Jeffrey Pomerantz

The current state of digital reference: validation of a general digital reference model through a survey of digital reference services

This paper describes a study conducted to determine the paths digital reference services take through a general process model of asynchronous digital reference. A survey based on the general process model was conducted; each decision point in this model provided the basis for at least one question. Common, uncommon, and wished-for practices are identified, as well as correlations between characteristics of services and the practices employed by those services. Identification of such trends has implications for the development of software tools for digital reference. This study presents a snapshot of the state-of-the-art in digital reference as of late 2001-early 2002, and validates the general process model of asynchronous digital reference.

The digital library as place

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a high‐level investigation of the physical‐conceptual continuum occupied by both digital and physical libraries.Design/methodology/approach – A framework is provided for thinking about the notions of place and library. The issue of materials and the ideas they represent is considered. Places for people are considered, including issues of peoples sense of place in physical and digital spaces. The issue of physical and digital spaces as places for work, collaboration, and community‐building is considered.Findings – As more digital libraries are built, and as more physical libraries offer electronic access to parts of their collection, two trends are likely to result: the role of the library as a storage space for materials will become decreasingly important; and the role of the library as a space for users, for individual and collaborative work, and as a space for social activity, will become increasingly important.Research limitations/implications – Digita...

A linguistic analysis of question taxonomies

Recent work in automatic question answering has called for question taxonomies as a critical component of the process of machine understanding of questions. There is a long tradition of classifying questions in library reference services, and digital reference services have a strong need for automation to support scalability. Digital reference and question answering systems have the potential to arrive at a highly fruitful symbiosis. To move towards this goal, an extensive review was conducted of bodies of literature from several fields that deal with questions, to identify question taxonomies that exist in these bodies of literature. In the course of this review, five question taxonomies were identified, at four levels of linguistic analysis.

Predictors of Retention and Achievement in a Massive Open Online Course

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been heralded as an education revolution, but they suffer from low retention, calling into question their viability as a means of promoting education for all. In addition, numerous gaps remain in the research literature, particularly concerning predictors of retention and achievement. In this study, we used survival analysis to examine the degree to which student characteristics, relevance, prior experience with MOOCs, self-reported commitment, and learners’ implicit theory of intelligence predicted retention and achievement. We found that learners’ expected investment, including level of commitment, expected number of hours devoted to the MOOC, and intention to obtain a certificate, related to retention likelihood. Prior level of schooling and expected hours devoted to the MOOC predicted achievement.

Curriculum development for digital libraries

The Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science (VT CS) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (UNC SILS) have launched a curriculum development project in the area of digital libraries. Educational resources would be developed based on the ACM/IEEE-CS computing curriculum 2001. Lesson plans and modules would be developed in a variety of areas (that cover the topics of papers and conference sessions in the field), evaluated by experts in those areas, and then pilot tested in CS and LIS courses. An analysis of papers on digital library-related topics from several corpora was performed, to identify the areas in which more and less work has already been performed on these topics; this analysis would guide the initial stages of this curriculum development

A conceptual framework and open research questions for chat‐based reference service

This article seeks to shift the literature on chat-based reference services beyond the current spate of case studies and discussions of emerging standards and best practices in providing chat-based reference, to a higher level of discussion on the creation and discussion of theoretical frameworks to unite these standards and practices. The article explores the various steps in the process of providing synchronous, chat-based reference, as well as issues involved in providing such service at each step. The purpose of this exploration is twofold: First, this article presents some open research questions at each step in the process of providing chat-based reference service. Second, the entire process of providing chat-based reference is viewed as a whole, and a model of the provision of chat-based reference service is developed at a high level of abstraction. It is hoped that this model may serve as a conceptual framework for future discussions of and development of applications for chat-based reference.

Evaluating Remote Reference Service: A Practical Guide to Problems and Solutions

This paper identifies key methodological issues affecting quality of data in the evaluation of remote reference services. Despite a growing number of studies in this area, no comprehensive effort has been made to identify potential problems and suggest solutions. The strategies proposed in this paper offer practical ways in which libraries can improve the overall quality and usefulness of data gathered in remote reference evaluation studies.

Factors Influencing Digital Reference Triage: A Think-Aloud Study

This article describes a think‐aloud study conducted to identify factors that influence the decisions made by digital reference “triagers” when performing triage on questions received by digital reference services. This study follows and expands on a Delphi study that identified factors that triagers agreed on after the fact of their performance of triage by identifying factors that triagers take into consideration during their performance of question triage. Thirty‐eight factors that influence triage decisions were identified, in eight categories. Eight of these factors are intrinsic to the question itself; the remaining thirty factors are extrinsic to the question, situating it in a context for the user and the service. These factors must be taken into consideration by any future system for automated triage.

Teaching digital library concepts using digital library applications

Many digital library topics may be taught using digital library applications, in the context of project-based digital library courses. Several digital library applications exist, and these applications are used as teaching tools to illustrate the functionality of digital libraries as well as the design decisions that go into them. Using digital library applications as teaching tools provides a valuable learning experience for students, and may provide useful feedback to the developers of DL applications. This paper identifies and explores DL topics that may most effectively be taught using DL applications, in the context of project-based DL courses.

The state of social media policies in higher education.

This paper presents an analysis of the current state of development of social media policies at institution of higher education. Content analysis of social media policies for all institutions listed in the Carnegie Classification Data File revealed that less than one-quarter of institutions had an accessible social media policy. Analysis was done by institution and campus unit, finding that social media policies were most likely to appear at doctorate-granting institutions and health, athletics, and library units. Policies required that those affiliated with the institution post appropriate content, represent the unit appropriately, and moderate conversations with coworkers and external agencies. This analysis may inform the development and revision of social media policies across the field of higher education, taking into consideration the rapidly changing landscape of social media, issues of academic freedom, and notions of interoperability with policies at the unit and campus levels.