scholarly journals Academic Libraries Should Consider Deselection of Some Electronic Books

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Elizabeth Miller
Keyword(s):  
Academic Library ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
The United States ◽  
Collection Management ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Electronic Books ◽  
Library Collection ◽  
Content Relevance ◽  
Design Case Study

A Review of: Waugh, M., Donlin, M., & Braunstein, S. (2015). Next-generation collection management: A case study of quality control and weeding e-books in an academic library. Collection Management, 40(1), 17-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2014.965864 Abstract Objective – To describe and advocate for the development of a procedure to discard electronic books from an academic library collection. Design – Case study. Setting – Academic library in the United States of America. Subjects – 514 electronic books purchased from NetLibrary, a subset of 52,000 NetLibrary titles collected by the investigating library 2001-2007. Methods – The researchers examined a set of 514 electronic books in the health sciences and medical field, specifically for qualities such as currency and content relevance. An anecdotal case with limited validity, the goal was to articulate why a particular set of electronic books failed to meet the investigating library’s collection standards, and to remove these e-books. Main Results – A set of 514 e-books published by ICON Health Publications were found to be mass-produced, and displayed other notable problems, including age over seven years, outdated or irrelevant content, quality issues, and inclusion in an older platform no longer favored for e-books. The ICON Health e-books were removed from the library collection and, with some difficulty, the items were also removed from the vendor platform. The authors recommended an e-book weeding procedure that considers six potential problems: publication date; inclusion of defunct Internet links; mass production; low quality works by the same authors or publishers; e-book packages that appear to feature multiple low quality works; and e-books from early packages, which may have integration problems. Conclusion – Electronic books may take up little physical space but libraries should not ignore them when making deselection decisions because their content may be inappropriate for a library or for the disciplines the library serves. The ICON Health Publications e-book package is an egregious example of low-quality e-book content that the authors discovered and subsequently removed from their collection, offering a set of recommendations based on the experience.

scholarly journals Development of Deal- and Journal-level Metrics and Methods Assists Librarians to Evaluate Big Deals

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Kathleen Reed
Keyword(s):  
Research University ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Library Users ◽  
User Groups ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
The Cost

A Review of: Blecic, D.D., Wiberley, Jr., S.E., Fiscella, J.B., Bahnmaier-Blaszczak, S., & Lowery, R. (2013). Deal or no deal?: Evaluating Big Deals and their journals. College & Research Libraries, 74(2), 178-193. Objective – To assess the value of aggregated journal packages (Big Deals) and to select individual journal titles for continued subscription should a deal be cancelled. Design – Case study. Setting – Doctoral research university library in the United States of America. Subjects – Three anonymous Big Deals. Methods – The authors define metrics at two levels (deal and journal) to evaluate Big Deal packages. The metrics rely heavily on the COUNTER JR1 metric Successful Full-Text Article Request (SFTAR). Main Results – The authors found that while 30% of journals provide 80% of SFTARs, the cost of subscribing to these journals individually would not save significant sums of money. Additionally, they speculate that library users would increase the number of interlibrary loan requests to access the 20% of SFTARs that would be inaccessible if a Big Deal was cut, amounting to increased costs. Conclusion – With no sign of publishers moving to change the price and conditions of Big Deals, these arrangements are becoming unsustainable for libraries. As this occurs, librarians require methods of assessing which deals to keep and which to cut, as well as evidence of to which individual journals they should subscribe. The authors of this paper set out one method of conducting these assessments that they have found to be useful at an academic library. They conclude by stating that even with SFTAR data, individuals must keep in mind the necessity of providing equitable access to all of a university community’s user groups.

The secret lives of ebooks: A paratextual analysis illuminates a veil of usage statistics

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-318
Author(s):  
Jonathan H Harwell ◽  
Erin Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Electronic Books ◽  
Library Collection ◽  
Industry Standards

This study applies the method of paratextual analysis to six electronic books, or ebooks, in an academic library collection at a small liberal arts college. Two books are selected from each of three platforms: ebrary, EBSCO, and SpringerLink. The characteristics of each book are described, including design and readership, as well as 2 years of usage statistics from the specific library, and altmetrics where available. The paratextual study leads to a closer investigation of the usage statistics themselves and concludes that despite industry standards, they are not calculated consistently across vendor platforms and that while these data are invisible to researchers outside of the library, there are also essential elements that librarians mistakenly take at face value when comparing ebook usage from multiple vendors.

Gendered differences in emigration and mobility perspectives among European researchers working abroad

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Scheibelhofer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Highly Skilled

This paper focuses on gendered mobilities of highly skilled researchers working abroad. It is based on an empirical qualitative study that explored the mobility aspirations of Austrian scientists who were working in the United States at the time they were interviewed. Supported by a case study, the paper demonstrates how a qualitative research strategy including graphic drawings sketched by the interviewed persons can help us gain a better understanding of the gendered importance of social relations for the future mobility aspirations of scientists working abroad.

The Case Study of Technology Leakage in Cyber-Physical Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-173
Author(s):  
Min-Su Jung ◽  
◽  
Hang-Bae Chang
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space

Emplacing Berlin: Digital Itineraries and Short-term Study Abroad in the City

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Apgar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
The City

As destination of choice for many short-term study abroad programs, Berlin offers students of German language, culture and history a number of sites richly layered with significance. The complexities of these sites and the competing narratives that surround them are difficult for students to grasp in a condensed period of time. Using approaches from the spatial humanities, this article offers a case study for enhancing student learning through the creation of digital maps and itineraries in a campus-based course for subsequent use during a three-week program in Berlin. In particular, the concept of deep mapping is discussed as a means of augmenting understanding of the city and its history from a narrative across time to a narrative across the physical space of the city. As itineraries, these course-based projects were replicated on site. In moving from the digital environment to the urban landscape, this article concludes by noting meanings uncovered and narratives formed as we moved through the physical space of the city.

‘A Routh O’ Auld Nick-Nackets’ – the antiquarian collection of John Rae

2015 ◽  
Vol 36-37 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-183
Author(s):  
Paul Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Case ◽  
National Museums ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

John Rae, a Scottish antiquarian collector and spirit merchant, played a highly prominent role in the local natural history societies and exhibitions of nineteenth-century Aberdeen. While he modestly described his collection of archaeological lithics and other artefacts, principally drawn from Aberdeenshire but including some items from as far afield as the United States, as a mere ‘routh o’ auld nick-nackets' (abundance of old knick-knacks), a contemporary singled it out as ‘the best known in private hands' (Daily Free Press 4/5/91). After Rae's death, Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland, the University of Aberdeen Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, as well as numerous individual private collectors, purchased items from the collection. Making use of historical and archive materials to explore the individual biography of Rae and his collection, this article examines how Rae's collecting and other antiquarian activities represent and mirror wider developments in both the ‘amateur’ antiquarianism carried out by Rae and his fellow collectors for reasons of self-improvement and moral education, and the ‘professional’ antiquarianism of the museums which purchased his artefacts. Considered in its wider nineteenth-century context, this is a representative case study of the early development of archaeology in the wider intellectual, scientific and social context of the era.

Varied Responses to Human-Induced Seismicity in the City of Azle, Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Status

Fracking has helped to usher in an era of energy abundance in the United States. This advanced drilling procedure has helped the nation to attain the status of the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world, but some of its negative externalities, such as human-induced seismicity, can no longer be ignored. The occurrence of earthquakes in communities located at proximity to disposal wells with no prior history of seismicity has shocked residents and have caused damages to properties. It has evoked individuals’ resentment against the practice of injection of fracking’s wastewater under pressure into underground disposal wells. Though the oil and gas companies have denied the existence of a link between such a practice and earthquakes and the local and state governments have delayed their responses to the unforeseen seismic events, the issue has gained in prominence among researchers, affected community residents, and the media. This case study has offered a glimpse into the varied responses of stakeholders to human-induced seismicity in a small city in the state of Texas. It is evident from this case study that although individuals’ complaints and protests from a small community may not be successful in bringing about statewide changes in regulatory policies on disposal of fracking’s wastewater, they can add to the public pressure on the state government to do something to address the problem in a state that supports fracking.

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