Lorri Mon

A model for online consumer health information quality

An ink jet printing apparatus responsive to an input digital image for producing a halftone image on a receiver, such as a lithographic plate, having halftone dots with each halftone dot being formed by one or more microdots in a screen dot of selectable areas, including an adjustable printhead for delivering different volumes of ink droplets which, when they contact the receiver, forming microdots of different areas according to the selected screen dot size. The apparatus delivers ink to the printhead and is responsive to a selected screen dot size and the digital image to control the printhead to form ink droplets of different volumes to produce a halftone image on the receiver.This article is focused on the changes needed in design to create positive solutions for all involved in design processes. It draws upon the rich discussion and discourse from a conference focused on positive design involving managers, designers, and IT specialists, all focused on overcoming the problem-based focus and decision paradigms to enhance all phases of the design processes to develop sustainable solutions for real issues in a changing world. Therefore, all fields using design, consciously or not, including management, Information Communication Technology (ICT), and designers as well, need to redesign their processes and first rethink their design paradigms on a meta level.

Digital Reference Service

Abstract As agencies increasingly provide services via the Internet and government documents migrate to online agency Web sites, government service providers face a growing problem of how manage high volumes of public questions sent to government Web sites by e-mail. This article focuses on the increasing public demand for digital reference services.

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.

The Geography of Virtual Questioning

This article explores the geography of virtual questioning by using geographic information systems to study activity within the Florida Electronic Library “Ask a Librarian” collaborative chat service. Researchers mapped participating libraries throughout the state of Florida that served as virtual “entry portals” for users as they asked questions of the statewide chat reference service and mapped users by their IP addresses to explore relationships between geographic location by IP address and online point of entry to the virtual reference service. Findings highlight the local nature of virtual reference services, as virtual users commonly asked questions about locally based library collections, policies, and services and also tended to access the statewide chat service through entry portals in the Web sites of their own local libraries. Implications are discussed for improvements to virtual reference services as well as for further uses of geographic analysis in digital reference service assessment.

Professional avatars: librarians and educators in virtual worlds

Purpose – This study aims to examine librarianship and education in virtual world settings, focusing particularly on how librarians and educators establish professional identity and trust while teaching and providing information services as avatars within Second Life.Design/methodology/approach – Data was gathered through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with 12 librarians and educators within the virtual world of Second Life, and in visits to 50 virtual world workplaces.Findings – Librarians and educators faced challenges of establishing professional identity and credibility for two different audiences – i.e. “newbies” and “residents” – within the “game‐like” virtual world environment. Visual elements such as a conservative, humanoid avatar appearance, and imagery drawn from traditional workplaces were used by librarians and educators to establish their professional role with “newbies”, while for “residents” an upgraded avatar appearance was necessary to convey credibility.Practical implications – For...

Searching for Answers in a Google World

Searching for answers within the online information environment is increasingly dominated by Web-based tools such as Google and Amazon. In rethinking reference education for the Google generation, this article proposes meeting students on their own territory by approaching them through popular search tools they are already familiar with as a platform for introducing the key concepts and resource functionalities of more advanced information searching. The article also considers innovative uses of Google and Amazon in reference services and reference education.

The Death of the Anonymous Librarian

Privacy and anonymity in the profession of librarianship was one of the themes emerging from the Internet Public Library (ipl2) institute in March 2010, questioning whether new trends in librarianship are leading to the demise of the “anonymous librarian.” This article examines the research literature on how privacy and anonymity issues can affect users and librarians. The rise of new initiatives such as embedded librarians, on-site liaison librarians, and personal librarians appears to be a shift toward increasing professional visibility and away from anonymity in professional practice.

E-valuating E-reference: Transforming digital reference through research and evaluation

This panel presents three different approaches, methods of analysis and data collection techniques to evaluate several digital reference formats. Radford and Connaway evaluate criteria important for perceptions of success across different generations of digital reference users, non-users, and librarians. They compare Baby Boomer vs. Millennial generations through 497 in-depth online surveys. Both content delivery and interpersonal communication were found to be important to successful chat encounters. Pomerantz presents a project to evaluate the Slam the Boards effort on Yahoo! Answers (YA) which is the largest web-based community answer board. The volume of questions and answers on YA is massive with librarian-provided answers comprising a small amount. Studies of YA users are required to determine if questioners find value in having questions answered by librarians. New practices, metrics, and organizational partnerships must be developed to make future quality evaluation possible. Mon discusses the use of new technologies in digital reference education and practice, and explores information behavior at the Internet Public Library (IPL). The IPL is building an online learning community site to support teaching, learning and research in digital reference. This paper reports the result of research that informs the implementation of digital technologies within the learning community site.

The Social Library in the Virtual Branch: Serving Adults and Teens in Social Spaces

Abstract As adults and young adults have become increasingly active on social media, public libraries have incorporated social media alongside their more traditional services. However, libraries are faced with the challenging task of determining how to successfully engage with their users through social media. This chapter examines research literature from both social media and information studies to explore evidence-based results on providing popular information services and resources for adult and young adult users in social spaces. Key elements of social media use by libraries identified in this review include promotion of information resources and services, participation and engagement, social care, pastoral care, outreach, cocreation and motivation of users, advocacy and crowdsourcing, and measurement and assessment. Based on results from current research, best practices and assessment methods for social media are discussed which offer practical considerations for selecting social media platforms appropriate to a library’s mission, goals, and objectives, with examples relevant to a variety of social media platforms. The chapter also offers a review of social media platforms, practices, and assessment designed to inform librarians and library managers in decision-making about library social media efforts.

Stepping stones to synergy: Social Q&A and virtual reference [ASIST 2011 panel]

Virtual reference (VR) and social Q&A (SQA), both refer to some form of information seeking activity using online Q&A. They are often seen as apples and oranges, but there is a need to understand their similarities and differences in order to derive lessons from each side to help the other. The proposed panel will bring together prominent researchers from both service types to discuss how we could bridge the gap between VR and SQA in order to explore unique opportunities such synergic movement brings forth, including possible new forms arising from merged influences of mobile technologies, social media, video conferencing, and virtual worlds.