Master of Science / Department of Food Science / Delores Chambers / Electronic reading (e-reading) device has been available for decades and there are many studies that have been published based on those devices. However with continuously changing tablet marketplace, there is a lack of studies looking at current devices. In order to understand the effect of tablets on undergraduate students, we conducted a consumer study to: 1) Determine the most beneficial tablet size for college students in their academic pursuits and 2) Determine the necessary types of support from academic libraries for college students conducting schoolwork using a tablet. An initial focus group study guided a consumer survey of 121 undergraduate students. The focus group study identified reading and note taking as key academic activities for tablet users. The participants were also interested in receiving quick help from the library and using electronic journal articles available from the library. A consumer survey took place at a university campus a month later. Each survey respondent answered a set of questionnaires using both large and small tablets of either Android or iOS operating system. The survey data showed that overall, larger tablet was preferred for academic use. Tablet size was not an important factor in reading or note taking (P ≥ 0.05) but perceived portability of a tablet size increased preference for that tablet size (P = 0.0078). In addition, the library’s instant messaging feature was found to be equally successful in both full and mobile website when viewed on a tablet (P ≥ 0.05). Many students who use HTML only or both HTML and PDF formats to view electronic journal articles when on a computer switched to PDF only when on a tablet. Our findings can assist tablet manufacturers in making a suitable tablet targeted for higher education uses. This study can also guide academic libraries in improving accessibility to resource for a growing number of undergraduate tablet users.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / William Hsu / This thesis examines automated genre classification in literature. The approach described uses text based comparison of book summaries to examine if word similarity is a feasible method for identifying genre types. Genres help users form impressions of what form a text will take. Knowing the genre of a literary work provides librarians, information scientists, and other users of a text collection with a summative guide to its form, its possible content, and what its members are about without having to peruse individual topic titles. This makes automatically generating genre labels a potentially useful tool in sorting unmarked text collections or searching the web. This thesis provides a brief overview of the problems faced by researchers wishing to automate genre classification as well as the current work in the field. My own methodology will also be discussed. I implemented two basic methods for labeling genre. The results collected using them will be covered, as well as future work and improvements to the project that I wish to implement.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices of Canadian repositories in making their archival holdings available on the Internet to see whether they are more or less restrictive than copyright law requires. The Internet provides an opportunity to make archival material more widely accessible; however, repositories’ copyright practices in making their holdings available online may affect the extent to which wider access to archival material is actually achieved. The study employed four different sources of evidence, i.e., the website content of 154 Canadian repositories whose websites feature archival material from the repository’s holdings; copyright policy and procedure documents of those repositories; 106 responses to a questionnaire sent to the staff of those repositories; and 22 interviews with repository staff members. In terms of selection for online access, the study found that the repositories studied prefer to select items that are perceived to incur little risk of copyright infringement (because the copyright has expired or because the repository owns the copyright), or items that require few or no resources to investigate copyright status or obtain copyright authorizations. Thus, with regard to selection, repositories were more restrictive than the law required, largely due to lack of resources. Although repositories have no legal or professional obligation to enforce others’ copyright interests, they nonetheless attempt to control further uses of their online holdings through the use of technical measures (e.g., low resolution images, watermarks, etc.) or non-technical measures (e.g., conditions placed on further uses), for reasons not necessarily related to copyright. Overall, the study found that repositories’ practices in making their holding available online were more restrictive than copyright law envisages. While this may be due to factors other than copyright, access to online documentary heritage may be limited as a result.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices of Canadian repositories in making their archival holdings available on the Internet to see whether they are more or less restrictive than copyright law requires. The Internet provides an opportunity to make archival material more widely accessible; however, repositories’ copyright practices in making their holdings available online may affect the extent to which wider access to archival material is actually achieved. The study employed four different sources of evidence, i.e., the website content of 154 Canadian repositories whose websites feature archival material from the repository’s holdings; copyright policy and procedure documents of those repositories; 106 responses to a questionnaire sent to the staff of those repositories; and 22 interviews with repository staff members. In terms of selection for online access, the study found that the repositories studied prefer to select items that are perceived to incur little risk of copyright infringement (because the copyright has expired or because the repository owns the copyright), or items that require few or no resources to investigate copyright status or obtain copyright authorizations. Thus, with regard to selection, repositories were more restrictive than the law required, largely due to lack of resources. Although repositories have no legal or professional obligation to enforce others’ copyright interests, they nonetheless attempt to control further uses of their online holdings through the use of technical measures (e.g., low resolution images, watermarks, etc.) or non-technical measures (e.g., conditions placed on further uses), for reasons not necessarily related to copyright. Overall, the study found that repositories’ practices in making their holding available online were more restrictive than copyright law envisages. While this may be due to factors other than copyright, access to online documentary heritage may be limited as a result.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Rosemary S. Talab / The purpose of this study was to assess the professional development needs of academic instruction librarians required to improve information literacy instructional effectiveness in higher education institutions within the state of Kansas. The population in this correlational study was the 84 academic librarians with instruction duties at Kansas two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. The majority of the population included administrators, staff, and specialized librarians. Most of the participants held a faculty rank, were between the ages of 41 and 55, and had served as academic librarians for less than fifteen years. Data was collected through twelve closed-ended and twelve open-ended questions on an electronic survey. The data was used to answer the primary research question of this study: “What professional development opportunities are needed in order to improve information literacy instructional effectiveness?” Three sub-questions were included in order to identify professional development needs on the various means by which information literacy is delivered, the content areas addressed during information literacy instructional sessions, and the assessment practices employed to determine the effectiveness of information literacy instruction. Data analyses for the quantitative measures of the study were conducted through the use of frequency distributions (in order to identify professional development needs of the total population) and chi-square tests (in order to identify professional development needs of the individual sub-populations). Due to the low number of answers to open-ended questions, responses to these questions were analyzed for codes and developed into categories. Analyses of the data indicated that the sub-populations shared a preference for library instruction delivered via face-to-face means; all institutions represented in this study offered considerably more instruction than what was required by their parent institution; Kansas academic instruction librarians addressed a wide variety of services, resources, search techniques, and information literacy skills during information literacy instructional sessions; and Kansas academic instruction librarians were cognizant of ensuring instruction practices were designed to include content that met the guiding information literacy standards as defined by the American Library Association. The study found Kansas academic librarians with instruction as a function of their job duties would benefit from professional development opportunities designed to develop proficiency in teaching skills, instructional design skills, assessment and evaluation skills, information literacy integration skills, and presentation skills.

Master of Science / Department of Architecture / David Seamon / This thesis uses behavioral mapping to analyze two contrasting spaces in Kansas State University’s Hale Library. One of the spaces is meant for computer use; and the other for general library use, including study-group work. The conceptual approach chosen to describe and analyze these two library spaces is the behavior-setting theory developed by psychologist Roger Barker, who defines behavior settings as independent units of space, with temporal and spatial boundaries, that have “great coercive power over the behaviors that occur within them” (Barker, 1968, p. 17). The behavioral observations for the two Hale Library spaces were analyzed and compared with findings from other studies of library usage and behaviors. In the first chapter of the thesis, I introduce my study topic and discuss recent developments in libraries. In the second chapter, I provide a broad overview of library history and library use. I also overview behavior-setting theory and present examples of research on behavior settings and libraries. In the third chapter, I discuss research methods for this thesis, starting with how library spaces can be described as behavior settings. I then discuss specific methodological procedures involved in the behavioral study of activities in the two library spaces. In the fourth chapter, I discuss the two spaces studied in Hale Library, first, describing their physical features and then discussing their behavior-setting attributes. In the fifth chapter, I present my behavioral observations and compare and contrast the two Hale Library spaces in terms of user behaviors and as behavior settings. In the sixth and final chapter of this thesis, I compare my research results with other library research and offer my speculative ideas on the future of the academic library. The overarching theme of this thesis is evaluating how recent digital technologies have affected libraries, and how traditional library spaces and spaces designated for digital technology can be integrated in future libraries.

The History of the Book in Canada / Histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada and other national book history projects have been a catalyst for research into the local production of print and have highlighted the need for more study of the print trades in smaller centres. In Ontario during the nineteenth century independent weekly newspapers were printed in most villages, while larger towns boasted more than one print shop and often one or more booksellers and stationers. Bookbinders were active members of the book trades selling books and stationery, ruling paper, binding local pamphlets, periodicals, and books, and manufacturing blankbooks for a variety of purposes. Since much local printing was ephemeral in nature, the only evidence of its existence is found in the record books kept by printers and binders. Partial business records and other surviving artifacts of the Guelph Bookbindery, which operated from 1855 to 1978, are both a rich source of evidence of the day-to-day operations of the bookbindery and a key to the intersection of print trades in Guelph, Ontario, and the surrounding counties. This study uses local imprints, blankbooks, authors’ papers, newspapers, directories, maps, assessment records, photographs, museum artifacts, and oral history accounts to reconstruct a history of the bookbindery and its place in the print culture of nineteenth-century Guelph. It documents the transformation of a business selling books, stationery, and wallpaper into a commercial bindery, which along with local printers produced large numbers of pamphlets, ubiquitous then but increasingly rare today. It is a view into the microcosm of a dynamic community where print was a vital medium for communication reflecting the cultural, commercial, and entrepreneurial discourse in nineteenth-century Canadian society that reached far beyond its borders.

The History of the Book in Canada / Histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada and other national book history projects have been a catalyst for research into the local production of print and have highlighted the need for more study of the print trades in smaller centres. In Ontario during the nineteenth century independent weekly newspapers were printed in most villages, while larger towns boasted more than one print shop and often one or more booksellers and stationers. Bookbinders were active members of the book trades selling books and stationery, ruling paper, binding local pamphlets, periodicals, and books, and manufacturing blankbooks for a variety of purposes. Since much local printing was ephemeral in nature, the only evidence of its existence is found in the record books kept by printers and binders. Partial business records and other surviving artifacts of the Guelph Bookbindery, which operated from 1855 to 1978, are both a rich source of evidence of the day-to-day operations of the bookbindery and a key to the intersection of print trades in Guelph, Ontario, and the surrounding counties. This study uses local imprints, blankbooks, authors’ papers, newspapers, directories, maps, assessment records, photographs, museum artifacts, and oral history accounts to reconstruct a history of the bookbindery and its place in the print culture of nineteenth-century Guelph. It documents the transformation of a business selling books, stationery, and wallpaper into a commercial bindery, which along with local printers produced large numbers of pamphlets, ubiquitous then but increasingly rare today. It is a view into the microcosm of a dynamic community where print was a vital medium for communication reflecting the cultural, commercial, and entrepreneurial discourse in nineteenth-century Canadian society that reached far beyond its borders.

Doctor Of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Rosemary Talab / The purpose of this study was to learn the perceived training needs of the support staff in the six Kansas Board of Regents’ (KBOR) university libraries. Based on data from field and pilot studies and advice from an expert panel, a survey instrument was designed to assess library support staff’s perceptions of their train needs on computer skills, interpersonal skills, supervision/management skills, important library/organizational support, helpful training delivery methods, and training sources. The survey instrument was administered to the entire 167 support staff in the six KBOR university libraries, with a return rate of 83 percent achieved through two mailings and two postcard reminders. Quantitative data from the responses to closed-ended questions were analyzed through descriptive measures and one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Qualitative approaches to code answers from open-ended questions were utilized in order to allow stakeholder themes to emerge. Quantitative analyses indicated that the respondents viewed the most important training topics for each area of the study to be: database searching and MS Office suites for computer skills; working with difficult people and managing priorities for interpersonal skills; training new employees and supervising student employees for supervision/management skills; being supplied with appropriate software, release time, and technical support were viewed as the most important library support that would help their training. The respondents perceived classroom instruction with a teacher and interactive classroom discussions as being the most helpful delivery methods. The respondents considered in-house trainers, supervisors, and co-workers as being the most helpful training sources. A series of MANOVA tests were conducted on the six areas of the study. At the alpha = .05 level, statistically significant differences were found in the respondents’ perceptions of training needs on computer skills measured by their work units, supervision/management skills measured by their work units and level of job responsibilities, the respondents’ perceptions of important library/organizational support measured by their total years in the library filed and age range, and the respondents’ perceptions of helpful training sources measured by their total years at current positions. Qualitative analyses provided 314 units of information on 32 themes on additional training topics, library/organizational support, delivery methods, and training sources. The top 10 themes were related to “Software programs,” “Windows operating systems,” “Release time,” “Supervisor/management support,” “Relevance/applicable training,” “Promotion/opportunities,” “Training for motivation,” “Classroom with feedback,” “Training materials,” and “One-on-one and in-house training.” Based on the findings, summaries, and conclusions of this study, the researcher made recommendations for further study that focuses on job training needs of support staff at university libraries, including a broader scope of training topics, motivating factors, the perceptions of library administrators on the support staff’s training needs, training needs on supervision/management for non-supervision support staff, differing views on library/organizational support, different training delivery methods, etc.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Gerald D. Bailey / The purpose of this study was to create a handbook that would support museum professionals through the stages of planning, creating, and evaluating a user-centered eMuseum. Planning, Creating, and Evaluating eMuseums: A Step by Step Handbook for Museum Professionals was developed using the research and development methodology (R&D) developed by Borg and Gall (1989). The seven steps in the R&D cycle used in this study included: 1) research analysis and proof of concept, 2) product planning and design, 3) preliminary product development, 4) preliminary field testing, 5) revision of the prototype, 6) main field testing, and 7) revision of the final product. A prototype of the handbook was developed and then evaluated by experts in digital libraries or museum informatics in the preliminary field test. Revisions were made to the handbook based on their feedback. The handbook was then distributed to museum professionals for the main field test. Feedback from the main field test was used to create the final product. Major conclusions from the study were: 1. There was a need for a handbook to guide museum professionals through the steps of developing an eMuseum. Museum leaders indicated a desire to create a stronger online presence for their museums, but did not know how to begin the process. 2.The handbook was most useful to museum professionals. Originally, the handbook was intended for an audience broadly defined as "information professionals", which included both library and museum professionals. 3.Museum leaders and community stakeholders could partner to create eMuseums. Stakeholders included educators who wanted to use eMuseums to incorporate standards-based curriculum into their classroom or graduate students in education looking for collaborative projects to advance their study. 4.Finding new ways to reach audiences was important to museum leaders. Museum leaders were aware that the majority of their visitors expected to find information about their museum on the Internet and wanted to find ways to reach these audience members. 5.Museum professionals found resources listed in the book to be useful. The handbook worked effectively as a reference guide for creating an eMuseum.