Case Study of the Deployment of Mobile Library Resources Application (MoLiRA) in Academic Institution

Technology in educational institutions had influenced a lot and even changed the educational process there in. In the mobile age, every system is moving towards mobile-based service wherein everything had become available at the tip of the finger. In response to the call digitisation, Mobile Library Resources Application (MoLiRA) was developed to cater to the needs of the academe in knowledge management and to provide quality service to the students in terms of library services. The study was conducted in one of the schools in Bacolod City, Philippines, with the intention of evaluating its e-service quality level. The result of the study was that the MoLiRA enables the student to search through not only book-related resources but every library resource such as e-books, multimedia storage devices, unpublished researches, and other learning material using their primary gadget such as a smartphone. The study shows that the developed MoLiRA is high in terms of e-service quality level as perceived by the IT experts and students. The users have the ease of accessing the library resource information since the smartphone has become the primary gadget nowadays. The student can easily search resources available in the library which is in line with the course syllabus. Every library user using a smartphone received a notification informing them of the availability of the new library resources.

Construction of à la carte QconCAT protein standards for multiplexed quantification of user-specified target proteins

Background QconCATs are quantitative concatamers for proteomic applications that yield stoichiometric quantities of sets of stable isotope-labelled internal standards. However, changing a QconCAT design, for example, to replace poorly performing peptide standards has been a protracted process. Results We report a new approach to the assembly and construction of QconCATs, based on synthetic biology precepts of biobricks, making use of loop assembly to construct larger entities from individual biobricks. The basic building block (a Qbrick) is a segment of DNA that encodes two or more quantification peptides for a single protein, readily held in a repository as a library resource. These Qbricks are then assembled in a one tube ligation reaction that enforces the order of assembly, to yield short QconCATs that are useable for small quantification products. However, the DNA context of the short construct also allows a second cycle of loop assembly such that five different short QconCATs can be assembled into a longer QconCAT in a second, single tube ligation. From a library of Qbricks, a bespoke QconCAT can be assembled quickly and efficiently in a form suitable for expression and labelling in vivo or in vitro. Conclusions We refer to this approach as the ALACAT strategy as it permits à la carte design of quantification standards. ALACAT methodology is a major gain in flexibility of QconCAT implementation as it supports rapid editing and improvement of QconCATs and permits, for example, substitution of one peptide by another.

Synthetic biology meets proteomics: Construction of a la carte QconCATs for absolute protein quantification

We report a new approach to the assembly and construction of QconCATs, quantitative concatamers for proteomic applications that yield stoichiometric quantities of sets of stable isotope-labelled internal standards. The new approach is based on synthetic biology precepts of biobricks, making use of loop assembly to construct larger entities from individual biobricks. It offers a major gain in flexibility of QconCAT implementation and enables rapid and efficient editability that permits, for example, substitution of one peptide for another. The basic building block (a Qbrick) is a segment of DNA that encodes two or more quantification peptides for a single protein, readily held in a repository as a library resource. These Qbricks are then assembled in a one tube ligation reaction that enforces the order of assembly, to yield short QconCATs that are useable for small quantification products. However, the DNA context of the short also allows a second cycle of assembly such that five different short QconCATs can be assembled into a longer QconCAT in a second, single tube ligation. From a library of Qbricks, a bespoke QconCAT can be assembled quickly and efficiently in a form suitable for expression and labelling in vivo or in vitro. We refer to this approach as the ALACAT strategy as it permits a la carte design of quantification standards.

The Impact of the Prince Edward Island School Library Policy on the Development of School Library Programs Across Prince Edward Island

In Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island (PEI), the PEI School Library Policy and its supporting documents have guided the development of school library programs since 1989. With a great number of educational changes as a back-drop, this study explored the impact that policy has had on school library programs in PEI. The researchers designed a comprehensive Survey of School Library Resource Centres that probed five key areas: facilities, resources, personnel, programs and services in the 66 schools across PEI. Following the completion of the Survey, 48 principals and teacher-librarians were interviewed for an hour each. 64 of the 66 schools took part and the Survey data and the interview data were analyzed using exploratory data analysis that resulted in dozens of visual and numerical summaries. Data was reported under each of the five major areas probed and 25 Actions were recommended. The study yielded specific detail on the status of school library facilities and resources, and provided a comprehensive look at staffing procedures and problems. The educational concepts of resource-based learning, cooperative planning and information skills that are embedded in the Policy have been well-accepted across the system. New documentation is needed to update learning outcomes and to provide direction for integrating new technologies and the concept of information literacy. Future directions for professional development for teacher-librarians, principals and classroom teachers were outlined and specific needs were identified in the areas of staffing, rebuilding school library collections and connecting technology initiatives and resource-based learning.

Strategic Directions and Newer Dilemmas for Teacher-Librarians and School Library Resource Centres

Once a leader in the provision of effective school library services, the Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) School Board has seen its intellectual and material assets diminish with growing confusion about the role of the teacher-librarian, particularly with regard to information technologies. The investigator reviewed the current status of school library resource centres, including staffing, resources and use, to identify "revenue-neutral" improvements based on research evidence and best practice. In the course of the review several dilemmas emerged that challenged conventional wisdom regarding the delivery of school library services; these dilemmas are the focus of this paper.

Learning and the School Library Resource Centre

School librarians are under increasing pressure to evaluate and justify their service provision in terms of benefits to the learner. The research project reported here examines the impact of the school library resource centre on learning. Using a range of focus groups, interviews and case studies, the work identified a range of potential indicators of learning which provide a useful starting point for librarians to begin examining activities in relation to the learner. The study was conducted in Scottish secondary schools between August 1999 and February 2001 and complements empirical work carried out in other countries. All these studies were the subject of a critical review of literature recently completed by the research team. The paper discusses some of the major themes that emerge from the empirical study and were reflected in other studies; such as the impact the library has on formal academic attainment and informal personal achievements, factors that limit the learning and how this relates to the type of library provision in terms of resources and professional expertise.

Does University Students Prefer Printed Reference Book Over Online Materials? A Case Study of Private Higher Learning Institution

The sole purpose of a resource centre or library in any higher education institution is to enhance a learning environment and support teaching, learning and research activities. Over the years, higher education institutions keep on increasing their possession of reference material in them of reference materials in their libraries for the use of students, academics and staff that include both printed and online materials. Due to this fact, it is a goal of every library to ensure that those materials are fully utilized by its users. However, with the growth of electronic facilities and resources in libraries, it is time to determine the factors that influence users’ library materials preference. This study adopts a descriptive research design with survey samples from the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. Our study reveals that users’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use play a crucial role to influence their intention to choose a library resource format where attitude fully mediates the relationship between these variables. This study also identified a partial mediating effect of desire between users’ attitudes and intentions. It also found that organizational characteristics have a significant effect on users’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Overall, by focusing on the underlying mechanisms of the theories TAM, TPB, and TSR in library resource format choosing behaviour context this study proposes an integrated model, contributes to both theories, and practices in library management.

Collection Development for Librarians in a Hurry: A Survey of the Physics Resources of the Libraries of the Association of American Universities

This study is an examination of the databases, websites, journals, and monograph titles most frequently included in the library resource guides of 65 well-regarded research institutions. Through an analysis of library resource guides, this study enumerates the resources most frequently recommended to the physics community for study and research. Open access resources, such as arXiv, SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), and INSPIRE, are among the most included titles. Notably, websites of professional organizations and governmental agencies are also frequently named. The study is meant to assist librarians in developing and maintaining collections to recommend to the physics community.

Research on the Utilization and Evaluation of Library Resource Discovery Systems in China

According to the investigation of library resources discovery system construction in 20 universities in China, the aggregation discovery service provided by the multi-source aggregation function, the discovery function is based on aggregation and the comprehensive revealing function. This article evaluates user usage and acceptance based on refinements of the functions mentioned above. The investigation shows that compared with the diversity of function, users are more concerned about the practicability, the intuition and the academy. Thus, systems should choose the best sources and pay attention to the metadata normalization, and enhance the correlation to standard datasets.