Digital Commons Network^™

Metagenomic Identification Of Active Methanogens And Methanotrophs In Serpentinite Springs Of The Voltri Massif, Italy, William J. Brazelton, Christopher N. Thornton, Alex Hyer, Katrina I. Twing, August A. Longino, Susan Q. Lang, Marvin D. Lilley, Gretchen L. Früh-Green, Matthew O. Schrenk

Faculty Publications

The production of hydrogen and methane by geochemical reactions associated with the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks can potentially support subsurface microbial ecosystems independent of the photosynthetic biosphere. Methanogenic and methanotrophic microorganisms are abundant in marine hydrothermal systems heavily influenced by serpentinization, but evidence for methane-cycling archaea and bacteria in continental serpentinite springs has been limited. This report provides metagenomic and experimental evidence for active methanogenesis and methanotrophy by microbial communities in serpentinite springs of the Voltri Massif, Italy. Methanogens belonging to family Methanobacteriaceae and methanotrophic bacteria belonging to family Methylococcaceae were heavily enriched in three ultrabasic springs (pH 12). Metagenomic …

Applying Population And Community Ecology Theory To Advance Understanding Of Belowground Biogeochemistry, Robert W. Buchkowski, Mark A. Bradford, A. Stuart Grandy, Oswald J. Schmitz, William R. Wieder

Faculty Publications

Approaches to quantifying and predicting soil biogeochemical cycles mostly consider microbial biomass and community composition as products of the abiotic environment. Current numerical approaches then primarily emphasise the importance of microbe–environment interactions and physiology as controls on biogeochemical cycles. Decidedly less attention has been paid to understanding control exerted by community dynamics and biotic interactions. Yet a rich literature of theoretical and empirical contributions highlights the importance of considering how variation in microbial population ecology, especially biotic interactions, is related to variation in key biogeochemical processes like soil carbon formation. We demonstrate how a population and community ecology perspective can …

Marine Microalgae: Climate, Energy, And Food Security From The Sea, Charles H. Greene, Mark E. Huntley, Ian Archibald, Léda N. Gerber, Deborah L. Sills, Joe Granados, Jefferson W. Tester, Colin M. Beal, Michael J. Walsh, Robert R. Bidigare, Susan L. Brown, William P. Cochlan, Zackary I. Johnson, Xin Gen Lei, Stephen C. Machesky, Donald Redalje, Ruth E. Richardson, Viswanath Kiron, Virginia Corless

Faculty Publications

Climate, energy, and food security are three of the greatest challenges society faces this century. Solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change often conflict with solutions for ensuring society’s future energy and food requirements. For example, BioEnergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) has been proposed as an important method for achieving negative CO2 emissions later this century while simultaneously producing renewable energy on a global scale. However, BECCS has many negative environmental consequences for land, nutrient, and water use as well as biodiversity and food production. In contrast, large-scale industrial cultivation of marine microalgae can provide society with …

Transformational Principles For Neon Sampling Of Mammalian Parasites And Pathogens: A Response To Springer And Colleagues, Joseph A. Cook, Stephen E. Greiman, Salvatore J. Agosta, Robert P. Anderson, Brian S. Arbogast, Robert J. Baker, Walter Boeger, Robert D. Bradley, Daniel R. Brooks, Rebecca Cole, John R. Demboski, Andrew P. Dobson, Jonathan L. Dunnum, Ralph P. Eckerlin, Jacob Esselstyn, Kurt E. Galbreath, John Hawdon, Hopi E. Hoekstra, Susan J. Kutz, Jessica E. Light, Link E. Olson, Bruce D. Patterson, James L. Patton, Anna J. Phillips, Eric Rickart, Duke S. Rogers, Mark E. Siddall, Vasyl V. Tkach, Eric P. Hoberg

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fluctuating Asymmetry In Two Common Freshwater Fishes As A Biological Indicator Of Urbanization And Environmental Stress Within The Middle Chattahoochee Watershed, William I. Lutterschmidt, Samantha L. Martin, Jacob F. Schaefer

Faculty Publications

Deviations in bilateral symmetry or fluctuating asymmetry of an organism may result under environmental stressors that reduce developmental homeostasis and stability. Anthropogenic stressors such as increased urbanization can negatively impact environmental quality of aquatic ecosystems. Researchers have stressed the value in finding easy, accurate and inexpensive methods for assessing potential stress within ecosystems. Here we use fluctuating asymmetry (FA) as a useful quantitative tool in assessing the environmental quality and potential urban-based stressors within eight creeks of the Bull and Upatoi Creeks Watershed within the larger watershed of the Middle Chattahoochee. Using Geographic Information System (GIS), we characterize land-use patterns …

Persistence Of Neighborhood Demographic Influences Over Long Phylogenetic Distances May Help Drive Post-Speciation Adaptation In Tropical Forests, Christopher Wills, Kyle E. Harms, Thorsten Wiegand, Ruwan Punchi-Manage, Gregory S. Gilbert, David Erickson, W. John Kress, Stephen P. Hubbell, C. V.Savitri Gunatilleke, I. A.U.Nimal Gunatilleke

Faculty Publications

© 2016, Public Library of Science. All rights reserved. This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. Studies of forest dynamics plots (FDPs) have revealed a variety of negative density-dependent (NDD) demographic interactions, especially among conspecific trees. These interactions can affect growth rate, recruitment and mortality, and they play a central role in the maintenance of species diversity in these complex ecosystems. Here we use an …

Sustainability Science Graduate Students As Boundary Spanners, Spencer R. Meyer, Vanessa R. Levesque, Karen H. Bieluch, Michelle L. Johnson, Bridie Mcgreavy, Stacia Dreyer, Hollie Smith

Faculty Publications

Graduate training in sustainability science (SS) focuses on interdisciplinary research, stakeholder-researcher partnerships, and creating solutions from knowledge. But becoming a sustainability scientist also requires specialized training that addresses the complex boundaries implicit in sustainability science approaches to solving social-ecological system challenges. Using boundary spanning as a framework, we use a case study of the Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI) at the University of Maine to explicate key elements for graduate education training in SS. We used a mixed-methods approach, including a quantitative survey and autoethnographic reflection, to analyze our experiences as SSI doctoral students. Through this research, we identified four essential …

Chesapeake Aquaculture, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ecologist's Field Guide To Sequence-Based Identification Of Biodiversity, Simon Creer, Kristy Deiner, Serita D. Frey, Dorota Porazinska, Pierre Taberlet, W. Kelley Thomas, Caitlin Potter, Holly M. Bik

Faculty Publications

The past 100 years of ecological research has seen substantial progress in understanding the natural world and likely effects of change, whether natural or anthropogenic. Traditional ecological approaches underpin such advances, but would additionally benefit from recent developments in the sequence-based quantification of biodiversity from the fields of molecular ecology and genomics. By building on a long and rich history of molecular taxonomy and taking advantage of the new generation of DNA sequencing technologies, we are gaining previously impossible insights into alpha and beta diversity from all domains of life, irrespective of body size. While a number of complementary reviews …

Revisiting Coptotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae): A Global Taxonomic Road Map For Species Validity And Distribution Of An Economically Important Subterranean Termite Genus, Thomas Chouvenc, Hou Feng Li, James Austin, Christian Bordereau, Thomas Bourguignon, Stephen L. Cameron, Eliana M. Cancello, Reginaldo Constantino, Ana Maria Costa-Leonardo, Paul Eggleton, Theodore A. Evans, Brian Forschler, J. Kenneth Grace, Claudia Husseneder, Jan Křeček, Chow Yang Lee, Timothy Lee, Nathan Lo, Matthew Messenger, Aaron Mullins, Alain Robert, Yves Roisin, Rudolf H. Scheffrahn, David Sillam-Dussès, Jan Šobotník, Allen Szalanski, Yoko Takematsu, Edward L. Vargo, Akinori Yamada, Tsuyoshi Yoshimura, Nan Yao Su

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Energy And Economy: Recognizing High-Energy Modernity As A Historical Period, Thomas Love, Cindy Isenhour

Faculty Publications

This introduction to Economic Anthropology’s special issue on “Energy and Economy” argues that we might find inspiration for a much more engaged and public anthropology in an unlikely place—19th century evolutionist thought. In addition to studying the particularities of energy transitions, which anthropology does so well, a more engaged anthropology might also broaden its temporal horizons to consider the nature of the future “stage” into which humanity is hurtling in an era of resource depletion and climate change. Net energy (EROEI), or the energy “surplus” on which we build and maintain our complex societal arrangements, is a key tool …

Traditional Ecological Rulemaking, Anthony Moffa

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the implications of an increased role for Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in United States agency decisionmaking. Specifically, it contemplates where TEK might substantively and procedurally fit and, most importantly, whether a final agency action based on TEK would survive judicial scrutiny. In the midst of a growing body of scholarship questioning the wisdom of deference to agency expertise9 and the legitimacy of the administrative state writ large,10 this Article argues that there remains an important space in administrative rulemaking for the consideration of ways of understanding that differ from traditional Western norms. TEK can and should fill …

African Fire Cultures, Cattle Ranching, And Colonial Landscape Transformations In The Neo-Tropics, Andrew Sluyter, Chris S. Duvall

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modeling Animal Behavior In A Changing Environment, Shandelle M. Henson, James M. Cushing, James L. Hayward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Helicopter-Borne Transient Electromagnetics In High-Latitude Environments: An Application In The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Neil Foley, Slawek Tulaczyk, Esben Auken, Cyril Schamper, Hilary Dugan, Jill Mikucki, Ross Virginia, Peter Doran

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a polar desert in coastal Antarctica, where glaciers, permafrost, ice-covered lakes, and ephemeral summer streams coexist. Liquid water is found at the surface only in lakes and in the temporary streams that feed them. Past geophysical exploration has yielded ambiguous results regarding the presence of subsurface water. In 2011, we used a helicopterborne, time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) sensor to map resistivity in the subsurface across the Dry Valleys. The airborne electromagnetic (AEM) method excels at finding subsurface liquid water in polar deserts, where water remains liquid under cold conditions if …

Attribute Analysis Of Aridity Variability In North Xinjiang, China, Yanfeng Wu, Guangxin Zhang, Hong Shen, Y. Jun Xu, Batur Bake

Faculty Publications

Identifying the dominant meteorological factors affecting aridity variability can improve our understanding of climate change and its future trend in arid and semiarid regions. This study investigated the spatiotemporal aridity variability in North Xinjiang, China, from 1961 to 2013, based on the UNESCO aridity index (precipitation/potential evapotranspiration), and analyzed its association with meteorological factors. The results suggest that North Xinjiang is becoming more humid with an increasing trend in aridity index. Precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity have positive correlation with aridity, and evapotranspiration, sunshine hours, and wind speed have negative correlation with aridity. Wind speed and sunshine hours have a …

Animism Among Western Buddhists, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Myriad instances of animist phenomena abound in the Buddhist world, but due to the outdated concepts of thinkers such as Edward Tylor, James George Frazer, and Melford Spiro, commonly scholars perceive this animism merely as the work of local religions, not as deriving from Buddhism itself. However, when one follows a number of contemporary scholars and employs a new, relational concept of animism that is based on respectful recognition of nonhuman personhoods, a different picture emerges. The works of Western Buddhists such as Stephanie Kaza, Philip Kapleau Roshi, and Gary Snyder express powerful senses of relational animism that arise specifically …

Mathematics Library News 14, Aaron Lercher

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Host Promiscuity In Symbiont Associations Can Influence Exotic Legume Establishment And Colonization Of Novel Ranges, Metha M. Klock, Luke G. Barrett, Peter H. Thrall, Kyle E. Harms

Faculty Publications

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Aim: Invasive Acacia species have negatively impacted natural areas in multiple regions around the globe. Almost 400 Acacia species have been introduced outside their native ranges in Australia; approximately 6% have become invasive, 12% are naturalized, and 82% have no record of naturalization or invasion. This variation in invasiveness provides a comparative framework in which to examine mechanisms that either promote or constrain establishment and colonization of species in novel regions. Here, we experimentally examine the role that the legume-rhizobia symbiosis plays in the differential invasiveness of acacias introduced outside their native Australian …

Environmental Gradients And The Evolution Of Successional Habitat Specialization: A Test Case With 14 Neotropical Forest Sites, Susan G. Letcher, Jesse R. Lasky, Robin L. Chazdon, Natalia Norden, S. Joseph Wright, Jorge A. Meave, Eduardo A. Pérez-García, Rodrigo Muñoz, Eunice Romero-Pérez, Ana Andrade, José Luis Andrade, Patricia Balvanera, Justin M. Becknell, Tony V. Bentos, Radika Bhaskar, Frans Bongers, Vanessa Boukili, Pedro H.S. Brancalion, Ricardo G. César, Deborah A. Clark, David B. Clark, Dylan Craven, Alexander Defrancesco, Juan M. Dupuy, Bryan Finegan, Eugenio González-Jiménez, Jefferson S. Hall, Kyle E. Harms, José Luis Hernández-Stefanoni, Peter Hietz, Deborah Kennard, Timothy J. Killeen, Susan G. Laurance

Faculty Publications

© 2015 British Ecological Society. Successional gradients are ubiquitous in nature, yet few studies have systematically examined the evolutionary origins of taxa that specialize at different successional stages. Here we quantify successional habitat specialization in Neotropical forest trees and evaluate its evolutionary lability along a precipitation gradient. Theoretically, successional habitat specialization should be more evolutionarily conserved in wet forests than in dry forests due to more extreme microenvironmental differentiation between early and late-successional stages in wet forest. We applied a robust multinomial classification model to samples of primary and secondary forest trees from 14 Neotropical lowland forest sites spanning a …

The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, Anna Kopf, Mesude Bicak, Renzo Kottman, Julia Schnetzer, Ivaylo Kostadinov, Katja Lehmann, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra, Christian Jeanthon, Eyal Rahav, Matthias Ulrich, Antje Wichels, Gunnar Gerdts, Paraskevi Polymenakou, Giorgos Kotoulas, Rania Siam, Rehab Z. Abdallah, Eva C. Sonnenschein, Thierry Cariou, Fergal O'Gara, Stephen Jackson, Sandi Orlic, Michael Steinke, Julia Busch, Bernardo Duarte, Isabel Caçador, João Canning-Clode, Oleksandra Bobrova, Viggo Marteinsson, Eyjolfur Reynisson, Clara Magalhães Loureiro, Gian Marco Luna, Grazia Marina Quero, Carolin R. Löscher, Anke Kremp, Marie E. Delorenzo, Lise Øvreås, Jennifer Tolman, Julie Laroche, Antonella Penna, Marc Frischer, Timothy Davis, Barker Katherine, Christopher P. Meyer, Sandra Ramos, Catarina Magalhães, Florence Jude-Lemeilleur, Ma Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Shiao Y. Wang, Nicole Poulton, Scott Jones, Rachel Collin, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Conan, Cecilia Alonso, Noga Stambler, Kelly Goodwin, Michael M. Yakimov, Federico Baltar, Levente Bodrossy, Jodie Van De Kamp, Dion Mf Frampton, Martin Ostrowski, Paul Van Ruth, Paul Malthouse, Simon Claus, Klaas Deneudt, Jonas Mortelmans, Sophie Pitois, David Wallom, Ian Salter, Rodrigo Costa, Declan C. Schroeder, Mahrous M. Kandil, Valentina Amaral, Florencia Biancalana, Rafael Santana, Maria Luiza Pedrotti, Takashi Yoshida, Hiroyuki Ogata, Tim Ingleton, Kate Munnik, Naiara Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Veronique Berteaux-Lecellier, Patricia Wecker, Ibon Cancio, Daniel Valout, Christina Bienhold, Hassan Ghazal, Bouchra Chaouni, Soumya Essayeh, Sara Ettamimi, El Houcine Zaid, Noureddine Boukhatem, Abderrahim Bouali, Rajaa Chahboune, Said Barrijal, Mohammed Timinouni, Fatima El Otmani, Mohamed Bennani, Marianna Mea, Nadezhda Todorova, Ventzislav Karamfilov, Petra Ten Hoopten, Guy Cochrane, Stephanie L'Haridon, Kemal Can Bizel, Alessandro Vezzi, Federico M. Lauro, Patrick Martin, Rachelle M. Jensen, Jamie Hinks, Susan Gebbels, Riccardo Rosselli, Fabio De Pascale, Riccardo Schiavon, Antonina Dos Santos, Emilie Villar, Stéphane Pesant, Bruno Cataletto, Francesca Malfatti, Ranjith Edirisinghe, Jorge A. Herrera Silveira, Michele Barbier, Valentina Turk, Tinkara Tinta, Wayne J. Fuller, Ilkay Salihoglu, Nedime Serakinci, Mahmut Cerkez Ergoren, Eileen Bresnan, Juan Iriberri, Paul Anders Fronth Nyhus, Edvardsen Bente, Hans Erik Karlsen, Peter N. Golyshin, Josep M. Gasol, Snejana Moncheva, Nina Dzhembekova, Zackary Johnson, Christopher Daivd Sinigalliano, Maribeth Louise Gidley, Adriana Zingone, Roberto Danovaro, George Tsiamis, Melody S. Clark, Ana Cristina Costa, Monia El Bour, Ana M. Martins, R. Eric Collins, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau, Jonathan Martinez, Mark J. Costello, Linda A. Amaral-Zettler, Jack A. Gilbert, Neil Davies, Dawn Field, Frank Oliver Glöckner

Faculty Publications

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits.

Investigating The Paleoecological Consequences Of Supercontinent Breakup: Sponges Clean Up In The Early Jurassic, Frank Corsetti, Kathleen Ritterbush, David Bottjer, Sarah Greene, Yadira Ibarra, Joyce Yager, A. Joshua West, William Berelson, Silvia Rosas, Thorsten Becker, Naomi Levine, Sean Loyd, Rowan Martindale, Victoria Petryshyn, Nathan Carroll, Elizabeth Petsios, Olivia Piazza, Carlie Pietsch, Jessica Stellmann, Jeffrey Thompson, Kirstin Washington, Dylan Wilmeth

Faculty Publications

The continued release of fossil fuel carbon into the atmosphere today means it is imperative to understand Earth system response to CO2 rise, and the geologic record offers unique opportunities to investigate such behavior. Stomatal and paleosol proxies demonstrate a large change in atmospheric pCO2 across the Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) transition, concomitant with the eruption and emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the splitting of Pangea. As one of the “big 5” mass extinctions—when the so-called modern fauna was particularly hard hit—we know the biosphere was severely affected during this time, but the details are relatively poorly understood, …

Deep Groundwater And Potential Subsurface Habitats Beneath An Antarctic Dry Valley, J. A. Mikucki, E. Auken, S. Tulaczyk, R. A. Virginia, C. Schamper, K. I. Sørensen, P. T. Doran, H. Dugan, N. Foley

Faculty Publications

The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below …

Phytoplankton And The Macondo Oil Spill: A Comparison Of The 2010 Phytoplankton Assemblage To Baseline Conditions On The Louisiana Shelf, M L. Parsons, W Morrison, N N. Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner, M L. Parsons

Faculty Publications

The Macondo oil spill was likely the largest oil spill to ever occur in United States territorial waters. We report herein our findings comparing the available baseline phytoplankton data from coastal waters west of the Mississippi River, and samples collected monthly from the same sampling stations, during and after the oil spill (May-October, 2010). Our results indicate that overall, the phytoplankton abundance was 85% lower in 2010 versus the baseline, and that the species composition of the phytoplankton community moved towards diatoms and cyanobacteria and away from ciliates and phytoflagellates. The results of this study reaffirm the view that phytoplankton …

Mission Santa Clara In A Changing Urban Environment, Lee M. Panich

Faculty Publications

Since its secularization in the 1830s, Mission Santa Clara de Asís and its associated grounds have seen major transformations. These changes include the gradual abandonment of the mission by its native inhabitants, the Californio and early Anglo-American use of mission structures, as well as the founding and growth of Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) and the City of Santa Clara. Through the analysis of historic maps, photographs, and archaeological findings, this paper provides an overview of the far-reaching physical changes that have fundamentally altered the original mission-era landscape, including the mission churches, cemeteries, and neophyte village. Information is …

Influence Of Season And Method Of Topkill On Resprouting Characteristics And Biomass Of Quercus Nigra Saplings From A Southeastern U.S. Pine-Grassland Ecosystem, Tracy L. Hmielowski, Kevin M. Robertson, William J. Platt

Faculty Publications

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. The resprouting ability of woody plants in frequently burned ecosystems may be influenced by the season and method of topkill. We conducted an experiment to test for the effects of season and method of topkill on aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, and mortality of hardwoods found in a southeastern U.S. pine-grassland. We predicted that topkill occurring during the growing season and topkill by fire would have greater negative impacts on resprouting and root growth and result in greater mortality. We conducted a shadehouse experiment in north Florida in which we applied topkill treatments (burn, clip, …

Turning Contention Into Collaboration: The Role Of Collaborative Networks In Natural Resource Governance, Vanessa R. Levesque

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cultures Of Exile: Conversations On Language And The Arts, Eleni Bastéa, Walter Putnam, Mark Forte

Faculty Publications

The conference “Cultures of Exile: Conversations on Language and the Arts,” co-organized by Professors Eleni Bastea and Walter Putnam, was inspired by the music of Georges Moustaki (1934--2013), especially his song “Le Métèque” (1969). In “Le Métèque” Moustaki dealt with outsiders, strangers, and all those who do not share one homogeneous place of origin. What does it mean to be a “métèque,” an exile, an outsider today? Although often associated with loss and victimhood, exile can also foster artistic freedom, creativity, renewal, and empowerment. What is the role of the new place in the development of one’s artistic oeuvre? How …

Energy Input Is Primary Controller Of Methane Bubbling In Subarctic Lakes, Martin Wik, Brett F. Thornton, David Bastviken, Sally Macintyre, Ruth K. Varner, Patrick M. Crill

Faculty Publications

Emission of methane (CH4) from surface waters is often dominated by ebullition (bubbling), a transport mode with high‐spatiotemporal variability. Based on new and extensive CH4 ebullition data, we demonstrate striking correlations (r2 between 0.92 and 0.997) when comparing seasonal bubble CH4 flux from three shallow subarctic lakes to four readily measurable proxies of incoming energy flux and daily flux magnitudes to surface sediment temperature (r2 between 0.86 and 0.94). Our results after continuous multiyear sampling suggest that CH4 ebullition is a predictable process, and that heat flux into the lakes is the dominant driver of gas production and release. Future …

A Method For Evaluating Library Liaison Activities In Small Academic Libraries, Jonathan Miller

Faculty Publications

This article presents a practical method for formative, self-reflective assessment of the liaison activities of individual librarians and to evaluate liaison activities in general. Many libraries evaluate their liaison programs, but few evaluate the effectiveness of individual librarians’ efforts within the program.

Librarians of Rollins College redefined and re-branded their liaison program as “Your Librarian.” As part of this effort, the author surveyed the faculty and assessed the program and the effectiveness of individual librarians. The author outlines the liaison responsibilities, the survey instrument, and how the results are analyzed and used in a process of continuous reflective improvement for …