Joel Kitchens

Tenure support mechanisms provided by the Faculty Research Committee at Texas A&M University Libraries: A model for academic libraries

Purpose – The Research Committee at Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries provides a model of tenure support that includes funding of research projects and an annual Research Forum. The purpose of this article is to review these support mechanisms and their outcomes. An argument for the benefit of such a model is presented.Design/methodology/approach – Tenure support provided by the Research Committee and the broader supportive environment in which it functions is described. Each supported project was reviewed to determine its outcome (publication or conference presentation).Findings – This model of support benefits tenure‐track librarians at Texas A&M University Libraries.Practical implications – This model of support would likely benefit other academic libraries that require librarians to engage in scholarly communication. Thus this paper should be of interest to academic librarians and to library managers seeking to enhance tenure support for their faculty librarians.Originality/value – Much of the lit...

Error 404 : or, what is the shelf-life of printed Internet guides?

Many publishers are producing books loaded with directions for finding useful Internet sites in a particular subject area. The moderate costs make them seem to be attractive additions to a collection. However, given the ephemeral nature of the World Wide Web, can a print resource be published with sufficient shelf life to justify purchase? This study evaluates some of these Internet guides for post-publication accuracy. In evaluating nine books published between two and three years ago, the researchers checked 3,941 URLs. In reviewing the data, the authors found that some books retained their value quite well, whereas others did not. The article presents the details of this study and offers selection criteria for identifying those web guidebooks that will increase the value of the collection.

Practical help for history instruction: Making the one-shot count

Abstract While it is generally assumed that active learning, information literacy course are the most effective means of teaching library skills, not every college or university library has the talent, resources, or institutional support required for that level of instruction. Frequently, a students library instruction is taught as a “one-shot” by a librarian without specialized training in the subject being taught. This essay is addressed to instruction librarians with limited experience in historical research find themselves called upon to conduct “one-shot” instruction sessions for history classes.

Defining History for Library Statistics, or Everything Has a History.

Although libraries frequently act on the assumption that a correlation exists between topicality and call number range for collection management decisions, the recent rise in interdisciplinary scholarship challenges that practice. This study measured the subject area and call number correspondence for the discipline of history in an academic library.