Glenn Masuchika

One-Shot Library Instruction and Cambourne's Theory of Learning

Librarians who teach one-shot library instruction classes (one-time, one- to three-hour classes to students who are assumed to be novice researchers) are often torn between two pedagogic approaches: a “critical mass” pedagogy emphasizing a minimum amount of databases that must be introduced with little time for student searching, and a “use-oriented” pedagogy emphasizing the introduction of one or two databases, with the instructor providing adequate time for the student to hone their search skills through in class work time that provides for interaction with the librarian. Drawing from the learning theory of Brian Cambourne, we compare the two pedagogic approaches and argue that a use-oriented approach is a better match to Cambournes Conditions of Learning, but that without certain preparations of and expectations from the student, librarians will struggle with both approaches in these one-shot library instruction sessions.

Applications of Business Presentation Techniques to One-Shot Library Instruction

One can think of one-shot library instruction sessions as a way to introduce the academic librarys resources to first-year students to help them with their research. These classes can also be thought of as an opportunity to “sell” the entire library and its resources to the student. This article will propose suggestions that can be adopted by library instruction librarians based on the recommendations and practices of business marketing practitioners and entrepreneurs who depend on one-shot “selling” meetings to convince their audience to “buy” their wares.

Profiles in Science for Science Librarians: “Now We Are All Sons of Bitches!”: The Atomic Life of Kenneth Bainbridge

Kenneth Bainbridge was one of numerous physicists working from 1943 to 1945 on the creation of the atomic bombs for the Manhattan Project. However, unlike the many other physicists at Los Alamos, New Mexico, who worked on their atomic theories on paper, Bainbridge was an engineer, and he was placed in charge of the actual “Trinity” test—to make the bomb into reality. Much of the success of launching the world into the atomic age was his. However, today he is almost completely forgotten. This article is a reintroduction of the many accomplishments of this man and of his seven-word expletive.

Problems of scholar-created, synonymous subject terms in Buddhism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that scholars who choose not to use a well-established or acknowledged transliterated subject term, and instead decide for themselves to use synonyms, further complicate the process of doing comprehensive searches and greatly limit the ability to retrieve many pertinent works. In the research into world religions, there are transliterated words of a religious concept that can be used as subject terms. However, scholars in world religions have often not chosen the transliterated word, and instead have adopted words they believe are adequate synonyms of the transliterated word and use them to categorize their professional work. This paper shows how this practice severely lessens the ability to retrieve all pertinent work and causes problems for both world religion scholars wishing to perform comprehensive searches and librarian cataloger deciding on the proper subject terms to include in the construction of citations. Design/methodology/approach – The Buddhist ...

Building by benchmarking

Abstract This article examines the methodology undertaken while investigating whether existing materials pertaining to Asian American Studies at The Pennsylvania State University Libraries could support a new academic program. Presently active academic subareas in the field of Asian American Studies were determined. Then existing collections of thirteen “benchmark” universities were examined according to these subareas and compared to the holdings of Pennsylvania State University Libraries. This method can evaluate the fitness of existing collections to new academic demands and serve as a tool for collection development by identifying present and future areas of academic study.