This study reports on a survey of students in information sciences designed to test differences related to e-book formats and other factors. The results from 161 respondents suggest that strategic decision-making shapes use of different e-book and print format options for users who already have significant exposure to e-books. These format options include use in a browser, a downloaded pdf, an e-pub, or a printout. While distance student status related to reported use of library e-books, disciplinary background did not. On the other hand, experience in various fields of scholarship correlated to specific tasks pursued when using e-books, but distance status largely did not. These results suggest ways to tailor local and cooperative e-book collection strategies and related services for academic users.

This paper presents an analysis of e-book usage in one interdisciplinary research collection, for library and information science (LIS), at a large research institution. Drawing from the social sciences, humanities, and computer science, LIS exemplifies the challenge of analyzing use of interdisciplinary collections that cut across Library of Congress (LC) class ranges normally used to analyze disciplinary differences in the existing literature. The analysis also explores use factors beyond LC class that usage studies rarely examine, including genre and audience level, and changes in use over time across categories. This study contributes both to understanding the usage of LIS e-books as an exemplary interdisciplinary collection and to developing options for analyses of e-book collections that maximize the utility of usage reports despite their challenges. As e-book collections mature and the utility of comparing used versus unused titles wanes, such strategies will become necessary to make more nuanced decisions for e-book collections.

This article seeks to understand information behavior in the context of the academic e-book user experience, shaped by a disparate set of vendor platforms licensed by libraries. These platforms vary in design and affordances, yet studies of e-book use in an academic context often treat e-books as a unified phenomenon in opposition to print books. Based on participant diaries tracking e-book information behavior and follow-up interviews and focus groups on troubleshooting and format shifting behaviors, this study seeks to provide a deep qualitative look at decisions that academic users make about formats when encountering e-books. It identifies reasons for noted disparities between stated user preferences for print books while often using e-books instead. It also demonstrates the importance of considering e-books as a set of formats, rather than a unified experience, when evaluating e-book platforms or providing information services around a set of platforms. While e-book studies often point to a distinction between “use” of e-books and “reading” of print books by users, this study shows much more willingness to both use and read e-books for some tasks if platforms allow for offloading reading of content to preferred reading devices and apps. This has implications for collection development, advocacy with vendors, and for marketing to or consulting with users about e-book access and use options.

Areas of Need • Access to Collections and Data • Funding • Networks of Research and Community • Education • Infrastructure and Research Support Findings • Graduate students expressed stronger urgency and need for library support for tools and software. • Faculty and staff expressed greater urgency across other all areas including access to library expertise, assistance with access to digital content, and data storage. • Access to digital collections as data was as a key barrier to researchers pursuing projects. Selected Actions

Discussions of digital humanities pedagogy have often focused on discussions of "scaffolding" and "play" (alternatively, "tinkering") approaches, and methods for assessing student work appropriate to both techniques. While these approaches may seem oppositional, we emphasize the need to balance them in most classroom contexts, and explore challenges with integrating new digital humanities platforms in topically-driven humanities classrooms. We examine our experiences as an instructor and a librarian partnering to include a multimedia publishing assignment sequence in a course on the history of children's literature, and our assessment of our approach to instruction in a distance graduate education context that is not amenable to the "lab"-based learning usually used in person for DH learning. While discussions of assessment of DH classroom projects generally focus on the question of how to grade student work, we argue that assessment is as important for reflecting on and evaluating pedagogy, including how to balance and iteratively improve "scaffolding" and "play" approaches. These issues are important not just for experienced DH instructors, but also humanities instructors without a DH background beginning to integrate digital assignments as a new norm.

This study establishes baseline information about the ways library publishing services integrate user studies of their readers, as well as common barriers to doing so. The Library Publishing Coalition defines library publishing as "the set of activities led by college and university libraries to support the creation, dissemination, and curation of scholarly, creative, and/or educational works." This area includes traditional as well as novel publication types. Results suggest that discussions of library publishing underrepresent engagement with readers but that ample room for increased attention remains. Existing reader-related efforts vary widely and may in some cases be happenstance. These efforts also face key barriers in lack of prioritization, lack of expertise, and lack of control of out-of-the-box platforms.

As librarians increasingly support digital publication platforms, they must also understand the user experience of these tools. This case study assesses use of Scalar, a digital humanities publishing platform for media-rich projects, at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Based on a survey, interviews, and content analysis, the study highlights the platform’s usability, its functionality, and its successes and failures in meeting user expectations. The media upload process, image annotation, and aesthetics factored into user issues. Writing pedagogy also emerged as an important consideration. Results suggest lessons for digital literacy instruction, as well as how and when Scalar might serve patrons’ publishing needs.

Library and information science (LIS) students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, were surveyed to ascertain their patterns of library use and their perceptions of the value of various library services. The data reveals similarities and differences to previously studied general graduate student populations, at both Illinois and other universities. The analysis highlights differences between distance and on-campus students, an important division in LIS professional education. Beyond the utility of the findings for understanding the information needs and behaviors of the target population, the study sheds light on pre-professional LIS students' use of libraries and their attitudes toward services they are being trained to provide.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to determine how undergraduate students search in the context of a library instruction session. The results of an assessment of transaction logs are shared to provide evidence of student search behavior within a class setting. Design/methodology/approach – Transaction logs from 29 library instruction sessions using the library’s federated search tool were analyzed. Using a rubric, the authors assessed the logs to discover if students followed the instruction provided to construct more relevant, targeted searches, if they selected recommended resources and if they exhibited persistence in their searching. Findings – The study found most students had difficulty translating instruction on how to use quotation marks into their own searches, were mostly successful when choosing a database and notes varying participation patterns in classes taught at different times. Practical implications – Implications of this study include greater awareness of student search behaviors during library instruction sessions as well as guidance for providing reference services, particularly virtual reference where it is not possible to see how students construct searches. Originality/value – Although there have been studies of student search behaviors, examining behaviors during the context of a library instruction session is unique. This study provides an opportunity to observe student searching in a classroom setting and provides recommendations for more effective library instruction, both in the classroom and at the reference desk.

BACKGROUND:Female injection drug users (IDUs) may report differences in injection behaviours that put them at greater risk for hepatitis C virus (HCV). Few studies have examined these in association with HCV incidence.METHODS:Longitudinal data from a cohort of 417 HCV-uninfected IDU aged 30 or younger were analysed. Cox proportional hazards was used to model female sex as a predictor of new HCV infection. General estimating equation (GEE) analysis was used to model female sex as a predictor of HCV-associated risk behaviour prospectively.RESULTS:Women were significantly more likely than men to become infected with HCV during study follow-up (HR 1.4, p<0.05), and were also more likely than men to report high-risk injecting behaviours, especially in the context of sexual and injecting relationships. Sex differences in injecting behaviours appeared to explain the relationship between sex and HCV infection.CONCLUSIONS:Young women's riskier injection practices lead to their higher rates of HCV infection. Further study on the impact of intimate partnership on women's risk behaviour is warranted.

This preliminary study examines the websites of U.S. research libraries in one consortium, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), to determine the extent and variety of online app advisory services these libraries provide to patrons. App advisory, for the purposes of this study, refers to any suggestions of downloadable mobile applications (whether for phones, tablets, or other devices) for use by patrons. This still emerging phenomenon needs systematic study. I explore how these institutions provide app advisory content on their websites, and the kinds of apps included in their recommendations. The paper will also explore the methodological problems in discovering this content through the many layers of library websites, and areas of interest for further study.