Education Commons^™

Introducing Seamlessaccess.Org: Delivering A Simpler, Privacy-Preserving Access Experience, John W. Felts, Tim Lloyd, Emily Singley

Charleston Library Conference

Managing access to subscribed services in an era of abundance is a major challenge for libraries. Users have come to expect a seamless, personalized experience on their mobile devices, but traditional approaches to access management force librarians to choose between the anonymous ease of onsite IP authentication or the access friction experienced by users authenticating across multiple resources with Single Sign-On. Building on the work of the RA21 initiative, a recent NISO Recommended Practice on Improved Access to Institutionally Provided Information Resources charts a way forward. It will enable libraries to provide seamless, privacy-preserving and one-click access to its subscribed …

Hacking For Good - Workshop Summary, Alex Humphreys, Curtis Michelson, Heather Ruland Staines, Geoffrey P. Timms, Caroline Muglia

Charleston Library Conference

At the 2019 Charleston Library Conference, five facilitators from a diversity of organizations led a pre-conference called Hacking for Good. The goal of the half-day pre-conference was to introduce participants to the “hacking mindset” beyond the traditionally understood technology-driven terminology. In this context, hacking refersred to an approach of identifying a challenge or set of challenges in their respective knowledge organizations and gathering a set of techniques or approaches to address and overcome those challenges. The pre-conference provided a highly interactive and supportive environment to consider all aspects of a workplace challenge related to workflows and personnel and determine the …

When You Don’T Know What You Don’T Know: How Two New Collections Librarians Right-Sized A Collections Budget, Cara M. Cadena, Marcia Lee

Charleston Library Conference

Due to impending campus-wide downsizing, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries projected that a worst-case scenario would result in a 14% cut to the library’s collections budget for fiscal year 2020. In the same year, GVSU Libraries welcomed several new members of its leadership team, including the dean, two associate deans, head of systems, head of collections, business administrator, and a vacancy after the long-time acquisitions manager retired. Budget cuts and staff turnover are tough, but they prompted a much-needed reassessment of roles, culture, and priorities in the library. Different approaches to spending and curating the library’s collections were …

Is Your Library Ready For The Reality Of Virtual Reality? What You Need To Know And Why It Belongs In Your Library, Carl R. Grant, Stephen Rhind-Tutt

Charleston Library Conference

VR is no longer just gaming. It’s increasingly being deployed across academic campuses and is becoming indispensable in fields ranging from the humanities to engineering to anthropology. A recent survey indicated that 100% of ARL campuses were using VR, with 40% of libraries actively supporting it. This paper discusses practical examples of how libraries are helping their institutions build out virtual reality, utilizing 3D objects and explains why the library is the best place to do so. It provides a basic grounding in VR and related areas, showing what it is and why it's important to libraries. Specific attention is …

The Nuts And Bolts Of Supporting Change And Transformation For Research Librarians, Mira Waller, Heidi J. Tebbe

Charleston Library Conference

Libraries have a rich tradition of providing services and support to researchers. In recent years, changing technology, evolving research methods and requirements, and the transforming landscape of scholarly communication have revealed a need for libraries to actively engage scholars and participate in the entire research lifecycle. As liaison and subject librarian roles shift to a more holistic and engagement-focused model, it is important that libraries provide them with the tools and resources to develop new skills.

This paper will focus on three ways in which the North Carolina State University Libraries created and supported relevant training and opportunities for research …

Housing Diversity In Children’S Literature, Carla Earhart

Charleston Library Conference

Previous studies have examined diversity in children’s literature: Gender diversity, racial diversity, religious diversity, and diversity in family composition. This project examines an often overlooked diversity issue in children’s literature: Housing diversity. In the stories they read and the accompanying images, children need to see a variety of housing environments and need to see the settings and the people portrayed in a positive manner.

Renting an apartment is an increasingly popular housing option for many families. However, many children’s books glamorize living in a traditional house. Using a rubric designed by the course instructor, students in a university immersive learning …

How Much Do Monographs Cost? And Why Should We Care?, Nancy L. Maron, Charles Watkinson, Meredith Kahn, Shayna Pekala

Charleston Library Conference

What does it cost to make a high quality, digital monograph? What may sound like an obvious question turns out to be a very knotty one, driving to the heart of the essence of scholarly publishing today. It is particularly relevant in an environment where the potential of a sustainable open access (OA) business model for monographs is being explored. Two complementary studies funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2015 have explored this question to understand the costs involved in creating and disseminating scholarly books.

The team at Ithaka S+R studied the full costs of publishing monographs by …