Library and Information Science Commons^™

The Library & The Consortium: Don’T Trade Away Library Agency Without Considering The Cost, Nat Gustafson-Sundell

Library Services Publications

Libraries entrust negotiating authority to consortia upon the assumption that consortia can exercise greater “buying power” than individual institutions when dealing with vendors, because of greater scale. The prevailing mythology is that consortial deals simply must be better deals than libraries could secure on their own. In this presentation, the author questions the presumption that scale necessarily leads to better deals for libraries. Rather, library agency, as exercised in direct negotiations, can be more effective than scale for the purpose of securing the best possible deals. In fact, scale can lead to detrimental effects, to the extent individual institutions are …

Hermione's Summer Reading List, Casey Duevel, Barbara J. Bergman

Library Services Publications

Librarian recommended fun and exciting reads to enjoy while taking a break from your OWLs studies. Something for every house!

Instructional Design: Skills To Benefit The Library Profession, Jennifer M. Turner

Library Services Publications

Librarians in many types of libraries frequently find themselves positioned as instructors in formal and informal educational settings. Librarians can help ensure that learner needs are better defined and addressed by gaining basic competency in instructional design (ID), an intentional process used to create effective, efficient educational and training programs. Additionally, instructional design skills have the potential to benefit librarians in nonteaching roles. This paper examines existing library literature to determine how librarians can benefit from ID skills and to identify core ID competencies for the profession, and suggests opportunities to investigate how librarians might best acquire these skills.

Hispanics In The Academic Library, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

Based on a study of the students' own voices, outlined are responsive actions academic libraries can take to make Hispanic students feel more welcomed and comfortable. Since use of libraries is positively related to student retention, it is important that we understand our own students' experiences and recommendations.

• Invite resident hall staff to host library sessions
• Train and invite peer (other Hispanic students) tour guides for patrons
• Roaming reference service
• Bilingual brochures (separate ones for them and their parents)
• A poster that showed which staff have different languages

Skol Vikings! Training Camp Oral History Project, Daardi Sizemore, Mee Xiong

Library Services Publications

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Vikings Training Camp at Mankato, University Archives staff conducted an oral history project to document Vikings Training Camp at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Over 130 fans, community partners, Minnesota State University employees, and alumni Viking players agreed to share their Vikings Training Camp stories. We blitzed Training Camp at Mankato with an iPad on a stick and snapped up quick three-question interviews. Learn about our experiences with equipment, conducting interviews, making the interviews accessible in our digital collections, and creating an app for the Blue Earth Historical Society’s exhibit, “Celebrating 50 …

Be A Digital Survivor: Digitize, Share And Preserve, Daardi Sizemore, Anne Stenzel, Linda Richter, Alex Kent, Kendall Larson, Pam Gladis

Library Services Publications

Are you feeling marooned on your own island? You are not alone. Is your tribe facing challenges, such as time, funding, preservation and storage? Looking to achieve the reward of providing access to and preserving your digital collections? Join these Minnesota digital survivors as they share their quest to digitize, preserve, and showcase their digital objects by using the open source Islandora digital asset management system, customized and supported by PALS. Together these tribes, along with the Islandora community, have formed alliances where they learn from, share with and collaborate to enrich their digital collections. Each tribe will share their …

Digivengers: Digital Preservation In Progress, Heidi J. Southworth, Jamie Dalbey, Anne Stenzel

Library Services Publications

For the past ten years, the Archives and Preservation Unit at Minnesota State University, Mankato has been working with digital collections, but we lacked a formal digital preservation plan until the DigiVengers came to save the day. A small but mighty group, the DigiVengers used their super powers to draft a digital preservation plan using various magical gizmos, thing-ma-bobs, doohickeys, and extra-sensory perception gleaned from trial and error. The DigiVengers utilized lessons from conferences and training to harness the power of preservation. We don’t know our final destination yet, but join us as we share our journey with you. You …

Survey Of Classification And Organization Of Videorecordings, Barbara J. Bergman, Jessica Schomberg, Dorie Kurtz

Library Services Publications

Libraries have long struggled with the question of how to best classify and enable access to videorecordings. While giving a presentation at a state library conference, the authors observed from comments during the question and answer portion of the presentation that the libraries represented in the audience use a variety of video classification and organization practices. To better understand how local practices and librarians’ attitudes regarding the efficacy of these practices vary, we conducted a survey soliciting responses from librarians representing a broad array of library types.

Hush... : The Dangers Of Silence In Academic Libraries, Jessica Schomberg, Kirsti Cole

Library Services Publications

This article critiques the idea that civility rhetoric decreases workplace bullying or discrimination. We use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to do a rhetorical analysis of a campus-wide civility campaign in contrast with literature about civility in libraries. To combat discrimination and bullying, we need to be attentive to systemic power dynamics and to rhetoric designed to enforce compliance and conformity. We conclude with recommendations about how to raise our voices instead of silencing our peers.

Examination Of Cataloging Assessment Values Using The Q Sort Method, Jessica Schomberg

Library Services Publications

The intent of this project was to identify whether there is a gap between catalogers’ personal values related to cataloging assessment and their perceptions of their institutions’ values. This article uses Q methodology to contrast those perspectives. The Q-statements for this study were based on the discourse represented in a literature review of articles related to cataloging assessment. A factor analysis of Q-sorts was used to identify themes in participant perceptions. The patterns identified support the research question, while also suggesting that consensus may be built around the ideas of usability, service, and access.

Libraries And Hispanic Students: A Study, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

Purpose -This study describes Hispanic students’ use of the academic library and their perceptions of factors that impact their use and satisfaction with it.

Design/Methodology -Using the literature as a springboard, a survey was created and modified to understand Hispanic students’ perceptions of the academic library. The participants were recruited by the University’s Institutional Research team, which could reach out to students who self-identified as Hispanic.

Findings - Generally speaking, Hispanic students are comfortable in this particular academic library, and felt that librarians and staff were available and kind. They are less comfortable asking for research help, largely …