Digital Commons Network^™

Icolc Statement On Ai In Licensing, International Coalition Of Library Consortia

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) statement on artifical intelligence in licensing.

Organizing Knowledge Through Revealing Data In Knowledgebases., Jian Qin, Qiaoyi Liu

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This paper uses the knowledgebases in the biomedical field as a case study to discuss the characteristics and requirements of knowledge organization (KO) practices and products by looking at the constructs, cross-linking, and curation methods. Modern knowledgebases such as Gene Ontology and Disease Ontology reflect the major expansions in KO to be more computational, portable (entification allows individual nodes to be extracted and used in combination with multiscale resources) and connected. Many techniques and methods used are not covered in KO textbooks. The interdisciplinary nature of KB development will be a worthwhile research area for the field of knowledge organization.

Value Beyond Cost Savings: Unlocking Diversity, Equity And Inclusion With Open Educational Resources, Nancy A. Henke

University Libraries Workshops & Webinars

The cost savings offered by the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) have garnered significant attention. As free teaching, learning, and research materials, OER reduce financial barriers to education by eliminating textbook costs. However, fewer people are aware that OER also contribute to a more inclusive learning environment. This session explores the value of OER beyond financial benefits, delving into how OER, as free and accessible resources, play a role in building an inclusive educational landscape. From embracing diverse perspectives in content creation to providing the opportunity to tailor course materials to students’ specific needs, this presentation uncovers the many …

Searching Govinfo.Gov/, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) database provides access to information legal, legislative, and regulatory information produced on multiple subjects by the U.S. Government. Content includes congressional bills, congressional committee hearings and prints (studies), reports on legislation, the text of laws, regulations, and executive orders and multiple U.S. Government information resources covering subjects from accounting to zoology.

Influence Of Social Media Marketing On The Utilization Of Library Resources And Services By Undergraduate Students In Universities In Kwara State, Saliu Abdulfatai

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study was conducted on the influence of social media marketing on the utilization of library resources and services by undergraduate students in universities in Kwara State. the study formulated used four research questions and adopted simple random sampling method to select the sample population for this study out of two thousand eight hundred and ten (2810) of the entire population. A survey method was used in undertaking the study, in which answers were sought on the determine the library resources and services marketed to undergraduate students using social media in university libraries, social media used by undergraduate students for …

Rachel Franks, Double Agent: A Librarian And A Crime Author - William Blick Interviews Rachel Franks (January 2024), William Blick

Publications and Research

The following is an interview from January 2024 with Librarian and Crime Scholar, Rachel Franks and was posted on the Captivating Criminality Blog:

Rachel Franks is the Coordinator, Scholarship at the State Library of New South Wales and an Honorary Associate Lecture at The University of Newcastle (Australia). She holds PhDs in Australian crime fiction (Central Queensland University) and in true crime texts (University of Sydney). A qualified educator and librarian, her extensive work on crime fiction, true crime, popular culture and information science has been presented at numerous conferences, as well as on radio and television. An award-winning …

Analysis Of Library School Syllabi Reveals Poor Design And Limited Content About Disability And Accessibility, Nandi Prince

Publications and Research

A Review of: Pionke, J. (2023). What are library graduate students learning about disability and accessibility? A syllabus analysis. Urban Library Journal, 29(1). https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ulj/vol29/iss1/2/

Identifying And Responding To Privacy Dark Patterns, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Privacy dark patterns are user interface design strategies intended to “nudge” users to reveal personal data, either directly or by enabling (or failing to disable) privacy-invasive platform/profile settings. Examples of privacy dark patterns on social media include defaults that enable the public display of posted content, warnings that follow attempts to reject personalized ads, and hidden “skip” buttons that make it more challenging to decline privacy-undermining requests such as to sync contacts.

Our project aims to minimize the impact of privacy dark patterns on Canadian youth. Building on our prior research documenting the use of these strategies on five social …

The Role Of Content Management Systems In Developing Library Websites, N Selvi, P Vinayagamoorthy, J Shanthi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Library websites are essential in disseminating information and encouraging community participation in the digital era. Content Management Systems (CMS) have evolved as critical tools for developing and managing these websites, enabling content generation, organization, and distribution. This paper discusses the role of CMS in library website creation, focusing on its functionality, appropriateness for library purposes, and best practices for implementation. It looks at the specific needs of library websites, gives an overview of standard CMS solutions, analyses CMS selection criteria, shows case studies, and offers advice for effective implementation. Future trends and problems in CMS technology and library website creation …

Records Management Practices And Service Delivery In Private Universities: A Case Of Academic Registrar’S Department At The All-Saints University Lango, Abong Kenneth, Luyombya David

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The delivery of services in an academic department relies on its ability to manage records through good records management practices. This study was carried out to examine the records management practices in the Academic Registrar’s Department (ARD) of All Saints University Lango (ASUL), and how they impact service delivery. The objectives were to examine the types of records kept, records management practices, and the associated challenges, and recommend strategies for improvement. The study used a case study design with a qualitative approach that was employed in the study. Purposive and convenient sampling was carried out on the study participants. Data …

Creating An Index To Graduate Theses To Support Their Discoverability, Ellen Petraits

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

As a Research and Instruction Librarian, one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how to find past theses on a particular topic or theme. There is an active thesis culture at RISD that goes beyond writing and binding a text. An exhibition is held in the graduate gallery to celebrate a curated selection of theses at the beginning of the academic year. (See Book of Thesis Books) Theses can range in format from an artist book to a loose-leaf portfolio. Many emphasize the visual and are a bridge to the student’s studio work. They may include unusual or …

You’Re Invited! Collaborating With Faculty And Students To Create A Successful Library Event, Laura Semrau

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

To celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the printing of Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Baylor University Libraries hosted a three-day celebration; “Shakespeare 400” drew faculty members from six academic departments and leveraged the talents of both graduate and undergraduate students. The four main events drew a cumulative crowd of over 200 people. Graduate students contributed to the events through music performance, a dramatic reading, enthusiastic promotion, and engaged participation. This presentation will explore key take-aways for including graduate students in library events.

The success of Shakespeare 400 was largely due to collaborations between the library, faculty members, and graduate …

Publishing As Hidden Curriculum: How Learning To Publish Is A Piecemeal Process For Graduate Students, Martha Stuit, Christy Caldwell, Lucia Orlando

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

This presentation will share the results of a survey on what and how graduate students learn about the publishing process at an R1 university. This presentation will build on an earlier poster about our study, called “Making the Publishing Process More Transparent: Identifying a Baseline for Publishing Support through Researching Gaps between Graduate Students and Their Faculty Advisors’ Support,” at Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students (TLGS) 2022 (Stuit 2022). That poster covered our methods, literature review, and research questions. This full-length presentation will cover our findings and takeaways that other librarians may use in their work with graduate students.

Faculty …

Teaching A Credit-Bearing Library Course For Graduate Students: From Proposal To Postmortem, Jill Cirasella

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

For years, library faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York had fantasized about some day offering a credit-bearing course to our master’s and doctoral students. In 2021, we finally transitioned from idle dreams to directed discussion. As we explored how to get a library course on the books at an institution that had never before had one, we had to rethink and rework our plans several times, in unexpected but not unreasonable ways.

For example, we had believed that a one-credit course would be most appropriate—and most palatable to the institution—but we learned that only …

Library Data Services (Lids) Dataset: A Golden Gate(Way) To Collaboration, Chad M. Kahl, Joshua Newport, Lindsey Skaggs

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Research data services (RDS) are growing rapidly in libraries. To better understand the current state of RDS across R1 and R2 institutions, how they've evolved since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and who is providing these services, this research project built an interoperable Library Data Services (LIDS) dataset to inform RDS development and assessment. The dataset records data service area(s) (e.g., Research Data Management), fifteen data service types (e.g., data management/data curation), and personnel and unit information gathered through website content analyses, alongside Carnegie Classification data. Unlike similar studies (Radecki and Springer, 2020; Yu, 2017; Yoon & Schultz, 2017; …

Building A Graduate Research Exhibits Program In An Academic Library, Alyssa Wright, Sally Brown

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

This session will describe West Virginia University Libraries’ annual Graduate Student Exhibits Award. The award, managed by our Art in the Libraries Committee, invites current graduate students to submit ideas for an exhibit to visually showcase their scholarship in new and experimental ways. These can present a visual evolution of their work, visualize their research and influences, or answer a research question. Graduate student proposals can be based on academic or creative research and lend themselves to visual interpretation with Library consultation. Awards include a $500 prize and help with design, installation, promotion, and coordination of a public program, offering …

Teaching Students To Read Regression Results: A Statistical Literacy Lesson Plan For Librarians, Giovanna Badia

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Descriptive and inferential statistics are taught to students in many disciplines. More classroom time is often spent on the theory behind different statistical methods that investigate relationships between variables rather than on how to interpret the results obtained to answer the research question that started the process. While statistical software (such as R, Stata, and SPSS) has made it easier to undertake regression with any dataset, the output produced remains challenging to understand and explain to intended audiences. To address this issue, the author created a 90-minute workshop that teaches students how to read tables of descriptive statistics and linear …

Supporting Graduate Students Conducting Human Subject Research, Jay-Marie Bravent

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Current events and research trends related to COVID, climate change, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, mental health, social justice, as well as other public health and social issues have heightened the need and demand for human subject research projects across all disciplines, including librarianship. Librarians and archivists serving at all types of repositories, including government, public libraries, local museums and cultural institutions, historical societies, corporate libraries, hospitals, or universities, have a crucial stake in collecting and preserving materials that support this current scholarship. Graduate students and new professional librarians and archivists need to be trained and prepared to serve as …

Making Scholarly Publishing Work For You: Empowering Graduate Students To Understand The Scholarly Publishing Ecosystem Through A Graduate Academy Seminar, Haley Walton, Liz Milewicz, Will Shaw, Paolo Mangiafico, Kate Dickson

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Understanding the landscape of scholarly publishing is an essential competency for graduate students, whether they publish during their studies or after they’ve entered their professional fields. But the scholarly publishing ecosystem can be complicated to navigate, and students cannot always rely on their advisors and colleagues to demystify the processes. To help graduate students achieve their goals when sharing their research, the ScholarWorks Center for Scholarly Publishing at the Duke University Libraries (https://scholarworks.duke.edu/) taught “Navigating Scholarly Publishing,” a five-day, interdisciplinary course introducing essential aspects of scholarly communication and empowering students to make informed, proactive decisions about sharing their …

Graduate Student’S Productivity Tools For Literature Review Research And Writing In The Age Of Ai, Carmen Orth-Alfie, Paul Thomas

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

In the fast-evolving world of academia, it is not hyperbole to say that generative AI and algorithm-based productivity tools like ChatGPT, Research Rabbit, and LitMap are quickly becoming transformative forces, reshaping the way graduate students (among many groups) approach the research and writing of thesis/dissertation literature reviews. But while the plethora of possibilities engendered by generative productivity tools is in many ways remarkable, the technology itself can often be overwhelming—not only for the graduate students, but also for us as librarians and information professionals supporting independent researchers from any discipline. Indeed, the ever-growing number of AI tools on the market …

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 14, March 11, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

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

Judicial Libraries As Predictors For Effective Administration Of Justice In Nigeria, Emmanuel Owushi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined judicial libraries as predictors for effective administration of justice in Nigeria. The population involved all legal practitioners and legal educators in Nigeria. 4000 respondents were sampled. Due to unavailability of the population at the time of the study, the adopted convenience sampling technique to sample 4000 respondents across legal professional bodies in Nigeria. A structured questionnaire titled ‘Use of Judicial Library and Administration of Justice Scale’ was used for data collection. The questionnaire was structured with the 4-point Likert scale response style, designed on Google form and distributed to the respondents via various social media platforms. A …

Empowering The Future Of Learning: Integrating Fourth Industrial Revolution (4ir) Technology In Enugu State Secondary School Libraries To Enhance Literacy Level Among Students, Cyriacus Sochinwekene Aneke

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined the integration of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology in Enugu State secondary school libraries to enhance literacy level among students. The research design adopted for this study was Descriptive Survey Design. The population of the study is derived from ten (10) schools from each of the six (6) education zones in Enugu State. The intended population was 1, 044, 890 students and 60 school/teacher librarians, but Taro Yamane's formula resulted in 399 students and 52 school/teacher librarians. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection, and the collected data were analyzed using frequency, mean and standard deviation. The …

University Libraries Impact Report 2023, Leslie Haynsworth, Kristine Hontz

University Libraries Policies and Reports

A report on notable activities in University of South Carolina Libraries in 2023.

Learning About Ai: Level Up Your Skills Without Overwhelming Your Mind, Jennifer Freer, Lara Nicosia

Presentations and other scholarship

OpenAI and deep learning and neural networks, oh my!  The swiftly developing landscape of artificial intelligence, combined with its rapid integration into our work and personal lives, can feel confusing and overwhelming.  This session will help you think about AI in your own work and plan your own personal AI learning journey, while also providing thoughtful recommendations on how both you and your users can get started.  The presenters will discuss common terminology, user-friendly resources for understanding AI, questions to ask when exploring AI tools, and ideas on how to start building your own knowledge on this topic.  The information …

Promoting Your Scholarship To Other Researchers For Maximum Effect, Barbara M. Pope

Faculty Submissions

Getting the word out about your scholarship is fundamental to other researchers being able to read it. Greater visibility in turn augments the possibility of researchers citing your work and higher altmetrics scores. There are easy and sustainable ways of publicizing your scholarship, including depositing articles into a repository, where it can be seen by scholars around the world. Researchers can also locate download and citation data on their scholarship and use it to support tenure and promotion dossiers and annual performance reports. Come to this session to learn about the importance of making your scholarship more visible and gauging …

Digital Humanities Development And Innovations That Enhance Information Markets In Academic Institutions, Elisha Ondieki Makori, Hellen Gesare Omangi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose was to investigate digital humanities development and innovations that enhance information markets while expanding strategic and competitive value in academic institutions in Kenya. Objectives included examining the extent to which digital humanities and applications enhance information markets in academic institutions; exploring digital humanities and innovations that support research and learning in academic institutions; establishing emerging digital technologies and innovations that promote information management in academic institutions; and determining strategies to improve digital scholarship for information markets in academic institutions. The research applied qualitative information from information professional experts that was collected through the interview schedule. Modern transition to …

Ai Tools For Literature Reviews, Jing Lu, Zoeanna A. Mayhook

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

With the proliferation of AI tools, graduate students often ask themselves how these tools can be ethically used to bolster their research. ChatGPT has gained traction, but its utility is constrained by issues like outdated information, artificial hallucinations, and limited access to scholarly publications hidden behind a paywall. Fortunately, new AI tools have been developed that promote academic exploration and discovery, such as offering generative article summaries, citation chaining, and thematic literature mapping capabilities. This workshop will explore three AI tools—Perplexity, Research Rabbit, and Inciteful—designed to support the research and literature review process. This session will provide a demonstration showcasing …

Hidden Opportunity: The Advantages Of Synchronizing Multiple Knowledge Bases, Emily Gross, Soley Somma, Jon Crossno

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

There are many advantages to synchronizing your knowledge bases that benefit your library. However, with reduced staff, the rapid changes across e-Resources, and working with multiple vendors, synching knowledge bases can seem daunting. Panelists will share why and how they chose to synchronize knowledge bases to support their library's strategy.

Assessing The Integration Of Information And Communication Technology (Ict) In Library Service Delivery At The Ashanti Regional Library, Akosua Boatemaa Adarkwa, Adwoa Pokua - Ababio, Chrisbel Adusei

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study assesses the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in library service delivery at the Ashanti Regional Library. Specifically, it sought to assess the available ICT infrastructure in the library, evaluate the extent of adoption of ICT tools by the library, examine the ICT skill level of staff and users, identify challenges in the usage of ICT infrastructure, and propose measures for improving ICT in the library. A survey research design was employed to gather responses from 66 library users/patrons and 25 library staff through the use of questionnaires. Findings indicate a moderate level of ICT adoption indicating …