Library and Information Science Commons^™

Like A Boss: Moving From The Front Lines Into Middle Management, Megan Hodge, Nicole Spoor, Cassidy Sheehan

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Can an academic librarian who has only worked on the front lines compete with those who have supervisory experience for middle management positions? What traits are hiring committees looking for in middle managers for public services, especially in applicants with no prior supervisory experience? While the literature does provide tips and advice for new managers, as yet there are no studies examining what hiring committees look for in middle management applicants.

This study has taken a three-pronged approach to data collection: a qualitative study consisting of interviews with academic librarians who have served on hiring committees for middle-management positions, and …

Sustaining Research Data Services, Margaret E. Henderson

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Choosing A Repository Platform: Open Source Vs. Hosted Solutions, Hillary Corbett, Jimmy Ghaphery, Lauren Work, Sam Byrd

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Discusses selection of a locally hosted, open-source system (DSpace/Fedora) versus a cloud-hosted, proprietary system (Digital Commons), it is important to note that these examples are merely illustrative. Libraries have a range of choices for repository software that includes open source and proprietary in any number of support environments, and exemplary repositories are flourishing on a variety of systems, both open source and proprietary. This chapter focuses on the differences between proprietary and open-source solutions, but also demonstrates how and why libraries choose a repository system. In writing about this process, we realized that it was important to acknowledge that there …

Keytag It: An Exploration Of A Creative And Customizable Research Guide Promotion, Martha Roseberry, Bettina Peacemaker

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The research guide is a common tool librarians use to communicate with and instruct their audiences. Despite their prevalence and value to users, research guides remain underused. There are many examples of efforts encouraging guide use, but few studies have measured the effectiveness of that promotion. Academic Outreach librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) promote research guides through inexpensive and small keytags--similar to retail customer loyalty keychain tags. Findings of a quantitative analysis suggest the keytags have positively influenced guide use and support anecdotal reports of increased interaction with intended audiences.

Day 2. Don't Let Your Data Management Plan Kill Your Grant, Margaret E. Henderson

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

The National Science Foundation has rejected grants with bad Data Management Plans (DMPs). And now, most Federal agencies, and some private funders, will require these plans with your grant application. You will also need to provide public aces to you digital data. Learn how to write a competitive plan and share your data so you don’t miss out on an award. This session will focus on writing DMPs for NSF, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and USDA grant applications.

Claiming A Seat At The Table: Inclusive Paths To Leadership In Academic Libraries And Beyond, Megan Hodge, Patricia Sobczak

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The topic of leadership development in academic libraries is recent area of interest for the profession. There is nascent scholarship in the areas of how to prepare librarians to advance into a first formal management position as well as in the area of leadership capacity-building for librarians and library organizations. This poster combines two independent research projects with the common theme of leadership development in academic libraries. It is not often that separate scholarship integrates effectively and cogently, but these studies coalesced in such an impactful way that all parties felt the need to share the content as well as …

Assessing The Unpredictable, Margaret E. Henderson

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Data Management Roles For Librarians, Margaret E. Henderson

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In this Chapter:
● Looking at data through different lenses
● Exploring the range of data use and data support
● Using data as the basis for informed decision making
● Treating data as a legitimate scholarly research product

Examining The Pieces: Usability Testing To Improve Outreach To Unaffiliated Health Professionals, Emily J. Hurst, Irene Lubker, Barbara A. Wright

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives: In order to better address the information needs of unaffiliated public health and primary care professionals, librarians undertook a project to strengthen usability and refine the content of a freely available website maintained by the library. Collaboration with an advisory committee of local and state health care professionals allowed librarians to schedule focus groups and usability testing with diverse groups.

Methods: While a freely available, library maintained website had a long history, usability testing had not been done after a platform upgrade. Outside funding provided library staff with resources to engage with community groups focused on supporting public health …

Territory Folks Should All Be Pals: Qualitative Use Of Search Logs To Improve Confidence In And Communication About A Library Discovery Service, Jimmy Ghaphery, Mark Baggett, Thomas Mcnulty, Emily Owens

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The efficacy of library discovery tools can be a contentious topic within libraries. This presentation will describe the use of Primo search logs as a vehicle to encourage constructive conversations across departments in two different university research libraries (University of Tennessee and Virginia Commonwealth University). In particular this project aimed to bring together systems and public service librarians in order to improve communication across departments and the library discovery system itself. Results from each institution will be presented and compared along with ideas for future research.

Providing Hands-On Training With Bioinformatics Databases: A Collaboration Between Vcu Libraries & Wright Center For Clinical And Translational Research, Karen H. Gau, Julie A. Arendt, Amy Olex, Aaron R. Wolen

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Background
With the goal of increasing specialized services for researchers, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries sent its basic science librarians to an intensive training on bioinformatics databases, “A Librarian’s Guide to NCBI.” VCU’s Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research (Wright CCTR) was expanding the educational component of its bioinformatics support around the same time. This year, the librarians partnered with the Wright CCTR to offer an introductory bioinformatics database workshop introducing researchers to genetic/genomic databases.

Methods
For one week in June, sessions were conducted introducing up to 30 faculty and staff to The Cancer Genome Atlas and NCBI’s Gene, …

Providing Support For An Interdisciplinary Research Group With A Multidisciplinary Informationist Team: Is It Effective?, Margaret Henderson, Karen Gau, Julie A. Arendt, Martha Roseberry, John Cyrus

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Background

Three subject librarians and a data librarian, representing three departments and two libraries at a university, were awarded an NLM Informationist Supplement to support an interdisciplinary Research Group with an NIH grant. The Informationist Team developed a model to utilize the skills of multiple librarians to support the increasing number of interdisciplinary and interprofessional research groups at the university. Librarians routinely attended lab meetings and shared notes with each other to monitor researcher needs.

Methods

The Informationist Team regularly provided support for literature searches, creating search alerts, bibliographic citation management and sharing, and data management to an interdisciplinary Research …

Ready, Set, Network! Research Speed Networking For Clinicians, Scientists And Engineers, Pamela M. Dillon, Karen H. Gau

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives: A 2013 Institute of Medicine report urged researchers to “engage in additional substantive and productive collaborations” to address important clinical/translational science questions. To encourage team science among our researchers, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and Center for Clinical and Translational Research hosted a speed networking event, specifically targeting engineers, clinicians, and basic scientists; an analysis of the event is below.

Methods: Invitations were distributed to clinicians, engineers, and basic scientists. To maximize interactions without increasing time spent at the event, researchers were divided into three groups. The event was planned such that each group would meet everyone from …

The New Gatekeepers: How Blogs Subverted Mainstream Book Reviews, Rebecca E. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Book reviewing has a fraught history in the United States. Reviewers have long been accused of not being analytical enough. It should be no wonder then with the emergence of social media that online book reviewing has become increasingly popular. Online reviewers, especially book bloggers, are no literary gatekeepers in their own right, shaping the tastes of readers across the world. Book blogs in particular pay special attention to titles which have long been derided by institutions such as libraries, academia, publishers, and bookstores. These literary gatekeepers typically ignore romance, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, young adult fiction, comic books, and …

The Right Place At The Right Time: Creative Spaces In Libraries, Eric Johnson

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose

This essay explores the recent trend in libraries: that of the establishment of spaces specifically set aside for creative work. The rise of these dedicated creative spaces is owed to a confluence of factors that happen to be finding their expression together in recent years. This essay examines the history of these spaces and explores the factors that gave rise to them and will fuel them moving forward.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A viewpoint piece, this essay combines historical research and historical/comparative analyses to examine the ways by which libraries have supported creative work in the past and how they may continue …

Connecting Best Practices In Public Relations To Social Media Strategies For Academic Libraries, Bettina Peacemaker, Sue Robinson, Emily Hurst

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Academic libraries worldwide use social media to inform and connect with users. VCU Libraries is no different and must keep up with rapidly evolving platforms and user expectations. When our presence stretched across 22 channels, we needed to ensure social media efforts were managed in the most effective and efficient manner possible. To develop a research-based, unified vision for communication for new media, we scanned the literature in the library and public relations fields and then surveyed librarians to address identified gaps. Based on results, we offer recommendations focused on best management practices and strong content strategies.

Embedding Information Literacy In An Mfa Novel Workshop, John Glover

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.