Journal Of Academic Librarianship Research Articles

Model Correlates Many Factors to Undergraduates’ Perceived Importance of Library and Research Activities, but Low Explanation Power Suggests More Research Needed

A Review of:
 Soria, K. M. (2013). Factors predicting the importance of libraries and research activities for undergraduates. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(6), 464-470.
 
 Objective – The purpose is to analyze characteristics and perceptions of undergraduate students to determine factors that predict the importance of library and research activities for the students. 
 
 Design – Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey questionnaire.
 
 Setting – Nine large, public, research universities in the United States of America.
 
 Subjects – 16,778 undergraduates who completed the form of the survey that included the academic engagement module questions. 
 
 Methods – The researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze student responses. Descriptive statistics included coding demographic, collegiate, and academic variables, as well as student perceptions of the importance of library and research activities. These were used in the inferential statistical analyses. Ordinary least squares regression and factor analysis were used to determine variables and factors that correlated to students’ perceptions of the importance of libraries and research activities. 
 
 Main Results – The response rate for the overall SERU survey was 38.1%. The results showed that the majority of students considered having access to a “world-class library collection,” learning research methods, and attending a university with “world-class researchers” to be important. The regression model explained 22.7% of variance in the importance students placed on libraries and research activities; factors important to the model covered demographics, collegiate, and academic variables. Four variables created in factor analysis (academic engagement, library skills, satisfaction with libraries and research, and faculty interactions) were significantly correlated with the importance students placed on libraries and research activities. The most important predictors in the model were: student satisfaction, interest in a research or science profession, interest in medical or health-related profession, academic engagement, and academic level. 
 
 Conclusion – Based on the results of this study, librarians should be able to tailor their marketing to specific student groups to increase the perception of importance of libraries by undergraduates. For example, more success may be had marketing to students who are Hispanic, Asian, international, interested in law, psychology or research professions as the study found these students place more importance on libraries and research activities than other groups. These students may be targeted for being peer advocates for the libraries. Further research is suggested to more fully understand factors that influence the value undergraduate students place on libraries and find ways to increase the value of libraries and research activities for those demographic groups who currently rate the importance lower.

Designing games in the classroom: Learning benefits

Designing games in the classroom: Learning benefits

Minding the gap

The plan for the Round table session was to focus on organizational and social/cultural differences between librarians and faculty with the aim to increase our awareness of the differences when we try to find ways to cooperate within the academy or school. This may help us to sort things out, experience acceptance and take adequate actions, saving energy and perhaps be less frustrated. The questions that the workshop addressed were: What is in the gap between librarians and faculty when dealing with information literacy? How can we fill the gap? Participants discussed this in detail with the aim of together finding ways to understand it better and make it possible to find ways to fill this gap. By defining it and thereby making it easier to work out a strategy for future action to improve the teaching of information literacy, including listing possible, impossible or nearly impossible ways. The springboard to the discussion was extracted from some projects that the workshop leader has been engaged in since 2009. The first example is a research circle where Uppsala University Library used action research to observe and understand the process when we had the opportunity to implement information literacy classes with progression in an undergraduate program. What worked well? What did not? Why? This work was described together with other examples from Uppsala University to an international panel working with quality issues. What did they think of our work? May this change the ways we are working? How? Another example is an ongoing joint project where librarians and faculty members are trying to define ways to increase the cooperation between the library and faculty and make this cooperation sustainable. Recent experience from this was brought to the discussion. There are an overwhelming number of papers written in this field. A few papers have inspired these ideas. One article in particular: Christiansen, L., Stombler, M. & Thaxton, L. (2004). A report on librarian-faculty relations from a sociological perspective. The journal of academic librarianship, 30(2), 116-121. The method that was used was to: 1. Present these broad areas/challenges for the group to agree on or add another area 2. Discuss these challenges one at a time, and for each one identify specific aspects to pursue farther, using post-it notes 3. Make a summary of the different aspects to help and inspire further action.

Journal of the Medical Library Association readership survey

Every few years, MLA conducts a survey of the readership of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA). Regular evaluation of the JMLA is required by the association, and this survey is an important part of that process. In October 2012, the survey was sent by email to a random sample of 1,200 Medical Library Association members and nonmember subscribers, and 518 responded. The results are very encouraging. Over 60% of respondents said they read something in every issue of the JMLA; a full 90% reported that they read something at least once a year. This compares favorably to respondents' reports of how often they read other library journals: 54% said they read something in Medical Reference Services Quarterly at least once a year, and a little over 30% said they read something that often in College and Research Libraries, the Journal of Academic Librarianship, and the Journal of Hospital Librarianship. A majority of respondents who read the JMLA thought that the JMLA was better than average in terms of all the qualities listed (timeliness, authoritative information, evidence-based information, relevance, readability, practical information, and value in professional development). The poorest scores were received for readability (Worse than average = 4%) and practical information (Worse than average = 7%). Sixty percent to 70% of those who read the JMLA said that items they had recently read helped them with work-related issues, provided useful information, had practical applications and information not found elsewhere, and contributed to their professional development. Slightly fewer (50%) said it helped them with research. When asked to indicate the topics of the items read, technology was the most frequently chosen topic (67%), followed by instruction (63%) and user behavior (57%). Interlibrary loan, acquisitions and licensing, and bibliometrics were the lowest scoring topics, chosen by approximately 20% of respondents (respondents could select more than 1 option). For the most part, a majority of respondents indicated that the current distribution of sections was “about right.” However, more than a third wanted more electronic resource reviews and case studies, and 10%–11% wanted fewer full-length research papers and book reviews. The percentage recommending elimination of any section was less than 1%, with the exception of book reviews (4%). Between 18% and 11% of responses to all choices for this question was “no opinion,” possibly because these respondents do not regularly look at the section listed. A look at statistics supplied by PubMed Central confirms readers' continuing interest in material published in the JMLA (a word of caution: some fraction of these numbers may represent harvesters rather than actual viewers). We published 18 brief communications in 2012; in the first 4 months after publication, the average brief communication received 170 full-text views and 70 portable document format (PDF) downloads. We published 8 case studies; these received, on average, 299 full-text views and 120 PDF downloads. The 12 full-length research papers had 365 full-text views and 168 PDF downloads. The 4 papers invited for our special issue were clearly of interest as well: 279 full-text views and 124 PDF downloads. By far the most frequently read paper online was the 2011 Janet Doe Lecture by T. Scott Plutchak, AHIP: 6,046 full-text views and 1,308 PDF downloads in just the first 4 months after it appeared! Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in our readership survey. We will continue to analyze the results so that we can do an even better job of meeting your needs. Sixty-three percent of respondents said that the JMLA is one of the top three to five most important programs or projects provided by the Medical Library Association. We will be working hard to live up to user expectations.

Citation analysis of Collection Building during 2005‐2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the journal bibliometric characteristics of Collection Building and the subject relationship with other disciplines by citation analysis.Design/methodology/approachThis study explores the distribution of articles and subjects of references and analyses the various aspects of Collection Building from 2005‐2012. There are 179 articles in Collection Building in eight selected years. In total, 32 issues pertaining to eight volumes of Collection Building were consulted and relevant details of the citations at the end of each article were noted on an excel sheet. The recorded data were analysed, interpreted and tabulated.FindingsThe results of this study revealed that 179 articles were consulted from eight volumes (2005‐2012) which carried 2,388 citations including 85 self‐citations. The majority of articles (30.17 per cent) recorded between 10‐19 range of citations per article followed by (28.50 per cent) 1‐9 range. The majority of articles were contributed by single authors (65.92 per cent) and majority of contributors were from the USA (69.96 per cent) followed by Canada (3.95 per cent) and India (3.95 per cent) respectively. Journal articles (42.71 per cent) were the most cited source materials, followed by online and electronic sources (25.80 per cent), books including edited books (20.44 per cent), newspapers (5.23 per cent) and so on. Out of 179 articles, tje majority of articles (33.52 per cent) were Research papers followed by Case study (30.73 per cent), Literature review (12.85 per cent) and so on. The majority of articles (66.48 per cent) were recorded between 6‐10 pages, followed by 25.70 per cent articles between 1‐5 pages. Out of 1,020 journal articles, Collection Building (9.02 per cent) was the top ranked journal, followed by The Journal of Academic Librarianship (5.0 per cent) and College & Research Libraries (4.22 per cent).Research limitations/implicationsResearch was limited to the journal entitled Collection Building during eight years (2005‐2012). In total, 32 issues and 179 articles were covered by the study.Originality/valueThe outcome of the study is an original research work with citation analysis of Collection Building. It highlights the study of 179 articles of Collection Building in various ways.

Link Established Between LBGT-Friendly Campus Climate Index Scores and Web-Based Resources of Academic Libraries

A Review of:
 Ciszek, M. P. (2011). Out on the web: The relationship between campus climate and GLBT-related web-based resources in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(5), 430-436. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2011.06.007 
 
 Objective – To explore whether academic institutions that score highly on the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index also have well-developed Web-based library resources to support GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) students. 
 
 Design – Website analysis, percentage, and binary logistic regression analysis. 
 
 Setting – Library websites of colleges and universities in four American geographic regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.
 
 Subjects – There were 259 colleges and universities that participated in the 2010 LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index.
 Methods – The author visited the library websites of all institutions and surveyed available GLBT-related resources. The criteria for online resources included: 1) A research guide for GLBT studies or geared toward GLBT students, 2) An individual identified within the research guide as a contact for GLBT-related resources, and 3) A subscription to EBSCO’s GLBT Life database.
 
 Whether or not the academic libraries had the above resources was then analyzed with each institution’s score on the climate survey scale. The author controlled for geographical location, religious affiliation, and campus setting of the college or university. 
 
 Main Results – There is a positive direct relationship between whether a library makes GLBT resources available on the Web and campus climate. However, only 25% of libraries surveyed published a research guide, 18% named a contact individual, and 31% subscribed to GLBT Life. 
 
 Conclusion – While parent institutions commit to GLBT students by taking the LBGT-Friendly Campus Climate Index survey, academic libraries lag behind providing online resources for this community. 
 
 The author recommends academic libraries: 
 
 • Create a top-level GLBT research guide.
 • Provide contact information for a staff person assigned to provide GLBT-related research assistance.
 • Assign a resource selector for GLBT-related resources.
 • Subscribe to GLBT-related databases.
 • Partner with GLBT organizations on campus to improve collections.
 • Promote GLBT-related collections to the campus community.
 • Perform an assessment of the information and resource needs of GLBT campus community members.
 • Ensure the GLBT community is included in programming and services.

More Academic Librarians in Arkansas with Faculty Status and Rights but Decreased Benefits and Increased Responsibility

A Review of:
 Vix, H. M., & Buckman, K. M. (2011). Academic librarians: Status, privileges, and rights. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 38(1), 20-25. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2011.11.004
 
 Objective – To provide cross-comparable information on the number of students per librarian, salary, faculty status, contract lengths, and maternity benefits of academic librarians.
 
 Design – Online questionnaire.
 
 Setting – Four-year private, four-year public, and two-year public academic institutions in Arkansas. 
 
 Subjects – Academic library deans and directors were surveyed three times over a six-year period.
 
 Methods – Three surveys were sent to library deans and directors of four-year private, four-year public, and two-year public academic institutions in Arkansas in 2007, 2009, and 2011. The surveys were created by the College and University Library Division of the Arkansas Library Association, with questions created based on reports from the Association of College and Research Libraries (e.g., Standards and Statements). Committee members tested the survey before distribution. Over the course of the six-year period the questions were modified and were chosen to ensure that respondents could easily answer them (i.e., no questions on topics such as retirements, vacation, which can vary significantly from librarian to librarian). All responses were confidential. 
 
 Main Results – The 2007 survey had a 78% response rate (n=35/45); the 2009 survey had a 93% response rate (n=42/45); and the 2011 survey had a 90% response rate (n=44/49). While the survey covered a number of topics (shown in supplementary material online), the article focused on five areas of interests and had the following findings. 1) The number of students per librarian is increasing at four-year private and two-year public institutions. While the data shows a decrease in the ratio at four-year public institutions the authors believe this is due to the addition of new institutions in the follow-up surveys, one of which had a very low study-to-librarian ration. 2) Tenured librarians make more than non-tenured librarians. 3) The number of institutions granting faculty status is increasing at a statistically significant rate at four-year private and two-year public institutions, and has remained relatively constant at four-year public institutions. 4) Most libraries have 12-month contracts for librarians, although this has decreased slightly over the survey period. 5) The number of institutions providing paid maternity leave has decreased.
 
 Conclusion – This study provides a broad overview of the changing state of academic librarians’ rights and benefits in Arkansas over the last six years. Some of the trends demonstrated, such as an increase in the number of students per librarian, are potentially troubling and may have a negative impact on the quality of service provided by individual institutions. Other trends, such as increases in institutions granting faculty status to librarians and decreasing the number of 12-month contracts, may signal that some institutions are beginning to acknowledge the significance and impact of librarian research. Ultimately, this article provides a starting point for other states and provinces to begin collecting similar data in an attempt to understand changing trends in academic libraries.

There is a Relationship between Resource Expenditures and Reference Transactions in Academic Libraries

A Review of:
 Dubnjakovic, A. (2012). Electronic resource expenditure and the decline in reference transaction statistics in academic libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 38(2), 94-100. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2012.01.001
 
 Objective – To provide an analysis of the impact of expenditures on electronic resources and gate counts on the increase or decrease in reference transactions.
 
 Design – Analysis of results of existing survey data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) 2006 Academic Library Survey (ALS). 
 
 Setting – Academic libraries in the United States.
 
 Subjects – 3925 academic library respondents.
 
 Methods – The author chose to use survey data collected from the 2006 ALS conducted by the NCES. The survey included data on various topics related to academic libraries, but in the case of this study, the author chose to analyze three of the 193 variables included. The three variables: electronic books expenditure, computer hardware and software, and expenditures on bibliographic utilities, were combined into one variable called electronic resource expenditure. Gate counts were also considered as a variable. Electronic resource expenditure was also split as a variable into three groups: low, medium, and high. Multiple regression analysis and general linear modeling, along with tests of reliability, were employed. 
 
 Main Results – The author determined that low, medium, and high spenders with regard to electronic resources exhibited differences in gate counts, and gate counts have an effect on reference transactions in any given week. Gate counts tend to not have much of an effect on reference transactions for the higher spenders, and higher spenders tend to have a higher number of reference transactions overall. Low spenders have lower gate counts and also a lower amount of reference transactions. 
 
 Conclusion – The findings from this study show that academic libraries spending more on electronic resources also tend to have an increase with regard to reference transactions. The author also concludes that library spaces are no longer the determining factor with regard to number of reference transactions. Spending more on electronic resources is also important to increase both in-person and electronic reference transactions.

Building the Assessment Librarian Guildhall: Criteria and Skills for Quality Assessment

Keeping up on the “latest and greatest” in library assessment isn't easy. Basic strategies for being in-the-know include scanning the professional literature or attending conferences. Professional journals like the Journal of Academic Librarianship, College & Research Libraries, and portal: Libraries and the Academy are great venues for library assessment publications, and the Library Assessment Conference (LAC) is arguably the best professional meeting for learning about current assessment projects taking place in academic libraries nationwide. A few months ago, as an attendee at my fourth LAC, I was excited to note the increase in attendance at this conference, both in the variety of librarian roles represented and in the total number of participants. This growth indicates that a community of “assessment librarians” (or librarians who engage in assessment) is fast developing in academic libraries.

The Attitude of Undergraduate Students towards the Use of Journals in Delta State University Library, Abraka, Delta State

This study was carried out to look at the attitude of undergraduate students towards the use of journals at the Delta State University Library Abraka and suggest possible ways on how to encourage undergraduate students to make use of journals for their re- search work and study and also for Delta State University library, Abraka to improve in the services of meeting users information needs. Review of related literature were sourced under the following concepts: the importance of journal awareness among undergraduate students, the acquisition of current journal used among undergraduate students, the relevance of organizing journals among undergraduate students, the challenges encountered by undergraduate students in the use of journals, kinds of journals publication. A descriptive survey research design was used for the study and one hundred and twenty one (121) students were used as respondents who answered the questionnaire posed by the researcher. A simple percentage was used for analysis of data. The research findings revealed that journals are used among undergraduate students and the journals enhance the development of personal philosophy in a code of ethics. Undergraduate students make use of current journals in academic libraries. It therefore shows that undergraduate students benefit from the use of journals in the following ways: Through personal growth and development, intuition and self expression, problem solving, stress reduction and health benefits. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to upgrade the standard of journal use among undergraduate students of Delta State University Abraka, that more current journals should be provided for undergraduate use, that funds are made available to purchase more journals in Delta State University library, Abraka for undergraduate students use.

정보활용능력 주제영역의 계량분석 연구

This paper aims to find out the kinds of sub-topics that were researched in relation to Information Literacy (IL). The text mining method was applied to the articles with ‘information literacy’ in the fields of the descriptor, title and abstract in the LISA Database. Also, out of 214 journals that published these articles, those with the top ten highest frequencies were listed and analyzed. Research results show that 908 articles on information literacy were published in 214 journals and ‘User training’ and ‘Students’ were major descriptors in the sub-topic area of information literacy. Also, Reference Services Review and The Journal of Academic Librarianship are two key journals in IL research as they have the highest frequency of related articles and have shown increasing trends.

Development of Technology Competencies for Public Services’ Staff Has Limited External Validity

A Review of:
 Wong, G. K. W. (2010). Information commons help desk transactions study. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3), 235-241.
 
 Objective - To develop an understanding of the types of technology questions asked at an information commons help desk for the purposes of staffing the desk and training. Specifically, the study looked to answer the following questions: 
 
 1. What kind of assistance do users seek from the help desk?
 2. How complex is it to handle the technology questions?
 3. What are the key competencies desirable of the help desk staff?
 
 Design - Qualitative analysis of transactions completed at an information commons help desk.
 
 Setting - A medium sized academic library located in Hong Kong.
 
 Data - 1,636 transactions completed at an information commons help desk between January 2007 and May 2009.
 
 Methods - From the opening in 2006, the staff of the information commons help desk recorded all transactions electronically using a modified version of the open source software LibStats. The author examined the transactions for roughly the second and third weeks of each month from January 2007 to May 2009 in an effort to determine the types of questions asked and their complexity.
 
 Main Results - In response to question one, 86.3% of questions asked at the help desk concerned technology; the majority of those questions (76.5%) were about printing, wireless connection, and various software operation. For question two, 82% of technology questions were determined to be of the lowest tier (Tier 1) of complexity, one-third of the questions required only “direct answers,” and 80% of questions could be answered consistently via the creation of a “knowledge base of answers for these foreseeable questions.” For question three, a list of fourteen competencies for help desk staff were created.
 
 Conclusion - With the low complexity of the technology questions asked, the creation of a knowledge base of common questions and answers, and proper training of staff based on the competencies identified in the study, an information commons could be effective with one integrated desk staffed by a librarian and paraprofessional staff member.

Decline in Reference Transactions with Few Questions Referred to Librarian when the Reference Desk is Staffed by a Paraprofessional

A Review of:
 Dinkins, D., & Ryan, S. M. (2010). Measuring referrals: The use of paraprofessionals at the reference desk. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(4), 279-286.
 
 Objective — To determine the type and percentage of questions referred to a librarian by a paraprofessional (i.e., an individual without an MLIS) staffing the reference desk, whether the percentage of referrals would decrease over time, and any consequences from having a paraprofessional rather than a librarian staffing the desk.
 
 Design — Quantitative analysis of reference desk transaction statistics.
 
 Setting — Reference desk at the main library of Stetson University, a private university in the United States of America with approximately 2,500 FTE (full-time equivalent) students.
 Subjects — A total of 486 reference desk transactions recorded by a paraprofessional staffing the reference desk during the Fall and Spring semesters of the 2008-2009 academic year.
 
 Methods — The first year that he worked in the Library at Stetson University, a paraprofessional recorded all reference desk transactions during his shift from 10:00am to 12:00pm, four days a week, for the Fall and Spring semesters of the 2008-2009 academic year. This paraprofessional, with computer expertise, received “relatively minimal” (p. 281) training on “reference desk policies and procedures… the use of the catalogue and the subscription databases” (p. 281). For each transaction, the paraprofessional categorized the question as “direction,” “reference,” or “machine.” He was instructed to contact a librarian if he could not answer a reference question. The paraprofessional also completed a questionnaire regarding his level of comfort answering questions and his thoughts on the training at the end of his first year of staffing the reference desk.
 
 Main Results — In the Fall semester, 9.5% of all reference desk transactions were referred to a librarian. This decreased to 4.2% of the total transactions during the Spring semester. The percentage of reference questions referred to a librarian in the Fall semester was 21.9% and only 5.0% in the Spring semester. There was a 49.5% decrease in the number of reference desk transactions during the paraprofessional’s hours on the desk compared to the previous year when the desk was staffed by professional librarians. Overall, reference desk transactions for all hours decreased 4.1% compared to the previous year. The results from the questionnaire on his experiences at the reference desk showed that the paraprofessional was satisfied with his training, comfortable with referring questions to the librarians, did not use the print reference collection extensively, thought the “interface for searching the library’s catalogue/databases is dated at best” (p. 285), and felt that being close in age to many of the students was a disadvantage while working at the reference desk. 
 
 Conclusion — The authors concluded that staffing the reference desk with a paraprofessional was a success and that the “referrals to librarians had been made appropriately and when necessary” (p. 285). The results corroborated previous studies that showed only a “small percentage of reference desk transactions would need to be referred to a librarian” (p. 285). In part, because of the success of staffing the desk with a paraprofessional, the authors suggest that reference desk staffing configurations at academic libraries should be reevaluated. Librarians freed from duties at the physical reference desk could use this time to “develop virtual reference services” and expand information literacy programs (p. 286). 
 To explain the decrease in number of transactions during the paraprofessional’s time on the reference desk, the authors surmised four possibilities: patrons’ reluctance to ask questions of someone new on the desk, their dissatisfaction with the paraprofessional’s answers, the similarity in age between the paraprofessional and the “age of the student population” (p. 284), or the librarians being more conscientious in tallying every transaction. However, the authors doubted that users perceived the paraprofessional’s answers as “less satisfactory” as “patrons likely got a higher level of service on computer-related queries from the computer science-trained paraprofessional” (p. 284). Computer-related queries, coded as “machine” transactions, formed the majority of queries answered by the paraprofessional.

Digital content creation: A global view on curriculum design

Digital content creation: A global view on curriculum design

Labour Costs for Inventory Control Less Expensive than Repurchasing

Labour Costs for Inventory Control Less Expensive than Repurchasing

Sabbatical Options for Academic Librarians in the U.S. Vary Widely

A Review of:
 Flaspohler, M. R. (2009). Librarian sabbatical leaves: Do we need to get out more? Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(2), 152-161. 
 
 Objectives – To gather data on what proportion of U.S. academic libraries provide sabbatical opportunities to librarians, and to explore library directors’ perceptions of the effectiveness of sabbaticals and barriers to sabbatical-taking among librarians at their institutions.
 Design – Online questionnaire.
 
 Setting – Academic libraries in the U.S..
 
 Subjects – Directors of 403 academic libraries.
 
 Methods – The author reviewed the literature on sabbatical leaves in the library profession. She then developed an online survey using the University of Washington’s Catalyst system (a tool similar to SurveyMonkey). The survey contained both closed and open-ended questions, in order to generate quantitative data as well as to gather more in-depth information on respondents’ views. 
 
 A sample of American academic library directors was generated by choosing every eighth entry on a list of 3037 academic libraries generated by lib-web-cats, an online directory of libraries (http://www.librarytechnology.org/libwebcats/). The survey was sent to 403 academic library directors based on this selection method. The author received 101 successfully completed surveys for a response rate of 25%.
 
 Main Results – The author found that just over half of respondents (53 libraries, or 52%) indicated their institutions offered sabbatical leaves to librarians. Thirty-six per cent indicated they did not, while 12% indicated “other” (many of these respondents commented with clarifications about what other leave programs were available to librarians). Of the 53 institutions that reported offering leave programs, only half (27 respondents) indicated that library staff members had taken a sabbatical leave.
 
 Open-ended questions generated some insight into the barriers to sabbatical leaves at academic libraries. Differences between institutions in terms of availability of sabbatical leaves appear to be due to a combination of librarian status (whether or not librarians have full faculty status); funding issues (in some institutions, the library, and not the college administration, has to cover the costs of a sabbatical); and availability of other staff to cover the duties of the individual taking the leave. 
 
 Respondents also noted a discrepancy between the length and timing of librarian sabbaticals compared to other faculty (i.e., the professoriate), with librarians more often required to begin their leaves in the summer. Librarian sabbaticals were also sometimes shorter than those of other faculty; in some institutions a summer-length sabbatical was available, but not a six-month or year-long sabbatical, even though these options were available to other faculty.
 
 In terms of impacts of sabbaticals, most respondents who had experienced a staff member taking sabbatical felt that the sabbatical benefited the staff member and the institution; positive results include improved morale, publications that raised the profile of the library, and learning that was applied in the workplace. Some respondents, however, had negative experiences to report, the most common being that the sabbatical had had no effect. Some respondents noted staff who had taken sabbaticals had failed to meet the goals that had been set for the sabbatical. When asked what could be done to enhance sabbatical programs, respondents at institutions with these programs had some interesting suggestions, such as aligning sabbatical programs more closely with institutional goals, or promoting the pursuit of more collaborative research while on sabbatical.
 
 Conclusion – The author notes that while it’s dangerous to over-generalize from such a brief survey, many of the issues raised in the responses, such as faculty status, funding shortfalls, and staff shortages echo themes raised elsewhere in the library literature. These issues probably need to be addressed if we are to see any increase in the number of librarians taking sabbatical leaves.
 
 The author’s other conclusion is that librarians must be more accountable for demonstrating how a sabbatical could add institutional value, and for meeting the goals set in their sabbatical plans. The author conducted this study while on sabbatical herself, and concludes it “provides one example of how a librarian might create a manageable, research-based project that more closely marries academic rigor to personal experience” (p. 160).

Library School Programs and the Successful Training of Academic Librarians to Meet Promotion and Tenure Requirements in the Academy

This article relates an investigation of tenure and promotion practices for librarians at academic institutions. The study employed two surveys. The first survey determined the level of impact on promotion and tenure by recent publication in two top-tier peer-reviewed journals: College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship. The second survey was developed and distributed to authors of articles in the two journals requesting information about the nature of their library positions. Although more research is warranted, it appears that librarians at academic institutions tend to publish more frequently in top-tier journals, enhancing our professional literature.

Learning and Engaging the Information Values of a Karst Community of Practice

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the Journal of Academic Librarianship. Editorial and formatting changes may have been made to this version since it was submitted for publication. The final version was published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, 26(1), 79-85. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.12.001

A List of Best Practices That May Improve the Use of Telephone Interviews During the Recruitment Process

A Review of:
 Engel, Debra, and Sarah Robbins. "Telephone Interviewing Practices within Academic Libraries." Journal of Academic Librarianship 35.2 (2009): 143-51.
 
 Objective – To investigate the use of telephone interviews in academic libraries and identify best practices when conducting telephone interviews.
 
 Design – Survey and open-ended questions.
 
 Setting – Academic libraries in the United States.
 
 Subjects – Academic institutional members of the Association of Research Libraries.
 
 Methods – A fifteen-item survey (Appendix A, 150) concerning telephone interviewing practice was sent to 112 institutional members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The survey contained multiple choice-type questions as well as open-ended questions.
 
 Main Results – The response rate was 66% (74 of 112 research libraries; 56 public institutions and 17 private). Of the respondents, 90% used telephone interviews to screen applicants for professional positions (ranging from occasionally to always) and only 10% never used telephone interviews. The main reason for holding telephone interviews was to “screen candidates in order to narrow the pool of applicants who will be invited for in-person interviews” (146). Other reasons given included minimizing expenses involved in interviewing out-of-town candidates (39% respondents), shortening the length of time to complete the search process (27%) and meeting library or campus hiring requirements (3%).
 
 On average, the majority of libraries (51%) hired between 2-4 professional positions each year. For each open professional position, the number of candidates telephone-interviewed varied from less than 3 to 9 depending on library and position.
 
 Interviews typically lasted between 16 and 45 minutes (77% respondents) with all the search committee members (staff involved in the recruitment process) being present (75%) and taking turns to ask questions to the candidates (90%). Questions were most often the same for all candidates applying for a particular position (91%) and candidates were nearly always allowed in return to ask questions of the committee (96%).
 
 In answer to the open-ended question, “In your opinion, what best creates a collegial and effective environment for conducting telephone interviews?”, the dominating responses included: all search committee members being present and participating actively, using a script and taking notes, introducing all interview participants, and giving candidates adequate notification and documentation.
 
 The majority of respondents “would not change anything about their institution’s current (telephone interview) practice” (147). Some thought that “training and/or a need for consistency in procedure for all interviews conducted” (147) would be relevant changes in practice. 
 
 The results of the survey were compared to the findings in the library, personnel management and human resources literature.
 
 Conclusion – From the survey and responses to open-ended questions, a number of best practices when conducting telephone interviews emerged (148–150):
 1. Properly train the search committee (e.g., in knowing about the position, organization and protocols for conducting interviews properly)
 2. Involve the search committee throughout the recruitment process
 3. Help the interviewee be prepared (e.g., by sending institutional information packages)
 4. Maintain and use suitable technology (e.g., by choosing suitable conferencing facilities with the interviewee situation in mind)
 5. Put the candidate at ease (e.g., by explaining who will be present, how long the interview will last and how many questions there will be)
 6. Provide introductions (e.g., both in the beginning of the interview and even before individual questions)
 7. Listen and take notes during the interview
 8. Discuss the interviews immediately afterwards
 
 Engel and Robbins suggest that further research could include looking into job candidate and search committee experiences of the telephone interviewing procedure.

Typology of Librarian Status Created for U.S. Land Grant Universities is Applicable to U.S. Research Libraries

Bolin, Mary K. “Librarian Status at U.S. Research Universities: Extending the Typology.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 34.5 (August 2008): 416-24.
 
 Objective – To describe and categorize the status of librarians at 119 American research libraries using a typology of librarian status first developed for 50 U.S. land grant universities.
 
 Design – Survey.
 
 Setting – U.S. research universities.
 
 Subjects – 119 American research universities. Included are those universities whose library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in addition to land grant universities who are not also ARL members, and any flagship state universities who are neither ARL nor land grant universities. All subjects are classified as either “research – very high” or “research – high” in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The 119 institutions represent a total census of the selected population.
 
 Methods – The websites of the 119 institutions were surveyed and data on institutional characteristics such as governance, size and geography collected. Additionally, data describing librarian status characteristics such as administrator title, rank systems and tenure status was gathered from sources such as promotion and tenure documentation, faculty handbooks, and policy manuals available on websites. Data was compiled on a spreadsheet and imported into SPSS which was used to create frequencies and cross tabulations. Data was categorised and cross-tabulated using a typology of status originally applied to 50 land grant universities in a previous study. The typology comprises four possible status types for librarians: 
 
 Type 1 – Faculty: Professorial ranks.
 Type 2 – Faculty: Other ranks with tenure.
 Type 3 – Faculty: Other ranks without tenure.
 Type 4 – Non-faculty: Professional or academic staff.
 
 Main Results – In the 119 institutions surveyed, librarians held faculty status at 74 (62%) institutions, of which 63 (51%) provided tenure track positions. At the remaining 45 (38%) institutions, librarians were considered non-faculty. 
 
 Of the 50 “land grant” institutions in the population, 40 (80%) had librarians with faculty status and 35 (70%) provided tenure track. Ten universities (20%) considered librarians non-faculty. 
 
 Of the 97 ARL libraries in the population, 55 (57%) had librarians with faculty status and 44 (45%) provided tenure track. Non-faculty librarians were found at 42 (43%) of these institutions.
 
 Of the 90 public institutions in the population, 68 (76%) had librarians who were faculty, 57 (64%) provided tenure track, and 22 (24%) had non-faculty librarians. 
 
 Among the 29 private institutions the status ratios were reversed with only 4 (13%) institutions having librarians ranked as tenure track faculty (type 1 or type 2) and 23 (80%) having non-faculty librarians.
 
 In the total population (119) type 3 “Faculty: Other ranks without tenure” was the least common category, 48% (57) of libraries were headed by a dean, 67% (80) of institutions had librarian representation on faculty senate and as the size of an institution increased the likelihood of librarians having faculty rank decreased. “Dean” was the most popular administrator title in the population; it correlated with professorial rank and was strongly associated with tenure. Having tenure was, in turn, strongly associated with faculty senate representation. In the Northeast census region type 4, non-faculty staff predominated while type 1 was rare; in the Midwest there was an almost even split between type 1 and type 4; in the South there was a fairly even spread across all four types, and in the West a fairly even spread across types 1, 2 and 4.
 
 Finally, the data showed that as the size of an institution increased, the likelihood of librarians having faculty rank decreased.
 
 Conclusion – The typology created for land grant universities can be extended and applied to a wider population. It is valid and reliable both for organizing information about librarian status and for comparing institutions and population segments.