Library and Information Science Commons^™

Advocating For Individual And Collective Agency Through Community, Andrea Baer

ACRL New England Chapter Annual Conference

No abstract provided.

Law Library Blog (September 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Jalan Gender, Jalan Spiritual: Menggali Pembentukan Gender Project Dalam Konteks Pengalaman Keberagamaan Perempuan, Katrin Bandel, Anne Shakka, Gusnita Linda, Yustina Devi Ardhiani

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Using the method of collaborative autoethnography, this study critically reflects on the life stories of three women from different backgrounds by focusing on gender and religion. One of the main aspects that we examined is gender projects, i.e. the projections people make when imagining their future gender roles and identities. As a result of our (self-) observations, we found that, while at first the gender project of those women was formed by the patriarchal gender order of their society, as time progresses, after living through and evaluating a variety of often traumatic experiences, they developed their own gender projects more …

Summoning The Ghosts: Records As Agents In Community Archives, Jessica Tai, Jimmy Zavala, Joyce Gabiola, Gracen Brilmyer, Michelle Caswell

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Although records have traditionally been defined by their physical form, our research reveals that records documenting marginalized communities disrupt these limiting definitions by surfacing the ways that community members conceive of the agency of records. Based on focus groups we conducted with fifty-four community members at five different Southern California–based community archives, this paper examines how community archives users conceive of records as agents, embodied with the voices of past lives, and capable of facilitating meaning for those who access, activate, and interpret them. In our findings, users of community archives not only surfaced the notion of records as dynamic, …

A Knowledge Lens: Humans In Action, Darin S. Freeburg

Faculty Publications

Every member of a social system sees that system in a particular way. This essay outlines a

new way of seeing the uniquely human characteristics in these systems, with particular attention to what happens when this view is taken. Termed the Knowledge Lens, this view embraces complexity, sees the potential of innovation through conversation, and understands the barriers limiting the traditionally assumed powers of data, information, and knowledge. This lens is approached within the context of ensuring that graduates of a Knowledge School are equipped with the tools and understanding necessary to facilitate positive change and increase human agency--both in …

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 …

Creating Context From Curiosity: The Role Of Serendipity In The Research Process Of Historians In Physical And Digital Environments, Kim Martin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Serendipity, the word used to describe an unexpected encounter with information, people, or objects, has drawn much scholarly attention since its 1754 coinage by Horace Walpole. Historians commonly use this term when describing unexpected encounters during their research. However, historians have also been shown to be meticulous, organized researchers whose work is unlikely to contain elements that are unexpected. This thesis is an investigation of serendipity as it is recognized, defined, and experienced by historians in both physical and digital environments. Article One presents a grounded theory analysis of 20 interview transcriptions, Article Two presents a combination of grounded theory, …

From Object To Mediator: The Agency Of Documents, Sally Irvine-Smith

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper takes as a starting point one particular development in social theory – the concept of mediation – and applies it to the document. Central to this discussion is a conceptualisation of documents as objects, albeit one which fails if we assume the document to be nothing more than a receptacle of content. Drawing from contemporary social theories which give mediating objects a pivotal role in human affairs, many researchers find that viewing documents as mediators allows us to concentrate on function over content. Indeed, evidence indicates that viewing documents as mediating objects is well accepted and largely unproblematic. …

Paving A Two-Way Street: The Rewards And Challenges Of Archival Projects With Community Partners, Eva Guggemos, Joanne Riley, Kathleen Spring, Rachael Woody

Faculty & Staff Presentations

Academic libraries are increasingly engaged in establishing community-based archives programs, often with digital preservation, delivery, and exhibit components. Often these activities are in response to local communities' needs to document valuable and vulnerable cultural heritage materials, fueled by the understanding that community partnerships create mutually beneficial opportunities for the academic institution, students, and staff. From a practical standpoint, institutions need to be able to identify potential points of synergy and challenge when working with both internal and external communities on collaborative digital projects; however, this can be difficult for institutions that are new to this kind of collaboration. Understanding the …

Collaborative Agency In Youth Online And Offline Creative Production In Scratch, Y. B. Kafai, Deborah A. Fields, R. Roque, W. Q. Burke, A. Monroy-Hernandez

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Few studies have focused on how youth develop agency to organize and participate in online unstructured creative collaborations. This paper describes and analyzes how youth programmers organized collaborative groups in response to a programming “Collab Challenge” in the Scratch Online Community and in an accompanying workshop with high school students. The analyses focused on modalities of online collaborations, determined the breadth of online participation, and examined local teens’ awareness of the online community. The discussion addresses youth’s collaborative agency in these new networked contexts, studied the role that online social awareness plays in completing tasks and makes recommendations for the …