Jennifer E. Knievel

Citation Analysis for Collection Development: A Comparative Study of Eight Humanities Fields

This study analyzes 9,131 citations from the 2002 volumes of journals in eight humanities fields: art, classics, history, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, and religion. This study found that citation patterns varied widely among humanities disciplines. Due to these differences, it is important for librarians with humanities collection development responsibilities to consider each field separately when making collection development decisions. The authors investigated the language of sources cited in each field. Foreign language citations continue to be dominated by French and German. This study also confirms that, in most humanities disciplines, monographs remain the dominant format of cited sources, although some fields cited monographs less frequently than expected.

Library Databases as Writing-Course Anthologies : Implications of a New Kind of Online Textbook

Abstract At the University of Colorado Libraries, thousands of students are using a collection of readings drawn from our full text online databases. These readings were prepared in close collaboration with a large campus writing program. They are used in place of, or in addition to, a course textbook. Other libraries may want to consider similar projects, which will allow them to make use of the rich resources available from the library, familiarize students with library resources, and foster collaboration with campus programs. Projects like this encourage outreach from libraries to the university community, and help build strong ties with potential campus allies. This project may also have implications for course packs, e-re-serves, and student textbook sales.

Inorganic is Still Good for You: Building a Structured Group Mentoring Program for Librarians

Abstract It might be hard to know when one’s institution is mentoring its librarians well, but it’s easy to know when an institution is mentoring poorly. Poor mentoring can be a factor in individuals failing to advance and low retention, and can result in problematic workplace culture, while reinforcing structural inequities. At the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) we had an option paired mentoring system in place, but received consistent complaints about mentoring in internal/institutional assessments. Librarians also expressed difficulties in understanding the tenure process, finding opportunities to grow a satisfying career, and gaining familiarity with institutional culture and context. A task force was formed to investigate ways to better provide mentoring in the libraries. After investigating various options, the University Libraries put in place a structured group mentoring program that connects groups of 35 new librarians together with 23 senior librarians. New librarians are automatically added to a mentoring group upon arrival, and all senior librarians are required to participate as mentors. The program enables mentoring related to tenure, professional goals, work life balance, and institutional culture and context. A library committee develops potential discussion topics, group assignments, structure, open sessions, and program evaluations. The group mentoring approach imparts numerous advantages not shared by other structures.

Alignment of Citation Behaviors of Philosophy Graduate Students and Faculty

Objective – This study analyzes sources cited by graduate students in philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) in 55 PhD dissertations and master’s theses submitted between 2005 and 2010, to discover their language, age, format, discipline, whether or not they were held by the library, and how they were acquired. Results were compared to data previously collected about sources cited by philosophy faculty at UCB, in books published between 2004 and 2009, to identify how closely citation behaviors aligned between the two groups. Methods – Citations were counted in the PhD dissertations and master’s theses. Citations to monographs were searched against the local catalog to determine ownership and call number. Comparison numbers for faculty research were collected from a previous study. Results were grouped according to academic rank and analyzed by format, language, age, call number, ownership, and method of purchase. Results – Graduate students cited mostly books, though fewer than commonly found in other studies. Citations were almost entirely of English language sources. Master’s students cited slightly newer materials than doctoral students, who in turn cited newer materials than faculty. The library owned most cited books, and most of those were purchased on an approval plan. Doctoral students most frequently cited resources outside the discipline of philosophy, in contrast to master’s students and faculty. Conclusions – The citation behavior of graduate students in philosophy largely, but not entirely, mirrors that of the faculty. Further study of citation behavior in humanities disciplines would be useful. Understanding the behavior of philosophers can help philosophy librarians make informed choices about how to spend library funds.