Digital Commons Network^™

The Art Of The Review: A 9-Step Guide For Beginning Researchers, Sandra Y. Desjardins, Jenny Stockton

Library Class: Lunch & Learn

Master the systematic review process from start to finish. This 30-minute course provides a comprehensive overview of nine essential steps. Learn how to plan, execute, and report on your systematic review with confidence.

Understanding Faculty Engagement With Transformative Publishing Agreements, Benjamin H. Saracco, Marlowe Bogino, Daniel G. Kipnis, Andrea Goldstein Shipper

Libraries Scholarship

Presented at STEM Librarian Collaborative Conference 2025:

https://www.stemlib.co/schedule.html

Transformative agreements, also known as read and publish agreements, are a relatively new journal subscription model used by academic libraries to facilitate both access to scholarly content and open-access publishing for institutionally affiliated researchers. In these agreements, institutions pay publishers a single fee that covers both access to subscription content and the publication costs for their affiliated authors, thereby shifting the traditional subscription model towards a more sustainable and equitable system for scholarly communication.

A preliminary literature review has revealed previous studies that address several of the topics being investigated in this …

Ai Resources In The Library: Exploring Artificial Intelligence Tools And Resources Available Through Unf Libraries To Enhance Research And Learning, Lauren Odom, Beryl White-Bing

Library Faculty Presentations & Publications

The Problem: Students increasingly submit AI-generated citations that lead to "hallucinated" or inaccurate sources--references that don't actually exist.  The Solution: verify citations using UNF's OneSearch, cross-check with Google Scholar, schedule library research consultations, consult the AI Library Guide for best practices.

Museums In Public Libraries: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, Yadira Y. Quintero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Access to information is a human right, and this thesis explores the benefits and challenges of integrating museums into public libraries by conducting an ethnographic case study of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The study's findings highlight the complexities of integration. The biggest benefit is the increased access to museum collections, information, and resources. However, challenges arise from the lack of cohesion within the museum and library disciplines, as well as strained community relations. Engaging the community is crucial for successful collaboration, emphasizing the importance of a bottom-up approach that allows for active participation. Integrating museums into public libraries …

Lessons From Tiktok: Using Popular Social Media Platforms To Engage Gen Z, Debra Bernstein

Urban Library Journal

This study looks at how academic libraries in the New York City metropolitan area are using TikTok to engage with their communities, particularly students. It analyzes the most popular videos from five active library accounts, categorizing content types and measuring engagement through TikTok’s built-in metrics. Results indicate that humorous and lighthearted content consistently receives the highest engagement, while instructional or “how-to” videos tend to underperform. These findings suggest that while TikTok may not be the most effective platform for instructional outreach, it holds potential as a tool for visibility, community engagement, and humanizing the library’s presence. As students increasingly turn …

Rebuttal To Winn Et Al. (2024) ’S “Redefining Searching In Non-Medical Sciences Systematic Reviews”, Laura Lipke, Jenn Monnin, Catherine Marie Fonseca

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Letter to the Editor and Rebuttal to Winn et al. (2024)

To the Editor and Readership of the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science:

We are writing to express concerns regarding the article, Redefining searching in non-medical sciences systematic reviews: The ascendance of Google Scholar as the primary database (https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006241256393). Our concerns are numerous, and include issues involving the research questions, data availability and validity, representations of evidence synthesis methods, and the disregard for established scholarship which refutes the reliability, transparency and reproducibility of Google Scholar searches for evidence synthesis reviews.

Notes From The Editor, Derek Stadler

Urban Library Journal

I am very pleased to welcome you to the first issue of the 31^st volume of Urban Library Journal. This issue includes articles about history and archives, training programs in librarianship, recommendations on how to improve the onboarding of librarians, and the social media platform TikTok.

Rebuttal To Winn Et Al. (2024)'S "Redefining Searching In Non-Medical Sciences Systematic Reviews", Laura Lipke, Jenn Monnin, Catherine Marie Fonesca

Library Scholarship

Letter to the Editor and Rebuttal to Winn et al. (2024)

We are writing to express concerns regarding the article, Redefining searching in non-medical sciences systematic reviews: The ascendance of Google Scholar as the primary database (Winn et al., 2024a). Our concerns are numerous, and include issues involving the research questions, data availability and validity, representations of evidence synthesis methods, and the disregard for established scholarship which refutes the reliability, transparency and reproducibility of Google Scholar searches for evidence synthesis reviews.

Local And Community History – Ten Blocks, Johnathan Thayer

Open Educational Resources

Description

Walk or otherwise move through physical space ten blocks (or its equivalent) in any direction from wherever you call home. Take note of the component parts that make up your locality, including the weekly topics on our syllabus (nature, parks, cemeteries, burial grounds, buildings, restaurants, bars, theaters, temples, schools, and governance). Make a list of the histories of these components that you know, and a list of the histories that you wish you knew more about.

Where I plan to use this resource

In my LBSCI class Local and Community History Methods. This will be the first assignment of …

Partnering For International Student Success: Opportunities For Academic Librarians And Esl Faculty To Support Research And Information Literacy Skills, Rachel E. Trnka

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Presentation at the Graduate Student Forum of the TESOL Virtual Conference

With the growing number of international students attending American universities in recent years, academic librarians recognize the importance of serving the needs of that population. However, many librarians acknowledge that they feel unprepared to support international students, due to a lack of training or experience working with multilingual or second-language learners. This presentation offers a review of the literature exploring collaborations between librarians and instructors to better support ELLs in a college and university setting and presents recommendations for both librarians and faculty. While this session focuses on academic …

University Of Alabama At Birmingham's Research Data Catalog, Amy Reese

Libraries Professional Work

A dataset catalog can be a quickly implemented solution when hosting an institutional dataset repository simply isn’t possible. These resources can make institutional research data more locally discoverable, accessible, and reuseable. A dataset catalog (composed of metadata records) connects users with the institution’s research datasets and can be hosted on any repository platform. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, our Research Data Catalog does not directly include or store datasets but is a functional directory that assists with discovery of datasets that researchers have deposited in external data repositories (such as Zenodo, Dryad, ICPSR, and Figshare), self-hosted, or a …

Getting Started In Graduate School: An Online Tutorial For New Graduate Students, Jill Mcmillan, Elana Geller, Angie Gerrard, Nazreen Beaulieu

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

In August 2024, our library launched an asynchronous online tutorial, Getting Started in Graduate School. The purpose of the tutorial was fourfold: to complement existing student orientation programming at the library and the university; to situate the library as a valuable resource for graduate student academic success; to align with a similar library-designed online tutorial for new undergraduate students; and to provide practical information about graduate school expectations, framed through existing library resources and programming. The tutorial was created using the Springshare LibGuide and LibWizard platform and features a mix of static and interactive elements, which were developed and …

Perspectives On Teaching Academic Publishing Skills: Helping Graduate Students Navigate The Hidden Curriculum, Martha Stuit, Christie Hurrell, Jill Cirasella, Christy Caldwell

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

Many graduate students feel pressure to publish but need guidance on navigating the scholarly publishing process, which often is not covered in their graduate curricula but rather learned in conversation with faculty mentors. In other words, publishing is often a hidden curriculum—not explicitly taught but a learn-as-you-go venture. In this article, we describe our individual approaches to teaching publishing literacy to graduate students, highlighting how our efforts are both responsive to the specifics of our campuses and informed by our own and others’ research. We also discuss how we spread the word about our services and how we advance equity …

Critically Evaluating Artificial Intelligence Output: Adapting Source Evaluation For Ai, Samantha Duncan, Allison Faix

Library Faculty Presentations

Generative artificial intelligence poses a new challenge to the teaching of source evaluation. This presentation looks at these challenges and examines why the evaluation heuristics and methods that librarians commonly use to teach source evaluation may not be up to the challenge of evaluating artificial intelligence output. This study looked at LibGuides from a random selection of ARL libraries to examine how (and if) libraries are recommending that students evaluate the output of the generative artificial intelligence tools they are using. This presentation offers suggestions for teaching source evaluation for artificial intelligence tools.

Fy26 Dcag Committee 11.18.2025, Julia Lovett

HELIN Board of Directors reports

Minutes from the DCAG Affinity Group 11.18.2025

Building Consensus For School Librarian Collaboration: A Delphi Study, Pamela C. Harland, Susan D. Ballard, Rachel V. Small

Learning Hub

This Delphi study engaged 38 national experts in school librarianship to develop a consensus-based model of school librarian collaboration (SLC) that reflects current practice. Through three iterative rounds the panel achieved strong consensus on a definition of SLC, a framework representing a continuum of collaborative practice, and necessary conditions for success. The resulting definition of SLC is "an educator-to-educator partnership to enhance student learning through complementary expertise that develops over time and is built on mutual trust, shared goals, and open communication." The seven levels continuum of SLC are: Autonomy, Curation, Contribution, Coordination, Integration, Partnership, and Assurance. These levels allow …

Budget And Collection Management Communication Strategies, Tools, And Methods, Evan Rusch, Heidi J. Southworth, Daardi Sizemore Mixon, Lisa Baures, Nat Gustafson-Sundell, Joe Holtermann

Library Services Publications

Many libraries face challenging budget situations. Communication with departments and administration about budget management and related changes to collections can be crucial to maintain constructive relationships and to improve cooperative planning. Academic libraries often rely on librarian liaisons to communicate directly with departments, but additional communication efforts are sometimes pursued. Libraries could learn from one another by sharing their communication strategies, tools, and methods. Our library has recently focused on collections communication across a range of projects and audiences. These projects have included a budget reduction plan and major print deselection project, as well as ongoing, prospective budget management. The …

When Cpu Is Worse Than A Stick In The Eye: Better Kpis For Strategic Journal Collection Management, Evan Rusch, Heidi J. Southworth, Nat Gustafson-Sundell

Library Services Publications

A video of this presentation is available as an Additional File and also available at https://link.mnsu.edu/kpis-video. 

Libraries frequently rely on variously calculated cost-per-usage (CPU) metrics, but there are other key performance indicators (KPIs) often more strategic for journal collection assessment. These other KPIs can also be more effective for communicating the value of journals. While CPU, in a variety of forms, will probably always be important for evidence-based decision-making, CPU can sometimes obfuscate the real value provided by journal packages and individual journals. We will discuss how CPU can lead to false impressions, especially at the package level. We’ll …

Analysis Of Libraries’ Onboarding Documentation At A Metropolitan University Consortium, Sonali Sugrim, Eric Silberberg

Urban Library Journal

This study investigates the extent to which onboarding documentation for academic librarians prioritizes long-term employee success. The authors applied content analysis to the onboarding documents from a consortium of libraries in a major metropolitan area in the United States. Study findings reveal that the onboarding documents prioritize introducing new hires to organizational structure rather than integrating them into the workplace culture. Most documents are checklists; however, some libraries provide comprehensive manuals, particularly regarding the tenure process. Notably, only half of the libraries include information about mentorship programs. Based on these findings, this study offers recommendations for improving onboarding documentation, including …

Collaborative Opportunities Between Academic Librarians And Esl Faculty To Support International Students, Rachel E. Trnka

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Session for the Sunshine TESOL Conference

This session will explore ways academic librarians and ESL faculty can collaborate to support not only the research skills of international students but also out of classroom learning opportunities for students. As an academic librarian working on a TEFL certificate, I hope to highlight the value of librarians learning about teaching and outreach techniques targeted to English language learners and faculty learning about unique challenges international students face using American academic libraries and conducting research.

Southeastern Librarian 73(3) Fall 2025 (Full Issue), John H. Barnett

The Southeastern Librarian

Complete issue of The Southeastern Librarian Volume 73 Number 3

Black Hibiscus: African Americans And The Florida Imaginary, Austina Jordan

The Southeastern Librarian

John Wharton Lowe, Ed.

Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2024

ISBN: 9781496848604

314 pp. $30.00 (Pbk)

Hell's Not Far Off: Bruce Crawford And The Appalachian Left, Loren Mixon

The Southeastern Librarian

Josh Howard

Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2024

ISBN: 9781959000105

208 pp. $26.99 (Pbk)

Mommy Goose's Appalachian Melodies, Kathelene Mccarty Smith

The Southeastern Librarian

Mike Norris

Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2024

ISBN: 9781985901155

64 pp. $24.95 (Hbk)

Nowville: The Untold History Of Nashville's Contemporary Art Scene, Sarah Grace Glover

The Southeastern Librarian

Joe Nolan

Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2024

ISBN: 9780826507396

272 pp. $24.95 (Pbk)

Southerners Acting Southern: On Celebrities And Their Star Personas In The Imagined South, Chantelle Swaren

The Southeastern Librarian

Tison Pugh

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2025

ISBN: 9780807184011

276 pp. $34.95 (Pbk)

This Southern Metropolis: Life In Antebellum Mobile, Kristine Stilwell

The Southeastern Librarian

Mike Bunn

Athens: NewSouth Books, 2024

ISBN: 9781588385246

162 pp. $27.95 (Pbk)

Sela Officers And Executive Committee, State Representatives, Committees, Sections, And Round Tables, John H. Barnett

The Southeastern Librarian

Current SELA officers and representatives.

Evaluating And Supporting Transformative Agreements: Five Institutional Perspectives In Discussion, Anna R. Craft, Peggy Kain, Danica Lewis, Camille Mccutcheon, William Joseph Thomas

Libraries Professional Work

Transformative—or Read and Publish—deals are impacting the open access (OA) publishing landscape, allowing libraries to test new models for funding and incentivizing OA publishing, while also providing direct benefits for authors, including discounts and waivers on article processing charges (APCs). But how sustainable are transformative deals in light of library materials budgets and workloads for personnel who negotiate these deals, manage the implementations, and support campus authors? And how can libraries evaluate the perceived value of these deals in relation to the specific needs of their institutional users?

Accuracy Matters: Evaluating The Value Of Ai Tools For Summaries In Metadata, Emily Baldoni, Angela Yon

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Since the introduction of ChatGPT in 2022, the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on library workflows has been a topic of immense interest—and sometimes anxiety—in the library profession. In the area of cataloging and metadata, one frequently cited potential use for AI (particularly Large Language Models (LLMs)) is constructing summaries and abstracts of information resources. However, very little systematic assessment has been done of the characteristics, quality, and utility of AI-generated abstracts for library materials, leaving information professionals with little evidence on which to make data-driven decisions as to how, if at all, to implement AI-assisted workflows for this aspect …