Volume 20, Number 2, 2025

EN:

Objective – The purpose of this research was to explore user sentiment on Ask a Librarian, a consortial chat service for university libraries in Ontario, Canada, between 2019 to 2021. We tested how the characteristics of the chat (such as year, semester, user type, operator type, affiliation mismatch, and user complaints) and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic affected sentiment scores.

Methods – The researchers analyzed 3,339 chat transcripts using VADER, a free, open-source Python natural language processing library for sentiment analysis. We tested the significance of relationships between study variables and sentiment score using either a two-samples t-test or ANOVA.

Results – Between 2019 to 2021, overall sentiment on Ask a Librarian was positive and higher among operators than users. There was a significant relationship between sentiment scores and operator type, affiliation mismatch, and complaints respectively. The year, semester, and pandemic status of the chat were also significantly associated with sentiment score. Chats that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly higher overall sentiment score than pre-pandemic chats. Average user sentiment score was also higher during the pandemic, but there were no significant differences in average operator sentiment score.

Conclusion – The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on the emotional tone of the overall chat interaction, as well as the sentiment within the user’s messages. Practitioners can replicate our approach to understand user emotions, opinions, attitudes, or appraisals during times of disruption or emergency, as well as for regular service assessment.

EN:

Objective – The goal of this study was to assess how postdoctoral scholars (postdocs) engage with the campus library and identify barriers to access. Postdocs occupy a unique position within the research community, bridging the gap between graduate studies and permanent academic positions. Despite their critical role, there has been little formal research to examine how postdocs interact with library resources and services, likely due in part to their relatively small numbers at academic and research institutions.

Methods – Three focus group interviews were conducted at two research intensive institutions in the United States. The qualitative analysis employed an iterative coding process to explore several themes: self-proclaimed needs to succeed during postdoctoral training; perceptions of library offerings, including space, services, and collections; and barriers to success.

Results – The thematic analysis revealed that postdocs value library resources and are seeking a range of services including financial services, mentorship, and scholarly writing support. There were only minor differences observed between the two institutions. The study identified lack of communication and time as the main barriers postdocs cited for not using the library. Based on participant feedback, we developed recommendations to enhance the postdoctoral experience with library resources and support their career development.

Conclusion – This study contributes valuable insights into optimizing library services for postdocs and highlights opportunities for libraries to better align their offerings with the unique needs and challenges faced by this sector of the academic community. Our approach also serves as a model to assess and improve library offerings to other small communities.

EN:

Objectives – To understand how many of the user recommendations for new library acquisitions come from high-volume requesters, whether requests are submitted for a person’s own use or on behalf of someone else, and to develop understanding of the reasons given for acquisition requests. Additionally, this work sought to understand approaches to “suggest a purchase” forms at comparator institutions. This understanding would support a review of the University of Alberta Library’s approach to soliciting patron purchase requests, including a review of the form used by patrons to submit these requests.

Methods – User recommendations for new library acquisitions at the University of Alberta are received through a “suggest a purchase” form. These form submissions populate a centralized request database, and this database was used to create a dataset of requests for review. A total of 4,681 requests received between April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2024, for non-subscription materials were reviewed in detail.

Results – This analysis found that 17% of the requests were submitted by 8 individuals who submitted over 50 requests each, with a further 11% submitted by 15 individuals who submitted between 26-50 requests. While half of all requests were submitted by those who indicated that the item was for their own use, high-volume requesters were more likely than low-volume requesters to submit a request on behalf of someone else. The reason provided in about one third of the requests was categorized as “collection development”, meaning that the user suggested that the material would be beneficial to the collection but did not indicate that they themselves would use it. In reviewing “suggest a purchase” forms from comparator institutions, there was a lack of consensus around requested information or intended audience for this service.

Conclusion – As 28% of the requests received at the University of Alberta during this three-year timeframe came from 23 individuals, this work demonstrates that the library’s “suggest a purchase” program does not have broad engagement relative to the size of the library’s community. The wide variety of academic library approaches to submission forms suggests that there is not a clear purpose or approach to receiving these requests. Providing this service requires a significant investment in staff time, yet without a clear purpose and limited user engagement it is unlikely that this service is fulfilling its potential and may instead be detracting from institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. However, considering the large proportion of collection development requests, and the fact that high-volume requesters submit forms on behalf of others, this service could be explored as a means of community engagement and collection diversification. At the University of Alberta Library, this analysis supported the implementation of a program called “Broaden Our Bookshelf” as well as changes to the suggestion form to create a more welcoming user experience that would also enhance departmental understanding of user needs and future assessment of the service.

EN:

Objective – This study was designed to identify the impact of standalone information literacy tutorials on student success indicators. The study was conducted in two different phases to compare findings across different modalities and to identify whether online, asynchronous delivery of substantively similar content affected outcomes.

Methods – Using institutional records from a mid-sized, Midwestern public university, and attendance and completion data from student participation in asynchronous library workshops, the authors used propensity score matching to construct a control group that mirrored library workshop participants based on like characteristics. Statistical analyses were then conducted comparing the GPA, semester completion, and retention rates between the two groups.

Results – Students who completed at least one information literacy workshop had significantly higher semester GPAs (M = 3.25, SD = 0.85, SE = 0.06) than non-participants (M = 2.99, SD = 1.13, SE = 0.07); significantly higher semester completion rates (M = 0.93, SD = 0.18, SE = 0.01) than non-participants (M = 0.87, SD = 0.27, SE = 0.02); and substantially higher odds (OR = 3.5) of returning to the university the following semester than non-participants.

Conclusion – The findings in this study provide evidence for librarians advocating for the benefit of information literacy instruction on student success, particularly for undergraduate student retention. Additionally, library instruction programs making decisions about where to focus resources will find the comparisons between outcomes for online and traditional methods of instruction informative.

EN:

Objective – This research investigates library research guides that share information about anti-fat bias to support weight-inclusive education or practice. By analyzing these guides, we seek to understand how academic librarians are engaging in this work and how they can continue to support weight inclusivity as educators, proponents of information literacy, and interdisciplinary partners.

Methods – The authors searched for and screened publicly available LibGuides from academic libraries that included content about anti-fat bias, weight stigma, and/or body liberation. Relevant guides were then evaluated with an original framework to examine their content for insight about their target audience and context.

Results – The authors identified and analyzed 36 relevant LibGuides, predominantly from college and university libraries. Thirty-three LibGuides came from institutions in the United States, and most of the institutions had at least one health sciences program, though eight offered no health-related programs. Thirty-two of the analyzed LibGuides presented anti-fat bias content in a tab within a larger guide, while the remaining few were standalone guides. The majority of guides with tab-level anti-fat bias content presented it as a social justice issue, though a few framed the content in a nutrition or other context. The most popular resource types offered in the guides were books, popular articles, videos, associations/organizations, and academic articles.

Conclusion – Weight inclusivity discourse is growing across disciplines and is an area that librarians are well-situated to support. Presenting anti-fat bias as a social justice and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) issue in libraries is promising and highlights library workers’ commitment to anti-oppression efforts and learning. Work remains to be done to integrate more anti-fat bias content into academic curricula and education, and librarians should look to engage with disciplinary educators, learners, and colleagues to grow and support this work, particularly in the context of the health sciences.