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There is a lack of data about information literacy (IL) credit courses in US academic libraries. This paper aims to provide a detailed snapshot of IL credit courses, including percentages of libraries that offer credit courses, the number of credits offered, the audience and how public institutions differ from private nonprofits and for-profits.

The authors surveyed a stratified random sample of libraries at higher education institutions across all categories from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Qualtrics software was used to create and distribute the email survey. The response rate was 39 per cent (n = 691).

In all, 19 per cent of the institutions in the survey have IL credit courses taught by librarians. Large institutions, public institutions and those granting doctoral degrees are the most likely to offer IL credit courses. The majority of these courses are undergraduate electives of 1-2 credit hours offered under the library aegis, although a significant minority are required, worth 3-4 credit hours, and taught within another academic department or campus-wide program.

The findings update previous surveys and provide a more granular picture of the characteristics of librarian-taught credit-bearing courses, the types of academic institutions that offer them and compensation teaching librarians receive. This survey is the first study of credit-bearing IL instruction to include for-profit colleges and universities.

Individual numbers of a serial title that are monographic in nature are sent to the Catalog Dept. for cataloging as analytics. Our Cataloging Micro Enhancer process works well with the analytics cataloging procedure since label production isn't required for analytics. The process also allows a backlog of “no copy” (i.e., no bibliographic record found) search keys to be maintained on the data disk for further searching.

With a call for increased accountability for student learning across higher education, it is becoming more important for academic libraries to show their value to the greater university community with the use of quantitative data. This paper seeks to describe the development of an information literacy test at the University of Arizona to measure student learning in an online credit course. In order to measure the impact of an online course, a test that was statistically valid, and reliable was created by local librarians.

The methodology involved administering test items to undergraduate students enrolled in an online information literacy course and applying both classical test theory and item response theory models to evaluate the validity and reliability of test items. This study included the longitudinal and cross‐sectional development of test items for pre and post‐testing across different student groups. Over the course of two semesters, 125 items were developed and administered to over 1,400 students.

The creation of test of items and the process of making test items reliable and valid is discussed in detail. Items were checked for construct validity with the use of a national standardized test of information literacy (SAILS). Locally developed items were found to have a higher than average reliability rating.

The process described here offers a method for librarians without a background in assessment to develop their own statistically valid and reliable instrument.

One of the unique features of this research design was the correlation of SAILS items with local items to test for validity. Although SAILS items have been used by many libraries in the past, they have not been used to create new test items. The use of the original SAILS test items is a valuable resource for instruction librarians developing items locally.

Purpose –  – To explore the searchability and search results obtained from the Central Search federated search engine product.Design/methodology/approach – Common keywords are used to test how Central Search processes the search query and how it categorizes search results by subject.Findings – Central Search offers a wide number of results but is not as effective in sorting results by subject.Research limitations/implications – The literature on federated searching is limited because of the products have only recently been released. More study is necessary to determine how effective Central Search and related federated search engines will be for more refined, subject‐specific searches.Practical implications – This assessment emphasizes some of the problematical aspects of federated searching in an academic library environment.Originality/value – Responds to the need for a practical demonstration of how federated search products such as Central Search actually perform searches and how they processes the myriad results they retrieve.

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA, 2005) provided a new legal framework for decision-making practice in England and Wales. This study aims to explore qualitative research on practitioners’ knowledge and experiences of the MCA in health and social care settings to inform practice and policy.

Four electronic databases and Google Scholar were searched in November 2019 for peer-reviewed, qualitative, English language studies exploring practitioners’ experiences and knowledge of the MCA in health and social care settings. Nine studies were included and appraised for methodological quality. Data were analysed using thematic synthesis.

Data revealed both positive aspects and challenges of applying the MCA in practice within five main themes, namely, travelling the “grey line”, the empowering nature of the MCA, doing the assessment justice, behaviours and emotional impact and knowledge gaps and confidence.

The fundamental principles of the MCA appear to be adhered to and embedded in practice. However, practitioners find mental capacity work remains challenging in its uncertainties. While calling for more training, they may also benefit from further MCA skills development and support to increase confidence and reduce apprehension.

This is the first systematic review to synthesise qualitative literature on practitioners’ experiences and knowledge of the MCA. Findings offer insight into practice experiences of the MCA and provide a basis for the development of training and supervisory support.

Despite general recognition of the benefits of talking openly about sexuality with children, parents encounter and/or create barriers to such communication. One of the key barriers is a desire to protect childhood innocence. The purpose of this paper is to explore parental interpretations of childhood innocence and the influence this has on their reported practices relating to sexuality-relevant communication with young children.

In all, 110 UK parents and carers of children aged between four and seven years were involved in focus group discussions. The discussions were transcribed and thematic network analysis was subsequently applied to the data. Following the reading and re-reading of the transcripts for meaning, context and content, individual comments and statements were identified within the data set and grouped to generate themes.

Childhood innocence was commonly equated with non-sexuality in children and sexual ignorance. Parents displayed ambiguity around the conceptualisation of non-innocence in children. Parents desire to prolong the state of childhood innocence led them to withhold certain sexual knowledge from their children; however, the majority also desired an open relationship whereby their child could approach them for information.

UK parents have a strong desire to maintain the social construction of their children as inherently innocent. This discourse is affecting the way in which they communicate about sexually relevant information with their children.

The cardinal point to note here is that the development (and unfortunately the likely potential) of area policy is intimately related to the actual character of British social policy. Whilst area policy has been strongly influenced by Pigou's welfare economics, by the rise of scientific management in the delivery of social services (cf Jaques 1976; Whittington and Bellamy 1979), by the accompanying development of operational analyses and by the creation of social economics (see Pigou 1938; Sandford 1977), social policy continues to be enmeshed with the flavours of Benthamite utilitatianism and Social Darwinism (see, above all, the Beveridge Report 1942; Booth 1889; Rowntree 1922, 1946; Webb 1926). Consequently, for their entire history area policies have been coloured by the principles of a national minimum for the many and giving poorer areas a hand up, rather than a hand out. The preceived need to save money (C.S.E. State Apparatus and Expenditure Group 1979; Klein 1974) and the (supposed) ennobling effects of self help have been the twin marching orders for area policy for decades. Private industry is inadvertently called upon to plug the resulting gaps in public provision. The conjunction of a reluctant state and a meandering private sector has fashioned the decaying urban areas of today. Whilst a large degree of party politics and commitment has characterised the general debate over the removal of poverty (Holman 1973; MacGregor 1981), this has for the most part bypassed the ‘marginal’ poorer areas (cf Green forthcoming). Their inhabitants are not usually numerically significant enough to sway general, party policies (cf Boulding 1967) and the problems of most notably the inner cities has been underplayed.

The purpose of this paper is to look at how customer input was used in a front‐end needs assessment to formulate a training package that covered the necessary elements of product use, and how the training material was presented in a manner best suited for the trainees and their perceived needs.

A quasi‐experimental study was designed to compare the number of help desk calls for groups trained using the needs‐based training approach with the number of help desk calls from the most recent training groups that were trained with the standard training package.

Groups trained using a training package developed around their initial perceived needs had significantly fewer help desk calls than those who received the standard training. The number of help desk calls was reduced by over 75 percent from previous training sessions.

Verification of transfer of training in other applications, with other products and other learner groups, would further validate that the needs‐based training approach is more effective.

All reasonable effort that can lead to more effective training will improve the customer's overall perception of the organization and will contribute to customer retention. Both customer satisfaction and retention are critical elements in the ongoing success of any company.

The demonstration of effectiveness and the utilization of assessment data for continuous improvement may have both practical and legal implications for the future; including enhancing customer satisfaction and retention, and reducing the likelihood of successful legal claims for negligence, particularly negligent training.