Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Gis To Uavs: Emerging Opportunities For Drone Support Services In Academic Libraries, Jessica Davila Greene, Warren Roberts

Library Staff Publications and Research

In 2015, The Claremont Colleges Library purchased a drone for its Emerging Technology Loan program. At the time, Federal Aviation Administration regulations were still in their infancy in regards to drone use in public and for teaching and research –lending wasn’t even a consideration. After three years of waiting for the regulations to catch up with the demand, The Claremont Colleges Library GIS Specialist was able to pilot a drone lending program that circulates both the drone and the GIS Specialist for course integration. This paper outlines the history of GIS at The Claremont Colleges Library, its evolution toward drone …

Claremont Colleges Library Research Data Management Survey, Jeanine Finn

Library Staff Publications and Research

In Fall 2017-Spring 2018, this survey instrument was used by the Claremont Colleges Library to assess faculty practices around the creation and management of research data.

Don’T Stop The Presses! Study Of Short-Term Return On Investment On Print Books Purchased Under Different Acquisition Modes, Maria Savova, Candace Lebel

Library Staff Publications and Research

How long are we willing to wait for a book to demonstrate value? How many circulations are enough? Today, there is more pressure to show return on investment (ROI) than there used to be thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. In the era of increasingly electronic, demand-driven, and evidence-based collection development, the once reigning print book is ceding its central place within library collections. While faculty and students are showing renewed interest in print materials, flat or declining library budgets, along with inevitable increases in electronic subscription rates, put downward pressure on print monograph funding. Libraries continue to develop …

Information Has Value: A View From Three Institutions, Dani Brecher Cook, Jessica Davila Greene, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

In this presentation, three librarians with diverse roles and employed at three dramatically different academic institutions (a community college, a private liberal arts college, and a public land-grant university) will discuss the ways in which their professional praxis of instruction related to “Information Has Value” converge and diverge. From these varied experiences, the presenters will then propose a tiered model of high-impact approaches to incorporating aspects of the scholarly communication librarian portfolio into library instruction, ranging from introductory community college writing courses to courses for students completing a capstone for their major. The presenters will also suggest ways to scaffold …

Affordable Course Materials: A Library Primer For Student Academic Success, Jennifer Thompson, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

This presentation was a library staff education/professional development offering as part of the Claremont Colleges 2017 Open Education Week Celebrations.

Everything Faculty Need To Know About Copyright And Fair Use In The Classroom, Allegra Swift, Darryl Yong

Library Staff Publications and Research

Professional development workshop for faculty sponsored by the Claremont Center for Teaching and Learning. Part of the Claremont Colleges Library offerings for Fair Use Week and Open Education Week.

Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Reputation & Impact, Allegra Swift, Jessica D. Greene

Library Staff Publications and Research

Professional development workshop for faculty led by Claremont Colleges Librarians.

Diversifying The Academy: Librarians Coaching Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Through The Scholarly Research Cycle, Alexandra Chappell, Jessica D. Greene, Jennifer Thompson

Library Staff Publications and Research

Increasing diversity within the scholarly community is a priority for academic libraries. Often the focus is on diversifying our staff, programs, collections, and services. But the library can also have an important role to play in campus diversity initiatives that focus on equity and inclusion among the student body and professorate.

This poster will detail a library coaching program developed as part of a local instance of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, a nationwide initiative to increase faculty diversity by supporting students of color to pursue PhDs and careers as professors. The coaching program pairs librarians with undergraduates in …

Social Media And Learning At The Ferguson Municipal Public Library, Madelynn Dickerson

Library Staff Publications and Research

This brief article highlights the way in which the Ferguson Municipal Public Library harnessed social media, specifically Twitter, to provide opportunities for learning in the community during the August 2014 protests after the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer. The article presents data from the Ferguson Library’s Twitter account and looks at community reception of the library’s educational efforts.

Drawing Comparisons: Analyzing Art & Architecture Print And E-Book Usage, Madelynn Dickerson, Jamie Hazlitt, Caroline Muglia, Jeremy Whitt

Library Staff Publications and Research

Recent studies have shown that despite possible preconceptions, e-books in art and architecture subject areas are actually quite well used. By collaborating across four SCELC-affiliated Southern California institutions (Claremont Colleges Library, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, and the University of Southern California), we engaged in extensive usage analyses to understand more about what might motivate art and architecture researchers to seek out e-books, and compare that usage to print books.

Critical Collection Analysis: Using Dh Tools To Contextualize Historical Collecting Patterns Within A Political Framework, Lydia Bello, Nina Clements, Madelynn Dickerson, Margaret Hogarth

Library Staff Publications and Research

With the growth of digital humanities and a wide range of free and open source analysis tools at our fingertips, librarians have a unique opportunity to use these new tools to critically analyze library collections. Moving beyond usage and budgets, strategies such as text analysis, temporal pattern finding and data visualization offer insights into the structure and content of our collections, which in turn supports evidenced-based decision-making for future acquisitions. At the Claremont Colleges Library, librarians across divisions have been encouraged to learn tools and approaches to Digital Humanities, and apply these principles to our own work and relationships with …

Scalar, Tensor, And Ethics In Digital Asset Management, Allegra Swift, Craig Dietrich

Library Staff Publications and Research

This working group will foreground Scalar, a Semantic Web-based scholarly publishing system, and its developing “spin-off” application, Tensor, the latter created specifically for the collection and management of media from a variety of digital archives. The group will explore issues in access and use of digital archives, particularly around ethics and global citizenship when scholars work with media assets to create online digital scholarship. There is a lack of awareness of risk and ethics to guide the creation of such software, especially amplifying issues related to marginalized groups, sensitive data, and the confusion around the use of content that is …

Beta Spaces As A Model For Recontextualizing Reference Services In Libraries, Madelynn Dickerson

Library Staff Publications and Research

Reference services are at a cross-roads. While many academic libraries continue to offer reference services from behind a desk, others are moving to roving and embedded reference models. Meanwhile, libraries are also engaged in the development of collaborative learning spaces—often rich with technology, such as makerspaces and learning labs—but these spaces are often removed from the reference services environment. Beta spaces are another type of collaborative environment used in both public and academic libraries with the potential to infuse energy into the reference space and emphasize research support through experimentation, collaboration, and user contribution. Beta spaces are user-oriented environments with …

Publishing Undergraduate Research: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

Scholarly communications are evolving rapidly; there are shifts in how research is communicated, what counts for scholarship, and who is doing the communicating. Undergraduates are contributing to the scholarly conversation but with little education in what it means to participate online as a scholar, much less as a global digital citizen. Many faculty members engage in scholarly communication as they always have and are often unaware of the rapid developments in publishing and sharing research. Librarians with responsibilities in publishing, scholarly communication, and instruction are especially challenged to meet these gaps in digital literacy. Publishing undergraduate scholarship can be perceived …

Dismantle Your Electronic Resources Fund! Applying The Power Of Faceted Classification To Acquisitions Budget Management., Maria Savova, Jason S. Price

Library Staff Publications and Research

Effective collection management and funding advocacy require that academic library materials budgets reflect the complexity of their underlying acquisitions. We introduce a faceted budget structure that addresses acquisition mode, material type, material format, and discipline in each fund - thereby empowering budget transparency, reliable ongoing spending control, and accurate long-term planning.

Creative Connections: Engaging Students And Faculty Through A Library Artist In Residence, Alexandra Chappell

Library Staff Publications and Research

It can be challenging to forge connections between an academic library and undergraduate art students, who are often heavily engaged in beginning studio practice and may only associate the library with the more traditional research done by other disciplines. One way to overcome this challenge is to change their perceptions of the library through programming that demonstrates that the library can be a site for exploration, inspiration, research, and innovation by artists. At the Claremont Colleges Library, we partnered with a member of the art faculty to create a Library Artist in Residence (LAIR) program, which has the twin goals …

Developing A Primary Source Lab Series: A Collaboration Between Special Collections And Subject Collections Librarians, Adam Rosenkranz, Gale Burrow, Lisa L. Crane

Library Staff Publications and Research

In 2014 librarians at the Claremont Colleges Library piloted a 2-part workshop series that gave graduate students the opportunity to closely read a primary source as artifact, explore related digital primary sources, identify interesting research questions, and find secondary scholarship that spoke to those questions. This Primary Source Workshop series was developed collaboratively by special collections librarians, subject liaison librarians, and graduate faculty. The series has since been adapted for a variety of graduate and undergraduate classes. As a sequence, the workshops emphasize the continuity from paper sources to digital sources and the interrelationships of primary and secondary sources in …

Coordinating Information Resources (With Reference On My Mind), Madelynn Dickerson

Library Staff Publications and Research

This poster presentation explores the ways reference and technical services staff can work together to build strong, user-centered collections and best serve student and faculty patrons. It highlights the professional path of the author during a transition from public services to technical services in a newly created position: information resources coordinator.

The challenge is twofold: 1) how to apply reference services expertise to a new scope of responsibility that includes collection analysis and management of print and electronic resources, and 2) how to build collaborative and meaningful relationships with reference and teaching librarians in order to best evaluate existing and …

Interpret The Numbers: Putting E-Book Usage Statistics In Context, Maria Savova, Madelynn Dickerson

Library Staff Publications and Research

E-books have been an integral part of library collections for a long time now, but they are still surrounded by controversy. How much our patrons really use them? That seemingly simple question has a very complicated answer that could depend on a number of factors. The e-books’ usage reports mean very little on their own and leave many unanswered questions. In order to contextualize the usage statistics, the Claremont Colleges Library conducted an analysis of enhanced usage reports in comparison with the total offerings of e-book content available to our users from all major providers, and through all access models. …

Dda In Context: Defining A Comprehensive Ebook Acquisition Strategy In An Access-Driven World, Jason S. Price, Maria Savova

Library Staff Publications and Research

Internet-based technology has birthed a variety of ebook acquisition modes that differ significantly in number of accessible titles per acquisition dollar. We review these acquisition modes and argue that it is crucial for libraries to define a well-reasoned, comprehensive acquisition strategy that represents their optimal mix of all six modes. Each library’s strategy should reflect its institutional priorities relative to five key factors (choice of content and quality, discount, ease of use, permanence, and cost predictability) and integrate three complementary tactics (relating to subscription, demand-driven acquisition, and ebook approval plans) rather than rejecting one or more acquisition modes on principle. …

Librarians Teaching Professors: Reaching Overlooked Adult Learners, Ashley R. Sanders

Library Staff Publications and Research

This presentation was given at the Summer Teaching Retreat for Librarians 2015 at Santa Ana College, California. This session briefly describes the characteristics of adult learners, their unique barriers to learning, potential solutions, and how I used interest in the burgeoning field of Digital Humanities as an avenue to launch a new instructional series that serves faculty members - a population often overlooked when we think about an academic library’s instructional mission.

Effortless Building Census, Sam Kome

Library Staff Publications and Research

Library headcounts are tedious, time-consuming, and subject to the vagaries of scheduling, attention to detail, and incomplete (especially for consortia). If we conduct them perfectly, on-schedule without fail we can gather at best the number of patrons seated in various areas of the library at two arbitrary times per day. We don't know their home campus. We don't know how patronage varies by time of day. If only there was an automatic way of conducting counts that was automatic, unsleeping, and could differentiate between campuses The wireless infrastructure is (hopefully) always on, and devices are nearly ubiquitous, and typically signed …

Leveraging Expertise To Meet Research Data Management Needs, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

Scholarly communication expertise and responsibility is often located in only a few members of an academic community. Librarians increasingly need to be knowledgeable and articulate about scholarly communication issues, including research data management. How to best leverage librarian expertise and build knowledge in these areas is an ongoing challenge. Stakeholders from two institutions will speak about their efforts to build capacity for data-related support and services in an expedient and economical way. At Claremont Colleges Library, the scholarly communication librarian and a social science librarian are creating infrastructure that will allow the Library to expand its data services while also …

Claremont Colleges Library Social Sciences Research Data Management Pilot, Natalie Tagge

Library Staff Publications and Research

Scholarly communication expertise and responsibility is often located in only a few members of an academic community. Librarians increasingly need to be knowledgeable and articulate about scholarly communication issues, including research data management. How to best leverage librarian expertise and build knowledge in these areas is an ongoing challenge. Stakeholders from two institutions will speak about their efforts to build capacity for data-related support and services in an expedient and economical way. This presentation discusses one of several pilots at the Claremont Colleges Library. In this case, the scholarly communication librarian and a social science librarian created an infrastructure that …

Developing A Journal Editor Workshop, Allegra Swift, Isaac Gilman

Library Staff Publications and Research

One of the common misconceptions around open access journals is that they lack quality and impact. For a library publishing program, it is important for the program’s journals to contradict this misconception in order to retain institutional support and gain quality submissions, peer reviewers, and substantive editorial boards. A workshop to educate and provide improvement support for journal editors was born out of a conversation between two librarians responsible for library publishing efforts at their respective institutions. A need for editor support was recognized as being transferable across institutions and the two decided to build a model workshop. The workshop …

Identifying Opportunities In Citizen Science For Academic Libraries, Cynthia Cohen, Liz Cheney, Khue Duong, Ben Lea, Zoe Pettway Unno

Library Staff Publications and Research

Citizen science projects continue to grow in popularity, providing opportunities for non-expert volunteers to contribute to and become personally invested in rigorous scientific research. Academic libraries, aiming to promote and provide tools and resources to master scientific and information literacy, can support these efforts. While few examples currently exist of academic libraries involved in citizen science, this article identifies potential roles in community building; data curation; scholarly communication reform; and provision of space, technology, and resources.

Why Open Access?, Allegra Swift

Library Staff Publications and Research

Panel presentation slides and notes for the library perspective on, “Open Access Publishing in Mathematics: Who? What? Where? Why? And How?” Math Fest, Mathematical Association of America, in Portland, Oregon - August 9, 2014.

Speakers:

• Gizem Karaali, Pomona College
• Jacqueline Jensen-Vallin, Lamar University
• Allegra Swift, Claremont Colleges Library

Organizer: Linda McGuire, Muhlenberg College

Sponsor: MAA Committee on Professional Development

Librarians Matter!* Librarian Impact On First-Year Information Literacy Skills At Five Liberal Arts Colleges, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Natalie Tagge, Sean Stone

Library Staff Publications and Research

This poster reports results of an assessment of student writing from the first-year seminar/experience programs at five separate undergraduate colleges. Papers (n=520) were coded by level of librarian involvement in the class, and then scored using an Information Literacy rubric. Results indicate that students in courses with higher librarian involvement demonstrate better IL skills (that are statistically significant) than those in courses with low involvement.

2014 Student Library Survey Report, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Maria Savova

Library Staff Publications and Research

This survey was administered in response to a larger strategic planning process initiated by the Claremont Colleges Library (CCL). Building on the 2012 Student Library & Technology Survey and the 2013 Faculty Library Survey, the present survey is an attempt to gather longitudinal and comparative data from Claremont Colleges’ faculty and students. The present survey is based on a framework established by two prior investigations of local academic communities to inform library operations.

Librarians Matter! Impact On First-Year Information Literacy Skills At 5 Colleges, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge, Alexandra Chappell, Gale Burrow

Library Staff Publications and Research

This poster reports results of an assessment of student writing from the first-year seminar/experience programs at five separate undergraduate colleges. Papers (n=416) were coded by level of librarian involvement in the class, and then scored using an Information Literacy rubric. Results indicate that students in courses with higher librarian involvement demonstrate better IL skills (that are statistically significant) than those in courses with low involvement.