Transformed into a large collaborative learning environment, the Internet is comprised of information reservoirs namely, (a) online classrooms, (b) social networks, and (c) virtual reality or simulated communities, to expeditiously create, reproduce, share, and deliver information into the hands of educators and students. Most importantly, the…

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is applying research to assist in the selection of interventions that result in increased client quality care. Recently the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (2010), a new accreditation body for recreational therapy education, included standards that state students should obtain knowledge…

Western Illinois University Libraries has cut online serials subscriptions in the past 2 years. The librarians were guided by the statistics for downloads provided by the publishers of the journals. However, questions were raised by both professors and librarians regarding the exact meaning of the statistics. This caused the electronic resources…

The Foundations of Inquiry (FOI) course at Illinois State University was a required freshmen course designed to prepare incoming students for the requirements of their various academic programs. One of the course's goals was for students to receive instruction in information literacy (IL) skills and become accustomed to locating and retrieving…

Web site usage statistics are a widely used tool for Web site development, but libraries are still learning how to use them successfully. This case study summarizes how Morris Library at Southern Illinois University Carbondale implemented Google Analytics on its Web site and used the reports to inform a site redesign. As the main campus library at…

This study sought to design an effective management information system for an Illinois community college. It was developed by (1) displaying all the college activities as a system with six functionally independent subsystems, (2) reducing subsystem data to basic elements, (3) analyzing administrator response to choice of data items, (4)…

The Rockford School of Medicine uses the PLATO IV computer system and terminal to get up-to-the-minute, on line software catalogs available for use by the faculty and students on a printed display. (JY)

A COMPREHENSIVE, SEVEN-VOLUME, CODE LISTING IS PROVIDED OF SOME 1,930 COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND JUNIOR COLLEGES, REPRESENTED BY "THE COLLEGE SUGGESTOR" SYSTEM. INCLUDED UNDER EACH MAJOR COLLEGE HEADING IS A REPRESENTATIVE CODED LISTING OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THAT COLLEGE, INCLUDING SUCH FACTORS AS LOCATION, SIZE, CONTROL,…

A UNIQUE DEVICE ("THE COLLEGE SUGGESTOR") WAS DEVELOPED FOR CLASSIFYING FOR INSTANT RETRIEVAL CHARACTERISTIC INFORMATION ON SOME 1,930 JUNIOR COLLEGES, COLLEGES, AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND ITS TERRITORIES. IN USING IT AN INDIVIDUAL WOULD IDENTIFY THOSE INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, CLOSELY RELATED TO HIS PERSONAL…

Discusses data gathered from study assessing library users' behavior and perceptions of reference transaction. Characteristics of reference clientele (address, age, education), questions asked, answers given (type, source, length of time spent), relationships between variables, and cost of reference service are highlighted. Instructions and forms…

Analyzes videotapes of people using the Illinois Digital Library system during tests as well as transcripts and audiotapes from the sessions. Identifies how users learn to uncover new features and what assumptions they have about systems. What first appeared to be a random trial-and-error use of the interface was actually structured exploration…

The strengths of item-response theory (IRT) are used to examine the degree of information individual test items provide, as well as to investigate how the individual item types contribute to the overall measurement accuracy of the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) reading test. Using the graded-response model of Samejima (1969), the amount…

Describes a study that investigated the value of various access points in online catalog records by determining their usefulness to searchers who requested location information for items. Results of a transaction log analysis of the Illinois Library Computer Systems Office online union catalog for 45 academic libraries are discussed. (LRW)

Describes how Illinois libraries are promoting awareness and ease of access to government documents and services. Electronic products, select bibliographies, sources of foreign country information for businesses, dealing with electronically published information, and classification of Illinois documents are among the topics covered in this…