Increasing Effective Student Use of the Scientific Journal Literature

1. Increasing Effective Student Use of the Scientific Journal Literature

2. Principal InvestigatorDr. Carol TenopirProfessor, School of Information Sciences Faculty Associate Dr. Richard Pollard Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences Faculty Associate Dr. Peiling Wang Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences Univeristy of Tennessee

3. Overall Purpose • Foster the growth, development, efficiency and value of the digital library • Identify the features of a digital collection that appeal to undergraduate, graduate and faculty and encourage its use • By encouraging use, collection and continual improvement will also be stimulated Univeristy of Tennessee

4. National Science Digital Library Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Program Services Track Univeristy of Tennessee

5. Primary Objectives • Gain an understanding of what features make a science journal article digital collection an important and interactive tool for sustained use by undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty in the sciences • Begin to develop interactive learning modules which increase the usability of a science journal article digital collection Univeristy of Tennessee

6. Specific Outcome • Use the Primary Objectives to make the NSDL collections a valuable education tool by identifying, designing, testing, and implementing, selected technological and pedagogical enhancements to enhance OSTI’s digital collections important tools for science education in colleges and universities Univeristy of Tennessee

7. General Questions • How can undergraduate students be encouraged to recognize and use high quality science journal literature? • What features in a journal literature digital collection would be most useful to undergraduate science students and would encourage use? • What features would be most useful to graduate students and faculty in the sciences for their students and to encourage use? Univeristy of Tennessee

8. Collection Testbeds • Energy Citations Database • http://www.osti.gov/energycitations • PrePRINT Network • http://www.osti.gov/preprint • Information Bridge • http://www.osti.gov/bridge Univeristy of Tennessee

9. Energy Citations Database Univeristy of Tennessee

10. PrePRINT Network Univeristy of Tennessee

11. Information Bridge Univeristy of Tennessee

12. Specific Research Questions • How can the identified features be used in test collections to make them more useful to undergraduate science students, graduate and faculty scientists? • How can Energy Citations Database and the PrePRINT Network be better integrated for educational users? • What current features in test collections are especially attractive to educational users? Identify other features perceived as attractive. Univeristy of Tennessee

13. Ultimate Goal • The ultimate goal of this project is to identify, test and implement features of the NSDL collection (and specifically OSTI journal literature digital collections) that will enhance the appeal and encourage sustained use by undergraduate, graduate and faculty users in the science community Univeristy of Tennessee