scholarly journals Testing an Academic Library Website for Usability with Faculty and Graduate Students

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Z. Emde ◽  
Sara E. Morris ◽  
Monica Claassen-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Search Tool ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
New Discovery

Objectives - This usability study was developed to observe faculty and graduate students’ reactions to a recent redesign of the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries’ website. The redesign included new navigational features, introduction of a federated search tool, a quick search box on the front page, and research subject pages. The study also provided the opportunity to observe the practices of faculty and graduate students in locating and retrieving information on the Libraries’ website. Methods - Ten participants (five faculty and five graduate students) representing diverse disciplines were solicited for the study. Participants were required to access the Libraries’ website to answer a series of questions regarding new and updated features of the website. Observational analysis using Morae™ software was conducted and interviews with each participant provided details of their opinions on how these new features would influence their research and teaching activities. Results - Most of the participants either did not notice or ignored the major website changes. Links to and locations of commonly used resources (e.g. catalogue; databases; e-journals) had been changed minimally, and the faculty and graduate student participants gravitated to those familiar features to complete tasks. Prior to the study, participants had not accessed the new discovery tools; however, once previewed, responses to the tools’ utility were generally favourable. After using the federated search tool on a familiar topic, several participants noted that, when directed to databases they had not previously considered, they were able to locate citations they had missed in the past. Observers noted pitfalls in navigating the site such as inconsistent underscoring of links, ambiguous terminology, and unclear icons meant to expand subject heading lists. Unexpected searching behaviours were observed, including inconsistent and lack of conceptual understanding in searching for e-journal content. Conclusions - This study provides evidence regarding the usability of a library website with a population already familiar with library resources. It demonstrated that faculty and graduate students are not interested in experimenting with new discovery tools but are amenable to their potential value to undergraduate students. The recent trend toward minimizing content and links on websites satisfies this population, one which is already comfortable with the basic attributes of a library’s website.

scholarly journals Investigating University Characteristics on Personality Traits

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-64
Author(s):  
Kullanun Sripongpun ◽  
Nattanan Saksamrit ◽  
Watcharapong Intarawong ◽  
Pattama Suriyakul Na Ayudhya
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Brand Personality ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Student Perspective ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants

Objective - This study aims to extend the brand personality concept by applying this concept to the organization, i.e., the university. Methodology/Technique – A questionnaire was designed based on Aaker (1997)’s 5 dimensions of brand personality scale to collect the data. 400 Thai undergraduate students of Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus participated in this study. Participants were first informed of the study description and instructed to think of a university as if it were a person and to rate on a five-point scale (1 = not at all descriptive, 5 = extremely descriptive). In the data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used. Finding – The results from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a varimax rotation showed 5 factors of university personality. Factor 1 represents competence dimension having 10 items (successful, leader, technical, corporate, cool, hardworking, secure, spirited, confident and reliable). Factor 2 represents sophistication dimension which had 4 items (glamorous, good looking, smooth and upper class). Factor 3 represents ruggedness dimension which had 5 items (western, tough, masculine, rugged and outdoorsy). Factor 4 represents sincerity dimension which had 2 items (honest and sincere). The last factor was excitement dimension which had only 1 item, imaginative. Furthermore, according to student perspective, the majority of university personality dimensions of Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus was ruggedness dimension. Novelty – Research examining the dimensions of organization personality is still scant. To fill the gap, the current study was conducted to demonstrate how the brand personality concept was applicable when the organization was viewed as a brand. Therefore, it is a preliminary step toward such direction to extend and apply the brand personality concept to a new different area. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: M10, M19. Keywords: University Personality; University Characteristics; Personality Traits; Brand Personality Concept. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sripongpun, K; Saksamrit, N; Intarawong, W; Ayudhya, P.S.N. (2021). Investigating University Characteristics on Personality Traits, GATR Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 9(1): 58 – 64. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2021.9.1(7)

scholarly journals Users’ Awareness of Electronic Books is Limited

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Gale G. Hannigan
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Electronic Version ◽  
Electronic Book ◽  
Electronic Books ◽  
Electronic Resources ◽  
University Of Denver ◽  
Library Users ◽  
The University ◽  
Question Survey

A review of: Levine-Clark, Michael. “Electronic Book Usage: A Survey at the University of Denver.” Portal: Libraries and the Academy 6.3 (Jul. 2006): 285-99. Abstract Objective – To determine if university library users are aware of electronic books, and how and why electronic books are used. Design – Survey. Setting – University of Denver. Subjects – Two thousand sixty-seven graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff. Methods – In Spring 2005, the University of Denver faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students were invited to participate in a survey about awareness and use of electronic books. A link to the survey was also posted on the library’s home page and on the university’s Web portal. The 19-question survey consisted of 11 questions to get feedback about electronic books in general, five questions focused on netLibrary, and the remaining were demographic questions. Eligibility to win one of two university bookstore gift certificates provided incentive to complete the survey. Main results – Surveys were completed by 2,067 respondents, including undergraduate students (30.1%), graduate students (39.1%), faculty (12.5%), and staff (11.8%). Results were reported by question, broken out by status (undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty) and/or by discipline (Business, Humanities, Nontraditional, Professional, Sciences, Social Sciences), and presented in tables or in the text. In general, most respondents (59.1%) were aware that the library provides access to electronic books. The library catalog and professors were the main ways respondents learned about electronic books. Approximately half (51.3%) indicated they had used an electronic book. Of those who indicated that they used electronic books (1,061 respondents), most (72%) had used electronic books more than once. The main reasons mentioned for choosing to use an electronic book included: no print version available, working from home makes getting to the library difficult, and searching text in an electronic book is easier. When asked about typical use of electronic books, most respondents indicated they read only a part of an electronic book; only 7.1% of 1,148 respondents indicated they read the entire electronic book. In answer to a question about choosing the print or electronic version of the same book, 60.7% responded that they would always or usually use print, and 21.5% indicated they would always or usually use electronic. The amount of material to read, the need to refer to the material at a later time, and the desire to annotate or highlight text are all factors that influence whether users read electronic books on a computer or PDA, or print out the material. U.S. government publications and netLibrary were the electronic resources used the most by survey participants. Conclusion – The results of this survey suggest the need to market availability of the library’s electronic books. Problems associated with the use of electronic books are related to reading large amounts of text on a computer screen, but a reported benefit is that searching text in an electronic book is easier. Responses to the survey suggest that the use of electronic resources may not be generic, but rather depends on the type of resource (content) being used. The author notes that this finding should lead to further investigation of which items will be preferred and used in which format.

scholarly journals STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCE OF LEARNING ESP: FINDINGS FROM A CASE STUDY IN LITHUANIA

2019 ◽  
pp. 489
Author(s):  
Nijolė Burkšaitienė ◽  
Jolita Šliogerienė
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Team Work ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Personal Engagement

This study explores undergraduate students’ experience of learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and aims to reveal their views regarding university teachers’ and peers’ feedback provided to them during the course of ESP as well as to establish the students’ views regarding their own learning ESP. The present article reports on the results of a case study from a Lithuanian university. The data were collected from feedback questionnaires of 111 students in 11 study programmes. To analyse the data, quantitative methodology was used. The main conclusion of the present study is that most study participants viewed their own learning ESP at the university as a positive experience, i.e. the students were satisfied with their engagement in learning this study subject and considered that learning was aligned with teaching and assessment. The results of the study also demonstrated that the study participants considered that collaboration and team work fostered meaningful learning, as well as that peer feedback helped them to understand how to improve in learning ESP. It was established that students valued their teachers’ patience and personal engagement and that the teachers’ feedback improved the ways of learning ESP, encouraged them to think and analyse the content of the study material, and helped them to clarify things they did not understand learning on their own. 

Encore Synergy Implementation at a Medium-Sized University Library

2012 ◽  
pp. 515-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Erb
Keyword(s):  
Representative Sample ◽  
Electronic Resources ◽  
Initial Examination ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Library System ◽  
University Library ◽  
Search Tool ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
The University

Implementing Web-scale discovery at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s (UNO) Criss Library presented some unexpected challenges. The UNO library selected Encore Synergy from Innovative Interfaces, Vendor homogeneity between Innovative Interfaces’ Integrated Library System (ILS), and the discovery tool did not prevent problems regarding ILS module interoperability. This chapter describes the solutions found. Web-scale discovery via Encore also did not include all of the library’s electronic resources, but only a few aggregator databases. A representative sample of approximately thirty resources, however, was accessible via pass-through search from Encore to Innovative’s federated search tool, Research Pro. An initial examination of database usage indicates a decline in the use of databases not directly searchable in Encore.

scholarly journals University Students’ Changing Library Needs and Use: A Comparison of 2016 and 2018 Student Surveys

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-89
Author(s):  
Jung Mi Scoulas ◽  
Sandra L. De Groote
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Physical Spaces ◽  
Website Use

Abstract Objective – This study examines differences in university students’ library use and satisfaction (e.g., in-person library visits, online and print resource use, space satisfaction, and library website use) between 2016 and 2018 based on local survey data. It also discusses how these findings provided guidance for future planning and action.     Methods – The academic university library developed the surveys for undergraduate and graduate students and distributed them in Spring 2016 and 2018. Both student surveys focused on examining students’ needs relative to library resources and services, although the 2018 student survey also attempted to quantify students’ library visits and their use of library resources. While the surveys were not identical, the four questions that appeared in both surveys (i.e., library visits, resource use, library space satisfaction, and library website use) were recoded, rescaled, and analyzed to measure the differences in both surveys. Results – The survey results reveal that students’ library visits and use of library resources in 2018 were higher than in 2016. In particular, undergraduate students’ use of library resources in 2016 were lower than those in 2018, whereas graduate students’ use of library resources remained similar in both years. Another key finding indicates that the mean score of students’ library quiet study space satisfaction in 2018 was higher than in 2016. However, when compared to the 2016 survey, there was a decrease in students’ ease of library website use in the 2018 survey. Conclusion – Assessing students’ behavior and satisfaction associated with their use of library physical spaces, resources, and services should be conducted on an ongoing basis. Over time, the survey findings can be used as evidence based data to communicate patterns of users’ behavior and satisfaction with various stakeholders, identify areas for improvement or engagement, and demonstrate the library’s impact. Survey results can also inform further strategic and assessment planning.

scholarly journals TRAINING PROGRAM IN ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR GRADUATE TEACHING ASSITANTS

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Firmani ◽  
Michael McWilliam ◽  
Peter Wild ◽  
Michael McGuire ◽  
Nikolai Dechev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Design Engineering ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Support Design ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Qualified Personnel ◽  
The University

This program is an initiative of the Chair in Design Engineering of the University of Victoria Faculty of Engineering to an NSERC mandate to improve engineering design instruction. To date, there are not enough qualified personnel to support design projects and help students. This problem will be more evident in the upcoming years when the number of undergraduate students will increase and professors will not have the time to guide all the student teams. Therefore, it is imperative the support of highly qualified personnel specialized in design engineering. To this end, a totally new and unique program that trains graduate students to be “Design Teaching Assistants” (DTAs) has been recently launched. In this training program, graduate students learn about engineering design, teaching and mentoring. The program includes a series of workshops, discussion panels and seminars.

The Perceived Benefits of Participating in Campus Recreation Programs and Facilities: A Comparison between Undergraduate and Graduate Students

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Henchy
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Campus Recreation ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Impact Study ◽  
Recreation Facilities ◽  
The University ◽  
Recreation Impact

Both researchers and administrators are interested in factors that influence student success. The purpose of this study was to compare undergraduate and graduate students on the perceived benefits they received from participating in campus recreation facilities and programs. Students were randomly selected to complete the campus recreation survey, which was based upon the NIRSA/Student Voice Campus Recreation Impact Study survey. Of the students who answered the demographic questions, 35% were graduate students and 65% were undergraduate students; 43% were male and 57% were female; and the majority of the sample was White (68%). The results showed that participation in campus recreation had an influence on undergraduate and graduate students' decisions to attend and continue to attend the university. Participating in campus recreation facilities and programs had a positive influence on a variety of aspects of both undergraduate and graduate students' lives; students reported academic, health, and social benefits.

Towards an Understanding of Semantic Memory During Idea Generation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attakias T. Mertens ◽  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Christine A. Toh
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Memory Usage ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants

Abstract Research in new product design still lacks an understanding of how the types of information used by designers can lead to more successful designs and what cognitive components are involved in the process of generating new ideas. Some theories have arisen that focus on memory usage that could have an impact in idea generation early on in the design process. This framework forms the basis of the current study, focused on identifying the underlying cognitive processes that are active during the design process. To accomplish this, undergraduate students were recruited from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. During the study, participants were presented a design problem, given information pieces that corresponded to the Information Archetypes Framework, and asked to generate ideas for a solution. Students were then asked to recall the information pieces from memory. Participants’ data were analyzed using Latent Semantic Analysis in order to assess the similarities between generated ideas, recall, and information pieces. Results from this were assessed for relationships using Spearman correlations and simple regression. This study was able to demonstrate memory usage within the early design process.

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