An Analysis of Academic Library 3D Printing LibGuides

3D Printing is increasingly becoming a popular service provided by academic libraries throughout the United States. Many patrons have little or no awareness of this subject matter, so library staff have created LibGuides to promote resources. One hundred LibGuides from academic libraries were analyzed to find which types of resources and which specific titles are being promoted surrounding the subject of 3D printing. Three types of resources emerged in this study: 3D printing and 3D modeling software titles, 3D model repositories, and books related to 3D printing. This article lists and analyzes 3D printing resources.     

Reference in 160 Characters or Less: The Role of Text Messaging in Virtual Reference Services

This study focuses on how and why academic library patrons choose text message reference, particularly when other mediums are available. Researchers evaluated three years of text reference data to assess the peak usage times, types of questions received, the number of unique and repeat users, and the complexity of questions. Our analysis of data shows that text reference can fill a role within virtual reference services. We further identify reasons why text message services have not seen greater use, including students’ lack of awareness, limitations of the medium, and patron satisfaction with other modes of reference.     

NRC Clients' Perceptions of Electronic Resources and Use of CISTI's Virtual Library

ABSTRACT

This article presents results relating to perception and usage of CISTI's two-year-old Virtual Library in a research environment. Research and technical officers of the National Research Council of Canada were surveyed. The results indicate that research staff are favorably inclined toward the use of electronic resources, with some differences accorded to its use by the two client groups studied. Surprisingly, research staff accept the possibility of serendipity in a digital environment. There is a positive correlation between usage of digital resources and perception and training levels, while a correlation between presence of an onsite traditional library with usage of electronic resources is not supported. Data collected will be used to assist in the redesign of the site and related training efforts.     

Applying Learning Style Theory to Web Page Design

ABSTRACT

Library Web sites can be instructional tools, especially for those patrons who utilize library resources from their homes. Many libraries are developing online tutorials, but there is an opportunity for Web instruction on another level. The organization and design of a Web site can act as an instructional tool in itself. This paper is a call to library Web designers to assess their work in terms of learning style preferences. Learning style theory is based on how people process information and learn new material. Applying these ideas to Web page design can make library resources more accessible and improve the patron's comprehension of how the library works.     

Next Generation University Library Information Systems Based on Cooperative Learning

An integrated library information system is a resource planning system for a library, used to track resources owned, bills paid, orders made, and patrons who have borrowed. In our research, we focused on university library information systems (ULISs). We identified an important research question regarding their main limitation in offering intelligent help to the students in their documentation/learning. We identified the importance of the endowment of ULISs with artificial intelligence. In this article, we analyzed different aspects related to the presence of computational intelligence in ULISs and intelligence of ULISs. Finally, we proposed a complex next generation ULIS based on a hybrid cooperative learning, being able to offer an intelligent help for personalized learning of students. We defined some novel paradigms in the context of a novel kind of cooperative hybrid personalized learning, such as learning role and sub-role; and learning intelligence level.     

Nursing Student Library Usage Patterns in Online Courses

ABSTRACT

This study looked at patterns of online library usage of a sample of undergraduate nursing students (n = 82) from a medium-sized southeastern university. Specifically, information-seeking behaviors of nursing students related to electronic or remotely accessible resources (i.e., electronic databases) compared to physical library resources (i.e., reference books) were examined. Additionally, this study further investigated students' preferred methods for seeking additional assistance and information about library research, as well as overall satisfaction and usage patterns relating to library tools and assistance by librarians or other school personnel. Results indicate that these undergraduates preferred electronic resources (with particular emphasis on electronic databases) to traditional, in-person research. Other relevant findings and suggestions relating to electronic access and training with library tools are provided.     

A new framework for understanding educational digital library use: re-examining digital divides in U.S. schools

Despite their decade of deployment, educational digital libraries have not achieved sustained use in elementary and secondary schools in the United States. Barriers to accessing the Internet and computers have been widely targeted by myriad initiatives, but efforts aimed at bridging this first-level “digital divide” have not led to increased use of the Internet and digital library resources in U.S. classrooms. In fact, such programs have revealed additional divides that affect educators’ use. This paper examines the additional digital divide levels and proposes a new framework for understanding technology innovation in schools that can improve development and outreach approaches by digital library developers.     

Focus on User Experience: Moving from a Library-Centric Point of View

Academic libraries gain information about their users in many ways. Long a standard practice in the technology industry, studies in the form of usability tests and other user-centered methods seek to determine if software products meet end user needs. Libraries have availed themselves of user-centered techniques borrowed from technology to test webpage interfaces and other library technologies. This article aims to describe the technology foundations of user-centered techniques and their evolution in libraries. Snapshots of position postings, user experience departments, comparisons of methods, library-centric thinking, and service design efforts illustrate libraries’ status in addressing user experience for their patrons.     

Using distributed objects to build the Stanford digital libraryInfobus

For digital libraries to thrive, the providers of information processing services must be able to evolve their systems autonomously. However, as the complexity of their offerings increases, software tools more sophisticated than existing Web facilities are needed. Distributed object technology may be the answer. The availability of high-volume, increasingly sophisticated information is making the need for metadata facilities more urgent. Traditional, library-based approaches break down when used in an advanced digital library. More modular mechanisms are needed, and the CORBA system is one approach. Digital libraries are affected at a deep technical level by the widely differing user traditions of Web users and library patrons. The challenge and opportunity of digital libraries will be the synthesis of these traditions. The authors set out to create a technical infrastructure to support the construction of digital libraries. In their view, a digital library comprises widely distributed resources that can be maintained autonomously by different organizations and will not require adherence to uniform interfaces     

Accessibility of public library websites in the United States

Universal Access in the Information Society - This study sought to assess how accessible public library websites are to patrons with disabilities, understand the types of accessibility errors that...     

Video Clip Reference: The Medium is the Message

Compared with competing information portals, library Web sites lack substantial video clip content. There is a gap between the experience offered by commercial Web sites and the experience offered by library Web sites. The message of any medium or technology, according to Marshall McLuhan, is the change of scale, pace, or pattern that it introduces into our existence. Instructional video on demand offers speedy learning when you need it. Librarians and vendors are beginning to address the need of libraries for video via screencasting technology. Product training and support is moving from exclusively textual materials to a mix of text and video clips. The medium offered to patrons has a message. Libraries are finally hearing it and acting on it.     

Communication,Face Saving,and Anxiety at an Academic Library's Virtual Reference Service

This study investigates the communication between patrons and librarians at a large research university's virtual reference service. Reference transactions were analyzed for type of transaction and evidence of deflection, deference, and rapport building to determine if face-saving communication by librarians appeared to lower patrons’ stress and anxiety levels during the course of the virtual reference transaction. The transactions analyzed showed that despite the fact that few patrons self-disclosed feelings of library anxiety, there was evidence of deferential speech and rapport building, two essential elements of face saving, between patrons and librarians.     

Striking a Balance: Effective Use of Facebook in an Academic Library

As one of the fastest growing social networking sites, Facebook presents librarians with a prime opportunity to engage academic library patrons. A survey of 136 users at Western Michigan University (WMU) measured the effectiveness of Facebook as a marketing, reference, and instruction tool. It also measured user comfort and satisfaction with a library's presence on Facebook. The majority of respondents found Facebook to be a useful and engaging medium to learn about library resources and services. The results of this study indicate that an effective library Facebook page must maintain a balance between providing pertinent and useful information and preserving patron privacy. In a second study also included in this article, data from a survey of 14 peer institutions of Western Michigan University positions WMU's local survey within the context of their peer's use of Facebook. The survey of peer institutions concludes that most libraries use Facebook for marketing and outreach purposes.     

Integrating Library Services

ABSTRACT

The migration of information resources and library use from predominantly print/on-site use to electronic/online use has created a fragmented set of systems for libraries and users. In addition, the growing complications associated with doing research in libraries as compared to the ease of use of Web-based search engines is causing libraries to review system design and review their approach to the provision of information and services. Popular trends including information portals, federated/meta-search systems, and link resolvers are being used in attempts to re-integrate library systems and provide better search interfaces. Despite their advantages, each of these applications falls short of creating the seamless experience that patrons are becoming used to finding on the Web. As a possible solution to this, a specific suggestion of an information service based Web service application is discussed to help connect users to libraries at a point of information need. doi:10.1300/J136v12n03_10     

可重用的安全特性研究

提出采用面向特性编程技术解决安全功能代码可重用问题。介绍了一个提供安全功能的可重用特性库的基本实现。该特性库基于AspectJ和Java的安全包实现,包含了典型的安全机制。介绍了安全特性库的原理、结构和使用,并给出了一个基于安全特性库实现的实例。讨论了安全特性库在重用性和通用性方面的优缺点,以及下一步的研究方向。     

数字资源跨平台整合系统的设计与实现

为进一步提高图书馆大量数字资源的整体使用效率,提高数字资源和馆藏文献的检准率和检全率,解决现有馆藏检索系统难于跨平台运行的问题,提出了一种新的图书馆数字资源参数模型：在研究都柏林核心元数据DC字段和常用的MARC数据格式之间的映射关系基础上,给出了数据库概念模型的设计方法,实现了整合图书馆馆藏文献和本地其他信息资源的跨平台原型系统DRMS,并从开发目标、框架设计、开发平台等方面概述了系统的设计思想。最后,以C＋＋和Qt应用程序框架作为系统开发语言,完成了DRMS的数据管理模型设计、软件开发和系统功能,为用户提供了多平台操作系统下的统一人机交互界面和检索方法。     

Dialogue Cell Resource Model and Basic Dialogue Cells

A model for the handling of resources used in interactive programs, with emphasis on the input device part, is developed. Its connection to the I/O pair model and its usage in the dialogue cell system is described.
The definition and properties of basic dialogue cells are given. A method for constructing a basic cell library is presented. A number of results from the application of the resource model on a basic cell library is shown.     

An unsupervised approach to online noisy-neighbor detection in cloud data centers

Resource sharing is an inherent characteristic of cloud data centers. Virtual Machines (VMs) and/or Containers that are co-located in the same physical server often compete for resources leading to interference. The noisy neighbor’s effect refers to an anomaly caused by a VM/container limiting resources accessed by another one. Our main contribution is an online, lightweight and application-agnostic solution for anomaly detection, that follows an unsupervised approach. It is based on comparing models for different lags: Dirichlet Process Gaussian Mixture Models to characterize the resource usage profile of the application, and distance measures to score the similarity among models. An alarm is raised when there is an abrupt change in short-term lag (i.e. high distance score for short-term models), while the long-term state remains constant. We test the algorithm for different cloud workloads: websites, periodic batch applications, Spark-based applications, and Memcached server. We are able to detect anomalies in the CPU and memory resource usage with up to 82–96% accuracy (recall) depending on the scenario. Compared to other baseline methods, our approach is able to detect anomalies successfully, while raising low number of false positives, even in the case of applications with unusual normal behavior (e.g. periodic). Experiments show that our proposed algorithm is a lightweight and effective solution to detect noisy neighbor effect without any historical info about the application, that could also be potentially applied to other kind of anomalies.     

It Takes a Library to Support Distance Learners

ABSTRACT

The Rochester Institute of Technology Wallace Library's philosophy is to create and provide resources and services that will support all users. Consequently, distance learners and distance faculty have a plethora of online resources available to them, some of which are “pushed out,” saving time and effort for the library user. The evolvement of Wallace's online resources is continuous, focused on the student or professor's research need from a geographic distance.     

Beyond Satisfaction: Investigating Patron Use of Reference Information

This study examines and categorizes common next steps patrons take with information received during reference encounters and examines implications for practice. In a qualitative user study, patrons at a large academic library were interviewed to investigate the criteria they used to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of individual reference encounters and to uncover what they did after the encounter with the information they received. Results indicate practical directions for staff training, marketing, outreach, and design of reference services to accommodate the full life cycle of patron research needs.