Digital Commons Network^™

Efficiently Learning An Encoder That Classifies Token Replacements And Masked Permuted Network-Based Bigru Attention Classifier For Enhancing Sentiment Classification Of Scientific Text, Muhammad Inaam Ul Haq, Khalid Mahmood, Qianmu Li, Ashok Kumar Das, Sachin Shetty, Majid Hussain

VMASC Publications

The exponential growth of scientific literature in digital repositories poses challenges in interpreting complex attitudes within academic texts. Traditional sentiment analysis methods often struggle with nuanced word meanings due to contextual variations. To address this, we propose the Electra-MPNet-based BiGRU attention classifier that extracts the high-level semantic features from citation sentences using the combined strength of Electra and MPNet encoder layers. These features are then combined to extract long-range dependencies through a stacked BiGRU layer. A linear attention mechanism is imposed to estimate the attention weights and context vector which enables the model to selectively focus on relevant information. The …

More Than Censorship: The Harm Of Libricide, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Libricide, although often deemed an extreme instance of censorship, is altogether different. Censorship involves the suppression of particular books due to alleged inappropriate content; libricide refers to the intentional destruction of entire libraries. Understanding the differing motives recognizes that the library is more than the books it contains, and is instead an institution rooted in its history of selection and use by the local community. Over time, the library reflects the users’ identity, a reminder that any aggressor would wish to eliminate when the goal is pacification by erasure of a population’s memory and history. Prerequisites for an act of …

How Does The Transition From A Subject-Based Allocation Fund Structure To A One-Pot Allocation Fund Structure Impact Librarian Spending And Attitudes Toward Spending?: One Libraries' Experience With A One-Pot Allocation Approach For One-Time Acquisitions Spending, Anne Larrivee

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Every fiscal year, academic libraries must decide how to fairly allocate funds for their collection of one-time materials. A common approach is to divide these one-time funds between subject areas based on historic, quantitative, or expressed needs. A less mainstream approach is to combine all these funds into a single source of funds for one-time purchases. This article examines librarian response after transitioning from a subject-based allocation to a one-pot allocation approach for its one-time acquisitions. Methods of expenditure analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to assess the approach's effectiveness and librarian attitudes. The results of this study provide a …

Improving Inclusion With Universal Design In The Academic Library Hiring Process, Katelyn Quirin Manwiller, Heather Crozier, Samantha Peter

University Libraries Faculty Publications

To improve inclusion in academic library hiring practices, we must evaluate and prioritize addressing the barriers that currently exist in the process for LIS workers with marginalized identities. With the prevalence of disability in America, lack of representation in librarianship, and inherently intersectional nature of disability inclusion, it is essential that academic librarianship work to recruit and retain disabled librarians. Disability affects people in a variety of ways. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. As a result, broader disability inclusion techniques based on the principles of Universal Design are needed to remove barriers for disabled librarians during the hiring process.

More Alike Than Not: The Open Access Preferences Of Humanities Scholars, Rachel Scott, Ana Dubnjakovic

Faculty and Staff Publications

Several studies have noted that humanists have not been as quick or enthusiastic in their adoption of Open Access (OA) as their colleagues in other disciplines. This article leverages the Ithaka S+R US 2021 Faculty Survey to provide contextualized analysis of the OA and Open Education Resources (OER) preferences of humanities scholars, as well as some practices related to OA and OER, relative to their colleagues in other disciplines. Findings suggest that although humanists do stand apart in many OA preferences, the small effect sizes render these differences less important than previously suspected. The implications of these findings are considered …

The Persistent Treatise, Dana Neacsu, Paul Douglas Callister

Law Faculty Publications

The legal treatise remains a pillar of the American legal system and the rule of law, despite claims it might be dying and variations in quantitative citations to treatises over time. Indeed, several treatises evidence increased citation in U.S. Supreme Court opinions during the last several decades. Surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court, including the Robert’s Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, increasingly sees fit to rely on proto-treatises, such as Bracton, Coke, and Blackstone. This article provides empirical data and qualitative analysis to support this claim, highlighting the sometimes declining but nevertheless significant presence of treatises in …

Wait, We’Re Invited, Too? An Academic Social Justice Book Club For The Community (A Case Study), Amanda Boyer, Amir El-Chidiac

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Political tensions, racial reckoning, and rising book challenges have led to deeper polarization in the United States, especially in Pennsylvania, where there is already an even divide between liberals and conservatives. The increasing division led two librarians from the Susquehanna University Blough-Weis Library (2021) to initiate a Social Justice Book Club. This club aimed to unite the campus and local communities to grapple with social justice issues in a safe environment. Librarians had concerns when starting the club due to the regional tensions. Still, they were determined to find a way to safely allow everyone involved to learn more about …

A Generative Approach For Document Enhancement With Small Unpaired Data, Mohammad Shahab Uddin, Wael Khallouli, Andres Sousa-Poza, Samuel Kovacic, Jiang Li

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Shipbuilding drawings, crafted manually before the digital era, are vital for historical reference and technical insight. However, their digital versions, stored as scanned PDFs, often contain significant noise, making them unsuitable for use in modern CAD software like AutoCAD. Traditional denoising techniques struggle with the diverse and intense noise found in these documents, which also does not adhere to standard noise models. In this paper, we propose an innovative generative approach tailored for document enhancement, particularly focusing on shipbuilding drawings. For a small, unpaired dataset of clean and noisy shipbuilding drawing documents, we first learn to generate the noise in …

Subvert The Dominant Paradigm: Reimagining Academic Library Hiring Processes, Xan Arch, Isaac P. Gilman

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

For libraries dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is crucial to address firmly-held traditions about “correct” hiring practices. This work of revising traditional practices can be a fraught process, as different stakeholders often hold strong opinions about how best to evaluate candidates and conduct successful searches. To move our two academic libraries toward more inclusive hiring practices, we each led internal processes to entirely revise our hiring manuals. We will discuss the challenges and core issues addressed through this work, and the resulting principles that we believe will result in a more equitable, transparent, and candidate-friendly process.

Network Download Index: An Alternative Solution To Lagging Citation Indicators, Liping Yu, Meihua Huang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]As early as 1996, Garfield proposed the idea of using web downloads instead of citations for journal evaluation to improve timeliness, but the progress of its application needs to be improved. [Method/process]In this paper, we theoretically analyzed the reasons for this phenomenon, and analyzed the prerequisites for the download index to be used for journal evaluation starting from the connotation of download volume, and then comprehensively analyzed the relationship between download volume and citation based on panel data model, BP neural network and regression analysis, and proposed three evaluation indexes, immediate annual download factor, next year download factor and cumulative …

Workplace Bullying In Louisiana Academic Libraries: Exploring Worker Status And Demographics, Justin Savage, Andrea Hebert, Catherine Baird

University Libraries Scholarship and Creative Works

Bullying is a phenomenon that exists across cultures, societies, and even species. It can be found eveywhere, including the workplace. The present study investigates workplace bullying amongst an approximated census sample of Louisiana academic library workers. Using the Negative Acts Questionnaire—Revised (NAQ-R), the study explores the relationships between experiencing workplace bullying and librarian status, tenure status, years in the profession, age, gender, and race. Although no statistically significant relationships were found between variables, the findings add to a growing body of literature that explores the interrelations of demographic and environmental contexts and bullying experiences.

Out Of Many, One: A Unified Approach To Inclusive Description At Clemson University, Jessica Serrao, James E. Cross, Scott Dutkiewicz, Charlotte Grubbs, Will Hiott, Shannon Willis

Publications

In 2022, Clemson Libraries formed an Inclusive Description Task Force to research and present recommendations to the administration on a libraries-wide plan for inclusive description practices. This chapter outlines the steps the task force took to complete its charge. It discusses the creation of an annotated bibliography and collections audits to identify problematic language, as well as connecting with other institutions to learn from existing practices. The task force intentionally went beyond cataloging to bring together their university colleagues responsible for description in Special Collections and Archives, Historic Properties, and the libraries’ digital collections. The final report presents recommendations for …

Gvsu Press Releases, 2024, Grand Valley State University

University Press Releases, 1961-Present

A compilation of press releases for the year 2024 submitted by University Communications (formerly News & Information Services) to news agencies concerning the people, places, and events related to Grand Valley State University.

Consortium Building As Determinants Of Perceived Quality Service Delivery By Personnel In University Libraries In Benue State, Nigeria, Doocivir Faith Annune, Olalekan Abiola Awujoola Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The university library is the educational nerve of the university that ensures that information resources are made available and that quality information services are delivered. Providing information services that are of quality in university libraries can however be influenced by a number of factors including consortium building. Thus, the study investigates consortium building as determinants of perceived quality service delivery by personnel in university libraries in Benue State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study, population comprised all 262 library personnel in four university libraries in Benue State, Nigeria. Total enumeration method was used. A structured …

Use Of Social Media In Academic Library Services: A Case Study Of Dpsru Library, Yogita Ahuja Mrs.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Social media has ingrained itself into every aspect of our lives, including libraries. Social media is being used by libraries more and more to engage with users, advertise services, and foster a feeling of community. This term paper investigates how social media can be used to enhance library services, highlighting the transformative effects of social platforms on user engagement, the promotion of library resources, and the development of community. This paper will also present the examples of implementation of social media tool by DPSRU Library. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Research Gate have taken for representing this case study.

The Impact Of Open Access In Public Libraries, South Africa, Molaodi Margaret Matobako Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of open access in the nine Thabo Mofutsanyana District public libraries. Data were collected using scheduled structured and unstructured interviews with a sample of 17 library officials from nine public libraries in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District, as well as a sample survey study design. Thematic coding was employed to evaluate the quantitative data. Furthermore, descriptive statistics and nonlinear factor analysis were used to analyse the quantitative data. The major findings of the study indicate that most respondents had favourable opinions on the open access ideology, notwithstanding a small number of …

The Assessment Of Knowledge Management Dimensions In The Libraries Of Khorasan Razavi Universities, Alireza Atarodi, Soraya Ziaei, Jamileh Naeimi, Hassan Shojaee-Mend

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Introduction: This study aims to assess knowledge management aspects in central libraries of Islamic Azad University, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, and Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran.

Methods: Conducted through a survey-analytical approach, this study focused on librarians with library education in central university libraries of Khorasan Razavi Province. A sample size of 102 individuals was selected using Cochran's formula. Validity and reliability of a researcher-developed questionnaire were confirmed. Hypotheses were tested with Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests using SPSS-20.

Results: University libraries in Khorasan Razavi Province display inadequacies in …

The Factors And Obstacles Affecting The Documentation Of Knowledge And Experiences In The Libraries Of Khorasan Razavi Provinces Universities, Alireza Atarodi, Maryam Salimi, Jamileh Naeimi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Introduction: The current study aims to assess the prioritization of factors and barriers influencing the documentation of knowledge and experiences in university libraries across the Khorasan provinces, as perceived by librarians.

Methods: This applied research employed a survey-analytical methodology, focusing on librarians with library qualifications in central academic libraries of Khorasan. 102 individuals were selected using Cochran's formula. A researcher-designed questionnaire was validated, with data analyzed using descriptive (mean) and inferential statistics (Friedman's non-parametric test).

Results: Key findings indicate that cultural infrastructure, structural provisions, legal frameworks, and technological advancements significantly impact the documentation of knowledge and experiences. …

Archival Certification Is One Piece Of The Professionalization Puzzle, Emily Hughes Dominick, Rosemary Pleva Flynn, Cheryl Oestreicher, Katy Sternberger, Margery N. Sly, Mott Linn, Gerrianne Schaad, Dara Baker

Librarian Publications

In response to Ashley Todd-Diaz and Alex H. Poole’s 2022 article published in American Archivist, “Who Is This Godot? the Academy of Certified Archivists and Graduate Archival Education,” the Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA) affirms the continuing relevance of archival certification and its place in the profession. ACA outlines its ongoing work to engage members, support graduate archival education, and further the discussion surrounding professionalization of the archives field. Based on themes that arose from ACA board discussions and a member forum, the authors discuss how certification complements graduate education; address how ACA values collaboration; explain how the certification …

Collaboration And Coteaching: Librarians Teaching Digital Humanities In The Classroom, Brian Rosenblum, Frances Devlin, Tami Albin, Brian Wade Garrison

Librarian Publications

No abstract provided.

Establishing A Museum At Washington State School For The Blind, Robert J. Schimelpfenig

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

The Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) contains archival collections that document over 100 years of school history and student life. These histories are preserved in scrapbooks, news clippings, photographs, and an assortment of bygone assistive technologies that demonstrate the evolution of blind education and its impact on students. As many of these objects have lingered for years in storage, collections from one of the oldest schools for the blind in the Western United States remain hidden. WSSB and the Washington State University (WSU) Vancouver Library have agreed to work together in partnership to establish a museum and archives. …

Including Voices And Mitigating Bias: Evaluative Practices For Final Interviews, Xan Arch, José Velazco

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

The chapter discusses the preparation of non-search committee members to participate in an interview process and provide feedback on candidates. Increasingly, as our institutions strive for more inclusive search processes, we are incorporating equitable hiring practices such as implicit bias training for search committee members, rubrics for evaluating candidate applications, and behavior-based interview questions. However, for final interviews, we often throw the door open for general evaluation of candidates by a broad group of people who agree to attend a meeting, presentation, or meal. The feedback we gain from these final interview events may truly be germane to the candidates’ …

Looking At The Past To Change The Future: Showcasing Featured Collections, Building Communities, And Co-Creating, Sherry Buchanan

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Academic libraries have the opportunity and the responsibility to promote and advance content that creates transformative and iterative learning opportunities. To that end, and in an effort to build communities and facilitate co-creation, Portland State University showcases three main Featured Collections in our open access repository, PDXScholar: Climate Justice, COVID-19, and Racial and Gender Equity, with a fourth pilot collection—Student Work: An Open Showcase of Outstanding Student-Created Research & Creative Work—under development. The collections include a broad range of audiovisual materials, such as podcasts and webinar series, as well as sustainability and equity work, student-created content, and numerous future-focused multidisciplinary …

Assessing Information Literacy Programs For First-Year Writing Courses At A Public University, Kathleen A. Langan, Lumarie Guth, Dylan Mcglothlin

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

This chapter discusses the findings of a study that used Project Outcome (PO) to assess the effectiveness of library programming for first-year writing courses in different colleges at a mid-sized public university. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, PO data was used to compare student feedback on library support across multiple college writing programs to measure the success of library programming for all incoming first-year students. Second, the PO data was used to set a benchmark for future assessment with the expansion of the library programming for a first-year gateway course. We are not concerned with benchmarking across …

Blockchain Technology And Smart Library: A Case Study Of Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education, Prince Chibuzor Eke, Patience Chinedu Okere, G.B. Saghanen-Ntogo

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The research investigates the impact of blockchain technology on the smart library at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. It specifically examines the impact of blockchain technology on the cost of accessing information and records, network distribution, and information dissemination. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a sample size of students and lecturers of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education selected by random sampling. The study was guided by three research questions and three null hypotheses, which were tested at the 0.05 α-level of significance. A questionnaire of 15 items was used to collect data, while a Cronbach Alpha reliability …

Critical Race Digital Literacy Rubric For Assessing Mis/Disinformation Literacy Instruction Lesson Plans, Melissa Chomintra

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

While librarians have been at the forefront of the fight against fake news, misinformation, and disinformation, offering invaluable guidance and tools through information literacy instruction, there is a noteworthy gap in the adoption of pedagogical approaches rooted in critical theory within mis/disinformation literacy lesson plans. This suggests there may not be well-defined or standardized frameworks for incorporating these theories into library instruction. The enclosed article explores Critical Race Digital Literacy (CRDL) as a pedagogical approach to mis/disinformation literacy education by proposing a rubric for assessing mis/disinformation lesson plans. The rubric is grounded in the principles of critical race theory, emphasizing …

Tracking Information In The Field: An Assessment Of The Information Needs And Services Of A Field Station Library, Thom Gerrish, Scott Martin

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This project examines field station libraries, an undescribed type of library associated with terrestrial and marine field stations. Field stations typically support ecology, geology, and related disciplines with housing, laboratories, and research facilities, which may include various levels of library support. In summer 2022, researchers, instructors, and staff at the University of Michigan Biological Station were interviewed about the library resources and services they use while working and teaching at the field station. Library resources were used throughout teaching and research activities, with one-shot instruction and in-person reference support as the primary contact points between the library and the field …

Reflecting On 10 Years Of The Pr Xchange, Mark Aaron Polger

Publications and Research

The author reflects on their 10years serving as co-chair of the PR Xchange Awards Competition, an annual library marketing contest sponsored by Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) (now Core), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The article briefly traces the history of the PR Xchange Awards and discusses the changes over the last decade. Additionally, the art-icle describes how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the contest, how libraries pivoted when designing future promotional materials, how judges assess the submissions, and the potential for future growth of the PR Xchange Awards.

Lis Journals' Lack Of Participation In Wikidata Item Creation, Eric Willey, Susan Radovsky

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

There are many items in Wikidata representing scholarly articles. However, these items have been created mostly by volunteer Wikidata editors and not systematically by journal publishers or editors, which can lead to gaps and inconsistencies in the datasets. This article presents findings from a survey investigating practices of library and information studies (LIS) journals in Wikidata item creation. Believing that a significant number of LIS journal editors would be aware of Wikidata and some would be creating Wikidata items for their publications, the authors sent a survey asking 138 English-language LIS journal editors if they created Wikidata items for materials …

Consulting With An Embedded Librarian: Student Perceptions On The Value Of Required Research Meetings, Susan Franzen, Caitlin Stewart, Mallory Jallas, Joshua Newport

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Objective: This qualitative research project was undertaken to discover how students perceive the embedded librarian in their nursing class. The researchers determined how a required group research meeting was valued by students and whether that value warranted the necessary time and energy by an embedded librarian.

Methods: Researchers conducted focus groups with twenty-three students from two different sections of the same nursing research methods undergraduate course. Students’ responses to a series of five questions were recorded within Zoom and supplemented by handwritten notes. Data was coded by hand and patterns that emerged from the five focus groups were …