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More Alike Than Different: Student Perceptions Of Academic Librarians By Genders And Subject Areas, Elizabeth Price, Jody C. Fagan Dec 2021

More Alike Than Different: Student Perceptions Of Academic Librarians By Genders And Subject Areas, Elizabeth Price, Jody C. Fagan

Libraries

This study explored differences in how undergraduate students of different genders and academic disciplines perceived academic librarians at a U.S. public university. No evidence indicated differences between students identifying as male or female, and few statistically significant differences were found among four Subject Areas (Arts, Humanities + Social Sciences, Business, Health + Education, and STEM). Our results have implications for local practice though they are not generalizable to other institutions. Despite a lack of significant findings, librarians should continue to explore ways to measure how students of different disciplines perceive academic libraries and/or librarians as valuable to their academic success.


Student Perceptions Of Academic Librarians And The Librarian-Faculty-Student Dynamic: Minding Our Gaps, Lara Sapp, Jody Fagan, Hillary Ostermiller, Elizabeth Price May 2021

Student Perceptions Of Academic Librarians And The Librarian-Faculty-Student Dynamic: Minding Our Gaps, Lara Sapp, Jody Fagan, Hillary Ostermiller, Elizabeth Price

Libraries

A survey concerning perceptions of academic librarians was conducted at a large, 4-year university with three populations: librarians, faculty, and undergraduate students. This paper presents results from the student population, with comparison to the librarian and faculty samples. The major research questions address perceptions about what librarians know (expertise and skills), what librarians do (role and duties), and what librarians are like (motivations and affective characteristics). Respondents showed a little more awareness of librarians’ professional duties than in previous studies; however, librarians’ duties related to organization, reference, and teaching remained more hidden from view. And, many students still assume librarians …


Systemic Racism In The United States, Ari Emilia Short May 2021

Systemic Racism In The United States, Ari Emilia Short

Libraries

This bibliography contains an annotated selection of articles and studies related to systemic racism in the United States of America, covering 21st-century racial inequities in criminal justice, housing, employment, voting, education, and healthcare. Given the contentious nature of this topic - whether and to what extent systemic racism exists in the United States - sources were selected for relative neutrality, authority, and quality of methodologies used. This piece is intended to assist leaders, educators, activists, and any who wish to become better informed about this topic, develop empathy toward impacted groups, and prepare to address institutional concerns related to diversity, …


A Practical Guide To Working With Copyrighted And Open Access Resources In Scholarship, Liz Thompson, Howard Carrier Apr 2021

A Practical Guide To Working With Copyrighted And Open Access Resources In Scholarship, Liz Thompson, Howard Carrier

Libraries

Powerpoints and conference presentations are often complemented by use of images or other media, and the academic content of a paper may draw from existing scholarly sources. In the traditional, in-person conference meeting room, the use of other rightsholders’ content is relatively risk-free but things change when academic conferences move online, as is increasingly the case today in the lamentable age of COVID-19. In this webinar, two librarians from JMU Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Unit share thoughts, ideas, and tips about staying on the right side of copyright law when presenting and disseminating scholarship.


Leading Change: A Case Study Of A Transparent, Scaffolded Process For Rebalancing Workloads Across Liaisons, Carolyn Schubert Mar 2021

Leading Change: A Case Study Of A Transparent, Scaffolded Process For Rebalancing Workloads Across Liaisons, Carolyn Schubert

Libraries

Campus and internal position reorganizations changes had created significant imbalances across workloads of liaison librarians. Some people were experiencing burnout, some were feeling unengaged due to underutilization. To build buy-in for the change process and ultimate change decisions, the interim Director developed a multi-step process for scaffolding change and creating transparency across the decision points. Working within the constraints of existing personnel, we had to be creative. The presentation will describe the techniques the interim Director used to identify the problem, facilitate open communication, and engage shared leadership to resolve the imbalances.


Planning Batch Cataloging Projects, Rebecca B. French Mar 2021

Planning Batch Cataloging Projects, Rebecca B. French

Libraries

Many libraries have uncataloged collections or backlogs which could benefit from batch processing, and much professional development for metadata specialists focuses on software tools that can facilitate this work, but it is not always clear how to get started putting those new skills into action. This webinar will introduce the basics of planning a batch cataloging project. Attendees will be led through a series of questions to help them identify appropriate projects for a batch cataloging approach, evaluate available technological and personnel resources, and assess their starting point based on a batch cataloging framework. The webinar will cover designing a …


Metadata Analysis For Pre-Migration Cleanup, Rebecca B. French Feb 2021

Metadata Analysis For Pre-Migration Cleanup, Rebecca B. French

Libraries

When faced with a library system migration, it can be daunting to know where to begin with data cleanup. In many cases, there is a long list of tasks to tackle before switching to a new system and not enough time to perform them all. Therefore, it is important to target your efforts to the most impactful areas. In this presentation, I will provide guidance on deciding where to focus your available time for metadata cleanup. I will present metadata assessment criteria that will help you know what to be looking for in your data that could potentially cause issues …


Google Books, Jody Condit Fagan Feb 2021

Google Books, Jody Condit Fagan

Libraries

Google Books’ (GB) full-text search of more than 40 million books offers significant value for libraries and their patrons. However, Google’s refusal to disclose information about the coverage of GB, as well as observed gaps and inaccuracies in the collection and its metadata, makes it difficult to recommend with confidence for a given research need. While most search and retrieval functions work well, glitches aren’t hard to find, which suggests GB development is focused on user experiences that relate to monetization. Privacy and equity concerns surrounding GB mirror those of other big technology platforms. Still, every librarian should familiarize themselves …


Reflections On “To Study The Self Is To Forget The Self’: Zen Lessons On Ego And Leadership In Higher Education”, Jody Condit Fagan Jan 2021

Reflections On “To Study The Self Is To Forget The Self’: Zen Lessons On Ego And Leadership In Higher Education”, Jody Condit Fagan

Libraries

Stuart Lachs kindly wrote a response to my conference paper, “To study the self is to forget the self’: Zen lessons on ego and leadership in higher education” (Fagan, 2020), which led to a highly fruitful correspondence and an expansion on my thinking related to Zen, ego, and Zen practice in America today. Conversations with fellow practitioners and follow-up readings have also continued to shape my thinking. This response paper summarizes my reflections.


Embodied Care: Exploring Mental Health Zines As Feminist Health Resources, Liz Chenevey Jan 2021

Embodied Care: Exploring Mental Health Zines As Feminist Health Resources, Liz Chenevey

Libraries

In the traditional health information landscape, patriarchal knowledge practices of expertise, neutrality, objectivity, and ownership are held as the standard. This paper will explore zines as feminist mental health resources that embody radical care and subvert these knowledge practices. There are many personal zines on the topic of mental health, ranging from outlining self care strategies for overall mental wellness to deeper discussions of serious mental illness (trauma, mood disorders, personality disorders, etc). Even when not an explicitly feminist theme, I argue that these health zines are in themselves a feminist act. By utilizing attributes of feminist knowledge production, such …


Re-Envisioning The Virginia Journal Of Public Health: Leveraging The Institutional Repository For Publishing Success, Mark Lane, Rebecca Kruse, Maria Devalpine, Carolyn Schubert Jan 2021

Re-Envisioning The Virginia Journal Of Public Health: Leveraging The Institutional Repository For Publishing Success, Mark Lane, Rebecca Kruse, Maria Devalpine, Carolyn Schubert

Libraries

Lightning talk presented at 2021 Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries conference.


An Axiomatic Construction Of The Real Number System, Leonard Van Wyk Jan 2021

An Axiomatic Construction Of The Real Number System, Leonard Van Wyk

Libraries

Starting from the Peano Axioms, we construct the natural numbers, the integers, the rationals, and the reals.