Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Threesource: Reimagining How We Collect And Share Information About Social Issues, Jen Hoyer, Stephen Macdonald

Publications and Research

This chapter examines management of information about social justice issues through discussion of the development and implementation of an online database, threeSOURCE. Managed by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, threeSOURCE is an online research database and library catalog created to help community organizations in the Canadian province of Alberta retrieve information about local social issues that they work to address. Reflections highlight issues related to creation, design, and implementation of a database, examining new ways to think about information delivery in line with the core values of our profession.

Stages Of Instruction: Theater, Pedagogy And Information Literacy, Julia M. Furay

Publications and Research

The author uses personal observations as inspiration to examine what has been written in scholarly literature about various theatrical practices in instruction, applying the conversation to the library instruction context. Additionally, research from business and professional literature is also incorporated into the discussion. This literature review focuses on three general areas. First, a review on how to use tools and perspectives from the theater to help librarians prepare their lessons; second, an examination of the librarian as performer; and third, a discussion on how theater might help librarians deal with repetition and burnout.

Disciplinarity And Trandisciplinarity In The Study Of Knowledge, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Scholarly inquiry about the nature and significance of knowledge has been shaped by disciplinary traditions and priorities that define “knowledge” differently and result in disconnected literatures. In the mid to late twentieth century, library science educator Jesse Shera sought to bridge the conceptual gap between epistemological and sociological approaches to knowledge in proposing a new discipline he called social epistemology. Around the same time, long-term projects by the economist Fritz Machlup and the physical chemist turned philosopher of science Michael Polanyi did not merely combine existing disciplinary approaches but transcended conventional frameworks for conceptualizing knowledge. These scholars can be viewed …

An Analysis Of Ebrary Academic Complete At Adelphi University, Kimberly R. Abrams

Publications and Research

This paper examines the academic and financial value of the ebrary Academic Complete package to the Adelphi University Libraries.

Topic Modeling In The Queens College Civil Rights Collections, Thomas J. Cleary

Publications and Research

In 2014 a topic model was conducted on the materials found on the Queens College Special Collections Civil Rights website (archvies.qc.cuny.edu/civilrights). The titles, subjects, descriptions, full text (when available), coverage were all put into "Item" level text files and then run through MALLET (topic modeling program) to create 30 different topics. These computer generated topics and connected items were then labeled into meaningful terms and uploaded into Gephi. The Gephi results were then edited to a web that showed the thematic groupings of each.

The final results and display can be viewed here: http://archives.qc.cuny.edu/network/

Comics To The Rescue: Finding Innovative Applications For Library Digital Learning Objects, Jennifer Poggiali, Robert Farrell

Publications and Research

When faculty were asked to use online assignments to make up the class time lost due to Hurricane Sandy, librarians at Lehman College's Leonard Lief Library spotted a new opportunity for the Library's Web comics. This article describes the partnership between the Library and the College's Art Department that led to the development of the Web comics, provides readers with a model for responding to circumstances creatively, and puts forward an approach for combining digital learning objects with writing assignments to meet faculty needs.

Neoliberalism And Library & Information Science: Using Karl Polanyi’S Fictitious Commodity As An Alternative To Neoliberal Conceptions Of Information, Jonathan Cope

Publications and Research

This paper examines the Library & Information Science (LIS) and Knowledge Organization (KO) literature on neoliberalism and argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the neoliberal conception of information’s relationship to the market. After an examination of the LIS and KO literature on neoliberalism, the key claims of neoliberalism with regards to information and markets are scrutinized and the role of the Internet is discussed. Karl Polanyi’s concept of the fictitious commodity is used to examine the ways in which markets are embedded within society and to provide an alternative to neoliberalism.

Controlling Our Vocabulary: Language Consistency In A Library Context, Mark Aaron Polger

Publications and Research

As a result of his experience as an interim academic web/systems librarian, Mark Aaron Polger embarked on a study of consistency of terminology in a library context, looking at usage across three media - promotional material, signage and websites. In this article, after reviewing the literature, he reports the results of his study, points out its limitations, and suggests ways in which the work could be taken forward.

Action Research, Assessment, And Institutional Review Boards (Irb): Conflicting Demands Or Productive Tension For The Academic Librarian?, Robert Farrell

Publications and Research

This article puts forward an “assessment/action research/publication” cycle that integrates aspects of the assessment, research, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes to provide academic librarians with a systematic approach for balancing competing workplace demands and give library managers a roadmap for creating a “research culture” (Jacobs, Berg, and Cornwall) within their libraries. The article argues that librarians and library managers have much to gain by integrating action research into librarians’ everyday work loads, including increased ease in meeting publication demands for tenure and/or promotion, institutionalizing habits of reflective practice across all library service areas, and overall library improvement.