scholarly journals Evaluation and Comparison of Discovery Tools: An Update

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. William Chickering ◽  
Sharon Q. Yang
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
North America ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Check List ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Practical Complexity ◽  
Product Effectiveness ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Library User

<strong>Abstract:</strong> Selection and implementation of a web scale Discovery tool by The Rider University Libraries (RUL) in the 2011-2012 academic year revealed the practical complexity of the endeavor. Research into the state of adoption of Web-scale Discovery tools in North America and the evolution of product effectiveness provided a starting point. The study reported here evaluated a total of 14 major Discovery tools (3 open source and 10 proprietary). The evaluation involves a check list of 16 criteria recognized as the advanced features of a modern OPAC. Some of the features have been used in previous research on Discovery tools and the next generation catalog. The authors examined 5 to 7 library websites that deployed a Discovery tool before a determination is made as to the presence or absence of a feature for a particular Discovery tool. The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare all the major Discovery tools. These findings will serve to update librarians on the latest development in the library user interface and assist them in their adoption of a Discovery tool.

Accessibility of Internet Based Electronic Resources: A Content Analysis of Public and Private University Library Websites in Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Shamima Yesmin .
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Private University ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Electronic Resources ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
University Library ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
The University

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the websites of university libraries to ascertain that libraries are effectively utilizing their respective websites to provide easy access to all electronic resources available in the library. The objective was also to a represent a comparative analysis between public and private university library websites regarding the presence of electronic resources with their easy access via the internet. For the purpose of this study, a research instrument in the form of comprehensive checklist of eighteen e-resources was developed to evaluate their accessibility in the websites of public and private university libraries. Twenty university library websites, comprised of ten top-ranked public and ten top-ranked private universities in Bangladesh, were studied for data collection using content analysis method. The findings demonstrate that the presence of e-resources on selected university library websites is still in its early stage, but it has been growing rapidly. The private university library websites are ahead of public university libraries in terms of the integration of web-resources. It is hoped that the findings of this paper will serve to assist the University librarians and other similar institutions in choosing, selecting and acquiring the most appropriate format of information resources, and making these available to their websites, which will both satisfy the needs of their library users and fit within their library budget.

Evidence for multiple drivers of aerial insectivore declines in North America

The Condor ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly J Spiller ◽  
Randy Dettmers
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Prey Abundance ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Prey Quality ◽  
Aerial Insectivore ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Aerial Insectivores

Abstract Aerial insectivores (birds that forage on aerial insects) have experienced significant population declines in North America. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed for these declines, but current evidence suggests multiple factors could be operating in combination during their annual migratory cycles between breeding and nonbreeding areas. Potential drivers include decreased prey abundance, direct or indirect impacts of environmental contaminants, habitat loss, phenological changes due to warming climate, and conditions on migratory stopover or wintering grounds. While no single threat appears to be the cause of aerial insectivore declines, existing evidence suggests that several of these factors could be contributing to the declines at different times in the annual lifecycle. Breeding productivity for most of these species does not appear to be limited by overall prey abundance, contaminants, or habitat loss, which suggests that similar issues on nonbreeding grounds or carryover effects could play important roles. However, a better understanding of the importance of prey quality throughout the lifecycle is critically needed. Based on current evidence, we propose that changes in availability of high-quality prey, with variability across breeding and nonbreeding grounds, reduce various combinations of fledging success, post-fledging survival, and nonbreeding season body condition of aerial insectivores, resulting in species and geographic differences in population trends. We encourage others to use this hypothesis as a starting point to test specific mechanisms by which availability of high-quality prey influences demographic parameters. We suggest that future research focus on defining prey quality, monitoring insect abundance in conjunction with birds, comparing demographic models across local populations experiencing different population growth rates, and using tracking technology to document important migratory and nonbreeding areas. Considerable research progress already has been made, but additional research is needed to better understand the complex web of potential causes driving aerial insectivore declines.

scholarly journals Embedded Librarianship is Not Well Understood by Librarians at Chinese Universities, but Represents a Promising Service Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-167
Author(s):  
Judith Logan
Keyword(s):  
Academic Departments ◽  
Library Services ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Service Model ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Adopted Model ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
Participation In Research

A Review of: Sun, H., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., & Zuo, W. (2019). Embedded librarianship in China: Based on a survey of university libraries. The Library Quarterly, 89(1), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1086/700663 Abstract Objective – To determine the extent to which embedded librarianship is understood and implemented with a focus on service models, best practices, and barriers. Design – Survey questionnaire with follow up interviews. Setting – Provincial and ministerial university libraries in China. Subjects – Subject or liaison librarians from the 84 institutions with science and technology “information searching and evaluation centres” called S&TNS (p. 56). Methods – The authors identified potential participants through the eligible institutions’ library websites or by contacting the library’s managers. Then they randomly selected three librarians (n = 252) from each library to be invited to participate. 56 responded from 41 unique institutions. When respondents indicated that their library had embedded library services, the authors contacted them for follow up interviews. Main results – Results of the questionnaire revealed that most respondents were unclear about the concept of embedded librarianship with many mistaking traditional models of librarianship as embedded. Roughly half (n = 21) of respondents reported embedded librarians at their institution. Follow up interviews revealed five models of embeddedness: (1) subject librarianship, (2) teaching information retrieval or library orientation sessions, (3) participation in research teams, (4) co-location with academic departments, and (5) assisting university administration with decision-making. Only half of these libraries (n = 11) conducted some form of assessment. Conclusion – Embedded librarianship is a promising, but not yet widely adopted model in Chinese university libraries. More should be done to advocate for its implementation or libraries risk obsolescence.

scholarly journals Location on the evolutionary tree of influenza H3 haemagglutinin genes of Japanese strains isolated during 1985–6 season

1988 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nakajima ◽  
Y. Takeuchi ◽  
K. Nakajima
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
North America ◽  
Influenza A ◽  
Stop Codon ◽  
Nucleotide Sequences ◽  
Evolutionary Tree ◽  
Common Ancestry ◽  
Nucleotide Deletion ◽  
Starting Point

SUMMARYThe nucleotide sequences of the haemagglutinin (HA) genes of influenza A (H3N2) isolates from the 1985–6 season in Japan along with those of several viruses isolated between 1982–5 from other countries were analyzed to determine the origin of the 1985–6 Japanese strains. The HA genes of these viruses consisted of 1762 nucleotides and had a three-nucleotide deletion downstream from the stop codon when compared to the sequences of earlier Hong Kong H3N2 viruses. An evolutionary tree of the HA genes of these viruses was drawn using the A/Bangkok/1/79 sequence as the starting point. Eight strains isolated from Asian and Pacific regions including Japan in the 1985–6 season (one in May) had the HA genes located closely on the evolutionary tree but away from those of the isolates in North America and Europe during the 1984–5 season, and a common ancestry for these viruses was suggested.

The genesis of international mass migration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Richards
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Scottish Highlands ◽  
Isle Of Man ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Common ◽  
Over Time

Very large numbers of people began to depart the British Isles for the New Worlds after about 1770. This was a pioneering movement, a rehearsal for modern international migration. This book contends that emigration history is not seamless, that it contains large shifts over time and place, and that the modern scale and velocity of mobility have very particular historical roots. The Isle of Man is an ideal starting point in the quest for the engines and mechanisms of emigration, and a particular version of the widespread surge in British emigration in the 1820s. West Sussex was much closer to the centres of the expansionary economy in the new age. North America was the earliest and the greatest theatre of oceanic emigration in which the methods of mass migration were pioneered. Landlocked Shropshire experienced some of the earliest phases of British industrialisation, notably in the Ironbridge/Coalbrookdale district, deep inland on the River Severn. The turmoil in the agrarian and demographic foundations of life reached across the British archipelago. In West Cork and North Tipperary, there was clear evidence of the great structural changes that shook the foundations of these rural societies. The book also discusses the sequences and effects of migration in Wales, Swaledale, Cornwall, Kent, London, and Scottish Highlands. It also deals with Ireland’s place in the more generic context of the origins of migration from the British Isles. The common historical understanding is that the pre-industrial population of the British Isles had been held back by Malthusian checks.

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