Roberta K. Weber

The Library and the Web: Graduate Students’ Selection of Open Access Journals for Empirical Literature Searches

This study provides a unique, longitudinal perspective on the selection and use of open access journals by graduate students enrolled in a regularly offered educational trends and issues course. Faculty expectations for this course are that students will conduct literature searches and use articles that are empirical studies from peer-reviewed journals, published within the previous ten years. Reference lists of 382 students were collected between 2005 and 2013, and reviewed for inclusion of articles from open access journals. Of 594 unique journal titles, 68 (11.45 percent) were available under various open access conditions. Findings suggest that graduate students are using both library collections and Web crawlers to satisfy literature search assignments when not directed to specific portals. Consequently, librarian knowledge of open access empirical literature may be of much value when providing resource instruction within the current information environment.

Software Evaluation for Special Needs: Preparing the Preservice Teacher from an Inservice Perspective.

For most experienced educators, choosing software for children with disabilities is challenging as the number of programs in our technology rich marketplace increases dramatically. Purchasing titles for entertainment is much less complicated than selecting effective educational materials based upon sound instructional objectives through a systematic review of characteristics of learner and learning environment. This study was designed to investigate the software selection process engaged in by special education teachers. Questionnaires were completed by 144 respondents with a return rate of 69% to (a) identify characteristics perceived as important to consider when determining which programs to select for use by students with high incidence disabilities, and (b) ascertain a list of software titles used in special education classrooms currently. Based upon qualitative data analysis, results indicated ten themes inservice teachers consider when selecting software titles. Those themes include: (a) welcoming; (b) sensory stimulating; (c) learner program design; (d) learner empowerment; (e) technology adaptation; (f) diversity; (g) individual instructional integration; (h) narration; (i) curriculum encompassing; and (j) teacher functionality. Additionally this paper provides a list of software titles used in classrooms currently and describes implications for integrating a software evaluation component into a methods course.

Student-Selected Journals: An Emerging Resource

This longitudinal study investigates the journal selections of 367 graduate students as they worked to fulfill a commonly assigned, criteria-based literature search on educational topics. The criteria called for evidence-based studies, published within the current ten years of course enrollment, within peer-reviewed journals. Student references were evaluated, but investigation revealed that students succeeded only partially in meeting the criteria. Two hundred ninety-nine journal titles used most commonly have resulted in a list that identified peer review status and research content characteristics for each title. The findings suggest new opportunities to improve library resources, instruction, and student achievement.

Library Assessment Research: A Content Comparison from Three American Library Journals

Improvement of academic library services as an outcome of continuous assessment is an aim of libraries of higher education institutions. Academic libraries are realizing the need to document evidence of their value to the institutions and the patrons they serve. Publications that include assessment research are reaching library decision makers, who seek to apply evidence to improve services or implement best practices that benefit all stakeholders. Following two previous studies that reported longitudinally on front-line library services, this paper investigates current five-year trending of three prestigious academic library journals in the publication of assessment studies. Data for this study were drawn through a content analysis process, in which the investigators selected studies for inclusion using a set of criteria developed in a pilot exercise. After individually examining 649 research articles, published between 2012 and 2016, 126 met the study’s selection criteria and were categorized according to the type of service they studied. Papers on information literacy instruction dominated, while reference services, technology, and general assessment studies saw less representation in the three journals. This finding reflects the priority placed upon information literacy instruction and describes how three American library journals are responding to current trends across academic libraries.

Doctoral Dissertation Topics in Education: Do They Align with Critical Issues?

American society faces complex educational issues which impact many facets of its national interests. Institutions of higher education are granting doctoral degrees to educational leaders, but it is not known to what extent their dissertation topics are aligned with both longstanding and critical issues in education. Using a theoretical framework synthesizing Paul and Elder’s critical thinking model and Kuhlthau’s information seeking process, this study examines a set of education doctoral dissertation topical selections and categorizes them by general themes in relationship to many of the recognized educational issues in the United States. Investigators categorized dissertations from four departments within the College of Education of their home institution. The dataset, retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, consisted of 231 documents published between 2005 and 2014. Through an inter-rater process examining dissertation titles, abstracts, and keywords, the dissertations were assigned critical issue themes culled from nine editions of a college text, and then categorized under a broader topical scheme situated within a well-used educational research website. Findings indicated that most dissertations concentrated in studies that researched problems and issues within schools. Further, some of the issues considered longstanding were not studied by dissertation authors within the sample. For example, privatization of schools and classroom discipline and justice were not selected for study. Findings also suggest new directions for those responsible for dissertation supervision and topic selection. The study adds to the literature on dissertation topic selection that addresses existing educational issues.

An Exploration of Indexed and Non-Indexed Open Access Journals: Identifying Metadata Coding Variations

The intent of this investigation was to learn what factors may have contributed to low usage of a small set of reputable open access scholarly journals, as evidenced in graduate student reference lists. Inquiry into differences among open access sources referenced between 2005 and 2014 revealed that non-indexed journals were being used notably fewer times than their commercially indexed counterparts. A comparison of HTML source code between indexed and non-indexed journals illustrated that certain metadata and other coding features may have affected the visibility of non-indexed journal content. The study suggests to librarians the presence of less visible empirical literature on the web and to smaller, independent academic publishers, the need to apply better quality metadata and optimization strategies to their open access journal content.