Please join us live at 11AM EST on November 18, 2021 for the first TLGS (Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students) Webinar Series.
Topic: “Brainwork in the Research Lifecycle: Idea Development Activity with SCAMPER”
First-generation thesis and dissertation students may not recognize that true research is a metacognitive activity that produces a writing product. This presentation discusses metacognition and its role in the research process, existing models of the research process and cycle and how they contribute to a general lack of metacognition, and the SCAMPER framework to develop questioning schema to encourage critical thinking and ideation during the research process.
Presented by: Dr. Vandy Pacetti-Donelson, Director of Library and Instructional Design and an Assistant Professor of humanities and research at the United States Sports Academy, a special mission university in Daphne, Alabama. Dr. Pacetti-Donelson earned her MLIS from The University of Southern Mississippi and her doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University in Instructional Leadership with an emphasis in Instructional Technology and Distance Education. Her research focuses on analysis of knowledge domains, visual conceptions of knowledge, and systems thinking.
Session Host: Elaine Walker, Mississippi University for Women
Chat host: Jenny Pierce, Temple University
Series Organizer: Wendy Doucette, East Tennessee State University
This presentation will be recorded and made available publicly after processing. Availability will be announced in all the same locations as this one.
TLGS, the only national conference on graduate librarianship, will take place virtually on March 16-17, 2022. The CFP for the 2022 conference is currently open (submission deadline 11/29/21). For more information, please see the official conference repository at https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/gradlibconf/.
Scholarly Communication: From Understanding to Engagement
ACRL Delaware Valley Chapter Spring 2019 Program
April 26, 2019 at Penn State Great Valley
Session Reports
On a spring morning, librarians gathered at the Penn State Great Valley campus to engage in the interactive ACRL National, Scholarly Communications RoadShow. The workshop was led by two expert presenters, Carla Myers, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Scholarly Communications of Miami University Libraries, and Will Cross, Director of the Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center of North Carolina State University. The workshop started with an introduction to the field of scholarly communications and copyright.
Afterwards, lunch commenced! When lunch was finished, the business meeting was held. President Jess Denke and Vice President Stefani Gomez discussed opportunities for members to participate in chapter activities including the mentoring program, resume review, social committee, board, and new Open Scholarship/OER learning community. The mentorship relationships that have been established by the chapter over the past year are going well. The resume review is ongoing. Jess also announced a $5 increase in membership dues annually and provided opportunity for comment from attendees. This increase is an attempt to provide financial stability to the chapter while increasing equitable access to membership. This year the chapter has extended free membership to students and first-year librarians.
In the afternoon, the presenters focused deeply on OER and accessibility. Presenters prompted discussion and facilitated interactive learning activities throughout the day. If you would like to take a look at live tweets from attendees, follow the hashtag #acrldvcspring19 on Twitter.
Here are brief summaries of what was shared during the workshop with links to the presenters’ slides.
Workshop leaders introducing themselves to the audience.
Introduction
Will started the day framing the big issues surrounding scholarly communication in the field. He began by stating that scholarly communication should be a part in every job description because it is something that all librarians do in some way, shape or form. All areas of library work fit into scholarly communication from acquisition and content licensing to discovery and access for all. He explained that scholarly communication can be thought of as a system of interconnected systems starting with a research idea, moving into the creation of a research project, formulating ideas and findings that can be shared for replication and testing and then resulting in a final published format to again be shared and made discover-able to the larger community.
Will Cross introducing scholarly communications.
Will highlighted the fact that throughout the scholarly communication process we see various pressures applied to those engaged in scholarly communication. For example, “prestige publishing”or publishing in the “right” journals is a form of social pressure faculty encounter when up for tenure review. These “prestige” publications also exert economic pressures on library budgets struggling to afford subscriptions to these high priced publications and on researchers who may not have access through a library and are faced with expensive article charges. Additional pressures within the scholarly communication process include both technological and policy related. Scholarly publications have been slow to change from the print model which was time consuming and priced according to physical publication requirements. The digital world has made the production, reproduction, and publication process much quicker and easier but more difficult for traditional publishers to wrangle. This leads us to the questions: “Are the prestige journals still needed if research results can be published much quicker and easier to GitHub for example? ” and “How do researchers meet scholarly communication policy pressures – for example open access mandates? “. These are all issues researchers, publishers and librarians are grappling when it comes to dealing with scholarly communications. These same pressures also present opportunities for change within the scholarly communication system. New publishing models have come about and in some cases expanded standards for tenure review (i.e. the acceptance of blog postings as published works.)
In the morning, Carla talked in depth about issues of copyright. First, she reviewed the basics of copyright. Carla covered what is copyrightable and not copyrightable; what rights are granted to copyright owners; who owns copyright; how long copyright lasts; and a whole host of exceptions, including Fair Use. She also discussed licensing works and different types of licenses, as well as publication agreements.
Carla Myers talking about copyright and the role it plays in scholarly communication.
Accessibility
In the afternoon, Carla spoke in depth about the need for accessible content and systems for our patrons who are living with disabilities or may need assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to utilize library materials. She touched on the following points:
We are all responsible for accessibility in scholarly communication.
Content that has accessibility baked in, also known as universal design, is better for everyone.
If accessibility is part of the content creation process then there is little need for time consuming and expensive remediation processes.
An analogy to curb cuts is often made when explaining the benefit of universal design. While originally implemented to accommodate wheelchairs, curb cuts are beneficial to many different people including those pushing strollers or shopping carts or those riding bikes.
Accessible content can be utilized by screen readers for those with low or no vision but also by patrons who prefer listening to content or those in need of a temporary accommodation, for example someone suffering from a concussion.
Video captions are useful not just to those who are hearing impaired but to those who learn better visually or in cases of those learning a new language captions can prove to be invaluable learning tool.
Standards to be aware of include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – WCAG 2.0, section 508 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
In the afternoon, Will led attendees in a discussion on Open Education Resources (OER)—from textbooks to isolated resources—such as single exercises—to entire open courses. Will defined OER as free, educational resources but those still requiring permission to use them—like any copyrighted materials. This tied in nicely with Carla’s discussion of various licensing agreements, including Creative Commons licenses. Will discussed the advantages of open education resources, as well as potential barriers (and incentives) to their use and creation.
ACRL DVC offers a resume review service in the spring. The service is open to students and practicing librarians and there is no need to be members. Two volunteers will review each resume and cover letter for participant and respond with feedback. Please send your documents to dvcmentoring@gmail.com by May 20, 2019. Feel free to share this information with all those you think might benefit.
The 2019 PA Forward Information Literacy Summit is scheduled to take place Monday, July 15, 2019. The event will be hosted at the Central Penn Conference Center in Enola, PA. Additional information regarding sessions and registration details will be forthcoming. Please save the date on your calendars. Information will be available at https://www.palibraries.org/members/group.aspx?id=141126.
We look forward to seeing you at this year’s summit!
This spring ACRL DVC will be hosting an ACRL Scholarly Communications RoadShow, Scholarly Communication: From Understanding to Engagement, on April 26, 2019 at the Penn State Great Valley Campus. ACRL DVC was one of five institutions chosen throughout the country to host the program.
The interactive workshop will be led by two expert presenters, Carla Myers, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Scholarly Communications of Miami University Libraries and Will Cross, Director of the Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center of North Carolina State University. Presenters will focus on subjects of Open Educational Resources (OER) and accessibility.
The goal of the program is to empower participants to help accelerate the transformation of the scholarly communication system. We recognize scholarly communication as a core competency of the profession and OER and accessibility as fundamentals of scholarly communication. ACRL DVC welcomes members to participate in a unique opportunity to explore these topics in a deep dive.
This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor, through the College and Research Division (https://crdpala.org/) of PaLA. Show your appreciation by becoming a member of PaLA! And if you are a member – thank you!
Emma Antobam-Ntekudzi was a recipient of an ACRL DVC’s travel grant. She attended the 3rd National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) from September 26th to September 30th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Below are a few words from Emma about the conference and what she learned:
“JCLC is organized by the ALA ethnic affiliates: Black Caucus of the American Library (BCALA), American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA). This year’s conference brought together librarians of color who were all thrilled to join in fellowship. The theme of Gathering All People’s: Embracing Culture & Community was evident in the diverse topics and cultures represented. Many sessions focused on retention efforts, hiring and support; JCLC was a safe space to share personal experiences and challenges particular to librarians of color in the field of librarianship.”
“Tribal libraries are planned and administered by a tribe, pueblo, village or Native group. Its purpose is to contribute to nation building. Their beginnings originated in treaties with the United States Government that outlined federal support for educational provisions; libraries are included in that description. In the 60s and 70s documents on tribal libraries were disorganized and neglected. In 1974 only 17 Native American librarians were identified in ALA. That number has since increased but there is still poor recruitment of Native librarians. In the late 1970s, modern Native leadership pushed for establishing and improving these libraries. A major victory occurred in Denver 1978 with the White House Preconference on Indian Library & Information Services on or near Reservations. This was a significant step in the development of tribal libraries and it was the first known Indian meeting concerned with library services. The National Indian Omnibus Library Bill mandated federal funding for tribal libraries. As of now 1% of IMLS funding goes to tribal libraries.”
“Diversity and inclusion remain a significant part of the conversation around librarianship and this was addressed at JCLC. I attended a session entitled Diversity and Research: Impact on Decision Makin in Libraries and LIS Education where a panel of library directors, university professors and librarians talked about diversity leadership, implicit bias and stereotyping in workplaces. Attendees shared their experiences involving microaggressions amongst colleagues; for librarians of color, such encounters create anxiety, outrage, a sense of exclusion and workplace stress. Panelists focused on the need for more diversity programs within libraries as well as job descriptions that include diversity requirements or cultural competency components.”
“Another session called Mentoring the Next Generation of Librarians of Color emphasized the importance of mentoring. As a tool, mentoring can help with retention and provide librarians of color with a sense of belonging.”
Librarians as Advocates: Leading Activism on Your Campus and Beyond
ACRL Delaware Valley Chapter Fall 2018 Program
October 26, 2018 at Drexel University’s Learning Terrace
Session Reports
On a brisk Fall day, librarians gathered at Drexel’s Learning Terrace to share and learn more about how librarians can act as advocates. The program began with a panel comprised of Yvette Davis of POWER Interfaith, Alex Gil of Columbia University Libraries, Titus Moolathara of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and Emily Wagner of the American Library Association. The panel shared about their advocacy projects and answered questions from the audience. Afterwards, lunch commenced! While lunching, attendees were invited to volunteer topics for the unconference at the end of the day. When lunch was finished, the business meeting was held. President Jess Denke and Vice President Stefani Gomez discussed opportunities for members to participate in chapter activities including the mentoring program, resume review, social committee, and board. They also announced the winners of our student stipend award: Milton Machuca-Galvez and Vanesa Evers. Then, it was on to lightning rounds. Here are brief summaries of what was shared during the lightning rounds with links to the presenters’ slides.
Lightning Round Presentations
Textbook costs, Open Educational Resources and the Affordable Learning PA Initiative
Dan Stafford, Kutztown University and Jill Hallam-Miller, Bucknell University.
Presentation on OER and the Affordable Learning PA Initiative as a response to the rising costs of textbooks.
Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol was a recipient of an ACRL DVC’s travel grant. She attended the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Biennial Conference in Arlington, VA. Below are a few words from Tatiana about the conference and what she learned:
“This international conference attracts faculty, administrators, and many others who are interested in implementing undergraduate research initiatives at their institutions. The conference theme, “Creating Collaborative Connections in and through Undergraduate Research,” permeated through presentations, panel discussions, workshops, poster sessions, and keynotes.”
“I attended the session that featured a partnership between a librarian and a faculty member who worked together on engaging undergraduate students in writing and publishing book reviews. In addition to identifying opportunities and challenges for working with undergraduates on composing, editing, and publishing book reviews, the presenters also discussed the process of guiding students on how to enter scholarly conversations around books they were reviewing. At the end of their presentation, the speakers posed a number of questions for attendees to ponder while adopting the book review project at their own institutions.”
“The session that I co-presented with an English faculty member also highlighted an interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at capturing and showcasing undergraduate research. Particularly, we discussed why and how we developed a conference proceedings student journal with a team of students.”
“As a result of participating at the CUR conference, I am taking away a much broader definition of undergraduate research as an accessible, diverse, and inclusive initiative that can take many forms at different institutions and can be enhanced by interdisciplinary partnerships.”
Carol Howe was a recipient of an ACRL DVC’s travel grant. She attended the 2018 Special Libraries Association conference. Below are a few words from Carol about the conference and what she learned:
“I started by attending a half day workshop on finding and using chemical information. This was amazing! Two experts presented to just a handful of attendees, so the presentation was very personalized. We learned about the types of literature used by chemists; basic and advanced strategies for finding chemical information; how to respond to different types of questions; the basics of substructure, sequence, and reaction searching; and the types of questions that chemists typically ask. It was well worth the additional cost of attending a pre-conference workshop!”
“During the Astronomy Roundtable, attendees learned about efforts to produce a Unified Astronomy Thesaurus. Experts currently use a variety of astronomy subject headings, but this would be a way to standardize the language. Astronomers are encouraged to join the conversation. ”
“Finally, I attended a session on science communication. The presenter encouraged future, popular science writers to think about these things: Who are you trying to reach? What’s your ‘take home’ message? What type of communication is best suited when writing for the public?”
All are invited to attend the fall 2018 program of the ACRL Delaware Valley Chapter.
Program Description
This program seeks to provide insight into the activism and advocacy work being done in libraries in higher education across the Delaware Valley region and into the methods and lessons of prominent librarian activists. In times of inequity, discrimination, and social injustice, libraries have the opportunity to be institutions of resistance, understanding, and hope. This program will include a panel presentation, chapter meeting, lightning round presentations, and unconference-style round table discussions. Participants will have an opportunity to share their own work and will be inspired by the work of their peers to apply methods of activism to create more equitable, inclusive, and diverse library services. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Dan Stafford, Kutztown University and Jill Hallam-Miller, Bucknell University.
Heather Simoneau and Jasmine Woodson, Lehigh University.
Molly M. Wolf, Widener University.
Sarah Hartman-Caverly and Alexandria Chisholm, Penn State Berks.