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An evaluation of academic e-book accessibility in a diverse student population- Dr Laura Muir Robert Gordon University Aberdeen.
Dr Muir presented the initial findings of a study to explore the behaviour and attitude of students using e-books for study. The context of the research is the culture of lifelong learning and increased access to higher education. Diverse students have diverse needs and expectations. E-books have great potential to increase access.
Key research questions:
- How do students use academic e-books?
- Do academic e-books meet their study needs?
Previous research on attitudes found barriers to e-books- difficult to read, no ownership, difficult to browse and annotate. There needed to be a move towards “monitoring the actual online seeking behaviour of their users” (CIBER 2008).
Therefore this study is a qualitative study of behaviour and experience. Here are the stages of the study:
- Design an e-book task- relevant and beneficial
- Pre-task questionnaire showing information needs and attitudes
- Direct observation and recording during task- screen capture, video, audio capture.
- Post task interview
Initially the study found that students were more positive about e-books after the session. They were reading up to 60 pages alongside keyword searches, highlighting, scanning, taking notes and paraphrasing. However they were frustrated by a poor search display, a lack of seeing obvious progress and having to scroll.
This is a very valid study. Students study needs are changing and it is important to recognise this and also work with them to assess how they can use new resources and gain benefits. I have never used an e-book but the reader passed around the session was very accessible. E-books and use in Local Studies Libraries is something for me to consider!
Just one world or is it? Information skills for the small museum. Dr Diana Dixon Southwold Museum.
Dr Dixon came from being a Local Studies Librarian to managing a small museum.
Local Studies is at the cutting edge of library and information work and needs many skills and techniques. Unfortunately it has been discontinued in Library courses and has suffered. Libraries, Museums and Archives are driven by a demand stimulated by programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? and customers have very high expectations.
Local Studies Group- Key skills for Local Studies Librarians:
- IT Skills- FUNDAMENTAL
- Management Skills- Customer care, marketing, promotion, fund-raising, people management, project management
- Preservation- Crucial skill on Museum courses
- Communication Skills- Outreach, education, community profiles, Local Societies
- Local History Knowledge- Have to live in local community and be willing to absorb information.
Dr Dixon spoke of managing her 70 volunteers who are stewards, indexers and cataloguers. She has training for specific tasks and handbooks. She also spoke of the difficulty of cataloguing books onto the museum system.
Ruskin University has an innovative multidisciplinary course for Libraries, Archives and Museums. Dr Dixon spoke about the importance of transferable skills, courses, teaching qualifications, managing and marketing degrees.
I found Dr Dixon’s talk very interesting especially as I am a librarian working in a small museum. I also utilise volunteers so her comments were very useful. Transferable skills are important when working in this environment. It is useful to know about books and objects and also be up to speed with IT- for websites and digitisation. Marketing my resources is an area I want to explore. I found it reassuring that Local History Knowledge was last on the list of essential key skills for librarians as I have only lived in this area for 8 months but it is true that an enthusiasm for history and learning means that you can learn lots, also making good contacts with local people is incredibly useful!
