Carr, Leslie and Tim Brody. "Size isn't everything: Sustainable repositories as evidenced by sustainable deposit profiles." D-Lib Magazine 8th ser. 13.7 (2007). IU Library. Web. 15 Jan. 2010. . This article presents criteria for judging the success of an institutional repository (IR). The daily deposit rate is relatively easy to monitor and gives some concrete insight into the running of a repository. An expected daily deposit rate of 50 items (into the 20 largest repositories) was actually 10 to 99 items. According to the authors, this outcome is not suitable because such a metric should also be tailored to reflect the size and circumstances of the individual institutions. This article is relevant to my research topic which covers the installation of IR's, such as DSpace (digital space), and whether or not the number of items or documents in a repository is a valid investment considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars and staff hours spent establishing and maintaining an IR. In the process of evaluating sustainable repositories, if sustainability is measured by its number of items, then respectable growth should not include batch imports. This study will use several pre-established criteria to evaluate the success of the Knowledge Bank at Ohio State University, one of the most sustainable IRs in the nation, and then compare their deposit rate with others in this case study.

Hi Nancy! I have to admit I did not know much about your topic and after scanning through your article I only feel slightly more informed. I really like the idea of IR's, but I can see where studies need to be done to determine whether the benefit of having one is worth the cost. However, that does seem to be difficult to measure. This article is clearly a quantitative article and it seems to me that you'll also need some qualitative studies. Quantitative studies are helpful to develop a concept of average use of IR's and qualitative studies could also help determine at what level of use should be deemed too little for the cost of keeping the IR open. The data in this study might also be helpful in studies focused on staff participation in university offered programs? Just a thought. As a side note, maybe studies should be done to determine what causes higher participation in some universities and colleges as opposed to others. It could be about marketing as opposed to interest? Karen

Karen, I agree maybe it is a marketing issue or perhaps those in academic environments are like us and they do not totally understand the value of IRs and how they can serve to benefit them. At this moment in time, we know what it is, how to access it, but do not really trust the new concept. I skimmed an article about the benefits of an IR, I plan to locate it and post it in the Z-library. Also, much has been written about "Understanding faculty to improve content recruitment for IRs". Furthermore, one article I read suggests that the reason some faculty members have not shown interest in the term IR "institutional repository" is because the name implies the support, needs, and goals of the institution and not the individuals who 'deposit' their work into it. There is much to discover on this topic.

Piper, D., Palmer, S., & Xie, B. (2009). Services to older adults: Preliminary findings from three Maryland public libraries. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 50(2), 107. This article presents preliminary findings in a two-pronged approach: services provided to seniors and the necessity of providing such services in three Maryland libraries. One measure used is quantitative, ascertaining what percentage of potential patrons in a service area are over age 64, and comparing this information to the national average. Authors conclude from this that seniors are a significant percentage of the population, which they assert makes the case for targeted services. This kind of measurement is pertinent for a study which seeks to establish seniors as a valid focus for library services, because it shows seniors are a significant element of the target population. Perhaps more useful would be a comparison of senior percentages (and anticipated growth rates in the population) versus other age groups. When advocating for increased services to particular populations, the pervasiveness of the population is a valuable argument, although Piper, et al, fail to provide comparative measures which would strengthen the case and additionally acknowledge that their interview sample is very small (24 interviews in a potential population of 12,539).

Martinez, Gilda. (2007). Public Libraries – Community Organizations Making Outreach Efforts to Help Young Children Succeed in School. The School Community Journal,18, 93-104. The form of research used in this study was qualitative. Collective case studies were used to explore the various ways libraries were approaching early literacy and community outreach. Libraries from rural, suburban, and urban settings were chosen for the study. Low, middle, and high socioeconomic areas were also represented. The collective case studies consisted of interviews, observations, and analysis of outreach documents. The study garnered a range of responses, with some similarities, (particularly in terms of purpose and goals) but also much diversity (particularly in execution of goals and purposes). One example of findings comes from the public library in Wicomico County. This library creates a quarterly newsletter titled “The Early Years” meant for parents and caregivers. The newsletter contains information pertaining to children from birth to age four such as educational activities, developmentally appropriate books, and why reading to young children is important. The author of the article (Martinez) concluded that many similarities existed between the various libraries and that all librarians acknowledged the importance of community outreach to reach their neediest populations. It was also noted that librarians were willing to further extend their efforts. This study would also be relevant in a study of public library outreach services or a study of valuable sources for early literacy development. Martinez adequately covers the geographic and economic variables within the scope of her search, but the study could perhaps benefit from expanding the scope of the study to include a comparison with other states or by also interviewing those who receive services from the library to determine the effectiveness of the outreach/early literacy services. Literature Review Sentence (would love some input on this, as in, did I do it correctly…how could I improve it? I don't know why I am struggling so much with this it feels like my brain is on slow-mo today.) : There is evidence that parental and community involvement in student academics results in higher achievement levels from preschool through high school. It is important for libraries to embrace their role in student achievement by offering programs and services to support local learners from infancy to high school graduation.

I don't know how to make it so that I'm only replying to Michael's. I couldn't figure out how to post without it being a reply. Like I said in my first post, I think my brain is a little behind the times today. I'm pretty tired from a long weekend. Anyway, Michael, I was thinking for your article, maybe more helpful data might be some quantitative circulation stats on the amount of seniors who use the library regularly. This could be followed up with qualitative research by interviewing the senior population to find out why they do or do not use the library regularly. I think no matter what the outcome, the researchers could use the information to back up their argument. If seniors aren't using the libraries, it's because there is a need for more focus on seniors. If they are using the libraries, it is a reason why even more funding should be focused on senior-related services and materials.

Michael, I enjoyed reading your article because I have worked with senior adults through library outreach services. We "visited" senior adults in the jail and local hospitals, as well as other age groups too in those locations. I could not help but chuckle at the idea of the surveyors approaching library patrons that "looked" older; whatever works I guess. One thing that I did not see mentioned in the article, as a means to make senior adults visible in the public library environment, is the establishment of a Friends of the Library Auxiliary. Senior adults make excellent Friends for many reasons; mainly, they devote time, which is a necessary commitment for successful programs and activities that they coordinate at the public library. I wonder what type of data this same survey would reveal if it were conducted on the service satisfaction for the after school hooligans who use the public library setting as a free babysitting service until their parents come and pick them up. I always felt like this crowd could be controlled with a highly organized after school program tailored to fit their needs...if anyone could determine their needs.

Karen, Your article and Literature Review Statement are both great (as is yours too Michael even though you did not ask for an opinion like Karen did...ha!). It seems to be on-target and as the text says it should be. For example, on page 35, it says to ID the topic (and you did) and then tell why it is important, using stats or other data to back it up (and you did that too!). Your article reminds me of an early childhood program from several years back titled, "Catch 'em in the Cradle". It was all about childhood development and encouraging parents to 'read to your child'. There are so many public library outreach services that could be creatively utilized, like Muffins with Mom; Donuts with Dad; Babysitting Clinics, Tales for Tots, and on and on and on. I am certain the folks in your article found out a ton of shared-ideas when they compared their findings with other libraries who also had programs for early literacy. To me, in early childhood literacy, it is important to capture the parent's attention because without them the children will not come to our libraries. Outreach programs can use the public schools' programs like Kindergarten, Preschool, and Head Start as a means to get-the-word-out about public library literacy programs; we need to do more networking like that. I wonder how the programming statistics or outcomes would change (towards early literacy) in a predominant Hispanic community...or other culturally diverse neighborhood. Also, what about literacy for the adult learners who need to prepare for their GED Tests or pass an ABE Test for a new job. Libraries cater to these populations too along-side of the early literacy programs. Libraries are becoming community centers.

These forums pretty much suck for making threads, btw. Anyway: Downs, Donald Alexander. “Freedom of Speech Wins in Wisconsin.” Academic Questions 19, no. 3 (June 2006): 50-62. This article chronicles the efforts of elements at the University of Wisconsin to repeal the university’s faculty speech code and promote the value of intellectual freedom at the university. By uniting faculty and students with similar concerns, this core group was able to bring attention to its agenda. Through public emphasis of “miscarriages of justice” brought on by the code, and playing up the university’s “heritage of free thought,” the group was able to gain support from less-committed faculty, eventually repealing the code via faculty vote and creating a coalition strong enough to prevent further erosion of intellectual freedom. This article could be relevant to future studies of university speech codes, as it not only provides possible reasons why so few individuals speak out against them, but also provides a model for how they might be repealed. Downs provides a real-world example of how a small, but dedicated group can garner widespread support for repealing campus speech codes, and restoring and preserving the intellectual freedom they tend to stifle.

Nancy, thanks for your response! I think you're totally right. Where I work now I am the outreach specialist so in addition to our regular storytimes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, I go out to the local daycares, schools, hospitals, etc. to do storytimes and try to create stronger community bonds. What I think is most beneficial relates to your comment about reaching the parents, because otherwise the children will not come into the library. Last week I did sample storytimes for two mom's groups from a local hospital and then after the storytime I spent time explaining the science behind their children's brains, the importance of early literacy, and what they can do with their children to support learning from infancy onward. I think that these sort of "teaching" or "workshop" programs for parents are really beneficial because they help parents to understand why the "silly" aspects of a storytime are important and ways that they can incorporate literacy into their everyday lives with their children, such as pointing out items that start with the same letter or are the same color when at the grocery store. What I used for the workshops were the brochures from ALA's Every Child Ready to Read which has a workshop kit with it.

Wow, how about we all pretend that my last post made sense? Haha. Hopefully you were able to get my point amid the run on sentences and incomplete thoughts. :)

Robert, I read your freedom of speech article. I am going to sound like a voice in the wilderness here because I am searching for the data or argument in your article as it applies to this assignment to represent a quantitative or qualitative orientation. I see from your article that a lot of people spent a lot of time defending, or arguing with one another, about abolishing the iron law of (verbal) censorship and university speech codes. Now, I do not mean to be "percolating opposition" (p. 52) to what you have selected to post here, but I am failing to see the research represented in your article. Although, it is an excellent and insightful article about the "reform from within" and the 20 faculty and students who "slayed the faculty code" of the old badger (p. 53), which was a very controversial topic; I need to see some data or the research from within that article, in order to respond to your article, as our assignment has required us to do. P.S. I agree, OnCourse Forum is easier or is at least what we are use to.

Karen, Your posting makes perfect sense to me and to you because we have both worked in children's programming of some form. I totally get what you have said, loud and clear...good job! You have fun at work, not everyone can say that.

Robert, I agree with Nancy. I didn't see any data in this article. It's an interesting and worthwhile topic so hopefully if you find another article similar to it with data we can have more of a discussion about it.

Nancy, Exactly! I have friends who do nothing but complain about their jobs when we get together. I got a lot of grief for becoming a librarian because of the reputation that goes with the career (mean old lady obsessed with books, cats, and shushing people, haha) but I believe I've already had the last laugh. :)