Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Centering Or Empowering—Shifting Power To The Library Members, Annie Bélanger

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Libraries are activated by our community members and our staff. Libraries use a variety of words to describe the people that frequent them. The words are often used habitually, rather than after a critical review of their origin and impacts. If libraries are not neutral, how might this translate into the language that we use, the way we make decisions, and how we engage with our community members? This column will explore the growth of public services, the language we use to refer to the people we serve, and how to empower our community members as well as partners in …

Fostering Data Literacy Teaching With Quantitative Data In The Social Sciences, Dylan Ruedinger, Daniella Miriam Cooper, Samantha Minnis, Gayle Schaub

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Quantitative literacy is an essential twenty-first century skill that universities are heavily invested in teaching to students. The social sciences play an important role in these efforts because they attract students who might otherwise avoid data and mathematically oriented courses and because they ground quantitative reasoning in political and social contexts that resonate with undergraduates. However, pedagogical best practices for social science instructors have been slow to emerge and the support needs of instructors and students remain difficult to discern. Ithaka S+R’s Teaching Support Services program explores the teaching practices and support needs of collegiate instructors. Our most recent project …

Accessibility And Public Services - Part 2: When Being User Focused Includes All Users, Annie Bélanger

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Libraries serve an important role in accessing information, delivering services, and fostering a sense of community. Libraries must ask whether they are serving all of their community members equitably. People with disabilities need to be able to access the libraries fully. This article first provides an overview of approaches for moving beyond compliance in the development and delivery of services to people with disabilities. It explores barriers to accessing services for people with disabilities and ways to overcome them. Lastly, it outlines daily interaction tips in providing service to people with disabilities.

Conference Rubric Development For Stem Librarians’ Publications, Sarah Over, James Mcallister, Debbie Morrow, Sylvia Jones, David Pixton, Eric Prosser, Aditi Gupta, Amani Magid

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Librarians within the Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) annually publish conference papers for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The existing ASEE rubric was not sufficient for our members, so we developed a new rubric as a charged committee for this task. We briefly discuss the sparse literature in this area, focusing on the use of rubrics and the rationale behind them. Due to this lack of literature, our committee primarily utilized additional sources such as rubrics found from other professional organizations in STEM and library fields. Our rubric is designed to encourage substantive feedback and growth of authors during …

Accessibility And Public Services - Part 1: The Case For Access, Annie Bélanger

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Libraries serve an important role in accessing information, delivering services, and fostering a sense of community. Libraries must ask whether they are serving all of their community members equitably. People with disabilities need to be able to access the libraries fully. This article first provides an overview of accessibility-related legislative history in the US, Canada and Ontario, and Australia to contextualize its impact on services to people with disabilities. The medical and social models of disability are explored. Lastly an overview of the history of libraries and accessibility cements the moral, ethical, and legal reasons to serve people with disabilities.

Archives To Go: Creating A Virtual Primary Source Instruction Packet, Leigh Rupinski, Meghan Martinez

Scholarly Papers and Articles

This case study examines the process of creating a virtual primary source instruction packet using the Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection. The authors hoped to create a packet of scanned primary source materials from the collection that could be taken and used by any faculty instructor, at GVSU or beyond, without additional facilitation by archivists. The packet would complement instruction and enrich students’ experiences when archival visits were not possible for a variety of reasons. The authors scanned primary source documents and created a full lesson plan including primary source literacy learning objectives. The desired outcome was a packet …

Ithaka S+R: Teaching With Data In The Social Sciences, Gayle Schaub, Samantha Minnis

Scholarly Papers and Articles

In the Winter of 2021, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) joined 20 other institutions to participate in an Ithaka S+R study to understand the instructional and technical support needs of social science faculty using data in their courses. Each participating institution served as a research site with a local team of researchers. This report outlines the methodology, findings, and recommendations for instructional faculty, librarians, and administrators.

Bingo! Engaging History Of Science Students With Primary Sources, Leigh Rupinski

Scholarly Papers and Articles

This case study examines the process of creating an interactive and engaging lesson plan for the History of Science course, HSC 201: The Scientific Revolution. History of Science students tend to be undergraduates majoring in science or medical related fields, rather than the humanities, who need to fulfill an intensive writing or general education requirement. For most, if not all of them, this session would be the first time they experienced hands-on interaction with historical resources. Accordingly, the archivist sought to create a less traditional lesson plan that would foster a sense of fun and interest in the materials.

Centring Lgbt2qia+ Subjects In Knowledge Organization Systems, Julia Bullard, Amber Dierking, Avi Grundner

Scholarly Papers and Articles

This paper details two interdependent knowledge organization projects for an LGBT2QIA+ library. The authors, in the context of volunteer library work for an independent library, redesigned the classification system and subject cataloguing guidelines to centre LGBT2QIA+ subjects. We discuss the priorities of creating and maintaining knowledge organization systems for a historically marginalized community and address the challenge that queer subjectivity poses to the goals of knowledge organization. The classification system features a focus on identity and physically reorganizes the library space in a way that accounts for the multiple and overlapping labels that constitute the currently articulated boundaries of this …

Teaching Business: Looking At The Support Needs Of Instructors, Kurtis Tanaka, Danielle Cooper, Cara Cadena, Preethi Gorecki, Jon Jeffryes, Carol Sanchez

Scholarly Papers and Articles

In 2018, Ithaka S+R began a new research program investigating scholars’ undergraduate teaching practices. As a first foray in this program, we looked at the teaching practices and needs of instructors teaching in business and business related disciplines. The project was undertaken collaboratively with research teams at 14 academic libraries in the United States and we thank those institutions and their researchers for partnering with us.

Ithaka S+R: Supporting The Changing Practices Of Teaching In Business, Cara Cadena, Preethi Gorecki, Jon Jeffryes, Carol Sanchez

Scholarly Papers and Articles

In the Fall of 2018, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) joined twelve other institutions to participate in an Ithaka S+R study to understand the pedagogical support needs of business school faculty. Each participating institution served as a research site with a local team of researchers. This report will outline the methodology, findings, and recommendations for instructional faculty, librarians, and administrators.

5 Years Of User Research: Mary Idema Pew Library Learning & Information Commons, Grand Valley State University Libraries, Kristin Meyer, Katie Alphenaar

Scholarly Papers and Articles

The Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons at Grand Valley State University opened in 2013. Ongoing user research has been conducted to learn how students use the building and to identify design successes and opportunities for improvement. This document synthesizes insights gained through five years of post-occupancy user research.

More Than Things, Scarlet Galvan

Scholarly Papers and Articles

The often invisible labor of serials, technical services, metadata, and electronic resources workers sits in the space between required and preferred, assessment and surveillance. Although libraries and information workers did not explicitly create the systems many of us live in, we are responsible for their everyday functioning. In many ways the narratives from technical services to the library are centered in objects: item counts, COUNTER stats, door counts, discovery, and other transactional data. And yet, we are stewards and maintainers, innovators and storytellers of the countless ways these objects are experienced. How can we help our colleagues understand the outreach …

Enthusiasm In Teaching, Bob Schoofs

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Author discusses the importance of enthusiasm for effective teaching, and methods to improve you enthusiasm.

Exploratory Evolution: Using Participatory Change To Rethink And Reorganize Digital Collections Services, Annie Benefiel, Jacklyn A. Rander, Matt Ruen, Leigh Rupinski

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Change is the only constant in digital collections work. Evolving technologies, resources, and needs require a constant flexibility in not only what work is done, but how and by whom. Over the course of the 2017-2018 academic year, Grand Valley State University Libraries held a series of facilitated conversations to analyze the workflows, organizational structure, and overall support for the management of digital collections and repositories. This article summarizes the facilitation process and highlights areas of opportunity, aspirations, and future directions.

The Language Of Information Literacy: Do Students Understand?, Gayle Schaub, Patricia Bravender, Cara Cadena, Christopher Kierkus

Scholarly Papers and Articles

In order to effectively access and utilize the resources of the academic library and to become information literate, students must understand the language of information literacy. This study analyzes undergraduate students’ understanding of fourteen commonly used information literacy terms. It was found that some of the terms least understood by students are those most frequently found in faculty-created research assignments and syllabi and which are used by librarians during library instruction. It is recommended that librarians work with faculty to make them aware of students’ lack of understanding of information literacy terms and that librarians also reinforce their meaning during …

Back To The Future: Prospects For Education Faculty And Librarian Collaboration Thirty Years Later, Lindy Scripps-Hoekstra, Erica R. Hamilton

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Thirty years ago, education conference panelists shared concerns regarding collaboration between education faculty and librarians and they presented ideas for expanding these partnerships. A review of their ideas raises an important question: In what ways have their ideas for collaboration and partnership been realized? To answer this question, the authors conducted a review of the literature regarding education faculty-librarian collaboration. Findings indicate that when collaborating with education faculty, there are three roles librarians have embodied: librarian-as-reference, librarian-as-consultant, and librarian-as-instructor. These roles contribute to the realization of the panelists’ proposed ideas and offer suggestions for future collaboration and research possibilities.

Becoming A Liaison Librarian: Embedded In Academia, Debbie Morrow

Scholarly Papers and Articles

"The narrative of higher education frequently declares the library to be the “academic heart of the institution.” It’s not entirely clear in the lore whether the library purportedly at the heart of things academic refers only to a building and the portion of human knowledge contained within, or if it is generally recognized that there is a distinct heartbeat emanating from the activities of the professionals who curate, organize, and promote resources, and teach the ways of information-finding. I contend that to be an effective academic librarian is to be embedded in the life of one’s institution...."

Collecting Space Use Data To Improve The Ux Of Library Space, Shelley Gullikson, Kristin Meyer

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Collecting data about where people are and what they are doing is an easy entry point into exploring the UX of library space. This article examines projects at two academic libraries where space use data was collected multiple times per day for several months. The two projects were designed and carried out independently but had the same purpose: to better understand how students were using library spaces so that we could improve student experiences. Collecting space use data provided a baseline understanding of user behavior in these spaces. Similar to web analytics, this baseline can be useful on its own …

Seven Questions For Assessment Planning: A Discussion Starter, Mary O'Kelly

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Do a quick Google search for assessment cycle or evaluation cycle and you’ll find thousands of variations. It’s easy for a newly emerging culture of assessment to stall as the participants agonize over which is the right way, which is the most thorough way, which is the perfect way to evaluate an instruction program.

I’ve been through many assessment processes and have experienced those long pauses firsthand. I have come to realize that the first and most important step is to simply have a conversation. Yes, there are rigorous assessment projects that require exceptionally detailed methods and a close involvement …

“With Extreme Diffidence”: Anna L. Snelling’S Kabaosa (1842) A Provisional Publishing History And Census, Robert Beasecker

Scholarly Papers and Articles

No abstract provided.

Building A Peer-Learning Service For Students In An Academic Library, Mary O'Kelly, Julie Garrison, Brian Merry, Jennifer Torreano

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Academic libraries are well lauded for offering supportive spaces for students’ self-directed study, and significant resources are dedicated to librarian instruction in the classroom. What many academic libraries lack, however, is a middle ground, a routine way for students to help one another using best practices in peer-to-peer learning theory. A new, nonauthoritative, supplemental service by students and for students began at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI, in fall 2012 with a cohort of “peer research consultants.” Students learn information literacy skills with a well-trained peer, untethered from the hierarchy inherent in formal instruction environments. This paper describes …

Addressing Faculty Publishing Concerns With Open Access Journal Quality Indicators, Sarah Beaubien, Max Eckard

Scholarly Papers and Articles

BACKGROUND The scholarly publishing paradigm is evolving to embrace innovative open access publication models. While this environment fosters the creation of high-quality, peer-reviewed open access publications, it also provides opportunities for journals or publishers to engage in unprofessional or unethical practices.LITERATURE REVIEW Faculty take into account a number of factors in deciding where to publish, including whether or not a journal engages in ethical publishing practices. Librarians and scholars have attempted to address this issue in a number of ways, such as generating lists of ethical/unethical publishers and general guides.DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT In response to growing faculty concern …

A Community Of Practice: Librarians In A Biomedical Research Network, Danielle P. De Jager-Loftus, David Midyette, Barbara Harvey

Scholarly Papers and Articles

Providing library and reference services within a biomedical research community presents special challenges for librarians, especially those in historically lower-funded states. These challenges can include understanding needs, defining and communicating the library’s role, building relationships, and developing and maintaining general and subject specific knowledge. This article describes a biomedical research network and the work of health sciences librarians at the lead intensive research institution with librarians from primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges and universities. Applying the concept of a “community of practice” to a collaborative effort suggests how librarians can work together to provide effective reference services to researchers …

Utilization And Refinement Of Standard Curation Models, Max Eckard, Jonathan P. Leidig

Scholarly Papers and Articles

The OAIS and Curation Lifecycle Model provide widely accepted models for curation workflows. However, primary and scientific research often produces content in a manner incompatible with the lack of emphasis these models place on integrating curation-supporting activities in early stages within a scientific workflow. Pre-ingest modules are needed in both models to enable curation of complex, domainspecific content during generation processes.

The Flow Of Learning: It's Not Just In The Classroom, Bob Schoofs

Scholarly Papers and Articles

No abstract provided.

Report Of The Alcts Scholarly Communications Interest Group Meeting, American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Philadelphia, January 2014, Doug Way

Scholarly Papers and Articles

No abstract provided.

Developing And Implementing A Disapproval Plan: One University Library’S Experience, Doug Way, Julie A. Garrison

Scholarly Papers and Articles

No abstract provided.

Eight Tips From The Trenches: How Experience Teaching High School Informs My Approach To Information Literacy Instruction, Lindy Scripps-Hoekstra

Scholarly Papers and Articles

No abstract provided.

Results Of Web-Scale Discovery: Data, Discussions, And Decisions, Jeffrey D. Daniels, Laura Robinson, Susan Wishnetsky

Scholarly Papers and Articles

A library with the best and most credible resources available is of little value if its patrons do not find the resources.Web-scale discovery products were created to provide a search mechanism that library patrons will actually use, and which will yield relevant results even for the most inexperienced of searchers. An overview of one such product, Summon, is presented by the company’s product manager and by a librarian who helped to implement the product for his library.