This article reports on a 2012 survey of 2,578 library patrons at ATLA-affiliated libraries regarding academic reading habits and preferences. The research questions for the study were 1. To what extent is academic reading done as e-reading? 2. What features do participants value in e-books? 3. What library sources do patrons want made available to them electronically?The method used in the study was an online survey. Key findings were that half of respondents regularly read journal articles on a computer screen and one in five regularly reads or listens to e-books in their academic work. Seven out of ten participants stated that they would like libraries to provide reference works, Bible commentaries, circulating titles, and textbooks in electronic format. Students consistently embraced e-reading and library resources in electronic formats at a higher rate than instructors. The distinction between library-owned resources and those owned by an individual disappeared in the minds of many respondents. They wanted library-owned electronic resources to provide affordances (e.g., annotation functions) never found in print books. The author concludes that theological library directors should consider spending a significant proportion of their collection budget on electronic resources now, despite ongoing difficulties that academic publishers face in making a transition to digital publishing. The author also interprets findings in light of Fred Davis' model of technology acceptance.Whether or not people choose to use a technology and how they use it depends on their perceptions of the technology's ability to serve their interests. -J. Michael Spector 1 InTRoduCTIon I n 2013, reading is sometimes not what it has been for the last four centuries, an encounter between a reader and words on a physical page. As the variety and price of electronic devices drop and their capacities increase, many people in the world (not just the so-called developed world) now read on the screens of e-readers, smart phones, and computers. A veritable "digital shift" is underway in libraries 2 and continues at a breakneck pace. In 2006, an Ithaka study reported that "the reading technologies and collections available at present are limited and, at this time, there seems to be little sense among librarians and faculty that e-books will have the same transformative effect as electronic journals." 3 By 2010, Ithaka researchers were asking academic library directors detailed questions about which model or models they preferred to access scholarly monographs as e-books, with 1
To increase understanding of how Master of Divinity education actually functions and to respond to accreditors' emphasis on the outcomes of learning, this paper presents a research-based model that focuses on how M.Div. education transforms students. The students-in-seminary model is conceptually undergirded by life course theory. In the model, students attending seminary engage in a messy process in which they respond to competing demands of school, church, and family. The author compares the students-in-seminary model with the dominant message model for theological education articulated by Carroll et al. (1997) and argues that the students-in-seminary model more adequately describes the process of theological education. The author calls for further research to study how seminaries promote key messages to their students, the plasticity of students' sense of calling, the impact of church requirements on M.Div. students, and the complexity of life for multiple-role students.
Using interactive qualitative analysis, this study explored how students at one mainline seminary conceptualized their process of writing research papers. The research questions were [1] What themes do seminary students use to describe their research process? [2] How do seminary students relate these themes into a system of thought (mindmap)? [3] How do seminary students decide to stop gathering information during their research process? [4] How are other people involved, if at all, in the information gathering that students do? Based on group and individual interviews, the authors identified six themes of doing research. The process included self-care, a preparation phase, information gathering, managing time, writing a draft, and revising. The aspects of the process that influenced most others were self-care and time management. The most common reasons reported for ending research were having enough information to complete the assignment and time constraints. Participants reported that they sometimes consulted professors and classmates as well as librarians when they gathered information. Students conceptualized the research process as a flow of influence that starts with intending, includes gathering information, and culminates in composing a product. Findings of the study support the continued need for building local collections, information literacy training, and the desirability of breaking the standard research assignment into a series of logically connected staged assignments. The authors propose a model of faculty-librarian collaboration in which librarians serve as research mentors. InTRoduCTIonT heological libraries typically have students and faculty members as their primary users. Such libraries understand their principal mission as meeting information needs related to degree programs and research. 1 However, few empirical studies have reported on the information-seeking behavior or mindset of students in the context of graduate theological education. This study intends to gain increased understanding of how master's-level students studying theology discover and use information sources as they conduct research.Learning more about how seminary students understand the information-seeking and research process will directly benefit two audiences. First, increased understanding of the student research process will benefit theological librarians, who shape onsite collections, provide access to digital information sources, and provide information literacy training to students. In the current environment stressing accountability for education at all levels, it is not enough for librarians to see the work of theological libraries as serving "intrinsic values and goods." 2 Rather, librarians
. This research report interprets data from a 1902 survey of directors of Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) programs regarding the competency of faculty members viewed through the interpretive lens of peer review. According to directors, faculty members are more competent in teaching theological reflection than in teaching social science methods, despite the expectation that such methods are part of D.Min. education. The article discusses implications of the data for improving faculty performance, and suggests how the concept of critical friendship might assist those who teach in religious studies to give and receive criticism from peers. The article concludes with suggestions for further research in D.Min. education.
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