Call for Full Papers: Academic Exchange Quarterly Special Issue. Due February 29

Academic Exchange Quarterly
Summer 2012, Volume 16, Issue 2
Expanded issue up to 400+ pages.
Articles on various topics plus the following special sections

The Many Faces of Information Competence 
Feature Editor
Rhonda Huisman, Assistant Librarian
Liaison to the School of Education and Center for Teaching and Learning
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
E-mail: rhuisman@iupui.edu

Focus:
Academic librarians are increasingly instructing targeted groups within the academic environment. Such groups include freshman learning communities, international students, graduate students, and faculty. Each of these groups is far from homogenous because of the diversity of their expectations of libraries and their information-seeking experiences. Even into the twenty-first century, many faculty members, for example, are reluctant to use electronic resources. How can we develop instruction programs that will address the shared needs of such groups and the diverse needs of individuals? What assessment tools are available to measure the success of such programs? How can we identify constituencies being underserved? Manuscripts are sought that describe successful (and even unsuccessful) approaches to information literacy for targeted groups and/or diverse populations in higher education. Manuscripts are also sought that report on quantitative or qualitative evaluations of the impact of information literacy programs, courses, and components of courses.

Who May Submit:
Manuscripts are sought from academic librarians, teaching faculty, and administrators in higher education who work with information literacy competencies. Please identify your submission with keyword: INFOLIT-2

Submission deadline:
Article submission deadline: February 29, 2012

Submission Procedure:
http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm

Call for Full Papers: Journal of the Medical Library Association: Instruction in Health Sciences Libraries. Due February 15, 2012

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association on Instruction in Health Sciences Libraries

As the number of information resources increases, instructing users in the best way to find health-related information is becoming an even more essential role for health sciences librarians. At the same time, the challenges to delivering instruction in an era of search engines and mobile devices have been steadily growing. Recognizing both the importance of instruction and the challenges we face in teaching our users, MLA’s incoming president, Gerald Perry, has announced his intention to create an MLA Academy of Teaching Excellence. In support of this initiative, and to help create an evidence-based approach to improving instruction, the Journal of the Medical Library Association is planning to devote our October 2012 issue to papers that focus on providing instruction to users of biomedical information.

This issue, to be published in October 2012, will include invited papers summarizing the current state of the field. We also encourage submissions from those with innovative approaches willing to share those innovations with their peers. To be considered for this issue, papers must be submitted by February 15, 2012.

We particularly welcome submission of:

a. Brief Communications that describe an innovative instructional offering or teaching technique in a health sciences library, or to a group of biomedical library users. Papers should describe the innovation, including a brief literature review as well as information on the background of the instructors and the nature of the target user group, where appropriate. Data that allows the reader to judge the success of the innovation, such as pre and post tests and/or faculty evaluations, must be included with the submission. Examples of papers in this category include manuscripts describing a new technique to teach Medline, a new online course, a new technique for engaging students, or an experiment in providing instruction via mobile devices. Brief Communications are 1800 words or less.

b. Case studies that report on innovations related to developing and maintaining instructional programs in health sciences libraries. Papers submitted in this category should describe an innovation that affected multiple classes or instructional offerings. The manuscript should describe the problem the initiative was designed to solve, options considered and discarded, the setting in which it took place, the resources required to execute it (personnel, technology, etc.), the key characteristics of the program, and what would be required to sustain it for the long-term. Examples for this category include initiatives designed to integrate instruction into the curriculum or to train librarians in the use of instructional technologies, methodologies to provide instruction to user groups with particular challenges (e.g. reaching nurses with busy schedules), techniques for keeping classes up to date, etc. Data that allows the reader to judge the success of the initiative, such as user surveys, trends in class enrollments, or changes in the numbers or types of classes offered, must be included with the submission. Case studies are 3500 words or less.

c. Full-length research papers investigating a research question related to instruction in health sciences libraries. Research papers should use a standard quantitative or qualitative research design; quantitative studies should employ a sampling methodology that allows extrapolation to the larger population. Examples in this category would be papers comparing results of two different teaching techniques or comparing online and in person instruction, or studying the long term effects of providing training to medical students. There is a 5000-word limit for full-length papers.

To appear in this issue, scheduled for October 2012, papers should be received no later than February 15, 2012.

If you would like to discuss an idea for a paper, please contact Susan Starr, Editor, JMLA, at jmlaeditorbox@gmail.com. Further details on procedures for JMLA submissions can be found on our "Information for Authors" page, http://www.mlanet.org/publications/jmla/jmlainfo.html.