculty of Languages and Arts. This research aims to describe the perception of library use on the motivation for writing a thesis for Library and Information Science students at Padang State University. This research is quantitative research. The population in this study was 97 people and the sample for this study was 50 Library and Information Science students at Padang State University using a simple random sampling technique using the Slovin formula. The analysis of this research uses the T test. The results of this research show (1) Perception of library utilization of Padang State University Library and Information Science students in the Good category (2) Padang State University Library and Information Science student's thesis writing motivation in the Good category (3) Library utilization has a significant effect on student thesis writing motivation Padang State University library and information science.

By examining the references of research and specific topic articles of JASIST, this study explored the disciplines and subjects relating to information science. According to the website of JASIST, there are 1,341 research and specific topic articles with 51,359 references during the period of 1998 to 2008. Since journal articles and monographs are cited by JASIST most, the citation analysis of this study will focus on these two document type references only. Firstly, this study applies the Bradford's Law and Bradford-Zipf's Law to identify the core journals which were cited by JASIST. Then, search the classification number and subject categories of WorldCat and Ulrichsweb.com and also the descriptors of LISA to analyze cited references. Followings are the research results: 一、JASIS(T) published 2,031 articles from 1998 to 2008, with an average number of 185 per year. Among them, 1,341articles are research and specific topic paper, contributing 66.02% of all published items. Journal articles and monographs are two most cited reference for research and specific topic articles. 二、JASIS(T) has cited a total of 27,115 journal literature, distributing over 2,994 journals. By applying the Bradford's Law, there are four core journals cited by JASIS(T). However, by applying the Bradford-Zipf's Law, there appears to be ten core journals. The journal that had been cited the most is JASIS(T) itself (17.47% of all citations), suggesting JASIS(T)'s self-citation is obvious. 三、For journals cited by the JASIS(T), bibliography. library science. information resources (general), science, and social sciences are the three most cited disciplines. The most commonly cited subjects, which identified from WorldCat and Ulrichsweb.com, are information science, information technology, information storage and retrieval systems, library science, and science. However, searching, online information retrieval, information work, subject indexing, and information storage and retrieval, which searched from LISA, are the most cited descriptors of the library and information science journals cited by JASIS(T). 四、JASIS(T) has cited a total of 27,115 monograph literature, distributing over 5,565 books. Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval written by Salton & McGill was cited the most. Three of the top ten cited monographs are written by Salton. It may suggest that Salton is one of the most influential authors in the field of information science. In addition, 91% of the books cited by JASIS(T) less than 3 times indicates that JASIS(T) cited monographs diversified. 五、For monographs cited by the JASIS(T), science, social sciences, and bibliography. library science. information resources (general) are the three most cited disciplines. The most commonly cited subjects, which identified from WorldCat and Ulrichsweb.com, are information storage and retrieval systems, human-computer interaction, information retrieval, information science, and cognition. 六、From comprehensive analysis on the discipline of the journals and monographs cited by JASIS(T), it can be found that bibliography. library science. information resources (general), science, and social sciences are the most cited disciplines by JASIS(T). In the other words, these three disciplines are not only the most influential resources, but also are closely related to information science.

Designing games in the classroom: Learning benefits

The second edition of this innovative textbook illustrates research methods for library and information science, describing the most appropriate approaches to a question—and showing you what makes research successful. Written for the serious practicing librarian researcher and the LIS student, this volume fills the need for a guide focused specifically on information and library science research methods. By critically assessing existing studies from within library and information science, this book helps you acquire a deeper understanding of research methods so you will be able to design more effective studies yourself. Section one considers research questions most often asked in information and library science and explains how they arise from practice or theory. Section two covers a variety of research designs and the sampling issues associated with them, while sections three and four look at methods for collecting and analyzing data. Each chapter introduces a particular research method, points out its relative strengths and weaknesses, and provides a critique of two or more exemplary studies. For this second edition, three new chapters have been added, covering mixed methods, visual data collection methods, and social network analysis. The chapters on research diaries and transaction log analysis have been updated, and updated examples are provided in more than a dozen other chapters as well.

This study employs the method of direct citation to analyze and compare the interdisciplinary characteristics of the two disciplines of library science and information science during the period of 1978---2007. Based on the research generated by five library science journals and five information science journals, library science researchers tend to cite publications from library and information science (LIS), education, business/management, sociology, and psychology, while researchers of information science tend to cite more publications from LIS, general science, computer science, technology, and medicine. This means that the disciplines with larger contributions to library science are almost entirely different from those contributing to information science. In addition, researchers of library science frequently cite publications from LIS; the rate is as high as 65.61%, which is much higher than the rate for information science, 49.50%. However, a decreasing trend in the percentage of LIS in library science indicates that library science researchers tend to cite more publications from non-LIS disciplines. A rising trend in the proportion of references to education sources is reported for library science articles, while a rising trend in the proportion of references to computer science sources has been found for information science articles. In addition, this study applies an interdisciplinary indicator, Brillouin's Index, to measurement of the degree of interdisciplinarity. The results confirm that the trend toward interdisciplinarity in both information science and library science has risen over the years, although the degree of interdisciplinarity in information science is higher than that in library science.

This study investigates Ted Nelson’s works and the influence of his hypertext concept through citation analysis, including citation counting, characteristics of citing articles on language, document type, citing year, discipline, and citation content. The selection of the Nelson’s works was based on searching Library Literature & Information Science, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Google and Yahoo search engines. The citation data were compiled from the database of Web of Science. The results of the study reveal that hypertext has directly great impact on information retrieval and world wide web; therefore, the concept has had profound influence on information, library and computer science disciplines. Moreover, the influence of Nelson’s works spreads to other disciplines variously, especially on education, literature, business and economics, engineering, sociology, psychology, etc. The citation context analysis of citing articles on information and library science reveals that (1) definition, orientation and general introduction of hypertext; (2) relation of Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson in terms of hypertext; (3) Nelson’s Xanadu system and its component of hypertext; (4) the application of hypertext in information science and library science are four most citing purpose.

The Future Voices in Public Services column is a forum for students in graduate library and information science programs to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to tell us of their visions for the profession, or to tell us of research that is going on in library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those entering our field, in both the United States and other countries. Interested faculty of graduate library and information science programs who would like their students’ ideas represented in these pages are invited to contact Nancy H. Dewald at nxd7@psu.edu. Sara E. Grozanick is a student in the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the Pratt Institute, New York. Recognizing the significance of the Open Access movement to the advancement of scholarship, here she writes a bibliographic essay on research into the citation impact of open access journal articles. The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the Pratt Institute located in Manhattan and offering LIS education since 1890, features a curriculum based on Cultural Informatics and World Information, Society & Environments (WISE). The program reflects the arts orientation of Pratt and its alliance with cultural institutions in the city such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum. The nearly 400 students who attend Pratt-SILS onsite have the opportunity to select a master's program resulting in a MS in Library and Information Science or a MSLIS with Library Media Specialist Certification, archives certificate, or dual degree programs resulting in a MSLIS/MS History of Art, a MSLIS/MFA Digital Arts, or a MSLIS/JD with Brooklyn Law School. *****

Learning objectives communicate the knowledge and skills that instructors intend for students to acquire in a course. Student performance can be enhanced when learning objectives align with instruction and assessment. We understand how instructors should use learning objectives, but we know less about how students should use them. We investigated students’ use and perceptions of learning objectives in an undergraduate science course at a public research university. In this exploratory study, students (n = 185) completed two open-ended assignments regarding learning objectives and we analyzed the content of their answers. We found that students used learning objectives in ways that reflected the recommendations of past and present instructors, suggesting that students are receptive to instruction on how to use learning objectives. Students generally found learning objectives to be useful because the objectives helped them to narrow their focus and organize their studying, suggesting that students may need additional help from instructors in order to self-direct their learning. Students who chose not to use learning objectives often found other resources, such as case studies covered in class, to be more helpful for their learning. Some of these students recognized that the concepts included in case studies and learning objectives overlapped, pointing to a benefit of alignment between instructional activities and learning objectives. These qualitative results provide the data necessary for designing a quantitative instrument to test the extent to which students’ use of learning objectives affects their performance.

In today's world, WWW as a platform to deliver instruction enables e-learning systems to manage a large quantity of different digital content. Teachers contribute their expert knowledge and students contribute their investigation works, tasks, etc. As a consequence of this, the content repository grows with a lot of information. Then, an urgent need exists to retrieve the specific information they really need through e-learning systems. reusable learning object (LOs) concepts and standards for their application represent an advantage for knowledge management systems for e-learning systems. Users are able to manage and reuse content according to their needs without interoperability problems. However, the quality of the LOs content is not guaranteed. This paper attempts to analyze what must be considered to knowledge management for e-learning systems together with LOs and standars implication. A definition of LOs is proposed and quality criteria are suggested to evaluate LOs according to their characteristics and specific contexts.

This study investigated the use of digital learning objects in elementary and secondary schools. The specific objectives were: a) to identify the frequency with which learning object are used by teachers, the type of object most frequently used, the teaching strategies that is more frequently adopted, the main reason for the use of learning objects in the classroom, and how teachers normally research and locate them; b) to investigate the existence of statistically significant relationships between personal variables and the variables related to the use of objects; and c) to check the opinion of the teacher as to whether the school offers adequate infrastructure conditions to allow teachers to work with objects. An online questionnaire was answered by 992 teachers – of whom 187 were Brazilian and 805 were French. The data were statistically and qualitatively analysed. The learning objects most mentioned by the teachers were: images, videos, and software. The two main teaching strategies were a simple demonstration using a learning object or assigning a related activity to complement the demonstration. The two main reasons for educational use were to motivate the students for their studies and to help the in the learning of new concepts based on the features of the objects. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between the samples of French and Brazilian teachers. Personal variables proved to be related to the use of learning objects. The data reinforces the importance of training teachers in the use of learning objects and teaching strategies that contribute to the knowledge construction process in an interactive way, while taking into consideration the characteristics of technology.

Teaching in Higher Education is with increasing frequency completed within a Learning Management System (LMS) environment in the Blended Learning modality. The use of learning objects (activities and resources) offered by LMS means that both teachers and students require training. In addition, gender differences relating to the number of students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and Non-STEM courses might have some influence on the use of those learning objects. The study involves 13 teachers (6 experts in e-Learning and 7 non-experts) on 13 academic courses (4 STEM and 9 Non-STEM) and a detailed examination of the logs of 626 students downloaded from the Moodle platform. Our objectives are: (1) To confirm whether significant differences may be found in relation to the use of learning objects (resources and activities) on Moodle, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning); (2) To confirm whether there are significant differences between students regarding their use of learning objects, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning); (3) To confirm whether there are significant differences for the use of learning objects among students as a function of gender. Differences were found in the use of Moodle learning objects (resources and activities) for teachers and for students depending on the expertise of the teacher. Likewise, differences were found for the use of some learning objects as a function of gender and the degrees that the students were following. Increased technological training for both teachers and students is proposed, especially on Non-STEM qualifications, in order to mitigate the effects of the technological gap and its collateral relation with the gender gap and the digital divide.

This study investigated the external contributors of library and information science (LIS) knowledge who were unaffiliated with LIS-related institutions but published their research results in LIS journals. Differences between the contributors to library science (LS) and contributors to information science (IS) were considered. Articles published in 39 strongly LIS-oriented journals indexed in the Web of Science database between 2005 and 2014 were analyzed. The results demonstrated that 46.5% of the LIS articles were written by at least one non-LIS author; authors’ backgrounds ranged across 29 disciplines. An increasing trend was observed in degrees of interdisciplinarity of LS and IS. An increase in proportion of articles by LIS and non-LIS authors was identified in LS and IS as well. Those with medical backgrounds were the primary non-LIS authors contributing to the LS field and collaborated the most frequently with LIS authors. Those with computer science backgrounds were the most prevalent non-LIS contributors to the IS field and preferred to publish individually. A critical difference was also identified in research topics between LS and IS. The foundations of LIS and scientometrics were the largest research topics in LS and IS, respectively.

The purpose of this article is to document the demographic characteristics of the library and information science (LIS) workforce and to discuss the implications of these findings for education and workforce planning. Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS 1) is a collaborative research partnership of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science and the University of North Carolina Institute on Aging, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its Librarians for the 21st Century Program. Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS 1) is a comprehensive study of the career patterns of graduates of LIS programs in North Carolina since 1964. This article examines data from 1,903 working LIS graduate respondents. The results of this study suggest that the LIS workforce is predominantly female, underrepresented in terms of race/ethnic minorities, and consists of slightly older workers than the workforce overall. Comparisons of earnings reveal a substantial wage gap between the males and females in the sample (men earn more). We also find significant race, sex, and gender differences in factors that motivated respondents to enter an LIS program and qualities of jobs that respondents find desirable. Based on these findings, we suggest the following strategies to increasing diversity: (1) focus efforts on recruiting race/ethnic minorities to the LIS profession; (2) structure LIS jobs to accommodate the needs of women workers; and (3) plan for and accommodate the large segment of older and retiring workers.

A Study of Changes in the Library and Information Science Curriculum with Evaluation of Its Practicality