This article presents results from an exploratory survey (administered to more than 1,200 visitors at nine different online museums) that addressed questions about the role of museum websites in the lives of museum visitors. The results provide details about the use of museum websites before and after the museum visit, and indicate that online visitors frequently use museum websites to complement their visits to physical museums. The article helps museum researchers and professionals better understand the cyclical relationship that exists between museums and museum websites, and provides strategies for supporting the changing information needs of museum visitors before and after museum visits.

The production of scientific knowledge has evolved from a process of inquiry largely based on the activities of individual scientists to one grounded in the collaborative efforts of specialized research teams. This shift brings to light a new question: how the composition of scientific teams affects their production of knowledge. This study employs data from 1,415 experiments conducted at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) between 2005 and 2008 to identify and select a sample of 89 teams and examine whether team diversity and network characteristics affect productivity.The study examines how the diversity of science teams along several variables affects overall team productivity. Results indicate several diversity measures associated with network position and team productivity. Teams with mixed institutional associations were more central to the overall network compared with teams that primarily comprised NHMFL's own scientists. Team cohesion was positively related to productivity. The study indicates that high productivity in teams is associated with high disciplinary diversity and low seniority diversity of team membership. Finally, an increase in the share of senior members negatively affects productivity, and teams with members in central structural positions perform better than other teams.

This article presents results from an exploratory survey (administered to more than 1200 visitors at nine different online museums) that addressed questions about the role of museum websites in the lives of museum visitors. The results provide details about the use of digital museum resources on museum websites, and indicate that the majority of online museum visitors have clear expectations for the interactions that take place between museums and museum websites. The article documents the role digital museum resources play in the lives of museum visitors, and provides strategies for supporting the information needs of all visitors as they use digital museum resources, online and in-house. The lessons learned underscore the importance of taking a visitor-centered approach when developing digital museum resources, and the need for museum researchers and professionals to better understand how new information technologies have changed the way museums visitors approach museums and their resources.

Understanding the connections between scientific inquiry and digital literacy in informal learning environments is essential to furthering students' critical thinking and technology skills. The Habitat Tracker project combines a standards-based curriculum focused on the nature of science with an integrated system of online and mobile computing technologies designed to help students learn about and participate in scientific inquiry in formal classroom settings and informal learning environments such as science museums or wildlife centers. This research documents the digital literacy skills elementary students used while participating in the Habitat Tracker project, exploring the connections between the scientific inquiry practices they developed and the digital literacy skills they employed as they engaged with the Habitat Tracker curriculum. The results of this research have implications for researchers and practitioners interested in fostering both the scientific inquiry practices and digital literacy skills of elementary students in formal and informal learning environments.

This paper presents results from twenty-one semi-structured interviews with museum information professionals (MIPs) who were asked about their experiences working with information resources, tools, and technologies. Interviews were analyzed to determine 1) the challenges MIPs face as they adapt to changing technical capabilities and strive to meet the changing needs and expectations of museum users; and 2) the coping mechanisms MIPs employ on the job that enable them to deal effectively with those challenges. The paper presents the results of this analysis, exploring how MIPs cope with the changing nature of information work in museums by relying on thirteen different strategies, including assessing new technologies in relation to the museum's core mission, helping museum professionals embrace new ideas about information access and provision, and promoting internal practices that encourage the sharing of information and the integration of information science into museum work. The paper discusses the implications of these challenges and strategies for current and future MIPs, and assesses their impact on changing perceptions, roles, and research for information professionals in museums as they work to meet the information needs of all museum users. KeywordsMuseum informatics; museum information professionals; information work in museums.

To be effective and at the same time sustainable, a community data curation model needs to be aligned with the community's current data practices, including research project activities, data types, and perceptions of data quality. Based on a survey of members of the condensed matter physics (CMP) community gathered around the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, a large national laboratory, this article defines a model of CMP research project tasks consisting of 10 task constructs. In addition, the study develops a model of data quality perceptions by CMP scientists consisting of four data quality constructs. The paper also discusses relationships among the data quality perceptions, project roles, and demographic characteristics of CMP scientists. The findings of the study can inform the design of a CMP data curation model that is aligned and harmonized with the community's research work structure and data practices.

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