The Research Committee is very pleased to announce Beth Bloom and Marta Mestrovic Deyrup as winners of the ACRL-NJ/NJLA/CUS Research Award. Ms. Bloom and Ms. Deyrup will speak about their research and recording of undergraduate students’ online research behaviors and corresponding responses during the College and University Section's Research Award & Forum session of the 2016 NJLA Conference. Their publication, “The SHU Research Logs: Student Online Search Behaviors Trans-scripted,” can be found in The Journal of Academic Librarianship 41 (2015) 593-601.

In addition, during the Forum session of the presentation, David C. Murray will be discussing his research regarding the use and collection of e-books in the field of Humanities and the resulting scholarly implications. Mr. Murray's title of research is, "E-Books In the Humanities: An Affective Faculty Survey." The abstracts for both Research presentations can be found below.

The Award & Forum session will be presented during the NJLA Annual Conference at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City. Please join us for this evocative event on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 2:30pm to 3:20pm in the Wildwood rooms 18 & 19. This year’s NJLA theme is “All Together Now.” Please see the entire NJLA Conference schedule. A registration form can be filled out online.
 

Title of Publication: The SHU Research Logs: Student Online Search Behaviors Trans-scripted

Abstract: This paper examines students' online research behaviors as well as emotive and affective responses as they conducted online research for their undergraduate courses. It looks at data obtained during the 2011–2012 academic year, drawn from over 42 hours of recordings and includes a brief questionnaire that measured students' research history and feelings about their own research competence. Full article is attached below.
 

Title of Research: E-Books In the Humanities: An Affective Faculty Survey

Abstract: Researches have shown that faculty in the humanities are nearly as likely as their sciences and social sciences peers not only to use e-books but also to value them. These studies rest largely though not exclusively on circulation and usage data. Their findings belie a longstanding consensus among librarians who support English, history, and related disciplines that printed monographs remain the format of choice among humanists. Indeed, a gap has opened up between the day-to-day practice of humanities collection development and the findings of several recently published studies. Librarians, therefore, need to understand more about which e-book platforms humanists might be using and why, but as importantly comprehend scholars' attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about the relative value of e-books and printed books in contemporary scholarly communication. A better understanding of humanists' affective preferences could help confirm or refute the validity of claims librarians make about why humanists utilize e-books in the first place. Is it because scholars now genuinely prefer e-books to printed books in most use cases, or rather, as many humanities librarians suspect, is e-book use among humanists better explained by expedience? The presenter proposes to share the results of a 2016 survey designed to address this question.

Thank you,
Cynthia Coulter
Chair
ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS Research Committee