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Papers by Samuel R Putnam

What really happens when student researchers meet a Google results page? How do students determin... more What really happens when student researchers meet a Google results page? How do students determine the authority behind each result? News, blogs, journals, Wikipedia, websites, e-books--with the vast array of online content available, how do students differentiate between them? Better still, do they differentiate between them or are these format agnostic students stymied by container collapse? The Researching Students’ Information Choices (RSIC) project is answering these questions. The Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education aims to guide educators in their work to develop today’s students into critical thinking denizens of the digital world. The work of RSIC can directly inform the first frame, “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual.” This Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded study, examines and compares the judgments and perceptions of students (from late primary, secondary, community colleg...

Information Research: an international electronic journal, 2020

Introduction. A multi-institutional, grant-funded project employed mixed methods to study 175 fou... more Introduction. A multi-institutional, grant-funded project employed mixed methods to study 175 fourth-grade through graduate school students’ point-of-selection behaviour. The method features the use of simulated search engine results pages to facilitate data collection. Method. Student participants used simulated Google results pages to select resources for a hypothetical school project. Quantitative data on participants’ selection behaviour and qualitative data from their think-aloud protocols were collected. A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data on participants’ backgrounds and online research experiences. Analysis. This paper reflects on the data collection methods and highlights opportunities for data analysis. The ability to analyse data both qualitatively and quantitatively increases the rigor and depth of findings. Results. The simulation created a realistic yet controlled environment that ensures the comparability of data within and across a wide range of ...

First Monday, 2021

In a digital environment, students have difficulty determining whether an information resource co... more In a digital environment, students have difficulty determining whether an information resource comes from a book, magazine, journal, blog, or other container, and lose the contextual information that these containers provide. This study of students from primary through graduate school looks at their ability to identify the containers of information resources, and how this ability is affected by their demographic traits, the resource features they attended to, and their behaviors during a task-based simulation. The results indicate that correct container identification requires deep engagement with a resource. Those who attended to cues such as genre and source were better able to identify container, while those who paid attention to heuristics such as its visual appearance and URL were not. Demographic characteristics, including educational cohort and first-generation student status, also had an effect.

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 2019

This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Go... more This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Google search. The data were collected as part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded project. Students used a simulated search engine that ensured study participants found the same search results while seeking information for a science-related school project. The 116 students from high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate communities evaluated three online news resources for their helpfulness, citability, credibility, and container. Analysis of quantitative data from the study indicated that students may find news resources helpful for a science project, but do not always consider them citable. Students appeared to focus on the organization that produced the news resource (i.e., source) when judging its credibility. Not all students identified the resources’ containers as news, even when the source was widely known. The researchers note differences ...

SOURCE: The Magazine of the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, 2019

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 2019

Motivated by a desire to encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STE... more Motivated by a desire to encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies, librarians at the Marston Science Library (Marston) at the University of Florida (UF) developed Girls Tech Camp (GTC), a summer camp designed to introduce middle-school girls to creative technologies used in these fields. This week-long summer day camp launched in 2016, and continued in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Each year, the camp brought twenty-two 6th-8th grade girls into an academic science library to build experience with emerging technologies and increase interest in pursuing further studies or a career in STEM. The camp introduced the girls to a range of technology including 3D modelling, 3D printing, augmented reality, Arduino microcontrollers, light sensors, digital video production, computer coding, and conductive crafts. Through hands-on activities, guest lectures, and campus field trips youth interest and confidence in using technology expanded and participant...

Code4Lib Journal, 2018

In the fall of 2014, the University of Florida (UF) Marston Science Library, in partnership with ... more In the fall of 2014, the University of Florida (UF) Marston Science Library, in partnership with UF IT, opened a new computer lab for students to learn and develop mobile applications. The Mobile Application Development Environment (MADE@UF) features both software and circulating technology for students to use in an unstructured and minimally-staffed environment. As the technological landscape has shifted in the past few years, virtual and augmented reality have become more prominent and prevalent, signaled by companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft making significant financial investments in these technologies. During this evolution, MADE@UF has migrated to focus more on virtual and augmented reality, and we will discuss the opportunities and challenges that hosting and managing such a space has provided to the science library and its staff.

What really happens when student researchers meet a Google results page? How do students determin... more What really happens when student researchers meet a Google results page? How do students determine the authority behind each result? News, blogs, journals, Wikipedia, websites, e-books--with the vast array of online content available, how do students differentiate between them? Better still, do they differentiate between them or are these format agnostic students stymied by container collapse? The Researching Students’ Information Choices (RSIC) project is answering these questions. The Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education aims to guide educators in their work to develop today’s students into critical thinking denizens of the digital world. The work of RSIC can directly inform the first frame, “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual.” This Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded study, examines and compares the judgments and perceptions of students (from late primary, secondary, community colleg...

Information Research: an international electronic journal, 2020

Introduction. A multi-institutional, grant-funded project employed mixed methods to study 175 fou... more Introduction. A multi-institutional, grant-funded project employed mixed methods to study 175 fourth-grade through graduate school students’ point-of-selection behaviour. The method features the use of simulated search engine results pages to facilitate data collection. Method. Student participants used simulated Google results pages to select resources for a hypothetical school project. Quantitative data on participants’ selection behaviour and qualitative data from their think-aloud protocols were collected. A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data on participants’ backgrounds and online research experiences. Analysis. This paper reflects on the data collection methods and highlights opportunities for data analysis. The ability to analyse data both qualitatively and quantitatively increases the rigor and depth of findings. Results. The simulation created a realistic yet controlled environment that ensures the comparability of data within and across a wide range of ...

First Monday, 2021

In a digital environment, students have difficulty determining whether an information resource co... more In a digital environment, students have difficulty determining whether an information resource comes from a book, magazine, journal, blog, or other container, and lose the contextual information that these containers provide. This study of students from primary through graduate school looks at their ability to identify the containers of information resources, and how this ability is affected by their demographic traits, the resource features they attended to, and their behaviors during a task-based simulation. The results indicate that correct container identification requires deep engagement with a resource. Those who attended to cues such as genre and source were better able to identify container, while those who paid attention to heuristics such as its visual appearance and URL were not. Demographic characteristics, including educational cohort and first-generation student status, also had an effect.

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 2019

This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Go... more This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Google search. The data were collected as part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded project. Students used a simulated search engine that ensured study participants found the same search results while seeking information for a science-related school project. The 116 students from high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate communities evaluated three online news resources for their helpfulness, citability, credibility, and container. Analysis of quantitative data from the study indicated that students may find news resources helpful for a science project, but do not always consider them citable. Students appeared to focus on the organization that produced the news resource (i.e., source) when judging its credibility. Not all students identified the resources’ containers as news, even when the source was widely known. The researchers note differences ...

SOURCE: The Magazine of the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, 2019

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 2019

Motivated by a desire to encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STE... more Motivated by a desire to encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies, librarians at the Marston Science Library (Marston) at the University of Florida (UF) developed Girls Tech Camp (GTC), a summer camp designed to introduce middle-school girls to creative technologies used in these fields. This week-long summer day camp launched in 2016, and continued in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Each year, the camp brought twenty-two 6th-8th grade girls into an academic science library to build experience with emerging technologies and increase interest in pursuing further studies or a career in STEM. The camp introduced the girls to a range of technology including 3D modelling, 3D printing, augmented reality, Arduino microcontrollers, light sensors, digital video production, computer coding, and conductive crafts. Through hands-on activities, guest lectures, and campus field trips youth interest and confidence in using technology expanded and participant...

Code4Lib Journal, 2018

In the fall of 2014, the University of Florida (UF) Marston Science Library, in partnership with ... more In the fall of 2014, the University of Florida (UF) Marston Science Library, in partnership with UF IT, opened a new computer lab for students to learn and develop mobile applications. The Mobile Application Development Environment (MADE@UF) features both software and circulating technology for students to use in an unstructured and minimally-staffed environment. As the technological landscape has shifted in the past few years, virtual and augmented reality have become more prominent and prevalent, signaled by companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft making significant financial investments in these technologies. During this evolution, MADE@UF has migrated to focus more on virtual and augmented reality, and we will discuss the opportunities and challenges that hosting and managing such a space has provided to the science library and its staff.