BCU Library

Google's search engine is a powerful and impressive tool for locating information online. Unfortunately for many students, the simplicity of the default search interface can lead to some pretty poor search habits and results.

The institution negotiates a deep discount off the list price of the textbook in order to have access to an e-text edition. In return for the discount, the university guarantees that every single student in the course will buy the e-text, which is charged like a lab fee. This is a definite change from the current textbook model, in which each student is personally responsible for showing up to class armed with the textbook, either in printed or digital form. As schools are discovering, as the prices of printed textbooks rise, so does the number of students who avoid buying the textbook. When we made this arrangement, we were considering, what does the publisher need to have, what does the author need to have, and what does the student need to have? You have to create a model, I think, that works out for all three of those pieces.

And now for something different.... In one of the strongest memories from my childhood I am an altar boy in the local Catholic church, serving at a special solemn Mass. My job is to hold the large red-leather-bound Missal, or book of prayers, in my hands while resting its top edge against my forehead.

One of the main conclusions of this research is that students are outsourcing much of the evaluation process to the search tools themselves, and because of this the search algorithms that drive these tools are functioning to determine what resources students use.  Differences in resource use attributable to differences in the design of the discovery tools' search algorithms could be directly observed in the data collected from students.

"The report summarizes and provides analysis based on the experience and impressions of senior administrators and deans from a range of institutions including research universities, small colleges, and community colleges."

There is so much potential for museums, galleries and libraries to think more broadly about how their collections can help and inspire anyone who needs them - whether it's artists, designers, business people or academics.

There's a lot less dust and grime in today's Wild West, but enough unknowns to compete in any new frontier. Case in point: A new electronic book project started by the Nebraska Department of Education with the goal of offering free instructional content to teachers across the state.

Completed in 2008 to the plan laid out in 1993, the Archive provides students and scholars with access to all of DGR's pictorial and textual works and to a large contextual corpus of materials, most drawn from the period when DGR's work first appeared and established its reputation (approximately 1848-1920), but some stretching back to the 14th-century sources of his Italian translations. All documents are encoded for structured search and analysis. The Rossetti Archive aims to include high-quality digital images of every surviving documentary state of DGR's works: all the manuscripts, proofs, and original editions, as well as the drawings, paintings, and designs of various kinds, including his collaborative photographic and craft works. These primary materials are transacted with a substantial body of editorial commentary, notes, and glosses.

"The following is an alphabetical list of library web pages that list experimental, beta, or trial web tools and services."

People want to collect and analyze data about what they do to help them reach their goals. Now that this is so easy we must consider how we can help them.

Deb, I think this would be right up your alley. He's asking a lot of the same questions you ask, with some interesting links on the last page to other resources. Sections: 1. Is higher ed too big to fail? 2. Innovators wanted 3. Think like a startup 4. Lean startups 5. Build, Measure, Learn 6. Three Essential Qualities 7. Too much assessment, not enough innovation 8. A strategic culture (not plan) 9. Microscopes and telescopes 10. Real artists ship

Bookmarking this so I can check back later to see if any presentation materials are added afterward.  Several presentations sound like they'd be awesome. 

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I would love to get this but cannot find any information about the difference between PDF and PDF Plus, and really don't want a whole new account just for this ebook. Why you so difficult, publishers?

Does the use of library print and digital collections correlate with course pass/fail rates, grades, or GPA? How does use of instructional tools or attendance at instruction sessions or workshops correlate with student success in the classroom? Using circulation data, online resource usage records, workstation login data, workshop registrations, and more, the University of Minnesota Libraries are attempting to answer these questions. To access the full presentation for this session, click on the "Download" button on the right.

Community colleges can improve graduation rates by offering a course that teaches students how to navigate college with lessons on study skills, time management and how to find the bursar's office. Yet while "student success" courses are increasingly common, resistance remains strong at many community colleges.

"This guest post comes from Daniel Jacobson, Director of Application Development for NPR. Daniel leads NPR's content management solutions, is the creator of the NPR API and is a frequent contributor to the Inside NPR.org blog." As I look at this beautiful flowchart (beautiful in function) of the NPR web publishing process, I wonder what libraries could learn from this method of information management.  This NPR process is designed to get the content out in a variety of ways, with options for the end user. How are libraries and library systems making this possible for our end users? 

"The goal of this article is to build on the assessment links Jarson provided. Her stated goal was to "guide readers to important resources for understanding information literacy and to provide tools for readers to advocate for information literacy's place in higher education curricula." In addition to the information on resources and tools, Jarson provided links to universities whose assessment tools were available for review on their Web sites. For this article, selected Web sites have been accessed and evaluated further. A handful of additional information resources have been profiled, including new Web sites that offer a variety of assessment tool formats."

I'm keeping this as an example for class presentations.  I don't know what it's an example of, but some day I will need this. I just know it. Found it again recently from a twitter thread.

This morning at 12:01 am Pew released their new report on the role of libraries in the digital age - title Libraries, patrons and ebooks. You can read the full report here and I encourage you to do so, there is a great deal of good data there.