Academic Research Libraries Research Articles

Mirrors of Knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge Management

This study assessed the role of mirrors of knowledge in the management and preservation of indigenous knowledge for sustainability and development in Ghana. The qualitative research design and structured interview were used in this study. The study focused on three categories of mirrors of knowledge: libraries (academic libraries, research libraries, special libraries, and public and community libraries), museums, and archive centers. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data collected via the interview. The study established that the managers and officers of the mirrors of knowledge understand and appreciate the concept of indigenous knowledge; there was the availability of technological systems and tools to facilitate the management and preservation of indigenous knowledge; and the mirrors of knowledge played a significant role in the management and preservation of knowledge. However, the absence of a collection development policy on indigenous knowledge; the outdated nature of most of the technological tools; the lack of funding; the lack of appreciation of indigenous knowledge by the staff and community members; etc. affected the quest to effectively manage and preserve indigenous knowledge for sustainable development. This study will serve as a guide for managers and policymakers of all the categories of mirrors of knowledge on the need, role, and importance of a collection development policy for indigenous knowledge, and guide in the identification and deployment of the appropriate technological systems for the management and preservation of indigenous knowledge. It will also inform the managers, policymakers, and stakeholders of indigenous knowledge of the challenges associated with the collection and management of indigenous knowledge and measures that can be deployed to help solve these problems for sustainability and development.

Reshaping Academic Library Information Literacy Programs in the Advent of ChatGPT and Other Generative AI Technologies

This article reports on three digital information literacy initiatives created by instruction librarians to support students’ use of generative AI technologies, namely ChatGPT, in academic library research. The cumulative and formative data gathered from the initiatives reveals a continuing need for academic libraries to provide information literacy instruction that guides students toward the ethical use of information and awareness of using generative AI tools in library research. Moreover, analysis of the cumulative data gathered from Mentimeter anonymous surveys has led to the further reshaping of our existing information literacy program as students’ AI literacy develops in their use of AI tools at California State University, Los Angeles.

Roles and Abilities of Academic and Research Librarians in Optimizing Access to Information: An Interpretative Analysis from the Romanian Librarians’ and Users’ Perspective

Abstract This study addresses the role of Romanian academic and research librarians in optimizing access to information in the digital age, in relation to quality management and knowledge management. The novelty of this study consists in its parallel analysis of both librarians’ and users’ perspectives on librarians’ roles and abilities in optimizing access to information. The results obtained by means of interpretative qualitative analysis combined with descriptive quantitative analysis revealed that Romanian librarians succeed in providing good information services, however, the demands and expectations of users highlight a continuous need for integration of librarians into the mission of the universities and research institutes, and knowledge sharing and a series of innovations are recommended. The results obtained by interpretative analysis, combined with quantitative analysis for corroboration, point to four interrelated themes regarding the Romanian librarians’ roles and abilities in optimizing access to information. The first principal idea is that librarians’ abilities and competencies are key assets for Romanian academic and special research libraries. The second is that Romanian librarians need training in knowledge management and quality management. The third is that embedded librarianship and knowledge sharing could add quality to libraries services. Finally, the fourth is that competency management can determine engagement of Romanian librarians in improving access to information.

Making Big Bets and Leaning into Operational Excellence: Building the Future of Cultural Heritage Institutions

This theoretical article and applied case study examines the concept of academic research libraries adopting concepts that emphasize building the future rather than passively reacting through incrementalism and risk aversion which is standard practice. These include Peter Thiel’s “Zero to One” theory, Power Law concepts, and Nassim Taleb’s Black Swan theory, with the application of Lean Kaizen toward foundational existing systems. These concepts, taken together, catalyze the preparation for inevitable disruptive change. With them, there exists an opportunity to reduce the current climate of risk aversion and persistent incrementalism, stagnated growth, ineffectual leadership, and decreased morale and talent retention currently present within the industry. In a time where all industries are facing constant disruption that continues to compound, libraries and other cultural heritage institutions must take the initiative to challenge and change internally by building our future before we are disrupted by other more undesirable forces. In shifting away from incrementalism and risk-aversion, and focusing on building the future through calculated risks, constant experimentation, groundbreaking ideation, operational excellence, and strategies, libraries can redefine their roles, ensure relevance, and achieve long-term success in an ever-evolving ecosystem. This article introduces a 13-point comprehensive framework that integrates the preceding applicable theories that emphasize local innovation, agility, operational excellence, and a focus on embracing the Power Law, which contends that positive outcomes in every system are heavily skewed, and to win big we need to embrace these outliers and take balanced and calculated risks to succeed in an unknown future. This holistic approach empowers academic research libraries to revolutionize their operations, proactively address disruptions and build their future.

Automating FDLP eXchange Withdrawal Lists

The Penn State University Libraries (University Libraries) is a large academic research library comprising twenty-four locations and thirty campus libraries across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The University Park campus is the main campus and has five libraries with many different departments that often act independently. As an example, in the main Pattee-Paterno Library, there are four libraries: George and Sherry Middlemas Arts and Humanities/Social Sciences/Education, Life Sciences (part of STEM libraries), William and Joan Schreyer Business, the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information (Maps and GIS). As a large institution, the scope of projects can be substantial and create opportunities for departments to share their technical skills. These partnerships often manifest as technological innovations that can improve workflow across the organization and be shared with the greater library community.

Leveraging socio-technical processes to support researchers

Purpose The purpose of this project was to develop research support services that address local and external research data management (RDM) support drivers within the existing organizational culture at the University of Florida. The goal was to prompt organization change to support a campus-wide electronic lab notebook. Design/methodology/approach This project used a mixed-methods research approach to cultivate an organizational change program that support technological infrastructure to benefit researchers. The mixed-methods research involved participation action research integrated with a stakeholder approach. Findings The development of the grant proposal which was unfunded led to development of continued project goals. This project confirmed the development for support for an institution-wide electronic research notebook (ERN) solution requires adherence to the summary of five key actions for developing RDM services. Failure to complete all of the key actions engenders fragmentation culture. Research limitations/implications This project includes implications for institutions to develop grant proposals with integrated budgets for research support services of funded projects; and to use the summary of key actions for developing RDM services articulated by Jones et al. (2013) in “How to Develop RDM Services – a guide for HEIs.” Both are need to support findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data for researchers. Practical implications This project has practical implications for higher education institutions interested in leveraging socio-technical processes to advance the role of libraries as collaborator, partner and stakeholder in developing institution-wide adoption, support and training for ERN as a research support service to RDM. Social implications This paper contributes to the body of developing literature on ERN as support services to RDM lead by academic research libraries. Originality/value This project contributed to the change in organization culture resulting in the successful collaboration between the Research Office and College of Medicine to support an institution-wide ERN technological infrastructure for one year as a pilot at a large academic research institution in the southeast USA.

Educational interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in preschool: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Educational intervention is known to enhance learners in general, including deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) learners in particular. This study is a systematic review to identify educational interventions in Arab experimental studies published from 2008 to 2019 concerning deaf and hard-of-hearing children in preschool. The study used Google Scholar and Academic Research Library to identify 30 studies that were examined in terms of their objectives, characteristics of the participants, types of interventions, findings and the country in which they were conducted. A positive effect of the educational interventions was observed in all targeted studies. However, there was an absence of interventions in the first 4 years of the period (2008–2011). Subsequently, in the last 4 years of the study period, there was a considerable increase in interventions. Fifty-seven percent of these studies were conducted in Egypt, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (23%), Kuwait (10%) and finally Sudan (3%). This review indicates that the use of educational interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the preschool period is promising. Educators and professionals should carefully consider these children’s preferences, characteristics and actual abilities when making decisions about the design of appropriate educational interventions.

Academic library resources and research support services to English teachers in higher education institutions

This article intends to examine academic library resources and research support services for English teachers at higher education institutions. A sample of 318 English teachers from the public sector universities has been selected through the proportionate random sampling technique. A cross-sectional survey has been conducted to collect data using an attitudinal scale. The study findings of multiple regression confirm the prediction of research support services. It is concluded that academic library resources have favorable effects on research support services for English teachers at the public sector universities of the Punjab province.

Designing the Diversity of Canadian Libraries: Excerpts from the CARL Inclusion Perspectives Webinar by Racialized Library Colleagues

Five academic librarians from libraries that represent the Canadian Academic Research Libraries (CARL) were invited to share their experiences as racialized librarians. In 2021, the Canadian Academic Research Libraries (CARL) hosted an Inclusion Perspectives Webinar Series, organized by CARL’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group (EDIWG) and the contents of this paper are presentations by these librarians who were invited to speak on systems, structures, and policies needed to dismantle racism; practical strategies to attract and retain racialized library employees; accreditation issues; and provide advice for what Canadian library leaders can start doing immediately.

Comparisons of Aboutness of OCLC FAST Headings and IMDb “Plot Keywords” for Documentary Films

This study analyzed OCLC Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) headings and Internet Movie Database (IMDb) “plot keywords” for a shared set of documentary films to determine how well the aboutness identified by the former was reproduced by the latter. A randomized list of documentary films held at the Iowa State University Library, a large academic research library, was created. The FAST headings were compared to each “plot keyword” used in the corresponding IMDb record to determine if they met one or more of the match types defined for this study: exact match, close match, broad match, narrow match, and closely-related match. In total, 604 FAST headings from 100 OCLC records were analyzed. This data was used to calculate breakdowns of average recall and average precision evaluating the IMDb records using the OCLC records. This study found that relatively little of the aboutness expressed by FAST headings was represented by the “plot keywords” in the corresponding IMDb records. The average recall and average precision of the IMDb records, judged as an attempt to reproduce the FAST headings, was 23.38% and 18.89%, respectively. By comparing OCLC and IMDb subject metadata for documentary films, this study advances scholarship on the relationship between professionally-created and user-created metadata.

Editor’s Note

This issue’s editorial reflection is sparked by the two articles selected for this issue of RBM. As a professional librarian I’ve worked in Carnegie classification R1, R2, and M2 institutions. As a practicing historian I’ve done site-specific research in academic libraries between St. Paul and Austin, from Berkeley to New Haven, and a lot of places in between. Over the past thirty years I’ve talked with hundreds of librarians and archivists in scores of different places, from local “treasure” rooms of small, isolated public libraries to the research rooms of the nation’s largest institutions. As I’ve listened to the thumping heart of working libraries I am consistently impressed by the good graces of people from small places, and often frustrated by the sometimes inexplicably pedantic assumptions and requirements made by large research institutions. These articles have prompted me to reflect what best practice really means. I’ve concluded that on the whole, librarians have been far too easily impressed by what other librarians are doing. As a result librarians have failed to equate “best practice” with evidence-based practice.

Amebas testáceas (Amorphea, Amoebozoa, Cercozoa) como bioindicadores: uma revisão cienciométrica

Abstract: Aim The free-living protists testate amoebae are recognized as being bioindicators, able to reveal environmental alteration via remodifying richness, diversity and abundance of species. To assess the scientific production on the use of testate amoebae as bioindicators, a scientometric analysis was undertaken from 1960 to 2020. Methods The sourcing of scientific articles derived from Google Academic, Scielo, Science Direct and Online Library research platforms. All selected papers were factored according to chronology, journal of publication, country, authors’ affiliation, whether the study was empirical or experimentation, if it included solely testate amoebae or other groups of organisms, and aspects of the environment. Results A total of 215 papers from ninety-two journals revealed a notable increase in publication numbers over the last decades. The two journals that most published data on this theme were Microbial Ecology and Ecological Indicators. Whilst the largest number of papers was published in the European Continent, the countries that most contributed to the subject were Canada in the temperate region and Brazil in the tropics. Edward A.D. Mitchell published the largest number of studies and regarding institutions the Franche-Comté University. The majority of papers that associated testaceans as bioindicators were empirical, conducted with Thecamoebian inhabiting moss and as such, dissociated from other groups. Conclusions Despite a suggested uptick in research of testaceans as bioindicators, our results indicate a concentration of studies to limited regions of the globe. In another aspect, a great number of studies assess testaceans’ community as-a-whole, showing a shortage of in-depth knowledge into species and functional groups. Therefore, our survey points to a wide variety of aquatic ecosystems devoid of study matter, indicating the need to foster the research on testate amoeba's role as bioindicators especially in the tropical regions.

Gloria Werner, 1940–2021

Gloria Werner, successor to Louise M. Darling at the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, university librarian emerita, and eighteenth editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, died on March 5, 2021, in Los Angeles. Before assuming responsibility in 1990 for one of the largest academic research libraries in the US, she began her library career as a health sciences librarian and spent twenty years at the UCLA Biomedical Library, first as an intern in the NIH/NLM-funded Graduate Training Program in Medical Librarianship in 1962–1963, followed by successive posts in public services and administration, eventually succeeding Darling as biomedical librarian and associate university librarian from 1979 to 1983. Werner's forty-year career at UCLA, honored with the UCLA University Service Award in 2013, also included appointments as associate university librarian for Technical Services. She was president of the Association of Research Libraries in 1997, served on the boards of many organizations including the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors, and consulted extensively. She retired as university librarian in 2002.

Collaborative Collection Building: Greater than the Sum of Its Parts

As institutions shape collections to meet current and future needs, effective management of high density storage facilities and collaborative collection building will be vital to the success of academic and research libraries. The Oak Street Library, the University of Illinois’s high density storage facility, holds the largest single concentration of library materials on campus with a collection of more than 4 million items. These holdings include transfers from the main book stacks and other departmental libraries on campus, blanket orders and library gifts that are added directly to the Oak Street Library collection, and material held in trust for consortial partnerships. The collection represents collaborative collection building locally between subject specialists, library divisions, and central services, as well as cooperative agreements with consortiums such as the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) and the Consortium of Academic Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). This article describes building a large collection through unconventional means, demonstrating the benefits of effective collaborative collection building and management of shared and other non-traditionally acquired collections.

Considerations for creating library learning spaces within a hierarchy of learning space attributes

University libraries struggle to keep up with rapidly changing technology and the associated change in teaching strategy. Most administrators and librarians are often not trained to assess space needs and struggle to reassign library spaces for non-traditional library use. As such, they often embark on expensive and time-consuming feasibility studies, using (typically) hard-earned monies to complete the research or to pilot a new space. What academic research library administrators and staff lack is guidance for discovering and planning needed renovations and improvements in aging library facilities. The purpose of this research project was to develop a set of considerations that can be used by library staff to self-analyze existing academic library spaces and identify areas that can be effectively improved for student benefit. The end result is a series of hierarchical self-analysis space considerations with a structured framework based on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The results of this research use evidence-based design to facilitate important conversations, and provide an organized quick reference checklist of various considerations for library administrators and facility managers as they navigate the world of twenty-first century pedagogy and student learning.

Health Promotion, Collaboration, and Outreach: Creating Space for Health Literacy at a Specialized, Academic Research Library

In the current cultural climate, the ability to engage with and understand health resources is more important than ever. Health literacy, broadly, describes an individual’s ability to process health information and use it to make sound medical choices. In relation, health promotion adapts health literacy to focus on people’s ability to lead healthy lives. While many public librarians are actively engaged in health literacy services to their patrons, far fewer academic librarians report such engagement. This paper aims to demystify health literacy and health promotion for a library audience, along with providing real world examples of collaborating with health experts and turning a library into a built environment that encourages the growth of health literacy skills.

Going digital: Strategies for transitioning a conference to an online format

When the Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO), Ohio's chapter of the Association of Academic & Research Libraries (ACRL), began planning for its 2020 conference, the COVID-19 pandemic hadn't yet begun. However, when COVID-19 arrived, the Conference Planning Committee was quickly compelled to make decisions about whether to move the conference online, how to deliver it in an online format, and how to help ALAO members adapt to the change. This article explores how decisions to move a conference online can be made and implemented while meeting the needs of the conference-planning organization and its members.

A preliminary systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of heart rate variability biofeedback on heart rate variability and respiration of athletes.

To date, there is no quantitative review examining the influence of heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV BFB) on the athlete population. Such an undertaking may provide valuable information on the autonomic and respiration responses of athletes when performing HRV BFB. Thus, purpose of this preliminary systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of HRV BFB on HRV and respiration of athletes. Searches of Springerlink, SportDiscus, Web of Science, PROQUEST Academic Research Library, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect were conducted for studies that met the following criteria: (1) experimental studies involving athletes that underwent randomized control trial; (2) availability of HRV BFB as a treatment compared with a control (CON)/placebo (PLA); (3) any pre and post HRV variable and/or breathing frequency as dependent variable/s; and, (4) peer-reviewed articles written in English. Four out of 660 studies involving 115 athletes (25 females and 90 males) ages 16-30 years old were assessed in this review. Preliminary findings suggest the promising ability of HRV BFB to improve respiratory mechanics in athlete population. More work is needed to determine the autonomic modulatory effect of HRV BFB in athletes.

Creating a Data Science Framework: A Model for Academic Research Libraries

The University Libraries participated in a pan-campus planning exercise to determine the feasibility of a comprehensive data science (DS) initiative. In addition, Library Leadership set forth a charge to develop a DS framework to explore and articulate how the Libraries could add value to campus DS efforts. This article provides a model of how a large research university library system developed a DS framework by examining current and future services, skills, structures, stakeholders, and put forth recommendations around DS engagement for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill community. This framework could be applied to other academic departments and research support units.

The Life Cycle of an E-Reserve Service

This article presents findings from a survey regarding use of an e-reserve service, and how those findings contributed to a decision to discontinue an e-reserve service at a large, academic research library. In addition to survey results, the article explores how the nature of the e-reserve service changed from inception to discontinuation, what changes ultimately led to the demise of the service, and how the library worked with faculty and instructors to transition from e-reserves to a shared course management platform.