Search results

The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain over the course of a semester.

A rubric was developed for citation analysis of student-annotated bibliographies and final bibliographies. Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations (for first assignment only) and citation accuracy.

Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other.

This research is unique in its analysis of two separate bibliography assignments completed by first-year students over the course of a semester. It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.

This paper explores the academic reading behaviors of first-year students in an attempt to understand their experiences and develop potential reading interventions to support undergraduate students.

Researchers used qualitative research methods to elicit in-depth findings regarding reading behaviors. They interviewed fifteen first-year students who had completed a required writing course regarding their reading habits and used open coding to analyze interviews.

Investigators discovered that the narrative from national media that students do not read discounts the volume and variety of texts that students regularly interact with in a variety of contexts. Several themes emerged from the interviews: (1) Students like to read in a variety of designated spaces at any time of the day or night, (2) Students prefer reading in print, but mostly read online, and (3) Students reported difficult vocabulary as the most significant challenge in reading academic texts, but also reported emotional concerns regarding reading.

While previous studies have focused on factors such as format preference and time limitations that influence reading behaviors, this study contributes to the body of research looking at the reading behaviors of college students more holistically, providing new insights informing a range of library interventions to support student success in academic reading. In its use of student interviews, this study offers a student-centered contribution to the literature on student reading behaviors and considers the implications of these behaviors on librarian practice.

This analysis of chat reference transcripts assesses differences in how librarians and graduate assistants (GAs) incorporate teaching strategies in responding to chat reference inquiries in social sciences, health sciences, humanities, STEM and business/economics at a large, public R1 university in the United States.

Researchers with disciplinary assignments in five different subject domains conducted qualitative analysis of a purposive sample of 982 transcripts of chat interactions during four semesters in 2021 and 2022.

Some form of information literacy instruction (ILI) occurred in 58% of the transcripts, with slightly less teaching occurring in social sciences inquiries than in other subject areas. Of transcripts that included teaching strategies, search procedures predominated, followed by a mix of concepts and procedures, and the least with concepts only. Chat providers taught concepts specific to social sciences, health sciences and humanities, but not to STEM or business.

The study compares transcripts at one institution; findings may be most applicable to large, research institutions that seek to incorporate ILI in online reference services.

Chat reference training should include best practices for ILI relevant to specific subject domains for providers without background in those disciplines and recommendations for referrals to subject specialists.

Existing ILI literature does not address the question of how chat providers teach concepts rooted in a specific subject domain or offer a comparison of teaching strategies employed in different disciplines, by librarians versus GAs or staff.

The purpose of the paper is to measure the effectiveness of a highly interactive animated tutorial that aims to teach basic information literacy concepts to undergraduates and to determine which factors enhance online learning.

The tutorial was evaluated using 30 undergraduate students. Each test consisted of a pre‐tutorial questionnaire and a post‐tutorial questionnaire.

Data from the evaluative testing of the tutorial shows that the tutorial is effective in imparting information literacy concepts to undergraduate students. Students responded positively to the interactivity and game‐like nature of the tutorial.

The high degree of interactivity and the game‐like quality of the tutorial are key factors in its success. Thus, developers should aim to incorporate these elements into future online tutorials for undergraduate students.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the efficacy of two approaches to finding articles on a topic by measuring student perceptions of the ease‐of‐use of the search process and the perceived relevancy of search results retrieved using both a single multidisciplinary database and a federated search tool.

Students are asked to search both a federated search tool and a single multidisciplinary database, record their searches and respond to a series of quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their experiences with searching both search tools.

Study results indicate a slight preference for federated searching over single database searching based on perceived relevancy of results and likeliness of future use. Study data supports equal promotion of single database searching and federated searching to undergraduate students.

The results of this paper have practical implications for reference and instruction librarians teaching undergraduate students and library users in general to find the most effective, efficient and manageable approach to finding articles on a topic.

Previous research comparing federated searching to other research methods uses prescribed topics outside of an actual class setting, while this is a naturalistic study in which students searched for articles on a research topic of their own choosing for a required research assignment. A previous study compared federated searching to navigating and searching numerous databases. This paper compares a federated search tool to a single multidisciplinary database.

This study aims to provide an understanding of current practice and informs the further development of guides as key instructional tools. To assess the existing landscape of research guides as instructional tools, researchers examined the instructional content and associated media formats of online psychology research guides.

Researchers devised an instrument utilizing Standard Two of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL’s) Psychology Information Literacy Standards and inventoried the instructional content and associated media formats of a sample set of 36 psychology research guides.

Although online research guides offer a platform for presenting instructional content in myriad formats, it was found that the sample set of psychology research guides rarely incorporated instructional content.

Psychology course guides were not part of the sample set; it is possible that guide authors approach the addition of instructional content in course guides differently than in general psychology subject guides.

This paper provides an overview of how libraries are, or are not, using research guides as part of their instruction program. The researchers propose a framework for adding instructional content to psychology guides using Standard Two.

Considering the ubiquity of online research guides on academic library Web sites, little research on the existing integration of instructional content into guides has been published. This study offers a snapshot of current guide practice and proposes a practical, systematic and unique model for aligning information literacy standards with guide content areas which has not been proposed elsewhere.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact that several of these factors have on a consumer’s decision to hold a credit card, as well as those involved in determining the level of credit card limit.

Potential explanatory variables were identified in the literature, then used to build a binary logit model to test the impact of the card and consumer characteristics on credit card ownership. Data were collected via a structured interview of 409 consumers living in Hebei Province, China.

The results indicate that convenience in use, level of credit card interest rates, the application process, number of people in the household, a rewards programme, marital status, credit limit and age influence the likelihood of the respondent holding a credit card. Further, an anaylsis shows that the number of credit cards held, duration of holding a credit card, monthly credit card purchasing volume and having a degree at the tertiary level, are significantly and positively related to different levels of credit limit.

In summary, in order to attract more consumers to credit card use, the banks and credit card companies should consider making it more convenient for consumers to use their credit cards. Moreover, banks can increase their networking and degree of cooperation with merchants to increase the acceptance of payment by credit card. The most heavily used businesses such as supermarkets and smaller retailers, where consumers purchase goods frequently, would be good targets for banks’ attention. In addition, banks might also improve credit card reward programmes to make these more efficient and perhaps increase the size of the rewards customers can earn through card use.