Thesis List

Libel In Cyberspace: Federal Judges & The Internet

• Author: Teresa Louise Conaway
• Date: December 1996
• Abstract:

This thesis has two primary purposes: First, to study the intersection of the American law of defamation with the new medium known as cyberspace. Specifically, what liability do providers of Internet access risk for specifically, what liability do providers of Internet access risk for defamatory content posted by others? In addition to examining the current law of defamation and how it has been applied to cases of online libel, this study also surveys the relevant professional literature.

Second, to study the familiarity of federal trial judges with the Internet and World Wide Web. The results of a survey administered to a sample of sitting federal trial judges are discussed and analyzed.

The study illustrates that the existing law of defamation is sufficiently flexible to apply to cases of online libel. However, law-makers may be well-advised to consider a new rule of liability for online service providers to ensure that the new medium flourishes. It also illustrates that younger and more experience using computers for online functions, but that generally, the federal trial bench knows little about cyberspace and its culture.

Separate But Equal? A System Comparison Study Of Medline’s Controlled Vocabulary Mesh

• Author: Karin Schreier Hallett
• Date: August 1997
• Abstract:

This study tests the effect of controlled vocabulary search feature implementation on retrieval rates in an online information systems environment. For unique controlled vocabulary search features (Explode, Major Descriptor, Descriptor, Subheadings) were applied to nine search queries obtained from a medical reference librarian. The same queries were searched in the complete Medline file on the Dialog and Ovid systems. The unique records, i.e. those records retrieved in only one of the two systems, were identified and analyzed. Overall, the discrepancies in retrieval rates were not great and controlled vocabulary is shown to be an important and efficient way to search online information retrieval systems. However, Dialog did produce more records for each of the queries. The study also demonstrates that the user needs to be aware of system-specific designs which may prompt differing input strategies across different systems for the same unique controlled vocabulary search features.

Technostress In The Reference Environment: A Survey Of U.S. Association Of Research Libraries Academic Reference Librarians

• Author: Lisa A. Ennis
• Date: December 1997
• Abstract:

This study uses a Likert type scale to examine Technostress and the attitudes of academic ARL reference librarians. A Likert survey with twenty items allowing the participants to respond, strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree was sent to 97 ARL academic libraries in the United States. The librarians could either return the survey through the postal service or via e-mail. The total population consisted of all academic ARL reference librarians in the United States, about 2,000 librarians total. Of the 2,000 librarians 158 responded. The results demonstrate that even though technology creates a large amount of stress, librarians are excited and enthusiastic about the resources technology have made available.

Web Site And Web Page Persistence And Change: A Longitudinal Study

• Author: Wallace Conrad Koehler, Jr.
• Date: December 1997
• Abstract:

The World Wide Web is, by most accounts, growing and changing rapidly. This research addresses the Web entity issues of life and death, and change over time. This project is concerned with those elements associated with the Web site and Web page URLs and structures that provide insights into Web page and Web site constancy and persistence. It does not address nor analyze the content or meaning of Web pages and Web sites except to the degree that such information can be inferred from the URL. This analysis is necessarily a longitudinal study. Two data collection periods were established for harvesting the Web site data: December 1996 to February 1997 for the first data capture, and July and August 1997 for the second. Web page data were taken on a weekly basis beginning in early January 1997 and for the purposes of this thesis, ending in late August 1997. This research also addresses Web entity taxonomies or structures. There has been scant attention paid to Web page or Web site structures. It is suggested that different types of Web entities behave differently. Web pages and Web sites can be distinguished in several ways. This thesis focuses on Web entity attributes that can be determined from an analysis of the URL as well as by measures of Web object types and byte-weight. It is found that Web sites and Web pages undergo significant changes over time. These changes include the redistribution of object types within Web sites, additions and deletions to text and graphic objects, and additions and deletions of hypertext links to other Web pages. It is also demonstrated that Web site and Web page typologies can help predict constancy and permanence behaviors moderate somewhat. From one week to the next, approximately five percent will be intermittently comatose.

Visualizing Web Usage: Using Data Visualization To Improve Web Site Performance

• Author: Murray Browne
• Date: August 1998
• Abstract:

As the World Wide Web continues to grow in popularity, better tools of understanding, web usage are needed. One popular system of measurement is tracking the number of “hits” (or files transferred) to each page of a particular web site. In addition to the web industry’s misgivings about using “hits” as unites of measurements, most reportage of web statistics is done as a series of bar and pie graphs or large printouts of tabular data, which fail to account for a site’s structure or the link-relationship between the pages. Conversely, academic researchers have concentrated on the structure of sites, but have not added in the usage factor. In order to improve web statistics reportage, a three-dimensional web visualization graphic was developed using an off-the-shelf, PC based, software package. The Human Genome Management Information System at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee provided the usage data from their web site for the month of January, 1998. Included in the graphic were cubes representing pages (URLs) and the relationship of the links, which was built based on a link matrix designed by Botafogo, Rivlin and Shneiderman. The graphic followed the principles of good data visualization by taking into account the aspects of correct size and proportionality, effective use of color and accurate portrayal of relationship. The graphic was presented to the HGMIS group for evaluation based on information and communication principles set forth by Shannon and Weaver. In general, the staff found the web visualization graphic representing 26 pages and 276 links (representing approximately 36% of the activity on the site) appealing and functional. Some minor changes at the web site were made as the result of the graphic. With its ability to compress usage data accurately and reveal semantic relationships, the web visualization usage graphic (even though it is still evolving), is one of the tools that can help clear up some of the current ambiguities surrounding web usage.

Automatically Growing Thesaurus As A Tool For Discovering Semantic Preferences Of Intranet Users

• Author: David Zlotchenko
• Date: May 1998
• Abstract:

As more organizations start relying on users to find information from their own desktops, accumulation of good searching practices decreases and a sense of disparity grows. Major efforts are usually required to build aid tools such as classification schemes and thesauri to organize and expedite retrieval of frequently-requested information. However, vocabulary, domain knowledge, and research interests grow much faster than these aids are updated. A tool for collection, analysis, and exploration of vocabulary used by the users on a day-to-day basis in information retrieval sessions is proposed in this study. It implements a thesaurus with only one type of relationship: Related Terms. Each relationship has an associated weight. As terms are used by the searchers, retrieval effectiveness is analyzed in order to make inferences about associations among the query terms. An algorithm is proposed to quantify this analysis. As a result, relationships are established and weights are updated. Experiments for this research have been done without human user subjects. Three standard test collections have used to evaluate retrieval effectiveness. User behavior has been modeled using a set of assumptions about satisfaction with the retrieval and resulting perceptions about term usability. Utility of a particular term in a query with other terms was interpreted as a quantifier for association between terms and recorded in the thesaurus. It has been shown that a thesaurus constructed this way can exhibit the following behavior: discover strong and frequently-used associations, maintain strong but infrequently-used associations, and promote newly-established associations. Multiple problems such as high execution complexity for both term retrieval and weight update were observed and ways to ease the problems were suggested. It was shown that this tool can be feasible only for users in a relatively homogenous environment where similar information is sought and similar queries are executed. Three standard information retrieval testing collection were used in experiments. One that used long descriptive queries on a wide variety of subjects, one that contained descriptive queries in a relatively narrow subject field, and one that used short keyword queries in a fairy narrow subject domain. Experiment results showed that use of such aid tool can improve retrieval of the 72 different queries in one collection in 493 cases, for the 63 queries in another collection in 480 cases, and for 9 queries in the third collection in 36 cases. Each case is an opportunity to select a term to improve a query by just a single keyword from a list presented by the thesaurus. However, this tool was used without human subjects and without added help of users’ conscious selection from the suggested lists. As a result, there were many cases when suggested terms failed to improve and in a few cases damaged retrieval performance for queries from the same collections.

Personal Information Sustems: Journals And Diaries As Product And Process

• Author: Valerie Janese Frey
• Date: May 1999
• Abstract:

In this study, literature from the discipline of Information Science was woven together first using literature on journals and diaries form the fields of Communications, Education, Literature, Psychology, and Philosophy, and them using field interview with experienced diarists. The research explores the role of journals and diaries as personal information tools and personal information systems, providing examples of the varied forms, structures, and uses of these documents. Journals and diaries are involved in dual informational roles. First, as information products, these documents provide information storage and retrieval. Second, as information processing tools, these documents provide a means of sorting and organizing information. Journals and diaries are highly individualized and help the diarist resolve anomalies within their internal state of knowledge, allowing them to engage in cyclical processing of information to construct a more coherent and expansive knowledge base. The information recorded and processed in journals and diaries can be new or old, objective or subjective in nature, and cover the external or internal, the vocational or a vocational.

Electronic Publishing And University Presses: The Impact Of Physical And Fiscal Size And Factors That Infulenced Development Of Electronic Publishing Programs

• Author: Jennifer McGhee Siler
• Date: December 1999
• Abstract:

This study establishes a baseline of the current status of university presses and their development of electronic publishing programs. A survey was sent to ninety-five university presses that are members of the Association of American University Presses and are located in the United States and Canada. The results analyze the physical size of a press----number of staff members and number of books published----and fiscal size----operating budget and net sales----and whether or not a press publishes journals to determine the influence these variables have on whether or not a university press has an electronic publishing program. Respondents identified their electronic publishing activities, characterized appropriate projects for electronic publication, and listed factors that have influenced the development of electronic publishing programs. Presses that did not have an electronic publishing program listed a variety of reasons why they have not entered this model of publishing. A 60% response rate afforded a typical picture of university presses and electronic publishing. The findings indicate that the larger the press in number of employees, number of books published annually, amount of operating budget, and annual net sales, the more likely they are to have an electronic publishing program. Whether or not a press has a journals publishing program was not statistically significant enough to conclude the influence of journals on an electronic publishing program. Responding presses reported that the most appropriate projects for electronic publishing are reference works and encyclopedias. The main characteristics of an electronic project, whether published in electronic-only format or in parallel format (print and online) are searching capabilities and access, content of the project, audience needs, cost of publishing, linking opportunities, frequent updates, and use of the material. Presses with an electronic publishing program have been influenced mostly by technology advances and availability. Success ratings of electronic publishing by these presses are based on learning new technology, meeting the mission of the press to disseminate information, and publicizing and promoting the press. The presses without an electronic publishing program named a number of factors that had kept them from developing electronic projects. The main reasons are lack of money, not enough staff, and no appropriate projects. These presses would develop electronic projects if funding was made available, staffs were trained, and market demand increased. All presses with and without electronic publishing foresee the increased development of electronic projects. These listings of factors influencing and preventing electronic publishing at university presses are the first of their kind. They provide a baseline for the current status of electronic publishing at university press and offer ideas and challenges for the future use of technology.

The Behavior Of Scientists In Seeking And Using Documents

• Author: Helen L. Miller
• Date: May 2000
• Abstract:

Scientists deal in the commodities of knowledge and information. Much of the information they produce is disseminated and acquired from publications, hence the interest in examining how different reading behaviors are associated with their profession. Another goal of this thesis is to examine the reading behaviors if scientists and to discover relationships between these behaviors and the scientists measures of professional success. To do this, the results from a library needs assessment were used to obtain information on user needs, wants, and desires. The assessment was done in 1993-1994 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The survey was large, covering many aspects of present and future needs in services and facilities, and so was split into 17 parts, with each part answered by a different set of university-associated respondents. The part used in this thesis focused on the reading behaviors of the faculty level users. The data were analyzed to obtain information on the reading behaviors of scientists and nonscientists and information in the correlations of rewards (publication level, honors) with reading behaviors. Reading behaviors of the science and non-science faculty were generally similar. Notable exceptions were their different emphases on document types and their specific concerns for electronic and print publications. The differences between the reading behaviors of successful scientists and not-as-successful scientists were generally slight though fairly consistent among the success measures. The largest differences were seen in the amount of readings and the use of personal funds to buy subscriptions.

End-Users’ Perceptions: An Exploration On The Study Of Electronic Resources

• Author: Deborah Michelle Powell
• Date: August 2000
• Abstract:

The introduction of technology into the quest for information stimulates a need to educate, instruct, and guide end-users in their ability to effectively manipulate various electronic resources (i.e., online public access catalogs (OPAC), CD-ROM databases, and the Internet). A study from the end-user_ perspective was conducted at Emmanuel School of Religion, a graduate seminary, located in Johnson City, Tennessee to illustrate the need for end-user education. Over 80% of the end-users surveyed indicate a greater use of the Internet than to the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) AND CD-ROM databases (American Theological Library Association (ATLA) and Religious and Theological Abstracts (RTA)). Respondents, in spite of the age of technology, continue to find human interaction, i.e., personal assistance from a librarian or another student to be a useful part of the instruction proves. This study also reveals that many of the respondents do not use available help screens even though there is an active use of the electronic resources. Suggestions to the information professional as to how they can develop programs geared toward end-user instruction are made based on the responses generated from the end-user’s perspective.

Counting Published Public Livrary Research: An Exploratory Study Using Content Analysis

• Author: Margaret Grant Goodbody
• Date: August 2000
• Abstract:

Studies published in a selected set of 20 scholarly library and information science journals were examined to determine the amount of research conducted about or in public libraries compared with academic, school, and special librarians. Only refereed journals published in the U.S. and targeted for a general audience of librarians were included in the set. Of the 241 article included, 77% were about academic libraries and 23% were about public libraries (30 of the articles (12%) considered more than one library type). Academic librarians published 51% and academic researchers published 38% of the studies. Authorship, author occupation, and subjects studied within the subset of public-library-related research articles were also examined. Within the 94 public-library-related articles, academic researchers authored 59%, academic librarians wrote 19%, and public librarians wrote 9% (several of the multi-author articles included more than one occupation in the author list, indicating collaboration among occupations). Possible consequences of a comparatively low number of published studies on the effectiveness of public libraries and practitioners are considered, including a lack of innovation in public libraries, reduced or limited status of public librarians within the profession, and poor representation of public library problems in the overall knowledge base. Participation of public librarians in formal research is also discussed, especially in the context of a practice-theory communication gap in library and information science. Future research topics are suggested.

Changing Students’ Perception About Research: Can Thirty Minutes Make Adifference?

• Author: Jacqueline Lou Kracker
• Date: August 2000
• Abstract:

The ability to gather data and synthesize information is a valuable skill for students, and important life skill, and for many, an important job skill. Yet, confusion, fear, anxiety, and doubt are often associated with research assignments; these feelings can interfere with learning. Carol Kuhlthau showed that these emotions are a normal part of the research process for novice researchers and give way, in time, to increased interest and confidence as the work progresses. She demonstrated that awareness of the Information Search Process (ISP) model improves student’s ability to tolerate the uncertainty inherent in the early stages of the process and increase their satisfaction. Because Kuhlthau showed that her model holds across a wide array of user needs and w wide range of ages, sharing the model with students about to begin a research assignment may serve their immediate needs and their needs well into the future. At many educational institutions, contact time between information professionals and students is limited. Library instruction often consists of one fifty-minute bibliographic session designed to teach the organization of the library and library tool use. If it possible to teach the model in a short thirty-minute presentation with positive results, educators may be able to reach more students without implementing major program changes. The purpose of this study was to determine if a thirty-minute presentation of Kuhlthau’s ISP model could: (1) improve awareness of the thoughts associated with the research process, (2) improve awareness of feelings associated with the research process, (3) reduce anxiety associated with the research process, and (4) improve satisfaction with the research process. A new test instrument, the Research Process Survey (RPS), was designed and used to measure awareness and satisfaction levels associated with the research process. The population studied was upper division undergraduate students assigned a research paper of tem pages or more. The experimental design used pre-tests, post-tests, and interim tests.

Residents’ Full-Text Database Usage And Satisfaction In An Academic Medical Library Setting

• Author: Amy Carol Gideon
• Date: 2000

The Books-And-Reading Convention In Pen-Faulkner Award-Winning Novels

• Author: Bonnie Hanks
• Date: 2000

Developing Comparative Bibliometric Indicators For Evaluating The Research Performance Of Four Academic Nutrition Departments, 1992-1996: An Exploratory Study

• Author: Eric Ackermann
• Date: Spring 2001