Undergraduate students entering the classroom are often expected to have the skills needed to find, utilize, and synthesize academic scholarship. Yet, few feel prepared to do so. The research methods classroom provides immense opportunities for developing a meaningful foundation for students to enhance information literacy such that they feel…

Mass spectrometry is essential for large-scale protein identification in proteomics. By database searching of mass spectrometry data, it is possible to identify proteins without the need to interpret MS/MS spectra (de novo sequencing), which is time-consuming and not feasible as a systematic tool in proteomic analysis. Many authors have reported…

The Systematic Review Toolbox aims provide a web-based catalogue of tools that support various tasks within the systematic review and wider evidence synthesis process. Identifying publications surrounding specific systematic review tools is currently challenging, leading to a high screening burden for few eligible records. We aimed to develop a…

We researchers have taken searching for information for granted for far too long. The COVID-19 pandemic shows us the boundaries of academic searching capabilities, both in terms of our know-how and of the systems we have. With hundreds of studies published daily on COVID-19, for example, we struggle to find, stay up-to-date, and synthesize…

If the goal of library instructional guidance is to provide students with the knowledge needed to acquire new skills in order to accomplish their learning objectives, then it is prudent to consider factors that impact learning. Cognitive load theory addresses several of these factors and is applicable to a wide-range of instructional devices used…

Lifestyle choices are attributed to 40% to 60% of adult peak bone mass. The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) sought to update its 2000 consensus statement on peak bone mass and partnered with the American Society for Nutrition, which, in turn, charged a 9-member writing committee with using a systematic review approach to update the previous…

Critical thinking and analytical problem-solving skills in research involves using different search strategies. A proposed concept for an "Imploded Boolean Search" combines three unique identifiable field types to perform a search: keyword(s), numerical value(s), and a chemical structure or reaction. The object of this type of search is…

The blended model for information literacy instruction described in this article introduces students not only to efficient techniques for finding scientific literature and properties of chemical compounds, but also to managing this information with a bibliographic management program (EndNote Online). The model blends face-to-face instruction with…

Today data is everywhere. Businesses, governments, universities, scientists, and individuals are creating it at an unprecedented level and pace. Everybody is talking about it. We were just getting used to the concept of gigabytes of data. Then, it changed to petabytes. Now, various technology firms claim that more than an exabyte of data is…

Reference services in public libraries are changing dramatically. The Internet, online databases, and shrinking budgets are all making it necessary for non-traditional reference staff to become familiar with online reference tools. Recognizing the need for cross-training, Chesapeake Public Library (CPL) developed a program called the Database…

The ubiquity and familiarity of the world wide web means that students regularly turn to it as a source of information. In doing so, they "are said to rely heavily on simple search engines, such as Google to find what they want." Researchers have also investigated how students use search engines, concluding that "the young web users tended to…

The year 2011 was the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) consortium's "rookie season" for the implementation of Primo, the 2010 Discovery Layer 500 race winner. In this article, the authors report on their transition to the cloud within Ex Libris Ltd.'s Primo TotalCare environment: their preparation, the steps involved…

Purpose: Linking Open Data (LOD) provides a vast amount of well structured semantic information, but many inconsistencies may occur, especially if the data are generated with the help of automated methods. Data cleansing approaches enable detection of inconsistencies and overhauling of affected data sets, but they are difficult to apply…

Libraries are not so unlike market giants Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora. Despite their significantly different business models and missions, they share an interest in facilitating the search for information, including what to read, view, and listen to next. Librarians, too, want their patrons to be able to use their tools to make connections among…

The recent introduction of Google Scholar has renewed hope that someday a powerful research tool will bring continuing education literature more quickly, freely, and completely to one's computer. The authors suggest that using Google Scholar with other traditional search methods will narrow the research gap between what is discoverable and…