Session #1: Specialized Information Needs and Solutions (Great Room C)
Moderator: Dr. Renate Chancellor, The Catholic University of America
On the Clock: Information Seeking Behavior of Lawyers in a Time-Constrained Environment
Presented by Dr. Renate Chancellor, The Catholic University of America
The acquisition of legal information is critical to how lawyers conduct their work. The use of information-seeking models as a theoretical lens to analyze user behavior has been exhausted in the scholarly literature. However, few studies examine the information seeking behavior of legal professionals. Hence, these models do not consider the demands of accessing legal information in a time-constrained environment. This briefing reports the results of a mixed-method study on the information seeking behavior of lawyers. It further examines a model (Chancellor, 2011) that serves as a basis for questionnaire development. Findings from this research will aid in the understanding of how legal practitioners access and obtain information in a law library setting.
The Self-Guided Trainee: Teaching Without Being There
Presented by Gretchen Sauvey, United States Institute of Peace
User education is an important function of many libraries, but it can be time consuming, difficult to schedule, and logistically challenging for libraries whose users aren't all located on site. One way to address these issues is to create training opportunities that are self-guided and help users get the education they need on demand, any time and any place. This briefing will provide a look at the materials created by the U.S. Institute of Peace knowledge management and library team to allow users to get the training they need while freeing up staff time. Examples of screencast videos, print and electronic handouts, and other online training resources will be provided. In addition, there will be a discussion of some lessons learned and best practices that other libraries can apply to creating or improving their own self-guided training programs.
Session #2: Digital Archives and Repositories (Great Room B)
Moderator: Dr. Youngok Choi, The Catholic University of America
Digital Archivists in Practice: A Preliminary Survey
Presented by Dr. Jane Zhang, The Catholic University of America; Dayne Mauney, Smithsonian Institute
Digital archivists - who are they, where do they work, and what do they do? To address these questions, the researchers of this study collected publicly available data containing information about practicing digital archivists in the U.S. This presentation will share some of the findings generated from a preliminary analysis of these data. To build the archives of the future, digital archivists have an important role to play. The results of this study will help define the curatorial roles of digital archivists, and contribute to a greater understanding of the collective efforts made by archival institutions in curating and preserving digital archival materials.
What Aspects Do Users Describe for Digitized Archival Resources as Tags?
Presented by Dr. Sue Yeon Syn, The Catholic University of America; Rebecca Morgan, The Catholic University of America; Dr. Youngok Choi, The Catholic University of America
The purpose of this briefing is to illustrate user tags that describe digitized archival collections for humanities domains. For the current study, we examined what attributes users described for historical and classical resources as tags, and whether tags in digital scholarly collections go beyond content description. From the user tag analysis, we aim to understand what information should be included when indexing archival and cultural resources for resource description and discovery, as digital archival collections have become vital. The study will help understand users' tagging behavior and resource interpretation in primary and historical resources in humanities.
The Hubble Space Telescope Data and Document Repository
Presented by Jill Lagerstrom, Space Telescope Science Institute
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Bibliography, created by library and data archive staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute, is a valuable resource for the astronomical community. This searchable publications database maintains links between the scholarly literature and astronomical data and is used to assess and characterize the productivity and impact of the Hubble Space Telescope. This briefing will describe the data curation process. It will also discuss the uses of bibliometrics to demonstrate the impact of open data, analyze the demographics of HST authors, and evaluate the productivity of the telescope's successful observing programs. Moreover, the project serves as a good example of librarians, astronomers and data archive staff working together to create a rich intellectual resource.
Session #3: Research for the Future of Federal Libraries (Room 331)
Community Engaged Research: Linking across the LIS Community
Presented by Jamie Stevenson, Library of Congress; Steve Short, Program Planning Specialist; Aaron Chaletzky, Program Specialist, Office of the Associate Librarian for Library Services; Noel Ivey, Researcher, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
In 2012, FEDLINK (Federal Library and Information Network) created a research agenda by bringing together librarians, information professionals, scholars, researchers, and thought leaders, across the library and information science (LIS) enterprise to help shape national priorities and a federal research agenda. This session will describe that research agenda and identify the priority areas for innovative investment through this community engaged research approach. The session will also identify the opportunities for potential collaboration across federal agencies but also with non-governmental organizations and professional associations and discuss FEDLINK's role as a consortium affords the opportunity to facilitate collaboration among stakeholders in LIS. Moving forward, FEDLINK plans to make its research findings publicly available and accessible to the LIS community so are able to utilize this information when making important decisions about services, programs and operations.