Volume 41, Number 2 - March/April 2017
EDITORIALFrontLines Page 4 Vaporizing existing data does a disservice to humanity. By Marydee Ojala Searcher's Voice Page 25 Making sure end users get connected to solid facts is not just the job of the government or media. Information professionals have a vital role to play as well, declares bq. And of course, bq has a plethora of suggestions for just how info pros can do this. By Barbara Quint DEPARTMENTSPage 8 Search Engine Update By Greg R. Notess Page 53 Conference Corral Publishing in an Internet World FEATURESPage 10 Rethinking Institutional Repositories Aaron Tay wonders whether institutional repositories have successfully met their objectives or whether they are obsolete. He looks at institutional repositories from varying perspectives, examines the reasons why scholars avoid depositing their work in institutional repositories, and concludes that repositories have a role but need to move to a next generation. By Aaron Tay Page 16 Online Resources to Creatively Teach Career Research  To demonstrate value to their institutions, academic libraries can point to students' career success resulting from research skills learned from library programs. Embedded librarian Raymond Pun, in conjunction with his university's Career Development Center, teaches business database searching to foster career success. By Raymond Pun Page 22 New and Improved Competitive Intelligence Platforms Competitive intelligence (CI) is an ongoing concern, with new products and services appearing regularly to track competitive trends. Barbie Keiser introduces six new platforms and dashboards that strike her as representative of the best approaches to monitoring competing companies and industries, even for non-CI professionals. By Barbie E. Keiser Page 30 Whether you are researching healthcare options for a client or your family (especially if you are getting close to the eligibility age for Medicare), this article by a research services manager for a strategic management firm specializing in healthcare will give you the basics and then some. From explaining the difference between a deductible, copay, and coinsurance to breaking down the different parts of Medicare, Tara Breton helps to make what can be a very confusing subject a little easier to understand. By Tara M. Breton Page 43 One Online Platform for a Government In the Netherlands, access to information by civil servants working in government agencies used to be fragmented across numerous platforms. An initiative to integrate content on one platform succeeded in simplifying access and meeting user expectations related to learned search behaviors. By Peter Nieuwenhuizen Page 49 Librarians are often considered to be collaborators in and instructors about digital humanities projects. Digital humanities support involves pointing researchers to online resources, including texts, maps, software, tutorials, and data, and is a vital activity for academic librarians. By John Russell COLUMNSInternet Express Page 27 Crowell Public Library's head librarian also looks at how fake news may have impacted the way people voted on Nov. 8, 2016. She focuses on Facebook's sphere of influence and shares the thoughts of Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed's media editor. By Irene E. McDermott InfoLit Land Page 56 Sci-Hub and the Researcher What does the pirate site Sci-Hub teach us about information literacy and how do we persuade people not to use it, given its convenience for free one-stop shopping? According to William Badke, an ethical appeal won't work, but Sci-Hub does present opportunities to teach about the process of knowledge creation. By William Badke The Dollar Sign Page 59 Whether you consider it financial literacy or financial information literacy, getting smart about managing your money is valuable for everybody. This Dollar Sign column shares how to boost people's smart money acumen. By Marydee Ojala The Open Road Page 62 The Ins and Outs of Open Licenses The internet has completely transformed the production and consumption of information, with profound consequences for the licensing of content. Open licenses, specifically the different types of Creative Commons licenses, can be confusing, but Abby Clobridge puts in all in perspective. By Abby Clobridge Control-Shift Page 66 Boost Website Performance With A/B Testing It's not just libraries that want optimal performance for their websites. Thus, libraries can learn from business research about consumer behavior, increased website usage, and customer loyalty. A/B testing is a tool that presents visitors with different iterations of a website to track their actions based on incremental changes. By Darlene Fichter, Jeff Wisniewski Hard Copy Page 69 Recommended Reading on Google, Transliteracy, Geoliteracy, and Asking Questions By Deborah Lynne Wiley Online Spotlight Page 72 What’s ‘Research’ Anyway? Now that everyone can (and does) call themselves "researchers," what do online searchers bring to the research table? Mary Ellen Bates spells out aspects of the hidden value created by information professionals. By Mary Ellen Bates |
