This article investigates the information seeking behavior of undergraduate economics students to determine their effectiveness in locating data sets for a multiple regression analysis assignment and seeks to discover how students pursue the process of learning to find and use data. A study was conducted in fall and spring 2015 to find out (1) what influences affect students’ ways of seeking data sets; and (2) what changes occur over the course of students’ data search. The findings say that while only about 10% of students started with the library, either a library database or a librarian, nearly half eventually used the library in some form for this course project. The conclusion reached as a result of the survey was that undergraduates have widely varying data search concepts, that more of the students look for personal interest data than business discipline data, and that the searching part of economics students’ first regression project can add a noticeable amount of time to the assignment before they can even get started working on the regression itself. Included are ideas for further research and ways to reach students before data searching gets frustrating, as well as thoughts on how to structure data search learning and how to use insights into student behaviors to overcome the reluctance of some faculty.
Library organizations exist to provide professional development, networking, and service and presentation opportunities to librarians. Yet membership in many library organizations is declining. A survey of business librarians from all types of libraries provided data on benefits of membership. Respondents identified characteristics of successful organizations as well as reasons for their disappointments. Quality programming and training, networking opportunities, and member engagement were positives while poor communication and a lack of opportunities to get involved were the most common concerns. The article concludes with four recommendations on ways library organizations can remain relevant, useful, and valued to their members.
BLINC stands for Business Librarianship in North Carolina. Fourteen public, special, and academic librarians created this group in 2003. In that year, BLINC began its tradition of hosting workshops every three months across the state. Each workshop is free and everyone is invited to attend. The workshops feature peer-mentoring and peer-training on business research resources, services, instruction, programming, outreach, and professional development, with occasional guest speakers. Welcoming new members, networking, and socializing remain core to BLINC's culture. This case study concludes with a short interview of the current chair of BLINC regarding how COVID-19 is impacting the organization.
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