Developing effective self-care behaviors in college is an important factor affecting undergraduate students' academic achievement and overall adult health outcomes. To address the gap in both research and practice between information literacy and health education targeting undergraduate students, this study explores to what extent undergraduates demonstrate health information literacy (HIL) competency in their health information seeking and use for self-care. It employs Dervin's sense-making theory as a framework, which characterizes human information seeking and use as situation-gap-bridge-outcome occurring through different contexts within time and space. A three-phase design for data collection was used: 1) a group-administered survey, 2) a semi-structured interview, and 3) a follow-up observational study of online health information searches using think-aloud protocols. The study results provide a better understanding of how students' HIL competency shapes their health information-seeking behaviors and affects their self-care activities. Given that health information literacy is a multifaceted integrated skill set, contextual factors, such as information environment, health issues, and self-care situations, would not likely change the fundamental skill base that comprises HIL, but these different situations often demand different levels of HIL knowledge and skills. Many students in the study demonstrated insufficient HIL knowledge and skills in some specific contexts of seeking and using health information for self-care. This insufficiency can compromise the extent and usefulness of their health information seeking. Some of them were unaware of their insufficiency based on the inconsistency between their perceived and actual HIL competency as demonstrated in the interview and the observational study. Therefore, the study contributes both theoretical and practical knowledge to the currently limited body of research on undergraduate students' health information-seeking behaviors and health information literacy. Its results present important insights for the future development of more effective college HIL intervention strategies that can help in addressing current or potential student public health issues. Moreover, the results are useful to inform the development of an effective HIL measurement instrument without overemphasizing one or two components of the HIL skill set, such as educational level or computer skills. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 20, 2014. / Consumer Health Information, Health Information Literacy Competency, health Information seeking behavior, Health Literacy, Information Literacy, Self-Care / Includes bibliographical references. / Don Latham, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert Glueckauf, University Representative; Melissa Gross, Committee Member; Mia Liza A. Lustria, Committee Member.

School librarians' essential function of providing access to information, and instruction and guidance in its evaluation, use, production, and communication has endured over a century of change in education, technology, and society's access to and use of information. What has changed is how school librarians perform their roles. As the rate of technological change has accelerated, perceptions of school librarians' roles have not always kept pace. School librarians may base their role perceptions on documentary sources, including professional standards, job descriptions, and performance evaluations. School administrators may have different perceptions of school librarians' roles, based on their past experiences with school librarians. When expected, perceived, and enacted roles differ, school librarians may experience role ambiguity and conflict. With the number of school librarians in decline, those who remain may experience job insecurity. Feelings of job insecurity combined with the pressure on schools to achieve more with fewer resources may cause school librarians to increase their role performance and experience role overload. This research was designed to analyze how the roles of school librarians were represented in the performance expectations in the professional standards found in Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs as compared to the performance expectations found in the job descriptions of school librarians in Florida, to determine what kinds of role performance were expected of school librarians in Florida that were not represented in the professional standards, and to determine to what extent the performance expectations on Florida's school librarians' job descriptions compared to the performance measures on their performance evaluations. The researcher used qualitative content analysis to compared performance expectations from school librarians' professional standards to those in their job descriptions. Performance expectations on the job description that were not represented in the professional standards were open coded and categorized. The researcher used qualitative content analysis to compare the performance expectations on school librarians' job descriptions and the performance measures on their performance evaluations. The researcher found that while performance expectations from all of the roles and guidelines in the professional standards were represented in Florida's school librarians' job descriptions, the most frequently represented role was that of Instructional Partner, and the most frequently represented guideline was Collection and Information Access; the former speaks to the future of the profession, while the latter represents its past. Not all types of role performance expected of school librarians in Florida were represented in the professional standards. Of the open coded performance expectations, those related to Library Operations and Services were the most frequently represented. The analysis of agreement between school librarians' job descriptions and performance evaluations found that many of the evaluations had low rates of agreement with their corresponding job descriptions. The researcher discovered half of Florida's school districts are using instruments designed for instructional personnel or support staff to assess school librarians' performance, instead of differentiated evaluations designed specifically for school librarians; nearly all of these instructional personnel or support staff evaluations had low rates of agreement with their corresponding job description. The researcher also found that when the performance evaluation was newer and the job description was older, the evaluations tended to have lower rates of agreement. A few performance evaluations had a greater number of performance measures than the job description had performance expectations; these evaluations tended to have lower rates of agreement. The researcher proposed that school district officials may wish to implement several practices regarding job descriptions and performance evaluations, including establishing a revision cycle, where these documents are periodically reviewed and updated; changing revision practices, so that when either a job description or performance evaluation is updated, the other document is reviewed as well; and to ensure that there is a balance between the number of performance expectations and performance measures on the two documents. This study fills a gap in the research about school librarians' roles and performance evaluation, and creates a foundation for further research. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / June 23, 2014. / Job Descriptions, Performance Evaluations, Professional Standards, Qualitative Content Analysis, School Librarians / Includes bibliographical references. / Marcia A. Mardis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Juliann Woods, University Representative; Michelle Kazmer, Committee Member; Don Latham, Committee Member.

This research investigated the likelihood of computer technology adoption in Botswana, among school principals in secondary schools, who are assumed to be transformational leaders. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) survey and an interview were used to determine the perceptions of the school principals about accepting and using computer technology. The survey was used to predict and explain the principals' acceptance of computers in relation to whether they find them useful, easy to use, and if they intended to adopt and use them. The in-depth follow up semi-structured interviews explored further the responses of the survey questionnaire. The results of the TAM survey based on the regression model with an R square of .273, show that there was substantial support that the participants who found computers easy to use and useful in their job intended to adopt and use them. The interviews addressed why principals rejected or adopted computers and how they intended to enhance computer use in the school. The results show that time constraints, phobia, lack of skills or training and the lack of practice with computers were identified as barriers to adoption in this study. The results of the study confirmed that the research population was not homogenous; there were early adopters, who showed characteristics of transformational leadership as well as late adopters and non adopters who were still learning how to use computers. Therefore training on the use of computers should include strategies to alleviate barriers to computer adoption. This study has implications for the Vision 2016 because Botswana has already made a significant investment in information technology and information technology infrastructure for its secondary schools (The Revised National Policy on Education, 1994). / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2007. / June 15, 2007. / Computer Adoption And Principals, Computer Rejection, Computer Acceptance, Computer Anxiety, Transformational Leaders / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathleen Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Alysia Roehrig, Outside Committee Member; Eliza Dresang, Committee Member; Darrell Burke, Committee Member; Gary Burnett, Committee Member.

Information poverty is a term frequently used to describe a condition associated with economic poverty. No comprehensive analysis exists determining the delimitations, definitions, or parameters of the phenomenon of information poverty. This study explores and critically analyzes the concept of information poverty through an examination of the literature, models, and theories used to further understanding of information poverty as used across the social sciences. This study reveals trends in information poverty research over the past thirty years, demonstrating that information poverty research has, for the most part, followed trends in poverty research. National information policy has focused on infrastructural components of information poverty during liberal administrations and cultural/behavioral components during conservative administrations. In the mid-1990s library and information science researcher Elfreda A. Chatman suggested a small world approach to information poverty. Her theory of information poverty is a notable addition to a more complex understanding of information poverty; however, there is still much to learn about information poverty. The study presents a model of information access that can be useful for further study of not only information poverty but also other aspects of information access. The model takes into account the three layers of information access described in the information poverty literature: the information infrastructure, the social sphere, and the small world. This work suggests that all three of these layers of information access should be considered when discussing information access in general and information poverty in particular. / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / June 26, 2006. / Social Information Behavior, Information Poverty, Information Theory, Information Access, Information Access Model, Digital Divide / Includes bibliographical references. / Gary Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen McDowell, Outside Committee Member; John N. Gathegi, Committee Member; Michelle Kazmer, Committee Member.

This study begins the endeavor to develop a middle range theory on the emergence of computing degree programs by investigating the social interaction factors that influenced the development of information technology (IT) curricula guidelines and skill standards in the United States (US). The major goal of this dissertation study is to identify and describe the social interaction factors that influenced the development of new curricula guidelines and skill standards for IT degree programs, and to determine how these factors relate to the purposes and missions of the educational institutions they serve. The two initiatives studied in this dissertation were pursued by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – Computer Society through the Special Interest Group in IT Education (SIGITE) and the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) The SIGITE developed the IT curricula guidelines and NWCET developed the IT skill standards. To develop the list of factors, documents produced and used during these initiatives were examined. The social interaction factors that triggered the development of IT curricula guidelines and skill standards for four-year degree programs were scrutinized. The method used to investigate this phenomenon was the grounded theory methodology (GTM) based on the work of Strauss & Corbin (1998). Interviews were conducted with representatives of the initiatives to confirm that the findings reflected their perceptions of the social interaction factors. The four major social interaction factors that influenced the development of IT curricula guidelines by the SIGITE include: birth of a professional organization, the need to nurture IT as a discipline, student interest in IT, and cultural and technical changes taking place at that time. The four major social interaction factors that were found to influence the development of IT skill standards by NWCET are partnerships, technology worker shortage, mobility, and qualification gap. There were six major differences between these two initiatives, including the use of alternative curriculum development strategies, the amount of funding available, the focus of their support systems, the party demanding IT education, their contribution to IT education and the focus on mobility. This study examined the differences between the products produced by these two initiatives to support the two institutional orientations that they serve: community colleges and four-year universities or colleges, thus providing useful indicators to both types. This study also provided a checklist of social interaction factors to be considered by individuals or organizations involved in the future development of newer versions of curricula guidelines and skill standards. The checklist also may facilitate cross-organizational learning and attention to factors that were not considered by the individual organizations. Some of the limitations of this study were addressed in the final chapter. Recommendations were provided to continue the study of the emergence of IT degree programs, the emergence of other computing degree programs, and emergence of new areas of inquiry by presenting a tentative research plan. / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2007. / April 20, 2007. / Information technology education Computing Education, Computing degree programs, Grounded theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathleen Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen McDowell, Outside Committee Member; Gary Burnett, Committee Member; Kenneth Fleischmann, Committee Member.

This study asks the question: Does the motivational type of faculty leaders, including Chief Academic Officers (CAOs), affect the participation of academic librarians in shared governance in higher education. The literature reveals that librarians' participation in shared governance is minimal and may continue to be so for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, obstacles from faculty and administration, self-exclusion, and academic credentials. The study surveys faculty leaders, including CAOs, from Alabama Council of Independent Colleges. Data collection includes part one of a commercially produced instrument, The Power Management Inventory (PMI,) and a modified University Shared Governance Survey (USGS) borrowed from a dissertation by Persson. The PMI investigates the motivational type of faculty leaders and groups them into one of three types ("affiliative," "personalized" or "socialized" power) as identified by motivational theorist, David C. McClelland. In this study, one (1) respondent ties two groups and is categorized as a "mixed" motivational type. The USGS asks opinions of faculty leaders regarding issue areas where academic librarians may be allowed to participate in shared governance. Issue areas include academic, financial and personnel, institutional, and student affairs. Demographic data is also collected. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine if there are any statistically significant differences between faculty leaders' by motivational type and opinion. ANOVA testing revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the faculty leaders' motivational groups and their opinions about academic librarians' participation in shared governance. Statistical significance was found when pairing opinion with gender on three questions from the institutional affairs issue area; question #2 F(1,40) = 4.08, p. / A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Information Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2004. / October 1, 2004. / Shared Governance, Faculty Leaders, Decision Making, Academic Librarians, Motivation, Private Colleges / Includes bibliographical references. / Jane Robbins, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert A. Schwartz, Outside Committee Member; Benjamin K. Belton, Committee Member; Marcella Genz, Committee Member.

The average age is increasing due to which the number of persons with Alzheimer's disease is likely to increase in the next few decades. Information Technology can be used as cognitive prosthetic for those who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This paper discusses Alzheimer's disease and how Information Technology can be used to improve the quality of care for persons with Alzheimer's disease. / A Thesis Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2005. / July 29, 2005. / Dementia Quality of Care Information Technology Caregivers Alzheimers Disease / Includes bibliographical references. / Darrell Burke, Professor Directing Thesis; Ken Brummel-Smith, Committee Member; John N. Gathegi, Committee Member; Nir Menachemi, Committee Member.

The Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) and the Access to Global Online Resources in Agriculture (AGORA) programs provide free access to academic journals through the internet to researchers in the developing world. The objective of the programs is to engage researchers in the scholarly communication process through the scholarly use of these journals. A measure of scholarly use of a journal by a researcher is the number of times the journal is cited by that researcher. A citation study was conducted to explore the patterns of use of these journals by researchers in eligible countries. Bibliographic data for citations made by researchers from 108 eligible countries for each year from 2000-2007 were downloaded from the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index. The citation data were matched against HINARI and AGORA title lists in a database developed for this purpose. The frequency of citations made to journals in the AGORA and HINARI collections and the annual percent change in the frequency of these citations were analyzed for suggestions that the programs positively impacted the scholarly use of the journals by these researchers. The data treatment for each country, sub-region and region was guided by twelve research questions. Results were summarized and interpreted at the regional level. The data suggests that for some geographic groups, life science and agricultural researchers have become more engaged in formal scholarly communication since the initiation of the HINARI and AGORA programs and at a greater average percent change than other researchers. However, data for other geographic groups suggest that their researchers have not become more engaged in the scholarly communication process. Further research that couples these findings with other data will lend explanatory power to the results and inform future program planning for HINARI and AGORA. / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2008. / August 4, 2008. / AGORA, HINARI, Bibliometrics, Cultures of Scholarship, Scholarly Communication / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathleen Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lance DeHaven-Smith, Outside Committee Member; John Bertot, Committee Member; Besiki Stvilia, Committee Member.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of digitally shortening and lengthening pauses on listening comprehension. Using digital audio software, pauses within the Brown, Carlsen, Carstens (BCC) Listening omprehension Test were modified to create a control group version (unaltered) and three experimental versions: pauses lengthened by 300 msec; pauses shortened by 150 msec; and, pauses shortened by 300 msec. Effects of these pause length treatments on listening comprehension were measured for each of the five individual BCC sections and for composite scores. Subjects were 144 college students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes. Means of numbers of incorrect responses were used in analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis calculations. Results demonstrated statistical significance for two BCC test sections, Section C (Recognizing Transitions) and Section D (Recognizing Word Meanings). For Section C, lengthening pauses by 300 msec yielded a significant difference between mean numbers of incorrect responses at the .05 level. For Section D, the control group condition (with unaltered original pause lengths) yielded a significant difference between mean numbers of incorrect responses at the .10 level. For certain sections of the test, it was concluded that that presentation rate could be increased (via pause length shortening) without loss of comprehension—in other words, that listening efficiency could be increased. Designated as primary beneficiaries of the research were clients of the National Library Service (the producers of "Talking Books") and distance learners using audio-enhanced web-based materials. Recommended were further studies involving different pause lengths, subjects and stimulus materials, as well as the development of software that allows users to select from a variety of offered pause lengths. / A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Information Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2003. / March 3, 2003. / Listening Comprehension, Pause Length / Includes bibliographical references. / Marcella D. Genz, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michelle S. Bourgeois, Outside Committee Member; Benjamin Keith Belton, Committee Member; Charles Wm. Conaway, Committee Member.

Research into the library as place investigates the role of public library buildings as destinations, physical places where people go for various reasons ranging from making use of the library's resources and services or seeking to fulfill an information or reading need to less easily identified reasons that may include using the library's building as a place to make social or business contacts, to build or reinforce community or political ties, or to create or reinforce a personal identity. This study asks: How are one rural U.S. county's public library buildings functioning as places? The answer is derived from answers to sub-questions about adult library users, user and staff perceptions of library use, and observed use of library facilities. The findings are contextualized using a framework built of theories from human geography, philosophy, sociology, and information studies. This case study replicates a mixed-methods case study conducted at the main public libraries in Toronto and Vancouver in the late1990s and first reproduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006. It tests methods used in large urban settings in a rural, small-town environment. This study also expands on its antecedents by using thematic analysis to determine which conceptualizations of the role of the public library as place are most relevant to understanding this community's use of its public library buildings as places. The study relies on quantitative and qualitative data collected via surveys and interviews of adult library users, interviews of library public service staff members, structured observations – seating sweeps – of people using the libraries, and analysis of selected documents. The five sets of data are triangulated to answer the research sub-questions. Thematic analysis derived from the conceptual framework finds that public realm theory informs the relationships that develop between library staff members and adult library users over time. The study finds that the libraries serve their communities as informational places and as familiarized locales rather than as third places, and that the libraries support the generation of social capital for their users / A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Library & Information Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / September 29, 2009. / Library as Place, Mixed Methods, Gadsden County, Library Users, Public Libraries / Includes bibliographical references. / Wayne A. Wiegand, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen B.Yancey, University Representative; Gary Burnett, Committee Member; Lorri Mon, Committee Member.