In 2016 the LIS-Bibliometrics Forum commissioned the development of a set of bibliometric competencies (2017 Model), available at https://thebibliomagician.wordpress.com/2017-competencies-archived/. The work, sponsored by a small research grant from Elsevier Research Intelligence Division, was led by Dr. Andrew Cox at the University of Sheffield, and Dr. Sabrina Petersohn of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany. The aim of the competency statements was to ensure that bibliometric practitioners were equipped to do their work responsibly and well.

The Competency Model was updated in July 2021 and includes a colour gradient to reflect the Levels and how they build upon one another. In particular, the 2021 competencies can help:

To identify skills gaps
To support progression through career stages for practitioners in the field of bibliometrics
To prepare job descriptions

The work underpinning the paper is available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0961000617728111. It is intended that the competencies are a living document and will be reviewed over time.

23 Things is a suite of 23 self-paced online modules that cover a range of topics from video editing to basic coding. Each module or 'thing' consists of information, interactive activities, and invitations to try out various open and free software applications and technologies. The modules have been created using H5P and can be downloaded individually as a single H5P file, modified and re-used under a CC-BY-SA licence - simply click on the 'reuse' link at the bottom of each module.

The content was created by Curtin University students as part of a 'students as partners' project.

This workshop covers the basics of 3D modelling in Processing. From the 3D coordinate system, placing different shapes, surfaces, and camera angles. This introductory workshop is suitable for all students with some basic Processing knowledge. We assume that you are familiar with 2D shapes in Processing,  including pushMatrix, rotate and translate. This workshop will only cover basics, sufficient to create a landscape with 3D objects and a moving object. 

This assignment is intended to encourage students to explore relevant jobs in the Information Technology arena post the completion of their A.A.S degree.

The Framework, re-framed in "plain English" for students and faculty. The goal was to make the ACRL Framework easier to understand (many people don't use iterative in everyday conversation, for example) and to make the connection between information literacy and institutional mission/vision and learning outcomes clear.

Cover photo by geraldo stanislas on Unsplash

An exploration of practical research issues for social scientists

Long Description:
Indigenous Data Sovereignty Workshop

Word Count: 14493

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Practical applications for social scientists

Long Description:
Practical applications for social scientists

Word Count: 7124

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Welcome to the first, biannual Archival Educators Roundtable (AER) Newsletter! In 2016, the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC) brought together like-minded professionals who use primary sources for public programming, outreach, and education, and the AER was born. As archival education is a still-developing field, the AER created a community where people could share their successes, challenges, and works in progress through casual workshops.AER’s network of educators, archivists, and archival education allies has since expanded its culture of support beyond the biannual meetings here at the RAC through social media, event attendance, joint publications, and email correspondence.It is our hope that this AER Newsletter will further extend the table, so speak, reaching more colleagues as we spotlight educators, and showcase the projects, challenges, and successes of archival education. Just as the aim of AER meetings is to ensure that all perspectives on primary source education are honored, we encourage you, our dedicated AER audience, to reach out and contribute your insights to future AER Newsletters! Many thanks to our first issue's contributors--we couldn't have done it without you.--Marissa Vassari, Archivist and Educator, Rockefeller Archive CenterElizabeth Berkowitz, Outreach Program Manager, Rockefeller Archive Center

Should A+ Certification Exam candidates use brain dump sites? My answer, might surprise you.

This is part of Mr. Ford's Guide to the A+ Certification Exam: How to Be A Computer Technician.

AIRS is an open source set of online modules and resources in research skills and knowledge. It provides the grounding in research processes with practical tools to support you.

AIRS is a mandatory coursework requirement for Higher Degree Research (HDR) students enrolled in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Master of Philosophy (MPhil), at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

This OER was made possible through the support of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Open Educational Resources Initiative (ASCCC OERI). This textbook was developed with the intention to support customizability and allow instructors to adopt and adapt the materials to fit their own course needs through the use of an open license and open resources. Because of this, this textbook can be transferred fully or as chapters (modules). It is meant to be used as you (the instructor) see fit. Alignment to Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC): At the beginning of each module chapter, learning objectives and LSSC competency sets are listed that the content aligns to. This is done to provide further insight into how the material can best support your course. In the appendixes, you will also find perspectives from students and professionals that can be incorporated into your classroom discussions about the profession. These insights were gathered by alumni of LSS certificate programs, advisory board members of LSS programs, and other library community members. This text was also written with the intention to not just highlight EDI efforts and priorities for libraries, but also with EDI practice in mind - meaning, we wanted to use and incorporate resources that provided a diverse range of experiences and perspectives as well. This includes checking for accessibility and usability.

Literacy modules designed for an embedded use in second semester, college freshman-level English or Composition courses.  All content available through website.

Information is inherently valuable. Access to it, or lack of access, has the potential to affect the quality of one’s life. In this lesson, students will learn how access to information shapes people’s lives and how they can make informed decisions related to access to information in their lives and in their communities.

Questions about access to scholarship go back farther than recent debates over subscription prices, rights, and electronic archives suggest. The great libraries of the past—from the fabled collection at Alexandria to the early public libraries of nineteenth-century America—stood as arguments for increasing access. In The Access Principle, John Willinsky describes the latest chapter in this ongoing story—online open access publishing by scholarly journals—and makes a case for open access as a public good.

A commitment to scholarly work, writes Willinsky, carries with it a responsibility to circulate that work as widely as possible: this is the access principle. In the digital age, that responsibility includes exploring new publishing technologies and economic models to improve access to scholarly work. Wide circulation adds value to published work; it is a significant aspect of its claim to be knowledge. The right to know and the right to be known are inextricably mixed. Open access, argues Willinsky, can benefit both a researcher-author working at the best-equipped lab at a leading research university and a teacher struggling to find resources in an impoverished high school.

Willinsky describes different types of access—the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, grants open access to issues six months after initial publication, and First Monday forgoes a print edition and makes its contents immediately accessible at no cost. He discusses the contradictions of copyright law, the reading of research, and the economic viability of open access. He also considers broader themes of public access to knowledge, human rights issues, lessons from publishing history, and "epistemological vanities." The debate over open access, writes Willinsky, raises crucial questions about the place of scholarly work in a larger world—and about the future of knowledge.

NSCC EDITION

Short Description:
The NSCC Edition is a revised version of the BC Campus Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition. The goal of this book is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.

Word Count: 13596

ISBN: 978-1-77420-030-8

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Short Description:
The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students. This is a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC.

Long Description:
The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.

This second edition has built upon, and improved, the original toolkit—a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC—with a new “Accessibility Statements” chapter, bibliography and list of links by chapter for print users in the back matter, updated information, and corrections to content, style and layout.

The French translation of the first edition of the Accessibility Toolkit—La Trousse d’outils d’accessibilité —is still available. In time, a French translation of this second edition will be made available.

Word Count: 14269

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Short Description:
The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students. This is a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC.

Long Description:
The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.

This second edition has built upon, and improved, the original toolkit—a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC—with a new “Accessibility Statements” chapter, bibliography and list of links by chapter for print users in the back matter, updated information, and corrections to content, style and layout.

The French translation of the first edition of the Accessibility Toolkit—La Trousse d’outils d’accessibilité —is still available. In time, a French translation of this second edition will be made available.

Word Count: 14319

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Short Description:
This text is an OER remix of the following resource: Clark, J. S., Porath, S., Thiele, J., & Jobe, M. (2020). Action research. New Prairie Press.

Word Count: 30262

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What are your facet values when using software? What's one situation when your facet values might change? How did identifying your facet values affect your understanding of how you use software?

What are your facet values when using software? What's one situation when your facet values might change? How did identifying your facet values affect your understanding of how you use software?

What cognitive styles do you use to interact with technology? PRE-REQ: https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87536 LAST UPDATE: Changed title

Reflection assignment about cognitive styles used to interact with technology. Includes reflection questions about relating to the GenderMag personas.

Activity where the class will perform a GenderMag walkthrough on the ACM website from the GenderMag persona’s perspective.

Students mark on the continuum where they think their persona's cognitive styles are likely to fall.

An annotated list of resources of different types to support Spanish-language speakers in learning more about Creative Commons.

General James Clapper, former United States Director of National Intelligence and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), once said \everything happens somewhere.\" He stressed that there are aspects of time and place to every intelligence problem. In this course, you will examine how time and place work with general intelligence techniques to create geospatial intelligence. You will learn and apply critical thinking skills, structured analytical techniques, and other intelligence methods in a geospatial context. You'll also learn how to reduce personal and organizational bias by conducting an Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, by R. Heuer, a 45-year veteran of the CIA. As a result, you will be better prepared for the world of geospatial intelligence analysis."

The purpose of this tutorial (along with the “Advanced Keyword Searching, Part I” tutorial) is to help the student master comprehensive, keyword searching. Performing a truly comprehensive, keyword search is more difficult than performing a similarly thorough, subject heading search. We hope that this tutorial will make the steps involved in this complex process easier to understand and master.

Short Description:
A short course for graduate students to increase their proficiency in conducting research for literature and systematic reviews. After taking the mini course graduate students will understand how to conduct their review, how to execute appropriate searches, manage their results and demonstrate strategic reading skills. Module 1 provides a quick overview of the different types of academic reviews and the steps involved in conducting them. Module 2 demonstrates how to formulate a research question and how to search for sources. Module 3 discusses how to select and organize sources. Finally, Module 4 outlines techniques for reading and assessing the quality of sources.The course contains interactive H5P activities for students to test their learning. Students have access to a workbook of reflective activities to document their research process. The intended outcome is to ensure graduate students understand how to conduct and manage their own research for their academic success and future careers.

Word Count: 17511

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Short Description:
A short course for graduate students to increase their proficiency in conducting research for literature and systematic reviews. After taking the mini course graduate students will understand how to conduct their review, how to execute appropriate searches, manage their results and demonstrate strategic reading skills. Module 1 provides a quick overview of the different types of academic reviews and the steps involved in conducting them. Module 2 demonstrates how to formulate a research question and how to search for sources. Module 3 discusses how to select and organize sources. Finally, Module 4 outlines techniques for reading and assessing the quality of sources.The course contains interactive H5P activities for students to test their learning. Students have access to a workbook of reflective activities to document their research process. The intended outcome is to ensure graduate students understand how to conduct and manage their own research for their academic success and future careers.

Word Count: 18244

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North American ecosystems have fundamentally changed over the late Pleistocene and Holocene; from a system dominated by mammoths, to bison, to domestic livestock. Given the very different body size and herd formation of these 'ecosystem engineers', it is likely that animals influence soil structure, water tables, vegetation and other animals in the ecosystems. What has been the ecological influence of the continued 'downsizing' of the largest animals in the ecosystem?

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This presentation was prepared for the Council of Australian University Librarians OER Collective Community.  The Community comprises mostly library staff who are supporting the production of open texts at thier institutions, many of whom are new to OER and open textbooks.  The aim was to provide a foundation for advocacy for the adoption, adaptation, and authoring of open textbooks locally.  Therefore, it establishes a shared definition and purpose of advocacy, especially as it relates to openness, and then provides six practical strategies for advocates that could be adapted and implemented for local contexts.

Videos that show how to use African American History Online, a database provided by Shelton State Community College to its students.All videos are close captioned.

This brief module provides instructions for students on how to get to the Alabama Virtual Library.

This is a problem-based learning activity that guides students through a process whereby the class as a whole investigates various stakeholder perspectives on the global climate change controversy. Individual students then reflect on their own perspectives in light of what they have learned.

This short course provides training materials about how to create a set of publication data, gather additional information about the data through an API (Application Programming Interface), clean the data, and analyze the data in various ways. Developing these skills will assist academic librarians who are:

Negotiating a renewal of a journal package or an open access publishing agreement,
Interested in which journals the institution's authors published in or which repositories the institution’s authors shared their works in,
Looking to identify publications that could be added to your repository,
Searching for authors who do or do not publish OA for designing outreach programs, or
Tracking how open access choices have changed over time.
After completing the lessons, the user will be able to gain an understanding of an institution’s publishing output, such as number of publications per year, open access status of the publications, major funders of the research, estimates of how much funding might be spent towards article processing charges (APCs), and more. The user will also be better prepared to think critically about institutional publishing data to make sustainable and values-driven scholarly communications decisions.

The course is presented in two sections. Section 1 describes how to build a dataset. Section 2 describes a free, open source tool for working with data. Examples of how to do analyses both in OpenRefine and Microsoft Excel are provided.

This short course was created for the Scholarly Communication Notebook. The file "Analyzing Institutional Publishing Output-A Short Course.docx" serves as a table of contents for the materials.

Checklist that can be used as a guide in analyzing the assignment examples

A brief overview of the six Creative Commons licenses and how each works.

Welcome to the Android developer guides. The documents listed in the left navigation teach you how to build Android apps using APIs in the Android framework and other libraries.

Created as a supplement for the Impact Measurement collection of the ScholarlyCommunication Notebook (SCN) to describe some of the core literature in the field as well asresources that cannot be included on the SCN, because they are not openly licensed but arefree to read.This annotated bibliography is separated into three sections: Peer reviewed scholarly articles,Blog posts, initiatives, and guides, and Resources for further education and professionaldevelopment. The first section is intended to help practitioners in the field of researchassessment and bibliometrics to understand high-level core concepts in the field. The secondsection offers resources that are more applicable to practice. The final section includes links toblogs, communities, discussion lists, paid and free educational courses, and archivedconferences, so that practitioners and professionals can stay abreast of emerging trends,improve their skills, and find community. Most of these resources could not be included on theScholarly Communication Notebook, because they are not openly licensed. However, allresources on this bibliography are freely available to access and read.

Use Purdue OWL to annotate the paper Scale and Cross-Scale Dynamics: Governance and Information in a Multilevel World

Hope Scholar Library Workshop

Word Count: 22286

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The Advanced Certificate and the Advanced Diploma in Applications of ICT in Libraries permit library staff to obtain accreditation for their skills in the use of ICT. Anyone can make use of the materials and assessment is available in variety of modes, including distance learning.

A companion textbook to SW591

Word Count: 51407

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Apprenticechip is a course on case studies in and techniques for creating digital libraries for apprentice learners.

The goals of this course are: 1. Learn a 10 step approach to digital library design, creation, curation, operation and evaluation. 2. Through the lens of this 10 step approach, review case studies of over 20 digital libraries of various sizes, encompassing a variety of disciplines, addressing diverse missions, utilizing a variety of technologies and learn how they succeeded and failed. 3. Use this 10 step approach to create your own small digital library to help apprentice learners in your area of professional expertise or personal passion.

We also wish to provide an introduction to digital libraries and to explore the questions 1) What is the history of digital libraries and learning? 2) What is the future of digital libraries and learning? 3) How can we create digital libraries that help apprentice learners? and 4) What role do professional + amateur librarians have to play in the future of digital libraries and learning?

This is an introduction to the classic version of ArcGIS StoryMaps. It provides a walkthrough of the website functions and has tasks listed for students to build their first story map.

Pomona College -- fall 2022

Word Count: 33688

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In this resource, you will find five archival preservation handouts and one handout addressing arrangement and description. These handouts will quickly help a user understand how to best preserve different types of materials at their home. There are both full-color and black and white versions of each of these handouts. The handouts are licensed under CC, by 4.0. 

Archiving for the Future is a free training course designed to teach language documenters, activists, and researchers how to organize, arrange, and archive language documentation, revitalization, and maintenance materials and metadata in a digital repository or language archive. Then entire course can be completed in approximately 3-5 hours.

This course was developed by the staff of the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America at the University of Texas at Austin in consultation with representatives of various DELAMAN (https://www.delaman.org/) archives and other digital data repositories in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and Cameroon.

The course material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. BCS-1653380 (September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2020). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Covering necessary information literacy topics in a traditional "one shot" session can be difficult. To address this challenge, a suite of interactive online modules were developed to provide active learning lessons on various information literacy topics. The modules can be used in fully online, flipped or face-to-face courses and can be integrated into a learning management system (LMS) so student knowledge and progress can be tracked and assessed.

Developed using Articulate Storyline, the sources files are available as open source downloads under a GNU General Public License (GPLv3). Please feel free to download and continue to enhance and improve these modules.

What is the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world of scholarly communication? What impact does AI have on the practices and strategies of publishers, libraries, information technology companies, and researchers? What exactly is AI and what are those in the realm of scholarly communication actually thinking about it and doing with it?

This Charleston Briefing seeks to provide some answers to these very important questions, offering both general essays on AI and more specific essays on AI in scholarly publishing, academic libraries, and AI in information discovery and knowledge building. The essays will help publishers, librarians, and researchers better understand the actual impact of AI on libraries and publishing so that they can respond to the potentially transformative impact of AI in a measured and knowledgeable manner.

"Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals" is a thought-provoking series of brief books concerning innovation in the sphere of libraries, publishing, and technology in scholarly communication. The briefings, growing out of the vital conversations characteristic of the Charleston Conference and Against the Grain, will offer valuable insights into the trends shaping our professional lives and the institutions in which we work.

When looking for information, one of the first steps is to develop a research question to figure out the scope of what exactly is needed. In this lesson, students will explore what it takes to narrow a search in order to find the best information.

This resource is a modification of the Washington Models for the Evaluation of Bias Content in Instructional Materials (2009) that is made available through OER Commons under a public domain license. This resource attempts to both update the content with more contemporary vocabulary and also to narrow the scope to evaluating still images as they are found online. It was developed as a secondary project while working on a BranchED OER grant during summer 2020. It includes an attached rubric adapted from the Washington Model (2009).

This is an editable flyer for institutions participating in the OER Collective to use to promote the Collective to academics. 

PowerPoint presentation on avoidance of plagiarism and associated tools. This resource should be accessible and includes captioning, as well as narration transcript within notes. Conversion to MP4 format can be found with the following link: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Au0Iieak3rI_0FzvLimwqLC6KUxo?e=Np6bCL.

The content of both the Dutch and the English-language version of Bad News was
written by DROG (www.aboutbadnews.com), a Dutch organisation working against
the spread of disinformation, in collaboration with researchers at Cambridge
University in the United Kingdom. The visual and graphic design was done by
Gusmanson (www.gusmanson.nl).

Information Literacy for Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Students

Short Description:
This book teaches college-level journalism and strategic communication students to become information experts. If you use or adapt this book in your classroom please let us know, and tell us about your experience.

Word Count: 94398

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In this exercise, students will use the Neotoma database and ArcGIS Online to create a distribution map of modern collection localities of beetle taxa associated with an assemblage of fossil beetles from the Conklin Quarry site in eastern Iowa.

a data rich exercise to help students discover how organisms move in response to climate change

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Begin Research“Where Do I Start?”Do you have an assignment to write a research paper but you’re not sure where to start? Take a deep breath and begin by carefully reading the assignment requirements. This will help you understand the work you need to do.First, let’s think about what we mean when we say “research.”HOW MUCH DO YOU ALREADY KNOW?What makes a good topic?It is broad enough that you can find enough information on the subject.It is focused enough that you are not overwhelmed with too much information.The topic is interesting to you.All of the above.If you don’t know much about your topic, what resources would be most helpful when you being your research?Encyclopedias and websitesScholarly articlesNewspapers and magazinesStatistical informationIt is always a good idea to brainstorm different words for similar ideas when you first begin to research your topic.TrueFalseWhat statement below is generally true about beginning research?It is pretty easy to find information on any topic.As long as you have a good topic, researching for it will not take a long time.No matter t he assignment, good research takes time and effort.None of the above.ANSWERSAll of the above.2.1True4.3Read Your Assignment CarefullyBefore you can even begin your research, though, you need to read the assignment instructions carefully—more than once! This will help you understand the work you need to do.Highlight topic guidelines, required length, and the types of information sources allowed.Let’s take a look at a sample assignment.UNDERSTAND YOUR ASSIGNMENTLily is taking a University Studies class and must complete this assignment:In this paper, you will analyze the scientific aspects of a known environmental problem and identify and discuss at least two proposed solutions.Now, analyze this assignment step by step.Find the words that tell you what to do (think verbs!): analyze, identify, and discuss.Find the limits of the assignment: scientific aspects and two proposed solutions.Find the key theme: a known environmental problemBy reading the assignment carefully, we know that Lily has to analyze an environmental problem and identify and discuss at least two proposed solutions.Pick a Good TopicLily’s assignment is broad enough to give her some choices when picking a topic. So, what makes a good topic?It interests you! You’ll enjoy it and do a better job.It meets the requirements of your assignment.It’s broad enough to give you several search options.It’s focused enough that you’re not overwhelmed with information.HOT TIP!Explore the library’s databases to get you started.Browse newspapers and news sources.Talk to your instructors and fellow students.Consult with a librarian.TOO BROAD, TOO NARROW, OR JUST RIGHT?Air pollution in urban areasToo broadToo narrowJust rightRespiratory diseases in children in high-density urban areasToo broadToo narrowJust rightEnvironmental consequences of California’s October 2007 forest firesToo broadToo narrowJust rightPolar bear adaptation to global warming in the ArcticToo broadToo narrowJust rightRenewable energy in the United StatesToo broadToo narrowJust rightThe design and implementation of Cal-Cars—the California Cars InitiativeToo broadToo narrowJust rightANSWERSToo broad. You’d need to identify an aspect of air pollution to narrow down the scopeJust right! This is a good topic. You’ll continue to refine your ideas as you learn more about the topic.A bit narrow. It will be hard to find information on just one event. Look more broadly for information on forest fires in California or the West.Just right. There should be just enough information to get you started. You will continue to refine your ideas as you learn more about the topic.Too broad. This is a good starting place, but you’d want to focus the topic by selecting a specific renewable energy like solar power or wind.Too narrow. It’s going to be difficult to find information on such a narrow topic. Broaden the focus to look at initiatives like this one that are less regional.Identify Potential IdeasNow it’s time to really focus your topic. Browse a few resources for ideas and identify different aspects of the topic.Remember, if you pick a subject that interests you, you’ll enjoy the research process much more!Customize Your TopicLet’s say your assignment is to research an environmental issue. This is a broad starting point, which is a normal first step.One way to customize your topic is to consider how different disciplines approach the same topic in different ways. For example, here’s how your broad topic of “environmental issues” might be approached from different perspectives.Social Sciences: Economics of Using Wind to Produce Energy in the United StatesSciences: Impact of Climate Change on the Habitat of Desert Animals in ArizonaArts and Humanities: Analysis of the Rhetoric of Environmental Protest LiteratureTurn Your Topic into a QuestionWhen you’ve chosen a topic, it’s time to ask some questions. Using “environmental issues” as our general research interest, let’s ask some questions about environmental issues and agriculture.How: How do government agricultural subsidies impact the price of food?  How does the use of pesticides affect food safety?Who: Consumers, farmers, farm workersWhat: Food safety, pesticides, food prices, genetically modified food, organic farmingWhere: United States, developing nations, European UnionWhy: Why does the European Union ban the sale and distribution of genetically modified food?What’s Your Angle?Let’s say that the most interesting question that emerged from the last exercise was: “How does repeated pesticide use in agriculture impact soil and groundwater pollution?”Find Your KeywordsNow that we have our sample research question, we need to identify the key concepts and their related keywords.Using our research question, “How does repeated pesticide use in agriculture impact soil and groundwater pollution?” we might consider these keywords:A SYMPHONY OF SYNONYMSLet’s examine our research question again:How does repeated pesticide use in agriculture impact soil and groundwater pollution?Now analyze this assignment step by step:Find important words and phrases that describe this topic (you can ignore common words that don’t have a lot of meaning, such as prepositions, articles, and adjectives): pesticide, agriculture, soil, and pollution.Now, think of some synonyms for the keywords you found:pesticideagrochemicals, pest management, weed management,diazinan, malathionagriculturefarming, food crops, specific types of cropssoilclay, organic componentsgroundwater watershed, water resources, water table, aquaticspollutionenvironmental impact, degradation, exposure, acid rainWhy are synonyms necessary? You’ll often need to search for different words relating to the same concept.Dive Into a Sea of Resources!Browse through general sources to get familiar with your topic. You will find many sources for locating background information. Remember our point from earlier in this tutorial: the source you select will determine what you find. Make sure you spend your time looking in the right places.HOT TIP!Is there enough info on your topic? If not, review the earlier steps for starting your research. It’s normal to refine and revise your topic multiple times.What Do You Know?Once you’ve established your focused topic, you need to get familiar with it by doing some reading. Start with more general sources and then work up to more specific and detailed sources. Where you go next depends on how much you know.So, just how much do you know about your topic?Not All That MuchI’ve Got the BasicsI’m Ready for DetailsSounds like you need the type of information typically found in encyclopedias and websites.Sounds like you’ve got a basic understanding of your topic and just need to learn more. Check out books, magazines, and newspapers.Specific information is what you need. You’ll want to find relevant scholarly articles, statistical sources, and government publications.Matching Resources to Your Information NeedNewspaper: Current regional or local informationScholarly journal article: Detailed analysis of a complex problem.Book or book chapter: Summary of what is known about a topic.Encyclopedia or website: Factual information like names, dates, and definitions.TEST YOURSELF: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?What are the characteristics of a good topic?(Select all that apply) It interests you.It meets the requirements of your assignment.It’s broad enough to give you several search options.It’s focused enough that you’re not overwhelmed with information.Rank the following questions in order from most general to most specific (1 being the most general):Are pesticides bad?Do video games cause violent behavior in adolescent males?Are agricultural workers in Mexico at a higher risk of health problems due to pesticide exposure because of lax government safety standards?Is there a relationship between fast food consumption and obesity?What is the best way to focus  your topic?Think about the discipline that you are researching for.Tailor your topic to the requirements of your assignment.Talk to a librarian about the resources that are available for your topic.All of the above.Pick the best set of keywords to begin searching for information on global warming.Rising ocean levels, air pollution, greenhouse gasesBiodiversity, atmospheric temperature, ozone layerGlobal climate change, greenhouse effect, atmospheric carbon dioxideEnvironment sustainability, alternative energy, biofuelsWhy is it a good idea to use different words to describe similar ideas when you are beginning research?(Select all that apply) Because there is only one right answer and you can find it by trial and error.Because  using different words will help you cast a broader net than just using the same term over and over.Different researchers might use different terms to describe the same idea.You might spell some of the words wrong and not get any results.What is the most difficult aspect of beginning to research a topic that you don’t know very much about?You don’t know enough about the topic to know what is important and what is not.You don’t understand the technical aspects of the topic.It takes a lot of time to do research.All of the above.For you, what the most difficult part about beginning your research?ANSWERSA good topic will incorporate all these characteristics.1 = Are pesticides bad?2 = Is there a relationship between fast food consumption and obesity?3 = Do video games cause violent behavior in adolescent males?4 = Are agricultural workers in Mexico at a higher risk of health problems due to pesticide exposure because of lax government safety standards?The more a research question incorporates the concepts of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and  How the more specific it will be.All of the above.4.3; think carefully about which terms are closely related to global warming.5.2 and 5.3; there may be many ways to describe a single topic. Using as many related words as possible will help you find the most information!All of the above; remember that research takes time and energy and isn’t an easy thing to do!No matter what, coming to the library and talking to a librarian will help you get started. Finding information effectively and efficientlyLevel 2 teaches you how to structure a search for the information you need to write a paper, for example. You will learn the following:how to construct a search strategy using the aspects defined in level 1how to perform a smart search using the information sources available at TU Delft LibraryDetermining search termsNow it is time to do an actual search! In level 1 you divided the search topic into its different aspects. What’s next? Are you going to use Google and type in all the aspects, like you probably do every day? What will you do with all the search results? Are you going to study them all? No, there is a smarter way!Exercise 1Plug in your earphones or turn down the volume and watch the clip ‘Web Search Strategies Explained in Plain English‘ by Commoncraft about smart searching on the web.Searching the web is very similar to searching other information sources such as Worldcat Discovery. Doing the following exercise will teach you how to apply the aspects of your search topic in a smart search. Complete the exercise on how to find suitable search terms matching the aspects of the search topic. Determining search strategyNow you are going to convert the synonyms you have found into a smart search strategy. You have to use search operators to use all the synonyms properly.Exercise 2Study the TUlib module Search operators.If you want to perform a smart search, you must combine your search terms. Complete thisexercise on combining search terms with Boolean operators.Towards information sourcesNow you have formulated a search strategy, which you will use to search the various information sources. But where to start? How do you choose which information source you want to use? This table gives an overview of the differences between Worldcat Discovery, Scopus and Google Scholar and helps you determine when to use each one.Exercise 3Watch the first two sections (“Basic searching” and “Retrieving documents”) of this video about searching in WorldCat Discovery (which includes the TU Delft Library catalogue).Watch this video with an example of a search strategy carried out in article database Scopus.Complete the exercise on carrying out your search strategy in various information sources.Now you have learned how to convert the aspects of your search topic into a search strategy and how to apply this strategy in a number of information sources.You can find other relevant information sources for your subject area in the “Useful links” overview in the section “What’s next”.

An unintimidating guide to basic hypothesis testing logic for beginners

Word Count: 45834

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A Beginner's Guide to Information Literacy covers the ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy frame by frame, using casual language and real world examples. Use this click-through text-based resource to understand the Framework as a whole or to work on understanding a particular Frame. Reflection questions are included for the casual learner or for anyone incorporating Information Literacy conversations into a classroom or workshop.

This guide covers each concept included in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, a document created by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). The goal of this guide is to break down the basic concepts and put them in accessible, digestible language so students can think critically about information and how we use it.

Different types of new data may be created in the course of a project, for instance visualizations, plots, statistical outputs, a new dataset created by integrating multiple datasets, etc. Whenever possible, document your workflow (the process used to clean, analyze and visualize data) noting what data products are created at each step. Depending on the nature of the project, this might be as a computer script, or it may be notes in a text file documenting the process you used (i.e. process metadata). If workflows are preserved along with data products, they can be executed and enable the data product to be reproduced.

Events such as conferences, festivals, annual meetings, award ceremonies, fundraisers and seminars are an important part of the lives of many people including persons with disabilities and the elderly. Thus, it is important to ensure that such events are planned and organized in an accessible and inclusive manner to meet the needs of all visitors and participants.
This document aims to help organizations to make events more digitally accessible for persons with disabilities who may be attending as presenters, participants, or sponsors. It provides guidance on how to ensure ICT Accessibility before, during and after the event, offering a set of best practices adopted internationally and locally with reference to the topics outlined in the CPRD policy framework that will open up a section of a potential market that is often overlooked and help to meet existing legal responsibilities of the organizations from an ICT perspective.

Companion Site for Harvard Medical School Canvas Network MOOC Best Practices for Biomedical Research Data Management. This Open Science Framework project site includes all the materials contained in the Canvas course including: readings and resources; slide presentations; video lectures; activity outlines; research case studies and questions; and quiz questions with answer guide.

Biomedical research today is not only rigorous, innovative and insightful, it also has to be organized and reproducible. With more capacity to create and store data, there is the challenge of making data discoverable, understandable, and reusable. Many funding agencies and journal publishers are requiring publication of relevant data to promote open science and reproducibility of research.

In order to meet to these requirements and evolving trends, researchers and information professionals will need the data management and curation knowledge and skills to support the access, reuse and preservation of data.

This course is designed to address present and future data management needs.

When describing the process for creating derived data products, the following information should be included in the data documentation or the companion metadata file.

When searching for data, whether locally on one’s machine or in external repositories, one may use a variety of search terms. In addition, data are often housed in databases or clearinghouses where a query is required in order access data. In order to reproduce the search results and obtain similar, if not the same results, it is necessary to document which terms and queries were used.

Follow the steps below to choose the most appropriate software to meet your needs:
Identify what you want to achieve (discover data, analyze data, write a paper, etc.)
Identify the necessary software features for your project (i.e. functional requirements)
Identify logistics features of the software that are required, such as licensing, cost, time constraints, user expertise, etc. (i.e. non-functional requirements)
Determine what software has been used by others with similar requirements
Ask around (yes, really); find out what people like
Find out what software your institution has licensed
Search the web (e.g. directory services, open source sites, forums)
Follow-up with independent assessment
Generate a list of software candidates
Evaluate the list; iterate back to Step 1 as needed
As feasible, try a few software candidates that seem promising

Outliers may not be the result of actual observations, but rather the result of errors in data collection, data recording, or other parts of the data life cycle. This can be used to identify outliers for closer examination.

Data tables should ideally include values that were acquired in a consistent fashion. However, sometimes instruments fail and gaps appear in the records.

Data should not be entered with higher precision than they were collected in.

Understand the input geospatial data parameters, including scale, map projection, geographic datum, and resolution, when integrating data from multiple sources. Care should be taken to ensure that the geospatial parameters of the source datasets can be legitimately combined.

Proceedings of the 2022 Erasmus Staff Training Week at ULiège Library

Short Description:
No library can buy or hold everything its patrons need. At a certain point, librarians need to pool their resources and collaborate to provide access to what they don't have: Collaboration, interlibrary loan, purchase on demand, PDA and EBA are notably key to success.

Long Description:
No library can buy or hold everything its patrons need. At a certain point, librarians need to pool their resources and collaborate to provide access to what they don’t have: Collaboration and partnership, centralized and shared collection storage, digitization projects, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, purchase on demand, PDA and EBA are notably key to success.

The 2022 edition of the Erasmus Mobility Staff Training week organized at the University of Liège Library focused on services, projects and policies that libraries can deploy and promote to increase and ease access to materials that do not belong to their print or electronic holdings.

More than 20 librarians, managers, and researchers in library science share their experiences and visions in this book.

Word Count: 63148

ISBN: 978-2-87019-313-6 (online); 978-2-87019-314-3 (pdf); 978-2-87019-315-0 (epub)

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This series looks at the Oxford Martin School's academics and how their research is making a difference to our global future. The series will be of interest to people who are concerned about the future for the planet, how civilisation will adapt to emerging problems and issues such as climate change, over population, increased urbanisation of populations and the creation of vaccines to fight against future pandemics. The Oxford Martin School academics explain their various research topics in an accessible and thoughtful way and try to find practical solutions to these issues.

Digital literacy is more than finding articles or being able to use Powerpoint - it's a flexible engagement within the digital world. This workshop uses poetry as an engagement lens on mindsets, learning, creativity and literacies. Developed as part of CAUL's Digital Dexterity launch program in 2019, this blackout poetry resource provides you with workshop slides, workshop plan and an instructional handout. 

This course will help students in a university setting to prepare for projects with a problem-based learning approach in an international environment. It will support you to define your role as a student, give guidance for being a member of an international group of students, as well as for working on a research project or with companies. This version of the course is intended for students, but also for teachers who can use the materials fully or partly in their courses. This is also why most of the materials are available for download in editable formats. The course is developed as part of the Erasmus+ project EPIC.

A 12-panel comic strip explaining what Boolean Operators are and how to use them.

This book is used in Reach Higher, Oklahoma's adult degree completion program, for a course called Data Analysis & Interpretation. It provides basic statistics that can be used for organizational data analysis by individuals with managerial professional goals, while also teaching essential skills from Microsoft Excel commonly needed for data analysis. This book uses material from Lumen Learning's Boundless Statistics (Boundless Learning) and Excel for Decision Making from University of Houston Libraries (multiple authors).

Short Description:
During the early days of quarantine, many teachers turned to poetry to process their experiences. Teacher-Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance: An Oral History of COVID-19 preserves this poetry and teachers' experiences as they navigated a new reality in education.

Long Description:
During the early days of quarantine, many teachers turned to poetry to process their experiences. Teacher-Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance: An Oral History of COVID-19 preserves this poetry and teachers’ experiences as they navigated a new reality in education. In the interviews, teachers revisit poems written a year prior, re-witnessing, with perspective offered only by time, the impact of the pandemic on them as teachers and on education more broadly. This anthology offers readers the poems shared across 39 collected oral histories. The full collection of interviews is available for online public access at the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program.

Word Count: 29849

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The book presents a coherent theory of building information, focusing on its representation and management in the digital era. It addresses issues such as the information explosion and the structure of analogue building representations to propose a parsimonious approach to the deployment and utilization of symbolic digital technologies like BIM.

Business communication also happens across channels. We have come a long way as the human race in terms of the channels we use to communicate with each other. With the development of language, much of communication was oral, with humans passing knowledge and information to other humans through the mouth. Sometimes we would use actions, whether through body language or through the use of other methods, such as smoke signals. However, most of communication was restricted to oral communication. With the invention of writing, we had yet another channel of communication, which turned out to be a little more permanent than speech. Information could now be recorded for posterity and knowledge could be passed down from father to son without the loss of accuracy.

Short Description:
This book introduces students to Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and email management. The text covers basic concepts of creating word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation materials for the workplace.

Long Description:
This book introduces students to Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and email management. The text covers basic concepts of creating word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation materials for the workplace.

Word Count: 68829

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This module covers the creation, execution and deployment of an ETL project using the SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). Several examples were provided to show how data from different sources can be Extracted from the source, Transformed into meaningful forms and Loaded to the data warehouse.

These slides were used for a  CAUL OER Collective Library Staff Community of Practice discussion on faciliating peer review in the publication of open textbooks. 

This module takes a look at the advantages of OER and the Creative Commons for both instructors and their learners. Both instructors and learners can enjoy using OER as well as creating it for use by others!

This course is designed to use technology as a productivity tool within a business environment through the use of database software. You will use database software for creating tables, forms, and reports by manipulating data through various query tools.

Course Outcomes:
1. Produce a simple relational database that stores information.
2. Create queries that retrieve specified information.
3. Create forms for entering data into the database.
4. Produce informative reports with the information in the database

This course focuses on the application of management theory and practices related to the planning, organizing, leading and controlling of Records Center.

Creative Commons is an open license that actually works with Copyright with a slant to copyleft.

Best practices and advice from the primary literature

Short Description:
In this book, I undertake a review of the literature on Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) and present original data from a survey of instructors at the Ohio State University. The main goal of this publication is to be a practical guide for teachers wishing to develop and implements this type of High-Impact Practice in their course. As such, I cover many aspects of the development of a CURE, including advice on research development, group formation and management, evaluation and grading, inclusive teaching, and assignment design. A large number of activity templates and resources accompany the text to facilitate classroom implementation.

Word Count: 67955

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Students learn how make phylogenetic trees from morphological data using a variety of candy. Techniques and concepts learned include outgroup analysis, making a character matrix, coding characters, parsimony, building phylogenetic trees, monophyly, polytomy, synapomorphy, and why scientists can get wildly different trees with the same taxa.

Word Count: 20865

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Maps capture the power of place. A well-designed map can stoke our imagination, helping us to understand how a place looks or feels. Maps serve two roles. First, maps facilitate visual communication where knowns are presented to map readers. Second, maps permit visual thinking where insights into patterns and trends in spatial data are explored. In GEOG 486, Cartography & Visualization, you will learn and apply cartographic theory creating appropriately designed maps. You will learn how to associate the visual variables to symbolize types of spatial data. This process creates an appropriate visual hierarchy that conveys an informational hierarchy about the underlying message. Thus, techniques in map design will be applied to produce, evaluate, and critique reference and thematic maps.

The United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) have a close bilateral partnership bound in history with overlapping similarities within the realms of copyright, language, legal system, and religion.

Short Description:
This book goes over a wide range of cataloging schemata, tools, and norms. It presents a concise but thorough view of the basics of library cataloging practice.

Word Count: 24530

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How would you like to travel to new places while collaborating on a geospatial data challenge with students from around the world? In this class, students collaborate on a global-scale geospatial analysis problem with a focus on data analytics and professional practice in Geographic Information Systems. Penn State MGIS students collaborate with graduate students from ITC - University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands to develop solutions to analyze spatio-temporal patterns in refugee migration data. Students have the opportunity to present their work and develop new connections with EU geospatial professionals via site visits to European national mapping agencies. Students work in teams to use geospatial analytics to arrive at a solution to visualize patterns over space and time.

What is fake news? Why does it matter? How do we challenge it?
This resource is as much about learning about fake news as it is about taking a step back to pause and reflect.

After a warm up "Real or fake" test to engage students in the topic, we get into the crux of the matter, looking at where fake news comes from, it's often political nature and financial incentive, and who is targeted by it.

If fake news is nothing new in human history, recent inventions have massively increased the range and speed at which information spreads. Smartphones and social media means we have never, potentially, been more exposed to fake news and this has negative consequences, including stigmatization of people, reinforcement of stereotypes, the closing rather than opening of discussion and debate. It can even lead to violence.

Thankfully, we can challenge fake news thanks to our critical thinking. An extensive range of tips and steps we can take are taken from the Navigating the News (Part II) resource and linked in the resource before it finishes off with a "fake news" game into order to practice and stimulate thinking more.

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This resource is part of the information science collection.