Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Pandemic-Related Mental Health Micro-Collection For An Academic Library, Dee Anna Phares

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Academic library patrons dealing with the impact of trauma, depression, anxiety, or addiction spawned or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic require materials that address the unique conditions that have shaped mental health since late 2019. This paper demonstrates how one academic library endeavored to address patrons’ needs for mental health resources by developing a “Coping and COVID-19” micro-collection.

On The Provenance Of Software Systems: Automating Software Traceability With Knowledge Graph And Large Language Model Synergy, Tyler Procko

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The present dissertation delineates a system that enables those engaged in software development to automatically generate and maintain project life cycle provenance. All projects are implemented and made manifest with the development of artifacts, e.g., papers, code files, etc. Tools exist to accelerate artifact creation, but little focus is paid to the processes that produce them. In terms of Ontology, or, from Ancient Greek, the study of being, the two most basic entities in reality are Continuant and Occurrent, or, roughly, “Artifact” and “Process”. This dissertation posits that for any created artifact, its process of creation, i.e., its life …

Healing Histories: Implementing Trauma-Informed Care Practices In Libraries To Support Resilience And Recovery, Cearra Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the impact of public library closure on the Edgewood community in Columbia, South Carolina, an area with a rich history and significant ties to the two nearby historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Benedict College and Allen University. It explored the intergenerational effects of historical trauma through the lens of collective memory, as documented in oral histories from community members and public library staff. The research aimed to understand the implications of the library's absence in a marginalized community context, emphasizing how such closures can exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Through oral histories, questionnaires, and interviews, the findings reveal …

Stories Between The Stacks: Current Black Women School Librarians' Lived Experiences, Cynthia R. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Black women school librarians navigate complex professional landscapes shaped by their lived experiences, intersecting identities, and systemic barriers. Despite their significant contributions to school librarianship, their perspectives remain largely absent from scholarly work. This qualitative study explored how the lived experiences and positionalities of Black women school librarians shape their practices. It addressed the critical gap in research on Black women school librarians. Grounded in Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) and guided by Black feminist-womanist storytelling, this study employs a narrative approach to explore the experiences of four Black women school librarians in the Southeastern Region of the United States. Data …

The Library As A Hospitable Place: Hospitality And Welcoming Volunteers, Geesje Duursma, Erwin Losekoot, Gjalt De Jong

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Libraries use volunteers. Research indicates various barriers to volunteering. After these barriers have been overcome, it is of great importance that the volunteer is welcomed into the organization. Therefore, hospitality is not just about receiving patrons but also receiving (new) volunteers. For this study, concepts from volunteering were synthesized with hospitality concepts. This case study took place at a library in the northern part of the Netherlands. Data was collected from interviews with management and volunteers in a focus group discussion. The findings were triangulated with official documents from the library. A matrix of hospitality practices is proposed to help …

Ai: Initial Responses, More Questions, Rachel E. Scott, Michael Fernandez

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

[In the absence of an abstract the opening of the editorial is presented.] Librarians working in technical services have long had opportunities to automate portions of their work. Attitudes about doing so, however, have been mixed. Automation comes with enhanced needs for human-mediated quality control. With this long-standing and somewhat fraught relationship in mind, we began discussing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model (LLM) tools and their implications for writing and reviewing in Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS) back in 2023.

School Librarians Transferring What They Learned In Their Preparation Programs To Practice: Three Case Studies, Carl Adrian Harvey Ii

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

ALA/AASL/CAEP standards are used to determine what preservice school librarians in nationally recognized programs are taught in their preparation programs. School librarian preparation programs follow standards to ensure their graduates are prepared and ready for their positions. The standards provide consistency in how school librarians are prepared across the country as preparation programs must provide data to demonstrate how their students have met those standards for national recognition. However, once the students complete the program and move on to their positions in K-12 schools, what happens? Do students transfer what they have learned in their preparation programs? What challenges or …

Archiving The Lumad Schools Of Mindanao, Ryan Cezar Alcarde, Michelle Mikiko Pagaran, Victoria Nolasco

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

During the Duterte administration, Indigenous communities in Mindanao, striving to protect their ancestral lands from destructive logging, mining, and agro-industrial plantations, were subjected to attacks by military and paramilitary groups. This resulted in the enforced shutdown of 215 Lumad schools, whose ecocritical pedagogy molded Indigenous children into land protectors and environmental stewards. In response, the Mindanao Climate Justice Resource Facility (MCJRF) and former Lumad school volunteer teachers and students, Indigenous leaders, and supporters launched the “Lumad School Memory Project” in 2023. This research and archiving initiative aims to document the rich educational practices of the forcibly closed Lumad schools, ensuring …

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 14, March 31, 2025, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Buyer Beware: Pay-For-Play Research Outreach Services, Erica Finch, Cameron Nielsen

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Shortly after completing a groundbreaking study, a researcher receives an email from a science news website offering to promote their findings to a wider audience. But there’s a fee attached, and they want to know if the library will help cover the cost …

Finding Solutions To Missed Appointments And Leveraging Virtual Technology In The Healthcare Setting, Adam R. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare community faces numerous challenges concerning patients and their ability to attend appointments as scheduled. Reports indicate that annually, between 23% and 34% of appointments are missed. This challenge creates a cascading effect of wasted time, resources, and valuable appointment slots in an already strained environment. The investigation of this phenomenon is not new and has been extensively researched in the operations management literature. While numerous solutions have been proposed over the past decade, there remains a need to continually advance this research. Beyond merely recognizing missed appointments and potential modalities to alleviate this issue within the care framework, …

Politics, Traditional Librarianship, Progressive Librarianship, And Conflicting Visions Of Services For Children, Bill Crowley

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The paper addresses the ongoing challenges within public library youth services between programs of Traditional Librarianship, heavily influenced by local religious and political realities, and Progressive Librarianship, a secular approach aiming to remedy perceived past library failures. At the risk of oversimplification, Traditional Librarianship, the original American public library philosophy, long prioritized helping youth develop into educated citizens with a strong moral foundation. Within the limits of generalizing, Progressive Librarianship can be considered a change-oriented philosophy seeking to provide youth services committed to social justice and a reversal of power relationships to the benefit of those previously underserved. The effects …

Who’S Asking?: Perception, Success, And Negotiation Dynamics In Library Acquisitions, Amy Pham

Copley Library: Faculty Scholarship

“Women don’t ask.” The titular phrase of a groundbreaking work from Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever that cemented the popular belief that women are bad negotiators. But are women bad negotiators? Does the gender divide in negotiations intersect with a racial divide? In a field defined by its history of feminization and white women majority, how does this affect librarians? This presentation will draw a line through two decades of literature to examine trends of negotiation outcomes currently underrepresented in library research and share the results of an interview study exploring experiences in academic library acquisition negotiations.

Promotion Of Accessible Library Resources: Perspectives And Literature Review On Cooperation With Campus Partners To Better Serve Students With Disabilities, Barbara M. Pope, Samantha Thompson-Franklin

Faculty Submissions

Accessibility in academic libraries touches on many different issues, such as access to buildings and facilities, websites, software, hardware, and the library’s collections. This article reviews the literature on accessibility in higher education, focusing on the topic of cooperation among departments on university and college campuses with the goal of better serving students with disabilities. These entities include the academic library, student disability services, and teaching faculty, among other possibilities. Students with disabilities attending institutions of higher education without accessible library resources and services and students who are unaware of available resources and services may be unable to fully participate …

Electronic Information Resources Use And Teaching Effectiveness Of Academic Staff Of Selected Universities In Oyo State, Nigeria, Yinka Joba Olawale, Adebayo Muritala Adegbore Dr., Mary Oluwabukola Akinolu Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Access to relevant information resources play a critical role in fostering learning environment. Prior investigation showed that there is a dearth of research on the use of electronic information resource amongst academic staff in universities. Previous studies also focused on electronic information resource use by students. This study, was therefore carried out to examine electronic information resources use on the perceived teaching effectiveness of the academic staff in the selected universities in Oyo state, Nigeria.

The theory of action and the cognitive-behavioral theory provided the framework for this study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. 1,705 academic staff of the …

Research Data Management Policy, Munster Technological University, Ireland

Policies & Procedures

The purpose of this policy is to provide a framework for Research Data Management (RDM) in the University throughout the stages of the research cycle. This includes, but is not limited to, collection, curation, secure storage, organisation, retrieval, re-use, sharing, archiving, and access of research data, in accordance with international best practice, legal, statutory, ethical, contractual and intellectual property obligations, and the requirements of research funding bodies, publishers and stakeholders. The University and researchers will make all best efforts to make sure they are consistent with this policy.

Authorship Policy, Munster Technological University, Ireland

Policies & Procedures

The purpose of this document is to define the university’s policy on assignment of authorship to research outputs arising from the university’s research and scholarly activities. This policy promotes integrity in the authorship of research outputs arising from the research and scholarship of staff and students aligned with university, national and international best practice.

Enhancing Discoverability: Transitioning A Board Game Collection From A Libguide To A Collectionbuilder Site, Hanwen Dong, Perri Moreno, Tyler Rodriguez, Julia Stone

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

As board game collections continue to grow in popularity at academic institutions, the University of Idaho Library wanted to establish an accessible and easy-to-use discovery tool for its physical game collection. At the collections’ origins, a LibGuide was created by librarians for this purpose, but as the collection records continued to grow into the triple digits, something more adaptable and customizable was necessary. In the summer of 2023, a team of librarians came together to build a custom site to house the game collection’s information using CollectionBuilder, an open-source framework for digital collections and exhibits websites that are driven by …

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 13, March 17, 2025, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

University Librarians’ Level Of Familiarity With And Use Of Web 2.0 Technologies: The Case Study Of Two Iranian Universities, Hadis Khedri

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study aimed to determine the level of familiarity with and use of Web 2.0 technologies among librarians at the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the University of Isfahan. This research is applied in terms of its objective and descriptive in terms of its method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 135 librarians working in the libraries of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the University of Isfahan. Due to the limited number of participants, total population sampling was conducted. Data were collected using the “Library 2.0 Tools” questionnaire, developed by Hosseini Shoar and Bahrami …

Primary Source Analysis: Using Digitized Time-Motion Study Films In The Undergraduate Business Classroom To Build Primary Source Literacy, Annette Bochenek, Renusree Varma Mudduluru

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This paper details a study conducted in the context of a large Midwestern university’s undergraduate business class, employing the ACRL RBMS-SAA Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy in a guided in-class activity using digitized primary sources. Students participated in an introductory lesson pertaining to primary sources and their connection to business, followed by viewing and analyzing digitized clips from Frank and Lillian Gilbreth’s time-motion studies. In addition, they completed a reflective discussion board post, illuminating their connections to the ACRL RBMS-SAA Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy core ideas of the analytical, ethical, theoretical, and practical. Potential affective experiences were also examined …

Ethics Of Care: Applying Cultural Protocols To Indigenous Sound Recordings, Jolene D. Manus

Journal of Western Archives

The University of New Mexico, College of University Libraries and Library Sciences, endorsed The Protocols for Native American Archival Materials in 2020. This case study explores the use of an Ethics of Care approach, prioritizing Indigenous cultural protocols for Indigenous sound recordings housed within the archival collections of the Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (CSWR). The CSWR staff sought guidance from local tribal nations when CSWR patrons requested the duplication of cultural songs, cultural oral histories, and/or interviews. Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, tribal cultural rights departments, and specified tribal persons identified by tribes as cultural experts reviewed the …

Promotional Techniques For Marketing Academic Library Product And Services, Fisayo Adesola Adekunle Mr., Bright Ajayi Mr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

This paper clarifies the marketing techniques used to promote the product and services offered by academic libraries. Users are kept informed about the information resources accessible at the library by marketing of the services and information resources offered by the library. Library-produced materials such as reading lists, bibliographies, flyers, brochures, library e-mail, websites, posters, and other materials; special programs and events such as library orientation, workshops, and seminars; and social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are some of the promotional techniques used in marketing library resources. Marketing library product and services improves user perception of the …

Everyday Life Information Behavior, Health Information Seeking, And Hiv And Sti Awareness Among People Who Inject Drugs (Pwid), Nafiz Z. Shuva, Radia Taisir, Parvez Sazzad Mallick

Publications and Research

This study aims to explore the everyday life and health information behavior of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Bangladesh, as well as the effectiveness of HIV and STI informational programs in promoting safe injecting and sexual behavior. The study received 97 completed survey responses and conducted two focus group discussions (FGDs) with 13 PWID. Using de Certeau's everyday life practices framework, the study aims to understand the tactical information strategies of PWID in the context of a developing country where access to government services and trust in authorities may be significantly limited among marginalized populations. PWID's information needs focused …

The Southern Miss Bower Academic Center: A Recent Academic Library-Athletics Partnership, Blake Denton

Faculty Publications

In 2019, A. Blake Denton published a literature review that identified and described 35 partnerships between academic libraries and athletics programs at higher education institutions in the United States, 20 of which were established for library marketing and development purposes. Recognizing that the literature documenting marketing and development partnerships was dated, he published a study in 2021 that provided updated, more comprehensive accounts for eight participating institutions and an analysis of the evolving nature of their relationships over time. This third article analyzes the partnership at the University of Southern Mississippi that resulted in the relocation of the athletics program’s …

Pdxscholar Multi-Year Annual Report (2022-2024), Julia Stone, Sherry Buchanan, Bertrand Robinson, Stacey Schlatter, Carolee Harrison

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

We are excited to share our 2022-2024 PDXScholar Multi-Year Annual Report. This multi-year report covers the period between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024. PDXScholar, Portland State University's institutional repository, provides access to the scholarly and creative output of PSU faculty, students, and staff. In this report, we aim to highlight PDXScholar’s growth and impact through readership data, new content and collections, and feedback from our users.

Beyond Rules And Tools: Imagining A Design Approach To Metadata Management Training, Rebecca B. French

Libraries

Professional development offerings for cataloging and metadata practitioners primarily focus on "rules and tools" - the standards, guidelines, and software applications commonly used in the field. These areas of knowledge are important and foundational, but professionals also need competence in synthesizing this information to solve metadata problems. In this presentation, I will explore design epistemology as a way of understanding metadata management. I will apply design concepts and methods to reimagine metadata training and provide suggestions for on-the-job training approaches that support the development of these harder-to-teach skills.

Influence Of Attitude As A Catalyst On The Productivity Level Of Cataloguers In Tertiary Institutions’ Libraries In Edo State, Nigeria, Olalekan Ola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

As soon as librarians are productive based on their positive attitude, it is expected that libraries will perform optimally. In circumstances where catalogers are less productive or lack a good attitude, the long-lasting effect will be felt by end users. It is in this regard, that this study investigates the influence of attitude as a catalyst on the productivity level of catalogers in tertiary institutions’ libraries in Edo State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The population was comprised of 81 catalogers in Edo State. The study made use of a total enumeration sampling technique. …

Write What You Know, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Writing a fact pattern is more challenging than it looks. This is something I learned when I created my first fact pattern for Advanced Legal Research. To accomplish this, I relied on the maxim, “Write what you know.”

Exploring The Next Generation Of Journals, Heidi J. Southworth, Aaron Retteen, Promita Chatterji

Library Services Publications

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar focused on the next generation of scholarly publishing with the launch of our new Modern Journal Designs for Digital Commons Journals. Join a panel of editors and library publishers to examine the changing landscape of research and how Diamond open access journals are evolving to meet those needs. Moderated by Director of Journal, Digital Commons Promita Chatterji, panelists will share their experience providing input to Digital Commons new Modern Journal Designs and share how they are innovating with their publishing programs. This webinar is ideal for journal editors, administrators, librarians, …