Patron-driven subject access: how librarians can mitigate that “power to name”
Many librarians, such as Sanford Berman, criticize this language and suggest better language for subject access. But does this “better language” match how patrons search? In this article, I stress the importance of not only an equitable subject access, but one that is driven by our patrons through human subjects research. I will also discuss some strategies for patron-driven subject access, such as tagging systems. Read More
The Abbey Theatre Digital Archive: a digitization project with dramatic impact
The Digital Archive enables new types of research, including text and data mining, and has reshaped undergraduate curricula. It has also had a transformative effect on the Library as leader of the project. The role of the archivist has changed and partnerships with the academic community have strengthened. Read More
NASIG updates strategic plan
NASIG recently announced availability of the NASIG Strategic Plan 2017-2021. This new strategic plan reflects NASIG’s evolution from an organization primarily focused on serials management to one with a broader scope including electronic resources management and scholarly communications. Read More
Engagement Insights: Survey Findings on the Quality of Undergraduate Education – Annual Results 2017
Students in courses with more inclusive practices reported greater learning and engagement, according to new survey results released by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). About 3 in 5 college students said their courses emphasized sharing their own perspectives and experiences or respecting the expression of diverse ideas, while only half said their courses emphasized learning about other cultures or discussing issues of equity or privilege. Read More
Researchers’ Expectations Regarding the Online Presence of Academic Libraries
The article reports the results of a survey conducted among the Polish and Lithuanian academics concerning their information needs and expectations regarding academic library websites. The survey was realized using the technique of Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) on a group of scholars representing sciences and humanities or social sciences and was preceded by desk research consisting of literature review and analysis. Read More
Discovery Services: Libraries and Beyond
This reexamination of the roles of libraries within the community creates or develops a shared context which impacts both professional identity and advocacy efforts. While it is not clear the exact shape and scope of this crisis in the library profession, it is ‘real’ in that it has been meaningfully named, interpreted and enacted. The issue has been discussed coherently and cohesively in the international library community. Read More
Open Access and Predatory Publishing
Online connection is the fabric of contemporary life. We are all aware that the Internet and World Wide Web provide extraordinarily dynamic and virtually instantaneous options for communication and access to information. Scientific publication has kept abreast of this trend, and most published scientific and clinical work is available online. During the past decade, open-access publishing has become more prominent and can be a legitimate publishing model. In traditional journal publishing, users or consumers (readers) pay to access content (articles) through subscriptions or per-article fees. Read More
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Predatory Publishing but Were Afraid to Ask
Librarians have a key role to play in educating users about predatory publishing. Predatory publishing can be described as low quality, amateurish, and often unethical academic publishing that is usually Open Access (OA). Understanding predatory publishing helps authors to make more informed decisions about where to publish. In the process of educating our users, librarians can set the ground for important conversations that encourage critical thinking about the scholarly communications process. Read More
False gold: Safely navigating open access publishing to avoid predatory publishers and journals
The aim of this study was to review and discuss predatory open access publishing in the context of nursing and midwifery and develop a set of guidelines that serve as a framework to help clinicians, educators and researchers avoid predatory publishers. Read More
Predatory Publishing and Academic Integrity: A Perspective Statement on Retraction of Neurosurgical Publications: A Systematic Review
Despite the increasing awareness of scientific fraud, no attempt has been made to assess its prevalence in neurosurgery. The aim of our review was to assess the chronologic trend, reasons, research type/design, and country of origin of retracted neurosurgical publications. Read More