Heard about this dataset deluge that has been predicted? Wondering what your college can do? Hire a Data Information Strategist. At least that was Duke University’s answer to this issue. Read the interesting interview from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
News
If you embrace new technologies, then you’ve most likely heard of GoogleWave, the new communication tool that Google unveiled late 2009. But I have to admit I’ve had a hard time understanding how this tool can best be incorporated into the academic setting. There is help! The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the tool has already been used to bring multiple classes together.
“Think of it like bringing in a guest speaker. But with Wave, which is like e-mail but live and jazzed up with multimedia features, you can build online communities that link entire classrooms for a week or two. And you can do it without the administrative headaches of booking rooms or adjusting class schedules.”
Imagine the cross-disciplinary possibilities: conversations can be held between different classes, across disciplines and even internationally, without all the hassle of trying to get permissions set up via the existing course management system existing on campus. In fact, according to the article, this may be a “course management system killer”. Fascinating.
Full article on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus
The University of Rochester just announced their release of the 1.0 production version of its new open source institutional repository software platform, IR+. The University has been running IR+ in production since August 2009.
Among the features, I find the faculty profile pages and workspaces, faceted searching and the ability to set date-stamped embargoes most enticing.
Adoption of this technology will be interesting to watch.
Findings from an interesting study on the changing information delivery methods and approaches in libraries. Some findings from researchers:
- Evidence of a “container-neutral approach,”– discoverability and relevance trump form/format
- Decreased importance of “just-in-case collections” (i.e. keep copies of everything) and increased use of the “just-in-time” approach to keep up with user demand
- Greater use of outsourcing (e.g. purchase of shelf-ready pre-cataloged books)
Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education
What do students say about frustrations in conducting research in the digital age?
Check out this YouTube video, which draws upon the research findings from the University of Washington’s iSchool. Project Information Literacy studied the information-seeking behaviors, competencies, and challenges that young adults face when conducting research in the digital age. According to the study, over 50% of college students interviewed were frustrated with trying to find resources because they didn’t know how exactly how to go locating the information.
Sounds like a great opportunity for librarians to assist…
The American Institute of Physics just launched their version of facebook for Physicists: UniPHY. If you are a physicist and have published at least 2 papers with AIP, UniPHY has already generated a profile page for you including links to your work (exported from the Searchable Physics Information Notices database). According to the upbeat marketing video, this will be an easier method to discover and connect with scientists doing similar work.
More at: http://www.aipuniphy.org/Portal/Portal.aspx
[Thanks, Jeanine!]
According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life presentation, libraries will be presented opportunities in data curation, content evaluation and serve as trusted resources on copyright/privacy issues.
View more presentations from Pew Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Center.
An interesting study from ECAR (Educause Center for Applied Research) was released on Oct. 22. “The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009.”
The key findings are quite interesting. Here are a few of them.
· 79% of freshmen own a laptop one year old or newer.
· 2/3 of all students report owning a desktop or laptop 2 years old or newer.
· Almost 95% of students use the library website weekly.
· Over 90% students use social networking sites.
· Almost 90% students use text messaging.
· Use of instant messaging is down to 74% of students.
“Eager to attract digitally savvy patrons and capitalize on the growing popularity of electronic readers, public libraries across the country are expanding collections of books that reside on servers rather than shelves… ‘As young people become used to reading virtually everything online,’said Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, “that is going to propel a change in terms of readership of e-books rather than readership of physical books.” More in NY Times
Ever wish your library online catalog could search like Google? There are several groups out there attempting to bridge this divide, including open source initiatives like Blacklight and VuFind, and vendor-based solutions like Summon.
The problem with traditional search tools is that they “reinforce the idea that library users need a clear understanding of the different materials involved in research… such as the difference between articles and monographs. New interfaces that mix many different information sources blur all that…”
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education
