Program Library Research Articles

Information Science Students’ Background and Data Science Competencies: An Exploratory Study

Many Library and Information Science (LIS) training programs are gradually expanding their curricula to include computational data science courses such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning. These programs focus on developing both “classic” information science competencies as well as core data science competencies among their students. Since data science competencies are often associated with mathematical and computational thinking, departmental officials and prospective students often raise concerns regarding the appropriate background students should have in order to succeed in this newly introduced computational content of the LIS training programs. In order to address these concerns, we report on an exploratory study through which we examined the 2020 and 2021 student classes of Bar-Ilan University's LIS graduate training, focusing on the computational data science courses (i.e., supervised and unsupervised machine learning). Our study shows that contrary to many of the concerns raised, students from the humanities performed as well (and in some cases significantly better) on data science competencies compared to those from the social sciences and had better success in the training program as a whole. In addition, students’ undergraduate GPA acted as an adequate indicator for both their success in the training program and in the data science part thereof. In addition, we find no evidence to support concerns regarding age or sex. Finally, our study suggests that the computational data science part of students’ training is very much aligned with the rest of their training program.

21st Century Accreditation

The ALA Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies has undergone a significant proposed revision to foreground: program learning outcomes; place more emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion; eliminate redundancy; and reflect the current institutional context of LIS education and/or the needs of the profession.
 
 The revision maintains focus on: systematic planning; program level learning outcomes and curriculum; faculty; students; and infrastructure, through the maturing lens and experiences of 21st century students, educators, employers, and schools.
 
 The revised Standards are designed to be flexible enough to support a range of program modalities (primarily in-person, hybrid, primarily online), pedagogies, concentrations, and sizes, while maintaining a professional standard and expectation of program learning outcomes relevant to an evolving and expanding range of career options and opportunities.
 
 Whether library and information studies programs exist as faculties, schools, or departments, the Standards were revised to be expansive enough to support the development, implementation, and growth of robust teaching, learning, and research environments tailored to institutional strategic directions and local realities but focused on producing quality education experiences for students through common accreditation expectations. This panel brings together program and Committee on Accreditation representatives to review the aims of the revision, the process and results of the revision consultation process focused mainly within the United States, Canada, and the UK where ALA-accreditation is recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation as the accreditor for the field of library and information studies, the experiences and expectations of external review panels during site visits, and the accreditation experiences of two representative schools.
 
 The panel will further explore the implementation of the revised standards, Committee on Accreditation expectations, supports available to programs from the Office of Accreditation, and initial and developing experiences in applying the revised standards. The panel will also invite comments, questions, and observations from attendees.

The Changing Landscape of Technical Services Education

Technical Services (TS) has been undergoing many changes in response to societal, technological, and institutional shifts as are many areas within LIS. In addition to understanding changes in cataloging standards, technical services staff must have cultural and behavioral competency to meet the needs of increasingly diverse user populations. To prepare LIS students effectively, technical services educators must continually adapt and update their courses. 
 The Technical Services Education SIG session will include a panel of three educators who will discuss current areas of importance in TS education: innovative online pedagogy, EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion), and core competencies.
 Susan Rathbun-Grubb will report on the development of a new online course supported by a University of South Carolina Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Innovative Pedagogy Grant. This includes collaborating with a CTE instructional designer in preparation for teaching the course in Spring 2024. This presentation will describe the creative process and the proposed course plan including objectives, topical coverage, pedagogical strategies, and assessments. Dr. Rathbun-Grubb is interested in having a conversation with attendees about their best practices for teaching TS management online in a student-centered seminar format.
 Lesley Farmer will present on the incorporation of EDI into the Organization of Information course in California State University Long Beach's Teacher (school) Librarian program. An explicit EDI strand was developed for the course, including readings/videos for each module and corresponding learning activities. Students have responded very favorably by actively identifying and addressing EDI issues and by seeing themselves as necessary change agents for social justice. This presentation explains the process, the results, and useful resources.
 Karen Snow is leading an effort to revise the American Library Association’s 2017 Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians and will report on the status of the endeavor. This includes determining if the 2017 Competencies are sufficient for current cataloging and metadata professionals. Dr. Snow will discuss how TS educators help provide a good foundation of cataloging and metadata competencies that best prepares our students for such a rapidly-changing field. 
 After the presentations, audience members will be encouraged to ask questions and offer their own experiences and ideas concerning this area of LIS education. These presentations align well with the ALISE 2023 conference theme of “Bridge the Gap: Teaching, Learning, Practice, and Competencies.”

Consistency Matters

This study compares the student learning outcome assessments of an online Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program offered in traditional 14-week semesters and an accelerated 7-week term program. Louisiana State University’s School of Information Studies (SIS) offers the MLIS program through two delivery platforms: SIS Online (14-week semester program) and LSU Online (7-week term program). The study explores the differences in student performance between SIS Online and LSU Online and investigates the impact of term length on students’ ability to achieve the program’s SLOs. The findings provide insights into the effectiveness of different online program delivery formats and suggest ways to improve student learning outcomes in online MLIS education.

Prior Learning Assessment

Higher education continues to experience challenges arising from changing demographics and perceptions of the value of higher education. Prospective students want flexibility in how they pursue higher education. Programs must adapt to meet the changing needs and expectations of the audiences they serve. This is equally true for programs offered by library and information science schools. In an increasingly competitive educational environment where traditional student populations are shrinking, higher education institutions must be agile and proactive (Grawe, 2021).
 Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) or Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) recognize the students may bring knowledge and skills that are not documented as credit-bearing learning experiences from higher education institutions. The idea of PLA and CPL is not new. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) (https://www.cael.org/) has advocated for PLA and CPL for more than 40 years. Learning can take place through nontraditional instructional outlets. Work-related and military experiences also provide learning opportunities for which evidence may be available. Central to PLA and CPL is rigorous assessment. This assessment can take multiple forms, including portfolio evaluation, examinations for learning achievement, or equivalency determination of non-credit learning experiences. A recent study on PLA for adult learners concluded that PLA is associated with better student outcomes, including higher credential completion, cost savings and time savings (Klein-Collins et al., 2020). The panel topic addresses the conference theme by focusing on learning, practice and competencies.
 Many students applying to undergraduate or graduate programs at LIS schools bring work or non-credit experiences in areas such as information technology, librarianship or archival studies that are germane to the areas they plan to study. Should these applicants be provided the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they bring for admission consideration, course exemptions or credit recognition?
 The objective of this juried panel is to begin a dialogue on the place of PLA in library and information science programs. After a brief introduction to PLA concepts, the panelists will discuss PLA initiatives in their schools. This will be followed by a discussion with the audience during the second half of the panel on questions that arise when considering the adoption of PLA. These questions include:
 
 What are the potential benefits of, and concerns with, offering PLA options to prospective undergraduate and graduate students?
 Which programs offered by LIS schools lend themselves to PLA?
 How much credit should be provided to students for demonstrating prior learning?
 What are the most effective approaches for assessing prior learning?
 Can PLA make LIS programs more inclusive, and can it serve as an effective recruitment tool?
 
 The following presenters will participate on the panel:
 Dietmar Wolfram (Moderator), Head of School and Associate Dean, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies (SOIS) will provide a brief overview of PLA and methods of assessment.
 Louise Spiteri, Professor, School of Information Management, Dalhousie University will discuss how Dalhousie’s School of Information Management (SIM) moved from an ad hoc process to an official PLA process for admission assessment for their Master of Information (MI) program, and how this has allowed SIM to broaden the students entering the program. The presentation will also discuss the experience of students who have entered this way.
 Sarah Beth Nelson, Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has led the University of Wisconsin System School Library Education Consortium where students can submit a portfolio to demonstrate prior learning in order to be exempted from three of the courses required for school library licensure.
 Chad Zahrt, Assistant Dean, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will outline how SOIS has been providing elective credit for non-credit workshops in relevant information technology areas to incoming students in the Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology program.
 Tomas A. Lipinski, Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will describe how SOIS is addressing the challenge of recognizing the knowledge of incoming MLIS students who bring substantial experience working in the field and how this may be assessed.

Where Are Disability and Accessibility in Library and Information Science Curricula?

While serving all library patrons is a core value of librarianship, patrons with disabilities are often overlooked. A contributing factor to this reality is that many graduates of Library and Information Science (LIS) programs feel ill-equipped to serve disabled patrons. This works-in-progress poster presents preliminary results from an analysis of 241 syllabi from 76 North American LIS programs to determine how often accessibility and disability topics are covered in curricula. The analysis also considers how courses prepare students to effectively advocate for and implement accessibility within their professional practice. Preliminary results indicate that accessibility and disability topics are infrequently covered in foundational or required courses. Consequently, students may never develop accessibility competencies during their programs of study. Preliminary recommendations include creating or revising learning objectives and assessments to prioritize accessibility education. Offering required and elective courses that incorporate service-learning and hands-on experience in topics such as user-centered design, accessible facilities and programming, and services to disabled patrons is critical.

Professional Competencies of Canadian LIS Graduates

This study aims to determine current competencies necessary for graduates of Canadian library and information science (LIS) programs. Perspectives from different communities of interest, including current students and graduates from LIS programs, staff and employers of LIS graduates, and library school faculty (full-time and contingent) from across Canada were gathered via a nationally disseminated survey in 2023. Competency areas include general skills as well as communication, user services, management, and technology. Early findings suggest the importance of established areas of practice, such as selecting and evaluating resources, while emergent areas of priority were also identified, including the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and understanding the responsibilities of libraries in decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation efforts.

Class Size Determination and Decision Making in LIS Online Education

The purpose of this study was to develop a national landscape of the decisions made by LIS programs regarding online course enrollment caps. Online education expands learning opportunities for all students and is particularly attractive to nontraditional students who are more likely to have employment and family obligations that make attending traditional face-to-face classes difficult. At the same time, online learning can exacerbate existing opportunity gaps between certain student groups, depending on how well-prepared students are for online learning. This survey methodology study investigated course enrollment caps and the reasons behind the limits placed by Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) programs nationwide, in an effort to identify ways online education structures at the University of South Carolina iSchool could be transformed to ensure a resilient future of diverse library and information science (LIS) professionals.

Exploring the Impact of Ungrading on Student Learning

In most academic disciplines and schooling contexts, grading practices tend to vary by individual instructor preferences and habits. The field of Library and Information Science (LIS) is no different, with grading practices and norms varying even within a particular program. Despite these variations in assessment, a unifying factor across all fields is the understanding of learning itself, and there is a great deal known about how people learn, regardless of discipline/course/program (Bransford et al., 2000). Bringing insights from the Learning Sciences, this study aims to investigate the impact of ungrading on student learning. Specifically, we primarily employ a qualitative approach informed by a sociocultural perspective of learning and human development. Our in-progress research aims to understand how ungrading, which involves eliminating or minimizing grades in the assessment process, affects students' learning and their learning experiences in the context of two IT-focused asynchronous courses in a library and information science program master’s program in the southeast of the United States. To gather insights about students’ learning experiences, data collection methods will include semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, with a particular focus on how students’ perceptions and experiences of ungrading impact how they learn. Pre- and post-hoc tests will be used to study learning mastery of course content. The findings will offer implications for research and practice related to how to best support LIS student learning, especially within the context of online, asynchronous, higher education courses.

Digital Cultural Heritage

Session 1: Preserving Memories during the Wartime: Ukraine
 Ulia Gosart, Assistant Professor, School of Information, San Jose State University
 The first session focuses on pedagogical strategies supportive of utilizing and preserving Digital Cultural Heritage. Presented in a case study manner, the panel connects experiences of digital preservation with development of relevant curricula. The case studies include preserving memories during wartime in Ukraine; African American cultural heritage in the southwest of the US; conserving traditional knowledge (TK) and indigenous knowledge (IK) within Indigenous communities in Western Pacific. Each Case can lead to innovative pedagogy possibilities be they emerging as components of traditional educational programs; or exist as elements of innovative teaching centers, and/or growing interdisciplinary collaborations.
 
 Session 2: African American Digital Cultural Heritage through the San Antonio Public Library
 DL Grant jr, Carver Library Branch Manager, San Antonio, TX
 Libraries now transcend more traditional services and resources offering informal gatherings and community events that uniquely uplift the various communities they serve. History harvests, as they are sometimes known, celebrate the cultural heritage of the users leading to preservation of archival matter via digitization. This San Antonio based case study touches on two such services: 1) oral history events that weave stories of the past and document as well as entertain; and 2) a funeral program collection gone digital, making researching African American cultural heritage easier to research. With so much as a cellphone phone one can connect to electronic representations that document families, communities, rituals, institutions and genealogy, to name a few. These library programs encourage donations and help to ensure survivability of cultural heritage.
 
 Session 3: Digital Cultural Heritage and Our Existential Threat
 Cecilia Salvatore: Professor, School of Information Studies, Dominican University
 In communities where their existence is threatened by global climate change, the need for a digital cultural heritage repository is stark and poignant. For example, the small island nations in the Western Pacific, which are responsible for only 0.03% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and yet they are disproportionally facing many of the threats of climate change head on. The communities on these islands are not simply passive towards what’s going on. They want to be equipped with the resources to tackle climate change. And they know that their own traditional knowledge and indigenous knowledge, which has been passed on for hundreds of years, is the most critical resource. The presenter describes TK/IK in the Pacific Islands, some current practices for preserving this knowledge, and the role of digital cultural heritage tools and methodologies.

Bridging the Support Gap

Over the past decade, U.S. teen mental health has declined rapidly. In the state of Florida, high rates of youth mental health challenges and lowered access to traditional mental health care has led to its ranking as the 19th worst in the nation. A “whole community” approach to mental health promotion has been advocated to address these concerns, and public libraries have been identified as potential partners in that endeavor. As part of its core competencies for library staff providing services to teens, YALSA has identified the importance of supporting teens’ emotional and social development through the provision of library programs and services that help teens cope with life’s challenges—an agenda that directly aligns with the CDC’s definition of mental health. But research exploring the perceptions and experiences of public youth services librarians in promoting this agenda is lacking.
 Using a mixed-methods approach consisting of surveys of and interviews with Florida public librarians responsible for providing teen library services and informed by Seligman’s Well-being Theory, the proposed research seeks to explore the perceptions and experiences of public librarians in promoting teens’ mental health in the library and identify any challenges or gaps in pre-service training/education in preparing them for this role.

An Assessment of Students' Knowledge Ambassadors Program in Promoting Usage of e-Resources in the Academic Library at Mzumbe University, Tanzania

This study assesses the Effectiveness of Students' Knowledge Ambassadors (Student Knowledge Ambassadors s) program in promoting the usage of subscribed e-resources in an academic library in Tanzania. Specifically, the study intended to identify the criteria used to select Student Knowledge Ambassadors in promoting the usage of e-resources, examine the performance of students' knowledge ambassadors in promoting the usage of subscribed e-resources and examine the challenges Students Knowledge Ambassadors face in promoting the usage of subscribed e-resources. A descriptive case study research design, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed in the study. Along with this, cross-sectional surveys and Focus group discussions (FGD) were employed to collect data. Whereas SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data, content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Important criteria considered in selecting students knowledge ambassadors to join the program include self-confidence, self-motivation, ICT competencies, and information search competencies as well as communication skills. The majority of students were aware of the student's knowledge ambassador. Various factors hindered the effective use of student knowledge ambassadors, including low internet connectivity, inadequate mentorship, inadequate funds, lack of incentives, inadequate ICT facilities, and misconceptions about the accountability of student knowledge ambassadors. The study concludes that in the qualitative findings, the best selection criteria for student knowledge ambassadors must be guided by well-written rules and policies headed by librarians depending on the activities. Similarly, the study concludes that there is a need to address multiple challenges affecting the effectiveness of Student knowledge ambassadors as well as improve viable strategies that aim to promote the effectiveness of students' knowledge ambassadors in promoting the usage of electronic resources. Based on the results, the study recommends the practice of the student knowledge ambassadors program in the university library across all faculties and at all campuses, as stated in the strategic plan.

Deep Surveillance System

This study has been undertaken to investigate and implement multiple detection systems into a single surveillance system and check whether the input videos may comprise and capture a variety of realistic anomalies or not. In this paper, we propose to learn various anomalies by exploiting both normal and anomalous videos and implemented it to new model. Real time object detection is a vast, vibrant and sophisticated area of computer vision aimed towards object identification and recognition. Object detection detects the semantic objects of a class objects using Open source Computer Vision, which is a library of programming functions mainly trained towards real time computer vision in digital images and videos. The main aim behind this real time object detection is to help the peoples to overcome their difficulty. Real time object detection finds its uses in the areas like tracking objects, video surveillance, pedestrian detection, people counting, self-driving cars, face detection, tracking in sports and many more. This is achieved using Convolution, Probabilistic Neural Networks, etc. which are a representative tool of Deep learning. This project acts as an aiding tool for peoples who wants to take care of everything inside, outside, and around their house just for their full security expectations. Surveillance is a must for small houses to large-scale industries as they fulfil our safety aspects because theft and burglary have always been a problem. By combining this Surveillance idea to IoT and some Machine Learning stuff this will be a major product. The proposed project is a single autonomous surveillance system, based on analysis and detection technology. The proposed system is capable of monitoring all actions at once and alerts the concerned officials immediately and precisely.

Pengukuran Indeks Literasi Digital di Perpustakaan Khusus Indonesia

The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has been measuring the level of digital literacy in Indonesia annually since 2020, but the measurement of the digital literacy index does not yet include the scope of libraries. This research focuses on developing a framework for the digital literacy index specifically for libraries, referring to the digital literacy frameworks of UNESCO, ITU, DigComp 2.1, and the DQ Institute. It also measures the digital literacy competencies of librarians and library users in specialized libraries. The objective of this research is to provide recommendations regarding the mapping of digital literacy competencies of librarians and library users based on the measurement results in order to improve the national digital literacy index. Specialized libraries were chosen because the majority of their services are provided digitally, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. The method used in this study is a quantitative method through surveys conducted with library users and librarians in specialized libraries in Indonesia. The results of this study include a specialized digital literacy index framework for the library environment, as well as the mapping of digital literacy among librarians and library users based on the developed index framework. The recommendations based on the findings provided in the conclusion of this paper emphasize the importance of enhancing librarian competencies through training or workshops, and curriculum adjustments to support the improvement of the digital literacy index for library and information science programs at universities.

Liaison librarian programs as described on U.S. college and university library websites

Case studies and surveys describing roles of liaison librarians and structure of liaison librarian programs have generally focused on libraries at large, research-oriented universities. This study was conducted to better understand the role of liaison librarians and the structure of liaison programs across more types of college and university libraries. Listings of liaison librarians on library websites at institutions with a wide range of enrollments were examined. Document analysis was used to observe how common it was for libraries to have such listings, how many liaison librarians were listed, what title was used for the position, what services were described, and if library employees not matched to university departments were also included in the list. Although there was substantial overlap in how institutions described their liaison librarian services, smaller and larger institutions had some noteworthy differences. Over 80 % of institutions with >5000 full-time equivalent (FTE) students had a liaison librarian listing on the library website, while less than half of smaller institutions had a listing. The largest institutions also tended to have more liaison librarians, frequently included subject specialization in liaison titles, and offered non-departmental services in their listings more often than smaller institutions.

How are Public Libraries in Alberta Responding to the Needs of Older Adults?

Despite the increasing number of adults aged 60 and older, there is a gap in studies of library programming and services aimed at this demographic in Canada, especially ones based in the western part of the country. This literature review will examine existing studies in the area of public library programming for older adults, as well as how these libraries are meeting the needs of older patrons in terms of issues pertaining to accessibility and accommodations.

PC Automation using Hand Gestures using Machine Learning

Pattern recognition and Gesture recognition are the developing fields of research.Hand gestures can add another dimension to contactless computer operating.Hence in this project, we develop a software which presents a system prototype that is able to automatically recognize gestures and runs pc commands for particular gestures.We are using python to develop our solution by using the integrated modules like cv2(OpenCV(cv2)-Open source computer vision is a library of programming functions mainly aimed at real-time computer vision.) and Mediapipe(detects hand and fingers data points.)

STEM Outreach Activities in Academic Libraries

Outreach in academic libraries is an important aspect of their mission to support campus communities, but the nature of these activities, and the steps taken to plan them, is not fully understood at the profession-wide level. This study aimed to start the process of gathering data on outreach, especially among those who serve STEM-related constituents, and to begin recording the effects of COVID on library programming and events. Surveys sent to representative librarians from Association of Academic Universities (AAU) members asked about their current outreach offerings and whether they utilized a formal outreach document to help plan and evaluate their efforts. Though all reported engaging in some sort of outreach, most shared that they had an informal approach to outreach planning. A majority reported that COVID required a shift in outreach, with staffing continuing to be a concern. Full results from the survey are offered, along with a discussion of the findings, and thoughts on the next steps towards a clearer understanding of the effects outreach has, and its role in, academic libraries post COVID.

National Gallery of Indonesia’s Website Evaluation Using WebQual 4.0

Although there is a lot of research on websites, there is very little research on art gallery websites in Indonesia. As a result, this study examines the quality of the National Gallery of Indonesia’s (commonly referred to as Galnas) website as a source providing information about the gallery by analyzing end-user perceptions through methods such as WebQual 4.0, importance–performance analysis, and customer satisfaction index (CSI). Fifty undergraduate and postgraduate college students in the Library and Information Science (LIS) program of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Indonesia were selected as respondents based on convenience sampling. The study found that compared to other sources of information, the Galnas website was chosen the least, but the overall services of the website met user expectations, as evidenced by a CSI score of 83.88% for undergraduate college students and a CSI score of 74.96% for postgraduate college students. This research contributes to the enhancement of the quality and accessibility of the Galnas website.

Discursive Fluctuations of the School Library Program in Chile: A Critical Policy Analysis

Abstract In Latin America, school libraries were founded based on the hopes of fostering democracy and reducing social and educational inequalities. Nevertheless, current dominant discourses relate school libraries more closely to the demand to improve academic results. In this article, we explore what we consider to be an intensification of neoliberal discourses about school libraries by studying the case of the Learning Resource Centres (Centros de Recursos para el Aprendizaje, CRA) in Chile, a program that has been exemplary compared to other Latin American countries. With a Critical Policy Analysis (Bacchi 2009. Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to be? Australia: Pearson, 2012. Engaging with Carol Bacchi. Strategic Interventions and Exchanges. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press, 2015. “The Turn to Problematization: Political Implications of Contrasting Interpretive and Poststructural Adaptations.” Open Journal of Political Science 5 (1): 1–12), we question the problems that the CRA produce and aim to solve and their transformations through time. We focus on four public policy documents tracing how school libraries are related to the global educational reforms of the late 1980s and the 1990s and how they are assessed in the 2010s. We read the documents sketching out three exclusions that, we argue, lay the foundation for a neoliberal intensification of the CRA program: the exclusions of pedagogical innovation, of other learning resources beyond books, and of the local community.