Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of beginning digital preservation efforts with restricted resources. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a case study approach, which is enhanced by advice from national experts in digital preservation. Findings – This paper details how Milner Library digital preservation advocates have approached the task by seeking collaborations, speaking to administration, participating in national efforts and starting with small steps. Research limitations/implications – As a case study, this paper is limited to one institution's experience with promoting digital preservation. Practical implications – This paper reviews basic misconceptions about and challenges with digital preservation. Many smaller or mid-sized institutions are left out of the digital preservation conversation because they cannot begin to meet national standards with restricted resources. Originality/value – This paper represents small and mid-sized institutions and the challenges of digital preservation. As well, the paper includes valuable insights from national experts in digital preservation.
In fiscal year 2017, The Ohio State University Libraries in Columbus piloted the purchase of research data sets to explore how to integrate this format into the standard workflows of the collections strategist and electronic resources officer. The pilot project had few restrictions except that one-time money must be used and purchases must be available to the entire campus community. This pilot enabled the libraries to purchase several large-scale data sets while exploring issues around licensing, technical deployment, support, and assessment in an organization without a data librarian. This article details the pilot process and outlines the resulting considerations for future purchases of data sets.
As new expectations emerge in librarianship, librarians find themselves engaging with researchers throughout the entire research process. This includes during early stages, when research outputs are in their infancy. This shift means that any librarian might be faced with a 'data question' and be able to assist without necessarily being a 'data' expert. As libraries approach professional development in this field, additional difficulties occur as data cannot be easily understood without context. Instead of attempting to comprehensively cover this broad, nuanced, and sometimes vague topic, the authors took a different approach. In order to place 'data' in definable contexts, the authors created local, real-world case studies to introduce this topic to the library. This article describes the professional development event, complete with case studies, their development, discussion questions, and observations. As faculty and staff answered guided questions, they self-identified the value of existing librarian capabilities such as the reference interview, information location, and referral systems. This enabled library faculty and staff from across the library to engage positively and proactively, without any extensive background in this field.
Do librarians with different characteristics, such as type of work responsibilities or age, have different learning styles? The authors analyzed results from over 1,500 responses to a version of the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire based on the Felder-Silverman Learning Styles model. This model consists of eight dimensions paired on four scales: Active/Reflective; Sensing/Intuitive; Visual/Verbal; and Sequential/ Global. In addition to their scores on the ILS questionnaire, respondents were also asked about demographic and professional characteristics. Statistically significant differences in learning style scores were found to exist between librarians with different types of position responsibilities. In particular, for three out of four scales, catalogers have statistically different learning styles than other librarian groups. Recognition of different learning styles and thoughtful integration of appropriate teaching styles may improve workplace interpersonal communication, enhance professional development and staff training, and strengthen teaching.he study and assessment of learning styles have been significant components of educational theory and practice for decades. Contemporary research of how the cognitive differences of students affect their ability to learn and retain new knowledge gained prominence in the late 1970s and became a major focus within many academic disciplines in the 1980s as several major theories and schools of thought were established.1 Although theories about learning styles are not without controversy, some key studies have shown learning styles do have a place within learning environments when tested in a valid way and used in conjunction with other established pedagogical theories and practices. In light of continued interest and study of learning styles, a group of academic librarians developed a research project to explore the learning styles of academic librarians. The key question of the project was: Do librarians of different professional groups, such as type of work responsibilities, have different learning styles? The instrument used for this research was the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire created by
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