Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

Libraries and archives across the world have played a vital role in enabling access to information to a large number of people. The advent of the Internet and mobile computing has helped accelerate this process of democratization of information. The Bhagavad Gitā (Song of God) is considered the most important among the large pantheon of ancient Hindu scriptures and has influenced people ranging from Gandhi to Thoreau to Einstein. However, just as the problem for most Internet users is no longer one of access, one wouldn’t need to try too hard to access the Gitā. A large number of commentaries have been written on it. The text and many e-books are freely available online. The difficulty lies in comprehension and sense-making, being able to connect-the-dots, turning information into knowledge and application. Drawing upon the literature on accessibility and the sense-making theory, this paper will report work-in-progress in synthesizing different commentaries of the Gitā and bringing out key messages using simplification and visualization techniques. The work should help the Facebook generation make sense of the key messages and life lessons from the Gitā. Also, a reader would be able to make an informed judgment rather than relying on any one commentary. The 8-step methodology explained should also be useful in synthesizing the commentaries on the holy texts of other major religions of the world.

Keywords. Accessibility, sense-making, Bhagavad Gitā, synthesis, visualization.

By the end of the twentieth century, some striking parallels can be seen in the academic disciplines of women’s studies and religious studies. This paper will explore some of these parallels as well as some of the difficulties that face the intersection of these to fields. This exploration will be done by comparing research and teaching methods through the reading of scholarly works by leaders in both fields. The paper will look at the methodologies used by women’s studies scholars for the traditionally male-dominated field of religious studies. These reformers think that it is necessary to ask new questions, collect new data, offer new analyses, and develop new theories to do justice to the voices of women. What might these new ways of gathering and interpreting information mean for academic research in the twenty-first century?

This paper examines the role archives and special collections (ASCs) play in information literacy instruction (IL) in academic libraries, and explores how ASCs can use primary resource instruction to improve existing IL instruction programs for undergraduate students. An examination of the literature indicates significant possibilities for undergraduate IL instruction by ASCs. Lacking assessment and a dearth in literature suggest future research is needed to determine how ASCs can provide IL instruction most efficiently and effectively. Existing studies primarily utilized qualitative designs to explore the perceived success of new and existing ASC IL endeavors. Future research will benefit from quantitative analysis of multiple ASCs that will produce more generalizable data. Additional research focuses on other non-traditional primary resource repositories which are also concerned with IL and its instruction. An interdisciplinary review examines theological schools and seminaries and museums as alternative disciplines publishing on IL instruction and invested in primary resources. The review indicates significant referencing of library and information studies within the literature from theological schools and museums which suggest cross-discipline cooperation could greatly improve research and practice. Overall trends indicate research on IL instruction and ASC is increasing. Though published research and reports provide examples of successful ASC IL instruction initiatives, additional research of initiatives using thorough and unbiased assessment of success is needed to determine how specific IL outcomes are achieved through ASC instruction.

Discovery. It means different things to different people. It rarely happens quickly. More often, it involves peeling away layers of meaning to discover a hidden essence. Even with a revelation, discovery resembles sculpting; refining the revelation to reveal its essence. Slavic medieval manuscripts, appearing at first glance to be poor orphans, have revealed themselves to be giants of human dignity. They represent the survival through unimaginable sufferings of marginalized people during truly evil times.

Access to these Slavic manuscripts, however, presents unique problems to the scholar. Western institutions tend to marginalize Slavic manuscripts. I believe this marginalization comes from the poor condition of many manuscripts and because of misconceptions about their intellectual value. Only recently has inter-disciplinary interest expanded manuscript research beyond previous boundaries through the technologies of information science and the viewpoints of literary criticism, historiography, and hypertext theory.

I describe here my discovery of the cultural heritage of Slavic manuscripts and my application of interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks to them. I also describe efforts to preserve and provide access to these artifacts through conventional conservation techniques and through electronic publishing.

Hymnary.org is a large hymnological database that provides information about thousands of hymnals and millions of hymn instances. It has media files and nearly 2,000 scanned hymnals. The authors conducted a user survey between August 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012 to determine a typical user profile and user expectations of Hymnary.org. Respondents were asked to provide information about themselves, their interest in hymnody, how they found Hymnary.org, how they used it, and whether the database met their information needs. The survey revealed that frequent users are most commonly involved with worship planning, followed by users with an academic interest in hymnological information. The primary entry point to Hymnary.org was a search for a specific hymnal, and users were interested in both text and tune information. Users show a need to understand the limitations of copyright, and to be made aware of the commercial hymn arrangements available via Hymnary.org.

Keywords: Hymns, hymnology, database, user survey